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13 October 2002 |
Thank God someone of Instapundit's influence and circulation is drawing attention to the shameful and horifying situation in Zimbabwe, and questioning why the world is not paying more attention.
And another link in the same evening to the Village Voice, and Nat Hentoff, whom I seem to remember as Playboy's erudite jazz critic.
How can anyone read what he writes, without being filled with rage and revulsion, and complete agreement with the question he poses:
Why, in this country, are there only whispers, if that, from most civil rights activists and organizations, the clergy of all colors that finally awoke to the slavery and mass rapes in Sudan, editorial writers, women's rights groups, and such trombones of the people as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton?
And why, oh why, do the African leaders surrounding Zimbabwe lend support to his barbarity? Shame on them!
10:20:16 PM 
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A link on Instapundit led to these reflections on blogging - not too different to the conclusions of a non-professor (although I don't have the traffic he does).
10:06:16 PM
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Now this is bizarre (from the Village Voice):
The IBM Link to Auschwitz
What kind of campaign is this guy on?
I can hardly comprehend an assertion of Thomas J Watson senior personally supervising the systems which sent six million people to extermination camps, and urging his German sales people to make their numbers of holocaust victims. IBM is responsible for the Auschwitz tattoos? He can't be serious, can he? Apparently he is, since he continues to campaign, and has unearthed "new evidence".
Big Blue's vast enterprise in Nazi-occupied Poland...
And that's how the trains to Auschwitz ran on time....
etc. etc.....
Has this fruitcake ever considered that AlQaeda's operations (to take one hypothetical example) could well have been plotted on Dell, Compaq or IBM computers, that the most horrific child pornography or any evil you care to name, is stored and transmitted on equipment marketed by any number of IT vendors? How can you hold the vendors responsible for the evil committed by their users?
He also seems to totally ignore IBM's dignified responses (here and here), repeating the same misleading info in this article as he did in his first.
Edwin Black claims IBM said:
Asked about IBM's Polish subsidiary's involvement with the Nazis, IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich in New York repeated the same official statement she issued more than a year ago: "IBM does not have much information about this period." Asked a dozen times, Makovich simply repeated the phrase.
IBM actually said:
It has been known for decades that the Nazis used Hollerith equipment and that IBM's German subsidiary during the 1930s -- Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen GmbH (Dehomag) -- supplied Hollerith equipment. As with hundreds of foreign-owned companies that did business in Germany at that time, Dehomag came under the control of Nazi authorities prior to and during World War II.
......
Since its publication, the research behind the book and the conclusions reached by its author have been questioned. A review in The New York Times concluded that the author's "... case is long and heavily documented, and yet he does not demonstrate that I.B.M. bears some unique or decisive responsibility for the evil that was done."
9:50:30 PM
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Bashing the American president and his country while holding out your begging bowl to them is not a dignified way to do business, writes BARRY RONGE, in the Johannesburg Sunday Times.
Once again Barry, in his honest and direct way, puts his finger on a feeling that I share, not only in a South African context (NEPAD and all that); it probably applies equally to Schroeder's Germany, and most of the Arab world, too.
But then, Barry is a cultural commentator (and a world-class one), and not a political commentator.
Personal anecdote warning: I met Barry once, and had the most stimulating lunch with him and the late Adele Searll, among others - the gossip was spiteful, irresistible and, if only I could remember it, probably libellous, since between them, they mixed constantly with SA's glitterati, but this was their first meeting, and they had huge fun, sharing skinner about mutual friends. We were speakers at a Secretary's Day seminar at the Eastern Boulevard Holiday Inn, some time in the late 80's.
8:40:36 PM
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Oh dear, Pakistan (cricket) went down to abject defeat to Australia within two days, with two successive record low scores of 59 and 53. This after having the Aussies on the ropes before tamely surrendering in the first test. Another ton for Hayden, another bunch of wickets for Warne, and the Aussies ruthlessly screwing them into the ground, much as they did to SA earlier in the year (painful memories). The Paki's have always been a fragile side, capable of sublime or abysmal cricket, but this is the nadir (wasn't he also a captain of Pakistan? - no, that was Qadir, wasn't it?).
Very sensibly, the top brass of Pakistan cricket have fallen on their swords. Funny, that didn't happen in SA, where the poor performance of the team was directly related to the meddling of the top brass; they just shot the coach, who had a great record against all other sides.
And, I'm not even going to contemplate my beloved WP rugby's tame exit from the Currie Cup - 4 losses on the trot, with a team stuffed full of past, present and future Springboks - weeping and gnashing of teeth in Cape Town I guess. I think what's happening is that standards are levelling out and the other sides are coming back, not that WP are so poor. And in terms of Springbok and Super 12 rugby, it must be good that the Bulls and Lions are regaining their pride and strength. Watch out, France and England!
And in other sports news, Paula Radcliffe earned $250 000 today by smashing the women's marathon record in Chicago. What a golden season she has had. Is she on something?
8:14:08 PM
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Sex claims a lie, Sir Alex tells British media
But he would, wouldn't he?
Seriously, we all know that Sir Alex is a drinker, not a lover - that's Sven-Goran's speciality. (More about that here, and here).
Who is the bimbo who would do such an unscrupulous thing just to sell it to the British tabloids? I sure one of them will have outed her by today.
The answer (later): Nadia Abrahams (21), who allegedly consumed 5 beers and several glasses of wine, crashed her car into a curb, and got her slime-ball of a boyfriend, one Brian Ebden, to lay a charge. Brian's immortal words:
"I want to let you know that these Europeans have been coming to South Africa, more especially Cape Town, fondling our women and getting away with murder, for more than 350 years".
Ah, that's it, it's an anti-colonial thing! Now we know. What he should have said, Cape Town being the Tavern of the Seas, and all that, is that for 350 years, local whores have been throwing themselves at visiting seamen, football managers, and other sportsmen, for financial gain. Perhaps Brian himself is the result of such a coupling?
The Sunday Crimes has the story, and the BBC reports Sir Alex is in the clear, charges have been dropped as "ridiculous", with voice clip here.
No tabloid pic as yet, but presumably the odious Nadia and Brian will spend their R1.2million (75000 sterling) wisely, if they ever get it.
Later still: Well, here she is (woof!). Alex, how could you?
5:01:36 PM
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© Copyright 2006 Robert C Wallace.
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