Saturday, October 27, 2012
This 2012 Toyota Corolla is All Yours for Only $88 Monthly
The change of seasons is upon us and before we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, the team at Major World would like to take this opportunity to send you some savings.
It's customers like you that allow us the opportunity to continue to grow,so we want to show our appreciation by extending special savings to you. Stop by before 10/31/12 to take advantage of Major World's Fall into Savings. See below for details.
For further details about Major World's Fall into Savings or to schedule a test drive, please contact us at 718-937-3937 or christinas@majorauto.com.
Thank You, Christina Sellito Major World Loyalty Team Manager |  |
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Friday, October 26, 2012
Tweet of the Week: Nigerian Youths Are Too Lazy To Read and Think
https://twitter.com/elrufai
Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai is a former Director General of The Bureau of Public Enterprises, the head privatization agency in Nigeria and also the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from 16 July 2003 to 29 May 2007. He is a member of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
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President Obama is failing in Afghanistan
President Obama is failing in Afghanistan
Do you know that more U.S. Troops have been killed in Afghanistan under President Barack Obama within four years than under former President George W. Bush’s two terms of eight years?
According to Michael Prysner, a veteran of the war in Iraq and an anti-war activist:
• During former-Pres. George W. Bush’s tenure, 575 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan.
• Since President Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, 580 U.S. troops have perished there (as of August 19).
In just 19 months, the Afghan war under Obama has claimed more U.S. lives than the previous administration’s entire 88-month quagmire.
That number does not include the exorbitant number of suicides, of which June 2010 brought the highest number in U.S. military history. In that single month alone, seven GIs killed themselves while deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, along with dozens of others stateside.
That number also does not include the vastly inflamed number of GIs who are maimed, paralyzed, endure brain trauma and lose limbs. According to ABC news, in 2010, U.S. troops are being maimed at 12 times the rate they were in 2008.
These statistics are joined by the highest level of military spending in world history, and new reports that show 2010 to be the deadliest year for Afghan civilians as well as U.S./NATO troops.
This is the change in U.S. foreign policy we have gotten from the former “anti-war” presidential candidate that so many well-meaning people supported as a repudiation of the path taken by the Bush administration. That path had led to so much blood spilled, so many lives destroyed and so many resources squandered.
But all we really got was a different figurehead standing at the helm of the same war machine. Riding with Obama is the same clique who rode along with Bush. Gen. Petraeus, who presided over the bloodiest phase of the Iraq war, now presides over the bloody quagmire of Afghanistan. The long-time defense contractor sweetheart Robert Gates was retained as Secretary of Defense (who will likely soon make his exit from the Afghan war debacle). Even Frederick Kagan has been brought on to the strategy team. Kagan is from the viciously neoconservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute and was a close partner to Bush during the troop surge in Iraq.
It is not just the same commanders that have stayed in place, but the corporate interests they represent. Dick Cheney’s Halliburton, which so many recognized as part of the war drive, still has the same lucrative relationship with the U.S. government. The same defense contractors continue to rake in the biggest profits in history and enjoy the same partnership with the Pentagon. The same oil giants feasting on Iraq are waiting to cash in on Afghanistan’s new oil fields and pipelines. And the same U.S. business interests as a whole are foaming at the mouth over the vast wealth in minerals and natural resources, both in Afghanistan and in the surrounding former Soviet republics that they will be able to access with the U.S. military force in Afghanistan.
This is not what the supporters of Obama expected when they voted for a “change.” Washington and the Pentagon are still carving up the world for Wall Street, and paying for it with our blood.
A lot has remained the same. There may be a new administration, but the same generals and corporate interests are standing over the White House. When it comes to whose interests this government and these wars are serving, absolutely nothing has changed.
But what has changed is the number of dead. What has changed is the rate at which they are dying. What has changed is the number of widows, orphans, amputees and psychologically traumatized soldiers.
What has also changed is that the Afghan War Logs, leaked to the public by WikiLeaks, finally show us the reality of the military adventure in Afghanistan. They have revealed what the generals and politicians know and have known, that they are badly losing the war with no chance of “victory.” So the record-setting fatalities in Afghanistan, which continue to spike, are happening so the politicians can avoid the political setback of having lost the war.
