So much for our aid being welcome

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Thinking in such a situation about a such a topic is ... well, Americans seem to be helpfully only if ...

I'll concede that Americans tend to be rather outspoken and say what is on their minds. However, your unqualified reference above to all Americans was rude, stupid and offensive. Perhaps you should do some research into just which countries have provided what in the current disdaster.

0 Replies

@georgeob1,

Gob1: whine whine whine

Yes, France deserves a great deal of scorn, but why not try a wee bit of introspection. How long has France been out of Haiti?

The only honest bone in your body, Gob1, is those rare occasions when your pecker perks up.

Quote:

Paradise Lost:
Haiti Without Trees
http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1103/Steber/Steber.html

"Another problem is the deep mistrust of the central government. And we have to find the correct way into the community, which is still a problem for aid agencies, no matter if we are U.N. or U.S. or private. Especially as Americans, we tend to repeat the same mistake, thinking a powerful community leader is the door to the people.

"In Haiti, these usually have been Macoutes, the bullies of the Duvalier regime, and the people hate them and all they are connected with. We’ve had projects destroyed or go bad because of this. There is extremely poor coordination between all these different programs.

"Our actions here in Haiti show no sensitivity to what is going on. Really, solving these environmental problems is about changing a way of life. In reality, we cannot change things here…What the U.S. doesn’t know about this hemisphere outweighs what it knows."

US invasions have never been to help the indigenous people. It's always been to exploit, to ensure ready markets, to line the pockets of the war mongers, of which there are many, and the bomb makers.

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

do you have any idea of how much money has already been promised to haiti due to this earthquake? If this society cant feed the people after so many big checks come in then we need to revisit occupying the "country", because at that point it is a failed state.

If states are FAILED, that is no reason
for us to occupy them at the expense of Americans
who shud be enjoying the delights of their own money;
maybe a good dinner or a movie.

The only reason for the existence of the US government
is the well being of AMERICANS, not aliens.

Foreign aid is a scandal,
unless it is proven that it benefits AMERICA.

David

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

mysteryman wrote:

So the US military is working round the clock to get the airport up and running, and now people are mad because its not happening fast enough and we are prioritizing flights?

Yes. Port Au Prince is a city of two million people, most of whom are desparate: They're hungry, tired, or under some other kind of extreme stress. If a reporter is looking for a handful of soundbites in which Haitians say silly stuff, he'll find them. Does that surprise you?

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

If states are FAILED, that is no reason
for us to occupy them at the expense of Americans

For sure. Once you've stolen all you can, depleted the resources of the country, murdered and raped the citizenry, it's positively foolish to think about wasting tax dollars for a bit of fruit laying about on the ground.

Quote:

On more than one occasion, French, U.S., German and British forces claimed large sums of money from the vaults of the National Bank of Haiti.[32] Expatriates bankrolled and armed opposing groups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti

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Does it happen anywhere else than here on A2k that one of the major human tragedies becomes yet another ugly **** fest about the USA?

3 Replies

@dlowan,

I know. Just the title of this thread was enough for me. I'm gonna save my sanity & not even bother to read it right through. I reckon I already have a pretty good idea about who will be saying what, anyway. Neutral

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The difference between charity
and robbery is freedom of choice in the donor.

Let those who wish to donate anywhere do so
out of their own personal funds.

Those who wish to donate elsewhere
or to keep the cash and enjoy it themselves shoud not get extorted by the IRS.

David

0 Replies

@dlowan,

All I can say is that you're right, and this kind of thing embarrasses me. Don't let this topic overshadow what many are doing right there. If a few Americans want to make this about us, then let them just talk and we can still keep our heads about what should happen.

T
K
O

1 Reply

@dlowan,

An occasion where the USA returns a tiny portion of the wealth it has stolen from Haiti is hardly the time for hosannas.

1 Reply

@Diest TKO,

Diest TKO wrote:

All I can say is that you're right, and this kind of thing embarrasses me. Don't let this topic overshadow what many are doing right there. If a few Americans want to make this about us, then let them just talk and we can still keep our heads about what should happen.

T
K
O

I don't let it overshadow, Diest. That would be ridiculously unfair.

