Tim White Listens

A day in the life: Camp Perrin to Jeremie -- the descent

2012-02-12T12:28:00.004-05:00

After the ascent, I got to enjoy the descent!Easy sailin' from here on out:It's always a little upsetting to me to see the smoke in the forest. It's almost always the work of a charcoal maker who cuts down the forest to make the charcoal:We eventually got through the tallest mountains and entered the town of Bigarade:I love the pastel houses of Haiti and much of the Caribbean:As we passed Bigarade and approached Jeremie, there was even more heavy construction:Another one of the hand-painted buses:We finally reached the coastline where it meets this river:And this is the beachside town of Gomier:Gomier is the last town before Jeremie:I'm thankful we didn't have any breakdowns or other major problems. We were returning to Jeremie as the sun was setting. And one of my preferences is to be back at the house by sunset:

Tim White

A day in the life: Camp Perrin to Jeremie -- the ascent!

2012-02-12T12:00:00.005-05:00

As I previously explained, although I had no desire to ply the roads from Port-au-Prince to Jeremie... my hand was forced last July.

Having passed through Camp Perrin, my journey continued into the voodoo-drenched mountains of the Grand Anse!

Haiti's tombs and headstones are interesting:Related to Haitian cemetaries, one thing I've learned is that graverobbing is not uncommon in Haiti. Human bones are regularly stolen and used for voodoo ceremonies and other voodoo-related works.

The ascent began and the views were fantastic:Not only were the vistas to behold, but the tropical mountain flora represented Mr. Roy G. Biv from head to toe!Since it is a fairly treacherous road -- even at low speeds -- there's a great deal of ongoing construction work to improve it:People die in these mountains every year during the floods that raise the river levels:And this is where the road started getting really steep:There's not much level ground around here:Nor is there much in the way of paved road. This short stretch of "paved road" was about the extent of anything you'll find in these mountains.But at least I knew that at some point, we'd start the descent...

Tim White

A day in the life: Roadtrip from PAP to Camp Perrin

2012-02-12T11:01:00.008-05:00

Last July, I took the GMAT. The closest place to sit for the exam was Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. After I flew back to Port-au-Prince, I had to go to the town of Les Cayes to participate in the financial component of a conference related to our HIV outreach.

“Cayes” doesn’t have a lot of regularly scheduled flights and my attendance was important. So despite the fact that I consider National Highway 2 to be unsafe for travel – it’s the road where my friend, Rodny, was killed in a bus accident a year ago – I took the risk of driving Route 2. In order to minimize the risk I hired a private car - there was NO way I was taking a bus - and set forth on the five hour drive from Port-au-Prince. I figured with a private car, even if others refused to drive sanely, I could at least tell my driver to slow down!

My PAP guide, Monsieur Paris, had been working with my boss for nearly 20 years. So I knew I was in good hands. During that time he had seamlessly organized all aspects of travel within PAP. This trip started out with a couple of big eye rolls though. And we obviously weren’t taking Paris’ car on the journey.

Although I couldn’t really speak any Creole, it was pretty obvious that simply finding a suitable car for the five hour trip was proving difficult. We changed cars more than once while still in PAP. And each change was preceded by several actions:

1) raised voices between Mr. Paris and the hired driver;
2) a phone call with lowered voices; and
3) an exchange of money.

Silly me. I was assuming I’d jump in a car that morning and head out. But lucky for me, I’m the type of person who – when I encounter a problem – prefer to take five deep breaths, rather than try to control something over which I know I’ll have no control.

Eventually we got a car, drove through the crowded, dusty streets of Port-au-Prince and set sail on the fist-clenching Highway 2 toward Les Cayes. After we got out of town, the road was fairly clear and the buses, camions, SUVs, cars and motorbikes were all travelling far too fast. Well, all of them except for mine. And while I’m sure we were annoying many locals, I wasn’t about to become a casualty of the lack of road rules in Haiti.

The most common and colorful sight on Haiti’s roads is the inter-city bus with people either on the roof or hanging on the back:
I love these buses. They’re all hand painted and usually named after either Dieu (God) or a Saint.

And there were some towns along the way that shared the chaos of Port-au-Prince’s roads:

But for the most part, it was beautiful scenery:

And this is the view from the town of San Louis de Sud:

Their Caribbean beach with nearby islands is stunning:

We arrived in Les Cayes. And there’s not much memorable from my experience there, aside from work. Near Cayes are a couple places, Port Salut and Ile a Vache, that are supposed to be great resort towns. And considering what I saw of San Louis de Sud, I’m confident there are more beautiful beaches nearby. But I was working and as soon as the conference ended, one of the guys who works for me had arrived and met me for the five hour drive over the tropical-forested mountains from the southern half to the northern half of the “southern claw” that is Haiti’s southern peninsula.

The first stop on the drive from Cayes to Jeremie was Camp Perrin. It’s not such a memorable town. Dusty and something of a transit point. But they did have a few of the hand-painted buses that I’ve come to enjoy:

Tim White

A day in the life: Some familiar sights in PAP; trash, traffic & trees

2012-02-10T18:15:00.001-05:00

Allowing for the grazing goats and pecking pigs, there's no public trash collection in Haiti:Much of it simply gets burned:And there's virtually no traffic control -- stop signs, stop lights, etc. -- either... so driving the streets of PAP can be chaotic:But I also think Port-au-Prince and much of Haiti have some real beauty, such as their bountiful bougainvillea trees:

Tim White

A day in the life: flights at Jeremie airport

2012-02-09T20:47:00.001-05:00

This wasn't my ride, but it's probably the most common air transport plying the routes in to and out of Jeremie:You don't see a lot of UN helicopters in Cheshire. So thought this may be of interest.

The UNs mission here is questioned by many Haitians. Chief among their concerns is the reality that -- despite last year's political upheaval -- Haiti has not experienced consistent violence for years. So what is the purpose of a peacekeeping mission?

Tim White

A day in the life: PawSox love in Haiti

2012-02-08T19:19:00.004-05:00

Forget about the majors. Even the triple-A PawSox have fans in Haiti:Haha... actually, I'm not totally convinced that my colleague is a big fan. Serge, a nurse with whom I work, spends a lot of time our girls soccer program. And I think he may have just gotten the cap someplace... without regard to being big into Pawtucket. But I don't care. Go Sox!

Tim White

A day in the life: Street paintings flourish in PAP

2012-02-07T21:02:00.007-05:00

There's tons of art on the streets of Port-au-Prince, but I thought my homies would be able to appreciate this painting a bit more than others:I'm sure you recognize the gentleman on the left. On the right is French President Nicholas Sarkozy. And in the middle is the rookie President of Haiti, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelli.

Sweet Micky gained wide name recognition in Haiti from his days as a flamboyant kompa musician. Kompa is a style of music. It's basically the national style, similar to what Americans may consider jazz or Cubans may consider salsa.

And here's another example of how Haitian art can be found seemingly everywhere on the streets:

Tim White

A day in the life: pre-gaming Mardi Gras 2012

2012-02-05T18:35:00.014-05:00

Mardi Gras kicked off Sunday. Of course, Kanival (i.e. Carnival) doesn't really start for two weeks, but hey... this is the Haiti... nothing like turnin' up the speakers on some soft kompas to get your feet, hips and shoulders swaying like the coconut palms that line the azur beaches!

For a Sunday afternoon, the boys had their engines revving, horns blaring and wings aloft as they sped up and down... up and down... up and down Rue Rochasse by 2pm:

And the onslaught of crowds, the first wave had arrived by 3pm:Heading le pwosession were the impromptu participants:Then comes the DJ with his amps in the back of a pickup:Then the boys! Covered in used motor oil and dressed in voodoo red, they love dragging people, such as this blanc, into the party:And the crew of oil-slicked, masked partiers continues:Of course, not all of the guys are willing to simply don their garb to show their love to Baron Samdi! At least one of them showed his love of the other gender:Unsurprisingly, he "she" wasn't too thrilled when a couple of other young men wanted some of the limelight (a.k.a. my camera). Ha!As I mentioned above, the people who are leading the party want everyone to partake... including the girl who lives directly across the street from me:
and despite my best efforts at avoiding getting slimed by what we consider hazardous waste in America, I couldn't entirely escape the party!Haitian Mardi Gras is good times!

Tim White

A day in the life: Bonbon Beach

2012-02-05T12:08:00.013-05:00

I decided to visit the beach today. I figure it's February in the Caribbean, so I needed to head to the beach. Well, not exactly. Sure, I knew the beach is nice. But I was actually more interested in taking my bike outside of Jeremie Township. I got my bike a year ago and hadn't actually taken it out of town... or more precisely... out of my comfort zone. And that needed to end.

So I visited a beach that I last visited when I first arrived in October 2010. That way I knew with firsthand knowledge that I could do it. And I did it. No problems whatsoever and I did get a lot more comfortable switching gears on the uphill, downhill and rocky, pothole-filled road. And it's those potholes and ditches that make the ride so nerve-wracking.

Since the most of the road is a combination of limestone and clay -- with close to no pavement -- it's extremely difficult to see the danger zones. Unless you know the road well, you really need to drive fairly slow because it's so treacherous.

So slow I went. And enjoy I did.

Here's one view of the road that lie ahead of me on the way to Bonbon Beach:This section happened to be cemented because of the steep incline. Without the pavement, this section would be an impassable washout.

Here's the view of the Caribbean from the top of the same hill:Nice, huh?

Before I actually arrived at the beach, I knew that I had to cross a river that passed through downtown Bonbon. Actually it was two as it turned out.

The water was deeper than I had recalled, so I turned off my bike and walked around to see the best place to cross. Within a minute a mototaxi driver was running across the river and offering to help me by driving my bike across the river himself. He hopped on my bike and drove across as I dipped my feet in the warm river and walked across. Each river was calm and only a few inches deep. Although the muffler was partially submerged, the tailpipe exit stayed above water. So he simply kept the bike in 1st gear until he go to dry land. Easy peasy.

For his entrepreneurial-spirit, I gave him a buck. And since I'm so cheap since I wanted to experience the thrill, I decided I'd fording the raging class 5 rapids on my return! lol.

About another quarter mile on dry land and I made it Bonbon Beach!Here's the view to the left:And below is a slighter closer shot of the cliffs you see above:Here's more a view of the beach to the left:And a view of Bonbon beach with a view of Bonbon Town, a fishing town, on the left side.And the whole beach and town are basically nestled a beautiful little cove:This photo doesn't do the cove justice, so I encourage you to use your imagination!

Tim White

A day in the life: no glass houses, just tarps or ciment

2012-02-04T19:33:00.009-05:00

When I went for a walk around town this morning, I ventured into one of the slums -- one of the slums where we're doing some great work.

Here is a pic of one of our houses under construction:On the left side of the photo you see an example of what most houses look like in the Makandal slum. Though using a tarpaulin for their roof isn't all that bad. There are also houses that in which both the roof and walls are made of tarps. Some have a footprint as small as 10' x 15', yet have a dozen people living in it!

It's upsetting to say the least. But at least we're making progress. HHF has already made 50 houses in what is probably one of the poorest neighborhoods in the world.

And here are some pix of those finished houses with the family already returned:With their new home, they now focus their limited resources on commerce. The small buckets of charcoal you see are the family business. They'll buy a sack of charcoal for about 200 Haitian gouds, then split it up into these buckets that sell for about 35 Haitian gouds. With the exchange rate at about 40 gouds to 1 dollar, it doesn't take a mathematician to know these people are living in poverty. But again, they now have one of their biggest expenses covered: housing.One thing is for sure around here. You can be certain that no one here will be throwing stones in glass houses. Most people live in houses made of tarps and rusted, corrugated tin... and a few lucky ones -- the poorest of the poor -- are the beneficiaries of some beautiful new cement houses, replete with elevated floors to keep the street garbage from coming in the house during floods.

Tim White

A day in the life: I found another Haitian fruit

2012-02-04T18:30:00.005-05:00

Back in May I shared pictures of some Haitian fruit trees around my place. Just today I found a papaya tree too:And one thing I've learned about papaya is that it's not just a fruit, but it doubles as a veggie -- something like a squash -- when it's still young like these:As they ripen and become the classic papaya fruit, they turn yellow / orange.

Tim White

HHFs soccer program gets props from ESPN

2012-02-01T22:48:00.004-05:00

ESPN just ran this nice article about our girl's soccer & responsible sexuality program. The nurse who coordinates the program is named Marc Antoine, a soft-spoken guy who makes a great effort at outreach and inclusion.

I'm not getting into many details, but I can assure you that anyone in Cheshire would be shocked at how little is known by most country girls here. It is a reality that some girls are unaware of their pregnancy until they start to obviously show in their third trimester. Things have improved in our region, but awareness is still too low... and it's abysmally low in the areas beyond our region. But as our founder, Jerry Lowney, says... "We just help one person at a time."

Tim White

A day in the life: gwiot -- Haiti's national food

2012-01-28T21:37:00.013-05:00

Haitians love gwiot. Also spelled griot, gryot, gryote, etc.* (pronounced "gwee oht"), it's fried pork.

I understand why. The stuff is good. And lucky for me, I happen to live directly across the street from the most famous griot restaurant in Jeremie! I'm a regular there.

Anyway... when I popped over tonight for "dix dola" (pronounced "deese doh luh") worth of pork, I got the usual quarter pound of fried pork along with some spicy cole slaw... which I love too.

Here are some pix from my favorite gwiot restaurant. This is the staff putting some gwyot into one of the little plastic bags in which she serves the food:In the background you can see the pot in which they deep fry the pork over the traditional charcoal fire... the same charcoal that is obtained by denuding Haiti.

Here's a pic of the mom (red neckerchief on her head) who runs the restaurant in front of their house:Needless to say, there are no zoning regulations that prohibit food establishments from being located in a residential area. Sadly, there are no zoning regs... which was a large part of the problem with the destruction of the earthquake.

And here's a close-up of the nightly dinner offering:That's the daily butchered pork to the left of the tray. The circular, yellow chips are standard fare: deep-fried plantain chips. And to the right is the spicy hot cole slaw.

When I first arrived, I was hesitant to eat here. And the cholera outbreak only compounded my fears. But I'm long past those concerns. Frankly, I got past most of those concerns when I lived in Vietnam. If I choose to live someplace, then I choose to there and accept what is thrown my way.

Tim White

* As far as I can tell, Haitian Creole has no definitive spelling for many words.

A day in the life: Helping those in need

2012-01-21T09:12:00.014-05:00

I know I took my leave of absence from Cheshire more than a year ago, but our community continues to think of me. This Christmas, several people reached out to me to see how they could help. Among those who contacted me was the Congregational Church.

For all the years I was on the Council, the Church consistently helped Cheshire residents in need. In particular, via the Town, the Church helped fund our local heating assistance program. And make no mistake -- there are Cheshire residents in need of help. As America's middle class gets hit hard and shrinks, so does that of Cheshire. It's wonderful what the Congregational Church does, especially for the Town heating assistance fund.

But along with all the help offered to Cheshire residents by the Church, others are also helped. My organization, the Haitian Health Foundation was recently awarded a grant by the Church. It's intended to help with the education of two young Haitians:

That's me with Pharah in the pink sweater and Alinice in the pink/orange dress. The grant will assist with their education. Keep in mind that there is no public education in Haiti. The lack of public education is a recipe for poverty in perpetuity IMO. But thankfully there are many, such as the Church, who try to end the dreadful cycle.

What makes the situation even worse for Pharah and Alinice is that, as you may be able to see, they are both dwarfs. And discrimination exists here in Haiti just as it exists in the USA. So the hurdles to their dreams of a better life are that much more difficult for them to overcome.Further compounding the challenges faced by Pharah, 19, and Alinice, 12, is that they are both in the second grade. While that may be surprising to some, it's not at all uncommon here in Haiti. Since there is no public education, some kids take years off between grades. If they have no money, then they can't attend school. And the next time they have money is when they return to school. So there are 19 and 20 year olds in elementary school. (To further demonstrate this point... you can literally walk into a classroom and, based on the height of the kids, think it's a 5th grade class... only to learn it's 1st grade.)

However, dwarfs in Haiti do have a blessing in disguise. You can imagine how awful and embarrassing it could be for a full-grown adult to attend a third grade class. Yes, one should be excited about the opportunity and be focused on learning, but people are people.* It can be incredibly difficult to endure primary education as an adult. But being the same height as your classmates is beneficial.

So while it's difficult for a full-grown adult to attend second grade, Pharah's life is a bit easier because she doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in 2nd grade. And when you're born into a life of poverty in one of the poorest countries in the world, every little benefit you do have stands out that much more.

On behalf of Pharah and Alinice, I thank the Church for their help. And I also thank my bosses, Dr. Jerry Lowney (HHFs wonderful founder who lives in Norwich) and Sister Maryann Berard. Both Jerry and Sister Maryann have dedicated the past quarter century of their lives to the poor of Jeremie, Haiti.

Here is Sister Maryann with Pharah and Alinice:Sister Maryann is a saint.

Tim White

* Although I grew up -- and spent most of my life -- in Cheshire, I've also lived in France, Vietnam and Haiti. And one thing I've concluded is that despite cultural differences among peoples, there are many common denominators among us. So consider for a second being an 18 year old in middle school. The taunting could be horrendous. And make no mistake... people of all cultures can be cruel. On a regular basis I endure racism here, particularly from the 13 and 14 year olds in my neighborhood. But I overlook it because of the hardships endured by so many people -- so many good people -- here.

