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Santorum: That's Latin for Asshole
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
Rick Santorum had only been in the senate for a few weeks when Bob Kerrey, then Senator from Nebraska, pegged him. "Santorum, that's Latin for asshole." It was probably the funniest line the grim Kerrey ever uttered and it was on the mark, too.
Such a stew of sleazy self-righteousness and audacious stupidity has not been seen in the senate since the days of Steve Symms, the celebrated moron from Idaho. In 1998, investigative reporter Ken Silverstein fingered Santorum as the dumbest member of congress in a story for The Progressive. Considering the competition, that's an achievement of considerable distinction.
Even Santorum's staff knows the senator is a vacuous boob prone to outrageous gaffs and crude outbursts of unvarnished bigotry. For years, they kept him firmly leashed, rarely permitting him to attend a press interview without a senior staffer by his side. They learned the hard way. While in serving in the House, Santorum was asked by a reporter to explain why his record on environmental policy was so dreadful. Santorum replied by observing that the environment was of little consequence in God's grand plan. "Nowhere in the Bible does it say that America will be here 100 years from now." The reference was to the Rapture, which apparently is impending.
Santorum is the self-anointed prophet of family values on the Hill, who issues frequent jeremiads on the threats Hollywood fare poses to the "fabric of American culture." Of course, these sermons are hard to swallow from a man with Santorum's resume. After all, before entering Congress Santorum worked as a lobbyist. His top client? The World Wrestling Federation.
But now the Republican leadership, apparently cruising along in self-destruct mode, has elevated Santorum to the number three spot in the senate and his staff can't run interference for him anymore. The results have been comically predictable. Six months ago, Santorum penned an op-ed for a Christian paper blaming the sexual molestation scandals in the Catholic Church on "the culture of liberalism." Surely, an omen that the senator from Pennsylvania wasn't quite ready for prime time.
So it came to pass that on April 7, Santorum sat down for an interview with AP reporter Lara Jordan. He should have been on his guard. After all, Jordan is married to Jim Jordan, who oversees John Kerry's presidential campaign. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, despises Santorum. He inherited the senate seat left open when her previous husband, John Heinz, perished in a plane crash. "Santorum is critical of everything, indifferent to nuance, and incapable of compromise," Heinz said. This should have been a warning signal to Santorum that the interview with Jordan might be hostile terrain, but his intellectual radar seems to function about as well as Baghdad's air defense system. Post-war, that is.
After a brisk discussion of the degeneracy of American culture, the interview turned to the subject of the pending Supreme Court case on sodomy laws. Like most religious zealots, Santorum is obsessed not just with homosexuals but with visualizing the postures and physical mechanics of homosexual love. He seized on her question with an enthusiasm many Republicans reserve for discussions of the tax code.
"I have no problem with homosexuality," Santorum pronounced. "I have a problem with homosexual acts. As I would with acts of other, what I would consider to be, acts outside of traditional heterosexual relationships. And that includes a variety of different acts, not just homosexual. I have nothing, absolutely nothing against anyone who's homosexual. If that's their orientation, then I accept that. And I have no problem with someone who has other orientations. The question is, do you act upon those orientations? So it's not the person, it's the person's actions. And you have to separate the person from their actions."
In the past, one of Santorum's staffers would have found some way to interrupt the interview and deftly muzzle the senator. But he was flying solo and evidently trying to impress Ms. Jordan with his encyclopedic knowledge of the work of Krafft-Ebbing. Note the senator's excited and flirtatious tone.
AP: OK, without being too gory or graphic, so if somebody is homosexual, you would argue that they should not have sex?
SANTORUM: We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that [have] sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family. And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution, this right that was created, it was created in Griswold - Griswold was the contraceptive case - and abortion. And now we're just extending it out. And the further you extend it out, the more you - this freedom actually intervenes and affects the family. You say, well, it's my individual freedom. Yes, but it destroys the basic unit of our society because it condones behavior that's antithetical to strong, healthy families. Whether it's polygamy, whether it's adultery, where it's sodomy, all of those things, are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family.
"Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality
At this point, even the unnerved reporter tried to rein in Santorum. "I'm sorry," Jordan interjected. "I didn't think I was going to talk about 'man on dog' with a United States senator, it's sort of freakingme out."
But the man was on a roll and there was no stopping him. "And that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately," Santorum said. "The idea is that the state doesn't haverights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because thereare consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire. And we're seeing it in our society."
There you have it. A case study in the politics of pathological homophobia. Despite outcries from gay Republicans, Bush stood by Santorum in his hour of media martyrdom: "The president believes the senator is an inclusive man," Ari Fleishcer informed the press. "And that's what he believes." Santorum's pal Tom Delay, the pest exterminator-turned-Republican House Majority Leader, was ebullient. He called Santorum's remarks "courageous."
Trent Lott must be snickering in the senate cloakroom.
Santorum, the Mullah Omar of Pennsylvania, is a ridiculous spectacle but he can't be taken lightly. He is the slick-haired darling of the neo-cons, an obedient automaton that feverishly promotes their wildest fantasies without hesitation.
Undeterred by the First Amendment, Santorum says planning to introduce legislation that will limit criticism of Israel in colleges and universities that receive federal money.
And his passion for Israel is so profound that it obviates even his rancid homophobia. When it comes to the Middle East, liberal Democrats race to co-sponsor legislation with him. Most recently, Santorum and Barbara Boxer teamed up to introduce the Syria Accountability Act, which would inflict trade sanctions on Syria like those which gripped Iraq for 12 years, killing nearly one million children. Talk about family values.
Sure, Santorum is an asshole. But he's not one of a kind.

