The major news from the China-U.S. Summit is that the pandas can stay at the Washington zoo for five years more.
Freepers are upset that Sasha Obama tried out her Mandarin on Hu Jingtao. Sasha Obama is learning Chinese at her grammar school.
Michelle Obama is being blamed for causing more pedestrian deaths because of her campaign to get more adults to exercise. Oscar de la Renta also criticized the First Lady's Red dress at the White House dinner for Hu.
165 Republican congressman have signed on to eliminating all funds for USAID. I would make it conditional on finding out who killed Vince Foster. The strategy for the administration in its wars is to transfer more of the responsibility to our development programs in order to build up civilian power. To make this transition work, you have to have an increase, not a decrease in aid funding. But the Hate America Firsters actually believe that foreign aid is a critical part of a national debt, which it is not. The only problem is that the American people actually believe this and the teabaggers and conservatives have been exploiting this. The new freshman Republicans have brought back the isolationism from the Lindbergh period and the American Firsters.
Dick Armey, creator of the corporate, Koch-funded teabaggers, went on the Hill today to lecture the freshmen Republicans not to shut down the government, something they have been threatening to do. Armey knew that it was a disaster for Republicans under Newt but also that it would be an economic disaster today.
Gentleman John Boehner, Old Swizzle Stick, has run up against his first challenge from the teabaggers. Boehner and Ryan were trying to avoid meeting their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Federal Government this fiscal year. The Republican Study Group actually sent a letter to Boehner demanding that this goal be met. Since half the fiscal year is over, this would entail crippling budget cuts for the remainder of the year. Boehner is aware that the cuts proposed by the Republican Study Group would have catastrophic effects on the economy and the ability of the federal government to function. It's not clear whether Boehner can triumph over his new flock.
We are seeing the divide appear between the corporate Republican Party and the teabaggers. While Rep. Ryan has been designated to respond to President Obama's State of the Union speech, Michelle Bachmann has decided all on her lonesome to hold her own response, which she will pre-record for the Tea Bag Express. Having heard her speech about destroying socialism by repealing the health care bill, we can expect some rhetorical fireworks.
Wouldn't you want to be at a White House meeting to discuss strategy about how to deal with the fact that one part of Congress is now controlled by people who fundamentally don't understand anything about government. What would you advise? All Obama needs now is an infrastructure bill. He doesn't need a budget. They should aim at continuing resolutions for the next two years. Then maybe you let the House fire as much fireworks as they want. But it is unsettling. Do you call Boehner in and tell him he's responsible for his nutjobs?
Mike Huckabee admitted today that budget cuts at any level will results in the loss of jobs. That's why I'm less than gung-ho that we have a recovery that will strengthen. I think we can expect some slips because of the financial crises in the states and also from federal budget cuts ,which Obama will institute.
I think it's tacky that both Harry Reid and Gentleman John Boehner turned down the White House's invitation to the dinner honoring Hu Jingtao. But you know Hu is going to hug Obama for the next two years because he's afraid of the other barbarian Americans. You want to deal with the know-nothings.
James Fellow at the Atlantic wrote a nice appreciation of the summit and thought the musical program of jazz performed by jazz greats was a typical American moment. He should be aware that China now has become the primary consumer of American jazz and that American jazz artists are in high demand at the clubs in Shanghai. But he was right, it was a nice touch and Herbie Hancock playing with Lang-Lang was a nice moment, and a nice piece.
It really is great that the Supreme Court recognizes corporate rights over individual rights. Today Verizon announced it was suing the FCC over its net neutrality policy saying its constitutional rights were being violated. Cool! William Douglas used to say that if corporations had civil rights than so did trees.Red Woods Versus Weyhauser. An idea whose time is come.
We haven't heard the last from the Tucson shooting days. Orange County police are now searching for the people who are threatening to kill Jerry Brown on Valentine's Day. The police have linked the culprits with spray-painting graffiti that urges the killing of Catholics.
