Major catastrophe as earthquake smashes Haiti

[82_28]

Cocos plate and Farallon plate. Hmmm.





"Jay Leno says it's not his fault, and other moments from late-night TV" --Random Headline floating around out there

Just sayin'. Only for fun. . .

[dbcooper41]

it appears that in addition to the military being ready the day before the "event", the red cross and samaritan's purse(franklin/billy graham) were also on the ground in haiti. how convienent! no mention of this so called conference or the early arrival on the samaritan's purse sites.


http://www.thestclairtimes.com/printer_friendly/5597446

printCook Springs native's family awaiting word from Haiti
by Elsie Hodnett
01.21.10 - 09:46 am
PELL CITY – Family members remained hopeful Tuesday

that a Birmingham native currently missing in Haiti would be

found alive.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland, 37, of Florida, has been

missing since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti Jan. 12.

“They are still digging and searching,” Adrienne Bourland said.

Adrienne and Dennis Bourland, Ken’s parents, of Cook

Springs, traveled to Florida to be with Ken’s wife, Peggy, and

their three grandsons last week.

“I heard from a friend on Facebook that they turned off the

heavy equipment so they could use sonar (acoustic

equipment), and they were sure of survivors still remaining in

the hotel (where Ken is believed to be trapped),” she said

Tuesday afternoon.

A statement released by Peggy Bourland stated Ken was in

Haiti on a routine trip with his job at Southcom.

According to the statement, Ken Bourland sent an e-mail from

his hotel room, on the second floor, to his wife and three sons

moments before the earthquake.

“This was the last contact we had with him. Therefore, we are

almost 100 percent certain he was in the hotel, possibly in his

room, when the earthquake struck,” the statement read. “The

USAF and the people of Southcom have informed us of the

various rescue teams currently working at the Hotel Montana.

They are working tirelessly to rescue Ken and the many others

trapped beneath the rubble. We are so thankful for their

effort.”

Adrienne Bourland said one of the assistant pastors of Ken

and Peggy Bourland’s church, First Baptist Church in Westin,

Florida, started a Facebook group called “Praying for the

Rescue of Ken Bourland.”

Tuesday afternoon, the group had more than 2,400 members

and numerous posts of people praying for Ken’s rescue.

“Things like that, knowing that people are praying for you and

care about you, we are just humbled by the things people are

doing for us,” Adrienne Bourland said.

Bourland said friends held a candlelight vigil for Ken, and have

been posting on Facebook. Other individuals who don’t know

the Bourlands, but are still praying for Ken’s safe return, have

posted supporting comments as well.

“Facebook has been such a wonderful tool,” Adrienne

Bourland said.

Ken Bourland’s parents traveled to Florida last week to be with

their daughter-in-law and three grandsons.

“Ken was one of a group of five people representing the Air

Force at a conference,” Adrienne Bourland said.

She said the conference consisted of several different

Caribbean countries, representatives from the United Nations,

and other non-governmental organizations involved in disaster

relief, including Samaritan’s Purse, American Red Cross, etc.

The team helps prepare countries for assistance.

“Ken is the only one of his group still missing,” Adrienne

Bourland said Monday afternoon.

She said the other four members of his group are alive,

although some are injured.

Adrienne Bourland said the family was hoping to hear news of

her son’s rescue Monday.

“We have not had any word today,” she said Monday

afternoon. “But we always look at it as if we haven’t heard any

bad news, there is hope. We have never given up hope.”

Adrienne Bourland said her son has had a lot of military and

rescue training. He has been on active military duty for 15

years, serving a 2004 tour in Iraq. He was recently promoted

to lieutenant colonel.

“Those things are useful in the situation he is in now,” she said.

“It is my belief that he will remain calm and conserve his

energy. He is a pretty smart fellow.”

Adrienne Bourland said the family is aware of the thoughts and

prayers of the people of St. Clair County.

“We want to send our appreciation to all those who are thinking

of us and praying for us,” she said.

“We are hoping and praying that Ken is alive,” said Paul

Brasher, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Eden, where

Adrienne and Dennis Bourland are members.

Brasher said church members have set up prayer lines, and

are in contact with the family for updates on the search efforts.

The New Hope Baptist Church marquee reads: “Our prayers

are with you Ken Bourland and family.”

“We are hoping his military training, and the Lord even more,

will help him survive,” Brasher said.

Brasher said the church held a special prayer time during

Sunday night’s worship service, and is considering a prayer

vigil, although one has not yet been scheduled.

According to the family’s statement, “We are also thankful for

the support of our church, Weston First Baptist (in Florida),

and our military family at Southcom and across the U.S. The

calls, meals, prayers, Bible verses and numerous other ways

you have encouraged us have been so uplifting. Our friends,

family and neighbors have been under-girding pillars for us

during this agonizing wait. We want to thank you so much!

