Ed Hulett -> Mimi Gallandt wrote:
 EH> Mimi Gallandt -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 MG>> Ed Hulett -> Mimi Gallandt wrote:
 EH>>> Mimi Gallandt -> Ed Hulett wrote:

 MG>>>>>>>> Point of order; Vietnam may call itself
socialist, but they're
 MG>> far
 MG>>>>>>>> closer to capitalism than they are to
socialism. They have open
 EH>>>>>>> borders
 MG>>>>>>>> and tourists go there all the time.
This is just another
 EH>>> example of
 EH>>>>>>> Otto
 MG>>>>>>>> not having the tiniest clue as to what
he's spewing.

 EH>>>>>>> Same with China.

 MG>>>>>> Yeah, isn't it amazing how quickly China
changed after their
 MG>>>>>> reacquisition of Hong Kong?  I'm sure their
government is still
 MG>>>>>> dictatorial and corrupt, but nothing like when
Mao was alive.

 EH>>>>> Yes, they remain a dictatorship, but they were
forced to embrace
 EH>>>>> capitalism when they realized they wanted to trade
with the rest of
 MG>>>> the
 EH>>>>> world. China ans Vietnam actually have something
the world needs.
 EH>>> Cuba
 EH>>>>> is a small island and only have sugar and tobacco to export.
 MG>> Since we
 EH>>>>> are the only country to have any restrictions on
trade with Cuba,
 MG>>>> there
 EH>>>>> is little chance that if we lifted those
restrictions Cuba would
 MG>>>> change
 EH>>>>> their government.

 MG>>>> True. Something odd about our immigration rules for
Cubans. There's
 EH>>> this
 MG>>>> wet feet dry feet thing. If they catch a Cuban before
he reaches the
 MG>>>> beach he gets sent back, if he makes it on to the beach
he gets to
 EH>>> stay.
 MG>>>> Cuba is the only country that we use this policy on.
Apparently the
 MG>>>> thinking is that one less Cuban for Fidel to dictate to
the better.

 EH>>> Yet Cuba was allowed to send several thousand criminals our way
 MG>> several
 EH>>> years ago and flood our prison system. There were even some Cuban
 EH>>> criminals who were housed on McNeal Island (a former federal
 EH> prison in
 EH>>> Puget Sound just a few miles from here) for a few years.

 MG>> Yes, I believe that event was called the Mariana oat lift. If so it
 MG>> wasn't just criminals that were sent; they sent lunatics as well.

 MG>>>> In the same way that my views on the Mexican border
have changed my
 MG>>>> views on Cuban immigration has too. Terrorists could
just as easily
 EH>>> come
 MG>>>> from Cuba as from Mexico. I think the border we need to worry the
 MG>> most
 MG>>>> about is the Canadian one. It's a very lax process and it's far
 MG>> longer
 MG>>>> than the Mexican one.

 EH>>> A law is soon to go into effect that will require a special
 EH> federal ID
 EH>>> card for US citizens to travel freely across the border. Either
 EH> that or
 EH>>> a passport.

 MG>> I got my passport 2 years ago. They've been saying that you are
 EH> going to
 MG>> have to have a passport very soon now for at least 8 years. Once I
 EH> move
 MG>> to my friends house and get a little freed up cash I'm going to get a
 MG>> Sentri card. For $122.00 a year you don't have to wait in the Customs
 MG>> lines, there's a special line for Sentri members. Being a somewhat
 MG>> assertive person I generally get passed most Mexicans because when
 EH> I say
 MG>> Con permiso they notice my chair and let me by. I know it isn't the
 MG>> experience of most who post here, but my experience with Mexican
 MG>> nationals is very positive. When they see someone in a chair they
 EH> can't
 MG>> jump to offer help faster if they tried. I don't go into TJ farther
 EH> than
 MG>> I have to because the gang violence is getting real bad there. I
 EH> shop at
 MG>> the UETA (at one time I actually could remember what that's an acronym
 MG>> for) Duty Free shop. They have unbelievably good prices on nearly
 MG>> everything. I bought my CD player there for $10.00. At any rate if you
 MG>> purchase anything at UETA you have to take it into Mexico and then you
 MG>> can come right back home. There are two of those one way metal
 EH> spinning
 MG>> things you have to go through. At the second one the Cab Drivers
 MG>> standing around there always help me get the spin to start and they
 MG>> never get upset that I don't hire one of them to get a ride to Avenida
 MG>> de la Revolution (the main tourist street). They understand that most
 MG>> San Diegans are very aware of the gang violence.

 EH> I've seen several commercials on TV that say it will be soon (I can't
 EH> remember when they say) that to cross the border *back* into the US you
 EH> will need the card to make it easier.

Yes, you don't need any paperwork to go to Mexico, you need it to come
home. The crossing that I use, the San Ysidro border is the busiest border
crossing in the world. It's like O Hare airport except for cars and
pedestrians. Tijuana has an International airport, but why would I bother
using that?


-- 
L'Chaim,
Mimi

fcpnmimi(at)cox.net

http://www.myspace.com/fcpnmimi

"Anti-Zionism = Anti-Semitism"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are
merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high
mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When
people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.
Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been
and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full
agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and
ever will be so..."

Golda Meir once said, "There will never be peace until the
Palestinians love their children more than they hate us."

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