OK, we’re trying…

I realize the devastation on poverty stricken Haiti is astonishing. After all the people of that island nation have went through over the decades a 7-point earthquake so close to the surface, with the epicenter being almost a direct hit on the densely populated, poorly constructed rickety concrete maze of Port Au’ Prince, verges on the edge of appearing accursed. But really…

Why has all mention of the Healthcare Debate or of Obama’s efforts to tax the greed of the major banks, since they’ve made such profits this year – after taking our bailout money, when we didn’t have any say in if we gave it to them – completely disappeared from the pages of CNN.com? I mean, is someone paying that news company to avoid covering the most important thing to US citizens other than the spectacle of the humanitarian disaster of our Caribbean neighbor? They can do both, you know.

From France24.com:

Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airport

AFP – Anger built Saturday at Haiti’s US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort four days on.

“Let’s take over the runway,” shouted one voice. “We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama,” cried another.

Try being angry at your politicians and local construction policies. Here in the Southern Californian earthquake territory we’ve been building with 7-point tremors in mind for years, and have heavily retrofitted all our major buildings and freeways. That isn’t a guarantee that they’re going to stay up when the Big One strikes, but at least we’ve tried to do something. I can guarantee that Haiti will probably go right back to unreinforced cinder-block and concrete multistory building construction the first chance they get when our tax dollars reach them to rebuild.