Brad & Angelina Hit the Ski Slopes

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/718419.html

Students learning to take stand on genocide
UC Davis conference offers training and tools to aid Darfur, group says.
By Dan Vierria - dvierria@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hundreds of students opposed to genocide in Darfur – or wanting to learn more about the subject – are participating in a three-day conference at UC Davis.

More than 200 West Coast students listened to college professors Saturday and participated in discussion with Sudanese activists about the troubled African country.

The conference, sponsored by a student anti-genocide group known as STAND, concludes today for those who preregistered.

STAND conducts regional conferences to stir dormant activist genes in young people.

“We hope to inform students about the situation in Darfur and what they can do,” said Ashley Kroetsch, STAND’s national outreach director. “We’ll give them the training and tools they need.”

The group has 700 chapters worldwide and is the student division of Genocide Intervention Network, whose stated mission is to “empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide.”

Genocide is the deliberate, systematic elimination of an entire nation or ethnic group. Ethnic cleansing, death lists and the dehumanization of people are phrases associated with the horrors of genocide.

Africa’s Rwandan genocide in 1994 may have resulted in the slaughter of as many as 1 million people.

Between 200,000 and 400,000 people have been reported killed and more than 2 million displaced in Darfur, a volatile region in western Sudan. Darfur is described by STAND as the site of the first genocide of the 21st century.

Murder, rape and other atrocities have prompted Hollywood celebrities such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, to bring international attention to the violence in Darfur. STAND seeks to engage and inform students about the issue.

Brianna Beauduin and 10 classmates from Aptos High School in Santa Cruz County piled into the bunker-like Social Science 1100 lecture hall to learn about U.S. foreign policy and current issues in Sudan.

“I just wasn’t very well informed before,” Beauduin said, adding that friends had told her about Darfur.

“I felt ashamed that I didn’t know it was going on. I want to reach out to people and get them more involved.”

Mandy Beatty, a UC Davis agriculture major, was inspired into activism last spring when “Camp Darfur” set up on campus.

“It was some tents and each one had statistics about Rwanda, Darfur and other places,” Beatty said. “You could read the numbers, the atrocities. People think it’s hard to get involved. It’s not. I’m relatively new to the activism thing.”

Students divided into smaller workshop groups at Wellman Hall to learn tactics for being noticed by politicians and the media and how to inspire action.

“We’re not standing on corners with signs or covering ourselves in blood like our parents’ generation,” said Jessica Morales, STAND’s national college program coordinator. “Genocide is something we can prevent and stop.”

“We take a more pragmatic approach,” said Kroetsch. “I know it doesn’t sound good, but when it comes to politics you have to play the game to beat them. We are nonpartisan. We have evangelicals, Muslims, Democrats, Republicans, even little old ladies.”

Once the genocide in Darfur is over, STAND plans to target other countries, such as Myanmar and Congo.

Saraiciata,My prayers are with you and your dear father.I feel for you and your dear father and your family,to have to go through this terrible trauma.I wish for you and your family and your sweet little baby girl,alot of happiness and peace.I hope they catch those terrible people who did that to your poor father.When your little baby girl is born she will bring alot of love and comfort to you and your family.Peace.

Just a thought—if I am Hannah and she is Cliniqua—that would make me Cliniqua!!!!

Do you see how nutty this is getting? This is what I am talking about today kids. Eventually, everybody will be a troll suspect. Inadvertently, some of you played your paranoia out on this one thread……….Wake up!

Mother earth,
Hi, You….I mean Me……oh, I’m so confused!!!!! I should go check my birth certificate, call my mom…something!

# 257 Hannah @ 02/19/2008 at 7:09 pm

Don’t you have a terribly empty feeling - in your skull?

t r o l l s are obvious,
Thank you for completing the cycle of crazy. You are a total psycho but what else can one expect in this den of weirdos? You are probably Clinqua……who seems to have mysteriously disappeared. Look now I’m doing it too. It’s freaking contagious!

Freeeeeeeeeee Angelina!

# 128 Observer2 @ 02/19/2008 at 4:27 pm

Could Brad block the shot of Angelina anymore than he did in the Pagesix video, they weren’t going to get THAT belly shot if Brad had anything to say about it. LOL.

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Yeah…that was pretty funny. Angie was cracking me up, too. Pax was squirming around like “Let me down I wanna walk” and Angie was like, “No ya don’t, kid!”

Malibumom/mother earth/ enough already with your neurosis. You always try to pass for a fan of this couple but you are just another psychotic troll. PT exposed you last week, who can forget all the hateful things you said about Angelina, 5 posts a minute and basically trying to destabilize the thread, when most of the fans left in disgust, Malibumom comes out making threat about exposing the identity of the poster, coincidentally , not, and conveniently Malibumom had access to some purported papers that showed the person knew about Brad and Angie and of course the vile posts stopped immediately and Malibumom was the hero of the day.
Of course it was you making all the posts and also stopped when you called yourself out.
It is a sick game that you play, and your obsession with Zahara’s hair is also unnerving and to think that you even supposedly have children is sad. Go seek help!!!!!!!!!!

reeses pieces,
Your retort took awhile….did you have to call someone for help???? LOL

VickiefromTexas—you’re relatively new and I suspect you wouldn’t notice the difference in the tone around here. There’s a new sort of core group that can and does pounce on the slightest remark from someone not in that core group. Not talking about responding to a bonafide honest to Gosh Troll. Talking about ragging on other fans. Not good.

If you don’t bend over backwards to apologize for your remark, the onslaught of derogatory posts begin and sure as shootin’ you’ll be labelled a troll. What is that about???!!!

Hopefully, it does not happen to you. But also hopefully, when you see it happen to another poster, maybe just choose to give them the benefit of the doubt and decide for yourself whether they are indeed a troll in due time. And this obsessive game of trying to link cybernames as one is outa hand. Today I was outed as being Cliniqua by the time they were finished with me!!!

I have even had posters use my cybername to mess with my authenticity, that’s how absurd it gets. Has just celebrating our mutual love and admiration for Brad and Angie become that routine and boring that we turn our attention on each other looking for trouble??

I’ve read your posts–you strike me as a pretty sane, down-to-earth gal.So am I.

But I say ‘boo’ around here and the ‘troll’ stones are thrown at me. I can take it, no problemo ’cause I know I am not. But for the sake of the underdog, the innocent that comes here and gets the same reaction, I will keep fighting the good fight. Hope you do too :-)

Peace and bye for now.

Not again @ 02/19/2008 at 7:21 pm
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PREACH! I just wish this b i t c h will go away already

Passing Through @ 02/19/2008 at 7:18 pm # 128 Observer2 @ 02/19/2008 at 4:27 pm

Could Brad block the shot of Angelina anymore than he did in the Pagesix video, they weren’t going to get THAT belly shot if Brad had anything to say about it. LOL.

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Yeah…that was pretty funny. Angie was cracking me up, too. Pax was squirming around like “Let me down I wanna walk” and Angie was like, “No ya don’t, kid!”

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lol… someone said she’ll carry brad, ha ha ha lol