Current Events

TOPICS:

7/9/08

Fox News: How low can one "news" channel sink? [2]

7/9/08

NEWS: Invasion of the Body Scanners! [2]

7/9/08

Iraqis ask for withdrawl timetable

7/8/08

The system works: Jury refuses to indict Texan for shooting 2 burglars who robbed his neighbor [10]

7/8/08

NEWS: Wil Wheaton's Geek in Review: Turkey Stuffing [2]

7/8/08

Stone Tablet questions origins of Christianity. [4]

7/7/08

NEWS: Economic Apocalypse! Lube Up! [3]

7/7/08

Gay Marriage? I think NOT! [2]

ScottrickBurdoit

7/7/08

Canada Ready to Deport U.S. Deserters

7/6/08

Mandela slams the fuck out of Mugabe

7/5/08

Archeologists make big mistake [2]

7/5/08

Zimbabwean military now running the election [2]

7/4/08

$3.00 a gallon [3]

7/4/08

Happy Independence Day, America

7/4/08

Shoot 'Em if You Got 'Em! [17]

7/4/08

This was fun to read [$3.00 a gallon]

7/3/08

Voyager 2 reaches the edge of the Solar System

7/3/08

Oh look. Another kid died from Faith Healing. [3]

7/3/08

Texas Supreme Court says Child Torture for Jesus OK [3]

7/2/08

Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, to run for governor

7/2/08

NEWS: Asshole Fuckface Roundup #52 [2]

7/2/08

Source of CIA/Guantanamo "interrogation" techniques

7/2/08

Federalis are stunned and flabbergasted by San Francisco's insanity

7/2/08

Haha, Australia Sucks [2]

7/1/08

The Earth 'screams,' apparently

7/1/08

NEWS: Kickassiest Senate Race, Ever

7/1/08

NEWS: Fence Creates Environmental Roadkill [2]

7/1/08

UN adds rape to list of war tactics [6]

7/1/08

NEWS: George vs. George

7/1/08

John McCain hates the armed forces, firemen, policemen, and EMTs [3]

6/30/08

NEWS: Here Come The Oiltards [4]

6/30/08

No bees, no crops

6/30/08

Icecap? What icecap?

6/29/08

McCains default on property taxes

6/29/08

God's got the good stuff

6/29/08

exxon gets a slap on the wrist for the valdez incident

6/29/08

Another alien-hunting commando running for office

6/28/08

Obama wins new endorsement [3]

6/28/08

Eric McDavid is sentenced to 19 years. [9]

6/28/08

anti-Obama ad in form of question.

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Zimbabwean military now running the election

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SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JUN 12, 2008 03:14 AM

The BBC has obtained documents suggesting that Zimbabwe's military is actively involved in running Robert Mugabe's re-election campaign.

Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai "will not accept a victory for Mr Mugabe".

The US ambassador to Harare insisted that Robert Mugabe wants to "to retain power through any means possible".
...
I asked him whether there was any way you could conclude that this election is either free nor fair. His answer was swift: "Absolutely none."

This is going from bad to worse. Civil war is now looking like the only alternative to military dictatorship.

FellOnEarth

Temecula, CA

April 2006

JUN 12, 2008 04:14 AM

In a related story: Zimbabwe: Jails Emptied to Take in Opponents So Mugabe's going to rig the election by spoiling the opposition (by throwing them in jail). Wonderful.

FellOnEarth

Temecula, CA

April 2006

JUN 12, 2008 09:15 AM

Robert Mugabe's militia burn opponent's wife alive.
Just don't ask what they did to her hands and feet before they torched her. Heck of a way to kick off a political campaign.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUN 12, 2008 10:36 AM

Ugh. Looks like this is the beginning (or, I guess, confirmation that the beginning has happened) of what we feared might happen.

Mark_plus_Beer

United Kingdom

August 2005

JUN 12, 2008 11:01 AM

Is South Africa ever going to get involved in this

Mr_Matt_

Pompano Beach, FL

July 2005

JUN 12, 2008 11:26 AM

SockPuppet said:

This is going from bad to worse. Civil war is now looking like the only alternative to military dictatorship.

