Why Haiti?

As you know, a cataclysmic seven.zero magnitude earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities 15 days ago on January 12. The earthquake lasted seconds but in that short moment of time, Haiti's landscape and the nation's already fragile psyche was changed forever. It's hard to measure the costs of lives lost because so many of the dead are still buried under the collapsed building rubble. Miraculously, there are reports that people are still being pulled out of the concrete ALIVE after being trapped for 15 days! However, the unofficial count of 150,000 dead and 250,000 injured continue to grow with each passing day. 3 million people have been affected. Government buildings, The Cathedral, churches, hospitals, utilities, schools, stores, roadways, prisons all destroyed. Homes imploded upon themselves. The scope of devastation is apocalyptic. A survivor was quoted, "I thought this was the end of the world." This earthquake. In Haiti. This is exactly what Haiti didn't need: more suffering...for a very long time. Months leading up to the earthquake, Haiti's remarkable citizens, against all odds were making a small hopeful rebound of sorts for the better, then, all hell broke loose and the stone age descended upon them in seconds. Hope crushed. Why Haiti?

Haiti's history of suffering predates what happened this month. Hurricanes, disease, environmental deterioration, political corruption, crime, coups, illiteracy, slums, drugs, debt, lack of natural resources, poor construction, crumbling infrastructure, a growing hungry population, and, yes, previous earthquakes have all conspired to make Haiti the least-developed and poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti is only one hour away by plane from the richest country on the planet, the United States of America. Before the recent 2010 earthquake, Haiti's fact sheet read: 10 million people live in the country of which 80% live below the poverty line (poverty line is defined as people making less than $2/day), 2 million people are chronically-unemployed, 90% of Haitian children suffer from waterborne diseases and intestinal parasites, half of all Haitian deaths are HIV-Aids related, typhoid-malaria-tuberculosis-cholera(extinct diseases in the developed world)run rampant. Haiti has suffered and the suffering just got alot worse. Why Haiti?

There is no answer to the "Why Haiti?" question. Tragedies can befall us in some form at some time. From the epic tragedy of Haiti's earthquake to the personal tragedy of suddenly losing a loved one. All tragedies of whatever scope elicit the same question, why? Since an answer to this question is unanswerable to me, I answer the question with a question, that is, how can I help you in your time of need? For that question there are answers.

For Haiti, the answers came in waves of humanitarian aid that arrived soon after the earthquake and aid continues to pour into that damaged country. Help is coming in from all over the world, in money and in humanitarian aid. The global response to Haiti's immediate need has been a revelation of sincere compassion of those who have something to give to those who have lost everything. Money and aid have descended into Haiti non-stop since the earthquake. Countries have pledged millions of dollars for Haitian aid and support for years to come: European Union $475M, Brazil $225M, UK $33M, France $14M, USA $100M plus, Canada $130M, Italy waived $56M in loans, the Dominican Republic, who shares the island with Haiti, were the first responders with water, food, heavy machinery and offered the use of their hospitals to the injured. Other countries, like Israel, Japan, South Korea, India, Mexico have supplied "boots on the ground" to help with recovery, security and medical care. However, some great and powerful nations of the community of the world have not answered the call for help for which they will be judged: China, Russia and the Arabian Peninsula to name a few. International Aid Agencies from around the world have arrived in Haiti to support the herculean effort of repair and comfort. Doctors Without Borders, International Red Cross, Partners in Health, Giving Children Hope and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and many more, are making a difference during this calamity. In fact, CRS had already established a presence on Haiti years ago which is 80% Catholic. CRS was dealing with the daily suffering before on Haiti but nothing could have prepared them for what the earthquake wrought.

