Mrs P.O.Dibiaezue... 1929-2008

Mrs Patience Omanukwue Dibiaezue~1929-2008; philanthropist, educator, pacesetter, woman leader, mother-extraordinaire

... may her lovely soul rest in perfect heavenly bliss.

Homeward bound...







Home at last... home at last...



and from all works of life, they came, wearing her colors, to lead her home...





... watching and waiting...



... and the Urhobos came





... and they came, filing in line... to see a great mentor and mother





... lying in state.



It was the very definition of a full house... spilling over.







You could feel it!!!



... even Idols crooner Ibinabo was not to be outdone













And then it was done...





as my favorite ladies stood



with a spade and some dust... Ma was gone.




... and how so very silly those words sounded "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

Click on pictures to enlarge

Hillary, Jorge and Seng-the Cocaine Connection

Hillary, Jorge and Seng-the Cocaine Connection

Hillary Clinton and Cocaine smuggler, Jorge Cabrera... and below, with Al Gore

Drug Smuggler Made Clinton Donation in Cuba, Investigators Say
By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
New York Times
April 4, 1997

MIAMI -- Jorge Cabrera, a drug smuggler who has emerged as
one of the most notorious supporters of President Clinton's
re-election campaign, was asked for a campaign contribution in
the unlikely locale of a hotel in Havana by a prominent Democratic
fund-raiser, congressional investigators have learned.

The investigators said the fund-raiser, whom they identified as
Vivian Mannerud, a Cuban-American businesswoman from Miami,
told Cabrera at a meeting at the Copacabana Hotel in Havana that
in exchange for a contribution he would be invited to a
fund-raising dinner in honor of Vice President Al Gore in an
exclusive enclave near Miami.

Ms. Mannerud owns Airline Brokers Co., an airline charter
service that operates among Havana, the Bahamas and Mexico.

On his return to the United States several days after that
meeting, in November 1995, Cabrera wrote a check for $20,000 to
the Democratic National Committee from an account that included
the proceeds from smuggling cocaine from Colombia to the
United States, said the investigators, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

Within two weeks of the contribution, Cabrera met Gore at the
dinner in Miami. Ten days later, Cabrera attended a Christmas
reception at the White House hosted by Hillary Rodham Clinton. At
the events, Gore and Mrs. Clinton posed for photographs with
Cabrera, who has two felony convictions dating from the 1980s
and is now in a prison here on a drug-smuggling conviction.

* * * * *



Here we have a photo taken at an official DNC fundraiser with Bill and Hillary posed with Ng Lap Seng, Macau Crime Lord who controls Prostitution in that region. His Fortuna Hotel is actually a high class bordello where young girls (often underage) are available for a price. Ng, through his American contact Charlie Trie, donated close to a million dollars to the Democrats.

The Pope and Sex Crimes

Above; Vatican lawyer Tom Doyle and Pope Benedict


The Pope and Sex Crimes

The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight.

In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety.

The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be excommunicated.

The Panorama special, Sex Crimes And The Vatican, investigates the details of this little-known document for the first time. The programme also accuses the Catholic Church of knowingly harbouring paedophile clergymen. It reveals that priests accused of child abuse are generally not struck off or arrested but simply moved to another parish, often to reoffend. It gives examples of hush funds being used to silence the victims.

Before being elected as Pope Benedict XVI in April last year, the pontiff was Cardinal Thomas Ratzinger who had, for 24 years, been the head of the powerful Congregation of the Doctrine of The Faith, the department of the Roman Catholic Church charged with promoting Catholic teachings on morals and matters of faith. An arch-Conservative, he was regarded as the 'enforcer' of Pope John Paul II in cracking down on liberal challenges to traditional Catholic teachings.

Five years ago he sent out an updated version of the notorious 1962 Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis - Latin for The Crime of Solicitation - which laid down the Vatican's strict instructions on covering up sexual scandal. It was regarded as so secret that it came with instructions that bishops had to keep it locked in a safe at all times.

