Liberia Moves Closer to Allowing Dual Citizen

July 24, 2007

Earlier today Honorable Armah Sarnor, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Honorable Vaforay Kamara, Chairman of the House Human and Civil Rights Committee, matched vision with kindness and introduced an Act in the House of Representatives to protect all Liberians from the involuntary loss of their Liberian citizenship when they become naturalized citizens of another country or serve in the armed forces of another country without the prior approval of the President of Liberia. Non-Resident Liberians are pleased the Liberian government has taken an important step in addressing an issue that is of great importance to Liberia.

We place great weight on the importance of Liberian citizenship and on the importance of promoting the Liberian people and culture. Due to the realities facing Liberia and the changing nature and scope of world affairs, Liberia’s citizenship law must be relevant to the realities of modern life. The citizenship act presently before the House of Representatives will help to create a more robust Liberian society and allow Liberia to better compete with the growing number of countries that are benefiting from dual citizenship.

When passed by the House of Representatives and Senate and signed into law by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Act will ensure that all Liberians can take advantage of opportunities abroad and return with their valuable knowledge and expertise to contribute a lot more to Liberia’s development.

The growing call for change is simply too loud to ignore. The dual citizenship petition drive has galvanized and motivated Liberians in a way never before seen. And we are pleased that Honorable Armah Sarnor and Honorable Vaforay Kamara have given legislative voice to Liberians worldwide and are leading the charge to pass the Act to allow dual citizenship. We trust that other members of the Honorable 52nd National Legislature will match vision with kindness and join Honorable Sarnor and Honorable Kamara in passing this important Act.

