Zimbabwe: “Prepare To Be A War Correspondent”

The sentence jumped off the newspaper page at me today.  “Prepare To Be A War Correspondent.”

It was a brutal reminder that the situation in Zimbabwe is a tinderbox following the elections where President Robert Mugabe was defeated.  His attempts, however,  to hold onto power, and even drag the nation into chaos and bloodshed is not a shocker for anyone who has followed his chaotic and wretched time as leader.

The party of Mugabe is threatening the nation into supporting him in a runoff election.  Many however do not see as necessary another election, given the fraud that took place a month ago when voters cast their ballots to end the monstrous regime of Mugabe.

If voters fail to return Mr. Mugabe to office, the Politburo member told a Zimbabwean journalist working with The New York Times, “Prepare to be a war correspondent.”

The political impasse seems likely to persist for months. ZANU-PF and the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, have challenged the election results in more than 50 parliamentary districts, the state-owned newspaper, The Herald, reported Wednesday. Those challenges, which are supposed to be resolved in six months, could overturn the opposition’s newly won control of the lower house of Parliament.

The ruling party, the military and their irregular forces — youth militias and veterans of the liberation struggle against white rule — have for weeks been threatening, arresting and beating those they see as threats, including journalists, election monitors and even people who had simply voted for the opposition.

But the widening net of intimidation now appears to be taking a toll on children too, further fraying a society enduring a precipitous economic collapse.

Services that would normally help tens of thousands of orphans each month — including health care, clean water, sports and social clubs — are now being restricted because of the political violence in large areas of the country.

“Zimbabwe’s children are already suffering on multiple fronts,” said James Elder, a spokesman for Unicef. “To see their situation further deteriorate through violence or intimidation that prevents people reaching them is unacceptable.”

Other aid workers say they have been warned by government officials to suspend their operations, lest they be seen as meddling in the nation’s affairs. Teachers, who served as nonpartisan supervisors at polling stations, have been systematically singled out, with 496 questioned by the police, 133 assaulted by thugs and 123 charged with election fraud, according to the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe. Teachers who worked for the opposition also said they had been attacked.

An unsigned editorial in Saturday’s issue of The Herald singled out teachers as part of an elaborate British- and American-financed plot to rig the election and get rid of Mr. Mugabe.

The editorial described the teachers as having been trained in South Africa and by the National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit group based in Washington whose chairman is Madeleine K. Albright, the former American secretary of state. It said the teachers were fleeing “to avoid the long arm of the law.”

 

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, RobertMugabe, Africa, NewYorkTimes

Helen Thomas Still Seeking Truth In White House

I have admired and respected Helen Thomas all my life. She has demonstrated what a tenacious and credible White House reporter is all about.   Thomas again proved her mettle when taking on White House Press Secretary Dana Perino yesterday over the issue of torture.

Technorati Tags: HelenThomas, DanaPerino, Torture, WarOnTerror, PresidentBush, WhiteHouse

 

Hillary Clinton Not In War Zone, But Pat Nixon Was

The idea that Hillary Clinton was ever in a war zone with bullets flying and immediate safety concerns on a high alert has been proved to be only fanciful attempts by the Clinton campaign to win the Democratic nomination.  And her assertion that she was the first wife of a president to be in a war zone since Eleanor Roosevelt is absolutely untrue.

Pat Nixon flew to Vietnam during the war in July 1969 and the scene can be viewed by the words and picture of that trip.

“We flew more than 1,500 feet above the ground in case of enemy fire,” Boyer says, “with fighter jets above and scores of helos flying under and around us for maximum protection. We even put down bullet proof mats on the helo floor.

“The Secret Service was against the trip,” Boyer says, “because the entire country was a war zone.”

In addition there is a passage in a biography of Pat Nixon by Julie Nixon Eisenhower that gives a description that makes Hillary Clinton’s trip seem like one to Disneyland.

Precautions for Mrs. Nixon’s security made her contacts with the Vietnamese during the one-day visit very difficult. At the Thuduc orphanage, where 774 children were housed, the hordes of Secret Service agents, reporters, military guards, and the din of the army helicopters whirring overhead all but drowned out any words spoken inside the buildings constructed years before by the French. As Mother emerged from the hospital, she saw fighter jets above the thick shield of circling helicopters. Their shrill whine added to the overpowering noise.

