(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's economy lies in ruins with the world's highest inflation, chronic food shortages and queues for bread as long as those of people voting in the country's crucial election on Saturday. Below are some figures showing how the economy has declined and the difficulties suffered by ordinary Zimbabweans.
INFLATION
In 1987 inflation averaged 11.9 percent. It surged to an official record of 100,586 percent in January 2008, but economic experts say the real rate is much higher.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
Average life expectancy dropped from 63 years in 1990 to 37.3 years in 2005, according to World Bank and U.N. figures.
HIV/AIDS
In 2007, Zimbabwe had an HIV prevalence of 15.6 percent among adults aged 15-49 years -- the fourth-highest rate in the world. The United Nations Development Program says the epidemic causes the death of around 3,200 people per week. The population is 13 million.
CHILD MORTALITY RATE
Zimbabwe's mortality rate for children under five was 76 deaths out of every 1,000 in 1990. This increased to 105 in 2006.
MALNUTRITION
The World Food Program says 83 percent of Zimbabweans live on less than $2 per day and that 45 percent of the population are malnourished.
GDP
Zimbabwe's Gross Domestic Product has contracted each year since 2000, the biggest decline in 2003 when it fell 10.4 percent. The IMF estimates that GDP will fall by 4.5 this year.
IMF ARREARS
Zimbabwe first fell into arrears with the International Monetary Fund in August 2001. As of February 29, it owed $88 million, of which $79.64 million has been in arrears for three years or more.
GOVERNMENT SPENDING
Government spending as a percentage of GDP rose from 20.7 percent in 2002 to 53.5 percent in 2006, according to UBS data. The investment bank forecasts it will reach 66.7 percent in 2007. The rate in neighboring Zambia was 24.4 last year.
MONEY SUPPLY GROWTH
Zimbabwe's dollar is virtually worthless.
The price of a loaf of bread on Saturday was about 6.6 million Zimbabwe dollars on the official market but as much as 15 million on the black market. In October last year bread cost 100,000 Zimbabwean dollars, in 2003 around 1,000 Zimbabwean dollars and in 1998 five Zimbabwean dollars.
Broad money supply increased an average 48.3 percent in 1997-2001, 520 percent in 2005, 1,579.5 percent in 2006. UBS estimates it will grow 2,690.5 percent in 2007.
EXPORTS
Once the breadbasket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe now needs to import maize. The U.N. agricultural production index for Zimbabwe fell from nearly 107 in 2000 to just over 74 in 2005. Exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP averaged 33.5 percent in 1997-2001. UBS forecast this would decline to 9.9 percent in 2007.
DEVELOPMENT AID
In 2000, the country received official aid and developmental aid worth $175.8 million. The figure rose to $367.7 million in 2005.
Sources: UBS, Reuters, WFP, World Bank, Unicef, UNDP, IMF
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Thank Jimmy Carter (among others) and his sell out of Rhodesia in 1977. Maybe they should have Stevie Wonder sing another song about "Peace has come to Zimbabwe", except it's famine and pestilence and tyranny.
Zimbabwe's election, seen as the most important vote since independence, was a credible expression of the will of the people despite problems, southern African observers said on Sunday. However, two dissenting South African members of the observer mission refused to sign the preliminary report by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Mission chairman Jose Marcos Barrica of Angola told reporters through an interpreter the election "has been a peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
Barrica expressed concern about the voters roll, opposition access to the media and statements by the heads of security forces who had said they would not accept an opposition victory.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Regional observers suddenly all seen driving Mercedes.
The main opposition party and independent observers said today that President Robert Mugabe was suffering a resounding defeat as election results were tallied, but no official returns were released and capital was rife with speculation that they were being rigged.
Tension was high in the capital, Harare, with police deployed on most corners as the delay in announcing results from Saturday's balloting wore on. Usually, the first official results are released within hours of the polls' closing.
There were unconfirmed reports that key ministers and Mugabe loyalists lost their seats in parliament.
In a briefing to diplomats, independent election observers said that with 66% of the vote counted, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, had 55% of the vote. Mugabe, 84, had 36% and ruling party defector Simba Makoni had 9%, it said. Tsvangirai's party said that with 12% of the polling stations reporting, he was winning 67%.
The estimate was based on figures posted at individual polling stations after election officials had signed off on them, the first time such counts have been posted under recent reforms to election law. "The wave of change was too strong," said one shocked official of the ruling ZANU-PF, who lost his seat. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Conditions were extremely tense, with speculation rife in the ruling party that the military might step in to back Mugabe and block the opposition from taking power.
