Senator John Kerry wound up his tour of the heartland on Sunday with an attack on the Bush administration's definition of values and a defense of his own, including his position on abortion.
Kerry's final day of his three-state bus tour was filled with the trappings of small-town America on the Fourth of July, including a parade through the streets of the small town of Cascade and a baseball game played in the corn field featured in the movie Field of Dreams.
But Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, also confronted, implicitly and explicitly, charges by Republicans that his values are out of step with those of rural and small-town voters. At a barbecue here, he argued that there was "nothing conservative" about values that produced growing deficits, stagnating wages and a middle class squeezed by rising costs for health care, education and child care, all of which he tied to President George W. Bush.
Moreover, Kerry, a Roman Catholic, added: "I'm a person of faith, and I know I'm surrounded by people of faith. But there's nothing conservative about allowing your administration to cross that beautiful line drawn by the founding fathers that separates affairs of church and state in the United States of America."
Kerry also dealt with the issue so often cited by Republicans as evidence that he is outside the mainstream on abortion. Kerry has a 100 percent voting record with Naral Pro-Choice America, an advocacy group, and has often spoken about his commitment to abortion rights and the appointment of judges who will uphold them.
But in an interview with the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, published Sunday, Kerry emphasized his personal opposition to abortion. He also tried to counter the criticism from within his church hierarchy that an elected official could not advocate the right to abortion and be a good Catholic. Kerry said he was abiding by both his conscience and the line between church and state.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS