AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

Being A Man

2009-08-08T20:17:00.000+01:00

A man must be patient, undetered and determined for him to move ahead or progress in Life.

Don't be discourage man, Keep trying, one day you will reach your desired goal

Self Reliance: The Guiding Principle to Greater Heights

2007-07-16T16:09:00.000+01:00

…In all civilization, there is a fundamental belief in supreme deity who guides and protects the people as they match along the road to success. But above all, there is an unshaken belief in self-reliance. This is the guiding principle.

Self-reliance result in self approval anytime a little success is gained. This, in turn increases the belief and dependence on the self. The more you conquer odds, the more you trust on your judgment, the more proud you become of your effort. Self reliance is an integral virtue without which the mountaineer is left at the bottom of the valley, helplessly gazing up at the height he could have conquered. This is true for the individual as it is for a nation; the former being a unit of the later.

A nation that is seeking a golden age must have entrenched in its nationals these two qualities – a deep, deep belief in God and an attitude of self reliance. The former replenish spiritual strength while the later is the inevitable tool that carves out a sure path in the material jungle.
Once the majority can develop and put to use the attitude of self reliance, the nation is planted on the path to its golden age!

Man and Conspiracy

2007-07-12T10:31:00.000+01:00

Life is a paradox where the chain of events often defies logic. A lot of ironies play out in this curious age of reasons. Quite often, man is ruled by a number of irrational variables which add to the mystery and paradox that shape humanity and events.

Events are not quite what they seem on the surface. But man often wades through the imponderables of life to make a sense out of the labyrinth of existence. Through such efforts, dreams are transformed into reality. There is always a constant struggle to capture the seemingly endless mirage. Man in his push to conquer has remained essentially restless. Always pushing ahead, beyond barriers, behind the scenes; to build and to destroy all toward a goal. Indeed, survival and conquest have presented man with daily challenges.

In a world ruled by ideas however, surviving the endless hurdles has been Herculean. From the individual to the group levels, and even among nations, Darwinian dynamics rule the roost. The fittest often survives. The unfit becomes extinct. It is a refrain that liberal minded philosophers find difficult to accept. But even among the very powerful, plots and conspiracy against each other reign supreme. There is perfidy, disloyalty and faithlessness. Treachery is an act, perhaps a defining goal in the road to conquest. Simply put, men conspire in a group to out-maneuver one another.

In Hobbesian state, the picture of life being short, brutish and nasty is a recurring decimal. Perhaps also, these features are the driving force behind the series of conspiracy to achieve or play ones’ part within the available stretch of time. Little wonder, men plots against the grain of reason. The painful part of conspiracy is its furtive nature. That is why conspirators at work are always difficult to expose: often, they pretend to be loyal. There is always no art to read the minds construction on the face – apology to William Shakespeare. Watch out, that friend, political acolyte or even your crony could be among the conspirators. Like the great reggae musician Bob Marley noted in his music “your best friend could be your worst enemy”.

Make no mistake about it, aside from men who plot against one another, children also plot against their parent. Group conspires against others. Nations are constantly in conspiracy to acquire, steal or to spy. The bottom-line at times is to attain leverage, an advantage over the other. Destruction is the goal at other times. From individual to family and other groups, the quests for wealth and power have given vent to endless conspiracies. So also have the attempts to settle scores spawn conspiracies against the unsuspecting.

But human needs like basic economic principles reveals are essentially insatiable. As soon as one need is met, it is in the nature of man to push for more. That is why after the tough battle to cement a marriage, tales of struggles for control between husband and wife take roots. Such battles are silently conspiratorial. Business partners are always at dagger drawn for control. They too conspire just as nations plot against nations. Conspirators seek to wear down the opponent, the target. But at the end of the day, conspiracy is destructive.

In all quest, self-preservation is the primary law. And to succeed, economic, social, cultural, military and intellectual battles are waged. The quest for political power and its reward has given birth to conspiracies of various shades. Political power may in fact be the ultimate goal of the most celebrated conspiracies.

It is no exaggeration that in the search for power, man has perfected the art of subversion. Conspiracies are often times a fore play to acquire power, to oust the incumbent or to establish a foothold for strategic purpose. In all, these are cold calculation towards tilting the apple-cart. Coups, counter coups, assassination; or even a palace coups and on many occasions, blood bath occur, as the deadly aftermath of conspiracies.

Just like men plot, cabals plot too. Americans are yet to overcome or even understand the conspiracy behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The death of General Murtala Mohammed remains a lingering consequence of a bloody conspiracy. Moshood Abiola won a presidential election in 1993. Men conspired to/and deny him his presidency. Its consequence ousted General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. General Sani Abacha, a beneficiary of the 1993 general election annulment, came; arrested Abiola, jailed General Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Musa Yar’Adua for allege conspiracy to oust him (Abacha). Shehu Yar’Adua was killed out of conspiracy by the Abacha junta in a bid to checkmate Yar’Adua’s political profile. But conspiracies often produce series of reaction which consumes the initiators. In the end, even Abacha, in spite of his goons had no armor against conspirator. He died like a chicken in 1998.

What more shall I say? For time will fail me to mention the first PDP rally in Jos in the 1999 and of course the most recent, the April 2007 PDP Primaries that produced Umar Musa Yar’Adua as the parties presidential flag bearer and today the president of the leaping nation, Nigeria, falsely called the giant of Africa. It will also be a great oversight on my part to ignore or disregard the must recent (2007) coup in the PDP that ousted the erstwhile Chairman BOT (Board of Trustee) of the ( most acclaimed largest) party (in Africa) in the person of Anthony Annenih and his replacement by Olusegun Obasanjo. Annenih was himself a foot soldier of Obasanjo. He described his replacement as a betrayal by his former boss.Conspiracy and its act have not ended. It will never be.

Now when it comes to conspiracy: WHAT IS ONE TO THINK?

FUEL PRICE AND VAT INCREASE

2007-06-21T13:11:00.000+01:00

Human beings as far as they are understanding and just acknowledge ability as the proper measure of responsibility. The blind man is not held responsible to see nor the deaf man to hear. Even the most oppressive government imposes upon its citizens only such taxes as it judges him able to pay. To demand more of any man is finally to destroy such ability as he may posses. Any government that would demand more of (from) its citizens than they were able to pay would soon dry up all tribute at its roots and bring upon itself sure destruction. Such governments are not innocent before they have heard the cry of the masses, but their responsibility is vastly increased after they have heard it.

However, this simple logic has failed to be acknowledged in Nigeria. Obasanjo in his characteristic manner was so nefarious that he could not think of better things for Nigerians in general and his successor, Umar Yar’Adua in particular, (who inevitable has a lot to battle with in the nation Nigeria), but to, (in few days he was expected to pack his bag and baggage’s), increased fuel price by over 15% and VAT by 10%.

To use increase taxes to feed government purses and enjoy greater expenditure is perfectly natural – and that is precisely why it is wrong, especially given the economic state of Nigeria; it accords it with insensitivity and is of the essence of inhumanity to the generality of the Nigerian populace.

To accept a larger increase in taxes to lay up treasures in government coffers accords with the principles of modern government. While every government who has this problem to face should prayerfully consider its larger responsibility in the light of many factors, a moment of rational thinking would lead us to conclude that good economic policies are not and can never be the same for all nations since their levels of poverty in particular and development in general are not the same.

So what is Nigeria waiting for?

"Anu Moulda, Ngu Ga Sanakur, Amma Ga Sukwa Tsu Noleen"

2007-06-13T11:26:00.001+01:00

Mhm. A ngwamari du ma ga kubu. Naja Su munagu di niu ga ngari daha gu.
Pics. Removed by author.

Democracy Is Not Dead…It Just Never Was!

2007-06-13T10:02:00.000+01:00

“Democracy is dead” was the caption of the BBC. “It just never was” said my friend Jagila. What an intellectually sound reasoning they are!

The two-times four year term of Olusegun Obasanjo (from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007) was not a democracy (democratic dispensation); it was a transition period from the “military” to a “civilian” (Obasanjo himself knew that he did not have the spirit of democracy, though his pomposity made him to say or claim otherwise on almost all occasions).

For this reason, the world should judge Nigeria on the basis of this new era. Whatever judgment, it should be based on what(ever) Umaru Yar’Adua is going to deliver to the Nigerians as democratic dividends.

So, instead of saying democracy is dead in Nigeria, we should say democracy is brought to life again after Shehu Shagari’s government of the 1979 was ousted out.

With Yar’Adua is the beginning of real democracy whether he is able to deliver the so called “goodies” of democracy.

It is a truism that some nations have had their Heads of States/Presidents as retired army officers. But it never was, from the armed force to agbada (civilian). They must undergo some kinds of political tutelage, or rather start from a lower office, say senate, and gradually ascends to the office of the president. But, in Nigeria, even the office of the governor is small to a retired General, Colonel etc. I remembered Obasanjo once saying only a retired General can rule Nigeria. Aren’t rubbish?

Behold a home breed politician is the president of Nigeria today, lets wait, see and pass our judgment as time unfold the outcome of this new epoch in the Nigerian History.

Resist Not Evil…

2007-06-11T09:00:00.000+01:00

The great teachers, sages and wise ones of history have left us with many proverbs, sayings and instructions for living a good life. While most of these sayings are obvious in their meanings, others seem to be contrary to the very thing that these wise ones were teaching. Take for example Jesus, where he says, in Matthew5:34 “Resist not evil….” Now that is a rather strange saying for a religious teacher, isn’t it? What did Jesus mean by this?

It is my contention that, in addition to all of the many different ways that people sees and interprets who Jesus was – he was, above all, a profound mystic who was far ahead of the people of his time in terms of understanding the principles of the Universe and human nature.

He understood, for example, that when you focus your attention on something, you create a certain vibration or frequency which puts you in alignment (on the same frequency) with that thing. To say it simply:

“What you see is what you get.”
“What you think about, you bring about”
“What you focus on, you get more of.”

In other words, what you give your attention to, you actually align yourself with at a frequency level, whether it is something you want or something you don’t want.

Thus, when you fight against the thing you don’t want, you are giving it your full attention and, at a frequency level, actually empowering it. Exactly how this takes place is explained from a quantum physics perspective. With quantum physics we now have a clear scientific understanding for many things that the great mystics of history have known for eons.

Back to the point. When people wish to eliminate something that is undesirable, they often start a campaign to fight it, based on the antiquated idea of war. Thus, in the USA, we have seen the “War on Poverty,” the “War on Drugs,” the “War on Cancer,” the “War on Terrorism,” etc., just to name a few. Other parts of the world have other priorities and thus other ‘wars.’ Now the interesting thing is, they still have poverty, drugs, cancer, and terrorism, and in most cases the problems are actually worse now than when they declared war on them.

It makes me wonder what kind of world we would have today if we had conducted a campaign for Prosperity for All, or Optimum Health for all, or the Campaign for Justice, Equality, Brotherhood, Peace and Prosperity for all – regardless of national boundaries?

An even more profound question is, what kind of impact would we have had on terrorism if we were spending TWO BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK in the Middle East (US current war budget), on health, education, social justice, and infrastructure development (water, electricity, roads, etc.) instead of guns & bombs?

All of our experience points to the fact that what we fight against (give our full attention to), we actually tend to empower.

Why? Because this is one of the fundamental teachings on global leadership. The kind of leadership that we need today is that which can carry us from the old consciousness which has brought us collectively to the brink of extinction to a new, visionary leadership which can carry us forward into a positive future. First and foremost this requires a change in consciousness. And this change is based on an understanding of the basic principles of how the Universe works; principles which have been the fundamental teachings of the world’s mystics and have more recently been confirmed by the science of quantum physics.

At this stage in our planetary history, we don’t need leaders/managers who can efficiently pilot a sinking ship. We need visionary leaders who can really see the hidden reefs and steer us in a new direction; for Africa as a start, then the global economy in general .

Favorite Quotes (Today)

2007-06-07T15:37:00.000+01:00

"Friends are the sunshine of life"

"Never regret anything that made you smile"

"A day without laughter is a day wasted"

"Don't cry because it's ended. Smile because it happened.

"I must have said this a million times last year "N and J are such wonderlords"

I think N and J are the best persons in the whole world, they should be ruler of it!I think they are so cool

A Good News Or A Very Bad One?

2007-06-06T11:13:00.000+01:00

What kind of people are these? Do they think they can ever get me?

I recieved this email on the June 04, 2007 from a 419ner name Yusufu Haji (yusufuh4@zipmail.com.br):

My.Dearest Friend,

I'm happy to inform you about my success in getting those funds transferredunder the cooperation of a new partner from Paraguay. Presently Iam in Paraguayfor investment projects with my own share of the total sum of $850.000.00.Meanwhile,I didn't forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me in transferringthose funds deposit that it failed us some how.

Now contact my secretary in Benin his name is Johnson Ifeanyi on this E-mail:address(johnson_ifeanyi@yahoo.fr) you will reach him for his number +229-930-61-066ask him to send you the total of $850.000.00 which I kept for your compensationfor all the past efforts and attempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciatedyour efforts at that time very much. So feel free and get in touched withmy secretary Johnson instruct him where to send the amount to you.

Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy afterall the suffer ness at that time. in the moment.

I am very busy here because of the investment projects which me and thenew partner are having at hand, finally, remember that I had forwarded instructionto the my secretary on your behalf to receive that money, So feel free toget in touch with Johnson he will send the amount to you without any delay.

Best Regards

Mr.Yusufu Haji

STAATS LOTERIJ INTERNATIONAL

2007-05-28T09:11:00.000+01:00

Standard lottery fraud.

There was not lottery and there are no prizes.

You will be asked for a series of payments to "process" that non existent prize.

Avoid.

I recieved this email on the 25th of may 2007:

NOTICE!!!

FROM: THE PROMOTION CO-ORDINATOR OF STAATS LOTERIJ
STAATS LOTERIJ PROMOTION CO-ORDINATOR
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED!!! INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION PROGRAM IS REGISTERED UNDER THE NETHERLANDS GAMING CONTROL LOTTERY
BOARD PROTECTION ACT OF; (Registration Z720633X).
http://www.staatsloterij.nl/

Dear beneficiary,

We happily notify you of the draw of the Email Lottery Ballot - World Gaming Board Sweepstakes program held on Saturday - the 19th of April, 2007 at our Lottery office complex in Den Haag.

Your email address attached to our Lottery payment order, had the following details:(i) Ticket Nr.: DZS-NED 338-691-BBT/2007; (ii) Lucky Nrs.: 11, 18, 25, 43, 56, 77, 89; (iii) Reference Nr.: MST/18436/DZS-NED;(iv) Batch Nr.:KNED-LOTT 5196 72X5G; which consequently won you this lottery in the 1st category. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of One Million Euro only, in Certified Bank Draft issued in your name, and credited to your File Reference number as quoted above. This is from a total prize of Fifty Million Euro only, shared amongst the fifty winners in this category.

A total of 500,000 email addresses were entered for the Email Lottery Ballot - World Gaming Board Sweepstakes International. All email addresses entered for the game were submitted by our partners; International email service providers from over 140 countries that are listed, online and were thereafter randomly selected systematically through our Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS).

Microsoft Corporation, to encourage some individuals with websites and email addresses promoted this lottery which takes place at this time, of every three years.
The payment authority of your prize - One Million Euro only,in Certified Bank Draft issued in your name- is already deposited and insured in your name with our Paying Bank pending your claim and will be issued to effect immediate payment/swift transfer in the mode you will prefer and nominate, upon satisfactory report on your identity verification and validation recommendation by our Claims Department - Staats Loterij The Netherlands.. Email addresses registered with false names are not eligible to claiming this prize.

We are proud to inform you that, over 200 million Euros are won annually in more than 140 countries worldwide, as a result of our promotional programmes.

Due to the mixup of certain names, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claim has been processed and your money paid to you. All winnings must be claimed as soon as possible. Becuase, all unclaimed funds will be withdrawn.
To file for your claim, please contact our Claims Department:

FOREIGN TRANSFER MANAGERMR. RENE HUSON.STAATS LOTERIJ CLAIMS DEPARTMENT.TEL: +31-619-823-414.TEL: +31-204-000-498.FAX: +31-847-299-403 FAX: +31-847-407-453 Email: http://us.f587.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=loterijstaatsnl@aim.com
http://us.f587.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=loterijstaatni@aim.com

For your identity verification, while quoting:

(i). Your full name(s) and Nationality;

(ii). Reference Number and

(iii). Batch Number:

Congratulations once more.Faithfully yours,
Mrs. Rosemarry Van Ken,Public Relation Officer.

Online coordinator for STAATS LOTERIJ Sweepstakes International Lottery Promotion Program.

BELOW ARE THE SPONSORS OF THIS PROGRAM
Executives:Dr. P. Swier (CEO), Mr. Rene Huson (Manager Forei gn Operations), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. James Williams (Director International Credit Department), Barr. Blenheim Mark (Legal Representative), Mrs. Lyudmyla Marchukova(Regional Manager), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman), Mr. Chris Moritz (International Relation Officer).

SAMPLE FRUAD EMAILS

There are many people all over the world that have recieved similar email from either same or similar suppossedly (non) existing organizations.

Subject: CONGRATULATIONS FROM MEMBERS AND STAFF OF STAATS LOTERIJ FOR YOUR WINNING.
THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR, STAATS LOTERIJ LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT B.V. Boeing Avenue 44 9459 PE Schiphol-Rijk.

RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS
Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the results of the First Category draws of STAATSLOTERIJ LOTTERY INT.

We are happy to inform you that you have emerged a winner under the First Category, promotional draws held on 20th January, 2007. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our International Promotions Program.

Your e-mail address, attached to ticket number 50941465206-529, with serial number 5772-54 drew the lucky numbers 3-4-17-28-35-44 and consequently won in the First Category.
You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of US$1,000,000.00 (One million United State dollars), which is the winning payout for Category A winners. This is from the total prize money from 2,000,000 shared among the 2 winners in this category CONGRATULATIONS! Your fund is now deposited with the paying Bank.

