The front office has spoken:

<blockquote>At a fundraiser last night in Portland that raked in an estimated $350,000 to his campaign coffers, Barack Obama predicted a victory in Oregon, and said he believed the resulting delegate haul would “put us over the top.”

“We will be able to say we have won a majority,” he said. “But we have a lot of work to do ahead of us.”

For Dems to win in November, he said, it will require a unified Party, adding: “That means all of you have to be nice to Clinton supporters.”</blockquote>

...awww....ok.

It has reinforced fears that Moscow intends to annex "unlawfully" a vast portion of the ice-covered Arctic, beneath which scientists believe up to 10 billion tons of gas and oil could be buried. Russian ambition for control of the Arctic has provoked Canada to double to $40 million (£20.5 million) funding for work to map the Arctic seabed in support its claim over the territory.

The Russian ice breakers patrol huge areas of the frozen ocean for months on end, cutting through ice up to 8ft thick. There are thought to be eight in the region, dwarfing the British and American fleets, neither of which includes nuclear-powered ships.

Canada also plans to open an army training centre for cold-weather fighting at Resolute Bay and a deep-water port on the northern tip of Baffin Island, both of which are close to the disputed region. The country's defence ministry intends to build a special fleet of patrol boats to guard the North West Passage.

The crisis has raised the spectre of Russia and the West joining in a new cold war over the Arctic unless the United Nations can resolve the dispute.

Read the entire article here.

Susan Milligan of the Boston Globe has an interesting article up on Boston.com today, "As Clinton chances wane, old slights come due", in which she examines the backlash against the Clintons from within the Democratic party itself. It appears that the continuing silence of a number of uncommitted superdelegates is due in part to the treatment they received by the Clintons in the past.

When Democratic superdelegate Jim Cooper, a Tennessee congressman, pondered the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, his thoughts wandered back to 1993. That year, Clinton was trying to change the nation's health system, and Cooper, a moderate Democrat, had a bipartisan healthcare bill of his own that, unlike Clinton's proposal, did not require employers to provide health coverage. The president's wife, Cooper recalled, was determined to stop her fellow Democrat. "She set up a war room in the White House to defeat me," he said.

The article goes on to say that many superdelegates insist that they are being objective in their decisions to remain neutral, or to back Obama, but the list of superdelegates who ran afoul of the Clintons in the past, does shed light on the current situation where Hillary finds herself unable to drum up few new commitments from superdelegates:

But others point to a list of leading Democrats who have had run-ins with one or both of the Clintons and have either not endorsed her or have backed her opponent.

They include Senator Robert Casey Jr., a Pennsylvania Democrat whose father, Governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, was prevented from speaking at the 1992 Democratic National Convention after a dispute with Bill Clinton over abortion. The elder Casey said at the time that he was being punished for his antiabortion stance, but he also refused to endorse the Clinton-Gore ticket at the time.

Former vice president Al Gore, who sometimes sparred with the president's wife during the Clinton administration, has remained silent.

Senator John F. Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat whom Hillary Clinton criticized after he made a botched joke about Bush that was perceived as an attack on US troops in Iraq, has endorsed Obama.

Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who disagreed with Hillary Clinton on healthcare changes when he was Nebraska governor and her husband was in the White House, has endorsed Obama.

Representative Niki Tsongas, a Lowell Democrat whose late husband, former senator Paul Tsongas, endured negative attacks by Bill Clinton in the 1992 campaign, has not yet endorsed a candidate.

As they say, "Be careful who you step on on the way up..."

G. Terry Madonna - director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. - said the Clintons have "worn out their welcome" among many superdelegates, in part because of old grievances ranging from personal squabbles to broader issues such as the impeachment fight.

John McCain's lobbyist problems continue, as the fifth campaign official in the past week resigned today.

Former Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, a Texan who is among the McCain campaign’s most important advisers and fundraisers, has resigned as a national co-chair over lobbying entanglements, a Republican source told Politico on Sunday.

It’s at least the fifth lobbying-related departure from the campaign in a week.

The McCain campaign, already facing the prospect of being badly outgunned in the general election, now also must cope with the disruption of the lobbying shakeout.

The McCain campaign’s stringent approach to the issue is provoking a bit of grumbling from some of its Washington allies, who point out that a lobbyist’s function is enshrined in the Constitution.

No one in real America cares,” said one key Republican. “But McCain cares.”

Read the whole story at Politico.com here.

This is a story that's up on CNN now, complete with photos. There is so much that is wrong with a US soldier using a copy of the Quran for target practice, that it's hard to know where to begin. What a major embarrassment, once again, for the US and our military. I have a feeling that this one will last maybe more than a few news cycles.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter.

It was the first time the incident -- which tested the relationship between U.S.-backed Sunni militiamen and the military -- was made public since it was discovered May 11.

"I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Hammond said to tribal leaders and others at the apology ceremony. "In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."

Another military official kissed a Quran and presented is as "a humble gift" to the tribal leaders.

The soldier, whose name was not released, shot at a Quran on May 9, villagers said. The Quran used in the incident was discovered two days later, according to the military.

Here's the complete story on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/17/iraq.quran/index.html