Creating Signature Events to Drive Economic Development in Danbury: January 31, 2008 Broadcast.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Host: Andrea Gartner, Manager of CityCenter Danbury.
Topic: Creating Signature Events to Drive Economic Development in Danbury.
Topic: Creating Signature Events to Drive Economic Development in Danbury.
Martin Luther King Celebration In Danbury CT: January 24, 2008 Broadcast.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Footage of the Martin Luther King Celebration featuring keynote speaker Carlotta Walls LaNier.
The Footage came from HatCityBlog
For those who don't know, LaNier was a member of the "Little Rock Nine," a groups of African-Americans who paved the way for the full desegregations of schools back in September of 1953 at Little Rock Arkansas. www.hatcityblog.blogspot.com
The Footage came from HatCityBlog
Overcoming Obesity and the USA Presidential Primaries: January 17, 2008 Broadcast.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
My name is Philip McCluskey and my raw journey started when I reached
400 lbs!
Practically overweight from birth, I never knew a time when I was a
normal weight. After 30 failed diet attempts I thought gastric
bypass surgery was my only hope. I went through all the tests and
was ready to have it done when something inside me said, “don’t do
it.” At that point I knew that there had to have been one other
option that I must have missed… and that is when I discovered RAW FOODS!
I decided to switch to raw overnight, literally eating fast food one
day, and 100% raw vegan the next. That was a little over 1.5 years
ago and to date I have lost 140 lbs. Besides my shrinking waistline,
I also noticed beautiful emotional and mental changes taking place,
along with a new level of consciousness I never dreamed of.
That is when I decided to start a website called Lovingraw.com, to
document my weight loss success with YouTube videos, before and after
pictures, and weekly blogs. After being written up on various raw
food sites and through newspapers I started to receive tons of emails
from other people needing help. I now offer free advice and answer
questions for people struggling with similar issues. I have also
started writing my first autobiographical book documenting my
transformation. My journey has only just begun…
click here to view Philip's website.
Haiti in Perspective:
Sunday, January 13, 2008
An Anonymous Writer
Haiti has such a tradition of no elected president that we often find ourselves lost as to what to do with one, and are even more mystified when something is being done but not what we want-- What are we to do, what are we to say?
I have been lucky enough to travel to the country on many occasions (at least 8 times in the past year and ½, with some long stay on some of those trips (over 2 months at times). As luck will have it also, my experiences have encompassed a broad range of activities: from my first trip where I went to the funeral of my deceased father who was murdered by kidnappers, to several trips to handle estate affairs, to deciding to create a life in the country for a more permanent presence.
All my trips have been eventful in many respects. It is those experiences, plus the interactions I have had with folks, some low ranking civil servants, some high level Government Officials, some Parliamentarians, and not less some power behind the scene individuals that gave me a sense of the state of the country. Here is what I see on the streets, what I think is being done, but also what I hope would/should but am not sure will take place during the course of this administration.
In my first trip of this two-year span (Nov. 2005 to Nov. 2007), the level of Kidnapping was so high that I never spent much time outside the house but for the viewing and later to the funeral of my dad. This trip was my first since before the fall of Aristide and the transformation was markedly great on the face of the people, on the face of the country. The streets were dirtier than before, and they were dirty during Aristide’s time. There were more beggars, something that seemingly had disappeared when I had visited in 2003. More disappointing was the look on the average person in the street: stressed and fearful of being kidnapped (at the time, even shoe shiners were being taken). So, one is to say that my visit was a terror trip; I too was very stressed, very on edge, all this is adding to my distress in morning my loss.
In early 2006, I made another trip. This time, I had worked through my grief, was willing to face the terror in the country. This is the same trip that saw the elections of the current Government. Politics put aside, right or wrong, the people went to the poles and deposited a majority vote for Préval in the urns. He created a coalition government to restore and maintain the peace in the country. His first “hundred days” proved a major test for this coalition. In the end, we can say it survived as they are still around. But the critics of that time highlighted the major problems facing the country, facing this new government and I ought to remind us my first hand account of their truth: Insecurity, poverty (two sides of the same coin in many respects—the lather often breeds the former), deterioration of the National Infrastructures—Roads, buildings and Service institutions like telecommunication, etc, with major Corruption in those Gov Institutions. Their work seems too overwhelming for the time at hand. We must not forget the semi-occupational force from the UN in the country. This minefield at the beginning was ready to blow at any given occasion.
