While the weather begins to heat up around here, these tyrannical leaders have found their own ways to avoid the political heat.  From using the hear-no-evil see-no-evil tactic to covertly funding foreign terrorists to ruthlessly crushing all internal opposition, these three leaders have defined what it means to be a tyrant and in the process have given credence to the old maxim, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  So without further ado, here is the summary of what three men from around the world have been doing to help make the world a worse place.   

Than Shwe – Burma: The leader of Burma’s ruthless ruling military junta announced three years ago that the national capital (Rangoon) would be replaced by the new city of Naypyidaw.  Rangoon, a teaming city of millions near the coast is the nation’s economic powerhouse and the historic capital.  However, fears of – I am not kidding – a US marine invasion prompted the move the to brand new city in the middle of the jungle.  The paranoid Than Shwe felt that isolation was the best route to take and this opinion is vividly on display as the Junta continues to balk when offered foreign aid for the millions of homeless and malnutrition survivor of the recent cyclone.  

Hugo Chavez – Venezuela: The man who has waged a war of words against the US and, indeed, the entire ‘West’ at the expense of his impoverished people, had been implicated in an attempt to destabilize his neighbors in Colombia.  A couple months ago Venezuela almost went to war with Colombia after that nation aggressively target a home-grown terrorist group and drug cartel called FARC, violating Ecuador’s borders in the process.  Rumors which had been circulating for years that Chavez has funded FARC to overthrow the government of the Colombia (a US ally) received confirmation from an Interpol investigation into FARC computer files showing Chavez gave them weapons, money, and training.  Chavez’s response?  He called Interpol a “puppet” and disparaged its chief as an “idiot.” 

Robert Mugabe – Zimbabwe: Weeks after loosing the general election to the major opposition party, Mugabe and his party have declared the election instead “too close to call” and requiring a run-off.  The run-off election however, which the opposition was forced to reluctantly agree to, may not be scheduled for another year or longer.  In the meantime Mugabe and his party, which regularly bankrolls guerilla-type thugs that roam the nation, has set about killing, forcing into exile, or completely intimidating all who voted against him.  Don’t be surprised if the run-off turns out to be a resounding victory for Mugabe and an utter disaster for democracy in Africa. 

I was deeply offended by Obama’s remarks concerning people from small towns. For the record, his comment was, “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them, and they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”Aside from the fact that I spent a large portion of my childhood in a small town in Connecticut and I know that to make such a generalization about people from small towns is ridiculous and uneducated, I am offended for other reasons. 

 Much was made of his remark in the press, saying that small town people would resent being called bitter. I must say, that as much as I found that offensive, the press is missing the mark in saying that this was what was so offensive in his remark.  What was really offensive was to suggest that people cling to guns and religion as a reaction to the economic and political situations they face. They are interesting as well, coming from a man who claims to be of faith. I doubt the faith of anyone who would say that someone else’s faith is merely an expression of their anger about their situations.  

Religious faith doesn’t come from anger or fury. It stems from love. If you know there is a god, you know it whether you love or hate the current president, and you know it regardless of the size of your wallet. What Obama has done is imply that only ignorant people, or people without college degrees, who don’t understand things that the Washington elitists and wealthy Californians clearly must (of course) have religious faith. We all know that small towns have a reputation for being largely blue collar places, usually inhabited by a lower number than average of college graduates. He assumes that the wealthy audience of most likely well-educated people he was speaking to wasn’t religious. Obama was even giving this speech to explain regular, working class America to rich people who are sadly out of touch with it.  So what does that tell you? 

I won’t even go into the ignorance of his remark about turning to antipathy for immigrants as a way to vent some sort of frustration or hostility. That would take me a whole other blog. The immigrants are a problem, but that is something that elitists in gated communities wouldn’t know anything about, being that their only contact with the immigrants and the issues involved are when border hoppers come to cut their grass.

A relic of some forgotten past, whom most would rather see fade away into that past, Robert Mugabe isn’t giving up.  He’s a cautionary tale - what would happen if George Washington had decided to cling onto power for nearly three decades. 

Mugabe, like Washington in America, is widely recognized in Zimbabwe as that country’s modern founder; the man who fought most of his young life against the racist white minority government of then Southern Rhodesia.  When they won and the old government was toppled, Mugabe was president by default with almost unanimous support.  After three decades however, the power has gotten to his head and he has plunged this once prosperous country into economic decline where inflation tops 14,000%, millions are underfed, a quarter of the population has fled overseas, and unemployment hovers just under 80%. 

