Fresh Loaf

Last week, I wrote about how individual and official corruption has pushed Nigeria to the brink of collapse. Despite being as dense with natural resources as a Whole Foods store built on top of an Exxon, roughly 80 percent of Nigerians live on less than $2 per day.

Rereading the column yesterday, I had a couple thoughts.

First, I thought, “Wow! If I managed the newspapers in which this column appeared, I’d double the columnist’s pay! Retroactively!”

Second, I thought the concept of corruption could probably use a little more explaining.

The overwhelming majority of Americans don’t experience corruption the way people in poorer countries do. By and large, we aren’t hustled by cops for $100 bills when we get pulled over for speeding. The fire department doesn’t demand tribute before extinguishing your house. And we don’t have politicians in this country who rig our political and economic rules to help moneyed special interests. OK, scratch that last one.

Continue Reading “Don’t Panic: Tell me more about corruption, please.”

(Illustration by Andisheh Nouraee)

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Effective immediately, companies wishing to do business with the state of Georgia — and be paid with your tax dollars — best not have ties with Sudan.

Gov. Sonny Perdue today signed a bill that prohibits the state from contracting with companies that conduct business or have ties to the African country’s oil, power, mineral and military sectors. Profits from the sectors are widely believed to help perpetrate genocide in the nation’s southern region of Darfur.

Since 2003, more than 400,000 people have been killed and 2.3 million displaced by genocide in the African nation’s southern region of Darfur. The atrocities, which have been condemned by the United States, are carried out by militias funded by the Sudanese government.

“What this says is very simple,” state Sen. David Adelman, D-Decatur, the bill’s sponsor, said after its signing. “If your business or any of its affiliates are engaged in any business activities with the government of Sudan, you cannot do business with the state of Georgia.”

Companies that plan to do business with Georgia state agencies are now required to disclose international business contracts during the Request for Proposal, or RFP, process. If a company falsifies or fails to accurately disclose its ties with Sudan, it could be fined $250,000 or double the bid it submitted to the state, whichever is greater. The company could also lose the contract and be ineligible to bid on state projects for three years.

(more…)

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Earlier today, ABC News’ Jake Tapper reported U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, would join protesters at a Save Darfur Coalition rally in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Well, the civil rights leader and longtime statesman was there, alright. And he got arrested.

From the AJC‘s Bob Keefe in D.C.:

Georgia Rep. John Lewis and five other members of Congress were arrested for civil disobedience as part of a protest against the humanitarian policies of the Sudanese government in Darfur.

Lewis, a civil rights leader, and others were arrested after crossing a police line and refusing to leave the steps of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington during the protest. The Democrat from Atlanta was expected to be released from a Washington police precinct within a few hours, said Ann Brown, a spokeswoman for the Save Darfur coalition.

…

“We cannot stand by, watch and wait,” he said. “Almost 10 years ago, my hometown of Atlanta welcomed some of the Lost Boys, refugees of the civil war in the Sudan. These young men stole our hearts. … how many more have to pay this heavy price?

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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I need to start eating more cod liver oil or ginseng. My memory is deteriorating.

I heard two weeks ago that Steven Spielberg quit his gig as artistic muckety-muck for the 2008 Beijing Olympics to protest China’s support for the Sudanese government’s genocidal killings in Darfur.

But only ten minutes ago did I remember I wrote last year about how Spielberg didn’t seem to have any problem with China’s actions until actress Mia Farrow publicly shamed him.

Wrote Farrow in a Wall Street Journal op-ed:

“Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games?”

Nearly one year since Farrow publicly asked the question, Spielberg has finally answered no.

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