Setting up a Succesful business in Nigeria

Obama has the lesbian Gay community in an uproar because he selected Rick Warren to be a speaker at his inauguration . They are upset that this minister who is anti gay marriage is allowed a forum, at such a momentous event. I have considered myself liberal to a degree but one area that I don't consider myself a liberal is in my belief. I am not going to stop anyone from being gay or having a gay relationship but that those not give anyone the right to tell me not to associate with someone who disagrees with them. I am even more resentful when the LBGT community equates gay marriage with the struggle for civil rights. I can't tell most gay people when they walk down the street, but everyone can tell a person of color when they see one. My sexual orientation I can hide my racial orientation I can't hide. The rights that black people won was the right to be treated as an equal human. Not a half human. The right to drink from the same water fountain, the right to go to the

With the election of Barack Obama, stem cells are once more in the gun sights of the religious right. The Catholic church has voiced its opposition to embryonic stem cells. The way this has been talked about you would think that mass murder was being committed by scientists.  In 2001 President Bush signed a decree that prevented federal funds from being used in embryonic stem cell research. He allowed for lines that had been created before his speech to be used and eligible for funding. Most of the research on embryonic stem cells in the US has been done with private money and funding from a few states. (New Jersey is one)  What is the difference between the two and why is one okay while the other is not? I will give definitions of each and you can draw your conclusions. Adult Stem Cells . Those can be from fetuses or adults and are specific. They can be cells from the heart or other organs and can be grown to find cures for specific ailments in those organs. Embryonic stem cells : The

Whew it is finally over and Barack won. The surprise was my reaction when confronted by my non Nigerian or minority acquaintances. When asked if I supported Barack instead of a yes, I asked what made them ask that? I made some commentary to brush away the subject. The honest answer should have been a yes. I never found it necessary to question my support of a white candidate. In 2000 I supported McCain, Gore (tepidly), Dean, Keyes and many others. I never liked or supported Jackson or Sharpton . They lived too much in the past and like the Republicans were one issue candidates. They did not bring any promises of hope or anything meaningful to their candidacy. They did not excite me. I remember watching family ties in the 80's and young Alex wanted so badly to be a republican. Republicans were intellectuals, educated and successful . I aspired to be a Republican in that mold. The party today has become a symbol of intolerance , that plays on my fears and has chosen a platform that

11/04/08 Americans made history. They elected a black man to be the leader of the free world. Barack H. Obama the son of a Kenyan explorer and a white dreamer from Kansas was elected as the 44Th President of the United States of America. He won with more white votes than Clinton, Gore and Kerry got in their elections. He won by a majority of votes from Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, the young and the affluent. The patchwork quilt that is America came together as one and in a loud voice voted in a new President. OBAMA, OBAMA, OBAMA they all yelled. A sea of White, Black, Asian and every color you can imagine. There was a time in this country when all black people wanted, was the right to vote.  The right to vote was won after lives were lost, people were hosed, beaten, jailed and humiliated. The black man felt he deserved to vote if he could die defending his country. I can't tell you how people who grew up in the country feel, because I am not one of them. I can only empathise with them

The elections are 9 days away and most people have made up their minds as what candidate they will vote for. History has been made. Americans are going to the polls in numbers that have not been seen in a long time. Some are doing it to be a part of history while others are doing it out of fear of the unknown. Either way, the McCain / Palin ticket will be historic in that it will be the 1st time in US history that a woman is Vice President. Should the Obama / Biden ticket win it will be the first time that a man that is of mixed race will ascend to the highest office in the land. My personal experience of the last few days has shown me some things that I had only read about in the news. Last Monday we had our Knights of Columbus business meeting. I was discussing General Powell's endorsement of Obama and the comments he made about Muslims. One of my fraternal brothers made a comment that Obama was a fundamentalist Muslim. I asked why he believed that and he said that it was on t

As a parent of three boys, I have found it very odd that Governor Palin's baby sleeps very calmly whenever you see him in public. It does not matter how noisy or bright the venue, he is as limp as  a rag doll. This discussion came about when I spoke to a friend yesterday. She told me of very republican middle aged woman who was voting for Senator Obama. Her reason was that she was of the belief that Palin's baby was being drugged. She dismissed the theory until the lady explained that she had family in the medical field who specialized in children with down syndrome. She explained that a common characteristic of the babies was an unusual sensitivity to noise. I am calling on people in the medical field or those that have worked with children and infants with down syndrome to give a qualified opinion on this subject. Is Trig Paxson Van Palin drugged or are they carrying a doll and passing it as a baby?

October is right to life month and as Catholics we pray for the unborn. The sermon by father Michael today took a dimension that bothered me. The church came into my bedroom and I felt intruded upon. The sermon condemned abortion which is okay but it went beyond abortion. It condemned the use of birth control, because sex is for procreation only. By using birth control we were indulging in pleasures which is contrary to the teaching of the church. I even realized that the poor boys that were having wet dreams, were sinning. Those who pleasure themselves have sinned by spilling the seed. So all you men out there can't pleasure yourselves or have sex for pleasure any more. Now I support the programs that the church runs to take care of people who have unwanted pregnancies, but after we raise these kids it is okay to execute them for a crime or send them off to a war to get killed or maimed. I would appreciate the clergy to condemn any form of killing. They can't condemn abortions

Like most of you in America, I watched the debate between Governor Palin and Senator Biden. It was a bit painful but I guess this is democracy in action. The founding fathers envisioned that people aspiring to the office be of good reputation and strong intellect. I don't think they intended the office to be for Joe "six pack". Governor Palin's language and repeated winks and waves made me wonder what I was watching. Her absolute refusal to answer the questions and her insistence on repeating her talking points made me wonder why she believed she belonged on the stage. During the debate I kept repeating to my wife, she is using a lot of words and not saying anything. The most shocking response I got was from the media and Republicans. They gave her a passing grade for not falling apart at the debate. She as able to stand there and repeat all that she had crammed. A lot of you that went to Nigerian schools can describe the folly of cramming. If the material you crammed

I was watching this video today and I had a great laugh. The adjectives that have been used to describe black people or minorities have been applied to CEO's and the $700 billion bail out.  Let the video roll past the first two segments. Have a good laugh courtesy of Bill Maher.

