U.S. makes plans for a hostile China by Jan Lamprecht

Asia is awesomely powerful. China is not the only major power in the region. India is also very powerful, and Japan is almost a potential super-power in its own right. Many commentators seem to ignore the fact that Japan is sitting there with over 100 million people and the world"s second strongest economy. In World War II, Japan invaded China and socked it to them. I would not write Japan off so easily. If the Japanese build up their military, and remain friendly to the USA they could be an excellent ally in the region.

China is also very interested in Africa though and the Western world and China may yet clash in Africa in this century. Keep watching this space. Jan]

The Chinese military buildup has South Korea, Japan and the U.S. planning for a possible confrontation.

WASHINGTON - An important subtext of Chinese President Hu Jintao"s visit to the White House is the growing U.S.-China military competition.

As China"s defense spending surges, the Pentagon is pursuing a strategy of strengthening its forces in the Asia-Pacific region as a hedge against the possible emergence of a hostile China.
The Navy is putting a larger proportion of its submarine fleet in the Pacific, plans to add one aircraft carrier battle group in that region and is outfitting strategic missile submarines with nonnuclear cruise missiles.

The Air Force has been improving its ability to deploy B-2 stealth bombers from Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific; the Marines are shifting some troops to Guam; the Army has talked of moving the headquarters of its I Corps, which focuses on potential conflicts in the Pacific, from Fort Lewis to Japan.

The Pentagon has made no secret of its increasing focus on China as a potential threat to stability in Asia and the Pacific, where U.S. alliances with Japan and South Korea have been key underpinnings of the region"s economic growth. At the same time, the U.S. has been careful not to describe the Chinese as an adversary.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, said this week that China"s military buildup is a serious concern.

Japan has scrambled fighter jets 107 times so far this year to intercept suspected Chinese spy planes, a top general said Thursday amid growing concern in Tokyo over China"s arms buildup. The 107 alerts in the first three months of 2006 - the most in at least a decade - were a dramatic increase from the previous year, when fighters scrambled only 13 times against Chinese planes, Gen. Hajime Massaki said. "We believe these planes to be engaging in information-gathering activity, and behind the trend is the rapid modernization of China"s military," he said. "They"ve got an economy which is booming," he said. "They"ve also invested heavily on the military side, so we"re watching both."

He said the United States hopes that China"s goal is to promote world peace and prosperity.
"On the other hand, if there are other motivations there, that certainly would be a concern," Mullen added.

The Washington Times reported Thursday that its three-month investigation of the U.S. military buildup in Asia showed that it is part of a covert strategy in which the U.S. military position in that region is being strengthened in ways designed to avoid provoking the Chinese and to dissuade them from becoming a hostile power.

Source: Associated Press

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wind power project generates resistance ~by staff

Electricity generating wind turbine "farms" proposed in rural upstate New York are moving forward despite heavy public opposition. Residents of Prattsburg, New York and surrounding communities assert the projects were initiated and have proceeded in relative secrecy, and question environmental and economic impact statements made by developers of the projects.

Two separate but similar "wind farms" are being developed in the area by EcoGen and Global Winds Harvest, Inc. The lead agency promoting the turbines is the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency, with the help of a state chartered corporation, NYSERDA, created in 1975 to facilitate energy development in the state.

EcoGen has won approval for it's project in Prattsburg. Global Wind Harvest is filing a final environmental impact study soon for it's Prattsburg project, and is involved in a broader array of similar projects across in the region. Some of these others are more ambitious in overall scope than the company's plans in Prattsburg.

Opponents show NYSERDA, SCIDA and others promoting wind power are not bound by state environmental and other regulations pertaining to energy production. Wind power generation was nonexistent when such regulations were drawn, therefore wind farms are not required to be located in industrial zones as are all other means of energy production such as by coal or oil.

Opponents also assert environmental impact studies are flawed at best, but given the lack of regulation this fact may be legally moot.

Nonetheless, many negative environmental impacts have been glossed over by developers of wind farms wherever they are proposed.

EcoGen's approved turbines are approximately 370 feet tall in total, combining the 235 foot tower height and 135 foot blade length. Between EcoGen and Global Wind Harvest, over 100 such turbines are slated for Prattsburg and the surrounding area. Such densities of wind turbines have been shown to kill substantial numbers of migratory birds.

Global Wind Harvest plans to use taller units in it's plans elsewhere in the region.

The turbine blades also throw ice which builds up in winter, demonstrably as far as 1600 feet from the structure. Opponents say the property rights issue is "tricky," especially as there is no zoning in the project area. But they assert some property owners have been somehow convinced to sign waivers allowing the placement of turbines in close enough proximity to homes and roads that an ice related incident will be simply a matter of time.

The turbines are also noisier than developers claim, are subject to lightning strikes and fires, and beside being an eyesore cause a disconcerting "flicker effect" for those living in their shadows. Other concerns are that blades themselves are sometimes thrown off, and impacts to water tables from construction of the massive bases required to hold the turbines.

