6 p.m. Update update: It’s 6 p.m. and MSNBC is still just referring to tonight’s debate as an event featuring the big three. No mention on air all afternoon about Kucinich. The Supreme Court of Nevada accepted the case from NBC. A hearing is under way. Update: A Nevada judge ruled in favor of Rep. Dennis Kucinich to allow him to participate in tonight’s Democratic presidential candidates debate. NBC is appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court to stop him. Why?===============================================================Health: The Food and Drug Administration said today that it is safe to eat food from cloned animals — cattle, pigs and goats — and their offspring, Reuters reports.
Business: Counterfeit U.S. $100 bills, called “so good that they appear to have been made by someone with access to some government’s printing equipment,” have been showing up all over the world, McClatchy News Service (via the Kansas City Star) reports.
World: The Guardian reports that the FBI wants to create a “Server in the Sky” biometrics database that would help track down international terrorists. “Biometric measurements, irises or palm prints as well as fingerprints, and other personal information are likely to be exchanged across the network,” The Guardian says.
Journalism: Score one for the newsroom! Editor & Publisher reports that the Miami Herald has decided against outsourcing some production of the “Broward Neighbors” section to India. E&P quotes executive Editor Anders Gyllenhall: ”news judgment and experience are not likely to work well from afar.” Uh… you would think that would be obvious.
Nation: Oregon’s gas stations (beginning with those in the northwestern area of the state) must provide a mix that includes 10 percent biofuel, the Oregonian reports.
O P I N I O N
What would Martin Luther King Jr. have said about the verbal scuffles in the past couple days between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Would he have interpreted what Clinton said about LBJ pushing through the Civil Rights Act as a slam against all he fought for? Would he have taken umbrage at raising Obama’s admitted drug use in his youth as a way to discredit his character?
Chances are, he would have focused on the bigger picture. He would be proud to see an election year in which both a black man and a woman were leading candidates. He would have urged the two candidates to drop this line of fire and focus on the change they could bring about in this wounded nation together. And you know what, he would probably have been upset that the one candidate who has consistently carried the message of peace and nonviolence — Rep. Dennis Kucinich — has been barred from the Democratic debate tonight in Las Vegas.
I hope all the presidential candidates reflect upon Dr. King’s own words today and take them to heart. The words of this visionary leader still compel us today:
We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity.
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
♣ Nation/world news tally in my local paper today: 1¼ pages.
Feed me 5 Under the Radar
