PETIONVILLE, HAITI — Through decades of coups, hurricanes, embargoes and economic collapse, the wily and powerful business elite of Haiti have learned the art of survival in one of the most chaotic countries on Earth — and they might come out on top again.
Although Tuesday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed many buildings in Port-au-Prince, it mostly spared homes and businesses up the mountain in the cool, green suburb of Petionville, home to former presidents and senators.
A palace built atop a mountain by the man who runs one of Haiti’s biggest lottery games is still standing. New-car dealers, the big importers, the families that control the port — they all drove through town with their drivers and security men this past weekend. Only a few homes here were destroyed.
“All the nation is feeling this earthquake — the poor, the middle class and the richest ones,” said Erwin Berthold, owner of the Big Star Market in Petionville. “But we did okay here. We have everything cleaned up inside. We are ready to open. We just need some security. So send in the Marines, okay?”
Those dirty bastard rich business owners, how dare they not get hurt as bad, as the poor downtrodden bottom feeders?!?!
“And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.
“They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.
“They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’
“True story.
“And so the Devil said, ‘Okay, it’s a deal.’
“And, uh, they kicked the French out, you know, with Haitians revolted and got themselves free.
“But ever since they have been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor.
“That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti on the other side is the Dominican Republican.
“Dominican Republic is, is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etcetera.
“Haiti is in desperate poverty.
“Same island.
The problem is, what “uncle Chuckles” is saying, is, of course, wrong. 90% of Haiti is Christian. Further more, the story of the Satanic pact story, is, of course, Wrong. Even a Christian from there says so.
As a Born-Again Christian, and a Baptist. I encourage ALL Christians who read this blog, and DEMAND that Pat Roberson either apologize and resign from his position. Here’s the contact info:
Mailing Address
The Christian Broadcasting Network
977 Centerville Turnpike
Virginia Beach, VA 23463
CBA Canada
680 Progress Avenue – Unit #2
Scarborough, ON M1H3A5
Canada
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., January 13, 2010 — On today’s The 700 Club, during a segment about the devastation, suffering and humanitarian effort that is needed in Haiti, Dr. Robertson also spoke about Haiti’s history. His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed. Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath. If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster. They have sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medications that is now in Haiti, and their disaster team leaders are expected to arrive tomorrow and begin operations to ease the suffering.
Chris Roslan
Spokesman for CBN
The White House, as expected, is quite shocked at Robertson’s idiotic behaviour:
Robertson’s words instantly triggered a firestorm across the country, including a rebuke from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who told reporters “at times of great crisis there are always people who say really stupid things.”
“Our heart goes out to the people of Haiti. … That’s not the attitude that expresses the spirit of the president or the American people, so I thought it was a pretty stunning comment to make,” Jarrett said.
I think that his non-apology apology is just not good enough. He must resign, a penalty must be paid for this sort of foolishness.
Keith Olbermann is fighting mad about this, and rightly so:
I know what Rush Limbaugh said and I chose and still chose to ignore it. That is one of sad parts of being here on the right; is to have to be associated with the idiots like Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity. It is a part of the American experience, and the byproducts of a Free Republic. Freedom of speech does, at times, have it’s bad points.
I cannot, and will not apologize for Pat Robertson, nor can I explain his idiotic remarks. However, I can and I will say, publicly; that I wholeheartedly disagree and reject Pat Robertson’s and yes, even Rush Limbaugh’s idiotic and asinine comments — They do NOT reflect my feelings at all, about the situation in Haiti.
I hate to be the one to do this; but, seeing she’s not answering my e-mail.
Michelle Malkin royally screws one up.
She links to this story here, about a container of PETN getting punctured with the comment of:
Okay, how does this just happen?
However, if you actually click to the website and look, you will see this:
Morehead City Mayor Jerry Jones says a forklift operator accidentally punctured at least one container filled with PETN, forcing the port to shut down.
Has Malkin corrected the damn story? No. 🙄
Do not misunderstand me here, I am all for the reporting and exposing of Islamic Jihad. But, I am not for the stoking of irrational fear and that is what Malkin is doing here; she’s feeding a damned talking point.
My feeling is, either report factual information and responsible enough to post updated info, or don’t bother posting at all.
Michelle is better than this; but yet, she does it anyway. It is quite disgusting. Color me unimpressed.
Countdown to Malkin-bots calling me a racist, sexist, and whatever else in 5….4….3…2…
As much as I hate to write about a subject, that I have already written about once, I will again. Because I need to make my personal position clear.
Regarding the media stampede over Harry Reid’s comments; Now this is where I am going to break from the normal Conservative Blog and media talking points. This blog has never been about talking points, ever. Nor will it ever be. I am a clear and free thinker and I am not afraid to go against what I feel to be blatant stupidity.
First off, regarding Trent Lott‘s comments: Those comments were highly racist in nature, they were given at a Birthday Party for a very well known former segregationist. Hell, Even Michelle Malkin was none too pleased with what he said, at the time; although her position on it was a bit different, than what I felt at the time. Second of all, it is being reported that Trent Lott was kicked out of the Senate for his remarks. This totally bogus lie and needs to be corrected. Trent Lott’s leadership position in the Senate was removed for his comments. Trent Lott left the Senate because of changes in the rules for lobbyists in the Congress.
Now for Reid’s comments; Sorry to my fellow Conservatives, but, I do not believe that Harry Reid’s comments are to be considered the moral equivalence of what Trent Lott said. That is because Harry Reid’s comments were factually correct; however, his choice of words were, quite bluntly, stupid. However, because I believe in a equal standard in the Senate and House, I believe the Senator Reid ought to resign his leadership position, because it is the right thing to do. If you going to have a standard, of when leadership within both houses of Congress make stupid mistakes and resign leadership posts, it should be equal for both sides. Partisanship ought not to be a deciding factor in this situation, sadly, I believe that it is a big part of what is happening in this situation.
