News politics 2008-06-15 Andanh.com

Monkey doll named for Obama called racist Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:37 EDT
A Utah company offering online a sock monkey named for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says it didn't mean to anger anyone with a "cute and cuddly" toy that some are calling racist.

"We simply made a casual and affectionate observation one night, and a charming association between a candidate and a toy we had when we were little," according to a statement issued Saturday by Sock Obama LLC.

Jeanetta Williams, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called the toy "pure racism at its extreme."

McCain cancels fundraiser with controversial Texan Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:42 EDT
Questions from the media prompted Republican John McCain to cancel a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who once joked that women should give in while being raped.

The Texan, Republican Clayton "Claytie" Williams, made the joke during his failed 1990 campaign for governor against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." He also compared Richards to the cattle on his ranch, saying he would "head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt."

Williams' comments made national news at the time and remain easy to find on the Internet. Even so, McCain's campaign said it hadn't known about the remarks.

"These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time it was scheduled," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said. "It's positive that he did apologize at the time, but the comments are nonetheless offensive."

The campaign said it would not return money Williams had raised for McCain because the contributions came from other individuals supporting McCain and not from Williams. Williams told his hometown newspaper, the Midland Reporter-Telegram, that he had raised more than $300,000 for McCain.

Obama hits McCain, oil companies Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:47 EDT
Democrat Barack Obama told voters Saturday he would push an aggressive economic agenda as president: cutting taxes for the middle class, raising taxes on the wealthy, pouring money into "green energy" and requiring employers to set up retirement saving plans for their workers.

Campaigning in Pennsylvania, a key battleground in the fall campaign, Obama said he would take a much more hands-on approach than would Republican John McCain. He again criticized McCain's proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax. It would "actually do real harm," Obama said, by reducing revenue for road and bridge construction even as oil companies make record profits.

Obama visited the flooded Midwest later Saturday, stopping in Quincy, Ill., to help fill sandbags.

Speaking to about 200 people in Wayne, a Philadelphia suburb, Obama made no new proposals but emphasized earlier ones in light of rising gas prices, inflation and job losses. They include a $1,000 tax cut for most working families; a new Social Security tax on incomes above $250,000; a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies; a $4,000 annual college tuition credit for those who commit to national or community service programs; and an end to income taxes for elderly people making less than $50,000 a year.

Obama said he could pay for his programs by eliminating the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthy, winding down the Iraq war and spending more on alternative energy programs that eventually will save money.

Black conservatives conflicted on Obama campaign Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:42 EDT
Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.

"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."

Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that the Illinois senator doesn't sit beside them ideologically.

"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."

Perhaps sensing the possibility of such a shift, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has made some efforts to lure black voters. He recently told Essence magazine that he would attend the NAACP's annual convention next month, and he noted that he recently traveled to Selma, Ala., scene of seminal voting rights protests in the 1960s, and "talked about the need to include 'forgotten Americans.'"

Hard week, soft landing for Obama's wife Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:04 EDT
It has been a rough 10 days for Michelle Obama.

Internet rumors claimed there was a videotape of her criticizing "whitey" from a church pulpit. A Fox News analyst suggested that her affectionate on-stage knuckle bump with her husband, on the night he locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, might have been a "terrorist's fist jab." Fox also labeled her a "baby mama," a term some use for unwed mothers.

The rumors and innuendo reached the point that Barack Obama's campaign launched a new Web Site this week, fightthesmears.com. The first allegation it denied was the "whitey" claim, stating, "No such tape exists."

On Friday, Michelle Obama made her first public appearance since these hubbubs arose, and the campaign made sure she had a nice, soft landing.

She introduced her husband to about 40 elderly people at the Oakleaf Village retirement center in Columbus, Ohio. The potential first lady quickly had the roomful of grandparents chuckling and applauding as she managed to praise them along with her husband and their two daughters.

McCain, Obama fail to agree on town halls Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:04 EDT
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday rejected Republican rival John McCain's proposal for 10 joint town-hall appearances, offering instead to have just one on the July 4 holiday.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he offered to meet McCain in five joint appearances between now and the Nov. 4 election. But only one of those was a town-hall meeting, plus three traditional debates and an in-depth debate on foreign policy.

