Bloggers from around the world chime in to catch up on the action after Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested and charged by the FBI of corruption in the selection of Obama's successor for the empty Senate seat.

From Egypt, Zeinobia, who writes at Egyptian Chronicles, notes:

of course this political scandal is the talk of the media in the States now. It is a political corruption scandal beside of course the attractive Obama factor.

The blogger also reminds us of another scandal earlier in the year, concerning another Democrat Governor:

Of course this is the second big major Governor scandal in 2008 in America after the Spitzer scandal

Zeinobia draws parallels between governors in the US and in her own country, saying:

Why am I interested in all this ?? Well because it is good to see governors getting arrested while they are still in their position !! It is good see that the Governors are well monitored !!??

I spoke before about our governors, I do not want to accuse most of them but I will be modest and say some of them profited from their position in a way or another.

Will the day come in Egypt and we will find that the Administrative control authority presented enough evidence to General prosecutor to issue a warrant against Governor “X” for taking bribes from Company “Y” to pass their pollutant project or from businessman “Z” to give him the permission on building in an agricultural land !!??

Most if not all our Governors conspired and will continue to conspire with the NDP [ruling party in Egypt - National Democratic Party] in the Parliamentary elections. Well they are' appointed by the head of the NDP ,so they know the rules of the game. If they go along with the orders ,they won’t continue in their position.

Writing at Dutch blog PoliGazette, Jason says this latest scandal is “a stunning blow to Democratic Party claims to represent a reversal of years of Republican corruption.” He further reminds us:

This event serves also to highlight Illinois’ famously corrupt Democratic Party political machine, where personal favors are traded for political action in scenes reminiscent Tamany Hall. During the 2006 and 2008 elections, Democrats reveled in pointing fingers at Republican corruption from Mississippi to California to Alaska. But with Blagojevich coming after the William Jefferson bibery scandal in Louisiana, Democrats may nee to tend to their own garden.

Andrea Mann, writing for England for Obama, says the whole scandal reminds her of a Chicago gangster movie. She further adds:

According to the New York Times, Barack Obama “placed the call” which led to Rod Blagojevich’s downfall. And then he turned around in his swivel chair, and stubbed out his cigarette.

Actually, Barack’s call only indirectly led to it. And he made it three months before Blagojevich’s “downfall”. But, y’know, I have a Chicago gangster movie to script here.

Richard Silverstein, a Jewish blogger who blogs at Tikum Olam, notes:

The brazenness of his corruption is simply staggering.  Most corrupt politicians attempt to devise a slick scheme to conceal their venality.  But Blagojevich was hardly hiding anything.  The senate seat was for sale to the highest bidder, plain and simple:

“I’ve got this thing,” Mr. Blagojevich said on one recording, according to the affidavit, “and it’s f***ing golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f***ing nothing. I’m not going to do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

Crian P, at A Political Glimpse from Ireland exclaims “Holy Cow” at the news and further adds:

Governors have been indicted before, but it’s pretty amazing to see one hauled out of his house before dawn in handcuffs. But if the charges are true, it was warranted. He needed to be taken down before he could make the appointment.

The indictment and the statements so far are very carefully worded. They do not impute any blame to the President-Elect Of The United States–but they don’t rule out that He or His aides had any knowledge of the plot, either. That wording leaves open the possibility that Blagojevich might point to Obama to get a deal. But I suspect this prosecutor would have to have some seriously good evidence beyond just the governor’s word before he would proceed against anyone in the the President-Elect Of The United States’ camp.

From what I have seen so far, the President-Elect Of The United States came out of the slimy Illinois machine with remarkably little clinging to Him. If this latest chapter in the dismal history of the Illinois’ chief executive doesn’t seriously damage Him, it would be more confirmation of His remarkable political skills.

Another day, and yet another scandal in Obama's long road to the White House.

According to Egyptian blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy dealers in the Mediterranean town of Marsa Martrouh are peddling an Obama brand hashish:

A new brand of (presumably black Moroccan) hashish has appeared in the Egyptian town of Marsa Matrouh, called “Obama”!
I recall in in 2003, a quite popular brand of hash that appeared in Cairo was named “Saddam” coz it was “stronger than chemical weapons.”