Signed:
Alvin Teage Jalloh, Esq.
Counsel for Non-Resident Liberians

How Bush and Cheney fabricated lies to invade Iraq

By: Sam K Zinnah
Editor-in-chief

On Sunday, March 16, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from his cave to appear on the NBC News “Meet the Press” show, for a one-hour interview with Tim Russert. In the course of the hour, Cheney all-but-announced that there was nothing that Saddam Hussein could do to avert an unprovoked and unjustifiable American military invasion of Iraq. Cheney repeatedly referred to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the “historic watershed” that, for the first time, justified an American unilateral preventive war. Yet Cheney himself, a dozen years earlier, had embraced the idea of preventive war--not against a Saddam Hussein who had been armed by the Reagan and Bush Administrations with weapons of mass destruction, but against any nation or combination of nations that challenged American global military primacy in the post-Soviet world. On the pivotal issue of preventive war, Cheney was lying, willfully. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Cheney's extraordinary hour-long pronouncement was composed, almost exclusively, of disinformation, which had either already been publicly discredited, or would soon be exposed as lies.
Cheney asserted that Saddam Hussein was actively pursuing the acquisition of nuclear weapons, when, days earlier, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief weapons inspector Mohammed El-Baradei had testified before the UN Security Council that the allegations were based on documents determined to be forgeries. Indeed, in the March 31 issue of The New Yorker magazine, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh detailed how IAEA investigators had determined, in just several hours of research, that purported Niger government communiqués confirming the sale of 500 tons of “yellow cake” uranium precursor to Baghdad, were shoddy forgeries, drawn up on outdated Niger government letterheads. Hersh wrote that the forgeries were passed to the Bush Administration, through British MI6, and had probably originated with the British intelligence service, with the Mossad, or with Iraqi oppositionists affiliated with the Iraqi National Congress (INC) of Dr. Ahmed Chalabi.
Cheney also repeated the by-then-thoroughly-discredited charge that Saddam Hussein had “longstanding” ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, and that it was “only a matter of time” before Saddam Hussein provided the bin Laden gang with weapons of mass destruction--biological, chemical, and, ultimately, nuclear. As Cheney well knew, an October 2002 assessment from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet, delivered to the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee, had pointedly stated that Saddam Hussein would only resort to WMD, or engage with al-Qaeda, if he felt that he was backed into a corner and facing imminent American military attack. Repeated efforts by “war party” operatives, like former Director of Central Intelligence and Iraqi National Congress lobbyist R. James Woolsey, had failed to turn up any credible evidence of Saddam-al-Qaeda links, particularly prior to Sept. 11, 2001.
Perhaps Cheney's biggest lie--which flew in the face of all assessments from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and State Department Middle East experts--was that the military conquest of Iraq would be a “cakewalk.” Cheney told Russert, “Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”
Russert challenged Cheney's rosy forecast: “If your analysis is not correct, and we're not treated as liberators, but conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?”
To which Cheney responded: “Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I've talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House.... The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but that they want to get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.” Later in the interview, Cheney added, “If you look at the opposition, they've come together, I think, very effectively, with representatives from Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish elements in the population.”
Towards the end of his performance, the Vice President extended his “cakewalk liberation” forecast, to further assert that American preventive military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein would stabilize the Middle East. He cited Dr. Bernard Lewis, the British Arab Bureau spook and author of the “Arc of Crisis,” “Islamic card” fiasco, as his authority: “I firmly believe, along with, you know, men like Bernard Lewis, who's one of the great, I think, students of that part of the world, that strong, firm U.S. response to terror and to threats to the United States would go a long way, frankly, towards calming things in that part of the world.”
Almost exactly 80 hours after Cheney's appearance on NBC-TV, the United States launched an unprovoked and unnecessary war on Iraq. According to Washington-based senior Arab diplomatic sources, governments of the Middle East were told by top Bush Administration officials, on the eve of the attack, that the Iraq war would be over in seven Vice President Cheney's lying performance on “Meet the Press” was no mere act of personal hubris and folly. His declaration of preventive war against Iraq--which neo-conservative allies, like self-professed “universal fascist” Michael Ledeen, more frankly celebrated as the beginning of a perpetual Clash of Civilizations war, targeting virtually every Arab nation-state in the Middle East--marked the culmination of a campaign of more than a dozen years, to permanently redraw the map of the Near East and Persian Gulf, through unending war and colonialist raw material seizure.
Even more than that, it signaled a long-in-the-making policy putsch in Washington by a small group of neo-conservatives--a majority of whom were followers of the German-born fascist philosopher Leo Strauss (1899-1973). Their policy is to permanently transform the United States, from a Constitutional republic, dedicated to the pursuit of the general welfare and a community of principle among perfectly sovereign nation-states, into a brutish, post-modern imitation of the Roman Empire, engaged in murderous imperial adventures abroad, and brutal police-state repression at home.
Reaction
Before President George W Bush Jr ordered the Iraq invasion on 3/30/2003, he received numerous warnings from people “high and low” telling him that the U.S. had not proven its case against Iraq, and that Iraq probably did not possess Weapons of Mass destructions (WMD). But according to the March 31, 2003 issue of The New Yorker magazine, Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh had detailed how International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA) chief weapons inspector Mohammed El-Baradei had testified before the U.N. Security Council that the allegations were based on documents determined to be forgeries by the Bush administration in collaboration with Iraqi opposition members. President Bush with his mater plan lairs went ahead and began attacking Iraq at about 2:30 GMT on March 20, 2003.
Since March 20, 2003, the U.S. led coalition-forces have suffered heavy casualties from insurgents in Iraq. Up to present, there seem to be no clear Democratic future of Iraq. The situation has become completely dangerous but Bush and his oil-greedy-conservative-Republicans continued to lie to the world about the uncontrollable situation in Iraq.

Bipolar disorder

Most Scientists believe or agree that multiple factor cause bipolar disorder. Evidence suggests a strong hereditary component. The disease affects men and women about equally, but men who have it experience more manic episodes, are hospitalized most frequently for treatment, and are more likely abuse alcohol and drugs.
Bipolar disorder generally surfaces in teens and young adults, but various age-related conditions can influence diagnosis. For example, in children, determining weather the signs and symptoms are due to bipolar disorder or another condition such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be challenging. In adolescence, hormonal influences can trigger similar signs and symptoms.
An older adult with bipolar disorder may seek help for depression but not report elevated moods. Also, signs and symptoms of comorbid conditions such as an endocrine disease, electrolyte imbalance, adverse drugs reactions, or a neurological disorder can mimic those of bipolar disorder. If the patient gets a mental health diagnosis at all, it may be inaccurate, and inappropriate treatment could cause implication.

Reaching a bipolar diagnosis

The diagnosis of bipolar disorder is based on the patient’s signs and symptoms, the cause of illness, and family history when available. The mental health care provider may use a standardized rating scale such as the mood disorder questionnaire to aid diagnosis. Classic bipolar disorder with recurrent episodes of full-blown mania and depression is called bipolar 1 disorder.
Four or more episodes of illness within a year are called rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Multiple episodes can occur within a week or even in one day. A severe episode of mania or depression can trigger psychosis and lead to an incorrect diagnosis of schizophrenia. During extreme mania, the patient may have delusions of great wealth or power resulting to terrible thing such as murdering someone.