The Obama administration has sent more U.S. troops to their deaths in Afghanistan than Bush—but many more are likely to die on Obama’s watch. The resistance in Afghanistan is stronger than ever before, and, as even the Pentagon generals admit, can never be defeated militarily.
And all we are promised is that in July 2011, based on “conditions on the ground,” the U.S. might send home some undisclosed number of troops from Afghanistan.
Last December, before Obama broke Bush’s record, he stood before the world to give the war effort a badly needed boost of support. He told us that our cause was just, that we had a new strategy to win the war, and that the end was right around the corner in 2011.
But this cause is not just. This is nothing but a war to access resources, new markets, and labor previously off-limits to U.S. capitalism. The new strategy to win the war has gone up in flames—even their highly publicized propaganda operation in Marjah, which was supposed to showcase the correctness and success of the new strategy, was a complete disaster and called a “bleeding ulcer” by McChrystal before he was fired.
The end is not around the corner—that was for public consumption. The promise was only to “begin withdrawing some troops.” Gen. Petraeus has already hinted that even this minor reduction in troops will be postponed. There is currently no end in sight.
This is why March Forward! stands in support of those service members who have decided to refuse to take part in this war.
All the anger, frustration, protests and political action seen under the Bush administration forced the billionaires on Wall Street and their millionaire puppets in Washington to adjust their strategies to maintain crucial public support for the wars. So they gave us President Obama. And it worked, for a little while.
But the skyrocketing body count makes it clear that all the things about these wars that the people turned against under Bush are still firmly in place under Obama. There is no reason for the people of the United States and soldiers in the military to support the war in Afghanistan. The Afghan people have the right to self-determination. The U.S./NATO force needs to leave—immediately, unconditionally and completely. It will take a resurgence of the political movement that sprung into action under Bush to make that happen.
We need to stand up, inspire more GIs to resist, and fight back against this war—before Obama reaches his next milestone of death and destruction.
Tags:
- Afghanistan,
- American Enterprise Institute,
- Anti-War,
- Bush Administration,
- David Petraeus,
- Death Toll,
- Dick Cheney,
- Frederick Kagan,
- George W. Bush,
- Halliburton,
- Iraq,
- March Forward!,
- Marjah,
- NATO,
- Oil,
- Pentagon,
- President Obama,
- Quagmire,
- Robert Gates,
- Secretary of Defense,
- Stanley McChrystal,
- Suicide in Military,
- Surge,
- Wall Street,
- White House,
- Wikileaks
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Hon. Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Japan
TOKYO, October 26, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On Tuesday, October 23, Mr. Yoshihiro Noda, Prime Minister of Japan, received a courtesy call by Hon. TAMBUWAL, Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is visiting Japan on the invitation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for approximately 15 minutes from 11:30. The overview of the meeting is as follows:
Prime Minister Noda welcomed the Hon. Tambuwal's visit to Japan and stated that he would like to further strengthen friendly and cooperative relations with Nigeria which is a cornerstone for stability and growth in West African region.
In response, Hon. Tambuwal expressed his appreciation for support from Japan. He also introduced the fact that trade between Japan and Nigeria has been expanding recently, and expressed his expectation for further development of Japan-Nigeria relationship in private sector.
Prime Minister Noda stated that he would like President Goodluck Jonathan to participate in the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) which will be held next year. Hon. Tambuwal replied that he appreciated for the invitation, and stated that the House of Representatives of the National Assembly would also support Nigeria's participation to TICAD process.
Source: Japan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter Updates Show Uncanny Premonition Of Aluu Mob Killings
In Perplexed ... Perplexed': On Mob Justice in Nigeria, there are uncanny updates on Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter account showing that he had a premonition of the horrible fate he and his three friends Tekena Erikena,Biringa Lordson and Mike Toku met with on October 5, 2012, in Omuokiri village of Aluu community in Rivers State according to the international award winning Nigerian writer Teju Cole, author of Open City, which won the 2012 PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
I took a look at eighteen-year-old Ugonna Obuzor's Twitter account (@tipsy_tipsy), which he last updated on October 3, two days before he was lynched alongside his three friends. His timeline isn't wordy, but it's fairly opaque, written mostly in the terse, quasi-American argot familiar to anyone who reads young Nigerians. There are a few messages in which he seems distressed about some unexplained event. Perhaps he was going through a romantic breakup (some of his retweets support this reading) or some other personal disappointment, but in light of his sudden death, the messages have taken on a decidedly different cast. On September 14, he wrote, "Its a shame buh it is wat it is...its real as this.." and, six days later, on the 20th of September, "It breaks my heart evrytym I tink abt it...still can't beliv it.." I scrolled down further down. On August 21, Ugonna had written, simply: "Perplexed." And on the day following, on August 21, 2012, the same single, haunting word again: "Perplexed."