Cardinal Ratzinger reinforced the strict cover-up policy by introducing a new principle: that the Vatican must have what it calls Exclusive Competence. In other words, he commanded that all child abuse allegations should be dealt with direct by Rome.

Patrick Wall, a former Vatican-approved enforcer of the Crimen Sollicitationis in America, tells the programme: "I found out I wasn't working for a holy institution, but an institution that was wholly concentrated on protecting itself."

And Father Tom Doyle, a Vatican lawyer until he was sacked for criticising the church's handling of child abuse claims, says: "What you have here is an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child sexual abuse by the clergy and to punish those who would call attention to these crimes by the churchmen.

"When abusive priests are discovered, the response has been not to investigate and prosecute but to move them from one place to another. So there's total disregard for the victims and for the fact that you are going to have a whole new crop of victims in the next place. This is happening all over the world."

The investigation could not come at a worse time for Pope Benedict, who is desperately trying to mend the Church's relations with the Muslim world after a speech in which he quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor who said that Islam was spread by holy war and had brought only evil to the world.

The Panorama programme is presented by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a priest when he was 14. He said: "What gets me is that it's the same story every time and every place. Bishops appoint priests who they know have abused children in the past to new parishes and new communities and more abuse happens."

Last night Eileen Shearer, director of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults said: "The Catholic Church in England and Wales (has) established a single set of national policies and procedures for child protection work. We are making excellent progress in protecting children and preventing abuse."

Oil hits $117 after Nigerian pipeline attack

Oil hits $117 after Nigerian pipeline attack

NEW YORK (AP) -- Retail gas prices set new records Friday on their seemingly relentless march toward $3.50 a gallon, and diesel prices pushed further above $4 a gallon.

Oil futures, meanwhile, surged to a new record over $117 a barrel after a militant group in Nigeria said it had sabotaged a major oil pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture and promised further attacks on the country's petroleum industry.

At the pump, the national average price of regular gas rose 2.7 cents overnight to a record $3.445 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Diesel fuel added 2.2 cents to a record national average of $4.168 a gallon.

The spike in the cost of fuel is hurting consumers already feeling the effects of a slowing economy, a sluggish job market and falling home values. Soaring prices of diesel, which runs most of the world's trucks, trains, ships and heavy equipment, is a major factor pushing food prices higher.

Some analysts call for prices to peak near $3.80 a gallon; the Energy Department, in a recent forecast, said prices could average $4 a gallon nationally at times.

Meanwhile, oil continued pushing to new records, pulling gas prices higher despite the fact that demand for the expensive fuel has fallen this year. On the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $1.83 a barrel to settle at $116.69 after hitting a new trading high of $117.

What sex, whose orgasm?

What sex, whose orgasm?

The Associated Press, under the headline "Sex Takes 3 to 13 Minutes," has given the world a sneak-peek at the science of quickies. A study to be published next month in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, based on a survey of sex therapists, concluded that the "optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes."

I scratched my head on that one, until I read that "the time does not include foreplay." And then the bulb went on. Well, two bulbs went on. First, why are they using those tired, narrow definitions of "sex" and "foreplay" -- as if they were separate activities? And second, what if "intercourse" isn't in your sexual vocabulary, although you're having fabulous erotic experiences? Or if your idea of intercourse involves neither a penis nor a vagina?

What's sex?

This conflation of "sex" and "sexual intercourse" is as outdated an idea as the prohibition on wearing white shoes after Labor Day or the belief that birth control causes promiscuity. Let's get real.

Penetration is one of many sexual activities. Others are oral sex, nipple pinching, butt squeezing, clit rubbing, ball tickling, breast binding, toe sucking and, did I say clit rubbing? The actions that constitute "sex" -- undistinguished from "foreplay" -- are as varied as the people who do them.

If a couple has kissed and touched and teased and stroked and sucked until both of them are totally satiated -- but they haven't screwed -- is that not sex? If someone has a fetish -- say they are wild about stockings -- and they get off humping the silk-encased thigh of their partner -- is that not sex?