Risky behavior of bipolar disorder patients

A person with bipolar disorder has a high risk of destructive behaviors, including suicide, addition, and violence. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), suicide risk appears higher now than few years ago. The risk of bipolar may be higher when the patient is emerging from depression-before the mood but when better able to make and act on decisions. A suicide attempt may be overt, such as taking a drugs overdose, or covert, such as entering situations with a high risk of death. The American psychiatric Association (APA) cites a probable suicide completion rate of 10% to 15% in people with bipolar 1 disorder.
The APA cites the use of drugs or alcohol as a risk factor for suicide, and substance abuse is very common among people with bipolar disorder. They may turn to these substances in an attempt to manage symptoms, but this kind of self medication can lead to addition, which complicates treatment.
A patient in the manic phase may have extreme of anger and aggressiveness. Someone having delusions may believe that someone or everyone is against them and act to protect themselves, posting a risk of harm to themselves or others.

Methods to manage mood

In 2005, the APA updated its guardlines for treating someone with bipolar disorder. They detailed a “substantially expanded set of options” for treatment based on results of recent scientific studies. Lithium (Eskalith), divalproex (Depakote), and carbamazepine (tagretol) are commonly used as first-line mood stabilizers, and anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and antidepressants may be prescribed as well. Psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) also may play a role in therapy.
Lithium is a simple alkali metal that’s similar to sodium, has been used over 50 years to treat bipolar disorder. Often very effective at controlling mood, it has a narrow therapeutic range and can cause various adverse reactions. Safe, effective therapy depends on maintaining the patient’s plasma lithium level within the therapeutic range, so frequent monitoring initiation and periodic checks during long-term therapy are essential.

How to intervene

Because bipolar disorder is a chronic illness, one may encounter a patient with this diagnosis in any setting. Interventions include assessing and protecting the patient, administering medications and monitoring their effects, and teaching the patient and his or her family, if appropriate, about the disorder and treatment. To foster a positive response, try to establish a supportive relationship and provide a safe, structured environment.
Suicide and homicide are the most dangerous potential consequences of bipolar disorder. If the patient mentions killing his or herself or others, take it seriously.

The Dark Continent of Africa

By Sam K Zinnah

Africa, often referred to as the “Dark continent” solely because the west and the United States knew less about it and its people, remains underdeveloped. The continent is considered underdeveloped in the sense that many of its people make poor living by simple farming.
Underdevelopment in Africa also means the use of poor human resources as the result of illiteracy, poor health conditions and of course, fewer factories. Due to inability to use modern methods, nearly all of Africa’s raw materials are exported to the west. Africa also remains underdeveloped because of the substantial amount of dry land. The heat and rain in some parts affect almost everything. However, it is important to add that from the days of Vasco da agama until the present time, the rest of the world’s interest in the African continent has been just how much they can get out of it.
As the world’s second largest continent, Africa occupied a huge land mass on the face of the earth. It has 11,704,00 square miles, or 30,312,000 kilometers in size. Although covering 20 percent of the world’s land mass, it seems to be one of the less crowded areas on Earth. It has also been recorded that approximately 10 to 12 percent of world’s population resides on the continent (Africa).
The continent of Africa is geographically bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea with Tunisia at its northernmost tip, while the Cape of Good Hope is located on its southern tip. The Atlantic and Indian oceans are both east and west of the continent respectively. It is important to emphasize that the northern part is separated from Europe by the Mediterranean. However, most of Africa is isolated from the Mediterranean world by the Sahara Desert and from the rest of the world by its own topography.
Africa is considered the birthplace of man “according to recent skulls discovered in the Olduvai Gorge”. There are also certain parts of Africa that are modern and up-to-date just as in the west. Still millions of square miles of its land are considered wide jungle. The estimated population of Africa in the 1990s is 600 million. This number is still a small one for such a large area which includes not only “real” Africans, but millions of immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Asia Minor.
When referring to the African people and their cultures, it should be taken into consideration that they are diverse, therefore they have diverse cultures. However, to be able to elaborate on diversity and complexity of the African’s way of life, it is necessary to briefly consider the topography of this huge continent. The part of Africa which is south of the Sahara is mostly composed of grassland that merges into the equatorial rain forest which stretches from the west, across the gulf of guinea and into the central area around the Congo basin. The former Abyssinia plateau, the area known as Ethiopia, is considered the most important mountain area in this particular region. The source of the blue Nine within twin ranges of the African continent. These ranges are divided by the Great Rift Valley and the Darkensberg Mountain located in the eastern part of the South African Republic. Mount Kilimanjaro which is 19,040 feet above sea level is the highest peak found in Africa and in the Kenyan plateau around the eastern park of the Great Rift. Some areas of the south and west of Africa are interior Veldor plateau, which is the well known Kalahari Desert. This information has a bearing on the education of African students because the economic and educational developments is most of the African countries are affected by the continent’s topography. The Africa of the 1990’s is composed of different races found in the eight regions of the continent, they are as follows: Coastal West Africa; Central Africa; Equatorial West Africa; Southern Africa, the East African Island Nations; Eastern African; and the Arab North Africa. The people of Africa range in physical appearance from the dark-skinned Negroes pf the west, to the light-skinned Caucasoid of northern Africa, and the fair skinned people and the European descendants in the mostly ruled southern part of the continent.