CRS's mantra, "Giving Hope to a World of Need" continues to be tested in Haiti. The following is a press release from the front lines, "Almost immediately following the earthquake, CRS began delivering lifesaving supplies, including food and water to desperate survivors. The supplies were already in place in CRS' Port-au-Prince warehouse. CRS has a staff of 313 on the ground, with more personnel arriving daily. CRS Haiti's headquarters building was damaged but did not collapse. Until its structural integrity is assured, aid workers are working and sleeping outside in tents and cars. 1500 metric tons of wheat and oil will arrive shortly and be distributed immediately. In the neighboring Dominican Republic, CRS is preparing food packages to feed 50,000 people. The packages are 5 gallon buckets loaded with ready-to-eat foods that don't need to be cooked. CRS is also readying water storage containers, water purification tablets, hygiene kits, cookware and plastic sheeting in Haiti and the DR." CRS and all the other aid groups in Haiti and around the world are doing God's work.

As is proclaimed in the Third Beatitude, "Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted." It is our duty and obligation as human beings to comfort these poor people in whatever manner is appropriate. All of our help is urgently needed. Please donate your time, talents and/or money in helping our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Please pass this blog on to others, so that they too may be called to help. To find out how you can help, please call and donate to your favorite charity or aid group or contact Catholic Relief Services at 1.800.736.3467 or at their website http://www.crs.org. This is a call to arms, people. Not arms for fighting but arms for helping.

So, today, add these three things to your busy schedules: hug a loved one, be grateful for your blessings and write a check for aid to the victims of Haiti which may save a life.

Thank you for reading this today.

"I don't respond to these lies"

Infidelity is a tough topic to write about. Hell, we all know people who have "wiggled the bean", "bonked the beagle" and "bumped the bush" a few random times in their lives. Who am I to measure the morals of others? "Those in glass houses should not throw stones," a thousand times I remember hearing. We are all human thus imperfect. However, the moral debasement of the sacred vow of marriage is too troubling for me to ignore. So, I am writing because there have been so many recent egregious and most outrageous examples of infidelity that I can't seem to escape its newsworthiness. Therefore, I will try to exorcise my foaming opinion of this phenomenon of human nature by employing a cheaper form of psycho-therapy...blogging.

Recently, real life examples of infidelity, adultery or plain ole "screwing around" have inundated the news of the day. In all forms of media, I hear and read the stories of perceived successful(???) leaders in our society becoming enmeshed in the vile world of the career philanderer. The current poster child of this mind-boggling and in-your-face behavior is the multi-millionaire tort lawyer, former Senator from North Carolina and VP Candidate on the John Kerry ticket in 2004, John Edwards, aka "Hair", he of the uber-coiffed $300 haircuts. "Hair" is the latest inductee into the Floor of Shame wing in the Hillary Clinton rumpus room in Chappaqua. His phony image will be placed on the floor amongst the likes of: Tiger, David L., Wade Boggs, Jimmy Swaggert, Shark, Ted Haggard, Eliot S., Larry Craig, Steve Phillips, Mark S., Rudy, Newt, Silvio B., and the most notorious scoundrel of them all, Hillary's own Bill. You see, ole "Hair", was blessed or cursed (depending on your tastes) with a Howard Sternlike sexual appetite. As time passed and the truth descended upon his head, I mean, hair, he did what most career philanderers do: continued the affair and then lied about it when asked or caught and knowingly deceived and destroyed everybody close to him. Whew! As Paul Harvey used to say, "...and now the rest of the story."

In 2007, he was running for the highest office in the land as a Democratic Party Presidential candidate against Hillary and Barack Obama. Eventually, as the primaries and debates wore on, Edwards realized he had no chance against those two political beasts. He dropped out of the race and then dropped his pants with his "on the road videographer/paramour", Ms. Rielle Hunter, a middle aged bleached blonde with a birdlike beak. Doesn't every pseudo-virile man have a woman on the side? Well, no, not really. But that's only part of the story. While "Hair" and Ms. Rielle were "getting it on" "on the road again", his wife of 30 years and the mother of their 4 children (1 died tragically in an auto accident), Elizabeth, was back home in North Carolina battling a stubborn and pernicious form of breast cancer that treatment could not cure while their children looked on helplessly. Remember, this is the guy, John Edwards, who was running for PRESIDENT on a platform of helping the least and neediest amongst us. While his family was suffering in every way, he was playing "kissy face" with Ms. Rielle behind the portiere and building homes in his faux construction overalls for Habitat for Humanity with the red light of the camera in his "Dorain Gray-like" face. I smell a lack of "truthiness". Do you too? As Big Daddy yelled in the Tennessess Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, "What's the smell in this room? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?" But this story is just starting.

