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Obama appeals for religious unity as protests mire 9/11

2010-09-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer :: Home : >> Obama appeals for religious unity as protests mire 9/11

John Kluge Dead: Billionaire Broadcasting Mogul Dies

2010-09-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

John Kluge Dead: Billionaire Broadcasting Mogul Dies

BBC News - France condemns Castro Roma 'holocaust' remark

2010-09-11T04:42:00.000-07:00

BBC News - France condemns Castro Roma 'holocaust' remark

The Hindu : News / International : Baseless report: Pakistan

2010-08-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Hindu : News / International : Baseless report: Pakistan

Angelinas donation surpasses Zardaris help

2010-08-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> Angelinas donation surpasses Zardaris help: "Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has contributed $100,000 (about Pakistani Rs.8.5 million) for flood ravaged Pakistan, a move that surpasses President Asif Ali Zardari's Rs.5 million donation and the help extended by most other politicians."

Obama hits Ground Zero

2010-08-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> Obama hits Ground Zero

Last days of Jade Goody - to wed before death

2009-02-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

Jade among the jackals: Is anyone in the circus around the tragic star fit to care for the two sons she will leave behind?
By ALISON BOSHOFF
Last updated at 10:29 PM on 20th February 2009

Jade Goody, though, will wake up in a hospital bed at her home, a barn conversion in Essex, with a nurse by her side. Until yesterday morning, she didn’t even think she could have her new husband Jack Tweed with her — the conditions of his parole meant he would have to stay at his mother’s house and be home before his 7pm curfew.

But thanks to a last-minute intervention by Justice Secretary Jack Straw, apparently backed by Gordon Brown, he will be by his wife’s side, but it will by no means be a traditional wedding night. And there will be no honeymoon.

Jade Goody's wedding will be anything but traditional

In fact, there are doubts that this bride will be well enough tomorrow even to attend the reception for 100 guests which she has been planning all week.

People who have spent time with her say it is likely she will leave before the band plays. She may even leave without tasting a canapé or greeting a single guest, or pausing to look at the flowers on each table, or the candles which will be lit as day gives way to evening. More

Barack Obama signs his first Law: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

2009-01-31T03:01:00.000-08:00

The first piece of real legislation Barack Obama signed as the 44th President of the United States helps ensure that workers discriminated on the basis of gender have a fair chance to sue their employers. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is named after a woman who was paid less than her male co-workers at an Alabama tire factory. More

Bolivian referendum gives the indigenous majority more political leverage

2009-01-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

Bolivians vote on rights for indigenous population in referendum
Voters in Bolivia went to the polls Sunday to decide whether to change the country's constitution in a referendum that would give the indigenous majority more political leverage and allow socialist President Evo Morales to run for re-election.

Last Updated: 12:06AM GMT 26 Jan 2009
Mr Morales is likely to win the divisive referendum, based on polls before the vote, which showed that the Bolivian leader's new constitution had the backing of about 55 per cent of the population, with support highest in the western highlands where Indians are a majority, while many mixed-race people in the fertile eastern lowlands reject the charter.
The changes also include strengthening state control of the country's natural resources, and no longer recognising Catholicism as the official religion.
Mr Morales says the constitution is the cornerstone of his plan to tilt the balance of power in favour of Bolivia's indigenous people after centuries of discrimination.
Most Bolivians describe themselves as indigenous, but politics and business have long been dominated by a small elite with European roots. more

Obama's silent revolution takes off

2009-01-25T01:32:00.000-08:00

Paul Harris article in The Observer

.......
In his first 100 hours in power, Barack Obama reversed many policies put in place by George W Bush, ranging from curbing lobbyists to closing Guantánamo to appointing new special envoys to the world's trouble spots.

The new era of Obama dawning in America's capital has begun well, receiving rave reviews from the media and even winning grudging respect from Republicans. It has been a frenetic few days as Obama and his top staff have struggled to move into their new homes and offices, as well as trying to impose a dramatic new direction from day one. Few experts think it could have gone much better. "Expectations and anticipation are clearly high and it is unfair to put that on anyone's shoulders. But if anyone can live up to those expectations, it is him. It is like suddenly the adults are in charge again," said Professor Shawn Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California at Riverside.

But those very expectations are a problem. Few presidents have entered the Oval Office amid such a mixture of hope and fear. The economic crisis has many ordinary Americans in a panic and looking to Washington for a steady hand. At the same time Bush has departed as a hugely unpopular leader, seen by many as a disaster for America, both at home and abroad, and so Obama is seen as almost a revolutionary change.

Certainly Obama has moved quickly to try to live up to those expectations. It began in the first minutes of his presidency, when he delivered an inaugural speech that was a stinging attack on Bush's legacy. As Bush listened, Obama rejected many of the key planks of Bush's rule, from national security policy to the misuse of science. Washington had seen nothing like it since Franklin Roosevelt rebuked Herbert Hoover in 1933 by saying: "The money-changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilisation." No wonder Bush's top aides were rankled on the plane home to Texas, openly complaining about Obama's tone.

Not that Obama or his staff cared. During the first three full days of his presidency, Obama and his team pushed through a series of measures and appointments signalling a new beginning. Yesterday was also a working day, as Obama unveiled details of the massive economic stimulus package he intends to force through Congress, despite Republican reservations.

The most dramatic move was the order to close the Guantánamo terrorist detention centre in Cuba. The jail had become a rallying cause for critics of America worldwide and Obama's swift move is likely to rehabilitate much of America's reputation abroad. Obama also effectively banned the CIA's controversial practice of rendition and closed off its ability to use torture techniques to interrogate suspects abroad. The diplomatic offensive continued with the appointment of former Senator George Mitchell as a special envoy to the Middle East and former UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke to the same post for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A similarly hot pace was set domestically. Obama issued three executive orders aimed at increasing the transparency of his government and opening access to presidential documents that Bush had made more difficult. He also took the important symbolic measure of freezing wages for 100 of his top staffers. Finally, he introduced a genuinely tough set of rules aimed at curbing the influence of the lobbyist industry, limiting their ability to join government or for his staff to leave and take jobs at lobbying firms.

The pace and calm execution of measures impressed many, though few of Obama's plans were radical. Instead they reflected a firm moderation that typified his campaign message of appealing to middle-ground Americans. "He has done some very smart things. From day one he has also been reaching out to Republicans," said Bowler. "He's getting rave reviews. Even from Republicans."

To his supporters, which seem to include many in an almost fawning US media, Obama last week successfully blended elements of some of the most fondly remembered presidents. He has shown some of the charm and humour of Ronald Reagan, the seriousness of purpose of Franklin Roosevelt, and the rhetorical, unifying flourishes of his hero, Abraham Lincoln. Read it all here

Barack Obama retakes the oath of office

2009-01-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

The president was supposed to say on Tuesday: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States." But Roberts misplaced one word, saying: "I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully."

Obama told the small group gathered in the White House he had decided to do it again because it had been so much fun the day before. Roberts donned his black robe and asked: "Are you ready to take the oath?" Obama replied: "I am, and we're going to do it very slowly."

He is not the first president to have to repeat the ceremony: Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur also had to.

After the rerun, Obama joked with reporters that they were also going to repeat the rest of inauguration day. "The bad news for the [reporters] is there's 12 more balls," he said.

In a statement afterwards, Craig said he believed that the oath had been effectively administered on Tuesday. "But the oath appears in the constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, chief justice Roberts administered the oath a second time," he said.

That is not likely to end the conspiracy theorists. There is already traffic asking why Obama did not swear on a bible the second time round. Others suggested that, since he was not legally president for much of Wednesday, the executive orders he had signed until that point were not legally binding. Others ask why television cameras were not present.

In reality, Obama did not even have to be sworn in on Tuesday. There is a near-consensus among lawyers and politicians that he became president at noon on Tuesday, and had been for four minutes when he took the oath of office at 12.04pm. Read it all

Barack Obama inauguration, Text of speech

2009-01-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

America finally got its first black president on Tuesday, and the country's usually staid capital was engulfed in a contagious party spirit.
Two million people covered almost every square foot of Washington's two-mile grass runway from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama – a restless sea of red, white and blue flags that barely stopped waving from freezing dawn to chilly dusk.
Tens of thousands more lined Pennsylvania Avenue, where an armoured black limousine later took the first black American president to his new home – a house built by slaves. Millions, possibly billions, watched on television around the world, but it was the extraordinary numbers who braved the numbing chill of a harsh Washington winter that really spoke best of the Obama appeal.
It didn't matter that the man the Mall crowds had come to see was, aside from the giant television screens, not even a speck in the distance, separated by a security operation so intense that a police sniper stood on every roof.
Nor did it really matter that, when asked, everyone trotted out precisely the same line about why they had come: "being present at a moment of history" might have been a cliché but that didn't mean it wasn't true.
Heeding official advice to get there early, many had arrived while it was still dark with little to protect themselves against the biting cold. more

This is the full text of President Obama’s inaugural speech:

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. Read it all here

Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

East Portico, U.S. Capitol
March 4, 1861

"Fellow-Citizens of the United States:

In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of this office."

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that--

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:

'Resolved', That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.

I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another.

There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to 'how' it shall be kept?

Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?

I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.

Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?

Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."

But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is 'less' perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that 'resolves' and 'ordinances' to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it 'will' constitutionally defend and maintain itself.

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?

All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. 'May' Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. 'Must' Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?

Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.

I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.

One section of our country believes slavery is 'right' and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is 'wrong' and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases 'after' the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory 'after' separation than 'before'? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their 'constitutional' right of amending it or their 'revolutionary' right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.

The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.

By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and 'well' upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to 'hurry' any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take 'deliberately', that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

In 'your' hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 'mine', is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail 'you'. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. 'You' have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." source

Obama traces Lincoln's step to Baltimore

2009-01-18T03:39:00.000-08:00

www.chinaview.cn 2009-01-18 15:37:30 Print
by Wang Wei

BALTIMORE, United States, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama Saturday visited Baltimore, Maryland, in memory of former President Abraham Lincoln, as the last stop of his train tour before arriving at Washington D.C. for inauguration.

Obama showed up in the afternoon with Vice President-elect Joe Biden as well as their family members in the War Memorial Plaza of the city, where as Obama's team earlier said "the promise was defended," as hundreds of thousands audience hailed their names.

The train heading to the capital started from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a historical city where "promise was founded," and picked up Biden at Welmington, Delaware, with a final destination at the Union Station in Washington, D.C.

"A few decades after the framers met in Philadelphia, our new union faced its first true test," Obama told the crowd. "The White House was in flames, and the British were advancing on Baltimore."

He retrieved Baltimore's history of defeating British Navy troops and inspiring a poem that later was adopted as lyrics of the American National Anthem.

With the spirit Baltimore left behind to the nation, Obama encouraged Americans to confront with challenges the country is facing now -- faltering economy, two wars and dependence on imported oil.

"What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that those first patriots displayed," he said. "What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives."

Obama is expected to take over the White House on Jan. 20 as the first African-American president in history and bring changes to the country as he promised in the presidential campaign.

Along the day-long train tour, he reiterated calls for nation unity among different parties, regions and races, among others, and reaffirmed promises to work out better policies for job creation, education and health care.

"It is a reiterating of what he has said over the last year that the country is ready for change," said Brad Gillenwater, a Baltimore resident. "All Americans, in general, wish him nothing but the best. We were excited about his leadership that we hope he is going to provide."

Despite an unusual temperature below zero degree in Baltimore, people started to form a line at the entrance to the War Memorial Plaza at about 8:00 a.m., keeping themselves warm with blankets, hats and body warmers.

"It is such a historical event that I have to come out and brave this bad cold weather," said Vivian Malloy, who came to Baltimore around 7:00 a.m. for a good spot to watch Obama. "I hope he will be able to make wise decision for the prosperity of our country, and bring our country into more uniformity."

Like other cities where Obama stopped during the train tour, Baltimore has been put on high alert since early Saturday morning, with many roads leading to the plaza closed and a dozen of security checkpoints set up.

