₦airaland Forum

INEC will never register a political party that is tribalistic or sectional.

As a matter of fact, parties are expected to have presence (offices) in a wide geographic area of the country.

Actually, that's not in the Bible

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN) – NFL legend Mike Ditka was giving a news conference one day after being fired as the coach of the Chicago Bears when he decided to quote the Bible.

“Scripture tells you that all things shall pass,” a choked-up Ditka said after leading his team to only five wins during the previous season. “This, too, shall pass.”

Ditka fumbled his biblical citation, though. The phrase “This, too, shall pass” doesn’t appear in the Bible. Ditka was quoting a phantom scripture that sounds like it belongs in the Bible, but look closer and it’s not there.

Ditka’s biblical blunder is as common as preachers delivering long-winded public prayers. The Bible may be the most revered book in America, but it’s also one of the most misquoted. Politicians, motivational speakers, coaches - all types of people - quote passages that actually have no place in the Bible, religious scholars say.

These phantom passages include:

“God helps those who help themselves.”

“Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

And there is this often-cited paraphrase: Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden.

None of those passages appear in the Bible, and one is actually anti-biblical, scholars say.

But people rarely challenge them because biblical ignorance is so pervasive that it even reaches groups of people who should know better, says Steve Bouma-Prediger, a religion professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

“In my college religion classes, I sometimes quote 2 Hesitations 4:3 (‘There are no internal combustion engines in heaven’),” Bouma-Prediger says. “I wait to see if anyone realizes that there is no such book in the Bible and therefore no such verse.

“Only a few catch on.”

Few catch on because they don’t want to - people prefer knowing biblical passages that reinforce their pre-existing beliefs, a Bible professor says.

“Most people who profess a deep love of the Bible have never actually read the book,” says Rabbi Rami Shapiro, who once had to persuade a student in his Bible class at Middle Tennessee State University that the saying “this dog won’t hunt” doesn’t appear in the Book of Proverbs.

“They have memorized parts of texts that they can string together to prove the biblical basis for whatever it is they believe in,” he says, “but they ignore the vast majority of the text."

Phantom biblical passages work in mysterious ways

Ignorance isn’t the only cause for phantom Bible verses. Confusion is another.

Some of the most popular faux verses are pithy paraphrases of biblical concepts or bits of folk wisdom.

Consider these two:

“God works in mysterious ways.”

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”

Both sound as if they are taken from the Bible, but they’re not. The first is a paraphrase of a 19th century hymn by the English poet William Cowper (“God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform).

The “cleanliness” passage was coined by John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist who founded Methodism, says Thomas Kidd, a history professor at Baylor University in Texas.

“No matter if John Wesley or someone else came up with a wise saying - if it sounds proverbish, people figure it must come from the Bible,” Kidd says.

Our fondness for the short and tweet-worthy may also explain our fondness for phantom biblical phrases. The pseudo-verses function like theological tweets: They’re pithy summarizations of biblical concepts.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” falls into that category. It’s a popular verse - and painful for many kids. Could some enterprising kid avoid the rod by pointing out to his mother that it's not in the Bible?

It’s doubtful. Her possible retort: The popular saying is a distillation of Proverbs 13:24: “The one who withholds [or spares] the rod is one who hates his son.”

Another saying that sounds Bible-worthy: “Pride goes before a fall.” But its approximation, Proverbs 16:18, is actually written: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

There are some phantom biblical verses for which no excuse can be offered. The speaker goofed.

That’s what Bruce Wells, a theology professor, thinks happened to Ditka, the former NFL coach, when he strayed from the gridiron to biblical commentary during his 1993 press conference in Chicago.

Wells watched Ditka’s biblical blunder on local television when he lived in Chicago. After Ditka cited the mysterious passage, reporters scrambled unsuccessfully the next day to find the biblical source.

They should have consulted Wells, who is now director of the ancient studies program at Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania. Wells says Ditka’s error probably came from a peculiar feature of the King James Bible.

