Big boys do cry.

The word "Cry" means "to utter inarticulate sounds, usually with tears." It usually happens during moments of great emotion.



I'm a pretty reserved, quiet person, not given to crying. As a matter of fact, I have once been described as 'frigid in the emotional department' by some lady whose affection I craved but wasn't up to declaring my affections in the manner of a character from one of Shakespeare's or Danielle Steele's numerous literary works.



But I do cry sometimes. Like on May 21st this year, at the exact moment this happened...

And on the morning November 3rd, when this picture appeared on the screen as I was watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Ethics and Integrity and Nsaba Buturo

This month alone has seen more than a hundred people lose their lives in grisly traffic accidents.

Nsaba Buturo, when he is not busy being Uganda's national clown, finds time to be our sovereign state's minister for Ethics and Integrity.

That has to be the most absurd ministry Uganda has ever come up with since the ministry for Disaster Preparedness.

Even more absurd was What the good minister allude such traffic accidents to.

Us being Ugandans, we swallowed his comedy and went about our daily lives. Like Leo DiCaprio said in Blood Diamond, This Is Uganda. Anything goes here {Actually, what he said was "This Is Africa." But I got my point across, didn't I?}

On a more intellectual note, let's analyse the basics of the two concepts upon which the ministry is based: Ethics and Integrity.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong.
Integrity is consistency of actions, values, methods, measures and principles.

[Before you bagin marvelling at just how bright I am, let me confess that I copy-pasted that from Wikipedia. But I really am clever, nonetheless.]

Back to Hon Buturo.

With Temangalo, Gavi, Junk helicopters, Third term and all the not ethical stuff that has been perpetrated by his cabinet colleagues under his watch as the minister charged with maintaining ethics and integrity of society, ills which he never once criticised and sometimes even outrightly supported, does he really have the steel, competence or moral authority to lead this country's fight for lofty ideals?

Let me introduce to you another term: Hypocrisy.

OK, not the rock band.

Hypocrisy results when one part of a value system is demonstrably at odds with another and the person or group of people holding those values fails to account for the discrepancy. Hypocrisy is considered to be the opposite of integrity.

[That one too I got from Wikipedia]

Of the three concepts, Ethics, Integrity and Hypocrisy, which one best describes the minister?

We have ourselves a winner.

The rhetorical distance between JohnMcCain and Barrack Obama's campaign teams is as enormous as the two candidates themselves.

This was seen after last night's debate in Hempstead, NY, when both teams summed up their respective candidates' performances.

This is what McCain's side had to say:

“While Barack Obama is measuring the drapes and campaigning against a man not even on the ballot, John McCain demonstrated that he has the experience, judgment, independence and courage to fight for every American,”

Team Obama hit back with this absolute cracker:

“We came into the debate with two-thirds of the American people convinced that John McCain is running a negative campaign... Senator McCain spent 90 minutes trying to convince the other third.”

I know I'm partisan, but does anyone still doubt who is going to win this?