HAITI QUAKES UP

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Hunger in Haiti increasing rapidly
By Marc Lacey
Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008
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LinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalinkPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and police. Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing.

Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples such as beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.

Saint Louis Meriska's children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal two days ago and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, "They look at me and say, 'Papa, I'm hungry,' and I have to look away. It's humiliating and it makes you angry."

That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis not only is being felt among the poor, but also is eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments.

In Cairo, the military is being put to work baking bread as rising food prices threaten to become the spark that ignites wider anger at a repressive government. In Burkina Faso and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, food riots are breaking out like never before. And in reasonably prosperous Malaysia, the ruling coalition was nearly ousted by disgruntled voters who cited food and fuel hikes as their primary concerns.

"It's the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years," said Jeffrey Sachs, the economist and special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki Moon. "It's a big deal, and it's obviously threatening a lot of governments. There are a number of governments on the ropes and I think there's more political fallout to come."

Indeed, as it roils developing nations, the spike in commodity prices - the biggest since the administration of Richard Nixon - has pitted the globe's poorer south against the relatively wealthy north, adding to demands for reform of rich nations' farm and environmental policies.

But experts say there are few quick fixes to a crisis tied to so many factors, such as strong demand for food from emerging economies like China's; rising oil prices; and the diversion of food resources to make biofuels.

There are no scripts on how to handle the crisis, either. In Asia, governments are putting in place measures to limit hoarding of rice after some shoppers panicked at price rises and bought up everything they could.

Even in Thailand, which produces 10 million more tons of rice than it consumes and is the world's largest rice exporter, supermarkets have placed signs limiting the amount of rice shoppers are allowed to buy.

"This is a perfect storm," President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Cancún, Mexico. "How long can we withstand the situation? We have to feed our people and commodities are becoming scarce. This scandalous storm might become a hurricane that could upset not only our economies, but also the stability of our countries."

In Asia, if Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia steps down, which is looking increasingly likely amid post-election turmoil within his party, he may be that region's first high-profile political victim of fuel and food price inflation.

In Indonesia, fearing protests, the government recently revised its 2008 budget, increasing the amount it will spend on food subsidies by 2.7 trillion rupiah, or about $280 million.

"The biggest concern is food riots," said H.S. Dillon, a former adviser to the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. Referring to small but widespread protests sparked by a rise in soybean prices in January, he said, "It has happened in the past and can happen again."

Last month in Senegal, one of Africa's oldest and most stable democracies, police officers in riot gear beat and used tear gas against people protesting high food prices and later raided a television station that broadcast images of the event.

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Journal Entry #5

September 23rd, 1963

Today was Sunday and Joetta has to go to Sunday school. After she left with a couple of neighbours, everyone else fell back asleep. We soon awoke to a giant BOOM! I instantly knew something had blown up somwhere. I put on my pants and ran outside bare footed. When I got around the block I realized that the same church Joey goes to Sunday school in just blew up. I was so shocked that I was paralized. My mouth flew open and I couldn't move. I just thought about Joey. Soon, out of the blue I saw Kenny running. I wasn't paralyzed and could move. I ran after wondering where he was going. It was home. What was he going home for. When I got inside and looked around I saw Kenny and Joetta talking. I hoped the two of them didn't see what I saw. Apparentely they did. They were talking about the four little girls who were lying down in the grass. It didn't take much brains to know that they were dead. I ran back to the blown up church and brought mom and dad home. We were happy that we were safe but we were also star struck bhy what just went on. I knew it had to be some white folks that were moving along with the segregation of black people.

Journal Entry #4

Septemer 21st, 1963

Kenny has been itching in his pants to go for a swim in the beach and today he heard about one. Grandma Sands has been talking about a not so far beach from here that is nice and cool for us kids. She also claims " to be careful not to go in Collier's landing or you'll die just like the poor old soul of a boy that drowned from a dangerous WOOL POOH." She actually means whirl pool but because of her country accent she talks like that. Kenny is a dumb as a door knob and thinks that the " wool pooh" is actually a monster in the water that will come and drag you down till yeh drown. He is scared but he also wants to try the cool blue water in the river. We all go down with the annoyin princess Joey and Kenny makes us visit Collier's landing. I get tired and say " let's go" Kenny hesitates and stays behind. I purposely forget about him and leave him behind. All of a sudden I hear Kenny screaming for momma.I ran as fast as I could and saw Kenny stuck in a whirl pool and drowning. I dived in and pulled him out. When we were back on land we were both panthing because of what just happened. I just realized how much my brother meant to me. I am still angry that it took a dying moment of his to make me realize this.

Journal Entry #3

September 19th, 1963

we arrived in Alabama at about eleven thirty in the morning. Momma was right it was burning hot here. I was in the car and sweating "a mile a minute." The sun was glistening in the sky and water was coming down my face. We reached Grandma Sands's hose and honked the horn. It took a while but soon a scrunny looking woman made of completely bones opened the door. Momma really happy ran out of the car and squeezed the life out of the poor lady. Out of everyone I was the only one who was mad, after all I had to stay with the strict old lady for the rest of the vacation while momma and the rest of the family go have fun after they leave me here to suffer. Alabama was real hot but in Flint it was real cold. I remember the old saying " it is better to be to hot than to cold." You can die in the cold but have fun in the hot. I wish I was in the cold because I would rather die than stay with Grandma Sands. So far I find Grndma sands real annoying but she aint as strict as I tought she would be. It looks like she's just gonna wait till I decide to behave good but I could've done that in Flint. It makes no sense me being here stuck up with these here brats.