A day in the life: recycling food

2012-01-15T12:43:00.007-05:00

Haitians recycle a lot. Here's a picture of some local citrus fruits called "shadek" and some oranges. The best description I can offer of a shadek is that it's somewhere between and orange and a grapefruit... both in terms of size and sweetness:After the fruit inside is eaten (or squeezed for juice), you're left with the rinds that get the skin removed:Then the skinless rinds are left in the sun to dry:Then the rinds get boiled:and eventually become preserves for breakfast bread:In some ways, Haiti has taught me some useful lessons about recycling and living a more sustainable life. I hope I can put those lessons to use when I return to America.

Tim White

A day in the life: my tropical roommate

2012-01-15T12:27:00.004-05:00

Here's a picture of my roommate. He was also my roommate in Vietnam.
Tim White

Ron Paul takes the gloves off with Rick Santorum

2012-01-06T16:56:00.003-05:00

Ron Paul took the gloves off. He started with Newt. Now it's Santorum:My choices at this point:

1) Ron Paul

2) Rick Perry / Jon Huntsman

I love the fact that Rick Perry actually challenges Bernanke and the Fed. But I also appreciate Huntsman being willing to ratchet back the aggressive foreign policy being pushed by Newt and Santorum.

Tim White

MSM reporter opposes Ron Paul because of expected layoffs in journalism

2012-01-05T18:09:00.003-05:00

Wonder why some in the MSM are so opposed to Ron Paul?

Click here to watch a Real Clear Politics clip of C-Span. In the one minute video, you'll see the press pool for the Pentagon. And you'll hear:

"See this room? Two-thirds of us laid off when Ron Paul is president,"

Shocking! Some members of the MSM are just like some of the government officials they are supposed to keep honest. They're more concerned with their own self-interest, rather than the interest of the people reading their reports.

Besides the implications of this reporter's moment of candor, I'm wondering if anyone will publish a story naming the reporter.

Tim White

Ron Paul is not a racist

2011-12-29T10:51:00.001-05:00

I think this ad provides the world with a real glimpse into Ron Paul's character:

Understanding Ron Paul's foreign policy philosophy

2011-12-18T18:18:00.006-05:00

Though the CT GOP primary is on April 24, with the GOP primary season fast approaching. I encourage you to watch this video before you vote. Rather than the usual sound bites offered on TV, including in the debates, this 13 minutes video provides some very important context regarding Ron Paul's foreign policy views:Having said that, like most GOP primary voters I have concerns about Ron Paul's world view. For instance, I'm gravely concerned about the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon. Then what happens if the Iranian government falls and the "lone wolf" gets control of a nuke?

But frankly, that issue gives me graver concerns with other candidates. Specifically, Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And which country is more likely to have a failed government: Iran or Pakistan? Well, Iran has been stable -- albeit hostile toward the US -- since 1979. At the same time, Pakistan has had assassinations and coups galore.

Pakistan is a bigger risk for America than Iran. Yet some GOP candidates and many elected Republicans insist on continued funding for Pakistan, despite the reality that they harbored bin Laden! There's too much focus on a preemptive strike against Iran. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. I give Newt credit. He was right to say the national discussion should include Pakistan.

Anyway, I haven't heard Ron Paul's thoughts on the lone wolf scenario. That's one concern I have with his foreign policy, but what is Ron Paul's primary motivator for running?

Ron Paul's not running primarily because he wants to end the wars. And he's not running because he wants to be powerful and feel important. Nope. Not at all.

Ron Paul's running because he wants to force the Congress to do its job. In other words:

If we go to war, the Congress must declare it. Ron Paul would not partake in wars without being directed to do so by Congress.

If we print money, the Congress must enact it. Ron Paul would fight to end the Fed and stop the Congress' outsourcing of monetary policy.

If we spend money, the Congress must adopt it. Ron Paul would veto these ridiculous continuing resolutions that occur at the 11th hour under the cover of darkness.

In my opinion, Ron Paul is not running to end the wars. Ron Paul is running to demand the Congress do its job. As such, he would not have a weak foreign policy in the least bit. Rather, he'd simply be rebalancing the power between the Executive and the Legislative branches. Not-so-coincidentally, forcing the members of Congress to cast votes would have the added benefit of allowing voters to better judge our Senators and Representatives!

He's said this time and time again, the Congress must declare a war. If so, he'll forcefully execute the will of the people as it is voiced through their members of Congress.

I think the notion that Ron Paul is weak on defense is offbase. In order to fully understand his foreign policy philosophy, we should:

1) have a better understanding of the context in which he speaks (see the above video); and

2) recognize that his top priorities is not to end wars or avoid wars, but to require the Congress to do its job.

Tim White

A day in the life: Traveling the Haitian highway

2011-12-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

Haiti is fairly well-known for poverty. But poverty isn't just malnourished children and a non-existent public education system. The poverty can also be seen in the lack of infrastructure. Addressing the poor infrastructure was one of the reasons I decided to come here. I knew that I'd be involved in house construction and last Saturday I made a visit to about ten houses in an area called Fond Rouge Dayere.

A funny thing happened on the way to the houses though. I realized I was traveling the Haitian highway system. And I also noticed how beautiful it is as I followed my fantastic guide, Luc Anel. He's a health agent for us and he's also a community leader. I never would've been able to go where we went without his help.

We started off at the end of the road near the top of a mountain where it was relatively flat:As we began the obvious descent, Luc Anel broke the news to me. He pointed to the bottom of the valley and told me that's where we were headed. Ugh! You can see here how narrow the Haitian highway got. It was only one lane:Eventually we found a passing lane. Too bad it also doubled as a perfect example of poverty begatting poverty. The lack of money and infrastructure requires people to use wood for cooking. And so we see here a classic example of deforestation:And here's a better look at the piled wood before it gets turned into charcoal... which is the Haitian staple for cooking:It was around this point on our journey that I really started to get tired. Then I remembered that there was no elevator to bring me back up the mountain. Ummm... I think little Timmy has a problem! Haha... I knew I was in for a looonnnggg day!

Soon enough we reached the valley. And wouldn't ya know it? There was a whole community here! I guess running water does that... attracts people. :)

This was our destination... the homestead of our most recently finished house in Mauvette. It was filled with earthquake migrants who had been displaced from Port-au-Prince. This is the "caye ancien" or old house:And here's the new house, including the wee ones:And no, this isn't four girls. That's what I originally thought. Then I noticed one was a boy:But that's what economic poverty does. You take whatever clothes you can get. As for running around with no pants, he's a little kid. But at several houses where I took photos, while the kids were running around bare-bottom when I arrived... as soon as the camera came out, the kids were shuffled inside and dressed. It was actually really nice to see the great pride they take in themselves and their new homes. And no, their homes aren't McMansions. But they are home. And that means everything to all the people I met on this short journey. It felt good to see so much good come of the earthquake donations.

After seeing the one house in the river valley, we started our return journey. And nope... I didn't take many photos. I was too busy telling Luc Anel that he was supposed to carry me back up the mountain! But for some reason, he said that wasn't true. Not fair! Haha...Eventually we finished our road trip on the Haitian highway. It took about five or six hours. And yes, it's winter. But it's the Caribbean. It's still hot here. haha... I asked for it!

As we got back to the car we passed someone standing by the side of the road. It kind of puzzled me that someone would be standing there by himself. Then I got the explanation. He was the Mayor of Fond Rouge Dayere! Love it! We chatted for a few minutes. He was nice and he was doing his job. He took the Saturday for "office hours" and to make himself available. And that's important here because my understanding is the local "casaks" have a vast amount of authority. So it's that much more important to be aware of what's happening.

Tim White

Unlike others, Ron Paul doesn't profit from power

2011-12-12T20:04:00.004-05:00

Wow. This new Ron Paul ad is strong:

I'll be proudly voting for Ron Paul, but this ad almost makes me long for Romney. Ouch!

As for whether Ron Paul can beat Obama, he consistently polls better among independents than the other GOP candidates. And the latest poll results continue to reveal this trend:

A new American Research Group poll of likely Iowa caucus goers released today shows GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul tied for second place with 17 percent of the vote and within 5 points of Newt Gingrich, who garnered 22 percent of the vote. Of note, Congressman Paul wins 39 percent of the vote among independents, more than twice that of the nearest competitor.

Tim White

Early morning visit to St Pierre School

2011-12-11T08:58:00.008-05:00

Although the new President of Haiti is trying institute public primary education, there is effectively no public education at this moment. Nor has there been for a while, if ever.

As a result of the lack of public education, NGOs have picked up much of the slack. And this is one of the forms of outreach in which I'm fortunate enough to participate. We work with the St. Pierre School. It's a school for the truly needy. Many children who attend St. Pierre have no other option for school. If they didn't attend St. Pierre, they'd be working and doing household chores. And these are little kids.

Anyway, since telephone service can be problematic here -- and I wanted to set up a meeting with the school principal asap -- I did something unusual and headed to St. Pierre just before school started.

This is what I encountered... a hallway I could barely pass because it was filled with kids:A stairway that got filled with kids who wanted to see the blanc:And a large foyer packed to the gills with little ones hamming it up:They flocked to me, the blanc. And they loved having their picture taken. It was not only adorable, it was also pretty cute seeing the reactions of these little kids when I showed them the photos of themselves. Next time I visit, I'll try to remember to bring some candy. They'll love that even more than the photos!

And if you happen to have heard of St. Pierre School before, the Herald's John Rook reported on the St. Bridget / St. Pierre sister school relationship last February.

Tim White

What is Obama thinking?

2011-12-01T19:17:00.006-05:00

On October 29th, Fox News reported:

It was here at the courthouse in Benghazi where the first spark of the Libyan revolution ignited. It’s the symbolic seat of the revolution; post-Gaddafi Libya’s equivalent of Egypt’s Tahrir Square. And it was here, in the tumultuous months of civil war, that the ragtag rebel forces established their provisional government and primitive, yet effective, media center from which to tell foreign journalists about their “fight for freedom.”

But according to multiple eyewitnesses—myself included—one can now see both the Libyan rebel flag and the flag of al Qaeda fluttering atop Benghazi’s courthouse.

And today, Yahoo News is reporting:

U.S. citizens are legitimate military targets when they take up arms with al-Qaida, top national security lawyers in the Obama administration said Thursday.

I can't help wondering... have Obama's lawyers seriously considered their argument??

Tim White

Ron Paul is authentic and consistent

2011-11-30T18:01:00.003-05:00

I really wasn't sure where Newt was on TARP. For me, supporting TARP is unforgivable. Heck, I was thrilled to hear about the chants "TARP, TARP, TARP..." as Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) went down in flames during his 2010 GOP convention.

It was a non-starter to me in September 2008. And it's still a dealbreaker.

Anyway, the RP ad includes a quote that led me to this excerpt from a September 29, 2008 ABCNews piece:

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich reversed course on Monday, issuing a statement saying that if he were still in office he would "reluctantly and sadly" support the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill.

Gingrich, who led the charge against the bailout last week, explained his change in position by saying that the House Republicans, "reinforced by John McCain," have improved the bill "significantly" so it is "less bad" than the original proposal offered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

The rest of the article places Newt in a somewhat improved light. But ultimately, he publicly supported TARP when America needed real leadership to oppose what Newt knew would come to be... increased corruption. No thank you.

We need a complete cleansing of The Swamp.

Tim White

Haitians don't have a lot, but they use what they have

2011-11-19T18:59:00.006-05:00

Haitians don't have a many material things. But they do have their fair share of coconuts. And the "coco-ay" makes it into many dishes:And as I said, they don't have many material things, including things like graters. So take a look at this grater a bit more closely:Haitians recycle a lot! Graters tend to be made from recycled spray cans. They'll chop off both ends, split the tube from end to end with one cut, flatten it to a rectangular shape, then punch holes throughout the flat piece of metal.

Voila... a free homemade grater!

As for the pot, it was probably made in Haiti from melted aluminum soda cans.

Whether it's Haiti, Vietnam or other poor places I've been, I find that people tend to get very creative when they have very little.

Tim White

The beauty of storm drains & garbage collection

2011-11-19T18:26:00.007-05:00

.
This is the view of the street I normally see in front of my place:

This is the view I had a few days ago:And this is just a few feet up the road:The kid in the photo was shoveling garbage to keep the water flowing. Also, the floods are effectively used as a cleaning mechanism.

Storm drains and garbage collection are a wonderful invention.

Tim White

A day in the life: Helping earthquake victims

2011-11-07T22:13:00.006-05:00

I happened to have my camera at work today. One of the earthquake victims stopped by for some assistance. This is one of the big reasons I decided to come here:

He's a good kid who happened to be in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake and you can see what happened. As for his story beyond PAP and connection to us... he lives here in Jeremie. And that's how we got involved. But he periodically travels to a distant town in Haiti to get help with a prosthetic leg. And while other groups have generously helped in providing victims with prosthetic limbs free-of-charge, they cannot cover travel and food. That's where we enter the picture.

As for the guy behind the computer, that's Junior. He's one of the guys who works for me. He's great. Works extremely hard and good at his job.

There are some great people here. I think what I appreciate most is knowing how hard a life it is for some, but they're always smiling.

Tim White

Herman Cain makes Mitt Romney look consistent

2011-10-31T19:56:00.005-04:00

We already know that Herman Cain negotiates with terrorists. Oh wait... no. He doesn't.

We already know that Herman Cain is pro-life. Oh wait... no. He believes it's a woman's choice. Oh wait... no. He's pro-life.

We already know that Herman Cain opposes the assassination of American citizens without due process. Oh wait... no. Assassination without due process is fine.

We already know Herman Cain wants to institute a 23% national sales tax. Oh wait... no. He wants "9-9-9, jobs, jobs, jobs."

But a new contradiction really got me annoyed yesterday.

In the midst of his flip-flops on declaring there was "no settlement," then suddenly remembering a settlement... I noticed a comment he made yesterday on Face the Nation that I feel is very important. But first, let's step back a few months.

On May 22, 2011, FoxNews' Chris Wallace interviewed Herman Cain:

WALLACE: We have been at war in Afghanistan for almost 10 years. And yet you say -- and you say it quite proudly -- you have no plan for what to do in Afghanistan. You'd have to wait until you got into office, until you met with the experts, until you met with military officials and then you decided....

CAIN: Chris, let's go back -- let's go back -- let's go back to the fundamental question. We've got to work on the right problem. I think it is disingenuous to tell the American people what I would do when I don't have the intelligence information. I don't have all of the factors that are affecting this particular situation.

I owe the American people a responsible decision and a responsible plan. And I don't think any candidate can responsibly say what they would do if they are elected president.

In effect, he's saying he cannot opine on the direction of war unless he has access to the intelligence information.

Yet just yesterday -- only five months later -- on Face the Nation, Herman Cain was asked to discuss the appropriateness of the Iraq drawdown.

CBS News reports:

Cain disagreed with Obama's approach and... said that a "responsible Commander in Chief" would have consulted military commanders on the ground

CBS News continues:

when pressed, Cain conceded that "It was irresponsible for George Bush to set a date certain" in the first place.

So, if I understand this correctly... Cain says he can't opine on war because he doesn't have the intelligence information. But it's reasonable for Cain to blast both Bush and Obama when they have the intelligence information, but he does not?

At some point, Herman Cain will need to address these charges of sexual harassment. But in the meantime, I don't want to let these seemingly contradictory statements pass into the night.

Can anyone please help me reconcile these two views? I'm at a complete loss... unless this is just another example of his Kerry-esqe campaign slogan of "first I was for it, before I was against it!"

Tim White

LOWV Council forum 2011

2011-10-19T19:27:00.013-04:00

Livestreaming the Council debate... fun, fun, fun!

I just watched the DISTRICTS starting around 7pm. Thoughts:

David Schrumm -- David is David. He reminds me of Newt at a local level. The best debater out there. And as much as he drives me nuts at times... at times like this, he reminds me how beneficial he can be for the town. He's knowledgable, articulate and makes a good presentation. He explains issues in a succinct manner. I know he has no opponent this year, but he shined favorably on the entire GOP team tonight.

Tom Ruocco -- He's good. I would absolutely vote for him. And as Personnel Chair, he has made important progress this term on town union pension reform by moving from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution plans for new hires.

Matt Bowman -- I like Matt, but I hope he remains in "private industry." He kinda dropped the ball and stumbled during his closing comments.

Joe Schmitt -- He's very enthusiastic. I absolutely agree with him about priorities. I just don't see why this Council spent so much time discussing and funding recreation projects.

Andy Falvey -- When he commented on priorities, I couldn't really follow. He works hard for the 3rd district though. I know residents who really appreciate his efforts at Mixville.

Steve Carroll -- I thought he did fine. Though nothing in particular jumped out at me.

Peter Talbot -- Did anyone else think he was suggesting that "raise my taxes!" was his campaign slogan? I know the 4th district fairly well. And I know a lot of people who want education well-funded. But I don't know that many people who want higher taxes. That's different from being willing to pay higher taxes.

AT-LARGE

Jim McKenney -- He kept hammering away at the $30,000,000 sewer plant upgrade. I was about to vote for the project until he explained the possibility of the state walking away from funding the $6,000,000 de-phosphorous component. He explained that passing the referendum would reduce Cheshire's leverage with state funding. That's concerning. But since maintenance of the plant is mandated, I can't fully appreciate his argument. Regardless, this funding issue -- that Mike O'Donnell and Sylvia Nichols also mentioned -- seems important. McKenney also hammered home the point about the millions of dollars worth of no-bid contracts given out by the WPCA. I was under the impression that the no-bid nonsense had ended with this Council. Perhaps not? Or perhaps, unlike before when no contracts were put out to bid, now some contracts are being bid? Based on what I heard, Jim was the only person to properly answer the question "What one thing would you do to save money?" The rest of the responses sounded like non-responses to me. Overall, I thought Jim did really well. Still an uphill battle though as a non-major party candidate. As PBC Chair, I didn't care for his approach to work. I never thought he was particularly receptive to the Energy Commission and the obvious value they could offer building projects. But as a rank'n'file member of the Council, he might be a good addition. I doubt he'd be a rubber stamp for the Town Manager!

