haiti earthquake.

[RojUpNorth]

yes, v, i know. aid has been sent by the brits and no doubt almost every other country able to send. that wasn't the quibble at all and most here are no doubt thankful for the speedy response.

it was with individuals expressing themselves here with regards to their total lack of feelings for other humans in distress and AJ sidetracking that by asking if the US ought to be expected to go into Haiti and completely rebuild/reorganise their country.

Under President Obama, the U.S. will finally do what it should when there is trouble someplace in the world. It will be the first time in ten years almost.

 

[butters]

There is a video here of the earthquake in progress:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...g-new-pictures-reveal-extent-destruction.html

makes for interesting reading. I noticed the charity whose shop has just closed (where I worked) is one of those involved with relief already.

 

[butters]

Under President Obama, the U.S. will finally do what it should when there is trouble someplace in the world. It will be the first time in ten years almost.

nobody doubted the aid.

AJ was speaking of a complete overhaul/rejuvination of the country.

 

[RojUpNorth]

nobody doubted the aid.

AJ was speaking of a complete overhaul/rejuvination of the country.

That would be up to the president. If he thinks we can afford to re-do the whole place then I'm all for it. Bush just would have stolen all the aid money and given it to his buddies.

 

[unregistered]

 

[SkAoUt]

There's a fleet and an air force on the way...the thread is moot. Doncha get it?

Yeah, I get it.

Still, thanks for highlighting it.

 

[butters]

Look CB, there are millions of Americans out of work. Thousands have lost their homes, the government is broke. We've doubled our deficit in one year and generations yet unborn are already on the hook for Obama's existing budget. We are staring at a grim economic future of our own, we are a nation at war with tens of thousands of troops in the field engaged in battle.

A lot of those comments you're hearing are a product of the cynicism and frustration that comes from knowing our own limitations and decades of experience watching our government fritter away our wealth with little regard for our labor in order to further their political futures, not from a lack of empathy for the misfortune of others.

Having said that, we have poured billions into Haiti in that past, we will do it again, and are doing it now, and there will be even more forthcoming from private Americans you'll never hear about; but we will speak our mind and say what we please as we open out treasury and mortgage our future, it is our birthright.

Judge us by our actions not by our words. Americans don't have to apologize to the world for a damn thing when it comes to foreign aid and humanitarian assistance.

I HAVE NEVER said they ought to. You think Britain's any better off? we've massive unemployment and are hit by the recession too. Your country's not alone in suffering personal hardships nor in sending/offering all manner of unsung aid. However, AJ was very clear in his lack of empathy for these people, as were some others here. He was speaking his mind. Quite clearly. As is his right here on this forum. No one should say we can't exercise that right. However, we are ALL frustrated. Did anyone in Britain ask for the domino-effect that hit us due to the failure of american institutions? Did anyone in Britain ask for our own banks to have run us up massive debts through bad management? THere's massive unemployment and repossession of houses all over the place. It's a mess.

I am probably one the least judgemental people posting on this forum. Which is why clarity is so important to me. I honestly believe my eyes have been opened by this thread.

 

[Recidiva]

Made a donation to the Red Cross. Prayers and hopes for healing.

 

[Wrong Element]

Why should I care?

What have they done to save their own humanity?

When did they stand up for themselves and fight back against tyranny?

Why have they just "accepted" what fate has dealt to them, and if they're willing to accept their fate, then why should I not also adopt the fatalism endemic to that half of the island? At least they don't have winter to contend with; maybe that's why they won't struggle on their own behalf...

In this regard, I do see them as less than human, just like the idiots wound up on Jihad willing to turn themselves into robotic slaves for Allah, ergo, I'm not too concerned about the "humanitarian" nature of the disaster any more that I got too terribly worked up over the hands-out welfare wards in the wards of Louisiana's welfare state after Katrina.

The people all wound up now, are pretty much the same people who were willing to let the people of Iraq rot under Saddam, a man-made humanitarian disaster, who were actually willing to fight until we stood silent while they were gassed and used to fill mass graves...

That death toll, induced by our rhetoric, far exceeds the wrath of nature in Haiti where the people have yet to rise up and storm that pathetic little mansion its "leaders" hid in until nature did them a favor and raised it...

Maybe now they'll catch the fever to do something about their plight.

Maybe they'll fight for Liberty and Prosperity.

Maybe. Slaves are hard to motivate.

If only we had sent Creole editions of Atlas Shrugged to Haiti instead of food, this earthquake never would have happened.

"Less than human?" God help the child trapped with you as a role model.

 

[Sonny Limatina]

If only we had sent Creole editions of Atlas Shrugged to Haiti instead of food, this earthquake never would have happened.

"Less than human?" God help the child trapped with you as a role model.

He didn't realize it wasn't spelled 'hatey.'

 

[hogjack]

my fingers itch to edit that

chipbutty:

If you can improve on Frisco/Cap'n/AJ's poetry go ahead. But I find it difficult to believe that his work - published in two languages - needs improvement.

 

[butters]

chipbutty:

If you can improve on Frisco/Cap'n/AJ's poetry go ahead. But I find it difficult to believe that his work - published in two languages - needs improvement.

wellll - off the cuff this reads a tad smoother

Maybe now they'll catch the fever
Do something about their plight;
Maybe, yes, just maybe
This time they'll do it right.

