Thursday, December 31, 2009

Ending 2009 and welcoming 2010 ,You mus NOT Quit !

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Loneliness and Depression, can lead you to murder innocents?

There are so many stories around the Globe now but there’s this one story that had changed events globally from the way we talk and interact with people in both virtual world (online world) and physically.

The story of a younger Nigerian man believed to be aged 24 (other media houses quote 25) whom journalists branded to be brave intelligent, younger, handsome from a class A section of people in Nigeria who chose to blow up a plane while enroute to Detroit, Michigan on 25th December 2009.

He tried to bomb a plane taking 278 passengers and 11 crew members. As a result, travelers are now facing tough security screening and delays on airport on addition to reporting three hours before the flight....all this headache is a result of this Islamic fool.

Although I have read a lot about this failed terror act, I prevented myself from discussing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with my online friends who are asking me what I think especially the skeptics, atheists and rational thinkers. This morning as I was talking with one of the strong atheist reader of this blog, he wrote to me how “deeply” he was sympathising with the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab” because of what he went through during his teenage age”. And that if it was not loneliness and depression that this murderer faced, he would not have chosen to be a serial killer (or mass murderer) of this kind. Apparently the New York Times and all major media houses, wrote on December 29, 2009 that the bomber suffered loneliness and depression.

To me this is garbage. I cannot even tolerate this kind of belief. I have lived alone for the last 24 years, on streets, ate in trash, was and am still lonely, was in depression, had no one to talk to, have no family or friends, even now, am alone, I talk to no one apart from my online friends but I never thought of killing anyone for that, not even my mum who dumped me at the age of 6 months, not even my fathers who exchanged me like pan cakes! In fact, during these rough times of my life, I longed for death myself. There are times where I wanted to commit suicide. But never at anytime, thought of harming anyone else. When I read the allegations of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and the comments of my atheist reader, my nerves went up and were in shock since I couldn’t expect any sympathy from an atheist to that bomber.

Now, I would like to examine and put some questions for you to answer. If this terrorist claims to having done what he did as a result of loneliness and depression, why didn’t he:

1) Try to kill his family who is part of his problem?
2) Why didn’t he kill Nigerians in his home village?

Did Americans contribute to his depression and loneliness hence killing them?
What crime did the other nationals on the flight commit to deserve death, simply because they are not Moslems?

The Qur'an from its beginning to it’s end, is teaching murder, wrath and war to those who don’t believe in it, so this Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did what he was doing to defend his Islam which is a terror theory. Moslems start getting training of murdering their opponents at the age of 7 days, so how do you expect anyone to change when they grow up?

Someone said that, he blames his parents for teaching him religion, it sounds to be true, but Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was and is now a grown up man who can make right choices and decisions. He was educated and intelligent, meaning that he do have the capacity to think rationally. Actually, it’s this rational part of thinking that made him know that killing his father and fellow Nigerians will look bad, so he rather kill Americans and other Nationals of different countries!

Take it from me, with no fear of Moslems, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was following the true teaching of the Qur'an and now that he knows how the world will point to the true Quranic teachings that he presents dejection and loneliness as a scapegoat to drive criticism away from his religion, in other words, he is defending Islam by pointing to depression, and he had been successful on that having won the compassion of my atheist friend.

Finally, I would like you to examine Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as an Islamic bomber not as a Nigerian, for I do have several Nigerians that I know to be good citizens of this planet and peace loving, caring and respecting others.

Readers are invited to respond with your opinions about the bomber and what I wrote

KAMPALA TO NAIROBI ON BY ROAD

There was going to be a session of Parliament of Religions in Melbourne Australia from 3-9th December 2009. Being an atheist,I had a desire to attend and that meant paying for registration and hotel accommodation before the organizers could send me the invitation that I can use to support my visa application at the Australian High Commission in Nairobi Kenya.(For your knowlegde, "High Commission" refers to all foreign missions in Commonwealth group and if a nation is not a member of that group,then it's foreign missions in a given Country is referred to as the "Embassy") So Uganda and Australia are both members of Commonwealth.Then why should i need a visa travel there? Why should a Ugandan need a viss to enroute through London and only stopping at airport? What are the benefits of Commonwealth? Who are the benefieceries? The list of Questions is endless.

Am a poor,oppressed guy in Kampala as a result of my stand against organized religions, state sponsored homophobia and many issues that the society think are un-debatable, I and my friend who is also poor like me thought that it could be great if we try to secure a visa to Australia and thereafter seek asylum. My friend who I will call MA in this post skeptically with less confidence offered me the only money that he had saved for a very long time. We calculated the idea and our nerves and minds confirmed that I will get a visa simply because,i have seen many people,who are like me using the same procedure and they get the sticker in their travel document.

