Tolu Ogunlesi in the Guardian:

Seventeen years after he left office, Babangida, now a 68-year-old widower, has become the first Nigerian to announce a presidential ambition for 2011. As you would expect, the disclosure has set Nigeria on fire – everyone is talking. Most of the voices are of anger, disbelief and surprise. How dare Babangida? A man who annulled the least controversial election Nigeria has had in its 50-year history, now turns around to say he wants to be elected into office?

More here

Michael Barone is one of my favorite writers, and I always enjoy his stuff on the Detroit News. Recently he wrote an excellent analysis of what is really going on with these Democrat proposals to 'regulate' the banking industry. Read about it in 'Gangster Government' ready to expand:

Almost a year ago, in a column on the Chrysler bailout, I reflected on the Obama administration's decision to force bondholders to accept 33 cents on the dollar on secured debts while giving United Auto Worker retirees 50 cents on the dollar on unsecured debts.

This was a clear violation of the ordinary bankruptcy rule that secured creditors are fully paid off before unsecured creditors get anything. The politically connected UAW folk got preference over politically unconnected bondholders. "We have just seen an episode of Gangster Government," I wrote. "It is likely to be a continuing series."

You may want to believe the denials that the Democratic commissioners timed the action in coordination with the administration or congressional leaders. But then you may want to believe there was no political favoritism in the Chrysler deal, too. It looks a lot like Gangster Government to me.

The Dodd bill, however, has it trumped. Its provisions promise to give us one episode of Gangster Government after another.

At the top of the list is the $50 billion fund that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp could use to pay off creditors of firms identified as systemically risky -- i.e., "too big to fail."

"The Dodd bill," writes Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., "has unlimited executive bailout authority. That's something Wall Street desperately wants but doesn't dare ask for."

Politically connected creditors would have every reason to assume they'd get favorable treatment. The Dodd bill specifically authorizes the FDIC to treat "creditors similarly situated" differently.

Second, as former Bush administration economist Larry Lindsey points out, the Dodd bill gives the Treasury and the FDIC authority to grant an unlimited number of loan guarantees to "too big to fail" firms. CEOs might want to have receipts for their contributions to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Obama campaign in hand when they apply.

Lindsey ticks off other special favors. "Labor gets 'proxy access' to bring its agenda items before shareholders as well as annual 'say on pay' for executives. Consumer activists get a brand new agency funded directly out of the seniorage the Fed earns. No oversight by the Federal Reserve Board or by Congress on how the money is spent."

Then there are carve-out provisions provided for particular interests. "Obtaining a carve-out isn't rocket science," one Republican K Street lobbyist told the Huffington Post. "Just give Chairman Dodd and Chuck Schumer a ----load of money."

Barone has caught on to something important- that the type of government that Obama and the Democrats are running in Washington DC is a government that is not only corrupt, it is institutionalizing corruption and making DC a pay-to-play system. This might be par for the course in Chicago, but it shouldn't be allowed in our nations capital- vote against every Democrat on the entire ticket to show them that you don't want a gangster government.

Fatimata Ly reports from Gourounsi Land in Burkina Faso:

Not far from Pô is located the famous city of Tiébélé composed of spectacular semi-circular shaped traditional houses. In Tiébélé like in Pô, the facades are decorated with black, white and brown geometric signs and symbols. The black is obtained from graphite, the white from kaolin and the brown is a mixture of earthy tones and nere (Parkia Biglobosa) also used to colorize and seal ceramics. The regular patterns symbolize the culture, the history of the Kassena community part of the Gourounsi people.

More here

“When I was a kid, green to me was the color of one of my crayons." So says Debbie Dunn, who now runs a project to make kids see green not as a favorite color, but as a religion to worship. Look, I like the environment- I was a Boy Scout, I don't litter, I support efficient use of materials and little waste, and I go hiking and fishing and stuff. But as a teacher, who has an aggressive curriculum to teach, I get very pissed off at hearing how my tax money is being used to bribe teachers to instead preach the green religion at innocent students.

The Oakland Press has a glowing story about this called Oakland County schools reap awards for green activities in today's paper. The story is about schools in Oakland County that have adopted a 'green' curriculum and now have their students work on various 'green' projects and compete in a competition, where high priests judge the merits and worth of the sacrifices of young brainwashed students.

Students at Clarkston’s Sashabaw Middle School raised salmon in a tank of water as part of their ‘green’ activities geared to save the planet. They didn't eat the salmon- they just raised them in a sterile environment, tapped on the glass a lot, used up water and food and time and energy on it, and then tossed the fish out when it died and patted themselves on their backs over how 'green' they were.

Youngsters at Harlan Elementary in Birmingham wrote letters to government officials to protest excessive and wasteful packaging of toys, and this made them second-place winner in the competition. They were told what to write by their teachers and provided with one-sided information lacking in critical thinking, and then the teachers dictated letters to the impressionable youths who dutifully wrote them out, signed their name to them, and now can feel good about being 'green.'

