Earthquiake in Haiti

[Kountzer]

I have not heard much about this event, but i have a feeling that the devastation will be overwhelming.

[Kyran]

Capital has been totally destroyed.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010rja6.php

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/haiti.quake/

[LifeHiscost]

KOUNTZER

yes this is very bad for all those people

prayers need to go out dgrimm60

Death toll at this point, 100,000 minimum, many more expected.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Regards!!

[phkrause]

I have not heard much about this event, but i have a feeling that the devastation will be overwhelming.

Its pretty bad from what I've heard. They definitely will need our help and prays.

pk

[bonnie]

Rush, Robertson take heat

Politico

Controversial Comment Amid Haiti Tragedy Play Video ABC News – Controversial Comment Amid Haiti Tragedy

* Pat Robertson calls quake 'blessing in disguise' Play Video Video:Pat Robertson calls quake 'blessing in disguise' AP

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh speaks during a news conference at The AP – Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh speaks during a news conference at The Queen's Medical Center …

Andy Barr Andy Barr – Thu Jan 14, 11:57 am ET

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and televangelist Pat Robertson are being scolded for their comments in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake in Haiti that has killed tens of thousands, according to early estimates.

Critics from both the left and right are denouncing their remarks as insensitive to the disaster and attempts to score political points off human tragedy.

Speaking on his radio show Wednesday, Limbaugh said the earthquake has played into Obama’s hands, allowing the president to look “compassionate” and “humanitarian” while at the same time bolstering his standing in both the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.”

He added: “We've already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

Limbaugh’s comments were, in part, a riff on Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) much publicized remark in a new book that Obama was able to win the election because he is “light-skinned” and lacks a “Negro dialect.”

But regardless of the intended context, Limbaugh’s comments have been widely panned.

“They are deeply insensitive,” said conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The president speaks for the country when he says we’re going to go in there,” he said. “You want your whole nation, and it’s very positive. And I think Rush’s comments were cynical.”

Sitting next to Buchanan on set, host Joe Scarborough called Limbaugh’s comments “deplorable.”

“The insensitivity is stunning,” said the former Republican congressman.

Liberal commentators also quickly jumped on Limbaugh.

“Limbaugh did not know when to just shut up,” said liberal commentator Keith Olbermann on his MSNBC show “Countdown.” “Today he blamed communism for the poverty of Haiti, blamed President Obama for holding a news conference the day after this cataclysm when he did not hold one after the failed half-assed terror attempt in Detroit.”

John Amato from the left-leaning website Crooks and Liars added that “with thousands of people dead already and as the suffering continues in Haiti, Limbaugh and his ilk only care about one thing: destroying Obama.”

The conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters stepped up to defend Limbaugh, saying his comments were not put in proper context, but very few others are backing the conservative firebrand’s latest controversial remarks.

While Limbaugh received a modicum of support, nobody of note has stepped up to defend Robertson’s claim that Haiti got hit by an earthquake because it is “cursed.”

Speaking about the disaster during his program “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson said that when Haiti was still a French colony its leaders “swore a pact to the devil” to get out from “under the heel of the French.”

“They said, ‘we will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal,’” Robertson claimed, as was recorded and sent around by the liberal group Media Matters.

“But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other,” he continued. “That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle on the one side is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty.”

Robertson, who has a long history of making controversial remarks on his program, urged his followers to pray for the residents of Haiti and said that “out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Thursday morning she was left “speechless” by Robertson’s remarks.

“That's not the attitude that expresses the spirit of the president or the American people, so I thought it was a pretty stunning comment to make,” she said.

A statement from Robertson’s spokesman Chris Roslan tried to downplay the “cursed” remark.

“Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath,” the statement read. “If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help

[bonnie]

Whatever were these two thinking?

[Guest]

I dunno

[bonnie]

I dunno

Even if their statements were true now isn't the time.

I can understand Pat Robertson easier than Rush Limbaugh.

Many people have that view,doesn't make them evil but at least get them out of the rubble first. Robertson does give a enormous amount of money thru his ministry.I just think his biblical view is skewed.

The aid will put a immense amount of strain on our alrighty bankrupt country.Hope Obama can deliver on what he is promising. It does bring to mind the statement,"Don't let a crisis go to waste"

[bonnie]

Lengthy Read but interesting..Written some years ago

Government Of The Devil, By The Devil, And For The Devil

By Tom Barrett (03/11/04)

"Haiti is the only country in the entire world that has dedicated its government to Satan. Demonic spirits have been consulted for political decisions, and have shaped the country's history." Thus speaks Reverend Doug Anderson, who grew up in Haiti with missionary parents, and served there along with his wife Dawn as a missionary until 1990. The leaders of Haiti make no attempt to hide their allegiance to Satan. Haiti’s government is a government of the devil, by the devil, and for the devil.

