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Help Haiti & Recieve A Valuable Membership for Free
Dear Readers,
My friend at ValueHuntr.com contacted me about a promotion he is running in an attempt to raise money for the people affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti. Here is the information he provided me regarding the generous offer:
"In solidarity with those affected by the earthquake in Haiti, ValueHuntr.com will be providing a free premium membership, including a subscription to our monthly ValueFocus Newsletter, to readers who donate more than $30 to the ValueHuntr Haiti Relief Fund below. This offer expires Friday, January 22nd.
It is our hope that this will provide an extra incentive for our readers to donate. We guarantee you that all funds collected will be donated to the Haiti Relief and Development Fund of the Red Cross (we will send receipt to donors as proof)."
The link is: http://valuehuntr.com/2010/01/15/haiti/
I ask people to contribute whatever they can and urge them to take advantage of the opportunity to receive a great newsletter as well. I understand that a lot of people are currently struggling in their own right. I'm not sure the dislocation between the boom on Wall Street and the near depression on Main Street has ever been more dramatic. But we have to remember that most of us have won what Warren Buffett calls the Ovarian Lottery. Those of us who were born in developed countries with ubiquitous infrastructure and endless opportunities for future prosperity are incredibly lucky. No matter how stellar our intellect or amazing our talents, if we had been born in different circumstances our chances of achieving professional and personal success would have been much more limited. Accordingly, it is our obligation to help those who are suffering and it is clear from the disturbing images currently being shown on the news that the Haitian people are suffering beyond what just about any Americans can fathom.
So, times are tough. The US deficit continues to increase by the millisecond. Underemployment continues to levitate at distressing levels. We somehow are still fighting two wars. But none of that should feed a tendency to lean towards ethnocentrism. One of the lessons of the Great Depression was that protectionism and turning inward only prolonged the slump. So let's take this opportunity to show our solidarity with the rest of the world and do whatever we can to help the people of Haiti.
Sincerely,
The Inoculated Investor
Instead of moving to Switzerland, perhaps the hedge funds could move to Haiti. That way, the world's best and brightest philanthropists would trickle down onto the Haitians, and Americans would get their country back. Send food, water, and hedge fund managers.
the american army is dropping HUGHE food and water supplies to help these people.
There are 3 million in need of food and water, and the army is dropping 15.000 bottles of water and food packages from helicopters.
1 bottle for every 200 people...
And eh... dropping bottles of water from a helicopter... reminds me of kids playing with water balloons to make fun of people down below. Got to love the humor.
average bonus at goldman is $600 000.
how many goldmanites silver spoon is worth a country of 8.5M human beings ?
Fuck the red cross with a red fucking cross. Or any color. Just be sure to twist it.
I am confused. Is it good, or is it bad, if I donate to bushclintonhaitifund.org, as Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton requested in their joint public address?
Nelson P. Valdés reports in counterpunch:
The Rescue Operation's Priorities in HaitiBy NELSON P. VALDÉS
The recent earthquakes that have demolished the city of Port au Prince and its surroundings has left Haiti stateless, ever poorer, desperate and in need of long term global assistance. A world-wide rescue operation has been initiated. But, it is questionable to what extent the best interests of the people of Haiti have been and will be considered, in the long run.
First, the foreign aid teams "rescued" and took out of the country the non-Haitians, particularly the Europeans, Americans and assorted other tourists. The Voice of America on Jan. 16 reported: "In the last day or so the United States and French governments have started running passenger flights out of the country [Haiti] for evacuees from those countries. People line up and wait for a plane to arrive so they can leave Haiti and leave behind what is a very difficult, traumatic experience for many." [1]
Second, five days have gone by without any real significant distribution of medical supplies, food or water to the neediest people.
The facts indicate clear priorities: the Haitians are not first in line. In fact, the rescuers seem to have a widespread fear of the poor and desperate Haitians. A Scottish reporter said, "aid workers in Haiti today called for more security amid fears of attacks by increasingly desperate earthquake survivors." [2]
Yet, the Haitians have been extraordinarily patient despite the fact that their world has collapsed around them.
The assistance teams seem reluctant to distribute until they feel secure. Thus, the US government sent troops to bring aid and the Haitian government dispatched police to provide “security,” and respond to the exaggerated rumors of "looting." Indeed, there have been reports that the security squads moved the aid providers to “secure” places. [3]
The Haitian people who wait for basic needs have not been mobilized to work on their own behalf. Rather, the “humanitarians” treat them as children, with no thought to providing them with the tools to help themselves. One Haitian consul to Brazil, George Samuel Antoine declared two days ago that any country that happens to have Africans is cursed! [4] Shades of Pat Robertson and David Brooks.