To: Rush Limbaugh

From: Roger Ebert

You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.Having followed President Obama's suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims.
Here is a transcript from your program on Thursday:

Justin of Raleigh, North Carolina: "Why does Obama say if you want to donate some money, you could go to whitehouse.gov to direct you how to do so? If I wanted to donate to the Red Cross, why do I have to go to the White House page to donate?

"Limbaugh: "Exactly. Would you trust the money's gonna go to Haiti?"

Justin: "No."

Rush: "But would you trust that your name's gonna end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?"

Justin: "Absolutely!

"Limbaugh: "Absolutely!"

That's what was said.

"Haiti is the only country in the entire world that has dedicated its government to Satan. Demonic spirits have been consulted for political decisions, and have shaped the country's history." Thus speaks Reverend Doug Anderson, who grew up in Haiti with missionary parents, and served there along with his wife Dawn as a missionary until 1990. The leaders of Haiti make no attempt to hide their allegiance to Satan. Haiti’s government is a government of the devil, by the devil, and for the devil. It is a matter of well-documented historical fact that the nation of Haiti was dedicated to Satan 200 years ago. On August 14, 1791, a group of houngans (voodoo priests), led by a former slave houngan named Boukman, made a pact with the Devil at a place called Bois-Caiman. All present vowed to exterminate all of the white Frenchmen on the island. They sacrificed a black pig in a voodoo ritual at which hundreds of slaves drank the pig’s blood. In this ritual, Boukman asked Satan for his help in liberating Haiti from the French. In exchange, the voodoo priests offered to give the country to Satan for 200 years and swore to serve him. On January 1, 1804, the nation of Haiti was born and thus began a new demonic tyranny. At the time of the pact Haiti was France's richest colony, and was known as the “Pearl of the Antilles” for its singular beauty. But it soon became one of the world's poorest and most benighted nations. Scoffers may say that there is no connection between the fact that Haiti was the richest nation in the hemisphere, and then became the poorest after selling its national soul to Satan. But the scoffers can’t come up with a better explanation. Voodoo is a practice based on a mixture of African spiritism and witchcraft. Depending on the source of one’s research, between 75 and 90 percent of Haitians practice voodoo. This seems to fly in the face of the fact that the country is predominantly Catholic. But, like their African ancestors, voodoo practitioners have no problem embracing multiple religions. In fact, most who practice voodoo believe they must be Catholic first. Until recently, voodoo was practiced in secret. Practitioners would go to the Catholic Church on Sunday, and attend voodoo ceremonies deep in the woods at other times. Voodoo was forbidden during the colonial times, and the 32 Haitian governments that followed independence also suppressed the practice because of world condemnation. But on April 8, 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide approved Voodoo as an officially recognized religion in Haiti (see links below). Voodoo priests can now perform marriages and other ceremonies previously reserved for Christian religions. "An ancestral religion, Voodoo is an essential part of national identity," Aristide said in the decree recognizing Voodoo. Aristide has been a controversial figure since he became the first freely elected president in Haiti’s history in 1991, 200 years after the nation was dedicated to Satan. A defrocked Catholic priest, Aristide was expelled in 1988 from his order, the Salesians. He was a hero of the resistance to Haitian tyranny, then president, then exiled, then restored to the presidency by his close friend, Bill Clinton. One of his first acts was to express his support for reinstating the Voodoo pact that expired the year he was elected. He claimed that Voodoo was the “national religion” of Haiti, and a source of national pride. Even before Aristide came to power, a U.S. embassy official in Port-au-Prince described Aristide as "a Marxist maniac." Newsweek Magazine called him "the flaky Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide." And none other than Henry Kissinger declared that he was “psychotic.” While it is true that Aristide used Communism to gain power, I don’t believe he is psychotic. What many see as madness is simply the pure evil that emanates from the man. The Media Research Center (see link below), which describes Aristide as a “charismatic Marxist priest” had this to say about the man: “Aristide wasn’t much of a Democrat, paying people to beat up his opponents, and becoming wealthy from drug trafficking into the U.S. For a good, brief primer on Aristide, see ‘Aristide Must Go,’ the editorial in the March 8 Weekly Standard. It explains how ‘It is not the democratic authorities that are being overthrown in Haiti, but Aristide's