Over the weekend, Richard Quest, the business traveller correspondent on CNN is arrested at Central Park, New York (USA) with meth in his pocket (?), a sex toy in his car boot and a rope round his genitals and neck. He had violated a curfew [in short, he was not supposed to be at that place at that time].
He goes to rehab to get over his substance abuse problems...
Jack Cafferty, a show host on CNN, earlier this month, said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food" and added: "They're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years".
CNN says Cafferty was expressing an opinion about the Chinese government......Now they are being sued for US$ 1.3 billion. [An aside here: A Chinese singer has released a song titled "Don't be too CNN" in response to the biased reporting of the protests in a number of European cities to the Olympic Torch relay].
In 2007, Marianne Briner, a 66-year-old Swiss businesswoman, published email exchanges between her and Jeff Koinange on a blog. She also sent a complaint to his boss at CNN's Atlanta headquarters, claiming that Koinange had admitted to bribery and hoaxing an exclusive report from Nigeria.
He was fired.....
Am I the only one who thinks this is unfair? Or even subtly racist?
Newsflash: The first two cases involve white men, the third is a black [a matter of fact, an African].
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Barbarians in Europe
There is very astonishing story that broke out of Austria. It will be a subject of debate on that radio show that allows everyone to put in his or her 2 cents; World Have Your Say on BBC. Now it has been proven that the old man is actually the father-cum-grandfather of the seven children he had with his 'long lost' daughter!
What if this had happened in Africa..the Western media would have had a field day on portraying the Africans as savages, primitive and barbaric...What if it is a white man? Can we now say there are indeed barbarians in Europe? I going to have my field day on this one...It is not the first 'primitive' story we have heard from the 'enlightened continent'. Such savage acts have happened in Britain, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany [remember the guy who ate the penis of his victim with him?]
I will just tune in and listen what the world has to say about this....
When I told my partner about this, she asked how the daugther gave birth to all those children in that basement? May be the Austrian police will answer that question in their investigation.
What if this had happened in Africa..the Western media would have had a field day on portraying the Africans as savages, primitive and barbaric...What if it is a white man? Can we now say there are indeed barbarians in Europe? I going to have my field day on this one...It is not the first 'primitive' story we have heard from the 'enlightened continent'. Such savage acts have happened in Britain, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany [remember the guy who ate the penis of his victim with him?]
I will just tune in and listen what the world has to say about this....
When I told my partner about this, she asked how the daugther gave birth to all those children in that basement? May be the Austrian police will answer that question in their investigation.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Switched On....
Last evening, I attended what is known as "The V Conference", part of Questnet's Change the World campaign. Speaker after speaker highlighted the benefits of network marketing and how it ultimately delivers financial freedom [that elusive dream that most of us pursue throughout life].
A search on the internet about the definition gives this: "Financial freedom describes a well-planned lifestyle where one no longer is required to work for income to cover their expenses". I like this concise description and that is why I have given it the 'red treatment' so that it stands out when this post is viewed.
The last speaker had almost two hours at his disposal to get us on this thing...but he mentioned several truths that hit home. Most of us are working hard, morning to night, and going back home at the end of it and wake for the same routine the next day...after 40 years of doing this dilligently, we retire, broke and wait to die...
How true...how many people are in retirement now and are financially free? The other fact that jumped at me is when he mentioned that money is only important [the big issue] when it is not enough to meet expenses!
I have worked for ten years after university and have started to ask myself how to change my life and get out of this rat race...my dream is own a house, travel to all countries in Africa, write at least a book. But at this rate, I don't think I can achieve that unless I make that C.H.A.N.G.E!!!
The other significant truth that the main speaker mentioned was that to achieve this freedom, we have to be "switched on all the time" to keep the goal in focus and the efforts will bear fruits.
Just like the Grameen initiative worked for the poor people in Bangladesh, is Questnet the answer to empowering the people of Africa economically?
I don't know but I think it is worth a try....I need that freedom [not just financial] to do what gives me the utmost satisfaction.
A search on the internet about the definition gives this: "Financial freedom describes a well-planned lifestyle where one no longer is required to work for income to cover their expenses". I like this concise description and that is why I have given it the 'red treatment' so that it stands out when this post is viewed.
The last speaker had almost two hours at his disposal to get us on this thing...but he mentioned several truths that hit home. Most of us are working hard, morning to night, and going back home at the end of it and wake for the same routine the next day...after 40 years of doing this dilligently, we retire, broke and wait to die...
