Obama Is Going To Have To Jump Into The Fray

Bill Clinton has been busy. You really have to watch that guy, because he thinks he is the Isaac Newton of politics, and he suggests as much in his autobiography. There is this reference to the Clinton's Laws Of Politics. One of them is, elections are always about the future. And that particular law works in Obama's favor. It does not matter that Bill Clinton was an amazing president, that is in the past. 2008 is not going to be about how fabulous a president Bill Clinton was.

How does Bill Clinton get busy? The guy will plain pick up the phone, likely late at night.And he will call up some obscure reporter at some major media outlet, someone he has not talked in a long time. Hey, how you doing? Just thinking about you. How is your wife? How are your children? And so you know this is off the record. This is informal. And then he will dig in. You know, I don't understand why you media guys are not seeing this. Barack Obama and my wife have the exact same voting record on Iraq ever since Obama came over to the Senate. This is so unfair that you guys pillory my wife over Iraq. And then he will move on to talk about golf. The work is done. When that reporter next writes up his piece, what is on his mind has been put on his mind by none other than the magic boy from Arkansas, the one and only Bill Clinton. And there is not a trace of him doing it anywhere.

Bill Clinton has been very busy. Iraq is the biggest weapon Obama has on Hillary, and Bill Clinton is out to erase that. He wants to make Iraq null and void. Some time late last year, some hapless voter in Texas asked Billie Clinton about his wife's vote on the Iraq war. And Bill Clinton just glowered at him for a few seconds before he said with some emotion that he thought it was time to stop looking at the past and start looking at the future.

And the future looks identical. Obama wants to end the war, so does Hillary. Obama is promising universal health care, so is Hillary. And those are the two big ones.

How you run your campaign counts. Who raises more money matters. Who has a larger, more robut organization? Who has the larger brain trust? Who has the most endorsements?

Bill Clinton works like a demon, he always has. He works like a demon, and he makes it look all so easy and casual. And that is actually a double whammy, more effective than if it showed that he was sweating.

If Hillary is going to be the nominee, she is going to be president. It will be this or that Democrat in 2008. That much is a foregone conclusion. McCain and Rudy will tear each other apart, and we will have the last man standing for breakfast. And that makes me wonder if we should not treat Fox News as our real opponent for 2008. As in, let new media beat Fox.

If Hillary ends up president, I am not going to beat my chest. I think the world of her. I was as behind her before Obama showed up as I am behind Obama. My favorite story about Hillary is this. She shows up in some small Indian village as First Lady. And the local women surround her to tell her she has no idea what it means to them that she is there. Those women are right. Hillary has no idea.

I have met her a few times in person.

But I have thrown my weight behind Obama. It is exciting to play shadow boxing with the man himself, the one and only Bill Clinton.

It is perfectly legitimate for Hillary to have Bill Clinton for husband. It is fair game. And of course the guy will turn heaven and earth for his wife. That is fair enough. It is absolutely fair that Hillary will raise a lot of money. It is absolutely fair that Hillary has much establishment support.

I guess there are no short cuts.

Obama will have to get in and work hard. He is going to have to go head to head with Hillary on money, message and organization.

He has to jump into the fray. The Hillary camp has already found and targeted Obama's Iraq. Where is Obama's counterpunch? What would be Obama's counterpunch?

Obama's Iraq is that he is not a woman. If he is elected president, he is not going to be the first woman president. That is his weak point.

How do you counter that? You outwoman Hillary. You suggest having a woman for running mate would be great at this point in history. You suggest about half your cabinet will be female. You suggest Hillary has been mostly symbolic, she has not really done much for women as a leader with much power. You expand the policy debates on gender beyond the prochoice position to also talk about workplace issues like equal pay, and sexual harassment, and relationship issues like domestic violence and better policing on the same. It might be time to declare War On Domestic Violence. Talk of recruiting more women into the police force so as to better tackle domestic violence. That is how you outwoman Hillary. Tell the voters she has been meek on gender issues. She has not really stood up for women, has she? I mean she has, but she has been so miserly about it.

Obama has got to get on the offensive. He got hit on Iraq by none other than Bill Clinton himself very recently, and he did not even notice. It is like John Kerry's boat veterans' attacks. The attacks were false, but they worked because Kerry did not hit back.

You got to hit back. That is one of the basic laws of politics. You don't have to get down and dirty. Staying clean and hitting back are not mutually exclusive.

Those who stay above the fray lose. Politics is a contact sport. Who said that? Bill Clinton.

In The News

Blair fury as hostage letter seeks withdrawal from Iraq The Australian
Defying Bush, Senate Passes Iraq Spending Measure New York Times
Jesse Jackson Endorses Barack Obama CBS News
Senator Clinton Picks Up NOW Endorsement All Headline News
Spanish edition of Obama's 'Audacity of Hope' to come out in June WQAD
Clinton aids Vilsack with campaign debt Herald News Daily
Interim Govt Likely To Be Formed On Friday In Nepal All Headline News
Protests by ethnic Madhesi in southern Nepal turned violent (Reuters) Swissinfo
Bihar villager endures 27 years bonded labour for 40 kg rice Reuters India
Bush Loyalist Rose Quickly Washington Post
Arab leaders urge Israel to take peace offer Reuters
Israel rejects Arab peace plan Aljazeera.net
Castro signals resumption of public role Houston Chronicle
Battles rage as troops try to restore order in Mogadishu Independent
NextWave Raises $355 Million To Fund Drive Into WiMax And Wi-Fi InformationWeek
VTR Selects Motorola to Deploy 802.16e WiMAX Network WiMax.com
Millions are caught in great credit card heist Times Online
'Evidence of misconduct' at Dell MSN Money
Circumcision is backed for Africa Boston Globe
WHO hails circumcision as vital in HIV fight New Scientist (subscription)
Dell Gives In to Linux Lovers TechNewsWorld
Microsoft launches Deepfish, new Web browser for smart phones Seattle Post Intelligencer
U2's Bono awarded British knighthood Actress Archives