       Soon she was in an open-door military helicopter flying 18 miles north of Saigon to visit the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh. Occasionally she caught glimpses of scattered U.S. troops on the ground below. The agents who traveled with her were armed with machine guns and bandoliers loaded with cartridges slung across their shoulders. In the news dispatches filed from Saigon on July 30, one correspondent wrote:

       “Mrs. Richard Nixon risked her safety and possibly her good relations with some diplomats, brass and bureaucrats in Vietnam today. In trips to an orphanage, to a GI field hospital, and her exchanges with high-ranking officials, she made it clear she had little time for high-level formalities and wanted to see more of the men who were hurt and the children who had suffered….At the hospital, officials tried to tell her all about what they do. She brushed them aside. ‘I don’t really want to learn about the hospital. I came to see the boys,’ Mrs. Nixon said.”

Technorati Tags: PatNixon, RichardNixon, HillaryClinton, Bosnia, Vietnam,

Darfur Deaths “Will Reach A Staggering Total” In Coming Months

Exactly what does spitting into the wind feel like? 

I, along with others who stress the need to right the wrongs of Darfur are the folks to ask.  We are the experts.

There are some themes and issues that get mentioned often on this blog.  Sometimes I admit in a preachy way.  But so be it.

One of those international issues with a clear moral foundation that requires our attention is Darfur where blood and fear are more common than anything else.  Sure, the issues are highly complex, but I strongly state that denying justice and safety to those affected now only make the matters on the ground in that region far more problematic to resolve.

Now comes a column by a Sudan expert, Professor Eric Reeves from Smith College, that writes things might get much worse very quickly.  The article first appeared in the Washington Post, and was reprinted in the Tuesday edition of The Capital Times.  History will harshly judge our inaction to this human catastrophe.

Paralyzing seasonal rains begin in earnest in June throughout the region. In eastern Chad, an obscenely underreported humanitarian crisis has put half a million Darfuri refugees and Chadian displaced persons at acute risk because of insecurity spilling over from Darfur. A European Union force deploying to eastern Chad may provide some of the protection necessary to halt the most threatening violence, but much depends on whether the force is perceived as an extension of a long-term French military presence that has supported Chadian President Idriss Déby.

In Darfur itself, however, the protection force authorized by the U.N. Security Council last July has stalled badly. Little more than a slightly augmented version of the African Union mission, it risks failing soon if it cannot do much better than its weak and undermanned predecessor. Khartoum refuses to accept key contingents from non-African countries and obstructs force deployment and operations in a range of ways. Indeed, nothing contributes more to what Human Rights Watchrecently described as “chaos by design.” While a variety of rebel groups, bandits and opportunistic armed elements contribute to the violence that threatens humanitarians, Khartoum has invested virtually nothing in providing security for Darfuris or humanitarians. On the contrary, reports from the field make clear that a climate of hostility, obstruction and abuse defines the working environment for all aid organizations. Khartoum still refuses to disarm its brutal Arab militia forces, the Janjaweed. Recently, in a campaign reminiscent of the worst military violence of the genocide’s early years, Khartoum’s regular ground and air forces coordinated with the Janjaweed in massive scorched-earth assaults against civilian villages in West Darfur.

###

The international community has waited far too long to come to terms with the brutal motives behind Khartoum’s simultaneous blocking of a U.N.-authorized protection force and its unconstrained harassment of humanitarian operations. Nothing short of the most urgent deployment of security forces will allow food to be moved into areas of greatest need. And nothing less than an equally urgent commitment to protect aid operations will permit an expanded humanitarian reach in the critical three months before the start of the rainy season. If Khartoum is not confronted over its deadly policies of fostering insecurity while obstructing humanitarian operations, then we may measure the consequences in hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The choice is before us now.

Technorati Tags: Darfur, Sudan, EricReeves, SmithCollege, ForeignPolicy

Boycotting The Summer Olympic Games In China

I for one was very pleased to see the protests taking place in Paris, London, and now San Francisco over the human rights abuses and dreadful foreign policy decisions by China.  At a time when too many here think of Iraq and the Middle East when the extremely broad topic of foreign policy is mentioned, it is important that Chinese policies be brought to the center of our global awareness.

I have long argued that the decision by President Nixon to go to China was more important than the Watergate affair.  As deeply damaging as Watergate was to the political culture in our nation, the fact is the positive effects of Nixon’s famous China trip are more important.  The long lasting impact of opening lines of dialogue and trade has benefited both our nations, and fostered connections that will serve all in the future.  If we do what is right.

