USAID's Haiti Scandal

USAID’s Haiti scandal is staggering. The U.S. sent $4.4B after the 2010 earthquake—yet less than 2% reached Haitians, while 56% lined the pockets of D.C. firms.

The Red Cross claimed to shelter 130,000 people—but built just SIX homes.

No transparency. No accountability. USAID… pic.twitter.com/SCFTjJaoxo

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 23, 2025

This is OUR money. WE are being robbed.

Chelsea Clinton and Haiti

Chelsea Clinton is a hypocrite.

Mr. President, immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and the 54 countries in Africa likely helped build your buildings. They’ve certainly helped build our country. cc @POTUS https://t.co/hv1QYRoRy3

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 11, 2018

The woman who embezzled millions of dollars in Haiti earthquake relief funds to pay for her own wedding wants to lecture us on Haiti. Hypocrite! https://t.co/KXf2pi2Tqt

— Kenny ✝⚔ Strawn (@realKStrawn93) January 12, 2018

Anderson Cooper, another hypocrite:

"Let me be clear.... the people of Haiti have been through more, withstood more, fought back against more injustice... than our President ever has" Anderson Cooper choked back tears as he reflected on his relationship with Haiti, and its people https://t.co/3arEalkKOM

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 12, 2018

Yet he didn't care AT ALL when the Clintons ripped off Haiti and cheated them out of that hospital after the earthquake. #FakeTears meet #FakeNews—DISGUSTING. https://t.co/8YsGsV9jLj

— Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) January 12, 2018

Hurricane Harvey - Red Cross Donations

Media are urging people to donate to the Red Cross to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey.

You might want to reconsider if you plan on giving money to the Red Cross.

From the Washington Post:

People are urging donations for Harvey relief efforts — just not to the Red Cross

With many ways to help the tens of thousands of people estimated to be temporarily displaced by surging floodwaters brought by Harvey, some are asking people to donate — but to be choosy about where they spend the money.

As former president Barack Obama — as well as celebrities and local leaders — encourage donations to the American Red Cross, others on social media are telling donors to give elsewhere, criticizing the leading disaster-relief organization for its response to recent natural disasters, particularly the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

That sentiment has been shared in the past — following investigations by NPR and ProPublica, which revealed how the Red Cross bungled its response in Haiti.

...People were urging donors Monday to seek out churches and local organizations, saying, “Please don’t donate money to the Red Cross! Houston will never see it.”

“For the umpteenth time,” one person wrote, “don’t give red cross your money. Find grassroots efforts so people can actually get helped.”

“They don’t help and pocket majority of your money,” another said. “Very little if any goes to those that need it.”

Over the weekend, Dan Gillmor, author and professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, also advised people on Twitter not to give money to the organization.

Before you send money to the Red Cross (my advice: don't) re Texas read ProPublica's advice on disaster charity. https://t.co/kcwlxt6gto

— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) August 27, 2017

...As The Washington Post’s Peter Holley reported last year, a 2015 NPR and ProPublica investigation revealed that the Red Cross had only built six permanent homes in Haiti even though it had collected almost a half-billion dollars in donations. The year before, the news organizations published a report about Red Cross’s response to hurricanes Isaac and Sandy.

They reported:

After both storms, the charity’s problems left some victims in dire circumstances or vulnerable to harm, the organization’s internal assessments acknowledge. Handicapped victims “slept in their wheelchairs for days” because the charity had not secured proper cots. In one shelter, sex offenders were “all over including playing in children’s area” because Red Cross staff “didn’t know/follow procedures.”

According to interviews and documents, the Red Cross lacked basic supplies like food, blankets and batteries to distribute to victims in the days just after the storms. Sometimes, even when supplies were plentiful, they went to waste. In one case, the Red Cross had to throw out tens of thousands of meals because it couldn’t find the people who needed them.

The Red Cross marshaled an army of volunteers, but many were misdirected by the charity’s managers. Some were ordered to stay in Tampa long after it became clear that Isaac would bypass the city. After Sandy, volunteers wandered the streets of New York in search of stricken neighborhoods, lost because they had not been given GPS equipment to guide them.

Red Cross officials deny the accusations.

