It’s 10 minutes into the news tonight, we’re still talking about the Media BIll. Oh, now they’re talking about the Nairobi Metro 2030. Apparently Kibaki and Raila were walking through town, launching the plan. Interesting.

Gosh darn, it was too good to be true. We’re back on the media bill. hm. Another angle; they’re talking about what the legal options are for the bill. Apparently even if Kibaki takes it back, the offending Section 88 may not be addressible. another 5 min. ok, now we’re talking about Mpesa… ugh, we’re already in business news.

I guess that’s the main local news… i guess its better than the 25minutes that went to talk of the media bill in the news last saturday night, from 9pm-9.25pm, including a lecture/speech by the presenter person to the president/the public… (?!) And I still don’t know what’s between Section 1-87, and everything after.

I suppose the public is too dumb to be allowed to form their own opinion? The simple thing we must regurgitate is “Please Mr. President, don’t sign the bill.” I feel like this is election time and I’m being told to vote the press a la ODM  (They were the loud ones). The blue corner, as it were, is rather silent. But Kibaki is smooth like that. If I were president I would go about my business too, and talk to people when I was good and ready. You never want people to think they run you. Especially when you are the media and to some extent, therefore public opinion. But how do you let people know that you are conscious of their concerns even as you go away to make “the best” decision? That’s the lesson I want folk to learn from Obama.

OOOH!!! They just reported on the shoe thrown at President Bush in Baghdad. DUDE! Apparently Bush was chewing gum? That’s not very polite. You’d have to be really angry though, and not in the insane murderous way, to throw a shoe at a president. Using the Master/Servant figure, either the President, as servant of the people, is behaving in a really infuriatingly stupid manner, like a certain waiter at a certain hotel i remember in Nakuru (dude got everything from drinks to dessert late and wrong) or, the President as Master has behaved in a manner so unbecoming of his office, or the leadership expected of him, that he has rendered himself unworthy of the respect of that office. The story is so ridiculous though, that I almost want to hope they will let the shoe wielder go without too much trouble. Seems like the very definition of “temporary insanity.” Those folks who try and kill presidents or other human beings anyhow, and then try and get off on the pretext of temporary insanity, have got to be faking it. This guy is it! What I want to know is why he did it at that particular moment, you know, what set him off?? Did Bush greet the press wrong? (I think he made a greeting in Arabic) Was it the chewing gum? Don’t look, but we’re back to the Media bill, the reporter describing the Bush incident ends saying, “Now here is a [place] where they need Media Regulation! LOL!

LOrdi, its 9.50pm. There’s a sponsored ad about The Media Bill. Inspiring fear by all by linking that 2006 Government raid on a media house, where they destroyed equipment and stuff. That was a VERY BAD thing to do. Unforgivable. (Just in case anyone thinks I think it was a good thing.) The sponsor also links the bill to the preference of Government to evade taxes. Incidentally, the way the press is talking one would think that the media bill and the tax issue were the same issue. That they are linked is possible, but it seems like it goes back to this idea of inspiring fear in a people, to get them to do what you want. Yes, I think the whole lot of MPs should pay taxes. dude. We would be so much closer to raising the money for Unga and Nairobi Metro 2030…but whatever. The resounding statement of the ad: “Protect Media Freedom. Protect Your Right to Know.”

Shrug. Politics is tough.

I have to commend President Bush on how he handled the Shoe Incident. (I didn’t watch the entire thing, but the clips I got suggest that he made no fuss, dodged well (continued chewing) but dodged well, and joked about it. He knew the guy wasn’t trying to kill him. He was just temporarily insane.