Zimbabwe President Signs Eavesdropping Bill
By Nicole Belle Friday Aug 10, 2007 12:03pm
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday signed into law the controversial Interception of Communications Bill, which gives his government the authority to eavesdrop on phone and Internet communications and read physical mail.
The legislation has drawn outspoken opposition from the political opposition and civil society organizations as trampling on the civil rights of Zimbabweans.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai called it an addition to "the dictator's tool kit."[..]
Human rights lawyer Otto Saki told VOA that the law interferes and undermines the enjoyment of rights enshrined in the constitution and is a sign Mr. Mugabe wants to consolidate his power by "any means necessary or unnecessary."
But Communications Minister Christopher Mushowe said Zimbabwe is not unique in the world in passing such legislation, citing electronic eavesdropping programs in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa, among other countries.
Lovely. We're now the inspiration and justification for destroying civil liberties through out the world. That shining beacon is looking a little tarnished, thanks to Bush & Co.
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trickledown dictatorship :)
Frist? Wow!
Now here's one man that is actually worse than Bush.........
Well Mugabe takes ideas about eavsdropping from Bush and Bush takes economic ideas from Mugabe. Congratulations.
They learn quick! Don't they!
That's right. Its the same old kindergarten bullshit. If someone else is doing something stupid, it must be ok for you to do it too.
at one time the United States was looked up to as the moral leader of the free world. other countries looked rightly or wrongly to us for guidance. and when they needed support of any kind, the US was one of the first to lend a helping hand. with the advent of the bush admin, that is all gone now. we've settled into no better and perhaps worse now that our true nature has been bared than the other countries of the world. so when we take the lead in eavesdropping, other countries still follow in this most negative of actions. thanks to bush and his cronies, we have been bared for all the world to see and judge. we no longer hold that esteemed place in the world's order. will we ever regain, as bush is fond of saying, only history will have the answer to that one. the road back begins with impeachment, but when we can't even get rid of gonzalez, hope for impeachment at the highest order is pretty much "off the table. if i sound a bit disheartened, I am. for the moment resigned to my===our===fate.
Didn't I post an article about this last week?
wow. This is the gift the republicans have blessed us with.
Now here’s one man that is actually worse than Bush………
_________________________________________________
Well, this guy has not invaded anybody...yet!
Meh :(
President Bob is completely mad. Zimbabwe is a country with fantastic potential which has been ruined by Mad Bob, a totally corrupt "land redistribution", drought, and inappropriate external interference. It's a very sad situation.
anwaya @ 2:
why don't you try actually commenting about the topic instead of just trying to be first which no one cares about and you weren't anyway.
We want to, we need to shine.... the light of fascism to these other countries, these people who so desperatly need it.
If Chavez follow suit, then, he really earned the "Dictator" title! I have always claimed that he is not.
Thank you mister mix. That shit is soooooo old!
garcia @ 10:
how is he worse than bush? if anything he appears to be mimicking bush's domestic policies. i don't recall anything about this man being responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives lost or over a million displaced iraqi's as zimbabwe hasn't invaded anyone under this mans leadership
You've got to love that strong american influence care of the Bush Crime Family. The NY mafia hasn't got a thing on these guys!
America - Keeping the world safe for dictatorship!
Et tu Mugabe?
Seriously, we're in bad company.
Mugabe was once an inspirin' leader in the war against apartheid in then-Rhodesia. Slowly he has become a tinhorn dictator, consolidatin' power with hand-outs to his supporters. Zimbabwe once held such promise. It's now gone the way of Mobutu's Zaire.
The deluge approaches.
What was it we were supposed to be spreading again?
Andy K @ 19:
George W. Bush was once an inspirin' leader in the war against . . . um, taxes? Infrastucture?
Somebody help me out here.
Islamo-liberals?
We need to invite him to the white house for his dick cheney medal of freedom.
This isn't surprising. With an inflation rate of over 1000%, people waiting in stores to catch goods before employees can remark the prices, and basically no meat to be found in the whole country, it's hard to think things can get worse. I guess they can. I don't know what this will mean for most Zimbabwean people though. Of course for the opposition it's bad news but for ordinary citizens, I think the basic needs of food, water, and shelter is more pertinent.
