ICC: Wrapping my head around the contradictions….

When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder. ~ Lao Tzu

Help me understand these conflicting reactions and existing conditions in light of PEV and confirmation of charges against four of the Ocamp0 6:
1. GEMA/PNU leaning friends are angry that charges were confirmed against UK and Muthaura, not because they believe in either’s innocence but because “he is our man”
2. URP/RV friends are angry that charges were confirmed against WR and Sang not because they believe in either’s innocence but because “he is our man”, but are happy that Kosgey is off the hook also because “he is our man”
3. Both groups are happy that the main “our man” from the opposing side isn’t off the hook, but yet the main men are in an alliance of shared interests against the “other man” who ultimately be blamed for ICC’s actions.
4. Both camps pray to God to get their men off the hook. The very same God that shivering IDPs pray to for justice everyday.
5. Are all IDPs genuine former landowners/farmers? Reason I ask is if they can identify the land taken from them, shouldn’t the government have the responsibility to resettle them on those very lands and provide security and programs to create cohesion? (or at the least ask those occupying these lands illegally just what kind of lawless land they think can allow one to settle on land that they took by force). Otherwise if the government resettles IDPs in “friendly” areas, doesn’t that vindicate criminals who evicted fellow citizens while also making it the government’s responsibility not to provide security but, rather, to demarcate safe areas based on ethnicity. What good is that for a country seeking cohesion and/or claiming to uphold laws.

Fighting Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

Take away the right to say “fuck” and you take away the right to say “fuck the government.”  ~Lenny Bruce

 

Wikipedia goes offline for 24 hours in the next 15 hours in solidarity with the fight against the new draconian SOPA act that might pass in the States and make free speech online a priviledge regulated under guise of copyright law. In the wake of this several crucial websites might go offline and here is how to access them should it come to that:

SOPA Emergency IP list:         

So if these ass-fucks in DC decide to ruin the internet, here’s how to access your favorite sites in the event of a DNS takedown

        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        wikipedia.org 208.80.152.201

        # News
        bbc.co.uk 212.58.241.131
        aljazeera.com 198.78.201.252

        # Social media
        reddit.com 72.247.244.88
        imgur.com 173.231.140.219
        google.com 74.125.157.99
        youtube.com 74.125.65.91
        yahoo.com 98.137.149.56
        hotmail.com 65.55.72.135
        bing.com 65.55.175.254
        digg.com 64.191.203.30
        theonion.com 97.107.137.164
        hush.com 65.39.178.43
        gamespot.com 216.239.113.172
        ign.com 69.10.25.46
        cracked.com 98.124.248.77
        sidereel.com 144.198.29.112
        github.com 207.97.227.239

        # Torrent sites
        thepiratebay.org 194.71.107.15
        mininova.com 80.94.76.5
        btjunkie.com 93.158.65.211
        demonoid.com 62.149.24.66
        demonoid.me 62.149.24.67

        # Social networking
        facebook.com 69.171.224.11
        twitter.com 199.59.149.230
        tumblr.com 174.121.194.34
        livejournal.com  209.200.154.225
        dreamwidth.org  69.174.244.50

        # Live Streaming Content
        stickam.com 67.201.54.151
        blogtv.com 84.22.170.149
        justin.tv 199.9.249.21
        chatroulette.com 184.173.141.231
        omegle.com 97.107.132.144
        own3d.tv 208.94.146.80
        megavideo.com 174.140.154.32

        # Television
        gorillavid.com 178.17.165.74
        videoweed.com 91.220.176.248
        novamov.com 91.220.176.248
        tvlinks.com 208.223.219.206
        1channel.com 208.87.33.151

        # Shopping
        amazon.com 72.21.211.176
        newegg.com 216.52.208.187
        frys.com 209.31.22.39

        # File Sharing
        mediafire.com 205.196.120.13
        megaupload.com 174.140.154.20
        fileshare.com 208.87.33.151
        multiupload.com 95.211.149.7
        uploading.com 195.191.207.40
        warez-bb.org 31.7.57.13
        hotfile.com 199.7.177.218
        gamespy.com 69.10.25.46
        what.cd 67.21.232.223
        warez.ag 178.162.238.136
        putlocker.com 89.238.130.247
        uploaded.to 95.211.143.200
        dropbox.com 199.47.217.179
        pastebin.com 69.65.13.216

Here’s a tip for the do-it-yourself crowd: Go to your computer’s Start menu, and either go to “run” or just search for “cmd.” Open it up, and type in “ping [website address],” 

Once you have the IP for a website, all you really need to do is enter it like you would a normal URL and hit enter/press go. Typing in “208.85.240.231” should bring you to the front page of AO3, for example, just as typing “174.121.194.34/dashboard” should bring you straight to your Tumblr dashboard. Since we’re obviously bracing for the worst case scenario which would involve you not being able to access the internet regularly, you should, save this list.
Courtesy of: http://pastie.org/pastes/3038363/text

 

A simple guide to finding and keeping a Kenyan man

Confusion reigns, the men say they can’t find a good woman in Kenya, the women say the same thing, thought I’d spell it out in point form in probably the shortest article I’ve ever written.

1. If you’re looking for a potential husband then be/or pretend to be good at housekeeping, being/pretending to be a great cook would help too.

2. If you’re looking for a drinking partner then have a great personality, be/pretend to be humorous and familiarize yourself with the Japanese 50/50 concept or otherwise embrace the concept of FB (not facebook, duh).

3. If you are looking for a sugardaddy/mpango wa kando, better have the looks of a trophy girl and/or the kambasutra skills that supposedly are taught in Machakos.

4. If you’re looking for an arranged marriage where you accept whatever is on offer, join a charismatic congregation.

Mix up any of the four different approaches, and prepare for a lifetime of disappointment.

A failed system: Our doctors can’t afford the services they offer, and neither can the rest of us.

“We have called off the strike so that top union officials can negotiate with the government. I have made an appeal to the striking doctors to go back to their work after the government assured us there will be no victimisation,” Boniface Chitayi

Did you see that placard carried by a picketing doctor that said: “I OFFER SERVICES I CANNOT AFFORD”? Quite an evocative punchline it packed in its poignancy, especially since doctors services are literally matters of life and death.
But it got me thinking. How many professionals can actually afford the professional services they themselves offer? How many people can afford the services offered by doctors?
If it takes three to seven years for a doctor to get to be one of the specialists where real money can be made, then let’s look at other professionals of a similar level of experience and ask ourselves this: can they afford the services they offer? Can an architect with two years experience afford to pay another architect?, can a lawyer with two years experience pay to be represented by another lawyer?, can a teacher two years out of college afford fees in a good high school for their kid? Can a security officer afford to pay for security?
If the doctors’ demands are met, what about the nurses?, they can’t afford the services they provide either….
In fact I have come to the sad conclusion that almost none of the people who have to work for a living can afford their own services. If and when time comes when someone actually can afford their own professional services, they usually employ someone to carry out those services for them and exit the ranks of the worker ants. We are trapped in a system, it is not just the doctors, it is everyone. Anybody who has to work for a living is stuck in a system where the yoke has been replaced by a title, the chains have been replaced by a credit line, the whip has been replaced by societal expectation and the master is the one who controls the money supply.

I also blame the media for making the entire strike about doctors’ pay when it should have been rightly highlighted that our entire healthcare, if not every other sector, is dysfunctional and rotten to the core. A fight to reform healthcare for everyone was reduced to just one aspect of the whole failure of a system. It shouldn’t have.
In conclusion, I say there can be no fair remuneration for doctors, or anybody else, if even a single person will still have need to hold up a placard that reads: DOCTORS OFFER SERVICES I CANNOT AFFORD

Power 101: Failings of the G7 Alliance and ODM and what they could learn by looking at Moi and Kibaki

“Don’t be fooled: Democrats and dictators alike do what best secures their hold on power” 

~ Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith

In a new book by the the two political scientists quoted above, the power and Realpolitik chicanery laid out in Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power” is distilled and updated for our times. The two gentlemen in their book “The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics.” argue that:

The logic of politics – in both democracies and dictatorships – is not nearly as complex as many think. Forget the intricacies of individual states, grand strategy, and the national interest. And for now, let’s forget about right and wrong. Indeed, the real, universal lessons of political life can be gleaned from how leaders survive and thrive when in power.

