Nigerian Times

28 Apr 2008 13:05 Africa/Lagos Election 2008: The People's Choice? Suspicious voting strategy, according to YourThreeCents.com NEW YORK, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- There is evidence to suggest that during this election year, the Republicans are backing Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee in order to seal the Presidential spot for John McCain. Tegan Miller: "It appears that the Republicans are creating a strong influence through a well-coordinated marketing media and financial support program. They are targeting these efforts to the Republican Right and Christian youth movements within the Republican Party. They are artfully using the Conservative press, media and youthful leadership to influence voters to cast their vote to elect Barack Obama in open Democratic primaries." Christian Karnes: "Obama has had only 3 victories out of the 27 contests that have come from closed primaries. The other 24 victories were either open elections or caucuses. Obam...

28 Apr 2008 11:10 Africa/Lagos Chicago Tribune Reports Readership, Circulation Results CHICAGO, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Weekly readership of the Chicago Tribune and its related print and interactive media properties stands at a high of more than 5.5 million Chicagoland adults, according to information released today to coincide with the newspaper's semi-annual statement of paid circulation. This represents more than three-quarters of adults in the seven-county market.* For the 26 weeks ending March 30, 2008, the Tribune reported Sunday total average paid circulation of 898,703 and daily circulation (Monday - Friday) of 541,663, as filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Although these figures represent decreases in paid copies both daily and Sunday, increases at the Tribune's free RedEye edition created growth in total audited copies and print readership. Chicago Tribune Interactive's traffic also continues to grow, with monthly page views at its three principa...

27 Apr 2008 17:46 Africa/Lagos Obama's Sunday Waffles Why Can't Obama Keep His Story Straight On His Plans To Raise Taxes And Ignore Commanders On The Ground? WASHINGTON, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- OBAMA IS WAFFLING ON IRAQ AND GEN. PETRAEUS Today, Obama Said That It Would Be "Stupid" Of Him To Ignore Gen. Petraeus' Recommendations On Iraq: Obama: "I will listen to General Petraeus given the experience that he's accumulated over the last several years. It would be stupid of me to ignore what he has to say." (Fox News' "Fox News Sunday," 4/27/08) But Obama Previously Said The U.S. Should Begin To Withdraw From Iraq Immediately, Just One Day After Gen. Petraeus Warned Against A Premature Withdrawal: Gen. Petraeus Testified Before The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Of Which Obama Is A Member, That A Premature Withdrawal From Iraq Would Have "Devastating Consequences." Gen. Petraeus: "In describing the recommendati...

The May 5, 2008 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, April 28), "Obama's Bubba Gap," examines how Barack Obama's opponents are tapping into Americans' fear of the "other" and painting him as an out-of-touch elitist. The cover package also includes essays on how race and class are playing out on the campaign trail. Plus: Bill Clinton's gaffes; a Texas town's fight against the proposed border fence; how climate change may wreak havoc on agriculture and the Mother's Day gift guide. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 04/27/2008 27 Apr 2008 16:25 Africa/Lagos NEWSWEEK: Cover: Obama's Bubba Gap Deep Rooted Race and Class Issues are Changing the 'Hope' Election to a 'Fear' Election Wary of His Wide Appeal, Opponents are Painting Obama as an Out-of-Touch 'Elitist' NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- There was a time, not so long ago, when the advisers to John McCain worried about running against...

26 Apr 2008 01:19 Africa/Lagos Liberal Distortion Why Does Barack Obama Continue To Distort His Own Record, As Well As John McCain's? Obama Distorts Own Record WASHINGTON, April 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by the Republican National Committee: Today, Obama Claimed That The National Journal's Rating System Inaccurately Labeled Him The Most Liberal Senator In 2007: Obama: "[T]hey Selected 10 Votes Out Of The Many Hundreds That I've Cast." (Greg Sargent, "Obama: National Journal Rating Of Me As 'Number One Liberal' Is Bogus," Talking Points Memo's "Election Central" Blog, tpmelectioncentral.com (http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/obama_national_journa l_rating.php), 4/25/08) NOTE: "Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Was The Most Liberal Senator In 2007, According To National Journal's 27th Annual Vote Ratings." (National Journal Website, "National Journal's 200...

24 Apr 2008 12:45 Africa/Lagos The New York Times Wins an Unprecedented Six of 21 Top Honors at the 69th Overseas Press Club Awards; Getty Images Dominates the Photography Category; James Nachtwey Receives the OPC President's Award NEW YORK, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York Times captured six of the 21 awards given by the Overseas Press Club in its 69th annual competition honoring the finest international journalism. This total is the most any single organization has won in the annual awards from the OPC. Getty Images dominated the photography category, earning three of the four awards given. The OPC awards will be presented by NBC News Anchor/Correspondent Ann Curry at an April 24 dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. Photojournalist, James Nachtwey will be on hand to accept the President's Award. Nachtwey has won five Robert Capa Gold Medal Awards from the OPC over the years for his photographic reporting requiring exceptional courage and enterprise....

