NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS - June 11, 2008

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

-Christian leaders meet privately with Obama
Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and otherissues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have beencriticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Obama-Religion.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin

-Dolores Neuman, 66, a freelance still photographer and independent-filmpromoter who worked extensively for public interest and advocacy groups,died June 5 at the Washington Home hospice. She had kidney cancer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061003127.html

-Another Failure on Climate Change
No one ever said that dealing with climate change would be easy orcost-free. But we expected better from the Senate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/opinion/11wed1.html?scp=1&sq=Another+Failure+on+Climate+Change&st=nyt

-Obama on the Nile by Thomas Friedman
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats' nomination ofBarack Obama as their candidate for president has improved America's imageabroad. This column will probably get Barack Obama in trouble, but that'snotmy problem. I cannot tell a lie: Many Egyptians and other Arab Muslimsreally like him and hope that he wins the presidency. I have had a chanceto observe several U.S. elections from abroad, but it has been unusuallyrevealing to be in Egypt as Barack Hussein Obama became the Democrats'nominee for president of the United States. [...] Every interview seems toend with the person I was interviewing asking me: "Now, can I ask you aquestion? Obama? Do you think they will let him win?" (It's always "let himwin" not just "win.")
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/opinion/11friedman.html?ref=opinion

-Surgery Offers Muslim Women Illusion of Virginity
An increasing number of Muslim women in Europe are having surgery to createthe illusion of virginity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/world/europe/11virgin.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

-Bring Your Cultural Compass
Navigating the culture of Egypt can be a challenge, but it could help toease strains in U.S.-Egypt relations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/world/middleeast/11egypt.html?hp

-Study Shows Colorado Has Largest Rise in Child Poverty
Colorado experienced the nation's largest rate of growth in impoverished children from 2000 to 2006, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, by the Colorado Children's Campaign, a nonprofit group that focuses on child welfare, said that the most recent census data show that 180,000 children - 15.7 percent of the state total - were living in poverty in Colorado in 2006, a 73 percent increase since 2000. New Hampshire and Delaware experienced the second- and third-largest rates of increase in child poverty, about 47 percent and 45 percent respectively.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/us/11kids.html

-Judge Orders Ohio to Alter Its Method of Execution
Ohio must stop using a common combination of three chemicals to executecondemned inmates because they may produce excruciating pain, a state courtjudge there ruled Tuesday. Then, in what legal experts said was a first,the judge instead ordered the state to start using a single large dose ofbarbiturate, common in animal euthanasia. The decision is an exception torecent judicial trends in the wake of the United States Supreme Court'sdecision in April in Baze v. Rees, which upheld Kentucky's lethal injectionprotocol, similar to the one used in Ohio. There have been fiveexecutions - two in Georgia and one each in Mississippi, South Carolina andVirginia - since Baze ended a de facto seven-month moratorium. And Texas isto resume executions on Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/us/11death.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1213186022-1Hr39wGQBsnbEI0Lw8Fl4g


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

-Christian leaders meet privately with Obama
Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and otherissues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have beencriticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002720.html

-Don't Ask Nunn
As Sen. Barack Obama considers potential running mates, he shouldcontemplate Sam Nunn with caution. As chairman of the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee in 1993, Nunn helped lead the fight against allowing gay men andlesbians to serve openly in the military and was the force behind thedisastrous "don't ask, don't tell" compromise. In the process, Nunnengendered the enduring enmity of a loyal voting and fundraising bloc of theDemocratic Party.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002527.html

-The McCain Miracle
The political and personal miracle of John McCain has been largelyovershadowed. [...] A year ago this summer, the McCain campaign was abankrupt political joke; the political class only mentioned it to speculatewhen it would be mercifully euthanized. What followed was one of the mostimprobable comebacks of American political history.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002526.html

-Saving Doha
Why an obscure Frenchman may be the last hope for global free trade.
YOU HAVE probably never heard of Pascal Lamy, but he might be able to savethe world. The only question is when he should do it. Okay, so we'reexaggerating a bit. Not about Mr. Lamy's obscurity: The veteran Frenchbureaucrat is director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), whichhardly makes him a household name, even though he is a remarkably talentedand persistent international public servant. It's not precisely true that heis the only person who can save our troubled planet. But he might just bethe last possible savior of global trade liberalization.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002617.html

-Anti-Child-Porn Tactic Criticized
Thwarting Payments Makes Users Hard to Track, Report Says
The decision yesterday by three Internet service providers to block accessto online child pornography is the latest in a series of steps by companiesand government officials to curb the distribution of such materials. But areport to be published later this month questions whether such actions aremaking it more difficult to track users.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002544.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Kucinich Forces Vote On Bush's Impeachment
Having failed in efforts to impeach Vice President Cheney, Rep. Dennis J.Kucinich (D-Ohio) escalated his battle against the administration this weekby introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush, using aparliamentary maneuver that will probably force a vote today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061003087.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-What Is Owed to Native Americans?
Judge Hopes to Settle Question in Suit Over Oil, Gas Royalties
A lawsuit over billions of dollars in royalties collected from oil and gascompanies that leased Native American land has meandered through the courtsystem for so long that a federal judge recently compared the case toCharles Dickens's "Bleak House," a tome about a long-running and convolutedlegal dispute.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/10/AR2008061002739.html?hpid=sec-nation