retinue of gunmen.” (There is a link to this article below, as well.) Aristide was only in office eight months before he was ousted and fled to the United States. There he effectively lobbied Bill Clinton and other government officials, convincing them that he was not the tyrant that Haitians said he was. After Clinton sent 20,000 American troops to install Aristide in power in 1994, the president-turned-dictator disbanded the army. But the civilian police force he replaced it with has also brutalized the Haitian people, engaging in summary executions as well as the drug-running that has made Aristide the richest man in Haiti. This drug money allows Aristide to live in a lavish mansion in a nation where the average yearly salary is $350. As the Weekly Standard editorial by Christopher Caldwell says, “Aristide, of course, did not create Haiti's problems, but he profits from all of them. His ten years of direct and indirect rule have been a disaster. His regime has been democratic only in the Haitian sense of one man, one vote, one time. The last free and fair election in Haiti was in 1990, the closely monitored contest that brought Aristide to power. Even then, Aristide was making use of street violence orchestrated by his ‘vigilance committees.’ Four years ago, Aristide received over 90 percent of the vote in a presidential election so transparently corrupt that several American and European agencies reluctantly froze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money. “With a mystifying regularity reminiscent of Saddam Hussein, Aristide has refused the simplest procedural inducements to unlock millions that could have been used to feed and treat his poorer compatriots. From humble beginnings as a Salesian slum priest, Aristide has become the richest man in Haiti. How? Last Wednesday in Miami, the Haitian mafioso Beaudoin Ketant, go-between for three Colombian cartels, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for transporting 30 tons of cocaine between Haiti and Florida. At his sentencing, Ketant said that Aristide "is a drug lord. He controlled the drug trade in Haiti. It's a one-man show, your honor. You either pay him or you die." Caldwell goes on to relate how Aristide created a series of banks that paid absurd rates of interest, which enticed Haiti’s tiny middle class to deposit their hard-earned dollars. He then stole $90 million from the banks, effectively demolishing the middle class and creating a classic poor-against-rich uprising that resulted in his ouster. Democrat almost-nominee John Kerry spoke out in support of Aristide prior to his resignation, saying “This democracy is going to be sustained.” Democrat Charlie Rangel and the Congressional Black Caucus, along with such upstanding citizens as “Reverend” Jesses Jackson and Alcee Hastings (the former federal judge convicted of bribery), have been calling for the US to once again install Aristide in power following his recent resignation. They have been irresponsibly trumpeting his ridiculous lies about being “kidnapped” by the US and “forced into exile.” The obvious facts are that Aristide begged for US help and we protected him. When it became clear that the only way his safety could be assured was to leave the country, we provided transportation for him. Had we not intervened, Aristide would have been dead in a matter of days, so furious were the people he had abused for years. He gladly boarded the plane, grateful for our protection. Now that he is safe, he is laying the groundwork for a possible comeback with his preposterous lies. Rangel, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and the rest of the Black Caucus should be ashamed of siding with a vicious dictator against their own country. I don’t have a bone of prejudice in my body against blacks. But I am greatly prejudiced against the members of this Caucus because of their constant use of the race card, whether or not race is an issue. It is clearly not the issue here. The fact that Aristide is black is not why his countrymen want him gone. It is because he is an evil man. My biggest problem with this man is the fact that, not only did he make Voodoo an official religion, he used every device available to him to promote it. On the day that his government officially recognized Voodoo, he paid all the radio stations to play nothing but Voodoo music all day. He flew in 400 Voodoo priests from West Africa, the birthplace of the evil religion, to promote it. A missionary couple who run an orphanage and a school for 400 children in Haiti sent a report to their supporters last summer (see the link to “Religious Persecution Intensifies in Haiti” below). It reads, in part, “Last week a baby was stolen from the hospital in St. Marc. The reason the child is to be sacrificed to appease the Voodoo gods for the so-called special day of celebration.” Can there be any question of the horribly evil nature of this “religion” that former priest Aristide promotes? And now for the good news. Even with Aristide’s support and promotion, Voodoo in Haiti is doomed. God’s people have gone on the offensive, and the