NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST April 29, 2007

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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Democrats-2008.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

April 29, 2007

Democrats Woo Voters With Bush Attacks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:30 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Wooing influential California Democrats, presidentialcontender Barack Obama vowed to ''turn the page on this Iraq disaster''while Hillary Rodham Clinton denounced President Bush's conduct of the waras ''one of the darkest blots on leadership we've ever had.''

California, long a major cash source for candidates of both parties, ispoised to become more influential in the electoral process as well, havingmoved its primary to next Feb. 5. As a result, the state Democratic eekendconvention was expected to attract all the party's major presidentialcontenders except Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who was campaigning in SouthCarolina.

Saturday's program featured appearances by front-runners Clinton and Obama,as well as Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Clinton unleashed an unusually personal critique of Bush, accusing hisadministration of ignoring scientific evidence about global warming and stemcell research and lying about the effects of toxic dust at the World TradeCenter site.

Her voice hoarse from days of campaigning, Clinton brought the 2,000delegates to their feet when she said she wished she could turn the clockback to a different time.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/us/politics/27repubs.html?pagewanted=print

April 27, 2007
Romney Says Rivals Changed Minds, Too
By MICHAEL COOPER

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 26 - Mitt Romney directly engaged two of hisbetter-known rivals for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday,telling an interviewer that Senator John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani hadboth changed their positions on important issues over the years, just as hehad.

Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has been criticized by someconservatives for changing his position on abortion and gay rights in recentyears as he prepared to run for president. On Thursday, he gave an interviewin New Hampshire in which he sought to deflect criticism on that front,telling The Associated Press that "everybody in this race that I know haschanged their mind on certain positions, and they've done so as they gainedmore experience."

He then went on to single out Mr. McCain and Mr. Giuliani, who have beenahead of him in recent opinion polls.

"Senator McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts," Mr. Romney told The A.P."Now he's for them. He was opposed to ethanol. Now he's for it. He said hewas opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. Now he's for overturning Roe v.Wade."

"Mayor Giuliani has made a number of changes over his career, and there areplaces where I've made changes," Mr. Romney said in the interview.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702145_pf.html

Muslim Woman Runs for Danish Parliament

By KARL RITTER
The Associated Press
Friday, April 27, 2007; 9:23 PM

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A Muslim woman denounced and ridiculed bynationalists for wearing an Islamic head scarf announced Friday she wasrunning for Parliament _ a move bound to rekindle heated debate about Islamin Denmark.

The next election is not expected until 2009, but the mere thought of AsamaAbdol-Hamid entering the legislature has revived fears of clashing culturesthat emerged last year when Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad sparkedriots in Muslim countries.

Even mainstream politicians and party colleagues in the left-wing Red-GreenAlliance have questioned whether Abdol-Hamid, who moved to Denmark at age 6with her Palestinian family, shares the fundamental values of Danishsociety.

Besides covering her hair, the 25-year-old refuses to shake hands with men.Instead, she greets them by laying her right hand on her heart in Muslimtradition.

"I want another Denmark where we talk about the difference between groups,"she said at a news conference announcing her candidacy. "When we talk aboutvalues, (we need) to be open to whatever people are, Muslim or non-Muslim."



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042602235_pf.html

Mexico Catholics to go to rights court on abortion

By Catherine Bremer
Reuters
Thursday, April 26, 2007; 8:23 PM

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A group of Catholic lawyers will complain to aninternational human rights court next week about the legalization ofabortion in Mexico City, a Roman Catholic Church spokesman said on Thursday.

The abortion law passed easily in the capital's leftist-controlled assemblyon Tuesday, angering many Catholics who see it as the latest shift away fromChristian values in the world's second-biggest Catholic country.

"The College of Catholic Lawyers, a secular association of believers, isgoing to start an international campaign to take this case to theInter-American Court of Human Rights ... to show the world the lack ofdemocracy in Mexico City," said Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for theArchdiocese of Mexico City.

