Steel

And the ignorance that people have about the difference is sad. On the one hand in places like the Dominican Republic, the workers lives are bettered by working in the resorts, and they work there by choice, just as they remain in the DR as a whole by choice, don't have a government not allowing them to establish their own business. And on the other hand we have the Cubans, who are legally not permitted to go to any of the resorts they are forced to work in, (even if they got dollars, given to them by foreigners) to pay for it. And a goverment that has been doing anything it needs for the past half a century to make sure they have enough slaves to keep the Castros intrests going there. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

You make a lot of interesting points and the only thing I can add to that is that I am hoping that we don't loose the Republican control of the executive branch and that we win some more of the Congress back. However, for the rest of the people here that don't really understand the Cuban situation I will give a couple of hypothetical questions to think about. Suppose that I get some militants together and find an Island with a really nice Climate that has a couple of hundred thousand Chinese imigrants and basically force them to work for me, paying them close to nothing more than just enough to remain alive, and kill anybody who I think might be able to overthrow me without even thinking twice about it and on occasion kill anybody trying to escape to a free country in the act. Knowing this would you happily go an enjoy yourself at my resorts? Now suppose with that couple of hundred thousand Chinese Imigrants, I throw in 3.5 to 4 million Spanish Imigrants, a couple of million decendents of slaves from the Congo, and a couple million Mulattos (mixture of blacks form the Congo and whites from Spain). Now would you happily go to my resort and enjoy yourself? If you would you have just put yourself at the level of a typical European or Canadian from a Cuban perspective. If you wouldn't then why do you see it any different to go to Castro's resorts? If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

why would lifting the embargo be "screwing the Cubans?" ------------------------------------------- Because lfting the embargo would mean recognizing the Castro regime as anything other that a group of mass-murders, who have hijacked this countyry for a half a century. It would mean giving them more money, which clearly would not be used to help the general population, but instead to keep them oppressed. The problem is not that Castro does not see capitalism as profitable. If he didn't then he wouldn't have had all the Cuban tourist resorts built by foreign investors. They understand capitalism quite well when it fills their bankaccounts. But the idea of loosing any of profits that the regime is enjoying to any of the Cuban population at large by allowing them to work for them selves is not something the Cuban government has any intention of doing. Not as it stands or with the extra US dollars that ending the embargo would bring in. Therefore by ending the embargo you are saying to the Cuban public we give up on trying to bring democracy to your country and trying to free your people. Instead we will choose to make business deals with your slave masters (the Castros) and reap the benifits. Does that clairify why ending the embargo is screwwing the Cuban people? ============================= It seems to me that keeping the embargo in place is just an empty & misguided gesture to save face & continue to say "fuck you" to the Castro regime. --------------------------------------- And for reasons that have already been stated, I completely disagree with this statement. ========================== We should be thinking about practical goals & end-results here. And it seems to me that a move towards a more free society in Cuba would be helped along by free trade. ============================ And again for reasons that I have stated here, I believe that free trade with the Castro regime would never become free trade with the Cuban population at large. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Did the people who business interests in Russia in 1917 get compensated? Most of them were dead before the opportunity to retrieve their stolen assests was presented. Actually if I had more time I could find you a link. But since I don't I will just tell you that as it is, Castro's regime has been sued for stolen assests and had money convisgated by international banks be used to pay the some of the victims. So yes there is a long list of people who don't want to just let their probperty be stolen from them who are still in line to get it back. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

That is a valid arguement and there are a few Cubans who agree with that, but most of us don't and I will try to explain why, (atleast from my perspective) very, very briefly. Its true that Castro and the others in power are not directly hurt by the embargo, but to think that if Castro and the others in power got more money by us lifting the embargo that they would in turn pass it on to the Cuban population rather than increase their bank accounts from just under a billion to a couple of billion, to think that would be naive. Castro will always blame the U.S., as its an easy scae goat, not allowing the Cuban population access to the free world he could make up anything he wishes and tell them that. The reason the embargo has not been very effective is the fault of the rest of the world. Its the Canadians and Europeans who couldn't care less about the suffering, oppressed Cuban population that just want to use Cuba for its nice beaches and pretend to not know what is going on there. I understand that by not giving Castro any of my dollars, its not going to take him out of power, but upporting them would make me feel worse about myself. The European arguement (wether its directly said, implied or just the overall effect) of screw the Cubans, let just get what we can from Cuba seems very similar to me as their mentality of screw Israel, lets just avoid the wrath of the Muslim countries that want to kil all the Israeliis. Perhaps that it why for the past 45+ years everytime the vote to end the Embargo has come up in the U.N., the U.S. and Israel have stood alone in defense of the Embargo against the rest of the world. (Just to be accurate, there was one former Soviet country that voted in favor of the embargo a couple of times, but I can remember which one it was) If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

