Bush ... Or Monk? You Decide

We Are The World, Haiti

Version one and version two still make me cry. The talent in these two videos is enormous, and the heartfelt compassion from the entertainment industry is palatable.

Growing up in this industry, I wish I could have been at these recording sessions. Being in a studio is a unique experience, and unless you've been micked and mixed (laughs) you have no idea what it is all about.

I came of age musically when 8 track was the de jour, and 16 track was just becoming a new phenom. Today's recording studios are awesome.

Version One, 25 years ago.

Haiti, Katrina, It's A Black Thing

The lack of real action with regard to aiding the Haitians has reminded me very much of how our government responded to the Katrina disaster. See my posts here, here, and here, for just a few of my comments on Katrina.

As with Katrina, aid has been available. Just, no one is doing anything with it. No crews are in the capital, no medical supplies are sent in, and the only people that are actually getting flown out of Haiti are American citizens. Sounds more and more like a "black" thing to me. Like the American military aid ship off the coast just sitting there.

Lack of medical facilities and doctors for tens of thousands of injured people in the decimated Haitian capital is one of the major problems facing aid efforts in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake. U.S. Naval officials said earlier Saturday that the Vinson nevertheless didn't plan to take on care of earthquake victims, and was awaiting arrival of a ship with more operating rooms to arrive Sunday or Monday and a hospital ship to arrive a few days later on Thursday.

[snip]

Cmdr. Alfred Shwayhat, the senior medical officer who is an endocrinologist, said he had a plan to "treat 1,000 Haitians if necessary," when interviewed aboard the ship on Saturday. But he had received no orders to do so. "If the captain authorizes it, I will take anyone," he said. The Vinson's facility, he said, "exceeds anything in the civilian sector, bar none."

Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, Katrina! Everyone was allegedly available for help, but no one could do anything until there were "orders" from higher up.

We are just one fucked up country when it comes to actually helping black people and catastrophic events. Seems when faced with help or death, our country errs on the side of death.

It has been a week already, and only private (and very small) groups have actually made it into the capital to assist. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Doctors Without Boarders, and a few others, but that's about it. "Logistics" and "orders" seem to be the excuses made by the Americans who are apparently in charge, and as with the false reports regarding Katrina and all the "killing, raping and pillaging" that was supposed to have been going on, and which, in the end, proved untrue, the excuse in Haiti is that before any help goes in, it has to be "secured."

I am appalled at this country's inability to do anything right over the last ten years. And I would seriously advise the rest of the world to think twice when the next emergency occurs before they decide to let "the Americans" be in charge.