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Mike Shiloh News:                        
Mike Shiloh  is  a  20-year  veteran  of  broadcast  and  print  news  covering  politics,  economics  and  American  culture.

MILLIONAIRE JESSE JACKSON'S OFFER TO NEGOTIATE WITH CHINA HAS BEEN TURNED DOWN. Jackson had offered to go to China for negotiations aimed at freeing the crew of an American reconnaissance plane downed ten days ago. But the White House reportedly told Jackson it preferred using diplomatic channels to help free the 24 Americans who've been detained in China for ten days.

Jackson says he hasn't decided whether to go to China anyway.  There is also talk that 1992 and '96 presidential candidate Ross Perot is interested in negotiating with the Chinese for release of the hostages.  Neither Perot nor Jackson has announced a China trip.

(No word yet on whether Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Maxine Waters, Martin Sheen, Barbra Streisand, Sheila Jackson Lee or Alec Baldwin plan to offer their diplomatic services.)\

Only small differences separate the American and Chinese positions on the collision. There could be a breakthrough any minute.

Bush has refused to apologize for the Saturday, March 31st incident in which a Chinese military jet "clipped" the US plane over international waters.

The Chinese claim the incident occurred in Chinese airspace.

The US plane was, according to the Washington Times, gathering intelligence information on an upcoming weapons-related underground nuclear test in China. China signed on to a 1996 international treaty banning underground nuclear testing.

Only dysfunctional thinkers believe America could go to war with China over this issue.  But if you can imagine it happening, what but the increasingly-marginal news service UPI should have the figures?  Click here.

A Chinese newspaper accuses the US pilots of attempting to flee after the planes collided.

The detainees are said to be in good health and spirits and are reading US newspapers. 

Conservatives are disappointed in the Bush Administration's approach to the Chinese. Both the Washington Times and the Weekly Standard are calling for an assessment of the US action -- or more precisely inaction -- on the political maneuvers by the Chinese with respect to the air incident.

Bush cautioned that "diplomacy takes time," but said US relations with China may be damaged with each day the detainees are kept in Chinese custody. Former Nixon-Ford Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been involved, behind the scenes, in the negotiations with China.

Pollster John Zogby says his polls show that if Americans were to have a choice today between President George W. Bush and one-time challenger John McCain handling the China showdown, 49-percent believed McCain represented their views, 40-percent Bush.

Shawn Hannity, a Republican, on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes Tuesday night joined the huge number of people who have offhandedly said "President Clinton" when actually referring to President Bush. Was Green Party candidate Ralph Nader right when he said there's no psychologically-discernable difference between the presidential candidates of both major parties?

ON THE INTERNET: More conspiracy theories, of course. Here's one of the most interesting: If the Chinese, known to be great contributors and friends to President Clinton and Democratic causes, have any loyalty to Clinton and the Democrats they would be doing what they're doing: Challenging the new Bush Administration by taking advantage of US intelligence weaknesses. A slow prop plane in a standoff with a Chinese military jet, ending in a relatively light midair collision? Perhaps an attempt to put a Democrat back in the Oval Office, again backed by Chinese money.

If the Chinese made a mistake, according to the Internet theory, it was in not waiting until just before the 2004 election to become aggressive toward US retrograde routine reconnaisance planes and take hostages, treating those hostages like they were in a hotel -- but not letting them go.  Conspiracy theories. Yak.

Campaign finance reform, anyone?

FIRES HAVE BEEN SET, STORES LOOTED AND MANY INJURED IN A SECOND DAY OF RIOTS in Cincinnati; city residents have been asked to avoid downtown until the riots are under control. The melee began after a black man -- who was wanted on 14 arrest warrants -- was shot by police over the weekend. 

Police in riot gear have been firing tear gas and rubber bullets at rioters, who in turn have been throwing rocks and bottles, vandalizing stores, setting fires and attacking bystanders.

JANE SWIFT IS THE FIRST FEMALE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS.  Acting Governor Paul Cellucci turned the reins over to Swift Tuesday. She's pregnant with twins, expected to be the first 0governor ever to give birth while in office. Cellucci has been named Ambassador to Canada.

THE WEEK IS LOOKING GOOD ON WALL STREET -- SO FAR. The Dow rose more than 250 points by the end of the day, closing above 10,000 for the first time in nearly a month; the Nasdaq jumped more than 100.

Tech stocks led Tuesday's rally, with Internet stocks also up.

BALDUCCI'S DOT-COM IS NO MORE.  The kitchenware distributor still has two brick-and-mortar stores in New York City.

JUNO.COM IS RAISING THE PRICE OF ITS INTERNET ACCESS. The net provider has offered free access (with floating banner ads) and access without the ads for as little as $3.99 a month.  Subscribers were told Tuesday that the cost of all access will go up to $19.99 per month beginning in May.

The company still offers free Internet access to those who only occasionally use the net; those who use it at all regularly are consigned to late night hours like 4 AM.

Rumors about on the web that Juno will file for bankruptcy within weeks.

NBC IS SHUTTING DOWN ITS NBCi INTERNET SERVICE.  The TV network, a division of bottom-line watcher General Electric, decided there'll be no money the online service. Many of the 300 employees will get new jobs within NBC.

AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR SAYS RACER DALE ERNHARDT DIED OF VIOLENT WHIPLASH. It was first thought that the racing legend was killed because he refused to wear a special helmet and because a seat belt was faulty.  

The investigator, however, says the angle at which Ernhardt's car crashed sent the driver into multiple whip-like cracks, most likely the cause of the racer's death.

THERE WON'T BE A DISCO BUILT AT THE SITE OF AUSCHWITZ AFTER ALL.  As reported here last year, Jewish groups have been protesting the building in Warsaw Poland of a music club at what, during World War Two, was the site of a tannery where concentration camp workers died. 

A provincial governor has 

TRANS WORLD AIRLINES (TWA) IS NOW AMERICAN AIRLINES.  The buyout is complete, making American the world's largest air carrier.

THE NATIONAL GUARD IS ON SANDBAG DUTY in the Midwest where heavy rains are causing rivers to crest.

SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED A EVIDENCE OF A VIRUS IN ABOUT THIRTY-PERCENT OF SCHIZOPHRENICS, indicating a relationship between the virus and the disease, according to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as noted in the London Times.

A BRITISH GROCER IS IN TROUBLE FOR SELLING BY THE POUND. Not the pound sterling, the weight.  It's against the law in England to sell by any other measurement than metric units.  

They take their metrics very seriously in the Queen's land. The man is threatened by authorities with jail. 

So help me.

--Mike Shiloh