Details of finances surrounding the project have also not been forthcoming from local officials, when questioned on who the project's ultimate beneficiaries will be.

Opponents quickly found approaching local elected officials with their concerns to be fruitless. They have since organized the Advocates For Prattsburg (AFP) to focus their efforts.

The first order of business for AFP was to insure all property owners in the effected area were even aware of the project. AFP notes some 35% of landholders are "absentee;" not residing permanently within the area. It is unknown what percentage of absentees had been aware of the project before AFP contacted them.

Last year AFP petitioned for a moratorium on the project until legitimate studies of economic and environmental impacts could address their concerns. The petition was summarily ignored by local officials.

In March of this year, a broad coalition of opponents to wind power provided comment to the New York Assembly Committee on Energy. Mentioning the lack of regulation and questionable practices of NYSERDA, they added "Due to federal and state tax credits... accelerated depreciation and relief from property taxes through PILOTs, (payment in lieu of taxes) an irresistible enticement has been created, attracting wind developers to New York State."

SCIDA stands to gain over $300,000 from PILOTS related to the Prattsburg project.

The commentary continued "In their pitch to potential investors, developers routinely suggest that double-digit returns can be predicted over the 15-year period from a project's inception through the final expiration of its tax exemption. Wind farms are considered nothing but short-term investments by firms like Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan Chase," suggesting finance and construction are the prime motive behind such projects.

AFP says it can't be about power, citing existing, landlocked wind farms are typically "out of phase" with peak power demands, meaning they typically do not add power to the grid at times when it is especially needed. Promoters also use maximum potential power output in their calculations of bottom lines, but AFP has shown existing wind farms in similar locations operate only at 10% efficiency on average.

AFP has recently initiated a so called "article 78" action in the attempt to stop the approved EcoGen project. This law allows people to challenge their government when a final decision does not appear to be supported by available data.

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Ex Prez PW Botha Intro for me to top notch Tv Journalist: Cliff Saunders

When I chatted to PW Botha the other day, he told me that I must speak directly to Cliff Saunders, who did those two interviews with him.

So today I phoned Cliff and we had a lovely discussion - and what a mind-boggling one too!!

For those who don"t know, Cliff Saunders is a household name in S.Africa. He was an award-winning journalist. He even did documentaries in Rhodesia during the war there.

PW Botha told me that I must speak to Cliff because he is a brave man who is not afraid to speak his mind.

Cliff and I had a fantastic chat. He told me his current way of venting and saying his say, is to write letters to newspapers (all of whom know him!), even if they hate him. He said, so far, over 300 of his letters have been published.

There is one juicy thing which Cliff did tell me which I really must pass on to people. He told me that he knows for a fact that the head of our TV News is constantly on the phone, daily, to Government and clearing with them which stories can and can"t be run.

It shouldn"t be news to any of us, that the Govt is secretly influencing our media - or CENSORING it - even if it is "unofficial" or "by word of mouth".

I will be chatting with Cliff again, and I have proposed some ideas to him - but more on that later.

Cliff has an idea which I think could turn the media in this country on its head. The company he is in business with has the ability to broadcast on Tv - across this country.

Cliff said to me that he is looking for local or foreign investors, who will put up about R6 million (US$1 million), to start a White Tv Channel.

Now he points to the success of "Ethnic Tv" in the USA where you have Black Radio and Black Tv Channels, and he says, "Why can"t we have a White Tv Channel" in S.Africa?

Being an award-winning Tv Documentary producer, Cliff wants to produce REAL NEWS documentaries and wants to air them to a mass audience in this country. Of course, as he says, Black people will also listen in, and that"s not a problem. But the target market, and the purpose of the Tv station will be to broadcast to whites.

He suggested starting off by broadcasting say 3 hours a night!

I think this is fantastic.

Cliff also told me that when he launched the PW Botha Interview, that he invited all the Mass Media to be there because it was the first time in over a decade that PW Botha had spoken publicly. PW gave a speech, and he was going to field questions from journalists. Cliff said that nobody pitched up because the current Govt railroaded the whole thing. He told me the SABC was going to air the documentary, and was about to sign the contract when an order came from somewhere on high, to cancel it. Hence, no TV Station in S.Africa would run the documentary.

I told Cliff that in the USA the "Alternative Media" was already well-entrenched and was taking on the established mass media and that I believed that here in S.Africa we could do the same.

I said that in my view people want real news, and the truth, and people are tired of Politically Correct nonsense. People inside and outside the country wanted the real news.

Another juicy story that Cliff told me... was that the Belgians are actually thinking about bringing some kind of enquiry with the threat of some kind of sanctions against the S.African Govt over the issue of the Farm murders!

But the real bee which Cliff has in his bonnet is the White Tv Channel. So if anyone out there is interested, or knows a foreign or local investor who might be interested in meeting with Cliff and seeing their business plans, etc, then drop me a line. I will actually be going to their studios to take a look in the near future.

By the way, Cliff"s business partners have ORIGINAL INTERVIEWS WITH IAN SMITH... which have not seen the light of day in DECADES!!! This is history... of the highest order, which needs to be preserved and disseminated.