A Baltimore volunteer assisting the Saturday event whose given name is Sarah told Xinhua that Obama decided to come to the city before heading to Washington D.C. because he would like to follow steps of former President Lincoln, who went to the capital through Baltimore by train in 1861. read it all

Cambridge University celebrates its 800th birth anniversary

2009-01-17T23:28:00.000-08:00

Octocentenary: At Trinity College, Cambridge.
London: Universities across the world on Saturday of Cambridge University, ringing church bells in a synchronised salute to one of the world’s greatest institutions of learning.

In Cambridge itself, the university rolled out a grand celebration, including a spectacular light and bell-ringing show. Four churches in central Cambridge rang a new work for bells specially composed by Clare College alumnus Phil Earis.

The sound of bells celebrating the university’s octocentenary reverberated across the world as churches from the U.S. to Australia joined in to mark the occasion.

In India, bells rang out at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kolkata, Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. James’ Church in New Delhi, and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Bangalore, keeping a promise made to Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Alison Richard during a visit to India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an alumnus of St. John’s College, Cambridge.

— PHOTO: N. RAM

Amartya Sen, who was Master of Trinity College from 1998 to 2004, at the Master’s Lodge during his tenure. The clock belonged to Sir Isaac Newton, who was himself a Master.
All Church of England bishops were asked to have churches in their diocese ring their bells along with the university and many agreed — even Lincoln College in rival Oxford University. more

Brazil selling 100 missiles to Pakistan

2008-12-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

Associated Press, 12/03/2008

Brazil’s defense minister says his nation is selling 100 aircraft-borne missiles to Pakistan.

Brazilian officials approved the euro85 million ($107 million) sale of the missiles, which can be installed on jets and used to take out radar installations.

Brazilian news media say Brazil’s air force negotiated the sale with Pakistan’s government. The deal needed the approval of Brazil’s trade ministry, which signed off on the deal on Tuesday.

David Plouffe writes on Obama's Audacity To Win

2008-12-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

World

David Plouffe writes on Obama's Audacity To Win

2008-12-07T05:42:00.000-08:00

Obama's ex campaign manager penning 'The Audacity To Win'

Sun, Dec 7 05:05 PM

Washington, Dec 7 (ANI): U.S president-elect Barack Obama's former campaign manager David Plouffe is writing a book about the historic election victory.

More than 18 publishers have expressed interest in the book.

The book has been tentatively titled The Audacity To Win, a reference to Obama's million-selling The Audacity of Hope, reports Politco.com

Having helped manage one of the most sophisticated and highly praised campaigns ever; Plouffe plans to write about the use of technology, grassroots organizing, crisis management, use of the Web, public relations and personnel.

Plouffe has already reached out to Obama's literary representative, Robert Barnett, to shop the proposal around to publishers. The book will likely be published in the fall of 2009. more

Mumbai attacks ‘were a ploy to wreck Obama plan to isolate al-Qaeda’

2008-11-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

The carnage may have been an attempt to put Pakistan and India at each other’s throats and kill US hopes for the region

Jeremy Page in Mumbai, Tom Coghlan and Zahid Hussain

Mumbai attacks: Overseas terror victims could get £500,000

2008-11-30T01:29:00.000-08:00

Mark Townsend and Caroline Davies
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 30 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 30 2008
Article history

Attempts to introduce a compensation package for British victims of terrorist attacks overseas are to be stepped up following the massacre in Mumbai.

In the aftermath of last week's atrocities, during which a British businessman was killed, details have emerged of a new funding system to match the maximum £500,000 payout to UK citizens injured in a terror attack on British soil.

The London law firm Lovells said it was entering advanced stages of talks between the government and 10 largest travel insurers to create a compensation system for Britons caught up in terrorist atrocities abroad.

In a Commons debate last month, Tessa Jowell, the minister responsible for humanitarian assistance, acknowledged that the situation was unsatisfactory. 'We must find a solution - and not be prompted only by the next atrocity,' she added. more

Four students suspended over Obama stunt from Quaker University

2008-11-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

FOUR STUDENTS at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, confessed to hanging an effigy of Senator Barack Obama from a tree on campus and were suspended for up to a year, school officials announced September 30. The students' names were not released. Other sanctions include community service and multicultural education, which must be completed before the students can return to campus, said Brad Lau, vice president of student life.

The 3,355-student Christian university, which was founded by Quaker pioneers in 1891, stopped short of expelling the students. The campus is "a redemptive community, and we allow for the possibility of change," Lau said. more

Russia: Time to re-invent global system

2008-11-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

Time to re-invent global system

Sat, Nov 29 02:55 AM

The world community took a wrong turn at the end of the Cold War, and now finds itself amid a hostile landscape, surrounded by unfamiliar problems that cannot be resolved using the existing instruments of international security. That, at least, is the message coming out of the Kremlin with increasing urgency of late.

Russian leaders argue that growing global financial mayhem, deepening distrust between Russia and the West and the worsening threat of nuclear weapons' proliferation all stem from the US decision to go-it-alone after the USSR collapsed, effectively creating a unipolar world order. The mounting list of challenges cannot be addressed by adjusting old methods, they argue, but only by turning a clean page and re-inventing the global system. more

$15 million-a-year executive position at Citigroupat the cost of 28.9 percent usury

2008-11-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

Robert Scheer's Columns

Obama Chooses Wall Street Over Main Street

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Posted on Nov 25, 2008

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

They have his ear: Lawrence Summers, left, is just one veteran of Clinton-era deregulation who has found his way into Obama’s inner circles.

By Robert Scheer

Maybe Ralph Nader was right in predicting that the same Wall Street hustlers would have a lock on our government no matter which major party won the election. I hate to admit it, since it wasn’t that long ago that I heatedly challenged Nader in a debate on this very point.

But how else is one to respond to Barack Obama’s picking the very folks who helped get us into this financial mess to now lead us out of it? Watching the president-elect’s Monday introduction of his economic team, my brother-in-law Pete said, “You can see the feathers coming out of their mouths” as the foxes were once again put in charge of the henhouse. He didn’t have time to expound on his point, having to get ready to go sort mail in his job at the post office, but he showed me a statement from Citigroup showing that the interest rate on Pete the Postal Worker’s credit card was 28.9 percent, an amount that all major religions would justly condemn as usurious.

Moments earlier, Obama had put his seal of approval on the Citigroup bailout, which his new economic team, led by protégés of Citigroup Executive Committee Chairman Robert Rubin, enthusiastically endorsed. A bailout that brings to $45 billion the taxpayer money thrown at Citigroup and the guarantee of $306 billion for the bank’s “toxic securities” that would have been illegal if not for changes in the law that Citigroup secured with the decisive help of Rubin and Lawrence Summers, the man who replaced him as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. more

As Summers stayed on to ensure passage of deregulatory laws that enabled enormous banking greed, Rubin was rewarded with a $15 million-a-year executive position at Citigroup, a job that only got more lucrative as the bank went from one disaster, beginning with its involvement with Enron in which Rubin played an active role, to its huge role in the mortgage debacle. It is widely acknowledged that Citigroup fell victim to a merger mania, which Rubin and Summers made legal during their tenure at Treasury.

Election of Obama provokes rise in US hate crimes

2008-11-26T03:35:00.000-08:00

Mon Nov 24, 2008 5:30pm EST

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By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Barack Obama's election as U.S. president has provoked a rise in hate crimes against ethnic minorities, civil rights groups said on Monday.

Hundreds of incidents of abuse or intimidation apparently motivated by racial hatred have been reported since the Nov. 4 election, though most have not involved violence, said the Southern Poverty Law Center.

White supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Council of Conservative Citizens have seen a flood of interest from possible new members since the landmark election of the first black president in U.S. history.

Far right groups are also capitalizing on rising unemployment in the economic downturn and a demographic shift that could make whites a minority by mid-century, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.

"We have seen a fairly dramatic backlash over the last three or four weeks, since the final weeks of the campaign," said Mark Potok of the Center, based in Montgomery, Alabama which monitors far right groups.

"These (incidents) are merely gut level reactions from a lot of people," Potok said. "There is a substantial subset of white people in America who are boiling angry over this."

In the highest-profile case, a federal grand jury indicted Jeffrey Conroy, 17, for second-degree murder and classed it as a hate crime last week after Marcelo Lucero of Ecuadorean descent was stabbed to death on New York's Long Island.

Six other teenagers face lesser charges in the case. All pleaded not guilty. Police said last week the seven youths set out to find and attack Latinos. more

For and Against Sonal Shah

2008-11-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

CSFH statement on Sonal Shah

Friday, November 14, 2008: A virtual melee has ensued in print and digital media over the selection of Ms. Sonal Shah, an American of Indian origin to the Obama transition team's advisory board. Shrill accusations of Ms. Shah being a "racist and Hindu chauvinist" are being reciprocated by equally shrill attempts to portray anyone who raises serious questions about the selection as being anti-India, anti-Hindu, anti-progress, and recently, as against "liberal civility." We condemn such baseless and unfair statements.

At the outset we wish to acknowledge that Ms. Shah has had a record of being a visible and an important face of the "desi American" community- a successful professional, and a politically and socially engaged citizen.

We are also happy to note at least one positive effect from this debate. Even as this issue gets played out on public fora, the din of militant Hindutva drumbeats has suffered some dampening. Almost all participants, including those who have come out in support of Ms. Shah, have said that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -- both integral to the Hindutva movement, are part of the "politics of hate" that must be resisted. We wish such statements had come much earlier, such as the time when people were being butchered in Gujarat, or when Indicorps (an organization Ms. Shah co-founded) was felicitated by Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Ms. Shah has become something of a point of pride for many Americans with origins in India. But Ms. Shah does have feet that leave tracks, has written words that have been archived, and has occupied offices of responsibility. We wish to explore this material record below by examining two of the most persuasive claims made by supporters of Ms. Shah. These are:

That accusations of Ms. Shah being a closet Hindutva ideologue amount to "guilt by association", a reference to the fact that her father Mr. Ramesh Shah has well documented leadership roles within the Sangh Parivar (Collective Family, the name for the set of organizations of Hindutva).
That Ms. Shah's only association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) was in the context of the Gujarat earthquake; surely, she cannot be faulted for not picking the right organization when urgent action was the need of the hour.

Our claims of Ms. Shah's Hindutva associations are not based on guilt by association. Instead, we ask: What organizational and ideological work did Ms. Shah perform for and as part of the VHPA?

We have archived records demonstrating that Ms. Shah was a part of VHPA's leadership group--the governing council and chapter presidents/coordinators. She participated in strategy discussions with prominent leaders of the Sangh Parivar. Ms. Shah was not just a bystander, she was considered important and trustworthy enough by the Hindutva leadership to be included in a core group with Ajay Shah, Gaurang Vaishnav, Mahesh Mehta, Yashpal Lakra, Vijay Pallod, Shyam Tiwari, and others. Does Ms. Shah deny that she played such a role? Even in light of the recent public statement by Gaurang Vaishnav, General Secretary of the VHPA, that Ms. Shah was made a member of the governing council as she came out of college?

We are glad to hear Ms. Shah assert that her "personal politics have nothing in common with the views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization", and that she does not "subscribe to the views of such Hindu nationalist groups". However, in view of her close association with VHPA, as summarized above, Ms. Shah's claim to have "never" subscribed to such Hindu nationalist views strains credulity.

Ms. Shah's participation in the VHPA Governing Council predates by a few years her position as National Coordinator of VHPA's Gujarat earthquake activities in 2001. The position of earthquake relief coordinator doesn't seem to be an easy one to ascend to -- VHPA's website states that "national projects are executed by a committee of members drawn from the Governing Council and the various chapters." Thus, Ms. Shah's coordination of VHPA earthquake relief seems to have built upon her earlier leadership role within the VHPA. We do not know when/if her affiliation with the VHPA ceased, but VHPA media secretary Shyam Tiwari has recently claimed: "Sonal was a member of VHP of America at the time of the earthquake. Her membership has [now] expired."

