tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19952764914810057962024-02-20T10:35:17.663-08:00contemptistotalMyselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-63163729375051077282013-07-24T22:35:00.001-07:002013-07-24T22:35:10.137-07:00Test<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-65371480959668911212013-06-24T05:22:00.004-07:002013-06-24T05:22:46.642-07:00Contemptistotal Test Post Contnet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Contemptistotal Test Post Contnet</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-13451612402800900842013-05-23T23:56:00.002-07:002013-05-23T23:56:49.726-07:00Creative Bube Tube | Health Canada Approves Natural Product, Insect Defend Patch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As the mosquito season approaches, many people search for effective insect protection which remains free from the harmful chemicals found in most insect defence products. This is the first spring where they can be assured by Health Canada's full approval of the natural solution Insect Defend Patch (IDP) and the Natural Health Product number which it was issued on November 27th, 2012.<br /><br />IDP has generated momentum for this product for over 5 years with the help of top advertising agency Creative Bube Tube, and this approval is a landmark event in the history of insect defence. The Insect Defend Patch, now also known as NPN #80037826 is the only Health Canada approved Natural Health Product proven to help reduce mosquito bites.<br /><br />As one of the most stringent health organizations in the world, Health Canada's full approval gives the public assurance that using Insect Defend Patch has a positive effect in safely reducing mosquito bites. While pending this status, IDP had a temporary exemption number, and after a full review of their field test results and safety protocols, Health Canada put their stamp of approval on the natural insect defence product.<br /><br />Approximately 1.3 million patches were sold within Canada in 2012 and with this approval the company looks forward to a promising distribution future, providing the public with a safe and natural mosquito defence product. Insect Defend Patch would like to extend a special thanks to all their retailers who supported them by carrying the patch while they were awaiting Health Canada's full approval.<br /><br />Insect Defend Patch would also like to thank their partners and associates for their vision and support in helping them get to this level. These partners include, Creative Bube Tube (who created their special effects and animated television commercials), AKM Services International, For the Ages, Impact Sales and Marketing, World Famous Distribution, Best Pak, DSA Consulting, ARTURUS Testing, KGK Synergize, Marketech, Italo Labignan and Canadian Sport Fishing, Ronnie Whittick and last but not least, the CBC's Dragons' Den where Brett Wilson and Jim Treliving offered them the biggest deal ever in the show's history.<br /><br />Most importantly the principals at Insect Defend Patch would like to thank their customers. The fact that they kept supporting the product and buying the patch because it works, says it all!<br /><br />Creative Bube Tube<br /><br />With representation from east to west in both the United States and Canada, Creative Bube Tube is a television and social media agency serving medium to large clients from across the globe in sports, pharmaceutical, health and lifestyle, food and beverage, automotive and many other industries. From creative ideation to results, they have produced over 400 television campaigns since opening in 2006. </div>
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Source <a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1167621/health-canada-approves-natural-product-insect-defend-patch">http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1167621/health-canada-approves-natural-product-insect-defend-patch</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-10683710498727091192013-05-07T03:57:00.001-07:002013-05-07T03:57:38.006-07:00KINSELLA: Why Mulcair will never be Canada's PM <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><br />The precise moment at which Thomas Mulcair became unfit to be prime minister of Canada is hard to pin down.<br /><br />It arguably came in 2005, when his party adopted what has become known as the Sherbrooke Declaration -- in which the federal New Democrats accept that is possible to break up the country with 50% plus a single, solitary vote. When the NDP's own constitution requires two-thirds to be amended.<br /><br />It may have come in late 2012, when the NDP leader refused to defend the flying of the Canadian flag at ceremonies at Quebec's National Assembly. Instead, Mulcair sent out one of his crypto-separatist MPs, who snapped that the banning of the Maple Leaf was Quebec's "own business." Or, it may have happened earlier this year, when Mulcair approved a move to rescind the Clarity Act, the 2000 legislation that governs the rules surrounding secession of a province. The federal NDP want to clear up unity "fairy tales," he said at the time.<br /><br />Most likely, however, Mulcair ceased to be a contender for prime minister sometime in April, when a book was published in Quebec suggesting the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada actually conspired against Quebec's then-separatist government. In the book,La bataille de Londres, Quebec journalist Frederic Bastien claims Chief Justice Bora Laskin passed secrets to the Canadian and British governments on discussions between high court justices about the legality of constitutional repatriation. Bastien also accuses former Justice Willard Estey of slipping confidential information to the British government in 1980. Never mind that an unprecedented Supreme Court investigation found no evidence whatsoever to validate Bastien's claims.<br /><br />Forget that Laskin and Estey were not merely two great jurists -- they were two of the greatest Canadians to have ever lived, and that they are not here to defend their good names. Never mind any of that. No, note this: When Bastien's corrosive conspiracy theories were trotted out, Mulcair giddily seized on them, and demanded an inquiry. And, when he got one, he dismissed the results, because they favoured Canada.<br /><br />Said Mulcair recently: "It's a clear indication that the Supreme Court had no intention all along of ever dealing with this issue seriously."<br /><br />Take another look at those words. Those are the words of a man who aspires to be prime minister -- smearing the highest court in the land, suggesting that it is lawless. That it is engaged in cover-up. As I said at an Ottawa conference this week -- as one of Mulcair's most ardent defenders angrily sat beside me -- those comments are beyond the pale. They are disgusting and despicable. And they disqualify Thomas Mulcair to be prime minister.<br /><br />Why did Mulcair pursue such a reckless course? Why did he so irresponsibly seek to reopen old wounds and divide Canadians?<br /><br />Because he knows he will never be prime minister. Because he knows that his current post, leader of the opposition, is the best he can ever hope for. Because he is always prepared to cut a deal with the separatists to advance his career, and to hell with Canada.<br /><br />There's been a pattern in Mulcair's public life. At those points where history is watching, at those moments where he has been called upon to choose Canada or Quebec, he chooses the latter. At every juncture where he could have promoted Canada, Mulcair declined. He put his partisan interest ahead of the national interest.<br /><br />At a certain point in a politician's career, a picture reveals itself. Mulcair's portrait is one that depicts an angry, bitter old man, one who is literally prepared to put the country at risk to curry favour with separatists. Mulcair is a disgrace. He isn't fit to be a dogcatcher, let alone prime minister of Canada.<br /><br />warren.kinsella@sunmedia.ca</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/05/06/kinsella-why-mulcair-will-never-be-canadas-pm">http://www.thesudburystar.com/2013/05/06/kinsella-why-mulcair-will-never-be-canadas-pm</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-50560872149851208242013-04-24T02:45:00.002-07:002013-04-24T02:45:55.026-07:00Canada must do its part to protect continent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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If the U.S. is once again asking Canada to join its antiballistic missile shield on the West Coast to help defend North America against new, long-range, potentially nuclear-capable North Korean missiles - the answer from Ottawa must be yes.<br />
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It is plain wrong for Canada to expect Washington to pay all the freight to defend North America. Having Canada in the program would also plug a possible gap in the existing North American shield between airbases at Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.<br />
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Such a move by Canada would underscore the unity of Canadian and American security interests at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is considering approving or denying permission to build the Canadian-owned XL pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. That is a project that is crucial to Canada's economic well-being in the 21st century.<br />
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Joining the missile defence shield would be in accord with the intense, little-known collaboration between Canada and the U.S. in the selection of drone targets in southern Afghanistan to defend combat troops when they were fighting there. Another not well known fact is that military relations between Canada and the U.S. are so seamless that three Canadian army generals serve in senior positions in major U.S. commands in the states of Washington, Texas and North Carolina. And a Canadian lieutenant-general is always the deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a bi-national organization responsible for defending Canada from airborne threats from Russia and China, and possibly North Korea and Iran. A Canadian rear-admiral was also the deputy commander of the world's largest naval exercise last summer off Hawaii, serving with two other Canadian one-leaf flag officers.<br />
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All this is to say that with little fanfare, Canada is already highly integrated into U.S. military planning. So why not include the missile shield, too?<br />
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It was eight years ago that Paul Martin's Liberal government and his foreign minister Pierre Pettigrew rejected the last formal U.S. request for Canada to participate in continental missile defence. It was supposed at the time that this had sent a strong signal south that Ottawa would not always do its neighbour's bidding, and that by refusing to join in this part of the defence of North America, it was refusing to join the U.S in a new international arms race.<br />
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But the missile shield has never been about an American military offensive overseas or the positioning of missiles with strike capability on Canadian soil. It has been solely about the defence of the continent.<br />
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The ground has shifted a lot since 2005. Russia, and especially China, have both continued to improve their long-rang missile capabilities while North Korea and Iran have been investing vast sums to develop intercontinental missiles that they could potentially marry with their nuclear weapon programs.<br />
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This is scary stuff, as are the latest bizarre and bellicose antics of North Korea's relatively new leader Kim Jong-un, whose forces have been testing new midrange missiles and have been openly developing the Unha-3 ballistic missile, which is designed to reach targets well inside Canada. It was because of this emerging threat that the U.S. announced a few weeks ago that it was deploying more anti-ballistic or interceptor missiles in Alaska and California and why scientists and engineers with the U.S.-based National Research Council reckoned that it would only take about 40 minutes for a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to reach North American. The council recommended in a highly technical report last year that there should be a more a robust missile defence capability to cover the continent's western approaches and noted that much of Atlantic Canada was poorly defended if Iran ever achieves an ICBM capability.<br />
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While Canada received kudos for taking on a significant combat role for five years in southern Afghanistan, and without the caveats that hobbled most European NATO armies over there, in defence matters, as in politics at home or abroad, the question is usually not what did you do for me yesterday but what will you do for me tomorrow.<br />
