Uprisings in Arab World-Could America Be the Next Battle Front?

The uprising in Arab world should also be a wake up call for the developed countries such as America and United Kingdom.Anyone who has followed keenly the development in the Arab world should be able to see that there is more than what meets the eye.America finally managed to penetrate the Arab world and diffuse their ideology of self liberty regardless of ones religion.There is and has been a gross violation of human rights in most Arab states. Take a careful look at what is happening in Libya for example.Fortunately its too late for the these leaders as the masses have realized there is something called self liberty and they are very conscious about it and ready to die for it. These events taking place around the Arab world signify a changing world where the citizens are taking back power that is traditionally exercised by the executive.

The mammoth number of protesters waving banners that we are witnessing on our mass media  epitomized an emerging trend among Africans to revolt against dictatorial regimes decreed by rulers who have no slightest respect for the rule of law.It is such events that put a smile on the faces of our neocolonialist  in the west.

The general feeling, we must be ignorant not to admit, across the world is that the West is very enigmatic on regime change in Africa . But this sort of change should send the strongest message to them that it could happen in their world too. It is not just bad for Africa but for such countries as United Kingdom and the United States of America as well and should be discouraged.

Let us look at it, the sort of uprising witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt could as well happen to the US. Perhaps you ask how? Did you  not notice how similar the grievances and issues the people in Egypt and Tunisia were articulating are to those of people in New Orleans for instance?Are they any peculiar from the suffering of the orphaned and underprivileged children in Pennsylvania?
 

As was the case in the two countries-Tunisia and Egypt- where men and women, young and old gathered in the cities to push the countries’ leadership to surrender, with their dripping tears and oozing blood, so could be the case in the USA.In the past few days we have watched the cries and wailing of men and women and children, hundred of thousands of them, what we didn’t care to ask is if  their cries echo and represent the rest of Europe.
 

Have we not witnessed the same cries as those in the US society? Did we not hear them say they were demanding reforms to make their governments more effective,more representative, more responsive, and more public oriented?
 

Contrary to what their lopsided mass media tells us, a majority of Americans want a publicly-managed health care system that provides affordable coverage for everyone. And  its also on the public domain that a majority of Americans want a rapid end to continuing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by America soldiers  and an end of war against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. As we watched Tunisia and Egypt uprising did we not note that the country has young very highly qualified  professionals, middle class, educated people complaining bitterly about a lack of opportunity? Is it any different in the USA? This could be a little disturbing how well those pictures mirror the US situation. But look, the gap between the rich and the poor is wider in the USA as well. Therefore the question one should ask is, Is America so democratic and free that scenes such as those witnessed in Tunisia and Egypt and not even possible in that country?I will leave you to answer that question

Get The Right Degree

There was a time when good references and a strong interview could open the door to employment.
Now you likely won't get an interview without the right college degree.
In fact, in today's more selective and highly competitive job market, the right degree has become a required hiring standard.


Want to arm yourself with the credentials that employers are demanding? Review the following eight great careers and find out which degree you'll need to get the job you want - and the salary you deserve.

Job #1: Medical Assistant

Medical assisting is a specialized profession that is the focus of many career training programs. It's also among the fastest growing job sectors in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, which notes that a degree or certificate in medical assisting significantly increases your chances of getting hired.
The Degree You Need: Get a jump on the competition with a certificate or associate's degree in medical assisting. Additional certification from the American Association of Medical Assistants AAMA) can help distinguish an experienced medical assistant from an entry-level candidate.

Job #2: Medical and Health Services Manager

Qualified managers working in hospitals, clinics, and private facilities are enjoying solid job growth, according to the Department of Labor. Their ranks are growing due to the aging population's need for medical services.
The Degree You Need: Get a bachelor's degree in health care administration to get the training you'll need for entry-level or assistant administrator positions. An MBA can help qualify you for management roles.

Job #3: Paralegal

An education helps prepare paralegals for this increasingly complex job. In order to save costs, paralegals are now doing some work previously handled by lawyers. According to the Department of Labor, formally trained paralegals have the best odds at finding employment in this growing field.
The Degree You Need: To qualify for most entry-level jobs, you will need to earn an associate's degree in paralegal studies. If you already have a degree, earn a certificate in paralegal studies to meet most hiring standards.

