Haiti Needs Our Help

Appeal from New York City Council Speaker, Christine C. Quinn:

Dear New Yorkers,

I am writing today in hopes that you might join me in spreading the word about efforts currently underway to provide badly-needed relief to hurricane victims in Haiti.

As you know, this past month, three deadly hurricanes left more than 100 dead and tens of thousands homeless in Haiti before barreling into the U.S. and wreaking havoc and destruction along the Gulf Coast.

On Thursday, following similar relief efforts to our neighbors in the South, Governor Paterson directed the opening of the New York Army National Guard Armory in Brooklyn to allow for the collection of donated relief supplies for the hurricane-stricken island nation of Haiti.
Items in high demand for shipment to Haiti include:

Bottled water (packed in cases or six packs at a minimum). Single bottles are inappropriate donations since they would have to be repackaged.

Rice (dried in bags)
Beans (dried cans only)
Sterno canisters
Tarpaulin (of any size, preferably 10 ft. x 10 ft. or larger) - to be used for both roofing and flooring
Nylon cord (100 ft. rolls)
Hygiene items limited to toothbrushes, toothpaste, mild soaps
New underclothes (children sizes)
New hand towels

Soldiers from the New York National Guard will be on hand to receive, sort and prepare donations at the following locations:

Bedford Armory1579 Bedford Avenue at Union Street, BrooklynSept. 18 - Sept. 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building163 West 125th at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., HarlemSept. 18 - Sept. 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As the aftermath of these hurricanes continues to unfold, it’s important that we do what we can to help alleviate some of the pain and suffering in Haiti.

The Council and I have already begun reaching out to our constituents to encourage them to collect and donate. If you could please pass this information along to the members of your community and encourage them to do the same, we’d deeply appreciate it. Working together, we can help make a difference in the lives of the Haitian people.

In closing, I would like to thank all of our state and city elected officials, especially Governor Paterson, Council Members Mathieu Eugene and Larry Seabrook, and the members of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, for heading up this important relief effort.
I would also like to thank our brave men and women of the New York National Guard for once again stepping in during a time of crisis to help those in need.

For more information about the Haitian relief effort, please call (212)681-4010 or e-mail relief@chamber.state.ny.us.

Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker, New York City Council

Donors ignore UN Haiti storm appeal

Donors ignore UN Haiti storm appeal

Reuters AlertNet, 23 Sep 2008

Written by: Emma Batha

U.N. agencies are pressing donors to cough up cash for storm-battered Haiti after receiving only a tiny fraction of the funds needed to help hundreds of thousands of survivors living on the edge.

The $108 million flash appeal launched almost a fortnight ago has attracted just $3.7 million, according to the U.N. relief co-ordination office known as OCHA.

"It's 3.4 percent covered. That's very, very low. I don't know what people are waiting for. I have no clue," said OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker.

"Given the scale of the disaster and the relative visibility of it in the news media, one is surprised. It was not a disaster that was here one day and gone the next."

Four storms - Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike - have hammered Haiti since mid August, killing 600 people and leaving 800,000 in dire need of help after destroying houses, infrastructure and crops.

Bunker said she was puzzled that no one had donated money towards the United Nations' food operations, an area that normally attracts relatively generous funds in emergency appeals.

"It's especially surprising given what we all know about the food situation in Haiti and how much, even before the hurricane, people were being squeezed by high food prices," she added.

More than half Haiti's population subsists on $1 a day. Anger over rising food and fuel prices triggered deadly riots earlier this year, bringing down the government.

Bunker said donors had also failed to give money to other crucial sectors in the U.N. appeal, including water and sanitation, agriculture, economic recovery and education.

Although they have pledged another $18 million for Haiti, they have not yet turned these promises into cash.

By contrast, the U.N. appeal after the cyclone that hit Myanmar in May is 52 percent funded and the food requests are 83 percent covered. The more recent U.N. appeal for Georgia is 42 percent covered.

CROPS WIPED OUT

The World Food Programme, the U.N. food agency, said its operation in Haiti was proving very difficult because of the colossal destruction to infrastructure, which means most aid can only be brought in by air or sea.

"We would urge donors who have promised money to get it in our coffers as soon as possible so we can keep our pipelines flowing," said WFP spokeswoman Hilary Clarke.

"Our biggest concern is that an estimated 70 percent of Haiti's agriculture has been destroyed, which is indeed extremely serious," she added.

"The hurricane has come at a very bad time because crops like rice and maize were seedlings and it has washed them all away. And cash crop trees like mango and banana trees have suffered terrible devastation."

Clarke said another major worry was that many people who had lost their homes needed to buy basic household items, reducing the amount they could spend on food.

WFP has so far delivered 1,470 metric tonnes of food to more than 313,000 people. By the end of the week, it will have the use of four boats and two helicopters. Another two helicopters and 20 off-road trucks are on their way.

Outside the U.N. flash appeal, OCHA said donors had given some $17 million in bilateral aid to Haiti and promised another $6 million.

