Bush
will say anything for a voteBush
will say anything for a vote
Bush falsely accuses Cuba of promoting global Human trafficking to garner votes. Harsh embargo's, and travel restrictions have been expanded based on these allegations.
Tampa - Lets get real here! What is the purpose of tightening the noose around Cuba?
Cuban-Americans and all Americans, for that matter, should be allowed to visit.
U.S. Companies should be able to trade with Cuba, just as they are with another communist nation, China. Who, by the way, also has huge commerce in human trafficking and child prostitution and plain old everyday prostitution, not to mention human rights violations too. U.S. Policies to restrict travel and other types of economic activity in Cuba are moves aimed at pushing out Castro, squeezing the island's economy and protecting former American corporations in Cuba, who Bush calls not the "elite", but "my base." That is the real reason!
So Bush at the conference, "Human Trafficking in the United States: Rescuing Women and Children from Slavery" plain-out lied when he said the change in policy was because of the human trafficking and prostitution in Cuba, and I for one don't appreciate the LIE because he was using it to garner VOTES. If he will lie about a SIMPLE REASON FOR A POLICY, to get votes, what pray tell, else will he lie about? Bush claimed Castro shamelessly promoted sex tourism. He accused Castro of welcoming sex tourism to bolster his failing economy and contributing to a global problem of human trafficking. "The dictator welcomes sex tourism. Here's how he bragged about the industry," said Bush,“"This is his quote —- ‘Cuba has the cleanest and most educated prostitutes in the world’ and sex tourism is a vital source of hard currency."’”Three days after Bush's remarks, the Los Angeles Times reported that the White House found the comments in a Dartmouth undergraduate paper posted on the Internet and lifted them out of context. “It shows they didn't read much of the article,” commented Charlie Trumbull, the author.
What Castro actually said in 1992 to the Cuban parliament was, “"There are prostitutes, but prostitution is not allowed in our country. There are no women forced to sell themselves to a man, to a foreigner, to a tourist."
In his usual cavalier fashion, I doubt Bush will neither recant his false statement nor apologize to the Republic of Cuba or the American public.
An indignant Fidel Castro used a live television appearance Monday night to respond to White House charges that his government encourages child prostitution.
Speaking in the central province of Villa Clara on a national holiday marking 51 years since he launched his revolution, Castro depicted President Bush as “sinister” and his charges as “irresponsible statements by the president of the most powerful nation on the planet.
In a statement the National Assembly of People's Power of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations on July 1, 2004, said, "What legal precedent can the American authorities cite for such an intrusion into people's private lives? Where are the "family values" which the current president and his friends tout so much? Is Mr. Bush still describing himself as a "compassionate conservative"?
The policy, in question, now restricts Cuban-Americans to one visit every three years to their homeland, down from one visit per year, and requires that they apply for a special license before traveling. Under pressure from anti-Castro hard-liners, President Bush also cut the amount of money visiting Americans are allowed to spend in Cuba from $167 a day to $50 a day.
For the purposes of sending goods to family members or visiting, "family" has been redefined as parents and children, excluding aunts, uncles, and cousins. No humanitarian exceptions will be allowed.
The three-year restriction means a Cuban-American who attended Havana for his father's funeral one year, could not return to see a dying mother two years later. THAT is just sick, why would our president make a policy like this? This is unacceptable! Again, Is Mr. Bush still describing himself as a "compassionate conservative"?
You think he even read the policy? I think not, because there is a pattern of things not being read or verified with this administration!
The president made his accusations amid the release of the State Department yearly report on global human trafficking, which lists Cuba among the top ten violators.
Psychoanalysis from Castro
On Monday Castro demanded evidence for the attacks on his country. Castro questioned, “How it is possible that such unspeakable, foul slander is hurled against Cuba?”
The answer, said Castro, comes from inside the mind of the president —the subtitle to a book by psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank, called “Bush on the Couch.”
Castro quoted Frank, who delves into Bush’s professed bout with alcoholism and argues that his history of untreated alcohol abuse could impair his judgment.
Bush, charged Castro, could be having a difficult time “distinguishing between relevant and inconsequential information.”
Contrary to Bush's statement, Wayne Smith, senior fellow at the American Center for International Policy and veteran Foreign Service officer who served 6 years in Havana, argued that a government crackdown in 1998 stemmed the “rampant” prostitution that erupted across the island following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to Smith, prostitution “is no longer any more of a problem in Cuba than it is in…the United States.”
Smith, an advocate of normalizing relations with Havana, also takes umbrage over Bush’s assertion that Cuba has “replaced Southeast Asia as a destination for pedophiles” and that new controversial travel restrictions to the island aim at curtailing the sexual exploitation of children.
Prostitution attack- another attempt to woo voters rather than curtailing exploitation of children?
Bush’s new rules, that took effect June 30, limit Cuban Americans to one visit home every three years, eliminate humanitarian permission to attend funerals or visit dying relatives, and remove extended family like aunts, uncles and cousins from the list of government-approved relatives. Violators are subject to a $65,000 fine.
What does restricting Cuban-Americans to one visit every three years have to do with reducing prostitution?” asked Smith. “Is Mr. Bush suggesting that their real purpose was not to visit their families on the island but to engage in sex tourism?” It's just ludicrous. What is the devious plan this time from Bush, to imply such a thing. (see other Bush Devious Plans)
Smith is among the Cuba-watchers who believe that Bush’s strident policy is designed to capture the Cuban American vote this November in the critical state of Florida.