23457: Corbett clarifies claim made on Father Gerard Jean Juste

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From  Bob Corbett:

Folks, I have received a number of complaints on a claim made in a post
on my list that Father Gerard Jean Juste is a criminal.  I want to make
clear that:

-- that is not my own view.  Quite the contrary, I have met Father Gerard
Jean Juste in the past and admired his work in and for Haiti.  I have no
knowledge or reason to believe he is a criminal.

-- I post virtually all notes that are on Haiti and come to my list
whether I like them or not.

The sole exceptions are:

1.  When a note to the list personally attacks someone for what he or she
posted ON THE LIST. (Not elsewhere)  The purpose of that rule is so that
people will not be discouraged from posting unpopular positions on my
list.

I personally detest personal attacks of any sort, but it is not my policy
not to post them when they are attacking someone for what he or she wrote
ELSEWHERE, or for what he or she was alledged to have done.  I would
prefer a world of discourse where personal attacks didn't exist, but that
would exclude too much that seems necessary if one is to have a modestly
open forum.

2.  I won't post posts that are from another mailing list as a general
rule.  I don't have the time and people can always just subscribe to the
other mailing list.

3.  A very vague category of posts that are just, for some reason, ones I
find to be things I just can't post.  In more that 40,000 posts in the
past 10 years there have not been 10 of these.

Thus when the post can in attacking Father Gerard Jean Juste I posted it.
I'm sorry if that offends some, and I was sorry to see the post itself,
but I feel the necessity of posting such items.

Bob Corbett