Reuters AlertNet

Haiti Relief Operations: Who is Doing What Where? [Part 1: Governments]

Haiti Relief Operations: Who is Doing What Where? [Part 1: Governments]

Changes in U.S. policies would calm Haiti's storm

Indystar.com

September 22, 2008

Changes in U.S. policies would calm Haiti's storm

Fran Quigley

Vicious storms transformed the streets of Gonaives, Haiti, into mud-choked, fetid rivers. Rotting animal carcasses floated between homes where people had scrambled to the rooftops, clutching their belongings and praying for the waters to recede. Thousands more people were forced to the roads, carrying goats and children as they searched for shelter, food and water. Death toll estimates climbed to more than 1,000.

This was Haiti earlier this month. But it was also Haiti in 2004, when Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 3,000 people. And it will be Haiti again -- maybe next week, maybe next year, but assuredly soon -- unless the United States changes our policies that hurt the people of our hemisphere's poorest nation.

In Haiti, the deadly consequences of tropical storms and hurricanes are more of a political tragedy than a meteorological one. Other Caribbean nations, including Cuba, were battered by the storms but suffered only a handful of casualties. As Partners in Health's Dr. Paul Farmer wrote from submerged Gonaives two weeks ago, Haiti is suffering from a distinctly un-natural disaster.

"The real storm damage doesn't come from the ocean waves," says Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. "It comes from the water pouring down from the mountains stripped bare of any trees and into communities with horribly inadequate drainage systems. Many poor Haitians have little alternative but to cut down trees to sell for charcoal, and the government of Haiti doesn't have the ability to install a decent drainage system or coordinate disaster response."

Concannon and other advocates for Haiti, including thousands of Hoosiers who are active in the 68 Indiana Roman Catholic parishes that have relationships with Haitian counterparts, identify several solutions the United States can kick-start immediately.

First, the Senate can pass the Jubilee Act, which would cancel the debt of impoverished countries like Haiti. "Haiti is sending $1 million each week to banks to pay off debt when that money could be much better spent on reforestation or disaster planning," Concannon says. The House version of the Jubilee Act passed in April, while the Senate version, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar, awaits a vote.

Sen. Evan Bayh should follow Lugar's lead, and Congress should pass the Jubilee Act this fall. Forcing Haitians victimized by oppressive regimes to repay the debts incurred by their past dictators is like forcing a battered wife to repay the pawn shop for the cost of the knife used to attack her.

Second, President Bush can grant temporary protected status to Haitians currently living in the United States, which would allow those non-residents to work without fear of deportation and send money back to suffering families. Haiti's economy is so weak that these remittances already equal an estimated 25 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Granting short-term lenience for immigrants from similarly struggling countries like El Salvador, Somalia and Sudan has helped provide the kind of short-term relief Haiti needs now.

Third, we can reform U.S. trade policy that has crippled Haiti's agricultural economy. The recent global spike in food costs leaves many Haitians so desperate that they are forced to literally eat dirt. That shouldn't happen in Haiti, which as recently as the 1980s produced all the rice needed to feed the country. Now, subsidized U.S. imports have forced Haitian farmers out of the market. "I know Haitian rice farmers who got so little return on their crops they couldn't afford to pay for help to harvest it," Concannon says. "So they left the rice unharvested in the fields."

Unless we change U.S. policies immediately, it is the country of Haiti that is being left in the water to rot.

Quigley is an attorney and director of operations for the Indiana-Kenya Partnership. Quigley is an attorney and director of operations for the Indiana-Kenya Partnership.

La Troupe Makandal upcoming events: The Color of All Shadows: A Tribute to Makandal

Friday, October 10, 2008, 4 pm (roundtable) and 7 pm (performance)

The Color of All Shadows: A Tribute to Makandal

Please join Makandal in a celebration of the life and the magical passing of our company's namesake.

Precisely two hundred and fifty years ago French colonists arrested the maroon Makandal in northern St. Domingue for his plot to liberate the island. Mystery surrounds the story of his execution, which, according to many, never happened. Our program begins with a roundtable discussion with scholars and audience, who will attempt to sort out legend and fact and explore the reasons for Makandal's relative obscurity in the pantheon of s/heroes.

The Troupe will follow with a performance bringing together music, song, dance, literature, and visual arts.

Presentors and performers include Dr. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee; Marie Lily Cerat, Haitian Bilingual Technical Assistance Center at Brooklyn College; Dr. Frantz-Antoine Leconte, Kingsborough Community College; Dr. Lois Wilcken, La Troupe Makandal/City Lore; Frisner Augustin and La Troupe Makandal; Graphics by Kesler Pierre; and Edgar NKosi White.

Roundtable: FREE.

Performance: $10, FREE for students with Hunter College ID.

The Color of All Shadows has received support in part from the Puffin Foundation, the New York Council for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Location:Ida K. Lang Recital Hall, Room 424 Hunter College North. Take the 6 subway to 68 Street/Hunter College. Use the entrance on East 69 Street between Park And Lexington Avenues. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and make a left toward the Lang Recital Hall.

