Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts

Nobel shock and awe as Obama gets the Peace Prize after only nine months in office

07:51 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

Worldwide astonishment greeted the decision yesterday to give Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.

The U.S. President has been in office for less than nine months, has yet to score a major foreign policy success and is overseeing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He had not even known he was among the record 205 nominations.

The deadline for submitting candidates had come just 12 days after he entered the White House.

There were gasps of amazement from the audience when the decision was announced in Oslo.

But the prize committee highlighted Mr Obama’s efforts to support international bodies, build ties with the Muslim world, promote nuclear disarmament and fight climate change.

Surprise at the award reached to the heart of the White House.

Mr Obama was not given the normal one-hour advance warning of the announcement – ‘waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn’t really something you do,’ said Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.

Many of the president’s top aides learned the news when they were woken by calls from the media. ‘It’s not April 1, is it?’ said one aide.

The shock decision of the five-member committee drew both praise and criticism from former Nobel laureates and people in the world’s troublespots.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader who was awarded the peace prize in 1990, said: ‘In these hard times people who are capable of taking responsibility, who have a vision, commitment and political will should be supported.’

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency – awarded the prize in 2005 – said: ‘I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honour.

'In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself.’

But former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate, declared: ‘So soon? Too early.

'He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.’

But he added: 'This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let's see if he perseveres. Let's give him time to act.'

Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the prize in 1976 with fellow Belfast peace campaigner Betty Williams – they mobilised tens of thousands of on ‘Peace People’ marches demanding an end to terrorist violence – echoed his concerns.

She said: ‘President Obama has yet to prove that he will move seriously on the Middle East, that he will end the war in Afghanistan and many other issues.’

The Taliban mocked the award, saying Mr Obama should get a Nobel prize for violence instead.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said it was absurd to give a peace award to a man who had sent 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to escalate a war.

'The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the “Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians,”' he said.

Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing ‘joke’.

Mr Obama himself said he was ‘surprised and deeply humbled.’

He added: ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honoured by this prize.

‘I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.’

He said he accepted the prize as a call to action for nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.

His spokesman said later he would donate the award’s £880,000 prize money to charity.

The Nobel Committee said Mr Obama had won for ‘his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples’.

It praised his creation of ‘a new climate in international politics’ and added: ‘Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.’

Mr Jagland admitted: ‘Some people say, and I understand it, isn’t it premature? Too early? Well, I’d say that it could be too late to respond three years from now. It is now that we have the opportunity to respond – all of us.’

Many observers saw the award as an indirect attack on Mr Obama’s predecessor George Bush. The Nobel committee had harshly criticised him in the past for resorting to largely unilateral military action after the September 11 terror attacks.

Just two sitting American presidents have previously won the prize - Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

Mr Roosevelt won the award for mediating in the Russo-Japanese war.

The 26th U.S. President was also famous for his favourite proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick'.

Mr Wilson was the first to rubbish America's 'go-it-alone' policy, bringing the U.S. into World War I in 1917.

At the close of the war he fought so passionately for the Versailles Treaty and a lasting peace that he collapsed from a stroke and nearly died, only being nursed back to health by his wife.

He also founded the League of Nations, the precursor to the UN.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton was nominated for the prize in 1998 for his efforts to protect world peace and promote democracy, particularly in Yugoslavia - but did not receive the award.

Another former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, received the award in 2002 - 21 years after he left office - for his mediation in international conflicts.

At that time, the Nobel Committee said that it should be seen as a 'kick in the leg' to the Bush administration's hard line in the build-up to the Iraq war.

Some have already interpreted the decision to give this year's award to Mr Obama as more condemnation of George Bush and his foreign policies.

Top contenders for the prize this year had included French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize.

Mr Carter said Mr Obama’s win showed the hope he had inspired globally.

'It shows the hope his administration represents not only to our nation but to people around the world,' he said.

But mere hope was not enough for rival Republicans.

‘The real question Americans are asking is, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

'It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights.

‘One thing is certain: President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.'

And Right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh said: ‘Obama gives speeches trashing his own country and he gets a prize for it.’ continues here

Waitrose acts over 'racist' Fox presenter

11:20 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

Supermarket Waitrose has pulled its advertising from Fox News after customers complained about presenter Glenn Beck's remarks about US president Barack Obama.

Beck caused controversy when he said in July that he thought Mr Obama was "a racist" and a number of companies withdrew their advertising with the news channel.

He said the president's reaction to the arrest of a black academic Henry Louis Gates in Cambridge, Massachusetts proved him to be "a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is...".

A spokesman for Waitrose said that the company had withdrawn its advertising from the Fox News slot shown on Sky in Britain in response to customer concerns. continues here


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Mistakes Happen

Barack Obama Joker socialism poster denounced as racist

14:22 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

A poster depicting President Barack Obama as Heath Ledger's "Joker" character from "The Dark Knight" has sparked controversy after it appeared on the streets of Los Angeles.continues here



The poster shows the US president with white face paint, dark eye shadow and smudged red lipstick above the caption "socialism", in an apparent attack on the US president's efforts to reform health care and stimulus spending.

It is unknown who created and distributed the image, which some believe has racial overtones because it shows Mr Obama as a black-and-white minstrel in reverse.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, denounced the image and called on those behind it to reveal themselves. "Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery. has racial overtones because it shows Mr Obama as a black-and-white minstrel in reverse No it shows obama as the cartoon character the joker-AAWR

"It is mean-spirited and dangerous.

"We have issued a public challenge to the person or group that put up the poster to come forth and publicly tell why they have used this offensive depiction to ridicule President Obama."

A stark visual contrast to Shepard Fairey's popular red, white and blue image of the president-elect featuring the caption "hope", the "socialism" image has appeared as Mr Obama is facing a growing swell of criticism as he attempts to force through his $1 trillion health care programme.

The "socialism" poster has spread virally across the internet, crashing the website that first displayed images of it and rising to the top of Google's "Today's Hot Trends" list. Paper versions also appear to be spreading, with some showing up in Atlanta, Georgia.

