From Arab Spring to Arab Autumn
It’s been almost 4 years since I posted here. Some predictions I made during 2008 campaign came true. Others (luckily for all of us) didn’t. I wasn’t planning on coming back. But today I came back for this. What’s been happening during the last few days on the streets of Cairo and Benghazi is a direct result of the Arab Spring — which was so loudly supported and celebrated by the current administration. And unfortunately, this is just a preview for things to come. As always, fell free to redistribute the image.
Every spring eventually leads to autumn.
Media’s Mea Culpa and Other Predictions
Despite the screams of many terrified Cassandras (one of which I’ve been for a month), warnings didn’t work and Odysseus is set to move inside the white walls of happy Troy. All right, this analogy may be too far-fetched, but many of the celebrating Trojans will eventually have to face the grim reality. And since predicting the future sometimes helps to shape it (just ask CNN and NBC) I’m putting a Nostradamus’s hat on and revealing some predictions. While many smart and much better informed people are predicting now the next Obama’s moves and GOP’s reaction, my premonitions are based only on common sense. And so it goes, in no particular order:
1. Mainstream media (MSM) will go into a “mea culpa” mode.
And it would have nothing to do with consciousness. During this election, the MSM figured that winning was more important that keeping the gloves on and so it went a tad too far. It made moderate liberals to talk about pro-Obama bias, as for conservatives it made them see MSM the way it really has been – a tool utilized to the full degree by the left to gain power. Fox has been labeled conservative for years, but now AP, CNN, NBC and others can’t avoid being labeled liberal by a large chunk of Americans. And this is something they can’t afford, since it undermines their usefulness, not to mention potential business losses. The same pragmatic minds who decided to take the mask off during the election season will decide to put it on promptly now, and to work hard to convince us that they truly are independent and unbiased media outlets. And there’s no better way to do that than saying “Oh my, look at how mean we’ve been to poor Sarah and good ol’ John.” Expect AP stories about media bias, experts’ opinions on how media must be more neutral in the future, a mild (very mild) criticism of Obama and influx of conservative-focused articles. Don’t expect this mode to last long though. Probability: 99%. Advice: don’t buy into it and get used to getting your news from variety of sources, including alternative media (means blogs).
2. President-elect Obama’s staff will work hard to lower expectations.
When your supporters think they won’t have to pay their mortgages after the inauguration, there’s a big gap between change they believe in and change you can deliver. The campaign is over and it’s time start lowering the temperature of the water, so that cold shower of reality doesn’t come as a shock. Expect direct messaging from the President-elect’s staff and influx of let’s-get-real articles in MSM. Probability: 99.9%. Advice: once it’s start happening bring it up with those of your friends who supported Obama, but are open to a discussion.
3. Domestic economic situation will improve significantly in three months after President Obama moves into the White House.
I know it sounds like a crazy conspiracy theory (and it probably is), but Nostradamus’s hat insists on this prediction. The timing of this crisis was too interesting to rule it out. Probability: 70%. Expect: Dr. Slogan to be silent about this topic until his prediction is validated or proved inaccurate by reality. Advice: don’t pay much attention to this prediction unless it gets validated.
And as a bonus, here are a couple of red flags to watch out for:
1. Continuous proliferation of the familiar round logo and portraits of the President-elect.
While the change slogans are likely to go away soon (in part due to the prediction number 2), the round logo can still be utilized. If it does, be wary. Symbols are a very powerful tool and the only symbols the President should be utilizing are those of the country.
2. Suppression of the President-elect’s criticism either by concerned citizens, public officials or any combination of those.
Truth squads were perhaps the most frightening element that surfaced during the campaign. Any truth-squading activity once the campaign is over would be twice as frightening. For a good sample of the level of criticism President Obama should be ready to accept, refer to the public’s and media’s feedback to President Bush.
If you spot new round logos somewhere after December, or face free speech suppression please share your concerns here and on other forums.
That concludes today’s portion of Dr. Slogan’s common sense medicine.
It’s over. Or is it?
The election is over. Senator Obama has turned into President Obama. The country has voted, the world has gasped, and the Republican Party has been dealt a major blow in years. It’s over. Is there anything left? Yes. You. And the millions of Americans who yesterday didn’t give their votes to Obama.