The People of Africa

Africa appears to be the only continent among the seven which is composed of different races and diversified cultures. For instance, a segment of Hamitic-Negroes located in Black Africa, South of the Sahara, are believed to have founded the first empire of West Africa around the year 4 AD. It has also been recorded that the people from the Middle East who settle in the Nile Valley are presumed to have begun agricultural developments some thousand years before the birth of Christ. The Egyptians are reported to have developed our 365 day calendar. Besides, they were the ones who in world history adopted the concept of life after death. Yet, the Africans of today are looked upon as the hopeless and the poorest of all the races on earth. They were once at the top, but today Africa and its people must depend on the United States and the West for survival. Because of this, African young people come to the United States to seek knowledge which was lost, and to take it back home.
As we continue to concentrate on Africa and its people, it might be necessary to continue to mention that the history of the western part of Africa, south of the Sahara, has been that of encounters from the time Islam arrived in that area. Most of the antagonisms during this period of the African history developed among the Hamitic Negro tribes, the Songhai, and the Mandingos around one thousand AD. Wherefore, there were sequences of revolutions in these kingdoms that resulted in the movement of the dark-skinned Africans to coastal areas such as Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, our today’s Ivory Coast, etc.
Most of the Europeans traveled to Africa simply because of what there was to take out while others entered the region as missionaries. The Portuguese arrived as early as the 15th century when their navigators made their way to areas such as our present day Senegal and Guinea. This time period also coincided with Columbus’ discovery of America. The Dutch reached the Southern portion of Africa in 1652, while the British Union Jack began flying in Cape Town 19 years after the United States independence. It is essential to note that after the ending of the American civil war in the 18th century there were concerns toward the granting of freedom to blacks. Therefore, in the 18th century, a society of Abolition under the leadership of Granville Sharp move to our today’s Sierra Leone in West Africa. In 1788, tleve years after the signing of the American Declaration of Independence, the Temne King Naimbana was supposed to have signed a land agreement for some freed slaves. Thirty four years later, the American colonization society sent the first freed black to our today’s Liberia, the first independent country in Africa. The first group of the settlers according to the Liberian History arrived in this part of West Africa in January of 1822.
It should be recorded that in spite of the location of the African continent and the diversity of its languages, people and cultures, there are still different groups. Although it is considered the second largest of the world’s seven bodies of land, Africa’s topography has caused most of the delays in its progress. As a result of these complications, developments in most parts of Africa have not been dramatic. Secondly, the complexities of the Africans and their cultures are extremely unique and difficult to comprehend.
Even though there is a desirer among African educators at home and the studies aboard for universal education, such quests present enormous problems due to the lack of financial resources; the shortages of qualified teachers, learning and teaching facilities and above all the great profusion of the African languages.
Although most of the African students, especially the independent ones in the united states are products of such complicated communities, nonetheless, they are determined to make those issues secondary to their search for western education. Even with the efforts of Negritude, a belief that Negro Africans, including their descendants in the New World, have common culture traditions, the people of Africa and their cultures remain diverse. Pan-Africanism emerged as a response to colonialism and was used to simulate economic development, form joint international policies and discourage Western imperialism. The philosophy of Negritude was first conceived by two outstanding poets of the third world: Aime Cesaire from Martinique in the West Indies; and the first president, poet, and one of Africa’s leading educators, Leopold Seder Senghor of Senegal in West Africa. The primary objective of Negritude was to reassert the many traditions which were disrupted through centuries of colonialism in Africa. In summary, it is well to note that Pan-Africanism appears to be the political counterpart of Negritude. Its goal to promote self-government in the third world, especially in Africa, has been a struggle that acknowledges political independence without economic independence is no independence at all.

