Posted on 06/07/2003 9:12:47 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
Cuba is set to make a bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Cuban government officials announced say the island nation would make a bid for their capital Havana to host the 2012 Olympic games.
Jose Ramon Fernandez, head of the Cuban Olympic Committee, said his country's bid was partially based on their success in previous Olympics. In the last three Olympic games, Barcelona '92, Atlanta '96 and Sydney '00, Cuba finished as one of the top 10 national medal winners.
In the Sydney games, Cuba finished with 11 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 6 bronze medals. "Our country solicits the right to host the 2012 Olympic based on the success, on the successes of the development of our sports nationally and internationally, of the proven solidarity we have in our avocation and our long, recognised and unblemished history in the bosom of the Olympic movement," said Fernandez.
Officials recognised that there would be strong competition from Moscow, Paris, London, Madrid, New York, and Leipzig. July is the deadline for declarations of intent. "We understand perfectly that the responsibility of the aspiring city increases and that it faces contenders who are equally strong and have their own merits," said Fernandez.
"Despite this, being a poor and underdeveloped country, we trust in our struggle, confident in the victory."
The only Latin American country to host the Olympics was Mexico in 1968. Cuba's bid to host the 2008 Olympics has been rejected by the Olympic committee. The host nation of the 2012 Olympics will be announced on July 6, 2005 in Singapore. - Reuters
Cuba's potential will be realized by Cubans.
Five siblings left Cuba in the early sixties: my father and his sister, my mother and her brother and sister.
They brought with them their parents and a total of 8 kids (us).
My father retired as CFO of a multi-national company that grows, processes, and trades sugar in the world market, my mother opened a small business which employed four at the time she retired. They had one child after they arrived here; he is a corporate attorney (a damned good one), my middle brother is a nuclear physicist, and I am a Sales Manager for a Top 20 company generating sales in excess of $320 million a year.
One uncle is a Real Estate developer, his wife the Legal Assistant of the Senior Partner in a well-known Miami-based law firm, their daughters are a Computer Systems analyst, a teacher, and a registered nurse.
The next uncle runs a multi-million dollar a year construction firm, his son is his right-hand man inspecting all sites being developed, his other son owns and operates a 125-seat restaurant. His wife owned a beauty parlor until she retired, sold it a quite a profit.
My mother's sister worked as a seamstress until retirement, her husband was a Maitre D' at a famous South Beach resort until his death. Their oldest son is a veterinarian, the daughter married a VP with Chrysler, and raised her children, and their youngest drowned while swimming in a Miami canal. He was fifteen, and a brilliant student.
Our parents cared for our elderly at home until it became necessary to bring them to hospitals, we did not take money from the government for them. Our parents paid for all our tuitions, with the exception of those, like my youngest brother, who earned MERIT BASED scholarships; my brother received a 100% scholarship to the University of Miami, as well as to the Law School at UM both based on his academic achievements. Not one single one of us took out a student loan.
We have been too occupied with the process of becoming fabulously successful to take any time to soak up tax dollars...hell, we've generated more than most.
Our story as a family is not unique within the Cuban immigrant community.
Drop me a résumé after you graduate, and I'll see if we can help you find a way to earn the living you owe those of us who paid for your education.
guess you made short shrift there, luis!
I certainly hope so. It depends upon so many variable factors at this time.
Having the fascist Cubans host the games in 2012 would be a great follow-up to having the fascist Chinese host them in 2008.
Your original comment was ignorant and ill-advised, now you're bordering on idiocy.
Since you seem to be one about facts, let's check the pertinent facts here, shall we?
The discussion at hand, one begun by your comment on this thread, has concerned itself with Cuban immigrants, of which there not MILLIONS of here in the US by the way...as a matter of fact, there are quite possibly NO ILLEGAL CUBAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE US!
Do you know why I say that? Because of a law called the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 (check your facts before posting bad information).
Do you know what the first thing a Cuban who has just landed on US soil does?
He looks for a way to turn himself in to the authorities so that he can claim refuge under the CAA!!!
Now, even a college person such as yourself would understand that ANYONE WHO IS NOT HERE LEGALLY WOULD WANT TO AVOID THE AUTHORITIES AT ALL COSTS!
Look at your own idiotic cut-and-paste "facts".
"Over 700,000 illegal aliens are living in Florida"
"Immigrant Admissions FY'91-'98: Top Ten Countries Rank Country No. of Immigrants 1.) Cuba
How does being admitted translate into "illegal"?
I'm not done with your lesson for the day, I'll be back later...looks like that there fancy learnin' school house you go to ain't learnin you too good, so I reckon a couple of Cuban immigrants are about to teach you a thing or two.
P.S. Why don't you compare the dollar figures posted to the overall cost of all entitlement programs in the US today.
One of the first things you need to learn, is to think for yourself, instead of allowing this organization or that organization lead you by the nose to whatever conclusion they want you to make.
The problem is not the illegal alien, the problem is the welfare State...period.
You want to be a conservative?
Learn to fight the disease, not just medicate the symptoms.
Yeah, but would they get along with their seven and three year-old uncles?