What do you mean "Want an island"? He said "Can we end sanctions?" not "Can we take over?". A few things to note from this: Yes the Island stopped developing in the 50's. But why? Is it really that difficult to see that it was the left wing ideology that destroyed this country. Can we end the sanctions? Hell no! Nothing has changed here. Raul Castro, Fidel's brother was put in charge 1.5 years ago and now they are just claiming that its officially permanent. Not only has nothing changed since this but you need to look a little closer and know more about the history to understand some of the reaoning. First off both the Castro's together with Che (Ernesto Guevara) have the blood of well over 100,000 in their hands, so having Raul in charge is not much different from having Fidel. The biggest difference between the 2 is the ease of killing Raul (a known gay alcoholic, who takes many chances) verses Fidel, a man who has dodged countless assassination attempts over the past half a century {many attempted by our very own CIA). If the death of Fidel Castro (as an acting dictator) was leaked to the Cuban populatin, it could very well trigger a general revolt by the Cuban population on the Island. Having Raul be (or appear to be) in power for 1.5 years, while Fidel is (or was believed to still be) alive, made it less likely that there woulld be a revolt, because the general population fears more what Fidel would do to deal with dissenters. This is basically just easing the transition of power avoiding any changes from how it currently (which is very bad for the Cuban population). The sanctions aren't going anywhere because people like me who know the history and actually care about Cuba don't want them to, and as much as the lefties wish otherwise, our voices do matter. As for taking over Cuba, historically the U.S. has tried to do that for centuries. Currently, I would venture to say that the overwelming majority of Cubans on and off the Island would prefer U.S. rule rather than either of the Castros, in power. Since everybody in my parents, grandparents & great grandparents generation was born in Cuba and I still have several relatives there, I think that my opinion on this matter is a little more based on reality, than others who just want to use this as a tool to bash the GOP. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

If your credit is flawless 5.25 was not the bottom. I am at 4.5 fixed. I was guessing at what the rate bottomed out at. I stand corrected. All cool, I refinanced on May of 04, (previously was at 6.125) . I keep thinking that 6 months before, I could have gotten 4.0, fixed. I wonder if anybody else got 4 flat. I know that everytime a bank calls me offering to refinance me to a lower rate; after I telle them what I have, they sorry can't help you. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

If your credit is flawless 5.25 was not the bottom. I am at 4.5 fixed. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

A coe-worker once told me he had an IQ of 160. I tried hard not to laugh. Then I asked him if he knew what percentage of people had an IQ this high. He said "I know its very few only like 5% of the population." Then I corrected him and told him it was more like 1 in 11,000. And instead of saying ok I confess I am full of sh*$, he said, "yeah I know, that is why I don't tell people, I don't want them to think I am bragging". The thing that gets to me about this guy is that he really is very smart. But clearly he doesn't know anything about IQ scores, so why would he feel the need to make up a story about an IQ test that obviously never happened. Why the insecurity? If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

A "P" level exam has a three year lifetime. When you take the last exam to get a "P" cert, the cert expires three years after that last exam. Three years later, all the exams are more than three years old, so you are back to square one. I copied the following from the cisco web site. I am not sure how to read that. If it means any and all or any 1. CCNP Recertificaton CCNP certifications are valid for three years. To recertify, pass any 642 exam that is part of the professional level curriculum after 01/01/06, or pass a current CCIE written exam. http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le3/le2/le37/le10/learning_certification_type_home.html If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

I wish I hadn't let my CCNP & CCDP lapse. I'm working on renewing the CCNP, and DAMN the exams are a hell of a lot worse than they were 5 years ago! It took me two tries to pass the switching exam. Two of my co-workers have taken (and failed) it in recent months. One of them did that right after taking one of those over-priced week-long courses. The courses are cool for a week off when your company is paying for it. But, if you could pass the exam just from sitting in a classroom for a week, then the exam would be meaningless. Also I am not sure if you completely expired what you need to do but, if I read correctly, inorder to remain current you just need to pass one professional level exam. If I didn't have my sights on the IE, I would probably do the MPLS or BGP one. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

