OT - What Really Counts -Think of Haiti - Page 4

The handler in the CNN video is Elizabeth Kreitler of VATF-1, along with her GSD named Racker. Pretty, sable GSd doing what they do best - work and assist humans.

Thank you, Adi.  I so hope they find survivors.  The stories/images coming out of Haiti are heartbreaking.

Its not being reported on alternate radio that Phillipines has declared Martial law,  and US Troops are doing house to house no knock warrants ie Kickin in Doors and removing all firearms.

Interesting that Haiti gets all the press now and Phillipines is not even mentioned.



Exactly 200 years ago, Haitian slaves overthrew their French masters -- the first successful national slave revolt in history. What Spartacus dreamed of doing, the Haitian slaves actually accomplished. It was a tremendous achievement -- and the white West has never forgiven them for it.

In order to win international recognition for their new country, Haiti was forced to pay "reparations" to the slaveowners -- a crushing burden of debt they were still paying off at the end of the 19th century.
The United States, which refused to recognize the country for more than 60 years, invaded Haiti in 1915, primarily to open it up to "foreign ownership of local concerns." After 19 years of occupation, the Americans backed a series of bloodthirsty dictatorships to protect these "foreign owners." And still it goes on.

Indeed it does. The 2004 piece detailed Washington's latest long, bipartisan squeeze play on Haiti, which culminated in a coup engineered by the Bush Administration -- the second time in which a U.S. president named George Bush had ousted the democratically-elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office. It is tale worth telling again:

Although the [2004] Haiti coup was widely portrayed as an irresistible upsurge of popular discontent, it was of course the result of years of hard work by Bush's dedicated corrupters of democracy, as William Bowles of Information Clearinghouse reports.
Bushist bagmen funded the political opposition to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, smuggled guns to exiled Haitian warlords, and carried out a relentless strangulation of the county, cutting off long-promised financial and structural aid to one of the poorest nations on earth until food prices were soaring, unemployment spiked to 70 percent, and the broken-backed government lost control of society to armed gangs of criminals, fanatics and the merely desperate. Meanwhile, Haiti was forced to pay $2 million a month on debts run up by the murderous (U.S.-backed) dictatorships that had ruled the island since the American military occupation of 1915-1934. ...

The government broke down because the legislature couldn't convene. When Bush came in, he tightened the screws of the international blockade of the island, insisting that $500 million in desperately needed aid could not be released unless the opposition participated in new elections - while he was simultaneously paying the opposition not to participate.'

UGLY, in case you don't get it, this thread is not about political bullshit or your version of history or anti-semitic rantings. It is about basic human tragedy and the needs of thousands and thousands of desperate human beings.  Go start your own damn thread if you want to argue or carry on as you so often do.

Saw that someone was pulled alive from the UN building today - that's where VATF1 is searching.

Also, the NY Daily News had a front page photo of a handler and a black GSD searching the rubble:  http://www.nydailynews.com

It was VATF that pulled a UN Security Officer out alive. He actually walked away and was essentially uninjured but had been trapped, as so many are.

For something that is astounding, check out this link. I have been in several earthquakes, but the "S" wave power of this quake is incredible. Be sure to also watch the buildings across from the camera as they begin to simply pancake onto their bases.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/14/moment.of.haiti.quake.cbs

Like many, this is a bad economic time for our family - but we will scrimp and do without to help the victims. My 7 year old son brought me $154 he had saved for a new Lego set. Bless his heart, he wants me to buy Band-Aids for the children. If only it were so simple.

Littlenipper,

You should be proud of your son and of yourself for teaching your son what really is important in life. I know someone at Lego. What was it that your son was saving up for? Maybe we can still get it for him if he does give his savings to help the children. Your story is a light in the gloom!