So we find the country at this serious impasse. We must not forget the people in their misery; a large section of the population is unemployed with no prospect in sight. The government being the second largest employer in the country does not help the situation. To that point, we look in the streets and see the first big employer, the “informal sector.” This powerhouse employment machine contains the “Racketeers—these are the people who will promise or do anything to either get you something or get your money in the promise of something from the Gov more expediently or by illegal means: things like your official document extracts, your passport or something the like,” the little vendors by the street side, the kids vending water in the middle of the streets or wiping dust off the cars while moving in the dead lock traffic. These little businesses are what drive the poor. There is regular commerce, but the taxes they pay are surely not enough to neither drive the government institutions nor establish a solid economy, not to mention the power to hire the massive number of unskilled, unemployed. We are not forgetting the support from the Haitian Diaspora, but in no home grown production/economy, they fill-in for the money the meager work one can find cannot provide.
In the Streets then you would see a very congested mixed of man and machine bustling while around certain governmental institutions like the Direction General des Impôts or DGI (the IRS building in Haiti), filling the sidewalks are a large population of Racketeers. This segment is part of the corruption that plagues the country. They know or have an employee in the system working with them to provide them with faster service, a service that should have been given to a person standing in line for hours some times. In the last months of 2005 to early 2006 then, this was my experience.
Getting the estate issues resolved was a major headache that is still ongoing. The major failures are due in part to the corruption, but in greater part to the lack of infrastructure that seemed designed by the previous administrations. Records are not kept in secured areas, nor are they electronic. As a result, they are lost, damaged, changed, or mismanaged. This problem still exists in the country to this day and needs to be improved.
On my following trip which was the summer of 2006, I saw a major cleanup of the Racketeers next to the DGI and the National Archives. They may have gone underground, but the visible presence was reduced almost to none. Also, there were Public trash receptacles placed at strategic locations around Port-au-Prince that seem to reduce trash to a significant level. This was such a pleasing sight that I could not stop talking about it for days.
But the Kidnappings were still very high. No jobs were being created, no hiring, but no firings either at the Gov Institutions. The UN mission still had not done much to assist with the crime rate; the fledgling Gov was stumbling to find its way.
A couple of trips later, the first year in office (Feb 2007), there seems to be a structure in place. Kidnapping has gone down significantly, arrests are being made of known gangsters, and publicity and media communications are put in place to notify the public of their capture. The government seems to be fighting the war on two fronts and appears winning. Yet, no jobs, no hiring, however, firings have begun. Major firing took place at the Teleco where the repercussions are felt even by some higher ups.
The streets remain cleaner and toward the end of the year 2007, traffic lights are installed in Port-au-Prince, new police officers are deployed and they are friendly; they are not asking for bribes and know how to regulate the Haitian traffic. There is good public relation at work where they are remaking the face of the national police, making friends with the people is working. There is a new license plate released for automobiles.
But while the traffic is being regulated by new officers, the old drivers who never learned properly to follow traffic codes, the old police officers who do not know, have never known a traffic signal throughout their career have not been trained. In short, this system is installed without preparation for the users and the older enforcers; a recipe that proved difficult to manage when an older police officer comes to enforce a traffic violation. What’s worst is the officer is the only party to determine fault as there is no court or review system established to oversee this process. There is traffic light, but poor planning.
To speak of traffic, we cannot leave out the “TAP TAPS” and the Taxis. Tap-Tap is the main form of transportation in Port-au-Prince . Much has been done to regulate this area. The government demanded that the drivers identify the course of their service. This is a major improvement. Yet, there is no regulation on how the cars should be maintained for they are very dirty for the most part and they carry too many people at once. A maximum load capacity should be in effect for this type of sardine packing transportation is dangerous.
There is a little more electricity in the country at this point, where the blackouts are reduced from weeks, to days, to having electricity on a regular basis for several hours during the day, and later in the wee hours of the night. Power plants have been announced to start functioning during the later part of 2008 in many of the big cities of the country. That remains to be seen, but we are optimistic on this point.
To be continued…
Haiti has such a tradition of no elected president that we often find ourselves lost as to what to do with one, and are even more mystified when something is being done but not what we want-- What are we to do, what are we to say?
