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Mission Statement

The aim of the March Report is to provide you with information on all sides of the important issues of the day. To the best of our ability, we will not skew our coverage to the left, right or center. We say "to the best of our ability" because, now matter how hard someone tries, absolute objectivity is impossible.

For example (and in our opinion), a certain cable news outlet genuinely tries to be "Fair and Balanced," yet it is indisputable that their coverage skews to the right. Others' coverage skews to the left. Does this imply some grand conspiracy? NO! It simply means that, despite their good faith attempt to be balanced, their deeply held convictions cannot help but seep through.

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Clinton's "Nuclear Option?"
Marc Ambinder -- The Atlantic (USA)
HuffPost political editor Tom Edsall writes that the Clinton campaign is preparing to "ram through" the party's rules and bylaws committee a proposal to seat the disputed Florida and Michigan delegations and thus close the delegate gap by about 55 ...


O'Reilly says Clinton interview is 'toughest she's ever done'
Michael Calderone
"This is, without a doubt, the toughest interview she's ever done," O'Reilly said today on the air....


Question Summary: Bill O'Reilly's Clinton Interview
Fosberry- TPM Cafe
I got the vibe that O'Reilly thought, "we may disagree, but you're a hard-nosed scrapper like I am, and I respect that. To a point." ...


Hillary Clinton may be more craven than the average politician, but she is no dummy
Tygrrrr Express
First of all, democrats react to Bill O'Reilly the way republicans react to Al Queda. The left sees O'Reilly, who last time I checked was merely an individual asking tough questions, as evil. Reporters are supposed to ask tough questions...


O'Reilly asks Clinton if she's enjoyed the fair coverage Fox News has given her
Tyler Gray -- Radar Online
Hillary Clinton faced the Papa Bear on the Factor last night, and critics are already calling Bill O'Reilly's interview the most issue-oriented to date. Aside, of course, from his frequent references to "socialism" (Teddy Roosevelt was a socialist? "Kinda," O' Reilly said) and attempts to bait Clinton into bashing Obama by way of his "loon" former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Clinton didn't bite, really. The closer was a classic ...


Bill O'Reilly Continues To Lie About His "Humble" Roots
Marc Mcdonald -- beggarscanbechoosers.com
In his interview Wednesday with Hillary Clinton, O'Reilly once again displayed his "I'm just a regular working stiff" persona and reminded viewers that he grew up in Levittown, a working-class suburb of New York City ...


What do Al Franken and "Voice of the Faithful" have in Common?
Fred Martinez -- blogspot.com
This Franken mockery of the Eucharist on Air America radio proves he is an idiot and possibly an anti-Catholic bigot. This ridicule reminds one of the Nazi propaganda that mocked the most sacred religious Jewish customs. ...


Garcia: 'I want to thank Tiger for not being here.
Jim Litke, AP Sports
The lingering image of Garcia on the greens that most of us carried into Sunday was him narrowly missing putts three times in the last four holes of regulation, and three times in the playoff against Padraig Harrington last summer before losing the British Open. What changed soon after is that Garcia ditched the belly putter he'd been using and hired short-game guru Stan Utley to help him rediscover the more instinctive stroke that marked Garcia as a player to be watched while still in his teens. It bailed him out a half-dozen times in the final round, the final time on No. 18 in regulation, when he rolled in a 7-footer that subsequently forced Paul Goydos into a playof ...


Court Hears More Claims of Vaccine-Autism Link
Gardiner Harris -- NY Times
The United States Court of Federal Claims began another hearing on Monday to decide whether a vaccine additive led thousands of children to become autistic ...


Anti-inflammatories did not ward off dementia-study
Reuters
Giving elderly people either Aleve or Celebrex, two anti-inflammatory painkilling drugs, did nothing to ward off the mental decline associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, researchers said on Monday ...


China urges quick action to halt deadly outbreak
Ching-Ching Ni -- Los Angeles Times
hinese authorities have ordered local health officials to swiftly report all new cases of a fast-moving virus blamed for killing 28 children nationwide and infecting at least 15,000, most younger than 5. Cases of enterovirus-71, a strain of what is often called hand, foot and mouth disease, must be reported to the Health Ministry within 24 hours of detection, officials announced Wednesday ...


India children's health 'ignored'
BBC News
More than half of Indian children under the age of five do not get the health care they need, according to a report by Save the Children. It ranks India alongside Ghana when it comes to providing basic health care to its children under five years of age ...


Investor's Business Daily Phone Scam

You'd expect an organization like Investor's Business Daily to be reputable, honorable and upstanding, right? Guess again, Bunky! I've been on the receiving end of what I take to be a scam perpetrated by these folks, and this is the first time I've experienced anyone trying to masquerade their scam as a public service.

Recently, I began receiving an unsolicited daily delivery of Investor's Business Daily. I wondered why. Had someone sent a gift subscription? Had IBD made an error? Then, the phone began to ring.

The caller-id said "310-448-6034 INVSTRS BUS DAI," so I picked up the phone, figuring I'd find out about the mystery subscription. Nobody there. Impatient call center, I thought. Later that day, it happened again. Nobody there.

This went on. Dozens of calls! As this entered the second week, I started to get seriously annoyed. My home phone number is on the Federal "DO NOT CALL" list, but some companies take their chances and ignore the list.

I decide to dial the number and give them a good old what-for. You need to hear the call before reading any further, so here's a recording of it:

Audio Audio of the Phone Call

What the heck was that all about? First, they send the unsolicited subscription. Then, they inundate you with phone calls they know they can't make legally. If you call them on that number, rather than try to sell you the paper, they ask if you want to be put on their do not call list. Why would they do that if they didn't already know that I'm on the Federal "DO NOT CALL" list?

I did not leave my number. Since they already have my phone number, and they've already demonstrated a reckless disregard for the law, why should I play their game?

Then, it occurred to me to ask the readers of the March Report to participate in an experiment. Let's turn the tables on the scammers. Think hard before you do it, though. If you are NOT a current or past subscriber to Investor's Business Daily, call 310-448-6034 and leave your phone number. In it's short life, the March Report has managed to acquire several thousand readers daily, literally throughout world. If enough of you do this, it should get them scratching their heads.

If any of you get a return call, please contact me and let me know what happened. E-mail us at
e-mail address
(This is not a clickable link, and is rendered as a graphic to avoid having our address grabbed by e-mail aggregators for the purpose of spamming or spoofing.)
We'll report it here.

I'd also like to hear from Investor's Business Daily, to get their side of the story. Perhaps they feel that this isn't a scam at all, and have some reasonable explanation for it. I'd really like to hear it. If someone from IBD contacts me, I'll post their explanation in this column. Fair warning: should we get a "cease-and-desist" letter, we'll post that, too.


At the request of some of our readers, discerning and literate bunch that you all are, commencing with the May 1, 2008 issue we began archiving the March Report in a form suitable for presentation. Be advised that some of the links to external sites on the archived pages will have gone dead. Morte. Kaputski. That being the case, archives will be deleted, or replaced with an image of the headline area only, as the page itself becomes useless (assuming that it wasn't to begin with, which may be presumptuous in and of itself).

MAY 2008

1  |   2  |   3  |   4  |   5  |   6  |   7  |   8  |   9  |   10  |   11  |   12  |  

 

 

 


Conyers 'worried' about Clinton's impact on Dems' presidential chances
Gordon Trowbridge -- Detroit News (US)
Rep. John Conyers said Saturday he is "very worried" that Hillary Clinton's continued campaign will make it more difficult to unify the Democratic Party this fall, but told fellow supporters of Barack Obama that the best way to end the nomination race is with kindness ...


Women for Hillary Clinton in West Virginia haven't (quite) given up the dream
Faye Fiore, -- Los Angeles Time
It seems like only a few days ago, right after Hillary Rodham Clinton's big win in Pennsylvania, that Margaret Hamrick was on the phone with one of her bank customers, rejoicing at what appeared so possible -- a woman, at last, in the White House. Hamrick wasn't supposed to talk politics on work time, but the enthusiasm for Clinton was infectious ...


Clinton's future does not lie in the White House
E.J. Dionne Jr. -- Washington Post Writers Group
Hillary Rodham Clinton still has a lot to win this year, but not the presidency and not the vice presidency ...


Hillary Clinton: From Inevitable to on the Ropes
Associated Press
Video  When Hillary Clinton began her quest for the presidency, many believed she was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing that, too ...


Clinton Deadline Looms for Recouping $11 Million Personal Loan
Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger -- Boomberg News (USA)
Clinton loaned her struggling campaign $11 million in recent months. A little-known provision of a 2002 campaign- finance law cosponsored by McCain prevents candidates who drop out of the race from raising money after the nominating conventions to repay themselves for personal loans ...


The Clinton Divorce
Wall Street Journal
No, we don't mean Bill and Hillary. We mean the separation now under way between the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Like all divorces after lengthy unions, this one is painful and has had its moments of reconciliation, but after Tuesday a split looks inevitable. The long co-dependency is over ...