A note about Ms. Shah's earthquake relief work. Calamities such as the 2001 Bhuj earthquake often bring out the best in humans, but the Sangh Parivar is notorious for using such moments instrumentally and cynically for advancing its violent ideological agenda. An ordinary donor or fund-raiser can be excused for not knowing the Sangh agenda, but for someone like Ms. Shah, who grew up in a family deeply rooted in the Sangh Parivar, it is more than a little disingenuous to claim that such fund-raising was apolitical or neutral. There are numerous documented instances of the Sangh Parivar's religion- and caste-based discrimination in doling out relief. Therefore we are shocked that Ms. Shah has expressed pride in coordinating relief work (under the ambit of VHPA) following the Gujarat earthquake of 2001. The relief work coordinated by the VHP is known to have rebuilt villages in the Kutch region exclusively for caste Hindus while marginalizing lower caste Hindus and Muslims to the periphery. The VHP thus took the opportunity of the earthquake to re-create multi-ethnic villages into exclusive Hindu spaces. In addition, given the pivotal role played by the VHP and other Sangh organizations in the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom, we fear her pride is entirely misplaced.

Although we appreciate the positive influence Ms. Shah has had on many second-generation desis, we have a hard time forgetting the many victims of Hindutva. If Ms. Shah really wants to dispel doubts about her linkages with the VHPA and other Sangh Parivar outfits, we urge her to be more forthcoming in her condemnations of the Sangh Parivar, especially its branches in the United States since that has been the site of her involvement. Some ways for Ms. Shah to do this would be to:

acknowledge her past organizational associations with the Sangh Parivar
distance herself from the public reception reportedly planned by the RSS in her native village in Gujarat
categorically condemn the role played by Hindutva forces in anti-minority violence in India, and the facilitation of this violence by funds sent through various Sangh Parivar affiliates in the United States

courtesy

Reactionaries rally against Obama

2008-11-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

Poland foreign minister jokes -- "Obama's grandfather was a cannibal"!
Tue, Nov 18 11:35 AM
London, Nov 18 (ANI): Poland Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has allegedly passed racist jibes on US President-elect Barack Obama, saying that his grandfather was a cannibal, and ate a Polish missionary!
An Oxford-educated Sikorski (45) outraged colleagues when he joked that the US President-elect had Polish roots. "His grandad ate a Polish missionary," The Mirror quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Opposition leaders in Poland are calling for him to be charged with breaking laws on racism.
Przemyslaw Gosiewski, head of the Law and Justice parliamentary group, said: "We are waiting for proceedings regarding Sikorski's racist statements."
Interestingly, another Poland political leader Artur Gorski, an MP, is already facing a court case for allegedly making racist comments about Obama. (ANI) source

Defeat Obama’s U.N. Global Poverty Act

Posted on November 12, 2008

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie’s Notebook

An Obama presidency is already moving America to a rose-colored glasses relationship with the U.N. Hear no evil at the U.N., see no evil at the U.N., speak no evil of the U.N. - even though there is plenty of it. Move us right along to the One World Order.

Here’s how it happens: Barack Obama’s Global Poverty Bill (s.2433) will likely be pushed forward in the Senate. This Bill commits the U.S. to millions in new spending, and worse than the money…requires the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Goals. more

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Obama Victory Draws Bigots Out of the Woodwork
	Crosses burn, schoolchidren chant "assassinate Obama" on their school bus, racial slurs are scrawled across cars and homes, and black people are insulted and assaulted. This is how some white Americans have chose to react to Barack Obama's victory. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a hate crime monitor, says there have been "hundreds" of such incidents since Obama's election. In Snellville, Georgia, an elementary school student said, "I hope Obama gets assassinated." Grant Griffin, a white Georgian, said, "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades, and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change." Mark Potok of the SPLC said some whites feel their country has been stolen. more

Obama gives hope to those who adopted America as their own

2008-11-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

JOHN J. THATAMANIL

BY JOHN J. THATAMANIL • NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Tennessee Voices

When I came to this country at age 8, my parents had been here for two years. They left me with family in India to make their way so that my toddler sister and I might join them. Through sacrifice and separation, they succeeded, became citizens, and brought us to America.

This year, we all voted with pride for Barack Obama.Much has been said about Obama as a child of a black father and a white mother. What has not been appreciated is his appeal to those of us who are immigrants because of his early years in Indonesia.

Obama speaks to those of us who love this country and have made it our adopted home. Even though Obama is a child of a U.S. citizen and was born in Hawaii, he also feels like one of us because he bears in his memory the sights, sounds and smells of other lands. He has family in every corner of the planet. So do we. We love our new home fiercely, but we cannot imagine how a prosperous and secure American future can be won at the expense of other peoples.

Love for our mother countries is deep, but we do not long to return. When I visit India, I am somehow outed within seconds as an American even before I open my mouth. Is it the directness of my gaze? Is there a confidence or even cockiness in my stride that comes from being raised in the home of the brave?

Sadly, questions about whether I am genuinely American are more often raised in America than in India. The loud visibility of my brownness seems to drown out that indefinable, fleshly Americanness that unmasks me when I am abroad.

Perhaps Americans mean it when we say that we are a "nation of immigrants." Perhaps we who are dark will not be held suspect because we also speak other tongues and cherish our countries of origin.

Of course, it will not do to be naive. America's long and tragic history of racism will not be overcome in a night, even if that is precisely what many wish to argue. Sadly, the forces of division unleashed by this prolonged election cannot be so quickly quelled.

Nonetheless, for millions who have elected to make this country our own, the American embrace of Obama is a dream come true. His success is a vindication of all that led my family, and countless other immigrants, to bet our futures on starting over in this hopeful country of new beginnings.

John J. Thatamanil is assistant professor of theology at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is the author of The Immanent Divine: God, Creation and the Human Predicament — An East-West Conversation.

source

Lindsay Lohan calls Obama first 'coloured President', a racist term

2008-11-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

Lindsay Lohan calls Obama first 'coloured President'

Wed, Nov 12 01:15 PM

Washington, Nov 12 (ANI): Lindsay Lohan used a racist term for US President-elect Barack Obama in a recent interview, calling him the first 'coloured President'.

The term 'coloured' for Afro-Americans is considered derogatory and was most commonly used by racist character Archie Bunker in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family."

Lindsay's comment came in response to a question from Maria Menounos on "Access Hollywood" about Obama's win in the 2008 presidential race.

"It's an amazing feeling. It's our first, you know, coloured president," Fox News quoted her as saying.

The 22-year-old starlet used the offensive term in the interview while speaking of her role on "Ugly Betty," gay marriage, and cancer research. more

EU deplores lack of democracy progress in Myanmar

2008-11-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Mon, Nov 10 11:36 PM

Brussels, Nov 10 (IANS) The European Union Monday deplored the 'lack of progress' towards democracy in Myanmar and said that elections slated for 2010 in the junta-ruled nation would have no credibility unless pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released.

South Africa mourns Makeba, the musical 'mother' of the nation

2008-11-10T05:29:00.000-08:00

Miriam Makeba, the musical symbol of black South Africans' struggle against apartheid, has died at the age of 76 after collapsing at a concert in Italy.

Nelson Mandela led tributes Monday to the singer who had international hits with songs such as "Pata Pata" and "The Click Song" while she was banned from entering her homeland.

"She was South Africa's first lady of song and so richly deserved the title of Mama Africa. She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours," Mandela said.

Ever the activist, Makeba collapsed after singing in support of an Italian author facing Mafia death threats. She was treated while the audience shouted for an encore but died in hospital from a heart attack, officials said.

Makeba "died performing what she did best -- an ability to communicate a positive message through the art of singing," said South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

He called her "one of the greatest songstresses of our time."

Born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932, Makeba became one of Africa's best known singers and while Mandela was in prison took up the battle against apartheid through her music. more

Brown and Barack for a new world order: 'markets need morals' and people come first

2008-11-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brown during his visit to Abu Dhabi this week. Photograph: Ali Haider/EPA

Gordon Brown today pledges to work with Barack Obama to create a new world order where 'markets need morals' and people come first, in a first real glimpse of how he plans to conduct the new special relationship.

Writing here today, the Prime Minister says that the path of history has been changed by an election in which American voters backed a progressive candidate offering more government intervention to protect families and businesses.

'It is up to us whether 2008 is remembered for a financial crash that engulfed the world or for a new resilience and optimism from a generation which faced the economic storm head-on and built the fair society in its wake,' he writes. Downing Street is increasingly optimistic, following Friday's climbdown in which the banks agreed to pass on the Bank of England's interest rate cut to borrowers, that they will now begin lending again to businesses and homeowners, justifying the decision to bail them out.

But victory for a like-minded Democrat in the US, and less dramatically Labour's win in Glenrothes, have also boosted Brown's political confidence in his tactics. Yesterday senior ministers attacked suggestions from Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, that 'institutional racism' in the Labour party would have stopped an Obama breaking through in Britain.

Harriet Harman, the cabinet Equalities Minister, said the suggestion had been 'simply wrong', adding: 'Barack Obama's campaign challenged pessimism and defied defeatism and said "Yes, we can" - and he made this happen. That's what we need to do here as well.'

India may be the world’s largest democracy, but America is the world’s greatest democracy

2008-11-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

"The Obama victory shows us that we may be the world’s largest democracy, but America is the world’s greatest democracy It’s not just the obvious fact of a Black man getting to the White House. It’s also the way in which he did it, by taking on the powers-that-be in his party and by refusing to run as the caricature ‘Black candidate’. Which other country has an electoral system that is so truly representative that a man can come from virtually nowhere and end up in the White House?
We are a long way from that point. Over the last two decades, Indian politics has got worse rather than better: obsessed with caste, predicated on identity, favouring regional perspective over national interest and filling its ranks with the sons and daughters of the powerful. more " Nation:

Obama Joke by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

2008-11-08T02:18:00.000-08:00

Obama Joke by Premier Has Italy in an Uproar

By RACHEL DONADIO

Published: November 7, 2008

ROME — Italians never quite know whether to laugh or cry at Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi. But many reacted with incredulity and outrage after the prime minister, visiting Moscow on Thursday, amiably called the first African-American president-elect in United States history “young, handsome and suntanned.”

Berlusconi Under Fire for Obama 'Joke'(November 6, 2008)

Mr. Berlusconi made the remark while meeting President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s good looks, his youth and his so-called suntan were “all the qualities” for Mr. Medvedev and the future president to “develop a good working relationship.”
Many Italian newspapers gave the comment nearly as much front-page attention as Mr. Obama’s victory itself. The journalist Curzio Maltese wrote in the center-left La Repubblica that “bookmakers wouldn’t even take bets” on how long it would take for Mr. Berlusconi to let slip another of his famous gaffes. “Mr. Berlusconi never fails to live up to our worst expectations.”
Mr. Maltese added that just when Mr. Obama’s victory was “inspiring billions of people” to consider “democracy, the most extraordinary triumph of humanity after centuries of bloodshed and intolerance,” Mr. Berlusconi instead contributed “a miserable, vulgar and racist remark, for which he didn’t even have the courage to take responsibility or the dignity to apologize.”
A billionaire populist, Mr. Berlusconi excels at deflating such lofty talk. He said that his remark had been “a compliment” and that his critics lacked irony. “If you want to get a degree in idiocy, I won’t stop you,” La Repubblica quoted him as saying. “I say whatever I think.” more

America Makes History

2008-11-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

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Doctrine of ‘soft power'

In his victory speech Mr Obama spoke eloquently of America's true influence in the world being not because of its military might or wealth but through its ideals, "democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope". This is a doctrine of "soft power" which the world is ready to hear, having seen how the spread of American influence by armed force backfired so dangerously in Iraq. From that misadventure he now has to withdraw, but responsibly. From the more justified military campaign in Afghanistan he has to find ways to turn armed struggle into peaceful progress: the troops must come home from there eventually too. He has another chance to revisit America's most depressing international failure, its inconsequential interventions in the interminable Middle East conflict. This, too, cannot wait. He takes seriously the threat to the planet from global warming, and his administration will owe nothing to Big Oil and similar vested interests. Clean alternative energy will now be America's way forward, not the notorious "drill, baby, drill" of the defeated vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

In many respects Mr Obama's policies resonate with the social justice that the Judaeo-Christian tradition promotes, such as the relief of poverty, health care for all, new jobs to replace those lost, affordable housing, care for the environment and so on. He is a Christian, although not of the fundamentalist kind, and he has Catholic connections in his background. But it appears that some leaders of the Catholic Church, America's largest denomination, failed once more to read the signs of the times, and tried to insist that this inspiring and epoch-transforming election, this turning point in American history, was once again just about abortion. The laity saw things differently; indeed this time the Catholic vote was almost indistinguishable from the population as a whole.

