NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - July 31, 2008

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

-A Senate Lion Brought Down
The lesson in the indictment of Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens strikes at theheart of the back-scratching political culture of Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/opinion/31thu1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

-For Your Displeasure
By Chris Suellentrop
Ed Kilgore of The Democratic Strategist says Barack Obama is almost certainto "displease a significant number of people" when he picks his runningmate: "If it's true, as the CW holds today, that Obama's pretty much down toa choice of Kaine, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, or Kathleen Sebelius, there's not aname in that group who wouldn't displease a significant number of people."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/for-your-displeasure/index.html?ref=opinion

-Grow Your Own
"Edible landscape" seems to be going head to head with "staycation" as themost popular catch phrase of Summer 2008. Lawns may not be disappearingbefore our very eyes, but citizens are definitely swapping out blades ofgrass for bushels of beans in increasing numbers. Take me for instance, abona fide city dweller: As a follow up to my column in March on thereclamation of urban and suburban land for agricultural use, I've spent thelast several weeks putting theory into practice, literally getting my handsdirty (and whatever other cliché I can unearth) in the interest of urbanagriculture.
http://arieff.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/grow-your-own/index.html?ref=opinion

-Editorial: A Fresh Start With Pakistan
Pakistan's new civilian prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, is in Washingtonthis week for what we are sure will be a difficult set of meetings. Mr.Gilani's constituents deeply resent the United States for propping up andenabling their former dictator, Pervez Musharraf. President Bush, whodirected that enabling, must have his own serious doubts about Mr. Gilani'swillingness to fight Taliban and Qaeda forces that are using Pakistan as asafe haven.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/opinion/28mon1.html?ref=opinion

-With Commercial, McCain Gets Much More Than His Money's Worth
The number of times Senator John McCain's new advertisement attackingSenator Barack Obama for canceling a visit with wounded troops in Germanylast week has been shown fully or partly on local, national and cablenewscasts: well into the hundreds. The number of times that spot actually,truly ran as a paid commercial: roughly a dozen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30ads.html

-Bluff Called, Karadzic Awaits Trial in U.N. Cell
THE HAGUE - Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader who wastransferred early Wednesday from Serbia to a jail cell near here, willappear in public court on Thursday for the first time to answer charges ofgenocide and war crimes. Open to spectators and recorded by an officialcourt camera, the hearing will begin legal proceedings against him, as wellas offer a first public glimpse of the man who evaded capture for 13 years,most recently hiding behind a bushy beard and white hair as a practitionerof alternative medicine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/world/europe/31hague.html

-China to Limit Web Access During Olympic Games
BEIJING - The International Olympic Committee failed to press China to allowfully unfettered access to the Internet for the thousands of journalistsarriving here to cover the Olympics, despite promising repeatedly that theforeign news media could "report freely" during the Games, Olympic officialsacknowledged Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/sports/olympics/31china.html

-A New Generation of Republicans in Alaska
For the first time in four decades, politics in Alaska is a brand-new gamefor both Republicans and Democrats because of the indictment of Senator TedStevens, the state's longtime Republican patriarch. Gov. Sarah Palin was apolitical upstart and Mr. Stevens was still the powerful, irascible seniorsenator from Alaska, delivering billions of federal dollars to his homestate, when federal agents raided the offices of six state legislators twoyears ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/us/politics/31alaska.html?hp

-Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart
The young law professor stood apart in too many ways to count. At a schoolwhere economic analysis was all the rage, he taught rights, race and gender.Other faculty members dreamed of tenured positions; he turned them down.While most colleagues published by the pound, he never completed a singlework of legal scholarship.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html

-Shorts Crack the Code
FIRST came Casual Fridays, that dread episode in the history of fashion,with their invitation for men to trade in suits for Dockers and to swap aproper shirt and tie for an open neck and a daring flash of masculinedécolletage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/fashion/31shorts.html