“We are amazed at God’s love toward us at this time. We are

amazed at the great outpouring of support from people all over

the USA, some of which have never even met us. The

response of so many has brought tears of joy to our eyes. Not

only the response, but also the interest in our story by so many

caring people has been such a blessing to us.”
© thestclairtimes.com 2010

besides the previously cited website http://www.infowars.com/a-haiti-disaste ... arthquake/ , has anyone found any other info on this so called conference? if other nations, militaries and ngos were involved there must have been some invites, etc beforehand.
and i personally have always assumed the graham crime family to be closely affiliated with the intelligence world.

[dbcooper41]

apparently this group, HCJB, also happened to be in town at the time of the "event".
http://treesontheriverbank.blogspot.com/

HCJB Global, Samaritan’s Purse Join Efforts in Haiti After Massive Quake
This is an article about HCJB Global's involvement in Haiti. My friends Steve and Sheila and about 4 others are over there now. Please pray.


Sources: HCJB Global, Samaritan’s Purse (written by Ralph Kurtenbach and Harold Goerzen)

A quick response by HCJB Global Hands has put an emergency medical response team from Ecuador en route to the devastation on the Caribbean nation of Haiti after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 12.

In response to Samaritan Purse’s request for a medical help, International Healthcare Director Sheila Leech immediately began assembling a medical team including surgeons, family physicians, nurses, an anesthesiologist and a water engineer.

A registered nurse, Leech is heading the group as she has done in previous disasters around the world such as in 2005 when a medical team from Ecuador helped in quake relief efforts on Nias Island, Indonesia.

Samaritan’s Purse is centering its relief efforts at a 100-bed hospital in Port-au-Prince operated by a local partner, Baptist Haiti Mission. The hospital, 20 miles from the quake’s epicenter, only suffered minor damage and has electricity from back-up generators.

The hospital’s director of operations, Kyrk Baker, called the situation “overwhelming” with patients lining the floor. “There are big box vans coming in with people to see a doctor,” he told Samaritan’s Purse. “It’s just unbelievable the amount of people that are lined up trying to get basic medical care.”

Samaritan’s Purse has chartered a DC-3 cargo plane from Missionary Flights International (MFI) to transport supplies such as water, shelter materials, medical supplies and other emergency needs to Port-au-Prince. The first flight departed from Fort Pierce, Fla., Wednesday afternoon. A second flight on Thursday will carry additional supplies and staff members from Samaritan’s Purse and HCJB Global.

Family physician Dr. Steve Nelson said search and rescue efforts will be essential during the first few days. “We expect we will be receiving patients with severe traumatic injuries,” he explained. “A lot of the early response will be surgical, yet we hope to be able to manage some of the other kinds of problems that will be seen early because of the lack of water and infectious disease.”

While team members will concentrate on meeting people’s physical needs, their spiritual welfare is also pre-eminent. “We’re going with a team that we know—people who love the Lord and want to share Him in every way as we’re in this ministry situation of disaster response,” Nelson added. “We want to be able to show the face of Jesus as we work with our hands. We trust the name of Jesus will be lifted up in all that we do.”

HCJB Global and Samaritan’s Purse combined efforts after two natural disasters in 2007, including an earthquake that left thousands homeless in Pisco, Peru, and flooding that inundated southern Mexico’s Tabasco state.

The quake struck while an HCJB Global engineer was in Port-au-Prince to repair an automation system for partner radio station Radio Lumière. The engineer and three other technical workers, including two volunteers from the U.S., escaped injury. Operated by the Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti, Radio Lumière is a radio ministry with a network of nine stations that reaches 90 percent of Haiti’s population. Radio station 4VEH, operated by cooperating ministry One Mission Society (formerly OMS International) in Cap-Haitian, was not damaged by the temblor.
“Our hearts go out to the suffering people of Haiti,” said Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs for Samaritan’s Purse. “We appreciate the close working relationship we have with HCJB Global for this response. Please pray that God will use this relief work for His glory.”

“This is an opportunity to show God’s love in a tangible way,” added HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. “We feel privileged to play a small part in this emergency operation.” In order to donate to the relief efforts, please visit http://www.hcjbglobal.org.



