AP Top Stories 10.31.08

Obama stumps in Fla. and McCain hits Ohio; Brother charged after woman's mummified remains found; Calif. man charged in anthrax hoax; Bones found near Fossett crash site.

American Stories, American Solutions

AP Top Stories 10.30.08

Earthquake in Pakistan kills at least 150; Only six days left in presidential campaign; Sen. Ted Kennedy returns to Washington.

Experts: Plot Detracts from Racial Progress in South

By: Andrew DeMillo and Woody Baird

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. - Shades of the region's racist past came creeping back this week just as the South could be poised to play a pivotal role in electing the nation's first black president.

An alleged plot by two young white supremacists to go on a killing spree and assassinate Barack Obama, though far-fetched by most accounts, may conjure images of the Jim Crow era for some. But it doesn't necessarily reflect the modern South, which in recent years has seen a huge influx of immigrants and transplants from other regions, as well as the empowerment of a black electorate that could decide the Nov. 4 election.

"These incidents, isolated though they are, serve as a reality check," said journalist John Seigenthaler, 81, who was U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant and was attacked with the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights era.

"Yes we've changed in significant ways, but there are those that haven't," said Seigenthaler, who also was editor and publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville and founded the First Amendment Center.

The alleged plot "should serve as a low voltage electric shock. We're a new South, but there are elements of the old South still under the surface."

Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., who are accused of dreaming up the plan to behead blacks across the country and assassinate Barack Obama while wearing white top hats and tuxedoes, were likely too disorganized to carry out the plot. They have a federal court hearing scheduled for Thursday morning in Memphis.

Experts: Plot Detracts from Racial Progress in South....

Inside An ACORN

In ACORN'S Michigan office, employees are baffled by what they call an "aggressive" attack on their organization. The community organization, whose goal during the election cycle is to register as many voters as possible, refutes claims that fraudulent voter registration cards have an affect on the election.

If Obama Loses, Would the Party Truly Be Over for Democrats?

By: Erin Aubry Kaplan

Would black folks desert the Democratic party if Obama loses the election? I hardly think so.

First, of all, none of us expected a black man in any party to get this far, and the fact Obama’s a Democrat actually reflects well on them (even if some Democrats fought his nomination internally).

Second, and more important, we wouldn’t blame the Democrats for a loss -- we would blame a racist society, and that goes deeper than any party affiliation. As universally supportive as they’ve been of their candidate, black people long ago accepted the possibility that this election will not go the way they’d like. And what else is new?

“People are already preparing for Obama to lose,” a black friend of mine, a staunch Democrat, said to me recently. “We’re just happy that he’s got this far and that he’s alive. We’re ready for the fact he could lose even though all the polls say that he’ll win.”

Call it informed cynicism: In the end, history simply has not been on our side. Besides, we’re seasoned enough to know that one black elected official will not, or cannot, change our collective fortune. At this point we’ve had plenty of history-making elected officials and appointees – Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell – who’ve meant very little for our progress; they often actually work against it.

We do have more hope that Obama will change that dynamic because he’s running for the highest office in the land and will be theoretically calling the shots. But that still could mean that he’s merely going to be a creature of the status quo. It would be nice for him to address issues of importance to black people because he’s black too, but nobody’s taking that for granted.

As Amiri Baraka pointed out to me on NPR last month, Obama’s running for president, not the president of the NAACP. Baraka went on to say that the best we can do for ourselves is to elect the man and form a progressive caucus to keep his feet to the fire, hold him to his highest ideals.

The biggest issue is really our own failure to hold any politician accountable to an agenda we should push every year, not just in 2008. Many black folk (including me, I confess) are also holding out hope that Obama’s keeping a few of his more radical ideals under wraps until he’s safely esconced in the White House.

COMMENTARY....

AP Top Stories 10.29.08

Earthquake in Pakistan kills at least 150; Only six days left in presidential campaign; Sen. Ted Kennedy returns to Washington; World Series Game 5 set to resume.

Why Obama Can't Shake John McCain

By: Earl Ofari Hutchinson

At first glance, it seems absolutely incredible that Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama can't shake Republican rival John McCain. Yet, an AP poll calls the race a statistical dead heat. That's only one poll, of course, and the mishmash of other polls show Obama with either a respectable lead or a near rout of McCain. But that nagging AP poll hints at something that has bedeviled the Obama campaign from Day One, and that's the inability to put McCain away.