In your best interest to avoid mix up of numbers and names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims has been completed, and your funds remitted to your account.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants/non-participants of this program.
Please contact the claims department immediately for due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice:

To file for your claim, please contact the under-mentioned at the claims department.

Mr. Michael. Melakos.

Claim Department office,Staatsloterij International B.V Tel.:+31-644 893 48

Email: mmelakos@gawab.com
staatsclaimdept@aol.com

NOTE: For easy reference and identification, find below your reference and Batch numbers. Remember to quote these numbers in every one of your correspondence with the claims dept.

REFERENCE NUMBER: LSLUK/2031/8161/04BATCH NUMBER: 14/011/IPD
CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE MEMBERS AND STAFF OF STAATS LOTERIJ.

Sincerely,

Mrs.Magaret Van Henk

Promotions Coordinator Coordinator for STAATS LOTERIJ Sweepstakes International Lottery Promotion Program
*Copy right 2007 Staatsloterij NL*

FROM: PROMOTIONS DEPARTMENT OF STAATS LOTERIJ INTERNATIONAL,WINNINGNOTICE FOR CATEGORY"A"

WINNER-Ref. No.- LSLUK/2031/8161/04

BATCHNUMBER: 14/011/IPD.

www.staatsloterij.nl

Attention:

Staats loterijInternational has just concluded its final draws of it's periodicalpromotional program.An exclusive list of email addresses of thousandsof individual and corporate bodies were picked by automated randomcomputer search from the internet with serial number 5772-54 drew thelucky numbers 3-4-17-28-35-44 and consequently won in the FirstCategory.No tickets were sold.

Your email address emerged as one ofseven winners in the silver stakes category"A" as email addresses weresoughted, from a total number of 1,000,000 addresses drawn from allover the globe. After an automated computer ballot of our InternationalPromotions Program, only SEVEN winners emerged in this category andtherefore each are to receive payouts of $1,000,000.00 USD DOLLAR fromthe total of $7,000,000.00 USD DOLLAR SEVEN MILLION UNITED STATESDOLLAR).

However, every email address selected was accompanied by areference and ticket number,after the cyber lotto selection, the belowticket and reference numbers emerged as one of the lucky winners in theabove category.CONGRATULATIONS!!!Reference number for your prize is:Ref. No.- LSLUK/2031/8161/04BATCH NUMBER: 14/011/IPD.ticket number50941465206-529For your prize claim processing, we have employed theservice of an lnternational Trust firm. They are to handle the transferof your cash prize of 1,000,000.00 Dollar in line with our proceduresand upon your directions.Your prize has been insured to its full valuewith your email address and will be transferred to you under theirprofessional service.

To immediately initiate the processing of yourprize claim, please contact the under-mentioned at our claimsdepartment;

Mr.F.Vincent Amsterdam-Netherlands.

Email: staatclaims@netscape.net staatclaims@myway.com

Tel.:+31-626 498 038.

In your best interest(s), you must initiate contactwithin three weeks of receipt of this Correspondence.Attorney/Fiduciary Agents, are to handle all matters with regards tolegalization of your winning documents.

You are also advised to send acopy of this email, to the Director of operations at the claimsdepartment, Mr.Frank Vincent,when contacting him.You may be required to provide any of the above information during the process ofcollecting your prize.

We congratulate you once again and it is our hope that you participate in any of our international programs in thenearest future.

Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS!!!.

Sincerely,Mrs.Kate Veldhuizen.

Promotions Manager,

Staats loterij international,Netherlands.

To immediately initiate the processing of yourprize claim, please contact the under-mentioned at our claimsdepartment;

Mr.F.Vincent Amsterdam-Netherlands.

Email: staatclaims@netscape.net

staatclaims@myway.com

Tel.:+31-626 498 038.

You are also advised to send acopy of this email, to the Director of operations at the claimsdepartment, Mr.Frank Vincent,when contacting him.You may be requiredto provide any of the above information during the process ofcollecting your prize.

We congratulate you once again and it is ourhope that you participate in any of our international programs in thenearest future.Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS!!!.Sincerely,Mrs.Kate Veldhuizen.Promotions Manager,Staats loterij international,Netherlands.

From : winning claim

Sent : Saturday, March 31, 2007 8:02 AM

Subject : YOU HAVE WON CONTACT THE CLAIM AGENT!!!!!!!

box YOU HAVE WON CONTACT THE CLAIM AGENT!!!!!!!
SPONSOR LOTERIJ INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

FILE REF:HL/5564/40/07

BATCH: 100/8347/5PDG /EA

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:

DEAR WINNER:

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a Suprise but please find time to read it carefully while We congratulate you over your success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Sweepstakes organized by the EURO MILLION LOTTO corporation,in conjunction with the foundation for the promotion of software products,(F.P.S.), held on the 27th of March 2007,in Amsterdam The Netherlands. wherein your email address emerged as one of the online winning email in the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of 850,000.00Euros (Eight hundred and fifty thousand Euros only). Our winners are arranged into four categories with different winning prizes accordingly in each category.They are arrangedin this format below: CATEGORY NO.OF WINNERS WINNING PRIZES 1st. 6 850.000:00euros each 2nd. 16 200.000:00euros each 3rd. 22 100,000:00euros each

We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you to contact the processing office immediately upon receipt of this message for more information concerning the verification, processing and eventual payment of the above prize to you. It is important to note that your award information was released with the following particularsattached to it.

(1) Award numbers: NL 56/7765

(2) Email ticket numbers: NL553/26/96

(3) Batch numbers: 100/8347/5PDG /EA

(4) Reference numbers: HL/5564/40/07.

For verification purpose be sure to include:

(1) Your mailing address.

(2) Your telephone numbers.

(3) Your country.

To file for your claim,Please contact sponsorloterij claim department with the imformation stated below for your winning within Twenty-nine working days of this winning notification.Winnings that are not validated within Twenty-nine working days of winning notification are termed void andinvalid. You are required to mention the above particulars of your award in every correspondence to enable him validate your winning. To file for your claim, please contact our processing/your claim agent

NAME:PETER HANDS

CITY/ COUNTRY:AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

FREE SERVICE NUMBER:0031-630-221-083

EMAIL:dayzersinfo002@aim.com

The EURO MILLION LOTTO Awards is sponsored by a consortium of software promotion companies. The Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers, Microsoft and other international companies. The SPONSOR LOTERIJ internet draw is held periodically and is so organized to encourage the use of the Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide. Once again on behalf of all our staff,Unvalidated winnings after Twenty-nine days of winning notification will be termed invalid and void. Congratulations from me and members of staff of SPONSORLOTERIJ

Mrs Ruth Fraiser Co-ordinator
Copyright ? 2006 NATIONAL LOTTERY INC.All rights reserved.Terms of Service - Guideline

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Possibilities and Probabilities in Africa

2007-05-17T13:15:00.000+01:00

How would one describe the ‘bottom line’ in terms of Africas' underdevelopment and escalating poverty level? Is it just the same thing as was experienced by todays' industrial worlds? Could there be the same possibilities and probabilities?

I think so! Africa is a lying/sleeping giant. A land of great possibilities and higher probabilities. For Africa, it is as if each of us live in a room that is completely dark. However, we are not alone. The room is full of possible events & circumstances. It is the room of possibilities and probabilities. In one corner may be an ugly monster or all the things we might associate with this such as poverty, underdevelopment, sickness, depression, failure and loss of every kind. In another corner might be all those things, events and circumstances that represent to us the things we most desire, such as joy, happiness, prosperity, health etc. In fact, the room is filled with every possibility imaginable, both pleasant and unpleasant.

In this room, we are given a flashlight. Some of us have very powerful flashlights and some have very tiny flashlights, according to our consciousness. We are all given the freedom to shine the beam of our flashlight (our attention) on anything in this room that we wish. Some decide to focus their light (attention) on the ‘monster corner’ with all the unpleasant possibilities. Some decide to focus their attention on the ‘joy corner’ with all the pleasant possibilities. Some focus somewhere between the two and some just keep shining their light back and forth between the two.

And guess what? Once our attention is focused in a certain direction, all of the possibilities in that corner cease to become just possibilities and become probabilities. Whether or not they actually manifest physically in our lives, depends on how focused we are on them and how much energy we give them with our thought and language.

We Africans need to focus on the idea that our attitude, beliefs and thoughts are the building blocks of our experiences. If we wish to change the outer circumstances in our lives, we must first change the inner reality of our consciousness. For this inner reality is what causes us to focus our attention in one area and not another. Those who truly succeeded economically are not just the ones who have simply strictly followed certain number of economic policies found in some good macroeconomic text or even learned good management skills. They are those who are learning how to deliberately create the life of their choice and no longer feel themselves to be the victim of fate, luck or circumstance. These are especially the kind of leaders that we need at this juncture in African history, in every facet of life, to provide the visionary leadership for taking us to the next level of human development and planetary transformation.

"419" Scam: False Promises of Inheritance

2007-05-02T11:44:00.000+01:00

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

This is an email I recieved on february 06, 2007:

FELIX MENSAN ADVOCAT,

52D RUE DE FRANCE

LOME -TOGO.,

WEST AFRICA.
Email// barr_felix@myway.com

ATTN/Pls,

I am Barrister Felix Mensah,a solicitor in law,personal attorney to Mr. S.A Pius,a national of your country,who used to work with Shell development Company in Lome Togo. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2000, my client,his wife and their only daughter were involved in a car accident along Nouvissi express Road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also prooved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to track his last name over the Internet,to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

However,i contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$5.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the IBA BANK where this huge amount were deposited. The said IBA BANK LOME TOGO has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days. Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.

I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Best regards.

Barrister Felix Mensah

Scamming Gamut

The fantasy has come true - a long-lost relative you have never heard of has died, and you just received an email from a barrister or lawyer indicating that you are the only heir. Well, not quite. Somebody with your last name died without any heirs, and the promise is that if you can prove that you actually have the same last name the barrister will send you his milions. All you have to do is pay some legal fees, and fax over your identification....

How Does This Email Fraud Work
How Did They Find Me?
What Harm Is There In Contacting Them, "Just In Case"?
Sample Spam Emails
Who Are The People Named In The Emails?
What Can I Do About Spam Email?

How Does This Email Fraud Work?

Inheritance frauds are run by criminals who obtain email lists which include recipients' names - although lazier criminals don't even bother trying to match names between the decedents and the recipients of their spam. They then create mass mailings based upon those lists, describing how a fictional individual with the same last name died without heirs, usually in a remote part of the world. If a recipient replies to the email, the criminal will engage in what is called an "advance fee" fraud, and attempt to convince that person to send money to pay for legal fees, bribes, or other expenses. (The term "advance fee" refers to the money they get from you - and despite their promises of riches, you never get a cent in return.) The criminal may also attempt to get copies of the person's identification cards, bank account information, and other information which can be used to forge bank drafts or commit identity theft.

Sometimes, the fees and bribes these people describe will seem small, particularly in comparison to the riches they offer. But there is no upside - even if you are only "risking" $30 or $40, you'll lose that money forever. And if you send your bank account information or personal identification, it is possible that the criminals will be able to empty your bank account or obtain credit in your name.

This fraud is closely related to the so-called Nigerian Email Fraud (419 scam), as well as lottery fraud. The same groups of criminals may engage in multiple types of fraud.

How Did They Find Me?

Most people who have an email address for any significant amount of time receive so-called "spam email" (more politely known as "unsolicited commercial email.") Spammers create lists of email addresses by collecting them from websites, buying them from other businesses, and even by guessing possible names on popular email hosts such as Yahoo! mail and Hotmail. It is possible to buy large email lists for relatively small amounts of money. Most people who are running these scams get spam mailing lists in this manner, or buy them from spammers.

What Harm Is There In Contacting Them, "Just In Case"?

There is no point in contacting them "just in case" - no one has ever received the promised money. You won't, either.

Also, the scammer is likely to try to obtain from you information that can be used to fake your identity and commit credit card fraud or bank fraud. Even if they only get your name and bank account number they may be able to forge a bank draft, obtain a fraudulent money transfer from your account, or get credit using your name. If you give them any information, they will try to use it to cheat you.

Sample Spam Emails

The following are sample spam emails from this particular scam:

Example #1

From: SENIOR ADVOCATE TOGO avoca_togo@yahoo.fr

Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 17:51:30 +0200 (CEST)

Subject: GOOD NEWS TO YOUR FAMILY...M C Spike

GAHOUN HEGBOR & ASSOCIATES

Solicitor & advocate

Supreme High-Court Lome,

Republic of Togo.

ATTENTION PLEASE

I know that this mail will come to you as surprise,please accept the content in good faith. I do not intend to cause any grief to you and your family.The reason for sending this mail is very fundamental to the doctrine of human privileges and right to stand as Next of Kin to Late (MR. S. A. Spike. I only got your name and contact details from My Country Exchange Information On-line Service on my personal programmed search on the internet for a reputable individual to assist me sincerely & confidential with this fund inheritance transfer.

I am Barrister FELIX MENSAH, a solicitor at law, personal attorney to Late "Engr. S. A. Spike." a national of your country. He was the former Marketing Director with SHELL OIL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY B.P. LOME-TOGO., Here in after shall be referred to as my client. My client and his wife with their only daughter were involved in Tsunami flood disaster that happened in Sumatra Island, Indonesia on 26th December 2004. And since then I have made several enquiries to the embassy's here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful after these several unsuccessful attempts. I have reasoned very professionally as a lawyer and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the Next of Kin to retrieve his deposited fund with a SECURITY COMPANY valued (US$ 5.5million) and my Legal Chambers plans for the fund release into your proper care as Next of Kin to my Late client which I have this believe that He is a member of your family since he shares the same name with you.

Meanwhile, STANDARD TRUST SECURITY FINANCE COMPANY has issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin before it gets confisicated. I expect your urgent response indicating your full interest in this great business for our both mutual trust. I therefore seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to their Deceased customer so that the proceeds of this transaction will be released and this US$ 5.5million will be paid to you by the Security Company since you are at an advantage bearing the same name and equally from the same country and we shall both share the funds.

It requires that your full contact address, telephone and fax number will be needed for our easy communication. I guarantee to you 100% risk free and this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Best regards.

Barrister Felix Mensah.

BSC,LLB.TL.

Example #2

From: barr felix barr_felix48@yahoo.com

Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:11:41 -0800 (PST)

Subject: FROM BARRSITER FELIX TO /Jacqueline Winter

FELIX MENSAN ADVOCAT,

52D RUE DE FRANCE LOME -TOGO.,

WEST AFRICA.

Email// barr_felix@myway.com

ATTN/Pls,

I am Barrister Felix Mensah,a solicitor in law,personal attorney to Mr. S.A Winter,a national of your country,who used to work with Shell development Company in Lome Togo. Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the 21st of April 2000, my client,his wife and their only daughter were involved in a car accident along Nouvissi express Road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also prooved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to track his last name over the Internet,to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. However,i contacted you to assist in repartrating the fund valued at US$5.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the IBA BANK where this huge amount were deposited. The said IBA BANK LOME TOGO has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days.

Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2 years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer. I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Best regards.

Barrister Felix Mensah

Example #3

Inland Bank plc. Lagos .

P.M.B. 0505, Bauchi.

Dear Friend,

Please forgive me if I intrude your privacy, we do not know each other but it does not matter. what matters is transperency between us in this deal. I am Mr favor Adim Duke an Accountant with Inland Bank plc. I came to know about you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this confidencial business transaction.

A foreigner, Late Engr Burke Sean a Contractor with the Federal Government Of (Nigeria ?)until his death in Korean Air flight 801, which Crashed in Guam on August 1997, banked with us here at Inland Bank P.l .c and had a closing balance of US$20.5M (Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) which the bank unquestionably expects it to be claimed by any available next of kin of the late beneficiary or alternatively be donated to a discredited trust fund for Arms and Ammunition at a Military War College here in Nigeria.

Valuable effort have been made by the Inland bank to get in-touch with any of the Burke's family or relative but proved to no avail. it is because of the perceived possiblity of not being able to locate any of the late Engr. Burke Sean's next of kin that the management under the influence of our chairman and Members Of The Boards Of Director, Mr I Yuguda, that an arrangement be made for the funds to be declared Unclaimable and subsequently be donated to the Trust Fund for Arms and Ammunition to further Enhance the course of war in Africa and the World in General as you know that war will eventually bring destruction to man kind.

In order to avert this negative development, I now seek your permissionto have you stand as the Next-Of-Kin Of . Engr Burke Sean so that the funds US$ 20.5M (Twenty Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) would be release and pay into your Bank Account as the Next Of Kin. This is a deal between you and I only as all Documents and proofs to enable you get this Fund will be carefully Worked out and more so I am, Assuring you a 100% Risk Free Involvment in this deal. your share out of the $20.5m depends on our agreement as we procceed with the deal. I will also like to invest my own part of the money in your country with your help after the transfer. If this Proposal is all right by you then kindly get back to me by e-mailing me thanking you in anticipation of your co-operation.

I like if you visit this web site for more clarification on clash.(http://ns.gov.gu/guam/index.html)

Yours Faithfully,

Mr. Favor Adim Duke

Accountant Inland Bank plc.

Lagos Branch

Example #4

Attn: To Whom It May Concern .

This letter is not intended to cause any embarrassment in whatever form, rather it is intended to contact your esteemed self, following the knowledge of your high repute and trustworthiness.

Firstly, I must solicit your confidentiality. I know that a proposal of this magnitude will make anyone apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that it is made in good faith and will be of mutual benefit.

I am Barrister Rotimi Adams, the personal attorney to Mr James Maxwell,herein after referred to as my client, a national of your country, who until his death was a major crude oil contractor with the federal government of Nigeria.

My client and his entire family were involved in a fatal motor accident, which unfortunately claimed their lives, along the Sagamu express road, sparing none of the occupants of the vehicle. I have since then made several enquiries to your Embassy, in a bid to locate any relation of my client, and these efforts of mine have not been productive.