Last week I met a client for lunch and I saw this bicycle parked against the wall of the restaurant. Seeing it brought some very warm memories of my childhood. We use to look forward to our annual visit to the village. We could do things that we could not do in the big city. We could ride bicycles, play outside all day and not have a care in the world. My first experience on a bike was on one that looked like this one. It has the passenger seat, that could carry your sibling or a friend. When you became really good you could carry 3 people. One on the handlebar or the center bar, yourself and a passenger on the carrier. Those were the days. Now these Raleigh's were the work horse. They served as the primary mode of transport for most people. They were cheap and reliable. I even befriended the local bicycle repair man in Mkpuka. I used to ride to Eke Akpara markrt, Umuacha, Mbutu, Mgedeala, Ugba Junction (old one) and any where I could think of. I remember the many miles I rode and

History was made last night. It was the first time an African American as the Presidential nominee of a major party, debated on the National Stage. I was one many that wanted to watch the debate. I watched the pre and post debate hype to get a sense of what the candidates would do. I listened to all the talking heads and all the opinions that they were willing to share. My conclusions: There were no major gaffes. McCain was on the offensive. Obama showed that he knew his stuff and deserved the chance at being President of the United States of America. I found it strange that McCain would not look at Obama . It also bothered me that Obama was extending a courtesy to McCain that was not returned. There were no fatal body blows. The only people that might have changed their minds were those independents that were leaning Obama . Now they are a little more sure that he is deserving of their support. I can't wait for the VP debates. Which Sarah will show up. Who do you think w

In another twist, John McCain decided to suspend his campaign to deal with the economy. What amazes me as an individu al is that we and the media continue to fall for these distractions. A President can't call time out from being President because he has to deal with other issues. A president must be able to multi-task. All week John McCain has not been able to get the attention he enjoyed with his initial selection of Sarah Palin. That in itself was the mother of all Hail Mary Passes and today he has reinser ted himself into the news. No too long ago the discussion was about lipstick on a pig, today it is about a suspension of a campaign. What will it be tomorrow?

The last 12 months has seen a decimation of the financial services industry. It started with the failure of some very big mortgage companies and people felt that would have been the end of it. Unfortunately the toxins that caused the failure of these companies have also doomed many on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers a company that has been around for over 150 years, filed for bankruptcy today . Merrill Lynch one of the stalwarts of Wall Street sold itself to Bank of America. AIG one of the giants of the insurance industry might also fail. New York State is promising it access to $20 billion dollars but they need $40 billion. Today in a meeting with Merrill Lynch employees and analysts, John Thain said that he was left with very few options. When the discussions with the Feds for a rescue plan for Lehman brothers failed, he realized that Merrill might be next. In 24 hrs the deal to sell Merrill to BOA was crafted and approved by the 2 boards. Why did this happen so quickly? Two very unrela

The other day I received an email from one of my well meaning Ngwa brothers and in it he told me how he had missed me at the 2008 convention. He told me that he had seen members of my camp / group and he would have liked to have spoken to me. In my response I said that I did not know that we had divided ourselves into camps. The only camp that I belonged to was the Ngwa camp. A few days later I got another private email from another brother and he mentioned the same camp thing and asked, who put me up to my commentary on the email that the NNAUSA President had posted to Ndingwa. It was then I understood what this camp thing was about. In NNAUSA we seem to have adopted the attitude that, being for me means to not critique what I do. If you support me you can't point out my failings. I am sure we remember kindler gentler times. Ichie Ogbunamiri, Mazi Chima Uduko, Brother Udo Jacob and Mazi Nwangwa will be at pain to recognize the NNAUSA that we have today. Mr. Nwankwo made an obs

Copyright © 2007-2008 Bill Garrett Today, Americans are living longer than ever. During the twentieth century life expectancy in America increased from age 47 to age 77. Longer life spans present problems for retirees, however. Assuming some rate of inflation, you will need an ever- increasing income to maintain your standard of living. The Question is: "Will you have enough saved to last throughout a twenty or thirty year retirement?" Social Security Social Security was designed as a pay-as-you-go plan, i.e., retired workers collect benefits funded by workers still paying into the system. Today, the system's ability to maintain current benefit levels is in jeopardy. It is apparent that your financial security in retirement is to a great extent dependent upon your personal resources. Four Risks to Your Retirement There are four major risks to your retirement: Long-term Care Expense, Inflation, Investment Risk, and Withdrawal Rate Risk. Any could th

Do you remember where you where when the first plane crashed into one of the world Trade Center Towers? I normally leave home early but for whatever reason, I was still at home at the time the first plane slammed into the WTC. I watched on TV as the 2nd plane turned and crashed into the second tower and America as we knew it changed. I drove towards the George Washington bridge and I could see the smoke rising from where the buildings where supposed to be. People just kept looking in the direction of the smoke. They could not comprehend what had happened. The innocent and the relative safety we felt evaporated. I used to remember each time that I crossed the George Washington bridge or one of the tunnels that it could be my last time. I always wondered how my children would remember me if that happened. I wondered if death would come in a loud blinding explosion or if it would be a slow painful death. It is 7 years later and I drive by the same bridge and tunnel and I don't for one