what it's time for is up to you--


Sunday, August 1

[See my 5/18/04 post for background]

Early in July the House of Representatives voted to overturn restrictions propsed by the President on the things American could send to their family members back in Cuba.

Evidently a coalition of Democrats and farm-state "free trade" Republicans voted to block Bush's policy to further restrict trade and travel with Cuba. However, the vote last year to end prohibition of travel to Cuba by Americans [departing from the U.S.] didn't hold when Bush threatened to veto the bill to which it was attached.

The new Department of Commerce rules bar people from shipping items including clothing, seeds, veterinary medicine and soap-making ingredients to Cubans. Obviously, healthy pets and farm animals or clean citizens encourage continued support of the Castro regime. If the receiving person isn't a direct member of the sender's family (parent, grandparent, grandchild, spouse), then you can't get anything shipped from the States. Anything that's not food can only be shipped once a month to each household instead of once a month per individual family relative.

The U.S. Senate has yet to act.

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