Failed Aid: Poverty Pimps in Haiti Cont. to Play Arsonists & Firemen

By Ezili Dantò | Thu, Dec 13, 2012
ezilidanto.com/zili 

Capitalizing on its imported cholera plague to Haiti, deflecting liability and responsibility for the death of 8,000 Haitians and sickness of over 600,000 in two years, the UN poverty pimps appeal for more misery funds to fill their employee/ subcontractor pockets. UN/PAHO/NGOtocracy in Haiti continues to play arsonist and firemen.

(See denied request to peruse and comment on proposed 10-year plan by PAHO/UN to eradicate cholera in Haiti to be unveiled June 29 at OAS | Response to media time given to latest UN-cover up: The new two strain hypothesis, erzilidanto, 06/22/2012 )

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In this Post

• Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'  — bigstory.ap.org
• Unease over UN bid to eradicate Haiti cholera — blogs.aljazeera.com
• The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010 — ibtimes.com

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Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'
By MARTHA MENDOZA— Oct. 1 5:23 PM EDT 

A newly released audit says the largest U.S. contractor working to stabilize Haiti after the 2010 earthquake is "not on track" to complete its assignments on schedule, has a weak monitoring system and is not adequately involving community members.

Washington D.C.-based Chemonics won a $53 million, 18-month contract from USAID in 2011 to help Haiti strengthen its economy and public institutions. USAID's Office of Inspector General released a report Monday that found Chemonics had a series of slips, including using arbitrary ways of evaluating its work, failing to hire local workers, and going ahead with potentially damaging environmental projects before they were approved.

"This report touches on a lot of issues we've seen with the overall reconstruction effort," said Jake Johnston, a researcher at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research who studies U.S. spending in Haiti. "There's a lack of transparency and the work is often poorly planned and poorly executed."

Chemonics did not have an immediate comment, but a spokeswoman said it was preparing a response. USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives, which manages the Chemonics contracts, said in a written response to the audit that it agrees with all of the recommendations and that changes are under way to resolve the issues.

"It should be noted that it is challenging to attribute direct results in complex and fluid stabilization environments, and it is often the absence of destabilizing events that demonstrates stability in these historically volatile areas," USAID directors Robert Jenkins and Steve Olive said in a joint response.

This is the second time Chemonics work in Haiti has been found lacking. In 2010, USAID auditors found the firm failed to hire thousands of Haitians as planned under a cash-for-work program, spending the funds on equipment and materials.

Also in 2010, Chemonics was one of five groups criticized for wasting aid in Afghanistan on foreign workers' high salaries, security and living arrangements.

Chemonics, which has worked in 150 countries, counts USAID as its largest client.

In Haiti, Chemonics was awarded a $39.5 million contract after the earthquake for the first phase of reconstruction, involving 301 different small projects including setting up temporary space for parliament and holding Haiti's first- ever presidential debates. Its second $53 million contract, aimed at a second phase of reconstruction, had more than 140 different projects aimed at improving the social and economic situation in Haiti by hosting job fairs, printing training guides to prevent violence against women, establishing a daily radio news program and other projects.

Auditors said the second phase lacks accountability on many levels.

For example, the U.S. is helping construct a major, $224 million industrial park which is projected to employ more than 20,000 people in a small, impoverished northern community. Chemonics set out to beautify nearby towns to project "a positive image of what role the nearby Caracol industrial park and other upcoming economic investments will play in citizens' lives."

It didn't work. The plan was to spruce up the towns by installing benches, upgrading landscaping, and doing some minor masonry work. Auditors found Chemonics purchased and planted some seedlings for the town center, but they died from lack of care, and residents said they didn't see how the activity led to the beautification of the area nor did they associate it with the industrial park.

As a contractor, Chemonics is also responsible for setting up its own system of evaluation. The auditors found some of the ways the firm was measuring accomplishments simply didn't make sense. For example, Chemonics conducted an engineering study to improve one town's roads, and then measured their accomplishment by trying to count how many rebuilt institutions and structures "incorporate principles that support democracy and government legitimacy."

At times the work has also seemed backward. For example, an environmental review required in advance of farming projects was instead signed off on three months after Chemonics had 700,000 flowering tropical jatropha seedlings planted as part of a temporary work program.


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Unease over UN bid to eradicate Haiti cholera
Benedict Moran | Benedict Moran is a producer for Al Jazeera English in New York and at the United Nations.

