PROVIDENCE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY ON BEHALF OF DARFUR AND SPEAKING TO CHINA

I DID SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE AND IS WAY OUTSIDE THE BOX OF MY COMFORTABILITY RANGE. I organized for the DREAM FOR DARFUR campaign a Torch Relay and Ceremony for my state of Rhode Island. As an activist for the people of Darfur, I want the slaughter, maiming, raping, starving, terrorizing them, the burning of their villages to end. I want the human beings on the planet who have freedoms to stand up and speak out and pressure those who have the leverage to influence Sudan to stop the genocide on the Darfuri people. Edwin Mutanguha, left, from Rwanda, passes a torch to his brother Edward Mutanguha, both freshman at Salve Regina University, on the steps of the Statehouse in Providence, R.I., during the symbolic 'Dream for Darfur Olympic Torch Relay', Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007. Rhode Island Darfur activists held the Providence leg of the torch relay which will happen in combination with 60 torch relays across the United States. A peace conference in Libya is part of an international effort to try to end over four years of fighting that have killed more than 200,000 people in Sudan's western region of Darfur. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

Murakoze Edward and Edwin!

On the right in the back is Channel 12 news who interviewed Edwin Mutanguha.
I missed our event on television Saturday night and all day Sunday
when I hear it aired repeatedly.

Walking up the South Side of the Rhode Island Statehouse

The Providence leg of the symbolic Olympic Torch Relay took place last Saturday, October 27, 2007 - the same day that Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi, had so-called Peace Talks in Sirte, Libya for the Darfur situation. Call me a cynic, but I don't have faith in Moammar Gadhafi. And I have no faith in Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who "says" there will be a cease-fire. I don't know how he can say there will be a cease-fire on his government's behalf, because he has always claimed that they weren't "firing" any weapons. How do you stop what you aren't doing?


Our Torch Relay event was a part of the on-going symbolic Dream for Darfur Olympic Torch Relay that is currently traveling to more than 60 cities across the United States, as well as the international Torch Relays that have already taken place and will take place before the Beijing, China Olympics open next summer.

Edward Mutanguha leading us around the Rhode Island Statehouse to the north side for the Ceremony on the plaza side.

In the summer of 2008, athletes from around the world will be competing at the XXIX Olympics in Beijing, China. The theme of these games – "One World, One Dream". But the world is asking: Can the Olympic Games truly stand for "One World, One Dream" while China is underwriting the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan? China buys more than $2 billion worth of oil from Sudan. The Khartoum regime has used much of its oil wealth to commit mass atrocities in Darfur, including arming militias that are attacking villages. In addition to being empowered by an influential voice on the United Nations Security Council, China continues to import 70% of Sudan’s oil. With those funds Sudan purchases weapons from China, which are used to commit genocide on the people of Darfur.

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From Our Providence Torch Relay's Torch Lighting at Waterplace Park
What Was Said...

We meet here to stand with the people of Darfur. We honor the Darfuri families, who live with injustice with every breath they take. Instead of participating in and watching the Olympics of Beijing, China next summer, they will be living under a tree, piece of plastic or makeshift shelter. After a moment of silence - we will walk the unlit symbolic Olympic torch to the front of the Fidelity Office where we will light it. (Fidelity Investment Company takes American citizens' mutual funds and invests in Chinese oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec, in Sudan - thereby funding the genocide with USA citizens money.) The gong will be struck 8 times to signify the beginning of our Torch Relay on behalf of the Darfur people, who should be included in the Beijing, China Olympics, whose chosen theme is ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM. The number 8, Chinese number, ba, is considered the luckiest number. It is no coincidence that the Summer Olympics in Beijing will open on 8/ 8/08 at 8:00 p.m. While our symbolic Olympic torch was lit, the three statements were said in unity:

€ This flame honors those who have been lost and those who suffer.
€ This flame celebrates the courage of those who have survived.
€ This flame symbolizes the hope we share for an end to the violence in Darfur and an end to genocide everywhere.”

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This ceremony today is a way to address the Darfur crisis – a way to demand that international community takes action now. We choose this Torch Relay as opportunity to tap into the ideals of the Olympics, but also to call on the host of the 2008 Olympics, the government of China, to do more to help end the genocide. Your presence today shows your concern for Darfur – those gathered here are acting in ways our leaders should, but have not. Today, we gather to call on China to take immediate and urgent action on Darfur. All of us here - and joined by activists around the country, and the world - are part of a growing anti-genocide movement – a powerful civil-society force that is working to address the Darfur crisis, and to be powerful and informed enough to address genocide anywhere as unacceptable. There are 60 Torch Relays in 60 cities taking place in the United States over a few months time.

Edward Mutanguha

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While I have been thinking about this day, I remembered when my father invited an Olympic track star to speak at our high school’s annual athletic banquet. I grew up in Indiana and my father was a high school teacher and coach. This track star was the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of a slave. He also was the first American in the history of Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. The story of Jesse Owens is relevant to today’s Torch Relay event. The year that Mr. Owens became world famous was in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, that are also known as the Hitler Olympics. It is worth noting that on March 22, 1933, the first extermination camp was opened in Dachau, Germany and began its ugly business of committing crimes against humanity that later was called – genocide. So at the same time that the death camps were operating, people and Hitler were sitting in the stands watching the Olympian athletes in Berlin compete. The Olympic Torch Relay as we know it today was actually introduced at the very Olympic games in Berlin in 1936.

