Nasdaq closes at highest level since 2000; S&P, Dow also at multiyear highs !!

Nasdaq closes at highest level since 2000; S&P, Dow also at multiyear highs 06 Sep 2012 U.S. stocks closed at multi-year highs Thursday following the European Central Bank's announcement it will buy bonds and positive U.S. job data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 244.52 points, or 1.9%, at 13,292, its highest close since December 2007. The S&P 500 Index advanced 28.86 points, or 2%, to close at 1,432.12, its highest close since January 2008. For both indexes, it was the best one-day percentage gain since June 29. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 66.64 points, or 2.2%, to close at 3,135.81, its highest close since November 2000. [WHY don't Republicans *love* Barack Obama? With his implementation of their policies -- and then some -- President Obama has been very, very good to Wall Street! --LRP]

Obama Asks for Time to Win U.S. Revival --President Obama Accepts Democratic Nomination for Second Term 07 Sep 2012 President Obama on Thursday night accepted the Democratic nomination for a second term, making a forceful argument that he had rescued the economy from disaster and ushered in a recovery that would be imperiled by a return to Republican stewardship. Defining his fight for re-election as a bald "choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future," Mr. Obama conceded the country's continuing difficulties while pleading for more time to solve them. He laid out a long-term blueprint for revival in an era obsessed with short-term expectations.

Biden accepts Democratic nomination for a second term as Obama's vice president 06 Sep 2012 Joe Biden stepped forward Thursday as Barack Obama's chief character witness, link to middle class voters and potentially the most biting critic of Republican rival Mitt Romney. Speaking candidly about his front-row seat to Obama's presidency, Biden used his speech to Democrats' convention to paint his friend as a gutsy leader who helped the nation turn the corner on its dour economy. He pointed to the decisions to bail out Detroit's auto industry and to dispatch Navy SEALs into Pakistan for a fatal raid on al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader Osama bin Laden's compound.

Barack Obama: Americans are 'absolutely' better off than in 2008 --President sends clear statement over economy as he prepares to reinforce message from Bill Clinton's widely praised speech 06 Sep 2012 Barack Obama has stated categorically that Americans are better off than they were four years ago, as he prepares for primetime acceptance speech on Thursday night to the Democratic national convention in Charlotte... "We are absolutely better off than we were when I was sworn in and we were losing 800,000 jobs in a month," Obama told Virginia radio station NBC 12 in a interview broadcast a few hours before he was scheduled address delegates in North Carolina.

Transcript: President Obama's DNC Speech 06 Sep 2012 Here are President Obama's remarks, as prepared for delivery, formally accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at his party's convention Thursday night: ...The first time I addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger man; a Senate candidate from Illinois who spoke about hope -- not blind optimism or wishful thinking, but hope in the face of difficulty; hope in the face of uncertainty; that dogged faith in the future which has pushed this nation forward, even when the odds are great; even when the road is long.

Biden makes case for Obama as defender of the 'average American' 06 Sep 2012 Vice President Joe Biden suited up his familiar attire as attack dog Thursday night, leaving nothing to the imagination on the "completely different value set" and "vastly different visions" between President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney. After officially accepting the nomination for a second term, Biden blew past his allotted 30 minutes to speak and said he wanted to use his speech to "take you inside the White House," where he said he's seen the president demonstrate incomparable courage in his decision-making, just as the "average American" makes "equally as consequential" decisions at his or her kitchen table. On everything from the auto industry bailout to the hunt for Osama bin Laden to Medicare to the DREAM Act, Biden tried to make the president's case as more qualified than Romney because of his "profound concern for the average American."

Transcript of John Kerry's speech 06 Sep 2012 The following is a copy of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by US Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, September 6, 2012. ...Despite what you heard in Tampa, an exceptional country does care about the rise of the oceans and the future of the planet. That is a responsibility from the Scriptures - and that too is a responsibility of the leader of the free world. The only thing exceptional about today's Republicans is that - almost without exception - they oppose everything that has made America exceptional in the first place. An exceptional nation demands the leadership of an exceptional president. And, my fellow Americans, that president is Barack Obama.

Former U.S. lawmaker Giffords wows convention crowd --Leads pledge to U.S. flag in clear voice 07 Sep 2012 Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from being shot in the head, made a moving appearance at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night to lead the pledge of allegiance. The hall erupted into a standing ovation as Giffords walked across the stage - limping, but without a cane - accompanied by U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the president of the Democratic Party and a close friend.

