I was still shocked to learn that Canada slaughters hundreds of thousands of innocent seals for their fur every year. These animals, often babies who are just weeks old, have their skulls smashed in or are shot. Then they are skinned for their fur - often while they are still conscious. How can we still let this happen! As a American sports enthusiast, I cannot support the games in all honestly if this continues to go unnoticed. It's just like in China, where I learn the hundreds of thousands of innocent cats and dogs were and perhaps still being slaughers for their fur. Just like the "Wild Mustang Horses" http://www.wildhorserescue.org/, Example: Illinois bill threatens to re-0pen horse slaughter plant! http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id15.htmlAll eyes are on Canada, (I hope you are Pres. Obama) as it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Please help end the seal slaughter immediately so that the reputation of the Vancouver Olympic Games won't be tarnished.
Thanks
A new leader for a new era
The US stands on the threshold of the new era it needs. Americans should elect Barack Obama as their president
Every United States presidential election is important. Most of them provide dramatic political theatre. All of them are compulsively watched by the rest of the world. The election of 2008, however, is a record-breaker in all departments. It is important because it comes at the end of George Bush's calamitous two terms and amid such economic turmoil......
ENTIRE EDITORIAL- http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/01/elections-obama-mccain-usa-bush
By Haaretz Service
Barack Obama gained the support of one of the Jewish world's most prominent leaders Friday, when Canadian philanthropist Edgar M. Bronfman gave the Democratic presidential candidate his endorsement. In a column on the Huffingtonpost, Bronfman asserted that Obama is the candidate who will act in the best interest of Israel. Of Obama's Republican rival, the philanthropist said: "As an American Jew who loves Israel, I cannot support John McCain." Bronfman, a former head of the World Jewish Congress, wrote in the piece titled "Israel's Best Interest is a Morally Strong America" that an honest broker was needed to push Israelis and Palestinians toward a two-state solution...........
ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1033267.html
MANCHESTER - Fred Bramante, a member of McCain's New Hampshire Leadership Committee and a 2008 Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention today announced his support for Senator Obama's Campaign for Change. Bramante, a Co-Chair of Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign and former Republican gubernatorial candidate, is a past Chairman and current member of the New Hampshire State Board of Education. His endorsement marks the first time nationally that a delegate or alternate delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention has publicly announced their decision to support Sen. Obama. "I believe that America is at a critical point and that how our nation addresses the issue of education redesign will hold the key to America's future," said Fred Bramante. "Barack Obama is committed to reforming our public schools instead of abandoning them. To my disappointment, Senator McCain continues to support the use of vouchers, a divisive approach to education which has gotten us nowhere for decades and will not ensure that our children will live their lives in another American Century." On the call, the Obama-Biden Campaign also announced 20 other prominent New Hampshire Republicans who support Obama for president. "As a lifelong Republican and father of two, I believe Obama is the best choice for the future of our country. He has my support because of his views on the economy, his concern for America's standing in the world, and his opposition to the war in Iraq," said Barry Schuster of Lebanon. "As the former Chair of the school board, I know improving education policy will be critical to the Senator because of his own experiences and the value he places on reforming the system." "It has been the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, who has demonstrated sound judgment in dealing with this economic crisis," said Pamela Diamantis of Greenland. "I am supporting Obama because he meets the criteria I want in a president, which is someone who is a strong leader who has conviction around his ideas and has the skills and desire to effectively communicate and build a consensus." This group of 20 New Hampshire Republicans joins a long list of other prominent Republicans supporting Obama including Republican State Representative Sandy Kearns, former Republican State Senator Richard Russman, former Republican State Representative William Tsiros, and former Republican State Representative Liz Hager.
MANCHESTER - Fred Bramante, a member of McCain's New Hampshire Leadership Committee and a 2008 Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention today announced his support for Senator Obama's Campaign for Change.
Bramante, a Co-Chair of Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign and former Republican gubernatorial candidate, is a past Chairman and current member of the New Hampshire State Board of Education. His endorsement marks the first time nationally that a delegate or alternate delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention has publicly announced their decision to support Sen. Obama.
"I believe that America is at a critical point and that how our nation addresses the issue of education redesign will hold the key to America's future," said Fred Bramante. "Barack Obama is committed to reforming our public schools instead of abandoning them. To my disappointment, Senator McCain continues to support the use of vouchers, a divisive approach to education which has gotten us nowhere for decades and will not ensure that our children will live their lives in another American Century."