The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth Chicago Tribune his mother, Ann, a brilliant but impulsive woman; his grandmother Madelyn, a deeply private and stoically pragmatic Midwesterner; his grandfather Stanley, a loving soul inclined toward tall tales and unrealistic dreams. .... Stanley Ann Dunham ..... Known as Ann throughout her adult life, she kept to herself. ..... He describes making friends easily, becoming fluent in Indonesian in just six months and melding quite easily into the very foreign fabric of Jakarta. ..... Obama and his mother joined her new husband, a kind man who later would become a detached heavy drinker and womanizer ...... "Barry," a chubby little boy very different from the gangly Obama people know today ...... All say he was teased more than any other kid in the neighborhood .... Teachers, former playmates and friends recall a boy who never fully grasped their language and who was very quiet as a result. ...... young Obama, a hopelessly upbeat boy who seemed oblivious to the fact that the older kids didn't want him tagging along ....... "His friends called him `Negro,'" Darmawan said. The term wasn't considered a slur at the time in Indonesia. ...... In an essay about what he wanted to be when he grew up, Obama "wrote he wanted to be president," Sinaga recalled. "He didn't say what country ...... As he had at the old school, Obama sat in a back corner. He sketched decidedly American cartoon characters during class. ....... Rik Smith, a black Punahou student two years older than Obama, remembers a Halloween when white students would dress as slaves, coming to school in tattered clothes with their faces painted black with shoe polish. "Like being black was a funny costume in and of itself," recalled Smith, now a doctor who specializes in geriatrics in California. ...... "Punahou was an amazing school," Smith said. "But it could be a lonely place. ...... "He was a very provocative thinker. He would bring up worldly topics far beyond his years. ....... mother, a woman said to have been born with a keen sense of wanderlust ...... Obama and his teammates brought Punahou the state championship in 1979, his senior year. ...... Adept at nailing long jump shots, Obama was called "Barry O'Bomber" by teammates. Alan Lum, who later would coach the basketball team at Punahou as well as teach elementary school there, recalled Obama as always being the first to confront coaches when he felt they were not fairly allotting playing time. ....... He also thanked the "Choom Gang," a reference to "chooming," Hawaiian slang for smoking marijuana. ..... Kakugawa, a convicted drug felon, said Saturday that he had never been the "prototypical angry black guy" that Obama portrays ......... While Obama rocketed to political prominence, his friend headed down the troubled road Obama had feared he was following. Since 1995, Kakugawa has spent more than 7 years in California prisons and months in Los Angeles County Jail on cocaine and auto theft charges.......... The night, Obama later wrote, made him furious as he realized that whites held a "fundamental power" over blacks. ....... Did you know that in Thomas Jefferson's day, and right up through the 1930s, anybody who had the price of tuition could go to Harvard?

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SAP Defends Itself in Oracle Suit Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Oracle accuses SAP of 'corporate theft' RTE.ie
US Army Recruits Dell for Servers, Storage and Services PressZoom (press release)
Alcohol and tobacco `worse' than dope The Standard
Study: Alcohol, Tobacco Worse Than Drugs Washington Post alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances ..... 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines, and LSD. ..... Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy. ........ "The exclusion of alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary" ....... Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.

House Backs Troop Withdrawal in Challenge to Bush (Update3) Bloomberg
Bush Vows to Veto Legislation Calling for US Iraq Withdrawal Voice of America
House vote orders Bush to bring troops home Daily Breeze
Bihar's fiscal liabilities alarming: CAG Hindu
Iran seizes 15 British marines and sailors in Gulf Reuters India
US backs Britain over Iran seizure of navy personnel Reuters AlertNet
Iran: Brit Sailors In Our Waters WTOV9.com
OBAMA ANSWERS CLINTON' IRAQ ATTACK Free Market News Network
For China only: Dell develops new desktop PC People's Daily Online
MoveOn moves in with Pelosi Salon
Britney: $20 mln divorce settlement? Xinhua
Teheran: British sailors trespassed into Iranian waters Jerusalem Post
Yepsen: Will endorsement from Vilsack help Clinton? DesMoinesRegister.com
Vilsack to endorse Clinton Blogger News Network
Bill Clinton Challenges Netroots' Obama Embrace Yahoo! News
Terai carnage casts shadow on Nepal poll Times of India nearly 50 people still missing and dozens fleeing to India to escape retribution. At least 19 of the victims were said to be Maoist supporters. .... a four-member panel to probe the incident and submit its report within 15 days.
European Parliament Chairperson Disappointed Over Nepal's Current ... All Headline News
Giuliani, Wife Each Married Three Times Forbes
Sen. McCain on Rudy Giuliani: 'He's Very Popular' NewsMax.com
India gas plans will help Tehran's nuke aims: US The Daily Star
India, Pakistan make progress over transit fees for gas pipeline Kuwait News Agency
India grapples with energy issues Asia Times Online
India dismisses NPT as 'fraud' treaty Central Chronicle We have also consistently been a leading advocate of the elimination of all nuclear weapons. .... "If India did not sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is not because of its lack of commitment for non-proliferation, but because we consider NPT as a fraud treaty and it did not recognise the need for universal, non-discriminatory verification and treatment," Mukherjee said. ..... India also does not have any territorial ambitions and do not even believe in exporting ideology.
Congo's army regains control of capital Houston Chronicle
Gates at Harvard: Richest Dropout Makes Good TechNewsWorld
Harvard's famous dropout to get his degree from the UniversityEarthtimes.org will be awarded an honorary degree in June

1.	27 March	20:48	University of Connecticut, Storrs, United States
2.	27 March	20:50	The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States

6.	28 March	04:02	National Grocers Co. Ltd., Canada
7.	28 March	06:59	Tbroad Chungbu Broadcasting CO Ltd., Korea

13.

