❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
BP doesn't know an opportunity that they can't exploit.
BP has put a 30 second commercial on the video below on the MSNBC website of Keith Olbermann's report of Friday night's airing - July 9, 2010. Don't believe BP's propaganda with their repeated attempts to mislead the public.
They are morally bankrupt.
Now the planet's waters and all life that the oily, chemically treated waters touch are forever affected by BP's inept handling of their criminal acts of negligence to stave off such a disaster. And the workers supposedly hired to clean up the mess are dispensible to BP. They care about one thing - their bottom line. ......................................................
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, East Grand Terre Island, LA, 6/3/10
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should be a wake-up call for Washington: it's time for a plan to end America's addiction to oil. Sign the petition today.
A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to Congress and the White House.
AND AT WORST - PURPOSEFUL CHEATING AT FOLLOWING PROPER SAFETY MEASURES
What a disaster. Why is our government allowing BP to be in charge of this disaster? Clearly they have had no idea how to solve this problem. And yet, they have been the ones flailing around with weeks of days of failing to stop the gushing.
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has created an environmental disaster. Eleven people tragically lost their lives in the rig explosion and an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil or more a day are currently leaking from a broken drill pipe.
Families and businesses in coastal communities -- including the fishing, seafood, and tourism industries -- are bracing for the worst. The Gulf coast is also home to wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries.
President Obama has acted quickly to help clean up the oil company’s mess. The Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Department of Interior, NOAA, EPA, Navy and Air Force have been working to contain the environmental damage since the explosion.
Leaders in Congress have launched a full inquiry. Getting answers from BP, Transocean and Halliburton is critical and will focus on: the causeof accident, the plan to stop the leak and ensuring clean up efforts are carried out to protect costal communities.
......................................................... Representative Charlie Melancon of Louisiana's remarks during the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment hearing, "Combating the BP Oil Spill"Category: Uploaded by RepMarkey
E&E Subcommittee Hearing on Oil Spill - Rep.Charlie Melancon Remarks
......................................................... Uploaded by charliemelancon
charliemelancon—May 23, 2010 — This weekend, I flew over areas of the Gulf of Mexico impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil leak disaster. In the video, the helicopter approaches the site of the leak. The small vessels visible in the beginning of the video are skimming oil from the water's surface. At about 1:00 into the video, as we descend large swaths of oil in the water are visible. At about 1:15, we approach the vessel Discover Enterprise (the ship with the flare burning off of it), which is collecting oil from the small pipe BP inserted into the leaking riser last week. On either side of the Enterprise, there are two platforms visible. They are drilling the relief wells.
May 27, 2010: Markey: Flow Rate Report Shines Light on BP’s Financial Liability, True Size of Spill
Chairman Markey Releases Documents Showing BP Low-balled Flow Rate; Lower Spill Estimate Means Lower Financial Liability for Company
WASHINGTON (May 27, 2010) – Following the release of a report on the flow rate of the oil spill by a technical team assembled by the Obama administration, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today continued to raise questions about BP’s potential motivations to low-ball the flow rate and size of the spill, and released new documents showing BP knew the spill could have been much bigger than they claimed.
The report, conducted by the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical Group, found that the spill was likely between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels a day, far above the 1,000-5,000 barrels a day BP estimated for most of the spill’s duration. Rep. Markey has engaged with numerous independent scientists on this issue who claimed the spill was much larger than BP’s estimates.
“Now we know what we always knew—this spill is much larger than BP has claimed,” said Rep. Markey, who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the Energy and Commerce Committee. “What’s clear is that BP has had an interest in low-balling the size of their accident, since every barrel spilled increases how much they could be fined by the government.”
Yesterday Rep. Markey pressed this point with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, citing documents he obtained from BP that showed BP knew as early as a week after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that the spill could have been much higher than their initial estimate of 1,000 barrels. Secretary Salazar agreed with Rep. Markey that BP could have a financial interest in underestimating the size of the spill.
One document, dated April 27, shows that BP’s high estimate for the daily rate of the spill was 14,266 barrels per day, well within the midrange of today’s technical group report. Yet one day later, BP was asserting to the public that the spill was only 1,000 barrels a day – their low estimate for the size of the spill.
