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Chorus (in bold):

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul.

Some times I feel discouraged,

And think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

Revives my soul again.

(Chorus)

If you can’t preach like Peter,

If you can’t pray like Paul,

Just tell the love of Jesus,

And say He died for all..

(Chorus)

[edit]Alternate Lyrics

Lyrics are as follows:

Chorus (in bold):

There is a balm in Gilead, To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead, To heal the sin-sick soul.

Some times I feel discouraged,

And think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

Revives my hope again.

(Chorus)

If you cannot sing like angels,

If you can’t preach like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus,

And say He died for all.

(Chorus)

There is a redeemer,
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One,

Jesus my redeemer,
Name above all names,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Oh, for sinners slain.

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

When I stand in Glory,
I will see His face,
And there I'll serve my King forever,
In that Holy Place..

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

There is a redeemer,
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One,

Thank you oh my father,
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit,
'Til the work on Earth is done.

And leaving Your Spirit,
'Till the work on Earth is done...

Between a rock and a hard place: Husband emerges to face warring women who had to be pulled apart

Probably the bravest of all the 33 trapped miners was the one who asked for both his wife and his mistress to greet him on reaching the surface.

Yonni Barrios initially became known as the group’s ‘doctor’.

He used knowledge gained from looking after his diabetic mother to work with medical teams on the surface to diagnose and help the men trapped with him. ..

Trapped miner Yonni Barrios Rojas is greeted by his girlfriend Susana Valenzuela after reaching the surface

Very public display of affection: The entire world watches as Susanna kisses her lover

Row: Marta Salinas, left, wife of trapped miner Yonni Barrios, did not greet him on his return to the surface after it emerged he was having an affair with Susana Valenzuela, right

But very soon the 50-year-old miner became even better known for something rather less noble. His wife and another woman were both holding a vigil for him in Camp Hope.

Marta Salinas, 58, whom he married 28 years ago, reportedly almost came to blows with Susana Valenzuela, 50, when they faced off in the mine’s dining area. The pair had to be pulled apart.

According to Miss Salinas, Barrios had been dividing his time between the two women for the last couple of years. And it was Miss Valenzuela who broke the news to her that there had been an accident at the mine.

As his wife began to get involved in his affairs on Camp Hope, he instructed teams on the surface to deal with his lover instead.

Incredible: Susanna appears unable to believe Barrios is safe as she cusps his face in her hands and clings to him in a long hug

Moments later Barrios, centre, was carried on a stretcher to the triage centre

And as the day of the rescue finally approached, he asked for both of them to wait for him as he emerged from the borehole.

‘He is either very cheeky or very idiotic,’ said a source within the rescue team. ‘He didn’t seem worried at all.’

In the end he was greeted by his mistress, his wife choosing to stay away. He emerged at 8:32pm UK time to be met by tearful Miss Valenzuela.

Enlarge

'Alone at last! All right Maria, you can come out now.'

He looked calm as he gingerly walked towards his mistress, who gave him a long hug, crying on his shoulder and occasionally pulling back to look at him as if to make sure the reunion was really happening.

After he emerged, his wife, who has three sons from an earlier relationship, said she is over Barrios and did not feel ‘anything in particular’.

'Cocky': Barrios, waving to the crowd, was slammed by his ex-wife - but Susanna was unable to hide the joy from her face at his escape

She said: ‘I watched it on television. I’m very pleased they are all coming out well.

‘I’m glad I didn’t go to the mine, it was the correct decision. It would have been wrong if the two of us were there – I have children and grandchildren. That kind of situation wouldn’t have been good for my family, and my sons come first.

‘He is crazy and cocky to think I would do such a thing. I have a sense of decency.’

She said she could tell Barrios was ‘holding back’ in the reunion, as his girlfriend held him tightly and cried.

Rock and a hard place: Miner Yonni Barrios

‘I know she is impulsive, while he behaved properly. He knew I was going to be watching.’ She said she would not be visiting him at the hospital. ‘If he wants to see me or talk to me he can come find me. Otherwise we will talk through our lawyers.

‘I have his belongings and all these gifts people have sent him – he is welcome to have them.’

She said she is not bitter but had a parting shot for her husband and the other miners.

‘This is historic but soon it will be over to the next thing. People move on – in a few years everyone will have forgotten about this.

‘They think they will all be millionaires overnight but it’s not like that. Only the skillful ones will make something from this.’

Mr Barrios is thought not to be alone in his complex domestic arrangements.

According to reports, another Barrios – Carlos – who was rescued yesterday has a five-year-old son with a woman he has not divorced and his girlfriend of seven months is pregnant.

Another miner is said to have four women claiming his affections and perhaps soon-to-be-increased income – a wife he has not divorced, his current live-in girlfriend, a third woman who claims to have had his son and another who says she is having an affair with him.

Like in the movie Catch me if you can with Leonardo di Caprio

A Nigerian drug smuggler who duped authorities to get a job in New Zealand as a hospital psychiatrist came across as friendly and plausible, but secretive, acquaintances say.

Chidozie Emmanuel Onovo, 40, lived in Christchurch - next door to a
senior policeman - and worked for the Canterbury District Health Board
from January 2009 until August this year, after failing to disclose he
had been jailed in Britain in 1999 for importing 4.5kg of cannabis.

He has been a member of the Christchurch Skeptics in the Pub group,
which among its core activities studies "mechanisms of deception". Onovo
said the group offered "excellent opportunity to meet like-minded
people".

He had spoken of his desire to bring his wife and children over from
Ireland to live with him, but on Wednesday was jailed for 16 months for
failing to disclose his criminal past.

He obtained a visa to enter New Zealand in January 2009, then a work permit to get the job as a psychiatrist. It was not until August this year, after Onovo applied
for residency, that immigration checks found him out.

He had supplied forged reference letters saying he was working in the medical field in Nigeria over a period in which he was in jail in Britain.