I would love MODERN BLACK ZIMBABWEANS to see such things and to compare what Ian Smith said then, with what Zimbabwe is like today.

In my view, we must just carry on with our struggle for FREE SPEECH - real FREE SPEECH - which we have a right to. I think our Govt will of course try in every way they can to railroad these projects - but I think it is an awesome idea to pursue.

Some years ago, Jani Allan and I discussed (before she was fired from Cape Talk for the shows we did), the idea of the two of us doing a nationwide radio show together. I still think ideas like these can *FLY* BIG TIME... and one would find MANY BLACKS ALSO LISTENING IN... make no mistake! But the Govt has an obsession with shutting us whites up.

You see, our Govt"s whole Political stance is based on a twisted and exaggerated pack of lies, and if people are allowed to THINK FREELY and SPEAK FREELY then this whole edifice is going to come crumbling down around them. Our Govt"s own RACISM and TOTALITARIANISM will be exposed. I can"t see them allowing it.

But... this must not deter us. We must just push on, and deal with their tricks as best we can.

Let me tell you all something:
We have many very talented White people, take for example, my good friend and mentor, Dr Chris Jordaan. These are people with real skills and talent and with decades of sound experience behind them. But these people are not able to reach their full potential because they are strangled through a lack of MONEY. All we have to do is to soldier on, and if one day, small groups of us start making money, and generating BUSINESS and CASH... then our thing is really going to take off. We can even have an influence which stretches far beyond the borders of this country. But we need to get going, and we need to help those who are the most talented, to get going, and to pave the way forward. Of course, we will be faced with DIRTY TRICKS. Make no mistake. But we have a job to do. We must start playing our role in this country, whether this Govt likes us or not. What this Govt fears the most about us... are our minds... because when we say what we think... the Govt"s house of cards starts trembling and shaking. Free Speech is one thing, which they will *HATE* to see us get. But Free Speech, is the one right we must fight for tooth and nail with everything we have because it is a univeral right, and more importantly, Free Speech could save our lives and give us a real future.

Jan Lamprecht

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IS COUNTRY MUSIC MORE IN TOUCH THAN OUR POLITICAL LEADERS? by William Topel

Some of today's country music is following in the footsteps of yesterday's patriotic country & western stars. Besides Merle Haggard's recent album reviewed for this website, "Chicago Wind", featuring two patriotic singles, rising new country vocalist sensation Gretchen Wilson, hailing from heartland America small town Pocahontas, Illinois, has her new album, "All Jacked Up". This sophomore CD, from Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Epic Records, exhibits blends of traditional country, southern rock, & even jazz.

Her 2004 debut album, "Here For The Party", debuted at #1 on the Billboard Country album charts & #2 on the Top 200 Chart, setting unprecedented first week sales for any music artist of any genre in history (quadruple platinum also). This new album has debuted at #1 on both charts already. Gretchen co-wrote seven of the twelve songs on the new CD.

This second album has already produced two number one singles, "All Jacked Up" and "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today", but it's her next single that is now climbing the charts & garnering more radio airplay, "Politically Uncorrect". This song, written by Leslie Satcher, Danny Steagall, & Billy Henderson, summarily represents the feelings of many Americans & may be at odds with the practices of many of today's political leaders of both major parties. Long-time country singer-songwriter Merle Haggard joins Gretchen on this song, giving it more authenticity, as there is no doubt in people's minds where Merle stands about his love of America & it's working people. Here are this song's lyrics:

POLITICALLY UNCORRECT

I'm for the low man on the totem pole
And I'm for the underdog God Bless his soul
And I'm for the guys still pulling third shift
And the single mom raisin' her kids
I'm for the preachers who stay on their knees
And I'm for the sinner who finally believes
And I'm for the farmer with dirt on his hands
And the soldiers who fight for this land

(Chorus:)
And I'm for the Bible and I'm for the flag
And I'm for the working man, me and Ol' Hag
I'm just one of many
Who can't get no respect
Politically uncorrect.

I guess my opinion is all out of style
Aw, but don't get me started cause I can get riled
And I'll make a fight for the forefather's plan
And the world already knows where I stand

(Repeat Chorus:)

Nothing wrong with the Bible, nothing wrong with the flag
Nothing wrong with the working man, me and Ol' Hag
We're just some of many who can't get no respect
Politically uncorrect
Politically uncorrect.

(Copyright 2006 EMI April Music Inc./Sound Island Publishing
(ASCAP)/Mop Up Music, Inc./Admin. By Bluewater Music
Services (BMI)/Ensign Music Corp./Lightwood Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.)

The "Redneck Woman" has been nominated for numerous music industry awards, winning several, & is now headlining her "Redneck Revolution Tour 2006" with Van Zant & Blaine Larsen. Her critics call her unpretentious & "the real deal". Buy her new album & judge for yourself if she speaks for the average American or not.

