Well this is a bit off topic but I could not resist the urge to post it here. It will also go a long way into educating men a little about how the female body works at times. This is an open letter from a lady from Texas, Wendi Aarons to the marketing manager of P&G Mr James Thatcher reacting to a sanitary towel ad campaign:

ACTUAL LETTER TO PROCTOR AND GAMBLE

This is a letter written to one of the top executives at Proctor and Gamble. Means a bit more to the gals than the guys. By Rahab Njuguna

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core(tm) or Dri-Weave(tm) absorbency, I’d probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I’d certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favourite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can’t tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there’s a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from “the curse”? I’m guessing you haven’t. Well, my �time of the month� is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I’ll be transformed into what my husband likes to call “an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.” Isn’t the human body amazing? As Branch Manager in the Feminine-hygiene Division, you’ve no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers’ monthly visits from “Aunt Flo”. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behaviour. You surely realize it’s a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend’s testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey’s Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants… which brings me to the reason for my letter.

Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: “Have a Happy Period”.

“Are you f�..g kidding me?” What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness – actual smiling, laughing happiness – is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you’re some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything “happy” about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don’t march down to the local Walgreen’s armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn’t it make more sense to say something that’s actually pertinent, like “Put Down the Hammer” or “Vehicular Manslaughter Is Wrong”, or are you just picking on us? Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that’s a promise I will keep… Always.

Best,

Wendy Aarons

Austin TX

—————–

Send in by Rahab Njuguna
JS Group
Karachi, Pakistan

“Why fit in…..,when you are born to stand out?”

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A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.

His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending deployment orders.

�We won! We won before we even arrived,� she said with excitement. �It means that the military has nothing to show for Obama. It means that the military has directly responded by saying Obama is illegitimate � and they cannot fight it. Therefore, they are revoking the order!�

She continued, �They just said, �Order revoked.� No explanation. No reasons � just revoked.�

A hearing on the questions raised by Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, an engineer who told WND he wants to serve his country in Afghanistan, was scheduled for July 16 at 9:30 a.m.

�As an officer in the armed forces of the United States, it is [my] duty to gain clarification on any order we may believe illegal. With that said, if President Obama is found not to be a �natural-born citizen,� he is not eligible to be commander-in-chief,� he told WND only hours after the case was filed.

�[Then] any order coming out of the presidency or his chain of command is illegal. Should I deploy, I would essentially be following an illegal [order]. If I happened to be captured by the enemy in a foreign land, I would not be privy to the Geneva Convention protections,� he said.

The order for the hearing in the federal court for the Middle District of Georgia from U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land said the hearing on the request for a temporary restraining order would be held Thursday.

Cook said without a legitimate president as commander-in-chief, members of the U.S. military in overseas actions could be determined to be �war criminals and subject to prosecution.�

He said the vast array of information about Obama that is not available to the public confirms to him �something is amiss.�

�That and the fact the individual who is occupying the White House has not been entirely truthful with anybody,� he said. �Every time anyone has made an inquiry, it has been either cast aside, it has been maligned, it has been laughed at or just dismissed summarily without further investigation.

�You know what. It would be so simple to solve. Just produce the long-form document, certificate of live birth,� he said.

Cook said he was scheduled to report for duty tomorrow, on July 15, to deploy to Afghanistan as part of President Obama�s plan to increase pressure of insurgent forces there.

He told WND he would be prepared for a backlash against him as a military officer, since members of the military swear to uphold and follow their orders. However, he noted that following an illegal order would be just as bad as failing to follow a legal order.

Before news of the orders being revoked were reported, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann tonight called Cook a �jackass� and Taitz a �conwoman,� as he labeled both of them the �worst persons in the world.� He flayed the soldier as �an embarrassment to all those who have served without cowardice.�

Named as defendants in the case are Col. Wanda Good, Col. Thomas Macdonald, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Obama, described as �de facto president of the United States.�

According to the court filing, Cook affirmed when he joined the military, he took the following oath: �I, Stefan Frederick Cook, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.�

According to the claim, �Plaintiff submits that it is implicit though not expressly stated that an officer is and should be subject to court-martial, because he will be derelict in the performance of his duties, if he does not inquire as to the lawfulness, the legality, the legitimacy of the orders which he has received, whether those orders are specific or general.�

The military courts offer no option for raising the question, so he turned to civilian courts to consider �a question of paramount constitutional and legal importance: the validity of the chain of command under a president whose election, eligibility, and constitutional status appear open to serious question.�

�Barack Hussein Obama, in order to prove his constitutional eligibility to serve as president, basically needs only produce a single unique historical document for the Plaintiff�s inspection and authentication: namely, the �long-form� birth certificate which will confirm whether Barack Hussein Obama was in fact born to parents who were both citizens of the United States in Honolulu, Hawaii, in or about 1961,� explains the complaint.

Taitz said she will attend the hearing to amend the temporary restraining order to an injunction because more members of the military have joined the cause.

�We are going to be asking for release of Obama�s records because now this completely undermines the military. It revoked this order, but it can come up with another order tomorrow. It can come up with orders for other people,� she said. �Am I going to be flying around the country 1,000 times and paying the fees every time they issue an order?�

Taitz said the issue �must be resolved immediately,� and she will continue working to ensure Obama proves he is eligible for office.

�We�re going to be asking the judge to issue an order for Obama to provide his vital records to show he is legitimately president,� she said. �We�re going to say, we have orders every day, and we�ll have revocations every day. This issue has to be decided.�

She said there cannot be any harm to the president if he is legitimately holding office.

�If he is legitimate, then his vital records will prove it,� Taitz said. �If he is illegitimate, then he should not have been there in the first place.�

Asked what this decision means for every other serviceman who objects to deployment under a president who has not proven he is eligible for office, Taitz responded:

�Now, we can have each and every member of the military � each and every enlistee and officer � file something similar saying �I will not take orders until Obama is legitimately vetted.��

Multiple questions have been raised about what that would mean to the 2008 election, to the orders and laws Obama has signed and other issues, including whether he then is a valid commander-in-chief of the military.

Obama has maintained he was born in Hawaii, and at least one hospital, Honolulu�s Kapi�olani Medical Center for Women and Children, claims it received a letter from the president declaring his birth there.

As WND reported, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to confirm that the letter which was used by the hospital to solicit donations is, in fact, a real correspondence.

When WND exposed doubts about the authenticity of the letter because it was created with HTML computer code and had no presidential or White House seal, the hospital which for nearly six months proudly declared Obama was born at its facility commenced an active cover-up, hiding that White House letter from its original webpage and refusing to confirm such a letter actually exists.

WND also reported that just within the last week, at least two reports have cited Obama�s birth in Kenya. Wikipedia also was found to have been reporting on Obama�s birth in Kenya, before a series of scrubs placed his birth in Honolulu.

And that came on the heels of several online information sites changing the president�s supposed birthplace from one hospital in Hawaii to another, after WND broke the news of the letter said to be from the White House.

Barack Obama states in this purported letter from him on what appears to be White House stationery that he was born at the Kapi�olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. The letter was posted by the medical center for nearly six months on its website and used for fundraising before electronically hidden once WND disclosed it was not an actual paper letter, but merely HTML coding. The hospital and White House now refuse to confirm that a real document even exists.

The question over Obama�s eligibility now also is being raised on billboards nationwide.

�Where�s The Birth Certificate?� billboard in Pennsylvania

The billboard campaign follows an ongoing petition campaign launched several months ago by WND Editor and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah.

The billboards are intended to raise public awareness of the fact that Obama has never released the standard �long-form� birth certificate that would show which hospital he was born in, the attending physician and establish that he truly was born in Hawaii, as his autobiography maintains.

Send a contribution to support the national billboard campaign that asks a simple question: �Where�s the birth certificate?�

WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama�s status as a �natural born citizen.� The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, �No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.�

Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama�s American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama�s citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Complicating the situation is Obama�s decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.

The �Certification of Live Birth� posted online and widely touted as �Obama�s birth certificate� does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same �short-form� document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true �long-form� birth certificate � which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician � is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.

Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a �natural born citizen,� no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama�s claim to a Hawaiian birth.

Although Obama officials have told WND all such allegations are �garbage,� here is a partial listing and status update for some of the cases over Obama�s eligibility:

• New Jersey attorney Mario Apuzzo has filed a case on behalf of Charles Kerchner and others alleging Congress didn�t properly ascertain that Obama is qualified to hold the office of president.
• Pennsylvania Democrat Philip Berg has three cases pending, including Berg vs. Obama in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a separate Berg vs. Obama case alleging he wasn�t qualified even to be U.S. senator and Hollister vs. Soetoro a/k/a Obama, (now dismissed) brought on behalf of a retired military member who could be facing recall to active duty by Obama.
• Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama�s dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.
• Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut�s secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.
• Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state�s 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public�s support.
• Chicago lawyer Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama�s vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.
• Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama�s eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama�s citizenship. His case was denied.
• In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.
• Also in Ohio, there was the Greenberg v. Brunner case which ended when the judge threatened to assess all case costs against the plaintiff.
• In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama�s citizenship. The case was denied.
• In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama�s birth certificate. His request for an injunction against Georgia�s secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.
• California attorney Orly Taitz has brought a case, Lightfoot vs. Bowen, on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the ballot with Ron Paul, four electors and two registered voters. She also has brought forward several other cases and has conducted several public campaigns to generate awareness of the issue.

• In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
• In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
• In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
• In Washington, L. Charles Cohen vs. Obama.
• In Hawaii, Keyes vs. Lingle, dismissed.

In addition, other cases cited on the RightSideofLife blog as raising questions about Obama�s eligibility include:

• In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
• In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
• In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
• In Washington, L. Charles Cohen vs. Obama.

WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.

source.theLiberalDemocrat

Send in to API by Rev. L. Dowell

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By Charles Ariko
and Edward Anyoli

TWO directors of a local NGO are to serve five years imprisonment each for embezzling sh38m belonging to the Global Fund.

Sentencing single mother Annaliza Mondon, 35, and her widowed auntie Elizabeth Ngororano, 65, the Anti-Corruption Court said the women were also guilty of uttering 22 false documents. The convicts were also ordered to pay back sh30m after serving their sentences.

Delivering the judgment at the High Court in Kampala yesterday, Justice John Bosco Katutsi, however, acquitted the women on two counts of making false entries in their monthly accountability report.

Katutsi said the accused committed the offences between March and August 2005, when they received the funds through their organisation, Valued Health Ltd, which was purportedly sensitising Kampala youth on HIV/AIDS.

�The offence of embezzlement has been proved with the accuracy of mathematics. The question now is where is this money which the accused claim they paid to Improve Uganda? The answer is simple. It is with the
accused and in the language of Section 268 of the Penal Code Act, it was embezzled. They are accordingly found guilty and convicted.�

Katutsi said in other countries, such as the US, people accused of similar crimes would own up, but in Uganda, fraudsters profess innocence, even after being taken to the highest court.
He said it was yet another case where greed had �taken an upper hand in the administration of public funds�.

�A culture has developed where the plunder of public funds is idolised. Fraudsters are looked at with admiration and awe. They are seen as achievers and those who try to lead an honest life as failures.�

He added that a judge is seen as an idiot who punishes a person trying to lead a happy life using public funds.

Earlier, principal state attorney Alice Komuhangi Khaukha had asked for a stiff sentence, saying the accused did not show remorse for stealing the money meant for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis treatment.

�This money had been given to them to assist in sensitising people about HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. These convicts, whom I believe are mothers, became insensitive to this cause and decided to use the money as they wished,� she noted.

Although the women had been charged with dishonesty, she added, they disrespected the court and continued �doing dishonest things� during the trial.

The lawyers of the accused, Mohammed Mbabazi and Didas Nkurunziza, had asked the judge to be lenient, saying Mondon was a single mother who suffered a miscarriage during the trial, while Ngororano was a widow of advanced age.

Responding to the appeal, Katutsi asserted: �I have listened to both sides. I find that a sentence of five years is on the side of leniency. The sentences will run concurrently.�

Immediately after the ruling, the Police whisked the weeping convicts to the cells. Relatives and friends sobbed along as the women were herded to a bus en-route to Luzira Prison.
This brought to four the number of suspects convicted of stealing the Global Fund money.

Teddy Seezi Cheeye, the director of economic monitoring in ISO, was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to 28 years in Luzira for embezzling sh110m. Another convict, Ssalongo Kavuma, a former UTV employee, is serving five years for stealing sh41m.

The prosecutions were prompted by the findings of the Justice James Ogoola commission of inquiry, which found massive mismanagement of the fund. Ogoola recommended that the then health ministers, Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha, be prosecuted for their role in the scam. The investigation, according to the Director of Public Prosecutions, is not yet complete.

Timeline:
2003: Valued Health, the company through which the money was embezzled, is registered.

2004: Mondon, the managing director, applies for a contract to train youth on HIV/AIDS in the five divisions of Kampala. Valued Health opens an account in Nile Bank Jinja Road, with Mondon and Ngororano as signatories.

March 2005: sh45.5m is wired into the account

August 2005: sh44,102,000 is withdrawn by the convicts

March 2009: the Director of Public Prosecutions prefers charges against the directors

April 2009: the trial commences at the Anti-Corruption Court.

