Tomorrow is the day of the rally to stop genocide organized by the Save Darfur Coalition. If you can't make it to the Capitol or any of the alternative rally sites, you can at least join the Million Voices for Darfur in sending the following message to the President of the United States:
Dear President Bush,
During your first year in the White House, you wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, "Not on my watch."
I urge you to live up to those words by using the power of your office to support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur.
I believe that the news media have done less direct reporting from Darfur in the past year than in 2004, and on the whole conveyed an impression that the situation is under control. There is a grain of truth in that insofar as aid agencies were temporarily able to reduce mortality and disease to subcritical levels, and there have been episodes of relative respite from violence. In recent months, however, the situation has again deteriorated beyond the capacity of aid agencies to manage the crisis. Violence, hunger and disease still (or yet again) threaten the existence of millions of people in Darfur.
Only a genuine cessation of hostilities will begin to rectify the situation. Paper ceasefires, legal proceedings and diplomatic fingerwagging are all meaningless without the ability to enforce the peace and protect civilians.
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Paul passes on a joke he received by way of Argentina:
George W. Bush meets with the Queen of England. He asks her, "Your
Majesty, how do you run such an efficient government? Are there any
tips you can give to me?"
"Well," says the Queen, "The most important thing is to surround
yourself with intelligent people."
Bush frowns. "But how do I know the people around me are really
intelligent?"
The Queen takes a sip of tea. "Oh, that's easy. You just ask them to
answer an intelligence test. Listen to this".
The Queen pushes a button on her intercom. "Please send Tony Blair in
here, would you?"
Tony Blair walks into the room. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
The Queen smiles. "Answer me this, please, Tony. Your mother and father
have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?"
Without pausing for a moment, Tony Blair answers, "That would be me."
"Yes! Very good," says the Queen.
Back at the White House, Bush asks to speak with Vice President Dick
Cheney. "Dick, answer this for me. Your mother and your father have a
child. It's not your brother and it's not your sister. Who is it?"
"I'm not sure," says the Vice President. "Let me get back to you on that
one."
Dick Cheney goes to his advisors and asks every one, but none can give
him an answer.
Finally, he ends up in the men's room and recognizes Colin Powell's
shoes in the next stall. Dick shouts, "Colin! Can you answer this for
me? Your mother and father have a child and it's not your brother or
your sister. Who is it?"
Colin Powell yells back, "That's easy. It's me!" Dick Cheney smiles.
"Thanks!"
Cheney goes back to the Oval Office to speak with Bush. "Say, I did some
research and I have the answer to that riddle. It's Colin Powell."
Bush gets up, stomps over to Dick Cheney, and angrily yells into his face,
"No, you idiot! It's Tony Blair!"
Thanks for the levity. Some days ago I had the blues so bad, even the Joy of Cooking was making me sad. Good to hear from you.
Now. to update the joke, since Powell is history, when Bush meets with Cheney to pose the question, with lawyers present, natch, Cheney grabs a shotgun and shoots Bush's lawyer in the face. "Oops," says Cheney, "I didn't mean to do that. Now what was that you were saying about my mother?"
"Not your mother," says Bush. "Tony Blair's mother."
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