Chavez - subsidiser of the rich

Those on the left whose collective tongues are felching the legacy of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's wannabe dictator should pause for thought with his latest venture - subsidising movies made by Hollywood stars who are also sycophants for authoritarian socialism. Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Sean Penn and Harry Belafonte are all receiving this. Chavez is spending £9 million on films made by Hollywood stars - five times the Venezuelan film sector's annual budget.

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This follows his earlier gifting of cheap diesel to Transport for London courtesy of Ken Livingstone to subsidise London buses.

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So socialism is about... subsidising the richest city in the world and the richest actors in the world.... great!

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Such a hero of the poor

Hillary Clinton's odious campaign

Camille Paglia, celebrated post-feminist, has written in the Sunday Telegraph as to why women should not support Hillary Clinton. Some of the best quotes are:

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"Whatever her official feminist credo, Hillary's public career has glaringly been a subset to her husband's success. Despite her reputation for brilliance, she failed the Washington, DC bar exam. Thus her migration to Little Rock was not simply a selfless drama for love; she was fleeing the capital where she had hoped to make her mark."

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"In Little Rock, every role that Hillary played was obtained via her husband's influence - from her position at the Rose Law Firm to her seat on the board of Wal-Mart to her advocacy for public education reform. In a pattern that would continue after Bill became president, Hillary would draw attention by expressing public "concern" for a problem, without ever being able to organise a programme for reform."

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"The argument, therefore, that Hillary's candidacy marks the zenith of modern feminism is specious. Feminism is not well served by her surrogates' constant tactic of attributing all opposition to her as a function of entrenched sexism. Well into her second term as a US Senator, Hillary lacks a single example of major legislative achievement. Her career has consisted of fundraising, meet-and-greets and speeches around the world expressing support for women's rights"

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having said that, she will lose and the blame that will attributed is that the USA is sexist, it will be so much noise that the truth will be somewhat lost:

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"If Hillary loses, batten the hatches against a mass resurrection of paranoid, paleo-feminist martyrs, counting their wounds and wailing at the blood-red moon."

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Add that to Christopher Hitchin's damning indictment of her in Slate, and you really do wonder, why do the Democrats tolerate this continuing?

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She is a vile, calculating, power hungry fake. She would rather Obama lose against McCain than win, and the idea anyone can trust or believe this shell of a human being is beyond me. Why would ANYONE cheer her on - except, of course, Republicans?

Africa has to get over colonialism

At last the Sunday Times reports that the African Union has called for some action over Zimbabwe, if only for the election results to be released. It has been the depressing legacy that those who govern Africa have not wanted to be accountable to the world, or each other, or even their own populations. Thabo Mbeki's disgraceful legacy is one of death and complicity with murder in Zimbabwe. Fortunately both a trade union and the South Africa court system have some sense of right and wrong. In what seems to be the most moral action by any waterfront union I've ever known, South Africa's watersiders refused to unload the Chinese ship of arms destined for Zimbabwe, and a court ordered the ship to leave South African waters. I needn't mention how China continues to act internationally to provide sustenance and the means to murder to murderers - that is worth protesting more than Tibet, but I digress.

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Colonialism was the first and perhaps one of the only major movements that the UN advocated in its early history - colonialism was a "bad" through and through, so colonial regimes were deemed bad and post-colonial ones "good". Sadly far too many of Africa's post colonial governments have been any advance over their predecessors. The legacy of Idi Amin, Bokassa, Mobutu and Nyerere range from murderous to simply incompetent. Mugabe has followed the spectrum starting with incompetence and moving to the murderous.

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However he is seen by African leaders for being a hero, for fighting the racist Ian Smith regime. This neglects that even South Africa's racist apartheid regime stop providing support to Rhodesia in the latter years - something South Africa's government wont do now for Zimbabwe. However colonialism is over. Long over. Africans are not let down by the West half as much as they are let down by their own governments - government which, in many cases, are simply legalised gangs of kleptocrats who barely maintain a semblance of authority.

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Zimbabwe's coming weeks could cover Africa with glory in how it responds or show it to be impotent in the face of murder and tyranny - Africa has managed Kenya with some success from the brink of disaster, it is time to exit Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Mafia immediately. They disgrace Africa and Africans. So much is happening in Zimbabwe, with people killed, and Times correspondent Jonathan Clayton tells of his ordeal in Zimbabwe.

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Is the 21st century going to be characterised by acquiescence in the face of tyranny that could so easly be defeated?

Domestic violence

Cactus Kate has an elegant solution for women wanting to avoid hooking up with men who will hit them, but I would add a couple of points:

- Odds are in some communities finding the man who wont hit you is tricky. The answer is to leave, you are better than those that hit you, or those who tolerate being hit;

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- If you have kids and he hits you then you should seriously consider leaving. Seriously, if you saw your mother hit when you grew up ask yourself if you want your kids seeing the same, or even worst risking the same. If you don't think this is right then you don't deserve your kids. The first duty of any parent is to protect your children.

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Think, if only women were treated as empowered, not as victims, to tell violent men to fuck off, to not have sex with them, to not breed with them.

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Sounds too simple? Too easy? Well it already happens, a lot - it needs to happen more. Imagine if it did... Imagine if no mother let her child be raised in a home with a violent man.

Mike Williams has got to go

According to the NZ Herald, he advocated using taxpayer funded resources to campaign for the Labour Party - in other words he thought it was a "good idea" for the separation between state and governing party to be blurred.

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The blogosphere is pulling him apart, David Farrar doing a better job than most.

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Helen Clark rejected the idea, it is time for Williams to lie down on the sword and go. He has too many roles in too many government agencies that make his position in ALL of them untenable. This is his record:

- Board member of Transit New Zealand;

- Board member of Ontrack (New Zealand Railways Corporation);

- Board member of Genesis Energy;

- Board member of Auckland Regional Transport Authority;

- Director of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd.

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It should be beyond question that the President of the governing party should not be advocating a blatantly corrupt practice. He is not fit to be on the board of any government agency, and for good measure should resign as Labour President. Those who question this can't point a finger at Zimbabwe or any other country without being hypocrites.