It is a matter of well-documented historical fact that the nation of Haiti was dedicated to Satan 200 years ago. On August 14, 1791, a group of houngans (voodoo priests), led by a former slave houngan named Boukman, made a pact with the Devil at a place called Bois-Caiman. All present vowed to exterminate all of the white Frenchmen on the island. They sacrificed a black pig in a voodoo ritual at which hundreds of slaves drank the pig’s blood. In this ritual, Boukman asked Satan for his help in liberating Haiti from the French. In exchange, the voodoo priests offered to give the country to Satan for 200 years and swore to serve him. On January 1, 1804, the nation of Haiti was born and thus began a new demonic tyranny.

At the time of the pact Haiti was France's richest colony, and was known as the “Pearl of the Antilles†for its singular beauty. But it soon became one of the world's poorest and most benighted nations. Scoffers may say that there is no connection between the fact that Haiti was the richest nation in the hemisphere, and then became the poorest after selling its national soul to Satan. But the scoffers can’t come up with a better explanation.

Voodoo is a practice based on a mixture of African spiritism and witchcraft. Depending on the source of one’s research, between 75 and 90 percent of Haitians practice voodoo. This seems to fly in the face of the fact that the country is predominantly Catholic. But, like their African ancestors, voodoo practitioners have no problem embracing multiple religions. In fact, most who practice voodoo believe they must be Catholic first.

Until recently, voodoo was practiced in secret. Practitioners would go to the Catholic Church on Sunday, and attend voodoo ceremonies deep in the woods at other times. Voodoo was forbidden during the colonial times, and the 32 Haitian governments that followed independence also suppressed the practice because of world condemnation. But on April 8, 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide approved Voodoo as an officially recognized religion in Haiti (see links below). Voodoo priests can now perform marriages and other ceremonies previously reserved for Christian religions. "An ancestral religion, Voodoo is an essential part of national identity," Aristide said in the decree recognizing Voodoo.

Aristide has been a controversial figure since he became the first freely elected president in Haiti’s history in 1991, 200 years after the nation was dedicated to Satan. A defrocked Catholic priest, Aristide was expelled in 1988 from his order, the Salesians. He was a hero of the resistance to Haitian tyranny, then president, then exiled, then restored to the presidency by his close friend, Bill Clinton. One of his first acts was to express his support for reinstating the Voodoo pact that expired the year he was elected. He claimed that Voodoo was the “national religion†of Haiti, and a source of national pride.

Even before Aristide came to power, a U.S. embassy official in Port-au-Prince described Aristide as "a Marxist maniac." Newsweek Magazine called him "the flaky Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide." And none other than Henry Kissinger declared that he was “psychotic.†While it is true that Aristide used Communism to gain power, I don’t believe he is psychotic. What many see as madness is simply the pure evil that emanates from the man.

The Media Research Center (see link below), which describes Aristide as a “charismatic Marxist priest†had this to say about the man: “Aristide wasn’t much of a Democrat, paying people to beat up his opponents, and becoming wealthy from drug trafficking into the U.S. For a good, brief primer on Aristide, see ‘Aristide Must Go,’ the editorial in the March 8 Weekly Standard. It explains how ‘It is not the democratic authorities that are being overthrown in Haiti, but Aristide's retinue of gunmen.†(There is a link to this article below, as well.)

Aristide was only in office eight months before he was ousted and fled to the United States. There he effectively lobbied Bill Clinton and other government officials, convincing them that he was not the tyrant that Haitians said he was. After Clinton sent 20,000 American troops to install Aristide in power in 1994, the president-turned-dictator disbanded the army. But the civilian police force he replaced it with has also brutalized the Haitian people, engaging in summary executions as well as the drug-running that has made Aristide the richest man in Haiti. This drug money allows Aristide to live in a lavish mansion in a nation where the average yearly salary is $350.

As the Weekly Standard editorial by Christopher Caldwell says, “Aristide, of course, did not create Haiti's problems, but he profits from all of them. His ten years of direct and indirect rule have been a disaster. His regime has been democratic only in the Haitian sense of one man, one vote, one time. The last free and fair election in Haiti was in 1990, the closely monitored contest that brought Aristide to power. Even then, Aristide was making use of street violence orchestrated by his ‘vigilance committees.’ Four years ago, Aristide received over 90 percent of the vote in a presidential election so transparently corrupt that several American and European agencies reluctantly froze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money.

