KATHY SCRUGGS LOTTERY WINNER, IS SHE SAFE?

Icheoku is just paranoia about certain things and hopes that our fears are not founded with this black Georgian woman who just won the lottery. Already they are saying it was "mistakenly" won and you wonder how somebody who purchased two different tickets could have "mistakenly" win the lottery? 

Abraham Shakespeare of Florida, a blackman, once won $30 million in lottery prize only to turn up later dead and entombed in concrete behind his girlfriend's yard? Hopefully the latest lottery winner in Georgia will stay safe and utilize her winnings in the best possible productive way. Goodluck Kathy; and may your luck not bring you untoward sorrows but joy and happiness. May be it was a payback for the wrongly convicted and recently executed blackman in Georgia for a blackwoman to now win the lottery in Georgia?

PRESIDENTIAL MEETS, WHAT DO THEY REALLY TALK ABOUT?

Icheoku sometimes wonders what the heck in the world do presidents talk about behind closed doors whenever they meet; especially Nigerian presidents with American presidents, whenever they are privileged to be invited to the White House? Icheoku is deliberating this thought in view of those seemingly intractable problems facing Nigeria which to America and the rest of the advanced world is not really much of a biggie, having encountered and conquered similar problems during their years of progression to modernity. 

Put in another way, why can't Nigerian presidents via these presidential meets, tap from the wealth of experience of these advanced countries which have since figured out how to draw rings around such problems which still constitutes Nigeria's 800-pound gorilla in our midst? Icheou says if these countries, through their shared experiences of the past, have devised and mastered solutions to Nigeria's current seemingly daunting problems, why does our so leaders or presidents so called, not exploit such forums as their private meets with presidents of these advanced countries, to seek and harness solutions to Nigeria's still existing and recurring many problems? All they have to do is to put the American President or British Prime Minister on the spot during such meetings and extract firm promises on their countries helping Nigeria resolve its many problems. Such Nigerian president should follow up such meets with a press conference and announce to the world what their hosts' commitments to helping Nigeria are; and let such host president or prime minister recant it or fail to live up to the promise.

Icheoku is surprised that visiting Nigeria presidents do not determinedly broach such issues of helping Nigeria with their host presidents or prime ministers; and even beg them to please help Nigeria solve her many debilitating problems. There is no shame in begging and it takes a humble mind to admit to one's shortcomings/handicaps and then ask for assistance.  Any audacious and courageous patriotic president of Nigeria, who wants to do good by the Nigerian people, would always use such opportunity of a meet to seek assistance from these advanced countries to help Nigeria travel their own journey of developing their own country.  But unfortunately, it would seem that various Nigeria presidents do not exploit this diplomatic avenue beneficiary and fruitfully; and are merely content with the photo-op that follows it? 

Icheoku sometimes queries whether these Nigerian presidents are too coy, naive, shy or even too proud to "beg" for such favors; knowing the haughty genes running inside the average Nigerians' gnome. Sometimes too, Icheoku is forced to believe that these Nigerian Presidents are awe-struck and dumbfounded being in the presence of these White-men presidents and prime ministers of these advanced countries to even voice an opinion; talkless of making some demands or requests? They are simply put, held spellbound at the presence of their colonial masters and are wary of offending them by saying certain things that they may not ordinarily want to hear? Or could it be that these Nigerian presidents are simply too stupefied during such meets to make any meaningful demands of what it is their country wants in form of assistance from such advanced countries? Such presidential meets it would appear is a forum where Nigeria presidents are given handouts of what those  advanced countries want out of Nigeria; and how they would like certain things to be done by the Nigerian president as would be beneficial to their own countries, especially in the areas of oil and gas? Any close observation of Nigeria presidents emerging from such meets often depicts an image of a little misbehaving child who have just been scolded and reprimanded by her parents or superiors; and asked to go and sin no more? 

For instance, the biggest engineering country in the world - the United States of America, a friend of Nigeria, could easily have been cajoled by a deft and crafty Nigerian president into helping resolve the intractable engineering challenges of Lagos-Ibadan and Ore-Benin roads; or the second River Niger bridge which could be easily finished in a matter of weeks or at worst just under few months? What about the West-East road which the terrain is inhibiting its completion, or the South-North rail-lines or even the under-producing Kainji dam? Icheoku have witnessed civil engineers perform timely construction magic with roads and bridges the world over especially in the United States of America; with some principal  engineers in some construction companies pledging their lives should their work ever fail for want of quality. Icheoku hereby challenges Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan to beg the American President Obama for help with those impassable roads in Nigeria and see those roads put in good pleasurable use for the next twenty years without any major repair work or damage; talkless of a complete non-motorable failure, provided adequate maintenance culture is imbibed. Or better still, let Jonathan beg Obama to help give Nigeria the elusive power supply and have Nigerians "powered" uninterrupted for less and very few power stations. Nigeria's electricity power need is very minimal comparatively and could easily be supplied with uninterrupted power minimally. 

But every engineering project in Nigeria is left for Julius Berger which in the world of engineering, has not secured a berth in the lofty shores of proven engineering marvel or feat; yet in Nigeria, because of the manner of commandeering every business as a monopoly, it is all Julius Berger or nothing? Of all the engineering wonders of the modern world, Julius Berger cannot point to any with their "prized" logo on it, but in Nigeria they enjoy a near-total monopoly of major construction projects and you wonder why the roads and bridges in Nigeria are in despondent state? Icheoku is not saying that Julius Berger does not do a "good job," but that they should have some viable competition to fight for all those jobs that is usually theirs for asking or sometimes unsolicited. Nigeria government should liberalize that sector of the economy and allow some other engineering firms and companies to move into Nigeria for business. That way, Nigeria's engineering sector will be better with services rendered in order to attract future contracts and not as a monopoly who knows that the government has no other option. 

Sometimes Icheoku feels it is loosing its mind thinking about Nigeria's missed opportunities and those seeming impossibilities and problems of Nigeria which have readily available kindergarten-solutions; yet one sees all those pretenders to the crown of solution and problem-solving, pontificating endlessly without resolving those problems. If Icheoku were in a position, every minister or commissioner in charge of any department or ministry of government would have less than six months to prove that they can get the job done or be showed the way out. The money to do the job is there, so Icheoku does not understand their excuse, for year in year out, telling Nigerians they would soon have this and that but without ever delivering the promised result? Icheoku says if it means going to planet Mars to hire some aliens to do the job that needs to be done, so be it; but please just get the job done or their arse is history. But unfortunately, the Nigeria situation is so convoluted that it precludes really accountability and performance as tasked-offices are occupied by partisans who were simply rewarded for their contributions and support during the election, hence they see their respective assignments as goldmines to recoup and pay themselves first, before doing the job for which they were selected. 

Nigeria still have power problem in today's world when universities and colleges have their own independent private power stations and sometimes even sell power to cities and governments in the United States? Nigeria have security problems when institutions and colleges even have their own independent and private police forces and sometimes help cities and governments with their own policing needs as might from time to time arise and  which overstretches their own police force? Nigeria cannot maintain its three refineries when Koch Industries refineries are looking for where to sell their refined petroleum products and/or where to build new refineries. Nigeria Airways cannot maintain its few airplanes when United Parcel Service courier company has over four thousand continuously flying airplanes; and United and American Airlines have a combined total of airplanes in excess of eight thousand? Nigeria's national hospital is a glorified clinic when Kaiser group, a privately held hospital, employs over four thousand doctors with several state of art medical centers to die for and the list goes on and on. 

So with such recurring opportunities to smooch American presidents or British Prime Ministers or other world leaders, Icheoku asks why are Nigeria presidents not being more exploitative of such openings? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar etc are all well developed, yet none of their citizens knows how to lift a tool since they do not work but are on permanent scholarship and gratuity; but their leaders have dutifully employed to good use their oil blessings, twisting arms and playing politics of oil to their country's benefit. Their engineering tasks are done by Western countries using abundant Asian labors, yet an ordinary road in Nigeria called Ore-Benin road has remained impassable and a death trap. Most recently it added a top flight Nigerian musician Dj Moph to its litany of victims and it is also important to remind our readers that eminent writer Professor Chinua Achebe became confined in a wheel chair as a result of a car accident on the same  stretch of roadway. But for Nigeria's oil, it is a free for all scramble, where the West "freely" take without giving back tangibles in return or should Icheoku say, the Nigerian minders could care less if dividends are ploughed back to the society. 

Icheoku asks what is the use of these meetings if nothing concrete is discussed and obtained therefrom towards helping Nigeria surmount its legion of problems? Icheoku wonders what President Goodluck Jonathan said to President Barack Obama during their last meets at the just concluded United Nations meeting in New York? Was he just like the dutiful servant, who listened with head bowed as Obama dictated to him what America would like to see become of his clay-footed administration in Nigeria? Or was President Goodluck brave enough to man it up to Obama and let America know that on his shoulders rests the fate of over 150 million blackmen and women of Africa who call Nigeria home and who expect the same good quality of life available in America. Did the president after Obama has finished asking about the menace of Boko Haram, plead with him for some assistance both in finance and manpower as well as technical know-how as he struggles with the hydra-headed blood-letting monster that Boko Haram Islamic terrorists has become? Did President "Goodlucky" Jonathan look President Barack Obama right in the eyes and say to him, 'Mr President on behalf of my people - the people of Nigeria, I want to report to you that Boko Haram has become an octopus which we do not have the necessary wherewithal to kill or cage and could you please rush needed aid to Nigeria as we struggle to put it under control?' Icheoku says Mr President should have added to whatever it was he discussed with Obama the following:- 'President Obama, please remember that US gets part of their oil from Nigeria and if Nigeria unravels, so would your access to cheap oil. So come to Nigeria's aid at this their hour of most need.'  What a day that will be when there will be a Nigerian president, standing tall in the comity of nations, who truly gets the back of Nigerians; and not one who is just pandering to those world leaders, whose commendations he values more than the "hold-his-feet-to-fire" criticism he gets at home.

FACE OF OGONI, FACE OF AGONY!