One activity that Oakland Schools Superintendent Vicki Markavitch was particularly proud of was the organizing of power police teams. “There is nothing more passionate than a team of 10-year-old power police,” said Markavitch, who was excited about young kids being taught how to organize themselves in groups and then demand that other people turn off lights or turn off equipment, even though they don't own that equipment or run those facilities. Nothing like breeding 'green' thugs at a nice young age.

Maybe it's just me, but looking at the pictures from the event, I'm a little uneasy about all the crazy eyes the adults have. I mean, it's cool to be passionate about the environment and saving trees and clean water and all that, but it's almost like they are preaching a religion or something.

Republicans, especially national Republicans and moderate Republicans, are idiots, and because they are idiots, they will make the Tea Party destroy the Republican Party. Let me back up- I just read today that rather then let the conservative Republican candidate Mark Rubio win the Senate seat in Florida, moderate Republican candidate Charlie Crist is going to run as an independent if he doesn't win the Republican nomination.

Mark Rubio won the backing of the Tea Party movement and embraced its principles of limited government, personal freedom, individual liberty, and a free market, and because of that national Republicans encouraged Crist to run as an independent. The result is that the Democratic nominee will win that Senate race.

Some Tea Party people are going to assume that this means that national Republicans and moderate Republicans would rather a big government liberal Democrat win political power than allow conservatives to win power, and a growing number of them then will turn on the Republican party that turned on them and punish them at the polls, by voting independent, 'Conservative Party,' or staying home. The national Republicans are going to destroy the Republican Party in their attempt to silence their best chance at getting back in power.

The Tea Party is going to destroy the Republican Party- because the Republicans in the party are idiots.

Fred Mutebi uses "...a vibrant array of colors, he creates woodcut prints that depict stories about critical social events in Uganda or that portray images indigenous to the Ugandan environment. The works are made even more authentic by his use of a special technique called the “progressive reduction method”, which prevents the production of more than ten woodcut prints of the same composition..." artists website

New contract for D.C. teachers won't be certified - wtop.com

Helen Epstein writing in NYRB:

The Western Renaissance helped to democratize “the word” so that all of us could speak of our own individual struggles, and this added new meaning and urgency to the alleviation of the suffering of others. The problem with foreign aid in Ethiopia is that both the Ethiopian government and its donors see the people of this country not as individuals with distinct needs, talents, and rights but as an undifferentiated mass, to be mobilized, decentralized, vaccinated, given primary education and pit latrines, and freed from the legacy of feudalism, imperialism, and backwardness. It is this rigid focus on the “backward masses,” rather than the unique human person, that typically justifies appalling cruelty in the name of social progress.

More here

Featured In The Washington Afro Newpaper

J. Skyler Fernandes and Lena Sene write in Huffington Post:

According to the 2009 Milken Institute report "Stimulating Investment in Emerging-Market SMEs," they account for 57 percent of employment and over 50 percent of GDP in developed countries. But in the developing countries, they contribute only 18 percent of employment and 16 percent of GDP. The report concludes that "if barriers to their growth were removed, SMEs would contribute more to economic development by providing jobs and income, expanding the middle class, broadening the tax base and ultimately decreasing poverty levels."...[continue reading]

Yesterday was Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (April 24). The word ‘genocide’ is a recent word that means destroying, either in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. This can be done by killing them all off, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life that are calculated to kill them off, imposing measures on the group intended to prevent births by the group, forcibly transferring children of the group to another group, and trying to breed the group out of existence by raping the women of the group.

The 20th Century has a brutal legacy of genocide, and it all started with the Armenian Genocide from 1915-1923. Before Darfur (current day), before Bosnia (1995), before Rwanda (1994), before Cambodia (1975-1979), before the Nazi Holocaust of Jews and Poles and Gypsies (1938-1945), and before the Ukrainian Famine, there was the Armenian Genocide. Hitler once justified his Holocaust by asking “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

In the Armenian Genocide, more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed out of 2 million. The main reason for this was a desire to ‘Turkify’ the Ottoman Empire and kill off all non-Muslims (Armenians were largely Christian). Armenian men were drafted into the army to fight WWI- and then were disarmed and put into labor camps, where they were soon starved or killed. Groups of government officials spread rumors of the Armenians betraying Turkey, blamed them for the losses Turkey was suffering during WWI, and demanded ‘justice.’ In April 24, 1915, all community leaders were systematically rounded up and put to death. After that, as WWI spread and became more confusing and disorganized, armed groups would come into Armenian villages and kill off the rest of the men or make them go on death marches, rape or carry off the women to use as slaves, kidnap or enslave the children, loot the village of all valuables, and then chase off remaining Armenians (who then later died of starvation, exposure, or brutality). By 1923, Armenian was simply a memory- 4000+ years of history wiped away like it never existed- churches, monasteries, schools, people, possessions were all destroyed or gone. Even the Armenian names of cities, villages, and rivers were changed.