Bob Behrer -- I like Bob. He was fairly reserved tonight. But I do now know that he supports the turf and the pool. And speaking of Bob, I've been emailing with him the past few days. His company sources beeswax from around the world (geographic diversity is important for the business continuity plans of many manufacturers), but do not yet have any sources here in Haiti. So he reached out to me and we're hoping to help generate some money & jobs for some of the poor of Haiti. Regardless of the business-driven, profit-motive, I appreciate Bob for contacting me. Thinking outside-the-box could be good for the Council. Unfortunately, you'd still need five votes to direct action on outside-the-box thinking. One Council member alone cannot effect change. Change requires five hands in the air.

Mike O'Donnell -- I think Mike would be a good addition to the Council. I've known him since I first ran for the Council ten years ago. The great thing about him is that he's a straight-shooter. He's very direct. He's never minced words with me or told me what he thought I wanted to hear. He's always respectful, yet plainly tells me if he agrees or disagrees with me.

Patti Flynn-Harris -- Among the at-large candidates, she had the best performance. She has the best presentation and she does her homework. In fact, just today I got an email from a Republican saying that she's the Council member most involved with the concept of a townwide energy conservation plan. That basically relates to her desire to understand how a performance contract works. I have never served with her, but it sounds like she does her homework. And that's important. I suspect that PFH will be the highest vote-getter on November 8th.

Tim Slocum -- He alluded to the teachers' union concesssions. That was a big win for the town. He also deserves credit for town pension reform because despite town management footdragging, Tim helped closed the door on defined benefit pension plans for future hires. That was another big win. But then he mentioned a future goal of the Council: shared services between the Town and Schools. That sounds great and I appreciated his usual candor. But he made clear that this Council decided to spend the past year figuring out what to do with the pool bubble, rather working to reduce waste and duplicate services in government. I just don't see how or why anyone would campaign on that. Sounds like a poor choice to me. I also had to chuckle when he mentioned that this Council directed the Town Manager to save money anyway he can. I guess that may be true, but there obviously wasn't very strong accountability backing it. I mean, we got fleeced for $150,000 on the Norton boiler fiasco, including probably $50,000 to $60,000 being spent by this Council. How is that saving money? And we saw the money wasted when we had to pay to repave Rosemary Lane only two years after we had just repaved it. How much did that stupidity cost? And we saw Jim McKenney tonight. He kept hammering home the no-bid contracts at the WPCA. Anyone know the common denominator among these three issues? It's what I said two years ago... the Council needs to deal with the failed management of the Public Works Department. But since that's a function of the Town Manager, the Council needs to deal with the TM. Yet I see no indication that they have done so. Instead it's seems as though they live in The Land of Make Believe... where everything is perfect and town government has done no wrong for the past two years. That's absurd. And it's a major disappointment to me. As I said during the last Council, I hope the voters can identify five people who are willing to direct the Town Manager to stop the waste & mismanagement in town government, particularly in the DPW. I hope we can find five people who are willing to direct the TM when he is wrong -- and he is wrong sometimes -- and not simply back down when he starts getting visibly angry and jumping up out of his seat (and no, he doesn't do that on TV... he always very controlled there... but get him off camera...).

Jimmy Sima -- He started his comments by mentioning that he sometimes leaves Council meetings frustrated. Well, between all the unnecessary time and money spent on recreation projects... and the lack of accountability in Town Hall... I can venture a guess as to why Jimmy gets frustrated at times. He also mentioned his general opposition to hiring consultants. I'll be voting for Jimmy. He's my top choice for Council. I hope he's your top choice too!

Mike Ecke -- He offered a nice opening statement. But he proceeded to say that we're "stuck with the bubble." Au contraire. The new bubble was a conscious decision. He also mentioned the $500,000 for the locker room that has gone unspent. Initially, I thought that was an important point. But Tim Slocum rightly said that spending requests begin with the BOE. And if the BOE hasn't asked for the money, that's not the fault of the Council for failing to spend the money. I like Mike. But I have to challenge his point about being willing to work with all elected officials. I agree with him that he's willing to listen and take input. He worked with me several times. I recall one time when he delayed (for one year) hiring a consultant for an update to the strategic plan. I very much appreciated him listening to me on that. So his assertion was true. But I can't ignore my previous conclusion that when push comes to shove... his preference -- as is the preference of most Council Chairs -- is to defer to the Town Manager, not to other elected officials. And I just think that is so wrong. It reminds me of these Republicans running for POTUS. When asked about war, too many of them say "I'll defer to my commanders." Huh? Then why'd we elect you?! We have elections for a reason! The bureaucrats will virtually always want to spend more money and have less accountability. I want Council leadership that will make the decisions. And no, I don't have to agree with the Council decision. But I want to know that their decisions are their decisions... not a decision made by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats.

Sylvia Nichols -- She's nice. I like her, but not much jumped out at me.

Dan Nowak -- He started off on the wrong foot as his mic wasn't working. And I wasn't too thrilled when he seemed to be advocating expanding services... does he want a water polo team? But I know him a smidge. He lives in the 4th district! I think he may have been a bit nervous tonight. Nonetheless, he -- like all others -- could offer the Council some good.

Overall, I think what surprised me most was how many candidates are uncertain how they will vote on the $30,000,000 wastewater treatment plant upgrade. Per Jim McKenney, there's obviously new information (post-capital budget vote) that's now in the public forum. So it's somewhat understandable. Frankly though, going back to my POTUS analogy... I get pretty annoyed when I hear Herman Cain tell us that he won't answer a question (i.e. the way forward in Afghanistan or naming a Fed Chairman) because he's not President yet. You know what Herman? I don't want another "unknown" like Obama. I want to know where you stand on the issues. And while volunteering for the Council is different, I still want candidates to be clear on the issues.

That's it... goodnight!

Tim White

Ron Paul tackles spending in clear terms

2011-10-17T10:59:00.006-04:00

As both Politico and the WSJ are reporting, Congressman Ron Paul is announcing his detailed economic plan this week. From what I see, I like it. Here are some highlights:

1) Reduce the size of government: Education, Commerce, Energy, Interior and Housing and Urban Development, including a total 10% reduction in the federal labor pool.

2) Repeal major regulations: Obamacare, Dodd / Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)*

3) Increase transparency: Audit the Federal Reserve

4) Share the sacrifice: As POTUS, he would not accept the $400,000 annual salary that Obama takes. Ron Paul would accept only America’s median annual income, $39,336.

5) Keep America’s promise to veterans and seniors: No changes to funding for programs such as Social Security and Medicare for current participants.

Detailed, yet simple. And no, it’s not as simple as “9-9-9, jobs, jobs, jobs,” but then it seems that Herman Cain doesn’t have any substance to that sound bite. I think Newt’s response – that “9-9-9” sounds interesting, but how will it play in New Hampshire (where there is no sales tax) – pretty much says it all to me.

The other nice thing about Ron Paul’s plan is that it seems to be more focused on the spending side, rather than the tax side. And we all know that it’s the spending side – not the tax side – that drives our unsustainable debt.

Tim White

* I’ve experienced SOX first hand. It could easily – and appropriately – be replaced with enforcement of anti-fraud laws.

Herman Cain is already misleading the American people

2011-10-11T23:48:00.005-04:00

Herman Cain is a card-carrying member of America's largest counterfeiting operation, the Federal Reserve system. And although he's no longer officially involved, he has spent much of his run for POTUS as an apologist for the counterfeiters.

Much of his role as an apologist had been ignored to this point in the race. But he made a really big mistake during tonight's debate. While he's great with the sound bite, his fast talk got the better of him.

When Ron Paul called him out as The Federal Reserve's cheerleader, Cain talked too fast. Herman Cain was not only intentionally misleading in answering Ron Paul's question, he also demonstrated his astoundingly poor judgment by continuing his cheerleading for Alan Greenspan's arrogance and his 24/7 printing presses.

HuffPost is already documenting Cain's lack of truthfulness:

As you can see, Cain said people want to audit the Fed because "they don't know enough about it." To which Ron Paul properly rephrased and used the word "ignorant."By definition, Ron Paul's use was correct.

Herman Cain thinks that his slick talk can walk him thru this GOP primary. I certainly hope not. Particularly on issues as important as monetary policy and transparency, Cain needs to be forthright and not just keep repeating "9-9-9." It's getting annoying.

Cain also owes Ron Paul and the American people an apology for intentionally misleading us with regard to his true feelings toward his beloved Bankster Buddies.

Tim White

Herman Cain's role in the Federal Reserve system

2011-10-11T23:23:00.005-04:00

My #1 concern in the GOP primary is monetary policy. Monetary policy is controlled by the Federal Reserve, specifically the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC consists of:

1) The Federal Reserve Board of Governors -- it has seven permanent seats on the FOMC; and

2) The 12 regional Federal Reserve banks -- each with a Fed Bank President, five of whom serve on the FOMC on a rotating basis.

Each of the 12 regional Federal Reserve bank Presidents reports to his/her own Board for that particular bank. An example of one of these regional Federal Reserve banks is New York City. Tim Geithner was the President of the NYC Federal Reserve bank at the time of the bailout in September 2008.

Another example of one of these regional Federal Reserve banks is Kansas City. In the early to mid-90s, Herman Cain was the Chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. So he wasn't the KC President who sat on the FOMC, but he was obviously intimately involved in the Federal Reserve system.

IMO, this is a terrible stain on Herman Cain's resume.

Tim White

Ron Paul won the CNN / Tea Party debate

2011-09-12T22:17:00.002-04:00

How did he win the debate?

Easy! He's the only one who literally changed the debate.

Santorum supports sound money?

Cain wants to audit the Fed?

Perry thinks Bernanke is a traitor? (OTT IMO)

Bachmann's on the band wagon too.

Mitt was the only one who refuses to challenge the unconstitutional supremacy of The Fed. He probably just wants more bailouts for his friends, The Banksters.

But to top it off, Ron Paul didn't even get to answer the question about the Fed! And it was Ron Paul who nearly single-handedly introduced and passed the Audit the Fed amendment in the abomination known as Dodd / Frank.

That's a big reason why I love Ron Paul. He IS a game-changer!

Tim White

Mychal's Prayer

2011-09-11T08:56:00.001-04:00

Lord, take me where You want me to go,
let me meet who You want me to meet,
tell me what You want me to say,
and keep me out of Your way.

- Saint Mychal Judge

Ron Paul "Trust" and Rick Perry's response

2011-09-06T20:18:00.004-04:00

I imagine the Ron Paul / Rick Perry back'n'forth is all over the TV tonight. It started with Ron Paul's new ad:

Then proceeded with Rick Perry publishing a letter in which Ron Paul accused Ronald Reagan of being a big spender.

What I find most interesting about this -- other than the fact that my guy is in it to win it -- is that I'm thinking this is far from a traditional primary spat.

Generally-speaking, many members of each of the two parties dislike primaries because -- in part -- they fear the charges cast during a primary will be used against the nominee in the general election. But here's the thing...

If either Ron Paul or Rick Perry becomes the GOP nominee, I find it relatively unlikely that either of these charges would be used against them in the general.

Tim White

Town to assist in Irene cleanup

2011-09-04T09:40:00.004-04:00

Tom Ruocco suggested I post this:

The Town of Cheshire will be assisting residents with removal of branches downed on their properties by Hurricane Irene.

Residents are asked to leave the branches curbside, without obstructing the roadway, by the morning of September 6, 2011. Branches less than five inches in diameter will be chipped and the chips will be removed. Branches and logs over five inches in diameter will be cut into approximately 18 inch logs and left at curbside for firewood for use by residents. Town staff will not go onto private property to retrieve or cut branches. Public Works crews will make only one pass through town, and will not return for debris that were not place curbside prior to their collection. This program is expected to take at least ten days. Residents can also dispose of this storm-related brush and tree material at the designated drop off areas at Mixville Park parking lot on Notch Road and the Quinnipiac Park parking lot on Cheshire Street at any time until September 14, 2011. This program is restricted to storm-related woody debris only. The Town will not accept loose leaves, yard clippings or trimmings, or any other lumber, garbage, non-woody storm debris or bulky items for collection or drop off.

Along with his ongoing outreach efforts, Tom is a fiscal conservative. Despite being in the minority, he voted in favor of avoiding long-term liabilities more than once this year. When it came to both the pool bubble and turf, Tom voted to avoid future expenses. If I could I would definitely vote for Tom Ruocco in November.

Tim White

GOP Primary: One man has stood apart

2011-08-18T22:18:00.003-04:00

Between work and my studies -- currently Earth Science 101 -- I've been buried. But I finish my summer class this week and just noticed my hero -- an authentic elected official -- just posted a new ad online.

“Ron Paul: The one who will stop the spending, save the dollar, create jobs, bring peace. The one who will restore liberty. Ron Paul: The one who can beat Obama – and restore America now.”

Ron Paul r3VOLution! Legalize the constitution!

Tim White

She had an amazing voice

2011-07-23T23:35:00.002-04:00

Amy Winehouse had an amazing voice.

A day in the life: visiting earthquake houses (#1)

2011-07-17T19:54:00.006-04:00

Besides working in the healthcare field, HHF works on a number of other development initiatives. As you could imagine, one of the big issues relates to post-earthquake housing.

Following the EQ, many people left Port-au-Prince for good reason. It's now been more than 18 months and the city still has huge numbers of tent cities and fallen buildings.

As such, housing outside of PAP is needed. And we're working on that.

I just had the opportunity to go on a final review of much of our EQ housing project. Not much of it is located in Jeremie. Rather, the houses are located in the countryside outside of Jeremie. On this excursion, I visited the villages of Moron and Tessier.

Here's one of the houses I visited:And here's a close-up of the proud father with two of his children:After visiting that house and having the grantor (CRS) confirm the EQ-migrant status of the residents, we walked further up the hill to the next house:Here you can see the new house we built (center) and the old house (left) that was crumbling. As for the crumbling, I understand it was unrelated to the EQ:Here's a better view of the old house. You can plainly see how bad it is:And here's a close-up of the reason for the new EQ house. Three of these kids grew up here, but the other three kids are from PAP. They are among the tens of thousands of migrants who moved to the state of Grand Anse because they were displaced by the earthquake:It's unclear to me whether these children were orphaned or simply sent here to live with their relatives because their parents couldn't take care of them in PAP. And that's not a particularly uncommon story, since so many people lost their houses, spouses and so many other critical ingredients for making a home and raising a family.

And this was a going away pic for me. These kids were so happy for their new house with a roof and solid walls. They were adorable. It was nice to see them so happy.

Tim White

Debt ceiling: pain now or pain later

2011-07-16T10:11:00.003-04:00

When a top administration official asked The Big 0 for his approach to garnering support on increasing the nation's credit card, Obomba paraphrased David Farragut's famous words. In fearmongering typical of The Political Class, Obummer said:

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Obama and Republican leaders keep talking up the "catastrophe" that lay ahead for America if the debt ceiling isn't raised. And while I accept their argument that there will be significant problems if the debt ceiling isn't raised, they FAIL to acknowledge the complete picture.

If the debt ceiling is raised, the pain will only be delayed. As I said in my opposition during the runup to the Bush Bailout, it's pain now or pain later.

The pain cannot be avoided indefinitely. Among insiders, it's already widely accepted that the dollar's life as the world's reserve currency is coming to an end. As our special status ends, our standard of living will drop because the dollar will have less and less buying power. So the pain is coming. I think the better solution is to deal with the pain now.

I agree with my favorite Congressman, Dr. Ron Paul:

By the way, Washington's fearmongering includes lies. America has defaulted in the past.

In 1933, FDR defaulted when he refused to pay debts -- as promised -- in gold and converted to "federal reserve notes" for all payments, excluding foreign central banks. And in 1971, Nixon completed FDRs default by refusing to pay foreign central banks in gold. So this would *not* be the first time we defaulted.

This really is classic fearmongering.

Tim White

Happy 50th anniversary!

2011-06-17T00:18:00.002-04:00

If you happen to see my parents around town, please wish them a Happy Anniversary!

On June 17th, 1961, my dad convinced my mom to tie the knot. And it was only a few days earlier that he had graduated from Dartmouth College via ROTC... and began getting ready to ship out. And his Dartmouth degree continued paying dividends this week. Since his class graduated fifty years ago, he was among those who were honored guests at Dartmouth's graduation this year... and he got to see -- and enjoyed -- Conan O'Brien's commencement speech:

Tim White

Summer pools being closed nationwide

2011-05-30T20:39:00.004-04:00

The Huffington Post's Jeffrey Collins has an interesting article on the closing of public pools across America due to budgetary constraints:

as the Great Recession has drained city budgets across the country, it also has drained public pools for good. From New York City to Sacramento, Calif., pools now considered costly extravagances are being shuttered, taking away a rite of summer for millions.

It's an interesting read. But keep in mind, this is about summer-only pools being closed. It's not about year-round facilities.

Tim White

A day in the life: some Haitian fruits

2011-05-29T23:24:00.003-04:00

There's one particular drawback to living in Haiti that's been a bit concerning to me lately. There's not much in the way of green veggies. Spinach is grown here, but beans are largely canned and imported. And broccoli... not gonna find it at all.

On the other hand, different fruits always seem to be in season. Here are some pix of a few of the fruits currently growing right outside my bedroom window.