Dawn Catherwood, whose daughter rents a townhouse to Onovo, had him over
for meals and found him to be plausible and a "really nice guy". He
paid his rent on time, but had recently terminated his lease and was
planning to go overseas..

Earlier this year he visited his wife and children in Ireland.

"He had lost a lot of weight since he had been in New Zealand - we
noticed that. And he was hoping to bring his family out here."

Often he was not at home when arranged meetings were meant to take
place, she said. "He's very secretive. He doesn't let anybody into his
flat."

Inspector Kieren Kortegast was a neighbour of Onovo, but said he only spoke to him a couple of times and rarely saw him.

He was surprised to hear of Onovo's deception.

Immigration New Zealand said it was their inquiries that revealed
Onovo's criminal past, while the health board said it went through the
required processes and routine checks before employing him and there
were no concerns about his competence.

The Medical Council said Onovo met all the registration requirements to
work in New Zealand and had references showing he was a good doctor.

Justice Served ?Armed Robber Robs a Bank Get Executed ,Bank MD Robs Bank Gets Six months.

Cecilia Ibru, the former managing director of Oceanic Bank PLC, is to spend six months in jail and forfeit over N150 billion naira in assets and cash.

The former managing director was convicted of bank and securities fraud earlier today by a federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, presided over by Justice Dan Abutuin .

The judge said Mrs. Ibru will not get one month credit for time already spent in EFCC custody during her arrest and interrogation. Her six months jail time would run concurrently. She was convicted on several counts of bank and security fraud.

Mrs. Ibru has vast assets throughout the world and some of the properties at stake include:

1. Good Shepherd House, IPM Avenue , Opp Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers)

2. Residential block with 19 apartments on 34, Bourdillon Road , Ikoyi (registered in the name of Dilivent International Limited).

3. 20 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, Victoria Island (remainder of lease or tenancy upto 2017).

4. 57 Bourdillon Road , Ikoyi.

5. 5A George Street , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited),

6. 5B George Street , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).

7. 4A Iru Close, Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).

8. 4B Iru Close, Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).

9. 16 Glover Road , Ikoyi (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).

10. 35 Cooper Road , Ikoyi, (registered in the name of Michaelangelo Properties Limited).

11. Property situated at 3 Okotie-Eboh, SW Ikoyi. 12. 35B Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi.

13. 38A Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi (registered in the name of Meeky Enterprises Limited).

14. 38B Isale Eko Avenue , Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi (registered in the name of Aleksander Stankov).

15. Multiple storey multiple user block of flats under construction 1st Avenue , Banana Island , Ikoyi, Lagos , (with beneficial interest therein purchased from the developer Ibalex).

16. 226, Awolowo Road , Ikoyi, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers).

17. 182, Awolowo Road , Ikoyi, Lagos , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers)

18. 12-storey Tower on one hectare of land at Ozumba Mbadiwe Water Front, Victoria Island .

19. 5, Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).

20. 18A, Adetokubo Ademola Street , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).

21. 270, Ozumba Mbadiwe , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd)

22. 270, Ozumba Mbadiwe , Victoria Island, Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited).

23. 15,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula .

24. 7,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula - (registered in the name of Melake Properties Limited).

25. 8,000 square metres of land at Okunade Water Front, Lekki Peninsula - (registered in the name of (Casi Properties Limited). 26. 1,000,000 square metres of land in Lekki.

27. 101 hectares of land along Lekki Expressway behind Chevron Nigeria .

28. 103 hectares of land bought from Dom Gas

29. Plot 5, Igbo-Efon, Off Lekki/Ajah Expressway, Victoria Island, Lagos by 1004 (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd)

30. Block 6, Flat 1 &2, Femi Okunnu H/Scheme Phase IV- Lekki (registered in the name of Oceanic Homes Savings & Loans Ltd)

31. One storey building at 50 Marina , Lagos .

32. 10 storey building at 60 Marina , Lagos .

33. 60, Marine View, Apongbon, Marina , Lagos (registered in the name of Dele Oye & Associates)

34. 10, Sobo Arobidu Street , Ikeja, GRA (registered in the name of Jeedab Fibre Limited).

35. Property at 10A Sobo Arobiodu Street , Ikeja (registered in the name of Chiaroscuro Limited).

36. AP Filling Station (Beside Former Hotel Bobby) Onipanu Lagos , (registered in the name of Vivi Oil Investments Limited).

37. Building at 154, Ikorodu Road , Lagos (registered in the name of Casi Properties & Investment Ltd).

38. Ilemba Hausa Road , Ajamgbadi, Lagos (registered in the name of Vivi Oil & Gas Company Limited).

39. Land at Iyana Ipaja Round About, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos , (registered in the name of Vivi Oil Investments Limited).

40. Building at 7, Randle Road , Apapa, Lagos , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited)

41. Block 34, Flat 6, LSDPC Housing Estate, Ebute-Metta Lagos (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited)

42. Three residential towers at Port Harcourt , GRA. 43. 22 Sani Abacha Way, Port Harcourt, GRA (registered in the name of Velvox Investment Company Limited).

44. Metro Plaza Building , 991/992 Zakari Maimalari Street , Central Area, Zone 5, Abuja , (registered in the name of Abinof Food Company Limited).

45. The 4 Floor Building at Herbert Macaulay Way , Wuse Zone 6, Abuja (registered in the name of Casi Properties and Investment Ltd).

46. Metro Plaza Building, ANNEXE B, Zakariya Maimalari Street, Cadastral Zone, AOO, C.B.D, Abuja (registered in the name of MST Properties West Africa Ltd).

47. Flats 1-4, Block D33, Abuja Games Village , Abuja (registered in the name of Convent Trade & Services Limited).

48. Block D33 (Flat 1-4) Games Village , Abuja (registered in the name of Casi Properties and Investment Ltd).

49. Block B40, Flat 5 & 6, Zone 3, Gymnastic Games Village (registered in the name of Oceanic Homes Savings & Loans Limited).