 Icheoku says something is inherently wrong in Nigeria and for Nigeria's leaders to allow or tolerate the degree of pillaging by oil companies in the Niger Delta, resulting in the despondency therein. A Kegbara Dere woman, Rivers State, Nigeria woman pictured, mirrors the agony of the people of Niger Delta South-South Nigeria, caused by oil. They are forced to live in subhuman condition with little or nothing to show for their God-given oil wealth, day in day out?

Look at her face of pain and suffering, with a stick for toothbrush and a skeletal body that is barely holding up. Yet the bellowing black smoke is gas being flared directly behind her hut and on her land making others rich while her condition  gets worse. One wonders what then is the benefit of having oil flowing in one's backyard if this image is all that is left of inhabitants of the Niger Delta area of Nigeria? If Icheoku were President Jonathan, a state of emergency or a Niger Delta 'Marshal Plan' would have since been declared to help these deprived peoples of Niger Delta wipe away their tears. 

Niger Delta's abject poverty in the midst of plenty and their plenty for that matter, since the oil is in their land, makes the case for a total rebirth of that part of Nigeria absolutely imperative. Icheoku says what is going on in the Niger Delta is simply unacceptable and it does not matter how many militants are on some government scholarship or skill-acquisition program - a total make-over of those communities and their people is required and now. Enough of this man's inhumanity to his fellow man - it is their oil wealth so give something back to them. It is only in Nigeria that someone else would be reaping the benefit of oil found in another's land. If elsewhere, such as Texas, USA, the Sheriff will come to town shooting with both hands from the hips. Icheoku urges you to just take one more look at this face of an Ogoniland Nigeria woman and behold a face of immense agony, reflecting a people whose only offense is being endowed with natural resources of fossil fuel which produces wealth they are not allowed to partake in? It is callous, it is depraved, it is inhuman and ought and should stop!

WARNING, POLISHING THE KNOB KILLS?

Icheoku says once again, medical research is out to panic the Monica Lewinskys of this world, as they have added oral copulation to those practices that will kill you? In addition to smoking and drinking, some crazed-out research fellows now says that 'cleaning the chalice and polishing the knob' will give you cancer of the mouth and throat aka Oropharynx cancer. 

Icheoku concludes that either these research people are agents of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine manufacturers and wants more commission from getting men also vaccinated or they are simply a bunch of sadists who are not happy seeing humans enjoy their life and are bent on frustrating any enjoyment whatsoever. No smoking, no drinking and now no polishing of the knob or cleaning of the vessel? Icheoku says it is better to die doing what you enjoy than to die miserable; afterall everybody gonna die, so what the heck of trying to live your life on someone else standards? To hell with these detractors and inhibitors!

ANWAR AL-AWLAKI KILLING, AL QUEIDA TAKES ANOTHER ONE ON THE JAW.

 Icheoku says the best rule of the thumb for anyone, anywhere in this world is not to mess with the Americans. They never forgive nor forget and will hunt you down no matter how long and how much it costs. Luckily the flying death-machine aka drone, never rests nor tires as it perpetually keeps all American enemies on their toes as any little mistake translates to their last breath on this earth. 

The latest harvest of this flying death-messenger is American-born, Yemeni-based, al-Qaida cleric turned terrorist, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was incinerated today alongside one other America wanted terrorist. They were spotted while making a quick dash through the desert in their vehicle to a meeting and were summarily dispatched to meet with their seventy virgins. Icheoku is impressed and says, may the good fight continue until all enemies of the United States are subdued. In case you forgot who this terrorist was, he trained and dispatched Nigerian diaper/underwear bomber, Abdulmuttalab, who wanted to bring down a Detroit bound airline last December 2009. Now one of the best military ssets of the United States will be fully honed on finding Egyptian born Al-Queida CEO Alman al Zawahiri for his own expedited dispatch to eternity. Congrats USA!

POLICIES OF REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES, OLD WINE IN OLD BOTTLES - DAVID AXELROD.

 Political operative and master tactician, the Democratic Party's answer to Republican's Karl Rove and the man whose political ingenuity put a blackman in "their" White House, David Axelrod, said that the field of Republican Party's presidential candidate wanna-be is greatly flawed. It is his position that all the candidates position on issues represent the tried and test but failed policies that put the straight-jacket on the US economy in the first place and would not change anything now. 

According to his analysis, although it is going to be a steep climb of a reelection for President Obama, but he shall emerge victorious admitted he may be a little scathed and that deregulation and tax cuts will not cut it. Analogizing further, Mr Axelrod said, "This isn't new wine and old bottles. This is old wine and old bottles." Icheoku agrees with this assessment completely, coming from a man whose mastery of the political terrain is enough to award him a double PhD therein. Now America, take your pick since those named presidential candidate wanna-bes are not offering anything new as a fix for the ailing economy.

DARK CLOUDS OF WAR, GATHERING OVER PAKISTAN?

Icheoku says it does not take a rock science of political analysis of international relations for any honed observer to know that a United States of America's military action or even invasion of Pakistan is a very imminent likelihood. If the government in Islamabad knows what they are doing, they should as a matter of great urgency start placating Washington DC immediately before they have a destroyed country left in their hands. 