The lawyers plan to take their complaint on Wednesday to the CostaRica-based rights court, an arm of the Organization of American States.

Valdemar said the abortion law goes against a clause in Mexico'sconstitution that says the state must defend human life "from conceptionuntil its natural end."



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/331/v-print/story/88871.html

Posted on Sun, Apr. 29, 2007
Craigslist targeted in lawsuit
BY ROBERT J. BRUSS

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a group of 45law firms, filed this lawsuit against Craigslist, alleging violations of thefederal Fair Housing Act. Craigslist publishes notices and advertisementsfor housing, jobs and services on its websites, which are organized by city.

In a typical month, Craigslist posts more than 10 million items of''user-supplied information.'' These postings are increasing atapproximately 100 percent per year.

In the housing category, the Craigslist site allows third-party users topost and read notices for housing sale and rental opportunities. CLC allegesCraigslist publishes housing notices that indicate preference, limitation rdiscrimination on the prohibited basis of race, color, national origin, sex,religion or familial status.

Examples of notices CLC finds offensive and in violation of the FHA include:''No minorities''; ''Looking for gay Latino''; ''Requirements: clean, godly,Christian male''; ''Only Muslims need apply''; and ``Apartment too small forfamilies with small children.''

Notwithstanding FHA's broad scope, Craigslist argues the CLC complaint failsbecause of the immunity afforded to website operators by the federalCommunications Decency Act for third-party content. The CLC replied thatCongress did not intend to grant a vast, limitless immunity to websiteproviders such as Craigslist.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502948.html?referrer=email

U.N. Report on Human Rights in Iraq Draws U.S. Denunciation

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 26, 2007; A22

BAGHDAD, April 25 -- A new human rights report by the United Nations missionin Iraq described high levels of ongoing violence, an unfair and potentiallyabusive detainee system and a country suffering a "breakdown in law andorder." The report upset the U.S. Embassy here, which characterized it asinaccurate and not credible.

The 30-page report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, an appraisal ofhuman rights conditions from January through March, said the Iraqigovernment is up against "immense security challenges in the face of growingviolence and armed opposition to its authority and the rapidly worseninghumanitarian crisis."

For the first time, the United Nations did not include civilian death tolls,statistics that are usually provided to it by the Health Ministry and theMedico-Legal Institute in Baghdad. The data have become a key gauge of thelevel of violence in Iraq. In the last report, the United Nations said34,452 Iraqi civilians had died violently in 2006, a number that the Iraqigovernment later said was exaggerated.

The report said the Iraqi government told the United Nations "that it haddecided against providing the data, although no substantive explanation orjustification was provided."Two U.S. Embassy officials, who spoke oncondition of anonymity, convened a conference call with reporters tocriticize the report.

"There are numerous factual inaccuracies," one official said. The officialssaid they did not believe the Iraqi government was trying to withholdinformation but is attempting to consolidate the death toll figures intosome "verifiable system."



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The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-cuomo28apr28,0,867348,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

In 2008, Dems can't afford to play it safe

The party will have to do more than just recount GOP failures, says formerN.Y. Gov. Cuomo.
By Mario M. Cuomo

MARIO M. CUOMO was governor of New York from 1983 to 1995.

April 28, 2007

THE BUSH administration has demonstrated an appalling incompetence inhandling the machinery of government. It started a war under falsepretenses, produced a fragmented economy, revealed contemptible callousnessafter Hurricane Katrina and has shown a shocking disrespect for the Bill ofRights and the balance of powers that are the heart and soul of ourConstitution.

The administration's failures were so plentiful and so blatant that all theDemocrats needed to do to win control of Congress in the 2006 elections wasto recount them loudly.

The elections in 2008 will be a different matter. The burden of proof willbe on the Democrats. To hold on to control of Congress - and win thepresidency - Democratic candidates must detail what they propose to do andhow they propose to get it done, including how to pay for it. How do we dealwith our failing public schools, the looming insolvency of Social Security,the escalating costs of healthcare? Can we reverse our huge trade and budgetdeficits? What must we do to halt global warming? What do we do about 12million undocumented workers?

