Source: illinoisreview.typepad.com --- Saturday, August 03, 2013
Wealthy gay activist, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, says he and his civil partner Tony will go to court to force churches to host gay weddings. He told the Essex Chronicle that he will take legal action because ?I am still not getting... ...
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REUTERS
Locals read newspapers in Mbare township, outside Harare. Robert Mugabe, was declared winner of Zimbabwe's election on Saturday, but his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, said he would challenge in court a result he called a fraud that would push the nation back into crisis.
Harare - President Jacob Zuma on Sunday congratulated Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe on his re-election, in sharp contrast to Western governments which questioned the credibility of a rushed, disputed vote.
African monitors broadly approved the conduct of the election but Mugabe's main rival, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has said he will challenge the results in court with evidence of massive vote-rigging, irregularities and intimidation.
The sharply divergent views of Wednesday's vote surfaced after Zimbabwe's election officials declared a landslide win for Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, giving Africa's oldest president five more years at the helm of a nation he has ruled for 33.
The standoff raises some fears the southern African nation risks repeating the turmoil that followed another contested vote in 2008. Election violence then forced Zimbabwe's neighbours to broker a shaky unity government between ZANU-PF and the MDC.
But Sunday's ?profound congratulations? extended to Mugabe by Zuma, leader of Africa's economic powerhouse, reflected a willingness by the continent's diplomatic bodies to swallow the re-election of Mugabe, 89, for the sake of regional stability.
Mugabe, one of the grand old men of southern Africa's liberation fight that ended white minority rule, is admired as a defiant nationalist by some Africans, though others share the West's view of him as a ruthless despot who wrecked Zimbabwe.
?President Zuma urges all political parties in Zimbabwe to accept the outcome of the elections, as election observers reported it to be an expression of the will of the people,? the South African leader said in his statement.
Zimbabwe's capital Harare was calm on Sunday, with many residents going to church. Newspaper billboards proclaimed ?ZANU-PF gloats over victory?, ?Mugabe romps to victory? and ?Tsvangirai disputes election results?.
Western observers were barred from Wednesday's elections.
Monitors from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) who observed them made a point of stressing that they were peaceful, in contrast to the violence of 2008 polls, and also endorsed them as broadly free.
In contrast, the United States and European governments, which have sanctions in place against Mugabe over past election-rigging, listed a litany of alleged flaws in the vote, from lack of availability of the voters' roll to pro-Mugabe bias in the media and security services that skewed the election run-up.
In Zimbabwe, independent domestic monitors had described the election as ?seriously compromised? by registration problems that may have disenfranchised up to a million people.
Anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness, citing links between mining companies, ZANU-PF insiders and Zimbabwe's pro-Mugabe military, has also alleged that state diamond revenues may have been spent on securing the Mugabe re-election.
ZANU-PF has angrily rejected all vote-rigging allegations.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spelled out Washington's distrust of the result in no uncertain terms.
?Make no mistake: in light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results announced ... represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people,? he said in a strongly worded statement on Saturday.
Former colonial power Britain expressed ?grave concerns?. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the reported irregularities ?call into serious question the credibility of the election?.
The 28-nation European Union has also pointed to ?identified weaknesses in the electoral process and a lack of transparency,? completing a picture of general Western scepticism.
It remained to be seen how energetically the West, with little public appetite at home for overseas interventions and facing muscular Chinese trade and investment rivaly in Africa, would press its questioning against the apparent African endorsement of the vote as imperfect but acceptable.
China is already a significant investor in Zimbabwe, which has rich reserves of chromium, platinum, coal and diamonds.
Mugabe had defiantly ignored a request by SADC in June to delay the election beyond July 31 to allow more time for steps to create a ?conducive environment? for a free and fair vote.
At issue now will be the future of the Western sanctions against Mugabe and Zimbabwe, where the economy is still struggling to recover from a decade of slump and hyperinflation that ended in 2009 when the Zimbabwe dollar was scrapped.
Trevor Maisiri, senior analyst for southern Africa of the International Crisis Group, said the priority of the African Union and its regional satellites like SADC was avoiding conflict and civil strife. This often took preference over technical perfection in electoral processes.
?I don't think there is going to be any major social unrest. Some people are disappointed but they have already gone back to their lives,? he told Reuters by telephone in Harare.
The MDC, facing political annihilation after its third failure to oust Mugabe through the ballot box, has said it could consider challenging Mugabe's win through street protests.
But this could trigger a crackdown from pro-Mugabe security services, militias and supporters. In the 2008 electoral violence, 200 MDC followers were killed in such a crackdown.
In Harare, after the tense, rushed weeks of electioneering, many seemed anxious to get on with their daily lives.
