Obama, Clinton Call on Americans To Support Haiti

Both The White House and former President Bill Clinton released statements this afternoon urging Americans to donate not only money, but time and energy in support of relief efforts in Haiti.

"This is also a time," President Obama writes in his official White House letter, "when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit."

To get involved, or to make a donation, the White House recommends visiting this website.

Former President Bill Clinton's letter also expresses his support for the people of Haiti and officially calls upon the world to act — and act fast! According to Clinton, "What we do in these first 48 hours determines how many lives we can save."

Indeed, those directly affected by the earthquake need food, water, shelter and medical services right now. Clinton provides the option of providing these basic necessities to those in need by donating through his organization, The Clinton Foundation.

Reminiscent of the tone of his administration, Clinton's letter instills within us a sense of empowerment — it is in our hands to deliver to the people of Haiti feelings of hope and possibility.

Here's the full text of Clinton's letter:

Today, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti who are recovering from a devastating earthquake. Buildings have collapsed, thousands of people are missing, and many are presumed homeless.

My UN office and the rest of the UN system are monitoring the situation. While we don't yet know the full impact of this 7.0-magnitude earthquake, we do know that the survivors need immediate help.

There's a way you can help Haiti recover and rebuild right now.

Click here to make a donation and find information on other organizations providing emergency relief efforts.

Approximately 2 million people live in the capital of Haiti and the surrounding areas where the disaster struck.

What we do in these first 48 hours determines how many lives we can save. Together, we can help communities get back on their feet.

I have long been committed to helping Haiti "build back better" from the 2008 hurricanes and prepare for future disasters. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, now needs our assistance more than ever.

Help provide immediate relief and long-term support to earthquake survivors by making a donation today:

www.clintonfoundation.org/haitirelief

Thank you for joining me in praying for the people of Haiti and bringing hope to the survivors. Working together, we can help them build back stronger and better.

Bill Clinton
UN Special Envoy for Haiti

P.S. For missing family, please call the State Department hotline at 1-888-407-4747. To submit or request situation or survivor information, visit http://haiti.ushahidi.com/.

And here is the text of the letter from The White House:

Good Afternoon,

The reports and images from Haiti of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching. As we learn more about the extent of the devastation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and Haitian Americans around our country who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones back home.

I have directed my Administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States Government in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief -- the food, water and medicine -- that Haitians will need in the coming days.

This is also a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit. If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, I encourage you to visit our website where you can learn more about how to contribute:

http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

We will continue to stand with the people of Haiti and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

copy form:http://www.tonic.com/article/letter-from-the-white-house/

Garage rock wunderkind Jay Reatard dead at 29

Sad news for the garage rock world: Jay Reatard, whose given name was Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., was found dead in his Memphis home early this morning. He was just 29. According to a statement from Goner Records, the label that released the singer's earliest efforts, he died in his sleep. Further details have not been released.

The troubled performer, whose entire band quit in October over an undisclosed dispute and whose rising star was occasionally besmirched by negative publicity over stage violence, leaves behind a legacy of energetic, angry and often melodic recordings with a variety of bands.

Emerging from the Memphis underground of the late ‘90s with punk act The Reatards, the young singer built a reputation on outrageous stage antics and fast and furious music with a buzzsaw sensibility. He spent time in bands as diverse as the synth-punk-influenced Lost Sounds, Nervous Patterns, Destruction Unit, new wave garage outfit The Final Solutions and innumerable incarnations of his self-titled act, including a couple of completely solo outings.

Reatard's 2006 album “Blood Visions,” from In the Red Records, garnered widespread critical acclaim and cult adulation, which led to his being signed to big-league indie Matador Records. His debut full-length for the label, “Watch Me Fall,” was released in late 2009.

A statement on the label’s Matablog reads: “We are devastated by the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., aka Jay Reatard. Jay was as full of life as anyone we’ve ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist. We’re honored to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly.”

copy form:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/01/garage-rock-wunderkind-jay-reatard-dead-at-29.html

Haiti earthquake time damage: Will 'clusters' make aid efforts better this time?

When aid organizations flock to a disaster zone in the wake of a tragedy like the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti last night, relief efforts are often plagued by a lack of coordination, duplication of effort and mismanagement of resources.

But, this time, much of that will be avoided, according to Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian assistance for Oxfam America, which has more than 200 staff members on the ground

"In the past few years, [the United Nations] has tried to organize relief efforts in all the countries we work in. They've set up what they call 'clusters,'" Mr. Delaney told csmonitor.com's Pat Murphy today. "The idea is to divide up responsibilities, avoid duplication, look for ways to organize efficiently according to standards that uphold people's dignity."

What this means is that big aid groups have already been assigned an area of focus in disaster preparation workshops over recent years. In Haiti, Oxfam will be in the water and sanitation cluster. Other groups might belong to a medical, or a shelter, cluster, for example.

