More to Life

Libya and Obama's presidency

2011-05-01T11:58:00.003-04:00

Now that Nato has directly targeted, bombed and killed Ghadaffi's family members, including 3 grandchildren all aged under 6, is this still a humanitarian effort?
Ghaddaffi may not be a great man but why target a home knowingly populated with other civilians including his wife, kid, and grand kids? is the thought that if Gaddafi's gets eliminated, then it was worth it? The end justifies the means?

Can anyone walk into a country with civil discord of any kind, pick sides and honestly claim to know what they're doing? I mentioned in a post before that it is never possible to know the facts on the ground about divided nations. You're likely to take sides from the people you hear from the most. In the spirit of democracy though, it does not negate the opinions, values and rights of the opposing side. Be they down, 30 to 70 or 50/50.

This killing of people's children is just disgusting. It was disgusting when they killed Saddam's kids and justified it with that they were horrible human beings. I'm not saying they shouldn't have been tried and given due punishment. But they cannot be targeted because their father's leadership is despised and that called fair. It was ridiculous that they bombed Ghaddafi's compound and killed his son after pearl harbour. And it is still abhorrent now with another son and 3 grand kids.

There isn't a better man than Obama in for the 2012 race yet. But I'm watching carefully. If Barack does not condemn this and make some appeasing effort, I'm flushing him down the tubes of disgusting politicians. And because he is officially running in 2012 now, he needs to make an official campaign statement. So we can know where he stands on this.

I said this whole Libya invasion thing was a mess. Why isn't Nato in Syria yet? They have the same atrocities going on?! Sick, sick.

I disagree

2011-03-23T23:28:00.002-04:00

I'm an avid supporter of Barack Obama. In fact, I have often claimed that he thinks in many ways the same way that I do. I have disagreed with him before. But never as much as I do now. This whole Libya thing - I'm sorry. I'm just not buying it.

I've spoken to enough people to know that whatever one thinks about what is going on in the middle East, and Libya in particular, is simply a matter of opinion. As always, opinions are always a factor of our principals, our experiences and in many ways our fears. So those are sometimes hard to change. But I believe that they should always be heard, understood, appreciated and the differences noted, respectfully. And for that reason, I don't want to disagree with the Libya bombings on grounds of morality and the role of the U.S. to a purported looming massacre in the hands of colonel Gadhafi.

Let me disagree on grounds of "what the hell are you doing?" At the current moment,there is a general consensus, even amongst the talking heads that generally agree with Obama, that this mission is fuzzy at best. Up to this moment, Obama has been hard pressed to explain himself clearly to anyone. If I, a real loyal who trusts the decision making process of this president, am having a really tough time with this one, I think we have a problem.

First and foremost, how can one prove that Libya is not dealing with a civil uprising? Despite all the protests we've seen on TV, and our general acknowledgement that Gadhafi makes us uncomfortable, to say the least, there is no denying that there is an obvious availability of Gadhafi supporters. If that were not the case, he would have been ousted by now. So who is the U.N or the U.S to take sides in this affair? if we're claiming democracy, how do we pick sides and still maintain its integrity? Because, let's be honest, the U.N. mandate allows for the arming of the rebels. That is taking sides.

Additionally, Barack committed funds to this mission. At the current time, the waging war against him from the republicans has to do with the deficit and spending. So why would he not engage congress first? I think what really ticks me off is that Barack has changed the tone again. Before all this, the Union collective bargaining war had just simply turned everyone towards democrats and Barack Obama. And what a momentum there was. So I ask, what the hell is this, that it was worth that loss?

Maybe, Barack thought this would help him look less timid. Look like a president who can make war decisions towards going to war. But the problem with this is that it alienates his voting base. That base tends to be more peace, less war. More resolutions outside of gun battles. And most importantly, more process oriented. The one thing that is definitely missing here - an understood mission and process to follow.

And while I agree by all means, stop a massacre before it happens, whenever a decision is made to "assist" an oil rich country, while the Congo and Sudan continue to bleed out, I am simply not buying that reason. It's BS, and I am calling it out. I just hate that I am calling under Obama's administration.

It's possible that I just disagree with Western intervention in majority of cases, and maybe that's why I disagree with this. But I think I especially don't believe in the "uproar" that was/is in the middle east as a very real thing. Except that it is real and happening. I'm of the school of thought that this is media driven, and Ii could put it this way, Japan, its earthquake, Tsunami and nuclear issues came a little too late to avert Obama's having to make a decision here. I am convinced that these revolutions have been kept alive by consistent attention from the western media. And that in itself would be valid if I believed the interest was genuine. I don't. I think the interest is only commercial to the media industry. So let's hope Barack knows better than I do what it is he is doing and what the end results will be. Because personally, at the current time, I believe strongly he's just responded to a product of media hype that may have had nothing to do with anything - in the long run.

Gun Trotting Bandits - Executions, Not Simply Injustice?

2011-01-21T14:40:00.003-05:00

ON Thursday morning, I looked into the online version of the Kenyan Nation newspaper to find the big news, with pictures to boot. Police had executed some thugs, who had apparently surrendered. Of course it's shocking. More so that they did this in the very open. I can't imagine if one had their children in their vehicles while the cops carried out their actions.

On Wednesday evening, I received a phone call. My brother in law had been murdered. He was shot dead, execution style, right outside the gate to his house. The bandits carried his car keys but not his car. They killed him outside his gate, so that meant his wife and kids heard the commotion, the shots and were left to find the display the bandits had left behind.

On December 24th, 2010, I was in Kenya and at Kenyatta Market getting my hair braided. This crazy story was circulating. One of the braiders in one of the stalls wasn't in and had experienced tragedy in her family. Apparently, the night before, on her way home from work, she walked into a crowd of people gathered around some dead people. They had been shot by police. One was a robber. The other was an innocent high school student, whom the robber had used to shield himself from the police bullets with. The police had shot and killed both. The innocent high school student was her son.

So I am reading the comments on this story in the nation newspaper and noting the outrage in people's tones. I am trying to feel that outraged, but I can't. I keep thinking, as long as one can confirm these were robbers with guns, shoot them and kill them. For starters, our system will probably let them out of jail, perhaps even before they have served their time, due to corruption within our jail systems. And these people will go back to shoot and kill another family's father, son, brother, husband and friend. Let this gun trotting idiots die instead.

Now I am not unaware of the ugliness of my intuitive emotion. How dare anyone kill a surrendered man? It's horrible. I agree. But is it worse than the fact that this surrendered man kills innocent people? If I believed that the system would take care of these thugs correctly, tuck them away somewhere and let them rot there to die; especially where the death penalty is now eliminated in Kenya, I might be OK and insisting on the 'don't shoot surrendered gun trotting thugs', mantra. But I don't believe in it. And what about these cops? Who keep engaging in gun fights with the same set of thugs repeatedly? I understand why they shoot them to eliminate them. The truth is, our system is not ready for gun trotting violence wielders.

So here is what I'd propose. An outright gun on guns in the open for everyone. Any violators can expect to be shot dead. Legally. Yes, I'm proposing a shoot to kill order for all gun wielding thugs.

What about the innocent bystanders, such as the high school student I mentioned earlier? I'm proposing better training for the police. And an additional clause to the shoot to kill order. Simply, once an innocent person is added to the mix, a 'hold fire' mandate.

But am I sorry for the executed thugs? Not at the current moment. Perhaps my emotions are a little raw at the current moment. Am I aware that it is a degenerate society that would execute a surrendered man? Yes. But to that I say, it is a degenerated man that would shoot an innocent man. The cops did not shoot innocent men. They shot surrendered crooks. It is not the same thing. And I for one, want that difference noted and appreciated. If my father, brother or husband was a cop, I'd be sure that I advised that they shoot these idiots before they get shot. I'm fighting for the cops on this one. I'm not claiming they were right. I'm asking that we pass a law that makes them right. That should deter any gun trotting thug without a death wish. All others, well, their wishes can be fulfilled as desired. And meanwhile, those responsible should start drafting laws, creating spaces and cleaning up the system, so that in the future, the shoot to kill order will no longer be necessary.

I'm surprised by myself too. I didn't know I had this cold space in me.

2010 - New Decade, New Kenya

2010-08-06T01:46:00.004-04:00

It's been a long time since I've felt the need to put my thoughts on this blog. I got deflated, negatively impacted, jaded or just completely drained after the election skirmishes. I've tried to come back here often, simply because I used to use this space to store my opinions and assess them later - to monitor my state of mind during certain events and to grow from what I observe about myself in those pieces I had written.

I've missed having this place to come back to. I haven't been able to transfer this process to other places where I store my thoughts. But somehow, I do associate the Kenyan blogosphere with the events of early 2008. And I guess I don't like to come back here. My opinion of Kenya was changed so drastically, left huge holes and such a sense of loss in my heart. I got an inside view of Kenya and it was not pretty. I've been trying to overcome that; to see it as an isolated incident. Yet, I believe my hesitation is in the fact that I don't believe in its isolation. Somehow, I feel like my eyes were opened to an ugliness I didn't before have the ability to fathom within my own people. An ugliness I feel has not yet been explored, exposed, addressed or altered. I don't have to be right. I could simply be traumatized. But those are my feelings towards all that at the current time.

With all that said, I had to write my thoughts on the day after the constitution passed. I've talked to many Kenyans, young and old, Christian and not, super intelligent members of society to the regular Joes. It was interesting to hear other people's point of view on the constitution. One very super well to do, smarter mind of society actually argued that Kenya had no need for a new constitution. That what was wrong with kenya was its leadership and that if people were good, and elected only good leaders, all would be well. Now, duh! Isn't that a fact anywhere? Don't we put checks and balances because that is a utopian expecttaion? Don't we know human nature pushes its boundaries? A fact observed with children as they grow? It's an instinct, people get away with as much as they can. It is a survival instinct. Truth be told, this person is also a Christian religious zealot; and I believe we got to this point of view simply because they had run out of ways to justify their opposition to the new constitution.

I'm overjoyed but cautious. And my primary instinct is to call on fiscal responsibility with the implementation of this new constitution.

First, the pay for MPs must be dropped by more than 30%. I say this not because I know that our MPs are overpaid, but because it is prudent and justifiable to reduce pay within the new constuitution. If pay is to be commensurate with responsibility, smaller constituents indicate smaller portion of responsibility per person. Each MP will have less to worry about. And in that manner, one can justify a pay cut on that level. Generally speaking, the cost to run constituencies should at worst case, stay the same. An argument could effectively be made to reduce the cost. I'll admit this huge increase in governance costs was a concern to me. But I figured, if this is handled prudently, a paycut for all MPs should follow. And I chose faith. If Kenyans can get here, maybe they can can get to where they one day alter the cost to run the country so that it makes sense.

I'm of the school of thought that the amount of money spent to pass this referendum the second time around could generally have been spent to improve the first referendum. The naysayers both times were emotionally invested on the side of no. Anyone who has me figured out knows I detest emotional thinking; simply because it almost always kicks out common sense. I recall in 2005 asking a simple question, how many things are wrong? I was told 2 at most. I asked then, "can't they be resolved later?" And was advised 'no!' But this came from a then orange supporter and nothing I could do could get them to listen to anything other than voting against it. I write this, because there is a huge part of me that hopes many who voted no last time have had some time to reflect and see what their voting no has cost the country both in real shillings (the drafting of a new constitution is not cheap) and in missed opportunities. The point is, I hope it has been a learning opportuunity for many, to look inside, understand self more and become a better person. But I'm glad, that finally, the issues were debated and that finally change is nigh.

And I especially hope that Kenyans will learn how to vote wisely. In a country where Raphael Tuju was not reelected, besides having accomplished a great deal; but a host of do nothingers were reelected - I can't help but feel that Kenya has the leaders it deserves. We have to deserve different. And by that I mean we have to start voting for those who do right. Let the consequence match the action. Otherwise, we cannot justify our complaining when the MPs want to hike their own pay. And with no shame, highlight their out of touch attitudes. Can anyone please advise the Kenyan MPs that it is completely rude to the average kenyan, to complain that after all bills are paid, one has ONLY 50,000 to take home. Many Kenyans have way less than that to take home long before they paid huge mortgage and car payments. So frankly, shut up! Because it is rude and inconsiderate and ignorant to speak like that.

The tone of this almost reads like I might be angry. I just caught on to that. I don't feel that way at all. Actually, I feel very hopeful. Maybe the tone is a remnant effect of the fact that my emotions about Kenya are scattered. I love but don't trust or I trust cautiously or something close. It's complicated. Hopefully, next time I come back here I will have sorted that feeling out.

Whichever way, I wanted to say of Kenya, congratulations! Go ye forth and prosper! And I know God is on our side, no matter what those who claim we have kicked God out might think.

Serial Killer Devil Worshipper

2010-08-06T01:44:00.001-04:00

This I wrote on June 15th. When I was completely mortified by the one weird Onyancha, blood sucking guy.

Reading about Phillip Onyancha is shocking in more ways than I care to describe. Be it the

callous way he describes his deeds, or the sheer monstrosity of it all; it is all newsworthy; and

not in a good way. But I find two things especially interesting.

One is the mention of the devil worshipping madness. That is interesting to me because just

recently, some friends and I were discussing the absolute insanity that had encompassed

schools in Kenya; in regards to cult worship. The very Christian union (CU) bodies had

been infiltrated by weirdness to the point that God was scary. We had mentioned the devil

worship comments that were constantly being made. But we had more or less concluded the

overzealousness and fanaticism of religion as the culprit. Allow me to say it the way Kenyans

love to say things; “Shock on us!”

The second most troubling thing is the investigation bit. Did I read about some family that kept

forwarding numbers to the cops who kept losing them? As in what the heck?! So I pose a

question to the police commissioner, can you explain to the general public how investigations

are handled? I feel quite sure I ask these questions on behalf of very many people.

First question, is each investigation assigned a case number?

Second, is it then assigned specific people to be working on it?

Third, who monitors the progress of the investigation?

Fourth, what follow up is owed to the victims, the concerned parties, the people who requested

an open investigation; or the people with a missing relative?

Fifth, the filing system – Where do you file all materials related to a case number? Are these

arranged by case numbers? Is all evidence in these files? Who has access to it? What protocols

exist to ensure no evidence is stolen out of files?

Sixth, what about the evidence that has to go for forensic testing? How does it get back to the

file? What is the process? Who is responsible if it goes missing? What is the trail left behind?

Who signs what when they pick it up and when they return it?

Seventh, what are your general standards? What do you internally consider best practices when

handling an investigation?

Eighth, the different bodies, cops, CID, the flying squad – what is the role of each one? When

does each one get involved? What is the official process of handing down a case from one unit

to another?

If there’s a process where the cases are transferred, are the files transferred with them? What is

the trail left behind? Who signs for what?

Where is investigative training provided? When? And for how long?

What are the procedures to ensure crime scenes are not contaminated?

By the general public?

By the people investigating them?

What are the time limits set by the department to start an investigation?

How are suspects handled? What constitutes sufficient evidence to hold a suspect? What

are the processes of keeping an eye on a suspect who cannot be held for lack of sufficient

evidence?

And what tools are at hand for use within investigations? Which departments own them? What

is the process of requesting a department ran a specific test on a piece of evidence? What is

the expected turn around time?

How is information shared between investigative units in different areas of the country and the

districts?

Let me end my questions at this point. I feel quite sure that the commissioner will be hard

pressed to answer 25% of these questions effectively. So let me offer them as starting

points for the setting up of good controls. Every organization needs protocol. People need

guidance otherwise they perform well under par; including loss of evidence. People also need

consequence. If the institution spent a week organizing preliminary responses to most of these

questions, and then embarking on training, there’d be a process to be improved on by the end

of the year. And the results would be instantaneous. Good luck and God speed on this one!

RIP MJ

2009-06-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

I’m devastated! Completely in mourning! Not MJ. I so wanted that concert to happen, because from it, there would have been great video collection of his hits with some live performances to boot. I was a fan throughout MJ. Even when the world turned against him, I remained faithful. And hopeful for a comeback! The loss, no, the absolute death of that hope is completely saddening.

Even sadder is that MJ died unhappy. Saddened by all the negativity the world threw at him. Perhaps even a little depressed. How cruel the world must have felt to this man. Who never knew the life we all mostly lead. Paris Hilton has had a semblance of a “normal” life. MJ just never did. And to be a toddler and then an icon is a huge leap that is bound to cause out of touch with reality issues. Which MJ definitely suffered from. But we the world, who took his life and turned him into an icon before he was old enough to date, denied him a chance to ever hang out at a mall, go out to a bar with a friend, take a girl out for a date… the things that define us. The moments where we mark passages from childhood to adulthood. The transitions that help us understand growth has happened. For MJ it was one whirlwind of the sameness. Stardom. From toddler to forever. And then one day, the media woke up and realized they had the power to destroy. They tried it on an icon like MJ. I hope they are proud of their success. We as a society watched them, some of us cheering them on, others in protest. But MJ took it all in. Wondered why we had loved him so much and then hated him without any warning. And he had no real life experiences in between that to shield him from that blow. Cruel. That’s what we were to MJ.

So in his death, as the same media sings his praises, words they haven’t said of this man in years. His reality. His super stardom. His great contribution to the arts. All being highlighted in his death. I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone of this one thing; that the only time anyone ever needs your kindness is while they are living. And while it’s an awesome gesture to give it to someone’s memory, our real duty is to the living. Let’s try a little kindness, a little constructive criticism, a little corrective nudging, and completely turn away from the death blows we’ve learnt to cheer on from roof tops. Somewhere in this blog is a post titled “The Pontius Pilate syndrome.” Read it if you choose to. These are issues close to my heart.

And on that note, I don’t know who that pastor is; or is he a reverend? But the guy going around Kenya, where there were clashes getting people to confess and pray for forgiveness, I want to throw my full support behind what this man has achieved, what he is trying to accomplish and his method. I thank him for his initiative and I hope that many many many Kenyans will find peace and a new hope in their country from this man’s efforts. When I say a prayer tonight, I will remember to pray for this man to be successful in bringing people face to face with the truth of who they became, if only for a moment, and at the same time providing them with a means to make peace with it, forgive and start to heal.

What's the real cost of mismanagement?

2009-05-20T12:38:00.002-04:00

What are the overall consequences of mismanagement? Often times, the obvious will be stated. But what REALLY are the consequences of mismanagement? I don’t mean outright crazy madness, where the managers are looting. That isn’t mismanagement. It’s embezzlement. I mean where you sit back and watch something you’re in charge of deteriorate to where there’s nothing left of it. Either you’re too dumb to see it’s happening and stop it, or are too busy with other things and have neglected your responsibilities to this point. Whatever the reason, I’m concerned with that kind of attitude. Where the person in charge is around when everything falls apart, and does nothing to stop it. And this situation considered only where no uncontrollable or extenuating circumstances exist.

Of former schools
Let me give an example of the things I’m talking about. I was very fortunate to have attended 3 of some of the best schools there were in my days for primary, secondary and post secondary education. Here’s my point. With all I know about each and every one of these schools, there’s not a single one of them I would wish for my children to attend in the current day. Forget that they were the schools to be in when I was in them. Forget that the longest application lines and processes existed with admittance rates at below 20% for how coveted these institutions were while I was in them. To say that, and for anyone to compare them with what they are now, is to cause everyone around to wonder if maybe I’m making things up.

Primary
2 out of 3 of the alma maters have started some kind of revival processes, thanks to the web and its far reaching arms. The 3rd one hasn’t probably won’t but it’s a far cry from what it used to be. It’s crazy, of all good management I ever saw, all factors considered, was my primary school headmaster. In retrospect. I was too young to understand how his attitude and habits were the overall glue that held all together in that environment. I guess we were fortunate in that for me and my siblings, we all finished our education while he was the HNIC. Fast forward to today. One of my classmates who started a family much earlier than most now has children in this very environment. And the only thing he has to say is just how bad everything is. He says we couldn’t understand it. We have no way to imagine things could be that bad. I’m always the one who asks, why? What happened, what catastrophe changed things? The catastrophe? Change in management. A leader who cannot make the correct calls on budget; including cuts and priorities. A leader who is incapable of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current institution and taking the steps needed to bolster the foundations.

Post Secondary
My post secondary education was in a prestigious environment, not to us who were in it, but to those who had formulated ideas and attitudes about it. We paid a lot, true. But the heart and soul of that institution had nothing to do with money. It had to do with cohesive functionality. We ranked 1st all the time for the international course we were all part of, to the point that we were audited severally because they thought we had to be cheating. What African school could have so many smart kids lumped in one area? Well, we had instructors who understood the curriculum and the deliverables. Who communicated that very clearly to the students and who allowed push back so that we could ask questions over and over again until we were clear. Never once were we judged, or considered too “spoilt” to have valid opinions. This environment created creativity and fierce loyalty to our brand. And this loyalty translated to so much pride that we were all out there striving to uphold our name.

As luck would have it, this institution would have a history that would come to haunt it. While I was in it, it was run by catholic fathers. Turns out, the catholic fathers had been given the institution to run by a then wealthier different denomination that had more than it could handle. It appears that the ‘operate this school’ contract was “run this” no details attached. So one day, the other denomination is now running broke (shock!) and recalls its property. It’s a violent upheaval. But now they are running the institution. What they did different, I’m never going to know. But the results have been shocking, to say the least. I keep wondering how they possibly could be in the situation they’re in. What they needed to have changed to get there so quickly. Some things are so solid, so stable; you imagine it has to take some time to bring them down. No, not these people. They must have some kind of special talent. Because they have brought down a giant in record time. This is a future case study on how not to manage, for sure.

Family Traditions
Here’s my beef with all this. Primary school, I went to a very nice school. But not the first in my extended family. My father’s side of the family has a rare story for their times. My grandfather was a doctor, my grandmother a teacher. So my father and his siblings got the rare opportunity to not only live in Nairobi but also to attend the best schools. While my father didn’t attend the specific school that I did, his younger brother did. And it played out that our entire slew of cousins from that side went there as well. We wanted to keep this tradition if we could. Now, we’re definitely not considering it. I wonder if I can communicate this sense of loss.
It reminds me of the time when my brother had to go to high school. The conversation had mainly centered on private day school until my mother had an epiphany of sorts and shoved that idea. Here was the problem, there were no boarding schools in Nairobi that we could take him to and feel safe with that decision. This is why the private day school had been the original idea. Now, for my father’s frustration point. My father was an old boy’s member, a group that was trying to revive the school he had gone to. When he was there, he was one of the African students, though by then, they had a few, but not about half the population. In actual fact, he attended the school when it had the title starting with “Duke of … “ Now, imagine his frustration with the fact that my brother has qualified to get into this school, but none of us will hear of it, because we have heard they treat their form ones terribly, and worse when they have small bodies. By then, one or two had died while being rabbalized. In addition, there was nothing but rumors of gay rape happening in these boarding schools. My brother ended up in Gilgil in one of the forces controlled schools. It turned out to have been a blessing because it is a great school he went to. But there! Because of headmasters who refused to reign in bullying and other shenanigans, my father lost what he really wanted. A chance to have an alma mater relationship with his only son. Can I communicate the extent of loss?

Rare opportunity
I should mention that my mother also was amongst the lucky few from their times. Hers was a more stumbled into lucky situation as compared to my father. For starters, proximity. My mother hails from one of the districts that are now about to be absorbed into Nairobi because they have become merely outskirts and suburbs. To put it in perspective, it was a 30 minutes drive to my mum’s shags and we went there on a whim on Sunday evenings often. But her parents were not wealthy nor educated. However, she happens to be the ultimate last born. She was the last born of the youngest of 3 wives children. And fortunately for her, her oldest brother from her mother was educated, done with school, married and flourishing. I should mention that whenever my parents have told us the story of “walking to school without shoes.” Both have lied every time. Very rare circumstance for children of my generation. Anyway, my mother was smart as daylight too. So she ended up in one of Nairobi’s greatest schools for her time. And I ended up there as well. And while I was there, my mother decried the deterioration in prestige of a still then very highly regarded school. Now she just wonders if anything could ever be done to save it. As a student in a school where my mother had been, it felt very good. I was one of two. The other girl, an old family friend, just happened to be my mom’s friend from high school’s daughter. It was quite something. And I had hoped that maybe I could share the same with a possible future daughter. Given the condition of that school currently, woe unto me!

Frustration
So here’s where I am at with all this. I’m frustrated. Maybe even a little upset. I’m just feeling victimized by the actions of those who were put in charge of these institutions. I’d like to write them a letter. It would be polite, but I would like to draw for them a picture that captures just how much more they have robbed people of. I’m sure that they see the decay, the failures of their mismanagement. The evidence is obvious. What I don’t think they know is the far reaching implications. They may not be aware of the “error that keeps on giving” situation they have left behind. To look outside of personal self, these are now huge institutions, filled with potential that at the very least will have a lull in their histories, assuming all ends well and these will be revived to their past glories. Which means that tons of money has to go into bringing back what was the norm into these places. Money that could have been used to take these institutions to the next level! Stalled development, the inheritance they’ve left us all with.

What about the pride with which we regarded our alma maters? We now say we were there and everyone rumbles into, “oh the place has deteriorated” speech because they remember what it meant when we were there. What about that? And what about for those like me, who had hoped to continue a tradition of taking their children to these institutions? As they are currently, it would be an irresponsible decision on any parent’s part. What about that?

Hope - Maybe
All is not lost for me. The kids are yet to be manufactured. The dough has not been kneaded yet, let alone placed in the oven. I could still get lucky and find that by the time I have kids and they’re ready for school, the miracles needed have come through, and these institutions have been revived. Sigh! One can dream, anyway.

Little bit of this, little bit of ...

2009-04-27T15:30:00.002-04:00

This year started with some challenges. A good friend survived a brain aneurism. That’s the good news. The bad, we don’t know the extent of the damage. Why, we had all just moved states and where she is at is far away. Our connection to her is, (read was) a boyfriend, who has decided to take all control and cut us off. Why? We didn’t respect her privacy, he says. How did we do that? We shared the news with only very good friends. Point to this? We’re all struggling to find out. Meanwhile, a reunion over the weekend almost brought us to our knees over the issue. The sheer frustration of not being able to reach a friend in her time of need, because someone blocks your access and the worry that accompanies that, it can be very confusing. Plus, I know if she woke up, she’d kick him hard in the nuts for the very behavior. So I feel that he’s abusing her, because he can, because she is ill and unable to protect herself. I have genuine fury over all of this. I just came to the full realization that it was eating at me more than I was accepting over the weekend. Prayer. Prayer. Over all things we have little control over. Still, I can’t help enjoying a mental picture of bumping into him and kicking him – hard!

This swine flu thing is ridiculous. I’m grateful this news breaks after my 3 bouts with flu in the past 5 months. Otherwise, I’d have died from imagining I had the damn thing. Swine flu? How scary is anyone who coughs around you right now?

Raila! After I had just praised his behind for beginning to show maturity. I should have known better. Now he wants fresh elections? In the same country that does not have an electoral board? Are these people seriously this callous? This careless? This insane, this stupid? Are they really this incompetent? Is it truly possible to utter such crap, such potentially dangerous crap and sleep well at night? Soon that country will be an extension of Somalia. Anarchy will rule the day. But quote me later on this. The tides are shifting. Change is coming. Where victory will belong to the upright. And what you hear are the winds of change. And many wolves in sheep clothing will be very exposed. Many of whom just sit back and point fingers from what seems to be far away places from politics. Shake up, shake down, shift and change.

I need some knowledge on something. Not advice, not opinion. Knowledge. If I just knew something so I could decide on something else. Inexperience is killing me here. Being 50 will sure be welcome on matters such as these. And everytime I bring it up to people, they start either blaming my attitude, expectations or habits. Which is all fine if they feel that way. Point is, it’s who I am and that probably won’t be changing anytime soon. All I want to know is, what do you know about this? All I keep getting is, I feel, I feel, I feel. I don’t really care about your feelings on this one. Not rudely, just really. What are the facts? It’s strange how these two questions are not different to most people. I’m sitting on absolute knowledge that I’m about to make a mistake. But I’ll make it with the best knowledge that I have at this time.

Them Mavericks are doing ok! Lebron? Whoa! Duane Wade? Him too. Kobe, not surprising, but damn!

Today, I really feel the distance between me and my mum. I'd like to hug her.

On my mind...

2009-04-24T12:20:00.001-04:00

Liberia’s president, Sirleaf, was such a breath of fresh air on Jon Stewart’s, the daily show. In came in a president, but over and above that, that African mother figure. That woman who wants to nurture, love and advice you. Not the structured, zombie leader types that dominate the west. A real person. Someone, you could just sit with and listen to her regale her past. And in the midst of all that, intelligence. What a breath of fresh air.

There are two gangs operating in Kenya right now. One is the Mungiki, well known and being sought after by authorities. But what about Kibera residents who have become the executors of law as they deem fit? Law they have no knowledge of, just tidbits of information here and there. How is it possible that these people can cause billions in dollars to a railway company, and a few days later, start planting grass on the very space that had tracks? They have decided they know better than the authorities who are handling Migingo issues. No, they know force. They have that information that the railway line is a bloodline to Uganda. Unfortunately, that’s all they know. Reminds me that I’ve heard before, the most dangerous man is he who knows little but thinks he knows much. Ergo, Kibera residents. Didn’t they recently injure law enforcement because they were disconnecting illegally connected power lines? They shall live for free? C’mon now! These are thugs and hooligans and somebody needs to stop them dead in their tracks. The sooner the better. We don’t need a second set of under informed nuisances ‘governing’ Kenya.

I’m not going to shy away from pointing out that what they’re portraying is the rule of law as they were taught by their inciters in January 2007. It will never be the same again. Short of intensive psychological intervention, we have birthed the likes of M13, who like many of these gangs that are now killing upto over 4000 a month along the Texas/Mexican borders, started with noble reasons. Just as did the Somali pirates. Law has got to be enforced at the law courts and through the appropriate bodies. Anything outside that, every creator of it, has learnt, over time, that they can birth it, but they can’t control it. The solution? Stop it dead in its tracks! The Mungiki, whose onset was as a result of the Molo clashes where kikuyus were being killed with the noble and effective purpose of curbing the executions. However, some greedy upto no good person took advantage, recruited thugs and set up a thug structure. Now they make easy money, have a false sense of power and are simply pushing to see how far they can go. If they can maintain this easy living, they will. And that’s the people at the top. Again, stop them dead in their tracks. I call for this in full awareness that these are everyday people, our brothers, cousins, uncles and friends. Always start with a short, precise amnesty period that’s fully loaded with educational forums for the laws they break. And then shut them down, with no mercy. It is always, always, an issue of national security. Ask the Mexican government and the US/Texas authorities.

Martha Karua, her resignation. Good move. Poorly handled. Unless she targets the majority of Kenyans who enjoy sensationalism, she pretty much worked hard on alienating those who respect maturity. She shouldn’t have resigned when the president was away; it indicates underhandedness and an inability to resolve issues. A childishness of sorts. As were her reasons; not convincingly about principles, but more about ego. Still, she was within her rights and I think she can achieve more from her current platform as long as she avoids the bickering. Something I fear she might become a part of. She might be trying too hard and I hope a true, honest and worthwhile advisor will intervene. Martha is smart and purposed. She needs to trust her abilities and not succumb to the dumb, illiterate shenanigans that are Kenyan politics.