"The truth is out there" (to quote the tagline from the old TV show "X-Files") finally found it's way to his doorstep. But Edwards was not ready to come clean. "Hair" was still in denial and with abundant hubris, he declared to the growing siren of critics and skeptics questioning his lifestyle, "I don't respond to these lies." However, as these salacious allegations gained more traction and fodder for the curious, the drumbeat of truth proved to be more than even the delusional Edwards could bear. Finally, with incontrovertible evidence of his dalliance's with Ms. Rielle in the media's hands, he capitulated and confessed to his infidelities. In front of the cameras he once loved, "Hair" tearfully confessed and asked forgiveness for his transgressions all the while dragging his innocent family through the mud. Elizabeth, his tortured wife, steamed quasi-silently on the national stage. Their confused children were at home to wonder why Daddy's bags were packed and readied by the front door. And, last but not least, Ms. Rielle, the complicit concubine now with a new baby in tow, shrouded her face from the media with oversized hats and sunglasses, and fled to the comfort of her new residence supplied by you know who.

If anybody is still reading this blog (and I totally understand if you aren't) I would like to end this story but there are more layers to this real life drama. Recently, investigators revealed three new discoveries: one, he may have illegally paid Ms. Rielle $100k from PAC campaign funds for whatever she needed, maybe for a nose job; two, Ms. Rielle's baby may be "Hair's" love child; and three, Edwards attempted to foist the Ms. Rielle's pregnancy on his aide, Andrew Young. True to form, he denied all allegations. On the baby front, he told the investigators that the baby simply could not be his because of "the calender of events." Edwards was even willing to offer a DNA sampling. Can you image this guy's DNA: one part metro-sexual Southern-style, two parts sociopath and three parts Dr. Strangelove?

"Hair's" melodramatic saga continued last week when Edward's best friend (how would you like to have that label?) from North Carolina announced on the Today Show, that indeed Edwards is the father of Ms. Rielle's love child, Quinn, an adorable 2 year old baby girl. Didn't Edwards repeatedly deny that Quinn was his child? Tally up another victim in this mess, Quinn. And what was ole "Hair" doing when his best friend finally came forward with the truth on national television? He was grandstanding, I mean, helping the Haitians in their time of need. I can hear Big Daddy thunder at his drunken excuse-mongering son, Brick, "BULL". And what about Elizabeth and the kids? A suggestion to Elizabeth from the what it is worth department, take the I-am-not-a-victim path like jilted Jenny Sanford, mother of four young boys and recently divorced wife of disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (who "met his soulmate Maria" on the Appalachian Trail...in Argentina?...on Father's Day?), and "give him nothing but take from him everything." For "Hair's" fall mirrors the fall of many a great man, and not just the notables as mentioned above. The velvet trap of seduction plays no favorites amongst all classes of men. Some who fall learn from their wanderings and redeem their lives, while others never get it. The moral collapse of a man was succinctly and crudely explained by another famed but faithful attorney, Alan Dershowitz commenting on the shameful sexual conduct of the former Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, who was caught literally with his pants down in a prostitution sting: "No matter how smart a man is when he does his thinking with an organ other than his brain, it most always comes out wrong." Remember, Senator John Edwards could have been our President!! Oh my!!! as sports announcer,Dick Enberg, would howl.

