Zimbabwe: An African Crisis

Despite the devastating depression and inflation in Zimbabwe, new political conflict has spurred violence and conflict within the nation. After Robert Mugabe's questionable election in 2007, political factions throughout the country have been divided. With HIV/AIDS on the rise in Zimbabwe, the average life expectancy has dropped dramatically adding more desperation to the situation. After witnessing the genocide in Rwanda in the early nineties, Zimbabwe seems that it could be heading on down the same path. Does the UN or any other organization have the right to step in and make a change?

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has overseen the election in Zimbabwe to maintain legitimacy, but has little affect. Even after a recount of the votes, proving that Mugabe lost the popular vote, Mugabe has failed to drop out of power. This appears to be a gross violation of the people's rights, and would be something that only a dictator would do. But George W. Bush lost the popular by 500,000 votes to Al Gore in the 2000 election, while Mugabe only lost by 100,000. Even the main political leader of the opposing party to Mugabe was beaten. Morgan Tsvangari reported to BBC that he had been beaten by Mugabe's police at a demonstration, and since has had his passport revoked so he could not travel to election negotiations held in nearby Swaziland.

Amnesty International and The Human Rights Watch have reported that Mugabe's government has committed multiple human rights violations. Recently, worldwide news organizations such as The Daily News and The BBC have had their buildings bombed and their licenses to report revoked within Zimbabwe. The government uses on the national broadcasting corporation to report news, and effectively uses it as a propaganda tool. A once democratic and free independent African nation has fallen into a desperate dictatorship as have many other African Nations. Once a beacon of hope to other African countries, Zimbabwe has fallen into the depths of depression and Dictatorship with no signs of getting out soon.

President Bush: Torture is Legal?

Yesterday, President George W. Bush vetoed a Bill passed by the Congress to make Water boarding and other intense forms of "interrogation" illegal. But with a single stroke of his pen, the President vetoed this bill which will allow U.S. officials and the C.I.A. to continue practicing water boarding in the war on terror in places like Guantanamo Bay.

President Bush has legalized Water boarding and other forms of "alternative interrogation techniques" for use against the enemy. But he is already holding them in a prison without Habeas Corpus or humane conditions. These actions parallel many other dictators in history, and while I hate to play the "Hitler Card," the parallels are there. Hitler and Mussolini both rose to power in a legal way, through a democratic system. Bush began his presidential term by not winning the popular election. Hitler and Mussolini both began making secret prisons outside of the countries laws, allowing for more extreme measures to be taken. Hitler had prison camps, Bush has Guantanamo. All dictators begin to allow their "secret police" to have a more lenient policy towards finding individuals and providing evidence to convict them. Bush has passed the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions act allowing the CIA to wire tap and search without warrants and detain "enemy combatants" without trial or cause.

If President Bush, on his word alone, declares an individual as an "enemy combatant" then he can hold that person for an undetermined amount of time without trial, a lawyer, or even legal
conditions. And now, with the veto of the president, the containe individual can be tortured, without conviction or trial, to obtain information regarding America's war on terror or any other information regarding America's enemies.

This is wrong. This is not the America I know and love. It is not patriotic to obey every command the President gives. It is patriotic to question authority. Those are the principles on which America was founded. Obviously Bush is not as bad as Hitler, and I would never dare to compare the two. But the parallels are there, and it is up to the people to prevent a leader taking away their rights, especially in a time of fear. Many of these points were brought up in the book The End of America by Naomi Wolf, and I strongly recommend reading it. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!

Bhopal: Let's make a difference

In December, 1984 an industrial disaster caused the death of over 7,000 people in Bhopal, India in the days after the incident, and the death of 15,000 in the 24 years since. The Union Carbide factory, associated with the Dow Chemical Corporation, in the city had an explosion that released "40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate caused by water leaking into the MIC holding tank where a chemical reaction took place raising temperatures to over 200 degrees Celsius, not to mention the chemicals that leaked into the town's water supply, poisoning countless more.

The accident in Bhopal was a tragic event that could have been prevented if the company had not taken cost cutting measures including employee training, materials, and area of the factory. If the chemical plant had not been in a populated area, as was suggested, there would have been far less casualties.

The Union Carbide Company is refusing to admit to their fault, pay damages to the victims and families of the victims, are not taking responsibility, and is refusing to attend a court case. Amnesty International and other organizations are attempting to put pressure on the companies involved to take responsibility. We need your help.

Send an Email to the corporations at fault from Amnesty International here and here.

The American Public: What Has Happenned?

Remember the time when everybody cared about what was happening? I can. Students were protesting, marching, and speaking out. I don't believe riots are a great way to spread one's message, but I do believe in expressing an opinion. Recently I have noticed a decrease in political activity in the majority of the public even though the Iraq war continues and we in the midst of one of the most historic elections in history.

