DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA - can you HEAR ME? CAN YOU?

PRESIDENT OBAMA,

ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO STAND BY AND DO NOTHING MORE THAN CONDEMN WITH YOUR WORDS?

WHAT A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!

THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE "SAME OLD WINE IN A BRAND NEW BOTTLE":

"The Government of Sudan’s disastrous decision to expel humanitarian relief organizations leaves a void that will be filled by deprivation and despair and they will be held accountable for the lives lost."

JUST WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? REALLY!

Throw we citizen humanitarians a "bone" or two.

Talk to us.

It looks and sounds like the same old lies....

We want to believe you are different.
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The Same Old Wine (in a Brand New Bottle)
Loggins and Messina
Uploaded by larinyx

Sudan's president says warrant is conspiracy

By SARAH EL DEEB – Mar 5, 2009

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan's president, wanted by an international court on war crimes charges, denounced the tribunal, the U.N. and aid agencies on Thursday as part of a new "colonialism" that aims to destabilize his country.

President Omar al-Bashir danced and waved a cane defiantly before thousands of supporters, as the arrest warrant had its first repercussions on the ground. Sudan ordered at least 11 aid agencies to leave Darfur and cease operations in retaliation for the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant. The groups started the process of moving out Thursday.

Aid workers warned that the expulsion order could spark a humanitarian crisis for up to 2 million people in Darfur who are directly served by the agencies, receiving food, shelter and medical supplies.

In Zamzam Camp, one of the largest Darfur refugee camps, residents said aid workers who operate daily in the camps did not show up on Thursday. Refugees said they were now feared what will happen when their most recent monthly delivery of food and other supplies run out if aid workers don't return. Particularly worrisome is the pullout of health workers, and the possibility of disease outbreaks in the upcoming rainy season.

"After God, we only have the organizations" to help us, said Zamzam camp resident Ibrahim Safi, 34. He called the expulsion order a "catastrophe."

Speaking for the first time since the warrant was issued Wednesday, al-Bashir told a Cabinet meeting that those agencies, the U.N. and the tribunal are "tools of the new colonialism" meant to bring Sudan and its resources under control.

Al-Bashir accused the aid organizations of trying to disrupt peace efforts in Darfur, profiting from the conflict and interfering with foreign investment. He said his government ordered them out of Darfur because they violated the law.

"We in Sudan have always been a target of the U.N. and these organizations because we have said, 'No,'" al-Bashir said. "We said the resources of Sudan should go to the people of Sudan."

Hasabo Abdel-Rahman, the head of the government agency coordinating humanitarian affairs, also accused the aid groups cooperating with the ICC and offering the court "false" testimonies.

Read the full article:

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The following is from the Stop Genocide Now
www.stopgenocidenow.org Katie-Jay Scott. The button in my heading will take you to their website. They will blog and video message (vlog) daily from Chad. Check it out. It is an invaluable source for on-the-ground and up-front-and-personal information.


Dear Activist Leaders for Darfur,

This past week, our team camped out at the LA Federal Building and co-organized a huge emergency rally for Darfur on Tuesday. We hoisted a Darfur tent on the roof top as Obama flew over after a local town hall meeting. Secretary Clinton received over 1500 text messages in the past week and half for Darfur. Finally, they appointed a Special Envoy to Sudan. But this is only the beginning of renewed activism for Darfur. There have been emerency rallies in New York, Boston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Texas, and I know more are being planned.

Now, this Saturday, I depart once again with the i-ACT team of Stop Genocide Now for the Darfur refugee camps in Chad. The situation on the ground is terrible, as we all know. Many believe that those who escape this slow genocide will be forced to walk for days across the desert - a story we have heard before - to Chad and Central African Republic. Now more than ever, the Darfuris need you to step up and speak out for them. Take action like you have never before.

To meet the survivors in grave danger and hear their stories, please follow us and join the community of i-ACTivists as we journey to the region. 10 Consecutive days of i-ACT begin March 23rd - video web casting, daily journals, photos, and ACTION items can be found at our site!

Please spread the word:

1. Download the attached flyer - post at your school, workplace, community, place of worship, everywhere and anywhere!
2. We have a button for your to publish on your site (feel free to also download any materials while we are out there and embed them - all under Creative Commons)
   
3. Join our Facebook Event or join the Pledge on Change.org
4. Please share this brief paragraph with your group, and add a personal invite to them from you:
   

Over the last few weeks the situation in Darfur has grown exponentially dire. President al-Bahsir indicted. 16 aid agencies expelled. Food, water, medicine, and shelter supplies will run out soon, if not already. Hundreds of thousands may die if we do act urgently for the people of Darfur.

