America Speaks is a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute wrap-up of the historic 2008 Presidential election. Packed with gorgeous color photographs and buoyed by the insightful journalism of two of the world’s news giants, this must-have book will examine every aspect of the riveting campaign.

Readers will also travel through “50 States in 50 Days” on the historic joint ABC News/USA TODAY tour of the nation, which captures the voices of the voters as they weigh the merits of the candidates and the challenges being faced by the nation.

This comprehensive multimedia package is accompanied by a DVD that allows patriots to relive all the moments along the way toward this historic election with unforgettable moments of the past year with candidates and constituents alike.

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Triumph Books has joined forces with ABC News and USA TODAY to create a commemorative volume that will be on the wish list of every voter — America Speaks, a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute wrap-up of the historic 2008 presidential election. Packed with gorgeous color photographs and buoyed by the insightful journalism of two …
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America Speaks

Triumph Books has joined forces with ABC News and USA TODAY to create a commemorative volume that will be on the wish list of every voter — America Speaks, a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute wrap-up of the historic 2008 presidential election. Packed with gorgeous color photographs and buoyed by the insightful journalism of two of the world’s news giants, this must-have book will examine every aspect of the riveting campaign. Readers will also travel through “50 States in 50 Days” on the historic joint ABC News/USA TODAY tour of the nation, which captures the voices of the voters as they weigh the merits of the candidates and the challenges being faced by the nation.

America Speaks also includes a companion DVD introduced by Charles Gibson of ABC News.

In addition to Gibson’s foreword, a special introductory section will feature essays by some of ABC’s most popular journalists reflecting on their campaign experiences, including:

• Robin Roberts, anchor, Good Morning America

• Cynthia McFadden, anchor, Nightline

• Jake Tapper, chief political correspondent, ABC News

• Ron Claiborne, anchor, Good Morning America Weekend

• David Muir, anchor, World News Weekend

• Dan Harris, anchor, World News Weekend

• Kate Snow, anchor, Good Morning America Weekend

To learn more about America Speaks please look for these various interviews and on-air mentions:

• On Fri., Nov. 7 America Speaks will be held up and presented by DIANE SAWYER and/or ROBIN ROBERTS on Good Morning America in conjunction with the show’s election coverage

• On Fri., Nov. 7 an advertisement for America Speaks will go into rotation with USA TODAY

• On Fri., Nov. 7 USATODAY.com and ABCNEWS.com will begin featuring placements of America Speaks

• ABC News Broadcast (45 million subscribers nationwide) will air an exclusive interview with an ABC correspondent about America Speaks and/or facilitate a nationwide satellite tour with ABC affiliates in top 25 markets

Popularity: 2% [?]

People carry an U.S. flag as they celebrate U.S. President-elect Senator Barack Obama’s historic White House victory in Nairobi’s Kibera slum on Wednesday. Kenyans in Obama’s ancestral homeland sang and danced with joy on Wednesday as the Illinois senator they see as one of their own became the first black U.S. president.

Kenyan relatives of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama celebrate his victory in Nyangoma Kogelo village, 430 km (267 miles) west of Kenya’s capital Nairobi on Wednesday.

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NYANGOMA KOGELO, KENYA Some of Senator Barack Obama’s Kenyan relatives — from left to right, Said Obama, Mama Sarah and Auma Obama — met with reporters on Wednesday to talk about Mr. Obama’s victory.

James brown,say it loud I’m black and I’m proud

Mock U.S polls in Kisumu, Kenya

Obama victory celebrations in Kisumu, Kenya

Victory Celebrations in Kogelo, Kenya

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki declares public holiday

Popularity: 3% [?]

OBAMA UBARIKIWE [Translation: Obama God Bless You]

From kilimanjaroh — Samba Mapangala, the Kenyan artist who brought you Vunja Mifupa, now brings you OBAMA UBARIKIWE (Obama be blessed). The song is in praise of Barack Obama and wishes him success. It features Minneapolis-based 14-year old rapper, Fanaka Ndege. The song is in English and Swahili.

Who is Samba Mapangala?:

Samba Mapalanga & L’ochestre Virunga - Malako

Want More African Music?

GO HERE:

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SUBMIT A VIDEO (ONLY url NEEDED) HERE

Popularity: 6% [?]

He went to Kenya to discredit Barack Obama and to sell a book full of garbage and bigoted innuendo, but was kicked out of the country Tuesday night.