Clinton Presses On, Campaigning in South Dakota
Associated Press
Audio  Sen. Hillary Clinton isn't giving up her fight to win the democratic nomination. On Wednesday, she travelled from West Virginia to South Dakota, where she told voters she would be the stronger opponent against John McCain in November ...


Feinstein wants to know Clinton's strategy
Associated Press
California Senator Dianne Feinstein says she has concerns about Hillary Rodham Clinton's path to the Democratic presidential nomination and wants to know what the former first lady's strategy is ...


Cash-strapped Clinton lends her campaign $6.4 million
www.chinaview.cn
Reflecting her financial woes, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York has been forced to lend her presidential campaign 6.4 million U.S. dollars in recent weeks, her campaign said Wednesday. The emergency infusion of money, which came in three allocations over the last month, comes on top of the 5 million dollars she loaned the campaign in late January, bringing her total outlay to 11.4 million dollars, according to her spokesman Howard Wolfson ...


Clinton Campaign Talking Points: Indiana Edition
Aaron Bruns -- FOXNews
The Clinton campaign's talking points for surrogates and supporters today strain hard to spin last night's worse-than-expected performance into a victory over what they paint as an enormously advantaged Obama campaign ...


The Five Mistakes Clinton Made
Karen Tumulty -- TIME
For all her talk about "full speed on to the White House," there was an unmistakably elegiac tone to Hillary Clinton's primary-night speech in Indianapolis. And if one needed further confirmation that the undaunted, never-say-die Clintons realize their bid might be at an end, all it took was a look at the wistful faces of the husband and the daughter who stood behind the candidate as she talked of all the people she has met in a journey "that has been a blessing for me." ...


Hillary Clinton's strategy of last resort
Peter Wallsten and James Hohmann -- Los Angeles Times
Video  Unable to revive her presidential campaign at the polls, Hillary Rodham Clinton now envisions a road to the nomination built on disputes over Democratic Party rules and fights over delegate selections. But on Wednesday even that route looked unattainable, with some key party officials warning that they would not cooperate with Clinton's strategy ...


Clinton Camp Says It Will Use The Nuclear Option
Thomas B. Edsall -- The Huffington Post
Hillary Clinton's campaign today acknowledged plans to try to win seating of the disputed Michigan and Florida delegations to the Democratic Nation Convention at a meeting of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee on May 31...

Hillary's Psychic Reality
Ellen Ladowsky -- Huffington Post (USA)
During the Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton gave the following gloss on her Bosnia fairytale: "I can tell you that I may be a lot of things but I'm not dumb... On a couple of occasions in the last weeks, I just said some things that weren't in keeping with what I knew to be the case ...on a few occasions I was not as accurate as I have been in the past... So I will either try to get more sleep...or have somebody who is there as a reminder to me. "...


Longtime Clinton Supporter Defects to Obama Camp
Associated Press
Video  Joe Andrew, a longtime Clinton supporter and Indiana superdelegate, is switching his allegiance to Barack Obama. Obama has significantly cut into Clinton's lead in the race for superdelegates ...

Clinton campaign angry over Andrew flip
WISH-TV
Leaders of the Hoosiers for Hillary campaign have reacted strongly to the Joe Andrew switch. They think Andrew is disloyal...

Superdelegate News
Ariel Alexovich -- NY Times (USA)
Barack Obama's campaign on Friday announced the official endorsement of Paul G. Kirk, a Massachusetts superdelegate who was chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the late 1980s ...


Factoring In O'Reilly .  . .

Video  First Half of Thursday's segment

Clinton: I Will Not Target Sanctuary Cities
FOXNews.com
Hillary Clinton, in the second half of her first-ever interview with FOX News' Bill O'Reilly, said that if elected president she would not crack down on so-called illegal immigrant "sanctuary cities."...


Video  Second Half of Wednesday's segment


Clinton Says Obama Made the Right Move By Condemning Pastor
FoxNews.COM (USA)
In the first part of a two-part interview - the second will air at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on FOX News - Clinton also defended her stances on health care and oil companies and sought to burnish her image as a "fighter" candidate ...

Video  First Half of Wednesday's segment

Video  Second Half of Wednesday's segment

Senator Hillary Clinton Enters "The No Spin Zone."
Doug Heye -- National Review Online (USA)
In what may be the most anticipated television interview since David Letterman finally landed Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton appeared on Wednesday night's edition of The O'Reilly Factor. It's shocking, yes, but should not be terribly surprising ...


Clinton criticizes former Obama pastor on O'Reilly broadcast
Associated Press (USA)
Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she found remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor to be "offensive and outrageous" and noted that her Democratic rival had spoken out forcefully against them ...


