Tom Toles for January 15, 2010

Great Cartoon – sad, sad, but true.

I’m not so sure it’s sad. Here you have a country that had ample resources and opportunity and squandered both resources and opportunities over and over again through corruption, mismanagement, victim mentality, and sloth. Untold wealth has been sent to this country in the form of Government aide, Private Charitable aide, and missionary effort but this country has done very little to improve itself by making itself a viable candidate for any kind of legitimate industry i.e. Reducing Corruption, protecting property rights, creating viable infrastructure etc.

The Dominican Republic is on the very same island and is lush, safe, prosperous, and healthy. Because they have done all the right things and the Hatians have not.

Anyone who knows the history of the USA’s involvement in the governments of Haiti has to be hopeful that we have a chance to make up for all of the ways we have tried to destroy the Haitian people. During the Bush era, the US froze all aid to Haiti. Considering how much Haiti did for us in the 18th & 19th century, it is about time we rebuild what was once beautiful and proud country. We broke it long before the earthquake hit. It will cost far less to “nation-build” Haiti than we are spending in Afghanistan.

The Duvaliers apparently did a lot of damage just when Haiti should have been building itself up. And Kevin, the Dominican Republic isn’t as nice as people think - they just hide the poverty better.

Is the anchor talking about Haiti or New Orleans? Good thing Toles included the map, or readers might have been confused.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/ “Almighty Holds Rare Press Conference”

Heres a great site to provide help. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/

Well said, fennec.

And spoken like a person who can’t distinguish corrupt politicians and elites from impoverished innocent victims, Kevin.

So what is this strip criticizing? Aren’t 50-100 K dead worth media attention? Well, of course, and Toles would admit as much. Besides this terrible episode, what is it about Haiti that warrants more media, academic, or social attention? How about Trinidad & Tobago? Botswana? Mongolia? There are poor, corrupt nations all over the globe.

Our “media” have the attention span of gnats on real events and problems- now “Tiger”- that’s endless.

Haiti was hardly long on “resources” and “slave culture” didn’t help, or our repeated involvement. Kevin doesn’t seem too familiar with the real history of the DR- Trujillo et al either.

Too bad in many ways the Caribe didn’t meet Columbus with loaded M-16s.

The school-teacher in me notes that “epicenter” does not mean “the very center” – as it is so often used these days. (The center is as central as can be, there can’t be anything more central than the center.) It means the point on the surface of the earth which is above the center of an earthquake.

kevin, :”Here you have a country that had ample resources and opportunity and squandered both resources and opportunities over and over again through corruption, mismanagement, victim mentality, and sloth. ”

ah and WHEN germany made the place LQQK like the moon, stripping ALL of the hardwood forests in 1915-18, using local slave labor that TOO was a “government ” gift of imperialism, amazing is the various pious stances taken on NOT helping these” stand-alone” fools, mis educated on govenment schools, rushing to enlist in the socialist armies of these uknighted states…i live 7 miles from san andreas fault, but I’d help yr dumb bleeep anyway.

Kevin the bankers now need yr help in protesting the new taxes on them, and please keep in mind these weeks black athlete to hate, we are all waiting for yr sensitivity.

whats invisable NOW, past month….is the obama wars. I can see all hell is breaking out in somali, pakistan, afganhistan, and the US?NATO forces are bombing them- HARD.

these wars are being ignored and invisible to the media as well.

Here today, gone tomorrow