Nation: Huntingtonnews.com (West Virginia) reports the theft of electronic equipment from transmitting towers in Charleston. Ten break-ins occurred at three sites. The FBI was called after it was learned that the equipment could be used “to jam emergency frequencies,” the report says.
World: The gruesome ethnic violence in Kenya has wreaked an awful toll in one month’s time — almost 800 lives, Breitbart.com reports.
Journalism: For an insight into what’s going on in America’s newsrooms, read Nashville Scene’s “Desperately seeking the news”.
Health: New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued a subpoena to Merck & Co and Schering-Plough Corp to see whether testing results for the controversial cholesterol drug Vytorin were hidden, Reuters reports. “Drug companies are on notice that concealing critical information about life-saving prescription drugs, profiting at the expense of patients’ health, and wasting taxpayer dollars, is simply unacceptable,” Cuomo said.
Health: A study published in New Scientist magazine suggests that through their exposure to manure, farmers might experience a lower incidence of lung cancer, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
O P I N I O N
Does Sen. Barack Obama have what it takes to inspire this nation back to its past greatness?Caroline Kennedy thinks so. Coming off a resounding victory in South Carolina, Obama must have been buoyed even higher by Kennedy’s op-ed piece in today’s New York Times — “A President Like My Father.”
Kennedy writes, ” All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children.” Citing the fact that the “candidates goals are similar,” Kennedy says “Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.”
There is a big generational issue at play this election. While older women may be keen on seeing the first woman president, younger women look past the need for that hallmark in favor of getting rid of the old guard and setting a new direction for our future. They specifically say they don’t want the Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton pattern to continue.
Kennedy notes that Obama “has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.” Forget soccer moms. If Obama is successful in engaging a coalition of young voters to come out to the polls in record numbers, he could indeed change this nation dramatically.
“There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative,” Kennedy writes. “But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.”
Kennedy goes on to say that Obama has run his campaign with dignity. Is that a slam at Sen. Hillary Clinton, whose husband and campaign handlers of late have made one faux pas after another? Perhaps. The Democratic Party is concerned about this, too. And on Monday another Kennedy, Sen. Ted, will announce his endorsement of Obama.
Caroline Kennedy writes that Obama could be the first president like her father, one who can inspire “a new generation of Americans.” That’s quite an endorsement coming from America’s political royalty.
♣ Nation/world news tally in my local paper today: 2½ pages
Feed me 5 Under the Radar