He said conditions were extremely tense, with speculation rife in the ruling party that the military might step in to back Mugabe and block the opposition from taking power.
The MDC defied government warnings that any early claim of victory would be considered an attempted coup. "We've won this election," said an exhausted Tendai Biti, MDC secretary-general, who had been up all night as MDC representatives sent in their results. "The results coming in show that in our traditional strongholds we are massacring them. In Mugabe's traditional strongholds they are doing very badly. There is no way Mugabe can claim victory unless it is through fraud. He has lost this election," Biti said. "We must savor these scenes, as for the rest of our lives we'll say we were there."
A chirpy state television bulletin Sunday night announced that Zimbabwe Election Commission officials were "verifying" results before broadcasting interviews across the country on how smooth and peaceful the elections had been. It was equally quiet at the ZEC "command center," where results are normally posted. One independent observer who visited the center said there were just a few people sitting around reading the paper.
Noel Kututwa, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, an independent monitoring group, said the delay in results created tension and speculation, and called on the ZEC to release the results. "The issue of the delay of the announcement of the results raises tension which is why we are saying the ZEC should release these results as quickly as possible," he said. "Clearly the delay is fueling speculation that something might be going on."
More from the Sunday Telegraph: Robert Mugabe's defeat cannot be covered up
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Now he has to go to all the trouble of seizing absolute power and disbanding the parliament.
Independent election monitors in Zimbabwe say riot police and other security forces have been deployed as tensions simmer in the African nation. No official results have been released from yesterday's elections, although the opposition party is claiming an early lead against President Robert Mugabe.
The head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission says he's sure most results are known. He warned election officials against a delay. He says his independent monitoring organization is not releasing results so that it won't add to growing tensions.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today branded Mugabe a "disgrace" to the people of Zimbabwe. She says the United States had made clear its concerns about how the election might be conducted.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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The fuse is lit. Don't screw around, Bob. You can easily die here.
#2
He could. Problem is that since he and Tsvangirai belong to the two different main tribes, ousting Bob violently would likely set off a tribal war. Bad as Zim is, it would get worse.
We'd be blamed, naturally.
I want Bob out but I'm hoping Tsvangirai isn't just another thug.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/31/2008 0:39 Comments ||
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DHAKA - Former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina appeared before a graft court on Sunday soon after being released from hospital, officials said.
Don't worry, she'll clutch her heart and bounce back to the hospital real quick ...
Her lawyers quoted her telling the court she was still sick, her treatment was incomplete and that she had been forced to appear before the court.
Hasina was admitted to the hospital on March 11 for ear and eye ailments. She was also suffering from high blood pressure following her arrest in July last year.
The crooks never have health problems until they're arrested. After that it's one thing after another ...
The court heard the graft charge in the presence of her lawyers, some party leaders and relatives, a court registrar said. She was then taken to a special prison nearby in Dhakas sprawling parliament compound.
The Anti-Corruption Commission had filed the charges with the court last month accusing Hasina of accepting 30 million taka ($440,000) in kickbacks in a power plant deal during her term in office. Hasina is also being prosecuted by a separate court for allegedly extorting more than $400,000 from a businessman when she was in power between 1996 and 2001.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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If all she has is High Blood Pressure, and unspecified Eye Ailments, I qualify, I have high blood pressure and wear glasses, big deal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/31/2008 16:08 Comments ||
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Ten years of record immigration to Britain has produced virtually no economic benefits for the country, a parliamentary inquiry has found.
A House of Lords committee, which is due to report next Tuesday, will call into question Government claims that foreign workers add £6 billion each year to the wealth of the nation. It is expected to say this must be balanced against the increase in population and their use of local services such as health and education, resulting in little benefit per head of the population.
"Our overall conclusion is that the economic benefits of net immigration to the resident population are small and close to zero in the long run," the report will say.
Continued on Page 49
#1
The problem is, you bring in one person to work a low paying job, his wife and kids come in, and you spend the equivalent of a upper middle class salary in welfare and socialist benefits to his ENTIRE family.
#2
The problem is not immigration. The problem is that employers want to bring in people who will work below a living wage. The key is the living wage. If employers do not pay a living wage, then society will have to pick up the tab to pay for what these people can not: subsidized housing, medical, schools, free food, etc.