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UN Report: Zimbabweans have the shortest lives by Jan Lamprecht

This is quite shocking. But it shows once more, the living hell that Robert Mugabe has unleashed on Zimbabwe. We whites said all along, that these PRETENDERS to the throne, in Africa really did not have the interests of their own people at heart. But nowhere is this more evident, than in Zimbabwe.

One key sentence in the report below is this one: "According to the BBC's Africa editor, David Bamford, the latest figures are extraordinary for a country like Zimbabwe, which until 20 years ago, had a relatively high standard of living for Africa."

Let this just be a reminder to people that as we whites have stated time and again, blacks were not as bad off under Colonial rule as the Leftist propagandists have stated. And exactly the same can be seen here in S.Africa where a recent study showed that black poverty had DOUBLED since 1994 when Mandela came to power.

The FACTS (as opposed to the Left/Liberal propaganda theme for decades), are that both Colonialism and Apartheid were economically more efficient than anyone dares to admit, and that every single African country, which moved from Colonial/White rule to Black rule suffered a drop in living standards for the blacks. In each case, in each black country, a small, elite were the only ones who got rich - super-rich. But the Black masses all got poorer.

The simple fact is that White Rule in Africa was the most efficient form of government this continent has ever known. But ssshhh... that is a big secret, which nobody out there in the world dares to say! In the PC world, it is completely UNTHINKABLE that White people ever did anything truly good for Black people - LEAST OF ALL, these White Racists who live in Africa!! Jan]

Life in Zimbabwe is shorter than anywhere else in the world, with neither men nor women expected to live until 40, a new UN report says.

Zimbabwe's women have an average life expectancy of 34 years and men on average do not live past 37, it said.

The World Health Organisation report said women's life expectancy had fallen by two years in the last 12 months.

Correspondents say poverty, because of the crumbling economy, and deaths from Aids are responsible for the decline.

Zimbabwean women have the lowest life expectancy of women anywhere in the world, according to the report.

Women in the country are also more likely than men to be infected by the HIV virus.

'Economic meltdown'

According to the report, all 10 countries with the world's lowest life expectancy were in Africa.

People in Swaziland and Sierra Leone are also expected to die before they reach the age of 40, the report said.

Japan was said to have the highest life expectancy in the world, with people there living on average until 82.

According to the BBC's Africa editor, David Bamford, the latest figures are extraordinary for a country like Zimbabwe, which until 20 years ago, had a relatively high standard of living for Africa.

The HIV/Aids epidemic sweeping across southern Africa cannot alone be blamed for this - especially as recent figures show a slight drop in HIV infection rates in Zimbabwe.

Our correspondent says the key reason behind the drop in Zimbabwe's average life expectancy is the fall in the standard of living, triggered by an economic crisis.

Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by an estimated 40% in the last seven years under President Robert Mugabe.

Story from BBC NEWS: URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4890508.stm

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Mid-term Parliamentary Elections Set Stage for Next South Korean President by Todd Brendan Fahey

(Seoul) - Late-May elections to determine the newest Parliamentary mix could also likely determine who will succeed current President Roh Moo-hyun as the next President of the Republic of Korea. South Korea's Constitution--designed to avoid a continuous reign of any single leader--restricts a President to one 5-year term. Mr. Roh, elected in 2002, will, therefore, end his rocky tenure in December 2007.

If the two previous "by-elections" and special elections to replace House members who had resigned or been convicted of crimes are any indication, the conservative Grand National Party (Hanara Party) will overtake the left-of-center Uri Party this year. The GNP picked up seven seats in Parliament and, previously, two more (a 9-0 sweep, respectively), over the last two regional and special campaigns.

The legislature currently has 299 seats, of which 243 are elected by regional vote and the remainder are distributed by a proportional representation ballot. Uri Party members hold a bare two-seat majority over its opposition Grand National Party, with a number of seats held by independent or minor party members.

Good news if you are a conservative? Not according to Korean voter habits.

"We Koreans root for the underdog," said the President of a large television manufacturing company recently, and who wished to go unnamed. "The business community is worried about a [Grand National Party] victory in the May elections. This would energize the younger voters and the liberals in the teachers and agriculture unions."

President Roh Moo-hyun has been mired at sub-35% public approval ratings for many months. Coupled with the recent resignation of Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, over a betting-on-golf scandal, and a strong Korean won that is affecting negatively the country's exports of everything from cellular phones to flat-panel display devices, many South Korean businessmen are looking to Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak as the nation's savior.

Lee rose from poverty to become CEO of Hyundai Heavy Construction, specializing in mass-transit construction, and is enjoying nationwide applause for having redesigned the chaotic bus routes of Seoul and for renovating the polluted and unsightly Cheonggye river district. But a chilly relationship with Grand National Party chair Park Geun-hye--daughter of assassinated President Park Chung-hee, who, despite his hard-handed, autocratic methods, is credited with "the Korean economic miracle" of the 1970s-to-present--, herself a Presidential aspirant in 2007, threatens to wedge a fissure in South Korea's right wing.

