Democratic News Chatter 4-5-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Saturday night, President Barack Obama arrived in Prague where he will be attending the EU Summit - he was greeted by Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolank. Obama immediately condemned the missile launch by North Korea and called upon the UN Security council to take punitive measures. The NY Times has more here.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command has reported the missile did not make orbit and the various stages of the rocket and it's payload ended up in the Sea of japan and the Pacific Ocean. CNN.com has more here.

This morning in a speech delivered in Prague, President Obama called for a ban on testing of nuclear weapons. He went on to call for the elimination of the world's nuclear weapons. ThePage.time.com has the text of his speech and a video clip here.

It was the Czech republic and Poland where the George W. Bush administration had intended to place missiles as part of a missile shield. This had led to heightened tensions between Russia and the U.S. before President Obama indicated he would review the U.S. plan.

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says U.S. should have disabled missile - appearing on Fox News Sunday, he ridiculed President Obama's Prague speech calling for the end of nuclear weapons. He went on to say you can't trust Russia and other nations. Politico.com has more here. Gingrich is fast rising to the top in a crowded field as the visible spokesman for the Republican party. It was Gingrich's "Contract with America" that led to the 1994 elections and republicans gaining power in Congress.

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NATO agrees to send 5000 military personnel to Afghanistan - they will be used for military training and police. They will be helpful in providing security for the upcoming August elections. You can read more here.

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Attorneys already in place for candidates in NY district 20 special election - as I suspected yesterday, this has all the signs of another long dragged out determination of who won. Both the Jim Tedisco (R) and Scott Murphy (D) campaign have hired lawyers to represent them. Prior to 6000 absentee ballots being counted the unofficial vote count has it exactly tied between the two candidates with about 154,000 votes cast. TheHill.com has more here.

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