Some Right-wing commentators have seized approvingly on the image. Thomas Lifson wrote on the conservative American Thinker website: "It is starting. Open mockery of Barack Obama, as disillusionment sets in with the man, his policies, and the phony image of a race-healing, brilliant, scholarly, middle-of-the-roader."

The liberal tabloid "LA Weekly", which depicted George W. Bush, the former president, as Dracula on its cover in 2004, denounced the Obama-Joker poster as virulently racist. continues here

“A black-and-white minstrel in reverse”, you know it would be funny if it wasn’t so serious, if leftists hadn’t infiltrated every nation and injured normal discourse, if the people still had free speech and truth was valued. Now I have a lot of issues with the election of Mr Obama, primarily I note the tremendous push given his campaign, by the owned media, leftists, liberals and yes, non-white communities, you see groups vote on the basis of self-interest and generally with regard to non-white minorities, this is governed by race. Of course, should no non-white candidate be standing, then the community will vote for the candidate that must advocates their cause, Mr Obama received 96 percent of the black vote and a believed 67 percent of the Hispanic vote. It is perhaps for this reason he endorsed the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, giving no consideration to her rather dubious political past.

The election of Mr Obama was a racial event, quite simply he was propelled into office atop a wave of demographic change, leftist agitation and liberal guilt, yet one must always realise that individuals are defined by group, one can see this with the dropping of the charges against the New Black Panther Party members, individuals charged with voter intimidation in Philadelphia during November's elections, this blatant case of voter intimidation appears to be unworthy of consideration even though one individual wielded a baton ,although should Klan members endeavour to do the same, one can envisage really quite a different outcome indeed. We also see this with his appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, prompting Sen. Mitch McConnell to remark, “Judge Sotomayor is a fine person with an impressive story and a distinguished background. But a judge must be able to check his or her personal or political agenda at the courtroom door and do justice even-handedly, as the judicial oath requires. This is the most fundamental test. It’s a test Judge Sotomayor does not pass.”

Sonia Sotomayor has always supported her own group interest or that of non-whites, even from right back in her university days at Princeton, during her time at university she joined Acción Puertorriqueña, a group that lobbies for the rights of illegal immigrants, she also joined Third World Centre, a group that advocated for and championed the rights of people of colour. So we can see at a glance that Mr Obamas administration and indeed decision making process, is at times governed by out-group thinking, of particular note here, Mr Omamas intervention in the Gates case, the tagging of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates as, Cambridge police acting stupidly, of particular importance. Mr Obama simply went on the defensive, he defended a perceived member of his own group before knowing the full facts and no “beer summit” can alter such publicly noted behaviour. Yet we are told that America takes no note of race that America is a melting pot, yet in truth the pot is melting, because of the white hot anger on all sides, rage that threatens to spill out of control at any moment.

Discriminating Tastes

11:22 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, President Obama’s former pastor, has often described his preaching style as prophetic, and, sure enough, his brief but spectacular turn in the campaign limelight last year has proved a harbinger of things to come. After months of criticism, Obama renounced Wright, whose fiery sermons had been widely excoriated as “racist”—that is, anti-white. Around the same time, Obama explained that when he described his grandmother as a “typical white person,” he hadn’t meant to insult white people. Then, following the Inauguration, some protested that the Reverend Joseph Lowery’s benediction, derived from an old blues song, was anti-white. And Newt Gingrich used his Twitter account to call Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor—and her “wise Latina” remark—“racist.” (A few days later, he took it back.)

One imagines that Sergeant James Crowley, of the Cambridge Police Department, had not meant to contribute to this ongoing argument when, on July 16th, he responded to a 911 call from a woman who said that there had been “two gentlemen trying to get in a house,” and, after a dispute, ended up arresting Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the There are plenty of people in America, especially in black America, who believe that reverse racism is a contradiction in terms. Racism, the argument goes, should not be thought of as a personal failing; it’s a social system, with a specific history. Discrimination against whites, however unfair, isn’t part of that system, and therefore is not analogous to discrimination against blacks. Harvard professor who lives there. One imagines the same of President Obama, who, when asked about the incident during a press conference the next week, said that racial profiling was a nationwide problem, and that, in this case, the police had “acted stupidly.” Critics claimed that Obama’s comments reflected his own biases. Thaddeus McCotter, a Republican congressman from Michigan, drafted a resolution calling on him to apologize to Crowley. National Review Online accused him of “racial self-aggrandizement.” And the radio and television host Glenn Beck said that the President had revealed his “deep-seated hatred for white people,” adding, “This guy is, I believe, a racist.”

Half a century ago, when people talked about anti-white racism, it was often depicted as a symptom of a broader derangement. In “The Hate That Hate Produced,” an influential television documentary about Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, from 1959, Mike Wallace warned viewers about “the rise of black racism” and “black supremacy.” (Four years later, a cover story in Jet reported that Eartha Kitt considered herself a victim of “reverse racism”; the magazine said that “black supremacists” resented her marriage to a white man.) But, in the late nineteen-sixties and early seventies, in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act and the executive orders that followed, accusations of reverse racism grew less personal and more commonplace. Newspapers printed articles and letters about anti-white discrimination in the workplace. Later, protracted legal battles over affirmative action helped popularize a once novel character: the white civil-rights plaintiff.

Affirmative action, it now seems clear, helped change white America’s attitude about race, although not entirely in the way that its creators intended. In 1982, scarcely a decade after President Nixon mandated affirmative action for companies with government contracts, a study published in the American Sociological Review found that only twenty-seven per cent of whites thought that blacks had a worse than average chance of succeeding in America, while slightly more, about twenty-nine per cent, thought that blacks’ opportunities were better than average. Sixty-three per cent thought that racial minorities enjoyed at least a little bit of “unfair” reverse discrimination.

