Posted on 01/14/2010 4:45:31 PM PST by bruinbirdman
For 200 years the Caribbean nation has suffered from natural disasters and violent rulers
By any standards, Haiti represents a very great concentration of misery and dashed hopes. In January 1804 a key date in the history of a bedevilled country the African slaves overthrew their French masters and declared the worlds first black republic. Haiti became an emblem of slaverys longed-for abolition. And the slave leader, Toussaint LOuverture, was hailed by William Wordsworth, among other Romantics, as a morning star of the Americas.
Since independence, however, emperors, kings and presidents-for-life have misruled the Caribbean nation through violence and theft of public funds. The constitution is made of paper, they say, but the bayonet is made of steel.
In January 2004, I returned to Haiti for the first time in 13 years. Preparations were under way for the independence bicentenary, but no one felt much like celebrating. The capital, Port-au-Prince, looked even more dilapidated and the streets round Toussaint LOuverture airport appeared to have degenerated into a slum.
Familiar smells of drainage and burning rubbish hit me as I made my way to the Hotel Oloffson, a gingerbread mansion disguised as the Hotel Trianon in Graham Greenes novel The Comedians. Laughably, a room had been named after me as the author of a book on Haiti, but I was unable to stay in it as the ceiling had warped dangerously.
By some fluke, the Hotel Oloffson survived Tuesdays earthquake, but the National Palace nearby collapsed. A more graphic image of municipal chaos would be hard to imagine: the heart of Haitis national and civic life has been reduced to rubble.
Now more than ever, the motto of the Haitian republic, LUnion Fait la Force (Strength Through Union) seems a grim joke. For two centuries since
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
How do the Dominicans keep the Haitians out? Is there a mountain range or what? Seems like they would all come flooding over.
But this is, after all, a 7.0 earthquake, and there isn't a city anywhere on the planet that wouldn't have been crushed. Turning Port-au-Prince into Copenhagen isn't what we're there for. Anyone expecting that outcome has been nipping at Baron Samedi's rum. We can dig them out of the rubble but they're going to have to dig themselves out of the enervating muck that hatred has made of their country over the past two centuries - hatred of the white, hatred of their neighbors, hatred of one another. It can't be given to them, not even under the auspices of disaster relief. They have to build it for themselves.
Nope. Look at which demographic group has the highest rate of church attendence and which professions have the highest percentage of non-believers. I'm sure the scientists are being smited all over the place, while the churchgoing ghetto dwellers are being rewarded...
DR is also populated predominantly by folks of African descent, but because they have some white blood, they don’t consider themselves black. A Dominican may look like Will Smith, but “black” to him is the illegal Haitian begging in the streets.
DR has had a large problem with illegal Haitians for years. This is why so many “Dominicans” these days have French last names. Trujillo (a child-molesting letch and self-hating Halfrican) tried to rectify the situation by well, machine gunning the Haitian squatters (something I don’t support by any means), which led to him getting toppled with the help of the Kennedy Administration.
DR has had a large problem with illegal Haitians for years. This is why so many “Dominicans” these days have French last names. Trujillo (a child-molesting letch and self-hating Halfrican) tried to rectify the situation by well, machine gunning the Haitian squatters (something I don’t support by any means), which led to him getting toppled with the help of the Kennedy Administration.
In his own inartful way—yes.
Ummmm...people of decency?
"...which professions have the highest percentage of non-believers."
Don't tell me...it's coming to me (aSeattleConservative raises his hand with an answer)
Abortionists, drag queens, pornographers, drug addicts, alcoholics.
Art is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone that can make the libs clench their jaws so much that they have permanent TMJ, is ok in my book.
I do. Thanks for bringing that up.
I sat alert for a massive air armada invasion fleet that was literally turned around in mid-air when Jimmy Carter (working as a stooge for Clinton) convinced the Haitians to change leadership. Then, we all flew in there anyway, and spent billions upon billions.
I was appalled at the corruption, dirt, and violence there, but then again - it was better than Somalia (Somalia was the worst).
I flew many more missions in the C-141 back into there. I vividly remember one where we were preparing for a visit by VP Al Gore.
The taxiways at the airport literally had pineapples lining them, everything had been rebuilt and painted, and the airport looked almost brand new - a sharp contrast from a few months earlier.
Soon after wards, the country fell back into crap.
I believe in a literal devil, God, and demons as well. I won't go into it, but let's just say "personal experience" with a family member gives me special insight into demonic terror.
You're right - God not only brings judgment down on individuals, but on Nations. This fact is repeated in scripture, time and time and time again.
It is a terrible thing what has happened, and I am praying for these people. But those who so easily discount what Robertson said have no idea what they are talking about. Evil is real, and it is manifest.
The nation of Haiti has indulged in the worst kind of occult and satantic practices for hundreds of years.
If you invite evil in and open the door, it comes rushing in. Play a Ouija board, fool around with tarot cards, conduct a seance - and you are asking for trouble.
Voodoo is satanic, and overtly so.
True, but... how would Pat know if Haiti is cursed? How could anyone know?
And what about this?
What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem?
-Jesus
They have similar roots, but very different practice, and practitioners of the two cults simply LOATHE each other.
( I lived in Haiti for a summer back in the mid 60s, during the reign of Papa Doc Duvalier )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.