9. desember 2006

Kenya's leader gets huge pay-rise President Mwai Kibaki came to power promising to stamp out corruption. Well, that was then. MPs approved a government motion to raise his basic pay and allowances from $26,000 a month to more than $44,000.  A month! That is more than $528,000 a year, significantly more than President George W. Bush at around $400,000. Kibaki now becomes one of the best paid heads of state or government in the world. For comparison: The prime minister of Norway, a country that has contributed significant amounts in development aid to Kenya, makes around $175,000 a year. Unnecessary to say, this outrageous pay-rise has enraged the opposition and undoubtedly quite a few of Kenya's many poor. 10:57:23 PM    comment []  trackback []

Tony Blair: 'The right to be different. The duty to integrate.' Unusually hard words coming from Tony Blair. Tony Blair formally declared Britain's multicultural experiment over yesterday as he told immigrants they had ''a duty" to integrate with the mainstream of society. In a speech that overturned more than three decades of Labour support for the idea, he set out a series of requirements that were now expected from ethnic minority groups if they wished to call themselves British. These included "equality of respect" - especially better treatment of women by Muslim men - allegiance to the rule of law and a command of English. If outsiders wishing to settle in Britain were not prepared to conform to the virtues of tolerance then they should stay away. He added: "Conform to it; or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed. "If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us. The right to be different. The duty to integrate. That is what being British means." There are two sides to this coin. Obviously, hatemongers should not be welcome. On the other hand, employers must be willing to employ Mr Mohammad or Mr Yousuf alongside Mr Smith and Mr Jones. Families must be willing to welcome a Pakistani or Tunisian family into their neighbourhood. The extremists (both Islamists and the British National Party) have certainly benefited greatly from the rise of Islamic terrorism. It will take decades to rebuild trust between the different ethnic and religious groups in the community, if it can ever be done. 9:16:57 PM    comment []  trackback []

Hundreds of Iraqis volunteer to be Saddam's hangman Well, when this happens you know you're not very popular: One of the most coveted jobs in Iraq does not yet exist: the executioner for Saddam Hussein. The death sentence against Mr. Hussein is still under review by an appeals court, but hundreds of people have already started lobbying the prime minister’s office for the position. They have sent messages through cabinet officials and their assistants, and by way of government guards and clerical workers. One candidate, an Iraqi Shiite living in London whose brother was killed by Mr. Hussein, telephoned an aide to the prime minister to say he was prepared to drop everything and fly to Baghdad to execute the former ruler. “One of the hardest tasks will be to determine who gets to be the hangman because so many people want revenge for the loss of their loved ones,” said Basam Ridha, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. How about a very, very big firing squad instead? 9:07:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

Diana death probe confirms driver was drunk Conspiracy theories are formed as a result of a rational error committed by many otherwise intelligent people. Large effects demand large causes, many think, but that is not the way the world works. It is difficult to accept that a president can be killed by a lone gunman, than thousands can be killed by a group of fanatics on the other side of the planet, or that a beautiful princess can be killed in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. DNA tests on blood samples appear to prove the driver of Princess Diana's car was drunk on the night of her fatal accident, a BBC documentary reveals. The tests indicate original post-mortem samples, which showed Henri Paul was three times over the French drink-drive limit, were accurate and were his. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that Mr Paul's blood samples were swapped. Some suggest this was done to portray him as drunk in an elaborate cover-up of a secret service plot to murder Diana. But the DNA tests would appear to prove that the driver's blood samples could not have been switched.  On the balance, I think the Brits are wasting their time by having a serious investigation by Lord Stevens to find the cause of Princess Diana's death. The French investigation gave the answer. Those who do not accept those facts are not going to accept Lord Stevens or anyone else either. The fact that the bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived by wearing a seat belt effectively destroys the conspiracy theory that MI6 or any other professional organisation killed the princess. Nobody would set up an elaborate, risky, high-profile murder plot which could be countered simply by the victim wearing seat belts. Conspiracy theories don't die, however, for the simple reason that a significant fraction of people are not very rational. 3:23:20 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2007; 08:20:49.