DO WE COUNT IN OUR DEMOCRACY? AND WHO GETS TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION?

Edward and Edwin Mutanguha

"You have something others envy ~ your freedom" is what Edward Mutanguha said to us on a Saturday afternoon in late October in Providence, Rhode Island on the State Capitol grounds. And with that comes responsibility to use that freedom. We gathered to make a statement that we were standing up to end the now 5 year old genocide in Darfur. Edward and his twin brother, Edwin, had first hand experience. They are Rwandans that necessarily lived in exile due to the genocide in their homeland of Rwanda. I believe firmly that we must become knowledgeable and engaged in the political process or we will lose our freedoms.

I sent a letter to my Senators Reed, Whitehouse and Representative Patrick Kennedy asking for their endorsements for Barack Obama for President. Here is the one I sent to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:

Subject: Health of our Country and Darfur

Dear Senator Whitehouse,

I am writing to you on behalf of my heart and genuine love for our people and the people around the world. I am a grass roots Darfur ~ Stop and Prevent Genocide ~ activist with the Save Darfur Coalition. I organized the Rhode Island state Torch Relay in regards to China and Darfur. I am sure you know about China's role in the genocide of the Darfur people. Omar al-Bashir has been jerking "our" chain and plays games with us especially about getting the UN Peacekeepers in place as agreed upon July 31, 2007.

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Our Rhode Island Dream for Darfur Torch Relay in Providence, October 27, 2007

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I have lobbied you in person regarding Darfur in your Providence office on May 29, 2007 with constituents, including several high school students and the past executive director of STAND, as well as Frank Caprio, RI General Treasurer.

A separate reason for writing is that I am a proud and strong supporter of Barack Obama for President. I volunteer for his campaign, including a week in New Hampshire, running up to their Primary. I have never in my 59 years done anything like this before. I can tell you that the 18 and 22 year olds that were organizing all of our canvassing were committed, hard workers and made me extremely proud and humble. I will never vote for Hillary, which leaves me somewhat afraid.

Would you please consider endorsing, very publicly, Barack Obama? This would be in my humble opinion a very genuine and good message to our nation and the world, that We Do Want to Be Unified and NOT the divided United States of America. Time is of the essence.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

I admire you for what you have done in the past regarding Darfur, however we need to get the helicopters in Darfur immediately for the UN Peacekeepers. What has been going on recently in Darfur is extremely troubling and going on under the media radar.

Thank you for your continued support regarding Darfur and our humanity.

LINKS ABOUT CURRENT DARFUR NEWS:
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnMCD640425.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/01/23/darfur.hijackings.ap/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27sun2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN734520.html

Sandra Hammel
Rhode Island
Female
White
Grew up in a Republican, Bible-belt family in Indiana
Turns out I am a Democrat
B.S. and M.M.
Retired Teacher and Human Rights Activist

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US - LET'S MAKE IT PAST HISTORY

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CHINA PLEASE: Bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur. The 2008 Olympic theme is ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM. www.dreamfordarfur.org
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

www.savedarfur.org
I post all of my Darfur events on this website. Click on "Darfur Events Center" on right hand side of Home Page, Type in zip code 02840.
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This is a reminder of how to behave. This is Barack Obama's speech after he conceded to Hillary Clinton who got 2% more of the votes from New Hampshire. However, know that Hillary and Barack received equal number of delegates. I was there this night. I am so glad that I was.

Hillary didn't even meet together with her volunteers in South Carolina after she conceded to Barack on the telephone. Volunteers work very, very hard on the candidates' behalf. Volunteers go door-to-door and meet with all variations of welcome or unwelcome. And it is good manners for the candidate to meet with the volunteers at the end of the time in the state after the primary or caucus.

Please, notice how Barack handled this very same situation in the Youtube above, leading by example.
Barack Obama's New Hampshire YES WE CAN speech.