The implications for BP’s financial liability are directly tied to the size of the spill. Under current law -- the Clean Water Act as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, following the Exxon Valdez disaster -- a company that spills oil is subject to fines up to $1,000 per barrel, or up to $3,000 per barrel in the case of gross negligence.
For BP, the difference between an estimate of 1,000 barrels per day and one of 14,000 barrels a day could really be the difference between $5 to $15 million per day in fines versus $14 to $42 million per day. That means, at the end of yesterday, the 37th day of the spill, the difference could potentially be between $37 million in fines or $1.5 billion in fines, according to BP’s own estimates from the documents.
According to the range reached by the technical group today, BP could be subject to between $444 million and $2.1 billion in potential fines for the oil spilled thus far.
“BP has to stop protecting their liability and start dealing with the reality of the size of this spill,” said Rep. Markey. “Knowing the size of the spill is vital to all facets of this spill, from response to recovery to accountability.”
IN THE EYES OF MANY THE USA HAS LOST ANY CREDIBILITY
I read it. I hear it. I understand it to a point. ...that I have no right to speak up against the genocide or what is happening in Sudan because of the things that my government has done that is wrong. Or criminal.
But in the end, I don't buy it. I know the USA has done criminal things under the Bush administration, specifically and most recently. And I firmly believe that justice should be sought in those cases.
But being silent in the case of genocide of the Darfuri people, just because I am a citizen of the United States of America, isn't something I am willing to be.
I received a message the other day from someone who has not been to my blog, but left a message at MyBlogLog page. He told me to let Sudan solve its own problems about Darfur. The Darfur crisis alone is entering its seventh year. That is not taking into account what happened previously in southern Sudan. The holocaust lasted 12 years. How long should we wait? Five more years?
Email text received February 28, 2009 from a Sudanese living in the United States presently
The Arabic London-based newspaper (Alsharq Alawsat) published today (2/28/09) a warning from Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal that he will confront decisively any one (including organizations), whether domestic or international in Darfur, who supports or has anything to do with the ICC (International Criminal Court) decision issuing the warrant of arrest against Al-Bashir.
Musa Hilal said he has mobilized more than 30 thousand of well-armed Mugahideen ready to deal with any development resulting from the ICC warrant of arrest. He said: " We will not hesitate on immediate response to any betrayal or any move to support the ICC ."
..................................................... Video Link Defectors from the Sudanese regime explain their role in the Sudanese Government's planning and execution of mass atrocities in Darfur, implicating members of the regime at the highest level. Uploaded by AegisTrust
Many hope that the International Criminal Court's genocide case against President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir will lead to reform. But an arrest warrant, expected Wednesday, could also ignite more violen
By Edmund Sanders March 1, 2009
Reporting from Khartoum, Sudan -- The billboard in downtown Khartoum delivers a not-so-subtle message to passing cars: "A real Sudanese never stands against a president during his time of need," reads the text, under a picture of a smiling President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir.
As if anyone in the Sudanese capital needed any reminders, an arrest warrant on genocide charges is expected to be issued against Bashir on Wednesday by the International Criminal Court, in a case that threatens to send the country down a path of uncertainty and instability.
Many hope that the war-crimes case stemming from Bashir's handling of the Darfur conflict in western Sudan will prod the hard-nosed regime into making reforms and ending the six-year war.
But officials and analysts, both inside and outside the country, worry that the case could instead push the ruling party into a more antagonistic, isolationist stance, or even ignite another civil war.
"This is a whole new reality," said Fouad Hikmat, the Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group. "It's anybody's guess what happens now."
The arrest warrant is only the latest dark cloud emerging in what some see as a perfect storm brewing against Sudan's Islamist-led ruling party, which seized power in a 1989 coup.
National elections this year will test the party's popular support and could unravel a fragile power-sharing agreement it forged with southern rebels. A new U.S. president has filled his administration with advisors who advocate a get-tough stance toward Sudan. Falling oil prices are bringing the country's once-thriving economy to its knees.
"This is going to be a decisive year for Sudan -- one that could determine whether the country will survive or not," said Hayder Ibrahim, founder of the Center for Sudanese Studies, an independent think tank in Khartoum.
The ICC case arose from the government's counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has accused Bashir of supervising a genocidal plot to wipe out certain tribes in the region. Private militias allegedly funded by the government killed 35,000 people and led to the deaths of at least 100,000 others from hunger and disease, according to the ICC case.