Many think that Mugabe is actually clinically insane. It's hard to think that this man hasn't lost it.
Well, he is only doing it there(in Zimbabwe) so it won't be done here(by US)
Ummm...what was that about Bush/Cheney's wet dream of "bring democracy and freedom to the world". BAD START.
It's all part of the larger plan...Other countries become less free (dictated) and the US can make an "argument" to invade at will. If one thinks that the neocon agenda is to make a stable middle east and a stable world overall they'd be mistaken. The idea for the neocons is to do the opposite of stabalization...
At least he had the decency to call it the "Interception of Communications Act" and not the "Protect Zimbabwe Act".
I didn't know that Zimbabwe was such a hot bed for terrrrist's.....
myiq2xu @ 21:
Well, I didn't say that Stupor Mundi inspired anything, but since yer askin' I'll answer with these: hatred & contempt.
Oh, Mugabe.
See, I know a thing or two about this man and he is a legitamite monster. In fact, the film The Interpreter is a not-too-subtle parable about the man Mugabe was and the man he has since become. Heck, he blew up a public school that my girlfriend and others built as part of an aid project shortly after it was completed. Why? Because he's a fun fellow!
In any event, he has been eavesdropping for a long while. He just recently made it law. The U.S. really isn't responsible for this although it's certainly a sad state of affairs when his officials can cite the U.S. and say, 'But they did it first!'
Why does the US ..ALWAYS...back the wrong guy.....then we have to hide them or kill them...here come the definition of insane again....doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result
I am looking forward to the day our country's leaders can actually be considered examples of democratic heros and protectors of freedom.
Maybe....just maybe.... we won't be the most hypocritical, arrogant, and behind-the-times nation when that happens.
Gawd, I miss Bill Clinton.
Domino effect. The world's policeman (the U.S.) cannot wag its finger at anyone in the world anymore.
Will anyone have the guts to ask Tony snowjob about this at the next press conference? Will Tony assure everyone that "our situation is different"? Will bush assure everyone that he's only listening in "to pertect us"?
The one shit that really got seriously pissed is: Supossed Tony Soprano gets into the White House. Being he who is, he and his gang start wheeling and dealing with the country's assets and treasury. They are caught red handed with their shenanigans more than one time. Does that means that our American constitution does not have the remedies to end and get rid of these thugs?
In other words, the Founding Father nevers never thought that something like this could really ever happen at all? Because the Decider, no matter how stupid we think he is, looks and sound, he has getting away with everything he wanted up to this day.
And there is more to come. Which leads to believe, that somehow, there must be a tacit agreement among all of them, Reps and Dems, that there is only them and "us", and "us" belong down under, with no right to protest about anything: Gas prices, milk prices, our children murdered, the economy good for only a "group", the infrastruture slowly rottening. That must be it. It's "us",againt them. The "have" against the "not have". That's a hell of base, I tell you!
mister mix @ 16:
Then you don't know a heck of a lot about the brutal dictator. I urge you to look into what he has done since it beats others feeling obliged to write lengthly essays detailing his 'accomplishments.'
anwaya @ 11:
Are you speaking about Zimbabwe or the USA?
mudshark!
Here is the thing! They always happen to have the one thing we need the most to survive. That's why!
Gavin @ 3:
That's not possible. Bush isn't copying anyone (unless you want to include Hitler, without the gas chambers...although we do have torture centers all over the globe).
Fantasy thought-bubble:
Put them all, bush, brown, putin, merkel, mugabee on a conference call which magically blows them all to pieces with flesh simultaneously, wetly raining down in slow-mo.
(mugabee has a too-hyped expression on his face that says he himself doesn't believe he can pull it off. Bet he's just swinging his dick around)
Shawnmeat
You might be referring to the white dudes who lost their properties. They didn't belong there to begin with. I hope we don't have a Mugabe somewhere in of our Indian reservations. We'd be in a lot of trouble!
Straight Shooter @ 33:
No. Its more important to find the missing white girl in Aruba. Or in the Utah mine. Or in Wisconsin - or wherever the hell the missing white girl(tm) is this week.