Policies of social justice

A rethink of the American bishops' strategy on abortion is urgently necessary; at the moment their message is not being heard by the majority of Americans. The letter from Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, written on behalf of the US bishops to President-elect Obama, congratulating him on his victory and urging him to defend the vulnerable and the life and dignity of every person, signals a more pragmatic approach and a willingness to engage in dialogue.

Americans perceive their society as unique in the world; certainly it is uniquely successful. One arrogant and bullying model of that exceptionalism has died and been buried this week - the imperial version represented by President Bush and those who surround him - while another has been reborn. It is all the more inspiring for having risen from the ranks of ordinary people, the "we the people" of whom the constitution speaks, led by a man whose skin colour still marked him as an outsider. The powerless have taken power, snatching it cleanly from the entrenched interests that clutched it close. It is a version of the American dream that has hardly been seen before, where the mighty are cast down from their thrones and the humble are exalted. And that is not the end of it, just the beginning.

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America Makes History

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America’s First Lady

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An American revolution

David Gibson

Moreover, despite Obama's victory, the nation remains divided on moral and religious issues. Debates on abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia polarised the electorate and drew the Catholic bishops into the political fray. But the fierce denunciations of Obama and the Democrats by some bishops and the balanced tones of most others also exposed divisions within the hierarchy (the US bishops are in fact meeting later this month to try to mend their own rifts). That left Catholic voters - nearly a quarter of the electorate, and the critical swing vote - free to make up their own minds, and they voted for Obama by a 54 per cent margin. "For Catholics, as for other Americans, the economy became the dominant issue in the election. Few said that abortion was the most important issue," according to Fr Thomas Reese, a Jesuit and political scientist.

But Obama says he wants to heal these divides, not exploit them, by finding a way to move forward on issues like abortion. Many Catholic leaders say no such common ground exists, and Evangelical Christians are unlikely to cut Obama slack either; they went for McCain almost as strongly as they did for Bush, despite Obama's efforts to demonstrate how his own deep Christian faith informs his more liberal policies. Without some sort of truce, the rise of a "religious Left" to counter the formidable "religious Right" could spell yet another round of so-called "culture wars". more

The impact of Barack Obama’s win

2008-11-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

One emotional, incandescent moment

P. Sainath

The impact of Barack Obama’s win on the sentiments and aspirations of millions of Americans from the minorities, particularly African Americans, is enormous and impossible to measure.

more

Barack Obama's victory speech

2008-11-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Text of Democrat Barack Obama's speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions. Source: Associated Press

Nov 5, 2008

OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.

Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best _ the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime _ two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years _ block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those _ to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons _ because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America _ the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves _ if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. source

For Obama, No Time for Laurels; Now the Hard Part

2008-11-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

THE CHALLENGE

By PETER BAKER

Published: November 4, 2008, New York Times

WASHINGTON — No president since before Barack Obama was born has ascended to the Oval Office confronted by the accumulation of seismic challenges awaiting him. Historians grasping for parallels point to Abraham Lincoln taking office as the nation was collapsing into Civil War, or Franklin D. Roosevelt arriving in Washington in the throes of the Great Depression. more

Democrats to field 5,000 lawyers in Key states to ensure the Republicans do not “steal” the election

2008-10-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

International

Democrats to field 5,000 lawyers in Florida

Ewen MacAskill

To ensure Republicans do not “steal” the election

They will help voters denied a ballot on spurious grounds or fight to keep polling stations open
The Republicans plan to send their volunteer-advocates too

Orlando: A team of 5,000 volunteer lawyers representing the Democrats will fan out across polling stations in Florida next Tuesday to , as — Democrats claim — George Bush did eight years ago.

Heading the biggest team of lawyers ever assembled is Charles Lichtman, a partner in the Fort Lauderdale law firm Berger Singerman, who has been working as an unpaid volunteer for up to 18 hours a day since August. His drive comes from the experience of being what he describes as “the Hanging Chad Guy,” leading a group of lawyers based in the infamous Broward County for weeks during the recount in 2000.

“Legitimate votes of citizens did not get counted. If they had been counted, we would not have been in Iraq and the economy would not have tanked,” said Mr. Lichtman (53), who is from Chicago. He vowed he would do his best to ensure it never happened again and began planning the operation that will be in place on November 4.

Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign team has recruited thousands of volunteer lawyers to attend polling stations in battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, and other states where the vote could be close. But the biggest push is in Florida, in part because of its history and also because polls suggest the vote will be tight. more

NYT endorses Obama, says Palin 'unfit for the office'

2008-10-24T04:33:00.000-07:00

Fri, Oct 24 11:34 AM

US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, already leading Republican rival John McCain in opinion polls, got a major boost to his campaign with the influential 'New York Times' newspaper lending its endorsement to the Democrat, commending him for possessing 'a cool head' and 'sound judgement'.

Contending that the Afro-African was better placed to deal with deteriorating economy and sensitive world problems, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the newspaper said he was also likely to engineer sound alliances at international and national levels.

"He has shown a cool head and sound judgement. 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," the 'Times' editorial board said in an 1800-word endorsement.

In contrast, the paper said McCain has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a 'campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism.'

Claiming that McCain's policies and worldview were mired in the past, the paper also termed his running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as 'unfit for the office'. more

Colin Powell backs Barack Obama to be an ‘exceptional’ president

2008-10-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

From The Times

October 20, 2008

General Powell, 71, who was also the National Security Adviser to Ronald Reagan, said that he had asked himself: “Which is the President we need now?” Referring to Mr Obama, he continued: “And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance, he has met the standard of being a successful President, being an exceptional President.

Read it all

Amartya Sen for Obama

2008-10-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Obama win will warm up things: Amartya

Sun, Oct 19 02:30 AM

Americans lolling about without confidence has pushed the US into a recession, but things could become normal if "cool" Democrat nominee Barack Obama wins the presidential election, feels Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. "It (US) certainly is in a recession already. There is no question about that. The question is how deep a recession it is," he told NDTV on his assessment of the US economy.

The 1998 Nobel laureate in economics said that economies are pushed towards depression when people suddenly lose confidence and that is what has happened in the US. "It is that suddenly people have lost confidence. And, that's how depression has traditionally been. You lose confidence, you cut down on your activities. That leads to the cut down of other activities," the economist said. He was, however, of the view that Obama could play a major role in infusing confidence, although he would not be in office until January. "Obama's coolness is a real advantage in a financial crisis. And, when that happens, I think you might see the confidence... turn around very quickly," said Sen, who was born in Santiniketan, West Bengal. According to him, "the positive side (to any depression) is that just as it can decline by lack of confidence, when confidence comes in, it can also dramatically improve."

He also concluded that the current crisis in the US has not been caused by external factors and the problems were internal and more to do with lack of confidence.

source

Racial Politics in US elections

2008-10-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama

By FRANK RICH

Published: October 11, 2008, The New York Times Op-Ed

.........
There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn’t been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is “a microcosm of America” without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place.
Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage.

My vision of India-Pakistan relations -Manmohan Singh

2008-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

“is that both countries situate their bilateral relations in a cooperative framework of mutual understanding. We seek the normalisation of our relations with Pakistan, a solution of all issues that cause estrangement, including Jammu and Kashmir through dialogue and peaceful negotiations in an atmosphere free of violence. While we cannot change borders, we can make them irrelevant,” he said.

“When I met President Zardari in New York recently, I invited Pakistan to work with us to usher in a new era of sub-continental cooperation.”

Road ahead

Dr. Singh said: “The road ahead is difficult but if we persevere and remain committed we will find solutions to all issues in a spirit of friendship and cooperation.

“When I inaugurated the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service in April 2005, I had said that this is the first step on a long road of peace. Notwithstanding the many difficulties which have come, we have taken several steps. The start of trade on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot roads on October 21 is a major initiative that has been taken. History will judge how big these steps were. The fact is that they have taken place after many lost decades of mutual recrimination, violence and war,” he said.

“There are real winds of change in the subcontinent today. Economics, technology and travel are altering older mindsets of suspicion, fear and hostility. It is undeniable that much has changed between India and Pakistan in the past few years,” he said. read it all

Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize

2008-10-10T06:12:00.000-07:00

Page last updated at 10:42 GMT, Friday, 10 October 2008 11:42 UK BBC

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This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been won by peace negotiator Martti Ahtisaari, the Nobel Foundation has announced in Norway's capital, Oslo.

Finland's ex-president has been a UN mediator on Kosovo, helped end the conflict in Indonesia's Aceh province and aided Namibia's independence.

Mr Ahtisaari told Norwegian broadcaster NRK he was "very pleased and grateful" to receive the award.

The laureate wins a gold medal, diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m).

The winners were chosen by a secretive five-member Norwegian awards committee from 197 nominations this year. more

Profile: Martti Ahtisaari

Hate Campaigns in US

2008-10-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Obama is a traitor, cry McCain supporters

Crowds at Republican rallies hurl insults at Democrat candidate

By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Friday, 10 October 2008

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Rallies for John McCain and Sarah Palin are becoming rabble-rousing events where warm-up speakers encourage unruly crowds to vent hatred for the Democratic contender, Barack Obama. Cat-calls of "traitor", "criminal" and "terrorist" have been heard.

The McCain campaign protests that it does not condone such behaviour and does not want to see it happen. But in the closely contested states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, a campaign that had been confined to the internet is coming into full public view. One of the main things that the Obama campaign's "Fight The Smears" unit have been battling are the false rumour that their candidate is Muslim. At a 6,000-strong rally in Pennsylvania this week, as the two candidates on the Republican ticket waited backstage, a senior party member asked the crowd how they would feel about having a president with the middle name Hussein.

"Think about how you'll feel on 5 November if you wake up and see the news, that Barack Obama – that's Barack Hussein Obama – is the president-elect of the United States," said Bill Platt, the Lehigh County Republican chairman. The crowed booed, jeered and hissed at the very thought. Then another speaker, Peg Ferraro, denounced the Democratic candidate's "background and affiliations", saying they were "questionable" and asking: "Do we know who his friends are?"

The remarks were later condemned by the McCain campaign as "inappropriate rhetoric, which distracts from the real questions of judgement, character, and experience". more

N-deal: Bush allays Indian concerns over fuel supply, reprocessing

2008-10-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

Thu, Oct 9 07:02 AM

Washington, Oct 9 (IANS) President George W. Bush has sought to allay India's concerns over nuclear fuel assurances and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel with an assertion that the enabling US law does not change the terms of the bilateral 123 Agreement.

"The legislation does not change the terms of the 123 Agreement as I submitted it to the Congress," said Bush in what the White House described as a "Statement by the President on the Occasion of Signing H.R. 7081," which had added a couple of riders in ratifying the India-US civil nuclear deal.

"That Agreement is consistent with the Atomic Energy Act and other elements of US law. This legislation is important as it enables me to bring the 123 Agreement into force and to accept on behalf of the United States the obligations contained in the Agreement,' Bush said.

"The Agreement grants India advance consent to reprocessing which will be brought into effect upon conclusion of arrangements and procedures for a dedicated reprocessing facility under IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards,' he stated

Sarah Palin related to Princess Diana, Obamato Brad Pitt.

2008-10-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

New York, October 8: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is distantly related to the late Princess Diana and late US President Franklin Roosevelt, genealogy experts said on Wednesday.
The governor of Alaska and the princess are tenth cousins, while Palin and Roosevelt are ninth cousins once removed, said Ancestry.com, online genealogists based in Provo, Utah.
The genealogical connections are not the first to gain attention in the US presidential campaign. Last year, Lynne Cheney said she found while tracing her family roots that her husband Vice President Dick Cheney was a distant cousin of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Other researchers discovered Obama is distant cousins with actor Brad Pitt. more

Pakistan Parliament to discuss law and order in camera

2008-10-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

SLAMABAD: Joint session of the parliament summoned by President Asif Ali Zardari will be held(Wednesday) tomorrow to discuss the law and order situation in the country.