WikiLeaks: 'Friends of Bill' and Hillary State Department

"How Hillary's State Dept. Gave Special Attention to 'Friends of Bill' After Haiti Quake"https://t.co/E4fD0R4329

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) October 12, 2016

From ABC News:

In a series of candid email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials during the hours after the massive 2010 Haiti earthquake, a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly gave special attention to those identified by the abbreviations “FOB” (friends of Bill Clinton) or “WJC VIPs” (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs).

“Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC,” wrote Caitlin Klevorick, then a senior State Department official who was juggling incoming offers of assistance being funneled to the State Department by the Clinton Foundation. “Most I can probably ID but not all.”

“Is this a FOB!” Klevorick writes later, when a Clinton Foundation aide forwards a woman’s offer of medical supplies. “If not, she should go to cidi.org,” she adds, directing the person deemed not to be a Clinton friend to a general government website.

Klevorick and Amitabh Desai, the director of foreign policy for the Clinton Foundation, exchanged dozens of emails, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Republican National Committee and then shared with ABC News. ABC News independently authenticated the emails.

The new emails have surfaced as the Clinton Foundation has once again mobilized a response to the latest humanitarian crisis in Haiti — the death and destruction following Hurricane Matthew. That effort is part of an ongoing commitment by the Clintons to help the Haitian people dating back nearly a decade.

However noble the motives of the officials working to get supplies into Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, numerous messages show a senior aide to then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton coordinating with a Clinton Foundation official to identify FOBs. The Clintons have said repeatedly that the State Department never gave favorable treatment to foundation supporters in Haiti or anywhere else.

“Nothing was ever done for anybody because they were contributors to the foundation,” Bill Clinton told CBS News’ Charlie Rose in September. “Nothing.”

...The emails appear to show a State Department process that at times prioritized — and, some argue, benefited — people with close ties to the Clintons.

Hillary is shown to be corrupt and a liar. When serving as secretary of state, she conducted the business of the State Department to aid Clinton Foundation friends, FOBs.

Will Democrat politicians rescind their endorsement of her candidacy because of this?

No. That's not what Democrats do when confronted with wrongdoing.

Will Democrats in the media abandon Hillary and report this scandal to the American people properly?

No. They're in the tank for Hillary. End of story.

Will Never Trump people quit helping to elect Hillary Clinton, a morally detestable act?

No. They hate Trump more than they love their country.

Sean Penn: Die, Critics!

Is Sean Penn a compassionate man, a humanitarian?

That's possible only if he has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing going on.

Video.

QUESTION: Does it make you angry when people talk about, you know, Sean Penn, the Hollywood star, the movie star, coming in trying to do something, and that they're kind of cynical about it?

SEAN PENN: Um...(Grimaces) no...

QUESTION: Do you hate that question?

SEAN PENN: No, it's just, I guess I've been so away from it all, um, in our tent camp in Haiti, that I haven't had an awful lot of time to pay attention to them. Do, you know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah...

(Interviewer laughs.)

You know, but I'm not, I'm not going to spend a lot of energy on it.

What a guy!

What About Haiti?

Judging by the attention the media are devoting to the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti lately, you'd think that things must be going pretty well. No need to cover it anymore.

The star-studded telethon organized by George Clooney is over.

The ribbons that adorned the celebrities' gowns and formal wear at televised awards shows, the ones meant to raise awareness for Haiti earthquake victims, are relics.

Apparently, it's time to move on.

That, of course, is ridiculous; but it's the nature of our media and the way we view our world.

I was thinking about how great the need still is in Haiti and how quickly we forget, when I came upon this piece by Archy Cary, Big Journalism.

"Down Memory Lane: Has Haiti Fallen Victim to the MSM’s Short Attention Span?"

Cary writes:

It’s happened before, this tendency of the MSM to walk away from an incomplete story when something new, and usually more political, comes along. Like sheep moving en masse, the eager correspondents run off in a pack to chase the new news.

It happens…it did back in 1979.

On November 4, 1979, when Iranian “students” took over the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, a 444-day saga began. If you weren’t tuned-in then, here’s just one image from that day.

Although little happened for months on end, the network evening news-readers counted up the days of the “crisis” like we count up the deficit these days. For President Jimmy Carter, the no-news of the daily-news brought political death by 444 cuts.

What’s been largely erased from our collective memory is that, up until that November 4, another story had dominated the daily news cycle for months. Through November 3, day-after-day-after-day the MSM had chronicled the tragic ordeal of tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees crammed in tent camps along the border with Thailand, often crossing over the line to escape the genocide of the Khmer Rouge and their killing fields.

Then, on November 4, 1979, media coverage of the Cambodian refugees disappeared. Their story went dark. It was as though the Cambodian refugees all suddenly evaporated. They were there on November 3, then – finger snap – gone on the fourth.

Although there still are stories here and there about Haiti, it's no longer all-consuming.

Poof!

All better in Haiti?

Of course not.

It's a false reality constructed through a weird process by a group known as the media.

What really matters right now is Sarah Palin's hand.

Conan O'Brien: Bugatti Veyron Mouse

UPDATE: Conan O’Brien Borrowed The Bugatti, Got The Rolling Stones For Cheap

Sure, it was nice watching Conan stick it to his bosses, spending boatloads of NBC’s cash on a Bugatti Veyron and licensing fees for The Rolling Stones song “Satisfaction.” And when NBC pulled the Conan clip, likely to save money on the insane price tag they would incur if the Stones song streamed online, it seemed like Conan really showed them. But now it’s being reported that he borrowed the car.

Jalopnik has the confirmation that the most expensive car in the world, the star of yesterday’s Tonight Show, was indeed borrowed from the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Team Conan must be so disappointed.

You can't trust NBC. You can't trust Conan. Everyone's getting screwed.

I can't handle the disillusionment.
______________________

UPDATE: Conan's Payback: How Much Did O'Brien's Bugatti Stunt Cost NBC?

When it comes to the bit's price tag, however, the comedian may have been off by $1 million or so. New York-based entertainment lawyer Steve Gordon says that existing agreements between NBC and music licensing companies would allow the "Tonight Show" to play "Satisfaction" at no additional cost for a live or time-delayed performance.

If the show were to be rerun, he said, NBC might have to pay $25,000 to $50,000 for the song's use to its owner, Abkco, which owns much of the Stones' early work. If a clip of the song were used on the Internet, he said, a similar or greater fee could apply, assuming Abkco allowed permission for its use.

As for the Bugatti -- O'Brien called it the most expensive car in the world, and he's likely right. Car research Web site Edmunds.com lists the car's price at $1.99 million.

But just because the car is worth seven figures doesn't mean the show actually paid that much to feature it on air. Luxury car rental service Beverly Hills Rent-a-Car, for instance, charges $25,000 per day for the rental of a Bugatti Veyron.

It is unclear what dealership or rental service "The Tonight Show" used to obtain the car. NBC and O'Brien's publicist did not immediately return calls for comment.

It appears the stunt is causing a bit of a backlash.

More controversy....

Just what Conan needs right now.
______________________

Conan O'Brien is making it very clear that he's going to stick it to NBC every way he can.

CONAN O'BRIEN: You know, it is, well, it's looking like this is our, you know, could be our last week. The good news is that until NBC yanks us off the air, we can pretty much do whatever we want and, this is the best part, we can do whatever we want and they have to pay for it. Yeah, they do. That's how it works. I do it and they have to pay for it.

So, for the rest of the week, we're going to introduce new comedy bits that aren't so much funny as they are crazy expensive. Yeah. So, with that in mind, say hello to our new Tonight Show character, the Bugatti Veyron Mouse.



Ah, yes, there it is, ladies and gentlemen. There it is, the most expensive car in the world dressed up like a mouse. And as you can hear, the mouse's theme song is the original master recording of the Rolling Stones' classic, "Satisfaction."

Now let me ask you a question, let me ask you a question: Is this appropriate music for a car that looks like a mouse?

No.

Does it add anything at all to this comedy bit?

No, it doesn't.

Is it crazy expensive to play on the air, not to mention the rights to re-air this clip on the Internet?

Hell, yes!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Total price tag for this comedy bit: $1.5 million. Sorry, NBC!

So, O'Brien is getting revenge on NBC by making the network pay ungodly amounts on the last episodes of his Tonight Show.

I know networks spend ridiculous amounts of money and stars get paid millions. Still, seeing the price tag makes me think just how twisted it is.

$1.5 million is a lot of money to be pissing away.

A few moments earlier in the show, O'Brien plugged Ben Stiller's charity, STILLERSTRONG, to help the Haiti earthquake victims.