Think about it: years of unpopular Republican presidency, George Bush’s approval ratings hitting all times low, years of war, the global financial crisis, huge troubles with economy, and . . . McCain gets 46% of popular vote against Obama’s 52%. And this is despite Obama’s most expensive campaign in history, despite his unprecedented spending on TV time, despite open pro-Obama bias of every major media outlet, despite McCain’s age, despite Obama’s charm, despite celebrities swooning about him, despite polls predicting 10 point lead, despite all of this — Obama still gets only 52%? If there’s a reason to hope that America hasn’t lost its spirit, it’s the one.
Yesterday, in his acceptance speech Obama promised to be a president for all America. It will be our job to hold him accountable for delivering on that promise. It will be our job to make sure different views are well represented in Congress and in state governments across the country. It will be our job to concentrate on things that matter, to demand accountability from the government and media, to be thoughtful about electing our leaders – first of all the leaders who claim to represent us. The times of hoping that someone somewhere will elect the right people to represent your views and beliefs are over. In democracy only those who are truly involved make the difference.
This election has made history and is history. Our reasons to stand up for what we believe in are not.
Video: Your Country. Your Call.
I squeezed up front, but Obama was moving quickly and just passed me by. Then, in a moment of divine intervention, he saw me, clad in my red stop-sign of a dress, back-tracked ever so slightly in his procession, grabbed my hand, and gave that brilliant smile of his. I literally said out loud to the woman next to me who witnessed my good fate, “I’ll never wash this hand again.”
This is not how presidents are elected. The President is a leader. The President is a Commander-in-chief. The President is a decision maker with with enormous authority. But the President is first of all, an elected official. He is not a messiah. He’s not a savior. He’s not a supreme being. Countless number of times nations have chosen to worship their leaders. And nothing but harm came out of it. This year, on November 4 we need to elect a president. And not to give the keys to power to someone who call himself a symbol of America and says that a decision to vote him involves experiencing an epiphany.
If you think that this 1-min video can change a single vote, please send it to others. I’ve tried to put into it many things I’ve been warning about on my blog for the last month. There are hours left before we all will cast out votes. But some of these votes can still be changed once people realize the danger we all are facing.
The True Name of Barack Obama’s Change: Intolerance
I have to disagree with those who say that Sen. Obama has not achieved anything significant in his political career. He has some record setting achievements to present to America. He has managed to raise more money for his campaign than any other presidential candidate. $600,000,000 is no small amount, even if some of the money comes from very rich people like George Soros, very rich companies like Goldman Sachs, and a stream of unidentifiable foreign contributors. He has managed to gather more foreign votes than American ones. As a Kenyan newspaper said recently, the world has elected Barack Obama president of the United States. It is now waiting to see if the Americans will reject him on November 4. But Sen. Obama’s most important achievement to date has not been getting enough press: In less than a year he has managed to divide our country to the degree it has not seen for over a hundred years.
Remember the time when it was okay to disagree with (or even dislike) a presidential candidate? If you’re reading this, you’re old enough to remember that time — since it was just a year ago. It’s not okay anymore. Sure, many people, myself included, openly express their negative opinions of Sen. Obama. But what about the level of tolerance his supporters have for these opinions? It’s pretty low these days. If, somehow, you have been avoiding any political discussions, you’re in for a surprise.
Perhaps even for a shock. These days if you disagree with Sen. Obama you’re almost immediately called a racist. These days if you question Sen. Obama, like Joe the Plumber questioned him, you come under the scrutiny of hundreds of professionals in the press and in the government. These days expressing a concern about Sen. Obama almost guarantees you get a crash course on English obscenities.
I know — I’ve tried. Within two hours after expressing concerns about Sen. Obama’s character on my blog, I was called a racist pig, a right-wing nut, and Hitler. And these were the mildest of labels. But who am I to complain. The whole country is going crazy. Internet forums are seething with intolerance. “White people should not be allowed to vote!” says Philadelphia Inquirer — and stays in business, although had they suggested taking the voting right away from black Americans, they’d be rightfully facing a nation-wide outcry. An Obama supporter hangs an effigy of a VP candidate by a noose in front of his house — and gets only smirks from the bystanders. This is a Halloween decoration, he says in the interview with the press, standing in front of an effigy of the Republican presidential candidate being burned alive.
Since when did it become okay to hang a figure of a real woman — a mother of five — on the streets? Since when did it become okay to parade around with blood-covered guillotine decorated with the head of the President — a get not a peep from the media? I can tell you since when. Since Sen. Obama has started deliberately dividing the country. True, a good share of his speeches featured obligatory “united we stand” messages. But many, many other speeches have been sending a very different signal. For months Sen. Obama has been going on stage and drawing lines in every major cultural divide, be it race, income, party or gender, trying to turn Americans against each other. Let’s take a look at Sen. Obama’s own statements.
