Earthquake in Haiti

[Brittz]

Rush was just awful for three complete days last week. I think Robertson needs to sit in a rocking chair and hit his trap shut. Don't understand what is happening with Danny Glover.

[Zacha341]

I think Glover wondered into "mumbly-peg-speak" when he started to equate global warming with the earths plate movement [[earth quake) in this region, especially considering Haiti sits on a fault. Perhaps he [[Glover) will elaborate on the global warming connection?

Rush was just awful for three complete days last week. I think Robertson needs to sit in a rocking chair and hit his trap shut. Don't understand what is happening with Danny Glover.

[Zacha341]

I've been curious to know how the Dominican Republic is responding to Haiti's earth quake. As both nations share the same island what must that be like socially and politically speaking. I found this article just now:

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/loc...-response-plan

[Brittz]

I think Glover wondered into "mumbly-peg-speak" when he started to equate global warming with the earths plate movement [[earth quake) in this region, especially considering Haiti sits on a fault. Perhaps he [[Glover) will elaborate on the global warming connection?

Yes, you are probably correct on Danny. Strange rambling from him I think. I hope more survivors are found today.

[gnome]

the Comment section below the article was very interesting. A lot of talk about the jam up at the PaP airport...

[Sstashmoo]

Could be a tumor..

[mauser]

or the a$$holes who thought 9/11 was an inside job and that there were bombs planted in the World Trade Center?

And what about the assholes that prevented an real investigation into who, how, and what happened on 9/11 ? I will apologize to you if you have actually read the 9/11 Commission Report, but I am willing to bet money you did not.

Didnt read it = absolutely no right to an opinion about it.

[maxx]

From MoveOn.org:

As the tragedy in Haiti unfolds, Americans are generously donating millions of dollars to aid organizations.
But when Americans donate to charity with their credit cards, the credit card companies get rich. In some cases they keep 3% of the donation as a "transaction fee," even though that's far more than it costs them to process the donation.
It's outrageous and wrong—and it needs to stop.
Can you sign this petition to the CEOs of the major credit card companies demanding that they waive their processing fees for all charitable donations? Clicking here will add your name:
http://pol.moveon.org/nofees/o.pl?id...33-I5dYR0x&t=3
The petition says: "Credit card companies shouldn't be getting rich off of Americans' generosity. They should waive all fees on charitable contributions from today on."

The credit card companies are trying to get ahead of this story, announcing they will temporarily waive the fees they charge on some Haiti-related charitable contributions for the next 6 weeks. But that's nowhere near enough. Many emergency donations to Haiti will still get hit with hefty bank fees. [[To give a sense of how limited the exemption is, Doctors Without Borders isn't on any of the publicly available lists of charities that won't be charged fees.)2

[oladub]

From a link in the comments section.

"Our biggest problem is insecurity. [[Thursday), they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today, we were barely able to work in some places because of that," said Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, civil defence chief and rescue commander for the Dominican Republic. "There's looting and people with guns out there, because this country is very poor and people are desperate."
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/sto...#ixzz0ctDNuThU

There are already 1M haitians living in the Dominican Republic and more are trying to get in now.

Another problem is that the mountain roads have suffered from landslides so whatever is transported from the DR is slowed down or obstructed by earthquake damage.

[maxx]

Pat Robertson is consistent in his hateful comments. He is one of the reasons Christians get a bad name. I would say shame on him but he has no shame.

The fact that Pat Robertson can such hateful things without getting hit by lightning proves there is no god. lol

[East Detroit]

Calm down, partisans, calm down...

[ghettopalmetto]

I'm just glad to see the party of Joe McCarthy is alive and well.

[Thomcat52]

Haiti has been doubly cursed with horrific natural disasters, as well as a history of the most corrupt political leaders around [[on par with our own leaders). What two idiots [[Robertson, Limbaugh) say should not detract from the fact that there is no country that gives more help than the U.S. both privately, and as a collective. The problem lies in the fact that this "help" is not getting to the people it is intended for.
Congress provided $100 million for hurricane relief and reconstruction assistance for Haiti and other Caribbean countries in the FY 2009 continuing appropriations resolution, signed September 2008.
Haiti received an estimated $287 million in regular appropriations for FY 2009. The FY 2010 request is $292.8 million. Source Christian Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Globa...in-past-crises

[Detroitej72]

And how about the a$$holes that thought Bush and Cheney caused Hurricane Katrina and dropped bombs on the levees,

Which nationally syndicated radio show host preached that?

Your comparing apples to oranges here, Skippy.

[gnome]

Detroitej72, you do know that such a challenge will bring forward such names and then you and others will feel the need to throw more partisan bombs and those will be returned in kind.

Is that what you want? To fall down the rabbit hole of historic one-ups-manship? Could you please keep your focus on Haiti and the relief efforts for the people down there? Please?

Or do we need to bring up Woodrow Wilson's invasion of Haiti in 1915? Or maybe we can discuss Eugene O'Neill and the historical cross pollination of fact and art vis-a-vis Brutus Jones?

