NEW YORK - Cuba won't be allowed to send a team to next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the U.S. government told event organizers Wednesday.
The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball on Wednesday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office.
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So perhaps President Bush isn't such a great fan of baseball after all, or maybe he'll reverse this decision.
How can there be a World Baseball Classic without Cuba? It would be like having a World Cup without Brazil or England.
I don't think I'm being over the top when I say that this smacks of imperialism, of fascism. Perhaps it is because it's so petty! Some small minority of Republicans still holds a grudge against Cuba, because they're commies and because it nets them some expatriot political support.
Because of that we won't have business dealings with Cuba and we won't let Cuba send a team of fabulous ballplayers to compete with the best of the rest of the world?
This is something we would see in a dictatorship. It is like China objecting to a Tibetan organization's participation in an Earth Summit, or criticizing the President for meeting with the Dalai Lama. As if Tibet is such a threat to China.
As if Cuba is such a threat, such a problem for the U.S. But it used to be okay to have dealings with the Taliban regime while they were harboring terrorists.
Yes, this is petty and dictatorial, just like the Chinese regime!
Representative Jose Serrano had this to say:
"Let's leave the politics out of this... The World Baseball Classic should not be tainted by our grudge against Cuba's government. Cuba produces some of the finest baseball talent in the world and they deserve to participate."
I hope our dear leader views it the same way, but I'm not counting on it.