Headlines

Politics

• Superdelegate Convention Proposed To Settle Democrat Race
• Obama Maintains National Edge Over Clinton
• Politico: Obama’s Shifting Stances & Excuses
• Obama Adjusting Style And Message For Working Classes In Upcoming Primaries
• Pelosi Urges Bush To Reconsider Olympics Boycott

US

• Google Recruited By CIA, NSA
• Pentagon Employee Pleads Guilty To Giving Secrets To China
• US Doctors Support Universal Health Care
• Strong Storms Sweep Midwest
• New CPR Guidelines: Compression-Only Works Just As Well

International

• Taliban Encourage Afghan Government To Abandon US War On Terror, Seriously
• Musharraf Swears In Cabinet Stocked With Opponents
• Evidence Mounting That Opposition Beat Zimbabwe Dictator Mugabe
• Terrorists Take Another Somali Town
• More Tension: Ecuador Attack Helicopter Violates Columbian Airspace
• Cuba Lifts Ban On Staying In Hotels & Buying Electronics, Including Air Conditioners
• Inquest Conclusion: Diana’s Death Was An Accident

Business & Economics

• Grassroots Trucker Strike Begins Today - Impact Could Be Big
• Oil Execs To Be Raked Over Coals In Congressional Hearing Today
• Average Gas Price Hits Record $3.29
• Fed Studying Nordic Bank Nationalization As Potential Model For US Crisis
• The One Trillion (Or Maybe $45 Trillion) Dollar Meltdown
• UBS To Write Down Another $19 Billion

Video of the Day

 The US Army successfully held its “Bring Your Daughter To War Day” in Iraq.

Army Holds Annual ‘Bring Your Daughter To War’ Day 

Politics 

Superdelegate Convention Proposed To Settle Democrat Race

The latest idea being discussed among Democrat officials seeking to avoid a protracted, post-summer nomination battle is to convene a ‘mini-convention’ of Democrat superdelegates in June to settle the race. While an actual meeting may not take place, Politico is reporting on a virtual version already underway, with Obama picking up momentum in superdelegates lining up behind him. Clinton is waging a scorched-earth effort to win the remaining primaries and convince pledged and super-delegates alike that she is the candidate best positioned to win against McCain in November. Neither candidate can win the nomination with pledged delegates alone since the race is so close and Florida and Michigan’s delegates were disqualified after the states violated party rules by holding their primaries too early.

Obama Maintains National Edge Over Clinton

Another national poll shows Obama maintaining a significant lead over Clinton among Democrats - 51% to 43%. 

Politico: Obama’s Shifting Stances & Excuses

Politico reports that Obama is starting to develop a troubling pattern for the man who promises to change politics - taking positions that might be politically expedient, then blaming aides or claiming ignorance on contradictory, shifting, or controversial views (the Canada flap, the “monster” incident, claiming he never heard Reverend Wright’s racist comments in 20 years). The immediate issue at hand are positions he took in his first run for the Illinois state senate as articulated in response to two different questionnaires sent to him by advocacy groups, covering abortion, gun control, and the death penalty. Obama’s campaign claims the positions that contradict his current stances were never seen or approved by Obama, and were the work of a staffer who “mischaracterized” his positions. Politico secured copies of the questionnaires and found Obama’s handwriting, detailing his responses. This is significant because it plays into one of Clinton’s main arguments - that Obama is inconsistent, unelectable, and offers only hollow words. Obama advocates say his shifting views represent an evolution in thinking over a 10-year political career.

Obama Adjusting Style And Message For Working Classes In Upcoming Primaries

The New York Times reports Obama “is grounding his lofty rhetoric in the more prosaic language of white-working-class discontent, adjusting it to the less welcoming terrain of Pennsylvania.” Instead of stadium rallies, Obama is holding town hall forums, talking to small groups of voters about his days as a community organizer in Chicago, when he was making only $12,000 a year. The remaining primary states are mostly white, rural, and blue collar, demographics in which Obama has not historically done well, and form the base of Clinton’s support in the party.