50. Executive Guest House, 4 bedroom Bungalow, Ndanuba Street , Maitama, Abuja (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Manager Limited). 51. Executive Guest House, Ali Akilu Crescent , Asokoro, Abuja , (registered in the name of Ogekpo Estate Managers Limited).

51. 29 Real estates in Dubai

52. Seven residential properties in Dubai

53. 15 Real Property in South Africa

54. Other properties in London, England

55. Abridged Shares In listed Nigerian Companies without limitation:

..

One week ago, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly -- 348 to 79 -- to give the Obama administration expanded authority toimpose tariffs on nearly any Chinese import. This move is, of course, aform of retaliation against China for the country's refusal to let theyuan appreciate.

Now, don't get me wrong -- trade between China and the U.S. is significantly lopsided. Last year, joint trade between the twocountries amounted to nearly $300 billion, but the U.S. trade deficitwas more than $220 billion.

However, the current bill passed by the House is a clear case of election-year politics, and it shows just how desperate Congress is tolook as if they are doing something to fix the economy. Now, if coolerheads prevail, this bill may not pass the Senate. But if it does passthere, and is then signed into law, it could be the first major salvo ina trade war that would do significant damage to both the U.S. and Chinaeconomies.

One reason why is because China is unlikely to sit idly by and watch its exports face high tariffs without its own form of retaliation. Buteven though this bill would hurt Chinese exporters, I think thehardest hit by a trade war would be millions of cash-strapped U.S.consumers, as tariff-laden goods from China would end up costingconsumers more money at nearly every major retailer in the country..

In the end, it would be U.S. consumers who would be hurt and end up footing the bill for Congress' so-called "solution."

So, how does this affect the companies in the China Strategy portfolio that I so often discuss here in Asia Insider?

Well, to be honest, this latest political action emphasizes just why it is so important to understand the differences between Chinesecompanies -- and is a big reason why I have largely stayed away fromChinese companies that rely on exports. In addition, I'm also notentirely comfortable with using multinational companies that are sellingto China as a way to play the China growth story.

I've discussed this in great depth with my China Strategy readers, but it boils down to that these types of companies will likelycome under significantly increased pressure in the near future as thebrewing trade and currency issues pick up steam.

As a result, my China Strategy portfolio focuses on Chinese companies that cater to China's burgeoning internal demand -- companiesthat will be the least affected by any new politically-imposed tariffrules.

In fact, a retaliatory restriction on imports from the U.S. could ultimately lead to more demand for China-based goods -- adding to the bottom line of China-based companies selling in China, such as the ones that I recommend in China Strategy.

I think we're going to see some very significant gains in the near future in several domestic-demand driven companies. Several of our topdomestic consumption plays have performed exceptionally well:

• China's Number-One Online Travel Company, soaring a whopping 356%;
• The Google of China, already giving us 284% gains, with more to go;
• China's Leading Offshore Oil Corporation, up 227% and heading higher with the price of oil.

Just in the past two week, we've seen some significant gains in some of my other latest China Strategy recommendations:

• Our China Clean Water Play, up 33%
• Leading Probiotic Producer in China, up 17%
• Chinese Oil and Biofuel Company, up 16%
• Largest Private Printing Supplier in China, up 14%
• Chinese Aluminum Giant, up 12%

And that's just a sampling of the profits my China Strategy subscribers have seen by focusing on Chinese domestic consumption.

So, even though the prospect of a new trade war is disturbing, our select China Strategy portfolio companies are doing just fine. To learn more about business strategies and receive weekly and monthly updates with my mostrecent advice on our investment opportunities check out my blogs http://www.9jabook.com/profiles/blog/list?user=26kfovjx02akt

(CNN) -- At age 13, Hope Witsell struggled in middle school. Not because her class work at Shields Middle School in Ruskin, Florida, was challenging, but because Hope was being bullied.

Her friend, Kyla Stich, told CNN that fellow students would "walk up to her and call her 'slut,' 'whore,' and they would sometimes, they would call her 'skank' and just be really cruel to her.".

Another friend, Lexi Leber, said, "We had to make like a wall, we had people surrounding her, and she had to be in the middle because people would come by and try to hit her and push her into a locker or something.

"She was afraid to walk alone, she was afraid someone would do something to her, like verbally attack her, so she would always have someone with her," Leber added.

This all started in the spring of 2009 during the last week of school.

Friends and family say Hope had "sexted" a picture of her breasts to her boyfriend. Another girl from school, they say, got her hands on the photo and sent it to students at six different schools in the area.

Before Hope could do anything to stop it, that photo had gone viral.

The school alerted Hope's parents. Her mother, Donna Witsell, told CNN how she learned about the photo.

"The assistant principal had a meeting with my husband and I and pretty much told us that he did not see the image but that he had heard that it was Hope and when he confronted Hope, Hope did not deny it. She wasn't proud of it but she didn't lie," Hope's mother said.

Mrs. Witsell says she had warned her daughter about the dark side of technology, about "some of the pretty sexual images of young girls and guys."

She added, "Hope was very aware of that, of inappropriate dress and most definitely posing."

Still, because of that photo, Hope had become a target for 11-, 12-, and 13-year-old bullies.

But she didn't share her pain with her parents.

Even when bullies wrote horrible things about Hope on a MySpace page called the "Shields Middle School Burn Book" and started a "Hope Hater Page," the young girl kept silent.

Summer provided a bit of a break, but when the new school year began, the taunting was even worse.

On Saturday, September 12, 2009, Hope Witsell helped her father mow the lawn. They cooked a special seafood dinner together as a family. Then Hope disappeared to her room upstairs. Her parents stayed downstairs and watched TV.

Donna Witsell will never forget the moment she went to say goodnight to her daughter.

"I went upstairs to go in her room and kiss her goodnight. That was when I found her. I screamed for my husband. And started doing CPR."

It was too late. Hope was already dead. She had used her favorite scarves to hang herself from her canopy bed.

