haiti N/C

[knabe]

ever look at a google satellite map of haiti and the dominican republic?  they are on the same island and there are almost no trees on haiti, but lots of trees on the dominican republic.

very scary.

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/google_map_haiti.htm

 

[JbarL]

not many "natural" resources left there....we are in for an eye opening culture reality check, in the days to come....jbarl

 

[shortdawg]

Found out tonight that two guys from our county were down there on a mission trip. Both were in a building that was destroyed. They found the older man and he is recovering in a hospital but his son-in-law has not been found yet. Keep them in your prayers.

 

[jason]

Some charities accepting donations for Haiti earthquake relief:

American Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org; 800-RED-CROSS


CARE

care.org; 800-521-CARE


Catholic Relief Services

crs.org; 800-736-3467


Operation USA

opusa.org; 800-678-7255


Salvation Army

salvationarmyusa.org; 800-SAL-ARMY


U.S. Fund for UNICEF

unicefusa.org; 800-FOR-KIDS


World Vision

worldvision.org; 866-280-6587


888-407-4747 is the State Department telephone number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti.

 

[SKF]

Best friends mom went to Haiti on Monday and so far no one has heard from her. Please keep the family and everyone else in Haiti in your prayers.  (angel) (angel)

 

[jason]

(angel) 

I was reading today about all the disasters that have occurred in Haiti prior, of course nothing of this magnitude.  They attributed this to the location of a fault line, hurricane activity , bad luck, substandard building procedures, and poverty.

 

[CAB]

(angel), God Bless the PPL in Hatti. I can't imagine the complete devastation. (angel)

 

[Telos]

It's hard to fathom the suffering. They will need all the help the world can offer. 

 

[JbarL]

be a great opportunity to retro fit the whole country for alternate wind and soloar panel  power and put some of this "world wide" technology into play...looks like its going to be a complete redo there regardless.....a complete infrastructure " do over......" power/water/sewer/roads/communications/bridges/ sea ports...maybe even plant somemore tress ??.....ironic....a country of decimated means/strife and poverty, now having the opportunity of being the most modern "green"  self  sufficient  nation in the world ??...  jbarl

 

[Sunset Hills]

God bless haiti and the ppl.(angel)
It's hard to imagine something like that.  So sad

 

[Jill]

Another good organization from this area is Heart to Heart

 

[knabe]

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl34299.pdf

during the 1990's, we gave haiti roughly 250,000 per person.  we have given more since then obviously.  the average salary is $14/year.

where did all the money go?

i say if we are going to spend money down there, WE get to build the houses/buildings up to code WE specify.

we should bulldoze the area, and start over, just like japan and europe after WWII and help them.  we could help diversify their economy.  not sure that 10 million people with no skills can do much without working for the man for a while.

 

[bfdsa]

knabe,

You seem to be proof that it does not take much thought to run a computer, because your post sure shows it.  The idea that just because we gave 250,000 to a country per person they should be an economic miracle is absurd to say the least.  I haven't looked, just hold on I am going to to show you how easy it is to use the internet to fact check.  If you use the CIA world factbook you see the average life expectancy is just over 60 years, in 1990 it was below 56 I believe.  By this measure our money is working, you see it is not just GDP that is considered when the IMF, or World Bank make loans, but infant mortality, life expectancy and quality of life just to name a few things.  By any measure if these do not fall off the cliff with Haiti it can be viewed as a success because of the natural disaster problems they have.  If you really believe that Germany and Japan grew because they were leveled (which I don't think you do, well hope you don't) you need to study the history of foreign aid.  These countries and all of western Europe grew because they had strong functional governments and very strong institutions that could handle turmoil and not collapse.  This is why our foreign aid worked in this case and in few others as well.  Yes that is right having a strong evil government is good for economic growth.  If we want to help Haiti we need to work on making a working government, with limited corruption (can't ever get rid of it all) and then start on luring businesses there.  You do realize it is hard to attract a business to a country that has a weak and uncertain history, because the businesses hate uncertainty above all!! Just a thought on attacking this problem like an adult, try it next time.

 

[herefordfootball]

I guess these people need to learn to help themselves, we cant do everything for them, but we also need to help them at the same time. Saying that we should bulldoze what they have and rebuild their buildings with our men and women and our time, is a little overboard. We have too many problems here at home that need to be taken care of before we go and start putting our money into another country. How many starving people live in the United States? I think the Haitians thank god that Obama is making sure that they are recieving help, but at the same I believe there are problems in our own country that need to be addressed. jmo

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

You can't help someone that won't help themselves - simple, to the point and true. RW

 

[CM Cattle]

I am wandering why we are spending money to go there to help them when if this had happend to us they wouldnt give a damn.

 

[herefordfootball]

I am wandering why we are spending money to go there to help them when if this had happend to us they wouldnt give a damn.

The United States has always played the overseeing, helping hand, and always will. You cant say they wouldnt give a damn, because you dont know that, would they help? Probaly not, Why? Because they dont have the resources too, plain and simple.

 

[knabe]

knabe,

You seem to be proof that it does not take much thought to run a computer, because your post sure shows it.  The idea that just because we gave 250,000 to a country per person they should be an economic miracle is absurd to say the least.  I haven't looked, just hold on I am going to to show you how easy it is to use the internet to fact check.  If you use the CIA world factbook you see the average life expectancy is just over 60 years, in 1990 it was below 56 I believe.  By this measure our money is working, you see it is not just GDP that is considered when the IMF, or World Bank make loans, but infant mortality, life expectancy and quality of life just to name a few things.  By any measure if these do not fall off the cliff with Haiti it can be viewed as a success because of the natural disaster problems they have.  If you really believe that Germany and Japan grew because they were leveled (which I don't think you do, well hope you don't) you need to study the history of foreign aid.  These countries and all of western Europe grew because they had strong functional governments and very strong institutions that could handle turmoil and not collapse.  This is why our foreign aid worked in this case and in few others as well.  Yes that is right having a strong evil government is good for economic growth.  If we want to help Haiti we need to work on making a working government, with limited corruption (can't ever get rid of it all) and then start on luring businesses there.  You do realize it is hard to attract a business to a country that has a weak and uncertain history, because the businesses hate uncertainty above all!! Just a thought on attacking this problem like an adult, try it next time.

really bfsd, your "facts" are a little idealistic.  maybe we can arrange an intervention for you.  it always confuses my how liberals hate war but have to attack and fight everything.  how childish.

maybe you could read some references regarding the ineffectiveness of the marshall plan and infrastructure change in japan and the advantages it afforded them and the ability to respond quickly, but then, that might be antagonistic to your perspective.  on second thought, don't ever read something that doesn't support your position, you might turn into an adult.