Job #4: Graphic Designer

Strong competition in this field means graphic designers must have a formal education to augment their creative skills. Most job opportunities are in advertising, computer design, interactive media, and animation.
The Degree You Need: You can meet the hiring needs of most employers if you earn a bachelor's degree in graphic design. Or you can qualify as an assistant designer with an associate's degree or certificate.

Job #5: Computer Network Administrator

Job prospects for educated workers in the field of information technology (IT) are excellent. Computer skills are important, but college degree programs help job candidates meet hiring requirements. Courses in the computer sciences, mathematics, and statistics help show employers you're ready for the job.
The Degree You Need: Seek a bachelor's degree in computer science or information science to compete for administrator positions. For entry-level jobs, focus on getting an associate's degree.

Job #6: Financial Analyst

The job market is very competitive and the hiring standards for financial analysts reflect that. The right degree can help you qualify for high-paying job opportunities in businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and securities firms.
The Degree You Need: Get a bachelor's or master's degree in a finance-related major like business administration. Additional certification and licensing might be required to meet other job standards.

Job #7: Police Officer

Many local police departments require some level of college degree work, while having a degree is a federal agency prerequisite. Having a college degree also increases your salary potential in law enforcement, according to the Department of Labor.
The Degree You Need: You can improve your hiring outlook with an associate's degree in criminal justice. Thinking about becoming an FBI agent? To work on the federal level, you'll need a bachelor's degree.

Job #8: Dental Assistant

A degree program can provide a real boost to your employment opportunities in this field, according to the Department of Labor. A college education also prepares dental assistants for more advanced study should they want expanded job responsibilities, higher salaries, and promotion opportunities.

Quantitative Research Design and Application in Business

 In quantitative research your aim is to determine the relationship between one thing (an independent variable) and another (a dependent variable) in a population. Quantitative research designs are either descriptive (subjects usually measured once) or experimental (subjects measured before and after a treatment). A descriptive study establishes only associations between variables. An experiment establishes causality.For an accurate estimate of the relationship between variables, a descriptive study usually needs a sample of hundreds or even thousands of subjects; an experiment, especially a crossover, may need only tens of subjects. The estimate of the relationship is less likely to be biased if you have a high participation rate in a sample selected randomly from a population. In experiments, bias is also less likely if subjects are randomly assigned to treatments, and if subjects and researchers are blind to the identity of the treatments. In all studies, subject characteristics can affect the relationship you are investigating. Limit their effect either by using a less heterogeneous sample of subjects or preferably by measuring the characteristics and including them in the analysis. In an experiment, try to measure variables that might explain the mechanism of the treatment. In an unblinded experiment, 

Business Schools have recently been attempting to bridge the gap between academic course offerings and the real demands of the decision-making manager. One of the greatest challenges concerns the area of management science, or quantitative business methods. From the beginning, managers have questioned the applications of quantitative methods in business.

Management scientists are concerned that there is a "practicality gap" between quantitative business methods and management. Managers claim they are not using models because they neither adequately represent the true complexity of situations nor meet real-world needs. The educational process has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on theory and for ignoring the needs of the practitioner. In other words, the educational process with respect to quantitative business techniques is "user-deficient." The divergence of views on the relative importance of theory versus application continues to be a dividing line between academicians and managers. Managers' contention is that students leave schools trained in techniques but with little or no exposure to real problems. Educators have countered that the job of the university is to educate people, and this should involve more than vocational training for particular jobs in industry.

Some progress is being made, however, in larger organizations. In general, as gross sales of an organization increase, the applications of quantitative business methods also increase. This positive correlation can also be noted for increases in the number of employees in an organization.

In order to overcome the ineffectiveness of operations research techniques, management scientists must learn to think like managers.

The most significant barriers cited were related to lack of knowledge. In order to overcome these barriers to user effectiveness ,there are proposed  number of suggestions, including:

1.Those with quantitative skills within the company should direct considerably more of their time toward educating managers.

