Obama for President,Too! ( Archived) (831)

He may be making up Obama banners for his visit to Indiana tomorrow :)

It happens to the best... Whether a person likes Obama or not, we tend to build politicians up to tear them down. Such is life in America...

I do think some chickens are coming home to roost. Many Republican candidates have been chastized for having some type of affiliation w/a "non-mainstream" church.

Anyway on a lighter note, I saw some entrepeneur selling Barak tee-shirts on a street corner. Didn't stop to ask the price as traffic was heavy. I was going to get one for Dude

That's the great thing about American... nothing like knowing how to make a buck

I heard Obama was in a 7-11 once and almost, almost glanced at the magazines behind the counter.

Commitment to Africa?

Do you mean like this:

President Bush Discusses Trip to Africa at
Leon H. Sullivan Foundation

"America is on a mission of mercy. We're treating African leaders as equal partners. We expect them to produce measurable results. We expect them to fight corruption, and invest in the health and education of their people, and pursue market-based economic policies. This mission serves our security interests -- people who live in chaos and despair are more likely to fall under the sway of violent ideologies. This mission serves our moral interests -- we're all children of God, and having the power to save lives comes with the obligation to use it.

...Americans should feel proud, mighty proud, of the work we're doing in Africa. At every stop, I told people that the source of all these efforts is the generosity of the American people. We are a nation of compassionate and good-hearted folks. We recognize the extraordinary potential of Africa. In schoolchildren waving flags on dusty roadsides, to nurses caring for their patients at busy clinics, to artisans selling their products in scorching heat, we saw people who have been given great challenges -- and responded to them with clear eyes and big hearts. "

- President George W. Bush, February 26, 2008

or this:

U.S. Africa Policy: An Unparalleled Partnership Strengthening Democracy, Overcoming Poverty,
and Saving Lives
President And Mrs. Bush's Africa Trip Underscores The New Approach To Africa Policy Under This Administration, And Builds On A Dramatic Increase In The United States' Commitment To African Development

On February 14, 2008, President Bush discussed his upcoming trip to Africa and the Administration's strong commitment to growth and development on the African continent. The President and Mrs. Bush are scheduled to leave tomorrow on a five-nation trip to Africa, with stops in Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. They will review firsthand the significant progress since the President's last visit in 2003 in efforts to accelerate economic development and fight global HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases, as a result of the United States' robust programs. The President will meet with the leaders of these five nations to discuss how the United States can continue to partner with African countries to support sustained democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes, and economic opportunity across the continent.

Prior to speaking today, the President previewed a movie trailer for a 15 minute documentary on the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), produced in partnership between Warner Bros. and PEPFAR. The trailer, which will appear in movie theaters later this year, will direct viewers to visit to view the full documentary aimed to increase awareness and highlight the accomplishments of PEPFAR. President Bush launched PEPFAR in 2003, and today this Initiative is supporting life-saving anti-retroviral treatment for about 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Since 2001, the United States has dramatically increased its commitment to development in Africa – and has transformed the way this development is carried out. Too many nations continue to follow either the paternalistic notion that treats African countries as charity cases, or a model of exploitation that seeks to buy up their resources. America rejects both approaches. The United States is treating the leaders of Africa as equal partners, asking them to set clear goals, and expecting them to produce measurable results. Together, Africa's leaders and the United States are working to pioneer a new era in development on the African continent.

The U.S. is on track to increase total assistance to Africa to $8.7 billion by 2010, double the level of assistance in 2004. In addition, the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), launched in 2005, is adding to PEPFAR's efforts to combat disease in Africa and is estimated to have already reached 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to help in the fight against malaria.

or quite possibly this:

Today, the President announced some new steps to help continue this progress, including:

Adding five investment funds supported by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). These funds will mobilize $875 million in capital for the continent. This is in addition to $750 million in investment capital that will be mobilized by OPIC Funds announced by the Administration last November, bringing the total to more than $1.6 billion.

On his trip next week, signing the largest project in the Millennium Challenge Corporation's history – a $698 million dollar compact with Tanzania. This Compact will benefit 4.8 million Tanzanians.

Next week, signing a bilateral investment treaty with Rwanda – our first such treaty in Sub-Saharan Africa in a decade. This treaty will promote investment by providing legal protections for U.S. and Rwandan investors that underscore the two countries' shared commitment to open investment and trade policies.