How will we know when it is safe to bring most of our troops back from Iraq?Who will stay behind and for what purpose? Who will rebuild Iraq, and whowill pay for the rebuilding? And how will we continue to fight the real waragainst terrorism in Afghanistan and beyond? As for Iran, should we increasesanctions, or negotiate, or seriously consider bombing?

It's hard to recall another time when we had so many vital issues before us.That makes it more regrettable that the leading Democratic presidentialcandidates are so far avoiding specifics.



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Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/28/support_low_bush_isolated_by_gop?mode=PF

Support low, Bush isolated by GOP
Many fear '08 a referendum on president
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | April 28, 2007

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is entering a critical point in his presidencyas an increasingly isolated figure within the Republican Party: He hassuffered some high-profile defections from his inner circle, presidentialcandidates are rushing to distance themselves from his administration, andrank-and-file Republicans are expressing growing disillusionment with thescandals and mismanagement that have rocked the White House.

With 20 months left in office -- and his approval ratings mired below 40percent -- some of the president's former advisers are seeking to salvagetheir reputations by going public with their grievances. George J. Tenet,Bush's former CIA director, is the latest Bush loyalist to turn on thepresident, claiming in a book to be published Monday that Bush and VicePresident Dick Cheney rushed to war in Iraq without having a "seriousdebate" over whether the country posed an immediate threat to the UnitedStates.

The book comes just weeks after one of the president's former topstrategists, Matthew Dowd, broke publicly with Bush, in an expansiveinterview with The New York Times in which he portrayed the president as"secluded and bubbled in" and criticized him for refusing to work withDemocrats and continuing to support the Iraq war.

At the same time, the GOP is nervously eyeing a 2008 race that many in theparty fear will be a referendum on a widely unpopular presidency.

"The looming election has started to put the fear of God in the RepublicanParty," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at TuftsUniversity. "George Bush has severely damaged the Republican Party in theshort run, and probably the intermediate term as well."



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/opinion/29sun2.html?pagewanted=print

April 29, 2007
Editorial
Strengthening Abortion Rights

On the heels of a major Supreme Court setback for women's reproductiverights, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has produced a sound proposal aimed at shoring upthose rights in New York State. His timely initiative, which would updatethe state's abortion laws and inoculate them as much as possible fromfederal anti-abortion edicts, should be acted on quickly by lawmakers inAlbany and emulated by other states.

New York's pioneering law legalizing abortion, which Gov. Nelson Rockefellersigned in 1970, predated Roe v. Wade by three years. The provisions liftingthe old abortion prohibition, and allowing abortion in many cases, are partof the state's homicide law, which is not the right place for them. Mr.Spitzer's updating would remove abortion from the criminal statutes andaffirmatively make it a matter of professional and medical discretion. Hisproposal would also repeal an outmoded statute, previously overturned by thecourts, that criminalizes providing nonprescription contraception to minors.

Beyond that cleanup, the proposed legislation would enshrine in state lawRoe's core protections, expressly protecting a woman's right to terminate apregnancy prior to fetal viability, and making clear that her life andhealth take precedence over the rights of the fetus throughout pregnancy.

Joseph Bruno, the Republican majority leader of the State Senate, hasindicated that he has no interest in moving forward with Mr. Spitzer'sproposal. But with Republican control of the Senate now whittled down tojust a few seats, blocking the abortion rights initiative carries realpolitical risks. It would not be surprising if Mr. Bruno developed a suddeninterest in the bill as legislative elections drew closer.

New York, like other states, lacks the authority to undo the Congressionalban on so-called partial birth abortion just upheld by the Supreme Court.That is regrettable, since the ban endangers women because of its lack ofany exception to protect a woman's health. The Spitzer bill cannot reversethe ruling. But it can put important protections in place in the event thatthe Supreme Court scales back federal abortion rights further, or evenrepeals Roe v. Wade entirely, handing the issue back to the states.



