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Zimbabwe Watch: Bush Issues Sanctions Against Mugabe
President Bush holds his dog Barney as he waves to a crowd after stepping off Air Force One, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005 in Waco, Texas. Bush is spending Thanksgiving weekend at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.The Los Angeles Times has Bush Issues Sanctions Against Mugabe
President Bush is targeting the U.S. accounts of leading government officials and others in Zimbabwe, saying those who work to support President Robert Mugabe must restore democracy or face sanctions.
The White House announced Wednesday that Bush had signed an executive order Tuesday blocking all property and financial holdings in the United States owned by 128 people and 33 farms and businesses in Zimbabwe. It also bars U.S. citizens from having financial dealings with them.
This action is not aimed at the people of Zimbabwe, but rather at those most responsible for their plight,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Bush already had issued sanctions against Mugabe and 76 other officials under an executive order signed in March 2003. Tuesday’s order included 75 from that list and added 53 others, and it applied sanctions to their immediate family members. It also allows the secretary of state and treasury secretary to expand the list without a presidential order.
Kudos to the President.
But, he has to do MORE.
The President must pressure the European Union to join the United States in imposing strict and appropriate economic sanctions (including a trade embargo and prohibitions on investment) on Mugabe’s government like they did in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s against the apartheid government of South Africa.
Moreover, the President must meet with President Mbeki of South Africa and obtain a memo of understanding that land reform (land ownership resistribution without fair compensation under the rule of law) in Zimbabwe will not spread along the continent of Africa and South Africa in particular. Mbeki has been AWOL on the issue of the authoritarian rule of Mugabe. If he wishes to lead a democratic country he must reject the ruthless criminal dictatorship of Mugabe.
Bush said that since the first order, conditions in Zimbabwe had continued to deteriorate.
“The government continues to suppress opposition groups and civil society, undermine the independent media, ignore decisions by its courts, and refuse to enter into meaningful negotiations with other political actors,” Bush wrote in a leader to congressional leaders. “Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections in March 2005 were not free or fair. Recent demolitions of low income housing and informal markets have caused 700,000 people to lose their homes, jobs, or both. Additional measures are required to promote democratic change.”
The United States has refused to recognize Mugabe as winner of last March’s presidential election, which was seen widely as rigged.
Mugabe led Zimbabwe to independence from Britain in 1980 and had its name changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, harking back to a great city in the country built by an advanced ancient culture. Mugabe has become increasingly authoritarian, spearheading media controls and takeovers of white-owned farms.
Stay tuned…….
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe speaks during a hunger conference October 2005. US ambassador to Zimbabwe Chris Dell risks being expelled for what the southern African country termed his ‘undiplomatic behaviour and meddling with Zimbabwe’s affairs’, the state-run Herald reported. -
Happy Thanksgiving Watch: Thankful for…
Flap is thankful for……
His God for having Created him….
His Country for bestowing many blessings of liberty…
His Family for the LOVE they share…
His Health which allows him quality of life…..
His Friends on and off line who share and bring much to Flap’s life…
Happy Thanksgiving -
Iraq War Watch: Protesters Arrested Near Bush’s Ranch
A no parking sign is shown in front of the camp of anti-war protestors Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, in Crawford, Texas. Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan, who’s son died in Iraq, drew thousands to her 26-day war protest near President Bush’s Crawford ranch this summer and plans to return for Thanksgiving this week. The camp is on the same 1-acre lot that a sympathetic landowner let the group use this summer. McLennan County commissioners created and approved new ordinances, which prohibit parking on parts of 14 roads near President Bush’s ranch.The ASSociated Press has Protesters Arrested Near Bush’s Ranch
A dozen war protesters were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near President Bush’s ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.
About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff’s deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing.
Another dozen or so demonstrators left the public right of way after deputies warned them they would be arrested.
The protest was set to coincide with Bush’s Thanksgiving ranch visit.
Cindy Sheehan is on another family emergency and will arrive some time later in the week.
Protester Dede Miller, sister of peace activist Cindy Sheehan, sits at the site of the original ‘Camp Casey’ near President Bush’s ranch on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2005 in Crawford, Texas. More than a dozen war protesters returned to a roadside near President Bush’s ranch before dawn Wednesday, defying two new local bans on roadside camping and parking.“We are proud to be here,” Dede Miller, Sheehan’s sister, said hours before her arrest as she huddled in a blanket at the campsite. “This is just so important. What we did in August really moved us forward, and this is just a continuation of it.”
In August, hundreds of demonstrators camped off the road during a 26-day protest led by Sheehan, whose 24-year-old soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq last year. But a month later, county commissioners banned camping in any county ditch and parking within 7 miles of the ranch, citing safety and traffic congestion issues.
Stay tuned for more Cindy Sheehan drama………
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Nurse Wars Over But Hospitals Scramble
The Los Angeles Times and Dog Trainer has Search for Nurses in California Is Feverish
The pay is high and the come-ons are extreme as hospitals face a new staffing requirement.Competition to hire nurses in California is so intense that some headhunters routinely make cold calls to nursing stations at rival hospitals, desperate for recruits.
Others are sending out direct-mail pitches that read like time-share come-ons. Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, for example, offers nurses a $200 gift card just to come in and take a look around.