The requirements of securing a visa to another Country by an African are harder and almost the same across all diplomatic missions in Africa. Securing a visa from US and EU diplomatic missions in Africa, it’s like thinking of becoming the photocopy of the internet entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, the first African to tour space after paying 25 million dollars to Space Adventures, Ltd in April 2002.The chances of this this to come true are slim.

This was going to be almost my sixth time attempting to seek a visa. The first attempts failed and I was determined to be prepared this time not to face another disappointment. I tried seeking whatever it takes to meeting the requirements and as poor as am, this meant spending more money on things that you don't know where its going to be of great importance but in the same way, you hate to receive a no from the so called world governors (read western democracies) of this planet. So I choose to inject the money. If you live in Kampala and you have tried seeking visas from a poor back-ground foundation,you know what am talking about.

Having paid my three figure amount of money to the organizers of the Parliament of religions summit, they sent the confirmations to me. I collected the application from the immigrations website, filled them, secured the appointment in Nairobi, I set my day of departure from Kampala on 15th November 2009 and it was going to take 10 full workings days to know my fate.

I boarded the bus in Kampala at 2:30pm; I took pictures because I borrowed a camera from a friend. I was very worried about the accidents. I last traveled to Nairobi in 2007,the road was very bad, deep gravely potholes that could easily torn into pieces your spinal code, I was really anxious not knowing what will happen on addition of the tougher bandits on the way. When we arrived in Jinja, my senses came to its normal position because the road in this area was good and it gave me confidence it might had been repaired now and I had no reason to worry.

I sat on Seat Number 6 together with a chatty well behaving Ugandan called Joseph Mugerwa whose ancestral home is Kinoni in Masaka, currently a businessman dealing in garments and Stationery, being a Muganda, I automatically knew that Mugerwa was belonging to a Monkey clan and according to our customs and beliefs, those who belong there have a very special place within the Monarchy administration. Read about Buganda Kingdom if you want to know more.

Also on seat number four, there was an Asian mostly likely to be from Pakistan. I said hello to him, and gave him my camera to take a picture of me. The driver was a strong built-in guy, very brown and resembled Somalis so much, he played loud music in the bus and smoked a lot, but also he looked to be kind and generous. The music was so loud to the deafening sound and he could not hear any complain but again, his passengers seemed used to him and felt okay with it. almost smoke two packets of Cigarettes from Kampala to Nairobi.

The journey was full of roadblocks almost every 30 minutes and they get us off and on to do their security. This was very tiresome. We talked a lot with Mugerwa from politics to religions to women, and I agree I liked him and his views, he was a strong liberal catholic but no longer going to church, I was alarmed when he told me he has more than five women and had had babies from women of all walks of life and that he thinks to make more babies and he also felt sad for me for not being married and not having kids.

This is another problem am facing in Uganda, people demanding me kids even when it’s clearly in the glass that Uganda and the entire planet cannot support the high populations, its only a few people who can know this. About 6,800,000,000 humans currently inhabit this planet, increasing at 142 per minute, therefore its being idiot of me to add more babies when I know the risk and problems we are going to face in less than 20 years. Every year about 75,000,000 new humans compete for space, food and water, mostly in unhealthy, overcrowded, polluted cities. This human increase is mirrored by a corresponding decrease in other living organisms,65 species of which become extinct every day, seriously undermining the ability of nature to sustain us. Water is becoming scarce and food too expensive for increasing numbers of people as demand outstrips supply.

Every day, hectares of forest are cleared, land becomes desert, and 70 million tones of CO2 are released into the atmosphere to cope with the increasing affluence and effluence of burgeoning populations. Everyone is nervous about impending catastrophe, but governments and the organized religions are not addressing the primary cause of the problem, overpopulation. Why? Because they need to curry favour with religious power-brokers in exchange for political support. I will not be part of this. I want a free and safer world with more pleasant air to breath in for all living creatures.

Mugerwa expressed his concerns for the Asian and many Ugandans felt insecure because of him on the bus. I think you know why! (Because most of the people from that side of the planet are Moslems and this qualifies them to be terrorists)

We arrived at the Busia Uganda border at 7:05 PM and it was raining, so we took like 20 minutes without alighting off the bus, it was so heavy but given the long lines of people on the immigrations waiting exits stamps and approval, we forced our way out of the bus through the rain and then into the packed immigrations office, I didn't have time and chance to take a picture even though I really admired it.

I didn't have a pen to fill the departure forms, so I begged a lady whom I cannot recall who responded positively. This is the same thing that happened to Kenya side after walking through the No man's land in rain, it took me 40 minutes to pass-through of this, apparently the operators of the bus I used told us to be as quick as we can that they may be leaving Busia at 7;30pm. to Nairobi .Look for my next edition of this journey.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Love,what does it really mean?

