MGlobules

September 27th, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^

people who cussed this or that aspect of Cuban life but also talked about how the US had no health insurance, etc. Most just want some stuff changed there. Polls can't be completely trusted, but one after another for decades has shown that Cubans like their basic system but want more representation. It's really not the police state that some people imagine; we've got way more of our population in jail per capita than they do. The gap between rich and poor is miniscule compared to this country. 

BlueCE

September 27th, 2013 at 11:20 PM ^

I appreciate your comments but you are misinformed, and if you believe what a few people there tell you because they fear what would happen if they talk negatively then that is here you went wrong. I know many Cuban exiles and they hate the government and would rather live anywhere else. They lie their country but hate life there. Healthcare there is te most overrated myth. I have seen Cuban healthcare first hand in Venezuela and I don't know one person there that would go I a Cuban doctor before an American one.

panthera leo fututio

September 28th, 2013 at 12:31 AM ^

"All the defectors I've talked to wanted to leave." You don't say. Also, I have no real expertise here and don't want to conjure any P words, but the proper comparison might not be between limited healthcare and great healthcare, but between limited healthcare and no healthcare (e.g. I've spoken with people in Haiti who seemed rather pleased with Cuban nurses).

BlueCE

September 28th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^

You do know any person in the US can go to an emergency room and get treatment, right?  Whether that is cost effective and good for preventative care is another debate, but as someone that for a bit had no health care coverage, treatment in the US even for someone without coverage is much better than anyone in Cuba.  And yes, in Venezuela people in rural areas who have never been to a doctor prefer having the cuban one to none, but to say their system is better than the US (or any other) is ridiculous... 

snarling wolverine

September 28th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^

Statistics can tell us all kinds of things.  North Korea is apparently one of the most egalitarian societies in the world (because everyone is poor), for instance.

I think this is the most meaningful statistic: net migration between the countries.  For a half-century, far more Cubans have tried to immigrate to the U.S. in vastly larger numbers than Americans have tried to immigrate to Cuba, despite our country having 30 times as many people.  Cubans are willing to risk their lives to come here.  I've yet to met an American who would do the reverse.

 

goblue20111

September 28th, 2013 at 9:37 AM ^

Well ya, of course exiles hate Castro they were favored under Batista and lost it all after the revolution. No doubt Castro isn't great or anything but let's not act like Batista was any better. People always seem to forget that. That and the fact that the early Cuban revolutionaries came to the US for a relationship and were rebuffed so the Soviets swooped in, that was a big blunder under Ike and JFK.

BlueCE

September 28th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^

True, but I was just providing the other side of the coin to the original poster to whom I was replying who started that people in Cuba think life is good there because of what they told a tourist.  Sadly knowing exhiled Cubans that live in Venezuela and Miami and who still have family there, I believe is a more accurate sample that what the original poster used in his argument.

snarling wolverine

September 28th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^

Actually, there has been a pretty steady migration of Eastern Europeans to Western Europe (and the U.S., Canada and elsewhere) since the end of communism.  There are now over 500,000 Polish-born people living in the UK, for example.  When people have moved back, it's usually been because the economy in their new country was faltering and jobs weren't there anymore.

It's not a perfect analogy anyway, though, because the Eastern European countries repudiated communism while the Cuban government is probably not ready to do that.

 

MGlobules

September 28th, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^

the mixed market economy that is Cuba's. Cuba's biggest trading partners are Canada and Israel. And private ownership of property has been allowed since the 1950s, when Cuba's small farmers fought a war against Castro, won, and became his biggest supporters. Ignorance is so rife in this country. . . I'm not defending Castro, but the thoughtless blockhead memes really need to go. Cuba had a crazed torturing Mafioso dictator before Castro, and the people who went to Miami were his supporters. They controlled the conversation for fifty years; not anymore. Castro has tortured his enemies--about ten of them to Batista's tens of thousands; Amnesty Int'l asserts that we torture, too. We absolutely have a higher percentage of Americans in prison than Cuba does Cubans. Just. . . some. . . sense of proportion is all one asks, from M grad's fergodsakes. I learned to challenge the MSM BS in the RC; I don't give it up now. 

elhead

September 28th, 2013 at 11:46 PM ^

I've traveled to Cuba at different points since 1979 (when I was at Michigan and it was completely legal to travel there under Carter.) I did a lot of work setting up exchange projects etc in the late 90s-early 00s, and I have a lot of friends on the island or from it. I think what you say is pretty spot on.

Michigan4Life

September 27th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^

Cuba has the most baseball talent out of all the countries in the world. The rate they were able to produce quality MLB players in such a small country is very impressive.  Two Cubans, Yasiel Puig and Jose Fernandez, are competing for the NL ROY this year with Jose Fernandez is in contention for the Cy Young award

Hagen

September 27th, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^

So much talent in Cuba.  Next is restoring relations with the US, which will be followed by all the cigars!  And taking a trip to Havana and the Cuban resorts is high my list.  My Canadien friends have all gone and they say its an amazing place.  Very cheap and still stuck in the 50s.

ckersh74

September 27th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^

Loria just fired Beinfest and Fleming. He's going to ruin that franchise. For about the 3rd time. By the time Fernandez, Stanton and Yelich are arbitration-eligible, they'll be traded. I put it 50-50 that Stanton gets moved this winter. 

I don't think the Marlins can be saved, as long as they're owned by an arrogant art dealer that thinks he knows baseball better than baseball people. He's not Steinbrenner. 

WMUgoblue

September 28th, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^

Dickerson and Price were talking about the firings today and how odd it was that they didn't even wait the 3 games til the season was over to make it official. They were speculating that there might have been some, "fireworks" at a meeting last night and they just decided to part ways.



That said you are correct and that franchise might be stuck in the cellar for quite some time, at least when you look at the Astros you see a team that's building through the drafts and a plethora of decent trades, so they could be a decent team in about 3 or 4 years.