"They [the honorary degrees] don't have any meaning to him at all. I mean, come on. I don't think he even remembers it." -- the spokesman, who declined to provide his name.
:-)
Ha-ha-ha!
Yup, UMass is getting tough on Mugabe!!
"UMass voids honor awarded to Mugabe; Trustees revoke degree given in 1986" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | June 13, 2008
The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees yesterday revoked an honorary degree awarded two decades ago to President Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe dictator whose brutal crackdown against political opponents and systemic human rights abuses have made him an international pariah.
That's strange; Bush administration officials get them all the time.
They get libraries named after them, fer cryin' out loud!!
The board unanimously rescinded the degree, given at UMass-Amherst in 1986, at the urging of UMass President Jack M. Wilson, who had described Mugabe's regime as "antithetical to the values and beliefs of the University of Massachusetts."
BUSH!
It was the first time the board has revoked an honorary degree.
I hope it is not because he's black!
Robert J. Manning, chairman of the board, said at yesterday's meeting at UMass-Lowell:
"The University of Massachusetts trustees have decided that Robert Mugabe's performance and policies in Zimbabwe are so egregious as to warrant this ultimate expression of disapproval. We have decided to break the link between Robert Mugabe's name and this university's own good name."
WTF? But you guys are silent on Bush?!
Oh, that's right: UMass gets FED FUNDING and we couldn't have that get cut off.
Better off to look strong and tough and beat on the black man!
The board's decision followed growing calls, inside and outside the university, to denounce Mugabe, who was generally seen as a liberator from oppressive colonial and white rule when he came to power in 1980.
But NOT NOW! That's because he was OUR FRIEND then (like Saddam)!
You see what happens when USrael gets mad at its friends, don't you?
State Representative Kevin J. Murphy, the House chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, had urged UMass to take the step in light of escalating state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe. He condemned Mugabe in a May 9 letter to Wilson as "an affliction on the people of Zimbabwe."
Like Bush is an affliction upon America, right?
Murphy, addressing the board yesterday, said he did not blame the university for the initial decision to honor Mugabe:
"[He] appeared to represent the hope of a self-determined Africa. [But], the promise we saw in 1986 was false."
At least the Zimbabweans got a promise -- we didn't even get that for the last eight years here in AmeriKa.
All we got was the false!!!
Took you guys 22 years to get on the stick, huh? What took so long?
"It is now explicit and clear that we must take further action to protect the reputation of our university as a responsible global citizen.
Like CALL for BUSH'S IMPEACHMENT perhaps? Oh....
For a man who has habitually violated the democratic and natural rights of his people, the only precedent the board needs to take such action is the odium of the character of Mr. Mugabe and his regime."
And WHAT ABOUT BUSH?! Did Mugabe invade a country off lies?
Yeah, I know he tortures, but we... (damn, can't use that against him).
Well, he spies on his own... (damn, another one bites the dust).
O.K., he's looted his countr.... (dammit, isn't there anything dictators do that Bush doesn't?)
A spokesman for Machivenyika Mapuranga, the Zimbabwean ambassador to the United States, said the board's action was futile and self-serving.
"They [the honorary degrees] don't have any meaning to him at all," said the spokesman, who declined to provide his name. "I mean, come on. I don't think he even remembers it."
I feel the same way about the shit diploma hanging on the wall.
In 1986, UMass awarded Mugabe an honorary law degree during a special convocation at the school's Amherst campus. UMass chancellor Joseph Duffey said at the time that Mugabe had rebuilt Zimbabwe's economy and "laid the foundation for racial harmony between blacks and whites."
A program for that ceremony referred to Mugabe as a champion of human rights.
And now UMass has shit on its face!!!!
During his address, Mugabe spoke of the suffering of blacks under apartheid in South Africa, and one of Nelson Mandela's daughters gave Mugabe his doctoral hood.
But human rights activists say that by 1986 Mugabe had already revealed himself to be a ruthless tyrant who had launched a brutal crackdown to subjugate a minority tribe, killing thousands of civilians.
But they BESTOWED the HONOR on him anyway!
They IGNORED the CRIMES because HE WAS A FRIEND!!!!!
Pffffftt!
U.S. foreign policy and its hypocrisies make you want to barf, don't they?
In recent days, Mugabe has intensified a bloody campaign against political opponents in an effort to retain power. Yesterday, authorities arrested Tendai Biti, a senior official of the main opposition party, and twice detained opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who will face Mugabe in a run-off election scheduled for June 27."
That explains the UMass retraction right there (and the next article down)!
What have you done for us lately, Mug?
Also see: Zimbabwe is Serious
"Mugabe regime targets rivals; Zimbabwe's top opposition leaders held" by Angus Shaw, Associated Press | June 13, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - .... White House press secretary Dana Perino, traveling in Europe with President Bush, said the UN Security Council should quickly take up the Zimbabwe crisis "to prevent further deterioration of the region's humanitarian and security situation."
The U.N.? How about getting them active on GAZA first?
State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos, in Washington:
"This is a government that is taking tremendous and, frankly, awful strides to maintain its power, that is increasingly abusing its own citizens and has raised, or should I say lowered, the bar to a level that we rarely see."
Except HERE in AmeriKa under Bush's rule!!!!
US Ambassador James McGee said the Bush administration was "very, very concerned" about Biti's arrest...."
Coming from the indefinite jailers of Gitmo and floating prison barges?
Pfffffffttttt!!!!!
