NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - July 26, 2008

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

-Obama Meets With Brown in Britain
LONDON (AP) -- Presidential contender Barack Obama on Saturday defended hisdecision to travel to Europe and the Middle East, saying that problemsencountered by Americans at home are often best dealt with by working withallies overseas.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Obama.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Op-Ed Columnist: Getting to Know You
The conventional wisdom in this radically unconventional presidential raceis that the voters have to get to know Barack Obama better. That's what thisweek's overseas trip was about: to showcase the senator as a potentialcommander in chief and leader of U.S. foreign policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/opinion/26herbert.html?ref=opinion

-4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images
Some journalists say the American military is making a growing effort tocontrol graphic war images from Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/world/middleeast/26censor.html?hp


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

-Megachurch and State
It can't hold as many screaming fans as the football stadium in Denver,where Sen. Barack Obama will address an expected crowd of 75,000 on Aug. 28.Nor is it conveniently located near the scenic Mississippi River, like thearena in St. Paul, Minn., where Sen. John McCain will take the stage a fewdays later. But the 3,000-seat auditorium at pastor Rick Warren's SaddlebackChurch does have one notable advantage: It's a stage that Obama and McCainlast week agreed to share, at least for a little while, on Aug. 16.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502256.html

-Failing in Civility
John McCain falls short of the standard he set by impugning Barack Obama'smotives. POLITICIANS SAY a lot of things in the heat of campaigns that theyend up regretting -- or ought to regret. Sen. John McCain, the presumptiveRepublican presidential nominee, had one of those unfortunate moments theother day, when he charged that his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama,"would rather lose the war to win a political campaign."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072503163.html

-Banished From Beijing
Having done business with Iraq's Uday Hussein, the Olympics' overseersdecide to penalize his successors. WHEN IRAQ'S Olympic team paraded at the2000 Summer Games in Sydney, the head of the country's Olympic Committee wasUday Hussein, the notoriously sadistic son of dictator Saddam Hussein. Udaymade Baghdad's Olympic facilities the headquarters for his own epic feats ofrape, torture and murder; among those he brutalized were athletes on thenational team who failed to live up to his expectations. His may have beenthe foulest abuse of a national Olympic movement in history. Yet theInternational Olympic Committee found a way to live with Uday, just as ithas tolerated the manipulations of sports teams by totalitarian governmentsaround the world -- including this year's host, China.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502569.html

-U.S. Broadens Sanctions to Pressure Mugabe
President Bush yesterday signed an executive order expanding sanctionsagainst companies and individuals linked with Zimbabwean President RobertMugabe, part of an effort by Western nations to ratchet up the pressure on agovernment accused of killing and terrorizing political opponents in orderto remain in power.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072501245.html?hpid=sec-politics


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

-RELIGION: Equality of priesthood ordained, these women say
A group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests moves forward with threeordinations despite protests from the Vatican. Judith A.B. Lee of FortMyers wanted to be a minister since her teenage years, when she would visitthe sick and elderly with her Methodist pastor in Brooklyn after youth groupmeetings.
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/story/617406.html


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

-36 Hours In Israel (With Barack Obama)
When John McCain visited Israel last March hardly anyone noticed. WhenBarack Obama did the same this week he caused a sensation. It was the mostchoreographed of visits: Two nights and one day in Israel, seeminglydesigned by the kind of tour guide interested only in providing his chargeswith the ultimate number of snapshot opportunities at clichéd places -- fromObama wearing a white skullcap at Yad Vashem,to Obama at the Western Wall,in a white skullcap. There were no leaks while Barack Obama was in Israel,no drama, no gaffes -- to the disappointment of a vast media contingentintent only on bringing home gaffes as souvenirs -- and precious littlesleep. At his press conference in the rocket-scarred southern Israeli townof Sderot, Obama's syntax meandered; in a conversation with BenjaminNetanyahu, Obama said, "I could fall asleep standing up." Nonetheless, hedid not refer to the Iran-Israel border.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=36_hours_in_israel_with_barack_obama

-Obama's private prayer published in Israeli paper
Barack Obama's visit to the Western Wall was a public event. The handwrittenprayer the presidential candidate left there was meant to be private.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008074312_obamanote26.html

-Iraq War's Price Tag Nears Vietnam's
Congressional Estimate Puts U.S. Costs In Iraq At $648B; Vietnam Cost $686BIn 2008 Dollars
The total cost of the Iraq war is approaching the Vietnam War's expense, acongressional report estimates, while spending for military operations after9/11 has exceeded it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/25/national/main4296368.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4296368

-Kinda Sorta Impeaching the President
"It seems that we are hosting an anger management class," Republican Rep.Lamar Smith of Texas told his colleagues on the House Judiciary Committeeyesterday morning. He had a point.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072503077.html?hpid=news-col-blogs

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