Can't Stop the Truck

52,47. Those are not the high and low temps for tomorrow in Monterey. Those are percentages of state votes for the Senate race in Massachusetts decided tonight. Guess who represented 52% of the general vote? A Republican State Senator, Scott Brown, a virtual political nobody 3 weeks ago in the Soviet hamlet state of Massachusetts governed and "owned" by the affectionately known "liberal lion of the Senate", Teddy Kennedy. Vicky, Teddy's widow, was quoted as saying, "I was channelling my inner Ted today." Liberal speak for "we're screwed". Speaking of Teddy, I haven't paid this much attention to the Commonwealth since he drove off the bridge at Chappaquiddick in 1969 and murdered the unfortunate passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. For that offense, he was re-elected by the electorate in that deranged state for numerous terms of office. At last, the Kopechne family can partially bury the daily toothy in your face Kennedy phony smile(s).

This election of Brown to this Senate seat, not Teddy's seat but the "people's seat" (made clear to David Gergen by Scott), is not only a repudiation of the Obama portside tack but a wake-up call to this country's politicians, right and left, that the American people have had enough. The chant thundering from the crowd in front of Brown's victory speech tonight, "we can do better" is the new fight song for the burgeoning independent party who wield one thing, votes. And votes gets the attention of all of these whores. Tonight, the Massachusetts electorate has given hope to the disenfranchised and seemingly irrelevant independents and conservatives in the golden state of California. Surely, if an authentic politician can win in Massachusetts, it can happen here as well. Are you listening California? Boxer is on deck. What has she ever done for this state other than perpetuate internationally the growing fact that California is the land of debt, gangs, pitiful schools, kooky politicos and illegal gay marriages. Our state's global embarassment, Pelosi, she of the 22% national approval rating, is in the dugout...by now, she should be scared to come out when it's her turn. Knowing her, she doesn't even know what year it is. Blame W!

Now to the truck. It's pretty weak that an unknown, good looking, decent, American, masculine, faithful, local politician with a Chevy Silverado truck with 201,000 miles defeated the generational political and money machine in Massachusetts coupled with an 11th hour feeble cameo of The President. In fact, BO made fun of the pick-up truck at the weekend rally for Martha.(For some reason, I can't picture BO in a pick-up, an oxymoron of sorts.) Who's laughing now? I can see Ax, Rahm, Valerie and Gibbs tomorrow cooking up a plan to get these "pick-up truck votes" for the 2010 election. What chameleons? One thing is certain the school of brass knuckles Chicago style politics that has infested DC this past year will get alot bloodier. Heads will roll on this one.

Well the truck and the authenticity it stood for in this election is in the garage resting after another day on the road. Shielded from the foul Boston weather and an even fouler mood boiling over in DC right about now. It needs a rest, it has a road trip to DC posthaste.

By the way, did you notice what happened to the DOW today...up 115 points. Those damn Wall Streeters, they knew what was going to happen with this election before the polls closed. I smell another tax coming for insider trading on long-shot Senate victories.

The Commonwealth Makeover?

Could we be seeing a political makeover in the Commonwealth of the state of Massachusetts on Tuesday? I hope so to the extent that I am going to an early Mass at the Mission tomorrow to pray hard for the improbable election of Scott Brown, REPUBLICAN, to the United States Senate from the Commonwealth. A REPUBLICAN Senator from Massachusetts, surely you're joking. As Lee Corso with ESPN College Gameday would say, "not so fast my friend." This is no joke. As Monday comes to a close, candidate Brown, he of good looks and revisionist ways, is showing a slight lead in various polls over Ted Kennedy's female liberal clone, Martha Coakley. If Brown wins this race which became close within the last two weeks because Coakley was asleep at the wheel, it has the potential to greatly imperil the standing 60 seat liberal filibuster-proof regime now ruling our country. This current filibuster has hamstrung the opposition party for the past year and rendered them vocal bystanders with little more than Fox News and local tea parties as their megahorn. But Fox News and the "teabags" may be all that was needed to help galvanize support for such a candidate.

