Haitian Quake now called a 7
 

For those of you who've studied engineering, the image below (from Huffington Post) shows a classical two-way shear failure at the window corners. Imagine the bottom of the building moving left and then right relative to this photo while the upper floors didn't follow.

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This earthquake is the last thing Haitians need on top of their already desperate plight. Very, very sad.
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Seems that Haiti has always been a failed state. It was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent Black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. Its first ruler after the revolution was proclaimed emperor for life and exiled or killed all the whites. Thereafter it was coup after coup except for a spell when it was occupied by the US (1915 - 1934), after which they got Papa Doc and Baby Doc. It's been all downhill much like the more modern example: Zimbabwe/Rhodesia. A natural disaster of this magnitude is the last thing those poor folks need.

/On "The 700 Club," Robertson laid historical blame for the earthquake at the feet of the Haitian people, stating, "They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact with the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' "/

So God is against decolonisation? Hmm, so that's how H.M. George III came to lose the Colonies......:D

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Yeah, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted that. Had to read it three times to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me. Unfortunately it fits right in with other outrageous statements made by Robertson.

Translation: The Haitians have brought this earthquake on themselves. :rolleyes:

Perhaps there is a special place reserved in the basement for people who make such pronouncements.


PS. And the American Revolution? It was them ungodly Freemasons, I presume!
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My favorite part of Robertsons comment was that the Dominican Republic is super prosperous while Haiti has been rotting away. His specific evidence was that they have resorts in the DR... right. I don't know if Robertson has ever actually been to the DR, but it's really no better off than Haiti is. Yeah, Robertson's arguments are all full of holes.

Didn't Robertson, or some of his ilk, say the same thing about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans?

In this case, however, the story/myth/legend was not created by Robertson. It has been around a very long time. Depending on which version you choose to read, it was a 200 year curse that ended in either 1994 or 2004.

Amazingly, to me at least, there have been several big name evangelists who support Robertson's position. Strange thinking.

Glad to see the world responding in a big way to get relief into Haiti.

Nah, just various overlapping bunches of nogoodniks. You had the colonial elite wanting to rule the roost without royal interference, which was generally progressive (as in observing the treaties with the Indians, whereas the colonials wanted to kill them and take their land). You had the slaveowners, who were terrified at Britain's recent abolition and thought they were next. (The first of the four wars to retain slavery, then.) You had the smugglers, who were annoyed at the abolition of the tea duty that underpinned their livelihood and so tipped it all into the harbour (the smugglers and their descendants tell it backwards, of course). There was some self-enrichment scam, where the Founding Fathers bought securities, then declared independence so they could revalue the bonds (I forget the details, alas). And of course everyone who wanted to loot their loyalist neighbours' houses under the cloak of patriotism, that last refuge of the scoundrel. So what did all the decent people do? Why, they fled for their lives. And perhaps to get away from the seditious rabble who would later produce Pat Robertson. :)

What happened to these decent citizens, then? Their posterity goes under the name of .... Canadians! :D

An American woman I met visiting Norway told me that Katrina was because of all the strip clubs on Bourbon Street. Makes you wonder why they don't have hurricanes in Nevada..... She thought it served everyone right.

Funnily enough, the evangelists fail to observe that God must have smitten Houston with some other hurricane because He didn't like the megachurches there. Now, a God who went round smiting televangelists might get me converted.......

Hey... WE won that war. WE get to write the history.:)

So has anyone donated money to the relief effort? I'd like to do something, but it's hard to know which charities actually use the money to help the people they claim to help. Seems like most keep more than half the money for themselves.

I've also seen in several places today that using a credit card loses 3% of your gift to the credit card company.

I swear, some people will think just about anything to justify not helping someone else.

I don't trust charities further than I can throw them either.

It is my impression that one can only help if one knows people in the affected countries to whom one can wire money, for themselves/and or their communities -- assuming the transfer infrastructure is still there. If anyone knows a Haitan-American, for example, one might go that route. Let the US Army do the heavy digging in the ruins and building the tent cities, you could then help keep one family from starving to death or dying from untreated disease.

On a tangent, it is my considered opinion that Western men who marry women from poor countries, who then proceed to send half of their husbands' earnings home to their villages, are the unsung heroes of foreign aid. Despite being excoriated by the radical feminists. The global volume of such direct transfers (which have a multiplier effect at the destination) actually exceeds all UN, government and charity aid.

I used to be a regular donor to a number of charities, but as they grew, each of them became increasingly bureaucratic. Too much money is spent collecting the money rather than on the charitable need. MADD, for example, used to make local calls manned by volunteers for local projects. Now they've hired a national call center who drives you nuts with their repeated dunning. I'm not interested in supporting a call center staff. At this point, I've boiled it down to the local Salvation Army who does great work with the homeless here, and to the local children's hospital; the best in Eastern Canada, and to other local issues that attract my attention.

I have no idea why this is getting so much traction. This is standard credit card processing fee for any transaction. As a business you will pay between 2-4 % on every transaction. If you are lucky you may get down to 1.x%. Then there is always a standard oversees processing fee added on.

It seems more like what Jay referred to

A few reasons:

1. 2-4% is a high fee for simply transferring money, especially when the banks nail customers with 24% interest rates.
2. 4% is often more than the profit margin on many products (like computer equipment!)
3. These are the same banks that took bailout money.
4. These are also the same banks giving out huge bonuses to the people who wrecked the economy.
5. These rich banks are making a profit off of charities and in this case a humanitarian disaster.

Because if any institutions in the USA can afford to waive that fee, the too-big-to-fail banks can.

Aw yes, I should have been more precise. I have no idea why this is getting so much traction, Now. Of course all the fee's are out of line and should be cause for general alarm. The way it is being presented in the media is as if no one has ever heard of these fees before the Haiti crisis. The companys taking the donations via credit card have probably had the same fee agreement for at least a couple of years because this is the typical contract length.

Yes, I have.

I regularly donate to UNICEF, and according to their site, "The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is absorbing all associated administrative costs so that 100% of every dollar you give to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will support UNICEF's relief efforts for children in Haiti."

It's not hard to find established charities which don't waste donations on unnecessarily high administrative budgets. Doctors Without Borders is another worthy charity. There are plenty of others.

Edited to add: And my wife just chastised me for forgetting to donate in her name to take advantage of her employer's matching program.

Salvation Army

Credit Card companies are refunding those fees now.

I'm on the same boat. Definitely don't want to give anything to the Red Cross since I recall reading somewhere a while ago that only 30% of their donations actually go to the cause.

BTW.
Not to ruffle any feathers but I find it tacky when people post how much they've donated. Do what you can to help (if you can) but keep it to yourself. Just MO.

@ ph0enix: Agree, and amended. Feathers not ruffled; you're right.

I can't find anything to support that claim. Are you thinking about the 9/11 donation controversy? How about suggesting trustworthy charities?

Point taken.

I thought this was the earthquake, not a Wikipedia-searchable thing! (No offence to anyone.)