The official line in Turkey is that the number of people that died has been grossly inflated, and the evidence of this genocide comes from dubious and prejudicial sources. Turkey claims that more Muslims than Christians died during the same period in the chaos that engulfed Turkey during and after WWI. Turkey says that Ottoman officials were tried for crimes against the Armenians and were acquitted, and that the word ‘genocide’ wasn’t even around until after WWII, and that the Holocaust isn’t anything like what happened in Turkey to the Armenians. In 2004, Turkey passed Article 301, which makes it a crime to even talk about the Armenian Genocide, and Turkey today spends millions lobbying the US to try to defeat efforts here in the US to recognize the genocide. Turkey even gives millions to prestigious universities to fund studies of the ‘Turkish view’ of the genocide and offers scholarships to people who will write books or articles denying that the genocide ever took place.

Typical for the waffling spineless President that he is, Barack Obama refused to call what happened in Armenia from 1915-1923 a genocide, instead 'artfully' finding a middle ground on the issue, much like Chamberlain did when confronted by a similar display of evil. "On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that ninety-five years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began," Obama said in a statement.... " It is in all of our interest to see the achievement a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts." He then refused to call what took place in Armenia a 'genocide' and mouthed vague words of nothingness to mark the occasion.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) rapped Obama for "disgraceful capitulation to Turkey's threats" and of "offering euphemisms and evasive terminology to characterize this crime against humanity," in a press release Saturday. I agree.

While it is important to maintain relations with Turkey, and while we badly need their support on a bunch of important subjects, the truth is the truth, and it is black and white. Obama should recognize the truth and quit trying to make everything so grey.

Chanda Chisala writes:

European countries have been struggling these past few weeks with the issue of financially aiding Greece out of its deepening economic crisis. Surprisingly, the same countries that always readily recommend and prescribe IMF “assistance” for African countries have found themselves wrestling with accepting this route for Greece because it is supposedly “humiliating” and “embarrassing.”...[continue reading]

Brian Tierney looks at the furor over the attempts of Washington, D.C., school officials to hide a budget surplus in order to cut teacher jobs and push a union-busting contract. This article is a must read for all DCPS teachers and related school personnel. Tierney offers an insightful analysis of the Washington Teachers Union and WTU's Tentative Agreement as negotiated by union president George Parker and AFT President Randi Weingarten. Tierney writes: "....THE WTU and AFT are again focusing on a court challenge of the layoffs. But a bolder fight needs to be waged, one that mobilizes rank-and-file teachers and couples militant action with legal battles in the courtroom.

Rhee is not invincible: despite her powerful backers, among D.C. residents, her approval ratings have plunged considerably over the past year.

But Fenty and Rhee are unlikely to be stopped as long as they continue to enjoy a docile WTU leadership in Parker's presidency. Parker has given Rhee a free hand to attack the union, push for charters and resegregate D.C. schools. In 2008, Rhee went so far as to praise Parker as "a great union leader" and a "a great union president."

Thus, the May union election will likely be a referendum on Parker's record in dealing with Rhee. Parker's main challenger is Nathan Saunders, the current WTU vice president.

Saunders, who ran on the same slate as Parker in the last union election, broke with his former ally when Parker failed to stand up to Rhee. Saunders charges Parker with being an ineffective union president who has allowed teachers to lose job security, pay raises and benefits.

"I am not campaigning against an individual," Saunders wrote on his Web site. "Rather [I'm campaigning] against reactionary and political responses which continue to unnecessarily burden teachers and yield minimal gains toward a positive public education experience for our children." Saunders continued: "Teachers must be committed to reclaiming our voice in the 'reform' debate as the experts in public education."

A great deal is at stake in both the coming union election and the contract vote--which, depending on the outcome of the budget debate, could be many weeks away. The choice that WTU members make in both will have a major impact on the ongoing war over the future of D.C. public schools."

In the Economist:

...a combination of challenges and opportunities is producing a fizzing cocktail of creativity. Because so many consumers are poor, companies have to go for volume. But because piracy is so commonplace, they also have to keep upgrading their products. Again the similarities with Japan in the 1980s are striking. Toyota and Honda took to “just-in-time” inventories and quality management because land and raw materials were expensive. In the same way emerging-market companies are turning problems into advantages....the emerging markets are developing their own distinctive management ideas, and Western companies will increasingly find themselves learning from their rivals. People who used to think of the emerging world as a source of cheap labour must now recognise that it can be a source of disruptive innovation as well.

More here

In Anansi Chronicles:

Much has been said of celebrities taking an interest in Africa. Celebrities like Oprah, Madonna, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Danny Glover and, of course, Bono,  have pusued a wide range of Africa-related causes and initiatives to mixed response here and elsewhere in the media. For their March/April issue Mother Jones magazine has put together a fun interactive map outlining which American celebrities have been most involved in which African countries. 

