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CounterPunch
October 22, 2008
Convergence and Avoidance in the Presidential Campaign
The three so-called presidential debates—really parallel interviews by reporters chosen by the Obama and McCain campaigns—are over and they are remarkable for two characteristics—convergence and avoidance.
A remarkable similarity between McCain and Obama on foreign and military policy kept enlarging as Obama seemed to enter into a clinch with McCain each time McCain questioned his inexperience or (…)

By Robert RICHTER
October 14, 2008 CounterPunch McCain and Rolling Thunder
As character assassination attacks on Sen. Barack Obama have now taken over Sen. John McCain’s campaign, and because McCain cites his military experience as of prime importance, now is the time to focus closer attention on a facet of the Arizona Senator’s own character. This is related to his 23 combat missions for Operation Rolling Thunder - the Pentagon’s name for U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.
Source: (…)

“Let [the Constitution] be taught in schools, seminaries and in colleges; let it be written in primers, in spelling books and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, enforced in courts of justice. In short, let it become the political religion of the nation.” Abraham Lincoln
Tossing and turning, American voters are having nightmares about the 2008 election. Will it be stolen again as it was in 2000 and 2004? What will a President Obama do about (…)

Earth Institute Director Jeffrey Sachs outlines what are, in his view, the three greatest challenges to peace the world will face over the next several years.
One of the world’s leading experts in aid and economic and sustainable development, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, gave a free public lecture at the University of Sydney on Tuesday, 15 July, 2008, to mark the opening of the University’s new Institute for Sustainable Solutions.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs is Professor of Health Policy and (…)

http://internationalnews.over-blog.com/

Friday, October 17th, 2008 Rinf.com
These words are from the 1945 Labour manifesto Let Us Face The Future which brilliantly identified the very same crisis which is now described as a “credit crunch” as if it were a mere hiccup in an otherwise wonderful neo-liberal globalised world which could be corrected with a vast subsidy from the taxpayers to put the Wall Street casino and its partners worldwide back into profit.
It reminded me of the fact that when slavery was abolished it was the (…)

By Stephen Lendman
Global Research, October 22, 2008
Whatever we know about today’s financial crisis. Think we know. Eventually will know in the fullness of time. This time is really different. In 1922, Henry Ford put it this way in his book titled "My Life and Work:"
"The (economy’s) primary functions are agriculture, manufacture, and transportation. Community life is impossible without them. They hold the world together....The great delusion is that one may change the foundation. (…)

"Since the fall of the Berlin Wall [in 1989], the diplomatic capacity of the United States has been hollowed out," according to the 26-page report, "A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future", which said a continuation of the status quo cannot continue without serious damage to the US’s "vital interests".
Oct 17, 2008 By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - While the Pentagon’s budget has risen to heights not seen since World War II, United States diplomatic and foreign aid assets have largely wasted (…)

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life, bringing peace, abolishing strife.” - Kahlil Gibran
Baltimore, MD - Does the spirit of a Mozart, Bach or a Gershwin live on in their memorable works of art? When you hear a brilliant rendition of one of their pieces, are they there, too? Well, the other night, Oct. 16, 2008, at the celebrated Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in this city, I felt like the ghost of Leonard Bernstein made an appearance, and it was a happy one, indeed. (…)

More W.Va. voters say machines are switching votes
In six cases, Democratic votes flipped to GOP
By Paul J. Nyden
October 18, 2008
Staff writer
WINFIELD, W.Va. — Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.
This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote (…)