China and the Global Community.

On several occasions I run across these Chinese kids here in Georgia Tech, what surprises me is the type of courses they study. Almost all of them under Chinese government scholarship here to study in Americas best universities are studying courses that have to do with the future. They study artificial intelligence, systems science and engineering, and hard core courses for tomorrows World, their social lives are zero and they always hold sophisticated telephones. Very surprising, but China is a country that thinks ahead and every Chinese is a potential suspect.

Have you ever heard of the concept, made in China 2025? It is Chinese Development blueprint that had sent fear around the world. It is meant to transform China from a labor intensive economy that makes toys, cloths, pharmaceutical to one that engineers advanced products like robots electric cars, and space explorations. The Chinese are believed to be the most determined species of the human race. Once they set their minds to achieve a goal nothing stops them. 

Earlier today, I listened to a commentary where the presenter clearly stated that the Chinese state would not mind stealing technology and intellectual property just to meet their goal. I also read elsewhere, that Chinese kids are sent in droves to study unique courses like artificial intelligence, information systems, system science, robotic engineering, systems engineering in American schools. Surprisingly this is a deliberate state policy. You never see a Chinese student on scholarship studying arts, social sciences or religion.

What is most troubling is that they study these courses in America and United Kingdom top ivy leagues. They are here on full state sponsored scholarships. While the economies of the world including the United States are exporting production distribution and exchange in an era of globalization, China is pursuing an agenda of localizing production…

Princewill Odidi, A Development analyst writes from Atlanta.

Building Churches in Africa at the Expense of Economic Growth.

China is currently the world's leading economic power. Yet, in China, there is a zero tolerance for church existence. Finland has the most stable economy in the world today. Yet, there are less than twenty churches in the entire Finland. Switzerland has the second most stable economy in the world. In spite of that, Switzerland has fewer than thirty churches. Denmark is the third most stable economy in the world. But there are about 23 churches in Denmark. These countries are considered to have the highest number of atheists, but they are blessed.



Now, let's go to Africa. Over there are more than 10,000 churches  per region. There are 4,000 churches in the city of Yaoundé (Cameroon) alone. 4100 churches in the city of Abidjan (Ivory Coast). 7000 churches in the city of Kinshasa (Congo). 10,000 churches in the city of Lagos (Nigeria). Please note that Lagos City is four hundred and thirty times more numerous than the whole of Switzerland. In Africa, we have more churches than schools and hospitals combined. There are more pastors than doctors. Almost every Christian is a bishop, pastor, deacon, deaconess or evangelist. Almost everyone in Africa is "born again". Even, the Moslems have their own version of "born again" among them. Almost every Christian is covered with "the blood of Jesus". Jesus is actually considered as the "husband" of all single women (according to them) in "revival" churches. 

Almost every Christian is filled with the "Holy Spirit". Even, a con artist will start his/her "business" with a prospective victim by solemnly saying, "Let us pray". And the churches? Some of them are richer than some local governments and states combined. Yet, they neither pay taxes nor contribute to the growth of their communities besides the presence of their monstrous edifices. However, none of these claims is reflected in the moral elevation that is expected in such an environment. We are among the laziest, the most deceiving, the most corrupt, the most hypocritical, the most hateful on the planet today, with all our religious posturing!

Preparing kids for the Future.

“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children. But we can, at least, prepare our children for the future.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Beginning of a New Era in Nigeria.

Today, inside the largest black nation in the world, something unprecedented took place a few hours earlier in the day. The erstwhile Nigeria’s president (Goodluck Jonathan) voluntarily stepped down from the exalted office after losing the presidential election to his opponent. To this end, Muhammadu Buhari was duly sworn-in as the new president. This great, unsurpassed political development will have a profound effect on the political future of sub-Saharan Africa and the global community. God bless Nigeria!

Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari rides in a motorcade while inspecting the guard of honour at Eagle Square in Abuja, Nigeria May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde.

American Mid-term Elections Results: The Real Losers.

There is a popular adage by the Yoruba (in Africa) that says: “Ticks always think they are killing a dog when, in reality, they are actually committing mass suicide.” This is because when the victim of ticks (dog) dies, all the ticks in its body will also die from starvation. This adage aptly describes certain categories of people who did not vote during the American Mid-term elections.

