October 31, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
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October 31, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
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October 30, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
There are reports coming out of Virginia suggesting that an unidentified person or group has been distributing fliers targeting minorities and registered Democrats, instructing them incorrectly that Election Day will be Wednesday, November 5. ELECTION DAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, for everyone who has not voted early or by absentee ballot.
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October 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan today told the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, investigating the collapse of the American credit markets, that he experienced “shocked disbelief” in the face of the financial system’s near unraveling, and admitted, under questioning from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), that he now recognizes there were flaws in the ideology which informed his policy decisions. Waxman pressed Greenspan to admit that excessive deregulation had been the principle factor in bringing about the financial crisis.
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October 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The city of New Delhi, the Indian capital, is reporting it has reached over 1,000 new cases of dengue fever this year. Dengue is a “vector-borne” disease, meaning it is transmitted from one host to another by way of an intermediary such as a microbe or small insect. There have only been two reported cases of deaths this year from the disease, in the capital, and authorities suggest a prolonged rainy season and consequent chronic humidity are to blame for the increase in cases.
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October 24, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
According to a new report from Reporters sans Frontiers, the United States is tied for 36th in the world for press freedom, with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, South Africa, Spain and Taiwan. Of the nations that rank above the US, the report lists Mali, Ghana, Namibia, Jamaica, Surinam, as well as states formerly controlled by the Soviet Union such as the three Baltic states —Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—, and Slovakia. France ranked 35th, just ahead of the US.
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October 21, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois, is the candidate that is best positioned to offer the solutions our nation requires, in these troubled and challenging times. His positive vision of a dynamic American society, capable of innovating to combat a global energy crisis, principled in defending Constitutional law and human rights, combines the open and dynamic nature of American democratic culture with an energetic commitment to tackling new challenges, motivating a resurgence of the kind of major projects that will help rebuild and spur our economy.
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October 20, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
It has for some time been a hallmark of American politics that conservative ideologues speak of “liberals” with disdain and condescension, and liberals view “right-wing” politics as nasty and unsavory. But the recent eruption of anger, vitriol and even violent hatred, from some individuals attending McCain-Palin rallies brings up the question of whether conservatives have blinded themselves to political reality, to the meaning of democracy, to the virtues of balance, by entertaining an irrational hatred of liberals.
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October 20, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Sen. Barack Obama has begun to raise the issue of how rival Sen. John McCain plans to pay for added costs in his budget, particularly healthcare, given his tax cut plan and his claims about coverage. According the Wall Street Journal, which cites his own campaign, he will do so with massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Sen. Obama used the figure of an $882 billion cut to Medicare coverage alone.
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October 19, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
In an interview with Meet the Press, former Sec. of State Colin Powell said he knows both John McCain and Barack Obama to be “distinguished Americans, who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country”, criticized his friend Sen. McCain for “a little unsure” what to do about the economic crisis, suggesting he “didn’t have a complete grasp of the economic problems”. Powell also questioned a number of McCain’s judgments on policy and campaign tactics, and praised Sen. Obama’s “intellectual vigor” and “steadiness” in dealing with serious challenges.
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October 19, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The Chicago Tribune, conservative monument of American journalism, which has never endorsed a Democratic candidate for president, since 1847, has endorsed Barack Obama, the US senator from Illinois, for president. Perhaps the most poignant phrase for many voters would be “He is ready.” The fact that this was the major sticking point for many suggests the rest of his appeal is an easy sell.
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October 17, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: One Comment
The US Supreme Court has reversed an order to the state of Ohio to allow the Republican party to organize an effort to question or counter the right of newly registered voters to cast ballots on election day. The Republican party had sought to repeat its efforts in the 2004 election, which led to 300,000 voters being denied the vote, in a state Bush carried by just 190,000 votes, and had won the right to challenge at least 120,000 registrations, possibly more than 200,000.
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October 17, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Sen. John McCain brought back to life the question of whether or not the “No Child Left Behind” law was a good or a bad idea. He claims it was a good start, but foolishly glossed over the fact that the bill’s punitive “accountability” measures target the poor directly. Schools that most need funding are deprived of it, by the No Child Left Behind law, guaranteeing failure in schools that would otherwise be forced to struggle continually with scarce funding.
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October 16, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Barack Obama appears to have kept his cool, delivered his message and kept his focus firmly on issues and the work of governing. John McCain fired a number of gimic-enabled shots at Obama, but failed to deliver a coherent message, other than his allegation that Obama wants to raise taxes and he would cut them for everyone, a factually untrue claim about his tax proposal.