The McCain campaign said Obama's offer was to hold the single town hall on Independence Day - which likely would have resulted in less attention while Americans are on holiday. McCain told reporters traveling with him in New Jersey that was "a very disappointing response."

McCain had said the more intimate town-hall format, a give-and-take between a candidate and the audience, would allow real interaction with voters and would be more revealing than formal televised debates. Town halls are also McCain's favorite style of campaigning and would allow him to get free media attention alongside the better-funded Obama.

When a McCain adviser first floated the idea last month, Obama said it was a great idea. But the Illinois senator told reporters Tuesday that it's not realistic to have 10 town halls with all the other campaigning he needs to do after just clinching the Democratic Party's nomination months after McCain wrapped up the GOP nod.

Obama wants payroll tax on incomes above $250,000 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:23 EDT
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Friday called for higher payroll taxes on wage-earners making more than $250,000 annually, a step that would affect the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans.

The presidential candidate told senior citizens in Ohio that it is unfair for middle-class earners to pay the Social Security tax "on every dime they make," while millionaires and billionaires pay it on only "a very small percentage of their income."

The 6.2 percent payroll tax is now applied to all wages up to $102,000 a year, which covers the entire amount for most Americans. Under Obama's plan, the tax would not apply to wages between that amount and $250,000. But all annual salaries above the quarter-million-dollar amount would be taxed under his plan, Obama said.

Obama also said his rival, John McCain, has indicated in the past he was willing to consider higher payroll taxes.

But Douglas Holz-Eakin, the Republican candidate's senior economic policy adviser, said that as president, McCain would not consider an increase "under any imagineable circumstance."

Town-hall series rebuffed Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday rejected Republican rival John McCain's proposal for 10 joint town-hall appearances, offering instead to have just one on the July 4 holiday.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he offered to meet McCain in five joint appearances between now and the Nov. 4 election. But only one of those was a town-hall meeting, plus three traditional debates and an in-depth debate on foreign policy.

The McCain campaign said Obama's offer was to hold the single town hall on Independence Day -- which likely would have resulted in less attention while Americans are on holiday. McCain told reporters traveling with him in New Jersey that was "a very disappointing response."

McCain had said the more intimate town-hall format, a give-and-take between a candidate and the audience, would allow real interaction with voters and would be more revealing than formal televised debates. Town halls are also McCain's favorite style of campaigning and would allow him to get free media attention alongside the better-funded Obama.

When a McCain adviser first floated the idea last month, Obama said it was a great idea. But the Illinois senator told reporters Tuesday that it's not realistic to have 10 town halls with all the other campaigning he needs to do.

Obama calls for higher taxes on wealthiest 3% Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Friday called for higher payroll taxes on wage-earners making more than $250,000 annually, a step that would affect the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans.

The presidential candidate told senior citizens in Ohio that it is unfair for middle-class earners to pay the Social Security tax "on every dime they make," while millionaires and billionaires pay it on only "a very small percentage of their income."

The 6.2 percent payroll tax is now applied to all wages up to $102,000 a year, which covers the entire amount for most Americans. Under Obama's plan, the tax would not apply to wages between that amount and $250,000. But all annual salaries above the quarter-million-dollar amount would be taxed under his plan, Obama said.

Obama said his plan "allows us to extend the life of Social Security" without raising the retirement age or cutting benefits. He said McCain "a few years ago" stated that he might consider a higher cap on incomes subject to the tax, "but today he's attacking me for holding the very same position."

Obama also criticized McCain for being open to letting taxpayers invest part of their Social Security payments in private investment accounts.

Obama attempts to quash rumors Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
As Barack Obama launched a Web site to debunk rumors about himself and his wife, his campaign said Thursday that Michelle Obama never used the word "whitey" in a speech from a church pulpit.

The rumor that Michelle Obama railed against "whitey" in a diatribe at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ has circulated on conservative Republican blogs for weeks and was repeated by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. It included claims of a videotape of the speech that would be used to bring down Obama's candidacy this fall.

"No such tape exists," the campaign responds on the site, fightthesmears.com. "Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word."

Obama, a relative newcomer to national politics, has been the target of persistent misinformation campaigns online.

