Limbaugh on Haiti disaster..

The problem with individuals donating to third world countries with a history of corruption is the assurance that the money and goods will actually get to those in need, and not siphoned off by corrupt rulers and their henchmen. Doesn't matter if the money comes from our government in the way of foreign aide, or trusting US private citizens wanting to help - corruption is still a huge issue.

Using thre fact that thousands of people are suffering and dying to ridicule the Obama administration is low enough, but to discourage donations! I AGREE - BEYOND BELIEF!

I don't normally pay much attention to Rush Limbaugh, but the headline did strike me as an odd thing to say. So I went and read the transcript, in which it seems like his issue was not with donating, but with being directed to whitehouse.gov. He also talks about the corruption issues that Dusty's Mom brings up.

Like anything taken out of context, we don't know what was said before or after this very brief clip. Limbaugh isn't my favorite political commentator, but he does deserve a fair hearing of the entire segment, and this clip was just "clipped" to promote controversy, IMHO.

But as I said earlier, corruption is a very BIG problem in Haiti, so any American (including our government) so inclined to donate to relief, needs to make sure that their $$ is going to get into the right hands.

This was a major reason for the intervention into Somalia. Relief supplies and money were being kept by the various warlords in the country and not getting to the people. The same type of thing has been going on in Haiti for a long time in that the aid money wasn't going where it was supposed to be going- to help the people. Which is kind of why I don't believe the money will go directly to the Haitian government. I'm hoping it goes directly to the people in the form of food, medicine, clothing, and rebuilding.

As far as Rush is concerned I never really pay any attention to him (or the blowhards on the other side).

That makes much more sense. Not surprising to me that the Huffington rag would take it out of context and make it out to be something it wasn't. Typical.

I don't see how it is taken out of context. http://www.mediaite.com/online/rush-...-was-extended/

I also don't see where he is talking about corruption of the Hatian government. He seems to be talking about the Obama administration IMO.

Based on the quote in your text, I would have to agree with that caller. If the White House sets up a website to solicit donations to the Haitians, would you trust that the money collected there will go to directly help those needy Haitians? I sure wouldn't. Once the government has our money, where is the watchdog to assure that the money will be well-spent? The current administration has unapologetically thrown away our taxpayer dollars for the past year. No way would I trust them to send donated funds to the appropriate relief organizations.

I wouldn't donate to ANYTHING through Whitehouse.gov website, that is insane. Rush didn't say not to donate he said don't donate through whitehouse.gov, he said donate to the Red Cross.
Personally, I think that Doctors Without Borders is one of the best to donate to. See link below for some good ones.



http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...view&cpid=1004

I DO think we need to focus on the corrupt government of Haiti, so we DO make sure the millions and millions in donations WILL GO to the people and not to some corrupt, Third World Dictator like ALWAYS happens. Those poor people had nothing BEFORE the earthquake, now they have LESS than nothing, ask yourself why that is. Haiti used to be a very, very prosperous nation. The Dominican Republic, who occupies the other half of the SAME island is a prosperous nation, why the difference?

Who else's fault would it be? Why is it that other Caribbean countries can govern efficiently and without massive corruption? The Dominican Republic occupies the other half of this island. Why don't they have the same issues and problems?

This is the rest of the quote after he says the thing about income taxes.

I guess everyone can read it differently. To me he's saying not to donate to the government for relief to Haiti, because we already do via income taxes. But it did not come across to me that he was discouraging donations via Red Cross, churches, etc. That said, there is no doubt he doesn't come across compassionately. But it is possible his thoughts on where that money actually goes and how it is spent could be more fact than fiction, irregardless of how little tact he uses saying it.

I don't think that donating through the government website is what the OP was talking about. She also wasn't talking about corruption in third world countries. Although these issues are pertinent in how successfully we help the Haitians, I don't think they are what this thread started out to be. Rush is intelligent enough to realize that his remark "We already donated" could easily discourage donations. IMO, he said it to stir the pot. As ut0pia said: disrespectful.

I think Craig Ferguson had it right in a segment he did last night...Rush was probably running his mouth in the moment and didn't think it through, and a substantial donation out of his own pocket would be a good way to say he didn't mean people shouldn't donate.