Pelosi Urges Bush To Reconsider Olympics Boycott

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged President Bush to reconsider boycotting the Beijing Olympics in protest of China’s dismal human rights record and recent bloody crackdown on pro-Tibet demonstrators. Pelosi traveled to India last week to meet with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, to put further pressure on the Chinese government over it’s handling of the unrest. While Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have announced they will attend the opening ceremonies, a growing number of European leaders are committing to a boycott.

US 

Google Recruited By CIA, NSA

The US intelligence community has enlisted Google to provide the technology behind its latest generation of information management systems. One of the more interesting systems is Intellipedia - a classified hybrid of Wikipedia and MySpace, enabling operators and analysts to post and analyze data on a secure site organized around Wikipedia-style ‘articles’, and also detail their areas of expertise in the equivalent of profiles.

Pentagon Employee Pleads Guilty To Giving Secrets To China

A former Pentagon employee pleaded guilty to espionage charges yesterday after being caught passing classified documents to a Chinese spy network in the US, and faces 10 years in jail. The employee worked as an analyst in the Pentagon’s foreign sales office and was feeding secrets to China over US weapons sales to Taiwan. China maintains the biggest espionage efforts against the US, stealing commercial and military secrets in their ill-fated attempt to overtake the US in economic and military terms. Just last week another Chinese spy was sentenced to 24 years in jail for attempting to steal Navy submarine technology.

US Doctors Support Universal Health Care

With no quick or easy options for overhauling the US’s dysfunctional health care system, over 50% of doctors now support universal health care, with less than a third opposing it. 

Strong Storms Sweep Midwest

The midwest was hit Monday with a series of storms that produced tornados, high winds, flood warnings and snows. No major injuries were reported other than a fatality from a traffic pileup caused by snowy road conditions in Colorado.

New CPR Guidelines: Compression-Only Works Just As Well

The AP reports “You can skip the mouth-to-mouth breathing and just press on the chest to save a life. In a major change, the American Heart Association said Monday that hands-only CPR - rapid, deep presses on the victim’s chest until help arrives - works just as well as standard CPR for sudden cardiac arrest in adults.”

International

Middle East

Taliban Encourage Afghan Government To Abandon US War On Terror, Seriously

“Pakistan’s Taliban movement has welcomed an offer by the country’s prime minister to hold talks with them and has urged Islamabad to abandon the US-led ‘war on terror,’ a spokesman for the movement has said.” Apparently the Taliban have developed a sense of humor.

Musharraf Swears In Cabinet Stocked With Opponents

After last month’s parliamentary elections that dealt a major blow to Pakistani President Musharraf’s government, “a stern-faced Musharraf swore in a new cabinet on Monday that was filled with political opponents from the main opposition parties, including several who served time in prison under his military government.” Musharraf is deeply unpopular in Pakistan and the routing of his party has been a setback for the Bush Administration, which has steadfastly backed Musharraf, causing widespread anger and resentment throughout the country and government.

Africa

Evidence Mounting That Opposition Beat Zimbabwe Dictator Mugabe

Election results continue to slowly trickle out of Zimbabwe, where evidence is mounting that the opposition won a solid victory over longtime dictator Robert Mugabe. The delay in reporting Saturday’s results has fueled speculation that Mugabe’s government was rigging the results, but with local polling stations publicly posting their results, the chances for Mugabe to successfully steal the vote have gotten much smaller. Mugabe has caused massive damage to the country, particularly to the economy, which suffers from an astounding 100,000% annual inflation (today $100 would buy over 50 pounds of Zimbabwe paper currency). After Mugabe violently seized all of the white-owned farms in 2000 and handed them over to black citizens, the country’s agriculture-based economy imploded and has yet to recover.

Terrorists Take Another Somali Town

Islamic terrorists overtook another Somali city yesterday, continuing a resurgent trend that has been battling back interim government troops across the country. The Somali government is asking for more international assistance (the US and Ethiopia have both provided firepower and logistics) against the terrorists, who the government alleges are being armed and funded by Arab countries. The country has been in a perpetual state of chaos since the government collapsed almost 20 years ago.