When it comes to race, Sen. Obama has played the race card time and again: “They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?” he predicted back in June. They will tell you “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills,” he prophesied a month later. After each of these divinations an explanation was issued from Sen. Obama’s campaign explaining what he really meant. But to interpret these oracles you need not trust either his handlers in the campaign or his disciples in the media. Go to the scripture. Open Obama’s autobiography, Dreams from My Father. It has quite a few of quotes like this: “It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.”
Do you ever remember being called racist for not voting for someone? Last year, four years ago, ever? Now you have all kinds of people doing so, ranging from the media to a Democratic congressman, to your coworker. Why? Is it because the level of racial intolerance in America was suddenly and inexplicably on the rise last year? Or is it because someone very visible has been hinting over and over again that the main barrier standing between him and the Oval Office is racism?
When it comes to comparing incomes, Sen. Obama has been deliberately promoting class warfare. His endless talk about social justice and government-arranged wealth distribution is nothing but a new incarnation of a two hundred year old theory that has created the worst regimes in history.
Just days ago Sen. Obama labeled Americans who don’t support his idea of raising taxes “selfish.” Think about his famous ad that focused on Sen. McCain’s homes. How many people realized that the ad was simply attacking McCain for being rich? The ad portrayed people who have earned a high level of income as untrustworthy … even evil. So much for American dream.
Do you remember seeing rich vs. poor headlines a year ago? Now they adorn the front pages of newspapers every day. Is it because the poverty level has gone up dramatically over the last 12 months? Or is it because the most visible US politician has spared no effort to highlight that some people make more money than others … and that this is just not fair?
No matter where you look, Sen. Obama shows the same pattern: divide, divide, divide. Why? Because divide and conquer is a proven way to gain power. Month after month Obama paints a shining dream before the eyes of millions of people. He promises them hope. He promises them change. He gets some of them into a nearly ecstatic state where they literally think that they won’t have to fill their tank with gas anymore once they elect a President Obama. And then he hints that there are others who want to take that dream away from them. Others who stand against fairness and justice and equality. And he knows precisely what he is creating: his followers start seeing anyone who disagrees with Obama as someone who stands between them and their dream. And then we get chuckling crowds in front of an effigy of Sarah Palin hung by a noose.
People within a group — large or small — maintain a certain level of tolerance and respect for others in that group. This level of tolerance and respect can be moved up or down through physical or verbal manipulation or intimidation. Moving the level down is much easier than taking it up. Depending on the topic, you can argue for an hour with someone who has totally different opinion and still walk away friends. But when, in response to a question, your opponent calls you an idiot, a bigot, and a racist, you’re no longer in the mood for a polite discussion. The level of toleration and respect is likely to go downhill from there.
Nations are very large communities and they work in the same way. Once the level of tolerance and respect has gone down, getting it back up is very hard. Deliberately dividing people to achieve political objectives is a very old trick in the book of power. It has often worked. When it does work, it has always cost the people of the nation who have been blinded by inspiring divisive orators.
America is on a dangerous path. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are. We’re not a perfect community — there are no perfect communities. We’re not one happy family — we’re millions of families, some of them quite unhappy. There are tensions; there are problems; there’s some hate to overcome; there are some really ugly things to take care of; and there are thousands of issues to solve. But if you look around at what’s been happening in the America, if you look back at our own — not so distant — past, you realize that what we’ve been having for the last two decades is probably as good as it gets in the real world. As a nation we’ve been quite all right for a while. It tells you a lot about a person when he steps into the spotlight and time and again tries to pit us all against each other, camouflaging his actions beneath sweet images of hope and change.
Sen. Obama has broken quite a few promises this year. But, you can be sure, he’ll be a man of his word when it comes to his fundamental promise … change. Not only he will bring it — he has already given us a good preview of it. It’s not in the speeches and rallies. It’s in the newspapers and the spiteful remarks on the internet forums, in the rhetoric of politicians and the Halloween decorations on the streets, on the t-shirts shamelessly promoting hate, and in the crowds booing people holding a McCain sign. It’s everywhere. This change has many names but the key one is intolerance. And everyone should think twice before voting for it. There’s some deep irony in the fact that the campaign that was supposed to be the last step in helping America to leave a shameful past behind has created a shameful present. It’s up to us to ensure that it doesn’t turn into an even more shameful future.
