simply oroque's view

i just read in the newspaper that a California judge has given a court order permitting prison authorities to force feed many of the inmates at a prison who are on hunger strike for the seventh week now and are facing a health risk. the back story is that many of the violent gang leaders of white supremacist groups and black and latino enemy gangs have encouraged this strike to protest their being kept in solitary confinement. they are apparently so powerful even in these solitary confinements that the other inmates who are not in solitary confinement have gone on this hunger strike to the point of being near death. i will keep this simple, follow me. when an inmate wants to go on hunger strike, the prison authorities will ask them to confirm if they wish to be resuscitated when absolutely necessary to do so for health reasons. usually, many of them would say yes, because nobody who is not on death row really wants to die...and goodness knows that a 40 year jail term may end someda...

Yesterday someone said aloud during lunch that democracy is not for Africans. I know I have some of the world's most intelligent friends so let me peg the tide of high profile arguments by saying that I agree with him but will not go into the reasons why. Often times it has become clear that the black person finds a way to circumvent and rubbish the best systems in the world. Western immigrations and customs, banking systems and processes, political structures....everything that binds the white man who by nature recognizes and respects boundaries clearly does nothing for the black man. The military is not any help in terms of leadership and dictators often forget how they got to power and become tyrannical but I digress. The papers are full of politics. Everyday in the news is one new political stone being thrown or dodged. It is tiring. Every single action has political undertones, political alliances are broken and formed, monies are changing hands, psycophants are in business....

i was having lunch at the office cafteria when a documentary on the "insite" needle exchange program in canada and switzerland came on. the default channel at work is CNN of course. at first i thought it was just one of those programs that spew out stale statistics on drug use around the world and the effect on the human body and how the world is dying etc. you can thus imagine the shock when i heard, "a place where people can walk in off the streets and legally shoot up". as with programs of this nature, there was a dramatic pause after that phrase as they showed people with faces blurred out, opening a door to a building as sterile as a clinic. the concept was a simple one. sometime in the past decade, vancouver canada had one of the world's highest rates of HIV. as with everything done by intelligent western countries, the government dug deeper into the statistics and realized that the highest contributing factor to new HIV infections was the shared needles...

this grand award is given in recognition of the most compelling submission to make a case for charity in the simplyoroquesview blog 5th anniversary give away ...and is worth NGN250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand naira only) given to the winning charity and nominating participant in pre-determined ratio. Congratulations. Winner will be contacted to claim winnings. Should you win any other category, you will be asked to forfeit one of the prizes, which is then awarded to the first runner up.

the nominees for the grand prize worth NGN250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand naira) along with the charities nominated are: the shortlisted charities - and their areas of primary concern - are: the zammar institute (autism research, care and awareness), beth torrey home for mentally challenged and handicapped children, Edgar's Foundation (indigent persons care), Old People's Home Yaba, Heritage Orphanage Maryland, Mrs. Okafor  (infirmed widow of 5 children in dire need of assistance for substinence and medical fees). i cannot thank the persons who have sent in these entries, you have fought very hard for these charities because you believe in them. i was moved to tears by some of the entries received and i am a better person with the knowledge. God bless you. I am setting out these charities because the need for donations to all of them does not end with this give-away. unfortunately we can only award one prize, but i know many people reading have often wondered wh...

this award is given in recognition of the first ever comment made by a blog reader over the life of the blog...and carries with it a cash prize of NGN20,000 (Twenty Thousand Naira only). Congratulations. Kindly send your bank details to simplyoroquesview@gmail.com. Should you win any other category, you will be asked to forfeit one of the prizes, which is then awarded to the first runner up.

this award is given in recognition of the most comments made by a blog reader over the life of the blog...and carries with it a cash prize of NGN20,000 (Twenty Thousand Naira only). Congratulations. Kindly send your bank details to simplyoroquesview@gmail.com . Should you win any other category, you will be asked to forfeit one of the prizes, which is then awarded to the first runner up.

twas many a moons ago, that i first read of the chinese style of parenting. it created a media frenzy across the globe and caught the attention of the western media like none else before it. i half expected to hear some amazing magic having been conducted under the stars to aid the lead given by the chinese child over his peers elsewhere on this globe. instead i heard the ordinary. i heard of spankings and beatings, minor only to my own as a child. i heard about deprivations and lack of play, a concept many a black child in africa knows first hand by name. alas, the chinese form of parenting, was mild in comparison to the daily reality of nigerian parentage, and i began to wonder why our strict fathers and their whips did not turn us on the path of global leadership...instead fostering rebelion in our loins. the difference between black and chinese parentage lay bare upon interview given by the author of a book that had caused this furore. she brought forth unto the ears of the world...

its not everytime that a small idea blossoms into a movement...and i didn't think for the life of me, that the anniversary charity give away would be embraced as much as it has been. we have received entries from within and outside lagos and i am excited that the prizes will soon be handed out.   short of doing a pre-conclusion vote of thanks, i'll just drop a quick thank you to everyone who has sent in an entry short and long. and i mean, LONG. it shows you all are as passionate about helping others as i am, and i am in the best circle of friends and readers. to those of you who would like to send in your entries in these final 10 days, here are the details below: HOW TO WIN: 1. Nominate a charity and write a short justification as to why they deserve One Hundred Thousand Naira 2. Submit your write up to simplyoroquesview@gmail.com between April 14 2013 to May 31 2013 TERMS & CONDITIONS: - Judges decision is final. - Only winners will be contacted - Cash ...

times like today i am stuck. stuck because everything has been happening so fast but its all been too personal to paste on my blog. when i first started blog writing, i could have posted anything i liked cos it was accessible to only a few friends, now i get people from costa rica (not that its a bad thing). as usual when i haven't written my blog in a long time, i'm just gonna do a quick round up of whats been popping and upping. okay, i'll stop trying to be funky at old age. lets do this from the most important to the least important shall we? as y'all know from my several whining posts on the dangerous slope the country was going that i did not understand for the life of me why average citizens of a country would all think the same way about how to solve a national problem but the government just kept moving round in circles. and yes, i'm talking about militancy in the north and south of nigeria. the approach so far has been to pay off these criminal elements...