Presently, the liberals rule the White House, both houses of Congress and the fourth estate, the media less Fox. Brown's possible victory in the bluest of the blue states, Massachusetts, would be a repudiation against the liberal loons now running our country into the ground. Not suprisingly, Coakley, another annoying face of a long and endless line of empty barrel liberal ideologues (google Teddy Kennedy), fully supports the current health care bill, dismissing Catholics from working in emergency rooms and raising taxes to pay for whatever she dreams up. Coakley is so out of touch with her constituency that she said of Curt Shilling, retired Red Sox World Series hero, he of the HOF 2004 bloody sock, was a Yankee fan. What a novel way to garner votes from rabid Boston fans!

They say sometimes life is stanger than fiction, well tomorrow's possible election of Brown may fit in that category. But, what if he doesn't pull it off tomorrow, were my prayers all for naught, was going to church a waste of time? Praying and the power that comes from prayer, is never a waste of time on any intention from the heart.

The Man Upstairs

"The man of upstairs gave me the ability to hit a baseball far....he gave me hand/eye coordination"so heralds the long awaited and anticipated mea culpa from the exiled, I mean, "retired" St. Louis Cardinal, Mark McGwire, to Bob Costas this past week on a national TV show. McGwire's last public sighting was of his clumsy and pathetic "I'm not here to talk about the past" gaffe made in front of the US Congress Oversight Committee in 2005 investigating Major League Baseball's apparent addiction to illegal performance enhancing drugs or "peds" including steroids and human growth hormones "hgh." At long last, McGwire came clean that he did in fact used steroids for 10 years. He used steroid capsules in small doses only (no butt injections from Jose "not on Mark's Christmas card list" Canseco) and HGH for nagging injuries caused from a 162 game season. Improved performance on the field, if perceived, was purely coincidental during this steroid phase of his life according to McGwire...for "the man upstairs" supplied him with all the power and ability needed to play the game he loved...he did not need no stinkin' drugs to do dat!

OK, let's take the tear streamed rose-colored glasses off and look at this more clearly. I feel like writing the contrite Mark and more importantly, Baseball, a letter.

Dear Mark and Baseball,

Mark, "the man upstairs" may have given you the greatest ability to hit a baseball but he sure missed giving you some native intelligence in the brain department to go along with all those muscles, instincts and perfect eyes. Please do not insult my intelligence which "the man upstairs" gave me to discern between fact and fiction. The facts are you wanted to get back into baseball which you said plaintively to Costas, "...because I loved it" and it do this you had to face the music. And, you got into USC for your baseball talents not your academic excellence. The fiction is equally apparent. You tearfully confessed because you want back in the game on your terms; that is, the drugs helped with "my walking Mash unit" body but did not help my performance at all and my numbers and records should stand the test of HOF scrutiny. I'm sorry but this is absurd. I feel sorry for you not for what you did and how you deceived and subsequently hurt so many supporters for so long but how you were used as a dense pawn by the next addressed group.

Baseball, which includes the following: Bud Selig, MLB, Players Union, Owners, Managers, Coaches, Scouts, Sponsors, Players, Trainers and anybody who profits from baseball are the real miscreants in this "Steroid Era." You all knew what was going on all along. It's like exonerating Stevie Williams and Mark Steinberg, Tiger Wood's closest employees, for not knowing anything of Tiger's off the course escapades. Give me a freaking break! You all conspired and turned a blind eye to this drug culture because it improved the attendance, TV ratings, sponsors and the bottom line. In the 1998 season with the Maris homerun chase on between McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the race captivated an American audience and was widely advertised as a season in which "baseball was saved." Baseball, your benign neglect on this matter similarly mirrors the greedy attitudes of the Wall Street brethren who also looked for a easy way to make a buck with exotic investments that no one understood at the great risk of toppling the global economy at no personal expense to them. In their case, the scoundrels on Wall Street used "credit default swaps" to fatten their purses, in your case you used "baseball saps" to perpetuate a theatrical charade on the field to fill your coffers. Shameful.

