Bobby’s Corner: Diamonds Are Forever – Or Until I Take Them

Hey there, western admirers! It's me, Bobby Mugabe, your favorite socialist icon! Just writing to tell you all about another great scam progressive program I've pulled off. You'll love this one. I managed to get my lapdogs loyal supporters in the legislature to okay a grab redistribution of all the assets of the mining companies in Zimbabwe. This way I can hand out the assets to various supporters the people. Damn, I'm good.

President Mugabe unleashed a devastating new blow to Zimbabwe’s mortally wounded economy yesterday, announcing a new law giving the state a controlling stake in mines operating in the country.

Under the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill, the Government can take over 51 per cent of companies mining strategic fuels and minerals, taking 25 per cent without paying.

The balance of 26 per cent it needs for a majority shareholding will be paid for, it said. However, the Bill brazenly asserts that payment will come from dividends earned from the state’s shares in the companies it takes without having to pay. It gives the state seven years in which to do it.

The Bill justifies its seizure “in virtue (sic) of its original ownership of all useful minerals in its subsoil”. Companies mining other minerals will be taken over by indigenous Zimbabweans. The method of payment is not specified.

Why at the rate I'm going, the folks living here in my little worker's paradise will be billionaires! It will only cost about 20 cents American to buy a billion Zimbabwean dollars, too. Such a bargain!

Well, I'm off. Got to talk to Mahmoud and Hugo about a couple of things.

Later, Dudes,

Robert Mugabe

The One Half Of One Percent Solution

This is, frankly, absurd. Crooks and liars has a self-righteous post up about how "over 33,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein". There is much huffing and puffing about how MoveOn and Crooks and Liars were just gunning for Feinstein at the meeting:

Let’s start with the good news first, even though there is plenty of bad to come later, given the disgraceful behavior of California Democratic Party staffer Bob Mullholland, caught on video. In just five days, over 33,000 Americans, 90% or more Californians, joined the Courage Campaign call for the California Democratic Party (CDP) to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her pivotal votes to approve Judge Michael Mukasey as U.S. Attorney General and Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals. These Americans were joined by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, CrooksandLiars.com and over 40 Democratic Clubs and progressive organizations from across California. With a week of non-stop organizing, this movement changed the conversation of the entire meeting of the CDP Executive Board.

Party Chair Art Torres spent about half of his speech on Saturday praising Senator Dianne Feinstein, acknowledging that people within the Democratic Party are upset with a few of her crucial votes. Of course, these weren’t just any votes. They were votes contrary to core Democratic (and democratic) values like opposing torture, racism and homophobia. Despite the party chair’s call not to censure Sen. Feinstein, the censure resolution was endorsed by the Women’s Caucus, the Progressive Caucus and the Irish-American Caucus at the E-Board meeting. Unfortunately, it was never formally taken up or addressed by either the Resolutions Committee or the main body of the Executive Board. Members of the Resolutions Committee objected to hearing it, which meant it could not be brought to the Executive Board — which was within their prerogative, given that it was a late resolution.

There is a lot of outrage over the remarks of a Democratic staffer calling the effort by bloggers and activists supporting the censure resolution “fringe” and “pre-nursing home”. (Frankly, I'd have used the term 'pre-nursery school,' but I digress.)

The Secretary of State of California reports that there are 6,667,437 registered Democrats in California, as of February 10, 2007. "Over 30,000" Americans "90%" from California (and therefore actually entitled to express their opinion) means somewhere around 29.000 jumped on this particular bandwagon.

Or 29,000/6,667,437*100 = 0.44% of registered Democrats in California on board.

The Los Angeles Coliseum holds 92,516.

Rear Echelon Springs Into Action

There is quite a lot of justifiable outrage over this report. (There is also quite a lot of posturing from some people who frankly only care because it can be used politically.) At least one soldier has been dunned to return part of his re-enlistment bonus after he was unable to complete his full commitment – because the military discharged him after he was seriously wounded in Iraq. Is it a travesty? Yes it is. Will it stand? No it wont. Is it widespread? Well, there is one report from one soldier.

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.

He finds solace in the hundreds of boxes he loads onto a truck in Carnegie. In each box is a care package that will be sent to a man or woman serving in Iraq. It was in his name Operation Pittsburgh Pride was started.

Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.

A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.