The UN has launched a new initiative aimed at tackling cholera in Haiti. But the programme falls short of what many had hoped for.

The new programme dedicates $215m from donors along with $23.5m from UN funds towards programmes in public health, capacity building, public education, and clean water systems. It will be part of a larger ten-year $2.2bn programme between Haiti and the neighbouring Dominican Republic to eradicate cholera from the island of Hispaniola.

"We know the elimination of cholera is possible," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the initiative’s launch on Tuesday. "It has happened in difficult environments around the world. It can and will happen in Haiti."

Cholera was introduced to Haiti in October 2010 and has since killed about 7,750 and infected more than 600,000 people.

"With this new initiative, we will eradicate and remove once and for all the consequences and negatives effects of cholera on the Island of Hispaniola," said Lorenzo Hidalgo, the Minister of Health of the Dominican Republic.

But there are concerns by some diplomats and UN observers that the funds necessary for the programme would not be forthcoming from donors.

"The humanitarian funding is already running out," said Jake Johnston of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "What's to give anyone faith that these funds will come through?"

Haiti will need $500m over the next two years for its own national cholera plan. The funds allocated in the programme would therefore cover only one year.

UN diplomats told me that the launch of the initiative is meant to reinvigorate the humanitarian effort to tackle cholera, and send a strong signal to donors.

"I'm confident that more resources will come," Nigel Fisher, the deputy head of the UN mission in Haiti, told reporters on Tuesday.

"As we move forward with this, we will indeed see the elimination of cholera."

Additionally, some UN observers fear that the plan will deflect international pressure on the UN to take responsibility for introducing the deadly disease.

Numerous studies - including internal investigations by the UN itself - indicate that cholera was brought in by Nepalese peacekeeping troops. Yet the international body has yet to formally take the blame.

"A just response requires allowing past victims of the UN cholera and their survivors their day in court, to seek justice for their loss of loved ones, income, property and educational opportunities," said Brian Concannon, Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, which has launched a lawsuit against the UN on behalf of the families of 5,000 cholera
victims.

More than 6,700 people have signed an online petition launched last week by filmmaker Oliver Stone, calling for the UN to take responsibility.


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The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010.
By Ryan Villarreal | December 12 2012 4:07 PM

The U.N. has requested $2.2 billion to battle a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 8,000 people since 2010.

Working with the Haitian government, the U.N. has outlined a 10-year plan to improve water and sanitation systems and provide treatment to those affected by the life-threatening disease.

“The new initiative will invest in prevention, treatment and education -- it will take a holistic approach to tackling the cholera challenge,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday in a press conference.

“The main focus is on the extension of clean drinking water and sanitation systems -- but we are also determined to save lives now through the use of an oral cholera vaccine.”

Mr. Ban seeks to raise $500 million for the first phase of the plan over the next two years. He said that slightly less than half of that amount had already been raised.

“Today I am pleased to announce that $215 million in existing funds from bilateral and multilateral donors will be used to support the initiative. I thank the donor community for this generous commitment,” Mr. Ban said.

“The United Nations will do its part. We are committing $23.5 million, building on the $118 million the U.N. system has spent on the cholera response to date.”

An additional $1.7 billion will be sought during the next eight years to eliminate the disease.

Haiti was struck by a cholera outbreak that killed roughly 7,000 people several months after a devastating 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 250,000 people.

It has become increasingly evident that the cholera pathogen was introduced to Haiti via U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, where scientists have identified the original strain.

"We now know that the strain of cholera in Haiti is an exact match for the strain of cholera in Nepal," said Dr. Danielle Lantagne, a cholera expert employed by the U.N., the BBC reported.

In the area surrounding Port-au-Prince, the country's capital and most populous city, underdeveloped water and sanitation systems, many of which were damaged in the earthquake, are believed to have contributed to the spread of the waterborne pathogen.

While the U.N. has acknowledged that scientific evidence supports the idea that its employees may have introduced the cholera bacteria, it has avoided claiming responsibility for the outbreak, saying that it was not the fault of “any group or individual,” according to the Guardian.

A recent spike in cholera-related deaths has put the Haitian government on high alert, particularly in the wake of heavy rains from Hurricane Sandy, which passed through in October.

