Now you just don't worry your pretty little head about all that foriegn policy stuff missy. It's very complicated, and they really don't have time to explain it to you.

Now how about some more of that peach cobbler of yours?

Who is saying that Afghani opium growing is ok because "that's the only way these poor farmers can earn a living"?

There have been a myriad of news stories related to the struggles of the Afghan economy and the re-emergence of the opium trade in a very backwards economy. In these stories, it is not explicitly stated that "that's the only way....." However, the message is implicit in the reporting. Besides, that is not even the larger point Annika was making, which had more to do with applying different sets of standards to groups.

Annika,
Your point about "critics" is interesting. I've met left-wing moonbats who have told me with a straight face that people in the former Soviet Union were better off under communism and that the folks in Cuba are lucky to live under Castro because they get "free" health-care.

He Blu,

Your right, Batista was good for the cuban people they had nice fruit stands, and no health care or schools and in my book just like in yours Blu, no health care always trumps commie health care any day. Just as a college degree earned in a freee commie school is worth less than no education at all. Boy, i love your values. Oh, but they couldn't vote for a bunch of corrupt lawyers in cheap suits. That is a problem. Vote for thieves and their flunkies-get an education and health care, hmmm, what to do? So difficult to decide.

As for Opium and the Taliban. Annie puts up the strawman and knocks him down with the best of them. Why do we have these silly hypothetical pronouncements about what the other side might say if they were running things instead of actual critism of the foul balless wonders that are current running things??

As for opiunm and the Taliban. I could give two shits what they grow over there. If America has an addiction problem she should solve it by treating addicts and the despair and poverty that creates the cycle of dependence, depression, and so forth, not invade the argirculture of other nations where farmers are just trying to make a buck. We applaud self starters, entrepreneurs, and the spirit of providing a good product that people want. What happened to your fucking free markets and their tireless ability to sort out the wheat from the chaf? Just the other day Casca lifted his knuckles from the pavement to shout "Free markets rule".

"Your right, Batista was good for the cuban people they had nice fruit stands, and no health care or schools and in my book just like in yours Blu, no health care always trumps commie health care any day. Just as a college degree earned in a freee commie school is worth less than no education at all."

Talk about knocking down a strawman, Strawman. The Cubans live in squalor and in a fucking police-state. So, whose values should be questioned here? BTW, what is it about left-wing rule and totalitarianism? So, they have "free" healthcare and education. So what? Speak the wrong words and you get a bullet in your brain. Castro and that lying, murdering, sadistic coward, Che Guerva, are in the same class as Stalin and Mao. But, hey, I suppose you thought the Cultural Revolution was a good thing. You left-wingers never mind killing a few worthless peasants to "improve" their lives. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette and all that jazz.

I find it unbelievable that any human being with a conscience could ever even consider making excuses or minimizing the barbarity of Castro and his murderous thugs. Yeah, I suppose people risk their lives trying to escape that island prison because they love living in that communist paradise with its "free" healthcare and education. But it's really not free is it, Strawman? It costs people their liberty and dignity.

What don't you get about communism, Straw? This is not the first time you have displayed your utter ignorance of its history and its consequences on real people. I have a suggestion for you: talk to a person who has actually escaped from a totalitarian communist country. Talk to a Cuban who has risked his/her life to get away from Castro's version of hell. Why do you think that when Cubans get here to America that so many of them invest time trying to make changes in their country of origin?

Oh, and by the way, my "free markets" are responsible for the freedom, prosperity, and higher quality of life in the Western world. You see, Straw, free markets work. Communism doesn't. Never has. Never will.

Blu,

Could I request that you link in a few of these stories? I'll put them through the proganda filter.

Propogand filter? What do mean, Will? Do you doubt that Cuba is an island prison run by murderous dictator? I'm not certain what your point is. I certainly belive the Cuban refugees have a point of view that has been painted by their experiences. I don't think a propoganda filter is necessary. Aren't you from Florida? If so, have you met many Cuban refugees? What's your perspective?

>There have been a myriad of news stories related to the struggles of the Afghan economy and the re-emergence of the opium trade in a very backwards economy. In these stories, it is not explicitly stated that "that's the only way....." However, the message is implicit in the reporting.

>Propogand filter? What do mean, Will?

I merely mean to examine the articles you reference for the implicit meaning, with said meaning inserted via a propaganda technique. If they are indeed trying to spin a particular line, let's expose them.

I was not referring to propaganda on your part, if that's what you were concerned about.

BLU,

how many people do you know and have spoken with PERSONAlLy that have been to Cuba?

