On My Nightstand: Save the Deli

Deli is the kind of comfort food that warms my soul. It's what I grew up with and absolutely nothing beats a perfectly made hot pastrami on rye. I had the benefit of growing up in Brooklyn, where the Mill Basin Deli was unrivaled in its sandwiches and other classic Jewish (and kosher) dishes. We also were able to visit many of the other delis in the city, some of which are still around.

Yet, delis, and more specifically, the kosher Jewish deli, are an endangered species because tastes change and the art of cooking and preparing these dishes is slowly disappearing.

David Sax goes around the country and even around the world to see the state of the deli with his loving book, Save the Deli. He got quite a bit of press on claiming that Los Angeles is the new capital of deli, but I still think that the New York Jewish deli trumps the LA scene. There is a distinct difference between New York, Jewish (New York) style and the kosher deli.

And therein lies the chief problem for the kosher deli. Cost. It is just a whole lot more expensive to insure that food is prepared in a kosher manner than it is to do so otherwise. That puts additional pressure on the deli men (and it's invariably men who run these delis) to survive and thrive in a competitive dining environment.

Relief Efforts Continue As Rescue Winds Down in Haiti

The Haitian government and UN have decided to end the rescue operations and will go into a relief effort. Rescue teams that descended on Haiti in the hours and days after the devastating quake are ending their missions, although it is up to the individual units. The relief operations continue, including expanding medical facilities and setting up temporary refugee camps on the outskirts of Port au Prince. All the while, the official death toll continues climbing to well over 110,000. More than 600,000 are homeless.

The US Navy, Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command are continuing to support relief efforts with 30 ships on station or on the way, including the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and the USNS Comfort hospital ship. While the comfort is in the reserve fleet and doesn't affect operational tempo elsewhere in the world, eventually the Carl Vinson's missions will have to be filled by other aircraft carriers, particularly if a crisis somewhere else in the world occurs.

The Hope for Haiti Relief telethon was held last night and while the stars came out in a rather low-key dressed down manner, I'm surprised that we haven't seen any reports indicating just how much money was raised in the effort. You would think that someone would be interested to know just how successful the effort was. I'd previously given to Doctors Without Borders in support of the relief efforts, and for those who are contemplating donating for the Haiti relief efforts, Congress is preparing legislation to allow donations made from January 11 through March 30 to apply to the 2009 tax year (proof of donation necessary).

Doctors Without Borders is reaching deeper into devastated communities around the capital by taking mobile units to go to where the injured and sick are.

Despite the humanitarian aid efforts, there are still issues with looters. In one truly horrifying instance, looters attacked an aid center:


Meanwhile, there are calls for the US to change its immigration laws to allow more Haitians to come to the US.

Also, one can only hope that some of the lessons from the 2004 Southeast Asian quake and tsunami, which killed more than 210,000 people can be applied to Haiti and how it recovers from this disaster.

Today, most areas swept away by the December 2004 catastrophe have been almost completely rebuilt.

It is possible, aid officials say, that visitors unaware of the Indian Ocean quake and tsunami might visit coastal communities in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia and not realize what had happened.

"Coming up on five years now, by and large, the obvious effects of the tsunami have been kind of taken away visually," said Jeff Wright, a humanitarian affairs adviser at World Vision. "A lot of the urban areas are rebuilt. Houses are back up, buildings are back up."

Aceh province was closest to the epicenter of the 2004 earthquake and hardest hit, with its capital Banda Aceh was left largely in ruins. Today the city is almost entirely rebuilt with infrastructure better and more durable than what existed previously, said Rod Volway, program director for Mercy Corps' Aceh, Indonesia, project. All that is left to be done, he said, is finish repair of a coastal road.

"Save for particular sites, I cannot recognize the Aceh of today as the one I saw in January 2005 myself," Volway said.

U.N. and nongovernmental relief officials with post-tsunami experience are now heading to Haiti. Even as search crews continue digging for survivors and humanitarian workers struggle to get a handle on aid delivery, planners are working on designs for the rebirth of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

Building infrastructure better and more durable will have lasting effects on the Haitian economy as well, as it would make the region better able to withstand the hurricanes that regularly sweep through the Caribbean and improve survivability during earthquakes.

At the same time, the tourist industry at Labadee continues, and that's just what the Haitians need -they need the revenues, but Labadee can and should also be utilized to increase the flow of aid into the country.

Ominous Warnings About Al Qaeda's Latest Intentions

The British government has raised their terror alert level.

The threat level was raised from "substantial" — where it had stood since July to indicate a strong possibility of a terrorist attack — to "severe," meaning such an attack is considered highly likely.

In making the announcement, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the raised security level means that Britain is heightening its vigilance. But he stressed that there was no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent.

"The highest security alert is `critical,' and that means an attack is imminent, and we are not at that level," he said on British television.

Johnson declined to say what intelligence the change was based on, or whether the move was related to the failed Christmas bombing attempt, when U.S. authorities say a young Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear during a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Abdulmutallab, who allegedly had links to extremists based in Yemen, had studied as a university student in London.

Officials aren't saying specifically what caused them to increase the level, but it likely has to do with intel coming in regarding al Qaeda, including that which underwear bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab had told investigators. ABC News claims that Mutallab has provided information about who else was at the terror training camps he attended, and that al Qaeda may be trying to get female suicide bombers onto flights in an attempt to thwart profiling measures.

One official said at least two of them are believed to be connected to al Qaeda in Yemen, and may have a non-Arab appearance and be traveling on Western passports.

The threat was described as "current" but not imminent, said the official.

"They have trained women," said former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant.

Al Qaeda has always sought out the spectacular terror attack, and taking down another airplane would be a coup on their part. While they could just as easily go after the train system in Europe or subways here in the US with deadly consequences, they're still fixated on taking down airlines. We have to hope that we can gather sufficient intel, put it in the hands of those who can act on it in a timely fashion, and prevent these terrorists from carrying out their deadly plans.

Hope, Change, and More of the Same

For all of President Obama's statements in support of closing Guantanamo Bay's detention facility and ending the indefinite detention of those at the facility, his Justice Department task force looking into doing just that found that of the nearly 200 detainees remaining there, 50 should go on being detained indefinitely without any trial/tribunal access.

But the efforts of the task force, which this week completed its case-by-case review of the detainees still being held at Guantanamo Bay, allows the Obama administration to claim at least a small measure of progress toward closing the facility.

"We're still moving forward and in a much more deliberate and less haphazard manner than was the case before," said an administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the recommendations have not been made public. "All policies encounter reality, and it's painful, but this one holds up better than most."

The task force has recommended that Guantanamo Bay detainees be divided into three main groups: about 35 who should be prosecuted in federal or military courts; at least 110 who can be released, either immediately or eventually; and the nearly 50 who must be detained without trial.

Administration officials argue that detaining terrorism suspects under Congress's authorization of the use of force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban is legal and that each detainee has the right to challenge his incarceration in habeas corpus proceedings in federal court.

How exactly is that any different than what President Bush had been doing all along. Bear in mind that the Guantanamo Bay had held more than 500 detainees at one point and the number had been whittled down under Bush and then further by Obama.

Obama has come along and called for trials instead of tribunals for some of the terrorists held there, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, even though the Administration will use tribunals for other terrorists. Moreover, the Administration (both AG Holder and the President) have said that Mohammad would never be released from detention, even if the federal court trial finds him not guilty, so the President's problem with his friends on the Left and the civil libertarians who had been agitating for GitMo's closure.