See photo, hear music and learn more at http://www.makandal.org/

Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon

Jean Dominique and wife Michele Montas (r) at birthday event for Jean-Bertrand Aristide at Aristide's home, July 15, 1995, Photo by Michelle Karshan (not part of the published article) (Copyright)

The Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 13 No. 2 © 2007

Jeb Sprague, University of Manchester

Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon

On April 3, 2000, Jean Dominique, Haiti’s most popular journalist, was shot four times in the chest as he arrived for work at Radio Haïti. The station’s security guard Jean-Claude Louissant was also killed in the attack. The President of Haiti, René Préval, ordered three days of official mourning and 16,000 people reportedly attended his funeral. A documentary film released in 2003, The Agronomist, by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme featured Dominique’s inspiring life. However, since Dominique’s death the investigation into his murder has sparked a constant point of controversy. Attorneys Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon worked for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), a human rights lawyer’s office supported by both the Préval and Aristide governments. The BAI was tasked with helping to investigate the killings. A discussion with the two attorneys reveals the unpublished perspective of former government insiders who worked on the case and their thoughts on the role of former Senator Dany Toussaint, the investigation headed by Judge Claudy Gassant, the mobilization around the case, and recent revelations made by Guy Philippe, a leader of the ex-military organization Front pour la Libération et la Réconstruction Nationales (FLRN). This interview was conducted over the telephone and by e-mail during April and May of 2007.

JS: It has been seven years since Jean Dominique was killed. From your perspective, how did the investigation into the killing of Jean Dominique begin?

BC: The investigation started immediately. Police came to the scene a few minutes after the killing. There were lots of false starts, because the system, although functional, was not up to a case this tough, but there was a continuous effort to investigate.

MJ: After Dominique was killed there was a huge public funeral at a sports stadium in Port-au-Prince. Both the current President Préval and the former President Aristide participated in the funeral. Both were visibly upset. First under the Préval, and later the second Aristide administrations, our legal group the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) was tasked with following up on the case. We were initially asked by Michèle Montas, Jean Dominique’s widow, who asked me to represent her as a civil lawyer, as I was doing for the victims of the Raboteau massacre. But we were also asked to work on the case by both Presidents. Soon after Aristide was elected, and from time to time during his administration (2001-2004) we talked with him about the Jean Dominique case. We asked him, as he was the executive, what he wanted us to do on the case? He answered, “Find the murderers.”

JS: Who were the initial suspects and how did the investigation evolve?

BC: There were lots of leads at the beginning. There were leads pointing to Dany Toussaint but also several other people, including several members of what became the Group of 184.2 Some of the leads were based on witness reports. Some were based on tips—we set up a hotline in our office for tips, and the number was broadcast on Radio Haiti. Other leads were based on
circumstantial evidence.

MJ: We did not see all the evidence—under Haitian tradition the judge’s pre-trial investigation is secret—and we never saw direct evidence of Mr. Toussaint’s involvement in the crime. But there was circumstantial evidence, and our position was always that all the leads should be followed against everyone, including Dany Toussaint. Presidents Préval and Aristide both told us the same thing—pursue the case and the leads. Judge Claudy Gassant was named investigating judge on the case, I believe sometime in mid-2000, and headed up the investigation. But we felt already in 2000 that many people were using the investigation as a political tool for undermining the Lavalas movement (Aristide did not take office until 2001). The pressures from the international community and elite Haitian civil society were to pursue people based on their connection with Fanmi Lavalas rather than based on the available evidence. We were not involved in any discussions of whether or not Dany Toussaint was guilty. We did not then and still do not have enough information to take a position on that. Our interest was in the process—were all the leads, no matter where they led, being followed? Was Haitian law, and the rights of the victims, and of the accused, respected? We felt there certainly was good reason to support investigating Mr. Toussaint, and we supported that investigation. But we were also concerned that promising leads involving other targets were being neglected.

TO READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW CLICK LINK BELOW:

http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jhsprague/Sprague_2007_JOHS.pdf

Constant Sorrow

By Bernice Yeung
Mother Jones, May/June 2008 Issue

Commentary: It wasn't Toto Constant's human rights violations that finally landed the Haitian paramilitary leader in prison. It was mortgage fraud in Long Island.

on a weekday morning last August, I sat in the visiting room of the Coxsackie Correctional Facility in upstate New York gazing at the elaborate concertina wire that surrounds it. After a long wait, a metal gate clanged shut and in walked Emmanuel Constant, founder and former leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (fraph), an organization linked to the rapes and murders of pro-democracy activists in Haiti during the early 1990s. He smiled pleasantly and extended his hand for a firm shake.

I'd seen footage of Constant back in his heyday sporting tailored suits before a throng of microphones and firing up rallies with a raised fist. Now he appeared somber in state-issued forest-green slacks and a yellow polo shirt. He had the same long, equine face and pronounced jowls, but at 51, his short Afro was flecked with gray and he wore drugstore-style glasses. Working the media is perhaps Constant's greatest skill—he is personable, charming, even likable. But he wasn't ready to trust a surprise visitor, he said, so we made small talk, chatting about the public-speaking and memoir-writing classes he'd taken prior to lockup and about his jailhouse reading of John Grisham and self-help books.

