Herman Cain and his derailed train

Who really derailed Mr. Cain’s train? Was it Mr. Cain himself or the two wayward and vile women that came out of the blues with unfounded accusations? Was it Piers Morgan and his unceasing, contemptible, impious attacked at an American citizen running for an office in his own country? Or was it a calculated plot, by the impish and rotten Tea Party to scandalously (brilliantly) block-out the attempt of another black man from occupying the White House? These questions will be answered in this article. After a diligent research, I have come to a strong conclusion, and this proposition is unwavering, that the tea party through its machinery i.e. Piers Morgan, Ginger White, Sharon Bialek and investigative journalist, came up with all the allegations levelled against Herman in a long term bid to stop another man of colour from running the affairs of America. Everything that has been said so far comes across as suspicious, unwarranted and uncalled for! 

The world is in a recession for God’s sake, Americas’ place as world power is slipping (this affects the global economy in many ways) and all these people can do to further sink us in this mess is commit this atrocious act! What has the world come to? The world has started to gravitate towards accepting profanity as today’s norm. People make sex tapes to because famous or dupe their partner over it, and the press, the same one that is supposed to pinpoint right from wrong, will gladly hail it. Women marry so that they can divorce and lay claim to the man’s wealth, same goes for lots of toy-boys around! These villains have written graphic books about their sexual encounters; in fact well know media houses chase them with millions to publish such unethical stories! The world today is polluted; we all just keep quiet and relish the atrocious moments of our times! How disheartening!

It’s possible to say America has king makers, people that stir those that are allow to run for public office by either its unrelenting publication of poll results that are not backed with proof or by just going ahead to tarnish a contestant’s image. Works well in both cases; look at the polls today and how interest is accumulating. Ask the average American if they have participated in a poll in the last 6 months and your get a No for an answer. Date it back to as long as you can, ten, twenty years and your get the same answer: No. The question now is: where do they get the poll results from? Well, the results are concocted by king makers to deceive the public into believing that the outcome is a true representation of how they are thinking at the moment. It’s amoral, but that is the world we live in today.

Herman Cain, no doubt has the experience, acquired from several sources i.e. US Department of the Navy, Pillsbury Company, Burger King, Godfather’s Pizza, Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank Kansas City, Member Kemp Commission, Economic Advisor Bob Doyle Presidential Campaign and Ex President and CEO National Restaurant Association, just to mention a few. A wide skill set spanning over 25 years, when he declared his intentions to run for the office of the president of the United States in May 2011, no one took him serious. Within months, he had more donations that other Republican candidates and drew a herd of followers. His 9-9-9 plan was the motive. We all love tax rebates, it puts more money in our pockets. So when we hear a tax story, we listen closely especially if it starts to make sense. Sadly, his train was derailed by bushwhacker. Piers Morgan, with so much delight and gusto, started to report the story of his sexual assault accusations every night on his show. Morgan’s passion was poignant; by the mandate of CNN, he was all out to pull this man down. Months before that, Piers’ victim was Barack Obama (he still attacks Mr. President saliently), he without control, talked about Obama on just about every show. It was just painful to watch. When he started with Herman, it looked all too familiar but this one had more edge to it. He did not dissect the story; he just took sides with the unfounded accusations. Mr. Morgan even went ahead to start to insinuate that Cain will be dropping out of the race; at different times he claimed that Herman declined to appear on his show or respond to a comment. All this were pointers that Piers was being used by the tea party to derail the train. Finally achieved, no one has asked why Ms. White came out of the blues to talk about a purported affair, even though Herman was the only source of income she had. If you pull him down, the income stops! But not if a new means is around the corner! Ginger White in all her interviews looked stupefied. Her looks said one thing: why are you all making me do this! She lied, to end a man’s hope and dream and maybe the hand that could have changed the fortunes of America. I guess the pay was good but it won’t be steady and the truth will come out one day.

