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1/30/2008 | Radical Islam, Iran
Ahmadinejad tells West: Accept Israel's 'imminent collapse'
Haaretz.Com
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the West Wednesday to acknowledge Israel's "imminent collapse." Speaking to a crowd on a visit to the southern port of Bushehr, where Iran's first light-water nuclear power plant is being built by Russia, Ahmadinejad further incited his listeners to "stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage." "Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end," the Iranian president said in a televised speech. He added, "What we have right now is the last chapter [of Israeli atrocities] which the Palestinians and regional nations will confront and eventually turn in Palestine's favor." Iran does not acknowledge Israel and Ahmadinejad has in the past sparked international outcry by referring to the systematic murder of six million Jews in World War II as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
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1/30/2008 | Presidential Issues, Pro-Family
NY Feminists Accuse Kennedy of Betrayal
BreitBart.Com
NEW YORK (AP) - The New York chapter of The National Organization for Women accused Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of betraying women with his endorsement of Barack Obama, prompting the organization's national office to come to the Massachusetts senator's defense. "Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal," NOW's New York State chapter said in a scorching rebuke. "Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Hillary Clinton's opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard." On Monday, Kennedy, D-Mass., his son Patrick and his niece Caroline Kennedy announced their support for Obama. Edward Kennedy said the country needs a leader who can bring people together and create change. But the move angered the state chapter of NOW, which called Kennedy's decision the "greatest betrayal." "We are repaid with his abandonment!" the statement said. "He's picked the new guy over us. He's joined the list of progressive white men who can't or won't handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton." The group said it was our obligation to "elect, unabashedly, a president that is the first woman after centuries of men who 'know what's best for us.'"
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1/29/2008 | Presidential Issues
Kennedy Endorses Obama 'Change in Air'
MyWay.Com
WASHINGTON (AP) - Summoning memories of his brother the slain president, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy led two generations of the First Family of Democratic politics Monday in endorsing Barack Obama for the White House, declaring, "I feel change is in the air." Obama is a man of rare "grit and grace," Kennedy said in remarks salted with scarcely veiled criticism of the Illinois senator's chief rival for the presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as her husband, the former president.
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1/29/2008 | Freedom of Speech, Pornography, Pro-Family
Reluctant Nichol allows sex-workers show at William & Mary
DailyPress.Com
WILLIAMSBURG - College of William and Mary President Gene Nichol gave students the go-ahead this morning to hold the controversial Sex Workers' Art Show on campus next month. In a statement, Nichol said he tried to work with students to hold the event at a venue off the Williamsburg campus. Students were unable to find an off-campus venue, however, and Nichol said the First Amendment and "defining traditions of openness that sustain universities" required he permit the show be held at the college.
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1/29/2008 | Politics
Bush Urges Econ Action, Iraq Patience
MyWay.Com
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, standing before Congress one last time, urged the nation Monday night to persevere against gnawing fears of recession and stay patient with the long, grinding war in Iraq. He pressed Congress to quickly pass a plan to rescue the economy. "We can all see that growth is slowing," Bush said in a blunt acknowledgment of rising food and gas prices, increasing unemployment and turmoil in the housing and financial markets. He cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that would jeopardize progress achieved over the last year. "We have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done," Bush declared. It was his final State of the Union address and he faced a hostile, Democratic-led Congress eager for the end of his term next January.
1/28/2008 | Presidential Issues
Ted Kennedy embraces Obama
Politico
Rejecting a personal entreaty from President Bill Clinton, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president in a joint appearance on Monday, Democratic sources said. The embrace provides a dramatic rocket for Obama to ride into the frantic, nationwide campaigning ahead of the spate of Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5, the biggest day for nominating contests in U.S. history. Caroline Kennedy, the senator's niece and the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, will also appear at the rally, the sources said. Democrats said the endorsement will help Obama with traditional Democratic groups where Clinton has been strong — union households, Hispanics and downscale workers. Also, the nod by the far more experienced member of the Senate adds significant standing to Obama, who is working to prove he has the experience necessary to be president.