The tribal groups and languages
Apart form the European languages introduced by immigrants and former colonial masters in Africa, languages of the African continent may classify into four principal families. The four main classifications are: the sudanic, the Afro-Asian, the Niger-Congo, and the click. The Niger-Congo family is widely spoken across the continent. In addition, English, French and the Swahili languages are spoken throughout Africa especially in the west and the eastern parts of the continent. The Arabic language is mostly spoken in North Africa.
It is essential to mention that the Arabic languages has profoundly influenced the Hausa in Nigeria as well as the Swahili language in some parts of west and east Africa, due to the Islamic majority in those areas. There are also hundreds of those languages within these four families spoken in Africa. Because of the numerous languages, African students who are studying in the United States are experiencing difficulties in making language adjustments. For instance, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa has about 100 ethnic groups; each with its own language, but English remains Nigeria’s official language. However, Nigeria’s predominant languages include: the ibos, the Yoruba, and also the kanieri. With these listed and hundreds more minor ones such as the Fulani, Nupe, the Tiv and many other languages throughout the country, English is used in official communications. Liberia, another West African state with a population of approximately 3.3 million has twenty eight different tribal groups which are speaking 16 separate major languages, the predominant of which are: the Kepelle, Via, Lumba, the kru, Bassa, the Kran, Gio and the Grebo. Liberia with all these languages uses English in all her official communications. In Sierra Leone, another west African country, the creole, mende, the femene, kero and mandingo are some of the leading languages, but English is officially used in public interactions. On the other hand, Afrikaans, Heroro, Nama and Owambo are spoken in Namibia for communication. These above languages and tribal backgrounds among the Africans make it difficult for some African students in the United States to cope with their studies in certain areas of learning.
There is much diversity among Africans south of the Sahara. For example, small bands of Bushmen who depend on hunting still exist in some African communities, while counties like Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Senegal and many others live in cultures rich in history and arts. Therefore, to describe the African people and their cultures, one must consider not only in terms of race, rather, in terms of language, the complicated groups and the diversity of cultures. In split of these numerous cultures, Africans regardless of their location, share a common cultural base which has just been understood by historians and anthropologists of the non-African communities.
A vast majority of the African students who are presently pursuing their studies in the United States are originals of many of these tribal groups. It is important to remember that every person, man and woman of traditional Africa, has a role assigned to him by the society. Because of this, each member learns the way of his by the society and the task expected of him or her. If a particular tribe had a relatively complex structure, its members might become associated with a group other than the family within the society, such as age, sects or the popular secret societies. It is also important to mention that regardless of how diverse a person may become in his association with other individuals, he remains a sole member of the family and its extended members. It is important to understand that men in the African communities did not organize in groups for the purpose of seeking or demanding change, rather, the groups existed purposely to perform certain traditional functions in ritualistic manners.
The African way of life is practiced by the Negroes between the Sahara and the Cape of Good Hope, since they have lived on the continent so long; they are referred to as the indigenous. They all have certain peculiarities of thought and behavior which seem to distinguish them from other races of the world. The African extended family system which is part of the African cultural has a great effect on most of the independent African students studying in the United Stated and other western countries. As a member of a family, each individual is obligated to many of its members. In short, the extended family is one of the several concentric circles within which the African individual lives. He or she is always a member of their clan. Each group is defined according to the African tradition which is also considered as kinship. It is important to recognize that the members of any African village environment, where many of the rural African students come from, pictures themselves as descendants from a single first ancestor who is referred to as the founder of the village. The individuals in such an environment usually find themselves or even their place, based upon their ancestry, and not as a result of any accomplishment of their own, but as a member of the group. It should not be forgotten however, that in most of the African family circle, every member owes each other a specific obligation regardless of how much western education one achieves. The circle on the other hand, becomes larger or influenced by our modern day living and of course, the western religion. The way men treat each other according to the indigenous African culture is determined not by abstract or our modern day friendship. Therefore, a ‘good man’ in most of the tribal communities is a man who fulfills all his obligations to his kinship circle. In such society, harmony with each member of the group and not our present day self accomplishment, is the path to acceptance or happiness. The leads us to the importance of value from the traditional African point of view.

