Let's Talk About Haiti's REAL Deal With The Devil: Exploitation By The Western World.
Just plain evil. Any time anything bad happens anywhere, Pat Robertson is right there with a "sin" to blame it on -- even if he has to make it up:
The Rev. Pat Robertson is offering his own absurd explanation for why a quake hit Haiti: Many years ago, the island's people "swore a pact to the the devil."
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," the controversial televangelist said during an interview Wednesday on the Christian Broadcasting Network.
"They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French'."
Robertson continued: "True story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."
Robertson went on to note that though Haiti shares the same island with the Dominican Republic, it remains desperately poor while its neighbor is "prosperous, healthy and full of resorts."
"[Haitians] need to have a great turning to God, and out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come," Robertson said.
The thing is, there never was any "deal with the devil" - at least, not the way Pat would lead you to believe. This is from Jean R. Gelin, Ph.D, a Haitian Christian:
For quite some time now, several articles on the Internet have mentioned the existence of an iron pig statue in Port-au-Prince as a monument to commemorate Haiti’s so-called pact with the devil through Vodou. The statue would be in remembrance of a pig that was killed during the gathering by the African slaves. In an effort to know more about that rumor, I contacted several authors about the exact location of the pig statue that’s incidentally nowhere to be found in the country. Their answer was complete silence, a simple apology, or just the removal of the reference from their texts.
One writer was grateful to me for pointing out the inaccuracy of her article, and she made the necessary adjustment. But I am sure that the same allusion can be found somewhere in other published pieces of writing and documents. The worst part of the whole picture is that the story is believed by many sincere Christians in America and around the world; and not only do they believe it, they also spread it as fact. The tragedy of our age is that repeated lies are often mistaken for the truth, especially when repeated long enough.
But Maggie Koerth-Baker on Boing Boing finds out Haiti's real deal with the devil:
Pat Robertson thinks that Haiti is poverty stricken (and earthquake-stricken) because the country made a deal with Satan to help them overthrow the French.
Back in May, the Times Online provided some slightly better insight into Haiti's past. Beyond a vague assumption that Imperialism had probably screwed Haiti somehow, I didn't know much about the country's history. Reading this story has been nothing short of nauseating.
Summary: Haiti was forced to pay France for its freedom. When they couldn't afford the ransom, France (and other countries, including the United States) helpfully offered high-interest loans. By 1900, 80% of Haiti's annual budget went to paying off its "reparation" debt. They didn't make the last payment until 1947. Just 10 years later, dictator François Duvalier took over the country and promptly bankrupted it, taking out more high-interest loans to pay for his corrupt lifestyle. The Duvalier family, with the blind-eye financial assistance of Western countries, killed 10s of thousands of Haitians, until the Haitian people overthrew them in 1986. Today, Haiti is still paying off the debt of an oppressive dictator no one would help them get rid of for 30 years.
The rest of the world refuses to forgive this debt.
So, in a way, maybe Robertson is right. Haiti is caught in a deal with the devil, and the devil is us.
Update: mgfarrelly points out another thing I didn't know—the U.S. Congress is currently considering a bill called The Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation. Part of what this bill would do is help countries like Haiti get their debt canceled, without making that cancellation conditional on things like closing down free schools or raising the cost of fresh water. May be a good time to contact your representatives about about this bi-partisan measure.
Sounds like a useful thing to do to help Haiti. Call your Congress critter and tell them you support the Jubilee Act.
so we can safely rest assured that the rampant METH and PORN addiction, and the high divorce and poverty rates, in the Red States -- God's Wrath for a "deal with a devil"
I was once told by a Texan that Coors Lite is God's beer.
It would be Bell's, from Kalamazoo. Sorry.
that story is bs and you know it. If it was a Texan that said it, he would of claimed that about Lone Star not Coors and especially about Coors light.
No, that would be Lone Star.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
That would be Pearl.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
"The tragedy of our age is that repeated lies are often mistaken for the truth, especially when repeated long enough."
I never really understood Robertson's comment in the first place. Why wouldn't slaves want to overthrow their masters? Is Robertson saying that FREEDOM is wrong? Then why was GW Bush and company trying to spread freedom throughout the world?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
is the only freedom they understand
Hopelessly hateful. And I was always taught that catastrophes like this Haitian earthquake brought out the best in Christianity.