How could that happen? Obama has smashed every record in netting campaign contributions, gotten nearly every major newspaper endorsement, is fawned over by millions in other countries, was generally regarded as the clear winner in his three debates with McCain and draws record crowds to his campaign rallies. He is running against an aged, at times physically challenged opponent with a vice presidential mate with a phonebook of negatives that have made her a laughing stock in many circles. Both belong to a party which most voters blame for wrecking the economy and waging a costly, failed and flawed war.

The last Democratic presidential candidate to have so many pluses stacked up in his election bank against a GOP opponent was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. His opponent was the hapless, Depression-blamed Herbert Hoover. But Hoover at least was a sitting president. McCain isn't. The formula answer for McCain's staying power is that it's because Obama's black. From the moment he announced his candidacy in February 2007, race has been biggest X factor endlessly talked about and agonized over as the thing that could torpedo his chances. In countless surveys, African-Americans have virtually made it a mantra that that if he loses, it's because he's black. Certainly, there are enough closet and open bigots who won't vote for Obama purely on race. But that's not enough to explain why McCain still hangs around.

COMMENTARY....

Detroit's Ex-Mayor Kilpatrick Jailed for Four Months

By: Corey Williams and Ed White

DETROIT - A judge sentenced former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to four months in jail Tuesday for a sex-and-text scandal, calling him "arrogant and defiant" and questioning the sincerity of a guilty plea that ended his career at City Hall. Kilpatrick declined to speak in court, but his lawyers urged the judge to look at his entire career, not just the crimes that threw local government into disarray for months.

The punishment was part of a plea agreement worked out last month. Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner followed that deal but said Kilpatrick would not get time off for good behavior, potentially up to 20 days in this case.

"When someone gets 120 days in jail, they should get 120 days in jail," Groner said.

Kilpatrick was taken across the street to the county jail, where he will spend 23 hours a day in a private cell.

As he was being led away, he yelled out to supporters: "You all take it easy."

They responded: "Be strong, Mayor. We love you, Mayor. We got your back, Mayor."

Detroit's Ex-Mayor Kilpatrick Jailed for Four Months....

Hometowns of Skinheads 'shocked' at Plot

Federal authorities say two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

AP Top Stories 10.28.08

Asian stocks rebound; Classes resume at University of Central Arkansas; Investigation continues into alleged assassination plot against Barack Obama; World Series Game five set to resume tonight.

AP Top Stories 10.27.08

Search intensifies for Jennifer Hudson's nephew; SUV crash kills four cheerleaders; Severe weather stranded hundreds of British racers; Halloween costume contest for pets.

No Home Means No Vote

How do you vote when you don't own a home? From Detroit we hear first hand that it's not easy, if sometimes just impossible. What's being done to prevent that this election? We listen in on an ACLU session and find out how people who can get legal help to vote by calling 866-OURVOTE. Video by The UpTake's Oren Goldenberg.

Hudson's Nephew Still Missing After Slayings

The 7-year-old nephew of Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson is still missing one day after the shooting deaths of Hudson's mother and brother in their Chicago home.

AP Top Stories 10.26.08

Suspect in Hudson slayings in custody; Campaigns head West; Bush urges financial calm; World Series resumes in Philly tonight.

Suspect Caught in Hudson Family Killings

Published reports say a man suspected in the shooting deaths of the mother and brother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson is in custody, but the singer's missing nephew has not been located.

Dragging Death Stirs Race Tensions in Texas Town

In a gruesome case with powerful echoes of the dragging death of James Byrd a decade ago, a black man was killed underneath a pickup truck in East Texas and two white men have been charged with murder.

AP Top Stories 10.25.08

Suspect in Hudson slayings in custody; Campaigns head West; Bush urges financial calm; World Series resumes in Philly tonight.

Why Obama is in The Source

By L. Londell McMillan

Barack Obama needed to be on the cover of The Source. As the leading voice for the Hip-Hop generation, The Source reports upon the music, culture and politics issues relevant to all youth culture around the world. In 2008, no figure is more important to people of all backgrounds than Barack Obama, which is why The Source put the Illinois Senator on the cover of our November 2008 issue, which is on newsstands now. If elected, Obama stands poised to redirect America, getting this great country of ours back on course. As President of the United States of America, Obama would help restore the United States' place as the most respected country in the world through his policies, which are rooted in inclusiveness, dialog and an understanding of other people's perspectives. These are all characteristics that The Source also presents in its pages every month. It should also be noted that Barack used new media strategies such as interactive marketing to help VP candidate Joe Biden connect to the youth audience.

