The Obama everyone is ignoring...

[vector7]

From The Times
November 3, 2008
Kenya, ancestral home of Barack Obama, is in the grip of US election fever

Rob Crilly in Kogelo, Kenya

The tiny Kenyan farmstead where Barack Obama's father grew up herding goats has had a makeover fit for a President.

Where once the goats roamed freely across a field of thick grass studded with mango trees, a security fence and imposing gate keep the animals in and intruders out.

Road rollers and bulldozers have been deployed this past week — days after Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister, made a surprise visit — smoothing out the rutted dirt track leading to the Obama family land.

Speaking in front of the first handful of journalists to have made the journey to the far west of Kenya, Abongo Malik Obama, Mr Obama's half-brother, summed up the excitement of a watching nation. He said that the world would benefit from an Obama in the White House, not just his relatives or tribemates.

How America's presidents rated

The Times has ranked all 42 US presidents - was Bush Jr. bottom? Did JFK beat Abraham Lincoln?

Related Links

• Polls suggest Obama will win the race

• Yes We Can! Obama's fans show support in Ohio

• Barack Obama’s Kenyan family prays for peace

He went on: “Here is a man who nobody would have thought could be President of the United States. His success shows that anybody with his background and origins can do it. There's no limitations.”

If Obama-mania has swept across the world, then the bustling city of Kisumu, just an hour's drive from Mr Obama's ancestral home, must be its epicentre.

Stalls in the city's sprawling market are crammed with wonky photocopied portraits offered for sale in cheap frames. Clothes shops have run out of T-shirts printed up for the American elections.

For the past four years Kenyans have been enthralled by the meteoric rise of a politician born to one of their own. His homecoming two years ago brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets of Kisumu. Even then no one could have believed he would come this close to the White House.

Kenya's coverage of the campaign has been extensive and the pundits all predict a landslide. Tomorrow the shops will shut as the country celebrates.

“On the day we will be having a celebration,” says Kogode, a member of a political club that meets under a lilac-blossomed jacaranda tree each afternoon. “We will be slaughtering a goat, having some beer and holding an event. Of that there is no doubt.”

The local airport is being renovated, leading to jokes that it is being designed to accommodate Air Force One. An enterprising tour operator is offering Obama safaris, driving visitors up to the gates of the simple farmstead where his father grew up and where his step-grandmother still lives, and in the capital, Nairobi, a musical of Mr Obama's life story is reopening. In Kisumu, Charles Omondi's rickety wooden bench is filled with “success cards”. On the outside they carry the image of Mr Obama and the Stars and Stripes; inside they wish students “all the best in your forthcoming exams”.

“The idea is that everyone wants to be like him,” Mr Omondi said. “His example will help them pass.” It is the same story across town, where Donna Otieno sells T-shirts at the Our Joint Boutique. She bought a test batch of five and sold them in two days, prompting her to fill her rails with Obama T-shirts bearing the legend “Pride of Kenya”.

“Here is the origin of Obama,” she said. “He's our son and we are very proud.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle5068714.ece

[Aplomb]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...E4ZWFkNGJkNjg=

November 3, 2008 12:00 AM

What We Know About Obama
The illusion of pragmatism advances far-left goals, in baby steps.

By Stanley Kurtz

Reflecting on all that I’ve written about Barack Obama over these past six months, four inter-related points stand out: Obama’s radicalism, his stealthy incrementalism, his interest in funding and organization-building, and his willingness to use — or quietly support — Alinskyite intimidation tactics. Since we stand on the cusp of the election, I’ll lay out the bottom line. For those who want to know more, go back and read the detailed studies on which I base these conclusions.

Obama’s troubling associations are more than isolated friendships or instances of bad judgment. His ties to Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Michael Pfleger, James Meeks, ACORN, the New Party, and the Gamaliel Foundation all reflect Obama’s sympathy with radical-left ideas and causes — wealth redistribution prominent among them. At both the Woods Fund and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, for example, Obama and Ayers channeled money into ACORN’s coffers. ACORN, a militant group pursuing economic redistribution, succeeded in undermining credit standards throughout the banking system, thereby modeling the New Party’s plans to tame capitalism itself. So the association with Ayers is not an outlier issue, but part and parcel of a network of radical ties through which Obama’s supported “major redistributive change.” Via ACORN, that project has already nearly wrecked our economy. What will happen when it’s generalized?

Similarly, Obama’s “association” with Wright was far more than a mere pastor-parishioner — or even mentor-protégé — relationship. Obama’s work with the Gamaliel Foundation required him to “organize” left-leaning churches into a larger political force. His real interest in Wright, Pfleger, and Meeks was to turn them into the nucleus of a far broader politicized coalition of radical black churches — as shown, for example, by his work with them on the Illinois racial-profiling bill. Again, we are not dealing with mere “associations,” but with intentional political partnerships.

