Antigua Gives Obama a Mountain for his Birthday

Antigua's highest peak renamed 'Mount Obama' - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports

Antigua's highest mountain officially became "Mount Obama" on Tuesday as the small Caribbean nation celebrated the American president on his birthday and saluted him as a symbol of black achievement.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer presided over the re-christening ceremony at the base of the mountain, unveiling a stone sculpture and plaque honoring the president as an inspiration in the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and throughout the Caribbean.

"This great political achievement by Barack Obama resonated with me in a way that I felt compelled to do something symbolic and inspiring," Spencer told the crowd of about 300, including several U.S. officials, at the base of the mountain near the island's southern coast.

"As an emancipated people linked to our common ancestral heritage and a history of dehumanizing enslavement, we need to at all times celebrate our heroes and leaders who through their actions inspire us to do great and noble things," Spencer said.

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Obama Q and A on Iran

OBAMA: Since we’re on Iran, I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

OBAMA: Nico, I know that you and all across the Internet, we’ve been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?

QUESTION: Yes, I did, but I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian. We solicited questions on tonight from people who are still courageous enough to be communicating online. And one of them wanted to ask you this: Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn’t that a betrayal of — of what the demonstrators there are working to achieve?

OBAMA: Well, look, we didn’t have international observers on the ground. We can’t say definitively what exactly happened at polling places throughout the country.

What we know is that a sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves, spanning Iranian society, consider this election illegitimate. It’s not an isolated instance, a little grumbling here or there. There are significant questions about the legitimacy of the election.

And so, ultimately, the most important thing for the Iranian government to consider is legitimacy in the eyes of its own people, not in the eyes of the United States.

And that’s why I’ve been very clear, ultimately, this is up to the Iranian people to decide who their leadership is going to be and the structure of their government.

What we can do is to say, unequivocally, that there are sets of international norms and principles about violence, about dealing with the peaceful dissent, that — that spans cultures, spans borders.

And what we’ve been seeing over the Internet and what we’ve been seeing in news reports violates those norms and violates those principles.

I think it is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that — that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it.

link: Think Progress » Obama questions legitimacy of Iranian elections, says it is ‘up to the Iranian people to decide’ their leadership.

Obama Issues Statement on Saturday

US President Barack Obama has warned Iran to stop all "unjust action against its own people", after another day of protests over the presidential poll.

Witnesses said security forces used batons and live ammunition in clashes with protesters, who had gathered in defiance of the country's leader.

Mr Obama urged Iran's leaders to "govern through consent, not coercion".

Defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi repeated calls for the election to be annulled on the grounds it was rigged.

Mr Obama, in a statement from the White House on Saturday, said: "The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

It was Mr Obama's second statement in as many days on the Iranian crisis.

On Friday he warned the country's clerical leadership: "The whole world is watching."

"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government."

link: BBC NEWS | Middle East | US urges Iran to end 'violence'

A Double Edged Sword in Every Pot

Last night on FNC, former Sec. of State Henry Kissinger became one of the more high profile Republicans to endorse President Obama’s handling of the post election situation in Iran. Kissinger said that any vocal US support behind one of the contenders would handicap that person.

link: Politicususa