“This will not be a short-term crisis,” Mr. Ban said. “Eliminating cholera from Haiti will continue to require the full cooperation and support of the international community.”


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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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Background:

Why is there a UN, Chapter 7 peace enforcement mission in Haiti for 8 years? A country not at war, without a peace agreement to enforce and with less violence than most countries in the Western Hemisphere? (See the UN’s own Global Study on Homicide at page 93 ).

#Haiti - No one knows where $6 billion in earthquake relief funds has gone. What's certain: - it was not spent on Haiti poor 

Reconstruction of Haiti’s schools by the Clinton Foundation and the Interamerican Development Bank is exposed in two articles as a textbook case of the “shock doctrine,” with the U.S. trying to house schoolchildren in substandard formaldehyde-laced Hurricane Katrina trailers. (Shock-Doctrine Schooling of Haitian Children by Clinton and IDB )

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Haiti: November 18 – Disengagement is not an option - http://bit.ly/Uc9a7Q

"Last night, I didn’t catch the Little Girl in the Yellow Sunday Dress hanging by one arm over the side of a crowded, overloaded Haitian boat. Last night it was in 2007 that I Capsized. Before that, I crossed death and Capsized in 1997 too. It’s another November 18th under occupation and I guess you already know what I hide. I write this piece, each year, mostly to find the strength to carry this name until the end. But two decades of documenting, witnessing, giving homage to the fallen and struggling for justice and to prevent the continuous deaths, sufferings and incomprehensible hardships has taken its toll. The struggle is tough. I go back to the ..." ( Haiti: November 18 – Disengagement is not an option  )

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"Obama's appointed Clinton-Bush fund is closes after building their neoDuvalierist kleptocracy in Haiti back better, not democracy, not justice, equality nor the self-employed small Haiti farmers - Haiti's largest employer, biggest business assets. Their support of globalists' privatization combined with extortionist unfair trade rules and unregulated exportation of all capital out of Haiti continues to destroy local Haiti agriculture, local distribution, local manufacturing, local job growth, public accountability, local Haiti unions, civic participation, local Haiti tax base, environment protection, health and local capital circulation/multiplier. The US occupation through UN military proxy, of course, also destroys authentic Haiti government civic and democratic participation.

Haiti needs more local production, more local distribution, more local manufacturing, local jobs, local investment in Haiti infrastructure, local capital that circulates in Haiti, not "aid" that's capital to put into the pockets of selfish foreigners, Monsanto, Paul Farmer's pharmaceutical buddies, World Bank interests or Clinton toxic trailer scams. A greater tax base results from local production, distribution, manufacturing and local jobs, local sales. But that's RATIONAL, sensible and scientific. And the elite ruling nations write rational, sensible treatises but they are mostly too high tech to live love and generosity much less common sense. The NGOtocracy and the ruling nations they represent are too emotionally addicted to white narcissism, black adulation to live their own benevolent edicts. The US would rather disenfranchise all Haitians, all Africans for their land's resources and to preserve the colonial white supremacy narrative than to do the rational and sensible and less bloody alternative, which is don't dilute Diaspora local investments (remittances for instance), don't block participatory governance or initiatives as (socialists?), end the US occupation of Haiti. ALLOW the Haitians and the Haitian diaspora to succeed in investing in Haiti's local production, local agriculture, local job creation, et al.. Still we mustn't give up, or engage their insanity, confusion and murderous rampage across the world.

With broken wings, Haiti must dislodge these insane folks, not integrate with injustice." -- Ezili Danto of HLLN

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Haiti's Gold Rush - an Ecological Crime in the Making
http://bit.ly/V7RZp4

How Haiti Highlights the Failures of U.S. Immigration Policy
http://bit.ly/SBr7gK

Audit: USAID Haiti work 'not on track'
http://bit.ly/SRLfer


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Haiti is open for business
http://bit.ly/iU1xoU

"Homeless quake victims get evicted in the hurricane season while the Bush- Clinton fund builds a new $29 million shelter for Westerners with donation dollars to help quake victims... They’re open for business on top of our decomposed dead bodies, on top of our crushed bones, on top of our intense grief. Open for business on top of our ground water contaminated by their diseased feces. They’ve made so much money...they still haven’t stop counting collected donation profits, anticipating more huge returns. Panting, salivating for more Haiti crisis, more cholera outbreaks, more back-to-back hurricanes, more calculated or imposed Haiti instability, more such business opportunities.

