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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.

Op Ed: Education Nation’s
Foremost Priority
For 21st Century

“Know-Nothing” election damage demands action.

(EUGENE, Ore.) - The American public sometimes has to learn the hard way what constitutes common-sense action in the most demanding of situations.

Recent damaging effects of the dual-party “know-nothing” approach to issues make it painfully clear: Comprehensive review of our educational system is now by far the highest priority demanded for our 21st Century America.

Widespread politically pandering vote-seeking propaganda, substituting for issue-clarifying dialog, clearly became the major pry-tool for prevaricators on both sides.

Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?

It's easy to see it as nothing less than a slap in the face of the progressive anti-war elements of the party to whom Obama owes his election

(SAN FRANCISCO) - I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama's remarkable victory for a day or so before becoming cynical again. I really did.

And yet, less than 24 hours after the first polls closed, the president-elect chose as his chief of staff -- perhaps the most powerful single position in any administration -- Rahm Emanuel, one of the most conservative Democratic members of Congress.

The chief of staff essentially acts as the president's gatekeeper, determining with whom he has access for advice and analysis. Obama is known as a good listener who has been open to hearing from and considering the perspectives of those on the Left as well as those with a more centrist to conservative perspective. How much access he will actually have as president to more progressive voices, however, is now seriously in question.

WFP Welcomes Indian Biscuit Donation for Afghan Children

Afghanistan is one of WFP's largest operations and requires an additional US$17 million over the next six months to provide 24,000 metric tons of food.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a US$12 million contribution from the Government of India that will be used to provide fortified biscuits made from Indian wheat to schoolchildren in Afghanistan.

The biscuits - produced in factories around New Delhi and Amritsar - will be shipped to Afghanistan through Pakistan, marking a major transportation breakthrough that opens a new route for humanitarian assistance from India.

"Thanks to the generosity of the Government of India, more than one and a half million schoolchildren in Afghanistan will receive a nutritious snack in school," said Rikki Maliklali, WFP Deputy Country Director in Afghanistan, adding that hunger negatively affects the development of the brain and limits a child's chances of educational success.

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.

NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Can be Viewed at OMSI

Oregon Astronaut Don Pettit of Silverton will be onboard.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - On Friday, November 14th, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will offer space exploration enthusiasts a front-row seat to watch Oregon astronaut Don Pettit launch into space aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour STS-126.

PTSD: Virtual Reality Therapy Part Two: Condemnation

Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician Pharmacologist and Toxicologist.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I previously posted in Part One that as a PTSD victim, an observer in battle, and a physician taking care of over 400 PTSD Vet victims, that I felt Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT) would not work for the most seriously affected PTSD Vet victims, although it might for minimally or moderately affected victims.

As a physician taking care of these patients after they have given up and absolutely rejected VA treatment I have accepted what these VA "rejects" have told me. These Vets have told me of the excessive variety and amount of medications tried on them as human "guinea pigs" which usually made them worse from the adverse side effects. Even newspapers and TV news have indicated about one thousand Vet suicides per month from VA medical malpractice.

The concept that Virtual Reality Therapy for PTSD probably has some value for minimally affected victims but for severe "rubber room" victims it certainly has no place. These are the most needful patients. It appears that the success with minimally affected Vets has given the psychology therapists the psychological chutzpah to assume that VRT would work for the most seriously affected PTSD victims.

Vigil Urges Legislature to Steer Oregon Guard Away From Deployment

Group asks Oregon's Governor to cancel a massive deployment set for 2009.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A woman who camped on the Oregon Capitol steps for several weeks in protest of the war in Iraq in 2002, has returned to Salem to help convince lawmakers to remove Oregon Guard soldiers from a planned trip to Iraq next year. Michele Darr will spend long, cold days and nights in the Oregon rain trying to convince the powers to be that Oregon soldiers should instead be home with their families.

Darr left her home, family and 4 children in Corvallis to "deploy" for the steps of the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem, Oregon, where she and others are on a hunger strike and 24-7 vigil/encampment set to continue through the holidays, winter months and into next year's legislative session.

Darr is doing this because she believes she and other can make a difference, and "bolster the possibility of the success of a proposed resolution to keep Oregon's National Guard home in Oregon, and to bring attention and awareness of the imminent deployment of 3500 National Guard troops next year."

National Sweep for Marijuana Reform

Massachusetts Decriminalizes Possession in Historic First; Michigan Becomes 13th Medical Marijuana State.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Defying the scare tactics of state and local officials, voters in Massachusetts and Michigan gave current marijuana policies a resounding vote of no confidence Tuesday. Massachusetts voters approved the first marijuana decriminalization initiative ever passed by voters, Michigan voters enacted the nation's 13th medical marijuana law, and local reform measures appeared to be passing in several communities.

"Tonight's results represent a sea change," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which sponsored the Massachusetts and Michigan campaigns. "Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of 'Reefer Madness.'"

Benny & Sid`s Your Public Service Announcements #19

(Salem) - The long journey has come to an end. Can we believe it? Is it a dream?