What's intercourse?

Intercourse isn't right for everyone and isn't required for reaching an ecstatic orgasm. Sometimes you want penetration and luckily there are a number of possible spots to penetrate with a number of body parts -- from fingers to tongue to penis -- and non-body parts -- from dildos to ben-wa balls to fruit.

But the AP report on this study seems to be all about heterosexual penile/vaginal intercourse and even that is very limited and limiting. Not only do people feel varied levels of enthusiasm about such sexual intercourse at various times of their lives (or months), some people cannot perform that particular activity at all. There are plenty of reasons for this, including the thinning of the vaginal walls with age, medications that prevent strong erections, a personal safer sex guideline or simply no inclination for copulation.

Don't gay and lesbian people have sex? Do their activities fit this definition of "sexual intercourse"? And the woman who drizzles lubricant in her cleavage and then presses her breasts together as her male lover pumps, is that intercourse? Does anal sex constitute intercourse? What about fisting?

The article's general thrust is that you shouldn't feel bad about having such short-lived sex, since it appears to be the norm. In fact, the piece includes a promise that this study will "ease the minds" of those worried about the stopwatch. In support of low expectations, Marianne Brandon, a clinical psychologist, is quoted as saying, "There are so many myths in our culture of what other people are doing sexually. Most people's sex lives are not as exciting as other people think they are."

Perhaps if the sex therapists encouraged the broadest exploration of pleasure, we wouldn't have to resort to measuring such a narrow notion of sex. Separating "foreplay" from "sex" is as logical as separating tea from water. It's in the mix that we find the thrill and satisfaction.

Sex takes 3 to 13 minutes

The battle for food control

The battle for food control

The rise in global food prices has sparked a number of protests in recent weeks, highlighting the worsening epidemic of global hunger. The World Bank estimates world food prices have risen 80 percent over the last three years and that at least thirty-three countries face social unrest as a result. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned the growing global food crisis has reached emergency proportions.

In recent weeks, food riots have also erupted in Haiti, Niger, Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Protests have also flared in Morocco, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mexico and Yemen. In most of West Africa, the price of food has risen by 50 percent -- in Sierra Leone, 300 percent. The World Food Program has issued a rare $500 million emergency appeal to deal with the growing crisis.

Several causes factor into the global food price hike, many linked to human activity. These include human-driven climate change, the soaring cost of oil and a Western-led focus on biofuels that critics say turns food into fuel.

Raj Patel is a writer, activist and former policy analyst with Food First, which is based in the Bay Area. He has worked for the World Bank, World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and he's also protested them on four continents. He has just come out with a new book called Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. He recently joined me in San Francisco to talk about the book and the food-price crisis.

Raj Patel: There are two kinds of stories that we can tell about the food prices. One is an economic story, and that's a story about a perfect storm of poor harvests and a demand for meat in developing countries, which is diverting grain, and the high price of oil, which is driving up food -- farm inputs, and at the same time, the biofuels boom, the process of growing fuels in order -- sorry, growing food in order to burn it rather than eat it. All of these are economic factors that are driving up the price of food.

But at the same time, there's a political story here, and it's a longer-term political story about how countries have been forced to abandon their support for farmers and to abandon things like grain supplies and grain stores. And this is a longer-term story, and it involves organizations like the World Bank and the World Trade Organization that have a fairly iron control over the economies of most of the poorest countries in the world. And what the World Bank and what the WTO and, to some extent, the International Monetary Fund have done is force these countries to tie their hands behind their back, effectively, and to bind them very firmly to an international economy in food. And the consequence of that is that when the price of food goes up, these economies have very little recourse and very little possibility of defending themselves economically.

Amy Goodman: Raj, you worked at these institutions that you're now critiquing. You worked at the World Bank. You worked at the World Trade Organization. How much contact do you have with people at the other end -- for example, the people who are now rising up all over the world, the most destitute?

