Zimbabwe's 2 Drink Minimum

It is velvet rope time in Harare. Bobby Mugabe has a new angle.

According to CNN, "the Zimbabwean government has announced restrictive licensing fees for foreign journalists working in the country, demanding they pay an annual fee of $4,000 to practice journalism."

But oh, it gets better. The $4000 allows you to do your job, but the application to do your job, costs you $10,000. And once they say yes, you can do your job, your accreditation costs you $20,000. For a grand total of $34,000.

You know the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Saudis and others are watching and thinking, "hmmmm instead of killing or imprisoning journalists, we can charge them a bunch of cash first, and THEN kill them or imprison them." Brilliant!

But why stop there? Why stop at charging them for applications and accreditation. There is so much more money to be made. How about $5000 for every camera you bring into the country? After all, pictures can be really damning.

Then you can charge another $5K for each laptop you bring in. And how about $5K for cell phones and $10K for satellite phones? Or better yet, make them rent the phones, cameras and laptops from you.

Come on Bobby, let's get creative here.