Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars!!!

[Andem]

US Tightens Restrictions on Cuban Cigars
VOA News
06 Oct 2004, 21:10 UTC


The United States Treasury Department has tightened its prohibitions against U.S. citizens importing or consuming Cuban cigars.
The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced in a notice posted on the Internet that even Americans licensed to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban goods will no longer be allowed to include tobacco products in what they carry. Previously, those licensed were exempted from what was otherwise a total import ban on Cuban tobacco products.

The notice also clarifies that Americans are barred from not only purchasing Cuban goods in foreign countries, but also from consuming them in those countries.

The penalties for violating the prohibitions include maximum criminal fines for individuals of $250,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years. Corporations can be fined as much as a million dollars.

Source

How the hell is the United States supposed to stop people from smoking cuban cigars when they come to Canada or other countries that imports them?

This seriously reminds me of the rule they had in communist Roumania (aka Romania) which prohibited Romanians from literally talking to foreign nationals.. It was against the law.

Now it's against the law for an American to smoke a cuban cigar? B*llocks.

 

[Andem]

RE: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

BTW, this is not a hoax! Look at other news releases: http://news.google.ca/news?q=cuban cigars&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wn

 

[vista]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

I know Kennedy loved them and smoked them and at that time they were contraband.

Siglo V series - they best I've ever smoked

BTW, counterfeiting Cubans is big business.

 

[LadyC]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

So long as tourists obey the laws of the country they're in, they should be exempt from prosecution at home.

Excepting the pedophile sex tours of course. They should have pertinent parts cut off.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

BTW, counterfeiting Cubans is big business.

You mean like they did with the actors in Scarface? :wink: :lol:

The Bush regime is looking more and more like the old soviet regimes all of the time...spying on and arresting their own citizens, holding people without charge or bail, trying to impose rules in countries they have no control over. Right now they are trying to keep US citizens from breaking laws that don't exist outside the US. Next they will be requiring anyone travelling outside the US to have an exit visa...for reasons of national security, of course.

Georgie and his pals are nuts, insane, bonkers, looney tunes.

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

Georgie and his pals are nuts, insane, bonkers, looney tunes.

Only one thing nuttier, more insane, more bonkers, and more loonily tuned, and that is the amazing ability of American voters to ignore all the evidence and remain supportive of him. Now THAT is insanity, pure and simple.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Americans can no long

Keep in mind the constant barrage of proganda coming from the government enabled by the right-leaning media and the polarisation that has existed and been growing for over twenty years.

A lot of Americans do not look at the issues or the facts, just like in Canada, they react to the emotional message being put forth without really thinking about it instead.

The Bush regime is very good at appealing to the emotional aspect and ignoring the facts and the truth.

 

[Haggis McBagpipe]

Re: RE: Americans can no long

Keep in mind the constant barrage of proganda coming from the government enabled by the right-leaning media and the polarisation that has existed and been growing for over twenty years.

A lot of Americans do not look at the issues or the facts, just like in Canada, they react to the emotional message being put forth without really thinking about it instead.

The Bush regime is very good at appealing to the emotional aspect and ignoring the facts and the truth.

Yes, so then why are we (in Canada), exposed to the same media, savvy to the obvious?

 

[Martin Le Acadien]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

US Tightens Restrictions on Cuban Cigars
VOA News
06 Oct 2004, 21:10 UTC


The United States Treasury Department has tightened its prohibitions against U.S. citizens importing or consuming Cuban cigars.

The notice also clarifies that Americans are barred from not only purchasing Cuban goods in foreign countries, but also from consuming them in those countries.

The penalties for violating the prohibitions include maximum criminal fines for individuals of $250,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years. Corporations can be fined as much as a million dollars.

[How the hell is the United States supposed to stop people from smoking cuban cigars when they come to Canada or other countries that imports them?

This seriously reminds me of the rule they had in communist Roumania (aka Romania) which prohibited Romanians from literally talking to foreign nationals.. It was against the law.

Now it's against the law for an American to smoke a cuban cigar? B*llocks.

\
Yeah, I had better stop puffing, honestly I didn't inhale
Mr. Customs Man!

Thank God they don't give a piss test for this in the States!
Most Acadiens ignore Washington, they let us wash into the
Gulf of Mexico and we supply 1/4th of the US's supply of oil and
Gas! (Canada supplies 1/4 as well) Texas supplies 1/4th and the other is imported from other countries! We supply the Oil and
they supply the B***S***! Mr Bush might lose Louisiana if we don't see more from Washington in the form of Money to stop Coastal Erosion. We (Acadiens or Cajuns as the Texiens call us-polite name) usually vote Democrat-Labour so he might just lose
Louisiana. I probably vote for Kerry while puffing on one of my Souvenirs from Canada! Vie L'Acadie!!!!!