Today, the Official Website of the Beijing Torch Relay states “The Olympic Flame is the highest symbol of the Olympic spirit. The Olympic Torch Relay is a celebration of human peace and friendship. Under the guidance of International Olympic Committte, Beijing is working closely with the relay cities around the world, widely promoting the theme of ‘One World, One Dream,’ upholding the torch relay concept that is ‘a journey of harmony’ to make the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay a complete success.”

I dare to say - that complete success is not possible, if the “journey of harmony” is soiled by the lack of extending the theme “One World, One Dream” to Darfur. China needs to use its influence with Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to help bring the genocide to an end.

While the Olympics’ host country has the world’s eyes on it, we ask the 2008 Olympic theme to not exclude the Darfuri people, but to include the Darfur people. While it sits on the UN Security Council, China supports the Sudanese government…the government who has been coordinating the genocide in Darfur with the janjaweed for over four and half years with weapons purchased from China. Darfur is a part of the world and needs the Olympic dream desperately.

Like the irony of the Berlin games in 1936, the 2008 Beijing games will have its own irony if China ignores its role in the Darfur genocide.

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Three Things to do were given to the crowd:

1. The current bill in the Senate – SUDAN ACCOUNTABILITY & DIVESTMENT ACT – referred to as S-A-D-A, SADA, must be passed over any Presidential veto. The House sister bill passed 418 to 1. You can help and ask our Senators to sponsor this bill by calling 1 – 800 – GENOCIDE. “We the People” have power that needs to be utilized.

2. Learn about divestment by going to www.Sudandivestment.org or www.investorsagainstgenocide.org

3. Go to www.dreamfordarfur.org to the the “Take Action” page and sign the petition to the International Olympic Committee .

Use Your Voice for people who presently have no voice. Let us not be defined with our inaction or lack of speaking up when the right thing to do is to speak up and until we are understood. Genocide Stops With Us.

We thank you so much for attending the Olympic Dream for Darfur Providence Torch Relay. We use this torch relay to highlight the ideals of the Olympics, while calling on the host of the 2008 Olympics, the government of China, to do more to help end the genocide in Darfur. As you can see, you are part of something powerful and important. We stand here today and call for an end to the Darfur crisis. We know Americans want to help the people of Darfur, and participating in our relay and taking our actions is an important way to do this.

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Submitted for www.savedarfur.org website:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) were the words that began the day.

On October 27, The Providence, Rhode Island Dream for Darfur Torch Relay and Ceremony was welcomed by student and community activists, in spite of the forecast for rain. In Rhode Island’s first opportunity to come together and stand united with people around the world, the message was for the Beijing Olympics theme of “One World, One Dream” to include Darfur in The Dream.

Lighting the torch at the Fidelity Investment Company door, a symbolic Darfur family, the Mays, began the relay after the 50 gathered people cited three statements of solidarity for the Darfur people and 8 gong strikes – the Chinese lucky number - by ten-year old Sara Mays. At the RI Statehouse lawn, Edwin Mutanguha carried the torch up the hillside of steps handing the torch to his twin brother, Edward Mutanguha. Edward carried the torch to the stage at the Statehouse plaza to the song of “Miyela Africa” where the crowd grew to 180. The t-shirts worn by the crowd stated “I CARRY THE TORCH FOR DARFUR”.

Speakers included U.S. RI Representative James Langevin, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Mindy Wachtenheim, Board of Director member of the Holocaust Education and Resource Center in Providence, Rhode Island, Scott Warren, Executive Director of STAND and Sandra Hammel, the Providence organizer. Keynote speakers were twin nineteen year old Rwandans, Edward and Edwin Mutanguha, freshmen at Salve Regina University in Newport.

Edward and Edwin shared their personal stories of their life with genocide. The attendees were leaning in listening to both young men tell us their perspectives of living as refugees for 7 years: speaking to a man who had his arm chopped off to keep his head from being severed in Rwanda’s genocide, being told by the elementary school principal not to eat fish in the river because their countrypeople’s bodies were floating down it in 1994, feeling uneasy and unwelcome living as a refugee. Edwin said, “Today I stand in front of you as a student, a fellow human being and a responsible citizen of the world. Today, we are all uniting for a common cause, all from different backgrounds, but with one thing in mind, to be responsible for each other and be conscious of what is going on around us. Our world is becoming a global village and it is no longer possible for us to live obliviously and inconsiderately.”

Edward spoke from his heart “I would like to remind everybody about something that you have that the rest of the world envies; your FREEDOM. With this freedom, comes rights. I urge you to use your rights as citizens of a free nation to help the people of Darfur obtain their freedom and their right to live.”

The Mutanguha young men’s wish is for people to know what is happening to the Darfur people and to do what it takes to stop the genocide. Edwin asked “Let us do all that is in our power to ensure… a beacon of light. I implore you to change the message that we are sending to our brothers and sisters in Sudan. Let’s change ‘Never Again’ to ‘Not Now, Not Ever; Not On Our Watch!’”