I'm not sure what this is. It's not an avocado tree. It's called "zambuk." I think it may be some sort of mango, but I'm not sure.This is called "cashema." The view is from underneath the high-up fruits as I stand on the ground looking upward. When it's ripe, it turns a pinkish-orange color. It's absolutely delicious.Here are a couple pix of either bananas or plantaines. I have no idea how to tell the difference. I just know that I love sweet bananas and have no appetite for dry plantaines. Also, I love the maroun colored leaves that encapsulate the baby fruits until they explode into their well-known banana shapes. Hummingbirds love the banana flowers. I get to see them float in thin air from time to time as they feed.I think we all recognize this as the unofficial symbol of a tropical paradise: the coconut palm.And the last fruit tree bearing fruit at the moment: the breadfruit tree. It's not really much of a fruit. It reminds me of a potato. The tree has enormous leaves that grow upwards of two feet long.The fruit grow to about the size of a cantaloupe.
Tim White

A day in the life: Tet kale!

2011-05-28T20:57:00.005-04:00

Tet kale! is a Haitian saying. It refers to somone working so hard, your hair falls out and you go bald.

It was made greatly popularized during the recent Haitian Presidential campaign. The follicle-challenged candidate, Michel "Sweet Mickey" Martelli, won the election with a mandate -- 67% of the vote -- and a well-suited campaign slogan: Tet kale!

So what does that have to do with me? Not much. But since the rainy season began a few weeks ago, the weather has become close to unbearable. The heat is still here and now it's accompanied by thick humidity. It's tough to stay cool.

But worse than the humidity is the bugs that have accompanied it. It's not just the flying termites, but there's flying ants now too. As I sit here writing this, I hear the first drop of rain falling on the corrugated tin roof. Pitter, patter. Pitter, patter. If it turns to a downpour, then two things will happen:

1) I won't be able to hear a thing. Talking on the phone, and even in person, can become futile.

2) The flying bugs will search out the light... and since we haven't had city power for a few days (I'm one of the few fortunate enough to have any sort of electricity... battery-powered) the bugs find me.

And it was a few days ago that I decided the bugs were overwhelming. As I sat I studying, I felt several land on my head. It was probably at that moment that I realized:

Tet kale!

I've been working so hard, I should have no hair!So I went to the barber today and got my already fairly short hair taken down a notch. Funny thing to me was that I asked to go bald, but he refused. I'm not entirely sure why. As usual, there was something lost in translation. But he seemed to indicate that my ghostly white scalp would get scorched in the Haitian sun.

I couldn't disagree. So I thanked him, paid him and went on my merry way... glad to have one aspect of personal hygiene requirements reduced in a place where I'm never sure if I'll have electricity or running water.
Tim White

A day in the life: Haitian roommates

2011-05-23T19:56:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I was introduced to some new roommates. Apparently they usually always stop by for a visit after a heavy rain. And since the past six months have been fairly dry, I hadn't yet met them. They're called "bedzells." And they're also known as flying termites.

Foul. Absolutely disgusting. I was told that after a heavy rain, "the queen flies." Then the termites hatch that night and fly toward the nearest light. And they're guaranteed to get anywhere there's light.

A few weeks ago I tried to fight them with bug spray. And after a while I won. But I used half a can of bug spray and had thousands of wings and carcasses strewn about. Again: absolutely disgusting.

Anyway, after that happened I mentioned it to my boss who gave me some advice. I took the advice when they returned last night.

I turned off the lights and went to bed.

Avoiding them is actually pretty simple. Though turning out the lights and crawling into my bednet isn't so bad at 10pm. I'd probably be a bit annoyed if they invade at 7pm some night. Oh well.

Here are some pictures of another roommate:There's a bunch of these at my place. Generally, I don't mind them. If they eat the other bugs, such as flying termites and malarial mosquitoes, I'm cool with the spiders. I do keep my distance though. I have no idea if they're poisonous.

This guy on the other hand is most likely poisonous. At least, if my guess is correct that he's a scorpion.Having lived most of my life in Cheshire, CT, I don't have much experience with scorpions. The extent of it is limited to three instances:

1) In Vietnam, a friend got bitten by a scorpion a few inches long. His ankle swelled to the size of a softball, but it was nowhere near deadly.

2) In Arizona, a friend bought a house. Before renovating it, he went on a nighttime scorpion expedition. Equipped with a black light, he killed about 20 scorpions in the hour we were talking on the phone. I'm not sure if his flatmates were deadly.

3) In Mexico, a friend and I were visiting some family on a ranch outside of Los Mochis. The rancher explained to me that the big scorpions aren't the really dangerous ones. He said it's the little ones. He proceeded to lift up a rock and show me a scorpion less than an inch long. He pinned it to the ground and pulled out its stinger. He said if he had gotten stung, he would've died.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of scorpions hanging out next to my toilet. Which, btw, I'm not sure why all these creepy crawlers like hanging out with my toilet bowl scrub.

My scorpion started to move. Not knowing anything about my particular bugger, I decided that cohabitating was unacceptable. But I didn't know just how fast these guys were... or if they could jump. So I didn't want to get close.

Lucky me. I had a nice, heavy, flat book nearby.

I offered him some bedtime reading. It was a real tear-jerker.

When he was done, he told me he felt the author's pain. He felt crushed.And perhaps not-so-surprisingly, I've got some furry friends. Not rats. Just mice. But I've also begun dealing with them. No thank you.

Tim White

A day in the life: It's a Sunday, so there's a parade

2011-05-22T21:58:00.006-04:00

No, Haitians don't actually have a parade every Sunday. But they do seem to have "processions" fairly often. This one happened by my place today. It consisted of the Brigade. I'm not sure exactly what the Brigade is. But it's obviously some sort of community group that involves both children and adults, men and women.

Here's the parade marshall with the Haitian flag:I'm guessing these are the Brigade's official flags:And of course, whatever the event -- whether it's a funeral or Carnival -- Haitians love their brass band:As for me, I enjoy the omnipresent brass band. It's become part of my Haitian experience.

Tim White

A day in the life: getting around

2011-05-19T21:18:00.003-04:00

I have about a seven to eight minute, uphill walk to work in the morning. It's similar to the walk up Avon Boulevard. In January, I was sweating bullets by the time I'd get to the Klinik around 7:30am. So although I'd never had a bike in my life, I knew I needed some sort of transportation. I recently got this red Jialing 125:

Tim White

A day in the life: shopping for dinner, but not MY dinner...

2011-05-18T00:32:00.006-04:00

When I was in Port-au-Prince, I stopped by the Marche de Fer... the Iron Market. It took about a year, but this was the first major reconstruction project to be completed in PAP. As for the Digicel umbrellas, it's a telephone company here. It's owned by, I think, an American company.The Marche de Fer isn't just an iron market though. Everything is sold here. You can see what's on tap for dinner:Although it didn't shock me, I collected turtles when I was kid. And I still have a soft place in my heart for them. Seeing them on the dinner menu never makes me happy. But maybe even worse than turtles is... see what's tied to the top of the crate?I lived in Vietnam for three years and the Vietnamese eat pretty much everything. And I mean everything: beef, chicken, pork, pangolin, bear, tiger... it was all for sale in restaurants and in the market.

And imagine a pig roast with a spear thru the pig -- from mouth to tail, legs pointed toward the sky -- over an open pit fire. I once saw a street vendor with such a thing in Ho Chi Minh City, except the pig was a dog, maybe 30 pounds.

At least where I lived (southern Vietnam) though, they didn't eat cat. That was more of a northern thing where feline was considered a delicacy. Anyway, that's Tabby tied to the crate and she won't be eating Fancy Feast for dinner... she'll be Fancy Feast tonight.

Like the turtles, the cat didn't make me happy either. But it's Haiti... not Connecticut.

And as for what's inside the crate... quelque lapins... bunnies.

Tim White

A day in the life: my Haitian puppies

2011-05-16T20:35:00.004-04:00

Although the dogs aren't mine, we do live in the same place. Here's the proud mommy dog with her litter a couple months ago:And some pix of only her children:

Of the seven puppies in the litter, six survived. The runt died unfortunately. And the remaining six all moved out about a week ago.

Tim White

A day in the life: microfinance

2011-05-14T23:52:00.007-04:00

While I thoroughly enjoy the more hands-on, humanitarian work, I'm a bean-counter. That's the main reason that I'm here. I count beans.

Nonetheless, I do try to have an impact in other ways. One of the things that's fascinated me for a while is microfinance. So when I arrived, that was one of the topics I kept asking about. Does it work? Can we do it?

Unfortunately, while there are some great organizations, such as Kiva and Oxfam, it's a very difficult form of aid to both:

1) provide in a needs-based manner; and
2) properly track and review performance.

Heck, it's difficult to do this in the USA where most of our financial transactions are automated. But much of the world -- particularly where a $25 microloan has a great impact -- has virtually nonexistent automated financial services. And although that's rapidly changing due to improvements in technology, such as cellphone banking, it's still a major hurdle to microloans for many.

Nonetheless, on Friday I was fortunate to help this lady and her daughter in a small way. More specifically, her benefactor in the US helped her with some money to start / expand a business... and also helped a young man with repairs to his motorbike that he uses as a taxi service here in town. And while I'm not getting into the details, I will followup to ensure that the money was spent on the reason for which it was granted.

Again, I'm not getting into great detail on this. And it was a gift, not a loan. But that's the reality of microfinance. While it can work well, it's so incredibly time-consuming... at times it's simpler to offer a gift, then simply followup to make sure the money is getting used properly... rather than reviewing financial records and requiring reimbursement.

From my perspective, the key issue is ensuring the money is used properly and to better someone for a lifetime.

For more on microfinance, see here.

And here's a picture of the mother and daughter who intend to start / expand the family business with some newfound financing:

Tim White

A day in the life: My phone minute salesmen

2011-05-13T23:20:00.007-04:00

I think it was the summer of 2008 -- right before The Bailout -- that I decided to start cutting back on my monthly recurring expenses. First thing to go was cable TV. I went cold turkey and cancelled TV completely. Sometime soon after, I reverted from the common $45/mo lots-of-minutes plan, circa 2010, to a less expensive I-got-my-cell-phone-for-an-emergency plan, circa 1995. But even that plan was around $25/mo. And after not having gotten a new phone since 2002, I finally needed a new phone and made the switch to a prepaid plan.

Switching to the prepaid plan made total sense to me. Not only did I get a new phone, but I was able to further reduce -- and better control -- my expenses. PLUS it made the switch to Haiti much easier. The only way I can call home -- my parents still don't use Skype -- is by buying prepaid minutes. And it really couldn't be much easier here.

There are "phone minute salesmen" seemingly everywhere in Haiti. They not only sell minutes, they also charge cell phone batteries. Fortunately for me, I'm in a situation where I normally don't need to pay to get my phone charged. Although it's not uncommon for me to have no electricity at my place, the office consistently has electricity (often using a generator and car batteries). And the cell phone salesmen may provide other services. I'm not sure. But I do know that they are ubiquitous. They were a particular smock and you can even flag them down while they driving around.

Using a phone in Haiti is easy-peasy.

Here's are some pix of my cell phone crew:

And here are some pictures of "the office." It's not something you'd see in Cheshire, but I figure it's not all that different from any street vendor you'd see in NYC:
Tim White

Death penalty repeal is dead... for the moment.

2011-05-11T23:50:00.000-04:00

CT News Junkie's Hugh McQuaid is reporting:

Speculation about the fate of the bill began early Wednesday when Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, said she would not be voting in favor of repeal.

Prague had strong words for Komisarjevsky.

“They should bypass the trial and take that second animal and hang him by his penis from a tree out in the middle of Main Street,” she said.

Thank you, Senator Prague... and Senator Maynard too. Both have switched their vote and ended the discussion of repealing the death penalty during this session. And though it will most likely come back next year, hopefully the clarity of thought will continue.

I completely agree with the notion that government should not take a chance on putting an innocent man to death. I suggest passing a law which requires "absolute certainty," for the death penalty. It'd be a more difficult bar to cross than "beyond a reasonable doubt."

We all know exactly what these two murderers did. With them, there is "absolute certainty." So they would still be executed. And they should die, although death is too kind for them.

Tim White

Voodoo art in Port-au-Prince

2011-05-10T20:54:00.005-04:00

Although I'm not a big fan, on the way to Jeremie I pretty much have to spend a night in Port-au-Prince. When I was there recently, I stopped by this voodoo artist's workshop. Some of it is interesting, some is scary, some is probably illegal and some is simply perplexing.

Here's the owner of the workshop, Andre:Along with this close-up of some of his personal work:This is the type of stuff that *may* be illegal. Just today I was told that it's not uncommon for graves to be undug, so thieves can steal and sell the bones -- particularly skulls -- for voodoo ceremonies, etc.

I found this one -- and all of the baby head on soda bottle pieces -- a bit disturbing though. Kinda reminded me of the Chucky slasher films:Coupling the disturbing doll head soda bottles with the assorted baby shoe artwork left me feeling a bit off:But here's one piece of work that I found interesting:

Tim White

Constructing a cholera outreach tent

2011-05-08T22:43:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to help construct the first of ten cholera outreach (education & healthcare) tents. We located it in a small village, Carrefour Prince.

I got there with two fellow employees, Moise and Nixon. Nixon drove there.

Here are a few pix from when we arrived:Here the villagers tear down what appears to be the old "community building." It had no roof. And I'm uncertain if a "community building" is an appropriate description because my Creole is still that of a two-year old. But it certainly seemed to be some sort of structure -- without a roof -- on community property.Here Nixon and Moise begin breaking down the boxes with the tent materials:A Carrefour Prince resident:The locals were initially hesitant to help. I'm not sure why, but at least some waited for direction:Old meets new:More construction pix:This boy wasn't helping in the construction. But I asked him for a pic of him as he passed by riding his donkey and he obliged. Everyone was very helpful.The construction continued:And the job was done after several hours in the Haitian sun. I certainly got some color that day while working!I drove back to Jeremie down the dirt road using the 4WD and going very slowly. Parts of the road's shoulder are simply a cliff. And there's one switchback -- immediatately before fording a river -- that requires a multi-point K turn for even the best of drivers. Regardless, I got back to my place and was glad that I had finally had the opportunity to drive here. It is chaotic, but it gave me a bit more nerve to buy my bike...

Tim White

A prayer for Anne Giddings

2011-05-08T01:32:00.002-04:00

A prayer offered by my father for Anne Giddings:

Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, and lord of our lives, as we undertake the work of this committee, we ask for your guidance and blessing in all we do. Give us the wisdom to know truth from falsehood, right from wrong, your will from self-will. Give us the courage to act on that wisdom so our actions reflect our understanding that, as our founders said so clearly, we are one nation under you.

And we thank you, O God, for the life of our friend and colleague, Anne Giddings. As we grieve for her and her family in this time of loss, we remember Anne as one who had a full measure of the wisdom and courage to conduct herself as your steward.

She demonstrated in her life a character built upon principles fundamental to America: self-reliance; civic pride; respect for nature; frugality not to live beyond her means; thrifty use of resources; hard work in support of family, neighbor and community; love of education; volunteerism and civic service.

Anne was a model citizen in many ways, Lord. Her quiet and sunny demeanor cheered those around her. Her work with young people touched their lives and their parents for the better. Our community and our nation have been enriched by her dedicated spirit of caring and serving and glorifying you through the work of her head, hands and heart.

We know Anne is with you, Lord. Hold her in your loving arms, bring peace and comfort to her grieving family and friends, and keep us mindful of her as a true and faithful servant who contributed in great measure to building your kingdom on earth.

Amen.

Life in the tropics... fresh coconut milk

2011-04-10T23:13:00.008-04:00

I had a chance to pry myself away from my usual routine of deskwork and homework yesterday. I got out into the field to do hard labor. Well... it was more normal boy scout work... setting up a tent... but in the Haitian sun, it wasn't easy for a whitie who gets fried pretty easily. It was important though. The project relates to our ongoing cholera outreach, but I'll try to post more on that later. In the meantime...

This is just one of the niceties of living in the tropics... fresh coconut milk! I didn't ask for it, but the villagers found some coconuts (they grow everywhere), pulled out a couple machetes and let us quench our thirst...This is one difference from Cheshire. I've found that in the tropics around the world, they don't necessarily eat the coconut meat. But people always drink the milk. And to drink the milk, there's no need to prepare the coconut so that it looks like the coconuts you see in Stop & Shop. You just need to make a neat little hole and drink!
Tim White

Sweet Micky wins = party time... Haitian style

2011-04-04T19:25:00.001-04:00

It's party time in Haiti! The initial Presidential election in November didn't turn out the way many Haitians had hoped. Throughout December, the country was fraught with violence. Christmas turned into a relatively peaceful January as "amended" election results were released... and a new runoff presidential election date, March 20, was announced.

The results of the March 20 election were announced today. And though I left work early to avoid any possible violence, it's obvious that Haiti has now learned the election results... and the country is quite happy.

Apparently, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelli won the two-way race with over 67% of the vote. That's a huge win. And the joy in the streets is overwhelming. About 15 minutes ago I heard the roar of the people in all directions. The motorbikes are whizzing down the street blaring their horns.

Sweet Micky was declared President and it's party time in Haiti!

Now I just hope the "transition" goes smoothly.

And to further prove that it's party time... I have electricity tonight for the second time in two weeks. So clearly, it's party time!

Tim White

Running water and some Carnival images

2011-03-29T19:41:00.011-04:00

The city power company stopped operating on Saturday. Thankfully, I have batteries where I live. So I had power until Monday. But then my luck ran out. Aside from the difficulties related to my online classes, it's not that big of a deal to me. If it was, I would never have come to Haiti. But it is interesting to be reminded of all the ways in which I'm "power-dependent."