The African Value System

Value which is defined by the American heritage school Dictionary as a principle, standard or quality considered worthwhile, plays an essential role in the rural African communities. Each of the complicated societies in the African world has its basic value and numerous ways, tribally distinctive, just as more than 800 African languages and cultures. We should also emphasize that traditionally Africans tend to view human natural as neither inherently good nor evil. According to the Africans, human nature is simply neutral. Although a good man in tribal Africa is the one who fulfills all his obligations to his kinship circle, human begins nonetheless are fallible and capable of error. To Africans the human nature is relatively crumbled or strong. However, he can become weaker or stronger. The most essential part of a man’s judgment in relationships to his being good or evil, generous or selfish, depends mainly on the social outcomes of his actions.
Therefore, it is well to inject that in a world in which man, nature and the supernatural are fragments of one whole, it is his resolution to live in harmony with the other two aspects. Legend, folksongs, wisdom and many other expressions are used by traditional Africans to seek solutions to their present day perplexities. Above all, we should not forget to recall the security in traditional African societies, on the other hand, lies within the framework of the group and not the individual. To maintain some of these cultural aspect and their values in an organized society, rural Africans used a form of communication system other then the western telephone, telegrams, letters etc. Their form of communication is known as the drum system. Webster dictionary defines the drum as a musical percussion instrument. Besides being a musical device, the indigenous African society considers the drum the most effective means of communication among tribes and the chiefdoms.
For instance, in most of the traditional African societies, before even the morning breakfast, there is usually the sound across the plantation and throughout the villages and the clans. Everyone who can hear or translates gets the message by the drum. Drums as a tribal communications system, has send important messages across tribes for hundreds of years.
For many years, they have: told stories of battles between tribes; summoned people toward in defense of their tribes; told death news of famous tribal leaders and the birth of famous children; relayed information about murders; and of dangers. Above all else, they have been used to communicate with the ancestors.

The Europeans and Americans who went to Africa as missionaries did not comprehend the meaning of the African drum, and as a result considered it uncivilized. Some of them being unaware of the drum communications were successful in destroying some of its aspects and it’s important to the tribal culture. Just as the African drum is programmed to transmit messages so does the institution of marriage. Marriage value to all African traditions is viewed as a strong feeling of loyalty and co-operation which blends two families and their extended. Wherefore, the institution of marriage is more than an agreement between a man and a woman to live together. To the Africans, marriage is a means of obtaining relatives and in-laws in the family circles. The details relating to marriage customs vary from ethic group to ethnic group. However, the closeness within families as a result of matrimony is the foundation of all the African cultures.
The bribe according to the African rural tradition, must share the life of the family that she’s marrying, her selection is important to every member of that particular family. She must on the other hand, remain in the family especially if there’s a child as a result of the relationship. Polygamy, one man having more than one wife generally came about when the first wife was unable to handle her routine responsibilities and requested her husband for a female assistant.
Deceased males in the family leaving behind children have also been one of the reasons for the increase in polygamy among the African rural inhabitants. However, in many parts of Africa the richer an individual, the more wives he may handle. From that point of view, polygamy has been a unique economic system to keep the family united in the traditional African societies.
African Students in the United States or in any western country are products of these complicated cultural practices. Yet, they must make adjustment and re-adjust themselves and other to achieve their goals of an American education.
The magic of hearing is another aspect of the African culture upon which the western missionaries frowned. However, the magic of healing common illness among some Africans is similar to modern science. Magic in some ways is based on the presumption that there are things that human beings can do to alter the course of nature. Therefore, a sick man in African community may use herbs and charms why a modern man takes pills and rest to keep him/her from illness. To be able to fit in both worlds, African students must make transitions and adjustment from the African world to that of the west. Coming to the United States has been one of those efforts.

