The Outpouring of Aid

In the past few days following the Haitian earthquake, there has been such an outpouring of aid to this country. Many people are presumed dead, some in critical condition and even some with nothing more than a cut or scrape.

The overwhelming support from the United States is almost comparable to that to the 2008 Indonesian tsunami. But where was all of this support when we face our own natural disasters?

One disaster I know New Orleans is still recovering from many years later is from Hurricane Katrina. Most of the city is still uninhabitable and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with limited funds provided by its parent, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Millions of dollars later and that project is still incomplete.

It is interesting that when the Midwestern United States suffers a disaster, the money and recovery efforts are there 95% of the time. When California, New York, Texas or Alaska have a disaster, the state has to exhaust all of their resources before they will step in. If you're not in those areas, you might have to wait later than 72 hours.

We had the Red Cross, Goodwill and the Salvation Army and even Tide down there to support the families who bore through the storm, but they have more people in Haiti as we speak. Why do we send thousands to Haiti when only hundreds went to help in New Orleans post-Katrina or cities affected by the great Midwestern flood of 2008? We're we so limited in funds that we couldn't have had more people there?

All I can say is: the mission is being done as we speak, and I thank everyone that has done work in the recovery and cleanup attempt.

However, last week's comments from Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson about "Haitians deserved to die because they made a pact with Satan" and a fireball response the following day by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann proved that the media, whether liberal- or conservative-leaning, still spin the news stories around FOR THE RATINGS!