Hillary vs. O'Reilly
Craig Yates -- chron.com
Last night Hillary Clinton was on the O'Reilly Factor in the first part of an interview that will conclude on tonight's program. As much as it pains me to say so, Hillary gave an impressive performance. She was upbeat, and dare I say, personable. Of course, with the gift she has been handed by the good Reverend it's probably all she can do not to turn cartwheels across the studio ...

O'Reilly gloating over Hillary Clinton interview
newshounds.us
The Hillary Clinton interview with Bill O'Reilly has only half-aired and already the network and its surrogates are doing exactly what we knew they would - tearing her up and using her own words (and facial expression, for chrissake) against her. Bill O'Reilly is so pleased with himself over the big get he can't hide his glee, but his deepest satisfaction is in prevailing over the farleft blogs and websites ...


Starz 1Q Operating Profit Rose 82% to $60 Million
Bloomberg News
From Las Vegas, NV: Recording of a Live Interview with Robert Clasen, CEO of Starz Encore Group ...

The Dolans Officially Bag Newsday for $650 Million
John Koblin -- New York Observer (US)
The Dolans win the bidding for the Long Island daily for $650 million. The deal is structured the way Sam Zell needed it to be--the Dolans pick up 97 percent of the company, while the Tribune company retains 3 percent ...


Clear Channel Could Signal Merger Arb Funds' Comeback
CNNMoney
When a reporter told hedge fund manager Seth Washburne Monday that a $36-a-share deal for Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU) looked imminent, Washburne was immediately on the phone with his broker to strategize ...


FedEx Forecasts Less Profits
Bloomberg News
Video  FedEx Corp. cut its fourth-quarter earnings expectations Friday, blaming continuing increases in fuel costs ...


Sprint Nextel Widens Loss As Wireless Bleeds Customers
Mike Barris -- Wall Street Journal (US)
Sprint Nextel Corp. posted a wider first-quarter loss as it continued to lose long-term subscribers and ring up costs associated with its 2005 acquisition of Nextel. ...



Negotiating with Microsoft is not for amateurs
Steve Tobak -- c|net
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't believe I've ever seen a negotiation handled, with all due respect, as dysfunctionally and amateurishly as the way Yahoo has handled its negotiation with Microsoft ...


ECB, Battling Inflation, May Keep Rate at 4% as Growth Slows
Christian Vits -- Bloomberg News
The European Central Bank may leave interest rates at a six-year high to damp inflation even as the economy cools, a survey of economists shows. ECB policy makers will keep the benchmark lending rate at 4 percent when they meet in Athens today, all 53 economists in the Bloomberg survey said. The central bank won't lower borrowing costs before September, according to a separate survey ...


Robert Vesco reported dead
BBC World News (UK)
Fugitive US millionaire Robert Vesco died last November in Cuba of lung cancer at 72, the New York Times newspaper has reported. Vesco fled America after being accused of embezzling $220m by the US securities and exchange commission in the 1970s ...


Healthcare may be hazardous to your saving
Maria M. Perotin -- Star-Telegram.com
From insurance premiums to eyeglasses, medical bills are becoming an ever-larger expense in retirement -- even for people old enough to receive federal Medicare benefits. And for younger retirees, health insurance can be so costly that some workers are forced to stay on the job just to hang onto their employer's health coverage ...


Tornado could push out town's last residents
Rick Jervis -- USA TODAY
Before Saturday's mammoth twister splintered her two-bedroom house, Lane, 71, had sworn to live in this small former mining town until she died. She stood steadfastly even as studies showed high levels of lead in residents' blood and the mine shafts deep under her home were collapsing and threatening to swallow her block ...


Raw Video: Tornado Damage in Okla.
Associated Press
Video Several people are dead following tornadoes rip through McAlester, Oklahoma. The storms damaged homes, uprooted trees and down power lines. At least three tornadoes were reported in the same county. ...


Jenna Bush wedding 'Crawford's last big fanfare'
Michael Granberry -- Dallas Morning News (US)
Months ago, a woman paid a visit to Dave Hermann, who with his wife, Katie, owns The Range Restaurant at the Barton House in Salado, Texas. The woman negotiated the terms of a rehearsal dinner, one of many the couple handles, but late Thursday night, Mr. Hermann got a phone call that floored him ...


President calls Jenna's wedding "spectacular"
Deb Riechmann -- Associated Press
"Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy, Henry Hager," Bush said, standing next Mrs. Bush at an airport in Waco where he boarded Air Force One for his flight back to Washington. "The wedding was spectacular. It's just - it's all we could have hoped for." ...

Jenna Bush Wedding
youtube.com
Video  Video from youtube.com ...


