Everyone is so busy talking about a Hillary Clinton VP spot they seem to be forgetting that there are a lot of other great contenders out there who could be Barack Obama’s number two. Considering how nasty the nomination fight got, it’s not hard to imagine a situation in which Obama would pick one of these qualified party members above his ex-nemesis. Check out these top three VP candidates: Read More »

It’s the news with Kandy Korrespondent!

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon opened the UN Aids conference in New York with the grim announcement that the world is losing the fight against HIV-AIDS. He noted that drug innovation is not keeping up with the growing numbers of new infected– 2.5 million people became infected with HIV last year while only one million began using antiretroviral drugs. UN figures suggest that at least 33 million people have HIV worldwide.

Bill Clinton, also in attendance, took the opportunity to highlight the impact of the current economic crisis upon the distribution of aid.

“This oil price spike has taken away 100 per cent of the value of foreign aid and debt relief to very many countries […] It has dramatically increased the cost of producing food, and it has increased therefore the number of people who are at risk of these diseases.”

Read More »

It’s the News with Kandy Korrespondent!

Democratic presidential nominee-apparent, Obama and soon to be ex-presidential candidate Clinton shared a private tête-à-tête on Friday marking the first step towards re-uniting the much divided Democratic Party. Neither the meetings’ location nor content have been disclosed.

Meanwhile, Clinton supporters are mounting an intense effort to pressure Obama into offering Clinton the post of vice president. On Tuesday, Senator Clinton told supporters that she would be “open” to being Obama’s running mate if it would help the Democratic Party win the White House. Read More »

[To ask Tuffs a question, shoot her an e-mail at asktuffyluv@gmail.com]

Dear Tuffy Luv,

Hi!
Okay, here’s my question: This year is the first election for president that I can vote in. My parents support McCain but I dont think I agree. How can I decide who to vote for? Sorry if this is a stupid question!

– Confused Voter

Dear Confused Voter,

First of all, can I please just congratulate you on making an effort to be an informed voter? Yeah? Thanks. Congratulations!

So many people (sadly, often including lil’ ol’ Tuffs) just vote based on party without bothering to research the stuff that’s actually important to them (education, reproductive rights, etc.).

And before supes left-wing Tuffy goes on, I just wanna give a little shout out to Senator John McCain, who was totally freaking adorable on SNL this week. SO adorable.

That said, honey, the only way to really know what’s going on is to read the news. A lot of it. From all different sources. Read More »

Bye-bye Hillary… As more and more news outlets and political insiders come out in support of Senator Barack Obama as the democratic presidential nominee, pressure is mounting for Clinton to drop out so that the democratic party can turn their focus onto defeating McCain—whom many are calling Bush III.

This week’s Economist led with an article entitled “Almost there: Barack Obama deserves the nomination. It is not yet clear whether he deserves the presidency”. The article went on to state:

“As The Economist went to press, Mrs Clinton was publicly still promising to keep on fighting right the way to the Denver convention. That remains her right. But it is hard to see what she, her party or her country can gain from the struggle.”

The New York Times—who had endorsed Senator Clinton– posted a rather scathing editorial in which all but call upon her to drop out, stating that while it is her right to continue the fight,

“Mrs. Clinton will be making a terrible mistake — for herself, her party and for the nation — if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones.” Read More »

Hezbollah has taken over the western portion of Beirut the capital of Lebanon. This recent violence stems from the Western-backed (read: US-funded) government’s attempt on Monday to shut down Hezbollah’s telecoms network calling it a threat to state security.

According to eyewitnesses, the takeover occurred on Thursday at 8am with widespread Hezbollah roadblocks. Witnesses report street fighting involving machine guns, RPGs and tanks throughout the city. Civilians, apparently, have been forbidden from exiting their homes or even standing out on their balconies. Foreign nationals are desperately seeking a way out of the city.

It is feared that such violence will spiral the country back into civil war. The first Lebanese civil war occurred from 1975-90.

Meanwhile, the situation in Myanmar (Burma) continues to deteriorate. As many as 100,000 dead or missing and thousands facing homelessness and disease, yet the government remains incredibly reluctant to allow foreign aid into the country.

On Friday, the UN World Food Program suspended operations when its’ first plane was impounded by the government. Aid flights will hopefully be resumed on Saturday.

According to the US government, Myanmar will allow one aid plane to land on Monday. Read More »

It’s news time with Kandy Korrespondent:

Yesterday in New York, the Rev. Al Sharpton and 189 others were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, when they blocked rush hour traffic to protest the acquittal of three officers in the shooting of Sean Bell. Shouting, “We are all Sean Bell”, demonstrators knelt in front of City Hall, blocking on of the streets leading to the Brooklyn Bridge.

In November 2006, twenty-three year old Sean Bell was shot over 50 times by undercover cops who say they thought he was going to be involved in a drive-by shooting. He died the night before his wedding day. His fiancée was one of those arrested in yesterday’s protest.

In Other News:

Despite barely beating Obama in Indiana and loosing in North Carolina by 14 points, Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton remains defiantly determined to continue her candidacy. Yet it’s becoming clearer and clearer that her campaign is quickly headed into the ground. Read More »

It’s news time with your Kandy Korrespondent!

First off here’s the latest Candidate Candy:

Democratic Party Chairman, Howard Dean (whose infamous scream ended his nomination bid four years ago), warned that a prolonged Clinton-Obama battle has the potential to hurt the party’s chances against John McCain in November’s presidential election.

Meanwhile both campaigns continued their struggle on Monday to derail the others’ lead. In North Carolina, Barack Obama sought to spread his magnetism to working-class voters—who throughout the primaries have remained solidly in Hilary’s camp. He told a rally that he was going to take their questions rather than give them another party speech. “I want you to be able to lift the hood, and kick the tires, you know, take me out for a test drive a little bit”

Senator Clinton got a boost on Monday night when a new AP poll placed her leading John McCain by 9 points.

The next democratic primaries will occur on May 6th in North Carolina, and Indiana.
It takes 2,024 delegates to capture the democratic nomination but as it stands now, neither candidate could capture that many from the remaining primaries.

In Other News: Read More »

This past Wednesday, April 16th, Senators Clinton and Obama faced off for the twenty-sixth time.

Now I must admit– I have long since stopped caring about the debates and I am dangerously close to apathy with regards to the DNC.

Moreover, I am of the opinion that after the first few debates they become pointless and simply a chance for candidates to get free TV time.

A debate could be held where moderators ask questions and the studio uses old footage of the candidates answering because seriously guys—THERE IS NOTHING NEW TO ADD!

Take this last debate for instance: Read More »

April Fools’ day and I have never gotten along.

In second grade, my Elementary School decided it would be cute to ring the warning bells every five minutes—you’re late for class… APRIL FOOLS’!

Middle School saw surprise pop quizzes—it’s worth 90% of your grade and you didn’t study—APRIL FOOLS’!!

High School? College? More of the same…

This morning, at midnight on April 1st, my boyfriend paused on the sidewalk, looked at me significantly, and said “Suzie, I’ve decided to go to Med School”—APRIL FOOLS’! (he’s applied to grad and law school so for a minute I was like… omg!– then I saw his smirk and was like… oh right… )

When I saw the Reuters article on pranks this year, however, I had to chuckle at the new heights of advertising that this day of strange glee has allowed two Australian companies to ascend:

Google Australia announced a new feature enabling one to search the Internet for future content, including sports results…

Australian airline Virgin Blue took out ad space in newspapers offering special “Stand Up fares” complete with complimentary calf massages for flights longer than two hours. Read More »