And Now the News with Kandy Korrespondent.

As the average price of gas rose to $3.80 nationally, Congress made further attempts to placate their angry constituents. Also on Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved legislation that will allow the Department of Justice to sue the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for conspiring to restrict supplies and/or drive up prices. It goes without saying that such legislation is mainly symbolic. Even if the DOJ were to sue OPEC, there would be no way to enforce any ruling upon the countries.

On Wednesday, with oil at a record-breaking $134/barrel, congress summoned oil executives to the Hill and demanded answers.

The executives responded that they were doing all they could to aid renewable energy and help the country through the current crisis.

It should be noted that, ConocoPillips executive John Lowe received cash compensation of $5.7 million in 2007. Peter Robertson of Chevron received $14.2 million. Exxon Mobil exec Stephen Simon received $12.5 million. Yet, as Robertson stated, “I’m a regular person.” Read More »

Drum roll please…
It’s the news with Kandy Korrespondent! (wild applause) anyways:

The California Supreme Court has overturned the state’s same-sex marriage ban by a vote of 3-4 stating that gay unions must be given the “respect and dignity of marriage” and that same-sex couples should be permitted to wed. Governor Schwartzenagger said on Thursday that he will respect the court’s ruling. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters that he will gladly officiate at same-sex weddings.

This ruling is the first to apply arguments typically used with regards to the protection of gender and racial rights to the issue of same-sex marriage.

In Other News: Read More »

It’s time for the news with Kandy Korrespondent!

For those of you who may have thought this year’s presidential race couldn’t get any crazier: Meet Mr. Bob Barr! Former Republican congressman, Bob Barr said on Monday that he would run for President as part of the libertarian ticket. He was part of the Republican Revolution in 1995 and gained notoriety for his role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. He left the Republican party in 2004 and became a Libertarian in 2005 as a result of his growing disillusionment with the civil liberties-eroding Patriot Act. His entrance into the race as a third party candidate may siphon off extreme right-wingers from the McCain platform.

Also on Monday, President Bush told the BBC that the US has plans to strengthen Lebanon’s army to enable it to disarm Hezbollah. At least 60 have died in clashes around Beirut this past week. 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 »

I landed in Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar, a very ignorant young woman. I knew nothing about the country, so you can imagine my surprise to learn that the men wore skirts, the women have yellow powdered circles on their cheeks, and that the country has NO ATM’s at all — and that I only had $350 in my pocket to last me for three weeks. Somehow, I survived on $10 a day and, three weeks later, I left Yangon a changed person, with a bigger heart and a desire to see this country’s people rise from their currently powerless situation.

I visited Myanmar one year ago, just before the military coup… and now this: a cyclone? This beautiful country with generous (and helpless) people is suffering from one of the worst natural disasters this decade and all their government wants to do is close their borders and refuse aid? I just don’t get it. Read More »

Bonjour!
Here’s your daily dose of news with Kandy Korrespondent:

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama beat Hilary Clinton by SEVEN votes in the Guam Democratic presidential caucuses on Saturday. Each of the eight delegates from Guam gets ½ a vote at the convention. US citizens in Guam do not have the right to vote during the actual presidential election in November.

In related news, if Congressional democrats are any indicator Barack-Hilary fight won’t be over any time soon. According to Reuters, a total of 97 Democrats have endorsed Senator Obama while 98 have endorsed Senator Clinton. Eighty-six remain undecided. All members of Congress have super delegate status and as such will play a major role in the potentially painfully narrow delegate count during the DNC convention in August.

In Other News:

A pipe bomb exploded outside of a downtown federal courthouse in San Diego, California. The blast occurred just before 1:40am on Sunday morning. There are no reported injuries and so far no arrests have been made. Read More »

The much-touted Beijing Olympics more and more seem like an awful nightmare amidst the continuing Human rights fallout. This is the first of three articles examining China’s Human Rights Record.

Visit Beijing—What do you see?
Skyscrapers
Fashion (America’s Next Top Model filmed their last season there)
Entrepreneurs
Money, Money, MONEY!!!

Stand in the middle of the city and you could be in New York, Tokyo, Berlin, or Sydney.

This is not your parent’s China…or is it?

Your parent’s China was ruled by the infamous Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist People’s Party. As you probably remember from your Cold War history, Mao’s China, like Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia, flagrantly violated human rights.

Chairman Mao’s death in 1976 ushered in a slow yet steady drive towards economic reform that many hoped would correspond to political reform as well.

Events on June 4, 1989 shattered such hopes. Read More »