Congressional Liars...Fibbers of a generation.

We all accept that for a state to operate efficiently people often have to lie. Things have to be fabricated, credible and true stories have to be thwarted and made to look untrue and things have to be covered up.

However, some people go the extra mile to fabricate, discredit or blatantly lie about things they know are incorrect. All geared towards a selfish end or some private wet dream.

In all areas of society there are people like this. Here are some of my favourites: 

Going back to the Iraq war;

First and foremost the whole war itself was a lie. So I am sorry for calling it "the Iraq war". But for now we just have to go with that due to obvious reasons. 

Now topping this list is Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahhaf The Iraqi Information minister who kept lying during the war. He lied about virtually everything. At a point he appeared on State television saying there were no American troops in Baghdad but two American tanks could be seen in the background. 

Al-Sahhaf

His was a whole new dimension in war propaganda. Nicknamed Baghdad Bob and Ali il Comico by the Italians, He was a one man state sponsored agency solely specializing in spreading bull-shit. (my apologies). The Only truth of this guys story was the fact he said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction which leads us to our next candidate Gen. Colin Powell.

Personally I view Colin Powell as a disgrace to anything in Uniform closely behind the Nigerian Generals who were shown weeping for their lives at the feet of  Gen. Sani Abacha who had a look of confusion and disgust on his face.

Colin Powell

I mean there is a limit one can be pushed to say "I resign". Colin Powell was the General who lied because he was told to do so without checking the story. The thing is he had all the resources to do so if he wanted to. I can understand Al-Sahhaf lying, he did it under pain of death. For Colin Powell I really do not understand why he didn't just get up and leave. 

Then we have Tony Blair. A master at what he does. The thing with Tony Blair is that he never really had to lie blatantly. He just fed out the truth in tiny drips and different shades of grey and in varying levels of concentration. 

Tony Blair

The resulting mixture was a potent story. Always more misleading than an outright lie with the truth within touching distance. This he delivered in the classic Blair manner with a flurry of gestures, head tilts  and direct eye contact. Most important to note about Blair stories, there were always suits and bodies between him and anything that could resemble a false story.Talk about the master puppeteer. 

The list goes on and on but then lets turn our attention to athletes of our generation. 

Andre Agassi; he lied about doping and a few days after the window within which he could be held accountable closed he came out with the true story. 

Agassi

If only there was a phrase such as "disgusting honesty" this would be a good time to use it. 

Then there was our dear super woman. Marion Jones. She fibbed and fibbed and fibbed some more. She even fibbed about the fibs she told. To everyone. To the IAAF, to WADA, to the FBI, to her parents, to herself, to the guy she bought the drugs off. She even went to church got on her knees and fervently fibbed. I mean how bad could it get. 

Marion Jones

All this while she believed she could not be tested positive. But like all things, there is only as much as you can fib. Eventually she came clean with the little words. I am sorry. I made a mistake. Which was in itself one last fib. You make a mistake when you unknowingly go down the wrong route and not when you "KNOWINGLY" go down that route in other to gain an advantage. 

Now we have some new guy on the list. 7 time Tour de France Champion and Mega star. Lance Armstrong.    In a battle that has lasted a few years he has constantly maintained his innocence. Meanwhile one after the other his team mates have come clean and have accepted their  fate. Mr Armstrong  has decided to give in, still maintaining his innocence and citing a one sided battle as his reasons for conceding.

Armstrong

He would be stripped of all his 7 titles including all Moneys and Trophies won in that time. a bit of a heart wrench. In all this though, he still does maintain his innocence. Good old Armstrong.

Chinas Wobbling Hurdling....A lesson in Choreography.

China would never give up a chance to be perceived as some sort of entity where everyone thinks alike, always smile alike, listen to the same songs and if we are to believe them, when everyone is asleep in China they all turnover in a perfectly synchronised way. 

Have you ever had the feeling when watching the Chinese grand prix that 90% of the supposed spectators are all Policemen, secret service and paid cheerleaders. All made to look like couples, teenagers and lovers having a wonderful weekend?  When Didier Drogba arrived in China to carry on his footballing career all you could see was a frenzied mob of fans, photographers and media personnel. However, if you took a closer look it wouldn't seem so at all. It was just Play acting. From the Policeman trying to push back the Photographer to the TV personnel scuffling to get a closer look to the fan waving a piece of paper waiting for an autograph. It was all a bunch of people paid to act out a script.  

