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23:43
From: My Africa Today
Read This Entry & More At My Africa Today
With several private companies launching businesses to provide customers with unprecedented access to their genomes' secrets, legislation protecting people from genetic discrimination is more timely than ever. But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahama) is single-handedly stalling federal legislation to do just that. The Senate passed earlier versions of the bill twice before, but they were blocked from coming up for House floor votes. This year, the House passed it by a bipartisan landslide, but Coburn has held up the legislation in the Senate, saying it could place too much strain on businesses. "We're not really clear on what Coburn wants, because his excuses don't make sense," said the bill's original sponsor, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-New York). "But if this bill got to a floor vote in the Senate, I think it'd pass almost unanimously."  Coburn spokesman John Hart said his boss supports the intent of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, known as GINA. Coburn voted for a nearly identical bill in 2005, but now says the bill's language exposes employers to too much liability. Supporters of the bill see Coburn's new beef as another in a string of inconsequential objections to the legislation.
23andMe, Navigenics and Decode Genetics have recently launched programs to scan individual's genomes and provide access to the information online. Customers will have to spend a for 23andMe's service. In the absence of federal legislation, most states provide some degree of protection against discrimination. Many have gone further, explicitly providing genetic-privacy protections. Alaskan law (.pdf), for example, says DNA samples are an individual's private property. Still, companies offering personal genome scans, as well as biotechs offering genetic diagnostic tests, worry that their businesses will not gain traction without a federal law. Slaughter introduced GINA in the House 12 years ago, but Republican leadership repeatedly blocked a vote, even as it passed the Senate twice. Under this year's new Democratic majority, the House passed GINA, 420-3 (H.R. 493), and it appeared ready to sail through the Senate (S. 358). But Coburn, exercising a prerogative available to all senators, placed it on hold, which requires a supermajority of 60 senators just to bring the bill up for a relatively rare floor debate. An internal memo obtained Thursday from Coburn's office said the senator's make-or-break objection was the possibility that an employer who provides health insurance for its workers could be sued both as an insurer and as an employer. That means employers could be hit for much higher damages than insurers. Representative Slaughter said she'd never heard that particular objection from any company in 12 years of campaigning on behalf of GINA. "But it's pretty creative," she said. Coburn is a physician. He picked up the nickname "Dr. No" from pundit George Will, because of his frequent contrarian positions and use of the hold prerogative. Coburn has consistently opposed bills that enable lawsuits against businesses and his fellow medical doctors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and trade associations like the National Retail Federation are GINA's main opponents, claiming it would spur frivolous lawsuits. Michael Eastman, executive director of labor policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, applauded the Senator's move to stop the bill. "Coburn has been willing to put his name out there," he said. Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
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23:39
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 The old tricks that worked like a gem during the 2002 party nominations have this time failed to work. Let me explain. In 2002 the Summit as it was then called made unilateral decisions and over-ruled the voters concerning various candidates who had lost party nominations countrywide and instead ended up handing over the precious nomination certificate to many losers. Many folks did not even know what the real nomination outcome had been in many areas of the country. This time round things were very different. Voters have just said “No” and have complained bitterly. Using technological gadgets like the mobile phone and instant messaging online, as well as email, most Kenyans were very well informed on what was going on on the ground. What most people noticed was that those who had emerged as winners on the ground were often the losers when party headquarters released the names of nominated candidates to the press. In some areas voters have been very incensed by what they see as a deliberate effort to impose candidates on them. Impeccable sources from the ground tell me that a significant number of voters in Kisumu rural have vowed not to vote in the general elections as a way of protesting the direct nomination of Prof Anyang Nyong. While these threats may quickly be forgotten when the campaign gets under way, it is clear... Read moreThe 5 most popular stories in Kumekucha today 19th Nov
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23:29
From: You Missed This
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There is no doubt that the historical documentary The Making Of A Nation is a high quality timely project that is pulling in huge audiences across the world (because NTV is available on the web). After the first two episodes on Sunday and today (Monday) at 9:45pm, we will have to wait until next Sunday for the next riveting episode. The writer and director of the documentary, Hilary Ng’weno is a nuclear physicist turned journalist who was the first African Editor in Chief of the Daily Nation in the early 60s. The kind of man who not only understands Kenya’s history but unlike Kumekucha was actually around practicing as a journalist as the events were unfolding. This strength comes out very clearly in his coverage of events shortly after independence where today the documentary dwelt at length with the effect that instability in neighboring countries had on President Kenyatta and most notably in hardening his resolve to fully control the military and key security forces by appointing mostly trusted members of his own tribe... Read moreThe 5 most popular stories in Kumekucha today 19th Nov