Government officials deny that genocide has taken place and accuse Western nations, chiefly the U.S., of using the ICC to topple an oil-rich Islamic republic with a history of opposing Washington policy in Africa and the Middle East.
"The ICC is targeting Sudan because Sudan is a very rich country," Sudanese presidential advisor Ali Tamim Fartak said.
How the government responds to the arrest warrant in the coming months, and how the world reacts, will be instrumental in determining Sudan's future, experts say.
So far, the official government response has ranged from dismissing the case as inconsequential to warning it will increase violence in Darfur and spur attacks against Westerners in Khartoum. Last month, Sudan's intelligence chief, Salah Abdallah Gosh, said the case might trigger a rise in Islamic extremism.
Diplomats and U.N. officials in Sudan say the government's next move is unclear, but leaders appear to be leaving all options open, from a peace deal to war.
On the one hand, Bashir, who last fall convened the first-ever national convention to address the Darfur conflict, has opened peace talks with the leading rebel group and has sent diplomatic signals to the U.S. about democratic and humanitarian reforms.
"The time of the rifle is over," Bashir recently told an audience of opposition leaders.
At the same time, according to a Western diplomat in Sudan, the government has been arming militias throughout the southern and western regions -- the same strategy widely suspected to have been used in Darfur -- just in case rebels or political rivals move against it.
Harassment against opposition leaders, journalists, human rights activists and aid workers has increased substantially over the last six months. One man was convicted in January of treason for allegedly providing information to the ICC. Prominent Islamist Hassan Turabi was jailed after calling on Bashir to turn himself over to the ICC.
But some anti-government activists expressed mixed feelings about the ICC case, which is viewed by many Sudanese as a challenge to the country's sovereignty.
"I dream about getting rid of the government, but it should come through internal movement, not from the ICC," human rights activist Azhari Alhaj said. "Having the ICC come in at this sensitive time could have a negative impact, because we are going to be seen as working for the ICC. We are the ones who are going to suffer, and no one in the international community is going to protect us."
In its lobbying campaign against the ICC, the government has been trying to inflame nationalist sentiments, portraying the case as a "re-colonization" of Sudan and Africa by foreign powers.
But U.S. officials say that beneath the veneer of national unity and public support for Bashir, Sudan's ruling party is already debating whether its president has become a liability. There are rumors that some of Bashir's political backers are angling to replace him.
John Prendergast, an anti-genocide activist and Obama administration advisor, said the ruling party had a history of doing what needed to be done to survive.
"They are going to have a serious debate about whether the interests of the ruling party are best served by having [an accused] war criminal as president," Prendergast said, predicting Bashir would be nudged aside and offered asylum outside the country.
If Sudan were to replace Bashir or agree to reforms, U.S. officials are prepared to allow the ICC case to be deferred by the U.N. Security Council.
"They are going to use the arrest warrant like a loaded gun, but not fire it," said one U.S. government official who was not authorized to speak publicly. "It's a way to say, 'Here is your last chance.' "
Others warn such a strategy is fraught with risk. Former U.S. envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios questioned whether Sudan's ruling clique would respond to outside pressure.
"We are assuming that they will become more rational," he said. "But they become more inflexible, more confrontational and more brutal the more they are cornered."
Natsios warned that the ICC arrest warrant might trigger the collapse of the regime or a return to war, particularly if it distracts from implementation of the 2005 peace treaty that ended the civil war with southern rebels.
"We could end up with another Rwanda or Somalia or Democratic Republic of Congo in which hundreds of thousands of people could be killed," he said. "We could end up with something much worse."
Special correspondent Alsanosi Ahmed contributed to this report.
* I'm calling to ask President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Rice to protect innocent civilians in Darfur in the wake of Bashir's arrest warrant. Please issue immediate warnings to Bashir and the government of Sudan specifying consequences of attacks on civilians. Please also prepare an emergency response plan to address further violence and appoint a full-time senior level envoy. Lastly, please stand firm in support of the ICC indictment and veto any delay in the prosecution of Bashir.
