America

… then we have more reasons to believe Obama will beat McCain. Benin Mwangi also adds more of his own reasons.

You don’t get to hear these lone voices much anymore nowadays, and that’s what makes them unique!

We knew this was coming for a while. Win or lose, Obama has achieved the seemingly unachievable, and I can bet you that the people who where in charge of his fund-raising, public relations, branding and marketing efforts are going to be very sought after. Watch his nomination victory speech here and see McCain’s response here.

This is all so exciting! It’s probably even better than watching the world cup. And like I said, I can’t wait for the one-on-one debates to begin.

So, who will win? Will it be the creative youthful Donkey who sometimes seems to be living in La La Land or the Elephant with the “dinosaur” experience who comes across once in a while as just another Bush?

The majority of the American people are in essence tired of what has transpired under the Elephant Bush administration and basically want something different. They want change. The winner will be the person who can represent that change well and right now I believe that person is Obama regardless of what those who oppose him think of him because it’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is how people, the majority of the American people perceive him and so far, he’s managed to build himself a very good brand.

Hello, let’s not forget that in 2006 during the midterm elections the Senate and House of Representatives went to the Donkeys. It was a shift towards the left. I don’t think the momentum has slowed down. In fact given the increasing oil prices, I believe the dissatisfaction has only grown. Plus, if you take into account how Obama managed to quickly recover from the Wright controversy, then you have another indication of that momentum’s strength.

We’ve still got many months to go and a lot can happen. Potential controversies and campaign management on both sides will of course also be two factors in the final outcome, but at the end of the day, by looking at the midterm election results and the current circumstances, I’d say America is in the mood for a Donkey president.

UPDATE: Have you guys watched the AIPAC speech? I did. The whole thing. Phew, what a speech! And the highlight? When he said “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.”

WTF?

Even the Israeli government doesn’t say stuff like that. Even they are cool with dividing Jerusalem into East for Palestine and West for Israel.

Not surprisingly, throughout Obama’s whole speech, that line got the loudest applause.

Overall though, the speech was clearly a middle finger meant to silence those on the right who have banged Obama and questioned him over his position on diplomacy with Iran. It was meant to eliminate doubts over his perceived weakness.

We’ve just seen and heard a very different Obama, and I’ve got to say that I’m so looking forward to what happens next. This is going to be one hell of an amusing election. Damn, I love American politics. The whole thing is just sooo entertaining.

Israelis and Jews lurking around, what do you think after that tough speech?

Thanks to Mustapha, I stumbled upon a pretty good piece by Friedman. I gotta say, I like #5 the most.

As I have argued before: When you have leverage, talk. When you don’t have leverage, get some. Then talk.

Right now Iran & Friends — Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria — have a strategy that has produced leverage for them, and the next U.S. president is going to have to think afresh how to counter it. The “Iran & Friends” strategy is built on five principles:

… Principle No. 5: Cast yourself as the “resistance” to Israel and America, so any opposition to you is equal to support for Israel and America and so no matter how badly you are defeated the mere fact that you “resisted” means you didn’t really lose.

Nice. He’s spot on.

Here’s hoping that once the primary silly season is over, the McCain and Obama camps will stop jousting over whether to talk with our enemies — which we must — and will start focusing instead about how we and our friends get more chips to bargain with — which we lack.

I couldn’t agree more.

Meanwhile, I have some advice for McCain. Ronald Reagan had an amazing rhetorical ability to infuse hope and a lot of optimism together with stances that acknowledged the real Soviet threat. People are tired of cynicism and gloomy talk. Obama’s strength is his charisma and uplifting approach. He speaks about the future with a bright sense of hope. McCain doesn’t.

I can’t wait for the one-on-one televised debates between Obama and McCain. Should be a lot of fun watching them. Plus, I still need to make a final pick and go with it. Being the classical liberal I am, I lean right, although I wouldn’t want a Dick Cheney-style neo-con as president. But then again, I wouldn’t want a Jimmy Carter-style one too.

Gosh, I have a headache. The debates should make things a lot easier. Here’s hoping they reveal a lot of substance rather than silly smears.

Oh yeah. Thumbs up!

The Sudanese government obviously isn’t happy.

You can watch the statement made by all three candidates here. Nice!