Immigration officer Dume Wanda (right) leads Dr Jerome Corsi, the WorldNetDaily writer and author of The Obama Nation, to a waiting security vehicle at Laico Regency hotel, on Tuesday.

Jerome Corsi was arrested shortly after 8a.m. just as he was about to address a news conference to launch his anti-Obama book in Nairobi.

He was taken to the Immigration headquarters at Nyayo House and later deported on the British Airways midnight flight out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Dr Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, which has been heavily criticised worldwide for its inaccuracies, came to Kenya more than a week ago, and had been staying with friends in Runda.

Radical Islam

He was due to launch the book, which depicts Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan, as a sympathizer of radical Islam and communism, at the Laico Regency Hotel.

But he was arrested there before he could speak and driven with an assistant, Mr Timothy M. Bueler, to Nyayo House, around 500 metres away.

The Immigration officials also impounded copies of the Obama book.

At Nyayo House, the two were held for four hours and questioned by officials led by the Director of Immigration, Mr Albert Musasia, about his presence in Kenya.

The decision to deport him was made after it emerged that Dr Corsi and Mr Bueler had entered the country as tourists, stating they intended to visit game parks.

The book launch was a commercial venture, therefore, they had contravened their immigration status.

After questioning, the two were taken to the office of the Permanent Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Kisombe, and from there through the basement to a car in which they were driven to the house where Dr Corsi had been staying in Runda for verification of his passport and visa before they were escorted to the airport.

There he and his aide were held in the Immigration office to await their flight out of the country.

A US embassy official said they were not told officially about the arrests, saying they had learnt about them from the media.

The official said Dr Corsi’s was a private individual’s visit and did not warrant comment from the embassy since he was not a US government official.

Questioned

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe commented later that the two US citizens were summoned by the Immigration department to be questioned on the status of their stay in the country.

He also said that they had chosen to fly out of the country voluntarily after being questioned.

Dr Corsi flew into Kenya last Tuesday and was booked to stay at the Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency) at 7.55am, although hotel communications manager Jenifer Wanza said he had been staying in Runda.

Dr Corsi was expected to stay at the hotel for one month.

General manager Solomon Adede later issued a statement distancing the hotel from the planned news conference, scheduled to take place at the Bogoria room.

He said the management would not allow such a function, and added: “Laico Regency is a law-abiding institution and does not condone any smear campaigns.”

He said the booking for the Press conference had been made by Mr Peter Mbae, editor-in-chief of The Eagle Christian magazine.

NTV Kenya — Obama smear author deported

Mr Mbae founded the newspaper and has played an active role in religious organisations. Posters that were announcing the news conference were quickly pulled down at the hotel.

Kenya features prominently in Dr Corsi’s book, The Obama Nation, which has been seen primarily as a vehicle to run a smear campaign against Mr Obama.

Dr Corsi states early in the book that Kenya will play a key part in his account because “Barack Obama himself tells us that Kenya is an important part of who he is, even today.”

But the book has been widely criticised for containing many inaccuracies and distortions.

When it was released, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said: “Jerome Corsi is a discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago.”

Similar attacks were published about former presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton during their campaigns to reach the White House.

Perhaps significantly both went on to win the presidency.

Dr Corsi, a well-known right-wing author, used Prime Minister Raila Odinga as a means of attacking Mr Obama on the two fronts of radical Islam and communism.

The Prime Minister, portrayed as a close associate of Mr Obama, is described as “a Muslim sympathizer with well-known communist political roots.”

Obama’s father

The book suggests that Mr Odinga might be a Muslim, even though, as it admits, he “today professes to be an Anglican.”

The book also attacks Obama’s father Mr Barack Obama Snr, who came from Siaya in Nyanza Province and who died in 1982, referring to him as “an alcoholic polygamist” and a Muslim who gravitated to the “more extreme communist position openly advocated by and identified with Oginga Odinga.”

The book distorts Mr Obama’s political views and associations — often by means of inaccuracies — in an attempt to destroy his image as a new-style politician able to bridge cultural, racial and ideological divides.

References:

1. Anti-Obama author kicked out of Kenya
2. Drama as anti-Obama author is deported
3. Jerome S. Corsi Spearheads incendiary ‘Bigot Ad’ Campaign in Macomb County, Michigan
4. Debunking Jerome ‘Bigot’ Corsi’s Smear Attack Book: ‘The Obama Nation’

Popularity: 7% [?]

By DONALD KIPKORIR

Why Kenya and Ethiopia ought to annex and divide Somalia

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Last month, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, the world’s foremost investment banks, went bankrupt and we witnessed the financial chaos in the western capitals.

