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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: art slott who wrote (1772)	4/22/2000 11:01:00 PM
From: art slott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

Every picture tells the story. news.excite.com

To: art slott who wrote (1772)	4/22/2000 11:37:00 PM
From: dwight martin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

1. The mom (an economic refugee at best) kidnapped the boy (a crime in this and many other countries), and tried to leave Cuba in a boat known by her to be unsafe, drowning herself and almost killing him in the process. She deserves no further thought or mention. 2. The Miami relatives (not "family" as some media morons repeated so often) spit on the rule of law, saying they would "never" give up Eli…n. Why should they, when keeping him hostage guaranteed them access to media platforms from which they could keep trying (not very effectively, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves) to poke Fidel Castro in the eye?. Now that the federal government has taken away their meal ticket, they are "ashamed to be Americans." If that's not the ultimate irony, it's mighty close. 3. Hopefully, the little remaining political credibility of these pitiful, burnt-out anti-Castro Cuban-Americans went up in the smoke from the tires they set on fire today in Little Havana. 4. I hope they do go to Washington D.C., still pretending that it's all about Eli…n. If the dad gives them any more than the back of his hand he's a better man than I am.

To: art slott who wrote (1772)	4/23/2000 1:23:00 AM
From: pooh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9127

art slott... Magazine? Oh, good old magazine. If you believe in magazine, you would believe that people in Somalia are all starved to death, except, of course, those who are not in the small villages where the rebel and the government were fighting. Of course, there are death. Pictures don't lie, do they? It's just the photographers who did not show them all. Elian. The kid. Of course, he loves his daddy. He loves being with his daddy. It's just like a teenage kids who love to get into a red corvette and push it to 100mph. Would you let the kids do so, though? Oh well, it may not be the same. Anyway, have you ever been in a communist country, art? I have. And I am sure that my parents would love to let me come to the US when I was 6, so they didn't have to provide me another chance, when I was 18, on the pacific ocean, along with other 67 people in a 30-foot long boat, without food and drinking water for 3 days and 4 nights. Well, I lied. There was water. When it was drizzling one night, a bright mind guy in our boat had a great idea: he took off his under shirt, dampened it with drizzled water and squeeze it into a container to share with all of us in the boat - one bottle cap each. It sure was little salty, but it wasn't from the ocean, and it was drinkable. Have you ever been in such boat? To see kids and old people passed out under the heat of the sun, hungry and thirsty? To see sharks swimming along the boat, waiting for food? To see no future? To see your hope disappears along with the sun? You couldn't recognize your image, your self. You just float... and dream. I did. So did Elian, I imagine. What were all those for? For freedom, art. For a place where no one would tell you when you have to be home (beside your parents, of course); where Billy Joe can sing his song "My Life" without being put to jail; where neighbors don't watch what you wear or eat; where your habits are not documented for any future use against you; where you don't have to have a passport to go to the next town, to buy a train ticket, or just to stay in an expensive hotel; where government doesn't just change the money and dictate the price for everything, so people can be equal. Change money! Funny how it sounds, doesn't it? Imagine the US government shuts down the private banks and tells us that each family can exchange up to $200, no matter how much one had before. Unreal, isn't it? Not so for those of us, who have been in a communist country. What else beside freedom? well ... for a chance to be better, and a chance was all we asked for. A chance to work and earn a living, a chance to learn, a chance to go to college, a chance to own your own business, a chance to be responsible for your own destiny. And a chance is what Elian's father should give him.