SARAH PALIN IS A KILLER!

Of animals, that is! Why is Sarah Palin at war with nature? Why is Sarah Palin plundering the wildlife which makes Alaska attractive to tourists thereby endangering the eco-system! It is ironical that such a pretty face loves blood! What is it that drives this Alaskan beauty queen wanna-be to be so blood-thirsty? She kills animals! She loves wars and supports the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! She loves to see blood and have been pregnant for five times! Yet she is very resolute against woman's right to choose. What is it or is she a daughter of a Vampire or is she the vampire herself?

Regrettably America is not probing hard enough at this woman's background or what her driving force is? Even PETA (people for ethical treament of animals) group has been uncanningly silent despite their protestations against animal cruelty. What is it America or is Sarah Palin going to get a free pass to the White-House without any form of scrutiny? Where is the fairness when compared to the barrage of x-ray and searchlight that was focused on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? It sounds like there is a grand conspiracy by a section of the polity to retain power at all cost and even if it means putting a neophyte Alaskan beauty queen wanna-be into the White-House.

Where is the outrage by the animal lovers about this woman, Sarah Palin, singular effort at annihilating the wildlife of Alaska? She kills anything that breathes that comes within sight except a human even if the human constitute a fetus which is not viable! Is America making a grandiose mistake by following this woman. This blogger must admit that her pretty face is tempting; but that should not be the exclusive consideration for the highest office of the land; especially at the present time when the stakes has never been higher. America, wake up and reject this side-show of the McCain's Republican Party. If it looks too good to be true, it must be fake! Icheoku says that pretty face and blood-thirsty are not both compatible characteristics and to find such in a Sarah Palin is a red flag which every American must open their electoral eyes to. If a mother of five children with such a pretty face is packing high caliber guns into the forest to shoot and kill wildlife, sometimes for her feminist can-do attitude; and to use their furs for her clothing and taxidermy just for a display, why would America not think twice before embracing this mean-spirited Jezebel hiding behind a very cute face?

It will be very late in the day when America will wake up one day to realize that they have bargained for a cloned-Dick Cheney! As always the clone usually turns out to be meaner that the original. Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face, may be Sarah Palin might shoot his President-friend in the head for a quick succession. It does not bode well when we are fighting for less guns in the society and in turn are drooling over a gun-toting beauty queen, Sarah Palin. Something is not right with this picture. It is an oxymoron; an irony of fate playing a game of possum with America. Icheoku hopes we do not fall a victim again to another semblance of "compassionate republican lingo of GW. How can a person who hurts these majestic looking animals of pristine Alaska be asking us to accept her as our vice president? Sarah Palin is a nature's punishment for animal lovers. Sarah Palin is animals worst nightmare! Sarah Palin is a terrorist to the animals of Alaskan wildlife. Please America, wage a war against animal terrorist, Sarah Palin and reject her and the ticket she represents come November 2008!

Animals also have rights and should be protected from the likes of the gun-toting and animal killing Sarah Palins of this world. Why would the native practices of wild Alaska that technically is not even America be forced on the lower 48 just because the Republican party cannot imagine life without power! A time worn saying has it, 'show me who you hang with and I will tell you who you are'. A look at the medieval friends of Sarah Palin shows what kind of primitive aadministration she will bring to Washington, assuming American are hoodwinked again into electing what will kill them.

What George Walker Bush started, Sarah Palin co-presidency with John McCain will complete and America will take the hit! If you are not tired of the past eight years, please elect them but if you are one of the several millions of Americans that cannot wait to see the nightmare at White-house retire away to Crawford, then become proactive today to elect the only meaningful hope in this election! No way! No how! No McCain! No Palin!

THE ABANDONED WIFE OF JOHN McCAIN!

Icheoku takes the pleasure to introduces you to Senator John McCain's other unsung and hardly mentioned wife, Carol McCain! Senator John McCain met and married the then Carol Shepp, a swim-suit model from Philadelphia before shipping off to duty to Vietnam in 1965. In 1967, John McCain was shot down, captured and imprisoned. It was during this time that Carol was involved in a car accident which left her in near paralysis; but never the less continued to care for their three children with John McCain.

However, when John McCain returned to the United States in 1973 after more than five years absence from home as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he found his "deformed" wife no longer palatable for his taste and abandoned her for Cindy Hensley now Cindy McCain; whom he eventually married in 1980!

A navy captain, son of a navy admiral and grandson to another navy admiral, John met Cindy in 1979 at a military reception in Honolulu. Cindy is a daughter of a very wealthy politically-connected Arizona family, Jim Hensley, founder of the Hensley and Company, the nation's third-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor.

