Home of the Mandinmories

David brock and his guys at media matters for America set the records straight.

Hypocrite
This morning on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer asked Majority Leader Bill Frist a simple question:

SEN. SCHUMER: Isn’t it correct that on March 8, 2000, my colleague [Sen. Frist]
voted to uphold the filibuster of Judge Richard Paez?

Here was Frist’s response:

The president, the um, in response, uh, the Paez nomination - we’ll come back
and discuss this further. … Actually I’d like to, and it really brings to what I
believe - a point - and it really brings to, oddly, a point, what is the issue.
The issue is we have leadership-led partisan filibusters that have, um,
obstructed, not one nominee, but two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, ten, in a routine way.

It looks like Princeton University never prepared him [Frist] for the art of politics. It takes book smarts to be a medical doctor, but politics is a different ball game all together. Come to think of it, the filibuster might be all we need in this country to get the minority party to become what it is supposed to be [that is a genuine opposition]. They have been cowering for years now. Essentially becoming republican lite.

American Progress has the goods on Frist’s chameleon tendency on this filibuster thingy.

Save The Gambia Democracy Project is proud to announce the official launching of the Voices of Diasporans (VOD) short-wave radio broadcast on June 4, 2005.

VOD can be heard on 9405KHZ (9.4MHZ) on the 31 Meter Band of your short-wave radio every Saturday from 2000hrs to 2030hrs GMT.

Our maiden broadcast on June 4, 2004 will feature a brief introduction to the VOD and the aims and objectives of STGDP in English and all major languages spoken in The Gambia. Subsequent weekly programs will cover current issues affecting The Gambia's political and social environment with insights from various guest speakers.

STGDP in collaboration with partners in The U.S, Germany, The Netherlands and The Gambia, successfully carried out three test broadcasts in late April. The response to these test broadcasts were overwhelmingly encouraging. Strong signals were received in all parts of the Gambia and around the world. We have since decided to go ahead with regular programming to open up another avenue for free speech and the promotion of democracy in response to the current predicament of the private media in The Gambia.

Please share the radio frequency information with your friends and family in The Gambia and around the world. It is as easy as tuning in to BBC, VOA or RFI - if not easier - to get to VOD on 9405KHZ (9.4MHZ) on the 31 Meter Band of your short-wave tuner. Stay tuned Gambians and friends. Your sons and daughters are coming at you with dedication and a focused message for the promotion of democracy and freedom of expression in The Gambia. Share the message please!
For STGDP:

My Take:
The efforts of the STGDP are laudable. I am not sure how prevalent short wave radios are in the Gambia. I am rusty on that issue but if my memory serves me right they (short wave Radios) are not the norm of reception for most Gambians. But again the dynamics involved in setting up this clandestine station maybe the reason behind this bandwidth choice. In any case a little is better than nothing at all.

I am an equal opportunity critic. The hypocrisy coming out of the right wing blogosphere since Newsweek admit to shoddy reporting in their Koran desecration story is mind boggling, especially the shady characters that espouses them. Glenn Reynolds at instapundit moralized thus:

"People died, and U.S. military and diplomatic efforts were damaged, because -- let's be clear here -- Newsweek was too anxious to get out a story that would make the Bush Administration and the military look bad."

Et tu Glenn. Is it that cut and dry? This is the same guy who spent every week agitating for war with Iraq on the grounds that Saddam was probably involved in 9/11, a war, which ended up snuffing out the lifes of thousands of Americans and Iraqis. Damage the image of the United States in the eyes of the international community for years to come. But the macho keyboardist saw nothing wrong with that. Newsweek, in his wingnutted psyche has to be stopped at any cost even in the face of his own wrong assumptions that thousands of innocent people ended up paying the ultimate price for.

Update:
"It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not."

"The report has had serious consequences," McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

Is it just me? Can Scott McClellan lecture anybody on ethics? This guy make a living out of spewing lies in defense of policies that kill hundreds of thousands of people by some estimates. Scott, do the freaking math. The consequences of the lies you tell and the effects of newsweek's story. I am not excusing irresponsible reporting. It is not like newsweek is the first to report the doggone story anyway. It is been swirling around for a while on the blogosphere. How about Scott and his boss taking responsibility for mesopotamia [iraq]?

Man, the audacity of these people [bush &Co] is maddening... yuck.