Edward and Edwin brought their classmates from Salve University

Applause broke out when Sandra Hammel said "'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' We are here to say we are not silent about Darfur." (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Music was provided by the RI Darfur Ensemble, including “A Prayer for Africa” in Swahili, African instruments accompanied “Kwaheri”, also in Swahili. “One Voice” with Darfur lyrics infused and the inspiring song, “Stand Up for Love”.


Attendees signed the Dream for Darfur Petition to the International Olympic Committee to tell the IOC: “Bring the Olympic Dream to the People of Darfur”.

Edward Mutanguha signing the Rhode Island screen to be forwarded to Washington, D.C. for the December 10th Olympic Torch Relay on Human Rights Day.

We got media coverage from the following places. I have removed the links as they no longer take you to the relevant article.

Libya on Yahoo! News Photos

Newport This Week

Newport Daily Newspaper

CBS local station, Channel 12 aired a news clip October 27 and 28.

A Providence Dream for Darfur Torch Relay video will be uploaded at Youtube.

Murabeho.

JUST WANT TO CUT LOOSE

Do you ever feel like you need a complete contrast to the focus of your life?

That is what I am feeling tonight. After an endeavor taking over my life for the last two months, I now only have to do the "finishing" off of the follow-ups with the press and stuff. The event I produced was today. So as a decompression act I am online reading blogs and freely cruising.

It is the feeling I got when I was teaching full-time - music, in the public schools, where I taught 8 and 9 classes day. And at night I was in a trilogy playing Ruth in the British comedy, The Norman Conquests. I loved the part. But when the play closed, I felt like I needed to break out. Needed a release - needed to be less contained in my responsibilites of a life that was over-scheduled.

And the song that expressed my feeling was Dogs in the Yard.
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I want to be bad
And not even care
I want to go out of my head somewhere
I want run crazy
Like the dogs in the yard
I want to cut the rope
But it's getting so much harder

I think I'll play poker
Stay out every night
Throw stones at the water
In the morning light

I want to be lazy like the dogs in the yard
Why can't I fly tonight?
Why can't I sleep all morning?
I'm going out of my mind tonight
That's where I'm going
That's where I'm going

Gonna have a good time
Before it's too late
Come on, baby, let's go uptown and celebrate
Gonna celebrate!

We're gonna run crazy
Like the dogs in the yard
We're gonna fly tonight
We're gonna sleep all morning

We're going out of our minds tonight
That's where we're going

I became very impressed last spring with the acting in the movie Amazing Grace that is to be released as a DVD November 13, 2007. I was unfamiliar with the actors cast in this movie until I saw AG. But I became an instant fan of Ioan Gruffudd, Rufus Sewell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Youssou N'Dour, Michael Gambon, Ciarán Hinds, Nicholas Farrell, Jeremy Swift, Marianne Thornton, Romola Garai, Toby Jones and I already knew one, Albert Finney

http://imdb.com/title/tt0454776/

digitalfairy24 has posted the entire movie in 11 segments online. Some of my favorite scenes are in segment 8:
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And this is the final section, 11. THE ONLY WAY TO A GREAT MOVIE- a great cast to begin...IOAN GRUFFUDD, RUFUS SEWELL, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, JEREMY SWIFT...

And while cruising I found this gem. Ioan Gruffudd speaking his beloved Welsh:
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http://www.theamazingchange.com/abolish.html
Link to abolishing slavery today. Yes, that's right. Today

HOW DO WE GET DARFUR IN THE NEWS? THERE'S A GENOCIDE GOING ON

The Press is Letting Us Down

How do we get the media to report news that deserves reporting, but isn't getting its due?

Genocide should be covered. If the free press reported real news, instead of bubble-gum, empty-headed gossip-quality news, then maybe the people that I meet might know that genocide is off-the-charts unacceptable and that Darfur is not a disease, but a region in the country of Sudan on the continent of Africa.

My Letter to the Editor published in our local weekly newspaper:

Newport This Week

Dear Editor,

The wife’s poster read “Genocide is a Shame to Mankind”. The husband’s poster read “Schindler’s List, The Killing Fields, Hotel Rwanda – Darfur 2006. 400,000 Murdered and Counting – DON’T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE” at the April 2006 Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C. But there are already movies about Darfur, for example, Darfur Diaries, The Devil Came On Horseback and with a November release, Darfur Now.

February 2003, fighting broke out in the Darfur region of western Sudan between Government forces and two groups of rebels. March 2004, the UN declared Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. July 22, 2004, the U.S. Congress unanimously recognized the crisis as genocide. September 2004, the World Health Organization announced that between 6,000 and 10,000 refugees were dying each month and President Bush called the crisis a “genocide”. It is 4 years and 8 months since the outbreak and still there has been no real effective action or diplomacy that has stopped the worsening of the crisis. China has been in the business of supporting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in order to obtain Sudan’s oil and selling weapons for the Sudanese military. Seventy per cent of Sudan’s budget is spent on the military which in turn is used against the unarmed Darfuri families. China is the most influential nation with Sudan and enables the Sudanese government to perpetrate genocide in Darfur. As Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympics, national and international activists are currently doing symbolic Olympic Torch Relays in 60 cities in the U.S., as well as near Darfur, in bordering Chad, in Rwanda, Armenia, Germany, Bosnia, Cambodia and Hong Kong. Rhode Island’s Torch Relay will take place in Providence, October 27 at 3:00 p.m. starting at Waterplace Park. Using the Olympic symbol of the Torch Relay activists are highlighting Beijing’s Olympic theme of “One World, One Dream” and asking China to help bring the Olympic dream to Darfur. China has already shown some action as a result of this on-going campaign.