Icheoku asks, how dare Americans considering a wife- abandoning and philandering old man as their president? If this man who cannot manage his home and abandoned a dutiful wife when she needed him most, for a bimbo, what is the guarantee that he will not abandon his campaign promises should America elect him president somewhere along the line? According to Carol John McCain, ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25.

For additional reading on the subject, please click this link and see generally the story titled "The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind" by Sharon Churcher Comments (0) Add to My Stories

GRANDPA SENATOR JOHN McCAIN: SIMPLY TOO OLD!

How would you feel waking up one morning to learn that "President" Grandpa Senator John McCain has slept on due to rigors of the office? Would you not have a perpetual tinge of guilty feelings for being partly responsible for his demise because you voted for him to be president? Is the uncertainty and infirmities of old age not enough to dissuade your vote for Senator John McCain? If not, why not? Do you really love this country or are you just in it for the prank of forcing an old man, who has been drawing on social security these past seven years, on the country as their president? Do you really believe he can deliver knowing the rigors of the office and how the office is an aging-machine which shows no mercy to its occupants? At 72 years plus old, Senator John McCain will simply be made a mince meat/hamburger by the office; so WHY?

Even Grandpa Senator John McCain himself, admitted that he is too old for the office. In his own very words, while responding to a Jim Lehrer's question, ssometime after 2000 election (attached as comment here) John McCain said "Well, in 2004, I expect to be campaigning for the reelection of President George W. Bush, and by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there"

Why then one may ask, is this very ancient man being forced on America as her president when more energetic and well qualified youth is offering himself for the service for fatherland? Is Grandpa Senator John McCain being drafted just to possibly give up the ghost in the White-House for us to bear a national burial of a seating president?

Recently in New Hampshire, while visiting Concord High School a student asked McCain if he was worried that being so old might cause him to die in office or get Alzheimer’s disease? To which Grandpa Senator John McCain responded “I work 24/7, I’m very active, and people will judge by the rigor and enthusiasm of our campaign”

It will be noted that Senator John McCain as usual just parried this question and failed to provide the answer being elicited by the question - being so old and possibly dying in office or afflicted with memory loss; and the matter of picking the Alaskan beauty queen as his running mate does not array this palpable fear in the minds of many Americans! Can you imagine dementia and the nuclear ball possible co-existence within the same person? Grandpa Senator John McCain, when will you come clean before American people and tell them in a simple narrative why a man whose prime has past, now thinks that he can provide America a leadership of the future? It is perplexing as it is astonishing! Can anyone teach a rigidly set in his ways, Grandpa John McCain any new thing? This is a man who was born before microwave oven was invented; a man who was born before the Internet and who admitted he does not know how to click a mouse; a man who shares almost the same birthday with the Golden gate bridge; a man who still lives and dwells in memory of 40 year old prison experience as a prisoner of war and you wonder, does it mean since forty years ago, Senator John McCain has not done any other thing worthy of any mention? Why dwell in a past which everyone has since acknowledged or is he on a sympathy mission? Senator John McCain is a man whose time has since past indeed! Why would America now entrust her future in this ancient man whose days are numbered and who does not have any meaningful future to work for?

So many jokes has been made about John McCain's' very advanced age and this fact is being glossed over by the media because he fits the designated pedigree! This taciturn by the media about Senator John McCain's old age and possible infirmities Icheoku thinks, is not a healthy development; and his being goaded to the White-House is putting him on a fast lane to the beyond. Please help save Senator John McCain from an early home-call, do not vote for him for president. It is a honor and mercy call America which Icheoku hopes America will heed and spare our one time war hero, the denial of his golden years. Think Alzheimer's, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think dementia, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think diaper-wearing in the Oval office, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think of sleeping through an international meetings, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think about the rigors of the office, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think about your aged loved ones and the difficulties of their advanced age, don't vote for Senator John McCain! Think of possible drooling in office, don;t vote for Senator John McCain!

If you are such a partisan hack and cannot come around to voting for the other guy, then be merciful and show mercy to old Grandpa Senator John McCain; please save him from himself and stop him from going into the White-House! His very advanced age will simply not allow him to perform to the best of his abilities therein - it is a very demanding job only suitable for the vibrant and the youthful! It is not a job for old men and Senator John McCain is an old man! Grandpa Senator John McCain should instead be scouting for a comfortable senior home to spend his fast approaching golden age where he can live out his life in peace and harmony! At this point in his time, Senator John McCain should be planning on how to live a life in retirement instead of asking to be hired by the American people for the top job in the land!