“With a mystifying regularity reminiscent of Saddam Hussein, Aristide has refused the simplest procedural inducements to unlock millions that could have been used to feed and treat his poorer compatriots. From humble beginnings as a Salesian slum priest, Aristide has become the richest man in Haiti. How? Last Wednesday in Miami, the Haitian mafioso Beaudoin Ketant, go-between for three Colombian cartels, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for transporting 30 tons of cocaine between Haiti and Florida. At his sentencing, Ketant said that Aristide "is a drug lord. He controlled the drug trade in Haiti. It's a one-man show, your honor. You either pay him or you die."

Caldwell goes on to relate how Aristide created a series of banks that paid absurd rates of interest, which enticed Haiti’s tiny middle class to deposit their hard-earned dollars. He then stole $90 million from the banks, effectively demolishing the middle class and creating a classic poor-against-rich uprising that resulted in his ouster.

Democrat almost-nominee John Kerry spoke out in support of Aristide prior to his resignation, saying “This democracy is going to be sustained.†Democrat Charlie Rangel and the Congressional Black Caucus, along with such upstanding citizens as “Reverend†Jesses Jackson and Alcee Hastings (the former federal judge convicted of bribery), have been calling for the US to once again install Aristide in power following his recent resignation. They have been irresponsibly trumpeting his ridiculous lies about being “kidnapped†by the US and “forced into exile.†The obvious facts are that Aristide begged for US help and we protected him. When it became clear that the only way his safety could be assured was to leave the country, we provided transportation for him.

Had we not intervened, Aristide would have been dead in a matter of days, so furious were the people he had abused for years. He gladly boarded the plane, grateful for our protection. Now that he is safe, he is laying the groundwork for a possible comeback with his preposterous lies. Rangel, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and the rest of the Black Caucus should be ashamed of siding with a vicious dictator against their own country. I don’t have a bone of prejudice in my body against blacks. But I am greatly prejudiced against the members of this Caucus because of their constant use of the race card, whether or not race is an issue. It is clearly not the issue here. The fact that Aristide is black is not why his countrymen want him gone. It is because he is an evil man.

My biggest problem with this man is the fact that, not only did he make Voodoo an official religion, he used every device available to him to promote it. On the day that his government officially recognized Voodoo, he paid all the radio stations to play nothing but Voodoo music all day. He flew in 400 Voodoo priests from West Africa, the birthplace of the evil religion, to promote it.

A missionary couple who run an orphanage and a school for 400 children in Haiti sent a report to their supporters last summer (see the link to “Religious Persecution Intensifies in Haiti†below). It reads, in part, “Last week a baby was stolen from the hospital in St. Marc. The reason the child is to be sacrificed to appease the Voodoo gods for the so-called special day of celebration.†Can there be any question of the horribly evil nature of this “religion†that former priest Aristide promotes?

And now for the good news. Even with Aristide’s support and promotion, Voodoo in Haiti is doomed. God’s people have gone on the offensive, and the blood pact that has kept Haiti in darkness for 200 years has been broken.

I first heard this account from Bishop Joel Jeune at a meeting of the Gospel Crusade Ministerial Fellowship (www.GCMF.org). Jeune is the Coordinator of Haiti for the GCMF and oversees 64 churches there.

The link, “US Department of State Report of Religious Freedom

†below contains this report: “In early August 1997, three evangelical pastors were arrested near Cap Haitien after they had proceeded with plans to hold a religious revival at Bois Caiman. Bois Caiman has a strong patriotic significance for Haitians, since it is the site of a legendary 1791 voodoo ceremony at which slaves swore to rise up against their masters and risk death rather than continue to live in bondage. The resulting slave rebellion was a precursor to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804).

“The pastors, who had been prohibited by the authorities from holding the revival on the actual anniversary of the ceremony, proceeded instead with plans to hold the event several days before the anniversary, hoping to rid the area of malevolent influences. This offended much of the local populace and local authorities, who arrested pastors Joel Jeune, Jean Berthony Paul, and Gregor Joseph on August 4. They were released on the orders of a judge on August 6.â€

The government account tells only part of the story. In the link “Haiti - God's country after a 'holy invasion'†you will see the following and much more (very exciting reading):

"On 14 August 1997, God's people in Haiti experienced a historic victory over Satan, a milestone in winning our country back for God. The reason lies in history. The slaves brought here from Africa have suffered incredibly for many years. On 14 August 1791, a slave leader by the name of Boukman called a secret meeting in a wood called Bois-Caiman near Cap Haitien, which was attended by a large number of slaves. They celebrated a satanic ceremony, sacrificing a pig and drinking its blood, swore to serve the Devil and dedicated Haiti to him. For 206 years, Bois-Caiman was a very holy place, a high place which could only be entered by witch doctors during Voodoo ceremonies. For 206 years, they have been meeting there every August 14 to sacrifice to Satan.