Two brothers, who are Freshmen at Salve Regina University, are the keynote speakers for the Providence Torch Relay Ceremony. Edward and Edwin Mutanguha are Rwandan citizens and have personal stories about their experience with genocide. I met them as a result of posting a flyer on Salve’s campus about the Torch Relay and Edward contacted me after spotting it. Both of these young men are impressive. They are willing to do anything that it takes to educate others about what genocide means to have lived through life with genocide and come out the other side of it. As Edward said to me “genocide is a man-made problem and that means we can change it.”

As a part of the Ceremony which will follow the Torch Relay at the Rhode Island State House, speakers will include U.S. RI Representative James Langevin, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Mindy Wachtenhein and STAND national director Scott Warren. Music will be by Rhode Island high school and college students of the RI Darfur Ensemble and Salve Regina freshman, singer and composer, Ryan Hurley of Barrington.

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My Letter to the Editor published in our local daily newspaper:

The Newport Daily News

Dear Editor:

Recently, someone innocently asked me if Darfur was a disease and another asked what genocide is. It takes courage to ask questions when you could hide what you don’t know. Darfur is a western region in the country of Sudan. And since 1944, the word genocide refers to violent crimes committed against a group of people with the intent to destroy the existence of the group.

Genocide is just a word. But what it stands for is a man-made disaster. And it continues like any ongoing bad behavior that is allowed with impunity. There are always key players who have specific leverage to intervene and find ways to end what can be ended - because if it is man-made, it can change. The four and a half years of hell on earth in Darfur and for the resulting refugees continue with the world’s political leaders knowing what is going on and doing little to make a difference. The Darfuri families just want to go home, even though their homes have been burned down.

One of the major countries which has significant leverage to influence the Sudanese government to be proactive to end the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur is China. What can we personally do to make a difference? October 27 there will be an opportunity to shine a light on China’s link to the Darfur families’ crisis. People of Rhode Island can use their presence at a symbolic Dream for Darfur Olympic Torch Relay in Providence starting at Waterplace Park and culminating on the grounds of the RI Capitol building to make a statement. The summer Olympics theme is ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM. To leave Darfur out of this Olympic “world dream” would be hypocritical.

The Relay campaign aims to urge China – as Sudan’s chief diplomatic sponsor, major weapons provider, and largest investor and trade partner; and as host of the 2008 Summer Olympics – to use its unique position to lead the world in bringing an end to the ongoing violence and suffering in Darfur. Chinese oil companies are in Sudan and 70 % the money made by selling the Sudanese oil to China goes to Sudan’s military, which in turn is used on the Darfuri people.

If China desires to use the Beijing Olympics to mark its ascension as a world power, they must also assume the responsibility that goes with the position. Instead of continuing to bankroll the genocidal regime in Khartoum, China could make genocide history and focus its energy on bringing the Olympic Dream to Darfur.

LIFE IS FOR LIVING OUT LOUD - OTHERWISE WHY BE ALIVE?

What I love about life is

the way I feel about the things I love. There isn't much that I do that I don't feel passionate about. I love the feeling that comes from doing, enjoying, observing things that bring me joy. And it is almost always something to do with the arts, creating or some core humanity value.

Even though I feel nervous to do things, I never act like a coward. I am one of the bravest persons I know. I continually do things outside my zone of feeling comfortable. I get scared, but I do "it" anyway.

I am scared to my wits end with something I am doing right now. And it all will be over next week at this time. It will be such a relief when it doesn't require my constant care and consideration. I am the organizer for the state of Rhode Island's first ever statewide Darfur event. It is a part of the Dream for Darfur event. www.dreamfordarfur.org

We activists do this for no money. It actually costs us money. We do it because we believe it is the right thing to do. And it isn't easy to do.

I just hope it doesn't rain.

Today we had our final rehearsal of a small group who formed a RI Darfur Ensemble just for this event. And we sound fabulous. There are only eight of us and today was the only rehearsal we have had with everyone present.

I love it when the things I have taken a chance to do and risk my feelings of neutrality and same-old-same-old behavior - show me that being courageous has its own rewards.

I hope it goes well.

I thought of this quote that I love:

"Friend, don't be a perfectionist. Perfectionism is a curse and a strain. For you tremble lest you miss the bulls-eye. You are perfect if you let be. Friend don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are not sins. Mistakes are ways of doing something different, perhaps creatively new. Friend don't be sorry for your mistakes. Be glad for them. You had the courage to give something of yourself. It takes years to be centered; it takes more years to understand and be NOW."

Frederick Perls

Sandra’s Opening Speech for October 27, 2007

Providence Torch Relay

The Torch Relay History and Why It is Relevant to today’s event

While I have been thinking about this day, I remembered when my father invited an Olympic track star to speak at our high school’s annual athletic banquet. I grew up in Indiana and my father was a high school teacher and coach. This track star was the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of a slave. He also was the first American in the history of Olympic Track and Field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. The story of Jesse Owens is relevant to today’s Torch Relay event. The year that Mr. Owens became world famous was in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics, that are also known as the Hitler Olympics. It is worth noting that on March 22, 1933, the first extermination camp was opened in Dachau, Germany and began its ugly business of committing crimes against humanity that later was called – genocide. So at the same time that the death camps were operating, people and Hitler were sitting in the stands watching the Olympian athletes in Berlin compete. The Olympic Torch Relay as we know it today was actually introduced at the very Olympic games in Berlin in 1936.