There are plenty of people in America, especially in black America, who believe that reverse racism is a contradiction in terms. Racism, the argument goes, should not be thought of as a personal failing; it’s a social system, with a specific history. Discrimination against whites, however unfair, isn’t part of that system, and therefore is not analogous to discrimination against blacks. This history adds symbolic weight to stories that might otherwise inspire only passing curiosity—like, say, the one about the black Harvard professor who was suspected of breaking into his own house. Systemic racism doesn’t require malice, or a specific perpetrator; everyone who benefits is guilty, even people who don’t think that they benefit.

In the past few decades, though, reverse racism has undergone a similar redefinition, from symptom to system. Some who are skeptical of affirmative action, and of other programs designed to advance non-whites, consider reverse racism to be so pervasive, and so well entrenched, that it can only be described as systemic. (Think of Frank Ricci, the white firefighter who argued, successfully, that the city of New Haven had violated his civil rights.) And, despite Beck’s diagnosis of Obama’s “hatred,” many of the people who worry about Obama’s view of race see him not as personally bigoted but as complicit with anti-white interests and policies.

In fact, the “reverse” has largely been dropped from “reverse racism”; in today’s mainstream political discourse, “racism” regularly refers to anti-white racism. Meanwhile, many politicians and commentators concerned with the brutal legacy of old-fashioned racism have learned to speak about it in less abstract, less inflammatory terms: they talk about too-high incarceration rates, or the need for better communication between police officers and the communities they serve. Certainly, Obama is at his most effective when he sticks to concrete prescriptions (the means) and airy evocations of progress (the end). This, by and large, has been his strategy and his script, and even he may not know exactly why, on being asked about Gates, he strayed from it. continues here

Jews ‘Very Concerned’ About Obama, Leader of Jewish Organizations Says

23:58 by Editor · 2 Post a comment on AAWR

President Obama’s strongest supporters among Jewish leaders are deeply troubled by his recent Middle East initiatives, and some are questioning what he really believes, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview.

Though Hoenlein says he is only offering his personal views, the conference he represents is a political powerhouse that includes 50 major Jewish groups. Among them are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), B’nai B’rith International, the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah, and the Anti-Defamation League. Hoenlein has been the professional head of the conference since 1986, overseeing its day-to-day activities as the coordinating body for American Jews on issues of concern in the U.S. and globally.

Jewish leaders "are expressing concern about what was said [in Obama’s Cairo speech]," Hoenlein says. "I’ve heard it from some of his strongest supporters. It’s expected from his detractors. Even people close to him have said to us that there were parts of the speech that bothered them."

Obama’s speech to a Muslim audience in Cairo in early June was his second effort early in his administration to re-define America’s posture toward the Arab world. In April, Obama traveled to Ankara, Turkey, to offer a similar outreach to the Muslim world.

But many in the Jewish community, including some of Obama’s most ardent supporters, are troubled by his comments in the Middle East, especially his remarks to his Cairo audience. Others are concerned that, facing a multitude of problems on the domestic front, Obama has traveled twice to the Middle East without visiting Israel, America’s stalwart ally in the region for more than a half-century.

"There’s a lot of questioning going on about what he really believes and what does he really stand for," Hoenlein says of Obama’s outreach.

Reaction to Obama’s speech has drawn a range of reaction from many Jewish leaders. On the right, some have condemned it as a revision of the long and close relationship between the U.S. and Israel. But many on the left who backed Obama were also surprised and dismayed over Obama’s speech. Such reactions from major Jewish leaders have largely remained beneath the surface, exchanged privately among them.

Hoenlein’s comments to Newsmax are his first detailed appraisal of Obama’s speech and represent the first time a major Jewish leader has spoken openly about the erosion of Jewish support for Obama.

According to the exit poll conducted by major press organizations during the 2008 election, Obama captured overwhelming support from American Jews, winning 78 percent of their vote. Despite the fact that Republicans are stronger on national security and the war on terror, Obama also won support from Jewish leaders who have been champions of Israel’s security, such as the former Democratic mayor of New York, Edward I. Koch. Koch crossed party lines in 2004 to back George W. Bush.

Reacting to Obama’s Cairo speech, Hoenlein tells Newsmax, "I have no problem with addressing the Muslim world. I’m in fact in favor of outreach, and we here at the conference have done it for about 12 or 15 years, visiting Muslim countries in Central Asia and the Middle East. But the question is, what is the message they get? It’s not so much what he says, but how do they perceive what he says?"

On the one hand, Hoenlein says, "His reference to Israel and the special relationship being unbreakable is important, and references to persecution and Holocaust denial were important, and some of his references to some human rights issues also were important."

But Hoenlein notes the speech included a number of troubling references and comparisons. He cites the fact that Obama claimed America has seven million Muslims. That is a figure "Arab propagandists have put out," he says. "In fact, they say only six million, when in fact there’s no study that shows even half of that."

In 2007, the Pew Research Center estimated the Muslim American population at 2.35 million.

Hoenlein is disturbed that Obama did not mention the Jewish people’s ancient connection with the land of Israel.

"There was no reference to the 3,000 years of Jewish connection to this land," Hoenlein says. "And that is again one of the propaganda lines that the Arabs have used: that the Jews are interlopers, that the two temples never existed, that there was never any Jewish history in the land of Israel. Even Yasser Arafat and others have used that argument because they’re trying to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish state. I don’t believe that was the president’s intent, but not making those references I think is troubling."

Jews have claimed a connection to the land of their forefathers since 1400 B.C. Even after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. and the dispersal of many Jews throughout the Roman Empire, many Jews continued to reside in Jerusalem through the centuries, surviving various invasions. An Ottoman census of Jerusalem conducted in 1845 showed Jews outnumbered Muslim Arabs by almost to 2 to 1 and were the dominant ethnic group in the region.

Hoenlein believes that the most troubling aspect of Obama’s comments in his Cairo speech was his effort to equate the Nazi killing of more than six million Jews during the Holocaust with Israel’s struggle with the Palestinians over six decades and the suffering caused by the displacement of the Palestinians.

