African Press International Standing Tall By It’s Story

The editors at a website called African Press International have claimed to be the recipients of a phone call from Michelle Obama stating that her husband’s adoptive status does not make him ineligible for the presidency, that many Americans find difficult to believe.  Not only do people express skepticism that Mrs. Obama would make the statements reported by API, they find it impossible to believe that she would share such sentiments with the staff of a small blogsite they’ve never heard of.  Being typically arrogant  Americans, such attitudes are not surprising at all.

What is surprising is the defiant way API is standing by it’s story.  Claiming to have audio recordings of the original call, API is being bombarded from all sides to release them immediately.  Instead, today, Chief Editor Korir released this statement:

API is disturbed by the way many have reacted to the story on Mrs Obama’s call. Many have shown us by the way they have behaved towards API that they only think of their own interests because they have demanded that the audio recordings should be released immediately. We understand that the tapes should be released, but those who have demanded the release of the tapes seem not take into account that API may become a suing target.

Predictably, folks both pro- and anti-Obama are making all kinds of threats and offers of support and/or encouragement/derision.  While pushing back against those attacking them for their own selfish reasons, API continues to hold it’s ground, basically saying they will release the tapes when they’ve sufficiently covered their behinds.  They also claim not to care one way or the other how things play out:

When the legal concerns are cleared, which is happening in a short while, API will make public all the recordings available. This will also include comments, not yet published, which will most certainly put the Obama Campaign spokesperson who had dismissed the story off balance.

Even if our recordings or any other recordings had surfaced after the elections�and� if the contents were damaging to the elected person that still could have�caused any�elected president�to vacate the White House. We all know that the tapes released in the US in 1974 forced President Richard Nixon out of office. The truth is the truth. The tapes during Nixon time did not lie.

The same here. The recordings that API will release soon will not lie to the American people. Most probably, it will change the political landscape, something the Americans should start getting prepared to face.

API has also posted contact info for anyone wishing to verify their story.

Verification of the story:
We have found it necessary to publish a telephone number that can be used to reach us should anyone doubt the story. We are doing this because of many requests by many people who want to know more abouth the story.

We are able to receive calls tomorrow the 16th of October through to the 18th October. We find it important that our readers get the truth and not be misled in any way. This is a true story and we stand by everyone written.

NB: For verification, we can be reached on 004793299739

My take?  Who knows whether there’s any truth to the story until the tapes come out?  However, for those who say, why would Michelle Obama call an obscure website and say anything, I say, why wouldn’t she?  Besides, the real question is, is Barack Obama adopted or not?  And, does it matter?

Obama/Ayers/ACORN Trap?

Barack Obama likes to tout his community organizing and associations except when it becomes inconvenient to do so.  When they can be used to bolster his weak resume, or counter-mock those who ridicule him, he proudly trots out his “experience.”  Yet when anyone questions him about Ayers or ACORN, as John McCain did in last night’s debate, Obama runs as far way as he can semi-credibly get, as fast as his Mac Daddy long legs can take him.  How can the fact that Obama “was only eight years old,” when William Ayers committed the crimes he still has not repented, excuse his subsequent association with him as a grown man?  Repeating the same mantra whenever questioned about the issue not only underscores the ridiculousness of the denial, it soon becomes tedious.  The same is true for the ACORN affiliation.  Any self-professed “community organizer” who would try to distance himself from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, either thinks his detractors are stupid, or is stupid, himself.

Now, unlike people such as Michelle Malkin, I don’t have a giant bowling ball sized ACORN stuck up my butt in my craw.  I’m just not sure this organization is the spawn from hell some folks make it out to be.  It’s also doubtful that they’re overly effective at any rate, since if they were, Democrats might actually win presidential elections once in a while.  And as far as being significantly responsible for the housing crisis is concerned, I’ve already gone on record here, here, and here with my feelings about the unlikelyhood of that.

Yet, Obama is definitely tied to ACORN and he simply cannot credibly claim pride in his community organizing roots without embracing the group.  It is common knowledge that Obama was directly involved with Project Vote in Chicago.  Chicago Mag.com, January, 1993:

The most effective minority voter registration drive in memory was the result of careful handiwork by Project Vote!, the local chapter of a not-for-profit national organization. “It was the most efficient campaign I have seen in my 20 years in politics,” says Sam Burrell, alderman of the West Side’s 29th Ward and a veteran of many registration drives.At the head of this effort was a little-known 31-year-old African-American lawyer, community organizer, and writer: Barack Obama.

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Within a few months, Obama, a tall, affable workaholic, had recruited staff and volunteers from black churches, community groups, and politicians. He helped train 700 deputy registrars, out of a total of 11,000 citywide.

On ACORN’s front page at their website their affiliation with Project Vote is touted right under their denunciation of McCain’s “attacks.”

ACORN and Project Vote Register 1.3 Million Voters

The goal of ACORN and Project Vote’s voter registration drives is to empower low-income and minority communities by giving them a voice in the political process. ACORN hopes that expanding the electorate will result in more candidates who appeal to historically underrepresented voting populations.

On Project Vote’s homepage, the ACORN story is the fourth one down.  In another article, this one from The Chicago Reader, 1995, we have mention of the Woods Fund being involved with the Developing Communities Project, as well as an Obama connection with ACORN:

Woods was the first foundation to underwrite Obama’s work with DCP. Now that he’s on the Woods board, Rudd says, “He is among the most hard-nosed board members in wanting to see results. He wants to see our grants make change happen–not just pay salaries.”

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Another strong supporter of Obama’s work–as an organizer, as a lawyer, and now as a candidate–is Madeline Talbott, lead organizer of the feisty ACORN community organization, a group that’s a thorn in the side of most elected officials. “I can’t repeat what most ACORN members think and say about politicians. But Barack has proven himself among our members. He is committed to organizing, to building a democracy. Above all else, he is a good listener, and we accept and respect him as a kindred spirit, a fellow organizer.”

Obama continues his organizing work largely through classes for future leaders identified by ACORN and the Centers for New Horizons on the south side.

The Washington Post has been debunking the Obama/Ayers connection on his behalf since February of this year, but given the early endorsement by the Woods Fund Obama enjoyed, makes you wonder whether he may have been responsible for Ayers’ later involvement, not the other way around.  This website, Discover The Networks, claims Project Vote is the voter mobilization arm of ACORN, and claims both groups were instrumental in the implementation of the Motor Voter law Obama referred to in last night’s debate.

Obama has tried the same “with ‘em while agin’ ‘em” tactics regarding his blackness.  Yes, he wants credit for being black enough for black voters to empathize with him and reward him with our votes, yet he also wants to keep us at enough distance to re-assure nervous white voters that he is not an agent of black empowerment.  He will even go so far as to denounce the relevance of our continued struggle, chastise us for our lack of responsibility, and exploit our legacy, all for his own political gain.

There are not only just too many coincidences to explain away, the connections are so obvious they seem to speak for themselves.  They speak for Obama, too, but when he deigns to speak of them, all too often, he’s lying.   And it’s beginning to seem that his lies just might catch up to him.

UPDATE: This website suggests that Obama and Ayers might have crossed paths many times when they both had offices in the same building.

Bill Ayers and Barack Obama shared an office. Ayers’ Small Schools Workshop, the one Obama directed all that money too is located at 115 S. Sangamon Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607 [Note the link is to a year 2000 version of their website].

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In 1998, the address for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where Obama presumably worked, was 115 S. Sangamon Street, Chicago, Illinios 60607. Here’s a copy of their 1998 tax return with that address.