NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - July 10, 2008

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

-Pakistan Is Said to Be Attracting Insurgents
By ERIC SCHMITT
An increase in the number of foreign fighters may reflect a change that ismaking Pakistan's tribal areas the preferred destination for some Sunniinsurgents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/world/asia/10terror.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
The Senate approved a bill expanding the government's surveillance powers,and granted immunity for phone companies that cooperated in the wiretappingprogram.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10fisa.html?hp

-The Pain of the G-8's Big Shrug
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
The G-8's collective shrug about the Darfur genocide - because the victimsare black, impoverished and hidden from television cameras - will be alingering stain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10kristof.html?ref=opinion

-The Audacity of Listening
GAIL COLLINS
If you look at the political fights Barack Obama's picked throughout hispolitical career, the main theme is not any ideology. It's that he hatesstupidity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10collins.html?ref=opinion

-The Government and Your Laptop
Congress should pass a law that allows the government to look at data onlaptops only when it has a reasonable suspicion about the specific personbeing searched.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10thu3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=login

-Siphoning G.M.'s Future
By ROGER LOWENSTEIN
None of G.M.'s management miscues was so damaging to its long-term fate asthe rich pensions and health care that robbed General Motors of itsfinancial flexibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/opinion/10lowenstein.html?ref=opinion

-Patriot Games
By MICHAEL A. COHEN
Barack Obama needs to define service to America as something beyond militaryexperience.
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/patriot-games/index.html?ref=opinion

-Spy Cases Raise Concern on China's Intentions
Recent spy cases have intensified the evaluation in intelligence and lawenforcement circles about the breadth of the threat from China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10spy.html?hp

-Jesse Jackson Apologizes for Remarks on Obama
The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized on Wednesday for critical and crudecomments he made about Senator Barack Obama, remarks in which he accused Mr.Obama of "talking down to black people."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/us/politics/10jackson.html?hp

-A More Confident Iraq Becomes a Tougher Negotiating Partner for the U.S.
The Bush administration's quest for a deal with Iraq that would formallyauthorize an unlimited American troop presence there well beyond PresidentBush's tenure appears to be unraveling. The irony is that it may be a victimof the administration's successes in the war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/world/middleeast/10policy.html

-Prospect of Obama at Brandenburg Gate Divides German Politicians
BERLIN - With the pillars of the Brandenburg Gate looming in the background,tens of thousands of adoring Berliners turn out to greet Senator BarackObama with wild cheering. It may have seemed like the perfect campaign stopon the candidate's highly anticipated European tour, an ideal way to burnishhis foreign policy credentials.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/us/10germany.html

-Ohio Gives Veterans In-State Rates at Public Colleges
In an effort to attract more veterans to Ohio's public universities, Gov.Ted Strickland announced Tuesday that the state would charge in-statetuition to all veterans attending college on the G.I. bill.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/education/09vets.html


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

-Bail Out Ben
It's up to Congress, not the Fed boss, to regulate financial markets. ITHAS BEEN about four months since the Federal Reserve orchestrated a bailoutof the Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns. The action wasunprecedented: Invoking rarely used emergency powers, the Fed put billionsof taxpayer dollars at risk to stop the meltdown of a non-bank that it didnot regulate. It did so in a series of harried weekend phone calls, with nospecific approval from Congress. Given the risk of potentially catastrophicfallout for the global economy, the unorthodox move was probably justified.But the Bear Stearns rescue continues to raise questions: Has the governmentnow assumed responsibility for the stability of all investment banks? And ifso, by what legal authority, and on what terms?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070902052.html

-Tehran's Definite 'Maybe'
Even in midsummer, Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, wears thethree-piece suit of a traditional diplomat. But faithful to the dress codeof the Iranian revolution, he doesn't wear a necktie. That mix of symbols isa good snapshot of Iran's hard-and-soft foreign policy these days. TheIranians are signaling that they want talks with the West -- and hintingthat they are ready for a serious dialogue with the Great Satan inWashington. But while they discuss engagement, they remain wary of it. TheIranians are almost coquettish: They like being wooed, and they enjoy beingthe center of attention, but they aren't quite ready to say yes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901935.html

-Clintonites at Arm's Length
"I would say he was pretty underwhelming," a longtime Democratic activistsaid several days after he and some 200 other big-money supporters ofHillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign met with the victor, BarackObama, in Washington on June 26. Gus will support and contribute to Obama asthe party's nominee, but he is not enthusiastic about it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901933.html

