Julie R.
01-25-2010, 02:25 PM
This editorial from yesterday's Washington Post or as our good friend Bob Gutermuth calls it, the Washington ComPost, really takes the cake for stupid libtard ideas. Even from a Georgetown U. professor:
So far, the American response to the tragedy in Haiti (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/haiti-earthquake/index.html) has been exactly what you'd expect, and in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that ravaged the nation on Jan. 12, such rapid assistance is precisely what is needed. But over the long term, there is another step, one that may be less obvious or popular, that we must take. It would vastly improve the living standards of the Haitian people, and if we had taken it earlier, it could have lessened the death toll of the quake.
That's right, let's lay a guilt trip on everyone who's opened their wallets and donated an unprecedented amount of money, because it's not enough; after all, it's all the fault of U.S. filthy imperialist policies that so many died, never mind Haiti's been an independent country for over 200 years.
After the earthquake, the Obama administration quickly suspended the deportation of Haitians already residing illegally in the United States (a population estimated at 100,000 to 200,000) for 18 months. That's a wise and welcome step, but an insufficient one.
... Haitians willing to emigrate today would typically experience vast and immediate increases in their standard of living and security -- a goal the administration no doubt supports. That is why so many have been willing to leave Haiti, braving ocean blockades and other risks, even before the quake. Between 1982 and 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard stopped 114,716 Haitians on their way to the United States (http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg531/AMIO/FlowStats/FY.asp), forcing them to go back, and such unsuccessful attempts must certainly have deterred an even larger number from even trying to leave. Last March, 51 percent of Haitians polled told Gallup that, given the opportunity, they would leave their country permanently.
... the United States is complicit in the agony many Haitians are now suffering.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, one of the principal ways its victims helped themselves was by leaving. Katrina prompted one of the biggest resettlements in American history. (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0912/p01s01-ussc.html) Who would have blocked Interstate 10 with armed guards, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to suffer in the disaster zone, no matter how much assistance was coming in from outside? (maybe because the Katrina vicitms were U.S. citizens? Ya think?)
Enjoy the whole steaming crock of jenkem here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012202274.html
Yes, let's let all the Haitians that want to come to the U.S. in; we owe it to them because they're poor. Using that reasoning we'd have to open the gates to let anyone move to the U.S. just because they come from a poor country and we owe it to them to raise their standard of living. Let's see, that would be about 95 percent of all the countries in the world... yeah, great idea.
So far, the American response to the tragedy in Haiti (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/haiti-earthquake/index.html) has been exactly what you'd expect, and in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that ravaged the nation on Jan. 12, such rapid assistance is precisely what is needed. But over the long term, there is another step, one that may be less obvious or popular, that we must take. It would vastly improve the living standards of the Haitian people, and if we had taken it earlier, it could have lessened the death toll of the quake.
That's right, let's lay a guilt trip on everyone who's opened their wallets and donated an unprecedented amount of money, because it's not enough; after all, it's all the fault of U.S. filthy imperialist policies that so many died, never mind Haiti's been an independent country for over 200 years.
After the earthquake, the Obama administration quickly suspended the deportation of Haitians already residing illegally in the United States (a population estimated at 100,000 to 200,000) for 18 months. That's a wise and welcome step, but an insufficient one.
... Haitians willing to emigrate today would typically experience vast and immediate increases in their standard of living and security -- a goal the administration no doubt supports. That is why so many have been willing to leave Haiti, braving ocean blockades and other risks, even before the quake. Between 1982 and 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard stopped 114,716 Haitians on their way to the United States (http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg531/AMIO/FlowStats/FY.asp), forcing them to go back, and such unsuccessful attempts must certainly have deterred an even larger number from even trying to leave. Last March, 51 percent of Haitians polled told Gallup that, given the opportunity, they would leave their country permanently.
... the United States is complicit in the agony many Haitians are now suffering.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, one of the principal ways its victims helped themselves was by leaving. Katrina prompted one of the biggest resettlements in American history. (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0912/p01s01-ussc.html) Who would have blocked Interstate 10 with armed guards, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to suffer in the disaster zone, no matter how much assistance was coming in from outside? (maybe because the Katrina vicitms were U.S. citizens? Ya think?)
Enjoy the whole steaming crock of jenkem here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012202274.html
Yes, let's let all the Haitians that want to come to the U.S. in; we owe it to them because they're poor. Using that reasoning we'd have to open the gates to let anyone move to the U.S. just because they come from a poor country and we owe it to them to raise their standard of living. Let's see, that would be about 95 percent of all the countries in the world... yeah, great idea.