Google has reached an agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP), which represented a broad class of authors and publishers to expand online access to in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. The publications will come from the library collections participating in Google Book Search.
The agreement was reached after two years of negotiations. The deal includes Google dishing out $125 million to establish the Book Rights Registry, which would resolve an existing class action lawsuit brought by the groups.
If the court approves, the agreement allows:
"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor," said Sergey Brin, co-founder & president of technology at Google. "While this agreement is a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are all the readers. The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their
fingertips."
What do you think about the agreement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
by Ron Schenone
The elf’s at Google seem to be working late into the night developing new features for their popular Gmail program. This time they have added gadgets for both Google Doc’s and Google Calender to Gmail. This addition will make it easier for uses of these Google programs to access their stuff while surfing the Internet and checking their mail.
On their blog Google states that:
To get you started, we’ve worked with the engineers from the Calendar and Docs teams on two highly requested features: a simple way to see your Google Calendar agenda and get an alert when you have a meeting, and a gadget that shows a list of your recently accessed Google Docs and lets you search across all of your documents right from within Gmail.
So what do you think? Are these features you will be using?
By Shellaine Enfesta
If the chest x-ray is suggestive of malignant mesothelioma, it is likely that further investigations will be ordered, especially if compensation may be sought.
These investigations may include additional imaging studies, blood tests, bone scans, and lung-function tests, as well as more invasive procedures such as thoracentesis, thoracoscopy, pleuroscopy or a lung biopsy. This is a typical mesothelioma diagnosis
Mesothelioma diagnosis can be done through chest x-ray. The typical abnormalities seen on chest x-ray in patients with malignant mesohtelioma are pleural effusion (a collection of fluid in the space between the 2 layers of the pleura), or it is called pleural thickening.
Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking Malignancies involving mesothelial cells in these spread cavities are known as malignant mesothelioma, which may be localized or diffuse. Mesothelioma is the word used to describe a cancerous tumor that involves the mesothelial cells of an organ, often the lungs, heart, or abdominal organs.
Mesothelioma diagnosis in this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers transcendently of the spread's internal organs. Greatest malignant mesothelioma set up complex karyotypes, with extensive aneuploidy and rearrangement of tons chromosomes.
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma diagnosis is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. A history of exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for mesothelioma.
A physical examination is performed, followed by chest X-ray and often lung function tests. The X-ray may reveal pleural thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure if mesothelioma diagnosis is done.
If the cancer has length beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the size, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or engage.
Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and suffering due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity).
Exposure to airborne asbestos particles increases one's risk of developing malignant
mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma has a peak incidence 35-45 years after asbestos exposure. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer in which malignant cells are found in the sac lining the chest or abdomen. Most people with malignant mesothelioma have on worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos.
It can also occur in children; however, these cases are not thought to be associated with asbestos exposure.
Most people who develop mesothelioma get worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways, such as by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos, or by home renovation using asbestos cement products.
Treatment options a mesothelioma diagnosis for the management of malignant mesothelioma includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and multimodality treatment. Surgery in victims with disease confined to the pleural space is reasonable.
Extrapleural pneumonectomy is a more extensive procedure and has a higher mortality rate. Recently, the mortality rate has been lowered to 3.8%. It involves dissection of the parietal pleura; division of the pulmonary vessels; and en bloc resection of the lung, pleura, pericardium, and diaphragm followed by reconstruction. It provides the greatest local control because it removes the entire pleural sac along with the lung parenchyma.
The 2 surgical procedures used are pleurectomy with decortication and extrapleural pneumonectomy.
Surgical resection has been relied upon because radiation and chemotherapy get hold of been ineffective unequivocal treatments. There are now a number of cancer treatment options open to mesothelioma patients. Extrapleural pneumonectomy for selected victims with very early stage disease may expand recurrence-free survival, but the impact it has on overall survival is unknown at this time.
Mesothelioma diagnosis can be intimidating and can scare a lot of people, but mesothelioma diagnosis may give you a fighting chance if can be diagnose early. So do yourself a favor if you think that what you are suffering from and had worked in an asbestos related workplace.
The purpose of such investigations in mesothelioma diagnosis is to confirm and to determine the type of mesothelioma, to 'stage' the disease (measure how severe it is), and so to assess whether the disease is operable.
By Ruth Bird
When Dana Reeve, widow of actor Christopher Reeve, died of lung cancer, the stories of her death pointed out that she didn't smoke. She was young, only 44; she had nursed her paralyzed husband for eight years; she left a
13-year-old son an orphan. And how could she have gotten lung cancer? She had never smoked.Lung cancer is often preventable, and it is usually fatal.
Unfortunately I will also become a victim of this disease. Not for myself, but a victim because I am a friend of a lung cancer person. One of my very dearest friends will undergo a lung operation this coming Tuesday.
Be cautious of any information or claims obtained from unmonitored sources, in particular the Internet. The Internet can be an empowering source of information, but a healthcare professional should be consulted before making medical decisions.
What is cancer?
Cancer is a disease that starts in our cells. Our bodies are made up of millions of cells, grouped together to form tissues or organs. Genes inside each cell order it to grow, work, reproduce and die.
Normally, our cells remain healthy. Sometimes a cell's instructions get mixed up and it behaves abnormally. After a while, groups of abnormal cells can circulate in the blood or immune system, or they can form lumps or tumours.
Tumours can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumour cells stay in one place in the body and are not usually life-threatening.
Malignant tumour cells are able to invade the tissues around them and spread to other parts of the body. Cancerous cells that spread to other parts of the body are called metastases. The first sign that a malignant tumour has spread is often swelling of nearby lymph nodes, but cancer can metastasize to almost any part of the body. It is important to find malignant tumours early and treat them.
Cancers are named after the part of the body where they start. For example, cancer that starts in the colon but spreads to the liver is called colon cancer with liver metastases.
There are four main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Tobacco smoking is strongly linked to the first three but only weakly linked to adenocarcinoma. However, this type of lung cancer has been linked to the use of low-tar cigarettes.
The best means of prevention is to never start smoking or using chewing tobacco, or to stop using tobacco products. A healthy diet is an important part of prevention.
The outlook varies by cell type and stage of the disease. In general, the prognosis is better for squamous cell cancers than for adenocarcinomas. Early detection is key to better chances of survival.
According to the American Lung Association, 87 percent of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Another 12 percent are linked to radon exposure.
Only 15 percent of people diagnosed with the disease will still be alive five years after the diagnosis; 60 percent die within the first year. What is Chemoprevention? For individuals who demonstrate the greatest risk, researchers are currently conducting several new trials to test the use of natural and synthetic substances to prevent development of the disease. This new research has been coined, chemoprevention.
The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) chemoprevention research effort started in the early 1980s and has grown considerably since that time. Currently, approximately 400
compounds are being studied as
potential chemopreventive agents, mainly in laboratory research. Over 40 of these compounds are being studied in clinical trials (research studies with people). Some of these agents are being investigated as single agents; others are being tested in combinations of two drugs. Chemoprevention trials look at possible ways to prevent cancer with interventions that include drugs, vitamins, diet, hormone therapy, or other agents.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) has set aggressive challenge goals for the nation to decrease cancer incidence and mortality--and to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors--by the year 2015. To address these critical goals, the ACS publishes the Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines to serve as a foundation for its communication, policy, and community strategies and ultimately, to affect dietary and physical activity patterns among Americans.
These guidelines, published every five years, are developed by a national panel of experts in cancer research, prevention, epidemiology, public health, and policy, and as such, they represent the most current scientific evidence related to dietary and activity patterns and cancer risk.
The ACS guidelines are consistent with guidelines from the American Heart Association for the prevention of coronary heart disease as well as for general health promotion, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services' 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
In 2006 there will be an estimated 174,470 new cases of lung cancer and an estimated 162,460 Americans will die from the disease.
The American Cancer Society offers support and hope for people diagnosed with lung cancer and their families as well as resources to help smokers quit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including its own Quitline, which since its launch in May 2000 has provided services to more than 150,000 callers. For more information, call 800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
Lung cancer chemoprevention - Why does it not work?From the National Cancer Center.
Common wisdom is that vitamin in fruits and vegetables prevent cancer. However, trials of supplementing vitamins like vitamin A analogues (retinoids: beta-carotene, retinol, retinyl palmitate, or isotretinoin) or vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), did not prevent lung cancer in smokers. Randomised trials in all the three settings: primary (healthy high-risk e.g. smokers), secondary (pre-malignant lesions), and tertiary (prevention of second primary tumours in previously treated patients), have produced negative results (either neutral or harmful).