I have been lucky enough to travel to the country on many occasions (at least 8 times in the past year and ½, with some long stay on some of those trips (over 2 months at times). As luck will have it also, my experiences have encompassed a broad range of activities: from my first trip where I went to the funeral of my deceased father who was murdered by kidnappers, to several trips to handle estate affairs, to deciding to create a life in the country for a more permanent presence.
All my trips have been eventful in many respects. It is those experiences, plus the interactions I have had with folks, some low ranking civil servants, some high level Government Officials, some Parliamentarians, and not less some power behind the scene individuals that gave me a sense of the state of the country. Here is what I see on the streets, what I think is being done, but also what I hope would/should but am not sure will take place during the course of this administration.
In my first trip of this two-year span (Nov. 2005 to Nov. 2007), the level of Kidnapping was so high that I never spent much time outside the house but for the viewing and later to the funeral of my dad. This trip was my first since before the fall of Aristide and the transformation was markedly great on the face of the people, on the face of the country. The streets were dirtier than before, and they were dirty during Aristide’s time. There were more beggars, something that seemingly had disappeared when I had visited in 2003. More disappointing was the look on the average person in the street: stressed and fearful of being kidnapped (at the time, even shoe shiners were being taken). So, one is to say that my visit was a terror trip; I too was very stressed, very on edge, all this is adding to my distress in morning my loss.
In early 2006, I made another trip. This time, I had worked through my grief, was willing to face the terror in the country. This is the same trip that saw the elections of the current Government. Politics put aside, right or wrong, the people went to the poles and deposited a majority vote for Préval in the urns. He created a coalition government to restore and maintain the peace in the country. His first “hundred days” proved a major test for this coalition. In the end, we can say it survived as they are still around. But the critics of that time highlighted the major problems facing the country, facing this new government and I ought to remind us my first hand account of their truth: Insecurity, poverty (two sides of the same coin in many respects—the lather often breeds the former), deterioration of the National Infrastructures—Roads, buildings and Service institutions like telecommunication, etc, with major Corruption in those Gov Institutions. Their work seems too overwhelming for the time at hand. We must not forget the semi-occupational force from the UN in the country. This minefield at the beginning was ready to blow at any given occasion.
So we find the country at this serious impasse. We must not forget the people in their misery; a large section of the population is unemployed with no prospect in sight. The government being the second largest employer in the country does not help the situation. To that point, we look in the streets and see the first big employer, the “informal sector.” This powerhouse employment machine contains the “Racketeers—these are the people who will promise or do anything to either get you something or get your money in the promise of something from the Gov more expediently or by illegal means: things like your official document extracts, your passport or something the like,” the little vendors by the street side, the kids vending water in the middle of the streets or wiping dust off the cars while moving in the dead lock traffic. These little businesses are what drive the poor. There is regular commerce, but the taxes they pay are surely not enough to neither drive the government institutions nor establish a solid economy, not to mention the power to hire the massive number of unskilled, unemployed. We are not forgetting the support from the Haitian Diaspora, but in no home grown production/economy, they fill-in for the money the meager work one can find cannot provide.
In the Streets then you would see a very congested mixed of man and machine bustling while around certain governmental institutions like the Direction General des Impôts or DGI (the IRS building in Haiti), filling the sidewalks are a large population of Racketeers. This segment is part of the corruption that plagues the country. They know or have an employee in the system working with them to provide them with faster service, a service that should have been given to a person standing in line for hours some times. In the last months of 2005 to early 2006 then, this was my experience.
Getting the estate issues resolved was a major headache that is still ongoing. The major failures are due in part to the corruption, but in greater part to the lack of infrastructure that seemed designed by the previous administrations. Records are not kept in secured areas, nor are they electronic. As a result, they are lost, damaged, changed, or mismanaged. This problem still exists in the country to this day and needs to be improved.
On my following trip which was the summer of 2006, I saw a major cleanup of the Racketeers next to the DGI and the National Archives. They may have gone underground, but the visible presence was reduced almost to none. Also, there were Public trash receptacles placed at strategic locations around Port-au-Prince that seem to reduce trash to a significant level. This was such a pleasing sight that I could not stop talking about it for days.
But the Kidnappings were still very high. No jobs were being created, no hiring, but no firings either at the Gov Institutions. The UN mission still had not done much to assist with the crime rate; the fledgling Gov was stumbling to find its way.