Radio host Bernie Ward admits he e-mailed child porn to woman known as 'Sexfairy'
Bay City News Service
Former radio talk show host Bernie Ward offered a guilty plea in federal court in San Francisco today to one count of sending child pornography over the Internet in December 2004. Ward, 57, a former host on KGO radio in San Francisco, admitted to the charge during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. He told the judge he sent pornography containing sexually explicit pictures of minors by e-mail. ...


An NBC Goodbye for Leno After 'Tonight'?
Bill Carter -- NY Times
Asked about the prospect that NBC would be able to keep Mr. Leno after his contract expires in January 2010, with Conan O'Brien having taken over his spot on the "Tonight" show, Mr. Silverman said NBC was going to do everything it could to find something that would induce Mr. Leno to stay but that it was unlikely that it would succeed. "I think it's a reach," Mr. Silverman said ...


Actor Dennis Farina booked in weapons case
Jean-Paul Renaud -- Los Angeles Times
Farina, 64, was booked in a felony case after LAX screeners found a loaded handgun in his briefcase as he prepared to board a plane ...


Top 10 Reasons to Watch the New Season of Battlestar Gallactica
CBS & Worldwide Pants
The show's stars appear on Late Night with David Letterman. After surviving the destruction of the colonies by the Cylons, they die on a comedy show ...


Study of 'Daily Show': It's a lot like O'Reilly
David Bauder -- Associated Press
A journalism think tank studying "The Daily Show" doesn't believe many people get their news from Jon Stewart -- because otherwise they wouldn't get the jokes ...


Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy
Stefanie Olsen -- c|net
In a major win for Hollywood studios, a California federal judge has ordered TorrentSpy to pay some $110 million in damages for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows through its BitTorrent search engin ...


Forget Global Warming, Prepare for New Ice Age
Fox News
Sunspot activity has not resumed up after hitting an 11-year low in March last year, raising fears that - far from warming - the globe is about to return to an Ice Age, says an Australian-American scientist ...


Study: ...(uh!)...Frequent ... (omigawd!) ... Masturbation May ... (snort) .. Prevent Prostate ... (ah! ah!) ... Cancer ... (AARRGH!)
Fox News
esearchers from the Cancer Council of Victoria found that men who masturbated more than five times each week were one-third less likely to develop the cancer....


World map of metabolism finds blood pressure clues
Maggie Fox -- Reuters
Researchers creating a map of human metabolism around the world have found compounds in urine that point to some surprising differences affecting blood pressure, based not on genes but on what people eat and their gut bacteria. ...


Art, science and men in banana suits
Louise Tickle -- The Guardian (UK)
Securing funds for charitable causes is a challenge that requires masterful people skills, attention to detail and that certain touch of magic...


Stem cell research is key piece of global science
Fazlur Rahman -- Dallas Morning News (TX,USA)
Science education goes hand in hand with research, and these can't progress without public support. Yet, many scientists prefer the ivory tower ...


Please pass the fire...did I say that?

Neanderthals Speak Out After 30,000 Years
Ben Hirschler -- Reuters (London, UK)
Neanderthals have spoken out for the first time in 30,000 years, with the help of scientists who have simulated their voices using fossil evidence and a computer synthesizer ...


Psychics see big trouble over new laws
Peter Griffiths -- Reuters
ortune-tellers, mediums and spiritual healers marched on the home of the British prime minister at Downing Street on Friday to protest against new laws they fear will lead to them being "persecuted and prosecuted" ...


First human-animal embryo created, say British
France24 - Paris,France
British researchers say they have created the first hybrid embryo by injecting human DNA into eggs derived from cow ovaries. The embryo lasted three days ...


Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's
DENISE GRADY -- NY Times (USA)
People in this country spend more than a $1 billion a year on prescription drugs marketed to treat it, but for most patients the pills have only marginal effects, if any, on symptoms and do nothing to stop the underlying disease process that eats away at the brain ...


U.S. teams aim to grow ears, skin for war wounded
Kristin Roberts -- Reuters
Teams of university scientists backed by U.S. government funds hope to grow new skin, ears, muscles and other body tissue for troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department said on Thursday ...


It's enough to make you take Jay Stuart's way out.

Let's Make a Deal Doors

The Monty Hall Problem and Cognitive Dissonance.
JOHN TIERNEY -- NY Times (USA)
"I don't know that there's clean evidence that merely being asked to choose between two objects will make you devalue what you didn't choose," Dr. Chen says. "I wouldn't be completely surprised if this effect exists, but I've never seen it measured correctly. The whole literature suffers from this basic problem of acting as if Monty's choice means nothing."...


 

 

 

A Dust-up Over the McCain Age Issue
US News & World Report
The age issue is erupting in the presidential campaign. It was prompted by Barack Obama's comment yesterday on CNN that John McCain was "losing his bearings" because he pointed out that a senior Hamas adviser said Hamas would welcome Obama's election as president ...


McCain's Age Again Seen As Major Problem For Voters
The Huffington Post
Yet another poll, this one by the Washington Post and ABC News, has found that Sen. John McCain's age appears to be a major hang-up for voters, far more so than Sen. Barack Obama's race ...


McCain's 'Factor' Sit-down -- Part 1
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
Video  John McCain discusses Obama's weaknesses and taxes ...

McCain's 'Factor' Sit-down -- Part 2
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
Video  McCain on gas tax relief, illegal immigration and health care ...

McCain's 'Factor' Sit-down -- Part 3
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
Video  McCain on water-boarding, Iraq and War on Terror ...

David Letterman and Senator John McCain
CBS & Worldwide Pants
Video  John McCain looks like a guy who's funnier than David Letterman. Pahrump-bump ...


John McCain Discusses Obama, Taxes, Gas Prices, Illegal Immigration and Health Care With Bill O'Reilly
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: We have an extensive interview with Senator John McCain. I spoke with him a few hours ago, and tonight we'll concentrate on how he thinks he can beat Barack Obama, and what he's going to do about gas prices, sanctuary cities and other vexing problems ...


John McCain on Water-Boarding, Iraq, War on Terror
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight: part two of my discussion with Senator John McCain on the heels of the Hillary Clinton interview. We talked about the campaign and domestic policy with Senator McCain last night. This evening we begin with what McCain thinks will get him elected president: national security ...


Bob Barr Announces Libertarian White House Bid
Associated Press
Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government ...


Clinton Hopes for Win in West Virginia
Associated Press
Barack Obama is campaigning optimistically in West Virginia, while Sen. Hillary Clinton implores voters in that state to sustain her hopes of somehow denying him the Democratic presidential nomination ...


What Edwards Did for the Democrats
Steve Kornacki -- New York Observer (US)
Appearing on Sunday's "Face the Nation" in a pre-taped interview, the latest stop in his reemergence tour, John Edwards explained his rationale for exiting the Democratic race in late January after finishing third in his native South Carolina. "I had concluded I could stay in the race, keep getting significant numbers of votes, keep accumulating delegates," he said. "But the overwhelming likelihood was I would not be the nominee." ...


Can Barack Obama win West Virginia?
Mike Madden -- Salon
Hillary Clinton will likely win big here Tuesday. But could the primary vote in this former Democratic bastion be a clue to Obama's performance in November? ...


McCain Veepstakes
Salon
n the third of Salon's pick-a-vice-president questionnaires, help Republican John McCain select a running mate. (McCain will be 72 in August. It matters.) ...


McCain Breaks With Bush on Climate Policy
Juliet Eilperin -- Washington Post Staff Writer
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a sharp break with President Bush on Monday, saying that the United States should adopt mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions as well as issue tradable emissions credits to polluters to spur technological innovation ...


WV Voters Ready for Primary
Associated Press
Video Supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are hitting West Virginia hard, stumping for votes on behalf of candidates ahead of Tuesday's primary ...


Voter ID Battle Shifts to Proof of Citizenship
Ian Urbina-- NY Times (USA)
Supporters of a measure in Missouri cite concerns about illegal immigrants voting, but critics say tens of thousands of legal residents could be disenfranchised ...


Already, Obama and McCain Map Fall Strategies
ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY-- NY Times (USA)
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are already drawing up strategies for taking each other on in the general election, focusing on the same groups - including independent voters and Latinos - and about a dozen states where they think the contest is likely to be decided this fall, campaign aides said ...


Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side
JO BECKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW-- NY Times (USA)
To broaden his appeal to African-Americans, Mr. Obama had to assiduously court older black leaders entrenched in Chicago's ward politics while selling himself as a young, multicultural bridge to the wider political world ...


Obama: How He Learned to Win
Michael Weisskopf -- Time
Barack Obama had not been in politics for long when he got his tail whipped by a veteran Chicago Congressman in his own backyard. For a brief period that followed, Obama seemed a bit unsure about what to do with his life--the same kind of unsettling early stumble made by others who went on to seek--and often win--the presidency. Yet within four years, Obama had won a seat in the U.S. Senate. Less than four years after that, he has all but clinched the Democratic nomination for President ...


Obama magically unstained by grime of Chicago Way
John Kass -- Chicago Tribune (Usa)
The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's politics were born in Chicago. Yet he is presented to the nation as not truly being of this place, as if he floats just above the political corruption here, uninfected, untouched by the stain of it or by any sin of commission or omission. It is all so very mystical ...


