Martinez: Cuban aid should be welcomed

[Say_What]

Now this is a switch... Radio Mambi callers must be going nuts.

<clips>

WASHINGTON - Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez said Wednesday that the U.S. government should accept Cuba's offer to send hundreds of doctors to treat victims of Hurricane Katrina, provided they are needed and ``reasonably well-trained.''

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has offered to send nearly 1,600 physicians, potentially introducing another element of friction in the four-decade-long confrontation between the two adversaries. The Bush administration has said it will accept all offers of aid, but has also suggested that the United States did not need more doctors.

Castro's offer has put the administration in a tight spot. Refusal could be perceived as placing politics before the needs of victims.

Martinez, the first Cuban American to serve in the U.S. Senate, said he wondered if it was ''appropriate'' for Cuba to send the doctors, because many had already been dispatched to Venezuela and there was a shortage of medical help on the island. Cuba sends Venezuela doctors as part of payment for subsidized oil.

''But if we need doctors, and Cuba offers them and they provide good service, of course we should accept them,'' he said in his Washington office. ``And we're grateful for that offer.''


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/12586326.htm

[Greeby]

1. He just lost the exile vote

:crazy:

[Say_What]

2. Yeah, check out what the She-Wolf had to say

...Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said: ``I see no need for us to accept the doctors, because we have many U.S. doctors who can meet the medical needs of Katrina's victims. Cuban doctors should take care of poor Cubans who lack proper medical care on the island.''

On edit:

Meanwhile US doctors are calling for the Bushistas to accept the offer:

<clips>
Doctors Urge U.S. to Accept Cuba's Offer

ATLANTA, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A prominent U.S. medical group voiced
"deep concern" over delays in health care and epidemic prevention reaching
Katrina victims, and urged U.S. authorities to accept Cuba's offer of 1586
disaster-trained physicians to prevent a "second wave of sickness and death."

Latest reports indicate the U.S. State Department is backing away from the
offer, implying they are not needed.

"Up to this point, there been a clear need for more medical help for
Katrina victims," said Peter Bourne, MD, Chairman of MEDICC and former special
adviser on health in the Carter White House and former Assistant Secretary
General at the United Nations. "The Cuban physicians are accustomed to working
in difficult third-world conditions without the resources and supplies most of
us are accustomed to. Since they are just an hour away, it is a shame that
they have not been allowed to join our committed medical corps already."

He is joined by other physicians, medical educators, international health
experts and a former U.S. surgeon general associated with MEDICC, Medical
Education Cooperation with Cuba. From 1998 through 2004, MEDICC has provided
medical electives in Cuba for nearly 1000 students and faculty from 118 U.S.
medical, public health and nursing schools.

"Cuba has been recognized by the UN, Oxfam and other international
organizations as a leader in disaster response, expertise that could be saving
lives now," said Doctor William Keck, former long-time director of the Akron,
Ohio Department of Public Health.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2005/0004102379&EDATE=

[Judi Lynn]

3. It takes a Miami MEpublican right-wing Cuban "exile" goon like Ileana

Ros-Lehtinen to mangle the facts this comically: Cuban doctors should take care of poor Cubans who lack proper medical care on the island.''(snip)

The lack proper medical care so much they have one of the highest, if not THE highest ratios of doctor/patient on the planet, far outshining that here in the States, as well as wholly admirable longevity and infant mortality stats.

It's hilarius seeing one of _Bush's ambitious Miami Cuban "exile" stooges, MEpublican Senator Mel Martinez, take a position which casts doubt on the intelligence of _Bush and the radical, violence-prone, bomb-tossing original thugs, the right-wing Miami "exiles."

[Mika]

5. Lack of proper "care" to Ros means.. no high bills and insurance costs.

Therefore no campaign $$ from insurance scam based health care system that the Miamicuban Batistanos want to install in Cuba.

Only sick f*ckers could spew (and believe) such absolute nonsense as she vomits.

Her original campaign slogan was "Free Orlando Bosch". (Not kidding, it really was.)