As many of you may be able to recall, I wasn’t exactly a big fan of the Save Darfur Coalition thanks to how they were calling for forced military intervention, something which can only have short-term benefits. Their position has shifted and is now focused on enforcing and implementing the pertinent UN resolutions.

Also after JEM’s attack on Khartoum, I was waiting for their reaction and I was a little surprised when I finally received it. Unlike previously, they didn’t provide unconditional political support to Darfur’s rebels. Instead they made it clear sathey were against the attack.

Good.

I gotta say I like the new Save Darfur a lot better than the old one. On top of that I commend them for pursuing this symbolic but significant statement from all presidential candidates. Hopefully they’ll continue their efforts to make Darfur (and by extension the CPA) visible issues during the US election.

P.S.: You might have already noticed the new widget on the sidebar. I endorse the S.E.A.L. initiative and believe it’s a very good approach. Go ahead, have a look at it and if you like it, endorse it too. I encourage you to.

And Google. And Yahoo!

So Google and Yahoo are involved in concealing search results in China that might reveal “undesirable” things the Chinese regime doesn’t want its people to see. And now I hear that Cisco is helping the same lovely regime lay more bricks in its Great Firewall?

WTF?

Nice Cisco, keep selling your technology and continue strengthening China’s internet censorship system. That’s exactly what we need.

I’m glad those companies are getting questioned in DC for such ludicrous behavior.

The article hits points I’ve wanted to bring up here on numerous occasions but still haven’t yet.

Let’s just say I’m not a true fan of mainstream hip-hop. I prefer blues and jazz instead. Old school hip-hop is the real deal. Even with all that was left to be desired, at least rappers like Tupac were genuine.

You see, today hip-hop is mostly commercial superficial garbage with almost zero intellectual value. 50 cent types? No thanks. No more. They’re getting tiring. Keep the beats but eliminate the negative image and lyrics please. On top of that, continue innovating the original and revolutionary production styles. Timbaland is a fine example of a music producer doing that. The way he merged dance music elements like trance synthesizers together with hip-hop beats is genius.

But hey…

At the end of the day, truth however is thuggish rap sells. It sells really well, and as long as there is demand, there will continue to be supply.

Say hello to Rod Parsley, McCain’s theocrat and good friend. Watch the video. The Pastor’s sermon is just, oh, so full of love and compassion:

Islam is an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world.

The fact is that America was founded — I am going to stagger you right now — America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed.

Muhammad received revelations from demon spirits, not from the living God.

America has historically understood herself as a bastion against Islam in the world.

In fact, I’ll tell you this, I do not believe our nation can truly fulfill her divine purpose, until we understand our historical conflict with Islam.

When it comes to Islam, now the greatest religious enemy of our civilization, its dangerous.

Nice, so on one hand we have a Donkey I personally find too leftist and on the other, an Elephant drifting further and further right, and has an awesome super lovely ’spiritual guide’. Yeah, I kid you not, that’s what McCain called Parsley.

In his campaign for president of the United States, Senator McCain has not only courted Pastor Parsley and called him a “truly great leader of America”, a “moral compass” and a “spiritual guide” but has actually said that he is “honoured” to be in the pastor’s company.

Lovely, but that’s not all.

This is especially troubling in light of the fact that Parsley is a self-proclaimed Christocrat, promoting Christian theocracy in America, who believes that the US is guided by a “divine purpose”.

In other words, Parsley’s petulant stupidity isn’t the problem. The issue is Senator McCain’s lack of moral clarity and his failure to renounce, denounce and reject someone who violates not only the principles of pluralism and decency, but also something far more sacrosanct: the very clear demarcation between church and state in the US.

John McCain may want to keep himself away from the company of such sweet people. Obama ended up doing the right thing and gave Wright a verbal knock on his head. McCain should look into a similar move too.

Give me a Joel Osteen on any given day. Great guy, but Rod Parsley? No thanks. That’s precisely the kind of ‘religion’ that should stay away as far as possible from the political sphere. It’s bad enough having similar rhetoric over here on our side from lunatic religious Muslim figures and so-called leaders. We don’t need more shouted from the other, let alone coming from such a person closely associated to a man who might become the next American president in just a few months.

