Apple, the Apple logo, and Mac are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.
To commemorate World Environment Day, the United Nations Environment Programme helpfully suggests we find out about melting ice by asking a polar bear.
I dunno if you can get a polar bear to say much about the environment. They tend to be very shy and prefer to avoid human contact.
But, hey, if the UN says he’ll talk . . .
h/t: Sobering Thoughts
Previous related posts:
Print This Post
Without the support of the Roman Catholic Church that raised and educated him, Robert Mugabe would, in all likelihood, never have become president of Zimbabwe. Plainly, however, there has been a complete reversal in the relationship between the brutal dictator and the church in which he still receives Holy Communion.
Mugabe responded with derision and threats to the Zimbabwe Catholic bishops’ pastoral letter denouncing his regime. Since then, Catholics in rural Zimbabwe have been assaulted and terrorised.
The rift between Mugabe and his church may have fueled his anger at the pastoral letter.
By criticising him now, “the bishops have hit him where it hurts most”, said Jonas Chimusoro, a parishioner of the Catholic church of Highfield where Mugabe frequently attends Mass.
Mugabe’s fiercest critic, Archbishop Pius Ncube, last year observed the octogenarian leader’s hypocrisy. “He does not apply his faith to his political governance of the country. He totally ignores it,” he told SW Radio in October last year.
Ncube further noted that the southern African leader goes to Mass, receives Holy Communion and speaks at church meetings - but he does not respect human rights; instead he goes on to justify himself and his bloody actions.
In 1975, a Catholic institution near Harare sheltered Mugabe and his family and helped them escape to Mozambique. On 18 April 1980, he was sworn in as prime minister with the blessing of the church. In 1988, Pope John Paul II made an official visit, acknowledging Mugabe’s leadership. In 1996, he and his second wife were married in the church, after she had borne him two children. (His first wife died in 1991.)
Since Catholic leaders began to criticise government violence, brutality, and other human rights abuses, however, the relationship has soured.
Typical of Mugabe when faced with criticism, he has turned his back on the Catholic clergy. Many religious rites at state functions are now performed by Anglican bishops who have among their ranks some of Mugabe’s greatest loyalists, such as Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and the controversial Obadiah Musindo, a revivalist evangelist who is on trial for raping his children’s maid.
As if to confirm that they have the same mindset as Mugabe, the Anglican bishops, led by Kunonga and Bernard Malango, Primate of Central Africa, on April 12 wrote their own statement countering the Catholic bishops by praising Mugabe.
Mr Chimusoro raises a revolting fascinating possibility: Will Mugabe become an Anglican?
Please, God, not that.
Previous related posts:
Print This Post
Canada’s fertility rate has been below replacement level for decades and so our population is aging at an increasing rate. Projections show that the proportion of young and working-age people will continue to decrease as the number of elderly increases.
Statistics Canada has prepared a series of animated gifs consisting of age pyramids for Canada and each of the provinces and territories. One set of animations shows the years 1901-2001, and another the years 1971-2006. (The figures for 2002 through 2006 are projections.) The portal for the charts is here. Check ‘em out!
Reproduced below are the Canada pyramids for 1971 and 2006, as found here. (Click on charts for enlargements.)
Source: Statistics Canada, n.d., Age pyramid of the Population of Canada, July 1, 1971 (graph). http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/animat/pyca.htm [accessed 5 June 2007].
Source: Statistics Canada, n.d., Age pyramid of the Population of Canada, July 1, 2006 (graph). http://www.statcan.ca/english/kits/animat/pyca.htm [accessed 5 June 2007].
Previous related posts:
Print This Post
Posts
