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Thursday, May 03, 2007
Fred Thompson :: Townhall.com Columnist
The myth of Cuban health care
by Fred Thompson
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Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


According to Forbes magazine, by the way, Castro is now personally worth approximately $900 million. So when he desperately needed medical treatment recently, he could afford to fly a Spanish surgeon, with equipment, on a chartered jet to Cuba. What does that say about free Cuban health care?

The other thing that irks me about Moore and his cohort in Hollywood is their complete lack of sympathy for fellow artists persecuted for opposing the Castro regime. Pro-democracy activists are routinely threatened and imprisoned, but Castro remains a hero to many here. According to human rights organizations, these prisoners of conscience are often beaten and denied medical treatment, sanitation or even adequate nutrition.

If Moore wants a subject for a real documentary, I would suggest looking into the life of Cuban painter and award-winning documentarian Nicolás Guillén Landrián. He was denied the right to practice his art for using the Beatles' song, "The Fool on the Hill," as background music behind footage of Castro climbing a mountain. Later, he was given plenty of free Cuban health care when he was confined for years in a "mental institution" and given devastating, repeated electroshock "treatments."

There are many other artists and activists who have enjoyed similar treatment. I suspect we'll see movies with sympathetic portrayals of terrorists held in Guantanamo before we ever hear about the torture of true Cuban heroes. Even Andy Garcia's brilliant fictionalized movie about the real Cuban experience, "The Lost City," was given the Hollywood silent treatment. My bet, though, is that we'll hear lots about how Michael Moore showed that Cuba's socialized medicine is better than ours.

So go ahead and start working on the Oscar speech, Michael.

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About The Author

Fred Thompson has been a lawyer, actor and United States Senator. He writes exclusive analysis and commentary for Townhall Magazine.

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Run Fred Run
Fellows, while I admire Duncan Hunter, let me tantalize you with another possibility;
Fred Thompson/Bobby Jindal ticket.
Simply unbeatable. Jindal is polling north of 70% in somewhat Democratic/Katrina ravaged state that was supposed to be a poster place for GWB/conservative "uncaring" of people suffering. He is 100% conservative on just about any issue you'd care to name. And the Demof#@!ks would tie themselves into three pretzels at the same time trying to oppose a son of immigrants/minority/conservative christian VP candidate backing a Reaganesque/plain speaking/no-skeletons-in-a-closet presidential candidate.

Thank you
As a second generation cuban american I thank you for exposing the truth about the cuban healthcare or lack thereof.
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