NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST April 14, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Bush Readies Big Welcome for Pope
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The leader of the world's Roman Catholics has been to theWhite House only once in history. That changes this week, and President Bushis pulling out all the stops: driving out to a suburban military base tomeet Pope Benedict XVI's plane, bringing a giant audience to the South Lawnand hosting a fancy East Room dinner.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Popes-and-Presidents.html?scp=5&sq=gay&st=nyt

-Crisis of Confidence
The Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan has been tracking
American economic perceptions since the 1950s. On Friday the center releasedits latest estimate of the consumer sentiment index - and it was a stunner.
Americans are more pessimistic about their situation than they have been formore than a quarter century.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14krugman.html?ref=opinion

-The Mask Slips
I haven't read much Karl Marx since the early 1980s, when I taught politicalphilosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, it didn't take me longthis weekend to find my copy of "The Marx-Engels Reader," edited by RobertC. Tucker - a book that was assigned in thousands of college courses in the1970s and 80s, and that now must lie, unopened and un-remarked upon, on anawful lot of rec-room bookshelves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14kristol.html?ref=opinion

-Obama's Indonesian Lessons
When Barack Obama's Indonesian classmates are asked to recall the boy theyall called "Barry" (pronounced "Berry"), their description is unanimous:"chubby."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14cohen.html?ref=opinion

-How to Judge a Would-Be Justice
It is hard to imagine a more solemn responsibility than confirming thenomination of a Supreme Court justice. And we have worried, especially inrecent years, that nominees are far too carefully packaged and coached onhow to duck all of the hard questions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14mon3.html?ref=opinion

-Home Buyers Needed
OUR politicians are devising economic stimulus measures to encourageconsumers to spend more. These measures will cost taxpayers $200 billion ormore. This is not money well spent. The problem is not too little consumerspending; the problem is too few home buyers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14leamer.html?ref=opinion

-Beijing Stops Construction for Olympics
BEIJING - Chinese officials laid out a sweeping series of measures on Mondaythat will freeze construction projects, shutter chemical plants and closedown obsolete gas stations around Beijing, the capital, this summer in anattempt to clear the air for the Olympics. Even spray painting outdoors willbe banned during the weeks before and after sporting events, which begin onAugust 8.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/world/asia/15china.html?hp

-Co-Payments Go Way Up for Drugs With High Prices
Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system forvery expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands ofdollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slowthe progress of serious diseases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/14drug.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1208185363-hKHBa4OCtUKbyJF5ZPDHZA


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-A Time for Penance, Not Pomp
At the height of the potato famine, Queen Victoria of England made a statevisit to Ireland. Facades were built in Dublin to prevent her from seeingthe dire suffering of the people who lived along her route from ship tocastle, where she was wined and dined. The wrenching issue of the famine wastotally ignored.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301884.html

-Our Tibet Protests Won't Work
Public humiliation does not work nearly as well on the regime in Beijing asprivate pressure.At first glance, China's recent crackdown in Tibet lookslike a familiar storyline: a dictatorship represses its people. And ofcourse that's part of the reality -- as it often is in China. But on thisissue, the communist regime is not in opposition to its people. The vastmajority of Chinese have little sympathy for the Tibetan cause. To theextent that we can gauge public opinion in China and among its diaspora,ordinary Chinese are, if anything, critical of the Beijing government forbeing too easy on the Tibetans. The real struggle here is between anationalist majority and an ethnic and religious minority looking to secureits rights.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/fareed_zakaria/2008/04/our_tibet_protests_wont_work.html

-A Lapsed Principle
What happened to Barack Obama's promise to rely on public financing in thegeneral election?
BARACK OBAMA held out the hope of salvaging part of the public financingsystem for presidential elections. Now he seems poised to drive a nail intoit by rejecting the $85 million available to nominees who agree to take fullfederal funding for the general election. That may be understandable as amatter of campaign tactics; Mr. Obama sits atop a whirring money machinethat appears capable of vacuuming up amounts far in excess of the federalcheck. But going back on his pledge to take public financing if the GOPnominee were to agree to do the same would be an unfortunate step -- and onethat reflects badly on Mr. Obama.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301994.html

