Thursday, May 31, 2007
And the madness continues......
wetin dey special about this chick sef? people just dey wan dash am things. this blog just dey boring. a waste of cyber space. abeg jare. which work you dey do sef because e b like say that one go good pass. also all them stupid things wey you dey write wey u dey call poetry - dem dey make me laugh. who sai? no make am career because na only these kiss ass people wey dey comment for ya blog go buy am and them go dey lie sef.which kind designer you get sef? no be you talk say you fat? wetin you need designer for? abeg shut down this nonsense waste of space
Can i ask what is going on in this whole world? This comment was posted on my random musings post and i have to wonder what it is about that innocous post that inspired such a comment. I really have no words
Random Musings.....
Monumental Soundbyte - 11
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Monumental Soundbyte - 10
Bob Marley - Redemption Song
May 29th has come and gone and we as a nation usher in a new dawn. Enough has been said about the Obasanjo administration and much has been said about the farce called elections that held in April. That is all in the past. Our reality at this moment is that we have a new president.
I am one of the last to put up the proclamation on my blog since i took a much needed break over the last 2 days. After putting it up, i read Olawunmi's blog - which by the way got some mention in a BBC news article, and i instead of being filled with despair, i feel hope. Foolish hope? Who knows. But i really want to believe that things in Nigeria will get better, that Yar'adua will shock us all and in particular the man that picked him and actually do some good.
I think this song is perfect. I was going to put something else up but this song (which was on my monumental soundbyte list) just seems perfect today. Robert Nesta Marley is a legend and one of my favorite voices. This song has been covered by Wyclef (which was hot as well), Majek Fashek, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash etc.
Mental slavery (a problem i think many Nigerians suffer from), prophets(leaders) being castigated while we just stand looking or in our case, complain and mutter in silence - this song is eloquent, simple with Marley and his acoustic guitar only and one that will remain relevant far beyond my time. Enjoy!
*If you would like this song, leave an emailo address in the comments section*
Nigeria - Making a statement
IN RECENT HISTORY, NIGERIANS HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMINGLY BETRAYED BY THOSE CHARGED WITH ADDRESSING THEIR NEEDS. INSTEAD OF SERVING THE PEOPLE, PUBLIC SERVANTS HAVE SERVED THEMSELVES TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE MASSES. THE RESULT IS A NATION LACKING ADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE, ORGANIZATION AND SECURITY.
THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF NIGERIAN LEADERS INDICATES A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE CONSTITUENTS. NIGERIANS ARE NO LONGER RELEVANT TO THE LEADERS, THUS, LEADERS DO NOT FEEL RESPONSIBLE TO THEM.
THE RECENT FAILURE TO CONDUCT A FREE AND FAIR ELECTORAL PROCESS WAS YET ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION THAT THE NEEDS OF THE MANY ARE SECONDARY TO THE WANTS OF THE IMPORTANT FEW.
FROM THIS DAY, ALL NIGERIANS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT & POWERFUL COUNTRY. CONSEQUENTLY, ALL NIGERIANS MUST COMMIT THEMSELVES TO THE FOLLOWING:
WE MUST DEMAND THAT ELECTED OFFICIALS BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS AND IN-ACTIONS.
WE MUST EXPECT DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES TO BE HONORED, RESPECTED AND MAINTAINED.
WE MUST BELIEVE THAT ALL NIGERIANS ARE EQUAL UNDER THE LAW AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH.
WE MUST APPLY OURSELVES TO IMPROVING THE LOT OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL NIGERIAN REGARDLESS OF GENDER, RELIGION, TRIBE OR SOCIAL STATUS.
WE MUST STRIVE TO MAINTAIN A UNITED REPUBLIC DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES.
ONLY UPON ACHIEVING THESE PRINCIPLES CAN WE AS A PEOPLE FULLY LIVE UP TO OUR POTENTIAL AS A LAND OF GREATNESS. FOR OURS IS A COUNTRY RENOWNED FOR ITS ILLUSTRIOUS PEOPLE, AMPLE RESOURCES AND SHEER PHYSICAL BEAUTY.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Idols West Africa....
Monumental Soundbyte - 9
Odd choice for a monumental soundbyte some might say but this song is monumental for a different reason......
Other than the fact that i love this song and its by a Nigerian artist, its also a name song....This is the song that made it official for me - THERE HAS TO BE A SONG WITH MY NAME - UZO AS THE TITLE.
It really is just that simple. LOL....I mean there is Olufunmi, Omoshalewa, Dami, Charlene, Angel etc, why cant there be an Uzo song? I mentioned this to a friend that i shared this song with and even went as far as challenging him to write the song - i got silence as a response. I know that the letter Z in my name might be a challenge but hey....It can be done...LOL
So, watch out - in a little while, there will be a song Uzo on the airwaves and you all will have an ah ha moment - saying to yourselves - i know that girl....
Happy Monday!
*If you would like this song, leave an email address in the comments section*
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monumental Soundbyte - 8
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Monumental Soundbyte - 7
The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
I will go out and dare anyone to deny the fact that this is one of the best love songs ever. Period!
A very short song - the orginal version is less than 3 minutes long but what a punch it carries....The lyrics are at the end of this post..
Interestingly, this song was recorded way before the Brothers did their version but their version is the best known especially after it was used in the movie Ghost. This song is often credited to just one member of the group - Bobby Hatfield who gained success as a solo act appearing on Had the time of my life - that so fabulous song from Dirty Dancing (wow, i think its time to re-watch these 2 movies).
When i did the soundbyte on Spandau Ballet's True, i mentioned that it was one of the most covered songs ever and Unchained Melody also shares this. This song has been covered by U2, Gareth Gates, LeAnn Rimes, Il Divo, Liberace and a whole bunch of other artists.
While this song is a commercial success and is a timeless classic, it makes my monumental song list for its sheer beauty, simplicity and eloquence on the topic of love. Ebnjoy!
*If you would like this song, leave an email address in the comments section*
Oh, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love, I need your love
God speed your love to me
Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea
Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me
I'll be coming home, wait for me
Oh, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love, I need your love
God speed your love to me
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Interesting.....
Monumental Soundbyte - 6
GrandMaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Question
Difficulties....
Monday, May 21, 2007
I have a gift.....
- Life is too short. Seize each moment for that tomorrow may never come
- Nothing is really that serious
- People are not stupid. Treat each person with respect and come correct. Hiding things will only lead to disaster down the road
- Open your eyes each morning, take a deep breath, thank your maker for being able to see another day and jump into life. Do not overplan every action and every thought
- For those that this post is meant for - you dont have demons or issues. You really dont. What you have are hangups that you guys are holding onto as a shield so you dont have to confront real life. Its not that no-one understands you, you dont understand yourself. Its not that you cant be loved, its that you dont love yourself. Its not that you cant find love, its just that you follow the wrong people like puppies with misplaced trust and they hurt you over and over again. Its not that the world is against you, its just you hold on to past hurts and use them to justify not living.
- And oh for the love of God, there is no such thing as a type. Finding love is special and to turn it away 'cos it doesnt fit your mould is a one way ticket to loneliness
There is so much to say but i think the points of this rant are:
- I know a lot more than i let on so please dont think it will be easy to pull the wool over my eyes
- Dont use my feelings as an excuse to not live your life
- Life is not as complex as a lot of people make it out to be
- Get over yourselves and just live
Enough said!
Monumental Soundbyte - 5
Friday, May 18, 2007
Monumental Soundbyte - 4
USA For Africa - We Are The World
This song is a part of my childhood. I remember being younger and seeing the video for this, my parents having the record that had the words and me singing this song endlessly.
Then i got older and my music obsession began, and i got the "inside scoop" on the phenomenon that is this song.
This song was written my Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie with the arrangements and orchestration done by Quincy Jones. USA For Africa is a mesh of artists from different genres and the aim of this song which was released as a single, was to contribute all proceeds to Ethiopia which was going through one of the worst famines in history.
This song is just amazing. The words are fantastic and apparently, after the American Music Awards of 84, all the artists got into their limos and headed to the studio as they were, donned white USA For Africa tshirts and recorded this song in one night. 45 artists including Bruce Springsteen, Lionel Richie, MJ, Cyndi Lauper, Darryl & Oates, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Jeffrey Osbourne, Dionne Warwick etc.
MJ actually didnt attend the awards that night choosing to record the chorus for the song so each artist could just do their part. That man is a workaholic...
There is of course some drama with some artists having issues with some of the lyrics which were sorted out, some invited artists refusing to participate (Madonna, Prince, Sheena Easton etc - but they all participated the next year during the Live Aid concert) etc...
This song won a grammy and went on to inspire praise and criticism alike and has been parodied and covered endlessly. Last year, Shell (the oil & gas giant), covered the song and used some of its lyrics for their internal anthem which somehow got into the public domain. My views on this? ...Not for this post...LOL
I remember the video for this song. It was really a video of the live recording session - with shots of Diana Ross clad in black stretching, MJ looking so hot (i used to have a crush on him) and everyone singing into the microphones. Everytime i hear this song, i see the video and can see each artist singing their part. I think this song is a cultural phenomenon and everyone needs to know the words to this song and have it in their collection. Enjoy!
*If you would like this song, leave an email address in the comments section*
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The mystery of....
Monumental Soundbyte - 3
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monumental Soundbyte - 2
Monday, May 14, 2007
It all started over...........
Monumental Soundbyte - 1
Introducing..................