Today, the Official Website of the Beijing Torch Relay states “The Olympic Flame is the highest symbol of the Olympic spirit. The Olympic Torch Relay is a celebration of human peace and friendship. Under the guidance of International Olympic Committte, Beijing is working closely with the relay cities around the world, widely promoting the theme of ‘One World, One Dream,’ upholding the torch relay concept that is ‘a journey of harmony’ to make the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay a complete success.”

I dare to say - that complete success is not possible if the “journey of harmony” is soiled by the lack of promoting the theme “One World, One Dream” in Darfur by way of China’s influence with Omar al-Bashir.

While the Olympics’ host country has the world’s eyes on it, we ask the 2008 Olympic theme to not exclude the Darfuri people. While it sits on the UN Security Council, China supports the Sudanese government…the government who has been coordinating the genocide in Darfur with the janjaweed for over four and half years. And China sells the weapons to the Sudanese government that are used for the Darfur genocide. Darfur is a part of the world and needs the Olympic dream desperately.

Like the irony of the Berlin games in 1936, the 2008 Beijing games will have its own irony if China ignores its role in the Darfur genocide.

We ask China to bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur.

I WANT TO BE IN THE WARM HOLD OF YOUR LOVING MIND

The conflict in northern Uganda has forced tens of thousands of children to travel to town centers each night to avoid violence and abduction.
Photo: Thatcher Cook for the International Rescue Committee

Sometimes, I just want someone to be a soft place to be. But when I don’t have that someone, I turn to writing or singing or dancing.

It’s a hard world in the best of places much of the time, so it is sobering to think how it must be for those who live in the worst of places. We, here, live as spoiled people who much of the time give no thought to those who have no place of comfort to lay their heads at night. And the children who have no one to love them, we pay no mind.

The nightwalkers
Every evening, in war-torn northern Uganda, 40,000 children leave home and trek to the safety of special night shelters. The article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uganda/Story/0,,1706873,00.html

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2arEUEAWck

Catch the Wind
by Donovan

In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

Forced to Flee: Uganda's Young "Night Commuters"

Read the article:
http://www.theirc.org/where/page-28828228.html

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Call 1-800-GENOCIDE
to help stop the Darfur genocide

Call 202-456-1111 and tell President Bush to support SADA

THE WILL TO MAKE A CHANGE, STARTS WITH SOME SANE THOUGHT

AND MORAL INTEGRITY. AND TRUTH. OH. TRUTH. A FOREIGN CONCEPT FROM THIS DUO WE CALL PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.

ONCE WE SPLIT THE ATOM WE STEPPED OVER THE THRESHOLD OF NO RETURN

WE REALLY CAN’T CONTROL WHO HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Seriously, how is it possible to control what some other leader will do? It is self-delusion that we will be able to control what Iran, North Korean, Russian or any country does regarding building nuclear weapons. We wrote the Japanese constitution and wrote in it that they can’t have a military. Maybe, having no military isn’t a bad idea. Maybe.

“We” (Bush and Cheney intellectual types) want to control the world. But “we” really can’t. Not really. Seriously.
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Universal Soldier by Donovan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLzUNDaF00U


WE NEED TO STOP AND THINK. The unabashed, illogical, short-sighted, fear-based policies and mode of operation, that we have had from Cheney and Bush, have been mistakes and yet where is the will to make a change?

I JUST CAN'T QUIT YOU, PAUL GROSS

PAUL GROSS

OH MY HEAVEN = PAUL GROSS - THIS IS TOO

FUNNY.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jny3zOSOFM

A Love Song really of Canada...
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Video producer writes: One of Canada's music icons... Rita MacNeil singing about her home on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. All Canadians proudly think about their homes in Canada. Final historic production review was done with help from Dr. Tom Salter, Professor Emeritus of Vistory of StonewallStudios.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BBHMDVg-FA

I think it is so wonderful when I hear someone loves where they live or are from. I also love where I live.

I love it when humanity makes me proud to be a part of it. Thanks to Due South and Paul Gross for inspiring me with this and the previous post.

PAUL GROSS and DUE SOUTH - STILL LOVE 'EM AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

Fraser, Diefenbaker & Vecchio

I so loved Due South, the television show. I adored the character of the Canadian Mounty, his relationship with his father and with his “friend”, Ray. It has been off the air for years. I understand the DVD of it - is done with poor quality, but someday I’m going to own it. Canadian, Paul Gross is the main character and initially, it was written by Paul Haggis. I adore Paul Gross in Due South. I don’t know why I love shows that typically are taken off the air. This show was taken off American network TV, but continued in Canada following the plug-pull here. I detest a lot of shows that are on the air for years and years. Follow the link by passing the mouse over my post title and read about the global popularity of this show in Great Britain, France and Germany as well as Canada.

