Headlines

Politics

• Dean Promises To Seat Florida Delegates
• Poll Has Obama Catching Clinton In Pennsylvania
• Obama: Gore Will Be Central Player
• Bill Clinton Blows Up Before “Chill Out” Speech

US

• Post-9/11 Bush Administration Memo: Fourth Amendment Optional
• Joint Chiefs: Iraq Siphons Needed Troops From Afghanistan
• ACLU: Pentagon Illegally Spying On Americans

International

• Scientists Create Human-Cow Chimera Embryo
• NATO Close To Having Troop Commitments Needed In Afghanistan
• Bush Rankles NATO Allies By Unexpectedly Pressing Ukraine, Georgia Membership
• Ireland’s Prime Minister Retiring While Maintaining Innocence
• Argentina’s President Reiterates Claims To British Falkland Islands On War Anniversary
• More Zimbabwe Results Indicate Mugabe Loses Lower House Of Parliament
• World Bank Calls On Sovereign Wealth Funds To Invest In Africa
• China Surprising New Partner In Pressuring Iran
• China Confirms Muslim Separatist Uprising Concurrent With Tibet’s
• Iraq Standoff Result Of Rash Attack

Business & Economics

• Bernanke: Stearns Bailout Prevented “Chaotic Unwinding” Of Economy
• Fed Sets Up Shop In Wall Street Brokerages
• Housing Slump Distorting Job Market

Video of the Day

Being harassed by an extremely persistent man who wants a photo, Obama loses his cool.

Politics

Dean Promises To Seat Florida Delegates

Democrat party chairman Howard Dean promised yesterday that the party will seat Florida’s delegates in August’s convention. Both Florida and Michigan had their delegates stripped after violating party rules by scheduling their primaries too early. Neither candidate can win the nomination without those delegates being seated or allowing it to be decided by the unelected superdelegates. The candidates and party have been unable to agree on a plan for what to do with the states, both of which are critical swing states that risk being alienated, severely damaging the Democrats’ chances in the general election. Clinton won both FL and MI, but neither candidate campaigned in either state, and Obama took his name off the MI ballot. Dean appears to be singling out Florida in fear of a November backlash from a perceived disenfranchisement of Democrat voters there, who still vividly remember the 2000 election fiasco.

Poll Has Obama Catching Clinton In Pennsylvania

Behind Clinton by 26 points in Pennsylvania only two and a half weeks ago, Obama has caught up in a new poll, with 45% to her 43%.

Obama: Gore Will Be Central Player

Obama pledged that Al Gore would be a central player in his administration, leading the fight against climate change.

Bill Clinton Blows Up Before “Chill Out” Speech

In a private meeting with California superdelegates, Bill Clinton blew up after one of the delegates commented that she was disappointed over Clinton-adviser James Carville’s comments that Bill Richardson betrayed the Clintons like Judas betrayed Jesus. Clinton claimed Richardson promised five times to his face that he would endorse Hillary and then went on to endorse Obama (Richardson denies Clinton’s accusations). Ironically, after his rant, he went on stage to give the speech in which he told Democrats to “chill out” in response to calls for Hillary to drop out of the race. It’s also being reported that during the conversation in which Richardson told Hillary he was supporting Obama, she told him straight out that “Obama cannot win” against McCain.

US

Post-9/11 Bush Administration Memo: Fourth Amendment Optional

“For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn’t apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism.
That view was expressed in a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001. The administration on Wednesday stressed that it now disavows that view”

Joint Chiefs: Iraq Siphons Needed Troops From Afghanistan

“The U.S. military has too many troops tied down in Iraq to send needed reinforcements to Afghanistan this year, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Wednesday.”

ACLU: Pentagon Illegally Spying On Americans

Based on its analysis of Department of Defense documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the ACLU concluded DoD has been abusing their National Security Letter authority to spy on Americans by going through the FBI, using their authority to obtain detailed personal information, such as emails and web sites visited, that is specifically designated as off-limits for the military. National Security Letters are the controversial tools that the government can use to obtain personal information from US businesses without a warrant or subpoena.

International

Europe

Scientists Create Human-Cow Chimera Embryo

A team of scientists at England’s Newcastle University successfully created a chimera embryo consisting of 99.9% human and 0.1% cow genetic material. The embryo survived for three days as was received as a major achievement within the science community but called “monstrous” by opponents of cloning. The experiment is part of a research effort to create an unlimited number of stem cells to be used in therapies for a wide range of diseases such as MS, Parkinsons, and spinal cord injuries.

NATO Close To Having Troop Commitments Needed In Afghanistan

NATO’s Secretary General declared yesterday at the NATO summit in Romania that the alliance is close to having the necessary troop commitments for Afghanistan. Commanders have.. long been asking for more troops and the US has been accusing other NATO members of only being willing to send their troops to the relatively safe regions in Afghanistan and not help out with the combat missions. France recently promised to a battalion which will free up US troops to bolster the most intense fighting with Taliban in the country’s southern region.

