NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - June 23, 2008

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

-Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol
The ethanol industry has provided some top advisers to Senator Barack Obama,who has delivered ringing endorsements of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/us/politics/23ethanol.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214216781-k+iUICmq9RCxqvFvWRjYow

-Someone Else's Alex by William Kristol
The people at MoveOn.org have moved on to express contempt for all who mightchoose to serve their country in uniform.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/opinion/23kristol.html?ref=opinion


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

-Toehold in Tehran?
A smart idea to shake up U.S. policy and reach out to the Iranian people isbeing debated in Washington, but the debate isn't taking place within orbetween the presidential campaigns. It's going on inside the Bushadministration. Senior officials at the State Department and beyond aremulling a proposal to open an interest section in Tehran, similar to the onethe United States has operated in Havana since 1977. This would fall shortof full diplomatic recognition, but it would open a channel to the Iranianpeople and, maybe, eventually, to the regime as well.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201548.html

-What Obama Should Say On Iraq by Fareed Zakaria
The Democratic candidate needs to implement a serious policy based on hislong-held views, but informed by the conditions on the ground today. [...]Otherwise he will find himself in the unusual position of having beingprescient about the war in 2002 and yet being overtaken by events in 2008.The most important reason to do this is not political. Iraq is fading inimportance for the public and, to the extent that it matters as an electoralissue, most people agree with Obama's judgment that the war was not worthfighting.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142642

-Return to Repression
China muzzles journalists who asked too many questions after the recentearthquake. IN THE FIRST weeks after the Sichuan earthquake, China'sCommunist authorities were widely credited with allowing relatively openmedia coverage. Some observers even proclaimed a new era of press freedom.The change was real enough, compared with the total blackout that Beijingimposed after some past disasters, which were treated as state secrets. Butmuch of the early reporting benefited the regime, by portraying seniorofficials such as Premier Wen Jiabao supervising dramatic rescue efforts.International aid poured in, domestic support for the government swelled andwhat had been a rising chorus of international criticism of China's humanrights record quieted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201586.html

-Tsvangirai Pulls Out of Runoff
Opposition leader in Zimbabwe exits runoff vote against Robert Mugabe amidmounting violence.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062200429.html?hpid=topnews

-U.S. housing rebound to be prolonged: Harvard study
Record foreclosures and limited access to credit will make it harder thanusual to rebound from this U.S. housing market slump, the worst at leastsince World War Two, according to a Harvard University study on Monday. Atwo-year home price drop is eating into housing wealth, curbing consumerspending and slicing away economic growth. This is unlikely to change untilpotential home buyers are convinced that prices have stopped tumbling, thestudy found.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062300042.html?hpid=sec-business

-TONIGHT: The ABCs of Failure
HBO Filmmakers Went Back to School, And What They Learned Was Sobering[...] The Oscar-winning husband-and-wife filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymondtake a cinema verite approach to a year (2005) in the life of a school undersiege. "It's not an entertainment doc," Alan Raymond says in an interview.
"It's not reality TV. It's not a feel-good documentary."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062202263.html


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

-Poll: McCain, Obama off on right foot, but not on equal footing
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain start the general-electioncampaign season with an important common advantage: Both are well regardedby most voters. McCain, the Arizona senator, is viewed favorably by 59% ina new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. A higher proportion, 64%, say they have afavorable impression of Obama, the Illinois senator.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-22-Insidepoll_N.htm?csp=34

-Obama braces for race-based ads
A presidential candidate who's named Hussein and wears a turban? A buildingthat's called the White House but run by a black guy? Those politicalimages and ideas already have found their way onto TV airwaves and campaignbuttons, possible harbingers of racially tinged messages in a generalelection involving the first black candidate to head a major party's ticket.
http://www.miamiherald.com/692/story/579774.html

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