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It got little attention in Canada but former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton was dismayed last year when Canada rebuffed her request to continue its modest contribution to AWACs early-warning radar crews that operate under the NATO flag in Germany.<br />
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This decision was symbolic in all the wrong ways. It not only unnecessarily aggravated NATO and the U.S. at a time when every positive gesture counts as Washington considers a pipeline that will affect Canada's economy for years to come. It also killed a small operation in Germany that did not cost much money.<br />
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Furthermore, those couple of hundred Canadian air force pilots and radar operators based there represented Canada's last tangible military contribution to the alliance in Europe. When those crews leave in July it will mark the end of 74 consecutive years of a Canadian military presence in Europe.<br />
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Canada must do its part to protect its citizens and North America from North Korean or Iranian ICBM's by joining the anti-ballistic missile shield. It would be grossly irresponsible not to do so.<br />
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Read more: <a href="http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Canada+must+part+protect+continent/8280351/story.html" target="_blank">http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Canada+must+part+protect+continent/8280351/story.html#ixzz2RN9vJkFM</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-61596255955900435452013-04-03T22:58:00.003-07:002013-04-03T22:58:47.294-07:00Sweden's Norberg will not defend curling title at Sochi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sweden's Winter Olympic gold medallist Anette Norberg will not defend her title at Sochi next year, the Swedish Curling Association said in a statement on Wednesday.<br /><br />Norberg has decided to retire from curling, citing a lack of time and motivation to continue a career that saw her win 23 championship medals over almost 20 years.<br /><br />Described by the Association as "one of the most successful curling players of all time," Norberg won three world championships and seven European titles in addition to Olympic gold medals in 2006 and 2010.<br /><br />"Curling has been my life for so many years, so obviously I'm going to miss it a lot," Norberg said in the statement.<br /><br />"But life as a curling player at elite level is very demanding, and I feel that I lack the time and the dedication necessary."<br /><br />Despite cementing her place in Swedish sporting history when her team beat Canada in the 2010 final to defend their Olympic title, Norberg was by no means certain of a chance to represent Sweden at the Sochi games next year.<br /><br />Sweden's curling association has recently preferred to send a team led by Norberg's rival Margaretha Sigfridsson to international competitions.<br /><br />"Obviously it's sad for the curling world that a profile like Anette has decided to stop playing, but luckily we have other teams that can shoulder her responsibilities," curling association general secretary Stefan Lund said in the statement.<br /><br />"Anette will not disappear from the curling arena. In some way she will be still here and a part of the exciting journey towards the future that Swedish curling is on."</div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-31509622562422880172013-03-18T03:26:00.001-07:002013-03-18T03:26:29.071-07:00The most notorious health myths<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><br />We are bombarded with health tips every day, but some of those messages may be harmful if you don’t get the facts straight.<br /><br />Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of Real Cause Real Cure, spoke with Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor for FoxNews.com, about some of the most notorious health myths.<br /><br />Myth #1: Arthritis medication is the best treatment for arthritis.<br /><br />According Teitelbaum, more than 30,000 unnecessary deaths occur each year from arthritis medications. <br /><br />“If you take a look at things like ibuprofen or the standard arthritis medication, 16,500 bleeding ulcer deaths a year in the United States from those medications – and the doubling and tripling of heart attack and stroke risk.”<br /><br />While Teitelbaum says it’s better to be on medication than to be in pain, there are natural remedies for arthritis that are much safer. End Pain, which is a mix of willow bark and boswellia, has shown to be twice as effective as ibuprofen in studies, Teitelbaum noted. Also, Curamin and boswellia were found to be more effective than Celebrex. And rather than getting side effects, the natural remedies provide side benefits – such as decreasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the risk of cancer.<br /><br />Myth #2: You need to take calcium to treat osteoporosis.<br /><br />A very controversial claim Teitelbaum makes is that taking calcium is for osteoporosis can actually do more harm than good.<br /><br />“Osteoporosis is not calcium deficiency, and the calcium has very little benefit,” he said. “But recent studies show that it can increase heart attack deaths up to 31 percent – which is massive.”<br /><br />Instead of taking unnecessary calcium, Teitelbaum says to simply drink more milk and other natural sources of the element. But more importantly, since the calcium isn’t exactly needed, individuals with osteoporosis can take minerals, such as Strontium – which has been shown to be almost twice as effective as medications. Magnesium, vitamin D, boron and other nutrients help increase bone density and the production of healthy new bone.<br /><br />Myth #3: Antacids are necessary to treat indigestion.<br /><br />Many Americans suffer from indigestion, and numerous medications purport to relieve symptoms from the embarrassing condition. However, Teitelbaum says that antacids don’t exactly treat the source of the problem.<br /><br />“Indigestion is not too much stomach acid; it’s poor digestion,” Teitelbaum said. “If you don’t have what you need to digest your food, you eat this big mega-meal, and an hour later, it’s still sitting in your stomach.”<br /><br />In order to aid digestion, Teitelbaum suggests taking digestive enzymes, such as Digest Gold. Whatever brand you use, make sure they are 100 percent plant-based enzymes. Probiotic culture found in yogurts and supplement are also helpful in the lower abdomen, relieving gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.<br /><br />Myth #4: Avoid the sun.<br /><br />Teitelbaum said the myth that people should avoid the sun at all costs probably results in tens of thousands of unnecessary cancer deaths each year.<br /><br />“Most of the deadly skin cancers, called melanomas, are not in sun-exposed areas,” he said. “They’re increasing because of poor immune function, from poor sleep, poor nutrition and other factors.”<br /><br />The skin cancers caused by sunshine are usually not the dangerous kinds, Teitelbaum said. Instead, sunshine is critical for vitamin D, an important hormone and vitamin. Without vitamin D, individuals can have an increased risk of breast cancer, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.<br /><br />Also, Teitelbaum has simple advice to balance damage versus benefit when it comes to the sun: “Avoid sunburn, not sunshine,” Teitelbaum said.<br /><br />Myth #5: Heart failure is a death sentence.<br /><br />One of the biggest causes of death for many Americans is heart failure, but the condition does not necessarily mean a person’s time is up.<br /><br />“It’s very easy to improve heart muscle function using natural remedies that play very well with the medication,” Teitelbaum said. “Certainly blood thinners that you want to get through doctors are okay before you add anything to those, but things like Coenzyme Q10, 200 mg a day will markedly improve heart function.”<br /><br />Ribose, a simple energy nutrient, can help heart function, along with Acetyl Carnitine, magnesium and B-vitamins. Ultimately these supplements help improve muscle function.<br /><br />“The heart beats more efficiently, and therefore the symptoms often go away,” Teitelbaum said.<br /><br />Myth #6: Thyroid screenings are accurate.<br /><br />When it comes to the thyroid screening methodology doctors use today, Teitelbaum says doctors don’t understand what ‘normal’ means. He says it means you’re not in the highest or lowest 2 percent of the population.<br /><br />“You have to treat the person, not just the blood test,” Teitelbaum said. “People whose thyroid levels are in the low-normal range, versus high-normal, have a 69 percent increased risk of dying of heart attack. People with mild, low thyroid – where many doctors say we don’t need to treat it – if you do treat it, their heart attack risk goes down by more than 30 percent.”<br /><br />Patients who are treated for mild to low thyroid often see increased energy levels, weight loss, and healthier skin and hair – among other benefits, Teitelbaum added.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/03/15/most-notorious-health-myths/">http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/03/15/most-notorious-health-myths/</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-40968225187723663432013-02-12T22:03:00.001-08:002013-02-12T22:03:48.989-08:00Decision on Afghan Troop Levels Calculates Political and Military Interests<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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President Obama’s decision to remove 34,000 American troops in Afghanistan by this time next year represents a careful balancing of political interests and military requirements. <br /><br /><br />The decision, which administration officials disclosed on Tuesday and which Mr. Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address, enables the White House to say that slightly more than half of the 66,000-strong American force will be out of Afghanistan by the end of February 2014.<br /><br />But Mr. Obama will also give the military commanders in Afghanistan flexibility in determining the pace of the reductions and will enable them to retain a substantial force until after the next fighting season, which ends in October. That, according to administration officials, satisfies one of the major concerns of Gen. John R. Allen, who recently left his post as the top commander in Afghanistan.<br /><br />At the same time, officials said, it rebuffs arguments by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to pull out troops more quickly.<br /><br />Administration officials said last year that they would determine the size and composition of the American presence after 2014 before determining the withdrawal schedule for the next two years. But on Tuesday, officials said that Mr. Obama had not yet made a decision on the post-2014 force, which is likely to number no more than 9,000 or so troops and then get progressively smaller.<br /><br />“Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change,” Mr. Obama said. “We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces, so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counterterrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of Al Qaeda and their affiliates.”<br /><br />There still appears to be a debate within the administration about the plans for after 2014. Officials said there was also a reluctance to go public with a final number of troops and a description of their missions while still in the early stage of negotiating a security agreement with the Afghans over retaining a military presence after 2014.<br /><br />From the start, the Afghan issue has been a double-edged sword for the White House. Mr. Obama campaigned for his first term on the premise that the conflict was a “war of necessity” to deprive Al Qaeda of a potential sanctuary in Afghanistan, and in 2009 he ordered a surge of more than 30,000 troops.<br /><br />As the war dragged on, and the 2012 presidential election approached, Mr. Obama began to take troops out of Afghanistan on a more expedited schedule than his commander at the time, Gen. David H. Petraeus, had recommended. Mr. Obama’s talk of a war of necessity was supplanted by his refrain that the “tide of war is receding.”<br /><br />But since his re-election, Mr. Obama has confronted the question of how to stay true to his pledge to wind down the war without undermining the still-fragile military gains. Presidents in their second terms often tend to think about their foreign policy legacy, and the conflict in Afghanistan, unlike in Iraq, has come to be known as Mr. Obama’s war.