“A number of Christian leaders, including Paul and Gerald Clerie of 'Vision: Haiti' and Christian leaders among the large numbers of Haitians in the USA, Canada, France and other countries, called Christians to unite on 14 August 1997 to pray and fast that Haiti would return to God. In Haiti's towns, villages and mountains, Christians came together to fast and pray, held victory marches in the streets and a large event in the capital from 6am to 10pm during the holy invasion.

“Our church members started their march in front of the President's palace and marched for 6 hours to the place where the satanic ceremony took place 206 years ago. We had informed the government and media of our intentions weeks before the event, and were told that the witch doctors would be there, as they were every year. When we arrived, they had hidden themselves, unable to directly confront the Christians. It was a significant spiritual battle to reach the tree under which the pig was sacrificed in the original ceremony. We formed a Jericho march, circling the magic tree seven times. On the seventh time around, God gave many people a vision of the Devil fleeing from the area. The Christians were overjoyed. We cancelled the satanic contract and broke the curse, before celebrating communion and dedicating the area as a place of prayer. We also declared 14 August to be a national prayer day, on which people should pray that Haiti will return to God.

“On the same day, several witch doctors were saved during the events in the capital. Three days after our holy invasion, the witch doctors returned to Bois-Caiman to bring their sacrifices and call on the spirits. After days of effort, nothing happened, because we had commanded the spirits never to return and dedicated the area to Christ.

“The witch doctors complained to the government and media. At first, the government also protested, speaking in a press release of 'terrible damage to a Voodoo holy place in which no Christian had set foot for 206 years.' By the grace of God, the government relented and respected our legal right as Haitians to gather at any place on Haiti, including Bois-Caiman, where they now allow all Christian groups to meet. The place is now very popular, and local Christians gather there daily for prayer and fasting. All Haitians now know that the country no longer has a pact with the Devil; the contract has been cancelled, the curse broken.

In 1991, 200 years after his predecessors had dedicated Haiti to Satan, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president of Haiti and attempted to renew the contract. In 1997, the contract was broken forever. In 2003, in a last desperate attempt to retain power, Aristide made Voodoo an official religion. And now he is gone. Let us pray that Haiti, with its newfound freedom, will turn to the one true God.

[Guest]

BONNIE

BUT THEY both have a following that will accept

what they say as fact

dgrimm60

What Rush said WAS a fact, it was just the wrong time to say it.

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: dgrimm60

BONNIE

BUT THEY both have a following that will accept

what they say as fact

dgrimm60

What Rush said WAS a fact, it was just the wrong time to say it.

He should have or must have known how that would go over at this time. Do read the article about Haiti.Quite interesting

[Guest]

Originally Posted By: Richard Holbrook

What Rush said WAS a fact, it was just the wrong time to say it.

He should have or must have known how that would go over at this time. Do read the article about Haiti.Quite interesting

I've already copied it and e-mailed it to my sister. It is interesting.

[bonnie]

RICHARD

YES the timing was wrong for sure

dgrimm60

We now know the reason for the earthquake in Haiti. Danny Glover has been reported as saying the earthquake is a response to the US screwing up in Copenhagen.

That will teach them

[Guest]

Originally Posted By: dgrimm60

RICHARD

YES the timing was wrong for sure

dgrimm60

We now know the reason for the earthquake in Haiti. Danny Glover has been reported as saying the earthquake is a response to the US screwing up in Copenhagen.

That will teach them

What a shame. I used to like Danny Glover. When will actors learn, that what they do best is act. With a script. But when they open their mouth, and start acting like they have political insight, (no script) they usually just end up showing everybody how stupid they are.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

re-posted from another thread:

from Don Schneider NAD President:

THE ADVENTIST CHURCH IN HAITI — Haiti has more than 335,000 Seventh- day Adventists worshiping in 470 churches. In addition to a hospital and university, the church operates dozens of schools there. Reports from Haiti are sketchy because of downed power lines and poor communication. There are conflicting reports about churches and members affected. We have heard that two churches near the presidential palace were destroyed, and there is concern for children who were attending one of the church schools. Remember to pray for the people in Haiti and to make a generous donation to ADRA for their assistance.

