The long exploitation and deliberate degradation of Haiti by the U.S. has been disgusting.  The fact that humanitarian measures should have been implemented long before the present crisis but were deiberately ignored is disgusting. 
  The meager aid efforts that will be forthcoming will represent only a small percentage of money previously robbed from Haitians, yet the present damage is ten times more expensive than the amount that would have been necessary if the infrastructure had been improved previous to the disaster. (same as in New Orleans, and for similar reasons, no doubt!)And that is also disgusting. 
  Add to that the fact that the total amount of money US has pledged for aid is only a small fraction of what we spend every day killing people in Afghanistan, and you have an equation of complex indecencies that reduce the status of our country to that of a thief who steals from poverty-stricken innocents. 
  What horrors can we reasonably expect as our “just deserts” in the future?  And are enough people ever going to grasp these cruel inconsistencies in time to save us from ourselves?

US foreign aid (and Western aid in general) has been so perfected as to be, in essence, gifts from the (in this case) American taxpayer to American corporations.  But then that’s the way it is supposed to be, where the poor pay the rich.  Instead of cynically attempting to score political PR points, if aid really was the issue and the people wanted to spend the money, the US military could finally be of some real use and feed, clothe, and triage the multitude in navy hospital ships, airlift medicines, blankets, drop food in by the pallet-load with all of those multi-million dollar helicopters.  Indeed, the world could be fed, clothed and educated for just a fraction of the current war-mongering military budget, and would go a long way in reducing fear and loathing, but again, that’s not the point either, but it would certainly win those “hearts and minds”.  But then no one believes the lawless US when it shamelessly talks about human rights.  The very notion is laughable. 

From The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta:

How can you say that you’re not responsible?
“What does it have to do with me?”
What is my reaction, what should it be,
Confronted by this latest atrocity?

Driven to tears.

Hide my face in my hands,
Shame wells in my throat.
My comfortable existance is reduced to a
Shallow meaningless party.
Seems that when some innocent die,
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine.
Too many cameras and not enough food.
This is what we’ve seen.

Driven to tears

Protest is futile,
Nothing seems to get through.
What’s to become of our world,
Who knows what to do?

Driven to tears

(The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta: “Driven to Tears”)

US foreign aid (and Western aid in general) has been so perfected as to be, in essence, gifts from the (in this case) American taxpayer to American corporations.  But then that’s the way it is supposed to be, where the poor pay the rich.  Instead of cynically attempting to score political PR points, if aid really was the issue and the people wanted to spend the money, the US military could finally be of some real use and feed, clothe, and triage the multitude in navy hospital ships, airlift medicines, blankets, drop food in by the pallet-load with all of those multi-million dollar helicopters.  Indeed, the world could be fed, clothed and educated for just a fraction of the current war-mongering military budget, and would go a long way in reducing fear and loathing, but again, that’s not the point either, but it would certainly those .  That would really “win hearts and minds”.  But then no one believes the lawless US when it shamelessly talks about human rights.  The very notion, however, is laughable. 

From The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta:

How can you say that you’re not responsible?
“What does it have to do with me?”
What is my reaction, what should it be,
Confronted by this latest atrocity?

Driven to tears.

Hide my face in my hands,
Shame wells in my throat.
My comfortable existance is reduced to a
Shallow meaningless party.
Seems that when some innocent die,
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine.
Too many cameras and not enough food.
This is what we’ve seen.

Driven to tears

Protest is futile,
Nothing seems to get through.
What’s to become of our world,
Who knows what to do?

Driven to tears

(The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta: “Driven to Tears”)

Ahh, but guess what else is included with this aid?  One of the
most feared and dreaded things 3rd world countries hate to
hear from america(meaning wto, imf, world bank et al) and that
is ‘a long term commitment’ and none other than colin(the
colon) powell saying this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34863038#34863038

Naomi Klein’s book says it best though.

You got John Ellis, and this $100 million comes with
great big——that will be rammed up their—- even
further. US Aid is an oxymoron.

Great coverage from activist point of view, regular WBAI show “Haiti The Struggle Continues” live 9-10PM, Thurs.Jan. 14, 2010 (as I type), good journalism.
Archived free, as well as livestream, for 90 days, http://www.wbai.org  (99.5FM) Note:I support the “undo the coup” movement http://www.takebackwbai.org 

This radio show, “Haiti the Struggle Continues” is excellent and I’ve listened to it for years.
Also see Bill Quigley’s article on http://www.blackagendareport.com

US &France; owe reparations to Haiti for all both gov’ts have done.  And are doing.