Obama Evening News & Roundup -- The Sanctuary rises.

Barack Obama is counting on a strong youth turnout to rock the vote in PA:

Obama is counting on a big showing from the state's nearly 700,000 college students on more than 150 campuses.

The Illinois senator has received the support of about 60 percent of voters aged 18-24 in competitive states, exit polls indicate, and his advantage with that group doesn't appear to be waning in Pennsylvania.

The question is whether that will be enough to prevail in a state where polls have found Clinton consistently ahead, if by shrinking margins.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Obama leading Clinton 51 percent to 42 percent among likely Democratic voters ages 18-44 in Pennsylvania, but trailing nine points overall.

Caroline Kennedy drew over 1,000 people to a rally and canvass in Glendale, PA:

I keep being told that women are going to decide this election, and how great is that? But, we know that women decide all elections. And Barack Obama is the leader for us, and this time.

Aren’t we lucky that somebody has come along that can take this moment, and our history, to the place it needs to go? It is rare to find a leader who can inspire us and make us believe that together we really can do great things. Inspiration is so important –it can transform this country. When each of us takes an action that is courageous it gives strength to those around us to face the next challenge and those acts can change history. And that is the chance that we have with Barack Obama. And it is our responsibility to put everything aside to help him fight for all of us.

We need a president who will fight for civil rights, education, and hold himself to the highest ethical standards. It’s up to each of us to create a government that is close to our heart's desire, because if we don’t do it, somebody else will. It is up to us to take this moment back – to take this country back – to create a government that our hearts desire. It’s coming down to Pennsylvania and you are going to make a difference. Let’s make history in Pennsylvania.

Washington County native John Kanzius talks about a remarkable invention that he made that not only kills cancer cells, but can also desalinize water:

Successful inventions often end up with more uses than baking soda, and that may be the case with the Kanzius RF generator.

When he developed it years ago, his sole intent was a cancer treatment that worked without side effects.

So far, so good.

Research on his invention is on a fast track at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The growing body of research proves his generator thermally kills cancer cells spiked with RF-reactive nanoparticles.

But last year, Mr. Kanzius discovered his RF generator also burns salt water. When Rustum Roy, a Penn State University water expert and chemist, saw it demonstrated on a YouTube video, he traveled to the laboratory that Mr. Kanzius uses in Erie to witness it firsthand.

Since then he and Mr. Kanzius have signed a cooperative agreement to study and develop the technology for commercial applications, including salt-water desalination, pollution cleanup and using RF to alter solids and metals.

Dr. Roy has shown that RF causes oxygen and hydrogen atoms to separate then reunite, creating a flame more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and pure water. The RF generator is powered by electricity. The ratio of energy used vs. energy generated has yet to be determined.

"It's such an unbelievable fact -- so unbelievable that no one wants to believe it," Dr. Roy said. "It has one advantage -- an infinite and easy supply" of sea water.

Desalinating salt water while generating recoverable energy "is a tree-hugger's dream," he said. "This is a very major discovery in science."

What makes his story even more remarkable is that he is not even a doctor or a researcher -- he was simply a cancer survivor who did his own research and who came up with his device. And this is the sort of change that an Obama administration can bring about -- instead of trillions of taxpayer dollars going down the black hole of Halliburton, never to return, that money will be spent on worthwhile projects like the Kanzius RF, which will help solve not only our water crisis, but help with the fight against cancer as well. And the Obama healthcare plan will give people access to these treatments by driving down medical costs.

Obama's remarks on the betrayal of Rural America by both parties over the last 30 years:

So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people are most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.

Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism.

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What is the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is so we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- to close tax loopholes, uh you know uh roll back the tax cuts for the top 1%, Obama's gonna give tax breaks to uh middle-class folks and we're gonna provide healthcare for every American.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.

Gas prices going up again in PA:

Gasoline prices edged up overnight to record highs in both Pennsylvania and Delaware, AAA Mid-Atlantic said Friday.

The average per gallon price of regular unleaded gas climbed by a penny in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the five-county Philadelphia and South Jersey region, and by two cents in Delaware.

