They're Rioting in Africa (The Merry Minuet)
(Sheldon Harnick)

Intro:
There are days in my life when everything is dreary
I grow pessimistic, sad and world weary.
But when I'm tearful and fearfully upset
I always sing this merry little minuet:

They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.

The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles

Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much

But we can be grateful
And thankful and proud
That man's been endowed
With a mushroom shaped cloud

And we know for certain
That some happy day
Someone will set the spark off
And we will all be blown away

They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow man.

Bush's Fault? Somehow? Someway?

Election riots in a third world country in Africa. Who would have thought?

Bush's Fault? Somehow? Someway?

~Formerhuman

Naw, according to Bowa it's all Barack Obama's fault. Somehow. Someway.

Didn't you recieve yer daily talking points yet?

That's prolly Hillary's fault. Somehow. Someway.

BBC World and CBC Newsworld has been covering this one in depth.

Saddest part was when a church filled with mostly women and children was attacked by an angry mob and burned down to the ground. A woman tried getting out the window with her three year old child. The Mob tore the child from her arms and threw the kid back into the, by now buring, building.

The child burned to death.

30 out of the 300 deaths so far were in that church.

When the BBC reporter got there she reported that she could still "small and taste" the smoke.

Oddly enuff nobody from FOX or CNN had managed to make it there yet. /snark>

Good on the blog-god fer finally putting out a thread on it.

So far it's very well attended with some thoughtul, insightful and deeply compasionate posts! /snark>

Bowa wanted to know why Obama hadn't talked about it.

Spud sed it was cos most Americans don't give a flying fuck about anything that happens outside of America's borders.

Spud was right.

RIP.

Be Well.

Hmmm. I thought Kenya was fairly stable, at least for a nation in Africa. Also, this sort of thing wouldn't make headlines unless something was up. Usually (and sadly), 300 deaths in Africa doesn't make top headlines in the news. Cui bono?

30 out of the 300 deaths so far were in that church.

Posted by dethspud at 2008-01-02 04:53 PM | Reply

Well, that will teach people to turn to the church in their time of need ..... ehh Spud?

Troll here.
So like Americans to just say "oh yes, another African country gone to shit". Imagine if, when Bush was elected under strong suspicion in 2001, on top of that bullshit, you had to put up with daily bribes just to get to and from your place of work, to get electricity to your house, to make sure your child was being treated promptly for a disease. Then feel superior to this situation.
God damned big men. So fat and happy on power, they never mind seeing the minions suffer, lose their homes and die for the purpose of keeping the gravy train going. And all the while nothing changes for the bottom of the barrel. It's a shameless harnessing of impotent rage.
ARG.

ahhh Kenya - the birthplace of 'humanity'.

Why quotes? It's humanity at it's finest. Deprive yourself of a voice in government for umpteen years and see how you feel. This ethnic lines stuff is BS. I lived there for a number of recent years and plenty of poor Kikuyus (which is the majority of Kikuyus, just like it's the majority of Kenyans) supported Raila, and others supported Kibaki, right in the middle of central province. That's purportedly where 200% of the voters voted for Kibaki. But the greasy "chiefs" and district officials were in the pockets of the higher-ups, and that's what mattered. You should see them, literally, strutting around in the midst of astounding poverty, well-dressed and smug. It's very much like a scene from The Godfather, posh suit and cane and all.
Still- Kenya is such an amazing and hopeful place, I fully plan to go back as soon as possible. That should tell you a lot.

Kenya is such an amazing and hopeful place

And Kenyans still have a soul, unlike most Americans.

Elections in Kenya since 2002 have been sweeping the old guard and Kibaki's cabinet out of office with wide margins. The legislative body was gutted of Kikuyus tribesmen, yet somehow, "miraculously" Kibaki survived the election. The E.U., U.S.A., Kenya's own election authority, and neighboring countries in Africa know the Presidential election was a fraud.

When government has little use for the will of the people, and is allowed to rig elections and the entire system in their favor, there must be consequences. Kenyans haven't lost this idea, Americans have. Glad to see some people in the world will still die for the freedoms Americans happily ignore and concede.

Like here, Kenyans can read exit poll data just fine. When the statistical probability of election tampering approaches infinity, like in Central Province (or Ohio in 2004) blood must run in the street.