Five Years Of A Blog For All

It seems like only yesterday, but it's been five years since I started up A Blog For All. That first blog posting was more than 6,000 blog posts ago and blogger can't even keep track of that many posts (they only provide direct access to the 5,000 most recent). I'd like to thank all my readers and those who have linked here in the past and those who value what I write. I'd also like to thank those who have contributed here - whether they've gotten hat tips or in the comments and especially Mrs. lawhawk, who has repeatedly provided entertaining links and to legalbgl who has stepped in when I've gone on vacation.

Still, I write primarily for myself, and hope to eventually gather up some of these writings and put them to good use down the road. They are as much a time stamp in history as anything, and because I extensively link to other sources around the world, they provide a detailed bibliography of sources that would eventually come in handy should I decide to write a book or other publication.

My traffic has gone up and down in fits and starts, but that's okay since I write primarily on topics that I care deeply about and if others have an interest, so much the better. Whether it's writing or photographing Ground Zero, discussing politics, or the Middle East, I hope that you come away with a little more understanding about the issues involved.

I don't care even if you disagree with what I wrote. It would be boring if everyone agreed, but can only hope that the disagreements don't get personal. So, I'll continue blogging about the stuff I like to blog about, the stuff I care deeply about, and do things my way. And if you want to come along for the ride, I'm happy to have you here.

Thanks!

-- lawhawk

Haiti To Resettle 400,000 In New Homes

The USNS Comfort is bouying the Haitian people since it is providing health care that can't be accomplished elsewhere in the country. Many Haitians have received basic first aid onshore, but the Comfort can provide advanced care including the most complicated surgical procedures:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In a country that is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere and which has just suffered one of the worst natural disasters in recent history with hundreds of thousands of people homeless, the move to resettle 400,000 to refugee camps outside the city may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Authorities are worried about sanitation and disease outbreaks in makeshift settlements like the one on the city's central Champs de Mars plaza, said Fritz Longchamp, chief of staff to President Rene Preval.

"The Champ de Mars is no place for 1,000 or 10,000 people," Longchamp told The Associated Press. "They are going to be going to places where they will have at least some adequate facilities."

He said buses would start moving people within a week to 10 days, once new camps are ready. Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers were already leveling land in the suburb of Croix des Bouquets for a new tent city, the Geneva-based intergovernmental International Organization for Migration reported Thursday.

The hundreds of thousands whose homes were destroyed in the Jan. 12 quake had settled in more than 200 open spaces around the city, the lucky ones securing tents for their families, but most living under the tropical sun on blankets, on plastic sheets or under tarpaulins strung between tree limbs.

The announcement came as search-and-rescue teams packed their dogs and gear Thursday, with hopes almost gone of finding any more alive in the ruins. The focus shifted to keeping injured survivors alive, fending off epidemics and getting help to the hundreds of homeless still suffering.

That's just the tip of the iceberg as there are several times that number who are homeless or living in substandard housing. This is a major concern since we're just a few months from the start of hurricane season, and the potential for severe storms hitting the region could lead to additional deaths, devastation and disease unless key infrastructure is in place.

Phase two would involve contracting with companies to rebuild with assistance from the displaced Haitians. Emergency search and rescue crews are starting to pack up since the likelihood of finding survivors grows more remote with each passing day and the grim work of recovering remains can be done by others.

And for all the aid pouring into the country, distributing it to those in need is still problematic.

Meanwhile, the US is using Guantanamo Bay as a central hub for relief efforts, and the US is looking at other ways to utilize its facilities. The US is in the process of clearing a disused runway to prepare it for additional airlift capabilities so helicopters can use it for the less than 200 mile trip to Haiti. A series of tents have already been erected to house up to 10,000 people. Those are temporary measures; a long term process of rebuilding has to lead to significant improvements in the Haitian infrastructure.

UPDATE:
Amazingly, the AP reports that a woman was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building alive after 10 days.Yet, the situation remains grim for survivors; hundreds of thousands have fled the city, while many of those who remained are being directed to new refugee camps being erected on the outskirts of the city becuse of a fear of the spread of disease in the impromptu camps set up amid the ruins that lack potable water or sewers.

Meanwhile, this report suggests that the worry over the spread of diseases from the remains of the dead that have yet to be buried may be overblown, though there is a realization that with so many dead, it is impractical to hold the bodies for identification when they can start decomposing and become unrecognizable within 24 hours in the tropical heat.

Meanwhile, via Facebook, the USS Carl Vinson has posted photos of their relief efforts.

UPDATE:
With so much death and devastation, it's good to know that there are some uplifting stories to report - the first Haitian baby was born aboard the USNS Comfort today. The USS Bunker Hill is providing relief to one of the Haitian islands near the epicenter of the disaster. Many Haitians from Port au Prince had fled to the island and have overwhelmed the services there. LCACs (US air cushioned craft) are bringing supplies ashore in Western Haiti.

As I've noted previously, rebuilding Haiti means more than just rebuilding buildings. So while housing and sanitation remain critical needs, institutions need to be built - and rebuilt.

Air America Finally Folds Up

Air America is finally folding after limping along on life support since 2006. It had entered bankruptcy protection in 2006 because it could never make money from advertising, which is the lifeblood of any radio venture. For them to claim that the economic market forced this decision avoids the point that the network had been in trouble for years, and that it never showed that it could be a viable media outlet.

Curiously, while the New York Times mentioned that Al Franken at one point was one of the high profile personalities on the network, it studiously avoids any of the money issues that Franken had with the network, or the problems that the network had with the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in New York City.

I doubt anyone is going to miss the network as its listnership was so paltry.

Manhattan Schools Putting Student Safety At Risk

The Department of Education and the Buildings Department don't come out looking good in this New York Times report. The Times reports that 30% of schools in Manhattan suffer from buildings code violations, some of them providing serious hazards, including blocked exit doors and structural problems. There are far too many violations and many of them were open violations that had been reported years ago:

Using a random sample of more than 2,200 violations, the researchers found that infractions classified as Class 1 or hazardous had been open an average of 1,829 days — nearly five years. The sample also estimated that building owners owe the city $60 million in uncollected penalties.

“I would classify this as a crisis that is happening right before our eyes,” said Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. “You have a quarter of a million open violations. You can’t trust the system because there’s no transparency or accountability.”

Tony Sclafani, a spokesman for the Department of Buildings, said that with new safety laws and specialized units, the department had stepped up enforcement against unsafe conditions. “But,” he added, “it is ultimately the responsibility of every private property owner to maintain their property in a safe manner. This report is incomplete because it fails to address the role of all property owners in maintaining their buildings.”

Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said the Mayor’s Office of Operations had issued a memo to all city agencies in August 2008 to address the issue of outstanding building and fire code violations on city property. “This is a problem we’re well aware of and it is being addressed,” he said.

Citywide, Department of Education buildings had 4,567 violations at the time. That number had been reduced to 2.512 last month, Mr. La Vorgna said.

Mr. Stringer said he ordered the review after a series of building and crane collapses in the borough over the last three years, including two crane collapses in 2008 that killed nine people.

The report was limited to Manhattan, and narrowly focused on the Building Department’s role in enforcing city safety codes. It did not address the possible failings of the building’s landlords, including the Department of Education and the School Construction Authority, in maintaining their properties and correcting deficiencies.

