Sudan

VM reader Elayne mentioned that there’s a resolution in the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res. 403) condemning Sudan and calling for the UN to start an investigation into crimes against humanity. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf, the ranking representative from Virginia. I wanted to e-mail him directly, but his site won’t let you do that unless you’re from his district.

As I read about the resolution, I found that there was a concurrent bill in the Senate (S. Con. Res. 99), cosponsored by 21 senators (including both from my home state of NJ). It appears that the resolution is passed but “Held at the desk.” I’m afraid I don’t know enough about the workings of our Senate to know what that means. If anyone else does, please fill me in (hit the Comments section below).

I’m not sure of the status of the resolution in the House, but it appears that my representative isn’t among the 94 reps who have supoorted it. So I wrote to my representative, Scott Garrett:

Please support Congressional Resolution 403, condemning the Sudanese government for supporting attacks against the citizens of Darfur.

What’s going on in Sudan is genocide, and the U.S. needs to stand against it. Our representatives and senators need to make our support of human rights known. Both senators from NJ have cosponsored the concurrent resolution in their house (S. Con. Res. 99).

We’re in a new world. I support our actions in Iraq as being the best way to bring that area of the world toward modernity. But we can’t let atrocities like what’s transpiring in Sudan go undeterred and unpunished. If we do, it’ll turn into another breeding-ground of evil.

Stand up and support Resolution 403.

Thanks,

Gil Roth

If you wanna send a message to your representative on the quick, you should go here. It’ll give you info on the bills, and you can put in your zip code and get a pre-formatted letter sent to your rep (or you can edit it if you like).

The group that runs this site is Church World Service. According to the disclaimer at the bottom of the site’s home page, “Church World Service is a cooperative humanitarian ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations, providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in more than 80 countries. CWS is part of the ecumenical family of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.”

I’m not pushing Christ on anyone (talk about an opiate…). I’m a Jew (but not a very religious one). I’m going to look into CWS and I hope that it doesn’t turn out that they have some really monstrous, repressive agenda. It doesn’t look like it, at first glance. You can read a little about them at their FAQ page.

I’m glad they’re taking such an interest in averting the Sudan crisis. My girlfriend and I recently tried to figure out what sort of humanitarian fund or group we could donate to that wouldn’t raise the possibility of our money getting funneled into a U.S.-bashing program. I proposed that we start raising funds to buy guns for the displaced Sudanese. She thought we might be able to find used fighter jets on Ebay.

I know this stuff has to be getting tiresome to some readers. My eyes glaze over when Andrew Sullivan starts writing about gay marriage, and I support the guy. Anyway, if you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking with it. I appreciate whatever support you can muster for this cause. I know we all have enough in our lives, without having to worry about the fates of people thousands of miles from here.