Fortunately, for political conservatives, there has appeared no underdog in South Korean politics.

The probable Uri Party nominee will be former MBC news anchor Chung Dong-young--a handsome, stylish millionaire in his own right. Formerly the Minister of Unification (between North and South Korea) and currently Uri Party chair, Mr. Chung is closely associated with the unpopular Roh Moo-hyun, who is gaining no new support as the days roll by.

After a 35-year occupation by Japan and a rancorous four-year war with the communist North, South Korea has defied all economic expectations.. The upcoming Parliamentary elections and an imminent change of Presidents will likely see continue this trend into the unknown.

Todd Brendan Fahey has served as aide to former Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and to former Congressman John B. Conlan (R-AZ).

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Good Friday Observations on William Sloane Coffin by Mark Dankof

The British Telegraph chronicled the life of the Reverend William Sloane Coffin this week, in the wake of his final passage into eternity at age 81. Columnist Guild readers will want to access this piece on the above link.

Coffin's career was as colorful and mercurial as his impact on the American political landscape of the Sixties and Seventies. His resume included bona fides as a linguist, concert pianist, CIA agent, clergyman, and political activist at both Yale University and the Riverside Church.

It is no recommendation of my own past inadequacies as a thinker and analyst to confess that in the 1960s, I simply dismissed the Reverend as one of the decade's premier Pinkos for his opposition to the Vietnam War. This visceral judgment was made without knowledge of any of the biographical information contained in this week's Telegraph tribute. The irony of this admittedly simplistic mentality which manifested itself 40 years ago is threefold. First, Coffin's analysis of the futility of Vietnam proved ultimately correct. My own support of American interventionism in Southeast Asia at the time, however, was ultimately exposed in history as disastrously simian. Second, Coffin's dyspepsia over United States policy in the region was shared by some of the Right's leading icons of the period, including Douglas MacArthur and Robert Welch. Third, the repristination of American mistakes made from 1965-73 is now visible in the Great Mesopotamian and Persian Disaster being visited upon the Republic by one George W. Bush. To the extent that Coffin and other critics of Vietnam were proven correct, the Great Paradox of 2006 is that legitimate Paleo-Conservative critics of the Neo-Conservative tragedy being made manifest today, must acknowledge that this denizen of Yale and Riverside Church had something to tell us--then and now.

One especially poignant fact from the Telegraph tribute to Coffin must be highlighted. His own personal witness of the brutal sellout of anti-Stalinist Soviets to their evil regime in a forced repatriation scheme aided and abetted by the American and British political establishments, was seminal to his later career development and personal odyssey. The Reverend's subsequent CIA employment was dedicated to combating Stalinism and atoning for American participation in the incarceration and deaths of Soviets not enamored of Uncle Joe. He would later conclude that the American defense and intelligence establishments posed their own threat to personal liberties at home and abroad, a wry twist similarly acknowledged by my old libertarian pal, Karl Hess, who once said that any apologist for Big Government, Right or Left, ended up being an apologist for mass murder.

But as is the case with all gifted and complex individuals, William Sloane Coffin had a downside. He failed to see in his wholesale support for the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties that the Imperial Government which brought us the Vietnam War was also introducing Leviathan Tyrannies in the American Left's destruction of the Constitutional doctrine of enumerated powers in the name of collective social progress as defined by the latter. Johnson's Great Society was premised on the foundational doctrine of Statism and Centralized Government, in continuation of Roosevelt's New Deal. To the extent that the Reverend sympathized with employing State Coercion in the achievement of what he saw as the laudable social goals of the Left, he became an unwitting participant in the formulation of a Politically Correct Portside Dogma which now visits itself upon the advocate of individual liberty and Constitutionalism as a new form of either Stalinism or Fascism. The Warfare State is joined in marriage to the Welfare State. Take your pick. The endgame is identical in either case. Like Benjamin Spock, the Reverend missed this one.

On this Good Friday, I engage in one more constructive criticism of the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, this time from the vantage point of orthodox Christianity and theism. From this latter perspective, the pulpit voice of Riverside Church seemed devoid of an understanding of Biblical anthropology, linked to the doctrine of original sin through Adam. This theological weakness apparently led to a theology long on Social Gospel, and perilously devoid of preaching and teaching based upon the truths of redemption and eternal life offered to all of humanity through the active and passive obedience of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Theology of the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Parousia are the center of life, presently and beyond. To the extent that the Yale University activist's temporal fight for what he believed correct in the political and social arenas obscured the theological center of the Apostolic Witness, he failed to connect the dots between his own burning desire to alleviate worldly suffering, and a perception of the foundational, transcendent, and eternal significance of the suffering of the Word who Became Flesh, and Who Dwelt Among Us.

A good and faithful, if flawed Race, Pastor Coffin. May you rest in peace on this weekend which commemorates the Resurrection of your Lord and mine.

(Mark Dankof is an orthodox Lutheran pastor, paleo-conservative columnist for BATR's Columnist Guild and Old Right Topic News, and maintains his own site known as Mark Dankof's America at http://www.MarkDankof.com. His Broadcast Interview Source profile (Washington) may be accessed at http://www.ExpertClick.com/19-2281.)