Although media malfeasance is at the heart of our ignorance about these broader patterns, Obama’s absorption of Alinskyite strategies of stealthy incrementalism have helped to hide the truth. Following well-worn organizer strategies, Obama knows how to wrap ideological radicalism in the soothing rhetoric of “pragmatism” and classic American values. There is a kernel of truth to the pragmatism, however. Radical though his ultimate goals may be, Obama follows classic organizer strategy — pursuing his ends in tiny, incremental, and cumulative baby-steps. The municipal “living wage” campaigns supported by Obama, Wright, and groups like ACORN and the New Party were never designed, in themselves, to bring fundamental economic change. These ordinances actually applied to only a very small number of companies. The broader purpose of these battles was to build coalitions for deeper structural change on the national level, when the moment was right. Obama would likely hew to this incrementalism in power, with the same radical long-term goals in mind.

Obama was a master at channeling funding to his organizer allies. He was the key force turning the Woods Fund toward a major increase in support for community organizers, at a moment when other foundations shied away from funding the militant and confrontational tactics of groups like ACORN. In his now infamous 2001 radio remarks, Obama’s preferred strategy for promoting “major redistributive change” was through society-wide organizing from below. As president, Obama would connect his massive youth-volunteer program to his favorite community-organizer groups, thereby creating a political force for long-term restructuring of the American economy. This was the program of the New Party, and I believe it is still Obama’s long-term goal.

In pursuit of his goals, Obama has shown himself willing to quietly support, and sometimes to openly use, radical Alinskyite tactics. At the Woods Fund, Obama’s allies bragged about the way their “post-ideological” cover had allowed them to fund ACORN’s confrontational tactics, while escaping public criticism. Obama has shamelessly used Alinskyite “direct action” to silence and intimidate political foes during the current campaign (a matter well-known to conservatives, yet little noted by the mainstream press). Victory would only cement the conviction in Obama and his allies that these tactics had “won,” and therefore should be used again.

Has Obama changed? Was he merely using his radical Chicago allies to gain national renown, and thereby an opening for a more moderate political program? I find this view unconvincing. Obama has often claimed that his early community organizing, and his redistributive legislative work, were at the very core of his political identity. We’ve heard his radicalism on the radio in 2001. Does anyone really believe that he’s changed in 2008? Obama’s political radicalism consolidated his shaky personal identity. It formed him as an adult. He cannot abandon that inner stance without losing hold of an already precarious self. Obama chose to live in Hyde Park — chose that radical setting as the site of his adult self-creation. Hyde Park was never the place Obama needed to conquer in order to escape. On the contrary, it was the personally chosen home he now hopes to nationalize by spreading his organizing gospel to America’s youth.

Obama is clever and pragmatic, it’s true. But his pragmatism is deployed on behalf of radical goals. Obama’s heart is, and will remain, with the Far Left. Yet he will surely be cautious about grasping for more, at any given moment, than the political traffic will bear. That should not be mistaken for genuine moderation. It will merely be the beginning stages of a habitually incremental radicalism. In his heart and soul, Barack Obama was and remains a radical-stealthy, organizationally sophisticated, and — when necessary — tactically ruthless. The real Obama — the man beyond the feel-good symbol — is no mystery. He’s there for anyone willing to look. Sad to say, few are.

— Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

[Aplomb]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-kenya-ghosts/

HYMAN: Obama's Kenya ghosts

Mark Hyman
Sunday, October 12, 2008


COMMENTARY:
About 50 parishioners were locked into the Assemblies of God church before it was set ablaze. They were mostly women and children. Those who tried to flee were hacked to death by machete-wielding members of a mob numbering 2,000.


The 2008 New Year Day atrocity in the Kenyan village Eldoret, about 185 miles northwest of Nairobi, had all the markings of the Rwanda genocide of a decade earlier.


By mid-February 2008, more than 1,500 Kenyans were killed. Many were slain by machete-armed attackers. More than 500,000 were displaced by the religious strife.

Villages lay in ruin. Many of the atrocities were perpetrated by Muslims against Christians.


The violence was led by supporters of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who lost the Dec. 27, 2007, presidential election by more than 230,000 votes. Odinga supporters began the genocide hours after the final election results were announced Dec. 30. Mr. Odinga was a member of Parliament representing an area in western Kenya, heavily populated by the Luo tribe, and the birthplace of Barack Obama's father.


Mr. Odinga had the backing of Kenya's Muslim community heading into the election. For months he denied any ties to Muslim leaders, but fell silent when Sheik Abdullahi Abdi, chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum, appeared on Kenya television displaying a memorandum of understanding signed on Aug. 29, 2007, by Mr. Odinga and the Muslim leader. Mr. Odinga then denied his denials.