Former prime minister and PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif has accepted invitation of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to attend the in-camera session of the parliament.

The intelligence and security agencies will brief the parliament about the security situation in the country.

Prime Minister said that the government is implementing the proposal of in-camera session of the parliament given by Mian Nawaz Sharif.

It is pertinent to mention that the powers of the speaker will be exercised to ensure attendance of Nawaz Sharif in the parliament as the PML-N leader is not a member of the parliament. more

Civilians flee Tamil Tiger centre

2008-10-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

BBC 3 October 2008

By Swaminathan Natarajan
BBC Tamil service

This rebel building was damaged on Thursday, the Tigers say.
Large numbers of civilians are reported to be fleeing the northern Sri Lankan town of Kilinochchi in the face of more air force attacks.
Kilinochchi is the administrative headquarters of Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate Tamil state.
On Friday the air force targeted the Tigers' police HQ, reports say.
Aid agencies estimate about 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. The government says it is on the verge of defeating the Tigers. more

Tories to protect "have-a-go" heroes

2008-09-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:42am BST

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Conservatives aim for lower taxes

Tories promise two year council tax freeze

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FACTBOX - Tories' plan to tackle financial crisis

BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - Law-abiding citizens who intervene if they see crimes being committed will have greater protection from arrest and prosecution under plans to be unveiled by the Conservatives on Tuesday.

According to extracts of a speech made available to journalists, Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve will say that police too readily accept accusations made by criminal suspects against "have-a-go-heroes" who try to stop wrong-doing.

"No wonder people in this country fear standing up to criminals," he will tell Conservative activists at their autumn conference in Birmingham.

The Conservatives have traditionally been the party of "law and order" and accuse Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour government of being soft on crime.

A future Tory government would amend police procedures to give officers discretion not to arrest those acting in good faith to stop a crime....more

Israel should quit nearly all occupied land: Olmert

2008-09-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

Indian EXpress.Com

ReutersPosted: Sep 29, 2008 at 1615 hrs IST

Caretaker PM Ehud Olmert said Israel should withdraw from almost all of the territories, including in East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. (AP)

Jerusalem, September 29: Israel should withdraw from nearly all territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace with the Palestinians and Syria, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted on Monday as telling a newspaper.Olmert, in a caretaker role since quitting on Sept 21, said he was breaking new ground in calling for a broad pullback from the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish a state, and in the annexed Golan Heights, which Syria wants back. ... more

Pakistan 'kills 1,000 militants'

2008-09-26T19:43:00.001-07:00

Page last updated at 15:25 GMT, Friday, 26 September 2008 16:25 UK

Pakistani troops have been battling Taleban fighters near the border

Pakistani troops have killed 1,000 Islamist militants in a huge offensive in the Bajaur tribal district over the last month, the army says.

It says that it will regain control of the region from Taleban and al-Qaeda militants within the next three months.

The army says that five top militants were among those killed in the Bajaur operation. The area is one of the most unstable of Pakistan's tribal areas. ...>more

US 'rejected' Israeli Iran strike

2008-09-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

Page last updated at 11:00 GMT, Friday, 26 September 2008 12:00 UK

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A US newspaper reported in June that Israel had rehearsed an attack on IranUS President George W Bush told Israel's prime minister in May that the US would not back an attack on Iran, a UK newspaper has reported.

A spokesman denied Ehud Olmert had said the words attributed to him in a working meeting with a foreign guest.

The Guardian quoted unnamed European diplomatic sources as saying Mr Olmert had used a one-to-one meeting with Mr Bush in May to raise the issue.

Israeli sees Iran's nuclear programme as its greatest threat.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only but has defied demands from the United Nations Security Council that it halt enriching uranium.

According to the sources quoted by the Guardian, Mr Bush turned down the proposal for an attack and said the US position was unlikely to change as long as he was in office.

Motlanthe takes South Africa helm

2008-09-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

'Elder brother' Motlanthe takes South Africa helm

Thursday, 25 September 2008

REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS

Kgalema Motlanthe takes the oath of office as South Africa's president in Cape Town

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South Africa appoints Motlanthe to succeed Mbeki

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South Africa's new president aims to heal seismic splits within the governing African National Congress.

Motlanthe, 59, is known as "the elder brother" because of his calm and collected manner in even the most treacherous political waters.

His reputation as a bridge-builder will be tested as he fills the uncertain gap created by the ANC's decision to eject former president Thabo Mbeki, just months before the end of his term.

With elections due next year, Motlanthe must ease the divisions between supporters of Mbeki and the ANC's new leader Jacob Zuma - two rivals whose long-time feud was finally settled with Mbeki's forced departure last weekend.

Motlanthe has distanced himself and the party from near-hysterical calls by the party's youth league to spill blood and kill for Zuma.

Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) seeks release of Aung San Suu Kyi'

2008-09-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years

Wednesday September 24, 2:58 PM

Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi

Photo: AFP

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's pro-democracy party on Wednesday vowed to continue pushing for their leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release after several of her close confidants were freed from prison by the ruling junta.
Seven dissidents from the Nobel peace laureate's party were among the 9,002 prisoners freed Tuesday in an amnesty that state media said was ordered so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010.
The most prominent was 79-year-old journalist and activist Win Tin, Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, who spent nearly two decades behind the bars of Yangon's feared Insein prison.
National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said that although they welcomed the amnesty, they would continue to fight for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 19 years under house arrest.
"We will send an appeal for her release from detention this week to the cabinet in Naypyidaw," Nyan Win told AFP, referring to the nation's capital.
"We are always hoping for her release. There are still many long-serving political prisoners ... All should also be released," he added.
The release of Win Tin and the six other NLD members was immediately hailed by the United Nations, the United States and rights groups around the world.
"We worked together to defend Win Tin's innocence and we are immensely relieved that he has finally been freed," press freedom organisations Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said in a joint statement.
"We hope other journalists and prisoners of conscience will also be freed and that Win Tin will be able to resume his peaceful struggle for press freedom and democracy in Burma," they added, using Myanmar's former name.
Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on July 4, 1989 for acting as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi and writing letters to the then-United Nations envoy to Myanmar. More

ISLAMIC law Courts (Sharia) becomes official in Britain

2008-09-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

TimesOnline September 14, 2008

Revealed: UK’s first official sharia courts

Abul Taher

ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.

Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said he had taken advantage of a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.

Under the act, the sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case.

Siddiqi said: “We realised that under the Arbitration Act we can make rulings which can be enforced by county and high courts. The act allows disputes to be resolved using alternatives like tribunals. This method is called alternative dispute resolution, which for Muslims is what the sharia courts are.”

The disclosure that Muslim courts have legal powers in Britain comes seven months after Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was pilloried for suggesting that the establishment of sharia in the future “seems unavoidable” in Britain.

In July, the head of the judiciary, the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, further stoked controversy when he said that sharia could be used to settle marital and financial disputes.

In fact, Muslim tribunal courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours.

It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations.

Siddiqi said he expected the courts to handle a greater number of “smaller” criminal cases in coming years as more Muslim clients approach them. “All we are doing is regulating community affairs in these cases,” said Siddiqi, chairman of the governing council of the tribunal.

Jewish Beth Din courts operate under the same provision in the Arbitration Act and resolve civil cases, ranging from divorce to business disputes. They have existed in Britain for more than 100 years, and previously operated under a precursor to the act.

Politicians and church leaders expressed concerns that this could mark the beginnings of a “parallel legal system” based on sharia for some British Muslims.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.”

Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “I think it’s appalling. I don’t think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state.”

There are concerns that women who agree to go to tribunal courts are getting worse deals because Islamic law favours men.

Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons.

The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts.

In the six cases of domestic violence, Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.

In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.

Siddiqi said that in the domestic violence cases, the advantage was that marriages were saved and couples given a second chance.

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “The MCB supports these tribunals. If the Jewish courts are allowed to flourish, so must the sharia ones.”

Link

Obama raised four times as much as John McCain from contributions less than $200.

2008-09-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Source BBC

Tracking campaign finance

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW as of 31 July 2008

Barack Obama has raised more money than John McCain partly because of the excitement generated by the Democratic nomination battle. His donors had pressing reasons to donate, from January right through to June, while Mr McCain wrapped up the Republican nomination in March.
Mr McCain has decided to take public financing, which means that from 1 September he has a maximum of $84m [£45m] to spend on his campaign. The McCain campaign is no longer accepting donations, except to its compliance fund - money to pay for lawyers, accountants and other expenses involved in maintaining compliance with federal election laws. The Republican National Committee, however, can still raise money to support the McCain campaign.
Barack Obama is the first candidate not to take public financing since the system was introduced in the mid-1970s. He will have no spending limit.
The Obama campaign has also broken the mould of US election finance by making big efforts to attract small donors. As a result Mr Obama has raised almost four times as much as John McCain from donors contributing less than $200. More

Pro-Tibet activists arrested in Nepal

2008-09-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the Nepal Government arrested 106 protestors from in front of the Chinese embassy and handed them over to the UNHCR asking it to verify their status. "If they are not the actual refugees, they will be punished and if they are refugees coming from Dharamshala, they would be sent there under UNHCR protection," a senior official of the Home Ministry told The Indian Express.

All the protestors who were detained and interrogated by the Police on Thursday refused to reveal their actual status. "If the UNHCR fails to ascertain their status, we will have sufficient reason to believe that they are illegal immigrants and the law will take its own course," Dotel said.

Over the past few months, while the Chinese have been asking the Government not to allow anti-china activities in Nepal, the office of the Human Rights Commissioner in Nepal, besides the US embassy, representatives of the European Union and Australia, had protested against the "crackdown" on Tibetans by the Police asking the Government to respect the human rights of the protestors. full story

Obama accuses McCain camp of lies, phony outrage, swift-boat politics

2008-09-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
NORFOLK, Va. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday accused Republican John McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Read

Hillary Clinton asks Democrats to rally behind Barak Obama

2008-08-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton's Speech at the Democratic National Convention

Synopsis

Remarks of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as prepared for delivery, during the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, Aug. 26, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo.

Aug. 26, 2008

I am honored to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud Democrat. A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines.

This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win.

I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.

No way. No how. No McCain.

Continue to read here

Bobby Jindal again denies running for VP

2008-07-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

Malayala Manorama Indian Newspaper of Malayalam Language from eight places in Kerela

Bobby Jindal again denies running for VP
-
New York,: Bobby Jindal, Indian American governor of Louisiana, has reiterated that he does not want to be considered as the running mate for John McCain, scotching media speculation that the Republican presidential candidate was meeting him Wednesday to be able to decide the matter this week.

"I look forward to continuing to be governor of Louisiana. This is a once in a lifetime chance to improve our state. We've cut six taxes but we've got a lot more work to do right here in Louisiana," Jindal told FOX & Friends, a morning TV programme, Wednesday.

Jindal said he did not have any inside information on whether McCain would make a decision this week on his pick for the No.2 spot.

"I've never talked to the senator about the vice-presidency or his thoughts on selecting the vice-president. I would certainly be surprised if they made a decision this week, but that's entirely up to the senator and his campaign. They'll make that decision I think when they're ready," he said.

Jindal said the ability to possibly serve as president is the most important quality for a vice-presidential candidate.

"I think the most important thing in picking a vice-president is not what state they come from, not what demographic they appeal to, but rather whether the senator thinks this person would be ready to be president if - god forbid - that situation arises. That's probably the only thing that should matter," he said.

The Washington Post's politics blog, The Fix, said earlier this week that McCain's meeting with Jindal in New Orleans was possibly over selection of a running mate, quoting sources close to the McCain campaign. It added that McCain's trip to Louisiana Wednesday was not in his earlier schedule.