28 March

14:14

The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., United States

17.

28 March

21:06

Alestra (AT&T), Mexico

22.

29 March

09:23

TMnet Telekom Malaysia, Malaysia

27.	29 March	12:36	American International Group, Inc., United States
28.	29 March	13:24	Citi Corporation, United States

30.

29 March

15:07

Yipes Communications, Inc., San Francisco, United States

35.

29 March

21:11

Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom

Barack: The Magic Presidential Candidate

Racism from FOX can be expected, that is racism from the right. But racism from the center and the left also has to be expected. That is where America as a country is today. Barack Obama promises to be Race 2.0. Racism still exists, but in a post-racism environment, race still matters. Identity never goes away, it is never supposed to go away. Racism can be outright, vicious, shameless. But it can also be sophisticated, it can also pass for progressive thinking, like the title of this article below. And you thought the word "negro" had been retired. We have been talking of African Americans for decades now.

The only thing Obama is running for is President Of The United States. He has a magic touch to retail politics, kind of like Bill Clinton, who fought his own Southern demons.

Obama has a past going back hundreds of years, and he proudly claims so. He talks of his grandfather being a "houseboy to the British .... so don't tell me I am not coming home when I am coming to Selma." Black people do not walk around wearing their blackness on their lips any more than white people go around wearing their whiteness. The white identity is a porridge. There are rich strands of ethnic identities within that white identity that have lead to civil wars within the past decade. So don't oversimplify.

Obama is not trying to fit in to the white imagination. Heck, he is not trying to fit in, period. He is who he is. And he is running for president.

Obama's biography talks of at least one white girlfriend who gave up saying she "can't be Black." In a country where 99.9% of the people marry within their own race, Obama's black to black marriage is hardly news. Is Clinton's? Marriage is private.

Obama is deeply devoted to his family. Beyond that is private.

This is LA Times. There is so much movie talk. Talk some reality. Talk up sociological studies. Talk up your own personal experiences. Movie review after movie review after movie review do not throw light on the candidacy of Obama. He is running for president, he is not in the race for an Oscar.

"That's where Obama comes in: as Poitier's "real" fake son." This statement is offensive beyond the blue. This is racist. Obviously this writer has no idea what the President Of The United States does on a day to day basis. The POTUS runs a country. The POTUS sits on top of a state machinery that is unprecedented in its power. Obama is running to get elected leader of the free world. He is not running to make white people feel good about themselves. The White House is not a movie set. This columnist is confusing between a movie screen and a TV screen.

Okay, so if you keep digging and digging into the column, you get to discover the guy is black, the writer is black. That does not change a thing. Blacks struggle with race just like whites do. And there is plenty of internalized racism going round the block.

The vast majorities of blacks are not ready for some black dude who seems to have cross-racial appeal. Black leaders are supposed to lead black people, not both black and white people. That has been the thinking. Well, I guess that thinking will have to make way for Barack Obama.

The truth is boring. The guy just wants the job. It is a job. The stock of the black people is not going to dramatically improve just because Barack Obama is president, although improve it will, because he is a progressive, a Democrat, someone who is talking of universal health care, and ending the war in Iraq. Black or white, he just wants your vote. A businessman, he would have asked for your dollar.

This column talks more of the struggles of this columnist, and perhaps many black men like him, than it does of Barack Obama the candidate, and that is just fine. When Bill Clinton ran for president, many fatherless people got to feel it is okay, it is not okay, but then it is okay that you don't have a father, you can still be president. It is okay to be black and struggling with your identity. It is fine. It is more than okay to talk about it, so talk. But the campaign is going to focus on health care and other issues.