More here

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa "...is a Burundian human rights activist often hailed as the only person willing to stand up for the rights of Hutu, Tutsi, and Batwa in a time of ruthless civil dispute. He served on the police force of Burundi until December of 1994, when he was imprisoned for two years due to false accusations. Upon his release, he founded the Burundian Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons. Despite government threats, Mbonimpa continues to campaign courageously against torture and to expose the mistreatment of detainees in holding cells in rural Burundi. He has addressed the plight of 9,000 prisoners awaiting trial in the country’s overcrowded prisons and organized events at which police and military representatives have had to face questions from human rights activists and victims. Mbonimpa has fearlessly denounced the harassment and imprisonment of members of civil society. He is a recipient of the 2007 Martin Ennals Award..."Oslo Freedom Forum

Happy Lenin’s Birthday
Is it a coincidence that I'm wishing you this today? I don’t think so. Earth Day arrives on the exact same day as Lenin’s Birthday. One of the very first Earth day celebrations took place exactly on the 100 year anniversary of Comrade Lenin’s birthday. Many former communists saw Earth Day, with its goals and interests, as being very similar to the goals and interests of the great communist Lenin. Does this coincidence convince you that Earth Day is a big communist plot? Need more evidence?

Friends of the Earth
The group that founded “Earth Day” was a group called Friends of the Earth. This group also promotes socialism- just as strongly as it does environmentalism. It advocates economic redistribution, government regulation of nearly all aspects of people’s lives, communal land ownership, control of production in the hands of the masses, etc. Its main bogeymen are: “evil” corporations (especially the Fortune 500 companies,) Big Oil, Wall Street, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and (naturally) George Bush. Oh yeah- it also founded Earth Day too. It is not far-fetched to think that by promoting and celebrating Earth Day, perhaps some of the other aims of Friends of the Earth will be advanced. Still not convinced that Earth Day is a big communist plot? Need more evidence?

Symbol of Earth Day
The symbol of the first Earth Day is a circle with a broken cross, with the bars pointing downward. It is a New Age symbol meaning the rejection of Christianity. The goal was to replace the worship of the Christian religion with the worship of Mother Earth. Communist ideology demand you worship the state and not a Christian god, and so communists frequently also attack the church. Earth Day then fits very nicely with the goals of communists. Still not convinced that Earth Day is a big communist plot? Need more evidence?

Motives of Earth Day activists
According to wikipedia, the goal of Earth Day is to push for: Total state control of society, especially businesses and industry (to help the environment, I guess). Recognition of the sacred nature of Mother Earth, including an almost reverent worship of anything ‘green’ (to help the environment, I guess). Using force to change people’s behavior (to help the environment, I guess). Stopping or slowing ‘development’ or ‘progress’, to return to a Utopian world of equality (to help the environment, I guess). These goals are the goals of communists, are they not? Still not convinced that Earth Day is a big communist plot? Need more evidence?

More Evidence: Earthday.net
Here are some of the goals, issues, and beliefs on www.earthday.net, one of the official websites promoting Earth Day: “Join the Revolution”! Pass laws that give more power to the government, in order to ‘stop global warming’. Stop building any new energy producing plants. “Protect the poor and middle class from unfairly bearing the cost of climate crisis” by increasing taxes on the rich and redistributing that money to the poor and middle class. Unite all religions in the name of global warming. Teach children in schools less about rights and more about the environment, and their responsibility to fight poverty. Still not convinced that Earth Day is a big communist plot? Need more evidence?

More Evidence: The Wilderness Society
For teachers, The Wilderness Society (an environmental group) has resources on how to teach about Earth Day. Here are some of them: A coloring book for 3rd graders with the theme of “Stop drilling in ANWR”. A timeline that 7th graders can construct of all the laws that government passed, to see the “progress” of government. Stories to read about ‘environmental heroes’- also (coincidentally) all good revolutionary communists

Bush’s Version of Earth Day
Under Republican President George Bush, the official government version of Earth Day was a bit different. According to the EPA website then, as declared by President Bush, Earth Day was more about: Celebrating the gains we have made in protecting the environment. Achieving meaningful results in protecting the environment. Encouraging volunteer efforts to save energy, reduce or recycle, and educate yourself to be more friendly to the environment. Taking pride in America by maintaining our public lands

Obama’s Version of Earth Day
Under Democrat President Barack Obama, the official government version of Earth Day though looks very much like Lenin’s birthday. According to the EPA website now, according to President Obama, Earth Day is about: Learning about environmental justice, which is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Earth Day is about lobbying your local school to spend less time teaching reading and math and more time teaching environmental protection. Most importantly, Earth Day is about engaging in celebrations and festivals of worship on this most holy of days.

Earth Day: A Communist Plot
So, today when the news runs story after story about Earth Day, when teachers encourage you to ‘celebrate’ Earth Day, when google and yahoo ‘go green’, you can now respond back by saying-

“Happy Earth Day too, comrade”.

"...The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.We have 1200+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan..."

Time travel back to 5 short years ago. The Democratic Party was frantically doing everything possible to pull our troops out of Iraq. Leaders in the party demanded an immediate withdrawal from the unwinnable war. Political lines in the sand were drawn, reputations were staked, bitter battles were fought, all by Democrats who were all against the War in Iraq. Our President, supported by angry demonstrators, regularly shouted about how bad the War in Iraq was. So what happened?

