Magdaleno

By Dan Amira

After a thorough investigation, Daily Intel has discovered that God is separately backing at least three different contenders for the Republican presidential nomination. Over the course of the past few months and even years, God has sent signs and direct messages to each of these candidates encouraging them to run, presumably without telling them that he supports other candidates as well.

Herman Cain: When Cain’s granddaughter was born in 1999, Cain says his first thought upon holding her was, “What do I do to make this a better world?” Cain told Christian radio host Bryan Fischer in January, “I know that that had to be God almighty sending that thought through my mind.” That’s the background for what happened twelve years later. While campaigning for president around December of 2010, Cain was feeling tired and discouraged when he received a direct sign from God that he must continue. This sign was delivered via God’s preferred method of communication, the text message:

Cain has also heard from God more directly, as he told a tea party rally in April:

Cain told the crowd about his battle with cancer in 2006, saying he’s been “totally cancer free” for the past five years.

“You want to know why? God said, ‘Not yet Herman,’” Cain told the crowd. “God said, ‘Not yet. I’ve got something else for you to do.’ And it might be to become the president of the United States of America.”

Rick Santorum: But around the same time God was encouraging Herman Cain to run for president, he was also telling Rick Santorum to throw his hat in the race. As Karen Santorum told CBN’s David Brody in May about her husband’s decision to run for president, “It really boils down to God’s will. What is it that God wants? … We have prayed a lot about this decision, and we believe with all our hearts that this is what God wants.”

Michele Bachmann: Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann is all but certain to jump into the race soon, and when she does, it will signal that God has been quietly encouraging her to run for president as well. As Bachmann told World Net Daily in 2009, she would never run without God’s personal endorsement:

“If I felt that’s what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it,” she answered. “When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I’ve said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That’s really my standard.

“If I am called to serve in that realm I would serve,” she concluded, “but if I am not called, I wouldn’t do it.”

Bachmann recently confirmed that she has, indeed, “had that calling and that tugging on my heart.”

God hasn’t been universally generous with his support. He went out of his way to let Mike Huckabee know that he shouldn’t run for president, lest he take his focus off the much more important task of producing a series of conservative American history DVDs. And though God arranged for Sarah Palin to be chosen as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, there’s nothing to indicate that he backs her potential candidacy in 2012. Nevertheless, the fact that God has privately encouraged the candidacies of three different Republicans may cause voters to question whether, in reality, he really even has any preference at all.

God could not be reached for comment by press time, because, a spokesman says, he was helping a baseball player hit a game-winning home run, giving an old churchgoing lady the winning lottery numbers, making sure that a plane made it through the turbulence okay, helping someone survive a heart attack, and also, just for fun, creating a new animal that’s like a cross between a leopard and an alligator.

And now the most interesting Pat Robertson Says He Thinks God Has Shown Him Who The Next President Will Be

(leno’s note: I am still waiting for god to tell me when I will win the lottery, I hope that she will take the time to at least give me a hint so that I might buy more tickets)

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a.    Youssou N’Dour for president
b.    Marriage Equality for Washington State
c.    Occupy Haiti

Youssou N’Dour to run in Senegal’s presidential election

Singer announces he will take on Abdoulaye Wade but analysts divided over whether he can win or will split opposition vote.. Article by Luke Harding, Monica Mark and agencies guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 January 2012 14.50 EST

Youssou N’Dour to run in Senegal’s presidential election

Singer announces he will take on Abdoulaye Wade but analysts divided over whether he can win or will split opposition vote

Singer Youssou N’Dour announces plans to stand as a candidate in the Senegalese presidential elections Link to this video

The Senegalese music star Youssou N’Dour has said he will stand in next month’s presidential election, in a high-profile challenge to the octogenarian incumbent Abdoulaye Wade.

N’Dour – a versatile singer, songwriter, and composer best known in Britain for his hit song with Neneh Cherry, 7 Seconds – said he decided to contest the election in the small West African state following overwhelming pressure from supporters.

“I’ve travelled the world and been seen by people all over the world and I think I have the ability to govern Senegal. I am the alternative,” N’Dour announced on his own television station, Television Futurs Medias. He said he would announce his policies intended to topple President Wade soon.

“For a long time, men and women have demonstrated their optimism, dreaming of a new Senegal. They have, in various ways, called for my candidacy … I listened I heard,” he added. He also accused the president of “hearing only in mono, not stereo”.

Hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as Africa’s most famous living singer, N’Dour is hugely popular among young Senegalese voters. He has been an outspoken critic of Wade, who – aged 85 and in power already for 11 years – is seeking a third term. Political analysts are divided on whether N’Dour can win the race, or will merely split the vote between a series of opposition candidates. Musicians who have toured with him have also described him as exacting. “I would have to see his manifesto before voting for him,” one former manager said, saying he quit after several years of touring with N’Dour following “one too many dramas”.
Senegal is, relatively speaking, a democratic success story. But in recent years Wade has faced accusations that he has subverted the constitution by standing for a third term in office, while also shoehorning his son, and potential heir, into the job of vice-president.

N’Dour has repeatedly attacked what he calls the government’s profligate spending. Senegal suffers from a lack of formal employment and an average income of just $3 a day. Last June riots erupted after Wade introduced electoral reforms that seemed designed to keep him in power, and power cuts left residents without electricity.
N’Dour enjoys widespread popularity in Senegal for his music, which helped expose the country’s “mbalax” drumming and singing styles to an international audience. But it remains unclear whether he will be able to translate his fame into votes.

The musician has announced that he is cancelling concert dates to focus on politics. Inside Senegal he also has a reputation as a successful businessman, with his own arts and culture TV station.
“It will be the most interesting election in a long time, because the outcome is by no means clear-cut,” Amadou Diop, an advisor to Idrissa Seck, a former PM and key opposition figure, said. “There are a lot of things that need to be fixed in Senegal and he has talked about these things. But just because he has overcome enormous difficulties to become a musician, that’s no guarantee of success in another arena.
“In Senegal, up to now, we’ve had presidents who are academics or high-level intellectuals like Abdou Diouf or Abdoulaye Wade. Now there’s a musical icon [...] who stands a chance of taking much of the youth vote,” analyst Babacar Justin Ndiaye added, according to Reuters.

The runup to the poll has been dominated by the constitutional row over whether Wade has the right to stand for a third term in a country that prides itself on a record of peaceful leadership changes – unlike many of its neighbours.

The revised Senegalese constitution limits presidential terms to two, but Wade argues that the amendment occurred after he had begun his first stint in office.

The row triggered a movement known as “Y’en a Marre” – French for “fed up” – headed by a group of rappers and a journalist. N’Dour has collaborated with the group, bringing his distinctive mbalax style to their protests, which have drawn huge crowds angered by perceived corruption and nepotism.

With stage names such as “Thiat” (Junior) and “Fou Malade” (Crazy Sick Guy), the rappers have roused young Senegalese with outspoken lyrics. Fou Malade raps of Wade’s speeches: “They get on our nerves.” Other lyrics compare Senegal to a pirogue – a traditional fishing boat – that is sinking.

A spokesman for Wade, Amadou Sall, dismissed N’Dour’s challenge. “We’re waiting for all the candidates, including Youssou N’Dour, to detail their policy ideas [...] and not just list a string of wishes,” he said.

LENOS NOTE: N’Dour was part of Amnesty International’s world concert tour called HUMAN RIGHTS NOW. Leno worked as Media Director for this tour and was impressed by the spirit and music of N’Dour.

Washington Governor Elated After Introducing Marriage Equality Bill: ‘I Feel So Much Better Today!’

thinkprogress.org

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) announced that she will be introducing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage during a press conference this morning, saying, “now it’s our time, it’s this generation’s call to end discrimination.” Linking the fight for marriage equality to racial justice,

OCCUPY HAITI STILL GOING STRONG

Over the holidays I had the chance to go to Haiti and found that most of the tent cities are still there and don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. The building of new homes or repairing the damaged ones is slower than most would like. At the same time many international donor countries are quickly pulling out of this country that still needs so much help and attention.

While in Haiti I was able to do a workshop for youth on the issue of organizing and hope and it was encouraging to see the light in their eyes as I tried to relate our struggles to theirs. I was also able to record a lengthy interview with a young lady who was buried for 2 ½ days in the ruble of a grocery store not knowing if she would survive. I am always amazed by what I learn from others when I travel and open up my mind and my heart.

SMILE …IT’S ONE OF THE BEST AND EASIEST THINGS YOU CAN DO EACH DAY

If you can share your smile with others you will help them to in turn share their smile with even more individuals. This is an easy way to help make our world better by giving light and hope to others..

SENDING A BIG CHICANO SMILE
leno