My Beauty Best Teacher

John Githongo on corruption and the poverty equation:

There's a sense in which corruption is the No. 1 manufacturer of poverty. In particular, it is the No. 1 engine of creating inequalities in developing societies -- which is worse than poverty in and of itself. It's one thing having high levels of poverty, but it's a completely different thing to have stark inequalities caused by corruption and the conspicuous consumption that comes with it. [The latter] leads to political contradictions that can destabilize a nation or at the very least undermine democratic progress.

More here

Amid the considerable success of the GOP on election night, there was one notable loss, and that was in the 9th District, where after a hard-fought battle, Rocky Raczkowski admitted that he probably would not be able to win his race because of the low turnout by Republican voters in his district, constant negative attacks bought at considerable cost by his opponent, and solid union and Democrat turnout in key parts of his district.

After his speech, I shook his hand and commented that he was an honorable man, even in defeat, to which he replied "I'm a soldier, remember." He is a soldier, a soldier of liberty and freedom, and the last time he was defeated (for Senate in 2002), he turned around and volunteered to serve in our nation's military, and came back to find a wife and an almost successful run for Congress. I know that he will also turn this defeat into a positive, because unlike his opponent, who ran a poisonous campaign filled with lies and slander and disingenuous claims, Rocky is proud of his effort and proud of doing things the right way, and will be rewarded for that, if not now then later. The picture of Rocky is of him during his 'concession' speech.

This campaign was personal to me, and I tried harder in this campaign than in any other in my life, and even though the GOP is celebrating tomorrow all around the nation, I am sad. Rocky was a good guy, and good guys deserve to win. But in his loss, he shows what it means to be a good guy, and that comforts me, and so like him, I will soldier on. Gary Peters may have won this round, but someday he will get his due for his actions over the last several months. It is saddening to me that the good citizens of Oakland County will be saddled with this guy for the next two years, but choices have consequences, and we will just have to live with ours until the time comes again to go to battle and fight in the name of freedom, liberty, life, and protection of property.

UPDATE: The numbers for the Michigan 9th District National Congressional Election are as follows:
291 of 291 Precincts Reporting
Rocky Raczkowski (REP)     47.20%   119,673
Gary Peters (DEM)               49.75%   126,155
Douglas Campbell (GRN)      0.98%        2,490
Adam Goodman (LIB)           1.03%        2,603
Bob Gray (NPA)                   0.73%        1,871
Matthew Kuofie (NPA)         0.25%           648
WRITE-IN                            0.05%          119
Total Votes Cast                                  253,559

Margin of victory by Gary Peters- 2.55%, or 6482. That gap really widened at the end. Oh, and voters of Goodman and Gray- your candidates endorsed Rocky, and your 4474 votes would have certainly helped close that margin, so in the future follow the election more closely.

UPDATE II: If anyone knows what is going on with this race now, please let me know. Something fishy went down last night- election returns came in considerably slower than any other race in Michigan (or the nation) and that is odd. We shouldn't know who won Alaska before we know who won Michigan's 9th- something wasn't right with the counting of the votes or the releasing of the votes in this race. Not that I think there was any sort of conspiracy, I'm just surprised that a guy who never went door-to-door, made phone calls, put up signs, visited the district, or met with anyone won this election on the strength of negative campaign ads alone. The numbers came in odd there too at the end.

UPDATE III: Here are some interesting numbers from the 9th District election... here are the percentages of various communities in the 9th District that voted for Rocky... can you spot the one city that he didn't win?

Bloomfield, 57.5%
Oakland, 69%
Orion, 59.5%
Waterford, 52.4%
Southfield, 51.6%
Birmingham, 54.6%
Bloomfield Hills, 63.9%
Lake Angelus, 82.5%
Orchard Lake, 65.5%
Rochester, 58.1%
Rochester Hills, 57.2%
Sylvan Lake, 53.7%
Troy, 54.5%
Pontiac, 12.4%

Barrons on unseen investment opportunities:

via Tashanda

Monday evening there was a "Fight to the Finish Rally," attended by a good number of candidates for the federal, state, and county offices, and hosted by the Honorable L. Brooks Patterson. This was my last chance before the election to form an impression of the candidates, and I wanted to pass on some short thoughts about them from this event.

Ruth Johnson, the GOP nominee for the Secretary of State position, spoke first. She spoke about the challenges that she had had to overcome in this race, in particular all of the support and money that billionaire George Sorus had dumped into it to support her opponent. I've written about this before (see my recent post Vote Ruth Johnson for Michigan Secretary of State), but just to remind you, George Soros has created a "527" group called the Secretary of State Project and is using this group to attempt to install left-wing Democrats like Benson as Secretary of State. Once Soros has put in place left-wing Democrats as Secretaries of State all across the nation, they will be the ones counting the votes, deciding who is a registered voter and who isn't, and supervising the election process, and we don't want that.

Oakland County GOP Chair David Law spoke in favor of Bill Schulte, who is the GOP nominee for Attorney General. It is important to remember to vote for him, as he is clearly the more qualified candidate, will be tougher on criminals than career criminal defendant lawyer Leyton, and will continue Mike Cox's lawsuit against the federal government over Obamacare.

State Senator John Pappageorge (R-Troy) then spoke about how when he was younger, he was nominated for West Point by a Democratic Congressman who proudly said that his biggest accomplishment as Congressman had been adding "under God" to the Pledge. Pappageorge reminded the audience that when he was younger, Democrats were proud of America and believed too that America was an exceptional nation guided by God to achieve great things, but that today, most elected Democratic officials would be hostile to or indifferent and certainly not proud of adding 'under God' to the Pledge- the Democratic Party has moved far to the left, and he is wise to point this out, because maybe some people don't realize how far left it has moved.