[Judi Lynn]

37. It's hard to imagine a grown woman would endorse freeing a mass-murderer

but right-wing politicians show personality defects most healthy people never have known were there.

Anyone who can flourish in that murderous right-wing reactionary mob in Miami should be seen as someone who sees the law in a totally different light from everyone else.



Republican Cuban Reps.Ileana with Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart,
and Dem. Robert Menendez surrounding their stooge, Dan Burton.

[IndianaGreen]

34. What a BITCH!

I would like to know what reptile laid the egg that hatched Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The Cuban people have access to health care that most Floridians cannot afford to have!

Republicans are the lowest scum of the Earth! They should be put on chains and sold as slaves to Afghan warlord Rashid Dostum. May they serve as grease to the threads of Dostum's tanks!

I had many political disagreements with people during my life, but never I have hated anyone for holding views different from mine. The Republican response to Katrina shows that an exception must be made for Republicans.

[Bridget Burke]

19. The "exile vote" is dying off.

The next generation & their kids have good lives in Florida. They have links to Cuba but aren't dreaming of re-invading.

[Judi Lynn]

4. U.S. mum on Cuba offer for Katrina relief

Thursday, September 8, 2005 · Last updated 2:28 a.m. PT

U.S. mum on Cuba offer for Katrina relief

By ANITA SNOW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

HAVANA -- More than a week after Cuba offered to send physicians to the United States to aid the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, President Fidel Castro and his doctors still await an answer.
(snip)

Despite that, Cuba has offered more than 1,500 doctors ready to leave at a moment's notice to provide free services to hurricane victims. Officials expect the death toll from the powerful Aug. 29 storm to reach the thousands; hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes

"We are anxiously waiting, every moment, for a positive response," said Dr. Jesus Satorre, a 33-year-old cardiologist who helped an international team of doctors tackle a major cholera crisis in Guinea Bissau in 2002.

"It would be marvelous to be elbow-to-elbow with the American doctors, helping these people, saving lives for the love of humanity," Satorre said Wednesday at Havana's Latin American Medical School, where the physicians are living while awaiting word
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Katrina%20Cuba

[goforit]

35. When will the Floridian Cubans forgive their homeland?

Much less the neocons.

[Mika]

36. 100,000 used to visit every year, before * restricted their travel to Cuba

Now, under Bush's unconstitutional new rules, citizens/residents of Cuban descent with direct relatives on the island can go to Cuba once every 3 years. They know that most Cubans in Cuba want to remain in Cuba - their home.

Even Elian's drunken uncle, Lazaro, who lives in Miami went to Cuba to drink and to visit Juan Miguel Gonzalez and the extended family every year, before Elian.



Uncle Lazaro on a binder

[redtapeblues]

6. I suppose we should welcome all aid...

However, it's not like Cuba has a whole lot to give. After all, we’re talking 3rd world.

On second thought perhaps they can remove the flooded out cars and use them to upgrade the Cuban transit system.

[K-W]

7. You are misinformed, read post 2

Cuba has a corp of doctors who are trained and experienced in disaster relief that it sends around the world. Cuba's medical system is such that it trades medical services for oil.

[redtapeblues]

13. Hey, if that's the case, I stand corrected. Bring 'em on!

Bit I doubt that De Fuhrer Fidel would allow them to make contact with American soil. After all, slaves tend to seek freedom and it’s not any different when it comes to slave doctors vs. free doctors.

[K-W]

16. You can doubt reality all you want.

Which is convienent for you, since you seem quite obsessed with pretending that Cuba is some kind of mythic hell-hole.

[Mika]

20. Just how then does Cuba have any doctors left?

"After all, slaves tend to seek freedom and it’s not any different when it comes to slave doctors vs. free doctors."


Your talking points are WAY off.

Cuba's doctors serve in countries all over the world. If they are all seeking to 'defect' just how does Cuba have so many doctors left?



http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/learn.htm
It has reduced its infant mortality rate from 11 per 1,000 births in 1990 to seven in 1999, which places it firmly in the ranks of the western industrialised nations. It now stands at six, according to Jo Ritzen, the Bank’s Vice President for Development Policy, who visited Cuba privately several months ago to see for himself.

