Hill Sweeps Kentucky…Obama takes Oregon and has 1/2 of pledged delegates… Oil up to $130 a barrel BUT could rise, experts say, to $200 a barrel.. Recession said to cost New York 59,000 jobs. Families living in cars have special parking lots in California. More below.

US PLAN TO ATTACK IRAN REPORTED, DENIED
CHINA QUAKE ANGERING/UNITING COUNTRY
ECONOMIC PAIN GETS DEEPER IN THE USA

The White House on Tuesday denied a published report in Israel that said President Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term in January. Bear in mind, when ideas like this are leaked—even when later denied—they become part of a psychological war game, perhaps to provoke the Iranians and get them to spend more on defense, or send a signal to hawks that this attack will happen—just not now.

If you remember the period before the war in Iraq, there was lots of back and forth about diplomacy, all to conceal a decision that already had been made. My hunch is that an attack will follow some incident, yet to be provoked or created, that it would help sell it to the public.

A media campaign is a vital part of any war plan and Bush has to be seen as acting only in the last resort—perhaps after some American soldiers are killed in Iraq allegedly with Iranian arms, or after some Iranian “defector” reveals their secret plan for world conquest that must be rebuffed.

Its not what officials say that matters, its what they do, As I have been reporting, there is a US covert aggression under way inside Iran right now. US generals are accumulating “evidence” of Iranian intervention and weapons. The scenario is being put together. There is a pattern here. As native Americans supposedly used to say—or perhaps still do—“white man speak with forked tongue.”

HERE’S THE STORY

A story in the Jerusalem Post quoted a “senior official” there as saying that Bush plans to attack Iran in the coming months. The story says the unidentified official claimed that a “senior member” of Bush’s traveling entourage made the statement about attacking Iran in a closed meeting. Bush was in Israel last week.

The article also says the unnamed Bush official said that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney “were of the opinion that military action were called for.”

When the White House issued its denial—not dissimilar to denials initially vis a vis Iraq, what did the Jerusalem Post do. Danny Postel tells us:

THEN THE STORY WAS DROPPED

Danny Postel writes:

There was an article on the Jerusalem Post website this morning titled “‘Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term’” which was widely circulated on various listservs; the White House issued a denial of the story — interestingly, the Jerusalem Post, rather than simply run a follow-up piece reporting the White House’s denial, or expanding the existing article, seems to have outright replaced the original piece with a new one: the link for the original piece (www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668683139&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull) now yields the new, substitute piece with the title “White House denies Iran attack report”. Where is the original piece? I can’t find it online anywhere else in its original form, though

RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL SAM GARDINER IS MONITORING THIS:

The Strategy. President Bush laid down the US red line on April 10th: …if “Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests, and our troops, and our Iraqi partners.” The plan a few weeks ago seemed to be for a strong case to be made that the evidence points to Iran, as the first step. Then a formal warning, probably already in draft, would be issued by the Administration. Following that, the next incident could justify an air strike against the training camps inside Iran.

This White House strategy is very similar to the Johnson strategy in Vietnam. Three aircraft carriers were in place in the South China Sea, a familiar set up waiting for an incident. A US advisor camp was targeted on the night of February 7, 1965. The next day the White House announcement was: “United States aircraft struck at North Vietnam early today in response to what President Johnson called ‘provocations ordered and directed by the Hanoi regime.’” One can almost hear the same kind message coming from President Bush.

In a prophetic statement that ought to be a warning to the President and Vice President, Johnson went on to say that day that his strike was limited and was not meant to signal a general expansion of the war.

FORMER CIA ANALYST RAY MCGOVERN: ON IRAN

Attack Iran Trash the Constitution

Two years ago I lectured at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I found it highly disturbing that, when asked about the oath they took upon entering the academy, several of the “Mids” thought it was to the commander in chief.

ANOTHER POSSIBILITY: WAR TALK A DIVERSION FROM THE NEW PLAN BETWEEN THE US AND ITS CLIENT STATE

Iran’s Press TV reports:

“The US and Iraq might sign a so-called ‘Strategic Framework Agreement’ covering economic, political, cultural and security issues.

Although the agreement will have significant political impacts for the region it has drawn little media attention.

The agreement which would pave the way for a long-term US military presence in Iraq could significantly change the balance of power in the Middle East and destabilize the already tense region.

Needless to say this new “Plan,” if true will make US withdrawal form Iraq a joke.

THE NEWS FROM IRAQ

WP: Large Deployment Aims to Restore Order in Shiite Area; Situation ‘Calm.’

NY Times reports “Taking of Sadr City” an “Iraqi Success, So Far.” Says Government wants to “establish sovereignty.” But how do you have sovereignty with a US occupation? That question is neither asksed nor explored by either newspaper. The Times repeats claims/assertions by US comamnders of Iranian-supplied arms. Oddly their story is a page one “news analyis,” not a report. There used to be a distinction.

Robert Parry-ON BUSH IN ISRAEL: A HISTORY LESSON

The irony of George W. Bush going before the Knesset and mocking the late Sen. William Borah for expressing surprise at Adolf Hitler’s 1939 invasion of Poland is that Bush’s own family played a much bigger role assisting the Nazis.

If Borah, an isolationist Republican from Idaho, sounded naive saying “Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,” then what should be said about Bush’s grandfather and other members of his family providing banking and industrial assistance to the Nazis as they built their war machine in the 1930s?

The archival evidence is now clear that Prescott Bush, the president’s grandfather, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from and collaborated with key financial backers of Nazi Germany.

That business relationship continued after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and even after Germany declared war on the United States following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. It stopped only when the U.S. government seized assets of Bush-connected companies in late 1942 under the “Trading with the Enemy Act.”

So, perhaps instead of holding up Sen. Borah to ridicule, Bush might have acknowledged in his May 15 speech that his forebears also were blind to the dangers of Hitler.

THE RACE: Hillary won as predicted in Kentucky. And then Obama snagged Oregon after giving a prime time address in Iowa, one of his best. Most of the media blather I heard focused on the money race,and the horse race, not the political issues. Of course, the mediaheads don’t mention how much their own networks stand to benefit from all this loot, and what they charge for commercials.

Had a disturbing conversation with my colleague Lauren about her grandma from PA, who says she won’t ever vote for Obama. “There’s something about him I don’t trust, ” she revealed. What? “His middle name is Hussein.” This response shows how effective the right and the Clinton campaign has been in raising doubts to the llevel of irrational fear and paranoia and feeding hostilty based more on uncertainty than conviction.

COURTING CLINTON–THE NEW CHALLENGE?

Obama did praise and congraulate HRC in his speech. I didn’t see hers.

Don Rose writes in Chicago Observer

If you watched the entire speech John Edwards gave in endorsing Barack Obama, you might have been struck by the first five or six minutes, which sounded almost like a nominating speech for Sen. Hillary Clinton. This was neither incidental nor accidental.

With the nomination all but wrapped up–despite the protestations from the Clinton camp–one of Obama’s top priorities is to reach out, embrace and win over the votes of Clinton’s key constituencies.

As all the polls showed, following every primary a large cluster of Clinton voters said they would be unhappy if she didn’t get nominated. They threatened to vote for John McCain or sit out the election. Obama voters make similar vows, while history shows that eventually most Democrats come together–but sometimes not all do, as witness 1968.

A key demographic among Clinton voters is, of course, late middle-aged and older women who spent decades awaiting a woman president. These are often designated first- and second-generation feminists, though many of them eschew the term.

Many of them feel angry–maybe even bitter–and perhaps cheated out of what seemed a year ago to be their rightful heritage. Some acknowledge Obama’s positive qualities; others find ways of picking him apart.

The point is, where will this constituency wind up in November?

