The Massacre in Darfur: The White House Position

As you can see on the sidebar, I belong to an organization of Italian bloggers for Darfur, where a genocide is taking place that rivals that of Rwanda.

The following is the latest press release by the White House:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007

Stop The Genocide In Darfur

President Bush Announces Steps Encouraging All Parties To Live Up To Their Agreements

Yesterday, [April 17th] President Bush Visited The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum To Discuss The Genocide That Is Happening In The Darfur Region Of Sudan And How We Are Working To Stop It. The brutal treatment of innocent civilians in Darfur is unacceptable to the President and to the United Nations, and it must stop. Ending the violence requires better security for the people of Darfur, and progress toward political reconciliation.

Ø The President Announced Steps The Administration Is Prepared To Take If Sudanese President Bashir Does Not Meet His Commitments In A Short Period Of Time. President Bashir must follow through on the deployment of the UN support forces he agreed to, allow the deployment of the full, joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force, and take every necessary step to facilitate its deployment. He must end support for the Janjaweed, reach out to rebel leaders, and allow humanitarian aid to reach the people of Darfur. He must stop his pattern of destruction once and for all. If he does not do so, the Administration is prepared to take the following steps:

1. The Treasury Department will tighten U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan, allowing the U.S. to enforce more aggressively existing sanctions against the Sudanese government.
2. The Administration will target sanctions against individuals responsible for the violence.
3. The President will direct Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to prepare a new United Nations Security Council resolution.

Ø If Sudan's Obstruction Continues Despite These Measures, We Will Also Consider Other Options. The situation does not have to come to that:

* The President urges the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and all members of the international community to stand behind the Addis Ababa Framework and reject efforts to obstruct its implementation.
* The President calls on President Bashir to provide his unconditional support for this agreement, and to take the concrete steps required to carry it out, so that the UN-African Union force can deploy and do its work.

America Will Not Back Down From The Evil We Are Now Seeing In Sudan

For 22 Years, Sudan Was Plagued By A Civil War Between The North And South That Claimed More Than 2 Million Lives. That war came to an end in January 2005, when Sudan's government and rebels in the south signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement that the United States helped broker. Under this historic accord, Sudan has established a Government of National Unity that includes a First Vice President and other cabinet members from the country's south. It also established a Government of Southern Sudan that the United States is providing with aid and other assistance.

Ø Unfortunately, Just As Peace Was Coming To The South, Another Conflict Broke Out In The West – Where Rebel Groups In Darfur Attacked Government Outposts. To fight this rebellion, the government in Khartoum unleashed a horse-mounted militia called the Janjaweed, which carried out systematic assaults against innocent civilians.

The Genocide's Human Toll Has Been Staggering. More than 200,000 people have died from the conflict or from the malnutrition and disease that have spread in its wake. More than 2 million people have been forced from their homes and villages into camps both inside and outside their country.

The United States Is Helping Lead The Effort To Stop The Genocide In Darfur

Recent Agreements Represent A Clear Plan To End The Conflict – And If Implemented, They Would Allow The People Of Darfur To Return Home To Their Villages Safely And Begin To Rebuild Their Lives In Peace.

Ø Last May, The President Announced An Agreement For Darfur That We Helped Broker Between The Sudanese Government And The Largest Rebel Group. Under this agreement, Sudan's government promised to disarm the Janjaweed and punish all those who violate the cease-fire, and the main rebel group agreed to withdraw into specified areas.

Ø In August, The United Nations Followed Up This Agreement With A New Security Council Resolution. This resolution authorized the UN Mission in Sudan to extend its forces to Darfur – and to transform the existing African Union forces into a larger and better equipped UN peacekeeping mission.

Ø In November, The United Nations, The African Union, The European Union, The Arab League, The Government Of Sudan, The United States, And 12 Other Nations Reached Another Important Agreement At A Meeting In Addis Ababa. This agreement strengthened the terms of the ceasefire, re-energized the political process, and called for a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force that would be nearly three times the size of the existing African Union force.

Unfortunately, These Agreements Have Been Routinely Violated. Sudan's government has moved arms to Darfur, conducted bombing raids on villages, and used military vehicles and aircraft that are painted white, which makes them look like those deployed by humanitarian agencies and peacekeeping forces.