This is the same problem we have here in America. Individually, employers can get cheap labor but in the big picture our humanitarian societies then get stuck footing the bill for all of the costs that the employers wage does not permit.
There is such a thing as a living wage: If the employer doesn't pay it, someone else ends up footing the bill unless the rest of us are willing to accept abject poverty and starvation resulting around us.
#4
Woodrow - I've noticed that the few places that pay a so-called "living wage" (that is, way above market wages) all seem to be public entities (such as cities).
So, they're not paying the above-market wages out of their own pockets but out of the taxpayers' (i.c., other people's) pockets.
Using other people's money to feel good about themselves. Yup, they're all Democrats librul. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/31/2008 13:07 Comments ||
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#5
Another issue is the amount of money sent overseas to support relatives rather than spent locally and reintroduced into the economy. If you balanced that by cutting foreign aid payments this might be nothing, but otherwise it should be tallied as a negative.
#6
DV: The problem is, you bring in one person to work a low paying job, his wife and kids come in, and you spend the equivalent of a upper middle class salary in welfare and socialist benefits to his ENTIRE family.
It's worse than that. They bring in their grandparents, who then get on Medicaid, food stamps and SSI. Basically, businesses that employ illegals get a subsidy from other taxpayers. If they had to foot the full cost of their benefits, businesses that employ illegals wouldn't do so. It was Milton Friedman who said that mass immigration is incompatible with the welfare state. He was right.
The Rudd government will be forced to reverse its "hypocritical" ban on uranium exports to India, the federal opposition says. It described the ban, implemented shortly after Labor won the November federal election, as "stupidity" because Australia freely sold uranium to states such as China and Russia.
Opposition foreign affair spokesman Andrew Robb says it is hypocritical to deny India, which has always abided by the rules of non-proliferation despite not being party to international agreements, the benefits of nuclear technology while China gains full access.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's new government made clear to India soon after taking office that it had no intention of changing its policy of only selling uranium to countries which were party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith passed on this view to Indian special envoy Shyam Saran in January.
Mr Robb says he expects the government will be forced ultimately to overturn its decision. "The Rudd government position is wrong and unsustainable," Mr Robb told the Sydney Institute. "The decision also reflects confused and inconsistent policy priorities given that one of Mr Rudd's supposed three pillars of his foreign policy is enhancing relations with Asia.
"Ultimately, I expect that the Rudd government will need to reverse this decision not to sell Australian yellowcake to India.
"The decision and the amateur way in which the decision was communicated to the Indian government has left a very bitter taste in Indian mouths."
The former Howard coalition government agreed in August last year to sell uranium to India subject to the finalisation of a US-India nuclear technology exchange deal and the conclusion of a bilateral Australia-India safeguards agreement.
"It was proposed that Australia sell uranium to India according to the identical strict safeguards under which we sell uranium to China and Russia," Mr Robb said. "In years gone by, China has sold nuclear technology to Pakistan and North Korea - unlike India which has abided by the NPT obligations, even from the outside."
It would be "highly hypocritical" to deny India - provided it fully met agreed conditions - the technology while China benefited from full nuclear access.
India and Australia were two great democracies sharing the common values and interests of democracies, Mr Robb said. "This is a critical moment in seeking to cement an Australian-Indian strategic partnership - a relationship of great importance to Australia's interests and Australia's future.
"It is a strategic partnership that can be built around the challenge of energy in an energy-hungry world, while simultaneously addressing two of the great challenges of our time - climate change and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons."
Posted by: john frum ||
03/31/2008 09:49 ||
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Like the web video that mixed Wright with Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, I think it's gilding the lily. Wright, coupled with Michelle Obama's statement that she's only now proud of her country, and Obama's pledges to limit defense spending, are damaging enough. Footage of the 9/11 attacks is, in this context, a distraction at best and irredeemably exploitative and tasteless to most viewers.
But the MyDD poster is left with in a strange role, using the most shocking images of the decade to try to warn the Democratic party not to buy into the idea that the Jeremiah Wright matter has come and gone with minimal damage to Obama.
Instapundit has an e-mail from a person claiming to be the MyDD poster:
I just wanted to let you know that it was not I who made that video. I came across it on Hillaryis44.org, so that's where the proper 'credit' lies. They didn't make it either, I don't think (?), but they posted it and I saw it there.
However, I did help it get more notice. I did something similar with a now-famous anti-Obama 'campaign ad' video which Politico wrote up a week or so ago. It was made by "NHale" on YouTube, and I again have no connection with it whatsoever. But I came upon it when it was at around 410 views. It's now at around 500,000 or so views.