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23:19
From: You Missed This
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Chapter 33 From the moment Sandra got to the office, she was hopelessly distracted. She was worried about her mother. Fearful for her. And now she was sure, her stubborn was really going to Nairobi. She opened her closet door, grabbed her lab coat and put it on..... Mami loved Kenya ..... but why still now, after all these years? ..... She sat on her swivel chair and pulled a drawer. The first thing she saw was a picture of her holding a baby cheetah. Then another one, showing her feeding a banana to some monkeys. She laughed. Pushing aside these pictures, she pried further and finally found the one she was really looking for. She had been hiding it from her mother who wanted her to destroy all the memories of the man standing next to her in this photo. It had been taken on the terrace of the Salt-Lick-Lodge in the Tsavo-Park. He had put her on a chair - so she could see better. Steadying her with one arm around her shoulders, he was pointing at some elephants who had come to drink at the nearby pond. She was looking at him, smiling. She remembered how she had adored him because he seemed to share her feelings for the animals and for nature. She put the picture back and for most of the morning, she sat in the office day-dreaming. She started thinking about all the adventures she had in Kenya as a child. How the people had loved her. How she had made many friends there - State House, Kabarnet Gardens, their house at the Coast, the game parks ..... will my childhood dream ever come true - will I one day be able to go back and take care of the animals in that beautiful country? At 6:00 p.m. she finally finished her work and left for the Airport to meet her mother. *** In London, Supt. Troon arrived at the downtown office of Scotland Yard at about 11:00 a.m. He was glad that Marianne was going to Kenya to testify. All along, he had wanted her to talk, to tell the world what she knew. But that had not been possible in the past. The Gicheru Inquiry was disbanded just days before she could make her appearance. And everything she had told him in London had come under scathing attacks, discredited as the rambling of a bitter mzungu. He knew better ..... He knew Marianne had told the truth. He knew she had subjected herself to a lot of risk by saying as much as she did under oath. But the fact that she had said it to him in England, had made her testimony vulnerable to attacks. It had made it possible for Biwott and his spin machine to ruthlessly attack the credibility of her words. Now she finally had a chance to talk in Nairobi. In Biwott's own backyard..... tell them the truth, Marianne! Supt. Troon got to his former office. It was on the 11th floor. Most of the men up here had been with Scotland Yard through decades, investigated the IRA bombings in Northern Ireland and through the high-profile spate of murders that rocked London, Liverpool and Leeds in the nineties. Read moreThe 5 most popular stories in Kumekucha today 19th Nov
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21:44
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
You can go here and watch all the youtube links about nomination troubles occurring all over the place. I picked this video out because it was the most bizarre - the presiding officer was actually abducted and roughed up; oh…and the ballot papers were stolen.
I’ve said before that I wish Kibaki was a lot [...]
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17:15
From: You Missed This
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In the global arena of language wars, the English dialect has been dealt a severe blow albeit cleverly. In 5 years time the formal English spoken will be nowhere near what we know it presently. Forget about the Queen's English, the language in its bare facts will be history.
To stem the competition between the Germans and Britons, the European Commission has silently but skillfully sounded a death knell for the English language by announcing that English will be the official language of the European Union. Germans are red with fury after narrowly missed out.
But there is no free lunch as the Brits had to pay a price is concessions. During negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
From January 2011, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly this will make European sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
By Januarry 2013, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer pepl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und after zis fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German; lik zey vunted in ze forst plas.
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17:00
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
Eve Ensler is the producer of the Vagina Monologues and last May she went to the DRC where she was “witness to the profound human suffering and unprecedented sexual violence”. Keith Harmon Snow comments on Ensler’s campaign to end sexual violence against women in the DRC and exposes the hypocrisy [...]
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14:14
From: More to Life
Read This Entry & More At More to Life
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...
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9:10
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
The nominations process for the December elections were predictably chaotic. I think the guys who’ve been force out by the bigwigs, like Dan Shikanda, will fare well in December if they were able to jump on the defection merry-go-round in good time. No three-piece voting this time around…if you are unpopular you will [...]