I then decided to trace his last name over the Internet, and came across your name that is why I have contacted you to assist me in securing the money and property left behind by my client before they are declared as unclaimed and unserviceable by the bank where they have been lodged for safekeeping.

I am particularly interested in securing the funds lodged with Global Trust Bank Plc, totaling fiften Million, United States Dollar (USD15M). This is because the said Bank has issued a notice to me, unequivocally instructing me to produce the Next of Kin/Beneficiary to the said account within the next ten official working days, or have the account confiscated.

Considering my lack of success in my bid to locate his relatives for over two years, I solicit your consent to enable me produce you as! The Next of Kin to my deceased client, since you both bear the same last name. The funds will then be transferred to you as the beneficiary and shared according to a proposed sharing pattern /ratio of 70:30 i.e. 70% for me and 30% for you.

I will provide all the necessary legally obtained documents to back up any claim we make regarding this process, and will just require your understanding and cooperation to enable us achieve success within a legitimate arrangement, eliminating any liability resulting from any breach of the prevalent laws.

Your urgent response will be highly appreciated; you can as well forward to me your Telephone number immediately for more discussion, you could also reach me at: rotimiadams53@yahoo.com

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Barrister Rotimi Adams

Who Are The People Named In The Emails?

In order to make these spam emails seem more real, the scammers use a wide assortment of fake names, and at times also use the names of real people. The following lists of names reflects only a small percentage of the fake names used in this scam, which are frequently recombined into new names:

Common First Names

Abba Abbas Abdul Abdulahi Abdullahi Abel Abiola Abraham Abubakar Abubaker Ada Adaeze Adam Adams Adamu Ade Adedoyin Ademola Adeola Adewale Adewole Adim Afam Agada Agatha Agu Ahmed Aisha Aishatou Ajao Ajinni Alahaja Alahaji Albert Alex Alexi Alhaja Ali Alice Allen Almendo Ama Amade Amadi Ambrose Amechi Amina Aminu Ammed Anderson Andreas Andrew Andy Angel Angela Anil Ann Anthony Antonio Aram Arap Aret Aroujo Arthur Arthur-Authur Aruna Astonoos Atakata Atinuke Austin

Baba Babriel Babs Bada Bagudu Bakasu Baldwin Bangi Barry Basher Bashir Bassey Bayola Bello Ben Benson Bernard Bimbo Blessing Bob Bode Bola Boniface Bowazi Broga Brown Bruce Buba Bulawa

Carlos Cecilia Cesar Charles Charllotte Charly Chidiebere Chika Chike Chinonyere Chris Christopher Chuba Chucks Chyke Cinon Cisse Clement Cletus Cliff Clifford Coker Cole Collins Comfort Coulibaly Cynthia Cyril

Daisy Dango Daniel Danladi Dantata Danzumi Dave David Davidson Davies Davis Deacon Dele Denis Dennis Desmond Diaka Dickson Dikachi Dikko Dolor Domas Dominic Don Donald Douglas

Edema Eden Eduado Edward Edwin Efe Ehi Ejercitor Ejike Eki Ekoe Elder Eli Elizabeth Eloke El-Saleh Emeka Emmanuel Ephraim Esenam Eugo Evan Evans Ezeoke Ezikel

Faith Fatimah Favor Fedi Fela Felix Femi Fimon Fogan Francis Frank Franklin Fred Fusham

Gabriel Gabril Gambo George Gideon Gilbert Giwa Godswill Godwin Gomez Good Goodluck Graham Greg

Hafiz Haija Haja Hajia Hama Hamza Hartman Hassan Helina Henri Henry Hillary Howard Humble

Ibe Ibrahim Iddo Idris Idrissa Ighene Ike Ikomo Imam Innocent Inu Isa Isaac Isabella Isabelle Isah Isiko Ismalia Itah Iurine Ivan

Jacob Jacobs Jaja James Jelingo Jennifer Jerry Jewel Jide Jim Jimmy Joe Joel John Johnny Johnson Jonas
Jonathan Jonson Joseph Jospin Juliet Julius

Kabila Kabungo Kals Kamara Karlman Kasiw Kasky Kelvin Kema Ken Kenneth Kesayi Keven Khalil Kimo King Kingsley Koffi Kofi Kola Kolawole Krisobed Kumalo

Lady Laila Larry Lauren Laurent Lawrence Leslie Lewis Lexi Lilian Lizzy Loi Louise Lucky Luis Lulu

Mabel Maimo Malam Malik Mamabolo Maraa Marcaty Marcey Mariam Marian Maris Mark Martin Martins Mary Maryam Masheba Mathew Matthew Matilda Matsumoto Mbeki Mboma Meka Menard Michael Micheal Mick Midakabe Mike Miller Miram Miriam Miriame Mobuto Mobutu Mohammed Momoh Monday Monica Moning Morris Mose Moses Moshood Moustapha Mubetee Muboto Mugu Muha Munirat Murphy Musa

Nasel Nelly Nelson Nelumba Ngobe Nicholas Nkala Nkono Nnengi Nora Nzaga Nzanga

Obinna Obrien Odeh Ogechukwu Ohunola Ojo Okon Okwunudu Olabode Oliver Olivia Olu Olufemi Oluremi Onuigbo Osa Osas Oscar Owens Oyinbolowo

Pakwesi Pass Patrick Paul Pedro Pemako Peter Peter Peters Phil Philip Philips Pittson Pius Prince Princess

Quamey

Ralph Rasheed Rashidat Rawal Rawlings Raymond Raymound Renah Rex Reymound Richard Robert Robertson Roger Roland Rose Roseline Rotimi Roy Ruben Rufus

Sadiq Safari Sakombi Salim Salisu Sam Samson Samuel Sani Sanku Sanni Sanusi Segun Seko Seom Sesay Sese Sese-Seko Sesey Shamsudeen Shika Sifa Sikiratu Simpson Sisilu Smith Sodindo Solomon Sonto Spibat Spiff Stanley Stella Steve Steven Sugi Sunny

T.J. Tambo Tanko Tao Taufiq Te Teddy Tete Thabo Thaddee Theophilus Thomas Timothy Tina Tobi Tom Tony Tunde Tunji Tutu

Uba Uche Ud. Ugo Ume Umoru Usman Usmanlar

Vencent Vicky Victor Vincent Viviana

Wanga Wilfred William Williams Willy Wilson Woo

Yakubu Yanate Yank Yemi Yesuf Yetunde Yusuf Yusuff

Zack Zizo

Common Surnames

Aba Abaca Abacha Abagbon Abass Abdalla Abdul Abdullahi Abelange Abiola Abu Abudu Abure Adams Adamsa Adebayo Adebisi Ademola Adeola Adeyemo Afor Agbaje Agbaka Agbon Agu Ahmed Ajah Ajayi Ajegbo Akinde Akpan Akpata Aku Ali Allens Allevanmento Almustapha Aluga Amanze Amu Anderson Andreas Ani Ankoh Annan Anthony Anyaso Aremu Arlett Asika Atiku Aturamu Auscar Austin Awka Ayele Ayo Azziz

Baba Bachoo Backo Badamasi Baddar Bakare Baker Baki Bako Bamaiyi Bamawo Banana Bankole Barabara Barinajo Bassey Bello Ben Bendel Benin Benzer Bidwell Biko Biodun Bioku Boateng Boboh Bola Bonoh Boro Bouneb Bouned Bozimor Brown Brume Bry Buchiza Buku Bule Burudu

Cassy Cethswayo Charly Chika Chikwe Chikwelu Chimalu Chimerenma Chiroma Chong Chuba Chucks Chukwaka Chukwu Chukwuka Chumas Clark Coco Coffi Coker Cole Collince Conde Coudere Creek Cyril

Dabo Daggash Daji Dako Danbaba Danga Danguzo Daniel Danjuma Dantata Daramola David Delese De-Mello Dibongo Dickson Dike Dikko Diop Dominic Donka Donminic Douglas Dube Dubem Dukas Duke Dulaye Dumbushe Dusi Dziba

Ebemen Edgerly Edward Efetobor Ego Egobia Egoh Eke Ekene Eko Ela Ellsworth Emeka Eneli Enjankalah Estrada Eze Ezeka Ezihe

Fadi Faith Falana Fawaz Fernandez Fofanna Fologo Francis Frank

Gabr Gaius-Obaseki Galeano Gamal Gambo Gana Garba Garuba Garvin Gezi Gida Gin Girai
Gozie Gozie Graham Guei Guobadia Gwarzo

Hadi Haji Hajia Halsad Hama Hanis Hans Harold Hasler Hassan Henry Hermann Hilary Hinder Ho Hoza

Ibada Ibe Ibori Ibrahim Idah Idodo Idris Ifedigbo Ige Igho Ike Ikechukwu Ikeg Imole Iseac Ismaila

Jack Jacobson Jaems James Jan Jato Jeef Jega Jegah Job Joe John Johnson Jones Joseph Judy Julius Justice

Kabango Kabba Kabia Kabila Kabiru Kabo Kadiar Kadiri Kadoso Kallom Kaloma Kamala Kamara Kamela Kananga Kanjo Kanma Kano Kante Kanu Kanzinza Kareem Kargbo Karimu Katsina Kayode Kazim Kazulu Kelly Kengo Khoroma Kings Kingsolo Klen Kobe Kofi Kojo Kola Konare Kone Kosoko Kossi Kpama Kumalo Kumar Kwame Kwami Kwayas Kwema

Lamba Lambert Lamin Lamine Lappeman Larry Law Lawrence Lee Lima Luck Lukman Lumbe Lumumba Luseni

Mabuzo Madaki Madibe Maduka Mahanya Mahata Makabo Makosana Makujo Makura Malatu Malik Malinga Mamba Mambo Mamumbi Manga Mantins Manu Mark Markson Marshal Martin Martins Marve Maryam Masala Masarah Masebe Masekela Masele Masinga Massaquoe Mathews Maxwell Mayoka Mbane Mbata Mbeki Mbomam McCarthy McDonald Mensah Merimbe Mesquita Mobutu Modibbo Moha Mohammed Moi Molo Mongan Monte Moore Moses Moudebelu Mowete Mpeti Mubane Mugabi Mukalele Mukembe Mukhenze Mulete Mulete Musa Mushagike Mushasha Mustapha Mutumba Muzomba Myers

Nanakobi Nandu Naverro Ndiefi Ndiye Nekeson Ngayaka Ngoyah Njaye Nkenchor Nkrumah Nkunu Nneji Nobuhiro Nokiri Nomvete Normark Nujoma Numa Nwanne Nwodo Nzam Nzeh

Obaseki Obi Oboh Obong Obule Odetayo Odey Odia Odiwo Odoms Oduru Ogaga Ogbe Ogbemudia Oguejiofor Oguma Ohaegbu Oji Ojo Oka Okada Okeke Okemadu Okhai Okilo Okocha Okoh Okokobiok Okokobioko Okoli Okoma Okon Okoro Okoye Oladokun Olawuyi Olems Oli Olu Omana Omo Omorodion Omotoriola One Onuoha Onwuka Ordi Osage Osagie Oshioke Ossai Osunde Otoo Owie Owo Owode Ozor

Patrick Paul Pearse Pepple Peter Philips Phillips Piedo Pinheiro Pius Potricio Powell Princewill Pujeh

Radebe Rasak Raymond Reginald Reni Rimi Robert Roberts Rotimi Rovet Roy

Sadiq Sakaita Sakushi Salama Salami Saleh Salihu Salingo Sambo Samjo Samson Sanko Sankoh Sanusi Savimbi Scott Seki Seko Sese Seseseko Sese-Seko Setia Shiku Shongwe Siliza Smith Soni Sossah Star Stephen Stevens Steves Stride Sule

Tambo Tanko Tao Tarawarlly Taylor Tchii Tekere Tete Thambo Thesday Thomas Tikko Tobi Tshedu Tshombe Tukur Turay Tussa

Uba Ubah Ubong Udoh Udom Udu Ugo Ugoma Umundi Useni Usman

Vuyo

Walker Walter Watanabe Watara Water Waziri Weah Welch West Wetaego White William Williams

Yakubu Yasa Yengeni Yerima Yerima Yuen

Zabina Zakari Zemede Zimbabwe Zoba Zondeki Zulu Zuma

What Can I Do About Spam Email?

The best approach to avoiding spam is ordinarily to be very careful about the distribution of your email address. Once you start to receive spam at a particular email address, you will usually end up receiving increasing amounts of spam at that address no matter what you do. There is filtering technology which some find helpful, which helps to screen out spam email from legitimate email. Please review this associated article about the problem of spam email, and possible steps to avoid it.

Additional Materials

About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
"Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
Phone numbers used by 419 scammers (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
Company names mentioned in 419 spam:1

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Support our efforts to stop scams!
How to report 419 spam to us
What can you do when you receive 419 spam Spam archive,
Monthly index, Daily index

REF:

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/spam_email_fraud3.html
http://www.joewein.net/419/emails/2006-07/03/600582.1.htm
http://joewein.net/419/emails/2006-11/17/861541.300.htm
What can you do when you receive 419 spam

And…

2007-04-23T13:35:00.000+01:00

Now that Umar Yar’adua has been declared the winner of this (2007) general election…
Ceteris Paribus (all things being equal)…
One must wait to see…

If...

2007-04-20T17:49:00.000+01:00

Now, if Yar'adua should win, then...

Much Ado About Nothing

2007-04-12T18:10:00.000+01:00

When the federal government of Nigeria declared a two free working days for Nigerians in readiness for the forthcoming governorship and Houses of Assemblies Saturday 14 April elections, there were a lot of arguments. In my office yesterday and today (CBN and I think, they said other Financial Institutions were exempted from the government order! the aruements trailing this can form a long discourse on its own), some people argued that the government order was because the Supreme Court will deliver a judgment on the Obasanjo-Atiku cum Atiku’s aspiration (to vie for the office of the presidency) fracas. The judgment was to be today, Thursday 12, 2007. They speculated that the judgment was likely going to be in favor of Atiku – thanks to democracy, thanks to our judiciary. So to truncate (at least for the time being), the judgment, they argued, the federal government declared Thursday and Friday a free working days. True to their argument, the judgment could not be delivered…

Many others argued that it is a calculated attempt to rig the election. Early this morning on KAAKAKI, an AIT program, a man that was being interviewed queried, why did he (president Obasanjo) not give free working days during the voters registration periods…My answer is: what if the idea just got into the head of the government political calculators!

For instance, refer to J’s Blog “Only in Nigeria” where “armed robbers” stole our ballot boxes and papers. What the... Imagine this happening now! What is one to think?A lot of people’s arguments centers around rigging in the forthcoming elections.

Yes, political rigging is not only peculiar to Nigeria alone; they are a prominent feature in the most celebrated democracies of USA, Canada, and India etc. Does it mean I am in support of rigging? I am saying let the status quo be? Far from it.

My point is: I see no reason why people should be talking about things they cannot voice out publicly, things they cannot write to the media for publication (for those having the means, things they will chiken out when asked to be interviewed, things, things...; or spreading news in a mischievous ways while trying to discredit some personalities in the political race. This is more so, when those stories spread does not have a recipe to “kill” the “much” anticipated rigging. Just like it is in other democracies, we know who the rigging machines are. Earlier I wrote that there are many "political machines" that are being put in place to rig elections. They are the electoral bodies (the INEC in the case of Nigeria, including NEPA-PHCN), the Judiciary, the Police, Armies, the financial institutions, hoodlums, composing a great part of the youth – of course government likes and in some case sustains the existence of hoodlums – I know the list is countless. It is far more worst if the government is at the centre of the whole rigging process. Government, the world over, uses every possible means to rig election. In reality, electoral “armed robbers” are the rigging machines of the government. While I may be wrong here, I doubt if I am really far from the truth. For instance, I remember in the 2003 general election for local government Chairmanship: Elections were rounded up as early as 6.00 am Nigerian time in my local government!

Rigging or no rigging, we know that, on the one hand, a lot of people would be disappointed in this 2007 general election. On the other hand, we should thank God that the government, (unlike in countries like Zimbabwe etc what the government says, good or bad stands) only use ‘tactical” means to suppress the governed.

While this should not be a cause for complacency, I support opposition parties to streaming their stand to challenge the incumbent. I also support the opposition parties to “constructively” challenge the government after elections so as to make our democracy beneficial to the generality of Nigerians. The existence of a relatively free press, combined with a history of self – criticism – in journalism are promising indications of the awareness and public debate required for change and adaptive response to Nigeria’s political, social and economic problems. We in Nigeria should learn how to take advantage of change. This is because, when criticism is intense, illocal and bogus, it may leads to the postponement of election. If it happens, nobody benefits but the incumbent.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month

2007-04-10T14:39:00.000+01:00

This month-April- is a month of Sexual Assualt Awarenes. It’s not just a women’s issue. Read Share Your Story 5 and see how man is abused. However, the cases of the women seems peculiar. Nearly one third of all adult women in the United States are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, usually by someone they know, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. According to the organization Men Can Stop Rape, the numbers vary from study to study, yet most studies suggest that 10 to 20 percent of all males will be sexually violated at some point in their lifetimes. That translates into tens of thousands of boys and men assaulted each year alongside hundreds of thousands of girls and women. Sexual assualt means forced intercourse, usually rape, and is different from sexual abuse, which includes any kind of forced sexual act, including touching and kissing. Whether it’s abuse or assault, Hispanics are less likely to report what happened. Language barriers, cultural factors, and a fear of deportation are some of the factors that keep Hispanics from reporting sexual assault.

In Africa, the cases of Sexual Assualt, although they are special breeds of their own, are mostly under-reported. It’s not just current abuse that is underreported; many victims who were abused as children are still suffering in silence well into adulthood. Most therapists agree that whether you were abused as a child or an adult, it’s important to talk about it and get support.

