Sunday, January 17, 2010

Beaneath the headlines

When people start quoting Rush I am somewhat skeptical. I have already seen things blown way out of proportion.

1) The point about our tax dollars is relevant. We have been giving aid to Haiti for years and have zero to show for it. Haitians have also been given more generous immigration benefits than any other country on the planet. Remittances from relatives is a huge part of the Haitian economy.

This is not to say that Haiti does not deserve aid. This is not to say that Haitians are a bad people. However, where is the tangible results for our aid. Haiti is poorer than ever and a certain amount of frustration is evident. One need look no further than the Brooks Op Ed piece in the far left NYT. Throwing money decade after decade has produced no results.

2) There is another nation who should be doing way more than it is. France has a colonial past and should be stepping up to people it wronged multiple times.

3) TPS is a temporary program and at the end of the 18 month program Haitians should return home. The problem is TPS has been awarded to Salvadorans for more than ten years. This is an abuse of the program and should not be permitted.

Of course if conditions are still dreadful there is room to reconsider TPS.

14 comments:

SecondComingOfBast said...

Good point about France. I was going to do a probably inappropriate French joke on this, but something else came up, which is really why I'm here.

The blog IowaHawk is running a contest, asking readers for submissions for a Martha Coakley Ad satire. I know you like to do satires, so maybe you would like to give it a shot.

I already made my submission, come take a look at it. The link to IowaHawk is there too, if you want to make your own submission.

Z said...

Hi, Beak....I think Rush made some good points and they'd be at least respected by all Americans IF the media and our schools had not set the new rules that CONSERVATIVES ARE NOTHING BUT RACIST STUPID SCUM.

xxx

Always On Watch said...

The point about our tax dollars is relevant. We have been giving aid to Haiti for years and have zero to show for it.

Haiti is a money pit.

Yes, I pity the people and the situation they're in. But handing them welfare hasn't worked nor will it work. Order has to be restored from the bottom up -- not the other way around.

Justin said...

Z: I cannot comment on what Rush said or did not say since I do not listen to him. However as a firm believer in the history of the past affects the present and future your last statement brought to mind 3 quotes that to me are as relevant today as when they were spoken. The similarities of what happened then and what is happening with our political system today is chilling to say the least.

"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.
Joseph Stalin"

"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.
Vladimir Lenin "

"The press should be not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.
Vladimir Lenin "

This old saying has never been more true than today.

"Those who forget the past are destined to repeat the past."

This year will be the deciding year as to which path this once great country will take.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

More money for Haitian disaster relief and more help on the ground will come from private charity contributions and volunteers from the United States than ANY government source, from ANY nation.

It's best that way.

Ducky's here said...

A good article to read after you all finish your self righteous strutting.

Susan English Mason said...

I admit that Rush is often taken out of context. I listen to him for about 45 minutes to an hour during my lunch hour. It still makes me angry every time I hear him use the term "femi-natzi". On the one hand he is a master of facts and then on the other hand he is a shock-jock who feeds off of the reaction from the left. I wish I had his money.

beakerkin said...

Pouty

There are some things that Rush said that are basic truths. I would like to see results for the aid. How does Haiti have just one bad airport and a clogged seaport after all this time.

Haitians are a very capable people and all these wasted dollars are beyond the pale.

Ducky

Let France pay reparations to Haiti
and absorb the immigrants. Haitians
speak creole and are easier to absorb than the current immigrants.

The restitution should be in the form of infrastructure like a new airport and a world class university.

Ducky's here said...

Iowa Representative Steve King has a brilliant idea. Instead of giving Haitian illegals in the US an extra 18 months to stay here rather than receive what is today a death sentence, King would have us deport them immediately. Presumably that would entail pushing them out of an Airplane, since there's no place to land or walking the plank since the seaport is destroyed.

Hey God -- are you listening to this s**t?

beakerkin said...

Duncy

A Representative making stupid comments is not newsworthy. If that were the case we would need a separate blog for all the Charlie Rangel quotes alone.

The congressman is frustrated that TPS does not work as intended. Why are Salvadorans here for more than a decade?

I share his concerns about the abuse of a program. Haitians have already been given benefits awarded to no other nation. The key word is Temporary.

Ducky's here said...

Sure Beak, they don't have enough to deal with trying to contact friends and relatives who may have died, let's bust them about their immigration status while we're thinking about it.

Three monkeys in your heart, Beak. I feel bad for you.

beakerkin said...

Ducky

They have been given 18 months. The
program is designed for this and that should be sufficient time.

I would point out Haitians were already given a special set of laws
that no other country has ever been given. Other people play by the rules and Haiti should be held to the same standard.

When the program ends in 18 months they should return.

SecondComingOfBast said...

I think it might well be appropriate to point out something here. Haiti is not completely contained in the city of Port-Au-Prince. Unless I'm mistaken, it takes up one-half of the area of the island of Hispaniola. What's going on in the rest of the country? Was Port-Au-Prince the only place affected? What about the DR?

The point being, is there any way temporary shelters can be set up other places in the country while the reconstruction process is on-going?

Wouldn't that be a hell of a lot more convenient, to say nothing of less expensive, than shipping potentially hundreds of thousands of them to the US and France?

CM said...

Whatever you decide to do DON'T donate to Pat Robertsons' fund!

Do Not send that charlaton money, don't consider him. I always felt that a person that had a perpetual smile such as he is the Devil himself, now with his stupid statement of "Haiti swore a pact with the Devil and is cursed since", I see The Devil everytime I see his smiley face...fooling some people with that smiley face. He made that unreal statement knowing he would cause a shock wave, and for his own financial gain. Claiming he will visit Haiti....I hope he does and they show him crying his eyes out after seeing the crushed little childrens' arms and legs and heads sticking out from the rubble! He will undoubtedly have smiley tears.,,yuk! Sorry....but I am very angry about some people! Its not that they don't support, its the twisting of the knife, while uttering sympathy.

CM