With Joe Klein in the tank for Barack and Dick Morris calling Odinga a client, the whole story has not been told and, for America's sake, it better unfold (very quickly, for Hillary's sake, not THAT quickly for McCain's).
Pamela Geller, Israel National News.com, January 9, 2008: "The recent revelations of [Barack] Obama's ties to Raila Odinga in Kenya are disconcerting... because Odinga is behind the terrible violence in his country. It was he who instigated bloody riots and killing after he lost the election. Obama's bias for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenyan government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila's 'stooge.' And while there are few angels in Kenya, Odinga is the source of great unrest and turmoil; and the {Memorandum of Understanding] he signed with the Muslim Council to institute sharia [Islamic law] is a foreshadowing of a dark fate for Kenya."
Unsurprisingly, what Joe Klein left out of his Time article extolling Barack ("Obama's Other Life") is much more important than what he included and he really spun like a top for the liberal media darling.
Mr. Klein:
"One of the more extraordinary stories of the Obama campaign has been playing out behind the scenes over the past week as the candidate has been working on a daily basis to try to calm things down in his father's homeland and his grandmother's home, Kenya, where a contested election has led to riots.
"On January 1, two days before the Iowa caucuses, Obama left a message for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. According to Robert Gibbs, Obama's Communications Director, Rice called back 'as we were driving from Sioux City to Council Bluffs on January 1. They talked about the situation and Rice asked Obama to tape a Voice of America message calling for calm.' Obama taped the message on January 2, after a rally in Davenport, Iowa. He said, in part:
'Despite irregularities in the vote tabulation, now is not the time to throw that strong democracy away. Now is a time for President Kibaki, opposition leader Odinga, and all of Kenya’s leaders to call for calm, to come together, and to start a political process to address peacefully the controversies that divide them. Now is the time for this terrible violence to end.
'Kenya’s long democratic journey has at times been difficult. But at critical moments, Kenyans have chosen unity and progress over division and disaster. The way forward is not through violence – it is through democracy, and the rule of law. To all of Kenya’s people, I ask you to renew Kenya’s democratic tradition, and to seek your dreams in peace.'
"On January 3, the day of the caucuses, he had a conversation with Bishop Desmond Tutu, who had flown to Nairobi to see if he could begin negotiations with the factions. In the days since his Iowa victory, Obama has had near-daily conversations with the U.S. Ambassador in Kenya or with opposition leader Raila Odinga. As of late this afternoon, before his rally in Rochester, N.H., Obama was trying to reach Kenyan President Kibaki.
"I haven't been able to talk to Obama directly about this--he is sort of busy right now--but it does seem noteworthy that, in the midst of the most amazing week of his life, Barack Obama has found the time to do a some diplomatic scut-work. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of this sort of thing if he wins the nomination and is elected President."
With Joe Klein in the tank for Barack and Dick Morris calling Odinga a client, the whole story has not been told and, for America's sake, it better unfold (very quickly, for Hillary's sake, not THAT quickly for McCain's).
"I HAVE always believed in freedom, ...democracy, tolerance, diversity, social justice and good governance....The strength, resilience and spirit of the poor and disadvantaged of our country motivated my actions. The people...deserve so much more than a list of their problems. We have lived our lives under successive governments that have lacked purpose and integrity. Now we need solutions. We need action. We need leadership.
"Our country requires a different style of political leadership, as well as a different style of politics. This means a willingness to listen as well as to guide, a commitment to explain as well as set out our choices, and the courage to spell out the costs as well as the benefits of proposals and policies.
"I am weary of the failure of old policies and tired men. [The country] is once again at the crossroads and a new society is struggling to be born. We are on the side of the future, and [I am] the only agent of change and hope But we cannot be agents of change if we believe in 'business as usual' and if we are afraid of making tough decisions and choices that will drive [our country] forward...."
Senator Barack Hussein Obama?