This question has importance, and is not asked simply to dwell on the past. It speaks to the credibility, the experience, the ability to accurately judge and predict events, of our current leadership. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Peters- they all had the same position on Iraq, and time has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that on that very very important issue, they were very very wrong.

Victor Davis Hanson recently wrote a great article called So What Happened to Iraq? that analyzed this very question:

Six years ago, the conventional wisdom was that Ayad Allawi, then prime minister of the appointed Iraqi Interim Government, was a puppet of the United States. Last month, though, the Allawi-led Iraqiya alliance won, by a narrow margin, more parliamentary seats than any other coalition in national elections -- and he may become the country's next prime minister.

The secular Allawi successfully campaigned on the message of curbing religious interference in government -- countering the often-argued charge that the U.S. has created a radical Islamic republic in Iraq.

Indeed, as we look back at our years in Iraq, almost all of what once passed for conventional wisdom has been proven wrong.

Yes, there is still terrorist violence in Iraq -- especially recently as the leadership of the country's next government remains in doubt. And, yes, there are still around 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq. But in the first three months of 2010, the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq was about equal to those murdered in Fresno, Calif.

Meanwhile, Iraq's democracy has for some time now proven itself independent from the U.S. -- and that old anti-war accusations that we entered the war to control Iraqi oil were false. Last June, the representative Iraqi government held its first oil auction -- featuring transparent negotiations in which no American oil company was awarded an oil concession.

Instead, Chinese, Russian, British, French and other national oil consortia were given the awards. These were legitimate contracts, too -- not the sweetheart deals Saddam Hussein used to make with other governments in exchange for international political cover.

After the U.S. removed the monstrous Saddam, many argued that we were only empowering neighboring Iran -- and thus that the U.S. and the region were better off when he was in power. Putting aside the morality of playing one dictatorship off against another, has theocratic Iran really benefited from the emergence of a constitutional democracy in Iraq?

Currently, the Iranian theocracy is far more unpopular among Iranians than the Iraqi democracy is among Iraqis. Ending Saddam Hussein's reign in the short-term might have been welcome to the ruling Iranian mullahs, but a nearby functioning secular constitutional state -- with a Shiite majority -- is becoming its worst nightmare. Millions of restless Iranians must now wonder, "If Iraqi Shiites can talk freely on television, why can't we?"

Given Iraq's progress these last years, it's hard to find anyone who still argues -- as the current troika now directing U.S. foreign policy, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, once did -- that President Bush's 2007 troop surge was a mistake.

To a then-Sen. Clinton, the surge's purported success required a "suspension of disbelief." But, as we now know, the surge saved Iraq and provided a blueprint of sorts for operations in Afghanistan.

Finally, there was the assertion that anti-war protests were all genuinely based on opposition to the American presence in Iraq rather than fueled, in large part, by partisan politics. But since January 2009, when Obama was sworn into office, there have been almost no anti-war demonstrations against the still-sizable American presence there. Popular demonstrations in the U.S. now oppose excessive government, not the war.

And Hollywood has ceased making its usual, unpopular anti-war movies like "In the Valley of Elah," "Redacted," "The Kingdom," "Rendition," "Lions for Lambs" and "Home of the Brave."

Many on the left no longer oppose the Bush-Petraeus plan of slow, graduated withdrawal from Iraq, as this strategy is now sanctioned by President Obama. In the words of Vice President Biden, Iraq may well become one of the Obama administration's "greatest achievements."

It's true that many original supporters of the three-week removal of Saddam Hussein underestimated the ordeal of establishing a constitutional state in his absence. But it's also evident that many who damned the war did so mainly to embarrass then-President George Bush.

We see all of this mostly in hindsight. Dire assertions about Iraq did not come to pass. Anti-war passion cooled once war-critic Barack Obama was no longer a presidential candidate but became president -- and commander-in-chief. And, most importantly, a successful democracy finally did arise after the fall of Saddam.

A lot of people ask me when I'll run for office. I already have- I am an elected official, although only for a local office. Although someday I may want to serve my nation and fight for life, liberty, and protection of property by running for some sort of higher office, right now I am content to help elect other people and advise them on education issues.

But, I just thought you might like to know about a conservative teacher who is running for Congress the Missouri 3rd District. John Wayne Tucker was a history teacher in the public schools for 27 years. He is running as an Independent Conservative Republican in the Missouri Republican primary, and may be a better choice to represent his district than another lawyer. In his primary he faces off against a long-time Republican insider and a noted RINO named Ed Martin, and in the general he'd face incumbent Democrat Russ Carnahan, who voted for cap-and-trade, for the stimulus/pork bill, and for the healthcare regulation bill.

Mr. Tucker was the wrestling coach, sponsor of his school's Ham Radio Club, and sponsored the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Tucker wants to limit spending and and the size of the government size, require a balanced budget, protect our individual liberties, fight for the Constitution, defend our borders, and rebuild our economy. He seems like a pretty solid conservative candidate.

