Obama says he won't be smoking in White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Barack Obama failed to give a straight answer when asked on a U.S. talkshow on Sunday whether he had managed to quit smoking.

In a country where cigarettes are responsible for one in five deaths and smoking costs tens of billions of dollars in health care, Obama has been under pressure to set an example by giving up his reported two-decade-old habit.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, interviewer Tom Brokaw told Obama he had ducked answering the question during an interview last month with ABC's Barbara Walters.

Noting that the White House was a no-smoking zone, Brokaw asked Obama, "Have you stopped smoking?"

"I have," Obama replied, smiling broadly. "What I said was that there are times where I have fallen off the wagon."

"Wait a minute," Brokaw interjected, "that means you haven't stopped."

"Fair enough," Obama said. "What I would say is that I have done a terrific job under the circumstances of making myself much healthier. You will not see any violations of these rules in the White House."

Obama was often observed on the presidential campaign trail chewing Nicorette gum, which helps ease the craving for nicotine. He has tried several times to quit.

The 47-year-old president-elect, who takes office on January 20, works out daily at the gym and sometimes plays basketball. His doctor said in May he was in excellent health, often jogged 3 miles a day and was fit to serve as U.S. president.

Website www.cigaraficionado.com says Gerald Ford, who served from 1974-77, was the last U.S. president to use tobacco on a regular basis. The White House no-smoking rule was imposed by former First Lady Hillary Clinton, now Obama's nominee for secretary of state.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

Yahoo News

Zain adverts Vs Safaricom Vs Orange adverts

I must say that I have seen stiff competition between this three companies interms of Ads and Tarriffs.

Of all the three, only one has its ads standing out, very colourful and appealing to the eye. Be it the ad’s on Tv, posters or bill boards they still stand out.

Am talking about Zain. I love the strategy they use in coming up with nice energetic britght clours for their ad’s and involing the youth who also ware bright colours.

Safaricom are loosing their grip interms of ad’s. I know their colour is green but they have used it nicely before, what has gone wrong? If they fired their Graphic designer then I propose they hire him again. Tv ad’s are also so boring, nothing so moving and interesting to look at. I remember the maasai ad they did, it was so nice that almost everyone mustard what was going to be said next.

Do something Safaricom, am a big fan of you…..I din’t even dare to Vuka…or join Shika more (Orange) because I knew you were coming up with something to silence them all.

I bragged how safaricom will surprise the market with a new tariff and ad’s but that has not been the case. Jibambie is good but we need more. I must admit I love the way you come up with tariff names like Sasa tariff, Jambo tariff, Sema tariff and so on. Same trend is now adopted by Zain where we have Vuka tariff and now Club 20.

Orange on the other hand is trying but can’t compare with the two. It’s not so popular even though it has the Shika more tariff that allows you to call for Ksh.1. May be they need to push for it more ndio ishike. Have only seen one ad, let's wait and see the next one.

Kogelo has a Website?!!!!

Believe it or not, Kogelo now has a website. The website explains alot about Kogelo village and how to reach there.

See for yourself if you think this is a big joke http://www.kogelo.co.ke

Woud Kogelo....Son of Africa....we are proud of of you

I congratulate the President of the United States of America Barrack Hussein Obama. Martin Luther King had a dream while Obama was in the making.

He is young president and first black president in America.

He is the people’s president and I wish our leaders could learn from him, and stop tribal politics.

He is not only for the American people but for the world at large.

We are proud of you and we pray to God to guide you always and show you all you need to know.

My status Update today

ODM-America.........No Kivuitu.....No form 16 A.........where is McCain?

What's your's?

Obama Democratic Movement ( of America)- ODM

Today is the long awaited day, a day not only for Americans but for the world. Today they vote, for the best of their choice. The world did its part in stating who they favour, now it’s upon Americans to do justice.

Here in our homeland Kenya, we are all for the Democrat, one would say ODM but now with the O standing for Obama and for America. Somewhere in Kogelo, there is a feast going on right now, prayers are clogging heavens for one thing, Obama for White house.