No, Raila Amolo Odinga.
In August 2006, Barack made his third trip to his thrice-married Muslim father's homeland, Kenya, and publicly spoke in the Kenyan capitol, Nairobi, in favor of his host, Odinga, enthusiastically enough to be denounced by a Kenyan government spokesman as Odinga's "stooge," as Ms. Geller reported.
Odinga claims to be Barack's paternal first cousin (a much closer relationship than Barack "enjoys" with Vice President Cheney).
"Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he is a cousin of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
"Mr Odinga told the BBC's The World Today that Senator Obama's father was his maternal uncle."
Most American probably now know that Barack's father was a Kenyan Muslim and many know that Barack's Muslim paternal "grandmother" is following the 2008 presidential race from Kenyan.
But that's about all that's generally known about Barack's Kenyan relatives.
Voters should know much more, and sooner rather than later.
Barack has acknowledged Vice President Dick Cheney as a cousin on his mother's side, albeit without any sign of affection.
The full extent of Barack's tie to Odinga seems to be something he prefers not to acknowledge.
Barack should tell the voters about cousin Raila as well as cousin Dick.
Odinga is not a household name in the United States, of course, but it is in Kenya.
Wikipedia: "Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician. He has served as a Member of Parliament since 1992, was Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and was Minister of Roads, Public Works and Housing from 2003 to 2005. He was the main opposition candidate in the disputed 2007 presidential election. Odinga is the son of the first Vice President of Kenya, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga; his brother, Oburu Odinga, is also currently an MP."
Odinga was running for president of Kenya while Barack was running here in the United States.
Wikipedia:
"Odinga launched his presidential campaign in Uhuru Park in Nairobi on October 6, 2007, which saw a record attendance in this or any other venue in independent Kenya. The police estimated an attendance of close to 450,000."
Just as Barack (author of Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, a memoir published in 1995 after Barack was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review but before his political career began), has been trying to distance himself from his father's religion (Islam), Odinga has tried to distance himself from his father's politics (socialist).
Wikipedia: "At his website, Raila lists himself as a social democrat, thus making distance from his father, who was openly socialist. His party, the LDP, is affiliated to the Liberal International."
Odinga's official website (/www.raila07.com) bills him (no kidding!) as "the People's President" and "your Agent for Change" and has links to "Register for Change" and "Vote for Change."
Odinga ran unsuccessfully for president of Kenya in 2007, claiming that "[w]ith [his] candidacy, Kenyans finally have the opportunity to reject 'politics as usual'...and vote for positive change" and he "is the only candidate that represents the kind of change that Kenyans have been yearning for."
Do those lines seem familiar?
Odinga's slogan: "Make the right decision--together, let us realize that dream of our nation."
Odinga says that his "social, political and economic agenda...embraces education, social empowerment, the environment, health and infrastructure."
Odinga says that he believes in "fiscal responsibility, effective institutions, rule of law and good governance" and insists that the private sector "must be managed with prudence."
Odinga's very strong on generalities!
But his website included this very interesting specific nestled in the section on the professional life of Odinga's wife Ida: "Many women in prominent positions today passed through Ida's hands during her tenure as a teacher....includ[ing] Auma Obama, sister to US Senator Barack Obama. and a UK social worker."
Note: Odinga reportedly cut a deal for the Muslim vote in Kenya.
Wikipedia: "In 2007 Raila Odinga was rumored to have signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Muslim Leaders Forum, NAMLEF. Kenyan Muslim leaders denied that the MOU promised to introduce Sharia for Muslims if it won elections, but said its deal with the Orange Democratic Movement was to end the current discrimination against Muslims."
The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya posted on its website a photographic copy of the Memorandum of Understanding, dated and signed on August 29, 2007, between Odinga and Shiekh Abdullah Abdi, chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum of Kenya.