As for Parliament and its stalemate, if I thought even slightly that there was a majority of intelligence in the Kenyan parliament, or an appetite for truth amongst Kenyans, I might delve into that some. But I don’t. I have understood hopelessness, and what it feels like by attempting to understand the masses within Kenya. The deafening persistence to point fingers, take the easy way out, take advantage of things, and the absolute lack of integrity, from all circles, from homes to offices to government is actually quite shocking once anyone tries to understand it. What’s most confusing is the intelligence level of the perpetrators (basically the entire population). It’s not low, which might explain it otherwise. So, I will say nothing in that regard. But as usual will send a prayer request to God for Kenya and its people. “May the good Lord have mercy on us all, the country, it leadership and its followers. May he open our eyes so that we may see. May he give us the strength to face our demons, our mistakes and our truths. May we learn what our roles are and find the strength to be just that. And may His grace shine upon us all and keep us from disintegrating as we seek our purpose and our places in society.”

Kodak Gallery - enforcing minimum annual purchases

2009-03-25T11:35:00.002-04:00

So I received this from Kodak gallery:

The Gallery's Terms of Service* have been modified.
Because you currently do not meet the minimum purchase requirement established by our new storage policy, your stored photos will be deleted from your Gallery account if you do not act soon.

Here is your current status:
Current photo storage: 2.77 GB
Purchase requirement: $19.99
Amount you have spent: $0.00
Amount you need to spend: $19.99
Deletion date: 05/16/2009

In order to continue to store photos at the Gallery, members with photo storage of more than 2 gigabytes (GB) or less must make annual minimum purchases totaling at least $19.99.

Once you've met the $19.99 purchase requirement, prior to 05/16/2009, your photos will be safely stored for one year from the date of that qualifying purchase. Thereafter, just make annual Gallery purchases totaling at least $19.99 to preserve your stored photos.**

We look forward to continuing our relationship with you.

The KODAK Gallery

I say this to kodak gallery, Soyanora! Good bye, kwaheri. It's been real!

Picasa, here I come! And were that to fail, I'd prefer to store the pics in an external hard drive. Ala, kodak?!

Malaters.

conflicker C - Especially if you have Windows XP...

2009-03-24T15:32:00.001-04:00

I ran into several issues with my home PC several a couple of weeks ago and was completely alarmed. The error I was receiving mostly indicated that the system could not locate any Operating system. And I was like "what???" I tried to recover the last known functioning setup during reboot and there was none known. I continued struggling with the machine until finally, it started windows. That was all it did. It moved at snail pace and any attempt to start ie (Internet explorer) was a bust!

After several attempts and an ulcer, I finally decided to run disk scan just in case my files had gone everywhere and were just hampering the system. Of course that wouldn't run either. Well, I went in. Into system32 files and started working the hard core way. I run chkdsk and of course that crashed the machine, again. You'd think it would get better with time.

The good news is that when I finally booted the machine after I got out of the freeze, the system on its own accord decided to run a chkdsk. And everything was corrupt. 2 hours into the system deleting and fixing and whatever else it did, windows XP started. And yes, I could open my documents. And internet explorer worked. But at snail pace. My huge relief was that I would at least have the chance to save my documents in an external drive (yes, even years later, it still takes this to get me saving my information in easily movable objects). the because I have an alternative machine to use, I abandoned his particular machine.

Bt I missed my machine. This is my home IBM that I kill with excesses that would crash most other laptops as I experiment with geekery. So today, I went a searching. And lo and behold! the conflicker C virus. I haven't tried to go into Microsoft.com but I will. I'll also check to make sure that I received my windows update. Somehow I know all this will not be true. I have the damn virus!

So I hoped that some geek had bothered to fix it. And posted the hows. And here is the link (thanks Rhaomi and all those who provided insightful information. Microsoft has set this up if you think you've been affected. You might need to get to it through http://safety.live.com because this trojan knows Microsoft and does not allow you to get to their websites. It is also controlling your google search results when you inquire about it from an infected machine. And it routes all your update requests back to your machine so you never get any. It also blocks your access to regedit and hides your files. Crazy, crazy, crazy! No wonder Microsoft is offering some 250K for anyone who will lead them to its originator. Good luck folks, good luck.

if you think you may be infected, act quickly before April Fool's day (Russian time, it's likely the trojan originates in Russia). That's their debut day. Don't know what they intend to do but they can pretty much do anything. They can write code and pass it through all infected machines, most likely through P2P networks.

I usually resist geek like posts and conversations but this one was necessary for anyone running Windows XP. If I can save my baby without having to reinstall windows XP, I'll post an update here some other time.

Hoping you're not infected yet. And wishing you a least stressful fix if you are.

Of Attitudes, scapegoats and Bonuses

2009-03-20T12:16:00.002-04:00

AIG. What a story!! And is $165M, a mere 1% of the $170B that has been handed over to AIG worth all this noise? Is it the bonuses or just the exhaustive frustration that has taken over and is now leaking out in bits and pieces. Is this uproar healthy? Does it affect everything else? IS AIG actually real? And does anyone understand the reality of an AIG collapse? I'm discussing markets worldwide, to include Hng Kong and all of Europe. Does anyone know or recall the case study that was banks lending inappropriately. It comes with a very familar face. Donald Trump. Yes. Him. When economic classes teach about lending gone wrong, his billions of loans that forced the banks to service him to keep him afloat because his collapse would have meant their collapse is the subject matter. Irony to no end that this is the man at the head of the table in apprentice! only in America!

Anyway, for anyone who knows the Donald Trump story, that is the same situation happening with AIG. just that AIG is Trump multiplied by 1 and then many many zeroes. (Try putting in 170B in your calculator). So AIG has to stay afloat. For a while anyway. Until China figures out how to take the reins and shift the world economy to Asia as the fulcrum point. They are the only ones left with the power at this moment.

So the bonuses; part arrogance. Part habit. You get away with so much, you get used to it. And then you don't notice the wrong things as wrong anymore. Part, vaguely, necessity, at least implied. When wall street rocked, these people got used to bonuses as part of their income. So everyone who works deserves fair compensation. But inflated egos here, think that that compensation is still fair despite the mess we find ourselves in, thanks to their hard work. It would truly have been cheaper to pay them to stay at home over the past decade. The dictionary expresses clearly that a bonus is an additional compensation based on performance or earnings. At that juncture, AIG cannot explain their bonuses. Simple solution, new compensation contracts. Wages commiserate with the rest of the sectors. No bonuses. (and it would be nice if you hung your heads in shame).

Scapegoats? Edward Libby, AIG chair and CEO! What a day he had on Wednesday. And this for a man who took over a rotted to death AIG! And we wonder why worthwhile folks wont take up these challenges and help the situation. geithner? He should thank God that Barack has deflected that apathy onto himself. Cos this is a crowd of angry people who are looking for anything to kill, regardless of its guilt.

Irony in Kenya is this. To hear Raila completely disagree with the crazy demands for new elections. And his reasoning is so sound! I rarely find myself agreeing with this man, but I did here. And I was one person completely sure this coalition government would do nothing. But despite the madness of the masses ( Kenyans are their own worst enemies), this coalition is still one of the most functional governments I've ever seen. A government capable of averting a crisis when schools have no funds, deal with agriculture issues, specify and estimate the masses of people who are likely to face hunger in the next few months based on rainfall, still look into future developments such as the fibre optics cable and the highway to Ethiopia... I for one stand corrected. Don't get me wrong, this coalition government is too massive and the issues they have are many. However, I will give the devil his due. I wouldn;t have dared expect 20% of that from them.

The bickering cabinet ministers? Fire them immediately. Any good manager does not need an explanation from me for this assertion. However, I'll give it. A cabinet that is provided a forum to discuss issues, but chooses not to use it, instead beds our semi-illiterate and next to worthless media that cannot wait to sensationalize everything; but offers no pertinent education to issues; that cabinet minister has to go. the individual is too dumb to understand his role. His job is not understood, and the consequences of his actions are not clear to him. he must go. A cabinet position for a country is a 24 hour job as long as the member is in public. And there are respectful, meaningful and constructive ways to disagree while maintaining respectability for the outfit for which you work!

And the visa ban from the US! This might surprise you. I'm of the opinion that no one should be fired, EVER, based on this stupid act. It s tantamount to colonialism. There is nothing even remotely worth looking into here. It would be colossally stupid to hand over the power to determine which people serve our cabinets to another country based on visa bans. So anyone who antagonized them be it for the sake of good, could easily be eliminated. I say this often. The only opinion that has to matter in Kenya, is that of Kenyans alone. period. I hope one day everyone can understand that. So that they can develop intelligent opinions and self worth and better fellowship.

I can always go on. But I'll stop here, for now.

Kenya deficiency - Good leadership or followership?

2009-02-13T15:45:00.006-05:00

Both, I'm sure. But the latter worse than the former.

I know many would like to hit me over the head with a rungu right about now. What? have I been sleeping? Don't I See how terrible the leadership is? Selfish, shortsighted, corrupt... endless list?

Sure, I'd respond. I see it. It's only too clear! What's even clearer, is the same amongst all walks of life within the confines of Kenya. What's worse in this case is how little anyone sees how similar they are to their leaders. And manifest in that those who are not leaders of Kenya have learnt to point fingers always; without ever thinking that it might be their fault. The latter, a very common occurrence.

Let me put out a phrase I use often in this blog, at least I did when I used to write this blog. Cause and effect. Action and consequence. Never is there going to be an action that has no consequence. Having said this, when was the last time Kenyans in general were quietly sitting, analyzing and letting the government work without throwing out 30 something threats? That, my people, is an action. So ask yourselves, what has it borne?

While the leaders suck,(they really do),everyone else is not innocent. All of us! Corrupt individuals. Blaming the leaders because someone required you to pay a bribe so that you could get your passport. really? what is he supposed to do? you know the laws. Just say no! And if the next person does the same, and you all in line make it clear that it will be a bribe free experience, I'm betting the person behind the counter gets to work. In your possession is a camera phone. Advise them calmly, that there bribe seeking face will be out in the media as soon as you're out that door unless they remember that you're a citizen and you're there to claim your rights. And then wait calmly for a reaction. That's the extent of violence and threats you ever need to get to. And not merely a threat. If the need arises, keep that promise. Let's see the faces of shame. Twice that happens, no further bribe seekers. For a good to sell, there has to be demand for it. The same goes for bribes. It needs both takers and givers to be a successful marketplace.

What about the "fire this person" "resign" chants that have taken over. No one cares about due process. And for that matter, no one cares about corrective procedures. where do your politicians come from, God and the Angels selection? These people are human. Unless they can make honest mistakes and have an opportunity to learn from them without fear of losing their jobs, they're going to form alliances and platforms to rob you of the power to harm them. That's how they see it. And that's what it is. The eventual outcome is either rogues or people who aren't qualified for other jobs who would ever take this kind of thankless jobs, and worse a combination of both. There are human errors, process errors and they are not the same as corruption. And a difference needs to be highlighted, made clear and explained to all Kenyans. Stop with the chanting! if people don't err, they don't learn. And if people aren't allowed to err, they start to lie. You can turn a really good person into that by not allowing them the space to be human. We're effectively ruining our leadership or at the very least making it worse.

In a nutshell, the error on the ground is that Kenyans have no idea what their roles are. To be a citizen is not to be convictor of people for crimes you barely understand. To be a watchdog over your MP and his behaviour is not to become the uninformed critic of all he/she does while offering no helpful solutions. It is in part to be a good follower. To find ways to communicate what you see is lacking within your constituency and develop plans to fight the issue. The point is to form alliances with the MP. Give them a fighting chance. Guide them towards the real needs of the people. And become apart of developing solutions. Even you have to work towards making your surroundings better. Nothing comes for free. And the solution to the MPs always wanting more free stuff for themselves is not you getting free stuff for yourself. It is everyone getting apportioned what's gainfully theirs. When you understand the previous two sentences, you understand it all.

A simple test is to evaluate what kind of employee you are. You might be the manager who fires all who you deem as threats to yourself. In which case then you are exactly like the Kenyan leadership. Why would anyone ever let go of valuable resources just because they're insecure? At that point, you have no value to your organization and are in fact a liability. Your personal fears impact your environment negatively. Maybe now you understand your MPs a little better.

And the list goes on. And the rot continues to multiply. As your children watch you bribe cops and learn something. As they hear you speak ill of other tribes. break the cycle. Just say no. Just say no!

Note: Initially wrote this on 2/13/09 and left it as a draft. I just reread it, didn't change anything and decided to post it.

2008 - Early review (sigh!)

2008-11-21T17:00:00.002-05:00

What???? President elect Barack what? You heard it. Yes, that blood part Kenyan is now soon to be prezzo. This deserves first mention in my 2008 review.

I must have spent at least 50% of my waking hours watching, blogging, arguing or attending election related events and news in 2008. The first victory over Clinton left me feeling tired but fired up! Novemeber 4th was D day and looking back, the most amazing moments were when it started to seem obvious Barack was going to win. I wasn't afraid to hope. I was just afraid to die from the sheer joy of realizing that dream. Reaction to the news which I conclusively decided before anyone called the election officially? Screaming until I was hoarse. Amazingly, my neighbors didn't show. It occurs to me that if I was being killed...

So that's done. Barack now better get to work. All this time we've spent getting him elected better pay off. I wasn't making friends. I was electing a person I had some kind of hopeful faith in. My job will be to appropraite kudos and shame tags as necessary. Bila time for love fests. To start with, kudos all the way. That organization in putting together a cabinet is giving me great hope. Good call on the skipping the economic summit. Don't get into any sticky situations. And oh, see you at inauguration!

The economy?! Isnt it a damn mess? I pulled money out of 401 K, paid my penalties invested in a 9 month IRA and i'm coming out way ahead of everyone who didn't. That's just sad! sadder? is that while aware of this fact, I've had to go back to investing in 401K just to offset my taxes. can you say entrapment? I'm hoping that I'm buying real cheap so it should pay off when i'm 97. Which I'd believe if I believed in that kind of bounce back for the US economy. It will bounce back, just not the same way. They've jeopardized too many people and people will always seek alternatives after this.

The big 3? Big 3 losers you mean? Why do GM, Ford and Chrysler want to pretend their woes are based on the current crisis? Lies! Bad business decisions and horrid employee union obligations. Everyone has known this since 1822 practically and it makes no sense to inject an additional 25B. Bankruptcy would get them out of their damned union obligations and give them a chance at a comeback; assuming they build a car from scratch. Ditch all that junk technology they once paid top coin to people to ensure parts broke within specified number of miles. Its called stupidity catching up with you somewhere ahead. Integrity goes a long way you have learnt. Now, get to building something that indicates you've been listening. Via the chapter 11 route, no doubt.

If the Dow see-saws any more, I'm going to need some dramamine

Palin/George W. parallels, US 2008 elections victories and losses

2008-10-19T19:30:00.003-04:00

It's my absolute belief that if McCain ever wants to know where he lost all hope of winning moderates who weren't afraid of a black president, was when he chose Palin to be his running mate. That was a colossal mistake. One I hope he realizes despite the inability to declare that out loud. It would at least indicate he has some intelligence. Palin is familiar to all of us. Some people have struggled with why they think they've met her before, they haven't. they've met her cosmic twin in terms of politics.

It's scary to watch an aspiring high office politician not know what a certain demographic of intellectuals consider to be everyday and everybody's knowledge. Where we have seen this before is with George W. Bush. He often times proved he had no idea. None whatsoever. As has Palin. Over and over again. What Palin has over Bush, is that she can potentially be a good presenter. Can be trained to spew the stuff despite in an irritating condescending and definitely uninvolved tone.

It's my absolute definite belief that it is impossible to have any interest in government office and not have any interest in your surroundings and the events of the day. The two are mutually exclusive. So whenever you see a politician who doesn't know what's going on, then you have to wonder, who is pulling the strings. I'll tell you who I think is pulling the strings. For Bush, the senior Bush. For Palin, Todd Palin. It's an easy conclusion. Todd works for a major oil company. And I invite you to conduct a google search and learn what Palin's attitudes towards global warming and environmental conservation have been, all under the backdrop of "it would impact drilling decisions", not necessarily in those exact words. Palin is hence in political vision George Bush, the female version. And hence McCain committed political suicide.

Which leads me to the fallacies of "American truths". Things that America has determined are real, despite only being real in America only. Such as you're not allowed to attack women. can't say anything negative about them. I say hogwash! If a female is running for office, she better be prepared to be vetted by the entire public. So Palin gets away with an entire list of, how do I put this, madness enveloping her person. I mean, Todd Plain sits in government meetings?! I mean what?! and all this goes unquestioned unhighllighted? Because she is female? Are you kidding me? Forget her daughters baby (ies) drama. This is personal stuff that we could exclude from her vetting and still sink her in a pile of her own crap! Women can be questioned about their actions anywhere anytime. That's one loss in this election. Holding women to truth is always allowable. No woman ever died because she was questioned about some actions she had committed.

And the dumbing down of a nation. America has been dumbed down over the years. Now they recognize the effects of this actions. As America wakes up to the inability of its youth to compete. And as the market goes fully global; how does it help to preach that names like Hussein always belong to terrorists? How does this alienate the very countries that are already feeling alienated. How does this serve towards peace? Further more, what about countries like Sierra Leone, where every name is of Muslim origin but the practiced religion is not often enough? When did Islam become a four letter word?

Obama has already won some very significant battles. For starters, his campaign has single handedly done the unthinkable. they have raised millions above millions without the help of lobbyists. This concept as unthinkable just 2 years ago. Obama has changed the face of American politics forever. Not by being black, that's just history. He has changed it by shifting powers. The significance of this is actually mind blowing should anyone bother to delve into it. It's the reason there's such anger from his opponents. the Clintons, after years of "earning" the right to... as used to be dictated by the nature of American politics as it was; the inability to decipher what is coming next and how to handle it, based on a changed platform. A set of new rules, none they know of. And suddenly everything they were standing on as a harness is rendered meaningless. And they watch it all start to tumble. significantly, the big companies start to worry. pharmaceutical companies start to worry. Oil companies start to worry. they just lost bargaining power and upper handedness. the real effects are to be felt when people finally understand this truth. And many who were towing the line because they felt they had no choice start to turn away from it all. It should be interesting to watch.

I'm not a believer in Barack's inevitable victory. I know the youth are color blind. But I talk to enough Americans to know that people above 40 are struggling with this concept. They are not bad people. they are imprisoned by the one thing they've heard all their lives. Think of when you suddenly had to think of Pluto as a non planet. What? There have always been nine planets with Pluto being the farthest of them all. It's not that you don't believe what you're being told. it's that there's a whole lot of undoing that first needs to happen. But there are people who have tried. And successfully so. There are many who are white and wouldn't have conceived the idea of a black president who are being open minded and finding their minds changed, many declaring a feeling of real freedom. Give people an honest platform. You'll see their souls and most are beautiful, sometimes troubled but mostly good. Hence, I am a believer in a possible victory. And I also dare to think it could landslide.

I'm always looking for platforms that enhance a thought, a belief or attempt to explain a situation or offer it comparative meaning. So here is something for all to think about who are Christians. A pastor the other day broke down the Lord's prayer and ranked what was important to God based on what it requests that you pray for first. So it turns out the Kingdom of God is first, followed by that is economics "Give us our daily bread" and then warfare "Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us". So based on the fact that the issues are economics and the Iraq war, what would divinity be telling us? Would the recent economic meltdown be considered a decision made by God as to who the next president will be in the USA?

And finally, as Powell endorses Barack, he is accused of doing so because he is black. That's insulting to intelligence but I'm sure he will handle it with grace, as always.

Round Circles

2008-09-25T11:54:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since I've been here.

Let me start by saying just how disappointed I was by South Africa and Mbeki's resignation. If anyone has ever read a word I put into these blog, they know I worry about the shortsightedness of Africans. The selfishness and the never ending ability to just want to be heard and with no element of consequence analysis. may God have mercy on us all.

And the $700B bailout plan. I know something must be done but why the major rush? And more importantly, we need to fix housing first, correct? We say we can't afford to let the market auto correct, right? Here's the reality in housing though. There's a glut. Of houses, yes. But of builders as well. Who build houses. And if this rescue saves them all, then we have the never ending issue of too many houses in the market. Here's the reality, home ownership is not for everyone. It is a classful selection and only the middle class and above and a few lucky few should be able to afford to own their own homes. That is unless we start to include the outliers and the last quartile homes on the home prices grid.Then the really cheap homes (usually riddled with issues and one strong wind away from condemnation) can be bought by those below middle class.

The tough call is calling a spade a spade. In America, it's uncool to say that "only the middle class and richer should have access to..." Yet economically, that's the only salvation out here left. The builders must be reduced. Construction must reduce very significantly. Because if not, the attempt to put in people into each of these new homes will mean that we still have to maintain very iffy lending practices, so that regular Janes and Joes can fill these homes. The Jones' already could afford their homes and are still in them without pending foreclosures. The housing market must include old homes to a very significant percentage to be robust. Hence Washington, open thine eyes! This bailout may not be wrong. It definitely isn't a first step. There are tougher, less popular calls to be made and enforced here. Some real estate personnel must lose jobs. This is where the real problem is. And city zoning must be regulated to certain numbers (based upon research) of new homes per year.

So we're all going to have to stop keeping up with the Jones', revert back to accepting how regular Jane and Joe we are, and keep renting and working and praying for a miracle until we can afford a home. Capitalism is about social classes. No one without the other. Which means that some Americans are going to have to NOT afford home ownership. It ought to be prestigious to some degree anyway, right?

You heard Barack? You heard McCain? Not a populist opinion. But a fact none the less.

Happy voting in November folks!

NBC's Tim Russert - RIP

2008-06-13T17:01:00.002-04:00

I'm completely stunned by the very sad news - Tim Russert has passed away from a heart attack.

I've been spending a whole lotta time with this guy lately over politics and I am definitely jolted by his death. I'll miss his work, his insights and his courage.

May he rest in peace.

My condolences to his family and the entire NBC family as they mourn this great loss.

On my mind...

2008-06-10T17:08:00.003-04:00

Kudos to Hillary for actually verbalizing a concession, an endorsement and a "yes we can!" all in one very disjointed speech.

Pro-Hillary Women:
What is this "robbed" phenomenon going around in her blogs? How is it they conclude she was robbed of this nomination despite having lost fair and square from simple math; very basic addition and in her case occasional subtractions? And then these women will go out and declare they are being discriminated against. abused, undervalued, pushed out...? This is the problem I have with these kinds of women. if we as women are going to fight to be accepted and appreciated as worth our dime, we must become worth our dime. Which means we need to learn how to understand our processes, our situations and avoid sounding dumb to the masses, because within these masses lie the males that will need to make promotion decisions that involve us.

Fist bump terror:
Seriously? Fox news suggests Obama's fist bump to Michelle could be portrayed as a terrorist handshake/gesture? What are they smoking up in that place? Even if its absolute desperation, some limits? Some sort of pretense towards sensibility? Duh?! Well folks, y'all beware now. There are a whole lot of terrorists around you given this criteria...

Zimbabwe"
Could they be done with elections already?

Weather:
I'm guessing God is raging mad at somebody or some people or all of us! Floodings like crazy in the Midwest, heatwave in the east coast, snow in June and this in the heels of record high tornadoes already (season is far from over), record high deaths from tornadoes and not far from the shocks of Asia's catastrophes. Some scary stuff!

Gas Prices:
Had better stop playing. Like very seriously. And for the republican senators to block the vote to tax the excess profits and revoke their 17B in tax breaks this year... I'm just expressing my absolute disappointment at anyone who votes republican especially this year.

Economy:
Spoke to some who's who's on economic stuff and situations in this very USA. Turns out we're no longer really discussing a recession, that's a given. There's a new D word out there. Depression! That's right folks. Like in the 1920s. yeah, all signs are leading into that. If they are right, its about to be the biggest fall of a great nation in modern history.

Oh, the conspiracy theories: The bear sterns bailout, is supposedly a republican ploy to hold the markets steady through elections. And then it will collapse and send the markets reeling so badly (this is a scary scenario)... Plus there's the one on the Bush stimulus packages. As people enjoy this free money, they should be aware that it's real purpose was to bail out credit markets such as banks et al, who have had the worst 1st quarter performances in years, some in history. Pretty much, it was given to you so that you'd pay your credit card bills which many people had stopped paying because they injected that portion of their earnings into increased costs to their meals and gas. The agenda was to save the bank not you. I wondered about this. Is the way to get back at the government to instead use this money to take a vacation and leave your credit card unpaid? And would this be responsible and prudent behaviour? I mean, despite their ulterior motives, isn't this still a necessary and helpful bailout?

OPEC:
Should seriously consider a meeting where they allow all oil trade to be conducted in currency other than the dollar so that crude oil prices can go back to about $70 a barrel. This whole sit back and get rich attitude they've adopted while the rest of us give up basics such as the 3rd meal of the day... How did we human beings get here? That we can allow a small committee of rich but otherwise regular human beings to control so many of us significantly with just one law passed on all their contracts?

Otherwise, Go KG! Show Kobe how it's done!

History

2008-06-03T23:20:00.002-04:00

Was made today (err yesterday, this was started and abandoned due to some minor emergency)

Obama wins the nomination.

Clinton does not concede. (Update) NYT reports Clinton to concede and endorse Obama on Friday. She was literally forced here by her own superdelegates who made no attempt to hide their displeasure at her speech last nite.

Bad Manners:

That would summarize my opinion on her speech last night. Just plain simply bad manners. You know better than that, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Veep?:

That better be in their wildest dreams. Can someone, anyone tell me how you announce to the world that John McSame, err McLame, err sorry McCain is more experienced, is better vetted etc, etc, and then come on and ride on my coattails as VP and expect that the GOP will not announce how my own running mate thinks McCain is better suited for the position than I? If she had wanted that position, she shouldn't have burnt the bridge and the surrounding trees making sure there would never be another bridge built on that issue. Frankly, she needs to get over herself and her "should be respected" supporters. Kwani, the rest of us don't deserve respect?

William Clinton:

Suffering my own personal loss on him, I'm disappointed and saddened. I think this campaign showed me his true colors and I can honestly report that he had me going. I thouhgt he was a much better person than that. However, thank goodness for his infidelities and his dubious sources of $$. We have good reason to just say NO! to her when she comes a knocking for the VP spot, thanks to her decision to stay with this one very Bill Clinton, she is quite frankly, not a viable candidate.

Ickes:
Eeks me out. Maybe he will finally Shut the hell up!!!!

Barack Obama:

Congratulations! Again and again. Go make us proud!

On June 3rd 2008, the democratic party, by nominating black Barack Hussein Obama as their nominee, has made history. MLK must be smiling in his grave. I wonder if even he dared to have this dream.

If Terminology could save Africa

2008-05-29T16:18:00.005-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me how many words we have found to describe and categorize hate. If we just left the word as it is, hate, we might potentially force ourselves to take a good look at ourselves and perhaps, just perhaps; as the human race, make better decisions. And more than as the human race, as Africans be able to do the same.

What is going on in Africa, I ask? How did we get here? What really is going on? Forget all the explanations everyone is so quick to offer. What really is going on?

Xenophobia, racism, tribalism, bias (religios or otherwise) and all other words that we often use to describe situations. Say we expelled these from the english dictionary for a while. Say we couldn't use these words. If suddenly they had no meaning and were replaced by their more generic term. The term under which umbrella they all fall. Then the news headlines this year might read as follows.

"Kenya in turmoil as Hatred flares"

"No solution to Hatred in Sudan yet"

"South Africa burns as Hatred flares"

Passages within the stories covered by these headlines might include these words:
"Lessons not learnt from Rwanda when Hatred between its two tribes ended up in genocide" Or to be more effective, let's replace the word genocide with "the loss of numerous innocent lives"

It baffles me, completely, how people get here; how they get like this. How you get to believe so much that a group of people, whom you don't know by name save for maybe 0.02% of these group members, people one will never meet, and people who will most likely never cross your path. How you get to believe that eliminating them, 'these people' will make your life better. How you can be convinced that that would be the solution to your problems. How you can get here and cannot understand that you are your own worst enemy, I don't get it.

This is the sheer inability to look into the mirror and see one's own reflection.

It is completely unlikely that eliminating a certain kind of people, especially through death is the solution anyone has been looking for all their lives to get them to that happy place. That 'other people' have been the hindrance to your progress, especially when freedoms of access to the same things by and large have been established, save for social classes being the main division. To choose to kill, instead of to understand the path, the route needed to bridge one from poverty to wealth and then proceed to fight for the implementation and access of the tools needed to move from poverty to wealth;to draw an innocent person's blood and attempt to justify it under this guise; to be this selfish, this stupid, this worthless, is the epitome of human failure.

Poverty hurts more when one starts to believe they are entitled to other people's stuff. Poverty is difficult but it is no excuse for commiting crimes. Suffering is to be abhored, but cannot be escaped by inflicting the same upon others. And poverty requires patience and understanding to overcome. Some so much, that as parents, sometimes what the options are is to establish that the necessary changes have been put into place, are being put into place progressively, so that the next generation has hope. Poverty and suffering cannot be resolved by throwing entire communities and nations into a state of despair. Instead, hope must prevail. And this cannot be achieved through bloody means.

There isn't a single lesson Africa hasn't learned yet. Maybe, just maybe, if we start using core terms, such as hatred, and people and murder in place of the more decorated and somewhat redemptive terms such as xenophobia, and foreign persons and cleansings; maybe then we can really start to hear things. And maybe then we can take stork of what exactly it is that we are partcipating in.

All of it is murder. By coveting thy neighbor's wealth, btw. You get so mad that they are wealthy that you believe they must be stealing from you and even without any evidence of such crimes against yourself, you take a weapon and strike them their death blow. Murder. period.

No sugar coating. Just plain generic terms and meanings.

After all if it requires that much explanation, someone is probably trying to hide something. Perhaps guilt.

Get it together, Africa. Get it together. Your people need you.

Opportunistic feminist - Rant!

2008-05-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

Every now and then someone says something to me that sends my head spinning. I know I've mentioned how badly Hillary Rodham Clinton (from here on referred to as HRC)has been getting on my nerves. But for someone, anyone, to call me an opportunistic feminist?! Bamboozled, yeah, that's me. Wth? I ask.

Let's get a few things right. I am not a feminist. never was. In fact even when I was much younger, I was opposed to the Beijing conference, simply because I believe that at some level, no one can give you freedom, you just rise up and take it, claim it or utilize its availability. I'm not one of those women feeling trapped or victimized or disadvantaged by my gender. Sincerely, I've never felt it. I'm one of those women, who recognize I might meet a few men who doubt my capabilities, but I'm confident enough to know that I'm as great as any other human being at what I fix my mind on, male or female, is not a detail that occurs to me. So just what the hell is an opportunistic feminist?

Well, apparently since I am one of those people, not women, people, who are very vocal, forthright and perhaps blunt, many think I am a feminist just because I am a woman wearing a man's personality (who gave out gender to personalities, if I may ask?)I'm aware my very unemotional analysis of things and events makes me unlike many or most women. That's all fine. I'm just inclined to reality, truth and facts more than feelings. And what does this mean? That I should shut up and take a submissive role unless I'm going to be a feminist? What the hell are women still fighting for? Women have led countries, companies and institutions. It's too late to play victims. We might have a steeper climb sometimes but by goodness, its all over. We can do whatever we want. we've been free and liberated since I've been born and I'm not going to sit here and pretend to have an issue I'm not suffering from. I'm female and very empowered, very capable and with access to everything and anything I set my mind to. Now, this does not negate the fact that I recognize attitudes within the society that disenfranchise and disadvantage women. Especially with unequal pay for equal work. However,women need to rise to the occasion and acknowledge that we need to sharpen our negotiation skills and research our worth before accepting proposed salaries. There are plenty of women out here making more than men just by perfecting these two things. The trick, is to leave the emotions out of it, and approach all this with facts and evidence.

let me put it this way folks, being female is not a disability!

That's why I don't get all the seats in parliament that need to be set aside for women? Kwani? What about all the women who've gotten there without freebies? They had what, 3 hands 4 legs? No no. they had what it takes to get in and become what they wanted. we want to get ahead women, we need to shed these outer coats of expected female ideals and instead cultivate the values we need to get to where we want.