I think it probably does in the real christians.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
My 70 year old mother(a true Christian) has already started through her church a shoe and clothes drive(they won't take cash, eliminating potential abuse) After New Orleans her church worked for months sending goods there well into 2006.
Good for your mother and everyone with a heart like hers
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
safer ways to send cash: http://aidwatchers.com/2010/01/haiti-earthqua...
Actually Haiti is a very religious Catholic country. So I am not sure what that idiot Pat Robertson is talking about. The vast majority of the people are god fearing, just the way Robertson likes it.
They're not worshiping Pat Robertson's version of God.
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
Requirement.
"I implore you to recognize the Church as a lady and in the name of the Pope take the King as lord of this land and obey his mandates. If you do not do it. I tell you that with the help of God I will enter powerfully against you all. I will make war everywhere and every way that I can. I will subject you to the yoke of and obedience to the Church and to his majesty. I will take your women and children and make them slaves... The deaths and injuries that you will recieve from here on will be your own fault and not that of his majesty nor of the gentlemen that accompany me."
Michele de Cuneo, 1495
The Spaniards in Haiti were particularly brutal. Cutting off ears and noses of those who offended them. Raping the women, enslaving all and actually using the men as means of transportation so their feet wouldn't have to touch the ground. Yes, the natives had to carry the Spaniards around on their backs.
They're not worshiping Pat Robertson . . .
Has a very good article at his website Empire Burlesque.
http://www.chris-floyd.com/
He is surrounded by gays, liberal-minded blacks... well liberals in general, and anything else he happens to currently despise.
Anyway, why doesn't Robertson ask these sorts of things when Red States are hit hard by disaster? I mean, considering a majority of the states in "Tornado Alley" are constantly being pummeled by Tornadoes and other severe weather, God must PISSED at them right Pat?
...gets pissed off at wall st. and The Federal Reserve soon!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
This idiot needs to be careful about what he talks about. His compatriot in hate and bigotry, rush the pig limpballs, is from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Cape Girardeau, in the bootheel of Missouri, is some 50 miles north of New Madrid, site of one of the largest fault zones in the world. It has more potential damage than the faults in California. The last time a major quake came from here, in 1812, it changed the course of the Mississippi River, and it rang church bells in Boston.
When the "big one" hits here, it will cause catastrophic damage, and, no doubt, will be because limpballs has been spreading his hatred for 20+ years too long. Robertson had best start praying for limbaugh to change his evil ways.
So Robertson can join Hume in deciding that becoming a christian cures all ills and all problems?
I really don't care that much about the history of Haiti, but I sure as hell care about some old fart sitting on his high horse that's stuffed with money pissing on the poorest country in the western hemisphere and blaming this god awful disaster on some bullshit fairy tale. If there is a god and he is ever going to do some smiting, let him/her begin with Robertson.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
As my noodly-worshipping self likes to say before I partake of His delicious body covered in marinara.
That's just a sissy version of Chthulu.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This earthquake doesn't justify another war and more, Loosing of the constitution priciples and more power for the executive branch.
That why i think it was't him... This time!
... are those who ascribe to him immense powers and scope. Kind of like what Cheney and the GOP keep doing with terrorism.
You're so busy being afraid, you don't have the time to notice your 'protectors' are a bunch of corrupt, venal politicians.
If someone is trying to make you fearful, at the same time preaching God's gospel, they are hypocrites.
Funny how an earthquake is the fault of humans but global warming is NOT happening I tell you.
there is only one real question to ask.
What does this say about the millions of American's that watch/listen to these self proclaimed Christian psychopaths and the hundreds of thousands of businesses who locally and nationally eagerly buy advertising and give support to these depraved "leaders"?
but the Haiti catastrophie should be a real opportunity for the Saddleback Mountain Pastor to send all the extra money he got from his contributers last week.
Or an opportunity to score more.
I wonder who Robertson made a deal with that would result in him looking like a heartless POS for all the world to see?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
wonder who Robertson made a deal with that would result in him looking like a heartless POS for all the world to see and yet still keep his ministry, his millions and his fame?
