NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - July 22, 2008

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

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

-Serbs Officials Detail Capture of Karadzic
Radovan Karadzic, one of the most wanted war criminals until his arrest for a 1995 massacre, had been living freely in Belgrade, authorities said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/world/europe/23serbia.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Obama, in Jordan, Must Navigate Mideast Conflict
When Barack Obama meets with King Abdullah, his approach to the peaceprocess will be watched carefully.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/for-obama-israeli-palestinian-conflict-looms/index.html?

-China's Unreality TV
Apart from China, no one deserves criticism more than the InternationalOlympic Committee, which has indulged Beijing at every turn. [...] Chinahas jailed critics, denied visas and threatened news organizations thatnegative coverage could jeopardize their chance to cover the Games.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/opinion/22tue1.html?ref=opinion

-T. Boone Pickens Rides the Wind
President Bush should listen to his fellow Texan and longtime political allythat drilling for more oil is not the answer to the nation's energyproblems. [...] But he knows something that his friends in the White Housewon't acknowledge: that a nation holding less than 3 percent of the world'soil reserves while guzzling 20 percent of the world's production will neverbe able to drill its way out of its dependency on foreign oil.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/opinion/22tue3.html?ref=opinion

-Mideast Sees More of the Same if Obama Is Elected
AMMAN, Jordan - For what feels like forever, Israelis and their Arabneighbors have been hopelessly deadlocked on how to resolve the Palestiniancrisis. But there is one point they may now agree on: If elected president,Senator Barack Obama will not fundamentally recalibrate America'srelationship with Israel, or the Arab world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/world/middleeast/22mideast.html

-Military Trial Begins for Guantánamo Detainee
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba - In a hushed courtroom here on Monday, a militaryjudge opened the first American war crimes trial since World War II,culminating a nearly seven-year effort by the Bush administration to trysome of the hundreds of terrorism suspects held in the detention camp.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/washington/22detain.html

-McCain, at Bush Home, Faults Obama on War Plan
Senator John McCain was like the wallflower at an international politicaldance on Monday as he campaigned at the quiet summer home of a popularPresident Bush, George H. W., while the worldwide news media spotlightbeamed down on Senator Barack Obama in Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/us/politics/22mccain.html

-For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government on Monday left little doubt that it favors awithdrawal plan for American combat troops similar to what Senator BarackObama has proposed, providing Mr. Obama with a potentially powerfulpolitical boost on a day he spent in Iraq working to fortify his credibilityas a wartime leader.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/us/politics/22assess.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1216728809-whN3baPgNKXnMoj6KCYXJw


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

-Event Horizon
Eugene Robinson
Bush is now amenable to a 'time horizon' for Iraq. This is apparently not atall like a timeline.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102361.html

-Judge in Detainee Trial Bars Some Evidence
Prosecutors at Guantanamo trial of Osama bin Laden's driver cannot usestatements that were obtained under "highly coercive" conditions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072100778.html?hpid=topnews

-Obama Makes War Gains
ANALYSIS | Iraqi leader's embrace of withdrawal timeline highlightsDemocrat's good fortune.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102851.html?hpid=topnews

-Young Republicans, Blue About the Prospects Ahead
Gen-Nexters Are Feeling Left Out of the Party
David All glanced around Top of the Hill bar and saw the future of theRepublican Party. It looked dim. A who's who of young conservatives hadgathered, but they were few, and they were frustrated.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102654.html?hpid=artslot

-The Saudi Guide To Piety
Because they are so clearly designed for the convenience of large testingcompanies, I had always assumed that multiple-choice exams, the bane of anyfourth-grader's existence, were a quintessentially American phenomenon. Butapparently I was wrong. According to a report last week by the HudsonInstitute's Center for Religious Freedom, it seems that the Saudi ArabianMinistry of Education finds them useful, too. Here, for example, is amultiple-choice question from a recent edition of a Saudi fourth-gradetextbook, "Monotheism and Jurisprudence," in a section that attempts toteach children to distinguish between "true" and "false" belief in God:
Q. "Is belief true in the following instances:
(a) A man prays but hates those who are virtuous.
(b) A man professes that there is no deity other than God but loves theunbelievers.
(c) A man worships God alone, loves the believers, and hates theunbelievers."
The correct answer, of course, is (c): According to the Wahhabi imams whowrote this textbook, it isn't enough to simply worship God or just to loveother believers; it is important to hate unbelievers, too. By the sametoken, (b) is wrong as well: Even a man who worships God cannot be said tohave "true belief" if he also loves unbelievers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102357.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

-Irreverent Reverends
John McCain's pastors have gone to ground. It's been a rough year for theRepublican presidential candidate's prominent evangelical supporters. TheRev. John Hagee got in hot water for suggesting that God was behind theHolocaust and that the Roman Catholic Church is a "great whore." The Rev.Rod Parsley had some uncharitable thoughts on Islam being an "anti-Christreligion."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102736.html


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

-McCain commercial blames Obama for high gas prices, cites opposition tooffshore drilling
Republican presidential candidate John McCain is launching
a new television ad that blames Democratic rival Barack Obama for risinggasoline prices. The ad, airing on national cable and in 11 battlegroundstates, argues that the cost of fuel is rising because of opposition to oildrilling in the United States. The announcer in the ad says, "Gas prices -$4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no todrilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thankfor rising prices at the pump?" A photograph of Obama appears on the stageas a voiceover of a crowd chants: "Obama, Obama, Obama!"
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-mccain-ad,0,3459941.story

-Congressman Wexler: Lieberman has no credibility with South Florida Jewishvoters
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, said in a news conference today that U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman won't be able to sway South Florida Jewish voters to pick U.S. Sen. John McCain for president.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2008/07/congressman_wexler_lieberman_h.html


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

-Texas, Mexico prepare for Tropical Storm Dolly
Troops were at the ready and residents along the Gulf Coast near theTexas-Mexico border were preparing as Tropical Storm Dolly - expected byforecasters to strengthen into a hurricane this week - headed their way.
http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/613310.html

-Fiddling while the planet burns
The G-8 Summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration ofthe pitiful state of global cooperation. The world is in deepening crisis.Food prices are soaring. Oil prices are at historic highs. The leadingeconomies are entering a recession. Climate change negotiations are goingaround in circles. Aid to the poorest countries is stagnant, despite yearsof promised increases. And yet in this gathering storm it was hard to find asingle real accomplishment by the world's leaders.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/613019.html

-CUBA: Raúl's psychological dependency on Fidel
What is Raúl Castro doing nowadays? It's important to keep track of him. Everybody, including Cuba's ruling nomenklatura, knows that communism iscondemned to disappear from the island. It is the unfinished chapter of theCold War, and the system, as happened everywhere, will eventually bereplaced by a more rational, humane, pluralistic and efficient way to dothings.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/613013.html

=

[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####