Rush Limbaugh Writes to Clarify:

by Little Miss Attila on January 15, 2010

“Of course, I never told anyone not to donate to a charity in Haiti. Donate to private charities, not to government.”

Because he’s quite correct: the part of this that can be done effectively by government in this mess has already been budgeted for, most notably in the Pentagon. We already have the ships, and the people in uniforms (and the water, and the MREs).

It’s up to the White House to use those assets as quickly and effectively as possible. But it’s private charities that will need to do all the things that require finesse: the military is a blunt instrument.

In this situation, we need both.

By the way, since I pay taxes to support this effort, I’d like a vote in how Haiti is eventually rebuilt: may I suggest earthquake-safe buildings? And can we start encouraging other poor countries to rethink their building codes as well? Less graft, more structural engineering. Please.

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

ck January 15, 2010 at 3:15 pm

You need to create some wealth before you can implement any building codes. No capitalism, no wealth. In the third world building codes just mean more homeless, not to mention, more corruption. Hati can’t afford any more corruption or people living under tarps.

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Charlie Martin January 15, 2010 at 4:32 pm

I say we take over, make Haiti a Protectorate, and let them loose when they have police trained, fire stations manned, and shoot the current generation of kleptocrats.

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Joe January 15, 2010 at 5:51 pm

I 100% agree with Rush. Obama is trying to politicize giving. We do not have to give through the White House. We can give directly to charities.

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Nigel Ray January 15, 2010 at 5:53 pm

I’ve been to Haiti, and I have to agree with ck. Building codes would just be an invitation to corruption there, even more than here. The customs official we dealt with just looked over things and set a price, was paid in cash, and kept no records.

What the people of Haiti need is more education about how to build safer buildings, using technology that they can manage themselves, rather than technologies that require a lot of infrastructure that they just don’t have. And they need seed capital.

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Little Miss Attila January 15, 2010 at 10:10 pm

Yeah; I oversimplified. I don’t mean “codes” so much as “standards.” And I do get that we’d have to help the Haitians generate more revenue (not that we seem to be doing it so well in this country, but that’s sort of another issue). And that the entire subject of redevelopment is a good year or two down the line, after the emergency has subsided once more into heartbreaking poverty, and we can collect our thoughts. (By “we,” I mean those who care, and those who would like to see some long-term solutions in place.)

And I do realize that the techniques for improving safety and hygeine in poor countries are not usually going to be the same as those in rich countries–but we pay a fortune to NGOs to help figure out what works “on the ground.”

Maybe they can stop trashing this country and focus a bit more on helping the people they are supposed to help.

Not that I’m cranky this evening: no Sirree.

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