In the course of a 42-minute speech that ended with a booming display of fireworks and a shower of confetti, Barack Obama offered searing and far-reaching attacks on his presumptive Republican opponent, repeatedly portraying him as the face of the old way of politics and failed Republican policies.

“In cutting language, and to cheers that echoed across the stadium, he linked Mr. McCain to what he described as the “failed presidency of George W. Bush” and — reflecting what has been a central theme of his campaign since he entered the race — “the broken politics in Washington.””

““America, we are better than these last eight years,” he said. “We are a better country than this.””
more…

Three years ago Katrina visited New Orleans and left nothing but devastation in her wake.  Today residents are preparing to welcome Gustav.  It’s not a hurricane yet but by the time he passes over the warm Caribbean waters he could be a level 3 hurricane.

“The mix of genuine nonchalance and real unease with which people here greet the long-distance threat of a hurricane is hard for outsiders to understand.”

“It is an apparent contradiction that speaks to the Russian-roulette life of New Orleans, difficult to compress into overheated news reports and yet part of this city’s fragile texture. There is no choice: both sentiments must be entertained at once.”
more …

In one small Texas town going back to school includes FOUR R’s: reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic and ricocheting bullets!  Well, that could be the fourth ‘r’ if any of the teachers allowed to carry a concealed weapon to school makes a wrong decision.

“The school board in this impoverished rural hamlet in North Texas has drawn national attention with its decision to let some teachers carry concealed weapons, a track no other school in the country has followed. The idea is to ward off a massacre along the lines of what happened at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.”

““Our people just don’t want their children to be fish in a bowl,” said David Thweatt, the schools superintendent and driving force behind the policy. “Country people are take-care-of-yourself people. They are not under the illusion that the police are there to protect them.””
more …

The numbers are out.  The economy expanded at a 3.3 percent rate from April through June, far faster than first thought.  The outlook for the remainder of the year remained grim.

“Even as investors celebrated with a rally in the stock market, pushing the Dow up more than 200 points, economists cautioned that consumer spending and foreign demand would probably dry up in the months ahead.”

“With layoffs on the rise, corporate profits falling, and the housing slump still in full swing, the report was seen by many analysts as something of a last gasp.”
more…

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, AP Writer

AP Photo: Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, 10, second…

DENVER - Fresh off his historic nominating convention, Democrat Barack Obama is

embarking on what likely will be the most important 67 days of his campaign for the  

White House. Republican John McCain is looking to upstage his rival with the announcement of his running mate.  Obama leaves the convention city of Denver as the first black man to be nominated for president by a major political party. The 47-year-old Illinois senator won over the party faithful — even some die-hard backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — but the broader electorate awaits.

His first stop: the battleground states of the Midwest. On Friday, Obama flies to Pittsburgh, where he and running mate Joe Biden will kick off a bus tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

The goal is to maintain the buzz of a convention that culminated Thursday night with Obama addressing an energetic, flag-waving crowd of 84,000 packed into Denver’s pro football stadium.

“Change happens because the American people demand it — because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time,” Obama told the adoring crowd at Invesco Field. “America, this is one of those moments.”

McCain, who marks his 72nd birthday on Friday, was determined to create his own gift — steal some of the spotlight from Obama by revealing his choice for vice president. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty canceled several media interviews Thursday, stoking speculation that he was the one.

McCain and his No. 2 are expected to appear together for the first time at one or more rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri in the run-up to the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

In the jam-packed football stadium, Obama promised an end to eight years of “broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush” and argued that McCain “doesn’t get it.”

He pledged to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America’s dependence on Mideast oil within a decade. Portraying a McCain administration as a continuation of the current Bush White House, Obama said, “On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: ‘Eight is enough.’”

Polls show a tight race between Obama and McCain, with some two months before the election and three high-stakes debates.

Obama accepted his party’s nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. He alluded to the historic parallel — and its promise — toward the end of his 44-minute speech.

“What the people heard … people of every creed and color, from every walk of life — is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one,” Obama said.

Scattered around the stadium, some wept when Obama entered.

“I’m crying because I was around when Martin Luther King died and when John F. Kennedy died, and it’s a long time since then and a long time to get back the dream,” said Francino Norman of Miami. “This is history. I will tell my grandchildren about this.”

Obama criticized McCain’s support for the war in Iraq, while invoking Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy as proof that Democrats could be strong on defense.

“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament and judgment to serve as the next commander in chief, that’s a debate I’m ready to have,” Obama said. “John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell — but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives.”

In response, McCain’s campaign said, “Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama.”

The Obama campaign emphasized the next phase of the campaign by encouraging supporters in the stadium to use their cell phones to send text messages to friends and to call thousands of unregistered voters from lists developed by the campaign.

Obama’s campaign has identified 55 million voting age Americans across the country who are not registered to vote.

Obama entered the Democratic convention still needing to win over many of Clinton’s supporters. Some Clinton delegates arrived in Denver wary of Obama, still sore over their epic nominating battle.

Obama’s speech followed two days of full-throated endorsements by his one-time rival and her husband, the former president. Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a short statement Thursday night praising Obama’s speech.

Sari Bourne stood in the crowd Thursday night and cried while holding an American flag against her cheek.

“I worked on the Hillary Clinton campaign for a year and I’ve come to the realization that he’s the one to change this country,” said the 23-year-old New Yorker.

On the other side of the globe, Obama’s relatives in Kenya watched his speech at the home of Obama’s uncle, Said Obama, in Kisumu, more than 300 miles from the capital, Nairobi.

Said Obama told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he believes his nephew’s success signals a change in race relations in America.

“Race is a problem in America,” he said. “But let’s hope that Americans are going to address the problems that are bedeviling the country.”

_

Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Denver and Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

Amherst Bee Political Columnist Calls Michele Iannello, Dan Ward and Joe Mesi Ugly People  

The Amherst Bee may be suffering from financial worries.  If not, why would they have hired Dan Meyer to be their Political Columnist?

Dan Meyer reports political news.  I read his column before and I wanted to see if he had improved his ability to see a story in depth.  I was sadly disappointed and must now tell you, he hasn’t.

Meyer has learned to be critical without giving any reason, as in his comments about the candidates running in for  the 61^st State Senate seat.  He wrote that the three candidates for the seat are ‘ugly people’, whatever he means by ‘ugly’. 

I wonder if he has told Joe Mesi, Dan Ward or the very lovely Michele Iannello, that they are ugly to their faces. 

j.j. Tricoli

Friends of Dan Ward
Present a
FUNDRAISER
in support of
DAN WARD
Candidate for NY State Senate - 61st District
Thursday, September 4, 2008
SCOTCH ‘N SIRLOIN, 3000 Maple Road, Amherst, New York
Time:  5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
$50.00 Single * $85.00 Couple * $100.00 Friend * $500.00 Good Friend

Send Checks  To 49 Manor Oak Drive

Amherst, New York 14228

(Political contributions are not tax deductible)

Mary J. (Borucka) Wrona, mother of Mike Wrona, our friend and editor of the www.blognetnews.com website, has passed into new life.  We at Amhersttimes.com send our sincere condolences and prayers to Mike and his family.  Those who know Mike and wish to pay their respects can do so today.

Family will be present to receive friends Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the (Blasdell/Lackawanna Chapel) JOHN J. KACZOR FUNERAL HOME INC., 3450 South Park Ave. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered Friday morning at 9:30 at Queen of Angels Church (formerly St. Michael the Archangel Church). Please assemble at church. Interment will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery. Mrs. Wrona was a member of the OLSH Senior Citizens.

Found this on the Albany Project blog ~

by: robert.harding
Wed Aug 27, 2008 at 15:00:57 PM EDT  

Citizen Action of New York and Citizen Action’s Western New York chapter have sent a letter to Erie County Board of Elections Commissioner Dennis Ward, who serves as the Democratic commissioner with the Erie County Board of Elections, asking him to “delegate [his] oversight responsibilities” due to his personal connections to the 61st Senate District Democratic primary. Dennis Ward is married to candidate Michele Iannello and Ward’s brother, Dan Ward, is also a candidate in the race.

Dear Mr. Ward:

On behalf of advocates for good government practices and campaign reform, we are writing to express our concerns about the integrity of the upcoming primary election in the 61st Senate District on September 9th.   It is your office’s mission to provide complete oversight and ensure fairness, and we are concerned that your ability to oversee a fair election has been compromised.  We understand you are in difficult position, no matter how fair your intentions may be.

There have been recent news reports indicating a greater level of interest by your office in this particular election in contrast to other elections.  We are also very concerned about recent public disclosures of financial contributions in the order of $8,000.00 that you have made to your wife’s campaign.  

Transparency is the hallmark of the elections commission, and we ask you to hold yourself to the same high standard that you normally display. We are also requesting assurance that you will be delegating your oversight responsibilities for this particular race to a more objective person.

Sincerely,

Ellen Kennedy

President of Citizen Action of New York

Jim Anderson

Chair of the Western New York Regional Board of Citizen Action of New York

Iannello’s 11 day pre-primary filing shows that Dennis Ward has loaned Iannello’s campaign $8,000 which could provide for a perceived conflict of interest. And as the saying goes, sometimes the perception of a conflict of interest is worse than an actual conflict of interest.

I believe Dennis Ward’s intentions are in the right place. However, as Erie County BOE commissioner, he should delegate responsibilities for this race to ensure that the process is a fair one. No one is accusing Dennis Ward of anything, but Citizen Action calling for a more objective process is arguably the right thing to do here.

This is a complicated primary. It’s not too often you see a brother-in-law and sister-in-law running against each other. You’re not going to see too many of these races. That said, it would be best for everyone involved if Dennis Ward stepped aside this time.  

The signs of the political candidates have hit Amherst like a tornado. The law in Amherst is clear.  Signs can only be placed on the property of the owner of that property.  No signs can be placed from the edge of a sidewalk to the street.  This law is never obeyed.  

Take a ride around town.  You will see more than 50 Jon Powers signs in illegal places, more than 60 signs with the name ‘Alice’ in big letters, are illegally placed.  The candidate with the fewest illegally placed signs is Dan Ward.