Bad news for Darfur peacekeepers…

For nearly two years, the United Nations has appealed to its 192 member nations to provide 18 transport helicopters so the peacekeeping force in Darfur can quickly get troops to troublespots. But not a single country has pledged a chopper.

With an additional $2 billion in funding, the “Cash for Clunkers” program has a new lease on life until Labor Day. But it’s not clear if Clunkers, the sequel, will show the same robust results that the program did in its first week, quickly running through the $1 billion that was supposed to last until November.

Again, this was a great idea for the short term, but who knows what long-term effects it will have?

Reporting from Washington and Nairobi, Kenya — After years of worldwide outrage over suffering in Darfur, the Obama administration will soon launch a new policy that could soften some longtime U.S. sanctions against the Sudanese government implicated in the large-scale killings and displacement of African tribespeople.

How exactly will policy change?

White House officials say that specific conditions would have to be met before sanctions would be lifted, and that Sudan could face even tougher sanctions if its leaders act in bad faith. But President Obama’s handpicked envoy to Sudan, J. Scott Gration, said in an interview Monday that the Khartoum government, which expelled humanitarian groups this year after an international court accused Sudan’s president of war crimes in Darfur, has shown a willingness to work toward stabilizing Darfur in order to allow aid to be delivered.

“We see that there is a spirit of cooperation and an attitude of wanting to help,” Gration said.

Guess I spoke a little too soon in blasting Obama’s Darfur policy…

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.

LEWISTON – You could say it was running on empty. After taking off this month, the popular Cash for Clunker trade-in program ran out of federal funding.

Friday the House passed $2 billion in emergency funds to keep it driving on.

Some Valley residents have already taken advantage of the first $1billion.

At Rogers Toyota, Sales Manager David Stockwell said the program has helped business.

I feel like Cash for Clunkers and all the other recent government interference in the private sector is a good idea…in the short term. Long term, we’ll see if it sets a bad precedent for America’s economic system.

By Ben Tan — August 3, 2009

Ford’s July auto sales were up 2.3 percent, juiced by the government’s “cash for clunkers” $4,500 credit, the automaker reported.

“Cash for clunkers put us over the top,” said George Pipas, sales analyst for Ford on CNBC.

The short-term government spending program designated $1 billion to pay consumers up to $4,500 for trading in old cars for energy efficient vehicles. Money for the program ran out months earlier than expected, forcing the House to vote for $2 billion more on Friday. The Senate has yet to take up the additional funding request. Obama’s backers say the program proves that the president’s economic plan is correct.

“The so-called cash for clunkers program has actually been far more successful than people expected,” said National Economic Council President Larry Summers, “both in terms of the number of car sales it’s generated, and, I should say, in terms of the environmental benefit.”

Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, gave a thumbs-up to the cash for clunkers program but said yesterday it is popular because the economy is on its way back up, and not because it is stimulative. The program has worked to get people to buy cars and move stock, he said, but Greenspan did not necessarily recommend it as an economic fix.

“It’s an interesting issue,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I mean, I have qualms about the concept, but there is no doubt that that very extraordinary response is a very important indicator that the state of confidence in the economy is beginning to pick up. If we had been — the clunker program had been put in place six months ago, it would have probably been a dud.”

Ford’s monthly increase marks their first since November 2007. Ford is the first major automaker to report July sales. The automaker believed it would “fall short” of last year’s July sales until the government stimulus kicked in, Pipas said. Sales of Ford’s core brands, Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury, rose by 9 percent according to the report. Diminished fleet sales and other poor-performing brands dragged the overall number down to 2.3 percent.