And maybe now they'll fight for
Sweet Liberty and Prosperity;
Maybe now they'll stand up
Reach out with new temerity.

Though maybe slaves are harder
To stir, to rouse and motivate;
So maybe, yes, just maybe
Again they'll fail to celebrate.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

If only we had sent Creole editions of Atlas Shrugged to Haiti instead of food, this earthquake never would have happened.

"Less than human?" God help the child trapped with you as a role model.

Perfect.

Amazing how there's a correlation between a country's government and the resulting social entropy with tectonic plate shifting.

WWARD? (What Would Ayn Rand Do?)

 

[Sean]

wellll - off the cuff this reads a tad smoother

Maybe now they'll catch the fever
Do something about their plight;
Maybe, yes, just maybe
This time they'll do it right.

And maybe now they'll fight for
Sweet Liberty and Prosperity;
Maybe now they'll stand up
Reach out with new temerity.

Though maybe slaves are harder
To stir, to rouse and motivate;
So maybe, yes, just maybe
Again they'll fail to celebrate.

From AJ it's more likely to be:

As buildings crash and houses burn
and office blocks do fall,
rejoice because it's now our turn
because they aren't really humans at all.

So we can laught at their plight
of their suffering make light
and get to feel superior.
Because they're nothing like we are
with TV's and a car
with a DVD in the interior.

 

[butters]

From AJ it's more likely to be:

As buildings crash and houses burn
and office blocks do fall,
rejoice because it's now our turn
because they aren't really humans at all.

So we can laugh at their plight
of their suffering make light
and get to feel superior.
Because they're nothing like we are
with TV's and a car
with a DVD in the interior.

you cheated, though. i was sticking with his words, just trimming.

 

[hogjack]

you cheated, though. i was sticking with his words, just trimming.

Your version was well done. You indeed surpassed the raw material.

However, SeanH captured the spirit of the original author.

 

[butters]

Your version was well done. You indeed surpassed the raw material.

However, SeanH captured the spirit of the original author.

i concede gracefully

 

[KingOrfeo]

The U.S. is committing $100 million in relief aid and sending 5,500 soldiers and Marines to help out.

FWIW.

Meanwhile, Rush weighs in:

Well, it didn't take long for conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh to use the crisis in Haiti to attack President Obama politically. On his radio show yesterday Limbaugh said the earthquake in Haiti will play right into Obama's hands by allowing him to play up his "compassionate" and "humanitarian" credentials, and that the President will use this crisis to "boost his credibility with the black community."

As if that weren't enough, Limbaugh also pivoted off a caller who complained about Obama directing the public to the White House website to find charitable organizations operating in Haiti to promote a conspiracy theory that finding these charities via the White House website puts your money at risk of not reaching Haitians.

Limbaugh also seems to feel we've done enough already for Haiti: "We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax."

 

[hogjack]

FWIW.

Meanwhile, Rush weighs in:

I don't blame Mr. Limbaugh for his dismay at the post-quake aftermath.

He's lost his Haitian connection for hydrocodone and Oxycontin. It will be difficult to find a new source by the weekend.

 

[RojUpNorth]

The U.S. is committing $100 million in relief aid and sending 5,500 soldiers and Marines to help out.

FWIW.

Meanwhile, Rush weighs in:

God bless Obama.
I knew he would do the right thing.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Under President Obama, the U.S. will finally do what it should when there is trouble someplace in the world. It will be the first time in ten years almost.

Tsunami, DUMMY!

 

[tactful]

Perfect.

Amazing how there's a correlation between a country's government and the resulting social entropy with tectonic plate shifting.

WWARD? (What Would Ayn Rand Do?)

What's really amazing, is that if it was a good caring government, with good a educational system and with proper building regulations, there might have been less structural damage, and less death and suffering, even with the shifting plates.
Unfortunately, as we all can see this wasn't the case.

 

[Killswitch]

What's really amazing, is that if it was a good caring government, with good a educational system and with proper building regulations, there might have been less structural damage, and less death and suffering, even with the shifting plates.
Unfortunately, as we all can see this wasn't the case.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

What's really amazing, is that if it was a good caring government, with good a educational system and with proper building regulations, there might have been less structural damage, and less death and suffering, even with the shifting plates.
Unfortunately, as we all can see this wasn't the case.

That's my take on the situation...

They didn't even really have hospitals and we just ignored them.

Now, it's alligator tears; the tears of a clown...

 

[butters]

That's my take on the situation...

They didn't even really have hospitals and we just ignored them.

Now, it's alligator tears; the tears of a clown...

I'm sure most people had no idea; those who knew might have been unable to make a difference; those that may have been able to make a difference and didn't ... those are to whom you ought to be addressing this. I'm sure they won't be reading this forum, though.

I am really deeply put out by the suggestion here that my own feelings and those of others, expressing genuine concern and sympathy for humans in dire straits (please resist), is nothing but a display of crocodile/alligator tears. If it is your intention to direct this elsewhere, then you need to make that clear - however, it seems perfectly crystal already that you mean it to apply to everyone who's expressed some public sympathy.