We received this letter from my husband's brother Pat, a prominent microbiologist at the University of Minnesota - a rare opportunity to see firsthand how others think about our country....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 3:10 PM
Subject: The election


Dear Friends,
No matter how you voted or the angle of your political leanings, the letter I've attached from a former Kenyan student should increase your pride in our great nation. I suspect that with passage of just one week since the election we are less hated, have fewer enemies and are actually safer than anytime in the past 10 yrs. Ruquya gave me permission to distribute her letter.

Pat


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From a former Kenyan microbiology student who worked in my lab 10yrs ago and now lives
in Dubai UAE - Pat
11/6/2008

Dear Pat,
A thousand congratulations to you and to all Americans! I cannot begin to describe the emotions that I experienced as I followed the events of November 4th. I stayed up all night (we are 9 hours ahead of EST); slept at 2 am and was up at 5 am to monitor the polls! I can't tell you the tears that people, young and old, were crying here. My aunt was out and out boohooing.

Everybody out here is overjoyed by the courage and resolve of the American majority. Even the most rabid anti-America fanatics have come out and shaken their heads in awe. After the announcement, someone quoted a verse from the Holy Qur'an defining a truly democratic country and egalitarian society. He declared that such a thing exists only in the U.S.A., as has just been proven now. The Bush's of this world can't take that away from the people. People are hopeful that the radical zealots will be robbed of their justifications for their ideology.

I can assure you a lot of people's views about the U.S. have really been overturned by the events of the past few weeks. People have been exposed to, and paid attention to, a side of that country that they had never seen; the side that hollywood does not show and a side that most U.S. foreign policies and their repercussions obliterate. Young people especially have really embraced the spirit of Obama and the ideal of the American Dream; the idea that you can be what you want to be and you can make a ifference in your life, your community, your country and the world. I personally believe that that is a really powerful ideal for the young people in this part of the world. Young people have been really encouraged by the courage and determination of the youth of America and the role they played in this.

My mantra to my family and friends throughout this election season has been, "one thing I know about Americans is that if they wake up one day and say enough is enough about something, then nothing can stand in their way". The America I know is a place where I was welcomed, encouraged, teased, dared and challenged to believe in myself, work hard and be the best I can be. I'm not saying it's Utopia. It has it's problems and negatives. But I rejected Bush's projected image of that country and society. I thank God Americans tossed him and his band of thieves and lunatics out.

I know the President and the American people have a lot of difficult work ahead but I am confident most of it can be done and will be accomplished. The whole world wants to be a part of that success, Regular people as well as world leaders. So that's a start.

Kenya declared today a public holiday....Obama Day. here's partying everywhere. The youth have declared immediate mobilization and preparations for 2012 elections in Kenya to get rid of the corrupt and divisive old guard and usher in a new cycle of leadership and democracy. They have declared YES WE CAN!

And how are you doing? I hope everything is going well with you.

Take care and talk to you soon.

Ruqaya

Originally Posted by rekop

We received this letter from my husband's brother Pat, a prominent microbiologist at the University of Minnesota - a rare opportunity to see firsthand how others think about our country....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 3:10 PM
Subject: The election


Dear Friends,
No matter how you voted or the angle of your political leanings, the letter I've attached from a former Kenyan student should increase your pride in our great nation. I suspect that with passage of just one week since the election we are less hated, have fewer enemies and are actually safer than anytime in the past 10 yrs. Ruquya gave me permission to distribute her letter.

Pat


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From a former Kenyan microbiology student who worked in my lab 10yrs ago and now lives
in Dubai UAE - Pat
11/6/2008

Dear Pat,
A thousand congratulations to you and to all Americans! I cannot begin to describe the emotions that I experienced as I followed the events of November 4th. I stayed up all night (we are 9 hours ahead of EST); slept at 2 am and was up at 5 am to monitor the polls! I can't tell you the tears that people, young and old, were crying here. My aunt was out and out boohooing.

Everybody out here is overjoyed by the courage and resolve of the American majority. Even the most rabid anti-America fanatics have come out and shaken their heads in awe. After the announcement, someone quoted a verse from the Holy Qur'an defining a truly democratic country and egalitarian society. He declared that such a thing exists only in the U.S.A., as has just been proven now. The Bush's of this world can't take that away from the people. People are hopeful that the radical zealots will be robbed of their justifications for their ideology.