On the call, the Obama-Biden Campaign also announced 20 other prominent New Hampshire Republicans who support Obama for president.
"As a lifelong Republican and father of two, I believe Obama is the best choice for the future of our country. He has my support because of his views on the economy, his concern for America's standing in the world, and his opposition to the war in Iraq," said Barry Schuster of Lebanon. "As the former Chair of the school board, I know improving education policy will be critical to the Senator because of his own experiences and the value he places on reforming the system."
"It has been the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, who has demonstrated sound judgment in dealing with this economic crisis," said Pamela Diamantis of Greenland. "I am supporting Obama because he meets the criteria I want in a president, which is someone who is a strong leader who has conviction around his ideas and has the skills and desire to effectively communicate and build a consensus."
This group of 20 New Hampshire Republicans joins a long list of other prominent Republicans supporting Obama including Republican State Representative Sandy Kearns, former Republican State Senator Richard Russman, former Republican State Representative William Tsiros, and former Republican State Representative Liz Hager.
I found this opinion editorial in the Pakistani Daily Times:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C28%5Cstory_28-10-2008_pg3_6
I regard Uri Avnery as a sage in the extremely important and difficult stage of Middle East conflict. I believe that finding his perspectives on a Pakistani website is strongly worthy of our notice.
Obama for president OUR ENDORSEMENTThese are difficult times.The United States is facing an economic crisis unlike any we’ve seen since the Great Depression. Health care, food and fuel costs are skyrocketing and too many Americans are doing without. Some have to choose between eating, staying warm or taking their prescription medicine.After more than five years, the war in Iraq continues and there does not appear to be an “end game” in sight. The conflict in Afghanistan has intensified and terror concerns have not dissipated since 9/11.The next president has a daunting agenda and now more than ever, we need a leader who has vision, can inspire and will produce real solutions.Barack Obama is that man.Despite the critics who argue the junior senator from Illinois lacks experience, we believe Obama is exactly the kind of leader we need now.Former Secretary of State Colin Powell perhaps said it best:Obama has “displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like [the economic crisis] and picking a vice president ...” he said, adding Obama “has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He’s crossing lines — ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines.”Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain is a war veteran, an American hero and has had a distinguished career in the Senate. For years, he was the moderate maverick who worked with both Republicans and Democrats. He was always taking an independent approach to issues impacting our country, including illegal immigration and social issues.We concede that the Courier editorial board was split over this endorsement. McCain, after all, is well versed in a number of areas, including foreign policy matters and how Washington works. But the majority of our board felt McCain’s campaign has trekked too far to the right.In the end, this debate is about making a choice between Obama and McCain. Who will do the best job in moving us away from the past eight years of economic instability, partisan bickering and “cowboy diplomacy?” We believe it is Obama who has shown he is prepared to take on the serious challenges we face as a nation.A week prior to the Iowa Caucuses, Obama told the editorial board that now is the time for something greater than ourselves.We believe it is Obama who has shown he is prepared to take on the serious challenges we face as a nation. A week prior to the Iowa Caucuses, Obama told the editorial board that now is the time for something greater than ourselves.
Obama for president OUR ENDORSEMENT
These are difficult times.
The United States is facing an economic crisis unlike any we’ve seen since the Great Depression.
Health care, food and fuel costs are skyrocketing and too many Americans are doing without. Some have to choose between eating, staying warm or taking their prescription medicine.
After more than five years, the war in Iraq continues and there does not appear to be an “end game” in sight. The conflict in Afghanistan has intensified and terror concerns have not dissipated since 9/11.
The next president has a daunting agenda and now more than ever, we need a leader who has vision, can inspire and will produce real solutions.
Barack Obama is that man.
Despite the critics who argue the junior senator from Illinois lacks experience, we believe Obama is exactly the kind of leader we need now.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell perhaps said it best:
Obama has “displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like [the economic crisis] and picking a vice president ...” he said, adding Obama “has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He’s crossing lines — ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines.”
Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain is a war veteran, an American hero and has had a distinguished career in the Senate.