Forgive me for the current lack of better words, but let’s just say the US presidential race might unfortunately be turning into shit and shittier. On the bright side, at least Hillary Clinton is almost finished.

Related:

• How Would a Sudanese Vote in the 2008 US Elections?

I’ve held a very simple position on this matter. Give the man a fair trial, and if he’s found guilty, lock him up behind bars for as long as possible. If he is found innocent, release him as soon as possible. That’s it. Full stop. Is that too much to ask?

For more than six years Sami was imprisoned in Guantanamo without any due process. None whatsoever. Six years, and I think it’s an utter shame. Today, he finally heads back home to his family.

Zachary Katznelson, Sami’s American lawyer has called the whole spectacle ‘un-American’ and I believe he’s right.

The Supreme Court has said that every prisoner in Guantánamo has the right to challenge his imprisonment in court. If that right is taken away, these prisoners will languish in prison for years – innocent or not. If a prisoner is abused, he will have no recourse. That goes against everything a democracy should stand for. It is un-American,” Zachary Katznelson, Senior Counsel at Reprieve stated.

On top of that, the US Supreme Court has deemed the military trials unconstitutional.

Irshad Manji has a solid point.

President Bush, are you reading?

I’ve been following the ongoing negotiations between Khartoum and the US envoy to Sudan closely. Can you blame me? Normalizing ties would be a huge positive and mutually-beneficial step.

I’m glad America has the right conditions in place.

April 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The US special envoy for Sudan is expected to hold a meeting with a Sudanese delegation in Roma Italy on Wednesday to discuss the deployment of Darfur peacekeeping force and the bilateral relations.

… The US Administration wants Sudan to remove obstacles to the deployment of a U.N.-led peacekeeping force, stop violence against civilians in Darfur, and carry out the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan, including elections in 2009, The Los Angels Times reported last month.

The U.S. offered to restore full diplomatic ties, lift sanctions and remove Khartoum from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, Williamson said.

What we’re seeing here is a typical “carrots and sticks” approach which rests the decision upon Khartoum’s shoulders. I doubt that’s enough to move the Sudanese regime although with the approaching possible election of a Donkey president, they know they need to fix things fast. Like I said:

… given that it’s the Democrats who’ve been calling for a withdrawal from Iraq and a forced military intervention in Darfur, I’m not exactly ready to comfortably embrace Obama just yet. Darfur needs a political solution. Going back to Clinton’s approach is the last thing Sudan needs. Bush’s is better although it lacks sufficient pressure now because al-Bashir’s regime is heavily cooperating with the CIA again in sharing highly valuable terrorism-related intelligence. Moreover, last year the CIA convened in Khartoum at a conference attended by more than 50 African intelligence agencies.

Carrots and sticks isn’t pressure. It’s a form of seduction. I think that’s the most the Bush administration will do since it would like the valuable intelligence on terrorism to continue flowing in from Khartoum.

I hope Khartoum finds what’s on the table seducing enough.

Meanwhile, I continue to keep track of the developments involving current efforts directed at Sudan by the US administration and the US presidential race.

… needs to be declared!

Increasing obesity in U.S. requires new ambulance equipment

CONCORD, New Hampshire: Calls from obese patients had increased nearly 25 percent in recent years, and the Fire Department could no longer handle them.

The department’s gurneys could not adequately support the patients’ weight, and the department had to pay a private ambulance company.

Last fall, the department bought three gurneys that can hold patients weighing up to 600 pounds, about twice the holding capacity of a regular stretcher.

Am I the only who finds this funny and sad at the same time?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968)

The former was really good. The latter is just plain nasty.

I thought Obama made a great speech in which he explicitly rejected and opposed the inflammatory and victimhood-infested statements made by his former Pastor. However he should have distanced himself away from Rev. Wright further than he already did.

At first, I thought the whole event was pretty screwed up for Obama politically but now I’m not so sure anymore because if it wasn’t for this controversy, Obama wouldn’t have made his speech, one which undeniably captured massive attention and scored him a lot of positive points with the American left and center. The media might have cooled down about the whole thing but I can imagine the kind of discussions brewing underneath the surface behind the closed doors of American homes.

Meanwhile the endorsement Obama received from Governor Richardson, someone who was part of the Clinton administration, must surely be good news to him.