Chemoprevention trials were prompted by relationship between diet and lung cancer. Diet rich in foliage vitamins was protective against lung cancer - as demonstrated in a recent Dutch study of 939 patients. Similarly, higher blood level of ß-carotene is linked to a lower risk of lung cancer. Nonetheless, intervention trials failed to show a reduced risk in lung cancer by consuming ß-carotene. A phase III trial, the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) [beta-carotene (20 mg/d), alpha-tocopherol (50mg/d)] indicated significant increases in lung cancer incidence (18%) and no effect on lung cancer mortality (risk ratio, 0.99).
Another study, CARET, had a 28% increase in lung cancer with vitamin treatment. Similarly, in both Euro-scan and the US-Lung Intergroup Trial (both testing retinoids in tertiary prevention), results were neutral.
Disclaimer: please. Any information is for general entertainment and educational purposes only, and should not be construed as medical advice, medical opinion, diagnosis or treatment. Any information provided by this web site is not a substitute for actual medical attention. Always promptly consult your licensed health-care professional for medical advice and treatment.
By Art Gib
Radiation therapy takes on several forms. Beam application, which is the most common one, involves targeting and bombarding a tumor with subatomic particles. The particles will simply pass through the skin invisibly and into the tumor, disrupting and often destroying the malignant cells
The trick is to be as accurate and precise with the beam as possible, not only with where it's targeted, but by regulation the strength of the beam particles sent through. Radiation beam tools used by the radiation oncologist of yesteryear were unwieldy. They would often find success in controlling or stopping some cancer, but also they would discover destroyed surrounding tissue, which sometimes caused secondary cancer development created by the treatment.
With the culmination of targeting tools and software, as well and refining the actual beam application, radiation oncology has become more effective and more sought by future radiation oncologist MDs.
IMRT and IGRT Beam Technology
The intensity-modulated radiation treatment uses electron beam accelerators that regulate their strengths when passing through the patient's body, concentrating the power of the beam on the tumor while avoiding most healthy tissue surrounding. The
radiation oncologist will normally use a CT scanner to get a 3-D image of the tumor and
input that software so the machine can plan its road map.
Since the particle beams go through healthy tissue to get to the tumor normally, the healthy tissue it passes through has to be as unharmed as possible. To help avoid this, the IMRT machine will come at the tumor from multiple angles at once. Each beam is described as pencil-thin beams of light that converge on the tumor. They will converge as they meet the tumor which will concentrate the particle's power on the mass.
The Image Guided Radiation Therapy technique (IGRT) is basically a step up from the IMRT. It is currently filling many clinical offices and the popularity is gaining among the radiation oncology field. It's big right now because it has technology that can feed the computer real-time information gathered from the CT scanner, ultrasound machine or x-ray.
The reason real-time information is needed is because often, when a tumor is targeted and mapped in the doctor's office and sent to the IMRT machine to go to work, the organs and internals within the patient do shift a little. This can create some margin of error when the work is performed.
With IGRT the radiation oncologist or other clinician can run an imaging scan while having the particle accelerator follow that scan's live image. This leaves more healthy tissue that can stay unscathed in the process.
By Paul M. Jerard Jr
Yogic philosophy is so vast that it could easily dominate a 200-hour Yoga teacher training. After spending a three day weekend, lecturing about how to apply Yama and Niyama in every facet of life, I realized that this workshop could have been expanded to two weekends.
However, the philosophy component is not what most Yoga teacher interns want to learn. Most people, in general, feel that Asana (Yoga posture) is the heart and soul of our practice. If life were measured only on the physical plane of existence, this might be true, but humans are also connected by mental, emotional, and spiritual growth.
Maharishi Patanjali mentions Yama and Niyama as the first two limbs of the Eight Limbed Path. Why would he mention them first? At the very least, he has tried to point out their importance. Over time, the message does not come out as it once did.
Essentially, a student should practice the first two limbs to become a serious Yoga practitioner. People confuse terms, such as "true Yogi." Is a true Yogi someone who is a vegetarian, does not drink coffee, but participates in gossip?
There is a conflict in labeling someone as a "real Yogi." Who among us has not harmed another being? Who among us has the superficial appearance of a true Yogi, but stirs up hate and intolerance? The truth be known, to follow Yama and Niyama, every day of
your life, is not easy. Some will question why you do not participate in conjuring up
negativity.
To do no harm, be truthful, avoid theft, be sexually responsible, and avoid greed are the Yamas. This is a simplistic explanation, but following these moral codes can bring much happiness to anyone who decides to live by practicing Yama.
To be clean, content, committed, to engage in studies, and to completely give yourself to God are the Niyamas. Again, this is a simple explanation, but this is not an easy road. Again, to follow Niyama will bring you happiness.