The details of the MOU were shocking. In return for Muslim backing, Mr. Odinga promised to impose a number of measures favored by Muslims if he were elected president. Among these were recognition of "Islam as the only true religion," Islamic leaders would have an "oversight role to monitor activities of ALL other religions [emphasis in original]," installation of Shariah courts in every jurisdiction, a ban on Christian preaching, replacement of the police commissioner who "allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists," adoption of a women's dress code, and bans on alcohol and pork.


This was not Mr. Odinga's first brush with notoriety. Like his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the main opposition leader in the 1960s and 1970s, Raila Odinga is a Marxist He graduated from East Germany's Magdeburg University in 1970 on a scholarship provided by the East German government. He named his oldest son after Fidel Castro.


Raila Odinga was implicated in the bloody coup attempt in 1982 against then-President Daniel Arap Moi, a close ally of the United States. Kenya has been one of the most stable democracies in Africa since the 1960s. The ethnic cleansing earlier this year was the worst violence in Kenya since that 1982 coup attempt.


Mr. Odinga spent eight years in prison. At the time, he denied guilt but later detailed he was a coup leader in his 2006 biography. Statue of limitations precluded further prosecution when the biography appeared.


Initially, Mr. Odinga was not the favored opposition candidate to stand in the 2007 election against President Mwai Kibaki, who was seeking his second term. However, he received a tremendous boost when Sen. Barack Obama arrived in Kenya in August 2006 to campaign on his behalf. Mr. Obama denies that supporting Mr. Odinga was the intention of his trip, but his actions and local media reports tell otherwise.


Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama were nearly inseparable throughout Mr. Obama's six-day stay. The two traveled together throughout Kenya and Mr. Obama spoke on behalf of Mr. Odinga at numerous rallies. In contrast, Mr. Obama had only criticism for Kibaki. He lashed out against the Kenyan government shortly after meeting with the president on Aug. 25. "The [Kenyan] people have to suffer over corruption perpetrated by government officials," Mr. Obama announced.


"Kenyans are now yearning for change," he declared. The intent of Mr. Obama's remarks and actions was transparent to Kenyans - he was firmly behind Mr. Odinga.


Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama had met several times before the 2006 trip. Reports indicate Mr. Odinga visited Mr. Obama during trips to the U.S. in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Mr. Obama sent his foreign policy adviser Mark Lippert to Kenya in early 2006 to coordinate his summer visit. Mr. Obama's August trip coincided with strategizing by Orange Democratic Movement leaders to defeat Mr. Kibaki in the upcoming elections. Mr. Odinga represented the ODM ticket in the presidential race.


Mr. Odinga and Mr. Obama's father were both from the Luo community, the second-largest tribe in Kenya, but their ties run much deeper. Mr. Odinga told a stunned BBC Radio interviewer the reason why he and Mr. Obama were staying in near daily telephone contact was because they were cousins. In a Jan. 8, 2008, interview, Mr. Odinga said Mr. Obama had called him twice the day before while campaigning in the New Hampshire primary before adding, "Barack Obama's father is my maternal uncle."


President Kibaki requested a meeting of all opposition leaders in early January in an effort to quell the violence. All agreed to attend except Mr. Odinga. A month later, Mr. Kibaki offered Mr. Odinga the role of prime minister, the de facto No. 2 in the Kenyan government, in return for an end to the attacks. Mr. Odinga was sworn in on April 17, 2008.


Mr. Obama's judgment is seriously called into question when he backs an official with troubling ties to Muslim extremists and whose supporters practice ethnic cleansing and genocide. It was Islamic extremists in Kenya who bombed the U.S. Embassy in 1998, killing more than 200 and injuring thousands. None of this has dissuaded Mr. Obama from maintaining disturbing loyalties.

Mark Hyman is an award-winning news commentator for Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.
Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2008 Washington Times

[vector7]

Congressman: Obama's Senate Replacement Must Be Black

As Barack Obama takes over the White House, he leaves in his wake a host of vacancies, and some are becoming the focal points for fresh political battles

FOXNews.com
Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Barack Obama speaks at the meeting of the National Governor's Association at Congress Hall Tuesday in Philadelphia. (AP Photo)

The race to replace Barack Obama as Illinois' junior senator heated up Tuesday as Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to name a black man or woman to the seat.

By invoking race, Rush, who is black, drove a potential wedge between the prospective white and black contenders for the seat. Rush said it would be a "national disgrace" if Obama's seat were not filled by an African American.
Illinois isn't the only state with a seat to fill. As Barack Obama takes over the White House, he leaves in his wake a host of vacancies, and some are becoming the focal points for fresh political battles.

The Illinois governor has said he plans to name the replacement by the end of the year. That person would serve out the remaining two years of Obama's term.

"We don't want (Blagojevich) to short-circuit the will and the wisdom of the state of Illinois," Rush told FOXNews.com, after holding a press conference in Chicago announcing his petition drive for the governor to name a black candidate.
"As we speak, there are no African Americans in the Senate. (Blagojevich) has the power to put one there."

Obama's seat has been occupied twice by a black politician since the early '90s. Carol Moseley Braun, the first and only black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, held the seat from 1993 to 1999, when Peter Fitzgerald defeated her. Obama then succeeded Fitzgerald in 2005 and served until he resigned last month to prepare for the presidency.

Rush, a former Black Panther member who defeated Obama in a 2000 race for a seat in the House of Representatives, said that he wasn't backing any particular candidate to replace Obama and that he had no insight into whether Blagojevich was leaning toward a white candidate over a black candidate, or vice-versa.

But Rush said, "We don't want to risk being silent in this process." He said he plans to deliver his petition to the governor by Christmas.

Among the potential black candidates who could replace Obama are Rep. Danny Davis, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and Illinois Senate President Emil Jones. Among the other potential candidates are Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Tammy Duckworth, who is Asian-American, also is in the mix. However, speculation is growing that Duckworth, head of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, will get the nod to lead the national department under Obama.

Chicago political consultant Philip Molfese said Blagojevich has no choice but to consider race in his decision.

"That's, I think, an important consideration the governor has to take," he said. "Barack Obama was the only African American in the U.S. Senate."

Blagojevich's office did not return a request for comment on Rush's petition. However, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Blagojevich may have slipped when he referred to Davis twice last week as "Senator Davis."

Though the governor corrected himself and said he hasn't made his choice yet, he still talked up Davis as a "strong candidate" for the job.

"That's certainly telling of something," said Molfese, president of Grainger Terry. He said Davis and Duckworth are creating the most buzz in Chicago as potential replacements.

Obama's official announcement Monday that Hillary Clinton will be his secretary of state nominee also leaves a vacancy in the New York Senate seat that she holds.

Her departure means New York Gov. David Paterson will have a month or more to choose Clinton's successor. The window could lead to a frenetic holiday season in New York politics. Among those mentioned as potential successors are New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and a number of representatives in Congress.

Rep. Nita Lowey, one of the more prominent potential replacements, told The Associated Press she is not interested in Clinton's seat. But other potential candidates from the halls of Congress include Reps. Kirsten Gillibrand and Brian Higgins, both of whom would satisfy those seeking someone from upstate New York. New York City contenders include Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez.

The replacement process for other Cabinet selections is a bit more clean-cut.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to be named as Obama's commerce secretary on Wednesday. According to state law, the former presidential candidate would be replaced in New Mexico by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. She would then have to run for re-election in 2010.

"It's automatic in our state," said James Flores, spokesman for the New Mexico secretary of state's office. "As soon as (Richardson's) gone, our lieutenant governor will move up to the governorship at that time."

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano was nominated by Obama on Monday to be his Homeland Security secretary. The move means the Arizona Democrat will be replaced by a Republican, Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer.

Brewer is a veteran Republican officeholder with more than two decades as a legislator, county supervisor and secretary of state. Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden already has his replacement in the U.S. Senate. His former aide, Edward Kaufman, was named late last month by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to fill the seat. Kaufman plans to serve until the 2010 election, and said he is comfortable stepping down at that point.

Speculation had centered on Biden's son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, but the Delaware official announced last month that he planned to fulfill his National Guard duties and would not accept an appointment. Biden is a prosecutor for the 261st Signal Brigade, which left for Iraq in November. Beau Biden could, however, run in 2010.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008...acement-black/

[vector7]

Obama: Islamic Speech in First 100 Days

Thursday, December 4, 2008 5:14 PM

By: Jim Meyers

Barack Obama is considering making a major foreign policy speech in an Islamic capital during his first 100 days as president in an effort to mend rifts between the U.S. and the Muslim world.

Helene Cooper of The New York Times spoke to several sources, including diplomats, about which Islamic capital Obama might choose, and the consensus was Cairo, Egypt.

The reason: Process of elimination.

A speech in Baghdad would appear to validate the Iraq war, which Obama opposed. A visit to Damascus, the Syrian capital, “would look as if he was rewarding the Syrians and it’s too soon for that,” Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine, told Cooper.

Asali also ruled out:

Ramallah on the West Bank, noting that “Palestinians seek Jerusalem as their capital.”
Tehran in Iran. “Too soon for that.” Amman, Jordan. “Been there, done that.”
Islamabad, Pakistan. “Too dangerous.”
Ankara, Turkey. “Too safe.”
As for Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama spent part of his youth, “people would yawn about that,” said Asali.

One of Obama’s foreign policy advisers ruled out Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and other capitals around the Persian Gulf.

Cooper concluded: “It’s got to be Cairo. Egypt is perfect. It’s certainly Muslim enough, populous enough and relevant enough. It’s an American ally, but there are enough tensions in the relationship that the choice will feel bold.”

Whatever capital Obama might choose, press reports don’t explain why the new president feels it necessary to give a speech so early in his new administration.

