Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Worthy Mentions

Ati China can aim and fire at a missile in space from earth.... and get it right the first time? Daaammmmn! Can you say just negated all efforts at warfare the superpowers have been wasting money on in the past 3 decades. Satellite doesn't count anymore. With the ability to disable every target via annihilating the satellites then being the only one with a satellite and knowing where to hit and aim? Damn them Chinese. They are so super smart. Like find the real solutions to the real problems. Oh, and yes. We believe the real concern here is space debris - not. To speak like a true Kenyan, as if? Balaa. China just won every war it hasn't fought yet. Who is the new world military power? Believe it! China. Amazing how everything can change with just one test.

Go Colts!!!! Winning after being down 21-3. Go colts. And 2 African American coaches at the Superbowl. Some super sweet balaa. Martin Luther King Jr, what say you about your dream now? "I had a dream?" Now anyone of these two teams can win the game. The bears, the Colts. Seriously though, 51-49 vote to Colts. Go Colts!!!

So there is all this noise about global warming here and chorused by all including CEOs from pertinent firms again. mmhhhh. What would it take for us all to just get natural? Including getting to cultivating fuels instead of using fossil fuels, whose mining btw, affects the core of the earth and causes disturbances to weather patterns. That is over and above the well known pollution et al. Another 100 years and maybe someone will finally listen. And now this?

In Kenya via England, John Githongo missed his own rants and sentiments and came back singing the same old chorus. This broken record from this man who is desperately trying to get a political edge needs to be stopped. Any takers? I'm willing. Set us up on a live aired television Q&A session, me against this Githongo guy and watch me tear into him. No mercy at all. John Githongo, if you desire to contest for a political seat, return to Kenya, where nobody is looking for you, nor thinking about you, and do the drive down the potholed roads and dusty places. Campaign kama everyone else and stop these bad attempts at using this backhanded tactics. It is a sad day when education can not a wise man make. Personally, I intend to look into his blog if it ever shows up. I hope he won't be disabling comments and that he will respond to all questions posed to him via those.

And Midwest airlines must be mentioned here today. Thank you very much for a great flight. No issues, just one very understandable brief delay due to high winds and great service. Not to mention those warm choc chip cookies that always make Midwest airlines special. I'm very glad to note that Midwest is expanding its services to serve more cities. It might be the only flight I choose if it hits all my cities. Southwest comes a close second but Midwest has some very comfortable seats. There might be a good argument here for eliminating travel classes for Domestic flights and instead making all flights better and improved. Too be fair, I haven't had really huge issues with Delta, Continental or American airlines either.

Finally, to those who were with me in NYC over the weekend, thanks for the blast! It was definitely just that, a total blast!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Iraqis must show up?

And help bring peace to their country? What is wrong with this statement? And why is everyone who is an official of the US to some degree commenting on this as a fact? What makes these people think Iraqis need to be involved in bringing peace back to Iraq? They had nothing to do with removing the peaceful atmosphere that existed during Saddam's reign. So it was obviously a dictatorship. The difference between that and most other places including the US is that it was obvious, not encased in political fallacies. At the very least they had an honest environment. And moreover, their daily activities went on without a hitch.

So why are the same Iraqis who have lost schools, health centers, relatives, peace in their home environments amongst others expected to clean up a mess they didn't create? Why is every US official talking like the reason Iraq hasn't been conquered yet has anything to do with the Iraqis? The Iraqis didn't start this war because they weren't ready for it. Dictators always go out the historical way. Strikes, riots and if nothing changes, revolts or civil war. Time fixes that. When people have had enough, they fix their situations. So why would the Bush administration indicate that they will dictate to the now democratic Iraqi government (is this ironic) when and where and how soon and how many troops and basically their level of involvement? Or leave them to their own chaos? These chaos have never belonged to the Iraqi people. They have been victimized by them, but never owned them.

Enough with the hypocrisy. Bringing democracy to the Iraqi people, my foot. If we are to believe this, then for sure these troops are headed to Darfur soon? Or maybe not, there's no oil there. No need for democracy there. Selectively ambassador the countries of the world, is what these administration does. Selective criteria, oil and perhaps diamonds or maybe copper in the future, must be abundant in these nations. I'm sure this very helpful reason is why the US was in SA as they lived through apartheid. Very loving world police who help all those who are oppressed. Where would the world be without them?

My opinion is; bring peace to Iraq and rebuild it. Not the Iraqi people. You. You who went there and dropped bombs, uprooted their sewage systems, interferred with every one's livelihood and messed up school attendance and goals for citizens of Iraq for the past 3 years. So you and your people are happy. You got what you wanted. Whatever might have needed to be avenged is avenged. Rebuild. Yourselves. Your people. Your sweat. Your blood. Leave the innocent, unwilling victims alone. Their involvement must be left to be theirs alone and that of choice. They have suffered enough so that your goals were met. And whatever is happening there isn't their fault. It's all yours. Because you invaded their country. Your fault, your problem, your mess to fix. And fix it, soon!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Somalia and Nigeria

Anyone who knows anything about me knows how much I hate to hear about air strikes. So imagine my pain and confusion when at 4am I'm watching abc World news and I note that there have been air raids in Somalia, in a town not far off from the Kenyan border, and these conducted by the US. I'm going like wtf? And I'm aware that the Somali government is pleased with this because it wiped off a major Islamist forces city, whom they are fighting in conjunction with the Ethiopian army. That's all cool. But do the Somalis realize how hard it is to stop these airstrikes after you've okayed them? Do they also realize that the US has fueled the hell that has been in Somalia for so long by providing weaponry? That the situation it aims to control it helped to create directly in an effort to long arm control everything about everyone? Somali barely has a building standing. Why the air raids? And this only after the Ethiopians have risked their own men and cornered the Islamists. If the Somali government was still at a point where it didn't know where to start, and the Islamist militia were out there and willing to aim and fire, might I add with sophisticated AK47s that fire at planes, provided by the US, would the US be in Somali attempting any effort at anything? The same US that wouldn't offer any help to Rwanda citing "Black Hawk Down" as uncertainities in African warfare they couldn't deal with. Now they have warships off the Indian ocean manning the Somalis who might be fleeing. I'm calling this as BS. The similarities to Iraq are limitless. First and foremost, Black Hawk Revenge. And other idiosyncrasies we have all tired of complaining about. I just wish the Somali government didn't agree with it. The US has to be forced to work with the governments to arrest or remove suspected terrorists and must not be allowed to fire missiles at countries it is not at war with. Tres simple! I'm entirely opposed to any semblance of a religious war this close to the Kenyan border. Kenya has co-existed with both Christian and Islam presence with no issues about religion for years but religious strife in and around these borders can cause major repurcussions resonating inland into Kenya.

What bothers me more is they keep quoting the attacks on the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. However, it's a different tune now. It's "over 250 people died in those attacks." This a far cry from August 1998 when all we heard was "12 Americans died in these blasts". I've had it with all this. Now there's a need to act like there's care and concern for all the 200 plus Africans who lost their lives? Please! Call me cynical, which I am when it comes to these things, but I can't completely be outside of making a point here.

And Nigeria may shut down the oil operations after all. Also brandishing some very sophisticated weaponry, obviously makes you wonder who is providing those, the MEND have vowed to shut down the oil wells, if that's what it takes. You look at the lives of these villagers by the oils riggs and you understand where it is they're coming from completely. They live in abject poverty and their livelihood, the fish is all dead or very small now, thanks to the activities going on with the oil mining. Of course the billions of dollars earned have not helped a single one of these villagers. And in addition, their corrugated iron roofs are corroding now, thanks to the acid rain that results from mining oil. These villagers have had enough and you can't blame them. I understand that Shell has pulled out it's people already. The other major companies are standing by and as soon as the MEND start to execute any of their threats, they will be doing the same. Nigeria stands to lose over $1B in weekly revenues. Yes that was a B and weekly, and no, the dollar sign was no error either. Not that most Nigerians will notice, no. But the stealing politicians definitely will.

So are they (MEND) terrorists? This is what their leader had to say in regards to that.
"To the oppressed impoverished people of the niger delta, we are angels. If we
are terrorists to the oil companies and the nigerian government, so be it."
The American companies have long stood by and watched as the Nigerian politicians robbed this country blind and made no attempt to help the villages where the oil is mined. They bother to make sure that the influencial politicians are kept happy and have always expected that they will always be able to conduct business as long as that end of the deal is taken care of. Wrong. Never underestimate the fed up man. Angry and hungry, not a good combination. It's a new kind of power all on its own. And this with militia who believe the bullets will not kill them, thanks to whatever rituals they have gone through... the Army just drops its weapons and runs when they show up. Apparently if Nigeria shuts down production of crude oil, well, gas prices in the US could be at $6 a gallon. And it's not impossible. At the very least, the MEND have succeeded in getting the world's attention, to some degree. If not, no oil production in Nigeria surely will.

Monday, January 08, 2007

2007... so far

First and foremost, no more bells and whistles with the new years. While I'm very glad and grateful to be alive with each, I'm also very aware that I'm getting older. Plus after this many new years, boy, it got old! However, don't let that get in the way of this little message; Happy New Year, y'all!

About the deaths of James Brown, Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein all in a very short period of time... what is there to say? Rest in peace you all. Hata kama, they snack Hussein's hanging on us. I left to go out briefly, I return and I'm questioning a relative of mine as to why the people on Nightline keep talking like they've already executed Saddam. She reckons, they mean upcoming execution, I'm explaining they're usually very careful with how they say what they say when "...who was executed about 2 hours ago by hanging...", comes through. I have never known a time when I needed to use the swahili word I was taught by my crazy primary school instructor, "Bumbuwazi!" The real ones. Loss of a king of soul, a president of peace (after the Watergate scandal) and the leader of the Middle East. For those who believe in signs, is this one of them? And if so, of what?

I feel quite sure that the lesson for all this year is not to give up. In it's simplest and purest meaning. Whatever you're doing, don't give up. And within that lies Endurance. Build up endurance folks. That's the message for 2007.

Elections Kenya 2007. The less I know the less irritated I will be, I'm sure. But because I'm an information junkie type, I'm going to know and I'm going to be mad, irate, disappointed and angry. I hope I'm prepared. Might I urge all bloggers to argue wisely, based on fact and at the very least on logical reason? Any deviation from this and I might as well read the papers to hear what our politicians had to say.


Football season. The Chiefs. Where do I begin? With their miraculous playoff qualification or with their disastrous showing in Indianapolis? After little thought, I won't start with them at all. Fargghedaboutem! Cowboys, they tried. Good showing. Went out fighting. I'm hoping the colts win the Superbowl.

Of course this year the economic debate this part of the hemisphere will be "Are we or are we not headed towards a recession?" Should be interesting. I think we are. And that could be dangerous. But a recession today in the global world would be different from the one that happened in the 20s. Perhaps, if I do feel so inclined, I'll put up a post dedicated to this later.

I've learnt that if someone keeps asking you real stupid questions and you don't know where to start, you go like "in the beginning there was an atom. And then came a big bang!..." and keep going until they catch on that you're trying to find a beginning that works for them. Of course Christians like me will start as "In the beginning there was the word, and the word was God." (or is it and the word was in God or somn). Yeap people. That's where you start.

Again, make 2007 count! Be happy!