NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - July 11, 2008

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

-Religion in the news
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was installed as headof the U.S. church less than two years ago, inheriting a mess not of her ownmaking. The global Anglican Communion was in an uproar over the 2003consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, V. Gene Robinson ofNew Hampshire. Long-simmering differences over Scripture and the globalAnglican fellowship erupted into a threat of full-blown schism.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-REL-Religion-in-the-News.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=gay&st=nyt&oref=slogin

-Australia prepares for Pope's visit
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Thousands of pilgrims converged on Sydney as itbraced Friday for the weekend arrival of the pope and the start of WorldYouth Day, the biggest event held in Australia since the 2000 Olympics.After five years of planning, the massive Roman Catholic festival willfinally kick off Tuesday and run through Sunday, attracting more than200,000 pilgrims to Sydney.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Australia-Pope.html?scp=6&sq=gay&st=nyt

-Loan-Agency Woes Swell From a Trickle to a Torrent
The rapid erosion of investors' confidence has become a crisis for FannieMae and Freddie Mac, the two main backers of mortgage financing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/business/11ripple.html?hp

-Kennedy's Big Day
PAUL KRUGMAN
Wednesday was the first major health care victory that Democrats have won ina long time. And it was enormously encouraging for advocates of universalhealth care. [...] Ostensibly, Wednesday's vote was about restoring cuts inMedicare payments to doctors. What it was really about, however, was thefight against creeping privatization. Democrats finally took a stand - and,thanks to Senator Kennedy, seem to have prevailed.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html

-The Taliban's Rising Tide
For the sake of Pakistan's stability, its leaders will need to commit tofighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists in the border region.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/opinion/11fri1.html?ref=opinion

-The Justice Department, Blind to Slavery
By JOHN R. MILLER
President Bush should meet with his own Department of Justice before heloses his legacy and his leadership on the abolition of human trafficking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/opinion/11miller.html?ref=opinion

-Lebanon Leaders Agree Unity Government: Sources
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese leaders agreed on a unity government on Fridaythat gave veto power for the Hezbollah-led opposition as agreed under a dealthat ended a paralyzing political conflict in the country. Hezbollah-ledopposition as agreed under a deal that ended a paralyzing political conflictin the country. Political sources from both sides said PrimeMinister-designate Fouad Siniora will announce the new cabinet after meetingPresident Michel Suleiman later in the day. The formation will end weeks ofwrangling over portfolios between the U.S.-backed majority coalition andHezbollah and its allies.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-lebanon-government-deal.html

-With Luck, a Rocky Landing
ADRSPACH, Czech Republic - Exactly a decade has passed since a man calledOxygen first hurled himself across Amerika. Known for his jumping ability,Oxygen, a lanky Czech, catapulted to legend status by leaping a nearly10-foot-wide abyss separating two 100-foot sandstone spires. Check out thevideo!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/sports/othersports/11jump.html

-An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants
In 23 years as a certified Spanish interpreter for federal courts, ErikCamayd-Freixas has spoken up in criminal trials many times, but the words heuttered were rarely his own. Then he was summoned here by court officialsto translate in the hearings for nearly 400 illegal immigrant workersarrested in a raid on May 12 at a meatpacking plant. Since then, Mr.Camayd-Freixas, a professor of Spanish at Florida International University,has taken the unusual step of breaking the code of confidentiality amonglegal interpreters about their work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/11immig.html?hp

-Serenity Prayer Stirs Up Doubt: Who Wrote It?
Generations of recovering alcoholics, soldiers, weary parents, exploitedworkers and just about anybody feeling beaten down by life have found solacein a short prayer that begins, "God grant me the serenity to accept thethings I cannot change."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/11prayer.html?hp

-McCain Adviser Refers to 'Nation of Whiners'
Senator John McCain has spent the week trying to tell people that he feelstheir economic pain. So it was more than a little unhelpful when one of histop economic advisers was quoted Thursday as saying that the United Stateswas only in a "mental recession" and that it had become a "nation ofwhiners."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/politics/11campaign.html?hp

-Detainees, as Lawyers, Test System of Tribunals
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba - Walid bin Attash, a detainee with a wry smile who ischarged as a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, had a question. Why, Mr. binAttash asked the military judge at a hearing here on Thursday, was he barredfrom reading classified reports as he prepares to represent himself at thetrial the Bush administration wants to be the centerpiece of its Guantánamoprosecutions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/11gitmo.html?hp

-Jackson Barks, but Does He Still Have Bite?
It used to be called "the Jesse Jackson problem": Democratic presidentialcandidates fearing they would lose black votes if they got on Mr. Jackson'sbad side, given the influence he accrued as a civil rights activist and hishistory-making races for the White House in 1984 and 1988.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/us/politics/11jackson.html

-Group Apologizes for Its Racial Bias
The American Medical Association formally apologized on Thursday for morethan a century of policies that excluded blacks from the group, longconsidered to be the voice of American doctors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/health/11ama.html


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

-Capitalism's Reality Check
E. J. Dionne Jr.
The biggest political story of the year is economic: the collapse offree-market theory. [...] Since the Reagan years, free-market cliches havepassed for sophisticated economic analysis. But in the current crisis, theseideas are falling, one by one, as even conservatives recognize thatcapitalism is ailing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002264.html

-How Hostages, And Nations, Get Liberated
On the day the Colombian military freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 otherlong-held hostages, the Italian Parliament passed yet another resolutiondemanding her release. Europe had long ago adopted this French-Colombianpolitician as a cause celebre. France had made her an honorary citizen ofParis, passed numerous resolutions and held many vigils.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002262.html