During the presidential campaign Obama indicated U.S. foreign policy was too skewed in favor of Israel and that he would seek to balance that approach in his administration.

He was also dogged with claims that he was a secret Muslim, an accusation he denied.

In fact, Obama had been raised a Muslim and converted to Christianity after meeting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in his 20s after he moved to Chicago.

Obama was born to a Kenyan father who was a Muslim. His mother divorced this man and later remarried an Indonesian muslim who became Obama’s stepfather.

The couple moved to Indonesia with the young Obama. There he was registered at two schools as a Muslim student.

Earlier this year, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs claimed: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."

But in his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school." Obama’s campaign web site later removed the claim made by Gibbs that Obama was never a Muslim.

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/O...utm_medium=RSS

[Aplomb]

Perhaps it is most prudent to act like we believe that this is about abortion, what do I know?

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/ne...-constitution/

Rep. Smith: US may be spending $10 million on pro-abortion Kenyan constitution

Washington D.C., May 27, 2010 / 06:18 am (CNA).- Following calls for a federal probe into U.S. funding to support Kenya’s proposed constitution, which would permit abortions in the country, investigations suggest that the funds used may have totaled over $10 million instead of the $2 million initially suspected. One congressman called the funding “a clear violation of federal law.”


Earlier this month three leading U.S. congressmen made public a letter requesting a federal probe into whether the Obama administration broke federal laws by promoting a proposed Kenyan constitution that “radically” changes abortion policy.


The Siljander Amendment, annually included in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, prohibits lobbying for or against abortion using the funds made available in the act.


Initial reports said that the Obama administration had pledged $2 million to help promote the new constitution.


However, in a May 26 press release one of the Congressmen, Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey), said he has learned from investigators that U.S. taxpayer expenditures in support of the Kenyan proposal “may exceed $10 million – five times the level we originally expected.”


“This massive spending will undoubtedly be directed to those entities that are pressing for ratification of the proposed constitution,” he continued.


“Such support will further enable passage of a constitution that is opposed by many pro-life leaders in Kenya, because it enshrines new rights to abortion. As such, the funding is a clear violation of federal law against use of U.S. taxpayer funds to lobby for or against abortion,” Rep. Smith charged.


According to the Congressman, the new information about the size of the funding gives “even more urgency” to the request for investigations into all U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) activities related to the proposal.


“I hope that all investigative agencies will take our request seriously and act swiftly in this matter,” commented Smith.


The Catholic bishops of Kenya have said the proposed constitution is “fundamentally flawed” because it paves the way for abortion on demand and also specially recognizes Muslim civil courts.


At present Kenyan law allows abortion only to save the life of the mother. The proposed new constitution would allow abortion in cases where health care professionals believe a mother’s “health” is endangered, an exception which has been broadly interpreted in many countries.


The bishops have called for the removal of the clause from the draft constitution.






Calling to mind this...

[Aplomb]

Here's a couple more things to add to my post above:



http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/news...1c38706888.htm

KENYA: Post-poll violence a 'national disaster', says Red Cross
01 Jan 2008 18:12:19 GMT
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.


