Thursday, May 8, 2008

Your Morning News 5.8.08

Posted by Josh in Democrats, Election 2008, hillary clinton, Myanmar, woot, Your Morning News, zimbabwe

Are you sick of Hillary Clinton? The media finally is. All of today’s papers highlight Senator Clinton’s pledge yesterday to “keep fighting” for the Democratic nomination despite the fact that it is almost statistically impossible for her to win the nomination at this point (Slate gives her a 2.5% chance). Clinton campaigned across West Virginia Wednesday, taking her case to the citizens there (where she is expected to win overwhelmingly) while at the same time ignoring calls from Democratic Party officials for her to drop out. Time will tell how much longer Clinton stays in the race.

Incredibly depressing foreign news after the jump

Myanmar is still reeling from the effects of last weekend’s cyclone. The death toll is now projected to climb as high as 70-80,000. It is made all the more depressing by the fact that many international aid organizations are unable to get access to the country because of the secretive military junta that runs the government. The Los Angeles Times has heartbreaking interviews with AID agencies and personally that are rallying in Bangkok but can’t get into the country because they haven’t been issued visas yet.

Zimbabwe’s ruling party has increased its intimidation and murder campaign against the opposition to include teachers and aid workers. The election authority announced that despite winning with 56% of the vote, the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not win an outright majority so their needs to be a runoff.

“We’re giving the people of Zimbabwe another opportunity to mend their ways, to vote properly,” the Politburo [ruling party] member said. “This is their last chance.”

If voters fail to return Mr. Mugabe to office, the Politburo member told a Zimbabwean journalist working with The New York Times, “Prepare to be a war correspondent.”

Ugh.

Umm, before I head out to jump off the building. There is a w00t-off today. So go enjoy a seemingly endless stream of random discounted products and cheer yourself up.

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