<br /><br />The troop withdrawal question came to the fore last month after Mr. Obama met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in Washington, where Mr. Obama said he would accelerate the transfer of responsibility for security to the Afghans this year.<br /><br />As he had done before, Mr. Obama set the parameters of the deliberations over the troop level by issuing planning guidance to the Pentagon. Operating on the basis of those presidential instructions, which the White House has not made public, General Allen prepared three options. Administration officials said that the White House had essentially endorsed the general’s preferred option — what Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a statement was General Allen’s “phased approach.”<br /><br />According to the new withdrawal schedule, the number of troops is to go down to 60,500 by the end of May. By the end of November, the number will be down to 52,000. By the end of February 2014, the troop level is to be around 32,000.<br /><br />The February 2014 number is less than some military officers had hoped would be on hand when the Afghan presidential election is held that April. But that seems to be more than offset by the decision to allow the military to keep the bulk of its force through the 2013 fighting season.<br /><br />“The intensity of combat in the warmer months is twice what it is in colder months,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution. “For the next eight months, it is as good an outcome as proponents of the current strategy could have had.”<br /><br />Frederick W. Kagan, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said that withdrawing half of the American troops over a year would reduce the chances of success because insurgents would still have havens in the eastern part of Afghanistan, and it is not clear whether Afghan forces will be able to maintain control of the southern part of the country with an extremely limited coalition presence.<br /><br />“But if the command really does have the flexibility to control the pace of the withdrawal and to bring about a short-term increase of specialized units, then a chance of campaign success remains,” Mr. Kagan said. </div>
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Source <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obama-to-announce-troops-return.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obama-to-announce-troops-return.html</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-76580214762909281162013-02-04T21:45:00.001-08:002013-02-04T21:45:53.033-08:00Senators ask Obama for legal opinions OKing drone strikes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A bipartisan group of 11 senators is appealing directly to President Barack Obama to give lawmakers his administration's legal justification for using armed drones or other counterterrorism operations to kill American citizens.<br /><br />The eight Democrats and three Republicans are also making a not-so-veiled threat that the nominations of officials like CIA director-designate John Brennan and perhaps even Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel could be held up if Obama doesn't fork over the classified memos.<br /><br />"We ask that you direct the Justice Department to provide Congress, specifically the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, with any and all legal opinions that lay out the executive branch's official understanding of the President's authority to deliberately kill American citizens," the 11 senators wrote in a letter sent to Obama Monday (and posted here). "The executive branch's cooperation on this matter will help avoid an unnecessary confrontation that could affect the Senate's consideration of nominees for national security positions."<br /><br />The senators' missive notes that in a May 2009 speech, Obama seemed to endorse the idea that Congress should be permitted to get such information even if the public is denied it.<br /><br />"Whenever we cannot release certain information to the public for valid national security reasons, I will insist that there is oversight of my actions—by Congress or the courts," Obama said in remarks at the National Archives.<br /><br />The Justice Department and other government agencies have rebuffed lawmakers' prior requests for such opinions. Last month, a federal judge in New York rejected Freedom of Information Act lawsuits the New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union brought trying to force disclosure of the same legal memoranda.<br /><br />The Obama Administration has also argued strenuously against any role for the courts in overseeing the use of lethal force against Americans, even though wiretapping U.S. nationals anywhere in the world requires some authorization from the judiciary branch.<br /><br />White House spokesmen had no immediate reply to a request for comment on the letter, which was signed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Al Franken (D- Minn.)<br /><br />Wyden signaled a few weeks ago, in another letter, that he intends to make the legal issues surrounding the use of lethal force against Americans a central issue at Brennan's confirmation hearing. That hearing is now set for Thursday afternoon.<br /><br />In September 2011, a drone strike in Yemen killed Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was a U.S. citizen. The strike was reportedly carried out by the U.S. Other Americans, including Al-Awlaki's teenage son, have reportedly been killed in drone attacks executed by the U.S. However, the Americans killed in those strikes are believed to have been collateral casualties and not the intended targets.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/02/senators-ask-obama-for-legal-opinions-oking-drone-156084.html?hp=t3_3">http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/02/senators-ask-obama-for-legal-opinions-oking-drone-156084.html?hp=t3_3</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-72418836111696708802013-01-27T23:46:00.001-08:002013-01-27T23:46:29.445-08:00 Obama's Gitmo, Four Years Later<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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At around 8 a.m., a civilian airplane chartered by the military and full of lawyers, human rights representatives and journalists will depart Andrews Air Force Base in route to the Guantanamo Bay Navy Base in Cuba. Family members of victims of the September 11th attacks arrived yesterday.<br /><br />This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.<br /><br />Four years ago last week, a newly elected President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay's prison facility by January 22, 2010. "We are going to win this fight, we are going to win it on our terms," Obama said at the time.<br /><br />Three years past his self-imposed cut-off date, the military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four fellow prisoners accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks continues at the facility Obama pledged the shut down.<br /><br />I'll be reporting from Gitmo's Camp Justice all this week. There are a few interesting issues to be resolved in court, but I'll also be reporting more broadly on how Guantanamo has changed -- and hasn't -- since Obama took office.<br /><br />Anything you'd like to learn about how Guantanamo operates? Email me at ryan.reilly@huffingtonpost.com. Meanwhile, here's a list of what I'm reading to prepare for the trip:</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-reilly/guantanamo-bay-ksm_b_2547660.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-reilly/guantanamo-bay-ksm_b_2547660.html</a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-9217400297592895602013-01-02T02:07:00.000-08:002013-01-02T02:07:00.448-08:00Iran blasts Obama for Latin America law <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Iran has blasted US President Barack Obama for enacting a law aimed at countering Tehran's alleged influence in Latin America, saying it was an overt intervention in the region.<br /><br />"It is an overt intervention in Latin American affairs... that shows they are not familiar with new world relations," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday.<br /><br />The United States, he said, "still lives in the Cold War era and considers Latin America as its back yard".<br /><br />"We recommend that they respect the nations' right in today's world... world public opinion does not accept such an interventionist move."<br /><br />Mehmanparast said Tehran's relation with all nations, in particular with Latin American countries, was "friendly" based on "mutual respect and interest".<br /><br />On Friday, Obama enacted the law which through a new diplomatic and political strategy to be designed by the State Department is aimed to counter Iran's alleged influence in Latin America.<br /><br />The Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, passed by legislators earlier in 2012, calls for the department to develop a strategy within 180 days to "address Iran's growing hostile presence and activity" in the region.<br /><br />The text also calls on the Department of Homeland Security to bolster surveillance at US borders with Canada and Mexico to "prevent operatives from Iran, the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps), its Quds Force, Hezbollah or any other terrorist organisation from entering the Untied States".<br /><br />However, senior State Department and intelligence officials have indicated there is no apparent indication of illicit activities by Iran.<br /><br />Iran, placed under a series of international sanctions because of its suspect nuclear programme, has opened six new embassies in the region since 2005 - bringing the total to 11 - and 17 cultural centres.</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/01/20131111127195912.html" target="_blank">http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/01/20131111127195912.html </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-79365978126589641402012-12-24T00:40:00.001-08:002012-12-24T00:40:02.084-08:0020 LIers win tickets to Obama inauguration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Twenty Long Island residents have been randomly selected to attend
President Barack Obama's second inauguration next month in Washington.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
lottery winners were among 225 chosen across New York State and each
will receive two tickets for the swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 21 outside
the Capitol. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Winners included Ashley Falzone, Dwana Taylor and Vinnette Bennet, all of Bay Shore; Heather...</div>
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Source <a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/20-liers-win-tickets-to-obama-inauguration-1.4369649" target="_blank">http://www.newsday.com/long-island/20-liers-win-tickets-to-obama-inauguration-1.4369649 </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-72758586933341184352012-12-17T02:27:00.001-08:002012-12-17T02:27:30.487-08:00Obama vows action on gun violence: 'These tragedies must end'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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s" following the mass shooting, which left 20 children, seven adults and the suspected shooter dead.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He
used the speech to lay down a marker, vowing to take action to address
gun violence amid yet another high-profile mass shooting in his
presidency.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We can't tolerate this anymore," Obama said. "These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"In the coming weeks I'll use whatever power this office holds to
engage my fellow citizens … in an effort aimed at preventing more
tragedies like this," he said.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama offered no specifics as to
what type action he might take or legislation he might seek to address
these incidences of violence. A top Senate Democrat said Sunday on NBC's
"Meet the Press" that she would introduce legislation on the first day
of the new Congress next year to re-institute a ban on assault weapons,
something which Obama has previously endorsed but not actively sought. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
call-to-action was weaved together with words from the president meant
to console mourners in Newtown, with whom Obama met earlier in the day.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"This
is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we
don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a
society, we will be judged," Obama asked. "And by that measure, can we
truly say that, as a nation, we're meeting our obligations?"</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
president added: "I've been reflecting on this the past few days, and if
we're honest with ourselves, the answer's no. We're not doing enough.
