AFRICAN'S TO WHOM AN OBAMA VICTORY WOULD BE BAD NEWS

At the start of August, with the Democratic Party convention a month away, you could only find a sprinkling of Africans who thought Illinois Senator Barack Obama was going to beat Senator Hillary Clinton in the race to be the party's presidential candidate.

However, none of these few Africans gave him a chance in the race for the American presidency against Republican Senator John McCain.

It was only a month ago that a few African voices on the various lists and chatrooms on the Internet began to express confidence in an Obama victory.

Still, the majority think he will be assassinated in the first few days in office, because America is simply too racist a society and is not ready for a black president.

Now with national polls showing Obama up on McCain by anything between 10 and 14 points, the ranks of the believers are growing.

The fat lady has not sung, so Obama doesn't have this election in the bag yet, despite all the glowing polls. In fact the fat lady is only getting on to the stage, but it would be perfectly reasonable for Obama's Kenyan relatives in Kogelo to order new suits and dresses now in preparation for a big victory celebration after November 4 in America.

Obama's victory would be history-making enough in the USA, but it might even have far-reaching effects in Africa and the Third World in ways that we are not fully prepared for.

There are whole activist, anti-globalisation, and NGO industries in many parts of the world built around agitating against the inequities and imperial transgressions of America. A major drive of this anti-Americanism is the USA's moral culpability on the question of racism.

There are many racist societies in the world, but America is seen as the one that most benefited from it through slavery, and is the modern democracy that has the worst record of tackling racism.

RUSSIA BELIEVE U.S. ARE FANNING GEORGIA AGGRESSION

"Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was encouraging Georgian aggression by supporting Tbilisi's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Cheney told Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday that the United States was fully committed to Georgia's bid to join NATO.

'The new promises to Tbilisi relating to the speedy membership of NATO simply strengthen the Saakashvili regime's dangerous feeling of impunity and encourages its dangerous ambitions,' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told reporters.

Nesterenko said the arrival in a Georgian port of the USS Mount Whitney, a sophisticated command warship, may breach a 1936 convention on naval activity in the Black Sea, but he ruled out any military action by Russian forces over its presence.

'Should the convention be violated, then the issue should probably be considered by the United Nations or other international organisations because we are talking about violations of a well-known international agreement,' he said.

'We are not talking about any possibility of military actions,' Nesterenko said.

The Mount Whitney dropped anchor off Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti on Friday with more than 17 tonnes of aid, including blankets, juice, powdered milk and hygiene products, the U.S. Navy said in a statement."

FRED THOMPSON HAILS SARAH PALIN AT REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

"Former senator and television star Fred Thompson has hailed Sarah Palin as a 'breath of fresh air' in a rousing speech that brought cheering delegates at the Republican Convention to their feet.

The former Tennessee senator gave Republican activists the red meat rhetoric they had been waiting for by lashing the liberal media, branding Democrats as elitists and holding up Senator John McCain's running mate, Mrs Palin, 44, as the beacon of ordinary American values.

'She is from a small town, with small town values, but that's not good enough for those folks who are attacking her and her family,' he said.

'Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit.

'Well, give me a tough Alaskan governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union - and won - over the Beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.'

Republicans, incensed by the media coverage of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, 17, and claims that Mr McCain panicked into making an ill-judged choice without proper vetting, were delighted."

THE BIRD FEEDER

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it lovingly with seed. It was indeed a beautiful bird feeder.

Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table and next to the barbecue.

Then came the bird shit. It was everywhere; on the patio tile, chairs, the table ..everywhere!

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone.

I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be ... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see ...

Our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the millions. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 or more families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by a doctor in an emergency room because it is filled with illegals; your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to 'press one' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than 'The Union Jack ' are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Its just my opinion but:

maybe, just maybe,

it's time for the government

to take down the damn bird feeder.

If you agree, pass it on; if not, Continue cleaning up the shit!

ELIZABETH JOYCE JUST SAY NO DEAL COALITION.

"Will someone please convince me to vote for McCain?" Elizabeth Joyce, a supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., implored Monday night in a bar full of proponents of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The lifelong Democrat and editor of the political blog hireheels.com for the "Sex and the City" set, is ready and willing to cross over to the McCain camp . . . if only someone would give her a reason.

"A good little Catholic girl from Boston, I don't vote on the first date," Joyce said.

By 10 p.m., she still was not convinced, but Joyce does know she will not support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Elizabeth Joyce and a handful of Clinton faithful at a Republican National Committee happy hour in Clinton's honor in downtown Denver were feeling jilted by the party's treatment of their candidate.

"I will never be for Obama. I don't believe he has been fairly chosen," said Marnie Delano, a New York member of People United Means Action, a PAC formed in June by Democrats who oppose Obama.