Posted by Nate at 3:58 PM 0 comments

some backgound on HCJB, to me they look like a group worthy of some further investigation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HCJB

HCJB
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about shortwave Radio Station HCJB. For the worldwide missionary organization HCJB Global, see World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc.
A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. (November 2009)


HCJB, "The Voice of the Andes", was the first radio station with daily programming in the South American country of Ecuador and the first Christian missionary radio station in the world. The station was founded in 1931 by Clarence W. Jones,[1][2] Reuben Larson, and D. Stuart Clark.[3]

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Frequencies, QSLs, and programming
3 Milestones and achievements
4 End of a broadcasting era
5 See also
6 References
7 External links


[edit] History

Radio Station HCJB co-founder, Clarence Wesley Jones, circa 1945Radio station HCJB started as the vision of Clarence W. Jones, a musician, graduate of Moody Bible Institute, and the son of a Salvation Army minister. Following his graduation from Moody, Jones worked under evangelist Paul Rader and was part of the founding staff of the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle where Jones assisted in leading music, working with youth and overseeing Rader's weekly radio ministry called "WJBT" (Where Jesus Blesses Thousands)[4] Impressed by the impact Rader's radio ministry had made, Jones felt called to establish missionary radio in Latin America. As a result, Jones traveled to Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Cuba on a seven-week trip in 1928 looking for a suitable location for his envisioned radio station, but was unable to obtain the necessary government permits.[5] Back in Chicago nearly two years later, Jones met Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA) missionaries from Ecuador - Reuben and Grace Larson, John and Ruth Clark and Paul and Bernice Young. These missionaries encouraged Jones to consider Ecuador as the place to start his missionary radio station.


HCJB co-founder Reuben Larson, circa 1940As the first step in fulfilling his vision, Jones needed to obtain a contract of approval from the Ecuadorian government for setting up the radio station. Reuben Larson and D.Stuart Clark, along with Ecuadorian lawyer Luís Calisto, worked to procure the initial contract. On August 15, 1930, the Ecuadorian Congress approved a bill which granted Jones a 25-year contract to operate a radio station in the country.[6]

As with all countries having a governing body over broadcast operations, the call letters HCJB were obtained through the government of Ecuador, beginning with the internationally allocated prefix for Ecuador's broadcast stations (HC). Station co-founders Jones and Larson advocated for, and were granted by the government, call letters that were an acronym indicative of the stations' agreed upon purpose. The result was Heralding Christ Jesus' Blessings. In Spanish (one of the original broadcast languages of the South American station) the call letters represent Hoy Cristo Jesús Bendice.[7]

Jones incorporated the World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc. (WRMF) on March 9, 1931 as a non-profit entity and overseeing organization over HCJB. Jones was also the non-profit corporation's first president. The corporation's first officers were Adam Welty as treasurer, Ruth Churchill, secretary, and Lance Latham and his wife, Virginia, along with Howard Jones and Reuben Larson serving on the board of directors.[8]

HCJB's first broadcast on Christmas Day, 1931 had the potential of being heard by the six radio receivers capable of receiving the program and existing in the country at the time.[9] The inaugural program was broadcast in English and Spanish from a studio in the Joneses' living room and powered by a 200-watt, table-top transmitter. The antenna used was a simple, single wire antenna strung between two make-shift telephone poles. The broadcast lasted 30 minutes.[10]

[edit] Frequencies, QSLs, and programming

The grounds of radio station HCJB in Quito, EcuadorInitially, HCJB only broadcast programs in English and Spanish. In 1941, however, live programs were added in Russian, Swedish and Quechua. By 1944, the station had aired programing in 14 languages including live programs in Czech, Dutch, French and German. Programs in languages such as Arabic, Italian and Hebrew were recorded elsewhere and sent to Quito on large acetate coated aluminium transcription discs. By 1967, live programming would be added in Portuguese and Japanese.


HCJB radio station staff in 1946, including engineer Clayton Howard (front row left), co-founder Clarence Jones (front row right) and future HCJB president Abe Van Der Puy (front row, fourth from left)Following the first years of HCJB's broadcasts on 50.26 meters (5986 kHz), the shortwave frequencies utilized by HCJB for its broadcasts from Quito were 6050 kHz, 9745 kHz, 11775 kHz and 15155 kHz.[11] As the station's wattage increased, shortwave radio enthusiasts in North America started receiving the station's broadcasts, submitting reception reports in order to provide the HCJB engineers feedback on the station's signal strength and quality.


An HCJB envelope with a 1938 postmark which contained a QSL card sent to the addresseeSince a popular practice in the hobby of shortwave radio listening was to request a QSL card, HCJB started creating its own QSLs in 1932.


An HCJB QSL card from 1955By the 1970s, the station was one of the most powerful and most readily received shortwave stations. HCJB was heard around the world and received hundreds of letters each week with reception reports from shortwave DXers. The correspondence department of HCJB would respond in kind to its listeners with QSL cards and Christian tracts.


An HCJB QSL card from 1975 showing a mountaineer on top of CotopaxiAs requests for QSLs became more frequent, HCJB missionary and radio engineer Clayton Howard suggested a shortwave listeners' club be created. In 1974, the Andes DXers International, (or "ANDEX") began. Members would receive a membership certificate and membership card with the member's name and individual member number, along with Howard's signature. ANDEX eventually had a membership in the thousands and continued as a service of HCJB until 1996. Since the station's first year of broadcasting, staff members produced the HCJB's own original radio programming.