And we will have to change."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama's comments came in response to
yet another mass casualty incident in America over the past few years.
The most high-profile attacks include one against Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords in Arizona, a shooting at a movie theater this past summer in
Colorado and another shooting at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin in August</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
None
of those events managed to prompt a groundswell for political action to
address gun rights and other underlying causes of these attacks.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
An
effort to address mass casualty events might also involve less
politically touchy efforts, like boosting support for mental health. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If
Obama were to lead an effort to push gun control, though, he could meet
resistance from the politically influential National Rifle Association
and other gun rights' groups. Advocates of gun control, though, have
urged Obama to throw political caution to the wind; New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that gun control should be Obama's "No. 1
agenda."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/16/15953192-obama-vows-action-on-gun-violence-these-tragedies-must-end?lite" target="_blank">http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/16/15953192-obama-vows-action-on-gun-violence-these-tragedies-must-end?lite </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-33782795076446745732012-12-03T02:01:00.000-08:002012-12-03T02:01:11.431-08:00Brinksmanship on Obama Medicaid expansion for poor <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's health care brinksmanship, with hundreds of billions of dollars and the well-being of millions of people at stake.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President
Barack Obama's health care law expands Medicaid, the federal-state
health program for low-income people, but cost-wary states must decide
whether to take the deal.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Turn it down, and governors risk coming
off as callous toward their neediest residents. Not to mention the
likely second-guessing for walking away from a pot of federal dollars
estimated at nearly $1 trillion nationally over a decade.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If the
Obama administration were to compromise, say by sweetening the offer to
woo a reluctant state, it would face immediate demands from 49 others
for similar deals that could run up the tab by tens of billions of
dollars.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As state legislatures look ahead to their 2013 sessions, the calculating and the lobbying have already begun.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Conservative
opponents of the health care law are leaning on lawmakers to turn down
the Medicaid money. Hospitals, doctors' groups, advocates for the poor,
and some business associations are pressing them to accept it.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Here's
the big thing: The state does not want to expand Medicaid and get stuck
with the bill," said Dr. Bill Hazel, Virginia's health secretary. "Our
legislators do not like to raise taxes to pay for a benefit someone else
has promised. The concerns we have ... are around federal solvency and
the ability of the federal government to meet its commitment."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Medicaid
covers nearly 60 million low-income and disabled people but differs
significantly from state to state. Under the health care law, Medicaid
would be expanded on Jan. 1, 2014, to cover people making up to 138
percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 a year for an
individual.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
About half the 30 million people gaining coverage
under the law would do so through Medicaid. Most of the new
beneficiaries would be childless adults, but about 2.7 million would be
parents with children at home. The federal government would pay the full
cost of the first three years of the expansion, gradually phasing down
to a 90 percent share.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Supreme Court said states can turn down
the Medicaid expansion. But if a state does so, many of its poorest
residents would have no other way to get health insurance. The
subsidized private coverage also available under Obama's law is only for
people making more than the poverty level, $11,170 for an individual.
For the poor, Medicaid is the only option.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Although the health
care law fully funded the Medicaid expansion and Obama has protected the
program from cuts, the federal government's unresolved budget struggles
don't give states much confidence.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most states, including Republican-led Virginia, are considering their options.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A
recent economic analysis by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation
and the Urban Institute found that states will receive more than $9 from
Washington for every $1 they spend to expand Medicaid, and a few will
actually come out ahead, partly by spending less on charity care. States
are commissioning their own studies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So far, eight states have
said they will turn down the expansion, while 13 states plus the
District of Columbia have indicated they will accept it. The eight
declining are Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, and Texas. Nearly 2.8 million people would remain
uninsured in those states, according to Urban Institute estimates, with
Texas alone accounting for close to half the total.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hospitals
aren't taking "no" for an answer in the states that have turned down the
expansion. Although South Carolina's Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has
had her say, the Legislature has yet to be heard from, said Thornton
Kirby, president of the South Carolina Hospital Association.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hospitals agreed to Medicare cuts in the health care law, banking on the Medicaid expansion to compensate them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We've got a significant debate coming in January," said Kirby. "There are a lot of people tuning in to this issue."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In
Maine, Democrats who gained control of the Legislature in the election
are pushing to overcome Republican Gov. Paul LePage's opposition.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Obamacare"
was once assailed as a job killer by detractors, but on Wednesday in
Missouri it was being promoted as the opposite. Missouri's hospital
association in released a study estimating that the economic ripple
effects of the Medicaid expansion would actually create 24,000 jobs in
the state. The University of Missouri study found that about 160,000
state residents would gain coverage.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"This is not a political
issue for us ... this is the real world," said Joe Pierle, head of the
Missouri Primary Care Association, a doctors' group. "It makes no sense
to send our hard-earned federal tax dollars to our neighbors in
Illinois."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
By Thursday, Gov. Jay Nixon, D-Mo., had announced his
support for the expansion, but he faces a challenge in persuading
Republican legislative leaders.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In Florida, where GOP Gov. Rick
Scott says he is rethinking his opposition, the state could end up
saving money through the Medicaid expansion, said Joan Alker, executive
director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families,
which studied the financing. The reason is that Florida would spend less
on a state program for people with catastrophic medical bills.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Back
in Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
says states can take all the time they need to decide. They can even get
a free trial, signing up for the first three years of the expansion and
dropping out later.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But she hasn't answered the one question that
many states have: Would the Obama administration allow them to expand
Medicaid just part way, taking in only people below the poverty line?