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October 15, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The monumental series of 7 3-hour-long debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas ended on 15 October 1858, exactly 150 years to the day before tonight’s third Obama-McCain televised 90-minute debate. The two Illinois politicians were competing for one of the state’s two Senate seats, and their epic debates are considered a watershed for intellect in American politics, a transformative political moment and a media revolution that drove democracy’s expansion in human society.
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October 15, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Vice President Dick Cheney has, for the second time in one year, been hospitalized in order to correct an irregular heartbeat. Found to be suffering from atrial fibrillation during a routine check-up, the vice president then canceled his schedule for the day and was scheduled for an outpatient procedure to restore a normal heartbeat, at George Washington University Hospital.
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October 14, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Sen. John McCain may be scrambling to save his political life. Of course, until the American people vote, it remains true he might win and become the next president of the United States. But the Branchflower report has just found his vice-presidential candidate guilty of abusing her office as Alaska governor, and he has just had to scold his own supporters for espousing racist and paranoid views which his campaign had at least implicitly sought to smear Obama with. His standing in the polls has fallen dramatically —as of today, RCP’s daily tracking poll average projects 313 Electoral College votes going to Obama, 158 to McCain, with 67 “toss up”—, and conservative luminaries are weighing in on his weakness as a candidate.
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October 14, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA/Dow) today had its single biggest day of gains in history, climbing 936 points. It could be a good sign, that on Friday the market “established a bottom”, but it’s important to remember: the nature of volatility is not that it is ripe for gain or ripe for loss, but that it is volatility, and one’s will and judgment are not always as relevant as one would like.
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October 14, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
Gov. Sarah Palin has been found responsible for abusing her office in firing the state of Alaska’s public safety chief. She had denied any wrongdoing, and maintains that the Branchflower report does not accuse her of criminal activity, but she has been escape the allegation that she used her office to target or punish her former brother in law, who she and numerous aides and supporters allege —in defense of her actions— “threatened” her family during a messy divorce from her sister.
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October 12, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
American schools have been many things over the centuries: the world’s first true universal public education system, a decentralized municipal forum for sincere ambition and hopeful good efforts, indoctrination channels, oases of political correctness, the envy of the world in science and math, edge-leaders in social progress, the root-structure of the most vibrant university culture in the world, and now, largely insufficient, as competing with the world’s best.
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October 11, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea, has been removed from the United States’ government’s official list of “state sponsors of terrorism”. The move comes as part of an agreement among the Six Parties involved in denuclearization talks regarding the DPRK, which will restart the dismantling of all nuclear facilities in North Korea, and will include inspections, document review, and other measures designed to prevent the further production of nuclear weapons in the secretive state.
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October 11, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Arizona Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign has become mired in a controversy over its aggressive personal attacks on Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which has put the Republican candidate in a supremely awkward position. During a week in which rallies held for his candidacy have featured allegations that Sen. Obama is somehow linked to domestic terrorists or has suspicious overseas supporters, more than once audience members have shouted out threats to Sen. Obama’s life.
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October 10, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The Supreme Court of the state of Connecticut has ruled a lower-court ruling forbidding same-sex marriage violates the constitutional rights of homosexual citizens. The ruling makes Connecticut the third state to provide for legalization of same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and California. This November, California voters will decide on whether the state’s constitution can be amended to ban same-sex marriages.
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October 10, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The United States is gripped by a massive financial crisis that has frozen credit markets, killed major banks, and pushed millions of families toward the dark day of home foreclosure. The stock market is suffering unbelievable declines, and people are asking, why don’t they stop selling? Can’t there be a concerted effort to restore confidence? One major part of the problem is employment and the middle class: the average household has actually seen their income decline by $2,000 since 2001.
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October 10, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
With talk of the entire nation of Iceland sliding into bankruptcy, CitiGroup threatening to file a multi-billion-dollar suit against Wells Fargo for upending its buyout of Wachovia, and an unprecedented coordinated “global” interest-rate cut failing to prevent a near 700-pt. selloff yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has again dropped nearly 700 points in just 7 minutes of trading. At 7,900 points, the rate of decline is edging ever-closer to the 10% “circuit-breaker” threshold that would halt trading.
