I'm half way through the movie "Blood Diamond". You think the USA has problems??

[helderheid]

You're right, we do. The biggest problem would have to be our priorities. Thanks to our "liberal media", we haven't a clue. Thanks to our corporate owned government, we don't have a say.

Why the fuck aren't we helping the people in Africa? Don't tell me "oil". That's the reason our government doesn't help. I get that. I also get we don't have the resources without our government. Why aren't we ... WE doing all we can? Something I didn't see in the movie but heard on Democracy Now! was about the rapes of the women. They aren't "just" being raped. They are being raped with objects that render them unable to control any bowel movements or urination. They are being mutilated.

I don't know what to say. I just keep wiping away tears. Help me, DU.

[fenriswolf]

1. i know how you feel

i couldnt think straight after reading a story about an orphanage in iraq where the children were chained to their cribs wallowing in their own filth. it gets to you and you have to dissasociate yourself for your own mental health.

[bridgit]

2. seen that movie back some, it sucks, heard Pat Robertson, likely among many others...

have holdings in african, blood diamond operations

[Sugar Smack]

3. Here's a link. The torture is called "fistula".

http://www.endfistula.org/

I've read a dozen articles about it. This can mollify the effects of, but not end, fistula.

[proud patriot]

4. That's a powerful movie

It's alright to Cry
It's alright to Yell

Everying is Not Okay

:hug:

[Bozita]

5. Here's what you get by googling "Pat Robertson diamonds"

One of Pat Robertson's Latest Frauds
OFFICIALS MUM ON ROBERTSON DIAMOND MINE OPERATION PROBE. A yearlong investigation of televangelist Pat Robertson's activities in Africa is now over, ...
www.skeptictank.org/robem2.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages
Diamonds are Robertson's best friend
Thirty-five years ago, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network ... In Zaire, the ADC operates a diamond-mining project in the center of ...
www.sullivan-county.com/news/pat_quotes/diamonds.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages
Pat Robertson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pat Robertson is a distant relative of the 9th US President, William Henry ..... were transporting diamond-mining equipment for the Robertson-owned African ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson - 152k - Cached - Similar pages
Pat Robertson's Business Practices
In all of this, the clever Pat Robertson saw an opportunity. The two became close associates, and Mobuto allowed Pat to open diamond mines in Zaire, ...
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7027/business.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages
Ms. Magazine | From the Archives
Robertson. Christian Broadcasting Network's Pat Robertson (AP Photo) .... In the end, Robertson's diamond-mining venture was a big bust. ...
www.msmagazine.com/sept03/sizemore.asp - 31k - Cached - Similar pages
Godless Wonder: FEMA Secretly Funneling Katrina Donations to Pat ...
FEMA Secretly Funneling Katrina Donations to Pat Robertson's Diamond Mine Cargo Planes Charity. FEMA Hiding Rev. Pat 'Charity' from Sploid ...
godlesswonder.blogspot.com/2005/ 09/fema-secretly-funneling-katrina.html - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
usnews.com: Opinion: Michael Barone on connections between Jesse ...
Dirty diamonds. By Michael Barone. What do Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, and al Qaeda have in common? The answer is: They all have been associated with the ...
www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/baroneweb/mb_011112.htm - 32k - Cached - Similar pages
NewsMine.org - fema promotes pat robertson diamonds.txt
fema promotes pat robertson diamonds.txt · fema sent to sexual harrassment class instead.txt · fema to end paying for victims hotel.txt ...
newsmine.org/.../nature-health/environment/ katrina-hurricane-2005/fema-promotes-pat-robertson-diamonds.txt - 50k - Cached - Similar pages
Pat Robertson
Reverend Pat Robertson has been one of America's foremost TV preachers for .... Robertson's diamond business also involved Charles Taylor, the Liberian ...
www.nndb.com/people/552/000022486/ - 16k - Cached - Similar pages
Dirty diamonds: What do Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson, and Al Qaeda ...
It is impossible to believe that Jesse Jackson or Pat Robertson were aware that their friend and business ally Charles Taylor's regime was helping fund Al ...
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/569530/posts - 16k - Cached - Similar pages

[LTR]

17. Damn, beat me to it

Marion's up to his eyeballs in African diamonds. Not to mention real cozy with African dictators like Charles Taylor.

[sandnsea]

6. Well, it's overwhelming

I started a web site after 2004 to try to focus on groups who were really doing things around the world, to give people hope that WE could make the changes even if our government did not. Well let me tell you, it is OVERWHELMING. There is much being done, but there is still so much to do. Even trying to pull it all together in a usable format for people, even that is overwhelming. Then you turn around and in your own back yard somebody has been burned out or doesn't have medical care or meets some other tragedy.

The good news is that most diamonds are conflict free these days. Or at least we can hope the documentation process isn't too terribly compromised.

http://www.fredmeyerjewelers.com/Service/contentviewer.aspx?ID=ConflictDiamonds

[TheWatcher]

7. I heard the same report, helderheid

I really don't know what to tell you or what to say. The priorities of this country's government and it's people have been whacked out for a very long time. I have become so frustrated with it that I really have a hard time having conversations with people about it anymore.

We are kind of lost as a country right now.

People just want to feel good. They don't even want to have to face what is going on here, much less there.

But, hey, the Patriots completed their undefeated season tonight, so I suppose all is well.

If it doesn't directly affect most people's lives, you are unfortunately screaming into the darkness.

I hope that will change.

It has to, if we are not only to survive as a country, but as a species.

[WinkyDink]

13. Thank you for at least mentioning football, instead of the usual "American Idol".

[Sultana]

8. I can't bring myself to watch the film

:cry: I've seen pictures and heard people's' stories, it just too much.

The suffering that my fellow Africans have endured is completely heartbreaking, sometimes I try to shut it out, just so I don't feel anything. :-(

Africa doesn't get the help from the world because the majority of it's inhabitants are black. But also corruption w/in the various states and the lack of educated human resources is stalling development.

[Faux pas]

9. I saw it, made me sick to my stomach. The fact that Africans are

still slaves in their own country is revolting. All the killing for greed's sake....I've run out of words to describe the heinousness.

[IndianaJones]

10. because power in our country is held by white people. nt.

[Lindsey]

11. I just can't watch it because I know premise. The Pat Robertson

connection is simply beyond words.

[Missy M]

12. I saw the movie and was shocked.....

at the violence and cruelty of it all. What is the answer to stopping it? How do you change the thinking of the people who commit the atrocities. The whole world should be involved in helping. The rapes and mutilation of the women is so heartbreaking, my mind can't comprehend how one human being could do that to another.

[DutchLiberal]

14. Because big multinationals are making millions of dollars of the misery of the Africans...

Who do you think finances the corrupt governments in Africa? Who are making sure civil wars can endure? Who provide murderous 'rebellion groups' with the weapons they need? Multinationals, corporations! And why? To exploit the natural resources of Africa. Gold, diamonds, you name it, it's there.

And this is not an American thing. Europe, Russia, China are in it as well.

[babylonsister]

15. That movie blew my mind. I highly recommend watching it.

If you own any diamonds, it makes you want to chuck 'em in the ocean. Really eye-opening.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. Same here. I've never been a "diamond" girl...

but I told my soon-to-be-fiance that I don't want a diamond. Get me a CZ and I'm a happy woman. Seriously.

[helderheid]

18. thanks all of you.