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy.
It does not boast.
It is not proud.
It is not rude.
It is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered.
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Eating out in Kampala

I do prepare my food always at home, but once in a while, when I get out of home, I find myself feeling extremely hungry and with no way out, I look for a way out from the bad joints of Kampala interiors to eat the bad prepared food that sometimes cause my tummy to protest my decisions.

Last Wednesday, a not well-known friend invited me to town and ended up to this place called U restaurant where I see many Kampalanians hang for food daily. In fact, U is one of the high rated restaurants and this makes it very expensive, its owner almost appears weekly in the daily media for no particular reason but to promote his business, this was my second time to this place. I sat in there just watching people enjoying their food; I took a bottle of coke only.

The U restaurant might be expensive as you may be aware, but the kitchens are terrible. Just open sheds with fired burning in the metal rims of trucks and large drums of food boiling on top. It is hot and dangerous and very unsanitary. The fish and meat and vegetables are cut up on a not too clean surface, and then when it’s all cooked the poor servants have to carry the huge and heavy containers up stairs and into the restaurants... I would not like to eat the food... I'd be frightened of getting diarrhea.

I didn’t get out of my little house; I spent what most people call a holy day at home, lonely and depressed as usual thinking of how religion had been greatest destroyer of happiness and peace of mind for centuries and no religionists can understand it. That’s why they embrace deception and hypocrisy from the religious institutions over and over.

Am out of here, watch out who is next to you.

AFRICAN GLBT PEOPLE....GET OUT OF THE CLOSET

Here is my speech if i had have made it to the first European Humanist Forum that took place in 15th this December 2007 but i never attended. Please read what i wrote to the participants.

Friends, it is great to know that you are all here for this event and am sure there are some freinds from Africa.It is sad that there are a bigger discrimination when it comes to travel between Africans and other continents to Europe or USA. People from Europe and USA enters Africa as they want however they stop most of us to travel by denying us visas no matter if you have met all the requirements they asked but sadly still,they don't tell you why your Visa was denied.This means something to me.

And that brings me right to what I want to share with you today - my thoughts on what steps we need to take next to continue that progress in the struggle for equality to all people of this Globe. We have seen LGBT rights become a much greater worldwide issue now.

Previously, gay people in a number of countries were mainly concerned with the battle for freedoms in their own countries.Now that an increasing number of countries offer fundamental freedoms,many are now turning their attention to the plight of people in our countries, and this is both an opportunity and a problem.

The more pressure seems to come from outside the country and still not within, the more homosexuality is blamed on being a'western' disease that people claim is alien to our own cultures. We know this is not true, but how can we protest effectively if we are still living in secret, in hiding? And so the purpose for my talk today is to encourage ourselves, as leaders of LGBT people around the world and in Africa especially, to consider what is for most of us an important question at one time or other: Coming Out.

Why?
For those of you who think of your cultural and political environment and think, "No way", let me give you a number of reasons why this is important for advancing our cause.

1) For an LGBT community to have a visible leader sends a powerful message to people living in our countries or regions. Remember that many of us have grown up being told repeatedly that people like us are evil and unworthy, and many will have low self-esteem.

It helps us all to have role models, and to have someone like us being out and visible can be a massive confidence booster to those who still doubt whether they are even valid human beings..

2) People fear the unknown, especially if its there is an apparent danger that this 'foreign' thing might come to their own land.Right now Grenada is debating whether to allow gay cruise ships to dock for a few hours, in case the Island becomes 'infected and over-run with gayness'. That's because most of the population don't realise there are already about the same proportion of LGBT people there as anywhere else because they are too invisible.

Has anyone everseen any science fiction 'B' movies from the 1950's such as 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', and seeing people running screaming when some creature walks towards them? You'd only need to replace the word 'alien' with 'homosexual' and the film could apply to many countries in Africa right now - "Oh my God - a homosexual - and it's coming towards us - DO SOMETHING!! DO SOMETHING!!"

We need to show people we aren't treatening to arrive - we're already here, we already alive among you and we've been here for centuries - and we aren't dangerous unless threatened.The key point here is that fear of us is only possible with ignorance. When we are able to undermine the fear by people's awareness that close proximity to us is not dangerous, then it enables people's minds to open up to understanding us even better.

3)People's perceptions of us are often highly influenced by our own perceptions of ourselves. If the leading representatives of LGBT people in our countries are out, proud and confident, it sends a powerful message that we are comfortable with who we are and WE believe we are valid human beings. By contrast if the even the leading lights of the LGBT community are scared to identify themselves, the rest of the population will not respect us much either.


4)It creates a focal point for the international community to changes and events in society in our countries. It gives media a recognisable contact point to accept. The media loves a recognisable figurehead Points to consider Taking that step to come out for our countries is a big decision. You can't easily go back into the closet once you've come out.