For example, I generally have running water at my place. But the running water is based on gravity. And I have to get the water to the roof from the cistern in the ground. That's much easier with an electric pump. And with limited electricity -- lights only -- for a few days, the tank on the roof ran dry. So when I awoke this morning... it was back to my backpacker days for cleaning up.

It was the ole bucket-o-water, over-the-shoulder shower for me. :) Anyway... I don't consider myself a particularly fussy person, but it did make me remember how much I appreciate running water. It really is nice.

And on an entirely different topic... since I finally have a functioning web connection, here are a few images from Carnival. Here are a couple pix of the nighttime "processions" or impromptu parades:And of course, here's one of the many masked merrymakers:

Tim White

Carnival 2011 -- the procession

2011-03-23T21:35:00.007-04:00

I finally got my computer setup for pix. Yay!

These pix are from about a month ago. It was one of the weekly pre-Carnival "processions" that passed my place every Sunday afternoon. Impromptu groups of people would just march around town. The groups usually included a band of sorts with drums and horns. And there were usually lots of masked young men covered in used motor oil. As for why they use old motor oil... I'm guessing that when you're short on money, you tend to recycle quite a bit.

Tim White

Life continues

2011-03-23T07:55:00.002-04:00

Rodny’s services and funeral were on Saturday afternoon. I wasn’t sure if I should attend. I wanted to attend, but also wanted to be respectful.

I spoke with my boss. She’s American, but has lived in Jeremie for nearly 25 years. She told me to wear formal black and white. (I actually suspected that already as people here wear black and white for a year after the death of a loved one.) However, I couldn’t because I didn’t have any black or white. So she suggested I wear something more formal. I wore my work clothes. She said that I should wear a necktie. That made sense to me and I brought one with me, so that was good. Then she told me to avoid anything red. Well, there went the red necktie. In the end, I dressed the same as I do for work and headed downtown.

The walk there was ok. I maintained my composure.

As I approached, I was asked to pin a black sash across my chest. It had white painted letters on it and I understood that it was intended as a sign of respect. I immediately pinned it to my shirt.

I reached the Methodist Church. It was so sad to see how many people were there… obviously a very popular fellow… and only 33.

I saw some of my coworkers. I nodded, but had no interest in speaking with anyone. For the first fifteen minutes or so, I kept getting glassy-eyed. I managed to push it back though. No one was going to see me cry. I’m not sure why I felt that way. I think it didn’t seem appropriate for me… a near stranger who only knew him for a few months. I thought he was great, but it still seemed inappropriate. So I kept pushing back the tears.

The services started around 3pm. It was interesting. His casket was at the front of the church and I avoided it. I was already feeling terrible. I preferred fond memories with Rodny.

Not only was the church packed, the area in front of the church was too. So as the services began I found my way outside and listened from the porch.

There were several eulogies by family members. There was a brass band near the middle of the services. There were several choirs and our own organization led a song. Surprising to me was how vocal some women were. They were screaming and I understood why. But they also were throwing their bodies around in violent fashion. I’d never seen that before, but was told it’s traditional for women close to the lost loved one.

As 5:30pm was approaching, the services came to a close and people began exiting the church. I was told that this was the beginning of the walk to the cemetery. Pallbearers carry the casket for the mile-long walk there.

During the service I continued welling up, but still beat back the tears. The tough part for me was when I saw his brother, Max, walking down the front stairs with the casket draped in yellow and blue silk flowers. I was standing across the street and had a clear view as they descended.

I started bawling. I still tried to fight back the tears, but I couldn’t. A lady said something to me and grabbed my arm. I tried to ignore her. I was in no mood to talk. And though I couldn’t understood the words she spoke, I knew she was telling me to “let it out.” She rubbed my arm, telling me it’d be ok.

As Rodny’s casket descended further, the tears became falls and my new found friend consoled me. With no tissues around, she started wiping away the tears with her already moist hands. Rodny passed and moved up the street toward his final resting ground. As he moved out of sight, the downpour turned to a drizzle and into something of a dreary fog. She wiped the final tears away and let my arm go.

I could see now. I turned to see her face. I have no recollection if I said “mesi,” but I’m sure I managed as much of a smile as I could and moved toward the walking procession.

As I approached the tail of the line I saw some coworkers. They saw that I was barely composed. I couldn’t hide it, as much as I wanted to. One man looked at me with a smile on his face and outstretched hand saying “vie continuer.”

Tim White

Subverting the Charter is unacceptable

2011-03-18T16:55:00.022-04:00

UPDATE: I retract this post. Not in full, but in part. There's no subversion here. Special appropriatons in excess of $350,000 do not require a referendum, if they are related to a grant. I was wrong and I sincerely apologize for that. Nonetheless, I still assert that this is not a "legal" question at all. It's a political question that should be framed as such. Again, I apologize.

Over on TPL, Tony is telling us about a recent Council / BOE meeting at which the Council Budget Committee indicated their willingness to bypass the Charter and spend $367,000 without going to referendum. This is unacceptable because the Charter requires this special appropriation – and anything in excess of $350,000 – to go to referendum.

If this happens, it will be a subversion of the Charter and should not be tolerated by those who care about good government. But I'm confident that if anyone tries to thwart their efforts, the Council will have all sorts of straw men arguments to defend their subversion of the Charter. So I offer here some explanation to good government advocates who are compelled to stop this subversion. Specifically, I'm explaining:

1) The likely reason they appear poised to subvert the Charter; and

2) The straw men they’ll likely use to defend their actions and achieve their true goal.

Why is the Council intent on subverting the Charter?

Simple.

It’s an election year. There are potential political downsides to not expeditiously forwarding this money to the BOE.

What are those downsides?

Again, simple.

The Council has been quite favorable to spending money this year on all sort of things… the turf, the trail, sidewalks, etc. And I understand that two GOP Council members are quietly advocating that the Council spend money to replace the bubble. How would it look to the voters if, after all of that, they oppose spending money on education?

The GOP Council has created a potential repeat of the November 2005 election in which the GOP lost the Council majority and every other elected body. That happened largely because the Council passed the “zero budget,” but pushed for the linear trail. Effectively, many voters concluded that the former GOP Council did not have the right priorities. It was “recreation before education.” That didn’t fly with the voters in 2005… and the current GOP Council has the same concern. They hope that by voting in favor of this special appropriation, they’ll avoid a repeat of the 2005 general election. But if that’s the case, you may ask:

Why don’t they simply vote in favor of this $367,000 special appropriation and be done with it?

Yet again, simple.

The concern about “recreation before education” is a political concern about infuriating Democrats and losing independents in the November general election. But if -- in an attempt to address the concerns of these voters -- they simply vote on this special appropriation, they face another challenge.

Incumbent Republicans face the distinct possibility of being outflanked on their right and face defeat via primary elections. And yes, that absolutely could happen. I’ve been actively following local politics for a decade. The past few months have been the first time I’ve ever heard anyone talking about local primaries… and those comments have come from a number of different people. They are people who vote, but generally have not been involved… and have now become incensed with all of the aforementioned votes on spending.

These potential primaries are also a reason for the quick vote that bypasses the Charter. The Council wants as little visibility on this issue as possible. They don’t want repeated headlines on additional spending that will further infuriate fiscal conservatives. And a special referendum would generate many additional headlines.

In my opinion, that’s the real explanation for why the Council is moving fast to move this money to the BOE.

However, the Council argues that they are legally required to transfer this money. On the surface, their explanation “It’s the law” is entirely plausible. So some additional questions must be asked to determine if their plausible explanation is a valid explanation. In other words:

Is this really about the law or is this a straw man?

Simple.

It is a straw man.

Based on reading Tony’s post, it is obvious that the Council is framing this as a legal issue. But this isn’t their primary concern. It is only a concern where it suits their purposes.

What do I mean?

Simple.

If the law is the concern, then:

1) Why are they only addressing this year’s budget? Why not prior years?

and

2) Why are they only addressing state funding for special ed? Why not ECS or other education-related state funding sources?

To these points… based on memory, I’m fairly certain that there are similar laws for other education-related state funding sources. So if this is truly about the law, then they must be consistent about all funding sources (that are similarly mandated) and vote on funding retroactively.

But it seems to me that this is not about “the law.”

And another important question… if this is about the law, then what is the enforcement mechanism? And what are the penalties? If there is no enforcement mechanism and there are no legal penalties, then couching this as a “legal” issue is a red herring.

This is a public policy question… some may call it a “political” question. Regardless, however you look at it, this is not a “legal” question. The Council is simply framing it as a “legal” question because, as I explained above, they want to get reelected. And they view this as the most politically expedient path to their reelection.

This brings me to the most critical part of this issue: the “cover” for their straw man.

Now please understand, this is fairly speculative on my part. But it is based on my seven years of Council experience. This is how I’ve seen Council majorities act in the past… and it’s done with the complicity of their political appointees.

If a voter attempts to ask “tough” questions, either the Council – or their political appointees – will often tell the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth. For example, responses are often given as a “double negative” with wiggle room:

Voter: Do you agree?
Town official: I don’t disagree.

Town officials must be pressed for crystal clear answers, not partial truths.

Now here’s where I foresee the possible “truth, but not the whole truth” come into play.

The Council will ask legal counsel (perhaps via the TM) “Is the Council legally required to transfer these special ed funds to the BOE?”

I expect that the answer will be “yes.”

But back to my previous questions...

If the law is the concern, then:

1) Why are they only addressing this year’s budget? Why not prior years? and

2) Why are they only addressing state funding for special ed? What about ECS funding? What about other sources of state funds?

Those are some of the questions that should be asked of Council members. Unfortunately, this is a situation where email is irrelevant. I’ve already tried and gotten crickets, thus far.

This is the classic situation where the bully pulpit and high visibility are required. These are questions best asked during a televised Council meeting. And the questioner must be prepared to extemporaneously parse the explanations being given. And if the “3 minute” rule is invoked, it may be necessary to have multiple voters standing ready to continue the questioning. It’s not easy, but I’d be thrilled if it happened. The Council needs to be publicly challenged on this.

But back to the title of this post… my concern is not about sending these funds to the BOE. Heck, education should always be a higher priority than recreation. That’s a no-brainer. And transferring the volatility of the state’s annual budget to the BOE is also a no-brainer.

My concern is the subversion of the Charter.

Fundamentally, this is not a legal issue. This is a Council vote like any other. And this appropriation must be sent to referendum. Failure to do so will be an intentional subversion of the Charter.

I encourage the voters to step forward and demand answers. The risk here is great. If what I’ve laid out is correct, this will be setting a precedent from which there is no return. This Council will have demonstrated that it feels it is above the law and accountable to no one.

Subverting the Charter is unacceptable, but it may still be possible to convince the Council to change course. There is still time to act.

Tim White

It was because of a protest

2011-03-14T22:01:00.007-04:00

From the Haiti Observer:

A Bus in direction to Jeremy, overturned as the bus slammed into a roadblock made by protesters. According to Police, these protesters were upset because they were not hired for a job to which they had applied for.

9 people were pronounced dead on impact and 24 injured were transported to a Hospital in Les Cayes.

Three people were immediately arrested for this accident.

My friend died because of some stupid protesters... coupled with a bus driver who was obviously speeding. But equally horrible is that the police decided to take action after the accident. Nine people are dead and their lives could've been saved... but that's par for the course here.

Soon after I arrived last fall, I asked for the number to call if I needed the police. I wondered if it was 911. Instead I learned I should dial G-O-D. I was told "don't bother, they don't show up until you give them money for gas."

Tim White

God bless your soul, Rodny St. Clair

2011-03-12T16:20:00.005-05:00

Isn’t God wonderful ?!
Isn’t He good to you,
to each one of you, and to me?
Turn to God each day--
put your faith, your trust, your hope
and your life in His hands.
He’ll take care of you
and you’ll have a good life.

- Father Mychal Judge

My boss, Sister Maryann, just told me that one of the guys who works for me died today in a bus crash. I'm so upset. I only knew him a few months, but I really did like him. He was such a nice guy. This is so upsetting. And it reminds me of the dangers that lie everywhere on Earth, but tend to be more pronounced and visible in the developing the world.

Tim White

Lockerbie and Cheshire

2011-03-09T21:45:00.003-05:00

Yes, Qaddafi was behind it. And yes, Qaddafi should die for it... among other reasons. But I'm thinking about Cheshire's two murderers, Komisarjevsky and Hayes.

Some legislators like to claim that their DP repeal won't impact the two murderers. I disagree. Not only could that legislation be used for an appeal on prior DP sentences, but even worse... if they live, they may eventually get their freedom.

I don't know if that's what Lawlor actually wants -- for Komisarjevsky and Hayes to eventually be "reformed" and freed -- but when you look at the Lockerbie bomber getting out over a year ago because he was "going to die in six weeks," then it should be plain as day that the DP should stand. And Joshua and Steven should receive their penalties in an expeditious manner.

Tim White

Carnival... a.k.a. Mardi Gras!

2011-03-09T21:32:00.004-05:00

I know it’s been a while. I’ve been busy. Between work and online school, I haven’t had much time for blogging… other than a few posts on Tony’s blog where I felt compelled to elevate the dialogue a bit.

Anyway, the past year has been rough on the Haitian people.

The earthquake, cholera, political violence and general poverty have defined a difficult year for Haitians. So I was pleased this weekend to see Carnival – Mardi Gras – in full swing. The Bourbon Street style overflow crowds were more than I enjoy, but it was good to see a lightened atmosphere.

I’ll try to post more frequently, but find it doubtful for the next month or two. I just have so much going on here… and when you couple that with an internet connection that’s slower and drops more often than AOL circa the mid-90s… and city power that’s been averaging about three hours per week for the past few weeks… it’s tough to get online and publish.

At least my internet connection may improve though. As I was walking down the street a week ago, I noticed an asian working on the cell tower that’s being installed near my office. And although I don’t speak Creole yet, I do speak a bit of Vietnamese. And the asian guy was Vietnamese. I was in luck! I now understand that the cell tower will include internet service. So I’m intending to spend some time this weekend finding more details… and hopefully getting a better web connection. And hope springs eternal when it comes to daily city power… who knows, maybe someday I’ll get both on a consistent, daily, uninterrupted basis??

If, and when, that day comes… I’ll be sure to start uploading pix. I’ve gotten some good ones since I arrived. But with my web speed… it’s a hopeless battle that times out every time.

K… now going to sit down with the litter of seven baby puppies that recently arrived. The guard dogs had them about two weeks ago. They’re adorable… just getting past the floppy stage where their four legs work at the same time and they no longer move around like baby sea turtles… pushing their hands out in front, then pulling their bodies along… priceless.

As for the local stuff… the Patch is reporting that the Council is actually considering replacing the bubble. That would be a mistake. I hope they don’t go down that path… although it’s obvious the TM is pushing more spending on the pool… and it’s also obvious that this Council takes his advice when they shouldn’t. Regardless, I’m sure the voters will remember some pretty staunch GOP opposition to spending more money on fixing the bubble as recently as August 2009. So it may not matter what Council members remember. What matters is what the voters remember.

Tim White

My dad's visit saw almost no violence

2011-02-05T14:43:00.004-05:00

The week has come and gone and my dad has returned to the land of stars'n'stripes safely. He was here in Jeremie this week and had a memorable time. Best part of all, even though there was an election announcement on Wednesday, there was almost no violence while he was here. No "bling, bang," per se. Well... at least not until last night. We were sitting at the kitchen table when we heard the pop-pop-pop... pop. I looked at my dad and said, "yup, I'm pretty sure that was a gun... next door." And my dad said "it was a 9mm." Fun, fun.

As for me, I've been buried at work. But I expect my dad will elaborate on his adventures.

Oh... and there was one other notable highlight. As my dad arrived in Port-au-Prince, his group saw Hillary's State Department jet. It was Sunday. The election results were announced on Wednesday. Hmmm... I wonder if Hillary was discussing the results before the announcement? No doubt. And I'm sure Obama is wishing he had the same influence in Egypt. Which reminds me of one of my beliefs about US foreign policy... we should mind our own business and stop meddling in other people's affairs.

Tim White

Offical election results forthcoming...

2011-02-01T20:37:00.004-05:00

You know in America it's "bling, bling", but out here it's "bling, bang". - Danny Archer (Leonardo Decaprio) to Maddy Bowen (my future wife, Jennifer Connelly) in the 2006 film Blood Diamond

The first round of Haiti's Presidential election was on November 28. When the first round's "preliminary" results were announced in mid-December, even sleepy Jeremie saw borderline rioting and general chaos. It's been quiet since I returned in early January, but the official results will be announced tomorrow.

I'm hoping the Electoral Council's announcement isn't setting a match to this tinderbox.

Tim White

Energy conservation plan: initial proposer walkthru

2011-01-23T20:04:00.004-05:00

It’s taken years to get here. But with gasoline inching toward $4 / gallon, the time couldn’t be better for the Council and BOE to be moving forward with their town wide energy conservation plan.

The next step in the long process to overhaul potentially dozens of buildings is scheduled for Tuesday at 9am in Town Hall. All proposers for the energy conservation RFP are to attend a walkthrough that will include staff from both the Town (esp. Town Hall and PD) and BOE (esp. CHS and Dodd).

Including CHS is particularly helpful. You may recall that the August 2009 capital budget saw the electric retrofit for (the back 1/3 of) CHS balloon from $1.9 million to $4 million... and get indefinitely delayed. But this project is intended to cover CHS. So hopefully the two will dovetail with the lifetime savings of the improvements offsetting the capital costs of the project.

But beyond the initial four buildings, if things move forward as anticipated, the town could eventually expand the scope of the work to include all town buildings and schools. However, it was decided that a more limited group of buildings was the best approach to begin the energy conservation plan.