Delano, Joyce and a third Clinton supporter who would only allow his first name, Patrick, to be used, all alleged voter intimidation by Obama's camp during the primaries.

The event at the Paramount Cafe drew about 100 people, many of whom appeared to be McCain supporters from the beginning.

- by Anna Edney

ENOUGH WITH THE POLITICS - THE U.S. NEEDS AN ENERGY PLAN

Read More Here:: "Congress, to its discredit, recessed last week without addressing America's energy woes in any meaningful way.

That prompted about two dozen Republicans, including Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, to hold court in Washington, hoping to coax House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into calling everyone back to deal with the issue.

'High energy prices are hurting American families,' Musgrave said. 'It is unacceptable to wait five weeks' to resume debate over energy when Congress returns Sept. 8.

We agree in spirit with Musgrave, but we also think Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats of trying to convert the pain at the pump felt by American voters into partisan political advantage.

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed voters, by a 2 to 1 margin, 'would be more likely to support a candidate who backs expanded offshore drilling' — as most Republicans do."

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW SPECIAL CO-ORDINATOR FOR LEBANON AND SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR GEORGIA

Read More Here:: "United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Michael C. Williams of the United Kingdom as Special Coordinator for Lebanon and Johan Verbeke of Belgium as Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). Mr. Verbeke will replace Jean Arnault and Mr. Williams will replace Mr. Verbeke.

The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation to Mr. Arnault for his exemplary dedication and effective leadership of UNOMIG.

Mr. Williams is very familiar with the Middle East, having previously served as United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the Situation in the Middle East, before his appointment as the United Kingdom Special Representative for the Middle East and Special Projects. Prior to that, he was the Director for the Asia and the Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs. From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Williams was the Special Adviser to two United Kingdom Foreign Secretaries, Robin Cook (1999-2001) and Jack Straw (2001-2005)."

A COWARDLY AND UNPOPULAR EU

Read More Here:: "Denmark is ditching plans to hold a popular vote on government plans to scrap its opt-outs to key European Union policies, such as the euro and security.

The opt-out arrangements date back to Europe's first referendum rejection shock of Maastricht by Denmark in 1992 and the Danish No to the euro in 2000. Denmark is no push over.

Like Britons, the Danes were denied a referendum on the Lisbon EU Treaty this year, despite previous promises on the Constitutional Treaty.

Now Denmark will not get another promised referendum this autumn - it has been postponed indefinitely - because it is clear that the Danish government, and thus the wider EU, would lose.

A moment has arrived when the political classes and establishments across Europe are unable take voters with them. This seems to be a genuine European trend."

LABOUR DOES NOT LOOK HUNGRY FOR POWER

Read More Here: "MORE often than not the important ideological tussles in politics take place within parties rather than between parties. Bill Clinton made the Democrats electable by overcoming their desire for a Roosevelt-style New Deal. Tony Blair made Labour a party of Government again by prising its fingers away from Clause Four socialism. Nostrums are challenged. Sacred cows are slain. That's how you make history.

Momentous shifts like these only happen in opposition – hunger to regain power is the only thing capable of persuading a party to surrender its ideological comfort blanket. Which is why the Scottish Labour leadership campaign is an enormous opportunity to change the face of Scottish politics – and why it's an opportunity that's likely to be squandered."

PROTECTING IRISH FARMERS WILL REAP NO REWARD

PROTECTING IRISH FARMERS WILL REAP NO REWARD: "Martin Mansergh has long been considered one of the few intellectuals of Irish politics, a man capable of seeing the bigger picture, but last week he provided evidence that even the smartest practitioners in his trade never forget that all politics is local - and most definitely not global.

The Tipperary South TD reacted to the news of the World Trade Organisation's failure to agree on a new global trade deal in Geneva by issuing a celebratory statement. This was a brilliant victory for Irish farmers, Mansergh declared, as no deal meant existing protections would not be dismantled."

Read more here: PROTECTING IRISH FARMERS WILL REAP NO REWARD

U.S. CITIZENS PLEDGE THEIR ALLEGIANCE

U.S. CITIZENS PLEDGE THEIR ALLEGIANCE: "TAMPA - Maria Louisa Davis got to the United States seven years ago, but Monday (July 28) she became a permanent fixture. She was one of 520 flag-waving, 'Star Spangled Banner'-singing people sworn in as citizens at the Tampa Convention Center.

The 52-year-old Orlando woman said she wants to vote in the election this fall, the main reason she chose to go through the lengthy process.

Monday was the deadline for registering to vote in the Aug. 26 primary election, and it also marked 100 days until the presidential election in November."