Sharon Bialek appeared with her lawyer to talk about an assault that happened more a decade ago. Why the lawyer, if you just want him to come clean? Who pays for the legal fees? Do you have so much money to throw around just for Herman to say I am sorry? Ms. Bialek said so much, she went to Herman for a job, at one time it was career advice. Later she said her then boyfriend encouraged her to go and meet Mr. Cain, which she did and Herman invited them to a party. Sharon remembers the dress she wore very well on the day of the assault but never said what Herman wore or the car he drove or where he picked here from and dropped her off after the attempt. According to Ms. Bialek, Herman while sitting on the driver’s seat, tried to put his hand between her legs and at the same time pull her face to his crotch! This was all done at once! Really? 

Let’s ask for proof here, Herman said he does not know her, she says he actually invited her to the national restaurant party. Well, there should be a tape somewhere, or at least tell the world the location of this party. Sharon must have met someone at the party, provide another witness, aside from your faceless ex, to refute Cain’s claim. She, no one has, the case is quite now and Piers Morgan, Sharon Bialek and Ginger White are just happy. But if I date you for 13 years quietly and I give you money, why rat out now, showing proof by means of phone call bill, if I did nothing wrong? If you want a job or career advice why meet Herman, is he a career advisor or a job bureau? I guess this is just a case of an inexperienced candidate that has had his reputation tarnished for life. Nothing Herman says or does anymore will matter, these women and Piers Morgan have taken what matters most: His Reputation. 

2012 & the Mess called the Euro zone

Out of the 17 member states of the Euro zone, four currently face severe financial crisis. Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are in dire need of a strategy that will not only give them a life line but also, by extension, save the other member states and the global economy in general. There is a justification to be worried about how this plays out in 2012 for many reasons. Simply put, there is a domino effect if these nations are not saved in 2012. If they all fall, which is quiet certain, other countries, investors and institutions holding their bonds and options will fall. The holders span across the globe, thus the effect of their collapse will be felt far and wide. It is therefore necessary that steps are taken in the early days of 2012 to mitigate this from happening before it gets out of hand. The world economy cannot experience this recession spilling over into 2012, it just can’t! If it happens, God Almighty forbids it does, we might not recover from this one in the next 10 years!

                 

The European Union, euro zone or whatever it is called must be untangled! It can be a deliberated disintegration of the union by member states (the social and economic benefits far out way the cost) or a crash (which would be catastrophic for everyone in general). In my article dated 12 October 2011, I stated clearly how the union erred from the start; these reasons are still valid today. Only a well planned and constructive dissolution of the union will solve this erroneous mistake. The ECB has gone out of the confines of its responsibility to act as a lender of resort to defaulting nations; this was not its duty during the set-up of the union. The ECB was established to maintain price stability in the zone i.e. inflation rate. It failed in discharging this duty! Member states still have different tax system which the ECB has failed to harmonize since its inception; this problem has been a source of real concern for countries like Britain which never really wanted to allow the union dictate how it executes its taxation plan. Several Euro members i.e. the Netherlands, Belgium, also have different tax systems.

The zone itself is in discord; the old currencies have all of a sudden resurfaced and it is still a legal tender even though constitutionally, these currencies should have been laid to rest. The German Deutsche-Mark and the Dutch Guilders were both exchanged for products and services in the last 4 weeks. Households started to exhibit a preference for the old currencies as a show of independence and perhaps a salient request to revert to status quo. Will this voice be heard? Only time will tell.

People in the zone should start to speak out against the destructive plan to continue to allow the union exist. It will only end up hurting more people, the economic-political-social-scientist that started this experiment should know by now that the whole scheme has failed, woefully as a matter of fact! When a trickster nation such as Greece claims it will provide 150,000 new jobs in early 2012, concerned people should ask invasive question about how it intends to do so. The country has experienced no growth since 2009, in fact if we take the years 2000 – 2011, Greece has gracefully contracted in this eleven years (see chart below). Why does it think it can create jobs all of a sudden in 120 days? Greeks are known for evading tax, more than 70% of the youths have absconded to neighbouring countries in search of greener pasture and the Prime Ministers plan is to hire people within the ages of 55-65 years old! The PM said: new jobs! How will these folks work in new areas? The training cost money, the same one they do not have. Is this just another scam? They lied once, I’m sure they’ll do it again! Looking elsewhere within the messy zone, France’s rating has been downgraded; this will affect investor’s confidence and would definitely lead to a default in the months ahead. Spain’s monarchy has been hit with fraud allegations, even when the ECB is paying their debts and thousands are out of jobs, the only thing the royal family can do now is just steal what is left! How pathetic!