Why Obama is in The Source....

New batch of ex-Detroit mayor's texts released

By ED WHITE

DETROIT A court on Thursday released more sexually explicit text messages between the city's former mayor and his ex-chief of staff, just days before Kwame Kilpatrick goes to jail for lying about their affair.

Christine Beatty, Kilpatrick's former top aide, tried to keep them sealed. But a Wayne County judge ordered them on the public record, and the Michigan Court of Appeals refused to stop him.

One series of messages from November 2003 goes on for more than an hour as Beatty describes what she would do with Kilpatrick if they were together.

"Don't STOP! PLEASE," Kilpatrick replies.

New batch of ex-Detroit mayor's texts released....

Duke Accuser Restates Claims in New Book

The woman who prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape maintains in a new memoir that she was attacked, a claim that provoked an angry lawsuit threat from one player's family.

AP Top Stories 10.24.08

Asian markets tank; Juror troubles in Sen. Ted Stevens' trial; Barack Obama visits ailing grandmother; Rays take game two of the World Series.

Colin Powell: What Kind Of President We Need Now

Colin Powell On Obama's Inclusiveness & Appeal

Colin Powell on Obama's Intellectual Vigor

Commentary: Is Barack Obama Tough Enough to Be President?

By: Gregory P. Kane

Is Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois and likely the next president of the United States, tough enough for the job?

Obama may be too darned nice to be president. Do you have to be a raging S.O.B. to be president? Well, no, but it sure does help.

President Lyndon Johnson -- whom Obama never mentioned in his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination -- was one mean S.O.B. when he was in the White House. But, with some help from people like Clarence Mitchell Jr. of the NAACP, Johnson was able to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act through Congress, over the opposition of many of his fellow Southern Democrats.

Johnson also crammed through Congress much of his “Great Society,” anti-poverty legislation that led to programs like Head Start, Upward Bound and the Job Corps. His predecessor, President Kennedy -- whom Obama mentioned quite a bit in his acceptance speech -- wasn’t the mean S.O.B. Johnson was. Kennedy couldn’t get the civil rights legislation passed. He let Southern Democrats intimidate him so much that when whites rioted in Oxford, Miss., in 1962 to keep James Meredith out of the University of Mississippi, Kennedy actually desegregated an integrated U.S. Army military police battalion to appease the racists. Through his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, President Kennedy ordered battalion commanders to leave their black troops home.

You can look that up.

COMMENTARY....

AP Top Stories 10.23.08

Asian markets tumble; Possible verdict in Sen. Stevens corruption case; New York City Council to vote on measure allowing Mayor Bloomberg to run for a third term; Phillies win game one of World Series.

AP Top Stories 10.22.08

Asian stocks fall in overnight trading; Jury deliberations start in Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial; Sir Richard Branson tries to set sailing record; World Series starts tonight in Tampa.

AP Top Stories 10.21.08

Sen. Obama cancels campaign stops to visit ailing grandmother; Closing arguments in Sen. Stevens' corruption trial; Second arrest in kidnapping of Nevada boy; World markets rebound.

Obama leaving campaign trail to visit grandmother

By JENNIFER LOVEN

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama is cancelling nearly all his campaign events Thursday and Friday to fly to Hawaii to visit his suddenly ill 86-year-old grandmother.

Campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday that Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped raise him, was released from the hospital late last week. But he says her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious.

Gibbs said Obama would return to the campaign trail on Saturday, though he was unsure where.

Obama events originally planned for Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday will be replaced with one in Indianapolis before he makes the long flight to Hawaii.

Obama leaving campaign trail to visit grandmother....

Commentary: Instead of Making Him a Pariah for Endorsing Obama, the GOP Should Thank Colin Powell

By: Deborah Mathis

Had Colin Powell sat down with Tom Brokaw on Sunday morning and announced that he was supporting John McCain’s presidential bid, the Republican apparatus would have feted him as a semi-prodigal son come home again.

To hear them tell it, it would have been a ponderously important thumbs-up for the struggling McCain candidacy, a green light to queasy independents and wavering others, a permission slip to support a man who is neither who he used to be, nor what many in his party want him to be, and, therefore, a man who needs all the help he can get. Colin Powell’s endorsement would have been a lot of help.

Instead, Powell’s visit to the set of NBC’s “Meet the Press” raised a different headline. He spoke 1,961 words before flipping the script, but there it was -- that amazing declaration, “I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.”

COMMENTARY....

