Headlines

Politics

• Rev. Wright: Obama Says What He Has To As A Politician
• McCain Slams Bush Over Katrina
• First Black Governor: Race A Bigger Issue In Election Than Acknowledged
• National Journal: Hillary’s Victories Hopeless & Pointless At This Point
• Representative Clyburn: Black People “Incensed” Over Bill Clinton’s “Bizarre” Behavior

US

• Court To Hear Appeal Over Children Removed From Texas Polygamy Sect
• Study Finds Humans Nearly Went Extinct - Down To 2,000 At One Point
• Wall Street Journal Columnist: Time For Americans To Start Stockpiling Food
• Minor Earthquake Hits Reno
• Wesley Snipes Sentenced To 3 Years For Tax Evasion After Failed Constitutional Defense

International

• Brazil’s Oil Finds May End Middle East Oil Dependence
• CIA Release Images Proving N. Korean Involvement In Syrian Nuclear Reactor
• Chinese Nationalism Takes New Turn Towards Militancy - Sues To Stop Free Speech
• Beijing To Meet With Dalai Lama Representatives
• Israel Air Force Chief: Ahmadinejad As Serious As Hitler
• Pakistan Near Agreement With Qa’ida, Taliban Protectors / Militants
• US Weighs In On Zimbabwe Election: Opposition Is Clear Winner

Business & Economics

• Microsoft Reports Drop In Earnings As Windows Sales Drop 24%
• Ford Reports Surprise $100 Million Profit In Q1
• Trader Charged With Spreading Rumors To Dump Stock - Rampant On Wall St.
  

Video of the Day

“The U.S. government released a video in a narrated format that it says shows how North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor.”

Politics

Rev. Wright: Obama Says What He Has To As A Politician

“Mr. Wright, who has acted as Mr. Obama’s spiritual mentor and retired in February as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, said that he has never heard Mr. Obama repeat any of his controversial statements. ‘Absolutely not,’ Mr. Wright said. ‘I don’t talk to him about politics. And so he had a political event, he goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician. I continue to be a pastor who speaks to the people of God about the things of God.’ Mr. Obama publicly denounced Mr. Wright’s remarks, a reaction Mr. Wright said ‘went down very simply. He’s a politician, I’m a pastor,’ he said. ‘We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they’re two different worlds.’ He added, ‘I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician.’”

McCain Slams Bush Over Katrina

“Republican presidential candidate John McCain took stock of still- hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans on Thursday and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base, drawing a sharp contrast to President Bush’s handling of the tragedy. McCain called the response to Katrina ‘a perfect storm’ of mismanagement by federal, state and local governments. The Arizona senator walked a few blocks of the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward, passing tidy rebuilt stucco houses standing next to abandoned structures, their facades still spray-painted with the markings of rescue workers who went door to door nearly three years ago searching for bodies.”

First Black Governor: Race A Bigger Issue In Election Than Acknowledged

“Doug Wilder, the nation’s first elected black governor, has both encouragement and a warning for Illinois Senator Barack Obama. The encouragement is that Obama is approaching the race issue the right way, and the nation is ready to elect a black president. The warning is that it may not be as ready as polls suggest. ‘Let’s not kid ourselves again, the issue of race will not disappear; but I don’t think it will predominate,’ the former Virginia governor said in an interview at his office in Richmond, where he is now mayor. At the same time, he said, even if Obama is the nominee and heads into the fall with an apparent lead, the election ‘will be closer than any polls will suggest.’”

National Journal: Hillary’s Victories Hopeless & Pointless At This Point

“If this contest were still at the point where momentum, symbolism, and reading tea leaves mattered, Clinton would be in pretty good shape. Everything she has needed to happen is happening now. Obama is getting tougher press coverage and critical examination. He’s also getting rattled a bit, and he didn’t perform well in the recent debate in Philadelphia. Clinton is winning in big, important places, but it’s happening about three months too late. At the end of the day, the popular vote for the Democratic nomination means nothing. I doubt that having won the popular vote in the 2000 general election is of much solace to Al Gore. Many a football team gains more yards than its opponent in a game yet loses on that important technicality called points.”

Representative Clyburn: Black People “Incensed” Over Bill Clinton’s “Bizarre” Behavior

“The third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and one of the country’s most influential African-American leaders sharply criticized former President Bill Clinton this afternoon for what he called Mr. Clinton’s ‘bizarre’ conduct during the Democratic primary campaign. Representative James E. Clyburn, an undeclared superdelegate from South Carolina who is the Democratic whip in the House, said that ‘black people are incensed over all of this,’ referring to statements that Mr. Clinton had made in the course of the heated race between his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Senator Barack Obama. Mr. Clinton was widely criticized by black leaders after he equated the eventual victory of Mr. Obama in South Carolina in January to that of the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988 – a parallel that many took as an attempt to diminish Mr. Obama’s success in the campaign. In a radio interview in Philadelphia on Monday, Mr. Clinton defended his remarks and said the Obama campaign had ‘played the race card on me’ by making an issue of those comments.”

US

Court To Hear Appeal Over Children Removed From Texas Polygamy Sect

“A Texas appeals court agreed on Thursday to hear arguments over the legality of placing hundreds of children taken from a polygamous sect’s West Texas compound into foster care without granting their families individual hearings. The response from the Third Court of Appeals in Austin was to a request from Texas RioGrande Legal Aid lawyers who are representing 48 mothers in the tangled child welfare case that each family be permitted to respond to abuse accusations before their children were fully absorbed into the state’s foster care system. The appeals court will hear the legal aid group’s arguments on Tuesday.”