There, fixed it for ya.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Haiti had only one resource. Tourism. You cannot cost-effectively manufacture goods on an island (unless it is a very large one like Japan). Haiti has no natural resources. The Haitians destroyed their only source of income by allowing crime and filth to over-run their island, and drive the tourists away. AFTER Duvalier. They are grossly overpopulated to boot. As much as some people love to dump on the US, these things are the Haitians' own doing. And only THEY can correct this state of affairs.
... before spewing teabaggage.
CIA World Factbook: Haiti
Their agricultural base has been savaged by a series of storms. Wherefore comes this great Haitian uplifting you speak of?
You can't be serious. You seem to be agreeing with Robertson that this earthquake was caused by the actions of the Hatians, and that is absurd. Unless they all started jumping up and down at the same time, I just don't see how that could happen, unless they really are being punished for the desperate actions of an impoverished people.
Mon dieu...
Didn't they build the city on a Fault Line -- what idiots would do that? OH wait - we did in San Fransisco! That is right, back then we just used the blessings of a Church and not science to determine what is the best place to build right? How could not trusting science lead to this?
Most Americans are shamefully ignorant of the tragic history of explotaition of the people in the Caribbean. I find it right up the alley of our "blame the victims" that Robertson now scapegoats those scarey people there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ1uBz1Ag7M
First, the statement that "Haiti has no natural resources" is false. Agriculture is Haiti's primary industry, and the island exports, among other things, coffee and cocoa. Second, the argument that Haiti's plight might somehow be distinct from the machinations of the Duvaliers (or the French and other Western nations who took advantage of its plight) is nonsensical. Haiti is still paying down massive amounts of debt incurred by the Duvailiers.
I'm sure that if Haiti was sitting on a gold or silver mine, you'd be eschewing their democratic fight against evil.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
So you're saying you didn't read the post...idiot. Let me make it short since you don't have the attention span. Haitians, slaves, got out of slavery, borrowed at unfair interest rates, all money goes to pay off debt, countries wont forgive debt while people starve and suffer, dictator takes over spends while people suffer, dictator gone need to borrow more money at the same unfair interest rates, countries refuse to forgive debt, people starve and suffer...you getting it yet or do you still want to blame the poor and hungry citizens and not the rich politicians, slave owners and military leaders?
is intended to be a factual statement
was succinct.
Some people just don't like the big words, it confuses them. You have to treat them like a fourth grader to get them to understand.
is intended to be a factual statement
Well duuhhh...
And it'll probably be happening to America soon if we don't pay back the Chinese and the Saudis.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
snap
the correct answer is: colonialism, neocolonialism and neoliberalism
thanks for playing, now back to the comic books for you!
Brainless AND heartless. Well done, Cap'n!
for the 'Happiest Place in the World,' Disney Amusements. If a sewer is really good, meets all quotas, their highest wage is 42 cents an hour. Only a few workers make the quota 2-3 times a week. Anyway that puts the luck seamstress on a fast track to $642 a year. You're right. These people are greedy pigs, living the high life.
I'm sure it will warm your teeny tiny cockles to hear Disney went way out on a limb and sent Haiti $100,000. With one day entry fees at a whopping $97 (round up to 100, m'kay?) That's 1000 people they'll have to get to pay, just to walk in the front door. Hope it doesn't break them.
I doubt tourists have made up much income for Haiti in years, especially since the US and France colluded in 04 to get rid of Aristide and destabilise the country even more.
I think you need to read a bit more history of Haiti, before you start telling them it's bootstrap time.
me-oww!
knowledge of who has and hasn't made pacts with Satan. He was there after all.
Of course there was no deal with the devil. Can't make a deal with an imaginary figure. Shouldn't Pat be home scaring his grandkids with these antique fairy tales instead of spreading them as fact? Ooh, maybe I could go on a news network and tell them how I saw Santa! After all, based on what appear to be their current standards of journalism, they'd HAVE to take me seriously.
Hell, you could get your own show on Fox
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... FOX now has the Democracy Fairy (Palin) onboard, you should fit right in.
But expect Senator DeMint to complain that unionizing the elves in Santa's Workshop will jeopardize Christmas.
