Saturday Forum

February 6, 2010

02/05/10 - A Missouri Reader Explains Why He Will Not Give To Haitian Charities

An Idaho Reader Says Haitians Are Welcome In Senegal; etc.

From: Brendan (e-mail him)

Re: Saturday Forum: An Arizona Reader Wonders Why Haitian Refugees Can't Be Sent To Africa

In response to letter writer Mary Rogue, I would like to point out that Abdoulaye Wade, the President of Senegal, offered free land to Haitian refugees, even an entire region depending upon how many took up his offer. [Senegal offers land to Haitians that want to come, By Rukmini Callimachi, Associated Press, January 16, 2009]

Senegal, which has a slightly larger population than Haiti but is over seven times bigger, has large swathes of undeveloped land and decent annual rainfall.

Furthermore Senegal's official language, like Haiti's, is French, so communication barriers should not pose a problem.

Finally, Senegal is nowhere near any fault lines—which should increase its appeal to Haitians.

A few years ago, Ghana made a similar offer to American blacks encouraging them to return to their homeland, invest and settle. That idea failed.

American blacks are far too wealthy to move to a poor place like Africa but given that Haitians and Africans have comparable per capita incomes, Haitians, especially those left destitute by the earthquake, should be more amenable to such an offer.

Unfortunately, though, I don't see much evidence of an extensive marketing campaign urging Haitians to consider a new life in Senegal.

Perhaps President Obama could lend President Wade a hand by spreading the message among the Haitians? How much would it cost to put up a billboard in Creole in Port-au-Prince? Or, for that matter, in the Haitian neighborhoods of Miami-Dade?

Brendan is a graduate student.

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But A Kenyan Reader, VDARE.COM Fan, Says Africa Doesn't Want Haitians

From:  "Peter" (e-mail him)

Haitians aren't going to Africa for the simplest reason: Africa does not want them because they are the West's problem. Africans did not ferry the Haitians' ancestors to Hispaniola—Westerners did.

Furthermore, the Haitians prefer to go to the West particularly America and Canada. Why go to Senegal where you have to actually work to eke out a living when you can go to America and collect welfare?

VDARE.COM has a lot of good, common-sense wisdom and most of the articles and letters benefit your readers. But laying the blame on Africa for everything from your sky-high crime rates to the United States' broken social structures doesn't wash.

America imported the slaves, now you must deal with the aftermath.

If you really don't like Africans or Blacks then you should vote in governments that implement your likes.

If you don't like immigration, then vote out the governments that promote it. Maybe you could vote in a government that implements a back-to-Africa program for all blacks.

Just stop whining. Do something about it instead and stop clogging VDARE.COM, a fantastic site, even for a Black African like me, with your weak, breathless complaining.

"Peter" lives in Saudi Arabia.

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An Alabama Ph.D. Blames The New York Times For The Haiti Crisis

From: James Edward Stevens (e-mail him)

The devastation in Haiti was not caused by an earthquake. It was caused by the New York Times.

In places that are not overpopulated cesspits of human misery, the occasional earthquake or hurricane are temporary problems that come and go. Life then continues.  

In countries like Haiti, where a sustained high fertility rate has pushed everyone to the brink of starvation, then the slightest misfortune is an apocalypse.

The iron law of societal development is that prosperity only comes after fertility rates have moderated. It is not the number of people but the rate of increase that is important: people should not have more children than they can afford to support. 

Do you really think that a society like Haiti where everyone behaves like "Octomom" could possibly lead anywhere but down?

If we can be critical of "Octomom" then we can be critical of the Haitians.

But realistically, how can we expect the Haitians to make the sacrifices necessary to break the vicious cycle of poverty when every so-called expert on the New York Times and elsewhere refuses to point out the relationship between having too many children and brutal poverty. Instead, they propagandize that the solution is to grant asylum in America to the displaced.

The Haitians should be told frankly by the U.S government and the mainstream media that they will remain miserably poor unless they change their culture to one that focuses on having children only when they have a decent chance of supporting them.

Stevens has degrees from elite east coast universities. He is currently teaching and doing research in fields related to electrical engineering.

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A New Jersey Reader Wonders Who Would Vote For Lou Dobbs

From: Lou Ward (e-mail him)

Re: James Fulford's Blog: Antle On Dobbs In The American Spectator

The only person I can think of who has less of a future in politics than Lou Dobbs is John Edwards.

Dobbs is reported to be mulling over a bid for New Jersey governor or a U.S. Senate seat.

Who would vote for him?

Republicans who are angry at Dobbs for selling out to the pro-amnesty, open borders ethnocentric lobby that he once derided. 

I hope Dobbs isn't counting on Democrats, especially Hispanics, who aren't persuaded by Dobbs' late change of heart about immigration. The Democrats can easily nominate a candidate whose pro-immigration stance is more reliable than Dobbs'

Dobbs is an Independent so he may capture some of those votes. In the 2009 special gubernatorial election, however, the Independent candidate Chris Daggett got only 10 percent of the vote.

That leaves Dobbs nowhere politically. He's not attractive to either Democrats or Republicans and New Jersey doesn't have enough Independents to carry the day for him.

Ward is a credit analyst at a major New York-based financial institution that was, until recently, held in high regard. His previous letter about freedom of speech is here.

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