24 Apr 2008 13:22 Africa/Lagos Blog to Focus on Government Accountability and Transparency New Government Accountants' Blog aims to stimulate discussion of government financial management ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) today announced the launch of the AGA Weblog, (http://aga.typepad.com/aga ), a first-of-its-kind contribution to the government and taxpayer blogosphere. The blog aims to bring state, local and federal government financial managers into discussions about issues, solutions and priorities relating to government accountability and transparency. Senior government financial managers, including federal chief financial officers and state/local auditors and comptrollers will lead daily discussions on a wide variety of topics that will include transparency, reporting, accountability, the federal fiscal crisis and more. "It is our hope that this blog will promote wider government accountability a...

ENPR: Pa. Win Gives Hillary a Super-Delegate Wedge Outlook by Robert Novak and Timothy P. Carney Posted: 04/23/2008 Outlook Despite her impressive win in Pennsylvania, Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) still faces a very difficult path to the nomination. It is impossible for her to win more elected delegates than Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.). It is possible that she could yet win a majority of the composite popular primary vote, but probably not without tallying the outlawed Michigan and Florida votes. Clinton's more feasible path—though very difficult—is to convince the super-delegates, by winning the remaining primaries, that she has the momentum. The two most important future primaries are North Carolina and Indiana May 6, but North Carolina looks nearly impossible, considering that half of the state's 2.5 million registered voters are African-Americans. That leaves Clinton with the hope that super-delegates will see Obama as a loser against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). The attacks by he...

23 Apr 2008 17:24 Africa/Lagos ST. LOUIS, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Many critics point to ethanol as the cause of growing food costs and suggest biofuels standards should be reexamined. What most don't realize is that ethanol is just a fraction of the impact on food costs. More importantly, without ethanol experts at Merrill Lynch predict gas prices would be 15 percent higher. At today's average prices, that would push a gallon of unleaded over the $4 mark! Removing ethanol and replacing it with gas would cost Americans alone more than $70 billion. Pulling back on biofuels would only exacerbate the problem. Corn Is Not The Culprit Actual food inputs, or farm value, account for only 19 cents of every dollar of processed food, less than half what it was 30 years ago. The remaining 81 cents is wrapped up in processing, packaging, transportation, marketing and other costs. (USDA) For example, at today's prices, there's only about 6 cents worth of corn in an 18-ounce box of c...

Photo: Yahoo News "The road to 1600 Pennsylvania Road runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania." ~ Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after winning the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary on April 22, 2008. Thank God, Senator Hillary Clinton has done it again, with another big state win in n Pennsylvania! It is an outstanding victory for Hillary Clinton who beat Barack Obama by 10 points. She won 55% of the votes, while Barack Obama won 45%. Barack Obama spent over $11 million on TV adverts and other strategies in his desperation to win the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary and lost to Hillary Clinton who spent only about $5 million. Hillary has the artillery to secure victory for the Democratic Party in the Presidential Election in November 2008. The Democratic Party will lose the Presidential Election without Hillary Clinton. Only the dream team of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton or Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can beat John McCain and the political machine of the GOP in the...

My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore April 21st, 2008 Friends, I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted. So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama? I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name. Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lam...

22 Apr 2008 01:18 Africa/Lagos Correction of a Mis-Quote by The Daily Mail LONDON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In the Daily Mail on Friday 18 April 2008, Louise Blouin MacBain, Chairman of Louise Blouin Media and the Louise T. Blouin Foundation, was erroneously misquoted as stating that: "His Holiness is trying to win cultural independence for an area that is the size of the UK, Germany and Portugal lumped together and in that aim he is deluded." This statement as published by the Daily Mail, reprinted in the National Post is categorically incorrect. In her two-part piece on the Tibet Issue and the recent crisis surrounding the riots in Lhasa and the Beijing Olympics published by Forbes.com -- 11/14 April-- Ms Blouin MacBain stated that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is seeking "political" independence beyond the Tibetan Autonomous Region to include two adjoining provinces, Amdo (Qinghai) and eastern Kham (western Sichuan) -- a geography that represents approxi...

21 Apr 2008 19:01 Africa/Lagos Kenya's Crisis: Lack of Land Rights Contributes to Conflict in East Africa, Say Natural Resource Experts at Wilson Center WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lack of land and property rights are key factors in East African conflicts -- including the current political crisis in Kenya -- where ethnic rivalries are often rooted in battles over land. But securing access to land can help prevent violence and promote peace, as well as improve a country's environmental, social, and economic prospects. At the Wilson Center on April 23rd, Peter Hetz and Gregory Myers will examine land and conflict in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Sudan, with a special focus on Kenya. Peter Hetz, the vice president for technical operations at ARD, Inc., will discuss the relationship between property rights and conflict. Gregory Myers, a natural resource management specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development, will focus on natural resource manageme...

