Given that much of Hati’s architecture would stand up to a 7.0 quake about as well as a balsawood barrier would to a freight train, estimates at least in the tens of thousands seem reasonable to me. Hopefully it doesn’t reach 500,000.
As much as the loss of life is tragic, we really have our own issues to deal with right now. I would love to see the big mouth Chavez, Evo Morales or some of those other douches who claim to care so much for humanity to put their money where their big mouth is and do something.
We have intervened and dicked around in Haiti one too many times.
Prayers out to the Marines and Sailors soon to be on the ground yet another time on that nasty island.
Hey chavez wheres your oil money!
Haiti must be cursed. If I’m not mistaken, this time last year they were eating mud/rice cakes.
+1
Not our problem.
Pat Roberstson was onto something today.
It is a sad situation, my prayers go out to those in pain.
The really sad thing is that we, as a country, did not give a rat’s behind about Haiti until thousands of people died. Now it’s priority one. :rolleyes:
THEY don’t give a shit about themselves.
Haiti has been an independent nation since 1804. WTF do they have to show for 206 years of self-rule?
Personally, I think we should go help them. We are the only people that will, and it is the decent thing to do.
What I would not do is assist the UN. We have been burned by that scam one too many times. Every piece of aid that goes into that country should have an American flag on it.
And, in my personal, individual opinion, Pat Robertson is an asshat.
Having been to Haiti twice on church / missions trips I can say that it is a very dirty little country. But we should be compelled to help our fellow man whenever the need arises. Whether by food/water/medical supplies, it is the, “decent,” thing to do.
Let me premise that with saying I agree that our aid should be controlled by US. If other countries wish to help out, great, but the whole show should be run by US. A lot of people will recognize the fact that the US is helping them out, and may be somewhat grateful in the future.
Unfortunately I predict this will invariably turn into a huge goat screw and most of the resources will be mismanaged and squandered. Once the resources leave the control of the US the Haitian way of commerce will take over and crime/corruption will be the rule.
I do applaud and salute all of the US personnel which are about to head into the cesspool that the quake created in Haiti and I pray, “Godspeed.”
Fog
>>> I absolutely agree. What happened to good old American values? Have you gentlemen made bad experiences with Haitians? Because from what I am hearing, I sense strong antipathy towards these already impoverished people, who have been in a miserable state for almost two hundred years.
Estimates from BBC claim that 30K-50K have been killed. Is this the appropriate time to make a political issue out of this and blaming everything on Obama again?
I had a French teacher who was from Haiti. He said the Haitians hate the UN because the UN "peacekeepers sent there some years ago were raping thier goats.
I want to say it was Bangladesh. I do know it was a SE Asian muslim country they were from. They didn’t want to touch the women because of fear of disease or upsetting alluh.
Well, you never know, they could be from S. Florida. They have kind of ruined it there.
On the POTUS thing… I understand the issue some have with that. 3 days to come out of the bunker about the Christmas terrorist, slowing the report on Ft. Hood and when he went ther after a how many days the people he did meet with says he had an “I don’t give a shit attitude”?
Now, as someone said, he’s elbowing people out of the way to get to the mic on this?
But I digress, we should help the Haitian people and not delay care. They are our neighbors and what happens there affects us. National security and tragedy in our own backyard (Ft Hood) should also be met with the same swiftness though.
Wow, you really don’t know anything about the history of Haiti do you?
Oh, and Obama waited three days to talk about the guy working for the people trying to kill me and mine. He waited about 3 nanoseconds to talk about a disaster in a country that has been a source of crime, corruption, poverty and misery in our hemisphere for centuries. I understand that we should be open to helping those in need, but if they have previously proven to squander the support they are lended, at what point do you stop trying to help them? I guess we try one more time.
M_P
Some of that antipathy may be a result of some folks having been sent to Hati on numerous missions of mercy while employed by the US government only to be treated like dirt by the people they were there to help. “Hatian Vacations” weren’t much fun for the Coasties who had to deal with boatloads of refugees who often attacked them, including spitting blood in their faces in a deliberate attempt to infect them with one of the many funderful diseases on the boat. There is a reason why “security” is coming up as a concern in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake even in the mainstream press…because everybody knows that if the Marines aren’t there prepared to bust some heads bad things will happen.
Hati stays in a miserable state because the people of hati make stupid decisions on a continual basis.
…the same way Chicago or Detroit is in a miserable state because the people there continually elect crooks.
Does that mean we don’t help them? Of course not. The US will invest considerable resources in the effort to help Hati…but let’s not forget that we’ve been to Hati on multiple occasions to help with one issue or another and have been given the finger for doing so.
And even then, some of their most stable and prosperous years were when US Marines were running things.
Lets say you wanted to go help as an American (not me) could you bring a weapon for self defense?
It is a tragedy, but I hope all those folks don’t show up here…
Might this mark the return of a Baby Doc? I remember seeing a picture of him getting ousted, and they were rolling in a BMW 745i way back in 1985. That was exotic gear back then. The nicest 7 offered in the US was a 735i.
I don’t know what to think of the fact that the two biggest catastrophes in recent history in the Western Hemisphere hit two cities noted for Afro-Caribbean/French Creole/Voodoo culture: New Orleans and Port-au-Prince.
So basically you’re saying that poor black people fuck shit up wherever they go. Don’t take this the wrong way because I’m certainly not offended by it. But instead of beating around the bush speaking in generalities just say what you mean. Outwardly it would seem as if the evidence was there to support a view like this. Look at Somalia, pretty much any other african nation (with the exception of S. Africa), haiti, and to bring it home New Orleans, DC, and Chicago. So it does seem like that any country full of black people and run by black people seems to turn into cesspool. The only reason that S. Africa is fairly stable and prosperous is because of the whites controlling it and the years of apartheid that kept the blacks under control.
I’ve always wondered why there are no predominately white third world countries? Hmmmmm.
:rolleyes: I said exactly what I mean:
People who make stupid decisions about government and daily life dig their own hole and, upon discovery that they are in a hole, often continue to dig.
It’s true in Somalia, Hati, China, and the United States, both on a local AND NATIONAL LEVEL.
Mayor Daley isn’t mayor just because he got the minority vote, you know…