MSNBC's top programs provide more than 18 times as much coverage of Haiti earthquake as Fox News' to

Your strange views of tectonics and politics must also be true for places like LA , ALaska, Japan, and China. Am I close?

What a fuckin' idiot. How does that make this quake the fault of the Haitians?

This earthquake is part of a continuum of self inflicted Haitian tragedies.

America’s efforts to assist Haiti over the last 20 years were hobbled by bitter partisan division over Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country’s elected, deposed and then reinstalled president. Unfortunately, as the American debate over policy toward Haiti subsided with Mr. Aristide’s final ouster in 2004, so did American interest.

The latest disaster to befall Haiti creates the opportunity to combine bipartisan accord on Haiti in Washington with keen and perhaps sustained American public interest. The first priorities must be food, water, medicine and shelter. The second is to repair hospitals, schools, roads, electricity and telephone service and government buildings.

But these institutions should not be rebuilt on the old inefficient and corrupt foundations. This disaster is an opportunity to accelerate oft-delayed reforms in each of these sectors. The port of Port-au-Prince has, for instance, long had one of the highest costs per ton of shipping in the hemisphere, despite also having the lowest wages. Any aid that goes to rebuilding the port should be conditional on ending this grossly inefficient management and distorted cost structure.

Likewise, money for repairing the country’s telecommunications system should be linked to breaking up or at least reorganizing the government-controlled telephone monopoly. The same goes with the Education Ministry, the electric company, the Health Ministry and the courts. Repair or replace the buildings, by all means, but also insist on fundamental reforms in their management.

James Dobbins is a former special envoy to Haiti under President Bill Clinton and director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation.

I wish the rest of you would just ignore his posts & explore the issues that have been raised. I, for one, would be very interested in what you've got to say.

tsarstepan wrote:

I don't want to sound insensitive and I hate to defend Fox News in any fashion but so what?

Yes; I'm not sure this tempest even aspires to teapot status.

(Quick post on my way out. Will post again later on)
I think think nimh has raised some very interesting issues here. And I'm very disappointed that that the focus of this discussion has become (once again) about hawkeye's jaundiced views. I wish the rest of you would just ignore his posts & explore the issues that have been raised. I, for one, would be very interested in what you've got to say.

. . . we have lots of practice on running away from uncomfortable truths and ignoring people who say what we dont want to hear.

It's very kind of you to express an interest in what i say--however, i consider this a "non-story." First because Fox "News" isn't really a reputable news program--rather it's entertainment and propaganda dissemination. Second because, as has been pointed out to Nihm, other parts of their "news" organization did give this event extensive coverage.

On your other point, you are right, that joker is not worth my time, or anyone else's.

Now that's hilarious coming from you.

It's very kind of you to express an interest in what i say--however, i consider this a "non-story." First because Fox "News" isn't really a reputable news program--rather it's entertainment and propaganda dissemination. Second because, as has been pointed out to Nihm, other parts of their "news" organization did give this event extensive coverage.