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Obama the 'Magic Negro' The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man. By David Ehrenstein, L.A.-based DAVID EHRENSTEIN writes about Hollywood and politics. March 19, 2007 AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House. But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the "Magic Negro." The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro . He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest. As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic." Poitier really poured on the "magic" in "Lilies of the Field" (for which he won a best actor Oscar) and "To Sir, With Love" (which, along with "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," made him a No. 1 box-office attraction). In these films, Poitier triumphs through yeoman service to his white benefactors. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is particularly striking in this regard, as it posits miscegenation without evoking sex. (Talk about magic!) The same can't quite be said of Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy," "Seven" and the seemingly endless series of films in which he plays ersatz paterfamilias to a white woman bedeviled by a serial killer. But at least he survives, unlike Crothers in "The Shining," in which psychic premonitions inspire him to rescue a white family he barely knows and get killed for his trouble. This heart-tug trope is parodied in Gus Van Sant's "Elephant." The film's sole black student at a Columbine-like high school arrives in the midst of a slaughter, helps a girl escape and is immediately gunned down. See what helping the white man gets you? And what does the white man get out of the bargain? That's a question asked by John Guare in "Six Degrees of Separation," his brilliant retelling of the true saga of David Hampton — a young, personable gay con man who in the 1980s passed himself off as the son of none other than the real Sidney Poitier. Though he started small, using the ruse to get into Studio 54, Hampton discovered that countless gullible, well-heeled New Yorkers, vulnerable to the Magic Negro myth, were only too eager to believe in his baroque fantasy. (One of the few who wasn't fooled was Andy Warhol, who was astonished his underlings believed Hampton's whoppers. Clearly Warhol had no need for the accouterment of interracial "goodwill.") But the same can't be said of most white Americans, whose desire for a noble, healing Negro hasn't faded. That's where Obama comes in: as Poitier's "real" fake son. The senator's famously stem-winding stump speeches have been drawing huge crowds to hear him talk of uniting rather than dividing. A praiseworthy goal. Consequently, even the mild criticisms thrown his way have been waved away, "magically." He used to smoke, but now he doesn't; he racked up a bunch of delinquent parking tickets, but he paid them all back with an apology. And hey, is looking good in a bathing suit a bad thing? The only mud that momentarily stuck was criticism (white and black alike) concerning Obama's alleged "inauthenticty," as compared to such sterling examples of "genuine" blackness as Al Sharpton and Snoop Dogg. Speaking as an African American whose last name has led to his racial "credentials" being challenged — often several times a day — I know how pesky this sort of thing can be. Obama's fame right now has little to do with his political record or what he's written in his two (count 'em) books, or even what he's actually said in those stem-winders. It's the way he's said it that counts the most. It's his manner, which, as presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden ham-fistedly reminded us, is "articulate." His tone is always genial, his voice warm and unthreatening, and he hasn't called his opponents names (despite being baited by the media). Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.

In The News

Dell targets China with budget PC 999 Today The computer, dubbed the EC280, will be priced between 2,599 yuan ($335) and 3,999 yuan .... "Today, there are one billion people online worldwide, and many of the world's second billion users are right here in China. ...... The EC280 model will have an Intel processor, up to 515 megabytes of memory, a 40 or 80 gigabyte hard drive and will run Windows XP Home Edition. ..... It has been designed by engineers at Dell's China Design Centre in Shanghai. ..... Dell, who has also launched a corporate blog in Chinese, said the low-cost model could be targeted at other emerging markets.
Media giants to compete with YouTube Los Angeles Times, CA News Corp. and NBC Universal said today that they were creating an online video site stocked with TV shows and movies, plus clips that users can modify and share with friends. .... Google is expected to gobble up nearly a third of all online advertising revenue this year .... the most disruptive force your business has seen ever ...... "This is a game changer for Internet video," Chernin said. "We'll have access to just about the entire U.S. Internet audience at launch. And for the first time, consumers will get what they want -- professionally produced video delivered on the sites where they live." ..... YouTube, which Google bought in November for $1.65 billion, draws more viewers than the television networks' combined online audience ...... Google executives' disdain for the project is evident in their nickname for the consortium: Clown Co. .... "The biggest challenge will be to see how the parents of conglomerates work together in decision-making," said Bourkoff, the media analyst. "Is this going to be a great press release, or will it actually function as a business?" ...... fear that giving programming to Google and YouTube could weaken their leverage in subsequent negotiations

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In The News

Edwards to Continue ’08 Bid Despite Wife’s Cancer New York Times He said he and his wife recognized that it was no longer curable, though it could be managed with treatment. ..... meta-static, or stage four, breast cancer, meaning that it is an advanced stage that has spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes to other organs ...... 26.1 percent of patients with stage four cancer live five years or more. ....... Mr. Obama, whose mother died of breast cancer more than a decade ago ..... Mrs. Edwards received her original diagnosis of breast cancer at the end of the 2004 campaign, but deferred a public announcement until after the election results came in. Mr. Edwards has said he waited to announce a second bid for the presidency until he and Mrs. Edwards’s doctors were confident about her recovery. ..... he is leading in some early polls in Iowa ..... He has proposed an ambitious and expensive plan for universal health care. He would pay for the $90 billion to $120 billion health care plan by repealing the Bush-sponsored tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Edwards and Wife Plan News Conference New York Times, NY A decision by Mr. Edwards to withdraw, should he decide to do that, could have thus have a profound impact on the dynamics of this Democratic contest. ..... organizers had not been notified to cancel a long string of events scheduled before the end of March ..... A former bankruptcy lawyer, who often spends hours a day on the Internet, she is among the campaign’s chief advisers. ..... At age 48 and 50 she had two more children, saying it was the only way to bring joy back into their home

One Million Laptop Orders For Needy Children PC World Quanta is manufacturing the OLPC laptop, and mass production is the key to slashing its cost. Currently, the laptops cost around US$130, but the goal is to whittle down the price to $100. ....... the MIT Media Laboratory that launched the effort, chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), and Linux software developer Red Hat Inc ...... The governments that have committed to buy laptops for their schoolchildren include Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Thailand and Uruguay. ..... Apple Inc., Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are just some of the companies that farm out notebook PC orders to Quanta, which manufactures the products at factories in Taiwan and China.

