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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Ben Smilowitz to discuss disaster relief in Haiti, and the need for greater oversight of disaster relief organizations.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

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We have learned of an apparent conflict of interest for a senior Obama administration official already in hot water over questions about his communications with his former employer.  Andrew Mclaughlin is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the Office of Science & Technology Policy at the White House. His prior job was as the top lobbyist for Google. President Obama made numerous promises about not having lobbyists in his administration.

Big Government previously reported that privacy flaws in Google Buzz’s social networking tool exposed McLaughlin’s Buzz account to the public.  The analysis showed that McLaughlin’s Gmail included more than two dozen senior lobbyists and lawyers from Google with whom he is apparently still communicating.  Following a consumer group’s FOIA request for all of McLaughlin’s communications with his former employer, his Google Buzz account was deleted.

Now we’ve learned that McLaughlin may be actively advocating on his former employer’s behalf in his position as Deputy CTO — a big no-no for government employees who are required to abide by rigorous conflict of interest policies. For reference here is the pertinent part of the ethics agreement former lobbyists sign and agree to abide by.

“2.Revolving Door Ban – All Appointees Entering Government.  I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.

“3.Revolving Door Ban – Lobbyists Entering Government.  If I was a registered lobbyist within the 2 years before the date of my appointment, in addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 2, I will not for a period of 2 years after the date of my appointment:

(a)participate in any particular matter on which I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment;

(k)”Directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients” shall mean matters in which the appointee’s former employer or a former client is a party or represents a party.

This past January when the earthquake hit Haiti, one aspect of the U.S. emergency response was to determine how to get some form of communications restored to the island as quickly as possible.

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It’s bad enough that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is giving short shrift to American manufacturers and our economy by ordering extravagant new crystal stemware from Sweden to make the crystal cabinets in America’s embassies sparkle impressively, but now we learn that Barack Obama has told the U.S. relief forces in Haiti not to fly the U.S. flag over its own military compounds. He says that it will “send the wrong message.”

Never mind that all the other nations have their flags proudly flying above their military relief installations in Haiti. Even Croatia has its coat of arms flying outside its base. Yet not the U.S. Army. No U.S. flag flies anywhere despite the fact that we are far and away the largest force and have supplied the most relief supplies and money to the earthquake recovery effort.

According to USAID, as of January 19, 2010 the U.S. had spent $130,864,571 on aid to the Haitian people to help them recover from the devastating earthquake. By Jan. 25 that number had already increased to $179,883,065. It is only going up from there.

So why did the Obama administration forbid flying our own flag in Haiti?

“We are not here as an occupation force, but as an international partner committed to supporting the government of Haiti on the road to recovery,” the U.S. government’s Haiti Joint Information Center said in response to a query about the flag.

If it is so important to be seen as just another member of that international force, then why are all the other nations still flying their flags? Oh, I remember now… unlike the U.S. they don’t have a president that is more comfortable apologizing for his country than being proud of it, even when it is engaged in saving lives through relief work.

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Haiti is located on the western side of the island of Hispaniola approximately 700 miles southeast of Miami between Puerto Rico and Cuba.  The Treaty of Ryswick signed by France and Spain in 1697 resulted in the formation of two separate but incongruous states, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  The official language of Haiti is French and Creole while in the Dominican Republic it is Spanish.  The mostly black population is a result of slave trading when it was a French colony.

In 1897 through 1912 instability in Haiti drew attention to its strategic importance.  A small number of Germans maintained a large amount of economic power.  German military intervention during a Haitian revolt in 1902 and word that Berlin considered using Haiti as a fueling station for its naval fleet became a concern for the United States. Under the policies of the “Monroe Doctrine” President Woodrow Wilson began planning for the occupation of Haiti.

The occupation of Haiti finally ensued and the United States ruled Haiti through a military government from 1915 through 1934. Under military rule Haiti prospered through development of a road system, schools, improved disease prevention, medical care and communications.

Unfortunately the Haitians grew to resent the occupation of the United States and violent protests resulted in the deaths of many Haitians at the hands of the US military.  In 1934 the US left Haiti and the country became a dictatorship.

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While the earthquake death toll in Haiti will likely be very high, in part because of lax building codes and underfunded infrastructure, the disaster has had the peculiar effect of drawing out the immoral moralist preachers (and their apologists) on both sides of America’s spectrum:

Pat Robertson makes an ass out of himself.
Danny Glover channels Pat Robertson.

Their cheap opportunism raises a few questions:

What percentage of Conservatives do you think agree with Pat Robertson?

What percentage of Progressives do you think agree with Danny Glover?

What percentage of this country do you think rejects BOTH the moralists of the right, in this case Pat Robertson, and the moralists of the left, in this case Danny Glover?

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In December 1908, the President of Haiti, Nord Alexis, attempted one last, desperate, act before leaving office; spiriting his family away to the safety of Jamaica, then New Orleans, to escape the rising tumult in the Haitian capital of  Port-au-Prince.  I give thanks that he was successful, for Nord Alexis was my ancestor.  His foresight, in getting his family out of Haiti and into the U.S., made my life, with the freedom, opportunity, and prosperity that only America can offer, possible.   My story is just one of many strange incidents connecting Haiti and the United States over the past hundred years.  With the devastation wreaked by the recent earthquake, it is clear that a new chapter in Haitian-U.S. relations is about to be written.

Americans should be proud of our quick response to the devastating earthquake that has wiped out virtually all services, businesses, schools, and institutions in Port-au-Prince.   Our President, Barack Obama, has moved government resources and emergency management experts to the area without hesitation, debate or delay.

Within hours, the US Air Force had reestablished air control and the long line of aid and assistance began to flow.   The Army’s 82, All-American Division,  is already on the ground helping to reassert law and order, as well as assist in the difficult job of distribution of relief aid.   Each day more planes arrive in Haiti, with even more assistance.

More impressively, American citizens and private companies have already raised millions in relief with more on the way.   Dozens of organizations such as the American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services,  and Salvation Army, have already mobilized their resources and are on the ground providing relief efforts in a hundred different ways.

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It is only a matter of time before Environmentalists and some scientists blame the Haiti earthquake and its massive death toll on Global Warming. They have already laid the groundwork with this Sept 2009 article in the UK Guardian newspaper. According to Professor Bill McGuire of University College London an upcoming scientific conference would show how “global warming threatens the planet in a new and unexpected way – by triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches and volcanic eruptions.” Despite these claims the earthquake in Haiti was not caused by Global Warming.

And the death and destruction was not because Haitians had made a pact with the devil.

The reason so many people died in Haiti is because its people live in poorly built houses and have not benefited from development which brings with it cities and houses which can withstand earthquakes.

But guess who are the most active opponents of cities and modern concrete housing?

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