A couple of trips later, the first year in office (Feb 2007), there seems to be a structure in place. Kidnapping has gone down significantly, arrests are being made of known gangsters, and publicity and media communications are put in place to notify the public of their capture. The government seems to be fighting the war on two fronts and appears winning. Yet, no jobs, no hiring, however, firings have begun. Major firing took place at the Teleco where the repercussions are felt even by some higher ups.
The streets remain cleaner and toward the end of the year 2007, traffic lights are installed in Port-au-Prince, new police officers are deployed and they are friendly; they are not asking for bribes and know how to regulate the Haitian traffic. There is good public relation at work where they are remaking the face of the national police, making friends with the people is working. There is a new license plate released for automobiles.
But while the traffic is being regulated by new officers, the old drivers who never learned properly to follow traffic codes, the old police officers who do not know, have never known a traffic signal throughout their career have not been trained. In short, this system is installed without preparation for the users and the older enforcers; a recipe that proved difficult to manage when an older police officer comes to enforce a traffic violation. What’s worst is the officer is the only party to determine fault as there is no court or review system established to oversee this process. There is traffic light, but poor planning.
To speak of traffic, we cannot leave out the “TAP TAPS” and the Taxis. Tap-Tap is the main form of transportation in Port-au-Prince . Much has been done to regulate this area. The government demanded that the drivers identify the course of their service. This is a major improvement. Yet, there is no regulation on how the cars should be maintained for they are very dirty for the most part and they carry too many people at once. A maximum load capacity should be in effect for this type of sardine packing transportation is dangerous.
There is a little more electricity in the country at this point, where the blackouts are reduced from weeks, to days, to having electricity on a regular basis for several hours during the day, and later in the wee hours of the night. Power plants have been announced to start functioning during the later part of 2008 in many of the big cities of the country. That remains to be seen, but we are optimistic on this point.
To be continued…
Disability Etiquette & Hillary Clinton in CT: January 10, 2008 Broadcast.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
This show is about disability etiquette training and Hillary Clinton winning the Connecticut Primary. We interviewed Linda Fitzpatrick, Director of The Disability Etiquette Training Company, West Nyack, New York. "The Disability Etiquette Training Company is dedicated to raising awareness and skill to foster gracious and informed relationships among people of all abilities." Ms. Fitzpatrick can be reached at 845.353.4470, Website: www.disabilityetiquettetraining.com or Email: linda.fitzpatrick@disabilityetiquettetraining.com
"Lynch [Tiger Woods] in a back alley"
HONOLULU (AP) -- Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."
Sharpton to the Rescue
"Lynching is not murder in general, it's not assault in general," Sharpton said. "It's a specific racial term that this women should be held accountable for. What she said is racist. Whether she's a racist ... is immaterial. She's a broadcaster. The channel has to be accountable to the public."
click here to read the article
I am not surprised of Kelly's comment. It's about time someone comes forward publicly with her feelings. I cannot wait to read Tiger Woods' first book. I hope he tells it all, from the locker rooms to the golf courses.
108 Pedifiles
Monday, January 07, 2008
What will happen to the 108 Sri Lankan soldiers who paid for sex with underage boys and girls in Haiti? These soldiers should be sent back to Haiti to face charges.
Click here to read the story.
Click here to read the story.
Haitians got screwed again: British investigators cannot substantiate allegations
Published: Thursday, August 2, 2007
Publication: The Miami Herald
Edition: Final
Page: 7A
Series:
Head: No answers in boat sinking
Introduction:
Summary: British investigators cannot prove whether the Turks police had a role in the boat sinking in which at least 60 Haitians died.
Bylines: BY JACQUELINE CHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Corrections:
Body: BY JACQUELINE CHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
British investigators who probed the deaths of at least 60 Haitians in a boat sinking off the Turks and Caicos Islands earlier this year reported Wednesday that they cannot substantiate allegations that Turks police caused the tragedy.
After the May 4 sinking, several survivors alleged that a Turks and Caicos patrol boat rammed their wooden sloop at least twice before trying to tow it away from the islands. The boat flipped and spilled its human cargo.
The Marine Accident Investigative Branch of the British government said an inspection of both the police vessel and the Haitian sloop showed no signs of collision damage. Turks and Caicos is a British dependency.
"It would appear that the sloop capsized while under tow, when the number of passengers on deck reached a critical number and stability was lost. However, the exact trigger for [the] capsize remains unknown, " marine branch investigators concluded in a long-awaited report issued in the United Kingdom.