It’s safe to state here that the outcome of November 4th's elections amounts to a repudiation of President's Obama's policies. Yet, it's not because the policies were bad in themselves but because a large number of people refused to exercise their rights to vote. According to the news, there were poor turn-outs of voters in many states. But what are the implications of the Republicans' success at the polls and their control of both houses? Here are some examples:

1). The Affordable Care Act otherwise known as the Obamacare, which provides medical insurance for those with none, is in immediate jeopardy.

2). The proposed immigration reform act aimed at protecting those immigrants who are staying illegally in this country. This especially applies to those young people who (through no fault of theirs) were brought to this country as kids. This reform may soon end up in a trash can inside the congress chambers.

3). And lest I forget. There are those who are termed low-income people and living on “welfare” and food stamps (which the Republicans often call government’s "handouts") and those on subsidized housing benefits (section 8) may have to stay at alert henceforth. These are stuff that the Republicans hate and they may subject them to an urgent “reviews” soon.

Ironically, all of these things are likely to be repudiated because many of those who are benefiting from them refused to go vote! So, it was not President Obama or the Democratic candidates that lost. The real losers were the beneficiaries of the current dispensation.

 

Black America's Invisible Crisis by Lois Beckett.

In America, violent crime is down significantly since 1993, when the nation’s gun homicide rate hit its peak. But there are still neighborhoods in cities like Oakland, Detroit, New Orleans, and Newark, New Jersey, where shootings are a constant occurrence and where the per capita murder rates are drastically higher than the rest of the country. Some 3,500 American troops were killed during the eight-year war in Iraq. Within the same time period, 3,113 people were killed on the streets of Philadelphia. According to FBI data, between 2002 and 2012 Chicago lost more than 5,000 people to homicide—that’s nearly three times the number of Americans killed in action in Afghanistan…

Over the past 20 years, medical researchers have found new ways to quantify the effects of the relentless violence on America’s inner cities. They surveyed residents who had been exposed to violence in cities such as Detroit and Baltimore and noticed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): nightmares, obsessive thoughts, a constant sense of danger. In a series of federally funded studies in Atlanta, researchers interviewed more than 8,000 inner-city residents, most of them African-American. Two thirds of respondents said they had been violently attacked at some point in their lives. Half knew someone who had been murdered. Of the women interviewed, a third had been sexually assaulted. Roughly 30 percent of respondents had had symptoms consistent with PTSD—a rate as high or higher than that of veterans of wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.



Experts are only now beginning to trace the effects of untreated PTSD on neighborhoods that are already struggling with unemployment, poverty and the devastating impact of the war on drugs. Women—who are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD, according to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—are more likely to show signs of anxiety and depression and to avoid places that remind them of the trauma. In children, PTSD symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Kids with PTSD may compulsively repeat some part of the trauma while playing games or drawing, have trouble in their relationships with family members, and struggle in school. “School districts are trying to educate kids whose brains are not working the way they should be working because of trauma,” says Marleen Wong, Ph.D., the former director of mental health services, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Men with PTSD are more likely to have trouble controlling their anger, and to try to repress their trauma symptoms with alcohol or drugs. Though most people with post-traumatic stress are not violent, PTSD is also associated with an increased risk of aggression and violent behavior, including domestic violence. The Atlanta researchers found that civilians they interviewed who had PTSD were more likely to have been charged with a violent crime and incarcerated than other people of similar backgrounds without PTSD—but the cause and effect behind this wasn’t clear. For some people, PTSD symptoms may have contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system, while others may have developed PTSD later. “Neglect of civilian PTSD as a public health concern may be compromising public safety,” the researchers wrote.

Culled from Essence, October, 2014.

 

How Parents Make it Difficult for Their Kids to Grow.

“I believe it is parents' responsibility to launch their children after college, letting them both succeed and fail on their own. If college graduates are funded by their parents indefinitely, they are robbed of the important life and developmental experiences: gaining confidence in knowing they are in charge of their lives and can support themselves, learning how to be self-reliant and resourceful, understanding what is important to them, making compromises and sacrifices to get a start in a field that truly interests them. When we, as parents, make it too easy for our children, they delay stepping into full adulthood.” - By Suzanne McFarlin.