-No G(r)8 Accomplishment
President Bush's agreement to a declaration on climate change comes sevenyears late. THE GROUP of Eight declaration of its commitment to a goal ofreducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050 could be viewed as aho-hum event when you consider that German Chancellor Angela Merkel soughtthe same commitment at last year's summit and that the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change has called for a cut of up to 80 percent in the sameperiod. What made the announcement Tuesday at once monumental and patheticwas that it was agreed to by President Bush. With just over six months leftin office, and after seven years of denial, inaction and foot-dragging, Mr.Bush finally did what the world has been pleading with him to do.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901977.html

-Powerful New Weapon Hits U.S. Troops in Iraq
Suspected Shiite militiamen use rocket-propelled bombs, propane tanks packedwith hundreds of pounds of explosives, in attacks on outposts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070902396.html?hpid=topnews

-Iran Fires More Test Missles
Tehran's second round of long-range excercises come on the heels of a rebukefrom Secretary Rice.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071000025.html?hpid=topnews

-Fixing How We Go to War
Just shy of eight years after they squared off in the Florida recountbattle, James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher have joined forces toclean up one of the ugly legacies of Vietnam -- the misguided piece oflegislation called the War Powers Act.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901936.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

-What's Making the GPB Tick...
Real Time Analysis by Denver Research Group
The world at a crossroads...a global schizophrenia
Challenges awaiting a new US President in a confusing new world
In many ways, the world is becoming a better place. PostGlobal foundingpartner, Fareed Zakaria, reports in his new book, "The Post-American World",that the global economy has advanced dramatically and peace is alive andwell. One hundred twenty four nations had better than 4% growth in 2006 and2007. Zakaria reports that the share of people living on a dollar a day orless fell from 40% in 1981 to 18% in 2004 and is expected to fall further to12% by 2015. Poverty according to Zakaria is falling in countries that areare home to 80% of the world's population. Zakaria quotes Harvard professorSteven Pinker as arguing "that today we are probably living in the mostpeaceful time in our species' existence."
http://www.secure-x-001.net/SecureGeo/Issue/SecureObservationComments.asp?IssueFunction=103&Site=109&Portal=1

-With Nudge By Kennedy, Medicare Bill Passes
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) made a dramatic return to the Capitolyesterday to help the Senate pass legislation that would rescind a sharp cutin Medicare payments to physicians.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901884.html?hpid=sec-health


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

-Population drops in 26 of 31 Broward municipalities
Broward's at a loss. Twenty-six of the county's 31 municipalities lostpopulation and three of them - Hollywood, Coral Springs and Pembroke Pines -made the Top 10 list of fastest-shrinking large cities from 2006 to 2007,according to U.S. census estimates released today.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbpop0710sbjul10,0,2267636.story


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

-Obama, McCain and Fiscal Disaster
Federal budget policy is a dry subject with far too many numbers and charts,which makes it uninviting to most Americans. But the theme of the currentbudget story is one that could have come from a blockbuster summer movie: Weare doomed. There is a fiscal asteroid on course to pulverize us, and no oneis coming to the rescue.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/obama_mccain_and_fiscal_disast.html

-Could the Convention Hurt Obama?
In the modern age, America's major-party conventions are love fests, fetingtheir preselected nominees. But that may not be the case this year forBarack Obama, which means the Democratic Convention even has the potentialto derail his chances for victory in November.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/is_this_thing_on.html

-Dems follow Obama down centrist path
House and Senate Democrats are taking a centrist path this election-yearsummer, following the lead of Barack Obama, who has increased hiscoordination with congressional leaders. Democrats have decided to focus oneconomic and security issues designed to appeal to a wide range of voters,especially independents who are concerned about soaring gas prices and theslumping stock and housing markets.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-follow-obama-down-centrist-path-2008-07-09.html

-Dems searching their souls on drilling
In the stages of grief, denial gives way to anger and then to bargaining.It may be an apt metaphor this week, as Democrats' long-held opposition toexpanded offshore oil drilling succumbs to the political realities of$4-per-gallon gasoline.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11649.html

-Barack's Brilliant Ground Game
For a campaign that says it wants to end the politics of the Bush-Cheneyyears, the Obama for President effort has cribbed an awful lot from theBush-Cheney playbooks of 2000 and 2004.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121564804985640977.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

-Jackson's cutting remark may be helpful to Obama
So what part of Barack Obama will Rev. Al Sharpton want to chop off now?Barack's pinkie toe? A nose hair? The vast Barackian ego?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-10jul10,0,725595.column

-Foreclosure Filings Up 53% From Last Year
More Than A 250,000 Homes Got A Foreclosure Notice In June;
Slightly Better Than May
The number of homeowners stung by the rout in the U.S. housing marketjumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percentcompared with June a year ago, according to data released Thursday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/10/business/main4246947.shtml

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