A new video from the ladies at hire heels. Please visit their website: Hire Heels. They have lots of great videos. It’s a great blog too.

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A few other blogs have posted this video from today while Senator Clinton was enroute to South Dakota. The line that jumped out at me was:

My political obituary has yet to be written.

We will see what tomorrow brings but I’d dare say that some one is not on the verge of catapitualing any time soon.

The Clinton campaign unveiled this ad today.

It sure doesn’t sound like she is quitting the race.

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This ain’t over.

New York Super Delegate

One of New York’s last undecided Democratic superdelegates said Monday she will support Hillary Rodham Clinton, even though Barack Obama is poised to capture the party’s nomination.

Irene Stein of Ithaca, chairwoman of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, told committee members of her decision in a letter, and confirmed her choice in a phone call.

“I have been watching this campaign through its whole course,” she said. “I’ve reached a point where I can unhesitatingly say that I can cast my vote for Hillary Clinton.”

The full story in Newsday.

Louisiana Super Delegate
Louisiana Democratic State Party Chair and automatic delegate Chris Whittington announced his support for Hillary Clinton today.

“Hillary Clinton has what it takes to turn around our economy and rebuild the middle class,” Whittington said. “There is no question that she is the strongest Democrat to go toe-to-toe with John McCain in a general election. It is our responsibility as automatic delegates to choose the candidate we believe best fit to beat Senator McCain. That candidate is Senator Clinton.”

Whittington was elected Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party in January 2006, after serving as the Party’s Legal Counsel, as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee and as a member of the Democratic Party Executive Committee.

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It amazes me how indefatigable Senator Clinton is. She just never quits. Nothing fazes her. That sort of drive is something exceptional. And it is inspirational.

Today in Rapid City, South Dakota, Senator Clinton received even more encouragement urging her to stay in the race.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at Tally’s Restaurant on 6th St at 11:10 am local time, an hour or so late. But it was, as diner stops go, worth the wait (not to mention the seven-hour journey from Puerto Rico).

Clinton first stopped outside to admire a statue, one of the many placed at important sites around town, not appearing to immediately recognize that this statue was of a young Ronald Reagan. “I love these statues. Now who are they? They are so neat!” Clinton said.

On the ropeline on the way into the diner, Clinton heard a cacophony of praise and encouragement. “Keep fighting!” one woman said.

Another woman melted into tears, telling Clinton she works three jobs and has no health insurance because she has had seizures since childhood.

Not a new story for Clinton — but one that moved her long enough to stay and talk to the woman awhile, and then to have her staff get her name and details (Margaret Dimock, 38, of Rapid City).

“Don’t get discouraged. Keep the faith,” Clinton told Dimock. “We’ll follow through,” she promised her.

(more…)

World leaders will gather in Rome beginning today to address the growing global food crisis. While famine has always been with us, the world has not seen a crisis of these proportions since the Ethiopian famine of the early 1980s and not one as widespread as the Biafran and Bengali famines of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Yet this one is different because it is truly global and it seems poised to have much more devastating long-term effects. In the short run, this should not be an issue. The world can feed itself. The truth in the medium-term and longer-term may be that planet is reaching its capacity to sustain us in numbers that we now represent but also this crisis is also a result of a perfect storm of events from the climate change, overfishing and deforestation, increasing wealth in China and in India that is driving increase consumption for animal protein, globalization, fuel subsidies, biofuel madness, tariff incongruency, peak oil and limits to the gains from the green revolution in agriculture.

For the roughly 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day or the 2.5 billion that live on $3 or less a day, many of whom spend 80% or more of their income on food, the rise in food prices threatens malnutrition, ill-health and pre-mature death. The impact of rising food prices on vulnerable populations is real. In countries such as Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria and Ghana it is already driving up poverty levels. This panic is diverting attention from some other hard truths. One of those truths is that world leaders have been turning a blind eye to the real hunger crisis for too long. Each year, some 3.5 million children lose their lives as a direct result of malnutrition. Around a third of all children in developing countries aged under five have their minds and bodies impaired by hunger.

In 2007 and 2008, we have witnessed food riots in Haiti, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Egypt, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Kenya, Pakistan, Yemen, Cameroon, Burma, Senegal, the Gambia, Mozambique and the Ivory Coast. We have seen food protests in Ireland, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. And even in the United States, there have been shortages and rationing. And these problems will get worse because global leaders will not act to rationalize their trade regimes nor curtail subsidies that feed the rich at the expense of the poor nor will they really tackle the roots cause of this crisis–unsustainable population growth amidst a declining resource base against the backdrop of climatic change.