Continues at http://motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/05/witness-constant-sorrow.html

"I have never seen anything as painful": Paul Farmer writes

"I have never seen anything as painful":Paul Farmer writes from flood ravaged Haiti
On Saturday, September 6, PIH co-founder Paul Farmer wrote to colleagues and supporters of Partners In Health describing the devastation caused by flooding from Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna in Haiti. The previous day Paul and colleagues from Zanmi Lasante had driven to and through the coastal city of Gonaïves, where tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes and thousands more are living on rooftops without any access to food, water or shelter. Hurricane Ike arrived the next day with more torrential rains and deadly floods.

6 September 2008
Dear PIHers:

I am writing from Mirebalais, the place where our organization was born, having just returned from Gonaïves—perhaps the city hit hardest by Hurricane Hanna, which, hard on the heels of Fay and Gustav, drenched the deforested mountains of Haiti and led to massive flooding and mudslides in northern and central Haiti. A friend of mine said this morning: “I am 61 years old, born and raised in Hinche. I have never seen it under water.” Gonaïves, with 300,000 souls, is in far worse shape, as you’ll see from the other pictures I append. The floodwaters in Hinche are dropping, but as of 5 p.m. last night, when we left Gonaïves, the city was still under water. And hurricanes Ike and Josephine are heading this way as I write.

Write full letters and view photos at http://www.pih.org/inforesources/news/PEF_hurricane_letter.html

Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008

Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz 2008
Friday 12 September 2008
by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t Perspective

We in the US who say we believe in social justice must challenge ourselves to look at the world through the eyes of those who have much less than us.
Why? Social justice, as defined by John Rawls, respects basic individual liberty and economic improvement. But social justice also insists that liberty, opportunity, income, wealth and the other social bases of self-respect are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution is to everyone's advantage and any inequalities are arranged so they are open to all.
Therefore, we must educate ourselves and others about how liberty, opportunity, income and wealth are actually distributed in our country and in our world. Examining the following can help us realize how much we have to learn about social justice.
1. How many deaths are there worldwide each year due to acts of terrorism?
Answer: The US State Department reported there were more than 22,000 deaths from terrorism last year. Over half of those killed or injured were Muslims. Source: Voice of America, May 2, 2008. "Terrorism Deaths Rose in 2007."
2. How many deaths are there worldwide each day due to poverty and malnutrition?
A: About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. Poverty.com - Hunger and World Poverty. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one child every five seconds. Bread for the World. Hunger Facts: International. Continues at http://www.truthout.org/article/twenty-questions-social-justice-quiz-2008

The Spin

received this in my email today:

THE SPIN:

Black teen pregnancies? A 'crisis' in black America.White teen pregnancies? A 'blessed event.'

If you grow up in Hawaii you're 'exotic.'Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're the quintessential 'American story.'

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're 'unpatriotic.'Name your kids Trig and Track, you're 'colorful.'

If you're a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you're 'reckless.' A Republican who doesn't fully vet is a 'maverick.'

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review,create a voter regstration drive that registers 150,000 new African Amerian voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.

If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

If you are a Demoratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an 'arrogant celebrity'. If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are 'energizing the base'.

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are 'presumptuous'. if you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a 'shoot from the hip' maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are 'an elitist 'out of touch' with the real America. if you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions you are a hero.

If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an 'empty suit'.If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an 'experienced executive'.

If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are 'extremist'.If you believe in creationism and don't believe gobal warming is man made, you are 'strongly principled'.

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years with whom you are raising two beautiful daughters you're 'risky'.

If you're a black single mother of 4 who waits for 22 hours after her water breaks to seek medical attention, you're an irresponsible parent, endangering the life of your unborn child.

But if you're a white married mother who waits 22 hours, you're spunky.

If you're a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, the right-wing press calls you 'First dog.

'If you're a 17-year old pregnant unwed daughter of a Republican, the right-wing press calls you 'beautiful' and 'courageous.'

If you kill an endangered species, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion you're not a christian, you're a murderer ( forget about if it happened while being date raped)

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

Dollar's Clout Sinks Worldwide

So much for globalization!
Dollar's Clout Sinks Worldwide

FREE RICE

Play this word game, increase your vocabulary and feed the world at the same time! For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end world hunger.http://www.freerice.com/

Collaborative Peace Poem by Michelle Karshan and others

Borrowed from http://www.signs2peace.org


Collaborative Peace Poem by Michelle Karshan and others.