This is, frankly, idiotic on the part of the military – but I'd be interested to know who – from what level – sent the letter. Was it from the top levels of the Department of Defense or was it from a fairly low level in the military bureaucracy? One thing is for sure, the company-level people can be, frankly, idiots on a lot of things. (So can the whole chain of command up the non-combat side of the military.) There is a term for folks like this in the Army: REMFs. The first two letters stand for 'Rear Echelon'. You can figure out the rest. This is a classic REMF move – not worried about the good of the Army – worried about the pile of beans they are responsible for counting.

This will be fixed – in a hurry – when someone with more brain cells than the bean counter REMFs gets involved. (They likely already have.) This was a dumbass unforced error and someone will get pounded for it. (And it will not be long before another bean counter makes just as big an error in judgment.)

British Government Loses Confidential Data

The most confidential data on virtually every family in Britain has been lost by the British government. Someone sent two disks with the data of some 25 million Britons through the mail – but they never turned up at their destination. The government has a serious problem on its hands right now.

Everyone who receives child benefit is under threat of fraud after a catastrophic blunder by civil servants.

Two computer discs packed with the personal and banking details of 25million people – nearly half the UK's 60million population – have disappeared in the post.

Last night, Chancellor Alistair Darling was trying to head off a consumer panic after he admitted that nearly every family in the country is at risk. Police were ransacking offices in London and the North East for the missing CDs, but insisted there was no evidence they have fallen into criminal hands.

The discs, which include names of parents and children, their dates of birth, addresses and National Insurance and bank account numbers of all those who claim Child Benefit, had only minimal computer protection and could be easily hacked into by gangsters.

The loss of the data disks was not even reported internally for three weeks. Banks are cooperating to keep an eye on accounts, but cannot guarantee that people will be safe from fraud. The article also details a whole string of similar data losses – none quite this big, but a disturbing pattern, nonetheless. I'm thinking that the Labor party's days in power are numbered. This incident may tip the scales against them.

UPDATE: I have been contacted by Martin Vennard of the BBC World Service radio who is asking people to be on a call-in program the BBC is doing today. He writes: "Hi, I work for an international discussion programme on BBC World Service radio and today (Wednesday) between 6pm and 7pm London time we plan to talk about whether people trust their governments with their personal data, in light of the loss of the computer discs by a government agency in Britian."

Vennard would need to talk directly to people who want to be on the show. He would call you to screen what you wanted to say and would call you again for the call-in show. (Vennard's communication did originate from the BBC and I have exchanged email with him – all headers appear correct with email originating from a BBC server.) You can email him directly at:

martin (dot) vennard [the usual symbol] bbc (dot) co (dot) uk

If you're interested, you might want to get in touch right away.

Butchering Badly Behaved Bacon

As reported earlier this month, badly behaved bacon has been barging into building in eastern China. Authorities have finally had enough. They have sent in teams of sharpshooters with orders to shoot to kill. The peccant pork will presently be polished off.

Professional hunting teams from the West Lake district of Hangzhou, the capital of the coastal province of Zhejiang, were under orders to shoot to kill the animals, Xinhua news agency said.

A regional official said the campaign began on Monday and that police would also get a piece of the action, as they were under orders to guard road junctions to prevent injuries from the pigs.

Wild hogs appeared in residential quarters of downtown Hangzhou as early as 2002. "Their sightings inside the West Lake area and other downtown areas are getting more common and are no longer treated as news," a resident was quoted as saying.

"West Lake is a most pleasant place to live for wild pigs," Chen Jinxing, with the Longwu Township hunting team, was quoted as saying.

"I think there are at least 1,000 of them inside the West Lake area."

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard predict a new dish will soon appear on restaurant menus in West Lake: Mu Shot Pork.

Sarkozy Stands Fast

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is not backing down from his determination to change some pension rules despite growing strikes in other segments of the country. He says he was elected to bring change and he will not let the people down.

Speaking before an assembly of mayors, the president said that he had been elected in May to bring in a "clean break" from the past and that he would honour the mandate — even as a transportation strike threatened to enter its eighth day Wednesday.

"We will not yield and we will not retreat," Sarkozy said.

"Let there be no doubt. What needs to be done will be done. What needs to be accomplished will be accomplished. The French elected me to do it, and I will not betray them."

It was the president's first public address since the start of a strike last week by railway-workers against plans to change their "special" pension system.

