The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: Servonaut on March 31, 2008, 12:47:12 PM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3084797
T.Ruth2power (194 posts) Mon Mar-31-08 10:43 AM
Original message
Why Cuba is a Democracy and the US Is Not
Advertisements [?]Why Cuba is a democracy and the US is not
by Tim Anderson
15 March 2007
The US has run a powerful and illegal economic blockade against Cuba for almost 50 years, after its investment privileges were withdrawn. It now runs propaganda suggesting that the Cuban people need US-styled “democracyâ€. Well let's look at democracy in both countries, including civil rights and participatory democracy, as well as representative democracy.
In representative democracy, Cuba is clearly ahead. Cubans have open elections for their National Assembly (as well as their provincial and local assemblies); this assembly then elects the ministers, including a president of the Council of Ministers.
In the US, there is a directly elected Congress and a president indirectly elected through electoral colleges. This president of state then appoints ministers. Yet a majority of the elected US Congress cannot block many presidential “prerogativesâ€, including the waging of war. So even when the majority of the population and the majority of the Congress oppose a war, the president can still wage it. In the US, then, the elected assembly does not really rule.
In Cuba, the Constitution (Art 12) repudiates wars of aggression and conquest, and all ministers are accountable to the elected National Assembly. The president of Cuba's Council of Ministers (falsely called a “dictator†by the imperial US president) is not above the National Assembly and has no power to “veto†a law passed by his country's National Assembly. In the US, the president can and does veto Congressional laws.
In the US, eligibility for election to office depends on subscription to one of two giant parties and substantial corporate sponsorship.
More here:
http://www.doublestandards.org/anderson1.html
Pappy (66 posts) Mon Mar-31-08 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
1. I completely agree
Bush has turned the U.S. into a dictatorship and Fedil has turned Cuba into a paradise.
DadOf2LittleAngels (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. A paridise with one one name on the ballot is *NOT*
a democracy!
OMC speaks
OPERATIONMINDCRIME (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
5. Of Course It Is! That's Why So Many People Keep Hoppin On Rafts & Risking Their Lives To Get There!
Lydia Leftcoast (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:24 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Even the genuine political asylum seeker that my church in Portland sponsored
said that the majority of the "boat people" from Cuba just want to go shopping and take advantage of the goodies that are offered to Cuban illegal immigrants and no others.
TheWraith (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. They risk their lives, and many of them die, to go SHOPPING?
Tell me another one.
Zywiec (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. LOL - That's a good one!
OPERATIONMINDCRIME (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:43 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. Well, No One Ever Said That Genuine Political Asylum Seekers Can't Be Total Morons.
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard...
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TheWraith (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. They risk their lives, and many of them die, to go SHOPPING?
Tell me another one.
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
In other news, Raul has opened up hotels, that were once open only to foreigners, to regular subjects. I don't know if this is an attempt to garner support and favor from the people, or a true attempt at reform. I hope the latter.
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Why oh why did the Cuban people vote to deny themselves cell phones? Computers? Hotel rooms? I will never understand democracy.
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Jesus, what a bunch of morons.
Even the genuine political asylum seeker that my church in Portland sponsored
said that the majority of the "boat people" from Cuba just want to go shopping and take advantage of the goodies that are offered to Cuban illegal immigrants and no others.
So is that Portland, Maine or Oregon? Both are a long way from where most Cuban refugees land which is MIAMI and vicinity. I actually lived in Miami and call a number of people friends who were Cuban born. I've never read a more bullshit statement in my entire life. Let me guess this person in 'Portland' probably talked of how he or she single-handedly saved 12 people from the twin towers too right? It's almost like TiT redux if true. :lmao:
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Anyone who thinks the U.S. is a Democracy is out of their freaking minds and doesn't understand anything about our Government.
The term "the tyranny of the majority" has significant meaning to the astute.
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Last time I checked we were a Republic not a Democracy.
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Last time I checked we were a Republic not a Democracy.
Hi-Five to you. :cheersmate:
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Last time I checked we were a Republic not a Democracy.
DUmmies don't know that. "That isn't democratic" is their rallying cry. Along with "xxxx is my Right."
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Why Cuba is a democracy and the US is not
T.Ruth2power (and author Tim Anderson) sounds like one of those Ron Paul kooks.
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A Leftist "Indictment" of Communist Cuba
by Mark Da Cunha (April 24, 2003)
In the opening few lines of Marc Cooper's editorial piece in the LA Weekly, he writes:
"Have you ever imagined what it would be like living in a society where, say, a John Ashcroft would be unrestrained by the niceties of constitutional law? Where draconian enforcement of a Patriot Act includes long prison terms for alleged thought crimes? Where, in the name of fighting "terrorism," nonviolent prisoners are summarily executed after being denied even the trappings of due process?"
Well, such a society does exist, the author is "sorry" to say. "Sorry," because that society is not based on American principles, but founded on the principles of the Left.
That society is based on the anti-social principle: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." It holds that the purpose of government is to force men of ability to serve those without.
That society's name is Cuba.
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=2722
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Last time I checked we were a Republic not a Democracy.
