Free Republic

Barack Obama sought to close the deal with American voters yesterday as he heralded the dawn of a new politics that will heal divisions, appeal to “our better angels” and restore a sense of “higher purpose”. His speech in Canton, Ohio, was designed to frame the final days of an often bitterly fought presidential contest around the uplifting themes he had emphasised at the outset of his campaign. While he was at pains to tell supporters that they cannot afford to “let up for one day, one minute or one second”, Mr Obama told an exultant crowd: “In one...

Bill Clinton Book Out Sept. 4 Jul 10 12:38 PM US/Eastern By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Former President Clinton's planned book on citizen activism, "Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World," will come out Sept. 4 with a first printing of 750,000, publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday. Clinton, whose memoir "My Life" was a million seller, will tour nationwide to promote the book and will narrate the audio version. "I've done my best in this book to demonstrate what I've seen firsthand through my (William J. Clinton) Foundation's work in Africa and...

The 'human transporter' is transforming the lives of some disabled people -- but the machine has been banned from some of the places they'd most like to be. Multiple sclerosis doesn't stop Cheryl McManners from zipping around the Minnesota State Fair or the Landscape Arboretum on her high-tech human transporter, a two-wheeled device known as a Segway. But the Minneapolis Institute of Arts told the Shakopee woman not to show up with one. The Minnesota Zoo sent her back to the parking lot. And the Mall of America, she says, "doesn't want you anywhere near there." Four years after the...