Seemingly, the outsiders coming to help the people don’t trust the natives, despite the fact that the Haitians are dying, hungry, thirsty, sick, homeless, and with most of their families gone or lost. The Haitian chief of police, like most people in positions of authority, is a foreigner appointed by the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the twice elected and twice removed political leader of the Haitians - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is not permitted to enter his own country. In fact, President Obama appointed one of those who ousted him - George W. Bush – to help "supervise" the "reconstruction" of Haiti. Bush merited his appointment presumably because of the wonderful job he did supervising the post Katrina aid program. Meanwhile, for all intent and purposes there is no longer, except symbolically, a Haitian government.
Perhaps it is too harsh but it appears as if those in charge think that a few thousand more Haitians dead would make it easier to control the situation. USA Today has reported, “Rescuers pulled a dehydrated but otherwise uninjured woman from the ruins of a luxury hotel in the Haitian capital early Sunday, drawing applause from onlookers who have seen little to cheer as the body count continued to rise from Tuesday's earthquake.”
They expect Haitians to remain patient, without food or water or aid to rescue their friends and relatives. Haitians are not even informed as to what to expect or when.
Some US tv channels have begun broadcasting about vodou burials. The US mass media has turned the whole tragedy into another narcissistic story about how Americans handle disasters. Thus, Hillary at one end, and Bill on the other travel going to Haiti to see for themselves! [5] As if such voyages have inherently curative powers!
Ironically, US and NATO can quickly deliver death from the air, but, apparently won’t unleash their technology and resources to quickly save lives. United Nations tanks have been sent to different locations throughout what remains of the city, particularly the poorer neighborhoods such as Cité Soleil. [6] A poor substitute for food and water.
In Afghanistan drones fire at will with no one at the Pentagon expressing minimal concern, yet, in the Haitian case dropping food and water has been avoided “for fear of riots.” Apparently no one has figured that people will riot because of the absence of drinking water or food; unless they have to go without either for enough time so that the Haitians experience a Caribbean version of the final solution.
On January 15th, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs issued a report stating, "Haiti is currently at UN Security Phase 3. This will implicate ongoing operations in terms of limiting the ability to move around the city and work at night (which is also hindered by the lack of electricity). Patrols reported that the situation is calm in general, but there are reports of stone throwing at passing vehicles, looting and acts of vandalism. ICRC has inspected several prisons. The central prison was completely destroyed, meaning up to 4,000 prisoners have escaped." [7] Under Security Phase III all international staff and families are relocated inside or outside the country.
It is unclear who is directing what. Rear Admiral Ted Branch, the most senior military official aboard the USS Carl Vinson stated, "We have lift, we have communications, we have some command and control, but we don't have much relief supplies to offer…We have no supplies at the airport that we have access to. There are other supplies there that are under the control of other agencies, other organizations and we haven't yet coordinated together to make those supplies available for anyone to deliver." [8] The United Nations and the US authorities on the ground, are telling those who directly want to deliver help not to do so because they might be attacked by “hungry mobs.” [9] Two cargo planes from Doctors Without Borders have been forced to land in the Dominican Republic because the shipments have to be accompanied within Port au Prince by US military escort, according to the US command. [10]
One American on the ground summed up the situation: "For the aid to work and the teams of search and rescue workers to be able to do their job there is going to need to be a major effort of all people to lay down their own fear and personal need and allow the help to get to the worst off. Pray that people will think of others as best they can and that relief will begin to get to the places it is needed most." [11] Such fears, created and nurtured in colonial times, have been reproduced for over two hundred years. Alexander Hamilton and José Martí recognized the humanity of the former black slaves turned revolutionaries and told us to put our fears aside. As Linda Polman writes in The Times of London class and racial fear by the rescue teams is costing the lives of thousands in Haiti. [12]
Nelson P Valdés is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, founder of the Latin America Data Base and director of the Cuba-L Project. He is a specialist on Latin America and writes for Counter Punch.
The author wishes to think the suggestions by Sandra Levinson, Ned Sublette and Saul Landau.
Notes
[1] VOA Correspondent Reports on relief Efforts in Haiti,” VOA News.Com,01/16/10
[2] “Fear of Looting as Desperation Among Haiti Earthquake Survivors Take Hold,” Scotsman.com, 01/15/10
[3] “Haiti Earthquake Updates: Live Blog,” Guardian (London), 01/15/10
[4] “Terremoto no Haiti: Consul Haitiano Afirma Que o Africano em si tem maldicao,” YouTube, 01/14/10
[5] “Apocalipsis social en Haiti?”, IAR Noticias, 01/167/10
[6]”Hillary Clinton Meets With Haiti Leader After Arrival,” CNN, 01/17/10
[7] “Haiti: Ocha Sit Rep # 4”
[8] “After a Day of Deliveries, US Ship Runs Out of Aid,” AFP, 01/16/10
[9] “RD se vuelca en ayuda a haitianos,” Listin Diario (Dominican Republic), 01/17/10
[10] “Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Prince,” Doctors Without Borders, 01/17/10.