“My hunch on the Ditka quote is that it comes from a quirk of the King James translation,” Wells says. “Ancient Hebrew had a particular way of saying things like, ‘and the next thing that happened was…’ The King James translators of the Old Testament consistently rendered this as ‘and it came to pass.’ ’’

When phantom Bible passages turn dangerous

People may get verses wrong, but they also mangle plenty of well-known biblical stories as well.

Two examples: The scripture never says a whale swallowed Jonah, the Old Testament prophet, nor did any New Testament passages say that three wise men visited baby Jesus, scholars say.

Those details may seem minor, but scholars say one popular phantom Bible story stands above the rest: The Genesis story about the fall of humanity.

Most people know the popular version - Satan in the guise of a serpent tempts Eve to pick the forbidden apple from the Tree of Life. It’s been downhill ever since.

But the story in the book of Genesis never places Satan in the Garden of Eden.

“Genesis mentions nothing but a serpent,” says Kevin Dunn, chair of the department of religion at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

“Not only does the text not mention Satan, the very idea of Satan as a devilish tempter postdates the composition of the Garden of Eden story by at least 500 years,” Dunn says.

Getting biblical scriptures and stories wrong may not seem significant, but it can become dangerous, one scholar says.

Most people have heard this one: “God helps those that help themselves.” It’s another phantom scripture that appears nowhere in the Bible, but many people think it does. It's actually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, one of the nation's founding fathers.

The passage is popular in part because it is a reflection of cherished American values: individual liberty and self-reliance, says Sidnie White Crawford, a religious studies scholar at the University of Nebraska.

Yet that passage contradicts the biblical definition of goodness: defining one’s worth by what one does for others, like the poor and the outcast, Crawford says.

Crawford cites a scripture from Leviticus that tells people that when they harvest the land, they should leave some “for the poor and the alien” (Leviticus 19:9-10), and another passage from Deuteronomy that declares that people should not be “tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.”

“We often infect the Bible with our own values and morals, not asking what the Bible’s values and morals really are,” Crawford says.

Where do these phantom passages come from?

It’s easy to blame the spread of phantom biblical passages on pervasive biblical illiteracy. But the causes are varied and go back centuries.

Some of the guilty parties are anonymous, lost to history. They are artists and storytellers who over the years embellished biblical stories and passages with their own twists.

If, say, you were an anonymous artist painting the Garden of Eden during the Renaissance, why not portray the serpent as the devil to give some punch to your creation? And if you’re a preacher telling a story about Jonah, doesn’t it just sound better to say that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, not a “great fish”?

Others blame the spread of phantom Bible passages on King James, or more specifically the declining popularity of the King James translation of the Bible.

That translation, which marks 400 years of existence this year, had a near monopoly on the Bible market as recently as 50 years ago, says Douglas Jacobsen, a professor of church history and theology at Messiah College in Pennsylvania.

“If you quoted the Bible and got it wrong then, people were more likely to notice because there was only one text,” he says. “Today, so many different translations are used that almost no one can tell for sure if something supposedly from the Bible is being quoted accurately or not.”

Others blame the spread of phantom biblical verses on Martin Luther, the German monk who ignited the Protestant Reformation, the massive “protest” against the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church that led to the formation of Protestant church denominations.

“It is a great Protestant tradition for anyone - milkmaid, cobbler, or innkeeper - to be able to pick up the Bible and read for herself. No need for a highly trained scholar or cleric to walk a lay person through the text,” says Craig Hazen, director of the Christian Apologetics program at Biola University in Southern California.

But often the milkmaid, the cobbler - and the NFL coach - start creating biblical passages without the guidance of biblical experts, he says.

“You can see this manifest today in living room Bible studies across North America where lovely Christian people, with no training whatsoever, drink decaf, eat brownies and ask each other, ‘What does this text mean to you?’’’ Hazen says.

“Not only do they get the interpretation wrong, but very often end up quoting verses that really aren’t there.”

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/05/thats-not-in-the-bible/?iref=obnetwork

Is that a tired Obama?

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Source please

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Bugmenot,

Pardon the delay in responding.