Send in your suggestions for additional “peace” or “piece” phrases.
Thank you so far to Caitlin Karshan, Alain Charles and Hilary Bieber for their contributions

Peace march
Peacenik
Peaceful
Peace God
Peace up in here! (Hilary Bieber)
A piece of the pie
Nobel Peace Prize
Peace pipe
Department of PeacePeace building
International Day of Peace
Imagine Peace Tower
Teaching Peace

Planting Peace
Increase the Peace
Peace Broker
Peace Protest
Rest in Peace
The Mideast Peace Talks
The Paris Peace Talks
Peace and Tolerance (OneLove)

Brooklyn for Peace
Veterans for Peace
Pathways to Peace
Peace on Earth Goodwill to Men
Peace, love and hair grease! (Caitlin Karshan-Shaw)
World peace
Greenpeace
Prayer for Peace
The Peace Museum
The Mideast Peace Talks, again!
United Nations Peace Keeping?
Piece of shit
Piece of the action
Piece of ass
A piece of the rock
A piece of rock
Piece of advice
Peace of mind
Piece of work!
Fighting for peace?
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Build Peace
Peace CorpsPeace and Reconciliation
The Mideast Peace Talks, still!
World Peace
Witness for peace
Peace Brigades
Peace Games
World Peace Day
Peace Talks
Peace Treaty
A piece of paper
Waging peace
Inner peace
Peace symbols
Peace dove
Love and peace

Thuggin peace (Alain Charles)
Peace and hugs (Hilary Bieber)
Peace sign
Peace through art
The art of peace
Piece of chalk (Alain Charles)
Peace for animals (Hilary Bieber)
Animals for Peace (Hilary Bieber)
The Peaceable Kingdom
Peaceful Places
Peace and art (Hilary Bieber)

Music 4 Peace
Peace, love and happiness
Hand me that piece (Alain Charles)
Make peace
Peace Education
War and Peace (Hilary Bieber)
Peace and Justice
No peace, no justice!
Grandmothers for Peace
Pastors for Peace
Peace protestor
All we are saying is give peace a chancePeace – pay it forward! (Hilary Bieber)
Down the road a piece
Peace and solitude
A piece of my heart
Peace and quiet
Piece of cake
Pieces of a puzzle
Piece meal

Peace…

Peace is cool (Hilary Bieber)

Peace be with you (Hilary Bieber)

Peace Now!

Peace out!

How to identify and treat alcohol poisoning

There is a serious drinking epidemic in our country's colleges and universities. Young adults are drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol and participating in drinking games. The increasing number of college students who must be rushed to hospitals because of alcohol poisoning is daunting. Many students, and parents, are asking how they can tell when a student is in danger from alcohol poisoning and what to do about it.

See this link for College Drinking --Changing the Culture

Facts About Alcohol Poisoning
What Happens to Your Body When You Get Alcohol Poisoning
Critical Signs for Alcohol Poisoning
What Should I Do If I Suspect Someone Has Alcohol Poisoning?
What Can Happen to Someone With Alcohol Poisoning That Goes Untreated?

http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/OtherAlcoholInformation/factsAboutAlcoholPoisoning.aspx

Haiti: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits by Nazaire St. Fort

HAITI: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits

By Nazaire St. Fort*

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Mar 4 (IPS) - Student activists in Haiti are calling for an overhaul of the nation's agriculture policies, which they say have resulted in Haiti importing more than half of its food while local farmers are mired in poverty.

A petition recently submitted to the René Préval government by students of the Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (FAMV) department at Haiti's State University calls for a programme spanning the country's 10 departments to increase technical and expert assistance, give subsidies to the agriculture and fishing sector, promote egg and chicken-farming projects to ease reliance on Dominican imports, a nationwide campaign to provide agricultural credits to peasants and an incremental raising of tariffs on foreign agricultural products to benefit Haitian farmers.

Other points of the petition deal with strengthening environmental protection, improving access to social services and higher education for agronomy students, and supporting them to work in the field so that Haiti can develop its own well of local expertise. Of the 420,000 tonnes of rice Haitians consume yearly, 340,000 tonnes are imported. Of the 31 million eggs the Haitian population eats monthly, 30 million are imported from the Dominican Republic. About 80 percent of farmers earn less than 135 dollars a year.

For full story see http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41454

Half of New Orleans's Poor Permanently Displaced...by Bill Quigley

Image (The Recovery Process Explained) borrowed from Toulouse, Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans at toulousestreet.wordpress.com/.../ (image not connected with the article by Bill Quigley)

Half of New Orleans's Poor Permanently Displaced - Failure or Success?

by Bill Quigley

TruthOut Perspective

March 6, 2008

Government reports confirm that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled who lived in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina have not returned. Because of critical shortages in low-cost housing, few now expect tens of thousands of poor and working people to ever be able to return home.

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) reports Medicaid, medical assistance for aged, blind, disabled and low-wage working families, is down 46 percent from pre-Katrina levels. DHH reports before Katrina there were 134,249 people in New Orleans on Medicaid. February 2008 reports show participation down to 72,211 (a drop of 62,038 since Katrina). Medicaid is down dramatically in every category: by 50 percent for the aged, 53 percent for the blind, 48 percent for the disabled and 52 percent for children.

