Extinct Sense - washingtonpost.com

Today's editorial in the Washington Post really bothers me. I guess I'm not really shocked about the lack of ethics in the Bush administration. It's more that I don't understand why he hasn't been impeached.

Darfur

Here is a summary, courtesy of the Washinton Post of what is going on in Darfur:

Darfur-Sudan Conflict

THE REGION: Largely arid plateau in western Sudan about three-quarters the size of Texas with a population estimated at about 8 million.

HISTORY OF CONFLICT: Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water erupted into large-scale violence in early 2003 when some in the region took up arms, accusing the central government of neglect.

VICTIMS: Government authorities are accused of responding to the uprising with aerial bombings and Arab tribal militias known as Janjaweed, who murdered and raped civilians and destroyed villages. Khartoum officials deny backing Janjaweed.

SCOPE OF TRAGEDY: United Nations says Darfur fighting has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Chaos has spread to neighboring Chad, where hundreds of thousands of Darfur refugees are sheltering. Estimates say 180,000 people have died, many from deprivation; about 2 million are displaced.

PEACE TALKS: The African Union has deployed peacekeepers to Darfur and sponsored two years of peace talks that resulted in a cease-fire.

Here's the frightening question. Could it really just be greed that carries this genocide forward?

Here is what Human Rights Watch has to say on that subject:

Human Rights Watch welcomes the Treasury Department’s proposed use of its regulatory authority to block dollar transfers by US commercial banks of oil payments to the Government of Sudan.

As has been extensively documented by Human Rights Watch and many other organizations and governments, including the United Nations and the US Department of State, the Sudanese government and government-backed militias are responsible for massive crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians in Darfur. The Sudanese government’s abusive policies and actions in Darfur have resulted in the deaths of at least 200,000 people and have forcibly displaced more than two million Darfurians, who remain confined in displaced persons camps and who are unable to return home due to continuing attacks by government-backed militias and rampant insecurity.

It is entirely consistent with the purpose of Executive Orders Nos. 13067 and 13400 and their implementing regulations for the Treasury to prohibit any US bank from participating in commercial dealings with the Sudanese government, its leadership or their respective affiliates, including oil export firms in which they have an interest.

Human Rights Watch believes that the imposition of such blocking action by the Treasury is required now, not at some future date, in view of the Sudanese government’s persistent refusal to comply with the international community’s repeated requests—through the United Nations Security Council and through bilateral diplomacy—to immediately accept the full deployment of the proposed United Nations-African Union international peacekeeping force and to reverse its abusive policies in Darfur.

We therefore urge you to exercise your regulatory authority without delay to make clear to the Sudanese government that its continuing human rights violations in Darfur and its massive failure to protect Sudanese civilians will no longer be tolerated, and that it must immediately accept the international force, fully cooperate with all efforts to improve civilian protection in Darfur and end the violations.


Sincerely,

Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division
Human Rights Watch

"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe." L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion.

Scientology Disaster Relief Training in Mumbai, India

I am really impressed with the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in India. The kind of dedication that the VMs on these Goodwill Tours is pretty awsome.


"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe." L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion.

Good Luck to the Dems

Senators aim to revise Iraq mission, reduce troops
Alertnet
Key U.S. Senate Democrats are preparing a proposal to start bringing U.S. combat troops home from Iraq by rewriting Congress' 2002 authorization for the war, which many now view as a mistake, aides said on Thursday. Undeterred by Senate Republicans who halted a non-binding resolution opposing President George W. Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, the Democrats are determined to challenge Bush anew by replacing the 2002 authorization of force in Iraq with a narrower mission statement for U.S. troops, the aides said.


"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe." L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion.

Potter Problems

I read on the "Leaky Cauldren" today that Potter lovers will be faced with some tough choices come July, with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie being released 8 days before Harry Potter 7. (Smart marketing, actually, as if it were the other way around, it would mean having to stay up all night for a week to finish the book in time to be done with it before the Movie came out.)

I sort of can't believe I'm blogging about Harry Potter!

"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe." L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are humanitarians in the true sense of the word because they deliver real help that works. This includes technology from the Scientology Handbook. Here is a page that has information on this. www.scientologyhandbook.org.