Well, I mean, I certainly don't have any contact with anyone at the World Bank or the World Trade Organization. I was there when I was doing my doctoral work. I did some research for the World Bank. It was a disaster. And I interned at the World Trade Organization just to find out what it was like.

But my allegiances are and always have been with the people on the streets. And I'm working right now with shack dwellers in Durban in South Africa. But also I'm connected to groups of peasants and of landless people around the world by occasionally doing some research for Via Campesina, the international peasant movement, that by some estimates has over 100 million members. So I'm definitely more connected and more supportive of their efforts to develop a more positive and more genuine food democracy.

In your work there, even as a researcher, what was -- how much understanding did people who work there have of what was going on and what their institutions were doing?

I mean, to some extent, there's a lot of creative denial about the suffering that these organizations cause. I mean, certainly within the World Bank, when I worked there, there was a banner, sort of five stories high, as you enter into the World Bank building, with a beautiful African child on it and beneath it the slogan, "Our dream is a world free of poverty." And certainly, there's a sort of myth-making enterprise within the World Bank that everything they were doing was for the benefit of the poor, whether the poor liked it or not. So I certainly think that there's a sense that when things are tough, it's tough love that comes from the World Bank.

Lobbying for Armageddon

Lobbying for Armageddon

In a perfect world, a reporter at last week's press conference with George Bush and Tony Blair would have asked Bush, in the presence of his principal European ally, if he believes the European Union is the Antichrist.

Although it sounds like the kind of Pat Robertson lunacy that makes even the wingnuts run for the nearest exit, it's a question Bush should be forced to answer. Bush and other leading Republicans have lined up behind a growing movement of Christian Zionists for whom a European Antichrist figures prominently in an end-times scenario. So they should be forced to explain to the rest of us why they're courting the votes of people who believe our allies are evil incarnate. Could it be that the central requirement for their breathlessly anticipated Armageddon -- that the United States confront Iran -- happens to dovetail so nicely with the neoconservative war agenda?

At the center of it all is Pastor John Hagee, a popular televangelist who leads the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. While Hagee has long prophesized about the end times, he ratcheted up his rhetoric this year with the publication of his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," in which he argues that a confrontation with Iran is a necessary precondition for Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. In the best-selling book, Hagee insists that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West. Shortly after the book's publication, he launched Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which, as the Christian version of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he said would cause "a political earthquake."

At CUFI's kick-off banquet at the Washington Hilton, attended by over 3,500 members, Republican support for both Hagee's effort and his drumbeat for war with Iran were on full view. Republican National Committee Chair Ken Mehlman told the group that "no regime is more central to the global jihad" than Iran. Just two days before, Newt Gingrich and John McCain made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows to sound the same message, leading Benny Elon, a member of the Israeli Knesset, to comment to the Jerusalem Post that their remarks originated with Hagee. Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback also addressed the group, and Bush sent words of support to the gathering. Republicans, and even some Democrats, spoke at CUFI events to show their "support for Israel." But while public and media attention was on the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Hagee's focus continued to be on Iran.

While the crisis at the Israel-Lebanon border drew more mainstream media attention to CUFI's activities, Hagee's supporters have long known that leading Republicans are listening. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a prominent Jewish ally of the evangelical right (and friend of Jack Abramoff) has said that Hagee "without question, yes, absolutely" has the ear of the White House. Hagee's annual Night to Honor Israel at his church has drawn prominent Republicans, including Tom DeLay, who was the keynote speaker in 2002.

Although Republicans would never admit it -- they claim their support for Christian Zionists like Hagee is based on their own support for Israel -- it is clear that they know they need the votes of this constituency to win. In the same way that Karl Rove courted conservative evangelicals in 2004 by appealing to their homophobia, Republican campaign rhetoric for 2006 and 2008 has already shown signs of playing to voters who have been hearing hype for a war with Iran for months -- at church.