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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/opinion/29rich.html

All the President's Press

SOMEHOW it's hard to imagine David Halberstam yukking it up with AlbertoGonzales, Paul Wolfowitz and two discarded "American Idol" contestants atthe annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Before there was a Woodward and Bernstein, there was Halberstam, still notyet 30 in the early 1960s, calling those in power to account for lying aboutour "progress" in Vietnam. He did so even though J.F.K. told the publisherof The Times, "I wish like hell that you'd get Halberstam out of there." Hedid so despite public ridicule from the dean of that era's Georgetownpunditocracy, the now forgotten columnist (and Vietnam War cheerleader)Joseph Alsop.

It was Alsop's spirit, not Halberstam's, that could be seen in C-Span's livebroadcast of the correspondents' dinner last Saturday, two days beforeHalberstam's death in a car crash in California. This fete is acrystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era: it illustrateshow easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington newsmedia in its shows. Such is literally the case at the annual dinner, wherejournalists serve as a supporting cast, but it has been figuratively trueyear-round.



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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/opinion/29kristof.html?pagewanted=print

April 29, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Diplomacy at Its Worst
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

In May 2003, Iran sent a secret proposal to the U.S. for settling our mutualdisputes in a "grand bargain."

It is an astonishing document, for it tries to address a range of U.S.concerns about nuclear weapons, terrorism and Iraq. I've placed it andrelated documents (including multiple drafts of it) on my blog,www.nytimes.com/ontheground.

Hard-liners in the Bush administration killed discussions of a deal, andinterviews with key players suggest that was an appalling mistake. There wasa real hope for peace; now there is a real danger of war.

Scattered reports of the Iranian proposal have emerged previously, but ifyou read the full documentary record you'll see that what the hard-linerskilled wasn't just one faxed Iranian proposal but an entire peace process.The record indicates that officials from the repressive, duplicitousgovernment of Iran pursued peace more energetically and diplomatically thansenior Bush administration officials - which makes me ache for my country.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801113.html?hpid=topnews

Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

By John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 29, 2007; A01

As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidentialconfidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office toU.S. ambassadors worldwide.

Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking pointsdesigned to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive wasunmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aidat the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans"practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefitshurricane victims are receiving."

Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginningto witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government wasturning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worthuntold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail tocollect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cashassistance for Katrina's victims.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash.But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims orreconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aidwent uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers werewithdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The resthas been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems,medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the governmentcould not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702049.html

The Abandonment
How the Bush Administration Left Israelis and Palestinians to Their Fate

By Aaron David Miller
Sunday, April 29, 2007; B01

This is the tragedy of America's situation now in the Promised Land: Neverhas the Arab-Israeli issue been more critical to our national interests andto our security, yet rarely have we been so uniquely ill-positioned tomanage it -- let alone resolve it. In a post-9/11 era, the cause ofPalestine drives recruits to al-Qaeda and helps generate lethal levels ofanti-Americanism. But for almost seven years, the Bush administration hashung a "Closed for the Season" sign on serious Arab-Israeli diplomacy.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent Middle East mission has shownthat the administration is now finally open for Arab-Israeli business. Butthe Rice initiative is almost certainly way too little, way too late.

Watching Rice these days, I have to believe that she knows this too, despiteher public optimism. Having worked for her six predecessors on Arab-Israelinegotiations, I think it's pretty clear that the odds against a dramaticbreakthrough are long, the time for the Bush administration is short, andthe gaps between Israelis and Palestinians are galactic. So Rice's belatedefforts face terribly long odds -- both because the region has changed toomuch and because the United States has sat on the sidelines for too long.