They’ve even calculated how much they’ll make pushing our decomposed dead bodies around to sell the grieving, Clorox hungry, walking dead Haitians – still living under hurricane-soaked tarps – more of their aquatabs, antibiotics, foreign vitamins, bottled water, nitrate-laced fertilizers and Monsanto hybrid seeds. Open for business building an oasis on top of an open grave, investing in remains. Happiness rings loud laughter at the World Bank, totally orgasmic at the IMF. Rwanda-Clinton says Haiti is open for business, now... Duvalier’s Chalan is back to evict the poor quake victims, build an oasis for Westerners in Haiti, like they have in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic."

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Expose the Lies that fragment Haiti opposition to the tyrants, colonial terror and the NGOtocracy - Free Haiti 

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Help Haiti’s Farmers. Demand an end to unfair US trade, end to no Haiti tariffs on subsidized US rice dumped to destroy local Haiti production 

Antoinette Davis: Neglectful "Crack Ho" or Innocent Mother?

250 volunteer searchers scouring "an area about 6 miles from the last confirmed sighting of Shaniya." found her body on Sunday (11.16.09). She was dumped along "Walker Road, off N.C. Highway 87, near the Lee-Harnett county line... about 100 feet off Walker Road." The little five year old was found among "deer carcasses" in a woodsy and wet area. The last sighting of Shaniya was at a hotel in Sanford, North Carolina. A man named Mario McNeill was seen carrying Shaniya into a hotel elevator at a Comfort Suites hotel, about 30 miles from her mother's home (Sleepy Hollow Drive, Fayetteville, NC). One unidentified man "who found the body said the girl was lying on the ground and was wearing only a T-shirt." It may be an important clue that a blanket belonging to the girl was found in a neighbor's trash can a day after her disappearance.

Police arrested Mario Andrette McNeill, 29 and charged him with first degree kidnapping. Late Saturday (11.15.09), Shaniya's mother Antoinette Nicole Davis, 25 was also arrested, three days after she reported her child missing. Davis claimed to have discovered the girl missing an hour after putting her to sleep on a couch.
Its hard to believe that Shaniya's mother Antoinette Davis would knowingly "permit an act of prostitution with Shaniya" as the arrest warrant states. Shaniya's mother was arrested late Saturday (11.15.09) and "charged with human trafficking, felony child abuse–prostitution, filing a false police report and obstructing a police investigation."

Questions yet to be answered
Why did Antoinette Davis initially accuse her boyfriend Clarence Coe of abducting Shaniya? Davis is pregnant with Coe's child. Coe was first arrested, but charges against him have since been dropped. He was released when a hotel employee at the Comfort Suites hotel tipped off police about McNeill. At that point the hotel surveillance video of Mcneill with Shaniya was turned over to police. According to Theresa Chance of the Fayetteville Police Department, “...footage was taken Tuesday, and we weren’t made aware of it until Wednesday.”

Antoinette Davis reported Shaniya missing on Nov. 10. On her 911 call released by police, she claimed that she put Shaniya to bed at 5:00 am. Although, Davis is accused of lying on the call--there was time for the abduction to take place without her knowledge. The child was seen on surveillance cameras at the hotel at 6:11 am, an hour and eleven minutes later. The distance between Antoinette Davis' house and the hotel is 30 miles. A distance by car of 50 minutes according to Google Maps. If Davis got the time right, then it would seem that 1 hour was enough time for McNeill to arrive at the hotel with Shaniya after he admittedly abducted her. McNeill, who has a criminal record for shooting a man in the face and other drug related crimes, has nevertheless plead not guilty.

Did someone (McNeil or Coe) point the finger at Antoinette Davis, leading to police arresting her? Or have police deduced from her 911 call and the time constraints involved that she is lying? Do police have other evidence against Antoinette Davis that they are not disclosing?

Did police and prosecutors jump the gun in arresting and charging Antoinette Davis with prostituting her own child? She was arraigned and charged even before the body of her child was found. People should keep in mind that video of Antoinette Davis in court were shot before the body of her missing child was found (she is currently in a segregated cell and on suicide watch)--so if she appears calm and emotionless--it may be because she had yet to learn of her child's death. Some of Davis' family have come to her defense. Her mother Ann Summers said that Antoinette is a "good mother." And her sister Brenda was interviewed after the arraignment.