One begins to wonder if politicians have any good intentions at all for the people. Will we ever have politicians or so-called technocrats that say the truth, make realistic projections and plan properly? Or will we continue to have conniving money mongering people leading us to nowhere, apparently? In 2012, this type of behaviour should not be tolerated at all!

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s Aberration.

Born on the 25^th of June 1972, three years after his father, Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1969, Saif-Islam Gaddafi, (سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي) meaning: Word of Islam; attended Al- Fateh University Tripoli where he studied Engineering Science. Widely acknowledged as the heir to the throne, he performed several diplomatic roles and public relations duties for his father. Directing his own vision and efforts towards leading the people of Libya, in 2008 his PhD thesis at the London School of Economics was titled: The role of civil Society in the Democratisation of Global Governance Institutions: from 'soft power' to collective decision-making". Although the report was a source of controversy, several comments he made subsequently showed he was walking towards democracy.

Instrumental to key areas of conflict resolution between Libya and the West, Saif opened doors his father had foolishly closed for no apparent reason. Some of the spheres he played crucial roles in were:

1)    Seeking the release of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, Pan Am 103 conspirator.

2)  Successfully closed any further payments to American victims of terror due to blames of Libya’s involvement i.e. 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

3)    Although the Italian government threw out the compensation request in 2011, Saif was heavily involved in the scheme to make the former colonial power pay compensation.

This high achieving son of a dictator fell from grace to grass; captured like a common thief, he was found along with aides trying to be smuggled into Niger Republic. How did he find himself in this situation after been courted by the west as a great reformer and viewed by many as the heir that will bring democracy to Libya finally?

The Arab spring, which started in on 18 December 2010 in Tunisia, is too strong to be quelled by any government. The people of this region stood up for change, this has led to the toppling to three governments in the region, one leading to fatality. Saif stood by his father, but with his education and experience, was blind to see the strength of the Arab spring. He vowed to die for no reason. But the truth is that the leadership of the Libyan people does not reside in the hands of his family; it’s not their birth right! Everything he did contravened the appearance he put up for many years. He went ahead to lead a troop of military men that tortured and killed several civilians for no just cause. A high public figure in Britain, he had been courted at the Windsor Castle by the Royal family. He is still a personal friend to the former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Yet none of these associations brought common sense his way! If I were Saif, I would have vamoosed to Britain, before the escalation of the spring, from where I would have consistently spoken against the Junta, asking the Libyan people not to rest on their oars. He failed! Standing by his father to fight a wave of change has brought humiliation to everyone that knew him and all that he achieved; sadly this might lead to his death. Saif had no business in government, he had no business in the fight, yet he stupidly fought. What a shame!

Another question that arises here is: Why does Britain have a strong correlation with serenading terrorist, thieves and corrupt leaders around the world. Both despotic and legally elected doyens founded to be wanting have had a very cosy relationship with Britain. They have palaces in the UK and the royal family constantly entertains them, at least until the relationship goes sour.

Boko Haram: A Pandect

One mans incompetence is causing over 170 million Nigerians pain and anguish. Goodluck Jonathan has a responsibility to govern the nation of Nigeria or step aside. There has been no meaningful improvement in the country since he came into office economically, socially and politically. Watching how Boko Haram  has consistently circumvented the powers of the Nigerian Police Force and the Joint Task Force (JTF) is baffling. Apart from lacking the desire to fight this social disorder, the President is also in dire need of the right words to say at times like this. Talking tough is a walk in the right direction.