Read his complete analysis on http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/perplexed-perplexed-on-mob-justice-in-nigeria/264006/
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Nigerian Couple Sees UFO and Human ET in Niger Delta
A Nigerian couple claims to have seen unidentified flying objects (UFO) and Extra-Terrestrial (E.T) last night in their neighborhood in the Niger Delta according the eye-witness account of the husband posted on Nairaland, the popular online forum.
EasyG: Okay this probably sounds over the top and I was never one to give much credence to UFO sightings, how much more ever imagine I would ever lay eyes on one physically especially in Nigeria since most recorded sightings have been in the western world but last night I observed UFO activity for about 2 hours.
I was awakened around 0100 hours by an extremely loud noise and at first i thought it was the outdoor unit of my air conditioner so I powered it off but the noise wouldn't go away. It was real loud and rather disconcerting because it was a humming sound. My wife sprang up and was scared stiff, thinking judgement day had arrived because the sound was coming from above outside.
I decided to take a peep outside and lo and behold, what did I see? A flying saucer! It is indeed an apt description because the craft was shaped like a saucer, with a rotating outer ring. It was hovering about 200 feet away from my bedroom window and then after a while it started moving about but not very fast. I called my wife to the window just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating and asked her 'Do you see that?' and she went "Oh my God it's a UFO!'. Now I was convinced my eyes weren't deceiving me and we both stood transfixed watching the strange craft. There were no lights on the machine but it's silhouette was quite distinct from the night sky.
As we stood there watching the mopols guarding our area released some gunshots into the air as is their nightly custom except I don't know if they also saw the ship and wanted to scare them off. The craft then started moving towards the sound of the shots which happened to be a few feet from our gate and this really freaked my wife out because she thought they might interpret the gunshots as a threat and wipe out the entire neighborhood with some energy beam.
I must confess the thought also crossed my mind, however it resumed it's hover and then after a while went back to it's original position. A couple of minutes later it started rising vertically upwards and bigger surprise, there was a freaging mother ship!! A hatch opened up in the middle of the mother ship and the smaller craft went in.
The humming sound finally ceased, there was no sound from the mother ship, and the silence was actually menacing because it was a large craft. Then something really weird started happening. The mother ship started changing shapes.
I can't really describe the shapes but my wife made some drawings of what she saw. I remember one shape looked like a triangle and another was cylindrical with the tip like the nose of a high speed electric train.
Now this is the most amazing event out of all that transpired this morning, I saw a giant human in the sky, and I am pretty certain my jaws dropped. My wife whose eyesight is much keener than mine asked me if I could see what she was seeing, and I nodded in amazement. He was perfectly formed, with chiseled looks and a close cropped beard.
He was dressed in flowing robes and had a drape across his shoulders and he was huge! He appeared to be floating in the sky and was transparent, like he was reflecting the light around him. His gaze was transfixed at the gas flare coming from the NNPC refinery. By the way this happened in Warri and the refinery isn't far from where I live so the flames from the flare is extremely bright at night. I suppose they are watching and waiting for the opportune time to make their appearance known to the entire earth.
Anyway after a while he floated up into the mother ship and then another surprise, other ships started dropping out of the night sky and they moved in a formation behind the first ship, kind of like soldier ants and then they disappeared out of sight. This happened at about 0300 hours.
Without a doubt we are not alone on this planet but the being I saw isn't some one eyed creature with three fingers and green skin, he was definitely human but much more perfect than we can ever be, and huge in size.
