Highlights
- Clinton showing strength in Texas and Ohio amid calls to quit
- Obama’s free ride over?
- Wiretap compromise near
- Genocide back in Darfur
- War looms in Latin America? Columbia-Venezuela face off
- US bombs Somalia
- Abbas calls off talks with Israel
- IAEA: New Iranian nuke evidence
- Wall St. fleecing Main St.
Quote of the Day
The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.” — Mike Krzyzewski
Video(s) of the Day
Hillary Clinton makes a cameo in Saturday Night Live’s opening skit, which is an “editorial response” to SNL’s hilarious send up of the last Democrat debate.
Politics
- Clinton Showing Strength Clinton continued hitting Obama hard on national security which seems to be resonating with voters as she’s showing some surprising strength going in to tomorrow’s primaries in Texas and Ohio, threatening to end Obama’s 11 state winning streak. A new poll of polls shows Hillary leading in Ohio 48 to 43 and Obama leading in Texas 47 to 45. Reviving an old campaign tactic that was first used by Walter Mondale in 1984 and George H.W. Bush in 1992 against Bill Clinton, the Clinton campaign rolled out a new campaign video that shows a sleeping family while a blinking red phone rings, saying a crisis is going on in the world, and asking who the viewer wants answering the phone in the White House. Obama quickly responded with his own version of the same ad, sticking to his message that he’s more qualified because he spoke out against the Iraq authorization vote as an Illinois state senator, which he says represents his superior judgment. Clinton needs to win big tomorrow in order to remain in the campaign, though even if she wins, she will still face daunting math in the delegate count.
- Calls for Clinton to Quit Pressure is mounting on Clinton to cede the nomination if she doesn’t rack up big wins in tomorrow’s primaries. The Republicans have already coalesced around their nominee and have started hammering Obama, and Democrats rightfully fear a protracted race will hurt their chances in the general election, where the differences with Republicans are vast, exposing both Democrats to sustained attacks from both sides of the political spectrum.
- Florida May Re-Vote Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced he would support holding another, this time official, primary vote for the Democrat party. Florida and Michigan held their primaries earlier than the DNC’s rules allowed, so currently neither state’s delegates are being counted. Both states voted for Clinton, who is aggressively trying to get the delegates seated, while DNC Chairman Howard Dean welcomed Crist’s comments since the cost of holding another primary would fall on the state. Democrat’s are divided over the issue (mostly depending upon whom they support) – some hold that rules were rules and the states forfeited their rights to delegates, while others are loathe to deny those voters a say, especially given that Florida Democrats are still bitter over the 2000 election where they feel they were disenfranchised.
- Steinem: Torture, Shmorture Stumping for Clinton, feminist Gloria Steinem lashed out at McCain, derisively asking why his five years as a POW during the Vietnam War was a qualification for being President. She said she was glad “Clinton wasn’t trained to kill anybody” and thinks it outrageous that “from George Washington to John F. Kennedy [...] we behaved as if killing people is a qualification for ruling people.” She also argued that an open, contested Democrat convention could be a good thing, noting that “an open convention in New York City gave us Abraham Lincoln.” Clinton’s campaign quickly put out a statement distancing themselves from Steinem’s comments about McCain.
- Obama’s Free Ride Over The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz reports that Obama’s free ride from the media may finally be over, with journalists finally asking the hard questions and scrutinizing his record. Among the incidents he cites are ABC asking Obama about Republicans’ attempts at painting him and his wife as unpatriotic, stories on Obama’s 130 “present” votes in the IL state senate, scrutiny of his nuclear regulatory bill that was largely rewritten by the nuclear power lobby, his ties to his anti-semetic pastor and indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko. This is not to mention the fire he’s taking from the Republicans – the first time he’s ever faced serious incoming fire in any campaign.
US
- Wiretapping Compromise The House of Representatives indicated they may be near a compromise on the bill to reauthorize the controversial expired wiretapping law. The House objected to the bill passed in the Senate that granted telecoms immunity for their previous cooperation in tapping telephone conversations involving a US citizen without a warrant, and President Bush promised to veto the bill unless the House agreed to the immunity provision. The House is signaling it will likely agree to grant telecoms the protection.