While Washington insiders wonder what it means when Republicans like Mehlman and presidential aspirants Gingrich and McCain finger Iran as the central player in an epic clash of civilizations, Hagee already has spent months mobilizing the shock troops in support of another war. As diplomats, experts and pundits debate how many years Iran will need to develop a viable nuclear weapon, Hagee says the mullahs already possess the means to destroy Israel and America. And although Bush insists that diplomatic options are still on the table, Hagee has dismissed pussyfooting diplomacy and primed his followers for a conflagration.

Hagee wields "a very large megaphone" that reaches "a very large group of people," said Rabbi James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee, who has studied the Christian right for 30 years. With CUFI, the pastor has exponentially expanded the reach of his megaphone beyond his television audience. Thanks to the viral marketing made possible by the hundreds of evangelical leaders who have signed on to his new organization, his warmongering has rippled through megachurches across America for months. Hagee calls pastors "the spiritual generals of America," an appropriate phrase given his reliance on them to rally their troops behind his message.

The CUFI board of directors includes the Rev. Jerry Falwell, former Republican presidential candidate and religious right activist Gary Bauer, and George Morrison, pastor of the 8,000-member Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colo., and chairman of the board of Promise Keepers. Rod Parsley, the Ohio televangelist who is rapidly becoming a major political player in the Christian right, signed on to be a regional director.

Bobby Mugabe's endgame

Bobby Mugabe's endgame

The ruinous reign of Robert Mugabe is drawing to a close as aides work to secure him a facesaving exit after defeat at the polls.

Talks began after Mr Mugabe’s closest cohorts gathered at State House to inform him that he had not only failed to win an outright victory in the weekend’s presidential election, but was beaten into second place by his challenger.

Late last night Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, refused to declare victory but told reporters that he had achieved “above the constitutional requirement” to avoid a run-off.

He vowed to wait for the Election Commission to announce official results before declaring victory, raising suspicions that a deal with Mr Mugabe was already in place.

Mr Tsvangirai dismissed the delay as irrelevant, suggesting that he no longer feared vote rigging. “The people of Zimbabwe have waited this long. They can wait far, far longer,” he said.

South Africa was leading the behind-the-scenes negotiations on a power-sharing deal in which a member of Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party would assume a vice-presidential position. Such a deal would also ensure that Mr Mugabe retained immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed during his authoritarian rule.

“It is over for Mugabe. No one is now talking about him staying on, just somehow finding a graceful exit,” a diplomat said.

Even Mr Mugabe’s own colleagues admitted that the regime was witnessing its final moments. “He [Mugabe] is prepared to step down because he doesn’t want to embarrass himself by going to a run-off,” a Zanu (PF) official said. “There is only one person still blocking him — the army chief of staff.”

On Saturday Mr Mugabe had dismissed talk of a second round, saying that such a move was unheard of in Zimbabwe. “We knock each other out in the first round,” he said. But his defeat was testing his pride. “He considers this to be a huge insult, he is a proud man and needs an exit strategy,” a source close to the talks said.

According to Western diplomats the man tipped to become the vice-president to secure Mr Mugabe’s safe retirement is Dumiso Dabengwa, the Zanu (PF) former Home Affairs Minister, who defected from the party five weeks ago.

He was part of a group of senior politburo members who, after years of discontent with Mr Mugabe’s rule, decided to mount their own challenge. Having failed to replace him as the party’s candidate, they chose a colleague, Simba Makoni, the former Finance Minister, to stand against the President. Mr Makoni’s entry into the presidential race peeled votes away from the ageing leader, splitting the Zanu (PF) vote to Mr Tsvangirai’s advantage.

At the same time, growing desperation over the country’s freefalling economy and population decline energised the population to get out and vote for the opposition.

Mr Mugabe’s rule began to unravel on Sunday as the MDC began releasing results that it had collected from individual polling stations, indicating the scale of its lead. Security chiefs then met members of the Election Commission. When they were told that President Mugabe was heading for defeat, the security chiefs ordered them to trickle out the results one by one, announcing one each to the ruling party and the MDC and leaving hours between announcements.

The delay caused alarm across the globe, with Britain, the US and the European Union insisting that the results be released immediately.

