Morning Constitutional – 13 April 2010

Good morning, everybody. The \”brains\” behind the the Jersey Shore have concocted another legend, only this time: Massholes. Well, then, on to your morning constitutional:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 11,000 yesterday for the first time since September 2008, a hopeful sign that Wall Street believes that the economy is on the right track. Bloomberg reports that the trade deficit widened in February because Americans are purchasing more imports, another sign that the economy is rebounding. From Slate: How the U.S.  economic recovery will be faster and and stronger than anybody expects.

Buoyed by Ukraine\’s decision to give up its highly enriched uranium and covert all its nuclear reactors to highly-enriched to low-enriched uranium, Obama\’s nuclear security conference continues today in D.C. President Obama also managed to secure an agreement with China President Hu Jintao to join negotiations on a new set of sanctions against Iran.

In response to the Supreme Court case that found that government could not ban corporations from spending money in political campaigns, the White House and leading Democrats are proposing legislation to force companies to disclose their financial involvement in campaigns and advertising.

Why Conan\’s move to TBS was the right one.

Reuters: What next for Kyrgyzstan and its president?

Andy Stern, head of the powerful Service Employees International Union, is set to retire. Stern took charge of SEIU in 1996, but made a name for himself in 2005 by pulling the SIEU away from the AFL-CIO.

Finally, the mayor of the town of Luqa, in Malta, has called for a \”phallic\” sculpture close to the town\’s airport to be removed, calling it \”vulgar\” and \”embarrassing.\”