One school building in Harlem had 15 Class 1 or hazardous violations, some dating to May 2006, citing problems from blocked exit doors and poor ventilation to interior structural cracks “causing lateral movement throughout the entire building.”

Haiti Relief Efforts Continue As Challenges Remain

The USNS Comfort is operating around the clock to provide medical care to Haitians injured in the devastating quake, but it is barely scratching the surface in a country where medical care was sorely lacking before the quake pretty much destroyed the entire infrastructure. The problem is that the backlog of people seeking care for their injuries has led to them suffering multiple complications, which makes cases significantly more complex to treat.

Because of untreated injuries, infectious diseases and dismal sanitary conditions, health workers said that the natural disaster that struck Haiti more than a week ago remained a major medical crisis and that, unless quickly controlled, it would continue to take large numbers of lives in the days and weeks ahead.

“There are still thousands of patients with major fractures, major wounds, that have not been treated yet,” said Dr. Eduardo de Marchena, a University of Miami cardiologist who oversaw a tent hospital near the airport where hundreds of severely injured people were being tended. “There are people, many people, who are going to die unless they’re treated.”

For the seriously ill, the chances of surviving may depend on leaving Haiti entirely. On Wednesday morning, a paramedic rushed up to Dr. de Marchena with news of a newborn who had arrived at another clinic in dire condition. After hearing that the baby could barely breathe, Dr. de Marchena said, “Should I get him airlifted to the United States?”

The paramedic hesitated for a moment, and the doctor said, “Do it.” The baby was soon boarded for medical care in Miami.

In the squatter camps now scattered across this capital, there are still people writhing in pain, their injuries bound up by relatives but not yet seen by a doctor eight days after the quake struck. On top of that, the many bodies still in the wreckage increase the risk of diseases spreading, especially, experts say, if there is rain.

If there's a silver lining thus far, it has been that it hasn't rained since the quake, which would have made already intolerable conditions even worse. Yet, we will likely never know the true death toll, where estimates ranged from tens of thousands to 200,000 or more. The lack of infrastructure and that all too many people are still buried in the rubble accounts for the wide range, but it will eventually settle on an accepted figure - all too high for the people of Haiti to bear.

One can only hope that out of this massive crisis, the Haitian people will rebuild with stronger construction that will allow these structures to survive not only quakes, but hurricanes, and that the higher initial costs for better building will be paid back by not having to rebuild after every storm that hits and lower death tolls over time from natural disasters.

The 82nd Airborne has set up a refugee camp on a golf course overlooking Port au Prince.They've had to provide all services, including basic infrastructure to serve 50,000 people who are now homeless. The US Navy is sending another group of ships to assist in relief efforts. The USS Nassau amphibious ready group will be headed to Haiti to participate in relief efforts. The Nassau carried the 24th Marine expeditionary unit and each of the three ships in the group have significant capabilities to deploy helicopters and bring equipment ashore by both air and sea.

The US Coast Guard continues working to clear the port of debris, which includes fallen cranes and shipping containers that litter the waters around the docks. The port at Labadee, which is where cruise ships routinely dock (and continue docking even after the quake), is seen as a viable alternative to bringing supplies into Haiti, even as the US is deploying more ships to help clear the port at Port au Prince.

CNN has additional updates, including that all Oxfam run site now have running water. They're also reporting that while most food being distributed around the city is nonperishable, some sales of fresh bread and ice are being reported. The US military will station aid representatives at the airport to prioritize flights based on the aid being brought in to streamline operations.

One problem is that some charitable groups are coming to the country so ill-prepared to deal with the disaster and needs, that they're more of a hindrance than a help, particularly if they come without necessary items to be self sufficient and/or bring donated items that aren't critical to relief.

UPDATE:
The US has reopened the port at Port au Prince. That's a critical step in the relief efforts since far more equipment and materials can be delivered by sea than by air.

The Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said a U.S. landing craft will enable 150 containers to move through the port Thursday. He said the capacity will grow to at least 250 containers a day Friday when a commercial vessel arrives.

Debris around the port, wrecked roads and congestion at the damaged main airport in the capital have made delivering relief to Haitians difficult.

General Fraser said more than 1,400 flights are on a wait list to land in to Port-au-Prince. He said officials have opened another airport in the Haitian city of Jacmel and two airports in the Dominican Republic to help, but road travel from the sites remains difficult.

Aid workers on the ground in Haiti say they are making progress getting food and water to survivors, but the death toll could increase because of untreated injuries and disease. Now nine days after the quake, they are shifting their focus from search and rescue operations to relief.

A full list of the 30 US Navy, Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command ships deployed to assist in the relief efforts is here.

Yet, we've got [T]hugo Chavez busy claiming that the US caused the earthquake with some super secret weapon.

Supreme Court Overturns Limits on Corporate Spending in Political Campaigns

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Supreme Court has overturned a rule that limited corporations from paying for candidates campaign ads.

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal political campaigns.

By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.

***

The decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, removes limits on independent expenditures that are not coordinated with candidates' campaigns.

So basically unions and corporations will be flooding our airwaves with campaign ads without limits. As can be seen in the Massachusetts special election, unions, especially the SEIU, spent enormous amounts of money in ads for their candidate, Martha Coakley.

It would not surprise me one bit if the 2010 election cycle is dominated by union and corporate advertisements promoting Democrats, who otherwise are in serious trouble for their support of Obamacare, Cap and Tax(trade), and Pork(stimulus)Fest. Will increased corporate and union ad spending save the Democrats this year? That remains to be seen. But this will certainly shape the election.

UPDATE (lawhawk):
Here's a copy of the decision, which also overturns several provisions of the odious McCain Feingold campaign finance reform law. Restricting political speech isn't healthy, and that ultimately is what McCain Feingold does.

Edwards Admits Obvious: Rielle Hunter's Kid Is His

The national media ignored the affair between then presidential candidate John Edwards and Rielle Hunter until it was all too obvious and the National Enquirer scooped everyone with photo proof. Now, more than two years later, he admits that Rielle Hunter's daughter is his.

"I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves,” Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and John Kerry's 2004 running mate, said in the written statement. “It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me.”

The admission provides a sensational coda to one of the most lurid sideshows of the 2008 presidential campaign — the disclosure by the National Enquirer that Edwards had an affair while his wife, Elizabeth, battled cancer.

Edwards consultant Harrison Hickman describes the former senator's relationship with his daughter in on-camera interview: “He talks about her being a beautiful child and a happy child. … Like any father, he talks about how it makes him feel when he’s around Quinn, which is very happy. … I think he’s very proud of this child."

Edwards always cared more about his own appearance and the possibility of being president.

UPDATE:
To that end, it looks like Edwards has surfaced in Haiti of all places. It's all part of rehabilitating his image. Sorry, but I don't buy it. He's using the Haiti relief efforts to rehabilitate his image; the suffering of the Haitian people is merely a prop.

Taxes Really Are For the Little People

The White House issued a memo calling on departments to avoid contracting with companies that have tax obligations to the IRS.

The Federal Government pays more than half a trillion dollars a year to contractors and has an important obligation to protect American taxpayer money and the integrity of the Federal acquisition process. Yet reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) state that Federal contracts are awarded to tens of thousands of companies with serious tax delinquencies. The total amount in unpaid taxes owed by these contracting companies is estimated to be more than $5 billion.

