http://www.ToTheCenter.com/ ToTheCenter.com's philosophy is simple. The average person may not recognize a political left or right; but rather, somewhere in between. Our mission is to keep our opinion and news "down the middle" for all. http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4913 Barack Obama may not have won his party’s nomination yet, but he still has reason to sing a tune. The Illinois senator currently leads his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, in popular votes and delegates. In addition to this, Obama is claiming the lion’s share of a new demographic – internet songwriters. "Songs about candidates have really taken off," says YouTube head Steve Grove. "They've found a new way to support their candidates. ... it stretches from regular average voters all the way up to somebody like will.i.am in terms of being kind of like a new, broader trend in political video." Although Clinton and McCain also enjoy support within the YouTube community, Obama’s campaign soundtrack features a more impressive array of musical tributes – everything from folk to reggae. One of those amateur songwriter is Annie Palovcik, who wrote folk ode titled “Illinois Boy” at the advent of Obama’s stardom during the 2004 election. The piece was posted on the internet when the senator swept the primaries and threatened Clinton’s presumed hold on the nomination. "The concepts of his character and the place of Illinois filtered through my mind into this allegorical country song," says Palovcik. "He is energizing those around him, daring them to look for a new way to dream," she says. Source: The Associate Press http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4912 On Monday, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr declared that he will seek the presidency as the candidate for the Libertarian Party. Barr, who served as a Republican in the House of Representatives for eight years, outlined his campaign platform, which emphasized the importance of fiscal discipline at home and a noninterventionist policy abroad. "The government has run amok fiscally," Barr told reporters at a press appearance. "There's not a great deal of substance there in terms of a commitment to cutting the size of government.” Barr also went on to criticize Republican nominee John McCain, whom he claimed was not a genuine conservative. He also revealed to reporters that supporters of the Arizona senator had pleaded with him not to run. Barr dismissed such entreaties and declared that "American voters deserve better than simply the lesser of two evils." Some experts say that, as a social conservative, Barr could steal votes away from McCain, particularly among evangelicals who have expressed displeasure with the latter’s stances on moral issues. However, others argue that Barr’s antiwar position could draw votes away from the Democratic base, especially if Clinton is the nominee. Source: Los Angeles Times http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4911 At the time that this article is written, 4,071 American families have lost a loved one in the war that our nation is in. Many of the kids fighting in this war will eventually face the same politics that our troops in Vietnam faced. As someone writing from a liberal perspective, I want it known that my thoughts against the war are not against any of our troops in any single way. They are political thoughts to hopefully bring them all home safe and sound. As a child, I was the son of a WWII Navy veteran that served as a medic attached to the Marines. All of my life, I wondered why my father never wanted any of his children to go into the military and follow in his footsteps. It’s an honorable service and for the most part builds a sense of character that one can never appreciate as a civilian. Serving your nation, offering your life in defense of your country and all of the good and bad things it has to offer its people is a greater sacrifice than most people will ever face in a lifetime. From time to time I can imagine why my father chose to keep his children out of the military. As a medic he had seen the cost of war first hand on many soldiers and marines. Their blood touched his hands first on the battlefield and changed his life forever. On Iwo Jima, he spoke of the fighting that went on around the clock for days and he finally passed out with exhaustion, but found comfort in a large comfortable object and slept for several hours, nestled in sleep with his head resting comfortably. That object was a larger than life dead rat, but it was the best night of sleep he had in weeks. In politics today, they talk about the war in Iraq as if it is something for somebody else to worry about. Most Americans don’t even think about the war in their day to day lives, other than the headlines we read in the papers. Have we become numb to the body count and our children coming home in caskets day after day? Are we ignorant that our kids are still risking their lives every single day in Iraq while we debate politics and personal gripes on healthcare and whom is the best candidate to offer the best solution to America's future problems? We as a people need to recognize that our fight for justice over the attacks of 9/11 are over. Our troops need to come home and defend America on the homeland. Our troops need to come back to the land they love and the land they have defended honorably. The mission in Iraq is over. The war is won. That fact is proven by the number of dead of our nation's enemy that compares to the sacrifice paid in our own war dead. In some reports the number of Iraqi dead in the war is over one million. Percentages work against any nation willing to attack America ever again. Nut job terrorists hiding behind any nation may not care that in a room of ten