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

-When Congress Works
If you were to ask Democrats Barney Frank and Chris Dodd -- the principalarchitects of the massive housing bill signed yesterday by President Bush --which of its many features pleases them most, the answer would surprise you.It is not the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the embattled mortgagegiants, or the aid the bill provides for thousands of homeowners strugglingto afford their subprime loans in a faltering real estate market.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073002950.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

-Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights
Proposal Would Deny Federal Money if Employees Must Provide Care to WhichThey Object
A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers whoobject to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount toabortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religiousfreedom and patients' rights.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073003246.html?hpid=topnews

-One Billion Lives
A global initiative aims to keep tobacco from ravaging the developing world.DISEASES CAUSED by tobacco killed an estimated 100 million people during the20th century and could kill 1 billion in the 21st if nothing is done torestrain tobacco companies from pushing their products in the developingworld. Those companies show no sign of slowing their marketing campaigns ontheir own; Philip Morris International's sales, for example, were up 18.5percent this year over the same period last year in Eastern Europe, theMiddle East and Africa. Tobacco companies are bringing a new public healthdisaster to countries that can least afford one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073002908.html


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

-Studies link missing DNA to risk of schizophrenia
Two huge international studies show that people who lack certain chunks ofDNA run a dramatically higher risk of getting schizophrenia, a finding thatcould help open new doors to understanding and diagnosing the disease.These deletions are rare, each found in less than 1 percent of schizophreniapatients. But each one boosts the risk of disease by as much as 15-fold, byone estimate.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-flaschizophrenia031sbjul31,0,2903539.story

-Effort to get Obama to pick Clinton as his No. 2 ends with conclusion shewon't be picked
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-obama-clinton,0,3125588.story


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

-POLITICAL HIRING REPORT REQUIRES FURTHER INVESTIGATION
The most damning part of the report on political hiring within theJusticeDepartment is the evidence of a systematic, deliberate effort tobreak downthe walls between law enforcement and politics that was fullyencouraged byPresident Bush's White House. It defies belief to think thatzealous mid-level operatives like Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson couldengage in outrageous, clearly improper political vetting of candidates forJusticeDepartment jobs without the explicit consent, if not direction,ofhigher-ups. The report of the department's inspector general shows thattheWhite House was actively involved in hiring decisions, even to the pointofdeveloping a ''seminar'' on how to weed out those deemed
politicallysuspect.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/622644.html

-Tear down the walls in the West Bank
By YOUSEF MUNAYYER
Before leaving Israel last week, Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obamatold reporters that, if elected, he plans to immediately engage inpeacemaking efforts between Israelis and Palestinians, based on theprinciple of two states for two peoples. However, before Obama's planelanded in Germany for his next stop, an Israeli government panel approvedthe building of a new settlement deep inside the West Bank's Jordan Valley.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/622654.html

-THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
Do Latin Americans pay fewer taxes? Sure
It's official: Latin Americans pay fewer taxes than people in almost anyother region of the world. Two new studies by the United Nations EconomicCommission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) say that LatinAmerican governments' tax collection is not only way below that of theworld's 30 most industrialized countries, but also lower than that ofSoutheast Asia and Africa.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/624097.html

-The liberals made him do it
by Leonard Pitts
Had it not been liberals, it would have been something else. Let's grantthat from the beginning. Broken people, after all, can always find someequally broken rationale for the carnage they cause. And the brokenness of58-year-old Jim Adkisson can hardly be doubted after he walked into aUnitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday and, accordingto police, shot eight people, killing two.
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/622640.html

-BBC banned but pornography for sale in Beijing Olympics village
London, July 29 : Athletes staying in the Beijing Olympics athletesvillagewill be able to purchase a wide variety of soft pornography, butcannotwatch the Chinese news page of the BBC as it is still banned. Theblocking of politically sensitive sites, including those dealing with Tibetand Taiwan, remained in place today despite government assurancesthatcensorship would be lifted during the Games, The Telegraph reported.The ban is in contrast to the more liberal attitude of the Games villagebookshop, which sells erotic books featuring provocative pictures of nakedwomen with titles such as "Drawing book for the Nude".
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-2910.html