The memorandum specified 14 actions, listed a) through n), that Odinga would take as Kenyan president including: b) within 6 months re-writing the Constitution of Kenya "to recognize Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions"; c) dismissing the Commissioner of Police "who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists to oppress the Kenyan Muslim community"; and g) within one year facilitating the establishment of a Shariah court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters [that is, throughout Kenya, not just in "Muslim declared regions."].
It is undisputed that Odinga became politically ambitious long ago and spent many years in jail.
Wikipedia:
"[Odinga] was placed under house arrest for seven months after being suspected of collaborating with the plotters of a failed coup attempt against President Daniel Arap Moi in 1982. [Odinga] was charged with treason and was detained without trial for six years.
"A biography released in July 2006 suggested that [Odinga] was more involved in the coup than previously thought. After its publication, some MPs called for [Odinga] to be arrested and charged, but the statute of limitations had already passed and, since the information was contained in a biography, Raila could not be said to have openly confessed his involvement.
"Released on February 6th, 1988, he was rearrested in September, 1988 for his involvement with the Kenya Revolutionary Movement (KRM), an underground organization pressing for multi-party democracy in Kenya, which was then a one-party state.
"[Odinga] was released on June 12th, 1989, only to be incarcerated again on July 5th, 1990, together with Kenneth Matiba, and former Nairobi Mayor Charles Rubia. [Odinga] was released on June 21st, 1991, and in October, he fled the country to Norway alleging government attempts to assassinate him."
The Personal Life part of the Wikipedia article on Odinga revealed that his older son is named after Fidel Castro and his younger daughter after Winnie Mandella and reported that he "claims to be a cousin of... Barack Obama through the latter's father, Barack Obama Sr., who [he] claims was his maternal uncle" and that "Obama Sr. did come from the same Luo community as Odinga."
Maybe that's why Barack is willing to meet with Fidel without precondition!
Odinga's Marxist father sent him to school in EAST Germany during the Cold War.
This information shines a new light on National Journal's designation of Barack as the most liberal United States Senator.
"I think everyone needs to take another look at Barack Obama, his history, his church and his continuing connection to sharia law in Kenya:
Obama appears to have sided with opposition leader Raila Odinga, head of the same Luo tribe to which Obama's late Muslim father belonged.
Obama's older brother still lives there. Abongo 'Roy' Obama is a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argues that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture.' He urges his younger brother to embrace his African heritage.
Beyond family politics, these ties have potential foreign policy, even national security, implications.
Odinga is a Marxist who reportedly has made a pact with a hard-line Islamic group in Kenya to establish Shariah courts throughout the country. He has also vowed to ban booze and pork and impose Muslim dress codes on women — moves favored by Obama's brother.
With al-Qaida strengthening its beachheads in Africa — from Algeria to Sudan to Somalia — the last thing the West needs is for pro-Western Kenya to fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.
Yet Obama interrupted his New Hampshire campaigning to speak by phone with Odinga, who claims to be his cousin. He did not speak with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.
Would Obama put African tribal or family interests ahead of U.S. interests? (continue reading at Investors Business Daily)
"On Jan. 1, the world learned from major news sources that some churches and their occupants were burned in Kenya by Kenyans who didn't like the outcome of a recent election. The media failed to report that these were MUSLIMS killing and destroying Christians and their churches.
Why do the Muslims back the more left-leaning Odinga? Like leftists in Europe and America, Odinga and his faction want to use Islam to oppose Christianity, which is seen as an impediment to the left's agenda. [snip]
We are talking about objectivity and its dire lack in the media.
It seems pretty clear that the mainstream media have two reasons for omitting the details of the story:
1. They sympathize with Islam because it is the 'enemy of the enemy,' namely, Christianity.
2. They are cowards hoping to avoid a confrontation with Islam in their home countries. (WND)
"I suggest a number 3. That Barack Obama is a media darling, has direct connections to Kenya and Odinga, and the press doesn't want American voters to be aware of this connection."
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
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