That means other low-income people currently eligible would be covered
entirely on the federal government's dime, and they would be getting
private coverage, which is costlier than Medicaid.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Matt Salo,
executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors,
says he doesn't think states will get an answer anytime soon.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"This
is a game of chicken that we're seeing," said Salo. "Are the states
bluffing, or are these states really serious? And at what point does the
administration rethink things, and decide it's worth getting half a
loaf?"</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/12/brinksmanship_on_obama_medicai.html" target="_blank">http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/12/brinksmanship_on_obama_medicai.html </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-24824709279740786742012-11-19T03:12:00.002-08:002012-11-19T03:12:38.001-08:00Colin Kenny: How not to protect a country<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here’s the scene: You’re playing one of those military strategy
games. The country you are charged with protecting has cold winters,
borders on a superpower and is extremely dependent on exports for its
economic well-being. It has huge coastlines to the east and west, an
expanse of land, ice and water to the far north, and that aforementioned
superpower glowering at you from the south because the folks there
don’t think you’re doing much to defend the continent you share.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A good part of the border with the superpower runs through some very
large lakes and other waterways. Some of these bodies of water fester
with illegal activity, such as smuggling. Nobody has been able to
control the traffic on these waters, which means worse things than
smuggling could take place.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If it sounds like I’m describing Canada, I am.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To protect this country and aid your allies abroad, you have a small,
aging fleet of naval ships. Some need refitting, others need replacing,
urgently. So what do you declare your priority to be? Building ships
designed only to patrol the Arctic? Whoops! You just got knocked out of
the board game.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Embarrassing, isn’t it? But that’s what is happening (for real) in Canada.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Everyone agrees that there is no military threat to our country in
the Arctic, which is one of the main reasons our navy hasn’t patrolled
there for 50 years. The coast guard does. Instead of spending a
reasonable amount of money to upgrade the coast guard’s icebreaking
capabilities, the government is charging ahead with the construction of
six to eight armed Arctic patrol vessels to get the navy involved in
northern “defence.” It is doing so despite a shortage of funds to build
other naval vessels needed in southern waters and for deployment abroad.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Canada is down to two antique destroyers, 12 middle-aged frigates and
one active submarine, with two more promised sometime soon. That’s what
is available to defend a nation of slightly less than 10 million square
kilometres, largely surrounded by water. Official navy documents have
predicted that even this small fleet will be significantly diminished
over the next eight to 10 years — many of the frigates will be
unavailable due to refit, and the destroyers will have to be docked as
maintenance costs spiral out of control.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Itemizing Canada’s military weaknesses across the board would fill
the pages of this newspaper, so allow me to focus on this one issue with
regard to the navy: Why spend scarce dollars on ships that won’t even
cut through heavy ice when you have a dearth of real icebreakers? Why
spend that money on ships that will be slower than fishing boats when
what we need are fast ships that can intercept vessels in our southern
waters? The government will argue that the Arctic patrol ships can be
transferred to our East and West coasts in the winter. But if they are
not designed as minesweepers or even as combat vessels, what would be
the point? Why not spend the money on real warships, and give the coast
guard real icebreakers?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Threats to our ports may not be imminent, but they are real. Harbours
across the country are ripe targets for anyone who might choose to drop
delayed-action mines and then scurry away. That is dead easy to do,
using technology that’s been around since the Second World War and that
we’d have no defence against. We need minesweepers to deal with that
potential threat to our trade routes. All we have at the moment are
Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDVs) that are good for training
reservists, but little else.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This government has placed a priority on boosting Canada’s
international trade. It has also branded its military strategy as
“Canada first,” which suggests that it is serious about trying to ensure
the security of Canadians.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If it’s big on trade, and big on security, why not build vessels
capable of protecting our ports and our seaways? Why build vessels whose
only purpose is to bolster our sovereignty claims in the Arctic?
Sovereignty issues are going to be decided through diplomacy and/or in
the courts. Arctic patrol ships won’t matter there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Building minesweepers to protect our ports while leaving Arctic
patrol to the coast guard would be a far more intelligent investment.
It’s one thing to lose a board game. It’s an entirely different thing
for a country to waste more than $7-billion on window dressing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/11/19/colin-kenny-how-not-to-protect-a-country/" target="_blank">http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/11/19/colin-kenny-how-not-to-protect-a-country/ </a></div>
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Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-56455141472264381132012-11-06T23:50:00.000-08:002012-11-06T23:50:06.062-08:00Obama defeats Romney to win second term, vows he has 'more work to do' <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="article-text KonaBody" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President Obama won a second White House term Tuesday night,
overcoming concerns about the fragile economic recovery to soundly
defeat Republican nominee Mitt Romney. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We've got more work to do," Obama declared, addressing a cheering
crowd at his victory rally in Chicago early Wednesday morning. Obama
spoke to supporters at his campaign headquarters shortly after Romney
called the president to concede. Obama congratulated his opponent on a
"hard-fought campaign." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After one of the nastiest political battles and most gridlocked terms
in modern American history, the president vowed to reach out to the
other side in a second term on everything from immigration to the
deficit. He asked supporters to keep the "hope" and said that while the
"passions" and "controversy" won't wane after Election Day, "progress
will come in fits and starts." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"While our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we
have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United
States of America, the best is yet to come," the clearly fired-up
president told the crowd. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney conceded shortly after midnight, delivering a brief speech to a
subdued crowd of supporters at his Boston headquarters, where he said
he would "pray that the president will be successful in guiding our
nation."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The former Massachusetts governor urged Washington's politicians to
set aside the "bickering" and "political posturing" going forward, and
"put the people before the politics." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"This election is over, but our principles endure," Romney said. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The president's projected victory came shortly after he was declared
the winner in the crucial battleground of Ohio. The president was
leading by a narrow margin in that state as returns continued to stream
in overnight, but a streak of victories in other battlegrounds put him
well over the 270 electoral votes required to win. The count, with the
results from Florida still not in, stood at 303 electoral votes for
Obama, to Romney's 206. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama held a narrower lead in the popular vote count. But despite
that and the race being tied up nationally in polls leading up to the
election, Obama's investment -- in time and money -- in a handful of
swing states evidently paid dividends. Obama scored a big win in
Pennsylvania, a vital contest where Romney made a late play for support.
Obama also walked away with wins in the swing states of Virginia,
Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The victory caps a campaign that was far tougher in its tone than the
president's 2008 run. On defense over a term marked by lackluster
economic growth, Obama sought to cast Romney -- even before he was
nominated -- as an elite, tax-dodging, corporate champion. His campaign
seized on hidden-camera comments in which Romney said 47 percent of
Americans, those who don't pay federal income taxes, consider themselves
"victims." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He and Democratic officials also hammered the message that Romney's
policies would be bad for women, in an appeal to an important voting
bloc for the president who in exit polls backed Obama, 55-43 percent. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney, though, accused the man who ran in 2008 on big ideas of going
small because he couldn't defend his first-term record. The Republican
nominee, who emerged bruised but not broken from a protracted primary
battle, initially struggled to gain on Obama in the polls. But following
a strong lead-off debate performance in October, Romney drew the race
to what appeared to be a dead heat. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney was able to capture a key victory Tuesday night in the
battleground of North Carolina, a state Obama won in 2008 and where
Democrats held their 2012 convention. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Elsewhere, Obama and Romney each racked up expected victories Tuesday night in relatively safe territory. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney was the projected winner in Utah, Montana, Alaska, Arizona,
Missouri, Idaho, Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas,
West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fox News projected Obama the winner in home state Illinois, Oregon,
California, Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Maine, New York,
Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode
Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Election Day was unexpectedly busy for the campaigns. While Obama
himself kept a low profile in Chicago, the campaign dispatched Vice
President Biden to Ohio where he visited a Cleveland restaurant and
later posed for pictures with volunteers before joining up with the
president. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney, meanwhile, made stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania before heading back to campaign headquarters in Boston. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The presidential election coincided with hundreds of congressional
races, as well as a slew of votes on controversial state ballot
initiatives across the country.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As races continued to be called well into the morning, it appeared
that the balance of power in Washington would remain the same next
year. Republicans kept their majority in the House, while Democrats
fended off a series of challenges to retain their majority in the
Senate.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The vote Tuesday marked the end of a grueling and costly election
cycle. Aside from all the money spent and raised in the congressional
races, each of the presidential candidates raised roughly $1 billion.
For Obama, the election was the last time he said his name will appear
on a ballot. For Romney, the election closed out a nearly six-year run
for the presidency. The Republican nominee ran unsuccessfully for the
nomination in 2008. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The 2012 campaign was decidedly different from 2008, when Obama ran
on a lofty message of change and leveraged voter dissatisfaction with
the George W. Bush administration -- particularly the war in Iraq -- to
defeat Republican nominee John McCain. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This time around, each candidate's campaign message was bound to the
state of the economy, having gone through a recession shortly before
Obama took office. Romney argued forcefully that Obama failed to deliver
the kind of economic rebound that typically follows a downturn.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Republican nominee accused the president of throwing money at the
problem with a poorly designed stimulus and then abandoning the issue
altogether to focus on passing ObamaCare. Romney argued that the health
care law, along with countless regulations and an allegedly
anti-business attitude, all combined to stand in the way of a
full-throated recovery. Issues like the Libya terror attack and the
threat from Iran's nuclear program brought foreign policy into the mix,
but the economy remained central. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yet Obama argued all along that, despite the slack in the system, the
country was moving in the right direction. He pointed to recent
economic reports, including Labor Department data showing the jobless
rate falling below 8 percent for the first time since he took office, as
signs that the economy was improving and would get better over time. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He warned that Romney's agenda -- which he described as tax breaks
for the rich and giveaways to corporations -- would only reprise the
"failed" economic policies of the prior administration, which he claimed
led to the recession. </div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">
<br />Read more: <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/06/obama-defeats-romney-to-win-second-term-fox-news-projects/#ixzz2BWLiW7Kb" style="color: #003399;">http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/06/obama-defeats-romney-to-win-second-term-fox-news-projects/#ixzz2BWLiW7Kb</a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-23154273422133963682012-10-10T00:30:00.001-07:002012-10-10T00:30:36.170-07:00Australia’s Opportunity in Emerging Asia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With its abundance of natural resources and proximity to key emerging
markets in Asia, Australia is a top destination for foreign direct
investment (FDI). In fact, according to data compiled by the <a href="http://www.unctad-docs.org/files/UNCTAD-WIR2012-Full-en.pdf" target="_blank">United Nations Conference on Trade and Development</a>, the land down under currently ranks fourth for total FDI, with USD41.3 billion of inflows in 2011.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Beyond that, it is one of the few major developed-world economies
where FDI inflows exceed outflows. Last year, for example, Australia’s
total outflows were just under USD20 billion, or less than half the
reported inflows.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
According to the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/daf/internationalinvestment/investmentstatisticsandanalysis/FDI%20in%20figures.pdf" target="_blank">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development</a>
(OECD), Australia’s inflows were a substantial 4.4 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP) in 2011, which was almost two-and-a-half times
the average among the 34 member nations of the OECD. By contrast, its
outflows constituted just 1.1 percent of GDP, which was less than half
the average among its OECD peers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While that’s an enviable situation for a country’s internal growth
and development, it also means that Australia has yet to fully avail
itself of nearby opportunities among Asia’s emerging markets.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before proceeding further, it should be noted that the calculation
for FDI does not include all inflows of foreign capital into a country.