$1.5 million would go a long way in Haiti.

It was an uncomfortable juxtaposition.

I thought O'Brien was going to say that the car would be auctioned off as a fundraising effort for earthquake relief. Didn't happen.

He's just smiling about screwing NBC for $1.5 million.

To borrow from an old Late Night with Conan O'Brien bit: INAPPROPRIATE!


Video here.

'Sluggish Relief Effort' in Haiti

Will Obama be blamed for not getting aid to earthquake victims in Haiti?

Rescue and relief efforts have been agonizingly slow.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Desperate Haitians scrambled Sunday to find food and water and guarded their meager possessions against the advance of looters as the United States and other nations struggled to jump-start a sluggish relief effort.

Even as Navy and Coast Guard ships arrived off shore, a round-the-clock airlift intensified, and additional dignitaries appeared, the frantic victims of Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude earthquake were growing more fearful as they pleaded for help and security in a lawless city.

With massive amounts of aid promised but not yet delivered because of the difficulty of operating in the crippled country, the living banded together outdoors without shelter, sustenance or protection. There was widespread apprehension that unless the pace of aid distribution quickens, there could be mass violence as hundreds of thousands of people suddenly lacking food, water and electricity begin to compete for scarce resources.

...In Port-au-Prince, the mood managed to stay mostly calm, but there was more looting and shootings, including of four men who witnesses said were shot by police on suspicion of looting. There were fewer bodies in the streets, though in some places residents began burning corpses.

Many merchants were afraid to open their stores for fear that they would be overrun by hungry, desperate quake victims. Even pharmacies remained shuttered.

"We need the Haitian forces to protect us," said Cledanor Sully, owner of a small Port-au-Prince hotel called the Seven Stars. "We're all scared. We need the United Nations and we need the United States Marines."

Indeed, all over Port-au-Prince, signs begging for help from the Marines have been sprouting. At this point, though, it's unlikely that there will be a large U.S. military presence in Port-au-Prince. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said over the weekend that there will be up to 10,000 U.S. forces in Haiti and off its coast by today, but only a fraction of them will be on the ground.

"The bulk of them will be on ships," he said.

The troops that have been deployed to Haiti have been slow in arriving. Officials blame delays in part on Port-au-Prince's small, overburdened airport.

Is Obama mismanaging the U.S. response to this natural disaster?

Will he be held responsible for the full-blown humanitarian disaster that's unfolding in the wake of the earthquake?

Will Democrat lawmakers demand that hearings be held to investigate why relief efforts have been so slow?

Who's to blame?

Bush?

Golden Globes: Ribbons for Haiti

I don't know what to think about the Golden Globes and Hollywood and pampered celebrities with ribbons plastered on their designer gowns and formal wear.

Surely, some of them are truly concerned about the Haiti earthquake victims and put others before themselves. Some of them understand what matters in this life and are good caring people.

So do they really need to wear those ribbons?

It's not as if the audience needs the stars to preach and remind us about the suffering in Haiti. We know there has been a devastating earthquake. A roomful of filthy rich stars don't need to raise our awareness about that. They don't need to tell us to donate to relief efforts. We know what to do without being told or encouraged by them.

Actually, I think what the stars really might be doing when they wear those ribbons is trying to get viewers to identify them as compassionate rather than spoiled, empty-headed celebrities engaged in frivolous matters. Maybe they feel guilty for being so fortunate and privileged. I don't know.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Sequined dresses and slick lapels were stamped with red, yellow and blue ribbons Sunday at the Golden Globes.

Signifying "support of the people of Haiti," the tri-color ribbons were available in baskets at the entrance to the Beverly Hilton. Few stars passed up the opportunity, though that support rarely broke into presenters' or winners' speeches once they reached the stage.

Reporters hanging out backstage before the show were betting the over/under on how many times Haiti would be mentioned onstage during the show. Some guesses were in triple digits -- the lower-end guesses, that is.

Overall, however, the count ended up much, much lower.


...Host Ricky Gervais skipped the opportunity, mainly because his opening monologue was only about four sentences long. First presenter Nicole Kidman wasted no time informing audiences in the room and at home that they can make donations through NBC, and that George Clooney's "Hope for Haiti" telethon Friday would be raising money for the cause.

I really don't like the whole ribbon routine.