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Zim Govt Warns: Opposition Leader & Demonstrators will be shot dead by Jan Lamprecht

[Once again, I am impressed that Morgan Tsvangirai has the courage to say that he will lead from the front even if he is shot dead. I am very impressed with those sentiments, and I take my hat off to him. That is EXACTLY the kind of sentiments we need from any leader who wants to take on that bastard Mugabe.

The only thing that makes me sad though, is that the CIA and MI6 Intelligence agencies who are secretly supporting the MDC, are still not helping to arm them. I still urge American and British citizens to write emails to their Govt &/or intelligence agencies asking them to please help to arm the opposition in Zimbabwe. I am sure that the US & British Military have tens of thousands of weapons captured in Iraq which could be given to the MDC to help them build up an armed wing.

One cannot expect people to fight with their bare hands against a hail of machine-gun bullets. At the very least, if people like Tsvangirai are willing to risk their lives, then they should be helped so that they at least stand a fair chance.

Mugabe is ruthless, and there is no doubt in my mind that his troops and Police would absolutely mow down the black opposition. Do any of you still remember Tianamen Square - back in 1989 I think - when the Chinese killed 7,000 students early one morning? Robert Mugabe also got his lessons from those Chinese Marxists, and DO NOT BE SURPRISED, if Robert Mugabe one day mows down thousands of black protesters in the streets. I keep reminding people that Robert Mugabe is a mass murderer, and he will happily kill hundreds of thousands if not millions when given a reason for it. I do have sympathy for people who are trying bravely, with no weapons at all, to stand up to that megalomaniac.

These people need every ounce of support we can give them. But the only people who can give them that support are the CIA and MI6 who have the means and the skills to pull this off. All they need is one plane-load of weaponry captured from Iraq, and the revolution to free Zimbabwe from that maniac can begin. Maybe people should consider starting petitions and emailing it to CIA Headquarters, as well as to British Military Intelligence. Jan]

The GOSA Comments: "This is what happens when only the government has guns."

From Zim Online (SA), 12 April - Zimbabwe Security Minister threatens to shoot protesters.

Harare - Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure against the opposition threatening to "use guns" to thwart anti-government protests and warning its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, he will pay with his life if he called such protests.

Mutasa, in charge of the government's spy Central Intelligence Organisation and probably the most powerful of President Robert Mugabe's lieutenants, boasted that Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party had "shed blood before" to free Zimbabwe from colonialism.

The Security Minister, who was responding to questions by Zim Online on whether the government would permit peaceful protests by the opposition, said Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party would "pay dearly" if they tried to take to the streets against Mugabe's government.

Mutasa said: "Anyone, particularly Tsvangirai who threatens peace and stability in this country will get capital punishment and we mean it. We maintain organs of national security such as the army to protect the stability and integrity of our country. They will be instructed to use all resources at their disposal, including guns (to stop protests)."

In a most chilling reminder to the opposition, Mutasa added: "We have shed blood before to achieve independence. So let no one be fooled that we will fold our arms while they (the opposition) cause mayhem and violence to remove democratically elected governments.

"They will pay and pay dearly." Tsvangirai, who says the MDC has lost faith in elections as a democratic tool to change the government because Mugabe always rigs polls, has vowed to call mass anti-government protests this winter to force the government to accept a new and democratic constitution that would ensure free and fair polls.

The MDC leader last Sunday told thousands of supporters at a rally in Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo that he was ready to lead from the front in street protests to force Mugabe to accept democracy even if it could lead to his own death.

The rally attended by more than 5 000 supporters was the fourth the opposition leader has held in major cities in the last two weeks to mobilise Zimbabweans for mass anti-government protests whose date he has not yet announced.

Mutasa's outburst is the latest in a series of similarly strongly worded threats by the government against Tsvangirai and the MDC with Mugabe having warned the opposition leader last month that he would be "dicing with death" if he tried to instigate a mass revolt against the government.

The State Security Minister last month threatened to "physically eliminate" opposition leaders if they attempted to remove the government from power through mass protests. Zimbabwe has been on edge since Tsvangirai and his MDC party resolved at a congress last month that they would no longer limit themselves to elections but would use what they called "people power" to pressure Mugabe to embrace democracy.

Political analysts say the MDC that enjoys strong support in urban areas is best placed to organise streets protests against the government. But they also caution that the opposition party is at the moment too weakened to confront the government and its army in the streets after it split into two rival political parties last year.

Besides, the Tsvangirai-led MDC - that is widely seen as the main rival to Mugabe and Zanu PF - there is another faction of the opposition party that is led by former student activist Arthur Mutambara.

Source: SALGO@yahoogroups.com

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
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Zimbabwe: Popular New Song encourages Revolution by Jan Lamprecht

[Songs are very important in Africa. The Liberation Movements used songs to communicate serious political messages. The words of this song encourage people to stop waiting for change because change will never come (I agree). It encourages action now.

