Palaver - 15/12/10 - The Standard

Palaver

Believe it or not, a US soldier Lt Col Terrence L Lakin is risking serving more than three years in jail for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan. Reason? He doesn’t believe Barack Obama was actually born in America and therefore, he feels Obama is not eligible to be US President. And most certainly, not Commander-in-Chief. And this from an 18-year-old army veteran. Of course, Hawaii officials have authenticated Obama’s original 1961 birth certificate that is on record with that state.

Now that Sudan’s former rebel movement has openly asked Southern Sudanese voters to rally behind their flag in favour of independence in the January 9 referendum, will the governing party in the North, the NCP, still work for a unified state as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement demands?

And still on leaders, South African President Jacob Zuma has sued cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro and Sunday Times newspaper for a caricature of him published two years ago. Though Zuma was not yet president and was in and out of court on a rape charge, Shapiro’s cartoon shows Zuma attempting to ‘rape’ the justice system. Mr Shapiro should be a worried man since Zuma has not been known to lose a court case.

Why would Lord’s Resistance Army still visit so much terror, you ask? Every Christmas, as Kenyans SMS millions of shillings to win even more millions and sing to Noel, these rebels systematically abduct, rape and bludgeon civilians in what has become known as the LRA ‘Christmas massacre’, using pangas and axes.

And finally...

Love him or hate him, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a man with the proverbial nine lives. It does not seem to matter which bed he sleeps in or gaffe he makes, to the chagrin of his accusers. The man has shown he is a formidable opponent by winning yet another vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament. Okay, so he scraped through by the skin of his teeth and three votes, but the point is made.

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