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1/28/2008 | Presidential Issues
The Billary Road to Republican Victory
The New York Times
IN the wake of George W. Bush, even a miracle might not be enough for the Republicans to hold on to the White House in 2008. But what about two miracles? The new year’s twin resurrections of Bill Clinton and John McCain, should they not evaporate, at last give the G.O.P. a highly plausible route to victory. Amazingly, neither party seems to fully recognize the contours of the road map. In the Democrats’ case, the full-throttle emergence of Billary, the joint Clinton candidacy, is measured mainly within the narrow confines of the short-term horse race: Do Bill Clinton’s red-faced eruptions and fact-challenged rants enhance or diminish his wife as a woman and a candidate?
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1/28/2008 | Race in America
US blacks see 'financial apartheid' in subprime crisis
Breitbart.com
They had small means and big hopes of owning a house. But African-Americans snared in the US mortgage crisis have seen the American dream turn into a nightmare many call "financial apartheid." The storm triggered by risky "subprime" loans has left many in ruins, forced out of their modest homes and furious at falling victim to financial dealings that have taken a particular toll on minority families. "People of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans," concluded the organization United for a Fair Economy in a recent report which estimated that minorities have seen between 163 billion and 278 billion dollars of their equity go up in smoke since 2000. With its weakened economy and a large black population more used to renting, Cleveland has become a poster child of the subprime crisis in a country where some 2.1 million borrowers are behind on their mortgage payments. City officials estimate that foreclosures have swallowed some 70,000 homes and turned entire neighborhoods into ghost towns. The city has responded by suing lenders, accusing them of targeting black borrowers and steering them to the loans granted with few formalities and at hefty interest rates to people with poor credit histories.
1/25/2008 | Presidential Issues
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
The Wall Street Journal
We begin, as one always must now, again, with Bill Clinton. The past week he has traveled South Carolina, leaving discord in his wake. Barack Obama, that "fairytale," is low, sneaky. "He put out a hit job on me." The press is cruelly carrying Mr. Obama's counter-jabs. "You live for it." In Dillon, S.C., according to the Associated Press, on Thursday Mr. Clinton "predicted that many voters will be guided mainly by gender and race loyalties" and suggested he wife may lose Saturday's primary because black voters will side with Mr. Obama. Who is raising race as an issue? Bill Clinton knows. It's the press, and Mr. Obama. "Shame on you," Mr. Clinton said to a CNN reporter. The same day the Web site believed to be the back door of the Clinton war room unveiled a new name for the senator from Illinois: "Sticky Fingers Obama." Bill Clinton, with his trembly, red faced rage, makes John McCain look young. His divisive and destructive daily comportment—this is a former president of the United States—is a civic embarrassment. It is also an education, and there is something heartening in this.
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1/25/2008 | Presidential Issues, Pro-Family
Campaign Frustrates Some Gay Activists
My Way News
NEW YORK (AP) - Few constituencies are as eager for the Republican Party to falter this political season as gay-rights activists. Yet as they observe the Democratic presidential campaign and the rest of the electoral landscape, their high hopes often are mixed with frustration. Even as they expect to support whichever Democrat gets the presidential nomination, many activists are disappointed that the three leading contenders rarely mention gay-rights topics unless responding to a question. "They don't want to broach civil unions, marriage, equalizing benefits for same-sex couples," said Jennifer Chrisler, head of the Family Equality Council, which supports gay and lesbian families. "The vast majority of politicians don't lead, they follow." There are other frustrations as well. Activists were dismayed that the Democratic-led Congress failed to approve two much-anticipated bills late last year - one defining anti-gay assaults as a federal hate crime, the other prohibiting anti-gay job discrimination.