- WMD in Vegas A man is in a coma in a Las Vegas hospital after he apparently poisoned himself with the deadly poison ricin, a powerful agent that is best known as a chemical weapon that has no known antidote. It does not appear the man intentionally poisoned himself, and while authorities have not yet divulged his motive in making the poison, they said there is no evidence it’s terror-related. The man has been hospitalized since mid-February and the ricin was discovered last week when a relative was moving the man’s belongings out of his apartment after he was evicted; a day earlier, the same relative called police to come remove firearms he found in the apartment. People who knew the man claimed he “struggled to get by” in life.
International
Americas
- Chavez Threatens War Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez ordered thousands of troops, tanks, and the air force to the Venezuela-Columbia border and withdrew all embassy personnel from Bogota; Chavez’s ally Ecuador also sent troops to their border with Colombia. Chavez claims Columbia is provoking a war after it attacked a camp of FARC rebels – a leftist group terrorizing Columbia for the past two decades - who had crossed the border into Ecuador. Siding with FARC, Chavez called Columbia a “terrorist state” and a puppet of the “US empire” that is trying to rule Latin America, and promised to soon “liberate” Columbians from American tyranny. US and Columbian officials had a muted response. Chavez has been attempting to antagonize the US for years, trying to build a Socialist political and military alliance in Latin America (and allied with Iran) to “fight” the US.
Europe
- Russian Shocker In an expected result, Putin’s handpicked successor – Dimitri Medvedev – was elected as Russia’s new President on Sunday, receiving 70% of the vote to his nearest competitor’s 17%. His opponents claim the vote was rigged even worse than December’s parliamentary elections, though it’s unclear why they would go to the trouble – Putin effectively guaranteed Medvedev’s election via disqualifications, limiting state-controlled television coverage of opponents, and the like. Medvedev has announced he will appoint Putin as Prime Minister, where it’s expected he will retain ultimate control over the country.
- Armenia Crackdown Protesting peacefully since a Feb. 19 contested Armenian presidential election, protests turned violent over the weekend, leading to the government imposing a state of emergency and dispatching the military to enforce it, resulting in at least eight deaths and more than 130 injuries. Some protesters claim the government sent provocateurs into the protests in order to justify a clamp-down.
- Russia Cuts Gas Off Russia cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine by 25% after the two countries failed to reach an agreement on a gas pricing dispute.
- Academy Award-Winning Nut French actress Marion Cotillard, who just won a Best Actress Oscar, had past controversial comments dredged up after winning the award, including her beliefs that the US government was behind 9/11 (because it was cheaper to destroy the buildings rather than make needed rehabilitations) and possibly faked the Moon landing.
Africa
- Genocide is Back The “scorched-Earth” tactics of the janjaweed Arab militias are back in Darfur, where villages are being looted and burned to the ground and citizens being slaughtered. The militias are being backed by Sudanese government troops, tanks, and air power, with the government claiming they are only going after armed rebels who are attacking towns, despite residents claiming otherwise. The escalation in violence comes as the peace talks between the government and rebels unravel. A simplification is that the conflict is primarily driven by climate change and overpopulation in Darfur, pushing Darfur’s African population south and east into Arab-dominated lands where the two populations compete for resources.
- US Played Role in Kenya After being criticized for initially doing too little to help resolve the disputed presidential elections in Kenya and condemn the rigged vote, the Bush Administration is now being credited for helping push the two sides into the power-sharing compromise that was announced last week.
- US Bombs Somalia US warplanes bombed a suspected terrorist hideout in Somalia last night.
