The Rebeller: Mar 21, 2010

Sunday, March 21, 2010

60 Minutes: The Lost Children of Haiti

This story is both horrifying and inspiring. It makes you wonder how we could ignore the enslaving of children in our own backyard. How could any humanitarian read this story (or watch the 60 Minutes segment today) and still believe the excuses of the politicians, especially Democrats. Read the complete transcript/report(video below):

Almost half the victims of the earthquake in Haiti are under the age of 18, which means about half a million children are still living on the streets, in crowded orphanages or in makeshift camps. Untold thousands of kids are separated from their families, threatened by hunger, disease, sexual assault and even a modern day slave trade.

We've just come back from six weeks around Port-au-Prince with an American charity called the Global Orphan Project. The catastrophe may have largely dropped from the news but we found that the emergency is still unfolding as rescue workers race the clock to save the lost children of Haiti.

Ten weeks after, Haitians walk an apocalyptic landscape. Many can't be certain of food or shelter. And for families with missing loved ones it is impossible to know who is living and who is dead. Survivors have raised urban campsites of sticks and cloth and plastic. It's crowded; water and sanitation are poor.

When "60 Minutes" arrived in January, the Good Samaritan Orphanage outside Port-au-Prince was overwhelmed. Even before the earthquake, orphanages like this were common because desperate families often feel forced to abandon their children to the care of others. But, now, new arrivals were pouring in.

Update: Video added:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Incitement to violence? Judge for yourself. Maybe this individual should receive a visit from the Secret Service. Bottom line: this language could serve as encouragement for some assassin. That is why all Americans should condemn this type of language. Visit his Twitter account and express your disapproval with this post, shown below. Thanks to Jezebel for the info:

IMF Warns Wealthiest Nations about their Debt

It's a timebomb that continues to tick:

The International Monetary Fund warned the world's wealthiest nations Sunday to watch their surging levels of government debt, saying it could drag down the growth needed to ensure continued economic recovery.

The economic crisis is leaving "deep scars in fiscal balances, particularly in the advanced economies," John Lipsky, the IMF's No 2. official, told the China Development Forum in Beijing. He said that countries that have been going into debt to stimulate their economies should now prepare for belt-tightening steps next year.

"Policymakers should be making it clear to their citizens why a return to prudent policies is a necessary condition for sustained economic health," said Lipsky, who is the fund's deputy managing director, according to remarks prepared for the conference.

The IMF projects that gross general government debt in the G-7 advanced economies, except Germany and Canada, will rise from an average of about 75 percent of GDP at the end of 2007 to about 110 percent of GDP at end of 2014, Lipsky said.

This year, the average debt-to-GDP ratio in the wealthiest countries is projected to reach levels that prevailed in 1950 in the aftermath of World War II, Lipsky said. The ballooning of government debt also comes amid rising health and pension spending, he said.

...full article