Romney campaign to 'carpet bomb' airwaves after Obama nomination speech 06 Sep 2012 Senior Romney-Ryan campaign officials tell [their handlers at] Fox News the campaign will launch an enormous media offensive on Friday, the day after President Obama accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for a second term. The push will include ad buys in several states that will cost tens of millions of dollars. Aides said more than a dozen new ads, each tailored to different regions and segments of the electorate, will begin airing Friday, aimed at dramatically shifting the dynamics of a contest that Romney-Ryan aides acknowledge, in terms of the hard realities of the electoral map, have until now favored the Obama-Biden ticket.

The Democratic convention: A scripted and empty spectacle 06 Sep 2012 As the Democratic National Convention went into its second day Wednesday, the completely predictable and banal character of this event becomes more and more evident. Representing one of the two parties of American big business, the delegates assembled in Charlotte are a million miles away from the real conditions of life facing tens of millions of working people in the United States.

Fact checking Bill Clinton's speech and other Democrats at the convention in Charlotte 06 Sep 2012 "During this period, more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been created under President Obama. That's the first time manufacturing jobs have increased since the 1990s." --Clinton. Clinton is referring to the period since February 2010, the administration's preferred date for counting employment figures. If you count from the beginning of Obama's term, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that manufacturing jobs have declined by more than 500,000. Manufacturing jobs have been on a long steep decline since the middle of Clinton's term, with some 2 million jobs lost during the recession that started at the end of George W. Bush's term.

Rights Watch: Evidence of Wider US Waterboarding 06 Sep 2012 Human Rights Watch said it has uncovered evidence of a wider use of waterboarding than previously acknowledged by the CIA, in a report Thursday detailing brutal treatment of detainees prisoners at U.S.-run lockups abroad after the 9/11 attacks. The accounts by two former Libyan detainees who said they underwent simulated drowning emerge only days after the Justice Department closed its investigation of the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods. Any new instances of waterboarding, however, would go beyond the three that the CIA has said were authorized.

29 Dead in 8 Days as U.S. Puts Yemen Drone War in Overdrive 05 Sep 2012 29 dead in a little over a week. Nearly 200 gone this year. The White House is stepping up its campaign of drone attacks in Yemen, with four strikes in eight days. And not even the slaying of 10 civilians over the weekend seems to have slowed the pace in the United States' secretive, undeclared war.

2 U.S. Troops Die in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan 05 Sep 2012 A NATO helicopter crashed today in Eastern Afghanistan, killing two U.S. troops, the third time in 10 days that a coalition helicopter has come down. The two Americans, who have not been named, were the only crew aboard the OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, according to a Defense Department official. The cause of the crash is under investigation and officials have not ruled out that the chopper was shot down.

New rotation of soldiers heads to Kosovo 05 Sep 2012 The latest rotation of U.S. soldiers to the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo arrived in the small Balkan nation on Wednesday. Kosovo Force 16, or KFOR16, comprises roughly 750 soldiers from the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade out of South Carolina and eight smaller Guard units; Army reservists; and multinational troops, said the Defense Department and a KFOR spokesman.

Oil from BP spill uncovered by Isaac's waves 06 Sep 2012 Waves from Hurricane Isaac uncovered oil buried along Gulf Coast beaches, exposing crude that wasn't cleaned up after the BP spill in 2010. Since Isaac made landfall more than a week ago, the water from the storm has receded and tar balls and oil have been reported on shores in Alabama and Louisiana, where officials closed a 13-mile stretch of beach Tuesday.

Decision on Gary McKinnon expected on 16 October --Ten years and one month to wait 06 Sep 2012 A decision on whether to extradite Gary McKinnon is due in a little more than one month, according to a statement from his mother, campaigner Janis Sharp. Sharp told The INQUIRER today that a decision on the 16 October could bring an end to the ten year torment endured by her son. His lawyer, Karen Todner, also confirmed the date in a statement on her website.

Secret Service probing claimed theft of Romney tax records, $1M hush money demand 06 Sep 2012 The Secret Service said Wednesday it is investigating the reported theft of copies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's federal tax records during a break-in at an accounting office in Franklin. Someone claiming responsibility demanded $1 million not to make them public. An anonymous letter sent to Romney's accounting firm and political offices in Tennessee and published online sought $1 million in hard-to-trace Internet currency to prevent the disclosure of his tax filings, which have emerged as a key focus during the 2012 presidential race.

A lost generation 06 Sep 2012 Amid the growth of youth joblessness, the renewed assault on education has an especially disastrous impact. The combined effect of youth unemployment and education cuts is creating a growing section of young people who are neither working nor in school, and whose prospects for a career are dwindling every day.