Clinton's big lead in W.Va.; but she has a big debt too
Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence -- USA Today
Hillary Rodham Clinton's aides on Sunday "continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. 'The voters are going to decide this,' senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on Fox News Sunday, acknowledging the $20 million figure. 'There is no reason for her not to continue this process.' Wolfson said he has seen 'no evidence of her interest' in pursuing the second-place spot on the Democratic ticket, contrary to rumors that she is staying in the race to leverage a bid for the vice presidential nomination. ...


Undecided Superdelegate Sets His Price: $20M
Associated Press
Audio  An undecided Calif. superdelegate says it'll cost $20 million for him to pick either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president. Steven Ybarra wants that amount to register Mexican-American voters and get them to the polls in November ...

US News: Global View: North Caronlina and Indiana Primaries
Alison Smale -- International Herald Tribune (Paris)
Audio  Global View: North Caronlina and Indiana Primaries; A look at this week in politics...

Dennis Miller on Clinton's Identity Crisis and How McCain Should Campaign Against Obama
O'Reilly Factor -- FOXNews
OK. So when you saw everything happen last night - I know how the Miller mind works - so you're looking at it and you're trying to get some kind of observations out of it, because you're an observational comedian. ...


McCain's Former Hanoi Cell Mate Describes Character in Deplorable Conditions
Carl Cameron -- FOXNews
John McCain rarely speaks about his experiences as a POW in Vietnam, but one of his cell mates at the Hanoi Hilton on Thursday described some of the conditions and character traits that earned McCain the commendations he received for his war service. Col. George "Bud" Day speaks about his time in captivity with John McCain ...


McCain Targets Obama's 'Inexperience, Lack of Judgment'
FOXNews
John McCain, appearing to accept Barack Obama as his likely opponent in November, told FOX News' Bill O'Reilly on Thursday that he will run his general election campaign by exploiting what he sees as the Illinois senator's "inexperience and lack of judgment." The Arizona senator suggested Obama's willingness to hold talks with nations like Iran and his light record on national security, along with his tax-raising proposals, will lead to his electoral undoing in the fall. ...


On Fox News, Williams cited McCain's immigration record as evidence of "working across party lines," but not his abandonment of bipartisan position
mediamatters.org
On Special Report, Juan Williams cited Sen. John McCain's record on immigration as evidence of a willingness to "work... across party lines," without noting that McCain has said he no longer supports his own bipartisan bill. Williams then claimed that Sen. Barack Obama "doesn't have a record" of "working across party lines." In fact, Obama has co-sponsored bills with Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Lugar that have been signed into law. ...

Juan Williams Video
Special Report -- FOXNews
Video  Juan Williams video associated with story above ...

Support for Clinton Wanes as Obama Sees Finish Line
Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny -- NY Times (USA)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a publicly defiant posture on Wednesday about continuing her presidential bid despite waning support from Democratic officials and donors. Some of her advisers acknowledged privately that they remained unsure about the future of her candidacy ...


TV's Pundits Pronounce Judgment: It's Over
Jim Rutenberg -- NY Times
Starting early Wednesday morning and continuing through the evening news, the conventional wisdom of television's political pundit class shifted hard against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's continued viability as a presidential candidate ...


Cafferty: What will Clinton do now?
Jack Cafferty -- CNN
New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin puts it this way: "Unless Obama falls off a cliff, or the Reverend Jeremiah Wright pushes him," he will be the nominee. Another paper calls Clinton "toast." ...


Obama's got a confident new strategy
Peter Nicholas -- Los Angeles Times
Barack Obama hasn't managed after months of political combat to force Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the presidential race, so he's about to try another approach: ignoring her. ...


It's Obama, Warts and All
Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal
Mr. Obama is now the prohibitive favorite. Tuesday night, he took at least 94 delegates to Mrs. Clinton's 75 and leads the former First Lady by 176 delegates in the AP tabulation. He has 1,840 of the 2,025 delegates needed to win. Mr. Obama needs only 185 - or 38% - of the 486 outstanding delegates (217 to be elected in the six remaining contests, and 269 superdelegates yet to endorse a candidate). Mrs. Clinton needs 341, or 70% of those left to be awarded ...


Obama's Game Changing
Joe Klein -- TIME
On the Saturday before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Hillary Clinton stood on the back of a vintage pickup truck in Gastonia, N.C., and let fly in the most impressive fashion - a woman transformed from Eleanor Roosevelt into Huey Long in two short months. Spotting a big yellow placard that said GAS TAX HOLIDAY IS BLATANT PANDERING - a sign she would have ignored in her earlier, less feisty incarnations - she went after the young Obamish sign-holders: Why wasn't the Federal Reserve accused of pandering when it bailed out the Bear Stearns investment bank to the tune of $30 billion? Why shouldn't the oil companies pay the federal gasoline tax this summer instead of the people who "hold their breath" every time they pull up to the gas pump? ...


