Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, show if I'm going to be the hero in my own life. (Gina dreams of running away; she cries in the night/ Tommy whispers--Baby it's OK>>>Jon Bon Jovi--Living on a Prayer).
Know that when he made his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in NYC in 2004, pointing to the Television screen, I said to my wife...there is the next President of the United States. And, in 2008 I voted for this man, Barack Obama. With this as the backdrop I'm about to venture into an area here with My Web Log, that I haven't ventured yet; politics. I'm going to make remarks some may find unsettling. I admittedly, am expecting a backlash but I feel I have to speak up because of what St. Matthew 25:40 says...what you do to the least of my brethren, you do onto me. And so far, as I see it, nothing sufficient is being done for the poor huddled masses of Haitians.
President Barack Obama has handled the Haiti Earthquake Crisis terribly. He has been very hands-off; very slow to respond. He seemed more concerned of his political future; being way more immersed in the race for Ted Kennedy's senate seat with the Coakley/Brown contest in Massachusetts.
The world blasted President Bush and the FEMA Director Brown for their 24 hour hesitation responding to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. With flooding spread out over a wide area and continued gale-force winds, logistics to implement recovery strategies was a challenge.
With the longer-than-a-week delay in answering the call for help on the Earthquake Crisis, there is simply---no excuse. No excuse, whatsoever.
In the past, regarding Haiti, whenever there was civil unrest whereby it appeared another military or political coup was in the offing bringing about instability in our sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, military intervention was an automatic. Typically in the form of the USMC, our appearances occurred at break-neck speeds. And this would transpire in eras prior to the transport technology that exists today. And speaking of interventions---and yesterday's technologies, allow for the following. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, by osmosis---almost overnight--- the U.S. Navy's 4th Fleet was able to blockade the entire island of Cuba.
So where are all those ships and all those supplies for this crisis??? That was the question one who observed Diane Sawyer last Thursday and Friday on the ABC Evening News, knew she was in effect trying to ask. During those 2 one-half-hour News Reports, the observer could tell she was holding back tears as she was begging for an implied answer.
Allow me to shed some light on that question!!!!! This will demonstrate how clueless, and how empty the leadership vacuum is. Yes I have heard it on 3 National News Networks and 17(that number has a way of being visible everywhere) Cable News Networks. The limited capacity of the Port-au-Prince Airport had such bottlenecks that some of the supply planes had to go back to origin because they were running out of fuel and couldn't land in Haiti. If our Leaders in the Pacific during W W II acted this clueless fighting the Japanese; if they had such a bewildered mind-set, we'd be speaking Japanese today. Every island we took, we turned into an airport so our planes; from the P-40's, and P-51's, to the B-29's, could refuel and retool!!!! That is how we kept the pressure on Japan. The Enola Gay took off from Tinian, for God's sakes!!!
With Haiti the first set of C-130's land and let the military go to work with bulldozers to cut-up enough airstrips to get the additional planes to land. The next set of C-130's has the box trucks and the straight trucks to start distribution of food, water, and supplies. Other bulldozers cut out some patches to allow to place down self-contained tent hospitals. From there one starts to work outward in arterial directions. During this advancement, the Marines are visible with the security element. And of course, the 'points' are on foot to maintain the visibility and the assurance that help is near.
Instead what we have is a most shameful response to a catastrophic crisis by the most, ineptly lead, powerful country in the world. And today, 20 January 2010, there was a 6.1 seismic aftershock. With still more death and destruction---no promise, no purpose, and no program.
--{-=@
Hickok
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