How many people wake up to complain every day of their life? How many people are clean in mind and body? How many people do not bother to finish anything? We do not have to pursue this line of thinking further.
The point Maharishi Patanjali makes, with the first two limbs, has nothing to do with drinking coffee or any other trivial matter. It is not an easy road to behave with kindness, tolerance, compassion, and give time or money to those who need it. Just by listening to someone who needs it, you a being a "good Yogi."
Therefore, in a Yoga instructor certification course, interns should learn the Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Beyond this, an overview of the Gheranda Samhita, Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads would be useful. Time places limitations on the depth of learning involved within a 200-hour course, so interns should be advised to make self-study (Svadhyaya) a part of their daily life.
By Paul M. Jerard Jr.
Beyond philosophy, meditation, asana, and Pranayama, there is still much more for an intern to learn about teaching Yoga. These subjects get some attention, during a 200-hour Yoga certification course, but once an intern has successfully graduated, a peripheral subject becomes a part of daily independent research or continuing education.
Teaching methodology is learned by instructing classes. Interns should have a firm grasp of the principles, practices, and procedures involved in teaching classes. Upon successful graduation, interns have learned the necessary procedures and techniques involved in teaching a class.
There is a "stepping stone" process for learning how to teach. The first step is careful observation of other Yoga teachers. Learn what you would, and would not, do by participating in a class. This form of observation requires the intern to participate, and take in the whole classroom experience, in complete silence.
Learning to adjust, modify, and assist for alignment is the second step. Work with everyone who will allow you to. This will require some repetitive homework. Repetition is the best way to become comfortable with assisting.
Some interns act as assistants to a Yoga teacher during a class. The assistants will help
students with modifications, props, alignment, and physical assists. This is a great way
to gain experience. Once this has been mastered, teaching friends in small groups, semi-private, or private sessions is a good way to develop inner confidence.
If you concentrate on each step of development, you will be successful. No step should be by-passed. Some Yoga teachers never develop a sense for modifications, using props, proper alignment, or giving an assist. You never want to be one of them.
A competent Yoga instructor should be able to teach anyone, regardless of their physical ability. We can adapt our teaching style to suit the physical abilities or limitations of our students. A Yoga class should not be a "trial by fire" for new students. Hence, the graduate of a well-rounded teacher training course should be able to teach a wide variety of students in different stages of health.
The personal practice of interns and Yoga teachers should be a part of daily life. To read Yogic philosophy, meditate, practice pranayama, and practice asana should be a structured part of each day. This also allows time for exploring your own practice and developing solutions for your students.
It is inevitable that you will find students who have health conditions. This will require you to become an innovator. To imitate your best teachers is a wonderful compliment to them, but to eventually become creative is a testament to the entire Yoga teacher training process.
By Anmol Mehta
Core abdominal training and power is perhaps the most important aspect of physical fitness, and yoga is an excellent science to help target and develop this region. According to yoga, the abdominal area is governed by the Solar Plexus Chakra, called the Manipura Chakra in Sanskrit, and this chakra is responsible for not just providing the body with the physical energy it needs, but is also responsible for your willpower and strength of character.
Yoga abdominal exercises work on many dimensions of your being. They not just tone and strengthen the stomach muscles, but they also open and balance the Manipura Chakra mentioned above. Thus, not only is your core strength and power improved, but, also your willpower and strength of character developed. In this article I will give three excellent yoga exercises for developing this all important center.
1. Single Yoga Leg Lifts:
Lie on your back with your hands underneath your buttocks palms facing down. The hand position is to support your lower back. If you feel pressure or discomfort in your lower back, go ahead and roll more of your arms underneath you, this will give even more lower back support.
Now lift your left leg up to ninety degrees in a slow, smooth motion keeping it as straight at the knee as possible. Inhale as you lift you lift up, then exhale and bring the leg back down. Next repeat this exercise with the right leg. Continue in this fashion,
lifting alternate legs to ninety degrees for one to three minutes.
Take a break in between if you need to. Remember never to overdo anything when it comes to yoga. Slow and steady is the golden rule.
2. Double Yoga Leg Lifts:
Once you complete your single leg lifts take a short break and then try the same exercise but this time lift both legs together is a smooth motion to ninety degrees and then back down. Again try to keep the legs as straight as possible. Keep the hands underneath the buttocks as above to support the lower back.
3. Criss-Cross Legs:
You will find the above two exercise really target the central abs, and this exercise will attack the obliques, which are the stomach muscles that line the side of the abdominal. For this exercise, again remain on your back with the hands underneath your buttocks palms facing down, then raise your legs twelve to eighteen inches above the floor and keeping the toes pointed begin to rapidly criss-cross them.
