Schwarzenegger Under Fire For Smoking Cuban Cigar

Schwarzenegger Under Fire For Smoking Cuban Cigar during his trip to Canada

only in Canada Eh?

Any thoughts people?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired up a stogie during his trip to Canada this week, but did he break U.S. law to do it?

The celebrity governor known for his love of premium cigars was headed to the Ottawa airport Wednesday when his motorcade made a detour to a hotel. There, Schwarzenegger picked up a Cuban Partagas cigar in a shop, with the $14.83 bill paid by an aide traveling with him, the Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported.

Under trade restrictions, U.S. citizens are prohibited from buying Cuban cigars anywhere in the world.

Schwarzenegger's office wouldn't confirm or deny that the governor indulged in a forbidden smoke while in Canada, where he was on a trade mission.

"He stopped and bought a cigar and smoked it on the way to the airport," spokesman Aaron McLear said.

kdka.com...

[edit on 3-6-2007 by junglelord]

I'm not entire sure if it's even legal for a law to apply to US citizens anywhere but in America.

Either way, it seems rather silly and frivolous.

When I was in the Coast Guard we used to do fishery patrols off Georges bank. Periodically we would stop and check Cuban fishing vessels and we would inevitably be given handfuls of Cuban cigars.

They were pretty damned good.

Anyway we had a stockpile of them stashed in the Bosun's hole specifically for cadet cruises. We hated cadet cruises. Our ship, may she rest in peace, held a crew of 150 which jumped to almost 300 during cadet cruises... they were always our longest cruises and the most uncomfortable.

These cadets, after years of practicing of the clipper ship USCGC Eagle, were finally getting a chance to experince life on a working vessel. These cadets also thought they were sea worthy.

SO... when the waters got choppy, 6 to 8 feet, the chief Bosun's mate would call the deck crew back to the Bosun's hole and hand out the cigars with strict instructions to smoke them only around the cadets.

Given these cadets were still wet behind the ears, rough water made them woozy any way... add to this those cigars, which BTW stink to holy hell, well all I can say is I didn't know a human being could turn that many shades of green before hurling.

It was our revenge and revenge was sweet.

[edit on 3-6-2007 by grover]

I was'nt aware that you could get in trouble for buying and/or smoking a Cuban cigar
outside of the United States, I suppose it's like if you're a U.S. citizen, and are in a country
where the consent age is like 14, you still get charged even though you were'nt breaking
the law of the country you're in.


Personally I don't believe in sanctioning Cuba, so I don't think what he did was wrong.