Africa has been the formative element of my life. Conspicuously this post about the west’s behavior towards “bilad_as _Sudan”… (Land of the black people as the Arab merchants called it) will inevitably bear the mark of subjective influences. Not the least of which is my conviction that throughout human history Africa has been misunderstood and misused by the rest of the world. Simply put (I am usually accused of simplistic views) humanity doesn’t recognize its debts and obligations to a continent they’ve looted for years.

In the psyche of a typical westerner, Africa is “The Dark Continent”. An innocent phrase? Perhaps, but it is also a potent connotation of a persistent western inclination to set Africa and its inhabitants from the rest of humanity. As if they are some sort of alien species. “The Dark Continent” terminology is not just a description of the depths of Africa’s tropical forest; the color of the African skin or the lack of knowledge about the continent. It is implicitly used to label Africa as a place where a cruel form of darkness exist… the cruelty of man towards his fellow man. Contextually Africa is the place where people do terrible things, not because these behaviors are characteristic of all human beings, but Africa is believe to be uniquely barbaric and less “civilized” than the rest of the world.

The fact that people behaved (and continue to) barbarically in Africa is undeniable. However events in other parts of the world have shown that this is not an exclusively African tendency. This brings me to the western idea/understanding of civilization…which is usually confused with exponential growth, use and understanding of technology. But is technological prowess what civilization is or is civilization an exposure or adherence to a culture? Is it a predetermined sequence of human progress as most westerners believed, with white Anglo-Saxons leading the way, the rest of the world following and Africans toiling centuries behind? I will venture to answer NO. Civilization to me is an enlightened self interest that all societies develop to regulate their interactions within a given locality and with other people for the benefit of all parties involved.

But enlightened self interest is a delicate thing; easily eroded. In the event of such an erosion, the human capacity for unspeakable barbarity ala Rwanda, Nazi camps or Stalin’s Siberia rise to the surface. Africa’s horrors like those of Nazi Germany are a chilling example of what people can do to one another when short term exploitation has taken over the work for the common good; when accountability is swept aside to develop hamlets like Kanilai (Gambian president’s home village) at the expense of a nation swirling in poverty.

But is any of these uniquely African? I will have to answer no one more time. Even though subjective passion is what I ascribed to in the beginning of this post, objective readers will agree with me that it has been anything but. Developments, barbaric in nature that happen in Africa occurs elsewhere in the world. I am not an apologist for these African tragedies. I am just an African agonizing over the negative implications of that in famous phrase “the Dark Continent”.

For a moment, think about the last century, our world today, and then the world in which today’s children will live. In the last millennium, a significant number of important events were clearly related to technology and many of the most influential people were innovators and inventors. We now have the technological means to dramatically alter our future in unimaginable ways. The acceleration of technological change inspires and thrills some people, but confuses and even alienates others. Most of the Gambian population sadly falls into the later category.

Technologies will not solve all of the problems in the future and I submit will undoubtedly create some. We must learn to weigh the benefits and risks of technologies and make informed choices about our future. However, for a society deeply dependent upon technology, we are largely ignorant about technological concepts and processes, and we mostly ignore this discrepancy in our educational systems. The result is our citizens are neither comfortable with nor objective about technology, and are effectively disengaged from decisions that are helping to shape our future. This is a terrible disservice to our youth, the leaders of tomorrow. The need to achieve technological literacy is a national imperative. This awareness brings us to the question of how to educate a generation that can comprehend, cope with, and direct technology. This becomes the challenge that our schools must respond to if our youth are to compete in a globalize economy. A technologically literate person understands and appreciates the importance of fundamental technological developments and can better contribute to the global society. The need for literacy about this human effort, that is, the development and use of technical means, is the role of technology education.

And this is what AGECS aspires to instill in Gambian youth, the love for science and technology. If we get their interest at an early age, they will grow up to love, learn and inspire others. In the same vein we (AGECS) will try to influence educational policies towards this goal. To look at technology education classes as “elective” offerings means missed opportunities for children, and talents left unexplored as well. How many national leaders or creative geniuses are we losing?

If you are interested in the challenge of developing technologically literate citizens please join the Association of Gambians in Engineering and Computer Science. To learn more about the organization, please pay us a visit at: http://www.agecs.gm

The erstwhile vice president of the AFPRC wrote a tribute to his fallen comrade Sadibu hydara. I read through the whole thing. But guess what? Prison has done a number on him. The guy keeps rambling about the same thing over and over again. Some one once told me that Sana came out of prison well verse in the Quran and the Bible... well he didn't disappoint on that judging by the numerous quotations he made from both. However I think he needs to see a shrink. Jeez.