The video has the screen capture of Barack and Michelle on "60 Minutes", and Michelle is saying because Barack is black he can get shot going to the store. The video also has images of Malcolm X saying "chickens come home to roost" juxtaposed with Wright saying it. It is a well-done video, and as far as I know it is the most successful of the 'anti-Obama campaign ad-style' videos to date. There are more. If you look at my diary history at MyDD, you'll see what I mean.
I would never insert the images of people jumping to their deaths. That is too much, even for the 527's (I think). However, as I just wrote on the page which you linked with "Editorial Suggestions" for the video, the music (see the citation on that linked page) plus the images make that one of the most effective pieces of political ammunition I have ever watched. There is no way to watch that video without being moved, and angered.
I just wanted to let you know my thoughts from the horse's mouth itself. As far as your correct discernment that the video would impact Dems, just read the comments from the Obama supporters in the diary. Many things are said, but the inescapable conclusion is "Oh man, this kind of video could SERIOUSLY hurt us."
Thanks for the link, it is much appreciated. You have my consent to use any or all of this email, or none of it, as you see fit.
The bottom line is this: Wright is not 'over with,' and as a Dem I wanted to make sure that everyone understands that who is drinking the Obama Kool Aid, including any possible Dem party leaders who might drop in to check out the MyDD scene (it is far more popular these days, it seems, since the "strike" of Daily Kos, which I am part of).
Once I saw the video, I knew I had to post it on MyDD. It saved me thousands of keystrokes, and got the point across -- if we nominate BHO, this is where we're going.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/31/2008 12:19 ||
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#1
They are betting that the lefty mainstream press will try to let all the air out of this issue, and keep it buried.
#2
I would never insert the images of people jumping to their deaths. That is too much, even for the 527's (I think).
Yup, that scares 'em. And that's why those images have been kept off the air. Because they are so powerful. They are about the decision one individual had to make. And you don't know if it's some janitor, clerk, or executive. But it could be someone just like you.
My money is to the 527 that puts those images on TV.
In defeat, defiance;
In war, resolution;
In victory, magnanimity;
and in peace, goodwill.
#3
Its hard to believe that the new pastor (rev. Otis Moss III), who has the same belief system as Wright, will refrain from spewing (he's already done some). This new guy seems to be in his 30s (well past the era of segregation and well into the era of affirmative action). He received a scholarship to go to college.
This will give Obama another challenge (which might result in him finally ditching Trinity U C of C.)
WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton spends considerable time on the campaign trail bemoaning unscrupulous lenders who have left millions of Americans scrambling to keep their homes but all the while her campaign manager, Margaret Maggie Williams, has sat on the board of one of the nations once-largest and now-bankrupt sub-prime mortgage lenders....Delta company officials would not elaborate on Williams role other than to say that like other board members, Ms. Williams served in an advisory and oversight role ... [and she earned over $175k in that role]
... and did not have a role in the day-to-day operations and management of the company. A 2002 annual report, the only one found with this figure, shows Williams attended at least 70 percent of the companys board meetings.
Wolfson said Clinton had no involvement in (Williams) joining the board, and Hillarys strong set of initiatives to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure which are the most aggressive and comprehensive in the race speak for themselves.
Delta, which declared bankruptcy in December 2007, settled lawsuits with both federal and state regulators in 2000, before Williams era, but has maintained dubious lending practices, allege consumer advocates in New York and Philadelphia.
They were one of the worst and most abusive sub-prime lenders in New York City, said Josh Zinner, co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP).
Amid mounting calls from top Democrats for Clinton to step aside and clear the path for rival Barack Obama, strategists are warning of damage to the party's chances in November if women who make up the majority of Democratic voters nationwide, but especially the older, white working-class women who've long formed the former first lady's base sense a mostly male party establishment is unfairly muscling Clinton out of the race....
"My e-mail is bursting with women who are furious, and it's grown in the last week," said Ann Lewis, Clinton's director of women's outreach and a longtime Democratic activist.
"These women are the volunteer infrastructure of the Democratic Party who've been proud to support Democratic officials for what they believe and stand for," Lewis said. "They are very angry that people they've worked for so hard would be so dismissive of Hillary and, by extension, of them and what they value."
Indeed, the gender gap in most of the primaries thus far has been stark....