H/t to Councilman Steve Carroll for the head’s up!

Tim White

Thin Lizzy plays Haiti!

2011-01-22T08:49:00.004-05:00

When I ponder the last fifty years of the men who have run Haiti:

Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier -- 1957 to 1971
Jean Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier -- 1971 to 1986
General Namphy -- 1986 to 1987
Jean Bertrand Aristide -- 1987 to 1991
General Raoul Cedras -- 1991 to 1993
Jean Bertrand Aristide -- 1993 to 1995
Rene Preval -- 1996 to 2000
Jean Bertrand Aristide -- 2001 to 2004
Gerard Latortue -- 2005
Rene Preval -- 2006 to present

I know that Papa Doc is dead. And I understand that several generals were reportedly little more than short-term Cold Wara era US puppets. Which leaves us with Rene Preval, Baby Doc Duvalier and Jean Bertrand Aristide who have run Haiti for 36 of the past 40 years.

Preval is struggling to hold onto power. Baby Doc just returned. Aristide is apparently itching for a homecoming.

It seems Thin Lizzy is playing Port-au-Prince...

Guess who just got back today?
Those wild eyed boys they’ve been away.
Haven’t changed. Haven’t much to say.
But man I still think them cats are crazy.

Tim White

No Joe = Smurf for Senate = fun in the CT-5 !!!

2011-01-19T20:48:00.009-05:00

Joementum is retiring. Yay! From his big government domestic policy (he loves bailouts for banks) to his globalist foreign policy (there were always more countries worth bombing), Joe stood as the polar opposite of what I want in my Senator. But there’s plenty of talk about Senate hopefuls, including our own Chris Murphy. Which brings us to the previously scheduled open CT-5 seat in 2012.

Ohh… did you miss the schedule?

John Rowland (R) – ‘84 to ‘90
Gary Franks (R) – ’90 to ‘96
Jim Maloney (D) – ’96 to ‘02
Nancy Johnson (R) – ’02 to ’06
Chris Murphy (D) – ’06 to ‘12

Yup. No one holds our seat for very long. And it’s a swing district, meaning there are always viable candidates from both parties interested in a run.

But that’s history. Looking forward, who will run in our 2012 equivalent of the 2008 race for POTUS? Who will run for our open seat in this swing district? I’m guessing both sides will get a lot of interest.

For Democrats, I see:

Elizabeth Esty – Cheshire resident and a former state rep who has a liberal track record on social policies… the stuff that motivates the select group of voters known as “likely primary voters.” But if the Teachers' Union President loses the special in the 13th, might she run in a legitimate primary in the 13th district in 2012? She'd avoid almost all of the fundraising.

Mary Glassman – Multiple runs at statewide office and currently the 1st Selectwoman of Simsbury.

Mike Jarjura – He got clobbered in the statewide primary for Comptroller last year. And the very liberal, very likely-primary-voter-crowd at MyLeftNutmeg seems to be disgusted with his policy views.

Paul Vance – A spokesman for the state police from Waterbury. He considered primarying Chris Murphy for the CT-5 in 2006.

For Republicans, I see:

Mark Greenberg – He got 30% of the vote in the three-way primary against Sam Caligiuri last year.

Justin Bernier – He also got 30% of the vote in the three-way primary against Sam Caligiuri last year.

Mark Boughton – The Mayor of Danbury and the GOPs Lt. Gov. candidate in 2010.

Tim Stewart – The Mayor of New Britain. And I believe he’s running in the special election for Don Defronzo’s state Senate seat.

Ryan Bingham – The Mayor of Torrington. I believe he was first elected in 2003, the same year I was first elected. At the time, he was the youngest Mayor in America at age 23 or so. So he may still be in his 20s, single and no kids. In other words, he may have lots of free time not available to other candidates.

And of course there are lots of state Senators and state Reps on both sides of the aisle who may be interested. But these seem to me to be the most obvious people who may be waiting for Chris Murphy to make it official.

And back to the Senate’s Dem race for a second… my two cents on the first few names to drop… Although he supported Dodd – Frank, Courtney opposed TARP. That was a very important vote that he got correct. And Susie B… she’s an embarrassment. I certainly hope Malloy's party doesn't nominate her.

Tim White

Pension reform with town unions

2011-01-18T21:54:00.004-05:00

Although I haven't seen it mentioned online, I understand that at last week's Council meeting the new Library Union contract was adopted. Included in the contract was the elimination of defined benefit pension plans (DB) for new union employees. Going forward, new library employees who are union members will only be offered defined contribution pension plans (DC).

DB plans are a traditional pension. DC plans are similar to a 401(k).

Contrary to what I've heard from many candidates for office, ending DB plans and moving to DC plans does not necessarily save money now or in the future. A DC plan may cost more or less than a DB plan, either now or in the future. It's really a tossup. But there is a huge benefit.

DC plans allow organizations to properly match taxes with services. DB plans do not allow that because you never know what the future cost will be for a DB plan. It's all just based on actuarial assumptions that are, IMHO, pie in the sky since they're predicated on Keynesian economic theory. And Keynesians, such as Governor Malloy, believe that money grows on trees. Money doesn't grow on trees. Everyone -- except a few policymakers -- knows that.

Anyway, the Council -- particularly David Schrumm -- and the TM deserve credit for making this happen. It certainly took a while. The library union had been operating under a contract that expired on June 30, 2009... and this new contract probably expires by June 30, 2012. Regardless, it's done.

Looking forward, the Council will need to ink deals with both the Town Hall and PW unions soon. I believe their contracts are also long overdue. But there is an upside to the long outstanding negotiation process.

A town's history is part of the overall view taken by the arbitrators. So when you consider that the Town has eliminated DB plans for future union hires for both the Dispatchers and Library unions, as well as non-union employees, there's a distinct possibility that the arbitrator will reach the same conclusion for both the PW and TH unions.

And if both of those unions reach agreement with the town to eliminate their DB plans for future union members, then the only remaining DB plans on the town side will be the Police Union and volunteer firefighters. So to recap where DB plans are headed for future town employees / volunteers:

1) Dispatchers union -- ended June 30, 2006

2) Non-union employees -- ended June 30, 2008

3) Library union -- ended January 11, 2010

4) Public Works union -- under negotiation

5) Town Hall union -- under negotiation

6) Police union -- continuing, current contract expires June 30, 2012

7) Firefighters -- no contract negotiation, but when I asked a few years ago it was suggested to me that the issue be raised after no one else has a DB plan.

So in terms of future town employees, that's where our DB plans stand now. Slowly, but surely, the Town is making real progress on this.

Tim White

5ive years old: Happy Birthday TWL!

2011-01-17T21:21:00.003-05:00

TWL was born five years ago today. I thank the entire TWL community -- front page publishers, regular commenters and even the occasional lurker -- for making our community what it is.

Tim White

And the gunfire returns...

2011-01-17T20:10:00.002-05:00

I hadn't heard gunfire in the neighborhood since December. But tonight, the shooters are back for an encore presentation! It started around 6pm... the same time I learned that "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned after 25 years in exile.

This could get interesting....

But on a more fun note, I got out into the field today. I visited the coastal town of Testasse. We've been involved there for a while, including home construction, a fishing collaborative among the local residents and some other stuff. It was fascinating to sit there and absorb -- not all, but -- some of the discussion regarding the things that could be done to improve their lives.

The great thing I see is that our field staff are so involved in the communities. They know what's actually happening and what can to be done. They know who is trying to improve their lot in life and who is sitting on their keister waiting for another handout. So they can distinguish between those who want to learn to fish... and those who want to be given a fish. I love it.

And even better than today was an upcoming project in which I may be able to get involved. Outside of work, some staff are planning a reforestation project. The goal is planting 100,000 trees by Arbor Day. It would be fantastic. My understanding is that Haiti is the most deforested country in the world... only about 3% of Haiti is still forested.

Tim White

Safety in numbers

2011-01-16T22:36:00.004-05:00

Early to bed, early to rise. Was awake around 7am today. Not bad for a Sunday. It was gorgeous outside. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. No snow on the ground in Haiti!

I had worked much of Saturday and knew I had to work some today. (It seems everyone has been working overtime as a result of the cholera outbreak… which btw, our field staff have been fantastic and our unofficial numbers so far are encouraging.) So I was determined to have some fun.

Beach day!

I’d been to the nearby beach – Plage Azur – several times. And it normally was crowded with UN troops. But that was always in the afternoon. By arriving early, I was hoping I might beat the crowd and have the beach to myself.

But before I tell you about the beach, I want you to visualize the Grand Anse. Much of the coastline is cliffs or steep embankments. The beaches here are generally coves where sand accumulated, but they still tend to be at the bottom of a steep hike. Azur is no exception.

I had taken a moto taxi for the usual 50 gourdes, about $1.25. The driver dropped me off near the top and I walked down. As I descended, I passed two kids. And all I could think was… hmmm… what are these kids doing here? The reality is that few locals swim. And these kids had neither swim trunks, nor any sort of bags that could contain wet clothes with them. I was suspicious and cautious. The reality is that for Grand Anse, Azur is a “tourist destination” and such places always attract pickpockets, purse snatchers, etc. So despite the relatively low density (or more correctly, non-existence) of tourists, I knew I had to be cautious.

When I got to the beach, there were a few other foreigners there and no locals in sight. But I had seen those kids, probably ten to twelve years old.

After a few minutes, I got comfortable and went out into the water. With several foreigners there, I figured the likelihood of my bag being stolen was minimal. I mean, if they’re rich enough to travel to Haiti, they’re probably not purse snatchers. And they were clearly the tourists at Jeremie’s tourist destination.

They left after about ten minutes and I promptly left the water to attend to my bag, but with no one else in sight… I decided to head back into the water… knowing my bags would be unguarded.

Upon making that decision, I was fully aware that those kids had seen me headed to the beach and that I was alone. And since they clearly weren’t swimming… nor were they friendly… and since I had heard about vehicle break-ins / window smash’n’grabs occurring at the top of the hill where cars had recently parked… I knew there were thieves in the area. So I decided to take one very small, and seemingly useless, precaution.

I “clipped” my backpack to a tree. By clip, I mean I simply put the packs waistbelt around the tree and snapped the clip. Although such clips are quite common in the USA, I haven’t seen any in Jeremie. So I reasoned that a local wouldn’t know how to unclip it quickly and it would potentially deter any purse snatchers.

How right I was.

I went back into the water and kept watching the beach for about ten minutes. In looking at the length of the beach, I figured there were really two entry and exit points.

How wrong I was.

Although I was generally watching, out of nowhere one of the two kids appeared. I saw him run right past my bag and then scurry up the hill… a place I didn’t think anyone would be able to climb. Damn. Thankfully though, my assessment was right. The stupid little kid wasn’t particularly sophisticated. Even though he didn’t understand the clip, if he’d had a knife he’d have gotten my bag. What a jerk. What a dumb jerk. And poverty is no excuse. There are lots of people in Jeremie living in destitute poverty. But they don’t turn to a life of crime. Nope. He was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill criminal.

I think the funniest part of the incident was that it was the same exact bag that another purse-snatcher tried to steal from me in an internet café in Romania in 2002. That was another punk. He did outrun me, but not without me first smacking him… which had the instant reaction of him letting go of my bag.

I hate thieves.

Anyway, I decided to leave rather than hang around and wait for the criminals to return and try again. I headed to the top of the hill. On my way I saw the kid about 50 yards behind me. I hesitated and considered going to yell at him, but thought better of it. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had a knife. And I have no interest in that. I turned back up the hill and kept walking, now a bit more briskly.

Reaching the top, I was pleasantly surprised for the second week in a row. Both today and last week I scored rides back to town… and both times they refused to let me pay them as they weren’t moto taxi drivers. Last week, it was a member of the National Police. And this week I got a ride from a well-to-do printer who was going into town to pick up his son. I think both of them really just wanted to practice their English. I accommodated them both. I love learning and teaching languages. And it was good for me to get my mind off that little SOB at the beach.

The other highlight for me today was that I was finally given my driving test on a stick shift. I had told everyone that I was fine driving a stick, but no one believed it. So I went for my first test and was told that I passed with flying colors. I knew today wouldn’t be a problem though.

Outside of town, this particular area is mostly flat and straight with relatively little traffic. It’s the steep hills in downtown Jeremie that concern me. With all the people and motorbikes flying every which way… driving a stick on steep hills isn’t something I’ve ever done. Heck, most of my driving a stick was nothing more than a summer or two driving a forklift for John Romanik.

That was easy. 1st, 2nd, reverse and you never go more than five miles per hour… and there are no hills. Jeremie is a bit more challenging. But it is nice because now I should be able to go pick my dad up at the airport when he comes to visit in a few weeks! I’m looking forward to that and I know he is too. I think the last time he was in this part of the world was when he was the lead officer in some sort of “blockade” of Cuba back in the early 60s….

Tim White

Rennie on Mary Glassman for the CT-5

2011-01-15T20:34:00.003-05:00

Kevin Rennie's daily ruction is about perennial candidate Mary Glassman possibly running for the CT-5. You may recall her name.

In 2006, she started her candidacy for statewide races by clobbering Destefano's LG running mate, West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka. She was Governor Malloy's running mate. Then four years later, Ned Lamont picked her as his running mate. Unfortunately for Ms. Glassman, Dannel's running mates always get the nod. And so Nancy Wyman had her name placed on the November ballot.

Clearly Rennie isn't fond of Ms. Glassman and expects she'll get clobbered again, if she runs for Congress:

If the chronic candidate runs for re-election in Simsbury and then launches a run for Congress in 2012, that would make 7 campaigns in 6 years... She may also face questions about her role in running-mate Ned Lamont’s accusations of racism against primary and general election winner Stop-Calling-Me-Dan Malloy. Democratic loyalists won’t forget Glassman’s heavy-handed attempt to portray Wyman as an aging relic in contrast to the 52 year old Glassman’s notion of her own charm.

And Chris Murphy certainly sounds like he's running for Senate, regardless of what Joementum decides. I figure in a high turnout Presidential election year, it'll be tough for any non-Dem to win a CT Senate race... even if it is Joe as a Republican... and that's a big if.

Tim White

Torrez Ferguson is not only the MDTC Chair, she's also Donovan's Chief of Staff!

2011-01-13T19:04:00.008-05:00

Although Elizabeth Esty is out of the running for the Dem nomination in the 13th Senate district, there's still a footnote to be told.

As has been mentioned here and elsewhere, CTs special elections do not allow for primaries. As such, the nominating convention controls everything. And of the four towns -- Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield and Middletown -- in the 13th district, Meriden has more than half the votes at tonight's nominating convention.

And Meriden's DTC Chair, Millie Torrez Ferguson stiff-armed Elizabeth. The MDTC Chair refused to even return Elizabeth's phone calls. Ms. Torrez Ferguson is just plain rude. But the story gets worse.

I now understand that Torrez Ferguson has the cushy job title:

Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House

Yup. She works for Chris Donovan. So she's not only rude, she's also apparently a pawn for the corrupt Chris Donovan... the same Chris Donovan who gave Crusher his $120,000 / year no-show job... and the same Chris Donovan who fawned over the criminal Tom Gaffey as he exited the legislature.

So it seems to me that Millie Torrez Ferguson is probably just taking her marching orders from Donovan and atrociously failing the 13th's Democratic party. All this is the same crew that brought us The Fraudster, Tom Gaffey.

I wonder who Democrats will vote for on February 22:

A: The Republican

or

B: The Teachers' Union President

With Elizabeth getting so rudely ignored, it wouldn't surprise me to see Democratic liberals -- which IMO are a distinctly different demographic from Democratic teachers-- stay home and take their chances with a Dem primary in 2012. Considering that they may be facing an incumbent R in a highly Democratic district with a high turnout in a Presidential election year, you may see liberals sit out this special.

Tim White

RIP: The pool bubble

2011-01-12T18:28:00.006-05:00

Most importantly, no one was injured... which brings me to the memorial service...

Via referendum in 1996, the white elephant was born. As with many government projects, it contained two critical issues:

1) the capital budget; and
2) the operating budget.

First, we had the $2.9 million capital costs. But by the time the capital costs stopped being recorded, it was already in excess of $4.0 million.* And while Council after Council have been fired by the voters every two years since 1999, in part because of the pool, the voters were never really given an honest take on whether the additional $1.1 million was legal. Instead, Council's simply skirted the rules by spending less than the $330,000** referendum limit.

Second, we had the annual operating subsidy of $400,000. With the explanatory text of the referendum suggesting both a year-round and self-sustaining facility, the pols who brought forward the pool in 1996 were lacking:

1) intellectual honesty;
2) the ability or willingness to critically analyze the proposal; or
3) the means to tell the future of energy costs.

I think the biggest problem was #3. Though I think all three issues played some role to varying extents.

And of course, Council after Council refused to address the problems of the pool directly. Instead, the M.O. was to throw more good money after bad. It wasn't until 2010 that a Council accepted the need to tackle the pool head-on.

The $7 million referendum failed, but it was the first time that a Council acted responsibly. And the PBCs work is still outstanding. I expect they'll soon return to the Council with a plan for the bubble. But I also expect the proposal could exceed $1,000,000. If so, it'll probably be sunk even before a Council vote. In other words, my feeling is that the PBC work is an exercise in futility... other than showing the voters that it's not viable... at least in this economic climate.

So my guess is that although the Council will continue to have discussions regarding a year-round pool into the 2011 fall election, the pool has finally met it's match... a combination of:

1) Father Time;
2) New England's winter snows; and
3) the voters.

Yup. Between the seven million dollar pool structure and the half million dollar track, the voters have made it clear to the Town's elected officials that there's a difference between necessities and niceties.