Mark Steyn writing in the New Criterion made a full-throated defense of U.K. and American exceptionalism. He warns that the socialist President, who doesn't acknowledge the exceptional nature of America, is allowing China to seize Taiwan and that because of the American national debt, which he projects to cost 20% of the GDP in 15-odd years, we will not be able to compete with the world's largest corporation, The People's Liberation Army of China.
Let's roll this one back. Mark Steyn used to write for the tabloids in London. He and Niall Ferguson, another Brit neocon, have warned that America's debt and its entitlement programs will cut into its ability to spend for defense. And both take the Malthusian curve of debt as inevitable and nothing will be down to bring it down. They also don't give a squat whether Americans have a pot to piss in as long as American maintains its empire and total military supremacy above everyone and every threat. In other words, the Brits and new Brit-Americans will fight the world to the last American. Sort of like the Saudi attitude toward Iran--will fight Tehran to the "last American."
I humbly disagree with this viewpoint. And I also don't believe we will see the People's Liberation Army flooding across Asia and sweeping into Europe any time soon. I also don't want an Empire. Beijing is well aware of Taiwan's economic development and will not jeopardize that any time soon.
Some blogger wrote that the negative effect of the GOP's proposed budget cuts will give the Democrats a political gift. Not so fast. The polls going in the election, the polls going out after the election, all indicate Americans are sensible in their approaches to the economy. BUT and it is a big BUT they did elect these characters. Will there be a backlash or will the spinmeisters manage to blame Obama for these cuts. Besides, the cost of average people will be enormous.
Showing posts with label Haiti USAID. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haiti USAID. Show all posts
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
If You Think Government Can Do Good Things, Clap for USAID
USAID has always had a crisis capacity but never something that resembled an international FEMA (pre- or post-Brownie) so its co-ordination of Haitian earthquake relief aid both within government and internationally is somewhat of a departure. When you see the 16,000 American troops in Haiti by this weekend, think USAID, not the Pentagon. It's USAID's job to make that happen--of course, with alot of help. The hospital ship USNS Comfort has arrived with 550 medical personnel and should be up and operating(literally) tomorrow. Clean water has been restored to at least one hospital and the U.S. military has established open park tent towns to hold 25,000 a piece. Since yesterday the World Food Program now reports they have distributed 1 million food rations to 200,000 people with the hopes of getting to 2 million shortly. Their efficiacy is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. The banks are supposed to be open on Saturday. This is a country that lives on remittances from relatives living abroad. Thousands of tons of medical supplies and food stuffs have been shipped already and ,yes, the new airports are helping to end some of the bottlenecks. In the dubious distinction awards--but a good thing--rescue teams have set records for pulling people out of the rubble alive.
Washington-based non-profits who have been involved in Haiti before believe USAID has embraced this mandate with energy and with gusto. Or as JFK used to say, with "vigor". The problems we see,according to those observers, are because the United Nations Mission lost their chief of party, a man of great ability and much of their staff. The UN is trying to both re-establish its mission at the same time it's trying to handle the humanitarian relief and this has caused some of the problems about prioritzing issues. They also comment that the complaints that the U.S. didn't immediately airdrop water and food immediately was because the population in Port-au-Prince is so dense and they were already camping out in the open places where drops would occur that they were delayed until there was more on-the-ground intelligence. In the next few days, as the progress of the World Food Programme shows, the various components of the relief effort should look relatively smooth, considering this was the largest earthquake in Haiti in 200 years.
Will their be lessons to be learned? Of course. But so far, we should learn about USAID's success in marshalling the various players both within government and the non-profit world to respond as quickly and efficiently as they did. Thank you all.