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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-U.S. Rep. Wexler calling for impeachment of President Bush
Calling it "a sworn duty" of Congress to act, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler signedon Tuesday to Articles of Impeachment for President Bush. "President Bushdeliberately created a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraqto the American people and the charges detailed in this impeachmentresolution indicate an unprecedented abuse of executive power," Wexler saidin a statement.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest06113sbjun11,0,5100560.story

-Florida-grown tomatoes declared OK to eat
Federal health officials on Tuesday declared Florida-grown tomatoes to befree from salmonella contamination that triggered a 17-state outbreak, buthad not nailed down the source of the bacteria that have sickened at least167 people and claimed one life since April.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flrxtom0611sbjun11,0,6802318.story

-U.S. Rep. Wexler calling for impeachment of President Bush
Calling it "a sworn duty" of Congress to act, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler signedon Tuesday to Articles of Impeachment for President Bush.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flb3bdigest06113sbjun11,0,5100560.story

-Paul Newman Reportedly Battling Terminal Lung Cancer
Legendary actor and director Paul Newman is reportedly battling terminallung cancer. The 83-year old actor is said to have been diagnosed at NewYork's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he is currently receivingoutpatient treatment and is under the care of a leading New York oncologist.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/sfl-0610newman,0,6038617.story


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

-Healthcare a defining issue for McCain, Obama
As the presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama heats up,nowhere are the differences in their policies more striking than onhealthcare. [...] Obama's proposed universal healthcare plan embodies thelong-held Democratic Party goal of covering the 47 million Americans wholack health insurance. Employers, insurers, individuals and the governmentall would have greater roles in assuring coverage through a number ofproposals designed to close gaps in the system. [...] McCain's plan takes adifferent approach. It follows Republican orthodoxy of trying to make theprivate-insurance marketplace more affordable and competitive by radicallyaltering the tax treatment of healthcare benefits.
http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/565648.html

-Cheney's joke about the poor isn't funny By LEONARD PITTS JR.
A few words about white trash. I've always found that term offensive, itsubiquity notwithstanding. I have a number of reasons, but the most importantis that it is a gratuitous insult to the white poor. Of course, they are oneof the few groups remaining one can insult with relative impunity. Granted,Vice President Cheney did not actually use the term ''white trash'' in the''joke'' he attempted last week at the National Press Club in Washington. Hedidn't need to. It was there, understood, without being spoken. The remarkcame in a discussion of the Cheney family tree. ''We have Cheneys on bothsides of the family,'' he said. ``And we don't even live in West Virginia.'' Get it? Ha ha ha. I mean, you know how it is up there in the hills andhollers of that state where the population is 95 percent white and themedian family income is $10,000 below the national average: cousins marrycousins, brothers bed their pipe-smoking sisters. Pardon me while I slap myknee.
http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/565679.html

-Mugabe's campaign of fear in Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is trying desperately to win reelectionin a country he has brought to the brink of ruin, and he seems determined tostop at nothing to get his way. Since a close vote count in April forced aJune 27 runoff, Mr. Mugabe has embarked on a campaign of terror againstopponents, including intimidation, beatings and scores of murders.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/565668.html


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Forwarded from Ron Mills

-I'm Voting Republican - You'll Get What You Deserve
(Check out this video)
http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/flash/ivr.swf


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

-Decision 2008: Mich. unions start to line up behind Obama
UAW pledges support, considered especially critical; AFL-CIO is poised to doso.
The United Auto Workers endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president Tuesday, anunsurprising decision that puts one of the most influential forces inMichigan politics behind the presumptive Democratic nominee.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080611/POLITICS01/806110380/1374

-CAMPAIGN '08: Michelle Obama in the hot seat too
They loved to hate Hillary Rodham Clinton. They loved to hate Teresa HeinzKerry. And now, it appears, conservative voices are energetically taking onMichelle Obama. "Mrs. Grievance" bellowed the cover of a recent NationalReview, which featured a photo of a fierce-looking Obama. The magazine'sonline edition titled an essay about her stump speech "America's UnhappiestMillionaire."
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-michelle11-2008jun11,0,3978235.story

-Test-based education is shortchanging students
AS another school year winds down, debate about the challenges facingSeattle's public schools is heating up. Recent pages in the Times have beenawash with stories about the resegregation of our schools and newSuperintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's plan to add tougher, "standardsbased" programs at low-income schools as a way to attract more upper-income,white families back to their neighborhood schools.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004470222_newhutcins11.html

-Huckabee: 'Huge Mistake' to Demonize Obama
Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee cautioned Republicanactivists not to demonize Democratic nominee-to-be Sen. Barack Obama duringthe presidential general election season underway.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Huckabee_obama/2008/06/10/103254.html

-Silly season for oil policy
Lawmakers are falling over themselves to show they're doing something aboutthe price of oil.
This year's rapid run-up in crude oil prices might have prompted sillylegislation at any time -- but the fact that it has happened in an electionyear has fostered a sort of wrongheadedness renaissance. Lawmakers from bothparties are scrambling to dust off failed strategies from years past andtout them as new and improved ways of halting oil's meteoric rise. None ofthem will work, of course, nor are they intended to; they serve only tomislead the public into thinking that Washington is looking out forconsumers.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-oil11-2008jun11,0,1249678.story?track=rss

-Dems reluctant to take on 'don't ask, don't tell'
Democrats say the nation should be ashamed of its ban on gays serving openlyin the military. It discourages qualified people from joining the ranks at atime when the armed forces are stretched by two wars, they say, and isdegrading to those willing to serve their country.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/politics-15/1213168743168750.xml&storylist=washington

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