It seems rather self-serving more than anything else.

They shouldn't have to broadcast that they care.

Wyclef Jean Foundation

UPDATE: Scroll down for Wyclef Jean's "Personal Statement on the accusations against Yele Haiti."
___________________

It's always a good idea to check out a charity before donating.

I want to make sure that money I give is being used appropriately and effectively.

Unfortunately, not all charitable organizations can be trusted.

Case in point: The Wyclef Jean Foundation

The Haiti earthquake has already triggered hundreds of thousands of donations to musician Wyclef Jean's charitable foundation, which expects to raise upwards of $1 million a day in the disaster's wake. However, Internal Revenue Service records show the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the performer and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean's appearance at a benefit concert. Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation, which does business as Yele Haiti Foundation, was incorporated 12 years ago--and has been active since that time--the group only first filed tax returns in August 2009. That month, the foundation provided the IRS with returns covering calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007--the only periods for which it has publicly provided a glimpse at its financial affairs. In 2006, Jean's charity reported contributions of $1 million, the bulk of which came from People magazine in exchange for the first photos of a pregnant Angelina Jolie (the actress reportedly directed that the publication's payment go to Jean's charity, not her personally). As seen on the following pages from the foundation's 2006 tax return, the group paid $31,200 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio owned by Jean and Jerry Duplessis, who, like Jean, is a foundation board member. A $31,200 rent payment was also made in 2007 to Platinum Sound. The rent, tax returns assure, "is priced below market value." The recording studio also was paid $100,000 in 2006 for the "musical performance services of Wyclef Jean at a benefit concert." That six-figure payout, the tax return noted, "was substantially less than market value." The return, of course, does not address why Jean needed to be paid to perform at his own charity's fundraiser.

Here's Wyclef's response:



More, from the Associated Press.

Obama: Haiti and 'White Folks' Greed'

Americans are donating millions and millions of dollars to assist the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Obama has promised $100 million in aid with much more to come. The U.S. Military is going to the rescue, as always.

Via federal funds -- our tax dollars, OUR money -- and via millions in private donations, Americans are responding to the devastation in Haiti. We want to provide relief to the suffering, as always.

Hey, Obama! Hey, America haters!

Do you want to apologize to the world for what a horrible country America is?

I'm reminded of what Obama writes in his book, Dreams from My Father:

The title of Reverend Wright’s sermon that morning was “The Audacity of Hope.” He began with a passage from the Book of Samuel—the story of Hannah, who, barren and taunted by her rivals, had wept and shaken in prayer before her God. The story reminded him, he said, of a sermon a fellow pastor had preached at a conference some years before, in which the pastor described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting title Hope.

“The painting depicts a harpist,” Reverend Wright explained, “a woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountain. Until you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.

“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere…That’s the world! On which hope sits!”

And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. While the boys next to me doodled on their church bulletin, Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House. As the sermon unfolded, though, the stories of strife became more prosaic, the pain more immediate. The reverend spoke of the hardship that the congregation would face tomorrow, the pain of those far from the mountaintop, worrying about paying the light bill…

"Where white folks' greed runs a world in need"--

So, greedy white folks, have you contributed to the relief efforts?

According to Obama, the president of Haiti thanks you.

President Obama spoke for roughly thirty minutes with President Preval of Haiti this morning. President Obama said that the world has been devastated by the loss and suffering in Haiti, and pledged the full support of the American people for the government and people of Haiti as it relates to both the immediate recovery effort, and the long-term rebuilding effort. President Preval said that he has been touched by the friendship of the American people, and expressed his condolences for the loss of American citizens in Haiti. He said that the needs are great, that relief is now flowing in to the people of Haiti, and noted the support that has come from both America and many other countries from the region and around the world. The two Presidents underscored the need to closely coordinate assistance efforts among the various parties, including the Haitian government, the United Nations, the United States and the many international partners and aid organizations on the ground. President Obama underscored his commitment to supporting the government and people of Haiti through his team on the ground. President Preval closed by passing a message to the American people, “from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Haitian people, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Obama says that Americans have shown extraordinary compassion.

President Barack Obama is pledging a sustained commitment to the government and the people of Haiti, and thanking U.S. citizens for showing "extraordinary compassion."

Americans are responding to the devastation in Haiti the same way we always respond to human suffering around the globe.