It still shocks the hell out of me.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Hello Hawkeye10 for some reason I did not see this other thread where you are still happily attacking the poor Haitians. You would think that even right wingers would give a people a break after being hit by three hurricanes and one major earthquake within a two years period of time

If they also get on a leaking home build boat and risk death to better themselves and to be able to send money home to keep their family alive you also get bended out of shape!

Your cries about the amount of funds going to them however as I pointed out it is only a token amount at best when spread out to cover a population of 9 millions IE around a hundred dollars.

I feel so bad for my hard working Haitians friends who was not as lucky as you or I to had been born into a rich society instead of the poorest on this side of the planet.

1 Reply

@BillRM,

we have been on this merry-go-round with Haiti a few times now, where we decide that we want to help them and they say that they want help, we give them a lot of money for years and then come to find out that much of it has been absconded with by what passes for the Haitian elites, nothing much gets better on the problem that we have been attempting to address because just about nobody in Haiti acts like they want the problem to get better, we get fed-up and either end the program or defund it to the point where it does not really exist anymore, and then the Haitians come back with their victim identity about how we did not honor our word, how we have cut and run and let them down, everybody stomps on them and abuses them and they have nothing boo hoo hoo hoo.

I want off. Let's skip all that and do something else with our time and our money till such time as they act like they want better for themselves for more than ten minutes.

2 Replies

@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

we have been on this merry-go-round with Haiti a few times now, where we decide that we want to help them and they say that they want help, we give them a lot of money for years and then come to find out that much of it has been absconded with by what passes for the Haitian elites, nothing much gets better on the problem that we have been attempting to address because just about nobody in Haiti acts like they want the problem to get better, we get fed-up and either end the program or defund it to the point where it does not really exist anymore, and then the Haitians come back with their victim identity about how we did not honor our word, how we have cut and run and let them down, everybody stomps on them and abuses them and they have nothing boo hoo hoo hoo.

I want off. Let's skip all that and do something else with our time and our money till such time as they act like they want better for themselves for more than ten minutes.

I don 't care what thay ACT LIKE,
but whatever happens there is none of our business.

Let 's just lower taxes on American citizens.

or put the money into the national debt

David

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

lot of money for years and then come to find out that much of it has been absconded with by what passes for the Haitian elites,

Lot of money? A billion might sound like a lot of money but it is not in this regard, as I pointed out that one county in the US that I happen to live in throw around that kind of change for unneeded sport stadiums and had seen billions more disappear into cost overruns in airport projects and such.

So must for your theory that we have a better system for not wasting funds then the Haitians.

Our aid at best had been a token and little else and to add insult it had been attached with all kinds of strings such as using American firms instead of the cheapest or best.

These people are hard working and willing to risk life itself for a chance to help their own families with over a billion dollars generated here for the most part at minimum wages jobs going back home to families to help keep them alive.

Off hand I can not think of any group or nation more worthy of aid then the Haitian people.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

I don 't care what thay ACT LIKE,
but whatever happens there is none of our business.

Let 's just lower taxes on American citizens.

or put the money into the national debt

So must for aiding your fellow man and yes I am sure you need five more dollars in your tax refund then Haitian children need food or medical care.

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

An occasion where the USA returns a tiny portion of the wealth it has stolen from Haiti is hardly the time for hosannas.

Perhaps you would care to illuminate us with a list of what has been taken. No polemics.... just the list.

The truth is Haiti has been an impoverished country since its founding. The only wealth it has produced was sugar cane in French slave plantations. The only wealth that has ever been extracted from Haiti went to France - before and long after the revolution, in the form of reparations. Haiti doesn't produce much sugar cane anymore and besides the world is awash in a surplus of it. Haiti has been plagued with evil and inept government since soon after its revolution. We controlled their customs and much of the government during the 1920s, in an effort that began when Haiti slid into anarchy, quite on its own. We probably stayed too long, but there was and is no wealth - or even natural mineral resources - there to steal.

I know this doesn't fit with your fixed preconceptions and fantasies about this country, but that is your problem, not mine.

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if Haiti had any value, we would already own it.

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OUR AID WOUD BE WELCOME
IF WE KEPT IT IN AMERICA, WHERE IT BELONGS !

David

1 Reply

After Katrina, Cuba offered to send aid in the form of doctors. Not that Cuba is the richest nation in the Western Hemisphere. We can afford to help Haiti.

2 Replies

So much for our aid being welcome

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