Causing immense inconvenience to commuters and costing up to 400 million euros (590 million dollars) daily by government estimates, the strike was joined Tuesday by a separate protest staged by hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, tax officials and other state employees demanding pay rises and an end to job cuts.

Mass rallies against the government were held in cities nationwide, with 30,000 marching with banners across central Paris. Francois Chereque, the leader of a union that favours a compromise, had to leave the Paris demonstration in haste after being booed.

The number of striking transportation workers has actually dropped drastically at this point and Sarkozy may well be seeing that the opposition is weakening. He sounds pretty confident. The reform that caused the original eruption merely makes some workers who got earlier retirements have to live with the same standards as other employees. The workers involved do not appear to be getting a lot of public sympathy.

Hanging Santa Out To Dry

A holiday arrival of Santa Claus at a Texas shopping mall went more than a bit awry. The jolly old elf was supposed to rappel to a dramatic entrance. However, his beard got tangled in the gear, bringing him to an ignominious stop 30 feet in the air. And there he dangled on his rope until the local fire department came to rescue him.

Children gathered below watched on in tears as he struggled to free himself, but his efforts only resulted in the ultimate Father Christmas indignity – his red hat coming loose and falling to earth.

Eventually he was thrown a pair of scissors and cut his beard free. But he found he was still unable to resume his descent, and the fire brigade was called.

Poor guy. Poor kids. (There's video at the link.)

Supreme Court To Rule On DC Gun Ban

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear a case appealed by both parties in the case regarding the total ban on handguns Washington, DC. enacted some 31 years ago. The gun ban was overturned by the Court of Appeals but it remains in effect until thie ruling by the SCOTUS. This is widely seen as a very large issue that may define Second Amendment rights.

The justices' decision to hear the case could make the divisive debate over guns an issue in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.

The government of Washington, D.C., is asking the court to uphold its 31-year ban on handgun ownership in the face of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the ban as incompatible with the Second Amendment. Tuesday's announcement was widely expected, especially after both the District and the man who challenged the handgun ban asked for the high court review.

The main issue before the justices is whether the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual's right to own guns or instead merely sets forth the collective right of states to maintain militias. The former interpretation would permit fewer restrictions on gun ownership.

Gun-control advocates say the Second amendment was intended to insure that states could maintain militias, a response to 18th century fears of an all-powerful national government. Gun rights proponents contend the amendment gives individuals the right to keep guns for private uses, including self-defense.

Alan Gura, a lawyer for the D.C. residents who challenged the ban, said he was pleased that the justices were considering the case.

"We believe the Supreme Court will acknowledge that, while the use of guns can be regulated, a complete prohibition on all functional firearms is too extreme," Gura said. "It's time to end this unconstitutional disaster. It's time to restore a basic freedom to all Washington residents."

Even a profoundly anti-gun constitutional scholar, Jonathan Turley, has recognized that the Second Amendment is meant to be an individual right. But you can expect the anti-gun zealots to pull out all the stops on this one. A ruling that favors the right of the individual will be a major setback for them and will put many of the more extreme gun control laws in jeopardy. Keep in mind that a ruling the other way would be a disaster for gun owners.

UPDATE: Brace yourselves. AllahPundit is predicting a disaster for gun owners.

“It’s Hell In There”

The words of an unidentified amtrac crewman at Tarawa, November 20, 1943. War correspondent Robert Sherrod described the landings on Betio Island and was a passenger for a short time on the amtrac (or amphtrack) before having to wade the rest of the way to the beach under heavy Japanese fire. US planners had badly misjudged tide conditions and the invading Marines had to wade as much as 500 yards to reach the beaches.

'It's hell in there,' said the amphtrack boss, who was pretty wild-eyed himself. 'They've already knocked out a lot of amphtracks and there are a lot of wounded men lying on the beach. See that old hulk of a Jap freighter over there? I'll let you out about there, then go back to get some more men. You can wade in from there.' I looked. The rusty old ship was about two hundred yards beyond the pier. That meant some seven hundred yards of wading through the fire of machine guns whose bullets already were whistling over our heads.

The fifteen of us – I think it was fifteen – scurried over the side of the amphtrack into the water that was neck-deep. We started wading.

No sooner had we hit the water than the Jap machine guns really opened up on us. There must have been five or six of these machine guns concentrating their fire on us… It was painfully slow, wading in such deep water. And we had seven hundred yards to walk slowly into that machinegun fire, looming into larger targets as we rose onto higher ground. I was scared, as I had never been scared before. But my head was clear. I was extremely alert, as though my brain were dictating that I live these last minutes for all they were worth. I recalled that psychologists say fear in battle is a good thing; it stimulates the adrenalin glands and heavily loads the blood supply with oxygen.

