Hampton Roads Navy and Coast Guard ships head to Haiti

The Virginian-Pilot ^ | January 13, 2010 | Corinne Reilly

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Additional Navy ships that will deliver humanitarian assistance include the frigate Underwood, based in Mayport, Fla., and the hospital ship Comfort, homeported in Baltimore.

They're sending a ship from Balmer, hon!

Maryland PING!

[Strategerist]

The US Navy has a long and established history of humanitarian assistance. For example, they played a leading role in assisting Messina, Italy after a massive earthquake in Sicily in 1908 that killed over 50,000 people.

[chilltherats]

It doesn’t much matter which event set the precedent. There shouldn’t be a precedent. It should be privately funded.

[John O]

You do have a valid point. But I believe this is one of the few valid expenditures in foreign aid (Falls under foreign commerce clause of the Constitution). I believe this buys us more than it costs us in the long run.

Again, you do have a valid point and perhaps a better way to do this would be to designate on our taxes where we wish them applied. (Wouldn’t that be cool!)