By comparison, the infant mortality rate for Argentina stood at 18 in 1999;

Chile’s was down to ten; and Costa Rica, at 12. For the entire Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole, the average was 30 in 1999.

Similarly, the mortality rate for children under the age of five in Cuba has fallen from 13 to eight per thousand over the decade. That figure is 50% lower than the rate in Chile, the Latin American country closest to Cuba’s achievement. For the region as a whole, the average was 38 in 1999.

“Six for every 1,000 in infant mortality - the same level as Spain - is just unbelievable,” according to Ritzen, a former education minister in the Netherlands. “You observe it, and so you see that Cuba has done exceedingly well in the human development area.”

Indeed, in Ritzen’s own field, the figures tell much the same story. Net primary enrolment for both girls and boys reached 100% in 1997, up from 92% in 1990. That was as high as most developed nations - higher even than the US rate and well above 80-90% rates achieved by the most advanced Latin American countries.

-

Similarly, Cuba devoted 9.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) during the 1990s to health care, roughly equivalent to Canada’s rate. Its ratio of 5.3 doctors per 1,000 people was the highest in the world.

[Say_What]

23. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

more uniformed remarks from the 'blinkers on' crowd. Can 'muriKans really be that stooopid?

:spray:

[Mika]

8. Cuba does not have 3rd world stats

Cuba:
More Drs per capita than the US
More teachers per capita than the US
Higher literacy rate than the US
Longer avg longevity than the US
Lower infant mortality than the US
Lower per capita national debt than the US


If Cuba is third world, then the US is also.

[redtapeblues]

14. If third world conditions exist where you live...

You must be in downtown NO. I don’t think you are supposed to be there—please leave now. For I can assure you, 3rd world conditions do not exist in my neck of the woods.

[Mika]

21. Just using your term in comparing national stats.

If, statistically, Cuba is "3rd world" (your term) then the US falls lower.


Its nice for you that you don't have, or see, the lack of social infrastructure in your area.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[redtapeblues]

15. Lighten up, son...

You shouldn't take my tongue in cheek comments regarding Cuba's abilities to keep American cars running indefinitely so seriously.

But it is interesting to note that you are very quick to come to the defense of a fascist like Castro. What’s up with that?

[K-W]

17. Yep, anyone who doesnt think Castro is a boogeyman

must love facism.

[Bridget Burke]

18. But Castro is a Commie, not a Fascist!

Get your talking points straight.

The old American cars are still running but new ones from the rest of the world can also be seen on the streets of Havana.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Sometimes they get confused. Befuddled. Disoriented.

I don't think some of these fellas do much reading, or thinking.

I found photos immediately of Santiago de Cuba, with a classic car, and with some cars from Europe or Asia, or somewhere.



Since their right-wing pResidents won't let Americans go to Cuba, only the most daring have ever been able to see behind the curtain of LIES and learn we've been getting a steady diet of pure crap from our propagandists, and the wacko right-wing nutjobs in Miami.

[Mika]

22. As usual..

.. the ever so constant refrain from the undereducated..

Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that
this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that

((((Yawn))))

[silvermachine]

24. More like head up ass comments....

...still haven't pulled it out yet, eh? Nowhere in my post did I come to the defense of Castro btw. Also, I notice you haven't addressed even one point that others have made in this thread that are in disagreement with you.

[nookiemonster]

26. "Lighten up son, nyuk, nyuk"

Oops, looks like you got lost.

This is what you were looking for:
www.freerepublic.com

They'll love ya there. Now go away.

Troll.

[Judi Lynn]

27. He may be happier somewhere else.

[redtapeblues]

29. Why, I dare say...

it sure looks like I have stirred up a hornets nest of fascist/communist sympathizers!

Look here comrades, if my being a pro-freedom democrat bothers you—so be it. Y'all are so far gone, there is no hope for you.

