Robert Mugabe is going to fix all of the Zimbabwe's economic ills, brought about through no fault of his own, through the strict enforcement of price controls and the nationalization of industry...which was part of the problem I thought... but what the hell..

President Robert Mugabe has said at the opening of parliament that strict price controls will continue as Zimbabwe tries to turn around an ailing economy.

The country, once the bread-basket of the region, is suffering crippling food shortages and rampant inflation.

Mr Mugabe blamed droughts and sanctions for their economic woes and said they faced continued hostility from the UK and her Western allies.

A bill to nationalise foreign firms, including banks and mines, is planned.

Well, it hasn't worked anywhere else in the world, but Zimbabwe/Mugabe are setting the world course for sustainable development so they must know something that we capitalists do not. Of course one way is to cut down on the number of poor is to have them leave the country:

Economic refugees are arriving in neighbouring states like South Africa at a rate of around 3,000 a day.

And, beyond economic controls, a political solution also appears to be in the makes:

Talks between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC to find a political solution appear to have stalled, our reporter says.

The MDC wants a new constitution, but the only amendment on the parliamentary agenda could extend the president's term to 2010.

For those of us in Canada and the west in general who look to the UN as some sort of moral foreign policy guide, look again. The UN simply gives legitimacy and cover to tyrants and strongmen.

The issue dominating Canada's Parliament is the naming of the Captain of Team Canada at the hockey world championships? The Bloc are offended. The NDP are offended. The Liberals are offended. The Tories are offended. Why?

The Bloc Québécois is demanding Shane Doan be removed as captain of Canada's world championship hockey team, in light of the disparaging comments he allegedly made about French Canadians in 2005.

Doan's French Canadian buddies think he's a good choice:

"In the heat of the battle things get said sometimes, a lot worse than being called a French frog or whatever," said Alain Vigneault, coach of the Vancouver Canucks.

"[Doan] says he didn't say it. Even if he did, come on. If our politicians, French or English, if that's the only thing right now they have to worry about....

"There's a lot more important things going on right now in society," Vigneault said. "It is utterly, utterly stupid, not to say embarrassing."

New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur had a similar reaction.

"I know Shane really [well] and I don't see him saying that," he said. "All these years in the league I never had a problem with it, so for me to hear that other people had a problem, I have a hard time understanding it."

What were the offending words:

Doan said he was complaining to teammate Curtis Joseph about the officiating, telling the goaltender, "'Four French referees in Montreal, Cuje, figure it out.'

"I would have done the same thing if we were in Los Angeles and it was four officials from California," Doan said Wednesday. "Or if we were in Calgary and it was four westerners."

Oh Dear! Call a Royal Commission:

The Bloc introduced the motion, supported by the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP, demanding that Hockey Canada explain itself to the parliamentary committee.

The NHL cleared Doan of any wrongdoing and the official who made the decision has this to say:

Colin Campbell, the NHL's executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, blasted the politicians for meddling, calling the intrusion "ridiculous.  

"I stand by my original comments after our investigation," Campbell told the Canadian Press. "But I would add to it at this point in time, it's rather embarrassing to all Canadian hockey fans we're rehashing this again, particularly when Hockey Canada and Shane Doan are representing and working hard in Moscow right now, competing for our country. It's ridiculous."

Ridiculous? To call this parliamentary behaviour ridiculous would be an insult to the ridiculous. It reminds me of the uproar over Triumph: The Insult Comic Dog insulting people.

I am offended by Parliament's offence.

(also at The london Fog)

UPDATE: Check out our elected representatives "explaining" their position ... what a pack of clowns. (H/T Small Dead Animals....via Mike at The London Fog)

PW Botha is dead at age 90... I often argue that the man who ended aparheid was not Mandella but FW de Klerk. It took a lot of courage for de Klerk to look at his people and simply state it's over. History will sort that one out. As for Botha, I was trying to think of something good that could be said about the man and I came up with this: At least he was committed.