Too often, Federal contracting officials do not have the most basic information they need to make informed judgments about whether a company trying to win a Federal contract is delinquent in paying its taxes. We need to give our contracting officials the tools they need to protect taxpayer dollars.

Accordingly, I hereby direct the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (Commissioner) to conduct a review of certifications of non-delinquency in taxes that companies bidding for Federal contracts are required to submit pursuant to a 2008 amendment to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. I further direct that the Commissioner report to me within 90 days on the overall accuracy of contractors' certifications.

I also direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, working with the Secretary of the Treasury and other agency heads, to evaluate practices of contracting officers and debarring officials in response to contractors' certifications of serious tax delinquencies and to provide me, within 90 days, recommendations on process improvements to ensure these contractors are not awarded new contracts, including a plan to make contractor certifications available in a Government-wide database, as is already being done with other information on contractors.

Curiously, there wasn't nearly this much scrutiny to keep people like Tim Geithner from getting nominated and then confirmed for Treasury Secretary despite his tax obligations. Nor did the President have a problem nominating tax cheats like Hilda Solis or Tom Daschle (both ended up withdrawing their nominations in large part to their being tax cheats.

Suicide Bombing In Kabul Caught On Video

Security seemed to know that something was up as they began running from a truck, which then detonated moments later. You can also hear some gunfire after the explosion.



HT: Long War Journal

Haiti Endures Another Quake As Relief Efforts Continue

Earlier this morning, a 6.1 quake shook near the epicenter of the massive 7.0 quake that caused so much death and devastation across Haiti's capital region. There's no word on additional damage or deaths, but the ongoing toll from the 7.0 quake continues climbing.

The US announced that it would be sending more ships to the region, including a ship that can clear port debris with large cranes.  The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, will be arriving in Port au Prince this morning and will be able to start receiving patients within hours of arrival.

Military officials said troops and supplies were arriving as fast as possible despite daunting logistical hurdles. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander for military operations in Haiti, said the military has delivered more than 400,000 bottles of water and 300,000 food rations since last Tuesday's earthquake.

However, the colossal efforts to help Haiti are proving inadequate because of the scale of the disaster and the limitations of the world's governments. Expectations exceeded what money, will and military might have been able to achieve so far in the face of unimaginable calamity.

Canada's contribution to relief efforts has topped $135 million.The UN has pledged more assistance to Haiti as well, and will send another 3,500 peacekeepers to the region:


All the while, the bodies keep piling up like cordwood in massive mounds outside the capital as overwhelmed Haitian authorities struggle to collect the remains of those killed in the quake. For those who survived, many are suffering from grievous injuries and medical workers have little choice but to amputate limbs to save lives; doctors are performing hundreds of amputations a day.

Countries from all over the world are participating in rescues and yet again, Israel comes in for yet another blood libel story. Some idiotic American from Seattle published a YouTube video claiming Israel is harvesting organs from the Haitians killed in the quake. Idiocy doesn't begin to cover this nonsense, but this guy has the anonymity of the Internet to hurl vile lies against an Israeli effort that includes dozens of rescuers and medical personnel who have saved countless lives with their efforts. He's repeating the bogus claims from past blood libels, and perpetuating the myths. All this does is breed fear and reluctance to seek out aid from the Israelis who have generously provided all kinds of medical and rescue assistance to the Haitians half a world away.

More than a week after the massive quake hit, the role of journalists in covering the story is itself becoming a story. Just what kind of role do we want these reporters to take - amid all the misery they see all manner of devastation and death, but should they not also try to save lives? Sanjay Gupta, a CNN correspondent stayed on at a Belgian medical facility even after the Belgian doctors were told to move to safer locations because of a threat of looting and rioting. He's a doctor and he saw it his obligation to help ease the suffering of those patients. Other journalists are simply spectators cataloging the disaster, but that doesn't mean that they can't reach out and help where they can.

Should the reporters in this piece just simply stand by taking video of a pregnant Haitian suffering in an attempt to make it to a hospital facility or should they have put down the cameras to help in a much more direct fashion? Anderson Cooper of CNN was seen carrying a boy to a medical facility. That would make them part of the story, but it would be the right thing to do.

UPDATE:
There's an interesting story about how companies are busy trying to push solar power as a electricity generating solution in Haiti given the disruption to the power grid. One problem is explicitly shown in the accompanying photo - a man is using water to clean off the solar cells. In a nation where potable water is in severely short supply, that's water that is needed for human consumption, not merely to wash off solar cells to maximize power generation. Dust in the air due to the collapse and ongoing relief efforts means that solar cells already deployed aren't maximizing their collection capabilities, so regularly washing them down is necessary. It's a shortcoming that has to be overcome to make this a viable alternative in the short and long term, but multiple companies are deploying solar power solutions for communication, power generation, and even cooking.

UPDATE:
More information on the crane ship that is expected to be deployed to Haiti. It's a T-ACS, which has multiple cranes to allow for port activities to be made where facilities are damaged or nonexistent. The ships are part of a ready reserve force, which it claims takes five days to activate. I'm curious why it took so long for the decision to be made to send the ship in, when it was apparent early on that the port facilities were wrecked. Ships of the T-ACS class are stationed in Norfolk or Newport News VA and on the Gulf Coast.

The USNS Comfort actually started accepting patients last night even before it anchored off-shore. A fact sheet on the Comfort's medical capabilities is here and the Navy is supplementing the medical staff with additional personnel to handle the crisis.

The USS Fort McHenry has teams on board to help bring equipment ashore where no port facilities exist.

And because the runway at Port au Prince has been overloaded with relief flights, the US Air Force is opening a new runway in Jacmel, 30 miles South of the capital.

The airfield will receive C-130 Hercules deliveries that initially will support Canadian humanitarian assistance efforts centered in the southern city about 30 miles southeast of the Haitian capital, a military official said.

"The first (additional) runway in Haiti proper will go into operation in the vicinity of Jacmel within the next 24 hours," Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the second in command of U.S. operations in Haiti, told Pentagon reporters Jan. 19.

Reports of bottlenecking at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince have emerged as the hub's capacity has grown from an average of 13 commercial aircraft arrivals daily before a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Jan. 12 to the present level of more than 200 flights.

As international support continues to flow into Haiti amid what one official has called one of the greatest humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas, the U.S. military has looked outside the capital for areas to receive the additional provisions, equipment and personnel.

"We are obviously very conscious of the need to have multiple ports of entry," said General Allyn, adding that the U.S. military assessed the site at Jacmel (Jan. 18) during a helicopter delivery of food and supplies to the area.

UPDATE:
The US House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation that would allow those who have made donations for Haiti disaster relief after January 11, 2010 and before March 1 as though they were made in the 2009 tax year. It accelerates the ability to claim the donation and a similar move was made following the 2004 Southeast Asian quake/tsunami. Text of the bill is here. Expect the Senate to pass it shortly and the President to sign it into law shortly thereafter.

The Modern Massachusetts Miracle?

Massachusetts has resoundingly sent a message to Democrats by electing a Republican to the US Senate for the first time since 1972. Republican State Senator Scott Brown won the election in resounding fashion, which would explain why Democrats were already making all manner of excuses even before voters went to the polls. As of this writing, the lead was 52.4 to 46.6 and while Boston broke hard for Coakley, most of the state went for Brown.