-Too Many Prisoners
States should stop warehousing nonviolent offenders. TWO REPORTS by theJustice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics show that the rate ofgrowth in the prison and jail populations of the United States has slowedslightly but that the country still has the dubious distinction of being thelargest jailer in the world. As of June 30, 2007, the country held roughly2.3 million people behind bars, either in local or state jails or in federalprisons.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002724.html

-Donors Asked To Give for Two
Clinton Debt Adds to Obama Burden
The fundraising machine Sen. Barack Obama is relying on to overwhelm Sen.John McCain this fall has shown signs of wear in recent weeks, as Internetcontributions have slowed and efforts to recruit top donors to Sen. HillaryRodham Clinton's campaign have been beset by lingering tensions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002813.html?hpid=topnews

-Jackson Incident Revives Some Blacks' Concerns About Obama
The larger point of Jesse L. Jackson's criticism of Barack Obama -- if notthe crude way he expressed it -- touched a nerve among some African Americanpolitical activists who have been unhappy about the senator 's pointedcritiques of absentee fathers and other problems in the black community.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002812.html?hpid=topnews

-The Obama Children
On July 4th, Barack and Michelle Obama granted "Access Hollywood" video timewith 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha. The resulting footage shows atight-knit family. Talkative Malia tells it how it is in her house. Dadleaves his heavy bag in the doorway for the family to trip on it. He shakeshands with her friends, embarrassing her. If Obama wins the presidency,she's looking forward to decorating her own room in the White House. And thefamily says they stay in touch daily via telephone while Dad is out campaigning.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/parenting/?hpid=news-col-blog


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

-HAITI: Free the slaves next door
By DAN HARRIS
A few weeks ago I conducted a horrifying experiment. I tested how long itwould take to leave my office on Manhattan's Upper West Side and buy a childslave. After a 45-minute cab ride, an hour-or-so wait at Kennedy airport anda 3 ½-hour plane ride, I found myself engaged in broad-daylight, poolside negotiations with a trafficker who said he was ready and eager to provide mewith a kid -- any age, either sex -- as soon as the next day. ''I guaranteemy service,'' he said proudly. The cost: $150. From start to finish, all ittook was roughly 10 hours. This casually grotesque conversation took placejust 700 miles from Miami, in Haiti, where there are an estimated 300,000child slaves. There is a slavery epidemic raging right under America's nose.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/600878.html

-Support truce with Hamas
By A.B. YEHOSHUA
TEL AVIV - Finally, the long-sought truce between Israel and Hamas in theGaza Strip has become a reality. Reaching this uneasy state has not beeneasy. For months, wise and responsible people had exhorted Israel to acceptthe cease-fire that the Hamas leadership in Gaza had proposed. But Israel'sgovernment, using all kinds of pretexts, stubbornly resisted.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/600887.html


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

-Kucinich Impeachment Resolution Hearings?
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this morning that the House JudiciaryCommittee may hold hearings on an impeachment resolution offered by Rep.Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). Kucinich is expected to offer a "privilegedresolution" this afternoon calling on the House to look at whether PresidentBush should be removed from office for lying to Congress and the Americanpublic when he sought congressional approval back in 2002 for takingmilitary action to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/10/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4248168.shtml?source=RSS&attr=HOME_4248168

-No Child Left Behind Law Dominant Issue at NEA Representative Assembly
The No Child Left Behind Act, and the compliance demands it imposes onschools, was the center of attention at this year's National EducationAssociation convention, which just concluded in Washington, D.C. DonnaDeKraai with the South Dakota Education Association says a major concern forSouth Dakota schools is simply meeting the requirements of the law.
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/5631-1

-Blacks demand of Obama: 'What about us?'
In the full arc of the 2008 presidential election, the Rev. Jesse Jackson'sthreat to trim Barack Obama's, um, sails for "talking down to black people"will probably be nothing more than a blip in the hungry cable news cycle.But Jackson's flash of frustration provided a glimpse of a simmering debateamong prominent African-Americans over what Obama is saying as he campaignsfor president, and what he isn't saying.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article694303.ece

-New and improved
The only problem with Barack Obama's move to the centre is that he's notmoving far enough
THE reaction to Jesse Helms's death on July 4th is a reminder of how bipolarAmerican politics has become. The right praised him as a man of principlewho also overflowed with the milk of human kindness. The leftretorted-rightly, in our view-that he was also a bigot and a bully (seearticle). But at least conservatives and liberals have discovered one thingthey can agree on: that Barack Obama is a cynical opportunist, aflip-flopper and a shape-changer, a man who brushes aside his principleswith the same nonchalance that lesser mortals reserve for their dandruff.
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11707123

-Pull Up a Chair, Mr. Rove
Karl Rove had never been so agreeable.
The former chief strategist to President Bush was the only witness listed onthe agenda for yesterday's meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, and heproved to be uncharacteristically contained. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.),chairman of the subcommittee holding the hearing, declared herself"extremely disappointed and deeply concerned" about Rove's behavior.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002549.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

-GOP Targets Dem 'Scandal Babies'
There's nothing quite like an incumbent's predilection for corruption,bribery or sleazy sex for helping an underdog win a congressional seat. Andthere was plenty of muck to exploit in the 2006 midterm elections, when araft of Republican scandals helped more than a dozen Democrats get electedin districts thought to be safely Republican.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1821088,00.html

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