Please America, join the senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton in chorusing No how! No way! No McCain! No Palin!

DUMB AMERICANS?

Are we? Icheoku says, I don't think so! Except we bite the current bait of the pretty face hockey-mom from Alaska being thrown at us Americans by the Republican Party. Such a possible 'plebianistic' lack of sound judgment will finally confirm the predisposition of some of our politicians, that we Americans are very gullible. That we lack the capacity to know the difference between day and night except we are told! That we are too naive and can be easily led by the nose to the slaughter- house! That we very stupid and unthinking morons who could swallow any and every bait thrown our way! That it does not matter what the time says, that once we hear it from our supposed "leaders" we will gladly run to reset our timepieces! But should this be happening in the land of the free, home of the brave? Only if we do our thinking by ourselves and for ourselves! We should be more informed than our current dispositions when we are yielding to such an institutionalized Senator John McCain sudden echoing of change! This is a man whose theme, until recently, has been experience and you ask yourself, what changed? Sarah Palin, whose lack of experience is so glaring just like day and night! Sarah Palin, whose only foreign policy experience according to the McCains is that Alaska is very close to Russia so she knows Russia being thier neighbors! What a splendid answer coming from the Republican Party and you wonder why the Bush administration was below par in excellence! Is this a case of just throw the dog a bone?

Who will think that after the disastrous eight years of the Republican Party in office that there will still be left any American tending to give them a third chance at the White-house? What is the gist of this madness? The Republican Party through their stooges, Grandpa Senator John McCain and beauty queen wanna-be Sarah Palin are asking us once again for our mandate to plunder whatever may be left of the GW's bankrupt presidency! That anybody within the America polity is even considering voting for the Republican Party under any subterfuge of a John McCain or Sarah Palin is heretical and deserves of our utter condemnation. Americans should look back on the past eight years of ineptitude George Bush's presidency and rise in one deafening voice to say 'Never again! Not this time! Eight years of pain is enough hell in the hands of one political party, The Republican party and hence we should try the other guys of hope and change!

Grandpa Senator John Sidney McCain and President George Walker Bush are two Siamese twins littered by the same political-party mother ; so any American expecting any change from the same identical twins must be delusional as John McCain cannot be the change America needs at this time. John McCain is too entrenched to go against the hill of his buddies and fellow super-rich hitch-hikers in the America political terrain as well as business establishment. Senator John McCain is akin to backing a wrong horse upstream and whoever is guilty of so doing does not think of the future but nostalgic of a forlorn past! What caliber of American will be so retroactive with his ballot? Only an insanely zealot who cannot stand the wind of change currently blowing through the landscape!

Why settle for mediocrity of a rancid-tempered sick old man when an exceptionally gifted candidate of the future is offering himself to serve the fatherland? Why would America be asked once again to settle for less when we all can go for the very it! It happened before in 2000 and 2004 when the candidacy of Al Gore and John Kerry were both mortgaged for the grade 'C' candidacy of George Bush; and today, eight years after, America has all manners of wounds all over her to show for such a lack-lustre governance. What aspect of our life was not negatively impacted under George Bush's presidency? You tell me! Shall we face the same malady again? Icheoku says, let it not happen again! George W. Bush's two terms was rather too many and Americans cannot be forgiven for making the same mistake again - for the third time! We might as well then change our name to a nation of raving lunatics. If Sarah Palin was the best the Republican Party could offer to Hilary Clinton's women bloc, then American has another thing coming in view of the fundamentalist's viewpoints of this very Sarah Palin. A Sarah Palin whose ideologies are too far right. warped and very ancient that Senator John McCain looks like a teenager. What manner of woman is this Sarah? If Sarah Palin is the best John McCain can settle for then it does not matter that some women make extra efforts to improve on their status as Sarah Palin does not believe that women should have any rights whatsoever including rights to their body. If this Sarah Palin were to have her way, may be women would have still remained chattels and the right to women's suffrage would have remained a mere dream!

Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden's ticket is the answer to the question who will bring the real change to Washington DC and move America forward? OBAMA+BIDEN is the true way out of our current woods

Icheoku says that it was only due to political pandering that made the Republican Party to foist a Sarah Palin on the polity - that it merely suffices that she is a female! Sarah Palin's choice for the vice presidential slot for the Republican party is not edifying of American women and was rather an insult to the so many well qualified and highly trained women of this country who could be president in a heartbeat. Just any woman will not just do and Sarah Palin is not the right woman! America wake up and smell the coffee! Please America do not be hoodwinked into a McCain+Palin co-presidency; it is a Trojan horse of whose interior cavity there will be so many astonishing surprises, none of them palliative! It will be more of the same; so if you fared very well under GW's presidency, then vote McCain+Palin otherwise throw your hat where a possible salvation lies - OBAMA+BIDEN's ticket!