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Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-CASE IN POINT: Hong v. Grant (2007)
When It Comes to Free Speech, Is a Professor Just Another GovernmentEmployee? A case pending in a federal court of appeals in California mayclarify a surprisingly murky question: Do faculty members at publicuniversities enjoy a special privilege to speak freely about institutionalmatters, or, as far as the First Amendment is concerned, are they justanother category of government hirelings?
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=DTyDX5bkpDbbV4pDRHkW2wYhGsdbK5xd


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

-BARACK STAR: WILL McCAIN'S ATTACKS BACKFIRE?
"The new McCain ad depicts Obama as a celebrity akin to Britney Spears andParis Hilton -- pretty, pampered . . . not up for being president," ABC'sJake Tapper reported on "Good Morning America" Thursday. "Now Obama iscasting McCain -- who already has a reputation for having a temper -- asnegative and angry."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=3105288&page=1

-Oil Boom: Exxon Breaks Record for Profits by U.S. Company
Buoyed by High Oil Prices, ExxonMobil Reports $11.68B Profits
Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, thebiggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results fellwell short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell in premarket trading.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PainAtThePump/story?id=5487220

-Poll: Obama, McCain tied in Ohio, Florida
THE RACE: The presidential race in Florida
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/31/poll_obama_mccain_tied_in_ohio_florida/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

-Obama's remarks spark a skirmish
The latest skirmish over whether Barack Obama is being presumptuous revolvedyesterday about what exactly he told congressional Democrats in a pep talk.The Washington Post reported that in the closed meeting Tuesday evening,Obama talked about his triumphant visit to Europe and declared, "I havebecome a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our besttraditions."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/31/obamas_remarks_spark_a_skirmish/

-Obama's best strategy? Attack
McCain's 'maverick' myth and ties to Bush should be prime targets. Ifyou've heard anything at all about John McCain during the last few weeks,what you've probably heard is that he's losing. His advisors hate eachother, the media are ignoring him, and he's getting photographed in golfcarts and supermarket cheese aisles while his opponent strikes Kennedyesqueposes.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chait31-2008jul31,0,4864579.story?track=rss

-Fox News, Pat Buchanan get 'Thumbs Down'
As part of the UNITY convention, the National Association of Black Journalists have released their annual Thumbs Down awards -- handed toindividuals or media organizations taking actions at odds with the effortsof NABJ to spread fair and comprehesive coverage of minorities.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2008/07/fox-news-and-pa.html

-In presidential fundraising ranks, a gender gap is showing
In a historic election in which a woman almost won the Democraticnomination, men dominate the ranks of elite fundraisers in the presidentialrace, a USA TODAY analysis shows. Women account for 59 out of more than 500top fundraisers in Republican John McCain's campaign. Democrat Barack Obamahas 148 female fundraisers out of more than 500.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-07-30-gender_N.htm?csp=34

-McCain's Tax Blunder
One of the miracles of this Presidential election campaign is that JohnMcCain still has a chance to win, notwithstanding his best attempts to kickit away. In his latest random policy improvisation, the Arizona Senatortried to give up the tax issue.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121737539116495163.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks

-Q&A on mortgage rescue bill
Bush signs legislation to aid many distressed homeowners.
President Bush signed a housing bill Wednesday intended to rescue about 15percent of the cash-strapped homeowners in fear of foreclosure in the nextyear or so. Early in the morning and out of public view, the presidentsigned it without fanfare in the Oval Office, adding his signature to ameasure he once threatened to veto. The White House said he was accompaniedby Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Housing and Urban Development SecretarySteve Preston and other administration officials.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/BIZ01/807310346&imw=Y

-Scraping the bottom of the oil barrel a significant new climate riskExploitation of North America's shale and tar-sand oil reserves couldincrease atmospheric CO2 levels by up to 15%, a new report from WWF-UK andthe major UK financial group Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS) haswarned.
http://www.enn.com/energy/article/37783

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