Straight Shooter @ 33:
Yeah, right on. In fact the specific question posed to Snowjob shoud be:
"Why is it o.k. for this admin. to listen in on tel. conversations and yet YOU seem
upset that this is being done by ANOTHER Dictator in Zimbabwe; especially when
we(the U.S. of A.) are being used as an example by the leader of that country as how and why such activities are lawful"???
Just wait for the day when we American citizens travel to another country which snatches us up, puts us into detention, tortures us and holds us for years without giving us the right to see a judge (Habeas Corpus). All in the name of routing out terrorism.
Then will we be proud over what we have wrought?
deniz @ 23:
Many claimed the same of Idi Amin, but nothins ever been proved to support those claims of insanity. Think about how many world leaders are claimed to be, or to have been, insane, especially the leaders of third world countries. Ya never hear it claimed that Mao or Stalin were insane. And though some claim Hitler was insane I've never seen anything that proves it.
Don't get me wrong- I believe Mugabe is a terribly bad man. But you can explain his so-called madness as bloody political expediency.
R. I. P. AMERICA 1776 - 2001
crazylove @ 39:
He does have a "What, me worry?" expression in that photo, doesn't he?
garcia @ 40:
I was not referring to that, actually. Frankly, that's merely the tip of the shitberg:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
garcia @ 40:
No, Shawnmeat would be referring to Operation Murambatsvina (Operation "Clear out the Rubbish"), in which Mugabe focibly evicted hundreds of black families from their homes, in some cases using tear gas (Porta Farm) and flame throwers (Epworth) The school Shawnmeat was referring to was actually in Epworth. Amnesty documents and photos on Operation Murambatsvina can be found here: http://www.amnesty.ca/themes/zimbabwe_overview.php
Shawnmeat @ 48:
Sorry about that, Shawnmeat was still signed into my account.
mister mix @ 12:
why don't you try actually commenting about the topic instead of just trying to be first which no one cares about and you weren't anyway.
See anwaya @ 11.
Why can't Africans be civilized. Everywhere in Africa there is nothing but chaos, corruption, disease, poverty etc... What is there excuse for this? Africa has tons of natural resources so most African nations could have great economies if they'd stop being so uncivilized.
GOPBullshit @ 51:
I... must refrain... from touching this... with a ten-foot pole...
What? Up until now Mugabe didn't tap the lines and open the mail?
Get on the damn bus, Moogie!
Would you expect better from #43? Democracy? Not if God anoints him to do otherwise.
GOPBullshit @ 51:
Accurate in each instant, so perhaps if that Country had a person(or persons) like
bush-lite as their Dictator, "all would be well."
Warren @ 53:
Actually, he did! Now it's simply legal, so there will be no more problems.
R-Right?
(Don't question what I just said. Mugabe's people tend to brutally torture and murder political opposition.)
anwaya @ 50:
See anwaya @ 11.
anwaya @ 11 should have been anwaya @ 2.
GOPBullshit @ 51:
why isn't your racist ass banned yet?
GOPBullshit @ 51:
It's not that they're un-civilized, it's the fact that the former colonists(Brits, French, Portugese...) drew up artificial borders and tried to make peoples who traditionally despised their neighbors live and work with those neighbors. Before the colonists arrived there were hundreds of smaller tribal "states" in Africa.
Mugabe took part in a small scale ethnic cleansin' in the '80's- less than a decade after overthrowin' the white power structure- by murderin' or disappearin' many ethnic Nbedele because the Nbdele didn't support Mugabe.
garcia @ 15:
thanks for you support :)
at least they call it what it is. truth in advertisisng.
Andy K @ 59:
GOPbullshit@51
Frankly, I don't see anything racist on his post. Who calls the shots in Africa? Have anybody seen the movie "Blood Diamonds" or something to that effect? (DiCaprio). Well, that's only a fairy tale my friends. The real story is worst. We'll never hear about it!
GOPBullshit @ 51:
I recommend reading MAD or National Lampoon if you are trying develop a working sense of irony, satire, or sarcastic comedy, sir. This doesn't come close.
GOPBullshit @ 51:
Wow. I'm really losing my touch. I can't figure out if this is a troll or not...
mister mix @ 58:
I don't think it's a particularly racist question.
The concept of "civilization" is highly subjective. Are the Yanomami civilized, or the Bushmen of the Kalahari, or the Plains Indians, or...need I list more? They certainly aren't- or weren't, anyway, before their introduction to agriCulture- by the standards of the vast population of the rest of the world.