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8:44
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
It’s almost the third anniversary of this blog (started in November 2004) and it’s time to reflect on the 800 or so posts that appear here. It’s been great channeling everyday stories and knowledge and new, finding obscure pieces in the Kenya Gazette or the classifieds and building something worthwhile to write about. Also, some posts have been obscure, trivial, and forgotten a day after. Now there’s a support group of other financial bloggers (see the blog roll to the right) to spread the financial word as well as the Business Daily which has been a great resource for me over the last year - and I truly enjoy it though I question its long term viability. Dear readers: Idea exchange This is also a chance to improve going forwards and readers are invited to offer their suggestions; - Why do you read this? What do you hate? - What topics would you liked to see covered more? Or less? As long as there are shillings involved, it’s worth blogging about. - Do you like the design? Go back to black? - More posts or less? - What features, enhancements, tools, can be added to enhance the information and participation at this blog? Digg etc? - What blogs would you like to introduce here? Preferably financial, social, or economic with an African or development focus - Would you like to advertise or collaborate on an idea? Remember this has been an one man shop with full time social, family, and work activities - Any other ideas? Comment her or drop a line via the contact page
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7:43
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
Megan Williams is a 20 year old Black woman who was kidnapped, racially abused, sexually and physically assaulted for seven days last September in West Virginia. Her all white kidnappers included two mothers and their respective son and daughter and two others.
Among the allegations against the six people accused of [...]
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6:20
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
Margaret Thatcher was a dominating public figure for over 30 years in British and international politics. She won three general elections in a row, was a formidable Prime Minister, influenced a generation of politics and her policies still influence debate on issues as wide ranging as taxation in the UK to land reform in Zimbabwe. After her elected political career she still commanded great respect and had a lot of influence as her public speaking and book deals show.
In 2002 she suffered a series of strokes and aware of the damage a gruelling schedule would have her doctors advised her family to withdraw her from public life. There was also the question of preserving the dignity and integrity of this public colossus by protecting the effects of her illness from the public eye. Lady Thatcher retains her dignity even in ill health.
Kenneth Matiba is a colossus of the Kenya politics, a hero who put his limbs and his life on the line fighting the brutal dictatorship of Moi. He was instrumental in the democratization of Kenyan politics as a leader of the “2nd liberation” which forced Moi to accept multiparty politics and political freedom for all Kenyans.
In 1990 Matiba was detained, in solitary confinement, without charge or trial in the Kamiti Maximum Security prison and tortured at the torture chambers of infamous Nyayo House in central Nairobi. As a result of the torture Matiba suffered a stroke that nearly killed him. He survived to vie for the presidency in 1992. It is generally accepted that Matiba won the 1992 Kenyan general election although the massive rigging machinery employed by Moi regime doctored the result.
It is now clear that the effects of the stroke Matiba suffered under Moi’s goons are advanced. He can not read and he can not sign documents, his speech is slurred and his mobility is impaired. Matiba turned up at the Electoral Commission of Kenya session held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre Thursday last week to present his papers as he intends to vie for the presidency in this years general election. It was painful to watch and left me shaking my head at the TV saddened at what I was seeing. I was not alone.
Where is this hero’s family? Why are they not protecting him like Thatcher’s family are protecting her? Matiba should not be making public statements leave alone vying for the presidency. Where are those who have his interests at heart? Why subject him to this? LET THE MAN KEEP HIS DIGINTY. My goodness has it come to this? Matiba deserves better, a whole lot better.
If any good can come out this terrible situation it is this, Matiba’s condition remember is a direct consequence of the torture he suffered under Moi’s orders. Remember the brutality of the Moi dictatorship directed towards anyone who did not agree with him. Remember how Moi, Kibaki’s “Envoy of peace”, trampled over and tried to destroy ALL our independence heroes and heroines (and then turns up at their funerals full of crocodile tears). Remember also that while, “Matiba was fighting Moi, Kibaki was saying in parliament that proponents of change were trying to fell a Mugumo tree with a razor blade” to illustrate his argument that one party rule was here to stay. Remember this also before you approach me and insult my intelligence telling me that I should not vote for this or that presidential candidate because they would be dictator yet you do not provide a single evidence of intellectual proof to support that ridiculous claim, remember that we, the Kenyan electorate, kicked out a dictator in 2002 and we all know who welcomed him back.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. |
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4:44
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
The situation: I am upcountry with no talktime on my pre paid phone. Christmas was coming up and the ability to communicate to the world beyond this village is vital. At the same time an unexpected vehicle emergency had wiped out all my cash and the nearest ATM machines are over an hour way (due to the terrible state of the roads) and it was raining badly.