I have sent you a mail on the address you supplied.

Eko Ile:
5 A divided PDP makes their their job easier, not harder.

The elected PDP House leadership are now indebted to the ACN some some favors so I see smooth sailing for some ACN sponsored bills in the house.


All in all, it was a good move on their part.

Really?

I dey laff o!

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I used to think that Clinton was slimmer than Merkel until I saw this.

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Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel joke about their mutual love of pantsuits
By Holly Bailey
Wed Jun 8, 10:22 am ET


It's no secret Hillary Clinton loves a good pantsuit.

Clinton, who possesses them in virtually every color of the rainbow, has made suits her fashion uniform of choice during her time in the public eye. And so prior to yesterday's state dinner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is herself a pantsuit fan, poked some gentle fun at the Secretary of State's wardrobe, via an unusual gift--taking care to tell Clinton that "you may take it in a playful mode."

When they met on Tuesday, Merkel presented Clinton with a framed copy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper featuring an Associated Press photo of the two leaders during the Secretary of State's visit to Germany this past April.

The photo was of Clinton and Merkel, in their signature pantsuits, captured from the waist down and featured the caption, "Which one is Merkel and which one is Clinton?" The following page of the paper revealed the full photo--which Merkel included on the back of the framed gift she presented to Clinton Tuesday.

Upon seeing the photo, Clinton, who has frequently joked about her love of pantsuits, hooted with laughter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110608/ts_yblog_theticket/hillary-clinton-and-angela-merkel-joke-about-their-mutual-love-of-pantsuits

These comments on the original page where I got the news has made my day:

How refreshing to see two such important political figures being able to laugh together, at themselves.

A little well-placed humor and camaraderie does wonders to strengthen our global relations.

We could use a lot more of it.

Bravo, ladies.

What a lovely moment, Wouldn't it be great if all world leaders could share more friendship and mirth together, emphasizing similarities rather than differences, How much sweeter the world would be, Instead of propagating hatred this old world could use a bit more love and light.


I think it is nice to see her genuinely smiling and laughing. Politicians so rarely look this happy.

The original meeting in April 2011

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I used to think that Clinton was slimmer than Merkel until I saw this.

Wed Jun 8, 10:22 am ET
Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel joke about their mutual love of pantsuits
By Holly Bailey
Wed Jun 8, 10:22 am ET

It's no secret Hillary Clinton loves a good pantsuit.

Clinton, who possesses them in virtually every color of the rainbow, has made suits her fashion uniform of choice during her time in the public eye. And so prior to yesterday's state dinner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is herself a pantsuit fan, poked some gentle fun at the Secretary of State's wardrobe, via an unusual gift--taking care to tell Clinton that "you may take it in a playful mode."

When they met on Tuesday, Merkel presented Clinton with a framed copy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper featuring an Associated Press photo of the two leaders during the Secretary of State's visit to Germany this past April.

The photo was of Clinton and Merkel, in their signature pantsuits, captured from the waist down and featured the caption, "Which one is Merkel and which one is Clinton?" The following page of the paper revealed the full photo--which Merkel included on the back of the framed gift she presented to Clinton Tuesday.

Upon seeing the photo, Clinton, who has frequently joked about her love of pantsuits, hooted with laughter.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110608/ts_yblog_theticket/hillary-clinton-and-angela-merkel-joke-about-their-mutual-love-of-pantsuits

This is the 'academic' definition of the term party 'Whip':

WHIP, PARTY. The term "party whip" refers to a high-ranking member of the U.S. congressional leadership for both the majority and minority parties. In American politics of the early twenty-first century, the party whip was an increasingly active and influential party leader in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the House the party whip ranks immediately below the Speaker, who is the majority leader (if in the minority party, the whip is second behind the minority leader); in the Senate the whip is second in the party hierarchy behind the majority (or minority) leader. The whip's duties are to make sure that members are in Washington, D.C., and in the chamber during crucial votes; to forecast how members will vote; to persuade members to support the party leadership; to alert party leaders to shifting congressional opinions; and, occasionally, to distribute information on pending amendments or bills. Party whips usually attend important leadership meetings, including conferences with the president.