HCJB musicians during live broadcast in the 1940s. Co-founder Clarence W. Jones is on the far right with his trombone.HCJB's original programming has ranged from programs completely in Quechua (the primary language of the people of the Andes), Andean-music programs, Christian music programming, talk and mail-reading programs featuring mail received from listeners around the world, Bible study and teaching programs, and programming featuring information about shortwave radio listening.


An HCJB 50th Anniversary QSL card from 1981 showing 1930s in-studio music production and the station's antenna complex as of 1981Some of the most popular HCJB-produced programs over the years have been "Morning in the Mountains," "Musica del Ecuador", "Musical Mailbag," "Happiness Is" and "DX-Partyline." "DX-Partyline" was hosted from its inception by HCJB missionary Clayton Howard and his wife, Helen. The program was heard for more than 40 years, twice a week, and included the reading of letters from shortwave listeners around the world as well as DX and reception reports sent to the station. "DX-Partyline" also included shortwave radio listening tips, information on antennas, and equipment reviews. Programs not produced by HCJB were also broadcast from the Quito station. Typically of a religious nature, some of the non-HCJB produced programs broadcast from the station were the Pacific Garden Mission's "Unshackled!"[1], the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's Hour of Decision, the Salvation Army's "Wonderful Words of Life" and Moody Bible Institute radio station WMBI's "Nightsounds"[2] with Bill Pearce, among many others.


1970s HCJB-produced record album featuring missionaries Leonard and Imogene BookerMuch of HCJB's original programming also included music recorded, produced and performed by HCJB missionaries. Much of the HCJB-produced music broadcast on the station was also available on LP record albums and later on cassette tapes.

[edit] Milestones and achievements
1931 - The station's first broadcast using a 200-watt transmitter designed and built by HCJB Engineer Eric Williams.[citation needed]
1936 - An RCA medium-wave transmitter is added.[citation needed]
1937 - The addition of a 1,000 watt transmitter designed and built by HCJB Engineer Victoriano Salvador.[citation needed]
1940 - The station adds a 10,000 watt transmitter designed and built by HCJB Engineer Clarence C. Moore, allowing the station's broadcast signal to reach around the world.[citation needed]

HCJB technical and engineering staff in the 1940s; head engineer Clayton Howard is in the center1940 - Clarence Moore invents, and later patents the cubical quad antenna and puts it into use at HCJB.[12]
Cover of the 1947 HCJB Radio Log sent to the missionary station's contributors and partners1952 - the station moves its shortwave broadcasting to a new site in Pifo, Ecuador.[citation needed]
1956 - HCJB begins broadcasting with its first high-powered 50,000 watt transmitter designed by HCJB Engineer Herb Jacobson and built by HCJB engineers and staff.[citation needed]
1965 - The station's own hydro-electric plant at Papallacta begins generating electrity to power shortwave broadcasts from Pifo.[citation needed]
1967 - The station purchases three RCA 100,000-watt shortwave transmitters. The units required extensive reworking and entered into service in 1968, 1969 and 1970.[citation needed]
1979 - The construction of a steerable antenna is completed.[citation needed]
1981 - A 500,000-watt shortwave transmitter capable of overcoming any Russian jamming efforts is put into use. The transmitter was designed and built by HCJB Engineers at facilities loaned by Clarence Moore at Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana.[citation needed]
1982 - A second hydro-electric plant at Papallacta to provide power for the station's shortwave broadcasts is added.[citation needed]
1986 - The HCJB World Radio Engineering Center (now called the HCJB Global Technology Center) was created at the Crown International facilities under the direction of David Pasechnik. The goal was to design and build HC100 (100,000-watt) shortwave transmitters for HCJB and its the ministry's contributors in the "World by 2000" challenge.[citation needed]

A Siemens single side-band transmitter at Radio Station HCJB's international transmitter site in Pifo, Ecuador[citation needed]

1990 - The first HC-100 (100,000-watt) transmitter goes on the air in Quito Ecuador. Since that time eight more HC-100s were built and put into use by the World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc. in Ecuador, Swaziland and Australia.[citation needed]
1992 - A radio station in Bukavu, Zaire is "planted" by HCJB. The station used a portable FM transmitter designed and built by staff at the HCJB Engineering Center.[citation needed]
HCJB Global Technology staff members are involved in research, development, training and technical support for AM, FM and shortwave radio stations as well as satellite distribution and satellite-based Internet services. In recent years they developed station automation systems and a fixed-tuned, solar-powered SonSet radio that can be pretuned to pick up a specific Christian radio station. HCJB Global staff have been active in pioneering equipment and software for a form of digital radio broadcasting called DRM.[citation needed]


An HCJB pennant sent to shortwave radio listeners in the 1970s[edit] End of a broadcasting era
After nearly 80 years of shortwave broadcasting from Ecuador, Radio Station HCJB ended the remaining regional shortwave transmissions on Sept. 30, 2009. Currently, the international transmitter site in Pifo is in the process of being dismantled to make way for the city of Quito's new airport.