Ummm......Where did I ever mention the word "racist", American Female? Could you please show us where?
I labeled your remark as "bigoted and ignorant".
Your "racist" comment is another case in point in ignorance. In your world, are only those people that don't speak Spanish eligible to be "white"?
My family, as do many Cuban families, has roots in the northern Spanish regions of Galicia and Asturias which were Celtic regions during the Roman conquest. (Thus the name "Galicia" from the Roman "Gallaecia" meaning "Land of the Celts".) As such, my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my father, myself and my children had and do have blonde hair and blue eyes and the skin under our bathing suits is just as white as yours.
My brunette cousins that take after the Castillian sides of the family are no less "white" than a brunette Frenchman.
How did we surrender our "whiteness" to you?
A "bigot" is defined by Webster's as "one obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his own church, party, belief or opinion." Such intolerance is often displayed by generalizations demeaning another group in broad terms.
Nineteenth Century examples were comments such as:
Anyone who is Irish is a drunk.
Anyone who is Catholic can never be a loyal American as Catholics owe their allegiance to Rome.
Twentieth Century examples were comments such as:
Anyone who is Jewish is deceitful and avaricious.
Anyone who is Polish or Russians is a Slavic untermenchen and is inferior to the German Aryan race.
Anyone who is Black is lazy and likes watermelon.
Your "humorous" example was:
"Anyone in Cuba talented at taking to the water is an American by now soaking up your tax dollars in Miami".
If I were to engage in such statements, I could contribute:
Anyone who is a college student will spew forth ignorant and sophomoric comments.
However, not all and, as a matter of fact, most college students do not spew forth such comments.
Your comments about every illegal alien that ever crossed the border are dumped right on the lap of all Cubans in Miami in general.
An occasional bigoted remark does not a bigot make. Defending such remarks and claiming that they are justified....well, that's another matter.
Every population group has crime and every population group has welfare dependents. The Pacific Northwest county that I now live in has one of the highest welfare rates and teenage pregnancy rates in Washington State and it is almost exclusively "Anglo" and lily white.
What generalizations should I draw from that?
In order to judge a population, you need to look at it's statistic as a whole. As a whole, Cuban Americans have been one of the most financially successful immigrant populations in America and financial success means you pay more taxes.
In 1997, 55.1 percent of second-generation Cuban Americans had an income greater than $30,000 versus 44.1 percent of "Anglo Americans", 36.9 percent of second-generation Cuban Americans had an income greater than $50,000 versus 18.1 percent of "Anglo Americans" and eleven percent of Cuban Americans had incomes greater than $100,000 versus nine percent of Anglo Americans and less than two percent of other "Hispanics" or "Latinos" or whatever this label is to describe anyone with a Spanish surname.
Of course, I realize that we shouldn't be so "sensitive" to your "humorous" generalizations.
Maybe Luis and I need to learn how to be less sensitive and maybe you and your college professors can help us in this regard.
Next week, American Female, go to one of your African American professors, bring him a watermelon and make a "humorous" comment about how anyone who is Black likes watermelon and how anyone who is Black is "soaking up our tax dollars".
Next, go to one of your Jewish professors and make a "humorous" comment about how anyone who is Jewish must really know how to take the money out of a Gentile's pocket.
Please write back to Luis and me about how your African American and Jewish professors handled your sophomoric "humor" so that we may learn to be just as good sports as they were.
That is hardly how the 20th Century bigots in Germany I was reffing to depicted Jews.
Anti-Semitic cartoons from Der Stürmer
As for how American Northerners in 1868 depicted the Irish, the Southerners and the Jews, you can look at this Thomas Nast cartoon.
And anyway, I notice that you didn't jump on Luis when he ALSO made a joke about the Cuban rowing team in the Olympics. While I doubt the tax dollars part is true, I thought the swimming remark was funny. Get a sense of humor. People who can't laugh at themselves aren't any fun. I don't get all annoyed when I get called a redneck since I'm from GA. It's because I can laugh about me and my fellow rednecks.
There is a world of difference between a good-natured Jeff Foxworthy style joke about "rednecks" and making a statement such as:
"Anybody that is a Southerner is a welfare parasite soaking up your tax dollars".
It is true that Southerners laugh at themselves for being "rednecks" and Cubans laugh at themselves for being "Cubanazos".
However, we Cuban Americans see no more humor in some people such as American Female falsely depicting one of the most successful and hard working immigrant groups in American history as welfare parasites "soaking up your tax dollars" any more than Southerners see humor in some people falsely depicting Southern heroes such as Robert E. Lee as "symbols of Southern racism".
I know that for a fact because I have spent considerable time on Civil War threads repeatedly defending Southerners and their heritage from such cheap shots.
When those cheap shots come, Southerners are in no mood to "laugh at themselves" and there is absolutely no reason why they should be.
If you want to read the history lesson on the reputation of Robert E. Lee that I gave to a Boy Scout leader from New England who believed that naming a Boy Scout Council in Richmond, Virginia after Robert E. Lee in 1942 was an act of Southern racism, you can read it in Post 138 on this thread.
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