The Scientology Handbook has a wealth of information that anyone can use to improve relationships, communication, work, marriages, raising children and more. www.scientologyhandbook.org

Mr. David Miscavige is humanitarian whose scope is huge - effectively using the technology of Scientology to change conditions for the better throughout the world. Here is a page with information on this remarkable man. www.scientologytoday.org/bio

Scientology Volunteer Ministers

There is something pretty amazing about people who are oriented so thoroughly to helping people. Not for any personal reason - just to help them.

One reason the Scientology Volunteer Minsiters are so active in disasters is that they know they can help. It makes a world of difference, when you are confident in your abilities and you know how much better you can make it for someone in need of help.

Scientology Berlin

There's been a lot of talk about the new Church of Scientology of Berlin, I guess what I like best about it is the new public information panels. Anyone can just walk in and take their own time to find out what Scientology is really all about.

One of my favorite blogs described it this way:

Explained at a Scientology event by Mr. David Miscavige — Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, which is the holder of the Scientology & Dianetics trademarks — this organization includes panels that literally let anyone walk in, touch a screen, and then by themselves — with no input from others or person trying to explain anything — get a full explanation of the various facets and practices of Scientology.

Mr. David Miscavige exemplifies a true humanitarian - driving forward actions that effectively help people on a factually worldwide scale. His dedication to this can be seen in an interview that was done on him by the St. Petersburg Times, which can be found at www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart1.html

David Miscavige going to Berlin?

Do you think David Miscavige will be attending the grand opening of the Church of Scientology of Berlin this weekend?

This is going to be such an exciting event!

Random Acts of Kindness

You know the fish story? The one about - if you give a person a fish it can feed him and his family for one day. But if you TEACH him to fish it can feed him, his family, friends and community for the rest of their lives?

That's why I put my volunteer time into Scientology project like the Scientology Volunteer Ministers -- because I know that by giving people tools to help themselves and their families I am really making a difference.

Kofi Annan Completes 10-Year Term as UN Secretery General

Annan's 10 years at the head of the UN are described in a story in the LA Times today, including:

"Annan, the son of a chieftain from Ghana, was christened 'Anthony' but was known by the name Kofi, which means 'born on Friday.' He joined the bottom ranks of the U.N. in 1962 and didn't plan to stay longer than four years, he said. But he quietly rose through the institution to head the peacekeeping department. In December 1996, the Clinton administration pushed him as its candidate to replace Boutros-Boutros Ghali, the outspoken Egyptian secretary-general it deemed a liability to U.S. interests.

"Annan was chosen because he was an African who knew the U.N. system, and had proved that he was pragmatic and effective and could work with the United States when he oversaw peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Haiti. But most important, he did not have a political agenda or an overweening ego that could put him in conflict with the U.S. By the end of Annan's decade, however, he grew to be a quiet but compelling challenger to Washington."

The article goes on to say:

"In 2002, President Bush challenged the Security Council to confront Iraq or stand aside, and while the U.S. attempted for six months to gain the U.N.'s stamp of legitimacy for its long-planned invasion, it ended up going into Iraq without it.

nnan cited the failure to stop the Iraq war as the worst moment of his career.

"'I really did everything I could to try to see if we could stop it,' he said, including desperate rounds of phone calls and meetings with every leader he could reach, with every proposal he could think of. In April 2003, weeks after the invasion began, Annan literally lost his voice.

"He seemed to lose his nerve as well, taking weeks off with what was described as 'a very bad cold,' but what aides described later as a sort of depression or 'paralysis of despair. ' He returned, somewhat diminished but determined to make the U.N. the kind of institution that the U.S., or any other country, would find indispensable.

"Washington went into Iraq without the U.N.'s blessing, but it also had to do without significant U.N. help in rebuilding the country, an essential piece of postwar planning that the administration had assumed the world body would take on. Annan did send a team of his best and brightest, including his close friend and diplomatic icon, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Another one of the most painful moments of his career came in August 2003, when the bombing of the U.N.'s headquarters in Baghdad killed 22 people — many of whom he had personally asked to go. De Mello was among those slain.

"Those deaths 'hit me as much as the loss of my twin sister,' Annan said this month. His sister, Efua, died in 1991 after an illness.">>>