The following two videos are from one terrific episode. I use the embeds and links when both are available of Due South. When you use the links you can watch the clips in full screen.
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"All The Queen's Horses:" First Kiss
FABULOUS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KIthoNOqoM
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"All The Queen's Horses": The scene and song "Ride Forever"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3LBOcuuE54
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Interview with Paul Gross
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh-NQBhUJVc
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CBS interview with Paul Gross and David Marciano.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu0QavPS7tw
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End of 'Victoria's Secret
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnccnp4vxSI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozVYR03Mzcw
No embed, but really good…
Due South Music Video - Wherever You Will Go by The Calling
The text of the video’s producer:
Basically, it's a Due South music vid... my third one, and it's about how Ray Vecchio and Ray Kowalski will follow Benny anywhere, no matter where or the dangers that lie ahead. I guess you could call it a little slashy if you have that sort of imagination, but I had their friendships (mostly) in mind when I made this... honest! Oh, and there's some of Fraser following Ray V around at the beginning too (just 'cos I thought he was more willing to follow him into danger, than he was with RayK.... it always seemed to me that RayK was the one doing the following in seasons 3 and 4) Anyway... ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9BjTmT0d4k
Part one of the Due South, season 3 episode
"Burning Down the House."
This is the first episode starring Callum Keith Rennie as the "new" Ray Vecchio, aka Ray Kowalski. No embed.
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From season 3, which wasn’t in USA, but in Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJh_aNAgYs
This show stands up today, even though it originally aired in the states in 1994. Good, is timeless.

IF I WAS GAY I WOULD WANT TO BE FREE TO SAY SO

DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL – A POLICY THAT DEFINES U.S. HOMOPHOBIA, HYPOCRISY

Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Do you know what that refers to in our current day vernacular? It is a demand to keep part of who or what or how you are - a secret. And if you don’t keep a secret about your truth, you will lose your job. In the United States of America military. I happened by accident to hear the script of a television show, Boston Legal, last night while I was working around the house. I had to stop and watch and listen. It grabbed my attention because of the writing. The story line that grabbed my attention was about a soldier who wanted to sue the government due to the Don’t Ask Don’t’ Tell requirement about his homosexuality.

It was well-done.

We have homosexuals dying and getting wounded for this country in Iraq and they come home to a country that denies them the freedoms that they have either died for or given their healthy bodies for. We will use them. But we won’t support those troops.

We will only support a gay soldier if he lives in our denial.
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Boston Legal Sneak Peek for "Do Tell": I'm gay

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THE DOUBLE STANDARD OF LARRY

And Larry Craig’s interview with Matt Lauer gave us an example of someone who chooses to be forced to be something other than his natural self. But the part that is wrong is that his secret life and his legislative votes are at odds with one another. His legislative voting record forces homosexuals who live with the courage to not have a secret life, but a life in truth - to have restricted rights as human beings.
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IF I Was Gay
“Thank you all for ‘coming out’ today…” Larry Craig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHCrOtSzIBg

WHAT I DID FOR LOVE - I DID FOR ME, REALLY

Has anyone not done something irrational regarding what we think is love? I certainly have. Not proud of some. And of those – some bother me and some don’t. They are just experiences at this point. Some fun memories. Fond memories, that make bright moments in my life now. The past is never really gone. And some past times are just as strong today as they ever were when experienced the first time. It is interesting what clings to our sense of who we are. At the heart, our lives are only moments. It’s sort of like a great symphony, say like Beethoven’s Ninth…not that any of it is bad, but there is always the climax, the forces are all about getting there. And there is fun, drama and emotional roller coasters - getting there, and it is simply bursting, outloud-fun or even ecstasy, when you are in the midst of the climactic bursts of dynamic emotions. When we are young and going through the youthful loves, we don’t realize that those will be our memories that can really be so welcome later on in the stories that we have lived and shared. I am so happy that I had all of those “loves”. What a life! Never been bored my whole life. Not even now. If I had a choice, I would still be in my youthful thirties – they are the best in some ways. But life is a moving thing. And if we are lucky, we live out all of the seasons of life.

What I did for love, I have done to find myself. And now I am that self, that I was afforded to find, even though no lover is sharing my life with me at this time. But as I have said many times, I am not lonely. Life has been good to me. And I am grateful. It is always best to be your own best friend and companion. I laugh at myself consistently. I find humor in my own behavior when I can look at it and see that I am not totally sensical. I have always been somewhat insecure. I have always cared if people like me, but even that is ridiculous because no one really knows me in a full sense. But I do. And I dare to say "outloud" that I like me.
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What I Did For Love from A Chorus Line
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Mikhail Baryshnikov doing the finale of "A Chorus Line" with the cast from "Baryshnikov on Broadway" with Liza Minnelli - 1980

Check out the link by moving your mouse over the title: WHAT I DID FOR LOVE - I DID FOR ME, REALLY for Kate Hepburn's reading of a letter to her love, Spencer Tracy, 18 years after he had died in 1967.

IOAN GRUFFUDD - THE SWEET AND THE FABULOUS IOAN

WHY GO TO SLEEP WHEN I CAN STAY UP AND FIND THESE FUN VIDEO CLIPS ALL NIGHT? TOO much fun!! My very first introduction to Ioan Gruffudd was as William Wilberforce in the movie Amazing Grace. Then I saw him in the Forsyte Saga and Hornblower. Ioan is from Cardiff, Wales and was recently married to Alice Evans in Mexico on the beach with best man, Matthew Rhys by his side.
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ioan gruffudd
Uploaded by echidna82

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MATTHEW RHYS - SOMETHING EXTRA

OMG!

