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Obama blasts McCain on energy, taxes

(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama told voters in Wayne, Pennsylvania, on Saturday that he’ll cut taxes for the middle class, raise taxes for the wealthy and pour more money into what he calls green energy.

Later Saturday, in Illinois, Obama helped fill sandbags near the Mississippi River in an area devastated by flooding, his campaign said. The same day, Sen. John McCain extended his sympathies to those affected by flooding in the Midwest.

According to his campaign, Obama wants to invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to establish a green energy sector; create a national low-carbon fuel standard to ensure that the fuel is more efficient, and invest in clean energies like solar, wind and biodiesel.

That, according to the campaign, would create up to 5 million new green energy jobs.

Obama also blasted McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate, for his recent silence on energy reform and his support for a gas tax holiday.

He isn’t offering any solutions to help Americans pay for high gas prices. Instead, he’s proposing a gas tax holiday that’s nothing more than a Washington stunt, Obama said. I was for the idea back then, but I’ve learned from my mistake, because I don’t think it’s right to say you’re offering families relief when you’re just boosting oil company profits.

Obama says McCain’s gas tax plan would actually do real harm and take $3 billion a month out of the highway trust fund and hand it over to the oil companies.

Doug Holtz-Eakin, the McCain campaign’s senior policy adviser, told reporters in a conference call Thursday that McCain is not out of touch with the pressure on gasoline prices. He proposed a gas tax suspension for the summer that would put $600 in the pocket of a trucker buying diesel fuel, take some of the pressure off the price increases of all the things that they deliver, help American families get through the summer.

The Illinois senator says taking money from the highway fund would have negative economic effects, especially for Pennsylvanians.

And at a time when the unemployment rate is rising faster than at any point in the past 20 years, this idea would cost another 300,000 jobs in the construction industry, including more than 11,000 right here in Pennsylvania, he said.

Obama’s plan for relief includes putting a windfall profits tax on oil companies, using the proceeds to help Pennsylvania families pay their heating and cooling bills. He also wants to increase transparency in the way prices are set, so we can make sure that energy companies aren’t bending the rules, according to his campaign.

And on taxes, Obama blasted the McCain campaign for painting him as a tax-and-spend liberal.

The general strategy … was to go after Democrats by saying, ‘Ah, they’re tax and spend. He wants to hike your taxes.’ I’m amazed how people can get away with saying some of this stuff with a straight face, he said. [McCain campaign adviser] Carly Fiorina was on the television the other day saying Barack Obama will not cut taxes for anybody. This is what she said. I mean she just said it right to the screen.

Obama said his tax plan would give every middle-class family a $1,000 tax cut. In addition, his plan aims to eliminate income taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000 a year.

Obama also praised this week’s Supreme Court decision giving detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the right to push for their release, and he offered history as a way to justify it.

During the Nuremburg trials, part of what made us different was even after these Nazis had performed atrocities that no one had ever seen before, we gave them a day in court that taught the entire world about who we are, but also about principles of the rule of law, he said. Now, the Supreme Court upheld that principle. … John McCain thinks the Supreme Court was wrong. I think the Supreme Court was right.

On Friday, McCain called the Supreme Court decision one of the worst in history. Watch McCain take on the Supreme Court’s decision

I think the United States Supreme Court is supposed to act not on their views of the performance of an administration, but on the most important issues affecting, or how to implement best, the Constitution of the United States. I just am convinced that to treat enemy combatants, who are not citizens, and give them the same rights as an American citizen … is a decision that will harm our ability to detain and prosecute individuals who are enemy combatants who want to destroy America, he said in an interview.

On Saturday, McCain, meanwhile, took part in what his campaign calls a virtual town hall conference call, which is designed to reach out to Democrats, independents and female voters.

The conference call, which took place Saturday afternoon, included former supporters of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the campaign said.

Also on Saturday, McCain issued a statement about the Midwest flooding, saying, Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted by the flooding throughout the Midwest. Cindy and I would like to extend our sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones, and stand ready to help those in the Midwest to recover and rebuild.

After Saturday’s town hall in Wayne, Obama headed to Quincy, Illinois, which has been affected by devastating flooding. The campaign says he helped fill sandbags near the Mississippi River.

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Shuttle back from mission with ‘beautiful landing’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — Shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven returned to Earth on Saturday and capped a successful expansion job at the international space station, more spacious and robust thanks to a new billion-dollar science lab.

The shuttle descended through a slightly cloudy sky and landed at 11:15 a.m., under the control of commander Mark Kelly.