Ø President Bashir's Record Has Been To Promise Cooperation While Finding New Ways To Subvert And Obstruct The UN's Efforts To Bring Peace To His Country. Just this week, Sudan’s government has reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow 3,000 UN troops and their equipment into the country to support the African Union force. The world has heard these promises from Sudan before.

The Time For Promises Is Over, And President Bashir Must Act

The President Announced Several New Steps The Administration Is Prepared To Take If The Government Of Sudan Does Not Meet Its Commitments:

1. The Department Of The Treasury Will Tighten U.S. Economic Sanctions On Sudan. This new effort will allow the United States to enforce more aggressively existing sanctions against Sudan's government, by blocking any of its dollar transactions within the U.S. financial system. As part of this effort, the Treasury Department will add 29 companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan to its list of Specially Designated Nationals. This designation will bar these companies from the U.S. financial system and make it a crime for American companies and individuals to willfully do business with them.

2. The Administration Will Target Sanctions Against Individuals Responsible For The Violence. The sanctions will isolate designated individuals by cutting them off from the U.S. financial system, preventing them from doing business with any American citizen or company, and calling the world's attention to their crimes. We are also prepared to designate more individuals to face similar sanctions.

3. The President Will Direct Secretary Of State Rice To Prepare A New United Nations Security Council Resolution. This resolution will apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan and against individuals found to be violating human rights or obstructing the peace process. It will impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to the government of Sudan, prohibit Sudan's government from conducting any offensive military flights over Darfur, and strengthen our ability to monitor and report on any violations.

Ø In The Next Days, We Will Begin Consulting With Other Security Council Members On The Terms Of Such A Resolution.

The United States Will Continue To Bring Relief To The People Of Darfur

The United States Will Continue Our Engagement In Support Of The People Of Darfur. The Administration is increasing support for the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority – an interim authority designed to help the people of Darfur improve local government and build the foundations of a healthy economy. We are also increasing support for Sudan's First Vice President and the United Nations and African Union special envoys, who are working to bring the rebel groups together and get them to sign onto the peace process.

Ø We Are Continuing Our Humanitarian Assistance To The People Of Darfur. Since 2005, the United States has provided more than $2 billion in humanitarian relief and development assistance to support those affected by the conflict in Darfur and those struggling to rebuild their lives in the hard-won peace of the south. These resources represent more than 50 percent of all UN-tracked assistance to Sudan. We will continue to bring relief to the people of Darfur – and we will continue to insist that rebel groups and the Sudanese government allow international workers to deliver this relief to the people who depend on it.

-------------------------------

To Jonathan...

Who commented:

Be careful how you vote.

Cause you'll never know when your country will wind up with an incompetent and an intellectually-challenged president like Dubaya.

Well, Jonathan--I must forgive you for your shallow thinking. I mean, as a 16 year old and a probable victim of indoctrination by liberal teachers, your life's experience has not allowed you to see reality.

So for yours, and for the edification of your fellow shallow thinkers, many well into their forties, I bring you the following, courtesy of EJECT! EJECT! EJECT!

Somewhere in Texas, a Village is missing its Idiot. I chose this one first since it's the only one that has a particle of real wit. But the Bush is an idiot meme is very tired, and the most cursory look causes it to fall apart like -- how can I make them understand? -- like a lemon almond biscotti left too long in a grande' caffe verona.

For starters, you can of course point to the fact that the man did graduate from both Harvard and Yale, but that was with a C average, and clearly, the idea of being merely in the middle of the pack of those getting advanced degrees from America's two preeminent universities cuts you no slack from those community-college theater major drop-outs who love to level the charge.

So let's leave that aside for a moment – Poppy's connections and all that – and take a moment to look at this, if you will:



This is a Convair F-102 Delta Dagger. It is a second-generation, supersonic fighter-interceptor. It cruises at 845 mph.

There were some minor aerodynamic problems with the F-102. For example, at certain power settings and angles of attack – like, say, take-off -- the jet compressor would stall and the aircraft would roll inverted. It is no picnic, skill-wise, to fly a modern F-16 with advanced avionics and fly-by-wire flight control systems. The workload on the F-102 was far higher. The F-16 has an accident rate of 4.14 occurrences per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102's accident rate was more than three times that: 13.69 per 100,000 hours. 875 F-102A interceptors were built; 259 – almost 30% - were lost to accidents or enemy action while serving in Vietnam.

