Clippings for November 9, 2008

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The Climate for Change
Al Gore writes for The New York Times: "The inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he - and we - must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis. The electrifying redemption of America's revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet."

America is a Center-Left Country No Matter How Much the Corporate Media Says Otherwise
Joshua Holland writes for AlterNet: "The American people are center-left (or at least firmly in the center) on the primary matters over which government presides: taxation and debt, public services, the regulation of the economy and America's role in the world."

All Over But the Lying
Jamison Foser writes for Media Matters: "On Tuesday, Americans chose as their next president an African-American named Barack Obama who campaigned on a near-universal health-care plan, allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire, and a move away from the belligerent foreign policy of the past eight years. Republicans, and some journalists, had spent months (falsely) saying Obama is the single most liberal member of the U.S. Senate -- and maybe even a socialist. The American people responded by electing him in a landslide."

Health Care Can't Wait
Edward M. Kennedy writes for The Washington Post: "President-elect Barack Obama has issued a clarion call for action on health care. His practical and thoughtful proposals draw from our Massachusetts experience and add important measures to improve quality and reduce costs. His plan includes crucial investments in modernizing the use of information technology in health care. He calls for a new emphasis on prevention and wellness, because the best way to treat a disease is to prevent it from striking. I'm sure opponents will dust off the same old slogans they have used to try to block every major advance in health care."

Will Obama Administration Signal Return to Rule of Law?
Brian Baxter writes for Law.com: "Foremost among the pressing issues he faces: rebuilding America's reputation in the international arena, says Philippe Sands, author of 'Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values.' The book, excerpts of which appeared in a May 2008 Vanity Fair feature story, examines how U.S. lawyers abandoned the Geneva Conventions and other international protocols after the 9/11 attacks."

Palin Blamed for Death Threats Against Obama
Tim Shipman writes for The Telegraph UK: "Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign. The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of 'palling around with terrorists', citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers. The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling 'terrorist' and 'kill him.' until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric."

Letter to President Obama on Human Rights
Julie Mertus writes for Foreign Policy In Focus: "Dear President Obama: The Bush administration had eight years to run our country's reputation on human rights into the ground. It succeeded not only in tarnishing America's image, but also in derailing the entire international human rights movement. As a professor of human rights who has studied the opportunities and challenges for the White House in transition periods, I know that the window of opportunity for distinguishing yourself from your predecessor is open now, but you must act quickly and decisively if you are to get human rights back on track."

Bush Administration Once Again Attempts To Block Release Of Prisoner Abuse Photos In ACLU Lawsuit
The ACLU states in a press release: "The Bush administration petitioned a full appeals court late Thursday to reconsider a decision ordering the Defense Department to release photographs showing detainee abuse by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In September, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the government to release the photos as part of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking information on the abuse of prisoners held in U.S. custody overseas."

President-Elect Obama Must Appoint Officials Who Will Restore Scientific Integrity to Government
Francesca Grifo of the Unionof Cencerned Scientists states: "The new head of any science agency must be committed to fundamental change in the agency's conduct and communication of science. President-elect Obama should choose agency leaders who will make five commitments to reform."

We're still Aren't in a Post-Racial Society
Fred McKissack writes for the Progressive: "Moments after CNN declared Sen. Barack Obama the next president of the United States, I called my parents. I could tell my father was beaming. Through Obama, he could see the future for his grandsons and their peers — a collective sense of inclusion that has eluded the race for so long."

Looking Back and Moving Forward
Bill Boyarsky writes for Truthdig.com: "Barack Obama’s huge victory sent me down memory lane to the segregated America of a half-century ago, when a black person couldn’t crack the news columns of my Northern California hometown newspaper, much less get a job there. "

Top Ten Power Brokers of the Religious Right
In an AlterNet version of an article that originally appeared in Church and State Magazine, Bob Boston writes: "A recent Americans United study of the finances and influence of the Religious Right shows a movement that is very much alive and kicking. Indeed, our research shows that the nation's leading Religious Right organizations took in more than half a billion dollars over a recent 12-month period. Several of the organizations reported dramatic increases in their budgets; only a few showed a drop."

Neocons Plot to Co-Opt Obama
William Pfaff writes for Truthdig.com that the newly elected president is a foreign policy novice and will find himself under great pressure to follow Middle Eastern and China and Russia policies inherited from George Bush, even though these are what Barack Obama was elected to change or terminate.

Palin in Spotlight as Republicans Turn on Each Other
Oliver Burkeman writes for The Guardian UK: "As the implosion of the defeated Republican campaign continued yesterday, the landscape of American conservatism was dotted with signs that these were very strange times indeed. Rush Limbaugh, behemoth of rightwing radio, took to the airwaves to declare war on two enemies: Barack Obama and the Republican party. Bloggers at FreeRepublic.com, an internet hub for conservatives, announced a boycott of Fox News and John McCain's aides fell over one another to leak embarrassing details about the campaign to the press."

House Races Push Women's Numbers to New High
Alison Bowen, Women's eNews: "The number of women in the U.S. House of Representatives will reach a high of 74 when the victors of Tuesday's elections take office in January. While marking a gain of three legislators, the results failed to push women's stake into the 20 percent territory considered minimal for exerting significant voting-bloc pressure."

FCC White Spaces Decisions Kicks Off the Next Wireless Revolution
Priya Ganapati writes for Wired: "Like Wi-Fi, the availability of free, unregulated spectrum could create new technologies and new markets, bringing superfast wireless connectivity to the masses. Unlike Wi-Fi, it could also put pressure on wireless carriers."

FOX Stations Pull Down News Corp. Profits
Danny King writes for TV Week: "Fox Broadcasting parent News Corp. said today that its fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 30% as a drop in profit from its local television operations more than offset a boost in earnings from cable network programming. The company, factoring in the U.S. economic downturn’s effect on local advertising revenue, also cut its profit forecast for fiscal 2009."