I am studying for the written currently when I can. The way I figure, I am not doing it for my current position. Its more a case of job security incase something happens. Also from my standpoint its a minimum 20% increase on my next position if all else remained the same and except that I got the IE. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

That must be the CCIE written. Then another 6 months wait to get into the schedule for the practical. Then another 6 month wait to get into the schedule to take it the second time. Then another 6 month wait to get into the schedule to take it the third time and pass it. yeah exactly. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Its not just with skydiving, its with bull riding, politics, running track or anything that these people think they can bull shit about about, that is anything that they think they can get away with lying about without the possibility that somebody will know better. I had a coe-worker tell me yesterday how a freind of his got his CCNA, CCNP and CCIE within a month. Reality is that with a lot of studying and competence, it would take a 1 month for the CCNA, 3 to 4 months for a CCNP and then after all that 6 months for a CCIE. These timelines are assuming you did nothing with your time but study and had a lab to practice on. Being that I am a CCNP, I just smiled and said, "yeah that friend of yours must really know his stuff". Then I had my fat co-worker who is easily 60-70 pounds overweight tell me that he normally runs 5 miles in 25 minutes when working out. I wasn't sure if he really thought I was going to believe that he was at the level of an olympic long distance runner or if he simply did not know what he was b.s.'ing about. Either way he left me thinking what an idiot. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Yeah I guess I can agree with that on a general level. If ever I refer to that subset of people, I make sure to say Spanish speaking, just as if I was referring to people of the Bahamas, Jamaica, England and the U.S. I might say English Speaking, or France, Haiti, and Algeria as French speaking. Still Spanish speaking individuals are a very diverse group not only racially but politically and socially as well. I won't go into specifics because I am on the run. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

As to the race question...Hispanics are the largest minority in the US..... I find it interesting that despite evidence to the contrary so many continue to try to define "Hispanic" as a race. The CIA is not so clueless as to go the same standards. They define Mexico where the highest number of "Hispanics" in this country from, as having mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%. Thats white as in from Spanish descent, not Irish, not German or some other group which you might be thinking. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html Want to have a better laugh at the people who think "Hispanic" is a race look at Argentina https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ar.html at 97% percent white they are by far a country with much less non-white folk than the U.S. at only 81% white. Come to think of it even the CIA spells out the misconception that "Hispanic" is a race in their page on the United States where the say the following: white 81.7%, black 12.9%, Asian 4.2%, Amerindian and Alaska native 1%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.2% (2003 est.) note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.) here is the link if you need to see for yourself https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Thank you for the thoughtful post. From the lessons that one could learn from these Cold War-era incidents, what lessons would you argue the next president should pay attention to for: (1) dealing w/current nuclear proliferation, i.e., DPRK & Iran's allegedly nascent weapons program, With Iran, I am open to other possibilities. However, my gut feeling currently is to support Israel and let them handle the issue, the only way I believe it will be taken care of for the moment. (bombing their nuclear development facilities) & (2) dealing with radical Islamism/global Salafists? That is a tough question to answer. There are a lot of strategies that need to be ued to minimize death that has and will continue to occur. The only thing I can say for sure is to not pretend we don't know what the problem is. Its not 80 year old Swedish women, its Middle Eastern males 18-45. That being said focusing on a group and discriminating a group is not the same thing. Pulling somebody into a room after getting home form a long trip at an airport, and questioning them aggressively for hours, with no proof whatsoever, somebody who at no point was trying to push the envlope, is not the answer. I have known of people to whom this has happened recently. In anycase this is kind of a differnt topic all together. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Thanks for such a well formed post. I do have one question. Wasn't the Platt Amendment of 1901 repealed in 1934, making claims about it's enforcement in 1959 irrelevant? I know a lot about Cuban history because it interests me because pretty much my entire ancestry was there between 1898 and 62. However, I don't claim to be an expert on history. That being said I have never heard of the Platt amendment being repealled in 1934, but am intrigued. If you know of any articles addressing this, please link them as I am interested in learning more about this. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