Looking forward to the immediate consequences of the bubble collapse, what will happen with pool programs? I'm sure some will be cancelled, but others will be relocated. One thing to keep in mind -- not for this year, but next -- is that if the pool structure passed, it was stated that it would've been possible to relocate swim programs. So programming would have continued without a great deal of interruption.

Looking farther into the future, this raises a question about the scope of an agreement between the Town and Yankee Gas. The pool would've been profitable for Yankee in the short-term. But laying pipeline extensions to Norton and Doolittle may have a 30-year payback. Combining the two would've been beneficial to the town and, perhaps, acceptable to Yankee. But the lack of the pool will certainly be taken into consideration by Yankee as the DPUC requires their projects to have timelines for their projected ROI.

And looking to our spring ritual, I expect the PBC to complete their bubble study prior to the adoption of the Town's operating budget. It'd certainly make the budget process easier having a sense of whether there could be another $400,000 subsidy for a year-round pool... or if that subsidy may be reduced for a summer-only pool. My guess is that the Council will adopt a budget with a $50,000 to $100,000 subsidy for a summer-only pool.

As for how that $300,000 savings plays out politically... I venture that if you ignore all the moving pieces of the budget, there will be a Democratic proposal to increase the education budget by the amount reduced in the pool subsidy. If that happens, most eyes will be on the annual debate of the school budget... not on the pool. That would signal the planting of flowers on the bubble's grave... with the year-round pool being unceremoniously walked into the sunset.

Or maybe the Y will lease the facility for $1 / year?

Tim White

* This does not include all capital improvements to the pool, such as the $250,000 wasted on mold remediation in September 2009.

** The threshold is now $350k, but it was raised after the pool construction was supposedly completed in 2003.

Earthquake: the one year anniversary

2011-01-11T22:31:00.002-05:00

The epicenter of Haiti's earthquake was Leogane. Leogane is a town about 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince. And my town, Jeremie, is about another 80 miles west of Leogane. The earthquake had a serious, but indirect, impact on Jeremie. The ground shook here and buildings were damaged. But there wholescale destruction happened in Leogane and to the east, where there was much more human development.

There's been a lot of progress since January 12th, 2010... though there's a great deal more that needs to be done... beginning with political stability. But rather than discussing that stuff -- which seems to be covering the web these days, along with the tragedy in Tucson -- I offer a brief recap of my personal experience related to the anniversary.

It was around 9pm on Sunday January 9th and I heard the horn. I'd heard the horn once before. It was part of the manifestation in December that followed the disputed election results. And earlier in the day I had read that the Organization of American States would soon announce their findings related to the election results.

I had just returned to Haiti and the riots were already starting. Oh well. C'est la vie. Oddly though, there was no gunfire.

By midnight I was fast asleep and by 4am I was awake. No gunfire, but there was... a... parade?? Yup. That was the only way to describe it. Or I guess more appropriately, a vigil, as I learned when I got to work on Monday morning.

That's how some of the churches are mourning here. They are conducting turn-up-the-volume, singing vigils through the streets of Jeremie from around 2am to 5am. It's happening each night for the three nights leading up to the anniversary.

It scared me at first when I awoke on Sunday night. But now I understand it and appreciate it. It's something I could never imagine seeing in America, but it does make a point that people remember.

Tim White

Esty denied consideration in the 13th

2011-01-11T20:07:00.008-05:00

Cheshire's newest online news source, The Cheshire Patch, is reporting on the Meriden Democratic Political Machine's refusal to even acknowledge Elizabeth Esty as a candidate for the state Senate seat being vacated by the disgraced criminal, Tom Gaffey.

Although I doubt she meant it, I feel her comments in the story inadvertently made the case to vote for anyone but the Democrat.

Elizabeth says that the Meriden Democratic Chairwoman wouldn't even return her exploratory calls. How rude is that? And this comes from the same crew who knew full well that The Gaffe was a criminal, yet renominated him anyway? It seems to me that the Chair, Millie Torres-Ferguson, could have at least returned Elizabeth's phone call and let her make her case.

But no, that wasn't in the cards.

Why?

When I look at the history of Gaffey, the C.V. of Thomas Bruenn and the fronting done by the corrupt Speaker of the House, Chris Donovan (D-Meriden), I can't help but feel that the Meriden DTC -- not the voters of Meriden and not Meriden Democrats -- is basically a subcommittee of the Meriden Teachers' Union. And since Elizabeth isn't a spokesperson for the teachers' union, she was denied any consideration whatsoever in the 13th's Democratic nominating process. Sad.

Now I just hope that I can vote. It can takes months for mail to get to / from Jeremie. And with absentee ballots requiring four legs in the mail system, I'm not sure I'll be able to do it. But I'll try because this process just stinks and we need to some change in Hartford. Governor Malloy will need some more adults -- not hacks -- to help send Donovan and Williams to their room when they throw their temper-tantrums.

Tim White

Christie challenges the NJ teachers' unions

2011-01-11T19:57:00.005-05:00

The NYTimes' Richard Perez Pena reports on the anticipated State of the State address by NJs Governor Christie:

“I propose that we reward the best teachers, based on merit, at the individual teacher level,” the text of Mr. Christie’s speech reads. “I demand that layoffs, when they occur, be based on a merit system and not merely of seniority.”

“And perhaps the most important step,” it says, “is to give schools more power to remove underperforming teachers.”

I fully agree with him, but am uncertain about one thing. How do you measure merit? I believe anything is possible, but this has been the tricky negotiating point that has been a legitimate concern of teachers' unions across the country.

Also, though he will likely address spending elsewhere in his comments, moving to a merit system does not necessarily reduce spending. A merit system is about improving schools and student achievement. And while that's important, addressing spending is also important.

Tim White

GOP promises: Will they cut $100 billion?

2011-01-10T19:51:00.004-05:00

No, I doubt it. But can they? Yes, they can.

Fiscally conservative members of Congress simply need to understand the tricks used by The Big Spenders. One such trick is an encumbrance.

Let me explain using an example of the now extinct balanced budget:

Federal budget = $3 trillion
Money spent or cash out-the-door = $2.9 trillion
Money encumbered = $100 billion

In this case, the $100 billion of encumbered money is related to various programs or projects.

Some is likely encumbered on a department's electric bill. And some is probably encumbered on rail trail money. Yes, the rail trail.

Didn't you notice that the $560,000 has been available for ten years now? Well, encumbering money is a typical way for The Big Spenders to hide the money hoping that people forget. But money can be encumbered on anything. Electric bills and rail trails are just two examples of federal encumbrances.

And if my understanding is correct, then the $525,000 state grant for turf could be characterized as encumbered money.

Continuing to the local level, who can forget the 2009 publicity regarding the $900,000 Public Works garage slush fund? That money was encumbered back in the 1990s.

So it happens at all levels of government: federal, state and local. And the Board of Ed encumbers money annually.

To be clear though, not all encumbrances are bad. I think it makes sense to accrue for your monthly telephone or electric bill.

But the bottom line to me is that there is a lot of encumbered pork that could -- and should -- be cut by the various governing bodies. Unfortunately, the collective mindset of most legislative bodies is spend, spend, spend! And of course The Big Spenders view the money as "already spent." So it doesn't even cross their mind that this is an area where taxpayers could save money.

If you have the time and inclination, I encourage you to call some elected officials and ask them if they would consider defunding some encumbrances. At the town level, you could follow the lead of Councilman Jimmy Sima and request the encumbrance list to begin looking for spending reductions.

Tim White

13th Senate district's special election taking shape

2011-01-09T17:45:00.004-05:00

Now that the criminal Tom Gaffey is gone from office, the February 22 special election is taking shape. Based on the MRJs reporting by Dan Ivers and Lisa Backus, Meriden has more than 50% of the votes at the Dem nominating convention. In fact, of the district's four towns -- Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield and Middletown -- Meriden Dem convention delegates comprise:

five more than the three other towns combined

and Meriden Dems intend to vote as a block, supporting Thomas E. Bruenn:

a retired Platt High School teacher who also has served as the president of the Meriden Federation of Teachers. He has been on the Board of Education for the past three-and-a-half years.

And since there are no primaries in a special election, it appears that Elizabeth Esty won't be a candidate. That could be bad news for the Cheshire GOP in 2011. If she's not running for Congress, she may have some time on her hands this year. I'm sure Ernie Dipietro would love to have her as the campaign manager for the local campaign.

As for the GOP, we still don't appear to have coalesced around a particular candidate. While I'm figuring Len Suzio will be the choice, the MRJ indicates that Middletown's Republican Mayor lives within the 13th district. So he'd have to be considered. And there are some other Meriden Rs considering a run.

Looking forward, the Dems are set to nominate their candidate on Thursday. And the MRJ says that the GOP will nominate someone on Monday, though it's unclear if it's tomorrow or eight days from today.

The important thing for both sides to remember is that special elections tend to have low turnout. So while the 13th district is a Dem district by most measures, a high turnout among Republicans could swing the district to the GOP column. But that requires boots-on-the-ground, trudging through snow in the cold February winds of the central Connecticut valley.

Who's up for a victory party?

Tim White

2010: Cheshire's two major political parties

2011-01-05T14:35:00.003-05:00

Cheshire Dem insiders failed to stop either Gaffey or Meccariello from attempting to return to office... even though we all knew they were corrupt.

And Cheshire GOP insiders also played games with the 18th Probate District race. But grassroots Republicans had their say on that one.

Common theme?

Insiders attempting to rule the day, but others poo-poo-ed on their parade.

Will this theme continue in 2011?

Based on comments I've heard around Cheshire over the past week, I suspect that theme may continue into the new year. For those who do want to get involved, I encourage you to do so. But also recognize that there are rules for participation in the two parties. For a better understanding of the rules, I suggest you start with the Town Clerk and the Chair of your party.

Tim White

Tom Gaffey resigning in disgrace

2011-01-03T18:44:00.004-05:00

I guess I was right. According to the CT Mirror... Cheshire's senior state Senator, Tom Gaffey, is resigning! Yippee!

But he's history. Looking forward, who's gonna throw their hat in the ring for the special election?

My guess is that GOPs 2010 13th senate district candidate, Len Suzio, will run. I'm not sure he'll get the GOP nod, but he seems like the logical choice. The Dem side is more interesting though. I doubt there's any immediate frontrunner.

While the demographics suggest the Dem nomination would go to a Meriden Dem -- I think Meriden has four state reps who are Dems -- I've got to think Elizabeth Esty is already looking at her viability in this race. How many delegates are there to the special election's nominating convention? How many Cheshire delegates will be at the convention? How many anti-death penalty delegates will be there? Etc. It may be possible for her to get the nomination.

As for the district population numbers. Off the top of my head, I think a state Senate district represents about 100,000 people. That 100,000 includes about 2/3 of Cheshire... or 17,000 to 18,000 people. It also includes all of Meriden... about 50,000 to 60,000 people. And the balance of the 100,000 covers part of Middletown and all of Middlefield. And the convention will probably have delegates in proportion to either population or Dem registrations... not sure which.

This'll certainly make Cheshire's politics interesting for the next week or two as the parties move toward choosing candidates. And FWIW, I'm pretty sure that special elections do no allow for primaries. I think the nominees are determined by the party conventions... which are normally -- though not exclusively -- filled by Town Committee members. But for real go-getters, you should know that those conventions are filled with delegates who are probably elected at town-level party caucuses. And if you have the energy, you're free to invite hundreds of your friends and effectively "stack the deck" in favor of whoever you and your friends feel is the best nominee for your party.

Tim White

Hitchcock-Phillips House: Who has controlling authority?

2011-01-03T11:49:00.005-05:00

The NHRs Luther Turmelle is reporting on the Town Historian story. Based on my limited knowledge of this discussion, it seems to me that there's a critical issue that should be explored:

legal papers filed with the court cite reasons that include an unspecified violation of the terms of the lease and termination of the original rights and privileges that allowed Gagliardi an office at the Hitchcock-Phillips House.

Gagliardi said he never received anything in writing that he believes would constitute a lease when the society agreed to let him have an office in the Hitchcock-Phillips House.

This is obviously an important issue that needs to be resolved. But before moving forward with a conclusion to any conflict, one should understand the issues from which the conflict arose.

My three questions -- questions which don't seem to be getting addressed -- for understanding the genesis of this conflict:

1) What is the structure of the "ownership" and "use" of the HP House?

2) Who has the authority to permit the use of the HP House?

3) Who authorized the Town Historian's use of the HP House?

I understand the answer to my first question is that the Town of Cheshire owns the HP House and leases it to the Historical Society. And I understand the answer to my third question is that the TM authorized the use of the HP House.

But that raises a potentially critical question, my second question.

In terms of the use and / or subletting of the HP House, does the TM have controlling authority?

Tim White

Connecticut's municipal bailouts

2011-01-01T14:26:00.006-05:00

Cheshire's not included here, but from a CT perspective I thought this link to the Federal Reserve bailouts might be interesting. It appears that:

1) Bridgeport -- $105 million
2) Bristol -- $106 million
3) Milford -- $163 million
4) Stamford -- $63 million

cashed in on the Federal Reserves $13 trillion in various bailouts by getting a collective bailout of $436,000,000 via the TALF. The TALF was one of numerous bailout programs created by King Ben. Other bailout programs included the TAF, TSLF, PDCF... and many others.

Anyone happen to know if Gov-elect Malloy was asked about Stamford bailouts during the campaign? The act of receiving the bailout is now irrelevant. But it would be worthwhile to get our next Governor on the record regarding his general philosophy on bailouts.

Tim White

2010: Looking back, including an untold story

2011-01-01T12:31:00.005-05:00

While the Herald takes a look back on 2010, I want to highlight another story of 2010. I'm fairly certain I never blogged about it, but it needs to be mentioned.

If you're concerned about taxes and spending, you can thank the Council -- led by Councilman Jimmy Sima -- for fighting wasteful spending and saving the taxpayers $10,000. That's the money that was saved when he demanded an explanation for the TMs unnecessary request for a new pickup truck that included an extended cab pickup. The pickup was needed. The extended cab was not.

The reality is that the $10,000 for an extended cab was simply another request for wasteful spending. It was typical of Town Hall's wasteful spending that consistently benefits the members of The Inner Circle... at the same time the taxpayers get fleeced.

Anyway, there are many stories that are left untold. But I thought this one was important... not as a story of an elected official saving the taxpayers $10,000, but as part of the much larger story of elected officials who are more concerned with fighting bureaucrats ever-growing call for more taxing and spending, than with attempting to satiate their thirst for benefiting their cronies.

And before we look forward to 2011, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, good holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Tim White

Linear trail funding: private is better than public

2010-12-29T12:06:00.004-05:00

The Council is again moving forward with the linear trail. I understand the December Council meeting made two things happen:

1) $812,000 in federal and state grants was reallocated to the West Main Street to Jarvis Street section; and

2) the state DOT was asked to design the entire West Main to Southington trail.

The NHRs Luther Turmelle explains that the tradeoff in getting the DOT to do this work was a Council promise to move forward with the trail in next August's capital budget.

the funding is contingent on the town making a good faith effort to include the project in the 2011-12 capital budget and to get voters to approve the expenditure in November.

And since this stretch of trail is estimated to cost more than $2,000,000, we should probably expect to see more than a million property tax dollars included in the November 2011 referenda for this stretch of trail.

Although I don't support the idea of borrowing and spending more money on expanded services until we -- Cheshire, Hartford & Washington -- get our financial house in order, the Council does. As such, I have a suggestion:

Follow the lead of the turf supporters and fundraise to complete this project.

There's even some big funding available from non-government sources. American Express recently donated $200,000 for rails-to-trails. With some effort -- besides forced taxation at the local, state and federal levels of future taxpayers -- maybe Cheshire could score a trail grant?

Tim White

Milford & Amity schools using performance contracts for energy conservation

2010-12-29T11:11:00.006-05:00

With all the snow on the ground... and forecasts of $4 gasoline by this spring... energy conservation may be on the minds of many of you.

Energy Commission member Walt Gayeski forwarded me this real-life example of performance contracts that are being engaged in the Milford school system, as well as the Amity School District (Bethany, Orange & Woodbridge).

But this is only an example. In reading the article, it appears that Milford schools first addressed their envelope issues. And now they're addressing their energy issues. Cheshire's plan is to simultaneously tackle both energy and envelope issues, as well as both school and town buildings.

Tim White

Former Cheshire Coach, Addazio, to head Temple

2010-12-23T11:23:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting in the Port-au-Prince international airport, Toussaint l'Ouverture.* And I'm on my laptop... loving how much technology has improved. Unfortunately, best I can tell I can probably only access about half the websites I try to visit with my current connection. So I say this with caution because I can only read the URL.

Apparently my former high school gym teacher, Steve Addazio, has been named the head football coach at Temple University. Good for him. For those of you who don't know the history, Coach Addazio is the pretty much the one-man show that turned an average football team into one of the best teams in the country.

I graduated in 1990. And Coach started at CHS while I was probably sophomore or junior. Anyway in the fall of 1989, Coach brought our team to the state championship and we lost to Glastonbury. Two years later he began is five-year unbeaten streak.

Now that's not the UConn girls... or the Ed Aston girls' swim team... but it's still a fantastic record. If I recall correctly, near the end of the streak the Rams had the second-longest winning streak in the country.

Tim White

* Monsieur l'Ouverture is the George Washington of Haiti.

Follow the cobblestone road. Follow the cobblestone road. Follow, follow, follow, follow...

2010-12-21T20:48:00.018-05:00

Here's Part II of the story I began telling yesterday about my birthday adventure...