I'm not sayin', btw, that these people aren't civilized- they are simply civilized in a different way.
Here is a candidate who would have not let US become like Zimbabwe. let's face it, We are worse off fiscally than Zimbabwe (if factoring in the national debt), and now worse off morally than Zimbabwe, having the president who has finally found a perfect match in Robert Mugabe.
Time for a change is now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFfdB5OzlyQ
Here is who will be on the ballot in the presidential elections in 2008:
Clinton
Thompson
Paul (the Joe Lieberman of 2008)
Gingrich
Nader
garcia @ 62:
Africa is the second largest continent with almost 1 billion people in 46 different countries. that fool takes everyone of them and labels them as being uncivilized. i would say that's a very racist comment. i doubt if he can even name 1/4 of the countries in africa without looking it up let alone make such a piss poor and very untrue statement about the entire continent.
Stasidom on the march. Robert Mugabe and Larry Kudlow still rock those awful 1970's blue dress shirts with white cuffs and collars.
Doggiebobo @ 61:
Andy K @ 65:
i point to mister mix @ 67 for you as well
Andy K @ 65:
It is, at the very least, an ignorant one.
Ignoring the poor choice of term (the colonial ancestors of the U.S. and Canada tried hard to 'civilise' the 'black savages,' who were perceived to be less evolved technologically and therefore spiritually and ideologically), even.
Africa is a gigantic continent with many, many differing nation-states - and these countries have differing cultures, languages, and degrees of peace and economic success. And yes, those that don't have been rendered so by the manner in which they were fucker over by the aforementioned ancestors.
Mugabe's out next year, right? His term expires in '08 isn't that it for this gentle lamb?
Shawnmeat @ 35:
Agreed, my in-laws are in Zimbabwe right now, so I have a particular interest in what's going on there -- and Mugabe probably reads our e-mails, so we've been careful to NEVER say anything controversial.
But as far as comparing him to Bush, right now Mugabe has him beat, but Bush has only had 6 years in power compared to Mugabe's decades. I'd be willing to bet that if (when? God forbid) Bush retained power for 30 years, he'd eventually be a lot worse than even Mugabe.
sam @ 66:
Let's see if I understand your listing...ONE Dem(Hillary), ONE Independent(Nader) and
THREE Repigs(Thompson, Paul, Gingrich). Is that what you are saying??? If so, I
am in disagreement.
sam @ 66:
Well Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate willing to tell the truth about our abysmal foreign policy in recent years, but I'm afraid the libertarian economic ideals are the blueprint for what Bush and his neocon buddies are already doing. I'm afraid Ron Paul would lead us even more quickly into a neo-feudalistic dark age.
mister mix @ 67:
First off, what yer definin' as racism would be more accurately described as the chauvinism of human civilizations.
We're talkin' about one race, Homo sapiens here.
Have ya ever read Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond?
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/ref...
It offers some pretty good theses on how and why civilizations developed differently in geographically separated locales. Sub-Saharan Africa is separated from Eurasia by deserts and jungles, eliminatin' the exchange of technology between that area and Eurasia. Sub-Saharan animals(elephants, zebras, wildebeest) are far less easily domesticated than Eurasian animals(horses, oxen); there is far less farmable land in sub-Saharan Africa: this combination in Eurasia led to the Agricultural Revolution in Eurasia 8,00-10,000 years ago, while sub-Saharan African remained the realm, mainly, of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers.
Sufilizard @ 75:
yeah i've been saying this same thing for months now. paul's foreign policies seem to be appropriate in comparisons to bush's but his domestic policies are sick (in a bad way). he doesn't believe in human causes to global warming, he things the civil war should have never been fought. i think i read on his own website where he believes in school vouchers and basically the neocon approach to privatizing everything.
mister mix @ 70:
Well, as I just posted, I think it's less about race than the chauvinism of civilizations.
My question fer GOPbullshit is this: What is it about our civilization that's so great?
I sincerely await a reply. My rebuttal is already loaded. ;)
Have some of us(including me) strayed off course as to the topic of this thread???
sam @66-
Paul (the Joe Lieberman of 2008)
Not Lieberman. LaRouche.