The funny thing is that he didn't divulge their side of the story. Why was him and sadibu (the second and third most powerful men in the AFPRC hierarchy then) summarily imprisoned for alleged treason? Was it a setup as most people believed? or were they quilty of the charge? I hope the next time he has time to rant, he will kindly indulge folks on this issue. Here it is: Sanna pays tribute to late Sadibou Hydara

"Religion is today banished from the public square? John Kennedy finished his first report to the nation on the Soviet missiles in Cuba with these words: "Thank you and good night." It would be a rash president who today did not conclude a major address by saying, as President Ronald Reagan began the custom of doing, something very like "God bless America."

Unbelievers should not cavil about this acknowledgment of majority sensibilities. But Republicans should not seem to require, de facto, what the Constitution forbids, de jure: "No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust." Read the rest of: George Will's reasonable reminder to the wingnuts in todays washington post.

Democrats are charging these nominees with extremism and republicans are pushing their race, gender and what not upfront. The hypocrisy of both parties is being showcased. Democrats want minorities to succeed and become anything except conservative (rhetorically). Republicans want minorities to be conservative but are most content to highlight their up-from-sharecropping experiences instead of focusing on their hard work, intellect and integrity.

Much ink has been spilt in an effort to explain why the Gambia is in the dire straits and why the opposition alliance need to start a serious sensitization tour. Allow me, as a quasi outsider, to offer a provocative thesis. I haven’t lived in the Gambia for any meaningful time for quite a while now, having spent most of that time in the US. But you will have to detach yourself off the family and friends you left behind or stop reading the tabloids that are passing for newspapers not to notice the nightmare she (Gambia) is going through.

I’m not surprised at the palpable sense of futility. The Gambian people are steadily being reduced to a state of cringing dependence on an ever-more voracious and aggrandizing Government and a political establishment of almost unconquerable scale that supports and sustains it.

The response of our once pluralistic society has been a quasi deference to this long march to serfdom. Take the silence on the most obvious and pressing case — the growing proportion of our national income that is stolen by Yaya and his cronies. Yeah he sets up a commission to investigate every thief but Ali Baba himself. Damn he is getting good at the spin game. Lock up a few poor souls without any due process and tell folks they are responsible for your problems.

It wasn’t possible to stop this train from leaving the station, how about stopping a wreck? But what is the opposition up to? NADD say the answer is — wait for it — we’ve got to set up a memorandum first. Great idea what next? Oh but we can’t go on sensitizing the general public about our ideals until we figure out a secretariat, divisional bureaus and negotiate more on the flag bearer. All this while the election is coming up in a year and the APRC is rolling around the country in there bamboozle tours. You can’t blame an electorate if the only message they get is the APRC’s. Now don’t get me wrong I am for anybody but Yaya… but this will not be achieve in a drawn out negotiation while the biggest obstacle to un-seating an entrenched dictatorship…convincing the electorate to change course… hasn’t been given any serious effort. In a country where the average villager believe that presidents are ordained by God, it is going to take a lot more than just a drive through (the usual Campaign format in the Gambia) to convince them otherwise. Every conversation one has in that country seems to start from the premise that everything that ails us is a divine act… government policies and their effect is usually an aside thought. A concerted effort need to start now if NADD is to made any headway into dispelling some of these cultural myths and conquering APRC’s strangle hold on Gambians. You don’t need a secretariat, bureaus or dear leader (flag bearer) to start sensitizing the electorate.

Togo is drifting towards anarchy while the rest of the leadership on that continent sleeps. The African Union and ECOWAS dropped the ball when they tolerate a fraudulent process to take place instead of insisting on the adherence to the constitution's stipulations on the demise of the president. The Eyadema hereditary is plunging that nation into chaos, adding another tragedy that the continent doesn't need.

Is any serious observer of Togolese politics in the past few months surprise at the outcome of this farce? The inheritance didn't get derailed by so-called elections. Which gets me to thinking... Is elections in developing countries without any adherence to the rule of law tantamount to democracy? Should opposition figures in these countries focus their attention on rebuilding civic institutions first before contesting elections in environments ripe for mischief, thereby legitimizing fraudulent electoral victories by totalitarian nit-wits? The later seems to make more sense to me. But again I will have to leave that to political scholars and student of the trade to figure out.