CONTRADICTIONS
They went on to explain that "the divergent and contradictory testimony of the witnesses means that it has not been possible to state with certainty what triggered the sloop's capsize."
The report was nevertheless highly critical of the Turks and Caicos police force, saying officers could have prevented the deaths at sea if they were better trained and had proper equipment.
Some 66 Haitians were rescued by the Turks police vessel crew, known as Sea Quest, which also called in help from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Among several report recommendations: the police force should "review its procedures for the interception of Haitian sloops" and cease "actions that are likely to precipitate a sloop's capsize."
"On the night in question, Sea Quest's captain was doing what he and other crews had done a number of times in the past, without mishap. However, he had neither the training nor the resources to deal with the problem he, unwittingly, faced, " investigators wrote.
"Having taken custody of the sloop and its passengers, there was a duty upon the . . . police to take reasonable steps to ensure the passengers' safety and right to life."
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Investigators added that while the ultimate responsibility lies with smugglers who are trying to smuggler Haitians in unseaworthy, overcrowded boats, the Haitian government also has a responsibility to stop such risky voyages.
Haitian government officials were unavailable for comment on the report. The two countries are less than 200 miles apart.
In the months after the sinking, Haiti's coast guard stepped up patrols against people-smuggling and police made some arrests. Some lawmakers in northern Haiti, where many of the illegal voyages start, have been campaigning to persuade Haitians to forgo smuggling trips. Meanwhile, the Turks banned all Haitian sloops from its waters.
The marine branch report also gave a heartbreaking view of the chaos sparked by the sloop's nighttime sinking.
After the search for survivors was initially suspended, "11 survivors successfully returned to the capsized hull" and were rescued, the report said. "Had the sloop broken up or foundered during this time, or the weather deteriorated rather than improved, these lives could have been lost."
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
Publication: The Miami Herald
Edition: Final
Page: 7A
Series:
Head: No answers in boat sinking
Introduction:
Summary: British investigators cannot prove whether the Turks police had a role in the boat sinking in which at least 60 Haitians died.
Bylines: BY JACQUELINE CHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Corrections:
Body: BY JACQUELINE CHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
British investigators who probed the deaths of at least 60 Haitians in a boat sinking off the Turks and Caicos Islands earlier this year reported Wednesday that they cannot substantiate allegations that Turks police caused the tragedy.
After the May 4 sinking, several survivors alleged that a Turks and Caicos patrol boat rammed their wooden sloop at least twice before trying to tow it away from the islands. The boat flipped and spilled its human cargo.
The Marine Accident Investigative Branch of the British government said an inspection of both the police vessel and the Haitian sloop showed no signs of collision damage. Turks and Caicos is a British dependency.
"It would appear that the sloop capsized while under tow, when the number of passengers on deck reached a critical number and stability was lost. However, the exact trigger for [the] capsize remains unknown, " marine branch investigators concluded in a long-awaited report issued in the United Kingdom.
CONTRADICTIONS
They went on to explain that "the divergent and contradictory testimony of the witnesses means that it has not been possible to state with certainty what triggered the sloop's capsize."
The report was nevertheless highly critical of the Turks and Caicos police force, saying officers could have prevented the deaths at sea if they were better trained and had proper equipment.
Some 66 Haitians were rescued by the Turks police vessel crew, known as Sea Quest, which also called in help from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Among several report recommendations: the police force should "review its procedures for the interception of Haitian sloops" and cease "actions that are likely to precipitate a sloop's capsize."
"On the night in question, Sea Quest's captain was doing what he and other crews had done a number of times in the past, without mishap. However, he had neither the training nor the resources to deal with the problem he, unwittingly, faced, " investigators wrote.
"Having taken custody of the sloop and its passengers, there was a duty upon the . . . police to take reasonable steps to ensure the passengers' safety and right to life."
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Investigators added that while the ultimate responsibility lies with smugglers who are trying to smuggler Haitians in unseaworthy, overcrowded boats, the Haitian government also has a responsibility to stop such risky voyages.
Haitian government officials were unavailable for comment on the report. The two countries are less than 200 miles apart.
In the months after the sinking, Haiti's coast guard stepped up patrols against people-smuggling and police made some arrests. Some lawmakers in northern Haiti, where many of the illegal voyages start, have been campaigning to persuade Haitians to forgo smuggling trips. Meanwhile, the Turks banned all Haitian sloops from its waters.