?The elections have come and gone, and people have different opinions about the outcome but we still need to pray for our welfare, for national peace,? said one woman as she went into a service at the main Anglican Cathedral in the city.
?Politics is important, but it's not everything,? she added, declining to give her name. - Reuters
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/africa-west-at-odds-over-mugabe-s-win-1.1557241
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By 1926, Ford was starting to see sales of its Model T fall off, as consumers embraced faster and more stylish offerings from competing brands. Though noticeably below 1923?s peak of more than two million units sold, 1926 would still see more than 1.5 million Model Ts leave Ford dealerships with new owners. Of the variants available, the most popular was the Touring model, like this 1926 Ford Model T Touring for sale on Hemmings.com. This particular example is equipped with a number of mechanical upgrades from the later Ford Model A, and the addition of rear disc brakes means that this car is more of a driver than an investment vehicle, but the upgrades will likely make the learning curve involved in owning an antique automobile less steep. From the seller?s description:
Has a Model A crankshaft. Drilled for pressure. Oil, rods and mains inserts in the mains. Model A rods, Egge Pistons, aluminum head, down draft, 97 carburetor with headers. Two speed Rasco rearend. 3:1 gears. Disc brakes on rear. This engine has been driven for 10,000 miles virtually trouble free. Electronic ignition. Stites 280 cam in engine.
Find more Ford Model Ts for sale on Hemmings.com.
Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/08/04/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1926-ford-model-t-touring/
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The man in charge of North Island College?s Port Alberni campus for almost nine years is leaving to become the president of a college in Northern Saskatchewan.
Campus director Tom Weegar will leave Port Alberni in November to become the new president of Nipawin-based Cumberland College. The position is a promotion as he will be running the entire college which has four campuses.
Weegar has deep roots on Vancouver Island, having grown up in Courtenay. His parents and siblings all live in Victoria, his wife is from Parksville and their son, Thompson, 15, is a local track and field athlete. Weegar is also the president of Literacy Alberni, a Rotarian, a youth soccer coach and referee and has worked with the local chamber of commerce.
?It?s going to be very difficult to leave all that,? Weegar said. ?My experiences in this community have been fabulous and my family really enjoyed living in Port Alberni.
?I enjoyed working with all the different groups in Port Alberni.?
Weegar has a bachelor?s degree in psychology from UVic and a masters degree in environmental studies from York University.
He taught at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and Northwest Community College before moving into an administrative position at Northwest.
He moved on to Northern Lights College and Rainy River Community College in Minnesota, before coming to Port Alberni in March 2005.
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Weegar has a specialization in Native studies and played a part in developing a number of programs involving local First Nations. He spoke proudly of the Bridge to Success program, a partnership with the Tseshaht First Nation to train and provide education upgrades to those interested in working at the mill.
?It makes them more employable with the mills,? Weegar said about the program.
?It?s a bridge to the mill from one side of the river to the other.?
He also put together the construction labour program, which is geared to learners with head injuries and those with fetal alcohol syndrome.
As for the future, Weegar said he?s focused on starting his new position and becoming part of the community that he will soon live in. A return to B.C. is possible.
?I?m going to see where it takes me,? Weegar said, regarding his work. ?B.C. is closer to the relatives but at this time, the focus is on Cumberland College.?
reporter@albernivalleynews.com
Source: http://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/218175622.html
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Curtis Stevens may have stepped up for a fight with Gennady Golovkin tonight, as he waxed Saul Roman in the first round on NBC Sports.
It was a matchup of punchers in the middleweight division, and it closed out the night well on NBC Sports, as Curtis Stevens tore through Saul Roman with ease, knocking him out on a left hook in the first round.
Stevens (25-3, 18 KO) stormed Roman (37-10, 31 KO) right away, hurting him with bombs coming from both hands. As Roman gamely held his ground as best he could, he opened up with a right hand, and Stevens flattened him with a counter left hook. Roman made it back to his feet to fight on, but all he could really do was hold or wing it.
Roman chose to wing it, and the next time he loaded up a right, he found himself flat on his back, victim again to a left hook that crushed his jaw, snapped his head around, and ended the fight immediately.
After the fight, Stevens called his own replays with sound effects and other such flair, and said of the knockout blow that that's exactly how he would catch and stop Gennady Golovkin, too. Golovkin vs Stevens is a floating rumor for November on HBO, when Golovkin is due back to defend his WBA title. If that fight happens, at least we can say that Stevens has a real puncher's chance -- the guy can thump, and he fights fearlessly.
Given the likely options, do you think Stevens is the right opponent for Golovkin in November, and would you give him any chance at the upset?
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Can we all agree that rooting a phone is not for everyone? That's kind of important, because these days, Android actually is a platform for most people.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/i-dont-want-to-just-root-it-1001604524
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