Beck had Palin on his show yesterday and he believes she may be "the next George Washington" I think Beck would have loved to have been a fake rich minister on tv like Robertson but alas, he wasn't smart enough to act that cruel.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
After the Revolution, many Americans expected our example would inspire other peoples. It did. Our young nation got its first chance to help in the 1790s, when Haiti revolted against France. Whether a president owned slaves seems to have determined his policy toward the second independent nation in the hemisphere. George Washington did, so his administration loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the French planters in Haiti to help them suppress their slaves. John Adams did not, and his administration gave considerable support to the Haitians. Jefferson's presidency marked a general retreat from the idealism of the Revolution. Like other slaveowners, Jefferson preferred a Napoleonic colony to a black republic in the Caribbean. In 1801 he reversed U.S. policy toward Haiti and secretly gave France the go-ahead to reconquer the island. In so doing, the United States not only betrayed its heritage, but also acted against its own self-interest. For if France had indeed been able to retake Haiti, Napoleon would have maintained his dream of an American empire. The United States would have been hemmed in by France to its west, Britain to its north, and Spain to its south. But planters in the United States were scared by the Haitian Revolution. They thought it might inspire slave revolts here (which it did). When Haiti won despite our flip-flop, the United States would not even extend it diplomatic recognition, lest its ambassador inflame our slaves "by exhibiting in his own person an example of successful revolt," in the words of a Georgia senator.
From "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James W. Loewen pg 150
More than 500 Haitian freemen fought alongside colonial troops against the British in the Siege of Savannah on Oct. 9, 1779, and several months ago a monument to commemmorate their involvement was unveiled in Franklin Square in SAV. There has been some discussion among historians about whether it's correct to call these freemen "Haitians" since Haiti as a sovereign nation didn't exist then. Whatever, the connection is interesting and noteworthy.
And what kaecee said about Jefferson is likely fact, considering his hypocrisy about slavery, his faux populism, and the time he spent in France before their Revolution.
He spreads these malicious lies because he is compelled to by his evil and deceitful god.
It's just that Pat Robertson is evil. God doesn't play the Sims.
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
If He were micromanaging Haiti, he'd have to be playing Tropico.
That made me chuckle.
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
Pat's mean.
exposing its useless, ugly head of rage against the oppressed yet again.
Christian: "Oh, no. There's a tragedy in Haiti. Oh, boy! Now we can get some new recruits to fill our pockets!"
There is no benefit from belief in god.
Pat Robertson is not an exception in the christian ideal. He is the rule and the thought that somehow a nation of people got what was coming to them based on some good v. evil mythology is cruel and inhumane - the rock that the christian church stands on.
Doesn't help that Hillary Clinton is describing the damage as "biblical". Kinda ties in with Robertson's meme.
Are there any non-religious people left in our government?
That's a pretty common descriptive word and I wouldn't read a lot into her usage of it.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
"This town's like something out of the Bible. Right after the part where God gets angry."
screwed up this country is.
what a f*ckin douchebag.
From the guy who thinks the Bible is real.
The Bible is real
It's tangible
If I drop it on my foot
Don't I wax profane?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
My Christianity really calls for me to be poor, as a rich man getting to heaven is like a camel going through the head of a needle. Those that are rich seek things that will distract them from faith, and corrupt them in the end. I beg to ask, who really has a deal with the devil?
Why they just got a minimum wage increase
Three dollars a day.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
He contacts God through his special baked bean tin can walkie talkie….
Like a cancer or a fungus, Pat Roberts comes on- resulting in an immediate halving of the collective IQ.
"poor empty pants
with nobody inside them."
— Dr. Seuss
LuLu
you can do better.
Just say they got what they deserved because it's a nation of poor black people.
The Rev. Pat Robertson is no Christian, at least not in the usual sense. He is an evil fucktard member of the C-Street cult, who worship Mammon. He has openly and publicly called for the assassination of foreign leaders, especially those that oppose his particular brand of American imperial capitalism. He has financial interests around the globe, and his public agenda more closely matches the growth of his personal fortune than any particular brand of "Christianity", let alone the truth. Evaluate his comments regarding Haiti accordingly.