Published in 11/04/08 issue of American Thinker
Nov 4: Your Country. Your Call.
On November 4th it all really boils down a very simple thing: the Future of our country. And here is why.
When I started this blog about a month ago I wasn’t thrilled about Sen. Obama’s presidency, but it was hardly a grave concern. I didn’t like his track record, I didn’t like his lack of meaningful experience, I thought he had been flip-flopping too much on key issues, I was annoyed by open bias of mass media. Worst case, I thought, it’d be 4 years of a demagogue with strong left views. We can live through that. Countries swing from right to left and back — it’s a cycle. This is how democracies work. You can easily see this on my blog – just four weeks ago I wanted to keep it light and funny, pointing out things like the fact that the “change” VP pick had been a Senator for 35 years. But as I looked more and more into Sen. Obama’s past and his recent actions, I started to realize that we’ve been dealing with something entirely different — something that America has never seen, at least not on such scale.
It’s been almost like unclogging a sink — you open it, you take something out, then you take out more, and what starts coming out after that makes you wish you never opened that thing in the first place. Forget “change” VPs with decades of Senate history. How about close relationships with people involved in international terror? Or laser sharp focus on indoctrinating children? Or a laundry list of every modern-day tyrant openly expressing support? Or persistent suppression of free speech? Or going for twenty years (and bringing children) into a church that openly promotes hate of white people, just as openly supports Hamas and condemns our country on regular basis? Or campaigning for a radical with Islamic ties who threw a stable country into a bloody mess? Or close ties with people who led an organizaiton that unapologetically bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and a police station and who were on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List? Or vote fraud of monstrous proportions? Or accepting a flow of donations from unidentified foreign sources? All of above — and more – is on Sen. Obama’s resume. It’s not in some classified files, it’s not locked in some FBI closet, it out in the open. I’m not talking about GOP sponsored books, I’m talking about media — the same media that’s been so curiously and unapologetically supporting him. Sen. Obama’s own actions and sentiments (especially those he made before running for President) speak louder than any Republican paid advertisement. A resume like this would’ve been a road block for someone running for a seat on a city council. Here we’re talking about the most powerful post in the world – and people choose to ignore all of this, lulled by the promise of change.
Facts are stubborn things. You can choose to ignore them, but you can’t make them go away. And all the facts point to the same simple conclusion: if elected, Sen. Obama and the people he represents would completely change the country. They WILL change it. In four year it won’t be the country we know. It will be something quite different. Call that state socialist or communist or obamunist, apply any label you want, but the change that’s coming is the most dangerous change our country has faced in its modern history. And all you need to see it coming is just read what’s out there and think.
I’m just a regular guy with moderate views who has bothered to read enough. I’m by no means a hard core right and I would’ve been ok with another four—or even eight—years of a Democratic president. Again, this is how democracies work. But now I’m informed and I can see what anyone with unbiased mind can see after getting the facts: this election is no longer about choosing between Republicans and Democrats. It’s about choosing between our democratic system as we know it and a totally different state. In that state — which Sen. Obama and people behind him have been working hard to create, free speech will be not so free. In that state, tolerance will not be so tolerant. And in that state many things you’ve been taking for granted will slowly but steadily cease to exist. Many — too many people – don’t realize this. They will vote for Sen. Obama, believing they vote for a bright shiny future. But it’s just a matter of time. In a year or two many of them will say “This is not Barack Obama I thought I knew”. Today it takes a few facts and some knowledge of history to start seeing things the way they really are. In two years it would take way less than that.
Many people also don’t realize another simple thing – electing Sen. Obama would give him unprecedented power, delivering him keys to all three branches of the U.S. Government. In addition to the White House and his party being already in control of both chambers of Congress, he will have an unparalleled influence on shaping the judicial branch, since would need to appoint a large number of Supreme Court judges. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you really have to find out more before you vote, since it’s one of the least highlighted yet of the most fundamental aspects of this election.
Again, electing a Democratic president is not bad. But it has nothing to do with giving ultimate power to a smooth talker with a mile-long list of radical, racist, socialist and terrorist ties and proven record of supporting most radical changes in our society. This is not how democracies work. This is how they fail.
This year, on November 4th it’s not just another presidency that is at stake. It’s the future of our nation.
Read. Think. Vote. It’s our country we’re talking about.
The Future Has Arrived: Barack Obama Targets Kids
I saw the future and it was as dark as I was afraid it would be. And with a single click you can see it too.