For 10 consecutive days, i-ACT (interactive-activism) will connect you with the faces and lives of Darfur refugees who escaped, for now, genocide in their homeland. Watch videos from the field team; read journal entries and add your comments; take action daily that will change the way the world responds to genocide. The violence and insecurity in and around Darfur has escalated since the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Sudan's President al-Bashir. Thirteen aid groups providing life saving services have been expelled from Darfur, leaving 4.7 million without help. Visit Stop Genocide Now i-ACT (www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact) to join the community, learn what Darfuris are saying about the ICC and justice and personally connect with a child who needs your voice and action. Many may die in the next weeks, and your voice and action is needed now more than ever.

We depart in less than 2 days for the field but I will be available until then for questions etc. After that please post your questions and comments on the website! If you have daily action items you want to suggest we use - please send them my way and we will try to incorporate them!

With much hope for Darfur!
ktj

--
KTJ Scott
Director of Community Programming
Stop Genocide Now
www.stopgenocidenow.org
i-ACT (interactive-activism)

Educate. Activate. Empower.

digits: 503.349.4946
just in case: ktj@iactivism.org

We cannot expect our leaders to stand UP if we are sitting down.
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Dear President Obama - A Letter Sent March 12, 2009
Uploaded by ilovemylifesblog - That is me.
March 19, 2009

I uploaded it twice - here is the one I was trying to improve upon.
Didn't really, but I'm still on a huge learning curve. Only my second video.

Text at my Youtube posting:

Music Selections:
"Autumn Leaves " performed by Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley

"Dark of the Moon" - performed by Libana - Night Passage

"Ise Oluwa" performed by Libana - Night Passage
From West Africa's Yoruba culture. The translation:
That which the Creator has made can never be destroyed.

Music selections are available at www.amazon.com and iTunes

The letter to President Obama was written March 12, 2009 and sent through the White House website contact form, as well as, a letter the old-fashioned way through the United States Postal Service.

Although the government of Sudan (GoS) denies it (just like former President Bush denies he condoned illegal torture. However, neither denial makes it any less the truth):
2003 - through to present: Genocide of unarmed Darfuri families is supported by the government of Sudan

March 4, 2009 Judges at The International Criminal Court ordered the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity for playing an essential role in the murder, rape, torture, pillage and displacement of large numbers of civilians in Darfur. However, the judges did not charge him with genocide as the prosecutor had requested.

The Sudanese government has long vowed to resist the court, and it summoned several humanitarian organizations to a meeting almost immediately after the warrant was announced.

The British charity Oxfam said that the government had revoked its license to operate, a decision the group said could affect more than 600,000 people. Doctors Without Borders from Holland, which provides health care in one of the worlds biggest camps for displaced people, in South Darfur, was ordered to leave the country.

One aid official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, because of negotiations to persuade the government to back down, said the following; It happened right after the announcement. The connection was clear.

The government of Sudan began expelling humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur (March 4, 2009). Thirteen to sixteen agencies have been forced out of the region. This expulsion leaves one million Darfuris without water, food and medical assistance.

www.stopgenocidenow.org
www.enoughproject.org
www.savedarfur.org
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Write President Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments to President Obama:
202-456-1111
or
1-800-GENOCIDE

The White House comment line is available
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. weekdays

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Find USA elected politicians contact information at this link:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

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Call the USA Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
202-647-6575

The USA State Department public comment line
7 days a week, 24 hours a day

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Obama chooses Sudan envoy, to announce Wednesday
Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:33pm EDT

March 18, 2009
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama is set to name retired Air Force General Scott Gration as his special envoy to Sudan, where he has warned of a worsening crisis following the expulsion of foreign aid organizations.

We Are All the Keepers of Justice.

In Sudan, there is an emergency.

Silence kills in its complicity to killing by treachery.

March 18, 2009

Meningitis is spreading through Darfur IDP camps. Now more than ever immunization is needed in all camps:
1- New cases climbed to 38 cases in Kalma IDP camp (South camp).
2- Nine cases in Kassab IDP camps (North Darfur).

Situation in Zamzam IDP camps is deteriorating rapidly.
1- There are 63,000 new comers since January without any services or registration. They gather on the bare ground of the Camp. They are the first casualties of NGOs expulsion.
2- Water problem is getting worse. some women and children spend close to 11 hours at the pump just to fill one 4-gallon plastic container.
3- Clinics are closed in the camp. Only God knows how acute the health situation in the camp in the absence of NGOs.

The government of Sudan ordered banks in Sudan to freeze bank accounts of 15 NGO's, of which 12 of them were expelled.

The NGO's are:

1- International Rescue Committee - U.S.A.
2- CARE - U.S.A.
3- Save The Children - U.S.A.
4- Save The Children - UK.
5- Development & Rebuilding Org - U.S.A.
6- TATCO - U.S.A.
7- Refugees Council Org.- Norway
8- Khartoum Center for Human Rights- Sudan
9- Solidarity Organization - France
10- Anti Starvation Org. - France.
11- Doctors -Without - Borders- France
12- OXFAM - UK.
13-MERCY - U.S.A.
14- SUDO - Sudan
15- AMAL Sudan