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June 26, 2008
No Relief in Sght
As one of the worst Summers in memory grinds on, one is forced to wonder how much worse things can get; however, the casual perusal of most newspapers or just a few minutes listening to the news on CNN serves to remind us that the present cascade of bad news seems much closer to its beginning than to its end. A prime example is Zimbabwe, still caught in the tyrannical grasp of Robert Mugabe, its only ruler since the country, then Rhodesia, gained its independence in 1980. Over the intervening 28 years, Mugabe has progressed from Prime Minister in a parliamentary system to President (since 1987). Events since then confirm that although Zimbabwe, under Mugabe’s rule, has degenerated into one of the cruelest and most ludicrous dictatorships in the modern world, both the nation and its President are apparently beyond the reach of the vaunted “rule of law.”All of which prompts me to ask a rhetorical question: so long as their presidencies remain credible within their national borders, what’s the difference between Robert Mugabe and George W. Bush?
Two other straws in the wind: In an interview seen this morning on CNN, Michael Nutter, the outspoken mayor of Philadelphia, described federal presence as “invisible,” in his city's growing housing crisis. When I tuned in to CNN again during the noon hour, the news was interrupted by a bulletin reporting that a high ranking federal police official in Mexico had just been gunned down in a restaurant while having lunch with his bodyguard. Apparently, the public execution was in response to the planned extradition of a leading drug dealer for trial to the US.
Shades of Colombia in the Twentieth Century... are we winning yet?
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at June 26, 2008 10:05 PM