Who ever elected in November ,senator Feingold has a close relation with both Presidential Candidate so as to enforce the new bill to be endorsed as a law.

Dont you see some hope of window for human right and accountability progress through this bill for ethiopians , and dark future for woyanee…leaders ?

I m optimist there will be something in the coming years!

Woyane told us all lies for the past 20 years. The world is changed but nothing is changed in ethiopia except those building made of donation and credit.

We ethiopians need freedom and peace and Justice.

Pleace let us mobilise for this new bill endorsment and give our support !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

O. J Tolera from Wisconsin

When we hear Congress vowing to pay for new programs with offsets, it's important to keep an eye on what they're swapping out.

Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy introduced a bill, S 3457, Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2008 . The cost: $20 million. The measures to be undertaken are unspecific. Apparently the Ethiopian government which is responsible for the human rights violations in the first place, will directly receive at least some of the funds. The appropriation will be covered by taking $20 million out of the NASA budget (SEC. 6. OFFSETS).

There's a lot going on in Africa with geopolitical implications for the U.S. China, seeking raw materials and cheap labor for their economic expansion, has established a huge presence on the African continent. China is also heavily invested in militarization, establishing a moon base, and developing anti-satellite weapons.

Notwithstanding all the geopolitical complexities of Africa and the US commitment to promoting democracy and human rights, is it wise to be taking money out of the NASA budget for vague, questionable attempts to promote democracy in Ethiopia? Corruption is widespread and there is no guarantee what will become of the $20 million.

At the very least, could the money come from some less critical agency? The NEA, for example. It is argued that art is an important aspect of American life not to be neglected by the U.S. Treasury. Well it's hard to appreciate art when the gallery has been zapped by a space weapon. I'm thinking promoting human rights would be favored within the art world and they'd be more than willing to share the wealth for such a noble cause.

Sens. Feingold and Leahy explain their thinking:

We cannot afford to be fiscally irresponsible so we must make choices to ensure that our children and grandchildren do not bear the burden of our reckless spending. Instead of cutting specific programs, which are likely to have begun and thus would cost more to close, transferring $20 million from the general budget would allow appropriators to evaluate, at their discretion, how best to make this transfer.

If "pay as you go" means there are programs that can withstand a reduced budget, let's just go ahead and cut those budgets for the sake of reducing spending. Am I crazy?

Thank you Senator and thank you advocacy group of HR2003 including Prof. Almarim, and others who are working to achive the goals of HR2003, oh my gash…oh my gash….is that how the weyanes will feel about the passing of the bill. If hr 2003 drives the weyanes as crazy as they sound on the conversation, we all Ethiopians from every corner should continue to contribute our part to end the weyane era by any means possible…

I cannot believe how the weyane DEDEB and DOMA members and supporters will try to fight back to hide their own crimes and want to continue thier crimes in the name of fake democracy.

But at the same time I feel embarrassed by the Ethiopians who are victims of weyane and are found to be oppositions of weyane…look weyane how aggressive they are to continue to their crimes and on the other hand look how coward we are to resist the evil weyanes to stop their criminal activities….weyanes have already concluded that the Ethiopian people are enemies, while we tend to sometimes assume that weyane is just the opponent.

Let’s stop our silly game, and start to fight the weyane criminal group by any means possible, Ethiopia will not have the worst enemy as weyane….weyane is the worst enemy of the Ethiopian people…so let’s say enough is enough and start to fight the weyane criminal groups everywhere….
Here in Diaspora…let’s start boycott all the business of weyane including using their restaurants, stop buying from their stores, gas station and so on. In addition to that lets tell them up to their nose that weyane is the worst criminal and corrupted group in the world. No more fear to weyane…lets all fight those weyane members and their hodam sympathizers everywhere…lets all show that we are capable of resisting ourselves and defending our people from the endless crimes of weyane surrounding by killing, harassing , abusing and intimating civilians.

We will continue to support HR2003 along with many other duties against weyane here in Diaspora…..

Death to all members of weyane and their HODAM supporters.