The news first hit the online world via Twitter, when award-winning blogger Wael Abbas announced it, saying (Ar):

In English, the Tweet says:

Urgent - a new type of hashish appears in Marsa Matrouh - Obama

Elijah Zarwan, also based in Egypt, further comments:

By the hash-o-meter, Barack Obama may be the most popular foreign leader in Egypt since Saddam Hussein.

Although most media outlets would rather wait until at least the polls in California close at 8PM Pacific Time (about an hour from now), I am ready to declare that Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the U.S. tonight.

Obama with 200 projected electoral votes currently, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, will add California (55), Oregon (5), and Washington (11), in about an hour and pass 270 required to win.

He might even win as many as 300 electoral votes by the end of the count, especially if he wins Florida, and Virginia, two of the ‘too close to call' states.

The turnout was heavy. I voted today; waited about 25 minutes, which wasn't that bad, considering California had several propositions on the ballot that are hotly contested, including Proposition 8 which would overturn the recent court decision in California that allows same sex marriage. Then again, this is the O.C.

Some are using argument that one of them is better than the other , some are still connected to the republican party ( by feeling of gratitude for Bush Sr part in liberation of Kuwait )
some liberals are still liberal , want to support all librals around the world ( just like communist back in the day or as the old joke says , we support all revolution and even the revolution on the Bounty )

In Fact both are Bad for Kuwait , for many reasons
I’ll just list one for each ( to be bipartisan )

Obama main Focus in Clean Energy and renewable energy , do you know where over 90% of our GDP comes from ? yeah the thing he want to get rid off

McCain is more focused on national security , and what the next threat to the USA ? Iran , which country is closer to Iran and its nuclear plants ? , Kuwait

and sadly our government is not equipped to combat any of these scenarios
when one parliament member is able to shack things up and shows that they couldn’t even build a defense infront of a lone member ( who isn’t covered by a tribe or sect or political party )

some Arabic Links about the Parliment member Enter-Q8 here and Exzombie here

Five Good Reasons

1. His experience with poverty first in Indonesia where he witnessed -reportedly- the effects of an ill advised American foreign policy, supporting an ugly dictatorship, then in Chicago where he preferred working as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer rather than choosing a promising and predictably lucrative career as a corporate lawyer, having just graduated from a prestigious law school.

2. He opposed the war on Iraq well before the illegal invasion started, then he advocated an early and phased withdrawal in concordance with the opinion of a crushing majority of the “international community” (meaning: ordinary people's).

3. Despite some early contradictory declarations, he generally seeks a renewed diplomacy with a more seasoned approach with Cuba, Syria and Iran. Of course, and as far as the middle-east is concerned, the pressure and the level of infiltration by the Israel lobby and by the Military industrial complex are such that it will be difficult in case Obama had the integrity, soundness and willingness to act as an honest broker, to overturn the flawed system in place. Of course Arabs have to walk the walk after having talked the talk, far from primitive and futile violence.

4. The power of symbolism. In other words: the simple fact of having a black, self-made, left-leaning (in American terms of course), charismatic and clearly smart American president (at least in comparison with the imbecile outgoing one) may in and of itself contribute to temper international relations, and inject hope an positive expectation not only amongst Americans but also to some extent, amongst young secular people over the world -literally.

5. He has met late Edward Saïd. This reason may sound childishly naive and senseless but this is a reason enough to me, if I were American, to vote for this guy, knowing that at some point of his existence, has been exposed to the reasonable discourse of a secular, exiled Palestinian intellectual explaining eloquently his plight and that of his people.

Now of course one could argue for hours about the nature of the political system in America, which is, as far as I'm concerned, more of an oligarchy that it is a democracy, but again an Obama president has the potential to change something of some size, to some extent positively to make the current status quo more viable.

The visionary dream of a compassionate pastor from Atlanta called King, nearly forty years ago may come soon true. Let us just hope that the man now about to achieve that dream will set about to also fulfill the other vision of Dr. King dreaming of a Revolution of Values.

He didn't specify what type of change though; would be funny if he comes out after winning the race and just starts handing out pennies to people..

Anyway, if he does win, i've got a gut feeling there's going to be some sort of assassination attempt in there somewhere; hey, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the guy, but all it takes is one person who doesn't want a Black president for things to escalate.

Anyway…

This race has dragged on far too long, and it's turned more into a TV drama soap/sitcom than anything else.

Whatever.

Obama/McCain. It's 2:00am over here in Bahrain, and i'm heading to bed. Let's see what the polls say when I wake up tomorrow. What a different world it could be.