It's a one-way trip. So there are some criteria that need to be considered before you take that step. In particular, if you are the only openly gay person in your country or your region, people will regard you as being representative of all LGBT people. Therefore, it is important that it works not just for you, but for everyone.


1)Are you someone who finds it easy to hold opinions on matters such as great moral issues,that are different from everybody else, or do you find yourself agreeing with the majority for safety? Does your judgement about right and wrong come from deep inside, or what the majority thinks? A key requirement of someone who is to lead openly is that they must be firm in their convictions that people's sexual orientation is their valid right, regardless of what religious leaders or politicians say, or even thugs may say to your face. You must feel as valid a person as the highest official in the land who condemns you, because many people will judge you on how, deep down, you feel about yourself.

2)Do you find being in the public eye uncomfortable, even over non-controversial issues? To be an effective leader you need to accept you will be not so much stepping on to the platform to speak to a friendly crowd, but stepping into the arena where the lions have already been released, with a largely hostile crowd, with the world's media watching. Its your job, over time, to wow the crowd and slowly bring them round to our way of thinking. We must be someone that, even if they don't agree with us, they at least begin to respect.

3)Are we of even temper, able to remain calm and in full control of ourselves when our opponents try to provoke us? For they will. As we have seen with many politicians or public people in different countries, when our opponents (and we must include many of the media among them for now) find an emotionally vulnerable flaw in our character, it may be manipulated mercilessly.

We need to be able to withstand taunts and character assassinations as if we were Nelson Mandela. He had the dignity and stature of a president even when he was imprisoned, and that's how he made that remarkable and almost unprecedented journey directly from prisoner to president. That is the stature we need to emulate.

4)Are we well versed in the justification of how we are, from a variety of different perspectives? Not just human rights, which if people regard us as being less than human, it's a weak justification to them. We need to know and be able to argue strongly against the religious arguments in particular, which are most commonly used against us in Africa.

We need to be familiar with the sociological evidence that we are not any more likely to harm children than heterosexuals that we can quote it against others who accuse us of being a danger to children. It may help us if we are aware of the scientific literature that indicates our sexuality is determined by the time we are born and is not 'chosen' or the result of a corrupting environment.

It may assist your arguments against those who claim being gay is 'against nature' if we have read about some of the higher-order social animals who have a variety of sexualities among them.And who are not homophobic.

5) Is our past clean? By that I mean is our past honourable?Are there skeletons in our closet? Do we have a past that would embarrass others who are LGBT if it were to become public. For sure, people will try to find anything to discredit us. And, as I have found, if it doesn't exist they will make it up.

6)Are we good at inspiring courage and cooperation with others? If have a habit of causing disagreements and opposition with people who are supposedly on our side, we will find it difficult to lead effectively. We need to be able to persuade people to work with us willingly behind the scenes for no glory except the satisfaction of having contributed to an overall victory at some unspecified point in the future.

We need to be able to work out people's individual strengths, weaknesses and motivations to get them to help achieve collective goals in cooperation with each other. And we need to have a clear focus and determination to succeed. It sounds as though we need to be an exemplary people who has personal qualities way beyond the ordinary mortal. To an extent, this is true, but in a way that is because the standard of the ordinary mortal is pretty low, which is why we are in the mess we are in now.

In reality we can only do our best, and for our standard and quality of behaviour, as long as we have stars to aim at, then the chances are we will hit higher than those around you. A key point is to keep improving what we do.

How to make leading from outside the closet work for ourselves or our group

1)We need to know who our supporters and enemies are around us. Before coming out to the world, come out to our friends and family, so that we know who we can count on when we need support. We MUST have either a close group of people around us or a partner who encourage and support us wholeheartedly, even when we feel beaten down by the opposition, so that in our weakest moments they are there for you.

2)Remember that leadership is not a one person acting by themselves but is a team effort with one person as the figurehead. There are a variety of skills required amongst the leadership, which means including the people around and ourselves: These include the ability to prepare press releases that will be taken up by gay media or gay frinedly medias

The ability to network amongst other groups to get moral and practical support; If we can find anyone who is good at fundraising, they will be a god-send, but we must be prepared to work on very little funding. Having someone who understands effective publicity and public relations is vital.

And we must pay as much attention to encouraging and nurturing grass-roots support as you do for high-profile approaches to international media.

3)Build up contacts in international gay-oriented or gay-friendly media so that we have an outlet for news stories. Ensure that the world is watching events in our countries, and that very bad behaviour by opponents is so well reported that it reflects on the reputation of the country. And be prepared to produce responses to local events promptly and accurately so that we and our groups are regarded as a reliable source of information.

4)If your group already exists and is known to an extent, use coming out as an excuse to re-launch or re-brand, making it clear you are stepping up a gear.

5)When high profile opponents, such as political or religious leaders issue attacks on us in the media, respond promptly and accurately so that we are always there with a response. However big our enemy is, if we are able to respond with a quality reply, it can seem like a battle between equal opponents to the media, who love reporting a fight.

