In Haiti there are upwards of 10,000 different Humanitarian groups offering aid and assistance for the earthquake victims. There will be approximately 15,000 U.S. Troops along with nearly 20,000 MINUSTAH troops, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in place. What exactly is the mission of so many military troops?
Along comes House Resolution 1021 to help define the mission of the U.S. The full text is at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:1:./temp/~c1118dVx0L:
Title: Expressing condolences to and solidarity with the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010; introduced by Representative Barbara Lee of California.
Lee has introduced some numerous legislation that gives our tax dollars away to other nations, including: (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/?&Db=d111&querybd=@FIELD(FLD003+@4((@1(Rep+Lee++Barbara))+01501)
H.CON.RES.63 : Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should provide, on an annual basis, an amount equal to at least 1 percent of United States gross domestic product (GDP) for nonmilitary foreign assistance programs.
H.CON.RES.98 : Recognizing the disparate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women globally to address climate change.
H.CON.RES.102 : Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States has a moral responsibility to meet the needs of those persons, groups, and communities that are impoverished, disadvantaged, or otherwise in poverty.
While H.R. 1021 seeks to promote a stable and sustainable future for Haiti, does it also obligate the United States for an unspecified time to contribute financial and military resources?
Dr. Ron Paul,http://www.house.gov/paul/ Republican of Texas thinks so, and was the only dissenting vote on the passage of the resolution 411-1.
A younger Ron Paul with President Reagan
Statement of Congressman Ron Paul
United States House of Representatives
Statement in Opposition to H Res 1021, Condolences to Haiti
January 21, 2010 http://www.house.gov/list/speech/tx14_paul/Haiti.shtml Excertpted:
I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution…rather it commits the US government “to begin the reconstruction of Haiti” and affirms that “the recovery and long-term needs of Haiti will require a sustained commitment by the United States….” I do not believe that a resolution expressing our deep regret and sorrow over this tragedy should be used to commit the United States to a “long-term” occupation of Haiti during which time the US government will provide for the reconstruction of that country.
I am concerned over the possibility of an open-ended US military occupation of Haiti and this legislation does nothing to alleviate my concerns. On the contrary, when this resolution refers to the need for a long term US plan for Haiti, I see a return to the failed attempts by the Clinton and Bush Administrations to establish Haiti as an American protectorate.
Numerous countries and religious nuts would love nothing better than to see the destruction of the U.S. Do we in fact have a “moral responsibility to meet the needs of those persons, groups, and communities that are impoverished,” and disadvantaged abroad, or at home? In committing to Haiti’s reconstruction for a long term occupation, does it offer an opportunity to provide a higher degree of security in the region? Russia and Venezuela were in fact playing live ammo war games in Caribbean basin last year, so when Paul offers concern over establishing, “Haiti as an American protectorate,” does Haiti not also serve America well to potentially become a protectorate of the U.S. like Puerto Rico?
The US military installations in Puerto Rico are part of the US Atlantic Command (LANTCOM).[2] LANTCOM has authority over all US military operations that take place throughout the Atlantic. Puerto Rico has been seen as crucial in supporting LANTCOM’s mission. Both the Naval Forces Caribbean (NFC) and the Fleet Air Caribbean (FAIR) were formerly based at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station.[2] The NFC has authority over all US Naval activity in the waters of the Caribbean while FAIR has authority over all US military flights and air operations over the Caribbean. With the closing of the Roosevelt Roads and Vieques Island training facilities, the US Navy has basically exited from Puerto Rico, except for the ships that steam by, and the only significant military presence in the island is the U.S. Army at Ft Buchanan, the Puerto Rican Army and Air National Guards, and the U.S. Coast Guardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Puerto_Rico.
The New World Order and Illuminati conspiracy theorists should be having a field day. “Control of banks, media, schools, local and federal governments, churches, media, police and military and sciences, water and food supply.” writes a commentator at http://operationcleensweep.blogspot.com/2010/01/just-what-is-in-bill-hr-1021.html Is that in America or Haiti, we ask?
We are a bit reminiscent of Grenada.
Grenada was an all out military intervention. “President Ronald Reagan accused Grenada of constructing facilities to aid a Soviet and Cuban military build-up in the Caribbean. There was also worry about the large number of weapons flowing into Grenada. One shipment in 1979 contained 3400 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition…. President Reagan called the leaders of the new government “a brutal group of leftist thugs.”via http://www.psywarrior.com/GrenadaHerb.html .
America and the world prior to the quake for years gave billions to Haiti, yet remained it has one of the poorest nations with little infrastructure and slavery rampant. Were the Haitian government officials playing to the communists at the expense of it’s own people and relations with the U.S.? Where is any one Haitian government official on TV or in the news except for Aristide?
But the administration’s actions in Haiti did not always match its words. Interviews and a review of government documents show that a democracy-building group close to the White House, and financed by American taxpayers, undercut the official United States policy and the ambassador assigned to carry it out. As a result, the United States spoke with two sometimes contradictory voices in a country where its words carry enormous weight. That mixed message, the former American ambassador said, made efforts to foster political peace “immeasurably more difficult.” Without a political agreement, a weak government was destabilized further, leaving it vulnerable to the rebels. http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/155/25995.html
Now, “It seems that Haiti’s deposed leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is trying to eye for a comeback in Haiti after his country suffered a massive earthquake. via http://againstcommies009.blogspot.com/2010/01/obama-nationcfr-files-jean-bertrand.html.