After I wrote about the danger that Sen. Obama’s association with people like Bill Ayers poses to the U.S. education and drew parallels between children singing praise to Sen. Obama and kids who grew up in police states, the reaction from the readers was somewhat mixed. Most people shared my concerns, but some doubted that an Obama-led government would bring politics into elementary and middle schools. Well, today my predictions have been confirmed by the most reliable source: Sen. Obama himself.
If you go to Sen. Obama’s official site and click on People you’d see — among others — a recently added category called Kids. Yes, that’s Kids as in “your kids” or “your sister’s or brother’s kids”. Those kids. Sen. Obama and his staff have apparently realized that they’ve been ignoring this important segment of our society. And with their usual determination and perseverance they went after it.
The opening statement sets the stage: “In the words of Senator Barack Obama, the “Obama for America Campaign is a different type of campaign”. For the first time in campaign history, children ages 12 and under, have a place to go and actually vote—through their voice. What a great way to be introduced to politics and to express your support for Senator Obama.” On this one, I have to agree with Sen. Obama–this is certainly a very different kind of campaign.
The site features content for kids themselves, for adults who want to leverage others’ kids to get more votes for Sen. Obama and for parents who want to leverage their kids to promote their support of Sen. Obama
Every set of instructions is worth reading. Kids have “10 Ways Kids for Obama can get involved” at their disposal. These steps include suggestions such as
- Draw a picture of Senator Barack Obama or “an expression of Democracy”. For example, the Senator sitting in the White House or working on Capitol. Hill. You can send your drawing to the Obama for America Campaign Headquarters in Chicago and it will be posted for the Senator to see.
- Implement T-Shirt Thursday. Get friends to wear an official Obama for America T-Shirt to school.
- Take an adult (voting age) to the polls on Election Day and encourage them to vote for you, by voting for Senator Obama.
- Post an official Obama for America Campaign sticker/logo on your school bag.
The site offers many handy instructions for young Sen. Obama supporters, helping them to form the pragmatic attitude they would absolutely need in the Obama led nation. The quote is worth reading in full (for the full text the site refers to this article):
The one thing most grandparents have in common is that they have the most wonderful grandchildren in the world – so clever, so handsome, so pretty, ever so precious. Even if you are still unsure of your path in life, and even if your parents and friends occasionally wonder about you, your grandma and grandpa love you and have faith in you.
That is your weapon! “Precious” needs to get on the phone and say, “Grandpa, Grandma, I am asking you to vote for Barack Obama. This is really important to me. It’s about my future. It’s about the world I will be living in. It’s about the world I want for my future children. (They will love that one!) Please! Do it for me!”
Put some urgency in your voice. Sound very disappointed in them if they give you excuses. Come back again, even harder. “This is about my future – my ability to get a good job, to live a healthy life, to have the same (or even more) opportunities than you had to succeed. I have never felt more strongly about anything. I am begging you to vote for Barack Obama. I need you to do this for me!”
This is just a sample script. You know what it takes to get to them.
People who would like to utilize many kids for Sen. Obama’s promotion can find a handy “Kids for Obama Starter Kit”. The kit opens with a scientific claim: “Studies have shown that kids can affect their parents and their siblings’ opinions and even change the opinions of older family members . . . including those of voting age”. Having set the tone, the kit offers simple guidelines for setting up a “Kids for Obama” event, covering such as aspects as invitations, broad advertising and planning. Its pragmatic advice is hard to misinterpret: “Ask kids to draw a picture of Barack Obama or what America means to them. These pictures could be used on campaign buttons and/or bumper stickers. It’s a great way to get kids involved!” A video shows a successful adult-led event and happy children who share their perspectives: “I want to vote for Barack Obama because he is cool!”
A report from a successful event says: “Yesterday, nearly 100 kids gathered in Pullen Park in Raleigh with their family and friends to show their support for Barack Obama. Children painted t-shirts, colored portraits of Barack, shot hoops for prizes and made American flags that they paraded around the park holding while cheering “Obama.”
Finally, young U.S. citizens can fully participate in political process. How young? You’ll be the judge. The site features letters from young supporters to Sen. Obama, such as this:
Dear Senator Obama,
I want you to be presadint because you are great for the economy. You have a great forin policy. We do not need a third term.
Hope you make it to the White house!
Your very yung suportar,
Ava A.
Age 8
But don’t think 8 years is the limit. You can love Sen. Obama even if you’re 3 and you still can be used for propaganda. A proud parent shares the story (along with a picture):
“My kids love Obama! My son is 3…he spells OBAMA and yells for President!”