I have not come across anyone who talks about the Republican, and if there exists then may be they are afraid of facing the wrath of Obama supporters. Everyone talks about what he will do when he wins but what they don’t understand is that he is not our president…he is not obliged to help us just because he has roots from here. What if he does not win? That’s the big question people evade.

Some months back we had our own elections and our favourite choices for presidency. Some for Raila while some for Kibaki. The world seemed to go for the ODM and even statistics showed Raila was leading.
It was so obvious that he was going to win the election. Come the Election Day, he was still at the lead according to media until something happened, what happened nobody knows and the next thing we heared was Kibaki was re-elected and sworn in ASP.

Look at what happened in Zimbabwe, Changirae had all the support just like Obama and Raila but at the end we saw Mugabe being sworn in.

What if this repeats itself in America? I know the systems are different but…what if?

What if form 16A decides to vanish? (If it exists that is).

What if Obama looses? Will post election violence repeat itself in Kenya? Or will Kenyans and the rest of the world hold a peacefull demonstration organized by Prof. Anyan’g Nyon’go?

Will Koffi Anan conduct another negotiation to make Obama the Prime Minister as is the trend now in Africa?

Well if we had the same systems of governing then the answer would be obvious.

We wait and see.

STOP POLITICIZING CIRCUMCISION

Doctors have given the reasons to why circumcision to men is healthy. Why do the politicians want to politicize it now? Who said only circumcised men are good leaders? How do they even know that other politicians have not gone through the knife? This is a matter only the wives know, unless we think otherwise.

You can’t base it that because it is not the culture of a certain community, all of them have not undergone the knife. Just because they don’t celebrate circumcision in a particular tribe does not mean they all have not gone through the knife. People should know by now that it is done even in the hospitals, and it’s not necessary to let every one know you underwent the act.

Let us not politicize this issue, it might seem as a joke to everyone but it very serious especially in this era in which we are trying to fight HIV/AIDS. I would love to encourage all the men out there….doesn;t matter which tribe you hail from, to embrace circumcision as a health issue and not as many perceive it. It doesn’t make one less of a man and vice versa.

To those who force others into the act, should instead talk to them and advice them on why it is good for them to be circumcised. To the leaders like Oburu and the other two who said they will undergo the knife………congratulations……but we hope you did all this for health reasons and not political.

Wahi Kuwahi….was not a nice joke:

Finally it came to an end, this joke that Coca-Cola has been playing on us…..the devoted drinkers. Am so happy but also sad it came to an end. Happy because now people can save the energy and money they were spending taking sodas with wahi-kuwahi bottle tops…….yet you end up with 100 bob wahi…..so frustrating. Sad because I got 1million wahi and was seriously taking soda to get that 1M kuwahi……..and then they say its over?......not nice at all.

Everyone was so determined to get the matching bottle tops but only wahi was abundant……kuwahi as many perceived were taken to shagz (rural areas) where no one could afford the pleasure of buying a soda……not oftenly….not even for a winning game like this.

Even in the restaurants, waiters hurried to serve you just to get hold of the bottle top. On one occasion I had to demand for my bottle top or else I don’t pay, all in the name of wahi kuwahi.

If there’s someone out there who got to win the chums even for a sok (ksh.100), I say you are better off….but considering that was the fare you used to go to coca-cola……you are worst off.

It was a moving joke that got all of us drinking, I know the company has made a lot of cash….am personally disappointed…..but that’s what they call good selling strategy.

Kenyan soap operas

Vitimbi, Tausi, Vioja Mahakani and the likes hit the market and were really a must watch. Tausi was the most popular one, vitimbi being the best comedy at the time. Then Redykulus emerged, with the best artistes like KJ and Nyambane taking part. After the fall of Redykulus, Red Corner emerged with the same theme as Redykulus and the same same artistes playing their roles.

These were the days one could not afford to miss the programs, but if you did then you would watch out for the repeat.

Today we have so much of the Kenyan soap operas. Citizen, KBC and NTV are the ones embracing these local shows and bringing them to our screens. Citizen being in the lead with so many shows, from Tahidi high, Cobra Squad, Majaliwa, Papa Shirandula and the rest. I must say they are so many that one gets confused on which one to keep up with.