Hi-Five to you. :cheersmate:
What? Was my point too subtle for a high 5? :tongue:
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Last time I checked we were a Republic not a Democracy.
Hi-Five to you. :cheersmate:
What? Was my point too subtle for a high 5? :tongue:
Damn, I've hi-fived you like five times already. :-)
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http://www.therealcuba.com/
Wow, what a paradise! :sarcasm:
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The reality based community..............................riiiiiiiight.
I will use this post as a rosetta stone for DUchebags.
Demiocracy equals totalitarian dictorship.
Success equals theft.
The Constitution defines the rights of the government.
Stalin, Mao, and Hitler were just misudertood (& abit too far to the right).
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yeah right. you don't see biff and muffy ripping the kitchen door off it's hinges and strapping it to their back and trying to float across gulf of mexico to get to paradise because they just can't stand their middle class life.
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OPERATIONMINDCRIME (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
5. Of Course It Is! That's Why So Many People Keep Hoppin On Rafts & Risking Their Lives To Get There!
:rotf:
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Pappy (66 posts) Mon Mar-31-08 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
1. I completely agree
Bush has turned the U.S. into a dictatorship and Fedil has turned Cuba into a paradise.
From...
Fidel Castro is a Communist
by Tom DeWeese (April 17, 2006)
The suffering Cuban people owe a huge debt of thanks to the courage of Czech super model Helena Houdova. She risked her own freedom by smuggling photos out of the Cuban gulag which clearly showed Cuban suffering and misery.
The former Miss Czech Republic took photos of Cuban Aids victims and the squalid conditions in a Havana shantytown. Said Miss Houdova, "The people are repressed and Fidel Castro’s government is in denial. People can’t do what they love. People can’t speak what they want. That’s what’s happening. The fact that the (government) says there is no poverty, makes a bad situation worse."
As a glimpse into the police state that is Cuba, Miss Houdova’s own experience in taking the pictures makes it clear. She was arrested simply for taking the photos, then detained for more than eleven hours and denied access to Czech consular officials. In police custody, the model was forced to turn over a roll of 35 mm film from her camera, but was able to hide the memory chip from her digital camera in her bra. Miss Houdova brought more than 20 photos out of the country, which she is now exhibiting around the world.
From Power Line
My Kind of Model
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2006/03/013077.php
Back in the Czech Republic, Houdova mounted an exhibit consisting of 24 of her photos. At the exhibit's opening, she denounced Castro's regime:
"People can't do what they love. People can't speak what they want," she said in an interview. "That's what's happening. The fact that the [government] says there is no poverty" only makes a bad situation worse, she said.
Houdova intends to exhibit her pictures in the US; when they are sold, the proceeds will go to SOS Cuba, an organization that aids Cuban dissidents.
While pretty much everyone has given up on Communism, Fidel's government still enjoys the support of leftists in both Europe and North America. It's great to see someone like Houdova blow the lid off the mythology surrounding Cuba's health care system, and expose the miserable poverty in which most Cubans live.
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2008 Index of Economic Freedom
http://www.heritage.org/index/country.cfm?id=Cuba
Cuba's economy is 27.5 percent free, according to our 2008 assessment, which makes it one of the world's most repressed economies, ahead of only North Korea. Its overall score is 1.1 percentage points lower than last year, mainly reflecting worsened government size and freedom from corruption. Cuba is ranked 29th out of 29 countries in the Americas, and its overall score is less than half of the regional average.
Power to ya DU/Lefty guest. Lurkin' is learnin'.
On Edit:
Here's a book for DU's T.Ruth to read...
Against All Hope
ARMANDO VALLADARES
http://www.encounterbooks.com/books/againstallhope
Against All Hope is Armando Valladares’ account of over twenty years in Fidel Castro’s tropical gulag. Arrested in 1960 for being philosophically and religiously opposed to communism, Valladares was not released until 1982, by which time he had become one of the world’s most celebrated “prisoners of conscience.†Interned all those years at the infamous Isla de Pinos prison (from whose windows he watched the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion), Valladares suffered endless days of violence, putrid food and squalid living conditions, while listening to Castro’s firing squads eliminating “counter revolutionaries†in the courtyard below his cell.
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Lydia Leftcoast (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-31-08 12:24 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Even the genuine political asylum seeker that my church in Portland sponsored
said that the majority of the "boat people" from Cuba just want to go shopping and take advantage of the goodies that are offered to Cuban illegal immigrants and no others.
Capitalism gets seven new shoppers! :cheersmate:
Communist Cuba calls soccer desertions in U.S. a 'low blow'
The Associated PressPublished: March 14, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/14/sports/CB-SPT-SOC-Missing-Cubans.php
HAVANA: Cuba called the desertion of seven soccer players at the Olympic qualifying tournament in the United States "dishonorable" and a "low blow" on Friday.
The seven players left the team in Tampa, Florida, after their opening match, a 1-1 draw with the United States on Tuesday. On Thursday, the team started with 10 players when one was suspended for a red card in the U.S. match, and lost to Honduras 2-0.
"After their brilliant performance against the United States ... Cuba's Under-23 team suffered the desertion of seven members under the protection of the Cuban Adjustment Act," read a short note in the Communist Party daily Granma.