How true...how many people are in retirement now and are financially free? The other fact that jumped at me is when he mentioned that money is only important [the big issue] when it is not enough to meet expenses!
I have worked for ten years after university and have started to ask myself how to change my life and get out of this rat race...my dream is own a house, travel to all countries in Africa, write at least a book. But at this rate, I don't think I can achieve that unless I make that C.H.A.N.G.E!!!
The other significant truth that the main speaker mentioned was that to achieve this freedom, we have to be "switched on all the time" to keep the goal in focus and the efforts will bear fruits.
Just like the Grameen initiative worked for the poor people in Bangladesh, is Questnet the answer to empowering the people of Africa economically?
I don't know but I think it is worth a try....I need that freedom [not just financial] to do what gives me the utmost satisfaction.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Barclays Banks Fucks Its Valued Customers
Ever since I came under the wing of this otherwise reputable financial institution, Barclays Bank, as a result of the buy-out of the friendlier Nile Bank, I moved from happy to sad to frustrated. I have never wanted to put my money in a foreign-owned bank as a principle [what Capitalist Nigger author terms as 'Spider Web Doctrine']; but now, it is in there and have had to endure with their highly inefficient service.
The Barclays Bank that I'm talking about is the one in Uganda [bearing in mind that it is spread all over the world]. There seems no adequate reason why customers cannot get their ATM cards [those who were previously with Nile Bank], access their money or wait for about 20-30 minutes at the counter for a transcation to go through. To add to our irritation, there seems no credible explanation to what the trouble is or at least a statement from the Bank Management to its customers to sooth the ruffled feathers. There are as many excuses for this incompetence as there are staffers in that fucked-up Bank [which according to their website, are 779 permanent staff and 117 temporary /contract staff].
What is most annoying for me is the recent meaningless adverts that the Bank has put out in the media addressed to "Our Valued Customers". I don't think so, if these fuckers valued us at all, they would have treated us better than this.
I don't think 120,000 retail customers and 570 corporate clients are anything to mess with the way they are doing. Sometimes, that is why I support Mugabe-style takeovers.....many times, I wish we could storm the Bank and bash their heads in, get our money and fire-bomb the place [Ooh...have I committed an act of terrorism in that last part.....forgive me but understand my anger].
FUCK BARCLAYS BANK
The Barclays Bank that I'm talking about is the one in Uganda [bearing in mind that it is spread all over the world]. There seems no adequate reason why customers cannot get their ATM cards [those who were previously with Nile Bank], access their money or wait for about 20-30 minutes at the counter for a transcation to go through. To add to our irritation, there seems no credible explanation to what the trouble is or at least a statement from the Bank Management to its customers to sooth the ruffled feathers. There are as many excuses for this incompetence as there are staffers in that fucked-up Bank [which according to their website, are 779 permanent staff and 117 temporary /contract staff].
What is most annoying for me is the recent meaningless adverts that the Bank has put out in the media addressed to "Our Valued Customers". I don't think so, if these fuckers valued us at all, they would have treated us better than this.
I don't think 120,000 retail customers and 570 corporate clients are anything to mess with the way they are doing. Sometimes, that is why I support Mugabe-style takeovers.....many times, I wish we could storm the Bank and bash their heads in, get our money and fire-bomb the place [Ooh...have I committed an act of terrorism in that last part.....forgive me but understand my anger].
FUCK BARCLAYS BANK
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Tears, Prayers....and What Next?
The media is awash [to use the cliche phrase] with stories of the fire that gutted a girls' dormitory at Budo Junior School, that is located in Wakiso district, Central Uganda. So many questions, so many speculations, so many theories....but very few answers about what actually happened on that fateful night of 14 April 2008.
As usual as with all tragedies in Uganda, we see the big people [that is the politicians and government officials] "express sadness" [or even "cry"] about the event, "console" the bereaved and "mourn" the dead [which is, in my view, are crocodile tears meant to show the gullible public that they care]. Inevitably, thereafter, there are prayers to pray for the souls of the dead and public shows of sympathy from different people and organisations or associations or whatever group that wants to be seen to be 'caring'.
Oh...I almost forgot...there are also promises from the government authorities to do everything possible to get the bottom of what caused the tragedy. Someone, in almost all cases, the President, "orders a probe" [a very common word in our news media, I wish "findings" was even more common]. And that is the last you hear of it.....over time, the initial grief pales and is soon forgotten as the issue falls off the radar. Eventually, it is only among the bereaved that the pain is still fresh; in this case, the parents.
According to The Daily Monitor, there have been 33 fires at educational institutions since 2003!! Where are the findings of those probes, reports, etc.