For years, he was the moderate maverick who worked with both Republicans and Democrats. He was always taking an independent approach to issues impacting our country, including illegal immigration and social issues.
We concede that the Courier editorial board was split over this endorsement. McCain, after all, is well versed in a number of areas, including foreign policy matters and how Washington works. But the majority of our board felt McCain’s campaign has trekked too far to the right.
In the end, this debate is about making a choice between Obama and McCain. Who will do the best job in moving us away from the past eight years of economic instability, partisan bickering and “cowboy diplomacy?”
We believe it is Obama who has shown he is prepared to take on the serious challenges we face as a nation.
A week prior to the Iowa Caucuses, Obama told the editorial board that now is the time for something greater than ourselves.
Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the United States Senate, is the latest Republican to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Pressler "cited the Democrat's response to the financial crisis as the primary reason for his decision."
"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous."
(Read more)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26kristof.html
John McCain isn’t boasting about a new endorsement, one of the very, very few he has received from overseas. It came a few days ago:
“Al Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election,” read a commentary on a password-protected Islamist Web site that is closely linked to Al Qaeda and often disseminates the group’s propaganda.
Yet the endorsement of Mr. McCain by a Qaeda-affiliated Web site isn’t a surprise to security specialists. Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism director, and Joseph Nye, the former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, have both suggested that Al Qaeda prefers Mr. McCain and might even try to use terror attacks in the coming days to tip the election to him.“From their perspective, a continuation of Bush policies is best for recruiting,” said Professor Nye, adding that Mr. McCain is far more likely to continue those policies.An American president who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulminates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American president with a Muslim grandfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaeda recruiters fits.
Yet the endorsement of Mr. McCain by a Qaeda-affiliated Web site isn’t a surprise to security specialists. Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism director, and Joseph Nye, the former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, have both suggested that Al Qaeda prefers Mr. McCain and might even try to use terror attacks in the coming days to tip the election to him.
“From their perspective, a continuation of Bush policies is best for recruiting,” said Professor Nye, adding that Mr. McCain is far more likely to continue those policies.
An American president who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulminates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American president with a Muslim grandfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaeda recruiters fits.
f you appreciaterd this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and support and contribute to the campaign (it’s not over until the polls close): http://tinyurl.com/henrym4obamafundraising
Henry M
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all Editorial
Barack Obama for President
Published: October 23, 2008
Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation's future truly hangs in the balance.The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush's failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane's floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.•Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation's problems.In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain's campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound. Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans' bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government's role and responsibilities. In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, "Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology."Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.The EconomyThe American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution" — is still a believer. Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem. Mr. Obama is clear that the nation's tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush's tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children's options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.National SecurityThe American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.While Iraq's leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still taking about some ill-defined "victory." As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors. Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan's dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain's long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America's image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world. Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow's bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians' worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran's nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain's willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening. The Constitution and the Rule of LawUnder Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law. Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of "black" programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush's attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops. The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women's reproductive rights.The Candidates It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility. Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush's misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America's emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of "drill, baby, drill."Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies. •Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He's been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife's love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans' patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states "pro-America."This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency. The nation's problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing "robo-calls" and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