And in one extreme case, a nurse-staffing firm is using a $10-million Newport Beach mansion as a lure.
Even the recruiters are getting recruited.
“I probably get a call once a week,” said Robin Ludewig, director of nurse recruitment for UCLA . “It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.”
Scrambling to comply with California’s first-of-its-kind law mandating 1 nurse for every 5 patients in most wards starting this year, hospitals are in a hiring frenzy reminiscent of Silicon Valley’s lust for engineers in 1999. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month dropped his fight to suspend the law, leaving hospitals to cope with a labor shortage that is expected to grow for decades.
“We had a shortage before the ratio,” said Sue Albert, who heads the nursing school at College of the Canyons in Valencia. Now, “it’s a free-for-all in the nursing market.”
And the cost of medical care will go up and up and………..
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Iraq War Watch: Rice Says Iraq Troop Levels May Draw Down
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, shakes hands with Bosnian Tri-Presidency Chairman Ivo Miro Jovic during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005 celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords. Leaders of Bosnia’s three major ethnic groups agreed to a framework for unifying the Balkan country a decade after civil war and Europe’s bloodiest fighting since World War II.The ASSociated Press has Rice Says Iraq Troop Levels May Draw Down
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States will probably not need to maintain its current troop levels in Iraq “very much longer,” though she declined to provide a precise timetable for reduction in U.S. forces.
Rice appeared to set the stage for such a reduction, saying the Iraqi forces are doing a better job of holding their own against insurgents.
“I do not think that American forces need to be there in the numbers that they are now because – for very much longer – because Iraqis are stepping up,” Rice told Fox News in an interview Tuesday. “This is not just a matter of training numbers of Iraqi forces, but actually seeing them hold territory.”
And…….
The Washington Post reported in Wednesday’s editions that the Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Iraq early next year by as many as three combat brigades, down from 18 there now. There are now almost 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
The Post, citing unidentified senior military officers, said one brigade will be kept “on call” in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly.
Good News out of Iraq…….
Update #1
“Iraqi security forces are able to conduct operations in a large portion of their area with only limited coalition support….They do require our support at this time. That support will be increasingly less over a period of time, but a precipitous pullout, I believe, would be destabilizing.”
–Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander of the Multinational Corps, Iraq. -
Dentistry Today: Give Thanks to the Cranberry
From University of Rochester Medical Center – Give thanks for the cranberry, say dental researchers
Families gathered around the Thanksgiving dinner table might consider giving thanks for the bacteria-busting ability of cranberry juice, say dental researchers who have discovered that the beverage holds important clues for preventing cavities.
A team led by oral biologist Hyun (Michel) Koo, D.D.S., Ph.D., at the University of Rochester Medical Center has discovered that the same traits that make cranberry juice a powerful weapon against bladder infections also hold promise for protecting teeth against cavities. Koo found that cranberry juice acts like Teflon® for teeth, making it difficult for the bacteria that causes cavities to cling to tooth surfaces. Stickiness is everything for the microbe Streptococcus mutans, which creates most cavities by eating sugars and then excreting acids that cause dental decay.
“Scientists believe that one of the main ways that cranberries prevent urinary tract infections is by inhibiting the adherence of pathogens on the surface of the bladder. Perhaps the same is true in the mouth, where bacteria use adhesion molecules to hold onto teeth,” Koo said.
Koo’s team also found evidence that cranberry juice disrupts the formation of the building block of plaque, known as a glucan. Like a mason using cement to build a wall brick by brick, bacteria use enzymes known as glucosyltransferases to build dental plaque piece by piece, quickly forming a gunky fortress that covers the tooth and gives bacteria a safe haven to munch on sugar, thrive, and churn out acid. Koo’s team found that cranberry juice prevents bacteria from forming plaque by inhibiting those enzymes and by stopping additional bacteria from glomming on to the ever-growing goo.
“Something in the cranberry juice disarms the pathogens that cause tooth decay,” Koo said.
Flap knew there was a reason to love cranberries and cranberry sauce at this time of the year.
But don’t even think about running to the juice aisle in the grocery store to prevent tooth decay, Koo said. The sugar that is usually added to cranberry juice can cause cavities, and the natural acidity of the substance may contribute directly to tooth decay.
Instead of advocating mass consumption of cranberry juice, Koo hopes to isolate the compounds within the juice that pack an anti-cavity punch. The substances could then be added to toothpaste or mouth rinse directly. He is working closely with Nicholi Vorsa, Ph.D., a plant pathologist and director of the Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension Center at Rutgers, to isolate the compounds in juice that are most protective.
“There is a massive number of publications about the effect of cranberries on urinary tract infections,” said Koo, “but there are only few studies on the dental side.”
Everyone getting reaady for Thanksgiving?
As Thanksgiving approaches, Koo said that only cranberry juice is under study, so diners shouldn’t reach for the cranberry sauce just to stop the tooth decay brought on by carbohydrate-laden foods like mashed potatoes, rolls, and pumpkin pie. He recommends traditional measures to avoid cavities: Brush your teeth after dinner, don’t snack often, stay away from sugary foods, use a mouth rinse, and get regular dental checkups.
Heh.
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
But, Chris, you are such a LIAR, LIAR…… j/k