"Women have always been asked to step aside if it was somehow for the greater good. In this case, Clinton, and a lot of her female supporters, clearly feel that she would make the better president and that it would not be for the greater good for her to step aside," Wilson said.
#1
McCain must be loving this: women Dems infuriated if Obama is nominated, and black Dems likewise if Hillary gets the nod. A lot can happen in 6 months, of course, but things look very promising for the Republican presidential candidate.
Too bad we didn't nominate a legitimate conservative.
#5
This seems a lot of hype. Most of the middle aged dem women are in love with Obama. Most of the older women are truly old and thus a good majority of them would not have been "white working class women" but instead "white women married to working class men". Not that the distinction matters all that much.
This just seems like spin put out by the Clinton team to scare the party faithful to allow her a chance to stay until the Clintons can work an angle for Hillary to get the super-delegates.
#7
Why don't the dhimmicratic women pick someone decent to represent them. It is an insult to women to just pick a women because she is a woman. For God's and your sake pick a woman with some moral character.
Barack Obama cruised to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton in Dallas County's Senate district conventions Saturday, as Texas Democrats continued their arduous and sometimes frustrating process of choosing national convention delegates.
Mr. Obama had double-digit leads in all five of the county's Senate districts, mirroring his electoral power here in the March 4 primary. Statewide, the picture was less certain, though Mr. Obama started the day with a caucusing advantage because he won the first round, precinct conventions held the night of the primary.
That may mean he can win more overall delegates in Texas even though Mrs. Clinton won the initial primary vote, as Mr. Obama's campaign claimed in a triumphant statement late Saturday. The Clinton campaign scoffed at that and predicted a strong showing once all the results were counted.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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No longer the majority in any part of Texas government, it seems the dems have substituted non-stop voting as their raison d'etre...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/31/2008 7:55 Comments ||
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Barack Obama now has a 10-percentage point lead over Hillary Clinton in a national tracking poll conducted by Gallup, the largest lead he has posted in the poll this year.
Gallup reported Obama now leads among Democrats 52 percent against 42 percent for Hillary Clinton, the third day in a row he has held a statistically significant lead against Clinton in the poll.
The movement in the national poll follows a week in which Clinton was widely lampooned for exaggerated accounts she gave of a visit to Bosnia in which she claimed she ran for cover under sniper fire. After the pilot of her plane and reporters who were on the trip with her disputed the account, she conceded she her account was a "mistake" and chalked the incident up to campaign-trail fatigure. But the exaggeration rapidly became fodder for late-night comics and video spoofs on the Internet.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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I don't care what you say, I tell you, I was the hero of Bosnia and Northern Ireland and trying to pass national health care. I don't know anything about Whitewater, Vince Foster, and the bimbo eruptions.
WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Young Americans have a reverence for national institutions, traditions and family values, a U.S. survey indicates. A survey of so-called "millennials" -- those between 21 and 29 -- revealed the group overwhelmingly said they support monogamy, marriage, the U.S. Constitution and the military, The Washington Times reported Sunday.
"We were completely surprised. There has been a faulty portrayal of millennials by the media -- television, films, news, blogs, everything. These people are not the self-entitled, coddled slackers they're made out to be. Misnomers and myths about them are all over the place," said Ann Mack, who directed the survey and is the official "director of trend-spotting" at J. Walter Thompson, the nation's largest advertising agency.
You mean the MSM, the progressives and the Dhimmicrats got another one wrong?
In addition to indicating 94 percent of millennials respect monogamy and parenthood and 84 percent revere marriage, the survey found 88 percent said they respect the U.S. Constitution, 84 percent respect the military and more than three-quarters believe in the "American dream."
The survey of 1,250 adults was conducted online throughout January. No margin of error was reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Why do the Millenials get only nine years, when the Baby Boomers got three decades?
#2
Look at the boomer extraordinaires, Hill and Bill: neither have the foggiest notion of when to shut up and leave the stage, and even less of an idea of why anyone would want them to...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/31/2008 7:50 Comments ||
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#3
"We were completely surprised. There has been a faulty portrayal of millennials by the media -- television, films, news, blogs, everything."
#4
I had occasion to sit with some of the kids from my oldest boy's high school a few weeks ago. They were telling about one of their teachers, who was spouting the standard Code Pink propaganda line on Iraq in class. The kids argued back, and (as they tell it) the teacher had a meltdown and was reduced to screaming at them about "how stupid you kids today are" and threatening them with a screening of farenheit 9/11. One of the other parents and one of the other teachers resolved to have a word with her about her unprofessionalism.*
To quote The Who, the kids are all right.