Additional Resources:

If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or 1-800-656-HOPE (English & Spanish).
To read more about sexual assault against Latinas and what is being done about it, or to find links to studies and related articles, visit the Arte Sana website (English & Spanish).
The Women’s Justice Center has a bilingual website with information for victims, as well as policy and advocacy information.
For information on immigrant rights related to sexual assault and resources for immigrants, visit the Family Violence Prevention Fund (English) or download information in Spanish.
To find out how you can help educate both men and women on domestic violence, sexual assaults, and abuse, visit Casa de Esperanza (English & Spanish).
Information for male survivors of sexual assault can be found at Men Can Stop Rape (English & Spanish).
Even if you haven’t been abused, you can get involved in the growing movement to change the attitudes of young men and encourage them to use their strength to prevent sexual assault against women. Find out how you can support the Strength Campaign.
The National Latino Alliance provides information in both Spanish and English.
Updated: March 2007

What a Day... So Amazing

2007-04-08T14:25:00.000+01:00

Friday (when Christ was crucified) is gone, Sunday (when He rose from the dead) is here!...

A day full of great beauty and unanswerable logic
A day of rest and gladness
A day of joy and light
Most beautiful, must bright

On thee, at the creation,
The light first had its birth;
On thee, for our salvation,
Christ rose from depths of earth;
On thee our LORD, victorious,
The Spirit sent from Heaven;
And thus on thee, most glorious,
A tripple light was given

Christopher Wordsworth

The strife is o'er, the battle done;
Now is the Victor's triump won;
Now be the song of praise begun-Hallelujah!

The powers of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legion has despersed;...
He brake the age-bound chains of hell;
The bars from heaven's high portals fell.

Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say;
Hell today is vanquished; Heaven is won today.
Lo! the dead is living, God forever more!
Him, their creator, all his works adore.

Latin Hymn, dating back to the sixth century.

Lift your glad voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus has risen, and man shall not die

The Politico - Economicus of World Oil

2007-04-05T12:52:00.000+01:00

Refer to The Best Kept Secret in Washington

Whatever the twists and turns in global politics, whatever the ebb of imperial power and the flow of national pride, one trend in the decades following World War II progressed in a straight and rapidly ascending line -- the consumption of oil. If it can be said, in the abstract, that the sun energized the planet, it was oil that now powered its human population, both in its familiar forms as fuel and in the proliferation of new petrochemical products. Oil emerged triumphant, the undisputed King, a monarch garbed in a dazzling array of plastics. He was generous to his loyal subjects, sharing his wealth to, and even beyond, the point of waste. His reign was a time of confidence, of growth, of expansion, of astonishing economic performance. His largesse transformed his kingdom, ushering in a new drive-in civilization. It was the Age of Hydrocarbon Man.-- Daniel Yergin, 1992.

The genius of our so-called democracy lies in its stability and predictability. James Madison (1751-1836) is known as "the father of the U.S. Constitution". Madison’s primary political concern centered on the maintenance of social stability by the political and social control of competing factions; control by government itself was a secondary consideration. With those objectives in mind, the framers crafted an elaborate political system:

Where "first object of government" (highest priority) was "the faculties" of acquiring property.
Where the struggle of classes and passions (e.g., religious conflict) was replaced with the struggle of interests in the economic sphere.
Where the political system was extremely resistant to change.
Where political power was reserved for a white male minority while projecting the illusion of self-government to the majority. Madison scholar Richard K. Matthews explains:
"By consciously denying virtually all but a handful of citizens any role in a governmental structure that, by design, was to be run by an elite of superior ability (who nonetheless would have to check and balance each other), Madison left [economic struggle] as the prime avenue for humanity to search for meaning."

Nowadays, the terms "democracy" and "market economy" are often used interchangeably. Political decisions in a market economy are stunningly simple: one dollar, one vote. In short, the market economy serves as a stealth political system to foster rational thought, universal values based on calculation, and world peace based on self-interest. The market economy succeeds because it satisfies our hunter/gatherer genetic drives for dominance, sex, food, and material possessions – survival of the fittest.

One hundred years ago, fundamentally defective economic theories led to two world wars with millions killed. Today, the same defective economic theories are taught to students all over the world and are leading to a new generation of world wars with billions killed.

America will soon lose the stability the framers worked so hard to create because it is becoming wholly dependent upon inherently unstable (authoritarian) oil-producing Muslim nations like Indonesia. It happened thirty-three years ago when OPEC quadrupled world oil prices and plunged America into "stagflation". Fortunately, the non-OPEC producers still had a HUGE unexploited oil cushion to fall back on and simply pumped central bankers out of their economic crisis.

But that was 1973 and this is 2007 -- thirty-three years later the oil cushion is gone. Muslim nations will soon control virtually all of the world’s oil exports. Since neither capital nor labor can create energy, the next round of energy-shortage-induced stagflation will leave central bankers helpless and they will seek military solutions to their economic problems?

It's the best-kept secret in Washington, Whitehall, Brussels, and Jerusalem, but it's just a matter of time until word hits the street…
By definition, energy "sources" must produce more energy than they consume, otherwise they are called "sinks".

The market economy burns energy to make money -- there is no substitute for energy. Although the economy treats energy just like any other resource, it’s not like any other resource. Available energy is the precondition for all resources -- including energy resources.

The key to understanding energy issues is to look at the "energy price" of energy. Energy "sources" that consume more energy than they produce are called "sinks" and are worthless as sources of energy. This thermodynamic law applies no matter how high the "money price" of energy goes.

The market economy receives almost 80 percent of its energy subsidies from nonrenewable fossil sources: oil, gas, and coal

In the 1950s, oil producers discovered about fifty barrels of oil for every barrel invested in drilling and pumping. Today, the figure is only about five for one. Sometime around 2005, that figure became one for one.

The increasing energy cost of oil sets up a positive feedback loop: since oil is used directly or indirectly in everything, as the energy costs of oil increase, the energy costs of everything else increase too -- including other forms of energy. For example, oil provides about 50% of the fuel used in coal extraction.

Immutable energy laws tell us that a growing economy must eventually consume more energy than it can buy. When America spends more-than-one unit of energy to produce enough goods and services to buy one unit of energy, it will be physically impossible to cover the overhead (money is irrelevant). At that point, America's economic machine is "out of gas". Forever!

EUR OIL
For many years, geologists and petroleum engineers have published estimates of how much oil can be recovered from any given basin. This is known as "Estimated Ultimately Recoverable" (or EUR) oil. Remarkably, estimates of total worldwide EUR oil have varied little over the past half century!

About fifty years ago, geologist M. King Hubbert developed a method for projecting future oil production and predicted that oil production in the lower 48 states would peak about 1970. This prediction has proved to be remarkably accurate. Both total and peak yields have risen slightly compared to Hubbert's original estimate, but the timing of the peak and the general downward trend of production were correct. Hubbert showed that oil production begins to peak and starts to decline when approximately half of the EUR oil has been recovered.

IHS Energy Group (formerly Petroconsultants) is the world's leading provider of data and analysis for oil exploration and production. The company maintains its headquarters at a custom-built communications center in Geneva. It also has offices in London, Houston, Calgary, Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Hong Kong and a global information network. The backbone of the company is a staff of 300, embracing numerous nationalities, cultures and professions, specializing in petroleum geology, geophysics, petroleum engineering, economics, political science, petroleum legislation, cartography, computer science and information technology.

In 1995, Petroconsultants published a report for oil industry insiders ($32,000 per copy) titled WORLD OIL SUPPLY 1930-2050 which concluded that world oil production could peak as soon as the year 2000 and decline to half that level by 2025. Large and permanent increases in oil prices are predicted after the year 2000.

NO OIL? NO ECONOMY!
If one considers the last one hundred years of the U.S. experience, fuel use and economic output are highly correlated... Energy quality is by far the dominant factor.-- Cleveland, Costanza, Hall, and Kaufmann (Science 225: 890-897)

One of the most important aspects of energy is its "quality". Different kinds of fuel have different qualities. For example, coal contains more energy per pound than wood, which makes coal more efficient to store and transport than wood. Oil has a higher energy content per unit weight and burns at a higher temperature than coal; it is easier to transport, and can be used in internal combustion engines. A diesel locomotive uses only one-fifth the energy of a coal-powered steam engine to pull the same train.

Oil is the highest quality energy we use, making up about 38 percent of the world energy supply. No other energy source equals oil’s intrinsic qualities of extractability, transportability, versatility and cost. The qualities that enabled oil to take over from coal as the front-line energy source in the industrialized world in the middle of this century are as relevant today as they were then. Oil's many advantages provide 1.3 to 2.45 times more economic value per kilocalorie than coal.

Studies show that nothing can replace oil: "A recent review of the future prospects of all alternatives has been published. The summary conclusion reached is that there is no known complete substitute for petroleum in its many and varied uses." For example, when the oil's gone, food production will drop to a fraction of today’s numbers: "If the fertilizers, partial irrigation [in part provided by oil energy], and pesticides were withdrawn, corn yields, for example, would drop from 130 bushels per acre to about 30 bushels."

THE LAWS
The human species may be seen as having evolved in the service of entropy, and it cannot be expected to outlast the dense accumulations of energy that have helped define its niche. Human beings like to believe they are in control of their destiny, but when the history of life on Earth is seen in perspective, the evolution of Homo sapiens is merely a transient episode that acts to redress the planet's energy balance.– David Price. [i]

Available energy is the prerequisite for any economic activity. For example, lifting 15 kg of rock 5 meters out of the ground requires 735 joules of energy just to overcome gravity -- and the higher the lift, the greater the minimum energy requirements.[ii] The second law of thermodynamics places absolute limits the efficiency of the heat engines that power the global economy. [iii] A typical auto, bulldozer, truck, or power plant wastes more than 50 percent of the energy contained in its fuel!

By a hundred years ago, physics had incorporated the laws of thermodynamics. Obviously, energy laws that govern the physical world also govern the economic world. Physical scientists attempted to point out this crucial fact to economists:
"It is, in fact, the fate of all kinds of energy of position to be ultimately converted into energy of motion. The former may be compared to money in a bank, or capital, the latter to money which we are in the act of spending ... If we pursue the analogy a step further, we shall see that the great capitalist is respected because he has the disposal of a great quantity of energy; and that whether he be nobleman or sovereign, or a general in command, he is powerful only from having something which enables him to make use of the services of others. When a man of wealth pays a labouring man to work for him, he is in truth converting so much of his energy of position into actual energy...The world of mechanism is not a manufactory, in which energy is created, but rather a mart, into which we may bring energy of one kind and change or barter it for an equivalent of another kind, that suits us better -- but if we come with nothing in hand, with nothing we will most assuredly return." [Balfour Stewart, 1883] [iv]

But economists never understood the laws of thermodynamics because they evolved to worship the Market “god” instead.

THE MARKET “GOD”
No discipline [ except economics ] attempts to make the world act as it thinks the world should act. But of course what Homo sapiens does and what Homo economicus should do are often quite different. That, however, does not make the basic model wrong, as it would in every other discipline. It just means that actions must be taken to bend Homo sapiens into conformity with Homo economicus. So, instead of adjusting theory to reality, reality is adjusted to theory.-- Lester Thurow. [v]

The human mind evolved to believe in “god”s... Acceptance of the supernatural conveyed a great advantage throughout prehistory, when the brain was evolving. Thus it is in sharp contrast to [science] which was developed as a product of the modern age and is not underwritten by genetic algorithms.-- E.O. Wilson. [vi]

A zoologist from Outer Space would immediately classify us as just a third species of chimpanzee, along with pygmy chimp of Zaire and the common chimp of the rest of tropical Africa. Molecular genetic studies of the last half-dozen years have shown that we continue to share over 98 percent of our genetic program with the other two chimps.-- Jared Diamond. [vii]

By carefully observing people, we can deduce they were selected to believe in virtually anything:
"Precisely what we believe is immaterial; what matters is the kind of behavior it generates. This is why humanity is characterized by such astonishing diversity in its belief systems. As far as our genes are concerned, we can believe that the universe is driven by an overweight fairy on a green cheese bicycle provided that such belief effectively coerces us into adopting genetically advantageous behavior in all matters of evolutionary consequence, such as feeding, mating, nurturing, bonding, and protecting family, tribe, and territory." [viii]

Even though scientists pointed out over a hundred years ago that energy -- not money -- was the source of the capitalists' wealth, economists just didn't have the genes to give up their beliefs and face the real world. In other words, two million years of evolution produced an animal that was ideally suited to worship the Market “god”. [ix]

Adam Smith believed that “god”'s divine plan was revealed in a free market:
"the divine being ... contrived and conducted the immense machine of the universe, so as at all times to produce the greatest possible quantity of happiness."

Economic historian Deborah Redman explains:
"Because the order of nature is providential, the free market that reflects natural order also reflects the workings of providence. In this way the spheres of morality, theology, jurisprudence, and economics become hostages to nature, so to speak." [x]

The first commandment of the Market “god” (as revealed by Adam Smith):
"Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interests in his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men."

The economists didn't have the genes to understand the physics they were struggling to impersonate:
"[ With the development of modern physics ] it became possible to see orthodox economic theory for what it really was: a bowdlerized imitation of nineteenth-century physics…It was not the methods of science that were appropriated by the early neoclassicals as it was the appearances of science, for the early neoclassicals possessed a singularly inept understanding of the physics they so admired… [ Neoclassical economists attempt ] to reduce all social institutions such as money, property rights, and the market itself to epiphenomena of individual constrained optimization calculation. All these attempts have failed, despite their supposed dependence upon mathematical rigor, because they always inadvertently assume what they aim to deduce… Conservation principles are the key to the understanding of a mathematical formulation of any phenomenon, and it has been there that the neoclassicals have been woefully negligent." [xi]

"Once one gets the scorecard straight, then it will become apparent that twentieth-century neoclassical theory resembles nothing so much as the child’s game of Mr. Potatohead -- the fun comes in mixing and matching components with little or no concern for the coherence of the final profile." [xii]
Had economists evolved to understand the first and second laws of thermodynamics, they would have realized it was just a matter of time until global society entered a period of chronic energy shortage. Since neither capital nor labor can create energy, central bankers will soon have no way to manipulate the economy:
"Increases or decreases in the level of money supply are thought to influence the level of production in the economy. However, this is true only if the 'externals' to the economy -- i.e., sources of energy from outside of the money circle -- are constant. When the availability of energy changes, the economy changes in ways not correctable by manipulations of the money supply." [xiii]

If central bankers try to stimulate the economy under conditions of chronic energy shortage, they will create "stagflation" instead:
"High inflation rates can be explained by the linkages between fuel use and money supply. If the money supply is increased, stimulating demand beyond levels that can be satisfied by existing fuel supplies, then prices will rise. This implies that when the costs of obtaining fuel are high, fiscal and monetary policies may not be successful in stimulating economic growth." [xiv]

The next round of energy-shortage-induced stagflation will leave central bankers helpless and they will seek military solutions to their economic problems. This certainly isn't the first time that faith in the Market “god” has led to military solutions.

SAME BELIEF = SAME RESULT
The true nature of the highly artificial economic organization on which peace rested becomes of utmost significance to the historian. -- Karl Polanyi

In late 1973 the first OPEC oil shock struck, as oil prices quadrupled and the general inflation indexes shot up to 11 percent. More important, gasoline lines appeared. Waiting in line to buy a basic commodity like gasoline is something that no American had ever experienced. Shock and irritation were high, but those lines were like the first small heart attack -- an indication of mortality... What was worse, economists could pose no solution to the energy problem. Influential professionals, such as Milton Friedman, predicted that the oil cartel would quickly fall apart. It didn't.-- Lester Thurow. [xv]

In the 19th century, economist Hermann Gossen proclaimed:
"It would only frustrate totally or in part the purpose of the Creator were we to attempt to neutralize [the free market] in total or in part, as is the intention of some moral codes promulgated by men."
And he asks with moral indignation:
"How can a creature be so arrogant as to frustrate totally or partly the purpose of his creator?" [xvi]

The economists' faith in the Market “god” led to two world wars and sent millions to their deaths.
No other historian has explained the human suffering caused by failed economic theories as well as Karl Polanyi:
"The origins of the cataclysm lay in the utopian endeavor of economic liberalism to set up a self-regulating market system." [p. 29]
"By the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century, world commodity prices were the central reality in the lives of millions of Continental peasants; the repercussions of the London money market were daily noted by businessmen all over the world; and governments discussed plans for the future in light of the situation on the world capital markets. Only a madman would have doubted that the international economic system was the axis of the material existence of the race. Because this system needed peace in order to function, the balance of power was made to serve it. Take this economic system away and the peace interest would disappear from politics." [p. 18]

"By the end of the seventies the free trade episode (1846-79) was at an end; the actual use of the gold standard by Germany marked the beginnings of an era of protectionism and colonial expansion… the symptoms of the dissolution of the existing forms of world economy -- colonial rivalry and competition for exotic markets -- became acute. The ability of haute finance to avert the spread of wars was diminishing rapidly. For another seven years peace dragged on but it was only a question of time before the dissolution of nineteenth century economic organization would bring the Hundred Years' Peace to a close." [p. 19]

"The breakdown of the international gold standard was the invisible link between the disintegration of world economy since the turn of the century and the transformation of a whole civilization in the thirties. Unless the vital importance of this factor is realized, it is not possible to see rightly either the mechanism which railroaded Europe to its doom, or the circumstances which accounted for the astounding fact that the forms and contents of a civilization should rest on so precarious foundations.

"The true nature of the international system under which we were living was not realized until it failed. Hardly anyone understood the political function of the international monetary system; the awful suddenness of the transformation thus took the world completely by surprise... To liberal economists the gold standard was purely an economic institution; they refused even to consider it as a part of a social mechanism. Thus it happened that the democratic countries were the last to realize the true nature of the catastrophe and the slowest to counter its effects. Not even when the cataclysm was already upon them did their leaders see that behind the collapse of the international system there stood a long development within the most advanced countries which made that system anachronistic; in other words, the failure of market economy itself still escaped them." [p. 20]

"The transformation came on even more abruptly than is usually realized. World War I and the postwar revolutions still formed part of the nineteenth century. The conflict of 1914-18 merely precipitated and immeasurably aggravated a crisis that it did not create. But the roots of the dilemma could not be discerned at the time…The dissolution of the system of world economy which had been in progress since 1900 was responsible for the political tension that exploded in 1914." [p. 21] [xvii]

Exactly like the economists of one hundred years ago, and despite millions killed in two world wars by their mistakes, economists still worship the Market “god”. Moreover, economists still haven't changed their inherently defective methodology.

