Media failures in Haiti coverage

CNN’s star anchor Anderson Cooper narrates a chaotic street scene in Port-au-Prince. A boy is struck in the head by a rock thrown by a looter from a roof. Cooper helps him to the side of the road, and then realizes the boy is disoriented and unable to get away. Laying down his digital camera (but still being filmed by another CNN camera), Cooper picks up the boy and lifts him over a barricade to safety, we hope.

Spirit does not toss itself about in the external play of chance occurrences; on the contrary, it is that which determines history absolutely, and it stands firm against the chance occurrences which it dominates and exploits for its own purpose”. (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770 – 1831)

US needs economic enlightenment, not economic “recovery”

We, Americans, not unlike other materialistic societies inhabiting this earth, have for the most part a very narrow focus on the problems we face and an even narrower one on the problems that might sprout beyond our frontiers.  A few tears will be shed this week by those more compassionate in our society for the horrendous catastrophe befallen Haiti, but  rest assured that life will continue on, the major issue of concern in our lives remaining at center stage, and that happens to be: the dismal state of our economy.

There are many differences between our wars in Vietnam and in Afghanistan. There are also similarities we can’t ignore, including the vital need for an indigenous government that commands broad-based popular support. 

Haiti is no stranger to adversity and anguish - over 500 years of severe oppression, slavery, despotism, colonization, reparations, embargoes, sanctions, deep poverty, starvation, unrepayable debt, and natural calamities from destructive hurricanes to a dozen magnitude 7.0 or greater Caribbean region earthquakes in the past 500 years. The last major one was in 1946 at 8.1 in the adjacent Dominican Republic, also striking Haiti. Earlier catastrophic ones were in 1751 and 1770, both devastating Port-au-Prince, and the 1842 one destroying Cap-Haitien in the north.

There are moment in life when one, seriously, wonders whether our species, overall, is mentally ill in some underlying ways. Then again, any definitive determination is likely relativistic since it largely depends on the standards that a given society and culture use to define mental illness, it would seem.

I also have a dream that one day  the Jewish  state, a state sweltering in the heat of injustice, sweltering in the heat of oppression; will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and fairness.

Established in 1989, the MA'AN Development Center is "an independent Palestinian development and training institution....work(ing) towards sustainable human development in Palestine" through its various programs. On October 31, it released a publication on the Palestinian BDS campaign titled, "Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions: Lessons learned in effective solidarity."

I saw Avatar last night with a friend and we both agreed that the story and characters were stock and pretty lame—its plot wholly predictable and blandly stereotypical.

Last week saw Holocaust survivor Thomas Blatt, 82 give testimony at the trial of John Demjanjuk. Blatt stated that he still has nightmares about his time at the camp at Sobibor, "I go there in my dreams, they are so real. In them I am still there. I can't get it out of my head. This is the price I paid for getting out."

by Jacob G. Hornberger

U.S. officials can claim another “success” with their sanctions against Iran. A Russian-made Tupolev airplane crash-landed in Iran, injuring 42 passengers.

The heartbreaking devastation of Haiti shows again that as deadly as Mother Nature can be when acting alone, she is far more lethal when she conspires with poverty. The immediate cause of the deaths of the hundreds of thousands Haitians was the earthquake, but most of those people might be alive today if Haiti weren’t poor. And why is Haiti poor? Because for centuries foreign and domestic tyrants exploited the Haitian people and blocked their routes out of poverty.

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
 
That strange sound you hear if you listen closely is Senator Ted Kennedy spinning in his grave.  Could he have possibly imagined a worse consequence of his departure from the Senate when health care reform was so close?  Absolutely not.  When he was alive he probably was not even aware of Massachusetts state senator Scott Brown.  Though Kennedy deserved a better outcome, Democrats richly deserved the Republican win in Massachusetts.

By Dr. Akram Habeeb

Exactly one year ago, the Gazans who were then seared by the bright flames of phosphorous bombs used by what is ironically called the Israel Defense Forces, clung much hope on the new president of USA; they believed that he would promptly intervene and press Israel to stop its crimes against the long term displaced nation, they thought that he would be just and fair as he promised, but unfortunately, he practically did nothing; the Israeli crimes are still perpetrated against the Palestinians, the worst of which is the siege imposed on Gaza as a retaliation to the results of the most democratic and clean elections of 2006.

Based on his first year in office, American academics are expressing disappointment in  President Obama’s performance and believe he is headed toward a “mediocre” presidency.

My flamboyant friend came running fast round the bend in tie-dyed t-shirt, yellow shorts and red shoes. He jogged up on my front porch and started pacing as he pulled a little plastic bag from his shorts, drew out a roll-your-own and pack of paper matches, then lit up. If there was a human being more conflicted than I, here he stood.

WARNING:This video contains graphic footage.

Does the IDF steal organs in Haiti? Probably not, However one thing is clear. The Israelis have bought themselves some reputation...