Obama's 'Muslim' picture kicks up a storm-USA-World-The Times of India

2008-07-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

tag: Muslim-hate
Obama's 'Muslim' picture kicks up a storm-USA-World-The Times of India

Obama's 'Muslim' picture kicks up a storm
14 Jul 2008, 2148 hrs IST,AP

Obama as a Muslim
A US magazine cover depicts Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife Michelle as a terrorist (AFP Photo)
WASHINGTON: Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is "tasteless and offensive".

The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands on Monday, titled "The Politics of Fear" and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing what is commonly construed by Western media as traditional Muslim garb - sandals, robe and turban - and his wife, Michelle - dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder - standing in the Oval Office.

The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantel hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

"The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. "But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

In a statement on Monday, the magazine said the cover "combines a number of fantastical images about the Obama and shows them for the obvious distortions they are."

"The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall? All of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover," the New Yorker statement said.

The statement also pointed to the two articles on Obama contained inside the magazine, calling them "very serious."

Republican John McCain's campaign spokesman, Tucker Bonds, agreed that the cover was "tasteless and offensive."

Already the cover was generating controversy on the Internet. The Huffington Post , a left-leaning blog, said: "Anyone who's tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who's tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism - well, here's your image."

US president lifts executive ban on offshore drilling

2008-07-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

tag: oil

Economic Times - Indian Newspapers in English Language from seven editions.

US president lifts executive ban on offshore drilling
15 Jul, 2008, 0625 hrs IST, AGENCIES

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore oil drilling Monday and challenged Congress to do the same, a gambit to turn the enormous public frustration about gasoline prices into political leverage.

Democratic lawmakers rejected Bush's plan as a symbolic stunt. With gas prices topping $4.10 a gallon (euro1.08 a liter) nationally, Bush made his most assertive move to extend oil exploration, an energy priority of his presidency. By lifting the executive prohibition against coastal drilling, Bush rescinded a White House policy that his father, President George H.W. Bush, put in place in 1990.

The move will have no practical effect unless Congress acts, too. Both executive and legislative bans must be lifted before offshore exploration could happen.

Bush had urged Congress a month ago to go first, then reversed himself Monday. He said the country could no longer afford to wait.

``Democratic leaders can show that they have finally heard the frustrations of the American people by matching the action I've taken today, repealing the congressional ban, and passing legislation to facilitate responsible offshore exploration,'' Bush said in an event held in the White House's Rose Garden.

The president's direct link between record gas prices and offshore drilling glossed over a key point. Even if Congress agreed, the exploration for oil would take a decade or more to produce real results. It is not projected to reduce gas prices in the short term. Even the White House routinely emphasizes there is no quick fix.

Both presidential campaigns weighed in on the hot political topic.

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called Bush's move ``a very important signal'' and prodded his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, to drop his opposition to offshore drilling.

``If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks,'' Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. ``But most experts, even within the Bush administration, concede it would do neither.''

Other Democrats also were unmoved by the presidential action. ``The Bush plan is a hoax,'' responded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. ``It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence.''

None of that stopped the president from building his case around today's prices at the gasoline pump.

He said every extra dollar that families have to spend on gas is one they could be using to put food on their tables or to send children to school. The American people, he said, are now ``waiting to see what the Congress will do.''

The White House says that acting now on a long-term solution would send a serious signal to the market that more oil supply will be coming on line. That, in turn, could ease oil prices, advocates say. Business groups and many Republican lawmakers praised the move to expand the energy supply in the United States.

Several Democratic leaders in Congress said oil companies already are sitting on millions of acres of public and coastal lands where drilling could be undertaken.

A proposal by Democrats to release oil from an emergency reserve has been rejected by the White House as a gimmick that would not reduce prices.

Fight to retain "allah"

2008-07-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

Login - The Times of India
Malaysian Sikhs fight to retain 'Allah' in Granth Sahib
5 Jul 2008, 0357 hrs IST,AP

KUALA LUMPUR: A Sikh group in Muslim-majority Malaysia is demanding the right to use the world "Allah" as a synonym for God and has joined a legal battle by Christians against a government order banning non-Muslims from using it, an official said on Friday.

The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Tuesday seeking to join a suit by the Herald, a Roman Catholic newspaper, against the government over use of the word "Allah", said council president Sardar Jagir Singh.

The home ministry previously ordered the newspaper not to use the word "Allah" in its Malay-language publication as a translation for God, saying using the word would confuse Muslims. The Herald then filed suit, claiming it had a right to use the word.

Jagir said his council, representing more than 100,000 Sikhs, wanted to join the suit because the ruling would affect them.

The word Allah appears on "numerous occasions" in the Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, he said. "Not a word can be altered. It's our holiest book ... it will mean we can't practice our own religion."

Jagir said so far he has not received a court date. The high court is scheduled next Wednesday to hear the applications of several Islamic institutions that have applied to intervene in the suit to defend the ban.

The Herald says "Allah" is an Arabic word that predates Islam and has been used for centuries to mean God in Malay.

The government has not explained how the use of "Allah" by other religions would confuse Muslims, but apparently wants to draw a sharp distinction between the Islamic God and all other deities.

The case is an example of increasing complaints by religious minorities in Malaysia that their rights have been undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, the country's official religion.

Raila Odinga of Kenya calls for Robert Mugabe's suspension

2008-06-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Kenya urges AU to suspend Mugabe

Raila Odinga calls for Robert Mugabe's suspension

Kenyan PM Raila Odinga has urged the African Union to suspend Robert Mugabe from the bloc until he allows free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

The call came as the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the country faced a constitutional crisis.

The Zimbabwe crisis has overshadowed the African Union summit in Egypt.

Correspondents say the AU's response to the Zimbabwe crisis will be a major test of the bloc's effectiveness.

Mr Mugabe claimed a landslide victory as the sole candidate in the presidential election re-run after the MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, withdrew.

But African observers said the election had been undermined by pre-poll violence.

Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Mr Odinga said: "They should suspend him and send peace forces to Zimbabwe to ensure free and fair elections."

Mr Odinga, a vocal critic of Mr Mugabe, says the AU would set a dangerous precedent by accepting him as "a duly elected president".

The UN has urged African leaders to try to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

No talks

The South African presidency said it would consider reports from election observers together with other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) before adopting a unified position regarding the result.

The MDC says the way forward must reflect the outcome of the first round of voting in March, when Mr Tsvangirai won more votes than President Mugabe.

The opposition is prepared to take part in a transitional arrangement or a government of national unity, but it says there are no negotiations currently under way between Mr Tsvangirai and the ruling Zanu-PF party.

The BBC's southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says that apart from the recent political violence in Zimbabwe, there is continuing economic hardship, with inflation in the region of nine million per cent and the country heading for the worst harvest in 60 years

Gurukul Community.Com: Review of Rev. Vinayaraj's book

2008-06-30T02:38:00.000-07:00

Gurukul Community.Com: Review of Rev. Vinayaraj's book

Iran sentences man to death for spying for Israel

2008-06-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

Iran sentences man to death for spying for Israel

Mon, Jun 30 01:50 PM

By Hashem Kalantari

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian court on Monday sentenced to death an Iranian businessman on charges of spying for Israel after a two-day trial, media said.

The Tehran court handed down its sentence at a time of high tension between Israel and the Islamic Republic amid speculation of a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations.

Iranian media identified Ali Ashtari as the manager of a company selling communications and security equipment to Iran's government.

He was accused of "engaging in espionage for (Israel's) Mossad intelligence service," the ISNA news agency said. He had confessed and asked for clemency.

"I apologise to the Iranian people and to any organisation which has been damaged because of my acts and I request Islamic clemency," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted 43-year-old Ashtari as telling the court in Tehran.

Ashtari said he had accepted a loan of $50,000 from Israeli agents as he had been in financial straits, Fars said. He was detained a year and a half ago.

His name indicated he was a Shi'ite Muslim but Iranian media did not specify his religion. The media reports did not say whether he would appeal against the sentence.

Israeli government officials declined to comment on the issue on Monday. On Saturday, an official in Israel's Foreign Ministry said it was not familiar with the case.

Iran, which does not recognise Israel, has previously reported breaking up spy networks and accused the United States and "Zionists" of trying to destabilise the country.

SATELLITE PHONES

In 2000, 10 Jews from the city of Shiraz were convicted of spying in a closed door trial that sparked international outrage. The last five detained were released in 2003.

Fars quoted Ashtari as telling the court that three Israeli agents had presented themselves to him as foreign bank representatives looking for a commercial partnership.

Meetings with the agents, two of whom were called Jack and Tony, took place in Thailand and Turkey and they provided him with a laptop computer for coded communication as well as satellite phones, the news agency said.

Fars said Ashtari's company had branches in Tehran, Dubai and in a third country it did not name.

Speculation of an Israeli attack on Iran has risen since a U.S. newspaper reported this month that the Jewish state had practiced such a strike against the Iran's nuclear facilities.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. But the West and Israel fear Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern state with nuclear arms.

The standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, has been a factor pushing oil prices to record highs. Crude hit a record level on international markets near $143 a barrel on Friday.

Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.

(Additional reporting by Avida Landau in Jerusalem)

CAIR WARNS OF INVASIVE BODY SCANS AT U.S. AIRPORTS

2008-06-30T02:22:00.000-07:00

CAIR WARNS OF INVASIVE BODY SCANS AT U.S. AIRPORTS

Muslim group reminds passengers of their right to request an alternative measure

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/13/08) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today warned American Muslims and others concerned with personal privacy of a security procedure recently implemented by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that scans full-body images of passengers through their clothing, revealing intimate body parts to screeners.

According to USA Today, the body-scanning machines are being used on randomly-selected passengers at airports in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque, and New York’s JFK airport. They are scheduled to be installed at airports in Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, and Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. this month.
SEE: 10 Airports Install Body Scanners (USA Today)

The TSA website describes the process through which the machines bounce harmless radio waves off the passenger’s body, which constructs a three-dimensional image that is projected on a monitor in the security scanner’s room. The TSA characterizes the procedure as a “voluntary alternative to a pat-down,” and says it blurs passengers’ faces and does not store the images to protect privacy.
SEE: Whole Body Imaging - Millimeter Wave

However, concerns have been raised over the level of detail shown by the machines, which are capable of projecting graphic images of a person’s body, revealing private body parts and other intimate details.
SEE: ACLU Backgrounder on Body Scanners and ‘Virtual Strip Searches’

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape

2008-06-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty for Child Rape

Article Tools Sponsored By
By DAVID STOUT
Published: June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, on Wednesday that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional, assuming that the victim is not killed.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the court. He was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

The dissenters were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., generally regarded as the conservative wing of the tribunal.

Not since 1964 has anyone been executed in the United States for a crime other than murder, and of about 3,300 inmates now on death row, only two are facing execution for an offense that did not involve a killing — and both of those inmates are in Louisiana. Patrick Kennedy, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter and the other is Richard Davis, who was condemned for assaulting a 5-year-old girl.

The case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, No. 07-343, was the latest in a series in which the justices have weighed particular applications of capital punishment. In 2002, for instance, the Supreme Court barred the execution of mentally retarded defendants, and in 2005 it banned the execution of people for crimes they committed before they were 18.

But, as Chief Justice Roberts observed when Kennedy v. Louisiana was argued on April 16: “This is quite different. It is focused on the nature of the offense.” Indeed, a theme that ran through the argument was that, while the death penalty is a punishment like no other, the rape of a child is a crime like no other.

In 1977, the Supreme Court banned death sentences for rape. But the victim in that case, Coker v. Georgia, was a young married woman, and the ruling did not specifically discuss the rape of a child. Over the past 13 years, several states have reacted to public outrage over crimes against children by amending their statutes to make the rape of a child punishable by death.

Louisiana was the first state to do so, amending its death-penalty law in 1995 to include rape of a child under the age of 12. But unlike Louisiana, the other states with similar provisions (Georgia, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas) generally limit the death penalty to defendants previously convicted of sex crimes against children.

Mr. Kennedy’s lawyer, Jeffrey L. Fisher, argued before the justices that it was “at odds with national values” for the state to execute his client, who had never committed such a crime before.

But Justice Scalia pressed Mr. Fisher on that assertion, noting that the recent trend has been “more and more states permitting the capital punishment” for the rape of a child.