The size of our enemy may become an advantage if, by the coverage given to both of us, we can appear to be as strong or stronger in our arguments compared to them. Remember, that truth of our validity withstands scrutiny, whereas their false claims about us do not, and that makes their lies easy to expose.

6)When people attack you personally or LGBT people in general, publicly challenging and ridiculing their attack weakens it. Appearing to relish the challenge and, instead of being weakened by an attack but appearing to be made stronger by it instead provokes respect, because ultimately we are all animals at some level, and animals respect strength in someone they regard as an opponent.

7)Always be willing to expose the hypocrisies and flaws in enemies as they will attempt to do to undermine us. Especially if we pick up their flaws and weaknesses that are already known to their own supporters, then we will find our own enemy's supporters recognising truth in what we say and by such means we may divide our enemy, thus weakening further their attacks on us. We may find it helpful to link issues around LGBT rights to other oppressive denial of human rights for the general opposition in the population that many people will recognise and support.

It is helpful to find ways in which we have common ground with our enemy against someone else, such as political authorities. This is the approach taken by Christian and Moslem religious leaders who find common ground with each other by uniting to fight against us.

Finding common ground with the majority population by picking up issues of fraud, corruption, police brutality and oppression of other basic freedoms and aligning our aims with those of the general population can undermine the popular base of attacks by authority on us. As the old political saying goes, "Anyone who is the enemy of my enemy, is my friend".

8)Constant presence is important, because fear is fuelled by ignorance. Over time, constant reminders of our un-threatening presence among people undermines their fear of the 'foreign and unknown'. When homosexuality is a constant topic in the media, then even when the content of the topics is threatening or 'anti', gradually the fear among the population declines simply through the constant exposure to it. When people are no longer afraid, then they are able to use the critical faculties once more.

Where does this lead us?

We must not make any mistakes - taking a public stand is not easy and there are real threats to those who make themselves known. We may have to take avoiding action and live in exile for a period of time, as I have had to do. Luckily with the increasing ease of communicating electronically, we can still lead from afar, and our leadership team may consist of individuals who are geographically remote from each other.

These days it is considerably easier to reach the critical mass needed to become an effective movement for social change.The costs of not stepping forward can be crippling. To fail to step up to grasp the nettle when the opportunity occurs is to remain closed in our own prison cell. As Nelson Mandela remarked,
"Eventually oppression by others can become self-oppression".

To boldly step forward is to become in perhaps a small way at first, a world leader. The big rewards will be a long time coming, but each day overall in the world things become easier. There is hardly a day goes by when either social, political or legal progress is not made somewhere in the world, and sometimes even in the most unexpected places.

Yes, there are bad days when things take a step backwards, but these will not be sustained. In the long term they will prove to be a futile reaction to progress around elsewhere.When people barricade themselves in with sandbags against the rising water,the water just finds another way in.

Only today we have learnt that Grenada has backed down over banning gay cruises visiting, because the adverse publicity while they were deliberating on the issue has caused a number of cancellations. People are beginning to realize we are a commercial force to be reckoned with.If we participate in this international move towards greater equality, justice and freedom then in years to come we will not have to wonder what could have been if we had failed.

One of the people I count on as being part of my team said one of the things that had the most impact on him in his life was learning that, in interviews, very few old people regret what they did. But most old people massively regret what they did not do that they could have done.

I hope you will join me in not only not regretting, but being proud,of what we have done, by being able to look back in future years and being proud of what we have done.

Oppressive laws and official campaigns against us,Lack of information about us in the society,Negative media publication Deep culture and religious disapproval, Risk of social isolation and violence Absence of safe meeting places and financial support also affected and still affects us more and will continue to be available if we don't play our part.

Therefore, it's inside this movement that modern LGBTs are called to journey today! We need to journey as those seeking our own identities. We journey as men and women in search of our wholeness for one another and ourselves for freedom from the distortions of our prejudices, fears, treats and angers.

We look those things that both define us; Sex, Family, Tribe and Religion. We look at the arenas of our competition in the never-ending struggle for survive, rights and for freedoms.

Thank you

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The strengthen and wonders of Science in this age

Often when we talk about the marvels of science, we think of the "heavens" and wonder where we came from. The wonders of science can be seen through the lens of microscopes, from the actions of amino acids in the presence of sunlight, etc.

If you go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dna you will see, in 3D, the double-helix of DNA. Beautiful and fascinating.

So far, the projected cost of American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan goes over the two trillion dollar figure. In their (Americans) system of numbering, there are a thousand million in one billion, and a thousand billion in one trillion.

Cost comparisons have been made several times by the Congressional Budget Committee and I learned that USA spend just a small fraction for its space programs in comparison to the mind-boggling waste in military spending.

Like we Africans,most Americans are not very interested in science, they're interested in religion and being saved. They're afraid of the Vietnamese or the Soviets or the Iraqis or Iranians or the Martians and they vote for pro-war representatives.

The result is that America doesn't invest so much in science which might interfere with Intelligent Design or Creationist ideas. See, if they invested their money into science programs, like more rapidly developing solar and alternative energy sources, and space programs, etc., this might cause their youth to do more thinking and they might turn into a bunch of godless atheists!

But even with their little investment in the Hubble Telescope, You can see about the universe. It's beautiful and causes one to think--what is this? Why is that the way it is?

Holy Mary Recalling that day when she cheated on Joseph and had sex with God

Unholy row over New Zealand Mary and Joseph billboard
Mary and Joseph billboard from St Matthew-in-the-City church in Auckland
The billboard is intended to challenge the stereotypes of the Christmas conception story, but it has been described as offensive to Christians

An unholy row has broken out in New Zealand over a church billboard aimed at "challenging stereotypes" about the birth of Jesus Christ.

A dejected-looking Joseph lies in bed next to Mary under the caption, "Poor Joseph. God was a hard act to follow".

St Matthew-in-the-City Church in Auckland, which erected the billboard, said it had intended to provoke debate.

But the Catholic Church, among others, has condemned it as "inappropriate" and "disrespectful".


FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE

More from BBC World Service

Within hours of its unveiling, the billboard had been defaced with brown paint.

The church's vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said the aim of the billboard had been to lampoon the literal interpretation of the Christmas conception story.

"What we're trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about," he told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).

"Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?"

Mary and Joseph billboard from St Matthew-in-the-City church in Auckland
The billboard was defaced within hours of its unveiling

He told NZPA that the church had received e-mails and phone calls about the controversial image.

"About 50% said they loved it, and about 50% said it was terribly offensive," he said. "But that's out of about 20 responses - this is New Zealand."

But Lyndsay Freer, spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Auckland, said the poster was offensive to Christians.

"Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph," she told the New Zealand Herald. "Such a poster is inappropriate and disrespectful."

The family values group Family First said any debate about the Virgin birth should be held inside the church.

"To confront children and families with the concept as a street billboard is completely irresponsible and unnecessary," Family First director Bob McCroskrie told the news website stuff.co.nz.

HERE IS MY RESPONSE ON THAT STORY
Very sorry that the picture on the billboar failed to load!!! Sorry indeed


I think the billboard should be put up again--but this time, guarded 24 hours a day for one week by people armed with digital cameras. Violence should be avoided. If a nation is serious about Freedom of Speech and Press rights--and this would include billboards--there should be laws against defacing a billboard. During the first day, there should have been two volunteers in cars with digital cameras with good batteries so make sure the flash attachment will work if the defacer works at night. Have cell phones ready for the police to arrest the man, make sure to get the person's license number. If he removes his license plate beforehand, have him arrested for driving without a license plate affixed as required by law. When the person has been identified, file a lawsuit against him.

I see an example of how wars--as between Serbians and Kosovars--start over religion.

As for this sentence: "The family values group Family First said any debate about the Virgin birth should be held inside the church."

Wouldn't it be nice if all debates of a religious nature would be held in churches, including those about abortion and GLBT rights. There should be NO laws regarding abortion or who goes to bed with whom, or how and when an individual decides to end their lives. Nonetheless, religionists ram their superstitious beliefs down our throats, first by electing religious personnel to public office who then introduce bills of a religious nature and, with the cooperation of other religious law-makers, pass laws of a religious nature.

So why not vote for secularists seeking public office? We atheists must educate the public so that those who express their religious inclinations are not voted for by 51% of the electorate. Yes, those who run for public office may exercise their freedom of speech, but those who vote can also exercise their freedom by not voting for religious office-seekers--through the secret ballot.

In the U.S., they've been trying to get citizens to understand the principles of separation of state from church, that they don't elect Christian displays on public property which is maintained by everyone's tax dollars. This idea, after more than 200 years, is finally sinking in. And yet, in Illinois, the message hasn't gotten through. This Christian display makes Jews, Moslems, Hindus and atheists feel like they're not first class citizens. Yet they can't allow all religious groups to fill up government space with their religious displays. For a secular nation, as they are supposed to be, no religious displays should be allowed

see this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8417963.stm

Finally............

Previously I wrote on my experience in Mulago Hospital in Kampala Uganda. I have done so much, boarded many border-borders (mean of transport to get by quickly in Kampala using motorcycles).I had spent more money on going and coming out of Mulago which I do not have anyway. I have paid for my dentures two weeks ago and every time I do been there, dentists retake measurements. They always find a reason for that. But they also had something common that they complained about” They all complained about how nurses and fellow dentists steal the Mulago Hospital properties, in this case I mean the plates that they use to take measurements of dentures. They also complained on how they are being underpaid. How they lack resources.