MATTHEW RHYS PLAYS PETER IN LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS
This is news to me. But then I never heard of Matthew Rhys until he showed up on American TV’s ABC show Brothers and Sisters. But this is so much fun I just had to post this. Here he plays Peter. So it turns out Kevin Walker is not the second gay man he has played.
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BA Love (et ses petits désastres)
Uploaded by iago1969

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Movie trailer for Love and Other Disasters
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Love et ses petits désastres
Uploaded by waytoblue

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Britanny Murphy thinks Matthew is brilliant…
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Love et ses petits désastres
Uploaded by waytoblue

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The making of Love and Other Disasters

THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR - WILL YOU TURN AWAY?

THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR

"The Children of Darfur" is a youth documentary film that will tell the children's version of what is happening in Darfur. Some of the strongest testimonies are told by the children and etched in drawings made in the support centres that have opened throughout Darfur.

”When the militia came to our village, we were at school. 45 Students were killed including my cousin and best friend Mona. We walked for two days, without water, before arriving in Nyala. A month later we were brought here to the displaced people’s camp. In my village we had animals and crops and trees. Here we have nothing”, says Sumaya, 15 years old.

More than 10 years ago, when the international community finally realized the kind of atrocities that had taken place in Rwanda, the world’s leaders gathered to take action. Under the slogan “Never Again”, they decided that what had happened in Rwanda should never happen again. Today, in 2006, Darfur has turned into, what the United Nations describes as, the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The families, who have fled their villages, escaping attacks by marauding bands of Janjaweed militia, are often killed or separated during the escape. Many have lost family members, and witnessed rape and killing. The worst affected by the crisis are Darfur’s children, who represent more than 50% of the displaced people in the region
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THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR 1 OF 2
Uploaded by Top-Notch112

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THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR PART 1 OF 2
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THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR 2 OF 2
Uploaded by Top-Notch112

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THE CHILDREN OF DARFUR PART 2 OF 2
About The Author-

Camilla Nielsson is an anthropologist, whose research interests have centered on visual anthropology, third world media and communication practices in developing countries, primarily in a South Asian context.

She has produced various communication materials concerning children's rights, developed guidelines for visual representation of children's rights issues and produced public service announcements on children's rights, health and education.
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Darfur
Uploaded by medet06

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Taken: March 8, 2007 From: Ankara, Turkey
This is why. Why I care.

HOW DO YOU LIVE WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF MONEY?

I wouldn’t want to be President of the United States of America. Ever. But more, now, than before Bushed ucked it up. The outstanding public debt as of 16 Oct 2007 is nine TRILLION, forty-eight BILLION, nine hundred twenty nine million, six hundred fifty one thousand, eight dollars and fifty four cents. That looks like this: $ 9 , 0 4 8 , 9 2 9 , 6 5 1 , 0 0 8 . 5 4

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.42 billion PER DAY since September 29, 2006!

“The U.S. budget deficit is financed by borrowing. More and more of that money comes from China, now the United States' second-largest lender, after Japan. China's investment in U.S. government debt has more than tripled in the past five years, from $71 billion in 2000 to $242 billion in 2005. ….Congress and the president have been unwilling to raise taxes or make deep spending cuts. The only alternative is to borrow.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200510u/nj_schneider_2005-10-25

China! Do we really want Bank China to be in control? What are we thinking!?! Are we thinking? Who is minding “The Store”? It’s GW Bush and robbing us in more than one way. Imagine if the government suggested spending one-fourth of this amount of money on the education of our children. We would have said “no”. Imagine if the government suggested to spend one-fourth of this money to help our children who are “at risk”. We would have said “no”. Imagine if the government had suggested spending a small portion of this money to reimburse the Social Security accounts. We would have said “no”. Right? Imagine if the government had suggested repaying the Indian Trust Funds that have been robbed from by the very government agencies that were to protect the funds – we would have said “no”. Why are we willing to let our government to invest in the Iraq war and not spend our tax money on what would really invest in our country’s people? And the $12 BILLION that was LOST by sending it in cash to Iraq on wood pallets – how much did you read or hear about that?!
“We had to pay Iraqis in cash,” Mr. Bremer said of the money, most of which came from Iraqi oil sales. “Delay would have been demoralizing and unfair to millions of Iraqi families.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/washington/07bremer.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FB%2FBremer%2C%20L.%20Paul%20III What of the demoralizing and unfairness to millions of USA citizens?!!

I don’t understand the apathy of the country that we call United States of America. However, I think it would be more appropriately called the Divided States of America. We let this insanity to go on via George Bush and keep going through our lives. It is outrageous that we don’t get angry about the debt. In my town it is annually a contentious subject that our taxes are raised by the town by $350. And where is the same reaction to the federal runaway spending on a war that has had a moving “target” continually?

FOLLOW THE MONEY (OIL): TWELVE BENCHMARKS

1. January 2003: The Wall Street Journal reported that representatives from Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., ConocoPhillips and Halliburton, among others, were meeting with Vice President Cheney's staff to plan the post- war revival of Iraq's oil industry.