In the fog of international headlines on finding a financial bail-out in Washington, a rag-tag army of 50 semi-naked men on rickety boats captured a ship carrying 33 T-72 tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns off the coast of Somalia.

The capture of mv Faina and the stalemated talks amid the surrounding American and Russian warships made me think that maybe this is the time to find a final solution to the Somali problem.

Since 1960, the country has been a lawless state that is a haven for terrorists and pirates. The pirates have told us the destination of the captured weaponry causing tension and panic in Washington, Nairobi and Khartoum.

If it is true that the final consignee was the government of Southern Sudan, as they allege, I will be on the same page with the Kibaki government for the first time.

I am a fervent supporter of a strategic foreign policy even if it attracts us enemies of such malevolent and despotic regimes as that of Khartoum.

Supporting the Southern Sudan government is in our long-term strategic interest and we should not shy from it. The truth of the matter is that as a Western ally, Kenya is an existential enemy of Arab countries, Sudan included.

Annexing Somalia is thus in our strategic interest and we must do it now as the financial meltdown continues to take away the attention of the world.

Somalia as a state exists only in world maps. It is a classic case of a failed state. It is a state dismembered into as many independent units as there are sub-clans. Its 90-strong cabinet is emblematic of the actual number of units.

The Horn of Africa country has no functioning government. The so-called transitional federal government, led by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, is confined to a shell-shocked presidential compound.

There is no standing or even sitting army or judicial systems. By all accounts, Somalia is a black hole in international law. Together with Afghanistan and Pakistan they are known as the training grounds and refuge for international terrorism.

Kenya has been a victim of such terrorism, leading to near-destruction of its tourism industry. We cannot afford another such attack. We have the potential to develop our tourism to compete with, if not outpace, Egypt and South Africa. But we cannot do so if Somalia continues to be a non-state.

Somalia neighbours Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Of these, it is only Ethiopia and Kenya that have strategic interest in Somalia. Djibouti is a primitive entrepot that can’t even supply water to its 600,000 people, who are forced to drink that imported from France or Coca Cola. Therefore, Djibouti is out in the quest for the final solution to the Somali puzzle.

Kenya and Ethiopia must and ought to dismember Somalia and divide it between themselves along the 4 degrees latitude, each taking all the land below and above the line.

The division will make both countries extend their territories by roughly 300,000sq km and additional populations of about five million.

Once Kenya and Ethiopia have sent their combined army to Somalia and declared the annexation, we will present to the world a fait accompli.

In 1845, America annexed Texas from Mexico and forced the Texan legislature to pass a specific legislation stating that it accepted the annexation. The annexation has stood to date and, for good measure, President George W. Bush is a proud American Texan.

For Kenya and Ethiopia, having the Somali legislature to endorse the annexation will be cake-walk. At any given time, most, if not all, Somali legislators are in Nairobi.

We will have them convene in one of our hotels and to pass the appropriate statutes dividing their country.

When the allied forces liberated Germany from Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, they sent the bill to Berlin.

Our cost of annexing Somalia will be settled by Mogadishu. Somalia is known to have huge deposits of oil, natural gas, uranium and iron ore. Immediately after the annexation, we will invite our strategic foreign friends (not China please) to come and exploit the resources for us.

Kenyans ought to know that although Somalia is a failed state, its positive statistics are impressive. Without a structured economy, its gross national income per capita is US$600 (Sh40,000), when ours is $550 (Sh36,800). Of its universities that operate without budgets and with armed militia guarding them, three are in Africa’s top 100.

International law forbids the use of force by states against the territorial integrity and political independence of others. Somalia doesn’t have either.

But the law also recognises irreversible processes like the extinction of states such as in the USSR, emergence of new states from former USSR and Yugoslavia, and annexations like that of Texas. International order hates reversing completed processes, more so if the world is a better place.

If we do not annex Somalia and now, we will be a victim of its failed status and pulled down by it. We will not be able to achieve our strategic foreign policy in the region, or attain the Vision 2030 goal.

The time to annex and dismember Somalia is now; Washington and Moscow will be grateful.

[Enlarge] About The Author: Donald Kipkorir — Mr. Kipkorir is a lawyer and partner at the law firm of Kipkorir, Titoo & Kiara, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Kipkorir, Titoo & Kiara was established in 1996 and currently has 8 lawyers and 2 consultants as well as a capable team of paralegal and support staff. | More Articles By Daniel Kipkorir |

Popularity: 6% [?]