One dictatorship crumbles, one establishes itself

In Zimbabwe it looks as though Mugabe’s time is up.

Zimbabwe is standing on a "precipice" as official results from Saturday’s general election start to trickle in, the opposition has said.

Leading Movement for Democratic Change official Tendai Biti says party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won 60% of the vote, against 30% for Robert Mugabe.

Official results show both sides have 19 parliamentary seats so far. Mr Biti says the results are being rigged.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has lost his seat, east of Harare.

Public Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende has also lost his seat.

Local results have been posted outside most polling stations since Sunday morning.

Mr Biti says the MDC has won 96 of the 128 parliamentary seats, where it has calculated results. There are 210 constituencies.

But he said the ZEC was planning to announce that Mr Mugabe had won 52% of the vote – enough to avoid a run-off. Mr Mugabe has denied repeated MDC claims that he would rig the polls.

On the other side of the Atlantic however, BabyBlue reports on how those lovers of justice and liberty are erecting a totalitarian regime of their own.

Some supporters of Katharine Jefferts Schori, now confronted with the call for investigations by the Bishop of Central Florida and the Bishop of South Carolina regarding the recent activities by the Episcopal Presiding Bishop and her lawyer, are now waving off those actions a mere "technical error" when Bishop Schori lead a majority of a quorum of the House of Bishops to depose the Bishop of Diocese of San Joquin and 88 year old retired Bishop William Cox.

Oops?

A “technical error” did not impose the equivalent of an ecclesiastical death sentence by manipulating the process to remove opponents with the majority of a quorum. That’s not a technical error – that is either duplicitousness or incompetence.

Earlier today she reiterated this point that she authorized the removal of her opponents through a majority of a quorum. 815’s press office reported that she said in a press conference that "We believe that we did the right thing," and added that the consent came from "a clear majority of those present." Yes, that’s what a quorum is. So she just stated the obvious – and it’s obviously what’s wrong here.

…

Waving it off and sniffing that it’s some sort of technical glitch is basically affirming that Kangaroo Courts are just fine if you happen to agree with the Chief Kangaroo. And that is exactly what we are hearing from the so called “progressives” on this matter. No longer can they say they are the champions for justice. Manipulating a process by using the majority of a quorum is exactly the sort of action that should cause true democrats and those that care about the cause of liberty to speak out if we dare call ourselves Americans.

Those with clear heads should be quite concerned today if the Presiding Bishop carries out her plan against the duly-elected Standing Committee of the Diocese of San Joaquin and put in her puppet bishop. 815 has based its entire rationale of their lawsuits on the Dennis Canon and if they themselves cannot follow the canons of the Episcopal Church then their case is sunk. Canon lawyers are on the sidelines today with their laptops ready to write their briefs about the gross miscarriage of justice going on in Lodi.

Goodbye Dennis Canon.

What seems to be driving David Booth Beers is his attempt to shore up his lawsuits by building a wall between the Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican Communion and illustrate the point that the Episcopal Church is a separate and autonomous denomination and the other provinces of the Anglican Communion are separate denominations – like Lutherans or Presbyterians or Baptists. This means that there is no direct link between Diocesan Bishops and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Now all the Episcopal Bishops go directly through the Presiding Bishop to Canterbury – that’s what she is doing today in Lodi.

Happy, happy, joy joy. Peace, love, friendship.

As long as you do what we say and think what we think.