More Bad News from Africa

By Zamboni

There are times when we especially appreciate living under the U.S. system of government, and today is one of them.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition party leader in Zimbabwe, has pulled out of Friday's Presidential runoff there because his supporters stand a real chance of being murdered at the polls. Mr. Tsvangirai has made this decision after a despicable election season in which forces associated with the incumbent President, Robert Mugabe, have repeatedly detained and beaten him following his clear victory over Mugabe in the general election in March.

The nightmare in Zimbabwe is a reminder to all of us of how precious our rights under the U.S. Constitution are, and how tirelessly we must fight to preserve them.

There are not too many steps from African Americans being barred from the polls by Florida state troopers to Mugabe's armed forces threatening the lives of opposition voters.

We cats would hiss at Mugabe and his pathetic enabler, South African President Thabo Mbeki, if we thought it would make any difference. So instead, we HISS at George W. Bush and his Administration, whose inability to step in and help resolve the situation in Zimbabwe is, we suspect, entirely due to their lack of moral authority as torturers of people of color.