George W. Bush flew hundreds of hours in the F-102.

Now look at this:



This is the cockpit of the F-102 Delta Dagger's successor, the F-106 Delta Dart (I could not find an F-102 panel, but they would have been very similar)

Now, picture yourself in this chair, at 40,000 feet, traveling at one and a half times the speed of sound. Now imagine that someone has painted the windows white – you are flying on instruments. Now imagine that not only do you have to be able to fly blind, by referencing these instruments, but that you also have to stare into that orange jack-o-lantern of a radar, and interpret a squiggle that will lead you to your target. Now imagine that in addition to not hitting the ground, or your wingman, and watching the squiggle, you also have to turn those switches on the right side panel to activate weapons systems, to overcome enemy countermeasures…without looking outside, as you hurtle through air at -40 degrees F, air so thin that should you lose pressure, you have about 4-6 seconds of consciousness before you black out and die.

I maintain that the instant George W. Bush closed that canopy and took off on the first of his many solo hours in an F-102, it is quite impossible that he was either an idiot or a coward.

Here is a random question from the instrument rating exam I had to pass a few years ago.

Refer to figure 91:



What should be the approximate elapsed time from the BOSEMAN (BZN) VOR to the DUBOIS (DBS) VORTAC if the wind is 24 knots from 260 degrees and your intended True Air Speed is 185 knots? (The magnetic variation is 17deg. E)

A. 33 minutes
B. 37 minutes
C. 39 minutes

(It's C., obviously)

If he had been a civilian rather than military pilot, Dubya would have had to have passed 60 questions like this with at least 70% correct. Questions on weather, radio communications, mechanical systems, aerodynamics, pilot physiology, airspace, navigation and a hundred other things. But, since he was military, he also had to know how to operate that primitive in-flight radar, plus weapons systems, rules of engagement, electronic warfare, hydraulics, fuel systems…it goes on and on.

People like Michael Moore and Bill Maher and Keith Olberman would not be able to figure out how to close the canopy on an F-102. These people would be weeping with fear when those afterburners light up and you barrel down that runway hoping that engine doesn't flame out and roll you inverted into the asphalt, or when you're rocketing through the soup at 300mph watching two little needles chase each other, praying the next thing you see out the window is a runway and not a mountain goat.

George W. Bush is not stupid. It's not possible to be a moron and fly a supersonic jet fighter, and everyone knows it.

The Ant and the Grasshopper...Then and now

OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
House and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the
ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come
winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or
shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

************************************************************

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the
ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come
winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands
to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold
and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a
table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How
can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is
allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody
cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green."

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where
the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse
then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that
the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call
for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act
retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing
to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to
pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a
defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of
federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent
welfare recipients. The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of
the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens
to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't
maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a
drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a
gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote.

To the pedophile who just visited this site...

Domain Name		sympatico.ca ? (Canada)
IP Address		70.49.49.# (Sympatico HSE)
ISP		Bell Canada
Location		Continent : North America Country : Canada (Facts) State/Region : Ontario City : Guelph Lat/Long : 43.55, -80.25 (Map) Distance : 698 miles

...

Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution : 1280 x 800 Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit		Apr:09:40 am
Last Page View		Apr:09:40 am
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		2
Referring URL		http://images.google...%3DKINKY%2BGAY%2BSON
Search Engine		images.google.ca
Search Words		kinky gay son

You're one sick sonofabitch.

Get help.

That is all.
---------------------------------

All night blog-a-thon...

My 16-year old has Delayed Phase Sleep Syndrome, so he must stay up all night tonight and all day tomorrow.

Sooooo....I'm staying up with him and a friend of his. Along with watching Sean of the Dead, Anchorman, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (and their playing a few video games), I'll have a chance to sit and blog, as well...

Don't know how many posts there will be (I don't think I've ever, to this point, blogged at 2:20am)..

To Start things off, here's a pic I received in an email:

Look at the lines the artist used to draw this picture of Christ..
It is of scenes from Christ's life. I have not seen anything like this

Share this with a friend or two or three or more.
In the Circle of God's love, God's waiting to use your full potential.

May God Always Bless You and Yours!