That is why I hate these prayers for the souls of the dead when I know that another similar disaster is waiting to happen in another school before this year ends. We need to address the fundamental issues that breed the conditions for such tragedies to happen than just to cry and pray...and not answer the questions that continue to linger.
The way we, Ugandans, act makes the saying [was it Karl Marx?] that religion is the opiate of society even ring more true.....Now, the opiate has been administered [memorial prayers] and we are going back to sleep [reports shelved and the issue forgotten].
As usual as with all tragedies in Uganda, we see the big people [that is the politicians and government officials] "express sadness" [or even "cry"] about the event, "console" the bereaved and "mourn" the dead [which is, in my view, are crocodile tears meant to show the gullible public that they care]. Inevitably, thereafter, there are prayers to pray for the souls of the dead and public shows of sympathy from different people and organisations or associations or whatever group that wants to be seen to be 'caring'.
Oh...I almost forgot...there are also promises from the government authorities to do everything possible to get the bottom of what caused the tragedy. Someone, in almost all cases, the President, "orders a probe" [a very common word in our news media, I wish "findings" was even more common]. And that is the last you hear of it.....over time, the initial grief pales and is soon forgotten as the issue falls off the radar. Eventually, it is only among the bereaved that the pain is still fresh; in this case, the parents.
According to The Daily Monitor, there have been 33 fires at educational institutions since 2003!! Where are the findings of those probes, reports, etc.
That is why I hate these prayers for the souls of the dead when I know that another similar disaster is waiting to happen in another school before this year ends. We need to address the fundamental issues that breed the conditions for such tragedies to happen than just to cry and pray...and not answer the questions that continue to linger.
The way we, Ugandans, act makes the saying [was it Karl Marx?] that religion is the opiate of society even ring more true.....Now, the opiate has been administered [memorial prayers] and we are going back to sleep [reports shelved and the issue forgotten].
Thursday, 17 April 2008
How Do We Solve The Food Crisis?
Tonight, that is the subject of the BBC programme World Have Your Say. I am very keen on this show because I would like to hear people's ideas on the way forward and how to get out of this crisis. Then, I have will have my say on this blog on how Africa could have positioned itself to feed the world but didn't and now can't in the short-term even if we tried.
Was it foresight on my part? Check the article I posted on this subject last month. Could be a valuable resource for WHYS show tonight, 9:00pm-10:00pm East African Standard Time, Ahem....
Was it foresight on my part? Check the article I posted on this subject last month. Could be a valuable resource for WHYS show tonight, 9:00pm-10:00pm East African Standard Time, Ahem....
When Do You Know This Is It?
Many times in our lives, we are faced with making decisions about several aspects: what to eat? what to wear? what party to go to? when to wake up? how much to withdraw from the bank? et cetera. But these are everyday decisions that we don't stop to think about them long enough to consider whether the alternative would have been better or because it was a bad one then the decision we made was indeed a wise one.
But there are those times when the really big decisions have to be made. Decisions that could change your life significantly or forever [from that point] such as getting married, leaving home, having a baby, starting a business. I heard someone quote a writer that most of us are not aware of the moment that changes our lives as it happens...that it is only in retrospect that they point to that particular time as when whatever change we underwent happened.
Anyway, everything happens for a reason....I don't know for what reason this is that I have decided to jump off this cliff into the unknown.....the known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknowns unknowns [any one remember Donald Rumsfeld before the US invasion of Iraq? If he known what would have become, would he have decided otherwise? Or advised the Commander-in-Chief to try the alternative? Does he regret his role in this or does he still feel that it was the best decision? Does his conscience bother him about the number of American soldiers that have so far died in Iraq?
At this point in my life, I am like Rumsfeld before that invasion...
But there are those times when the really big decisions have to be made. Decisions that could change your life significantly or forever [from that point] such as getting married, leaving home, having a baby, starting a business. I heard someone quote a writer that most of us are not aware of the moment that changes our lives as it happens...that it is only in retrospect that they point to that particular time as when whatever change we underwent happened.
Anyway, everything happens for a reason....I don't know for what reason this is that I have decided to jump off this cliff into the unknown.....the known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknowns unknowns [any one remember Donald Rumsfeld before the US invasion of Iraq? If he known what would have become, would he have decided otherwise? Or advised the Commander-in-Chief to try the alternative? Does he regret his role in this or does he still feel that it was the best decision? Does his conscience bother him about the number of American soldiers that have so far died in Iraq?
At this point in my life, I am like Rumsfeld before that invasion...
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