Washington-based non-profits who have been involved in Haiti before believe USAID has embraced this mandate with energy and with gusto. Or as JFK used to say, with "vigor". The problems we see,according to those observers, are because the United Nations Mission lost their chief of party, a man of great ability and much of their staff. The UN is trying to both re-establish its mission at the same time it's trying to handle the humanitarian relief and this has caused some of the problems about prioritzing issues. They also comment that the complaints that the U.S. didn't immediately airdrop water and food immediately was because the population in Port-au-Prince is so dense and they were already camping out in the open places where drops would occur that they were delayed until there was more on-the-ground intelligence. In the next few days, as the progress of the World Food Programme shows, the various components of the relief effort should look relatively smooth, considering this was the largest earthquake in Haiti in 200 years.
Will their be lessons to be learned? Of course. But so far, we should learn about USAID's success in marshalling the various players both within government and the non-profit world to respond as quickly and efficiently as they did. Thank you all.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
US AID's Epic Fail--Haiti Not Reconstructed Yet
Hugo Chavez weighed in--our troops are there to colonize Haiti. Naomi Wolf says we're implementing Crisis Capitalism. Exhibit 1. The World Bank says that Haiti should cut government workers' salaries in light of the crisis. Amy Wilentz has weighed in on the terrible things the US has done to Haiti over the years. Pat Buchanan's American Conservative website says Haiti is doomed because there is no rule of law. Rush Limbaugh claims our military has been reduced to being "Meals for Wheels", something Democrats always do. Pat Robertson believes haiti made a pact with the Devil. And the French government is questioning the role of the US in this whole affair since the European Union a day ago decided to donate over $500 million.
Before we recount that there is a human catastrophe that happened( What is it about the word people don't understand?) I have a suggestion. Bill Clinton arrived with food aid and made the ritual visits like he should since he is the UN Envoy to Haiti. But with Sarkozy wanting to fly to Haiti and the countless congressmen, maybe there really should be a different way to deal with visiting ambulance chasers like CODELs. In my experiences, CODELS play a role in educating elected officials about foreign affairs since they are generally ignorant about the world. But the administration time on the ground in our embassies is not worth it and in this case interfere with the emergency at hand. Instead, embassies should have a private airstrip for official gawkers, a VIP tent with food and beverages as well as a souvenir shop, and that one person is selected to brief them and then they are ushered back on to the airplane for the flight home. If I were an ambassador, I would put up a sign "No One Home."
President Preval is missing, we are told. But I saw him hold a cabinet meeting on white plastic chairs outside the police station since the Presidential palace collapsed. The 82nd Airbone is nowhere to be found but they appear to be guarding the Port facilities. Foreign aid agencies complain Americans are hogging the airport and that's where the bottleneck is. Today, the airport which had its traffic control system destroyed handles 100 flight per day, more than it did when it was functioning. The Coast Guard ship with the cranes for the port has arrived and the U.S. Marines say it will take them 2-3 days to get the port functioning--a whole 8 days after disaster struck. The UN has set up five different overland corridors for the food convoys and have 16 million ready-to-eat meals in the pipeline and 4.2 million supplementary meals for children. Haiti's orphans are being shipped out to the United States and also to adoption commissions in the Netherlands and Italy. But the World Food Program ,which will distribute meals to 97,000 people today,estimates 2 million Haitians require food assistance. Think about that number. And think about the problems of food distribution when a country basically ceases to exist. Compared to the Tsunami, WFP personnel claim the situation is improving hour-by-hour.
Choppers from the Carl Vinson made over 100 drops of water and food during the last two days.
The blogosphere keeps posting protests about why this isn't happening, while the military released television footage of water drops in the countryside with masses of people hiking up to retrieve the bottles.
Having been in the middle of several incidents of looting and rioting in Haiti over the years, I agree with the American military commanders that the situation is not as bad as it has been in the past. Lt. General Ken Keen, the commander of the US military operation,estmates that 200,000 people have died so far. Medical personnel such as Medicins Sans Frontieres says that survivors will die from preventable diseases. The problem so far is the lack of inflatable hospitals, which will provide more room for surgeries.
While we are entertained by CNN Sanjay Gupta performing brain surgery on television and Anderson Cooper carrying bloodied children from the wreckage, the real damage and trauma will take place when the cameras go home and the Haitians absorbed the immensity of their loss.