This is a great move by our local artistes and the entertainment industry. But still they have along way to go, with a lot of things to learn. Not all the programs are best and worth watching, only a few try to glue people to the screens while others are just fake. Viewers always want something realistic, creative, clear and with the best characters in place. I mean if you bring to the screens something fake yet we all know its fake (acting and not real) then you is lost because we want something that makes us feel like it’s real.

So the likes of Cobra Squad where people talk and you see clearly they are reciting and competing on talking brings out the fakeness of the whole show. Tahidi High is doing well but at some point loosing the realistic touch. The likes of Majaliwa, Beba beba and the rest need a bit of improvement. Papa Shirandula, Wash and Set are the best at the moment.

Well Vitimbi, Vioja maahakani are long overdue according to me, they keep doing almost the same thing over and over again and that makes it boring.

Let’s borrow a leaf from our Nigerian brothers and from the Mexican soap operas, let’s come up with something realistic with the best Characters. We are on the right path

They Squared Nairobi

They are hitting the whole of Africa with their songs, everywhere you go be it in the clubs, music shops along the streets, Matatus, Radio stations and even from neighbor’s houses…it’s them you hear.

The younger generations know their songs better and you will hear them sing along to them. Even Kids are not left out, you will hear them sing the chorus of some of the songs like Do me and wonder how they are quick at mastering such stuff while when it comes to books you have to battle with them for them to read and master a few things.

Rumors circulate that they are trying to emulate Usher but Peter made it clear on Friday 29^th at KICC that Usher is the one who looks like P-Square because he is an African after all…..well I personally think they have different styles of singing but may be the dance moves are the ones bringing all this controversy and if it so then I think Chris Brown falls in the same category……what do your think?

I love P-Square and for that I could not afford to miss the show. The show started with a lot of energy, with some of our local artistes entertaining the crowd. Most of them found themselves being rejected by the crowd and were never allowed to continue since bottles, liquor and anything that could fly in the air were thrown at them.

A few artistes managed to get the crowd’s mood by singing their most popular songs, Juakali gave the last performance but at a point he got himself in trouble with the crowd after choosing the wrong girl to sing Sana’s part on the song Kwaheri.

Then came the moment we were all waiting for, we had their voices first and the crowd went loud, then they emerged. They were so energetic that those who got drunk and fell down had the strength to get back on their feet to sing and dance along.

That day I saw how people loved this Niger boyz to the point that some cried….some fainted and other got into trouble with the bouncers while wanting to get hold of the boyz.

They removed their shirts…..you can just imagine the reaction of the present ladies. But that was not all, they jumped into the crowd and that was the last time they saw their shoes, bracelets, socks and other stuffs but they later commented it was ok for their fans to have them. Every one wanted to just touch them but this was short lasted…..bouncers took them back to the dais where Paul found himself with one shoe which he decided to throw to the crowd. That was the end of the show, they left but the crowd still wanted them to stay longer. We hope we’ll have them in future for another electric show.

The duo performing/Paul After jumping into the crowd

Africa has a lot of talent and it’s high time we started appreciating our music and embracing our cultures as a continent for this is the way to growth.

Allow me to say……. “P-Square we love you……you truly African”.

Hi people

Hi guyz, am so sorry for the long silence. Its just that I have been working on a project latelty and i have dedicated all my time on it forgetting to blog. This might continue for the next one week or so. Don't forget to check out the next article.

Goals Or No Goals

Everyone has some goals in life and with the time needed to achieve them.

I was going through a book by Barry Farber “The 12 Clichés of Selling” and I came across a part that read “Seven steps to achieving your goals”, how nice I thought and so I decide may be it will be a good idea to do an article of it for you guys out there incase you don’t get to read the book.

THE SEVEN STEPS TO ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS:

1. Break down your goals into small steps
2. Write down your goals on a piece of paper you can keep in your wallet.
3. Tell everybody about your goals
4. Write down all the benefits of achieving your goals.
5. Study past successes.
6. Consult the clueless-bounce your ideas off people who are not in your line of work.
7. Follow your own path.