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October 9, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago, has suspended law-enforcement support for evictions, expressing outrage at mortgage lenders, and saying too many innocent renters are being forced onto the street with literally zero notice. Sheriff Thomas Dart says all foreclosure-related evictions will be postponed indefinitely, because law-enforcement has “no idea who’s in the home” when they show up to force residents to leave. He says there are too many “unjust” circumstances in which innocent people, whom nobody has informed of the building’s foreclosure, are targetted by evictions.
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October 9, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
Dear Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson: There is grave concern in low-income communities about a potential coming wave of foreclosures. Because regulators are partly responsible for creating the environment that is leading to rising rates of home foreclosure in the subprime mortgage market, I urge you immediately to convene a homeownership preservation summit with leading mortgage lenders, investors, loan servicing organizations, consumer advocates, federal regulators and housing-related agencies to assess options for private sector responses to the challenge.
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October 9, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
The state of Ohio was ground zero in the 2004 presidential election for the controversial “voter fraud” issue, which Republican officials in numerous states and in the Bush administration Justice Department used to target organizations that work with underprivileged and minority voters, and to “purge” voter registration lists of names they believe may not favor Republican candidates. Investigations are ongoing in several states and at the federal level, including an Independent-Counsel review of former Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales’ alleged targeting of political opponents.
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October 9, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
A Public Policy Polling survey of North Carolina voters gives Sen. Barack Obama a 6% point lead over Sen. John McCain, in a state no Democrat has carried since 1976. Reports suggest that new voter registration favors Democrats 6 to 1, and some have expressed concern that Republican party operatives may try to stop first-time voters from casting votes, challenging their registration or misdirecting them to incorrect polling places. The state may move toward Obama because he is “connecting” with voters on economic issues.
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October 9, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Since Sunday, when the McCain-Palin campaign consciously opted to “go negative”, attacking Obama as having “poor judgment” and “palling around with terrorists”, rallies for Sen. McCain’s candidacy have been marred by what appear to be increasingly hot racial tensions. A spokesman for the campaign has told Café Sentido they “do not play the race card”, but observers have questioned whether there is a conscious effort being made to spark racial or ethnic biases and instill fear in the electorate about Sen. Obama’s background or personal associations.
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October 7, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
A revolutionary skyscraper design by Herzog and de Meuron, commonly known as ‘the Triangle’, aims to break the long-standing Parisian height barrier of 37 meters, while respecting the right of neighbors to the same quantity of sunlight they would have without the new structure. The Guardian has called it a ’shade-less ziggurat’, reference both to its irregular stepped-pyramid shape and to its playing a central role in the evolution of the spirit of the times, in design terms, in a city whose emblematic architecture is, somehow, also a sacred essence.
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October 6, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
The presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) this weekend shifted aggressively to personal attacks on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) character, openly announcing that they intend to sow doubt in voters’ minds and move the political debate across the nation away from economic issues. McCain’s running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, began attacking Obama’s character, trying to link him to BIll Ayers, a onetime member of the group the Weather Underground. The Obama campaign has responded by putting together a documentary linking Sen. McCain to the savings and loan corruption scandal of the late 1980s.
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October 6, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Sen. John McCain’s campaign has begun to launch personal attacks on Sen. Obama, who appears to have solidified leads in most “battleground states”. Meanwhile, Sen. Obama has said McCain’s campaign is “out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time”, and has assailed McCain’s healthcare plan for raising taxes on working people. McCain’s plan would tax employer-provided healthcare benefits, offering individuals a tax credit for buying their own healthcare. Obama says McCain’s tax credit is insufficient to cover private healthcare costs and will leave people struggling.
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October 2, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: One Comment
Senators Biden, Obama, McCain vote with majority (74 to 25) to support the financial rescue bill, including a raft of tax incentives aimed at creating economic stimulus, putting money in hands of non-banking interests. The Senate’s version of the rescue package includes tax credits for wind and solar power, “greening” the recovery plan so that individual Americans can begin to take action that will make the energy economy more sustainable and give leverage to those budding industries. Importantly, the bill also raises the FDIC cap for individual accounts to $250,000, from $100,000.
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October 1, 2008 :: staff :: One Comment
US Attorney General Michael Mukasey has named a special prosecutor to investigate the untimely firing of 9 federal prosecutors, while the Justice Department was under the control of then AG Alberto Gonzales. The move comes as the Department’s inspector general’s office found serious flaws in the process that led to the dismissals. The prosecutor will look into whether Gonzales or anyone from his staff, or from other parts of the administration, may have acted illegally in firing federal prosecutors who claim they targeted for not pursuing politically motivated investigations.
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