Their technology is way beyond what we have now and I am still trying to figure out what kind of energy powered those ships. The engineer in me is inclined to think it's some form of electro-magnetic energy because a ship that large would require a huge engine which ought to generate a whole lot of noise but it was silent. I suppose the smaller craft is like a helicopter to them hence the loud humming noise, or maybe it's because it descended so low we were able to hear it. I am most definite people in the neighborhood must have seen or heard the smaller craft because it was real loud.
It's only a matter of time now before they make their play and come out in the open. It certainly looked like an intelligence gathering exercise to me. Well, just thought I should share my experience with others, maybe someone else saw them too. This is certainly the most awe inspiring event I ever laid my eyes on!
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Women Are Better At English than Men
24 Oct 2012 09:00 Africa/Lagos
World's Largest English Proficiency Index Reveals Scandinavians on Top and Libya the Worst of 54 Countries
- It's official: women are better at English than men.
HONG KONG, Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EF Education First's English Proficiency Index reveals wide gaps in English skills across the world. Women are better at English than men. This is one of many findings officially reported today in the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), the world's most in-depth ranking of English ability. The Swedes are the best English speakers of all based on a survey of 1.7 million adults in 54 countries and territories in five continents.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121024/HK90314-INFO )
"English is key to innovation and competitiveness," says Michael Lu, Senior Vice President of EF Education First. "The EF ranking should be a wake-up call to countries falling behind their neighbors - because today's report shows that poor English is linked with less trade, less innovation and lower income."
Key points to revealed by the EF EPI include:
Italy, Spain and Portugal at the heart of the euro zone crisis are being dragged down by poor English. EF's research suggests that English skills are strongly linked with how much exports contribute to an economy.(p.12 of the report). All three countries are among the bottom in Europe in proficiency.
There are wide disparities between the BRIC countries, the developing nations competing to be future economic superpowers. Brazil is ranked only 46th, much lower than China at 36th, Russia at 29th or India - where English is an official language - at 14th.
The gap between men and women is widest in the Middle East and North Africa, where female scores are considerably higher. This highlights the fact that English could prove key to greater opportunities for women in developing nations. Other countries where men are far worse than women are Italy and China. South Korea, at 21st, and Japan, at 22nd, perform disappointingly badly for wealthy countries near the top of global rankings of academic achievement. This is surprising because they come in well behind several lower-income countries, including Hungary (8th) and Poland (10th).
This year's report also analyses English scores by region, age and gender for select countries.
About the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI)
The EF EPI (www.ef.com/epi/) ranks the English proficiency of 54 countries and territories using data from 1.7 million adults around the world .
The EF EPI is published by the world's leading international education company, EF Education First (www.ef.com), which specializes in language learning, educational travel, academic degrees, and cultural exchange programs.
Media inquiries:
Michael Lu, EF Education First
Tel +44-2073418500
press@ef.com
Web Site: http://www.ef.com
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Arts of Nigeria: French Private Collections - A Must-See Exhibition
Arts of Nigeria in the French private collections - A must-see exhibition at the Musée de la civilization in Quebec - October 24, 2012 to April 21, 2013
QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 23, 2012 / CNW Telbec / - Diversity and certain aesthetic qualities, that which describes the magnificent works of the exhibition Arts of Nigeria in the French private collections at the Musée de la civilization in Quebec City October 24 2012 to 21 April 2013. This exhibition is also a missed opportunity to take a look at the strange story of passionate collectors. "A common tribute to talented artists who will unfortunately, for the majority, anonymous" (Alain Lebas, curator and art collector Nigeria).
With more than 155 million people and 250 ethnic groups spread over the whole territory, Nigeria is an African country with a great diversity of languages, customs and traditions. It is a mosaic of cultures that inextricable attend, interact, associate, sometimes conflict. Ancient villages to ancient customs alongside cities such as Lagos, where 10 million people live in Europe.
Passionate collectors
With a mission to raise awareness of the exceptional quality and diversity of Nigerian art, 26 French collectors are 187 objects in this exhibition from 44 ethnic groups in Nigeria. These works offer a fragmentary but penetrating a little known art. If, on the one hand, some believe that these works are in relation with the spirits they represent the aesthetic look of those who attend daily permits, on the other hand, to get closer to the artists who created them.
Exceptionally combined exposure time, these works often scarce and some of which are exhibited for the first time, we invite you to a meeting of those who sometimes produce a shock and sometimes turn into passion.