"Her sister, Brenda Davis, 20, said outside of the courthouse that she does not believe the charges. “I don’t believe she could hurt her children,” said Brenda Davis, who was able to speak to her sister at the jail Sunday."

An uncle, was another family member who made a statement in support of Davis. "I know she’s a great mom. She’s a great mom. Antoinette really loved her children,” said Davis' uncle, Arthur Cromartie.

What is the father Bradley Lockhart's responsibility in this tragedy? Why did he hand his "angel" over to her mother (Shaniya is a product of a "one-night stand" with Davis, according to Lockhart) when there was some question about her fitness as a parent? A family friend Tim Allen said "after Shaniya went to her mother’s house, he noticed marks on her arms. "Boyfriends and his friends would put the cigarettes out on the baby's arms." The local news online, WRAL.com reports:

"Tim Allen has been caring for Lockhart's 17-year-old daughter, Cheyenne. He said Tuesday evening that he told Lockhart not to send Shaniya to live with her mother."I feel he is 99 percent the reason why this happened in the first place,” Allen said of Shaniya’s death."

Antoinette Davis had lived at a house (on Wall Street) which was raided in July by police for drugs, though no one was arrested. Davis also has a 7 year old son (no word on who fathered this son with Davis) and was investigate by child protective services, though no action was taken to remove her child and records are sealed. Lockhart has said that he decided to give Davis a chance to be a mother, and Shaniya was given to her mother on October 9, but by mid October, Shaniya was no longer attending school. Where was Shaniya when her mother was working at her two jobs? It should be mentioned, however, that in North Carolina mandatory school attendance age is 7-16 years old--so Antoinette Davis was not violating state law when she allegedly took Shaniya out of school. As for Davis' work record:

"Davis worked in the kitchen at Carolina Inn at Village Green, an assisted living facility in Fayetteville.CES, a South Carolina-based staffing company that has a contract with Carolina Inn, hired her in June 2008 after an extensive background check, an official said. She had a good employment record at both Carolina Inn and the Haymount Nursing Rehabilitation Facility, but she is no longer employed by the company, the official said."

Who is Bradley Lockhart?
Why has the father who never given his "angel" his last name? While Antoinette is demonized by the majority of people opining about the matter (obviously, because of the arrest), Lockhart remains somewhat of a mystery. Still, some are hoping that this young woman did not cause this to happen to her innocent child. In America, is a person still presumed innocent, until proven guilty? Reading some of the comment on the internet it is hard to believe that people know of this celebrated tenet of the US criminal justice system.

Shaniya's father Bradley Lockhart seems to be a nice man on the surface. He's taken some blame on himself for Shaniya's death, saying--"Every parent would blame themselves. We all look within ourselves to see what we could have done differently." Antoinette Davis is 25 now, so she had Shaniya when she was 20. Wonder how old Bradley Lockhart is? As an aside... It's a frustration sometimes when the news outlets don't report a man's age, but are never slow with reporting the woman's age. Lockhart has five other kids with three different women. He has experienced a tragedy of equal proportion before. His former wife Vicki Lockhart was killed in a home invasion along with two others, including her 19 year old sister. Two men were arrested and prosecuted in the case. The evidence of this latest tragedy, appears to show that Lockhart was somewhat of an absentee father whose sister Carey Lockhart-Davis was actually taking care of Shaniya. His 17 year old daughter Cheyenne was also in the care of another--his friend Tim Allen. According to reports, Lockhart was gone a lot on "out-of-town jobs." No word on what his profession is.

Nancy Grace sets her sights on Antoinette Davis
That reptile Nancy Grace (maybe a guest spot on "V" would show her true colors?) aggressively attacked Antoinette Davis on her CNN show. Here's a video from the show: "Cops: Mom Owed Suspect Money." Grace claims that sources say (one of her guests pointed to cops) Davis owed McNeill for drugs. "Thanks, Mommy," Nancy exclaims at one point, for emphasis. Hasn't Nancy Grace learned anything from firestorm she caused when mother committed suicide after being on her show--"Melinda Duckett, a 21-year-old Florida woman whom Grace grilled after the disappearance of the woman's 2-year-old son." Can't abide Nancy Grace. If ever there was someone who personified gracelessness, its her offensive persona on her sideshow. This is the type of "news" show and ugliness that sells shampoos for Cable TV now.

