Update: For Senator McCain’s new ad featuring Debra Bartoshevich please visit this page.

Debra Bartoshevich, the Clinton delegate from Wisconsin who voiced support for John McCain, has been stripped of her delegate status by the Wisconsin Democratic Party. From the Associated Press:

Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party’s administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.

Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

The June comments from Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old nurse and mother of two from Waterford, were seized on by the McCain campaign as evidence of his appeal to former Clinton backers. Within hours, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution at its state convention supporting a challenge of her credentials with the national committee.

The party’s rules and bylaws committee said the state party could decide the matter, clearing the way for Friday’s vote. Committee members agreed Bartoshevich had lost her privilege to be one of the state’s 92 Democratic delegates because of her comments and affiliation with “Citizens for McCain,” a branch of his campaign designed to recruit independents and Democrats.

During a teleconference before the vote, Bartoshevich asked the committee to allow her to attend the convention as a delegate for Clinton. She noted that she donated her time and money to Clinton and still believes the former first lady is the best candidate.

She said she made the comments backing McCain during an emotional time shortly after Clinton dropped out of the race and as a first-time delegate was unfamiliar with party rules. She said she had not decided who to ultimately support and was still open to backing Obama if he won her over. “I’d like to go to the convention and listen,” she said.

She said her sister was a McCain supporter who signed her up for “Citizens for McCain.”

“You reached right back and hugged them. I have a problem with that,” committee member Dottie LeClaire responded.

The committee accepted a challenge that stated Bartoshevich violated rules requiring delegates to support the party’s nominee and be faithful to the party. Bartoshevich will be replaced by Marilyn Nemeth of Racine, who finished second to Bartoshevich in the delegate election earlier this year.

More on this story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I’ll say this, the fact that Senator Obama is considering two members of the GOP as his running mate apparently is not raising as much as a ruckus as the saga of Debra Bartoshevich and that this was done after hours on Friday only speaks to the fact that Democratic Party wanted the story buried.

Update: For Senator McCain’s new ad featuring Debra Bartoshevich please visit this page.

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It is increasingly clear that I will be sitting this one out. I’ve got clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right and I’m stuck in the middle with no choice at all.

I’ve got Obama telling the Israelis just absolute gibberish on the future status of Jerusalem.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Wednesday that Jerusalem will be Israel’s capital but that the issue should be settled through negotiations with the Palestinians.

In June, Obama upset some Palestinians when he said Jerusalem would be the Israeli capital and “must remain undivided,” — a point of contention he avoided on Wednesday.

“(Jerusalem is an) issue that has to be dealt with the parties involved, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and it is not the job of the United States to dictate the form in which that will take, but rather to support the efforts that are being made right now to resolve these very difficult issues that have a long history,” Obama said during a press conference in Israel.

In effect, he has said nothing and only comes off foolish and inexperienced. Let me see if I got this straight, Obama is saying that the US believes that Jerusalem will (or should) be Israel’s capital but it just can’t be divided in zig zag fashion and whatever the final status is that is up to a negotiated settlement. Doesn’t the fact that it is up to negotiated settlement preclude the former assertion that Jerusalem will be Israel’s capital? Does Obama realize that one option on the table is declare Jerusalem an international city under neither Israeli or Palestinian control? Why open your mouth in the first place? But John McCain is no better.

Now Senator McCain is promising to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem upon being elected President. From JTA News:

John McCain said he would move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem upon being elected president.

“Right away,” Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee for president told CNN Friday. “I’ve been committed to that proposition for years.”

President Bush also committed to moving the embassy during his 2000 campaign, but never did. Presidents oppose such a move as preempting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and endangering U.S. security interests in the Middle East.

McCain’s rival, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), has said that he would only consider such a move once the sides come close to a final status peace agreement.

McCain would not comment on how he would react should Israel preemptively attack Iran to prevent its acquisition of nuclear weapons. All he would say was that “the United State of America is committed to making sure there is not a second Holocaust.”

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. It makes no sense at all.

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Not all news out of Zimbabwe is dire and grim. The Malilangwe Trust is a rare Zimbabwe success story. The Malilangwe Trust was established in 1994 in southeastern Zimbabwe as a wildlife preserve. The entire 400 square kilometer area is largely fenced in. Here is some background on the Malilangwe Trust from Travel Africa.

