Today's summer guest host was Susan Ormiston.

It's Wednesday, September 2nd.

Muammar Gaddafi celebrated the 40th anniversary of the military coup that brought him to power in Libya yesterday.

Currently, Gaddafi says he can't understand why there was such a poor turnout ... flights to Tripoli are really cheap right now.

This is The Current.

Norway House

Marcel Balfour is taking drastic measures to deal with a stubborn problem. He's the Chief of the Norway House Cree Nation in northern Manitoba. He and the band's council have been trying to cope with an increase in drug and gang activity on the reserve. And after trying several tactics, they've now drafted a by-law that would allow them to banish serious offenders from the reserve. It's unclear whether the band council has the power to enforce the law. But Chief Balfour says he intends to try. Chief Marcel Balfour was in Winnipeg Manitoba.

Now the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs does not support the proposed banishment by-law. Nathalie Nepton is the Director of Band Governance under Indian and Northern Affairs. Here's what she had to say:

For his thoughts on the banishment bylaw, and how it fits into both aboriginal and Canadian legal traditions, Susan was joined by John Borrows. He's the Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Justice at the University of Victoria and he was in Victoria.


Listen to Part One:

All Politics are Tribal - Documentary

Pretty much every shred of evidence there is suggests that U.S. President Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although that hasn't stopped a small but very dedicated group of conspiracy theorists from suggesting that he wasn't born in the United States at all, something that would make him ineligible to be President. All over the world, Barack Obama's biography has provoked strong reactions. Born in Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father, raised in Indonesia and the United States. To some, it's inspiring. To others, it's suspicious.

In Kenya, reactions to Obama are split largely along ethnic lines. In early 2008, the country's two major ethnic groups -- Luos and Kikuyus -- clashed violently after a Kikuyu President was re-elected. Obama's father is a Luo. And last fall, his ancestors in "Luoland" were rooting for a man they perceived to be one of their own. But many Kikuyus were dismayed by the prospect of a Luo in the White House. So they backed John McCain. Or at least they would have if they could have cast a ballot.

In the lead-up to the American election, The Current's Kennedy Jawoko travelled to Nairobi for a first-hand look at Kenya's ethnic tensions through the prism of an American election. Here's his documentary, All Politics Are Tribal. It first aired on The Current in November.

Music

Artist: Makadem
Cut: Obama be thy name
Link: Music Video


Listen to Part Two:



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