Americas

More Tension: Ecuador Attack Helicopter Violates Columbian Airspace

The squabbling between Columbia and Ecuador notched up in intensity yesterday when an Ecuador attack helicopter violated Columbia’s airspace and was intercepted by two Columbian helicopters that tried to force it to land, before it took evasive maneuvers and escaped. This comes a day after Ecuador claimed Columbia illegally sprayed Ecuadorian crops as it was spraying herbicides to kill the coca crops used to produce Columbia’s massive cocaine exports. Last month a tense military standoff ensued between Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela after Columbia launched a cross-border raid into Ecuador to attack a FARC camp. FARC is the terrorist organization that has been waging war against the Columbian government for nearly 50 years and is backed by Hugo Chavez’s socialist Venezuelan government.

Cuba Lifts Ban On Staying In Hotels & Buying Electronics, Including Air Conditioners

Continuing his march of incremental yet significant reforms, new Cuban President Raul Castro lifted the ban on Cubans staying in the country’s hotels and is lifting today an electronics ban, allowing residents to buy for the first time things such as computers, toasters, microwaves, and air conditioners. Other bans already lifted include those that made it illegal to own a cell phone.

Europe

Inquest Conclusion: Diana’s Death Was An Accident

The six-month coroner’s inquest into the death of Princess Diana is concluding with the coroner making his determination that her death was strictly an accident, and was in no way planned or encouraged by the royal family or any other party, as conspiracy theorists have maintained since her fatal car crash in Paris in 1997. 

Business & Economics

Grassroots Trucker Strike Begins Today - Impact Could Be Big

With diesel fuel costs surpassing $4 a gallon across most of the US, momentum has built up behind a national truck-driver strike that begins today and runs through Thursday. It will not be clear how widespread or impactful the strike will be until after the fact, since the movement has spread via email, blogs, CB radio transmissions, and in truck stops. Most independent truckers say they no longer can turn a profit with their current wages after paying for gas, and are asking for wage hikes and government-relief on gas prices. Trucks are the hidden-in-plain-sight backbone of the US economy, so any significant disruption could be widely felt. 

Oil Execs To Be Raked Over Coals In Congressional Hearing Today

Executives from the three biggest US oil companies (Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips) along with BP and Shell will testify before a Congressional panel today over soaring oil prices and profits. The committee is pushing to roll-back billions in tax breaks for the companies that are earning hundreds of billions in profits (e.g. Exxon alone cleared a $40 billion profit on $400 billion in sales in 2007) while the American economy is feeling the acute pain of $100/barrel oil. Oil executives’ defense is that they have no control over oil prices that are set by commodities markets (and OPEC collusion), and they need the proportionate profits to be able to compete with the giant, state-controlled oil companies in producing countries, such as those in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which collectively control trillions of dollars in assets.

Average Gas Price Hits Record $3.29

“The U.S. retail price for gasoline set a new high of $3.29 a gallon after rising 3.1 cents over the last week, the federal Energy Information Administration said on Monday.” Prices are up 58 cents over the past year.

Fed Studying Nordic Bank Nationalization As Potential Model For US Crisis

The Federal Reserve is studying the central bank interventions that saved Nordic banks when a crisis similar to the US’s current situation threatened the region in the 90s. The Nordic central banks took over private banks on the verge of collapse, ensuring shareholders didn’t receive any compensation and purging executive management, nursed them back to health, and then sold or re-floated them. The Fed is interested in their model since it was successful and avoided bailing out with taxpayer funds the shareholders and executives who created the crisis. The Fed has come under fire for its role in bailing out Bear Stearns, which amounts to the taxpayers saving the bankers who profited from the excesses that triggered the current meltdown.

The One Trillion (Or Maybe $45 Trillion) Dollar Meltdown

In an eponymous book, a trillion dollar write-down is the total collective loss expected from an “orderly unwinding” of the current credit market dysfunction, though it claims an orderly unwinding is not likely to be the case, with the $45 trillion in credit default swaps particularly at risk for massive write-downs. Forty-five trillion is about three times the size of the entire US economy.

UBS To Write Down Another $19 Billion

UBS, the European bank suffering the most in the credit market crisis, announced it is writing down another $19 billionin mortgage-related US securities, on top of the $18 billion already written-off last year. UBS’s Chairman of the Board announced he will not seek reelection .