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Last Updated: Jun 5th, 2008 - 01:25:07 |
Clinton Cites White Support to Press Case for Campaign
On the campaign trail, Senator Hillary Clinton is coming
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| Hillary play gutterball race politics. |
under criticism for racially charged comments she’s made to press her case for staying in the contest. In an interview with USA Today, Clinton said she would be the stronger candidate because she appealed to more voters. Clinton cited an Associated Press article that discussed, in her words, “how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said. Clinton was in West Virginia Thursday, the next primary state in her race with Senator Barack Obama.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “Some in Washington wanted us to end our campaign, and then I won New Hampshire, then we had huge victories on Super Tuesday, then we won Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania, and I was never supposed to win Indiana. Well, I’m running to be president of all fifty states, and I want to be sure that we count all fifty states.”
What do you think of Hillary's latest race appeal? Talk back on our 411 board.
Obama Gains Support of 21 Superdelegates
In other campaign news, Senator Barack Obama has gained the support of twenty-one superdelegates since last Tuesday’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana.
For the first time in the campaign, Obama now has more superdelegates than Sen. Hillary Clinton. During a campaign fundraiser in New York, Clinton vowed to stay in the race.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “What I hear and what I see is all about how we’re going to finish this nominating contest, which we will do. Then we will have a nominee, and we will have a unified Democratic Party, and we will stand together, and we will defeat John McCain in November and go on to the White House.”
Meanwhile, Barack Obama campaigned in Oregon on Saturday.
Sen. Barack Obama: “My faith in the American people has been vindicated, because everywhere I go, people are standing up, and they are saying, we are ready for change, we want something new, we want to turn the page, we want to write a new chapter in American history, and now, Oregon, it is your turn. It is your turn to go ahead and stand up and say it’s time for a change.”
NYPD Disciplines White Officer Who Stopped Black Commander
In New York City, a White city police officer has been disciplined after acting in a discourteous manner after he confronted a Black motorist in the borough of Queens. On May 2, two officers approached and began questioning a motorist who was sitting in his car. One of the officers tried to wrest open the car door. It turned out the motorist was Douglas Zeigler, the head of the Police Department’s Community Affairs Bureau and the highest uniformed Black officer on the force. The incident comes at a time when the New York police are coming under increasing scrutiny for racial profiling. During the first three months of the year, the police stopped and frisked a record 145,000 people—most were Black or Latino.
Oxfam: Burma on Brink of Massive Public Health Catastrophe
Oxfam is warning Burma is on the brink of a massive public health catastrophe, as Burma’s military junta continues to hinder international efforts to help the survivors of Cyclone Nargis. Oxfam says the catastrophe threatens the lives of as many as 1.5 million people who are suffering from disease and famine. UN Emergency Coordinator John Holmes urged Burmese authorities to allow humanitarian agencies to send in technical and health experts to help prevent outbreaks of disease.
John Holmes: “Excellencies, let me conclude in repeating that the extent of this human catastrophe is enormous and that the numbers of people in need may well increase further as we come to understand better the situation on the ground. And I repeat that the sooner humanitarians are allowed in and the less procedural and other obstacles we encounter, the more lives we can help save. The speed with which we deliver assistance to those in need is becoming more and more critical, and the danger of the outbreak of epidemics rises by the hour.”
Climate Change Group: Cyclone Is a Sign of Things to Come
Meanwhile, a top Indian group that monitors climate change in South Asia has warned that Cyclone Nargis is a sign of things to come. Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment warned that destructive cyclones were likely to occur more often unless nations sped up their efforts to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases. Narain said, “The victims of these cyclones are climate change victims, and their plight should remind the rich world that it is doing too little to contain its greenhouse gas emissions.” Narain said big polluters in the world, including the United States, should not be able to escape responsibility for what is happening in Burma.
Price of Oil Reaches New High: $126 Per Barrel
In economic news, the price of oil has topped a new high of $126 a barrel. Anthony Grisanti of GRZ Energy says the price of oil could continue to rise.
Anthony Grisanti: “There are some factors that could cause it to go to $150 a barrel. Number one is, we haven’t even talked about hurricane season, which is going to hit us in another month, and we’ve been lucky for two years. One hasn’t hit the mainland. If one happens to get into the Gulf and starts hitting these oil-producing facilities, things like that, we could easily see $150 a barrel.”
More International News
Nigerian Rebels Call for former US President Jimmy Carter to Mediate Talks
In Nigeria, militants are calling for former US President Jimmy Carter to mediate talks between rebels and the government to end hostilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta. A statement reportedly from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, says the group has offered to stop attacks on oil production facilities if Carter intervenes. Carter said he would consider stepping in if he was also invited by the federal government to do so.
MEND has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil installations in Nigeria this past week. The group emerged in 2006, when they kidnapped oil workers and emailed pictures to news desks to bring attention to the plight of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta.
The Nigerian government, along with foreign oil companies, have reaped enormous profits over the years from the sale of Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves, while the residents of the Niger Delta live in abject poverty. The region is plagued by high unemployment, environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity. Nigeria is Africa’s number one oil producer, accounting for more than a million barrels a day.
An upcoming documentary, "Sweet Crude," highlights the plight of the people of the Niger Delta.
Israeli Troops Kill UN Palestinian Teacher
The United Nations is demanding an investigation into how the Israeli military killed one of its Palestinian schoolteachers by blasting open the front door of her Gaza home with explosives in the presence of three of her children. Thirty-four-year-old Wafer Shaker al Daghma was killed last week as she stood preparing to open the door of her home to the Israeli troops. She was a teacher at a local UN Relief and Works Agency elementary school. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are without power today after Gaza officials were forced to shut down the region’s only power plant because Israel hadn’t provided enough diesel to run the plant.
Military Judge Dismisses General Involved in War Crimes Trials
In news on Guantanamo, a military judge has disqualified the Pentagon general who has been centrally involved in overseeing the war crimes tribunals of prisoners held at the US military base. The judge said that Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann was too closely aligned with the prosecution. The judge also raised questions about whether Hartmann could carry out his role with the required neutrality and objectivity.
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