Drogba arrives in China

In the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing China a little girl who was scheduled to sing was deemed to be "not pretty" enough by one Chinese big wig. So what did they do? Yeah, you would guess it. They pulled out the never failing card of deception. 

Ling Miaoke and Yang Peiyi

Letting TV kid star Ling Miaoke do the appearance, making her mouth (lip synch) the words that were being sung by Yang Peiyi who had her singing pre-recorded for the event. She wasn't allowed to appear because she had crooked milk teeth and a chubby face. 

Their latest sports antics in the just concluded London 2012 Olympics now involves their mega star Liu Xiang a world Champion in the men 110metres Hurdles. 

You see, "BEFORE" the race Mr Liu Xiang suffered a serious injury. The Honourable thing to have done would have been to pull out of the race. But what did they do. Yup, that old card once again appears on the table. Script writers were called in and instead of preparing for a race, they prepared for an act.

The gun went off and everyone took off on a flying start, except of course Mr Xiang who was injured and went down at the first hurdle, Bahamas' Braithwaite who tripped and fell and one other athlete who pulled a hamstring. Mr Xiang went ahead to hobble  and in a show of sportsmanship and patriotism kissed the last hurdle and waved to the crowed. He was wheeled off the tracks amidst loud cheers of love and understanding from the crowd. Even the Chinese commentator that day was heard to choke amidst praises for Liu Xiang, saying this is the cruel reality of sports.

The bottom line of this story and the question I am dying to ask is; what's with the Chinese government and its serious effort to choreograph everything it can. It leaves one thinking and begging to know what really is real in China. I wouldn't be surprised if a piece of the great wall of China fell of one day and underneath one of its bricks is a logo saying Shanghai plastics with a time-stamp of 2010. 

Prince Harry and his VIP friends. A show of Naked Royalty

Good Education, Fancy parties, Great social standing, Double barrel last names and a weekend in the palace. One would think this would be the little goodies that comes with being friends with royalty. 

It also turns out that the occasional betrayal and back stabbing is also thrown into the mix to make it all the good old acrid relationship. 

Prince Harry over the weekend was given a good serve of this mix when nude pictures of him were propagated by TMZ. Doing what they do best. You worry about your clothes, we would worry about the pictures. 

Royal Chatter

Harry has been portrayed in the media in recent times as a member of the Royal family who had finally come of age and had matured into a responsible young man. Full of prospects and a long career in front of him. 

I think he has come of age and is indeed the many good things people say about him. The thing is he has totally left out the part where he was supposed to trim his entourage of friends and acquaintances a large group of wannabes part of which consist of social ghouls intent on wrecking havoc at the slightest opportunity. 

Well, lets hope he learns from this show of  monumental immaturity. 

Date Rape gone horribly wrong.

Research in Motion in the last decade has made so much profit with its Blackberry product line. Completely revolutionizing the instant messaging service, It took Corporations like Apple, Microsoft and the makers of the Whattsapp application a while to catch up. 

The Blackberry messaging service meant a lot to many people. It provided a very easy way to communicate without incurring crazy charges, it played a pivotal role in the Arab spring up rising and the Nigerian fuel subsidy saga. It is a formidable method via which information can be spread efficiently. 

While it proves to be a source of information for some, for others it proved to be a very different tool. Like everything good it could be thwarted to an evil end.

A resident of Abuja Nigeria hooked up with a virtual friend via Blackberry chat and set up a meet date. A meet date  which was for the 21st of July proved to be her ruin when it all went horribly wrong. 

Miss Cynthia Osokogu 24, the Daughter of Retired Nigerian Major General Frank Osokogu was lured by 33 year old Nwabuzor Okumo and his Cousin 23 year old Ezekiel Odera to her death. 

Cynthia Osokogu

She arrived in Lagos and met Nwabuzor Okumo at the airport they proceeded to a hotel in FESTAC where  her virtual friend now in the physical sought to rob her. He proceeded to drug and rape her repeatedly for 12 hours and then murdered her in cold blood. 

Although he did claim his intent was not to cause her death, telling police he had actually drugged and raped unsuspecting ladies on 3 or 4 different occasions and it had never resulted in the death of any of his victims. 

He admitted purchasing four bottles of Ribenna and had spiked them up with Reflon ( this could be a drug called Flunitrazepam also known as Rohypnol nicknamed Roofies) Which is a Benzodiazipines one of the two main sleeping agents used to battle Insomnia. 

Though a sizeable quantity was administered, he claimed it did not have the desired effect and his victim Cynthia put up a fight resulting in her being tied up. 

