Tag Archives: Haiti

Political Rants

Old number 41.

I don’t take joy in anyone’s passing, great or small. We’re all living beings with a limited time in this timeless universe, and there’s nothing to celebrate when death takes its toll, even when the departed is someone you are not at all fond of. I would have to count George H. W. Bush as someone who fits that description. Despite all of the glowing tributes from members of our political elite and millionaire media personalities, he was an awful president in a lot of ways – one that left a toxic legacy we’re still grappling with. The invasion of Panama alone was enough to wipe away any pretense of a “kind and gentle” leader, but the administration of Bush 41 went far beyond that atrocity.

Bush nice? Ask a Haitian. Ask an Iraqi.In listening to the hagiographic coverage put out by NPR, NBC and MSNBC, it’s clear that H. W, Bush’s conservative politics is a kind of “sweet spot” for our mainstream press – the ideal foil to the uncouth hair-hatted fiend who currently occupies the White House.  Like the McCain funeral, this is an opportunity to demonstrate their middle-of-the-road reactionary bona fides. It’s as if there’s Trump and then everyone else, and they take the side of the latter. The stupidity of the rhetoric is kind of sobering, though. On Morning Joe, Willie Geist was talking about how Bush 41 chose to join the Navy as an aviator, as if that was a singularly selfless act. The guy is so distant from the notion of conscription that he barely knows what he’s talking about. Note to Willie: Practically everybody ended up in uniform and shipped overseas in those days. Aside from a draft, there was enormous societal pressure to join up and do your part. Every military age male in my extended family at that time was sent to fight in World War II (one didn’t return, another committed suicide afterwards).  No shade on Bush 41 – he sacrificed during the war, but his experience was very, very common.

I won’t tick through George H. W. Bush’s record on Panama, on Haiti (supported the 1991 coup), on Iraq, on Central America (consummated the criminal terror war against Nicaragua), on the war on drugs, on AIDS policy (hands off), on Clarence Thomas, and so on. It’s been treated elsewhere in much greater detail by better writers than me. All I can say is that, while I’m sorry he’s dead, he was not a “kind and gentle” leader by any stretch of the imagination, and he played a central roll in getting us to the awful place we find our selves in now. While I was never a fan of Clinton, I was glad to see Bush go in 1993, and I’m still glad he never had that second term.

No secret why I wasn’t invited to the funeral. Again.

luv u,

jp

 

Political Rants

What’s up with Doc.

As is typical for me, I’m going to roll through a couple of topics. Who knows where we’ll land, eh?

Haiti redux. Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti last week, a fact treated as something of a curiosity by the mainstream media. Sure, they referenced the fact that he killed thousands during his 15-year tenure, picking up the club left by his departed “president for life” father (who was himself removed from office via the only constitutional means available to such a leader). But they didn’t examine the circumstances of Baby Doc’s arrival very deeply at all. All Things Considered did a piece on it Thursday night, and they basically navigated around any suggestion of political maneuvering. (They also managed to avoid mentioning the fact that Lavalas, the largest party in Haiti, was excluded from participating in the recent election.)

The most plausible explanation for his return was suggested by Kim Ives of Haiti Liberté on Democracy Now! this past Wednesday. With his return, pressure is being put on René Preval to allow the U.S./French – favored Duvalierist candidate to participate in the run-off for the now disputed Presidential race. Baby Doc is there to rally his supporters, in case Preval hasn’t been getting the message. In as much as there has been talk of sending Preval into exile, I have to think he’s feeling more than a bit pressed. Ives points out that, after having been supine before the demands of the U.S., France, and Canada, Preval is facing deportation over his first disagreement with the international community overlords he has so faithfully served. This is independence?

What’s just as sick is the fact that the 2004 coup, supported wholeheartedly by the United States and France, has been dropped into the memory hole as far as the mainstream media is concerned. The All Things Considered piece, for instance, simply said that Aristide left on an American plane in 2004. True… but hardly “all things considered”. The invented story about his choosing to go into exile has stuck. If these reporters and editors had any integrity, they would provide the crucial context that a.) the country is being ruled by those congenial to the 2004 coup, and b.) the only legitimate mass-based political party in Haiti is banned because it is not sufficiently subservient to the interests of the United States and its allies. Honestly…. if Baby Doc can come back to Haiti and Aristide cannot, there is a political reason for that.

Okay, that’s one topic. And that’s all I’ve got. In all honesty, this irks the hell out of me, so it’s just as well.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Shooting to kill.

There’s a lot going on these days, but I’ll confine my meandering comments to a couple of topics.

Tucson shooting. Much has been said and written about this horrible event over the past week. There are one or two things that have stuck in my mind. The first is that weapon – a glock with a 30-round clip. Why the hell are these weapons available for purchase? Where did he get the gun, the ammo? And how many shootings like this will it take to put some reasonable control on such out-of-control firepower? Every time this kind of thing happens, we hear the bleating, “Our thoughts are with the victims of this senseless crime,” blah-blah-blah. And yet we do nothing. I thing it’s time for Chris Rock’s $5,000 bullets. (Adjusted for inflation, that’s probably $7,500 per round.)

The other thing is the discourse question. There’s no question but that over-the-top rhetoric inspires violent acts; whether this is one of them, no one has been able to say. It just seems like the combination of nut-case gun-headed political screamers and easy availability of guns is a particularly toxic one. What can be done? $5,000 bullets.

Haiti plus one. Haiti is still in peril, still buried under a pile of rubble a year after that catastrophic earthquake. The international community has offered the same kind of “help” they always have for Haiti – most recently, blocking participation of Lavalas (Aristide’s party), the only truly broad-based political movement in the country, from participating in the November elections. The current ruling party, having taken power in the wake of a coup, seems capable only of nodding obediently to foreign investors.

Sure, you all have been generous in your donations – that’s clear. But as is so often the case, our charitable acts are more than counteracted by the official policy of our government. That has been the same in regards to Haiti since they declared independence 200 years ago. Through economic and military means, we have worked to bring about the destruction of their government institutions, their agricultural sector, and whatever independent development they may have realized. The 2010 quake was just a coup de grace for them.  

Now that it’s 2011, let’s do better by these people. Let’s get our government to stop manipulating them and make a good faith effort to help them rebuild their independence as well as their homes.

luv u,

jp