Departization of the US has already started if you haven't noticed. The first "victim" is the Republican party, fortunately, because it has produced Ron Paul.
Hello? This is the Internet Era. People will be donating money for human beings, not political parties, not "affiliated" candidates, not DieBold soon-to-be defrauded candidates, thus you have Cindy Sheehan challenging Pelosi and by doing so, showing the way of the American political future. Let just wait and see what happened, will ya?:)
Bud @ 36:
Are you speaking about Zimbabwe or the USA?
;) Zim, of course. I went to Zimbabwe in '89, before the end of Apartheid in South Africa, but after the end of the civil war in Mozambique. There was a drought so severe that the long section of Victoria Falls was dry - I walked to Livingstone Island from the Zambian side, in November: springtime. Historically a net exporter of maize, they were importing grain after the World Bank had redistributed the seedcorn to alleviate hunger in other parts of Africa. The constitutionally-mandated Land Reform program was still under discussion then: in principle this was a worthy ideal, but in practice the land went to Bob's political cronies and people he owed favors to rather than people who could farm. Agricultural production has fallen further as a result.
Bob has bulldozed people's homes many times over the years, making already poor people homeless.
In recent months, the economy has ground to a halt, largely because of Bob's mismanagement. Bob is a paranoid sociopathic thug.
But in '89, with the lingering effects of the trade blockades from 1965 on still evident, I saw the people of Zimbabwe managing with limited resources. Coke was in bottles, not cans, and the deposit on the bottles was greater than the cost of the Coke. Most cars were French or German from sanctions-busting before 1980, running on Blend, and held together by hope. The center of Bulawayo was dominated by a display urging the citizens to follow water rationing rules, and most of the people I met and spoke to were happy. I went to the first one-day test match against India. I listened to hypnotic music played on the mbira in a store opposite the sculpture gallery in Harare. I ate steak and sadza, drank Castle beer. There's so much I remember from my short time there.
Zimbabwe showed me that it was possible for us to do a lot with reuse and recycling in a post-industrial world short of oil and water. It seems to me that the turmoil and suffering there since then has come from Mugabe's crazy desire to maintain his power regardless of the cost to the people of Zimbabwe. It is a tragedy.
Doggiebobo @ 79:
Well, we're still(mostly) in and around Zimbabwe. ;)
And I think a lot of this discussion, while, uhm, tangential, is gettin' at the reasons why/how people become dictators. Kinda.
Read a bit on this Mugabe over at Wikipedia. If that entry is true, Mugabe is bush X200.
A real screech-monkey in the final stages of syphilis dementia.
mister mix @ 57:
anwaya @ 11 should have been anwaya @ 2.
No. See anwaya @ 11 and now also anwaya @ 82, sadza-for-brains.
Andy K @ 76:
no fool, i know exactly what i'm saying. that's why i said it. it was a racist statement. and you are very suspect yourself since everything you've related to africa seems to be about the extremely rural cultures. you seem to watch alot of national geographic. since you are offering educational advice, i suggest you enroll for at least 1 class on africa in your local university or community college. then you be able to acknowledge that in a continent of 46 different countries various phenotypes and numberous languages, there are also varing degrees of societies. these include modern metropolises that that look like any other industrialized city to origins that you keep describing
PS take a course in african american studies as well since you don't seem to be able to identify racist statements.
Of course, Nicole must have stopped bold typeface when she got to United Kingdom and South Africa because she just plain ran out. Sadly, this site has become less about being a liberal/progressive news site and more about being a vehicle to spew hatred at those on the right. That's unfortunate because I used to really like reading here.
For God's sake, Bloomberg, a Democrat/Republican/Independent, Thompson, an actor, Schwarzenegger, whoever he is, that's how the power is grabbed in this day and age, political affiliation means nothing, money means nothing, character, personal representation and recognition means everything, don't you see the pattern, do you see this beautiful though evolution? The Democrat/Republican divide is about to become the thing of the past. There is no such thing in the first place. It's just an illusion. The web just exposed it dramatically and definitely.
sam @ 88:
you probably don't want to use rich people in your examples and say that "money means nothing". you also may not only want to use a list solely of people who were elected as Republicans.
basically everything you said was nonsense by your own examples.