READ MORE>>>>>U.S. CITIZENS PLEDGE THEIR ALLEGIANCE

MCCAIN - OBAMA ALL POLITICS

MCCAIN - OBAMA ALL POLITICS: "Sen. John McCain, appearing on ABC's This Week yesterday, took what the Washington Post is characterizing as his 'most direct challenge yet' to Sen. Barack Obama's Iraq policy, charging that his decision-making on Iraq and the surge have been driven by personal political calculations. McCain said, ''m not questioning his patriotism. I'm questioning his actions. I'm questioning his total lack of understanding. ... I am saying that he made the decision, which was political, in order to help him get the nomination of his party. ... I say that it was very clear that a decision had to made, and I made it when it wasn't popular. He made a decision which was popular with his base.' ABC World News reported that McCain also continued to condemn Obama's opposition to the surge, saying, 'If we had done what Senator Obama wanted done, it would have been chaos, genocide, increased Iranian influence, perhaps al Qaeda establishing bases again.'"

MORE>>>>>MCCAIN - OBAMA ALL POLITICS

WASHINGTON NEWS

WASHINGTON NEWS: "The Wall Street Journal reports Republicans are 'upping the ante on their bet that energy issues -- especially increased domestic oil production -- will be key to closing Democrats' imposing advantage with voters on the economy.' President Bush this week will visit 'Ohio and West Virginia...to draw attention to congressional inaction. Senate Republicans are planning a floor fight before August recess to try to win authorization for more production.' The issue 'could create an opening for Sen. John McCain in his battle with Sen. Barack Obama for the presidency.' The Christian Science Monitor also says the offshore drilling ban is 'one of only a few GOP issues that appears to be gaining widespread support among voters in an otherwise bleak campaign season.' Roll Call says, 'High gas prices might be decimating the economy, but they are proving to be just the tonic for House Republicans.'"

MORE>>>>>WASHINGTON NEWS

LABOUR DOOMED WITH OR WITHOUT GORDON BROWN

LABOUR DOOMED WITH OR WITHOUT GORDON BROWN: "Voters are increasingly writing off Labour as fewer people believe that a change of leader or policy would help the party to win the next general election.

A Populus poll for The Times, undertaken over the weekend after Labour's defeat in Glasgow East, suggests that its dramatic slide in popularity is being driven by a collapse in economic confidence.

MORE>>>>>LABOUR DOOMED WITH OR WITHOUT GORDON BROWN

Labour is on 27 per cent, down one point on the last Populus poll three weeks ago, and about the level it has been for the past three months. This is the lowest since the early 1980s.

The Conservatives are on 43 per cent — up two points — with the Liberal Democrats down one point at 18 per cent. Other parties are unchanged on 12 per cent."

A BIT LESS EGO MIGHT MAKE NICOLAS SARKOZY MORE POPULAR

A BIT LESS EGO MIGHT MAKE NICOLAS SARKOZY MORE POPULAR: "'Why do they hate us?' asked the Americans of the Islamic fundamentalists after 9/11. 'Why do they not like me?' could be the question asked by Nicolas Sarkozy to the French after more than one year in power. Sarkozy is omnipresent both domestically and internationally. On July 13, the leaders of more than 40 countries attended the first gathering of the Union for the Mediterranean in Paris. France is back in the world and in Europe. Domestically, an ambitious and difficult program of long-awaited reforms, which a majority of French citizens recognize are inevitable, has begun, with some early results in the field of labor law and education. Sarkozy's energy, willpower, and activism are nothing short of spectacular."

MORE>>>>>A BIT LESS EGO MIGHT MAKE NICOLAS SARKOZY MORE POPULAR

MY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

MY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "Well, here we are at the beginning of a new national election. For the next year we will be blasted with ads and commentary every time we turn on the TV or read the newspaper. It gets a little old after awhile but thats really not what bothers me about it. What really bothers me is that every time the media mentions a candidate they add their own commentary. Yes, they slant the news just enough to string people along. They start a story in a way to pre-determine their stand.

How about an alternative to that. I got an idea! What if I could just go to each of the candidates websites and see what they have to say themselves! I think the American people are perfectly capable of making their own decisions if they can get the proper information, but where do you find all of the candidates websites? Well, it really isn't that hard but it does require some searching."

REVIEW OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE BY BARACK OBAMA

REVIEW OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE BY BARACK OBAMA: "This title presents Barack Obama's political vision for the future of America. If Barack Obama is successful in his quest to become President of the United States, he will dramatically change the face that his country presents to the world. In this bestselling book, Obama discusses the importance of empathy in politics, his hopes for a different America with different policies, and how the ideals of its democracy can be renewed. With intimacy and self-deprecating humour, Obama describes his experiences as a politician, about balancing his family life and his public vocation. His search for consensus and his respect for the democratic process inform every sentence. A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a sceptic, Barack Obama has written a book of transforming power that will inspire people the world over. It is an autobiography and covers politics."

More Here: REVIEW OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE BY BARACK OBAMA