Today's New York Times reports that the State Department has withdrawn funding for seven Palestinians from Gaza who were to be awarded Fulbright scholarships to study in the United States. It is hard to determine if the decision to take this action was made in Washington or Jerusalem but it needs to be reversed.

The Fulbright is our nation's most prominent and prestigious international education exchange program. Established in 1946, the program currently awards 7,000 grants each year and operates in over 150 countries. As the State Department website explains, "the Fulbright Program creates a context to provide a better understanding of U.S. views and values, promotes more effective binational cooperation and nurtures open-minded, thoughtful leaders..."

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I guess Hillary's not going anywhere.

I just got an e-mail from Chelsea asking me for "my help to make a critical decision -- our next official campaign t-shirt."

She writes: "We recently launched a contest to design a campaign t-shirt, and I couldn't believe the incredible response. We got thousands of great entries. They were creative, inspirational, funny, and beautiful. It was amazing to see the devotion to my mom's campaign come through in each t-shirt."

I checked out the various choices and none of them grab me. See what you think.

Bob Herbert, New York Times, and Gene Robinson, Washington Post, are the most influential African-American columnists writing today. Both published columns today on the Hillary/RFK story.

Both are worth reading.

My Brandeis buddy, Rick Horowitz, who has a lovely voice that I did not know about, sings Frank Sinatra in tribute to the late Clinton Presidential campaign.

I admire Rick. He's not mean-spirited like me. He's funny.

But I do look forward to June 3. The only serious question left is this. Should Obama announce a VP early to end the pressure to take Clinton (since Friday an absolute impossibility). Or does he just ignore the pressure and take his time?

I assume he'll take his time. But ending the now thoroughly unrealistic talk of a Obama-Clinton ticket must have its appeal.

We need someone really formidable, someone who can match the awesome credentials of Bobby Jindal.

Read PAUL KRUGMAN going down with the mother ship. I've loved many politicians in my day but I sure wouldn't commit career suicide for any of them. Krugman has. Andrew Sullivan takes Krug down here.