Icheoku had previously called for the dropping of some bombs on Pakistan as a lesson on how not to sabotage our anti-terrorism efforts in that God-forsaken region of the world. Now the case is gradually but steadily being made to sensitize Americans and the world on why America boots should be marching into Pakistan and it is gathering some wind. Their lack of good fate with helping the cause in Afghanistan is an open secret; they proactively support the ongoing terrorism ravaging Afghanistan; they are home to so many wanted terrorists; they harbored Osama Bin Laden until he was dispatched to meet with his ten virgins deep inside the dark Arabian sea; they have supported or carried out known terrorist act against America's interests in Afghanistan and last but not the least, they have been fingered in the 2007 murder of an American military officer, Major Larry J. Bauguess! Icheoku says if this litany of Pakistani's atrocious, bellicose and belligerent behavior towards America and against America's interest in that region is not enough provocation as would warrant some military action against a hostile country, which Pakistan has become, then nothing else so qualifies. And with the 2012 election around the corner, may be kicking of some balls in Islamabad might be a good way for a shot in the arm of the White House; or is Icheoku reading these ominous signs wrongly?

"I SEE GOLIATHS EVERYWHERE" - PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN.

 Akin to the child prodigy Osmet in the movie "Sixth Sense" who "sees dead people everywhere," Nigerian President Goodluck Ebelesimi Jonathan now sees Goliaths everywhere in Nigeria. Icheoku wonders whether the president is collapsing mentally to all those occultic powers constantly bombarding him in the spiritual realm or he is suddenly realizing that being a president is a "real hard-work?" 

According to the president, "there are very, very terrible Goliaths everywhere. There are Goliaths that can easily kill their mothers and fathers and even some of their children. And to stop government, they are willing to to do it. These terrible Goliaths would want to frustrate us. But, surely, with God, we will conquer them. Every Goliath has an exposed forehead. All the Goliaths that are stumbling blocks to the development and growth of this country, God will expose their heads for the stone of David." 

Icheoku says there could only be two known Goliaths in Nigeria at worst - Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, two men who can really become a stumbling block for the president if they so choose. So Mr President instead of seeing imaginary Goliaths everywhere, start devising a game-plan to cage them or shoot them down with your David's stone. It is about time you start real governing and stop seeing shadows or hallucinating about non-existent Goliaths that are supposedly hounding your government and making it impossible for you to deliver on your campaign promises. 

Please name those Goliaths who are stopping you from doing the work for which you were elected so that Nigerians could put them to shame them or help you slay them. Better still, If you cannot stand the heat, just get out of the kitchen or did anyone ever tell you it was going to be an easy job being Nigeria's president. Take a cue from the former US President George Bush who publicly admitted that the presidency is a hard work. So is Icheoku hearing the same from you, President Jonathan since the rest of Nigerians are not seeing those larger-than-life Goliaths stopping you from doing your work? The really problem here is an ill-prepared president who appears clueless on how to really shake things up for Nigeria to trudge on, now making excuses for his shortcomings? Mister President, icheoku says to you, just put aside the fear of whatever apparition you may be seeing as it is all in your head and start governing - no bogey man is out there to get you!

NIGERIA IS ON GOD'S AUTO-PILOT, SAYS PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN?

Icheoku says little wonder Mr President is gradually metamorphosing into another President Go-Slow like his late boss and predecessor President Umaru Yar'Adua. The President believes that Nigeria is now a theocracy with God at the helm of affairs and so he must wait for God to decide when things get done in Nigeria? 

Wonders shall never end that an "elected" leader of a people should possess of such stagnant pious mindset, waiting for a "God" to come and do his job for him? Icheoku says and hereby call on the President Goodluck Ebelesimi Jonathan to quit the office if he does not have the fire in the belly to understand that heaven helps those who help themselves. Nigeria is a democracy and not a theocracy whose citizens are eager to reap their democracy-dividends here on earth and from his good governance. God did not run for Nigeria's president nor was God voted for president by Nigerian electorates, so it will be a misplacement of responsibility to expect God to now do the job for which President Jonathan ran and was elected president. What a hilarious comedian Nigerians have for a president and you wonder why nothing is moving forward since since he assumed office as Nigeria's president, waiting for God to provide the much needed leadership that has  eluded Nigeria for too long? 

Icheoku thought that the president's legion of ministers and advisers are more than enough to do the job for him; but now he also wants God to completely take over as president and commander in chief of Nigeria? Continuing his thoughtless guffaw, President Goodluck Jonathan added that 'although he neither possesses the command of a military general nor the mean-streak of a despotic ruler, but he will change the country?" To which Icheoku asks President Jonathan, how and when since you are not in charge but God; and also a wimp cannot bring about desired change? What a day that Nigerians are forced by the man they entrusted with their leadership to nostalgically wish the do or die area father was still running things and not someone waiting for God to descend and take over the mantle of leadership from his unprepared and incapable hands.  

PUTIN'S SECOND COMING, NOT GOOD FOR RUSSIA.

Icheoku does not care a hoot whether or not Vladimir Putin is the best thing to ever happen to Russia after the invention of vodka; but for the former president and current prime minister to stage a comeback to the Kremlin as president is not one such aah moment for any impartial observer. It is rather a political revolving door from which nothing progressive ever emerges as an old leader is recycled yet again and in Russia. 