I can assure you a lot of people's views about the U.S. have really been overturned by the events of the past few weeks. People have been exposed to, and paid attention to, a side of that country that they had never seen; the side that hollywood does not show and a side that most U.S. foreign policies and their repercussions obliterate. Young people especially have really embraced the spirit of Obama and the ideal of the American Dream; the idea that you can be what you want to be and you can make a ifference in your life, your community, your country and the world. I personally believe that that is a really powerful ideal for the young people in this part of the world. Young people have been really encouraged by the courage and determination of the youth of America and the role they played in this.

My mantra to my family and friends throughout this election season has been, "one thing I know about Americans is that if they wake up one day and say enough is enough about something, then nothing can stand in their way". The America I know is a place where I was welcomed, encouraged, teased, dared and challenged to believe in myself, work hard and be the best I can be. I'm not saying it's Utopia. It has it's problems and negatives. But I rejected Bush's projected image of that country and society. I thank God Americans tossed him and his band of thieves and lunatics out.

I know the President and the American people have a lot of difficult work ahead but I am confident most of it can be done and will be accomplished. The whole world wants to be a part of that success, Regular people as well as world leaders. So that's a start.

Kenya declared today a public holiday....Obama Day. here's partying everywhere. The youth have declared immediate mobilization and preparations for 2012 elections in Kenya to get rid of the corrupt and divisive old guard and usher in a new cycle of leadership and democracy. They have declared YES WE CAN!

And how are you doing? I hope everything is going well with you.

Take care and talk to you soon.

Ruqaya

Fox news Friday listed countries with rapidly expanding internal terrorist connections.... The UAE was on the list.

Originally Posted by rekop

We received this letter from my husband's brother Pat, a prominent microbiologist at the University of Minnesota - a rare opportunity to see firsthand how others think about our country....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 3:10 PM
Subject: The election


Dear Friends,
No matter how you voted or the angle of your political leanings, the letter I've attached from a former Kenyan student should increase your pride in our great nation. I suspect that with passage of just one week since the election we are less hated, have fewer enemies and are actually safer than anytime in the past 10 yrs. Ruquya gave me permission to distribute her letter.

Pat


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From a former Kenyan microbiology student who worked in my lab 10yrs ago and now lives
in Dubai UAE - Pat
11/6/2008

Dear Pat,
A thousand congratulations to you and to all Americans! I cannot begin to describe the emotions that I experienced as I followed the events of November 4th. I stayed up all night (we are 9 hours ahead of EST); slept at 2 am and was up at 5 am to monitor the polls! I can't tell you the tears that people, young and old, were crying here. My aunt was out and out boohooing.

Everybody out here is overjoyed by the courage and resolve of the American majority. Even the most rabid anti-America fanatics have come out and shaken their heads in awe. After the announcement, someone quoted a verse from the Holy Qur'an defining a truly democratic country and egalitarian society. He declared that such a thing exists only in the U.S.A., as has just been proven now. The Bush's of this world can't take that away from the people. People are hopeful that the radical zealots will be robbed of their justifications for their ideology.

I can assure you a lot of people's views about the U.S. have really been overturned by the events of the past few weeks. People have been exposed to, and paid attention to, a side of that country that they had never seen; the side that hollywood does not show and a side that most U.S. foreign policies and their repercussions obliterate. Young people especially have really embraced the spirit of Obama and the ideal of the American Dream; the idea that you can be what you want to be and you can make a ifference in your life, your community, your country and the world. I personally believe that that is a really powerful ideal for the young people in this part of the world. Young people have been really encouraged by the courage and determination of the youth of America and the role they played in this.

My mantra to my family and friends throughout this election season has been, "one thing I know about Americans is that if they wake up one day and say enough is enough about something, then nothing can stand in their way". The America I know is a place where I was welcomed, encouraged, teased, dared and challenged to believe in myself, work hard and be the best I can be. I'm not saying it's Utopia. It has it's problems and negatives. But I rejected Bush's projected image of that country and society. I thank God Americans tossed him and his band of thieves and lunatics out.

I know the President and the American people have a lot of difficult work ahead but I am confident most of it can be done and will be accomplished. The whole world wants to be a part of that success, Regular people as well as world leaders. So that's a start.

Kenya declared today a public holiday....Obama Day. here's partying everywhere. The youth have declared immediate mobilization and preparations for 2012 elections in Kenya to get rid of the corrupt and divisive old guard and usher in a new cycle of leadership and democracy. They have declared YES WE CAN!

And how are you doing? I hope everything is going well with you.

Take care and talk to you soon.

Ruqaya

This is a wonderful letter. Thanks for posting it. I feel the world has been uplifted by the results of this election.

Rekop,
How interesting. I am not taking a side but just looking at this with an open mind. My daughter travels overseas and is hearing the same things. I much prefer hearing from educated people from overseas than just hearing the same opinions. I say again...it doesn't mean I agree, it just means I am open to hearing.
Thanks for sharing.