Bush Rankles NATO Allies By Unexpectedly Pressing Ukraine, Georgia Membership

President Bush rankled some NATO members yesterday when he unexpectedly re-raised the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia. France and Germany strongly oppose the move because they say the countries are not stable enough to join, and allowing the two former Soviet states to do so would enrage Russia, who is already at loggerheads with the US’s missile defense deployments in eastern Europe. The proposal was rejected. Putin is set to become the first Russian President to visit a NATO summit (NATO was formed as an alliance against the Soviet Union) and had threatened to cancel the trip if the summit decided to extend membership invitations.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Retiring While Maintaining Innocence

Amidst a raging corruption controversy, Ireland’s prime minister announced that despite his innocence, he is resigning in order to spare the country the distraction and pain of prolonging the row.

Americas

Argentina’s President Reiterates Claims To British Falkland Islands On War Anniversary

Twenty six years ago yesterday, Argentina invaded and claimed Britain’s Falkland Islands that lie 300 miles off of Argentina’s southernmost coast, triggering a brief war decisively won by Britain. Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner marked the anniversary by reiterating Argentina’s claims to the islands, calling their sovereignty an “inalienable right” and saying the country must “recover” the territory.

Africa

More Zimbabwe Results Indicate Mugabe Loses Lower House Of Parliament

As results continue to slowly leak out from Zimbabwe’s vote held last Saturday, it appears incumbent President Mugabe’s party has lost the parliament’s lower house. Despite the state-controlled newspaper reporting that neither candidate received the 50% needed to win the presidential election, the opposition party continued to insist results show its candidate won a resounding victory. The lengthy delay in the reporting of results fuels speculation that Mugabe’s government is using the delay to fabricate the results. The dictatorial Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy, which has the world’s highest rate of inflation at 100,000%.

World Bank Calls On Sovereign Wealth Funds To Invest In Africa

“The president of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick, called Wednesday for the major government-owned sovereign wealth funds of Asia and the Middle East to join with the bank in investing in Africa.” Sovereign wealth funds are the investment vehicles of national governments that use treasury funds to make profit-seeking investments. Worldwide, the funds are estimated to control over $3 trillion, with the biggest ones primarily consisting of US money, either from oil sales or huge trade imbalances (e.g. China).

Asia

China Surprising New Partner In Pressuring Iran

The latest addition to the growing list of countries that have forwarded information to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s investigation into Iran’s nuclear weapons program is a surprising one - China. China (along with Russia) has long served as Iran’s advocate on the UN Security Council, impeding the US and Europe from pursuing sanctions against the country to the extent desired. The about face is part of a larger trend of countries cooperating more closely with the IAEA after a presentation in February based on a slew of multimedia evidence that Iran has been misleading the international community and indeed pursuing a nuclear weapons capability.

China Confirms Muslim Separatist Uprising Concurrent With Tibet’s

China confirmed that as Tibetan protesters were creating havoc in the southwest region of the country last month, Muslim separatists in the northwest were launching their own demonstrations in the hope of stirring unrest and support for their efforts to escape Chinese rule. Like Tibetans, the Muslims are seeking freedoms to practice their religion (religion is effectively illegal in china) and regional autonomy. Most of the western provinces that constitute large swathes of China are nations Beijing has invaded and annexed at some point in history, and many appear to be using the international attention being paid the Olympics to fight back against Chinese rule.

Middle East

Iraq Standoff Result Of Rash Attack

After the Iraqi government’s embarrassing standoff with Shia militias ended in a draw, an examination of the operation is painting a picture of an overeager government, overestimating the capabilities of its military, underestimating its enemy, and rushing into a confrontation without a plan. As the situation turned into a disaster, the US and British militaries launched a massive operation to get the Iraqi army out of the deteriorating situation.

Business & Economics

Bernanke: Stearns Bailout Prevented “Chaotic Unwinding” Of Economy

In testimony before a Congressional committee that was skeptical of his motives in bailing out Bear Stearns with public funds, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the move was necessary to prevent a “chaotic unwinding” of investments that could have taken the economy down with it. The Fed Chairman also went on to say that a US recession may be technically possible in the first half of the year (the definition is two or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth), but expects the economy to pick back up in the second half of 2008 and into 2009, partially thanks for the government’s $170 billion stimulus package.

Fed Sets Up Shop In Wall Street Brokerages

“For the first time in more than a decade, the Federal Reserve has set up shop inside brokerages to monitor their financial condition, perhaps the beginning of an expanded role for the central bank and additional regulation for Wall Street.” The move comes after the Fed took the unprecedented step of becoming the lender of last resort for Wall St. brokerages, whereas historically the Fed’s role has been limited to commercial banks. With its expanded role, the Fed is taking on expanded oversight responsibilities to ensure the health of the taxpayer funds being lent to the brokerage houses.

Housing Slump Distorting Job Market

The sudden slowdown in the housing market is having an impact of the US job market - the inability to sell their house is preventing owners from moving when doing so is necessary for work, complicating an already troubled job market.