Turns out that the inaugural World Baseball Classic will not feature a team from Cuba. The US Treasury Department has decided that since there is an embargo against Cuba the permit necessary for a Cuban baseball team to come and play cannot be issued. Which is the right decision. Even if you think the embargo against Cuba is ill-advised, the necessary change is to remove the embargo, not to try to persuade the government to ignore the law because you don’t like this particular effect.
And Rep. Jose Serrano (D. New York) is a moron if he thinks that it is possible to “leave the politics out of this”. Does he really think that Castro wouldn’t try to make political hay out of the Cuban team’s performance should they beat the US? And it isn’t about the US having a “grudge” against Cuba, but an “embargo”. It’s depressing to think that such a man is responsible for helping craft our nation’s laws when he thinks it’s acceptable to ignore laws when they interfere with his desire to watch a baseball game.
Neh 