So to me, this is another sign that people are sick to death of the ILLEGAL Mugabe Regime which has stolen all the elections since 2000. People are giving up hope. But they can get hope again - through their own ACTION.

The only hope now lies in ACTION. I am delighted by this.

I hope that the CIA and MI6 agencies will take note of this song and actually help to arm these people. After all they are giving money to the MDC already, so they can just as well help the Zimbabweans to create an armed wing. Unfortunately, both the CIA and MI6 are completely pathetic when it comes to taking action in Zimbabwe. They seem to be brain-dead when it comes to Zim.

The only thing I can think of is for all Zimbabwean expatriates - there are hundreds of thousands of them in Britain alone - along with American and British citizens - should write letters to their Government, and better still, directly to the CIA or to MI6 HQ and actually request financial and military assistance for the Zimbabweans.

I'm all in favour of Zimbabweans getting up and running Mugabe and his cretins out of office. But you can't expect people to fight against machine-guns and tanks with their bare hands. Its all nice and romantic, but in reality, it really can't work. They need more than pitch-forks in order to save themselves. With rudimentary military weapons they could win. If they were armed, with AK47's alone - they could take Mugabe.

I'm sure that both Britain and the USA have vast amounts of Russian weaponry captured from their ops in the Middle East. If they could divert that to Zimbabwe, then the Zimbabweans can save themselves and one of the most evil men in the world could be removed from power.

I believe that if a successful Armed wing could be started, that you would see people flocking to it by the hundreds of thousands - even millions. And I am sure even white people who left Zimbabwe would find a way to return to fight. This is one fight, where Blacks and Whites would happily stand by each other and fight this bastard to the death. Of that, I am certain.

Below is the Press Release from a Zimbabwean Civic group. Jan]

Mann Friday has released a new song about Zimbabwe called Rise. All proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to the health charity Shared Health Empowerment (SHE). You can contribute to this worthy charity by buying a copy of the single online. To read more about the charity and to listen to the song online, click here

Rise

Come near me, hear me, take a little time to stare me in the eyes, and realise this current state of hate wont wait for the change from another life. So lift your hands and understand this land though dry just needs your tears and cries, when every back that is broken has spoken, the angel awoken, bring kings of another time.

Backbeat the word is on the street, that the fires in our hearts are out, but battered and bruised people never choose to shout out unless their own lives feel the blues. Whose shoes do you wear when you stare, with your diplomatic airs, cos I don't care for statements, things won't ease with a press release. And the man on the street can't eat the pretense.

Fence me in but don't begin to deny - that as time slips by you grow a little tired of the same old issues, longer food queues the way you live a poor and lonely life. An eye for an eye but what if the enemy's blind and has no heart or mind, you gotta fight with your head instead, forget your reddened past you left behind.

No matter what result the cult will quote the vote is soaked in years of tears streaming out the eyes of a people trying to rise just to realise they're dreaming of freedom if even the price is too high to justify the next child that dies, next prison cell cries, the way to stop or start the very motherland's heart, but you can be a part and face the fear in your eyes ... its time to rise.

Source: www.kubatana.net ~ Zimbabwe's civic and human rights web site

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau

MAYORAL RACE: ANOTHER STEP-LADDER RUNG TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE OR LOCAL SMACK-DOWN? by William Topel

Today is election day in Alaska's largest city. Anchorage voters will vote on its Mayor, three school board candidates, and several bond propositions. The most heated of the races is the mayoral campaign between incumbent liberal Democrat Mark Begich and challenger conservative Republican Jack Frost. That race could have statewide and national implications should the incumbent win.

Radio and advertising personality Jack Frost has his main theme as the out of control spending by the current mayor. Per Frost's campaign mailer, from 2003-2005, the rezoning fee (less than 1.75 acres) is up 433%, underground utility variance application (temporary variance) fee is up 2,140%, site plan review fee is up 540%, platting fee (per lot) is up 2,258%, lost front license plate fee is up 350%, cremation interment fee (single niche) is up 57%, pet license fee is up 53%, improper tree planting fine is up 500%, expired parking meter fine is up 100%, and overall spending is up more than $75 million compared to three previous administrations combined for the city's population of about 260,000.

Mayor Begich counters that property taxes increased only 4.2 percent during his tenure in 2004 and 2005 while some campaign material reads 4.5%. Begich was first elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 1988 at age 26 and served three terms (1988-1991, 1991-1994, and 1994-1997). He had not won an area-wide race for Mayor until 2003. He lost in 1994 to Rick Mystrom and in 2000 to George Wuerch Begich was elected against incumbent mayor Wuerch in 2003 due to the Anchorage Assembly, then dominated by liberals, passing Proposition 2 to be placed on the ballot to change run-off election requirements from less than 50% to less than 45%. The voters passed the new ordinance with 54.99% which was written to be effective with that same current mayoral race, not an orthodox practice, as most new election changing ordinances or laws are set to become effective for the following future ection. Begich was elected mayor, receiving 45.03% of the vote. His closest competitor, George Wuerch, received 37.18% of the vote, because two conservatives had challenged Begich, Wuerch and former mayor Rick Mystrom. The election was later challenged in state courts but the Alaska State Supreme Court, under DeNardo v. Municipality of Anchorage (1/14/2005), finally refused to overturn the results of the April 1, 2003 election, citing no evidence of malconduct or violation of the Anchorage Charter as reasons to do so.

