w/nw - photos that could get you in trouble in the USA

[Sanford]

"People seen taking photos of things not of interest to the general

public" are now considered suspecious here. Very tough on us West

Coast door knob photographers (this one in a harbor area). I once had

a class asignment to photograph the Moss Landing power plant. I

wouldn't even drive by the place with my camera out of the bag now.<div></div>

[socke]

Door knob in Matanzas/Cuba<br>

<img src="http://www.hett.org/web/files/0001/017_15.jpg">

[al_kaplan1]

Americans are forbidden to travel to Cuba ;-(

[socke]

See? This could get you in trouble in the USA :-)

[roger_smith4]

"I wouldn't even drive by the place with my camera out of the bag now."

 

Power plants are easy to shoot, don't worry about it.

[socke]

Ups, come to think of it, most americans are allowed to travel to Cuba, only only one country in northern america has an embargo on Cuba.

 

I've been told that this is the reason why Pepsi and Coca Cola in Cuba come from Mexico and Brazil. Rice and chickenwings are imported directly from the USA to Cuba and if you realy want to travel to Cuba from the USA, make a stop in Mexico first. Everything is possible, as long as you don't live in Cuba :-)

[nesrani]

Until they need dental work, I suppose.

[ben z]

"Americans are forbidden to travel to Cuba ;-("

 

I remeber several friends going there a couple years ago, there was a loophole that allowed people to go for "educational purposes" or something like that, and tours were set up under that pretext. I'm not sure if both of that option is still open, but bottom-line, the Cuban tourist embargo as of a couple years ago was only for American's who didn't have the five grand or so it cost to get in on one of those tours.

[jay ott]

What gets me is the irony of law enforcement's logic. It's o.k. to walk the fine line of civil rights, but they won't control the borders and won't expel illegal aliens because they don't want to offend anyone.

[frank_meeker]

I believe it is not illegal for a U.S. citizen to TRAVEL to Cuba; it is illegal it SPEND MONEY there. Most U.S. citizens that go there travel to Mexico, fly to Cuba, return to Mexico and bribe the officials into not putting an entry stamp from Cuba in their passports

(same in Cuba) so that it looks as though their stay was in Mexico.

What a waste! The time when the embargo was necessary has long passed.

I would love to go...

 

Regards,

 

Frank M.

[gabrielma]

I don't have a picture of anyone thinking.

[andrew robertson]

No, our politicians are going to punish Castro till he dies, and then attempt another Bay of

Pigs style poorly planned takeover. This is America after all!

[andrew robertson]

Oh, and Jay, the reason they don't patrol the borders or deport illegal immigrants is because

the agriculture and business communities would be completely screwed without cheap

illegal labor. Been to a restaurant lately? Peek in the back, and it's all south-of-the-border

illegals. Same with farming. Who do you think picks all the delicious produce at the grocery

store? Whoever they are, Spanish is their first language.

[Spearhead]

Restrictions on Cuba travel can be found <a href="http://www.usacubatravel.com/restriction.htm">here.</a> I quite stupidly spent a week in Merida about five years ago without realizing that Cuba was a 20 minute flight and that a day trip was very easy. Now, it's much more difficult to go, or at least to come back to the US.

[eliot_rosen1]

Yeah, go to Cuba. It's high up on my list of hell holes, places never to visit. :-)

[michaelkh]

And you know it to be a hell-hole without visiting first because...?

[socke]

Michael he probably read Pedro Juan Gutierres Dirty Havana Trilogie or even worse El Rey de Havana.

 

After reading those books, my mother decided never to go there as well :-)

 

Actualy it is not that bad, especialy in the tourist places like Isla de Juventud or Varadero. I stayed at a private house when I visited a friend who studied for one semester in Matanzas. She went to Argentina afterwards and her first mail from Buenos Aires read something like "I spent a whole day in a mal and bought useless things like face cream".

I met some very nice people there but to be honest, I see no reason to visit Cuba again.

 

Ruins don't have any charme in my eyes and the next overseas journey will be to Salvador de Bahia in Brazil.

To the carnaval of cause :-)

[jay ott]

Andrew, the point is one activity (photography) is legal and the other is not (coming here illegally). Now tell me where is the logic? They are going after legal activities while ignoring lawbreakers.

[andrew robertson]

There is no logic. Strictly speaking, taking bribes is illegal, but it's OK for our politicians in

Washington to take political contributions in exchange for favors once elected. Hell, many

of our most embarrassing prostitutes like Hollings, R-AK, will introduce anything Disney

pushes across his desk.

[eliot_rosen1]

"Hell, many of our most embarrassing prostitutes like Hollings, R-AK"

 

Senator Fritz Hollings was a Democrat from South Carolina, not a Republican from Alaska. Speaking of "embarrassing", why don't you get your facts straight before you post your rantings.

[andrew robertson]

Sorry. Was Hollings not the Disney whore, regardless of where he's from?

[mdickerson]

You were correct on that part Andrew.

[nesrani]

This is funny: what annoyed Eliot was not the fact that you're wrong, but that your mistake jabbed the Republicans. If you had put D-AK, he would have made no comment.

[andrew robertson]

I don't really pay too much attention to parties, anyway. To me, there's just the

Republicrats, both of which sold their collective souls long before I was born.

[eliot_rosen1]

Yes, you were correct that Hollings has been called the "senator from Disney". The Senators from AK are Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens and should not be blamed for anything Hollings has done.