The international idiot brigade never sleeps, even when there is a tragedy like the one in Haiti.
The lame: some leftist rag, Morning Star, of the UK titles on line "Venezuela leads the solidarity relief effort". When you read the article you wonder what makes Venezuela such a leader. Planes took off first? Landed first? Could they have landed first because Venezuela is so close of Haiti? Is Venezuela sending more food, medicine, rescue workers than anyone else? In fact there is no such details in the rag, just the headline that we are, I suppose, asked to take on faith.
The truly idiot: Ortega of Nicaragua deserves the mention of idiot of the month. He has been complaining that the US presence in Haiti is excessive, that they are taking advantage of the earthquake to take over Haiti with thousands of soldiers. Of course, he does not offer any way on how to deal with incipient rioting in Haiti as the devastated infrastructure delays rescue effort to reach the victims and these ones, well, are getting restless, probably aggravating an already catastrophic situation. I did not find anything in English, the International press has better things to report than the inanities of a pedophile and rapist president. But of course Telesur does carry the item in Spanish. What is it with these people that cannot give their paranoia a rest? Why the hell would the US want to take over Haiti today? And, with an objective look, would that be bad if a group of wealthier countries were to take over Haiti administration and reconstruction for a decade? Is Ortega (or Chavez, or Evo, of Fidel) going to pay for Haiti reconstruction? Gimme a break!
On more serious matters. I gave through a relative in Caracas for Haiti. In Venezuela wisely the ambassador asked for specific donations such as soap, water, food, toilet paper, etc... no money or clothing, just basics. I gave through the Baruta mayor initiative since I do not trust chavismo with my donations: either they will steal it or waste it just as they wasted a lot of the help that came for the Vargas disaster of 1999. Years after the event Puerto Cabello still yielded mysterious containers that were stranded with what appear to have been help for the Vargas victims. At least through the Baruta town hall administration I have more assurance that my token help (it seems considering the magnitude of the disaster that any help is doomed to be a mere token) will make it there , or at least go to the poor of Baruta if worse comes to worse.
By the way, I bet you that Port au Prince will be rebuilt much faster than Vargas state which is still half way at best, and an ill conceived reconstruction for that matter. We will see in 5 years form now...