After Hope died, her mother learned her daughter had been summoned to meet with a school social worker. A spokesperson for the school says the social worker was concerned Hope might have been trying to hurt herself, so she had Hope sign what's called a "no harm" contract in which Hope agreed to talk to an adult if she wanted to harm herself..

Hope's mother says she was never told about the contract, which she found crumpled up in the garbage in her daughter's bedroom after she died.

School officials told CNN they believed the social worker had tried calling Hope's mother to alert her but weren't sure if she had left a message.

"The school dropped the ball," Donna Witsell said.

"The school did not call. We have the digital telephone; we have the cell phones that indicate when there was an incoming call and what number was calling in. We have a house phone, I have a cell phone, my husband has a cell phone. We have emergency contact numbers at the school which was my sister-in-law and her husband. There was no indication that the school called any of those numbers," Hope's mother said.

Days after Hope died, her older sister, Samantha Beattie, discovered the bullying was still going on. Even in death, Hope could not escape it.

"I knew she had MySpace and Facebook. There were people putting comments on there: 'Did Hope really kill herself?' 'I can't believe that whore did that.' Just obscene things that I would never expect from a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old," said Samantha.

In the year or so that has passed since Hope Witsell took her own life, her mother has started a group called Hope's Warriors. She hopes it will help combat bullying and save other moms from feeling the horrendous pain that she feels.

Donna Witsell has a message for parents: "It happened to my daughter, it can happen to yours too. No one is untouchable. No one is untouchable."

closest associate from the north, Hassan Tukur, who appears to have gained his absolute confidence, may be covertly working against his ambition to become President. Our checks reveals that Hassan Tukur, who has been a friend to the President for a very long time and currently works as his principal secretary, may be a “Frenemy” (one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy).

Mr. Tukur is a diplomat and technocrat par excellence. His friendship with President Jonathan dates back to pre-Aso Villa days. He was President Yar’Adua’s special assistant on Petroleum Resources. Tukur is assumed to be the president’s closest associate from the North and is alleged to have single-handedly picked most of the regime’s political appointees that were employed from the north by Goodluck Jonathan. According to sources who have had contact with him, Tukur does not hesitate to inform you that “he can get the President to do anything”, and really in most cases he delivers; a source added.

However, Hassan Tukur, Huhuonline.com learnt is torn between his loyalty to his boss and his kinsmen from the north, who are vehemently opposed to the President`s 2011 presidential ambition. To this end, Tukur is alleged to have asked the President not to contest the 2011 election. But his advice has not been heeded.

It should be recalled that in his inaugural speech, President Jonathan promised that “the war against corruption will be prosecuted more robustly,” and his aides, particularly Hassan Tukur, pencilled in the name of his bosom friend, Nuhu Ribadu, the country’s former anticorruption czar, to lead the war. Mr Ribadu was considered robust and effective in his position until he was forced out by Yar’Adua’s government.

Mr. Tukur was very instrumental in the return of Nuhu Ribadu, whom he had convinced the president to appoint as his special adviser on anti-corruption and other related matters, but as soon Nuhu returned to Nigeria, the goal posts began to move. Hassan Tukur began to lobby the President to appoint Nuhu Ribadu as vice president, which in itself was not a bad idea as Nuhu Ribadu was viewed as a man of impeccable character, capable bringing credibility to any government. But this was not to be.

However, Nuhu Ribadu and Hassan Tukur, Huhuonline.com gathered were looking beyond the vice presidential position, their eyes were set on the plum job of president. Had President Jonathan given in to the plot, the duo would have covertly disclosed his flaws by releasing embarrassing details of the President to the media, which could portray him as inexperienced and incompetent for the office of President..

Consequently, they would have blackmailed him into resigning and returning to Bayelsa. Nuhu Ribadu is very familiar with this type of operation. Recall that Nuhu Ribadu blackmailed Obasanjo into dropping Peter Odili as running mate to Umaru Yar`adua in 2007.

Having failed in their plot, Nuhu Ribadu abandoned the PDP, and joined AC, where he is a presidential aspirant; While Hassan Tukur stayed put on his job as principal secretary to the president, and is currently amassing stupendous wealth for himself under the guise of raising funds for the Goodluck Jonathan 2011 Presidential campaign. However, it remains to be seen if Hassan Tukur’s loyalty lies with the President or the Northern Oligarchy.

Just when you thought Apple CEO Steve Jobs couldn’t get more badass? According to SPA!, Bloomberg and about 10,000 nerds on Twitter, Jobs was stopped at the KansaiInternational Airport near Osaka in July for carrying, yes, ninja stars.

It just makes so much sense! I mean let’s say you’re Steve Jobs, you have your own private plane, you’re in Japan and you’re also a ninja …

According to SPA!, Jobs’ logic in bringing the shuriken (ninja stars) onboard his private plane was that it would be really silly to hijack his own plane. Fair enough.

Because of the weaponry fail, Jobs made it clear to airport officials that he wouldn’t be revisiting Japan any time soon, says SPA!.

Please leave us alone.

A Long Island University student, going by the name of Chelsea Kate Isaacs, allegedly received several argumentative e-mails from Steve Jobsafter she criticized the company’s Media Relations Department,according to correspondence posted on Gawker. The student claims to haverepeatedly called the PR department asking for a quote regarding iPaduse in academic settings, but the company representatives allegedly didnot bother to respond.

“Mr. Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfully attentive to the needs of students, whether it be with the latest, greatest invention orthe company’s helpful customer service line, and yet, ironically, theMedia Relations Department fails to answer any of my questions whichare, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my academicperformance,” Isaacs wrote in her first e-mail to the CEO..

“Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade,” Jobs allegedly responded. “Sorry.”

Isaac claims to have countered the blunt response with another message denying that she asked for help getting a good grade. She thenasked if the company considers it a duty to return calls from a clientor customer. “But I guess that’s not one of your goals,” she wrote.

“Nope,” Jobs allegedly responded. “We have over 300 million users and we can’t respond to their requests unless they involve a problem ofsome kind. Sorry.”