Such recycling of leaders is a common happenstance in third world countries but not in a country that supposedly prides itself as a top tier country in the world. A Russia that wants to be taken seriously and accorded its rightful place among the comity of nations should not so micro-manage its leadership that a single man should dictate its policies for twenty odd years, the expected future two term of Putin considered in addition to the previous eight. Evolution is good for virtually everything including the running of any government, otherwise ideas and polices become stale and stagnated and so does the polity itself leading to dictatorship. Simply put in another way, what is developing in Russia with the reported second coming of Vladimir Putin is a dictatorship glorified, pure and simple. So Icheoku asks, where is NATO on this development or are they waiting first for a Tsarist Spring to ensue before they do something to discourage or dissuade Putin with his planned return to Kremlin?


Why Putin and what does he wants to prove this time around with his second coming to Kremlin, assuming he ever left. Is Putin trying to say to the rest of the world that no one else in Russia can preside over mother Russia absent his petite self and you ask yourself was there no Russia before he was born and would Russia screech to a halt when he takes his final bow out from this earth. Icheoku does not get it nor does it want to get it that a country of more than 140 million should be so hypnotized by just one man as to willingly permit his playing ping-pong with their presidency and in a democracy; except that former President Mikhail Gorbachev had warned previously that what obtains in Russia is not a democracy strictly called but a form of power ping-pong between Vladimir Putin and whoever he picks as a sparring partner. How can a country so big and potential so untapped be taken hostage by just one man as to do with it whatever he pleases and the days of the Tczars was supposed to be since over? Why are those governments which accused former President Mubarak of Egypt of metamorphosing into a Pharaoh not by the same token raise some curiosity of a Czar Putin in the making or is it a case of some animals being more equal than the others? It is stupendously complicated and incapable of any meaning or rational understanding. 


When the world thought that Russia was turning the corner with the election of a lawyer president and that it would be a progressive onward march hence, here comes marching  back to the center-stage of Kremlin policy making, a security operative, steeped in the old cold war mentality and you wonder for what purpose? The world had gone through a lot of transition since the last time Putin was president including reduced tension in most of the world's hot spots; China has also become a strong emerging power fiercely nudging the United States of America and is content to occupy the number two spot and would not play any second place to either Russia or incoming Putin. So what is gained by a Vladimir Putin heralded return and second coming into Russia presidency, which he never really vacated but bidded his time as his boy Medvedev completed his assigned mandate or should Icheoku say held the fort while the boss waited on the sidelines. All those projection of power argument is nonsense and so also are those bare-chest display of a macho man on a horse-back as the world has since moved on from the era of Putin and it is not ready to slow down now for Putin to play a catch up. 


But it is not just Icheoku, how would Putin himself even feel coming back this time to meet with an entirely different generation of world leaders who have happened on the stage since the last time Putin was there? How would he feel to be seen as a "grandfather world leader" since all those other world leaders he earlier played the scene with have all retired now and enjoying their retirement from the world stage; and here he comes marching back to start learning all over how to schmooze and play with these new generation world leaders. Icheoku says it is akin to a student who refuses or never graduates from college and goes through matriculation each time with freshmen, while his colleagues whom he initially enrolled with have all graduated and moved on to some other ventures in life.


Icheoku says to Russians, your understandable love for Putin notwithstanding, his reemergence in the Kremlin is retrogressive and not what a forward-looking Russia needs at this time. Icheoku have nothing personally against Putin and admires his records; but says that since his reemergence brings nothing new to the table and is rather a distraction from a pure democratic march forward, it could and should have been avoided. At best he could have remained the man behind the scene calling the shots as a prime minister or the acknowledged boss of Russian politics and security. 


In making his intention known, Putin said, "I want to say directly: Medvedev and I reached an agreement between ourselves long ago, several years ago, on what to do in the future, on who should do what. But both I and Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev believe that this is far from being the most important thing -- who will do what, who will sit in what place. What is far more important is something else: how we will all work, what results we achieve, and what the citizens of our country think of this." Icheoku says what an arrogant and arrant nonsense of a statement for Putin to make as if himself and Medvedev owns Russia or are the only competent and capable Russians in a country of more than 140 million people to decide for Russians who shall occupy what position in their governance. The last time Icheoku checked Russia does not have a "Plc" or "Llc" or "Inc" as a suffix after its name and you wonder how a country which is not a public company could be run as one and by a man who sees himself as both a director and shareholder of "Russia Plc" with unlimited powers to decide who becomes its president and/or prime minister? 


The two Russian wise-men are trading places, with each taking over from one another just like a swap-meet; and you wonder what kind of democracy Russia really practices. It is a democracy-disgrace that such an arbitrary trade of offices between this two men of little stature and especially the return of a recycled Putin could be tolerated in 2011 Russia; yet Russia is not a third world country? Icheoku says every Russian should be ashamed of what their republic has become - a little polity that could be easily hijacked by a Putin, whose ego is such that you would think he is ten feet taller than all Russians and that makes him the only thing mother Russia ever desires and deserves. A time like this surely calls for an Arab-styled Tczarist Spring in Russia to usher in a much needed and long overdue rebirth of the polity or did Bolshevik revolution not take place in the old Soviet Union including the present Russian for crying out loud.