Quoted as saying: "There was no reason for this ugly incident. This is one of the Challenges of this administration. This will not be forever, it will end one day",  sounds more like ineptitude at its peak. Imagine, the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria making such a childish statement in a war against a terrorist group called Boko Haram. These butchering bunch, has an affiliation with Al- Qaeda, most importantly funding and intelligence, and all our President can say is this docile statement. Something that sounds more like he has submitted the future of our nation to fate. Its either head or tail! This is unacceptable. The fight to trample this worthless group out of existence needs more clout and vigor. We can not allow this type of incident happen again. On Christmas eve 2010,  several people lost their lives due to the acts of this group. One year later, the same group had the guts to carry out another attack on its own people and the President has nothing daring to say. In 2012, Nigerians in the diaspora want to see a change, something in the direction of safety assured for Nigerians. 

Several steps have to be taken to address this issue in 2012, if the government lacks the strategy to execute this assignment, I will offer my services. Some of the critical points of agenda that should be put in place before March 2012 are:

1. Have Ahmad Sani Yerima arrested immediately. To think that this same man that initiated Sharia Law is now a senator in Nigeria is just unbelievable. During his time as governor of Zamfara state, he not only instigated several youths to believing that the way out of Nigeria's social problem is the  enshrinement Sharia law in its statute, he actually went ahead to build an army of men to fight this cause. The core of these men run Boko Haram, finances still comes from him and several Norther leaders as well as from overseas. His arrest and interrogation will be very vital to the fight of wiping out this group.

2. Ali Ndume should be held indefinitely in detention. Part of the map that the government should build should expand into the other people responsible for financing this group. There are many of them in the country, they constantly feel untouchable. The time has come to touch them, one after another.

3. Seal our border. We have shown no concern for border security since independence. Cameron came with the aid of the international court of justice, Obasanjo and a worthless document and they left with Bakassi. Thousand of people that reside in northern Nigeria are actually not Nigerians, they are from Niger and Chad. Yet they live like kings in Nigeria, inciting people to fight against one another. Some have gone as far as governing our country without Nigerians having proof of their real heritage. As long as they speak Hausa, they come from the north. Jonathan has a duty to secure that border and prevent these people from penetrating into our land.

4. Community Policing. This has worked all around the world. The west has used this strategy successfully to fight crime and capture criminals. There is no way was can not use this same key method. Boko Haram must have left a trail somewhere, where they train (they actually do nothing except for rolling a the dirt ground) or hold their meetings; someone, somewhere must have seen something. Families that harbor these criminals must be alerted by the government to speak out now or face dire consequences in the future.

5. Trained Personnel. More money has to be pumped into the armed forces. Training to meet today's challenges of security should be put in place. The Nigerian police is understaffed, uneducated and half-witted!. Imagine the police shooting into the air, after a bomb blast to disperse a mourning crowd! How does this help? If we start by taking off the word "FORCE" from its name, perhaps they'll act more civil in their operations. The police also needs better remuneration and ammunition, something modern to combat crime and groups such as Boko Haram. 

6. Lastly, looks like the government never put enough money into the education in the north so far. It should go on a speeding spree to take the region from its status of "educationally-less-developed-area" to a higher level! There is nothing wrong with western education, we are all free to chose parts that we find comfortable. If we find certain areas uncomfortable, we can ignore such parts and more on. To use the west as a reason to bomb your own people is just simply idiotic!

A few things are clear, Sharia can not be imposed on Nigeria. Nigeria is not an Islamic state. Any attempt to do so is just a waste of time. The President has a responsibility, he should live up to it and start being the Head of the Nation!.