Gene @ 87:
Gene, one person such as yourself can always grab the reins. There are posts with better participants where there's a real discussion of topic instead of Larry, Moe & Curly.
When an unelected dictator bombs the shit out of a country based on lies and for no other reason other than to steal that country's natural resources the unelected dictator of that country can say:
"Hey, America had an unelected dictator that bombed the shit out of a country based on lies and for no reason other than to steal that county's natural resources and nobody did anything about it so why can't I?"
Bush Co and the GOP: The new American example for the world to follow.
Gene @ 87:
Sorry, Gene, I have to call bullshit to this. Tell me where I painted the whole "right" (whatever that means) with a broad brush on this post. I said BUSH & CO. Project much?
Further, I don't care if Mugabe uses any other country as justification for trampling on the civil liberties of its citizens. There have been dictatorships and oppression for as long as we've been on this planet. I CARE (and you should too) that OUR country is now held up as an example. We used to be the "shining beacon on the hill" of freedom and democracy. People used to immigrate here to escape oppression. Now we show dictators like Mugabe how to oppress his people in a new way.
How much more about progressive values does this story need to get?
Nicole Belle @ 92:
i agree with everything said except the statment "We used to be the "shining beacon on the hill" of freedom and democracy."
at what point point in this country did we have freedom and democracy again? seems there's always been a struggle to get both since the before the declaration of independence.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but in an ironic way, we can thank President Carter for Mugabe, because Andrew Young persuaded Carter to support Mugabe even if he was Marxist: "Just let's get the blacks in and we'll worry about Marxism later" or something to that effect. This is after Mugabe had boycotted the initial elections. Carter agreed and sent in the CIA and Mugabe was pushed into power. Carter will say he was against Mugabe but he neglects to say that Young persuaded him to support him.
Welcome To The NWO!
mister mix @ 89:
I should have mentioned a millionaire Ned Lamont, but then again, the case of Joe Lieberman, an Independent Democrat would validate my point even farther and prove that what you said just ain't make sense either. Good things always come into being out of confusion so f**k of* and vote for Hillary.
mister mix @ 93:
We have always struggled to find the balance in this country. I've never claimed we had it down pat, nor that this country is perfect. However, I have had the privilege of living abroad and I know how the US is perceived outside its borders. I don't think most Americans truly appreciate it.
Whether it has been the reality in the last ten years, the perception that we have a voice in voting is astounding to citizens in many countries. That our fates are not limited by the circumstances of our birth is likewise not something that we may think of, but is a HUGE deal in more socio-economic stratified countries. I worked as a recruiter for a university for years and I regularly saw a number of foreign students that voiced similar sentiments.
Sadly, I went to a conference in Amsterdam about 2 years ago, and I had to be introduced as a "good kind" of American, because our reputation has been so sullied in the last six years.
mister mix @ 86:
Yeah, I understand what yer sayin', too- obviously we aren't on the same page. As much as I will admit that ya might see racism in the question, do ya think that GOPbullshit could ask the same question of east Asia?
About those idustrialized cities: Who had them built? When? What were the reasons they were built? Had sub-Saharan Africa remained isolated from the rest of the world to this day, how would it have evolved differently?
Who were the pre-colonial political philosophers of sub-Saharan Africa? Why is Mugabe still in power? When and where did Zimbabwe's, or Nigeria's or Mali's equivalent to Runnymede occur?
Before ya jump down my throat, these questions are as much(if not more) fer GOPbullshit as fer mr. mix. After all, how can we objectively compare the political evolution of wholly different cultures? Is it even fair to compare them at their nexus?
Gene @ 87:
The last few days I keep seeing posts from people who "used to love" this site but are now saddened to discover that it is nothing but a lefty hate-blog.
I have only been coming here for about a year, but I don't recall seeing much from these posters before.
Could they be imposters?
Are they just be strolling though?
Nicole-
I think that as much as ya'd like to link Mugabe's wiretaps to Bushco's, ya could just as easily link it to the Habsburg or Tsarist secret police openin' the mail of there citizens. Spyin' is spyin', ya know....
Andy K @ 100:
Mugabe did the linkin,' Nicole just did the reportin.'
Big surprise, Robert Mugabe, George Bush; one exactly like the other!
