Chief Justice John Roberts as the Wizard of Twistifications: My post-ruling selection of the 3 best op-eds

(Full disclosure: I like Chief Justice Roberts's sucker punch at GOPers!)One of the ironies of Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majorityopinion to uphold the so-called Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), asThe Guardian aptly reminds readers in its article on the ruling, isthat then Senator Barack Obama voted nay at Roberts's Senateconfirmation.And now, The Guardian speculates, the same Roberts may be handingObama his major argument to win his...

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Louise Mushikiwabo's laughable pretext for next war & Kagame's wild claims about plot to bump Joseph Kabila

The pretext for the first Rwandan and allied forces' intervention inthe Congo was the right of hot pursuit, which is justifiable ininternational law.Then, armed Hutu genocidal maniacs had not only been given shelter onCongolese soil but also free rein by Mobutu to wage a guerrillawarfare against the newly established Rwandan regime.That intervention ultimately resulted in regime change in the Congo.Rwanda at first denied any direct involvement in its second armedplundering venture into the Congo, claiming that the armed conflictwas strictly a Congolese...

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FARDC & MONUSCO seize back Okapi Reserve but toll staggering in bloody wake of Warlord Morgan Ekasambaza and his militiamen

John Lukas, President of the Jacksonville, Fl-based White OakConservation Center, Inc.--the non-profit organization running theflagship Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) in the Ituri rainforest inOrientale Province--confirmed, in a statement posted yesterday andupdated today, that FARDC and MONUSCO combat troops seized back thewildlife reserve on Monday, June 25, from warlord Morgan Ekasambazaand his militiamen.The militiamen had been occupying the...

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Rules of accommodation (Congo) vs. Negotiating for side effects (Rwanda): Comment on the Letter of DRC Foreign Minister to UNSG and UNSC Prez

On June 14, 2012, DRC Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda (photo above)wrote a whining letter addressed to both the UN Secretary General andthe President of the the Security Council.The letter was in care of Zénon Mukongo Ngay, the Congolese UN Chargéd'affaires in New York, who forwarded it to the addressees on June 19.Its subject concerned the "deterioration of the security situation inthe Province of North Kivu, in the eastern part of the country."(See...

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Self-proclaimed Prez Etienne Tshisekedi fires and sues UDPS Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani for theft of $300,000

When, on June 15, the pro-Kabila Kinshasa daily L'Avenir first brokeout the news--based on just one unamed "credible source"--of thealleged theft of $300,000 from the party's coffers by UDPS outspokenUDPS Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani (photo above), everyonepooh-hooed the scoop as anti-Tshisekedi propaganda.It turns out that L'Avenir got it right after all.In fact, I suspect that L'Avenir might even have an embed in highcircles of UDPS, given...

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National Assembly: PM Augustin Matata Ponyo unveils his "results-centered" $8.9b FY 2012 Budget draft bill

For close to an hour of oratory exercise that started shortly after 11this morning (Kinshasa Time: GMT+1), PM Augustin Matata Ponyopresented his so-called "results-centered" $8.9b FY 2012 budget draftbill.A paltry 16% increase over the previous budget. Oh well, who said thiscountry is already out of the woods?Up to now, the government has been dysfunctionally working inquarterly-incremental budgets--the previous parliament having failedto pass a...

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No Comment: Ugandan Homophobic Ethics Minister SIMON LOKODO bans 38 NGOs that "exist to destroy traditions"

"I have established beyond reasonable doubt that the 38 NGOs, if noteven more, exist not for humanitarian reasons but to destroy thetraditions and culture of this country by promoting homosexuality.We found that, on the pretext of humanitarian concerns, theseorganisations are being used to promote negative cultures. They areencouraging homosexuality as if it is the best form of sexualbehaviour.If the NGOs continue to operate, they will be doing so...

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Paul Kagame raw and unplugged: Stop blaming me for Congo chaos... or else!