-Child Rape Tests Limits Of Death Penalty
La. Law Spurs Review Of Eighth Amendment
Ever since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty more than 30 yearsago, justices have been finding ways to limit it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/13/ST2008041302758.html?hpid=topnews

-Carter: Dem Leaders Should Follow People
WASHINGTON -- Former President Carter says Democratic superdelegates shouldfollow the people and vote for the presidential candidate with the mostdelegates, but that they also should be free to vote the other way if theywant.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041301592.html?hpid=sec-politics

-'OUT-OF-TOUCH' DEMOCRATS
Obama Reinforcing Stereotypes, Clinton Asserts
GRANTHAM, Pa., April 13 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) assertedSunday night that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), through his recent descriptionof sentiments in small-town America, reinforced a stereotype of"out-of-touch" Democrats that doomed the party's past two presidentialnominees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/13/AR2008041302461.html


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-The Democrats' Turn at Faith and Politics
On the surrogate trail in Pennsylvania today, there's a new topic and tone _small-town virtues and old-time pleasures, like guns and religion.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/the-democrats-turn-at-faith-and-politics/


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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/

-Growth in International Applicants Slows
The growth in international graduate student applications at Americancolleges and universities has slowed considerably, according to new surveyresults released today by the Council of Graduate Schools. The council foundthat the number of international applicants grew only 3 percent in 2008,after gains of 9 and 12 percent in the preceding two years.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/14/international

-Torture and Tenure
A civil liberties group that is working to curb what it sees as abuses bythe Bush administration has mounted an e-mail campaign to push for thefiring of John Yoo, a tenured professor of law at the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/14/yoo


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Clinton fans controversy over Obama's gaffe
PHILADELPHIA - The cold, hard delegate count looks nearly impossible forDemocratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton to overcome, andthe pundits keep questioning why she's bothering to soldier on against rivalBarack Obama.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article455398.ece

-It's Obama, stupid: Carter and Gore to end Clinton bid
DEMOCRAT grandees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore are being lined-up to deliver thecoup de grâce to Hillary Clinton and end her campaign to become president.
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/It39s-Obama-stupid-Carter-and.3976738.jp

-What Clinton wishes she could say
Why, ask many Democrats and media commentators, won't Hillary Rodham Clintonsee the long odds against her, put her own ambitions aside, and gracefullyembrace Barack Obama as the inevitable Democratic nominee?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9564.html

-No 'bitter' aftertaste? How Obama gaffe plays
JACOBUS, Pa. - Phil Little seems like just the sort of Pennsylvanian voterwho might have been offended by Sen. Barack Obama's comments that small-townresidents "get bitter" and "cling to guns or religion."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-13-Obama_N.htm?csp=34

-Firing Barbs, but Looking Like a Saint
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton showed no mercy at the "compassion forum."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/politics/14watch.html?ex=1208836800&en=506f61bb5336b593&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS

-Fighter image carries costs for Clinton
Tough persona obscures likable side, some say
WASHINGTON - For many years, whenever a Republican senator looked for aDemocrat to cosponsor a bill, one name popped immediately to mind - HillaryClinton, according to South Carolina's senior senator, Lindsey Graham.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/14/fighter_image_carries_costs_for_clinton/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z

-Hoffa drums up Obama support
Teamsters chief pushes members to vote for Ill. senator while some unionswait to endorse.
READING, Pa. -- Organized labor is working overtime to get a Democratelected president, flexing its once dominant muscles to try and get tradedeals rewritten or canceled and secure passage of a proposal to boostmembership.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080414/AUTO01/804140322/1022/POLITICS

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