Works meaningful
"The exhibition Arts of Nigeria in French private collections is a major event in Quebec City, Quebec. In addition to presenting many objects rare and exceptional aesthetic quality, it unveils a geographic area rich in culture related, but diverse. It also provides an opportunity to understand and to understand the mechanisms of development of the art history still poorly known, commented the Managing Director of the Museum of Civilization, Michel Côté. This is often due to avid collectors, as those who have been approached for this exhibition, we are faced with major objects, and meaningful reflection. They clearly have a weight historical, social and aesthetic power, said Mr. Côté. The Museum wishes to live an experience of discovery, emotion and reflection to visitors. The role of a museum is to allow the meeting. This is why the Musée de la civilization is quickly engaged in the project of the Commissioner, Mr. Alain Lebas, "he concluded.
The visitor's journey
The course has been designed taking into account the fact that it is a first encounter with the art of Nigeria for a large number of visitors. No course is required or predetermined, the visitor is free to move toward the objects attracting more attention or curiosity spice.
The space is arranged and divided into islands aligning sets of objects representing large areas of Nigeria: Cross River, Niger Delta, Upper, Lower and Middle Benue region and the border with Cameroon. Other sets of objects are grouped by ethnic groups such as the Igbo and Yoruba * including *. Each of these islands is clearly identified by the name of the ethnic group or region as well as a text with their main characteristics. Other groupings are presented, not by ethnicity but by type of representative objects such as masks and large murals, or similarity, kinship influence in style between the various ethnic groups in different regions.
Upon arrival, the visitor sees a crest Bokyi dance, a work both surprising and somewhat unsettling was chosen specifically for the challenge, surprise and arouse interest in the exhibition. In the room, the visitor finds himself in a staging purified with an overview of all the objects presented. Many of these can be seen on all sides allowing to appreciate the details and aesthetic qualities.
Descriptive texts supplement the presentation of these groups where certain objects considered major or exceptional, are highlighted differently to attract the visitor's eye and diversify the presentation. Among these are: a mask round Eket, a statue - drum ornament Mbembe - a monumental statue of Igbo 185 cm, a jumper on the Lower Benue, a couple in their Ibeji coat, a crest Ejagham four braids a mask Igbo-Izzi ...
Throughout the journey, the visitor has the opportunity to sit in different places to take the time to admire some things, listen to the story of the three French collectors passion for the art of Nigeria (Yves Develon, Max Itzikovitz and Alain Lebas) and watch videos ethnographic Nigerian dances and rituals (years 60 and 70) in which one can see some of the objects presented in the room.
Arts of Nigeria: the catalog
A catalog of the same name, a textual and visual quality, accompanies the exhibition. Co-published by the Museum of Civilization in Quebec and 5 Continents Editions, the lyrics were written by the curator, Alain Lebas, the chief curator and head of the Africa Heritage Unit Musée du Quai Branly, Hélène Joubert; the distinguished professor and historian Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin, and the lawyer Espenel Alexander, who signed Interviews with collectors. The beautiful photographs of the pieces presented are mostly the work of photographer Hughes Dubois.
Unavoidable, exposure in Nigeria Arts French private collections is presented at the Museum of Civilization on 24 October 2012 to 21 April 2013. An exhibition designed and produced in close collaboration with Alain Lebas, curator and collector specializing in the art of Nigeria. Alcoa is a partner in all of the programming of the Museum of Civilization.
* The Musée de la civilization uses the invariable form of respect for the ethnic vernacular.
SOURCE Museum of Civilization
Caption: "Crest Ejagham * four braids. Bois, antelope skin, metal, vegetable fibers. H. 95 cm. Private Collection. (CNW Group / Museum of Civilization)". URL of the image: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20121023_C9316_PHOTO_FR_19651.jpg
CONTACT:
Media Relations: Serge Poulin, 418 528-2072, email: spoulin@mcq.org
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Top 10 World's Best Universities Rankings 2012
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
- University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
- Harvard University (United States)
- UCL (University College London) (United Kingdom)
- University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
- Imperial College London (United Kingdom)
- Yale University (United States)
- University of Chicago (United States)
- Princeton University (United States)
- California Institute of Technology (United States)
Google's Nexus 10 could break the 300 PPI barrier
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