The Social Security Administration documents that fewer than half the elderly have returned. New Orleans was home to 37,805 retired workers who received Social Security before Katrina; now there are 18,940 - a 50 percent reduction. Before Katrina, there were 12,870 disabled workers receiving Social Security disability benefits in New Orleans, now there are 5,350 - that's 59 percent fewer. Before Katrina, there were 9,425 widowers in New Orleans receiving Social Security survivors benefits; now there are less than half that many - 4,140.

Children of working-class families have not returned. Public school enrollment in New Orleans was 66,372 before Katrina. Latest figures are 32,149 - a 52 percent reduction.

See rest of article at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030608J.shtml

Aristide's backers demand return to Haiti - 03/01/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

Aristide's backers demand return to Haiti - 03/01/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

The Caribbean

The Caribbean

February 29th - International Day of Solidarity with the Haitian People

Flyer handed out in Haiti's streets warning that the people would never accept a coup d'etat again. However, on February 29, 2004 a coup d'etat forced democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and 7,000 elected officials from office. To read about the 2004 coup d'etat, it's impact on democracy and conditions in Haiti and continued injustices, see the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti website at http://www.ijdh.org/

Current list of 56 actions in 47 cities on 4 continents in solidarity with Haiti - as part of 2-29-08 global day of action for Haiti

Growing list of cities participating in actions on or around Feb. 29, 2008, in solidarity with the Haitian people, on the 4th anniversary of the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d'etat in Haiti. Updated as of Feb. 27, 2008 - 5 p.m. Pacific time Here is a list 47 cities - so far - that have informed us that they are participating in the Feb. 29th Day of Solidarity with the Haitian People. A total of 56 actions are planned in the 47 cities on 4 continents, in support of the Haitian people's demand for self-determination, democracy and justice. New York City (2 activities)Durban, South Africa - the Abahlali Shack Dwellers MovementMontreal, QuebecBerkeley, California (2 activities)Los Angeles, CaliforniaGeorgetown, GuyanaNotre Dame, Indiana (2 activities)Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSan Rafael, CaliforniaLondon, England (2 activities)San Jose, CaliforniaRoanoke, VirginiaDublin, IrelandSault Sainte Marie, Ontario, CanadaAtlanta, GeorgiaRichmond, CaliforniaMinneapolis/St Paul, Minn. (2 events in the Twin Cities)Huddleston, VirginiaKigali, RwandaFremont, California Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (3 activities)Rochester, New YorkOakland, CaliforniaVancouver, BC, Canada (2 activities)Boston, Mass. Detroit, MichiganSan Diego, CaliforniaAuckland Park, Johannesburg, South AfricaWashington, DCOttawa, CanadaPittsburgh, Penna.Miami, FloridaCalgary, AlbertaBrooklyn, New YorkSan Francisco, CaliforniaPrince George, BC, CanadaMacon, GeorgiaJacksonville, FloridaNew Orleans, LouisianaSanta Cruz, CaliforniaNorth Minneapolis, Minn.Enterprise, OregonSonoma, California (2 activities)Many cities and towns in Haiti (4 confirmed so far) For more info, see Haiti Action Committee at http://haitisolidarity.net/ or http://www.haitiaction.net/ or http://www.ijdh.org

The Democratic Debate in Cleveland - New York Times

Damon Winter/The New York Times

TRANSCRIPT OF DEBATE:
The Democratic Debate in Cleveland - New York Times

Our Legacy of Shame in Haiti

Our Legacy of Shame in Haiti

Island is worse off without Aristide, and Canada shares blame.

View full article and comments here http:///Books/2008/02/26/Haiti/

By Claude Adams (on TheTyee.ca website)

From this article: ...Why did Aristide have to go? It's simple, says Peter Hallward, the author of a dense and meticulously researched new book called Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment. Aristide had to go because "the movement he led (Lavalas, the Creole word for 'flood,') posed an intolerable threat to Haiti's comfortable ruling class."

Manny Vega and His ‘Hip Hop Byzantine’ Art - The New York Times

Librado Romero/The New York Times

“I liked painting,” the artist Manny Vega said. “But paint fades.” His mosaic at a subway station at 110th Street and Lexington is a tableau of glimmering color that picks up light and movement.

Citywide
In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression

By DAVID GONZALEZ
Published: February 25, 2008
There is life in the hands of Manny Vega. With nothing more than a pair of pliers, thick fingers and boundless patience, he transforms thousands of stubby tiles of stone and glass into glimmering mosaic portraits of poets, drummers, mothers and sons. By the end of the workday, he has to plunge his numb, dust-covered hands into hot water to revive them...

In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression - New York Times

In Mosaics, an Artist’s Lasting Impression - New York Times

View multimedia show of Manny Vega's murals and listen him to talk about his art

Saturday Night Live Takes On Drug Ads - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

Saturday Night Live Takes On Drug Ads - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

Using Music to Lift Depression’s Veil

An uplifting result of music therapy. (Alan Zale for The New York Times)

The New York Times, January 24, 2008, 10:38 am
Well
Tara Parker-Pope on Health

Using Music to Lift Depression’s Veil

Many people find that music lifts their spirits. Now new research shows that music therapy — either listening to or creating music with a specially trained therapist — can be a useful treatment for depression.