As far as the goals of the Jubilee Act, it sounds like a great idea. Haiti, and numerous other desperately poor countries, could sure use the financial relief right now. A phrase "There but by the grace of god go we" comes to mind. It's all about the rapacious and usurious interest on national debt making its way into the pockets of the Wall Street Mobsters, and their friends in the World Bank and IMF. The USA is in their sights, as well.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
a complete asshat. Where does he get this crap? Word to the wise Pat: God is watching you, and he's pretty fucking pissed off.
just the by-product of dealing with the devil.
regardless, there is a response on cbn.com concerning the popularity of this wtf.
http://www.cbn.com/about/pressrelease_patrobe...
Pat Robertson could learn a thing or two from The Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean, who was born in Haiti.
Speaking to the media yesterday, here is Mme Jean's statement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Sl7LP5NDc
Funny, I was going to link to this last nite, on an earlier thread about this so-called Religious man, but the CBC link had a 30 second ad at the start ...
Its heartbreaking, I felt so sorry for her yesterday, it was hard to listen to.
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
I broke down in tears when I watched her on the news. She is obviously devastated.
How to help Haiti c/o Salon here
There are links to the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Partners in Health and UNICEF.
I have just now donated to Doctors without Borders.
Obviously the need is great.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
How does he know that? Was he there? I knew he was old, but I didn't know he was that old. Proof that Robertson himself had made a pact with the devil.
..
I'm Boycotting NewsCorp! Heres what not to buy: http://www.cjr.org/resources/index.php?c=news...
Don't insult freaks.
Someone might want to check into a rumor from the '70s that Pat Robertson, who went to prep school in Chattanooga with Ted Turner, got some money from an illicit wiretap scam which garners ideas for cartoons, and this was his seed money for his "ministry". Tap scam was run by Ted's uncle, Eugene "Bookie" Turner, former Chatta Fire and Police Commissioner, who was notorious for confiscating the residual contract for "Sabrina, the Teenaged Witch" from a local lawyer, and then splitting the money with him post-blackmail. Ted reputedly got his money for purchasing his first station from Bookie, and later had to sell Turner South to insulate himself from potential litigation.
Christians originally supported slavery, do not forget this, and will scapegoat descendants of slaves.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jan/...
i mean jesus, the haitians made a deal with the devil centuries ago, what, his sky majesty couldn't get around to smiting them until 2010? i think god needs a daily planner, or a secretary, he is missing some key dates. how are we to accurately know what he is smiting if he doesn't do it immediately after the fact? luckily we have robertson to explain these matters to us.
on this sort of divine timeframe, god will smite pat robertson about 2 centuries after the old fuck, pat robertson, dies for his dealings with charles taylor, a real devil.
that Robertson is claiming god killed hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent children because of what someone did centuries ago. And, what of the behavior of the "christian" Spanish and French, who invaded the island, claimed is as their own and eventually divided it between them? The Spaniard stole their gold and forced the locals to mine it or be killed or sold into slavery. Of course, the Spaniards pretty much wiped out the actual indeginous population - aren't today's Hatian's more decendants from the imported African slaves the Spanish had to bring in to replace the dead locals? Nice. And even if true, after 300 years of such oppression under christian nations, can you really blame them for turning to the other side for help?
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
"can you really blame them for turning to the other side for help?"
pat can.
i really think, if the 700 club was a nuclear power, pat robertson would lay waste to enemies of god (the list is extensive: women, children, poor communities, the downtrodden, etc) by himself.
pat 'finger of god' robertson
so intimately is because he was there.
me-oww!
good call, i thought i heard him slip up and say that.. "the haitians had signed a contract with me, err i mean the devil..."
"Haiti was forced to pay France for its freedom. When they couldn't afford the ransom, France (and other countries, including the United States) helpfully offered high-interest loans."
And, to ensure that Haiti and other developing countries don't get any ideas about being uppity, the rich countries invented the World Bank and IMF to keep them all in their places. We're doing this in countries all over Africa right now. Talk about class warfare and racism.....
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
How does his side kick there keep a straight face while he spews that superstious drivel.
Check.
In the past, I've heard Robertson blame Haiti's ills on voodoo. He would attack voodoo as "Satanic."