The marine branch report also gave a heartbreaking view of the chaos sparked by the sloop's nighttime sinking.
After the search for survivors was initially suspended, "11 survivors successfully returned to the capsized hull" and were rescued, the report said. "Had the sloop broken up or foundered during this time, or the weather deteriorated rather than improved, these lives could have been lost."
Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.
no attempt at truth and reconciliation in Haiti
Sunday, January 06, 2008
From The Miami Herald
click here to read the entire article.
Mr. Préval, since you are currently the president of Haiti, why don't you start the reconciliation process?
TRUTH SUBMERGED
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
Unlike South Africa, Peru, El Salvador and other nations that have emerged from bloody conflicts, there has been no attempt at truth and reconciliation in Haiti. No trials for atrocities. No tallies of the dead. No clearing of the past.
''In the Protestant faith, when people convert, they speak. They talk to remove all of their sins from their conscience. That is what we need,'' says Préval. Instead, he said, in Haiti victims are now living next to their victimizers and the abusers have even run for elected office.
Among last year's presidential hopefuls: Franck Romain, a top Duvalier official with close ties to the feared Tonton Macoutes and alleged planner of a 1988 attack on former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's church that left 12 dead.
''That shouldn't be possible,'' Préval said of Romain's presidential bid.
click here to read the entire article.
Mr. Préval, since you are currently the president of Haiti, why don't you start the reconciliation process?
Darfur and Iowa Election Primary: January 3rd Broadcast
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Immigrants' Rights Protest in Danbury CT
From The People of Faith: Progressive Politics & Activism!
Immigrants' Rights Protest
Thursday, January 3
6:30 PM
Danbury City Hall
155 Deer Hill Avenue, Danbury
On January 3rd, 2008, Danbury Common Council
is due to vote on the 287g ACCESS program
that would allow the Local Police, and the
City of Danbury to enter into a memorandum
of understanding with the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Under this memorandum, local police officers
would be trained by ICE Agents to perform
ICE investigations, arrests, detainments, and
possibly even begin the deportation process.
Local Police who sign on for the training
within this program are under the direction
and supervision of Federal ICE Agents, and are
not bound by the same limits as police officers
who are not under the auspices of ICE.
Immigrants rights activists statewide believe
that this is a dangerous, and horrendous policy
for the city of Danbury to enter into.
Danbury will be the first city in the State of CT
to accept the implementation of this program, and
immigrants rights advocacy groups from various
communities all over the state realize that what
happens here in Danbury as a result of this
program could easily effect their own communities
in the future. Danbury has always been a testing
ground for Immigration Enforcement in CT.
Activists oppose this program in Danbury as they
would in their own communities.
Directions to Danbury City Hall:
http://www.ci.danbury.ct.us/content/399/972.aspx
Sponsored by Stop the Raids, Danbury.
For more information call:
203-512-3452 (Jean) before 3pm
203-448-9140 (Beth) after 3pm
Calendar of U.S. Presidential Primaries
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
2008 Calendar of U.S. Presidential Primaries
* January 3: Iowa
* January 5: Wyoming (Republican)
* January 8: New Hampshire
* January 15: Michigan
* January 19: Nevada, South Carolina (Republican)
* January 26: South Carolina
*January 29: Florida* January 29: Florida
* February 1: Maine (Republican)
* February 5:
* February 10: Maine (Democratic)
* February 12: District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
* February 19: Hawaii (Democratic), Washington, WisconsinMARCH 2008
* March 4: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont
* March 8: Wyoming (Democratic)
* March 11: Mississippi
* April 22: Pennsylvania
* May 6: Indiana, North Carolina
* May 13: Nebraska, West Virginia
* May 20: Kentucky, Oregon
* May 27: Idaho (Republican)
* June 3: Montana, New Mexico (Republican), South Dakota
* January 3: Iowa
* January 5: Wyoming (Republican)
* January 8: New Hampshire
* January 15: Michigan
* January 19: Nevada, South Carolina (Republican)
* January 26: South Carolina
*January 29: Florida* January 29: Florida
* February 1: Maine (Republican)
* February 5:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (Democratic), Illinois, Kansas (Democratic), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico (Democratic), New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah* February 9: Louisiana, Kansas (Republican)
* February 10: Maine (Democratic)
* February 12: District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
* February 19: Hawaii (Democratic), Washington, WisconsinMARCH 2008
* March 4: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont
* March 8: Wyoming (Democratic)
* March 11: Mississippi
* April 22: Pennsylvania
* May 6: Indiana, North Carolina
* May 13: Nebraska, West Virginia
* May 20: Kentucky, Oregon
* May 27: Idaho (Republican)
* June 3: Montana, New Mexico (Republican), South Dakota
Should we play the race card? not again!