[Zacha341]

Interesting... two nations on one island. Now one is in crisis. I wonder if there will be increasing civil unrest between the two...?

From a link in the comments section.

"Our biggest problem is insecurity. [[Thursday), they tried to hijack some of our trucks. Today, we were barely able to work in some places because of that," said Delfin Antonio Rodriguez, civil defence chief and rescue commander for the Dominican Republic. "There's looting and people with guns out there, because this country is very poor and people are desperate."
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/sto...#ixzz0ctDNuThU

There are already 1M haitians living in the Dominican Republic and more are trying to get in now.

Another problem is that the mountain roads have suffered from landslides so whatever is transported from the DR is slowed down or obstructed by earthquake damage.

[gibran]

Regardless of past aide abuse ...that is totally not relevant now that these people are struggling in the here and now...yes it was one of the most mismanaged countries...but now it also is critically in need of compassion and cash... the way this aide will be set up will give the people of Haiti a fighting chance...if you can't find an appropriate site to donate contact the Better Business Bureau they will help...this is a crisis that is not about politics [[yet)...many people are coming together [[that is why Bush and Clinton were recruited) to help show the world what we already knew about ourselves...Americans can put aside politics [[some can) and focus on the reality and immediacy of the disaster...

it is not how the disaster affects us it is what we do to effect it that counts

[barnesfoto]

The relationship between the DR and Haiti is odd indeed.
Many Dominicans, a majority of whom are mixed race, but would be considered "black" in the USA see themselves as "Dominicans", and see Haitians as "black". Haitian immigrants in the DR, [[who do much undesirable agricultural work) are treated poorly, and used as scapegoats by racist Dominicans:

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/0...omment-page-2/

History:
THERE, in that high and mountainous land, is the land of God." The date was Sept. 12, 1504, the speaker was Christopher Columbus, and the occasion was his fourth and final departure from the island he discovered in 1492. Columbus named it La Isla Española because it reminded him of Spain. For the Spaniards and French who followed him, for the Indians they slaughtered, for the Negro slaves they imported, and for anyone within a bullet's range last week, Hispaniola was more like hell on earth than the warm, jasmine-scented paradise it might be. Last week marked the third time in 50 years that U.S. troops have been forced to intervene in the affairs of the forlorn, hate-filled little Caribbean island.
Hispaniola became Spain's first permanent colony in the New World, its key harbor and free port to all the Indies. From the Santo Domingo capital, Ponce de León sailed forth to Florida, Balboa discovered the Pacific, Pizarro invaded Peru, and Cortés conquered Mexico. It was the site of Latin America's first cathedral in 1514, its first university in 1538. Even then it was a land of violence, where men carried the law in their knives, and the captains from Castile thought nothing of shearing an ear from a disobedient Indian or letting their dogs disembowel him.
Through war, wile and treaty, France managed to get possession of the 30,000-sq.-mi. island toward the end of the 18th century. Concentrating on the western third of the mountainous land, the French brought in thousands of colonists, and with them came vast numbers of Negro slaves from Africa. The French called their Caribbean possession Saint Domingue, termed it the "Queen of the Antilles." So it was. In the 1780s, its foreign trade approached $140 million a year, with vast profits from sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton and indigo flowing back home. Before long, 40,000 whites were lording it over 450,000 blacks. Then one night in August 1791, the island's painfully oppressed slaves rose in bloody revolt. Armed with pitchforks, torches and machetes and chanting voodoo dirges, they massacred 2,000 French planters and their families on the western third of the island.
Haiti
The fighting lasted more than a decade. France sent 20,000 troops to end the rebellion?only to see half of them wiped out by yellow fever and the rest thrown into disarray. In 1804, a former slave named Jean Jacques Dessalines proclaimed Haiti a free and independent nation and became its Governor General. "To draw up the charter of our independence," he felt, "would require the skin of a white man as parchment, his skull as an inkwell, his blood as ink, and a bayonet as a pen." Dessalines died by an assassin's bullet within three years. His successor, Henri Christophe, cared little for charters?black or white. He proclaimed himself King, set up a ludicrous aristocracy [[including such titles as the Duke of Marmelade and Count of Limonade), and ruled as a merciless despot until 1820, when his officers revolted, and he committed suicide by firing a silver bullet into his brain.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...898728,00.html

Pat Robertson Voodoo Doll on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...3#ht_536wt_976

History of Spanish Genocide, written by the first "liberal" European in the Spanish Colonies:

http://latinamericanhistory.about.co.../lascasas1.htm

[oladub]

US accused of annexing airport as squabbling hinders aid effort in Haiti [[Guardian 1/17)

"The US military's takeover of emergency operations in Haiti has triggered a diplomatic row with countries and aid agencies furious at having flights redirected. Brazil and France lodged an official ­protest with Washington after US military aircraft were given priority at Port-au-Prince's congested airport, forcing many non-US flights to divert to the Dominican Republic.""The UN mission, which had a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti before the quake, seemed too stunned by its own losses to take control.""The Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières complained about flights with medical staff and equipment which were redirected to the Dominican Republic.""There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti," Jarry Emmanuel, air logistics officer for the UN's World Food Programme, told the New York Times. "But most flights are for the US military. Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed."