AP Top Stories 10.20.08

Bush to listen to 'Main Street' on economy; Trial begins in soldier shooting conspiracy plot; Fashion critic Mr. Blackwell dies; Rays win American League championship, head to World Series.

AP Top Stories 10.19.08

Abducted boy found in Las Vegas; Bush says he'll host summit on global financial crisis; India bridge collapse kills 2; Red Sox win and force a Game 7.

Colin Powell endorses Obama

(CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."

"He has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigor. He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well," Powell said.

Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.

Powell said he questioned Sen. John McCain's judgment in picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate because he doesn't think she is ready to be president.

He also said he was disappointed with some of McCain's campaign tactics, such as bringing up Obama's ties to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.



Colin Powell endorses Obama....

African-American man hopes for Bradley Effect

A conservative African-American man at a Norm Coleman rally in Mora, MN hopes the Bradley Effect comes into play to prevent an Obama presidency. The Bradley Effect is the alleged tendency among some voters to tell pollsters they'll vote for a black candidate, but actually vote for their white opponent.

AP Top Stories 10.18.08

Grandfather arrested in missing Nevada boy; Father-son land dispute may have led to law office blast; Muqtada al-Sadr urges rejection of US-Iraqi pact; Putin tests satellite navigation device on his dog.

KC Homicides on Pace to Be Most This Decade

By: Andale Gross

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Killings in Kansas City are happening at an alarming rate, and police and residents say the slayings can be traced to the same urban maladies that have plagued the city for years.

Two more suspected homicides were reported Thursday morning, bringing the yearly toll to 105, and officials say 2008 could wind up as the deadliest year in Kansas City since the 1990s. There were 21 homicides in August alone - a record for a single month.

Detectives and people who live in neighborhoods infected with violence say years of economic depression and failed education are at the heart of the homicide surge.

"I think the challenges with this problem are bigger than the police department," said Kansas City police Maj. Anthony Ell, commander of the violent crimes division. "Many of the homicides are just the result of a breakdown of a whole bunch of other things going on."

KC Homicides on Pace to Be Most This Decade....

AP Top Stories 10.17.08

AP-Yahoo poll: McCain's sinking public image; Amber Alert issued for a kidnapped 6-year-old boy; Costa Rica flooding; Red Sox rally to stay alive.

Black Employees: Marshals Service is Biased

By: Hope Yen


WASHINGTON - Black employees of the U.S. Marshals Service filed a racial discrimination lawsuit Wednesday, saying they have been denied promotions by managers who belittled them as lazy.

The suit in U.S. District Court seeks broad changes in job practices at a law enforcement agency that has grappled with race bias accusations dating back to the 1990s. It cast the agency as a "good old boys network" that exploited loopholes to groom whites for leadership positions while reprimanding blacks for "trivial mistakes."

Seeking to sue on behalf of 200 current or former black employees, the challenge alleges violations of federal civil rights laws. The suit is asking for damages of at least $300 million for lost back pay and harm suffered in a "hostile work environment."

Black Employees: Marshals Service is Biased....

Keith Olbermann Special Comment 10/14/08

AP Top Stories 10.16.08

Helicopter crashes near Chicago, killing four people; Spanish judge questions three mechanics in plane crash investigation; Final debate between Barack Obama and John McCain; Asian markets tumble.

The Third Time’s Not the Charm for a Combative John McCain in Final Presidential Debate

By: Sean Yoes

In the third and final presidential debate of the 2008 general election, John McCain threw more punches in search of the elusive moment that would change the dynamics of this presidential race that have him sinking in the polls and Barack Obama on the rise.

But, the consensus of most who watched is that none of those punches landed cleanly on Obama, and, most importantly, not many of them connected with the American people.

McCain, losing to his Democratic rival in the most recent national polls from nine to 14 points, went on offense immediately at the debate at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, attacking Obama throughout the evening on issues ranging from the Illinois Senator’s tax policy to former 60’s radical-turned-college professor Bill Ayers.

Bob Schieffer of CBS News, who moderated the debate on U.S. domestic policy, seemed to give the candidates more leeway to operate, which may have help spark snappier exchanges than the previous presidential debate in Nashville.

But, Obama once again projected what now seems to be a familiar image to the American people: Presidential, prepared, calm, cool and collected.

“That calm, casual, Zen-like confidence is what the American people want during these times,” said MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, host of “Hardball.”

The Third Time’s Not the Charm for a Combative John McCain in Final Presidential Debate....