Well, pundits and political insiders re going to have plenty of time to spend on recriminations in coming weeks, and Republicans are going to have to figure out what to do with the seat that they've just won.

Democrats are going to have to figure out what to do with their agenda for the next year as they will no longer have a filibuster proof majority. Mind you that Presidents have been able to move their agendas along without such majorities (it's the exception rather than a rule in US politics to have filibuster proof majorities), so President Obama is going to have to take a hard look at his agenda and respond accordingly.

The Democrats are also going to take a hard look at what to do with their health care proposals - whether they're going to try and pass something before Brown can take office, or whether they'll curtail their grandiose proposals to get something passed that might be more acceptable to a wider selection of the public. This most certainly throws a monkey wrench in the Democrats' political agenda.

Republicans are going to have to learn the right lessons from this election - this could be seen as a referendum on the Democrats' agenda nationally, or it could be the result of a poor Democrat candidate running an awful campaign and the Republican campaign ran as good a campaign as one could possibly expect. Republicans can't and shouldn't take anything for granted as far as elections in November are concerned but still build on this election; nothing breeds success like success, but they can't assume that close races will break in their favor unless they run good candidates who run good campaigns.

The Worst Commutes In the US

The Daily Beast has the 75 worst commutes in the US, and some of them are truly beastly. In the New York metro area, the Cross Bronx Expressway rings in at number six, while the I-95 stretch in Bridgeport comes in at eight. That's it for the NYC metro area, which strikes me as odd given that news reports consistently put traffic jams on the Gowanus/Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the Long Island Expressway, and the approach roads to the Lincoln Tunnel as daily traffic nightmares.

What this list seems to do is show bad commutes on roads that can have clear running times, as opposed to those that are almost always jammed based on the methodologies used:

Our first step was ranking the metropolitan areas with the worst rush-hour congestion. The order is based on the peak hour Travel Time Index (TTI) for the metropolitan area each highway is in. TTI is a measure of how much longer it takes to complete a road journey during peak congestion hours compared to free-flow hours. (Peak hours are defined as 6 a.m. to 10a.m., and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) Speeds during non-peak hours are used by INRIX to establish this free-flow baseline.

After determining the 75 worst metro areas, we then found the worst highway in each, defined as the most hours of bottleneck congestion, as reported by INRIX. The rankings then provide a still deeper look—the worst segment listed for the worst segment listed for the worst highway in each area.

So, which made the worst commute in the nation? That would be the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, which had 686 weekly hours of bottleneck congestion.

Building more lanes isn't going to solve the problems in most areas, since they've already tried that approach. Mass transit doesn't work unless the densities are there and the routes go from where people live to where they work on a sufficient schedule. Telecommuting isn't always an option, particularly for retail and service oriented businesses where face time is critical. Flexible work schedules might spread out the commutes over a wider time, but that has often resulted in more congestion for longer times during the day.

There are no easy answers to this vexing problem.

Paterson Proposes New Taxes And Increased Spending in New Budget

New York Governor David Paterson has come out with proposals for his new budget, and New Yorkers will probably feel thankful that the state budget isn't going to increase that much this time around. Paterson is proposing a budget increase of less than 1% in a $134 billion budget.

For starters, why increase the budget at all over the current year figure when the budget deficit is $7 billion and change? The trick would be to cut spending significantly to bring spending in line with revenues. Instead, the Governor is proposing still more taxes and fees to close the gap and to allow for an increase in spending. This means that the structural deficits continue and rely on a hope that new revenue covers the increases in spending.

This situation has led to deficits for years, and the new budget continues this tradition.

Those tax hikes include again targeting soft drinks and yet another tobacco products hike, but also includes hiking court fees.

Expect the tax hikes to bring in less revenue than expected, particularly as the recession continues, and the state will again find itself on the brink of financial ruin because the state will be unable to find revenues to cover general fund spending.

Grading the New York Times On a Curve

In their Golden Globes wrapup, the New York Times takes potshots at the weight of several of the stars on the red carpet, including Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, and Kate Hudson.

I got to see parts of the Golden Globes as Mrs. Lawhawk had the show up on the tv in the background and I have no idea what show the Times' reporters were watching, but all three looked great. And to criticize them because of a little weight is asinine. Better to have a few curves than appear anorexic. It's little wonder that so many people have image issues and weight control issues when media outlets run stories such as this.

Speaking of curves, Christina Hendricks (from Mad Men) also comes in for scrutiny in particular, and they attempt to make their editorial point in writing and by distorting Hendricks' photo (aka photoshopping) to make her appear even bigger than in real life - expanding the proportions of her body).

Seriously? WTF? I've never seen the show, but she's a hottie. The photo on the left is the one taken from the NY Times site, and the one on the right appears to be the original photo. The photo on the right appears to have more natural colors and significantly different proportions, while the photo on the left has exaggerated certain features as if to make a point about the dress she wore.

UPDATE:
As per the comments at Gothamist and Lidane at LGF, the NYT also went after actor Michael C. Hall for wearing a knitted cap during the event (he won Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series) . Turns out that Hall is being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Stay classy NYT.

Haiti Quake Relief Roundup

The number of dead continues rising, but no one will ever know the ultimate death toll since so many people are being buried without taking basic information. Many aren't being given proper burials, simply because the funeral homes that managed to survive the quake were overwhelmed, and the need to bury the remains of those killed swiftly to prevent the spread of disease is critical.

There's a concern that some Haitians may attempt to flee on boat to the US; the US has announced that they'd send the Haitians back. I understand the need to prevent a massive boatlift that could overwhelm local services here in the US and to prevent those attempting to cross the open water in less-than-seaworthy craft from doing so, but the humanitarian needs should allow for those who make it ashore to seek refuge here on a temporary basis. The US has already suspended its deportation program for Haitians because of the crisis.

Meanwhile, the French and Venezuelans think that the US has other designs on Haiti. You can subscribe such claims to the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind in the case of [T]hugo Chavez, but there's no excuse for the French government. Where are their aircraft carriers and troops to assist their former colony? It's real easy for them to criticize the US, but they have only themselves to blame for the mess of a country they left behind all those decades ago. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has tried to smooth over the issue by reaching out to President Obama, but French pride is feeling that certain sting:

Underlying the episode is a tangible sense of hurt pride that France is being relegated to a secondary role in a country long regarded as part of its own sphere of influence.

France was colonial master in Haiti up until the famous slave revolt 200 years ago, and French is still an official language there.

The crisis has unleashed a vast outpouring of support and sympathy in France, which is home to some 80,000 Haitian nationals.

Charities have received more than 15m euros (£13m) from private donors - in addition to the 20m euros provided by the government.

France has also sent 240 emergency workers and police to help with the rescue effort, while two navy ships and five aircraft shuttle in supplies.

However, the fact that the United States is so clearly in charge of the operation does rankle with some in France - particularly those with a predisposition to mistrust anything American.

As one blogger put it on the website of Le Figaro newspaper: "The US aid to Haiti constitutes a new case of 'shock doctrine' - ie taking advantage of a natural calamity to subjugate a disorientated populace to the desires and orders of a financial and industrial oligarchy."

The US has said that they would only be providing troops to distribute relief supplies and that security would be handled by the UN. That certainly clarifies the rules of engagement for US forces operating in Haiti, but means that the burden on security falls on the overwhelmed UN.

A bunch of countries, including the US and France, are moving to provide debt relief to Haiti.

