NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS May 24, 2008

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

-Editorial: The Failures of Thabo Mbeki
Crackpot and dangerous theories on AIDS. Extreme and widening levels ofincome inequality. Enabling Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and only belatedlytrying to halt mob atrocities against desperate Zimbabwean and other Africanimmigrants. This is the legacy of South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, whohas one more year in his second term.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/opinion/24sat1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

-Editorial: Sen. McCain's Agents of Intolerance
It took a long time for him to do it, but Senator John McCain has finallyrejected the endorsements of two evangelical ministers - one whose bizarreand hate-filled sermons deeply offended both Catholics and Jews and theother who has used his pulpit to attack Muslims.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/opinion/24sat2.html?ref=opinion

-The Invisible War
Landing in Seattle after a long flight from Texas, I was about to join theexit scrum when the pilot informed us there were five soldiers on board,ending a three-day odyssey home from Iraq. Could we let them pass?
What followed was prolonged applause by all, and a startling reminder tosome - oh, are we still at war?
http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/the-invisible-war/index.html?ref=opinion

-270 Illegal Immigrants Sent to Prison in Federal Push
In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds here, 270 illegal immigrants weresentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpackingplant with false documents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/24immig.html?hp

-Clinton Remark on Robert Kennedy's Killing Stirs Uproar
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defended staying in the Democratic nominatingcontest on Friday by pointing out that her husband had not wrapped up thenomination until June 1992, adding, "We all remember Bobby Kennedy wasassassinated in June in California."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/us/politics/24clinton.html?hp

-Zimbabwe Rival Is a Flawed but Enduring Leader
MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, the chief rival of Zimbabwe's authoritarian president,Robert Mugabe, drove up to a Harare police station last year to check ondozens of his supporters inside on their bellies, being kicked, clobberedand stomped.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/24/world/africa/24zimbabwe.html?hp


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

-The Wisdom In Talking
As President Bush commemorated Israel's 60th anniversary by attacking BarackObama from overseas, here at home he found an all-too-frequent ally: JohnMcCain.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302170.html

-America's Other Housing Crisis
There's a housing crisis in America -- but it doesn't have anything to dowith the thousands who have been forced from their over-leveraged residencesor the steps Congress has taken to help those caught in the subprimedebacle. This crisis doesn't generate many headlines, but it threatensAmericans nationwide.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052302168.html

-N.Y. Planning Special Ambulance To Recover Organs
In the hope of saving the lives of more people waiting for transplants, NewYork City is working on a plan to deploy a special ambulance to collect thebodies of people who have died suddenly from heart attacks, accidents andother emergencies and try to preserve their organs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052303006.html?hpid=topnews


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

-MEXICO: Mexican abuse law not being enforced
A law passed more than a year ago has done little to curb the abuse thatMexican women suffer every day at the hands of their spouses.
Martha couldn't take the beatings anymore. She visited local police threetimes last year to report that her husband was punching her in the stomachso hard she could barely breathe. Each time, the police told her they coulddo nothing unless she returned with cuts and bruises.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/545286.html

-CAMPAIGN 2008 | CUBA POLICY
Obama urges direct diplomacy with Cuba, Latin America
In a bold and politically risky move, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama calledfor ''direct diplomacy'' with communist Cuba when he addressed a prominentCuban-American organization Friday in a bid to woo a Republican-leaningconstituency that is one of the keys to presidential victory in the state.
http://www.miamiherald.com/979/story/544728.html

-CAMPAIGN 2008 | ISRAEL
Obama tries to ease Jewish voters' angst
Barack Obama affirmed his solidarity with Israel to more than 700 voters ata Conservative Boca Raton synagogue.
Reaching out to a group whose support will be crucial to a victory inNovember, Barack Obama ventured into Florida's Jewish community for thefirst time Thursday, fielding questions for an hour at a Conservativesynagogue to deflect Republican attacks on his support of Israel.
http://www.miamiherald.com/political-currents/story/543919.html


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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Obama's talk with The Palm Beach Post
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama spent time with The Palm BeachPost this morning, talking about the impact of the Florida's primary on hisrace with Hillary Clinton, whether to seat the state's convention delegatesand what a national catastrophe fund should look like.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2008/05/23/0523barackobamainterview.html


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

-Biden comes out punching
JOE BIDEN is mad as - well, mad as a compulsively collegial US senator, onewho is on a first-name basis with seemingly everyone in Washington, can be.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/23/biden_comes_out_punching/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z

-Rove subpoenaed by House panel
Testimony sought in Justice inquiry
The House Judiciary Committee yesterday subpoenaed President Bush's formerchief political adviser, Karl Rove, to testify about whether the White Houseimproperly meddled with the Justice Department.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/05/23/rove_subpoenaed_by_house_panel/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z

-Potential running mates for Obama
Those familiar with Barack Obama's thinking on whom he might select as arunning mate are not speaking publicly -- or privately, for that matter.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidentialnomination, has not been ruled in or out.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-veepbox23-2008may23,0,6236348.story?track=rss