Ready to leadBy the Times Editorial BoardExperience or change? If we had a nickel every time each word was uttered in this presidential campaign, we could bail out the reckless lenders, cover the war debt and provide another stimulus package. Yet those two words don’t begin to cover the skills and attributes necessary in our next president. What about temperament, judgment, decision-making and knowledge? How about stamina, education and ethics? These are among the considerations that support our enthusiastic endorsement of Barack Obama for president of the United States. Already, Obama’s appeal and campaign organization is leading the biggest voter turnout in history, bringing millions of new voters to the polls, thereby strengthening our democracy. Already, Obama is demonstrating presidential leadership and demeanor, displaying steely calm against an avalanche of unfair attacks, distortions and distractions. Already, Obama has erased any concerns we had during the caucus campaigns by earning the support of all of his primary opponents, and picking one of our favorites as his running mate. The biggest change we’ve experienced since the caucuses is in our assessment of John McCain. The straight talk that won our caucus endorsement has been consumed by campaign doublespeak and some fairly awful decisions for the guy wearing the experience mantle. John McCain approved the messages that made Paris Hilton and Joe the Plumber campaign issues. These sly distractions seemed beneath a true hero who earned his reputation by avoiding such nonsense. Most troubling is his vice presidential pick. Sarah Palin’s populist appeal holds promise. Her soaring political career track from hockey mom to Alaska governor simply isn’t enough to merit the giant step to the Oval Office. We don’t question her potential. But today, she clearly is not ready to assume the presidency. Barack Obama is. He’s experienced America at many levels: his Kansas roots; diverse Hawaii; elite Harvard; south side Chicago. He’s demonstrated civic responsibility at just as many levels: organizing in neighborhoods, politicking in Chicago, legislating in Springfield, debating in Congress and traveling internationally on diplomatic missions. Where his experience comes up short, he has sought out help, including Republicans like U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Obama picked a running mate who could assume the presidency tomorrow. All along, Obama has been unwavering in his assertion that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the target in our war on terrorism. Helping the middle class, not betting on trickle-down tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, has been the consistent focus of his economic plan. We support a presidential candidate predisposed toward reaching out to world leaders, not one entrenched in Cold War-style standoffs. The clincher for us came in our Quad-City meetings with Obama as state senator, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate. In each instance, we’ve experienced consistent character, superior intellect, engaging curiosity and specific knowledge of our Quad-Cities. We weren’t quite there last January when change began in Iowa. We are now. We support Barack Obama for president.
Ready to lead
By the Times Editorial Board
Experience or change? If we had a nickel every time each word was uttered in this presidential campaign, we could bail out the reckless lenders, cover the war debt and provide another stimulus package. Yet those two words don’t begin to cover the skills and attributes necessary in our next president. What about temperament, judgment, decision-making and knowledge? How about stamina, education and ethics? These are among the considerations that support our enthusiastic endorsement of Barack Obama for president of the United States. Already, Obama’s appeal and campaign organization is leading the biggest voter turnout in history, bringing millions of new voters to the polls, thereby strengthening our democracy. Already, Obama is demonstrating presidential leadership and demeanor, displaying steely calm against an avalanche of unfair attacks, distortions and distractions. Already, Obama has erased any concerns we had during the caucus campaigns by earning the support of all of his primary opponents, and picking one of our favorites as his running mate. The biggest change we’ve experienced since the caucuses is in our assessment of John McCain. The straight talk that won our caucus endorsement has been consumed by campaign doublespeak and some fairly awful decisions for the guy wearing the experience mantle. John McCain approved the messages that made Paris Hilton and Joe the Plumber campaign issues. These sly distractions seemed beneath a true hero who earned his reputation by avoiding such nonsense. Most troubling is his vice presidential pick. Sarah Palin’s populist appeal holds promise. Her soaring political career track from hockey mom to Alaska governor simply isn’t enough to merit the giant step to the Oval Office. We don’t question her potential. But today, she clearly is not ready to assume the presidency. Barack Obama is. He’s experienced America at many levels: his Kansas roots; diverse Hawaii; elite Harvard; south side Chicago. He’s demonstrated civic responsibility at just as many levels: organizing in neighborhoods, politicking in Chicago, legislating in Springfield, debating in Congress and traveling internationally on diplomatic missions. Where his experience comes up short, he has sought out help, including Republicans like U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Obama picked a running mate who could assume the presidency tomorrow. All along, Obama has been unwavering in his assertion that Afghanistan, not Iraq, is the target in our war on terrorism. Helping the middle class, not betting on trickle-down tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, has been the consistent focus of his economic plan. We support a presidential candidate predisposed toward reaching out to world leaders, not one entrenched in Cold War-style standoffs. The clincher for us came in our Quad-City meetings with Obama as state senator, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate. In each instance, we’ve experienced consistent character, superior intellect, engaging curiosity and specific knowledge of our Quad-Cities. We weren’t quite there last January when change began in Iowa. We are now. We support Barack Obama for president.
