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

 MG>>>>>> Point of order; Vietnam may call itself
socialist, but they're 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. 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 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 prison in
 EH> Puget Sound just a few miles from here) for a few years.

Yes, I believe that event was called the Mariana oat lift. If so it 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 most
 MG>> about is the Canadian one. It's a very lax process and it's far longer
 MG>> than the Mexican one.

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

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


-- 
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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