Ditto for me. It was just interesting to me to hear an outsider's perspective. And it was heartening to see how this election has motivated youths in other countries besides our own and shown them that their actions can made a real difference in their lives.

The Bush's of this world can't take that away from the people. People are hopeful that the radical zealots will be robbed of their justifications for their ideology.

----

But I rejected Bush's projected image of that country and society. I thank God Americans tossed him and his band of thieves and lunatics out.

I noticed the author of this is from Kenya. Too bad this person hasn't taken the time or had the inclination to understand that the "radical zealot" and "thief and lunatic", George Bush, has spent more to improve the lives of people in Africa than any other President or any other country in the world.

They may not be George Bush's natural constituency but Rwanda's prostitutes have good things to say about him. So do poor South Africans abandoned by their quixotic government, and doctors across Africa who otherwise regard the American president as a walking crime against humanity.

As Bush arrives in Africa today at the start of a five-country tour he will be welcomed chiefly for an initiative which has gone largely unnoticed outside the continent but which has saved the lives of more than a million people with HIV.

The $15bn (£7.6bn) President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) is in its fifth year and has been hailed as a "revolution" that is transforming healthcare in Africa and has been praised as the most significant aid programme since the end of colonialism.

Bill Clinton's legacy in Africa was the debacle of Somalia and the abandonment of Rwanda's Tutsis to the 1994 genocide. But with Pepfar, Bush's primary contribution will be greatly extending millions of lives even though the programme has been criticised for emphasising abstinence in Aids education and using religious organisations to deliver care.

"This is the best thing that ever happened to the poor people I work with," said Edward Phillips, a Catholic priest overseeing the distribution of life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in Nairobi, Kenya. "It's one of the few times I've seen US government money really reach down to the poorest of the poor. It's kept a hell of a lot of people alive."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...georgebush.usa

KIGALI, Rwanda — Bob Geldof has parachuted into the White House travel pool here in Rwanda, and will join us on the flight from Air Force One to Ghana tonight.


He's going to interview President Bush for Time magazine and several European outlets, such as Liberacion, about aid to Africa for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and business development.


Mr. Geldof is an Irish rock and roll singer and longtime social activist who has helped, along with U2 rocker Bono, raise awareness about need in Africa. His most well known achievement is organizing the Live Aid concert in 1985, which raised money for debt relief for poor African countries.


But Mr. Geldof has remained closely engaged with African affairs since then, and he spoke off the cuff to reporters today who were waiting for a press conference with Mr. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.


Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.


Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, "has done more than any other president so far."


"This is the triumph of American policy really," he said. "It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion."


"What's in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing," Mr. Geldof said.


Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed "to articulate this to Americans" but said he is also "****ed off" at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.


"You guys didn't pay attention," Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.


Bush administration officials, incidentally, have also been quite displeased with some of the press coverage on this trip that they have viewed as overly negative and ignoring their achievements.

http://video1.washingtontimes.com/fi...in_rwanda.html

Just like Carter who, as it was pointed out in another thread established the department of energy....spending $24 billion per year for the last 31 years TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL. Well it has more than doubled so what can one conclude? As long as the sheeple hear the words they like they are happy. Do they hold any accountable? Accountable, what the does that mean.
Like Carter, the Obama honeymoon will soon wane.
I can't wait to hear what the Bush bangers will have to say when things don't go as promised...sorta like the single digit approval rating of the Dem controlled Congress that accomplishes nothing! And NOTHING is ever said about it. Me thinks the revelers have a double standard.
Time will tell. History would advise all to not hold your breath.

BTK

What has this post got to do with a nice letter from Dubai?

Well, I think it has something to do with the fact that the "nice" letter from Dubai, really from Kenya, was not that nice. They don't seem to know how much President Bush has done for Africa. That's what I think anyway. I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by Guest

... As long as the sheeple hear the words they like they are happy. ...
BTK

BTK -- A couple of comments from someone you would call one of the "sheeple" since I don't see things the way you do. First, it really sounds like you want our new president to fail. While you may see that as a vindication of all you believe in, it seems to me it would be a pretty hollow victory.

Second, I find your use of sheeple to be very annoying. That may indeed have been your intention, but I for one have stopped reading your posts and now only do so by accident. If others also stop reading your posts, that will leave you preaching to your own little choir. Again a pretty hollow victory.

Isn't it time to stop the insulting comments?

[QUOTE=another Linda;172880]
First, it really sounds like you want our new president to fail. While you may see that as a vindication of all you believe in, it seems to me it would be a pretty hollow victory.