Yesterday afternoon the ruling party leaked its own projections that handed Mr Tsvangirai victory. MDC members spent the day speaking to the Zanu (PF) politburo to convince them that they must accept the results, offering incentives such as immunity or government positions to do so.

Diplomats said that nothing would be made official until a deal was finalised. Mr Dabengwa, who met The Times in Matabeleland last week, denied the reports that he was to become vice-president. But diplomats said that he was the ideal candidate for the job. Mr Dabengwa told The Times that he did not support putting Mr Mugabe on trial for the alleged human rights abuses of the past, noting that Ian Smith, the white Rhodesian former leader, had been allowed to go quietly after Zimbabwe won its independence from Britain in 1980.

SA Dockers refuse to unload China arms to Zim

SA Dockers refuse to unload China arms to Zim

South African dockers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of small arms destined for Zimbabwe.

The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election – which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.

The arms arrived at Durban, South Africa, on Wednesday aboard the Chinese-owned An Yue Jiang and must be taken by road to landlocked Zimbabwe, where the Government has been accused of arming rural militias before a possible run-off vote for the presidency. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has even accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu (PF) of preparing for a "war" against the people.

January Masilela, the South African Defence Secretary, said yesterday that the shipment had been approved this week by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), which he chairs. "This is a normal transaction between two sovereign states and we don't have to interfere," he said.

But opposition parties slammed the decision to grant the transit permit and the country's main transport union said that its members would refuse to unload the cargo.

“We do not believe it will be in the interest of the Zimbabwean people in general if South Africa is seen to be a conduit of arms and ammunition into Zimbabwe at a time when the situation could be described as quite volatile,” said Randall Howard, a spokesman for the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).

“As far as we are concerned the containers will not be offloaded”.

Rafeek Shah, defence spokesman for the Democratic Alliance, the main South African opposition party, added: "The world's astonishment at President Mbeki's political defence of Robert Mugabe will likely turn into outright anger as we are now not only denying the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe, but also actively facilitating the arming of an increasingly despotic and desperate regime."

AfriForum, a regional business lobby group, has said that it would organise protests along the shipment's route. The South African Institute of Race Relations said that if the shipment goes ahead, "South Africa's culpability in the Zimbabwe crisis would then be without question."

Meanwhile, the South African Government's decision to allow transit of the shipment was the subject of an urgent legal challenge at the Durban High Court.

Nicole Fritz, head of the Southern African Litigation Centre, told Times Online that under the 2002 National Convention on Arms Control, which the NCACC monitors, the permit should not have been granted. That law, she said, specifically prohibits the shipment of arms that will "contribute to internal repression".

In addition, allowing the arms shipment would violate South Africa's international commitments under a range of agreements including the 1996 Wassenaar Arrangement.

"This is a very clear example of a situation in which the committee will be obliged to review a permit," she said, predicting that the High Court would order a stay on the shipment.

There have been persistent reports about Chinese arms sales to Zimbabwe, although the details are hard to pin down.

Zimbabwe announced in 2006 that it had bought six fighter jets from China, adding to a fleet of six it bought the previous year in a deal believed to be based on barter – with China obtaining precious mineral raw materials needed in its economic boom.

Zimbabwean officials said that the aircraft deal also included the purchase of 100 military vehicles from China to replace existing items that were no longer operational since Western sanctions halted imports of spare parts and maintenance equipment.

China’s sales of military hardware are believed to have amounted to more than US$200 million in recent years. There have also been reports that the Chinese have sold water cannons and mobile phone bugging equipment to the security forces in Harare – although it is not clear whether or not those sales were instigated by companies operating outside the control of central government.

Mr Howard, the SATAWU spokesman, said that the An Jue Yiang was carrying 36 containers, 30 of which were equipment for the mining industry in South Africa and Botswana.

“The balance is earmarked for Zimbabwe, four of which have arms and ammunition in them and the other two military aircraft ejector seats," he said.

