21+ MILLION HUMANS LIVING AS REFUGEES AND WHO CARES

WHAT MOVES US? AND WHY?

The news that gets reported on my local and national news televised shows leaves me with no desire to get my news from them.

Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/ and get a different sort of world wide coverage than we get in the USA overall. This website covers, in depth, the world.

Get Sudan news here:
http://sudan.net/

Personally I feel that television journalism quality in the USA has sunk so low that it is not worth my time. Is it that we USA citizens don't want to know about what is going on around the planet or that our news media has been feeding us "news candy" for so long that we don't recognize the state of media news coverage?

Yesterday, was Refugee Day. And it made me think that millions of people don't have a bathroom to use, running water, electricity - all the things that we take for granted. Many fear for their lives every minute of every 24 hour day. Children who are abducted to be soldiers and forced to do things that we refuse to think about for more than a fleeting moment.

A refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country..."

The 1951 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees

"The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees." http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html

Video from a Refugee Camp with David Rubenstein (Past Executive Director of the Save Darfur Coalition) and actress Mia Farrow. They traveled to Darfuri refugee camps in Chad to document first hand testimonials from the victims of the ongoing genocide in Darfur:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A_jjTJ19WgE

This is our world. And it is not right that we don't speak up and act when we have so many blessings. The things that consume our time, thoughts and money are what speak to what is important to us. If we don't even want to know what is happening in the real world, then the problem is not only the victims but our individual and governments' moral compasses have been lost.

"Today, there are more than 33 million people in need of international protection and assistance. Roughly 12 million are refugees and more than 21 million are internally displaced people (meaning they have been forced from their homes by violence or disaster but have not crossed an international border). People displaced inside their countries face the same hardships as refugees, without the same protection under international law." http://www.arcrelief.org

I was raised to be a Christian. I was taught: On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, "Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!"

What I see is "I've got mine". And that seems to be the end of the philosophy. Whether you claim to be Christian, a believer in some other God-based faith or what I consider myself to be today, a humanist, who believes that we are all sisters and brothers who should look out for one another with empathy and compassion - this world is suffering from the "I've got mine" attitude and blaming the ills of the world on the "evil-doers" is lame at best.

What's in it for you is that you aren't free until every one is free. So, those who die with the most possessions or in the so-called "richest" country in the world have no more guarantee to happiness in her or his heart than one living under a tree or piece of card board in a refugee camp.

I am happy not because someone else must receive less than their due to pave the way for my happiness. But I am happy because I am living my life in the light of truth and integrity. What makes no sense to me is that we claim to be free when in deed we are not.

Words are not enough. I am sick of George Bush getting away with his dishonorable conduct. I am sick of speaking out about the Darfur genocide and the whole world just lets it go by without even a genuine effort to stop it. Who are we, if not hypocrites? Hypocrites: a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc. that he or she does not actually possess, especially whose actions belie stated beliefs. That's what my dictionary says a hypocrite is. To me it defines President Bush.

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May 29, 2007 Lobbying U.S. RI Senator Whitehouse
regarding Darfur genocide

Left to right: Bill York, Frankie DaPonte,Samantha Brilhante, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, me, Sandra Hammel,"Instead of Mourning a Genocide - Stop One", Jackie Cano, Michael Murphy, Juliana Beltran, Patrick Schmitt,Frank T. Caprio, RI General Treasurer, not pictured, Xay Khamsyvoravong, RI Treasurer’s Deputy Chief of Staff, not pictured

On May 29, 2007, I arranged to meet with United States Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse in their Rhode Island offices to lobby them about Darfur. I invited other constituents to go with me. This was the third time that I had lobbied Senator Reed. Senator Whitehouse is in his first 6 year term as Senator. The need for the China Resolution was spelled out to Senator Reed in our lobby meeting. When I called Senator Reed's contact person for Darfur to follow up on our requests of action last week, she admitted to knowing absolutely nothing about there being a China Resolution. So I repeated my request, giving her the number of the Resolution. She said she would look into China Resolution and she didn't think there would be any problem getting Senator Reed to sign on. This proves it is not enough to speak to the Senator and trust him to do what is right. Furthermore, Senator Reed even told us that he thought he might already be a co-sponsor of the resolution. No, this was not so. We are the "Checks and Balance" on our elected politicians.