Rather, the figure is limited to those inflows that result in a foreign
firm holding at least 10 percent voting power in a domestic enterprise
or expanding an existing business in which it already has a significant
ownership stake.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since the downturn, Australia’s outflows to key trading partners in
Asia are still well below their peak. Its direct investment in nearby
Indonesia plunged 52.5 percent in 2009, and though it ramped back up to
USD340.3 million in 2010, that’s still roughly USD50 million shy of the
peak in 2008. For the sake of context, that amount accounts for just 2.5
percent of Indonesia’s total inflows for that year.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Meanwhile, other Asian countries that are transforming themselves
into low-cost manufacturing centers, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and
Bangladesh, have received scant attention from Australia. There were no
reported outflows toward Cambodia and Bangladesh in 2010, while outflows
to Vietnam were just USD35.8 million. Direct investment in Malaysia,
however, is at USD266.9 million, just 9 percent below the high in 2009,
though that level still only constituted 2.9 percent of Malaysia’s total
inflows.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Overall, Australian companies’ investments overseas have yet to
recover to the heady days of 2008, when outflows peaked at USD33.6
billion.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Given the recent downturn in the global commodities market, it’s
unlikely that this situation will change in the near term since so much
of the Australian economy is heavily dependent upon its resources
sector. But over the long term, it’s in the nation’s best interest to
diversify its economy beyond merely being one of the world’s key
suppliers of raw materials.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Should China enter into a protracted slowdown, the resulting regional
vacuum could afford Australian firms the opportunity to expand their
investments among their growing neighbors in Southeast Asia. In 2011,
China’s outflows dipped 5.4 percent to USD65.1 billion. Additionally,
European firms have slowed their pace of investments or withdrawn from
the region due to the sovereign-debt crisis.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the same time, Japan has increased its role as a significant
investor in the region, particularly in some of the aforementioned
Southeast Asian countries that offer low-cost manufacturing. In 2010,
Japan’s outflows to Malaysia jumped 67.1 percent from the prior year to
USD1 billion. And outflows to Thailand rose 38.8 percent to USD2.3
billion. In 2011, Japan’s merger and acquisition activity in the region
climbed 42 percent from the prior year and is on track to sustain that
torrid pace.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As far as outflows to Australia are concerned, Japan has hardly been a
slouch there either, with USD52.3 billion in direct investment in 2011.
While Australia has understandably been focused on China the past few
years, the Middle Kingdom’s direct investment in Australia is still
dwarfed by Japan’s stake.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And now, Japanese companies are anxious to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/business-leaders-in-call-to-ride-wave-of-japans-southeast-asia-expansion/story-e6frg926-1226490223313" target="_blank">extend that ownership bond</a>
toward Asia’s emerging markets. Indeed, some Japanese management teams
believe Australian firms would make natural partners in establishing an
enduring presence in emerging Asia. The question is whether Australian
firms possess the strategic vision as well as the wherewithal to explore
such joint ventures. Should they do so, then the Australian growth
story could eventually become about more than just resources.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.investingdaily.com/15764/australias-opportunity-in-emerging-asia" target="_blank">http://www.investingdaily.com/15764/australias-opportunity-in-emerging-asia </a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-86315545371233399092012-09-26T02:54:00.000-07:002012-09-26T02:54:05.240-07:00Google Uses Canadian Research to Illustrate Flaws in Antitrust Laws Worldwide<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A technological war is being transformed into a legal battle in the case of Google in Europe and in the US.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Google must defend itself against charges that it has abused its
dominant market position to the detriment of users, who spend 3.4% of
their Internet time using search engines. According to Marie-Josée
Loiselle, associate researcher at <a href="http://www.iedm.org/" target="_blank">the Montreal Economic Institute</a>,
the case of Google and the upcoming nomination of a new Commissioner at
the Competition Bureau of Canada offer an opportunity to take stock of
what Google describes as "certain flaws in antitrust laws."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In an economic note titled <a href="http://www.iedm.org/files/note1112_en.pdf" target="_blank">Flawed Competition Laws: the Case of Google</a>
published this week with the MEI, Ms. Loiselle explains that
competition is not reducible to a list of companies or their market
shares. It is rather the number of potential competitors that counts. In
the highly coveted high tech sector, there is "no shortage of
pretenders to the throne," as Google puts it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“The application of competition laws to the high tech sector is
particularly delicate, especially because of the speed at which the
sector evolves. A company can have a quasi-monopoly one moment, and a
few short years later be displaced by a new technology. That’s what
happened to IBM with personal computers, and to Sony and its Walkman,
and more recently to the MySpace networking site. I don’t think we
should penalize a company because it revolutionizes the market and gets
consumers to flock to its new product,” says the report's author.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Google continues the argument:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote>
Furthermore, cases of “regulatory capture” can occur when less
efficient industry players try to fight a dominant company using the
legal system instead of doing so by reducing their prices or offering
better products. This has the consequence of distracting the company
from its innovative activities since it must pay out large sums of money
to defend itself before the courts. At the end of the day, the real
losers from such a slowdown in innovation are consumers.<br />
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Google has been feeling the heat from several countries, most notably
the US, in recent years due to the incredible wealth of information and
power it holds being the world's most ubiquitous internet search
engine.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/google-points-to-canadian-research-to-illustrate-flaws-in-antitrust-laws-worldwide-2012-09-25" target="_blank">http://www.techvibes.com/blog/google-points-to-canadian-research-to-illustrate-flaws-in-antitrust-laws-worldwide-2012-09-25 </a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-56022452077604376112012-09-06T02:53:00.004-07:002012-09-06T02:53:58.506-07:00Obama uses rallies, speech to woo votes, helpers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President Barack Obama's campaign rallies in battleground states
aren't just about winning hearts and minds. They're also about something
more practical — courting voters and volunteers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For more than a
year, Obama has used appearances that draw thousands of people to focus
on the nuts and bolts of campaigning. That means registering new voters
and getting them to the polls — and persuading them to tell others to
do the same.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That effort was supposed to have reached a pinnacle
Thursday with Obama accepting his party's presidential nomination before
a crowd of 74,000 at an outdoor stadium near the Democratic convention
site. It would have been by far his biggest crowd of this campaign as
the president seeks to build a massive get-out-the-vote operation ahead
of the Nov. 6 election. But warnings of severe weather forced Obama to
scrap those plans.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Instead, he will speak to a crowd of mostly
delegates and the media in the much smaller Time Warner Cable Arena.