Register editorial board endorses Obama for President THE REGISTER'S EDITORIAL BOARD • OCTOBER 25, 2008 Barely two years into Barack Obama's first term as a U.S. senator, he launched an unlikely presidential candidacy imbued, he acknowledged, with a "certain audacity." Casualties were mounting in Iraq, memories of the government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina still stung, and a majority of Americans told pollsters they believed the country was on the wrong track. Yet in announcing his presidential bid, Obama outlined a bold, hopeful vision for America: "Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. ... Let's be the generation that ensures our nation's workers are sharing in our prosperity. ... Let's be the generation that ends poverty in America. ... Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health-care crisis. ... Let's be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil." Critics immediately cast his talk of hope and change as naive and his lack of history on the national and international stage as too risky for the presidency. First test: winning the Iowa caucuses, perceived by many as an improbable feat for a black candidate in an overwhelmingly white state. But Obama believed in the power of his ideas and ideals, and the capacity of Americans to unite around them. Eleven months later, after more than 80 days spent campaigning in the state, Iowans awarded him victory. They had heard his soaring oratory and sensed his uncommon intelligence, but they also witnessed much more: the consistency of his calls for unifying around common purpose, rather than pandering to age-old divisions, and the way he remained unflappable and his staff disciplined no matter what tumult the campaign trail delivered. Those qualities have become even more pronounced this fall, during an increasingly negative general-election campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain and descent of the nation's economy into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It has been Obama, not the more experienced McCain, who kept his center as events tilted crazily. Obama has earned the Register's endorsement for the presidency because of his steadfastness in the face of uncertainty, his clear-eyed vision for a more just America and his potential for rallying the country to do great things. Would work to strengthen the struggling middle class Obama's life story embodies America's promise: that someone from modest means can study, work and get ahead. His parents - his mother from Kansas and his father from Kenya - divorced when he was a child. His grandparents helped raise him, and his mother made sure he studied hard. Eventually, he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. Before law school, though, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago and saw that for too many families, the American promise of opportunity had faded: Schools were poor, wages had stagnated and jobs had shifted overseas in a globalizing economy. Since his first visits to Iowa, Obama has correctly emphasized improved public schools and greater access to college as the investment that will buoy the American economy long-term. He favors a progressive tax policy, taxing those at the very highest rungs of income a little more to provide a little more help to those on the bottom rungs. In a speech more than a year ago, long before this fall's financial crisis, he decried the nation's rising income inequality and the notion "that the market will correct all our misfortunes, and that there's no problem that can't be solved by another tax break that the wealthy didn't need." Neither Obama nor McCain is an expert on the economy. But Obama appropriately places emphasis on strengthening the middle class. And as a state senator in Illinois, in the U.S. Senate and through the rigors of the campaign, he has shown a willingness to seek others' advice, listen and strive for consensus - crucial characteristics in troubled times. Other key parts of Obama's agenda would help shore up the middle class and the U.S. economy for decades to come: Expanding health-insurance coverage to more Americans will lessen the threat that illness will bring financial ruin. Pumping research dollars into developing clean alternatives to fossil fuels and investing in energy efficiency will maintain America's technological edge and create good-paying green-collar jobs. McCain has run erratic, disappointing campaign Judging by their records and statements, both Obama and McCain promise to correct the worst abuses of the Bush administration: its arrogant, go-it-alone approach to foreign policy and its insidious insistence that maintaining national security requires embrace of torture and sacrifice of fundamental civil liberties. McCain, like Obama, brought an appealing personal history to the campaign. He's a genuine American hero, enduring 5 ½ years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam while refusing early release, serving more than 20 years in the Navy, and taking unconventional stands that often opposed his party and popular sentiment during a quarter century in Congress. The Register's editorial board endorsed McCain for the Republican nomination and looked forward to a serious-minded contest between competing ideologies and worthy foes. But it's as if McCain has lost his way, forfeiting principle for gain of a few points in the polls. He put on hold his long-sought quest for comprehensive immigration reform. Though widely regarded as a man of honor, he has overseen a campaign premised on purposeful distortions about Obama and his record. Worst of all, in grasping for political edge in his choice of a running mate, he burdened his ticket and potentially the country with an individual utterly unqualified to ascend to the presidency. Before choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain emphasized the importance of experience and sound judgment in fighting terrorism and confronting a restive Russia and a rising China. He has also questioned Obama's readiness to be commander in chief. Then he picked a running mate who clearly isn't ready. An appeal to bridge divisions, tackle problems There are other good arguments for Obama's election. The next president might make several Supreme Court nominations. Obama promises to appoint justices with an expansive view of constitutional rights and equal justice. McCain's appointments more likely would continue the court's conservative shift and threaten abortion rights, search-and-seizure protections and other individual liberties. Obama also is committed to withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly and as safely as possible. McCain talks about winning and success, but says little about when troops will come home. None of what Obama outlines will be easy, whether removing troops from Iraq without chaos or addressing climate change without stunting the economy. In recent years, America has shrunk from big challenges, stymied by "the smallness of our politics" and "our chronic avoidance of tough decisions," as Obama put it in his announcement speech. Tackling big problems will first require Americans to bridge divisions, he has said, and then roll up our sleeves. That message continues to resonate with Iowans. In a September Iowa Poll, 54 percent of respondents rated Obama as the candidate who would be most successful in unifying the country, an 18-point edge over McCain. When Obama first met with the Register's editorial board more than a year ago, he emphasized that when deciding to run, "I wasn't simply a young man in a hurry." "I think there's this particular window right now where the country is hungry for change, and is also hungry to be brought together, as opposed to being driven apart," he said. "And I thought that the particular skills that I have, of bringing people from diverse backgrounds across lines of race or party or region or faith to focus on solving problems, was a particularly useful and needed skill right now." Indeed, it is. An Obama presidency presents the best hope for a unified America that aspires to greatness again.
