COHERENT WHOLE (The Coherency of the Whole).

MICHAEL JACKSON: THE MAN, THE MUSIC, THE MADNESS.

2009-07-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today we lay to rest a very important, quintessential strand of our generation’s cultural DNA.

From the mountains of Palau to the deserts of Wyoming, from Mumbai to Beijing, from the Appalachians to the Andes, his music has always been a way for people to escape the tragedies of their lives.

His life was a comic yet some times tragic cavalcade of events.

Rumors of Michael Jackson’s death started coming in Friday morning after news of the severity of his massive cardiac arrest he had experienced last night was reported.

Michael's cautious approach to the pop experience appeared as much in his singing, songwriting, and dancing, as in his public gestures.

He had a taste for exaggeration and fantasy; all most evident in his groundbreaking videos. We will never forget the thriller video!

Michael also donated and raised millions of dollars for good causes through his foundations, charity singles, and support of over 39 charities.

In Greil Marcus's words, he "walk(ed) the television stage not as if he owned it, not as if it was built for him, but as if his very presence had called it into being”.

Michael ‘Moonwalked’ his way to our hearts.

When he sang, there was an outright admission of sheer confusion, a doubt of everything with the World. Yet the comfort and warmth it brought was smoothly calming.

From the bright young 10 year old who captured our imagination and hearts on the Ed Sullivan show, to the days of ‘Off the Wall’ and the magic that was ‘Thriller’, his approach to creating chaos in the midst of oppressive serenity, brought with it, a conviviality that cascaded through the heart of millions.

We remember his White glove, his shinny pants and all that bejeweled military apparel.

He changed music forever!

Just seconds after the news of his death broke, Google, the web search engine behemoth was overwhelmed by search requests on Michael Jackson and eventually shut down for 34 minutes.

Jackson-based Twitter traffic went through the roof with nine out of the ten most popular topics on Twitter dedicated to Michael Jackson.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said: ''It is the biggest jump in tweets per second since the U.S. Presidential election.”

YouTube, traffic flowed to music videos of Jackson, while thousands posted videos of themselves sharing their thoughts on the legendary pop star.

Others were using Facebook to organise vigils and celebrations of Jackson, with one Facebook group registering almost 100,000 within 3 hours.

His 1982 album, Thriller was the No. 1 album on iTunes-the online music store from Apple.

Over a Million people are expected today at the Staples centre in Los Angeles, where a memorial in his honor is taking place.

We will celebrate his passing with equal doses of mourning and hilarity!

He was all that was good in our childhood; He was Michael; He was Magic!

THE REVOLUTION OF NIGERIAN SOUL: GUARANTY TRUST BANK LAUNCHES INSPIRED THEME SONG

2009-06-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to introduce to you guys the new Guaranty Trust Bank theme song “The Place to be”.

This song is a result of a partnership between Guaranty Trust Bank plc and the unique musical talents of renowned Nigerian musician, Asa.

Written and performed by Asa, the words of “The Place to be” inspire and greatly mirror the essence of the Guaranty Trust Bank Brand and celebrate the best of Nigeria’s social energy.

Asa was born in Paris the city of Light, but grew up in the bustling city of Lagos. Both cultures have gone on to greatly influence the depth and creative latitude of her music. She continues to receive critical acclaim from all over the world, earning recognition from the MTV Awards and The British Music of Black Origin (The MOBOS).

I do hope you will listen to this song and share it with friends and family It's available for download at www.gtbank.com

YESTERDAY HE TOLD HIS STORY…TODAY HE MADE HISTORY!!!

2009-02-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

Amidst a frenzy and deluge of activities, the likes of which have not been seen in Washington for a long time, the Man whom I proclaimed would not win his party’s nomination took the oath of office as The 44th POTUS- President of The United States of America.

When the words from the Secret Service went out that ‘Renegade (Barack), Renaissance (Michelle), Radiance (Malia), and Rosebud (Sasha) have been secured in the White House’, a new chapter opened for a building that has only housed White males. A building built with the sweat and on the back of Black slaves.

By now everyone would have become an expert on this Abraham Lincoln mythic doppelganger whose journey so far has only been described in superlatives. From apparent obscurity, to becoming the most powerful man in the World. I still can’t believe that a Man with that much confidence and swagger has talked his way to the most powerful office in the World!

At 11:55pm Washington time when he took the last bit of The Presidential oath, nothing espoused the reality of the moment more than when the lead Secret Service agent to the former President George W. Bush, stepped to the side of newly sworn in President Barack Obama.

I have no blames for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the slight glitch in administering the oath of office to Obama. The nearly 2 million crying, mostly non Washingtonians around were enough to make anyone queasy.

His inaugural speech was not as abstruse as I thought it would be. His messianic rhetoric were all mostly absent and in its place a sure speech from an even surer President! Absolutely impressed with President Obama and his now famous 27 year old speech writer, Jon Favreau, especially when he warned: "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."-

The World needs The US to lead in these very difficult times. Godspeed to The 44th.

Apologies for my absence, I have been trying to reorganize my life around new sustainable paradigms. Please I will say no more, enjoy the stills from the event.

P.S. Did anyone see CNN's inauguration PHOTOSYNTH?

SOMEONE’S GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF REGRETS ON WEDNESDAY MORNING! : How John McCain will win the Elections on Tuesday.

2008-11-03T07:05:00.001-08:00

Years in the making, just days to the taking, the 2008 election season is finally at its end. Two National primaries later, Two Billion Dollars in campaign financing, Fifteen Presidential candidates, Two National conventions, we are finally nearing the finish line of the most fascinating Presidential contest in modern history.

From the angry white males, to the parka wearing pit bull from Alaska; from the Tall, dark and handsome ‘messiah’, to George W. Bush.

All the players in this seasons’ contest have been all the more nuanced. With scrutiny from everything from their Wives’ cooking habits, to the knots on their ties, never has any Presidential contender in America’s Presidential politics been this vetted. We experienced Tom Cruise’s minority reportesque magic screen with CNN’s John King; although He and the screen seemed to always get the predictions wrong! We experienced grassroots politicking from the Obama camp like never before. We saw the political masterstroke in the selection of Sarah Palin as VeeP and George W. Bush…er kind of!

America is generally a Conservative Country. It’s not some left-wing liberal European Nation tucked in some little hidden part of the World!

The Republicans have traditionally presented better candidates. This year; not so much. A change election if I have ever seen one, the economy, has trumped the usual election biggies.
All Counties, Districts and States are almost all up for grabs. Obama is already making inroads into traditionally Red States. He’s redrawing the Electoral map.

‘Both candidates are eyeing States that were traditionally seen as out of reach for their party.
There are potential map changers because of a variety of factors: Obama and McCain's personal attributes, policy positions and even the year we are in.
These factors could redefine the electoral map, to a degree’.

WHAT OBAMA AND McCAIN NEED TO DO TO WIN: “Beyond Country First and Change We Can Believe in”

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers! Nothing is more important in elections than numbers! Of course that’s what Democracy is about- Superiority in Numbers! The Electoral College Map is as important in American Elections, sometimes even more important than the results of the popular votes.

My predictions are based solely on ‘MY’ analysis of all the Polls I have come across throughout this election season (a sort of Poll of Polls), Likely voting trends, Advertising Spend, Crowd mobilizing abilities during candidate visits, and general virtuosity of each campaign! I will also like to add one factor here, and this would be each candidate’s Bush bashing proficiency.
Each candidate will of course have to start by locking in their bases. For the Democrats, this will include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia, giving a total of 153 Electoral College votes. Remember the magic number to clinch the Presidency is 270. There are also four more States that I think are leaning Democratic. Those have a total of 37 Electoral votes.

‘If you're Obama, your first move should be to lock in those states, get the right staff and try to move the poll numbers your way to make sure you don't need to be spending a lot of time and resources in places that should be yours.’

For the Republicans, there are 16 States I consider safely Republican. Again this is based on past voting patterns, recent polls and a lot of alcohol induced smart guessing! Those 16 states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Together, they would provide a total of 125 Electoral votes for John McCain.

Another eight states, according to John King who happens to work for CNN, are leaning Republican. Those states would net another 69 votes.

Now we have about 190 votes for the Democrats, and 194 for the Republicans
This is where it gets pretty interesting! There are about a Dozen states I consider genuine Toss up States- This means it’s fair game for any party here. Of course this will include perennial tossup/ nuisance States; Ohio and Florida.

Pennsylvania and Michigan are toss-ups for Obama. Although these States have been dependably Democratic in the past, it is pertinent to remember that these are States in which Obama had problems with White, Blue-collar, working-class voters; the Reagan Democrats. Giving Michigan to Obama puts his total at 207, and Pennsylvania to McCain puts his total at 232.

Next would be New Hampshire. McCain and Obama both won their respective primaries in these State. I call it by the lowest of margins for Obama; His total now at 211.
Virginia, a reliably Red State, although recently has been showing tendencies to vote Obama according to most polls, I call it by the narrowest of margins for McCain. This will bring his current total to 245.

Out West, Colorado which recently elected Democrats, Bill Ritter and Ken Salazar this year although a tossup, I call it for John McCain, putting his Total at 254.
Florida and Ohio with 47 electoral votes, I’ll call for McCain, putting his total at 301. Presto, Presidency McCain.

A key factor in these background States are the minority voters. Latinos apparently through years of uncontrolled fertility have now become a potent power block in American politics, and can make the difference in these battleground States. The unease among the Jews about Obama and more importantly for Obama is the effect large turnouts of Blacks in these battleground states is having in these swing states.

I therefore urge McCains Strategists, Sarah Palin and everyone who wants to keep their Freedom, their Guns, and their Money to head up these swing states and make sure they get the message that Barack Obama wants to take their Money and let’s keep praying and hoping for a miracle or a Rainmaker or Both! Obama and his people can keep the change!!

MY BRAND MANAGER IS A MORON! : Access the power of 6 Billion Brand Managers.

2008-10-06T04:28:00.000-07:00

“Whether through social networking communities or a simple e-mail address book, the power of 1 can overnight become the power of 10, 20…6 Billion, who all wield tremendous influence for causes, ideas, beliefs and of course Brands.”

Ordinarily, I’d walk into your reception with a bullet proof demeanor; the kind that usually accompanies Presidents and Superheroes; The kind our rappers here in Nigeria call swagger. But lately I’ve been feeling blue.

Idiots are taking over the World! Soporifics are reigning supreme!! The mediocrity of our ‘mAD’ men encouraged by even more mediocre clients is now the more profound!!!

Granted, the World is peopled with an insane amount of idiocy, it’s unsettling and very worrying! I mean I consider myself antediluvian, sort of; I know who Anita Baker is, and I know that Dionne Warwick is not a town in Suffolk. I have a Blackberry, and can at least send an E-mail; with attachments! But the foolishness I’m made to encounter daily due to the nature of my volunteer work is to say the least, shocking!

Very recently, well maybe 2 years ago, I came across the Infinite Monkey Theorem. This single experience put into proper perspective all preconceived notions I had about Branding touch points and the relevance of their interactions with people, especially through the course of my work with Brands.

Simply put, it generally posited that even though most of the World is made up of morons (monkeys), with sufficient prodding and coaxing, people could actually churn out incredible ‘Shakespeare genius’ style stuff.

The tandem of Rebranding and CMO’s all over the World’s favorite, Strategy; have conspired to enable Brands become like Switzerland, -not standing for anything!

It now seems that no week goes by, without a Business entity, company or product concern Rebranding! So rife is the fad now that even Brand new companies rebrand!! And true to type, trust our financial services sector to as usual, take the lead, along the way, coming up with new and even stranger propositions. EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING:
‘There has never been more need for Marketers to unleash the emotional power of their Brands. Marketing sameness, Media fragmentation and confusing choices call for inspirational emotional experiences to engage consumers and create revenue growth.

Brands should enable consumers participate in Brand creation processes. These in the immediate, as well as more importantly in the long term help manage the Brands’ Relevance, Reputation and Consumer Perception.

Emotionally appealing experiences can resurrect markets. A Press Ad, I’m not so sure!

I believe that Brands have to become sensory experiences that extend beyond the traditional paradigm which primarily addresses sight and sound. This is absolutely important and in fact helps broaden your Brand platform.

MINDSHARES:
These are positive emotional responses from a Brands’ target audience. The most powerful and successful corporate Brands grow out of superior strategies driven by superior insights, which are communicated effectively throughout both internal and external publics. In English, what premium do we place on the capacity of all our communication to own a piece of mindshare?

CONSUMER INTELLIGENCE:
Never before in the history of the Marketing spheres of the World have consumers been this savvy! I have nothing else to say here, except watch out, we have the internet, super fast broadband, and Blackberries- and we sure as hell can write!

BRANDPOIESIS:
The ennui of Nigeria’s marketing sphere is gradually being remedied by creative marketing support providers and willing ‘radical’ Brand Managers.
Successful Brands are timeless and negate the concept of product life cycle.
I beseech Brand Managers to reconsider… Co-creativity is all the rage now. Let us all stand NOW for ETISALAT Nigeria! Keep standing as you read the rest of this article!!

Most companies take the easy way to market their Brands. They buy a lot of expensive advertising and make the usual clichéd claims. The truth is that when consumers believe that they own a Brand, and are involved in its creation in the first place, we have all but assured purchase decisions and behavior. And most importantly, Brand advocates and ambassadors, not high priced pseudo-celebrities.

HOW WE SHOULD DO WHAT DO WE SHOULD DO?
We should therefore start thinking seriously about MSP’s- Me Selling Propositions; Consumers taking ownership of their Brands. This further enhances the relevance of consumer driven processes that better reflects the rapidly evolving marketplace. Remember, every Brand has 6 Billion Brand Managers. Please use them!

Please consider this simply astringent marketing commentary, based on ideas and currently fueled by Heineken, Dunhill and my interminable need to seem busy and feel smart.

Mayor is a keen 25 year old Über Branding Specialist and a Partner at (SMC) Stupidity Management Consultants, a not-for-profit giving a shot at eradicating Idiocy and Stupidity forever from the World!

'THE PALIN EFFECT': How A Woman has done for the GOP, what 10 men, 2 years and 300 Million USD had failed to accomplish.

2008-09-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

The campaign's crowds, once elderly and male, now surge with moms toting children. Grandmothers tell of getting goose bumps when she speaks. A young girl holds up a sign that reads SARAH PALIN UR MY ROLE MODEL.

At rally after rally, John McCain must wait to go onstage, while she is still being mobbed at the rope line. In Lee's Summit, Mo., when he attacks Barack Obama as being "wrong for America," the crowd ignores him and chants her name instead. The line to enter a Lancaster, Pa., event winds half a mile through a parking lot, where thousands wait as long as 90 minutes to get a glimpse of her. After driving almost an hour to attend her first political rally ever, Suzanne Cook of Coatesville, Pa., offers an explanation: "The fact that she's a woman..." Sarah Palin alone, has done for the GOP what 10 male candidates, nearly two years and $300 million had failed to accomplish: she has boosted excitement, crowds and campaign coffers virtually overnight. She has lifted McCain in the polls, has put Obama into confusion and is living out a Cinderella story unlike any other in recent political history, though the ending is still a slipper of uncertainty.

Even Palin seems astonished by it all. Gazing out at thousands from a platform in Sterling Heights, Mich., she shakes her head, dumbfounded for a moment as the crowd chants her name. Her mouth forms a word, mumbled silently to herself: "Wow," she says.

'The Palin effect' is already measurable. Since McCain tapped her in the days before the St. Paul, Minn., convention, national polls show that McCain has drawn even with Obama in most head-to-head surveys and pulled ahead in several. At the same time, white women have swung away from Obama by as much as 20 points. For months, McCain badly trailed in this group--a warning sign, since George W. Bush won among white women in 2004.

But a new CNN/TIME/Opinion Research poll reveals McCain has opened up double-digit leads among this group in the swing states of Virginia, Missouri and Michigan. Charollet Schworer, a retired third-grade teacher from Kentucky who voted twice for Bill Clinton, traveled to Lebanon, Ohio, in a Windbreaker patterned with the American flag. "I sat there, tears rolling down my face, watching my TV," she says of Palin's speech at the Republican Convention. "I felt energized, truly energized for the first time."

While Obama's campaign seemed bewitched and bewildered about how to cope with Palin's appeal and McCain's resurgence, Republicans barely had time to gloat. Volunteers at GOP offices have increased fivefold in several swing states. In the first 12 hours after Palin was selected, $4.4 million in donations poured in, contributing to a $10 million infusion over a holiday weekend that ended with Hurricane Gustav. "We had to bring in a few new servers," says a McCain adviser. (Palin's been good for the Democrats, too: the Obama campaign claimed $10 million in donations within 24 hours after her speech at the convention.)

Although Palin still has plenty of questions to answer, she is basking in mostly adoring reviews from the conservative base. The McCain operation, which knows a thing or two about biography, is betting for now that the details of her views matter less than the grit of her story.

Whatever its relevance to working in the White House, there is an undeniable power in the tale of a woman who knows how to carve up a moose and can give a speech while leaking amniotic fluid, just hours before giving birth to a fifth child. Still, her first week on the stump clarified some things: She never banned library books, though she raised the possibility in a conversation with a librarian. She never joined a political party that openly discussed Alaska's secession from the U.S., though she did address its members. On the other hand, the government plane she says she "put on eBay" was never actually sold there. She once supported the prizewinning piece of pork known as the "bridge to nowhere" that she claims to have opposed. And though it was legal under Alaskan law, some found it unseemly that she claimed thousands of dollars in per diem expenses as governor while living at home.

McCain aides abandoned their plans to send her out on the trail by herself and have instead installed her as his more popular warm-up act. McCain himself certainly seems revitalized, following Palin at each stop with a fiery stump speech filled with barbs aimed at Obama, though cable news networks sometimes cut to commercials after Palin is finished. On the bus, away from reporters, the tone is friendly, informal and light--McCain quizzing Todd and Sarah about caribou and snowmobile racing while Brett Favre debuts with the Jets on the television. McCain is having fun, says traveling aide Steve Duprey: "Riding on the bus with her is like riding on the bus with the press a year ago."

Despite their camaraderie, they will soon be forced apart. After filling the hall in Lancaster, McCain went outside, climbed onto a platform and addressed the hundreds of supporters who never made it inside. "I'm grateful that you are here," he said into a microphone. "I'm not going to let you down." But as he stepped down to work the rope line, the chants--"Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!"--had already started up again, even though she was nowhere in sight!

This article was written by Micheal Scherer from Lebanon, Ohio.

BYE BYE...‘OBA-IDEN’! : With Stilettos and a Smile, Sarah Palin Steals Obama’s moment.

2008-09-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Every time I think maybe I should have become a musician, something happens in the sphere of politics that makes me go…well maybe not! If you have missed the last 12 years of politics in the US, not to worry, these last two years will have made up for what you missed. If you have missed the last two years, well…I have no words for you, except brace yourself for the next 3 months!

We and most of the World are all just mending from the noisome brouhaha that came from the recent DNC jamboree in Denver, Colorado. It was a very well put together seminar, replete with awards and several red carpet moments.

By day 4, Obama and his camp were reeling from the most stirring and important speech he would ever deliver. The grandiose setting for his acceptance speech was rockstar majestic.
From the podium that went into the ground after his speech, to the Greek pantheon-like backdrop he stood in front of, nothing said ‘I am your messiah, vote for me’, like his closing speech did. It was, for all intents and purposes, a fantastic convention, strangely for the Democrats who are adroit at not being organized.

The Democratic National Convention was ‘Grandiosity’ personified!

The news cycle was hovering around Obama’s acceptance speech and how the Clintons’ especially Hillary, stole the show at the DNC in Denver, when all of a sudden the rumor that the McCain camp were about to announce their VeeP pick, filtered in.

The usual suspects/options had been narrowed down to former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney and Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty. Two hours to his announcement, we would hear that Mitt and Tim were not in the vicinity of the McCain announcement. The news wire went crazy. Some journalist for Fox News Network sent an e-mail saying she just saw Sarah Palin land at a nearby airport and was promptly whisked away by waiting jeeps. Everybody went crazy! Though she was on the long list, hers wasn’t a name that came up during frequent VeeP selection discussions. Within a couple of hours, a senior McCain aide confirmed that Sarah Palin would be introduced soon as John McCain’s running mate. Everyone went wild. It was shocking and pleasantly surprising; A political masterstroke of the Karl Rove kind.

Her story, like Obama’s, is most remarkable, and represents the best America has to offer. A moose burger loving, M16 holding, game hunting, Christian mother of five, her pick as Veep changed the dynamic of the ensuing news cycle. It totally obliterated the excellent speech Obama had just given. It was a political masterstroke, if I have ever seen one.

For starters, she has the most executive experience of the four candidates. Yes! She is the only one who has managed a budget of any kind. She has experience dealing with Oil majors, taking on members of her party and passing one of the most far reaching finance reform bills. She has consistently reached across party lines to access expertise, suggestions and advice that would be of advance the cause of her government and the Alaskan people. Her 90% approval rating is the highest the country has ever seen for a Governor. And most important to the American people and the Media in these new strange new political climes, her own personal story of how she faced tragedy and adversity and overcame it.

Experience is now off the table in this falls’ campaign. If it comes up, where would you rather have it? Top or bottom? The top of the ticket is imbued with experience. The bottom…, well the bottom is just refreshing! P.s. it also does not hurt that the bottom is a looker!
Nothing will energize the Republican ticket like this pick! They will go crazy! Democrats bring it on!

Sarah has been an advocate for what’s right and just! Women, Republicans, Hillary Democrats and Hillary Republicans (yes they now exist) the World over are all ebullient with the GOP pick. She has commonality and threads that most American Women and Women the World over can relate to and connect with.

She also has been commander-in-chief of the National Guard, even if it was only for her state of 600,000. There’s a story of how when she resumed office she saw the private jets that her Republican predecessor had bought for the office of the Governor. She told an aide ‘take a picture and put that plane for sale on e-bay. We don’t need it!’ The private jet was sold at a profit! Her conservative credentials are all on point. Evangelicals and Social conservatives can all now let McCain be.

The American Presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery. With Obama and Biden you have people who will talk! With McCain and Palin, you have people who are on the cusp of making history and who will deliver.

WELL!!MAYBE I DO!!!

2008-08-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

At an Olympic meets where the opening ceremonies have been described in Superlatives; Biggest, Costliest, Grandest, Best...some Countries had a Government delegation out numbering their actual athletes! (Nigeria). The medal prospects for these Countries were even worse.Some Countries had one person who wasn't actually resident in the Country winning all their medals (Zimbabwe). I think Africa should release all their Olympic athletes and offer Micheal an honorary citizenship! He alone would represent the whole continent during the next Olympics, we would be guranteed at least 8 Gold Medals and all the money that would have been otherwise used for the Governmnet Delegation and representatives would be used to help Africa out of her unending poverty!
My Thots Please! My Thots alone!!

I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS 23 YEAR OLD! HE IS UNBE-FUCKING-LIEVABLE!!

2008-08-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

APOLOGISE NOW- CHIEF CHRIS ESIABA CALLS ON GOVERNOR ORJI.

2008-08-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

When on the 22^nd of July 2008, the convoy of chief T.A Orji ran into a gang of robbers at Ngwa Iyiekwe in Ugwunagbor LGA of Abia State, the Governor was quick to accuse the PDP and its leadership in Abia State of being the mastermind.

In a language that was abrasive and most unfair, the governor had advised the opposition to be patient and wait for the appeal court judgment instead of opting to ‘’assassinate’’ him. Chief Ralph Egbu his commissioner for information went to town with a gong. Hear him ‘’we can say clearly that the governor narrowly escaped” assassination”.

Chief T.A Orji and PPA dramatized the incident, compounded it, and never wasted or missed a moment to vilify crucify and malign the PDP in Abia State. They used amplifiers to wail and weep for effect and for judicial sympathy. However, the police high command says it was a robbery attack. According to the Force public relations officer, ACP Akperebi Akpoebi, ‘’the Police gave the robbers that attacked the Abia State Governor a hot chase and in the gun duel that ensued, the police killed one of the gangsters and arrested three others.”

Bullion van hunting has suddenly become a lucrative business in the South East. And there was a loaded bullion van in that convoy and the blaring siren that heralds the passage of big money- was also there.

Beyond the clarification of the police, the governor himself and his people are now talking of the “robbery attack”. That means that the PDP and Chief Ndidi Okereke have no hands at all in this matter. They are exonerated by them though quietly. The episode is actionable in court.

It can also become an issue at the village square in IGBO land. As a titled IGBO man, I want to advise Chief T.A Orji to do the right thing now and quickly. He should not allow this matter to go to court or become a subject of daily Newspaper analysis.

I advise that Chief TA Orji should assemble five titled men, none of who is less than sixty years from amongst his kinsmen. They should reach out to Chief Ugochukwu’s Umule Umuahia home before 6am on the appointed day. They should apologise to him, retract their assassination accusation and beg him to forgive and forget in the name of God and Nigeria our country

They can exclude the press. It is a private affair. They must go along according to tradition with the following items-: one he-goat, forty kolanuts, 20 alligator-pepper and a bottle of Schnapps. It is my personal opinion or advice. It is worth it. It is advisable.

I guess that after their visit, the matter will follow the steps of the early morning dew which disappears on hearing the footstep of the early morning sun.

This is tradition to the rescue indeed.

Posted by Chief Esiaba Chris, Former SA, Culture and Tourism, Abia State and Project coordinator, CARE (Campaign for Abia Rebirth).

FINDING BETANCOURT: HOW THE FARC HELPED FRANCE FIND IT’S NEW JOAN’D ARC.

2008-07-21T04:39:00.000-07:00

Colombia, a country known for its picturesque beaches, dramatic mountains, lush rain forests, the Andes, violent drug cartels and notorious political unrest, has again been thrust unto the international spotlight. This time for different reasons! Well not so different!!

The only other story as big, especially in France is Mrs. Sarkozy’s new album launch, which by the way was generally totally roundly mauled by the very knowledgeable French music critics!

Emerging from the jungle wilderness of Colombia’s Country side, looking as radiant and hip as America’s hip-hop camouflage wearing musicians, you would be forgiven to think she was promoting a new hip-hop album.

Ingrid Pulecio Betancourt Delloye Lecompte put aside her quiet life as an expatriate Mother in France, to return to her country, Colombia; her country which was on the brink of ruin, wearied by years of civil strife between the Colombian government, Marxist Left Wing guerillas, Right Wing paramilitaries, The Medellin & Cali drug cartels and corrupt politicians.

Operation Jaque, just as it was with The US’s 9/11 already probably has Hollywood writers and creative types going crazy and out their minds trying to pen scripts worthy of the events of July 2^nd 2008.

The daring and unbelievable rescue of The FARC’s most high profile captive has sent the World and especially France, into an emotional frenzy! The out pouring of emotions, felicitations and solidarity from everyone from the straights of Dover to the Champ Elysees across the Mediterranean all the way to Africa, has been, to put it mildly, extraordinary.

The last time I saw such unity and solidarity in a message was when a certain South African Nobel peace prize winner was released.

How did a privileged bourgeois daughter of the famous Aristocratic Betancourt clan end up a captive in the jungles of Colombia?

Ms. Betancourt was born in Colombia, but grew up with her Sister in the very posh Foch Avenue in Paris, France. A most striking woman, I remember the first time I came across her picture, that’d be about 11 years ago! Hell she looked like a Brazilian Porn star!

She would go on to become a Superstar in Colombian politics! She returned to Colombia in 1989, and got elected to the Colombian Lower House in 1994, becoming a Senator in 1998! Of course as with most women of power the World over, she left her first husband, diplomat Fabrice Delloye in 1990. They have two beautiful French enfants. She would later marry advertising executive, Juan Carlos Lecompte.

An avid fighter for Colombia’s poor, she decided to run for the office of President of Colombia in May 20 2001. Braving grave danger, as only a Woman would do and ignoring all warnings and advice by the Colombian government at the time not to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), Ms. Betancourt, along with her aide turned Vice Presidential Candidate and running mate, Clara Rojas on their way to San Vincente del Caguan, were kidnapped at a FARC checkpoint by FARC rebels.

She was held captive for 2,321 days, all the while showing guile and fortitude General de Gaulle would be proud of. In spite of the inhuman conditions she was living in, she remained steadfast in her belief in France and her birth Country, Colombia. According to a source close to her, "She explained that if she had been forced to celebrate the July 14 holiday in the jungle, then she would have dressed herself in blue, white and red," said the source, noting that she was referring to the forthcoming French National day and colors of the French flag (She holds Colombian and French citizenships). The French Senate President praised Ms. Betancourt's "exceptional commitment," her "persistent refusal to give in to adversity" and her "courage to face abuse," describing the former hostage as an example to be emulated by everyone.

The truth be told, there may not be as many parallels between Ms. Betancourt and Joan D’ Arc, but the 46 year old former fitness instructor, former Senator and former Presidential candidate of the Oxygenio party in Colombia defied all the over simplified conceptions of Women to become an icon of resistance, persecution, endurance and forgiveness, for Women all over the World.

Ms. Betancourt would go on to lose her Father 1 month after her abduction.

RESCUE ME:
Her rescue, planned, coordinated and executed by Colombian commandoes was a carefully orchestrated ruse. It included members of the Colombian military intelligence and Special Services Unit, who infiltrated local FARC squads. The rebels in charge of guarding Ms. Betancourt as well as other hostages were fooled into accepting a phony request for the hostages to be supposedly flown to guerrilla commander Alfonso Cano. Instead, they were flown in a helicopter by Colombian military operatives dressed as FARC to San Jose del Guaviare. The two real FARC guards on board the Chopper were quickly disarmed and subdued after the helicopter lifted off.

According to Ms. Betancourt, a crew member then turned and told the 15 hostages, "We are the national military. You are free."Not a single shot was fired. No one was harmed; except maybe the bruised ego of FARC commander, Alfonso Cano.

Ms. Betancourt and the other hostages which included 3 US contractors were flown to Colombia’s largest Air force base near Melgar, from where they were taken to Bogota. Probably timorous that the Colombian Army might change their minds and hand them back to the FARC, the Northrop Grumman contractors were subsequently flown directly to Lockland Air force base in San Antonio.

HISTORY OF COLOMBIA’S CIVIL STRIFE:
Colombia was one of the first countries to enjoy Independence from its colonial masters, Spain. It was part of the Viceroy of New Grenada which included present day Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. Following a brutal military campaign, the Creole General Simon Bolivar finally defeated the Spanish armies and secured independence for his Country in 1819. He would go on to become President of the newly independent Gran Colombia, which included present day Colombia, Panama and later liberated Venezuela and Ecuador. This union didn’t last as each Country through brutal battles obtained independence, the famous being the secession of Panama following the US sponsored Panama Canal treaty.

For many Decades, the principal political parties in Colombia, were the Partido Conservador Colombiano (PCC, The Conservative Party) and the Partido Liberal Colombiano (PL, Liberal Party). As with any Conservative party worth its National secretariat, the PCC favored a strong central government and close relations with the Catholic. FYI, 97% of Colombians are Catholic; while the PL rather preferred stronger local governments and the separation of church and state. Conflict between the Conservatives and Liberals often resulted in periodic civil strife. This continued and many times threatened to evolve into a full scale civil war. There were intermittent eras of peace, but sometime in the 1960’s, inspired by the Cuban revolution, guerilla groups emerged in Colombia. 20 years from that date, they would go on to wage one of the deadliest campaigns for the establishment of a Socialist Republic the World has ever seen.

Originally the Leftist guerilla groups sought to create a Socialist Republic of Colombia; the most popular being The FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and The ELN ((Ejercito de Liberación Nacional).

This led to self help Right Wing Paramilitary groups that were initially supported by the government as a way to protect rural communities from these left Wing groups. The main paramilitary group was the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC, United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia). The right-wing paramilitary groups rarely confronted the guerrillas directly. Instead, they sought through terror to deny the guerrillas the support of rural communities and the civilian population. International human rights organizations blamed paramilitaries for the bulk of human rights violations in Colombia. They also accused elements of the Colombian armed forces of working with paramilitary groups against guerrillas and their alleged sympathizers.

All groups, in spite of the fact that they had parallel diametric motives, would go on to become prodigious monsters, killing and kidnapping thousands of Colombians.

As the strife between the Colombian government and these unruly anti democratic elements prevent a Country once called the Athens of New Grenada from realizing its true potential, it is pertinent for all rebel leaders and supreme commanders, to know that as long as they continue to engage in Illegal and unlawful activities, they will only continue to irreversibly undermine their once held commitment to revolutionary ideals and goals and hasten their path to deserved justice.

My hope is that this episode will embolden the Colombian authorities to take final decisive steps to end 40 years of banditry and brigandage in the guise of social reform and revolution.

A NEW POLITICAL REALITY:
Through Nelson Mandela inspired rhetoric, Ms Betancourt showed the best of human emotion; forgiveness. She showered praises on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, The Colombian Military, The French Government and its people and most importantly asked that we not forget the other remaining 4,200 hostages still being held by guerilla groups.

More popular than ever, through the intense media campaign for her freedom, she has now attained cult status. A fighter for Colombia’s oppressed; there is no better time to relaunch her bid for President! Congratulations on your Légion d’honneur Mam, and Happy La Nuit Blanche and Bastille Day.

AMERICA IS NOT A DEMOCRACY! : THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND HOW GEORGE W. BUSH WON AN ELECTION WITHOUT ACTUALLY WINNING.

2008-07-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

I am here today in all of my magnificence, intellectual savvy and drunken stupor, to denounce and dispel the long held notion and fallacy, that The United States of America is a Democracy! Yes some form of voting goes on during elections, where some votes count and are counted, most times at least!

But what The US practices, is a form of Illusory Democracy, which at best, is a slightly better form of what most African nations currently experience.

In the new found euphoria of Obamamania, and Israel/Nigeria’s novel attention to America’s 2008 Presidential election season, most people, including Americans, have chosen to forget, amidst massive advertising blitzes, and insane amounts of historical amnesia, that America is actually a Republic, where the people do not actually choose their President and Vice President! They choose proxy representatives!

How else do you think G. Dubya became President in 2000!

Many Americans are unaware of the Electoral College in electing their President and Vice President, in part because they are mostly ignorant by choice! The truth is that every time Americans cast their ballots for President and Vice President, they are actually voting for officials called Electors, who are assigned to each Presidential candidate.

Each Presidential candidate has a slate of Electors assigned to that candidate. When the candidate wins the popular vote in a state or the District of Columbia, the Electors assigned to that candidate are the ones who vote in the Electoral College.

In most U.S. states, the Presidential candidate who wins a majority of the popular votes in a State also earns all the votes of the State’s Electoral College members. Each state has the same number of Electoral College members as the total of its Senators and Representatives. However, in this method of electing the president, candidates can win the most Electoral College votes, and thus the Presidency, without winning the most popular votes.

HOW ARE ELECTORS CHOSEN?
Most Electors are usually chosen during State Party conventions. The US constitution requires that for one to be an Elector, he/she must not be a Senator or Representative or a high ranking cabinet member.

Each State is allotted a number of Electors equal to the number of its Representatives and Senators in the U.S. Congress. The total of State and District of Columbia Electors is 538; a simple majority of 270 is necessary for election to the Presidency.

The Electors have only one responsibility: to select the President and Vice President! The Electors vote for the Presidential candidate who received the greatest number of votes in their state. The Electoral College simply ratifies the results of the popular vote. Most times!!

In about 25 States of the US, the Electors are legally ‘vouchsafed’. Put in simple English, they are legally committed to vote for the candidate of the party with which they are affiliated-No sudden patriotic impulses! In the remaining States though, Electors are ‘not vouchsafed’. Still, even unpledged Electors have not been known to vote ‘faithlessly’. It is generally assumed in these States that although Electors are unpledged in theory, they always mostly vote for the candidate associated with their Electors. About 20,000 Electors have voted in all Presidential elections from 1789 to 2000, and fewer than a dozen have voted faithlessly. The outcome of an election has never been changed by faithless Electors—nevertheless, it could happen.

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2000?
George Bush won a historic election, that’s what happened! Most Neo American historians claim that G.W. Bush’s victory in the 2000 general elections remain a watershed in America’s political history. According to The National Archives and Records Administration, results of that election show that while the Democrats had 50,996,582 votes, eventual winners, the Republicans amassed 50,456,062 votes. Of course anyone who’s ever been owed money, or has any understanding of routine arithmetic would know that on first sight, the Democrats had the superiority of numbers. But my friend that’s where Karl Rove’s superior campaign strategy paid off! What was important was even though he lost the popular vote, he won the electoral votes which usually is the bit that get’s Presidential candidates into the White House! On four occasions in U.S. history—in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000—the candidate with the most popular votes did not win the Presidency because he did not win the most Electoral College votes. This is because Americans do not directly elect their President and Vice President. If Americans directly elected their President, then the candidate with the most votes would automatically win.

Karl Rove and G. Dubya’s campaign strategists knew early in the campaign that targeting populous states like California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois with clear and on point messages was the key to defeating the highly popular incumbent Vice President, Al- Gore. The Republican Party’s new strategists have not forgotten this so soon!

THE HISTORY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE:

The history of the Electoral College is as much chequered as it is confusing! The early framers of the American constitution could not agree on a method to choose their President and Vice-President! At the constitutional convention in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the delegates had initially decided that Congress should choose the President. There was an immediate opposition to this proposal as some felt that it immediately places the C in C under the whims of a powerful Congress, making him a creature of the legislature. The others believed in ‘people power’. That a people should have the right to choose who governs them, and how they are governed. The Electoral College as it is used today represents a compromise between these two groups; Popular Sovereignty and State Sovereignty.

WHAT HAPPENS IF NO CANDIDATE RECIEVES A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORAL VOTES? If no candidate receives a majority of the Electoral votes, the Constitution requires that the U.S. President be chosen by the House of Representatives. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution requires that the House “immediately” choose the President “by ballot” from among the Presidential candidates receiving the highest number of votes in the Electoral College. If there are more than two candidates receiving Electoral College votes, then the House chooses from the three candidates who received the most votes. In the House election, each state has one vote.

Representatives from each state vote to decide which candidate will carry the state. The votes are taken state-by-state in alphabetical order. A majority of all the states, or 26 votes, is necessary to win.

A SUMMARY FOR REALLY STUPID PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE TWICE!!

Q: How is it possible for a U.S. President to get elected without polling the highest number of popular votes?

A: YES! If a candidate receives a minority of the popular vote nationally but carries a sufficient number of states to ensure a majority of the electoral votes, the candidate is elected. The Presidential election is decided in the Electoral College, in which States give their Electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote. It is a winner-take-all system that awards all of a State’s Electoral votes to a single candidate. Since there is no proportional representation, losers get nothing. Thus a candidate, who loses the popular vote by a narrow margin in the large states (i.e. those that have the most electoral votes) and wins by a large margin in the middle-sized and smaller states, may win the National popular vote, but fail to win a majority of electoral votes.

In the 2000 presidential election, Democratic candidate Al Gore lost to Republican candidate George W. Bush, even though Gore won the popular vote. Al Gore, the losing candidate, won more than 500,000 more popular votes than Republican George W. Bush, but Bush won the Presidency by capturing 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266.

Such a result has occurred just twice before in American history, both in the 19th century: the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and the election of Benjamin Harrison in 1888.

So anytime anyone describes The US as a shining example of Democracy the World should aspire to, please visit my Blog again (www.coherentwhole.blogspot.com), print out this article, and blow them AWAY! Now I have a headache!!

OBAMA VS CLINTON: COCKY VS ROCKY!

2008-07-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

The unbelievably interesting & by far the most watched Presidential primary season is now at its end. The skinny black kid with a funny name, against all predictions, polls, histograms and pie charts is now the presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate. Unless information comes out that he is a homosexual atheist who fathered a child out of wedlock, he is sure to most likely be confirmed the party’s Presidential candidate at the DNC in Denver, Colorado later this year.

Even though she fought a spirited battle and lost, I’ m in awe of Hillary Clinton and what she’s been able to do for womenfolk, not only in The US & Israel , but the World over.

I and ace actor cum director cum political activist Rob Reiner are in agreeance that she is and will always be a courageous, passionate and committed fighter for America’s Women and Children.

Yes she had suits in all the colours of the Corel Draw photo palette, but this former First Lady and New York Senator with a reputation as a smart, prepared and serious Senator got thumped in the Democratic Presidential primaries by the ‘avatar of a new generation of progressives’.

Canards and all, Obama’s historic win will force Black men and indeed people of minority races to adjust their personal gyroscopes.

His speeches, time and time again, are the stuff of legends; reminiscent of JFK, King and Reagan moments.

‘YES WE CAN’ destroyed ‘SOLUTIONS FOR THE ECONOMY’! So did ‘CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN AND HOPE’!!

Obama’s campaign (I hear it’s a movement now), in its entirety has been mostly about his ability to inspire. Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause-other than the amorphous call for change, the message is becoming ‘dangerously self-referential’.

This is not the first time echoes of change has moved American Democrats. It is reminiscent of Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential effort and he soon found out that that was not nearly enough.

Obama is facing a similar ceiling; his inability to speak to and inspire the working class people of the Democratic Party who are not Black.

He has still not found an issue specifically distinguishing him from the other candidates. Clinton on the other hand has proved herself tough, specific and reliable.

Hillary’s strengths were more evident in debates. She simply knew more than Obama did! This appealed to voters more interested in results than in inspiration, it appealed specially to middle class women juggling job and family who are the demographic heart of the Democratic Party.

Obama’s patriotism has also been called into question many times. At sometime in this Presidential season, he claimed that wearing a lapel pin of the American flag did not equal or enhance your patriotism. Well, rural America doesn’t agree. There’s a video on You-Tube of him and some former Democratic Presidential candidates, including Hillary, during a campaign stop, where the pledge of allegiance was being said and his hand was not on his heart. Again rural America doesn’t agree.

P.s. They vote in droves during elections; with their hearts and minds; rarely with their heads!

Taking nothing away from his historic victory though, the challenge of selecting a VeeP is now the topmost on every one’s mind! He would do well to listen to reason and pick the most reasonable and only candidate with18 million votes already!

Obama: A Maverick Politician and his Pyrrhic victory that has forever changed the face of American Politics.

2008-06-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

‘America’s history of re-inventing and perfecting itself has acquired another page’.

Every now and again, a Maverick comes along and turns everything on its head! I’m not so sure of old mavericks; they are well… too old! No pun Mr. McCain Sir!

I haven’t seen or read many campaigns run as efficiently as The Obama for President Crusade! And I have seen and read many campaigns; including of course Robert Mugabe and The Burmese junta’s strategy of ‘arrest your opponent every time he comes out of his house’ that most African despots tend to prefer.

You Tube and the internet became tools for grassroots mobilization in ways never before seen.

It is one of the most grueling things any individual can do in so short a period of time! You effectively have to put together, organize and manage a multimillion Dollar enterprise, profitably for 14 month; egos and all! The two Democratic contenders between them have been able to raise over 500 Million USD!

It may seem that the 2008 Presidential elections is a done deal for the Democrats, ‘but it must be noted that Obama’s victory has been wafer thin: in terms of delegates, a couple of hundreds out of 4500; in terms of votes, only a few tens of thousands out of 35 million. In the end, Democrats have only opted for the candidate who has been able to put together a new coalition of blacks, young people and liberal professional types’!

A world-class show of the beauty of democracy and everything the US has to offer, including the resentment shown and muck thrown by both contenders.

The general consensus, and everyone is in agreeance with this, is for Obama to pick Hillary as his running mate and VeeP. I am confident that his tandem with Hillary will prove to be absolutely effective!

Yes, they will almost certainly win the elections, but are we sure Obama wants to go into the White House with the Clinton hegemony that close to him!

Inspirational but most times vaporous, he cannot win the election without Hillary. As his Vice President, she is sure to undermine him.

The enigma here is quite simple! How to make Hillary VP, knock off Bill and ensure that after the election, she remembers she’s VP and not the C & C!

I absolutely think Obama should select Hillary as his running mate. He should also make an avowed Clinton hater, (Albert Arnold Gore jnr. would be fine here) his Chief Senior Campaign Chairman. This immediately increases the number of people on the podium during campaign rallies! Bye Bye Bill!

For Obama, his first 100 days will be of prodigious consequence, if he does something very Presidential and G.Dubya-like; maybe declaring War on Zimbabwe or Hugo Chavez personally, he immediately strengthens his repute amongst the Joint Chiefs of Staff, staving Hillary off until next year! Presto Obama a happy President!

‘It is a golden rule of American politics that every election season brings at least one big surprise. Nevertheless it looks more likely that this will be the Democrats’ year. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will most likely end up in the White House. The betting is that that person will be Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton enjoyed a sustained lead in the opinion polls of 20 points or more over her nearest Democratic rival Barack Obama, for most of 2007. She proved to be an impressive performer in debates and to a lesser extent, on the stump, always in perfect command of policy details. She is also supported by the best political machine in the country. Both Obama and Edwards are too lightweight (America tried lightweight in 2004 and came to regret it!)’

These were the words of The Economist’s annual special, The World in 2008.

How wrong we all were!

Congratulations Mr. Obama, your campaign is 18 million people closer to the dream of Martin Luther King jnr., Abraham Lincoln and America’s great founding Fathers.
Congratulations again!!

OMG: SEGUN AKPATA IS DEAD!

2008-06-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

Shocking was how I received the news of the untimely death of Segun Ogbemudia Akpata. I met him once, fantastic guy all round! Sound knowledge and understanding of political nuances the world over! I hope his Wife and kids know how wonderful their Dad was! Rest easy Sir! Alora!

VANTAGE POINT: A CINCH OF A MOVIE!

2008-06-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

Eight strangers, eight points of view, with each of them holding a key, to a different part of the puzzle!

Vantage Point may not be the critic’s favourite movie! Yes, but I think it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen this ’08. Dennis Quaid was like ‘The Terminator’; indestructible after being hit by 2 cars and a truck! I’m also not sure how believable that was! Forrest Whitaker played one of the most aloof and Forest Gump-like roles I’ve seen in a while!

The surprise shootings and explosions, more shootings and more explosions got me into the movie. A riveting premise that is actually believable, considering the goings on in the world today! The end, well for all the movie had to offer was such an anti-climax. The fact that Agent Barnes (Dennis Quaid) stumbled unto POTUS (President Of The United States) was a bit too obtuse to say the least. But all in all a good movie that high-wire-suspense-thriller lovers should watch! ONLY ONCE!

TONY'S DOING GOD!

2008-06-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

‘We should create a new coalition to harness the moral leadership of people of faith to do good and to show the relevance of faith to the challenges of the modern world’.

These were the words of Rt. Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair on the day he launched his new faith based initiative, The Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
‘Shocking’ was how I received the news of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s new found faith! I still do not understand how one of my most favorite Prime Ministers, NO; one of my most favorite persons turned militant; albeit the Christian kind!
Tony has written some of the best speeches I have ever heard, none more so than his valedictory speech to his constituency on the day he announced he would be stepping down from the post of Prime Minister. His hand gestures are legendary and also the reason I and most of my ‘Tony Blair wanna be’ friends speak with our hands! They are like cosmic spells enthralling audiences the world over; including girls we’ve just met. It also makes us look smart and intense! The World has lost another bohemian! The once arrested, young ‘Mick Jagger’ wannabe lead singer of Ugly Rumours from Fettes College, Edinburgh is now a preacher!
On May 10 2007, Tony was harangued to announce a date for his resignation by a certain portly Chancellor of the Exchequer, which brought an era to an end on June 24 2007. Sedgefield; Blair’s constituency would no longer be the same.
As he plans to enlist religion as a positive force in bringing peace to millions of people around the world, starting in the Middle East, It is curious to ask or find out what drove the great Tony to this. Was it guilt for supporting a War I find just, or atoning for his past missteps in the realm of peacemaker?
Swept into office with the Obamaic promise of a New Labour and his limitless supply of unending charm, Blair won Labour’s largest landslide ever in the May 1997 general elections, winning nearly 45 percent of the vote and claiming 419 seats and a 178 seat majority in the 659 seat house of commons. But the last years of his Prime Ministership was plagued by his decision to support the US in its invasion of Iraq.
At first look, it seems the commonsensical thing to do will be to believe that Tony’s presence in the Middle East as Special Envoy for The Quartet of The US, UN, Russia and The EU would maybe ease up and hasten the peace process there.
But make no mistake; the problem of the Middle East is not likely to go away with some intense hand gestures and some Alastair Campbell-esque sloganeering! If there is any proof that Mr. Blair has his work cut out for him, the conflagration and spiraling out of control of violence, the shrinking Arab-Christian relationship in Bethlehem and growing Islamic militancy are pointers to the enormity and scale of his problems.
Tony understands this very well. He also understands that the Palestine-Israeli conflict is about land, culture, and competing polemics of history. But more importantly, Tony understands that the conflict is about faith!
His new found conviction in the importance of faith and religion is not so new after all! Sometime in the 70’s whilst a student in Oxford, he met fellow student Peter Thomson who ‘awakened within Tony a deep concern for religious faith and left wing politics’. His mother’s death from cancer was also said to have greatly affected him and most likely pushed him to the precipices of despair. His religion probably helped him deal with and get through this.
The British public is unforgiving of their politicians pontificating; Circa 1908 Ewart Gladstone. Maybe if he were a US politician, where he would be expected to profess his vast amounts of faith, in public at least, we would understand. Britain ranks as one of the most aggressively secular societies on the planet. Church attendance has never been this low! His former Director of Communications and Strategy once famously told a journalist that ‘We don’t do God! But for many Britons, a Prime Minister that led the nation into a deeply unpopular war is reason enough to doubt his sincerity! It also doesn’t help that he is a politician.
Some intellectuals have even gone so far as to describe his recent conversion to Catholicism, a faith that has long had a following among posh Brits as a vague attempt at ‘Snob appeal’
Blair’s faith probably got the boost it needed when he met the woman that would shape his views of faith, bear four children for him and become Mrs. Blair. Tony said he converted to Catholicism to ‘share in his family’s faith’.
Tony now believes that ‘Faith can be a civilizing force in globalization’. Tony hopes to tap into the global links that have been built between developmental activists and people of faith. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s goals will include promoting respect and understanding between major religions, encouraging inter-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty and conflict including generally making a case for faith as a force for good. His foundation is also seeking to partner with organizations to achieving the UN’s MDGs.
My rockstar, My Mick Jagger, My Tony has become a religioso! I think hanging around and holding hands with G. Dubya probably did something to him! All that Bibling and Churching-Never good for non-comformists.
Announcing the launch of the Faith Foundation Tony Blair said: ‘Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st Century as political ideology was to the 20th Century. In an era of globalisation, there is nothing more important than getting people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better and live in peace and mutual respect; and to give faith itself its proper place in the future’.
Our faith is that in between meals of baba ghanoush, tabbouleh and baklava, he’ll be able to make the most of his faith in alleviating the crisis and sufferings of the people of Palestine, Israel and JP Morgan. Well then, God speed Tony.

THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE: POWERFUL WOMEN IN POLITICS

2008-05-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend’s boyfriend came across this article when I first finished writing it, and rather amusingly asked me who Tzipi Livni was? I asked him rather condescendingly to check his installed Encarta on his laptop! He returned to say his search turned up empty! I first of all chided him not being able to use a computer, let alone his Encarta 2008; which I might add I personally installed! I retrieved my laptop and did a search on Tzipi Livni. It returned zilch! I then typed her full name Tzipora Malka Livni and it still returned nada! I was alarmed at the prospect of a Woman as consequential as Tzipi, not having a profile on my Encarta! I was however calmed when I ‘Wikipediaed’ her and a profile in all its glory and magnificence popped up!
I can think of only one woman, (Hilary and her yellow suits aside), more powerful than or as consequential as Tzipi. Her name is Condolezza Rice! Thankfully Condi on the other hand had a profile both on my Encarta 2008 and on Wikipedia!
Both Women are under 55. Both women are the highest ranking diplomats in their respective countries. Both are also highly accomplished diplomats even though sometimes, it seems like they share the same tailor, although it seems that Condi long ago learnt to embrace her inner fierceness! I remember clearly sometime in February, when she arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield dressed in an all black ensemble with sexy Black knee high boots to match! She looked every bit a ‘Secretary of State’ and strangely reminded me of the ‘save mankind’ garb worn by Keanu Reeves in ‘The Matrix’. Tzipi’s not too shabby herself!
Both Women are known to eschew the typical look chosen by most Women of power the World over. They will not wear bland (or yellow) suits with loose fitting skirts and a jacket that looks like a box with a pair of sensible pumps. They do not cloak their power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non threatening aesthetic. I would buy both of them beers any day!
Tzipora Malka Livni, ‘Tzipi’ was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1958. She kind of reminds me of a certain Zionist that would go on to become Prime Minister. Even though a Daughter of prominent Israelis, She enlisted as a lieutenant in the IDF and worked for the MOSSAD for four years. She attended Bar-illan University studying Law and even practicing. She also claim’s to be a vegetarian i.e. She likes vegetables and doesn’t eat them!
Mentor, and former Israeli prime minister during the Munich Olympic massacre, Golda Mier would be proud of Tzipi’s accomplishments. Aside her fluency in three languages, she has held various positions of importance in both the Israeli government and the newly formed Kadima party.
She has been Minister of Housing and Construction, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Justice and most recently Minister of Foreign Affairs and acting Prime Minister, following Ehud Olmert’s implication in allegations of bribery and corruption.
She is generally considered a dovish member of the Likud party and gained international recognition for her efforts at to achieve peace, in particular her successful efforts to have the pullout fro m Gaza ratified by the Knesset.
I’m also in awe of a certain 5ft 8”African American woman- Condolezza Rice. She oozes sex and power; a volatile combination and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal!
Born an only child some 53 years ago in Birmingham, Alabama to Presbyterian Minister, Rev. John Wesley Rice Jr, Condolezza, whose name is from the Italian word ‘Dolcezza’ meaning ‘With Sweetness’, grew up during the period of racial segregation in Alabama. She attended St. Mary’s academy and earned a BA in Political Science with high honors Phi Beta Kappa at 19 years from University of Denver. This was quickly followed by post graduate degrees from Notre Dame and The Graduate School of International Studies Denver. She was all of 26 when she obtained her PhD becoming an Assistant professor at Stanford the same year- Phenomenal Woman!
A Democrat until 1982, a defining moment in her life, was when she met a certain Czech refugee named Josef Korbel who would later turn out to be the Father of a future Secretary of State; a position she herself would eventually go on to hold.
Although she served as foreign policy adviser to the Presidential campaign of US Democratic Senator, Gary Hart in 1984, she and her Father switched to the Republican Party in 1982. In her words to the Republican National Convention in 2000, “My Father joined our party because the Democrats in Jim Crow, Alabama of 1952 would not register him to vote. The Republicans did!”
Aside the fact she speaks five languages, including Russian, She is an accomplished concert pianist, playing and performing in public since she was a young girl, even one time performing with accomplished cellist Yoyo Ma. - A barefoot Black Woman banging away on a grand piano to say the least is orgasmic!
Condi headed Chevron’s committee on Public policy until she resigned to become National Security Adviser to G. Dubya in 2001. She has also served on the board of The Carnegie Corporation, The Rand Corporation, The Charles Schwab Corporation, and Hewlett Packard. She has also served as Director, Soviet and European affairs to George H.W. Bush. He thoroughly impressed with her, once introduced her to former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev as ‘the one who tells me everything I know about the Soviet Union’.
The amazing ‘Warrior Princess’ with her strong nerves and delicate manners has been an out spoken supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US. She has also clocked more frequent flyer miles on diplomatic junkets around the World than any American Secretary of State I know of in recent memory.
She also manages to look sexy while doing all this!
This was supposed to be an article on two of the most powerful women in politics. It mostly turned out to be a polemic on Women and their accouterments!
Apologies for this and all the exclamations! I had a bit too much coffee!

STEM CELL RESEARCH: A Brief Introduction into this Medical Marvel!

2008-05-21T12:09:00.001-07:00

I just had a bottle of Heineken! I’m feeling very Bohemian and Scholarly today!
I spent north of 7 Years studying and training to deal in drugs! So did my Father and brother before me, so will my sons after me! So it happens that sometimes I feel the need to talk about Science, God and each of their wonders.
In 1998 June specifically, a very important milestone in our quest to become ‘like God’, was reached! A certain cell biologist and his co-workers between bouts of coffee binging and alcohol fueled arguments, were able to derive the first human Embryonic Stem Cell Line at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Within 3 years of this seeming milestone, amidst periods of genius and creativity never before seen, other scientists found a way to culture large numbers of these cells called Human Stem Cells. These Stem Cells can by the way grow to become almost any of the over 200 different types of cells found in the human body! What this simply meant was that we had found the key to the future of medical therapy especially for devastating chronic diseases. Diseases that would include Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes, Chronic heart disease, End-stage kidney disease, Liver failure, various cancers and other Neuronal deficits and Nervous system disorders! In particular, Embryonic Cell Lines, Autologous Embryonic Stem Cells generated through therapeutic cloning, and highly plastic Adult Stem Cells from the umbilibal cord blood or bone marrow were touted as promising candidates. OR so it seemed!
The controversy surrounding Stem Cell research in spite of its enormous benefits to mankind arose from the source of the Stem Cells! Up until now, Stem Cells were only exclusively gotten from the Embryo, hence their name Embryonic Stem cells. Herein lies the conundrum. Pro life activists here claim collecting Embryonic cells from foetuses, whether they had the ability to generate to full term or not constituted some form of abortion and could end up creating a ‘black market’ for unwanted/aborted pregnancies! The use of adult stem cells in research and therapy on the other hand is not as controversial as embryonic stem cells, because the production of adult stem cells does not require the destruction of embryos.

A Solution to the Ethical Issues:
ADULT STEM CELLS:
Also known as Somatic Stem cells, These are undifferentiated (Unspecialized) cells that are found in a differentiated(Specialized) tissue such as the bone marrow, blood, blood vessels, the skin, the spinal cord, the liver, the GIT, and the pancreas.
Initial research suggested that adult counterpart stem cells were much more limited in scope than their embryonic counterparts. However later findings in animal studies suggest that certain kinds of adult stem cells may be able to differentiate into tissues other than those from whence they came. A very good example here would be the Hematopoietic stem cells which have the ability to differentiate into the full complement of cell types found in blood.
‘Many medical researchers and scholars firmly believe that stem cell therapy has the potential to dramatically change the treatment of human disease. A number of adult stem cell therapies already exist, particularly bone marrow transplants that are used to treat leukemia. In the future, medical researchers anticipate being able to use technologies derived from stem cell research to treat a wider variety of diseases. However, there still exists a great deal of social and scientific uncertainty surrounding stem cell research, which could possibly be overcome through public debate and future research, and further education of the public’. Let us not in our rush to be ethically correct and in a wave of popular rhetoric shoot down a perfectly GOOD GOD GIVEN idea!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISRAEL; Yom Huledet Sameach, Yisrael

2008-05-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Happy 60th Birthday Israel!
“No man can overestimate the importance of the mechanism of justice…When we know how a Nation-State dispenses justice, we know with some exactness the moral character to which it can pretend”. Peace is a novel nuance propagated by clandestine philosophers! Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice...that is real peace.

Obama: The Dream!

2008-05-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of these United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of these United States."
Come January 20th 2009, these may be the very words that echo out the mouth of a certain Senator from Chicago, Illinois.
Ordinarily, I would choose to not comment on any of the present contenders for the Democratic National Party Presidential ticket, with its diverse candidates, the promise of change, and their sheer exuberance. But Nigeria’s emerging Middle Class & their even newer fascination with the current political shenanigans in the US, combined with events of super-confusing Tuesday, makes this almost impossible! Discussions that used to hover around women and football and maybe some local politics now fully include polemic approbations on the worthiness or lack thereof of each candidate.
‘In most US election seasons, the rest of the world doesn’t pay much attention to the strange hoopla until the two main candidates have emerged. Costly State-by-State elections to determine Presidential nominees can seem like charming overkill, as the US is trying too hard to show the world what democracy should look like. But this time, it’s different. From Paris to Karachi, Canada to Turkey’, everybody is glued to their TV sets-At least when they can.
This Season is even more so; the players are more nuanced the battle nastier. It is the story of how a junior Senator from Illinois, a Harvard and Columbia alumni, an unruly young black kid who spent most parts of his youth in Honolulu and Jakarta; is turning Washington on its head and giving America ‘HOPE’.
In his memoir, ‘Dreams from my father’, Obama recalls a tactic he learned as a black teenager in a white world. ‘People were satisfied as long as you were courteous and smiled, and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved; such a pleasant surprise to find a well mannered young black man, who did not seem angry all the time’. This same tactic has been devastatingly effective in charming and hypnotizing the American media machine. The question here is who is this young, charismatic, good looking if I might add and most importantly, ‘black man’ who is shaking things up in Washington?
In US politics, perception is real in its consequence. As Herman D’Hollander from Antwerp, Belgium, succinctly puts it, ‘a pretty face, a pop star aura and clichés about welfare, justice, freedom and change are all a candidate needs to lure ecstatic audiences into believing the messiah has arrived.’ He also adds that ‘Form rules over substance and Obama thrives on it! His charisma obliterates the emptiness of his message.’ Simply put, this is the most apt description I have heard of both democratic presidential campaigns!
Aside the populist pandering and raw ambition each candidate oozes, it is virtually impossible, with all the rhetoric to gain any relevant insight into solutions each candidate has proposed for the four biggies- Gas, Healthcare, The Economy and The War in Iraq.
Don’t get me wrong, I, in complete agreeance with Joy Behar of The View, think He’s rather easy on the eyes, and may in fact be the 2nd cousin of Brad Pitt- albeit 9th removed!
But the idea of being effectively the strongest Commander-in-Chief in the World, with the most powerful armed forces, the world has ever seen at his disposal, in these very plastic times, should not be wagered on looks, charisma or hoarse Democratic clichés.
It is evident from his current poor run that tiny fissures are beginning to appear in Obama’s shining armour. His cornucopia with shady Chicago developer Tony Rezkon; His strange National Free Trade Association (NAFTA) flap with the Canadians; His perceived patriotism or lack-thereof; His Name and Religion-Barack Hussein Obama-with which internet sleaze purveyors have been spreading slanderous nonsense; Michelle Obama’s rather unfortunate statement about how her husband’s campaign success has made her proud of her country for the first time in her life; His friendly dalliances with dilettante terrorist William Ayer; and who can forget the now very famous or should I say notorious, Very Reverend Pastor Jeremiah Wright, whose bigotry in the face of scathing criticism will almost certainly cost Obama his nomination.
With 1494 delegates to Clinton’s 1333 delegates garnered so far and more States won also, Obama looks all the more likely to have superior numbers of both tallies by the last primary day on June 3rd in Montana and South Dakota. The contest will probably drag on until the presumptive nominee is announced at the Democratic National Convention in August further polarising their party and denting any chance of a coherent strategy for the November general elections. Obama like Bill Clinton before him and Ronald Reagan before Bill is easily the most avuncular politician running for the office of President.
Someone could well tell him that rhetoric, intellect and friendliness, do not win elections, substance does!

A Governor and his Soldiers!!

2008-04-10T05:42:00.000-07:00

Governor Sambo Namadi appoints 552 aides!
The Governor of Kaduna State, Gov. Sambo Namadi said’ The aides would assist(sic) in making the task of governance easy, efficient an closer to the people! The aides comprising 14 special advisers(sors), 40 senior special assistants, 256 special assisitants, 114 community development facilitators reflect numerous interests in state’.

The Gathering

2008-04-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

THE GATHERING: OF VERY OLD, VERY ANGRY MEN!!

Obasanjo’s Enemies gather in Full Force! Did anyone see this photo caption, Guardian 04th April, 2008? It’s got to be one of the best photo captions I’ve ever seen on a Nigerian daily in a very long time! Obasanjo I think it’s time to call Houston! We have a PROBLEM!!

2008-04-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

George W. Bush: Coherent Thinking OR Blathering Idiot!

2008-03-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

George W. Bush: Coherent Thinking OR Blathering Idiot!
“Sometimes in life, we are called to do great things”. This was the first line from the inaugural speech of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Popular liberal rhetoric is all the rage now! All of a sudden, every commentator’s now an expert on ‘Bush Bashing’! We are all experts at kvetching about the United States, yet still, we are the same ones who line the paths and lanes of Walter Carrington for ‘escape permits’ for us and our families!
We all agree that the US maintains a collaborative neutrality in the Middle East and with issues that affect the nation state of Israel. We should also agree that Arabs seem to get a sense of accomplishment from killing Jews! For Dubya, who’s 61, there are fewer years in front than behind. It is important that everyone understands that this is not a polemic, but simply an insight into G. Dubya.
President George W. Bush’s first term has been among the most consequential and successful in modern times. Under his leadership, the United States is waging and 'winning' the war against global terrorism. The United States and its coalition partners liberated more than 50 million people from two regimes of extraordinary brutality that had provided safe havens to terrorists. The United States is also promoting democracy & freedom, in regions of the world that have never known it.
I would immediately agree that Dubya seems aloof most times, but I know for sure that he is genuinely a great guy with genuine convictions. Most people who have had the good fortune of interfacing with him personally allude to the fact that he is a genuine person and a fantastic person all round. He remembers people’s names, calls them by nicknames and has no airs at all. And YES! A damn good Commander-in-Chief!!
Dubya and the Republican Party have not made the world unsafe! They met the world unsafe! Thanks in most part to the dithering ineptitude of the previous leadership! There is no way anyone can say the world is no longer safe! The world has never been safe!! Go back through history from the days of the Roman conquests, through the dark ages, the triumphant entry of Modern Christianity and the subsequent arrival of Islam. People died before, during and after these times, and they will continue to die!!
Bernard Lewis suggests that these religions have at one time or another invoked religion in the practice of murder, both retail and wholesale!
The ‘worst president’ in the history of America initiated a Presidential Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS that in 5 years is now providing free medicines for 1.3 million people in Africa.
He has ensured that his country contributes 30% of the money for the global fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and his country continues to contribute half of all food aid in the world.
On his most recent trip to Africa, he promised Africa $350 million dollars for a fund for neglected tropical diseases. He’s also giving 5.2 million mosquito nets to kids in Tanzania.
He’s initiated the millennium Challenge account that will put money down for contracts worth $1.2 Billion dollars in Ghana and Tanzania. He’s also reauthorized the AGOA, a Clinton administration initiative.
His first cabinet, more than any president in recent history, genuinely reflected much of the diversity of the United States, even appointing two African American Secretaries of State.
Under George W Bush, America has quadrupled aid to Africa. Liberal Democrats bite me!
I am not kow-towing the Americans and their foreign policies, but only looking at things from another POV!
I know the world is currently experiencing a maelstrom and I understand. But know this clearly, that peace is a novel nuance, propagated by clandestine philosophers! And in my opinion, peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice…that’s real peace! The United States is a defender and promoter of freedom, and the advance of freedom, is what brings peace!
Harold Laski, in his book, A Grammar of Politics, says that no man can underestimate the mechanism of justice…and when we know how a nation state dispenses justice, we know with some exactness the moral character to which it can pretend.
I will leave you guys with one of my favourite comments from Dubya. ‘When we see the hungry, we feed them! Not to spread our influence, but because they are hungry!’