They then list five simple rules, that are both self-evident and difficult to argue against: (at least to anyone with a modicum of intelligence and an interest in getting and retaining power, which is not necessarily representative of our local politicians)

They write: Although  methods may differ, just five rules shape how they (authoritarian and democratically elected leaders) govern. These rules identify the incentives driving survival-oriented leaders, whether of the Gaddafi or Obama variety.

Rule 1: Keep the winning coalition as small as possible.
Rule 2: Keep the selectorate [pool of supporters] as large as possible.
Rule 3: Control the flow of revenue.
Rule 4: Pay key supporters just enough to keep them loyal.
Rule 5: Never take money out of your supporter’s pockets to make the people’s lives better.

Strategists in the two camps bracing for 2012 elections would do well to thoroughly study this five rules since a cursory glance will tell you that both groups consist of loosely connected motley coalitions of tribes and regions; both are narrowing the scope of their appeal to a large apolitical voter block that has little time for cheap demagoguery, lies and ethnic cocooning;  only one is in a position to control revenues but not in entirety; both parties cannot seem to pay enough to retain loyalty which is evident with the constant party hopping and shifting alliances by the tribal chiefs and stooges who pass for MPs here; and with the majority of the voters poor definitely high inflation coupled with rising cost of living and falling wages is surely taking money out of a core constituency of supporters, except that the people’s lives aren’t getting any better, however if the supporters are taken to be the wealthy kind that fund campaigns then of course no money is being taken out of their pockets to better the wretched masses’ lives (which is not exactly very astute they being so few in terms of votes)

They then summarise thus: All politicians are alike; how they are constrained differs. Just like autocrats and tyrants, leaders of democratic countries follow the Five Rules of politics as best as they can – they, too, want to get power and keep it. The conventional impression that democrats and autocrats are world’s apart stems only from the different constraints they face. Those who rely on a large coalition – democrats – have to be more creative than their autocratic counterparts.

Exactly, the choices before the two groups is that between a strict following of the five cardinal rules set out, or yet to be seen levels of creativity, and I cannot bet on much creativity out of the ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss’ bunch of usual suspects that we’ll inevitably have on our ballot papers in 2012.

Of finding bits and pieces to fit our own narrative and cherry picking what laws to follow

“When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand.” — Deuteronomy 25:11-12

“If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the New, he would be insane.” ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

“On her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It’s funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination …. end of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them:

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual unseemliness – Lev15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I’m confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Signed,

Your adoring fan, James M Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia

(P.S. It would be a damned shame if we can’t own a Canadian.)”

Our very own 1 Percenters conniving to foist us with yet one more CiC from their ranks

It is not power that corrupts but fear. The fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. – Aung San Suu Kyi

Besides the noise and rancour being generated by the attempt to move the election date in contravention of the new constitution, this in itself occasioned by the fact our so called leaders have simply pulled down their masks and are openly asking to be allowed a few more weeks of sucking at the tit of public monies, there’s a lot else that can be said of the 2012 polls, especially the presidential polls.

For obvious reasons, jokers will have to think twice before running for president because there’s no fallback to parliament in the event of a loss, so really who should and who shouldn’t bother running?

A casual look at our past presidents: Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki;  shows that the majority of Kenyans always go for the quiet (at first), sneaky and dumb/or pretending to be dumb, but ruthless and deep pocketed chief executive.

The hot headed and populist types like Jaramogi, Mboya, JM Kariuki, Ouko, Raila, Ruto, Karua, Kenneth, and even Kalonzo, never stood/don’t stand a chance of leading this banana republic since they just don’t fit the mould, they are not part of the top 1% who actually call the shots and would not have firebrands take the reigns of power.

This I explain using Russell’s observation: “Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man.”
and Plutarch’s ancient advice: “Imbalance between rich and poor” is the “oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” (of course in Kenya you have to have the money, loads of money, to buy votes, it’s that simple)

Watch out for the wealthy, quiet and aloof types like Mudavadi, or perhaps even Uhuru, they are the kind of “leader” our risk averse, money grabbing voters prefer. That is the reality of politics in this country.

Guerrilla Marketing: Using premium rate numbers to steal your airtime is the new frontier.

All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar … always tend to the decay of what they are devised to support. – Richard Whately

I know times are hard and if you don’t have a huge marketing budget and name recognition then it can be almost impossible to have anyone visit your website, let alone subscribe to services you intend to bill for. It is no wonder start-ups are getting ever more creative and fraudulent in trying to reel in unsuspecting users of mobile phones in order that they can silently siphon their airtime through premium rate numbers.

