(Fla) School trips to Cuba face ban (bill sent to Jeb to sign)

[Mika]

School trips to Cuba face ban
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14496645.htm

TALLAHASSEE - A bill aimed at banning public and private universities and community colleges from sponsoring trips to Cuba and other nations labeled as ''terrorist'' by the U.S. State Department cleared both chambers of the Legislature and is on its way to the governor.

The plan, which is the brainchild of Miami Republican Rep. David Rivera, will block the schools from using state funds, private donations and grants to ``implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state.''

That's bad news for students like Brett Jestrow, who says he could not have written his doctoral dissertation on plants native to Cuba without doing research in the island nation.

-

Critics of the measure say it is ''political demagoguery'' and that Rivera, a Cuban American, is trying to use anti-Castro legislation to appeal to the emotions of voters.

''His record representing his district has been rather poor,'' said Lisandro Pérez, a professor at Florida International University and former director of FIU's Cuban Research Institute. ``It's reprehensible that Rep. Rivera uses Cuba and this issue to further his political career.''

Without Castro most Fla. politicians would have no platform, as demonstrated above.

[LostinVA]

1. So, Cuba is a terrorist nation but Saudi Arabia isn't?

Bizarro Bush World....

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. What about Guantanamo?

[peacetalksforall]

2. Berlin Wall. When did it come down? Here is another example of

hostage taking by the Cuban-Americans.

Last week we had news that another Cuban American was arrested with a house full of ammunitions that he claims were to be used in a terrorist attack on Fidel in cooperaiton with the U.S. administration. Who knows.

The question is who are the terrorists?

The U.S. has sanctioned attacks on Fidel for 46 years.

Did Fidel send bombs or doctors to a couple of dozen countries?

The U.S. should have established relations with Cuba at the fall of the Berlin Wall if not before.

We are huge buddies with former and current communist countries, BUT NOT CUBA.

How many laws like this one are currently in place like this one?

Absolutely raw and stupid politics.

[rodeodance]

3. Cuba -terrorist nation. ????

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Even the most rabid anti-Castro DUers don't say THAT.

Too over-the-top, even for them.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Cuba is not a terrorist nation, but a victim of US aggression & terrorism

I challenge anyone to find a single incident of Cuban-sponsored terrorism. I suggest that all the acts of terrorism involving Cuba were planned, funded, and executed from United States soil against Cuba.

In New York they pander to the Likudniks, in Florida they pander to the Miami Mafia.

[Mika]

5. To repukes universal healthcare is terrorism..

.. and Cuba's helping poor nations with doctors, health care, medical training, and educators is a fine repug example of Cuba exporting terra.

--

You are absoloutely correct IG.

US terrorism against Cuba

[Vogon_Glory]

6. An Assault on Academic Freedom, A Self-Inflicted Wound

Rivera's little bill was not only an assault on academic freedom in Florida, but it is also going to further minimize the influence of Miami-area Cuban exiles in the post-Castro era.

I've no doubt that after Fidel Castro passes on, Cuba will begin to move away from the Marxist-style socialism it favors towards something more closely resembling the mixed economies found in Tito's Yugoslavia or in China during the late 1970's and early 1980's. There is not only going to be a demand for capital, but there will be a demand for knowledge and skills, too.

Clearly, that knowledge and those skills are going to come from somewhere else other than Florida. I suspect that the US universities creating and renewing ties with Cuba's educational institutions are all going to have one point in common--they won't be based in Florida.

As Florida's demographics change (excluding the possibility of rising sea levels) and as political thought changes, the hard-line exiles are going to find themselves even further out while looking in, and having even LESS say as to Cuba's future.

As a Texan, I do hope that my state legislature doesn't choose to imitate that bit of folly. As for future Florida academicians and capitalists stymied by Rivera's legislative grand-standing, well, we'll smile, wave, and say "Tough luck! Too bad! The race goes to the swiftest and the most adaptable, that's how the market works." :evilgrin:

[Mika]

11. You obviously don't get it..

.. in order to help bring more freedom to Cubans in Cuba we reduce freedoms to Americans in the USA.

Do ya see how it works now? :banghead:

[Judi Lynn]

7. Rep. David Rivera dares to condemn "these leftists of higher education!"

According to right-wing reactionaries, anyone who doesn't submit to right-wing rape is a "terrorist."

I remember having read this bit of brilliance from Rivera some time ago:

~snip~
first-term representative David Rivera, who was born in New York, told the Miami Herald on February 23, “I want to be mayor of Cienfuegos in a free Cuba.”
(snip)

http://worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj04-1/weinmann.html



Future mayor of Cienfuegos?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You'd think the people of Cienfuegos would want to have something to say about this. Miami Mafia people make the gross error in judgement of fantisizing if someone would knock off Fidel Castro, they could get right back on top and control Cuba all over again.



Rep. David Rivera's future conquest, Cienfuegos, Cuba

[mitchtv]

8. They will be greeted as Liberators, with flowers and sweets...

How about we repeal the Cuban Readjustment act?