terrorists that less than one half of one percent of them will survive. America is not playing around anymore with nut jobs. Our nation faces an economic crisis that can continue to funnel billions of dollars out of our nation's economy to support the efforts in Iraq, or it can focus those dollars on the people at home. Bringing our troops home is not accepting defeat in Iraq. Iraq has never in its nation's history been stable unless a gun has been held at its people's heads. America and our military is not about that. Bringing our troops home is the beginning to the end of the ugly America out to bully the world and the end of the George W. Bush legacy. Now is the time for the olive branch over the sword. Papamoka http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4910 Hillary Clinton is trying to get back the $11 million she has loaned her campaign, according to the Associated Press. Clinton, as everyone knows, has been extremely reluctant to drop out of the race, even though it seems that she cannot win. At this point, Barack Obama has the lead in the popular vote, delegate count and super delegate count. “I’m staying in the race until there’s a nominee,” the New York senator told reporters months ago. But at that point, Clinton seemed to have the nomination handedly won. At this point, Clinton seems doomed, and if she doesn’t collect her $11 million soon, she’ll lose that as well. Clinton figures to win West Virginia, which Obama has just about conceded that she will win. But that will not make up her delegate deficit, and one must ask the question of whether or not Clinton is staying in the race long enough for her campaign to free up $11 million so Clinton can get her money back. What do you think? http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4909 Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in an effort to sway voters in Kentucky and West Virginia, are emphasizing "clean coal" alternatives, essentially de-emphasizing the global warming priority, reports Reuters. West Virginia and Kentucky are in the heart of coal mining country, prompting the candidates to discuss what experts say are economically nonviable ways of "trapping" the greenhouse gases emitted by coal burning. At a rally in the rural town of Clear Fork on Monday, Clinton told the crowd, "We need some big investments right now in figuring out how to capture and store carbon dioxide from coal." During these rallies in coal country, she hasn't brought up the fact that she plans on cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050 if elected president. In Kentucky, Obama passed out fliers claiming, "Barack Obama believes in clean Kentucky coal." Coal-powered plants are notorious for emitting greenhouse gases, contributing 40 percent to the U.S.'s total greenhouse emissions; however, on the flip side, coal is the source for half of the U.S.'s electricity. Opposition to clean-coal alternatives claim that there is no such thing as a viable clean-coal theory. Brent Blackwelder, president of the environmental group Friends of the Earth, emphasizes, "We shouldn't be placing our bets on coal to bail us out. We need to be looking at getting rid of coal plants." It is very common for candidates to de-emphasize their stance on global warming in coal states, like Al Gore did prior to the election in 2000. "The candidates appear to be following a tried and true tradition which is telling the audience what they want to hear," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a nonpartisan environmental group. "It's politics as usual." http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4908 Cablevision Systems Corp. finalized a deal to buy struggling news magazine Newsday from Tribune Co., but most experts do not believe that the investment will ever be justified. Cablevision attempted to shine its takeover in a good light by saying that it was one Long Island company taking over another, and with this, it would be able to return Newsday to its roots. Cablevision also went on to say that it would explore the opportunities dealing with advertising and cross-promotion between its other platforms. Cablevision stockholders seem to agree with the experts, seeing that the company’s shares were down 2.3 percent to $24.39 in the New York Stock Exchange. The company, owned by the Dolan family (who also owns the New York Knicks, who just spent $6 million a year on a basketball coach), is being lambasted for investing in the struggling U.S. newspaper industry by investors who would prefer a higher dividend or Cablevision to buy back some shares (which puts money into the investors pockets). Was this a good investment by Cablevision? Would you rather have money in your pocket, or the company invest in one of America's most respected publications? http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4907 A 20-year-old Drake University student from Illinois was charged with assaulting a police officer Sunday after he threw candy at the officer. Officials say that Sean McGuire, from Glenview, Illinois, was arrested at a convenience story for, according to officials, throwing several M&Ms at a Des Moines police officer, who at the time was investigating a hit and run. Initial reports from the officer say that the security guards at the store heard several of the candies hitting the ground and then turned around. As he turned, one of the chocolate candies hit the officer in the shoulder. Authorities say that McGuire was throwing the M&Ms to stick up for one of his friends, who was reportedly the suspect the police officer was looking for in relation to the hit and run. McGuire is currently out on bond. Do you think the charges will stick? Is this just another example of the police wasting their time, or was the arrest