What have we learned gentlemen and ladies from this sullied era in sports? Nothing really. Life will go on. People will forget and forgive, most of them. McGwire will become a successful coach with the STL Cardinals. Ballparks will fill up again with adoring fans. Drug testing will be ten steps behind the agile offenders by design. And the greedy profiteers will continue to make gobs of money while fielding a product bereft of honesty and integrity for the unending appetite of all of us, the fans. For our memories are short and our hunger for entertainment remains unsatiated. Are we to blame as well?

Batter up.

PS. Mark, just wondering, is "the man upstairs" a Cardinal fan or a Cubs fan? and, what if it's really "the woman upstairs?" Mark, we have NOW on line 1 for you.

The Three Faces of Eldrick

This is an observation of a journey, not yet complete of Eldrick Woods. You may know of him as "Tiger" Woods, previously known as the world's greatest golfer before he presently became the world's most notorious and reckless philanderer. Over the years, Eldrick has morphed into more shapes and personalities than Eve Black in the 1957 movie "Three Faces of Eve" starring Joanne Woodward as a woman possessed by "disassociative identity disorder." Let me digress...

In a broad context, I have attempted to develop the Eve story above with a contemporary title of "The Three Faces of Eldrick." In the beginning, there was the early face, where Eldrick was a nerd with thick glasses, flood pants, skinny limbs, high pitched voice and a loud cackle laugh punctuated with a snort not too unlike his moniker given to him at Stanford "Urkel" of Steve Urkel fame in the TV hit Family Matters. Next came the "Tiger" face complete with a full body and attitude change highlighted by 71 PGA Pro victories, 14 Major Championships, 10 PGA Player of Year awards, and about $1BILLION in winnings and endorsements. He was the dream for Madison Avenue and had it ALL: successful, talented, photogenic, wealthy, a man of mixed ethnicities, universal appeal, married to a gorgeous woman who bore him two beautiful healthy kids, beyond reproach or so we thought. Now, there is the present face which is the most troubling. Gone is the magic smile, the adoring public, the millions in endorsements, the beautiful wife and children, all because of Eldrick's over-active libido, enabling handlers and his over the top hubris. His self-destruction reminds me vaguely of Wilbur Mills, a powerful Democratic Member of the House of Representatives from Arkansas, who had a similar fall from grace. Wilbur at one time owned Washington DC and was arguably, the most powerful man in DC. He was Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and held it longer than anyone in history. However, like Eldrick, Wilbur had a dark side. He loved to drink and carouse with loose women. His downfall came at a most inopportune time when he was running for the Presidentcy. In 1974, Wilbur, in two separate drunken incidents, with an Argentinian stripper named, Fanne Foxe, were found cavorting in the Tidal Basin in DC at night and the other time Wilbur gave a press conference from Fanne's burlesque house in Boston...obviously drunk and emboldened with a sense that he could do no wrong. Wilbur was run out of DC shortly thereafter and died in disgrace in Arkansas.

What does this all mean? A couple of things. Eldrick, the composite of all three faces, became lost through his own "disassociative disorder." Personally, I lost a hero. Sure I'm 57 years old but that doesn't mean I can't have heroes. I'm not that hardened, I guess. Eldrick was a hero of mine. That's why this hurts so much. Heroes typically endure life bravely and succeed with grace beyond their own mortality as a symbol for all of us. They give us hope, joy, a reason to participate. However, at times their own humanity upsets our unreal expectations of them. In a way, I have lost my innocence once again at age 57. But, we all love redemption stories, maybe Eldrick will redeem his own life which is more important than redeeming our hero association with him.

Danny and a New Beginning

My oldest son, Danny, a sweet lad with a techie touch, has helped me considerably in setting up my new spanking blog to the world. It is with great joy that I am now able to send out my many thoughts on a wide range of issues of the day to those caring to read them. I will try to be civil in my writings but there are no guarantees. We live in turbulent times which my writing may reflect. But, on the other hand, I will also attempt to amuse and titillate when the mood arises. May we enjoy each other on this journey, however, be tough but fair to the author if you have any dignity at all. Please comment, pro or con, in the "post a comment" box at the bottom of the blog if the spirit moves you. Thank you for reading.