blood pact that has kept Haiti in darkness for 200 years has been broken. I first heard this account from Bishop Joel Jeune at a meeting of the Gospel Crusade Ministerial Fellowship (www.GCMF.org). Jeune is the Coordinator of Haiti for the GCMF and oversees 64 churches there. The link, “US Department of State Report of Religious Freedom” below contains this report: “In early August 1997, three evangelical pastors were arrested near Cap Haitien after they had proceeded with plans to hold a religious revival at Bois Caiman. Bois Caiman has a strong patriotic significance for Haitians, since it is the site of a legendary 1791 voodoo ceremony at which slaves swore to rise up against their masters and risk death rather than continue to live in bondage. The resulting slave rebellion was a precursor to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). “The pastors, who had been prohibited by the authorities from holding the revival on the actual anniversary of the ceremony, proceeded instead with plans to hold the event several days before the anniversary, hoping to rid the area of malevolent influences. This offended much of the local populace and local authorities, who arrested pastors Joel Jeune, Jean Berthony Paul, and Gregor Joseph on August 4. They were released on the orders of a judge on August 6.” The government account tells only part of the story. In the link “Haiti - God's country after a 'holy invasion'” you will see the following and much more (very exciting reading): "On 14 August 1997, God's people in Haiti experienced a historic victory over Satan, a milestone in winning our country back for God. The reason lies in history. The slaves brought here from Africa have suffered incredibly for many years. On 14 August 1791, a slave leader by the name of Boukman called a secret meeting in a wood called Bois-Caiman near Cap Haitien, which was attended by a large number of slaves. They celebrated a satanic ceremony, sacrificing a pig and drinking its blood, swore to serve the Devil and dedicated Haiti to him. For 206 years, Bois-Caiman was a very holy place, a high place which could only be entered by witch doctors during Voodoo ceremonies. For 206 years, they have been meeting there every August 14 to sacrifice to Satan. “A number of Christian leaders, including Paul and Gerald Clerie of 'Vision: Haiti' and Christian leaders among the large numbers of Haitians in the USA, Canada, France and other countries, called Christians to unite on 14 August 1997 to pray and fast that Haiti would return to God. In Haiti's towns, villages and mountains, Christians came together to fast and pray, held victory marches in the streets and a large event in the capital from 6am to 10pm during the holy invasion. “Our church members started their march in front of the President's palace and marched for 6 hours to the place where the satanic ceremony took place 206 years ago. We had informed the government and media of our intentions weeks before the event, and were told that the witch doctors would be there, as they were every year. When we arrived, they had hidden themselves, unable to directly confront the Christians. It was a significant spiritual battle to reach the tree under which the pig was sacrificed in the original ceremony. We formed a Jericho march, circling the magic tree seven times. On the seventh time around, God gave many people a vision of the Devil fleeing from the area. The Christians were overjoyed. We cancelled the satanic contract and broke the curse, before celebrating communion and dedicating the area as a place of prayer. We also declared 14 August to be a national prayer day, on which people should pray that Haiti will return to God. “On the same day, several witch doctors were saved during the events in the capital. Three days after our holy invasion, the witch doctors returned to Bois-Caiman to bring their sacrifices and call on the spirits. After days of effort, nothing happened, because we had commanded the spirits never to return and dedicated the area to Christ. “The witch doctors complained to the government and media. At first, the government also protested, speaking in a press release of 'terrible damage to a Voodoo holy place in which no Christian had set foot for 206 years.' By the grace of God, the government relented and respected our legal right as Haitians to gather at any place on Haiti, including Bois-Caiman, where they now allow all Christian groups to meet. The place is now very popular, and local Christians gather there daily for prayer and fasting. All Haitians now know that the country no longer has a pact with the Devil; the contract has been cancelled, the curse broken. In 1991, 200 years after his predecessors had dedicated Haiti to Satan, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became president of Haiti and attempted to renew the contract. In 1997, the contract was broken forever. In 2003, in a last desperate attempt to retain power, Aristide made Voodoo an official religion. And now he is gone. Let us pray that Haiti, with its newfound freedom, will turn to the one true God. By Tom Barrett