NAIROBI, 1 January 2008 (IRIN) - Kenya is in the throes of a humanitarian "national disaster" amid post-election violence that has left scores dead, tens of thousands displaced beyond reach of immediate assistance and many more destined to be dependent on aid for several months to come, according to the Red Cross."The country has been riddled with insecurity over the last few days and there are many areas we cannot access," Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet told reporters in Nairobi on 1 January after conducting an assessment by helicopter to western parts of the country.Video footage shot during this mission showed smoke billowing from homes and farms, crowds of displaced civilians seeking sanctuary in churches and police stations, and usually busy main arteries empty of traffic and dotted with roadblocks manned by gangs."Worst-case scenario"Gullet said his organisation's 48 branches had put in place contingency plans for the elections but that "no-one imagined the worst-case scenario we seem to be having now."In one of the most brutal episodes of violence since the incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 27 poll - amid cries of fraud by the opposition and international concern about the vote tallying process – at least 30 people who had sought sanctuary in a church in the western town of Eldoret died after a mob set the building ablaze, according to reports from the BBC and AFP, among other news outlets.AFP, which estimated the overall number of dead in the wake of the polls at 300, quoted one senior police official as saying the events around Eldoret and nearby areas "looked very much like ethnic cleansing."Around the area of Burnt Forest in Rift Valley Province, according to Gullet, some 20,000 to 30,000 people, predominantly from Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group, were holed up in church and police premises. An official government statement carried by local media estimated that there are 73,500 displaced people countrywide.Most of the displaced have no access to food, water, health services or shelter, he said.Families flee to eastern UgandaThe main road heading west from Eldoret leads to Uganda. A Ugandan immigration official at the Malaba border post told IRIN that dozens of families, mostly Kikuyus, had entered Uganda on 31 December and 1 January. The official said she thought many others had left Kenya crossing unmanned points of the unfenced and porous frontier. Another source at Malaba said he had seen only one car crossing from Uganda to Kenya on 1 January.Members of Uganda's parliament from constituencies in the border area have appealed to the government in Kampala to send aid to the region to meet the needs of any further refugees.Fuel in Uganda arrives through Kenya and many petrol stations in Kampala had run dry while prices in other parts of the country had doubled.Vigilantes and no-go areasOf those still in Kenya, "a few hundred thousand will need [humanitarian] assistance for some time… many people who were food sufficient are becoming food dependent," said Gullet.Between Burnt Forest and Eldoret, 30km away, "around 30 checkpoints have been set up by vigilantes," he said."If you are not of the right ethnic group, it's no go," explained the Red Cross official."People are being targeted and it is known which ethnic group is being targeted," said Gullet. When asked to clarify, he said in the areas he visited, "it's largely the Kikuyu ethnic group that's being targeted."Gullet said that in some parts of the country even Red Cross workers, clearly identifiable as such by the emblem on their jackets, had also been challenged to declare their ethnicity.The Red Cross video showed hundreds of people at Eldoret airport, which lies 20km from the town itself, who had been there "for the last few days, surrounded by 3,000 people from one ethnic group," he added.During the brief assessment flight, Gullet estimated he saw "hundreds" of homes and farms on fire.Assistance and lack of access"The people need assistance, but we cannot access them by road and we cannot airlift because the only viable aircraft are helicopters and they can only carry two tonnes," he said, adding that the road blocks had led fuel supplies to run out in many towns.Visiting Moi University Hospital in Eldoret, the Red Cross team saw many patients with gunshot wounds and others who had been injured by arrows. Several doctors who live in the town were unable to reach the hospital because of fears for their safety."The hospital is overwhelmed with the number of casualties. They have set up tents outside to shelter the less serious cases," said Gullet. Plea to leadersHe went on to issue a plea to Kenya's political leaders to provide security to ensure humanitarian access and to lift stringent restrictions imposed on the news media just after Kibaki's victory was declared on 30 December.He also called on presidential candidate Raila Odinga, the opposition leader from the Luo ethnic group who insists he was cheated of election victory, "to speak out to the masses and say that this senseless killing is unacceptable."Prices of basic food have shot up in some areas and The Red Cross has been distributing food to people displaced from some of Nairobi's slums thanks in part to donations from citizens responding to the agency's public appeal.am-eo/bp© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

[Aplomb]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8530113.stm
Page last updated at 16:48 GMT, Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Kenya leaders Kibaki and Odinga try to heal rift

Kenya is polarised by conflicting loyalties to the two leaders

Kenya's president and prime minister have met for the first time since a power struggle broke out a week ago which threatened the unity government.


They agreed to settle issues that had strained their relationship, Prime Minister Raila Odinga's spokesman said.


They fell out after President Mwai Kibaki overturned a decision by the prime minister to suspend cabinet ministers over corruption allegations.


The pair formed a coalition to help end riots after the 2007 election.

Unity call
After the talks, Mr Kibaki's office released a brief statement saying: "The consultations centred on a wide range of issues touching on the grand coalition government."

I appeal to honourable members to shun the divisive parties and politics, and focus on the greater good of our country President Mwai Kibaki Kenya scandals split political elite

Jakoyo Midiwo, from Mr Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), said more meetings would follow.
"The two principals agreed to work more closely and settle the issues that had been straining their relationship," he said.


The president then went on to open parliament with a call for unity.


Occasionally stumbling on his words, he said that despite coming from diverse origins, Kenyans were one people, one family.


"I appeal to honourable members to shun the divisive parties and politics, and focus on the greater good of our country," he said.


"Whatever differences that may arise between us, we should amicably resolve in the national interest."


The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says MPs stamped their feet in approval.

Maize and school scandals
He says the latest political row has increased tension and prompted many analysts to warn that Kenya is still on a dangerous road.


Most of the reforms intended to prevent a repeat of the post-election violence have not been carried out - and efforts to stamp out corruption have been overshadowed by political rivalry.


The two ministers reinstated by Mr Kibaki came under scrutiny because of millions of dollars stolen from their ministries.


A recent audit into a maize scandal revealed that $26m (£16.5m) had gone missing from the Agriculture Ministry, headed by William Ruto.


He was an ally of the prime minister and is still a member of Mr Odinga's ODM, but the pair are now fierce rivals.


The Education Ministry, headed by Sam Ongeri from Mr Kibaki's Party of National Unity, has come under fire after more than $1m earmarked for schools went missing.


Some 1,300 people died in the violence in 2007 and tens of thousands were displaced in weeks of violence.


Mr Odinga and Mr Kibaki are from different ethnic groups - a divide which helped to fuel the riots.

