We'll never take aid from Cuba. It would be admitting the failure of our government to take care of its own.
It's become rather a source of embarrassment, in fact. We're all having to face people who are like, "You're the richest country in the world and you can't handle this? Tiny economies are giving your aid money back to you?" This is usually followed up with a few points about how if we weren't spending all this money in Iraq.
On the other hand, we've backed off our original stance, directed from DC, of accepting no foreign aid whatsoever.
The Cuba thing, though...we can't verify that they are in fact doctors, and the Castro administration has tried in the past to send us people from their jails. So there's a possibility that "1100 doctors" means "1100 folks we want out of our prisons."
Yeah. The Cuba situation is messy enough that I wouldn't blame Bush for turning down this one. One of the very few things I don't blame him for this last week.
So there's a possibility that "1100 doctors" means "1100 folks we want out of our prisons."
I suppose we could test them first: "Here - perform an appendectomy on this guy. Points will be deducted for infection, failing to close the incision, uglier than usual scars, removing the wrong organ, or death."
Yeah. The line for volunteer testees starts over there ----->
Cuba DOES have a lot of unemployed doctors. You read those articles about how professionals in Havana turn tricks to make ends meet...
Sighh...
So sad. It's all so fucking sad.
I can't play the video of Olbermann right now; is it the same as this entry in his blog?
multiple news sources are picking the tone up and running with it
That and journalists were
right there.
I don't know how many reporters I saw crying on air. They were letting people use their cell phones, flagging down ambulances and doing what they could to help. They're as pissed as the rest of us.
That, and the public officials being caught out in bald lies and/or dreadful misapprehensions, showing their lack of caring/ information / bureaucratic direction, such as Bush's "No one could have predicted" or Brown and Chertoff's repeated assertions about being warned about the consequences of a Cat 5 storm, or conditions on the ground in NO starting on Monday morning.
The Cuba thing, though...we can't verify that they are in fact doctors, and the Castro administration has tried in the past to send us people from their jails. So there's a possibility that "1100 doctors" means "1100 folks we want out of our prisons."
Cuba does have more doctors per capita than the US. And last time I checked, equal or better life expectancy, so they can't all be turning tricks.
Cuba does have more doctors per capita than the US. And last time I checked, equal or better life expectancy, so they can't all be turning tricks.
According to the CIA World Fact Book, it's currently about half a year shorter than in the US. Close enough to be treated as equal in practical terms. It has a slightly lower infant mortality rate.
Australia, on the other hand, has a life expectancy at birth that exceeds that in the US by over 2.5 years. Our infant mortality rate is 72% that of the US, which I have to say is lower than I expected.