Democrats Split Key Primaries
CBS/AP
Barack Obama swept to a convincing victory in the North Carolina primary Tuesday night and declared he was closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination. Hillary Rodham Clinton eked out a win in Indiana as she struggled to halt her rival's march into history...


Don Imus Discusses the Clinton and Obama Campaigns with Carl Bernstein
Imus in the Morning -- WABC Radio
Audio  Carl Bernstien, CNN analyst and author of "A The Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodahm Clinton" joins "Imus in the Morning" ...


Men charged after skull dug up, used as bong
Reuters
Authorities in Texas have filed corpse-abuse charges against two men who allegedly removed a skull from a grave and used it as a bong ...


Kung Fu finger calls it a day
Paul Chapman -- Reuters
Video Ho Eng Hui has been delighting audiences in Malaysia every weekend by using his index finger to smash the tough shells of coconuts but now the martial arts master says everything points to an easier life ...


Tricia Walsh-Smith: is revenge now a dish best served online? Kaplah!

Walsh-Smith Explains YouTube Video
Telegraph (UK)
Tricia Walsh-Smith has amused several hundred thousand of us this week with her six-minute YouTube rant about her millionaire theatre impresario husband, Phil Smith. Walsh-Smith has obviously gone to a lot of trouble creating this video - there are captions which describe her as an "actress/playwright/good egg", though few people had heard of her before....


Victoria's Secret is in her cups!
Reuters
Katerina Plew claims Victoria's Secret stole her bra ...


Grandfather Paradox!? We Don't NEED No Stinkin' Grandfather Paradox!
Reuters
Subject A tries to Kill Subject B, but doesn't really mean it. Subject C, knowing this, sets up Subject A to Really kill Subject B, with whom he is irritated, but Subject A kills Subject C by mistake. Oh, and Subject C is the son of Subjects A & B. Oooh--Oooh--and Subject C is killed when his attempted suicide is prevented. Howls of derisive laughter ensue...


To the "Elders" of the Democratic Party...

LET THE VOTING CONTINUE Until One of Them Wins Fair and Square.

An Editorial by Robert Jay March

For those of you who haven't been following the news, the Democratic Party "elders" have been trying to force Hillary Clinton out of their Presidential Primary Race. They feel that Barack Obama must become the presumptive nominee of the party well in advance of the Democratic Convention in Denver this August.

The Math

The Democratic Party has 4,047 delegates attending the nominating convention. A candidate to the Democratic convention needs 2,024 delegates' votes to win the nomination. Thus far, Obama has 1,629, or 40%, of the total delgates needed to win the nomination. Clinton has 1,486, or 36%, of the total delgates needed to win the nomination. Based on this narrow spread, the powers that be in the Democratic Pary have decided, using some arcane math that escapes me, that Hillary Clinton must get out of the race. Supposedly, she has no chance of winning the nomination, despite the fact that 24% of the delegates have yet to be pledged. Their local primaries occur later in the year.

The Circuitious Logic

Now, let me make sure I've got this straight. The Democrats can't allow full, free and fair democratic elections, because that would do irreparable damage to the Democratic Party.

Barack Obama is the front-runner, and in fact he's so far out front that Hillary Clinton must withdraw from the race because the Democrats can't run the risk that she might win the nomination in Denver and embarrass the bejesus out of everyone. Never mind that Barack Obama doesn't have enough delegates to win on the first ballot in Denver. Barack Obama must receive the nomination, because Hillary Clinton doesn't have enough delegates to win on the first ballot in Denver. Huh!? Read it again. Sound like it doesn't make sense? It doesn't!

Hillary Clinton has to stop beating up on Barack Obama, so that he can so out-shine John McCain that even he ultimately will decide to vote for Barack Obama.

That about it, people?

History is Written by the Victors

Let's have a little lesson in history. The purpose of a political convention to to select a nominee, not stage-manage a coronation. In the 1860s, William Marcy Boss Tweed fixed the New York City Democratic Party elections in the smoke-filled rooms of Tammany Hall. Those days are over. In the 21st Century, the Democratic Party fixes its elections on the cable news channels, in plain sight of everyone.

Conventions have degenerated into pre-scripted infomercials, containing an election whose results are as phony as the enthusiasm of the delegates in the hall, designed solely to whoo