-OPINION: Republicans and Our Enemies
On Wednesday, Joe Lieberman wrote on this page that the Democratic Party heand I grew up in has drifted far from the foreign policy espoused byFranklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121150000249615875.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

-Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent JakeTapper
Obama Proposes 'Team of Rivals' Cabinet
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obama-proposes.html

-Dems need Hillary to hold Latino vote
I give up. Hillary Clinton is not going to divide my family anymore. Nearlyall my relatives support her, and I have abandoned my attempt to sell themon Barack Obama. My family, like most Hispanics, will not consider analternative candidate until Clinton is officially out of the race. I have toadmit Clinton's popularity with Latinos is impressive. Throughout theprimaries, Hispanics have favored her roughly 2-1, and she could not havewon Texas and California without us. Her standing in our community is akinto that of her husband's among blacks when he was president.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/05/dems-need-hilla.html

-Arbiters of Clinton's Fate?
Hillary Clinton is talking as if the battle over seating disputeddelegations from Florida and Michigan at the Democratic National Conventionis the greatest crisis for democracy since the 2000 Florida recount.
Her rhetoric flies in the face of intensive efforts by members of theparty's rules committee to settle the delegate battle with a compromise thatwould probably guarantee the nomination for Barack Obama. Ending thestruggle quickly depends on whether the committee's peacemakers succeed intheir work.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203017.html?hpid=opinionsbox1?hpid=opinionsbox1

-Obama would take California in November, Times/KTLA poll finds
Clinton would also defeat McCain in the fall, but by a smaller margin. Thesurvey comes less than four months after Obama's loss in the state primary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-poll24-2008may24,0,6353526.story

-McCain struggles on cusp of general election
Once optimistic about John McCain's prospects for the fall general election,Republicans are increasingly concerned that he could wind up badlyoutgunned, saddled with serious deficiencies of money, organization andpartisan intensity against the likely Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10550.html


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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-The Online Mall
A new Pew Internet Project study finds that going online helps people sortthrough product choices, but it is not the place where people usually closethe deal for housing, cell phones or even music. Read more

-Global Watch
Tracking China's Earthquake on TV and the Web
In dispatches from Beijing, Pew Internet senior research fellow DeborahFallows follows the course of coverage of the disaster in the Chinese media.
In the days immediately following the quake, TV coverage showed anunprecedented lack of censorship, but soon reverted to its familiar role asthe voice of the government. Meanwhile the internet has progressively becomea more wild-west version of itself, with a virtual explosion of contentranging from the informative to the heart-breaking. Read more

-The Plight of Iraq's Religious Minorities
Since 2003, sectarian violence, ambiguous legal protections for religiousfreedom, and other factors have contributed to a deteriorating situation forChristians and other small religious sects. Read more

-Research Roundup
Latest Findings on Cell Phones and Polling
The Pew Research Center has been studying the challenge to survey researchposed by the growing number of wireless-only households. Scott Keeter, Pew'sDirector of Survey Research, provides a summary of its latest findings. Readmore

-Muslim American Dataset Now Available
The dataset from the first-ever, nationwide, random sample survey of MuslimAmericans is now available to scholars for secondary analysis. The survey,conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2007 among this rare, dispersed, andhighly diverse population, included 1,050 adult Muslim Americans, and wasconducted in English, Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu. It examined the political andsocial values, religious beliefs and practices, and life experiences ofMuslims living in the U.S. today. Download the dataset

-Election '08
Cable's Constant Campaign Coverage Out of Sync With Public News Interest
While much of the public focused on disasters in China and Burma, cable newsfocused on the campaign almost to the exclusion of other top news stories.
Also, though well covered, awareness of John Edwards' endorsement of Obamawas relatively low. Read more

-Religion and Progressive Politics
Directors of two progressive religious organizations and a political science professor discuss the origins of the "religious left" movement and how itmight influence this year's election. Read more

-Edwards Rewrites the Election Storyline
In embracing Barack Obama less than 24 hours after Hillary Clinton's big winin West Virginia, former Democratic contender John Edwards diverted mediaattention away from discussion of renewed Clinton momentum and helpedrefocused the narrative on Obama's apparent inevitability. Read more

-Around the Nation
Oh Say, Is that Star-Spangled Banner Made in the U.S.A.?
It was seeing foreign-made American flags at a veteran's memorial ceremonythat inspired a West Virginia legislator to proposed a bill requiring thatall flags purchased with state funds be made in America. He's not alone. Read more

-Daily Number
26% - McCain's Age a Problem?
When asked earlier this year, a quarter of registered voters (26%) said theythink John McCain is too old to be president, and this proportion rises tonearly a third (32%) when voters are informed that he is currently 71 yearsold. To address this concern his campaign decided this week to make hismedical records publicly available. Check back every weekday for anothernumber in the news. Read more


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Listen to Focus on the Family's restroom predator ad.
http://extras.denverpost.com/audio/predator.mp3

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