Second, I find your use of sheeple to be very annoying
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linda, I agree.

I would have preferred a McCain/Romney outcome. But we didn't get that choice, did we, and now we have President Elect Obama!!

I am very impressed at everything he has said and done since the election results were announced. I truly think he will bring a fresh new vitality to the office of the President.

And I think it is about time we all get behind our new President and pray for his success. God bless America.

Originally Posted by NJblue

I noticed the author of this is from Kenya. Too bad this person hasn't taken the time or had the inclination to understand that the "radical zealot" and "thief and lunatic", George Bush, has spent more to improve the lives of people in Africa than any other President or any other country in the world.

I swore I wasn't going to post on TOTV anymore, but I couldn't let this go by. Here's another link which describes food aid to Africa in general, and considers actual aid to Kenya. http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=U...icp=1&.intl=us
Basically it says that the actual food arriving there is about half of what it used to be. But all that aside, if you read the letter from Dubai carefully, you'd see that the student lived in Kenya till probably late teens, then spent at least 6 years in America attending university and obtaining advanced degrees, and now lives in Dubai. So, to say that the person "didn't take the time or have the inclination", is being pretty shortsighted. You don't know what that person's circumstances were in Kenya, and if they leave the country when they are a teenager, any aide donations would be meaningless for them. In addition, a person's view of another country is based on any number of actions by that country. Bush's foreign policy decisions have been panned by countries across the globe. What the letter from Dubai does indicate though, is that some foreignors consider Bush a lunatic. And I guess with U.S. approval ratings as low as he has, many Americans agree.

your first allegation. Failure of the new President never entered my mind.
I like others use favorite references to select groups of those involved....isn't the first amendment wonderful? You see if all those against the current administration, use their continual bashing and select names like "Bushie" and others....I guess it is OK for us not of the same bent to speak just as freely.
I too get weary of the swame old from the same old partisan purveyors...nothing said deters them and I am not deterred either.
I have a strong opinion about those who do nothing....I have a stronger opinion about those who look at everything like Nancy Pelosi does...if you are the other party I am against it.
And my last even stronger opinion is the one I have regarding those blind followers of the media and their party....regardless of subject matter...and this is by no means relegated to either party...both are guilty of it.
My attitude is if you don't have thick enough skin to take it as well as dish it out one should not come to this forum. And isn't great to have the opportunity to either read it or not, believe it or not, like it or not....comes with being a US citizen.

On your allegation about the new President failing...I am and haver been a proponent of, I will express my measure of him one year from now. Until then, I will not subscride to accolades undeserved. As in previous posts, the only measure of what he has said will be promises kept VS promises made.

In closing I will say when reading something if the shoe fits then wear it, if not, it ain't fer you!!!!

BTK

Originally Posted by Guest

your first allegation. Failure of the new President never entered my mind.
I like others use favorite references to select groups of those involved....isn't the first amendment wonderful? You see if all those against the current administration, use their continual bashing and select names like "Bushie" and others....I guess it is OK for us not of the same bent to speak just as freely.
I too get weary of the swame old from the same old partisan purveyors...nothing said deters them and I am not deterred either.
I have a strong opinion about those who do nothing....I have a stronger opinion about those who look at everything like Nancy Pelosi does...if you are the other party I am against it.
And my last even stronger opinion is the one I have regarding those blind followers of the media and their party....regardless of subject matter...and this is by no means relegated to either party...both are guilty of it.
My attitude is if you don't have thick enough skin to take it as well as dish it out one should not come to this forum. And isn't great to have the opportunity to either read it or not, believe it or not, like it or not....comes with being a US citizen.

On your allegation about the new President failing...I am and haver been a proponent of, I will express my measure of him one year from now. Until then, I will not subscride to accolades undeserved. As in previous posts, the only measure of what he has said will be promises kept VS promises made.

In closing I will say when reading something if the shoe fits then wear it, if not, it ain't fer you!!!!

BTK

GREAT POST BTK.....could not agree more with you ! NOBODY wants the President Elect to fail in any way shape or form and I, in no way, understand those that feel any kind of comment that is not totally "in line" suggests that fact.

I am so glad to hear that the failure of our new president never entered your mind. Somehow with all the negative comments you posted over the last few months I formed that mistaken notion. I am so relieved to hear I was wrong.

And when you referred to “Bush bashers” I developed the notion that you thought criticism was somehow a bad thing. But it is such a comfort to know that you value the first amendment as much as I do. Imagine, we the sheeple can listen to Fox News and NPR, can read the New York Times and the National Inquirer. Or does that make us “blind followers of the media?”