HCJB's steerable "mixer-antenna" in Pifo, EcuadorAccording to HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson, the change was made because, “the way people consume media has changed, so we have the opportunity to change to delivery systems such as satellite, AM/FM and the Internet. The closing of shortwave in Latin America is strategic because of the planting of local radio stations across the region and around the world. These stations are staffed and programmed by local [Christians] who can speak to the culture in their own communities.”[13] HCJB Global's focus is now on “radio planting”—assisting local Christian ministries in beginning implementing their own Christian radio ministry. Worldwide, more than 350 local stations have been assisted in this type of endeavor, including nearly 60 stations in Latin America alone. Although the historic station and transmitter sites in Ecuador will no longer operate on the shortwave bands, Shortwave broadcasts continue from HCJB Global Australia's site in Kununurra,[14] Australia and from commercial broadcast sites and partner ministry broadcast sites around the world.

[edit] See also
Related topics

Missionary related

World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc.
Mission Aviation Fellowship
Broadcasting related

Shortwave listening
[edit] References
^ The Founders
^ Radio Station HCJB
^ "Vision to Reach the World". HCJB Global 2006
^ Come Up To This Mountain, Neely, Lois - Tyndale Publishers, 1980; pg. 31
^ Come Up To This Mountain, Neely, Lois - Tyndale Publishers, 1980; pg. 54
^ Come Up To This Mountain, Neely, Lois - Tyndale Publishers, 1980; pg. 67
^ Come Up To This Mountain, Neely, Lois - Tyndale Publishers, 1980; pg. 77
^ Billy Graham Center Archives – Papers of Clarence Wesley Jones – Collection 349
^ Raidio.com NewsArchive article on HCJB
^ Preparing the Soil for Global Revival: Station HCJB's Radio Circle, 1949-59; Timothy H.B. Stomenman - March, 2007
^ Shortwave DX frequency guide
^ Patent information on cubical quad antenna
^ HCJB Global Voice Moves Up End Date of Shortwave Broadcasts from Ecuador
^ Register of Radiocommunications Licences
[edit] External links
Official website of HCJB Global
HCJB Global Spanish site
Radio Planting
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: HCJB
Coordinates: 15°45′00″S 128°44′00″E / 15.75°S 128.7333333°E / -15.75; 128.7333333
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it seems the wiki page was edited shortly before the event also.
and a little more on hcjb:
http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news. ... ew&id=4119

[anothershamus]

http://cryptogon.com/?p=13198



Chavez: U.S. Weapon Test Caused Haiti Earthquake
January 22nd, 2010

If you know of better sources for this information, please send them over.

Via: Russia Today:

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has once again accused the United States of playing God. But this time it’s Haiti’s disastrous earthquake that he thinks the U.S. was behind. Spanish newspaper ABC quotes Chavez as saying that the U.S. navy launched a weapon capable of inducing a powerful earthquake off the shore of Haiti. He adds that this time it was only a drill and the final target is … destroying and taking over Iran.

More: Chavez says US ‘weapon’ caused Haiti quake

Related: PENTAGON DISASTER RELIEF EXERCISE FOR HAITI WENT LIVE AFTER EARTHQUAKE HIT

Related: Royal Navy Flotilla Withdrawn to Cut Costs, Weeks Before Haiti Disaster; First Gap in Cover in Caribbean Since 17th Century

UPDATE: 1997: U.S. Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen, Mentions Electromagnetic Earthquake and Volcano Weapons

Via: The Memory Hole:

Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.

[seemslikeadream]

KILLED OVER RICE

CNN

[annie aronburg]

Kouraj Cherie: Update from PAP
January 19, 2010

This afternoon, feeling helpless, we decided to take a van down to Champs Mars (the area around the palace) to look for people needing medical care to bring to Matthew 25, the guesthouse where we are staying which has been transformed into a field hospital. Since we arrived in Port au Prince everyone has told us that you cannot go into the area around the palace because of violence and insecurity. I was in awe as we walked into downtown, among the flattened buildings , in the shadow of the fallen palace, amongst the swarms of displaced people there was calm and solidarity. We wound our way through the camp asking for injured people who needed to get to the hospital. Despite everyone telling us that as soon as we did this we would be mobbed by people, I was amazed as we approached each tent people gently pointed us towards their neighbors, guiding us to those who were suffering the most. We picked up 5 badly injured people and drove towards an area where Ellie and Berto had passed a woman earlier. When they saw her she was lying on the side of the road with a broken leg screaming for help, as they were on foot they could not help her at the time so we went back to try to find her. Incredibly we found her relatively quickly at the top of a hill of shattered houses. The sun was setting and the community helped to carry her down the hill on a refrigerator door, tough looking guys smiled in our direction calling out “bonswa Cherie” and “kouraj”.