Of course, coordination in chaotic situations is still difficult, and not every aid group has been part of the planning.

"It doesn't always work," admits Delaney. "Sometimes there are a lot more organizations out there... that don't even know about this cluster system."

Haiti Earthquake

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook Haiti on Tuesday, causing several buildings to collapse in the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation and leading to an unknown number of fatalities, officials and witnesses said.

The earthquake was centered just 10 miles southwest of the crowded and impoverished capital of Port-au-Prince. Making matters worse, the earthquake was relatively shallow at a depth of five miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Shallow earthquakes can cause more damage.

“I think it’s really a catastrophe of major proportions,” Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN.
Raphaelle Chenet, the administrator of Mercy and Sharing, a charity that takes care of 109 orphans, said she saw about ten dead bodies in the street after the quake struck.

“I saw dead bodies, people are screaming, they are on the street panicking, people are hurt,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “There are a lot of wounded, broken heads, broken arms.”

In Port-au-Prince, many houses built on steep ravines have collapsed, Ms. Chenet said. She said from her house she had heard a couple of explosions, which she believed to be gas explosions. The orphans in the two institutions run by Mercy and Sharing weren’t hurt, although an orphanage worker suffered a broken leg, she said.

President Barack Obama said his thoughts and prayers were with the people of Haiti, and U.S. officials said they would consider immediate humanitarian aid.

An Associated Press videographer saw the collapsed wreckage of a hospital in Petionville, near Port-au-Prince. Reuters news agency cited a witness saying several buildings had crumbled in the capital and that there were dead and injured trapped in the rubble.

At least 1.8 million people live within the area where the earthquake had its highest intensity, John Bellini, a geophysicist at the USGS, told The Wall Street Journal. “With a strong and shallow earthquake like this in such a populated area, it could really cause substantial damage,” he said.

The quake was the most powerful to hit Haiti since at least 1770, according to USGS records, Mr. Bellini added. “This isn’t normally an earthquake-prone area,” he said.

Within minutes of the original tremor, two aftershocks rolled through the area, measuring 5.9 and 5.5 on the Richter scale.

Eight in ten Haitians live in poverty, according to the CIA World Factbook. The Caribbean nation was hit hard by a series of hurricanes in the past few years, adding to the country’s misery.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere subcommittee, said: “This is the worst possible time for a natural disaster in Haiti, a country which is still recovering from the devastating storms of just over a year ago.”

source:http://surroundedme.com/haiti-earthquake-news

Kiffin's departure already having impact on Vols recruiting class

USC has replaced departed football coach Pete Carroll with Tennessee's Lane Kiffin, USC announced late Tuesday.

Kiffin, who served as an assistant under Carroll from 2001-06 before leaving to become the Oakland Raiders head coach, is leaving after one tumultuous season at Tennessee that saw him enrage his fellow SEC coaches, draw the ire of the NCAA and upgrade Tennessee's talent base. Kiffin will bring his father, Volunteers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, and defensive line coach/recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron with him. Orgeron served in those roles at USC under Carroll. He left USC after the 2004 season to become the head coach at Ole Miss.

Kiffin was scheduled to meet with Tennessee players at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday to break the news.

Gary Willis, the father of Tennessee recruit Brandon Willis, had planned to drive his son from Duncan, S.C., to Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday night so Brandon could begin classes on Wednesday. "We won't be going to Tennessee now," the elder Willis said.

Willis had narrowed his choices to UCLA, North Carolina and Tennessee. He announced his commitment to Tennessee during Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. The elder Willis said the family had spoken to UCLA and North Carolina coaches on Tuesday night after Kiffin news broke. Had Willis set foot in a class at Tennessee, he would have had to obtain a waiver from the NCAA to transfer without sitting out a year. "I'm glad it happened when it happened," Gary Willis said. "It could have been a real mess."

Brandon Willis was one of the Byrnes High football players at the center of the NCAAs investigation into Tennessee's use of its recruiting hostess program. Two hostesses were photographed by SI.com with Willis and teammate Corey Miller, another Tennessee recruit after Byrnes beat Gaffney High on Sept. 25. The NCAA is trying to determine whether the hostesses acted on their own or if they were directed to attend the game by a member of Tennessees coaching staff.

USC has NCAA issues of its own. The NCAA has completed its investigation into allegations of improper benefits received by former Trojan Reggie Bush from a marketing company hoping to sign him as a client and allegations that former basketball coach Tim Floyd paid an agent runner to secure the services of guard O.J. Mayo.

Monday, Yahoo! Sports reported that the NCAA's Committee on Infractions will meet Feb. 19-21 to determine what, if any, punishment USC would receive.

source:http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/01/12/kiffin.trojans/