SO MANY GOALS, SO LITTLE TIME:

• Time management means learning to appreciate the value of every moment you have on Earth.
• Look at how you spend your moments, and think about whether or not you are spending your time wisely.
• Define your objective, and then figure out the best way to make it happen.
• Analyze how you currently spend your time.

THAT SPACE: VERY IMPORTANT

A few people know about the right they have over their own personal space. Personal space is the space one needs to do his/her own things, have some time alone, meditate on his/her life or future.

But I want to talk about a different kind of personal space, the one which at the end of this article you will realize has been abused in one way or another. Am talking about the

• Distance in between you and another party when conversing i.e. your boss, boyfriend, family, friends, stranger etc.
• The closest you can get when sitting with a friend, stranger, boyfriend, pastor, and family, in a matatu or even your boss.
• Space you need while at the stage waiting for a matatu

To make it simple, let me just tell of a few incidents where my personal space has been evaded.

I one day boarded a matatu coming to town, so I went and sat next to a guy, on seating I felt so uncomfortable because the guy sat in a way that his legs were apart and he would stretch his hand almost over me when removing things from his jacket. I tried pushing him a bit so I can at least fit on the seat but it was like pushing a big rock that has been there for ages. So I ignored it telling myself that someone would alight and then I will move to the next seat. Now he took out his news paper to read, this was now even worse and everyone else in the matatu could now see how uncomfortable I was, now I said this is too much and no one seemed to be alighting soon. “Excuse me, you are making me very uncomfortable” I said to him and everyone turned to see what’s happening.

He did not even bother about it and went on reading his news paper, so I thought quietly for a while and again I said “excuse me, we have all paid the same amount and I also need to be comfortable”, that is when he now tried to sit well.

From this incident I realized that we really do need some personal space in all we do, and if someone is invading it then you should know its time to demand it because we should be enjoying every bit of life whether in a matatu or not.

At times you would be conversing with someone and they would stand so close to you that you would at times try to move back but they don’t realize that, its time to define that distance between you.

Or even the moments you want to be alone and someone would just not let you have that time alone, you’ve got to demand it because it’s your right.

Make your personal space known

Thought of the week

"The happiest people in the world are

not those who have no problems,

but those who learn to live with things

that are less than perfect.

Happiness always looks small

When you hold it in your hands...

but when you learn to share it,

You will realize

How big and precious it is."

..................from an email forward

The TPF2 Finale - hate it or love it

It has been on for about 3 months with drama each week, having contestants like Hemedi entertain some viewers in the house while others feel he should have been the first one to step out of the academy instead of Ian but things turned out the other way as talents like Jacob, Alice leave the academy and the brother still was in.

Who would have thought he would be among the last 8 contestants? Others say it is fate….but I say a time was coming when he had to go like it or not. But I have to admit for a moment we were afraid Hemedi would take the 5M since shit happens at times….who knows. However, just like judge Ian puts it his time was up on Saturday (June 21, 2008) and those who did not like him were really happy. The only surprise viewers like me got is Stephen from Uganda being evicted. That was so unbelievable but do I say?........its the votes from the viewers, so I wonder what people were voting for? As in….was it about talent, favorite or country? Still no answer.

Come Sunday (June23, 2008), everyone had there own predictions of who will take the 5M home. I got to ask a few people who they think was going to win and about 3 of them said Esther, 5 said David, 8 said Wendy and 15 said it was obvious Victor was going to win since the whole of KMTC was behind him. So I got glued to the screen to see which of the 4 predictions was true, and to my suprise Esther who had less prediction was the winner and Wendy was second, so what actually happened? Was Victor really to win?

I say all the best to Esther, Wendy and the rest of the contestants especially Stephen and Jacob for they are very great singers, to Esther and Wendy….we hope you will do East Africa Proud.

Mp's...Mp's...Mp's!