Zimbabwe, has held regular elections but they have recognized as little more than a sham for sometime, with opposition leaders who have dared to challenge him being beaten into submission before the election results return with a surprise: President Mugabe won a vast majority of support, again!  The people of Zimbabwe must simply love not working, not being paid, and not eating far more than we anticipated. 

Recently however, the situation has proven simply too much for Mugabe to control and independent tallies show that the opposition has won an overwhelming majority.  Without releasing the actual vote numbers, however, the official election board has claimed that the vote was too close to call and a run-off is necessary.  We all see where this is going don’t we?  This time though, the opposition will no longer put up with their founding father and his kleptocracy of mismanagement. 

Prepare for yet another story of civil strife in an impoverished African country.  But this one’s different, if only slightly.  For those of us who look at Africa, longing for a success amidst all of the failures, Zimbabwe is particularly saddening.  It’s a nation which had it al and seemed poised on the verge of greatness only to be self-cannibalized by its once prodigal leader in Mobutu-esqe fashion

For all of you baseball fans out there, I’m not kidding. My favorite team is now offically the Washington Nationals. No, it isn’t because of their mad baseball skills. It’s because of those charmingly oversized foam-headed presidents that frantically and awkwardly race each other all the time.

My significant other and I were watching the opening day game on Sunday. (By that I mean he was screaming at the Braves and I was rolling my eyes.) Amidst this hubbub, I saw it: The Single Most Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Seen At A Baseball Game.

I know I am a late bloomer; I am sure most of you have been slapping your knees while watching our caricatured forefathers long before my encounter. But it was love at first fall. When Jefferson bit the dust, I was hooked. When Lincoln tripped over him and ate it, I could have died a very happy woman. Lucky for me (and my room mate), we have DVR. So we proceeded to watch it over and over again (and in slow motion)– much to the dismay of my boy-thing.

I decided to YouTube this patriotic phenomena.

For your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM5p7fXEL0k

I think that one is even better than the one I saw. I think Washington’s a cheater.

I have now seen the highly controversial YouTube video of Oklahoma’s Sally Kern discussing homosexuals. A good friend sent me the link. She is the total opposite of me on the political spectrum and so her reaction was quite different than mine. She passionately believes that what Kern said was hate speech. 

All issues aside about whether you agree or disagree with Kern, what she said isn’t hate speech. It concerns me that nowadays it seems like any time you disagree with someone, dislike them, or believe they have a degenerate effect on society or anything else, you are considered hateful. She doesn’t have to like or agree with homosexuality.  If she thinks that homosexuality has a negative impact on society, there is nothing wrong with that.  She didn’t threaten anyone or attack individuals. I praise her for coming out and saying what she thinks, even if it is completely politically incorrect. If what she said is hate speech, then by that reckoning all of us have to like and agree with everyone else all the time.  

Personally, I do think that schools indoctrinate young kids to all kinds of ideologies beyond the issue of homosexuality. I also know that homosexuality is a sin.  Additionally, I think it is one more sign that society is degenerating. People can argue all day about how not everyone believes in the Bible and that you can’t shove morality down other people’s throats. This is true. However, the fact remains that the Bible does say it is a sin and Christians and other groups of people have a right to say so. I don’t want to shove biblical morality down anyone’s throat, but at the same time I won’t allow this politically correct society to shove liberalism down my throat.

-Lisa Minner

I think anyone that buys McCain’s denial on this recent scandal is insane, and I’ll say that right off. Of course, I’m talking about his alleged infidelity with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.  Let’s review McCain’s history, shall we? He is with his current wife because he cheated on his first wife with her.  If he did it once (and that’s just the time we know about) why wouldn’t he do it again?  

Moreover, one of McCain’s aides who left his campaign about a year ago said he had warned Iseman to stay away from McCain around 2000. That would be an extremely offensive thing to say to her and would sound very sexist. It would imply that McCain can’t have a professional relationship with a woman. No one would say something like that to someone without a strong reason and some pretty solid proof. No one would have that much audacity. Personally, I say that where there’s smoke, there’s usually a fire.

 -Lisa Minner