Journal Entry #2

September 17th, 1963

We woke up around five in the morning and left in the Brown Bomber. Momma packed tons of food in the cooler we borrowed from the neighbour and had the entire trip planned out in her little blue notebook. She had all all the events that was going to take place, where we slept when we ate and so on. It started to get annoying. I was already pissed off by Grandma Sands and now momma is annoying me with her stupid brown book with a bird in front of it that was supposed to be a flower. It felt like she was writing down how we were supposed to live, almost as if my entire life was in a book. Luckily the only Earthly person in the car dad ignolred momma's preperations and almost drove the entire way non-stop without stopping. My destiny to live with Grandma Sands was sadly almost here.

Journal Entry #1

September 15, 1963

I am pissed off just because I did something wrong momma is pushing me off and sending me by someone I only met once in my entire life Grandma Sands. Momma and Dad have kept talking about how strict Grandma Sands is and she'll have me as stright as a needle. To keep me from going to Alabama to stay by grandma I made a plan with Buphead. The plan is that the night before we leave I will sneak out and leave that night. Darn! Someone snitched and I got busted. Momma didn't tell me that but I used common sense to figure it out. She said " Byron sinse this might as well be your last day in flint I tought you and Kenny Would like to sleep in our room tonight." She caught on and worse I had to sleep with the world's most annoying brother Kenny.

HW#73

PG.57 and 61

A.
1. " This does'nt sound right " said the mechanic.
2. As he stamped his foot the toddler screamed, " NO! "
3. " My wallet is missing" I cried. " Where could it be."
4. Todd's essay is titled " Our Expanding Galaxy. "
5." I'm to sick" I coughed " to entertain visitors today. "
6. " Your chilly is very spicy ! I love spicy food !" I gasped as I swallowed
water.
B.
1. A new Land is the first chapter in the book " America the Beatiful. "
2. Shel Silverstein wrote and illustrated the poems in the book " Where The Sidewalks End."
3. " Point of View and No Difference " are two Silver stein poems.
4. In a cd called " Wedding Songs " there is a song called " I Love ou You Truly"
5. America's oldes continously published newspaper is " The Hartford Courant. "
6. The lead article today was " Congress Prepares Tax Bill."
C.
" Did you see the movie jurrasic park?" Michaeel asked victoria.She smiled and said " it was a very scary movie. I learned alot about dinosaurs though." " Look ." michael said. " at this report I wrote I just wrote on dinosaurs." He showed her the front cover with pictures of dinosaurs all over it. He had named his report "the frightning facts about dinosaurs."
A.
1.nevertheless
2.meanwhile
3.for example
4.another
5.as a result
6.in summary
B.
1.however
2.instead
3.for this reason
4.eventually
5.then
C.Tornadoes can level a community.Therefore many people believe a hurricane is more dangerous than a storm. Likewise a hurricane's winds can reach up to150 mles per hour.On the other hand a tornadoes blow can reach up to 300 milesper hour. By comparison most tornadoes last less than an hour. Yet hurricanes can last more than a week. infact a big tornadoe is about a mile wide. However a small huricane is about a hundred miles wide. In conclusion a hurricane's storm is itt's most dangerous weapon. It can cause flooding for hun dreds of miles.

Byron Is A Juvenile Delinquent !!!!

Byron has always happened to be the juvenile delinquent of a brother. He has constantly proven himself not to be part of the family and will do whatever it may take to seem cool. To be known as cool, Byron takes his family's trust away.In this essay I will explain why I think of Byron as a juvenile delinquent and an insolent child. My first reason is that he treats his little brother like garbage. For example when he says " Get the hell out of here, what you starin at? Them apples got me sick you little cross eyed punk." Byron is yelling at Kenny because of something that he found amusing and laughed at.
Also when he said " Give my regards to Clark Poindexter" Everyone teased Kenny and called him Poindexter because of his lazy eye, and now his own brother is joining in the fun. " Leave the little clown alone Byron said. It's a crying shame taking him around like a circus freak. " Byron was insulting his brother in front of the entire class. After Kenny hears this he might consider if Byron is actually his brother or a circus freak.
Byron is also very violent. " By had knocked a bird right out of the sky." Just to entertain Kenny, Byron threw a rock and injured a bird. By seeing this you can realize that to get on top , or seem cool to someone he would even hurt a living thing." " He punched me in the arm." Just because Kenny had gotten on the wrong side of Byron , he had punched Kenny in the shoulder. Byron is bigger than Kenny and his punches would hurt him allot. This information revealed to me that Byron was a little mad and punched Kenny , if he were furious then maybe some disturbing things would happen. The most important detail was when Byron had disobeyed his mom's orders and played with fire in the house! If something were to go wrong then the entire house would've caught fire. More likely for the whole family to get hurt.
Byron is also naturally mean. When he tries to be nice he still is mean. For example, Kenny said " I'm sorry By." Byron follows it with " Shut up and cry if you want." Instead of saying that he could've said, " you could cry you know, I won't laugh. That would've been much nicer. When Kenny was crying and feeling very shameful, all Byron could say was " I told you the only thing I was fighting in the water was your stupid little behind." Byron could've at least been nicer with the depression Kenny had.
In conclusion I still say Byron is a juvenile delinquent and cannot be nice. If he tries to be nice he is being mean instead. Violence and hatred is in his blood. All he cares about is himself and it took a dying moment to realize that Kenny was his little brother. Byron is a juvenile delinquent and will do whatever it takes even if he has to hurt his family to look cool. He insulted his little brother in front of the entire class just to look cool to his friend "Buphead." Byron is truly a juvenile delinquent.