Let this opportunity presented with a Barack Obama's possibly presidency not be squandered by a wildebeest-like following; let us make our hope at a greater and better America a reality by rejecting Grandpa Senator John McCain and beauty queen wanna-be Sarah Palin co-presidency and instead elect Senator Barack Obama the next president of America!

Make your country proud, elect Barack Obama! Reject racist-tinged politics of coded messaging, elect Barack Obama! Reject four more years of the continuation of George Bush's ill-policies and failed presidency, elect Barack Obama! For a real change we can believe in, elect Barack Obama! Keep hope alive, elect Barack Obama! Barack Obama is the way, the only way that America can truly have the desired change it needs! You cannot teach an old dog new tricks and Grandpa Senator John McCain cannot be otherwise. Senator John McCain is Washington personified! Senator John McCain is the reason why Washington needs to be changed and change Washington DC will surely get under Barack Obama's presidency!

Go today to http://www.barackobama.com/ and join the train of hope and change we can believe in!

UMARU YARADUA: - HE IS ALIVE!

It is official, he is still hanging in there - he is alive! Umaru Yar'Adua was sighted in Aso Rock Abuja-Nigeria today, Monday September 8, 2008. The rumoured demise of Nigeria's "illegitimate president" Umaru Yar"Adua is a ruse as his final call has once again been defered by his creator. How long this very sick weakling will live no one knows; but surely his days appears numbered. Umaru Yar'Adua is a very sick man! His health is not yet out of wood; it is still a cause for concern for many Nigerians who honestly and reasonably fear the catastrophy his sudden death will bring about in Nigeria. He is a northerner whose turn it is to rule Nigeria and his vice president is a southerner. Who will succeed him upon his eventual death is still subject to many debates as to whether the Nigerian constitution should prevail over a domestic political party's arrangement of the PDP which zoned the office to the north?

Anyway, whatever happens, it will be good that Umaru Yar'Adua make up his mind sooner than later. Icheoku ordinarily would have advised him to resign his office and face his failing health but not in Nigeria where men are so power drunk that they would rather be taken out in a gurney than willingly cede power to another.

Is it also possible that his religious inclination, being a Muslim, is stalling his ailing kidney's transplant? It should not be the case as a lot of Muslims undergo transplant surgery. This blogger knows of many Muslims particularly from Saudi Arabia who throng to University of California San Francisco (UCSF), medical center of excellence to replace their organs; so Umaru Yar'Adua you may look west to California for a solution to your health problems before it is too late! In the meantime, Nigeria has once again been spared the bullet of political anarchy with Umaru Yar'Adua's final emergence today at Aso Rock to perform investitures on his newly appointed military service chiefs!

THE HIT LIST - our incredible but true story series: Serie 8!

1. Behold one (1) million miles odometer truck

PALESTINE, Texas - A routine package delivery turned into a milestone for a UPS driver in East Texas. Brent Boyd, 51, on Thursday surpassed one million miles on his UPS delivery truck, the same vehicle he's driven for 22 years with the company.
The odometer on Boyd's 1987 GMC truck rolled over to all zeros as he began his delivery route near Palestine. He said he's never had an accident with his company vehicle.
Boyd says the truck is "like home" and feels like "sitting in the recliner in your house."
Palestine is 105 miles southwest of Dallas.

2. Virgin Brides for a King!

Behold as tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins competed for Swaziland King Mswati III's eye during the traditional Reed Dance festival. What a glorified nudity!
Walking through the dense crowds of scantily-clad teens, the loincloth wearing sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch was expected to choose his 14th wife. King Mswati III, who has courted controversy for his lavish lifestyle while two thirds of his subjects live in poverty, sets a bad example by encouraging polygamy and teenage sex in a country where about 40 per cent of adults live with HIV.
These teenage wanna-be moms are excited at the chance of escaping abject hardship and poverty by marrying into the kingdom's affluence. A sixteen year old temptress, Tenene Dlamini opined that "I came here to dance. I wish the king would have chosen me because it's nice at the king's place. The wives live a nice life; Everything is done for them. They don't work. They earn."