FOLSOM STREET FAIR, GOING BUTT NAKED IN SAN FRANCISCO!

Still wondering why San Francisco California has the reputation as one of the most friendly cities in the world; where it is okay to be whatever you want to be and do whatever it is that keeps your body and soul together? Where nobody judges you for who you are - whether straight or crooked, gay or lesbian, transgender as well as other 'born-that-ways' or even totally celibate? 

Such is the degree of freedom one gets therein that it is even legally okay to light up a joint in front of a police officer provided you are having some pain somewhere, hence using it as medicinal recreation. The city by the bay has so infused free in freedom that so many would-be suicides are no longer suicidal and have deferred or completely changed their plans to jump off the majestic Golden-Gate bridge to eternal freedom? Icheoku says, desperate for freedom to live and enjoy yourself, take the next plane or Amtrak or Greyhound on a one-way ticket to SF and join the party. This prevalent freedom in San Francisco includes the freedom to take it all off and stride the streets butt-naked in your Adam-suit? If this feels like your environment or you want to attend a really grown-up adult party once in your life, may be next year, during the month of September, last Sunday of the month precisely, visit Folsom Street in the city, blocks 7 through 12 and they will make you a believer. That single visit will open your eyes on why so many people call the city by the bay home. For the city, it is come all ye that seek freedom and I will give you shelter to freely express yourself. 

A couple is seen above as they strolled through this year 2011 Folsom Street Fair that held Sunday September 25, 2011 in the city. Folsom Street Fair is an annual 'bare-cheeked celebration of bondage, discipline and sexual expression that plays out in San Francisco every year on the last Sunday of September.' Icheoku says why not check it out next year, afterall we were all born naked and what those clothes hide is already an open secret; so what the heck - just take it all off if you dare, provided there is something to make the eye go wow and the heart wander. It is simply a yearning for a return back to the old days or the biblical Garden of Eden when humans were truly free expressively. In case you couldn't make it during the window mentioned, a visit to the Castro any day you are in San Francisco would probably throw up some naked butts sideshow for your entertainment - they are called the NAKED GUYS naturalists or nudists of San Francisco who prefer to wear exhibitionist natural clothes called human-skins instead of animal-skins, man-made cottons and other synthetic coverings!

STEVEN ACUNA OF NEW JERSEY, KILLS WIFE AND ENTOMBS HER IN CONCRETE.

Icheoku says the simple solution is not to do it in the first place as every tested means of hiding or disposing bodies have most always proved abortive. Scott Patterson of Modesto California killed and weighted down his dead pregnant wife in the San Francisco bay but it magically floated back to shore. 

Now another crazed out New Jersey man, Steven Acuna, has killed his wife and entombed her remains in a 55 gallon oil-drum filled with concrete-cement, thinking that he had devised a fool-proof means of disposing his wife's dead body?  But no; not when the police are up to their game as they discovered the grisly concrete housing the slain wife, Randy Lehrer, in the basement of their 42 Charles Street, Jersey City apartment building where they lived with their 11 month old infant daughter, whose mother was killed by her father and who is now technically an orphan since the father would most likely get the death penalty. Icheoku must point out that his method of disposal of a killed wife's remains or attempt thereof was not novel as a Las Vegas dancer-showgirl was not too long ago murdered, dismembered and similarly entombed in concrete cement by her ex-boyfriend. 

The couple had recurring arguments, fights and other ancillary domestic quarrels and on August 17, 2011 Steven decided enough is enough and to do something final about it. Icheoku says killing another is never the answer or solution to domestic disputations - instead of taking another person's life, just file for divorce or simply walk away from the relationship. Steven, five days after encasing his dead wife and mother of his child in concrete cement, reported her missing to the police. However the mother of the slain woman and Steven's mother inlaw said that when she had earlier called her daughter's phone with no response from her, Steven answered to tell her that his wife was sleeping, tired from her new job's new shift? Icheoku says in as much as Steven could technically argue that his dead wife was sleeping, but he was guilty of non full disclosure as he did not add the qualifier that she was mummified and sleeping inside a concrete cement-filled oil barrel? What a shame that an otherwise preventable domestic violence have claimed yet another life. 

DEION SANDERS DIVORCING HIS FAME-SEEKING WIFE.

 

Who says marriage still works, especially when you are married to a woman long tired of walking under your shadow of fame and fortune and now wants her own shine? Pilar Sanders, wife of Hall of Fame footballer, Deion Sanders, got fed up with just being the dutiful wife of Deion and wants some of the headlines for herself too. She dove into the also wanna-be famous reality television to pursue a career in trashing her business on public television and contrary to the wishes of Deion who wanted a wife and not a television star. As a consequence thereof, Barry has filed for divorce after eleven long years of coupling together as he does not want his wife to become an object of "ridicule, scorn and/or laughter" on a television tube. 


