Illnesses Linked to Raw Tomatoes

Tuesday, June 3- An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has been found to be linked to uncooked tomatoes. These reporting have been reported in 17 US states causing 167 people to be infected. Out of that 167, 23 people have been hospitalized by a rare strain of potentially fatal bacteria. Fast food restaurants, super-markets, anywhere that sells tomatoes was forced to remove the stock from the shelves and meals due to a warning from the FDA. "At this time, consumers should limit their tomato consumption to tomatoes that have not been implicated in the outbreak. These include cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home," the FDA said in a statement. Companies like McDonalds removed tomatoes from their sandwiches and salads but returned to using them when they did not hear any complaints of sickness from their customers.

In 1885, Daniel E. Salmon, an American scientist who played an important part in putting the first U.S. meat inspections in place discovered the organism that causes hog cholera, which is now known as Salmonella Choleraesius. Although the illness is named after him, he was not the one who actually discovered it. His assistant, Theobald Smith actually discovered the bacterium. So much for taking all the credit.

Dalai Lama Visit University of Washington Sparks Protests

The anticipation of the Dalai Lama's visit to the University of Washington Seattle was high especially for pro-China demonstrators, but not for the reason that you would think. These people could not wait to interogate him about his view on Tibet being seperate from China. However, previous to the speech of the Dalai Lama the attendies were instructed to ask non-political questions, as the Dalai Lama was not going to respond to them. As a result, some 500 protesters gathered outside of the hall where the Dalai Lama was speaking to protest his views on the split of Tibet from China. Pro-China semonstrators claim that the Dalai Lama wants Tibet to split from China, even though he has denied it saying he is for the unity of Tibet and China. The demonstrators did not buy into this however as they feel he is responsible for protests in Tibet demanding Tibet become ndependent from China. This arose much controversy, but the Dalai Lama was successful in his speech at the University due to no political questions being asked. (This was because the people asking the questions were assigned, and were students that could be trusted to stick to University appropriate questions.)

This can be compared to the student protests at Kent State during the Vietnam War. During the Vietname war students at Kent State led a protest agaisnt the war. As a result officials were called in to supress the protest asnd lives were lost of unarmed protesters. During this protest officials were called to suypress the unarmed demonstrators even though it is their right. At least no one was killed in this demonstration.

Kennedy Is Released From Hospital

Senator Edward M. Kennedy was released from a North Carolina hospital on Monday, one week after undergoing surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. With his aids he returned home to his home in Hyannis Port. He was released from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and had been resting complication free. Kennedy, 76, was diagnosed about three weeks ago with a malignant glioma in the left parietal lob of his brain shortly after suffering a seizure at a family residence on Cape Cod. This prognosis is a very unpromising one and at first it seemed that his doctors had ruled out surgery because of the high risk of causing damage to his parietal lobe. This is an area involved in language and motor control. His doctors eventually decided it was the right choice. The surgeons, last week, sliced away as much of the cancer as possible during a three hour surgery. Mr. Kennedy, in the up coming days, will start targeted radiation and chemotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital. From what has been seen, Kennedy has appeared to be doing well. The day after he heard his diagnosis, he appeared strong as he walked out of the medical center with his family. It seems that Mr. Kennedy will be recuperating largely in private.

Edward Kennedy is the only living of his Kennedy brothers. His oldest brother Joe Jr.’s plan was shoot down during World War II on August 12, 1944. His other older brother John was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. On June 5, 1968, Edward’s last brother was assassinated in a Los Angeles hotel immediately following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/us/10kennedy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Gas Prices Continue Record Climb

Nationwide gasoline prices continue to increase. The rising average for regular is $4.02 a gallon, as crude oil prices fell only slightly after last Friday’s record surge. The price of gasoline is now 93 cents a gallon more than it was a year ago. Gasoline prices of diesel this morning were at $4.77 a gallon, $1.87 more than this time last year. Economists fear this steady rise in gasoline prices eating at consumers’ money, who already have an economy that is weighted down by concerns about housing prices and the stability of financial institutions. With this increase in the price of gasoline, consumers have started to trim down the amount of driving they do. MasterCard has recently reported that a 4%-5$ decline in the purchase of gasoline, but the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration has been reporting more modest declines. Prices of gasoline futures were down substantially today on fears that demand for U.S. motor fuel would drop more steeply now that prices have crossed the $4 threshold. Despite this, international supply and demand forces have driven crude oil prices up despite the declines in the United States. The US is still the world’s largest oil consumer, and crude oil costs make up the majority of gasoline costs. There are many disagreements over who is primarily to blame with leading figures in the oil industry.

The 1917 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt. The United States was one of the countries who supported Israel, so they were greatly affected by this refusal to ship oil.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060800574.
html?hpid=topnews

http://www.bookrags.com/research/oil-embargo-enve-02/

Media officially running for Obama

The New York Times reported on thursday that Linda Douglass, former network correspondent and "journalist" for such major news networks as ABC and CBS, as well as contributer to the National Journal, has announced that she is leaving the "news" to join the Obama campaign. This has reveiced alot of well deserved criticism from many Republicans as well as Deomcrat supporters of hillary Rodham Clinton who have noted on the medias suspected bias towards Barack Hussien Obama in the election coverage so far. In this election, many have accused the Media of being liberally bias, a label which has plagued the media for decades.

Many in the media have been accused of injecting their own bias into the news, and in some cases, flat out lying for the sake of propaganda. such instances include the white house's recent struggle with NBC News over the way they edited an interview withe President Bush in a way that they had cut out parts of his answers to controversial questions involvong Iran. Also, in 2004, when some accused CBS News and anchorman Dan Rather of trying to influence a presidential election by runnig a story about newly discovered documents that questioned George W. Bush's National Guard Service. These documents were never authenticated, or fact checked, and soon found to be forgeries. Other examples include when Newsweek, now being criticized for pro-Obama reporting, found the story of the Lewinski-Clinton scandal, but did not break it until after others did. Even the Pope John Newspaper was accused by some to be Obama leaning. These stories relate back to the WaterGate scandal of the 1970's and president Nixon's beliefs that the media was out to get him from the start.

Dream Ticket to Glory!!

Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue their race to the clench the Democratic candidate nomination for the 2008 presidential election!!!! Some say that clinton needs to just drop out right now and that theres absolutely no hope for her. Just one more primary and Obama clenches the nomination. But watch out!! Hillary is still going! This whole one more primary thing has been working against Obama. For thepast couple elections Obama supposedly has been about the clench the nomination yet some how Hillary is sweeping them alll!!! It's absolute election madness! Of course logically Hillary is not supposed to have a chance. She can't do it demographically, geographically, mathematically, etc.. but shes goign to keep going. You've got to admire that in a leader! But still, as much as a hillary supporter i am i believe Obama will be the victor of the nomination. Theres very little hope for our girl Hillary. Only a little slip up and shes completely out!! but dont worry. I think she and Obama have a trick up their sleeves. Possibly, hopefully, together, no matter who takes the nomination, they become the dream ticket. Both of them! Running together. I'd definately vote! But one can only hope. So far Obama has been denying the idea but hey! he also denied that he'd run for president due to lack of experience! You never know what could happen.

Gender Issue Lives On as Clinton’s Hopes Dim

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now in what most agree are the waning days of her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. To use her own phrase, she has been running “to break the highest and hardest glass ceiling” in American life, and now the presidency — even a nomination that once seemed to be hers to claim — seems out of reach. Along with the usual post-mortems about strategy, message and money, Mrs. Clinton’s all-but-certain defeat brings with it a reckoning about what her run represents for women: a historic if incomplete triumph or a depressing reminder of why few pursue high office in the first place. “Women felt this was their time, and this has been stolen from them,” said Marilu Sochor, 48, a real estate agent in Columbus, Ohio, and a Clinton supporter. “Sexism has played a really big role in the race.” Not everyone agrees. “When people look at the arc of the campaign, it will be seen that being a woman, in the end, was not a detriment and if anything it was a help to her,” the presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said in an interview. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is faltering, she added, because of “strategic, tactical things that have nothing to do with her being a woman.” Still, many credit Mrs. Clinton with laying down a new marker for what a woman can accomplish in a campaign — raising over $170 million, frequently winning more favorable reviews on debate performances than her male rivals, rallying older women, and persuading white male voters who were never expected to support her. This can be compared to when Victoria Woodhull tried to run for President in the 19th century. She was a women's rights activist and she accomplished many things throughout her radical lifetime. She did not win presidency however but made an impact in the womens rights movement.

Oil prices sky rocket to $130 per barrel

Oil climbed to a life-time high above $130 a barrel on Wednesday, driven higher by a combination of long-term production worries and a near-term focus on tight fuel stocks. Crude inventories have risen for a fifth straight week. Stocks of refined products were also forecast to have increased slightly, but the market is concerned distillates, which include heating oil and gasoline, could run short. U.S. crude hit a peak of $130.47 before easing to $129.71 by 9:28 a.m. EDT, up 73 cents. Investors have been drawn in by a weak U.S. currency, which has made dollar-denominated commodities relatively cheap for holders of other currencies. The dollar slid to a one-month low against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as the euro was pushed higher by expectations of higher euro zone interest rates. OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said the soft dollar was one of the factors that could keep pushing oil higher. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has kept official policy unchanged, but its biggest producer Saudi Arabia has raised production and other members have overcome problems that had reduced supplies. Tanker tracker Petrologistics said on Wednesday OPEC's oil output in May had risen by 700,000 barrels per day compared with April. The perception available oil will struggle to keep up with demand for the foreseeable future has led to a series of bullish price forecasts from investment banks and influential investors. Oil has risen from below $20 in early 2002.

This could be compared to the oil crisis of 1973. The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced, as a result of the ongoing Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt, which were the United States, its allies in Western Europe, and Japan. In the U.S., drivers of vehicles with license plates having an odd number as the last digit or a vanity license plate were allowed to purchase gasoline for their cars only on odd-numbered days of the month, while drivers of vehicles with even-numbered license plates were allowed to purchase fuel only on even-numbered days. It caused a panic in the United States and many gas stations shut down and were abandoned.

Wedding Day Homicide

7 NY police officers are finally being charged after the November 2006 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man the night of his wedding. There is a possibility of review if prosecutors bring up the idea that the crime could've been against civil rights. Undercover police officers followed 3 men out of a club to see if they were getting a firearm to settle a dispute inside. Thinking that they were grabbing the weapons from the vehicle, officers opened fire. The commanding officer at the time is facing charges for not adequately supervising the operation. 2 are charged with their actions after the crime, and another for using his firearm out of department guidelines. The other 3 officers were given administrative charges.

An 8 week trial after the incident investigated whether or not the officers had reasonable evidence to believe that they faced danger and if they revealed that they were officers. Civil Rights leader Al Sharpton speaks out against the crime: "There must be no tolerance for crime but also no tolerance for police misconduct and the New York Police Department must send a strong, firm signal that that is the case." He also expressed regret that none of the officers lost their jobs. The 7 officers are scheduled for a hearing soon.

New Leadership Taking Control

Ben Jealous became the newly elected leader of the NAACP. He was a graduate of Oxford University and is not the typical choice for the NAACP. He was the executive director of the National Newspapers Publishers Associations. "I think that it's a real affirmation that this organization is willing to invest in the future, to invest in the ideas and the leadership of the generation that is currently raising black children in this country," said Ben Jealous.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded February 12, 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and Henry Moskowitz along others. The purpose of the association was to "ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."