That, of course, is BS. Voodoo is simply a mixture of Catholic and African tribal religion.
Also, unlike Robertson's claim, the Dominican Republic is not "prosperous and healthy"---unless you count an economy based on child sex tourism and rum to be "healthy."
Compared to Haiti, the DR is "healthy" with a life expectancy of 73.7 years. In Haiti, it's 60 years.
However, in Cuba, that bastion of godless communism, it's 77.45 years. In the US, it's 78.11--not much higher.
Choke on that, Pat.
and a portal for human trafficking and a gay hotspot.
Also popular with the viagra vacation crowd like el Rushbo.
"every cloud is silver liney"
Here's what I wrote on the subject (and I referenced this post.)
Because according to the Bible, once every 50 years there would be something called a Jubilee Year. you were to forgive debts, repatriate land, offer all Israelite slaves their freedom, and let the land regrow.
You'd think Pat Robertson might understand that.
the devil being europeans and the U.S. Once that deal was finished, they were discarded and left to rot (so to speak). I hope we do more than assist them in the aftermath of the quake, and hope we do more to assure a recovery of a thriving society.
Trivial Pursuit question....showoff.
The real deal with the Devil Pat.... will reveal itself with where the chickens come home to roost.
I love religious racketeers. So many sheeple so little time.
There is another element: the role the Republicans (through IRI) played in "their backyard". Together with the Haitian elite (who control the army) they demonized President Aristide - a former priest who was elected with overwhelming support from the poorest of the poor - as a "dictator" for not being sufficiently obedient to the Republican's neoliberal, globalist and imperialist policies. Aristide has won several election with overwhelming support: between 60 to 75%.
The republican IRI - headed by John McCain - trained, supported and paid a rightwing opposition who staged a coup against Aristide in 2004 and with the help of the Bush Administration deported Aristide. IRI tried to portray the events as a "popular revolt", yet after years of absolute mayhem, these "popular revolutionaries" have never won any election. The events have an eerie resemblance to similar coups in for instance Venezuela or
also what happened in the mid-90s when clinton cut a deal with aristide to regain his position after being ousted in a military coup:
by forcing him to sign haiti on to world bank debt burden ($700 million), and...
"eliminate the jobs of half of its civil servants, massively privatize public services, "drastic[ally]" slash tariffs and import restrictions, eschew price and foreign exchange controls, grant "emergency" aid to the export sector, enforce an "open foreign investment policy," create special corporate business courts "where the judges are more aware of the implications of their decisions for economic efficiency," rewrite its corporate laws, "limit the scope of state activity" and regulation, and diminish the power of President Aristide's executive branch in favor of the more conservative Parliament."
Actually there was a black pig killed...in a Vodun ceremony by Dutty Boukman prior to the start of the slave uprising, during the Bois-Caiman. Whether there is a statue of a pig or not in Haiti, I have no idea. But that's not even the issue here. The reality is that Haitian Vodun DID in fact play a very prominent role (along with politics, issues of race, french egalitarian revolutionary rhetoric, etc) in the slave uprising that helped forge Haiti's freedom and strike the first blow against slavery in the Atlantic. Pat Robertson's clumsy attempts to associate this African spiritual practice to a Judeo-Christian concept of the "Devil" (who does not exist in Vodun) is religious-bigotry and racism--which denigrates African beliefs as somehow innately savage and inferior. That's the issue, if we dare tackle it, and it's our curse--not Haiti's.
Additionally Vodun is really an admixture of indigenous West African beliefs, and the Christianity imposed on slaves much like: Candomble, Lucumi, Macumba with strong similarity to Santaneria.
The British may've done it too. They had bishops at the Council of Arles in 314 CE, but then the Saxons came, and the first Church of England was formed between the Northern Missions of St Colomba of Iona, and Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, combined with the Southern Mission of St Augustine in Kent (founded approximately in 587 CE), in the Synod of Whitby in 664 CE, with dual primacies in Yorkshire and Canterbury. They were forcibly erased by the Roman Catholic bastard Duke William of Normandy, who conquered them with the pope's support, in 1066, just ten years after The Great Schism of 1056.