Economists first abstract all commodities to money -- which of course, obliterates all qualitative differences between the commodities themselves, and leaves economists uniquely unqualified to know anything about the commodities they purport to study.

Although economists treat energy just like any other resource, it’s not like any other resource. Available energy is the precondition for all resources -- including more available energy! Because of their total dependence on the measure of "money", today's most prominent economists are unable to know the difference between "libraries" and "oil":

"Should we be taking steps to limit the use of these most precious stocks of society's capital so that they will still be available for our grandchildren? … Economists ask, Would future generations benefit more from larger stocks of natural capital such as oil, gas, and coal or from more produced capital such as additional scientists, better laboratories, and libraries linked together by information superhighways? … in the long run, oil and gas are not essential." [Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus] [xviii]

Talk about an evolutionary cul-de-sac! The economists' devotion to the Market “god” coupled with their innate inability to know the difference between libraries and oil will lead to a new generation of wars and send billions to their deaths.

The next cycle of death will begin when the world experiences a severe oil crunch in less than ten years (probably less than five, perhaps much less). The crunch will be triggered by a political upheaval in one or more of the major oil-producing nations, a Muslim backlash against America's friendship with Israel, OPEC reducing production to make more profit, or simply the natural -- and inevitable -- "peak" in global oil production.

Once the crunch is here, it's too late. The global economy will go to hell and rational planning will be replaced by crisis management. With the oil gone, there is nothing left to work with anyway.

The coming oil crunch is the best-kept secret in Washington, Whitehall, Brussels, and Jerusalem, but it’s just a matter of time until word hits the street… Nigeria, Angola …Africa take note!

...Wrong

2007-03-29T10:16:00.000+01:00

You might think about me the way you so desire. It doesn’t matter, since your thinking doesn’t, and can never change anything about who I am. All I care is that you may be absolutely wrong!

"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt, 23 April 1923.)

Re: The Logic of the Apology

2007-03-28T14:29:00.000+01:00

Refers to Jereweat Blog.

What we call "history" is born from a collage of glimpses and images, insights, documents etc… While these “sources”, these “raw material of history” does not presume to tell the comprehensive story of early slavery or colonialism; it does offer tantalizing glimpses into the past. Of course, history lives beyond its contemporaries… See MyBlog earlier on.

It is a truism that colonialism did a lot of harm on the cultural, political and economic nerve of the African state. But whether we are now in a phase of pan- Africanism, that does not require reparation; with the damage to Africa, to the damage of our capability for unity, and the capability for democracy, good governance and the question of nation building, to the issue of the harm done to the people of Africa and Africans in Diaspora, the damage is not in the past; the damage is here with us now. It is in the wars which are going on in Africa today. It is in the current socio – economic underdevelopment which has continued to ravage Africa, while other/majority part of the world experiences some acceptable, but rapid and continuous level of economic development by leaps and bounds!

We are people of the day before yesterday ( we have a history) and the day after tomorrow (we have hopes); long before slavery, we lived together in one human village called Africa; then the strangers came and took some of us away, scattering us in different directions of the globe. This have made Africa a donor to both developed and the relatively rich economies of the world. But this is more so in terms of the brain drain syndrome that is still prevalent in Africa today. Before the strangers came, our village was the world, we knew no other. Now, we are scattered so widely that the sun never sets on the descendants of Africa. The world is now our village and we plan to make it more human between now and the day after tomorrow.

At the same time, we cannot afford (to continue) to blame colonialism or slavery endlessly. The price of doing so is not only high, but is usually paid in anguish and regret. Of course, an apology (although the perpetrators of slavery/colonialism are long dead now) may have the soothing balm on the psychology of the likes of Toyin Agbetu and his supporters.

However, expecting apology from one not directly linked to the said ills is not logical, and even if done as requested, it may be full of hypocrisy. This is more so, since it will be very difficult, if not impossible to decipher true apology from a bogus or “cooked” one.

Moreover, expecting an apology from the descendant of the former perpetrators may provide them the leverage or rather, the comfort to devise another subtle means of exploitation, knowing fully well that the victims (Africa) will gladly accept an apology from the beneficiary (West) in the future.

No matter how willing and well intentioned the West might be in tendering apology (I wonder the possibility of that, given the “pride” of the Western oligarchies) or salvaging Africa from the doldrums(if at all they can do that for Africa), few of them will be in concord to the whole process, since very few of them have the knowledge, or rather a better knowledge on our current local conditions and problems.

Beside, colonialism and slavery are the shared objectives of the West and Africa – although the West had the upper hand! So, if Tony Blair or the Queen of England etc should apologized on behalf of their forefathers, who will do so on behalf of our forefathers who sold their cousins, uncles nieces etc, who are/were themselves our forefathers?

Our leaders, who are our fathers, are still exploiting us today. They are still selling us cheap. They have mired our image at the international level. The case of Nigeria and others are open books. That of Zimbabwe and others are special breeds of its own

So, instead of wasting time to fight the past, which inevitably will bring no recipe for the current development agenda for a modern society, we (Africa) should go back to the drawing board. We should be more concern with stopping modern slavery: restriction of our products to the rich Northern markets, dumping of products, debt burden, denial of some good or rather, acceptable voting power in the IMF/WB etc, and in the Committe of Nations, child trafficking/child labor/cheap labor etc.

Africa must occupy the drivers seat, sort out those things we can do for ourselves, do them before soliciting for anything “ external”, either in the form of apology, support or help. We should not allow irrational sentiment to becloud our faculty of reasoning.

Moreover, although, glorious future awaits Africa, that future does not lie with any ethnic section, cliquish, religious bigots or the scoundrels who parade themselves as our leaders. What Africans need is a national ethos and no group is better placed to do this than the youths. The youth, including the likes of Toyin Agbetu must be given the opportunity to begin the re-examination of Africa. The youth’s needs to constantly challenge themselves even in the midst of deprivation and wants. They must not let the baggage of ethnic chauvinism and many other ills that have mired our great continent in underdevelopment to weigh them down. With these, African renaissance is here to stay.

Success

2007-03-23T15:36:00.002+01:00

The greatest success in life is self-discovery! To discover yourself. To know what you can do best. Self- discovery is the most integral part of the human race. With it comes complete freedom from worry. With it comes strength and progress.

It is only after self discovery that one is obliged to do what would have hitherto been described as impossible.

We may safely assume that although history is a great teacher, she cannot teach those who do not want to learn. And apparently, those who dread self-discovery do not.

But so badly are many degraded, and even injured by self deceit that they are capable of deceiving themselves completely and, if conditions favor it, to keep up the deception for a lifetime.

“Let me be” does not change nor add to your “quality”. Mediocrity is mediocrity, no matter how we dress it. Essentially, “let me be”, more often than not is mediocrity masquerading in humility.

While life and memory endure, discover who you really are.

As true as this is to an individual, so it is to nations and continents.

Don't...But...

2007-03-15T10:53:00.000+01:00

"Do not walk behind me, I may not lead.

Do not walk in front of me, I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend."

- Attributed to Albert Camus

"IF"

2007-03-15T10:07:00.000+01:00

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Rudyard Kipling's (1865-1936) inspirational poem 'If' first appeared in his collection 'Rewards and Fairies' in 1909. The poem 'If' is inspirational, motivational, and a set of rules for 'grown-up' living. Kipling's 'If' contains mottos and maxims for life, and the poem is also a blueprint for personal integrity, behaviour and self-development. 'If' is perhaps even more relevant today than when Kipling wrote it, as an ethos and a personal philosophy. Lines from Kipling's 'If' appear over the player's entrance to Wimbledon's Centre Court - a poignant reflection of the poem's timeless and inspiring quality.

The beauty and elegance of 'If' contrasts starkly with Rudyard Kipling's largely tragic and unhappy life. He was starved of love and attention and sent away by his parents; beaten and abused by his foster mother; and a failure at a public school which sought to develop qualities that were completely alien to Kipling. In later life the deaths of two of his children also affected Kipling deeply.

Rudyard Kipling achieved fame quickly, based initially on his first stories and poems written in India (he returned there after College), and his great popularity with the British public continued despite subsequent critical reaction to some of his more conservative work, and critical opinion in later years that his poetry was superficial and lacking in depth of meaning.

Significantly, Kipling turned down many honours offered to him including a knighthood, Poet Laureate and the Order of Merit, but in 1907 he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature. Kipling's wide popular appeal survives through other works, notably The Jungle Book (1894) the novel, Kim (1901), and Just So Stories (1902).

Cold War in Nigeria

2007-03-09T14:30:00.000+01:00

Dariye
From a friend's blog: J. Here.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

How the hell is he back as governor????
See BBC News
My opinion: he should be tried for crimes against humanity.My people, why are we so easily bought over.Na condition?How we go make condition betta?Only in Nigeria!

My Response to The Emerging Cold War Pandemic in Nigeria
In diplomatic/international relations’… terms, there are three types of war.
Hot War: this is actual warfare. All talks and compromises have failed and the armies are fighting.

Warm War: this is where talks are still going on and there would always be a chance of a peaceful outcome but armies, navies etc. are being fully mobilized and war plans are being put into operation ready for the command to fight….war still a possibility anyway.

Cold War: this term is used to describe the relationship that existed (and probably still exists, with the recent economic and military come – back of Russia) between America and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1980. Do note that USSR in 1945 was Russia post-1917 and included all the various countries that now exist individually (Ukraine, Georgia etc) but after the war they were part of this huge country up until the collapse of the Soviet Union (the other name for the USSR). Although the Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two, this jingoism is still been used to depict the existence of any relation of this kind, whether the relationship in question is between nations or individuals.
The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some
Although neither side ever fought the other – for the consequences would be too appalling - but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states who fought for their beliefs on their behalf e.g. South Vietnam was anti – Communist and was supplied by America during the war while North Vietnam was pro – Communist and fought the south (and the Americans) using weapons from Communist Russia or Communist China. In Afghanistan, the Americans supplied the rebel Afghans after the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 while they never physically involved themselves; thus, avoiding a direct clash with the Soviet Union (the one time this process nearly broke down was the Cuban Missile Crisis).
So why were these two super powers (America and Russia) so distrustful of the other?
When you are thinking about the causes of the Cold War, the most important thing is to separate in your mind the long term underlying factors from the series of clashes and misunderstandings which actually triggered the breakdown in relations. It is impossible to identify a time when the Cold War ‘broke out’. After 1945, a series of clashes and misunderstandings meant that the ideological differences widened more and more into open hostility.
For more than 40 years (1945-1989) the USSR was in conflict with the West. But that conflict never came to open warfare (‘hot war’), because the existence of nuclear weapons made hot war MAD (‘Mutually Assured Destruction’). Although, both sides tried to undermine and destroy each other, they dared not let it go to actual fighting – that would have destroyed them.
Logic would dictate that as the USA and the USSR fought as allies during World War Two, their relationship after the war would be firm and friendly. This never happened and any appearance that these two powers were friendly during the war is illusory.
Before the war, America had depicted the Soviet Union as almost the devil-incarnate. The Soviet Union had depicted America likewise so their ‘friendship’ during the war was simply the result of having a mutual enemy - Nazi Germany.
There is no doubt; the USSR and the USA were separated by a huge ideological gulf. So the only thing that held the allies together was the need to destroy Hitler’s Nazis. Given their underlying differences – when Hitler was finally defeated in 1945 – a Cold War was perhaps inevitable.
The USA was a capitalist democracy; the USSR was a communist dictatorship. Both sides believed that they held the key to the future happiness of the human race. Neither was conflict new to the two sides. Stalin could not forgive Britain and America for helping the Whites against the Bolsheviks in the Civil Wars (1918-1921), and he believed that they had delayed D-Day in the hope that the Nazis would destroy Russia. In the meantime, Britain and America blamed the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 for starting the Second World War. Also, the two sides’ aims for Germany were different – Stalin wanted Germany to be ruined by reparations, and he wanted a buffer of friendly states round Russia to prevent a repeat of the Nazi invasion of 1941. Britain and America wanted a democratic and capitalist Germany as a world trading partner, strong enough to stop the spread of Communism westwards.
While defensive and counter – defensive alliances (NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization) against Russia; (the German Democratic Republic – East Germany) against America were formed. After the Berlin Blockade, the pattern of foreign relations as a ‘Cold War’ was set: the USA and the USSR acted as rivals in a competition for world domination.

That war has never ended

The Cold War in Nigeria: The Case of Plateau State
While there has been a varying degree of cold war between political gladiators in Nigeria since 1999, the cases of Plateau and Anambra states stands out

It is worth noting that Dariye as the governor of plateau state has had problem with Obasanjo, the current president. When he was accused of looting money – the ecological fund – he pointed at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party through which Obasanjo came in to power, both in the 1999 and 2003 general elections. Part of the ecological funds was used to sponsor PDP’s campaign for the 2003 general election

There is no gainsaying that Joshua Chibi Dariye has committed some heinous crime against humanity. He is also corrupt – stealing about US$ 9 million, from a state like plateau is no small crime. Given that the condition in Jos, the state capital is so terrible, only equal in comparison to Yola, my state capital (I have been to Yola only once in my life, and that was June 2006), the predicaments of the local governments is better imagined than told.

Observing from a close range, (myself, having spent some great deal of my lifetime in Jos: I left Jos, August 2006) one can assume to have some acceptable picture and command of analysis of the whole scenario.

It is a truism that all the crime committed in plateau were committed right under Draiye’s nose.

The case of plateau is however an attempt to canvass for dominance, an attempt to change the status quo. How? The state is viewed as the only non – Muslim dominated northern Nigerian state. Empirical evidence has confirmed to the rumored circulation of letters from eminent Nigerian Muslims, urging fellow faithfuls to buy, no matter the cost, houses, landed properties etc. in plateau, especially, within the state capital. Why? To increase the numerical figure of one religion at the expense of the other.

Moreover, appointment to political offices, the question of looting, non execution of any economic project etc has been the avoidable consequences of the corrupt leadership of Dariyes’ administration.

………crises has however emerged, with different reasons been ascribed to them.
Dariye, while trying to curb the anomaly – a result of external forces to create tension within the state (actually senator Ibrahim Mantu is at the fore – front of this move, including many others that were to benefit from Dariye’s fall) – seized the opportunity to intensify his looting skills…..
…the result was his indictment (in Nigeria and abroad) by the court of law and his subsequent removal from the seat of power.

Whatever has happened before his order for reinstatement by Jos high court, is another big plus for the Nigerian Judiaciary. It signifies that the court can no longer be muzzled to do the bidding of the presidency. But it can never be a justification for his coming back as the governor of that raped state.
At the end, the link between Nigeria's internal cold war and that of the USA vs Russia are:

They (the perceived/real enemies) initially seemed to be friends;
They wanted each other for selfish reasons;
Each party concerned believed he was wiser;
Each also believes he was right;
Both parties are unforgiving;
Both pretends to use the ideally constitutional means to resolve the crises;
They used different means to destroy each;
Sometime, the innocents became the victim;
At the end, someone must surely be ousted out.
I must confess that, I am in concord with my friends’ point of view: Dariye doesn’t have the moral stand/fiber to govern any state in Nigeria, not again.

Pandemic

2007-03-08T11:36:00.000+01:00

Cholera in the nineteenth century and HIV/AIDS in the late twentieth century. In recent decades, all of these, along with numerous more local epidemics, have attracted the attention of historians, and our understanding of them - and of epidemics in general - has increased many times over...

For much of the last two centuries professional historians have been extremely sceptical about the importance of epidemics in history. Overlooking cataclysmic natural disasters, they have focused, rather, on political, economic and intellectual processes to explain change over time. Until fairly recently they have been reluctant to attribute lasting significance to such disasters or to depict them as of great moment historically, however large they may have loomed to contemporaries. For instance, writing in 1936, E. P. Cheyney concluded that the effects of the Black Death, ‘like other catastrophic occurrences in history … were less important than the workings of more silent and persistent forces’. 1 Such a stance, believed William McNeill, stemmed from a basic tenet of positivist, scientific historiography:

We all want human experience to make sense and historians cater to this universal demand by emphasizing elements in the past that are calculable, definable, and, often, controllable as well. Epidemic disease, when it did become decisive in peace or in war, ran counter to the effort to make the past intelligible. Historians consequently played such episodes down. 2

In the last quarter-century, however, that assessment has waned to a degree, with the influence of greater emphasis on social, cultural and environmental historical writing. Perhaps, too, the emergence of AIDS has provided an immediate example of the power of a pandemic to alarm and transform societies.

(David Killingray, Howard Phillips; Routledge, 2003)

Ten (10) of the Best Books and Articles on: Flu Epidemicsas selected by Questia librarians

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19: New Perspectives » Read Now
by Howard Phillips, David Killingray. 362 pgs.
...The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-19 was the worst pandemic of modern times, claiming over 30 million lives in less than six months. In the hardest hit societies...

Viruses, Plagues and History (Chap. 14 "Influenza Virus, the Plague That May Return") » Read Now
by Michael B. A. Oldstone. 227 pgs.

Pneumococcal Immunizations at Flu Clinics: The Impact of Community-Wide Outreach, in Journal of Community Health » Read Now
by Douglas Shenson, John Quinley, Donna DiMartino, Patricia Stumpf, Michael Caldwell, Tikuang Lee. 10 pgs.

Flu Vaccine Production Gets a Shot in the Arm, in Environmental Health Perspectives » Read Now
by Ernie Hood. 3 pgs.

