Evidence of monstrous neglect of the Haitian people is mounting following the catastrophic earthquake a few days ago. As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the airport in Port au Prince, and as news networks report a massive international effort to deliver emergency aid, the people in the shattered city are wondering when they will see help.

BBC World Service reports that Haitian officials now fear the death toll could rise to 140,000. Three million people are homeless.

BBC reporter Andy Gallagher told an 8 pm (Pacific Time) broadcast (January 15th) that he had traveled “extensively” in Port au Prince during the day and saw little sign of aid delivery. He said he was shown nothing but courtesy by the Haitians he encountered. Everywhere he went he was taken by residents to see what had happened to their neighbourhood, their homes and their lives. Then they asked, “Where is the help?”

“When the Rescue teams arrive,” Gallagher said, “they will be welcomed with open arms.”
 

Founded in 1990, The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about “scare campaigns” designed to influence public opinion and policy, has periodically issued a list of the top anxieties Americans will experience in the coming year.

“The list,” says founder Alan Caruba, “is subjective; based on an analysis of the past year’s headlines and anticipated events. It incorporates on-going, often long term concerns that Americans have expressed.”

1. Out of Control Government Spending. It is evident to everyone except the White House and Congress that America cannot spend its way out of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, but both have embraced programs that will increase the level of taxation facing Americans, while engaging in “stimulus” programs that only stimulate more anxiety. The lack of job creation in the private sector will be the major anxiety Americans encounter in 2010. 
 

In light of continuing delays in the House of Representatives, we must state clearly and unequivocally: Passing basic job protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people must happen now.

At a time when our government is deeply focused on the critical issue of employment, it is inexcusable to delay action on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Each and every job lost to prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity needlessly compounds the unemployment challenges facing our nation. We call on Congress for the immediate passage of ENDA.

For decades now, we have called upon Congress to pass legislation to address the basic right of LGBT people to work free from discrimination at our jobs, and now Congress tells us we must wait another year. In 29 states, it remains legal to fire people based on sexual orientation and in 38 states, discrimination based on gender identity remains legal.

In failing to take swift action to pass ENDA, our government allows unfettered bigotry to go unchecked, leading to the loss of jobs, fear in the workplace, economic instability, and personal hardship, while allowing employers to lose competent experienced workers. ENDA is urgently needed by our communities.
 

Time Honors ABC’s Chat-Fest: Walters Admits Liberal Thought Rules - Barbara Walters, host of the daytime chat-fest revealed to CNN’s Anderson Cooper on May 1 that “in general, [the] panel, with the exception of Elisabeth [Hasselbeck], tends to be, shall we say, more liberal.”

Even casual viewers of Walters and company can tell the show is a liberal bastion. It features Joy Behar’s repeated calls for the impeachment of Dick Cheney, Whoopi Goldberg asking John McCain, “Do I have to be worried about becoming a slave again?” and Sherri Shepherd’s suggestion that “every woman” rooted for Hillary Clinton.

Thanks to Time magazine, we’re having a “View” moment. Time recently honored Walters, Behar, Goldberg, Hasselbeck and Shepherd with a place on its list of “The World’s Most Influential” under the category of “Artists and Entertainers."
 

In the opening scenes of the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, old black and white newsreels from the 1950s silently depict police raiding gay bars, herding men into paddy wagons.

The images of police persecution hit you in the gut. The reaction is similar to the shock and outrage aroused when viewing images of Black civil rights demonstrators being attacked by cops and dogs — and this invited link between the civil rights movement and gay liberation is not accidental. It is just one of the insights contained in this thoughtful, realistic portrayal of the life and times of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to prominent U.S. office.

Déjà vu.

With a couple of exceptions and thanks to Milk's own oral history, recorded just months before his assassination, the film is historically accurate. It covers the period from Milk's arrival in San Francisco in the mid-1970s to his election as a city supervisor and his death in office in 1978. Milk's murder is announced at the movie's outset, and the plot follows his collision course with the wrapped-too-tight Dan White, a fellow supervisor.

The backdrop for the drama is the era's gay movement.