Nations with irresponsible leaders, totalitarian dictators or corrupt public servants are never happy places, as the dehumanizing poverty, among many others, the vast majority of citizens, principally in the developing world, are forced to endure further suggests.

Paul Eugene Magloire     Haiti presidents, from 1804 to date.

The sad truth in this is that Haiti has long been one of them. One of the many reasons for saying so and, with authority, is that it was long ago and, more than once, governed by the same military dictator, Mr. Paul Egeune Magloire, who in the course of delivering a presidential speech repeatedly nicknamed himself "kanson fe," literally paints made of steel, or tough man, in an attempt to warn, even assumed political opponents, that he was capable of going to the very extreme, executing them in broad daylight.

Tomorrow, July 19, 2007, marks the 100th anniversary of birth of Mr. Magloire, whose other famous words, if I'm to lend credence to the lyrics of many Haitian jazzes and others of nearly the same nature, in the late 1940s, most of  the 1950s, participating in the continued traditional annual Haitian carnival, were: "I'm intoxicated everyday, it's because I drink whisky."

It's reported that one of the late totalitarian dictator's most feared generals, Prosper, had to be carried home by senior aides in the early morning after dancing all night long Friday and Saturday nights at the then "Club of Port-au-Princians."

All these suggest Mr. Magloire, who was born in the neighborhood of Quartier Morin, Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city, never permitted himself, even discouraged subalterns, especially those in position of responsibility, from making an effort to devote one minute, at least, of their time daily to seriously think about the affairs of the Republic of Haiti.

Like many others before and long after Mr. Magloire, including deposed notorious totalitarian dictator, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, blame must be assigned or nearly equally distributed to him  The reason for so will, hopefully, very soon come to the readers of this editorial as no surprise. What is clear is that the abject poverty that the vast majority of Haitians continue to be subject to today certainly has added harsh consequences, the world over. They are equated to one of the pariah peoples of the world, to say only this one.

In Byzantine times, 11th century, the punishment reserved for Mr. Magloire, predecessors and successors alike would be 'castration.'  And so their chance of not also being subject to the punishment just mentioned, including pocking their eyes, for pillaging the public treasury would be infinitesimally slim.