Welcome: Baby Sam

His mother and father's dream was to one day have him in their arm.
Sam Kamara Zinnah fled his native Liberia in 1996 in search of peace and security. In the process, he met beautiful, quiet, and determine Victoria Korpo Kekula on the over crowded refugee camp of Buduburam in the Gomoa District of Ghana’s central Region. Later in 2001, Sam resettled to the United States and began working on getting his “dream wife-to-be” over to the United States. In may of 2004, Sam returned to Ghana and wedded Victoria “Korpo” Kekula on May 21, 2004. Months later, Victoria “along with her parents” moved to Australia where she spent two years schooling. On October 6, 2006, Victoria was received by her husband at the J.F.K international airport in New York.
Victoria and her husband’s dream were to one day hold their junior boy in their arm and play with him. In may of 2007, during one of the couples regular visits at the bayhealth medical center in Dover, Delaware, an ultra sign was conducted on Korpo, the technology revealed a healthy baby boy relaxing in his luxury womb of his mother. The day was one of the happiest moments in the couples marriage. Korpo’s entire nine months was very peaceful and precious. We both could not wait to see our first boy. On july 7, 2007 (7/7/07), a family baby shower was scheduled. The shower turned into a celebrity shower. Gifts were pulling from all angles of the United States, Australia, Canada and even Liberia. One week after the celebrity shower, Baby Sam Kamara Zinnah Jr finally arrived on July 14, 2007 at 9:35 pm at the bayhealth medical center in Dover, Delaware. At birth, he weight 7lbs 1 0z.

Is Ghadafi mad? part II

By: Sam K Zinnah

Consider the commonly heard expression in the sub-region, “Charles Taylor and his creation must face justice”. Ghadafi and his Libyan mafias may not feel that regional “of which the so-called revolutionary should be part of” issues should be raised to address regional problems. Regional issues of justice may not be the direct factor of concern to Ghadafi and his government in Libya but they are of decisive importance to the sub-region especially in the struggle to define a solution to regional problems. Ghadafi’s continuous persistent to create his so-called “United States of Africa” is not a matter of facts, but simply of a “feeling” which may not have any legitimate place in the efforts to address the relevant political problems on the Continent. Ghadafi’s kind of emotion-driven aberrations are a major factor of a mass political behavior motivated by a pathological use of “I feel” as a substitute for rational behavior. How does a true revolutionary feel about mass killing of peace loving Liberians, Sierraleons, Ivorians, and Guineans to the wicked hands of the very Charles Taylor that was created by him (Ghadafi)? The notion of a democracy of “feeling” as distinct from reasoning, is a potentially fatal contradiction in terms, “as a case of what happened in Sierra Leone, Guinea and cote de’ Voire” expressed a large overdose of “feeling” but virtually no exercise of reasoning. Liberia, Sierra Leone, cote de’ voire guinea and the entire world will not forgive Ghadafi for training and unleashing Charles Taylor on the sub-region. Ghadafi’s creation of Charles Taylor, his involvement in the 1988 bombing of the Lockerbie Pan Am Boeing 747 flight 103 airliner tells the world something very important about him”.

During the Abuja conference that arranged the 1997 presidential elections in Liberia, I witnessed the incarnation of Ghadafi’s cash into political power. With the help of his reginal mafias, Ghadafi programed Charles Taylor and his blood money. Taylor became the mole of deed financier whose dirty dope dollars became the most weighted voice or decision of the entire process in Abuja, Nigeria. Howls of protests came from oppositions, i.e. the late Harris Fumba Moniba of LINU. But after months of talks over the concern of electing Charles Taylor, Obasanjo, Ghadafi, Blaist Campoare still used their Regional mafias with the backing of Tom Ikimi “Nigeria’s foreign minister at the time” and Mohammed Ibn Chambas “Ghana deputy foreign minister at the time” to execute the millions of dollars contract awarded them by Charles Taylor and his creators. Both men (Ikimi and Chambas) served as the financial-mega speculators “for Nigeria’s obasanjo, Libya’s Ghadafi, Bokena Faso’s Campoare, and Ghana’s J.A. Kufuor ” in bringing Charles Taylor to power in Liberia. Kufuor’s share of the contract was to print the ballot papers for the elections. Initially, Kufuor played a very major road in the formation of the then NPFL. He shared the name of his political party with Charles Taylor. Kufour heads the National Patriotic party (NPP) in Ghana and Charles Taylor headed the National Patriotic Party in Liberia.
In 1997, I attended college in Accra, Ghana. Two of my teachers took part in the printing of ballot papers at "Bob printing press in Achimota", (suburban Accra). On the last day of the work, I covertly visited the printing press. During the visit, it was discovered that I was a Liberian. A gentleman walked to me and asked: What are you doing here? I answered by telling him that I was escorting a friend. He said to me in a soft and low voice; “you will disappear if this is heard anywhere around in Ghana especially buduburam camp. The ballot papers were printed and covertly transported to Liberia. The masses going in the streets of Monrovia to cheer Charles Taylor’s NPP to victory just coincided with Obasanjo, Ghadafi, Campoare and Kufuor’s plans.
The reality is that Charles Taylor can co-exist just fine with obasanjo,Ghadafi,Campoare and all whom he shares an intimacy through mutual acquaintances. Ghadafi (the so-called revolitionary) witnessed the mayhem inflicted upon Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Guineans and ivorians by his (Ghadafi's) creation "Charles Taylor" and his bunch of child soldiers. No one “not even the heavenly
Intervention of the angels from heaven” could stop the untold sufferings “caused by Charles Taylor” that caused many to perish of hunger, especially those of tender (ages) years.
Mothers “with scarcely strength to support themselves” carried their famished and malnourished infants in their arms and died with them. Many felt victim to stray bullets, cold and others to intense thirst while president Ghadafi relaxed in Tripoli and watch satellite channels. Nigerian soldiers were also murdered in huge numbers by Charles Taylor and his child soldiers. Let me not enlarge too
deep on the cruelty and avarice which (Ghadafi’s creation) Charles Taylor and his boys frequently inflicted on Liberia and the neighboring countries before I run into coma. I find it very difficult to dismiss memories of my experiences during Charles Taylor’s senseless war.
After all the above narratives, how then can Ghadafi convince me that he is a revolutionary? He must be really mad to think he can trick the entire world all of the time.

