UK, US caused Zimbabwe droughts - Zimbabwean state-run newspaper.

According to The Hearald, climate change has been artificially induced "in a bid to arm-twist the region to capitulate to the whims of the world's superpowers". It said weather was being manipulated for political gain using unspecified "unconventional" chemical weapons.

More evidence that Mugabe has to go. I hope the West will not need more proof that this guy is a threat to millions of people. How can someone so nutty be trusted in charge of anything? I don't think this is just how air from Harare. I truly believe that he believes this stuff.

If you want to read more you can click here.

Casulties of War

In 2002, the divorce rate among married army officers was 1.9 percent. The rate had risen to 6 percent by 2004.

Hotel Rwanda

I watched Hotel Rwanda yesterday. Don Cheadle does a great job as Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed 1286 Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. I won't give any of the movie away because I think everyone should watch it. It highlights so many things that are still relevant today.

1 - Man's inhumanity towards his fellow man.
2 - The hypocricy of the West in particular as it relates to Africa. (listen for Nick Nolte's great line)
3 - If one person will do what is right no matter what the personal costs may be then many can be helped.

There is a slide show on the 100 days of genocide on the BBC website. Click here if you would like to view it.

My Evening at Children's Medical Center

I'm writing this from the Emergency room at Children's Medical Center in Dallas. I love being a father. It is a source of great joy in my life. I hate the fact that I am so familiar with this place. I know where everything is, I know where the fastest elevators are and I know where the cafeteria is. I even found the Starbucks on the 6th floor of the Bright Building.

We have been to the emergency room twice, spent six days here in April and my daughter had surgery three weeks ago. That does not include the numerous ENT, GI and surgical appointments my wife has brought her to. I'm not even sure why I 'm writing this other than the fact that it is therapeutic.

Anyhow, its late and I'm tired so I think I shut down.

Patriotism at its stupidest!

The following Bloomberg News story ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer today.

U.S. airlines must tell passengers where planes were built, under a rule that becomes final today and was prompted by a U.S. lawmaker's concern that so many aircraft are being manufactured outside the country.

Carriers, including American Airlines and United Airlines, must place the information on the plastic cards in airplane seat backs that describe emergency exits.

The rule is the result of a provision that Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who is chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, added to legislation enacted in December 2003.

"All of the airlines are probably already in compliance," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said yesterday in Washington. The agency estimated it would cost carriers $522,000 to print stickers with the location where planes were "finally assembled" and place them on the placards in 6,559 aircraft.

Airbus has won more orders than The Boeing Co. in five of the past six years and delivered more planes the past two years. U.S. airlines also use planes made by Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. and Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, which has its headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.

The requirement is "irrelevant" because aircraft manufacturing is a global industry and planes contain parts from countries around the world, said Mary Anne Greczyn, a U.S. spokeswoman for Airbus.The company's planes are "finally assembled" in France or Germany, she said.

???? $522,000 to pay for stickers with final assembly location information on them. Unless you are an aviation freak (like me) I doubt if most people can tell the difference between a 757 and a A320.

Zimbabwe police demolish township

According to a news report from the BBC, the United Nations estimates that 200,000 people are now homeless after Zimbabwean authorities demolished a township in Bulawayo. President Robert Mugabe says that his governments actions are neccessary to "restore sanity" to Zimbabwe. Those opposed say "Operation Murambatsvina (Drive out rubbish)" is punishment for urban dwellers who mostly voted against Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party in the March elections.

Our western leaders want to increase financial aid to Africa. I don't think this will ultimately help at all. The problem with Africa is not that it is poor, but rather that most of its nations are run by ruthless corrupt dictators who in turn keep the people poor. The solution to Zimbabwe's problems is not just aid but rather the removal of Robert Mugabe from office as well.

Britain, as the former colonial power, and South Africa as the economic powerhouse in the region must act. Both nations have a moral responsibilty to the people of Zimbabwe to intervene. I don't care if Mugabe gave refuge to any then outlawed ANC (South Africa's current ruling party) operatives. Political favors must become secondary to moral responsibility. South Africa continues to grow and flourish as a nation. Could it be that because South Africa is goverened as a democracy for all people that it flourishes? Why can't the people of Zimbabwe have the same?

Jackson and Mandela

I hear that Michael Jackson's acquittal is being compared to Nelson Mandela's release from prision. The two events could not be further apart.
I was in South Africa the day Mandela was released. Millions danced for joy in the streets as his release signaled the dawning of a new day. It marked the beginning of a journey that would lead to freedom and equality for all South Africans. Jackson's release marked another celebrity trial that prosecutors in California botched.
The only historical event that Jackson's acquittal mirrors is OJ Simpsons acquittal ten years earlier.

I feel safer now

My wife and I attended the Texas Rangers game last night. We tried to enter the ballpark with a small hard cooler containing our daughter's formula and medication, both of which need to be refrigerated. We both discovered that you are not allowed to take hard coolers into the stadium. I had no idea. Sure that's my fault. I could have called or checked the Ranger's website. But I didn't.
When asked why we could not enter with the cooler we were given this gem as an answer, "Since 9/11 terrorists have been able to make bombs in hard coolers". Give me a break. This guys somehow implies that everyone was behaving themselves before 9/11/. I don't doubt that you could make a bomb out of a cooler. But I don't want to hear how its connected to 9/11. Every lame law/rule is blamed on 9/11 and EVERYONE accepts it. As long as those in authority still have that day fresh in people's minds then they can almost do as they please. Just tell people that they are being protected because of 9/11 and most will buy it.
Not this guy though. I know Sean Hannity says "that its different in a post 9/11 world" but its really not different at all. Americans are sadly now more aware of the way of the world. I can't take a cooler into the ballpark for security purposes, but I can take a stroller or a car seat, or anything I can hide on my person because I am not searched or required to walk through a metal detector. Nice.

Border security and why removing your shoes at the airport is lame

This is a section from an article I read in the Associated Press today.

BOSTON - On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.

So you can enter the United States with a a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with blood, but you can't take a nail file with you on an aircraft.

My wife and I flew to London out of DFW last summer. We had to remove our shoes (a measure other nations find laughable) and explain everything in our carry-on bags. I wonder who these measures are for? I especially wondered about those measures that day. I had watched a feature on the local news the evening before that showed how checked baggage was not x-rayed for explosives in the terminal we were flying out of. So I wonder why the show of security at the gate?

Anyhow, back to the story.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that "Despres could not be detained because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges on the day in question." he added that "Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. ... We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations."

The problem is that we are governed by laws and regulations and that wisdom has no place at the table. Entering a country with a a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with blood is not bizzare, it is a huge red flag! It yells deatain me! It begs for further investigation. When did common sense take a permanent vacation?

Anyhow, rest peacefully in the knowledge that we are governed by laws and regulations.

Britain to shelve vote on EU constitution

After being soundly voted down by French and Dutch voters the EU Constitution will not have the same oppourtunity in the United Kingdom. The British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will inform parliament that legislation to enable a referendum will be frozen.
So the Euro's can't even get along long enough to get their constitution passed. Boo-Hoo! The real story here is not the failure of the voters to pass the constitution but rather that the Euro's thought they could all get along.
So Germany has failed for the third time to conquer Europe.