Influenza Pandemic Preparedness: Legal and Ethical Dimensions, in The Hastings Center Report » Read Now
by Lawrence O. Gostin. 2 pgs.

Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform (Chap. 11 "Tuberculosis, Public Health, and Influenza") » Read Now
by Ruth Clifford Engs. 316 pgs.
...Over the past 200 years, a health reform movement has emerged about every 80 years. These "clean living" cycles surged with, or were tangential to, a religious awakening...

Your Health: How the Flu Makes Its Way From Wild Ducks, to Livestock, to You, in National Wildlife » Read Now
by Peter Jaret. 2 pgs.
...including humans, can suffer deadly epidemics. Though we may think of the flu as the cause of a week or two of...United States, and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 killed 34,000...

The Swine Flu Vaccine and Guillain-Barre Syndrome: A Case Study in Relative Risk and Specific Causation, in Law and Contemporary Problems » Read Now
by David A. Freedman, Philip B. Stark. 29 pgs.
...The swine flu vaccine and Guillain-Barre syndrome: a case...epidemiologic evidence suggesting that the swine flu vaccine caused Guillain-Barre syndrome ("GBS...weeks or...

Primary Care of the Older Adult: A Multidisciplinary Approach ("Influenza" begins on p. 182) » Read Now
by Mary M. Burke, Joy A. Laramie. 684 pgs.

Nature, the Most Deadly Bio-Terrorist of All: It May Not Be in the Next 12 Months, but Very Soon, a New and Virulent Strain of Flu Is Likely to Sweep the World. Globalisation Has Made the Spread of Disease All Too Easy, in New Statesman » Read Now
by Robin McKie. 3 pgs.

» Click here for more books and articles on Flu Epidemics

Flu Epidemics - Related Topics
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
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Health Communication
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Truth: A Burden...

2007-03-07T12:34:00.000+01:00

There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world –Thomas Jefferson.

Moreover, “When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, goodmen must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.

Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice" – Martin Luther King Jr

Lunar Eclipse: Visible in Europe

2007-03-05T14:47:00.000+01:00

If you are in Europe, you are lucky. The full Lunar eclipse that happened on 3rd March 2007 (it’s not that uncommon because the Earth planet is big and near the Moon, so it hides the Sun quite often) should form part of life's history.

The peak of the eclipse...:

Paris: 4th March, 00:20
London: 3rd March, 23:20
Prague: 4th March, 00:20
Moscow: 4th March, 02:20

Many people observed the full lunar eclipse with good, probable the best binoculars they could possibly lay their hands on (Binoculars x50 or less was said to be the best to see the full moon, more to check details of the Earth shadow on the Moon surface).

The Moon was never blackened since Earth atmosphere tends to deflect part of the Sun light and the Moon was redden. The show started around 2 hours before the peak and lasted around 4 hours.

Phases of Lunar Eclipses

An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow.

The eclipse above begins in the upper left corner and ends on the lower right side. The center picture which shows the moon during totality was enlarged for only for artistic reasons.

Information on:

Other Phases of the Mooon

Partial Solar Eclipse 2004

Partial Solar Eclipse 2005

Local Circumstances for Hybrid Solar Eclipse of April 08 2005

Apr 08, 2005: Hybrid Solar Eclipse

Eclipses During 2004

Solar Eclipses of Saros 134

Eclipses During 2005 Lunar Eclipe Dates for 2001 through 2008

What is a Lunar Eclipes?

Solar Eclipes Dates

Solar Eclipes Information

What is a Solar Eclipes?

Photos of:

Solar Eclipse

Winter Solar Eclipse

Ecliped Moon and Stars Moonlight Eclipes

Phases of a Lunar Eclipe

Lunar Eclipes

Lunar Eclipes 1993

Lunar Eclipes

Ecliped Moon and Stars

Moonlight Eclipes

Fleeting Eclipes

Solstice and Seasons Eclipes

Full Eclipes

Total Lunar Eclipe

Partial Lunar Eclipes

Solstice and Seasons Eclipes

Total Solar Eclipes

Ecliped Moon and Stars

Calendar Dates for:

Last Quarter Moon Dates

Lunar Eclipes

Solar Eclipes

Blue Moon

54 Years Ago

2007-03-05T13:30:00.000+01:00

It is fifty four (54) years today, when the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin dies at age 73. He died on the 5th of March 1953.

12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Joseph Stalinas selected by Questia librarians

The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin: A Study in Twentieth-Century Revolutionary Patriotism » Read Now
by Erik Van Ree. 374 pgs.
...This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the political thought of Joseph Stalin. Making full use of the documentation that has recently become available, including...

Stalin and the Soviet Union » Read Now
by Stephen J. Lee. 130 pgs.
...Stalin and the Soviet Union offers new interpretations of recently uncovered archives examining the Soviet leader's domestic and foreign policy. It covers core topics such...

Stalin and Stalinism » Read Now
by Alan Wood. 105 pgs.
...The second edition of a best-selling pamphlet, Stalin and Stalinism has been fully updated to take in new debates and controversies which have emerged since the collapse...

Between Churchill and Stalin: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Grand Alliance » Read Now
by Steven Merritt Miner. 319 pgs.
...of Poland prior to the conclusion of an Anglo-Soviet agreement was a rash act. Had the British better understood Joseph Stalin, they might have waited until they had...

Stalin's Drive to the West, 1938-1945: The Origins of the Cold War » Read Now
by R. C. Raack. 265 pgs.
...ministry, in mid-February of that year reported one of Joseph Stalins rare public statements linking foreign and domestic...could not get without a war. Less by far is...

Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt Divide Europe » Read Now
by Remi Nadeau. 259 pgs.
...The division of Europe between East and West, born during World War II, not only denied independence to more than 100 million East Europeans, but upset the balance of...

Stalin's Holy War: Religion, Nationalism, and Alliance Politics, 1941-1945 » Read Now
by Steven Merritt Miner. 407 pgs.
...Histories of the USSR during World War II generally portray the Kremlin's restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church as an attempt by an ideologically bankrupt regime to
...

The Sorcerer as Apprentice: Stalin as Commissar of Nationalities, 1917-1924 » Read Now
by Stephen Blank. 300 pgs.
...The current struggles over nationality policy in Russia and in neighboring states are rooted in the history of the Narkomnats and in policies that Stalin established as...

The Anti-Stalin Campaign and International Communism: A Selection of Documents » Read Now
by Russian Institute. 338 pgs.

Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945-1953 » Read Now
by Yoram Gorlizki, Oleg Khlevniuk. 248 pgs.
...Following his country's victory over Nazi Germany, Joseph Stalin was widely hailed as a great wartime leader and international statesman. Unchallenged on the domestic...

Stalin's Kampf: Joseph Stalin's Credo » Read Now
by Joseph Stalin, M. R. Werner. 358 pgs.

The Mystery of Stalin: Paul Wingrove Examines the Starkly Different Interpretations that Seek to Explain the Career of Joseph Stalin, in History Today » Read Now
by Paul Wingrove. 3 pgs.

Joseph Stalin - Related Topics
Cold War
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Click here for more books and articles on Joseph Stalin

Visitors researching Joseph Stalin also searched on:
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Quiz

2007-03-05T13:16:00.000+01:00

This man racked up impressive failures in the military, business and politics before he was elected President of the United States at age 52. Who is this person?

A. John Quincy Adams
B. Abraham Lincoln
C. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
D. William Jefferson Clinton

Labeled one of history's most successful failures, the man who became America's 16th president entered the Blackhawk War as a captain – then was demoted to private, failed in business twice, and lost numerous political races. Today, Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the country's greatest leaders.

Navigating From Failure to Success

2007-03-05T13:07:00.000+01:00

WHAT?

A broken relationship, a poor grade on a project or exam, a lost job or collapsed business venture, an athletic trouncing – there are a million ways to fail. If you happen to find yourself on the losing end of a situation, there is just one thing to say: Congratulations! Whether you're responsible for a small defeat or a major flop, you're in the right place and in a good company and above all, you can recover.

Beethoven, Einstein, Edison, General Douglas MacArthur, Michael Jordan, Colonel Sanders, and Clint Eastwood are just a few of many successful failures who overcame early disappointment and scorn to accomplish great things.

You can bounce back if you don't let yourself sink into frustration or despair, says Lybi Ma in the Psychology Today article "Down But Not Out", and if you remember that "A lot of good can come out of a big disappointment." Ma quotes Terri Needles (PhD), who recommends accepting the setback and the fact that you may never completely know all the reasons for it, facing your fears, and patiently thinking about your next steps.

Writing for Ebony, Walter Leavey talks about Facing Your Fear of Failure. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of failure," he says, "as long as you're not overwhelmed…or paralyzed by it." And Lee Anna Jackson's advice for rebounding from career mistakes, her Black Enterprise article “Looking at It Another Way" sets the stage for success in many areas.

Don't waste time regretting the past, she advises. Instead, make a list of things that tripped you up and challenge them.

The principle of every scrap.

2007-03-05T12:36:00.000+01:00

If you're searching online for one particular factoid...like a critical date, book title or song lyric or even the most "funniest" of all things...you'll likely find it fast. But when you're working on an academic project or theses, you'll look at lots of information from many different resources. But because you never know which useful bit will pull your research together, you must follow "The Principle of Every Scrap (Search expert Tara Calishain)." Click here to learn this useful technique.

A good outline steers you to writing success!

No matter what kind of writing you're required to do...whether it's a research paper, a business memo or document, or even a personal letter...the process will go more smoothly and the end result will be more successful if you have a map to guide you through your main points. Discover the easy steps for creating an outline you can use to navigate your way to an effective document.

Ask Nancy:-

Dear Nancy,

My instructor has drilled into us the importance of crediting the authors of all the books and journals we use as reference for our research papers. But I'm short on time, and my paper is due soon. Do you know any shortcuts?

Crunched in Crotone, Italy

Click here for Nancy's response.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

2007-02-20T13:54:00.000+01:00

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), more commonly referred to as Female circumcision is a harmful practice that is prevalent in many parts of the world. In Africa, Nigeria is one of the 29 countries where FGM is practiced. In Nigeria, there is a wide variation in the prevalence, with the national average being put at 40%. While the practice is widespread, covering practically every state of the federation though in varying magnitude from infancy to childhood, some socio – cultural determinants have been identified as supporting this avoidable practice.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines FGM as all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of the female external genetalia or injury to the female genital organs for cultural or any other non – therapeutic reasons.

By universal standards, FGM is an abuse of girls’ and women’s right, because it is violence against them and because it leaves a permanent scars on their genitals and on their psyche in such a way as to adversely affect safe motherhood. It also predisposes women to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS.

GLOBAL MOVE TO ELIMINATE FGM
In 1993, Nigeria joined other members of the 46th World Health Assembly to resolve and eliminate FGM (WHA 46.18). As a result of the risks and impairment to women and girls, the World Health Assembly passed the above Resolution to eliminate FGM. Steps taken so far to achieve this include;

Establishment of Multi – sectoral Technical Working Group on Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs)

Conduct of various studies and national surveys on HTPs;

Launching of a Regional Plan of Action and ;Formulation of a National Policy and Plan of Action for the elimination of FGM.

In 1994 the WHA passed the Resolution 47.10, urging member states to adopt policies and programs of actions to ensure the elimination of FGM world wide. Again, Nigeria was one of the nations which voted for Resolution 47.10 and was also, prior to the 1993/1994 Resolutions, a signatory, in 1979, to the United Nation (UN) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Declaration on Violence Against Women in 1993.

Further global campaign since 1994 led to the adoption of 6th February of every year as International Day for Zero Tolerance to FGM. In support, the Federal Executive Council also adopted 6th February of every year as National FGM Elimination Day.

Although we in Nigeria, could not (for) this year (2007) joined the rest of the world for the 6th February campaign due to some “unavoidable” setback, we have decided to do so today. After all, it is better late than ever, goes the wise saying.

As a party to the campaign on this particular day (Tuesday 20th February 2007) I have decided to write from all the information I could gather.

HOW? THE PROCESSES OF FGM
FGM is carried out using various types of unseterilized instruments which include special knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor blades etc. there is often additional unintentional damage due to crude tools, poor light and septic conditions. The procedures are usually carried out by an elderly woman of the village who has been specially designated for this task or by traditional birth attendants.

Anesthetics and antiseptics are not generally used. Assistants and/or family members hold down the girl in question to prevent her from struggling. Paste mixtures made of herbs, cow dung, hot ashes, barks and roots of trees or other mixtures are rubbed on to the wounds to stop bleeding.

Although, FGM was traditionally the specialization of traditional healers, traditional birth attendants or members of the community known for the trade, there is however, the new “medicalization” which has introduced modern health practitioners and lay – care into the trade.

The WHO has continually and unequivocally advised that FGM must not be institutionalized, nor should any form of FGM be performed by any health professional in any setting, including hospitals or other health establishments.

WHEN IS IT CARRIED OUT? – AGE

The age varies. Depending on the culture, the practice may be carried out during infancy, childhood, as a “rite of passage” or during an “initiation ceremony”, at the time of marriage or during the first pregnancy. In some communities in Nigeria, they even perform the mutilation on the dead women. Crying is prohibited till the corpse is mutilated and the usual ceremonies performed.

HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF FGM: EFFECTS?
The effects are physical and psychological. The physical effects include:

ü Uncontrolled/heavy bleeding;
ü Severe pain/infection;
ü Pelvic inflammatory disease;
ü Urine retention;
ü Genital ulcerations;
ü Keloid;
ü Scar formation
ü Vesico Vaginal Fistula/Rector Vaginal Fistula arising from damage to the urethra/rectum;
ü Painful/difficult labor;
ü Shock
ü Risk of catching blood transmitted diseases: HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B etc;
ü Possible infertility;At times, death.

The psychological effects include;
ü Anxiety;
ü Depression;
ü Irritability;
ü Frigidity;
ü Insecurity;
ü Reduced/Elimination/Loss of Sexual Pleasure etc.

TYPES OF FGM

Four types of FGM were identified by the WHO Technical Committee in 1995:

TYPE I: Excision of the prepuce (the fold of skin above the clitoris) with or without excision of part or the entire clitoris – referred to as “Sunna”;

TYPE II: Excision of the prepuce and clitoris (clitoridectomy) along with partial or total excision of the labia minora (inner lip);

TYPE III: excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening (infibulations). It is sometime referred to as Pharaonic circumcision or Sudanese circumcision;

TYPE IV: Unclassified:

Ø Pricking, piecing, or incision of clitoris and/or labia;
Ø Stretching of the clitoris and/or labia;
Ø Cauterization by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissues;
Ø Scrapping (angurya cuts) of the vaginal orifice or cutting of the interior and sometimes, posterior (gishiri cuts) of the vaginal wall;
Ø Introduction of corrosive substance or herbs into the vagina to either cause bleeding, tighten or narrow vagina;
Ø Any other procedures that falls under the definition of FGM given above.

The procedures described above are irreversible and their effects last a lifetime!!

Type I and II (Excision of the clitoris and labia minora) are the commonest types of FGM. In Nigeria, the commonest type is type I. Type III (Infibulations) is the most extreme form of FGM. It involves the complete removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, as well as the inner surface of the labia majora. The two sides of the vulva are then stitched together with thorns or by silk or catgut sutures so that when the remaining skin of the labia majora heals, it forms a bridge of scar tissue over the vagina. A small opening is preserved by the insertion of a foreign body to allow for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. As the wound heals, the developed scar tissue most often creates a barrier to intercourse and child birth, resulting in repeated de – infibulations and trauma.

WHY? – THE PRACTICE

It has not been possible to determine when or where the tradition of FGM originated. However it is still deeply entrenched in the Nigerian society, where critical decision makers are the grandmothers, mothers, women opinion leaders, men aged groups.

The reasons given to justify FGM are numerous, including:
· Custom and tradition;
· (Traditional) Religious demand;
· Purification;
· Family honor;
· Hygiene;
· Aesthetic reasons;
· Protection of virginity and prevention of promiscuity;
· Increasing sexual pleasure for the husband;
· Enhancing fertility;
· Giving a sense of belonging to a group and;
· Increasing matrimonial opportunities.

The geographical/zonal distribution of FGM prevalence in Nigeria

ZONE, PERCENTAGE AND RANGE

South – West
0.1 – 93.8

South – East
1.6 – 95.5

South - South
0.2 – 79.2

Middle – Belt
6.9 – 85.5

North – East
3.4 – 38.8

North – West
6.2 – 76.2

P:S: FGM is carried out in Nigeria irrespective of religion or culture;
Ten states (Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Cross River, Delta, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and Rivers States) have passed out a legislation outlawing FGM;
The House of Representatives has also passed the bill on FGM. Every one awaits the Senates’ passage of the Bill to make it a national law.

BOTTOM LINE

In order to eliminate FGM in Nigeria, it is necessary to promote awareness of the predicament by educating the policy/decision makers, the general public, health workers, and those who carry out the practice on all its health and psychological consequences. This calls for the active involvement of political leaders, professionals, development workers, local communities and their leaders, and women groups and organization.

v It is important to note that FGM is not required by any religion, or at least any modern religion;
v There is no scientific evidence that women who have been mutilated are more faithful or better wives than those who have no;
v The world has risen against FGM, join the campaign against mans’ violation against man and resolve as an individual not to practice it in your home;
v Persuade those who still practice it that there is no benefit in it;
v Lobby your legislator/legislature in the state to vote for the law against FGM – Female Circumcision; and
v Report any known cases of violation to the police.

LET US ALL JOIN HANDS TO ELIMINATE FGM IN NIGERA

Reference:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Nigeria: know the facts. Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Federal Secretariat, Abuja in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO).
Facts About FGM. What is FGM/Female Circumcision? Funded/Produced by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Crises in Dafur: A Litmus Test – African Union (AU)

2007-02-19T11:05:00.000+01:00

When President Richard M Nixon left for China on February 17, 1972 on a visit which helped to end the hostility between the United States of America and the Communist China and which of course led to a joint agreement to work toward peace in Asia and to develop closer economic, diplomatic and cultural ties between the two, what lesson could there have been for African leaders through the then toothless Organization for African Unity(OAU), now African Union (AU)?