"I was a racketeer for capitalism," he proclaimed. "I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1916. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of a half dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street."
Few military men or political leaders have been as blunt. Certainly, none of the players in Haiti's more recent dramas have been candid about what is really at stake. In the 1990s, for example, President Clinton talked about "upholding democracy." Yet the central objective of his Haiti occupation was to maintain effective control of the country until President Aristide's term expired. Total media coverage tended to obscure the obvious: the US had entered into an agreement with the Haitian military for national co-management until the next elections. CIA support for those who conducted the coup was never mentioned, nor was the Haitian military's involvement in drug trafficking. Prior to the U.S. occupation, the media was also suspiciously silent about, as Aristide put it, a "sham embargo" that squeezed the poor but exempted businesses. Instead, it assisted the administration in launching a smear campaign against Aristide that ultimately became conventional wisdom.
Under U.S. pressure, General Raoul Cedras and his accomplices ultimately stepped aside. But years later, even though the U.S. occupation force was gradually replaced by UN troops, many U.S. military and civilian advisers remained, some becoming instrumental in developing a new Haitian police force. Since Aristide agreed not to seek immediate re-election, and only a year of his five-year term was left by the time he returned, the real battle turned to Haitian hearts and minds. In the following years, U.S. planners came to view the most serious threat to "security" coming from Aristide and his supporters, who were upset that the same forces responsible for orchestrating the 1991 coup still dominated the country. The main job of the occupiers, meanwhile, was to protect the middle-class and business community, while squelching resistance. As it was back in 1915, the underlying goal of the U.S. occupation was to set the stage for an acceptable election, manipulating public opinion if possible, but remaining ready to use force if the terms of debate were questioned.
It was far easier to identify the economic interests at stake in 1915. In a globalized economy, those who pull Haiti's strings are more numerous, and all but invisible. By the late-90s, over 60 U.S. corporations were doing business in Haiti, many of them well-known in the apparel and sportswear trade. The names included Wilson and Star Sportswear baseballs and softballs, Universal Manufacturing, and H.H. Cutler Co., producing goods for Disney's Babies, Fisher-Price, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. The leading retail outlets for goods made in Haiti before and during the 1990s coup were Sears, J.C. Penney, and WalMart.
At the time, Haitian labor leaders maintained that Aristide's intention to raise the minimum wage to 50 cents an hour, up from a scandalous 14 cents, was a crucial reason for his overthrow. Even if they were wrong, the wage situation, a byproduct of the World Bank's structural adjustment program for the country, said much about the true intentions behind U.S. intervention. As in 1915, Haiti was essentially considered an endangered investment, and so U.S. troops were deployed again to pacify the population.
The Haitian army, implicated in drug trans-shipment operations and accused of widespread violations of human rights, was never effectively purged. In fact, a general amnesty ensured that criminals and murderers would not be brought to justice. Public bitterness and distrust deepened, particularly since social and economic conditions did not fundamentally change, an outcome all but assured by the fact that Aristide, as a condition of his return, agreed not to implement the reform program that had been derailed three years before.
After Aristide was returned to office, the main focus of U.S. attention turned to promoting a "moderate" successor, someone more willing to play ball with U.S. businesses and the World Bank. The US effort to "uphold democracy" was conducted within the context of this overriding objective, repeatedly stressed in President Clinton's post-occupation comments. The situation was, of course, complicated by a flood of Haitian "boat people" who tried to enter the U.S. after the coup. But, as Clinton knew well from personal experience in Arkansas, this flood had begun during the Duvalier era. In 1980, however, the only people in the U.S. who cared were exiles, a handful of activists, and people living in communities directly affected by the influx.
Once Haiti was "stabilized" in the 90s, the refugee flow diminished to a trickle. The average Haitian was no better off. But the U.S. mission was nevertheless classified as a success, and public attention soon turned to the next televised crisis.
Greg Guma is the editor of Toward Freedom, an international newsletter based in Vermont, and the author of books such as 'Uneasy Empire: Repression, Globalization, and What We Can Do' and 'The People's Republic: Vermont and the Sanders Revolution'. He has written about Haiti since visiting the island nation in 1977, including a documentary on the new DVD collection Haiti Rising (Green Valley Media)

