http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2OXQh3duI

I am somewhat relieved to be leaving Kampala, as things have been a bit tense here recently. Besides the rioting prior to my arrival, there has been a large military presence in the city due to the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. On Friday evening, we were walking through town trying to find something to eat, and all of a sudden, we walked into an area where large crowds were gathering, and many members of the crowd were arguing with some of the soldiers on the street. Apparently, we were near the Ugandan High Court building, where Besigye was having some sort of arraignment. I was pretty anxious to get the hell out of the area. I have a feeling there will be more problems before the elections next year, especially if Besigye is found guilty in his court martial. The whole thing seems pretty fishy. The opposition leader just happens to get arrested during his campaign against the current president? What is really crazy is that he is receiving a court martial, even though he is not in the military. He is accused of being a “terrorist”, and the military is claiming jurisdiction over the matter because they claim Besigye had guns, which are “weapons of war”. From the few people I’ve talked to here about the situation, they seem to think it is all politically motivated, and that Museveni is a quasi-dictator.

Candlelight vigil tonight at 6:00 PM at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Reading this speech reminded me of an old Saturday Night Live skit that parodied the 1988 presidential debates between George Bush Sr. and Michael Dukakis. George Bush, played by Dana Carvey, is looking like a fool spitting out is his usual platitudes: “thousand points of light”, “A kindler, gentler America”, “stay the course” in an attempt to kill time because he doesn’t have anything of substance to say. Mercifully his time runs out, the camera turns to Michael Dukakis, played by Jon Lovitz, and he replies : “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy”. I was reminded of this skit because I had the same thought after reading this speech. Did Al Gore really lose to George W. Bush in 2000? I can’t believe it. I don’t know if Gore employed a speech writer for this speech, and I highly doubt he ever would have made this speech if he was in or running for office, but can you imagine Bush making a speech like this? Never! What do you think Bush will be doing after his term is up? (Hopefully serving a prison term ). I think a public speaking tour about clearing brush is the best we can hope for.