Christmas Day Massacre

Contending that the President, Goodluck Jonathan, is not concerned about the activities of this miserable bunch called Boko Haram, the type of attacks meted out on innocent civilians will continue. Christmas days' attack killed 39 people, left 52 people wounded but the most pitiable side of the story is the response of the rescue team. Several witnesses said government officials claimed that there were insufficient ambulances! How can this be? The excuse itself, was said without shame. Christians that left their houses to celebrate the birth of Christ, found themselves either injured, dead or in shock! The world watched in horror how people scrambles like animals for safety, the quite cities were left in mourning and pain on this wonderful day. Imagine that such an attack took place at 8.30 am, this means that these cowards, Boko Haram, thought of nothing else but how to kill its own people on a day of celebration. It is impossible that no one saw anything suspicious, not just in the cities the attack took place, but the cities where these wimps carry out their training.  The government has to come up with a strategic plan not just to wipe out this group, but also to ensure that nothing of this nature repeats itself.

           

Sadly, we have been listed now as an unstable nation, harboring a terrorist group with funding from overseas. The government can not sit back and allow this type of events to continue. It must stand up and fight this group into extinction. This war should be the only point on its agenda for 2012. Everything seems to be collapsing left, right and center, someone has to take charge and it looks like Goodluck Jonathan is not the man for this. The pattern this group, Boko Haram, has exhibited is too sophisticated, some type of support is coming from somewhere. That support has to be cut off. The approach of the Joint Task Force (JTF) has proven to be ineffective for this group. More intelligence should be channeled into this fight, if we allow this group breed like rats, we will find multiple bombing in several parts of Nigeria over night.       

This is the season of peace, love and merriment, but it has been turned into mourning and pain. A search has to be initiated immediately to find leads to this group. It should be done immediately without any further delay. May the souls of all the departed rest in peace and may the wounded speedily recover.   

                                

Eurozone & ECB: A Monstrous Ponzi Scheme

The experiment has failed! For certain it has. And more damage will be recorded in the near future. The probability that the European Union will split back to its old self, at least in a year from now, is 100% certain! The signs where there from the start, when the Tony Mayor and Norman Lamont  negotiated Britain's opting out of a single currency. Their reasons, in hindsight were realistic and very strong. Both had argued that, for a single currency to succeed, there had to be a federal system of taxation and spending applied in every country, in this case in member states of the EU. In the absence of such a system, the likelihood of a collapse is certain. That faux pas is here. Blundering nations left, right and center in the EU: Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the overlord Greece.

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the early 90's dominated crucial European submit meetings calling and following vigorously the move for the union, today we see another German fighting for its survival. Angela Merkel has been to the Bundestag twice already to beg for money to save the Euro, a third visit is close by. The latest dim idea is to allow the European Central Bank (ECB) lend up to 5 times the bail out fund of €440 Billion. This puts the total at over 2 Trillion Euros! Instead of going to the individual parliaments for increased contributions, EU leaders have resorted to using the ECB for another experiment.

The merry go round will continue, until nations in the EU revert to their original currencies and bar the freedom of movement in the zone. The call by the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to Britain to help save Greece, even though Britain is not a member of the union, is another pointer to the naivety of the leaders of the EU. Another, clearly is the: silence from strong nations like The Netherlands, the refusal of the Slovakia parliament to pay its share of the rescue fund and the poison of the Greek debt spreading into the heart of the EU. The French- Belgian bank Dexia collapse is the latest. More banks will follow in the weeks to come.   

The awful thing about this whole tragedy is that euro-zone finance ministers contrived this deceit that will eventually put all the capital investments and reserves of the ECB at risk. The freighting thing is that the ECB itself has a weak balance sheet at the moment. Who wouldn't, after standing behind defaulting euro-zone nations and their banks. The bonds (140 Billion Euros) purchased from Ireland, Portugal, Greece and others, helped to keep these nations afloat but will end up sinking the union itself. The strategy skunked from the first day and the world might end up suffering the backward ideas of these politicians. My view has always been that, the EU should have allowed Greece default (it was its own fault in the first place, joining the EU with forged figures) instead of rescuing it. This route would have hurt several French banks holding Greek bonds, true, but the problem would have been within the grasp of the union. It would have saved everyone this ordeal and maybe the so called experiment could have worked. At this rate, it wouldn't, not anymore!