We had arrived at Klinik St. Joseph and the place was mobbed. It was payday for a joint project with a great NGO, CRS. The Church does some great stuff. I think they’re one of the biggest charities in the world. We were working together on a road extension project.

Apparently there were villages beyond the end of the road… and “Blanc” was going to take me. No, Geral’s not a white guy. But he is fairly light-skinned and he’s got a full head of hair and a beard – both of which are completely white. Hence, the name Blanc which dumdum me finally figured it out.

After grabbing my water bottle from the truck, we began hoofing it. Frankly, I wasn’t entirely sure where we were headed… except out in the field to see the roadwork. And though there was clearly some new road construction down the hill to the left, we were marching forward, up the hill.

Ok. I guess so. I’m usually game for some adventure. And we were definitely headed somewhere that I would never find in my Lonely Planet… so I knew this would be fun… just always had those lingering concerns about cholera… and considering how quickly it kills, after about fifteen minutes of walking I was thinking… ok… don’t touch anyone… don’t take any chances. We soon crested the hill.

There she was. A beautiful, brand-spankin-new, cobblestone road that most four-wheel drives could handle. What I could see was winding, but pretty much flat and we weren’t allowed to drive on it yet. It was clear that this part of the road went thru the wetlands. So this work was really just elevating the road. Not easy stuff to do when you have no heavy machinery, but it was almost certainly easier than what I had heard was happening.

We came to the road and toward the mountains we went. The road here had never seen any motor vehicle with more than two wheels. It was an easy enough walk, except for the heat. And even that wasn’t too bad. As I learned on Kilimanjaro, when you're a mile high... even the equator can be cool.

Passing a 2,000 square foot, cement church on the left… going by some beautifully manicured lawns and a house painted sky blue on the right… here’s a candy, rice and flour vendor on the left… and there’s some people doing their wash in the river over there… it’s everyday life in these remote parts. But then, this wasn’t really that remote.

A stand of trees was behind us now and I saw some incredible roadwork. Unbelievable really. A cobblestone road heading up one heck of a steep climb. I looked at Geral and he looked at me, "allez." He nodded for us to head up the hill… umm… ok. I was secretly hoping that that was it. But no. It wasn’t. As we began our ascent, I thought I’d seen enough… I was tired… I didn’t need to see anymore. But there they were. The laborers. And that one steep stretch had hundreds of workers all over. That was why I was here... to see what we're doing in the field.

The genesis of this project was where the earthquake met healthcare. People had been living in these remote villages for centuries. And really nothing had changed significantly. There may not have even been much population growth since Haiti’s revolution in the 1790s. The earthquake changed all that.

Port-au-Prince collapsed on January 12, 2010. And there was a huge outward migration from there. People fled to the hills… fled to find their family… even distant family because they had nowhere else to turn. The tent cities are a nightmare. There’s no personal safety. From what I hear, the level of crime in them is extremely high. And on top of that, you have the fear factor. Who wants to live in constant fear?

So the influx to the remote mountain top villages began. With it came a strain on healthcare services – particularly those for expectant moms – that were already in short supply.

Solution?

Turn a three hour walk into a one hour drive! Well, not exactly. But that’s the general idea. Plus there are other huge benefits to the project that I'll get to....

As we walked past team after team, it was apparent to me that this was a community effort. Some people were getting paid. Others were volunteering. Children… probably 12 to 15 years old were raking the red clay to provide a flat surface… it had been carved from the hill to provide edges to the road. Elderly who had little strength were slowly positioning the smaller rocks and placing them in the soft clay before the young adults – men and women – were banging them into place with other rocks and sticks. There was no sexual discrimination here. Even with the little equipment they had -- some shovels, pickaxes and a couple sledgehammers -- everyone was participating and doing what they could. It was an amazing sight. I love it when a community can come together.

Actually got me thinking about how great it was for so many Cheshire residents to come together around the turf. Now don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have supported it last week. But different from other Council members, I wouldn’t have supported the linear trail either. We just need to stop the spending. Take a breather. Distinguish between maintaining and expanding services. And encourage community service, while simultaneously not placing further burdens on future taxpayers. But I digress...

Throughout the climb I was simply stunned at the work that was being done, but also couldn’t believe how steep some parts of this road were. There were definitely grades better than 45 degrees, yet Geral assured me that the SUVs would be able to get up here.

Ok. I’ll take your word.

Perhaps most telling to me though about work ethic was how many people were barefoot, while other wealthier individuals had nothing more than dilapidated plastic flops. Much of the red clay where they worked was soft. But when you can look at the face of a 20 year old and see the feet of a 50 year old, you know this isn’t an easy life. Plying these walking paths barefoot for twenty years takes its toll.

We had gotten to end of the ongoing road construction / extension. So now we had literally gotten to the proverbial end of the road, though the foot path continued higher into the mountains. There were still more villages toward the skies. And Buzz Lightyear’s human reincarnate, Geral, wanted to keep going.

To infinity… and beyond!

And with that, I think I’m gonna call it quits for the night. This is already getting a bit long and I’ve got some other stuff to do before catching my flight back stateside!

Tim White

The road to Dayere

2010-12-20T21:54:00.006-05:00

Didn’t sleep well last night. Probably didn’t fall asleep til at least 1am and was wide awake by 6am. So the day didn’t start off too well, but I was still excited about the possibility of doing some hands on, outreach today.

It’s 7:30am and I’m running out the door to work.

Keys? Check.

Money? Check.

Cell phone? Check.

Asthma inhaler? Check.

K. Good to go… running out the door.

Oh, wait… forgot my ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts), water bottle and pregnancy pills, Azithromycin!

Cholera symptoms can begin within two hours. And death can occur within four hours from the onset of symptoms. If I’m going into the countryside, there’s no way I’m going without my meds, including my pills for pregnant women. Apparently they also have some side effects that mitigate the impact of cholera. So I’m game… I have no problem poppin’ a few pills, if it’s gonna save my life!

Out the door, up the hill, arrive at work around 7:30am and… no one’s here?! Haha… actually worked out fine. It’s essentially a three week Christmas break for most staff. So aside from a few staff who arrived shortly, most people are already on holiday.

And the late arrival was also welcome. I got to work until about 10am and got thru a bunch of stuff that I needed to do. With only two days left before I leave, I’ve got to jam on a number of things and a few hours today was very helpful.

Jump in the SUV – I was riding shotgun as I was a special guest today – and off we went to Dayere.

As we were leaving town we passed the bus station where some people got necklaced a few weeks ago. At least the charred bodies appear to have been removed... Cross the bridge and head into the jungle, before beginning our ascent into the mountains.

As we’re climbing, much of the forest disappears. The slopes have been largely denuded. There are a good number of palms around, but with their 50 foot branchless trunks they don’t give much cover. And there are some hills covered in low lying veggies, such as beans. But much of the area seems to be just grass. I’m not sure why, but a lack of water supply seems like a pretty good guess as to why the hills lie uncultivated.

Having driven for perhaps two hours thru the switchbacks and slopes that may have been more than 45 degrees at points, we cross some ridges. What a sight. Reminded me of my drive from Macedonia into Albania and down to Tirane. Absolutely gorgeous… and not much to stop you from tumbling down hundreds of feet to certain death – if you go a few feet too far to the side. With the narrow crossways flattened and reinforced at the edges, one can view mountains as far as the eye can see… except of course where the mountains stop and the placid, royal blue Caribbean begins.

We pass a village now and school is obviously getting out. It’s lunchtime and the 4 to 7 year old kids, dressed in their pastel pink, button down shirts and navy blue shorts are headed home… but not without a quick chase of the car! As we’re passing, dozens of the school kids start chasing after us.

With the treacherous road – if you can call it a road – composed of rocks six to eight inches in diameter and ruts that are often nearly a foot of mud before you see the puddle that goes down… who knows how far?... it’s not uncommon for us to be traveling at one to two miles per hour. So it’s not too tough for a four year old to catch up with us. That is, until the driver stopped, jumped out and yelled at them to scare them away… haha… I’m guessing he was concerned for their safety. But they're kids. They don’t care! So they back away until we start moving again, and the chase resumes. I’m not entirely sure why the kids were chasing us. It may have been simply “le machine.” A motor vehicle is pretty rare in these parts, so maybe that was it. Or maybe it was me.

“Blanc, blanc” they cheer out. “White, white.” They know my name! Haha… no, it’s really just what they call a foreigner – or more specifically, a whitie – around here. (The N and C in “blanc” are largely silent. It's sounds more like "blah" with a very muffled "n" at the end.)

The kids are still chasing, but we make a pitstop. No, we haven’t found a “highway rest area.” But it’s only guys – about ten of us – in the SUV. So the forest is fine.

As we’re getting back into the truck, a little girl grabs my arm with both hands. I yank it away; at once thinking cholera; yet also wanting to be kind to a little girl who’s probably never seen a blanc and was simply curious. Regardless, I’m not going to let anyone touch me at the risk of getting cholera… which is rife in these villages. But I do speak my pigeon French-Creole and offer her some kinds words. I think she was fine… and frankly, I think just about anywhere in the world it’s inappropriate to simply grab people… so even though she may have been taken aback, I'm confident that her parents wouldn’t approve of grabbing as she did.

In the car and off we go. After about a three hour drive, we arrive in Dayere. We had literally come to the end of the road… part of the reason why I was here. It’s a major road construction – extension, really – project. But I’m tired now, so I’m done blogging for the night. I’ll probably post more tomorrow about my trip today. It really was fantastic… it was a great gift for my 38th birthday.

Tim White

Introducing the CT Curmudgeon

2010-12-19T18:12:00.004-05:00

Perhaps Cheshire's blogosphere is blossoming? Here's another local blog:

CT Curmudgeon

I suspect this will be a very conservative blog that will cover Cheshire politics to some degree. Good luck CTC! It takes time, but you can have an impact... particularly on the local stuff.

Tim White

Ron Paul: Fed cartel needs competing currencies

2010-12-19T17:58:00.007-05:00

Congressman Ron Paul wants to End the Fed. That's no secret. It's the title of one of his books. But making big things happen typically requires a transition.

Last year Congressman Paul introduced legislation in favor of competing currencies. Here's an excerpt from a recent CNBC interview on the topic:

Paul said he views the Fed as a "monopoly" that could benefit from the introduction of competition.

"We should start ending the Fed by allowing competition," he said. "I don't like the fact that they have monopoly control. It's a cartel: they print the money. The Constitution really doesn't give them that authority. The Constitution said that only gold and silver can be legal tender. I want to legalize competition and allow individual Americans to use gold and silver in competition, as money. Today if you do that, you can go to jail.

Competing currencies is an imperfect solution to me, but any sound currency would be an improvement over the current fiat-based monopoly. Despite the claims of Bush, Obama, Greenspan & Bernanke, the fact is that Keynes was wrong. Money doesn't grow on trees. And now we need to figure out the best way to transition away from our current monetary policy... and hope we avoid the complete collapse of the dollar.

Tim White

With the grant writing done, it'll be outreach next week

2010-12-18T08:56:00.003-05:00

The past two weeks for me have been crazy... running around like a chicken with my head cut off! But it's been worthwhile. With the onset of cholera in the Grand'Anse region, things are moving fast... and they must. People are dying and the cholera isn't slowing down for the holidays.

As such, I've been involved in a bunch of fast-moving, fluid grant proposals for a variety of issues near Jeremie. Cholera treatment is obviously the biggest issue, but it invariably leads to a number of related issues.

With local necklacings being blamed on cholera-related voodoo, education is obviously important. And there are other health issues -- disposal of bodies -- that must be addressed.

The last two weeks have not only been long, they've been draining. To hear the heartbreaking stories of death... and the wonderful success stories of continued life... it's something I never thought I'd experience as a CPA. But I do love it, despite the highs and lows that can take a toll.

Anyway, with the holidays here, things are slowing down on the funding side and picking up on the humanitarian / outreach side. With the cholera outbreak hitting the Jeremie area a few weeks ago, I expect that funding should be arriving now. So greater outreach efforts will be possible.

With that in mind, I'm expecting to get out there myself next week. I had the opportunity for some hands-on work back in August... and this will be my first time since then to get involved in more of the hands-on work that convinced me to come here. I realize I'm here for my professional skills, but it was the ability to be directly involved in humanitarian work that got me here.

Tim White

Hats off to Jimmy Sima and Anne Giddings!

2010-12-14T22:14:00.005-05:00

For three years I've been the lone vote on the Council opposing the TMs contract on the basis of poor performance.* But tonight I understand the vote on the TMs contract extension passed 5 - 2. Jimmy and Anne were opposed and Steve Carroll and Patti Flynn Harris abstained.

I applaud Jimmy and Anne. I'm uncertain of their reasons, but I'm guessing that it was partly for the reasons I mentioned yesterday. In particular, it's nice to see elected officials who demand an end to the waste and mismanagement of the DPW. And as for hearing about how "hard-working" staff can be... I recall Council Chairman Slocum's recent Herald LTTE.

Just because one "works hard" doesn't mean one is effective. Someone could "work" 16 hour days. But if someone else can do the same workload in eight hours, then the 16 hour person may need to be replaced. So with regard to the whole "he works hard" argument, I dismiss it. Besides, most of the "hard work" is spent cultivating the nonsense message that he and his office are apolitical... and also simply controlling the information, reminding staff that they are not allowed to speak openly and that all information must be vetted through The Boss -- or else.

Again, I thank Jimmy Sima and Anne Giddings for their votes tonight in opposition to the Town's highly political and unnecessarily costly mismanagement.

I also understand that some sort of turf vote passed 5 - 4 with Anne Giddings, Tom Ruocco, David Schrumm and Jimmy Sima being opposed. I agree with my fellow Rs. The long-term liabilities facing the USA, the State of Connecticut and the Town of Cheshire are enormous. Cheshire has spiraling healthcare costs, an underfunded pension plan, a $30 million sewer plant coming toward us... along with about $60 million in existing debt and an annual operating budget of $100 million.

I believe we should be avoiding the addition of significant, long-term liabilities, such as the turf. And with the Washington Establishment still believing the ridiculous Keynesian economic theory that money grows on trees, I don't see America's economy improving for years. Unemployment will remain high and no elected official is going to want to see the turf replacement when it arrives in the 5-yr capital budget in only three years.

Tim White

* Two years ago, the vote was 5 - 4. But I only recall my colleagues opposing the raise... not the performance.

Council meeting - December 14, 2010

2010-12-13T19:18:00.006-05:00

It'll probably be an interesting Council meeting tomorrow night.

First thing will likely be the appointments of Steve Carroll and Patti Flynn Harris to fill the vacancies of Justin Adinolfi and yours truly.

Then you'll see the turf vote. I'm uncertain of what way it'll go, but this was my whip count back in June: 4 favor, 3 oppose, 2 unknown. I had Justin listed in favor and myself opposed with David Schrumm and Anne Giddings opinions unknown.

And last, but certainly not least, the annual vote on extending the TMs contract. I don't know how this vote will go. But seven years ago I asked the TM to "make the trains run on time." Unfortunately, he's done far more than that. And since his last contract extension, he's:

1) Meddled in union affairs to influence the outcome of last year's election.

2) Ignored the crisis at the PD, in order to spend time in Hartford advocating for John Destefano's regional sales tax.

3) Accepted the waste and mismanagement at the DPW.

Judgment matters. He could do a good job making the trains run on time. But for him, that's not enough. He insists on playing politics and accepting poor quality work -- at the expense of the taxpayer -- while covering up for his cronies.

A TM should be a professional, not a politician. We can do better.

And on a related note... in case you hadn't noticed... we've had one TM since 2000. And if you go back to 1999, with one exception, the voters have switched Councils every two years. Anyone see a pattern there? Unfortunately for the taxpayers, they don't have the opportunity to vote on the Chief Executive.

Tim White

Ron Paul gets the gavel, Bernanke can't be happy

2010-12-13T18:59:00.003-05:00

Taken from Politico's headlines:

White House launches charm offensive with new Republican chairs

GOP chairmen are getting congratulatory phone calls from President Barack Obama and private meetings with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Attorney General Eric Holder. The incoming Agriculture Committee chairman, Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), is setting up a regular monthly lunch with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The White House's efforts moved into high gear shortly after the Republican victory on Election Day.

If you read the full article, it appears that every committee chair is getting some mono-on-mono time with the administrators who they will oversee. Politico even mentions that Ben Bernanke sat down the Chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa.

I wonder if Ben Bernanke has yet placed his congratulatory phone call to Monetary Policy Chairman Ron Paul?

hahaha...

I love it!

But in all seriousness, regardless of Congressman Paul's philosophical views on monetary policy, his chairmanship will be founded on two important principles that have been missing in that committee for a long time:

1) He will demand what all reasonable and rational people -- this excludes The Fedsters -- expect: transparency.

2) He will use the bully pulpit to push a national discussion on monetary policy, including:

a) Fiat money vs. sound money?

b) Fractional-reserve banking vs. full-reserve banking?

c) Keynesian economics vs. Austrian school economics?

d) Should America have a central bank?

The Establishmentarians like to dismiss this discussion by explaining there is an "international consensus" on all of these issues. But therein lies the problem. The consensus -- that money grows on trees -- has been decreed by The Political Class. And therefore this is no consensus among regular people. And my view is that most regular people know that money doesn't grow on trees.

Go Chairman Paul!

Tim White

Quote of the week

2010-12-13T18:51:00.003-05:00

From CNN reporting on Sarah Palin's weekend visit to Haiti:

"Not to get political, but if some of the politicians would come here and see the conditions perhaps they would see the need for, say, a military airlift to bring the supplies that are so needed here," she said...

The article continued:

Palin said she would not take questions from reporters. "The reason I won't be answering questions is because we don't need to be getting political here today," Palin said.

Tim White