The student continued the confrontation by claiming to be one of Apple’s 300 million users, and with a problem that can only be addressedby the Media Relations team. She again asked for a response for herschool project and reminded the CEO that she is “on deadline.”

The purported correspondence ends with a final plea from Jobs, as he asks her to “please leave us alone.”

The entire thread between Chelsea Kate Isaacs and Steve Jobs
(Read from the bottom up)

From: Steve Jobs
To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:27:36 -0700
Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’sMediaRelations Dept.

Please leave us alone.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 16, 2010, at 5:32 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:

> You’re absolutely right, and I do meet your criteria for being a customer who deserves a response:
>
> 1. I AM one of your 300 million users.
> 2. I DO have a problem; I need answers that only Apple Media Relations can answer.
>
> Now, can they kindly respond to my request (my polite and friendlyvoice can be heard in the first 5 or 10 messages in their inbox).Please, I am on deadline.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
>
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> ——-Original Message——-
> From: Steve Jobs
> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:10:12
> To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’s
> MediaRelations Dept.
>
> Nope. We have over 300 million users and we can’t respond to theirrequests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 16, 2010, at 4:37 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:
>
>> Thank you for your reply. I never said that your goal should beto “help me get a good grade.” Rather, I politely asked why your mediarelations team does not respond to emails, which consequently,decreases my chances of getting a good grade. But, forget about myindividual situation; what about common courtesy, in general —- if youget a message from a client or customer, as an employee, isn’t it yourjob to return the call? That’s what I always thought. But I guessthat’s not one of your goals. Yes, you do have a creative approach,indeed.
>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>> ——-Original Message——-
>> From: Steve Jobs
>> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:19:13
>> To: XXXX@my.liu.edu
>> Subject: Re: Mr. Jobs – Student Journalist Concerned about Apple’s Media
>> Relations Dept.
>>
>> Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 16, 2010, at 3:22 PM, XXXX@my.liu.edu wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Mr. Jobs,
>>>
>>> As a college student, I can honestly say that Apple hastreated me very well; my iPod is basically the lifeline that gets methrough the day, and thanks to Apple’s Final Cut Pro, I aced lastsemester’s video editing project. I was planning to buy a new Applecomputer to add to my list of Apple favorites.
>>>
>>> Because I have had such good experiences as a collegestudent using Apple products, I was incredibly surprised to find Apple’sMedia Relations Department to be absolutely unresponsive to myquestions, which (as I had repeatedly told them in voicemail aftervoicemail) are vital to my academic grade as a student journalist.
>>>
>>> For my journalism course, I am writing an article about theimplementation of an iPad program at my school, the CW Post Campus ofLong Island University.
>>>
>>> The completion of this article
>>> is crucial to my grade in the class, and it may potentiallyget published in our university’s newspaper. I had 3 quick questionsregarding iPads, and wanted to obtain answers from the most crediblesource: Apple’s Media Relations Department.
>>>
>>> I have called countless times throughout the week, leavingshort, but detailed, messages which included my contact information andthe date of my deadline. Today, I left my 6th message, which stressedthe increasingly more urgent nature of the situation. It is now the endof the business day, and I have not received a call back. My deadlineis tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Mr. Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfullyattentive to the needs of students, whether it be with the latest,greatest invention or the company’s helpful customer service line, andyet, ironically, the Media Relations Department fails to answer any ofmy questions which are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to myacademic performance.
>>>
>>> For colleges nationwide, Apple is at the forefront ofimproving the way we function in the academic environment, increasingthe efficiency of conducting academic research, as well as sharing andcommunicating with our college communities.
>>>
>>> With such an emphasis on advancing our education system,why, then, has Apple’s Media Relations team ignored my needs as astudent journalist who is just trying to get a good grade?
>>>
>>> In addition to the hypocrisy of ignoring student needs whenthey represent a company that does so much for our schools, the MediaRelations reps are apparently, also failing to responsibly handle theinquiries of professional journalists on deadlines. Unfortunately, for ajournalist in the professional world, lacking the answers they need ondeadline day won’t just cost them a grade; it could cost them theirjob.
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Chelsea Kate Isaacs
>>> Senior
>>> CW Post – Long Island University
>>>
>>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

via: Gawker. Thanks Aris and Izuchukwu for letting me know!

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎, literally "head of the year," Israeli: Hebrew pronunciation: [ˈʁoʃ haʃaˈna], Ashkenazic: ˈɾoʃ haʃːɔˈnɔh, Yiddish:[ˈrɔʃəˈʃɔnə]) is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Jewish New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.[1] It is ordained in the Torah as "Zicaron Terua" ("a memorial with the blowing of horns"), in Leviticus 23:24. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), or Asseret Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance) which are days specifically set aside to focus on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar (one of four "new year" observances that define various legal "years" for different purposes as explained in the Mishnah and Talmud). It is the new year for people, animals, and legal contracts. The Mishnah also sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and sabbatical (shmita) and jubilee (yovel) years. Jews believe Rosh Hashanah represents either analogically or literally the creation of the World, or Universe. However, according to one view in the Talmud, that of R. Eleazar, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of man, which entails that five days earlier, the 25 of Elul, was the first day of creation of the Universe.[2]

The Mishnah, the core text of Judaism's oral Torah, contains the first known reference to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment." In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah it states that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of an intermediate class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately inscribed in the book of life, and they are sealed "to live." The middle class are allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to repent and become righteous; the wicked are "blotted out of the book of the living."[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

For secular Jews

It would happen each fall around the Jewish new year. At the very time when renewal was in the autumn air, Arnold Barnett, an engineer from Moorestown, would go into a mild funk. His wife eventually figured it out: He was less than enamored with high holiday synagogue services.

"He simply wasn't engaged by what went on inside our Reform synagogue, or with the traditional approach to Judaism," said Ellen, 70. "I knew he was struggling. So sometimes, I would just go to services alone."

