Ragga Dee in T.O As My Boat Sinks

Trying out the soft focus effect with my Nikon on my daughter Faith


Does any one know where I can find a sober psychiatrist, I need one pretty bad and NOW!! Mr. Ndungutse in Ottawa buzzed Hopes this morning mbu Ragga Dee is set to rock the capital today saturday and that he will be in T.O tomorrow!!!! Why does this happen to me all the time? Misfortune seems to be my middle name lately as my frantic attempts to re-schedule my stuff for tomorrow are bare and in vain!! Right now it sucks to be me! Hey, didn't I just drown some load of quid on Da Vinci's Code tickets...heck, six of them! Quid I could have used to set the damn wrong right, enough for 6 tickets to Ragga Dee's show, gas, probably a 24 of heinekken...anything for christ's sake. Not that I am ranking up with Da Vinci's haters, nope, but I often go yonder awaiting for the DVD release, get to borrow or buy 'em, eh! To choose to go bananas on this incident out of many, when I had known of the show in advance is inexcusable, period!! Where is that psychiatrist, I gatta ping somebody...



Talk about pinging, did I mention the new deal skype, ebay inc.'s internet telephone subsidiary, has come up out with? Not that it makes me feel better after my goof, but hey anything free is golden and worth a peek. If your soul resides in North America, you should be able to place a call from your skypeout a/c to any traditional landline and mobile phones in U.S and Canada for FREE. Now, I know there isn't such a thing like free lunch in a purely capitalist world down south, but hey this is not just glitter its gold, believe me I have tried it already. We the consumers are beddecked with wide grins because Vonage has no option but to counter this challenge if they are to enjoy the competitive advantage they had over traditional ping corps. like Bell Canada, Sprint Canada, Rogers et al. Folks in Kigali and Kampala, try out skype for your long distance calls (it is just 2 cents@min). I do remember those calls I used to place five years ago from Kasese, Mweya and Mbarara to U.S worth 7,200ug.shs.@min, now that was outright day-time robbery, Phew!! Where is consumer protection when you need it?

Once in a while I visit with John Nagenda's fascinating column in the New Vision. He chooses to identify himself as Uganda's No. 1 columnist (which I find debatable), but informed, controversial, and provocative is right on the money. I was thinking about writing on that american fishy and selfish pardon or amnesty extended to Col. Gaddafi and his country, until when I visited this week's column, The Lion and Cream which was an ideological replica of my sentiments that I had to let my good intentions go. Libya and Cuba are two different states that were generally isolated by the americans and their proxies for entirely two different reasons. It still beats my mind why civilised humans living under a free and democratic umbrella could unleash such great untold suffering onto other humans for being ideologically different!?

The big story that Nagenda missed in his column though was the recent UN's report on USA's adherence to the world body's anti-torture treaty. The report categorically requested the prison at Guantanamo Bay to be closed (consenting that it is an illegal detention facility); that USA avoids using secret detention facilities in her war on terror; and that detainees should not be returned to any state where they are certain to face torture. Wow! The significance of this is of great magnititute, since USA is a signatory to the UN Committee Against Torture any of her current leaders (like Donald Rumsfield) who are directly implicated in torture reports from Gitmo and Abu Gharib should watch where they go in future lest they get arrested for these crimes. Ask Pinotchet who acknowledged and signed the anti-torture treaty and who made up laws refraining acts of torture in his country, found himself being arrested and deported back to Chile to face trial. The treaty he supported and the laws he upheld were used against him more than a decade later. Small victory but better than nothing.

I hate cigarettes and smoking with a passion, so when the Ontario provincial govenment passed the anti-tobacco legislation to ban smoking in work-places, all indoor public areas and outdoor public areas I was thrilled beyond comprehension. Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your belts, the legislation takes effect on June 1 and I can't wait. Some guy at our Tae Kwon Do class tried to make it seem like his rights were being stripped and vowed to join some ardent smokers in that proposed demo against the legislation. This is how I see it; it is in the best interest of the general public that irresponsible lighting is curtailed. Our healthcare system is grossly overwhelmed by the high number of smoking related health complications like cancer by a huge bill of $1.7 billions in health care costs annually according to Dr. Sheela Basrur. Non smokers such as myself and babies/kids for good measure, find themselves in this peril as second hand smoke inhalers and suffer consequences not of our own making. If somebody wants to kill himself they should do it without dragging us non-smokers into the dry plains of doom with them!

With Katrina and all that threatrics that followed sailing further away from recent memory, the New Orleans residents are at the polls again for a mayor. I am predicting the incurbent Ray Nagin, the man with a twisted tongue, is ganna win this one. I toss to your health Ray and wish you the best in your second term...in advance.

I am out.