Salem-News.com Mccain articles Page 1

The Politics of Religion - Part One

Reasons for war range from economics to religion, but expansionism was supposed to be a lesson we already learned.

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Since the turn of the 21st century, religion has become a more serious concern for the American people because the assumed authority of President Bush comes from his belief that he is God's Active Voice and refers to himself as “The Decider.”

He has used his belief to confront Islam in the Middle East with the hope of imposing upon it what he calls Freedom that can be interpreted to mean Free Choice in religious terms, under a democratic label. America's strength is presumed to be God given, and an obligation to convert the Middle East to democracy.

It is an echo of a by-gone era when the "white man's burden" was to impose Civilization [another word for Christianity] upon the lives of lesser peoples wherever they may reside. But Moslems sees it as another Crusade by Christianity to impose its will on Islam and resists as it has for centuries.

What on Earth is Heaven

Ken Ramey takes a deep and introspective look at the parallels.

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Most people accept the religious definition that heaven is a wondrous and happy place which is the after-death reward of good and devoted followers who don’t question that definition, but I felt compelled to seek the truth for myself. Hawaii, for example, is touted as paradise, but I prefer the Caribbean. I assume, therefore, that paradise is not the same to all persons, and it occurred to me that what is true of an earthly paradise might also be true of heaven.

All my life I had been told so-called truths only to learn much of what I had been given to believe as true was not. So, I decided to consider life's mysteries logically to reduce my confusion rather than add to it. I recognized my limitations, and freely admitted that truths exist beyond the bounds of reason. Since there was little I could do about them, I decided to believe only that which is believable. If I could not rationalize my way out of a mystery, I would ignore it for the moment and deal only with what I could handle. From this beginning I developed a thesis which accepted that man is composed of two essential parts; his subconscious, and his conscious being. Or, to put it another way, man brain is product of his reality and his unreality.

The Republican Reign

The campaign for the presidency is over, Barack Obama won, and an anxious world waits on the threshold of an expectant and enduring peace if the problems he inherits can be corrected.

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Now that the election is over, the Party can be perceived for what it is, a reign that falls mainly on the plain people; i.e. its base that consists of traditionalists, evangelicals, the super-rich, and wannabes who try to be like others if only in their imagination.

Traditionalists come from families who have voted Republican for generations, still do, and always will.

Evangelicals fall easily into the traditionalist-mold because they tend to believe Evangelists who pretend to speak for God, but who often misinterpret the New Testament and embellish their preaching to suit their purpose. Rod Parsley says it is God’s will that American-Christians destroy Islam, and that may explain the Iraq fiasco.

Just Another Foot Soldier

After 25 years in the media, a one-time journalist takes a side. Being a foot soldier inside the Obama Campaign, he witnessed stereotypes blown to bits on the porches and the sidewalks of his own town.

(SALEM, Ore.) - After more than two decades covering the political landscape, including five governors, four presidents, and hundreds of house and senate races, I could finally sit and let the wave hit me.

There were no lights in my eyes, no microphone in hand, no producer in my ear, counting the seconds to the moment the camera would go hot. Instead, a new era in America was about to dawn and I was nothing but a quiet observer.

On this, the most historic of all election nights in my 48-year-old life, I stood shoulder to shoulder with The Throng and just let the high-voltage moment flood my soul.

Barack Obama Sweeps Presidential Race in a Landslide

The United States elects its first African American President in history.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The polls on the east coast had only been closed for a couple of hours when it became clear that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States.

Just seconds after the polls on the west coast closed at 8:00 PM, CNN called the race for Obama.

"Nobody knows how to behave, this never happens to us," one Democratic voter at a Salem election party said just after the announcement. Flags flew and televised tears flowed from live cameras at rallies all over the nation in the moments following the word that the race would go to Obama.

November 4th 2008 will go down in history as the day that the United States achieved the unexpected; and set a course to steer the nation away from eight years of fiercely dominated Republican policies and decisions.

Oregon Braces for National Election

Eight years of George W. Bush will come to a close tonight, or will they?