And, tied to his address, his campaign will step up its get-out-the-vote
efforts in battleground states.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
From Nevada to Virginia to
Florida, Obama and fellow Democrats have consistently been outspent on
the airwaves by Mitt Romney and his GOP allies. So Obama has been trying
to leverage a longstanding edge in people power — volunteers and
neighborhood-by-neighborhood advocates who formed the base of a
grass-roots organization that carried him to victory in 2008. He has
sought to keep that group active since then and build upon it by
collecting a trove of voter data, including email addresses and
cellphone numbers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We might be outspent in this election, but we
are absolutely not going to be out-organized," Jen O'Malley-Dillon,
Obama's deputy campaign manager, told the Iowa delegation this week.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Four years ago, Obama was able to win partly because he had both the financial and the organizational advantage.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But,
mindful of the possibility that Republicans could outspend him, Obama
has redoubled his efforts to motivate supporters and persuade others to
come together to form the foundation of his campaign.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In recent
weeks, Obama has visited several college towns, including Ames, Iowa,
Fort Collins, Colo., and Charlottesville, Va., in an effort to register
students in their college dorms as they were returning to school.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Take
out your cellphone, put it in the air," ordered Sarah Andrews, a
student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the moments before
Obama took the stage at a rally Sunday. Andrews, a campaign volunteer,
instructed her classmates to text the word "vote" to 62262 for voting
details and other information. "We need to organize door by door, dorm
room by dorm room, community by community."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama, who was a
community organizer who led a voter registration drive in Chicago in
1992, has been making specific appeals lately to supporters at rallies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In Urbandale, Iowa, on Saturday, Obama urged supporters to go to www.GottaRegister.com to ensure they were registered to vote.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"It's not "got to," it is "gotta" — g-o-t-t-a register.com," Obama said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He capped his pitch by reminding Iowans that early voting begins in the state Sept. 27.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"In Iowa, you don't have to wait until Nov. 6 to vote," he said. "I'm counting on you. And I need your help."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As
he accepts the nomination Thursday, the campaign plans to host several
thousand viewing parties, asking volunteers in battleground states and
those that border them to bring along people who haven't been involved
in the campaign or remain uncertain about supporting Obama. Many of the
watch parties will be preceded by door-to-door neighborhood canvassing
of voters and staffing phone banks aimed at drumming up support for
Obama's re-election. The campaign also plans to conduct college-campus
voter registration drives tied to Thursday's speech.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the
Denver suburbs, volunteers will walk door to door to spread Obama's
message in the hours before the president takes the stage and then
gather at homes to watch the speech in small groups.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama
loyalists also planned to watch the speech in Google hangouts and in
places like the Park Road Bar and Grill in Painesville, Ohio, outside
Cleveland, the Horizon Bay retirement home in Tamarac, Fla., and Buzz
BBQ in Las Vegas.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The president's speech will be streamed online,
where the campaign will push voter registration. Supporters will use
social media to remind their friends to watch Obama's address, posting
appeals on behalf of the president in Facebook status lines and in their
Twitter feeds. The campaign will encourage supporters to send text
messages in order to receive voting information or ask for donations by
text.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Both Obama and Romney are accepting small-dollar
contributions, with the charges appearing on the user's phone bill.
Supporters can give a maximum of $200 via text per election cycle.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This
week, the campaign also tried to make the most of Tuesday's keynote
speech by San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, holding watch parties in
Latino households and streaming the speech online in Spanish as a way to
attract more attention in states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida,
where success could hinge on the support of Latino voters. Obama's
speech will be streamed online in Spanish as well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In North
Carolina, which Obama carried by fewer than 14,000 votes in 2008,
Democrats hope to use the convention site as a catalyst for the fall.
Democrats have added about 40,000 voters since January, but the big
gains in the state have been among unaffiliated voters, which have grown
by more than 100,000 this year, according to records maintained by the
North Carolina Board of Elections. Democrats hold an advantage of about
750,000 registered voters over Republicans, but many Democrats are
conservative ticket-splitters who back Republicans in presidential
races.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama used his convention in a similar fashion in 2008,
when his campaign registered voters in Colorado and urged tens of
thousands of supporters at Denver's Invesco Field to send a text message
to the campaign to receive more information. In Colorado, the party
added more than 175,000 registered Democrats to the state's voting rolls
between January 2008 and Election Day.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama easily carried Colorado against John McCain in 2008.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://www.wpri.com/dpp/onpolitix/barack_obama/Obama-uses-rallies-speech-to-woo-votes-helpers_87304184" target="_blank">http://www.wpri.com/dpp/onpolitix/barack_obama/Obama-uses-rallies-speech-to-woo-votes-helpers_87304184 </a></div>
</div>
Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-26497893557171123182012-07-25T21:17:00.000-07:002012-07-25T21:17:27.149-07:00Campaign trips abroad by Obama, Romney a study in contrasts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/mitt-romney.htm#r_src=ramp">Mitt Romney</a>
is here to begin his seven-day, three-country foreign trip, a trip that
is different in scope and focus from his rival's trip four years ago.
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President Obama, then a senator, visited eight countries -- Kuwait,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, England and France -- over
eight days. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney’s doing a much smaller tour over one week, focusing on England, Israel and Poland. <a class="r_lapi" href="http://www.foxnews.com/topics/us/john-mccain.htm#r_src=ramp">John McCain</a> stopped by Jordan, France, England and Israel in 2008, when he was the Republican running for president.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
These trips, typical for a nominee in election year, take the
candidate off their domestic campaigning but showcase their reception
and leadership on the world stage.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama in 2008 and Romney this year each picked late July to travel,
while McCain's trip was much earlier in the year, in March just after he
had clinched enough delegates to win the nomination. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney is looking to home in on strong U.S. allies, kicking off with
an emphasis on the so-called “special” relationship with Britain. He’ll
also attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics and meet with athletes,
which political observers expect to be a moment to highlight his
leadership and work running the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The presumptive Republican nominee prefaced the trip with a speech in
Nevada at a conference of the VFW, saying, “I am not ashamed of
American power. I take pride that throughout history our power has
brought justice where there was tyranny, peace where there was conflict
and hope where there was affliction and despair.” He was making an
apparent reference to Obama’s 2009 foreign trip, which critics dubbed as
an “apology tour” of American strength. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney starts his day Thursday meeting with Prime Minister David
Cameron, Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband and Chancellor of the Exchequer
George Osborne.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He then heads to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, the leader of the opposition party
and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Romney has been
friends with Netanyahu since the 1970s, when both were in Boston and
recruited by the same consulting firm.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Iran is expected to be the main issue the two will talk about, and
the Obama campaign in particular will be watching to see if Romney
definitively calls for any military action. Netanyahu's and Obama's
relationship has been somewhat tenser, so this could be a chance for
Romney to appear a stronger ally to Israel. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Netanyahu was cautious about wading into American politics, telling
Fox News on Sunday, “I will receive Mitt Romney with the same openness
that I received another presidential candidate, then-Senator Barack
Obama, when he came almost four years ago, almost the same time in the
campaign, to Israel.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The prime minister has asserted Israel's right to pursue military
action to handle Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Romney has said he
doesn’t think Obama has done enough to back Israel's right to defend
itself. In December at a GOP debate, Romney said, “I'd get on the phone
to my friend Bibi Netanyahu and say, ‘Would it help if I say this? What
would you like me to do’?”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney will give remarks in Israel before heading to Poland, where
he’ll also give a speech. Those are the only two formal remarks
expected.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In contrast, Obama gave a major speech titled “A World That Stands as
One” in Germany to 200,000 cheering people in front of the Victory
Column in Berlin's Tiergarten Park. He also gave several press
conferences on his foreign swing and interviews with all three major
broadcast networks, who flew out to sit down with him.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney will also do some interviews but will not be giving any press conferences.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Obama was criticized for the length of his trip, with some saying he
was running for president of the world instead of the United States. He
started his trip visiting troops and commanders in Kuwait, Afghanistan
and Iraq and benefited from Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki endorsing his
Iraqi troop withdrawal plan ahead of his trip. Of course, the trip came
while the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were still a front-and-center
political issue, while now the campaign is mostly about the economy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney will round out his trip in Poland, visiting the historic port
city of Gdansk and then to Warsaw. He’s expected to highlight Poland as
an example of economic and Democratic values. It also can’t be
overlooked that making Poland a star is setting up Romney’s positioning
and comparison to Russia, which Romney once called the United States’
biggest foe.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Romney is not expected to make any major policy announcements on this
tour and will stick to focusing on listening to other world leaders.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He’s also holding fundraisers in London and Jerusalem. Obama did not
raise cash on his trip, but the Romney campaign was quick to point out
Obama still used his foreign trip as a tool to ask for cash, asking for
donations online after his Berlin speech.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">
<br />Read more: <a href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/07/25/campaign-trips-abroad-obama-romney-study-contrasts#ixzz21hNbHlVp" style="color: #003399;">http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/07/25/campaign-trips-abroad-obama-romney-study-contrasts#ixzz21hNbHlVp</a></div>
</div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-27820321870418113632012-06-27T03:07:00.000-07:002012-06-27T03:07:16.446-07:00Obama Defends Record in Florida Visit Article Comments (4) Washington Wire HOME PAGE »<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President <strong>Barack Obama</strong> wrapped up a two-day campaign
swing Tuesday night by setting the stakes of the November election in
dramatic terms for voters in the nation’s largest battleground state.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mr. Obama told a packed, and raucous, house in the Jackie Gleason
Theater that the next president and Congress will face a set of economic
decisions that will impact the country for at least another generation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mr. Obama also delivered, as he did in every speech through four
states, a lengthy defense of his record, including his controversial
health-care reform law. In doing so he challenged his audiences, saying
whether these accomplishments are maintained depends on them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“I believe health reform was the right thing to do,” Mr. Obama said
Tuesday, just days before the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the
signature achievement of his first term. “That’s what I believe, but
it’s up to you. You decide.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The president’s trek hauled in an estimated $5 million for his
re-election campaign. Every stop he made except one, a rally in New
Hampshire, was a fundraiser.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The trip as a whole showed the president has no intention of backing down from attacks on presumptive Republican nominee <strong>Mitt Romney</strong>’s tenure at the private-equity firm <strong>Bain Capital</strong>.
