IF TED KENNEDY DROVE ONE HE'DA BEEN PRESIDENT (via Buttercup)

Cubans Sure Truck-Boat Plan Was a Winner (AP, 7/24/03)

The Cubans who converted a 1951 Chevy pickup into a boat and got within 40 miles of Florida said Thursday they were sure that the audacity of their act would guarantee entry into the United States.

But a U.S. Customs plane spotted their unusual, bright-green craft in the Florida Straits and they were sent back to the island.

"We thought that they would let us in because it was so outrageous," Ariel Diego Marcel told Associated Press Television News.

The truck-raft was kept afloat by empty 55-gallon drums attached to the bottom as pontoons. A propeller attached to the drive shaft of the green vintage pickup was pushing it along at about 8 mph.

It's outrageous that we send any of them back, but these guys in particular should have gotten to stay just for the sake of their audacity and ingenuity. Or, as Buttercup said: "Too bad we didn't let them in the country. They already have the can-doism and moxie." Posted by Orrin Judd at July 24, 2003 9:25 PM