By having international connections with China does not mean there are not serious differences that will require honest debate and action.  We should not be blind to the fact that every nation that we consider to be a rouge state has the support of China.  China policy to these nations comes in various forms, be it militarily or economic.  Iran is but perhaps the most central example to many who follow the headlines.  But the issues that arise from Chinese policies in places like Tibet and Darfur, and which do not see the banner headlines everyday, are worthy of the reaction that has been seen over the Olympic Games to be held this summer in China.

The ability of leveraging China to move in a more humane direction is one of the benefits of having diplomatic relations with the most populous nation in the world.  We should not, and must not abdicate our role on the world stage.  There is an old saying that “the road to the East runs through the West.”    If the United States uses the clout we now have on the world stage, and in conjunction with our European allies, we can set again a tone and series of expectations about Chinese foreign policy.   There are rules that govern civilized nations, and the world community.

We have the ability to do this, since our primacy on the world stage is not in doubt today.  But with China growing in economic and military power, that chance will not be forever ours to take.  By banding together with leaders such as Prime Minister Brown, and French President Szarkozy we have an opportunity to make a statement about what we think is most important in the world.  As China rises as a world power it does so at a time when open and democratic nations rule the world.  To not coerce China to play by the international rules will set up a world struggle that we will soon regret. 

We have an opportunity with the Olympic Games.  The protestors have opened the door.  Will the United States be willing to lead the world through the door?

Technorati Tags: Tibet, Darfur, China, ForeignPolicy, International, OlympicGames, RichardNixon

 

American Troop Levels Will Remain Too High In War-Ravaged Iraq

There have been many pundits who have argued over the past months that the Iraq War was no longer the main issue in this election year.  Housing woes and health care, as part of the overall ailing economy, were seen to be the issues that most Americans were now stressing to pollsters as more important than the war.  The fact that the national price tag for the war is damaging the national economy seems forgotten by many Americans. 

To be sure the economy is a major issue that makes many uneasy, but after the Congressional hearings today and Wednesday I think the Iraq war will again become an issue.  The smooth talk from Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker does not quite balance out the fact that 4,000 Americans have been killed, and the lull in violence in Iraq has now started to climb once again.

The fact that there have been no real political answers applied in Iraq over the past year, while the whole purpose of the ’surge’ was to allow for that very thing, is unsettling.  The lead paragraph from the New York Times seems to place the right somber tone for the nation.

The senior commander of multinational forces in Iraq warned Congress Tuesday against removing “too many troops too quickly” and refused under stiff questioning to offer even an estimate of American force levels by the end of this year.

There is no end to the conflict, and no hope for an end given the current political climate in Washington, D.C.  Instead of hoping that the war will somehow end if we just no longer concentrate on it is folly.  The economy is rough, but the war should be the top priority this election cycle as it deals with international, economic, legal, and moral aspects of our lives as citizens.

It is time for the war to be back on page one above the fold in our morning papers.

In stating the Democratic Party’s case against administration war policy, Senator Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that Mr. Bush’s goal of creating “breathing room” for political progress by sending five additional combat brigades last year “has not been achieved.”

“That reality leads many of us to once again challenge President Bush’s policies,” Mr. Levin said as the general and the ambassador sat motionless at the witness table. Senator Levin said the current Shiite-led government in Baghdad has shown “incompetence” and “excessive sectarian” policies.

The fact that an occupying force of American soldiers will be in Iraq for the foreseeable future is clear.  And wrong.  Has no one ever read the history of the Middle East in the Bush White House?

It has been widely anticipated that American troop levels in Iraq would be held steady for some weeks after the departure by July of five extra brigades ordered to Iraq last year by President Bush. There would be 15 combat brigades and close to 140,000 troops remaining in Iraq.

Given the time required to remove troops from Iraq or to halt departures of heavy equipment from the United States, senior officials have said that even under the best of circumstances no more than two or three more brigades could be brought home before Mr. Bush leaves office in January.

Even if all goes well, more than 100,000 troops would probably remain in Iraq into next year, leaving any decision on major reductions to the next president.

Technorati Tags: IraqWar, PresidentBush, Election08, Democrats, GeneralPetraeus

Robert Mugabe Hoping To Ruin Zimbabwe For Another Term

 Political Cartoon From The Economist

To see a country strangled in slow motion is a horrible thing to witness.  However the citizens of Zimbabwe have been seeing that very thing up close as their loathsome leader, Robert Mugabe, has his hands around the political levers and drains the nation of vitality year after year.

