Posted 3:23 PM by John Adams |
Follow-Up on AIDS Project

The State Department's factsheet has been updated to include more specific details about its new HIV/AIDS prevention program. President Bush announced the $15 billion program in his annual "State of the Union" address Tuesday night.

Posted 10:55 PM by John Adams |
We Know Who We Are

President Aristide granted a rare interview to the Associated Press Wednesday, run in the San Francisco Chronicle under the nauseating title of ``Embattled leader, proud to save Haiti from chaos, confident of majority support."

"Yes, we may have less (support) than we had in 1990 ... but I think the huge majority of the Haitian people continue to support me," Aristide said. "And if you compare what I have and what the one who comes behind me can get -- there you will see a huge margin of difference."

If that is true, Mr. President, then why did you see it necessary to send your thugs out to destroy ballot boxes and intimidate voters in 2000? Perhaps as a sign of your people's unfailing loyalty to you, you could introduce a vote of confidence. "Your people" will surely vote for you to stay, right?

During the 100-minute interview, Aristide blamed Haiti's many ills on a global economic and political system that "smacks of racism" -- going back to France's fight to prevent its colony from rising up against slavery. Following their revolt, Haitians founded the world's first black republic in 1804.

Aristide called the freeze in foreign aid a form of economic "apartheid" to keep blacks down.

"If some people don't want Haiti to promote economic growth, it's always to point a finger at Haiti to say, 'Hey, don't do that, you see they were the first black independent country in the world but they are so poor today -- you better stay where you are instead of fighting for freedom.' That's their goal."

The man is simply frozen in time. France is no longer a world power, no longer has any colonies, and has achieved racial equality back home. What has Aristide done? He has played on class tensions, advocated reverse racism against foreign workers and missionaries, and worked to bring about a Marxist state. He could have had industry. But he refuses to repeal the law banning foreign companies from owning property. He could have had infrastructure. But he refused to privatize the nation's failing utility companies, EDH and Teleco, and now they're both worthless and unappealing to foreign investors. Privatization worked for the Dominicans, and it could have worked in Haiti. He didn't want it. The blame for the horrible state of the economy rests squarely on your shoulders, Mr. Aristide.

Among his biggest accomplishments, Aristide said he counted keeping Haiti "from collapsing into a chaotic situation" and "in a peaceful environment ... despite not having yet many roads, many schools or hospitals."

I have neighbors that hijack my electrical pole any time they want with impunity. People are being killed every time they speak out against the government. A man bled to death from a knife wound in St. Justinien's lobby because medical workers hadn't been payed in months. If this is not a chaotic situation, I don't know what is. If this is a peaceful environment, explain to me the above and the fact that your supporters hurled flails of urine and broken bottles at anti-Aristide demonstrators, and at the CIMO forces sent there to protect them.

Of course, I forgot. It is serene and peaceful and idyllic inside the starving priest's $2 million mansion.

Aristide acknowledged he has not delivered on promises to raise Haitians "from misery to dignified poverty" but said his countrymen and women looking to mark 200 years of independence next year can be proud of their place in world history.

"Yes, the misery will exist but it will not prevent us from knowing who we are."

The only reason Aristide hasn't achieved his goals yet is because in order for his socialist goals (the equalizing of society) to be achieved, he would have to give up his big fat income for the public good. Rich people can't exist in a socialistic society, but right now the rich are becoming richer, and the poor are becoming poorer. Yes, by 2004, I think most Haitians will be assured of who they are now. In the words of my friend Carlo, and this is truly sad: "We are the laughingstock of the world."

Posted 12:57 PM by John Adams |
State of the Union Brings Good Tidings for AIDS Sufferers

U.S. President George W. Bush's annual State of the Union address brought good news for sufferers of HIV/AIDS around the world last night. There will be $15 billion in aid going out to governments and medical aid workers all around the globe to help fight the disease, which is projected to orphan 60 million children in Africa alone by the end of this decade.

Here's the State Department factsheet:

Combating the International HIV/AIDS Pandemic

President Bush announced the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a
five-year, $15 billion initiative to turn the tide in the global
effort to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has
killed at least 20 million of the more than 60 million people it has
infected thus far, leaving 14 million orphans worldwide.

Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the
AIDS virus - including three million children under the age of 15.
There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the
adult population carries the infection. More than four million require
immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS
victims are receiving the medicine they need.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief will help the most
afflicted countries in Africa and the Caribbean wage and win the war
against HIV/AIDS, extending and saving lives. The following countries
will be the focus of the initiative: Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire,
Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

In each of these countries, the United States will work with private
groups and willing governments to put in place a comprehensive system
for diagnosing, preventing and treating AIDS. Central hospitals will
have laboratories, specialized doctors, and nurses to anchor the
system.

Satellite clinics will provide antiretroviral drugs and education on
the prevention of AIDS. By truck and motorcycle, nurses and local
healers will reach the farthest villages and farms to test for the
disease and to deliver life-saving drugs.

The initiative is intended to:

-- Prevent 7 million new infections (60 percent of the projected 12
million new infections in the target countries);

-- Provide antiretroviral drugs for 2 million HIV-infected people; and

-- Care for 10 million HIV-infected individuals and AIDS orphans.

The $15 billion virtually triples the current U.S. commitment to
fighting AIDS internationally. It includes $10 billion in new funds,
of which $1 billion is for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Funding will begin with $2 billion in FY 04
and ramp up thereafter.

(Note: In text, one billion equals 1,000 million.)

Haiti was not mentioned by name in President Bush's address, but he did mention Africa and the Caribbean. Who in the Caribbean needs this money worse than Haiti? The part I like is the emphasis on private groups and individual doctors and nurses. That way, the government can't siphon off as much of the money.

Posted 12:55 AM by John Adams |
News Flashes

Well, so much for that resolution. As one reader has suggested, I'll be trying to include more local news from now on. The frustrating thing about local news is that you often can't include links, since it goes unreported.

THE STRIKE TURNED DEADLY last week at Cap-Haitien's St. Justinien Hospital, where underpaid and overdue staffers and medical workers went on strike. Not only did they go on strike, but they smeared the rooms of the hospital with feces in protest, not bothering to remove the patients. One man, brought in via ambulance who had a serious knife wound in the abdomen from a street fight, reportedly bled to death in the lobby. The doctors refused to help the man, instead choosing to protest outside the building. I don't care who these people are, and how long they've gone without pay, they took the Hippocratic Oath to preserve life, and last week, they failed their mission.

TWO FORMER ARMY COLONELS have been deported and imprisoned. One of them was a powerball winner, too. Both of them were convicted in absentia of participating in the Raboteau massacre of 1994. Let's see if they can buy their way out of this one.

OH, WHAT A DIFFERENCE bipartisanship makes. Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's widow, has decided to visit ``old personal friend" Jean-Bertrand Aristide to clamor for aid to be released. The delegation calls her ``out of touch with reality." Meanwhile, a bipartisan commission returns pessimistic about Aristide's willingness to do...well, anything.

AIDS MONEY will include Haiti, says Dubya.

A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY has won asylum in Miami. He was one of the people that ran onto a Miami causeway after their boat ran aground in November. Good for him.