It wasn't just Limbaugh's comments on donating that drew critism. It was his politizing the tragedy to critize President Obama. Particularly his comment that the only reason President Obama is helping Haiti is to burnish his credibility with light and dark skin black community in the US. While he is entitled to his opinion the timing is pretty bad. Wait until the immediate crises is over. People are dying, not just uncomfortable or poor, but dying. If he had an ounce of compassion he would have merely said that he chooses not to donate to Whitehouse.gov but that there are many charities such as Oxfram, Doctors without Borders or the many others with good track records.

I don't care what Haiti history is, or what their government is like right now. I would not wish the level of suffering and tragedy they are enduring right now on my worst enemy. There will be time to critize later. I just watched a CNN montage of bodies piled high. Young girls in school clothes lying in the street. Limbs purtruding out of building and churches. Amputations being preformed without anesthesia. I doubt most of these victims can really help the position they are in. To me opinion about thier history or who is to blame is a luxury of individuals that are not in Haiti right now. To comment on it is at best insensitive at worst

Once the immediate crisis is over there does need to be a serious debate on ways to help Haiti. How to curb corruption and why it is one of the poorest nations. But right now for me...

Peachy you make some excellent points, and I agree with you for the most part. But throwing money at the problem may not be the answer, especially if the money ends up in the wrong hands. I only urge caution in making sure that the organization you donate to has the ability to deliver directly to those in need.

Also I would like to see some of the huge businesses contribute their products/services directly to those in need. Walmart could donate clothing and bedding. Large grocery chains could donate food, etc............

I would agree that people do thier research before donating. I have always said that about charities at all times but especially in heart tugging times like this. Working in the non profit sector I know many of the tricks of the bad ones. I check out everything I donate to. This is a good website to check out a charity. They also have a link for thier top rated charities to donate for Haitian relief.

http://www.charitywatch.org/

Or

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

If you look at the White House Web site, you'll see that it doesn't collect donations, but tells you how to donate to the Red Cross via cell phone, and provides links to the Red Cross and the Center for International Disaster Information

Limbaugh should have checked out the site before making asinine statements.

I didn't go to the whitehouse website either, so if that makes me asinine for saying how I interpreted his comments,

I can see how you came to that, although my reaction to reading it was still what I said. Now on the other hand, I don't have a clue what Pat Roberton was talking about and am not even going to guess.

If nothing else, we can all agree that we want nothing more than for aid to get to those who are suffering and so desperately need it.

I wouldn't donate to the government site anyway even if Rush hadn't stated not to. Just look at how the government handled Hurricane Katrina (yes, I know it was a different President, but it is still the government)

I would rather donate to the Red Cross or some other organization that actually gets good stuff accomplished.

That is exactly how I feel as well. For those of you who want to donate, consider the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. Both organizations do wonderful work!

Good for Craig Ferguson. I love him.

Rush Limbaugh takes any opportunity - even a tragedy where thousands of people have died and desperately need aid - to throw hate on the administration. What I fear is the people who listen to him and actually take him seriously.

Before I go on, let me say that I already made a good-sized monetary transfer to ADRA, a charity that I trust and that already has operations in Haiti.

However, they are very careful to help individuals and not groups or the government. It's well known that any thing of significant value is unlikely to help anyone but the gang leaders in a given block. For that reason, you have to give direct aid, such as medical care. Even sending someone home with a bag of groceries is asking for them to get mugged.

Haiti is one of the governments in the world that has largely stayed in power through corruption and through telling its citizens they are poor because the white people are rich. (Jamaica is another one.) This is the same sort of attitude taught in the Palestinian areas. It's a very dangerous attitude to teach, and I suspect we will have a number of American soldiers and aid workers killed by the citizens of Haiti when the flow of aid is not fast enough to suit them.

I have a very real fear for our friend who used to be an ADRA official. Although he is working now as a university professor, I suspect that he will be sent to Haiti because of his multi-language abilities (French and Spanish, in this particular instance, so he could work with both Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

I actually went to college with several kids from Haiti. Nice people, and very glad to be out of the country.

As to Rush, I would say he probably should learn when to keep his opinions a little toned down...but then, he wouldn't be very topical, would he? I haven't heard him in years, except in the occasional interview in the news. He lost all credibility with me over the drug addiction thing.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but sending any actual money (not aid) to Haiti would be a big mistake; you could put billions in every year, and at the end of the year, you wouldn't be able to see any change, except for some big accounts in Grand Cayman banks.