Andy K @ 100:
That's the point, Andy. I DON'T want to link it to Bushco. Mugabe did, though. And the whole world knows he's got a point.
That's what bothers me most of all.
myiq2xu @ 101:
My bad! And I read the post, too! Damn short-term memory uh, uhm, what's that last word?
hey do you suppose our country should object to this blatant spying on it's own citizens?
where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?
Andy K @ 98:
i'm not going to jump down your throat. i only want to say that i was dead serious about my suggestions that you take a college course or two on the subject of africa. even a basic level class on africa should actually answer many of the questions that you asked me. i'm sure the answers will actually surprise you. in the simple 2 black studies courses i took (non that solely concentrated on africa) i learned alot about the continent. enough to not ask stupid crap like "why are africans uncivilized". this is a racist perspective. i also know enough to know that all it's greatest developments aren't owed to the european or western influences. africa is the birthplace of humankind and civilization. the first cities and universities can be traced to various parts of the continent. i know enough about it to know that most people outside of it don't know anything about it. just prejudices from national geographic and mainstream news outlets, and the 700 club.
mister mix @ 12:
--------------------------------------------------
because if you do it wrong mr mix will get his knickers in a twist--now, straighten up!
@ Gene number 87
yeah I agree with you so prepare to be called a troll, the strength of this site was it had the moral high ground but sometimes this site has a hysterical tone that reminds me of the the right wing sites. I was called a troll for saying "maybe calling people cannibalistic fascists isnt cool". Seems to be headin gthat way, hope I'm wrong.
Mr Moo @ 108:
yes, you two are the only enlightened ones. lol.
@ Professor Farnsworth
Thanks for illustrating my point by your use of sarcasm.
Welcome to the Monkey House as Kurt would say/write ,,,
Andy K @ 44:
Normally I would agree with you but I didn't say this off the top of my head. I heard this on an interview on the Leonard Lopate show with a Zimbabwean journalist that has reported on the situation there extensively. Supposedly this is what sources within the country are saying, but who actually knows?
mister mix @ 106:
why don’t you try actually commenting about the topic... rather than bickering, whining and posturing?
Mugabe. I think the right wing has finally found a black man that they could cheerfully vote for.
In reply to deniz @ 112 on inflation:
According to this BBC report, inflation in Zimbabwe is officially 4500%, but Reuters reports an IMF prediction that prices will be 1,000 times higher than they were a year earlier - which is 100,000%.
The Guardian reports that the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe estimates that the inflation rate this year will be 1.5 million percent. Based on Ambassador Dell's own figures, I think this is an underestimate: if prices only doubled once every week, then that's an annual inflation rate of (2^^52) * 100 %, or about 400 quadrillion percent. At this rate, it may take one Z$200,000 banknote to buy a bag of sugar today, but in three months time it will take about 4,000 of them.
And I lamely add to anwaya @ 115:
George Bush's America - like Zimbabwe, but without the hyperinflation. Booyah!
Eavesdropping bills show why you shouldn't allow birds in the house.
This Zimbabwe guy knows with or without his consent Bush will intercept their messages. This is good diplomacy for survival.
If they have an aspirine factory I'm sure some sex-crazed democrat will bomb them.
I don't think Mugabe needs any ideas from us to muck up a country. I guess we can take comfort that there is somebody crazier, more corrupt and more incompetent than our administration. Quite a fall from grace for the country people were hoping apartheid South Africa would become.
If I were white in South Africa I would be paranoid after all Mugabe has done to the whites there and how the ANC sticks up for him. Time will tell but it could just be that they are loyal to a fault with their friends. In the same way homosexuality is totally against African culture but they are a protected class in the new South African constitution because a homosexual art critic helped hide Nelson Mandela. The ANC pays its debts to its friends, but, really, a friend doesn't let friends run crazy like South Africa has let Mugabe run crazy.
The Reality @ 119:
"Sex-crazed democrat" is redundant. so is "gay republican."
Mr Moo @ 108:
Thank you for your concern. We really need people like you here.
Seems like, even in Zimbabwe, there's more debate about this than there is in the US about our version, FISA.
The 'Bush is just like Mugabe!' comparisons still terrify me. Can't a shitty leader be bad enough without being compared to the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, ad infinitum?