Is Ghadafi mad? Part I

By: Sam K Zinnah

In June of 1997, 98 Ghanaians were deported from Libya. Prior to their deportation, they were arrested at their various workplaces and detained for periods between two and three months before their deportation. Over 50 more Ghanaians were left languishing in Libyan cells awaiting deportation.

In November 2000, hundreds of African immigrants, mainly Nigerians and Ghanaians, living in Libya were arbitrarily rounded up beaten and some killed by Libya security forces. Their possessions were taken away from them and later expelled from the country. Embarrassed over the treatment, the Ghanaian president “at the time” J. J. Rawlings personally traveled to Libya to take delivery of his citizens.

In 2004, 251 ghanaians were again deported from Libya. Ghadafi was among the Africans that were forcibly pushed out of their land by the Arabs and some Europeans. Decades now, those false (white) Africans have dehumanized other Africans who suppose to be part of them. So if Ghadafi is really serious to create the united states of Africa, he must be ready to expel the Arabs and whites Europeans that forcibly settled in Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and other white occupied lands in Africa.
Over the years, Ghadafi has been one of the covert hands behind every conflict in the region. He overtly trained Charles Taylor to take on parts of West Africa whilst he relaxed in his multi-million dollars palace in Tripoli.

In 1997, the French Weekly Newspaper published some of ghadafi’s colleagues assets. For example: General Sani Abaca of Nigeria, $20 billion, late Ivorian President Flex Houphet. Boigny, $ 6 billion, General Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria, $ 5 billion, the late President Mobutu of Zaire, $ 4 billion, President Mousa Traore of Mali, $ 2 billion, Henri Bedie of Ivory Coast, $300 million, President Denis N'guesso of Congo, $200 million, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, $ $80 million, President Paul Biya of Cameroon, $70 million, President Haile Mariam of Ethiopia, $30 million, President Hissene Habre of Chad, $3 million, indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor, The late President Gabassinga Eyadema of Togo, former Ghanaian president Jerry J. Rawlings, Bokena Faso’s Blaist Camporare, and the late President Samuel Doe of Liberia; a host of African government ministers would make an updated list. Portion of these stolen monies are covertly kept in Libya. Is Mr. Revolutionary “Ghadafi” prepared to return the portion of these stolen monies to the appropriate countries? Is he ready to confess his evil deeds in the region?

For decade now, Qaddafi’s campaign to install tele-guided regimes in various African states had encountered series of frustrations but he still believed that the United States of Africa is a prerequisite to the unity of Africa. In my view, there is “the continent of Africa” but there will never be “a United States of Africa”. The above names and assets serves as my convincing point for my view. Compare the assets of these dictators to the conditions of the masses in the region or the living condition of their citizens.
The unity of Africa will affect the economy of the west so
The continent of Africa will always be the diamond mine of the west. Ghadafi must really be mad “to go causing noise all around the continent” for something that he has never encouraged in the region.