As for the case at hand, Juliet L. Clark, an assistant district attorney from Gretna, La., countered that Mr. Kennedy, who weighs 300 pounds, had committed “a very savage rape” that caused serious injuries to his victim. And R. Ted Cruz, the Solicitor General for the State of Texas, who argued as a “friend of the court” on the side of Louisiana, said that Mr. Kennedy (like Mr. Davis, the other child-rape defendant on Louisiana’s death row) had “committed crimes that are just unspeakable.”

Responding to a question from Justice Ginsburg, Ms. Clark said the Louisiana child-rape law could apply regardless of the sex of the criminal or that of the victim.

And in support of her argument that crimes against children have long been viewed with special revulsion, and as deserving of special punishment, Ms. Clark pointed out that the Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that states can make it a crime to possess child pornography even in one’s home.

That ruling, in Osborne v. Ohio, carved out an exception to a 1969 Supreme Court ruling that the Constitution protects the possession of obscene material in the privacy of one’s residence. Justice Byron R. White wrote for the 6-to-3 majority in the Osborne case, reasoning that Ohio was justified in trying to “destroy a market for the exploitative use of children.”

Of the current Supreme Court, only Justices Scalia, Kennedy and Stevens took part in the 1990 Osborne decision. Justices Scalia and Kennedy were in the majority; Justice Stevens joined with Justices William J. Brennan Jr. and Thurgood Marshall in finding the Ohio law to be unconstitutionally broad.

Obama Dismisses Dobson Criticism About Bible

2008-06-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

Obama says Dobson 'making stuff up' in claim candidate distorted the Bible
By SARA KUGLER Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES June 25, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

Barack Obama said Tuesday that evangelical leader James Dobson was "making stuff up" when he accused the presumed Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talks during a town hall style meeting at the Springs Preserve, a cultural and historic attraction, in Las Vegas, Nevada Tuesday, June 24, 2008.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
(AP)

Dobson used his Focus on the Family radio program to highlight excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Obama said the speech made the argument that people of faith, like himself, "try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than having religion divide us."

Obama added, "I think you'll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes."

In his program, Dobson focused on examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy. For instance, Obama said Leviticus suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination. Obama also cited Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said in the speech.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

Asked about Dobson's assessment, Obama said "somebody would be pretty hard-pressed to make that argument" that he was distorting the Bible.

Obama supporters also responded to Dobson.

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a Methodist pastor from Texas and longtime supporter of President Bush who has endorsed Obama, said Tuesday he belongs to a group of religious leaders who, working independently of Obama's campaign, launched a Web site to counter Dobson at http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com. The site highlights statements from Obama and Dobson and asks visitors to compare them.

Caldwell said he has great respect for Dobson's advocacy for families, but said the criticism of Obama was "a bit over the top" and "crossed the line."

"There has been a call for a higher level of politics and politicking," Caldwell said. "So to attack at this level is inappropriate and I think unacceptable and we at least want to hold everybody accountable."

Tom Minnery, a senior vice president at Focus on the Family, responded: "Without question, Dr. Dobson is speaking for millions of evangelicals because his understanding of the Bible is thoroughly evangelical."

———

AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski in Denver contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Gore throws his support to Obama

2008-06-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

Gore throws his support to Obama
By Associated Press / June 17, 2008

DETROIT - Al Gore announced his endorsement yesterday of Barack Obama and promised to help him achieve what eluded the former vice president - the presidency.
more stories like this

"The outcome of this election will affect the future of this planet," Gore said last night, addressing about 20,000 people at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. "We've got to have new leadership. Not only a new president, but new policies."

In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its electoral votes after a divided Supreme Court ended the recount. Since then, Gore has made combating global warming his signature issue, and has been recognized worldwide for his efforts.

"It means a lot, obviously," Obama said of Gore's support, as he greeted workers outside a General Motors plant in Flint. "He's somebody who is a visionary, not just for the party, but for the country."

Gore is one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party, but he maintained a low profile in the primary campaign.

It is the second time that Obama has rolled out a major endorsement in Michigan, a state he did not campaign in during the primary because its election violated the party rules. Last month, he appeared with 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards in Grand Rapids, as party leaders united behind Obama as their nominee .

Yesterday, Gore also asked for donations to help fund Obama's effort - the first time he has asked members of his website, AlGore.com, to contribute to a political campaign.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Nepal's deposed king leaves palace for last time

2008-06-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Nepal's deposed king leaves palace for last time

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal's deposed king has left the royal palace for the last time but has no plans to leave the Himalayan country.

Former King Gyanendra says he wants to stay to "help establish peace" as the country moves from a monarchy to a republic.

Hundreds of people came to see Gyanendra leave Katmandu's royal palace Wednesday night. His departure marks the end of the final chapter of the world's last Hindu monarchy.

Nepal was declared a republic last month after elections that saw the country's former communist rebels win the most seats in a special assembly charged with rewriting the constitution.

Chinese Persecute Tibetans

2008-06-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Tibetans who fled Lhasa after March 10 crackdown recount horrors of life

Mon, Jun 9 09:05 PM

Dharamshala, June 9 (ANI): With eyes still wide with fear, Tibetan protesters recount how the Chinese guns silenced the recent protests in Lhasa.

Police went door-to-door in midnight swoops as they searched for Tibetans who participated in the protests that flared up in March, one of the protesters said.

Kunsang Sonam, a 38-year-old textile trader and father-of-one said in Dharamsala that he saw at least six Tibetans die from gunshot and knife wounds.

Sonam said he feared for his life and so he sneaked across the Nepal border-- a major transit point for those fleeing Tibet to come to Dharamsala in India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"On March 10, we held a peaceful demonstration against the Chinese rule and on March 14, we had a bigger demonstration held in Tibet. At that time, lots of Chinese police came to Lhasa and they started firing on us. Chinese soldiers also came up and they were arresting people and were firing on us with tanks, guns, and they were bombing us with tear gas bombs," Sonam said..

Days of monk-led marches in Tibet's capital Lhasa devolved into a citywide riot on March 14 that saw Chinese shops thrashed and burned and cars overturned. China says about 20 "innocent" civilians were killed by mobs. The government-in-exile says more than 100 protesters were killed by Chinese troops. Hundreds of rioters have been arrested.

Sonam is one of the few who managed to escape from Tibet after the outbreak of violence.

He said the Tibetans in his homeland were living in perpetual fear-especially those who participated in the demonstrations.

The protests were the climax to years of resentment towards the Chinese policy of filling up the Tibetan areas with people of Chinese origin, outnumbering and outranking the ethnic Tibetans in their own land, he said.

"Those who have been arrested by the Chinese police, they are being tortured badly. Those who have not been arrested are living in fear of when the Chinese police will come and arrest them. Tibetan people are not allowed to move around freely-- this is the situation inside Tibet," said Sonam.

The dormitories in Dharamsala may be drab, but they offer much relief and happiness to the Tibetans who have fled their home country to be with their leader.

They are free to stick up any number of smiling pictures of the Dalai Lama or wave Tibetan flags -- both prohibited activities in Tibet.

Almost all of the 2,500 to 3,000 Tibetans who escape from the country each year pass through the centre in Dharamsala-- a small Himalayan foothill town teaming with tourist-filled cafes and souvenir shops stuffed with Indian crafts.

However, officials at the refugee centre say the number of fresh arrivals from Tibet has dropped sharply over the past couple of months- mainly because of stricter border patrols by the Chinese authorities, which makes it nigh impossible for Tibetans to escape.

Sonam yearns to return to his family - daughter, wife, brother and father-- but that is now impossible.

Mingyur Youdon, one of the workers at the refugee centre said the condition of the monks inside Tibet was depressing.

"Chinese authority- they also stop supplying food, water, and electricity to the monastery. Monks are dying because of starvation inside monastery," Youdon said as tears welled up her eyes.

Monks caught with images of the Dalai Lama were forced to curse his name or be jailed, she added.

The Dalai Lama is pressing world leaders to urge China to ease the crackdown on Tibet and his envoys held talks with officials in China last month, but Beijing blames the rioting on the India-based Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader. (ANI)

Obama Declares Victory: FULL SPEECH

2008-06-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

FULL SPEECH: Obama Declares Victory
Barack Obama Delivers First Speech as Presumptive Democratic Nominee
June 3, 2008

The following remarks are the text as prepared for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on June 3, 2008, his first speech after declaring victory in the Democratic nomination contest over Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. The speech was delivered in St. Paul, Minnesota, site of the Republican National Convention in August 2008.

On June 3, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., declared victory in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end.

Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said – because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another – a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

I want to thank every American who stood with us over the course of this campaign – through the good days and the bad; from the snows of Cedar Rapids to the sunshine of Sioux Falls. And tonight I also want to thank the men and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for President.

At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I have not just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends, as public servants, and as patriots who love America and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of this party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.

That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.

We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning – even in the face of tough odds – is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency – an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about the party in charge of Washington, it's about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.

All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say – let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.

In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign.
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Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.

It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.

It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college – policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average American family, widened the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children with a mountain of debt.

And it's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians – a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn't making the American people any safer.

So I'll say this – there are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.

Change is a foreign policy that doesn't begin and end with a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century – terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.

Change is realizing that meeting today's threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy – tough, direct diplomacy where the President of the United States isn't afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That's what the American people want. That's what change is.

FULL SPEECH: Obama Declares Victory
Barack Obama Delivers First Speech as Presumptive Democratic Nominee
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Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. It's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation. It's understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go hand-in-hand, as they did when Bill Clinton was President.

John McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy – cities in Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota – he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.
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Maybe if he went to Iowa and met the student who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can't pay the medical bills for a sister who's ill, he'd understand that she can't afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and wealthy. She needs us to pass health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it and brings down premiums for every family who needs it. That's the change we need.

Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can't even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he'd understand that we can't afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators. That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future – an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. That's the change we need.

And maybe if he spent some time in the schools of South Carolina or St. Paul or where he spoke tonight in New Orleans, he'd understand that we can't afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American. That's the change we need in America. That's why I'm running for President.

The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon – that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.

Despite what the good Senator from Arizona said tonight, I have seen people of differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two decades in public life, and I have brought many together myself. I've walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together for good jobs and good schools. I've sat across the table from law enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. And I've worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the American people know where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in Washington.

In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.

So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.
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So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.

So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.

So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just.

And so it must be for us.

America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals. Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Deoband first: to issue fatwa against terror

2008-05-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Deoband first: A fatwa against terror
1 Jun 2008, 0000 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: For the first time ever, Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa against terrorism on Saturday, stating Islam had come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace. The Darul-Uloom had denounced terrorism for the first time in February, but had not issued a fatwa so far.

Saturday’s fatwa, signed by Darul-Uloom’s grand mufti Habibur Rehman, asserts that "Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form".

Citing the "sinister campaign" to malign "Islamic faith...by linking terrorism with Islam and distorting the meanings of Quranic Verses and Prophet traditions", Mahmood Asad Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, had wanted Deoband to spell out the stand of Islam on world peace.

The fatwa, issued before a huge gathering of Muslims in Delhi’s Ramlila Ground for the Anti-Terrorism and Global Peace Conference, went on to say, "It is proved from clear guidelines provided in the Holy Quran that allegations of terrorism against a religion which preaches and guarantees world peace is nothing but a lie. The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace. Allah knows the best."

The conference was addressed by Jamiat chief and Darul-Uloom’s deputy rector Hazrat Maulana Qari Sayed Mohammed Usman.

He called the conference historic as Muslims of different sects and ideologies — including Nadwatul Ulama Lucknow, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and All India Muslim Personal Law Board — ratified the fatwa against terrorism.

The exclusively-male turnout that read an "oath of allegiance" to the fatwa cheered most lustily as speakers attacked the US.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind leader Madani, an MP, stated that the fatwa should be welcomed by the entire Islamic world.

"Killing of innocent people is not compatible with Islam. The biggest challenge faced by us today is terrorism (which) threatens to strike at the very root of the secular structure of our society besides causing irreparable loss," stated Madani.

Notwithstanding the caveats like "unjust" and "innocent", which may make it appear falling short of an
unequivocal condemnation of terrorism, the fatwa is viewed by many as a significant step forward towards rallying the public opinion against terrorism.