Explaining his decision, Deion said, "Enough is enough. I never signed up for all this. Enough is enough. If I wanted a model or a television star for a wife, I would have married one a long time ago. All I wanted was a housewife." Icheoku says was this too much for a husband to ask of a wife, especially when such a husband can take care of business effectively, financially and otherwise, being the superstar millionaire sportsman that he is? Icheoku does not think so, except that no one really knows or understands what it is that women wants; and what moves them or how they prioritize or rationalize their decisions. 


However, Mr Deion Sanders never told anybody whether the housewife he referenced that he wanted excluded the type found in "Desperate Housewives of Atlanta, Los Angeles or Orange county; afterall they too are housewives and like he recently found out, his soon to be ex-wife herself was one of them, admitted she remained in the closet until now. Furthermore women's right to choose is not exclusive of abortion or family planning rights only, it also includes choosing between having a husband or being famous; and Pilar Sanders has chosen like many shallow minded women would, forgetting that life on television has a very limited lifespan. But hey, Icheoku does not believe in marriage or that any marriage really works; so welcome to the club Mr Sanders.

'RUSSEL BREWER HAD CHOICES, HE MADE THE WRONG ONE' - SISTER.

Icheoku says as the blood-thirsty Texas State "equal-opportunity" death row guillotine keeps on churning, another person has had his life terminated - this time a victim of a State's killing machine that is on pure steroids! Admitted that bigoted white racist and supremacist gang member, Lawrence Russel Brewer's crime deserved no less a punishment, but there is need to observe sanctity of life as no life is worth taking by any human be it the society, government or individual.  

Russel, 44, convicted for the savage slaying of a blackman, James Byrd Jr., 49, was put to death in Texas today, bringing to double-digit the number of inmates that have been put to death in Texas just this year alone. His three-man gang chained the victim by the legs to the back of their pickup truck as they dragged his towed body through a bumpy asphalt country road until his body completely disintegrated piecemeal in a grisly forced execution. The victim's remains were so mangled that the investigating officers first thought it was a roadkill - wild animal that had been severally ran over by vehicles on the road? Icheoku says give it up for Texas when it comes to outdoing any other state in the Union both in hate crimes and punishment; otherwise how could any human-being drag another living human-being in such beastly fashion until his cranium yielded its content and decapitated from the torso, as the entire body pulled apart one section after another into chunks of several balls of human flesh? What a painful and tortuous way to die and the victim's only crime was being black in 2008 American Texas?

However unlike the other recently executed killer in the State of Georgia, Lawrence Russell Brewer took his fate like a man - he did not cower or plead for extended leniency and was strung out in his hatred for other people who do not look like him until his final breath. He made no final statement nor apologized to his victim's family and said nothing either to his aged parents and sisters who attended the macabre show to watch as their son and brother was forcibly put down like an animal. According to one of the sisters who witnessed the killing of her brother, it is imperative that the family watch him put to death. However, Icheoku does not understand whether such professed desire was out of necessity for a closure or to express their family's disdain for such a heinous crime that was committed by a family member and for which he was put to death? Concluding, she said that 'her brother had choices but made the wrong choice.' 

CATHERINE KIEU BECKER, A CRAZY BITCH PENIS-CUTTER.

Icheoku says some women are not called bitches for nothing as so many of them are damn crazy and for real. Otherwise what in the world would make a woman cut off her husband's manhood with a kitchen knife and have it shredded in a garbage disposal machine and then goes on to mouth-off that "he deserved it?" Icheoku says it cannot be anything short of some affliction of a psychopathic, dysfunctional, disequilibrium of the mind which put her actions beyond and above her cognitive control? Put in another word, such a woman deserves a specially ward in a Cuckoo's nest, period!

Catherine Kieu Becker of Garden Grove Orange County Southern California, USA is that woman as she laced her 60-year-old husband's tofu dinner with some mind and body altering and arresting substance, then bound his hands and feet to the bed post as she went on to sever off his wee-wee. Not done yet, she proceeded to shred the severed piece of penile appendage in a garbage disposal machine as she waited for the called police to arrive; upon which she shouted that her husband deserved it. 

Icheoku is really at a loss how a once loving spouse could be this crazed-out to inflict such aggravated bodily injury on her spouse except that William Shakespeare had admonished the world that hell knows no fury like a woman scorned. According to the developing story, the husband had filed for divorce and Mrs Kieu would have none of that or entertain the thoughts of having another woman enjoy what she has been used to and decided to just destroy it? What a selfish form of mutilation or should Icheoku say maiming. If only she had the presence of the mind to just cut the penis without shredding it, may be the husband could have some scintilla of hope of still remaining a man as surgical procedure would have done their magic; but a shredded penile, except some Plastic surgeons who specialize in transgender operations comes to the rescue with construction of a new phallus? 

What a terrible loss for any man to bear and Icheoku agrees with Dr. Joel Gelman, head of the UC Irvine's Center for Reconstructive Urology, that severed penis is indeed "a terrible loss" for any man as even a complete castration would have been a preferred choice were the man given an option to elect his form of mutilation by his loony wife. Icheoku says what a piece of savage daughter of Eve this woman from hell is, another God forsaken copycat Lorena Bobbitt from Garden Grove California who deserves to have her genitalia stitched up tightly together since she possesses nothing down there to cut off with such a devastating consequence. But why do women not know how to quietly take what they frequently dish out to men - just the other day, the woman President Obama party crasher ran off with a musician while the husband was frantic searching for his kidnapped and missing wife?