If you want to know more or send him a couple bucks, go to his homepage at http://www.johnwaynetucker.com.

In the Daily Nation John Makeni reports on the work of Anno's Africa:

Every Saturday morning, the group of 30 little girls, drawn mainly from Valley View Academy, gather to practice the complex moves of the elite art form of ballet dancing.

Their passion is easily visible, and they do not seem to mind the extra hard work. To them, ballet has replaced the more traditional children’s games like msongesho, katilo, blada, shake and kati...“Through ballet, the girls are empowered,” says Wamaya (The Anno's ballet instructor). “The girls go through a lot in the slums. They see violence and social ills; but in ballet they find hope.”

Photo courtesy of Anthony Njoroge

Via Foreign Policy:

President Obama said last Sunday that the United States is still "working on" democracy and a top aide said he has taken "historic steps" to improve democracy in the United States during his time in office.

The remarks came as Obama met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev -- one of the U.S. president's many meetings with world leaders ahead of this week's nuclear summit.

NSC senior director Mike McFaul said on a conference call with reporters Sunday. "Both presidents agreed that you don't ever reach democracy; you always have to work at it. And in particular, President Obama reminded his Kazakh counterpart that we, too, are working to improve our democracy." McFaul further said. "[Obama's] taken, I think, rather historic steps to improve our own democracy since coming to office here in the United States."

Kazakh Ambassador Erlan Idrissov later told Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman, "There was no pressure at all in the meeting," and that "Obama quoted Winston Churchill as saying that democracy is "the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

Churchill was wrong- there was one form of government better than democracy, and that's a republic, and that is the nation that our founding fathers built for us- a republic, if we can keep it. Democracies are not that great- they are unstable and usually lead the rise of dictatorships, or at least that his what students of history recognize.

One has to wonder- what aspects of democracy aren't working for Obama and what historic steps is he taking to improve democracy? Democracies either lead to a republic- which is a nation based on rule of law- or to a dictatorship- which is a nation based on the rule of men. Which way is Obama taking our nation, and what steps has he and his buddies in Congress like Pelosi, Reid, and Peters taken?

If you haven't already, watch this video, about the American Form of Government:

G. Pascal Zachary writes in Atlantic Community:

To stimulate growth and development in Africa, governments and international organizations to reverse the negative consequences of the “brain drain.” Aid donors should tap into the underutilized knowledge of Africans living outside of Africa when trying to craft aid plans...[continue reading]

One of the other school districts that I worked in has a gifted and talented program that I thought would interest some of my readers because it shows how possible and how extensive the liberal agenda can stretch into the government-run schools in our country.

In some schools, gifted and talented programs for students may offer increased enrichment opportunities, ask students to take more leadership on important issues, hold seminars to improve critical thinking skills, or include visits to local museums. But in other schools, just the the program that I observed in a local middle school, the gifted and talented programs instead are serving as laboratories for molding future communist-left-leaning Democrats.

In this government school, gifted and talented students are usually identified in elementary and middle schools and then put into a program apart from other students, where they learn and work on an additional or alternative curriculum. They are told over and over that they are not different from other students, just unique- separate, but equal. Myself, I'd just tell these students the truth- 'hey, you're farther along and advancing more rapidly, so let's put you in a different class or give you additional projects and challenge you.' But the liberals who run the education system instead say to these students 'we're all equal, but we're going to put you in a special class to mold your unique skills.'

And the scary part is what they are trying to mold the best and brightest into. Apparently what this school is trying to mod its most gifted and talented students into is government planners, communists, bureaucrats, and solid liberal Democrats. They do this molding in several ways.

These gifted and talented students have to create and run United Nations type projects. That is, the United Nations projects that are funded with other people's money, unaccountable, full of corruption, and tend to make the situation they are supposed to 'fix' worse. Students work on projects that have to deal with environmentalism (how to force businesses through government power to do certain things, or propose laws to do this, etc.), global appeasement policies (peace on earth, how to stop the war, stop the war in Iraq, how to make friends with France, etc.), tax and spend schemes (pretend money comes from air and isn't stolen from hard working people's pockets, and think up ways to spend it, etc.), wealth-redistribution schemes (collect for charities, can drives, etc.), and focus on human rights abuses (especially caused by the US).

The gifted and talented programs that some government-run school districts are setting up for their impressionable youth steer clear and never mention anything related to individualism, morality, or personal rights. In fact, not a single project touched on those issues. The goal apparently with these programs is to emphasis themes of government control and elitism, but steer clear of morality, individual rights, and individual responsibility.

The students get the time to put together these projects by being pulled out of classes that are deemed 'unimportant' by the liberal elites who run the school- they are pulled out of business or economics classes, they are pulled out of shop, home economics, or auto mechanics classes, and they are pulled out of gym and physical education classes. According to the liberals who run the school, these are 'dumb' classes for the 'dumber students', and the gifted and talented students should instead be learning how to rule us, make decisions for us, and control our behaviors.

