Transcript and video from the first President Obama news conference

AFP

President Barack Obama held the first prime-time news conference of his presidency Monday night. Obama took questions from reporters on topics ranging from the economic slowdown and discussions in Congress of his proposed stimulus legislation to issues involving Iran and the Middle East and the news that New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has confessed…

The AFP Blog – Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009

Chris Graham

– Perriello criticizes tobacco tax in SCHIP bill, Wednesday, 1:40 p.m. – Conservation easements top 100,000 acres in Valley, Wednesday, 12:50 p.m. – Treasury announces new restrictions on executive compensation, Wednesday, 12:50 p.m. – House GOP pushing mental-health reforms, Wednesday, 12:50 p.m. – House bill allowing government-sanctioned sectarian prayers at government meetings unconstitutional, ACLU says,…

Lisa Schirch | The right to self-defense is not a strategy for peace

AFP

From an Israeli perspective, the cost in international outrage and Palestinian civilian lives of the current attacks on Gaza is worth the price of crushing Hamas’s firepower. The goal is seductive, and Israel will likely succeed in slowing the development of rockets by Hamas in the short term. But just like Israel’s siege of Lebanon…

Haresh Daswani | Upcoming Middle East crisis: Handle with care

AFP

The new attack of Israel in Gaza and India’s and U.S.’s strong case against Pakistan will stir some very strong emotions amongst people radical extremists in the Middle East are trying to recruit. The whole ploy of these nations is to cause a negative propaganda, a one-sided story that pretends on the idea that they…

‘Wake up, damn it!’

Chris Graham

For the uninitiated, Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene told it like it was in his world on the Washington, D.C., airwaves on WOL during the late 1960s and early 1970s before succumbing to cancer. The ex-con, who described himself in his boss’s word – a miscreant, because it sounded more sophisticated – would no doubt be…

Valley Blue Dog: Republican Tricks, Democratic Treats!

Steven Sisson

Column by Steven Sisson Halloween is a time for dressing up in a costume and wearing a mask and having fun. But grownups wear masks, too, especially politicians, and more than ever Republicans are masking the truth behind their agenda. According to nationwide polls, 70 percent of leaders can’t be trusted. The Blue Dog says…

Harrisonburg: Seminary alum examines intersection of politics, faith

AFP

Story by Laura Lehman Amstutz With the presidential race on many peoples’ minds these days, one Eastern Mennonite Seminary alumna is always thinking about the intersection of politics and Christian faith. Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach, a 2006 graduate, is director of Mennonite Central Committee U.S.’s Washington Office. “The work of MCC’s Washington Office largely grows out…