"Jeffrey Turner" <jturner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:135beq8dv9grd67@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Osric wrote:
>
>> <Jhaerlyn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:1179948227.790821.298160@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Apr 1, 8:23 pm, Defendario <Defenda...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>>Nice post with an interesting rant for a preface.
>>>
>>>For the archive
>>>
>>>2B-Clear wrote:
>>>
>>>>Agee's article is one of the clearest and concisest to appear on my
>>>>screen in some time. If only our so called "liberal" media would share
>>>>this guy's work/observations with their audiences, then perhaps the
>>>>people would begin to wake up and see the same reality that people
>>>>outside the USA have been seeing for years. The American people are
>>>>told that they're free, but that is a filthy lie. The American people
>>>>are NOT free, they are like slaves, who are drowning in a cesspool of
>>>>lies and deception. Their (our) nation is not great, it is the
>>>>greatest obstacle to world peace and there's nothing great about that!
>>>
>>>> ---------------------------------
>>>
>>>>Orwell Rolls In His Grave
>>>>1 hr 45 min -"Could a media system, controlled by a few global
>>>>cor****ations with the ability to overwhelm all competing ... all »
>>>>voices, be able to turn lies into truth?..."
>>>>This chilling do***entary film examines the relation****p between the
>>>>media, cor****ate America, and government. In a country where the "top
>>>>1% control 90% of the wealth", the film argues that the media system
>>>>is nothing but a "subsidiary of cor****ate America."
>>>
>>>>http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1925114769515892401
>>>
>>>>On Mar 31, 8:46 pm, "RH" <halcon7r...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Please share this article with others who like to know what's going
on
>>>>>in the world:
>>>
>>>>>http://www.counterpunch.org/agee03142007.html
>>>
>>>>>A Stunning Contrast
>>>>>TheDescent of the US; the Rise of Latin America
>>>>>By PHILIP AGEE
>>>
>>>>>Havana.
>>>
>>>>>Anyone following the news in recent times cannot be unaware of the
>>>>>wave of progressive change sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean.
>>>>>For many lonely years Cuba held high the torch through its exemplary
>>>>>programs to provide universal health care and education, both gratis,
>>>>>along with world class cultural, s****ts and scientific achievements.
>>>>>Although you won´t find a Cuban today who says things are perfect,
far
>>>>>from it, probably all would agree that compared with
pre-revolutionary
>>>>>Cuba there is a world of improvement. All this they did against every
>>>>>effort by the United States to isolate them as an unacceptable
example
>>>>>of independence and self-determination, using every dirty method
>>>>>including infiltration, sabotage, terrorism, assassination, economic
>>>>>and biological warfare and incessant lies in the cooperating media of
>>>>>many countries. I know these methods too well, having been a CIA
>>>>>officer in Latin America in the 1960´s. Altogether nearly 3500 Cubans
>>>>>have died from terrorist acts, and more than 2000 are permanently
>>>>>disabled. No country has suffered terrorism as long and consistently
>>>>>as Cuba.
>>>
>>>>>All through the years, beginning even before taking power in 1959,
the
>>>>>Cuban revolution has needed to have intelligence collection
>>>>>capabilities in the U.S. for defensive purposes. Such was the fully
>>>>>justified mission of the Cuban Five, jailed since 1998 with long
>>>>>sentences after conviction for various crimes in Miami where they had
>>>>>no chance for a fair trial. Convictions were for conspiracy to commit
>>>>>espionage to murder. Nevertheless their sights were exclusively set
on
>>>>>criminal terrorist planning in Miami for operations against Cuba,
>>>>>activities ignored by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
They
>>>>>neither sought nor received any classified U.S. government
>>>>>information. Their cases are still on appeal, and will be for years
to
>>>>>come, but their completely biased convictions rank with the legal
>>>>>lynching in the 1920's of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the
>>>>>anarchist immigrants, as among the most shameful injustices in U.S.
>>>>>history. Freedom for the Cuban Five should be the cause of everyone
>>>>>for whom fairness, human rights and justice are im****tant, both in
the
>>>>>United States and around the world, joining in the activities of the
>>>>>300 Free the Five solidarity committees in 90 countries.
>>>
>>>>>Current U.S. policy with its means and goals can be found in the
>>>>>nearly 500-page 2004 re****t of the Commission for Assistance to a
Free
>>>>>Cuba together with an update published in 2006 that has a secret
>>>>>annex. A fundamental goal, the same in 2007 as I remember it was in
>>>>>1959, is isolation of Cuba to keep this bad example from spreading,
>>>>>and the current policy if successful, would mean no less than Cuban
>>>>>annexation to the U.S. and complete dependence, in fact if not in
law,
>>>>>as Cubans rightfully claim. Other fundamental goals from 1959 are
>>>>>still, nearly 50 years later, to foment an internal political
>>>>>opposition and to cause economic hard****p in Cuba leading to
>>>>>desperation, hunger and despair. It is no exaggeration to call these
>>>>>goals genocidal.
>>>
>>>>>Yet, U.S. economic warfare of nearly 50 years against Cuba hasn't
>>>>>worked even though the Cubans who keep book estimate its cost at more
>>>>>than $80 billion. After the Cuban economy's free fall in the early
>>>>>1990's, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it began to recover in
>>>>>1995. By 2005 growth was 11.8% and in 2006 it was 12.5%, the highest
>>>>>in Latin America. Some sectors have surpassed their development
levels
>>>>>of the late 80's, before the collapse, and others are nearly back.
>>>>>Cuba's ex****ts of services, nickel, pharmaceutical and other products
>>>>>are booming, and try as it may, the U.S. has not been able to stop
>>>>>this.
>>>
>>>>>In the end U.S. efforts to isolate Cuba have also totally failed. In
>>>>>September 2006 Cuba was elected, for the second time, to lead the
Non-
>>>>>Aligned Movement of 118 countries, and two months later, for the 15th
>>>>>consecutive year, the United Nations General Assembly voted to
condemn
>>>>>the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba, this time 183 to 4. In 2007 Cuba
>>>>>has diplomatic or consular relations with 182 countries. Havana
>>>>>meanwhile is the site of seemingly endless international conferences
>>>>>on every imaginable theme with thousands of people from around the
>>>>>world attending. And not least, Cuba in recent years has been hosting
>>>>>more than 2 million foreign tourists annually at its world-class
>>>>>resorts. Far from isolating Cuba, the U.S. has isolated itself.
>>>
>>>>>More than 30,000 Cuban doctors and health workers are saving lives
and
>>>>>preventing disease in 69 countries, many in the most remote and
>>>>>difficult areas where few or no local doctors will go. Meanwhile
>>>>>30,000 young foreigners from dozens of countries are studying
medicine
>>>>>in Cuba on full scholar****ps. All were selected from areas lacking
>>>>>doctors, and all are committed to return to these areas in their home
>>>>>countries to practice.
>>>
>>>>>In education the Cuban literacy program known as "Yes I can" has been
>>>>>adopted in nearly 30 countries on five continents where thousands
more
>>>>>Cuban volunteers are teaching. Through this program, in Spanish,
>>>>>****tuguese, English, Creole, Quechua and Aymara, some 2 million
people
>>>>>have learned to read and write, most of whom continue their education
>>>>>afterwards through a variety of other programs.
>>>
>>>>>Thanks to these international assistance programs, Cuban prestige and
>>>>>influence, and international solidarity with Cuba, have never been
>>>>>greater. It was to defend these worthy programs that the five Cubans,
>>>>>unjustly convicted, went to Miami in the 1990's.
>>>
>>>>>Then in 1999 came Hugo Chavez, the U.S.'s latest worst nightmare in
>>>>>the region, admittedly following the Cuban example in Venezuela, with
>>>>>its enormous income from petroleum, to establish what he calls a
>>>>>Socialism for the 21st Century with a foreign policy of regional
>>>>>integration under his innovative Bolivarian Alternative for the
>>>>>Americas, ALBA, excluding the United States altogether. The program
is
>>>>>already underway through institutions such as Mercosur in trade,
>>>>>Petrocaribe, Petroandino and Petrosur in the energy sector, the Banco
>>>>>del Sur in finance, and Telesur in electronic media.
>>>
>>>>>Another program under ALBA is Operación Milagro (Operation Miracle)
>>>>>for offering free eye surgery to people unable to afford it for
>>>>>cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes and other vision problems. It began in
>>>>>2004 as a joint Cuban-Venezuelan effort to bring Venezuelans by air
to
>>>>>Cuba cost free for operations. Within two years 28 countries of Latin
>>>>>America and the Caribbean were participating, and operations
restoring
>>>>>sight numbered 485,000 of whom 290,000 were Venezuelans. Jet liners
>>>>>loaded with patients come and go from Havana everyday, but by early
>>>>>2007 thirteen modern eye clinics were being built in Venezuela, and
>>>>>several had already performed thousands of operations there. Other
>>>>>clinics were being established in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala,
>>>>>Honduras and Haiti, all with Cuban planning and staffing. The
ten-year
>>>>>goal of Operación Milagro is to restore sight to 6 million people of
>>>>>Latin America and the Caribbean, and the program is expanding to
>>>>>Africa.