The Reed Dance has been a big date on the Swaziland cultural calendar since Mswati began the ceremony in 1999. But he may not be as relaxed this year among the throngs of young half-naked women. Political groups seeking democratic reforms have become more active in a country where the opposition has been effectively banned since 1973 by royal decrees. Still, some of Swaziland's women came to the Ludzidzini Royal Village to show their admiration for the monarch. "I respect the king and I respect my culture," said Nontobeko Sdidlamini, 16, carrying a shield made of animal skin and wearing an orange bracelet, which read "Sex Can Wait." Some said they would not want to be part of a polygamous arrangement with the king and were taking part in the ceremony to prove their virginity. Others fear they lost out. "My sister is the king's tenth wife. I don't think he can choose me because he has already chosen my sister," said Zandisile Ntentesa, a 21-year-old prison employee. The king, flanked by bodyguards with pistols and sticks, may face pressure from emboldened critics. But he can take comfort from the wealth, which wins him tributes and songs at the reed ceremony. Last month, Forbes magazine listed him as the 15th-richest monarch in the world. He was the only African on the list. During the reed festivities, one of the king's wives drove up in a fancy BMW. Policemen told people to look the other way.

3. Tired of women, Man finally weds dog!

Now from the land of everything is possible comes a dog bride! We have all heard the 'man bites dog' stories, but how about a real-life 'man marries dog' tale? This one takes the biscuit, and it could only happen in India, the land of the Kama Sutra. But you won't find this kind of love story between man and beast in the ancient Indian sex manual. It took place for real during a traditional hindu ceremony at a temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The groom in question was a 33-year-old Indian farmer named Selvakumar, and he was wed to a female dog named Selvi. Family members chose a stray female dog who was then bathed and clothed for the wedding occasion. Selvi the bride was brought to the temple by village women and a Hindu priest conducted the ceremony. The paper showed a picture of Selvakumar sitting next to his canine bride, which was adorned in an orange sari and flower garland.

4. Mother microwaves her child!

A woman was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the chance for parole for burning her baby daughter to death in a microwave after fighting with her boyfriend. Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman lashed out at 28-year-old China Arnold, who opted to watch her sentencing from a side room on a monitor. "No adjectives exist to adequately describe this heinous atrocity," Wiseman said. "This act is shocking and utterly abhorrent for a civilized society."
The judge rejected a plea by Arnold's attorneys for a minimum sentence of life in prison with the chance of parole after 25 years. A jury last week spared Arnold the death penalty when it couldn't reach a consensus. "I am innocent of these charges," Arnold said in a statement read by her attorney, Jon Paul Rion. Arnold was convicted Aug. 29 of aggravated murder in the death of month-old Paris Talley in 2005. Prosecutors said she intentionally put her baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend. The couple had argued over whether the boyfriend was the biological father.

5. Expensive Television!

This blogger thought he has seen it all while shopping in a local electronics shop where a television with this price tag was in display! But wait a minute, this is very cheap compared to what is available out there for well healed and jet-paced money men and women. Now see for yourself and ask yourself if that flat screen television in your house is worth all the noise!

Modern projection television, flat panel LCDs and plasma TVs have come a long way since the black and white tubes which were first introduced in the 20th century. The TV is the centerpiece and often the TV is the most expensive purchase for one’s home theater system. Someone who truly wants to impress others with their set might ask what is the most expensive television in the world!
From Italian company Keymat Industrie comes an expensive television studded with 160 real diamonds, 20 carats. Costing €100,000, the Yalos Diamond is the most expensive TV in the world. This expensive TV has no visible screws or welds, and the aesthetics are the work of Japanese designer Takahide Sano.
Not everyone can afford such an expensive LCD TV, but for those who absolutely must have the world’s most expensive television, the Yalos Diamond is the current choice. If you were thinking of upgrading to your first HDTV, this may not be the best option, but if you are remodeling your mansion, consider this expensive TV set.

SENATOR JOHN McCAIN IS TOXIC FOR AMERICA!

"I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight for what's right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people. Fight for our children's future.Fight for justice and opportunity for all. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America. Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history. Thank you, and God Bless you!"

With the above fighting words Grandpa Senator John Sydney McCain concluded his acceptance speech of his party's nomination as presidential candidate for the Tuesday November 4th 2008 Presidential election; thus bringing to an end an otherwise drab Republican Party's convention! His acceptance speech was same old worn out Republican vitriolic without any futuristic agenda. John McCain cannot be trusted to bring any meaningful change to the establishment where he holds a platinum membership. John McCain is too old to care about the future of this country! John McCain is just the same as George Bush and all these feeble attempt to distance himself from the failed Bush eight years will fail as no one can run away from his shadow!