First off, I haven't posted here in a long time because most of the dissent I encounter, I believe is too hopeless and offensive. However, I always thought of you as one of the better ones, not because I agreed with you most of the time, but because I never saw you attack somebody's personal character. Anyhow for that reason I am taking the time to tell you why I think you are dead wrong about Kennedy and the Cuban missle crisis. First of all the Cuban missle crisis was hardly about Cuba, as those were Soviet missles that Castro (He was the entire Cuban government) had no say in whatsovever with regards to those missles. Those missles were a Soviet response to the U.S. placing Jupiter missles in Turkey. With the help of the Kennedy freindly media and the Soviet Union staying quiet (knowing they really won that dispute), Kennedy was able to appear like a hero, when in reality he was weak on Communism. Kennedy's agreement with the Soviets involved taking out the Jupiter missles from Turkey and having the Soviets take out their missles from Cuba. However, for the official (Kennedy freindly) newspapers, Kennedy was the tough guy who made the Soviets back down, by ONLY agreeing to let Cuba go to shit, that is agreeing never to use the Platt amendment of 1901, which gave the U.S. the right to restore law and order, when the Cuban Constitution was not being followed and mass murder was taking place. (Pretty much the conditions that never really stopped since Castro assumed control in January,1959. If you believe that Cuban life and Cuba is worthless, then you can say that Kennedy had and even swap with the Soviets, ie.. they took out their missles we took out ours. If you believe there was any value in Cuba, then the Soviets won. But there is no possible way that anybody, who is objectively looking at the facts, could say that because of Kennedy the U.S. came out on top. Many alarmists will have you believe that taking this loss was the only way that Kennedy had to avoid World war 3 and there is no absolute proof supporting or contradicting this. I don't believe that to be the case and I will state that these same alarmists also were quick to suggest that Reagan was taking us into World War 3 by his actions in the Reykjavik Summit in 1986. As much as dissenters may try to rewrite history, we know for a fact what actually did occur in the following years due the the response of a president who was not weak on communism. If you or somebody else has a meaningful question that is not answered in these 5 or 6 paragraphs, I will reply. "Well disguised" attacks or spin I will ignore. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Please finish it man ============================ Woe to you Oh Earth and Sea for the Devil sends the beast with wrath because he knows the time is short Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast for it is a human number its number is six hundred and sixty six. I left alone my mind was blank I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind What did I see can I believe that what I saw that night was real and not just fantasy Just what I saw in my old dreams were they reflections of my warped mind staring back at me Cos in my dreams it's always there the evil face that twists my mind and brings me to despair The night was black was no use holding back Cos I just had to see was someone watching me In the mist dark figures move and twist was all this for real or just some kind of hell 666 the Number of the Beast Hell and fire was spawned to be released Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised as they start to cry hands held to the sky In the night the fires are burning bright the ritual has begun Satan's work is done 666 the Number of the Beast Sacrifice is going on tonight This can't go on I must inform the law Can this still be real or just some crazy dream but I feel drawn towards the evil chanting hordes they seem to mesmerize...can't avoid their eyes 666 the Number of the Beast 666 the one for you and me I'm coming back I will return And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn I have the fire I have the force I have the power to make my evil take its course If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

10. Cats' facial expressions Don't care. 9. The need for the same style of shoes in different colors Have the same style shoes in different colors. 8. Why bean sprouts aren't just weeds Don't care. 7. Fat clothes Understand and have. (most people serious about bodybuilding have to) 6. Taking a car trip without trying to beat your best time Understand taking a car trip not trying to beat previous records. But also understand sometimes wanting to beat the best time. 5. The difference between beige, off-white, and eggshell Couldn't care less. 4. Cutting your bangs to make them grow - HUH?? It doesn't matter when your bangs are less than a half inch long. 3. Eyelash curlers Know what they and what they do, don't remember what they are for. Think its to make the eyes look bigger. 2. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made Am very well aware that most bathroom scale are inaccurate. Have found that most of them read lower than your actual weight. I think this is a really stupid way to make yourself feel better. Specially when your current goal could just as well have been to gain weight. 1. OTHER WOMEN. Don't understand this, I but don't believe anybody does. There is a clear difference between acceptance and understanding. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

glad you volunteered mate. They are all yours, unless somebody else wants to share their love with you. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=507732229697832036 If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

I appreciate this kind of trolling, as it appears to be geared towards getting me back to posting here. I will admit, I have been lurking and felt tempted to reply when I read something outrageous. But usually I just wait and somebody else replies as necessary. None the less even after the clarification the person posting the none sense will pretend to have misunderstood and lamely attempt to spin the issue. His fans will quickly post showing their support, however it is hard to believe that they are that feeble-minded. As for the others who didn't buy it, don't worry Bill Von we still believe you have a good heart under all that spin. The same can be said for some of the other spin-miesters but some are not more than a user id on DZ.com. In any case who really cares? I don't. If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.

joining in with If I could make a wish, I think I'd pass. Can't think of anything I need No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound. Nothing to eat, no books to read.