One such company promises free sms for a daily fee (Oh I know the irony of offering free sms when the ubiquitous gmail already does) and are using guerilla marketing tactics and outright arm twisting to achieve their ends. This is how they do it: You receive a text message on your mobile having a link from a premium number 5772, the message goes: “You’ve been sent a photo. Click to open:http://ems.cx/wetc ”. If you fall for the bait and click on the link it takes you to an obscure and bland website that sends you another text with another link for you to click on. Well you don’t get to see any photo anybody sent you because in reality the links are nothing but shortened URLs, the first link has your phone number appended at the end and leads to you unwittingly signing up to a website, the second link seems to be a confirmation of you joining the said providers list of subscribers, all this is of course done without you realizing it.

What happens next is that you start to receive useless messages from a premium number 5881 asking you to visit their website, and the icing on the cake is that each of this messages sent to you daily will subtract Sh 25 from your credit. I have visited the website on desktop and it might be legit, but the fact they have to trick people into joining them is very upsetting and points to people who might be nothing more than a bunch of shysters.

Unsubscribing using one’s phone doesn’t seem to work, and indeed you have to “SMS stop to 5892″ which is yet another premium number. Unsubscribing on their webpage doesn’t stop the texts coming in and the billing continuing. Basically these folk make it easy for you to get inadvertently subscribed to their billed text services and then make it damn near impossible to leave when you realize the scam. Calls to their Help lines 0719786143/ 0712212600/ 0734488668 go unanswered, and if you persist on redialing their phones are simply switched off. I have had to contact Safaricom to ask them to deactivate this service and they’ve told me the people behind this are called “Mobile Zone Wireless”

The Buruburu firefight: So do we all agree an extrajudicial death sentence served justice?

Criminals do not die by the hands of the law; they die by the hands of other men. – George Bernard Shaw

I’m still shaken. I was a witness to the shootout between gunmen and policemen in Outering and Buruburu.

I saw the lady who was caught in the line of fire lying on the ground bleeding from her chest. She died.

I saw the two gangsters lying, dying on Kang’undo Road, one was twitching. He was shot again.

The police officer who was shot and died was a personal friend to me and I feel his loss deeply. I had shared a beer with him on several occasions and he had told me of his future plans, plans that have now been shattered by a shot to the head from someone I’m told was known to him.

I drove past Prudential estate while the firefight with the last gunman took place. My driving the rest of that day was erratic. I couldn’t focus.

I later came to hear that this gunman, the very one who had allegedly shot and killed a policeman while injuring two others, called media houses and even went live on a radio station begging to have his life spared and offering to surrender in the presence of media and human rights groups, he didn’t get that option, a Swat team took him out in under three minutes.

My question is: When is execution justified, if ever? This man had just murdered an officer, so was his execution then inevitable? If indeed he had offered to surrender and confess his crimes, should his life have been spared?

Value of a news anchor’s teeth: 20X that of a skilled cameraman apparently

The reporting of news has to be understood as propaganda for commodities, and events by images.  - Christopher Lasch

Citizen TV will, allegedly, pay the recently returned Janet Mbugua KShs 803,000 monthly to read news (having already paid a reported KShs 5 Million to buy her out of her contract in South Africa).

They are already paying Lilian Muli-Kanene a reported KShs 255,000 a month.

This figures far exceed what they pay the guys who actually go out there (and sometimes risk their life and limb) to find news, record it and write it up for these “eye-candy” presenters to simply read it with a plastic smile or parade fat women trying to lose weight in a country where half the population is underfed.

I can only speculate what they pay the Kasavulis and Belinda Oburas, but I suppose it must be less since it is obvious the MILFs are being told rather directly that their time as the face of news is reaching a rather dreary sunset. The irony is that these older folk probably need the higher pay more as they face early retirement, the threat of redundancy or a return to the museum of local presenters once known as VoK. (In fact Tom Mboya and Njenga need some of that loot to buy better fitting suits if you ask me)

Maybe that’s why Citizen have come back with season II of the “Tazama Chapaa” ponzi scheme to cover for these harebrained pay decisions.

Link to source here