Where gifted and talented students could take on more real life examples and challenges, and begin to train to be our future business leaders, and improve their discipline and teamwork skills, and be part of the tradition that made our nation great once- skilled mechanics, dedicated farmers, good shop keepers, smart accountants, and hard-working factory workers- these students instead spend vastly more time talking and learning about government intervention in business and society in the belief that if our country had more lawyers, bureaucrats, and communist leftist pinko's, it would be a better country.

It is a scary thought- in schools all around the nation, our future leaders- our most gifted and talented- are being put into government re-education programs designed to make students into liberal Democrats. Scary indeed.

Via the New York Post:

The VAT is a type of national sales tax, levied on the value-added at each stage of production. Consider a piece of furniture: The VAT would be imposed when the raw timber is sold, when the sawmill produces lumber, when the manufacturer builds a chair, a tax at the wholesaler level and then when a retailer sells the chair to a consumer.

To avoid double taxation, each seller along the way gets a credit for taxes paid at earlier stages of the production process. So the final tax to the consumer, at least in theory, is the same as a retail sales tax of the same amount.

The VAT has its virtues: As a single-rate, consumption-based system, much like the flat tax or national sales tax, it would introduce far fewer economic distortions than today's income tax -- and a heckuva lot less paperwork.

That would be a persuasive argument -- if proponents wanted a VAT to replace the Internal Revenue code. But that's not what's intended by Volcker -- or Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who've also been chatting up the VAT. The politicians want a VAT, and they want to keep the income tax. (To be more accurate, they want a VAT and to raise other taxes as well.)

They want the cash, of course, so they can continue buying votes by spending other people's money.

The VAT is "on the table," according to Democrat Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (source here). One of Democrat President Barack Obama's top economic advisers suggested that it's time for America to adopt a VAT. And President Obama's new debt commission, which will meet for the first time just before the elections and after Obama has added trillions in debt, was rumored to be looking strongly at suggesting that the US adopt the VAT. And although the Senate just voted Thursday to say they don't want to create a new value-added tax, 12 of the 13 senators who voted to support the possibility of a VAT were Democrats. Democrats are working today on how they can make my children pay a VAT.

The state of Michigan once used a form of VAT known as the "Single Business Tax" (SBT) as its form of general business taxation. It was the only state to have used a VAT, and it sucked. Voters voted to replace the SBT with the new MBT, which was expected to be more fair and less of a jobs and economy killer than the SBT ended up being.

One other note on the VAT. While most Democrats and liberals want a 'small' VAT, most tax rates start small and then end up going up and up and up (except when you vote Republican, then they go down). When the income tax was first put in, the highest marginal income tax rate in 1913 was only 7%, but only 5 years later the highest rate to 77%, and by the 1940's, the top rates in the US were above 90%. Expect the VAT to follow a similar trajectory- if passed by Democrats it will start small, but eventually will be a massive jobs and economic killer.

In Aid Thoughts:

New media is all the rage. Tanzania’s political class has been pretty excited over the last week or two by the formation of a new political party, CCJ (the name stands for Chama Cha Jamii, or Party of Society). There are a number of interesting things about this event, but one of wider interest beyond the confines of Tanzanian political discourse is their use of an innovative way of registering new party members, normally poaching them from other parties: text messaging and internet registration. The Swahili daily Nipashe ran an article about this a few days ago which I’ve only just noticed now, under the headline ‘CCJ Yazidi Kujitanua Kisiasa’ (‘CCJ are Growing and Widening Themselves Politically’). It writes:“This strategy, unprecedented in the history of the whole of East Africa, relates to the use of news and communications technology [ICT] … as the service which allows citizens to join the party by electronic means wherever they are…”...[continue reading]

Nico Colombant reporting in the VOA:

Boston University African Studies Center Director Timothy Longman said opposition members are also often blamed in a power-sharing setting when things go wrong."What is actually a stronger answer is to guarantee that the opposition has rights, so that if you want to criticize the government, you are free to do so without being harassed, if you want to publish a newspaper that is critical of the government, you should be able to do that without being harassed, if you want to organize a party, you should be able to do that without being harassed..."And what is very important as well is to make sure that elections are actually free and fair, the reason that we end up with these coalitions is usually because someone has stolen an election," he added.

More here

CNN reports:

According to a local market trader, the bead revival is a sign that young Ghanaians are experiencing what she called "sankofa.""There's a culture of 'sankofa:' Go back and retrieve what you've left behind," said bead-shop owner Ernestina Anafu...There was a period when they [young people] shunned beads; they said it was archaic, it was no longer fashionable. Since this period of 'sankofa' people are going traditional again."...[continue reading]

photo courtesy of CNN

In the last Congressional election, Democrat Congressman Gary Peters employed thugs like Bruce Fealk to harass his Republican opponent, Joe Knollenberg. The type of tactics that Peters had his thugs employ included the usual picketing, public demonstrations, and harassment at public events, but cross the line when Peters' thugs started to show up at his opponents house to continue the harassment. Once, Mr. Fealk ambushed Representative Knollenberg at a local pharmacy and video-taped himself asking the Congressman dozens of questions, not even bothering to listen for the answers, but instead simply playing political games intended to get footage that Peters campaign office could use.