I'm afraid it going to be:

Dictatorship, long bloody civil war, dictatorship.

Whatever happened to the African Union, of which Zimbabwe is a member?

emotedcreations

Germany

July 2006

JUN 12, 2008 12:30 PM

Power is a motherfucker.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JUN 12, 2008 04:26 PM

Mark_plus_Beer said:
Is South Africa ever going to get involved in this

That's the only way I can see which might offer any hope at all.

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUN 12, 2008 04:30 PM

And now the secretary general of the MDC is to be charged with treason, and could face the death penalty.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUN 12, 2008 04:45 PM

Hunkpapa said:
And now the secretary general of the MDC is to be charged with treason, and could face the death penalty.

Good lord. Why have elections at all if you're just going to murder or imprison your opposition? I mean, one can't really say it's to maintain the appearance of some measure of democracy, because everything that's happened since the elections belies the fact that it was a sham.

Coyotemike

USA

May 2006

JUN 12, 2008 04:49 PM

Fuck.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JUN 13, 2008 05:38 PM

I suppose this might be seen as hopeful.

Forty prominent Africans (including Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Jerry Rawlings) have published a letter calling on Mugabe to ensure the run-off poll is peaceful and fair.

And the government of Botswana has condemned the detention of Tendai Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai - the first African government to do so. But for some reason, South Africa is still keeping quiet.

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUN 13, 2008 05:50 PM

SockPuppet said:
I suppose this might be seen as hopeful.

Forty prominent Africans (including Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Jerry Rawlings) have published a letter calling on Mugabe to ensure the run-off poll is peaceful and fair.

And the government of Botswana has condemned the detention of Tendai Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai - the first African government to do so. But for some reason, South Africa is still keeping quiet.

I noticed yesterday that South Africa (along with Russia and China) blocked some discussions of the situation in Zimbabwe at the UN (same link as I posted for the story about Biti's arrest), but I don't really understand why.

That letter, and Botswana's formal protest, are something hopeful, I suppose.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JUN 13, 2008 06:11 PM

SockPuppet said:
I suppose this might be seen as hopeful.

Forty prominent Africans (including Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Jerry Rawlings) have published a letter calling on Mugabe to ensure the run-off poll is peaceful and fair.

And the government of Botswana has condemned the detention of Tendai Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai - the first African government to do so. But for some reason, South Africa is still keeping quiet.

I noticed yesterday that South Africa (along with Russia and China) blocked some discussions of the situation in Zimbabwe at the UN (same link as I posted for the story about Biti's arrest), but I don't really understand why.

That letter, and Botswana's formal protest, are something hopeful, I suppose.

Yeah, I don't get the South African silence either. Part of the reason the Botswanan government spoke up is the refugees they're having to cope with. SA has the same problem, whence recent "anti-immigrant" riots there.

IDGAS

Jackson Heights, NY

March 2004

JUN 14, 2008 07:56 AM

President Robert Mugabe vowed on Saturday that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change would never rule Zimbabwe and that he was prepared to fight.

"We shall never, never accept anything that smells of ... the MDC. These pathetic puppets taking over this country? Let's see. That is not going to happen," he said.

"We are prepared to fight for it if we lose it in the same way that our forefathers lost it (to British colonial rule)."

"We have become the focus of the British and the Americans. The U.S. has provided $70 million to the MDC for regime change ... and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is interfering in our internal affairs."

"Never again shall this country come under the rule of the white man, direct or indirect. Not while we, who fought for its liberation, live," he said to wild cheers from thousands of supporters, including soldiers.

"They said if this country goes back into white hands just because we have used a pen (to vote), 'we will return to the bush to fight'," Mugabe said. (source today's New york Times

Waldo_Jeffers

United Kingdom

OLD SKOOL

JUN 15, 2008 08:27 AM

bean said:

Hunkpapa said:
And now the secretary general of the MDC is to be charged with treason, and could face the death penalty.

Good lord. Why have elections at all if you're just going to murder or imprison your opposition? I mean, one can't really say it's to maintain the appearance of some measure of democracy, because everything that's happened since the elections belies the fact that it was a sham.