I started thinking about this when I looked at the tracked votes from my states caucus. As I looked at the numbers, mostly in favor of Barack Obama, I noticed something frightening. Fifty Two people in my small town had voted for John Edwards, a week after he had dropped out of the race! I would greatly appreciate it if someone could explain this to me. I'm hoping theres a real reason, but as of now, I can just wonder in amazement at the utter carelessness and stupidity of the American public. What has the election process come to?

During the primary I saw a group of Japanese tourists standing outside of the town hall taking pictures of Americans voting. They thought it was amazing that so many people would come out to vote in the biggest and most famous Democratic nation in the world. Yet none of the Americans I saw seemed to care, and more surprisingly, even knew anything about who they were voting for or against.

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone."

Yes We Can! - ¡Sí, Se Puede!

hope we can believe in

Super Tuesday: Decision 2008

Super Tuesday is tomorrow! While the decision for the Democratic or Republican candidate hasn't been decided yet, super Tuesday should accurately predict who the two presidential candidates will be. In the Democratic party, its Obama versus Clinton, who have both been doing very well around the country. In the Republican party, its McCain versus Romney and Huckabee. Huckabee has not been doing very well in total, but has been focusing in the American South which may effect his upcoming chances. At this point, my money is on Clinton versus Romney, although i would like to Obama versus a completely incompetent Republican, I can't always have my way.

The Impending Control Crisis: Africa

Shortly after the disaster we all know as Vietnam, it seems America has taken a different approach towards occupying foreign countries. We left our Hearts and Minds campaign in Vietnam with our dignity, and adopted a new Shock and Awe campaign we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. Basically, we just try to show how powerful we are by making the biggest booms and bangs.

We obviously haven't been trying to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis. They only have four hours, on good days, of electricity. Many don't have running water, including sewer. But we're doing even worse in Africa.

Africa, the continent beyond help, has collapsed since the age of colonization, and we're to blame. Not just the U.S. but every major western european nation. The Dutch in Congo, the British in South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and the French in North Africa. Each western european nation staked a claim in the naturaly wealthy continent. And each left their colonies to fend for themselves, in the name of "freedom."

China has stepped in to pick up what we left. One mans trash is another mans treasure. We tossed away Sudan and other starving African nations because they were too poor to help. Now, China has begun a hearts and minds campaign in Sudan, and in return, they get oil.

Africa has Oil, Rubber, Diamonds, and plenty of workers. While I believe we should step up and help because its the right thing to do, we may need to take a different approach to convince our realist leaders. China is the next biggest super power in the world, and may even surpass us in our lifetime. It is in our best interest to help Africa to begin to control oil, rubber, diamonds, and the rest of Africa's wealth through partnerships, alliances, and trade agreements before China, our competitor, gets it all.

Ron Paul: Libertarian good for Liberty?

Seeing Ron Paul battle it out with the other big names in the business is truly inspiring. He stands up with all the other candidates and competes. He stands up with Guliani, Romney, and McCain, yet he doesn't give up.

Let's be honest, he has zero percent chance of becoming President, or even winning the Republican nomination for that matter. But what would happen if he DID win?

When he debates with the other republicans, he always sticks to two major points. Two major points that I entirely agree with him on. He believes we should leave Iraq with a firm strategy, and he thinks that it would be his responsibility, as President, to uphold the constitution. He is 100% correct. George W. Bush has utterly failed in his biggest responsibility as President, upholding the constitution.

As far as I am concerned, the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act are explicitly and utterly unconstitutional. We're just moving further away from an open society towards a totalitarian government as seen in Italy and Germany in the 1920s to 1930s with the rise of Fascism.

Ron Paul wins voters with his realistic, responsible views on the role of the President when he debates with candidates who believe that we should outlaw gays and wire tap everyones phones to capture and torture terrorists. But when hes alone with his own followers he seems to preach a slightly different gospel.

Ron Paul supports the legalization of medical marijuana, and possibly the legalization of marijuana in general. He promises to "stop the war on drugs" and legalize prostitution. He's a libertarian. He believes in Liberty. Could the land of the free even handle pure freedom? To some extent, I doubt it. With Ron Paul's new America full of sex and drugs I would expect a quick decline in education, technological advance, and quicker spread of disease.

Legalization of Marijuana has its pros, but the legalization of everything seems to have some very clear cons. So basically, Ron Paul sounds cool on stage, and he sounds awesome sitting next to the Neo Cons, but when it comes down to it, I'm pretty sure only Anarchy and Chaos would result from his Presidency. Sorry Ron.

Political Cartoon

Heres a little political cartoon I did in my free time, I have some others i'll upload soon. If you have any ideas for cartoons just add a comment. Thanks

Barack Obama: Plans for 2008

Obama seems to be the best politician that will face the facts and make the changes our country so desperately needed. He will change the environment, war, and overall well being of Americans in a very positive way. But does he have a chance? If he beats Hillary for the Democratic nomination will he win? I hope so, but maybe not.

Barack Obama's Plans for 2008: