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."

Another Shooting...

It seems that America cannot go a month without some kind of gun violence making headlines. The latest occurrence happened on Saturday, May 17th, in Los Angeles, CA. The gunman opened fire during a church festival. Three were wounded, one of whom was the gunman's ex wife. "We believe this is an isolated incident, a domestic-violence dispute," said police Capt. Steven Ruiz. But, when will this rise in domestic violence end? The government is perplexed on how to enforce stricter gun control laws without violating the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment guarantees citizens the right to bear arms. The issue is whether the writers of the Constitution met for the accessibility to guns to become easier by incorporating this right or they met for it as a form of protection. Either way, stricter gun control laws need to be passed.

In Past Month, Stocks in Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft Crash

Search Stocks & The Stock Crash: GOOG, YHOO, & MSFT

Today John Battelle what a plunge Google took on the stock market yesterday and in general through the current year. I thought it would be fun to look at Microsoft and Yahoo as well.
The chart above covers the past month and shows Google Yahoo and Microsoft against the over the past month. Of the three, Google's had the greatest decline, down 19.5 percent. Yahoo's just behind at 18.5 percent, with Microsoft at about 12.5 percent. The NASDAQ overall is at 15.5 percent.
No doubt, it's a drop -- but rather than being Google-specific, it seems more tied to the overall decline in stock prices. That doesn't negate the point John makes -- that Googlers do watch the stock price, and the drop will concern many, especially those "underwater" with options to buy the stock at a price higher than it is currently trading.
The dollar figures for yesterday:
Google: Opened at $562.03, closed at $584.35, up 4 percent. Currently: $566.81
Yahoo: Opened at $19.29, closed at $19.86, up 3 percent. Currently: $19.75
Microsoft: Opened at $31.54, closed at $31.96, up 1.3 percent. Currently: $31.82

This is clearly related to the Great Depression when the whole stock market crashed on October 29th Black Tuesday.

Matriarch of Interracial Marriage Dies

Mildred Loving dies at 68.

Black woman Mildred Loving and white husband Richard Loving were the first interracial couple to challenge Virginia's ban on interracial marriage in 1967. This challenge created a milestone in history’s racial equality. Their conflict was taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which led to a significant ruling in defense of racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states. “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause,” the court unanimously ruled.

Richard Loving died in 1975. It is recorded Mildred Jeter was 11 when she and 17-year-old Richard began courting. She became pregnant a few years later at age 18, in which she and Loving got married in Washington in 1958. Mildred never realized their marriage was illegal. “I think my husband knew,” Mildred said in an interview. “I think he thought (if) we were married, they couldn't bother us.” The couple was arrested a few weeks after they returned to hometown Central Point just north of Richmond, Virginia.

Together they pleaded guilty to charges of “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.” Together they also avoided jail time by leaving Virginia for 25 years. After living in Washington for several years, they then began a legal challenge by writing to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. From him their cased was referred the case to the American Civil Liberties Union. With perfect timing as lawmakers passed the Civil Rights Act, many blacks living amongst the Southern states were defying Jim Crow's Laws. The couple returned to Virginia with their three children, Donald, Peggy, and Sidney, after the Supreme Courts ruling. Today June 12 signifies the anniversary of the ruling and Loving Day celebrations across the United States are held in honor of the advances of mixed-race couples.

“We loved each other and got married,” Mildred told The Washington Evening Star in 1965 as the case was pending. “We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants.”