Tifatul Sembiring on the Colbert Report...

It would seem that Tifatul Sembiring (aka TitS) has gone global in ways that he would never have imagined he would. What is perversely funny about this whole affair is that it is nothing more than a handshake that did it.

The man is an embarrassment.

Nuf said!

Vicky Vette & TitS...

It would seem Tifatul Sembiring (aka TitS) has gone global. He is no longer just an Indonesia joke but a joke on a worldwide scale. Impressive!

This whole handshake affair could have been nipped in the bud by TitS by simply fessing up that he touched her hand and it was what it was; a handshake in the course of greeting a foreign dignitary.

Instead, TitS has taken to Twitter to say that he was forced to shake the First Lady's hand against his better judgment and wishes. It is one thing to be pious and take your beliefs seriously. It is a complete other thing to be caught out using religion and your beliefs to crassly advance your own political ambitions. As it is, the video of the incident seems to suggest otherwise on how the handshake went down.

However, it would seem that there are plenty of women out there who would now like to have the opportunity to press the flesh, so to speak, with the Indonesian Minister for [Mis]Communication and [Mis]Information. Among the more notable flesh pressers is the irrepressible Vicky Vette. Ms. Vette is better known for her international work as a porn star with ample proportions.

Here is a copy of the tweet that she sent to TitS. Do you think the "pubic" part is a Freudian slip?

Meanwhile, here are a few photos of Vicky Vette in all her glory...

Obama Wins!

Pennsylvania!

This is one of the "battleground states" and one that most pundits have been saying from day one that John McCain had to win in order to win the White House!

Mathematically, the contest is far from over and by most accounts McCain is doing better in the early counting than many expected. Dropping Pennsylvania though is a pretty big body blow and one that he and the Republicans are unlikely to recover from unless McCain is able to pull Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Maybe an update later in the day.

The photo is of Obama and his wife casting their votes.

New Yorker Magazine -- The Obama Cover

I wonder if there is an agenda at play here or is it really as The New Yorker Magazine claims just a bit of satire? Looking at the picture for yourselves it is clear that both Obama and his wife are depicted as terrorists and if you look closely you can see the US flag burning in the fireplace and a happy snappy of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall. The Obama campaign has labeled the cover offensive. And, I am not surprised.

The cover may well be satire but it plays into the misinformation that has swirled around the Obama campaign for a long time now. The flag in the fire place could represent Obama's reluctance to wear a lapel pin for a long while. He has now taken to wearing one again in an attempt to ward of any critics questioning his patriotism.

The rumor mill has been running for a long while that Obama's middle name of Hussein means he must be a Muslim. This is also untrue and I wonder why people believe it considering there was such broad coverage of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair and Obama's church going habits.

Perhaps the Osama bin Laden photograph on the wall is in reference to the idea that Obama will meet with tyrants, despots, and dictators as a means to further US diplomacy.

The Obama campaign's beef seems to be that it depicts Obama and his wife as being racist, sexist, anti-religion, anti-patriotic, and sympathetic to terrorism. Yet, these are just some of the claims that right-wing critics have already made of the Obama's. So, is it that much of a stretch to understand the New Yorkers explanation of the cover which was, "Please note that it is satire -- we are poking fun at the scare tactics and misinformation that some have employed to derail Obama's campaign"?

The cover is so outrageous that it cannot be anything but satire and any one that believes that the caricature is an accurate depiction of either the candidate or his wife needs their head read. Is the cover offensive? I do not think so. Is it tasteless? Perhaps. Is it ridiculous? Most definitely! And as I said the idea that any one is going to base their vote on what is contained in this caricature is equally silly.

"Baby Mama"

"Baby Mama" is urban black slang for a woman who has a baby with a man who is not her husband or her boyfriend.

Apparently, the phrase has been used on the Fox News Channel to refer to Michelle Obama!

This is the beauty of the Internet. I learn something every single day!

Obama and Trinity United Church of Christ

I have made a few posts on US politics and the General / Presidential elections coming to that part of the world in November. I am not a US citizen and as such my interest is as an outsider. I have been there a couple of times and went to school in North Carolina so perhaps my interest in the whole process is also different from that of others. In any event the interest is not the point and who wins is ultimately no more important than that person will have their finger on the little red button that destroys the world.

However, my comments here are about politicians claiming to be a breath of fresh air, something different, a new breed of politician. Barack Obama has built his whole campaign on change but really it has only ever been about getting elected and therefore it has been a campaign of political expediency. The majority of the liberal and left-leaning press have given the fella a free ride to all intents and purposes. This may have been a mistake for Democrats!

Obama is proving to be nothing more than a run of the mill politician who operates in a world of double speak! The failures to answer serious questions about his relationships with certain people and his beliefs, not religious, but how to effect change have been a lesson in political speak; answering a question without ever really answering the question.

This is particularly so with the decision to resign from the Trinity United Church of Christ! This is a fella who has been a parishioner there for a very long time and when the proverbial hits the fan he bails out without really bailing out. This I would suggest is political expediency, a sweeping under the rug of some unpleasantness without ever denouncing the ideas themselves or ones association with those ideas. Obama is hoping that his resignation from his spiritual home of the last 20 years will end the bad publicity. This bad publicity includes matters related not only to the racially charged rhetoric of the ministers that preach there, such as the Reverend Jeremiah Wright (or used to), but also the "Black Value System" that underpins the Trinity Church belief system.

On the contrary, not only should it not end the controversy it should in fact intensify it! The hard questions need to be asked; like Why now? Why after 20 years? Can you honestly say that in those 20 years you never heard rhetoric like this before? If you did then why didn't you resign then? Should he denounce his former Church, I don't know that would make a difference in the long run. To denounce his Church would imply that he had been involved with a Church for almost 20 years that was preaching a message that needs to be denounced. to do so would severely undermine is ability to claim that he was not aware of that message. Yet, it is catch 22 because his failure to denounce the Church implies that I am resigning because this is no longer a tenable situation for me, I do not agree with the comments that have been caught on tape, but ultimately the Church is reflective of who I am although some of the sermons are not! Political double speak!

The reality is that these questions are unlikely to be asked because the desire for change is real and the belief that there is a real chance that an African-American man can be president. Simply, there are opportunities not to be missed. There is absolutely no reason why an African-American man cannot be elected to the presidency as there is no reason a woman cannot be elected to the presidency or for that matter an African-American woman!

I am always a supporter of acting and voting on a person's merits to be elected to the office they seek. As I said I am not a US citizen and cannot vote.

I am not questioning Obama's credentials to be president and I am also not advocating that Hillary Clinton should be nominated in his place. I am rather questioning the idea that Obama is a new breed of politician who says what he means and means what he says. My personal opinion is that he is just another politician who will say anything to get elected.

To be clear my concerns in this post relate to whether Barack Obama is a new breed of politician, a breath of fresh air, that is going to sweep into the halls of power or is he just another politician that has run an excellent campaign.

I make no aspersions to the man's ability to be president. I do question whether he has fully disclosed what he knew and when with regards to the rants of the pastor of his Church and his one time spiritual advisor. In that sense perhaps the period between now and November will be particularly revealing as there is a more intensive vetting of his record and his associations.

Welcome to politics!