The Bottom Line: While what Reid said was incredibly stupid. I do not believe that it should be compared to Trent Lott’s statement at all.
I have learned of certain unfortunate comments made by Senator Reid regarding President Barack Obama and have spoken with Senator Reid about those comments. While there is no question that Senator Reid did not select the best word choice in this instance, these comments should not distract America from its continued focus on securing healthcare or creating jobs for its people. Nor should they detract from the unquestionable leadership role Senator Reid has played on these issues or in the area of civil rights. Senator Reid’s door has always been open on hearing from the civil rights community on these issues and I look forward to continue to work with Senator Reid wherever possible to improve the lives of Americans everywhere.
“It seems to be that we can forgive a 100-year-old senator for some of the indiscretion of his youth, but, what is more difficult to forgive is the current president of the U.S. Senate (Lott) suggesting we had been better off if we had followed a segregationist path in this country after all of the battles and fights for civil rights and all the work that we still have to do,” said Obama.
He said: “The Republican Party itself has to drive out Trent Lott. If they have to stand for something, they have to stand up and say this is not the person we want representing our party.”
Hypocrisy, Thy name is Democrats. 🙄
This is from the same party that fought to keep Slavery legal. Remember that.
Remember what I wrote here? Scratch that. They’re still idiots… sigh… 🙄
WASHINGTON – The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency’s “bat cave” nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.
“People have been grumbling that he didn’t let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation,” said one of the sources.
The NCTC, the post-9/11 clearinghouse for intelligence to detect terror plots against the U.S., is under intense scrutiny for failing to “connect the dots” on Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Leiter’s spokesman declined to say when the terror-center chief returned to Washington and fully retook the helm of his analysis agency, which is near CIA headquarters just outside the nation’s capital.
“It is our policy to not make our director’s schedule available to the public,” center spokesman Carl Kropf said in an e-mai
An aside, This agency, National Counterterrorism Center, was slated for budget cuts, before this little incident happened:
The highly touted intelligence fusion center at the heart of the nation’s counterterrorism establishment was preparing for deep budget cuts across 2010, senior intelligence officials said. According to one official, who asked not to be identified because intelligence budget matters are classified, the administration and Congress slashed the budget for the National Counterterrorism Center by at least $25 million. Those affected, the official said, included employees responsible for maintaining the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) system, which contains the list of about 550,000 known or suspected terrorists…
“Without question, recent events will cause those proposals to be re-considered,” an intelligence official said.
No wonder I quite watching that idiotic network. 🙄 As an extra added bonus, a 9/11 truther at the end this video; makes for a great one.
Update: Reader Rich Writes in to say:
I think that Olbermann Watch is connecting dots that aren’t there on this one. Several reasons:
1) The theory is based on Wolffe’s statement about what the White House is examining. Unless you hear this type of claim coming from a White House spokesman, I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in it. I’m sure the White House is looking at lots of things but that doesn’t mean they have drawn any conclusions; perhaps Wolffe is hearing only what he wants to hear.
2) Obama calls this episode the result of a “systematic failure.” That sure doesn’t sound like a statement from someone who wants to duck responsibility for it.
3) Does one intelligence agency not share complete information with the other agencies? Probably. But the reason is likely related to competition between the agencies, not any conspiracy plot.
TV, be it Olbermann or Fox, is always looking for controversy; that doesn’t make it true. Same goes for the “Obama wasn’t out there” (after the event) line; I understand that Bush took six days to make a statement after the Richard Reid episode and that, at Bush’s next press conference, the neither the President or the press even spoke about Reid until well into the press conference. It is all about stirring up conflict, which makes for a more engaging story. Unfortunately, doing so only distracts from the genuine problem that we face here, which is best addressed though bipartisan action rather than political bickering. Very sad, IMHO.
BTW, I just discovered your blog; I like to read a wide range of political views, so I will be back!
Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eve…ntually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.
Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.
When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies.
Very strange. Even if you’re into profiling, Yon would hardly fit one you’d be interested in. Of course, his passport, by now, doubtless has a list of countries stamped into it which could give an inspector pause, but that’s no excuse. Very, very strange. I expect this one will be high profile enough that you’ll see an apology coming from the government.
Unless there is more to this story, an apology would be the least owed to Yon. When an American citizen with a valid passport presents himself for travel, there should be some reasonable screening to verify identity and to determine whether there is a physical risk, ie, weapons and the like. Why should border security be interested in Yon’s annual income? How does that relate to national security and border protection? Unless this is an arm of the Internal Revenue Service, it doesn’t, and Yon was right to refuse to answer the question.
Instead of hassling American citizens about their income or watching the ice melt, how about paying attention to actual security and intelligence issues? Please?
I must say that I agree with both of these assessments, and I personally believe those responsible for detaining Mr. Yon, ought to be fired. I honestly have to ask this question, that neither Jazz nor Ed would even ask. If Michael Yon had been, say, Arabic or even black; would he have been detained? I somehow doubt it. But, because he’s a White American, he gets asked a stupid question and because he refuses to answer it, which was well within his rights; he gets detained. Welcome to Obama’s America people. Where white men are oppressed, interrogated and harassed; by the black power establishment. You say this isn’t about race? I disagree. This is all about race and as long as Barack Hussein Obama is President, you will continue to see this sort of nonsense happening in America. Bank on it.
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Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency’s “bat cave” nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.