Obama Says Iowa Voters Are Beyond Race

Barack Obama says voters in Iowa, though relatively few are black like him, care little about that and much more about whether he'd be a president who would make their lives better.

"I am getting a fair hearing and I will get a fair hearing and I think we're going to win this place," Obama said Friday, campaigning for the Iowa caucuses that are now just eight weeks away.

"People are less concerned about race and much more concerned about, is this somebody who is going to be fighting for me," he said.

Obama is among the top tier of Democrats in polls in Iowa, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, and electability in …

MURRAY, HON. JOYCE, M.B.A. (New Westminster) Minister of Management Services.

Ed. at Simon Fraser Univ. (M.B.A.). Spouse: Dirk Brinkman. Three children. Political Career: First elected to the B.C. Leg. g.e. 2001. Min. of Water, Land and Air Protection, 2001-2004. Mem: Gov't Mem: Caucus Ctee on Cross Gov't Initiatives. Private Career: Partner and chair of the Bd. and Dir. of Planning and Quality, Brinkman & Associates Reforestation Limited. Party: B.C. Lib. Address: Leg. Office: Rm. 124, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C., V8V 1X4, (250)356-7332, Fax: (250)356-2960 Riding Office: 218 6th St., New Westminster, B.C., V3L 3A2, (604)775-2101, Fax: …

'An Army at the Crossroads'-A Counterview

During a November 2008 visit to the 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, Army Chief of Staff GEN George W. Casey Jr. provided his perspective on the Army's frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He said:

The Army is out of balance. We're deploying at a rate that we can't sustain . . . The only way to getting back in balance is increasing dwell time - the time a soldier spends back at home ... It's not just so they can spend more time with families, it's so they can recover themselves, and it's also [so] they can begin training to do other things ... If the Army continues at the pace it is deploying, while simultaneously increasing overall troop strength, then the dwell …

Boston moves 1 game from NBA finals with 106-102 victory over Detroit

Ray Allen found his shooting touch just in time to put the Boston Celtics within one win of the NBA finals for the first time since the original Big Three.

Allen scored 29, hitting a long 2-pointer after Detroit came within one point with a minute left, then he and Kevin Garnett each made a pair of free throws down the stretch as the Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 106-102 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Garnett scored 33 _ his most in the playoffs this year _ Kendrick Perkins had 18 points and 16 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo added seven points, 13 assists and six rebounds for Boston.

"We knew the …

ATP World Tour Schedule

(H-hard, C-clay, G-grass)

Jan. 3-10 _ Brisbane International, HO (Andy Roddick)

Jan. 4-9 _ Qatar ExxonMobil Open, HO (Nikolay Davydenko)

Jan. 4-10 _ Aircel Chennai Open, HO (Marin Cilic)

Jan. 11-16 _ Medibank International, HO (Marcus Baghdatis)

Jan. 11-16 _ Heineken Open, HO (John Isner)

Jan. 18-31 _ Australian Open, HO (Roger Federer)

Feb. 1-7 _ Movistar Open, CO (Thomaz Bellucci)

Feb. 1-7 _ PBZ Zabreb Indoors, HI (Marin Cilic)

Feb. 1-7 _ SA Tennis Open, HO (Feliciano Lopez)

Feb. 8-13 _ Brasil Open, CO (Juan Carlos Ferrero)

Feb. 8-14 _ ABN AMRO World Tennis …

`Naked Gun' Tiptoes Past Tiny Tim

Poor Tiny Tim. Here's a gentle soul who believes in tiptoeingthrough the tulips and that "Hollywood is the Shangri-La - thefairyland of the imagination" and he can't catch a damn break in thistown.

He was just rejected for the role of an old woman in ParamountPictures' sequel "The Naked Gun III: The Final Insult," after sendingthe studio a videotaped audition from his home in Des Moines, Iowa.

"They sent me a script, so I put a bonnet on my head and readthe part on video - I thought it was good, but they turned me down.They said they changed their mind and wanted a …

Obama says gay couples deserve same rights as all

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama praised New York state lawmakers who were debating landmark legislation Thursday to legalize gay marriage, saying that's what democracy's all about. But the president stopped short of embracing same-sex marriage himself.

"I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country," the president said at a fundraiser in Manhattan, his first geared specifically to the gay community. Coincidentally, the long-planned event occurred just as lawmakers in Albany were debating legislation that would make New York the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.

That served to spotlight the …