Talksport caller on dogs, Cuba and universal healthcare.

George Galloway and his guest (mistaken for a woman) talk about dogs and Cuba. In Galloway's views, 5 and a half million dogs is too many for him. Dogs for the police and military are a necessity.

The latter is downright explosive, Galloway simply does not agree with the views of his guest on Cuba. The caller would rather live a shorter live than to get access to universal healthcare.

Originally broadcasted on 11th October 2008.

Category:

News & Politics

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[basooome]

I'd prefer Castro any day than over successive U.S capitalist administrations if I was living under the poverty line in the United States or if I was black or a minority in the U.S or if I didn't have health care and had to rot and die or see my kid rot and die because I wasn't rich enough to afford my basic human rights. The U.S belongs to the rich, that is all...Cuba belongs to all!

[reyesjaen07]

Viva la revolucion cubana. Viva el socialismo. Viva Fidel Castro. Viva Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

[mindhunter09]

@Eye0fTheStorm The most crucial fact: Fidel castro and his brother have a 50+ year old embargo on the cuban people. They are not allowed to travel freely, own private businesses, trade, speak their mind, participate in political debates, choose their leaders or their way of government. All of this is maintained at gunpoint and threat of destroying your life. Lets stop blaming the USA for FIdel's horrible actions. He is a military dictator, not one has ever elected him or his brother into power.

[mindhunter09]

@mindhunter09 I'd love to see you live 1 year as a regular cuban in cuba, under the same economic and political pressures. I;d love to see you try to change the status quo and make your voice heard OVER THERE. I'd just love to see you....but that, we both know, will never happen.

[mindhunter09]

@lcfcsam92 The only thing the revolution achieved was make a prosperous country, poor, make happy people, sad and raggedy, make a normal country, a prison. It effectively isolated cubans from the rest of the world. You are telling me thats a good trade off for teaching you how to read and write for free? No, it is not. Cubans were not cave people or uneducated before the "revolution" cuba was well ahead (for its time) in latin america. Anyway, you dont fix that at gunpoint and imposing things.

[mindhunter09]

@mindhunter09 Newsflash, Fidel castro is a millionaire, owns mansions, lives a life of luxiry while cubans have NO chance of advancing. They have no choice but to live off the scraps thrown at them by the government or black market. That is NOT an improvement over pre-1959 cuba. You can shove your life expectancy where it dont shine. I'd take self determination any day. There is a worse kind of elitism in cuba NOW than pre 1959. Fidel castro and his cronies live like kings while ppl starve.

[mindhunter09]

@lcfcsam92 Let me put it in a way you can understand: Before 1959 there were social classes, YES. Like ALL developed countries. The richest people are going to be, of course, the minority. That is the way the world works. Now in cuba there is only 1 social class: POOR and Oppressed. Everyone fits in that category. Now everyone is poor. Excuse me, i made a mistake. There is another class: The government elite. They get to travel, be millionaires, etc, like the people they so criticize.

[mindhunter09]

@lcfcsam92 So you are saying 1 men encouraged millions of inmigrants? hmm no, those inmigrants obviously saw an opportunity to thrive in cuba and they did, until fidel castro stole their property in 1959. Nowadays cubans are looking for ANy way to get out. Life expectancy? How about suicide rates? Cuba ranks among the very top world wide. Why is life expectancy an argument agaisnt freedom, self determination, safety, dignity, and rule of law, rather than dictatorship. There are no excuses.

[mindhunter09]

@lcfcsam92 Free education? You mean free, government censored, communist, one-party, education right? If you as much as say something agaisnt the government you will not be able to get into university. IS that free? No its not. It comes at a terrible cost : Mental and spiritual slavery to a system that tells you what to read and what not to read (or else). Free healthcare? You mean filthy hospitals, no medicine, and an apartheid between tourist hospitals (cubans banned) and cuban hospitals?

[mindhunter09]

@Harvey6972 Which universe are you living in? There are currently 4 million cuban exiles around the world that have left to leave permanently outside cuba. In 1958 cuba was not a nation of emigrants, but if immigrants. People dont emigrate to countries if they see no benefit in it. Obviously cuba was in better economic shape then than it is now. A blind person could see that. I think you are the one that needs to learn a lesson in not fbricating facts. You are defending the indefensible.

[lcfcsam92]

@mindhunter09 also,people did emigrate to Cuba,but because they were allowed and encouraged by Batista to exploit Cuba,leaving the majority of the Cuban people in poverty

you also talked about life expectancy being lower all over the world 50 years ago,which is true but does not explain why Cuba today has a higher life expectancy than the USA today,which wasnt true 50 years ago

you have fabricated the facts,despite the great things the revolution has achieved.Viva Fidel.Viva la revolucion cubana

[lcfcsam92]

@mindhunter09 those facts you talk about do hold some truth, but are still fabricated with information withheld

Cuba's so called vibrant economy in1958 was reserved for a select few people,with high levels of poverty,mortality,illiteracy for the vast majority of Cubans, which is not the case today

average wage in Cuba is around $15 a month,but that doesnt take into account the free education,health care,food rations,housing,culture that the Cuban people today receive,making them much better off