2. Quantitative training needs to play a larger role in executive development programs.

This lends support to the long-held belief about the relationship between knowledge and use. Findings from other studies have also indicated that increasing manager knowledge is an effective means of improving technique utilization.

In addition to the descriptive illustration presented above, a number of statistical tests were performed. The first test concerned the following hypothesis:

 3.The application of OR techniques is independent of the firm's main business activity.

The business activities defined were manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and other. The tests indicated that type of business activity is not related to the utilization of OR methods. The second hypothesis tested was as follows:

 4.The application of OR techniques is independent of the firm's level of sales.

The tests revealed that there is a relationship between level of sales and utilization of OR techniques. Further examination of the data implied that firms with higher levels of sales tend to use OR techniques more often than firms with lower sales levels. Finally, a third hypothesis was tested:

Financial managers use sales forecasts to plan their cash and borrowing positions during the year. Management requires forecasts for planning capital expenditures of new plant and equipment, for planning major promotional activities, and for planning the general direction and future course of the firm. The results presented in Table 4 support the notion that the need for forecasts cuts across all functional lines.

Table 5 summarizes responsibility for forecasting applications by an individual's functioning area. Note that most of the forecasting projects are performed by marketing and management personnel. In contrast to OR users, industrial engineers and operations researchers are not heavily involved in forecasting applications. Some respondents indicated that marketing was more closely involved with forecasting because "it has direct responsibility for providing sales forecasts of future levels of demand," or "Industrial engineers and operations researchers have the knowledge but are less likely to be a part of the forecasting process."

Table 6 compares the use of nine forecasting techniques. This table is analogous to Table 3 presented earlier. The data reveal that trend analysis, seasonal-cyclical indexes, and moving averages tend to be the most frequently used, while Box-Jenkins analysis is almost never used. The respondents gave the same reasons for not using these methods as they did for not using OR techniques: they perceived no need for them, and they lacked the skills and resources necessary to use them. 

The most common remedy put forth by respondents was gain increased training. However, a word of caution is necessary here. Increasing the forecaster's knowledge of sophisticated methods may not necessarily lead to improved performance. Rather, the training should instruct users of forecasts in the pros and cons of alternative methods and in the identification of situations where forecasting can play a major role in improving organizational decision making. Finally, a forecaster's position should have the requisite authority and responsibility to ensure that forecasting is performed at a level in the organization that will allow its proper impact on decision-making.

The three hypotheses examined for the OR techniques were also tested for forecasting; these tests yielded results analogous to those for OR techniques.

 References

Samuel Eilon, "Mathematical Modeling for Management," Interfaces, February 1974, pp. 32-38.

James R. Emshoff, "Experience-Generalized Decision Making: The Next Generation of Managerial Models," Interfaces, August 1978, pp. 40-48.

Robert J. Graham, "is Management Science Arcane?" Interfaces, February 1977, pp. 63-67.

T.B. Green, W.B. Newsom, and S.R. Jones, "A Survey of the Application of Quantitative Techniques to Production/Operations Management in Large Corporations," Academy of Management Journal, 20, 4 (1977): 669-676.

William H. Gruber and John S. Niles, "Problems in the Utilization of Management Science/Operations Research: A State of the Art Survey," Interfaces, 2, 1 (1971: 12-19.

Rick Hesse, "Management Science or Management/Science?" Interfaces, February 1980, pp. 104-104.

Ronald A. Howard "The Practicality Gap," Management Science, March 1968, pp. 503-507.

Media Goof on Nominations of Chief Justice, Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions

Having taken my time to read several editorial pieces on the above subject since the contested judicial nominations were made, I am left with many questions to the men and women of the media:
 
1. What do you decipher when you read sections 156(2), 157 (2) and 228 (1) of the  new constitution which states that "The Attorney-General,.....the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Controller of Budget shall be nominated by the President and, with the approval of the National Assembly, appointed by the President." These sections as read in concurrence of section 29 (2) of the Sixth Schedule set out the procedure of filling the positions of the Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecutions and the Controller of Budget.