Survivors of the Haitian earthquake are leaving the devastated capital city. Some of its inhabitants have managed to leave on trucks that belong to the UN. Many are leaving the city in search of food, water and medicine. Aid has been slow to reach people because of bottlenecks caused by poor infrastructure. In an effort to get more supplies into the country, America has been given control of the airport in Port-au-Prince.There have been ugly scenes at aid distribution points, as people fight for whatever is available. There have also been widespread reports of violence and looting as desperate people search for food and water.The UN’s World Food Programme has set up four aid distribution sites in the capital. The organisation is giving out special biscuits, but the people do not realise the biscuits are different. One aid worker said: “They don’t understand these are high energy biscuits fortified with vitamins with an expiry date of November 2010.”The estimated death toll now stands at 140,000, and managing the bodies is one of the top health priorities. Morgues were filled up early on. 40,000 bodies have been buried in mass graves. Now some Haitians are taking matters into their own hands and burning the bodies on rubbish tips along with other waste.

The population of the Port-au-Prince metro area is greater than 2 million. The majority of the population is of African descent, but a prominent mulatto minority controls many of the city's businesses. There are sizable numbers of Hispanic residents, as well as small numbers of Caucasians (mostly foreign-born). Citizens of Middle Eastern (particularly Syrian and Lebanese) ancestry are a tiny minority with a significant presence in the capital. Arab Haitians (a large number of whom live in the capital) are more often than not, concentrated in financial areas where the majority of them establish businesses. Most of the mulattos in the city are concentrated and reside within wealthier areas of Port-au-Prince.

The archbishop of Port-au-Prince was killed in the devastating earthquake that has demolished the Haitian capital and taken untold lives since striking Tuesday, according to a dispatch from the Vatican.
The body of Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, 65, was found under the rubble of the archdiocese, and may be one of only hundreds of victims trapped in the ruins of Church buildings on the island.
The apostolic nuncio in Haiti, Msgr. Bernardito Auza, said that the cathedral and all the major churches and seminaries in Port-au-Prince were leveled by the most powerful temblor to strike the island in two centuries. Hundreds of seminarians and priests were trapped in the rubble, he told Vatican Radio.
A priest at the French headquarters of Archbishop Miot's order, the Missionaries of St. Jacques, cofirmed to Fox News what he called the "sad and terrible news" of the Haitian archbishop's death. He had no further details of the status of clergy working in Haiti.

It is an impoverished country, one of the world's poorest and least developed. Comparative social and economic indicators show Haiti falling behind other low-income developing countries (particularly in the hemisphere) since the 1980s. Haiti now ranks 149th of 182 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (2006). About 80% of the population were estimated to be living in poverty in 2003.[57] Most Haitians live on $2 or less per day. [58] Haiti has 50% illiteracy,[59] and over 80% of college graduates from Haiti have emigrated, mostly to the United States.[60] Cité Soleil is considered one of the worst slums in the Americas,[61] most of its 500,000 residents live in extreme poverty.[42] Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti's cities into slavery, working as unpaid household servants.[62]
About 66% of all Haitians work in the agricultural sector, which consists mainly of small-scale subsistence farming,[63] but this activity makes up only 30% of the GDP. The country has experienced little formal job-creation over the past decade, although the informal economy is growing. Mangoes and coffee are two of Haiti's most important exports.[63] Haiti's richest 1% own nearly half the country's wealth.[64] Haiti has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world on the Corruption Perceptions Index.[65] Since the day of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Haiti's government has been notorious for its corruption. Haitian dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier, his wife Michelle, and three other people are believed to have taken $504 million from the Haitian public treasury between 1971 and 1986.[66]
Foreign aid makes up approximately 30–40% of the national government's budget. The largest donor is the United States – followed by Canada, and the European Union also contributes aid.[67] From 1990 to 2003, Haiti received more than $4 billion in aid. The United States alone had provided Haiti with 1.5 billion in aid. [68] Venezuela and Cuba also make various contributions to Haiti's economy, especially after alliances were renewed in 2006 and 2007. In January 2010, China promised $4.2 million for the quake-hit island,[69] and President Obama pledged $100 million in US assistance.[70]
U.S. aid to the Haitian government was completely cut off in 2001–2004 after the 2000 election was disputed and President Aristide was accused of various misdeeds.[71] After Aristide's departure in 2004, aid was restored, and the Brazilian army led the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti peacekeeping operation. Following almost 4 years of recession ending in 2004, the economy grew by 1.5% in 2005.[72]
In 2005 Haiti's total external debt reached an estimated US$1.3 billion, which corresponds to a debt per capita of US$169, in contrast to the debt per capita of the United States which is US$40,000. [73] In September 2009, Haiti met the conditions set out by the IMF and World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program to qualify for cancellation of its external debt. [74]