You will agree with me that AU can never hope to bring peace to the crises ridden region of Dafur (just one of the numerous crises ridden regions in Africa) because its (AU) membership - North, South, East and West - comprises of leaders who have failed their citizens in their own countries!

Connecting to Readers Mental Senses: How?

2007-02-19T10:49:00.000+01:00

Do you know that descriptive and color writing help readers step into your story.

An assignment to write a story carries its own special challenges and "rules of engagement." Successful feature writers draw readers into their stories by using colorful, descriptive language which helps readers see the scenes or feel the moods of their subjects. Learn how you can connect with readers by appealing to their "mental senses."

Research: Strike Website Gold!

2007-02-19T10:43:00.000+01:00

Yea, you have a research that you must finish before a particular deadline, but you can't find the page you want. What? Trim back the URL? Or, is there another better alternative, you asked yourself.

And here again, your online research has taken you to a site which looks promising. You haven't found the exact page you want, but you have a hunch that you're close. How can you get to the nugget of information you need? Follow these quick tips to strike website gold.

Ask Nancy;

Dear Nancy,

When I enter a search in the search box, it searches all the words in all the books and articles on Questia. Is there a way I can search only specific parts of the information - like searching only book titles or author names? And are there other ways I can make my search more specific?

Exacting in Ixtapa

Click here for Nancy's response.

Examination, Anxiety and Brain Training.

2007-02-19T10:24:00.000+01:00

Panic Proof? Oh yea, you need to avoid high anxiety during exam time!

You see....

Shaky hands, cold sweats, nausea. Are you getting the flu? Nope, it's simply exam time. And while there's no vaccine for test anxiety, you can boost your immunity to these sick feelings. According to Carnegie Mellon University, poor study skills, a bad past experience and fear of the unknown can all contribute to exam stress. Fight Test Anxiety, they suggest, with such pre-test prep as devising study strategies which work for you, focusing on detail, giving yourself a pep talk and visualizing success.

Be sure to get a good night's sleep before a test, says Psychology Today writer Rebecca Segall. In the article "Sleep On It", she cited recent research which found that those who stay up all night studying show little improvement in test performance. Use exam eve, says Richard Palmer, author of Brain Train: Studying for Success, to lay out everything you'll need – from pens/pencils, geometrical instruments and calculators to any texts required for open book tests. On exam day, rise early enough to get ready at a leisurely pace, and resist last-minute urges to cram, he says. When you have the test in hand, Factmonster.com Homework Center's Ten Tips for Taking Tests may come in handy: Read exam instructions carefully, and ask the instructor to clarify anything you don't understand; read the complete test noting the point value of each section so you can pace yourself; answer the easiest questions first, then those with the highest point value, and don't get stuck on one question – instead move on and come back to it later. Post-exam, says Factmonster, review the instructor's comments, try to learn from any mistakes, and save your test to revisit again when it's time to prepare for end-of-term exams.

What do you think?

The Virtues of Endurance: Try it!

2007-02-14T18:40:00.000+01:00

Why do you feel everything is against you?
It is not as bad as you may think;
The world is simple as you may see;
It is just a little endurance that you need.
Others have worst problems than you do;
Move with them and hear their problems
And you will see that yours is simple.

Go to the old and the most experienced;
They will tell you they had worst problems;
It was their past endurance that keeps them.
You jus take a little lesson from them
It is just a little endurance that you need.

Though sometimes,
There is limit to human endurance
Yet that little endurance is what you need
to see you through that stormy times.
Always remember
that what comes after the little endurance
and your decision
Will certainly be a golden crown.

Just try to endure

And for now……..

If circumstances won’t allow us to see each other
Memories will
If my eyes cant see you
My heart will (never forget you).

HERE COMES ANOTHER WEEKEND

2007-02-08T18:13:00.000+01:00

Jeffy, Jana and Me (Home - Jos, 2000): Top Right;Aunty Tabi, Me, Adarju, Christy, Jafiada and Belinda(friend), (Wedding at Ecwa Church, Jos, 2005) - Auta Family's wedding): Below Left;

Christy, John Belinda, Me and Rosemary (Rwam Pam Stadium - Easter Interdenominational program, 2003) Right.

Hey! How is Jos?

Oh! How time flies.
It’s been a very long time since I left home. That is 172 days! Five solid months plus!

What? Yes, I could not travel home for the Christmas break….
I have been planning to go home….

You know, I miss all of you.

If circumstances won’t allow us to see each other
Memories will
If my eyes cant see you
My heart will (never forget you)

Adarju, Janada, Jafyada, Jantiku, Jasubu, Purdam, Angarju, Christy, (Cousins) Rosemary, Wadzani, Iirmdu, Aunty Tabi – all in Jos and Uncle Bull – Lagos. I miss all of you.

What of Jiptil, Samaila, Ishaya, Victoria etc. – all kakas family (Jos)…. You are all loved.
If I can’t make it this weekend, please forgive me.

Love Is In The Air !

2007-02-05T17:32:00.000+01:00

From a purely practical point of view, it's good to know that this holiday, according to The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays, is based on the ancient and very popular Roman Lupercalia festival of "lovemaking and licentiousness." Shaped over centuries by writers of romantic poetry and prose, Valentine's Day is now celebrated in many different countries. And scientists, says Dr. Helen Fisher in a PBS Springboard interview, are examining brain chemistry and circuitry to better understand the physiology behind lust, romantic love and long-term attachment.

But these factoids might be better saved for cocktail party chat. St. Valentine's Day is all about passion! For those who are not yet in a romantic mood — or not head over heels about anyone right now — (they) will transport themselves with a classic love story from the Questia collection such as Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights or The Tale of Genji. Or enjoy one of the silver screen romantic comedies mentioned in Wes Gehring's USA Today piece "Love and Laughter: A Cinematic Valentine's Day Bouquet."

But this should have been more reflected in stock taking of our (those who are in love, I am not!) love life; how “ingenuous” we’ve been to our partners, or how “ingenious” our partners have been to us. It should be a time of prayer and not for “lovemaking and licentiousness”. A prayer for God to streamline ‘this” relationship, to make it more realistic at the end of the day; to make it “truly mutually beneficial, a real help meet to each other”; to bring glory to HIS name at the end of the tunnel; to fulfill HIS purpose for this very relationship – not for the purpose of God to be defeated on February 14TH…..

………what more? For us to have mutual respect for each others body; to defend each others right with all zest; to…..

Learn How to Love Writing

2007-02-05T16:35:00.001+01:00

Does writing make you nauseous? Learn to love it. You're close to finishing this project, and suddenly it hits you: a wave of nausea. Far from lovesickness, your queasy stomach likely stems from your dread that your writing is awful. You're not alone; many writers become anxious and hyper-critical at this stage in the process. Learn one expert's antidote for fighting your fears and fixing your work.

Dear Nancy,My Questia research is uncovering tons of good information — so much, in fact, that I'm having trouble keeping track of all my notes. Do you have any advice for me?Disorganized in Detroit. Click here for Nancy's response.

Do it, Just Right

2007-01-22T10:19:00.000+01:00

Build structure with solid sentences and paragraphs.

Sentences and paragraphs are the tools of the writing trade. Good writers know how to organize them to express thoughts clearly and to make points logically. "This stuff is basic. Get it right," says David R. Williams. Click here to make sure you do.

Ask Nancy

Dear Nancy,

My research and notes are a jumble. Can Questia help me get them sorted out? Frenzied in Finland Click here for Nancy's response

http://www.questia.com/

Do it Right

2007-01-22T09:36:00.000+01:00

How to write a short story.

Students often panic at the assignment of a short story. But the short story form offers opportunities for creativity, complexity and richness. Click here to learn the characteristics of a good short story and how to approach your assignment with confidence and skill.

Ask Nancy

Dear Nancy,

My Questia project is getting bigger — and more complicated — by the minute. Now I've got lots of different research notes, and I'm working with many different publications. Is there a quick way to sort and display this information?Outnumbered in the Aussie Outback Click here for Nancy's response

http://www.questia.com/

Food for Thought

2007-01-22T09:19:00.000+01:00

Here's some food for thought,

Want to do better? Eat smarter. Our nutritional choices affect our ability to perform mentally as much as physically. In the Psychology Today article "How to eat smart," Randy Blaun and Andreas Wiesenack talk about how the foods we eat affect body performance and "may prove to have an even more critical influence on how the brain handles its tasks." They explain, "The idea that the right foods, or the natural neurochemicals they contain, can enhance mental capabilities — help you concentrate, tune sensorimotor skills, keep you motivated, magnify memory, speed reaction times, defuse stress, perhaps even prevent brain aging — is not idle speculation." The Daily Record article "Good Food" identifies nutritional "performance enhancers" and offers tips for achieving "a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fat, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and drinking plenty of fluids." In Food and You: A Guide to Healthy Habits for Teens, Marjolijn Bijlefeld and Sharon K. Zoumbaris explain how exercise and the foods you eat affect the way you perform and offer guidelines for setting up a healthy kitchen which includes basic cooking equipment and a nutritious larder. "Your body is like an engine, the better the fuel you put it, the better the performance," says Helen Cox. Writing for the Evening Chronicle, she offers 12 tips to help you get "Fighting Fit. "

http://www.questia.com/

Your Dreams, Your Goals, Your Reality

2007-01-12T19:02:00.000+01:00

Many dream to succeed, few succeed without dreaming, yet many others, seemingly without dreams are great dreamer; but the greatest dreamers are them that fears God…….by?

How big are your dreams? How realistic are your goals? How do you intend to achieve your goals? Do you have a deadline for translating your dreams into reality?.................. Set achievable goals and give it a DEADLINE. Remember, setting a seemingly big goal is not a pride, they are just showing your level of determination to achieve against all odds

I remembered this quote;

I know the thought that I think towards you, ... thought of good, not of evil and to give you an expected end……jer 29:11 ..then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and i will hearken unto you. v.12

for my thought are not your thought neither your ways your way…..Isa.55:8 - 13

have I said and will not do it……..

For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west; neither does it come from the north or the south. Ps. 75.6....Promotion cometh down from heaven..He putteth down one and setteth up another....v.7

Come with me

Slavery in Africa Fad – Reality?

2007-01-12T13:26:00.000+01:00

Year four (or SS 1) in secondary school is an interesting one, as far as academic level/advancement is concern. For instance, it was, (I think till today) compulsory to take the entire courses offered in your school, including History. But I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to have anything to do with history, not minding the consequence on my academic records. By then I call myself young scientist, and planned to go in for medical or engineering courses. To be honest, I had no direction on what or which degree I wanted then. One thing led to another and I bolted out of the sciences and today, I am an economist.

Until this morning…. I was reminiscing over the level of economic crunch that unfolds the nature and difficulty of nation building that stares Africa in the face. Then I did a little brain work…….. Of course Africa’s economic history cannot be divorced from its political……. then I see what I’ve missed in my 1 – 2 years history class………
Then I wandered ………..why should my great grand parent sold their subject because of mirrors, garments, gun powders etc? At least so I heard. Okay, gun powder to capture rival clans…...

That is history. But history lives beyond its contemporaries……………….
What should we do to avoid the repeat of slavery? Can we salvage ourselves from modern slavery...?
………….that comes in the form of human displacement because of recurring repression on the continent? ………brain drain? Can we?.......can we? What should Africa do?

What we call "history" is born from a collage of glimpses and images, insights and documents. And while this Gallery does not presume to tell the comprehensive story of early photography and African Americans, it does offer tantalizing glimpses into the past. During the half-century covered by these photographs, African Americans fought slavery, withstood brutal racial hatred, and struggled to escape from poverty. Sometimes the camera was their ally... sometimes it was an instrument of prejudice... but often it was an observer, recording the images that we recognize today as the raw material of history.

Thomas H. Lindsey (active Asheville, North Carolina):
"Stripes but no Stars"
Silver, Silver-Platinum (Satista) or Platinum print, circa 1892
5 x 8 inches

E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. (publishers):
"Bombproof Quarters of Maj. Strong, at Dutch Gap, 16th N. Y. Artillery"
Stereoscopic Albumen Photograph, circa 1863
(detail shown)

Unidentified Photographer (Sold or Published by James W. Queen, Philadelphia):
"The Darkey's Vanity"
Tinted Stereoscopic Albumen Photograph, circa 1860 (left)
Unidentified Photographer:
Civil War Soldiers with a Young "Contraband"
Albumen print carte de visite, circa 1863 (right)

Unidentified Photographer:
"Slave Boy Brought to Waterbury from Bucks Hill by Aunt Ella Johnson's Second Husband (Whelan)"
Ninth-Plate Ambrotype, circa 1855

(second up) During the Siege of Petersburg, troops under the command of General Butler attempted to build a canal across the James River at Dutch Gap in Virginia. Work began August 15, 1864 and finished unsuccessfully with the explosion of six tons of gunpowder on January 1, 1865. The goal was to shorten the navigation of the James River by seven miles, bypassing an area where Union ships came within range of Confederate gunners.
The Fourth and Sixth Regiments of U.S. Colored Troops (Third Brigade, Third Division, Army of the James) were ordered to Dutch Gap, August 16, 1864 and remained there on fatigue duty until September 28. Perhaps the officer and soldier shown here belonged to one of those regiments.About 180,000 African Americans enlisted in the Union Army, and others joined the Navy. Many units suffered heavy casualties: it's estimated that one-third of all African Americans in the Union military lost their lives in the Civil War. (For more information in a new browser window, click here .

http://www.photographymuseum.com/faceof.html

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/slavery/return.php?

Who I am to Question You LORD

2007-01-10T11:59:00.001+01:00

Man praying
1775736 Design Pics Royalty Free Photograph

Oh! I seem to have an unabated zest for pursuing my goals, despite their seeming “insurmountablility”.

Reminiscing, over how a poor young man like me could be thinking and hoping to find himself in some world acclaimed best universities ...............it is better imagined than told.

Oh my Lord, my present help in time of need, forgive me if I err.
This morning (7.10 AM), as I was reading my Bible, Gods word told me

“Thus says the LORD…. ‘Thy Maker’, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the works of my hands, command ye me (Isa.45:11). Then (V.I2). I have made the earth,…man upon it,…the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded”. Then said I “commanded to do what Lord?” He said I have raised you… and I will direct all your ways (V.13).

But lord, poor me, I am scared…; this is a place where black is white and vice versa. Then I remembered what he told me long time ago: “Fear thou not (Austin) for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee with the right hand of my righteousness ( Isa. 41.10)

Ah Ah, he said in V.14, ‘fear not thou worm “Austin”, …I will help thee’. And again ‘behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shall thresh the MOUNTAINS (that is before thee now) and beat them small and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shall fan them and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shall rejoice in the Lord and shall glory in the Holy One…(V.15, 16).

I just feebly said to the Lord, “behold thou has made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm and there is nothing too hard for thee (Jer.32.17)’. Then in a still small voice, here comes the consolation and affirmation in V.27. “Behold I am the Lord the God of ALL flesh: is there anything too hard for me?

Then I remembered Abraham and Sarah of old. For Sarah being 90 years of age, it had ceased to be with her the manner of women; and Abraham, being 99 years old, was also old and well stricken in age.

So Gen. 18:10, He said “I will certainly return unto thee, according to the time of life; and lo Sarah thy wife (says He to Abraham) shall have a son…. How laughable! Sarah actually laughed (V.12).

Exactly a year later (Gen. 21:5), God did as he promised (21:1), and in V.2 Sarah conceived. Recalling what He, through His Holy angels told Abraham at the start of this “Son Mission”, Gen. 18:14, “is there anything too hard for me…?
Who am I to question you oh Lord God, the almighty, the unimaginable God, with whom there is no impossibility, nor shadows of turning. I know it shall shortly be done as you promised.
Oh Lord, forgive me if I whine and help me to abide in your unfailing, divine will no matter how long I wait.

Then together with Don Moen I will sing:

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way.....

He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness

He'll lead me

And rivers in the desert will I see

Heaven and earth will fade

But His Word will still remain

And He will do something new today

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way...

He will make a way

NARRATION

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

How Africa Subsidized the Development of the West

2007-01-08T19:55:00.000+01:00

Colonialism did a lot of harm on the cultural, political and economic nerve of the African heritage. But we cannot continue to blame colonialism endlessly. But whether we are now in a phase of pan- Africanism, that does not require reparation; with the damage to Africa, to the damage of our capability for unity, and the capability for democracy, good governance and the question of nation building, to the issue of the harm done to the people of Africa and Africans in Diaspora, the damage is not in the past; the damage is here with us now. It is in the wars which are going on in Africa today. We are people of the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow; long before slavery, we lived together in one human village called Africa; then the strangers came and took some of us away, scattering us in different directions of the globe. This have made Africa a donor to both developed and the relatively rich economies of the world. But this is more so in terms of the brain drain syndrome. Before the strangers came, our village was the world, we knew no other. Now, we are scattered so widely that the sun never sets on the descendants of Africa. The world is now our village and we plan to make it more human between now and the day after tomorrow.

At the same time the West cannot afford to abandon us. The price of negligence is not only high, but is usually paid in anguish.

But no matter how willing and well intentioned the West might be in salvaging Africa from the doldrums, few of them have better knowledge on local conditions and problems than the Africans. Africa must occupy the drivers seat, sort out those things we can do for ourselves, do them before soliciting for external support and help.

Although, glorious future awaits Africa, that future does not lie with any ethnic section, cliquish, religious bigots or the scoundrels who parade themselves as our leaders. What Africans need is a national ethos and no group is better placed to do this than the youths. They must be given the opportunity to begin the re-examination of Africa. The youth’s needs to constantly challenge themselves even in the midst of deprivation and wants. They must not let the baggage of ethnic chauvinism and many other ills that have mired our great continent in underdevelopment to weigh them down. With these, African renaissance is here to stay.