Beautiful landing, Mark, and congratulations on a great mission, Mission Control radioed when Discovery came to a safe stop.

Great to be back, Kelly replied.

Discovery’s mission spanned 14 days, 217 orbits and 5.7 million miles, and was described by NASA as being about as smooth as it gets. Watch shuttle make its safe return to Earth

Kelly and his crew accomplished everything they set out to do in orbit. They delivered and installed Japan’s Kibo lab, now the space station’s biggest room and most sophisticated science workshop, and dropped off a new pump that the two Russians on board used to fix their toilet.

The space station also got a new American resident who took the place of astronaut Garrett Reisman, returning home after 95 days in space.

Reisman’s wife, Simone Francis, was waiting at the Kennedy Space Center. Over the past week, Reisman described in quite romantic terms how much he missed her, calling her my favorite Earthling and doll face.

Although the mission itself unfolded almost flawlessly, Discovery left behind a battered launch pad on May 31. Some 5,300 bricks flew off the flame trench when Discovery blasted away, most likely because they were not attached properly to the underlying concrete wall when the pad was built in the 1960s for the Apollo moon shots.

NASA managers are confident the launch pad can be fixed in time for the next shuttle flight in October, by Atlantis to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The next time a shuttle flies to the space station, now three-quarters complete, isn’t until November. That’s because NASA needs to have a shuttle ready to rush to Atlantis’ aid in case of serious damage to its thermal shielding. Atlantis’ astronauts will not be able to get from Hubble to the space station for shelter.

NASA had no such rescue plan in place when Columbia took off in 2003 on a solo-flying research mission. In any event, mission managers had no idea Columbia’s left wing was severely damaged at liftoff, and the shuttle shattered during re-entry. All seven on board were killed.

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Evacuations become mandatory in Des Moines

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A mandatory evacuation was ordered early Saturday for about 270 homes after water from the Des Moines River began pouring through a levee breach north of downtown Des Moines, Iowa.

The 100-foot-wide levee breach occurred about 3:45 a.m. in the city’s Birdland Park neighborhood and was threatening A high school.

Many residents of the area already had left after a voluntary evacuation request was issued Friday, but Neil Schultz of the Polk County sheriff’s office said officers were going door to door to ensure everyone had left.

In Cedar Rapids, officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged more than 400 blocks, threatened the city’s drinking water supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital. Watch what the flood is doing to businesses

We’re estimating at least a couple of weeks before the flood levels get down right around flood stage and below, said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency operations center.

The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929. See a map with photos of the flooding in Cedar Rapids

Even as the river slowly receded, officials worried that Cedar Rapids’ supply of fresh drinking water would run out. Only one of the city’s half-dozen wells was working, and it was protected by sandbags and generators that were pumping water away from it.

We really need to reduce the amount of water we are using, Cedar Rapids Fire Department spokesman Dave Koch said, even using paper plates, hand sanitizer.

Hotels implored guests to use water only for drinking.

The flood damage was extensive, with preliminary estimates in Cedar Rapids of $737 million, and officials foresee a long recovery.

It’s a bit overwhelming … said the city’s mayor pro tem, Brian Fagan. This is an endurance competition. We have to be patient. We have to be cooperative.

Just south of Cedar Rapids, in Iowa City, Gov. Chet Culver warned that more dramatic flooding could be on the way as the Iowa River rises. Watch what Iowa has to look forward to

A real wave of water is on the way as we speak, he said.

He declared 83 of the state’s 99 counties disaster areas, a designation that helps speed aid and opens the way for loans and grants.

In Cedar Rapids on Friday the full scope of the damage was becoming clear. At least 438 city blocks were under water, hospital patients in wheelchairs and stretchers were evacuated in the middle of the night, and officials said as many as 10,000 townspeople had been driven from their homes in this city of 120,000.

The flooding was blamed for at least two deaths in Iowa: a driver was killed in an accident on a water-covered road, and a farmer who went out to check his property was swept away.

Since June 6, Iowa has gotten at least 8 inches of rain. That came after a wet spring that left the ground saturated. As of Friday, nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels. More thunderstorms are possible in the Cedar Rapids area over the weekend, but next week is expected to be sunny and dry. Watch how weather is bludgeoning the Midwest

The drenching has also severely damaged the corn crop in America’s No. 1 corn state and other parts of the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring.

Dave Miller, a grain farmer and director of research for the Iowa Farm Bureau, estimated that up to 1.3 million acres of corn and 2 million acres of soy beans — about 20 percent of the state’s overall grain crop — had been lost to flooding.