Older generation also contributes its astute observations of political maturity of their grandchildren:
My six year old grand daughter picked up a newspaper section that had pictures of Hillary and McCain in it.
She looked at each page, turning it twice, and then looked again.
She breathed a deep sigh and tossed the newspaper down. She looked at me and said, “Grandma, that paper is no good!”
When I asked her why, she replied, “Because they left out Obama!”
Such a politically conscious observation from a six year old girl could only have been inspired by a man who reaches the hearts of everyone who come into contact with him, wether it be his voice, his pictures, or the spirit of love and positive hopeful energy he evokes in people of all ages! GRANDCHILDREN FOR OBAMA!
Now let’s wrap up the tour and put this into perspective. Is this all so bad? Is it bad at all? Shouldn’t kids be involved? Aren’t they entitled to their opinions? Is it wrong to reach out to them to open their eyes, so that they could change opinions of their parents? There are two way to answer these questions. One is simple ethics. Make no mistake: this is not about reaching out to the supporters. Sen. Obama openly goes after the kids of people who don’t plan to vote for him. He and his staff see the minds of children as a backdoor to get to the voting parents and grandparents. So, yes, it is bad. It is wrong. It is despicable. And there’s no excuse for this.
There’s another way to answer the question. What does our government think about this? Are they ok with targeting children with propaganda? As it turns out, they are not. When it comes to commercial advertisement, government bodies such as FDC and FDA have been going after marketers who target children age 12 and under. Yes, it’s exactly the same age group that Sen. Obama targets so explicitly. Just last year FDC along with its European counterpart pushed Masterfoods to stop marketing of its products (e.g. Snickers, Milky Way and Twix) to kids. Apparently, from the government’s perspective, kids age 12 and under are not mature enough to figure out whether Snickers are good or bad for their health, and thus can be misled by advertising. But of course, figuring out where a presidential candidate stands on taxes, abortion, education and national security is much easier. So why would the government have any problem with that?
I don’t know whether our government has a problem with that, but I sure do. Neither voting fraud nor accepting donations from untraceable foreign donors is as low as using kids to get to their parents. And the obsession that’s been sweeping the nation has gone too far if most adults in America don’t see it this way. But then again, these days adults in America proudly form groups called “Babies for Obama” where they exchange photos of infants wearing shirts covered with Obama propaganda.
The future is here. But with our votes and by sharing this information with others we can still prevent it from becoming a long-lasting dark reality, where kids are made into “very yung suportars” by pragmatic adults.
P.S. Sen. Obama’s site has a long history of silently removing materials that American public finds too disturbing (such as openly antisemetic musings of Sen. Obama’s supporters). Just in case the same sad fate awaits its “Kids” section, the snapshots of the site have been captured.
Kenya: Barack Obama’s Other Change
He was the opposition leader in a country of 37 million people, one of the most stable and prosperous democracies on the continent. Initially, he wasn’t the favored candidate to run against the President, seeking the second term. However, in August 2006 his candidacy received an enormous boost, thanks to the strong help of a U.S. Senator, who spent 6 days actively campaigning on his behalf across the country. Then, in December 2007 election came, and he lost it by more than 230,000 votes. He didn’t like the result and accused the government of fraud. Hours after the election results were announced, machete-armed mobs of his supporters (predominantly Muslims) went on a broad rampage against the supporters of the government party (predominantly Christians). They burned homes and businesses, raped women and slaughtered everyone on their path. The country was thrown into its worst political crisis of the last half century, bearing all the signs of a well orchestrated genocide. Eventually, the government was pushed into negotiations — at the cost of over 1,500 lives, 600,000 displaced people and 35 women and children who were locked up in a church and burnt alive.
Today he is occupies the newly created post of Prime Minister, sharing power with the President. His name is Raila Odinga, the country he leads is Kenya, and if you don’t care about Kenyan internal affairs, you should. Because the name of the U.S. Senator who gave him that ultimate boost was Barack Obama.
It was Sen. Obama who — at taxpayers’ expense — in August 2006 spent 6 days in Kenya, going from a rally to a rally with Odinga and sharply criticizing Kenyan government. 
In his signature style he was cheering up one crowd after another, telling them: “Kenyans are now yearning for change”. “You will decide if your leaders will be held accountable, or if you will look the other way,” he told the crowd of thousands of students at the University of Nairobi. During these six days he received more media attention than Kenyan President, alienated the elected government to the degree that the government spokesman called him a “stooge to Odinga” in BBC interview, excited many screaming crowds — and left the country, having significantly strengthened Odinga’s candidacy as the opposition leader. International press coverage of the trip’s aftermath was not as cheerful as the coverage provided by US media. “Obama‘s Kenya ‘honeymoon’ ends abruptly” reported Agence France Presse in August 2006. “Mr Obama was made into something of a mascot by Raila Odinga” said The Economist in the article titled “America’s rising star sweeps the Kenyan primary”.
The story doesn’t end there. It gets worse. As it turned out, in August 2007 Odinga (who graduated from East Germany’s Magdeburg University in 1970 on a scholarship provided by the East German government) had signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with Kenya’s Muslim leaders, promising certain broad changes in exchange of their support. To put what you’re about to read in perspective, you have to realize that Muslims constitute 10% of the largely Christian population of Kenya. In this document, Odinga promised among other things, to recognize “Islam as the only true religion,” to give Islamic leaders an “oversight role to monitor activities of ALL other religions [emphasis in original],” establish within a year Shariah court in every Kenyan region, and to ban Christian preaching on national broadcaster. The document also included explicit promises to disband Anti-Terror Police Unit that Kenyan government had formed to collaborate with the U.S. on anti-terrorist activities, and a promise that no Muslim, whether a citizen or a visitor, should be subjected to any process involving the laws of a foreign country (in particular any Muslim arrested for or suspected of Terrorism). In other words, Odinga explicitly promised to turn Kenya into in a safe haven for Islamic terrorism. The full text of this memorandum gives even better idea of change that Odinga planned to bring to Kenya.
Sen. Obama strongly supported a radical leader who explicitly planned to turn a close U.S. ally into a safe haven for Islamic terrorism and to turn a country with predominantly Christian population into a radical Islamic state. When this leader lost the election, his supporters threw the country into chaos and through continued violence blackmailed the President into offering their leader the role of prime minister, the de facto No. 2 in the Kenyan government. Only then the violence stopped, leaving 1,500 dead, 600,000 displaced and 35 people burnt alive in a church.
Read the paragraph above again. If you’ve been planning to vote for Sen. Obama and these facts do not concern you, you’re wasting your time reading this material. You have obviously made your choice and no fact, no matter how shocking, would make you reconsider your opinion. But if does concern you, please, spend some time getting to know Sen. Obama better before you give him your vote. Find out more, get the facts, ignore the politics, form your own opinion. And only then vote. And if you are concerned, please share this material with others. The media that in 2006 paid unusually high attention to Sen. Obama’s trip to Africa, has been as unusually silent about the trip’s impact on Kenya (with some notable exceptions such as Washington Times and New York Sun). Many bloggers have written about it, but neither Newsweek that back in 2006 reported that Sen. Obama “was received in a manner more befitting a messiah than a junior senator bearing nothing more than opinions and good cheer” nor the Washington Post, which around the same time reported that “the U.S. senator has already become the country’s most prominent ‘citizen'” have said a word about the boost Sen. Obama gave to Odinga. The trip, which before the crisis had been used for stunningly propagandistic materials such as Senator Obama Goes To Africa video, immediately lost its appeal to the media once supporters of the man so vehemently backed by Sen. Obama, went on a killing rampage. This doesn’t mean you have to be silent about it too. In fact, it means the opposite.
And what was the theme of Raila Odinga’s campaign? It was “Vote for Change“. His motto? “Your Agent for Change”. Sounds familiar?
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UPDATE 10/23/08: Added several links; slightly adjusted the wording.
Dad, What Was That Thing You Said About President Obama?
For over 50 years–since 1932 till the demise of the Soviet Union–all children in USSR were taught the story of Pavlik Morozov. Pavlik was a 13-year old boy who denounced his father to the authorities for hoarding grain. As result, his father was tried and promptly sent off to die in GULAG, while Pavlik was glorified by the official propaganda after being killed a year later (allegedly) by the members of his family. Every Soviet kid knew this story. Every Soviet kid was taught that the state was more important than family. Every Soviet kid was taught that what Pavlik did was heroic. Just in case you’re wondering what exactly hoarding grain is, it means to refuse giving one’s crop to the state. Pavlik’s father’s crime was that he refused to participate in spreading his wealth around. And for a hard-core Socialist regime there aren’t many crimes as bad as this one.