MY FEAR FOR NIGERIA IN 2007

2007-01-08T12:12:00.000+01:00

Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999 meant a fresh start. However, the past weighs heavily on the democratic experiment: the country has endured six successful and numerous failed military coups, a civil war that cost well over a million lives, three inconclusive transitions to democracy and recurrent factional violence. Widespread corruption and persistent electoral malpractice continue to undermine politics as a whole. Military rule has cast a long shadow, and Nigeria remains dangerously reliant on oil receipts and mired in patron-client networks. New challenges have arisen, with inter-communal clashes across the country causing more than 14,000 deaths since 1999 and displacing more than three million. Militias have sprung up, notably in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where growing tensions are a direct result of decades of environmental harm and political neglect. Concurrently, Nigeria is striving to assert its political weight in West Africa, across the African continent and beyond. It is all too easy for the world to perceive it only as a major world oil producer and a regional policeman. The year 2007 is definitely going to be the most important year in the history of Nigeria. With the global movement of autonomous economies towards democracy to enable backward and globally marginalized nations to quickly revitalize their economies in other to translate themselves into equal partners in the new economic order, as well as to guarantee more dividends delivery in the palatial economies of the Western world, one can only imagine the predicament of the African people. Although democracy, even among the so – called successful ones of the developing world has not brought the most anticipated dividends to its citizenry, especially those in Africa, particularly Nigeria, owing to, principally undue emphasis on the form of democracy rather than its essence, the deteriorating predicament notwithstanding, the situation does not defy solution as some Western scholars would want us to believe. Looking at the Nigerian case among so many in Africa, one would, but wonder why such an economy could not achieve an economic turn around in almost eight years of democratic structure; but figures on inflation, interest rate and per capita income and other important economic indicators are falsified. But here comes again an election period. The first in the history of the country where a civilian would hand over to another civilian since 1999 (the closest to that was in 2003, but the incumbent could not be defeated). There is however the high possibility that the incumbent will significantly influence the outcome of the elections’ results. This is more so as was demonstrated in the latest PDP Convention held in December 2006 in the city of Abuja. PDP is the self – acclaimed largest political party on the continent of Africa, a party through which the imcumbent president came to power. Originally, Aso Rocks’ (the Presidency’s) directive was that the party’s Presidential flag bearer should be given to an incumbent governor. Although almost all the 28 PDP Governors out of the 36 of the federation had shown interest to contest for the presidency, Baba (Obasanjo) through the PDP Governors Forum prevailed in the selection of Yar ‘adu, the current Governor of Katsina State. Today, there are speculations that the presidency may tinker with her earlier selection of the PDP’s flag bearer. This was because the permutations of the party strategist failed to make allowance for the possibility of General Buhari securing the ANPP’s flag for the presidential election. ANPP is by virtue of the Nigerian political economy, the second largest political party. Why the Presidency together with her gamut of strategist thought Buhari will not secure the ANPPs’ presidential ticket will require analysis and explanation far beyond the scope of this article. But on why the presidency wants to tinker with the ticket given to Yar’adu, is simply because they thought that Yar’adu, the governor of Katsina State and his running mate, Goodluck Jonathan are no match for General Buhari. Of course, both Yar’dua and Jonathan are politicians that are hardly known beyond the shore of their states. Furthermore, AC is another strong political party, with Atiku Abubakar, the current Vice President as its Presidential flag bearer. Ten other political parties adopted Atiku as the presidential flag-bearer of their parties. But because of the current sticky situation between the president ( Obasanjo) and the Vice President (Atiku), there is every likelihood that Atiku may be disqualified from contesting, or at best, he may honorable bow and back out. As at today, there are speculations that AC will merge with the ANPP to form a formidable party to wield enough influence that the PDP would not be able to contain.
But what are my fears if these are the expectation on ground?
Nigeria is a country where every rational thinker lives in constant fear of the unexpected. Both in 1999 and the 2003 general elections, there were outcry of mass rigging, so much that votes casts in some states are much more than the eligible voters that registered in the state in question. So why should I not fear for my country?
Of course when it comes to rigging elections in Nigeria, the presence of the international observers from the international community does not make any difference.
Rigging in Nigeria are not done by political thugs or the ordinary citizens/voters, neither is it executed by their “excellencies”. Riggings are done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body that conducts, regulates and monitor the electoral process in the country. Riggings are executed by the police who are supposed to checkmate or deal with any foul political activities during the electoral process. Riggings are executed by the judiciary and street urchins. Riggings are monitored by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Matters (ICPC), the bodies assumed to be at the forefront of fighting corruption in the country. And more significantly, riggings are perpetrated and anchored on by some religious leaders.
With all these forces working together through various methods, adopting diverse strategies to achieve a common goal, one can only, but imaging how difficult it will be to track down the act of rigging in Nigeria.
But how do we know there were riggings? We know there were rigging because of the magnitude of the proceeds. We know there was rigging because it will be irrational to accept the possibility of obtaining 650,000 votes from a state that had only registered 500,000 eligible voters. We know…. We know…the lists are definitely not exhaustive. What is one to think?
With the election just around the corner, we only hope there will be a dramatic intervention in Nigeria. Moreover, if the international community fails to better grasp the internal dynamics and intricacies, there is a very real potential for the persistent levels of violence to escalate with major regional security implications.

Our Bank Our Nation

2006-12-29T17:36:00.000+01:00

Bank consolidation world wide seem to generate some attendant challenges to the whole gamut of players in the financial sector industry, for a very long period of time. But the Nigerian case seems to provide a different scenario because the means by which these 25 banks survived the process were majorly through M&A. However the challenge of raising capital to levels that will guarantee banks to keep part of Nigerias exteral reserve may offer us the opportunity to see stiff and rigorous but healthy competition in the near future. Indeed,with that, Nigerian DMBs will have the potentials to finance needed projects and attract foreign resources that can revamp the economy from its current status of "globally marginalized capital importing nation and Africas toothless bull dog"

Comparative Analysis As An Economist Tool.

2006-12-29T16:48:00.001+01:00

Mainstream economists are increasingly aware of the inadequacies of their methodological orientation for the development of an acceptable physiognomy on the notion and/or subject matter of globalization. This mostly stem from the facts that they are trained in the techniques of microeconomics/macroeconomics and financial analysis and not in the sociology and politics of economic development; and partly because, discourse on globalization is inherently contentious because its social and economic impacts tend to raise ethical issues as well as efficiency and the question of prudence. More often than not, its impact tends to elicit the most discordant views, passions and propaganda.Today, there is the persistent demand that along with both the normative approach and an ethical inquiry into matters of political, social as well as economic behaviours and organizations of nations in a globalizing world, it should be the central task of the professional/practicing economists to search for regularities in socio-economic behaviours and to devise a system of analysis in the context of which hypothesis can be veritably tested which can help us to reach a generalized theory in the light of which our findings may assume a cumulative character. The professional economist should not think mechanically in terms of the “financial programming models” taught in the university and training seminars – a model in which monetary and fiscal policies are shifted to balance supply and demand in which there is no rule for asymmetric information.Thus, comparative analysis is an integral part of such a study. This then suggest immediately the laboratory of a social scientist which provides him (us) with the opportunity to discuss specific socio – economic phenomenon of various nations in the light of different historical and socio-economic background. This suggests variables of a rather complex order that can be dissociated from the cultural background and studied comparatively. Such a simple approach can frequently convey meanings of considerable importance (weight) more effectively than a Jargon of abstractions.More specifically however, the function of this study is to identify uniformity and differences and to explain them. Such an explanation requires the development of theories in the light of which similarities and differences come – so to speak – to life; they then lose their adventitious character and assume a significance that has casual i.e. explanatory characters. Such a study has an important role to play in the more traditional approach to the study of economic phenomenon in which facts and values are interrelated in the scheme of the investigation. Here, the parallel comparism of variables may provide us with important clues about the implementation of values and policies.Comparative study therefore entails the comparism of variables against a background of uniformity either actual or analytical for the purpose of discovering causal factors that accounts for variations. More generally, its function is to appraise policy measures and to identifies problem areas and trends so as to reach a stage were predictions of the institutional trends and process is/ are possible.It is noteworthy to state therefore that comparative study is conceived in this paper as the closest approximation to the social scientist laboratory possible; and the wealth of materials for observation and studies at his disposal is indeed richer than that available to the natural scientist. Thus, his limitation in the processing of this wealth of materials has been, and is, primarily intellectual. Simply put, the mainstream economists have failed to orient their empirical study toward eliciting meaningful and persistent result. More often than not, they have been overwhelmed by the diversity of facts and have been unable to look for, let alone find relationship between them. (Infact) they have not even attempted to establish an orderly way of looking at facts.Such a conception of the role and scope of such study however may appear overambitious unless it is made clear that it calls for a long and painstaking methodological inquiry. Again, instead of an exclusive emphasis on values in a purely speculative and ethical term, or on the study of ideas in terms of their historical genealogy, the role of the theory/approach is conceived in this literature as any that could be found in any “standard macroeconomic text”.Moreover, given the state of nations, most essentially that of Africa in this (our) globalizing world, the development of a unifying theory may seen to be premature or even impossible. The development of a testable proposition however, and the elaboration of concepts are not only possible but also indispensableNaturally, such a scheme need not at this stage claim universal comprehensiveness, but it has to be systematic in the sense that it provides explicitly a coherent, even if tentative scheme of categorization and points to interrelationship of various levels of abstractions and comprehensiveness. The problem oriented approach and the development of classificatory tables and schemes for comparative study may provide us with more manageable type of research without which the collection and analysis of data becomes indiscriminate and/or simply put confusing.The purpose of such approach is to suggest ad hoc relationship for the study of particular problems and possibly to suggest veritable theories. Although, the depth and scope of comparative study are limited when the particular variables are thus arbitrarily restricted, the conclusions arrived at may provide tentative explanations and eventually pave the way to a more systematic and comprehensive approach.Globalization which forms the core of this discourse is changing the determinism of the states; its actions and inactions; what firms and people do; where they do it; how they see themselves, or simply put their identity; and what they (actually) want.Moreover, its accompanying financial transaction, increasing volume of world trade and their decreasing cost as well as reduction in public sector expenditure have put strong competitive pressure on the government world wide to reduce their role in the determination of who get what, where, when, how and why despite the facts of the social irresponsibility of the market economy, particularly as it affects asymmetric information, the delivery of public goods and services, negative externalities (such as pollution and other social costs) within the political system.Indeed, the only truly self – sufficient macro-economy is the world economy itself. Each nation-state within the world economy has something that it can influence for itself, but it has many others, including the markets for its imports and exports and for financial capital that are world - market – determined. Hence, we cannot understand the macroeconomics of a single country along; but we can use the tools of macroeconomics to understand both the behaviours of the economy in which we live and other economies that affects us.However, there is no guarantee that the world will solve the problems of sustainable growth, starvation, material (even psychological) poverty and other pressing economic problems that bedeviled the world today; but even then, there is nothing in modern growth theory and/or existing evidence to suggest that such an achievement is impossible. Thus, the point here is clear and important “technological advance (advancement) transforms our lives by inventing in a new – undreamed of things and making them in a new-undreamed of ways”.Finally however, societies need to think hard about how to best manage the implications of rapid technological changes; it is also important to note that there is little to be gained by confusing the externalities inflicted on our economies as a result of the past injustice brought by the activities of the Transnational/Multinational Corporations (TNCs/MNCs) with the issue of economic globalization which in its core sense refers to the expansion of cross-border economic ties.It is also certainly important to analyze the strength and weakness of the market economies as such and to better understand the institutions and policies needed to make it work most efficiently.

The National Income equation Y=C + I + G

2006-12-29T16:45:00.001+01:00

It is important by stating what Gross Domestic Product (GDP) means. GDP refers to the total income in an economy and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. GDP (denoted as Y) is divided into four components of expenditure: consumption (C), investment (I), government purchases (G), and when we add the net exports (NX) which is very important, we have Y = C + I + G + NX This equation is an identity because every Naira (National currency of Nigeria) of expenditure that shows up on the left-hand side also shows up in one of the four components on the right-hand side. Because of the way, each of these variables is defined and measured, this equation must always hold. A closed economy is an economy that does not interact with other economies.Y = C + I + GThat was exactly what you statedIn particular, a closed economy does not engage in international trade in goods and services, nor does it engage in international borrowing and lending. Of course, actual economies are open economies, i.e. they interact with other economies around the world. Nonetheless, assuming a closed economy is a useful simplification by which we can learn some lessons that apply to all economies and for the exact purpose of your question. Moreover, this assumption applies perfectly to the world economy. Because a closed economy does not engage in international trade, imports and exports are exactly zero. Therefore, net exports (NX) are also zero. In this case, we can write Y = C + I + G This equation states that GDP is the sum of consumption, investment, and government purchases. Each unit of output sold in a closed economy is consumed, invested, or bought by the government. To see what this identity can tell us about financial markets, subtract C and G from both sides of this equation. We obtain Y C G = I The left-hand side of this equation (Y C G) is the total income in the economy that remains after paying for consumption and government purchases: This amount is called National Saving, or just saving, and is denoted as S. Substituting S for Y C G, we can write the last equation as S = I This equation states that saving equals investment. To understand the meaning of national saving, it is helpful to manipulate the definition a bit more. Let T denote the amount that the government collects from households in taxes minus the amount it pays back to households in the form of transfer payments. We can then write national saving in either of two ways: S = Y C G Or S = (Y T C) + (T G) These equations are the same, because the two Ts in the second equation cancel each other, but each reveals a different way of thinking about national saving. In particular, the second equation separates national saving into two pieces: private saving (Y T C) and public saving (T G). Consider each of these two pieces: Private saving is the amount of income that households have left after paying their taxes and paying for their consumption. In particular, because households receive income of Y, pay taxes of T, and spend C on consumption, private saving is Y T - C. Public saving is the amount of tax revenue and spends G on goods and services. If T exceeds G, the government runs a budget surplus because it receives more money than it spends. This surplus of T G represents public saving. If the government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, then G is larger than T. In this case, the government runs a budget deficit, and public saving T G is a negative number. These two equation static model with government expenditures and taxes, has variables: C consumption I investment G government expenditures T taxes Y real GNP; witha,b known constants addedIn this model the level of government expenditures, taxes and investment are fixed. The purpose of this model is to study the fiscal policy options of government, that is the effect of G and T on Y and C. This model is the simplest model of this type. Equations: Y = C + I + G ________ (1) C = a + b(Y - T) ______ (2) This model is slightly more realistic than the two equation model in that it contains a government and consumption is based on disposable income. As models get bigger they attempt to capture more of the behavior of the economy. These simple models are solely for instructional purposes. Substituting 2 into 1 , we haveY = a + b(Y -T) + I + G Y = a + bY - bT + I + G Subtract bY from both sides Y - bY = a + I - bT + G Collect terms (1 - b)Y = 1(a + I - bT + G) Y = k(a + I - bT + G) where k = 1/(1 - b) The solution to this model has the same form as the simple two equation model. In policy work the analyst is interested in considering the impact of a change in G of T. Using the same type of algebra as for the simple two equation model we can obtain the following equations. Þ(Y) = kÞ(G) Þ(Y) = kÞ(I) Þ(Y) = kÞ(a) Þ(Y) = -kbÞ(T) The first shows the impact of a change in government expenditures, the second the impact of private investment, the third shows a shift in consumer confidence, and the last indicates a shift in tax policy. The government has direct control over G and T and indirect influence over a and I through incentives and its policies. Now consider how these accounting identities are related to financial markets. The equation S = I reveal an important fact: For the economy as a whole, saving must be equal to investment. Yet this fact raises some important questions: What mechanisms lie behind this identity? What coordinates those people who are deciding how much to save and those people who are deciding how much to invest The answer is: the financial system. The bond market, the stock market, banks, mutual funds, and other financial markets and intermediaries stand between the two sides of the S = I equation. They take in the nations saving and direct it to the nations investment. The terms saving & investment can sometimes be confusing. Most people use these terms casually and sometimes interchangeably. By contrast, the macroeconomists who put together the national income accounts use these terms carefully and distinctly. Consider an example. Suppose that THLIZA earns more than he spends and deposits his unspent income in a United Bank for Africa or uses it to buy a bond or some stock from a corporation say, Dangote Sugar Refinery. Because THLIZA’s income exceeds his consumption, he adds to the nations saving. THLIZA might think of himself as investing his money, but a macroeconomist would call THLIZA’s act saving rather than investment. In the language of macroeconomics, investment refers to the purchase of new capital, such as equipment or buildings. When Austin borrows from the bank to build himself a new house, he adds to the nation’s investment. Similarly, when the APT Corporation sells some stock and uses the proceeds to build a new factory, it also adds to the nation’s investment. Although the accounting identity S = I shows that saving & investment are equal for the economy as a whole, this does not have to be true for every individual household or firm. THLIZA’s saving can be greater than his investment, and he can deposit the excess in a bank. Austin’s saving can be less than his investment, and he can borrow the shortfall from a bank. Banks and other financial institutions make these individual differences between saving & investment possible by allowing one persons saving to finance another persons investment.

Globalization

2006-12-29T16:39:00.000+01:00

The celebrated academic Marshal McLuhan’s “global village” is here already. Can Africa be a house, a block or to be more specific, be in the village without being marginalized or excluded? This definitely is a pertinent question “in sync” with contemporary Africa’s predicament. The answer to this has to be an urgent, yet a resounding yes! How credible!Africa should not enter the arena of global competition to depend on luck. Africa should simply match her wits against others, with her entire constitution springing up to action; every fiber from the innermost recesses of her being to the fore, become combative in a synchronize zeal to achieve what belongs to her. With this strategic stance, Africa is never going to come off the arena (of global competition) a loser. (Augustine Pius THLIZA, December 2004: Globalization…..African Economy…..Implications, Challenges and Socio-Economic Consequences of Strategic Stance.)