Despite the complaints from the Europeans and some of our own people, what decision would you make? Prevent rescue equipment from landing at the airport and giving priority to food and medicine when air traffic space is extremely limited? Hundreds of these dilemmas are being argued out and negotiated every day in Port-au-Prince. So far the international response--both governmental and non-governmental--has been phenomenal and will need to continue. As all those in the aid field knows, the absorptive capacity for resources--in the best of times--is limited. And the efforts are tied to the quality of the people involved. In this case,the systems are being put in place, the efforts of everyone have been phenomenal and basically a successful conclusion actually does depend on a miracle.
Before we recount that there is a human catastrophe that happened( What is it about the word people don't understand?) I have a suggestion. Bill Clinton arrived with food aid and made the ritual visits like he should since he is the UN Envoy to Haiti. But with Sarkozy wanting to fly to Haiti and the countless congressmen, maybe there really should be a different way to deal with visiting ambulance chasers like CODELs. In my experiences, CODELS play a role in educating elected officials about foreign affairs since they are generally ignorant about the world. But the administration time on the ground in our embassies is not worth it and in this case interfere with the emergency at hand. Instead, embassies should have a private airstrip for official gawkers, a VIP tent with food and beverages as well as a souvenir shop, and that one person is selected to brief them and then they are ushered back on to the airplane for the flight home. If I were an ambassador, I would put up a sign "No One Home."
President Preval is missing, we are told. But I saw him hold a cabinet meeting on white plastic chairs outside the police station since the Presidential palace collapsed. The 82nd Airbone is nowhere to be found but they appear to be guarding the Port facilities. Foreign aid agencies complain Americans are hogging the airport and that's where the bottleneck is. Today, the airport which had its traffic control system destroyed handles 100 flight per day, more than it did when it was functioning. The Coast Guard ship with the cranes for the port has arrived and the U.S. Marines say it will take them 2-3 days to get the port functioning--a whole 8 days after disaster struck. The UN has set up five different overland corridors for the food convoys and have 16 million ready-to-eat meals in the pipeline and 4.2 million supplementary meals for children. Haiti's orphans are being shipped out to the United States and also to adoption commissions in the Netherlands and Italy. But the World Food Program ,which will distribute meals to 97,000 people today,estimates 2 million Haitians require food assistance. Think about that number. And think about the problems of food distribution when a country basically ceases to exist. Compared to the Tsunami, WFP personnel claim the situation is improving hour-by-hour.
Choppers from the Carl Vinson made over 100 drops of water and food during the last two days.
The blogosphere keeps posting protests about why this isn't happening, while the military released television footage of water drops in the countryside with masses of people hiking up to retrieve the bottles.
Having been in the middle of several incidents of looting and rioting in Haiti over the years, I agree with the American military commanders that the situation is not as bad as it has been in the past. Lt. General Ken Keen, the commander of the US military operation,estmates that 200,000 people have died so far. Medical personnel such as Medicins Sans Frontieres says that survivors will die from preventable diseases. The problem so far is the lack of inflatable hospitals, which will provide more room for surgeries.
While we are entertained by CNN Sanjay Gupta performing brain surgery on television and Anderson Cooper carrying bloodied children from the wreckage, the real damage and trauma will take place when the cameras go home and the Haitians absorbed the immensity of their loss.
Despite the complaints from the Europeans and some of our own people, what decision would you make? Prevent rescue equipment from landing at the airport and giving priority to food and medicine when air traffic space is extremely limited? Hundreds of these dilemmas are being argued out and negotiated every day in Port-au-Prince. So far the international response--both governmental and non-governmental--has been phenomenal and will need to continue. As all those in the aid field knows, the absorptive capacity for resources--in the best of times--is limited. And the efforts are tied to the quality of the people involved. In this case,the systems are being put in place, the efforts of everyone have been phenomenal and basically a successful conclusion actually does depend on a miracle.
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