So America, prove that 2004 was a dumb mistake by voting right this time! Whatever your political inclination/affiliation, be smart by half and vote with your head this time! There is only one way and truly one way only and that way is not Grandpa Senator John McCain! John McCain is still under seemingly psychological nightmare and spell of his torture in a Vietnamese prison and does not have the presence of sound mind to navigate the affairs of this nation. Please reject the Republican Party and do not be fooled by the cloak of Palin or McCain or whatever decoy they may throw your way. Icheoku says, fool me once shame on you but fool me twice shame on me. Do not allow yourself to be led by the nose again to cast your lot with the drunken elephants! Reject John McCain! Reject George Bush's third term! Reject the Republican Party! Reject the eight inglorious years of GW and all the sad memories associated with it! Whatever you do, please do not vote for Senator John McCain! Remember your children and their future, John McCain does not have much left so he could care less! Vote reasonably, do not be a plebeian; do not just vote becuase of party! Please do not vote for Senator John McCain!

When you go into the voting booth, before you check that box, just think and think one thing alone GEORGE WALKER BUSH!

Full text of Senator John McCain's speech:- McCain's acceptance speech

EFCC ANTI-CORRUPTION GIMMICKRY!

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been a blow-hot agency with so much rhetoric and drama but without any recorded conviction so far. What manner of agency is this that bandy about their photo-up effort to eradicate corruption in Nigeria with little or nothing to show for its' effort all these years. Maybe they should look west to America to see how it is done - it is called jail time for corrupt officials or persons. Jack Abrmoff is going to the big house for four years for corruption as well as the halibuton official accused of bribing Nigerian officials.

Now read the two stories: -

1. US lobbyist jailed for corruption

Abramoff's assistance led to other corruption convictions. Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. Abramoff had pleaded guilty in a Washington court to charges of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favours. The case caused a scandal in Washington and sparked off a wide-ranging public corruption probe. Abramoff is already serving a six-year term for his role in an unrelated fraudulent Florida casino deal. 'Changed man' The court had heard how Abramoff made tens of millions of dollars by steering clients to consultants who charged excessive fees and then split the profits with him. Abramoff had faced a possible 11-year sentence but was shown leniency because of his cooperation in other corruption cases. In 3,000 hours of interviews with the FBI, he gave information leading to the conviction of a string of lawmakers and high-profile political figures, including one member of Congress. Abramoff told the court that he was "a broken man" and pleaded for leniency, saying it was "amazing for me to see how far I strayed and how I did not see it at the time". He said that much of the activity of Washington "lives in the loopholes" but that he had "blundered farther than even those excesses would allow". The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that the scandal was a disaster for the Republican party, leading to their loss of control in Congress in 2006. But, our correspondent says, the case is unlikely to have any impact on the current race for the White House. Abramoff's current jail term relates to the faking of a wire transfer to obtain loans to buy a fleet of casino boats.

2. Ex-KBR executive in guilty plea

KBR has been among firms involved in reconstruction in Iraq.The former chief executive of US construction firm KBR, Albert Stanley, has pleaded guilty to charges of corruption relating to Nigerian deals.Mr Stanley faces a seven-year prison sentence and must pay $10.8m (£6.07m), said the US Justice Department. He and others were accused of gaining construction deals worth more than $6bn by bribing Nigerian officials. KBR, which has caused controversy for its role in Iraq's reconstruction, had been part of Halliburton. Mr Stanley was accused of breaching anti-bribery rules under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over a decade-long period. Today's plea demonstrates that corporate executives who bribe foreign government officials in return for lucrative business deals can expect to face prosecution," said Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant attorney general.As well as criminal charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made civil charges against Mr Stanley. Along with others involved in the scam, Mr Stanley "determined it was necessary to pay bribes to individuals within the Nigerian government in order to obtain contracts to build liquefied natural gas facilities in Bonny Island, Nigeria," said the watchdog.

Nigeria's EFCC, Icheoku asks, when is your effort going to yield a prison term for all those insanely-corrupt officials in Nigeria including those implicated in the Siemens bribery scandal? The whole world is getting tired of all the road-shows being put up by your agency in the guise of fighting corruption in Nigeria and it is time you delivered or pack up your tent and go home. It is incredible as it is stupendous the pandemic corruption in Nigeria as well as the lip-service effort at eradicating it!

McPAL OPTION?

The Republican Party's national convention is gradually winding down in Minneapolis St Paul Minnesota; and it is now official, Sarah Palin is Senator John McCain's vice presidential nominee! So McCain + Palin = McPal! Will America be sold this ticket under a subterfuge of a pretty face hockey mom or will America go behind the veil to see that it is just the same as the departing George Bush's failed presidency?