As one of the planners of the Camp David summit in July 2000, I'm painfullyaware that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's unwillingness to negotiate,Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's illusions about ending theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict on the cheap and President Bill Clinton'swell-intentioned but weak summit management doomed the last, best chance fora breakthrough. But if you think diplomacy doesn't work, try abandonment.Years of off-again, on-again Israeli-Palestinian confrontation and neglectfrom the Bush administration have reduced the chances of ending the conflictfrom slim to none.

Part of the problem is that the "software" of Israeli-Palestinian relationshas changed: The confidence, trust and problem-solving spirit of the 1990sOslo peace process have been replaced by unilateralism, fear, anger and aloss of faith in the power of negotiations to alter cruel realities on theground. But the hardware of the conflict has also changed during the Bushhiatus. Palestinian suicide terrorism, rockets and kidnappings have combinedwith Israeli closures, targeted killings and settlement growth to makecooperation excruciatingly difficult. The emblem of this deterioration isHamas, which has had the upper hand in Palestinian politics since winningelections in January 2006. The radical Islamic movement's entry intoPalestinian government -- without abandoning terrorism -- has produced asemblance of unity in Palestinian politics, but it has also guaranteedcontinued strife with Israel. Palestinians are buying peace at home at theprice of conflict next door.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702027.html

Obama the Interventionist
By Robert KaganSunday,
April 29, 2007;

B07America must "lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting heultimate good." With those words, Barack Obama put an end to the idea thatthe alleged overexuberant idealism and America-centric hubris of the pastsix years is about to give way to a new realism, a more limited and modestview of American interests, capabilities and responsibilities.

Obama's speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs last week was pureJohn Kennedy, without a trace of John Mearsheimer. It had a deliberate ewFrontier feel, including some Kennedy-era references ("we were Berliners")and even the Cold War-era notion that the United States is the "leader ofthe free world." No one speaks of the "free world" these days, and ama'sinsistence that we not "cede our claim of leadership in world affairs" willsound like an anachronistic conceit to many Europeans, who even in the 1990scomplained about the bullying "hyperpower."

In Moscow and Beijing it willconfirm suspicions about America's inherent hegemonism. But Obama believesthe world yearns to follow us, if only we restore our worthiness to lead.Personally, I like it.All right, you're thinking, but at least he wants us to lead by example, notby meddling everywhere and trying to transform the world in America's image.When he said, "We have heard much over the last six years about howAmerica's larger purpose in the world is to promote the spread of freedom,"you probably expected him to distance himself from this allegedlydiscredited idealism.

Instead, he said, "I agree." His critique is not that we've meddled too muchbut that we haven't meddled enough. There is more to building democracy than"deposing a dictator and setting up a ballot box." We must build societieswith "a strong legislature, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, avibrant civil society, a free press, and an honest police force." We mustbuild up "the capacity of the world's weakest states" and provide them "whatthey need to reduce poverty, build healthy and educated communities, evelopmarkets, . . . generate wealth . . . fight terrorism . . . halt heproliferation of deadly weapons" and fight disease.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702054.html

The Honeymoon's Over for Bush and the Saudis

By Martin IndykSunday,
April 29, 2007;

B05What has happened to the love affair between Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and President Bush?

Two years ago, down on the Texas ranch, they werephotographed walking hand in hand. It was the beginning of a beautifulrelationship: Bush dropped his demand for democratization in the puritanicalkingdom, and Abdullah did his best to moderate oil prices.

The dowry was anew U.S. arms deal for the Saudis. A second honeymoon was scheduled for thismonth, when Bush planned to host Abdullah for his first state visit.So the White House was mightily perplexed when it was informed that theking's schedule didn't allow for a spring visit to Washington. Then, at anArab League summit in Riyadh last month, Abdullah denounced the U.S. war inIraq as an "illegitimate occupation." He also used the occasion to make upwith Bush's bete noire, Bashar al-Assad, the brash Syrian president who hadpreviously denounced the Saudi leader as "a dwarf."