Inspired Bangladesh stun listless India in World Cup Indian Muslims
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Obama Brings Substance to His Message of Hope Bay Area Indymedia the election cycle’s “fresh face” with a powerful message .... made some concrete policy-based pledges on health care, education and the environment .... Attendees were not allowed into the rally unless they wrote down their contact info on their ticket stub .... a health care system that is “bankrupting families,” an education system that is “teaching too few,” and an energy crisis caused by a “lack of an energy policy.” ..... he specifically called for it to happen by the end of his first term, and he urged the crowd to hold him accountable on this pledge. Hillary Clinton has promised to get universal health care by the end of her second term
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Four years on, Bush says Iraq success will take time (Roundup) Monsters and Critics.com
Iranian President granted US visa ITV.com
Islamabad street protests threaten Musharraf's power USA Today militants, or nuclear rival India, or an American Congress that is increasingly skeptical of the general's rate of return when it comes to the U.S.-led war on terrorism. ...... In an unexpected show of force, hundreds of lawyers and opposition politicians clashed with police ..... "If anybody thinks maintaining a dictatorship is easy — this is not Burma or Egypt. People will stand up" ...... For almost a full week, Pakistan's major cities have seen a surge of violent protests against Musharraf's regime, pitting lawyers and intellectuals in bloody confrontation with the police. The spontaneous political reaction surprised many Pakistanis ...... could snowball into an even larger movement. At their core is a new middle class which, with greater access to electronic media ..... I think they're ready to take bullets again ..... the more the Musharraf regime cracks down, the more it appears to fan the fires of resentment and depletes whatever shreds of goodwill remain ...... Musharraf will attempt aggressive measures to hold onto power, including postponing elections or declaring a state of emergency.
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Taliban kidnappings rise, but style differs from Al Qaeda Christian Science Monitor
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Why Would Google Want a Phone? Washington Post
Opposition Leader Says Zimbabwe Oppression at New Level Voice of America Morgan Tsvangirai, founding president of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change ..... the weekend assault with an iron bar on an opposition leader Nelson Chimasa at the airport, in full view of the public .... hit squads, unidentified men unidentified vehicles .... Mugabe is a violent man and he does not hide it ..... for the first time, real dissent in the ranks of Zanu-PF .... there is a difference between professional policemen, and members of Mugabe's youth militia, who had personalized their hatred of him and the broad opposition. ..... the other faction of the MDC is preparing to go to court for an urgent application for the release of their president, Arthur Mutambara, who was arrested Saturday at Harare International Airport when he tried to board a plane for Johannesburg. ..... Two other prominent opposition activists severely beaten in police custody, Grace Kwinjeh and elderly Sekai Holland, were taken to the airport on stretchers, but were not allowed to board their private aircraft, had their passports confiscated, and were sent under police escort back to the hospital.
Zimbabwe warns on support to opposition Houston Chronicle
Zimbabwe threatens to expel diplomats Mail & Guardian Online
Airbus Superjumbo Takes a Lap Around America New York Times the rock star of the aviation world. .... will take off from there in a celebratory “flight to nowhere” and circle over Manhattan tomorrow ..... the $300 million craft. ..... the late 1990s, when it predicted that at least 10 North American carriers would buy 281 superjumbos. ..... more than 300 miles of wires in the A380 ..... The delivery problems have cost Airbus $3.3 billion so far, and led to the layoffs of thousands of employees as well as the ouster of the chief executive. ..... Lufthansa, one of Airbus’s core customers, put in an order for 20 stretch 747s. ..... the craft is certified to carry up to 853 — about twice the number carried in the biggest version of the Boeing 747. ...... Its wingspan is almost as long as a football field, and it is eight stories tall, meaning airports have had to come up with special double-deck passenger gates so that passengers can enter the plane on two different levels. ....... anything that increases the number of passengers without increasing the number of flights is welcome. ...... At Kennedy airport, planning for the A380 began a decade ago. ...... At Kennedy, where the runways were laid out in 1948, anticipating the A380 led to a $179 million modernization program. ........ making the case that the A380 will be more efficient in getting passengers on and off and can, for the most part, use existing runways. ..... “Wait until it flies over Manhattan,” he said. “It will block out the sun.”
Weekend recap: Tiger sinks late, Singh wins FOXSports.com
Poll: Fear, Anger, Stress Grip Iraqis Glens Falls Post-Star
British Diet Still Too Salty Says Agency Medical News Today