E-mails about Obama rank No. 2 on the list of "Hottest Urban Legends" on snopes.com, an Internet rumor-debunking site.

Free-trade support has risks for McCain Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
The public isn't bullish on free trade. Yet John McCain doesn't miss many opportunities to reproach Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama's emerging opposition to international trade deals.

McCain is scheduled to address the Economic Club of Canada next week in Ottawa to assert his support of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Such appearances help McCain burnish his foreign-policy credentials. But trade can also carry great risks, especially in election battlegrounds such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, where many voters blame trade deals for job losses.

Obama, who four years ago declared NAFTA had been beneficial, recently talked about reopening NAFTA to strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental standards.

McCain has been thumping Obama on that, arguing that such a step not only would hurt trade, but undermine the credibility of the United States abroad.

Proposed bill allows slots at racetracks Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:04 EDT
State Rep. Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said he'll propose legislation to at least temporarily legalize slot machines at racetracks, a plan he argues is more politically palatable than the governor's earlier bid for full casinos.

Stumbo said he will pre-file a bill in the coming weeks to kick off debate before the 2009 General Assembly convenes in January.

"Maybe one of the things the legislature should consider is a trial -- authorizing a limited number of slots just at tracks and let's see what kind of a response it gets," he said. "Then we'll know after a year."

Stumbo, a former state attorney general, said he doesn't believe the state's constitution must be changed to allow slots at horse tracks -- a factor that also could simplify the debate in the General Assembly.

Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear proposed allowing casinos with slot machines and table games during his first legislation session in office. But his constitutional amendment crumbled after a House committee changed the bill so that horse tracks weren't guaranteed a certain number of licenses.

Today on the presidential campaign trail Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:07 EDT
IN THE HEADLINES

After inquiries, McCain cancels fundraiser held by Texas oilman who once joked about rape ... In battleground state, Obama touts economic plan ... Faced with first major black candidate, black conservatives consider voting for Obama

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McCain cancels fundraiser with controversial Texan

WASHINGTON (AP) - Questions from reporters prompted Republican John McCain to cancel a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who once joked that women should give in while being raped.

Obama plans trip to boost foreign policy credibility Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Barack Obama may depart this summer from his road-warrior tour of election-battleground states to take a trip around the world, one intended to shore up his credentials on foreign policy.

With a foreign trip under discussion in the Obama camp, any itinerary almost certainly would include a stop in Iraq. That would be his first trip to the war zone since early 2006. It would be designed to answer Republican presidential candidate John McCain's criticism that antiwar Obama can't talk credibly about withdrawing U.S. forces since he hasn't been on the ground there since the 2007 troop buildup brought some military success.

While he's at it, Obama may extend his journey to other parts of the globe, especially Western Europe, where his racial mix, youth, optimism and themes of anti-Bush, multilateral diplomacy have generated impassioned interest in his candidacy.

Obama advisers are eager to find a way to harness his popularity overseas to boost his appeal to undecided voters back home, and to show that the 46-year-old freshman senator from Illinois can compete with McCain on foreign policy. While the Arizona senator is a veteran of war and Washington -- and 25 years Obama's senior -- his support for the Iraq war puts him on the losing side of public opinion.

Susan Rice, Obama's senior foreign-policy adviser, said Friday that "no decisions have been made" yet about whether Obama will travel abroad this summer, and if he does, where he'll go. However, she did confirm that the matter is under consideration and "I can't rule anything out."

Budget cuts slice family services Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
Last year, Brooklawn Child and Family Services in Louisville helped the parents of 268 kids do a better job.

The children had been identified as at-risk for being taken from their homes because of abuse or neglect. With the help of a two-year, $300,000 state grant, Brooklawn sent social workers into homes to help the parents become more successful.

"You kind of re-parent the parent," said Mike Schultz, vice president for development at Brooklawn.

But on June 30, the program -- which went two years without having a child taken from his or her home -- will lose its funding.

To comply with its share of the $179.9 million in cuts ordered by the General Assembly as part of the budget that begins July 1, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services cut $7.6 million from programs designed to help social workers keep kids with their biological parents or reunite them with their families.

Chinese Dir