Haiti, our neighbor in need

It is so sad to see the terrible devastation in Haiti so vividly reported hour after hour on TV. Scenes of human misery that are difficult to look at much less comprehend. On the other hand, though, seeing our military taking charge to lend a helping hand makes me proud! It is times like these that our tax bill for supporting the best military in the world is more than worth it. President Obama did well in immediately directing our Armed Forces on scene to render whatever aid is necessary.

Obviously the relief effort in Haiti is coming from more than just our Military. It is our armed forces though who are coordinating the chaos to enable the noble contributions from all over the world to be effective and delivered to the people most in need. I don't ever remember any similar disaster in my lifetime that has been met with such a charitable response world wide.

All sorts of agencies are volunteering to receive funds to pass on to those in need. I recommend UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) as 100 percent of the funds given are passed on to do actual relief where needed, they keep none for administration and already have a station in place on Haiti. Probably any other similar faith based organization would do as well. Hopefully we can steer clear of the disreputable outfits that always seem to spring up to prey on the unwary in times of crisis.

I am moved to quote Mona Charen who wrote: "Nature unleashes its furies indiscriminately. But Haiti's tragedy is almost entirely manmade. Tyranny and corruption yield poverty, and poverty multiplies other woes. An earthquake of similar intensity struck Northridge, Calif., in 1994 and resulted in only 72 deaths. This catastrophe is a reminder of the tremendous importance of the rule of law, free markets, and an independent judiciary. Never take them for granted."

Have you seen the news reports of the plight of Haitian orphans? A number quoted was some 50,000 orphans already in institutions and that was before the earthquake. What kind of a society is it that produces 50 thousand orphans out of a total population of 9 million people? Ms. Charen states "poverty multiplies other woes" and that society must have been rotten to the core. Obviously the government of the Republic was rife with corruption and near totally dysfunctional.

Now if the libs would just let our military stay in Haiti and set up a functioning government as we did in Japan after World War II, Haiti could recover from this disaster. Haitian people are reportedly quite industrious when they migrate to other locations and find at least a modicum of opportunity. Haiti could then lose her title to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I suspect that such an edict, to declare martial law and put the U.S. military in charge would have to come from the UN which is a dysfunctional bunch anyhow. Their outpost in Haiti was one of the segments partially destroyed by the earthquake so the US should just declare martial law and press on. Such an effort would certainly pay greater long term gains that Obamacare ever will. Let Hugo, Fidel and their ilk yell at our efforts; it would be the Christian (and American) thing to do for a hurting nation that are after all our neighbors.

Speaking of military I watch the terrible conditions at the moment in Port au Prince and think of the same thing happening to one or three of our American cities, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York would make good targets. Only I am not thinking natural disaster, I am thinking nuclear weapons from the likes of Iran or North Korea. A nuclear explosion would cause every bit as much damage as the earthquake but the rescue teams and survivors would have to deal with deadly radiation in any recovery effort.

Our President is going to have to deal with just such an event if those two regimes are not stopped in short order. We had hoped that Israel would handle Iran for us but for some reason President Obama chooses to deal poorly with the Israelis. Just maybe it is time for Iran to have an unexplainable nuclear "accident" at their bomb making works deep underground.

That is the way I saw it.