Mr. Obama, who has come under criticism from some members of his own
party for such attacks, used Mr. Romney’s Bain experience – in
particular reports that he oversaw deals that shipped jobs overseas – as
a launch-pad into what he says is the former Massachusetts’ governor’s
economic vision.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That vision, as summed up by Mr. Obama, is essentially a two-point
plan: roll back regulations and extend Bush-era tax cuts on top of a new
$5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“So when Mr. Romney says he’s some financial wizard who can fix our economy, that’s how he intends to do it,” Mr. Obama said.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Romney campaign disputes Mr. Obama’s characterization of Mr.
Romney’s economic plan, of course, as well as reports that the former
governor had a hand in shipping American jobs overseas.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mr. Obama’s Romney attacks engaged his crowds, but several themes
were consistently his biggest applause lines. They offer a glimpse of
what pieces of Mr. Obama’s record Democratic audiences may find most
appealing heading into November.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Women: By far his biggest applause line was when a reference to
women’s health. “You can decide whether we should restrict access to
birth control or de-fund Planned Parenthood, or we can make a decision
that in this country, women control their own health choices,” Mr. Obama
said, eliciting a standing ovation in Boston.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Declaring his candidacy: A close runner up. Any time Mr. Obama said
“and that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United
States” – and he said it repeatedly – the audience got on its feet.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Don’t ask don’t tell: The president’s mention of his effort to end
the policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving in the military
riled up the base. But he steered clear of spotlighting his support for
gay marriage.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ending the wars: “My opponent thinks that it is tragic that I ended
the war in Iraq the way I did,” Mr. Obama told donors in Weston, Mass.
And in Boston he said, “You can decide whether we keep our brave men and
women in Afghanistan indefinitely, as Mr. Romney proposes, or whether
we stick to the timeline that I established that allows us to finally
bring our troops home.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The speech in Miami wrapped up a day of political bickering between the Obama and Romney teams over the president’s <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/26/obama-booed-over-red-sox-joke-or-maybe-yoooked/">ribbing Bostonians about a trade from their Red Sox to his beloved White Sox</a>, Mr. Obama seemed to hit the right note in congratulating the Miami Heat for winning the championship.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Except it sounded a lot like he said “Miami Heats.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/26/obama-ends-campaign-swing-in-packed-florida-theater/" target="_blank">http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/06/26/obama-ends-campaign-swing-in-packed-florida-theater/ </a></div>
</div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-15428667173731632142012-06-13T08:21:00.001-07:002012-06-13T08:21:50.988-07:00Obama's global rankings down a bit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
President Obama still gets high ratings from most other countries --
certainly higher that predecessor George W. Bush -- but Obama's rankings
have slipped over the past three years, says a new survey of 21
nations.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Europeans and Japanese remain largely confident in
Obama, albeit somewhat less so than in 2009, while Muslim publics remain
largely critical," reports <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/06/13/global-opinion-of-obama-slips-international-policies-faulted/" target="_blank">the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"A
similar pattern characterizes overall ratings for the U.S." as a whole,
the report says. "In the EU and Japan, views are still positive, but
the U.S. remains unpopular in nations such as Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and
Pakistan."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The story is a little bit different in China, where
confidence in Obama has declined by 24% and approval of his policies has
fallen 30 points.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Mexicans have also soured on his policies, and many fewer express confidence in him today," reports Pew.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Source <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/obamas-global-rankings-down-a-bit/1#.T9lYmlJlO1s" target="_blank">http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/obamas-global-rankings-down-a-bit/1#.T9lYmlJlO1s </a></div>
</div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-29612409203780000002012-04-27T00:28:00.001-07:002012-04-27T00:28:04.785-07:00President Obama Presses Congress on Student Loan Interest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Student loans and the interest millions of Americans pay on them have been getting a lot of attention recently. Student loan payments and interest are a financial reality for men and women in many different kinds of jobs across the United States.<br />
<br />
The Department of Education says interest rates for Direct Subsidized Student Loans will double to just under seven percent on July first. Five years ago, Congress passed a measure that lowered interest rates for the government loans. But the law is set to expire.<br />
<br />
The president has called for the lower, three point four percent interest rate in his new budget. But if Congress does not act, new student borrowers will pay more. Other borrowing-related costs will also go up. The Obama administration says this will cost each student borrower an additional one thousand dollars on average.<br />
<br />
Higher education in the United States is costly. The Department of Education says the average yearly cost of attending a public college was about twelve thousand eight hundred dollars in twenty ten. The total for private schools was over thirty-two thousand.<br />
<br />
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York collects financial information. It says Americans owed eight hundred forty-five billion dollars in student loans last year. Some reports say the amount is now near one trillion dollars.<br />
<br />
The administration says seven point four million students will be affected without a new law. This week, President Obama traveled to several college campuses. At the University of North Carolina, he talked about his own experience.<br />
<br />
BARACK OBAMA: “We didn’t come from wealthy families. So when we graduated from college and law school, we had a mountain of debt. When we married, we got poor together.”<br />
<br />
Supporters of low student loan interest rates have promised a campaign to get new legislation. An extension is estimated to cost the government six billion dollars. Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s likely presidential candidate, supports an extension. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives say they like the popular program. They just differ on how to pay for it. Republicans want the money to come from the new health care reform law.<br />
<br />
The Democratic Party has proposed increasing taxes on some businesses, including oil and gas companies. Last Tuesday, President Obama put his argument to music on a late-night television program.<br />
BARACK OBAMA: (Music Under) "Now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people.”<br />
<br />
Source <a href="http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/business/President-Obama-Presses-Congress-on-Student-Loan-Interest-149158575.html">http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/business/President-Obama-Presses-Congress-on-Student-Loan-Interest-149158575.html</a></div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-45505037986669558912012-03-19T01:15:00.002-07:002012-03-19T01:15:48.607-07:00President Obama, family attend worship service at historic church near White House<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">resident Barack Obama attended service at a historic church that is steps away from the White House and often frequented by sitting presidents.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Obama was accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Sasha, on the cloudy, brisk morning as they walked through Lafayette Square to St. John’s Episcopal Church.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The service included scripture readings from Numbers 21, Ephesians 2, John 3 and the singing of “Amazing Grace.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The visiting pastor, Rev. Thomas Reid Ward, Jr., reflected on the words of the popular hymn written by John Newton, and told the congregation that God’s grace instills faith and courage.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">“All we have to do is believe,” he said.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The Obamas participated in the audience welcome of greeting pew neighbors and in holy communion before walking back to the executive mansion.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Source <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/president-obama-family-attend-worship-service-at-historic-church-near-white-house/2012/03/18/gIQAdswqKS_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/president-obama-family-attend-worship-service-at-historic-church-near-white-house/2012/03/18/gIQAdswqKS_story.html</a></div></div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995276491481005796.post-60302809704136000892012-02-05T20:33:00.000-08:002012-02-05T20:33:13.424-08:00Obama on Super Bowl Sunday: ‘I deserve a second term’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">President Obama said Sunday that he deserves to be reelected because his administration has made progress on the economy, but he acknowledged there is much more work to do.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">“I deserve a second term, but we’re not done,” Obama said during a</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">President Obama talks about the economy during an event at Fire Station #5 in Arlington, Va., Friday. Fire Station No. 5 was one of the first stations to respond to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack at the Pentagon. (Susan Walsh - AP) pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Lauer had asked Obama about an interview they did before the 2009 Super Bowl, when Obama had said that if the economy was not fixed in three years he did not deserve another term.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">“When you and I sat down, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. . . now we’re creating 250,000 jobs,” Obama said, referring to Friday’s jobs report which showed unemployment falling from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent. “We’ve made progress. The key now is to make sure we don’t start turning in the wrong direction.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Obama also addressed escalating concerns about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, after Israeli leaders warned last week of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Obama said he does not believe Israel “has made a decision on” taking military action to stop the Iranian threat.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">“They, like us, believe Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons program,”Obama said.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">He defended his administration’s approach of applying pressure through multilateral economic sanctions, saying Iran is “feeling the pinch.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">As he has said before, Obama said all options remain on the table, but he added that “obviously any additional military activities inside the Gulf would be disruptive. Our preferred solution is diplomatic. We will do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race in that volatile region.”</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">During a lighter moment in the interview, Obama declined repeatedly to predict who would win the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Lauer noted that when New England won the Super Bowl in 2004, incumbent president George W. Bush was re-elected, but when the Patriots lost in the Super Bowl in 2008, Obama won the White House.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Obama still wouldn’t bite. “I’m just looking for a good game,” he said with a chuckle.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Source <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-on-super-bowl-sunday-i-deserve-a-second-term/2012/02/05/gIQA9elMsQ_blog.html?tid=pm_politics_pop">http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-on-super-bowl-sunday-i-deserve-a-second-term/2012/02/05/gIQA9elMsQ_blog.html?tid=pm_politics_pop</a></div></div>Myselfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00736830978863280011noreply@blogger.com0