Party whips have been used in the British House of Commons since 1688 but were not employed in the U.S. Congress until 1899. Since the early 1960s the job of whip, although a party office, has become formalized, with offices, automobiles, staff, and office supplies, all paid for with public funds. Democratic and Republican parties in the House and Senate use differing methods of choosing whips and their assistants, but geography and party loyalty are important considerations. The post of party whip sometimes becomes a stepping-stone to a higher congressional party office.


http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401804530.html

This is the real meaning:

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are party 'enforcers', who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip's role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term whipping in, i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack.

Official party whips are almost exclusively found in legislatures based on first-past-the-post electoral systems, as FPTP discourages the formation of small parties and therefore tends to create a few larger "big church" parties where the distance between members on the parties' right and left wings may be significant, which in turn can easily lead to internal rebellion against the official party view when certain issues are voted on. In legislatures based on proportional representation elections such party officials are rarely found, as PR increases the chances for smaller parties to be represented, which in turn encourages the formation of more parties with more homogeneous views where party discipline is less of an issue.

The term "whip" is also used to mean:

the voting instructions issued to members by the whip,[1] or
in the UK, a party's endorsement of a member of parliament; to 'withdraw the whip' is to expel an MP from his political party. (The elected member in question would retain his or her seat.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_(politics)

Our new speaker was the chief whip for his party in the last session of the house yet he went against party in getting elected speaker in the current session. How ironic!

Eko Ile:
Even in America the land of democracy, lawmakers toe the party line and not the other way around, they call them the opposition for a reason. Your job is to act and behave like the opposition, not to say yes to everything the opposition throws at you especially on issues like house speaker elections.

Do you know what they call lockstep and party unity in politics? It means you follow the dictates of your party for the survival of your party and the people that sent you there to look out for them since they didn't ask you to go there and cater to the opposition, they didn't vote for the opposition for a reason.

I agree with you that lawmakers generally vote along party lines even in the grand ol' US of A but the question I have is this: "Are they really representing the people's interests or their own interests when all they are after is to oppose for the sake of blocking the other party and making it appear to the people that they are serving the people's interests?"

Where are the mavericks? Most legislators meekly vote along party lines. The nation is worse for it.
August 07, 2009|By Mickey Edwards


In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore, Sir Joseph, a former member of the British Parliament who has been appointed lord admiral of the queen's navy, recalls how he achieved such great success: "I always voted at my party's call," he sings, "and I never thought of thinking for myself at all."

Sir Joseph would fit in well in the United States' party-driven political system, in which loyalty to one's political club often seems to trump objective decision-making.

When a Senate committee voted in favor of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation for a seat on the Supreme Court, every Republican but one voted no, even though she was obviously qualified and even her most insistent critics could find few decisions to quarrel with over a long career. And not one Democrat voted no, even though Sotomayor had repeatedly indicated in speeches that a judge's background matters more than strict adherence to the law. There were party lines to be followed, and the senators followed them.

Last month, when another Senate committee became the first to pass a health-care reform bill, not a single Democrat thought questions about the proposal, which included a government-run plan, were sufficient to raise doubts. Not one Republican thought the current state of American health care justifies the legislation.

If legislators decided how to vote by weighing the concerns of constituents, their own philosophies, and a proposal's merits, one might assume that at least one or two Democrats would have balked, and a Republican or two would have voted to go forward. But we don't live in that kind of political world.

The Washington Post reviewed Senate voting records during the last Congress, which included important votes on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions of dollars in spending, and many other difficult issues. On average, Democrats voted with their party 87.5 percent of the time, and Republicans 80.7 percent of the time; 44 senators voted with their party more than 90 percent of the time, and 24 more than 95 percent of the time. So-called maverick John McCain voted with Republicans more than 88 percent of the time.

