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Cuba, Medicine, AIDS, Michael Moore, and Fred ThompsonPosted by Rick on June 24th, 2007

We were sitting around talking about presidential candidates today, and Fred Thompson’s name came up. While Thompson is the most conservative of the candidates, and I do like conservative views on some things, I get really annoyed with conservative sloganism.

I just heard Michael Moore has a new documentary coming out on health care. Apparently, it’s his most balanced film, though critics don’t think it liberal enough. Anyway, Thompson criticized Moore’s lauding of Cuban medicine, and Thompson…well, the youtube.com video has a quote explaining the video:

As Fred Thompson has criticized Michael Moore for his trip to Cuba and visit with Fidel Castro for his documentary on health care, Moore responded by challenging Thompson to a debate on the topic of health care. Moore also made a reference that Thompson smokes Cuban cigars and is violator of the trade embargo. Thompson responds with cigar in hand. If this is a future glimpse of a Thompson political campaign, it is going to be formidable and really tough to beat with material like this.

This video was circulating the blogs about a month ago, and everyone was talking about how cool it was. I know it’s cool to rag on Michael Moore too, so I didn’t say anything, but I just have to get something off my chest.

I hate America’s attitude toward Cuba (and the rest of the world for that matter). I am not a communist. But the McCarthyism is just annoying. And American Superpower attitude grates on my nerves.

Cuba has twice the number of doctors per capita than we do. They lack good equipment because of American oppression, but they’re well-trained. People don’t die because they don’t have medical insurance. Infant mortality is greater in Boston than Cuba, According to WHO, Cuba has the world’s most equitably distributed medicine. Cuba has sent thousands of doctors over the world, and they work for nearly free.

Cuba is the most effective country in the world when it comes to stopping AIDS. As of 2000, the country of 11 million had only 2,669 HIV positive residents in the past twenty years. 1,003 developed into AIDS. Only 653 have died of AIDS. Only ten people got AIDS from blood transfusions. Five got AIDS through their mothers. That’s incredible considering the trade embargo forced Cuba to do most of its business with Africa.

I think Thompson needs to enter into dialogue instead of being cute.