If spread the wealth around catchphrase sounds familiar, it’s because Sen. Obama’s fundamental economic principle is nothing more than a new incarnation of Karl Marx’s “income redistribution” doctrine, which is a cornerstone of socialism. The people who Sen. Obama has called his mentors got this principle straight from the same source that has been inspiring radical left leaders ranging from the founders of Soviet Union to the people who rule modern Venezuela. At that instantly famous conversation with Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher, Sen. Obama made a stunning blunder–for a minute he took his mask off and openly described his economic views of a hard-core Socialist in very plain words. And as it turned out, Joe the Plumber heard exactly what Sen. Obama said–that he plans to take money from those who have succeeded and distribute to those who haven’t. So did (though in a softer way) the Wall Street Journal. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
So what does this have to do with a boy who sent his father to die in a labor camp for not sharing the results of his work with others? Everything. Taking power–whether by revolution or by election–is only the first step. The next step for every socialist regime it to keep this power. And there’s no better way to keep power for long time than raise a generation of blind followers. People who don’t ask questions. People who believe. And to create a generation like that you’ve got to go straight into the heart of mindset building–education. You have to catch them while they’re young. Which is exactly what the camp that Sen. Obama’s represents has been doing diligently–even before winning the election. For example, 8th grade students in Racine, Wisconsin are now using a textbook that contains a 15 page section on Sen. Obama and has his works tightly integrated into curriculum. This picture is worth many words, but if it isn’t enough feel free to explore the textbook yourself–you’d find 8 references to Barack Obama and 2 references to a less prominent politician known as Abraham Lincoln.
Make no mistake, this isn’t a minor blimp in the otherwise unshakable American education system. To put it into perspective consider the post-terrorism career of Bill Ayers, characterized by Sen. Obama as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood”, and who in reality has played a key role in launching and promoting Sen. Obama’s political career. After bombing the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon, Mr. Ayers has established himself as a prominent figure in the field of education. He has authored many books on “critical pedagogy” method and has shaped views of many teachers, especially those in elementary schools. Finding exactly what he advocates is nearly impossible from the mass media articles. However, in his own writings, e.g. in a description of a course he teaches Mr. Ayers is quite clear on his present views: “In a truly just society there would be a greater sharing of the burden, a fairer distribution of material and human resources”. His other present-day writings also include “Sing a Battle Song” book, which he hopes–as he says in the preface–to be “of use to new generations of militant activists and organizers”.
It’s your children he’s talking about. And he’s got very close to fulfilling his dream, thanks to Sen. Obama, who, if elected, would give keys to the education to him and people like him. And then don’t be surprised if one day your kid questions your willingness to re-distribute your savings. Most terrorists never outgrow their guns and bombs. But the smartest ones eventually become legitimized and take control of the most powerful weapon of all–education.
Change They Can Believe In
Had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad–the man who has hosted a conference The World Without America and called for destruction of the US–told you to buy stock of a certain company, you likely wouldn’t have touched that stock with a mile long pole. Had Muammar Qaddafi–the man directly responsible for the death of 180 Americans in the second deadliest terrorist attack against the US–advised you to buy from a certain store, you probably would not have set foot in that store for the rest of your life. Had Hamas–the leading terrorist force elected by the people who happily danced in the streets on Sep 11, 2001–thrown its support behind a candidate for your city’s mayor, you likely would’ve voted against that candidate for that reason alone, and perhaps would’ve called FBI.
And yet when all these people accompanied by other sworn enemies of our country such as Kim Jong-Il and Fidel Castro explicitly advise you to give the ultimate power to Sen. Obama, their endorsement does not become a shrill firefighter siren you’d expect it to be. The endorsements speak for themselves:
- Hamas (top political adviser Ahmed Yousef ): “We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will win the election. “
- Kim Jong-Il: “We will see a better relationship between the U.S. and the Korean Peninsula with Obama than with … McCain”
- Castro: Sen. Obama is “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency”
- Ahmadinejad: “We do prefer to have relations, whereas one of the candidates in this election would prefer that”
- Qaddafi: “I’ve seen that in America, a candidate who wants people to vote for him keeps talking about change”.
- Daniel Ortega: “We are facing a revolutionary phenomenon”
The list goes on. Yet, no one–at least no one in mainstream media–seems to be even asking a reasonable question of why all these America-hating leaders would so unequivocally support an American president candidate. Perhaps they don’t ask it because they don’t want to face the simple truth: unlike many American voters, these American-hating leaders fully understand the nature of change Sen. Obama will bring if elected. If people who’d rather see you and your children dead, endorse this change, a good question to ask yourself is whether this is the kind of change you want.
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