In all, the Second Marine Division sustained more than 3,000 casualties in the three days it took to secure Betio. Only 17 of the estimated 4,700 Japanese defenders survived. Much more on Tarawa here.

In all, the Second Marine Division sustained more than 3,000 casualties in the three days it took to secure Betio. Only 17 of the estimated 4,700 Japanese defenders survived. Much more on Tarawa here.

Another Day Another UN Fraud

The United Nations will be issuing new AIDS estimates – they will be revised sharply downward. UNAIDS has long been the target of researchers who have consistently found substantially lower rates of AIDS infection than the UN kept reporting. How much lower will the figures be? How about 40% lower. Why were the numbers so wrong for so long? Promoting hysteria to gain extra funding. 

The latest estimates, due to be released publicly Tuesday, put the number of annual new HIV infections at 2.5 million, a cut of more than 40 percent from last year's estimate, documents show. The worldwide total of people infected with HIV — estimated a year ago at nearly 40 million and rising — now will be reported as 33 million.

Having millions fewer people with a lethal contagious disease is good news. Some researchers, however, contend that persistent overestimates in the widely quoted U.N. reports have long skewed funding decisions and obscured potential lessons about how to slow the spread of HIV. Critics have also said that U.N. officials overstated the extent of the epidemic to help gather political and financial support for combating AIDS.

"There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda," said Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS." "I hope these new numbers will help refocus the response in a more pragmatic way."

The man in charge of UNAIDS has a history of writing prefaces to the reports that should sound a bit familiar:

For years, UNAIDS reports have portrayed an epidemic that threatened to burst beyond its epicenter in southern Africa to generate widespread illness and death in other countries. In China alone, one report warned, there would be 10 million infections — up from 1 million in 2002 — by the end of the decade.

Piot often wrote personal prefaces to those reports warning of the dangers of inaction, saying in 2006 that "the pandemic and its toll are outstripping the worst predictions."

Sounds rather like some other warnings issued by UN bodies, doesn't it? One researcher quoted in the report says that the UN's revision downward is still much to high and that the number of AIDS cases worldwide is much lower. The UN has proven inept, crooked or wrong repeatedly. Why do people still trust then on any subject at all?

Suing Bloomberg

A court in South Carolina has allowed a lawsuit against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to proceed. The owner of a pawnshop in Summerville, South Carolina is suing Bloomberg for slandering him personally in the wake of Bloomberg's "stings" of gun shop owners.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A Summerville pawn shop owner's lawsuit accusing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg of slandering him after investigators bought guns from his store a year ago can move forward, a state court judge ruled Monday.

Larry Mickalis sued the mayor, the city and two firms of private investigators last year after Bloomberg had the city file a civil lawsuit against his pawn shop and 14 other stores accused of selling firearms illegally to undercover investigators.

After filing the lawsuit, Bloomberg called the gun shop owners "the worst of the worst" and said they "have New Yorkers' blood on their hands," according to Mickalis' suit.

"Those statements made by the mayor and other defendants are defamatory," Mickalis' lawyer Justin Kahn told The Associated Press by phone Monday night.

Circuit Judge Roger M. Young rejected Bloomberg's motions to throw out Mickalis' suit because the filing didn't follow New York procedures and that the mayor was not acting in an official capacity.

I think that is probably the biggest display of chutzpah yet by Bloomberg. Trying to throw a South Carolina lawsuit out for not following New York procedures? Yeesh. But this is not all that Bloomberg has done here. He also flouted Federal laws with his much publicized "stings":

In the suit, Mickalis said there was nothing improper about the sale because the woman filling out the papers had to sign a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declaration saying she was the buyer and not buying for someone else.

Federal investigators have told New York officials there is not enough evidence to file criminal charges against any of the gun shop owners, according to court papers.

The city has been warned that its sting could leave it legally liable, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice that Kahn provided to the AP.

I pointed this out once before: Knowingly making a false statement on a BATF form is a felony. What Bloomberg did was wrong and I suspect that Larry Mickalis is going to thump Bloomberg pretty solidly under South Carolina laws.