People of Grenada, er Haiti, We have come...
In the long run, maybe we need Haiti as much as Haiti needs the U.S.
Your thoughts?
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it’s okay- we all get to a rambling sometimes. thanks for your thoughts.
Hi, Sorry for the lengthy response. I enjoyed reading your thoughts about HR 1021, and wanted to share mine with you.
On Ron Paul’s Inhumane Pedantry
I have a friend who helped me understand why Ron Paul cast the only dissenting vote on HR 1021. The bill’s title is “Expressing condolences to and solidarity with the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.” The bill passed in the House by a vote of 411-1. My friend said Ron Paul voted no because of the line: (6) expresses support for the recovery and long-term reconstruction needs of Haiti. I was surprised to learn that Ron Paul is not so difficult to understand after all.
As I understand it, Ron Paul believes that line allows the US government to maintain permanent occupation of Haiti and provides a blank check to fund it. As I understand it, Ron Paul believes that this is unconstitutional because it violates the 10th Amendment, in addition to being contrary to the original intent of the founders in regard to foreign policy. As I understand it, Ron Paul is the only member of the House of Representatives who felt it necessary to use his vote on this particular bill to make an archaic and pedantic point about his political philosophies. As I understand it, Ron Paul had the opportunity to abstain from voting. There were 23 House members who declined to vote for reasons I do not know, but if there were dissenters among them, they remained respectfully silent, and the bill passed the House almost unanimously.
As I understand it, “almost unanimously” has a tendency to piss people off.
We have no one word in our language to express what we see happening in Haiti, but the Koreans do. The word is han. Han is a lament so deep that no tears will come, and yet there is still hope. It is an old cultural expression of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. Han is also the abbreviation for the Korean word for Korea, Hanguk. It is used kind of like America is used as an abbreviation for The United States of America, but I do not know if they think of their country as an expression of han. I have a gut feeling han and Han are intimately entwined in the Korean cultural psyche, in much the same way that America inspires different emotions in people than The United States of America does. I learned the word han from the West Wing, so I suppose this could be construed as just a bunch of liberal hokum, but it rings true for me. Han is what we see in the faces of every starving, fly-eyed child, every grieving earthquake victim, and every tsunami-broken father searching through stacks of bodies for his lost daughter, finding only his sons.
I have not experienced han in my life, but I recognize it when I see it. Each time I see it on my flat-screen television, while lounging comfortably on my leather couch in my luxury apartment, it is nearly always the result of an American camera crew, thousands of miles from their leather couches and flush toilets, broadcasting the han surrounding them.
American camera crews focus their lenses on it wherever they see it, but those stricken with han, having never heard of it, in their darkest hours embrace a different word. When their suffering is so deep that tears no longer fall, only one word embodies both the sorrow and the hope of han for them; when the grief is so paralyzing that the stricken have no choice but its increase by relinquishing all thoughts of self-reliance; when they are forced to confront and reconcile themselves to the admission that they cannot provide for their own rescue, recovery, sustenance, shelter, reconstruction, or burial; when the mere act of asking brings crippling, unjustifiable shame; when faced with utterly dehumanizing conditions over which they have no control what-so-ever or the means to surmount, always they turn to American camera crews and, wracked with what can only be described as han, utter like a prayer the word, America, and though the pain is ineffable, with that utterance comes hope, and following that hope come Americans.
As far as Ron Paul’s fears about the US Government’s permanent occupation of Haiti is concerned, I don’t feel much needs to be said. I would have preferred it if HR 1021 had a line providing for a ballot for every Haitian so they could vote on joining the United States of America, but that doesn’t seem to happen anymore. The self-evident, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness only apply to island nations who joined the club on or before August 21, 1959. I imagine Ron Paul would be apoplectic if he heard me talking my big government imperialist jive. I imagine him asking me, “First Haiti, and then who’s next?” But he’s no match for my imagination. Damn the torpedoes. I’ve got a list.
To his estimable credit, Ron Paul adheres strictly to his understanding of the Constitution, and fulfills his oath of office to the letter. The current oath reads: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
When I asked my friend if Ron Paul thinks that the good people of the 14th Congressional District of Texas think that HR 1021 is unconstitutional, and if they wanted everyone to know that they do not express their condolences to and solidarity with the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, he sort of laughed at me and said that Ron Paul’s job is not to vote the way his constituents want him to vote, or to represent their positions. So I looked up that oath, and, once again, it turns out Ron Paul is not so difficult to understand after all.
The good people of the 14th Congressional District of Texas appear to be off the hook on this one.
Using my imagination again, I saw myriad Ron Pauls all doing different jobs in a vast array of work-place milieu, and they were all moving very, very slowly, doing as little work as possible, emailing their friends, picking their noses, almost finishing last Monday’s crossword puzzle, tweeting in meetings, grumbling about how their bosses want them to do too much work in too little time for too few dollars, and then in an instant they all turned into you, and I imagined that I thought Ron Paul’s understanding of the Constitution and America is not so difficult to understand after all, but that it would take a great deal more imagining to fathom how he fails to understand how to be understanding.
Then, for the first time in my life, my imagination failed me.