Farmers have already put a lot of resources into a crop that is now underwater, Miller said.

At Cedar Rapids’ Prairie High School, where 150 evacuees waited, people could be seen crying in the cafeteria while others watched flood coverage on TVs set up in the gym. Tables were lined with shampoo, toothpaste, contact lens solution and other items, and piles of clothes were organized by size. iReport.com: Teen takes pics during sandbagging run

At the school, Lisa Armstrong wept as she watched TV news footage of her own rescue. She saw herself climbing into a boat and watched rescuers trying to coax her dog out of the house. They finally grabbed the animal and pulled it out.

I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was, and we should have got out when we were told to leave, she said. I didn’t think or imagine anything like that. Watch how people are coping in Cedar Rapids

The shelter was the third stop for Don Webster and his family, after his mother-in-law’s house and then a stepson’s place. Holding his 4-year-old grandson, Leroy, he said he planned to stay for a few days, then just pray and hope there’s something when you go back.

Cedar Rapids’ newspaper, The Gazette, continued to cover the story with the help of emergency generators. But the floodwaters were just outside the front door, and the place had no running water. Portable bathrooms were set up outside for the staff. See photos of the Cedar Rapids flooding

We’re putting the paper out through heroic, historic effort by the staff companywide, said Steve Buttry, who started as editor of the newspaper on Tuesday — just one day before the disaster struck.

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10,000 take shelter from Iowa floods

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Hospital patients in wheelchairs and on stretchers were evacuated in the middle of the night as the biggest flood Cedar Rapids has seen swamped more than 400 blocks Friday and restricted the supply of clean drinking water in the city of 120,000.

As many as 10,000 townspeople driven from their homes by the rain-swollen Cedar River took shelter at schools and hotels or moved in with relatives.

About 100 miles to the west, officials in Iowa’s biggest city, Des Moines, urged people in low-lying areas to clear out by Friday evening. The Des Moines River was expected to crest at 8 p.m., but officials said just before the expected peak that a malfunctioning gauge may have led them to overestimate how high it would rise.

Officials became less worried that the levees would be topped, but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Roger Less said the city of 190,000 residents would not be out of danger until Saturday. See photos of the Cedar Rapids flooding

We have a lot of soft spots in those levees, Less said. We are still at very high river levels even though we are starting to see some slight drops. He added: We don’t think the victory is won at this point.

The flooding was blamed for at least two deaths in Iowa: A driver was killed in an accident on a road under water, and a farmer who went out to check his property was swept away.

Since June 6, Iowa has gotten at least 8 inches of rain. That came after a wet spring that left the ground saturated. As of Friday, nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels. More thunderstorms are possible in the Cedar Rapids area over the weekend, but next week is expected to be sunny and dry.

In Cedar Rapids, the engorged river flowed freely through downtown. At least 438 city blocks were underwater, and in some neighborhoods the water was 8 feet high. Hundreds of cars were submerged, with only their antennas poking up through the water. Plastic toys bobbed in front of homes.

For decades, Cedar Rapids escaped major, widespread flooding, even during the Midwest deluge of 1993, and many people had grown confident that rising water would pose no danger to their city. The flood this time didn’t just break records; it shattered them.

The Cedar River was expected to crest Friday night at nearly 32 feet, an astonishing 12 feet higher than the old record, set in 1929.

Flooding left 2 inches of water in the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids on Thursday night, and water spilling into the lower levels threatened to knock out the hospital’s emergency generator.

A total of 176 patients — some of them frail, about 30 of them from a nursing home at the medical center — were moved to other hospitals in an all-night operation that was not completed until daybreak. iReport.com: Teen takes pics during sandbagging run

Those poor people. They looked half-terrified and half-thankful that they had someplace to go where they could finally rest and be cared for, said Sonya Thornton, a technician at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, where many of the patients were taken. She was called into work at 2 a.m. to help with the evacuation.

Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state’s 99 counties disaster areas, a designation that helps speed aid and opens the way for loans and grants. The damage in Cedar Rapids alone was a preliminary $737 million, Fire Department spokesman Dave Koch said. Watch how people are coping in Cedar Rapids

The drenching has also severely damaged the corn crop in America’s No. 1 corn state and other parts of the Midwest at a time when corn prices are soaring. But officials said it was too soon to put a price on the damage.

At Cedar Rapids’ Prairie High School, where 150 evacuees waited, people could be seen crying in the cafeteria while others watched flood coverage on TVs set up in the gym. Tables were lined with shampoo, toothpaste, contact lens solution and other items, and piles of clothes were separated by size.