"There’s no comparison between the Holocaust, even if it was an indirect one, and what happened to Palestinians," Hoenlein declares.

In his speech, President Obama addressed the issue of the Holocaust head-on, saying "Six million Jews were killed — more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today."

But he quickly changed the subject, comparing Hitler’s genocide of the Jews to the Palestinian struggle.

"On the other hand," Obama said, as he transitioned from the Holocaust to the modern Middle East, "it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland."

Hoenlein doesn’t buy Obama’s line of reasoning.

"The Palestinian refugee problem, or dislocation as he said, didn’t come about because of the creation of the Jewish state," Hoenlein says. "It came about because the Arab states declared war on Israel and warned the Arabs that they would suffer the same fate as the Jews if they didn’t get out. And then they kept them as political pawns."

Obama made no reference to the fact that "the reason the Palestinians don’t have a state is because their leaders rejected every offer for peace," Hoenlein says. "Whether it was in 1937 or 1947 or 1967, or later on, up until Ehud Olmert’s offer and Ehud Barak’s offer, they rejected everything, even when they were getting virtually everything they had asked for."

That is because, "The problem really is not what Israel does, it’s that Israel is," Hoenlein says. "And they’re not ready to accept the existence of the Jewish state."

In discussing the Palestinian refugee problem, Obama failed to mention the other refugee problem involving nearly a million Jews, Hoenlein says. At the time of the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948, Jews populated all of the major Arab cities from Baghdad in the East to Casablanca in the West.

Hoenlein notes that after modern Israel saw its rebirth, Jews "were driven out of Arab countries penniless, and some of their families had lived there for a thousand years, and yet there was no reference to them." He adds, "This is not a question of tit for tat. It’s a question of the realities that are communicated to a vast audience in the Arab Muslim world."

As troubling as Obama’s references to Israel and the Palestinians were, Hoenlein found the president’s failure to mention the radical regime now running Tehran equally disturbing.

"What concerned us, concerned many people, was the message to Iran that we didn’t hear," Hoenlein says. continues here

Obama half-brother ‘linked to UK sex attack’

16:15 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

BARACK OBAMA’s half-brother has been refused entry to Britain after reportedly being accused of an attempted sex attack on a 13-year-old girl on his last visit.

Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop in Nairobi in Kenya, was on his way to the president’s inauguration in January when he tried to stop over in Britain to visit relatives. But he was turned away by immigration officers who declined to issue a visa on the grounds of deception.

Biometric tests carried out at East Midlands airport showed that he was linked to the attack on a girl in Berkshire last November but never charged, according to a report last night. Further checks identified Samson as the half-brother of President Obama, leading to a hurried call to the White House.

A Home Office source told the News of the World: “This was obviously an extremely sensitive issue when it was flashed up by the database.” Officers had noticed that one of the documents that Samson had supplied with his visa application was false which led them to make further inquiries, according to a Home Office spokesman.

Details on the database suggested that he was the same man who had been arrested by police in Berkshire after approaching a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old, and allegedly trying to sexually assault one of them, the News of the World reported.

He then followed the girls into a cafe where he became aggressive and was asked to leave by the owner. Police were called and Samson was arrested. He reportedly gave officers false identification details and supplied his mother’s address in Bracknell. continues here

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Obama tells Muslims: Don’t vilify Israel

08:11 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Barack Obama urged Turkish students to help overcome the tendency in the Muslim world to blame Israel. 

Obama told university students at a round table in Istanbul on Tuesday that he was committed to bringing about an Israeli Palestinian peace, whatever the difficulties, and appreciated Turkey's role in helping to broker such a peace. 

"It will depend on young people like you being open to new ideas and new possibilities," he said. "And it will require young people like you never to stereotype or assume the worst about other people. In the Muslim world, this notion that somehow everything is the fault of the Israelis lacks balance -- because there's two sides to every question. That doesn't mean that sometimes one side has done something wrong and should not be condemned. But it does mean there's always two sides to an issue.  continues here

The Speech

23:19 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

It was a great speech an inspiring speech, written I should imagine, by gifted speechwriters and I high on irony, yet it showed us just a glimpse of the world to come, in that world whites are a minority, non-whites obviously predominate and indeed dominate. Yes it was inspiring, great, had a terrific catchphrase, not especially Caucasian but there you go, the event wasn’t particularly Caucasian, Islington and indeed greater London is pretty much a non-white enclave now, whites moving en-masse to the suburbs, of course as always, I have to ask, “what do we do when there is no-where left to go?”. 

In this world the balance of power is not held by the people, not held by the voter, the tax-payer or the worker, it is held by an elite, an elite that have at various times shifted with the political wind, setting their ship in anticipated direction. At one time egalitarianism held no promise, whites as a people held power and to move against that threatened elitist interests, now however, non-whites are moving at a tremendous pace towards hegemony, towards their long-anticipated power, towards their reward for their many years of agitation against white society. 

Oh the elites will still hold true power, however, its face will be somewhat darker, somewhat more controllable and somewhat out-played, as we have been, countries to the east now rise, rise out of our demise and herald in a different world, a world changed beyond recognition. Will and are, the movers and shakers of those rising countries, rising economies, rising forces, will they repel a takeover, survive as a people distinct, govern themselves without a shady hand or are they already merely marionettes, controlled in all ways, just a face for the people. 

In many ways it doesn’t matter not to us, not to whites, if we exist at all it will be as a tiny minority, a minority send spiralling back to nothingness, having handed over all we have to others and existing on others say-so. Michelle Obama went to this school calculatedly, she knew and they knew that it send out a signal, gave a message and once fed to the owned press, well it entered all homes, all heads and all hearts and I’m glad for them, glad for those girls who spent just a moment with their heroine, for the girl “high-fived”, for those that were inspired and those that will be but it wasn’t for us, wasn’t for mine and wasn’t for yours. 