20 Apr 2008 22:01 Africa/Lagos World Publics Say Oil Needs to Be Replaced as Energy Source COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds that majorities in 15 of 16 nations surveyed around the world think that oil is running out and governments should make a major effort to find new sources of energy. Most think that future oil prices will be much higher. Only 22 percent on average believe that "enough new oil will be found so that it can remain a primary source of energy for the foreseeable future." Only in Nigeria does a majority (53%) endorse the view that governments can rely on oil in the long term. Instead, an average of 70 percent takes the position that governments should assume that "oil is running out and it is necessary to make a major effort to replace oil as a primary source of energy." The largest majorities endorsing this view are found in South Korea (97%), France (91%), Mexico (83%) and China (...

20 Apr 2008 17:57 Africa/Lagos In Case You Missed It RNC Victory Chairwoman Carly Fiorina On Obama's Distortion and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)'s Economic Solutions WASHINGTON, April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fiorina: "Well, you know, Senator Obama has told us for months that words matter, and I agree with him. And his words in this regard are reckless. Just as they were reckless when he was misquoting Senator McCain on Iraq." (CNN's "Late Edition," 4/20/08) Fiorina: "So I think it would be best if we would actually argue about the facts of John McCain's plan. John McCain has been very clear that American taxpayers and homeowners are hurting, and he has laid out a very specific set of plans to help hard-working Americans in the here and now, whether it's the summer gas tax holiday, whether it is his home plan or whether it is his plan to increase the exemptions for dependents." (CNN's "Late Edition," 4/20/08) ...

18 Apr 2008 15:52 Africa/Lagos Senator Barack Obama to Appear as a Guest on 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' Monday, April 21 at 11:00 P.M. NEW YORK, April 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senator Barack Obama will make an appearance as a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Monday, April 21 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Senator Obama will appear via satellite from Pittsburgh, PA on the eve on the Pennsylvania primary. This will mark the Senator's third appearance on "The Daily Show." He previously appeared as a guest on August 22, 2007 and November 7, 2005. "The Daily Show" airs Monday-Thursday at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT and repeats at 1:00 a.m. the same night and at 10:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. the following day. The April 21 interview will be posted for viewing the following day at both www.thedailyshow.com and www.indecision2008.com with URL and embed links. Other politicians who have appeared on "The Daily Show" include fo...

19 Apr 2008 00:52 Africa/Lagos Pennsylvania Voter Registration Total Hits Historic High for a Primary Election PA Department of State Releases Final Registration Statistics HARRISBURG, Pa., April 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A record number of Pennsylvanians have registered to vote in the commonwealth's April 22 primary, according to the Department of State. The state agency today announced a final tally of 8,328,123 registered voters. While that is a record for a primary election, the record for any election remains the 2004 general election, when 8,366,663 -- or 38,540 more -- Pennsylvanians were registered to vote. "It is unprecedented for a primary election in Pennsylvania, and it is very exciting to see so many people want to participate in the electoral process," Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortes said. Since January, 218,923 new voters have registered. Of those, 152,775 registered Democratic and 40,195 registered Republican. Also since January, 1...

An Open Letter: We the undersigned deplore the conduct of ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson at the Democratic Presidential debate on April 16 . The debate was a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world. This is not the first Democratic or Republican presidential debate to emphasize gotcha questions over real discussion. However, it is, so far, the worst. For 53 minutes, we heard no question about public policy from either moderator. ABC seemed less interested in provoking serious discussion than in trying to generate cheap shot sound-bites for later rebroadcast. The questions asked by Mr. Stephanopoulos and Mr. Gibson were a disgrace, and the subsequent attempts to justify them by claiming that they reflect citizens' interest are an insult to the intelligence of those citizens and ABC's viewers. Many thousands of those viewers have already written to ABC to exp...

17 Apr 2008 17:00 Africa/Lagos Construction of U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Completed; State Department Accepts Work After Rigorous Inspections Successful Completion of Most Complex Infrastructure Project in Wartime Iraq is a Remarkable Achievement WASHINGTON, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting has successfully completed the design and construction of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The U.S. Department of State has accepted possession of the embassy after rigorous inspections of all buildings and systems by the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) and independent experts. State Department Contracting Officer David Vivian issued the formal certificates of acceptance and completion and certificates of occupancy on behalf of the State Department on April 14, 2008, the company announced today. The 104- acre, 27 building compound is a complete self-supported city-within-a-city, the largest U.S. embassy in the world...

American journalists are not getting better, but worse. Blogs and YouTube are even more trustworthy and spot on than the Main Stream Media(MSM). There is nothing new to know about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Most of the reports on them are from the recycle bin. The American news media had the chance to promote the anti-war protests to end the war in Iraq, but the chance was abandoned to sensationalize the American presidential campaign. If only you can publish the cover story of every American soldier killed in Iraq and propel the motion to impeach President George W. Bush, Americans will be happier and merrier. If Bill Clinton was impeached for his private sex life, then George W. Bush should have been impeached for misleading America into a suicidal war in Iraq. It is not too late for the American news media to launch the "IMPEACH PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH!" campaign before the presidential election, except you want the GOP to remain in power in 2009. The number one pr...