[Aplomb]

http://english.alshahid.net/news/ken...ed-to-churches

Kenya PM cancels Constitution deal proposed to churches


By: Wilfred Mulliro
Nairobi (Alshahid) – Kenya’s Prime Minister (PM) Raila Odinga has now overturned the possibility of any post-referendum amendments to the new Constitution to accommodate the concerns of the Church.


Odinga on Tuesday appeared to break an earlier promise by the government that it would support amendments after the referendum to appease protests by the Church leaders.


The PM termed the demands by the clergy as “relating to differences on interpretation and not substance” therefore not negotiable.


“Even after the enactment of the new Constitution, there really will be no room for negotiations,” he told members of the British business chamber of commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce.


Raila dismissed the churches’ opposition to Muslim Kadhis courts as lacking in logic while adding that the controversial clause on abortion was put because the church “instigated it”


The PM accused politicians opposed to the draft on the basis of the land chapter as selfish land grabbers individually seeking to protect their ill-gotten property.


The Interim Independent Electoral Commission on Monday announced that Yes vote would be symbolised by the colour Green, while a No would be represented by the colour Red.


Odinga said the Yes camp was pleased to have Green because it means Green light.


“Red card as you know means you leave the field so they have been red-carded even before the match has started,” he said.





That's (cough/choke) right, he's also a Christian now...



Makes you wonder when he may slip about his "Muslim faith"

[vector7]

Who is Barack Obama?

By Mondo Frazier

There are so many things the public does not know about the man who sits in the White House. Who is Barack Obama? In my search to find out the answers I embarked on a journey that has lasted three years and counting -- and nearly made my head explode.

As usual, when Obama is the subject, Americans can't count on the progressives in the Corporate Mainstream Media (CMM) for much help. So, what's one to do? The foreign press proved helpful. Therefore, gleaned from the foreign press: a few stories which didn't rate any coverage from the U.S. CMM.

In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama went on a mission to Russia with Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN). The newly-minted U.S. senator was invited to be part of a Russian fact-finding tour that inspected a nuclear weapons site in Perm, Siberia. The base Lugar and Obama visited was where mobile launch missiles were being destroyed under the Cooperative Threat Reduction program (CTR), which also went by the name of the Nunn-Lugar program.

What happened next -- after the inspections were over -- was at the time reported by several foreign news sources but was never reported in the USA by the CMM. The Russians detained Obama and Lugar for three hours at the airport, demanding to examine both Obama's and Lugar's passports and search their plane. Some sources reported that the Russians accused Barack Obama of being a spy.

But wait -- there's more!

According to an Italian source, the Russians did not accuse Obama of being an American spy; they accused him of being a spy for the British! The report went on to say that the incident ended up involving the White House, the U.S. State Department, and military officials, along with their counterparts in Moscow.

Strangely enough, an official report from Lugar's office about the trip never mentioned the incident. Neither did Barack Obama in 2008 when he was desperate to exhibit some foreign policy chops.

One other oddity: in the fall of 2008, Obama admitted on his Fightthesmears.com site that he had held dual citizenship with both the United States and Great Britain (the site explained that this was due to Barack Obama, Sr. being a foreign national) until 1982. Did the Russians know something about Obama's citizenship in 2005 that ordinary Americans don't know in 2011?

Another story no one has seen fit to ask about: Obama's Most Excellent Pakistani Adventure.

In the summer of 1981, 20-year-old Barack Obama embarked on a two-week trip to Pakistan. At least what little reporting that has been done claimed the length of the trip was two weeks. The only proof that the trip didn't turn into a longer stay is that we (supposedly) have records which show that Barack Obama enrolled at Columbia University later that same summer. Of course, the public hasn't seen those records, but that's what we've been told. Anyone in doubt will be directed to Obama's autobiography, Dreams from My Father.

Obama clearly gave the impression in DFMF that he was this penniless, somewhat confused young man, in search of an identity. Obama makes sure readers don't miss the point by writing that he was forced to wear "thrift store clothing" during this time. Yet he somehow managed to find the cash to finance a two-week trip to Pakistan.

Which he never wrote about. Which in itself is odd: here's a guy who wrote two autobiographies that explored events real, imagined, and totally fictional that supposedly forged the modern-day Barack Obama from humble beginnings. That's according to the Obama NarrativeTM -- which gets most of its facts from Dreams from My Father.

Not only did a poor, nearly destitute Obama manage to afford the trip to Pakistan, but once there he somehow financed two weeks in the Lahore Hilton International. In addition, Obama was introduced to the future prime minister and president of Pakistan -- and went bird-hunting with him. Which the prime minister mentioned in the Pakistani press in 2008. There's so much more, including one question the CMM never asked Obama: who arranged all of this? For a 20-year-old nobody.