From the Associated Press
Flashback: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated."
From infoplease.com
CHICAGO - Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds. Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.
Flashback: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated."
From infoplease.com
For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,”1 their doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all. The data for the experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis—which can include tumors, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and death. “As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no further interest in these patients until they die.”
A Heavy Price in the Name of Bad Science
By the end of the experiment, 28 of the men had died directly of syphilis, 100 were dead of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their children had been born with congenital syphilis. How had these men been induced to endure a fatal disease in the name of science? To persuade the community to support the experiment, one of the original doctors admitted it “was necessary to carry on this study under the guise of a demonstration and provide treatment.” At first, the men were prescribed the syphilis remedies of the day—bismuth, neoarsphenamine, and mercury—but in such small amounts that only 3 percent showed any improvement. These token doses of medicine were good public relations and did not interfere with the true aims of the study. Eventually, all syphilis treatment was replaced with “pink medicine”—aspirin. To ensure that the men would show up for a painful and potentially dangerous spinal tap, the PHS doctors misled them with a letter full of promotional hype: “Last Chance for Special Free Treatment.” The fact that autopsies would eventually be required was also concealed. As a doctor explained, “If the colored population becomes aware that accepting free hospital care means a post-mortem, every darky will leave Macon County…” Even the Surgeon General of the United States participated in enticing the men to remain in the experiment, sending them certificates of appreciation after 25 years in the study.
The Chosen People and Nation of God: Happy New Year
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dessalines's armies won their final and decisive victory over the French forces at the Battle of Vertières on 18 November 1803, near Cap-Haitien. On 1 January 1804 the nation declared its independence, securing its position as the second independent country in the Americas, and the only successful slave rebellion in world history.[4] Dessalines was its first ruler. The name Haiti was chosen in recognition of the old Arawak name for the island, Ayiti.
The new State of Haiti supported the abolitionist cause wherever possible. Haiti aided Francisco de Miranda and Simón Bolívar, giving them refuge and supporting their revolutionary efforts under the condition he free South America's slaves. The slaveholding powers surrounding Haiti isolated the new nation under a cordon sanitaire, fearing slave revolutions of their own. The Haitian Revolution is thought to have inspired numerous slave revolts in the Caribbean, Brazil and United States. The blockade was virtually total. The Vatican withdrew its priests from Haiti, and did not return them until 1860. France refused to recognize Haiti's independence until it agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs, to compensate for the losses of French planters in the revolutions, in 1833. Payment of this indemnity brought the government deeply in debt and crippled the country's economy.
In 1806, Dessalines, by now Emperor, was murdered in a power struggle with political rivals who thought him a tyrant. The nation divided into two parts, a southern republic founded by Alexandre Pétion (mulatto), becoming the first black-led republic in the world,[5] and a northern kingdom under Henri Christophe. Christophe was responsible for the order and oversight of the construction of two New World marvels; his capital palace of Sans Souci and the massive Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Western hemisphere.
In August 1820, King Henri I (Henri Christophe) suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. When the news spread of his infirmities, the whispers of rebellion, deceit and treachery began. On October 2, 1820, the military garrison at St. Marc led a mutiny that sparked a revolt. The mutiny preempted a conspiracy of some of Christophe's most loyal generals. Some of his trusted aides took him from the palace of Sans-Souci up to his Citadel, to await the inevitable confrontation with the rebels. Christophe ordered his attendants to dress him in his formal military uniform and for two days desperately tried to raise the strength to lead out his troops. Finally, he ordered his doctor to leave the room. Shortly after he left, Christophe shot and killed himself.[6]
Following Christophe's death, the nation was reunited as the Republic of Haiti under Jean-Pierre Boyer, Petion's successor. Boyer invaded the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo and proclaimed the entire island under Haitian rule, until 1844 when the Dominican Republic gained its independence separating the island into two countries. The Dominican Republic's independence constitutes the only independence campaign in the New World in one Latin American country from another. (Uruguay got it's independence from Brazil in 1828 and Uruguay used to be called the Cisplatine Province when it was part of Brazil).