Let us as Americans not repeat the mistake that gave us these past eight years of despondency, wars, foreclosures, depreciation of the dollar, loss of jobs, weakened economy, tension and above all divisiveness.

Grandpa John McCain could not freely choose a running mate of his choice, so how can we expect that he will freely run his government. The far right American-Talibans fundamentalist Christians will hijack his government as shown with their imposition of Sarah Palin on him. Are Americans ready for a fundamentalist government? Icheoku says, "I DON'T THINK SO!" It will be a cross too heavy for Americans to bear! Every extremism is dangerous for a country as diverse and multi-cultural as ours and this ticket therefore, must be stopped at the door!

So No McCain! No Palin! Enough of the Republican Party!

CKD HUMAN BODY PARTS FOR SALE!

Completely Knocked Down Human Body Parts for Sale! It is not out of a Stephen King's novel or one of those horror movies out of the studios in Hollywood; no it is real life imitating art right in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia! Two brothers Louis and Gerald Garzone, along with James McCafferty, who ran Garzone Funeral Home and crematorium admitted that they sold corpses to a company that trafficked in stolen body parts. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy, theft, abusing corpses and welfare fraud.

The macabre scheme involves selling bodies deposited with them for cremation to a body parts harvesting company Fort Lee (a New Jersey based Biomedical Tissue Services "BTS"). This company in turn harvests necessary bone, skin, tendons, tissues and other body parts for re-sale to a tissue reprocessing company in Florida, sometimes for a whopping price tag of $11,000 per a body. The Florida company then put these processed human body parts in the stream of medical commerce - selling to hospitals and patients needing transplants and implants throughout the country. In all, the Garzone brothers sold a total of 244 corpses to BTS in the scheme netting them over two hundred thousand dollars at $1000 dollars per corpse; all without the consent or approval of the deceased's family. Such a single body could in turn yield bone and tissues parts worth more than $4,000! It is also noteworthy that some of these bodies died of very contagious disease such as cancer, aids or hepatitis C but their causes of death were usually disguised; and also some of corpses were too old or too

diseased to be harvested legally.

The master-mind of the scheme and owner of the body parts harvesting part in New Jersey, Michael Mastromarino (pictured here left) pleaded guilty to the charges in Philadelphia, which could net him life behind bars. Michael Mastromarino, a former Fifth Avenue, Manhattan New York oral surgeon/dentist had earlier pleaded guilty to 14 counts in a similar New York case that included enterprise corruption, body stealing and reckless endangerment in which he faces between 18 years and 54 years in prison and will forfeit $4.68 million for running the operation.

The investigation covered a period during which a total of 1,077 corpses were sold and bought and carved up by the New Jersey based company; which netted body parts worth between $6 million and $12 million between 2001 and 2005. According to two convicted body parts cutters, Lee Cruceta, 35 of Monreo New York and Chris Aldorasi (right) their job involves removing bones from the legs and replacing them with plastic piping in case an open-casket funeral was held. In their own words, “we put poles in the body, sewed up the holes and waited for Joe to prep the bodies". Bodies were sourced from several funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania among which were that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke (left) who died of lung cancer on March 30, 2004 at the age of 95 ; Lois Elder, 58, of Philadelphia who died of complications from a stroke in April 2005; 74-year-old James Thornton and 81 years old husband Joseph Folger. See generally Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei for additional reading!

Capo Louis Garzone!

A DYING PRESIDENT?

The sickly weakling from Katsina State, Umaru Yar'Adua, who was imposed on Nigerians by the cabals led by disgraced Olusegun Obasanjo is dying! Will he be the first president to die in office in Nigeria? No, as the other munchkin, midget Sani Abacha also kicked the bucket while in office. But unlike the military succession that immediately produced Abdulsalm Abubarkar as successor to Sani Abacha, there will be crisis of no mean magnitude should Umaru Yar'Adua suddenly drops dead. First is that vice president Jonathan Goodluck will not be allowed by the north to succeed him, this ordinarily would have been the natural thing to do, but the Northerners will insist that they serve out their turn as president of Nigeria after Olusegun Obasanjo's Yoruba governance. Now the other problem will be whether Jonathan Goodluck will accept another pupillage under a new imposed president from the north?

And if a new president were to be produced, what will the process look like? Another imposition, an election or a national assembly-led intervention? But then what will the brand of Nigerian democracy be called for purposes of scholars and commentators? Will a power crisis between a down but not yet out Olusegun Obasanjo and the northern oligarchs ensue on who chaperons the succession and who will be at the receiving end of this fight of the titans - Nigerians of course!