I'd venture the number is zero. I have parents who have been there and dozens of friends. SOme for simple travel and sightseeing and some spent months working. Not one of them agrees with your completely propagandized view of the place. NO ONE.

Cuba may not be a "free" country like the America where incarseration with out charge is now a fact of life, where the right to travel is now restricted, and the right to critize the government or its members gets you thrown out of public venues and jailed, but it is not a place where speaking out gets you a bullit in the head. Just ant-commie bullshit left over from the cold war. How many people who lived in the Soviet Union have you personally interviewed? Ever travel there?

Blu you speak like a man who only knows what he reads. Take my word for it, it is not enough.

Cubans come here looking for money. They are not, for the most part fleeing political persecuition. We do have more opportunity and a higher standard of living. We have all the important things people think they need. Plasma TV's, 350hp v8 cars, toaster ovens and microwaves, fast food and laundramats, 125 dollar sneakers, infant mortality higher than Cuba's, lower literacy than Cuba's, fewer doctors per thousand than Cuba, 57 flavors of icecream, and more non-living wage jobs than Cuba.

SO explain to me how free markets keep MS operating systems on 90% of computers manufactured, or why free markets have no effect on the drug trade, or how free markets have suceeded in getting us health care?

Blu, there are very few free markets because corporate culture knows that collusion and price fixing are an easier way to profit than competition. Read the business section fella, it reads like the police blotter. Every single day two, three, four corporate malfeasance reports. Every day. Enro, aADelphia, Health South, Tyco,AIg, Arthur Anderson, KPMG MArwic, this class action lawfirm last week, thousands a year. There is very little insentive to compete; its too easy to cheat while the public pays the price. Remember the savings and loan debacle and the Bush boy loaning himself money then going belly up?

You live in a fantasy world, Straw. The atrocities commited by Castro in Cuba are well-documented. These atrocities continue today. I'm not going to argue with a person unwilling to acknowledge well-established fact. All the evidence is on my side. Period. Maybe next you can argue for the wonderful quality of life in China and North Korea.

And, yes, I do read a lot. It's because I'm well-educated. The two are intimately linked. Try it.

Blu,

Briefly,

I have never argued for the wonderful life lived in China, Korea, or even Cuba. But that is not the same as saying there is nothing to reccomend them. Or saying that people are being shot in the street for what they say or that the entire nation, if they all could swim, would be headed for South beach. Life is very tough in the uS for peole of no means and many who come thinking differently find themselves looking homeward.

But none of them swim here for the freedom. They swim looking for the money! They are whores not folks pineing for that marvelous day when they can finally cast a vote, they could care less.

You have the evidence to back up that last sentence?

MarkD,

No more than you have for the standard line; that they are swiming for freedom. And I don't mean a beach sand interview with a bedraggled and sun stroked family who ansewer afiratively to a biased reporter who put the answer to her question in the question. "Oh, Mrs Mendez, it seems that you made this terribly dangerous journey to freedom with your 4 children" Si, senora. " Back to you Bob, hear at South Beach, this is Melissa Reyes with another wonderful story of a families quest for freedom"

Cuban's swimming for freedom is an assesment similar to the Iraq invasion planners wish that the Iraqi's will be dancing in the streets throwing flowers. Childish crap that spews from the addled brains of those who's constricted view of America leads them to purile conclusions.

"But that is not the same as saying there is nothing to reccomend them. Or saying that people are being shot in the street for what they say or that the entire nation, if they all could swim, would be headed for South beach."

You really are ignorant aren't you? First of all, there is definitely nothing to recommend N. Korea - unless starvation is a turn on. Secondly, China and Cuba have routinely executed political dissidents. I won't even bother going into China because if you belive they won't put a bullet in your head in that place you also believe in a flat-earth. Interesting that you think the Cubans are fleeing the island prison for work - after all, Castro has created a worker's paradise that nobody could possibly want to leave because they have "free" healthcare and education. And the communist system produces so many jobs. Now here is the reality, Stawdude: Cubans are fleeing persecution first and foremost. You see, Straw, people really do get killed there for not having the right thoughts. It's been going on for years. More than that, if allowed and accepted by us, that fucking island would be empty. Like all communist systems, only the elite have a decent standard of living. The peasants work to support them. Any idea how many billions Castro is worth, Straw? Yeah, that's billions with a big fucking "B." You fucking rant and rave about CEOs who make "too much." These men and woman run companies that produce products and create jobs and wealth. But you probably aren't the least concerned when a left-wing dictator somehow pockets billions on the backs of the oppressed you people on the Left pretend to care about. Pull your head out of the sand and stop apologizing for a murderous regime and that toxic ideology. It's disgusting and beneath anybody with a conscience.