24450: Binard (reply) Re: 24448: Kondrat (reply) Re: 24447 and others: Morse (reply) to Holmstead (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Marc Binard <islandoc2001@yahoo.com>

Reply Kondrat- morse from binard

Personally,
I don't sit back  and wonder if Mr Morse is a
constitutionalist.
It would appear that he is a realist.

He runs a Hotel in PAP providing many Haitians  with
what they desperately need. A job.
He is maintaining one of the most historic buildings
in all of Haiti.
He formed a band which provides Haiti with what it
desperately needs; outside recognition of its people's
talents and culture.

I have never found the Oloffson to be a camp of anti
aristide militants. Most of the people I meet there
are aid workers trying to help Haiti get back on its
feet. In the days of the peace corps, most of these
folks were staying at the Hotel at greatly reduced
rates thanks to Mr Morse's generosity.


I dont live in Haiti. I am not Haitian so I dont feel
its my place to meddle in its politics or second guess
those who actually live there.

Rather than question Mr Morse's political views,
I think Mr Morse deserves our thanks, praise an
recognition for all he has done for Haiti.

Marc Binard


--- Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu> wrote:

>
> From: Peter Kondrat <petekondrat@yahoo.com>
>
> Dear Mr. Morse,
>
> I don't want to tick you off, because I dig the
> Olaffson and hope to stay there for a bit this
> summer.
> And I like Ram a lot as well.
>     That said, I think the issue that many folks on
> this list keep tiptoeing around is this: are you
> (you
> plural) a Haitian constitutionalist, or are you
> still
> an advocate of the rule of the street, of Might
> Makes
> Right? Because if you are the former, then you must,
> I
> believe, condemn *all* the extralegal actions that
> have taken place in Haiti in the past few years, up
> to
> and including the illegal removal of the duly
> elected
> president. There are moral, legal, and practical
> reasons for taking a constitutionalist position on
> recent Haitian affairs.
>     The legal reason goes back to the Enlightenment
> thinkers, Rousseau, Jefferson and those guys. It
> says
> that in a democracy, collective principles have got
> to
> supercede the interests of individuals or special
> interest groups. So the nation of Haiti has a deep
> and
> abiding interest in establishing and defending a set
> of laws that are stronger than any power nexus in
> the
> country. The struggle then becomes not one between
> interest groups, but between any given group and the
> Nation, as embodied in its laws, its constitution.
> If
> you advocate, or passively condone, the president's
> removal -- for whatever reason -- by street gangs,
> or
> the US Embassy, or a cabal of indigenous power
> brokers, or a pack of lawyers, you absolutely
> subvert
> the rule of law. Then you are back to mob rule, or
> totalitarianism.
>     The moral argument is that there is a kind of
> social contract between the rulers and the governed.
> It's been agreed that elections will determine who
> is
> in power. Any other method of removing leaders or
> imposing new leaders (other than methods that may
> have
> been previously agreed to, like impeachment for high
> crimes and misdemeanors) is a betrayal of the
> agreement. For elections to be meaningful, the
> results
> must be transparent, and protected by the state, and
> accepted by citizens ... even those whose candidates
> did not win.
>     I think the practical reason may be the most
> persuasive. Does anyone in Haiti now think that life
> is better than it was in 2003? Does 2005 look like
> it
> is going to be better than 2004? Nothing has been
> resolved by the removal of the duly elected
> president;
> all the old revendications are still there, as are
> all
> the old vendettas ... and the various interest
> groups
> now have little hope of finding a way out through
> constitutional means. The damage that has been done
> to
> constitutional governance will take years to repair.
>     The people who tried to use extralegal methods
> (disguised as legal tactics) to remove President
> Clinton in 1998 and 1999 were also
> anti-constitutional. Whether Clinton had sex in the
> Oval Office; whether he lied to the grand jury about
> having sex in the Oval Office; whether he was
> responsible for the death of Vince Foster; whether
> he
> was guilty of malfeasance in the Whitewater affair;
> whether he illegally bombed the Sudan and Kosovo ...
> none of this can justify the tawdry, shameful
> barefisted powergrab that was the impeachment trial.
> Likewise, none of the Haitian president's misdeeds
> can
> justify his extralegal removal from office. Those
> who
> defend the coup, and those who refuse to condemn it,
> have helped to doom Haiti to years more strife,
> gridlock and misrule.
>     Please don't allow your dislike of the Haitian
> president to lead you to try to justify abandoning
> constitutional principles, and to embrace rule by
> brute force.
>      Looking forward to buying you a drink on the
> veranda ...
>
> Peter Kondrat
>
>
>
> --- Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu> wrote:
> >
> > From OLOFFSONRAM@aol.com
> >
> > Dear Mr Holmstead,
> >
> > I do have a certain vantage point being right here
> > in the middle of
> > Port-au-Prince. My musicians and employees come
> > mostly from Delmas, Belair and
> > Carrefour. Perhaps you didn't see my recent posts
> on
> > actual police corruption
> > during this transition period. I'm not a public
> > relations firm, I'm a musician
> > and I'm just giving you my 2 cents. When I spoke
> of
> > gangs working in
> > tandem with the police during Aristide it wasn't
> > Public Relations, it was
> > the inside scoop.  Are you denying it as truth?
> Are
> > you now going to tell
> > me that the Cannibal Army  in Gonaives wasn't
> > originally a branch of
> > Aristide's parallel security services before they
> > turned on him and were
> > then joined by the old army and FRAPH. No one is
> > speaking to the masses
> > right now. Party in Petionville!! Is that what the
> > University students
> > were working towards? I don't think so.
> >
> > Where  were you at 2 a.m. Feb 29, 2004? I was
> > talking to Aristide's Haitian
> > security guards after he abandoned them to make
> his
> > escape. I'm concerned
> > about the state of the Haitian people, but not
> > professionally. I'm just a
> > musician.
> >
> > Richard Morse
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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