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The soccer players are pretty cool. They got to the mall without strapping empty 55 gallon drums to their '55 Chebby pickup.
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yeah right. you don't see biff and muffy ripping the kitchen door off it's hinges and strapping it to their back and trying to float across gulf of mexico to get to paradise because they just can't stand their middle class life.
High five for that!
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B.b.b.but DUmmie Judy Lynn tells us that Cuba has the best health care in the world. That is if you like flies, roaches and rats in your hospital room. But who is to look a gift horse in the mouth...their "health care" is free after all.
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B.b.b.but DUmmie Judy Lynn tells us that Cuba has the best health care in the world. That is if you like flies, roaches and rats in your hospital room. But who is to look a gift horse in the mouth...their "health care" is free after all.
health care is apparently one of those times in life where you get what you pay for. :-)
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yeah right. you don't see biff and muffy ripping the kitchen door off it's hinges and strapping it to their back and trying to float across gulf of mexico to get to paradise because they just can't stand their middle class life.
I think we should sponsor "kitchen doors for DUmmies" so they can sail away to their paradise in Cuba.
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yeah right. you don't see biff and muffy ripping the kitchen door off it's hinges and strapping it to their back and trying to float across gulf of mexico to get to paradise because they just can't stand their middle class life.
I think we should sponsor "kitchen doors for DUmmies" so they can sail away to their paradise in Cuba.
hell, I would buy a few of them airline tickets. :-) do they have airports in cuba, or did time stop there before the invention of the airplane? :whatever: :-)
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can we send them faxes of white doors with hand prints on them?
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You know, in 1959, Cuba had a higher living-standard than seven southern U.S. states.
Cuba was ranked as the most prosperous nation in North American Hispanic America.
Where are they now?
You guessed it, right on the bottom.
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You know, in 1959, Cuba had a higher living-standard than seven southern U.S. states.
Cuba was ranked as the most prosperous nation in North American Hispanic America.
Where are they now?
You guessed it, right on the bottom.
except for their worthless, er, ah, "free" health care.
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You know, in 1959, Cuba had a higher living-standard than seven southern U.S. states.
Cuba was ranked as the most prosperous nation in North American Hispanic America.
Where are they now?
You guessed it, right on the bottom.
Yeah, but that's because we cut them off. (DUmp mode)
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You know, in 1959, Cuba had a higher living-standard than seven southern U.S. states.
Cuba was ranked as the most prosperous nation in North American Hispanic America.
Where are they now?
You guessed it, right on the bottom.
Yeah, but that's because we cut them off. (DUmp mode)
Scroll to the bottom:
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page10.htm
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Good find, RebelKev.
I'm always gratified to get confirmation from other sources about "free medical care" in socialist paradises of workers and peasants.
I've always been hesitant to describe "free medical care" in the old Soviet Union, because it was so incredible one had to see it before one could possibly imagine it. And so I've always blurred things when describing what I saw, to make it credible.
The most enduring image is of human shit all over the place; on the floors, in the beds.
Just shit all over the place.
I'm gratified that someone else can confirm things I saw with my own eyes.
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In Cuba, the Constitution (Art 12) repudiates wars of aggression and conquest,...
Tell that to the African, Central & South American nations that were turned into hellholes from decades-old civil wars spawned by Cuban "Military Advisors".
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In Cuba, the Constitution (Art 12) repudiates wars of aggression and conquest,...
Tell that to the African, Central & South American nations that were turned into hellholes from decades-old civil wars spawned by Cuban "Military Advisors".
Angola comes to mind . . .
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In Cuba, the Constitution (Art 12) repudiates wars of aggression and conquest,...
Tell that to the African, Central & South American nations that were turned into hellholes from decades-old civil wars spawned by Cuban "Military Advisors".
Didn't the revered one Che get his ass busted up in Africa? I doubt that he was on a photo safari when it happened.
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Despicable: the photos of their hospitals. I'm truly speechless.
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Despicable: the photos of their hospitals. I'm truly speechless.
The photographs don't do justice to free medical care for all in socialist paradises.
One has to be there, to see them up close, to smell them, to really know.
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Despicable: the photos of their hospitals. I'm truly speechless.
The photographs don't do justice to free medical care for all in socialist paradises.
One has to be there, to see them up close, to smell them, to really know.
I doubt they do. There is no excuse for what is seen there. Red Cross and other medical aid to places like Africa manage in primitive conditions to keep things neat and clean. What is there is nothing more then blatent disregard and neglect. I am just...again...disgusted. Old men and women laying in shit covered beds. And this is the free healthcare liberals envision? ugh
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I found therealcuba.com a while back when a liberal on another board I belong to tried to tell me how wonderful Cuba is and how she wishes that the "mean old U.S." would stop punishing Cubans and American tourists alike by lifting the embargo.
Apparently, the fact that my step-grandfather was Cuban wasn't enough. So, I posted those photos from the site and she still denied it. Liberalism is fatal.
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I'll give a free 10.00X22 truck tire innertube and two quaters for inflating to any DUmmie ready to leave for the socialist paradise of Cuba.