It has taken some time to reach this position, to place a non-white in such a visible position, years of conditioning, years of scheming, until society was ready, ready or could no longer protest, contest or thwart and the deed is done. Yet for the Obama’s resentment remains, coiled inside like a serpent, for them imposing their mark is all, after all this is history, this is power and they are negroes, as negroes they have, as if it were mothers milk, been bred surrounded by anti-white rhetoric, superstition and downright lies, as have many non-whites, now it is pay-back time. 

Now convention must be challenged, little snubs here or indeed there complete offensiveness, it is of course understandable, wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you just a little get back at the bully, trample on a few toes and assert your new found power. It matters little I suppose, that whites collectively were never the bully, that whites have been deliberately portrayed as evil, in order to use non-white grievance as a weapon, as a battering-ram to facilitate entrance ,to breach the castle and install a new guard. 

Our castle has surely been breached, ripped apart more like, all that remains now is structure, its heart has gone and soon over time, structure read convention, will go, Michelle Obama, give a great speech, oh no not really content, although the catchphrase smacked of her heritage, no, for all that the content was middling, strewn with clichés a platitudinous stew, a broth of fustian rubbish served up to delight egalitarians, so-called progressives and non-whites, as a race-realist, for me, it merely underlined the fact, that social animals always refer to group and Michelle Obama did just that, did we really expect any different.   

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Aide to Rahm Emanuel: Obama pro-Israel

07:55 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR


US president-elect starts selecting top gov't officials, but son of Israeli immigrant yet to accept White House chief of staff offer; aide to Emanuel tells Ynet, 'He would not consider role if he wasn't convinced Obama is pro-Israel'  

WASHINGTON - Despite reports in US media that Illinois Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel has accepted US president-elect Barack Obama's offer to serve as White House chief of staff, a source close to Emanuel told Ynet he has not yet accepted and was still considering the offer due to personal and family reasons. 

Emanuel is the son of American Jew and Israeli immigrant Dr. Benjamin Emanuel. The source told Ynet on Wednesday, "Emanuel is pro-Israeli, and would not be willing to consider accepting the job unless he was convinced that President-elect Obama is pro-Israel."

Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, said that Emanuel very often attends Israel-related events such as independence day and the yearly parade for Israel. 

"He brings his young children to the events, and told me that his father used to bring him as a child to Israel-related events. These are events with large crowds, and when Rahm Emanuel attends, he also speaks to the crowd about Israel," Kotzin said. 

Meanwhile, Obama continues to consult with his advisors about appointments, and starting Thursday morning will receive daily classified intelligence briefings similar to what is given to the president. Vice president-elect Joe Biden will also be taking part in some of the briefings. 

The most prominent candidate for White House spokesman is Robert Gibbs, who was Obama's communications director in the Senate and in his presidential campaign. 

CBS reported that Obama would not rush into any decisions regarding his cabinet, and would wait until after Thanksgiving to announce his appointments. 

Reports in American media also revealed that Obama was considering appointing two Kennedys as part of his cabinet. 

Politico.com reported that Caroline Kennedy, daughter of assassinated president John Kennedy, was being considered for US ambassador to the United Nations.  continues here

The End of America

11:35 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

I have kept out of this Obama thing, primarily because it involves the political life of another country and partly because I have insufficient knowledge, I tend if possible, to shy away from subjects in which I have no grounding. I have to say though, that from all I hear it is quite possible for an Obama win and therefore America has a negro president, the worst fear of every southerner come true.  

If American politics is anything like it is here in the UK, “and I am assured it is” then the election of a Negro is meaningless, meaningless that is, because elected representatives are merely a face, whilst the real decisions are made by the faceless. Yet to leftists this election holds real import, “it shows just how much they know”, it, in their closeted minds, represents a potential victory, a victory over the white man and white society. 

Certainly leftists such as Fonda cannot sleep at night and some such as Jong, talk of dire consequences should Obama lose, to quote the Semitic descended Jong, "If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets”. 

Of course leftists have always desired violent revolution, it permeates their cause as a malignant odour, for we of the right to, revolution is now the order of the day, a change in society of such magnitude, that it can only be considered revolution or indeed a renaissance. Regrettably the forces arrayed against us are great and it looks ever increasingly that we must face our Alamo, you see we have not the time, the time to waltz through the institutions, sprinkling the magic dust of truth. 

America is dying, this colossal hulk, home to some 300 million or more people, should I say dying or changing, according to Rob Paral and Associates, a consulting firm dealing more or less exclusively with non-white communities, the immigrant community is growing at a phenomenal rate. He remarked, “Their increasing numbers were widely anticipated, but their high rate of growth “has been utterly unprecedented,”. 

According to Mr Paral the "new American" sign-up rate jumped almost 60 percent”, one can only imagine the outcome should voter apathy, “like it does here” take hold, certainly “New Americans” will be more predisposed to vote for some-one like themselves and in the case of many “New Americans”, Obama is more representative of them. According to a report from the Washington based Immigration Policy Centre, “anti-immigrant political rhetoric is likely to motivate many New Americans to cast ballots in November,” but not for candidates perceived as “anti-immigrant.” 

An understandable sentiment perhaps amongst the immigrant community but the death knell for white America, more especially given that white registered voters decreased by 3.2 percent from 1996 to 2004. Now it is worth noting, that the number of registered voters of immigrant origin up to 2004 grew by 55 percent to 8 million, whilst the children of immigrants registered to vote, grew likewise by about 70 percent, the statistics are frightening. 

White America is under seize as never before and whether they vote in a black president now or ever is immaterial, eventually whites will be a minority community in the country they established. Regrettably they cannot even hope to look to Europe for help, as we ourselves face similar fate, albeit from non-Hispanic stock, we are both merely in a race to see who can turn coffee-coloured the fastest. 14


Neo-Nazi plot to 'assassinate Barack Obama and slaughter dozens of black school pupils' foiled by FBI

07:55 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

A plot to kill Barack Obama and slaughter dozens of black school pupils was foiled yesterday. 

Two neo-Nazis planned to rob a gun store and go on a murderous rampage, with the black Democrat candidate their final target, court records revealed last night. 