That's why I cringe when HRC starts cooing at females with the notion that this is their time. Its been their time! Recall Margaret Thatcher? She is female despite not being American. This link should offer everyone a link as to just how old elected female leadership is and has been in this world. It's not a fight. It's been won. The war is over. Now we can just be. Hence, Thatcher is not alone. Less democratic nations have elected women as leaders and its old news. Lets move on.

What I don't need is being questioned about how women just sit and allow emotions to rule over common sense. such as when HRC starts to describe McCain as capable but Obama... err...; "well, ask him," despite being a democrat. Sure it could be tactical, so she can run in 2012 (because anyone who understands math knows this race has been over!) Still, she raises the question as to whether she ( representing women, dunno who said so) has the capability to separate her emotions from her realities. These are the situations I don't need to be put into by women who have appointed themselves as fighters for some cause that somehow liberates women further.

My preference would be that all women represent themselves and their affiliations, and not us, the gender. I for one do not need representation on that level. I feel that we're just fine. We just need to get in and get dirty so that we can achieve results.

Opportunistic feminist?! definitely not me. And women, get out and take your freedoms! Don't waste any more energy on fighting wars that have already been won. - please. My 2 cents to you my gender mates.

Democratic Primaries, Rev. Wright, Media failures

2008-05-06T23:34:00.004-04:00

It's 11:30 EST. North Carolina is a definite win for Barack Obama with 14 point lead. And the wonderful part of this night is that Indiana cannot yet be called, despite 88% of the votes having been counted. if that's not nail biting for those of us who want to win both states, I don't know what is. However, it's already been a good night.

Fox News is bragging about the Rush Limbaugh effect. He has been sending republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton. they've been calling his station all day long bragging about how well they obeyed his instructions. Seeing that Indiana at best will have Hillary win with no more than a 4% margin, then we can argue fairly that she didn't win this either. But no need to raise it within Barack's camp. It doesn't matter anymore. Same argument fits perfectly into her Texas victory as well. Barack is strong! November is his to lose!

Rev. Wright... My opinion. A great man who has been diminished by the inability of this American media to discuss the realities facing America. I for one, never with a black pastor heard the God damned America sermon often immediately after 9/11. It simply fits into Christian teachings. that's why hagee says the same things about Louisiana. I don't understand why the Christian leadership did not defend wright on this. On his comment about the white man bringing Aids to kill the black man, well, a little crazy since you can't prove it. However, given the men of Tuskegee, and the fact that the white man intentionally infected them with syphilis. To understand that Wright was serving the military then, is to understand why he believes what he does. pretty much, this is an issue where the white man provided a pot and all Wright had to do was stir it. If the media was fair, they would acknowledge it instead of painting Wright as a crazy, no brains man. A definite non fact. Wright is not your average brain, he is a very intelligent man.

Which brings me to the point of the failed media discussions during this very interesting primary process. The failures to lift America from its ignorance has been so overwhelming. to listen to analysts on TV, debate the name Hussein, without injecting, once, on any channel that outside of America, best example being Sierra leone, many people have Muslim like names with no attachment to religion. Some edification. Despite the fact that the More important conversation is that being a muslim in itself is only pariah worthy in a few places and that many other places live in harmony with multiple religions because it is a non issue in most of the world. Amongst other missed opportunities, so many in fact I think I will cover that in a post all of its own somewhere down the road.

I've been waiting for the camel's back to break on this primary. It's definitely over for Clinton now. despite her mixed signal speech. Looking now I see Indiana at 51-49 Clinton lead with 9% to go. I will dare to declare victory for Obama because I know what precincts are yet to report. I'll declare my prediction right or wrong in an update later. Interestingly, Obama conceded this state to Clinton in his speech earlier, I guess we will be retracting that, an ideal scenario for many like myself who are just done with this primary process.

Next? Clinton would stay until after her victories in West Virginia and Kentucky. However, her campaign is so broke, this may not be a prudent decision. they have no chance of winning. it would just be nice for her to go out in victory. She may have to give that up though. Rumor has it she has lent her campaign funds again. No need to keep draining the bank. Including rumors of her conceding defeat if Obama can pay off her debt?! And that's from reliable sources!

well, it's been a good night. I have a whole lot of thanksgiving prayers to say. Update on this post as soon as Indiana is called.

Go Obama!

****Update*****
1:10EST - MSNBC and CNN just called Indiana for Hillary Clinton. Looks like a 2 point lead less than 25K votes. I along with many of Obama supporters have been up, ingesting calories ( I made a bowl of pasta and sauce at midnight!) waiting for this state to be called. disappointing not to have finally clinched it (which reminds me to point out my call for victory at 91% reporting was wrong) but still a much better outcome than was expected. There's a probable possibility this win is a little shaky, something to do with absentee votes. But it's called, so for now we accept Clinton's victory.

Superdelegates better help us end this tomorrow!

Surprised? Watch the heavens.

2008-04-08T23:49:00.003-04:00

Kenya is headed back towards the abyss. I for one, I am not surprised. Peace as fragile as based on two grown men with their own selfish ambitions, surrounded by other influences and bogged by promises they made to others over a future that belongs only to God, is not peace. It wasn't there and anyone who believed in it is much more of an optimist than I ever could be. Anyone who dares to stare facts in truth, ugly as they can be may want to read on.

Kenya has no choice but to go to full blown anarchy. Only after that kind of genocidal situation, ugly as it is will anything in Kenya change. The damage has been done. Those who started antikikuyuism sentiments many years ago were like George Bush as he attempted to convince congress of saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Those who reignited the madness recently were like Bush when he decided to invade Iraq. You can get the ball rolling, maybe even declare success. And then the real situation will arise.

Not even the alternative of military controlled government exists as a solution. The time for simple solutions, simpler choices is behind Kenya. No human being, unless guided firmly by the spirit of God will be able to navigate Kenya out of this mess blood free.

War is ugly and unpredictable and no one can control the events that will occur. Those who meant for there to be war against the kikuyus can begin to celebrate. It's inevitable, it will happen. But for every man dead, there exists a pool of innocent blood left behind.

For those who believe that human sacrifice is okay for the greater good whatever they deem greater good to be, they are wrong according to God. Especially when chasing earthly goods and prosperity. There is only one acceptable human sacrifice. And that is the part of Jesus that was human. Period.

At the point when that blood flows, and continues to flow, remember that you are sacrificing humans for the returns you hope for. God does not accept human sacrifice. Man is an unclean animal. So whom then are you serving, knowingly or not? And how much of that can you control? Recall, not believing does not negate existence.

Only those who kill in self defense will be spared.

The vengeance of God over Kenya is nigh but is waiting for the final blows to be dealt. Wait patiently for there will be those who will be blessed and those whose God's vengeance will settle upon. When it's all done, no one will wonder what side anyone of these members belonged to.

I don't preach peace upon Kenya anymore. I pray for the spirit of God to befall Kenya. Those who believe pray to God in all earnesty and don't bother to dictate outcomes. Pray for his peace, his outcome for only that can be correct.

It would be make sense to wonder why a regular believer, not pious, ordained or overly religious would write these things. Why would I take the Jeremiah Wright approach?

The beauty of God, however, is in how much he can't wait for the opportunity to forgive.

The Crowds at Calvary

2008-03-19T17:52:00.002-04:00

Barack Obama gave the speech of a lifetime on race. He had to. He was left with no choice but to address America after remarks by his friend and pastor left America feeling inflamed. I wasn't one of those inflamed. I have attended church regularly in the US since Sept 11, 2001 and never been to a black preacher's church. However, those sentiments of Reverend Wright are not unique to Wright. They are basically conventional wisdom amongst many many pastors of all races and creeds. My overall assessment is that Barack Obama was handed this opportunity by his naysayers, by an idle media as elections go through what should have been a downtime period and by a fickle society, this proven by the poll results that came out yesterday.

As we approach Easter, I address people, reactions, call for blood, and the roles we play in everyday life. Jesus was crucified on a cross because the crowds were baying for his blood. A crowd so incensed by the reigning religious elite. An elite group that was incensed at the audacity of Jesus. How dare Jesus claim to be the messiah and attack them for the way they run the church? Recall Jerusalem was crowded as the annual festival where they all brought sacrifices, the best of their lambs, was taking place. Keeping this short, Jesus did two things that influenced his ultimate crucifixion. He went to the temple in Jerusalem, drove the religious elite out for turning the temple into a den of thieves and raised a dead Lazarus, his best friend, four days into decay. There was euphoria, spreading like wildfire over the miracle of raising Lazarus, couple this with the scene Jesus created at the temple, add the huge crowds as all of Israel was demanded to be in Jerusalem then and there, you now know why the religious elite was incensed.

What I don't understand is how they turned a crowd that had been chanting "Hosanna" as Jesus walked on by on a donkey, to one that yelled back "Barabbas", over Jesus given a choice of whom to set free. The irony is that the elite who Jesus kicked out of the temple were stealing from the very crowds that finally crucified Jesus. That what he yelled at them for was the fact that they were deeming people's perfectly acceptable lambs as imperfect, taking those, selling them lambs and then selling the lambs they took from these other families to the families that came behind them. They had turned a most intimate process of worship into a business with no care for even the really poor who would spend everything they had to purchase a lamb worthy of sacrifice.

It's the way people are influenced, have been through history into ignoring the facts that they were so aware of from having visually and mentally experienced them, and become puppets of people with their own personal agendas. It's crazy how people who know what both white and black people say behind closed doors would pretend to be so shocked about Rev, Wright's utterances. A man who stands in a pulpit in a black church said there were injustices to the black from the whites, OMG!!! shocker! I know I'm oversimplifying the issue, my point being it's sensational but not situational. That it has become this situational, is not surprising to me, just further testimony into the insanely huge amount of weakness that is human beings in as parts of a crowd. That fact that makes the few people who can see the truth as crowds start baying for blood, often innocent and with knowledge of that fact having been tucked away into the corners people's minds, perhaps so that they are all saying the same thing; that difference, so rare and yet so necessary. That common sense so lacking across medias all over the world, that weakness that has caused the death of so many, that constant revolving door that is so wondrous for its abundance despite its constant abundance of poor results.

The crowds at Calvary. A situation we find ourselves in everyday. Whenever we are in a position to decide something about anything, and are part of a huge crowd, physically present or otherwise; it's that opportunity we have to shout "Jesus" instead of "Barabbas"; based on what we know not what we are being told we know, that truly determines what kinds of people we really are.

Recall however, that in Jesus' situation, this outcome was predetermined. But also remember that the greatest good came from people's inability to just do right, to stand for truth. In that sense, truth always wins. and imagine the guilt and shame of those who had yelled Barabbas as the news of Jesus and his resurrection spread. And the torture many might have endured in the hands of a common criminal such as Barabbas, simply because they chose to set him free.

So as Barack does the right thing by refusing to denounce his reverend over petty politics, I gratefully watch him make what I believe to be the right call on this issue. If it costs him the election, so be it. We are after all our brother's keepers. And for a country that boasts free speech, utterances and opinions like Rev. Wright's, though controversial, are shared by so many from all races, that it would be ludicrous to agree that he was that crazy. I understand the need to denounce the speeches especially where they sound racist. But I as a normal thinking person, looking at Barack as a mixed American, raised by white relatives and struggling to find an identity within his prescribed race could never ask that he denounce the man who led him to understand what or who he really was. And I couldn't either shrink my mind to accepting he is racist against whites, despite they being his closest relatives, including a mother he loved dearly.

So as a member of the Crowd at Calvary, I'm accepting my inability to change the outcome, but I am going against the voices I hear. simply because I think they are wrong, biased and misleading, all for selfish reasons.

Y'all have a Happy Easter!

Random Speak

2008-03-02T17:23:00.003-05:00

Since I know you've all been up all weekend wondering what I did with my Thursday evening, lemme tell y'all what I did with it. I took myself and my curiosity to the Fort Worth Convention center and listened to (the) Barack Obama live! I decided to become part of history and I am glad I did. Forget that it took 40 minutes to find a parking spot despite arriving 15 min before the center opened which was 2 hours before the man himself was scheduled to address the crowds. It was all worth it. So many people from all walks of life. I mean Indians (whom I had to acknowledge are underrepresented given their huge numbers as I saw them), blacks (so many! I hope they will remain this interested in their lives after this), Hispanics (plenty of them in the fort worth neighborhood) and whites. Many people seemed to have arrived directly from work. Others had closed businesses early and others simply took the day off to get there early enough to get good seats.

Kudos to the staff at the convention center. The queues, many as they were and longer than they were many moved really quickly. Security was tight just like at the airport and people were many. As soon as I got in, I knew I would have to use my imagination to get close enough to witness this as I wanted to. And details spared, I did. Wrong side though, he came and left from the opposite side. But I saw him clearly and close enough as he spoke.

He wore the demeanor of a winner, the attitude of a simple man, and the intelligence of a leader. It was like an epiphany. I understood why he was where he is at with his life. The speech was in many ways repetitive for anyone who has been listening to his every word via barackobama.com as well as CNN and anywhere else they'll air it. The same theme, the same statements, even the same punchlines here and there. But it would get very simply personalized for the immediate crowd. And I understood why the message was the same everywhere.Simply because the message is one and the same throughout. And most of those at the rally are not like me, haven't been looking for Obama news everywhere. They are hearing a lot of these things for the first time. hence the need for rallies. Frankly, people like me are just taking up space since we know we are supporters.

Entertaining moment when he breaks with the "has someone fainted... EMT... water..." line that CNN had been making fun of his super stardom with clips of such moments during his rallies. It's simple why they faint. They stand for 2 hours while waiting for him to arrive, not including the time during which he is talking and their queue times. It is wise to choose to sit at these moments. Even more interesting, as he points in that one direction, lady behind me and about 3 people to my right, despite being sitted needs an EMT as she is about to pass out. That is about the sheer excitement going on. People were all abuzz, excited, just completely ready to vote for him. I talked to a few people, all different age groups.

This older white man said to me that its been too long since Barack came along. Everything is wrong at Washington and Barack just has to be the next president. OK. Black middle age lady. She told me that this moment was the reason she worked 2-3 jobs to take her kids through college. She told them they could be anything and this man (Barack) was evidence to her she had been right about that all along. That I thought was very interesting and personal. basically, barack chose right with the message of change. He represents it and all his supporters are craving change one way or the other. Hence his success. That was helpful to me. I've been a little fuddled about how he was successfully able to kick Mrs. Clinton out of her assumed nominee role. I get it now.

There's still a whole lot to do in TX to get him the victory here. And as I left, I talked to volunteers and understood what they had planned for this weekend. They have been busy and were actually recruiting volunteers for between then and Tuesday right there as people left. I hope they will reap handsomely come Tuesday.

Odinga and Kibaki, about time they grew up. Now can someone please define the roles of all these new positions and explain to me how Kenya is going to finance these salaries which will be hefty and can we be told what these salaries will be. Anyone who reads this blog knows I think that Kenya needs no addition to it tax payer burden within the governing circle. What it needs is better job descriptions and effective management. But for the sake of peace, this might be a small price to pay. I just wanna know how small. However, what I really want to say about that is I'm glad we're past that and can these two parties save us any further drama and start rebuilding the devastation they have caused in terms of jobs and country pride.

Next on my agenda? Tuesday. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. Rhode Island and Ohio right now per the polls, not pleasing me. They better intend to surprise the hell out of me come Tuesday. Keeping my fingers crossed!

In my own words...

2008-02-26T12:41:00.003-05:00

... from mine own heart - about Kenya.

The talks failing is as important to me as about nothing. I'm more concerned with the choices the individual Kenyans are going to make. Each single Kenyan. Each individual. And why do I care about this? For the only part of me that is human and that has relatives in that country. beyond which, I've moved on. Kenya doesn't want my type, I've accepted that rejection. Given a choice, I've left. But not everyone who wants to respond to the rejection this way has this option. Some are still there. And they are in danger. They will be victims of further violence, should the actual Kenyans choose to engage in the acts we all saw them engage in recently.

Yes, I speak as a kikuyu. But as far as these recent events go, we've all had to face who we are in terms of tribe. With the entire distance of oceans between me and my home country, I have suffered rejection like I could never explain to anyone. What's happening to my emotions is exactly how I respond to rejection. I move, I leave, I let go. I don't force love/like on me. I'm sure there are going to be very many different reactions to Kenya from kikuyus but I bet you that each individual reaction is going to be related to how that person responds to rejection in their general everyday life. Life is hard enough without having to live in a country that detests or resents your very DNA.

I am shocked at what birth rights do to you. I am amazed at just how wounded being rejected by your own country can feel. Even for people like me who aren't in it as we get rejected by it. And I shudder to think about what people with actual property losses and family members killed are feeling. It's hard to get to the angry part. Just trying to get through the shock and the hurt is effort enough. And seeking safe havens, in our minds and in physical premises. That's absolutely consuming. It's the feeling of absolute rejection. I guess it can only be compared to being rejected by your own parents, has to do with rights accorded to you by birth.

I know how often I wondered how tutsis ever were supposed to get over what hutus had done to them in Rwanda. But I didn't know what it felt like. And I said they just had to move on, what choice did they have? And as much as I wasn't wrong, I just had no idea what magnitude of overcoming human emotion I was asking of them with the move on, comment. How is it you go on around people who CAN kill you for being what you were born into? Who resent you for faults of people who were born from the same tribe, true or perceived, and some way before you were ever born? And not give any thought that you see their resentment as misguided anger at other things and self trade to abuse by politicians? How do you trade with these people? Worship? eat, drink? Do you ever feel safe again? I'm not going to push it to trust, no. What do you do? Put a smile on your face and fake it? Do you ever travel outside of your safe havens again? Do you flee never to return? Because it's much easier to be an outcast in a foreign nation than in your own.

I feel almost guilty to be away from Kenya as it rejects my type. For as much as I haven't been maimed or killed, I haven't been spared for anything I did right or different. The only reason I haven't been killed is because I wasn't unfortunate enough to have my life circumstances lead me into the arms of an angry mob that was hacking my kind to death. So what those people have gone through, I have to. I am as safe as my distance from these so called angry mobs.

That's why my only concern is as to what the choices the individual Kenyan is going to make are.

Because if Koffi Anan, Kibaki and Odinga never agree, but no one ever takes a machete to another human being, I will be ok.

But if they agree and make friends and wine and dance together, and yet 10 idiots take machetes, petrol bombs and whatever and attack another innocent family, then nothing will have been achieved.

And for those who want to argue with me about how kikuyus have stolen every one's money that's why they need to go, die or whatever other term is inserted here; could they refrain from doing this while they or their non kikuyu parents own BMWs, several residential properties and other significant investments. Because if they want to make their point that kikuyus are obstructing wealth for other tribes, they need then to show me evidence that they once converted to kikuyus, got wealthy, then reconverted out. Otherwise, their points are moot. And if everyone who was being told they are poor for not being kikuyu could engage in this thought process, they might ask how comes their inciters were rich whilst not kikuyu. And perhaps that might entice them to seek the many micro finance loans available and loans for women and youth as choices against machetes in search of a better future.

As Kenyans get incited back to the streets, recall that the MPs are receiving a huge paycheck at the end of the month. Are you? Or did you potentially just burn your previous workplace? Look how the choices you make are affecting you. And consider that many inciting this violence are inciting it through media as they go on about their lives in other countries. Or in their all important jobs while you, the poor, I need every dime I can lay my hands on, person is converted to a robot and used as a means to an end by the wealthy with bigger agendas.

That's the overall simplicity of this extremely difficult situation, the way I see it.

Before the Wisconsin - Hawaii primaries

2008-02-18T18:18:00.004-05:00

Let me first get this off my chest.

The first blunder from Obama's campaign comes and it is sooo annoying for being so avoidable and so dumb. I'm talking about this plagiarism accusation where Barack is using governor Patricks speech. And while it technically can't be described as plagiarism because he had permission to use it, it is very very bad for the senator.

Change? So how comes you can borrow what's old and call it new? There's one argument. Next, Obama's main strength, undeniable and formidable is his oratory skills. He has a good head on his shoulders, why not use his own words. Granted, the governor's speech fits perfectly into Obama's agenda. And this governor was elected on this speech, has had problems since he got in and may be the actual reason Massachusettes was hesitant to vote for change with gusto. Back to my major irritation point, a simple, "And as governor Patrick said, and I agree..." to have started these borrowed words would have been more honest, and prudent and pre- empted all these attacks. Because I am just mad that Barack's campaign would provide fodder for his attack to Clinton's campaign at this crucial time.

What do I think his camp should do? Admit that retrospectively they can see how this may have caused issues, however deny plagiarism as the word to describe it, and volunteer and promise to cite all borrowed speeches in the future. I simply ask that they take responsibility. At this moment, his denial sounds like the Clinton's camp. He needs to be different. It is the only strength he is riding on. Sheesh, I'm peeved!

Clinton? OK, here I am. My position for Obama not ever having been a vote against Clinton. Just a preference. But the clinton camp is working hard to make Clinton detestable. I find myself really having to convince myself that she is still a good candidate. Simple stupid things like insisting "we won Michigan" And "those delegates should count" is so annoying. It is the exact representation of what we hate about politics and politicians. What? in Michigan, Obama's name wasn't even in the ballot. And FL? Well, the person with any real losses for not campaigning especially at that point in the campaign was Obama. Why? Unknown underdog. Clinton? First lady for eight years, with a White House scandal to boot, recognition. Simply put, Should their positions be reversed, she wouldn't be citing the same views as fair. Which is always the simplest way to assess fairness. So her camp needs to shut the hell up about these two states, unless they are discussing a fairer option. Otherwise, I can't keep working at not dumping them as annoying idiots!

BTW, If the DNC should decide to count the delegates from either one of these two states (Fl And MI) as they stand right now, I suggest Barack break free from the DNC and run as an independent. I p[ersonally would be happy to be free from them after that kinda showing. It would feel free and as a bonus break them. We would ascertain Hillary didn't get into teh white house that way. So they play dirty, we hit them where it hurts. She wins fair and sqaure, we support her fully.

Superdelegates? I see their importance. I appreciate that they can divide the party but their role has never been any better highlighted as it is now. A C (contingent)plan is always necessary and if these two potential DNC nominees arrive at the convention neck and neck, a plan to elect is definitely necessary. What the superdelegates need to do is shy away from pleasing the established DNC machine (Clinton has known she would be running in 2007 for many years now) and make wise decisions that keep the party united and pay a whole lot of attention and respect to the overall majority votes as well as honestly assess the potential better nominee from all angles. All said and done, I'm not quite sure what I would do was I a super delegate at this point.

Bill Clinton needs to take a chill pill! C'mon buddy, you're my hero. I know you're tired and frustarted but that yelling on the campaign trail is a definite no, no. chill pill, Bill, chill pill!

Wisconsin polls are looking interestingly close. Should make for an interesting Tuesday evening tomorrow. Can't wait for the 2 weeks campaign for Ohio and Texas. Neither of these campaigns can afford mistakes now. Potomac primaries were an absolute victory for Obama. Let's see if he can repeat that. His half sister campaigning in Hawaii. Let's hope she gets him the results he needs. 20 delegates up for grabs there and either camp needs whatever delegate they can find.

Kenya? So many rumors about a power sharing deal. Annan hints at an all party power sharing strategy being worked on today... Who cares? let's assess the reality. Nothing has changed. Tribalism still dominates. A can of worms has been opened that has changed the entire face of Kenya and these elections have proven that there is no need for them in Kenya. Anyone who wants to be president has got to at least cultivate a need to respect the laws of the land. So once we can't resolve election disputes in court, we really need to just stop having elections, period. Because once we prove that a dispute can lead to this, whatever it is we have now, what's to stop the next election from forcing the same negotiation? Precedence and past. And it's repurcussions and impact on the future. That's what good leaders think about when they make decisions. It's Februaray, but I can answer this question now. "What's my greatest disappointment for 2008?" Kenya.

McCain? Talk about selling a soul. And at 71? What is it about power that makes men completely sacrifice who they are? How don't they see the absolute obvious irony of that? How could he contradict himself like that? And over all the things that made me think of him as worth 2 cents. I gotta say, that independent vote I had awarded him, probably not gonna happen with the same margin any longer.

That's it. Will be back with a super ananlysis after tomorrow's primaries and before the Texas Ohio primaries.

USA election 2008 candidates are...

2008-02-06T01:20:00.000-05:00

...still unknown in both parties. And this after the main primaries (super duper Tuesday per Obama).

At 1:17 am ET (Wednesday)

Barack wins 13 states, Clinton 8 and New Mexico ( delayed results due to bad weather and having run out of ballots earlier) not yet called.

MSNBC dares to guesstimate (through careful calculation) the number of democratic delegates. Projects 841 for Obama and 837 for Clinton.

Jeez! They didn't see that one coming. I'd pay money to hear the private conversations in the Clinton camps.

Frankly, even Obama isn't quite sure he isn't dreaming.

But that's the beauty of the audacity of hope, I guess.

GOP?

Romney mouthed and mouthed about the 'real conservative' only to be so badly thrown off course by the 'unreal' ones; McCain and worse, Huckabee whom the media had convinced us to totally dismiss. Well... not so fast, says he. And the results indicate that I need to stop and listen.

California is right now a rather disappointing loss for Obama. Not in losing there (as this was expected) but in the current percentages. However, only 17% is in as I type this and LA is not yet in so these stats could improve. Recall some stations had called Missouri for Clinton and had to retract as Obama just won that state by about 1% margin? if that ain't close, dunno what is.

The way I see it?

The republicans should do themeselves a favor and let McCain run as the GOP candidate. Obviously, Bush has turned Republicans off absolute conservative. Those left are the so called bible thumpers who pretty much think elections are solely about abortion and gay marriage, period. That's mostly senior citizens and Utah residents. OK. That was unnecessary.

McCain's running mate? Last year, long before I subscribed to Obama's campaign and got to know him; when I had (rushedly) assigned him the position of running mate to Clinton, I assigned Rudy Giuliani running mate to McCain. I still think this remains the best bet for the GOP.

Why? The independent vote. McCain votes with his brain, and votes against his party afflictions when common sense calls for it. Rudy dares to vote pro choice amongst other non conservative views as well. Both these candidates will face absolute disdain and contempt from within their party. However, they will be the best bet for republicans in an environment that really doesn't want a conservative leader any longer. Rght now, independents are all leaning towards Obama. This is likely to continue to be the case but any attempt to sway some of them into republican territory can only best be achieved with Rudy and John (yeah, first names. After all these late nights we've gotta be buddies by now).

I'm torn between enjoying the fierce battle between Obama and Clinton for another several months and just picking a candidate and concentrating efforts on beating the republicans. Who as we can all imagine are about to get as dirty as is possible. I'll bet you they are the ones looking for Obama's relatives in Kenya. And trust me, the skirmishes in Kenya, Odinga's claims to his kinship... all these are highly likely to surface should Obama become the leading man. Why? Because Republicans play dirty and Obama is the greatest threat they've had since Saddam. So, expect this and more(I wish I could bet $$ on this. I might be able to retire early).

Point being we need to get to hear the Republicans and their dirty politics early so that we can work with time on our side to both clear the air and to let time do what it does best, which is irritate those who have to keep listening to negativity via their expensive plasma hi def screens (Peeps don't spend that kind of money on gadgets to listen to crap through them). Plus we need to get into the Bush files and kill the republicans based on the past 7 years (very easy task). Basically, let's get to work which is let's get to winning in November 2008.

The speeches? Clinton's was jolly and celebratory and actually kinda giood. Grade it B+. Obama's was repetitive and definitely courted the remaining primary states. But not the same Obama who sweeps us off our feet when he speaks. So I'll give him a B (how else is he going to pull up his socks?) From GOP, Huckabees was as expected, excited and very hopeful and common sensical. That man is worth at least 2 cents, mormon or not. Don't recall hearing speeches from the other significant 2 (Paul is still in the race).

It felt really good to ignore Kenya and it's painful news at least for a day.

Am I Patriot?

2008-02-04T16:10:00.001-05:00

For as long as patriotism is being what Kenyans are making news over these days, then I am proud to say that I for sure, I'm not a patriot.

If I had to choose where to be, I'd choose to be where I felt safe, was able to go about my own business, develop myself and make and work towards my own personal growth. I would never declare some space, that in actuality belongs to God, seemingly because I was born in it. No. If my neighbors proved to be capable of murder, based on our birth distributed differences, then I would not want to be anywhere near them. I would opt to leave. I have no desire to change people or no great hope in that people change that much either. Borders are man made. And were it not for modern day border policies, human nature would have had many people move around a whole lot more, as was common before formal rule took over the world.

I have potential to be a patriot. If I could choose citizenship. Citizenship based on character and nobility, not birth places, color, accents or tribes.

I could very easily belong to a citizens group of intelligent thinkers, fair and balanced persons, people who understand self responsibility and overall responsibility to the world around you. I could be a citizen of people who are more interested in humanity, the things that havent changed since before Christ, the real things of the human nature. And in this realm of citizenship, I could be a patriot.

But patriotism, lover of a country filled with kinsmen that march around with machetes against their own kind over subtle differences? No, not for me. Actually I want to be far removed. From all types of people that have the potential to sink this low. I want no association.

Not only within citizenship, but even within species.

It bothers me that myself, and these machete wielding persons are of the same biological species. I'm willing to argue a sub species. And not along the lines people usually divide others; race, citizenship et al; no. A sub species, based purely on thought and thought processes.

Anyone who can find a way to justify an ethnic/racial cleansing at any time I don't want to be connected to. It's bad enough that we both are living beings. Even from a plant, bacteria, fungi; I would be offended by this behaviour. But to bring it so close to home, my so called country of citizenship, in addition to species? It's all too much for me. I want out.

I'm being told, it's about education level... well, maybe. But to what extent? I never once had an instructor tell me not to ever consider murdering my neighbors over my own opinions. And read around, there are really educated folk supporting and or calling for bloodshed. No, it's not about education. It has to be a sub species.

How else does it make sense to the rest of us?

Make no mistake, there are hierachy levels within this sub species. And no doubt, those with machetes, or inciting them or supporting them are definitely a grade - or more lower.

It baffles me in an overwhelming way that anyone would want to be president over a nation that raises these kinds of voices. Save for the innocent, guilted by association, these kinds of people?

I wish I had an island that I could relocate all "unwanted " and willing persons to. Where they could live as they pleased, within the rules of civility, but with pure knowledge that they can be free from savage attacks over associations provided by birth. I wonder how many, in the name of loyalties to places of birth would refuse to leave...Them, they are patriots of their birth places.

I am not willing to die, get maimed or lose a relative over a region in one of the world's continents. I am also not willing to suffer the same losses over what people deem as unfair chances or opportunities metted my way. If it bothers them that much, then I am willing to leave, so they may have my opportunities. I'll go elsewhere and make other opportunities. And I am definitely not willing to be neighbors with people capable of inflicting that kind of suffering on mankind. I want nothing to do with these people. We must have no associations.

Had I been born in another country, save for my accent, would I not essentially still be the same person, with the same thoughts and feelings? Would I still not desire the same things from life? Would I not value morality and other humanitarian values over material wealth? Would being born anywhere else have made me different? or as an adult, aren't I simply a product of waht I've chosen to make of myself? How I have chosen to use my mind, extent I have succumbed to undue influences and my propensity to be a sheep within the goat mentality that herds groups of people together; strengthening them in their loud voices but not in their correctness? At the end of teh day, wouldn't I still have to choose exactly what kind of person I was going to be?

I think I would. As far as behaviour and moral responsibility, I think we all choose who we become. And I think these two things largely define us as who we are in all the ways that matter.

Not having millions of dollars or lack thereof.