Then last year, the Barnetts saw a small notice in a local Jewish newspaper about a recently formed group in South Jersey. "We went to a meeting that was focused on Jewish history," Arnold, 71, recalls, "and that was something I could relate to. It was much more appealing."

And so the Barnetts will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, which begins Wednesday at sundown, by meeting Sunday with like-minded members of South Jersey Secular Jews - a group of people who may or may not believe in God, but do believe in caring about the world and one another, respecting and understanding Jewish history, and celebrating a culture that has meaning and emotional pull.

"The most important aspect of secularism is the survival and continuity of the Jewish people," said Paul Shane, a native New Yorker now living in Philadelphia and married to the daughter of Holocaust survivors.

Shane, 75, a member of the more established Philadelphia Secular Jewish Organization, believes humans are responsible for what happens on Earth. The here and now is central, and actions speak louder than words.

That philosophy resembles traditional Judaism. But secular Jews and traditional Jews part company when it comes to accepting religious dogma.

If you're secular, God is optional. (Traditional Judaism has "God at its heart. That's not an option," said Rabbi Ethan Franzel of Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim in Wynnewood.) Also, life-cycle events are handled individually - for instance, there are no set burial or wedding traditions in secular Judaism.

Of course secularism, in which one adheres to cultural norms rather than religious ones, is hardly new. During the Renaissance, from 1450 to 1600, and the Enlightenment in the 18th century, many Jews shed the God-oriented elements of their Jewishness, according to Shane, a professor of social policy at Rutgers University in Newark. That shedding also continued in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

What's different today is that a growing number of secular Jews are finding one another, forming groups, and practicing the social responsibility Judaism requires - minus the synagogue.

Rifke Feinstein, executive director of the national Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations, says there are approximately 2,000 affiliated secular Jews in the United States. But because seculars typically are unaffiliated, and therefore uncounted, estimates for the entire American secular population range from 8,000 to 40,000.

In the Philadelphia area, there are six such organizations for secular Jews - including the five-year-old South Jersey Secular Jews - all under the local umbrella cooperative venture called Kehilla for Secular Jews.

For many people, discovering that such an organization exists has been a relief.

" 'I thought I was the only one!' is what people often express when they discover that they are not alone in their secular relationship to their Jewishness," said Larry Angert, 59, a member of 11-year-old Shir Shalom: A Havurah for Secular Jews. "The Jewish tent is big, and there's room for all of us in it."

Some local secular groups, like Philadelphia's Sholom Aleichem Club, which started in 1954, and Philadelphia Workmen's Circle, founded nationally in 1900 to aid Jewish immigrant workers and to promote Yiddish, have graying memberships. Bob Kleiner, 85, of Elkins Park, a retired sociology professor at Temple University, and his wife, Frances, a teacher of Yiddish, both long active in the secular movement, lament that younger people are not actively involved in these historic groups.

But the formation of new groups, such as South Jersey Secular Jews, is evidence the movement still has traction.

Credit Naomi Scher, 64, of Cherry Hill, whose children attended the Jewish Children's Folkshul, another Kehilla group, which is a parent-run cooperative held at Springside School in Philadelphia. About 100 children receive their Jewish education, not in a traditional Hebrew school but in classes that nourish social justice and individual responsibility. Bar and bat mitzvah aspirants undertake personally meaningful projects that they ultimately share with the entire Folkshul community.

Although Scher formed relationships with parents of her children's classmates, commuting to Philadelphia became burdensome once her children graduated, and in 2005, the retired social worker decided to start a secular group closer to home.

What began as a gathering of eight to 10 people now regularly attracts 30, meeting monthly with speakers who address social and political concerns, Scher said.

Deborah Chaiken, 74, of Palmyra is delighted to have a group close to home. "In the formal Jewish community, I felt that I didn't really have a voice. Here, I know that I do."

Dues are $25 a year, and participants are asked to bring food for potluck dinners. Meetings are held on the second Sunday of the month at Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill..

South Jersey Secular Jews members Cary and Bilha Hillebrand of Cherry Hill call the group a welcome addition to the local landscape. For Bilha, 54, the philosophy of the group is more in keeping with that of her native Israel, where the majority of the population leads a more secular lifestyle.

"We are not in any way antireligious," says Cary, 60. "We hold the belief that we are responsible for what happens to ourselves and to the world. And to us, that's the essence of what religion is, and should be."

Sources:

Time Magazine August 30, 2010

Clinical and Experimental Research November 2010; 34(11): 1-11

Medical Hypothesis March 2010; 74(3):493-6

SweetPoison.com -- Medical Hypothesis November 6, 2009 Prepublication copy (Full PDF)

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

This is not the first time we’ve been told that drinking alcohol is actually good for you. What’s surprising however, not to mentionpotentially troublesome, are the scientific claims that moderate andeven heavy drinking is beneficial – in this case, more beneficial for your longevity than abstaining from alcohol entirely!

It’s difficult to reconcile this claim with everything we already know about the devastating health effects of excessive alcoholconsumption and the fact that ethyl alcohol is neurotoxic..

However, I will offer one potential explanation for this oxymoron a bit later in this article.

Moderate Drinkers Live Longer than Non-Drinkers, Study Finds

According to the recent study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Research, epidemiological research suggests that moderate to high alcohol consumption is associated with areduced overall mortality risk compared to non- and light drinkers.

Their study included over 1,800 people, aged 55 to 65 when the study began. Sixty-nine percent of the participants were men. The subjectswere followed for 20 years.

Surprisingly, the group with the lowest mortality rate was moderate drinkers, who had one to three alcoholic drinks per day, followed by heavy drinkers, and then light drinkers, while non-drinkers had the highest mortality rate of them all.

The study states:

“Controlling only for age and gender, compared to moderate drinkers, abstainers had a more than 2 times increased mortality risk,heavy drinkers had 70% increased risk, and light drinkers had 23%increased risk.