We care. We're good and compassionate people.

"White folks' greed runs a world in need"?

That's a disgusting, sweeping statement.

I wonder if Obama plans any more apology tours. Are more apologies for America on their way from Obama?

I think it's time for Obama to be proud of his country and tell the world.
___________________

Remarks by the President on the Situation in Haiti

I also want to thank the American people more broadly. In these tough times, you've shown extraordinary compassion, already donating millions of dollars.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan's appeal:

ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY DOLAN: One of the reasons that Catholic Relief Services has such a, kind of a leg up in this is because we don't parachute in, in a disaster. We're there anyway. So we're on the scene. We know the terrain. We've got the trucks. We've got the supplies already. So CRS is always your best source of hope and help in a situation like this.... You can't go wrong with Catholic Relief Services.

Catholics, including greedy white folks, will be contributing to help the people of Haiti through second collections at Mass this weekend.

Donate to Catholic Relief Services.

Danny Glover: Haiti Earthquake

Regarding Pat Robertson's abhorrent remarks about the Haitian people's "pact with the devil," Robert Gibbs said:

Uh, it never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering, uh, somebody says something that could be, uh, so utterly stupid. Uh, but, uh, it like clockwork happens, uh, with some regularity, uh....

I hope a reporter asks Gibbs about Danny Glover's remarks and he labels them UTTERLY STUPID.

Glover blamed the earthquake on what happened at the climate summit in Copenhagen.

DANNY GLOVER: When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I’m sayin'?

UTTERLY STUPID.

Pat Robertson, Haiti Earthquake, and Robert Gibbs

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Pat Robertson's comments that the earthquake in Haiti was the result of a pact the people of Haiti made with the devil.

Gibbs said:

Uh, it never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering, uh, somebody says something that could be, uh, so utterly stupid. Uh, but, uh, it like clockwork happens, uh, with some regularity, uh....

Most of what Gibbs says is total crap.

In this case, however, I agree with him regarding Pat Robertson.

Robertson's comments are disgraceful.

A pact with the devil brought this on?

That's so twisted. Such idiotic and cruel analysis only serves to marginalize Robertson.

Video.


To aid Haiti earthquake victims, make donation to Catholic Relief Services.

Always check out the charity before donating money.

Haiti Earthquake

The earthquake in Haiti has caused such incredible devastation and suffering.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A powerful earthquake struck Haiti's capital on Tuesday with withering force, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace and the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers. The dead and injured lay in the streets even as strong aftershocks rippled through the impoverished Caribbean country.

Associated Press journalists based in Port-au-Prince said the damage from the quake — the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years — is staggering even in a country accustomed to tragedy and disaster.

Women covered in dust crawled from the rubble wailing as others wandered through the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares late into the night, singing hymns. Many gravely injured people still sat in the streets early Wednesday, pleading for doctors. With almost no emergency services to speak of, the survivors had few other options.

Thousands of buildings were damaged and destroyed throughout the city, and for hours after the quake the air was filled with a choking dust from the debris of fallen buildings.

The scope of the disaster remained unclear, and even a rough estimate of the number of casualties was impossible. But it was clear from a tour of the capital that tens of thousands of people had lost their homes and that many had perished. Many buildings in Haiti are flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions.

"The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," said Louis-Gerard Gilles, a doctor and former senator, as he helped survivors. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together."

An Associated Press videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside Port-au-Prince district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as many poor people.

...The 7.0-magnitude quake struck at 4:53 p.m. Tuesday, centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti. In 1946, a magnitude-8.1 quake struck the Dominican Republic and also shook Haiti, producing a tsunami that killed 1,790 people.

The temblor appeared to have occurred along a strike-slip fault, where one side of a vertical fault slips horizontally past the other, said earthquake expert Tom Jordan at the University of Southern California. The quake's size and proximity to populated Port-au-Prince likely caused widespread casualties and structural damage, he said.

"It's going to be a real killer," he said. "Whenever something like this happens, you just hope for the best."

Video.


A disaster like this earthquake serves to remind just how powerless we are when it comes to the forces of nature.

However, we aren't powerless when it comes to responding to victims with aid and with prayers.

Here's a list of agencies to contact to help with relief efforts.

Check out charities before making contributions.