Granted, there are distinctions in political philosophy that draw people to one party or the other, but it is nonetheless clear that there is far less independent thinking going on than good governance would demand.

http://articles.philly.com/2009-08-07/news/25276033_1_vote-along-party-lines-political-club-republican-or-two

Eko, so what is your take on PDP lawmakers not following the party lock-step?

Vanity upon vanity. All is vanity.

How many people realise that Abacha died exactly 13 years today?


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Sidon look . . .

Don't be deceived by the title of this story.

It is actually about politicians in Australia. Some of the politicians  believe that the whole climate change thing is false while others believe otherwise.

Gillard is the current Prime Minister while Abbott is the opposition Conservatives leader. 

They have decided to make the scientists the scape goats in their 'fight.'

Not funny at all!


----------------------------------------------

Australian Climate Scientists Go into Hiding After Death Threats
Adam Martin Adam Martin – Tue Jun 7, 8:42 am ET

It's dangerous to study climate change in Australia these days. So much so that many who do it are moving to more secure offices, de-listing their phone numbers, and deleting their Facebook pages after receiving threats of death and assault. And the kerfuffle that's got them on the run seems to stem from statements by Cate Blanchett in a television spot last week. If you thought climate change was a touchy political subject in the United States, it's nothing compared to the past week's dust-up in which an appearance by an actress in a commercial led to scientists being targeted for assault and death.

Australian politicians have been wrangling for weeks over the level of a carbon tax set to go into effect July 1. A report two weeks ago by the government's Climate Commission helped ramp up the intensity of the national debate. In a Sydney Morning Herald analysis piece, Adam Morton said both Abbot and Gillard had failed to deal with the report directly, instead building it into a pre-existing pro-carbon-tax agenda (in Gillard's case), or "misrepresenting" it entirely, in Abbott's case.

But once an ad featuring Blanchett calling for a higher tax rate aired on June 1, the vitriol started in earnest. Conservative opposition leader Tony Abbot (who has in the past said the idea that humans cause climate change was "crap," said, "People who are worth $53m have a right to be heard – but their voice should not be heard ahead of the ordinary working people of this country." Television host Andrew Bolt, who works for a network co-owned by a mining executive, called it "deceitful" and "crass propaganda," and said Tim Flannery was a "long-time global warming scaremonger," according to The Guardian.

It was after that broadcast and a number of other attacks in the national press that the threats against scientists started rolling in. The Canberra Times had the story on Saturday.

One scientist said he was advised by police to install a ''panic button'' security alarm in his university office after receiving death threats. Others have removed all contact numbers from their work websites, and deleted social media sites after these were defaced with abusive comments and obscene photographs. One researcher told of receiving threats of sexual assault and violence against her children after her photograph appeared in a newspaper article promoting a community tree-planting day as a local action to mitigate climate change.

It still doesn't make a lot of sense why an actress's political ad should inspire somebody to threaten a scientist for planting a tree, but that's the problem with this story: It doesn't take very many violent-sounding nuts to send out some very scary e-mails. As ANU's vice-chancellor said, "I think it is totally outrageous and the vast majority of Australians would think it is totally unacceptable for anybody in society to be subjected to this sort of behaviour."

Here's the offending ad:

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20110607/wl_atlantic/aussieclimatescientistshidingdeaththreats38541

Like I said earlier, these police officers are a disgrace and should be severly punished but I think this might interest you all:

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adefemi1:
Osun against water satchets

Anybody caught dropping empty water sachets in public places in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, may henceforth pay N20,000 as fine, the National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency has said.

Osun State Coordinator of NESREA Mr. Rufus Anjorin said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Osogbo, shortly after a rally to mark the World Environment Day.

Does a national agency have the power impose such penalty or even arrest without a law?
Is this law applicable only in Osun State?



There's something missing in or wrong with the report!

EFCC files 16-count charge against Bankole
By Gowon Emakpe

June 7, 2011 05:00PM


The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has filed a 16-count charge in the Federal High Court, Abuja in the case against Dimeji Bankole, the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr Bankole was arrested at his Asokoro, Abuja residence on Sunday night and has been in EFCC’s custody since then.