warranted? http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4906 Since his victory in North Carolina, Senator Barack Obama has started to behave as though he is his party’s official nominee. The Obama campaign has already drawn up its game plan for the fall contest. This includes courting Latinos and independent voters as well as laying groundwork for support in key battleground states. The Illinois senator has also switched targets from Clinton to McCain. Just recently, the McCain camp broached the idea of having the two men participate in a series of unmoderated townhall debates across America. Each candidate would lay out his views on a range of policy matters and answer spontaneous questions from the audience. This is not the first time that two potential rivals have discussed such an unusual campaign plan. In 1963, presumptive Republican nominee Barry Goldwater made the same proposal to President John F. Kennedy, whom he expected to face in the 1964 election. On Sunday, Obama strategist David Axelrod told Fox News that the idea is being considered “very seriously.” “We believe that is the most significant election we've faced in a long time,” said Axelrod. “We're at war. Our economy is in turmoil. And we've got so many challenges that the people of this country deserve a serious discourse, and it shouldn't be limited necessarily to three kinds of very regimented debates in the fall.” Source: The New York Times http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4905 Hillary is to elections what Bill is to women – she just won’t take “No” for an answer. Like the Energizer Bunny in those old battery commercials, Hillary just keeps going . . . and going . . . and going . . . and going. . . . According to polls, she is expected to score a huge victory in the Mountain State. This is understandable, given the area’s high concentration of white rural voters. No doubt, Clinton will use the impending win to bolster her flagging campaign and argue further that she – and only she – can win back those Reagan Democrats. As Democratic strategist Paul Begala so uneloquently put it, “We cannot win with eggheads and African-Americans.” By the time June 3 rolls around, Obama will probably have increased his lead in votes and delegates. Yet, I am going to go out on a limb and predict that this will not faze Hillary, who will fight to the death for the nomination. Be sure to tune in August so that you can watch the thoroughly entertaining spectacle of Hillary getting dragged kicking and screaming from the convention floor. Yet, despite my dislike of the woman, I have to be fair. I must confess that I find Hillary’s indomitable will to be truly remarkable. Her enthusiasm for the fight is a must for any successful politician – even a bad one. If and when Hillary bows out of the race, President Bush should dump Patraeus and put the former First Lady in command of all U.S. forces in Iraq. She will make sure we persevere in that country, even if it takes 100 years. http://www.ToTheCenter.com/news.php?readmore=4904 As his presidency sinks into the doldrums of unpopularity, George W. Bush and his supporters have taken to comparing him to former president Harry Truman. On a certain level, this is understandable. Like Bush, Truman was despised throughout much of his presidency. Yet, the man is now heralded by academics and citizens alike as one of our greatest presidents. Since achieving an all-time high in the days following 9/11, Bush’s poll numbers have dropped faster than Bill Clinton’s drawers during the latter’s tenure in the Oval Office. Dubya’s approval rating currently stands at 28, one of the lowest in living memory. Also, his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded – 71 percent. Clearly, Bush and his well-wishers in the GOP camp are hoping that history will ultimately vindicate him, as it did to the Man from Independence. Conservative commentators have noted the alleged similarities between the two presidents – the flat voices and enmity with the mainstream media, among others. However, this writer is not buying it. In fact, there is another president who reminds me of “Give ’em Hell!” Harry – Bush’s father. The likeness between the two is remarkable on several levels. Although he assumed the presidency upon Roosevelt’s death in 1945, Truman was officially elected in 1948 and served until 1953. Bush was elected in 1988 and left office in 1993. Both men fought valiantly for their country in a world war and were noted for their integrity and sincerity, yet neither could get reelected. In fact, Truman was so unpopular that he couldn’t even run again. Bush and Truman inhabited the Oval Office at a time of great transition for the United States. Truman served during the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War. Bush served during the end of the Cold War and the beginning of America’s war with international terrorism. Both men suffered from a deficit of charisma and were often ridiculed for their flat, monotone oratory. As if this wasn’t enough, Bush and Truman also had the misfortune of succeeding personable and inspiring presidents who influenced the politics of their parties as well as the nation for generations to come. Also, both were succeeded by two-term moderates who presided over eight years of relative calm and prosperity, thanks in large part to the work of their predecessors. Bush and Truman took a multilateralist approach to foreign policy, emphasizing cooperation and teamwork with key allies. Indeed, both presidents led a UN coalition to oust an invader from a sovereign foreign nation. Although no one can predict history’s verdicts, I believe that George W. Bush will be best remembered as the incarnation of another Texas cowboy who took America into a disastrous Third World conflict – Lyndon Johnson.