Senator Evan Bayh:
Tavis Smiley, North Korea, American Independence & Zimbabwe
Thursday, July 2, 2009 several leaders across the state of Indiana met with Senator Evan Bayh, who is the state’s Jr. Senator. At this meeting several people came to me to express their agreement with Melissa Harris-Lacewell and her opinion that Tavis was trying to hold President Obama to a race agenda. They were at the screening of Tavis’ movie “Stand”, which is a very good movie that needs minor technical adjustments. They heard Tavis say in reference to Dr Lacewell’s article that she was “insignificant” and that all he wanted Senator Obama to do was tell the truth even if it cost him the election. When Tavis was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton his position just sounds so disingenuous. Tavis we see through you like we see through Dawn. Your self serving position is really poorly hid by your eloquent rhetoric. We all should hold President Obama accountable to do the right thing. We must hold you accountable to do the right thing. Yes, even I must be held accountable. However, don’t take a position that is disingenuous because it will serve your self interest to be the HNIC. For those who know what I just said, y’all forgive me.
Also at this meeting I had the opportunity to ask Senator Bayh to champion changing U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe. Presently U.S. foreign policy imposes sanctions upon the nation of Zimbabwe. These sanctions are very instrumental in causing the death of innocent men, women and children by starvation. U.S. policy intentionally is starving these people because it does not like the people who presently run the government. Any policy that will intentionally cause innocent men, women and children to starve in order to affect a regime change is a poor policy. President Obama is really iffy on changing this policy. Sen. Bayh noted that both North Korea and Iran are rattling military sabers at the U.S. Yet our foreign policy has not implemented sanctions against either of these countries. North Korea has even had the nerve to fire nuclear rockets on July 4th as a clear signal to President Obama and the United States that they don’t care that U.S. policy opposes them having nuclear weapons capability. Zimbabwe is of no military threat to the United States. Military threats to the United States are not even in the rhetoric of the Zimbabwean government. Killing Zimbabwe’s innocent men, women and children is a tragic position, and in Senator Bayh’s words, just not the right thing to do.
There is a resolution that is circulating around the House of Representatives. I have changed it so that it reflects a more humane position in the policy. I am asking all God fearing people to write your Senators and congress people to support HR 238 in the redacted form below. For people from Indiana Congressman Andre Carson has indicated that he is willing to champion a change of policy on the House side. His Washington DC office number is 202-225-4011. You can email him at jarnell.craig@mail.house.gov
Brent Evan Wake will be coordinating this effort for Senator Bayh. You can reach him at 260-426-3151 or Brent_Wake@bayh.senate.gov Please ask them to support HR 238 in the form that is pasted below. I pray that God continues to order our steps. Thank you for listening to AjabuSpeaks.
H.RES.238
Recognizing the threat to international security and basic human dignity posed by the catastrophic decline of economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in the Republic of... (Introduced in House)
HRES 238 IH
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 238
Recognizing the threat to international security and basic human dignity posed by the catastrophic decline of economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in the Republic of Zimbabwe.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 12, 2009
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. INGLIS, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. WOLF) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the threat to international security and basic human dignity posed by the catastrophic decline of economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Whereas a number of circumstances have contributed directly to the collapse of the Republic of Zimbabwe's economy, public health care, and education systems, and other basic social services;
Whereas water treatment and delivery have dramatically declined, and many other basic social services, such as trash collection, have effectively ceased in urban areas, posing significant health risks due to poor sanitation;
Whereas, with the unemployment rate at 94 percent and with food and fuel in short supply, Zimbabweans now contend with widespread malnutrition rates and outbreaks of infectious diseases;
Whereas according to the World Food Program, almost three quarters of the population, nearly 7,000,000 people, will require emergency food aid in the coming months;
Whereas, in a country that was once heralded as the breadbasket of Africa, a higher percentage of its citizens now rely on food aid than in any other country in the world;
Whereas, with limited access to food, health care, clean water and basic sanitation, life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen from 62 years in 1990 to just 34 years today;
Whereas as a result of the political and economic crisis, and subsequent flight of trained health professionals, public hospitals and clinics throughout the country have been forced to close their doors, leaving most Zimbabweans with little to no access to health care;
Whereas Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world;
Whereas HIV clinics in Zimbabwe increasingly have had limited-to-no access to test kits, blood sample kits, and drugs to treat opportunistic infections, and high malnutrition rates have rendered many suffering from AIDS unable to take the necessary antiretroviral medications;
Whereas, as a direct result of the collapse of Zimbabwe's health and sanitation services, the country is in the middle of a nationwide cholera epidemic, with over 89,000 cases reported and over 4,000 dead;
Whereas the spreading of this disease was preventable and has since become a regional problem, with cases reported in all of Zimbabwe's neighboring countries; and
Whereas, in addition to cholera, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, Zimbabwe's crumbling health infrastructure is now also challenged by the emergence of several hundred human cases of anthrax, which were reportedly contracted as a result of starving Zimbabweans eating carrion, or dead and putrefying animals: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the threat to international security and basic human dignity posed by the catastrophic decline of economic, humanitarian, and human rights conditions in the Republic of Zimbabwe;
(2) deplores the current crisis and untold suffering which is upon the people of Zimbabwe;
(3) urges all responsible nations to join the United States in providing urgently needed humanitarian relief to the Zimbabwean people, as necessary and appropriate, with a particular emphasis on food, clean water, and basic sanitation, in an effort to ameliorate the ongoing humanitarian emergency and confront the cholera epidemic which now poses a transnational threat;
(4)requests that nongovernmental organizations engaged in humanitarian relief activities be given sufficient space to operate; and
(5)request that all political prisoners be released immediately and all spurious charges unjustly leveled against them be dropped.
(6) and demands that the sanctions upon Zimbabwe be immediately lifted so this tragic situation can be resolved as soon as possible.