At the school, Lisa Armstrong wept as she watched TV news footage of her own rescue. She saw herself climbing into a boat, and watched rescuers trying to coax her dog out of the house. They finally grabbed the animal and pulled it out.

I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was, and we should have got out when we were told to leave, she said. I didn’t think or imagine anything like that.

The shelter was the third stop for Don Webster and his family, after his mother-in-law’s house and then a stepson’s place. Holding his 4-year-old grandson, Leroy, he said he planned to stay for a few days, then just pray and hope there’s something when you go back. Watch what Iowa has to look forward to

Cedar Rapids warned people to conserve drinking water after the floodwaters knocked out electricity to all but one of the city’s half-dozen or more wells. The one working well was protected by sandbags and generators that were pumping water away from it.

If we lost that one we would be in serious trouble, Koch said. We really need to reduce the amount of water we are using, even using paper plates, hand sanitizer. See a map with photos of the flooding in Cedar Rapids

Hotels implored guests to use water only for drinking.

The city’s newspaper, The Gazette, continued to cover the story with the help of emergency generators. But the floodwaters were just outside the front door, and the place had no running water. Portable bathrooms were set up outside for the staff.

We’re putting the paper out through heroic, historic effort by the staff companywide, said Steve Buttry, who started as editor of the newspaper on Tuesday — just one day before the disaster struck.

In Des Moines, fire officials had no immediate estimate of the number of people urged to evacuate several blocks close to the river. Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations were an attempt to err on the side of citizens and residents.

Interstate 80 was closed east of Iowa City to Davenport after the Cedar River washed over the highway. Amtrak service aboard the California Zephyr was suspended between Denver and Chicago because of flooded-out tracks. Watch how weather is bludgeoning the Midwest

Violent thunderstorms Thursday and Friday brought widespread flooding to Michigan’s Lower Peninsula that authorities say left some roads and bridges unstable or impassable, blew roofs off buildings and downed trees and power lines.

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Australia takes first-innings lead

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson took a career-best four for 41 on Friday to help guide Australia to a first-innings lead over the West Indies on day two of the third and final cricket test at Kensington Oval.

Brett Lee added three for 64 as the West Indies were bowled out for 216 in reply to Australia’s first-innings total of 251.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul compiled an unbeaten 79 but the West Indies lost its last six wickets for 48 runs to tilt the balance towards the visitors.

The tourists stretched their lead to 60 by close as openers Phil Jaques (13) and Simon Katich (17) added 35 unbroken in the final hour.

Johnson, who had endured a lean series before this match, offered his formula for changing his fortunes.

I just tried to be as relaxed as possible when I was out there, Johnson said. That’s when I think I bowl my best, with a big smile on my face.

Australia, resuming on 226 for seven, added a further 25 runs as Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor ended the innings swiftly.

Edwards finished with three for 55 while Taylor took three for 46. Dwayne Bravo grabbed three for 61.

Lee, who finished 23 not out in the Australian innings, quickly made his mark with the new ball as he claimed openers Chris Gayle and Sewnarine Chattergoon.

Chattergoon edged a drive to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin while Gayle lofted to mid-off where debutant Beau Casson hauled in a diving catch.

Ramnaresh Sarwan and Xavier Marshall briefly revived the innings from 26 for two, adding 38 for the third wicket.

But Sarwan, who hit two fours and a six in 20 off 23 balls, sliced a drive to gully off Stuart Clark at 64 for three.

Marshall survived a hostile Lee spell to play a number of strokes in a solid stand with Chanderpaul.

The 22-year-old Marshall, who hit six fours in 39, eventually chipped a catch to midwicket off the medium pace of Andrew Symonds.

But Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo took back the initiative for the West Indies, which went into the tea break at 167 for four.

After the interval, it was all Australia as Johnson triggered a collapse.

Bravo hit a six and three fours in 29 before he glanced a leg side catch to the wicketkeeper in the first over of Johnson’s second spell.

The lower order folded swiftly after that with Chanderpaul left to survey the damage.

The 33-year-old left-hander reached his 50 just after losing Bravo and lashed Casson’s wrist spin for three fours and a six in one over.

But his partners let him down as the Aussies took control.

Denesh Ramdin (1) steered Johnson low to fourth slip; Jerome Taylor (0) chipped Michael Clarke’s spin to midwicket; and Sulieman Benn (3) edged Johnson to Haddin.

Haddin also accounted for Daren Powell off Lee and Johnson finished off the innings as Edwards snicked to first slip.

The Australians could even afford the luxury of two dropped catches by Katich at first slip.

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