Friday, May 11, 2007
Women's Issue - Involuntary Sterilisation
FELIPA Cusi was an unlikely victim of US international security policy. After suffering flu-like symptoms, the 30-year-old mother of five was taken to a rural medical centre near Cuzco, Peru. Once there, she was given anaesthesia and taken to an operating room where - without her knowledge or consent - she was sterilised.
In Tocache, another rural village, Magna Morales suffered an even worse fate. When government sterilisation workers canvassed the area, the 34-year-old mother of five desperately tried to evade them. After hiding in her house for several days, however, she went to a local market where she was spotted, seized, abducted and carried off to a makeshift clinic. She, too, was sterilised. Morales never recovered from the surgery, and died 10 days later.
More than a quarter million sterilisations were performed on Peruvian women between 1995 and 1997 - half during 1997. This June, the Latin American Committee on Women's Rights (CLADEM) issued a lengthy report describing 200 cases in which forced sterilisation was alleged. Renovaci—n, a conservative opposition party, has obtained affidavits from more than 1,000 women who say they did not freely consent to the tubal ligations they received in government clinics.
The campaign of mass sterilisations inaugurated by the Peruvian government three years ago has caused such widespread outrage that the US Congress recently began looking into the situation. The US provides most of the money used for national family planning programmes in Latin America.
Targeting fertility
According to Mark Schneider, Assistant Administrator for Latin America at the Agency for International Development (USAID), allegations that his agency is implicated in Peru's involuntary sterilisations are unfounded.
At a 25 February hearing before the House Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights, he also assured lawmakers that officials at Peru's health ministry planned to 'discontinue their campaigns in tubal ligations and vasectomies', hinting that the decision was the result of USAID pressure.
But sceptics point to discrepancies. Indeed, on 25 March, exactly a month after Schneider's appearance, USAID posted a notice titled, 'Grant to Provide Voluntary Sterilisation and Related Services in Developing Countries'. The New York-based group awarded the money, AVSC International, will concentrate its promotional activities in several emerging nations, including five in Latin America - Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru. Under its five-year agreement with USAID, AVSC will get no less than $125 million.
Considerable evidence points not only to USAID financing Peru's sterilisation programme, but also to the US government spending an extraordinary amount of time and energy to create what bureaucrats call a 'policy environment' in which those sterilisations have taken place. Indeed, agency files suggest that Peru's Ministry of Health was virtually taken over by 'aid' operatives at the US embassy in Lima.
An internal USAID memorandum circulated recommended setting 'targets' for fertility reduction - 1.9 million new contraceptive users by the year 2000 and a reduction in average family size from more than four children per household to about two and one-half. It also mentioned efforts to engage Peru's government in a 'policy dialogue' on 'liberalisation of sterilisation laws'. The government of Peru formally approved the use of sterilisation as a population control measure in 1995.
In 1993, USAID launched a huge 'health sector' project in Peru costing $60 million. As a condition for receiving the funds, the government was obliged to create an 'Interagency Advisory Committee on Health Management and Financing' to recommend policy reforms to the Ministry of Health and assist in their implementation. The committee was to include representatives of Peru's health and finance ministries along with officials from USAID, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Given Peru's dependence on external funding for health services, it is not difficult to see how this commission could assume control of the ministry. In fact, a cable to the US Embassy in Lima, written seven months before the start of the project, urged USAID's Peru bureau to take 'optimum advantage of policy dialogue/conditionality opportunities' and suggested working with the World Bank and other donors on a 'unified series of policy conditiona-lities to their combined assistance'. The February 1993 communiquŽ suggested that the US 'could substantially increase its ability to leverage the kind of policy change that is critical to the success of this project'.
USAID funds allocated to the project were not given directly to the Peruvian health ministry, but rather expended on its behalf by USAID. In fact, the seven-year project is run by a US-based 'Institutional Contractor' hired by the agency's Lima office, and charged with general programme administration, staff training and orientation, field work supervision, data collection and evaluation, and a variety of other management-level functions. Activities not specifically assigned to the contractor are, for the most part, carried out by USAID personnel at the embassy. In the words of USAID's official project paper, two full-time in-house project supervisors are given a 'lead role in policy dialogue and interagency leadership and coordination'. They are authorised to prepare the 'scopes of work' that identify project activities and goals and provide 'technical guidance in the area of health financing'.
Although the project agreement is legally binding on Peru, no such stipulation applies to the US. The record also suggests that USAID authorities attempted to conceal from Peruvian authorities the fact that population control would be the project's major focus. Since much of the money would come from a budget 'earmarked' by Congress for population activities, according to the 1993 State Department communiquŽ, the final project document 'must mention that family planning services are among those activities which will be supported'. An initial draft, the cable scolded, 'does not do so'.