What’s Happening?

Remember that slogan, “Say nice things about your homeland”? Burn that slogan. It’s time to start saying the truth about Gambia, screaming the truth about "Kambia", because facing up to the truth is the only chance we have to save the nation once dubbed the smiling coast of west Africa, provided it’s not too late. It’s taken me awhile to face up to it myself, and to get up the nerve to shout out loud (even though some of my countrymen have been shouting that truth for quite some time now), but it’s getting to the point where I’m having a really hard time dealing with all this, and I know I’m not alone. Lately the mantle of shouting has become a norm for me as readers of this space probably figured out by now.

What’s been welling up inside bubbled over when a buddy of mine called me up to check in and see how things were going? He’s always been good like that, a lot better than me. Some one who’s writing I could never have enough of. Full of wit, wisdom and originality. He is not one to tout his own horn but readers of yore will attest to the fact that when maubeh had the time from his busy schedule to write he is tough to beat. We talk politics most of the time, but this time, barely a second after he asked how I was, I launched into a rant about all the things going on in the Gambia that were really starting to piss me off — and it turned out he had many of the same feelings... of course with a more level headed analytic examination of the situation. From the departure of Observer's erstwhile managing editor, the one up-manship taking place on the web amongst the proprietors of the independent newspaper to the deterioration of creative writing as envisage in the mediocre essay written by Observer's rising star...Omar Bah. But as usual the bitter venom is reserved for the man running our nation towards our worst fears... Yaya Alphonse. No am not obsess with the fool, I just don't like him and I hate what he is doing to my country.

The way things are going, you have to be a masochist to stubbornly say things will be all right. Something has to give and fast. Vigilante training camps are reported by villagers in the Kombos. Who are they training to intimidate or kill? What is Yaya Alphonse doing about this... that is as usual if his criminal hand is not behind it. He is taking a proactive stance before the next presidential election. He is not going to let go without maiming and killing his country men. I know, I know...maybe I am been overly pessimistic. And believe me I hope like all peace loving human beings that come 2006 I am wrong in my prediction as I was when I call a landslide for Johnny I voted for it before I vote against it Kerry. Remember him? You have no idea how much I hate predicting the atrocities that Yaya Alphonse can unleash, but I hate what I see happening to the Gambia even more.

I’m running out of space, and I think we’re all running out of patience. But we don't have any choice save for doing everything humanely possible to rescue our nation from the clutches of a murderous, kleptocractic dictator.

Pardon the interruption.

The Daily Observer Links in my postings are not functioning. Like everything else the Observer produce since it's present owners took over, their web presence is abysmal.

Gullible?

“So a new era dawned and we witnessed a complete new order that came to tackle societal and leadership vices in society. They had a slogan - probity, accountability and transparency”….
That was exactly what they had… a slogan. Leadership? Nah. Obviously our society has seen more heart wrenching human rights abuses ( murder, theft, arson) during their rein than the three decades of independence that preceded it.

“A many must have taken it as a mere gimmick that blew out of the mouths of another few who must have wanted to comfort themselves by wanting to own. But what happened, those that have thought so must have lived in an ocean of tomfoolery until the day of accountability and probity came to show us what it actually meant”…
come on” Gawlo”. We had a Jaliba in sheriff and before his scent even dissipated you are taking over the reins of journalistic sycophancy. Accountability without Yaya Alphonse telling us how he became the richest man in a decade doesn’t trouble you in the least.

“Let’s thank the zeal in its establishment and of course the call for its continuity in order to continue getting rid of the disgrace of corruption. But whatever one does without expressing gratitude to the grinning commission chairman who worked so fast and accurately to the impression of all in truthfulness and honesty, and then one has more to do. Now we have to join our hands to ensure that such bunch of vicious mice do not filter our public good anymore. Keep it up!”

Jeez... you are either gullible or the worst of that human tendency… selfishness is encroaching on your psyche. The biggest “DIRIMO” (Gambian rat) is still pilfering the public good. What planet do you live on?

If you want to see the second coming of Sheriff Bojang (Daily Observers outgoing un-principled managing editor), read Omar Bah’s impression of the APRC ascendancy to power and the subsequent Paul commission report a decade later. It has all the hallmarks of Sheriff's shenigans. Act tough on the little guy who got caught stealing while singing the praises of the God father who orders the murders and has all the wealth...Daily Observer.