[11] “Overwhelming Sadness – Overwhelming Gratitude,” The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog, 01/15/10
[12] Linda Polman, “Fear of the Poor is Hampering Haiti Rescue,” Tomes Online, 01/18/10
when the fox hears the rabbit scream, he comes a runnin....
but not to help.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhJfkh0e3l0
Leo, this is not a "discount" to the newsletter. It's a one-time donation in exchange to receive the newsletter indefinitely...no other payments associated with membership. So where's the opportunism? It's only an extra incentive for those who need a little push. If it makes you feel more comfortable donating directly to the Red Cross, then be my guest.
Leo, since you are getting so many "junk" scores, you must be onto something. It takes some balls to be politically incorrect on the politically incorrect blog.
Thanks & respect.
p.s. there was a good econ book on the subject of wasteful help to the poor countries. The book based on number of related studies was ignored of cause by UN and other do gooders who help just to feel better. No one can help them in the long run but their indigenous population taking care of their own problems.
However within the next 45 days just some clean water and some meals will do marvels for the survival of millions of people. That's all there is.
Obama has already volunteered money for us.
What about the Dominican Republic? They must have suffered major damage from this exact same earthquake? In case anyone is geography-challenged, the island of Hispanola is
divided into two approximate halves; the nation of Haiti occupies the Western half; the nation of Dominican Republic occupies the Eastern half. I see no such outpouring of pity and charity for the Dominicanos? Surely they are equally as devastated?
It is often the case that an earthquake damage is centralized and not equally spread within the effected zone. Most of the large cities within the epicenter were located in Haiti. When Northridge, CA was hit the OC county or SB county were doing perfectly fine.
Ok, here's the scoop. The Red Cross is the most inefficient charity out there (50% of your donations go to overhead). If you are going to donate to help out, try the Salvation Army where 90% goes to straight where you want it. Doctors Without Borders is another great organization. There are many others on the list at CNN.
Here's a true story from my stepfather: When he was in France in WWII the Red Cross charged soldiers for cigarettes. The Salvation Army gave them away. My stepfather was a medic that got stuck in a hotel basement and had to kill 3 Nazi's that were coming down to find anyone they could. That day and the memory of the Red Cross have never left him.
tell me -- what does your step father have to do anything with the red cross and killing nazis ????
and what relevance is it to the red cross of over 60 years later ??
dumb dumb dumb --- you must be an american??
the sign of the red cross is heaped in symbolism and the sordid history of this emblem goes way back...
http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/apocalypse/red_double_cross.html
Haiti is a travesty. Too bad our house is broke, too. Although we did it to ourselves. Haiti did not deserve such utter destruction.
PS boo "Cow" Pattie Robertson.
Buy Silver.
yes help haiti. jorge was in front of the white house yesterday saying to us.....just send cash to the bush clinton fund......yeh right. in a pig's eye......maybe someone can explain how those black people got to haiti in the first place and what happened to the indigenous indian population that lived there at one time? hmmm? why in the hell are there 30,000 american troops there now? gads, what is going on? is this some sort of exercise? shades of new orleans. are they taking over haiti now? this earthquake was very strange if you ask me. it just happened. no forewarning or anything and it appears the force was directed to one area. very strange. can we cause earthquakes to happen? i believe we can.
Ya think we shouda just nuked em instead?
have you ever heard of haarp?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk8dFM5t3lY
The individual American's generosity is the one characteristic we can be proud of as a Nation.
Red Cross is best structured to make a difference in a disaster of this magnitude or the smaller ones that occur every day across America ( i.e. single family/multi family fires ).
Red Cross is certainly not perfect because it is staffed by thousands of humans .
But I give to them every year anyway.
yesterday i was watching the communist news network CNN, i know. i shouldn't but i was. and some UN people were in this public square or whatever, handing out food parcels. and some idiot got the idea that the food was no good because of the date stamp on the packages and so the whole area was littered with uneaten food parcels laying in the street, just after the UN truck left. so you tell me. are these people dumber than a bag of rocks or what? hunger? if someone is truely hungry, they would not do this.
Thank you Leo for posting a link to Bill Quigley's article about the history of Haiti and how the US is complicit in Haiti's continuing destitution.
Most Americans do not know that we are rich because we make others poor.