I took time out of my citizen activism regarding preventing and stopping genocide, specifically of Darfuri families. During my time-out, I worked as a volunteer with the Presidential candidate's campaign at the time, Barack Obama. Now, I am asking President Obama - along with everyone else who cares about inhumane behavior toward humans - to take the critically important step to select a high official for the Sudanese people of Darfur. Immediately. A Video with Barack Obama speaking on Darfur - while on the Presidential campaign trail
A Previous post of mine on Darfur "The United States has a moral obligation anytime you see humanitarian catastrophes... ...And when you see a genocide whether it's in Rwanda, or Bosnia or in Darfur - that's a stain on all of us, that's a stain on our souls...
I think the level of commitment and the way that I've spoken out on this issue indicates not only knowledge but also passion in bringing an end to this crisis.
It's very encouraging to see activism based not on self interest but on a moral imperative. And it's especially heartening to see the young people engaged in expressing their idealism through this movement.
We can't say 'never again' and then allow it to happen again. And as President of the United States, I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter."
Barack Obama Pictures of Darfur from David Johnson at Silent Images
Wolf: High Caliber Special Envoy Should Be Appointed to Sudan
Tuesday February 24, 2009
February 24, 2009 Contact: Dan Scandling (202) 225-5136
WOLF: HIGH CALIBER SPECIAL ENVOY SHOULD BE APPOINTED TO SUDAN Recommends Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for Job
Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today called on President Obama to appoint a "high caliber" envoy to Sudan to help bring peace and stability to the war-torn nation.
In a letter to the president, Wolf specifically recommended former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for the job, noting that he has a passion for the people and future of Sudan.
"Even when he served in the Senate, Dr. Bill Frist continued his surgical practice, travelling to Africa yearly on medical missions, including to Sudan," Wolf wrote. "He boldly emerged as a leader in declaring what was happening in Sudan to be genocide, and co-authoring the bipartisan Sudan Peace Act."
Wolf, who is the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and one of the leading advocates in Congress for human rights around the globe, has been to Sudan five times. He and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) in 2004 were the first members of Congress to travel to Darfur and have been openly critical of the government of Sudan for its involvement in the ongoing genocide.
"I’ve witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes," Wolf wrote to Obama. "Every day that passes, more men are killed, more women are raped, and more children die of malnutrition. This is simply unacceptable. The time to act is now."
Below is the complete text of Wolf’s letter to the president.
The Honorable Barack H. Obama The President The White House Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I commend you for your recent special envoy appointments of both Senator George Mitchell and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. These distinguished diplomats are well-suited to focus their full attention on foreign policy priorities. I have long favored the envoy approach as an effective way to tackle seemingly intractable challenges.
There is perhaps no more daunting challenge than the quest for peace and stability in Sudan-a nation which has long been ravaged by war, genocide and bloodshed.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which in 2005 brought about the end to a brutal 20-year war between the genocidal government in Khartoum and the South, was a monumental achievement and was in many respects the result of tireless diplomacy by former Senator John Danforth-then U.S. special envoy to Sudan. We can learn from this successful model.
I have written Secretary of State Clinton urging the appointment of a high-caliber special envoy to Sudan. Today I echo that call to you, with the specific request that the appointment be made in a high-profile event, which makes it clear to the world that the envoy has your ear and speaks with your authority. I ask that you appoint former Senate Majority leader Bill Frist as this special envoy.
Even when he served in the Senate, Dr. Bill Frist continued his surgical practice, travelling to Africa yearly on medical missions, including to Sudan. He boldly emerged as a leader in declaring what was happening in Sudan to be genocide, and co-authoring the bipartisan Sudan Peace Act. Senator Frist is truly passionate about the people and future of Sudan and in the tradition of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell he is respected across the aisle. His efforts would undoubtedly be buoyed by the counsel of Theodore (Ted) Dagne, Roger Winter and John Prendergast - all capable, committed individuals whose expertise and extensive time spent in the region would make them invaluable advisers to any special envoy.
I have traveled to Sudan five times since 1989 and led the first congressional delegation to Darfur with Senator Sam Brownback. I've witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes. Every day that passes, more men are killed, more women are raped, and more children die of malnutrition. This is simply unacceptable. The time to act is now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This afternoon the following email was received from a Sudanese citizen, who is living in the USA currently. Many of his family members were murdered by the Sudanese-government-supported genocide activity.