A model controlling for former problem drinking status, existing health problems, and key sociodemographic and social-behavioral factors,as well as for age and gender, substantially reduced the mortalityeffect for abstainers compared to moderate drinkers.

However, even after adjusting for all covariates, abstainers and heavy drinkers continued to show increased mortality risks of 51 and45%, respectively, compared to moderate drinkers.”

Time Magazine writes that “moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice isred wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation andsociability.”

But is that enough to explain these findings?

I believe it’s unwise to ignore the big picture when it comes to health, and when it comes to alcohol, I’m just not convinced that thepotential benefits outweigh all the risks, particularly when it comes tohaving multiple drinks per day.

So I hope these latest findings will not be used as justification to further promote a dangerous and health-damaging habit that can easilylead to alcoholism.

The Health Hazards of Alcohol

Before we get into the potential benefits, it’s important to realize that alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. It can alsodisrupt your hormonal balance, which could potentially explain why womendo not appear to reap the same health benefits from alcohol consumptionas men do.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, “moderate” consumption for women is just one drink per day, whereas“moderate” consumption for men is two drinks. Hence, women who consumetwo to three drinks a day will actually fall into the category of“heavy” drinkers.

Another important consideration is that wine or other alcoholic beverages will increase your insulin levels, which will eventually have a negative impact on your health. As I’ve stated on many previous occasions, insulin resistance is a hallmark of nearly every chronic disease there is.

Heavy drinkers also face increased risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cirrhosis of the liver.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, women who drink two or more drinks a day increase their risk of breast cancer by more than 40 percent!

Other types of cancer linked to excessive alcohol consumption include cancer of the:

• Mouth, larynx and esophagus
• Liver
• Colon
• Pancreas
• Lungs

Alcohol consumption also inhibits your body’s natural stress response by reducing a key stress hormone, known as corticotropin-releasingfactor (CRF). CRF is produced by your hypothalamus and helps triggeryour body's reaction to stress.

If your stress response is impaired, your immune system will also be inhibited, which can have any number of health implications, from reducing your ability to fight infections to increasing your cancer risk.

Alcohol also clearly needs to be avoided during pregnancy.

Beyond Resveratrol – Explaining the Health Benefits of Alcohol

One of the most widely accepted health benefits of alcohol comes from resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, which acts as a:

• Cancer-preventing agent
• Blood thinner
• Vaso-expanding agent
• Blood pressure lowering compound
• Anti-aging chemical

But resveratrol cannot explain the health benefits ascribed to the moderate consumption of other types of alcohol (ethanol).

Interestingly, research into ethanol’s impact on dietary methanol may offer clues that could potentially rival the late breaking science into fructose and its devastating impact on health.

One possible explanation for why mortality rates are higher for non-drinkers may be that low levels of ethanol (alcohol) in yourbloodstream helps prevent the formation of formaldehyde from dietarymethanol. (In fact, ethanol is used as the preferred antidote foraccidental methanol poisoning in an emergency for this reason.)

What is dietary methanol and how could this possibly have ANY significance?

New Concern in Your Food: Wood Alcohol (Methanol)

Fresh fruits and vegetables contain small amounts of naturally-occurring methanol, and the artificial sweetener aspartameconverts into methanol in your body.

Normally this is not a problem as the methanol is typically bound to pectin, and since your body has no enzyme to metabolize that bond it issimply excreted in your stool and none of the methanol is absorbed intoyour body.

However, the problem occurs when you can or bottle fruit- or vegetable juice, as the methanol tends to then dissociate from thepectin into free methanol, which you do absorb.

The methanol you absorb readily passes the blood brain barrier where it can be converted to form formaldehyde, which is a potent toxin thatactually causes most of the damage.

Why Ethanol May Protect You From Methanol

An exciting paper that delves into this topic is food scientist Woody Monte’s “Methanol: A chemical Trojan horse as the root of the inscrutable U,” published in the March, 2010 issue of Medical Hypotheses.

In it, he explains that:

“Very low levels of ethanol in your bloodstream would substantively prevent all formaldehyde production from dietary methanolanywhere in the body.

Protection from formaldehyde production may account for the yet unexplained dose region of apparent improvement in the U-shapedcurve of alcohol consumption.

Epidemiologic studies show moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of myocardial infarction, dementia,lupus, and other diseases of civilization.

Low doses of ethanol appear to provide a preventative measure against the causes of diseases of civilization.

Recent studies of individuals who consumed at least one alcoholic drink per day show subjects had an additional 86 percent reduction inrisk of myocardial infarction if they were genetically endowed with agenotype of ADH I that was 2.5 times slower to metabolize ethanol thanthe control.

These findings were ‘‘consistent with the hypothesis that a slower rate of clearance of alcohol enhances the beneficial effect ofmoderate alcohol consumption on the risk of cardiovascular disease.””

It is important to understand that the primary treatment for methanol poisoning in the emergency room is to give them ethanol, for thereasons described above.

The ethanol will preferentially be broken down before the methanol. The methanol then remains unmetabolized, and in its base form it isrelatively nontoxic. It’s becomes a problem when your body breaks itdown to formaldehyde.

So while your body is breaking down the ethanol it has enough time to breathe out the methanol unchanged in your lungs and excrete itunchanged in your urine.

A Little Alcohol Might Be Good, But More is Definitely Dangerous

As I mentioned earlier, if this theory is correct, it could rival the scientific findings on fructose in terms of importance, and couldexplain not only the health benefits of low-to moderate alcoholconsumption, but also how aspartame affects some people more negativelythan others.

It may still be too early to draw definitive conclusions, but the arguments are compelling and I’ll be following this line of researchwith great interest in the years to come.

In his paper, Dr. Monte continues to connect the dots and shows how greater alcohol consumption ceases to be beneficial at a certain point, and instead starts to take its toll on your health:

“A compelling explanation of the dose region of adverse effects of the U-shaped curve with high ethanol consumption, which shows increased risk of these same diseases, could be themechanism by which humans habituate to high consumption of ethanol.