This case is such a tragedy. Many people are saddened and are grieving the death of this innocent child. It is a sick reality that these sorts of incidents seem to be happening more and more often. What sick, twisted monster wants to have sex with children? The mind boggles and the heart is sickened by the thought of such a perversion. Is it a sign of the times? Is it the economic crunch, poverty and desperation that is leading people to do such despicable things for money? Or was it a festering illness that has always existed, yet never found the fertile ground to grow?

So is Antoinette Davis a neglectful, immoral and criminal "Crack Ho" or innocent hard-working mother?

Rest in peace Shaniya.

Robert Novak Legendary Policy Pimp – Dead at 78

"Robert Novak died this morning at 78, after a year-long battle with brain cancer, the Sun-Times reports. Known, to his delight, as the “Prince of Darkness,”... Novak’s “Inside Report” column has been syndicated since 1963. He was at the center of the Valerie Plame scandal, identifying her as an “operative” in his column." -Newster.com

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The following cynically wry satire of Robert Novak's article "Haiti After Aristide" was posted at Assassinated Press March 25, 2004, a month after the coup-knapping of Haiti's first democratically elected President -- Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004. This latest coup marked the second US sponsored ouster of Aristide.

Mr. Novak, along with The New York Times, CNN and most in the mainstream American press waged a very successful disinformation campaign that painted the former Catholic priest (Aristide) -- who was respected and loved by a majority of Haitians and elected with 92% of the vote, as a murdering, drug dealing, thieving, power grabbing dictator. This piece is a tribute (of sorts) to Mr. Novak's legacy as a shill for the right-wing administration of George W. Bush.

Robert Wetvak's Haiti after Aristide:
The Bullshit Doesn't Get Anymore Transparent Than This:
The Country That Major General Smedley Butler Made Safe For The National City Bank Boys Back In The Democratic Administration Of 1915

By ROBERT WETVAK, LEGENDARY POLICY PIMP
The Assassinated Press
March 25, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- U.S. Ambassador James Creamhole Foley on Monday passed the word to Provisional Prime Minister Gerard LaTortue that his superiors in the Bush administration were not happy about language used by the figurehead of Haiti's new U.S. approved government. LaTortue refers to his country's rebels as "freedom fighters." That designation, the prime minister responded, was deserved by patriots cum mass murderers who had as per CIA instructions put the heat on the president while the U.S. government kidnapped the oppressively egalitarian, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"Can't you fuckin' towheads get anything right?" Foley admonished the Prime Minister. "The world knows Philippe and Chamblain are our hired thugs. No need for you to let on that you are one too by going out of your way to link yourself with them. Its just good PR to distance yourselves from the guys you hire to do the wetwork. Remember George Bush Sr., Felix Rodriguez, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch. Watch what we do in the U.S. After all we are the most effective mass murderers in the history of the world and still most Americans are as incredulous as a Stalinist in 1932."

The exchange reflected the brutal paint-sample racism between Port-au-Prince and Washington at this familiar stage of Haiti's tortured history at the hands of American power. Both the office and person of LaTortue, a 69-year-old retired United Nations flunky, are guarded by armed U.S. State Department security personnel ready to replace him like a bad tube in the ENIAC at the first sign he will not unquestioningly do Uncle Sam Bam Thank You Mam's bidding even if it involves the continuing slaughter of Haiti's poor in the form of the Lavalas party.

Read the whole story at Assassinated Press.

Cartoon by BlackCommentator.com

Appeal from Honduras: Communique - Democratic & Labor Forces

Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya take part in a rally to protest against the military coup in Tegucigalpa on July 1, 2009. (Jose CABEZAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Coup in Honduras

Hillary Clinton called Manuel Zelaya "Reckless" when he attempted to return to his country after the coup d' etat conspirators kidnapped and deported him from his own country.

This seems to be a repetition of the "Bloodless Coup" pioneered by the Bush administration in Haiti and now repeated covertly by the Obama Administration in Honduras...

The following Communique is forwarded by the "International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples. Read their accompanying note which follows after the signed communique from workers/unionist of Honduras and Brazil.

