Ex-Pro Athlete SLAMS Haiti relief effort...

[blade]

For someone admonishing others not to forget or rewrite history, you sound as if you could read some history yourself. I take issue with your statement which includes "colonists from Great Britain". You mean European don't you? Besides, England didn't become the United Kingdom of Great Britain until 1801, a full quarter century after the American Declaration of Independence. As for a minimum wage of $3 a day, isn't that entirely the fault of the Haitian government? A better question is why does the US continue to prop up such a government?

 

First off unless you're a teacher of European history (which I'm sure that your not) I know that you didn't just happen to know that date of 1801 and that other useless information. Am I supposed to be impressed by the fact that you can use google? The fact that you took the time to google that makes you an even bigger loser than your views alone would have you be. Yes there were other European countries besides England (which happens to be part of what is now known as the U.K. or Great Britain) that staked claims in parts of what is now known as the U.S.. The point is the U.S. as we know it now sprouted from those 13 original colonies which were controlled by people from England which is now part of Great Britain. I was specific about the country of origin of the people in those 13 colonies, but if you want to be general yes they were people of European ancestry. The things that you felt needed to be mentioned did nothing to invalidate my points.

 

As for the minimum wage being the fault of the Haitian government, well don't you think some of the big name companies in the U.S. and some other countries that exploit Haiti as a source of cheap labor are part of that problem? Yes there are other issues such as corruption and an overall bad economy which is due to many factors, but they are not the only country with those problems are they? The companies from outside Haiti that setup there often do so because they could not get away with paying people in their respective countries what they pay desperate Haitians who take what they can get. Also are you aware that Haiti had to pay reporations to the French (Europeans) because they no longer wanted to be slaves. The same Haitians who were taught basically nothing but growing things ( like sugar cane) because that's what Haiti was used for by the French, to have plantations. When the French were there they weren't educating people and setting up Haitians for success. The French exploited Haitians while they were there and even after they left. Do you think that had anything to do with their bad situation? As for your last question, by your logic why does China continue to prop up the U.S. with the many loans it makes to us and by continually buying treasury bonds from the U.S.. Without China's help do you have any idea where our economy would be? There's a really good saying in the bible and it goes roughly to he that much is given much is expected. If a person doesn't want to donate then don't but don't speak poorly of those who do. I think if a person has the means to help in some way then they should.

[Heels20X6]

The relief effort- I was called to duty 10 days ago, and have been on the ground for 4 days assisting in patient transfer. I was here before months ago in a humanitarian relief effort, and so I have seen both sides of it as I said, pre and post quake, all within a year.

 

I have seen a lot of things that you don't see outside a third world country- gangrene, horrible buildup of fluids in extremities, unspeakable things. I slept on the ground the first day I got here because there wasn't enough supplies for us for what we consider to be habitable quarters. Not to mention- it is horribly hot as the sun beats down on you all day long.

 

What galls me is that Nicaragua, a country we were aiding not 6 months ago, bad mouthed our efforts here. I just do not understand why some people can be so cruel, so politically motivated...

 

Continue doing great work. The world is a better place because of people like you.

[BillsFanInLV]

Here is an article from 2008 as well as some monetary facts from the uS Aid website.

 

September 16, 2008

Press Office: 202-712-4320

Public Information: 202-712-4810

www.usaid.gov

 

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI - The Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, Henrietta H. Fore announced today that the U.S. Government (USG) is providing $9 million to Haiti for assistance in hurricane recovery. This money is in addition to over $20 million already pledged for disaster recovery for a total of over $29 million. (mind you, this article is from 2008)

 

Other 'donations' from the US ranging from education to family planning.

 

2004 Total US AID

122,257 million

 

2005 Total US AID

192,904 million

 

2006 Total US AID

154,765 million

 

2007 Total US AID

147,737 million

 

A quote from the Christian science monitor

"Haiti received an estimated $287 million in regular appropriations for FY 2009. The FY 2010 request is $292.8 million"

Now, ask yourself, this island nation with a population of nearly 10 million has received the aforemention aid from the US alone. Not counting the UN, Red Cross, businesses sinking money into the infastructure etc.

 

An article from yesterdays 'Chronical of Philanthropy' states:

"Contributions continue to pour in for relief efforts in Haiti. Fifteen days after the massive earthquake struck, donors have contributed more than $528-million to 40 U.S. nonprofit groups"

 

When do we stop? When is 'our part' done?

 

--Not to mention the manpower and aircraft usage of our Military during what should be the troop drawdown in Iraq and the troop 'Surge' in Afghanistan.

[Not at the table Karlos]

Yeah, that's the same thing as what's happening around Port Au Prince...parts of some roofs got torn off and the stupid locals are just too lazy to fix it themselves

 

Numbnuts, most of the money being donated isn't currently being used to improve infrastructure. Food, clean water, medicine, temporary shelters, search and rescue efforts...that's where the money's going.

 

Do you even understand the difference between handouts and aid? Save the Ayn Rand bull honky for a different time...people are dying, children are dying of starvation, disease, infection...BY THE !@#$ING MINUTE

 

Do yourself a favor...do some actual research on the situation, instead of just blindly applying your BS "yep, get er done, pull yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality to a situation where it doesnt even come close to applying. Better yet, open up a history book and learn exaclty why Haiti is so goddamn poor in the first place.

the roof part was sarcasm dipshit

they have received nearly a half billion dollars before the quake. what the hell did they do with it? they have received a half billion dollars after the quake what will they do with it. not a damn thing. like i said give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime. teach these people something. like how to make buildings that will withstand a quake or hurricane. teach them to plan(unless they get punched in the mouth) out disaster procedures. keep giving them millions and millions of dollars isnt gonna help as we already can see they still dont have health care supplies, they still have no food. if we would have educated them in the past instead of giving them money than far less people would be dying BY THE F^#KING MINUTE. have you ever been to haiti? i have. i lived in the dominican for over a year and stayed with friends in haiti for over a month. the people seem like they enjoy being poor because they dont do anything to change anything

[Orton's Arm]

A number of years ago, I worked for an organization in D.C. that tried to get the government to include more funds in the A.I.D. budget to allow people to teach birth control in the Third World. There was overwhelming conservative opposition, largely because a lot of the organizations which recieved the money to teach birth control were also involved in abortion.

 

Many many of the people being taught literally had never known that birth control was possible, except for premature withdrawal, which is a very ineffective method.

 

Even when those organizations promised not to use the A.I.D. money for abortions, the conservatives consistently tried to gut that part of the budget.

 

There was a lot of opposition from Catholics, too, on the grounds that anything but the rhythm method was wrong, and from lefties saying that teaching people from other cultures birth control was hidden racism, a way of trying to lower the numbers of people of other races, and was condescending as well.

 

All of it seemed insane to me, but Reagan cut the budget to zero, but our organization (and others) got it restored to the previous level in Congress, but couldn't get it increased.

The fact that your organization encountered so much opposition to its efforts is deeply displeasing! While birth control isn't the only thing that needs to be done for impoverished nations, it's so vital that without it, all other efforts are doomed to long-term failure.

[nostyle126]

I didn't have a chance to read this until now. I think it's brilliantly written. Accountability is a big word.

[spartacus]

He makes some valid points, and a few things were, shall we say misguided, but he's entitled to his opinion.

I did agree with questioning the "i don't know who is responsible" line. At some point people need to help themselves, instead of looking for handouts.

 

Acorn probably has that lady looking for handouts registered as a Democrat by now