Midday Open Thread

• All 29 ports on the west coast shut down yesterday as union workers called for an end to the war in Iraq.

  "We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq," union president Bob McEllrath said.

  McEllrath, whose comments came in a press release handed out by union officials in the Port of Los Angeles area, said rank-and-file members decided in early January to stand down on May 1.

• Barack Obama is proposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

  Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year's profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

  The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal. The tax would help pay for a $1,000 tax cut for working families, an expansion of the earned- income tax credit and assistance for people who can't afford their energy bills.

  ``The profits right now are so remarkable that one could trim them 10 percent or so, which would turn out to be somewhere in the $15 billion range,'' said Jason Grumet, an adviser to the Obama campaign.

  Obama's plan may be three times larger than the $50 billion, 10-year plan contemplated by his Democratic rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Republican candidate John McCain, an Arizona senator, has no plan to raise oil and gas industry taxes, said his economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

• More signs of a slowing economy, the NASCAR race this weekend is not sold out -- for the first time 16 in years. In the meantime, the Bush administration continues to deny there is a recession.
• Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and coal power opponents won a major victory yesterday.

  Plant opponents called the vote historic, saying it may go down as a turning point in which Kansas becomes a leader in the movement away from old energy sources toward sustainable, environmentally friendly technologies and energy efficiency. They hoped Thursday’s vote was decisive