If Mugabe doesn't win the election this time, maybe he will just shoot Tsvangirai and run for election against a straw donkey

motorfirebox

Pittsburgh, PA

March 2004

JUN 15, 2008 11:02 AM

bean said:

Hunkpapa said:
And now the secretary general of the MDC is to be charged with treason, and could face the death penalty.

Good lord. Why have elections at all if you're just going to murder or imprison your opposition? I mean, one can't really say it's to maintain the appearance of some measure of democracy, because everything that's happened since the elections belies the fact that it was a sham.

because the winners write the history books. if Mugabe 'wins' the 'election', then he's won the election--period. people can squabble about whether it was fair, or whether it was legal, or whether he had his opponent's family burned to death in their own home, but the official records will simply show that Mugabe won the election.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JUN 19, 2008 04:47 PM

African states monitoring Zimbabwe's election campaign have added their voice to growing international pressure over the presidential run-off vote.

Such severe criticism of President Mugabe by a senior African politician could mark a significant shift in opinion on the continent, BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle reports.

Not that Mugabe will take any notice, of course.

One of [the MDC's] top leaders has also been charged with treason and subversion.

...and

Emmanuel Chiroto, recently elected mayor of Harare for the MDC, has been giving details of the death of his wife Abigail.

She is believed to have been abducted on Monday along with her son, 4, while her husband was away. Her son Ashley was left alive at a police station.

Speaking to BBC Radio Four, Emmanuel Chiroto said his wife's body had been hard to identify.

"She was badly swollen, it was like they used a club or some blunt object to smash her head and blood had been coming out of her mouth, nostrils and ears," the mayor-elect of Harare said.

"We thought it was going to be an election not war," he added.

"If it was war we'd not have participated."

Mr Chiroto held the Zanu-PF party responsible for his wife's death.

I'm only slightly surprised they didn't kill the kid as well.

Coyotemike

USA

May 2006

JUN 23, 2008 11:36 AM

There will no run-off election.

The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been driven into hiding within the Dutch embassy.

Mark_plus_Beer

United Kingdom

August 2005

JUN 23, 2008 12:05 PM

coyotemike said:
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been driven into hiding within the Dutch embassy.

you get the feeling if he stays in that country he's going to be killed

motorfirebox

Pittsburgh, PA

March 2004

JUN 23, 2008 12:22 PM

there do seem to be a few subtle indications to that effect.

Coyotemike

USA

May 2006

JUN 23, 2008 12:38 PM

Mark_plus_Beer said:

coyotemike said:
The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been driven into hiding within the Dutch embassy.

you get the feeling if he stays in that country he's going to be killed

I get the feeling that he has only been spared by sheer luck.

Holden_Caulfield

Ann Arbor, MI

April 2004

JUN 23, 2008 01:54 PM

If Bush really cared about Africa, he would do something about this.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUN 23, 2008 03:42 PM

Holden_Caulfield said:
If Bush really cared about Africa, he would do something about this.

You know, I dislike Bush every bit as much as you do, but there's not a whole lot he can do about this beyond what his administration is already doing.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said condemned "the government of Zimbabwe's continued campaign of violence again its own people." Rice said that it is clear Mr. Mugabe "is determined to thwart the will of the people" as expressed in national elections March 29.

"In forsaking the most basic tenant of government, the protection of its own people, the government of Zimbabwe must be held accountable by the international community," Rice said, urging the Southern African Development Community, the African Union Peace and Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council to take up the issue.
U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey read Rice's statement to reporters in Washington, saying the Mugabe government "can not be considered legitimate in the absence of a run-off.

It's an issue that the UN is taking up, at the insistence of the US. If we're going to attack conservatives for being uninformed and not basing their attacks on reason and fact, we should hold ourselves to the same standard. Do your homework.

motorfirebox

Pittsburgh, PA

March 2004

JUN 23, 2008 04:01 PM

there actually is something we could do. we could drop a division in, take out Mugabe's military forces, arrest and try Mugabe himself, and stay there for the next decade+ working to turn Zimbabwe into a profitable democracy.

i'm not saying we should do that. but we could. the only reason we don't is that there's nothing in it for Bush.

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