With a vote to take place on Saturday there is no doubt that corruption will again be the only victor in  Zimbabwe. 

Two great articles were published today highlighting  the hopes and fears of a nation being run by an 84-year-old tyrant.

As The Financial Times reports there is hope, slim though it may be, that election monitors might prevent what Mugabe excels at…stealing elections.

There is a heavy burden therefore on the shoulders of the Southern African Development Community and the African Union, the only outside organisations permitted to monitor the vote. Controversially, both endorsed Mr Mugabe’s previous election wins. But having stood firm so recently in the face of election fraud in Kenya, and in the AU’s case having played a prominent role in finding a way out of the subsequent crisis, there is pressure to apply the same standards. More­over, to save Zimbabwe from further ruin, whoever wins will have to go cap in hand to foreign donors for a rescue package.

The Los Angeles Times writes a powerful and well worded piece about the destructive legacy of Robert Mugabe.

The country’s free-fall into failed statehood began in earnest in 2000. That was when the electorate tired of him and his increasingly imperious one-party rule and voted down his attempt to do away with term limits so that he could continue as president. Mugabe, the onetime guerrilla leader who now saw himself as liberator of the country, reacted with astonishing venom. He turned on the newly emboldened black opposition, harassing, imprisoning and torturing their supporters. And those white commercial farmers he’d invited to remain in 1980 he threw off the land, distributing their farms among his cronies, which helped precipitate the economic catastrophe because few of them had the inclination or technical know-how to farm.

Mugabe became an African Ahab, Melville’s “monomaniacal commander,” marinating in a toxic brew of hate and denial as he plunged his ship of state down into the dark vortex, railing all the while from the quarterdeck against the great white whale. He blamed Zimbabwe’s plunge on the largely symbolic sanctions imposed by the West. And he refused to negotiate with his own, overwhelmingly black, opposition, dismissing them as lackeys of Britain, the former colonial power.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, RobertMugabe, Africa, ForeignPolicy, ForeignAffairs,

President Bush Forcing Hand Of Next President With New Iraq Treaty?

The idea that President Bush is working to orchestrate a plan in conjunction with Iraq’s government where our military forces would be committed for a long term stay in that country is now a real possibility.  And a real concern.  In addition, the idea that a more complex ’strategic framework agreement’ with Iraq is in the works should concern every American!

If the Bush White House can conclude agreements with the ‘democratic’ government in Iraq about the scope and length of our military intervention, and how our two nations relate and work with each other in a broader and more complex manner, there are two serious matters that all Americans who pay the taxes for the war, and pay the costs of burying dead soldiers must ask.

First, is whether this agreement should be more accurately called a treaty, and therefore require approval from the U.S. Senate.  It would seem to many of us who have witnessed our democratic ideals being stripped away by the Republicans that a large and long-term commitment in Iraq would need broad based consensus from our elected officials.  And since a large majority of the public have grave concerns over this war the idea that a policy of this type taking shape without oversight is not only dangerous, but also not democratic.

Second is the idea that the next President would be held firm to any obligation made by the rogue Bush Administration.  At a time when the nation is eager for change and new direction it is dismaying to think that President Bush would still control policy even when kicking back with his drinks in Texas.

The White House will weave and strut around saying these agreements do not require Senate approval, but as a taxpayer and concerned citizen I know I want oversight and investigation into the murky details of  any plan Bush and Company pen.

I bet my readers do as well.

Technorati Tags: PresidentBush, Iraq, IraqWar, Election08, U.S.Senate, ForeignPolicy

My Letter To Congresswoman Barbara Lee Still Resonates

This weekend as I sorted some things I read the letter I wrote on September 15,  2001 to Congresswoman Lee, and suspect tonight that a majority of my fellow citizens wish these words had been heeded by the White House and all of Congress.  I am rather proud of my words after seven years, in light of the woes we now face as the result of very serious and careless actions from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Honorable Barbara Lee
United States House of Representatives
426 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0509

September 15, 2001
Dear Representative Lee,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your courageous vote regarding the course of action that our nation should employ regarding the horrendous events that unfolded on September 11, 2001.  Public service is a noble calling and made more so by those who are motivated by conscience, and as such, work against the prevailing winds.