Protecting Western interests
Spectacular efforts are needed to implement national population projects like the one in Peru, not to mention the deception and arm-twisting that goes on behind the scenes. And it can not be explained away simply as a misguided attempt to 'help' people who could arguably improve their lives by having fewer children. Similar USAID-initiated population policy 'reform' schemes are either in effect or in the planning phase for many African and Middle Eastern nations, virtually all of southern Asia, and most countries in Central and South America.
The agendas of the various US agencies involved in population issues have little to do with benevolent intent. Rather, the core belief is that unprecedented low levels of fertility in the 'advanced' nations of the West and relatively high birthrates elsewhere will lead to a shift in the balance of global power. This theory has been advanced consistently for a half-century by Western military officials, political analysts at the intelligence agencies, and the 'national security' establishment in general.
'Population has long been recognised as influencing national security and power,' wrote John Saunders in a 1986 book, Population Growth in Latin American and US National Security. 'Had it not been for unrestricted immigration and the contribution to national growth and development made by immigrants and their descendants, the population of the United States on the eve of World War II would have been less than half as large as it actually was and American national power significantly smaller. The consequences that this condition would have had for the history of Western civilisation are incalculable.'
Observations like this have been made frequently by high government officials since at least the start of the Cold War era. An 'outline plan of operations' prepared in January 1957 by a 'working group on Latin America' - including representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Departments of State and Commerce, the US Information Agency and the military - was even more explicit about the 'threat' to Western interests posed by a growing census count south of the border.
'The rapid rate of population increase and economic growth in the area, with their implications for probable future strength and importance to the United States,' said the memorandum, 'should be taken into consideration in the execution of all programmes.'
Global power structure
In a 'Statement of US Policy toward Latin America' dated 15 November 1960, the National Security Council cautioned: 'We must never lose sight of the fact that the world population imbalance is heavily against us and is becoming ever more so.' Originally classified 'secret' and still only partially declassified, the memo predicted that high birthrates in the region could 'increase Latin America's population of approximately 190 million at present to some 500 million by the year 2000'.
A 1978 study by the Council on Foreign Relations worried about preserving the global power structure. Because differences in fertility nearly always favour the least economically advantaged group, the text declared, 'Population growth represents a threat to the status quo: to political dominance and economic and social stability.'
Perhaps most revealing of all was a research paper prepared in 1991 for the US Army Conference on Long Range Planning. That report, reprinted in the Summer 1991 edition of Foreign Affairs as 'Population Change and National Security', detailed changes in global demographics that are likely to result from below-replacement fertility in the West and high birthrates elsewhere. The study concluded that 'these projections point to a continuation of trends evident since the end of World War II. If these trends continue for another generation or two, the implications for the international political order and the balance of world power could be enormous.'
In regard to Latin America, the Army Conference research cited not a substantial increase of population in the region, but even more impressive economic growth. While the region's population multiplied seven times over between 1900 and 1987, the report said, per capita income increased by a factor of five. In other words, there were seven times as many people and, on the average, each of them had five times as much in terms of material resources. Thus, the collective wealth of the region was 35 times what it had been at the start of the century.
A threat to US interests
One might expect Western policy- makers to welcome such optimistic news from a historically 'under-developed' part of the world. However, that was not the opinion expressed in the report. 'By these projections a very different world would seem to be emerging,' the study continued. 'Such trends speak to pressures for a systematically diminished role and status for today's industrial democracies. Even with relatively unfavourable assumptions about Third World economic growth, the share of global economic output of today's industrial democracies could decline. With a generalised and progressive industrialisation of current low-income areas, the Western diminution would be all the more rapid. Thus, one can easily envision a world more unreceptive, and ultimately more threatening, to the interests of the United States and its allies.'
While public outrage in Peru may eventually halt its sterilisation campaign, at least temporarily, imposing population control on people in less-developed nations remains at the top of the Western foreign policy agenda. As the Army Conference study concluded, population trends throughout the world 'could create an international environment even more menacing to the security prospects of the Western alliance than was the Cold War for the past generation'.
Soundbyte!
Sonny & Cher - I got you babe
This amazing song is from the 60's and i absolutely love it. I am sure everyone knows that this hippie couple were also husband and wife and did quite well for themselves musically. They also had an incredibly successful show - The Sonny & Cher Show. This couple got divorced and Sonny went on to become a US Representative and Cher as we all know went to do the acting thing that garnered her an Oscar and a successful singing career.
Sonny died after a skiing acccident that had him running into a tree and i still have the image in my head of a very tearful Cher giving her eulogy. Amazing. This couple had been divorced for decades but there she was at his funeral, with their daughter Chastity and his new family crying so hard she had to lean on Mary's (Sonny's wife) shoulder. I guess its easy to forget once a marriage ends that there was once love there.
Anyway, enjoy this song...
*If you would like this song, leave me an email address in the comments section*