Videos on the Crisis

A news report from Qatar’s Al-Jazeera:

A video on the crisis in Mauritania:

(more…)

Dr. Arthur Mutambara, an Oxford-trained economist in robotics with a PhD in mechanical engineering, has been arrested in Zimbabwe. The report from Reuters:

Zimbabwean police have arrested the leader of a breakaway faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and an opposition member of parliament, their representatives said on Sunday.

Arthur Mutambara, who leads an MDC splinter group, was arrested on Sunday for publishing an article critical of President Robert Mugabe.

Eric Matinenga, an opposition legislator and lawyer to the main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was picked up on Saturday in the eastern district of Buhera and was being charged with inciting public violence, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

In his April 20 article in the privately owned weekly The Standard, Mutambara criticized Mugabe for his handling of elections in March. He also accused the government of intimidation and questioned its right to stay in office.

“They’ve arrested Mutambara at his house this morning,” said his lawyer Harrison Nkomo. “They are charging him with publishing statements prejudicial to the state and for contempt of court.”

Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has condemned the arrest as a slap in the face of democracy. The police arrested Mutambara on charges of writing an article highly critical of incumbent President Robert Mugabe on the just ended March 29 elections which the opposition MDC claims it won with over 50 percent of the votes. The police however say Mutambara’s article is prejudicial to the state and also a contempt of court.

In Zimbabwe, it appears literacy is a danger to one’s health. Critizing the government, an offense that curtails one’s freedom.

More on Zimbabwe
From the UK Guardian:

The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has told South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, that he is no longer fit to serve as the region’s mediator in Zimbabwe’s political crisis owing to a “lack of neutrality”, and that “there will be no country left” if Mbeki continues to side with President Robert Mugabe.

For up to minute news on the situation in Zimbabwe, please visit Sokwanele. Be advised that there are graphic images of beatings.

This graphic from the Financial Times shows the level of fuel subsidies and taxes in various countries around the world.

The Top Oil Consumers for the week ending May 28th, 2008.

For more on Fuel Subsidies Worldwide, please visit Part Two, posted on June 5th, 2008.

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Here is the Monday, June 2nd, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Australia Quits Iraq
Australia, one of the first countries to commit troops to the war in Iraq five years ago, has ended its operations there. Australian troops are due to begin returning home in a few days. More on this story from the BBC and from the Los Angeles Times.

Thai Protests Grow Worse
The political crisis gripping the government Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, now in its second week, continues to deepen amid rumours of a pending military coup. According to the Wall Street Journal thousands of people have demonstrated in Bangkok, defying warnings of a crackdown issued by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. Riot police were deployed, but the authorities did not carry out the PM’s threats, saying force would not be used as long as the protest was peaceful.

Deutsche Bahn To Be Partially Privatized
The privatization of Germany’s railway company has been on the cards for 14 years, but disagreements over how to privatize the company, and if it was even desirable, held up the sell-off. Now Germany’s lawmakers have approved a partial privatization. Der Spiegel has the details. German railroads have largely been a mix of state and privately-owned rail networks though the majority are state-owned. Germany’s rail network dates back to the 1830s and is one of Europe’s largest in terms of miles and passengers. In 2006, railways in Germany carried ca. 119,968,000 passengers in long-distance trains (at an average distance of 288 km), and 2,091,828,000 passengers in short-distance trains (21 km on average).

Inflation in the Eurozone Creeps Higher
Euronews reports that inflation is making a comeback came with the latest figures for the 15 Eurozone countries today, with an average figure of three point six percent nearly double the target set by the European Central Bank. Spiralling food and oil prices are mainly to blame, taking inflation to a 16 year high and returning it to a record level, after dipping in April. At the back of the class were Spain and Belgium, the latter’s inflation the worst for 23 years.

Two More Bolivian Provinces Vote for Autonomy
The good news for Evo Morales was that the turnout was low. The bad news, well, the Bolivian autonomy resolutions continue to pass. Amid scattered violence Sunday, voters in two Bolivian provinces appeared to approve controversial autonomy statutes challenging the leftist government of President Evo Morales, who has called the votes illegal and an attempt to divide the country. More from the Miami Herald.

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