Although Haiti averages approximately 360 people per square kilometer (940 per sq mi.), its population is concentrated most heavily in urban areas, coastal plains, and valleys. Haiti's population was about 9.8 million according to UN 2008 estimates,[77] with half of the population being under 20 years.[78] The first formal census, taken in 1950, showed that the population was 3.1 million.[79] Haiti has the highest fertility rate in the Western Hemisphere.[80]
90–95% of Haitians (depending on the source) are of predominately African descent; the remaining 5–10% of the population are mostly of mixed-race background. A small percentage of the non-black population consists primarily of Caucasian/white Haitians; mostly of Arab,[81] Western European (French, German, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish), and Jewish origin.[82][83] Haitians of Asian descent (mostly of Chinese origin) number approximately 400.[82]
Haitians of mixed race live mostly in the wealthier suburbs of the capital, such as Pétionville or Kenscoff. Many were born in the southwestern regions of Haiti, such as: Jacmel, Les Cayes, Cavaillon. During the colonial years there was a higher proportion of Europeans in this area than in the north, which was more isolated, had fewer cities and was devoted to large plantations with extensive populations of enslaved Africans. Some of the white planter fathers ensured the education of their sons (and sometimes daughters), even sending some to school in France. Some of the mixed-race population was therefore able to build more social capital than those in the north of mostly African descent. In addition, the free people of color (les gens du couleur libre) (or mulatto) population had more civil rights than did Africans who were free. By the time of the revolution, there were numerous educated mixed-race men who became part of the leadership of the country. As in most Latin American countries, there is no one-drop rule regarding African ancestry in Haiti.

Forced self-cannibalism as a form of torture or war crime is not uncommon. Erzsébet Báthory forced some of her servants to eat their own flesh.[7] In the 16th Century, Spanish colonizers forced natives to eat their own testicles.[8] Incidents were reported in the years following the 1991 coup in Haiti.[9] In the 1990s young people in Sudan were forced to eat their own ears.[10]
One famous case of self-cannibalism is the Armin Meiwes trial. One of the persons involved, Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, had wanted his penis to be amputated; after Armin Meiwes amputated, they attempted to eat it together but found that it was too hard.

Monsters and Cannibals at war in Haiti
Fuelled by drugs and voodoo, supporters of Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are fighting a revolt against him, reports Marcus

Warren

By Marcus Warren Published: 12:01AM GMT 13 Dec 2003
Thousands of students calling for the resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide clashed with police and armed thugs yesterday in a day of violence that once again brought anarchy to the streets of the Haitian capital.
Drink and drug-fuelled mobs of Aristide supporters roamed the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, into the night, setting up barricades, intimidating onlookers and flaunting their weapons in the hope of muzzling a groundswell of demands for the government's overthrow.