Steve Jobs: A Beautiful Mind!

The internet is inundated with all types of stories following the death of Steve Jobs. On Facebook, some people have posted comments like: "One Dies many cry, many die no one cries"! Whereas, this statement is true (the picture following the caption was of black gaunt kids crowded around a sparse land with flies hovering around them), the world will still mourn and miss Steve Jobs. Heads of States have sent out condolences, likewise millions of people around the world. So much was said of this man but some people have started to question his ability. Whereas, I was tempted not to say anything following such comments, I feel silence will only spread the queries raised so far.

How would you evaluate the performance of a leader? Shareholders will look at share price during such a persons' tenure, investors will look at variability of the markets such a company is involved in and how it products fairs plus the return on investment over a period of time. If we agree to these statements then we can continue this discus, using these yardsticks as a grading tool. Simply put, Steve Jobs' performance was confounding! Holding the position of CEO for 14 years, he was interim CEO from September 16, 1997 to January 5, 2000, in a country where the average tenure has been noted to be 6 years is one feat. You have to be able to hold your own to remain that long in the seat! The most interesting part is for investors, Apple in these 14 years had a compounded annual rate of 35%! If I had 100,000 US$ back then, and I made a wise choice to invest in Apple, my net work would have been 6.86 Million US$ today! Amazingly, no company would give such a phenomenal return! I checked, none truly exist! If we extend his score card to 2011 when he stepped down, investors will have the pleasure of the following:

1.      Country-adjusted total shareholder return: 6,682%

2.      Industry-adjusted total shareholder return: 6,621%

3.      Market Capitalization increase during tenure:*** $341.5 billion

The question now is: Are we all just interested in financial gains or the innovations that brings opportunities to consumers? Apple has been in the forefront of product development, looking back at the passion Apple put into its product, one can say it  made other companies think hard and long before coming up with a design launch. 

Today, consumers can have better products at their disposal. Will this change? Who knows? Will the market be flooded now with mediocre products? Only time will tell! But one thing is for sure, the world has lost another beautiful mind. 

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs.

Shell: The 2faced Multinational

Wouldn't it be fair for some Europeans to visit Africans nations before they make sweeping statements about out polity? Let them come and see the wreckage, desecration, the reckless impiety that multinationals have perpetrated on our land. I can speak of Shell, the Dutch oil company and how it has without remorse ruined the lives of millions of Nigerians. Yet, this same company has gone on a massive campaign to polish its reputation in the Netherlands. Dutch people are actually proud of this company, in fact I was at a lecture where some people made sweeping statements about how Shell is innovative, corporately responsible, one of the top ten companies fresh graduates would love to work for and all this crap. None-sense! After the lamentable lecture, I spoke with the tutor expressing my views about Shell and how it had mutilated the Ogoniland. All I heard were several hmm’s and ahh's! Patriotic Dutch man! He refused to accept that Shell could do such a thing. The next day, the tutor brought up our discussion. His aim was to cause a stir in the class; to invalidate my comments. The class started with a picture: SHELL IS HELL!

He started by saying that some students ventilated the opposite about Shell after yesterday's lecture and he found it imperative to start today's class with a revisit to my comments. He went on to say that Shell must have given back to the Ogoniland by way of scholarships, building roads, hospitals and employing several young people. I responded by saying I was not aware of this and even if Shell had done this, it would be noting compared to the mess it left behind. One puerile student that claims he works for Shell started in very high tone: Shell is the highest employer of labour in Nigeria and they have done so much for Nigeria. I asked, from where I was sitting how he knows this and he continued in his annoying high-pitched voice, saying: I know! I work for Shell. The tutor looked satisfied but I was quick to beacon the lecture back on course by saying: let start what we have come here to do. I felt it was the right thing to do at that moment. They say pictures say a thousand words, please look at these photos and tell me how innovative this company has been since it came to Nigeria!