As an American who watched with revulsion as our nation was besieged by terrorism I share the national outrage and anger that we commonly feel.  I strongly want the perpetrators found and dealt with forcefully.  While I believe that this deed must be met head-on with a strong American response, I am also very concerned about the national lust for blood and the foreign policy repercussions that would result from open-ended reprisals.

National discourse on foreign policy is a rarity.  Even during national campaigns the issues that confront the United States on the world stage are relegated to a low status.  Our national foreign policy intelligence quotient is quite low.  And yet the polls show that overnight we have become a nation of “experts.”  National anger, as demonstrated by polls, and a Congress that does not have the will to demonstrate leadership apart from the prevailing mood, will insure long-term effects that we will regret.

The Middle East has always been a highly contentious and volatile area.  The history and religions of the area have often blinded both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from finding common bonds.  Generations of Palestians have lived with the knowledge that America funds Israel and supplies them with armaments that are often used against Arabs and Muslims.  The utter frustrations and anger that have festered in the Middle East have helped to radicalize many against Israel and the United States.  Even the moderate elements of the PLO along with nation-states in that region are facing a more difficult time in urging restraint against the radical elements.  And if America strikes in a fashion that only makes it more improbable for moderate voices to be heard, the future looks bleak.

I propose that you use your position to urge a double-pronged approach to the new dynamics that we confront. While we must act against those responsible for this heinous crime we also must pursue a high level and visible diplomatic mission to the Middle East.  We must insure that even-handedness is the basis by which we act. We must be willing to act as boldly in our diplomatic resolve as we are prepared to do with our military means. Such a dual track will ensure that a just response is leveled against those who did our country harm, but also will show our desire to work for a meaningful and just resolution to the Middle East conflict.

I am reminded of a diplomatic mission that was deemed impossible in the 1970’s.  President Jimmy Carter, with unshakable faith and tenaciousness held firm to his goal of a peace accord between Israel and Egypt.  When Prime Minster Begin and President Sadat wanted to leave Camp David without an accord our President relentlessly pursued the goal of our better angels.  In the end a treaty was agreed to that still provides benefits to both parties.

That scope of vision and determination once again has to be our mission.  As the leader of the free world we have the means and power to shape a more hopeful world.  History will severely judge us if we do not try.

An often-told story should guide you and other members of Congress in the days ahead.  On his march through France, Napoleon ordered trees to be planted along the roads his marching troops were to use.  One of his advisors replied that it would take 20 years to achieve that goal.  To that Napoleon said, “Well, then we better start planting today.”  

Our nation has been deeply wounded.  Our fears have been heightened.  But our history shows that when difficult times confront Americans we pull together and respond with unity and hope for a better tomorrow.

The vote you took, and the stand you espouse, can be the first visible step towards a better tomorrow.  We urge your continued resolve and involvement with this chapter of our nation’s life.

Sincerely,

Technorati Tags: 9/11, BarbaraLee, JimmyCarter, MiddleEast, IraqWar, Democrats, Israel, Palestinians
 

Green Bay Packer’s Brett Favre Is No Ira Newble!

Many in Wisconsin have spoken laudatory words over the past couple of weeks about Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre.  He played football, he quit, and he will move on with his life.  The footprint he leaves behind is in the world of sports.  That may be enough for people like Brett Favre.  But there are some in the world of sports who understand the larger and more important role they can have by affecting change.   As I noted here on May 29, 2007, Ira Newble is such a man.  He knows the sports arena is not where the true measure of a man is taken. 

I wrote in part at that time that Ira Newble was working to end the genocide in Darfur, and asking sports figures to sign on to his efforts.

Newble is casting a wide net, reaching out to the 400-plus NBA players as well as athletes in the NFL and in Major League Baseball.  (I bet every penny I have that Brett Favre will not sign it!) He’s also hoping for the support of his childhood hero, Muhammad Ali. It’s a lot of work, but he’s in for the long haul.

“This is bigger than sports, bigger than basketball,” Newble said. “This is about human beings, and how they are dying at an alarming rate because we are standing by and doing nothing.”

As I write in March of 2008 I still have no knowledge that Brett Favre even knows where Darfur is located, let alone offered to assist Ira Newble in a most important cause.  If I have somehow missed Favre’s interests in Darfur, I would welcome the news.  I would even do a post on it here!

This week there was a large story in the New York Times showcasing the work that Ira Newble does, even when other sports stars are more concerned with their contracts and paychecks.