What was going on? Simply put, the Bush administration had been listening tothe wrong Saudi. Keen for any signs of hope in the region as Iraq piraleddownward, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other enior .S.officials had grasped at a grandiose regional game plan being pushed byPrince Bandar bin Sultan, formerly the Saudi ambassador in Washington andnow Abdullah's national security adviser. But Bandar wasn't calling theshots; Abdullah was, and he has a very different way of doing business.Last summer, Bandar came knocking on the White House door, selling a newstrategy for countering the threat from Iran, which had been made vivid whenthe radical Hezbollah militia, Iran's ally, triggered a full-scale war inLebanon and fought Israel to a standstill.


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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/89526.html

Posted on Sat, Apr. 28, 2007
Deliberate deceit in Pat Tillman's death

By XXXXXX

Below are excerpts from Kevin Tillman's testimony before the U.S.
HouseCommittee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday.

Federal NewsService provided the transcript.

Two days ago marked the third anniversary of the death of my older brother,Pat Tillman at Sperah, Afghanistan. To our family and friends, it was adevastating loss. To the nation, it was a moment of disorientation. To themilitary, it was a nightmare. But to others who were in the government, itappears to have been an opportunity.A terrible tragedy that might have further undermined support for the war inIraq was transformed into an inspirational message that served instead tosupport the nation's foreign-policy wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To furtherexploit Pat's death, he was awarded the Silver Star for Valor.The abridged version went like this: In the face of mortal danger, CorporalTillman illustrated that he would not fail his comrades. His actions are inkeeping with the highest standards of the United States Army. This was narrative that inspired countless Americans, as intended.

There was onesmall problem with the narrative, however: It was utter iction.Multiple investigations reveal a series of contradictions that tronglysuggest deliberate and careful misrepresentations. We appeal to hiscommittee because we believe this narrative was intended to deceive thefamily, but, more important, to deceive the American public.


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Telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/29/npriests29.xml

Cartoon to tempt teenagers into priesthood
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones,
Sunday Telegraph 29/04/2007

Japanese manga cartoons have become amulti-billion pound global market, ommonlyassociated with martial arts warriors rather thanwith nuns and monks. But the Catholic Church inEngland and Wales is launching its own comicstrip this week to attract teenagers into the priesthood.It is using the comic book art form in anadvertising campaign that aims to combat thedramatic decline in the number of applicants forordination, and the resulting dearth of young priests.

The Church hopes that its manga comic, withpictures of nuns and monks playing pool andsurfing the internet, will help to improve theimage of the vocation, which leaders believe isseen as "monotonous and boring".The minimum age to enter a seminary is 18, butchildren as young as 10 are being targeted by therecruitment drive, which is encouraging them toconsider life as a parish priest or in a religious order.About 5,000 primary and secondary schools havebeen sent posters promoting a website thatfeatures a manga comic strip based on five young Catholic characters.


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Weekly Column: Anything But Straight

April 25, 2007

Judgment Day

To no fault of his own, John Edwards morphed into the "Breck Girl" in 2004during his nearly successful drive to get the Democratic presidentialnomination. The sliming of Edwards started when an anonymous Republicansource telegraphed to The New York Times how the Party planned to attack thesurging Senator from North Carolina.

The GOP used deceit to label Edwards effete, hoping the veiled homophobia would lead to his defeat.As John Kerry's struggling primary campaign headed south, his manager, JimJordan, stole a page from the GOP and started deriding Edwards as "the cuteBeatle." (If only Jordan had the good sense to called Bush the "dumb Beatle"Kerry might be President)

To exacerbate his image problem, a video recently began circulating onYouTube showing Edwards meticulously flipping his floppy hair to the tune of"I Feel Pretty." It has been viewed nearly 400,000 times - meaning he hasthe most famous mane since Fabio.So what did Edwards do...he hired a fancy Beverly Hills stylist to do his"do" to the tune of $400.Not only did this solidify his Breck Girl reputation, it upended hisimportant message that the growing gap between rich and poor is creating"two Americas." You know, the one America that goes to Super Cuts and theother that spends $400.Contact Ray's List for the full article.


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