When we got back to Matthew 25 it was dark and we carried the patients back into the soccer field/tent village/hospital where the team of doctors had been working tirelessly all day. Although they had officially closed down for the evening, they agreed to see the patients we had brought. Once our patients were settled in we came back into the house to find the doctors amputating a foot on the dining room table. The patient lay calmly, awake but far away under the fog of ketamine. Half way through the surgery we heard a clamor outside and ran out to see what it was. A large yellow truck was parked in front of the gate and rapidly unloading hundreds of bags of food over our fence, the hungry crowd had already begun to gather and in the dark it was hard to decide how to best distribute the food. Knowing that we could not sleep in the house with all of this food and so many starving people in the neighborhood, our friend Amber (who is experienced in food distribution) snapped into action and began to get everyone in the crowd into a line that stretched down the road. We braced ourselves for the fighting that we had heard would come but in a miraculous display of restraint and compassion people lined up to get the food and one by one the bags were handed out without a single serious incident.

During the food distribution the doctors called to see if anyone could help to bury the amputated leg in the backyard. As I have no experience with food distribution I offered to help with the leg. I went into the back with Ellie and Berto and we dug a hole and placed the leg in it, covering it with soil and cement rubble. By the time we got back into the house the food had all been distributed and the patient Anderson was waking up. The doctors asked for a translator so I went and sat by his stretcher explaining to him that the surgery had gone well and he was going to live. His family had gone home so he was alone so Ellie and I took turns sitting with him as he came out from under the drugs. I sat and talked to Anderson for hours as he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point one of the Haitian men working at the hospital came in and leaned over Anderson and said to him in kreyol “listen man even if your family could not be here tonight we want you to know that everyone here loves you, we are all your brothers and sisters”. Cat and I have barely shed a tear through all of this, the sky could fall and we would not bat an eye, but when I told her this story this morning the tears just began rolling down her face, as they are mine as I am writing this. Sometimes it is the kindness and not the horror that can break the numbness that we are all lost in right now.

So, don’t believe Anderson Cooper when he says that Haiti is a hotbed for violence and riots, it is just not the case. In the darkest of times, Haiti has proven to be a country of brave, resilient and kind people and it is that behavior that is far more prevalent than the isolated incidents of violence. Please pass this on to as many people as you can so that they can see the light of Haiti, cutting through the darkness, the light that will heal this nation.
We are safe. We love you all and I will write again when I can. Thank you for your generosity and compassion.

With love from Port au Prince,
Sasha

[LilyPatToo]

Re: Pat Robertson's inhumanly cruel statement. Here's Satan's reply:

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.

Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style.
Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

Read the original here and join in my applause for Lily Coyle of Minneapolis who came up with it

LilyPat

[luv2dive]

John Travolta has arrived, bearing Scientologists.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100126/ap_ ... i_travolta

1 hr 8 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – John Travolta has landed his own jet in Haiti carrying relief supplies and a team including doctors and Scientology ministers.

[MacCruiskeen]

UN troops use pepper spray on 'animal' Haitians

Posted Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:41pm AEDT
Updated Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:03pm AEDT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 801649.htm

A daily aid hand-out in front of the collapsed National Palace turned into a chaotic scramble as some 18 United Nations peacekeepers attempted to contain 4,000 desperately hungry Haitians.

A UN trooper, who declined to be named, struggled to hold back the jostling crowd with a hard plastic shield.

"Whatever we do, it doesn't matter - they are animals," he cried in Spanish, when asked why the peacekeepers were not trying to explain anything in French or Creole.

Troops waved pepper spray into the queue's front line. Others standing atop a grubby white UN armoured vehicle fired off steady rounds of rubber bullets into the air.

The shots were barely acknowledged by people shoving to get at precious food supplied by the US multi-faith Eagles' Wings Foundation, which is providing disaster relief.

When asked why there were not greater numbers of UN troops to contain the hungry crowd, peacekeepers gestured that there were not any more available to join them.

"Uno! Uno! Uno!" the Uruguayans troops, part of the UN mission in Haiti. screamed in vain, holding up single fingers in a bid to form an orderly line.

The crowd instead moved as one toward trucks laden with rice sacks emblazoned with the US flag and gallon jugs of vitamin-enriched soy oil.

A vomiting pregnant woman, still gesturing at her mouth to show hunger, was carried off by UN troops after collapsing out of the crush of bodies.

"In five minutes, we'll leave because they'll overrun us," a UN troop warned foreign press photographers.

When they did withdraw the crowd wildly swarmed to get at the 50 rice sacks left behind.

"It's all gone, they left nothing," wailed Geneve, an older Haitian woman clad in sweaty rags, when she finally reached the spot where trampled aid boxes laid empty.

She joined dozens of others to kneel on the trash-strewn street to pick up the last rice grains.

-AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 801649.htm

The casual racism of the UN "peacekeepers" is disgusting enough, though wholly unsurprising in itself. But what does this story tell us about the efficiency of the "international aid effort", a full two weeks after the fucking earthquake?

It seems ever clearer to me that those people are being deliberately crushed and humiliated in order to provoke the very "security crisis" that will retroactively justify the US invasion and the continuing presence of the US military there.

[No_Baseline]

My thoughts exactly, MacCruiskeen

[MacCruiskeen]

Thanks, No_Baseline. But, as the article below makes clear, anyone with the temerity to suggest that imperialist nations are in fact behaving like imperialist nations (or that capitalists are in fact behaving like capitalists) counts as a "conspiracy theorist".

As US prepares long-term occupation, Haiti’s quake victims still without aid

By Bill Van Auken
23 January 2010

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan20 ... -j23.shtml

With the US military “surge” into Haiti expected to include some 20,000 troops on land and on ships parked offshore by this weekend, a US official indicated that Washington is preparing for a protracted occupation of the impoverished and earthquake-devastated Caribbean nation.

“We are there for the long term, this is not something that will be resolved quickly and easily,” said Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, the US deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, on Haiti following a meeting on aid to the battered country.

In addition to the US, representatives from Brazil, Canada, France, Haiti and Uruguay participated in the discussions. Canada and France are major donors to Haiti, while Brazil and Uruguay each have over 1,000 troops participating in the United Nations peace-keeping mission, which constituted the main occupying force before the earthquake.

Speaking earlier in the UN, Wolff denounced the governments of Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela for accusing Washington of exploiting the tragedy in Haiti to impose a military occupation of the country.

He charged the three Latin American governments with attempting “to politicize the matter with ill informed tendentious statements” and having “ridiculously alleged conspiracy and occupation.”

In Haiti itself, however, anger and protests are building over the US militarization of the response to a disaster that has claimed an estimated 200,000 lives, while leaving another quarter of a million injured and millions homeless.

Humanitarian aid and medical teams have accused the US military—which has asserted unilateral control over the country’s airport and port facilities—of making the deployment of troops and the evacuation of US citizens from Haiti its first priorities. The delivery of desperately needed medical supplies and equipment were relegated to second place. Medical relief agencies have warned that tens of thousands more are dying from injuries sustained in the earthquake because of the lack of basic supplies and medicines.

While aid has now reportedly begun flowing into the country, fully 11 days after the earthquake, it is reportedly still not reaching those who desperately need it.

“Large quantities of medications, baby formula and other relief supplies are sitting on the tarmac and in warehouses at the Port-au-Prince airport, but no one is moving it out,” CNN cable news reported Thursday.

The network’s medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta visited the warehouse and spoke with military officers in charge of operations there.

The military “gave Gupta a trash bag full of supplies to take back to a hospital he had visited earlier but couldn't explain why there seemed to be no organized system for distribution,” CNN reported.

Phillippe Bolopion, a correspondent for FRANCE24 television, reported from a makeshift camp of earthquake victims just outside the airport, where supplies are piling up.

“You’d think these people would be helped, but they are not,” he reported. “There are four toilets for 3,500 people; they were clogged, obviously. They had no food, very little water. The only international organization present was the Spanish Red Cross. People couldn’t understand why the generosity of the world isn’t getting to them. It’s really hard to comprehend.”

Similarly, Fran Sevilla, a correspondent for Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), reported, “There continues to be no distribution of humanitarian aid, of food and water. I ask myself how all of these human beings survive. I ask if anyone is helping them, if they are receiving anything, and the answer is always no. They survive thanks to the solidarity between them, sharing between families and groups of friends what little they have, what little they can get.”

Clearly displeased with the reporting by the foreign media, the US military expelled them from the airport on Thursday, leaving them to scramble to find somewhere to go in the demolished Haitian capital.

Meanwhile, the United Nations reported Thursday that up to 700,000 people in Port-au-Prince are homeless, many living in some 500 camps set up in parks and empty lots, with little more than sheets to protect people from the sun.

UN representatives together with humanitarian aid workers visited 350 of these camps by late Thursday, reporting that only six of them had access to drinking water. According to the UN, 45 percent of those affected by the earthquake are children under the age of 18, and 18 percent are younger than five. Conditions are expected to worsen, with health officials warning that infectious diseases could spread through these makeshift camps like wildfire. Rain is expected early next week, which would flood these camps, creating ideal conditions for the spread of dengue, typhus and malaria.

What little remains of a Haitian government—with Washington’s puppet President Réne Préval having ceded all real power to the Pentagon and practically disappeared—has responded to this crisis by proposing that 400,000 homeless people be removed from Port-au-Prince, with 100,000 of them relocated to camps near the city of Croix-des-Bouguets, north of the capital.