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1/25/2008 | Child Abuse, Pornography, Pro-Family
Cell Porn Scandal Hits Pa. High School
OrlandoSentinel.Com
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Police faced a difficult if not impossible task Thursday as they tried to stop the spread of pornographic video and photos of two high school girls, images that were transmitted by cell phone to dozens of the girls' classmates and then to the wider world. District Attorney James B. Martin said at least 40 Parkland High School students believed to have received the images would not face prosecution as long as they show their phones to police by Tuesday to ensure the images have been erased. But students at the school said the distribution was far more widespread.
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1/24/2008 | Presidential Issues
RNC chairman provides numbers, strategy to defeat top Democrats
The Hill
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Mike Duncan believes Republicans can beat either of the two top Democrats racing for their party’s nomination. For Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Duncan says it comes down to trust. Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) weakness, on the other hand, is his experience, according to Duncan. Duncan continually brought up Clinton and Obama during a Wednesday morning breakfast with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. Pointing to internal poll numbers, the RNC chairman repeatedly insisted that no matter who Republicans nominate, the Democratic candidate can be defeated in November. Internal RNC polls show Clinton has significant trust issues with voters, who also worry Obama has too little experience to be president. “With Sen. Clinton, it comes down to trust,” Duncan said. “She’s a lifelong liberal politician with some political baggage.” The RNC’s polling on Clinton found that less than 50 percent of respondents see her as “honest and trustworthy.” Sixty-five percent say she “will say or do anything to get elected” and 68 percent “agree that Sen. Clinton will raise their taxes.”
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1/24/2008 | Presidential Issues
Romney Leads in Ill Will Among G.O.P. Candidates
The New York Times
TAMPA, Fla. — At the end of the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire this month, when the Democrats joined the candidates on stage, Mitt Romney found himself momentarily alone as his counterparts mingled, looking around a bit stiffly for a companion. The moment was emblematic of a broader reality that has helped shape the Republican contest and could take center stage again on Thursday at a debate in Florida. Within the small circle of contenders, Mr. Romney has become the most disliked. With so much attention recently on the sniping between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side, the almost visceral scorn directed at Mr. Romney by his rivals has been overshadowed. “Never get into a wrestling match with a pig,” Senator John McCain said in New Hampshire this month after reporters asked him about Mr. Romney. “You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.” Mike Huckabee’s pugilistic campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, appeared to stop just short of threatening Mr. Romney with physical violence at one point. “What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process,” Mr. Rollins said. Campaign insiders and outside strategists point to several factors driving the ill will, most notably, Mr. Romney’s attacks on opponents in television commercials, the perception of him as an ideological panderer and resentment about his seemingly unlimited resources as others have struggled to raise cash.
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1/24/2008 | Pornography, Pro-Family
D.C. to More Closely Monitor Web Surfing
WTOPNews.Com
WASHINGTON - Now that 41 District workers have been fired or suspended after visiting pornographic Web sites on government computers the city is cranking up the technology to keep an eye on all government computers. "We have a system for tracking people's use and re-directing people's computers away from those sites, to get people back to work, serving the citizens of the District of Columbia," says D.C. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. Before its investigation, D.C. could track 10,000 computers. Now the city can monitor 30,000. "Content will be filtered. Those sites will be blocked and re-directed to our policy of appropriate use," says Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. Rather than just have a policy on paper, every time a city worker logs in on a city computer, he'll see a warning about inappropriate computer use. The District fired nine employees and suspended 32 employees during its investigation. The fired employees include men and women, but officials would not say how many. D.C. officials are continuing their investigation and say more employees may be fired or suspended.
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1/23/2008 | Abortion, Presidential Issues, Race in America
Huckabee Gains Black Support
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at a lengthy memorial service Monday at King's old church and was endorsed by several black religious leaders. After leaving the King ceremony, Huckabee was endorsed by three dozen African-Americans, most of them connected to conservative religious organizations. Huckabee's strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage matches the "high moral values" of many black Americans, said William Owens, founder of a group called the Coalition of African American Pastors.