At a fundraiser for Jack Frost on April 1, 2006, Larry Baker, former Anchorage Assemblyman in 1983 who authored the city’s tax cap initiative, said that Begich has misused the tax cap as written and passed by the voters as Proposition 24 on Oct. 4, 1983. Frost reiterated that the city’s spending has increased more than the combined increases under former conservative mayor’s Tom Fink (1987-1994), Mystrom (1994-2000), and Wuerch (2000-2003) and he will restore the tax cap (Title 12.25) and lower property taxes if elected.

That same evening Frost’s campaign manager Steve Medina said one poll has Frost up 3% and another poll as Begich up 3% as of April 1. “Our campaign has gone from 40 points back when our campaign started to dead even and we are peaking at the right time”.


If Begich is re-elected and serves his full 3 year term until 2009, then the “new small star” of the Alaska Democratic Party could contend for the next U.S. House of Rep. election in 2010 for Don Young’s seat, or the next U.S. Senate election in 2010 for Lisa Murkowski’s seat, or the next Alaska Governor’s election in 2010. Begich would then be eligible for extra campaign funds from outside of Alaska from several liberal and national Democratic Party sources.

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(Disclosure: The writer supports Jack Frost because his own utility fees and property taxes have increased more than 4.5% in the last three years).
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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau

The Insane South African Business Scramble for Africa by Jan Lamprecht

Our ANC Govt has been pushing an idea which may sound logical at first, but in reality is a definite losing game. Big businesses have been encouraged to expand into the rest of Africa on a large scale.

I have personal experience of how stupid such a thing really is! The huge company I am currently working for is also now setting its sights on expanding into Africa, and you know what, I think it is a silly idea.

In 2001, I worked for a company which was an off-shoot of Western Union, an international company which does money transfer. This South African off-shoot was funded by a wealthy white man who had been in the money transfer business for years. He decided that money transfer, and micro-lending were the perfect business to expand into Africa. His rationale was perfect. There is a real demand and need for this in Africa. He saw a niche, and pumped in millions of rands into this company.

They created a company called eSave, and I was one of those recruited to design and write the software to enable us to do some serious business in Africa.

I worked for them for 18 months. During that time we wrote a system and got it working to Botswana. That went quite well. Then we expanded into Namibia - but we began experiencing problems with distance, and slow lines. Then my bosses got bolder. We'd expand into Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. And that's when this whole thing started unravelling. They spent lots of money - they even gave them computers! People from our company travelled up into Africa. Then, the black Africans started reneging on their deals which they had signed! We hit one wall after another as the black Africans failed to deliver on promises.

One day my bosses walked into the office and announced to us: "You are working for us at your own risk. We are not sure if we will have the money to pay you at the end of the month!" I was shocked beyond belief! I was the luckiest of all... because I was extremely lucky, and a friend was able to offer me a job within a weekend, and on the Monday morning I walked in, and told my bosses, "Thanks, but I am leaving now!" No notice, no nothing. I just walked out! Many other people suffered a lot in the later months as they got paid a pittance for doing their work - simply because they could find no other jobs. The whole business went BANG! End of eSave!

I heard a story, some years ago about a wealthy American woman in the cell phone industry who tried to expand into Africa. She also lost millions and was furious with the blacks. It really hurt her badly. She left Africa an extremely bitter person. I think she lost about US$10 million.

Expanding into Africa is a very dicey thing to do. Africa, north of our borders is more messed up than you can believe. If you think you can waltz in there and start doing business, you're wrong. In Africa: Things don't work. Normal things, which do work in other countries - do not work in Africa. People lie, people steal, people make bold promises which they don't keep; services which you are told do work, actually don’t work!

All this talk of "expanding into Africa"... is crazy talk. Few know how to do it. The White Farmers from Zimbabwe... did well... but in the end, they may lose. The only business that ever achieved it, and did excellently was a British Business called: LonRho - an acronym for "London-Rhodesia". LonRho was headed by Tiny Rowland, and it made stacks of money out of post-Colonial Africa. But, they did so by playing African politics, bribing the necessary people, etc. LonRho is the only International Company that really knew how to do business in Africa. It was filthy, but it worked because that is the only way to do business. And it kept parts of Africa running for quite a while.

The only recent business success in Africa, which originates from South Africa is MTN which is a large cell phone company. Cell phones are a hot product in Africa because there is virtually no infrastructure. But other than MTN, I know of no other success stories.

I would never advise people in America, or Europe, to invest in Africa. It is a very dicey game, and you can come out of it a big loser.

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Original Investigative Journalism from the
Columnist Guild News Bureau