I have a confession. Sometimes I listen to Rush Limbaugh. Hey, it's only for a few minutes at a time, when I'm going out for lunch. In fact, I can only last a few minutes before I crack.
Today Rush was going on about all the traitors in the Republican party that have jumped ship for Obama. You know the names: Colin Powell, Chris Buckley, Scott McClelland, William Weld, Ken Adelman...and the list goes on.
Of course, his explanation is that all these guys are just trying to ingratiate themselves to the next President of the Unites States (that's Barack Obama, for those of you who haven't been paying attention). It's just in-con-ceiv-a-ble that they might actually want the better man to win. And what about Colin Powell? Last week that was all about race. And now it's because Secretary Powell wants to get invited to state dinners in an Obama administration? Rush, baby, which is it? Maybe all those other guys are really black and they've been passing all these years.
Rush even went so far as to recommend that Sarah Palin be named the head of the Republican party. I'd back that.
I kind of feel for ol' Rush. I'm sure this situation is setting up a conflict in his fevered little mind that he can't reconcile. Hey, Rush, if you're reading this, untie the half of your brain behind your back and put it to work. All those guys you're tearing into? They might just be onto something...
The tied is turning as more Republican's are voting for Obama!
Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.
This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."
Fried is exceptionally thoughtful and principled; his vote for Obama is especially noteworthy.
The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.
As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.
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Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.
In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.
Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.
Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.
In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”
Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.
The Economy
The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.
Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.
Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.
Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.
Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
National Security
The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.
While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still talking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.
Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.
Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.
Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.
Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.
Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.
Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.
The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.
The Candidates
It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.
Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.
He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.
Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”
Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.
Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”
This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama accepted the endorsement of the Navajo Nation Council. The Council endorsed Obama and Senator Joe Biden on a vote of 59 to 21 at their fall legislative meeting. This endorsement is the latest of more than 100 tribal leaders, tribal organization and tribes that have endorsed Senators Obama and Biden. Senator Obama said, "I am honored to receive the endorsement of the Navajo Nation. I look forward to partnering with Indian tribes, including the Navajo Nation, on a government-to-government basis, to address the special challenges facing tribes today, including access to affordable healthcare, economic development, energy independence, and education. Joe Biden and I look forward to working with the Navajo Nation and all of Indian Country to bring about the change we need." The Navajo Nation is comprised of over 250,000 members on the largest federally recognized Native American Nation, located around Southeastern Utah, Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico.
Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama accepted the endorsement of the Navajo Nation Council. The Council endorsed Obama and Senator Joe Biden on a vote of 59 to 21 at their fall legislative meeting. This endorsement is the latest of more than 100 tribal leaders, tribal organization and tribes that have endorsed Senators Obama and Biden.
Senator Obama said, "I am honored to receive the endorsement of the Navajo Nation. I look forward to partnering with Indian tribes, including the Navajo Nation, on a government-to-government basis, to address the special challenges facing tribes today, including access to affordable healthcare, economic development, energy independence, and education. Joe Biden and I look forward to working with the Navajo Nation and all of Indian Country to bring about the change we need."
