Saturday May 10, 2008, 7:28 pm
Messed up is this not...The dumbass freak needs to step down...

Big Grilly Hugs

Saturday May 10, 2008, 7:59 pm
Great article Mark! I loved the StoryOfStuff.com film, and signed up on their mailing list.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:06 pm
It would appear that these are the times for dishonesty and dictators.

The powerful love controlling the weak, but in fact it is the powerful themselves who are truly weak.

If they had to live under the conditions that they force their people to live under, I dare say that most would commit suicide.

Mugabe, like most dictators are monsters. An animal of the lowest common denominator. The fact that he killed elephants for their ivory(or otherwise) makes him a completely despicable character in my eyes.

He is in the same class as our village idiot in Washington who kills people for oil.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:07 pm
Mugabe needs to step away and realize that his day is past.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:10 pm

Yes, Steph, Mugabe does need to step down.There is some possibility that he might if he can get a deal that gives him immunity for war crimes.

Good going, JohnMichael. I'm on their mailing list also, and I ordered a DVD so that I can show it to local groups. You did a great job publishing it, by the way, and I thank you for catching my mistakes.

Michael C., you have a way with words that goes straight to the heart of things, and I fully agree with everything you wrote.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:35 pm
Okay queston...Why cant the newley elected pres. just step in??? Is this Mugabe jerk got that much hold on the government and military???

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:40 pm

Yes, he really does, Steph. And he also has foreign backing -- the countries like China that he has been selling the ivory to and who want him to remain in control so that they can mind uranium in Zimbabwe also. The opposition has the backing of the United States and some other countries, but in many cases their motives are no better. This is a fight over resources -- primarily the elephants who can be killed for their ivory, and the uranium which can be used for weapons and to build more Chernobyls.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:48 pm
Can we send him hate mail????...LOL

Saturday May 10, 2008, 8:51 pm
well done Mark. Thanx for posting Stephanie.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:04 pm
Thank you Mark; I just say what is on my mind.

Mugabe really gets under my skin. I think it has to do with what you said; he's got foreign backing. This has allowed him to continue virtually unpunished.

Can he or rather will he be stopped?

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:07 pm
LOL...that's a good one Steph. Hate mail. I'm pretty sure he gets a lot of that.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:10 pm
I cant beleive the US is backing him too. Poor Ele's and the people. I so love africa and wish all this shit would stop for them.

Michael...LOl Its all I could think of....LOL

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:13 pm
Great article, thought provoking, and for anyone who has read and followed Mark's postings and commentaries, he is writing, in his article, a taut and condensed version of his ideas.

I loved the video "The Story of Stuff". Excellent speaker.
Yes, Mugabe needs to step down but he won't any time soon.
Chavez stunned the corporations with his win in Venezuela.
China want Africa.
Elections and how they work or don't work and the whys.
Yes, something has to give in USA and I'm not so sure on many of the topics in the article on how to do it or why it is not possible or even possible with some suggestions and ideas.

I keep wondering what the US and the World is going to be like for the upcoming generations and the only thought I have at the moment is "bleak"...

TY, Stephanie for posting.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:17 pm
Hey mark do your britches fit casue you are too big for your britches I say...LOL Look at all the good stuff you come out with...LOL

Big Gorilly Hugs

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:29 pm

Thank you, Jim. Great synopsis. I do think that change is possible, but it begins only when we are ready to stop doing things in the same old ways that don't work, and become open to change ourselves.

Steph, the U.S., isn't backing Mugabe, it is backing his opposition, but it is not doing it for humanitarian reasons, it is doing it for the same reason that China is backing Mugabe -- to be able to kill the elephants and mine the uranium.

What The Story of Stuff teaches us is that we have to be conscious of where everything comes from. If they could see the elephants being killed, I doubt if there is a single Buddhist in the world who would buy an ivory Buddha.

We need to put people, ourselves, back into that chain of production, and convert it from an illusory line with nothing on either end, to the circle that it really is and must be.

When somebody offers you something valuable for a very cheap price, you have every reason to suspect that it might have been stolen and to ask them where they got it. If all you care about it the price, you are likely to end up buying stolen goods. It is no different with big corporations. When they try to sell us something, we have to ask where and how they got it, and if it was stolen and we happen to be ethical, we have to refuse to buy it.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:33 pm
Oh my bad...see I am trying to understand all this stuff...sorry.....What the heck is Ivory good for anyway..It is illegal here isnt it??? So why back it??? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm need to do more reading...