Mugabe's frontal attack

Mugabe's frontal attack

The ebbing regime of Robert Mugabe began its fightback in earnest last night, launching raids against opposition offices and foreign journalists in what many feared was the start of a campaign of intimidation.

Paramilitary police raided opposition offices at a hotel in central Harare, ransacking rooms as riot police moved in to arrest foreign journalists at a guest house in the capital.

George Sibotshiwe, spokesman of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that the party’s headquarters in the centre of Harare and offices in Meikles hotel in the capital had been raided. “They took nothing. They simply ransacked the place,” he said.

As many as four journalists were arrested, including a reporter from the New York Times, in a separate raid on Harare’s York Lodge hotel, where many correspondents were staying.

The moves, described by opposition leaders as the beginnings of a “crackdown”, came after a day in which the besieged octogenarian leader appeared in public for the first time since the polls in which he was defeated by his challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai. Mr Mugabe was shown on state television yesterday meeting African Union election observers — his first public appearance since the close of polls.

Ruling party officials subsequently announced that he would hold a critical politburo meeting today to plot his next move. State media, the ruling Zanu (PF) party and even — according to some — the President himself have conceded that he lost the race to Mr Tsvangirai, but maintain that the challenger failed to secure an absolute majority.

But the Government insisted that Mr Mugabe was in no mood for surrender and was gearing up to fight on. Fears that the embattled leader may yet resort to violence peaked as news of the raids seeped out last night to Harare’s diplomatic community.

Earlier in the day a senior government spokesman said that the party was preparing to invoke “energy” that it had not tapped during the previous election. “Zanu (PF) is ready for a run-off, we are ready for a resulting victory,” Bright Matonga, the Deputy Information Minister, said.

“In terms of strategy, we only applied 25 per cent of our energy into this campaign,” he added, but the run-off would be different. “That is when we are going to unleash the other 75 per cent that we did not apply in the first case.”Unconfirmed reports were circulating among the diplomatic community about an alleged government plot to extend the three-week run-up to the second round to three months, and to use the time to shut down the provisions in the election law designed to thwart poll-rigging.

Key among them is the precedent of publicly posting each polling station’s results on its walls — a move that allowed the MDC, as well as independent observers, to collate the figures and release them in a preemptive strike against poll-fixing.

But well-placed sources were adamant that any such attempts to manipulate the process would fail, even if they were unprepared to rule out some last desperate, and possibly violent, attempt to cling to power.

“Mugabe is a villain of the first order,” one source told The Times. “He is desperate to stay in power and the sting may be in the tail.”

Zimbabwe’s African neighbours are the only countries with any significant influence over Mr Mugabe’s regime but they have thus far failed to intervene in any significant way. Yesterday’s television appearance came after Mr Mugabe met an African election observer team led by Ahmad Tejah Kabbah, the former Sierra Leonean President. Mr Kabbah has also met Mr Tsvangirai, who claims victory in the election with 50.3 per cent of the vote, but who had vowed to contest a run-off if official election results award him less than 50 per cent.

Rumours have swirled around Harare in the six days since the election, amid the absence of information. Zimbabweans, drained by the fatigue of economic collapse, have displayed epic patience in their wait for an outcome. The slow drip-drip of parliamentary results has held people’s focus as they listen to radios, keeping their own running tallies of the score.

But yesterday the information vacuum yawned open again. The long-delayed partial results for the Senate, parliament’s upper chamber, began to start trickling out only last night. The delay, blamed on logistical problems, again heightened fears of manipulation. Since the presidential tally will be released only when the full Senate count is completed, Zimbabweans suspect a government plot to buy time.

“We will stay patient because we must,” said Blessing, a street vendor in the Harare slums of Mbare. “But it is frustrating.” News of the Zanu (PF) loss of its parliamentary majority boosted morale, but only led to further questions over the delay in the release of presidential results.

The grinding logistics of everyday life under Zimbabwe’s collapsing economy have kept many distracted from their fears of worst-case scenarios.