UPDATE:
MSNBC is reporting that 5,500 Americans are among the missing and the ultimate death toll is likely to top 200,000.

UPDATE:
The American Red Cross has floated  a plan to bring 45,000 Haitians to Central Florida:

The U.S. citizens are being brought into South Florida through Miami and Homestead, where their identities can be verified. Thursday night, five flights arrived with 190 Americans on board.

“I think that we will continue see U.S. citizens coming in over the weekend and through the beginning of next week. And that would be our first focus and first wave and, I think, as the conditions are assessed in Haiti and some decisions are made both with our federal government and the Haitian government about what’s best for their citizens,” Director of Emergency Services Becky Sebren said.

Americans continued to arrive in South Florida Friday afternoon and, as the United States plans its strategy to help Haiti, the state closest to the island nation is taking center stage with a plan to bring tens of thousands of refugees to Florida and approximately 4,000 to Orlando.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty says he has some concerns with the possible plan. If Haitians are brought to Central Florida, the county, city and possibly other area communities will have to scramble to figure out where to put the earthquake victims, and it will be a tough challenge.

UPDATE:
Here's an update on the logistics efforts, including how the situation at the airport has improved through better coordination and additional equipment coming in to help speed the loading and unloading of equipment from the planes. Given the problems with the health care infrastructure in Haiti, one idea that makes sense is one suggested by Containers to Clinics, which is to transform shipping containers into self-contained medical facilities that can be transported anywhere in the world in standard shipping containers and be used either to supplement existing health care facilities or to (re)build new capabilities.

The Navy Twitter feed continues providing updates on the Navy's operations in support of the Haitian humanitarian relief efforts.

Corzine's Last Acts and Christie's Inauguration

Today marks the end of the road for Governor Jon Corzine. Before he left office, he granted several pardons, but the big news is that he signed the medical marijuana bill into law that makes New Jersey the 14th state to legalize the use under strict circumstances. The medical marijuana law is effective in six months.

The marijuana bill (S119) is expected to take effect in six months. Only patients with specific illnesses would be permitted to get a prescription: cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, seizure disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gherig’s disease), severe muscle spasms, muscular dystrophy, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and any terminal illness if a doctor has determined the patient will die within a year.

The law allows the state health department to include other illnesses when it writes rules implementing it.

The law has other restrictions, such as forbidding people from growing their own marijuana, ensuring it is dispensed through licensed “alternate treatment centers,” and requiring designated caretakers who retrieve the drug on behalf of someone severely ill to undergo criminal background checks.

While some people think that the bill sends the wrong message to children, I think that the medicinal benefits outweigh the problems. Under controlled circumstances, marijuana appears to have medicinal value and can help patients suffering from a range of ailments. It's about moderation and the law balances the medicinal benefits while preventing the drugs from falling into the wrong hands.

Speaking of moderation, New Jersey will also now require chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus, even as other reports indicate that the calorie counts may be off by up to 20% and still be acceptable. For a restaurant like Harold's (which isn't a chain and wouldn't be required to post the calorie counts),  the law will have no effect. Then again, one of the reasons that people go to Harold's is to attempt to polish off a  platter or portion that can provide a week's worth of caloric intake. The calorie content in such a case would be to see how much you can eat in a sitting.

While the nanny staters think that such things will help reduce obesity and force change from the top down, the single best way to reduce the waistlines of Americans is for individuals to engage in portion control. They don't have to polish off their plates; and the plates themselves can be smaller. Switching to a slightly smaller plate can reduce caloric intake without any extra effort on the part of the individual. Yet, restaurants are obliged to provide heaping portions because it's about the perceived value of the meals and not the health benefits of (or problems with)  those meals.

So, with that in mind, Republican Chris Christie takes office today and faces  a monstrous deficit and budget problems that are bigger than those of many other states. The state pension obligations are a ticking time bomb, education spending remains out of control and the tax burden continues chasing individuals and businesses out of the state leaving an ever smaller tax base on which a greater tax burden is heaped. These are not inconsequential problems and the legislature isn't likely to give Christie much leeway in trying to deal with these massive issues.

Massachusetts Goes To The Polls Tomorrow

Massachusetts goes to the poll tomorrow to determine who will fill the seat formerly held by Sen. Ted Kennedy. Democrat Martha Coakley is hoping to retain the seat for Democrats, while Scott Brown has managed to not only hold his advantage but he's managed to take a lead in the final polling before the election tomorrow.

Nate Silver has the Senate race leaning to Brown with just hours to go before the polls open.

The FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecasting Model, which correctly predicted the outcome of all 35 Senate races in 2008, now regards Republican Scott Brown as a 74 percent favorite to win the Senate seat in Massachusetts on the basis of new polling from ARG, Research 2000 and InsiderAdvantage which show worsening numbers for Brown's opponent, Martha Coakley. We have traditionally categorized races in which one side has between a 60 and 80 percent chance of winning as "leaning" toward that candidate, and so that is how we categorize this race now: Lean GOP.

The anger and populist argument isn't sufficient to win over a state like Massachusetts where the state is overwhelming Democrat. Coakley has run an awful campaign and even the last minute trip by President Obama isn't likely to overcome the mess left by the State Democratic party who figured that things would be a cakewalk.

I've read some folks saying that this is a referendum on the health care plan, which would be quite something if the seat held by the former champion of such reform, Ted Kennedy goes to the candidate whose election would thwart a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and increase the chances that a health care deal doesn't get done. In fact, the Congressional Democrats are looking at ways to circumvent that particular outcome to pass health care reform even if Brown wins.

Yet, I think this is all going to boil down to a turnout-related outcome. If the weather cooperates, the Democrats may pull this out yet. If not, then the GOP may get it done.

Restaurant Review: Harold's New York Deli of Edison

Harold's New York Deli of Edison may not look like much from the outside; it's adjacent to a Holiday Inn in Edison, New Jersey, but what it lacks on the outside, it brings on the inside. This is a restaurant that clearly sets its sight on providing the biggest deli portions known to mankind.

They don't just offer overstuffed sandwiches. They clearly mark on their menu that the basic sandwiches are meant for 1-2 people. We ended up splitting a corned beef and pastrami sandwich and fried, and had more than enough for a second full meal. In fact, pretty much everything on the menu is meant to be eaten by 2 people at a minimum.

Then, there's the desserts. Gargantuan doesn't even begin to cover it. A napoleon can feed a small army; it's the size of a sheet cake that could probably feed 12-15 people.

The food itself is pretty damned good. The pastrami was excellent and rivals many of the fine Jewish delis, but the corned beef lacked just a little something - perhaps a little garlic, but both meats had the right combination of fat and meat to bring plenty of flavor.

This is a place that is best savored with a bunch of starving friends or family since it's the best way to get the full effect and possibly have dinner and dessert.

Gov. Paterson Denies Canoodling Report

Over the weekend, it was reported that Gov. David Paterson visited a New Jersey steakhouse and got quite comfortable with a young woman who wasn't his wife. He's now denying that there was anything untoward that occurred:



UPDATE:
Paterson's coming under fire from fellow Democrats who complain that he's busy with this woman while the state's business continues to include a multi-billion dollar deficit that needs to be addressed. Paterson's press flack said:

Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said nothing but "a business lunch with a friend" was going on. "The story . . . was an outright lie, and any insinuation of improper behavior is absolutely false," she said.

