Lightfoot v. Bowen: Application for Stay Denied; According to today’s Supreme Court Orders, Dr. Orly Taitz’ case, Lightfoot v. Bowen, has been disposed of accordingly:
http://www.therightsideoflife.com/?p=3147
Dr. Orly Taitz says this is an opportunity to file immediately the actual Writ of Certiorari, so I guest this cast is not over with
http://drorly.blogspot.com/2009/01/urgent-need-affidavits-for-motion-to.html
From the Kenya Parliament...
Mr. Imanyara: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in a little more than two hours and a half, one Barack Hussein Obama will be taking the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States of America (USA). This event is of great significance to the entire world but even more so to us in Kenya because the President-elect of the USA has his ancestry in living memory of Kenya.
His father was born, bred and died in this country and what was unimaginable in the many years you lived in America as a professor in an American university has happened and today an African-American stands poised to become the 44th President of the USA. In the early 1990s, on a fellowship tour of Harvard University as the editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, I had the privilege of meeting a young American by the name of Obama who had then just been elected the first President of the Harvard Law Review. At that time, little did I know that within my own lifetime, I would be celebrating an event such as would be happening in two and a half hour's time.
Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, those of us who have the privilege of representing this House in the Pan African Parliament (PAP) will recall that on the day Barack Obama was elected the President of the USA on 4th November, we were in session of the PAP and I had the privilege of moving a similar motion which was carried by acclamation by all African representatives of the entire African continent assembled at the PAP in Johannesburg. So, what we are doing today is recognising an event that is of truly historic significance.
It is momentous in many ways for us, not simply because Barack Obama's father was Kenyan but because he is the President of the USA with which we share a rich history on form of Government, constitution, the concept of the rule of law which we cherish and our court system. In fact, the Constitution of Kenya that we are about to embark on the process of reforming, was crafted under the guidance of another great American of African descent, the late Thurgood Marshall. So, as we celebrate today the inauguration of President Barack Obama, we in Kenya have every reason to celebrate more than just having a president who has a history with which we can share.
Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, some are saying that for the duration of Barack Obama's administration of presidency, we should consider ourselves a State of the USA because one of our own sits in the White House, but that is not the case. What is important for us is the lessons that we as a country can learn from the USA where they have had a dark history of racial discrimination. In this country, where we have just gone through a period of post-election violence, where election results led to violence, death and destruction of property, we can learn a lesson from the USA that the results of an election there does not lead to death and violence. We can learn many lessons from John McCain who so gloriously accepted defeat when the will of the American people was declared through the ballot box. These are the lessons that we as Kenyans must be proud of, in that, one with our own ancestry today is going to lift the Bible and swear to protect and defend a constitution upon which our own Constitution is modelled.
Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, as we celebrate this occasion, let us also pay tribute to those who made it possible like our own Tom Mboya, who together with the Kennedy administration arranged the Great Air Lift that saw so many Kenyans go to the USA. That, in many ways, led to this great Kenyan who landed in Hawaii and married an American woman who has today given us the President of the USA. Tom Mboya and John F. Kennedy are people who saw so much hope for this country.
As we embark on the process of rewriting our Constitution based on the American experience, these are the hard lessons that we should learn from. We should learn that in a country of 42 tribes we should be proud of being members of one united Republic rather than 42 different ethnic groups that cannot accept the results of an election. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the inter-racial harmony that we saw exhibited during the campaigns for the election and more so after the elections, tells us that as we embark on this exercise of rewriting our Constitution, the example of the USA shows us that yes, it is possible to in fact, deal with differences of tribe in a way that results in greater unity for us. We should learn that a country can be proud of its diversity rather than be accused of the worst example of intolerance. Let us pay tribute to this man and his family for the audacity of hope that today the world celebrates.
Obama has been in this country two times before. Once before he was a Senator and the last time when he was a senator. Our hope and prayer is that when he comes next, he should be addressing this House as a State guest under our new Standing Orders that allow foreign Heads of States to address the National Assembly. We should not just see him in the light of a foreign Head of State but one to which we can claim to be ours.
I see my good friend looking at me and he says it should be the other way round, that it is not Kenya that should be part of the USA during the administration of Barack Obama but America that should be part of the greater Kenya.
I do not know how you look at it. But in whatever way you look at it, when the entire world talks about the President of the USA, it cannot fail to recognise Kenya as a country that has resulted in the great celebrations that are taking place throughout the world. My time is over, but I do move this Motion with great pleasure and privilege."
http://www.bunge.go.ke/downloads/Tenth Parl 1st Session/Hansard/20.01.09.pdf