Dear ALL,
Cell phones and satelite phones (Soraya) are vital tools in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has cut off services to cell phones in Darfur (in IDP camps in particular) to have news black-out, especially with the approaching March 4th (ICC announcement date). Why this is extremely crucial issue?:
1- Atrocities that happen in the camps and outside are reported by the civilians via their cell phones to the Darfuris in Diaspora, to news agencies, to Darfur radios (Europe and U.S.A.), to UNAMID. 2- Areal bombing raids are reported to the above mentioned entities, in addition, the natives alert other villagers in other locations downstream of the raid so that people can take cover or flea to hiding places ( life saving tool). 3- Via cell phones and the rapid reporting there was change of behavior noticed of UNAMID ( becoming more engaged to save lives), Government of Sudan (hard to deny attack news), Janjaweed (became more selective in targeting villages i.e. select remote villages where possibility of civilians having cell phones is little).
More violence is expected with ICC decision. It would be a disaster if this phone service black-out continues. Many lives might be lost unnecessarily.
Land phones also are mostly cut off these days in Darfur by the GoS.
* I'm calling to ask President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Rice to protect innocent civilians in Darfur in the wake of Bashir's arrest warrant. Please issue immediate warnings to Bashir and the government of Sudan specifying consequences of attacks on civilians. Please also prepare an emergency response plan to address further violence and appoint a full-time senior level envoy. Lastly, please stand firm in support of the ICC indictment and veto any delay in the prosecution of Bashir.
11 Feb 09 – Film: Ahead of the ICC arrest warrant for Omar al Bashir, Khartoum’s men speak out...
Shortly the International Criminal Court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for General Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Today, in a 20-minute film released on the brink of that decision, Khartoum’s executioners have broken silence to reveal how Darfur’s atrocities were planned, financed and carried out – and who was responsible.
The film – ‘Darfur Destroyed’ – is available to view in English, French, German and Arabic. ........................................
Since 2003, at least 300,000 civilians have died in Darfur and millions have been displaced from their homes, many of them at the hands of militia nicknamed the ‘Janjaweed’ (‘devils on horseback’). Time after time, survivors stated – and international observers confirmed – that as they murdered, raped, looted and burned village after village, the Janjaweed was backed by the Sudanese army and air force. Yet the Sudanese Government has consistently denied responsibility for atrocities in Darfur and to this day, says it has nothing to do with the Janjaweed.
However, the defectors in this film – some of them speaking publicly for the first time – tell a very different story.
Between them, a senior Army finance officer, a Janjaweed commander, a regular soldier and a Janjaweed fighter explain why and how the Sudanese Government created and launched the Janjaweed militia; how it disguised the militia, once atrocities in Darfur came to world attention; how it armed and paid the Janjaweed; how the Janjaweed worked with Sudan’s regular army and air force, and how rape has been used as a weapon against the civilian population.
The witnesses implicate Sudanese Government figures at the highest level – including Ahmed Harun (Minister for Humanitarian Affairs), Ali Osman Mohammed Taha (Second Vice President), and even Omar al-Bashir himself.
Moataz El Fegiery, Executive Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) states: “If you don’t believe the victims, or if you mistrust the UN, then you should at least listen to the voices of the perpetrators. In their own words, they describe the Sudanese Government’s role in killing its own people.”
Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, states: “As one-time servants of the Bashir regime, the defectors in this film provide powerful evidence of the responsibility of the Sudanese Government for mass atrocities in Darfur. As they themselves have said: those responsible should be brought to account and answer at the ICC – even if they include the President himself.”
Nicolas Burniat, Pennoyer Fellow at Human Rights First noted: “For too long, the international community has allowed the government in Sudan to get away with murder in Darfur. To this very day, many countries continue to sell weapons to Khartoum, allowing the Sudanese army to keep sending fresh arms to Darfur, as shown in Aegis Trust’s film. Whether or not the ICC issues an arrest warrant against Bashir, these countries must decide between pushing Sudan to face its responsibility to cooperate with the Court or continuing to support a suspected war criminal”.
The defectors in their own words • Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “The Sudanese Government, all time he said, no genocide there, no rape there. I am from the PDF – Janjaweed – I want to tell the World the truth.” • Sudanese army paymaster: “As a human being, I’m not able to feel good about this. I am paying them and they’re going to kill other people.” • Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “The President of Sudan, Omar al Bashir, sent four billion Sudanese pounds for the Popular Defence Force in Nyala to be distributed as an incentive.” • Popular Defence Force / Janjaweed commander: “When you destroy the wells, or when you cut the trees, or when you burn the village, this means you expel the civilians from the village. This is an instruction from…It is came from Khartoum.” • Janjaweed fighter: “Rape can happen. Rape can happen…. What would happen is, they took the girls and the women away, just out of sight, and they started to rape them.” • Sudanese soldier: “They shout ‘Kill the slaves’ and ‘Fuck the slaves’. They take girls and rape them. They rape and torture them. They want the children to be different in colour, to be like them.” For media enquiries about this film, email david.brown@aegistrust.org. Copies of the film and raw footage are available at broadcast quality on request.
The above text and a full transcript of the film Darfur Destroyed can be found atwww.aegistrust.org
* I'm calling to ask President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Rice to protect innocent civilians in Darfur in the wake of Bashir's arrest warrant. Please issue immediate warnings to Bashir and the government of Sudan specifying consequences of attacks on civilians. Please also prepare an emergency response plan to address further violence and appoint a full-time senior level envoy. Lastly, please stand firm in support of the ICC indictment and veto any delay in the prosecution of Bashir.
Text provided with the video: Defectors from the Sudanese regime explain their role in the Sudanese Government's planning and execution of mass atrocities in Darfur, implicating members of the regime at the highest level, including Omar Bashir, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and Ahmed Harun.
* I'm calling to ask President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Rice to protect innocent civilians in Darfur in the wake of Bashir's arrest warrant. Please issue immediate warnings to Bashir and the government of Sudan specifying consequences of attacks on civilians. Please also prepare an emergency response plan to address further violence and appoint a full-time senior level envoy. Lastly, please stand firm in support of the ICC indictment and veto any delay in the prosecution of Bashir.
HUMAN BEINGS SHAME CATS IN CHINA AND TIBETANS Please read the article China Kills 500,000 Cats- in Death Camps. If anyone has read my blog posts, you know that I don't reserve my criticsm for countries other than my own. But, this post that I am directing you to is about China. China will have the Summer Olympic Opening Ceremonies August 8, 2008. Protestors disrupted the Olympic Flame Ceremony which was related to the Chinese crackdown continuation in Tibet. An article,ProtestsChina should stop using force against Tibetansis printed in an Indian paper from Geneva, Switzerland. Protesters picket Chinese consulate Toronto, Canada STAR
CHINESE TORTURING ITS OWN FOR SPEAKING OUT China Rights Activist Sentenced to Jail
By ANITA CHANG –
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese activist who had petitioned for land rights was sentenced Monday to five years in prison and then shocked with electric batons when police scuffled with his family, his lawyer said.
Yang Chunlin had gathered more than 10,000 signatures for an open letter titled "We want human rights, not the Olympics." Most of the signatures came from farmers demanding redress for land taken from them by officials for development.
Yang, a former factory worker, was convicted of subverting the power of the state, a charge that authorities commonly use to clamp down on dissidents.
Family members tried to talk to Yang as he was escorted from the courtroom, but police pushed his son to the ground, his lawyer, Li Fangping, said. When Yang tried to intervene, he was repeatedly shocked with electric batons, the lawyer said.
"Since we haven't seen him, we don't know how he's doing," Li said.
Yang's sentencing came as China tries to stifle activists whose criticisms might tarnish the Beijing Olympics, which begin Aug. 8.
...The Jiamusi City Intermediate People's Court in northeast China's Heilongjiang province handed down Yang's five-year sentence Monday afternoon, court clerk Nie Lei said. Yang can appeal, he added.
Yang, 54, has maintained his innocence and called the legal proceedings against him illegal because freedom of speech is supposed to be guaranteed in China, his lawyer said.
"But he's said before that he would not appeal because he has lost confidence in China's judicial system," Li said.
To rally support, Yang had posted his letter on the Internet. It was not clear for whom the letter was intended.
He was detained in July in Heilongjiang and formally arrested a month later. His sister said in October that during his detention Yang was tortured, including having his arms and legs stretched and chained to the corners of an iron bed... Full article
.................................................. Trouble for China
DARFUR The five year old genocide in Darfur, Sudan is also connected to China. In an article written August 5, 2004, the following was written:
"China is Sudan's largest trading partner and the main foreign investor in Sudan's oil industry. China National Petroleum Corp. has a 40 percent share in the international consortium extracting oil in Sudan, and it is building refineries and pipelines, enabling Sudan to benefit from oil export revenue since 1999.
Although most Western oil companies have withdrawn from Sudan under pressure from human rights organizations, Chinese companies have turned a blind eye to the brutal way in which Sudan forced 200,000 to 300,000 of its citizens from oil-rich lands without compensation. Nor have these companies shown concern that Sudan uses oil revenue to purchase arms for its wars against its black African population.
...Were China to use even a small part of its leverage to call Sudan to account, it would go a long way toward saving lives in Sudan.
In an interview with Mia Farrow the Chinese Olympics and the genocide of the Darfuri people is discussed rfaunplugged. Here is a small portion:
Q: what prompts you to use the Beijing Olympics to pressure China on Darfur?
MF: Well, we’ve seen now - it came to my attention in the past year - that China has two immense oil companies pouring billions of dollars into Khartoum. And, noboby knows exactly how much money, but 60 to 80% of that money - it’s a good guess - is being used to attack civilians in Darfur. So, we have hoped that the government and leadership of China will now assume a more responsible role. It has a unique point of leverage.
I just saw this week a poll - a very important opinion poll - by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and World Public Opinion, and it showed that 58% of Chinese citizens polled thought that the UN Security Council has the right and the responsiblity to authorize an intervention, even, to stop the killing in Darfur, and this is higher than almost - ah - many many countries of the world. So, we see the people of China feeling as frustrated and distressed, I’m sure, as the rest of the world, or certainly as the Western world at the suffering in Darfur.
It remains for big business when you see this amount of money; we look at a big Monopoly game going on where the people of Darfur just seem to be the expendable chips. But we would look to our leadership and to our businesses to assume responsibility here, and China has that power.
Now with the Olympics coming it really is a unique time for China to uh say to - it seems to us in the West it seems a sort of calling card - China wants to be included in the rest of the negotiating world, well it is …but it isn’t just One World, One Dream, which is the slogan for the Olympics, but there is one nightmare that is Darfur.
Q: “The Genocide Olympics”: was this word coined by you?
MF: No, it wasn’t coined by me. By the time I wrote the piece together with my son, this saying was going viral amongst advocacy groups and I was even given a T-shirt, but it has “Genocide Olympics” with a question mark after it, because it need not be the Genocide Olympics, and indeed our piece - I hope it was clear in the piece that we wrote - that it is a call to the leadership of China and the sponsors of the Olympic Games and everyone to say: “before we can say ‘One World, One Dream’, let us make it true. And I would really hope that you know we would see the kind of leadership we would hope for from China to say whatever they have to do in Khartoum behind closed doors to stop the suffering, to stop the genocide in Darfur...."
Like the United States of America with multitude of lies about Iraq,
and our history of human rights abuses including the indigenous peoples and the slaves,
China needs a mirror to see some reality of itself. The problem is that countries like the United States of America and England who claim to stand for human rights have hypocritical legs to stand on to hold up the mirror for China. And even if I as a citizen of the United States of America stands up against China for what it is doing in any or all of the above issues, I get criticized by people who point at what the USA has done and is doing.
So, what do we do? Be still, hide our disgusts?
Our leaders let us down. And we must not cower and let fear of criticism make us shrink.
The USA media is so narcissistic, which is a huge hole in the answer of simply spotlighting abuses. There are hours and hours of cable news shows which never mention anything but what is going on in the USA. There is shame in that.
So, as a human being who has a simple blog, a voice, I spotlight China.
ONE DREAM, ONE WORLD ~ the Beijing, China Olympics theme is hypocritical.
HERE IS MY ONE VOICE TO SAY SO.
Pictures (except the hunger strike one in Canada) are from Athens, Greece where the Olympic Torch was lit. Source: Sky News
I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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Spain Time
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Melbourne Time
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Hawaii Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
Double Click on Videos to Enlarge
Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
Want to help? Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
"May I Suggest" by Susan Werner
Satchita - Playing for Change
Stand By Me ~ Playing for Change
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