The induction of the P450 hepatic microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system results in a considerably higher clearance rate of ethanol fromthe bloodstream for an extended period of time, thus accounting for moreconsumption leading to statistically less time of protection.

Small amounts of supplemental alcohol not sufficient to induce P450 might be expected to prolong the residence time and avoid gaps inthe protection afforded by ethanol in preventing methanol-placedformaldehyde. “

P450 is a class, or family, of liver enzymes whose main functions include catalyzing the metabolism of drugs and the oxidation of organicsubstances.

In simplistic terms, higher alcohol consumption sends this system into high gear, and starts clearing ethanol from your system.

Again, a simplified explanation for how you become a habitual drinker (which also tends to lead to drinking increasing amounts of alcohol) isthat the more you drink, the more efficient this ethanol-clearingsystem becomes, and you begin to be able to drink more before you noticethe effects of the alcohol.

What this all means is that in order for the alcohol to provide you with the health benefit of preventing formaldehyde formation, it must below enough to not activate the P450 system.

Hence you get a U-shaped curve, where low- to moderate alcohol consumption gives you increasing amounts of health benefits, until youreach the “threshold,” at which point the more you drink, the more harmit causes.

It’s important to realize that formaldehyde is a class 1 carcinogen and a mutagen, and in the form of methanol, it can easily be transportedthroughout your entire body and brain.

Wherever you have a lot of ADH1 (the enzyme metabolizes methanol to formaldehyde), such as in your brain, methanol can be particularlytroublesome.

But as long as there’s just enough ethanol in your system to keep the methanol moving along, without ever being metabolized to formaldehyde,no damage is caused.

It’s worth noting here also that the average person typically has some naturally-occurring ethanol in their system, as it is also created through the fermentation process in your gut.

However, the addition of small amounts of ethanol in the form of alcohol may be able to more fully prevent formaldehyde from forming,which could explain why low- to moderate alcohol consumption appears tobe even more healthful than total abstinence…

How Can You Get the Same Benefits Without Drinking Alcohol?

It is not my recommendation to start drinking alcohol or to use this information as a justification to continue drinking alcohol. I am notconvinced it is physiologically beneficial for you in the long run.

The purpose of running this article was to merely inform you of a recent appreciation of methanol toxicity, and how ethanol can interactwith it. If this theory is true then the primary benefit of usingethanol would be to prevent methanol from converting to formaldehyde.

So what is the main source of methanol in your diet?

Remember that fresh fruits and vegetables have it but it’s harmless if you eat them fresh, as the methanol is then bound to pectin andcannot dissociate and cause you harm.

They key is to avoid ALL canned (or bottled) fruit or vegetable juices as they will have free methanol. Another large source of freemethanol would be aspartame which is 11 percent methanol by weight.

So if this theory is correct, you would likely receive very little benefit from consuming ethanol if you just avoid canned fruits andvegetables and asparatame….....

Do You Drink Too Much?

It’s dangerous to place too much weight on recommendations that include imbibing alcohol on a regular basis. And even if you do takethat recommendations to heart, it’s important to remember that healthbenefits have ONLY been found in people who drink small amounts ofalcohol on a daily basis, NOT a week’s worth of alcohol over theweekend...

This fact also further strengthens the theory that the benefit is derived from having low amounts of ethanol circulating almostcontinuously, or at least regularly, through your system, keepingformaldehyde from forming and doing any damage.

Unfortunately, alcohol abuse is a major problem in most countries, so I certainly hope you will not use this information as an excuse to hitthe bottle every day.

Most alcohol misuse and abuse stems from deep emotional challenges. Addressing these issues at a deep level is imperative to avoid thenegative health consequences--both physical and mental--that inevitablyresult from excessive drinking.

The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) can be helpful if this is an issue for you. This psychologicalacupressure technique is routinely used in my clinic and it works betterthan any other traditional or alternative method I am currently awareof.

However, if you try the technique yourself and find that you are not improving, consider consulting a trained EFT therapist to facilitate theprocess. You can find a list of qualified EFT practitioners near you atthis link. For more information, feel free to review Pat Carrington’s site TappingCentral.

Five months ago, a friend of mine, who edits a national daily, sent me a text message agreeing substantially with my column, ‘The Punch and the rest of us’, except the generalised conclusion that “all (journalists) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the profession”. There are still some journalists, he submits, who toe the narrow path of integrity. Of course I knew where he was coming from, but I also knew the context in which I had made that statement.

I revisit that statement in light of the stories spewing out of the political beat, specifically on the race for the 2011 presidential elections and how it affects the integrity of news.

As part of the effort to sell his candidature for the presidency, former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) invited as many as 40 journalists to his Minna home on August 14 for an interview. I have heard questions asked about why he should invite journalists to his home instead of a public place if he didn’t have an ulterior motive, and why he should offer monetary gifts to the journalists in the name of paying for their transportation.

One news medium, which has championed this opposition in the open, is the online agency, Sahara Reporters. According to SR each of the journalists received N10 million for heeding Babangida’s call on his presidential ambition. That is N400 million just for one night’s interview from an aspirant yet to win his party’s nomination if it were true. But it was not. When some of the journalists complained about the fictional sum, SR changed the story on August 19, saying it was just “a paltry N250, 000 each”. Rather than admit its initial error SR simply said, “our accountants have told us that going by the number of 40 journalists in attendance, we are still around the same ballpark of N10 million”. So much for credible reporting!

Three days later, SR followed up with ‘IBB and his Rogue Journalists’, accusing the journalists of roguery and professional misconduct; roguery, because they collected money from two sources—their employers who presumably authorised and funded the trip and their news source, IBB; misconduct because it is unethical for them to demand/receive gratification from news sources for their services.

And on August 23 in ‘IBB Nocturnal Press Parley: Punch fires Editorial board Chairman’, SR stayed on top of the story by reporting that Adebolu Arowolo, editorial board chairman of the Punch, had lost his job for going on that trip without his management’s approval..