"FOR THOSE ABOUT TO TAKE MY LIFE, GOD HAVE MERCY OF YOUR SOULS" - TROY DAVIS.

Icheoku knows that Georgia would execute Troy Davis irrespective of the many protesters proclaiming his innocence on the streets of Atlanta and not withstanding the several witnesses that later recanted their incriminating testimony that led to his conviction in the first place. The fact of the matter is that the executed convict was tried and convicted for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail by a jury of his peers and the state can only apply the sentence as prescribed by law. However it would appear that the beyond reasonable doubt threshold of any criminal conviction was not "met" based on subsequent developments post conviction. But like the saying goes, it is all now history as the convict was put to death by lethal injection today notwithstanding several last minute effort to starve it off. 

Throwing on the lawyer's hat for a moment, it appears that Troy's conviction was based on his role as an accomplice and not necessarily as the principal who pulled the trigger that dropped police officer MacPhail. Legally both parties are equally responsible for their conduct in the commission of a crime and in this case the guilty verdict on Troy appears to be in order irrespective of the probability that he may not have been the one that actually pulled the trigger. It suffices that he participated in the crime or process that led to the killing of the victim and failed to do something to stop it. Even Troy himself admitted this much when in his final words, he said "I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun." A careful read of this his statement puts him squarely at the scene of the crime and his saying it was "not my fault" or that he "did not have a gun" does not make him any less responsible for the resulted crime which in the state of Georgia is punishable by death. So legally speaking, there was neither a miscarriage of justice nor the execution of the wrong person as accomplice liability, assuming he was not the trigger man, still made him culpable for the resulting crime of murder.

Icheoku says his protestation of innocence stemmed from a layman's understanding or lack of it of criminal liability as his position of not being the shooter does not in anyway excuse his criminality in this case. So sentiments and emotions aside, Icheoku states that those who in Troy's understanding "took his life" only did their job which was to carry out a valid subsisting sentence handed down by a jury of Troy's peers and legally their hands are washed clean just like Pilate did with Jesus. So instead of Troy saying "For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on your souls;" he should have been humble enough to pray for his own soul to find mercy before God and for closure for the victim's family. Admitted evidence "abound" that he did not personally kill MacPhil, at least his legal obligation to prevent the commission of a crime was not met since a person can be either guilty of commission or omission in criminal matters - he was present and possibly cheered on as whoever it was pumped some hot led into the police officer. 

Icheoku asks, but when would all these southern states that like to prove their macho by putting people to death become more urbane to understand that just like their protected fetal lives, lives of criminals are also worthy of protection. That it is not only when it involves a woman's right to choose that live matters but that any live is worthy of protection since they did not create it and therefore not in a good position to be selective as to the lives to save and those to destroy. Just be fair across the board on the issue of live - if you must take, take all and if you must protect, protect all. Today, Texas which parades itself as God's bible belt state have executed more people than all the states in the union combined and now Georgia is racing to join it in that gory blood-letting pedestal. Needless to suggest that the drought ravaging parts of the Lone Star state might be a divine way of telling Texans enough of these blood-shedding. 

Icheoku says the best way out of this dilemma of what to do with heinous criminals may be just to lock them up and throw away the keys, instead of the current barbarians-behavior of love for the macabre, watching as we put people down like disused animals. To the family of the victim, Troy's death will not bring back your lost loved one nor would any real closure result therefrom sincerely speaking and at best it is a mere vengeance. To the executed convicts family, take solace that Troy feels no pain anymore thinking about such day as today when he would be strapped down like an animal and forced to breathe no more. There is certainly a fork on the road as to the best way to punish heinous crimes in our society since these death sentences and executions of criminals have not deterred criminals from committing heinous crimes as anticipated. It has so far proved to be rather a useless way of punishing criminals but since society says it has to stay, so it stays until a more effective and less uncivilized manner is devised.

RABBANI ASSASSINATION, AFGHAN TALIBAN DESTRUCTIVELY VERY CREATIVE?

 Icheoku says admitted those Taliban terrorists are despicable but the world must give it up for them in their creativity with murdering their foes. Betcha ya that James Bond 007 must be green with envy at those mullahs ever inventing minds on how to successfully reach their targets with deadly consequences. 

First they murdered Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud, with a television camera rigged explosive posing as journalist interviewing him? Now they devised a turban-explosive as a weapon of choice in taking out an ex-president; yet the French are being singled out for banning Islamic burka in public places? Icheoku asks where does this mullahs get this their fancy ideas of carrying out high-profile murders and is anyone still safe in Afghanistan including President Karzai?  Who knows what next their wicked but very creative minds would come up with as they ensnare their next victim. Any solution to the war-cursed country is very far fetched if not non existent, judging from the age long feuding nature of the tribal Afghan society. Icheoku opines that NATO should consider abandoning that desolate country to its fate and as buffer just deploy drones to knock them out as they rear their turbaned heads. To the bereaved family of the murdered former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Icheoku says take solace that your patriarch was murdered for his peace effort.