[Stosh]

US accused of annexing airport as squabbling hinders aid effort in Haiti [[Guardian 1/17)

"The US military's takeover of emergency operations in Haiti has triggered a diplomatic row with countries and aid agencies furious at having flights redirected. Brazil and France lodged an official ­protest with Washington after US military aircraft were given priority at Port-au-Prince's congested airport, forcing many non-US flights to divert to the Dominican Republic.""The UN mission, which had a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Haiti before the quake, seemed too stunned by its own losses to take control.""The Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières complained about flights with medical staff and equipment which were redirected to the Dominican Republic.""There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti," Jarry Emmanuel, air logistics officer for the UN's World Food Programme, told the New York Times. "But most flights are for the US military. Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed."

So the whole aid thing has now turned into a hissy fit throwing contest between the aid agencies? Waaah. Securing the country comes first, since if control isn't taken the criminal element will be hijacking the aid, as has been seen to some degree already.

They ought to be glad the US is stepping up and providing security.

[oladub]

So the whole aid thing has now turned into a hissy fit throwing contest between the aid agencies? Waaah. Securing the country comes first, since if control isn't taken the criminal element will be hijacking the aid, as has been seen to some degree already.

They ought to be glad the US is stepping up and providing security.

Here is another article making the same point and accusing the US of delaying rescue efforts.

Disaster Capitalism Headed to Haiti [[baltimorechronicle 1/18)

The author should more properly have used the word 'corporatism' instead of 'capitalism' but otherwise makes some good points about the clamor of relief agencies and people dying for lack of bulldozers and access by rescuers.

This is a long article but one thing I haven't seen reported, surprise, surprise, is Cuban involvement. We have seen our hospital ship leave Baltimore five days after the earthquake but what of the Cubans?

One nation delivering heroic help is Cuba, but little about it is reported. Despite its own constraints, it's operated in Haiti for years, and now has over 400 doctors and healthcare experts delivering free services. They work every day in 227 of the country's 337 communes. In addition, Cuban medical schools trained over 400 Haitian doctors, now working to save lives during the country's gravest crisis. It's no small achievement that Cuba, blockaded and constrained, is responsible for nearly 1,000 doctors and healthcare providers, all of whom work tirelessly to save lives and rehabilitate the injured.
According to China's Xinhua News Agency:

"Cuban aid workers have taken charge of [[Haiti's) De la Paz Hospital, since its doctors have not appeared after the quake," perhaps because many perished, are wounded, or are trapped beneath or behind rubble themselves.

Cubans are working despite a lack of everything needed to provide care except for what its government managed to deliver. Dr. Carlos Alberto Garcia, coordinator of its medical brigade, said Cuban doctors, nurses and other health personnel are working non-stop, day and night. Operating rooms are open 18 hours a day.
Independent reports now say Washington is trying to block Cuban and Venezuelan aid workers by refusing them landing permission in Port-au-Prince. The Caribbean Community's emergency aid mission is also blocked.

For the record, I think that this author is underplaying the US role. He claims all these other nations is doing so much and the US is doing nothing. He is ignoring the huge private financial resources being collected in the US as well as the logistical support on the way such as US Navy water filtration units. However, his observations about the present logjam are worth noting.

[Stosh]

There are efforts attempting to paint the USA in a bad light within this rescue effort. Actually the attempts are to smear the Obama administration more than anything else. Not surprising.

[Bobl]

I am surprised, and pleased, that George W Bush has countered Limbaugh's rants.
Haiti was a tragedy before this earthquake. It is hell now.

[maxx]

Robertson was investing money in Chinese sweat shops long before it became standard operating business procedure, and is attempting to parlay this disaster into income for his "church".
Limbaugh, a drug abusing sex tourist who has mocked people with disabilities on his broadcast, is simply cashing in.
They are both simply pursuing wealth.

The @$$holes are those who listen and approve.

Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce
http://www.amazon.com/Idiot-America-...3836681&sr=1-1

"In the midst of a career-long quest to separate the smart from the pap, Charles Pierce had a defining moment at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where he observed a dinosaur. Wearing a saddle... But worse than this was when the proprietor exclaimed to a cheering crowd, “We are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!� He knew then and there it was time to try and salvage the Land of the Enlightened, buried somewhere in this new Home of the Uninformed..."

[maxx]

I am surprised, and pleased, that George W Bush has countered Limbaugh's rants.
Haiti was a tragedy before this earthquake. It is hell now.

Yes, they've got Bush the lesser going around with Clinton now trying , no doubt, to repair his image and counting on the short memory of the U.S. voters.