So my patriotism is to citizenship that is of a higher order other than borders and birth places. It's based instead on the choices we can make for ourselves as individuals. Because I for one, strongly believe that anyone who takes credit for or kills over aspects of humanity that no one chooses but is born into, is worth little to nothing; to him/herself and all those around.

In a nutshell...

2008-01-28T20:40:00.000-05:00

What's going on in Kenya is crazy, to say the least. As the human Rights Commission comes out and declares they have evidence of the violence being preplanned and financed by some known opposition members, few if any are surprised. The one thing that is clear to anyone thinking clearly is that Kenya will never be the same again, not for another entire generation and perhaps two.

2007 is not 1963
Hear me clearly Kenyans. It is ridiculous and rudimentary to attempt to resolve disputes from some then prominent members of our country that emerged in 1963, or 10 years after that in this way. I am told Kalenjins are fighting for land that was given to kikuyus in the rift valley, yet the rift valley belongs to them. A few considerations I'd like endorsed to this argument.

History
Let it be noted that I write this article with great awareness that kikuyus came across formal land documents and other formal documents much sooner. However, I've said it before, that kikuyus were direct beneficiaries of the colonialist. As much as they had been the greatest oppressed by the same. That history has kikuyus as the overwhelming majority of the mau mau warriors, is a direct result of these facts. They affect everything else and thus cannot be ignored.

1.Assuming that it is true kikuyus were given land in rift valley, a few factors need to be considered. First and foremost, those who now own land in rift valley have mostly bought it from other owners. They cannot be expected to relinquish their hard earned investments and think that everything is fair and just. Secondly, the land if assigned was assigned as unclaimed land. I don't recall anyone complaining that people were kicked out. Given the population then, this makes sense. And what does it mean that the Rift Valley belongs to the Kalenjins? Rift valley was divided based on the fact that Kalenjins lived there? what about the other tribes?

2.Issues of inequality from prior regimes are common in every community. The one point that's evident in this issue is that it has never been possible to resolve it within different generations. It is why the blacks of the US never got 40 acres and a mule. Because to do that, one would have to take land away from others who own it to compensate those who think they deserve it. Two wrongs never a right made.

3. Justice, really? Say this land had been given to more than just kikuyus as a tribe, who is to say that your grandfather or other relative, you the regular mwananchi, was going to be allocated land? To get my point, how many kikuyus had land allocated to them? So you tell us this is a tribal thing. We tell you grow up! This is an elitist thing. People looking after each other as they know each other. Standard in every community, modern or otherwise. Comparison? Ask George Bush's cronies about the past 7 years. But more to my exact discussions. When the violence is aimed and targeted at regular kikuyus, who were not related or friends of Kenyatta, who have had to earn every penny of their livelihoods, never were allocated land, how then do you justify this to them?

4. My opinion? People are being used to fight personal wars. It is possible that Jaramogi should have been allocated land as part of the inner circle but had a fallout with the powers that were. Hence the feeling that he was robbed which he successfully passed on to his relatives. True. He might have been "robbed" by his cronies, as quite frankly was every other regular Kenyan, kikuyu or not. So when you're all out with machetes drawing innocent blood, remember this has nothing to do with you. You have been used to settle an old score. And not even as a brave heroic person would. As cowards and idiots. If this war is about being robbed off land by Kenyatta, take it to the Kenyattas. You'd still be wrong then (people cannot be held accountable for their father's mistakes), but at least you'd be closer to making sense.

Missing Link:
I've had my ear on the ground and I must say after I've heard everything from insiders of both parties, campaigners and affected persons and other people involved from various circles, I fully think that I have the whole story. As we all know by now, this bloodshed was coming regardless of who won elections so hopefully we've all stopped hiding behind the facade of this being election violence.

Intriguingly, the one thing that does not make sense is this. What is it that makes people who were ODM supporters unable to condemn these killings out loud and clear as the norm? why the double standards? Through inductive reasoning as I've listened to many speak, Ive come to believe that there were huge promises made to a section of the non kikuyu educated younger elite. what fuddles me completely is having picked on how ludicrous some of these promises might have been, how were these people brainwashed to believing them possible? I'm talking about promises of ridiculous positions in internationally owned companies amongst other "slips of the tongues' that have given some of this stuff away. The missing link is what exactly was promised and how was it going to be achieved? Because to any smart mind, even a dictator couldn't achieve most of these promises for anybody. How then, were these people I would consider somewhat smarter deceived to this extent?

or is it possible that educated persons could actually think of ethnic cleansings as acceptable in this day and age?

Lazy not oppressed:
Many will be offended by the following, but it's my honest opinion. Assuming people weren't being paid ksh 200 a day to pick up machetes and go kill others, and they were out because they really believed they have been robbed off land and whatever else, I'd still hold the sentiment that these are lazy persons. Considering point no. 3 above, where I have stated that if unfair land allocation was done by Kenyatta, it is likelier that your clan would still have gotten nothing (it aint about tribes, just friends). So instead of watching your neighbors wealth, start thinking about how to make your own. Stop trying to get rich the easy way. Start working at getting rich. Which means this:

Sequester yourself as an individual in your mind. Analyze your current position. then your intended position and situation. Then identify the obstacles between your and your goals. And then devise plans to tackle obstacles (training, loans,...) and then embark on this journey. Let your only comparison be to yourself, where you're coming from and where you're headed to.

Remember that there always will be those richer than you, as well as those poorer than yourself. So stop comparing yourself to others and live your life.

Taking what people have worked hard for on any given day is theft. Killing them for it, well...

Cultivate a desire to work hard for your wealth, your promotion. The very same reasons we fight corruption. Leave the free things. They're never that free in the long run.

I strongly believe adopting this attitude would make one less susceptible to the opinions and propaganda dished out in daily life and more importantly, would engage one's mind into the needs of humanity, not adjectives that describe human beings (such as tribal inflections). Hence would make a better human being altogether.

I'm aware how much better likable this post would be if it was calling for the coming together of people et al. Well, truth be told, we are past that point, the real issues have to be addressed. There is hate in Kenya. And its origins have to be identified if these issues are ever going to be resolved.

There's also a need for people to stop trying to be right (especially about events of the 1960s, where there is no way to evidence truth), and start working on being effective. It's the difference between successful regimes, countries and individuals and those not.

And then there is the simple point of probability. You know, the if there are 30 green balls, 10 red and 5 blue in a jar, which are you likeliest to pick reasoning. Applying this to work places in Kenya might explain why they seem to be more kikuyus in work places. Especially when you not only consider population, you also consider proximity to the city hence their numbers in the city as compared to others.

I'm struggling with the total loss of all reasoning I'm observing by many educated people. It's either that or the fact that I've been mingling with some folk filled with real hatred for my tribe, completely unaware of it, and I am now in many ways traumatized by human behaviour,; one of these two scares me the most about Kenya right now.

Justice? Whose Justice?

2008-01-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

I read the papers finally, after a long hiatus. The same is going on. Nothing has changed. Kenya is still in a delicate state of affairs.

I haven't been reading papers. I have been listening to people's opinions. I have heard from many people. And I must tell you this, if anyone believes this is over with yet, or heading that way, they are very wrong.

I read today that Odinga says that "nothing will deter Kenyans from their quest for justice. I unfortunately think he is right. He may think this is a good thing for him. There I disagree.

Let me state that a lot of what I'm about to write will be deemed as offensive to some, but if you are one of those that feel that way, spend an extra few minutes and allow the truth to sink in. That country is in a real ugly state, the only confusion about that being provided by the facade that has been created through a cloud of shaky order.. Allow yourself to know what others are feeling, thinking and experiencing. Don't be caught by surprise.

I say don't be caught by surprise because many Kenyan kikuyus, now refugees, are expressing great shock at being attacked by their neighbours. They knew there existed resentment against kikuyus but they just didn't think that anyone seriously was that mad at them since after all they had no personal disagreements. These very set of Kenyans, amongst them lie people with long lists. Lists with names of their neighbours. People they saw hack others, throw families into pit latrines and others bury other families alive. Some of these very same people are telling stories of survival that would have any Hollywood director running to get the rights to cover their stories. Those lists are not for decoration. They are for marked men.

These very people were crying for peace, and now they want anything but. They don't want a status quo. They want justice. They want to be avenged. They want their hard earned property back and they also want vengeance for the lives of their family members lost.

Since many of these are kikuyus, some whom escaped home invasions and road blocks narrowly, you might be tempted to think that they are looking to Kibakis government for assistance with this. You would be wrong. Carrying forward that incomplete understanding of the role of a president, they are very peeved that Kibaki has "allowed them to be killed this way." He is no longer considered useful to these aggrieved persons. They intend to help themselves. How is not clear. But be rest assured, they are not sitting back and doing nothing forever. They are weighing their options as we speak.

Let's talk about the so called church. They all should be ashamed as they have taken sides along tribal lines. You'd think they'd be the first call to truth and reconciliation, but they are definitely not going to be it. If these thoughts of vengeance are not intercepted a whole new hoard of innocent blood will be shed. However, these people do need justice. Our judicial systems should be working overtime since many "murderers" can be identified by their own neighbors. the government (whichever one) must lawfully give the people vengeance. Not just ask them to "return home." This interception might be the only way to a blood free permanent end.

I've heard from ODM supporters that elections were rigged and that justifies the madness going on. No, kit doesn't. It cannot justify the death of so many children in the hands of machetes. Elections are allowed to have disputes. That's why the constitution has a process for this exact scenario. If your leader has told you to go about resolving it any other way, you've been wrong to believe him and much worse, you've got blood on your hands for having failed your own human abilities to think for yourself.

Raila is calling for no end with this quest for justice. I hope he is wrong. Because whose justice do we seek? The one who lost a way of living, a home and worse a relative, while being told it was because he came from a certain tribe, or the one who is still running amok on the streets, because he feels he has been cheated via elections?

All actions have consequence. And it is highly possible that we are well past the "peaceful" solution. My opinion is that heads have been buried in the sand about the reality of hatred so much that even the few times I address it via this blog I get attacked for suggesting it exists. well it does. And if you ever had a doubt, visit mashada.com, as far back as many years as you can and then tell me that this is not our reality.

To Raila: Should I read anything into this statement? "We should have seven of the 10parliamentary seats in Kisii, but Kibaki men stole the votes and we only got four. The Kisii are our people. We must not touch them," as quoted by the standard. Does this mean there are those whom you should touch? And exactly how do you touch them?

And as you chant, no schooling, etc, etc...be rest assured that "the universe will still be unfolding as it should' And you are the ones who will wake up 5 years of war later, uneducated and poorer, therefore having lost hope.

The way I see it, two things could end the madness in Kenya. It has nothing to do with who is the current president. That's all over with. The war is now personal to many. We could sit back and let Kenya bleed. Then it would be all over with, when the war ends. The anger, the hurt, the fallacies, the stereotypes, the hatred; all replaced by truth earned through painful losses. Or we can get a dictator who has the heart to lead Kenya to greatness. This one leader will need to be all about Kenya, not a tribe, prioritize resettling all displaced Kenyans back home, exactly where they were before and creating a safe environment for them. I am calling for government interference to the level of soldiers placed at CBDs and neighborhoods deemed to be in danger of attacks. The worst thing that could happen is a dictator with tribal affinities. Basically, the solution is to take a step back away from democracy (which I will argue loudly and clearly that Kenya is not ready for as proven by recent events) or expect fully to go to war. And then pick up and start rebuilding Kenya from scratch a few years from now.

There are no simple choices anymore. The choices that have been made by a few and by many in the past few weeks have eliminated the simplicity of daily life. Human weakness now rules Kenya. Let's all sit back and see what its fruits will be.

May the government of Kenya bear in mind how many people stand to be affected by total chaos in Kenya, both Kenyans and not. May the inciters of Kenya pray to their choice of God for the wisdom to make the right calls to their fickle followers. May the church redeem itself and face themselves to God for direction. And may most importantly, each and every Kenyan develop themselves to a worthwhile citizen of the world, a person worth sharing humanity with.

PS: This has been written with a great deliberate effort to avoid rumor mongering as has become accepted as truth within various communities. However, some things are worth being investigated because some many similar comments from perpetrators of mayhem seem to have been repeated to would have been victims over and over again. So if you wish to comment, don't quote rumors as fact here, I've heard them all... just can't verify them, hence choosing to ignore them.

There's only one thing right - Peace.

2008-01-03T13:14:00.000-05:00

We must find our way back to daily activities and economic viability. Kenya must go on.

It's not that Raila won, or Kibaki won. Who really cares about this? Who can prove any of the vote counting wrong doings being discussed and alleged everywhere, and prove that they would have given Raila a win; as of yet? A lot has to go into the validating of allegations from both ends. Keeping in mind that these rigging reports are heavy from both sides of PNU and ODM. Quite frankly, given the bloody situation on the ground, how is it that people still really care for yesterday's results? Can we start where we are now? Which is in a besieged country, and start working towards peace? Can't we decide that both are wrong, or both are right, just so that we can find some common ground where we can start dialogue? The one focus we all must have is ahead! We must look forward. We can't go back. And where we are at is at a crossroads between peace and war. We must choose the right path.

I read my pre election posts, and those of many other bloggers. The one thing that was common was that there were many calls for peace during the election period and the election process. Which made me wonder why we are all so shocked, moved and actually very very alarmed at the current situation. If we were potentially expecting it, it indicates that history has taugt us that we get here sometimes. What is so different this time?

I think the freedom of expression of ideas is key here. Bloggers for sure have had a lot to say and many people have had a lot to read and argue or agree with. As much, despite the much publicized and condemned media blackout, the newspapers have carried content that they never before would have been able to without risking themselves a visit to the nyayo cells, or whatever the detention centers used to be called. Freedom of speech may actually be allowing us to see exactly who we are. It may be that we as a nation really are uncontrolled. And perhaps it is how those who argue for dictators arrive at their conclusions.

I am not in any way saying that we need a dictator. I am addressing the fact that too much freedom with no direction on how to handle it could easily be a factor in what has easily become the scariest violence Kenya has ever seen since independence. Everyone has a voice now. And if we can't all learn how to co-exist within the frameworks of self expression, what is happening now could easily become our common experience.

We must now more than ever educate people on analytical controlled approach to living, thinking and speaking. Freedom of speech is a huger responsibility than it is a freedom. Words can hurt and words can change a nation. Just ask Rwanda.

People keep saying to me that we are falling apart as a nation. Perhaps this is a wrong assessment. I dare to say that we are actually coming together as a nation. These may just be birth pains.

Kenya has always been, with the exception of major cities and towns a country of tribal people living together. What happened in one smaller city was rarely likely to influence other cities. Recall the Molo clashes? The carnage was much much higher than experienced now. And we didn't flinch half as much as we are right now. What we might be experiencing is the coming together of Kenya.

We are being reborn. Being forced out of our tribal shells. Being forced to come together as a common people. We are being forced to trust people we have never in our cultures been taught to trust. We are being forced to abandon stereotypes and embrace change. We are being forced to stop being our tribes and start being Kenyans. It is a sign of our future. We must however stop now and address that we are here, take a deep breath and proceed with caution. Change is always scary, painful and met with resistance.

The kicking out of various tribes from various towns is a good form of resisting change. Insisting on wanting to remain as tribal towns and cities. But this won't do for development. We might have become the first African country to become developed enough to face this situation. Let us embark on writing a good history for other African countries to follow.

Why would I think these things? Because Kenya is different. Because even CNN describes Kenya differently now. So does BBC. Has anyone heard what they speak of Kenya now as they describe the chaos? No one is citing accuracy in their reports. Just that their description of that country is a far cry from what it used to be.

So is the honest expression of the newspapers and the average Kenyans.

We are at a turning point. It would also explain the cut right down the middle in presidential hopeful support.

If we are going to have effective dialogue, let's know what it is we are going to address in the dialogues. These dialogues must be done for this current situation and that of the future.

We must become a nation with many tribes, not many tribes forming a nation as we have previously been.

Kenyans must feel safe in Kenya. Not in various provinces depending on their ethnic backgrounds.

This dialogue is going to be very important for the future of Kenya.

And it needs to be done soon.

It must address change. How to prepare citizens for change, how the government must invest in helping people understand these changes and take advantage of them and how we all must be taught to love our cultures, embrace our differences but to first and foremost understand that we are human beings first, then Kenyans and that our tribal differences come after that. And that our common ground (humanity and citizenship) must be the basis for all our policies and laws; as well as outlook and attitudes going forward so that we can continue this surge ahead we have been on.

All is not lost in Kenya. Far from it.

People are more aware now. Better informed. They just need to be educated on what to do with that knowledge. How to handle it.

We must be done with these skirmishes. And get to convincing investors that they can trust us again as an economy.

The dialogue cannot happen soon enough.

Stop arguing about who is right or wrong. Start fighting for dialogue. And one that addresses our actual reality. One that after which, a platform for Kenya will have been built, that will allow us all to feel safe and welcome at home.

Kenyan refugees in Uganda? Could I read anything more heartbreaking? Kenyan refugees? Kenya hosts refugees. Not the other way round. Anyone need any other wake up call?

It way past that time. Dialogue. And address the real key issues. I'm personally done with the macho games. I want a bigger man now. Anyone who chooses Kenya first will do. Because if neither Raila nor Kibaki can see the need to save our country, how has either one earned the right to lead it? Dialogue. Face each other like men. Argue, disagree, scream, talk, think. Just come out of there with a solution that screams of peace for all and a prosperous future for Kenya.

It's a simple request to any presidential hopeful. What else did you think your work entailed?

There is only one outcome right from the elections, and that is PEACE. At all costs. Egos included.

Quelling the Madness - Our absolute Roles

2008-01-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

This site has been cited by many as good pictorial evidence of what is going on in some parts of Kenya. I looked at them and many are very disturbing. The sad part is the obviousness of the social class of most of the victims. It's a theme I've been carrying in this blog ever since threats of violence started to seep in. It's the poor who fight the hardest for these things they think they believe in. And I say 'think they believe' because many a time they can't tell you much beyond what's been propagandad to them by their closest political aspirant. A whole lot of times they are mired in half knowledge. And while right now they hurt very badly because they feel robbed after a flawed election, or threatened because their hopeful won; they have lost all reasoning and are fighting fully for a situation that to speak honestly, will probably never impact their lives as much as their injuries and life losses are about to at this moment.

The Army needs to come out with a mission to save Kenya from anarchy. I understand there are concerns about a divided army. I don't think this would come up unless their orders were anything but to enforce a curfew and apprehend anyone walking around armed with machetes or any such thing. I strongly believe that just their presence should knock some sense into many deliriously angry people out in the streets causing chaos. Kenya's army can very easily handle this situation.

Meanwhile, Raila and Kibaki and their teams need to start talking to Kenyans after having had a collective discussion.

As for the media blackout, I support it and I may be the only one. The one thing that country doesn't need right now is the media advertizing where crowds of violence are gathered so that other small crowds know where to merge and escalate issues. If you have relatives in any potential danger, this may make sense to you.

In the future, Kenya must educate the masses. About peace. And about how to evaluate issues and options and how to fight effectively without being the ultimate loser (mind wars vs bloody ones). Africa tells the same story over and over again. In the mid 1990s, the wealthy Rwandese were in Kenya and other viable African countries, their children in school with some of us. Many of the wealthy got away even in that situation. We claim we are fighting for the poor, but what happens is we cleanse ourselves of them and pick up with the same issues where we left off.

From the pictures in the aforementioned blog, it is saddening to see young people in the mercy of armed police. But once you know that it is likely they were apprehended while throwing stones or raging some other kind of violence, one wonders how exactly to feel next. of course there are innocent victims, perhaps guilty by association. I can't stress enough the need to be as far away from rioting gangs as possible.

Self responsibility and consequence for action must be taught to Kenyans across the board. Watching the people in the slums destroy their meagre life possesions is so disheartening and so frustrating. If anyone needs to guard the little they have, they do. Why are they doing this to themselves? What don't they understand? They are also primarily the ones waging violence as reported that violence is in Kibera slums, mathare slums and Mukurwa slums. If anyone really needs to get back to work the most, it is still probably these people who benefit from overtime pay in several factory jobs.

Schools should open soon. Let's hope that all will be well and that they will.

I'd like to reiterate that Kibaki and Raila need to start quelling this situation. including deploying the military.

As well, I'd like to emphasize that the local citizen has a role to play in bringing back peace. By choosing to stay at home and with no weapons matching out. Those at home in potentially dangerous areas, please be as safe as possible. It is my hope and prayer that help in the way of cops and military personnel is on their way.

Burnt Forest rumors? Absolutely scary. Let's hope someone is handling that.

We the bloggers? Many who have become the source of information need to become very responsible with our posts. It would be foolish to think that an already incited population is not picking on what we're saying and that we're not helping to fuel emotions. Hopefully, we can all (perhaps with the exception of one Gerald Baraza) promote peace and helpfully suggest how that may be achieved.

My prayers go out to all of Kenya. And to all the Eldoret church arson victims. And to all the other victims of these spate of violence.

My prayer is that everyone has been able to glimpse exactly what it means to be at war. And that those who were in the heat of the moment calling for or wishing for some kind of war have had some time to reconsider. We can't choose the victims of war. Soon, it will reach our doorsteps. Some places have already started running out of food amongst other necessities such as fuel.

Calling for help from the US and the EU is always disconcerting to me. I always believe that the solution lies with the perpetrators and those closest to them, in this case, all of Kenya. And subjecting me to listen to the US 'scold' or "advise" us about flawed elections after Florida 2004 is too much for me. I have never been one to believe in the supreme ability of the West to handle African problems however, so this is a biased view. Besides, this problem is not above Kenya. I have extreme confidence that the situation as it currently stands though scary, volatile and escalated is still very within manageable proportions. All we need to do as Kenyans is unite in wanting and demanding for peace. Our voices must be more influential than western voices if anything is ever going to change.

Going out with a portion of Eric Wainaina's song...(As best as I could remember the lyrics, no internet source for them after a brief search)

"Our task is incomplete
If our souls and lives don't mix
If there's one in the multitude
Who does not share our attitude

To love, to dream, to Pray for Kenya only
let my flag remind me
of my sacred duty
...
And white for peace in Kenya
My pride, my strength, my joy
Always peace in Kenya
In pride and strength and joy."

May God bless Kenya.

Assessment

2008-01-01T14:21:00.001-05:00

What to do next? How do we resolve the situation? How do we make things better? How do we maintain peace in Kenya? What is a seriously viable and acceptable to most solution? I'm a firm believer in fixing the future simply because fixing the past is not possible; a phenomenon I often wish my fellow countrymen would catch up to. So here is what I have processed alone and also through talking with various people.

I personally thought Kibaki should resign. I assumed it would bring peace. I was rest assured that it wouldn't. In addition to being all about egos (between men and politicians, could it get worse?)and therefore not likely to happen, I was assured that many kikuyus are now afraid to be governed by anyone other than a kikuyu. Many will flinch at the tribal references. I'm keeping it real. I don't think hiding in shadows is going to do anyone any good any longer. Kikuyus are afraid because many have been directly threatened about "taking our land back" as well as their lives being threatened. I have heard that Western parts that voted for PNU have received threats as well. So have Eastern parts. Some with their lives and properties, some with the future of their constituencies in other tribal hands. I have also been informed that Mungiki is spoiling for a fight. I thought they were all in jail, well not all, but mostly incapacitated. A whole lot of this is hearsay, perhaps not even likely, but definitely makes the Kibaki resignation issue not the simple solution I had thought it to be. A significant percentage of the population does not see it that way.

So I thought, what about going back to the polling stations? Everyone is calling for a recount. Of what votes, I ask? The same ones nobody trusts? The same ones that were stolen from different polling stations? If it's going to be meaningful, it needs to start at the polls. Not that voter turnout could be anticipated in the same numbers. I expect many would stay home for safety reasons. In future, whether as a repeat to the polls of 2007 or in the next 5 years, a few simple solutions could easily be met.

Technology:

1.counters
Ballot boxes need counters added on them. And the total number of votes in each ballot box recorded in relation to its serial number before it is sealed. That's really simple technology.

2.cameras
Simple solution is to in addition to having observers from every party in the counting stations, attach cameras and have a second authorized set of observers from all parties observing via camera from a different location. All cameras on the ballot boxes and the tallying process. And the events being recorded. Admittedly this won't cover stupidity which was rumored in some polling stations where rival observers start to feud and the ballot boxes or votes get impacted by being strewn across rooms or whatever. Still stiff penalties for such actions could be enforced and with video evidence available, for both the vote tallies and dodgy behaviour, I don't see how anyone could lose.

3.Computerized system:
Drawbacks: Expensive and from the rumors that have been circulating, technology personnel is not trusted. They were rumored to be inflating numbers. I can't comment on that without knowing what level of security they have. However, levels of security is a solution to tech staff being part of a counting problem. However, should be looked into maybe for elections 5 or 10 years from now, assuming we still have a country in which to vote.

Training and Role Specifications:
Processes for all observers must be outlined clearly. As well as dispute processes. Also communication processes between observers and their candidates need to be established. (aside: Like the F16A forms ODM claims are different from numbers announced, why didn't anyone take pictures of this even with cell phones to forward to their teams?)

Security:
It is preposterous that ballot boxes were stolen. This is probably the easiest fix yet. All persons walking in and out of counting stations, besides needing to show 3 types of identification, including a key card pass identifying them as authorized to be in the specific counting station; should be searched both as they come in and leave the stations. I think the ultimate correct way to do this is actually to make better premises for counting where they are "arrested" in until the counting process is complete. Of course the counters from one station should have no access to other counting stations.

Attitudes:
Especially from the politicians and as well the voters need to be noble. Also controlled, analytical and mature. Emotions should be controlled.

Back to how do we fix the current situation. Raila could concede defeat. I most definitely don't expect this to happen for the same male politician ego reasons I mentioned above with Kibaki. As well as I don't think that that is his style. I don't personally in any way think this would help the situation on the ground. And about a significant progressive next 5 years, I imagine that our politicians are dumb enough to stalemate parliament for the next 5 years at the expense of development to prove their points. Hence my call for elections. Again, not a recount. After the massive rigging issues being claimed, I don't see how a recount would help.

Now if someone would just figure out how to get Kibaki and Raila to dialogue about elections being held all over, allowing the previous government to keep running affairs for the next 90 to 180 days as they prepare for better manned and executed counting of votes (This process to be arranged and agreed upon by combined members of all significant parties), because let's be honest, voting day went very well. And since everyone has seen what the results of rigging (alleged)are, perhaps we can dare hope that things should go smoothly thereafter.

This just in. Kivuitu announced results under pressure. After reading the entire article, it doesn't seem that Kivuitu is claiming to have announced rigged numbers, just to have announced results before investigations into issues could be done. Well, ECK doesn't have that mandate to investigate so I don't see that he could have done much. I Imagine his job in the past few days has been one of the toughest in Kenya's history.

In the end, what matters is peace. There will be no need to be in Kenya if it is all in ruins after war. As seen already, carnage is being reported everywhere. As usual, it's not the elite upper class or middle class that usually pays the price, unless of course they are caught in the wrong places such as those who died in the Eldoret church arson. What is it that people choose to die for? Which one of these people roaming streets with machetes is likely to meet Kibaki or Raila on a personal level ever?

I'd like to add also what my friend from Somalia said to me when she called to inquire about Kenya after catching some news on CNN. That if Kenya degenerates into war, there goes hope for Somalia and Sudan as well.

It's a huge burden on those who can manage the situation in Kenya. However, anyone who thinks that war is the answer can right now face the fallacies of that view, or wait to learn a painful lesson somewhere down the road.

I do hope there will be another election soon.

On election day the following prayer from our national anthem graced my post. It will today as well.

O God of all Creation
Bless this our land and nation
...
May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty.

And all peaceloving Kenyans said, Amen!

Kikuyus owe nobody an apology!

2007-12-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

I was told it's Kenya against kikuyus... I guess we are no longer Kenyans.

That we have been stacking up for ourselves for far too long. Need I remind anyone that a kikuyu has led Kenya for 5 out of the last 29 years?

That we are greedy, we are all over Kenya. Last I checked it was a free country. And next time you want to accuse kikuyus of being rich because they steal, think about the fact that they are "everywhere" as you call it. It is how they get rich. They see an opportunity and they follow it. And you? You? You get mad and remain poor.

Did you know Indians don't have shops in most central province townships? The kikuyus have learnt the art of business and have run with that knowledge. Is this the same for your hometown? if not, ask yourself what the implications of that are.

About that they have old money, who owes you an apology that they settled in the highlands because they are farmers by nature,suffered the greatest personal losses from colonization, reaped the benefits of education from the same colonialists, fought for their freedom and took back their lands with enough knowledge to farm; in a primarily agricultural economy, prospered and continued to build themselves up. How do you feel that you have been wronged by this?

Did you know there are poor kikuyus?

And that we are not all related to Kenyatta?

But are all largely related to a freedom fighter somewhere?

Why not your people, you ask? I don't know. But remember, none of us chose where we were born. Plus, you could start by looking inwards instead of outwards for the problem.

Such as choosing to change, adaptability, edification and common sense. And some risk taking. personal growth too.

Recall the closest tribes to the colonialists were both the Masai and the kikuyus. Look how that turned out. Yes, yes, yes, Attitude is everything! And so are cultural influences. Maybe the greatest gift we got from the white man as kikuyus was an absolute dilution of culture, so we could be free to prosper, devoid of cultural chains.

And taking to stoning and burning investments in your local area when aggravated and wondering why there is never any progress is not smart. Rebuilding is costly and that money could have been used for prosperity.

Unless you think a kikuyu who comes across money should turn away because they are kikuyu so that they let the other person have it, shut up about this rubbish.

Why would I post about kikuyus and apologies? Because I wish everyone would stop pretending this isn't a tribalistic situation. Actually it's a step away from Rwanda. This is not about Kibaki or his government. This is about the kikuyu tribe. Which explains why the local kikuyu has already had their business burnt and perhaps their home and is probably in hiding as we speak. let's attempt open dialogue for a change. It might improve things.

I'm ashamed at the extent of educated, I would have thought sophisticated persons, calling for or condoning or quietly supporting calls for war.

Go to war. Let it rid you of kikuyus. Then you can all sit in that country, all 41 tribes of you, and love each other. You will always trust each other. It won't be over, the liaison that is; after the common enemy is gone. Nooooo. You'll all always be friends and can get along great forever and ever.

There ends the fairy tale.

We the kikuyus have had to shelter relatives after Molo. We now have relatives whose lives are in jeopardy. But we're all human. And this crap has gotten old to us too. Stop the damn madness. No one owes you an apology! If you're failing, it's probably because of something you did wrong; unless your parents failed you. If your village is, same thing. And that applies to kikuyus as well. Killing kikuyus will not build schools for you, or put money in your pockets. Grow up already!

Should we as a country kill Americans next because they are so damn successful? And always feeling a step ahead of us? And economically vibrant, hence able to influence events? Or does this argument end with kikuyus?

If it doesn't make sense one way, it doesn't make sense at all, period!

****Feel free to get as blatantly honest as you need to should you want to comment. Just not abusive.****

Peace above all else!

2007-12-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

And these goes to both ODM and PNU supporters.

There are posts such as this calling for bloodshed should Kibaki win. Why? What does democracy mean to all of you people? It means that as far as voters go, some will have favorable outcomes and others not so favorable outcomes. democracy always has victims. And you should always be aware of this as you head out to vote.

These results are not shocking. They agree very much with preliminary polls that were carried before the elections were held. We all knew it was going to be close. So grow up and wait for the ECK.

Those claiming rigging, if you don't have tangible evidence, stop propagating propaganda! You're directly contributing to any bloodshed that will occur here next!

Please note that most ODM supporters were ok with the results when Odinga was ahead by far. Truth be told, his strongholds had been tallied and Kibakis had not yet. This current figures following those should not be surprising, shocking or alarming to anyone with any common sense and understanding of the process. if you must edify yourself about the process then do so, but don't make it your place to create victims of this elections.

