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This may explain my votes in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections:
| You Are Most Like Bill Clinton |
 But even though you've done some questionable things, you're still loved by almost all. |
Hat tip to Cory Chandler.
If you think that New Orleans is too flood-prone to be rebuilt, here are some numbers from the Corps of Engineers that may change your thinking:
Source: USA Today. Hat tip to Gentilly Girl.
This quotation of the day, courtesy of Sojourners, is for my friends in New Orleans, whom you can read about here, who spoke the truth to power. It's also for anyone else who feels the need to fight the powers that be:
"The most effective answer to this leadership vacuum would be a new era of political activism by ordinary citizens. The biggest, most far-reaching changes of the past century — the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women’s movement — were not primarily the result of elective politics, but rather the hard work of committed citizen-activists fed up with the status quo. It’s time for thoughtful citizens to turn off their TVs and step into the public arena. Protest. Attend meetings. Circulate petitions. Run for office. I suspect the public right now is way ahead of the politicians when it comes to ideas about creating a more peaceful, more equitable, more intelligent society."
- Bob Herbert, New York Times columnist. (Source: The New York Times, January 25, 2007)
An editorial from Commonweal says that it's fine to call what's happening in Darfur "genocide," but "the word 'genocide' is not enough; we must also accept and respond to the urgency such language implies."
The crisis [in Darfur] is no longer a local land dispute between Arab and non-Arab Muslims. It is systematic ethnic cleansing that threatens the stability of an entire region. The United States must use all its diplomatic resources to force Sudan's leaders into compliance with international law. But that may not be enough. If we are going to keep calling the violence there a genocide, we must be prepared to do whatever we can to stop it, even if this means using force. America’s military, already overcommitted in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in no position to undertake a unilateral intervention, but a small NATO force, with U.S. support, could push back the Janjaweed and establish a no-fly zone over Darfur. Recent events in Somalia have reminded us that the U.S. government is willing to involve itself in African conflicts when it thinks the stakes are high enough, and they could not be much higher than they are in Darfur. Now may seem like an especially bad time to propose yet another military operation, however modest. But if the new cease-fire fails to end the killing, who will tell the people of Darfur to keep waiting? They have been waiting, and we have been watching, for too long already.
So what are we waiting for?
How much do Saints fans love their team? So much that, after their team got whipped by the Bears, hundreds of them went to the airport and waited hours in the cold rain, just to welcome their team home and to say "Thanks." (Thanks to ESPN.com for noticing.)
They said that if the Saints had gone to the Super Bowl and won it, it would have been the sports story of all time. Guess what? It's still the sports story of all time.
(Hat tip to Suspect Device.)
Legal Andrew is this week's host for Blawg Review. As his theme, Andrew has chosen "getting things done," organizing his collection of law-blog links under the headings "collect," "process," "organize," "review," and "do."
Last Sept. 11 was a momentous day in Darfur, too. After unidentified militiamen attacked aid workers from the Nobel Prize-winning Médecins sans Frontières at a roadblock on that date, most of the international aid groups ministering to Darfur's 6 million people stopped using the roads. On Dec. 18, in the southern town of Gereida, unrelated gunmen attacked the compounds of Oxfam and Action Contre la Faim. More than 70 aid workers subsequently pulled out of the refugee camp there—Darfur's largest, with 130,000 people—leaving only 10 Red Cross employees behind. Yet at the time no one revealed what had really sparked the dramatic pullbacks. In both cases, international staff, including three French aid workers, were either raped or sexually assaulted in territory controlled by the Sudanese government and its allies.
Rape as a weapon has become depressingly commonplace in Darfur, where 200,000 Africans have been killed and a third of the population have been sent fleeing into camps in three years of war. But the attacks on international aid workers herald a dramatic and dangerous new trend—the deliberate targeting of those helping to keep Darfur's millions of refugees alive....
Where's the outrage?
Three days ago, I uploaded here a copy of a motion for a two-day continuance or postponement of a trial that was scheduled to start in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Monday, the day after the Bears–Saints NFC Championship game. The attorneys filing the motion convinced the judge that the lawyers, witnesses, and potential jurors would need two full days following the game to recover before reporting to court. Now Above the Law, the self-described legal tabloid blog, has posted a copy of the order granting the motion. Here's the upshot: the judge ordered that the trial must be completed by Friday, February 2, 2007. That's the Friday before the Super Bowl. That, folks, is what I call good docket management.
First the good news: 13 U.N. humanitarian agencies tell us that efforts to save lives have succeeded:
Over the last two years the efforts of humanitarian agencies in Darfur have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the region's conflict. During this time mortality rates were brought below emergency levels, global malnutrition was halved from the height of the crisis in mid-2004 and nearly three-quarters of all Darfurians now have access to safe drinking water. In 2006 alone, 400,000 metric tons of food were delivered. In the face of growing insecurity and danger to communities and aid workers, the UN and its humanitarian partners have effectively been holding the line for the survival and protection of millions.
Now the bad news: the bad guys have figured out that they can kill their intended victims by targeting the relief workers.
Twelve relief workers have been killed in the past six months – more than in the previous two years combined. Their loss has had direct consequences on the Darfur humanitarian operations. The killing of three government water engineers in West Darfur in July 2006 led to a temporary suspension of water and sanitation activities in camps for IDPs. Nine workers from the same Government department were abducted in South Darfur in November 2006 – five are still missing.
In the last six months, 30 NGO and UN compounds were directly attacked by armed groups. More than 400 humanitarian workers have been forced to relocate 31 times from different locations throughout the three Darfur states, including from the capitals El Fasher and El Geneina and from rebel-controlled areas. Assets have been looted and staff threatened and physically harassed. In the town of Gereida (South Darfur), targeted attacks against six humanitarian compounds on 18 December forced the NGO staff to withdraw, seriously compromising the delivery of vital assistance such as food, clean water and health care for 130,000 displaced persons, the largest IDP gathering in all Darfur. Ten days earlier, in the town of Kutum (North Darfur), the staff of four NGOs and WFP were forced to withdraw to El Fasher, after an attack on a clearly marked humanitarian compound. These are but two examples of the types of incidents which have taken place throughout Darfur.
Jim Wallis suggests that the upcoming State of the Union Address gives Pres. Bush an opportunity to help:
We stressed the importance of making Darfur primary in the president's State of the Union address, with clear words about what we – and the world – will DO in the face of Sudanese intransigence. Deadlines have come and gone, with no real change. The State of the Union should mark the moment for the kind of commitment that is necessary to save Darfur. Next Tuesday, as President Bush delivers his speech, I will be listening for action. For God's sake, save Darfur.
To urge the president to take advantage of this opportunity, send him an e-mail.
"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
— Martin Luther King, Jr. (Source: God's Politics.)
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