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1/23/2008 | Presidential Issues
High Hopes But Limited Funds Add Challenge To Presidential Bids
FoxNews.Com
As the top tier presidential candidates head for the Super Tuesday primary blitz — 24 states in one day — money is drying up faster than a creek in summertime, leading several of the campaigns to retool in anticipation of the hugely expensive contests to come. The campaigns keep their financial affairs close to the vest until required to release their year-end financial reports — due to the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 31. While none of the typical indicators are as useful as they once were in this unusual campaign season, money nearly always buys an edge. That would explain why John McCain’s camp went to New York this week, into would-be Rudy Giuliani territory, to hold several fundraisers. McCain is trying to stomp Giuliani on the former New York City mayor’s adopted turf of Florida, where he has cast his chips in an untested strategy of skipping the early contests to focus on delegate-rich states. The strategy is on shaky ground as McCain, who just last summer seemed washed up and was working with a threadbare staff and shrunken war chest, recovers his mojo, thanks in part to a McCain-backed surge in Iraq that appears to have lowered the pace of U.S. casualties there.
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1/23/2008 | Presidential Issues
Hillary-Obama feud alarms party officials
The Washington Times
So much for that truce. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are increasingly going after each other, prompting top Democrats to warn they are muddying the party's image in advance of the general election. Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee whose campaign was hurt by Republican-funded "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" ads, yesterday told voters he will help Mr. Obama fend off attacks. "The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie," he said in an e-mail to supporters. The message does not mention Mrs. Clinton, but notes the anonymous e-mails that are circulating that question Mr. Obama's Christian faith and said, "We're fighting back. "The fight is just heating up — we won't let them steal this election with lies and distortions," Mr. Kerry said.
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1/22/2008 | Economy
Stocks Plunge on Recession Fears
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street plunged at the opening of trading Tuesday, propelling the Dow Jones industrials down about 300 points after an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to assuage investors fearing a recession in the United States. U.S. markets joined stock exchanges around the globe that have fallen precipitously in recent days amid concerns that a downturn might spread around the world. U.S. bonds were mixed, with investors seeking safer investments as stocks plummeted. The price of oil, meanwhile, fell amid expectations that a downturn would depress demand for energy. The Fed's decision to cut its federal funds rate to 3.50 percent and the discount rate, the interest it charges to lend directly to banks, came a week before the central bank's regularly scheduled meeting, a sign that the Fed recognized the seriousness of the world financial situation. But there were already fears in the markets before the Fed move that an interest rate could wouldn't be enough to prevent a recession.
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1/22/2008 | Presidential Issues
Clinton, Obama dislike boils over at debate
Breitbart.Com
Personal antipathy and pent-up anger boiled over as Democratic foes Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of twisting the truth, in a fiery 2008 campaign debate Monday. The two senators stared one another down, gesticulated and constantly interrupted one another, flinging accusations and counter-charges at a vital stage of their quests for the White House. Obama, the Illinois senator striving to be the United States' first black president, also lashed out at former president Bill Clinton, who is mounting a vociferous campaign on behalf of his wife. "I can't tell who I am running against sometimes," said Obama, for whom Saturday's South Carolina primary, the next round of the 2008 nominating marathon is a must-win after two victories in a row by Clinton. Obama all but accused the Clintons of lying about his opposition to the Iraq war and a comment he made that the Republicans had latterly been the party of ideas, and what was painted as praise for Republican icon Ronald Reagan.
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1/22/2008 | Religious Persecution, Radical Islam, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion
Malaysia seizes Christian books
The Washington Times
Malaysian authorities confiscated Christian children's books, claiming the illustrations of prophets such as Moses and Abraham violate Islamic Shariah law. The independent news agency Malaysakini reported the Internal Security Ministry confiscated the literature from bookstores in two cities and one small town in mid-December. The Malaysian Embassy declined to comment on the news service's Jan. 11 report. The Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Malaysian Council of Churches, confirmed the report and accused the government of persecuting Christians. "The officials have offended the sensitivities of Christians because their publications and depictions of their Biblical personalities have now become targets of unscrupulous Muslim officials bent on curtailing religious freedom in the country," Mr. Shastri said.
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