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INTERNATIONAL LIAISON COMMITTEE OF WORKERS AND PEOPLES
July 31, 2009

The ILC hereby forwards to you the following Communiqué from Honduras:

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Appeal to the International Workers' Movement, To the Trade Union Federations on the Continent and Internationally, To all Trade Unions in the Americas

Dear sister and brother unionists and workers in the Americas and around the world:

Honduras has been witnessing for the past 33 days horrors, repression, state-of-emergency suppression of basic democratic rights -- all of which are the result of the coup d'etat that was organized by the high military command at the behest of the large landowners and the transnational corporations.

This coup d'etat has put in place a de-facto dictatorial regime that has broken with the institutional rule of law; deposed the legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel

Zelaya Rosales; and interrupted the process of consulting the people via a popular referendum on the proposal to convene a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution.

The labor federations in Honduras -- together with the grassroots, human rights, peasant, indigenous, youth, and women's organizations -- have formed the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup.

Over the past two days, on July 30 and 31, the National Strike of Public Sector Workers has taken place.

On July 30, the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup carried out its protest actions, with road-blocks. The response of the police and army was to attack the thousands of peaceful protesters with firearms, wood and rubber bullets, and toxic tear gas shot down in canisters from helicopters.

We have reports that many of the protesters were seriously injured and that one teacher, Roger Abraham Villegas, received a bullet to his head and is in critical condition.

Among those injured are Carlos H. Reyes, who is co-coordinator of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup, general secretary of the Union of Bottling Industries (STIBYS) and a leader of the Popular Bloc. Also detained is Juan Barahona, also co-coordinator of the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup.

We issue this appeal to our sisters and brothers the world over, but particularly to those on our continent:

It is in the interest of working people and democracy across the Americas to defeat this coup d'etat.

We cannot accept "solutions" that would have us place on equal footing the legitimate government of Honduras and the perpetrators of the coup d'etat.

We cannot accept the duplicity of the U.S. administration which condemns the coup, on the one hand, while supporting the perpetrators of the coup, on the other.

The defense of democracy in each and every country, the defense of workers' rights and of the very possibility to forge processes of Constituent Assemblies requires that across the continent workers and peoples support unconditionally the resistance struggle that we are waging in Honduras.

That is why we believe it is necessary to carry out a campaign directed at every government and at the embassies with demonstrations and/or sit-down occupations, as well as a CONTINENTAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY AND MOBILIZATIONS.

Together we can thus promote the interests of workers on the continent and around the world.

We call most particularly on the dock-worker unions internationally so that they can organize the boycott of ships bringing cargo to Honduras.

Sisters and brothers on the continent and worldwide:

Let us join forces to demand:

* Freedom for all the detained unionists and activists!
* Down with the military coup!
*Immediate and unconditional return andreinstatement of Manuel Zelaya Rosales, Honduras' legitimate president!
* Onward toward the Constituent Assembly in Honduras!

signed by:

Joao Batista Gomes
CUT - Brazil

Carlos H.Reyes
General Secretary,
Union of Bottling Industries (STIBYS) - Honduras

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A soldier and a police officer take away a supporter of Manuel Zelaya in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Thursday, July 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Diario La Prensa de San Pedro Sula)

Communique - July 31, 2009

The AFL-CIO has issued a strong condemnation of the coup in Honduras. USLAW has taken no formal position as this struggle is outside the scope of our focus. However, international labor solidarity is not limited to Iraq and the message below from trade unionists in Honduras and Brazil is of sufficient import and urgency to warrant our making an exception to make it available to all affiliates.

We are indebted to Alan Benjamin, Liaison to USLAW from the SF Labor Council, for establishing a direct line of communication to the democratic forces in Honduras, and especially the labor forces, and providing this communique from the Popular Resistance to the global labor movement.

Those who want to continue to receive updates from Alan should contact him directly at ilcinfo@earlthink.net.

A demonstrator lies on the street, asking for help during clashes between supporters of Manuel Zelaya and soldiers and policemen in Tegucigalpa on June 29, 2009. (ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

Supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya shout at army soldiers guarding a government building during a protest in Tegucigalpa, Wednesday, July 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Please share this communique with others in the labor and social justice movements.

In solidarity, Michael - July 31, 2009

Rumors are swirling that the military is pressuring Micheletti to agree to Arias's proposal to allow Zelaya to return as president. Fernando "Billy" Joya, a former member of Honduras's infamous Battalion 316, a paramilitary unit responsible for the deaths of hundreds in the 1980s, has resurfaced as "special security adviser" to Micheletti's government. At least nine people have been assassinated or disappeared in the past month, with one body dumped in an area used by death squads in the 1980s as a clandestine cemetery.