For his part, Newble followed up on his letter-writing advocacy by taking what he called a “life-changing trip” last summer with the actress and Darfur advocate Mia Farrow to refugee camps in Chad near the border of Sudan. Tracy McGrady followed two months later.

But no matter how much they are prodded, the most leveraged of sports stars will continue to be the most careful because, as Newble said, “They have their contracts, their deals.” That brings us back to the Kobe Bryant public service announcement, the first of a series gradually being released and placed for broadcast by Aid Still Required, and also featuring McGrady, Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Baron Davis, among others.

The group is the brainchild of Hunter and Andrea Payne, who advised Newble before he undertook his personal letter-writing initiative.

Hunter Payne, a singer-songwriter, said that his group targeted practical, grass-roots strategies to assist Darfur — for instance, the reforestation of an area ravaged by drought, and the building and distribution of solar stoves so camp refugees will not have to search for firewood while risking atrocities at the hands of the Janjaweed and other armed militias.

“I’m not saying I disagree with the groups that have been going after China,” Payne said in a telephone interview. “But I believe that a broad-based approach works better for us. And in this case, it allows the athletes to be involved with less commercial risk.”

Fine, too, by Newble’s thinking.

“Hunter set up a more relaxed approach so the players could feel comfortable,” he said. “I’m all for it. People will probably listen more when it’s Kobe Bryant.”

In the meantime, Newble is preparing to play more basketball as a multipositional playoff defensive stopper, looking for a new N.B.A. home, not worried about a backlash for having spoken out in a manner that some might have interpreted as unhelpful to the league’s global blueprint for success.

“I love the game,” Newble said. “But I never thought I was in it just to dribble the ball up and down the court.”

I wish the same could be said for a former quarterback who threw a football on Sundays.

In other words one should use the microphone when given the chance.

Technorati Tags: BrettFavre, IraNewble, Darfur, NewYorkTimes, GreenBayPackers

Conservatives Should Get A Second Job To Pay War Costs That Might Reach $12 Billion A Month

I really find it troublesome that conservatives in the White House, and their conservative kind in Congress start needless wars that cost the nation in both blood and national treasure.  Then the echo chamber of conservative talk radio and FAUX News takes the weakest minds in the country and encourages them to mimic the war chants and lies that only continues the madness in Iraq.  A madness that has stripped our country economically to the point that we are in a serious recession.

That leaves the average American working harder, making less money, having less purchasing power, and wondering what in heck is happening to the nation.

The news for the average American got worse with the latest prediction about the cost of President Bush’s needless war in Iraq.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes report in a new book “The Three Trillion Dollar War” that in this, the sixth year of the war, the conflict will cost about $12 billion a month. That’s triple the cost of the war’s earlier years.

Beyond 2008, they project the Iraq and Afghan wars, including long-term U.S. military occupations of those countries, will cost the U.S. budget between $1.7 trillion and $2.7 trillion — or more — by 2017.

They said interest on money borrowed to pay those costs could alone add $816 billion to the bottom line.

I for one have been advocating that all the conservatives who champion invading foreign lands and killing their leaders and citizens might give up their free time at night and on the weekends and find a part-time job to pay for the war.  These brave little soldiers of the mouth are not brave enough to actually fight, so I feel they should at least participate in paying for the war they created and condone.  Their trophy wives at home, and the men they shoot skeet with at the Club will have to adjust as the nation is in need of more money to fund these mindless and bloody adventures.  Finding a part-time job will also give these morally disadvantaged conservatives time to mingle with the average American that knows what it is like to work two jobs all year long.   In the end these conservatives should just turn their checks over to the defense department and the war effort.

It is the least conservatives can do for absolutely ruining our nation.
Technorati Tags: IraqWar, PresidentBush, Conservatives, Recession, Economy

World Election Calendar

I smiled at a column in the latest Economist magazine, where Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, one of the most odious leaders across Africa, had called his political challenger Simba Makoni, a prostitute and a frog.  What the relationship is between the two names missed me, but I did think of something else.

While the Untied States is engaged in a huge political campaign for president there are also many other interesting candidates and elections being waged this year around the world.   This past week Russia elected Medvedev as President, and though there is little chance he will exert his power beyond what Putin will allow, it still marks a change in the political landscape that will impact the United States.

The elections of other nations may seem far away, but their importance is noted every morning when we grab the paper and see the latest headlines.  With that I link to the world election calendar.

Technorati Tags: WorldElectionCalendar