Coming after the February 25 denunciation, it is seen as reflective of the growing recognition on the part of clerics to counter misgivings about interpretations of scriptures.

Deoband has lately been under intense focus because many of the terrorist groups — from Taliban to Jaish and Harkat — are widely perceived to be Deobandi in orientation.

However, it was when the deputy rector of Deoband, Usman, came down heavily on "the dual policy of America" that the massive crowds cheered the most. "Whenever Christian and American interests are hurt in any part of the world, they take prompt action to set things right even at the cost of human lives. They maintain silence though when Muslims are the victims," he said, further criticizing the US for its support to Israel.

According to Usman, Jamiat recently held a series of conferences and meetings with madrassas in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Surat, Varanasi and Kolkata to carry forward the anti-terror movement which was initiated at Deoband in February. Usman said that many people, especially in the West, were carrying out a propaganda that terrorism was synonymous with jehad.

He said that while terrorism is destructive, jehad is constructive. "Terrorism is the gravest crime as held by Quran and Islam. We are not prepared to tolerate terrorism in any form and we are ready to cooperate with all responsible people," he said.

UN: Myanmar Forcing Cyclone Survivors out of Camps

2008-05-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

UN: Myanmar Forcing Cyclone Survivors out of Camps
UN official says Myanmar is forcing cyclone survivors out of refugee camps
YANGON, Myanmar May 30, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

People line up outside an aid tent in Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, May 29, 2008 awaiting medical treatment. Aid and relief has been slow getting to affected areas and people after a cyclone hit southern Myanmar causing mass destruction and death.

Myanmar's military government is forcing cyclone victims out of refugee camps and "dumping" them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, U.N. and church officials said Friday.

Eight camps set up by the junta for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy delta town of Bogalay were "totally empty" as the clear-out continued, said Teh Tai Ring of UNICEF, speaking at a meeting of U.N. and private aid agency workers discussing water and sanitation issues.

"The government is moving people unannounced," he said, adding that authorities were "dumping people in the approximate location of the villages, basically with nothing."

After his remarks were reported, UNICEF issued a statement saying they referred to "unconfirmed reports by relief workers on the relocation of displaced people" affected by the May 2-3 storm.

However, Teh said the information came from a relief worker who had just returned from the affected area and that "tears were shed" when he recounted his findings to UNICEF officials earlier in the day.

At a church in Yangon, meanwhile, more than 400 cyclone victims from the delta township of Labutta were evicted Friday following orders from authorities a day earlier.

"It was a scene of sadness, despair and pain," said a church official at the Yangon Karen Baptist Home Missions, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal. "Those villagers lost their homes, their family members and the whole village was washed away. They have no home to go back to."

All the refugees except for a few pregnant women, two young children and those with severe illnesses left the church in 11 trucks Friday morning, the official said.

Authorities told church workers the victims would first be taken to a government camp in Myaung Mya — a mostly undamaged town in the Irrawaddy delta. It was not immediately clear when they would be resettled in their villages.

Aid groups said Myanmar's military government was still hindering foreign assistance for victims of the cyclone, despite a promise to U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon to ease travel restrictions.

Archbishop’s killer, Abu Omar, gets Death sentence

2008-05-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Death sentence for Archbishop’s killer

Timothy Lavin

The Iraqi Central Criminal Court sentenced an al-Qaida leader to death for the murder of a Chaldean archbishop last week, drawing praise from the US Government but angry opposition from Iraqi Catholic leaders, writes Timothy Lavin.

Ahmed Ali Ahmed, known as Abu Omar, was convicted of murdering the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, and will face execution. Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped by masked gunmen as he left Mass in Mosul in late February and found killed in March.

"If he were still alive, Archbishop Rahho himself would not permit that someone would die for him," Auxiliary Bishop Shlemo Warduni of Baghdad said, according to Asia News. "This conviction does not meet Christian values," Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told AFP. "We are not satisfied with this decision because the Church is against the death penalty."

The US embassy in Baghdad said the verdict was just. "Reiterating our condolences to the archbishop's family and community, we commend the Iraqi authorities for bringing the perpetrator of this brutal crime to justice," an official statement said.

War of the Dolls: Barbie vs. Bratz

2008-05-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

JOHN BERMAN, ANNA WILD, KELLY HAGAN and IMAEYEN IBANGA reports that the makers of Barbie and Bratz are in a heated legal battle.Mattel Inc.'s iconic blond doll and MGA Entertainment Inc., producers of the popular Bratz dolls are in the court to settle the disputes over rights to their dolls.Carter Bryant, the man who designed the nine-inch Bratz dolls, worked at Mattel when he came up with the concept, and therefore it owns the dolls. The Bratz dolls arrived on the scene in 2001. Ever since its arrival Barbie's sales dropped, almost 12 percent,$46.6 million,in the first quarter of this year alone.

The Los Angeles-based MGA claimed that Mattel changed the design of its "My Scene" dolls to more closely resemble Bratz dolls. Though Mattel sued Bryant, the designer of their dolls, but finally settled with their former employee for undisclosed terms.

Miss Tibet joins hands in support of freedom march

2008-05-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Miss Tibet joins hands in support of freedom march

Wed, May 28 07:35 PM

New Delhi, May 28(ANI): Shouting passionately for a free Tibet protesters took to the streets of India's capital on Wednesday.These students symbolically started their march at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat, vowing to keep their demonstration peaceful.

Joining them was Miss Tibet 2006 Tsering Chungdak. Using her status to further the cause against Chinese rule, she says Tibetans want freedom.

Quake Brings Rare Freedom for Journalists in China

2008-05-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Quake Brings Rare Freedom for Journalists in China
Foreign Journalists Given Unprecedented Freedom to Report on China Quake
By WILLIAM FOREMAN Associated Press Writer
BEICHUAN, China May 26, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

Jiang Guohua, the Communist Party secretary of Mianzhu city, kneels on the ground pleading with... Expand
Jiang Guohua, the Communist Party secretary of Mianzhu city, kneels on the ground pleading with protesting parents, whose children were killed in a school collapse during China's recent devastating earthquake, not to complain to higher authorities, in Mianzhu in southwest China's Sichuan province Sunday, May 25, 2008. Despite Jiang's pleas, the parents of the 127 children who died in the collapse kept marching Sunday and eventually met with higher officials, who told them the government would investigate. (AP Photo) Collapse
(AP)
More Photos

Rows of body bags were laid out along streets for all to see. Sobbing parents furious about shoddily built schools that collapsed and killed thousands of children were able to speak freely. Military helicopters carried reporters to tour the disaster zone.

The earthquake that flattened a wide swath of central Sichuan province May 12 has been a historic event for journalism in China. Never before have the nation's leaders allowed foreign reporters so much freedom to cover a major disaster.

Chinese leaders haven't fully explained the new openness, and periods of thaw can be brief here. Only time will tell if it is a real policy shift — a bold break from the Communist Party's traditional tight control on the release of news, particularly bad news.

It might just be a response to the disaster's exceptional magnitude — the death toll may exceed 80,000 and 5 million people are homeless — and the government's pledge to be more open before the Beijing Olympics.

"We have adopted an open policy because we think it was not only the disaster for Chinese people, but the people of the world," Premier Wen Jiabao said during a weekend tour of the quake zone. "Our spirit of putting people above all and our open policy will not change."

The contrast to previous disasters is stark.

In the past, regions ravaged by floods, earthquakes, typhoons and other catastrophes were mostly sealed off to foreign media. Information from the no-go zones was treated like state secrets. Reporters trying to cover disasters without official permission — almost never granted — were stopped by police. Notebooks were seized, and photo files deleted.

When Associated Press journalists went to cover a quake that struck the western region of Xinjiang in 2003, police waited for them in their hotel lobby and interrogated them about their reporting. As recently as two months ago, security officials in Sichuan set up roadblocks and turned back journalists trying to cover protests by ethnic Tibetans in the region.

China not to endorse India's bid to UN Security Council seat

2008-05-27T01:48:00.000-07:00

China outsmarts India over UN Security Council seat

New Delhi:The symphony of South-South cooperation at the recent conclave of foreign ministers of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) at Yekaterinburg was jarred by China's refusal to endorse India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC). In the joint communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, Chinese delegates scotched Russian proposals of supporting India's cause of entering the elite league at the UNSC.

There are two ways of interpreting the latest Chinese attempt to cut India down to size and remind it of the hurdles facing its global ambitions. One reaction is of dismay that China went back on a prior commitment to recommend India for a permanent seat at the UNSC. In November 2006, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee claimed that Chinese President Hu Jintao had "reiterated" that Beijing was in favour of New Delhi's inclusion as a permanent member of the UNSC. Thus, the Yekaterinburg drama could be seen as a volte-face act of backtracking by China.

The second, more realistic, reading of the situation is that Indian officials have been applying a glossy spin to the chameleonic Chinese positions of the past, which never overtly pledged approval of a permanent UNSC seat for New Delhi. It is worth recalling that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's 2005 visit to India did not yield any definitive comment that China would be happy to second India's goal of bagging a permanent seat at the UNSC.

Likewise, despite the assertion of Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon that President Hu had "assured" India on a bilateral visit in 2006 that China "would not be an obstacle" to New Delhi's push for permanent membership of the UNSC, no concrete guarantee was given in writing at the Joint Declaration.

Thus, the firm refusal of China to sign a communiqué at Yekaterinburg that unambiguously championed a permanent seat for India at the UNSC is actually consistent with Beijing's hide-and-seek strategy on the issue. More than China deluding India by rescinding on its past promises, it appears to be a case of India allowing itself to be deluded by building make-believe castles.

The last few years have witnessed numerous summits and governmental exchanges between India and China. China is now India's largest trading partner, with the annual volume of trade standing at $40 billion and expected to touch $60 billion by 2010. The political side of the relationship has also improved, with usage of phrases like 'strategic partnership' by both sides. India's containment of the Tibetan upsurge in March 2008 was applauded by China with appreciative pats. The fact that China even accepted relief aid from India for rehabilitating earthquake victims in Sichuan earlier this month suggests that Asia's giants are getting along, if not cavorting together.

Yet, in a puzzling disconnect with these trends, the military competition between the two countries is intensifying. India has been noting with great concern China's rapidly expanding space weapons programme. The discovery of a secret Chinese nuclear submarine base on the Hainan Island and the exposure of a massive nuclear missile site in central China remind New Delhi of its vulnerability to overwhelming attack. The continuing impasse over the disputed border between the two countries stands in sharp relief to the expansion of commercial goods traffic across the Nathu La pass that had been closed since the 1962 war.

These contradictory logics in the India-China relationship are fuelled by the disentanglement of the private sector from the state in both countries. The enormous corporate interests of India and China view their counterparts across the McMahon Line as compatriots with whom business can be done for mutual benefit. Economic liberalisation and private sector booms in both countries have unleashed an appetite for economic interaction that does not have to wait for resolution of military and strategic conflicts. Whether or not China is sympathetic to India becoming a permanent member of the UNSC is immaterial to exporters and importers of the two countries, as long as their profits flow.

Although states disallow the gains of trade from getting lost in the acrimony of military-strategic rivalry, they are essentially political actors with political ends. So, even as the Indian and Chinese chambers of commerce may raise toasts to each other, the standoff over a permanent seat for India at the Security Council will dog its relations with China.

New Delhi needs to drop its blinkers and openly admit that China is not sanguine about India joining the P-5 at the Security Council. Optimistic Indian diplomats argue that China has indicated in private settings that its main objection is that India's bid is knotted with Japan's attempt to garner a permanent seat. This is a red herring, because Chinese military journals and think tanks are closely monitoring India's economic, technological and military advances. To assume that China's strategic planning is Taiwan- or Japan-centric misses the changing reality of New Delhi's rise and the discomfort it is generating in Beijing.

From 1955, when Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru conceded an offer for a permanent seat at the UNSC to China, New Delhi has permitted itself to be outsmarted by Beijing on this contentious issue. It is now high time to stop living in illusions and to acknowledge that China is one of the obstacles to India's quest for global stature.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

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