The counting stations are filled with observers from all over and have every party and candidate represented. So if you're claiming rigging, once again, I say prove it. Otherwise shut up and promote peace.

No one can call this election yet. It is too close to call. So sit back and let ECK work. The process is slow because there are that many voices to be heard, from every party. And every dispute starts a counting vote all over.

Why the panic over the final result? Why not have the confidence that you're going to win? And the common sense to let peace prevail if you don't?

Don't forget, the poorer you are, the likelier you are to be caught in a skirmish riot or melee. You are likely to be injured or to die. And it is also highly likely that you are the sole bread winner, with no savings in the bank.

people with money incite, then they sit at home and are safe, some with body guards; and you do their dirty work. The results here today are of no use to anyone if there is bloodshed in the streets. you won't have a place to go to work, hence you can't eat and seriously neither one of these two candidtaes in power is going to be that bad for you in a peaceful environment, as much as they arent really going to do anything for you on a personal note should they win. So what it is, is "Isn't that serious." Get to understanding your priorities. It's an election, and it's overall effect on you personally unless you lose your life or a loved one is not going to be that significant.

That's the truth. Give it a chance to set you free!

It's D-Day

2007-12-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

Finally, December 27th, 2007 has arrived.

It was my experience and countless others, as Kenyans who were not spending Christmas in Kenya, to call home to wish people a merry Christmas and end up engaged in a long conversation about elections. I don't quite think December 25, 2007 was that much Christmassy for many Kenyans, more like 2 days before they had to go vote. I found this to be encouraging. I hope that it means many Kenyans intend to go out and exercise their rights to vote, and with that, their rights to complain about all things wrong (not that they don't). hopefully, Kenyans after this, will learn to view their glasses as half full, a very elusive attitude amongst us as a nation.

I've been all over the web in the past 3 or 4 hours. I'm in search of a site that will be giving updates on the elections consistently throughout this process. No luck as of 11pm EST, Dec 26. Now I wonder why I don't pay for that service where for a certain fee I can get free access to news or something from some specific stations online. It appears I'm not the only one. I've made several calls to people I know who would be likely to have that service. Dead end as well. CNN is not talking about elections in Kenya at all. I guess they will be there as soon as some fracas and chaos breaks somewhere. Not a mention, not a whisper. there was a tiger zoo attack over Christmas and that's seems to be all they're discussing and periodic brief mentions of the upcoming caucuses. I haven't caught the BBC news yet, I hope they'll do better. If anyone knows where I can get some kind of consistent update please point me in that direction.

This blog has been clear about being a Kibaki, not necessarily PNU supporter. With that, I say may the best people win. I hope people have the common sense to vote wisely and accurately, including voting across political parties for candidates they feel are worthy to them. After all, if the politicians have taught us anything recently, it's that they have no loyalties to any parties. Hence, may all vote for the candidates not their parties. Perhaps I ask for too much!

I'd like to take a moment and applaud Kibaki's good work in the past 5 years. Obviously my personal opinion but one that needs to be heard. I hope he gets another 5. I quite sincerely don't see how anyone could lose from that. But in case the tide does not flow as I would like to see it, Asante sana bwana Kibaki. What you have done is still phenomenal!

I pray there will be no chaos and that this day will not be marred by the kinds of violence that were observed during the primaries. With that I send this prayer from our national Anthem

Oh God of all creation
Bless this our land and nation
...
May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty!

And all peace loving citizens said, Amen!!!!

*****Update(s)****
(all times EST... hope to provide opinions and reactions from accessible diaspora).

12:58am
I just called both my parents at 2 separate polling stations close to each other. The weather though a little rainy is favorable. They declare the glaring sun would have been much worse.

I'm told the voter turnout is phenomenal. - Kudos Kenyans!

Apparently there is a lot of tension in that particular area. Majimboism scares them and the hints of violence from ODM supporters have been loud and clear against kikuyus.

Not voting is being looked down upon. All stores are being opened only after their operators have a blackened thumb to show that they have already voted. Otherwise some hostile stares and comments would be witnessed. It is an unspoken rule that everyone should be voting.

So far so good. Voting is going well. Queues moving quickly. Security seems well planned.

Will be back with more as I get it. i wonder how many other Kenyans in the diaspora are finding it difficult to get as much as would feel adequate...

Best place for updates for kenyans in the diaspora so far seems to be BBC.com They are including some posts from people across the nation in polling stations.

9:48am
Absolutely no coverage from the huge media outlets. Pakistan's Bhutto has been assasinated. With this sad turn of events, no eyes are on Africa and hence there's no coverage of any kind of elections in Kenya. Also no hope that there will be any coverage, unless of course the situation turns into one of violence and bloodshed. So maybe it's a good thing that the elections are not being covered.

Still relying heavily on texts and opinions from the ground via bbc.com. The problem with these methods is just how different each person's tale seems to be.

12:24pm
Still barely any news coming in which is in itself good news - it means that there is no violence. It seems that I could actually go ahead and applaud Kenyans on a peaceful voting day without seeming to have spoken too soon. I pray and hope that the same peaceful, mature attitudes will be maintained as the election results come in and are broadcast to the public. While kazi iendelee is a PNU slogan, I insist that no matter what, "kazi iendelee". That means maintaining the peace and ushering in another prosperous 5 years for the country, regardless of the president elected today.

CNN and BBC are now streaming text at the bottom of the screens about Kenya having elections. No actual coverage; Benazir Bhutto's death and related broadcasts will continue to dominate the news channels throughout this day (may she RIP). Hopefully, they'll take a moment and announce the Kenyan election results after they are officially announced. BBC.com continues to be the best source of news.

3:31pm
Provincial results have started streaming in slowly.

You can silently watch the results here.

Once again, I'm extremely proud of the peaceful day Kenyans observed as they cast their votes.

Ory explains the "missing names" in this post. They weren't really missing but better communication needed to have been exercised.

11:12am
Is it possible that this has been the slowest tallying of votes in democratic elections history anywhere, ever? I need a good nights sleep...

Some serious ballot box inconsistencies noted ina few places including Kajiado North. What does it mean when ballot boxes are open and found to be empty?

When a helicopter drops some more ballot boxes, I personally declare it absolutely stupid to set these ablaze without deciphering if they are coming in late from a legitimate polling station; maybe after being wrongly delivered to an incorrect counting station. And to further burn ballots that were on the table? Stupidity has to cease!

kenyaelection07

Far from adequate!

2007-12-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

The most disappointing thing any Kenyan can watch is NTV on youtube. Bull's eye makes it worse, but just watching our politicians creates a sad day indeed. And age is no factor. Ignorance surely is bliss when it comes to knowing exactly what it is these politicians do and say. I allowed myself to log into youtube.com and watched NTV's bull's eye. I had no idea just how bad the political scene in Kenya is. It is so bad. I know it's possible that the situation looks much worse for those like me who haven't had to deal with it that directly for years, still I declare, words from a written column don't capture nary 25% of the drama. The way I see it,if this situation were to get worse down just one notch, we'd be about to be extinct by virtue of stupidity. If you ask me, something's gotta change!

I doubt it will though. Because the cheers that come from the crowds get louder as the deeds and words of the politicians or aspirants get more random and less professional. Quite frankly, the more inappropriate and borderline abusive they get, the louder the cheers get. I guess the politicians are just giving the crowds what they want. How sad that is, you have no idea.

Does no one demand and or expect professionalism from their leaders? And with these shenanigans as part of their daily campaigns and local addresses, how then do the citizens appear shocked that these same people are incapable of managing their daily situations to improve livelihoods? Nobody speaks of what they can do, they all speak of where they have been and the beefs they have with the other rivals. Stupid stupid stuff. Tactics that std six students might use to settle scores. Where is the substance? Where is the measure of intelligence? Where is leadership? Where is someone to spire to be like? Where is motivation? Where is hope? Where is a worthy person?

One after another they rise, they sing stupid songs, they say even dumber things. They incite stupid joy from a crowd that is to me amazing by their responses. And at the end of they day, they say nothing. A whole lotta words with nothing said. Their time would have been better spent washing dishes in their own homes.The crowd is well entertained and we all go home and start another day of campaigning, come sunrise the next day.

All well and good if this was a comedy tour!

Which it isn't.

And thus the sad part.

Somebody needs to start a "professional addresses: manners,etiquette and diplomacy" training program in that country. A secondary class will be issues that pertain to Kenya, locally and globally. And it should be mandatory for all politicians and aspirants to attend.

Quite frankly, the situation is so desperate that were anyone to actually start this training program, and suggest that elections be postponed until the courses were taken by all involved, they would have my vote.

What an entire disappointment. It is debated that there is an argument for dictatorship and colonization. Many of these clips support that statement! Kenyans you can do much better! Stop aiming so low always, Get better, do better and demand better!

Moving on to Dec 27th...

2007-11-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

Interesting weekend Kenyans had, I'm sure. Of course, as with all issues important, Kenyans had to take it to chaos. That part was not shocking at all. It just goes to emphasize something I say often. You can change every single leader in that country, but if the common mwananchi does not begin to look into the mirror when demanding change, it will be one of those where "the more things change, the more they stay the same." But, since the aspirants have been often known to encourage violence, let them reap what they sow. Look at your work people, and then tell us what you think of it. In a matter of speaking, grade yourselves.

Primarily, I just wanted to commend a milestone in Kenya's political history. That was the first time people from different parties actually had a chance to determine who goes to the poll against their opposing parties candidates. I'm not quite sure how clear what the process represents entirely was to most Kenyans. I'm seriously never too sure of what it is Kenyans know for sure. As a total group, the majority is so used to being die hard followers of certain people of groups of people that they don't pay any attention to what is going on, they just do as they are told. if you can't tell by the tone of that sentence, I abhor that attitude. So I'm going to hope that it was clear to most that this was not election day and that they were picking their representatives at the polls come election day. Which makes me wonder if they understood the need to strategize. Yeap, like it or hate it, politics is a game of strategy. Ask Odinga. Look who he brought into his campaign team, pro bono?! I'm so alarmed. Dude meets Raila, dude decides to campaign for him, pro bono, dude barely knows Raila, And have you seen the resume on dude????! So I ask, pro bono, really? Really? Really? I have so many questions! If you think you sense paranoia here, you're right on the mark. Raila I hope you haven't made any promises to any governments. Because if you have, I say this to you courtesy of Amistad "Gives us free!" But since I also know how perfectly well you know how to change the game on folk, if you have and the plan is to get in and then dump them and all promises you made to them since they can't do anything about it; then Good going. They deserve it for thinking they can just purchase influence all over Africa for pro bono campaign strategies and other cheaper measures. Usituuze, blood and sweat, tafadhali. 1962 and prior is way behind us. Let's leave it there.

Interesting how people lost the nominations. Over the use of the CDF kitty. I was so proud of Kenyans there. Hongera! And of course the losers defected as usual. Does anyone stand on principal in Kenya? Anyway, after watching several Bull's eye clips on YouTube, I will no longer be shocked by Kenyan politics. I had no idea just how much of a joke they were until I saw those clips. Is Kalembe Ndile a serious dude? And what's with all this dancing at political rallies? Anyway, I sure hope someone is working on live Internet TV coverage for December 27th and throughout vote counting. Many of us would appreciate that.

Also interesting how chaos marred every single party nomination. I want to know what die hard ODM supporters who insist ODM is without drama and political manipulation have to say to all the allegations. From what I've read, it seems that they had the highest number of incidences and the most amazing and shocking manipulation accusations. Maoni ODM die hards? BTW, for me this does not mean that Raila is automatically corrupt, but since if this was happening in PNU this would be blamed directly on Kibaki (forget due process), comment on that as well, Tell me what reflection on Raila this ought to be for me and others directly. Why won't I comment? Bias. No way he would get a fair trial from me. Honestly, that's more of an outsider's opinion than is the truth. As I mentioned, I know this is not a direct reflection on Odinga. Plus, I understand the politics and the influence and the fact that they are a vehicle of sorts and some parts have to be in the vehicle before it will move forward. Politics is what it is. And conduits to success have to be factored in.

Quick recovery to all those who ended up in hospital amongst them KJ and others alike. Get well and hit the campaign trails nominated contenders. December 27th will determine the next 5 years for Kenya so tell us how you intend to influence that and please confine yourselves to reality not empty promises.

Kenyans, choose peace. ON December 27th especially. Demand all processes you feel would be fair between now and then. Party officials, educate your supporters and encourage dialogue and peaceful demonstrations over drawing blood. It's so barbaric and it is 2007 after all. Let's stop living up to African stereotype that offers us no accolades.

**Update***
Reading this, it is pretty apparent that chaos have erupted in various regions of the country. I've noted the utter dismay people seem to have given the comments. Is this because the worst of the confusion has been noted with ODM who had insisted that they were "the change Kenya was looking for" in no uncertain terms? Is this the tone of disappointment? Maybe finally, kenyans will start to address reality, issues and immerse themselves in truth. We are all victims of our circumstances and let's not forget how young as both a nation and especially a democratic one we are. Cut ourselves and our politicians some slack, demand more, become better followers and adjust ourselves to BE the change instead of loud under-informed noisemakers!
Baited breath for the future...

"Kibaki has made no significant contribution". Your honest conclusion or is it taking away from your intelligence?

2007-10-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

I had enough of these debates and arguments. So I am simply documenting them. My thought process with them and the facts associated with them wherever available. I am just asking for a little justice, some fair assessment of things. You don't have to vote for a man, but give the devil his due. That's all this is about, giving the so called devil his due.

Annual Economic Growth Rate
from UNs regional commission development update in July 2001, "Africa made significant economic progress in the 1990s, with several countries sustaining double-digit growth. " Kenya meanwhile recorded a negative 0.3% growth rate.The same article also adds that "The new leadership will have the opportunity to restore public confidence and promote economic growth." Whether that has happened or not, I'll leave you to judge. To further make my point, "Africa's average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of more than 4 percent in 2001..." Compare that with -0.3.However, be aware that there are things that are simple fact. That while Africa is now at an average growth rate of about 6%, Kenya is right about there, actually slightly above average. So that the economic growth rate is in fact what is Africa's current economic growth rate, does not mean that there has not been any progress here done by Kibaki's government. It would be stupid and inaccurate to conclude that.

Corruption/Anglo Leasing
Let's now address Anglo Leasing. Why do I address this under corruption? It's because it's the only example I am getting from people when they accuse this government of corruption and I ask for specifics. That it has been turned into a Kibaki administration issue is interesting and thought provoking. Here is the story of the origin of the Anglo leasing scandal. This comes from the Mars group, a group whose tactics I have learnt to absolutely disagree with. That a story for another day. My point being that Anglo leasing was done, rushed and finalized before the elections of 2002. It is thus inherited. Meaning the blame cannot be transferred to Kibaki's government. So the people have not been brought to book yet. There has been a lot of finger pointing, true. But no real hard evidence to convict has been provided. The one good shot was Githongo's dossier. But he chose to deliver it to a foreign government, despite the fact that its research was paid for by the Taxpayers shilling. Point is a dossier in the hands of a foreign government is of no use to Kenya and does not enable our courts to convict. And the whole idea of thinking Britain in better than Kenya so run there, Screw that! That's what we're trying to get away from. I haven't met the supernatural Briton or foreign person either. If it can be done right in Britain, it can be done right in Kenya. Running to Britain for cover was stupid, bore him no fruits, stonewalled an investigation and seriously, what did he think they would do? Send Clay to remove the splinters in our eyes, altogether ignoring the logs in theirs as usual? My point is Anglo leasing is not a this generation scandal. The drama perpetrated by Githongo was no help to the issue either. And any promises any other person is making in regards to this issue are not well thought out and are lies. The only way to convict this people is without fair trial and would be dictatorial. To follow the law is to concede that this is a very difficult case to win ina court of law, where the accused can afford good representation. I'll stop here, this topic can cover a small book. Fact is as far as the law goes, they are free until someone can bring in evidence. Face it and move on, let our future be the difference.

Planning and management or lucky break?
What about economic growth generally? I've been advised to "stop worshipping" what Kibaki "has done". The benefits of this came from the Kenyans in the diaspora. Really? So Kenyans went abroad only some 4-5 years back? Or is that when Western Union started sending money to Kenya? I mean how do we come up with this? Are you suggesting there was no foreign currency coming into Kenya before Kibaki's government took over? Is that a logical and educated suggestion? The economy... here are some facts. Collection of funds. KRA. What milestones has that taken? How much better effective is their collection all arranged and organized and funded by the current government? It takes a person who understand that it takes money to get work done, and who knows to tackle the root cause to get this achieved. There are other solutions, such as sucking up to rich foreign governments so that they would give us aid. But that just makes us puppets who are fed just well enough not to die, but not enough to put up a fight should we need to. If nothing else, this is single handedly the most effective most important thing this government ever did. It is the only first right step that existed. And the execution has been nearly perfect. Yes, people have complained and whined intermittently throughout this process, but that is because people resist paying taxes. It doesn't make them right. And this my countrymen is the root cause of progressive development. Then other factors have played in, such as ministries with assigned goals, ministers who know that they will have to earn their dismissal and no longer have to wake up reading papers to check if they were fired last night as was the previous regimes ministerial situation; leaving room for confident planning, implementation, execution and tracking of goals. The CDF kitty, that one tells you what your local representatives are doing for you. And so you can decode who to vote back in. This should be your measure of whether you need local leadership changes or not.

"Kibaki has a stroke. he's totally handicapped." Think about this statement. Play it over in your mind. Analyze it. I'm not sure I should comment on this. I have a healthy respect for the privacy of medical records. But what do we know about strokes that are totally debilitating? Seriously. Kibaki couldn't move his arm well after a road accident. An explanation was offered for it as a badly handled surgery and he had local surgery, which obviously fixed the problem. So logical. And let's face it, no surgery could fix a stroke induced immobility, simply because that would be about the brain triggers. Yet this stroke rumor continues. It reminds me of the republicans as they are sending e-mails now. "Barack is a Muslim", they say. they will lose him his popularity this way. he had to be handled because he had republicans considering a democratic vote. Look into the similarities of these tactics, their unfairness, their pettiness, their absolute absurdity and then decide to know what you believe form that. Kenyans you're smart people. There's a healthy respect for just how smart you all are internationally. Just start acting like it when it comes to situations like these. And on that note, has anyone bothered to note that Kibaki struggles with expression only when speaking in Swahili? Common sense my people. he's not good with Swahili. It is not a stroke! Listen to him when he speaks English and allow yourself constructive though process.

Other stuff
No one is arguing with me about the payment of farmers being a good thing. Yet, most people ignore the overall effects of this. In a nutshell, the development of rural areas begins here. There will now be an increased demand for goods and services from the farmers as they have disposable income and hence supermarkets and eventually malls and all sorts of trading will have to move closer to the demand. It's that simple. the beauty is in its simplicity. And if Kenyans are to be smart, there should be a migration of sorts back to the farms because they are now profitable "centers", more like fields and spaces. Which would lead me to an attitude I notice amongst Kenyans that I have narrowed down to "fickle mindedness". What I mean is simply this, the people who are now currently farming as young people, have almost all studied outside of Kenya for further studies. They are the only ones who can proudly declare themselves farmers as their "what do you do" response; and not care about the crazy looks they get from their peers. Think about it people. It may not be an easy pill to swallow but if we can't discuss the facts, then we can't help each other. But all that another story, for another day.

What about primary school education? That it's now absolutely free. Recall how opposed this was when Kibaki first announced it? It will be difficult to implement, the skeptics said amongst other things. Who said difficult means do not push ahead with it. How about a simple pros and cons assessment. every year delayed in implementing free primary education would have meant scores of students late for primary education entry. And the same skeptics were screaming, free secondary education a few years down the road?

Health care. By no means perfect. But what leaps and bounds I ask? How much better are the local dispensaries doing? Answer these questions to yourself honestly. The Nairobi Stock exchange and the provisions that have been given it to allow growth. I could go on. And by no means am I citing perfect governance. I am however acknowledging leaps and bounds in progress. And truly choosing to understand that it cannot all be done in 5 years. Neither will it all be done in the next 5 regardless of whom the throne will belong to. It's a process and we as Kenyans need to learn how to measure milestones and keep things in perspective.

In a previous post, I gave simple litmus tests for critical thinking. Let me say I cannot overemphasize the importance of critical thought process. No matter what you decide, let it be under these circumstances, a conclusion of fact assessment, within context, with common sense exercised and devoid of emotion. Just pure thought and logical infusion and totally and completely grounded by facts and not speculation. It calls for invested interest and work in fact finding from everyone but if you are to comment and have an opinion on something, don't you owe it to yourself as a smart person to know all there is to know about it?

Inconvenient Truths

2007-10-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

I finally watched Al Gore's documentary. What an interesting and captivating piece. I felt totally enlightened. Gore earned that Nobel peace prize two times over! If ever there was an example of turning a bad situation into a good one. Perhaps there was a good reason why Gore lost elections despite winning them after all.I thought I had gone green but after watching that, I wonder how much greener I can get. You can be sure I'll be making a huge effort to get greener. I'm already what I consider almost extreme. take for example, unless in extremely unavoidable circumstances, I don't drink bottled water. Why? because it adds a whole lot of plastic waste to drink water that in its fine print says this: PWS. Meaning, public Water Source. Someone took the same tap water I drink, packaged it and sold it to me for more that it costs to buy gas. Not only does it offend my sensibilities, it harms the environment, so I just say no!

I noted that Gore mentioned Nairobi as becoming mosquito infested. I recall a doctor once telling me that there was hardly any malaria in Nairobi and people should not take malariaquin as it was harmful. Then, these drugs were still available OTC (over the counter). We had a good laugh over how rare a female anopheles mosquito was in Nairobi as he laughed when I told him how my entire family had once collapsed from malaria within 2 hours of each other. He had explained that that was the only way malaria occurred in Nairobi. Because there weren't that many malaria causing mosquitoes, you saw it as a significant wave and it was gone. His explanation had made sense then. I wonder how global warming will affect that balance.

After I watched Al Gore, i wondered what the impact would be on the medical expense budget should malaria become common place in Nairobi. Once upon a while back in this blog, I watched how a remote part of Kenya was struggling with malaria and the inability to afford its treatment. malaria would probably outbreak in the slums. that's where they have pools of stagnant water and other unhygienic practices glaring to the eye. This would cripple the entire medical system should cases of malaria start to increase and keep increasing exponentially.

So it started me wondering what about the future our presidential hopefuls were addressing. How much about the global issues do they become part of and incorporate into their messages? can Africa afford to turn a blind eye on all that is going on? Africa has been both blessed and cursed by being a developing continent in the face of developed nations. The bad about this situation is well known and could fill 4 days Worth of reading. But there is a good to this as well. And that is that we can learn from the mistakes of those that have developed before us. Aldo, we can benefit from their research. As the snow melts from Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. what do we do to retain that tourism? Mark where the snow was for periods of years, just to make it worth visiting? Perhaps? Maybe, channel those visitors elsewhere. the problem with that is that it takes away from local traders who were benefiting from those tourists. Basically, we can all agree that these issues need to be addressed as they happen. this is where I call for effective media outlets. Who think outside of the noise being made and can engage politicians and force them to think outside the normal stagnating noises they make.

Genetically modified food. This issue just puzzles me. Why go there, Africa? There is enough research to show that this is a harmful route to take. It only benefits pharmaceutical companies. So again I ask, why go there? There are other ways to increase productivity and they don't include messing with God's work. If there is nothing else we are learning as the effects of technology start to be felt, is that no matter how much we as human beings think, "we got it", there is a perfect balance from a much more intelligent creator that we know little of but are prone to upset often. Our best bet is to work with things in their natural states. Plus cancers and MS and other weird painful diseases. All linked to modified foods. Not to mention the trend in the oceans. Fish now have both male and female parts and males are simply taking a path towards extinction, thanks to huge amounts of estrogen in our waters. bear in mind, that most engineering of foods has something to do with estrogen. And the issues that will arise include greater numbers of women with gonadic problems, from polyps to fibroids, worse to cancers both ovarian and breast. Why, oh why won't Africa, trailing behind, learn from those ahead of it? I surely hope they do.

I'm waiting to watch Sicko. the reason I haven't watched it yet is because I want to buy it and its not out on DVD yet. From this, I hope leaders in developing worlds will watch to learn what the possible entrapment of modernized medical systems, insurances and pharmaceutical companies tied into it, and device ways to avoid them altogether. I guess I'm a social capitalist, as Raila described himself to be. Off on a tangent, the whole entire NSE reaction to a Raila lead was surprising to me despite the fact that I have been fully aware of investors being very wary of a loss for Kibaki during the oncoming elections.I wasn't aware, however, that they were that nervous about it, enough to get out just because poll numbers indicated a possible loss for Kibaki. That was an interesting observation. And one that led Raila to eat back some unwise words he had uttered while in Atlanta. will the investors, trust Raila ever? I guess only time will tell.

I guess I'm wondering about which one of our presidential hopefuls worries enough about the global future to invest time and research so as to protect Kenya from some of the atrocities the developed world faces today. Why should we have to make the same mistakes? Can we afford to make the same mistakes? And to what extent should this matter in picking out a future leader?

Kenya Elections "07

2007-09-29T14:07:00.000-04:00

So elections are down to the 3 contenders as Kalonzo, Kibaki and Odinga, ordered alphabetically to avoid the ever increasing tribalistic debates. First and foremost, this is a huge move towards political growth in Kenya. 3 candidates only? yes, political parties keep being declared and defections are still common but there has been improvement in this field, no doubt.

Still, it's glaring to me how there is no obvious direction or principal governance creed given by any party. ODM keeps chanting about bringing about change. That's all cool. But what kind of change are they talking about? Because, frankly, given what Kibaki's government has achieved, I don't want change from that. I want continued momentum. I want forethought, planning and execution. I want to continue to see progress. Can ODM kindly explain change to me.

PNU is singing about the developments they have made. I agree with this. This campaign makes sense to me. they are listing the achievements of this government. This makes sense. I as a voter can decide if the achievements impress me or not. The pledge to continue with these kinds of developments can either be acceptable or not to me as a voter. hence, I can make a decision.

What is Kalonzo about? Does anyone know? Please enlighten me.

Having said that, let me declare my bias. I am all Kibaki camp. For reasons as mentioned above. Progress. In a much shorter time than I expected. And a hearty thank you to this government for enabling us and giving us the guts to speak our minds and not have to puppet to the "big" nations of the world. For that I ma eternally grateful. let me actually phrase how proud I am of Kibaki's (and team)achievements; if Kibaki were to lose this election, it would be no loss to him, period. There would be a loss but not to Kibaki; and to those whose loss it was, it would be obvious sooner rather than later. You think it takes a long time to regret stuff? Ask the Americans, from that strength in economy to a market that's shattering the world markets as we speak. And they had a long sliding grain, which Kenya doesn't have. Enough said.

I was intrigued as Kenyans, in their usual unison bleeting blah, complained about the cancelled ODM rally due to the fact that it coincided with a rival rally at the same park. Seriously, Kenyans are trying to convince me that they don't see potential for violence were this allowed to happen same day? This they say with a straight face as the same papers are carrying on about election skirmishes in much smaller rallies that weren't rival rallies side by side? Seriously, I keep begging for common sense. I applaud the council and the city police for denying this rally. It was the right move and anyone who isn't interested in attending rallies but has business in town can thank them for a peaceful day to go about their business as well.

What about the media bias? I have never been a fan of the Kenyan media but could we please feign indifference? How does the media day in day out carry such biased reports? There is an opportunity here for someone with capital to start a media station that carries a fair and balanced and I emphasize researched version of news in Kenya.

The end of the road is near. Steadman polls have Raila in the lead now, Kalonzo not so much a contender. I guess the proof will be in the polls. I caution as I have severally in the past several months. Vote with caution. Remember these cliche phrases as you vote and reflect on them pensively and may your conclusions guide you wisely.

1. What have you done for me lately ( you being person seeking your vote, me being your constituency, your country).

2. Be careful what you pray for.

3. Rome was not built in a day ( and neither will Kenya)

4. Empty debes make the most noise

5. Let me see your resume ( can your candidate prove his/her achievements)

6. Don't forget to wonder how often your candidate missed an important vote in parliament and what their overall attendance record looks like. It's 500K of your money a month. Is he/she earning it?

Media demo, 50 Women parliamentary seats

2007-08-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

It is proudly noted that the demo by the media was well conducted. Hopefully they've had their 15 minutes and can now steer themselves back to real reporting. I have been trying to get a hold of the entire media bill but due mostly to my own unavailability, don't have it all as yet. I have seen the part that is in contention and I have to say, I have no problem with it. The way I see it it raises the question, if I was adversely mentioned, or so it seemed, in a derogatory column or article, and I felt sure that the person the article referenced was me but my name wasn't mentioned and I took it to court, I should be able to demand that I be told whom the article was referencing. Let's pay attention to this, referenced party, not source of information.So unless there is a different section of this bill that is causing a row, the media is misleading people once again! Nobody has asked them to reveal their sources. Again, since I haven't seen it all and I'm unsure as to what parts are causing contention issues, I'll hold my final emphasis point.

And as Standard noted, proudly to my amazement,Mwala was out trying to provoke some violence. I'm sure they would deny this was his mission, but the questions he was asking were intent to make the recipient irate enough to act irrationally, start a melee, end the demo in riots and then the media could say there demonstration was interrupted by the government who are afraid... or whatever else they would say.

Obviously, I am biased against the media. I always have been. I argue often that the Kenyan media is not grown up enough and is detrimental to the development of the society. They contribute immensely in painting an ugly picture of the government and often publish biased and unresearched material, with people's opinions being represented as fact.The Standard is the worst offender of this kind. The media further abuses its rights by picking on certain individuals and insinuating things that are detrimental to careers and even family lives. They get nothing right. Often times even their entertainment articles such as Pulse are filled with misinformation and errors. There exists, without a doubt, a quality control issue that needs to be addressed.

Those arguing that the politicians are trying to protect themselves, shouldn't they? These are their careers. And if a reporter has nothing to hide, these laws barely start to intimidate them at all. Demanding that they reveal sources would be too much, though there are circumstances when I feel they should be forced to reveal sources such as if any one's life was in danger, collectively as a nation or a single individuals life.

As for the 50 women seats in parliament, I'm glad those weren't voted in. However, I'm very disappointed by the fact that these stupid politicians cannot take a stand on anything. Instead they walk out and disrupt the quorum. Where are their balls? Sit there and vote the thing down! But since that might come to bite them in their behinds, they run away like cowards.Kenyans you can all vote in new people or the same ones back, but if you can't vote in people with principles they can stand on, the same crap will continue from the parliament. Martha Karua may be adamant, but that woman is admirable for taking a stand with an issue and sticking with it. A lot more than we can say for many men in that parliament.

Birth or Growing Pains?

2007-08-07T12:06:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of grumbling going on in Kenya. Some warranted some, maybe not. In my opinion, a lot of it is growing pains. Some of it birth pains, with access to new freedoms and ideas causing conflicting opinions. The media bill is one such thing. For me, I insist that the Kenyan media needs laws and regulations, so I'm all for it. Even as they urge Kibaki to veto the bill that was passed in parliament. Over a small addition which they claim compels them to reveal their sources. The people who added it claim that it compels them to clarify an unnamed person if a conflict arises. After reading the particular entry,I believe the media is again making a mountain out of a molehill. The wording was not even confusing. However, because I haven't read the entire bill, I will refrain from saying more. But if that part is the only problem, this is why the media obviously needs policing. They aren't grown up enough yet. That they have an opportunity to express themselves this clearly is a sign of how far they've come. To insist that they are being gagged is being alarmist, a condition the Kenyan media really needs to put emphasis in moving away from.