Among the charges against the Abeokuta, Ogun State-born politician are that: “Dimeji Bankole and others now at large on or about the 28th of May, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, being Body of Principal officers of the House of Representatives responsible for the approval of contracts in the House of Representatives, with intent to defraud, did conspire amongst yourselves to inflate the cost of 400 units of 40-inch Samsung (LNS.3410 Television sets by approval the purchase of the said item at the rate of N525,000.00 per unit, instead of the prevailing market price of N295,000.00 and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 58 (4) (a) of the public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act.

“That you, Dimeji Bankole and others now at large, on or about the 28th of May, 2008 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court being body of Principal officers of the House of Representatives responsible for the approval of contracts in the House of Representatives, with intent to defraud, rigged the bid for the purchase of 100 units of Sharp Digital Copier 5316 by refusal to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act N0.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (e) of the Public Procurement Act, No.14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act.”

“That you, Dimeji Bankole and others now at large, on or about the 28th of May, 2008 within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court being body of Principal officers of the House of Representatives responsible for the approval of contracts in the House of Representatives, with intent to defraud, rigged the bid for the purchase of 3 units of Mercedes Benz S-600 cars by refusal to follow all the procedures prescribed for public procurements in Sections 17 to 56 of the Public Procurement Act No.14 of 2007, leading to a loss of value to the national treasury and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 58 (4) (e) of the Public Procurement Act, No.14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act.”

However, the former House Speaker was still being expected to be arraigned as at the time of filing this report. Meanwhile, some groups have called on the commission to ensure that Mr Bankole is given a speedy trial and ensure that justice is delivered.



http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5711823-146/story.csp

Last Updated: Tuesday, 2 December, 2003, 12:58 GMT


MP 'sorry' over underpants photo

Labour MP Chris Bryant is openly gay

Labour MP Chris Bryant has apologised for e-mailing a picture of himself in his underpants via a gay website.

After the picture was published by a number of newspapers, the 41-year-old Rhondda Labour MP issued a statement on Tuesday apologising.

It read: "I'm sorry this has happened. I've always been open and honest about my private life but never sought to make an issue of it.

"I'm saddened that others have sought to do so. The important thing is the work that I do for my constituents as an MP.

"I will not myself be distracted from standing up for the people of the Rhondda."

Mr Bryant - a former Church of England clergyman - has admitted that the picture and e-mail messages are authentic.

Pat Brunker, secretary of the Constituency Labour Party, said there had been no calls for an emergency meeting and she does not expect there to be one.

"Rhondda Labour Party members are pleased to have a hard-working MP and fully support him in getting on with his job," she added.

At his end of term briefing on Tuesday, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said he did not know "what all the fuss was about".

Mr Bryant, he added, had never made a secret of being gay, and that it was a private matter for him and his constituency Labour party.

He added that it was "one of those stories that gay people have to put up with from time to time".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3256348.stm

jara:
He hinted that he personally instructed all ACN members to vote for Tambuwal and not to collect a kobo from any other candidate.

This our journalists sef.

Are they insinuating that the ACN members collected money from Tambuwal?

Nasarawa governor concludes plan to return to PDP
BY UMAR MUHAMMED

June 7, 2011 01:50PM

The only governor on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State appears set to leave the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), NEXT learnt yesterday in Lafia, the state capital.

Indication that the governor was planning to return to his old party emerged after the inauguration of the state house of assembly, as Mr Al Makura went into a closed door meeting with the new leadership of the assembly that lasted one hour thirty minutes.

The incumbent speaker of the house, Musa Ahmed Mohammed and the incumbent deputy, Elecia Agwadu were returned unopposed.

The oath of office taken by the speaker and his deputy was administered by the Clerk of the house, Ego Maikeffi Abashe at about 12:18p.m. while the oath of office of other members of the house was conducted by the speaker at exactly 12:25p.m.

A senior lawmaker told NEXT on condition of anonymity that the reason why the governor did not read his speech before the crowd that witnessed the inauguration and went inside the speaker's office to read the speech was because the lawmakers wanted to persuade him to defect to PDP.