A predominantly black high school in Tennessee was also high on their hit-list, it was alleged.  

Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, in the neighbouring state of Arkansas, were charged with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms and threatening a candidate for president. 

The pair intended to shoot 88 African-Americans and decapitate another 14, said Jim Cavanaugh, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community. 

The pair told investigators they planned to speed a truck towards Mr Obama while 'shooting at him from the windows'. 

According to court documents unsealed last night, they 'stated they would dress in all-white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt'. 

Both said that they were 'willing to die during this attempt'. 

'They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Senator Obama,' said Mr Cavanaugh. 

'They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.' 

Police became suspicious because the pair used chalk to draw a swastika and 'numerous racially motivated words and symbols' on Cowart's car. 

They allegedly began discussing the murder plot after meeting online about a month ago. 

In the affidavit, agents said the two men 'discussed the killing spree to include targeting a predominately African-American school, going state to state while robbing individuals and continuing to kill people'. 

Anti-racism campaigners said the number 88 is used by white supremacists as an abbreviation for Heil Hitler as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. 

The figure 14 represents a slogan consisting of that many words, coined by American white supremacist leader David Lane, who is serving a 190-year jail sentence. 

The plot was similar to one uncovered during the Democratic Party convention in Denver in August.   

Then, three white supremacists-were arrested after being found with a sniper rifle and being high on drugs. 

Later, FBI agents and the Secret Service decided not to charge them after coming to the conclusion they did not pose a real threat. 

The latest plot came to light with just a week to go in the race to be the next President of the United States. 

Both Mr Obama and Republican candidate John McCain were in Ohio, seen as a crucial state in the election next Tuesday. 

Senator McCain was busily repeating his charge that Mr Obama was a tax-and-spend liberal. 

But having said over the weekend that he and President Bush, as fellow Republicans, share some economic philosophies, Mr McCain was accused of doing a U-turn yesterday. 

'We (Obama and McCain) both disagree with President Bush on economic policies,' Mr McCain said in Cleveland. 'My approach is to get spending under control.' 

He added that the difference was 'he (Obama) thinks taxes have been too low and I think that spending has been too high'.  continues here

I would of course take this with a pinch of salt it appears highly unprofessional and consists, if the tone of the article is to be believed, of mere internet chatter, fantasist talk between two disgruntled individuals. Behaviour such as this, at least at this stage can only aid orthodoxy and the forces arrayed against the right, of note in the article is the refusal to print the fourteen words:

“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”

Which were referred to in this manner, “The figure 14 represents a slogan consisting of that many words”, perhaps they are so scared to print these words for fear that others may realise there worth, in any event we roll on, ever in the hope of victory, whatever it takes. 14





Hillary Backers Decry Massive Obama Vote Fraud

15:38 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

With accusations of voter registration fraud swirling as early voting begins in many states, some Hillary Clinton supporters are saying: “I told you so.” 


Already in Iowa, the Obama campaign was breaking the rules, busing in supporters from neighboring states to vote illegally in the first contest in the primaries and physically intimidating Hillary supporters, they say. 


Obama’s surprisingly strong win in Iowa, which defied all the polls, propelled his upstart candidacy to front-runner status. But Lynette Long, a Hillary supporter from Bethesda, Md., who has a long and respected academic career, believes Obama’s victory in Iowa and in 12 other caucus states was no miracle. “It was fraud,” she told Newsmax. 


Long has spent several months studying the caucus and primary results. 


“After studying the procedures and results from all 14 caucus states, interviewing dozens of witnesses, and reviewing hundreds of personal stories, my conclusion is that the Obama campaign willfully and intentionally defrauded the American public by systematically undermining the caucus process,” she said. 


In Hawaii, for example, the caucus organizers ran out of ballots, so Obama operatives created more from Post-its and scraps of paper and dumped them into ice cream buckets. “The caucuses ended up with more ballots than participants, a sure sign of voter fraud,” Long said. 


In Nevada, Obama supporters upturned a wheelchair-bound woman who wanted to caucus for Hillary, flushed Clinton ballots down the toilets, and told union members they could vote only if their names were on the list of Obama supporters. 


In Texas, more than 2,000 Clinton and Edwards supporters filed complaints with the state Democratic Party because of the massive fraud. The party acknowledged that the Obama campaign’s actions “amount to criminal violations” and ordered them to be reported to state and federal law enforcement, but nothing happened. 


In caucus after caucus, Obama bused in supporters from out of state, intimidated elderly voters and women, and stole election packets so Hillary supporters couldn’t vote. Thanks to these and other strong-arm tactics, Obama won victories in all but one of the caucuses, even in states such as Maine where Hillary had been leading by double digits in the polls. 


Obama’s win in the caucuses, which were smaller events than the primaries and were run by the party, not the states, gave him the margin of victory he needed to win a razor-thin majority in the delegate count going into the Democratic National Convention. 


Without these caucus wins, which Long and others claim were based on fraud, Clinton would be the Democrats’ nominee running against John McCain. 


Citing a detailed report on the voting results and delegate accounts by accountant Piniel Cronin, “there were only four pledged delegates between Hillary and Obama once you discount caucus fraud,” Long said. 


Dr. Long has compiled many of these eyewitness reports from the 14 caucus states in a 98-page, single-spaced report and in an interactive Web site: www.caucusanalysis.org. 


ACORN involvement 


The Obama campaign recently admitted that it paid an affiliate of ACORN, the controversial community organizer that Obama represented in Chicago, more than $832,00 for “voter turnout” work during the primaries. The campaign initially claimed the money had been spent on “staging, sound and light” and “advance work.” 


State and federal law enforcement in 11 states are investigating allegations of voter registration fraud against the Obama campaign. ACORN workers repeatedly registered voters in the name of “Mickey Mouse,” and registered the entire starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys twice: once in Nevada, and again in Minnesota. 


A group that has worked with ACORN in the past registered a dead goldfish under the name “Princess Nudelman” in Illinois. When reporters informed Beth Nudelman, a Democrat, that her former pet was a registered voter, she said, “This person is a dead fish." 