China finally passes landmark property rights law MercoPress
Private property legalised in China Radio Australia
China passes property law Hindu
China adopts landmark income tax, property laws The Statesman
Premier says world should not fear China Houston Chronicle
China’s diversification won’t hurt dollar, says Wen Financial Express
China's premier says Dalai Lama threatens national unity Kansas City Star China's Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday repeated claims that the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, threatens the unity of the nation and may be trying to separate his Himalayan homeland from China. ..... the "plots taken by secessionist forces" in Taiwan ..... praised Hong Kong for having the "freest economy in the world." ..... Speaking for two hours from a rostrum bedecked with flowers, Wen discounted any chance that he would meet with the Dalai Lama ...... Wen said that the Dalai Lama advocates "a so-called high degree of autonomy for Tibet," which he indicated was unrealistic. ...... he actually asked for all the Chinese troops to withdraw from Tibet and he even asked for all the Han people to leave Tibet ...... In recent years, he's affirmed that he wants autonomy for Tibet, not independence, but China doesn't believe him. ...... China finished a 715-mile railway linking the nation to Lhasa ..... Last week, the Dalai Lama said Han Chinese, who make up 93 percent of China's vast population, are flooding into Tibet. ....... The population of Lhasa, which stood at 20,000 people in 1950, is climbing toward 300,000 people, and Beijing has a target of letting it grow to 700,000 ...... Envoys of the Dalai Lama and Beijing have held five rounds of talks since 2002 ...... his passing could unleash more confrontational approaches. ..... "Hong Kong's role as an international financial center, shipping center and trade center cannot be replaced by any other city." ...... on March 25 an elite 800-member election committee will choose between a pro-democracy lawmaker and the Beijing-backed incumbent, who's seeking a new term.
China shouldn't be feared, country's premier says Los Angeles Times
China Says Dalai Lama Should End Sabotage Playfuls.com Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the Dalai Lama should give up ideas about independence for Tibet adding the door of dialogue is open for China and Tibet. ... "We need to watch what he does," said Wen.
Ballmer on Google: Same FUD, Different Day InformationWeek Microsoft will never have any success in Web-based, advertising-supported services for two reasons. First, it doesn't trust the model -- Microsoft is unwilling to give away for free any service that might be really useful. And second, it doesn't trust its customers. .... Microsoft publishes the most widely used text editor, spreadsheet, and presentation application on the planet. It should be able to do Web-based productivity better than anybody, but it doesn't. Google Docs & Spreadsheets wins by a mile.
Affordable Internet service with WiMax Malaysia Star the group’s nationwide Internet rollout plan. .... “We are very happy and thankful to MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) and the Government for entrusting us with the 2.3GHz,” he said, adding that REDTone would be announcing its nationwide Internet rollout plan with its partner in the next two weeks. ..... “Our plan is very comprehensive. High-speed mobile Internet will have a major impact on businesses and individuals in terms of communication and their way of life. ..... using Skype – a free voice over Internet Protocol (VoiP) solution – on mobile phones, which helps to reduce cost.
interview: Amitabh Bachchan HindiSong.com
WiMax sales soar ComputerWeekly.com
Fresh notice issued to Samajwadi MP Jaya Bachchan Zee News
Wal-Mart Scraps Banking, Accuses "Manufactured Controversy" Playfuls.com
Beckham hopes to increase soccer's profile TSN.ca
Global Warming Makes US Winter Warmer and Drier, Kills Crops Playfuls.com
Earth warmest during December-February The News - International
Winter warmth breaks all records BBC News The combined land and ocean surface temperature from December to February was 0.72C (1.3F) above average. ...... The 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995. ..... 2007 could be the hottest year on record. ..... temperatures would probably rise by between 1.8C and 4C by the end of the century, though increases as small as 1.1C (2F) or as large as 6.4C (11.5F) were possible.
I will always love Paul, but he's tight with money NEWS.com.au

Big powers reach agreement on Iran sanctions Reuters Canada
MLA slips out from jail in Bihar Times Now.tv
Barack Obama Pledges No Personal Attacks NewsMax.com
Obama runs off the Road Map American Thinker
Obama remark draws fire from Jews DesMoinesRegister.com he supports relaxing restrictions on aid to the Palestinians, provided the Palestinian government renounces terrorism. ..... "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people" as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis .... a short question-and-answer session with Obama and about 40 Democratic activists who met privately for 30 minutes. ...... the Israeli government would have to make difficult concessions for the peace process to restart ..... Jewish voters .... nationally they make up a large bloc of active voters and financial contributors .... a Democratic primary where the Jewish vote is highly contested ...... the learning curve for the candidate
Support for Barack Obama Surges, According to The Harris Poll PR Newswire (press release) Obama has increased his support substantially since a previous poll in early February, and his support is now almost as strong as that for Senator Hillary Clinton..... between March 1 and 12, 2007. ...Among Independents, people are slightly more likely to consider voting for Obama (42%) than for Clinton (36%). In February Clinton led Obama by 40 percent to 35 percent
Dems favor Hillary Clinton for 2008, poll shows CNN
Hillary Clinton Claims Right-Wing Conspiracy Is Alive and Well FOX News
Kerry’s camp ruled out Clinton as running mate in 2004, says book Boston Herald Clinton was quickly ruled out because quiet polling found she was too polarizing .... Clinton said around that time that she would not have been interested in the job if the Massachusetts senator asked her. .... Clinton was on a list of about 25 possibilities drawn up early in the search process.
Should Troops in Iraq be Withdrawn By 2008? WSAV-TV
GOP works to defeat measure calling for Iraq withdrawal Kansas City Star
US Senate Agrees to Debate Iraq Resolution Voice of America
Maoists kill 49 police officers in India Irish Times
FACTBOX-Platform of new Palestinian government Reuters AlertNet
Zimbabwe tells critics "Go hang" over condemnation (Roundup) Monsters and Critics.com
Zimbabwe's Mugabe tells West go hang after abuse charge Reuters AlertNet
Security tight in China riot town BBC News riots that involved as many as 20,000 people. ..... protests began after a local firm took over the town's bus routes and doubled the fares. ..... the official Xinhua news agency, which played down the incident. .... the protesters believe they have won because the bus company has since brought its prices back down ..... There are at least 200 protests of differing sizes each day, official figures show, although many do not get any publicity.
CHINA: Calm restored in protest-wracked Hunan town Asia Pacific Media Network
China: One killed and 60 injured in riot over transport price hikes Infoshop News
Shweta is too shy to do films: Amitabh Bachchan SantaBanta.com
Amitabh Bachchan encourages visually impaired children Apun Ka Choice
Dell to users: What do you want in a Linux machine Computerworld Malaysia
Dell, Alienware Ship Systems With One Terabyte Drives CrunchGear
Soccer Notebook: Emotional Beckham says goodbye to fans Daily Breeze
Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Phillips Lobby For High-Speed ... All Headline News The coalition of tech giants are lobbying the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to "allow idle TV channels, known as white space, to be used to beam the Internet into homes and offices" .... a TV-spectrum system makes the most sense in rural settings, where cable and phone lines are expensive to deploy. Small firms, however, can build towers, beam white-space spectrum to farm homes and cabins .... The new TV Internet system would create stiff competition for cable companies and telcos. .... the coalition hopes to release the product by 2009. .... the proposed system could work well in urban areas where many cannot afford $60 a month for cable Internet. .... a TV Internet system might somehow be combined with phone- or cable-provided Internet service to redirect signals through every wall of a house or office ..... A document filed with the FCC by six partners stated, "As the world's largest producers of consumer electronics, software, semiconductors, personal computers, and peripheral devices, the Coalition's members stand ready to commit substantial resources to bring these advancements to consumers."
High-tech bigshots want to beam Internet into homes via TV Daily Mail - Charleston
Tech Giants Pushing Use of Airwaves for Internet Marketing Vox News
Viacom v. Google could shape digital future Moneyweb
Red Hat launches new Linux system Seattle Post Intelligencer
Red Hat releases Enterprise Linux 5 Ars Technica
Tech firms eyeing Net on TV airwaves Seattle Times, WA
Tech Firms Push to Use TV Airwaves for Internet Zeropaid, CA
Tech Group Pushes TV-based Internet Playfuls.com, Romania
Tech group pushes TV-based Internet Market-Day.net, AZ
Tech group pushes TV-based Internet United Press International
Information technology and enterprise computing in city, state ... ZDNet.com blogs
Broadcast broadband ZDNet.com blogs Backed by a coalition that includes Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP and Philips, a prototype device created by Microsoft has been sent to the FCC for testing. ..... Broadcast frequencies in the television signal range can reach much further than those used in 802.11 / WiFi networks. A WiFi network that used television frequencies could, theoretically, blanket a city with Internet service. ..... Wireless networks, satellite providers, WiMax and even powerline Internet access are all options that show promise, and high prices would provide necessary cover as they enter the market. Once there, the resulting competition would help to push prices downwards.
Microsoft, Tech Firms Lobby FCC to Approve Internet-Over-TV Device Digital Media Wire, CA
Google, Microsoft To Invade White Space? WebProNews, KY “The telephone companies are terrified they’ll lose 40% of their wireless minutes, because you’ll be able to connect from work or home and bypass their wireless networks.”
Using TV Airwaves For Internet Hard OCP, TX
Microsoft, Google, and others pushing for Internet over TV airwaves engadget, CA
MS, Google Eye New Broadband Delivery BroadbandReports.com, NY