>>>
>>>>>The Cuban example of so many years, and now Venezuela, have also
>>>>>recently inspired the peoples of Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina,
>>>>>Uruguay and Nicaragua to elect progressive leaders. Most have
rejected
>>>>>the 1990´s "Wa****ngton Consensus" and the neo-liberal model along
with
>>>>>determined U.S. efforts to establish a hemispheric free trade zone.
>>>>>All are developing grassroots social and economic programs, each in
>>>>>its own way, aimed at improving the quality of life for all,
>>>>>especially the long-excluded majorities of their populations where
>>>>>this injustice prevailed. Although achievements in Cuba continue to
>>>>>****ne, the torch of revolution in the region has effectively passed
>>>>>from the towering figure of Fidel, ailing at eighty, to Chavez, a
>>>>>military man and teacher inspired by Simón Bolívar and José Martí.
>>>
>>>>>Reflecting on these new hopes for hundreds of millions in such a vast
>>>>>region, one
>>>
>>>...
>>>
>>>read more »
>>
>>
>> Have any of you actually been to Cuba? Advances in medical health? So
>> it's and advancement to NOT have bed clothes for the sick, unless they
>> bring it with them? It's an advancement to not have air conditioning,
>> other than the fan the family supplies? It's an advancement to make
>> sure family member's keep a 24 hour vigil over patient, not for
>> wellness reasons, but so that the infirm aren't robbed by other
>> patients, members of other people's family's or health care workers?
>> Is it also an advancement to have doctors tell patients that unless
>> someone from "la Yuma" ( the US) doesn't send the medicine, they are
>> not likely to live? I didn't know it was an advanced form of health-
>> care to require that patients bring in their own sutures.
>
> It's an advance over anywhere else in Latin America.
It certainly is. Given the choice I'd have rather spent the last 30 years
living in Cuba than any of the central American death squad military
dictator****ps the US was so fond of. And whatever the shortcomings of the
Cuban healthcare system at least Cuba's infant mortality rate is better
than
the US.
--
Osric
THE BORDERS OF MY COUNTRY
RUN AROUND THE SOLES OF MY FEET
>
>> Educational programs are excellent. Of course considering that Cuba
>> has two television channels and kid programing, according to my
>> cousins born there, is a choice between Gov't created "crap" and
>> strange Russian cartoons that require a PhD to understand. Since
>> teachers don't get paid much, like everyone else, and don't have to
>> pay rent or electricity or water bills or insurance for their bicycles
>> (for those lucky enough to have gotten one from money sent from an
>> American relative) They stay late ours to work one-on-one with
>> students who aren't getting it.
>>
>> Did I mention that part of the educational program in Cuba is to take
>> children away from their families for whole sections of the year to
>> work and learn from the State?
>>
>> So sure! lets have the universal health care and education like
>> Cuba's-- Let's start by having all of you sell every property you own
>> to the Government and let them decide what field of study you are best
>> suited for, and what is best for your child, and how much rice you
>> should eat in a month. :)
>>
>> So you know I'm not full of Bull, I was born in New York to Cuban
>> parents who've never been involved in politics. My father is a Baptist
>> Minister, my Mom was best friends with Cuba's Communist Party's Head
>> of the E***enical Association ... or some strange name like that ...
>> he'd been her paster before they left in '71. Since then my mom
>> returned to Cuba, starting in '82 when my grandfather became ill and
>> she finally was given permission to see her family. Later, when the
>> bans on travel were lifted and people began to go, she returned
>> several times. I went in '98 for 10 days. The above description of a
>> hospital stay is not based on hear-say, but on my experiences the very
>> first day ... hours that I arrived in Havana. I had to rush to the
>> hospital with medication that was already over do that I was taking
>> for a friend who's mother was very sick. Despite the medication, she
>> died a few months later. I can't help but think that she probably
>> could have lived a few more years with just a proper diet of regular
>> food. But then, regular food is something reserved for people with
>> dollars in Cuba. Just like the much talked about Health-care system.
>> Dollars or Euro's.
>
> http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php
>
>> Perhaps you ought to start opposing the embargo then if the plight of
>> Cubans is so im****tant to you.
>
> That would be a good start.
>
> --Jeff
>
> --
> We know now that Government by
> organized money is just as dangerous
> as Government by organized mob.
> --Franklin D. Roosevelt
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