Darfur activists are concerned that the latest comments by the Obama administration’s special envoy for Sudan are a sign the United States is easing pressure on Khartoum.

Say WHAT? Well hey, since when was Darfur a big priority for our government anyway? Our leaders have been focusing on *real* issues, like…

1. Finding a puppy that’s cute AND hypoallergenic
2. Making fun of handicapped people
3. Further inflating the already too-big Gates incident and turning a serious national discussion of racial profiling into a late-night beer jokes

Oh wait, *those* aren’t the issues! Those are the publicity stunts that Obama’s been using so people won’t pay *attention* to the economy, health care, and foreign policy! Not to mention Darfur…

On Thursday, the special envoy, Scott Gration, appeared to argue for easing sanctions when he told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that there is no evidence to back up the U.S. designation of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism. He said that the sanctions were hindering his work and called the terrorism designation “a political decision.”

*slaps forehead*

So let me get this straight.

Saddam Hussein’s government, which led the oil-rich nation of Iraq, killed Shi’ites and Kurds, and supposedly had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al Qaeda circa 2003. That makes that government a terrorist government.

But the government of the oil-rich nation of Sudan has been slowly wiping out the Darfur region *since* 2003, with support from the landlord to America’s broke tenant, China. We’ve been hanging out in the apartments in the middle of the eastern section of its floor, but it really wanted to, it could crash Sudan’s kegger instead. But China will of course be at that party, so if we went, things would get even more awkward. So let’s *not* put the Sudan on our shit list of terrorists. And *not* designating Sudan’s government as a threat to human life for those reasons is totally NOT a “political decision”.

*Now* I get it.