Middle East
- Brutal Retaliation, Cancelled Talks The tit-for-tat between Hamas and Israel continued to escalate - over the weekend, a dozen new long-range rockets were fired into a major Israeli city that until recently was effectively out of range, killing three Israeli citizens, with a total of at least 40 rockets launched. Israel continued to hit back viciously with airstrikes that have killed over 100 Palestinians since last Wednesday. Palestinian President Abbas announced he is suspending peace talks with Israel until the airstrikes stop, but reiterated he hopes an agreement can be reached by the end of the year. Despite the continued rocket attacks, Israel announced it is withdrawing the troops it sent into Gaza last week to clamp down on the violence.
- IAEA: Iran’s Pursuing Nukes The confrontation with Iran over their nuclear weapons program has taken on a new sense of urgency after the International Atomic Energy Agency presented a trove of new evidence to international diplomats last week that showed work “not consistent with any application other than the development of a nuclear weapon”. Iran’s ambassador was “nearly shouting” in his denouncement of the evidence in the middle of the meeting. After the Bush Administration’s policy on the crisis was thrown into disarray by a US intelligence report that undermined their position, the EU has taken up the position of leading the international community’s pressure on Iran.
- Ahmadinejad in Baghdad Iranian President Ahmadinejad became the first Iranian President to visit Iraq when he arrived in Baghdad on Sunday. The announced intention of the visit was to build relations between the two countries that were sworn enemies until the US invasion of Iraq. Ahmadinejad was asked on several occasions if he would continue allowing Iranian weaponry to cross the border, a charge he denied. Among other predictably ridiculous statements, Ahmadinejad announced that “there were no terrorists in the [Middle East] before the US invasion” – the US government brands Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
- Another Pakistan Bombing A third suicide bombing in as many days was reported in Pakistan’s tribal region, the target being a town council meeting, the subject of which was putting together a militia to root the area of al-Qa’ida and Taliban-allied terrorists. Forty two were reported killed. A safe haven for the past few years, the tribal areas are increasingly turning against the terrorists, whose growing number of attacks are in turn driving public opinion even further against them.
Asia
- Sino-Russian Cooling China and Russia have long been close military trading partners, but today new contracts have slowed down to near nothing as both sides rethink their interests in today’s world. Russia hesitates at China’s rapid military rise, fearing a return to the neighbors being adversaries, competing for land and resources, potentially leading to wars in which Russian technology is used against itself. China is demanding more sophisticated technology from Russia, requests that have consistently rebuffed, fearing not just the defense aspect, but the economic aspect should Chinese defense firms catch up to their Russian counterparts.
Business & Economics
- Europe to Build Tankers For the Pentagon In a striking move, the Pentagon awarded a $40 billion air tanker contract to a consortium of companies led by Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus, ending Boeing’s lock on supplying tankers. The consortium stresses that while some major components will be manufactured in Europe, the bulk of work and final assembly will occur in the US, eventually creating as many as 25,000 new American jobs.
- Oil Up, Dollar Down, OPEC Reconsiders The The Dollar closed last week at another all time low against the Euro ($1.53), while oil closed just under a record high (about $102). With oil prices taking their toll on the US economy, OPEC is reconsidering a plan to cut production this week. In an outrageous move, OPEC had previously announced they would be cutting production to keep oil prices in the $80-$100 range.
- Wall St. Fleecing Main St. In yet another case of Wall Street fleecing the US consumer, municipalities are increasingly complaining that credit rating agencies are giving them unfairly low credit ratings, which ultimately result in taxpayers paying more for municipal debt than is justified, with billions in excessive profits going to the Wall Street investors buying the bonds. Municipalities are claiming a double standard, showing how the same municipality with a fifth-best rating (A1) would receive the top rating (AAA) if they were a corporation. The other major recent development that benefits Wall St. at the expense of the consumer is the credit market bailout.
- Student Credit Crunch The Washington Post is reporting college students will start facing higher interest rates and fees on student loans as the credit market meltdown starts to be felt in the sector.
- Gas Guzzlers Sip Oil prices are starting to have an effect on US gas consumption, which has fallen by just over 1% since last year – the biggest and longest drop in 16 years. Consumers are starting to alter behavior and increasingly making fuel economy a factor in car purchasing decisions.