Other things have happened recently. That Charity Ngilu got arrested received mixed reactions. There was a demand for her arrest prior to this. That she found her arrest humiliating is the effect of fair law. For her to blame Kibaki is rather ludicrous. I keep asking at what point Kenyans take responsibility for their own actions. I pose this question to Ngilu as well. Those days of "I am minister, I can do whatever" are gone. You obey the law or like everyone else, suffer the consequence. This is the kind of environment that is conducive to prosperity. That many Kenyans are up in arms against her arrest doesn't make them right. They need to remember to think about being careful what they ask for. Charity wasn't right. She knows it. She just thought she could get away with it. She didn't. I hope she has had some time to internalize, analyze and grow.

The growth is apparent. Tuju expressed himself clearly over the EU tariffs and regulations. This argument over the purported carbon release within organic food that travels for many miles is in many ways an attack to the thriving organic markets that are taking businesses away from the mega store moguls. In Europe and USA, the issue has been seriously in the limelight especially because the organic stores are not lobbyists and have no friends in high places. Or so the rumor mills have been saying. Back from digressing, that Tuju could and did express himself clearly and with no fear, is surely a sign of the times. When a country can support its budget, at least 93% of it, with no need for aid, then it starts to roar and make itself heard.

What about this money for road repairs? Actually I'm more interested in the "meeting to educate citizens about the plan." That caught my eye. What a good sign. The more people understand, the more involved they can be with the plans. And the better able they are to plan and brainstorm around pending implementations so as to stimulate business growth and development. Good move. And perhaps reflect a growing interest amongst locals as to what is going on around them.

Not all is well. The police seem to continue to have a stronghold on majority of people. This is still more an issue of awareness. Brig Ali, in my view, has done a lot to improve the police force. But everyone else has to chip in. Ignorance is not an excuse ever. I recall I have always thought of Kenyans as cowardly. But if every motorist was to opt to be put in jail, how full would those jails be? And how quickly would that draw attention to the stupidity of cops at station X? I think the solution lies in cameras. Everywhere cops station road blocks, they must be required to have a camera running 24/7. Lacking which, any grievance filed against them will be awarded to the plaintiff, no questions asked. And if everyone makes a habit of questioning the cops, politely, I insist politely because it bears results; whenever stopped by them and quoting the law every sentence, I believe it should make them afraid enough to minimize if not stop their extortion habits.

There will be a lot more of these issues coming up. A lot more erroneous judgement especially preceding elections will be made by Kenyans. My hope is that they are all alert and learning. My greatest hope is that one day, Kenyans will be able to drop fickle mindedness and open their eyes to truth. Absolute inability to recognize improvement just because it comes from a man you choose to hate, with reasons ranging from "he has a stroke" (are you kidding me?!) to "he is an old man" mostly masking tribalistic differences is a loud cry for mental development within our population. We can get there. We just need to understand what path we're on and how to stay on it or move away from it.

Shooting our own feet

2007-08-01T14:16:00.000-04:00

My previous post expressed clearly what I thought of the proposed send off packages those men and women in parliament had proposed for themselves. Then come these shenanigans. Why, oh why did these people feel they needed to do this? They are so much worse than those who stayed at home and did nothing.

The law is not a suggestion. Especially one that requires that you alert the police force of where a possible huge crowd will gather. The reasons are obvious. Kenyan crowds historically get rowdy, out of control, burn innocent by passers cars and destroy property. Alerting the police will ascertain that they are made aware of a gathering and available if and when needed as a result of it.

Breaking the law to voice one's dissatisfaction is all dumb. It is exactly the case of a tainted witness. Once your credibility is shot, you have no value. Acts of lawlessness like these actually justify the send off these members are about to apportion themselves. If compensation is to be matched with how much crap one has to put up with, then these kinds of behaviour justify their move. I'm aggravated by these people. And every newspaper and column and blog that wants to portray them as innocent victims. You break the law, you deal with the consequences. Ignorance or purported privileged class citizen membership is no excuse. These people deserve to be in jail, arraigned and fined or imprisoned, whatever the penalty is for the crime.

As for Mrs. Ngilu, her family should really consider seeking her psychiatric help. By all means, that is not 'normal' behaviour. And her recent actions have been less than functional. She is singlehandedly justifying all those who claim women cannot make good leaders because they are emotional. I hope brigadier Ali is working on bringing her in with the huge allegation of aiding a fugitive escape. How a person who runs for the post of president is completely unable to respect the law just baffles me.

I thought I was disgusted with those MPs but I am sure much less irritated by them than these so called deliverers. And the media outlets portraying them as martyrs. Please! These are criminals. They are breaking the law, that's all. I wish they hadn't "helped". If you can't do it right, sit your butt at home. And anyone follow the law or suffer the consequence. And anyone interested in good governance of any institution should be backing that claim all the way.

And people scoff when Kibaki calls them wapumbavu. If the shoe fits...

As for those in Mathare, as unfortunate as it is that a 2 year old died, I refuse to be dragged into the foolhardiness of blaming GSU for using tear gas canisters. At what point do we bestow responsibility on the citizens themselves? They expect that KPLC should have let them continue stealing power? They want justice? they should name their landlords to the police so that we know whom to penalize for all the theft that the other power consumers have had to pay for over the years. And they need to know better than to start riots. Rioting crowds must be dispersed! What do they propose the GSU do? Approach each one and over a drink of Fanta urge them to go home? Seriously! Let's all be responsible. It's our own individual duty to assess a situation and understand its path and consequences. And hence, avoid those that end badly. On some level, the government,they police the MPs and all serving civil servants cannot be to blame for all the stupid things we do as a individuals and as groups of people.

It wouldn't be funny, were it a joke

2007-07-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

What? What is this I'm reading about send off packages? Let me make it very clear. We are not about to lay MPs and/or cabinet staff off. They have served their time, as they expected to have when they first took these offices. These offices are temporary and have been designed that way. What is the severance for then?

Had these servants of Kenya (wishfully) served with a very low compensation range over their 5 years, I may have entertained this thought. But this is not the case. These people earn obscenely over and above minimum wage. If they are making the decision that people can survive on that minimum wage, why aren't they within the same thinking concluding that they've earned enough and Kenya as a developing country needs to put its money to better use. These greedy nincompoops must be stopped.

I propose: Whenever this bill will be read to be voted on in parliament, could we have a pundit in there please? Any single one of them that votes to allow for this severance must be rejected at any and all polling stations infinitely. Never again, should they serve Kenya. Ili iwe funzo kwao na wengine kama hao. Agreed? Let them earn the right to be servants to the people.

My message to all of them; Tabia mbaya! Stop!

And this dealio with added constituencies. I'm just disgusted by the papers today. Not the journalistic aspect of it all. The content. In meaning, the shenanigans that are going on in that country. These women who must be nominated into parliament...why? How comes thay cannot be elected in? This gender equality is too expensive. Shun it! And seriosuly, after beijing, run a campaign and win it! Why the need for the freebies?

Truthfully speaking, what is this about adding constituencies? If there is research that has been done, and results showing that some constituencies, either due to great need, overpopulation, geographic factors, or size need to be trimmed down, I want to see it. Outside of which, this is an irresponsible proposal. Anything that eats into the budget with such regularity should be thought through and should be proposed with prudence. Anybody that reads this blog knows that I'm all for Kibaki and his many positive outflows. So I want to cautiously wonder if he agreed on this because he knew the decision ultimately lies with the house? And by agreeing with it, he doesn;t have to catch any flak for it. Let me hope so. Because, if it's not the case, I'm going to question how he arrived at this being a necessary burden on the tax payer. For the same reasons, I adamantly say no to the creation of a Prime Minister position, I say no to the addition of constituencies. Simply because it amounts to waste of tax payers money. And if any constituency needs subdividing, let us see the research supporting that.

I'm agape. Totally amazed by how greedy these politicians are. The best get rich quick scheme in Kenya has become to join the parliament? There has to be a way to stop that increase should they vote it in for themselves.Seriously voters, should anyone vote any additional money to themselves, vote your stealing neighbor in, the cat, or a cyclone. Just not the same person back.

Bubudiu tupu!

Dunia wiki hii

2007-07-21T13:05:00.001-04:00

It's been the last week before my birthday again. I'm past the age where I celebrate birthdays. So I basically spend my birthday these days looking for signs of ageing. Any one of them. gray hairs, aching bones, arthritis, if you can think it, name it. So I usually attain paranoia in this week. Ageing has been working for me people. I can't complain. Can't even go back to yester years. This current years are so much sweeter. If it keeps up like this, I'm going to be an old happy lady one date far away from today.

I buried a friend this week as well. Not really buried her, attended her funeral service. Her funeral is in Kenya today. She died from cancer at the tender age of 35. She fought all the way to the end and I'm sure that she's in a better place now. God rest her soul in eternal peace.It's sobering. And it gives us all a reason to celebrate our birthdays old or not. Look what the alternative is.

And of course I had to increase to my woes. I put the largest dent possible on my fender and my bumper is damaged too. The estimates are high. But it's not going to be worth it to pass this through insurance, No. I'm going to pay for it out of pocket and then go door to door for my dinner for the next several months. Balaa for real. But after the things I've watched people go through, I don't even have the urge to whine too much. I'll just thank God I didn't hurt myself and live to my decision not to drive when I'm under such huge amounts of stress again. Besides, had I had the accident that I almost had instead, that would have been much worse. And I'd probably have hurt or worse, killed an innocent pedestrian.

I got done writing this paper on trade versus aid and I learnt so much from it. Should I ever get psyche, I'll share a great deal of my findings from this research. Its going to be difficult because most of my electronic sources were from priviledged sites that require authorization to access so I'll have to summarize my findings versus attaching the links, the easy way eliminated as a choice to use. So if you never see that post, that's the reason why. Still I was amazed by IMF who have on order, 29 countries, ordered I repeat, to spend 70%, in other words, 70 cents out of every dollar provided in aid, paying back debt. That is, 'let's give you aid, but the condition is take 70% and put it back in our coiffers and we can still claim to have given you aid'. Disfunctional? =Absolutely! Stupid? To say the least! Annoying? On a good day, yes, otherwise it's infuriating. But there were other success stories from Africa that warmed my heart as well. I could research this topic some more.

And Kenya has been bumped to a developing country. That is good news. I hope that keeps up. It should. I strongly attribute the success of Kenya to the fact that the Nyayo cells, those detention and torture chambers, were opened for public viewing. Because every one who raises their voice high these days does it with assurity that they won't end up there. There a lot more noise these days than there used to be. despite the media acting like they are being gagged, they know they're not. And it's teh ability to make that noise that leads to accountability and hence better management. So kudos to serikali ya Kibaki for shutting those places down and being so obvious about it. That in itself has immensely positively affected the future of Kenya until they elect the next dictator who will reopen them or others like them. Caution Kenyans, make sure the men or women you elect in the future can take criticism and use it to grow. Caution! The altrenative is disastrous. And never kid yourselves. A dictator, once elected, will dictate and succeed unless there's a bloody coup to reverse this order.

What's with Fifa and getting an even lower ranking? Moving down 11 places?

And them Kenyans who made the news for identity theft amongst other things, defrauding the IRS. $13M from the IRS and you expect to get away with it? They should crown them idiots of this century. And thanks for nothing! How's that for earning us a bad rap here?

Weddings abound! That's the beauty of summer. Weddings abound. Lemme go celebrate with folks! And some very heart felt congratulations to some of my friends who really matter for taking this walk to the future!

Last day at the age of ... I'm going to make it count.

2007-07-04T08:52:00.000-04:00

Went to bed to and woke up to firecrackers going off everywhere. Forget that they are illegal within the neighborhood. How else would we know it was 4th of July, anyway? Truth be told, I enjoy a decent fireworks display away from an absolute professional setup by some waterway's reflection. But I hate the smell they leave behind so I prefer to see fireworks high up in the air from a distance with no idea where they are really being fired from. You'd think the odd day holiday, smack in the middle of the week would deter celebrations some. Wrong. Class was half empty last evening which was good. I got a star parking spot which happens to me, never! Perhaps this article might dampen their cheer?

United States of Africa, huh? Is that USA 3rd world? I can see the economic benefit to this but I wonder aloud about how integration of completely war torn countries would look like. For example Somalia. Where would we start? Do they even know what their niche as a country is? they've been fighting so long they have destroyed every forward progress they ever made and have had no time invested in the discovery of their own land that it would literally mean startiing from scratch. In itself it's not really a problem. I just wonder if you opened up movement throughout Africa, how many Somalis would be in Somalia 2 weeks later? Of course this is a scenario unlikely to happen. I'm just wondering about the complexities of integrating Africa. again, I repeat, whose economic benefit I can see clearly. And what about languages? Creole up North West, Swahili East Africa, Xhosa, French, and many others. Many of which the nationals don't want to give up. Will there arise a debate on whether french or English should become the transactional language? And how does this affect french speaking Africa, should they lose? I doubt the situation is that serious. But knowing Africa, someone's bound to complicate something somewhere.

The hyundai is becoming the honda, no? I know they hired designers from Toyota and Honda to help market this car but has anyone seen the 07 hyundai line? The sonata is an accord by body and the elantra a civic. With no attempt to disguise the obvious similarity in body type! Amazing. Maybe they hope given their name and all, people might be confused enough by Honda's good reputation to mistakenly shop for a honda. Oh, don't jeer. You underestimate err... ignorance amongst people. And at 10K dollars less...

The iphone. I think apple and AT&T must have been a little concerned when the government declared they weren't looking into moving to iphones because they just spent some cheddar on blackberries. I applaud the decision. Frankly even the blackberries aren't as big a deal as they're made out to be. What was that panic over the possibility of them being turned of as the truth behind their stolen reality came out about a year ago? Talk about effectively creating a market for a good where demand didn't previously exist. Some genius PR and promotion. However, I'm sure Steve Jobs has something up his sleeve somewhere. And let's see the master kaizzan on this one. Out of all the people who took this gadget apart, who's going to make a better product fastest? All eyes on China, I say. And need I point out it will cost $399 less? While doing more?

Its a holiday in the summer. Nyam chom abounds. Lemme decide where to go sink my teeth into some of that later today. Happy 4th y'all. I gather the new Die hard movie is worth every penny. Might catch some of that too.

Are you a critical thinker?

2007-06-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

Critical Thinking can be summarized in 3 steps. The first is thinking logically and devoid of emotion (for fairness). The second is horizontal thinking, or so to speak, thinking across all related genres of the issue one is dealing with (bigger picture) and the third is using common sense. The 3rd one is the easiest yet the hardest but to be fair, if you get the first two parts right, the 3rd one usually falls into place.

In everyday life, your experiences will always be better in the hands of a critical thinker. Many have fallen for bogus carrot dangled with no real value added as a reason to follow a perceived leader. Often when it’s too late they will learn they have failed themselves. To get here, they must first learn critical thinking. Strangely and sadly, some people go through life without ever achieving this. Critical thinking is not for the lazy. It means you analyze everything you see and hear, understand it fully, research it when necessary and seek to see what else it affects or what else affected it and then come to a conclusion that fits all truths you have uncovered; with the knowledge that caveats exist within the items you have identified as unclear or unresolved. It means you must be engaged mentally at all times. As such, lazy people don’t like to practice it.

There is a simple litmus test for whether you are giving opinions based on critical thinking or not. The process is to imagine yourself as a member of the opposing team, and with all the knowledge you have about the situation, determine if you would then have arrived at a different conclusion as that person. The best way to analyze this is quietly and alone. People in crowds tend to stick to the utter rubbish they uttered to begin with because they are too proud to concede they were wrong. It’s a human instinct, but one that greatly hinders progress. It holds us back from accepting we have learnt something new and are now making a better informed decision. Resist it whenever you can. The litmus test results are as follows. If you find that you would have changed your stand and proposed actions were you on the other side, you have failed as a critical thinker. Your emotions rule your thinking and that’s always a one sided view, disastrous for development and quite frankly is a weakness. The good news is now you know, and once you’re aware of this, you can always take an extra second to analyze your position and re-evaluate before you speak out loud.

Critical thinking is necessary for all leaders. The problems encountered by workers in the African workforce are as a result of lack of critical thinking. To be fair, they are a result of a general lack of management techniques awareness, but anyone with critical thinking could rise above that at any moment because sound judgment would rule the day. How many of you have been fired or yelled at because your boss was wrong and you tried to correct them calmly? Or perhaps because you expressed that you weren’t being treated fairly? That’s what I’m talking about. Your boss makes an incorrect decision based on their emotions (usually inflated ego) and dismisses perhaps one of their best talents. If your boss’s boss was any smarter, your boss ought to be fired and you rehired!

That lack of leadership prowess extends to the House members, cabinet and the office of the president personnel as well. And this is well known and accepted. What everyone misses is how terribly it lacks within the press and worse the general population. The masses are suffering the worst from a lack of knowledge or a lack of will in exercising critical thinking. The latter perhaps in most of Africa, because I’m aware the curriculum insists on years of literature which promote this type of thinking. Summarized and missing key points, critical thinking is cause and effect. Extended with “and keep your unproven sentiments out of this”, it almost gets it all. There is a huge gap in all of Africa and development. That gap is management and leadership training. At the very least, the basics must be taught. Strategic thinking would be a good start.

Don’t despair. This problem is global. You ought to listen to some arguments you get justifying certain things including invading other countries. Fortunately, your world is a better place when you can think critically for yourself at all times. You know what is true and can identify the errors of the bickerers. Whether you say anything out loud or not, you are above the influence. And that’s all that matters!

Now think about your choices, as a manager at work and/or within the political leaders/views you support. With critical thinking induced, what would you do differently?

You Kenyans have it good

2007-06-18T12:41:00.000-04:00

I was browsing for news as always and caught the interesting note about migration to Europe. Nothing could have prepared me for what I watched via the www. It's a short production, a photojournalist recording some still moments as some young man leaves home to attempt to cross to Europe. The link to watch this is here. Watch the entire journey.

Which made me realize Kenyans just have it easy. People fret about going to the embassy to get visas but that's about it. I'm sure the demographics of this country have played a role in how they attempt to get to Europe but hey, life is tough. Sometimes you just need to see something like this to get you all back to grateful.

And if any politician wanted motivation to work at improving their country, (KP directed me to a post about the Zambian copper export tax here); they need to watch this so that they can see why they need to improve situations so that people never have to go through this in search of a better life!

And bankelele mentioned some $500,000 dollar properties. OK, seriosuly, even if its showing off, let's get smart about it. Is there any land in Kenya worth that much yet? Because the properties that cost that amount of money here are justified by the land they're on. They haven't yet designed a house worth that much. But watch the fickle Kenyans, who need to be noticed, buy these properties, no other thought needed. "It implies status I gotta be part of that" (isn't that the Kenyan mantra?) But as the economy improves (assuming after elections this trend continues), people get smarter about money and spending it and the masses get less fickleminded; how do you not lose after having invested in property whose only base was status; actually supposed status? Smart people wouldn't invest in those amounts of anything in Kenya unless it was a business with 99% chances of making very good returns!

Have a smart, grateful day, won't you :)

Musings

2007-06-15T16:26:00.000-04:00

First the budget. Might I say I was impressed. As I mention whenever I mention economics, I'm a firm believer in Keynesian economics. So a huge deficit means growth will be stirred. And I know it will. I love when the government spends. Rise Kenya, rise!

Of course there are those who think that the budget was politicized. What? more cops? Loans for women? and the youth as well? And what was that? More teachers? at a higher rate? tsk, tsk, could we be more political? Are you kidding me? What exactly should have been the government's points of concentration given that CDFs are creating new schools, free primary school education has meant more pupils in classes, an obvious gender deficit exists in terms of women owning businesses and crime has become a definite issue? Where should the government have injected cash flow into so as not to be political? Is it rocket science? Ala!

And Kalonzo Musyoka knows the government wants to assassinate he and/or his colleague Odinga. He says all this in a public rally, open chest, no bullet proof vest, anyone allowed into this crowd of people, no security checks, no cover nothing. Spoken like a true idiot. If you're that sure someone is after you, shouldn't you kinda protect your coveted behind? Overrating your importance perhaps?

Anyway, I was at a Dillards store and I met a lady who hails from South Africa. Out of nowhere she told me she doesn't drive. I inquired why. She then proceeded to tell me of how she had a traumatic experience once. A friend of hers had an accident while she was in the car. She was 5 months into America and her friend just about a year old. English isn't their first language and they weren't fluent in it then. Anyway, they encountered a racist mf who told them they were terrorists who wanted to kill Americans etc etc. He was demanding that they be deported, forget the fact that they are residents. Anyway, that has stayed with her for 9 years. It's not hard to understand when I recall how strange and unfriendly some people could be here when I was 5 months old. Anyway, I told her to get over it because what she was in was a situation where she had let a white stupid fool hold her back for 9 years. Told her to go to the dmv, pick a driving book and start her studying today. She smiled and said she would. I hope she does. Talk about a harrowing experience! You just never know what you're going to hear.

The other day when I had gone to visit my good friend S in Columbus, I had to sit at a bench while waiting for her to come pick me up. There was an old lady sitting next to me. She said hi. I said hi back. Then she said she'd been waiting for her husband for an hour. By then I depicted she was worried. I asked if she had called. She said no. She didn't have a phone. Then she added that he was never late. I offered her my phone and I asked what number she needed to call. Then I punched the numbers in and passed the phone to her. I waited for her conversation to begin with baited breath. See at her very advanced age, a husband who has never been late, is over an hour late... the outcome of this call might not be so cool. I'm praying silently because I seriously don't want to have to comfort her. Hello, she says. You were supposed to be here an hour ago... Phew!!! Thanks goodness. Yes. Old age has hit home. The dude thought she was coming back Sunday. It was Friday. But he was alive and well. OK. Now I can exhale.

Paris Hilton, in jail, out of jail, in medical ward... One question. What the heck is a Paris Hilton and how does it affect daily life?

The Sopranos? What a cool ending. Intelligent, annoying, dissatisfying... job well done. Bada bing, bada bang! Out with a bang!

In other news, summer school sucks!

Decamping to Obama

2007-06-12T15:39:00.000-04:00

I've been chit chattering about how Obama isn't ready and how I think he should be a running mate for Mrs. Clinton until he has had more experience and then he will be ready. I have always stated I think he'd make a good president. I just haven't been sure that he is ready. And very importantly, I have thought that the mess that is Iraq and America in Iraq right now would do nothing to credit him, a black man, whom I believe as a president would have everyone watching for the mistakes he will make, forget all the good he would do.

I registered as a receiver of Barack's campaign info a while back. They've been sending this information to me about a dinner for 5. Donate and get dinner for 5. Today, the e-mail had a link. An invite to the dinner from Barrack himself. Well! Mr. Obama tells us how he will meet with four people plus himself, will fly you at no cost to you and pay for the dinner. Theirs is a grass root kind of campaign and this way, he gets to hear every one's opinion. Donate any amount. Link is here.

After watching this video, I would like to reconsider my position. Granted, my position has been influenced very significantly by this documentary It's not that it's new information but it's very detailed. The whole other side. Where even I am not interested in any democrat, forget my aversion to republicans (shaming God always). I am interested in what Barack is doing. Eliminating the Washington lobbyist. All of them. They do nothing but promote the damn pharmaceutical companies, Oil companies and any other influential organization with no regard to human life. You ought to know how mad I am about GE making its way to Kenya. It's one of the 5 evil companies, in there with Halliburton and others. They never do anyone any good. They just act like they are. Those damn GE people better not mess with Kenya! Which they will I'm sure. Let's watch for the rot they're about to start.

Back from wandering and digressing, I'm now convinced that the only thing that is an obstacle to Barrack is people like me. Those who want to shelter him from America. Obviously, the man knows how to use the Internet to market himself and knows how to get to people through this medium. Who am I to assume he doesn't know other things? That he can't handle the heat that is Iraq and shine through it. Obama has proven time and time again that he votes with his head not his alliance when it comes to the war. He gives the reasons why, almost always very well thought out and why then am I claiming he isn't ready? I think with that short video, Barrack just totally made the campaign of his life to me and many others. It was all I needed. Back off Mrs. Clinton. Running mate for Barrack Obama instead! I've decamped. Obama for President 2008!

Officially.

I'm still with Kibaki in Kenya. No one has given me any reason to oust a man who obviously can influence prosperity back into Kenya. Go Baks! Kibaki tosha, 2007!

Officially as well.

Happy Madaraka Day

2007-06-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

Dear Kenyans,

It is with mixed emotions that I, through this blog, address you all on this very Madaraka day, 2007. Madaraka means freedom and freedom spells joy, possibilities and planning. But freedom comes with that other thing called responsibility. Madaraka is all these things and more, wrapped together with the aim to keep ALL Kenyans happy.

Today we remember Dedan Kimathi and crew, Kenyatta, Waruingi, endless list of knowns and unknowns whose blood we thrive on in Kenya. As the economy boosts to 6.1% growth, we must remember that we owe that possibility to these people. They lived, were tortured and some died so that we had the possibility that is the vision 2030 and more.

So I write with the awareness that the headlines are about Mungiki and a country that cannot agree on how to handle this menace. Let's all get to the responsible part. Where every Kenyan has the right to freedom of movement and business opportunities free from harassment from any and all. And that the court systems and the police crackdowns are butting heads over this issue. This is not amazing nor surprising. The menace that is Mungiki in its fervor right now is a new concept. Gang violence aided by weaponry such as guns is a new concept to Kenya. And as much as Kenyans sing about how Ali should do what, and Michuki shouldn't do what or whatever it is they say, truth be told, no one quite knows what to do. The obvious truth is that something must be done. And whatever must be done is going to require changes to old laws, new gun laws created, new gang laws and new right of questioning and hold times accorded to police for suspected gangs and terror groups. Instead of pointing fingers and issuing blame, let's collectively meet at a conference table, admit to new, ugly beginnings and seek a solution so that all deserving citizens may live and continue to prosper in peace. To be fair to Ali's team, his people, his employees are dying in this effort to end this menace. Imagine them watching these charges, on the implied purporters of this madness, be dropped. They need a lifeline. Something to believe in. New crime, new casualties, new end results all call for new laws.

It is unfortunate that like every garden, every batch of planted seeds has to deal with the menace that are weeds. Kenya as a growing or freshly planted nation is no different. But every weed, has its weed killer. All we need is to sit back, analyze what weeds we really have and then find solutions. The Mungiki, Mt. Elgon clashes and incessant tribalistic bashing by our very own elected officials are just some of the weeds to which we need solutions.

All is not lost. The economy is doing better. People are much more hopeful now than they used to be and I believe that many do see a light at the end of the tunnel now. Education is more affordable than it ever was and investment possibilities have been made a reality to majority of Kenyans via loans and stock markets. While Kenyans struggle with the difficult issues, they must not forget to look and see the things that are going well. Keep a balanced perspective. It's my opinion that less speculation and more interest in facts rather than emotional biases will lead Kenya to find solutions to its issues faster and more effectively.

So as Madaraka day comes and as it goes, let's dwell on hope. And earmark ourselves as individuals to be conduits for the real Madaraka to be passed on to every individual. By being better citizens in productive ways, actions, speech and intentions.

Happy Madaraka day na Mungu aibariki Kenya!

Damn them Mungikis

2007-05-22T14:25:00.000-04:00

If I had come to the USA to run away from Kenya and its shenanigans, I would be stewing in a pot of disappointment today.

Sometimes I love the Internet, Internets if you're the W. Today isn't one of those days. Today I wish they'd shut down the cnn site and just leave me alone.

Not that CNN has done anything wrong. They haven't. they just picked a story from our local dailies and have placed it where the entire world can see it. It's fact. So it should be published. Still, I wish it wasn't published today. Usually I condemn our local dailies on reckless reporting that causes negative impact to our society. This is not one of those times. What they reported on, they needed to. It was a job well done. I'm not sure about CNN though. They do tend to jump on miserable stories from Africa. That's unfair. I know. I'm just bummed. Completely.

See this link has caused me nothing but chaos all day. It's a well known fact that I'm Kenyan and a fairly well known fact that I'm Kikuyu. I've been fielding all sorts of questions in regards to my home country and my tribes people all day. This is the hard part. How to do this while establishing damage control. You see, stories like these have me answering questions in regards to safety concerns like I was Brig Ali himself or his assistant. In regards to loving my country, I take this issue seriously. I sit there and explain as best as I can that it isn't an unsafe place as such. It's like New York. And that this is a gang and these actions are happening in the rural areas not the main cbd or tourist attraction areas. I say to these people that this is a huge issue, new to Kenyans and they are trying to deal with it. And then I used the T word. I said these are what you call local terrorists. tick... tock... tick... tock... could the silence be any more louder?

Well, the Mungiki are terrorists. By all definitions of the word. They are more terrorists than are the ghosts being chased in Iraq right now. Those people have a reason to be fighting back. The Mungiki are not fighting the cops back as such, they are making a point. That they are to be feared and allowed to perpetrate sheer madness unquestioned. They are not to be sought out to answer for their barbaric acts. They are to be left to run the country down and everyone should love it or accept it. Now if that isn't terrorism, what is?

Well, I will carry on with this day. Every new face will be a chance to explain the acts of these damn fools again. Why am I suffering for their stupid, cold blooded acts? "Ohhh so it's like black on black violence," I was asked today when I said its not a tribal war. They are Kikuyu killing Kikuyu. I said kinda. What else to say? Who had thought of that? But I said they'd kill anyone who opposed them. Stick with the terrorist theory.

I know the villagers know the people in this gang. They are their own best bets. If they are to be freed of this menace, they will need to toboa yote. Give names and pictures where available. And Brig. Ali; a shoot to Kill order executed to the max on these rogues. Hawa ni bubudiu tupu!

People are leaving me with a somewhat sad, concerned and thank goodness I'm not from the 3rd world feeling! Somehow, this is my fault. I challenged all these people to shun ignorance and read about Africa and ask intelligent questions. I turned them into the monsters that they are. Sigh! When will this day end?

Idle chit chat

2007-05-14T17:37:00.000-04:00

First and foremost, let me begin by lamenting. I missed Barrack Obama despite having paid my dues to go and see him. Thanks sinus infection! Despite the fact that I wasn't impressed by who was allowed to ask questions. It didn't include me despite the fact that I didn't intend to ask any questions. I simply meant to attend for the experience. If it doesn't make sense to you, worry not. I don't quite grasp it either.

Growing up is proving to be rather tedious when it comes to making choices. Career moves, marriage or not; translating to dating types and even geographical location change decisions. I'm beginning to think that people get married so that they can burden others with decision making. It sure sounds like a good reason to get married right about now.

On a charitable note, have you ever thought about feeding the hungry? Whenever I say this, people assume I'm talking about huge charitable deeds. No. What I refer to is just keeping an open eye for a person who seems hungry and is struggling to find the cheapest thing to eat. It happens a lot around where people congregate to eat. once in a while, offer to buy one such person a meal. It's tricky here as people often get offended if they can afford their meals. But trust your gut instinct. I've been doing this for years and I'm yet to falsely identify a person in need.

On to some trivia. Did you know the Bronco O.J. Was driving around in on that fateful day was a Hertz rental? Yeah, he came from poster child to DNR (Do Not Rent)on the Hertz rentors list.

Could the Kenyan election politics get any more boring (boringier really was tempting to use here).

Midwest airlines is offering some redeemable miles for completing a sudoku puzzle. It was rather fun to note they had one after I had made sure to board the plane with a sudoku book at hand. I guess the fever has caught on everywhere. It's the favorite past time here at geeks square (IT professionals floor) at work. And this airline never ceases to amaze me. Great service! They delayed us for an almost 2 hours due to some problem with the airplane. As we deplaned, they were calling our names to give us $75 in discounts for our next purchases. Now, this was my first Midwest airlines delay and I can see how they don't make a habit of delaying people. It just seems airlines seemto thrive as smaller businesses.