Mike Bosnic, a GOP nominee for Oakland County Commission, wanted to point out how well-managed Oakland County used to be, but that ever since Democrats had closed the gap and pulled even with the GOP at the county level that now it was much harder to keep Oakland County well-managed. Don't forget about races like County Commissioner that are farther down the ballot- your vote for local and county offices is important too, and keeping them in the right hands will keep those governments moving in the right direction too.

Kathleen Ryan also spoke and reminded people of the importance of voting for right judges in the nonpartisan section of the ballot. Ryan is considerably more qualified than her opponent, who as of today is not even qualified to be a judge in the state of Michigan (Hathaway won't be qualified until days before the term of office starts), and will be the kind of judge that we need on the bench to protect our families. Her opponent is the daughter of a liberal Michigan Supreme Court judge, and as such will clearly be swayed by special interest groups lobbying either her mom or her. Ryan is also quite fetching and would look good behind the bench.

The most enthusiastic response from the crowd was elicited by the GOP nominee for Michigan's 9th Congressional District, Rocky Raczkowski. Before coming on the stage, Brooks pointed out that Rocky has had to endure some of the most negative mudslinging that anyone has ever seen in a campaign in recent memory- incumbent Gary Peters is dumping massive amounts into running hit piece after hit piece on Rocky, all of them distortions, misrepresentations, lies, and slander. Peters never mentions his party or his votes on the major issues he faced in Congress (Peters voted in favor of Obamacare, Cap-and-Tax, Stimulus, Budget of 2009, and 95% of other legislation Nancy Pelosi pushed)- instead he just slings mud. Brooks best joke was that if taxpayers were to vote for Peters, it would be like the chickens voting for Colonel Sanders, since Peters has some of the worst taxpayer-friendly ratings in Congress. Rocky gave a good speech- he gets better every time and looks and sounds increasingly like a Congressman- and spoke mostly about how excited and energized he is to go to Washington DC and start working for his constituents- he is really going to be a Congressman of the people and really listen to what his constituents want. I think the nation is going to be really happy with him when he does get to DC- he has energy and enthusiasm and strength to be not just a backbencher in Congress, but a leader.

One last point I want to make, and that's that I am very proud of all the great work that fellow bloggers like theblogprof, Rotti II, Right Michigan, and Conservative Hideout put into this campaign. Post by post, we are changing the meme, and although we are all modest to take credit for any victories, it is through our efforts that the good is being promoted, the slander and lies are being combated, and the citizens of our great nation are being educated about this election. Thanks for reading- I'll see you all at the Victory Party- and remember to vote on Tuesday!

UPDATE: Oh, and 9th District Chair Glen Clark... quit blowing me off and being rude to me. The time will come soon (after the election) when loose ends like you might need to be cleaned up.

For many years, African Americans in the United States have been a solid Democratic constituency. It didn't used to be this way- the Republican Party fought and died to free the blacks in the south from slavery, and for generations thereafter pushed for more equality and freedom for blacks in America. Even the great Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's that Democrats signed into law was only done so with the strong support by the Republican party, who overcame the Democrats from the south who filibustered it. But in recent decades, African American support for the Democratic party has been so solid (90-95%) that the Democratic party has taken it for granted, and instead of improving the situation for this constituency, the results have been considerably worse. Look at the results- after voting solidly Democrat for decades and putting Democrats in control of cities, states, and national government, look at the results- African Americans have far higher rates of crime, far lower rates of educational attainment, lag in income, and suffer higher rates of poverty. African-Americans voted for 'change' in 2008, and all that gave them was more of the same- more of the taxpayer paid dependency, welfare, and anti-school choice that have caused African-Americans to lag behind every single ethnic group in a range of measurable categories for years. That's bad, and I think that voting Republican might change things.

So do others. Despite largely unsubstantiated allegations of racism in 'Tea Party' organizations, the Republican Party, and conservative groups, 2010 has witnessed more black Republican activism than ever before. Thirty-seven African Americans in 16 states have been in contention for seats in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives this year. And unlike African-American Democratic candidates, the majority of the Republican candidates do not come from areas where African-Americans are the majority. They are just good candidates, running for office on a platform of liberty, freedom, and equality, and just happen to be black too.

This election, it is my hope that Americans of all colors, creeds, philosophies, ideologies, and parties will all unite and vote for the candidate who best represents the values and ideals and beliefs that made America great- an unshakable belief that America is exceptional, that governmental power should be limited to protecting life, liberty, and property, and that the ultimate goal of political power in America is to further the freedom and liberty of its people. Since there are very few Democrats who speak this message (are there any that do any more?), I guess that means you'll have to vote Republican.

Check out this great video (h/t to theblogprof) encouraging African-Americans to vote for candidates who all champion liberty, equality, and freedom. Unless you are a racist or someone who wants to keep blacks on the plantation, this should stir your soul and make you very proud to be part of the GOP:

For those who are interested, check out this book on this subject: Silence Makes the Loudest Sound: A Conversation between African Americans and the Republican Party

In Shadow and Act:

During the Rwandan genocide, when neighbors killed neighbors and friends betrayed friends, some crossed lines of hatred to protect each other. At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Mufti of Rwanda, the most respected Muslim leader in the country, issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from participating in the killing of the Tutsi. As the country became a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis came together to protect each other. KINYARWANDA is based on true accounts from survivors who took refuge at the Grand Mosque of Kigali and the madrassa of Nyanza...[continue reading]

Shoshana Zuboff tries to explain Distributed Capitalism
African writers and marginalization-Daily Nation
Tribalism: A Personal Love Story-Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Africa's Slave Ethos?-Zambian Economist
London Film Festival ‘10 S&A Highlights “New African Cinema”-Shadow & Act