urn:www-mashada-com:feeds:atom Mashada Blogs » More to Life 2009-11-21T20:01:14-05:00 http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/06/rip-mj.html 2009-06-30T13:50:00-04:00 2009-06-30T13:50:00-04:00
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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/05/whats-real-cost-of-mismanagement.html 2009-05-20T11:38:00-04:00 2009-05-20T11:38:00-04:00
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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/04/little-bit-of-this-little-bit-of.html 2009-04-27T14:30:00-04:00 2009-04-27T14:30:00-04:00
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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-my-mind.html 2009-04-24T11:20:00-04:00 2009-04-24T11:20:00-04:00
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.” ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/03/kodak-gallery-enforcing-minimum-annual.html 2009-03-25T10:35:00-04:00 2009-03-25T10:35:00-04:00


The Gallery's Terms of Service* have been modified.
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Here is your current status:
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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.**

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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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/03/conflicker-c-especially-if-you-have.html 2009-03-24T14:32:00-04:00 2009-03-24T14:32:00-04:00
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 [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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2009/03/of-attitudes-scapegoats-and-bonuses.html 2009-03-20T11:16:00-04:00 2009-03-20T11:16:00-04:00
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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2008/10/palingeorge-w-parallels-us-2008.html 2008-10-19T18:30:00-04:00 2008-10-19T18:30:00-04:00
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. ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2008/09/round-circles.html 2008-09-25T10:54:00-04:00 2008-09-25T10:54:00-04:00
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! ]]> http://mymmoh.blogspot.com/2008/06/nbcs-tim-russert-rip.html 2008-06-13T16:01:00-04:00 2008-06-13T16:01:00-04:00
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. ]]>