Mandela - who was freed in 1990 - later recalled going into the meeting with Botha thinking that he would see "the very model of the old-fashioned, stiff-necked, stubborn Afrikaner who did not so much discuss matters with black leaders as dictate to them".

But he said he found Botha holding out his hand and smiling broadly "and in fact, from that very first moment, he completely disarmed me". However, Botha refused to free Mandela and other prisoners.

In the 1990s, Botha was summoned to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel set up by then President Mandela's government to probe abuses.

The panel concluded in 1998 that Botha was guilty of gross human rights violations.

Thousands were detained without trial during his presidency, while others were tortured and killed. However, he refused to apologise for apartheid.

There is little that is more juvenille than faux offence. The big stories in the Globe and Mail today:

 1. Canada complains to White House about ad

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Canadian government has lodged a complaint with the Bush administration over a Republican election ad that belittles Canada as a global freeloader.

You can read the comments by the highly offended Canadians here. What a tribe.

2. MacKay's fresh denials escalate 'dog' uproar

Speaker reluctantly launches new probe as Liberals continue to demand apology

This is the heights of ridiculous. Clearly no-one watched the ad which is more a version of Talking to Americans than anything that is serious. Here is a link for those of you who want to actually watch it (via Instapundit). We run shows insulting Americans, our elected representatives call the Yanks to the dirt. Jack Layton has turned the name George Bush into both a full political argument and an insult of massive proportion. It is like the Monty Python Skit: I can think of nothing more insulting than Belgian.

Belinda Stronach? Dog? The question that gave rise to the alleged response or nonresponse had something to do with cleaning up the environment for the sake of the domestic animals or some such nonsense. When asked if he cared about his dog, MacKay allegedly pointed at Stronach's empty chair and replied that the Liberals already had her. That is funny. Sure it shows the MacKay trademark lack of judgement, but it is funny none the less.

Stronach left MacKay's bed on national TV, leaving the poor sap to have to explain his feelings to the nation. He is from Pictou, not Toronto. It had to be tough. Stronch then jumps into bed with a married hockey player and gets named in the no-fault divorce as the home wrecker. Now she is insulted and the Liberals, in typical Liberal fashion, are claiming that all women everywhere are insulted. That may have worked for Sheila Copps, but if you are making a voting decision based on this exchange, you should probably stay home from the polls. Stronach would have gained more support if she had of shrugged it off or had a laugh. No, she is offended. She is some sort of victim. She made reference to Conservative cuts to some status of women's group funding as evidence that the Tories are about to impose restrictions on women's rights. No wonder MacKay called her a dog, (or didn't, or made a funny at her expense, or at the expense of all women or whatever it all stands for) the Conservatives hate women. Or do they hate dogs? It's hard to keep it straight.

In any event, the good women of Canada who were insulted by the dog comment/noncomment  can start leaving their comments here.

The insulted dogs of Canada can also leave their comments here.

My response to you all will be Grow Up.

Victor Davis Hanson is writing on historical islamic imperialism. It is well worth the read. Here is an excerpt:

But unlike the West, where Christianity began as the persecuted victim of the Roman Empire and conceived of its own empire as a spiritual one apart from the political realm, Islam “was inextricably lined with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers.” Muhammad could thus “cloak his political ambitions with a religious aura,” a rationalization of domination that drives the contemporary jihadists like Osama bin-Laden and Ayatollah Khomeini, who just like centuries of warriors before them justify their aggression by quoting Muhammad’s farewell address, in which the Prophet laid down the injunction “to fight all men until they say ‘There is no god but Allah.’”

Mark Steyn in MacLean's magazine:

A couple of years back, I began some generalization or other by saying, "The difference between America and Canada is . . ." And the American I was imparting this insight to interrupted me with: "The difference between America and Canada is that Americans don't care what the difference between America and Canada is."

That just about says it all, though the whole thing by Steyn, as usual, is worth the read.