Another curious piece to the queer Obama puzzle is the connection -- which hasn't been made in the CMM (attention, Fox News!) -- between illegal foreign contributions to the Obama campaign and subsequent billions in Stimulus money to foreign companies and banks. During and after the 2008 election, accusations of illegal foreign contributions -- which flowed into the Obama campaign when credit card safeguards were disabled on the campaign's website -- were documented in the conservative press and elsewhere.

Who were these mysterious donors, and in what countries did they live? Unfortunately, due to the chicanery of Team Obama, we may never know. Fast-forward to 2009. Obama's multi-billion-dollar Stimulus is rushed through Congress, and billions of dollars in Stimulus money are doled out to foreign companies and banks. Finland, China, Brazil, and India are just a few of the beneficiaries of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars. Might these have been payoffs for those shady, unknown donations?

Bill Clinton was the first president to benefit from a foreign spoils system, but Barack Obama has made Clinton look like an amateur.

One more coincidence in shady fundraising. The lady involved with Obama's fundraising in the Caribbean? None other than Vera Baker, who packed up and hurried left the country after the National Enquirer started exploring a possible tryst between her and Obama in a Washington hotel.

Barack Obama can only hope that ObamaCare covers "extreme stress" -- because whoever on his staff is responsible for keeping track of all of the weird stuff in the president's life is definitely a candidate for burnout.

One final item involves that most elusive of documents: Obama's long-lost long-form birth certificate.

A Chicago-area activist, Sherman Skolnick, writing for a radio show/website (now defunct) by the name of Cloak and Dagger uncorked this headline on his readers. It referred to another story he'd written in 2005 -- three years before anyone in the media coined the term "birther" to tamp down curiosity about our 44th president's past. (All-caps headline in the original story.)

CLOAK'S EXCLUSIVE AUGUST 2005 STORY EXPOSING OBAMA'S KENYAN BIRTHPLACE FORCES OBAMA TO SANITIZE HIS PASSPORT FILE.

Just another day in the life of anyone attempting to pierce the shroud of mystery that surrounds our 44th president. The final result is the publication of The Secret Life of Barack Hussein Obama.

[American Patriot]

So really... Obama was really that movie personified.... what was it called? Oh "The Manchurian Candidate" - that's right.

[vector7]

Flashback: That Time Obama Brutally Fired All Of Bush's Ambassadors
Matt Vespa
|
@mvespa1
|
Posted: Nov 15, 2019 5:58 PM

Source: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified before the House Intelligence Committee. House Democrats have decided to take their secret impeachment proceedings out of the bunker and into the open for all to see. And if you don’t know this already, the Democrats’ reasoning to hold this circus is even shoddier and more pathetic than the Russian collusion hoax. The allegation is that in July, President Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine opened a corruption investigation into Hunter Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, who was sitting on the board of an energy company making $50,000 a month despite having zero experience in this field of work. The quid pro quo allegation is all based on second-hand information.

Yet, today, it was more of a therapy session for Yovanovitch. Pretty much she was against Trump’s Ukraine policy, she used a congressional hearing to voice that, and in the process received the praise from Democrats for coming forward, as if she were some Rosa Parks figure. Folks, she was fired by Trump because that’s what he can do. You’d think that Trump dismissed her because she stumbled upon some felonious activity. Wrong.

It was an absurdly long hearing for a career State Department employee who was there to pretty much explain the not so unprecedented reasons for her dismissal. Trump said bad things about her on Twitter.

Yep. We have a First Amendment, and this was not an act of intimidating a witness. It’s not unusual for a new administration to fire ambassadors. They don’t need a reason; they serve at the president’s pleasure. Former President Barack Obama slaughtered scores of Bush appointees, brutally terminating their employment. It was a red wedding. The Washington Times' Larry O'Connor dredged up this bit of history (via WaPo):

I'll just leave this here. #ImpeachmentHearing #Yovanovich pic.twitter.com/Oh4aXKvuIi
— Larry O'Connor (@LarryOConnor) November 15, 2019

If you aren't moved by this story, you just don't have a pulse!
— Larry O'Connor (@LarryOConnor) November 15, 2019

This is Fox News.

"If you were not moved by the testimony of Marie Yovanovitch, you don't have a pulse." --Chris Wallace pic.twitter.com/vUWU2DAsiY
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) November 15, 2019

The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said.

The clean slate will open up prime opportunities for the president-elect to reward political supporters with posts in London, Paris, Tokyo and the like. The notice to diplomatic posts was issued this week.

Political ambassadors sometimes are permitted to stay on briefly during a new administration, but the sweeping nature of the directive suggests that Obama has little interest in retaining any of Bush's ambassadorial appointees.

Yeah, president’s firing ambassadors is totally unheard of—says the post-2016 liberal media. It’s a witch hunt. It’s a prolonged coup attempt. It has to be stopped.

It's not like President Trump left Ambassador Yovanovitch to die in Benghazi and then blamed it on a YouTube video.

— Carpe Donktum?? (@CarpeDonktum) November 15, 2019