My son's not in that particular class, so I don't have standing to complain.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/31/2008 10:51 Comments ||
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#5
I only recognize the Boomers as being 45-55 (i.e. those wh owere subject to the draft for Vietnam).
Someone born in 1959 was still playing with toy trucks when Tet hit, and was too busy getting his drivers license when Saigon fell, and was more into the Sex Pistols than the stones.
#6
That's more of the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" generation. Hardly boomers at all - served with lots of them, far more conservative and traditional than the selfish old hippies that the real boomers are.
#7
I was born in '59. Never thought of myself as a boomer
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2008 13:30 Comments ||
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#8
I was born in '60. Love the Stones (the Dead even more). While true about playing with trucks during Tet, I was attentive to the news of the war during and after it was over. My contemporaries, at least where I grew up and then where I went to high school tend to be conservative with respect to the metrics cited in the article.
My nephews who've recently graduated college or are doing so this year are quite conservative. Neither went into the military, which I regret. Neither did I, which I regret far more.
#9
So basically, a new poll of 21-29 year-olds surprises liberal elites at the nation's largest advertising agency. Liberal elites who would otherwise have us believe that they have their finger on the pulse of trends in young adult America.
#11
Born in '60. Never thought of myself as a booger Boomer either. We had to contend with all the crap the boomers left behind.
Dont call me a boomer.
Leftists and the media would like to claim that the 'younger generation' is more liberal then they really are. The 'young americans' are not stupid - they see what is going on.
#16
I only recognize the Boomers as being 45-55 (i.e. those wh owere subject to the draft for Vietnam).
heh - thought you meant age 45-55 - but now think you meant those born from 1945 - 1955. Agree that those born after that time have a different outlook because they saw the mess the boomers left behind with their stupid ideas.
Yes - many good boomers, but unless we get a good president this time, that group may well have spent the inheritance left to us by our forefathers.
#17
I'm beginning to have more and more hope for the next generations coming behind us (and I'm only mid 30's) with my parents being just before the 'boom (born in 1940 and 1943 respectively).
Hearing a local story from Neal Boortz made me grin. Ends up a teacher at one of the "better" Gwinnett County schools (suburb of Atlanta) asked her class to write a paper defending a "controversial subject". One of the kids picked the Fair Tax (this school is smack dab in the middle of Rep. John Linder's district, who's the main sponsor of the Fair Tax) and told teach that. The teacher BANNED him from using either of Neal Boortz's books on the Fair Tax, but suggested he use a 3-year old NY Times hit piece on the Fair Tax. Kid immediately called Neal's show, and if you know Neal, the rest is history. This lady's name is MUD now in that community.
I see more and more of these stories every year, especially kids standing up to LLL moonbat teachers indoctrinators. Add to it the decrease in premarital sex, the drop in teen pregnancy rates, drops in drug use, etc. and I hold out hope for these kids behind me to uphold the America we know and love. I think them realizing the effects the self-centered, Dr. Spock lovin', hippies that came before them is NO true way to live shines through. They want MORE. They want MEANING, and you don't find that it thinking the same way everyone else does (or how the TV and MSM tell you to think). In a strange sort of irony, their phrase (like the hippies) could be "Question Authority", but they're rebelling against the hippies. For every Klebold and Harris (Columbine shooters), you have a Cassie Bernall (who said YES when they asked if she believed in God before shooting her in the head).
If only we survive another terrorist attack and/or the illegal immigrant invasion, then this up and coming generation can SHINE. I just pray they get a chance to.
Posted by: BA ||
03/31/2008 22:06 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Zimbabwe's election, seen as the most important vote since independence, was a credible expression of the will of the people despite problems, southern African observers said on Sunday. However, two dissenting South African members of the observer mission refused to sign the preliminary report by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The main opposition party and independent observers said today that President Robert Mugabe was suffering a resounding defeat as election results were tallied, but no official returns were released and capital was rife with speculation that they were being rigged.
Ten years of record immigration to Britain has produced virtually no economic benefits for the country, a parliamentary inquiry has found.
Barack Obama cruised to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton in Dallas County's Senate district conventions Saturday, as Texas Democrats continued their arduous and sometimes frustrating process of choosing national convention delegates. 
Barack Obama now has a 10-percentage point lead over Hillary Clinton in a national tracking poll conducted by Gallup, the largest lead he has posted in the poll this year.