By criss-cross here, I mean that let the legs cross over each other at the ankles, where fist the right leg crosses over the top of the left, and then the left crosses over the the top of the right. This action will really work the stomach muscles and is excellent training for abdominal strength and toning.
Summary:
So there you have three excellent exercises for toning and strengthening your abdominal muscles and activating the Solar Plexus Chakra. These exercises also provide the added benefit of helping your digestive system and is an excellent set for those who are just starting out their yoga practice.
by Stephen Collinson
DENVER, Colorado (AFP) – Barack Obama took aim at John McCain before record crowds after his rival acknowledged sharing the same Republican party philosophy as unpopular President George W. Bush.
Just nine days before the presidential election, Democratic candidate Obama on Sunday again attempted to shackle McCain to Bush's shattered economic legacy and tried to rebut attacks on his own tax policy.
More than 150,000 people flocked to two Obama rallies on the campaign trail in Colorado, with a record crowd of more than 100,000 in Denver listening as the Illinois senator tore into McCain for his support of Bush.
"Just this morning, Senator McCain said that actually he and President Bush 'share a common philosophy,'" Obama said.
"That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common," Obama said.
Obama then listed what he saw as deficiencies of the McCain-Bush philosophy, which encapsulated his main campaign themes heading into the election on November 4 as America battles its deepest economic crisis since the 1930s.
He said "the Bush-McCain philosophy" gave tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations and justified spending 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq "while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus and our economy is in crisis."
"We can't have another four years that look like the last eight. It is time for change in Washington," Obama said.
Obama spoke on the second day of a swing through vital western battleground states Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, after a short break from the campaign trail to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii who turned 86 on Sunday.
If he can win all the states that Democrat John Kerry captured in his unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid and peel the three western states away from the Republicans, Obama will be assured of the White House.
In an appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press,", McCain argued that he had long had major differences with Bush on issues like climate change and government spending.
"Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course," McCain said. "But I stood up against my party, not just President Bush but others as well and I have the scars to prove it."
McCain also brushed off opinion polls indicating he is set to lose against Obama, insisting that his bid for the White House is still afloat.
McCain, who has been trailing Obama by more than 10 points in some national and state polls, told NBC that his campaign was "doing fine."
"We've closed in the last week and if we continue this close in the next week you're going to be up very late on election night."
Later McCain addressed rallies in Iowa and Ohio on a swing through the midwestern state where Obama holds the edge according to recent polls.
As he is expected to do throughout the remainder of the campaign, McCain relentlessly rammed home his contention that Obama is a closet socialist hellbent on raising taxes on ordinary Americans.
The 72-year-old former Navy pilot, speaking on the 41st anniversary of being shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War, also struck a defiant stance, casting himself as the underdog in the final stretch of the election race.
At one rally in Ohio late Sunday, McCain arrived to the theme tune from the boxing underdog movie "Rocky" to the delight of his supporters.
"I'm not afraid of the fight -- I'm ready for it," he exhorted.
He also repeated his claim -- angrily denied by the Obama camp -- that the Democratic nominee had already begun drafting his inauguration speech.
"What America needs now is someone who'll finish the race before starting the victory lap, not for himself but for his country," he said.
Earlier Sunday, McCain had issued a robust defense of running mate Sarah Palin after reports of bitter infighting within the campaign.
Asked on "Meet the Press" if he wanted to defend Alaska Governor Palin, who has been blamed for his sagging poll numbers , McCain replied: "I don't defend her -- I praise her. She needs no defense."
"She's a role model for millions and millions of Americans," said McCain. "She's just what Washington needs."
In another blow to the Republican campaign, The Anchorage Daily News, the biggest newspaper in Palin's home state of Alaska, endorsed Obama, saying he "truly promises fundamental change in Washington."
National polls have Obama up anywhere from four to 14 percentage points and with a solid lead in most battleground states, but some surveys show McCain has made up some ground in Ohio, Florida and must-win Pennsylvania.
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
DENVER (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama sharpened his criticism of rival John McCain Sunday, warning a huge crowd of more than 100,000 supporters that a McCain White House would mean four more years of failed Republican policies and broken politics.
The Illinois senator, concluding a two-day swing through the Western battlegrounds of Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, renewed his favorite theme -- that McCain represents another term for Republican President George W. Bush.