The Catholics claimed the church was rife with errors, which sounds like the usual tripe to disparage the conquered, but scholars do wonder where the hell all the magicians and ladies of the lakes came from in the Mater de Bretagne, so although Christianized Saxon influence may've been the cause, it could have also been because indigenous beliefs of the Saxons and the Celts were forming with the new, half-understood religion of the Christians.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Unexceptional, dumb ass Americans like the Rev and millions of his oh-so-innocent followers will make the 21st century not an "American Century", like the 20th, but the century of the "American Smack-down" -- economically and militarily.
A few years ago I read James Brady's memoir, "The Scariest Place in the World." He had been a Marine 1st Lt. in The Korean War. He recounted a strange guy that went through OCS and The Basic School with his group. Talked an incredible fight. This guy was the son of one of the Senators from Virginia. When their troopship was on its way to Korea it was diverted to Japan and one officer got off. The senator's son. His name was Pat Robertson. Later, when he ran for president he claimed to be a combat veteran and holder of the Purple Heart and "three battle stars for action against the enemy". A republican congressman, Paul "Pete" McCloskey, Jr.,who had served in Robertson's unit called him on it. Pat Robertson is Elmer Gantry come to life. Nothing more, nothing less.
this will give a lot of info, mainly from aristide's POV
Aristide and the Endless Revolution
http://www.aristidethefilm.com/
(available thru netflix, too)
Demonic xristians are fear mongers.They really don't believe in Christ. They believe more in a "devil"(which there is NO EVIDENCE, ASIDE FROM A MAN, THAT THERE IS A SUPERNATURAL EVIL)than they do God. "Demonics" swear you gotta believe in a devil "in order" to believe in God.....Bullshit. God is not limited to a "great big guy in the sky, with a beard", that's Pat's bullshit. There is no devil( I swear he's the man behind the curtain) There is only GOD(Negative and Positive)! Pat just knows who the idiots are and they made him a "billionaire".That's another bad trait for a Messianic Christian. Only a "demonic" would keep that cash. Pat can't even swim on water. He sinks,everytime.
Everything is spiritual, there is a high probability that what he is saying is true.
Anyway, i'm a christian and i am praying that God will deliver the people of haiti.
"deliver" - whatever the fuck that means - Haitians forever.
If some sky fairy was supposed to do something so these innocent humans weren't subject to the long-standing cruelty they have endured and now this epic disaster, that entity is useless...or doesn't exist.
I vote that god is some stupid imagination gone off the deep end.
Fuck god. Useless human construct designed to give an out for human failure.
I want to hold Pat Robertson by the nose while I kick him in the ass.
He must talk to the devil a lot because he always knows what the devil is doing and saying. This can't be a man of the cloth.
pennlady
Is Pat's fatwa against Hugo Chavez "we shoud just take him out" still in effect?
Oh, no - not the threadbare "wrath of god" excuse yet again. Is it cynical to wonder exactly which mega-corporate underwriters of Robertson's hooey might somehow lose a few bucks if we treated
Haiti with simple justice, or even a little christian charity? Personally, I'm more than willing to make a pact with the devil, if that would rid us of this obvious, obnoxious fraud - along with his lackeys, backers and peers. While I'm negotiating, maybe I'll try wangling an end to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for good measure - I can only be zapped by lightning once. Anyone care to join me?
ohio exile - For starters you can try boycotting the Ice Capades. If I am not mistaken he owns them. Also, doesn't he have a big stake in The Family Channel? Anyone out there feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Haiti's problems began when a bunch of Spanish sailors got lost on their way to India. Columbus brought the Inquisition with him when he abused, tortured, murdered, and enslaved the indigenous people of the Caribbean. Columbus introduced Christianity to the western hemisphere when he sold the indigenous people as slaves to Europeans "in the name of the blessed trinity." Since Columbus "discovery" of the "new world," Haiti has been invaded, overrun, and destroyed by Europeans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_%...
Read about Robertson's involvement with Charles Taylor of Liberia. Robertson praised Taylor to the skies so long as Robertson's gold and other commodities were planted there.
Taylor forced his own soldiers to kill and cannibalize his enemies, tortured pregnant women by burying them in the sand. It goes on and on. Robertson loved this guy. So, just who is it that is in league with satan??
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
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