ACORN was known for its “intimidation tactics,” said independent scholar Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., who has researched Obama’s long-standing ties to the group. 


Fully 30 percent of 1.3 million new voters ACORN claims to have registered this year are believed to be illegitimate. 


Long shared with Newsmax some of the emails and sworn affidavits she received from Hillary supporters who witnessed first-hand the thuggish tactics employed by Obama campaign operatives in Iowa and elsewhere. 


Jeff, a precinct captain for Clinton from Davenport, Iowa, thought his caucus was in the bag for his candidate, until just minutes before the voting actually began. 


“From 6-6:30 p.m., it appeared as I had expected. Young, old males, females, Hispanics, whites, gay and lesbian friends arriving. Very heavily for Ms. Clinton, a fair amount for Edwards and some stragglers for Obama,” he said. 


That makeup corresponded to what he had witnessed from many precinct walks he had made through local neighborhoods. 


“My mind began to feel victory for my lady,’ he said. “THEN: at 6:50 p.m., over 75 people of African-American descent came walking in, passed the tables and sat in the Obama section. I knew one of them from my canvassing. I knew another one who did not live in this precinct. And aside from four or five families that live on Hillandale Road, there are no other black people in this unusually white precinct. And one of those black couples were in my Hillary section,” he said. 


Thanks to the last-minute influx of unknown Obama supporters, Obama won twice the number of delegates from the precinct as Hillary Clinton. 


After it was over, “a very large bus was seen in the parking lot afterwards carrying these folks back” to Illinois, Jeff said. 


Obama’s flagrant busing of out-of-state caucus participants from Illinois was so obvious that even Joe Biden — today his running mate, then his rival — pointed it out at the time. 


At a campaign stop before the Jan. 3 caucus at the JJ Diner in Des Moines, Biden “said what we were all thinking when he got on stage and said, ‘Hello Iowa!’ and then turned to Barack’s crowd and shouted, ‘and Hello Chicago!’” another precinct captain for Hillary told Long. 


Thanks to Illinois campaign workers bused across the border into Iowa, all the precincts in eastern Iowa went for Obama, guaranteeing his win in the caucuses, Long said. 


Obama supporters were also bused into northeast Iowa from Omaha, Nebraska, where Obama campaign workers were seen handing out “i-pods and free stuff: T-shirts, clothes, shoes, and free meals” to students and people in homeless shelters,” according to eyewitness reports Long collected. 


In Iowa City, red and white chartered buses with Illinois license plates arrived from Illinois packed with boisterous African-American high school students, who came to caucus for Obama in Iowa after being recruited by Obama campaign workers. 


2,000 complaints in Texas 


In a change in the Democratic National Committee rules for this year’s election season, four states had caucuses and primaries: Washington, Nebraska, Idaho, and Texas. “But Texas is the only one that counted both the caucus result and the primary result,” Long told Newsmax. “The others didn’t count the primary at all, calling it a ‘beauty contest.’” 


Because caucuses are more informal, and can last hours, they tend to favor candidates with a strong ground operation or whose supporters use strong-arm tactics to intimidate their rivals. 


“There is inherent voter disenfranchisement in the caucuses,” Long said. “Women are less likely to go to caucuses than men, because they don’t like the public nature of the caucus. The elderly are less likely to go to a caucus. People who work shifts can’t go if they work the night shift. And parents with young children can’t go out for four hours on a week night. All these people are traditionally Clinton supporters,” she said. 


But Obama’s victories in the caucuses weren’t the result of better organization, Long insists. “It was fraud.” 


In state after state, Hillary was leading Obama in the polls right up until the last minute, when Obama won a landslide victory in the caucuses. 


The discrepancies between the polls and the caucus results were stunning, Long told Newsmax. The most flagrant example was Minnesota. A Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute poll just one week before the Feb. 5 caucus gave Hillary a 7-point lead over Obama, 40-33. 


But when the Minnesota caucus results were counted, Obama won by a landslide, with 66.39 percent to just 32.23 percent for Hillary, giving him 48 delegates, compared with 24 for Clinton. 


“No poll is that far off,” Long told Newsmax. 


Similar disparities occurred in 13 of 14 caucus states. 


In Colorado and Idaho, Obama had a 2-point edge over Hillary Clinton in the polls, but won by more than 2-1 in the caucuses, sweeping most delegates. 


In Kansas, Hillary had a slight edge over Obama in the polls, but Obama won 74 percent of the votes in the caucus and most of the delegates. In nearly every state, he bested the pre-caucus polls by anywhere from 12 percent to more than 30 percent. 


This year’s primary rules for the Democrats favored the caucus states over the primary states. 


“Caucus states made up only 1.1 million (3 percent) of all Democratic votes, but selected 626 (15 percent) of the delegates,” says Gigi Gaston, a filmmaker who has made a documentary on the caucus fraud. 


In Texas alone, she says, there were more than 2,000 complaints from Hillary Clinton and John Edwards supporters of Obama’s strong-arm tactics. 


One Hillary supporter, who appears in Gaston’s new film, “We Will Not Be Silenced,” says she received death threats from Obama supporters after they saw her address in an online video she made to document fraud during the Texas caucus. “People called me a whore and a skank,” she said. 


John Siegel, El Paso Area Captain for Hillary, said, “Some people saw outright cheating. Other people just saw strong-arm tactics. I saw fraud.” 


Another woman, who was not identified in the film, described the sign-in process. “You’re supposed to sign your names on these sheets. The sheets are supposed to be controlled, and passed out — this is kind of how you maintain order. None of that was done. The sheets were just flying all over the place. You could put in your own names. You could add your own sheets or anything. It was just filled with fraud.” 


Other witnesses described how Obama supporters went through the crowds at the caucus telling Hillary supporters they could go home because their votes had been counted, when in fact no vote count had yet taken place. 


“I couldn’t believe this was happening,” one woman said in the film. “I thought this only happened in Third World countries.” 