The finding that music therapy offers a real clinical benefit to depression sufferers comes from a review by the Cochrane Collaboration, a not-for-profit group that reviews health care issues. Although there aren’t many credible studies of music therapy for depression, the reviewers found five randomized trials that studied the effects of music therapy. Some studies looked at the effects of providing music therapy to patients who were receiving drug treatment for depression. Others compared music therapy to traditional talk therapy. In four out of five of the trials, music therapy worked better at easing depression symptoms than therapies that did not employ music, the researchers found.

“The current studies indicate that music therapy may be able to improve mood and has low drop-out rates,” said lead author Anna Maratos, an arts therapist for the National Health Service in London. “While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that this is an area that is well worth further investigation….We need to find out which forms have greatest effect.”

Full article at:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/using-music-to-lift-depressions-veil/

and see blogger responses at end of article as well.

Click here to listen to a podcast about music therapy with the study author.

A Basic Hospital To-Do List Saves Lives

Personal Health: A Basic Hospital To-Do List Saves Lives

By Jane E. Brody, Published: January 22, 2008, The New York Times

This is a call to arms for everyone who may someday be hospitalized, or who has a relative who may someday be hospitalized — which is to say everyone.

These days, to spend time in the hospital is to be at risk of contracting a hospital-acquired infection. Some of these infections can be life-threatening. But there is a simple way to make that hospital stay safer, devised by Dr. Peter J. Pronovost, a physician-researcher at Johns Hopkins.
The method — a five-item checklist to assure that proper precautions are taken to prevent infection — has been thoroughly tested, first at Johns Hopkins and later in 108 intensive-care units in Michigan, where it succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams in saving lives and reducing costs for patients who received the major fluid tube called a central venous catheter.

See 5 steps and rest of article at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/22brod.html?scp=2&sq=jane+brody&st=nyt

Study Calls HIV in D.C. A 'Modern Epidemic'

Study Calls HIV in D.C. A 'Modern Epidemic'
More Than 80 Percent Of Recent Cases Were Among Black Residents
By Susan Levine, Washington Post

Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, November 26, 2007; Page A01

The first statistics ever amassed on HIV in the District, released today in a sweeping report, reveal "a modern epidemic" remarkable for its size, complexity and reach into all parts of the city.

The numbers most starkly illustrate HIV's impact on the African American community. More than 80 percent of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 were among black men, women and adolescents. Among women who tested positive, a rising percentage of local cases, nine of 10 were African American.

The 120-page report, which includes the city's first AIDS update since 2000, shows how a condition once considered a gay disease has moved into the general population. HIV was spread through heterosexual contact in more than 37 percent of the District's cases detected in that time period, in contrast to the 25 percent of cases attributable to men having sex with men.

See full article and charts at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501677.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Drugs-for-Information Scandal Shakes Up New York Police Narcotics Force

NYC Police give snitches portion of proceeds of drug seizures from dealers that the snitches pointed out to them! Doesn't that make the cops dealers themselves? Read this article!

The New York Times, January 23, 2008

Drugs-for-Information Scandal Shakes Up New York Police Narcotics Force
By Al Baker

In the world of urban policing, few relationships are as fraught with peril as those between narcotics officers and confidential informants. These informants — C.I.’s in police parlance — are often small-time criminals who are paid or get criminal charges dropped in return for information about other, theoretically more dangerous criminals.

Now four police officers in Brooklyn are under arrest in a case that involves paying informants not with cash or leniency but with the very drugs they craved, taken from the dealers who were arrested after the informants pointed them out. Two of the officers were charged in an internal sting last week after another was caught on a department audio tape bragging about the practice in September, officials said. For full story go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23arrest.html?pagewanted=all

Also see the article's chart on [recent NYC] ...History of Police Misconduct Charges
at http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/23/nyregion/23arrestchart.ready.html

Keep Fighting for Lovinsky's Return!

Distributed by the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti http://www.ijdh.org/ on January 26, 2007

Half-Hour for Haiti: Keep Fighting For Lovinsky’s Return!

Human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, abducted on August 12, is still missing. For many of us, the holiday celebrations with family and friends were tempered by Lovinsky’s absence, from his family and from our midst (see the January 13 message from Lovinsky’s wife Michele). But the fight for Lovinsky’s safe return continues. Haiti’s Embassy in Washington reported receiving over 500 letters in response to Amnesty International's Action Alert for Lovinsky and his colleague, Wilson Mesilien. The Petition to Save Lovinsky now has 1803 signatories. This week Vanessa Redgrave signed onto the Free Lovinsky! movement, joining a host of celebrities including Danny Glover, Martin Sheen and Selma James.