Amitabh Bachchan to play theatre veteran in "Curtain Call" Hindu
Bachchan avoids cricket due to superstition GG2.net Amitabh Bachchan avoids watching live telecasts of cricket matches involving India because he believes whenever he does so his home team loses.... "That`s why I watch it after the results." ... is confident India will bring home the World Cup. ... "The team is good in all departments," he said. "The blessings of the entire nation are with the Indian cricket team."
Goldman Sachs reports $3.2 bn profit RTE.ie Goldman Sachs posted its best quarterly earnings ever today on record trading and banking results, despite expectations that were recently lowered amid fears that mortgage market woes and volatile stocks would hurt results. The largest investment bank by market value said net profit increased to a record $3.20 billion in the three months ended Feburay, up from of $2.48 billion in the year-ago period. .....Goldman reported net revenue up 22% to a record $12.73 billion.
Goldman Sachs reports record profit Irish Times robust trading gains and investment banking fees. .... Goldman is the first of the Wall Street investment banks to report first-quarter results, with Lehman Brothers Holdings, Bear Stearns, and Morgan Stanley due in the coming days.
Goldman Sachs Posts a 29 Percent Gain New York Times Trading and principal investments brought in $9.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter, a 36 percent increase powered largely by its bond and equities trading operations. .... investment banking business reported $1.72 billion ..... strength in its advisory and debt underwriting areas. .... it paid $6.1 billion in compensation and benefits ...... gains of $227 million from its stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. .... “While market conditions will regularly shift, we are confident that our client-driven strategy will continue to produce the strongest results for the firm”