Supporting An Ally

Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired general and former US "drug czar" makes a very strong case for supporting the free trade agreement with Colombia, now stalled in Congress. Colombia has made real progress in the past seven years and the free trade deal would reinforce those gains and support a solid ally in Latin America.

Colombia's transformation from a failing state in 2000 to a progressive democracy today is a U.S. foreign policy triumph. In less than a decade, Colombia's national leaders have made significant achievements reducing violence and the number of illegal groups, as well as improving the country's human rights situation. The murder rate is at its lowest in 20 years, and kidnappings have decreased by 80 percent. Among the illegal armed groups that have plagued Colombia, 45,000 fighters have been demobilized. The three principal narco-guerrilla groups (AUC, FARC, ELN) have lost nearly all of their political credibility and have suffered more than 13,000 desertions. In addition, the economy has grown robustly, unemployment has declined significantly, and foreign investment has increased dramatically. Colombia's human rights record also continues to improve. The level of violence against union members and the number of politically motivated homicides are still unacceptable, but the rates of such incidents are down significantly.

The illegal production of cocaine and heroin remains a major challenge for Colombia. However, more than 525 drug traffickers have been extradited during the Uribe administration — by far the most extraditions ever from any country to the United States. The effectiveness of the counter-drug campaign is clear: 66 percent of Colombia's opium production has been eliminated.

¿lvaro Uribe is an extremely popular leader. This Harvard- and Oxford-educated lawyer has accomplished near political miracles in successfully negotiating with criminal groups. Acts of terrorism have decreased 63 percent during his tenure. All of Colombia's major roads are open for civilian travel for the first time in the country's modern history. Uribe has also left his mark on the legal system. He has moved jurisdiction for human rights abuses from military to civil courts and appointed the first civilian (and woman) to head the military justice system.

At a time when Hugo Chavez is actively boasting that he will join with Iran in attempting to challenge America, we cannot afford to spurn a solid ally with longstanding positive ties to the United States. To refuse to approve the free trade agreement would send a horrible signal to all of Latin America and could set progress back in Colombia. It is an agreement that should be enacted. Colombia is a free market democracy and can act as a role model to other Latin American countries to counterbalance the dictatorship that is rising in Venezuela. 

Bring Up The Mud Catapults!

The Politico reports on the political rapid-response teams that are becoming ever more rapid in their efforts. It does, indeed, seem that these efforts are very, very quick off the mark lately. There are reasons for that:

Joe Trippi, senior adviser to the John Edwards campaign, said the metabolism of this cycle has campaigns willing to risk overreacting in order to avoid being accused of underreacting.

“Every lesson everyone learned from last time is that you have to respond quicker,” Trippi said. “And because of the calendar, everyone thinks it’s do or die, now or never. Add to that the short news cycles, with the Internet and blogs, and all those things conspire to make things more ferocious than ever.”

These operatives point out that one reason the responses often come so quickly is that they’re often pre-packaged — ready to be touched up and sent out with the slightest pretense or provocation.

“Each campaign has reams of research and well-culled response strategy in the bank,” said GOP strategist and Mitt Romney backer Phil Musser.

“All the top contenders — Republican or Democrat — have a squad of coffee-fueled, 20-something hit men buried in a windowless HQ office breathing every factoid of their opponents’ political life. They’ve been champing at the bit to be unleashed through the first half of the primary season, but the past few weeks — when the whites of the eyes start to show — is where they whir into full gear.”

Jim Dyke, a former RNC operative and Rudy Giuliani adviser, said that it’s often a question of kill or be killed. “Failure to address seemingly legitimate charges in today’s rapid media environment lends credence to the charge and can be interpreted as a sign of a weak candidate or weak campaign,” Dyke observed. “And weak during a time of war is the kiss of death.”

Hence the Obama campaign hammered back when Robert Novak's column first appeared – literally having a barrage launched within hours of the column coming out. The danger in all this should be apparent: there is a substantial possibility of a campaign looking like it is overreacting. The report quotes Larry Sabato as saying: "It’s always wrong to apply the same insecticide to a killer bee and a gnat.” Yet that is exactly what the campaigns are doing at this stage. (All the campaigns, not just one party or the other.)

I honestly wonder how this is going to play with the voters in the long run. It is pretty much accepted wisdom that while voters may hate negative campaigning, that type of campaign tends to have an impact. If the campaigns overdo their rapid responses, will they cause a shift in attitudes? Could protesting too much, too quickly actually backfire? I think it is a possibility.