"We're not going to let George Bush pass the torch to John McCain," Obama told audience estimated by Denver police at more than 100,000 -- the biggest crowd in a campaign that has already set records for fundraising.
The thunderous gathering, which Obama aides said exceeded the 100,000 who saw Obama at a recent rally in St. Louis, jammed a downtown Denver park and filled the steps of the Colorado state capital building.
"Just this morning, Senator McCain said that he and President Bush 'share a common philosophy,'" Obama told the crowd. "I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk."
Obama repeated the criticism at a later rally in Ft. Collins, where about 50,000 supporters filled a campus yard at Colorado State University.
He said "the Bush-McCain philosophy" benefited the rich and promised the wealth would trickle down to everyone else. He noted Bush had voted for McCain last week.
"Well, Colorado, George Bush isn't the only one who gets to vote early -- you can vote early too. And you can finally put an end to the Bush-McCain philosophy," Obama said.
A spokesman for McCain, an Arizona senator, said Obama had not bucked the Democratic Party on major issues.
"John McCain opposed President Bush's wasteful spending policy, his Big Oil energy policy and his efforts to grow the federal government by 40 percent -- Obama supported Bush on all three," campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
MCCAIN ON DEFENSIVE
Obama leads McCain in national opinion polls nine days before the November 4 election, and is hoping to put Colorado's nine electoral votes in his column. Colorado is one of about a dozen states won by Bush in 2004 that McCain is struggling to defend.
Obama has focused on states like Colorado that allow early voting, urging supporters to cast their ballots before November 4 in the hopes of luring first-time and infrequent voters to the polls.
Polls show Obama with a solid lead in Colorado, where the Democrats held their national nominating convention and Obama gave his acceptance speech before 75,000 in Denver's open-air football stadium.
"Do you guys ever have a small crowd in Denver?" Obama asked as he took the stage before the sprawling sea of supporters.
Colorado has been trending toward Democrats in recent years amid an influx of new residents and growth in the Hispanic population. Bush carried the state by five percentage points in 2004.
Obama plans to launch a tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Monday that will feature what aides called his "closing argument" to voters, making his case for change from Bush's Republican policies.
He told supporters McCain was cranking up his negative attacks in the race's final days in a desperate effort to catch up. "John McCain has been throwing everything he's got at us, hoping something sticks," he said.
Obama picked up the endorsement of Britain's Financial Times newspaper, which said in an editorial it was "confident that Mr. Obama is the right choice."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he can “guarantee” a win on Nov. 4 in a squeaker victory that won’t be clear until late that night.
McCain spoke amid signs of a tightening race, and reports of renewed determination among his staff, which is badly outgunned in both money and manpower.
“I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I'm going to win it,” McCain told interim "Meet" moderator Tom Brokaw. “We're going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We're going to win it, and it's going to be tight, and we're going to be up late.”
McCain was down just 5 points in the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Sunday, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) leading by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely voters in the daily tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points.
Reuters reported that Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday. Pollster John Zogby said: "Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama's are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy."
The Washington Post reported Sunday: "[I]nside the McCain campaign the mood remains one of gritty resolve. Top aides know they are behind, but they hold out hope and, like their candidate, stubbornly refuse to give up."
McCain told Brokaw in Waterloo, Iowa, that he feels "like Knute Rockne ... go out there and get one for the Gipper."
“We are very competitive in battleground states," McCain said. "Obviously, I choose to trust my senses as well as polls. The enthusiasm at almost all of our [events] is at a higher level than I've ever seen, and I've been in a lot of presidential campaigns, usually as the warm-up act. ... And I see intensity out there, and I see passion. So we're very competitive.”
McCain added: “We're going to have to just get out our vote, work hard over the next nine days, and make sure that people know that there'll be a better future. People are very worried now — very, very worried, and have every reason to be. I think it's all about who can assure a better future.”
On the endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, McCain said: "I'm disappointed in Gen. Powell, but I'm very, very happy to know that [I'm endorsed by] five former secretaries of states who I admire enormously.”
McCain defended Republican National Committee clothing purchases on behalf of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Politico revealed during the past week that the RNC spent $150,000 on designer outfits at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue for the vice presidential nominee and members of her family.
"She lives a frugal life,” he said. “She and her family are not wealthy. She and her family were thrust into this and there was some — and some third of that money is given back. The rest will be donated to charity. ... She is a role model to millions and millions and millions of Americans."
McCain appeared in a gracious mood, saying to Brokaw at the end: "I appreciate your many years of informing the American people. You've come a long way from South Dakota, but you have never forgotten where you come from.”