This week’s action: Yesterday, United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of over 1,300 groups that came together to oppose the Iraq War, issued an alert for Lovinsky that was drafted by the Haiti Action Committee. The letters generated by UFPJ, on top of the letters for Amnesty International and all the other alerts, could make a turning point in this case. If you have not yet urged the Haitian government to investigate Lovinsky’s disappearance, now is the time:

Demand the safe return of Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Lovinsky was kidnapped on August 12th, 2007 after meeting with a U.S. human rights delegation. He is a member of Fanmi Lavalas and a founding member of September 30th Foundation. He is a psychologist who works with victims of torture, and a fierce activist who stands with his people in the streets.

Shamefully, the United Nations helped legitimize the Bush Administration-backed coup that forced out the democratically elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. That coup reversed Haiti's ten years of grassroots democracy, and in its aftermath, as documented by reports from the University of Miami, Harvard Law School, and other organizations, UN "peacekeepers" backed up Haitian police as they cracked down on activists with the pro-Aristide Lavalas movement. Lovinsky was among those who worked ceaselessly against all that the 2004 coup brought: killing, torture and exile of thousands; the destruction of schools, health services, markets - the infrastructure which served Haiti's poor; sex trafficking and rape of Haitian women and girls by UN troops and Haitian rightists.

Lovinsky's kidnapping serves to warn Haitian's poor majority that powerful forces can and will do whatever it takes to crush resistance.

Haiti Action Committee joins with organizations and individuals across the globe that are working to keep the pressure on those who hold the power in Haiti - the U.S. and the UN occupying forces - to demand the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

A petition for Lovinsky has been signed by over 1600 organizations and public figures, including actor/activist Danny Glover, Selma James, actor Martin Sheen, Andaiye, writer George Lamming, playwright John Arden, former Labour Minister Tony Benn, John McDonnell MP, journalist Rickey Singh, Madaraka Nyerere (son of the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere), the Walter Rodney Commemorative Committee and many more. To sign the on-line petition, click here http://www.petitiononline.com/august/petition.html

Haiti Action Committee members are fasting on Wednesdays as part of an ongoing rolling fast to highlight the Haiti-based campaign for Lovinsky's safe return. Solidarity activities have been taking place in Los Angeles, London, Boston, San Francisco and Benton Harbor, MI, as well as in the Caribbean.

Support for Haitian democracy in the U.S. Congress has been led by notable progressive Democrats including Representatives Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky. Much work needs to be done to pressure other Congresspeople to support Haiti's poor majority, rather than Bush-backed elites.

Join the campaign, and open a discussion with your friends and co-workers about Haiti (learn more at www.haitisolidarity.net and www.haitiaction.net) and about taking action to save Lovinsky's life.

Haitian president René Preval's 2006 election was a victory for the country's poor, but pro-democracy activists maintain that government ministries remain dominated by coup forces, which also control the Haitian police. The Haitian government is also receiving enormous pressure from the Bush Administration to privatize state companies and to pursue even more draconian "free trade" (pro-rich, anti-poor) policies.

Preval needs to hear from supporters of Haiti's pro-democracy movement about the importance of the safe return of Lovinsky, the release of remaining political prisoners, the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and ending the occupation.

Please send a letter to Haiti's President René Préval, urging him to ensure that his government does everything it can to investigate Lovinsky's disappearance and ensure his safe return to his family and his community. A sample letter is below, please customize and personalize it if you can.

You may send your letter directly to President Préval by regular mail (.69 postage in U.S., $1.55 in Canada), or by fax: (206) 350-7986 (a U.S. number) or email: avokahaiti@aol.com, and they will be delivered.Thanks for your support and your solidarity in helping us save our brother Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Haiti Action Committee

---------------

January __, 2008

His Excellency René Préval

President of the Republic of Haiti
Palais NationalPort-au-Prince,
Haiti

Re: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine's Disappearance

Your Excellency:

I am writing because I am extremely concerned about Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, the human rights activist kidnapped last summer. I sincerely request that you do everything in your power to ensure that your government takes every possible step to ensure Mr. Pierre-Antoine's safe return to his family. Mr. Pierre-Antoine is important to people all over the world that care about Haiti. His safe return is essential to show that Haitians can participate effectively and lawfully in Haiti's democratic process, without fear. I am also concerned about reports from Haitian grassroots human rights activists that the Haitian police are not zealously investigating this case. Please demand that everyone working for your government- from the Ministry of Justice to police leadership to investigators- immediately take every possible lawful step to investigate Mr. Pierre-Antoine's disappearance, pursue the perpetrators and return Mr. Pierre-Antoine safely.

Sincerely,

Artists of Grand Rue, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

The Artists of the Grand Rue

http://www.artshaitian.com/Pages/epluribus2.html
E Pluribus UnumAn urban museum in Port-au-Prince, Haitiphotographs© Bill Bollendorf 2005

VIEW SLIDESHOW at http://www.artshaitian.com/Pages/epluribus.html

Artists Resistance, The sculptors of Grand Rue (See top image)

http://www.atis-rezistans.com/