May 29, 2007 Lobbying U.S. RI Senator Reed regarding Darfur genocide

Left to right: Xay Khamsyvoravong, Deputy Chief of Staff of RI Treasurer, Patrick Schmitt, Senator Jack Reed, me, Sandra Hammel, Frank T. Caprio, RI General Treasurer, Jennifer Ross

We took five requests of action to the senators and the slowness of this kind of response to people who are living on the ground without any thing but their spirits to keep them going day into night is NOT GOOD Enough.

Here are the five requests that we Rhode Island constituents asks of our United States Senators when lobbying about Darfur:

1 Senate Bill 831 Divestment Authorization Act

Move it by working with northeastern Senators

Member of the Sudan Democratic Caucus?

(Note: H R 180 sponsored by Lee & Frank in Financial Service committee)

_________________________

2 Appropriations

a. Administration’s budgeted amount for AU and UN Hybrid Peacekeepers: insufficient

b. Asking for additional $186 Million above President Bush’s requested amount

c. Ask him to move it out of committee with the $186 Million amount

__________________________

3 China Resolution Senate Resolution 203

a. Tell him we want him to be a co-sponsor on the Senate Resolution 203

(House of Rep has a sister H Res 423)

1. 70% of Sudan Oil exported to China

2. China provides arms to Sudan

3. China is protector at UN for Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir

(4. Note: China untypically assigned a Darfur Special Envoy)

___________________________

4 Oversight of Administration’s efforts to address crisis in Darfur: To ensure that Darfur is being correctly prioritized within U.S. foreign policy and to ensure that no opportunities for peace are missed for lack of resources. This oversight can come in the form Dear Colleague sign-on letters, congressional delegation trips to Darfur and Chad, as well as private conversations with Administration officials. Oversight is also critical to guarantee that any sanctions which may be enacted as part of a package of “Plan B” measures are fully implemented. Special effort to ensure that all areas of the Administration are pulling their weight to make the sanctions effective is needed. Please exercise oversight responsibilities to make sure that the U.S. government is doing all it should be to end the genocide in Darfur.

____________________________

5 We ask the Senator to write an Op-Ed piece regarding S. 831, as well as the importance of the China Resolution, S. Res. 203 to end the four year + genocide in Darfur, Sudan in the Providence Journal with Senator Whitehouse.

INSTANT KARMA CD The Campaign To Save Darfur:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XGbP23uHYE8

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There are paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C. who are not paid to look out for us the citizens, but for their businesses’ bottom line, money. “We the People” must wake up from a sleep and become a part of our government or we have no right to complain that our government is not listening to us. “We the People” does not mean elected politicians and paid-by-corporations-lobbyists – it means “We the People”. That is you and me.

This is a mock cover.

It is shocking what has been happening in the name of the citizens of the United States of America these last several years. I believe if you think President George Bush and his hand-picked administration have been serving this country well – you just haven’t been paying attention. I know some think I am absolutely wrong.

This is not a mock cover. It is/was for real.

But the rest of the world have no USA blinders on. These blinders are an anomaly known to US Americans only.

Find your USA senator and become part of the solution to our poor governing:

http://www.senate.gov/

http://www.house.gov/

President George Bush

president@whitehouse.gov

202-456-1111

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20500, USA

..........................................................

The Honorable Ban ki-Moon

Secretary-General United Nations

Room 3800

New York, NY 10017 USA

Website: www.un.org

..........................................................

Refugee help:
http://www.arcrelief.org
http://www.theirc.org/

Darfur Genocide activists websites:
www.savedarfur.org
www.genocideintervention.net
www.sudandivestment.com

A fact:

Did you know that the United States citizens who live in the nations capital, Washington, D.C. do not have any voting representative in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives? Isn't that taxation without representation? I think so.