WP: Clintons show no surrender plan in final Kentucky rally

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband, the former president, stirred an electric capacity crowd at Transylvania University on the eve of Kentucky’s long-awaited presidential primary, giving no sign that they plan to concede the Democratic race to Barrack Obama, even as Obama prepared to achieve a key milestone— winning a majority of pledged delegates.

HILLARY ON THE SEXISM SHE SAYS SHE ENCOUNTERED
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The Atlantic: Barack’s Amazing Money Machine

The hottest start-up in Silicon Valley right now won’t make anybody rich, but it might put the next president in the White House. Joshua Green uncovers how a broad technological network allowed Barack Obama’s to raise huge sums of money, and how Silicon Valley gave the presidential candidate social and monetary piles of gold.

NY OBSERVER: WILL THERE BE A RULES FIGHT?

TEDDY PROGNOSIS: BAD

BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.
His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The Boston Globe reports the prognosis is poor. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the veteran lawmaker from Massachusetts who is the last surviving brother in the legendary Kennedy family, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, his doctors said today.

Specialists in Boston and around the country said the information released indicated that Kennedy has terminal cancer and might have only a limited time to live.

Kennedy’s doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, who had been investigating the cause of a seizure that led to Kennedy’s hospitalization this weekend, said that preliminary results from a brain biopsy indicated the seizure had been caused by a tumor in the top left portion of his brain.

CONGRESS AND THE WAR: AN UPDATE FROM THE PROGRESS CTR

Earlier this month, President Bush sent Congress a $70 billion emergency supplemental request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress has indicated that it will merge that request with a separate $108 billion request that is still pending, thus setting up what is likely to be the final showdown between Bush and Congress over Iraq war funding. Taking on Bush’s request first, House leaders chose to separate the war funding bill into three measures: the first to provide $162 billion to fund the wars, the second to include a number of war policy measures, and the third to fund a series of domestic priorities, including a new GI Bill that significantly increases education benefits for veterans. The White House has said it would veto any bill that included spending other than what Bush requested, “demanding a new version stripped of policy prescriptions and domestic spending, including the bill’s $52 billion expansion of veterans’ education benefits.” Last week, the House passed only the war policy and domestic priority amendments while rejecting the war funding measure — leaving it up to the Senate to include the money for the war in its version of the bill.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS: The House war funding bill failed by a 149 to 141 vote that encompassed a coalition of Republicans, who “withheld their votes in protest of Democratic handling of the measure,” and a “a large bloc of antiwar Democrats,” who were “unwilling to provide new money for the conflict.” The war policy measure passed 227 to 196, including eight Republican votes. That amendment sets a goal of December 2009 to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, requires that the Iraqi government “match U.S. reconstruction funding dollar for dollar,” and mandates that “any agreement between the United States and Iraq committing U.S. forces to be specifically authorized by Congress.” In addition, troops “would get more rest between combat deployments, and every branch of government — including the Central Intelligence Agency — would have to abide by the Army Field Manual’s guidelines on interrogation, which bans action that amount to torture.” On the domestic front, the House passed provisions that would extend unemployment compensation for 13 weeks, “suspend implementation of the seven new Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush administration,” and provide funds for international food aid, levees around New Orleans, federal prisons, and the 2010 Census.

GLOBAL PEACE INDEX: HOW THE US RATES

An annual study ranking nations in terms of how peaceful they are has given poor marks to the US and Russia, placing them firmly in the bottom half of a list of 140 states.

Iceland tops the survey, which analyses how peaceful countries are both in terms of international policy and domestic conditions. For the second year running, Iraq is in last place due to the continuing violence since the 2003 US-led invasion.

However, the different results scored by the world’s leading powers remain the most striking feature of the Global Peace Index, the brainchild of Steve Killelea, an Australian entrepreneur and philanthropist. The survey, published today, finds that 16 of the 20 most peaceful states are European democracies - most of them members of the European Union. If the EU is judged as a bloc, it would come in fourth place.

However, China is put in 67th place, the US is 97th and Russia is at 131.