I hate to say it, but Bush is nowhere near as terrible as bullies like Mugabe and proper research into his life would illustrate this rather clearly. If you live in the U.S., you actually have it damn good comparatively. This doesn't mean that Bush isn't illegitamite as President or that he isn't incompetent to the point of endangering your economy or risking destabilising the world at large. I do think he should be impeached. The fact that you can openly criticise your President ought to make you appreciate the difference between your nation and Zimbabwe, where Mugabe's thugs would boast about torturing and murdering you. If not worse.
The guy in the picture looks like he just had a stick stuck up his ass.
Shawnmeat @ 124:
eyes wide shut comes to mind after reading that post,
bong hits 4 jesus anyone ;)
Yeah...dictators do those kinds of things, our's has.
Um, peoples? Could you have another look at this poster's screen name, and then think a little bit harder about whether it's a troll or not? Trolls, like all bottom feeders, thrive where the most scraps fall. And y'all are about to create a troll obesity epidemic up in here. A little skepticism & self-restraint, please, will make these threads better for everyone (except trolls).
once again, bush's america leading the way towards democracy for the world! what a shameful legacy this asshole is leaving, and what an even more shameful collaboration by the dims in congress. bastards, all of them.
Shawnmeat @ 124:
Lemme see if I have this straight - We should be grateful that we live in a country where we can criticize the President and we should show our gratitude by not criticizing the President?
"In the same way homosexuality is totally against African culture but they are a protected class in the new South African constitution"
smchris (120)
Chris , I get your point, but I HAVE to correct your grammar: It's African culture that's totally against homosexuality, NOT the other way round which is of course ridiculous.
myiq2xu @ 130:
Er, no. Half of my post is criticising the President, for Pete's sake. Even my second sentence read: "Can’t a shitty leader be bad enough without being compared to the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, ad infinitum?"
GOPBullshit @ 51:
I am from Africa and trust me, I exhibit more signs of being civilized than you. I know that you have never been to Africa. There are parts of Africa that are just as great as here in the USA. Maybe not economically, but there are people there with the same qualities as people here. Yes, just as civilized as Americans
Shawnmeat @ 132:
If the shoe fits . . .
But it doesn't. He's bad; he's incompetent. Fine. But melodramatic 'Bush is Hitler!' comments merely reduce the credibility of the speaker. Just as Bill O'Reilly destroys his own credibility when he compares Daily Kos to the Nazi Party of Germany.
Comparing Bush to these leaders merely exposes your ignorance of the despots in question. Put your partisan hatred aside and gain some perspective - that's my (unsolicited) advice.
Shawnmeat @ 135:
Actually, Bush has done many of the same things that Hitler did. Consolidation of power, the creation and use of a propaganda ministry, use of state power to maintain political control, invasion of other nations on false pretenses,
expectingrequiring government employees to place loyalty to the leader above all else, extensive use of spying on citizens, militarism of the entire society, conflation of dissent with disloyalty/treason, and government secrecy.Oh yeah, I almost forgot, suspension of civil liberties, secret prisons and the use of torture.
Hitler didn't start trying to exterminate the Jews until about 7 or 8 years into his rule.
America... Land of the freeless, home of the police state...
myiq2xu @ 136:
Yes he did... UInfrotunately I epxect that another "Reichstag Fire" or another "Polish Invasion" will be used to keep Bush and Cheney in power thru a War Powers act.
Just trust in Bush and Cheney after one city gets Nuked this year and no more elections....
Welcome to "Hispanic/Black/Indian/Gay/Muslim Concentration camps"... Run by country of "Jewish, Christian, it doesn't matter! As long as your white!" crowd.
Sick sick sick sick...
I think these Americans who believe that their leader is the Worst Ever need to travel to Zimbabwe. It's the best I can do since you cannot travel back in time to Nazi Germany, where open forums like this wouldn't exist and everyone involved would have been arrested already.
This is why Americans come across as spoiled brats to the rest of the world.
And unlike Hitler, the American people have the ability to mobilize and get rid of Bush through legal channels. Unfortunately, on average citizens are far too apathetic. In short, you have the man this power and refuse to take the reins away when he decides to abuse it. Christ, your nation re-elected the bastard.
Like I said, gain some perspective.
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