Shorenstein identified the woman as Jennifer Jones, 34, a married mom who was asking the governor for advice on setting up an after-school program.

At the eatery, Paterson had told a Post reporter the woman "works with me." Waiter Tony Martinez also said Paterson introduced the woman as "a campaign manager or someone from his campaign."

The restaurant's manager said that there was no hanky panky. Jones' husband also ridiculed the report. All these unforced errors do nothing to improve his image or help him gain traction in the bruising world of dealing with the state's political agenda.

Did This Not Bother You Before You Booked the Cruise?

The Guardian reports that cruise ships are still visiting the private port of Labadee on the Northern coast of Haiti, less than 100 miles from the epicenter of the massively devastating earthquake and all the death and misery. Those on board one of the ships were quoted for the article:

The Florida cruise company leases a picturesque wooded peninsula and its five pristine beaches from the government for passengers to "cut loose" with watersports, barbecues, and shopping for trinkets at a craft market before returning on board before dusk. Safety is guaranteed by armed guards at the gate.

The decision to go ahead with the visit has divided passengers. The ships carry some food aid, and the cruise line has pledged to donate all proceeds from the visit to help stricken Haitians. But many passengers will stay aboard when they dock; one said he was "sickened".

"I just can't see myself sunning on the beach, playing in the water, eating a barbecue, and enjoying a cocktail while [in Port-au-Prince] there are tens of thousands of dead people being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water," one passenger wrote on the Cruise Critic internet forum.

"It was hard enough to sit and eat a picnic lunch at Labadee before the quake, knowing how many Haitians were starving," said another. "I can't imagine having to choke down a burger there now.''

Some booked on ships scheduled to stop at Labadee are afraid that desperate people might breach the resort's 12ft high fences to get food and drink, but others seemed determined to enjoy their holiday."I'll be there on Tuesday and I plan on enjoying my zip line excursion as well as the time on the beach," said one.

The company said the question of whether to "deliver a vacation experience so close to the epicentre of an earthquake" had been subject to considerable internal debate before it decided to include Haiti in its itineraries for the coming weeks.

"In the end, Labadee is critical to Haiti's recovery; hundreds of people rely on Labadee for their livelihood," said John Weis, vice-president. "In our conversations with the UN special envoy of the government of Haiti, Leslie Voltaire, he notes that Haiti will benefit from the revenues that are generated from each call …

When these people booked the cruise, did they not realize that their itinerary included a stopover in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere? There was untold misery before the quake, and since the quake, all those problems are magnified. The amount of food that ships take on board for their cruises is staggering, and the gluttony is a selling point - the ability to have all kinds of quality food at any hour of the day is a selling point - and yet the ships stopped at Labadee for years without news reports questioning the fact that just beyond the gates, there were people who suffered from malnutrition and a lack of basic services and infrastructure.

The cruise ships routinely make stops at locales that are home to crushing poverty on a regular basis; they're often called exotic stops - Carnival's itinerary specifically calls the cruise I took last year an exotic Western Caribbean cruise; Belize and Honduras (Isla Roatan), along with Cozumel and Grand Cayman. While the dock areas (which happen to be gated in Honduras and Belize) at all the stops had the usual assortment of Diamonds International and Tanzanite International and all the other tourist trap merchants, the moment you drove away from those areas  in Belize and Isla Roatan (and even on the mainland of Mexico in the Yucatan), the poverty was all too present. As I wrote:

 Belize was our next destination, and we had to tender into Belize City, which took 20+ minutes on tender because the seas are so shallow. The waters themselves were gorgeous, but Belize is perhaps the poorest place I've ever visited. We took the Altun Ha/Belize City tour, and it was simultaneously depressing and educational. These people live in conditions that would make most people blanch - and much of it is due to the fact that most residents live near the coast and most live at or just below sea level, which means that when the inevitable storms roll in, much of the area gets wiped out. The cruise lines have a secured docking area, but many of the Belize City residents don't benefit from the cruises nearly as much as you would think or hope for.

It was hard not to notice, and one could only hope that some of the money from our port of call made its way to the rest of the country - as a source of employment and for economic development.

Sadly, that's not always the case and the money doesn't go much beyond those gates and those tour operators and their employees. It's a troubling situation to say the least, even before the quake, but now that the quake has hit, any money that can come into the country is needed and the cruise ships shouldn't just stay away because that means that those working for the tourist areas would find themselves without jobs at a time when that money s critical to getting by. If a few hundred people are able to have jobs as a result of the cruise ships coming in, that's hundreds of jobs that would disappear if the ships stayed away for any length of time.

If anything, the ships that do stop should make a point to maximize the amount of food, water and equipment, that they bring to the island for distribution; it's the least they can do. These ships are in a unique position to make a difference for the better. Best that they not squander that opportunity.

Tiger Woods Checks In To Sex Addiction Rehab Clinic

There are numerous reports that Tiger Woods has checked himself into a sex addiction clinic.

A number of US media sources reported that Woods has checked into the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services clinic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Woods, who admitted to "infidelities" with a string of women, has not been seen in public since November 27 when he crashed his car outside his Florida home.

Pine Grove reportedly has one of the top sex addiction programs in the US with treatment lasting for an average of six weeks.

The clinic's facilties director, Dr Patrick Carnes, is said to have pioneered treatment for sexually compulsive behaviour.

Employees and visitors at the centre told WJTV television news in Jackson, Mississippi that Woods is there.

This is possibly part of Woods' attempt to rebuild his relationship with his wife, but more importantly, it's probably to get those advertisers sticking by him to stick around a little while longer and ride out the scandal.

Maybe David Paterson ought to check this out?

Gov. Paterson Canoodling With Mystery Woman?

Was Governor David Paterson of New York canoodling with a mystery woman at a New Jersey steakhouse yesterday for lunch? Well, fellow patrons seem to think something was up.

"I saw him kissing her neck," said Sharon Farrell, a lawyer sitting two tables away from Paterson and his mystery gal pal at the River Palm Terrace in Edgewater. "He was right on her neck, nudging, like back and forth."

Paterson's spokeswoman later said the governor's dining partner was just a friend, and that he never got romantic with her.

The governor himself told The Post that the woman "works with me."

But Farrell said, "No way it was a business meeting . . . It was very intimate."

Farrell's friend and dining companion, special-ed teacher Carol McGuirt, said Paterson and his lady friend, a leggy Latina in her 20s, were ensconced in a cozy, curved banquette for several hours during lunch, and clearly were enjoying each other's company -- immensely.

"A young, young girl was with him," McGuirt said of Paterson, who was stylishly accoutered in a shiny purple dress shirt and slacks. "I would say they looked like a young couple who are very into each other . . . and enjoying themselves."

"She was very attractive," McGuirt said of Paterson's friend. "They were very close together. He was leaning over and very touching. They were like teenagers."

After Paterson was sworn into office to replace the disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer, Paterson admitted to extramarital affairs and that he misused campaign funds to pay for the romps. This isn't exactly breaking any new ground, but it appears that Paterson's fallen back into old habits.

Spanish Lawmaker Pissed At US For Using His Image In Osama Touch Up

As I wrote previously, the US has updated photos to a number of top terrorists using age progressing software to show how they may have aged and/or altered their appearance. Well, it turns out that the images used to give Osama bin Laden was based on an image that the FBI experts took from Google Images and which happened to be a Spanish lawmaker.

That image on the far right above turns out to be an image based on the likeness of Gaspar Llamazares.