Prices are at a record $3.33 per gallon in Pennsylvania and $3.26 per gallon in Delaware, and a yearly high of $3.28 per gallon in the Philadelphia region and $3.09 per gallon in New Jersey, including South Jersey.

And on top of that, more and more suppliers are demanding that gas stations pay cash up front or they will not deliver.

Barack Obama gave an interview to The Advocate, one of the largest GLBT media outlets in the country.

On his message in general:

I don’t think it’s fair to say silence on gay issues. The gay press may feel like I’m not giving them enough love. But basically, all press feels that way at all times. Obviously, when you’ve got limited amount of time, you’ve got so many outlets. We tend not to do a whole bunch of specialized press. We try to do general press for a general readership.

But I haven’t been silent on gay issues. What’s happened is, I speak oftentimes to gay issues to a public general audience. When I spoke at Ebenezer Church for King Day, I talked about the need to get over the homophobia in the African-American community, when I deliver my stump speeches routinely I talk about the way that antigay sentiment is used to divide the country and distract us from issues that we need to be working on, and I include gay constituencies as people that should be treated with full honor and respect as part of the American family.  

So I actually have been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history. What I probably haven’t done as much as the press would like is to put out as many specialized interviews. But that has more to do with our focus on general press than it does on ... I promise you the African-American press says the same thing.

On what he would do if elected (besides end DADT and pass the Employment Non-discriminiation Act):

I think that’s going to be tough, and I’ve said this before. I have been clear about my interest in including gender identity in legislation, but I’ve also been honest with the groups that I’ve met with that it is a heavy lift through Congress. We’ve got some Democrats who are willing to vote for a non-inclusive bill but we lose them on an inclusive bill, and we just may not be able to generate the votes. I don’t know. And obviously, my goal would be to get the strongest possible bill -- that’s what I’ll be working for.  

The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I’m interested in making happen and I think can be done with some opposition, some turbulence, but I think we can get that done.

And finally, an area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there’s full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.

On not waiting one's turn:

I don’t ask them that. Anybody who’s been at an LGBT event with me can testify that my message is very explicit -- I don’t think that the gay and lesbian community, the LGBT community, should take its cues from me or some political leader in terms of what they think is right for them. It’s not my place to tell the LGBT community, "Wait your turn." I’m very mindful of Dr. King’s "Letter From Birmingham Jail," where he says to the white clergy, "Don’t tell me to wait for my freedom."

So I strongly respect the right of same-sex couples to insist that even if we got complete equality in benefits, it still wouldn’t be equal because there’s a stigma associated with not having the same word, marriage, assigned to it. I understand that, but my perspective is also shaped by the broader political and historical context in which I’m operating. And I’ve said this before -- I’m the product of a mixed marriage that would have been illegal in 12 states when I was born. That doesn’t mean that had I been an adviser to Dr. King back then, I would have told him to lead with repealing an antimiscegenation law, because it just might not have been the best strategy in terms of moving broader equality forward.

That’s a decision that the LGBT community has to make. That’s not a decision for me to make.

On who influenced his tolerance of gays:

Well, it starts with my mom, who just always instilled in me a belief that everybody’s of equal worth and a strong sense of empathy -- that you try to see people through their eyes, stand in their shoes. So I think that applies to how I see all people.  

Somebody else who influenced me, I actually had a professor at Occidental -- now, this is embarrassing because I might screw up his last name -- Lawrence Golden, I think it was. He was a wonderful guy. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. He wasn’t proselytizing all the time, but just his comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.  

Pittsburgh schools to eliminate 183 jobs due to financial crisis:

Pittsburgh Public Schools is eliminating 183 jobs -- including 153 teachers -- because of declining enrollment.

Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said Friday the jobs of 16 assistant principals and 14 swim matrons are being eliminated. The moves are a step in scaling back the budgetary freedom of schools.

"We're eliminating an entire class of employees called swim matrons," Roosevelt said. "One of their duties was to wash the kids' swimsuits."

The assistant principals and swim matrons are positions that principals used to be able to keep under site-based budgeting before Roosevelt decided to rein in some of the schools' authority.