Finals week. I guess I better pull myself back to being useful.

My condolences go out to all the family and friends of the KQ victims. And a speedy recovery is wished upon Kenya Airways as an organization and its employees as they recover from this tragedy.

Have a great week.

In response to the announcement of free tuition for Secondary Education...

2007-05-01T17:46:00.000-04:00

I say Kudos. Again and Again. Good move. A lot of people just saw an increase to their spending power. And therefore the economy gets a boost with these move as well. That's simple economics.

Now many will want to interject here and tell me how that's only about 20% of the entire cost and that boarding costs are the highest and blah and blah... Did anyone ever give you a 20% raise in your annual income? Did it make a difference to you? Or would it if anyone gave you a 20% raise to your income right now?

That is the weakest of that argument since many will say that the tuition fee amount does not constitute 20% of their earnings. I'm willing to bet it probably does for most because your kids usually school where you can afford, including demographic decisions since secondary schools are usually allotted that way, save for national schools.

The real issue is, is there a need for boarding schools? Is there a need to assess the allocation of schools to students so that they are closer to home and have the option to go to school and return home and thus, the parents rent or mortgage payments can cover parts of fees; because students that don't board won't need to pay for boarding. Why are Kenyans so hell bent on boarding schools anayway? Where, after experience, we all know we went into and spent the next several weeks counting days until we could go home? These are the moments when growing teens most need a stable environment, one where only parents can provide. The reality is a safe haven, where no matter what happened at school, 8 hours later, they can return to and have time to regroup can only be provided at home. With the exception of a few homes where home is a wretched place to be. And those can be identified and boarding subsidized by the government for these students. But those who want to board at a cost to them should definitely still have that option.

So again, great that the tuition was scrapped. Very happy. Now let's explore other ways to reduce these other costs. The way I see it, the simplest way is to scrap boarding schools or make them as optional a choice as it's possible to be! At the very least, it's food for thought, aye?

Venting...

2007-04-27T19:44:00.000-04:00

So I walked into my apartment and the first thing that caught my eye was a note from the apartment office. So, I opened the note, a little concerned, this was the emergency notice posts and wondered what might be in it. Well, the message was simple and not alarming. The contracted company that was going to re tile my bathroom floor came with the wrong sized tiles so the job has been rescheduled for Monday followed by an apology for the inconvenience. Not a big deal. I can handle that. Anyway, I decided to check into the bathroom to see what they had done if anything at all. Lo and behold!

The toilet bowl was uprooted and was now resting peacefully, boldly, annoyingly and disgustingly in the bathtub! Why? I don't know because looking at the floor, nothing had been done at all. Nada! OK. breathe, I tell myself. Breathe I keep saying. Fortunately, I breathe and I feel that hot anger simmering down. It's after 5:00 pm and I have to call the emergency number.

The lady who answered was very nice. Very Nice. She said she will send the maintenance guy right over. I waited for 20 minutes or so and a knock on my door. Seeing that this person had access to the security door, I knew it had to be maintenance. I open the door with every intention of being nice and trying to get answers as to why this was. Alas! it wasn't to be that way. Dude was livid. he starts "Next time ma am, give them a contact number that works!" Is he F*****g sh*****g me? I'm like excuse me? I'm like call that number! And he calls whatever number he has which of course is a wrong number and I can't help but lecture him about his customer service.

"How dare you approach a person who walked home into this kind of situation with that tone of voice", I demand to know.

And then after a giving him a tongue lashing until I recognized the look on his face having changed to one of sheer regret, I tell him to go away and come back after 20 minutes when I've calmed down. he apologizes and says he'll be longer he needs to fix A/C for someone. I'm like cool. And he is gone.

Then I sat and tried to get over it and when that didn't work very well, I pulled my laptop, on a Friday evening, and decided to vent it all out here. Talk about ruining a Friday evening! I'm all vented. Thanks for being an understanding audience.

This and That

2007-04-27T15:32:00.000-04:00

As I get older, I'm perfecting the art of holding grudges. Take for example this stupid site. Some 3 days ago, I started to write a long well thought out post. And I wrote most of it. Then I must have done something unintentionally, because teh next thing I knew, I had a new BLANK, page asking me to create a new post. And I tried for less than 90 seconds to retrieve my other could've been post, to no avail. then I got pissed and shut down blogger and moved on to other things. And I'm back on blogger and I'm still bitter about that loss. It was a good post. With all my thoughts streamlined and making a lot of necessary noise. But I lost it. And I'm just not there today. Can't recreate it, not today anyway.

Moving on. I eat only organic food these days. Not strictly, because if I msut go out to a dinner whether business or not, I kinda fold and eat what's presented to me despite worrying incessently as I eat. Whenever I mention this, people ask if I'm trying to lose weight. I'm not sure why people put the two things together. The simple answer is no, I am not. First and foremost, I am not overweight at all and I am in fact very comfortable with my weight. So why eat organic food given the fact that it costs about double the price of eating regular food?

Well, my reasons are health. Very simply put, I'm done eating anything with hormones in it and I also avoid all pesticide treated foods. The truth be told, I marched into organic food cursing at whomever invented artificial estrogen and decided to fatten all animals with it for commercial food sale. Without going into detail, I was a victim of illnesses, female conditions, all estrogen induced. And I hit lows that no one should have to. And then I discovered it was all estrogen induced and I almost beat the hell out of everyone who already knew this and wasn't telling me about it. But then I figured the doctors were peddlers and they had peddled birth control pills as solutions; that didn't actually work mind you, for the last time. So I went to the organic food store, bought plenty of carrots, bought a great juicing machine and juiced the estrogen out of my body. That and spinach and apples and celery and the wonder food broccoli (sidenote: tell anyone you know with any of these issues that brocolli seems to absorb estrogen out of bodies, actually cures estrogen induced breast cancer). And ate no more estrogen induced foods. And then I saw results. Huge results. I am very well now. No thanks to no doctors and after avoiding a second surgery after it was already scheduled. That's why organic food folks. That's why. Not weight loss.

It's the weekend and I am going to write my final papers. Then create a power point for the presentationn that goes with the paper. It's not as bad as it sounds though. Actually this is all due in 2 weeks timne but because I will be out of twon next weekend and don't want this paper hanging over my head, it will be done this weekend... I hope, if I can kill my persistent procrastination bug. Wish me luck! And have a beautiful weekend.

Will the Standard cease being ridiculous?!

2007-04-16T17:45:00.000-04:00

I just had to say this, the Standard Newspaper is ridiculous. And so is Raila! What is this reaction to the fact that they were interrogated for printing such significant information? And how does this amount to a "dark day" for the press? If the Standard is going to expect to print anything and everything without question, they need to stop printing. And that their directors were detained for questioning... how is this a big deal? Do they suggest that the interrogating CIDs should have instead followed them around as they pursued their daily activities and interrogated them this way? It doesn't matter if it took 6 hours or 10 hours. You print that kind of an article, you better be ready to answer questions related to it. If they aren't aware of this or aren't expecting it, they're in the wrong profession.

And Raila and peers! Talk about demonstrating unprofessional behaviour! What are these people doing demanding release of people who are being interrogated, after a public call to explain their sources; and who are expressing that they have not been tortured? How does a presidential hopeful stand outside the gates and obviously show defiance to state laws and regulations? I bet everyone my every penny earned that were he president or wre allegations made implicating him in anay way, then he'd need these laws to verify information printed. And he would be bickjering loudly about this. A good and just decision/reaction is one you'd have no matter what side of the argument you were in. So why the stupidity of acting like a saviour? Or is it because Kenyans in their fickle mindedness buy this crap. How are you going to run for president in a country whose laws, media or otherwise, you cannot respect?! Somebody give all these people an education in management and leadership!

If the standard wants to write inflammatory material, they better be prepared to defend it. Its the media laws. Don't all act surprised especially within the media circles. Quit the damn sensationalism! Dark day, arrested, detained?! Crap false reporting. Regular procedures, questioned and interrogated, true and expected. It's my personal opinion that this current government is very tolerant of stupid media reporting. In a society full of impressionable people, the Standard needs to start attaching itself to truth or title itself a tabloid. These paper continuously jeopardizes peace in Kenya.

Busy or Disinterested; Which came first?

2007-04-12T14:55:00.000-04:00

I've been busy. Very busy. I think that's how it all started. But then it slowly became disinterested. Perhaps because I was too busy to have time to worry about everything else.

At work, which I rarely comment about, I have come to really understand the benefits of being a professional. One of those people in that block, no doubt, no questions asked. We're going through a lot of changes. Through all of them, we've had the constant opportunity to have a CEO or president come in and talk to us within 24 hours of that announcement being made. I should actually say, come in and answer our questions. And they've been good questions. We're all well read, understand the business very well and understand the implications of each move they make. It's made these transitions just that much less scary and troublesome. And I noticed that we were the only team being awarded the gift of the question and answer sessions. Probably because it's the only place it makes sense to have them. Not sure. But it has been very appreciated!

Maybe I was never that disinterested after all.
In my hiatus, I noted that Raila Odinga purchased a Hummer at a stated ksh 45,000,000. I argued with this amount, insisted it should be one zero less and so on and kept being told the amount was correct. Kenyans seemed impressed. I was very distressed. A hummer at $590,000? Seriously? Please visit kbb and note that a hummer is NOT a luxury car. Also please note that it barely has any safety enhancements and all it really does is guzzle gas. Then note the hummer is probably not going to manoeuvre in rough terrain. Most importantly, please note that the hummer costs a measly $50,000 in the US. Substantial amount but paying over 10 times that for it is just not prudent, even after considering tariffs and levies. I hope that that quoted amount was wrong! I'm told this is the listed price for hummers in Kenya? Please gather together around the reported Hummer dealership and stand with signs indicating that you will not let them take you for rides that way!

The Artur brothers again? Writing books, spotted by Raila ( does he have a tracking unit on these dudes or does he know them from somewhere?) Don't care! Enough about these people. There are real issues in Kenya. Let's please concentrate on those.

Thomas Friedman has mentioned Kenyan twice in the last 45 days. Positively both times. That's the guy behind the book "The World is Flat". He sees hope for Kenya. He understands trade and politics very well. I hope he can enlighten the ever skeptical Kenyans! here is one of them.

Imus got fired finally. The white people citing Sharpton and Jackson on being discriminatory are livid about this turn of events. They somewhat have a point but surely, if you're Imus,then your job is supported by advertising, in a superficial society, where appearances matter more than truth. And even though like Imus, your show is based mainly on the addition of the so called "locker room jokes" you have to know your limits. Especially because in a situation like this, what are your alternatives? Should the company heads have done nothing? Acted like all was well? In a job like his, either you're in or you're out. The punishment option list isn't much longer. Therefore, he should have carried the burden of his job with that knowledge clearly and drawn a boundary line to the callousness of his jokes. And he might have mitigated his fate by offering some kind of innovative punishment such as offering to sponsor some of those "nappy headed ho's" events for say like 5 years or so.

Elections in Kenya are 8 months away. Anyone want to offer insight into whether Kenyans are likelier to make more informed voting choices this time versus mob mentality ones? And on that note, I need to point out that the Sierra Leone civil war started with border induced skirmishes as are happening in the Mt. Elgon area. I say the Kenyan government needs to go in there with a whole military presence like it was at war and instill order the hard way. No time for jokes! These preposterous behaviour of surrounding police stations et al has to be nipped in its bud!

Maybe I was never that disinterested after all.

ODM, Deya, Njoki Ndungu

2007-03-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

So the much hyped ODM gig in the UK was arranged by amongst others Pastor Deya??? I mean I don't want to sound shocked, but are you kidding me?! Perhaps they seek a miracle vote. Say if they could get Pastor Deya to produce votes in their favors at the same percentage rate he gets women to deliver children, they would definitely win the elections. Someone please tell me why our presidential hopefuls are dining with some Kenya's Most wanted strange behaving people??? Is this a reflection on the Kenyans in the UK?

I did like the reasons given from some of the hopefuls who backed out, citing the mistrust this has caused amongst kenyans. But not a single mention of the relationship with pastor Deya. A man who amongst other things, has been rumored to be abducting children. Is this waht they call winning at all costs? Anyone with the money becomes a friend? This bothers me at such a high level I'm actually going to walk away from it all at this point. I don't need any further disappointment from Kenyan leaders!

And kudos to Njoki Ndung'u on being nominated for the US secretary of state's courageous women award. Well deserved. Sexual offenses needed to be highlighted and laws enacted in Kenya. There's more to do here but she definitely deserves to win this award for her contribution. Hopefully an added effect will be to motivate MPs to recognize areas within the country that could get them noticed as having made a difference, and embark on making meaningful changes.

Scooter Libby - guilty. Should he be pardoned? Arguable. Is he a scapegoat? Definitely! And why are these people downplaying leaking a CIAs identity. That in the real sense is conspiracy to commit murder. I don't think anyone should act like it's not a big deal. It is. But who wants to be a millionaire in the US and dares to attack Cheney? I didn't think there would be any takers!

And this other lady shocked me quite a bit with her outburst. Asking about having spouses or friends outside the house and not neeeding the advances from elected colleagues. I guess it has truly become a free country.

Great college basketball weekend ahead. Enjoy! GO JAYHAWKS!!!

Where are they now?

2007-03-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

Joe, Esther and all the other people from Tushauriane. I shocked myself because I can remember the entire first verse of the theme song;

Wenzangu tushauriane maishani mwetu
ukiwa na jambo lolote, usijitenge
Maishani, siku hizi, umoja ni nguvu
Hasa nyumbani

Don't remember the next verse at all...Anyone? But what followed was always this

"ilikuwa... Joe alimpenda Esther... Lakini..."

I recall the episode where Joe was thinking "Wonders in this world will never cease"

There was a very feisty female known as Night as well. And I recall the crazy relative with a panga in almost every episode. His name might have been Jairo. I believe he passed sometime back.
Where are all the rest of them now?

That was one major Kenyan soap.

That was my one random misplaced thing sticking out like a sore thumb in my mind today.

Long Month

2007-03-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

It's been an extremely long month, mostly because I bit off almost more than I could chew with my school course load. Thankfully, after finals this week, there's hope that the following semester should be better bearable.

Something happened within my family space that made me realize just how much the actions of family members affect the other family members. You'd think when everyone is grown, everyone can move on, grow up, make mistakes and everyone else will just be able to stand on the sidelines with only the supportive hand extended but emotionally be safe from the acts of other grown people. It turns out not so really. There is a lot of responsibility and personal questions everyone in the family deals with when one other person goes through a major shift. I was surprised to note that I wasn't the only one who had gotten to the point where I questioned if I ahd contributed to the whole situation by being absent or otherwise. I thought I was all grown up but this incident has made me realize just how stuck together family is, and for that matter, just how much we all must make choices with the other family members' welfare in mind. But because I've had so many devastating news of other people's family tragedies recently, I was able to just look through the other side of all this and see how much worse it could have been. Stiil, I can't help but feel that One of these fine days, I should stop growing up. Every successive lesson just seems to bite off more from me...

And of course the world meanwhile has been mostly the same; save for unsurprising camp shift by Mrs. Ngilu. Same old politics, same wars, same bickerings, same insanities and unfortunetaly, a lot of the same mediocrity continues as well. These in circles worldwide. Of course the Nation Media Group drama getting its own website gets some mention. Still, I think the people behind this whistle blowing would have done much better to keep this professional and dump the personal crap that's bound to hurt innocent victims such as wives and children. It would have had more substance and quite frankly, more interest and support from me. After the first 500 lines it does start to read like an ODM bickering session. Meanwhile, Kenya's press continues to lose the elections for Obama by speaheading his activities as headlines every now and then. Little realizing that it's hard enough for him being black, and the last thing he needs is to seem Kenyan instead of American. You want to help Obama, let him go! The man is Kenyan by parental heritage right but for the purposes of his life experiences and his career, he is only American.

And so the world continues to go around...

The inconvenient truths...

2007-02-09T11:24:00.000-05:00

"Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and British billionaire Richard Branson
announced a $25 million prize for scientists who can devise a way to reduce
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and help combat global warming."

Read more here. I say excellent. There are a lot of critics out there concerned that this is an indication Al Gore has given up on the ability of the world to decrease its CO2 emissions. He says no, he just thinks that we should do both. Branson, the Virgin CEO and new addition to my list of people I admire, says the truth that the rest of the world may change sooner, and start to release less CO2 into the environment sooner, but the USA is going to be slower to change its harmful effects on the environment. Asked if he thought Al Gore, whose documentary on global warming has been nothing short of genius, was some kind of a prophet, he says the rest of the world does and some Americans have caught on to his good deeds as well. I beleive this was all going down in today's Good Morning America. No commitment here, I watched several news programs this morning.

This whole global warming thing, doesn't amaze me too much. I understand how the emissions work to become harmful to our environments. However, my chemistry labs with Mr. Agolla had me convinced I was to worry more about CO and not CO2 emissions, since CO2 is supposed to be stable as a compound. Of course I inject my organic chemistry and I can see how everything starts to fall apart. But if you recall that in organic chem, almost everything ends in H2O and CO2 unless it ends in one of the functional groups (unstable), when you force a reaction... I digress and I'm also at risk of sounding like a geek. Where I was going with this was, how does one find a way to grab CO2, destabilize it, force it to react with another compound or element and create usable, stable compounds as the products of these reactions; that benefit the general population with no harmful residue. I guess whomever finds this answer will be the recipient of the 25M put forth by Gore and Branson. I believe the answer lies in that law of physics where energy is not wasted but converted... But doesn't this shut anyone with no access to a lab out of the prize? However, the labs in the secondary schools in Kenya (the ones I know), I don't know about the universities can start working on this. It's organic chemistry. We've all played with how these things interact... someone should challenge them to get involved.

It has occurred to me the answer might be as simple as planting huge trees and shrubs that absorb huge amounts of CO2 during the day and release very little by night. All these around huge CO2 emission plants and cities. Maybe the real research should be testing CO2 absorption and emission by various plant species.

Enough about that. Anna Nicole Smith died. The entire shock by people is surprising me. Mark Steines from Entertainment Tonight did an interview with her about 10 days ago, her last one it turned out. He kept saying she was in high spirits about her new home in the Bahamas. Well, the footage shows an Anna Nicole Smith who, to speak honestly, is so high, she is devoid of facial emotion. She could barely express herself. The only thing I could think of is she needed to be in a rehab center and I was concerned that she was looking after a new born in that condition. The truth, though not convenient at the time of her death, is Anna started dying months ago. Her drug abuse was out of control and what she needed most was someone to force her into rehab. Not tell her she is happy, or she is right or whatever. All that didn't matter and it sure doesn't anymore for her. Now her daughter, Dannielynn, has to grow up without a mom, a brother and hopefully she will be with her correct paternal parent soon.

At the end of it all, It's sad but it happens. Life is temporary. And that is just another one of the inconvenient truths we as mortals have to live with.

Gives us Free - The time is now.

2007-02-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

I had posted about the MEND in Nigeria here not too long ago. Today, Cnn.com has this as their lead story. As far as the Niger Delta goes, I guess I have to declare myself a terrorist sympathiser. I am on the side of these people. The way I see it, just because one is not in jail does not mean one is free. Au contraire. We as a society are living in a status quo that has the rich getting richer, their kins guaranteed wealth and means while the poor get poorer and their kins are almost inadvertently guaranteed to inherit problems, unless they fight through huge obstacles, then make it to not so poor, on the other end. The poor in an attempt to not be so poor, take all the crap meanwhile. The insecure neighborhoods, the dirty sanitary environments, no electricity and other necessities once inside Africa and in the case of Niger Delta, worsening economic conditions as their livelihoods (fish) can no longer exist in the current environment. Don't forget that this environment has changed for the worse, so that the rich keep getting richer.

Globalization has made this situation worse. The tycoons of the world, run the oil wells of Africa and other 3rd world countries, keep a few "influential" African pockets greased so that they may have easy accessibility to their investments and go about destroying livelihoods and leaving tons of people with no other recourse but utter destitution. And then they donate say $50000 to some African course and pacify their hearts. Please! I think as a society, there comes a time when you can keep taking crap and life goes on, or you can say enough is enough, and make some changes. This is the same argument for civil strife in places where dictatorships run for too long. And as far as the Delta goes, the time is now. They need to start benefiting from these so called investments. they as the villagers, they as the citizens and they as a continent, more than the foreign investors. Without their land, this investment would not exist. If you ask me, they have the controlling factor. They need to force people to meet their obligations to society and to treat all people as worthy of life, love and happiness.

And the Chinese President is touring Africa. The message is "equality, mutual trust". I say, about time.

"China's charm offensive in Africa is second to none," said Philip Alves,
an economist with the South African Institute of International Affairs."They do
a lot of stuff in Africa. They don't see Africa as a burden. They see it as an
opportunity. They don't see African leaders as hopeless and corrupt. They see
them as equals worthy of respect. They've tried very hard, and I think that's
why they're winning friends in Africa."

Here is how globalization plays in favor of Africa. Choices. Now the Africans have the choice to make investment partners with Asia or with the West. The difference, quite interestingly, is cultural. The Asian culture is a very respectful one, where all people are treated with a certain amount of respect. And everyone is allowed to be their own person. This versus the West, which views Africa as a playing ground. A game of chess perhaps, where they can make a move so that they may influence the other's next decision. Well, as far as cultures go, Asia will fit in Africa much more comfortably. And Africa now is mostly being operated by Africans who have never been colonized, are educated and are therefore don't view the White Man as anything other than a man. No remnants of colonial trauma. Save for South Africa, Apartheid will be leaving streaks there for a few more generations. It's about time Africa was able to benefit from Africa. Africa needs to start manipulating its own destiny, not being the leather in the football games other people play. This should free Africa from the jaws of "do this, or else" as has been the norm.

So as Djimon Hounsou said in Amistad, "Gives us Free." I'm just saying, if they can't give it to us, let's take it. Opportunity has availed itself.

The way I see it...

2007-02-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

That the US media is jetting into Kenya often enough now to raise concern for Obama's kin. Apparently, they are going to fight/contest Obama by finding out about his Kenyan roots. Crazy aspect here is that the fickle mindedness of the general population would allow this to happen. How is it, that a past Obama never had should influence his future? How would a journalist twist his findings in Nyangoma Kogelo (is it?) so that he used these to portray what kind of president Barrack Obama might make? Not much, says logic. But logic doesn't dictate these things, no. Foolishness does. The readers of these publications are easily excitable and will hang on to anything that constitutes idle gossip, no matter how irrelevant it truly is. This is the reason why the US media is wasting, read investing, money by flying into Kenya to dig up "dirt" on Obama. I'm hard pressed to believe they are looking for anything positive. They all know Obama didn't grow up in Kenya and has nothing to do with this country as any part of his childhood or youth. I insist as a habit that people engage intelligence into every media coverage they come across.

Speaking of the media, here exists an article that I wasn't quite sure what to feel for. Dominic Odipo expressly singles out Michuki and Karua as people who don't come out well in the media. Seriously?! In all of Kenya these two he picked out. Singled them out as people who have no understanding of how the media works and its influences on them and their careers? I'm interested in how he decided these were the two he would single out. Because the list is endless, always was, as far as Kenyan politicians are concerned. Moreover, the thought that these people while addressing the masses should too much care what the masses think, I disagree with. The masses in question are not smart in general. They are fickle and easily swayed. They are a good argument for dictatorship. As a leader in these scenario that is Kenya (government versus ODM) no matter how noble the cause it must be opposed, I say just tell it as you see it and hope the obvious truth becomes obvious to those who don't see it that way somewhere in the future. Not to say they can't improve the way they communicate. But first, they need a major improvement on the way they are interviewed. The journalists basically suck. Stupid questions that indicate bias result in stupid answers that indicate defensive attitudes. If I don't stop here about the media in Kenya, I might as well write a book.

And what is that photo of Raila holding a bible to swear Kibaki promised to run for a single term?! (Is this swearing in vain?) Seriously, Raila still wants us to believe any MoU between himself and Kibaki should still be worth considering despite the past 5 years? And why did he buy that crap? Words between people cannot and should not supersede the constitution which allows Kibaki to run for another term. Raila should stop whining and he and Kibaki should meet at the polls. May the best man win!

I'm analyzing, perhaps over analyzing today's standard, so I quit it!

Tony Dungy, you and your team rock! Congratulations. Enough about Payton Manning, good as he might be. And the Bears definitely deserve a good effort mention. Poleni Chicago. Maybe next time. Till next season...

Worthy Mentions

2007-01-23T18:00:00.000-05:00

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!

The Iraqis must show up?

2007-01-11T10:14:00.000-05:00

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!

Somalia and Nigeria

2007-01-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

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.

2007... so far

2007-01-08T16:03:00.000-05:00

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!

Ending 2006

2006-12-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

As the year ends, You'd think I'd be reflecting, perhaps making resolutions in an effort to better or improve myself. Nope. Maybe due to arrogance, ah who am I kidding, largely due to arrogance but really simply because I don't believe that too much matters to most people anymore. Instead I'm involving myself in other people's lives. Fiction especially. I have caught up with movies I haven't had time to see plus managed to catch some blockbusters within their first few days of release. And I'm completely and perfectly happy. So there 2006, if I have had the last laugh, then I guess I win.

As for Pursuit of Happyness, the misspell is relevant to the story, kinda. And Jaden Christopher Syre Smith received no favors to earn his role in the movie. That kid is one of the best child actors ever seen on any screen. Sweet genes! Plus he is so cute. And for a story based on real events, it gets you. Especially because almost everyone can relate, no matter how vaguely, to this man's trials.

Blood diamond. First and foremost, is this racism or am I super sensitive? So may recognized and small people shows keep up talking Leonardo diCaprio and ignoring Djimonou Hounsou despite his stellar performance? And some of them even show clips of an interview with him and neglect to even mention his name. I feel so insulted every time this happens. The movie critics were very fair to him however. So for that, thank you. This movie is worth your time for shizzo. I also verified the general events from a friend of mine who is from Sierra Leone. I do this always, movies tend to distort truth too much for it to be considered based on facts. But this one is pretty accurate. The blood diamonds continue to seep in through Liberia. This is one trade that was established by Charles Taylor. A diamond that passes through Liberia is probably dirty. So if you spend too much on diamonds or have bought into the hype, you may wanna rethink this. For starters diamonds are not rare. Never were. If you ever wanted to argue with that, just recall that the lead in your pencil and a diamond are one chemical compound link apart but are actually similar in composition. Next, if to preserve a facade, there has been so much blood shed, why support the idiosyncrasy? Food for thought.

Caught up with plenty of other older movies. Dream girls' will have to wait for the dvd release. Anyone who casts Beyonce in an acting role after having seen her previous movies does not deserve my money at the AMC or Cinemark counters. I know the reviews are raving, but hello, I'm not one of blind faith to those. There's Apocalypto, that's for tonight. I might see "We're Marshall", maybe not. Don Cheadle's and Adam Sandler's coming soon, forgot the name of that, watch out for that. The previews indicate a really good movie in the making.

Well, that's it. Have a happy 2007. Happy. Pursuit of it or whatever. That should always be the ultimate goal.

Kenyans need Edification - fast!

2006-12-07T08:42:00.000-05:00

Uhuru has filed a vote of no confidence in the government. Which is within his rights, - if he had a good reason to do this. To file a vote of no confidence against the government because he lost his chairmanship to a party whose constitution he defiled is preposterous. And for Kenyans to be backing him over this in their usual idle song and dance is just as historically, nonsensical.

I'd like Uhuru to answer these questions for me.
1. Does the Kanu constitution require that you get approval from its members before as a chairman you can merge it or coalesce with another party?
2. If the answer to this question is yes, are you suggesting you are above the law and the Constitution should be changed whenever you defile it?
3. What did you expect the judge to do? Reject the new party leaders after they provide their Constitution proving you have defaulted from it?

It would make you more desirable a man and a leader to accept you messed up and move on. Learn from your mistakes. It's called edification. Quit wasting time and money both of which Kenyans don't have. And the chorus that is your so called ODM party members backed by a bunch of fickle minded Kenyans does not make you right. It makes you a bunch of idiots singing the same idiotic chorus.

Is this how you would lead as a president? Result to abuse of office whenever you were challenged and especially by your own mistake? I said abuse of office. Seeing that this motion of no confidence does little more than nurse your ego, don't you think the Parliament and its members are on too high a price for Kenyans to pay so that you keep your ego intact? You as a party chairman especially, had to be the one to uphold that party's constitution. Shame on you for your acts!

Will Clay please shut up about Kenya!!! If he has to discuss corruption, I insist he discuss it within the confines of his home country, namely the UK (Updated. Engulfed in my rants I had typed in USA. Thanks Anon.). There is so much for him to discuss there. I'm aware Kibaki has snubbed the ways of the American/UK donors. Really, so called donors. He didn't like their sanctions. And for that I am very proud of him. Forget your money that comes with too high a price. And shut up about Kenya. Once and for all!!! Are you the economic hit man, or the man who comes after the economic Hit man has failed to cause chaos in the country? I have read the "confessions of an Economic Hit man" and I don't like the role you play in Kenya. Shut up! And if I hear Kenyans backing this idiot nosey man up I'll seriously have to go and throw up. I'm aware I just made an appointment with the bathroom. Kenyans, grow up. Fickle mindedness has to come to an end. Today will do. Yesterday would have been much better preferred.

Facts:
1. Kenya cannot afford elections randomly every few years. Let the terms run unless there are obvious reasons to interrupt governments.

2. Self-serving manipulating so called leaders do not qualify as obvious reasons to the above.

3. Anyone who is not Kenyan needs to shut up about Kenya. They need to remove the logs in their home country's eyes before removing splinters in ours.

4. When a rally is banned in a country where authorization to have a rally is required, going out to the rally and getting teargas is self inflicted suffering.

5. Learning to obey the law and get results within it would be a great uplift from the fickle mindedness of Kenyans in general.

6. Part of being a good leader is being a good follower. Of peer leaders and laws alike.

7. I could keep going. So chew on the above for now.

Time has run out. Kenyans must get smart. This simple manipulation of minds has seriously become nauseating to watch and listen to. To end, I quote proverbs 1:22

"How long do you simple ones (in the mind) want to remain simple?"

Dunia wiki hii

2006-12-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

Maliki and Bush at a press conference. In my opinion, the responses from a seemingly pissed off Maliki resounded that if there was an incompetent leader on the podium, it wasn't him. I'm sure the leaked memo from White House indicating they thought him to be incompetent played a major role in his responses that indicated he wasn't going to be tolerant of interference. Co-operation from outsiders he encouraged and condoned, interference, not so much. And how about Bush just obviously having lost control. It's almost sad how much that man has had to deal with in terms of challenges and tribulations. Masaibu ya ndugu W. Bush.

Biwott/Kanu Vs Uhuru. To comment on this, I have to ask what does the law mean to Kenyans in general? Because if the KANU constitution denies Uhuru the right to merge his party with ODM without official approval from his party members, then he deserves to lose his seat as the Kanu chairperson. It would be a breach and it's his fault for not having observed the constitution that binds him. And when judge upholds this constitution, how then is it perceived to be a conspiracy? And if the government is using his error to kill ODM per his claims , then he only has himself to blame. It would make him a better potential leader to learn his mistake instead of whining like a child.

My concern lies in the utter chaos that leaders portray and expose Kenyans to. The same Kenyans who understand law very little. People who no matter what's right or wrong, always side with their emotions and not with truth. Because unless the KANU constitution does not require Uhuru to have obtained an official party approval to make this political party merger so to speak, Uhuru has been fairly overthrown. Ignorance on his part isn't an excuse. I feel quite sure that there is a Sidney Sheldon that actually brings forth the importance of understanding the rules and regulations that a person is governed by within any membership. The law must be respected at all times. It must be withheld and current and prospective leaders should be the ones setting examples when it comes to this issues. And politically, who cares if Uhuru is party chairman upon "defecting" or "merging" with ODM. Shouldn't they be riding on the power of their own achievements and capabilities and not party stickers or symbols?