[bonnie]

Quote:

What a shame. I used to like Danny Glover. When will actors learn, that what they do best is act. With a script. But when they open their mouth, and start acting like they have political insight, (no script) they usually just end up showing everybody how stupid they are.

I hope with that less than brillant statement he is as generous with his wealth and does what he can to help.

I cannot hardly look at those pictures of those babies and little ones

[james423]

My son says that an Adventist orphanage just outside Port-au-Prince was still standing while all around it was destroyed. Our students went to this orphanage two or three years ago and helped them build a building. Wonder if that building is still intact?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

My son says that an Adventist orphanage just outside Port-au-Prince was still standing while all around it was destroyed. Our students went to this orphanage two or three years ago and helped them build a building. Wonder if that building is still intact?

I hope it is, james423... the Haitians need all the shelter they can find!

[bonnie]

Outside Haiti capital, much despair and little aid

Men, holding wood and metal objects, protest at the entrance of the town of Leogane, Saturday, Jan. 16, …

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press Writer –

LEOGANE, Haiti – As aid masses in Haiti's devastated capital, time is running out in rural areas where the damage is no less severe. In Leogane, frustrated men gathered Saturday with machetes and clubs, ready to fight for a town they said the world has forgotten.

All along the cracked highway heading west from Port-au-Prince along the bay, people begged for help. "SOS," declared a sign near Leogane. "We don't understand why everything is going to Port-au-Prince, because Leogane was broken too."

That is putting it lightly.

Leogane's city center is a rubble pile spiderwebbed with fallen power lines, coastal Haiti re-landscaped as a post-apocalyptic film set. Two mass graves line the road to the capital, a few yellowed bodies thrown in to start a third.

At the corner of Rue La Croix and Pere Thevenot, a charming two-story built in 1922 that housed a pharmacy and a florist last week is a brickyard sepulcher for the couple who died trying to escape.

Blocks away a group of men gathered to defend a health clinic-turned-shelter against all comers: The local government, which wants to dig another mass grave there, criminals loosed from the capital's broken penitentiary, and looters as hungry as they are.

They said they do not want violence, but carried machetes, typical of this sugar-growing town, and clutched wooden pins and poles.

"There is no one in the police station. We haven't seen aid," said 28-year-old Philip Pierre, who manages a yogurt plant. "We are ready to die fighting if they don't listen to us."

Death has done brisk business here already, in a town where roaming Carnival bands were just getting in gear when the quake struck Tuesday, its epicenter just 12 miles (25 kms) to the east.

The stench emanating from rubble is intense, and among the residents' demands are the "big shovels" working in the capital to excavate bodies.

In a charitable move, casket-maker Yvon Lochard put his wares on sale, dropping the price of a wooden coffin from $450 to $100.

"Before business was slow," he said matter-of-factly. "Now I'm selling these quickly."

Even Lochard's prices, however, are too steep for most in a country where half the population lives on $1 a day. They carry their bodies atop pieces of tin and drop them in a mass grave.

The living, meanwhile, are trying hard to stay that way. There is food in the markets, but the price of a 50-pound bag of rice has risen about 25 percent to $27.50 since the quake struck. In the mountains that ring the town, cisterns broke, leaving many without drinking water.

A nearly collapsed corner store had $6,000 worth of rice, spaghetti and other food in the basement, its owner said, but he was too scared of collapse to go in and get it, despite increasingly terse demands from neighbors that he do so.

U.N. peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were delivering water to about 1,000 people and sharing their own rations, Maj. Chandima Beligasooabba said. They were told the U.N. would be bringing in food supplies later Saturday.

A team from Kansas City, Missouri-based Crisis Response International roamed the downtown area near the structurally unstable Sainte Croix Hospital, looking for any non-governmental organization to give supplies to. None was immediately apparent.

Within Leogane, individual neighborhoods are on the lookout against each other. Leaders of each suspect the others might get violent — but promise they won't start trouble themselves.

The first few protesters straggling into the streets were tense. One machete-wielding young man briefly collapsed from what his neighbors said was hypertension. And as the daze wears off from the shock wave that hit the town, older frustrations and the ordinary complications of Haitian life are creeping back in.

"If the international community gives the government money, we're going to take to the streets," 51-year-old Maximillian Alfred said. "They won't do anything with it for the community."

[Guest]

Wow.....

[bonnie]

BONNIE

THIS IS REALLY TERRIBLE

dgrimm60

Haiti has to be like a literal hell on earth