All the times I do been they, they used oversized plates, they done it in fear that what if the dentures doesn’t fit in. But as professionals, they always know how to fix it. So last Wednesday I was at the place, they took measurements again and made an appointment to pick them today 23 December 2009.

I didn’t have a very good sleep, I do been sick from malaria and some running stomach which I had no idea on the cause of it. Well I didn’t recall that today was Wednesday until when I scrolled through my phone look for a number to call, and then I saw that note in my drafts about attending the dentist. It was now 12 midday and the dentist clinic closes at 12:30, I boarded a border-border and rushed to Mulago. I arrived there 15 minutes before closing; they rushed me to the waiting room as if I was a victim of a fatal accident.

They brought the dentures in a black cup, they fit in right and they all smiled as if they had saved someone from death. I did experience some kind of this on 16th Feb 2009 when I had a hernia surgery in Mityana hospital. Doctors there also most operate patients on nothing. Ugandan hospitals do not have equipments and medical personals are underpaid yet those in political offices rob sums of money.

That evening was good for both of me and my day ended well but a little bit of disappointed by the hospital. I have visited. In early August 2008, I visited Mengo Hospital. They charged me lot of money just for examination and told me to pay a huge amount of money for the Hernia Surgery, they are the one who wanted me to pay the 450000 UGX but since I had no money, I left while my money for examination was taken.

It took me much time to just save that money. And in the end, the examination result paper got lost when I went to see the Doctor who will handle my case, am not good on shouting, so I kept quite as they check the results papers and after an hour or more, the results was no where to be seen. So I left for home without them. You can read about Mengo Hospital on the link below www.mengohospital.com.

I made my decisions that I will go for that surgery in Mulago hospital, but also I knew that the situation was more worse than Mengo where I sat for four hours without any attention from anyone and the hospital was crowded,.

Finally I chose Mulago.You can read about Mulago Hospital on www.mulago.or.ug.

Mulago was Cheaper but also because I had have heard people say that, there in Mulago, you can go through a back door and prevent the queue (lines). When I arrived at Mulago hospital at 1pm that day, I felt sorry in my heart. I was exhausted and the pain of Hernia was high since I do been walking longer and longer in the city center and also on this hilly Mulago with both dust and rubbish running into my noses and eyes.

It was really terrible. It came worse when I could not find anyone to ask for directions. Its a very huge hospital, and for the first time, I spotted their website and now I knew, while it looks nice and talks good on the administration, its the opposite when you meet it. Nurses were too full of themselves and it looked as if someone forced them to join Nursing schools. Even receptionist, was not friendly to me. This sparked off my desire to check on Kadic Hospital.

At this pointed, I wanted to have a glass of water and no way I could find it, I cruised through the corridors of Mulago as if I was a tourist, passing by patients who were crowded as if Pope Benedict is opening International Youth Day anywhere near Mulago, patients who don’t knew when will they be with able to see the Doctor and who are not sure if,at all they was a chance of meeting a doctor, they will leave and go home not in a coffin(call it casket). Having suffered there, I choose to get on a taxi and head to Mityana but until I checked with several private hospitals, I won’t go to hit the road to a Mityana which was 45 kilometers from Kampala.

I arrived at the Kadic Hosptal in Bukoto at around 3pm.There was some people and few patients. In this Hospital, Nurses out numbered the patients and I immediately asked why? Later I learned that ,the only people who get to this place are of A class.

Sorry,Kadic Hospital’s website was not loading. Well, my turn came and I handed myself in the hands of Dr. HB who examined me at no cost at all.

Seeing Uganda go by from my point of view can be a very depressing existence. But once in a while, someone comes around and renews your hope. And you find a reason to love and laugh, or at least to smile. When Dr.HB told me that the examination is free, I wept in my heart and rethink my money that went to Mengo hospital just for that.

Then, I found some energy to ask him about the bills. This friendly talking Doctor told me that, the bills will differ from three things. I asked what they are. He said that " Hospital bills differ from each other even if they offer the same service, Then there's a professional fee and Medication fee. Am to take this whole service from Kadic hospital, their surgeon may charge around 2.5m Ugx and as we talked, he told me that he also operates in another medical center called City Medical Center also in Bukoto, few meters away from Kadic if not kilometers and there he said that, I go to that place, he will at least twist and charge me at around 1.9M Ugx. I waved goodbye to him and told him that I will come back.

When I left the compound of Kadic, somehow felt angry and abandoned gave a call to the Doctor in Mengo who examined me, asking him what will the 450000 cover? He replied that “that’s only surgery and no medicines, I didn't ask any more questions and my heart agreed that our country is really on the brink and went to dogs.