Failing to get any sizeable amount of cash out of her and aided by his cousin he beat her up, chained her and left her. Though Okumo claimed they left her alive in the hotel room, staff at the hotel have indicated differently. They said an anonymous caller had called up saying; go and get the dead body of a bastard from your room. Which led to them finding Cynthia's body.

Ezekiel Odera and Nwabuzo Okumo

Ezekiel fled to Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria but was traced there by the police aided by his girlfriend and he in turn helped them trace Okumo who lived in FESTAC back in Lagos.

This is a heart wrenching story and bears all the hallmarks of barbarism, greed and sheer stupidity. 

Nwabuzor Okumo and Ezekiel Odera are to be charged to court shortly to answer counts of Robbery, GBH, Kidnapping,  Rape and Murder. 

Though she set out to do some shopping for her boutique and to meet a couple of new friends it ended in the worst possible way imaginable. 

This is not the first I have heard of date rape in sub-saharan Africa, but it is one of the most petrifying considering the victim, location and the fatal twist to the story. 

Tia Sharp

Like all crimes, the real facts have come home to roost. Police searching for missing school girl never seemed to have been interested in searching too far away from where she was last seen - her Grandma's house. Despite repeated attempts by her family to make them search far and wide.

Grandma Christine Sharp

Hazel. 

During televised pleas and interviews Tia Sharps Grandmother and Step-Grandfather never missed an opportunity to say the words "come home" or "walk in through the door" . The actual fact as it turns out is that Little Tia Sharp never actually left the house in the first place.

Little Tia Sharp

If the body found in Grandma Christine Sharps' house turns out to be Little Tia Sharp then my guess would be that her Step-Grandfather had done something to her at night and Christine arriving home from work in the early hours of the morning had played along in concealing the body.

Whatever it is, this has turned out to be a very sad story. It is a betrayal that is second to no other. My heart goes out to the Sharp Family. I do hope justice is ultimately served.

Bolting into history.

you good, but I am still the Daddy

Usain Bolt did successfully his 200m Olympic title. Although he did look somewhat on edge all through. He kept glancing sideways at his compatriot Johann Blake his greatest threat.

At some point it did look like Blake was going to unseat Bolt but it wasn't to be. Though not fully fit, it tuned out that Bolt was still up to it.

Bolt breezes away

By retaining his crown Bolt did make history being the first man retain the 200m Olympic Gold  medal.

Gold Draught!! As it was meant to be.

I always wonder why people are so afraid of contesting on a level playing field.

Africa as a whole has only managed to amass 12 medals at this years Olympics, 4 of which were gold medals being at par with the total number of gold medals won by Michael Phelps in this years events. 3 of those gold medals were won by South African Athletes. 

Its appalling to note that out of a total of 204 gold medals won so far only 4 have gone to African athletes representing African Countries. What could be wrong with this picture. Some could argue that it is all down to varying levels of commitment by member countries, poverty, corruption and a whole host of other excuses. That in itself could be a flawed view. 

If the status quo were maintained, this Picture would always remain the same. We would never see true potential unleashed. Hussain Bolts would remain undiscovered and potential  Michael Phelps's unknown. 

I just hope at some point in time we would be more concerned about unearthing wonderful talents and discovering amazing potential rather than just the usual boring World Domination/Muscle Flexing/Bragging Rights model and method of doing things. 

If this is to continue, I do believe the International Olympic committee has an obligation to ensure a level playing field for all athletes by putting pressure on member countries to develop and maintain their athletes to a particular level. Olympians from member nations should have access to the same level of training and preparation. 

At the end of the events our purpose and sense of accomplishment should be buoyed by the fact that an athlete took home a Gold medal not because he pays allegiance to the Union jack or Star Spangled Banner but because he is simply the best there is at that particular point in time.  

Humans are naturally driven by greed, it is inbuilt in us to want to deprive our opponents in other to gain top spot. People spend more time trying to knock their opponents off the ladder than making any meaningful attempt to climb up the ladder. 

An athlete who comes to the games with the thought of winning Gold, not because he/she is the best there is but because he/she knows fully well that they are coming to compete against a group of athletes who have little or no access to a meaningful method of training or a good trainer, that athlete has already lost. That athlete goes home with a large meaningless coin encased in a bloated ego and hung with a strap tainted with self imposed blindness and denial. How do you justify coming top in your class when you fully well know your course mates had no access to the study materials. You would never know where you really stand. 

The Olympics should be about unearthing the best athletes of our time...not about hoisting flags and squeaking to anthems. The story should be about the Athlete. The winning team should be Humanity.