Double Jeopardy?

I promise I will get back to Africa soon....

In the American legal system, you cannot try someone twice for the same crime. And on that note..

I heard last night that Hilary Clinton will be nominated for President by the Democratic Party even though Obama will accept the party's nomination.

Shouldn't we all be spared the double jeopardy?

And yes I do know that the Democratic Party is honoring her for winning over 20 primaries but if you are trying to win an election, shouldn't the focus be on your candidate?

If the Democrats want to win this election, put your attention solely on Obama and his platform. (Have we really heard that yet? From either candidate?) As we all saw in the last election, just attacking the other candidate is not good enough.

Not Exactly Africa....

Many moons ago when I was in college, I walked into one of my friend's room. Greg "Ox" Haigh and Allen Borden looked at me to continue their discussion asking: "Who do you think is the better catcher Carlton Fisk or Johnny Bench?" Anyone who knows me knows I love baseball and can argue the stats of the game for hours upon end.

I responded "Wow, I don't know which one is better." Ox looked at me and said "That is worse than choosing Johnny Bench". We know who he thought was the better catcher....

Barack Obama did exactly the same thing in his responses at Saddleback Church. For those of you who missed the news, McCain and Obama were invited to come to Saddleback Church and the pastor there, Rick Warren who is a popular author, asked them questions. The interviews were back to back, not at the same time.

One question was essentially: when does a fetus become a baby? McCain immediatey said upon conception. Obama's response was troubling to me. He said that this answer was "above his paygrade".

That answer seemed more like a dodgeball to me than an actual answer. And if Obama does become president, what else would be above his paygrade?

Granted this would not be on the same level as Bench vs. Fisk, but then what is?

For the first time in this election, I am leaning toward one side. That side is the man who answered the question not the one who was concerned that an answer to a difficult issue is above his paygrade.

U.S. Sanctions

Finally the U.S. has jumped on the bandwagon, late once again. President Bush signed an executive order expanding sanctions against Mugabe's regime. It targets companies that are puppets of the Mugabe regime used to siphon off money.

CNN has reported that: "Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told members of Congress last week that more than 100 people have been murdered, more than 3,000 have been injured by beatings or torture and more than 30,000 have been driven from their homes because of violence that broke out after the general election."

Hitting them financially is a good start. On to other good news, our president is finally doing some good things to end his presidency on a positive note. Here is what CNN is reporting:

"Bush said Friday the United States is ready to provide a "substantial assistance package, development aid and normalization with international financial institutions" should those talks result in a new government "that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people."
In the meantime, the president said he is authorizing the use of up to $2.5 million from the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund to assist Zimbabwean refugees and those displaced by the violence. In addition, he said the United States will continue efforts to provide food and medical care to Zimbabweans."

CNN consistenly covers this situation better than almost anyone else. This aid is a first step in rebuilding the people of Zimbabwe. Now if we can just get working on that new constitution and a fair election....

2 Weeks of Hope

Mugabe and his band of.....of....I'm not even going there.....have finally agreed to talks about sharing power. President Mbeki from South Africa is moderating these talks and hopes to have some kind of conclusion within two weeks.

Two weeks? While this doesn't seem like a long time, but it is. There are bigger things to think about:

1. In two weeks, how many people will die in Zimbabwe?
2. How long will it take for any changes to take place? And how many will die during that time?
3. How will inflation be controlled in the time being?
4. Will humanitarian groups be given freedom to help in Zimbabwe?

One of the promising things about these talks is that there is talk of a new constitution. I would love to know what they are thinking...and what you are thinking that read this blog.

Here is the question: What should a new Zimbabwean constitution consist of?

Got Paper?

While scrolling through a Chicago Tribune paper yesterday, there was an interesting article about a cash crisis in Zimbabwe.

We all suffer a cash crisis at one time in our lives, but this is a whole different thing.

Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the state-owned entity that produces bank notes for Mugabe, ran into a major problem. The German company that supplies the paper was not happy with the government's choices in the recent weeks. It decided to not send them the paper as a way to protest the Mugabe regime.

Without the paper to print they cannot produce money. Inflation has caused bank notes to have denominations like 500 million dollars. Software is now going to be an issue also. The government must use the software to dream up new notes as old ones are worthless because of inflation. What is their software license is pulled because of the Mugabe regime.

Fidelity has propped the Mugabe regime by constantly printing new money. But no more. Those legs are about to fall off....

Sudan Genocide

In the Netherlands charges were filed against Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He is charged with genocide of the Darfur tribe. (I think all of us are wondering why these charges took so long.) The prosecutor filed 10 charges: three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder. Judges are expected to take months to study the evidence before deciding whether to order Al-Bashir's arrest.

Months to study....wow...that is going to save the 2.5 million that are being systematically slaughtered by al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir exploits have been well documented. I think this processes needs to be sped up in order to save the Darfur people.

I am not normally one for speeding up life (on the contrary I think the pace of our current world causes many of our problems, but that is a conversation for a later time). But in this case, time is of the essence.

Liberia Shows Rare Support for the West

As the Zimbabwe situation continues to be problematic, 2 rays of hope have arrived:

1. Mugabe and the opposition party are now meeting with South African leaders to hopefully start the process of getting aid back to those who truly suffer, the people not heading the political parties.

2. Most of the time, African countries have been leary of western involvement in African politics. But the President of Liberia has come out for the western sanctions:

"Meanwhile, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf backed sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership, in rare African support for the Western-backed move."

It shows that even the African countries are seeing what Mugabe is doing is wrong and hurting the people he is supposed to protect.

I don't think putting the opposition party automatically in power is the right move either. I propose a two pronged plan:

1. First and foremost, get aid back to those who need it by allowing humanitarian groups to return to their work in Zimbabwe.
2. Rehold the recently held elections with a U.N. peacekeeping force overseeing the process.

Then people will stop dying and have the ability to vote. That is a good start for Zimbabwe. Then we can start thinking about the economy....