I loaded myself in a Taxi, as soon as I sat down, it started raining. I liked the breezes and I smiled. Somehow not sure why but the though of a lady who wanted to be attended to first before me yet I was the first came also in( I strongly believe in first come ,first serve business)
.I chose to ignore that and called it a day. The next day I was on taxi again to Mityana where the hernia was done.

Monday, December 21, 2009

The cost of living alone!

Monday, 21 December, 2009

Sometimes I just do not know how to start my writing. Other times I feel like I have lots of stories to share, but when I get on keyboard, I fail to compose any thoughts of a story to put on my blog. Sometimes, instead of writing something, I spend lots of hours simply looking at the screen of the computer, well at least spending time chatting in those java-powered chat rooms online.

Am afraid to say that am married to this machine, it's my wife, it's my brother, it's my best friend; but again, it's not equal to human beings. We are human beings, right? No matter how we live our lives and try to isolate ourselves from the society in which we live, we still end up in someone's presence, which in Uganda, is a risk to our lives. I usually ask myself when I will ever overcome isolation. Why am I on the edge of life? Why do I feel stateless? There must be something wrong with my land of enchantment--Uganda

I have lived in Uganda for all my life and learnt the ugly part of Ugandans and its ugly face of the Ugandan townships in which I have lived. As a result, I married my computer and settled in the remotest areas of the suburbs in Kampala. It's really fine to be home alone, but again, as time goes on you simply feel a need to tough a human being, to feel the warmth of belonging that you isolated yourself. If you want to know the ugly part of this Country-Uganda, You need to look no further than religion--or superstition--that has closed the mind to scientific inquiry and its results.

From early childhood, we're taught that there is a god and our devotion is oriented to "serving" and "loving" this god, or several gods, which does not encourage or enhance our love for one another as people.

We can observe the difference between a mother with one child and a mother with eight children.

A mother's love is not boundless. The mother has only so much time to devote to her offspring. The more children, the more time the mother must spend away from the family to work. The child without siblings will receive his entire mother's love, but the child with seven other siblings will receive only one-eighth of his mother's love--if that. If he's not one of mother's favourites, he may be neglected all together.

Likewise with religion. Since there is no god, then there is no love from this entity. The religious leaders want the followers to devote ALL their time to serving this god. But we're taught to pour our love into this imaginary being in order to receive "salvation" that we end up not loving each other as humans. We are forced to submit and to conform to a biblical standard, lest this god come down and strike us all dead.

It is out of fear that the religionists cannot allow anyone in their community to stray like a lost sheep, and must be picked up and brought back into the flock or the fold. Those who resist must be punished. Celebrating and enjoying our unique personalities is forbidden. The less religion in a country, the prettier the face of the people.

Aaaah, have I failed to find someone? I think not but the continuous statement of the society disregarding homosexuality and the current attempts by the state to pass a law that will criminalise homosexuals and put some to death had pushed me under my bed.

Under that bed, I think of all the campaigns I initiated to free the GLBT people in Uganda. I recall and meditate on the times I have been thrown of houses, drove off the taxis, warned by Moslems to cut off my head simply because I'm an atheist. I think of the rejection of GLBT people themselves because I refused to allow them to use me for a sex object,they were unconcerned about the political oppression gays suffer.They were concerned with their biological needs at the moment, but were not willing to take the time and the risks to up-end the political repression in Uganda.It's because of this,people like Bahati felt that since there was no political movement by gays (but that's because of oppression already), that he could get away with his hateful bill.

This rejection is a story in itself which I will post in the near future." The reason is that I find heterosexuals more attentive to politics, whereas gay people are so often mindless hedonists.

Exceptions would be Rodney Croome ,Peter Tatchell and a number of other activists. But when you group all the gay activists together, they're still only a small part of the GLBT community. So the chances of running into an intellectual gay person is slim. And those who are active, are so burdened with so many responsibilities, that they don't have time to sit down with you on a regular basis to discuss the politics of repression and how to overcome the oppression. To do so, requires activating most of those hedonistic gays. It can be really discouraging. But am an activist--at least in mind and heart. Again from my experiences, i need a friend "to walk with me" Are you the one?

It is a great pity that after the terror regime of Idi Amin, Uganda once more has become a dictatorship. I blame the British for taking no account of tribal differences and simply drawing lines on maps that suited them and calling them countries. Uganda should perhaps be at least three different countries. Africa is a very sad continent. Too many people, too much illness, too many dictators, too many problems... It's this misery that adds up to my loneliness and life becomes a prison for me here in Uganda.

Uganda is now the most religious African country and therefore the most homophobic. Since my readers are now above 50 years of age, I must say that it was wonderful to live in the 1960's and seventies when the world population was less than half it is now. Today everywhere is so crowded it is very unpleasant to live or travel, and there is an increasing threat of terrorism in my age now.

So my friend, drive your sorrow away, you had more time to enjoy life than me.