No, we are rich because we have a culture derived from England's past, which respected freedom and the rule of law at the same time. South Texas is reasonably successful; right across the border in northern Mexico is a hellhole. Same land, same natural resources, same genetics, different culture, different result.
Haitians are poor because they have more babies than they can support, and have a culture that is inherently unsuccessful. Stop blaming the US for the idiocy of others.
From NYT's Lede: In an essay on American media coverage of the situation in Haiti, Natalie Hopkinson asks, “When Are Haitians Looters and When Are They Just Hungry?” As Ms. Hopkinson reminds us, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina nearly identical photographs moved across the news wires of a black man and a white woman carrying food taken from local stores, with quite different captions: the young black man was described as walking “through chest deep floodwater after looting a grocery store,” while the white woman was said to “wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store.”
Please give to Haiti
Forget the millions of homeless fellow vets, and Americans.
Vets from the Gulf War, with no arms, no legs.
Forget the millions who lost their homes this past year.
Donate to Haiti. . . . .?
Got to love America
+100
The gall of these beggars knows no bounds.
While there are many worthy causes to donate to, it's simply inhuman not to donate to credible charities working to help Haitians right now. You can ignore their plight, but it's inhuman in my books. The death, destruction and devastation that this earthquake caused will take years to repair.
....and tomorrow you will again trade your solar stocks as if nothing had happened ,and even with a good conscience. I am sure you didn't even know how poor people were in Haiti before this earthquake.
Yes, before Haiti's catastrophe, I was totally clueless about the world's poor or the fact that the U.S. has 5% of the world's population but consumes 30% of the world's resources and creates 30% of the world's waste. Give me a break with these retarded comments! Those of you who want to know the truth, read Bill Quigley's article, Why the U.S. Owes Haiti Billions.
Quigley is a commie.
thanks for the "retarded comments". This shows if necessary that you absolutely belong to the mainstream where no critic is tolerated.
You also belong to the category of these celebrities who dont really care about Haiti but want to place themselves in the first row to show their compassion. Most of the ZH readers are very smart and know without your S.OS. call what' has to be done.
ZH can do whatever the fuck it wants. On my blog, I wrote about Haiti the day after and did appeal to my readers to donate generously. I don't need praise or public acolades. I couldn't care less about what other people think of me. Something about having MS for 12 years made me realize that what others think is all bullshit. So take your sarcasm and shove it. Haitians need money and help, not your pathetic sarcasm.
and why didnt they save Pompeii??? Haiti built cowshit buildings and will do the same no matter how much money you give them... and get your money ready to save another trailer park in kansas when it gets blown away by a twister
Good to see that, at the end of the day, there is no tragedy bleak enough to change man's inherent instincts.
Hey, unscarred, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO DO?
They're STARVING.
There is no fucking infrastructure.
Tell you what: turn off the water to your house. Throw the circuit breakers.
Now imagine the unthinkable: your Amex black card is perfectly fine, but your favorite elite deli can't accept it for payment because there is no phone service.
Girl, how long would you really last?
I give you 12 hours before you're either dead of a pathos overdose, or giving up for free what you used to get 20 bux for. fucking spoiled western idiot. Homework assignment: read the bit about the "ovarian lottery" until you understand it. Might take a while, but that's ok. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/help-haiti-recieve-valuable-membership-...
You know you still my best bitch.
love,
James O'Boston
I'll do you one better:
Try living in a 7' x 11' room for 3 years, skipping more meals than you eat. Try enduring sickness and injury without proper medical attention. Try sleeping at night when you're doubled over in stomach pain- half starving, half wrenched with anxiety. Try having normal relations with society, carrying around the acquired knowledge of seeing people for who they really are (yourself first and foremost among them).
You don't know shit about me... but keep passing your misjudgements and false accusations my way.
And two more things: I never took what wasn't mine, and I never asked for a single fucking handout- not once. So yeah, forgive me for expecting more from people.
I got your 'bitch' right here, motherfucker. COME AND GET SOME ANYTIME YOU WANT.
BUT FOR NOW... GO - FUCK - YOURSELF.
Haiti has been a snake pit for the last, oh, 200 years. Why is it that you never hear about the tradegy of the Dominican Republic? How much has the first world given Africa over the years? Maybe $1 trillion? How's that working out?
Cartels are up in black market trading
While I am sure your friend's heart is in the right place, I am a little uneasy donating to get a discount on some value investment letter (bad taste...it smacks of opportunism to profit of a tragedy). Alternatively, people can visit this link to donate to credible charities of their choice:
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/
So, aren't you really saying that you're NOT sure that his friend's heart is in the right place?
Sorry, just had to needle you a bit Leo. Love your posts!