The truth about Haiti

After a month of listening to the awful situation in Haiti, I am finally fed up. I just don't care about Haiti. There I said what most of America is thinking.

Haiti is an awful place. It has been the poorest country in the Americas and it is almost 100% the French who are to blame for this mess. In my view Haiti is in serious problem but it is NOT my problem or the problem for the US Government. I think France should step in and fix the mess they created in 1804. 95% of Americans do not know their own history let alone the history of the world. So here is a crash course.

Haiti was founded by the Spanish in 1504 and called Hispaniola. In 1520 Spain had most of the island's residents move close to the Capital, Santo Domingo, on the south side of the island. French Pirates developed land bases on the north coast which was uninhabited and in 1664 France claimed the Northern half of the island as French territory. France used Haiti to produce great wealth and by 1750 it was producing half of all the coffee and sugar consumed in Europe. This was done on French Plantations which contained an estimated 700,000 slaves. When the French Revolution began in 1789 the slave population revolted against the local French Masters. By 1804 Haiti had declared itself independent of France. France imposed a blockade on Haitian exports and the economy struggled until Haiti agreed, under duress, to pay France 150 million gold Francs in 1825.

This amount of 150 million gold Francs was an impossible amount to repay. It took Haiti over 100 years to pay France and it destroyed the Haitian economy. Haiti is poor today because of French greed, slavery, and the French blockade. It is important to understand this amount paid to France. The United States bought the Louisiana Purchase, most of the Central US, for 60 million Francs in 1804. France forced Haiti to pay an impossible amount and the result has been over a century of poverty.

Today, there is no question that Haiti is poor and needs help. Regardless, Haiti is not an American problem and the French should be held responsible for the last 150 years of poverty and devastation. The recent earthquake is a good opportunity for France to begin to rebuild Haiti. As for the American tax payers....this ain't your fight. Let France pay for Haiti.

V-DAY

It was five years ago today. I was working at Slade Gorton and Pam was working for Cargil. We lived in the Shadow Canyon condo, the "Trailer in the Sky". Pam and I met for lunch at Elephant Bar. I knew somethings was up when Pam sat down and ordered diet coke.

She told me she had tested positive and was going to have a baby. Pam never wanted children. After two days of drinking in Cabo we decided to have a child. Our age differences, carried to the extreme, means that Pam will be alone after I am dead. Pam's family have never supported or understood her. It became clear....she needed to create her own family for her long term future.

Little did we know that on that day, five years ago, we would be having Jack. Today, Pam has the family she has always wanted. A son who loves her more than anything and who tells her, ..."Mommy, we are best friends". Best Friends at the Beach on Valentines Day. I love you both. Thanks Pam for the son who reminds me of myself and my Dad.

WAR CRIMES

Today, February 13, is the anniversary of the Allied firebombing of Dresden Germany. 65 years ago on February 13, 19445 the Allied forces, led by the British Royal Air Force, night bombed Dresden with high explosives and incendiary devices. The result was a fire storm that burned 15 square miles in the city center of Dresden and, by some estimates, killed over 250,000 civilians and refugees. The actual death count is unknown due to thousands of refugees who had fled to Dresden so as to avoid bombing in Western Germany.

For many, the Bombing of Dresden remains a little known example of Allied War Crimes in which the military bombed civilian populations with little or no value as a military targets. At the time of the Dresden bombing, Germany was near defeat and the war ended on May 5, 1945. Among the refugees in Dresden were US Army prisoners of war. The book Slaughter House 5, written by Kurt Vonnegut, tells of living through the bombing. In the introduction to his book he writes; "The Dresden atrocity, tremendously expensive and meticulously planned, was so meaningless, finally, that only one person on the entire planet got any benefit from it. I am that person. I wrote this book, which earned a lot of money for me and made my reputation, such as it is. One way or another, I got two or three dollars for every person killed. Some business I'm in." Kurt Vonnegut

TODAY
German protesters stop neo-Nazi march in Dresden
By Dirk Mueller-Thederan 2-13-2010
DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) – At least 10,000 Germans formed a human chain in Dresden on Saturday and stopped neo-Nazis staging a funeral march to remember victims of the Allied air raid that flattened the city 65 years ago. About 5,000 neo-Nazis, clad in black, had gathered at Dresden's Neustadt station -- where Nazis once packed trains with Jews bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp -- hoping to stage Germany's biggest far-right march since 1945. In the past few years, the February 13 anniversary of the destruction of Dresden, in which 25,000 people were killed, has become a focus for neo-Nazis who describe the blanket bombardment as a "bombing Holocaust."

Eine Deutchland, eine Welt, Deutschland uber alles.

The Good old Days

Ahhh, remember when your house was worth something and Toyota's were great cars. The only thing to worry about back then was Global Warming. Now it's freezing in Washington and Toyota's are being recalled. And why are we sending millions to Haiti when they won't release those people from Idaho? Where is George when you need him?

Folks in Min-A-Soda put up this sign to make you think. Have you had enough "Hopey Changey" for a while?