Among the executed, disappeared and threatened are trade unionists, peasant activists and independent journalists. The US press has focused on Zelaya's efforts to build support for a constitutional assembly; the proposal to revise the Constitution was broadly supported by social movements as an effort to democratize Honduras's notoriously exclusive political system.

The business community didn't like Zelaya because he raised the minimum wage. Conservative evangelicals and Catholics detested him because he refused to ban the "morning-after" pill. The mining, hydroelectric and biofuel 20 sector didn't like him because he didn't put state land at their disposal.

And the generals didn't like it when he tried to assert executive control over the military.

Zelaya likewise moved to draw down Washington's military presence; Honduras, alone among Central American countries, hosts a permanent detachment of US troops at the Soto Cano air force base, a holdover from the 'Contra war.'

Just Foreign Policy - July 31, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/npaaa7

______________________________

International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples,
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.

Tel. (415) 641-8616;
fax: (415) 626-1217.
contact: ilcinfo@earthlink.net
website: www.owcinfo.org

Fox News, Why Do You Hate America?

VIDEO: Fox News ambushes Chicago's Father Pfleger,
a Catholic priest and friend of Jeremiah Wright
and Louis Farrakhan and gets an earful.

Fox News' corporate mission, nay religion, is first to get ratings, second to advocate vociferously for the right-wing Republican cabal of George W. Bush and third to wage a war against Americans.

Fox News is anti-black, anti-liberals, anti-left, anti-atheist, anti-Democrats, more attacks on Democrats, anti-Muslim, more anti-Muslim rhetoric, anti-peace activist and troops, anti-gays, anti-vets, anti-immigrants, anti sex abuse victims, Fox attacks... AMERICANS!

Fox News, why do you hate America?

Holidays Ending With a Bang

When a co-worker told me today that he traveled fourteen hours to spend the holiday with friends; I had to interject some concerns; what with the price of gas, worries about the US infrastructure, especially if you consider the amount of money being spent in Iraq; besides, did he know what happened to Michael Jordan's father when he stopped to nap on the road in North Carolina? Or, what about Bill Cosby's son Ennis, who was murdered when his car got a flat tire in LA? Considering that on the way back, my co-worker traveled via United Airlines... the road trip was a breeze.

Speaking of Iraq; there is news of an attack on the Kurds by Turkey this week. This is just awful news. There was a delegation of Turkish parliamentarians in Iran this week who's stated aim was the "expansion of Iran-Turkey ties"... I wonder if this attack is trowing a monkey wrench into the reported statement of "A prominent Iranian MP... that Iran-Turkey cooperation contributes to establishing peace and security in the Middle East region."

Until recently the Bush Government has refused to hold high-level talks with Iran. This seems strange since others in the Middle East, who should be most concerned about the intentions of the neighboring country of Iran (which has been labeled by the US as a "terrorist" state) don't have the same concerns about Iran, who is said by the US to be seeking nuclear "weapons." In fact Egypt is also in talks with Iran this week. Of course the recent National Intelligence Estimate finding that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program is an embarrassment to Bush and his agenda for the Middle East. The Bush administration has vowed not to change its policy towards Iran, and has attempted to "spin" the conclusions of the report in its favor. The NIE report also notes that the global threat of terrorism is up significantly, along with attacks in foreign nations.

American fundamentalist Christians just funded the smuggling of 40 Iranian Jews from Iran to Israel. Two Iranian Jewish leaders called this an "emigrant stunt". Ciamak Morsathegh of the Tehran Jewish Committee is reported to have made statements to AP (Associated Press) that this news organization depicts in this way; "Jews living in the Islamic Republic were not endangered by the hard-line policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".

The assassination of Bhutto by a suicide bomber/sniper is such a tragedy for Pakistan. The Middle East is a spot that has exploded since the attack of Iraq by the US in 2003. The area is so unstable now that it makes you question the sanity of Bush supporters who profess to have "questions" over the tactics employed in the Iraq "war". This is the latest "talking point" being used by the Republican demigods to appease their constituents. Well this constituent is not appeased and wants the impeachment of this administrations' executives. Something to look forward to in the new year. Keep hope alive!