Importing animals to restock a ravaged area is not easy, or cheap, but it can work. Travel Africa investigates. The figures are startling: US$2.4m spent on restocking 400km2 of Zimbabwe’s lowveld with wildlife. Since 1994, over 1300 animals - including 28 Black rhino, 15 White rhino, 254 eland, 147 giraffe, 197 sable and 233 buffalo - have been purchased and released into an area depleted of game. This is more than simply conservation: it’s restoration, and it has revitalised Malilangwe Trust’s estate in south-eastern Zimbabwe.

The region is dominated by flat, low-lying, semi-arid savannah. Malilangwe is an exception, bisected by a range of picturesque sandstone hills which confer geological and botanical diversity. This gives the estate a wide variety of habitats, ideal for a reserve: mopane, riverine and mixed woodland, open grasslands and savannah studded with flat-topped Acacia tortillas.

The local conservationists who established the Malilangwe Trust in 1994 faced a problem common throughout Africa: competition with cattle and agriculture had eroded game populations. Although this was not to the extent experienced on some ranches in the area, restoring Malilangwe’s natural diversity required the import of wildlife. The vision was ambitious. Money was raised from an international conservation organisation. A professional ecologist assessed the estate to ascertain optimum carrying capacities for each species (an ongoing process) and animals were sourced on the southern African wildlife market - mostly from private sellers, with exceptions including Kruger NP and the Malawian government.

(more…)

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Here is the Friday, July 25th, 2006 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Preah Vihear Temple Stand-Off
Diplomatic efforts are accelerating to address a newly revived dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over who controls the ruins of a centuries-old temple overlooking their contested border. More from the International Herald Tribune and the Asia Times.

SNP Wins Byelection in Glasgow East
John Mason of the Scottish National Party triumphs by 365 votes in the Scottish constituency of Glasgow East, leaving Gordon Brown to deal with another byelection defeat and perhaps facing the loss of the Premiership ahead of elections. The former Labour stronghold – previously the party’s 25th safest seat in Britain – was captured by the Scottish National Party with a massive swing of 24 per cent. Labour had held the seat since World War II. Stories from the Daily Report, the UK Guardian and the UK Independent.

Inflation in India at 11.89%
In India, the rate of inflation eased marginally to 11.89 % for the week ended July 12 on account of a fall in the prices of certain food items such as tea, maize, potato, sea fish and imported edible oils. More from The Hindu.

Is Italy Going to Pay Reparations to Libya?
Two months ago, Libya threatened to suspend co-operation with Italy, on immigration. It has now announced that it is close to a deal which would see Italy pay “billions” in compensation for three decades of colonialism. Saif al Islam, son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi, did not specify the currency when he quoted the amount. Rome says negotiations are well-advanced following Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s visit to Tripoli last month. Euro News has the report.

Cypriot Reunification
The Turkish armed occupation of the northern third of the island of Cyprus remains one of the reasons that I do not trust the Turks and will oppose any move for Turkey to join the European Union. Turkey invaded the island on July 20, 1974. They remain on the island. Only Ankara recognizes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Yet there are no sanctions on Turkey for this violation of international law.

Argentine General Sentenced to Life In Prison
Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, the former commander of the regional Third Army Corps in Córdoba during the military dictatorship, oversaw the kidnapping, torture and murder of four activists who protested against the military government that lasted from 1976 to 1983 and was today sentenced to life in prison. Let’s hope that the prison he is sent to is better than the one he oversaw. Only 17 of more than 2,200 political prisoners survived the La Perla detention center in Córdoba under his command. After a trial lasting nealry two months, the court also sentenced six other former military officers and one civilian for crimes committed during the military regime. Four of them were also given life sentences, with remaining three receiving sentences ranging from 18 to 22 years in prison, Argentine newspapers reported. This period of Argentina’s history is referred to as la guerra sucia, the dirty war.

Ecuador’s Proposed Constitution
A proposed new constitution grants Ecuador’s leftist President Rafael Correa broad powers including the ability to dissolve Congress and set monetary policy, and would let him stay in office through 2017. The 444-article proposal was given final approval late Thursday by the constituent assembly elected to write it. Correa’s Alianza País party controls more than 60 percent of the 130-member assembly. The nation’s voters will decide Sept. 28 whether to adopt it. The effort follows the lead of Correa’s socialist allies — Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales — in seeking a constitutional rewrite that would let him extend his years in power. The proposal would enable Correa to run for two new and consecutive four-year terms. More from the Miami Herald.

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