Don't get me wrong, Biwott isn't my choice cup of tea, but when a leader like Uhuru fails to dot his i's and cross his t's, these are the expected results. Whether he is leading an opposition party or a country. The point is to educate people so that they respect, learn and understand the law. No one can make a good leader without understanding his/her limitations and the available loopholes so as to achieve their goals without causing unmitigated chaos. More than a conspiracy, I hope Kenyans learn to see this as an understanding of law and its practices within politics and learn how to observe and use the law within their lives as well. Enough about Kenya and its challenged thinking/reasoning capabilities.

I just watched a documentary on the History channel that indicates Saddam won the after all. They didn't say this specifically but the military retrieved a video tape of Saddam learning about and ordering mass production of home made weapons. Additionally, Saddam refused to destroy the bridges which eased the advancement to Baghdad. More importantly, Saddam never prepared to fight back after the US threatened him with war. Au contraire, he hid his war aircraft by burying it. His focus was the uprising after the war. The shiites being controlled. The sunnis having a way to get to the Shiites. That having being said, Saddam in jail or not, dead or alive has won this war. Whats happening in Baghdad now seems a result of his arming locals with various kinds of home made weapons. And Bush not looking victorious in Baghdad as a result seems to have been part of the plan as well. You know what they say about he who laughs last...

And George Stephanopolous showed some data indicating that Barrack was a 3rd best choice for president in current non scientific polls with New York's Rudy G. leading this, McCain second and H. Clinton coming in 9th. Those statistics blew my mind away. Might America be ready for a black president? Has Obama accomplished this fete? Only time will tell.

Until next week...

Only in the midwest...

2006-11-29T15:48:00.000-05:00

Is it 70 degrees and sunny at 4:30pm Tuesday evening and 27 degrees next day at 1:00pm with 1/2 an inch of ice on the roads. Of course the weather advisory last evening indicated the ice storm was going to be further east and wouldn't affect us. Right now we're on an ice storm advisory. And pray it stops soon because all that ice, plus another day below freezing tomorrow means trees will come down and we will have power outages. Last time this happened we were without electricity for 3 days and I was amongst the lucky ones. Did I tell you how much we need electricity to stay warm?

The streets of Nairobi, oh how I miss you right about now!

Perks: School's closed.
Unperk: This lesson is going to be covered online. I'd rather be in class with my interesting crazy classmates.

Perk2: Leave early from work
unperk: Deadlines weren't shifted so really it means work from home.

I guess working from a laptop under some warm covers isn't as bad as working in this cold freezing building. Why do they always delay turning the heat up?

I'm off to hot coffee, covers and layers of clothes. Stay warm!

Is it or Isn't it...

2006-11-28T16:10:00.000-05:00

A civil war? NBC, amongst others, say it is. Bush says it isn't. Related Fact: Sunnis and Shiites are at war with each other in Iraq.

A religious war? Is this about Christianity versus Islam? Related Fact: Iraq is an Islamic community with cultural practices inherited from the Islam religion.

A war against Terrorism? Related fact: W. Bush's government once insinuated that Saddam had ties with Al-qaeda which were ultimately found to be baseless.

A war about oil? The US once upon several decades ago entered into their mantra that they will stop at nothing to ensure that they have enough crude oil. Related fact: Iraq is the world's 2nd largest exporter of oil.

A war about the Euro? Rumor has it Saddam was determined to break OPEC's dumb ruling that all oil should be traded with only the dollar and was looking to sign treaties where he could sell oil in euros. Related fact: OPEC wouldn't like that.

A continuation of the gulf war?

A plan to attempt continuity of world domination gone bad?

Time for the troops to leave Iraq?

Time to deploy additional troops to Iraq?

A result of underestimating the world in general?

A grave error?

A method to control crude oil prices so the rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer?

Another day in Iraqi civilian lives?

The beginning of an actual real war between the Christians and the Muslims?

The result of utter stupidity?

Necessary to begin with?

A window into the reality of "reaping what we sow" ?

Affecting your life directly or indirectly?

Is it, or isn't it?

Currently...

2006-11-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

Women in Kenya have become very good at fighting for their fair share of properties and their rights from their (estranged) husbands. I'm guessing what I was expected to note from this story was that this man has amassed some billions of shillings somewhere. True, it struck me as odd. But there are so many overly rich people from the previous regimes that within that context, this kind of wealth has to fit within normal confines. Still, $10M in a bank account is way too much money. Especially when you shouldn't have afforded it. This was the problem with the previous looting. It was absolutely ridiculous. They stole, collapsed projects and kept stealing, like people possessed with a stealing demon. Plenty of investments there, Mr. Gichuru.

And what's with the vodafone 35% and mystery non existent company 5% and of course the remaining 60 % with the government story on Safaricom? OK, if Mobitelea does not exist, does the government then not have the right to claim the 5% shares unless someone or some company can legitimately claim them, within say 30-60 days? So the people involved in this scandal will either unveil themselves (doubtful) or at least lose some of the 5% shares they own in Safaricom and those earnings hopefully are diverted into projects that build the nation.

As a result of moving to blogger beta, I'm unable to leave comments on other people's blogs. I'm just in no mood to go about searching for the solution to this issue. However, I have done a little digging around and I'm aware that this issue is not uncommon. I'm just irritated that google, a company with shares prices that hit over $500 a share, should be putting out such major issues out with their beta products. I'm allowed to expect better here. And just when there was so much to comment on.

I'm in search of a really good juicing machine from a Nairobi store and an average cost from anyone who knows enough to enlighten me on this one. Also can anyone tell me if they have grapefruits anywhere in Nairobi as well? My father has cancer and we're trying to get him into a healthy eating lifestyle. So if you have any helpful information on this end, I'd really appreciate it.

On to the great thanksgiving week(end) here. I'm sure there is plenty to be thankful for. The only food store open all day on this day is a whole foods store I frequent so I'm pretty pleased about that. It's great to know I can spend thanksgiving shopping. Last time I was at this store they served an entire meal from soups to dessert. It was a Tuesday evening and I believe they were advertising for their thanksgiving dinners that you could then place an order for. Chicken, beef, seafood, dairy, pies, coffees and dessert. Those were the food sections out there. Talk of a free dinner! And unexpectedly. And this from an organic store where all food costs an arm and a leg... yeah. I was pleased!

Flying and a MUST read for all 3rd Worlders!

2006-11-14T12:24:00.000-05:00

Northwest airlines almost got a clean bill of health from me. Until I missed a connecting flight. I could see it, but the lady had stopped boarding. This didn't make sense to me for several reasons. First, the flight was scheduled to depart its gate at 5:00pm. It was 4:55. I had been waiting at the counter for 2 minutes while she was inside the doors. I don't know how long before she had been in there with a closed door behind her. One might argue that since passengers are supposed to have boarded 15 minutes before, she is within her rights. I disagree. Why? Because I was a connecting flight passenger. My flight had been on the ground for at least 20 minutes, 7 of which we spent parked at our gate while waiting for the doors to be opened so they could let us disembark. So, if anyone had cared about customer care, they would be waiting for me at the counter because they are expecting me, still have time before the flight departs and they're sure the flight is at its gate, so they don't expect random delays by choosing to wait for me. More annoyingly, the connecting flight was only 1 gate away. They weren't concerned about the amount of time it would take me to get to the correct gate.

I'm convinced the fact that this was a flight where I had chosen to upgrade to first class played a role in this. First class space is limited and they are always trying to give these seats away to passengers that want to upgrade using their miles. So I assume that it was a good opportunity to do so. Either that, or flight crew going home also love to use the first class section and would jump at an opportunity to find a suddenly freed up seat. So the lady at the counter tells me my plane has left. I tell her it hasn't, just page the pilot and open the door. She spends a precious 60 seconds arguing and at that moment, the pilot backs off. I waste no more time arguing with her on this one. "get me home, today!" I bark at her. So she gives me some random new path journey that allows for 20 min between connecting flights. I flat out refuse to take it. I guarantee her that would be another opportunity for a missed flight since all their flights have landed and or disembarked late. So I sent her searching again. Eventually, she sends me back on the plane I just came in, back to where I came from. From there I can catch a flight back home. The only good news here is that this flight gets me home 1 hr earlier than her earlier proposed flight plus it gives 45 minutes between flights. Which it turned out I really needed as air traffic slowed us down midair.

I was too angry to sleep despite my very fatigued state. So I started reading. The book is "Confessions of an Economic Hit man" by John Perkins. At first sight this book seemed like a book that might tell me about how the author embezzled dollars or helped finish companies. So I thought I wouldn't be interested. But for no good reason at all, I picked it and read the back and what it was about. Well, it's about how the 4 main companies in America are working "privately" from the government to enrich certain families by economically crippling the targeted countries, the LDCs. This is their lingo, I guess used elsewhere as well for the Less Developed countries.

On September maybe 11, maybe 12, maybe 13, 2001, I was watching Discovery channel when they declared the Mau Mau to be early times Terrorists. I have never bought into the war against terror because of that. I have always wondered what Osama's side of the story was. However, I have always emphasized that his methods are wrong. That he is hurting the innocent, despite whatever provocation he might have. By page 10 of this book, I understood 2 things. I was right, Osama is a counter terrorist, not a terrorist. Additionally, the loss of innocent lives is related to the methods used by the original terrorists. The starving of nations to make them so poor that they can be easily manipulated. It leaves tons to die from hunger and disease. It's the reason why these group of people insist that there are no innocent people standing by their targeted areas. This is not specifically mentioned in the book. But it's easily deducible.

As far as this book goes, this is all I have to say. No one should consider themselves worthy of leading/ruling a 3rd world country without reading it. Additionally, the whole oil drilling situation going on in Kenya now, just as it starts to see the end of its debt plays perfectly into the methods employed by these knucklehead companies and their political counterparts. I would suggest it is stopped immediately.

This book will not be a shocker. Nothing so far fetched that you hadn't thought about before. It's beauty is in how much it seals the cracks in the jigsaw puzzle of manipulation of the 3rd world countries the world has become aware of. This book is also not a new release. Its newer in paperback but it has been out since 2004. I'm not even halfway reading this book but I have such clarity of issues, I'm amazed. The author has also bothered very much to provide reference materials one can look up in libraries and public records.

Pick this book up. read and be bothered. Be very bothered. More importantly be very aware of your actions and comments. Watch what your opinions are and what person from the west implanted them there. Read this book before you next allow yourself to criticize a government that said no to military bases and investment opportunities to the great US of A. Allow yourself to see how you too have already been used. Then edify yourself and become a better citizen.

Midtacular Elections

2006-11-08T10:07:00.000-05:00

So I went to bed last night all worried and disappointed because it seemed McCaskill was losing to Talent by 10%. Forget that only about 2% of the total votes were in. It was super depressing. Since I was determined not to get emotionally engaged with these results, I tuned into Bravo and watched the crazy women crack jokes, or attempt to anyway. This versus my usual Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert choice. They were covering elections. Soon I was in lalaland.

Fast forward to this morning and I resist as much as I can to check the Dems vs Republicans results. I finally give in to what is over and above curiosity and WHAM! Do I see McCaskill ahead by 3% with only 2% of the precincts not accounted for? I'm feeling better. And what is that? Oh yes, The Dems seem poised to take control of the senate. Well contingent to the Virginia and Montana vote tallies coming in.

Nice start to this morning. Especially after I went to bed with this weird "can't live through this another 4 years" feeling. Will keep you posted.

pssst.... Did I mention the Talent team had started a small victory dance last night? What is it they say about he who laughs last?

Update at 2:15 CST
Already, the first major rewards of the Democratic rule days. Rumsfeld has been forced out. Finally. My day continues to go well.

It seems we are confident enough to declare a win for the Democrats in Montana but not yet ready to do the same in Virginia as far as the Senate goes. Looks like they are winning here as well. And the day gets better.

Random Observations:
-Last evening, despite crude oil prices going down, the pumps shot gas prices up by 10 cents. Are we in for major gas hikes so that they can come down same time 2008?

-I have always thought I'd comment on Bush and a regrettable legacy some 2 years from now. It seems like I might have to start now. The comments coming in from the world in regards to his 6 years as American President seem to be forcing me to discuss the importance of doing right, versus being right with the rich. Still I choose to hold on to give an in-depth personal analysis on this one perhaps in 2008 sometime.

-Myself and many others fed up with a lot of crap going on had a conversation. We are not idiots and therefore don't think the democrats to be gods. We just want the lesser evil. We're hoping that in 2008 the ticket will run as H. Clinton and B. Obama as running mate. Obama could use some exposure before running for the white house. (Dear Obama: Of all things stupid to do, do not announce your decision to run, if at all, on the Oprah show. You must show your charisma, your independence, intelligence and your belief in yourself by standing on your own cloud, not Oprah's. Please take heed.) Worthy opponent from the Republicans? McCain.

- On the stem cells vote held in Missouri; Belated education. Stem cells can be harvested from grown adults. However, by doing this, the cells would be free and there would be no profits for the drug companies. That's why they are pushing for embryos. This bill to legalize stem cell research passed. Have I mentioned that I passionately dislike the pharmaceutical companies? Oh how I wish the ads had educated people on this instead of bashing each other.

Jibber Jabber

2006-10-31T15:54:00.000-05:00

**Title adopted from one of Boston Legal's senior citizen judge.

One of my new instructors might be a schizophrenic. I had the idea he was a timid man, very agreeable and possibly a push over. 15 minutes into the class and Joseph Stalin, Hitler or Mao Tse Tung stood before the class. Demanding that we understand he will push us to the ultimate level and that he is not to be challenged. Not to be challenged? This man does not want to be asked how long a paper should be. Moreover, he does not want us to use certain words (7 in total) that are all over the course materials, both in class and within our homework after week 3. And since he will deduct 50 (out of a possible 600) points if you challenge him, well then, we aren't arguing.

Having said that, he seems like a very intelligent man. A self made millionaire with very good intentions. Working at some college that's specifically for the underprivileged as well and his mission is to teach them how to be pushed and how to push themselves. He knows this grows their confidence as they overcome hurdles. Best, is that he loves international students or foreign educated students. He says they just get it. My opinion of him? A little scary but definitely my kinda guy. I think too he used to be timid and has had to learn how not to be timid, perhaps from abuse. So he is way in the other extreme. But he is definitely good people. Gives a lot of homework but he did warn us we would be pushed to the limit, right?

The temperatures have started the dance. Its 77, no its 47, no, it will be 28 all in 72 hours. My body just starts screaming when this happens. I'm ready for a steady 37 degrees now. "Oh, Nairobi, where art thou, Nairobi?" Maybe it's not a good idea to phrase my love for Nairobi around excerpts from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet given it's ending.

The campaign ads in this city are nasty! Swing state, we get it, but hello??? Could these ads get any nastier? Some people are writing to the TV stations carrying these ads to complain about it and threatening not to vote because of the same. One station that gives an occasional commentary by their president has him educating the people to vote so that this kind of pettiness can be done away with. OK, these ads are nasty!!! And Michael J fox found himself in the midst of this nastiness. Plus some poor lady who had filed a sexual harassment suit some 15 years ago, whose story was being used without her consent. They don't need it though. It's public information. Not to mention frustrated veterans. And as of this morning, the polls showed the two possible incumbents at a tie. 47% each. Next Tuesday better hurry in, so Wednesday can be ushered in and we can be done with this nonsense.

Halloween? What the heck? You want to be spooked? Take a good look at the cost of books for grad school!

Nairobi and the hawkers... mmmhhhh. OK. Let me get this straight. The residents of Nairobi complain about a dirty city, crowded streets and insecurity, correct? But the same residents of Nairobi have beef with the city for kicking hawkers out of the cbd and allocating them specific quarters? And some bloggers are somehow linking this to the extinction of the middle class???! Now if that is not alarmist! This blogger should seek a job with the Standard Newspapers. Basically people, get educated about cause and effects. Makes you better able to make what I'm willing to accept as intelligent arguments!

Peek through the blinds...

2006-10-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

I keep getting asked about how my brain is wired. Here's how.

1. Whenever there are 2 opposing parties, I make choices/decisions based on pure fact. Forget sentiment. Simply it means that if I switched sides I'd still make the same decision or hold the same opinion. And if not, I'd carry the knowledge that I was being self serving and not necessarily fair. That's as fair as it gets.

2. I hate people who abuse those they deem lesser than them. physically or emotionally.

3. I'm simply lost when it comes to this one. Why again are you with a spouse who abuses you?

4. I value most my peace of mind. The first signs of a relationship infringing on this and we're done.

5. I only break up once!

6. People who get to know me tell me I was intimidating when they first met me. Until I heard this several times, I used to think I was very approachable to strangers. Interestingly, no one has clearly explained how it is I intimidate people yet.

7. I have patience proportional to your expected knowledge base on the subject matter. This is a very elastic area for me. 0-100%.

8. I emotionally dump people who insist on seeking pain in their lives to play the perpetual victim role. Logic behind this is if I'm choosing happiness and they insist on calling me to join their painful choice of a world; then they're antagonizing my efforts. Kwaheri!

9. It's all very clear to me. Almost always. crystal clear!

10. I'm very angry at the idea of death. I've accepted that it happens but I'm still very angry about it. We could all just leave when we were ready to. Who wants to continue living when all their body parts don't work any longer?

11. I feel quite sure that Christianity is the way to the truth. Having said that, I've lately come to believe that the enemy is within. Organized religion is causing Christianity to be deemed stupid. I can see why people would think so.

12. I have 2, potentially 3, people I admire or that inspire me. First is Mother Theresa, hands down. 2nd is Bill Clinton. If you want to go on about adulterous scandals, I said people I admire, not gods. And a possible 3rd is Princess Diana. I wish I knew more. But there's so much potential there.

13. I really don't care what people think of me as much as I care that I can stand myself at the end of the day.

14. Music and books are alike to me. I will listen to or read anything.

15. As far as I'm concerned, "stupid" is not an insult. It's a condition that can and should be rectified. Usually through self edification.

In a nutshell!

Processing...

2006-10-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

Lists of shame:
Barrack Obama fueled by ignorant kenyans : I have said many times before, that the opinion of the west is to be left in the west or to be left only to proper diplomatic forums. I have begged before that Kenyans start to value only their own opinions after ascertaining that they are informed. Barrack cannot claim that the Kenyans he spoke to have depth, which he claims is missing from the response letters he got from his speech. These Kenyans with depth are looking for any cult like figure or following; and just look at the orange, banana shenanigans that went on in there just a few months ago should you want to argue. Information from this crowd or an opposition hell bent on destructive politics is not depth. As a politician himself, Barrack should be able to see this from far. But is it possible he is plagued by his own ghosts? Remember Auma his sister in his book "Dreams of my father"? What did she insinuate to him was the reason behind why his father couldn't get a job at some point? She claimed tribal politics. Forget that it was the universal political game; you antagonize the leader, you fall. No one would blame Barrack for holding this grudge with all the one sided information he has had access to. Still, it's no excuse for a smart man like Barrack to act like he wasn't. And feel secure because there is a loud chorus of ignorant Kenyans backing him up. Again, I repeat, let the Kenyans run Kenya. It is these random acts where you allow a select few foreigners, say Clay and Barrack, to make derogatory statements randomly that lead to the comments made by Bush and the Tanzanian president. That you scoff at? You created the environment that lets these kinds of things happen. And those that want to argue with Barrack being kenyan so he can comment, BS!!! If he was THAT Kenyan, he wouldn't be on the US senate!

John Githongo: If ever there was a man to be ashamed of, it's this one. Pretending to run for shelter from peopel that want to kill him and acting like a perpetual victim. This might be a condition of overvaluing self. And now you think you deserve a seat in our kenyan parliament? Tell us Githongo, say you were president, where would you run to should a difficult situation arise? Where? Into whose arms? The UK, US, those people you run to, to disclose information that tax payers, via the government paid you to gather. Information they expected you to deliver to their hands that you took and delivered to another independent government?Your job was to deliver this dossier to the government that paid for it first, not other governments. What you did was abscond your duty and absolutely abuse tax payers money. Your good fortune lies in the fact that they, the taxpayers, are mostly too dumb to realize that.

The government on dropping the standard newspapers journalists case: I personally believe there is a small fire hidden somewhere here. I think that the Standard either had or has a leak in the state house. What this does for national security makes me shudder. Plus, I think that the government dropped these cases so as to be in agreement with the masses. The pontius Pilate syndrome at work here as well. Personally, I need a government that can protect me, and follow through on what they start out to do. At releasing these journalists, they indicate these people were never at fault and should therefore immediately indict Michuki and his crew for harassment and property damage.

Lists of kudos:
Warren Buffet: On starting a trend that has caught on, when he gave a very huge chunk of his wealth to the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Kudos!

National Geographic channel: For more information than anyone will ever need to have on the entire process of birth right from conception. Details on details and 3d picture of a developing female foetus. Brilliant! The documentary is in the womb and it's strangely fascinating.

Kenyan government: for making the abuse of malaria drugs more expensive and therefore harder to reach. And especially for making malaria treatment free in clinics. Very big kudos!

Wangari Maathai: On a brilliant autobiography and just a wonderful journey through life. Long live!

Resting my case(s), for now anyway!

Is this normal behaviour?

2006-09-12T15:54:00.000-04:00

Earlier, I mentioned there was one other African girl in one of my classes in this post? Well, she's still in my class. Anyway, the instructor, I guess in a bid to show how working within our exact group people affects opinions, asked us to divide ourselves into groups, specifically our gender and race groups. That is white females, black females and the same groups for the males. Which brings me to an interesting observation I've made. There are no latinos in any grad school. The percentage is just very very small when they exist, its negligible. And this for a race that is so abundant in this continent. And I have bothered to verify this observation with friends in at least 5 other post grad institutions. But I digress. Where was I? Oh. The race, gender groups. Since this is one of those no brainer, don't need to spend 3 minutes figuring out a group to join moments, I decided to dash out to the office because I needed to get a parking sticker before the lady left.

By the time I returned, the discussion had started and the points the instructor wanted were well underway. Seeing that I was a little late, I spent the next 5 minutes getting caught up and then scripting the presentation. Then I looked around and something struck me as odd.

me: Where is that girl?
girl 1: You didn't see her?
me: (wondering who she thinks I'm referring to). I mean the other girl from Somali.
girl 1: I know
me: She was here before this exercise, right?
girl 1 &2: yeah, she's still here. (gales of laughter abound).
me: (definitely confused. Also concerned that they may have offended her so she left) What happened to her?
several girls: (amidst gales of laughter) she went with the white girls (they were working outside the classroom)
me: No, I'm talking about the girl (wrapping hands around my head to demonstrate her religious head wrap that she wears)

By this time, everyone else was laughing so hard. Mostly at me. I looked so flabbergasted, they later explained.

It turns out this chic decided she was white and went with the white girls' team.

I wonder how uncomfortable she made that exercise for them.

I inquired of the other black girls in class if anyone had asked her where she was going. They replied no. I wondered if she didn't hear the instructor clearly. Well, this girl understands English with no issues.

Later, after groups had presented, which included the presenting groups sitting in a circle in the middle of class, she offered an explanation. Despite the fact that no one asked for it.

She said she was African and she didn't understand this black or white divides. She was African. When people ask her if she is black or white, she gets confused. She is just African. blah, blah, blah, blah.

I held my peace. I was very offended by this explanation. I hate it when people represent Africans as resounding idiots. And this was one of those moments. I have never wondered if I might perhaps be white. C'mon, it's not rocket science.

My opinion? This girl epitomizes self hate. She despises herself so much plus she has a great ability to entertain denial. Beyond normal capabilities. But she felt dumb and uncomfortable. Otherwise she wouldn't have offered that cheesy explanation she did. I'm still wondering how much you have to hate your skin color to expose yourself to that kind of quiet ridicule she underwent. Not so quiet. Seriously, myself and some girls laughed when she walked to the middle with the white girls. It was more than ridiculous and would have been forgivable only if a) she were blind or b) had never looked into a mirror. I wonder if she ever stopped to think about how damaging to the overall exercise her presence amongst the white girls' was.

That's my opinion. I could be wrong. Tell me people, have you ever wondered what race you belonged to? Is this a normal phenomenon, especially to a person who is not of a mixed race?

Curtain on our eyelids

2006-08-23T16:42:00.000-04:00

In an organizational leadership class, our instructor brought up cultures within the organization. She was therefore forced to discuss racial differences. The tier within the provided curriculum has the whites at the top, the mixed or passing (for white) in the middle tier and the blacks, Hispanics and natives Americans, amongst others at the bottom. In exactly 5 seconds, she had changed the entire mood of the class. Just by showing that one slide.

Then began the tense arguments that roughly said:
The white males: It's all bullshit. The whites are not on top of anyone. Power is mixed and evenly distributed.
The instructor: (Mixed race). In what sense? Think about who's running corporations, who's the leader of this nation...
Another white male: The governor of California is not white.
Instructor: Think about these things, Who has the ultimate purchasing power, the 6 figure jobs, in what ratios. That's the power. So who has the power?
Black female: Oh, we know!
all the above interjected with terse silences.

Finally, one black male, very senior position in a government establishment.
Black male: I notice that when we get to these topics, the white people get defensive and stop talking about it. We're all in graduate school, we should be able to discuss this, whether we agree or not.
White male: I would be fired for discrimination, My company does not allow this...
instructor: It's not about you. It's the general society.

This argument goes back and forth and involves several people.

I'm observing, literally from the farthest point of a V shaped class. And I watch them all start to bleed out. Silence and pain. Tangible. I'm still reeling in shock at how terribly the deeds from years past can haunt people in the present day. I knew but had never had a chance to feel, to really experience the tension that ensues in these instances.

It made me wonder about Rwanda 20 years from today. The hutus and Tutsis in the same classes. And if there was a way to intercept that pain and make it better and easier for the incoming generations to deal with the genocide after effects.

Because honestly, everyone in that class is a victim of slavery. The whites are descendants of the slave drivers and that's all most of them have ever done wrong to a black person. While the blacks are still angry about being brought up in a society that told them they were second class when it mattered the most in their growth years. Only I, and I suspect one other African native in that class were outsiders to that issue. We saw and understood what was intended by the author.

It's absolutely strange that a white man would argue about who has power in America when put in tiers as it was presented to us. I mean seriously, don't antagonize the black by pretending they too have the power in places where it matters.

But as you listen to the white, especially males, you realize they are protecting themselves. The white males is always a villain in these debates. Even if he's poor and struggling like the rest of the folk, he's still a white male. And that's the dorminant position. What's a man who has never experienced power to any significant degree, nor wealth for that matter, supposed to feel when injected in as a dorminant and perhaps oppressive party in a pie chart? What do you mean when you say to him the white male has power? Unless you're suggesting that he's not a white male he doesn't get what the F you're talking about. Or does he?

And the less he understands, the more the black man gets pissed.

The black man just needs this white male to accept that positions of power are held by people of white color, mostly males.

Are we all just walking around with curtains on our eyelids? Just protecting ourselves from the perceptions or accepted norms of society. So much that we cannot see the bare naked truth? To the point where we have become stumbling blocks? Are we so victimized by our own societies that we have become defensive of our positions and become blind to our realities?

So I thought about the general "I hate Kikuyus" sentiments that are all over Kenya. And tried to equate them to this. And came up with an apples to oranges situation. The similarities only lie in cultural differences. Or do they? Didn't the Kikuyus get better education sooner because the white man settled in and around Kikuyu neighborhoods? Didn't they therefore get better opportunities sooner? Did this lead them to become entrepreneurs when the country was just growing, giving them a chance to prosper? Even if the answer to all these questions is yes, aren't the differences obvious. In that Kikuyus did not oppress the other communities. They just benefited from geographical locations and got better opportunities. Including that they have fertile lands, and this is Africa, agriculture is the order of the day. At the end of the day, isn't the enemy the colonialist in this case? Basically, can I equate this to the racism debate I experienced without flawing logic and meaning? I personally don't think so. Still there was a lot to be learnt from it all.

Revitalized but still very frustrated

2006-08-17T10:22:00.000-04:00

I feel like things are worth speaking out loud, read blogging, out loud again. I guess I had allowed myself to get to where everyone goes sometimes. That place where it becomes evident that nobody really cares about anything. It seems to me it takes too much for people to think through things, it's too difficult to get out of the status quo that has become the everyday norm and people are walking around feeling doomed and hoping to find a loophole. Basically, we've all sold our souls to whomever it is that controls this status quo.

I started back at school again and that may be the source of my renewed vitality. It's nice to be in a room full of people with opinions, ideas and a definite determination to change things. Some of them with ways and ideas I would never endorse, but they are thought out and they have a valid source as far as their lives and backgrounds are concerned. But it simply feels good to know there are still a few people that are worth hoping for something in. Still, I wonder how many of them are eventually going to lose their current passion as they wade through the system.

Which reminds me that while taking a good friend to check out a law school in Ohio several months back (She went by the way, good luck to her!), I learnt that the discrepancy in starting salaries between lawyers who go into public/government service and those that don't is almost $100,000 a year. Yes, apparently, lawyers get started at about $39,000 a year in some cases. The average starting salary was $96,000 a year and the highest was I think about $126,000. As per the statistics then. Which begs the question, why would you go to the $39,000 job? Well, this is the only way to provide a true community impact. Translates to the fact that the status quo has made it not lucrative to go into jobs that fight the system. Now working in major law firms, high earners that have clients who are high income earners, survivability of the creme de la creme must always be protected. And they'll reward you for it. So there is hope because there are many people who, despite the knowledge of the pay discrepancy, opt for the $39,000 jobs.

My frustration is always with the people though. I often wonder about the reality of how history has played out. I think it's imperative that people fight back when pushed to certain corners. This is a theory that I think would have changed the outcome of the holocaust and Rwanda 1994. What am I talking about? Think about the documentaries you have seen, real footage from the holocaust. Some 100 armed guards to thousands of Jews. Fleets after fleets of the same thing. Had anyone of these fleets of Jews started an uprisal, don't you think chances are they would have stopped the carnage before it went on for too long. That this part of history would be different? Same thing in Rwanda. Why didn't the Tutsis pick up their garden tools and fight back at the point where it became obvious they were being massacred? Remember it took a few dead Hutus from the RPF to stop the massacre. My point being that a little resistance goes a long way. I believe things get out of hand because everyone sits back and hopes someone else will intervene. Closer to home, remember the Molo clashes in Kenya? Those things stopped immediately when the targeted kikuyus displayed a bloody uprisal and, using their pangas, fought back. The media portrayed them as horrible and cold blooded for having done it. Yet that fighting back stopped what could have easily progressed to a civil war.

So what's my point? My point is that I'm frustrated, always, from history and in the present by the inability we, as humans, portray to fight for our rights. I think my real frustration lies in how quickly we allow ourselves to be manipulated to submission through fear by our fellow human beings. And just how many things keep going wrong, even though they may not involve obvious loss of life, everyday because of this weakness we carry. I think it's worse for me because I'm still trying to accept that I personally and those people that orchestrated genocides such as Rwanda's are of the same biological species. Quite frankly, I suspect a deviation of the species here that I hope a biologist will one day prove.

So, while I know it's not the easiest thing to do anything we feel is tangible, I think we all could do better by informing ourselves and avoiding mass opinions. Choosing to make informed opinions, or have no opinions at all, based on no information. I think it would reduce our overall propensity to be manipulated, and that translates to somehow, beginning to weaken the reins by which the 'world masters' have controlled and continue to control the masses.