Top general: Homosexuality is immoral USA Today
General Stands by Stance Against Gay Troops New York Times
Sir, homosexuality is not immoral, sir! Chicago Tribune
Nepal: PM's Turnaround & Prachanda's Trepidation NewsBlaze
Bihar assembly adopts censure motion against Raj Thakerey India eNews.com
How Congress might rein in US war policy Christian Science Monitor The confrontation between Congress and the White House over Iraq is developing into perhaps the most heated confrontation since Vietnam over one of the most basic aspects of the US Constitution – its allocation of the power to make war. ...... Their power to raise questions, via hearings and investigations, can be almost as important as their ability to cut off funds. ...... Congress today is not as roiled as it was in the late 1960s and early '70s. "We're not there yet" ..... Cheney in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lambasted members of Congress who back legislative attempts to place restrictions on what President Bush can do in Iraq. ...... Reid (D) of Nevada said in a statement that America is less safe today because of the war. ..... how hard it is for Congress to strike a consensus over difficult questions of war and peace. ..... Congress has the authority to declare war, and to raise and support military forces. The president is the commander in chief. ...... New England and the Federalist Party, for instance, bitterly opposed the War of 1812. They managed to force the resignation of President James Madison's secretary of War, but in the nationalist surge that followed the war's end, the Federalist Party collapsed. ..... During the Civil War, Congress held extensive hearings to try to push Union generals to further action. President Abraham Lincoln had a difficult time simply keeping Republicans in Congress united. ..... In 1969, Congress used the power of the purse, passing a bill that prevented use of US money to fight in Laos or Thailand. That provision was eventually stretched to cover Cambodia. In 1974, after US combat troops were withdrawn, Congress cut aid to the South Vietnamese government almost in half, to $700 million. Saigon fell in the spring of 1975.
Kidnapping incident will further tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea Times Online
Can Barack Obama Become President? AlterNet
Democrat fury over Fox chief’s Obama joke Times Online
Should Barack Obama Really Be O'Bama? Post Chronicle
Clinton: Right-wing Conspiracy Is Back Guardian Unlimited
Clinton scores a hit Boston Globe
I am Indian, I don't have anything in Nepal: Subba India eNews.com
Subba denies allegation, says he is Indian Daily News & Analysis
BJP demands Subba’s expulsion from LS Assam Tribune
Nepal: UN Concerned About Remaining Fighters, Weapons Stratfor
'Nepal Maoists not confined yet' BBC News
Ethnic Nepalis try to break centuries'-old power Reuters AlertNet up pops a wave of ethnic groups threatening to derail the peace process with violent protests and strikes. ..... the ethnic movements are trying to break a centuries'-old stranglehold by the country's top Hindu castes. .... Gyanendra's government which was ousted last year was largely from the Chhetris caste. It has been replaced by a coalition government dominated by Brahmins. .... now that Maoist leaders have joined the interim parliament, their former supporters from among the lower castes and ethnic groups feel their grievances are being ignored. ...... the government has to be seriously committed, otherwise another civil war will start in the country if the neglect continues ..... First came the Madhesi movement, claiming to represent Nepalis from the southern plains. The Madhesis have an advantage over other ethnic groups because they control supply routes to the capital Kathmandu. ..... They're demanding proportional representation in the elections and an ethnic-federalist structure in the new constitution. The government and the Maoists have vaguely agreed to both, but have not yet held promised negotiations with the protestors. ...... Ian Martin said that if Nepal fails to include traditionally marginalised groups in the peace process, the country will lose a crucial opportunity to address some of the main causes of the conflict. He also said the June elections may not go ahead as planned because of the current level of unrest. ..... International Crisis Group has warned that, unless these ethnic and caste fissures are addressed, among other issues, "violent conflict may emerge once more".

Some See Clinton's JFK Comment as Aimed at Obama U.S. News & World Report she compared herself to John F. Kennedy and his effort to overcome perceptions that a Catholic could never win the presidency in 1960. ...... some Democratic strategists consider this an effort by Clinton to elbow her way into a theme that Obama has promoted across the country -- that he is the true heir of Jack Kennedy as he attempts to be elected the first African American president and overcome perceptions that a Black candidate cannot be elected in 2008. .... "The Hillary folks seem to be more worried about Obama at this point than we thought," said a senior Democratic Strategist.
Obama To Make Bay Area Appearance Saturday NBC11.com
Poll: Giuliani, Clinton top their presidential rivals in Nevada KVOA.com
Will Clinton Win The War Of Attrition? NBC 11.com That war will be waged not just here in New Hampshire, but in the 15 to 20 primaries which states with costly media markets such as California and Texas are now moving to schedule on one day: Feb. 5. ..... the Feb. 5 mega-primary day might eclipse the state's first-in-the-nation primary, especially if Clinton loses the Granite State primary but goes on to outlast her rivals in the Feb. 5 contests. ..... New Hampshire Democrats don't like the idea of a Clinton Dynasty ..... Clinton is a kind of anti-Wellstone. ...... Iraq war as a crime. I'm looking for whoever didn't vote for this war ...... After her speech, other Democrats gave Clinton polite reviews, but were still holding their options open. ...... Obama called today
Clinton's Harvard Fans Head North Harvard Crimson The Harvard students were invited to a roundtable discussion with a senior Clinton campaign staffer to discuss campaign initiatives on- and off-campus. .... Clinton opened the discussion session with Darfur and global warming, the two major issues that the students had told a campaign manager most concerned college students, said Rahul Prabhakar ’09, co-chair of Harvard Students for Hillary.
Nepal PM says king should step down voluntarily Islamic Republic News Agency
Nepal king, crown prince dealt fresh blow Times of IndiaKing Gyanendra ordered the construction of a double gate inside the main gate of his Narayanhity palace for better fortification and sent his trouble-prone son, crown prince Paras to the royal family's former hunting lodge at Gokarna to stay out of trouble. .... an MP telling parliament on Monday that Paras was masterminding the recent spate of criminal activities in the capital .... including last week's planting of crude bombs at the residence of two prominent citizens, Devendra Raj Pandey and Krishna Pahadi. ..... the palace was conspiring to kill senior American officials in Nepal to put the blame on his party, known to be at loggerheads with the US. ..... the rebels have been given a CD by their army contacts. The tape, undisclosed so far, contains the blueprint of the operation. .... "With his behaviour, activities and trying to destabilise the country, the king has shot himself in his own foot and opened the door for democracy," Koirala said.
35 injured, indefinite curfew follows in southern Nepal PeaceJournalism.com
A timeline of the crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region: Canada.com
Sudan government 'orchestrated Darfur crimes' Guardian Unlimited
Chirac a star on Iraq stage, flop at home The Age
China pledges to accelerate drive to market economy Financial Express
Lawyers in Pakistan boycott courts The Tribune
Pakistani Lawyers Clash With Police FOX News
Gore launches 'yoof' TV, with a little help from Google Times Online
The TV channel without programmes BBC News
I'm now doing a balancing act: Shweta Bachchan(INTERVIEW) Earthtimes.org
'If I don't do well, it's okay' Times of India
My face is not fit for acting at all: Shweta Bachchan SantaBanta.com
Moody teens: the excuse is chemistry Sydney Morning Herald