Reporter Edwin Musoni of the Kigali-based daily New Times gives todaylengthy excerpts of the acrimonious and rambling press briefingPresident Paul Kagame held yesterday at Village Urugwiro, in theRwandan capital.(Edwin Musoni's report, titled "Rwanda is not to blame for DRC's woes– Kagame," can be found on this Page Address:http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15029&a=55011)Kagame's cranky and threatening rant came about the same time asconstruably...

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Laura Seay's "A view From Goma" in Warscapes: Congolism: Ecstatic travelogue as postmodern genre in producing subjects of knowledge

Following Edward Said's Orientalism, allow me the pedantry of coiningthe word "Congolism" to describe the body of Othering knowledge on theCongo being industrially produced these days by western postmodernacademic practioners of Central Africa.As a body of knowledge, Congolism has all the combined infirmitiesdenounced in postmodern scholarship: theoretical expediency andjingoism, fast-food packaging, dogmatism, rehashed received wisdom,and, now, botched reporting.There are, in Congolism, however, two supplementary methodologicalinfirmities: the...

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Lambert Mende: DRC GOV plans to reformat citizens and journos urge crackdown and censorship on soft porn in women's fashion and music videos

Lambert Mende Omalanga is a busy man.Mende has in charge the Media (in that capacity he's the governmentspokesman), Relations with Parliament, and the Initiation to the NewCitizenship--or citizenry, if you will.No one knew what this ministry of Initiation to the New Citizenshipwas all about, until this past Thursday morning, when Mende unveiledits "road map."The setting was the drab dark green monochrome background of Studio-Bof the state-owned radio...

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Bloody donnybrook for Opposition Spokesperson job: Kamerhe and MP Badibanga with naked swords

While Jean-Bosco Ntaganda and his bandits are stalemating the FARDCfrom "only two hills" (to use the strange phrase of Prime MinisterAugustin Matata, as if those two hills were not part of the DRCterritory), a bloody donnybrook has broken out in the People'sRepublic of Kinshasa.With naked swords, mind you!This side of the Republic, however, the casus belli isn't over coltanand other blood minerals; it's all about the lucrative job ofOpposition Spokesperson.Forgetten, the much-touted "sacred union" of the Opposition againstthe corrupt and Rwanda-abetting...

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Ethiopia Cyber Dragnet: Tor Project reveals deployment of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), with help of France Télécom

On May 31st, the Tor Project, whose software "Tor" helps, among otherthings, organizations to safely use online data traffic andcybercitizens to circumvent Internet control and censorship, releasedon its website a terse technical statement flagging Ethiopia forintroducing Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).Parts of the Tor Project statement reads:"The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation, which happens to be thesole telecommunication service provider...

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"The feast was not meant for us but for the locusts": Misfortunes never come singly in Mali

The FAO press release of this past Tuesday on the organization'slocusts advisory for West Africa begins in an ominously tone:"Croplands in Niger and Mali are at imminent risk from Desert Locustswarms that are moving southward from Algeria and Libya, FAO warnedtoday."FAO is talking about an infestation that could spawn up to 80 millionlocusts per kilometer square!This looming scourge brought to my mind the flashback of the blindbeggar character in...

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Government of technomorons taunts hyperinflation beast: large denomination banknotes of Congolese Franc to be issued by July

The image above, photoshopped by Radio-Okapi to illustrate its June 5scoop on the issue of the larger denomination bills of the CongoleseFranc--(ISO 4217 Currency Code CDF)--captures the bipolar dynamic ofcurrency circulation at the microeconomics level in the DRC.On the right, there are wads of the CDF, which is (in)formallyshadowed in almost every transaction by the American dollar (USD), onthe left.On the website of the International Organisation...

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National Assembly: MP Jaynet Kabila designated as committee chairwoman amid Opposition outcry

Monday, June 4, was the 41st birthday of twin siblings Joseph Kabila,President of the DRC, and Jaynet Kabila, unaffiliated nationalMP--though she caucuses with her brother's Presidential Majority (PM).Coincidentally, Monday also happened to be the day Speaker AubinMinaku had to introduce the new members of the Committee of the Wisein a string of so-called "consensus" in-house moves aimed atenhancing women's representation in the National Assembly.As...

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