Among statistics cited, the school system is projected to drop from 28,000 to 22,000 students and they have had to use millions of their reserves to cover their expenses. And all of the underfunding of No Child Left Behind is starting to hit home in the city schools; this is one of Bush's broken promises to our youth. When we first passed it, we were told that it would be fully funded; however, it has not been fully funded yet.

And another problem that is facing Pittsburgh is the loss of the steel mills that were once part of the landscape; as a result of all the outsourcing going on, thousands of jobs are being shipped overseas, communities are being torn apart, and people are having to uproot themselves from communities where families have spend generations and have had to move on to lower-paying jobs. The financial crisis that we see in this school system is also a direct result of these disastrous free trade agreements that did not have enough protection for our jobs.

One of the early proponents linking global warming to increased hurricane activity has moderated his viewpoint. He did so as a result of further research that he has done. But this does not mean that now, all of a sudden, man-made global warming is a matter for debate:

This should put to rest a lot of the nonsense about a global warming conspiracy among scientists. Emanuel, faced with new evidence, has moderated his viewpoint. That’s what responsible scientists do, and most are responsible. The amount of scientist-bashing when it comes to global warming is generally quite deplorable.

Anyone who doubts that the threat of large hurricanes is still being used as part of global warming campaigns should look no further than the energy and climate platform of a presidential candidate [pdf alert], who writes, "Global warming is real, is happening now and is the result of human activities. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years."

If you’re a skeptic, and you welcome these results, please remember that these are the same climate models you bash when they show global temperatures steadily rising during the next century.

What this means is that while we have a window of opportunity to stop the threat of global warming, that window is closing. We have to seize, as Barack Obama said, the fierce urgency of now and work on this issue before it is too late.

Three PA National Parks at risk to suburban sprawl:

National park properties throughout the country, including three in Pennsylvania, face threats from developers who want to build homes and businesses on millions of acres within the parks' boundaries, according to a new report.

In Pennsylvania, land within the boundaries of the Valley Forge National Historical Park, Gettysburg National Military Park and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area could become victims of suburban sprawl, according to a report released this week by the National Parks Conservation Association.

"In an area that's rapidly expanding, the risk is very real," said Cinda Waldbuesser, the association's Pennsylvania program manager.

The association identified about 1.8 million acres of land at risk for development within the boundaries of 55 parks throughout the country. The federal government would have to pay roughly $1.9 billion to purchase that land, according to the report.

The association wants Congress to spend $100 million in the 2009 fiscal year for land acquisition it says would thwart any "inappropriate" development at those parks, according to Ron Tipton, the association's senior vice president for programs.

In 2007, Congress spent $34 million to buy land within park boundaries, and $44 million has been set aside for this year. But that number has plummeted from nearly $148 million for land purchases in 1999 during the Clinton administration.

A Barack Obama administration would restore the Clinton policy of protecting our national parks from out of control development. He has a clear stance preserving our national treasures from exploitation and development.

Dawn Leamon, another KBR rape victim comes forward:

That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand--but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.

Over the next few weeks Leamon would be told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor. The camp's military liaison officer also told her not to speak about what had happened, she says. And she would follow these instructions. "Because then, all of a sudden, if you've done exactly what you've been instructed not to do--tell somebody--then you're in danger," Leamon says.

As a brand-new arrival at Camp Harper, she had not yet forged many connections and was working in a red zone under regular rocket fire alongside the very men who had participated in the attack. (At one point, as the sole medical provider, she was even forced to treat one of her alleged assailants for a minor injury.) She waited two and a half weeks, until she returned to a much larger facility, to report the incident. "It's very easy for bad things to happen down there and not have it be even slightly suspicious."

Over the next month and a half, she says, she faced a series of hurdles. She would be discouraged from reporting the incident by several KBR employees, she says. She would be confused by the lack of any written medical protocol for sexual assault (as the only medical person on site, she treated herself with doxycycline). She would wander through a tangled maze of interviews with KBR and Army investigators about the incident without any clear explanation of her rights. She would be asked to sign several documents agreeing not to publicly discuss the incident, she says. She describes having her computer--which she saw as her lifeline, her main access to the outside world--confiscated by KBR staff as "evidence" within hours of receiving her first e-mail from a stateside lawyer she had reached out to for help.