Capitalist regards

[MisterP]

32. make up your mind! which one is it?

[Mika]

33. Stats & facts be damned lemmings, keep marching over the cliff.

Look here so called pro-freedom democrat, not once have you backed up any assertion you have made here. Insults aside, each and every claim you have made has been refuted by statistics, reports, and facts.

But, I guess that you are free to remain adamantly mis/uninformed. Its your choice. :shrug:

[Patsy Stone]

9. You're not kidding!

Ileana's statements don't surprise me. She has to take care of the people who probably believe Castro caused the hurricane. These are the same ones who would rather die than accept help from him.

Martinez, that surprises me. Not quite sure where to go with that.

[Say_What]

10. Related: Cuba has a better way on hurricanes

Cuba's proven success in hurricanes could be a great help for NOs and the Gulf states, but to the Bushistas MiamiGusano votes are more important than human lives.

<clips>

...Six hurricanes striking Cuba from 1996 to 2002 killed 16 people. Hurricane Georges (1998) killed 597 persons elsewhere, only four in Cuba. Michelle (2001), Cuba’s worst storm in almost 60 years, killed five. Ivan (2004) killed thousands in the Caribbean area, mainly in Haiti — but none in Cuba. In Charley (2004), the worst hurricane for Havana Province since 1915, four people died. This year, Hurricane Dennis unexpectedly caused at least 10 deaths.

UN disaster relief expert Salvano Briceno said last year, “Cuba must serve as an example.”

“The Cuban model,” he said, “could easily be applied to other countries.”

Cuban President Fidel Castro addressed the Cuban people on national television prior to Hurricane Charley last summer. “The number one thing is to protect lives,” he said. “You can rebuild everything, except for a life.”

“We shall measure the effectiveness of our preparation through the number of lives that are saved,” Castro said.

A 2004 Oxfam America report, Cuba — Weathering the Storm”, written by Martha Thompson and Izaskun Gaviria, attributed Cuba’s success to “its centralized government” and “community mobilization around preparedness.”

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7692/1/285

[halley]

11. I am shocked

I couldn't believe this. I don't know why he would say such a thing, maybe he does have a heart. Anyhow I wrote to thank him.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Can we learn from Cuba's lesson? (Cuban hurricane protection)

Can we learn from Cuba's lesson?
The tiny country is known for its hurricane planning that keeps its people prepared and fatalities low.
By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN, Times Senior Correspondent
Published September 9, 2005


Before Hurricane Ivan whipped Cuba last year with 160 mph winds, the government evacuated nearly 2-million people. The result: not a single death or serious injury.

Although it is a small, poor country in the heart of hurricane alley, Cuba is widely acknowledged to do an exemplary job of protecting its 11.3-million residents from natural disasters. Its record is even more impressive in light of the catastrophic loss of life that the United States - the world's richest and most technologically advanced nation - is experiencing from Hurricane Katrina.

"Cuba has not only an evacuation plan but an overall plan for hurricanes and other disasters that is very well developed and organized," says Dusan Zupka of the United Nations' International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction.

"I would dare to say that Cuba is a good example for other countries in terms of preparedness and prevention."
(snip/...)

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/09/Worldandnation/Can_we_learn_from_Cub.shtml

[confludemocrat]

30. He's hoping they will defect in droves, knowing this asswipe (n/t)

[guajira]

31. I Believe you are Absolutely Correct - Mel has an Agenda!

You can bet your ass Martinez is not inviting Drs. here from Cuba for any benefit but his own, and that is to try to get them to "defect".

He wants nothing more than to discredit Cuba as it is today and "restore" the pre-Castro decadent lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthy class.

When Hurricane Dennis hit Cuba, possibly saving Key West from being wiped off the map, *Bush offered Cuba $50,000 in aid - barely enough to build one house!!!

The Cuban government had the class and wisdom to turn down *B's insulting offer - probably why *B is now turning down the offer from Cuba!!

GWB == WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!