First allow me to say shame on the mp’s who have the guts to oppose the idea of being taxed. If we the share holders (of Kenya) are paying the taxes no matter how little we earn, then who gives them the right not to? I hear it’s the constitution that says they should not pay taxes, so what we have to do first is change the constitution and let them pay the taxes because it is really traumatizing and so unbelievable to see a share holder who only earns Ksh.4000 still paying taxes while those who she/he elected earning over 1M and they are not paying taxes, remember they also have those allowances……like sitting allowances……entertainment allowances……..you name it…all the allowances you can think of and here they are, some of them opposing the idea.

My fellow share holders, we need to learn from this, you remember what we did during the (2007-2008) elections? No not the demonstration and the killings, am talking about the way we voted for the our Mp’s, yaaaah now that’s what am talking about, we need to not those who are opposing the idea of paying taxes then come the next general election we ignore them and vote for Maendeleo…..ausio? If you feel me say “oyeaaaaaah”

By the way, did you hear how much was allocated to buying cars for Mr. President, his Vice and Ex-president? If you did not then you need to find out. They allocated MILLIONS, and we are the ones to make those millions by paying taxes. Am telling you we need prayers very strong prayers because how can they do that in broad day light? Its not as if they currently ride on matatus, they have cars and very good ones. Mr. Kimunya, hapo umetufinya mbayaaaaaa.

Let’s note those who will oppose the idea and send them home in the next election because that’s the only power we have over them.

Why are people afraid to ASK?

I borrowed a book from my workmate going by the tittle “How to Get from Where you Are to Where You Want to Be” The 25 Principles of Success by Jack Canfield.
This book has been very inspiring to me since it has so much reality in it and can help one transform for the best.

When I got to rule 15, I thought it would be wise of me to try share it with you since it may be happening to you or has happened to you or someone you might know. It is about asking, and the question is “why are people afraid to ask”……..and the answer is may be they are afraid of looking needy, looking foolish or looking stupid but mostly people are afraid of experiencing rejection which comes with the word ‘NO’.

What I realized is that when you fear to ask, you thinking the answer will be No, you are the one rejecting yourself before others do, or when you want to give an opinion and you think it will be rejected, you are the one rejecting it before others do.

This happens to us at work, home, in relationships, at school and even with our friends. I remember in class, I feared answering questions thinking my answer is wrong only for someone else to answer exactly they way I wanted to answer it and our teacher would say it is correct then all of us who did not answer would get some punishment for not participating in class.

Don’t always assume that you will get a No. Take the risk to ask for whatever you want and need. If they say No, you are no worse than when you started and if they say Yes, you are a lot better off.

It costs nothing to Ask, and you will loose nothing by asking whether the answer is a No or a Yes, learn to ask because if you keep quite you might loose the best life has for you like a promotion at work, salary raise, a time off, a date or even a friend.

Internation Day of the African Child 2008

In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976, in a march more than half a mile long, to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred children were killed and more than a thousand injured.

To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today.

Through this we advocate for the rights of children within our communities to protect them from abuse, child labour, and make the rights known to each and every member in the community. We also advocate for the rights to Education.

Kimunya's day

Yesterday (12^th June 2008) was Kimunya’s day to either conquer or differ with the Common Mwananchi. This is the dreaded day that things begin to change financial, Common Mwananchi begin to adopt new standards of living due to some increase in the many products that they consume daily.

Common Mwananchi were glued to the various Tv stations trying to follow up with Mr. Minister to hear where the taxes have been imposed and where they have been deducted.

There were reduction on certain products such as bread, baking flour, rice and a few more others.

Considered that bread was now going for around Ksh.40, this was good news to Mwananchi, because most of them stopped eating bread but now they will reconsider it.

Then the Mp’s being taxed was also good news, but we want to see it in action, atleast they recognized how Mwananchi is suffering from the heavy taxation.

We must also acknowledge the fact that Kimunya did well by allocating one million shillings to each constituency to support sports, that was good news but the only worry is who are going to handle that money and how it will be distributed to benefit equally and fairly without corruption.

Mwananchi hopes to see more to come.