 

[Reverend Blair]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

Yes, so then why are we (in Canada), exposed to the same media, savvy to the obvious?

We aren't exposed to the same media to the same extent though. The most-watched/listened to source of news here is the CBC. They are much more objective than major American news sources. We also have a higher percentage of people who seek out foreign and alternative news sources on the internet or subscribe to foreign or alternative print magazines.

While the right has largely taken over the corporate media here, we have greater access to and make greater use of non-corporate media.

Want to feel your brain rotting? Try this...watch/read nothing but US corporate media for a couple of days.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

A lot of Americans do not look at the issues or the facts, just like in Canada, they react to the emotional message being put forth without really thinking about it instead.

I have to disagree with you Reverend. Yes, there are Americans who react more on an emotional level than by sane thinking - but I don't think that this is "typically American". And there are also a lot of Americans who are able to think rationally, without putting their emotions first.

 

[bevvyd]

RE: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

When the Americans come here and pick up Cuban cigars, they just take the little band off of them and nobody can prove they are or are not Cuban cigars.

Honestly, is this the best use of the Presiden'ts time, making up uninforceable laws over cigars for goodness sakes.

 

[Darkgrammer]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

The Bush regime is very good at appealing to the emotional aspect and ignoring the facts and the truth.

Media = Sublimminal Messeges

 

[peapod]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

In a free market, consumer demand writes the rules. So if America’s interested in leading the free world—an oxymoronic concept, than why not lead by example instead of by force and protectionist tactics. Open the market. Lift the restrictions. Let freedom ring, and people will hear it. That’s a money-back guantree.

So if, by conventional wisdom, this makes you a Castro supporter—under the reigns of such men as Jim McGreevey, whose actions are despicable no matter who the hell he sleeps with—has not.

Viva la revolucion.

 

[bevvyd]

RE: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

But pea, protectionist tactics is the only way they know how. I guess the president doesn't think the people are smart enough to make informed decisions. Or better yet, they might tell him they think he is wrong. Couldn't have that now can we?

 

[peapod]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

Whats the deal with cuba anyway...they got over, getting their butt kicked in Vietnam...whats up with cuba. Ok sure the guy out smarted, out witted them a few times....buy hey get over yourself already

 

[Andem]

RE: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

There's a lot of chatter here about the US and their plans to control the minds of people, especially in order to keep that psycho man in power, but what I really wanna know is why did they pass this and how do they expect to enforce these rules?

Does this mean they're going to track someone coming to Canada to buy and smoke and maybe bring back Cuban cigars? I'm truly lost on this concept and I'm even more lost on why they wasted their time in passing it...

 

[peapod]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

Well they are already trying to force their bullshit on the rest of us.

"James Sabzali was convicted in a U.S. court of violating the U.S. economic "embargo" against Cuba. His crime? While living in Ontario, operating his own business, and completely within the boundaries of Canadian trade law, Sabzali sold water purification chemicals to Cuban hospitals."

For that, he faces a sentence of life in prison and over $19-million in fines.

adem you missed the question cosmo asked you over in chit chat under introductions...about your mother

 

[Reverend Blair]

Re: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

I have to disagree with you Reverend. Yes, there are Americans who react more on an emotional level than by sane thinking - but I don't think that this is "typically American". And there are also a lot of Americans who are able to think rationally, without putting their emotions first.

There are still a lot of Americans that think instead reacting emotionally, but they've been increasingly marginalised, Rick. About a year ago there an article in Utne Reader, an alternative US magazine. It suggested ways that those on the American left could show they they were patriotic, including flying flags etc., to counter the charge that if you were against George Bush you were somehow unAmerican.

It was a short piece, not the feature article or anything, but the next month there was letter after letter attacking that article. It was bizarre.

Another example would be any attempt at open discourse on any site (American-based or not) where the Republican Party is heavily represented. Try to put forth an opinion that varies from theirs and you will be called a terrorist, an anarchist, and a communist. Provide data to back up your position and the source will be attacked as being from the "loony left" no matter how valid the data or how reliable that source has been in the past. If you persist you will be followed and harrassed at other sites, receive threatening e-mail and, in some cases, have people trying to "out" your real identity.

Now imagine having to live in the midst of that every day. Most people aren't going to remain very vocal for very long under circumstances like that.

It really is a concerted effort to crush any dissent. I doubt that it's organised or some vast conspiracy, it's just part of the culture of the far right in the US. It's fast becoming part of the far right culture in Canada too.

 

[Rick van Opbergen]

RE: Americans can no longer purchase or consume Cuban cigars

I still doubt whether you can claim that people (in this case, Republicans) who react in this way, are a good representation of the 280 million people living in the USA today ... further more, the patriotic "duty" for some as you describe - the sort of patriotism I dislike by the way :wink: - can also be found in other countries, like for example Russia (you won't find many Russians openly criticising Putin's war in Chechnya and not called unpatriotic ...).