(SALEM, Ore.) - The United States is just hours away from electing a new President. Political polls have shown Democratic Senator Barack Obama leading the race over Republican Senator John McCain. Americans have learned by now though that polls can be deceiving and some say the numbers do not always show an accurate picture.

Barack Obama's past association with Pastor Jeremiah Wright and a professor remembered as a domestic terrorist of the 1960's, William Ayers, have been his sticking points.

McCain has been attacked for his switch stance position on issues ranging from support for the current U.S. President George W. Bush to abortion. Many hard right GOP members had a hard time coming to terms with McCain as a presidential choice, but the party found unity in support of this "maverick" man from Arizona.

Opinion: New Leadership Must Address Global Warming

It is time to kick-start a new green economy with millions of new jobs that can’t be exported abroad.

(SALEM, Ore.) - It seems like everyday we hear about the soaring cost of energy and how it threatens to cripple the American economy, which is already suffering.

There is no question that our next leaders will face some big choices regarding energy and the economy as a result. That's why it is so important to understand that we can have a strong economy and a clean environment. These two things are not mutually exclusive.

Salem will soon be home to a solar plant, which will bring hundreds of more jobs into the area. Developments like this solar plant can help bring up the economy, and in order to get more of them, we need to take a stronger stand against climate change.

Is John McCain the Ultimate Infidel? (VIDEO)

People instantly associate the word "Infidel" with Islam, but in reality it, like the word infidelity, simply refers to someone who is not faithful or "Nunquam Fidelis".

(SALEM, Ore.) - I have been contacted by many people over John McCain's war record. Many believe important facts about the senator's history are being overlooked while his campaign speaks of integrity and honor.

This is not something to tread upon nonchalantly, but the amount of questions from viewers led us to research many facts and theories. Some findings have been shocking, others not so much. Either way, it is information worthy of your knowledge.

Recognizing that John McCain has used his former POW status as a platform for his election campaign, it seemed only fitting to shine a light on McCain's other accomplishments, the ones that are less than flattering.

The list of less than faithful actions by McCain tend to make former President Bill Clinton's indiscretions look tame.

If You Need to Vote Your Pocketbook, Vote Obama

Hard facts that closely tie the GOP to today's current economic crisis.

(MISSOULA, Mt.) - The three great stock market crashes (1929, 1987 and 2008) have happened at the end of long periods of Republican presidencies. 1929 happened at the end of eight, 1987 after six, and 2008 after seven years of Republican rule. So it's hard to argue that Republicans have some magical touch when it comes to the economy.

The problem, as former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledged recently to Congress, is that banks and investment houses don't automatically act to ensure the safety of their investors. So, with regulation loosened or missing as it has been during several Republican presidencies, some financial institutions exploited public trust with greedy and fiscally unsound schemes that worked only for salespeople and corporate officers—like, oh, say, $516 TRILLION dollars in outstanding derivatives worldwide.

Khalidi: The Republicans` Latest Smear Against Obama

The latest in a series of guilt-by-association tactics by the GOP to make the staunchly pro-Israel Obama appear to be anti-Israel.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - The smear campaign by John McCain, Sarah Palin and their supporters reached a new low this past week with their attacks on Democratic nominee Barack Obama for his former ties with Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi. This is just one of a series of desperate guilt-by-association tactics by the Republicans to make the staunchly pro-Israel Obama appear to be anti-Israel and may be designed less to harm the Democratic nominee's chances of election as to limit politically his options for addressing urgent matters of Israeli-Palestinian peace upon becoming president.

Unlike education professor and former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, Obama and Khalidi and their wives actually did have a social relationship back when they both taught at the University of Chicago and their kids attended the same lab school. It is ironic that Khalidi -- a U.S.-born graduate of Yale and Oxford who formerly served as president of the Middle East Studies Association -- has become the focal point of these attacks, however. Indeed, the political orientation of this highly regarded scholar, who currently has an endowed chair at Columbia University, has been absurdly mischaracterized.