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:35 pm

ROFL. Yes, Steph, my britches fit, because I know that I'm likely to gain weight sitting on my butt and pounding a keyboard all day, so I buy them a couple of sizes too large and then expand into them. ;)

Come to think of it, Steph, I've been meaning to ask you. Why is it that gorillies don't have to wear britches and we do? Is it because we don't have enough fur? I do believe in evolution, I'm just not always sure that it went in the right direction. :)

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:42 pm
Because I have enough fur on my butt to cover it all up....LOL

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:50 pm

Uh, Stephanie, you mean....that picture is really YOU?

I'm a Daniel Quinn fan, and I do believe in wise gorillies, but I never thought I'd actually meet one. WOW!

Saturday May 10, 2008, 9:52 pm
LOL....Ya its me...LOL

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:07 pm
When Mugabe gets the "Golden Parachute" he will go.That and a guarantee on his 90,000 sq.ft. house being purchased instead of confiscated.
Plus he is having a very hard time getting weapons and ammunition into Zim.So all the North Koreans don't have a lot to work with. Once the people of Zim realize he can really be forced out the rampant killing and intimidation occurring in the rural areas is likely to stop because the people there will fight back. A lot easier to pick on somebody when you know they can't put up any fight.
Good metaphor for the Buddha's, Mark. Ivory is available in a lot of animals but those so inclined can do their own homework on that. The elephants have the misfortune of having long tusks of the stuff and CITES is culpable because it has made it much more valuable. That's outside the thread though. The other issue is the upper level military officers that have been responsible for most of the atrocities for the last 15 yrs.If Mugabe gets a pass,(the golden Parachute) the ICC has sealed warrants for most of the commanders and they will still be held culpable. There are a lot of them and they are afraid.So it is possible Mugabe no longer has full control in the issue.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:11 pm
BTW thanks for posting Stephanie, and I think you are a very pretty lady, I like 'em hairy! :) Friend request coming your way! :)

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:13 pm
Nice pants Stephanie and thanks for posting.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:15 pm
Michael that would be such good news I will be waiting to here...

You likie my hairy pants Eh?....lol...lol You guys are too much...lol

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:20 pm
I can promise you Jim that a change is going to come.

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:22 pm
Yes it is Michael! Yes it is!

WeAreChange.org

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:22 pm
Nice post Michael and very true.

No criminal can get away with his crimes forever. Eventually all are caught and must answer for their crimes.

Justice may be blind, but I promise you that she will not be late!

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:26 pm
Also folks I have a page with lots of Mugabe/Zimbabwe realted news...

http://www.truthawaits.com/zimbabwe_elections.html

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:30 pm
I'm listening...

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:30 pm
Keeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwl John will have to go read up.....

Saturday May 10, 2008, 10:43 pm
Well Jim - Mugabe seems set for a run-off - which seems the likely outcome of the opaque results-announcement process - and is possibly consulting security aides, perhaps to test the wind on just how far he can stretch the credibility of an election that might, in reality, be unwinnable. To brazenly steal a first-round win might be too outlandish, but a run-off allows the ZANU-PF time to hone the rigging and coercion machine needed to "beat" Tsvangirai.

Less brutal but no less Machiavellian are rumors that breakaway ZANU-PF candidate Simba Makoni (Mugabe's former finance minister) - thought to have gotten around 8 percent of the vote in the first round - is talking to his old boss about some sort of run-off transfer of allegiance.

Makoni's pragmatism seems easy-going, oblivious to Mugabe's description of him as a "prostitute" on national TV some weeks ago. Some suspicion abounded that Makoni's candidacy was a first-round stalking horse for Mugabe - but other rumors suggest he is also talking to Tsvangirai about a senior post-transition role.

More speculation suggests that if Mugabe were to "win" a run-off with Makoni's support, the latter may later be handed power by Mugabe, with the backing of securocrats fearful that a Tsvangirai regime change might curb the vast privileges given ZANU-PF hacks, such as land and bureaucratic positions.