Either way, there is no meaningful way out should the inevitability of Umaru Yar'Adua's demise happen now. This is what is wrong with Nigerians and the kind of leadership they have come to accept in that country. Were it to be a proper place where democracy is thriving, maybe a full disclosure-vetting of Umaru Yar'Adua's candidacy would have revealed that he is an unfit and improper person to even run for the presidency of Nigeria by reason of sickness. Better still Umaru Yar'Adua himself would have declined the offer to be appointed president of Nigeria and if appointed anyway, refused to serve! This shows the cross-roads of Nigeria and the reason there can never be any meaningful progression in that country. A mixed bag of very fickle and feeble leadership in a country with bountiful of men and women of gravitas who would have motivated and moved the country to greater heights. Olusegun Obasanjo mid-wived this imbroglio of Umaru Yar'Adua's failing health crisis and it was for a purpose; since he Obasanjo was fully aware of the debilitating health condition of Umaru and yet imposed him on Nigerians anyways.

Icheoku says, it shall not be well with you Olusegun Obasanjo and demands that Nigerians revisit and reconsider all the bonds yoking the different nationalities together with a view to granting some autonomies within the union and/or at least put in place a real working federation. This is in order to let the people who want to move be able to move forward to cart their destiny without undue encumbrance by an ailing man from far-away rustic Katsina State; who instead of marshaling out policies of state is busy fighting a battle for his life in various hospitals around the world, from Germany to Saudi Arabia! To Umaru Ya'Adua, Icheoku asks and demands that you come clean with a full disclosure of the nature of your ailment or quietly resign your office should you be too ashamed of Nigerians learning the nature of your sickness. There is nothing to hide about being sick because nobody inflicts sickness on himself. Finally whatever you do, you must not die in office as the ensuing crisis might destroy Nigeria as we know it!

For what other Nigerians are saying about their secretive dying imposed president Umaru Yar'Adua, click Disclose Your Ailment, Nigerians Tell Yar'Adua!

HURRICANE GUSTAVE!

Despite all the hype about Hurricane Gustave, it failed to deliver! It did not live up to all the hullabaloos upon touch down in the southern coastal states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Florida. What happened? Was it the nay-sayer meteorologists at the weather institutes who never get it right or simply mother-nature once again fooling mankind's attempt at grasping its ways and means? Whatever it may be, one thing is certain - that Hurricane Gustav did not deliver the expected knock-out punch.

It was a weaker-than-expected hurricane which merely stoked New Orleans with just sending water sloshing harmlessly over its rebuilt levees/flood-walls. The storm that crashed ashore as a Category 2 hurricane had by late Monday been downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.

Gustav quickly marched inland reducing the prospect of heavy rain in southern Louisiana. The storm is expected to further slow down as it heads into Texas and possibly into Arkansas, and could bring 20 inches of rain to those areas. As Gustav passed, authorities turned their attention to Hurricane Hanna, which could come ashore in Georgia and South Carolina late in the week.

Until next time, Icheoku hopes southern American coastal states have dodged the bullet - Mr. GUSTAVE!

REPUBLICANS ARE HYPOCRITES!

They complained about Barack Obama's supposed "inexperience" and they chose a honky mom beauty pageant contestant from very remote Alaska for their vice president! Inexperienced? Tell Icheoku about that! Now it turns out that this bimbo cannot even raise a decent God-fearing family, her 17 year old daughter Bristol Palin is pregnant with a child outside wedlock! Her mother Sarah Palin was a "stripper" now her daughter is a "hooker" having sex and getting pregnant outside wedlock at just 17 years!

The over-sexed girl from Alaska daughter of Senator John McCain's vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is here pictured right wearing a white inner blouse with her father and her inept beauty contestant mother. She is just 17 years old and heavily pregnant outside wedlock! Emerging yet to be confirmed story has it that she is being coerced into marrying the "tout" who got her pregnant, just to save face and possibly her mother's political career.

How dare the Republicans shift the goal-post each time with varying templates just to suit their very parochial and warped minds? This makes them unrepentant racist bigots! What moral family values are we talking about here? First their presidential candidate Grandpa Senator John McCain dumped his wife of several years to marry the lizardly-looking Cindy McCain; now their vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, a beauty contestant from Alaska has a daughter who is pregnant without being married. So much for moral values, the Republican Party's style!

Now you may read the developing scandal of the 17 year old daughter of a honky mom from tundra God-forsaken Alaska named Sarah Palin whom Republican Grandpa Senator John McCain chose as his vice presidential candidate:- Gov. Sarah Palin says 17-year-old daughter is pregnant