But I had a credit card, a laptop and a WAP enable mobile phone. I convinced a good Samaritan (a younger cousin having his arm twisted) to sambaza me KSH 100.00 of mobile phone airtime with promises of greater rewards in the not to distance future and thus began my quest for mobile phone juice. I plugged the phone into the laptop, connected to Safaricom WAP and was on the MamaMikes website in a jiffy. I pulled out my credit card and purchased a Safaricom airtime “gift” of GBP 15.00 about KSH 2,000.00 for myself. (This remains my largest one time mobile phone airtime purchase to date). The whole procedure took around ten minutes.
Ten minutes later I got a call from MamaMikes to “check on a few things”:
Q: You are Daudi
A: Yes
Q: You are in Kenya
A: Yes
Q: You are using you are using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime
A: Yes
Q: For yourself
A: Yes
YOU LAZY MUPPET (OK the MamaMike’s guy didn’t say that but I could hear him thinking that. I could have quickly become the inspiration for a new joke:
What is the height of laziness?
Using your credit card to buy Safaricom airtime via MamaMikes, like that cartoon Mental, because you can not be bothered to walk down the road to the kiosk.)
I explained my situation to the MamaMikes rep, he asked me to confirm some credit card security details and satisfied I was not committing credit card fraud sent the airtime to my phone, which enabled me to send my nearest and dearest (as well as a Western Union stealing muppet  ) Merry Christmas txt messages and thus preserve world peace.
My second MamaMikes story. It’s my birthday and I am happily typing away at work when my phone rings. MamaMikes would like to know where to deliver my card and birthday cake. What a pleasant surprise. Since I was heading downtown we agreed that I could pick it from their office. One hour later I turn up at MamaMikes and collected a fantastic cake, purchased for me by a fantastic person, a fantastic number of miles away from Kenya.
That evening the family couldn’t believe that a cake ordered by someone half way around the world over the internet had arrived before the cake they ordered from a bakery half way up the road. It brought home to the people around me the power of this thing called the internet.
MamaMikes is a fantastic story of how Kenyan entrepreneurs are connecting Kenyans in the Diaspora to Kenyans at home. You can send airtime, flowers, supermarket vouchers, cards and even pay school fees direct to the school via MamaMikes no matter where you are in the world. It is also an example that e-businesses can and do thrive in our country. This makes MamaMikes an inspiration to many of us.
However, the ultimate respect from me came the day they started offering “Ngombe ya maziwa” via their website. A healthy Friesian cow for dairy purposes for USD 740.00. They helpfully add: Ideal for someone with a small shamba close to a milk depot where they can sell their milk.
A dairy cow via the internet, now you all know what to get me for my birthday next year.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. |
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4:40
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
…and I will update this entry once I’ve figured out what to write for my new side project:
[saniblog.org] - the world’s first blog on sanitation!
Karibuni! :-)
Update: Hello World! …seriously, there’s nothing much to add. I really hope to move any future content on sanitation on this external blog and will also try to attract other authors on that site. You know, I am also active on a mailing list which deals with ecological sanitation - and many of the participants are scientist. Which is why most conversations are only related to scientific matters. Interesting, yes, but still a closed group. Who would want to talk about sanitation all day long? People talk about IT on lists like Skunkworks KE, because computers are interesting. And this although they are somewhat expensive and often just a beautiful waste of time :-). And sanitation? Everyone has to go to toilet - but just so few talk about >toilets< in general. Did you know there are over 950 results when you do a Flickr groups search on “toilet”?
So, obviously, there’s a place for this - and the internet being an ideal place for conversations, why not lifting this stigmatized niche to a better platform through the use of modern conversation tools such as blogs? Sanitation to me isn’t only about providing basic toilet facilities to some developing countries (sic!), but a matter that everyone will pay attention to on an almost daily basis. Flush toilets, based on water to flush away (transport) the faeces & urine into a sewage system, aren’t that ideal.
my favourite machine on the plant: a grinder pump that chops up all bigger pieces like Q-Tips, tampons, condom, hair and other stuff ppl keep on disposing through the toilet system. I used to clean this on a daily basis… (i was told the second day that gloves are available :-)
I’ve worked on a sewage treatment plant, put my hands where others wouldn’t even want to enter the room and quickly realized that this basic issue of proper sanitation does not necessarily depend on the smartest technical solution used (there’s no “one-fits-all”-solution), but instead only depends on what people want to use when relieving themselves. Sanitation is dignity. Not a slogan, but reality.
If saniblog.org helps to elevate the matter of sanitation from a closed group of scientists and their cryptic conversations onto a normal level where this matter could raise more attention - heyyyy - that would be awesome!
Markets are conversations. And sanitation is a huuuuuuge market!
Read the complete article at
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