The source said the governor was mindful of the fight ahead of him because the CPC has only four members in the assembly while the PDP has 24 members.

The governor is also said to be unhappy with the way the CPC has handled the problem of post election violence in Kastina, Bauchi, Kano and Kaduna states.

He is, however, said to be mindful of the violence that might erupt from the members of the party if he makes an attempt to defect to the PDP.

The presidential candidate of the CPC, Muhammadu Buhari was in Lafia to grace the inauguration ceremony of Mr Al Makura.

Pressure from lawmakers

However, an aide of the governor also revealed that the governor has agreed to dump the CPC because there is alikelihood that he might not succeed with his plans for the state as head of a minority governor.

"The governor is aware of the poor finances of the state, as there is no money in the treasury, and we depend on allocation from the federal government to survive in the state," the aide said, speaking anonymously because the decision is yet to be made public.

He also said there is apprehension in the governor's camp that if he did not defect to PDP, he might face impeachment under one mouth because members have started rallying round to ensure that the governor complies to their demand. In pointed mark of defiance, the new speaker has refused to remove the picture of the former governor from his office to replace it with the picture of the new governor.




http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5711363-146/nasarawa_governor_concludes_plan_to_return.csp

'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese
By Caroline Wyatt
BBC News, Paris


The reality of Paris does not always live up to the dream

A dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome".

That is what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can be rude or the city does not meet their expectations.

The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown.

Around a million Japanese travel to France every year.

Shocking reality

Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris - the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre.

The reality can come as a shock.

An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French, might be laughed off by those from other Western cultures.

But for the Japanese - used to a more polite and helpful society in which voices are rarely raised in anger - the experience of their dream city turning into a nightmare can simply be too much.

This year alone, the Japanese embassy in Paris has had to repatriate four people with a doctor or nurse on board the plane to help them get over the shock.


An encounter with a rude Parisian can be a shocking experience
They were suffering from "Paris syndrome".
It was a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, Professor Hiroaki Ota, who first identified the syndrome some 20 years ago.

On average, up to 12 Japanese tourists a year fall victim to it, mainly women in their 30s with high expectations of what may be their first trip abroad.

The Japanese embassy has a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from severe culture shock, and can help find hospital treatment for anyone in need.

However, the only permanent cure is to go back to Japan - never to return to Paris.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6197921.stm

Weiner photo row: How the Brits got there first
7 June 2011 Last updated at 01:10 GMT

Article written by Mark Mardell
North America editor

Perhaps it was years of teasing about his name that drove Congressman Weiner to tweet his underpants.

It could be taken by some as a moment in the country's decline. After all, the picture shows no evidence of American exceptionalism, let alone manifest destiny.

But then again, perhaps it is a testament to national purity and moral vigilance.

After all, posting pictures of one's undergarments is the sort of thing you expect 12-year-olds to get up to, not rampant politicos.

Still "lewd" has such a nice ring to it.

And I am rather ashamed to admit, we Brits, got there first. A Labour politician called Chris Bryant once did something similar.

He said it gave him many sleepless nights at the time of his exposure, but he now regards it as a "charming scar" on his career.

It didn't stop him rising to the dizzying heights of minister for Europe. But remember, it's not big , and it's not clever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13677357

jara:
He said that the party’s took its position in order to advance the interest of the nation in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.

Tinubu, who drove into the reception venue in company of Chief Segun Osoba, said he was under tremendous pressure to toe the line of the PDP to support a South West candidate for the position but had to halt his support for any candidate based on his conviction that the legislature was a separate arm of government that should be allowed to produce its own leaders independently.

He hinted that he personally instructed all ACN members to vote for Tambuwal and not to collect a kobo from any other candidate.
In his speech, Chief Bisi thanked the lawmakers, noting that he was proud of them and that the ACN would continue to play such formidable role in this administration.

What is independent about being told who to vote for?

Formidable role?
National Interest?

Sounds like formidable personal interest to me.

Old picture.

The driver is actually female too!