There are, however, no camps there, and thus far, the government has made only 34 buses available to transport this mass of people.

In another indication of the criminal inadequacy of the rescue operation, the UN and US authorities announced that attempts to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble of fallen buildings in Port-au-Prince was drawning to a close, on the grounds that there were no likely survivors. All but 10 of 43 international rescue teams that had come to Haiti have left.

This effort—which was woefully under-resourced and uncoordinated from the start—is being ended even as two more people were brought out alive from the ruins of buildings on Thursday. No doubt, many more will be left to die.

It can be predicted that with the end of these dramatic life-saving efforts, the corporate-controlled media will also begin their exodus from Haiti, reducing coverage of the continuing tragedy of the Haitian people and the many more deaths that are still to come.

It is also likely that little attention will be given to the activities of the US military and its auxiliaries in the UN peace-keeping force and the Haitian police as they undertake the repression of popular unrest.

There are indications that this has already begun. Haitian police shot to death a 20-year-old carpenter, Gentile Cherie, Wednesday, after he was seen carrying sacks of rice. Another man with him was seriously wounded. Both were shot in the back.

The police claimed the men had stolen the rice, but the wounded man said that a truck driver had given the sacks to them. Local residents and shopkeepers said that neither man was a thief. CNN reported that the Haitian police refused to say whether they have been given “shoot-on-sight” orders for dealing with alleged looters.

Meanwhile, a Cuban television team filmed scenes of UN troops firing rubber bullets and tear gas grenades at crowds of Haitians who had approached the US-occupied airport seeking food and work.

As anger over the criminal negligence that has characterized the US response to the Haitian disaster and resentment over yet another US military occupation of Haiti grow, American troops will inevitably be used to suppress protests and resistance.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan20 ... -j23.shtml

They'll get their "security crisis" sooner or later, by hook or by crook.

[MacCruiskeen]

Comment from soemone called 'Strelnikov' at Lenin's Tomb:

Call me crazy but I think what's going on here is that they're hoping that the citizens of Port-au-Prince (especially those in Citi Solei) do rise up and attack the soldiers, thus cementing the rationale for sending troops in the first place. Or maybe the Pentagon/State Dept. may have originally thought there were going to be monster riots, but now all this military junk is blocking the way and making the situation worse. In either case, why aren't they building more airstrips? The US has the technology to clear jungle and lay down metal grating which can stand jet aircraft landing on it (they did it in Vietnam), so why aren't they going that route?

http://tinyurl.com/y8sldrv

Indeed. The whole alleged reason for the US military presence there was that their gigantic technological resources and logistical know-how would enable them to provide effective aid faster than anyone else.

It's a murderous farce.

[chiggerbit]

In another indication of the criminal inadequacy of the rescue operation, the UN and US authorities announced that attempts to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble of fallen buildings in Port-au-Prince was drawning to a close, on the grounds that there were no likely survivors. All but 10 of 43 international rescue teams that had come to Haiti have left.

Whaaaat???

[MacCruiskeen]

Yeah. And on the very day the rescue operation was officially called off (11 days after the quake, I think), they pulled yet another survivor from the ruins. He had been stuck in some semi-collapsed room and had access to water, beer, biscuits and air.

There must be many more survivors under the rubble, but they will now be dying of despair.

[MacCruiskeen]

Michael Moore on how real offers of real, competent, professional help are simply being ignored by the Obama administration. (When reading this, recall that there are now 16,000 US soldiers there, trained only to kill and "maintain order".)

MICHAEL MOORE: [...] And this situation with the National Nurses Union, they went out to their membership. Who would be willing to go to Haiti right now? Over 11,000, almost 12,000 nurses—12,000 nurses—around this country have signed up, who are willing to go right now to Haiti. I don’t know if I heard it on your show last week or someplace else. You know, essentially one nurse could provide help for dozens of people. So just imagine if we could get 12,000 nurses there, with the necessary supplies, how many people could have been helped. I mean, this offer was made days and days ago.

AMY GOODMAN: To whom?

MICHAEL MOORE: To the Obama administration from the executive director of the National Nurses Union. She contacted the [Obama] administration. She got put off. She had no response. Then they sent her to some low-level person that had no authority to do anything.

And then, finally, she’s contacting me. And she says, “Do you know any way to get a hold of President Obama?” And I’m going, “Well, this is pretty pathetic if you’re having to call me. I mean, you are the largest nurses union. You are, I believe, one of the vice presidents of the AFL-CIO, of the main board of the AFL-CIO, and you can’t get a call in to the White House to get 12,000 nurses down there? I don’t know what I can do for you. I mean, I’ll put my call in, too.”

But as we sit here today, not a whole heck of a lot has happened. And it’s distressing. It’s just one example, I think, of so many things, and you covered a lot of it last week when you were there, that just have fallen through here. ...

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/26/m ... he_supreme