I want to imagine that these clauses are worded in very simple language and that they do not require deep legal interpretation. While at  University doing my undergraduate,in Forensic Linguistics I was taught by Dr.Buregeya  that the first rule of interpretation requires that any statement should  to be construed in its plain, face and ordinary meaning. Its now apparent that the  above mentioned clauses have a 'new' meaning to the highly esteemed men and woman of the fourth estate.

2. Section 166 (1) of the Constitution as read together with section 29 (2) of the Sixth Schedule (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) provides that  "The President shall appoint the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice,but until after the first elections under this constitution, the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, subject to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, and after consultation with the Prime Minister and with the approval of the National Assembly," These provisions in their plain and ordinary meaning do not  require the involvement Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in the initial appointment of a new Chief Justice. Its not beyond any ones ken that the JSC is not even properly commissioned since a new Chief Justice is yet to be appointed.

Without any degree of equivocation to me this is  a legal absurdity that the current Chief Justice as well as two serving Judges, Justices Riaga Omolo of the Court of Appeal and Isaac Lenaola of the High Court and the Registrar of the High Court, Lydia Achode would want to be involved in the appointment of a new Chief Justice. Their opposition to the nominations by the President is inherently illogical,myopic,inept and informed by personal rather than legal considerations. It is important to note that that these judicial officers will be subjected to vetting by the JSC and the National Assembly.

Hon. Amos Wako the Attorney General makes it even look worse to seek to be involved in the selection of a new Chief Justice and his own successor when he has constantly been cited by local and international forums as the major impediment to reforms in the Criminal Justice system which has occasioned breeding of impunity in Kenya.

The Chief Justice will chair the JSC and one cannot be forgiven if he fails to read mischief and inherent ignorance by some members of the JSC who want to determine beforehand who will supervise and vet them. The assertions by Justices Evan Gicheru, Riaga Omolo, Isaac Lenaola and the Registrar of the High court is therefore largely flawed,inconsequential and  should be rejected on the basis that "a man shall not be a judge in his own course".



3.The media editorial pieces are highly lopsided and devoid of any reference to the applicable law.Almost all your editorials on the above subject are biased to give the impression that the President breached the Constitution in making the above nominations. Every other media house seems to have taken an editorial stance informed by one side of the Coalition Government that they were not consulted. I watched one TV station at their 9PM news showing how President Kibaki fails to honour promises ,such as the infamous MOU and they tried to compare  this with the contested nominations,This a clear indication that our journalists have no nose for news,do not clearly know what constitute  a newsworthy item and are in urgent need of adulthood education !A purely legal process has thus become mired in the miasma of highly divisive and emotive politics. Why do the media believe one side of the coalition and not the other? Why is the media so keen to create an impression that the PNU side of the coalition is the government and ODM the  opposition within? Why are some senior editors now asking the nominees to decline the nominations?

The Hon. James Orengo, was the first to fire the first salvo and cast aspersions into the propriety of the procedure for the above nominations. Since he is not one of the Principals, it would be proper to ask him how he learnt of the names of the individuals nominated. The consultation stipulated in section 29 (2) of the Sixth Schedule (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) is not defined nor is its ultimate outcome stated. It is only an adjectival (procedural) requirement of law and the Constitution gives the National Assembly the power to determine the substantive issues relating the nominees. Whether the President consulted the Prime Minister or not is a question of fact which only the two Principals can shed light on. However the outburst by Hon. Orengo is evidence that there was a discussion of some sort and that names were floated for nomination to the above offices.

What is coming out clear is that there was no consensus but again the law does not dictate that there must be consensus. Whether such discussion or consultation resulted in an agreement or disagreement is political issue which should be now addressed in the National Assembly where it rightfully belongs. . It is important for members of the press to report matters relating to the implementation of the question truthfully, fairly,soberly and objectively. Lawyers will always differ in the interpretation of the law. That is why courts exist. Some of us seem ignorant of what letter and spirit of law means and how they apply.  Taking the views of one side as the ultimate gospel truth is fallacious,misleading malicious and intended for no good. Indeed the truest characters of ignorance are vanity,  pride, arrogance,vainglory,ostentation and pretense and this is what some media houses and some of our leaders are displaying in glare of the public