2. March 2003: Iraqi Oil Ministry was one of the few structures the invading forces protected from looters in the first days of the war.

3. April 2003: During the initial assault on Baghdad, soldiers set up forward bases named Camp Shell and Camp Exxon.

4. May 22, 2003: President Bush signed Executive Order 13303 providing full legal immunity to all U.S. oil companies doing business in Iraq in order to facilitate the country's "orderly reconstruction."

5. November 2003: McKee (ConocoPhillips executive who is overseeing Iraqi oil industry) quietly ordered a new plan for Iraq's oil. The drafting would be overseen by a "senior adviser," Amy Jaffe, who ....now works for James Baker, the former Secretary of State, whose law firm serves as counsel to both ExxonMobil and the defense minister of Saudi Arabia. The plan, written by State Department contractor BearingPoint, was guided, says Jaffe, by a handful of oil-industry consultants and executives.

6. March 2004: Iraq's interim constitution, the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) passed in March 2004 by Iraq's Governing Council, sets forth that Coalition Provisional Authority laws, regulations, and orders are to remain in force after the transfer of sovereignty unless a duly enacted piece of legislation rescinds or amends them.

7. August 30, 2005: Bush says U.S. troops would continue fighting in Iraq in order to protect the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.

8. February 2006-June 2006: USAID contracts with Bearing Point to draft Iraq’s oil law to provide "legal and regulatory advice in drafting the framework of petroleum and other energy-related legislation, including foreign investment".

9. March 15, 2006: Gen. John Abizaid, the Army general overseeing U.S. military operations in Iraq said the United States may want to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq to bolster moderates against extremists in the region and protect the flow of oil.

10. July 2006: U.S. Government and oil companies get a copy of the draft oil law. In September 2006 the Internation Monetary Fund and World Bank receive their copy.

11. February 2007: "Draft Hydrocarbon Law" was submitted first to the Iraqi Cabinet and then to the Iraqi Parliament (Council of Representatives) by the Cabinet.

12. April -May 2007: Defense Secretary Robert Gates and U.S. Vice President Cheney each travel separately to Baghdad to push political benchmarks and specifically the oil law.

From a Study of U.S. Influence on Iraqi Oil, by Erik Leaver, Carol and Ed Newman, Fellow Institute for Policy Studies June 4, 2007. Click above title to read full article and complete bibliography of sources. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23353

And yet we won’t vote for any candidate who would admit that taxes will be raised. Are we rational?

Are we afraid of the truth?

THAT CERTAIN SOMETHING – IT’S SO ENJOYABLE…

ISN’T IT? You see it. It happens between actors. I wonder do they know it is special too? Those are the scenes that I can watch over and over and never get tired of them. It happens for me with Dirty Dancing. But then I think of the magic of the music and the way Patrick Swayze moves. It happens for me with Robert Redford.

I’ll start with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in Out of Africa:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTvjEkBGte0

The Horsewhisperer with Annie Graves (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Tom Booker (Robert Redford):
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV0mwryvjwU

Robert Redford on Charlie Rose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoH7lIwcdEI

Dirty Dancing - Solomon Burke’s Cry To Me - Patrick Swayze:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKhiqXUsaS4

Dirty Dancing – The Time of My Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VSuCtebBT0

Hungry Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvcqt_4NOds
Wonderful Video Montage of Dirty Dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agpA1opKiwY

The Bridges of Madison County
Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QYmzgAgQyM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqW9kYl7_U

The Notebook
Ryan Gosling and Rachel Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKrCuPGtzY

I fell for the television ABC show, Brothers and Sisters, last year when Kevin and Scotty were coupled. Kevin is played by Matthew Rhys of Cardiff, Wales. Read more about Matthew Rhys: http://ioanzone.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=114&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60 Matthew is special as an actor, but I especially liked Luke MacFarlane, aka Scotty Wandell, son of Wally and Bertha, paired with Matthew’s Kevin. Then came Chad played by Jason Lewis for Kevin’s love interest. Okay… so I didn’t like Chad with Kevin. Jason just didn’t look comfortable being his gay character. Then came along Eric Winter as Jason MacAllister, a minister-brother of Rob Lowe’s character, Robert. Eric Winter – I like. But tonight we got a lot of looks at Luke MacFarlane’s Scotty again. And you know what, I sat there and said to myself “They just have something special”… when they are together on the screen. So Kevin didn’t let Scotty get the kiss he was going for – but they are going to try to be friends while Eric is a missionary in Malaysia. I say send Kevin to Malaysia - that would be so cool.

In the meantime, I like not knowing ahead of time what is going to happen, but I think it is obvious that Kevin’s loyalty to his boyfriend, Jason/Eric Winter is going to be tested. It just was set up in tonight’s episode. It is always good writing for Kevin’s character when Jon Robin Baitz is writing the script and tonight was no exception to that.

This one includes the Kevin and Jason irresistible kiss:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQReNI2oJl4

Last season’s Scotty and Kevin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6YiMkHHx_Q

This is one of my two favorite scenes with Kevin and Scotty, however there is one little move that Kevin does at the end that is cut off in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPsSiSC3eo

And this is the other favorite scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErljOzjR_-k