NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - August 10, 2008

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

-Energy Fictions
A nation that uses one-quarter of the world's oil while possessing less than3 percent of its reserves cannot drill its way to happiness at the pump.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10sun1.html?adxnnl=1&ref=opinion&adxnnlx=1218369620-NQwRxiP4d6afB3INuUHb5A

-The United States v. the Driver
The priority assigned to Salim Ahmed Hamdan is an example of President Bush's hapless approach to combating terrorism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10sun2.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Columnist: Flush With Energy
The Arctic Hotel in Ilulissat, Greenland, is a charming little place on theWest Coast, but no one would ever confuse it for a Four Seasons - maybe aOne Seasons. But when my wife and I walked back to our room after dinner theother night and turned down our dim hallway, the hall light went on. It wastriggered by an energy-saving motion detector. Our toilet even had twodifferent flushing powers depending on - how do I say this delicately - whatexactly you're flushing. A two-gear toilet! I've never found any of this atan American hotel. Oh, if only we could be as energy efficient as Greenland!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Columnist: Make Diplomacy, Not War
Iraq and Afghanistan are the messes getting attention today, but they areonly symptoms of a much broader cancer in American foreign policy. A fewglimpses of this larger affliction: The United States has more musicians inits military bands than it has diplomats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10kristof.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Contributor: Learning to Read Democrat
THE purpose of a party platform is pandering, but it is pandering of aparticular sort. The Democratic Party's platform committee has produced its2008 edition, and now this draft awaits approval at the Democratic NationalConvention later this month. Like all platforms, it is not an outreachdocument. It is aimed at the faithful, under the assumption that only theywill read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10kinsley.html?ref=opinion

-Woman in Edwards Affair Will Not Allow DNA Test
A day after former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina offered to take apaternity test to prove he did not father a child out of wedlock, the womanwith whom he admitted having an affair, Rielle Hunter, said Saturday thatshe would never agree to such a test.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/us/politics/10edwards.html

-The Food Chain: Darfur Withers as Sudan Sells Food
ED DAMER, Sudan - Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food frominternational donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of itsown crops to other countries, capitalizing on high global food prices at atime when millions of people in its war-riddled region of Darfur barely haveenough to eat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/africa/10sudan.html?hp

-Hopes Grow For Zimbabwe Power - Sharing Deal
HARARE (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki, mediating inZimbabwe's crisis, began meetings with President Robert Mugabe and thecountry's opposition leaders on Sunday amid signs a power-sharing deal isclose.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-zimbabwe-crisis.html

-News Analysis: In Georgia Clash, a Lesson on U.S. Need for Russia
The image of President Bush smiling and chatting with Prime MinisterVladimir V. Putin of Russia from the stands of the Beijing Olympics even asRussian aircraft were shelling Georgia outlines the reality of America'sRussia policy. While America considers Georgia its strongest ally in thebloc of former Soviet countries, Washington needs Russia too much on bigissues like Iran to risk it all to defend Georgia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/europe/10diplo.html

-Slipstream: Olympics Online, With a Hook
CAN the leopard shed his spots? This month, Microsoft is offering Websurfers in the United States a seductive viewing treat. In conjunction withNBC, the software publisher is offering thousands of hours of free videodirect from the Olympics in Beijing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/sports/olympics/10stream.html

-A Tall, Cool Drink of ... Sewage?
Before I left New York for California, where I planned to visit awater-recycling plant, I mopped my kitchen floor. Afterward, I emptied thebucket of dirty water into the toilet and watched as the foamy mess swirledaway. This was one of life's more mundane moments, to be sure. But withwater infrastructure on my mind, I took an extra moment to contemplate mywater's journey through city pipes to the wastewater-treatment plant, whichseparates solids and dumps the disinfected liquids into the ocean.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine/10wastewater-t.html


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

-THE UNITER: That Was the Obama We're Still Waiting For
As the Democratic convention approaches, it's a safe bet that the cablenetworks will transport us back in time to late July 2004 by showing clipsof Barack Obama's electrifying keynote address to that year's gathering.That was the speech that made him a star (and unlike John McCain's ad team,I mean this as a compliment). But I've sometimes wondered in recent months:Whatever happened to that Obama, to that enemy of excessive partisanship andevangelist of national unity?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802944.html

-Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit, Analysis Finds
Democrat's Promise to Cut Taxes Without Adding to Debt Relies on Bush FiscalPolicy
On the campaign trail, Sen. Barack Obama bashes President Bush for"reckless" economic policies that are "mortgaging our children's future on amountain of debt." But the Democratic presidential candidate has adopted akey component of Bush's fiscal policy: A novel bookkeeping method thatguarantees that the $9.5 trillion national debt will get much bigger.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR2008080901860.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Detainee May Not Go Free After Sentence
U.S. Still Might Hold Hamdan as 'Combatant'
The short sentence a military jury handed down this week to the first manconvicted of terrorism-related charges at a Guantanamo Bay trial has takenthe Defense Department by surprise, spurring high-level discussions aboutwhat to do with Salim Ahmed Hamdan when his sentence expires in January.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/09/AR2008080900800.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Raising Issues Of Race in Anglican Rift
Conservatives' Links to Africans Questioned by Black U.S. Bishops
CANTERBURY, England -- For five years, conservative Episcopalians eager toescape their liberal U.S. church have been building ties with AfricanAnglicans half a world away.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080803256.html?hpid=sec-religion


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

-Is your drinking water safe? Tips on how to check it
Ask your water company for its most recent Consumer Confidence Report, whichwill list the contaminants found.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ferntestboxsbaug10,0,4256850.story

-John Edwards' affair was most costly political risk, sinking a once-soaring political career
Backed by his friendly Southern drawl, the practiced charm of a courtroomwarrior and a smile bright enough to blind the camera's eye, John Edwardsnever lacked the confidence to take the big risk.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-edwards-affair,0,3045050.story

-Photos from Beijing
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/olympics/la-olympics-photos-2008-pg,0,207253.photogallery


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

-Historic global boom hits the wall
The global economy is a runaway train that is slowing, but not quicklyenough. That is what the extraordinary run-up in prices for oil, metals andfood is screaming at us. The spectacular and historic global economic boomof the past six years is about to hit a wall. Unfortunately, no one,certainly not in Asia or the United States, seems willing to bite the bulletand help engineer the necessary coordinated retreat to sustained sub-trendgrowth, which is necessary so that new commodity supplies and alternativescan catch up.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/634426.html

-AFGHANISTAN
General: More troops aren't the answer
There's military slang that seemingly applies to the situation on the groundin Afghanistan today. The operative acronym is FUBAR -- Fouled Up Beyond AllRecognition. One of the sharper military analysts I know has just returnedfrom a tour of that sorrowful nation, which has been at war continuouslysince the Soviet army invaded it in late 1979.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/634427.html


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Echelon Magazine
Newspapers in the Digital Age: Not Dead, Just Different:
It used to be that delivering a superior news product was enough to buildbrand consistency and guarantee success. A great editorial environment wasalways the foundation for attracting print advertisers in search of aqualified consumer audience.
http://www.echelonmagazine.com/index.php?id=338


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

-Democrats derail bid by Clinton backers to ban caucuses
Devoted Hillary Clinton supporters urged the Democratic Party Saturday toend caucuses, the town hall meetings in states like Iowa where Clinton'spresidential campaign first stumbled and Barack Obama launched his march tothe nomination.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/635471.html

-Democrats inch closer to universal health care
Democrats shaped a set of principles Saturday that commits the party toguaranteed health care for all, heading off a potentially divisive debateand edging the party closer to the position of Barack Obama's defeatedrival, Hillary Clinton.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-fladems00810sbaug10,0,5947978.story

-Elizabeth Edwards: This isn't "just John's cause"
As the nurse fumbled to find the vein in her arm Wednesday, ElizabethEdwards, bracing for the worst possible news, said her decision about herhusband's presidential campaign was sealed. A doctor already had told her abone scan revealed that her cancer had returned in an incurable form.Edwards was preparing for further tests - ones she said she expected wouldreveal a perilous spread of the cancer - and her husband, who is squeamishabout IVs, had left the room.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003635018_mrsedwards25.html

-FBI admits spying on multiple US reporters, apologizes
Offers no explanation for spying -
We're sorry.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/FBI_admits_spying_on_multiple_US_0809.html

-POLITICS: Defining 'home' can be a stretch for politicians
In grand South Florida tradition, some politicians have tenuous connectionswith the districts they represent -- or hope to.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/635766.html

-A Six-Figure Solution Missing One Common-Sense Addition
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the picture on the ground inIraq is quickly making military personnel who can translate Arabicpriceless. This morning's Christian Science Monitor reports that the Armyis preparing to offer a staggering $150,000 retention bonus to servicemembers who are proficient in Arabic, "in reflection of how critical it hasbecome for the US military to retain native language and cultural know-howin its ranks." Indeed, as the war in Iraq goes on, and the militarysubsequently finds fewer and fewer people anxious for extended stays in thedesert, retaining trained troops is becoming a critical centerpiece of manycommanders' strategies. The supply of Arabic speakers just isn't keeping upwith the demand created by ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-ralls/a-six-figure-solution-mis_b_116975.html

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