Gary Peters employed guys like Fealk to record videos of themselves harassing his opponent in the hopes of getting the harassed Congressman and his equally harassed staff to snap. Once, Fealk and Peters got lucky, and Knollenberg's chief of staff Trent Wisecup snapped at Fealk and told him to "go away", and the Peters campaign ran with that footage and played up the 'mean old conservative' angle. The whole story was covered by the American Thinker, linked here. Here is a picture of Fealk, in case you are interested.

That was last election. Since then, Peters has distanced himself from Fealk, refusing to be seen in public with him because he is an embarrassment and a liability. But that doesn't mean the Congressman Peters has changed tactics- he still intends to defeat his opponent by systematically harassing them, building up dirt on them, attacking them, and lying about himself.

Today at a Tax Day Tea Party in Royal Oak, Michigan, Gary Peters had one of his staff there to harass Rocky Raczkowski, his likely opponent in the upcoming Congressional election in Michigan's 9th District. His staff member stood around the entire time, hovering about 3 or 4 feet from Rocky for about two hours, filming him. He didn't talk to anyone, didn't seem that interested to be there, and rudely tried to butt his way into every conversation, zooming in on people and attempting to capture as much video and audio as possible. Was this staffer's goal to learn more about Rocky? Document his campaign for a future movie? Nope- Gary Peters sent this guy down there to simply hang around and try to catch something that Rocky said that could be taken out of context and used against him in the campaign.

The guy said his name was 'Paul' and that he worked for Gary Peters staff. I tried to find out more information about this guy, but apparently Gary Peters does not put on his websites any information about who works for him or works in his offices. Odd, I thought he ran on a platform of transparency, yet he won't post he works for him in his offices. I was able to get some information about how works for Peters, but didn't see a 'Paul' listed- just his Chief of Staff Eric Feldman, Scheduler Caitlyn Stephenson, Legislative Director Jonathan Smith, Comm. Dir. Cullen Schwarz, Child/Family Issues LA Carly Hepola, Health LA Carly Hepola, Labor LA David Weinberg, Housing LA Jonathan Smith, Medicare/Medicaid LA Carly Hepola, and Social Security LA David Weinberg. He could be one of these people- I couldn't find pictures anywhere of them.

Gary Peters intends to dirty up this coming election. I hope voters know this and throw the bum out.

Here is a video of him video-taping Rocky.

In 2007 Nick Tattersall of Reuters reported on the endlessly adaptive Mourides:

Many traders are members of the Mouride brotherhood, a branch of African Sufi Islam which has become Senegal's most influential religious, political and economic force.A unique mix of militant capitalism and moderate Islam, its central doctrine of hard work as a means to paradise has led thousands to leave Senegal's sunny shores with one goal -- to earn money and send it back to the holy city of Touba.

More here
Photo courtesy of Reuters

In FP Nasir El-Rufai on the need for a fresh political dispensation in Nigeria

...we all need to use a fresh lens when looking at Nigeria. Backroom deals in which political elites negotiate the fate of Nigeria's 150 million people are a relic of the past -- or they should be. The North-South power rotation, or "zoning" arrangement, that pretends to offer stability to Nigeria's ethnically diverse population has morphed into a convenient justification for self-centered politicians.

More here
via Abuja City

Guest post featuring Efavorite with Celeste Jones, graphic artist

Earlier tonight, I was writing a comment on Bill Turque’s latest article about Rhee’s spurious budget surplus, when something came over me. Suddenly I was shaking uncontrollably. I was possessed by Michelle Rhee! This is what she said, through me: HELP!!! Please help me before I screw up another budget. I have no choice. I have no idea how to balance a budget; I can only lie and cheat and screw it up. H-E-E-L-L-P-P! PLEASE!! Someone stop me before I fire more innocent teachers and upset kids in the middle of a school year. I can’t do it by myself. I need help. H-E-E-L-L-P-P! Can’t you hear me screaming out?? Please, oh Please, Washington Post Editorial Board – don’t defend me again against the indefensible. I can’t stand to see you do it another time. I cry and scream whenever I see an editorial supporting my latest horrid exploit. Can’t you see through me?? What is it with you people? Don’t you read your own newspaper? When I come to tell you all my latest stupid, crazy, lies, I’m sure you’ll throw me out on my petite behind. But NO! You twist yourselves into a pretzel covering for me, forcing me to go out and screw up again. Please, I want it to end --- end --- end.

Then, suddenly, my body convulsed again, and I found myself sitting quietly at my computer, breathing normally and looking out the window at the comforting “Vince Gray for Mayor” sign. My ordeal was finally over.

Posted by The Washington Teacher