Yesterday, as every other day, huge queues formed outside a bakery from morning as people stood in line clutching bundles of cash, hopeful that there would be food to buy. More than forty people were still queueing when, at lunchtime, the bread ran out.

Americans more ready for a black president than a woman?

Americans more ready for a black president than a woman?

A poll by CNN and Essence magazine released Thursday found that Americans believe the country is more ready to elect an African-American president than a woman. Here are the numbers: 76 percent of the 2,200 polled said yes, the country is ready for a black president; only 22 percent said no. But when it came to a woman president, only 65 percent said the country was ready, and 35 percent said no.

Photo-speak: Compare and contrast.

Hilary Clinton's supporters in Townsend, Seattle.



Obama supporters in Townsend, Seattle.



When pictures say more than a thousand words ever will.

Are you a slave?

Are you a slave?

IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE JET-PROPELLED, AIR-CONDITIONED OR STEAK-FED...NOR DOES IT MATTER WHERE YOU LIVE IN THE WORLD...AND IT EQUALLY DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE BEEN PAID, FOR WHO SAID IT: "NONE ARE SO HOPELESSLY ENSLAVED AS THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE FREE..."?

WHAT MATTERS IS WHETHER OR NOT YOU GET PAID FOR YOUR LABOR, OR PROPERTY.

THE NUMBER ONE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IS FREE PEOPLE GET PAID FOR THEIR LABOR, THEIR PROPERTY - SLAVES DON'T.

THIS FREE WEBSITE WILL PROVE CONCLUSIVELY, USING WELL RESEARCHED DOCUMENTS (MANY FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM AND MEMBER BANKS) THAT YOU MOST CERTAINLY ARE NOT BEING PAID, HAVEN'T BEEN PAID, NOR ARE PAYING FOR ANYTHING SINCE JUNE 24TH, 1968 BY AN ACT OF CONGRESS.

IT IS NOT OUR FAULT THAT THE MEDIA IN 1968 FAILED TO COVER THE WORLD'S LARGEST BANK ROBBERY - WHEREIN MEN WITH SUITS EMPTIED YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS OF THE LAST KNOWN COMMODITY TO SERVE AS THE MONEY - SILVER IN COIN FORM...AND LEFT NOTHING - No THING IN ITS PLACE. (I WAS IN 7TH GRADE THEN).

ANYONE READING THIS WHO HAS TAKEN ECONOMICS IN COLLEGE, CERTAINLY MUST AGREE WITH MY DEFINITION THAT ECONOMICS IS "THE DISMAL, DULL, SCIENCE OF DECEPTION".(UNLESS OF COURSE, YOU ARE AN ECONOMIST).

I MENTION THIS BECAUSE LIKE IN MOST CASES, THE TRUTH IS SIMPLE BUT MADE TO APPEAR COMPLEX SO THE SLAVES DON'T CATCH ON....AS YOU CONTINUE ON WITH THIS WEBSITE, PLEASE KEEP AN OPEN MIND; HEAR ME OUT, AND ENJOY THE GREAT FEELING THAT COMES WITH UNDERSTANDING SOMETHING YOU THOUGHT WAS SO DIFFICULT.

THE OSTRICH PICTURED ABOVE IS SO SYMBOLIC OF MOST PEOPLE'S SITUATION. HE DRAGS HIS BALL & CHAIN UNAWARE HE IS TOTALLY ENSLAVED. STARTLE HIM WITH THE TRUTH AND HE BURIES HIS HEAD (GUESS WHAT STICKS OUT?).

LOSE YOUR BALL AND CHAIN - HOLD YOUR HEAD UP, AND ENJOY THE RIDE TO MONETARY REALITY!

[THIS IS NOT AN EXCLUSIVE AMERICAN SITUATION - AS STATED EARLIER, IT MATTERS NOT WHERE YOU LIVE. THE USA HAS THE SAME MONETARY SYSTEM ALL NATIONS HAVE TODAY - THE SAME ONE RUSSIA HAS AND HITLER HAD.]



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