"There has never been anything false about hope.
...When we're told that we're not ready....that we shouldn't try or that we can't....Yes. We. Can. ...a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation, Yes, we can......Yes, we can to justice and equality....Yes, we can to opportunity and prosperity, Yes we can heal this nation, Yes, We can repair this world...Yes, We Can...We will remember that something is happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one
nation and together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words, from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea. Yes. We. Can." Barack Obama, January 8, 2008 in Nashua High School gym, New Hampshire

BETRAYED BY BUSH AND CONGRESS

Senator Sam Brownback (R) gave a history lesson today in the Senate, complete with several maps about Iraq. It was a good lesson for a congressman. Senator Joe Biden (D) followed him with an emotional delivery why he agreed with Brownback although both Brownback and Biden said it was not in their Presidentail candidacy’s best interest to be working together to come up with a political solution for the mess we got ourselves into by invading Iraq. But that is what they were presenting, a political solution to Iraq. Personally, I thought Biden really did a good job extending his Presidentail campaigning on C-span with this plan. I couldn’t vote for Brownback as President, but these two made me feel better about being a USA citizen. They made sense. They didn’t sound brainless. And I have heard nothing close to this sanity from Mr. Bush, the President of the Divided States of America.

A link to an article on Biden and Brownback’s bill:
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=283817&&

Today, there was a tie, 47 to 47, to start bringing our troops home. Our Rhode Island US Senator Jack Reed and Carl Levin worked together on this.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092100134.html

Bush ignores us. Congress ignores us. And yet type in http://www.senate.gov/ And you will find a page that celebrates the US Constitution that is titled “We the People, Celebrating the Constitution” and begins with this:

Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution remains a vital and living document. Having been strengthened by amendments, the Constitution serves as both guide and protector of U.S. citizens and their elected officials. To encourage all Americans to learn more about the Constitution, Congress in 2005 established Constitution Day, to be celebrated each year on or near September 17th, the date in 1787 when delegates to the Convention signed the Constitution.

I feel like I am living a time warp. Our President says “freedom is on the march” and that he wants to bring democracy to others around the world. However everything about him and his focus - has done nothing but chip away at our democracy and our liberties. Freedom – use it or lose it. We need to get angry at the undermining of our
once Constitutional rights and let it motivate us into active engagement. While we are not paying attention – we are losing our Constitution. The Patriot Act is our new Constitution. Our US government has thrown out the Geneva Convention.

“The Third Geneva Convention was convened in 1929 and resulted in specific protections for prisoners of war. The Fourth Geneva Convention was signed in 1949. This convention reaffirmed the requirements of the first three conventions and provided protections for civilians during wartime.” *

Requirements of the Geneva Conventions as they relate to the treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs): *http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/blgenevaconv.htm

The Constitution made “We the People” partners of this country's government. An equal partner. But this administration doesn’t care what we think. And congress is betraying us, too.

I feel like screaming.

Bush is a disaster. I am embarrassed that he is President. I detest him. He has taken this country into debt. We have financed this Iraq invasion by borrowing from a country that historically has a record of oppressing its people and imprisoning and torturing those that are dissidents. China. And yet Bush said yesterday that he receives an A for not raising our taxes. But he has taken us so far in debt that we are weakened as a nation.

But no one talks about that. My brother made t-shirts when George HW Bush was campaigning for President and the shirt said a GHW Bush quotation “Read my lips, No New Taxes”. George W Bush is just like his father in this. NO NEW TAXES, but Billions of new dollars of debt. That’s what we’ve got.

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Bush may boost spending request for Iraq war

Reuters
Friday, September 21, 2007; 12:10 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration may increase the amount of money it is seeking for the Iraq war for the 2008 fiscal year that begins October 1, the White House said on Friday.

The White House outlined a request for around $147 billion for fiscal 2008 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the administration is reviewing those figures and is considering giving Congress an updated request.

"I would expect it to be higher, I can't tell you what the number will be," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The Washington Post has reported the administration may increase its request by up to $50 billion, which would bring the total request to nearly $200 billion.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092100643.html

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War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says

By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A11”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092102074.html