Study Finds Humans Nearly Went Extinct - Down To 2,000 At One Point

“Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.”

Wall Street Journal Columnist: Time For Americans To Start Stockpiling Food

Wall Street Journal columnist Brett Arends argues that it’s time for Americans to start stocking up on non-perishable food as recent dramatic price hikes are only going to accelerate in the future. Among the examples cited - egg prices are up 30% over the last year, rice and flour are up 13%, and milk, cheese, and bananas are all up over 10%.

Minor Earthquake Hits Reno

“An earthquake has shaken buildings in downtown Reno, but there are no immediate reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a magnitude 4.1 quake hit just before 4 p.m. Thursday and was centered 4 miles west-northwest of Reno.”

Wesley Snipes Sentenced To 3 Years For Tax Evasion After Failed Constitutional Defense

After losing his case over millions in unpaid taxes - using a defense that maintained the US tax code is unconstitutional - Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday.

International

Americas

Brazil’s Oil Finds May End Middle East Oil Dependence

“Brazil’s discoveries of what may be two of the world’s three biggest oil finds in the past 30 years could help end the Western Hemisphere’s reliance on Middle East crude, Strategic Forecasting Inc. said. Saudi Arabia’s influence as the biggest oil exporter would wane if the fields are as big as advertised, and China and India would become dominant buyers of Persian Gulf oil.”

Asia

CIA Release Images Proving N. Korean Involvement In Syrian Nuclear Reactor

“The release by the Bush administration of photographic images to support its assertion that North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor closes one chapter of a secretive intelligence and military operation and opens several others that will play out over the remainder of the Bush presidency. The crucial question now is how the North Koreans will react. Some officials said they hoped it would embarrass the North Koreans into admitting to nuclear proliferation activities and others said that it could prompt them to walk away from the negotiating table - and collapse the deal Bush was hoping to reach by the end of his presidency. In return for North Korea’s declaring all its nuclear activities, the United States would lift sanctions and begin to negotiate the prize for North Korea’s turning over its fuel and weapons.”

Chinese Nationalism Takes New Turn Towards Militancy - Sues To Stop Free Speech

“A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation — $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty’s remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people.”

Beijing To Meet With Dalai Lama Representatives

“Chinese officials will reportedly meet a representative of the Dalai Lama in coming days amid international pressure on Beijing to re-open dialogue with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader after recent violence in the Himalayan region. The state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese official saying that the meeting is hoped to bring an end to pro-Tibetan protests that have disrupted the Olympic torch relay and threaten to spill over into the 2008 Beijing Games.” China has brutally occupied Tibet since invading and annexing the country in 1951.

Middle East

Israel Air Force Chief: Ahmadinejad As Serious As Hitler

“The commander of the Israeli air force takes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel extremely seriously. Israelis must be ready for anything and ultimately trust only themselves, he believes, and for good reason: his family survived the Holocaust. The general likens ignoring Ahmadinejad today to the atmosphere that enabled the Holocaust yesterday. ‘In those days, people didn’t believe that Hitler was serious about what he said. I suggest not to repeat this way of thinking, and to prepare ourselves for what they are planning. We should be prepared for everything.’”

Pakistan Near Agreement With Qa’ida, Taliban Protectors / Militants

“The Pakistani government is close to an agreement to end hostilities with the most militant tribes in its turbulent border area, whose main leader is accused of orchestrating most of the suicide bombings of recent months and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. A 15-point draft of the accord, which was shown to The New York Times, called for an end to militant activity and an exchange of prisoners in return for the gradual withdrawal of the Pakistani military from part of the tribal region of South Waziristan.”

Africa

US Weighs In On Zimbabwe Election: Opposition Is Clear Winner

“The top American envoy to Africa declared Thursday that Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was the ‘clear victor’ over President Robert Mugabe in the nation’s disputed election and called on other countries — including the United States — to help solve the deepening political and humanitarian crisis there. The diplomat, Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said the election results, based on projections by independent monitors, removed the rationale for any negotiated settlement that left Mr. Mugabe in charge, as was proposed Wednesday in an editorial in The Herald, the state-run newspaper. ‘This is a government rejecting the will of the people,’ Ms. Frazer said, referring to the Zimbabwe electoral commission’s refusal to announce who won the March 29 presidential election. ‘If they had voted for Mugabe, the results would already have been announced. Everyone knows what time it is.’”

Business & Economics

Microsoft Reports Drop In Earnings As Windows Sales Drop 24%

Microsoft “reported an 11 percent drop in third-quarter profit and forecast earnings that may miss analysts’ estimates as Windows software sales fell. The world’s biggest software maker said sales of Windows for PCs sank 24 percent and revenue from its online advertising unit came in at the low end of its projections. Microsoft’s report contrasted with positive comments from chipmaker Intel Corp. and computer company International Business Machines Corp.”

Ford Reports Surprise $100 Million Profit In Q1

“Despite a surprise profit of $100 million for the first quarter, Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it still expects to lose money this year as the U.S. auto market deteriorates. But the company’s stock surged nearly 12 percent as CEO Alan Mulally reiterated his promise that restructuring will return Ford to black ink for 2009.”

Trader Charged With Spreading Rumors To Dump Stock - Rampant On Wall St.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that it has charged a trader with spreading false rumors about the buyout of Alliance Data Systems last fall and winter, causing the credit card processor’s stock to fall sharply. The S.E.C.’s announcement is the first punishment meted out against accused rumor-mongers and short sellers. The commission has begun investigating whether traders peddled false information about companies like Bear Stearns, in order to collect a profit as their stocks fell.”