The thugs, known as "the Monsters", shut down most of the capital, chanting "Aristide for king" and screaming "This is a war between the dark and light-skinned" at passers-by as they gathered in front of the presidential palace to the accompaniment of voodoo drums.
Pulling drivers out of their vehicles to rough them up and steal their cars, their only saving grace was their poor marksmanship. One hoodlum who took aim with his revolver at the car in which I was travelling, missed from 10 yards.
Heavily armed police patrolling the city did nothing to stop the mayhem. Law and order had all but broken down even before the latest surge of violence. Haiti can field only 5,000 policemen to control its 8 million people.
To maintain his grip on power, Mr Aristide and his allies have been forced to rely on "the Monsters", thugs mostly recruited from the slums.
The demonstrating students, terrified by their brutality, were forced to take to the hills above the city, marching through alleys to avoid the mobs.
"Things can still happen fast here," Andy Apaid, a key opposition leader, said yesterday. "This can still be delayed but it will take a lot of killing to do so and prompt the downfall of his regime."
Today's demonstrations were the most violent of a week-long wave of protests by up to 10,000 students that has been moving through the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Behind the unrest aiming to unseat Mr Aristide, the former priest who once inspired support across the country, lies the same voodoo cult that fuelled the slaves of Haiti to rout Napoleon's armies and win their freedom 200 years ago.
The black cross of the Baron, Master of the Dead and Keeper of the Cemeteries, that was carried at the head of the student demonstrations symbolises their readiness to die for their cause - a readiness which may soon be put to the test as the country plunges into new bloodshed and violence.
Haiti is still the poorest country in the Americas and the Port-au-Prince slums offer an image of destitution so complete that the late Mother Theresa called them "the Fifth World".
The spectacular upsurge in strife has been aggravated by Mr Aristide's campaign to mark the bicentenary of Haiti's founding with fanfare and celebrations.
The anniversary marks the occasion when a slave insurrection, freeing the colony from French rule, gave the world its first black republic.
Haiti's more recent past has seen US occupation, the reign of terror of the Duvaliers and their "Tontons Macoutes" secret police, coups and death squads.
Nowhere is Mr Aristide's weakened status more visible than in Gonaives, where Haiti declared its independence on January 1, 1804. Monuments to the date have been smashed up and its slums are under the control of the so-called "Cannibal Army".
Tyres burn on the streets, pigs snuffle through barricades of rubbish built to keep the police at bay and even "Rosie's", a local brothel, has been shot up.
Sporting red neckerchiefs which endow them, so they think, with the mystical power to dodge harm and sprinkling a special voodoo eau de toilette as they march, the "Cannibals" scream for revenge against Mr Aristide.
Although ordained as a Catholic priest, Mr Aristide, 50, is only too aware of the power of voodoo beliefs. In a populist bow to the masses he has declared it an official religion.
Many Haitians still assume that, as the survivor of numerous past assassination attempts and coups, he has mystic powers himself.
Even voodoo may not save him now. While the "Cannibal Army" will spoil the bicentenary only in Gonaives, the student demonstrations could yet sweep aside his rule.
"The streets are hot. Aristide is in trouble," the demonstrators chanted as they jogged through the streets. "We are not afraid. We will never fear."
Some former cronies, several of them with distinctly unsavoury pasts of their own, are deserting their president. One ex-ally predicted that he is destined for "death, prison, or, at best, exile".
Nor can he depend on the inhabitants of the slums who were once his disciples and believed he could deliver them from a life little better than animal.
"Death is all I see for my children," said Marie Medesin, the mother of nine, as she surveyed the shacks built among rubbish tips and open sewers that are home to her and hundreds of thousands of others in the city.
So desperate is the situation in the slums that a dead body, clearly the result of some violent confrontation between gangs, lay unclaimed, and almost unnoticed, for hours.
The softly spoken president seems convinced that he and only he can save the country from total ruin. "What we have been through in recent years would be enough to make any other president unable to govern," he said.
Often criticised for trying to run the country like a parish priest, he pleaded for "dialogue" and "conciliation" at a press conference this week.
But within 24 hours, "the Monsters", were running wild on the streets outside, trying to stone foreign journalists and shooting up opposition radio stations.
"I dare someone to come into my position and keep both the rich and poor happy," he said during a press conference which ended with him, like a caring vicar after a Sunday service, shaking hands with each journalist as they left.
He may have spoken too soon. Someone may take him up on the challenge earlier than he thinks. But no one can relish taking over a country with such a turbulent past where half the population is illiterate and one in 20 have Aids.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is an aspect of the Virgin Mary, who is believed to have appeared to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an Aztec convert to Roman Catholicism in 1531. According to the traditional account, Juan Diego was walking between his village and Mexico City on December 12, 1531 when Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, speaking to him in his native Nahuatl language. She told him to build a church at the site.
When Juan Diego spoke to the Spanish bishop, the bishop did not believe him, asking for a miraculous sign. Although it was winter, the Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers, and Spanish roses bloomed right at his feet.
When Juan Diego presented these to the bishop, the roses fell from his tilma (apron), and an icon of the Virgin was miraculously imprinted on the cloth. The bishop ordered a church built at once, dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

On November 14, 1921, a factory worker placed a bomb a few feet away from the apron. The explosion demolished the marble steps of the main altar, blew out the windows of nearby homes and bent a brass crucifix, but the fabric suffered no damage. Since 1993, the apron has been protected by bullet-proof glass (left).
In 2002, the Pope declared Juan Diego a saint; he was the first Mexican to achieve sainthood. Replicas of the miraculous image can be found in thousands of churches, including the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.