As an ambassador for the President, Mrs. Bush has made three independent trips to Africa, visiting South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Mozambique, Zambia, and Mali. On all three trips, Mrs. Bush highlighted the partnership between the U.S. and Africa to expand education, empower women, and fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. During her trip last summer, for example, Mrs. Bush visited three programs supported by the President's Africa Education Initiative, as well as programs receiving assistance from PEPFAR and PMI. She announced the distribution of hundreds of thousands of new textbooks to children in Senegal, announced the first grant through PMI to the Inter-Religious Campaign against malaria in Mozambique, and launched the first U.S. Government-funded PlayPump in Zambia, which uses the energy of children at play to help provide access to clean water. Mrs. Bush has also participated in roundtable discussions on women's empowerment in several African countries to highlight the Administration's steadfast commitment to justice for women.

this?:
The United States Is Partnering With African Leaders To Empower Africans To Overcome Poverty By Growing Their Economies

Under the leadership of President Bush, the U.S. has delivered historic aid increases to Africa.

In President Bush's first term, the United States more than doubled development assistance to Africa – part of the largest expansion of American development assistance since the Marshall Plan.
President Bush has pledged to increase total assistance (both bilateral and multilateral) to $8.7 billion by 2010, double the size of 2004 levels. The President's FY 2009 budget request, combined with previous budgets and program implementation, will ensure that the United States meets this important commitment.
President Bush secured international agreement on the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative. This Initiative provides 100 percent debt relief from the major International Financial Institutions to the world's poorest, most heavily indebted countries. It has reduced a total of $42 billion in debt to date – $34 billion of which was for 19 African countries. Over time, a total of 33 African countries could receive full debt relief. The U.S. also secured reforms with the International Financial Institutions aimed at preventing the re-accumulation of unsustainable debt.

President Bush launched the Millennium Challenge Account as a new model to support governments that commit to rule justly, invest in people, and encourage economic freedom. To date, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has signed seven compacts with African countries totaling $2.4 billion to fight poverty through economic growth.

The President worked with Congress to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Thanks in part to AGOA, over 98 percent of African exports to the U.S. entered the U.S. duty-free last year. In 2007, AGOA exports to the U.S. totaled over $50 billion – more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA. During the same period, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa have doubled, totaling over $14 billion.

In May 2007, President Bush announced the Africa Financial Sector Initiative. Along with today's announcement, the Initiative will create seven new investment funds that will mobilize more than $1.6 billion through support of OPIC. This will strengthen financial markets, mobilize domestic and foreign investment, and help spur job creation and economic growth. To date, OPIC had supported several investment funds that are mobilizing roughly $1.3 billion in private investment for the continent.

In 2006, President Bush launched the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), which will provide $200 million over five years to support increased trade and investment in Africa. Four regional Global Competitiveness Hubs are the primary implementers of AGCI and are located in Ghana and Senegal for West Africa, Botswana for Southern Africa and Kenya for East and Central Africa.

Over the last seven years, the U.S. has committed $1.6 billion to trade capacity building assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa, including $505 million in FY 2007 alone. This assistance is helping African governments to reduce barriers to trade and African businesses, workers, and farmers to benefit more fully from global trade.

The United States Is Partnering With African Leaders To Empower Africans To Alleviate Hunger, Expand Education, And Fight Disease

The United States is proud to be the world's largest donor of food assistance. The United States' humanitarian food aid totaled more than $1.7 billion in FY 2007, and our emergency food aid reached about 23 million people in 30 countries.

In 2006, the United States provided $195 million – the first year of a five-year effort – to support the African Union's Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program. This program promotes the critical role of agricultural development as a means to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and food insecurity, increase trade, and promote wealth in Africa.
To help African countries feed their own people, the President calls on Congress to support his proposal to use a portion of U.S. food aid funding to begin purchasing crops directly from farmers in Africa, instead of shipping in food assistance from the developed world. This initiative would build up local agriculture markets and help break the cycle of famine.
In 2002, President Bush launched the Africa Education Initiative (AEI) and committed to provide $600 million over eight years to increase access to quality basic education. By 2010, AEI will have distributed over 15 million textbooks, trained nearly one million teachers, and provided 550,000 scholarships for girls.

In May 2007, President Bush also announced the President's Expanded Education for the World's Poorest Children and committed an additional $525 million over five years for education improvement. This initiative aims to provide over four million children with access to quality basic education in six target countries, four of which are African: Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, and Mali, and will support after-school skills development programs.

Dang, we must have been in the same store. I almost saw the same thing.