The Navajo Nation is comprised of over 250,000 members on the largest federally recognized Native American Nation, located around Southeastern Utah, Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico.
Former Secy. Gen. Colin Powell's reputation as a man of integrity and of the deepest respect for American values has long been established. It will be interesting to see how many Americans, even the American press, will understand the far-reaching significance of his words on "Meet The Press" last weekend. Considering the state of current world affairs, Powell recognizes that we as a nation are at a uniquely defining moment in modern world history. Our decision for president will inevitably affect the future of the planet, for good or for ill. This was the basis for his endorsement and he got right to the point and the heart of the matter when he spoke about the Republican-promoted attitude equating "Muslim", even Obama himself, with "terrorist". To bring this point home he described the photo of the grieving mother leaning on the headstone of her son's grave. He was a decorated solider in the U.S. Army and had served his country and died young. He was not a Christian or a Jew, but a Muslim who had offered his life for THIS COUNTRY.
Considering the growing complexity and instability of world affairs and it's affect on *all* of us, Powell was providing a wake-up call to the *real* issues at stake in this pivotal election. America's place in the world is highly influential in one way or another to every living person on the planet. We have the power to take down nations if we choose, and we have the power to significantly impact issues like world poverty, health and human rights. Attitudes like the ones McCain and the Republican party are espousing, and which Fox News is broadcasting day and night, may seems innocuous and "just politics" to some, but these are the very things that shape foreign policy and our attitudes toward the world, and which will determine the future of world history.
It's not just about whether we should end the Iraq war, or engage certain nations in diplomatic talks. It's about how we, as a nation, will address ourselves to the world in the next four years and beyond. Will we allow our actions to be driven by an underlying fear, hatred and extremism? Or will we stand up for, insist upon, even be defenders of Democracy in the highest sense of the word? Can unilateralism go on working indefinitely? (Just think about what pathway that puts the world on!) Or shall we seek to embody the vision that our country was founded on? A vision which, though we have struggled with it, we have always defended and grown in our understanding of -- that all humankind are created equal and have certain inalienable rights. It is this vision that constitutes America's greatest power, and which will ultimately determine the state of world affairs. And it is this same vision which swims the strong undercurrents of this election, threatening to pull us under in more ways than one.
The Las Cruces Sun-News endorses Barack Obama for president of the United States. Like many Americans, we would feel more comfortable with the Democratic nominee if we knew him a little better; if he had been on the national scene a little longer; if his résumé had been filled out a little more. But, we also share the belief of most Americans that our country is heading in the wrong direction and is in dire need of fundamental change. A Gallup Poll released earlier this month showed just 9 percent of Americans said they're satisfied with the way things are going, the lowest ever in the 29 years Gallup has asked the question. Our economy is teetering, with the stock market losing trillions of dollars in value in a single week, jeopardizing the retirement plans of millions of Americans. Unemployment is up, retail and home sales are down and economists warn of a long, continued downturn. Our military is bogged down in Iraq while terrorists are regrouping in Afghanistan. And, our ability to rally world support has been badly damaged by substantiated allegations of torture and by eight years of arrogance and indifference toward traditional allies. John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent, is an honorable man who served our country with valor during the Vietnam war and has gone on to forge a Senate career best known for his work across party lines. It is not fair or accurate to suggest that McCain's election would represent a third Bush term. But on the most fundamental issues we face, McCain is offering a tweak or a minor adjustment to current policy, when what is needed is an overhaul. He favors continuation of a tax plan that widens the gap between the very wealthy and the very poor, and a foreign policy that has been obsessed on Iraq at the expense of other trouble spots, including Afghanistan and Pakistan from where the 9-11 plot was orchestrated. Obama cannot match his more experienced opponent in legislative accomplishments. The senator from Illinois burst onto the national scene four years ago with his stirring speech at the Democratic Convention. He announced his candidacy In February 2007, and went on to defeat a stellar field of Democratic contenders, including our own Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Along the way, he has appeared in almost 30 debates, given hundreds of stump speeches and spoken with thousands of reporters. While Obama's résumé may be thin, his talents and abilities are anything but. In the nearly two years since his announcement, Obama has inspired a flock of new voters who are excited about the U.S. political system for the first time in their lives. He has demonstrated steady leadership and a keen intellect at a time when those qualities are most needed.