July 14, 2009: Justice Katutsi sentences the convicts to five years and orders them to refund sh30m.

source.newvision.ug

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Brigadier (rtd) Mirgani said maintenance of planes outside the country is expensive and that �our strategic goal is to establish the technology in Sudan using the most advanced systems.�Sudan, he said, wants to tap from Chinese, Russian and Serbian experiences before the work could be left to locals.

source.nation.ke

NIGER: Late rains put crops at risk

Photo: Phuong Tran/IRIN

Late rains have delayed the growing season in most of Niger (file photo)

NIAMEY,� – Low rainfall has disrupted the planting season throughout Niger as farmers who sowed seeds in May are forced to replant when their first crops died, according to the national association of farmers.

�There are real concerns with the planting season this year,� the association�s coordinator, Djibo Bagna, told IRIN.

Idrissa Halidou in the semi-arid village of Torodi near the border with Burkina Faso told IRIN he lost his first planting. �We had planted in May, but lack of rains forced us to plant again.�

Halidou told IRIN he is �tapping into his cereal stock to face the lean season.�

The period between plantings and harvests typically lasts from June to September.

Nationwide, almost 8,000 out of 11,000 villages had reported to the government first plantings by 30 June.

In 2009 late rains have resulted in �plants withering in dry pockets�in certain localities, especially during the first 20 days in May�, according to the government�s 30 June inter-ministerial report on rain and agriculture, which characterized rainfall in most parts of Niger as �weak to moderate�.

The national farmer association�s Bagna said in some regions at this time last year, crops had already begun to grow.

Farmers in Diffa, a commune in the southeast, told IRIN the first rain of the season arrived on 14 July, a month later than in 2008.

Delayed rains have resulted in pastures that are �progressively degrading in quality�, causing pastoralists to seek rain-fed pastures elsewhere�for their animals. The most affected areas are Diffa and Maradi in the south, according to the government’s 10 July rain report.

Late rains coincide with rising food prices, according to the government�s weekly system of information on agricultural markets (SIMA), which reported that as of the first week of July, the prices of millet and maize were three percent higher than the previous week, while sorghum was five percent more expensive � costing up to US$42 for 100kg.

Prices for millet, sorghum, rice and maize are up to six percent higher than this time last year, according to the government�s price index.

pt/aj source.www.irinnews.org

By Henry Mukasa

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has not closed the federo debate with the Buganda Kingdom, his spokesperson, Tamale Mirundi, has clarified.

Appearing on a WBS Television talk show on Sunday night, the President ruled out the possibility of establishing a federal system, which has been Buganda Kingdom�s key political demand.

Museveni stated that he was, instead, in favour of the regional tier, which had been agreed on during talks with former Katikkiro Joseph Semwogerere.
�He made his position. But since he rules the country with other people, that position could change,� Mirundi said at a press briefing at the Media Centre yesterday. �He is the chairman of the NRM. The caucus can ask him to engage with Mengo in talks. As a statesman, he would comply.�

As a President, he has held talks with the LRA and other rebels. Having dialogue with Mengo should not be abominable, Mirundi noted.
Mengo said yesterday it would not change its demand for a federal system of government.

On the proposal to expand Kampala as a capital city, the President has directed the Prime Minister�s office and the ministers of internal affairs and local government to facilitate and allow free debate, Mirundi told the media.

�It appears as if we are grabbing Kampala. People should be allowed to debate. But this is different from what the Namboozes (DP spokesperson Betty Nambooze) are doing. They (DP) are seeking signatures to block the debate.�
He denied reports quoting Museveni as saying that he would retire at the age of 75. Rather, he explained, the President said he was still strong at 65 and the NRM would choose its candidates considering the tasks ahead.

source.newvision.ug

The International Crimes Court is not recognized in Sudan.

The Ugandan government has dismissed claims that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, wanted for war crimes, faces arrest if he visits the country.

Officials had been quoted saying Mr Bashir would be held under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest issued in March.

This would have contradicted a decision by the African Union, of which Uganda is a member, not to honour the warrant.

The ICC accuses Mr Bashir of organising attacks on civilians in Darfur.

Earlier in the week, Uganda’s state minister for international affairs Henry Oryem Okello told the press that Mr Bashir faced arrest in Uganda.

But Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has now reportedly apologised for this statement.

Sudan’s state-owned Suna news agency reported that Mr Museveni telephoned Mr Bashir and distanced his government from Mr Okello’s claims.

President Museveni said Mr Okello was not mandated to speak on behalf of the government on the issue.

Police chief Kale Kayihura also told the Daily Monitor newspaper he had not received any instructions to arrest Mr Bashir.

source.bbc