Gaspar Llamazares of the United Left party said he would no longer feel safe traveling to the United States after his hair and facial wrinkles appeared on a wanted poster updating the U.S. government's 1998 photo of the al-Qaeda leader.

"I was surprised and angered because it's the most shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist," Llamazares said at a news conference Saturday.

"It's almost like out of a comedy if it didn't deal with matters as serious as bin Laden and citizens' security."

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo quoted FBI spokesman Ken Hoffman as acknowledging that the agency used a picture of Llamazares taken from Google Images for the digitally altered image of bin Laden.

The photo appeared on a U.S. State Department Web site rewardsforjustice.net, where a reward of up to $25 million is offered for bin Laden, wanted in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.

Miracles Among the Mayhem

The mayhem and misery is pervasive and overwhelming, but there are intermittent reminders that the human spirit and the will to live can overcome the death that awaited all too many Haitians in the course of the earthquake and its aftermath. There continue to be rescues of survivors from amid the rubble, but the numbers rescued will continue declining the more time passes.

British rescue workers have freed two more earthquake victims from the rubble in Port au Prince today as disorder grows on the streets of the Haitian capital and aid sits undistributed.

A rescue team from Rapid UK used hammers and chisels as they spent six hours digging a 39-year-old woman out from under the ruins of her collapsed home.

Dan Cooke, a Wiltshire firefighter, said: “There was a woman yesterday under three or four floors of concrete squashed in with dead members of her family. That was a hammer and chisel job and it took six hours before the doctor assigned to our team took her to hospital.”

Meanwhile rescuers from Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) said today they reached a man after seven hours of tunnelling. He had been thrown out of his bed by the earthquake and ended up underneath it, which protected him and helped him to survive. After being rehydrated he recovered well and was treated for minor injuries.

An 80-member team from the NYPD/FDNY have also made rescues from the rubble.  A makeshift hospital has been set up at the airport by the UN, given that hospital facilities throughout the city are so badly damaged.

Meanwhile, anger at the US over its handling of the airport at Port au Prince has turned into a diplomatic row as the French have lodged a complaint that alleges that the US is putting flights of repatriated Haitian Americans ahead of those of other countries. Aid is arriving in Haiti, but it's stalling because of the precarious security situation and that getting to the far reaches of the city is difficult when streets remain impassible and bodies are strewn everywhere. Complaints over the fact that the Americans were landing troops and not humanitarian aid were made as well, even though it's those troops who will be able to clear the roads, rebuild infrastructure, and get the humanitarian aid to where it has to go.

The World Food Program finally was able to land flights of food, medicine and water on Saturday, after failing on Thursday and Friday, an official with the agency said. Those flights had been diverted so that the United States could land troops and equipment, and lift Americans and other foreigners to safety.

“There are 200 flights going in and out every day, which is an incredible amount for a country like Haiti,” said Jarry Emmanuel, the air logistics officer for the agency’s Haiti effort. “But most of those flights are for the United States military.

He added: “Their priorities are to secure the country. Ours are to feed. We have got to get those priorities in sync.”

American officials said they were making substantial progress. Mrs. Clinton said the military was beginning to use a container port in Cap Haitien, in northern Haiti, which should increase the flow of aid.

The United States Agency for International Development was helping choose sites and clear roads for 14 centers for the distribution of food and water. Rajiv Shah, the agency’s administrator, said the United States had moved $48 million of food supplies from Texas since the quake and distributed 600,000 packaged meals. It has also installed three water-purification systems capable of purifying 100,000 liters a day.

Yet problems remain. American officials said that 180 tons of relief supplies had been delivered to the airport, but much was still waiting for delivery. While the military has cleared other landing sites for helicopters around the capital, they are thronged by people looking for help, making landings hazardous.

In other words, the military presence is absolutely critical to keeping the humanitarian relief workers from being completely overwhelmed by Haitians in need, and to control the situation, but the complaints are coming nonetheless.

Hospitals are in dire need of all manner of equipment and material, and it's slow in coming:


Hospitals, or what was left of them, have also been turned into dumping grounds for the bodies of those killed, and the numbers keep stacking up.  Teams of health workers are going throughout the city, but they're overwhelmed by the sheer numbers; one group was working in the Champs du Mars, which is on the grounds of the wrecked national palace, and tens of thousands of people are camped there with many requiring medical attention for all manner of injury.

A group of Belgian doctors was forced to leave a field hospital because of the precarious security situation.

The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only doctor at the hospital to get the patients through the night.

CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the team out for the night. Gijs said he requested U.N. security personnel to staff the hospital overnight, but was told that peacekeepers would only be able to evacuate the team.

He said it was a "tough decision" but that he accepted the U.N. offer to evacuate after a Canadian medical team, also at the hospital with Canadian security officers, left the site Friday afternoon. The Belgian team returned Saturday morning.

And while the situation in Port au Prince is dire, areas outside the capital are in even worse shape as relief efforts haven't begun to assess those areas in any significant way.

Everyone has to bear in mind that there's no real functioning government, the UN is a shell of its former self as several of its top officials in Haiti were killed, its own infrastructure was destroyed in the quake, and it's trying to coordinate a relief effort in a failed country where the government's own feeble infrastructure was devastated in much of the same way as everyone else affected by the quake.

Coordination is the biggest problem; the US has the airlift capabilities to drop aid packages to anywhere in the country, but aid that's arriving isn't under its control and various organizations and NGOs need to coordinate their activities so that the aid can get out to the Haitian people. What aid was brought in on the USS Carl Vinson has already been dispensed, which means that the sooner the coordinating activities get sorted out, the sooner aid being delivered to the airport can be shipped out.

Now, there are questions over whether Wyclef Jean's charity is one that people should be donating to given lax accounting standards and its inability to direct most of the money donated to charitable work and not to administrative costs. Those are questions that should have been asked before his charity was included among lists that highlighted reputable charities that can and do get the aid where it has to go in an effective manner.

Meanwhile, an evacuee from Haiti was responsible for triggering a security alarm at JFK Airport when he went through an alarmed door to a restricted area.

Jules Bouloute, 57, slipped through a door leading to a restricted area at about 3:25 p.m., setting off an alarm and causing an evacuation of Terminal 8, officials said.

Bouloute - who sources said was returning to his Brooklyn home from Haiti days after Tuesday's deadly earthquake - was charged with criminal trespass, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said.

Captured on surveillance cameras, Bouloute was seen leaving a plane that had arrived from Orlando, Fla., sources said.

UPDATE:
Triage and care for patients under these conditions is quite different than what you'd find in the developed world where hospitals have all the necessary equipment and materials necessary for surgical procedures.In fact, it's reminiscent of the situation facing doctors who went to Sudan and other war-torn regions that had a lack of basic services and the risk of violence was lurking in the background. It's under conditions like this that doctors with experience in providing care under these circumstances are most needed, and Doctors Without Borders is among the best there is. Yet, the group reports that one of its planes was prevented from landing at the airport and rerouted to the Dominican Republic, delaying its response. A second plane was on the way, and hopefully this one will be allowed to land.

UPDATE:
Presidents Clinton and Bush get together for a PSA to raise funds for the Haiti relief efforts:


Meanwhile, more video is showing the dire conditions at hospitals in Haiti:


Here's more information on texting donations to the Red Cross, and how the various cell phone companies are working to streamline the process.