On election day in Texas, Clinton campaign lawyer Lyn Utrecht issued a news release that the national media widely ignored. 


“The campaign legal hot line has been flooded with calls containing specific accusations of irregularities and voter intimidation against the Obama campaign,” she wrote. “This activity is undemocratic, probably illegal, and reflects a wanton disregard for the caucus process.” 


She identified 18 separate precincts where Obama operatives had removed voting packets before the Clinton voters could arrive, despite a written warning from the state party not to remove them. 


The hot line also received numerous calls during the day that “the Obama campaign has taken over caucus sites and locked the doors, excluding Clinton campaign supporters from participating in the caucus,” she wrote. 


“There are numerous instances of Obama supporters filing out precinct convention sign-in sheets during the day and submitting them as completed vote totals at caucus. This is expressly against the rules,” she added. continues here

The sleeping giant is awake to back Barack Obama with a Latino beat

09:53 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

There was only one building attracting much activity this week in Truth or Consequences, Sierra County. 

Few tourists lingered at the Exotic Cactus Ranch, and the remaining stores had all but given up looking for business in what must be the only town named after a 1950s game show. 

The office of the county clerk, however, thrummed with early voters. Pollsters like to call this “sleeping giant” country. Like other southwestern states in play in this election, New Mexico has suffered from an historically low turnout of Hispanic voters that has so far failed to reflect the raw demographic power of the fastest-growing minority in the US. 

This time there were signs that 2008 would be the year with the biggest Latino turnout. Since George W. Bush came to office Hispanics have accounted for half of the country’s entire population growth. About ten million are expected to vote this year, compared with 7.5 million in 2004. For the first time Hispanic voters will play a prominent and possibly decisive role in the election.  

“Before, people would tell me, ‘La vota no cuenta’ — the vote doesn’t count — but now they’re seeing it differently,” Bobby Rodríguez said as he delivered absentee voting forms. “This time it counts.” 

A month ago New Mexico was considered a toss-up. But massive voter-registration drives and a grassroots “Sí, se puede” campaign have tilted the race towards Barack Obama. 

Mr Rodríguez, 69, a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), has been on the road every day since the primaries, canvassing. 

“This election is different. Those who left the party feeling disillusioned and disenfranchised are coming back.” Only last week, he added, they handed out 150 forms on the Thursday. “They were filled out by Friday”. 

He drove past pecan orchards and cotton fields to the home of María Chacón, a 39-year-old mother of six, in Mesquite. She said that she, her husband and her mother registered to vote for the first time despite having lived there for more than 30 years. They will be voting Democrat. 

Why now? “I have a 21-year-old daughter in the military, about to return to Iraq. I want her out,” she said. “That’s what made me change.” 

The next stop was a farm belonging to Ben Bolanos, on the edge of the Chihuahua desert. “I’m ready”, said the former rodeo rider who fought in Vietnam with his three brothers. As an Hispanic veteran he represents one of John McCain’s target groups. 

He said: “McCain, I respect the man very much. He was the same place I was, but somehow the Bush Administration just got hold of him. I know who I want, and that’s Obama.” 

President Bush carried New Mexico by 6,000 votes in 2004. However, latest polls show that Mr Obama leads his Republican rival by 51 per cent to 44 per cent in New Mexico. The margin widens among Hispanics, suggesting that Mr Obama is winning over supporters of Hillary Clinton. 

Pablo Martinez, the state director of LULAC, said that many Hispanic voters felt betrayed by Mr McCain, a former champion of immigration reform, after conservatives derailed the comprehensive immigration Bill he put before Congress in 2006. “It will be a long time before Hispanics can trust Republicans again,” he said. 

Mr Martinez put the blame for Mr McCain’s failure to connect with this huge, disparate group, which includes Puerto Ricans and Cuban-Americans, on the ugly undertone of “otherness” in the speeches of his running-mate. 

“McCain has also been a friend of Latinos but as soon as Sarah Palin started saying, ‘He’s not one of us’, it brought back a lot of memories . . . If she feels this way about an African-American, is she going to say the same about us too?” he asked. 

Mr Obama’s lead in New Mexico, where 42 per cent of the population is Hispanic, is being credited to a brilliant grassroots campaign. Four years ago John Kerry opened six field offices in the state. Mr Obama has 39. 

At the local Democratic Party headquarters in Las Cruces, impossibly cheerful college students man the telephones, tallying up the numbers of “houses knocked on” and “calls made”. Voter registration has been a priority, with the party claiming to have surpassed its target of registering more than 30,000 new voters during a 30-day push. “We’re hoping that is what is going to win it for us,” one volunteer beams. continues here

05:17 by Editor · 0 Post a comment on AAWR

Old Friends Say Drugs Played Only Bit Part in Obama’s Young Life
SERGE F. KOVALESKI

Nearly three decades ago, Barack Obama stood out on the small campus of Occidental College in Los Angeles for his eloquence, intellect and activism against apartheid in South Africa. But Mr. Obama, then known as Barry, also joined in the party scene.

Years later in his 1995 memoir, he mentioned smoking “reefer” in “the dorm room of some brother” and talked about “getting high.” Before Occidental, he indulged in marijuana, alcohol and sometimes cocaine as a high school student in Hawaii, according to the book. He made “some bad decisions” as a teenager involving drugs and drinking, Senator Obama, now a presidential candidate, told high school students in New Hampshire last November.

Mr. Obama’s admissions are rare for a politician (his book, “Dreams From My Father,” was written before he ran for office.) They briefly became a campaign issue in December when an adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Obama’s chief Democratic rival, suggested that his history with drugs would make him vulnerable to Republican attacks if he became his party’s nominee.

Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has never quantified his illicit drug use or provided many details. He wrote about his two years at Occidental, a predominantly white liberal arts college, as a gradual but profound awakening from a slumber of indifference that gave rise to his activism there and his fears that drugs could lead him to addiction or apathy, as they had for many other black men......Article conts (-)