NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - August 31, 2008

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

-Op-Ed Columnist: Obama Outwits the Bloviators
STOP the presses! This election isn't about the Clintons after all. It isn'tabout the Acropolis columns erected at Invesco Field. It isn't about who isParis Hilton and who is Hanoi Hilton. (Though it may yet be about who isSarah Palin.) After a weeklong orgy of inane manufactured melodrama labeled"convention coverage" on television, Barack Obama descended in classic deusex machina fashion - yes, that's Greek too - to set the record straight.America is in too much trouble, he said, to indulge in "a big election aboutsmall things."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

-Editorial: The Courts and Mr. Arar
We were deeply disheartened in June when a federal appeals court paneldismissed, on flimsy legal grounds, the civil rights lawsuit brought by Maher Arar. Mr. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was a victim of the Bushadministration's notorious policy of "extraordinary rendition" - theoutsourcing of interrogations to governments known to use torture.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31sun2.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Columnist: Vice in Go-Go Boots?
by MAUREEN DOWD
The guilty pleasure I miss most when I'm out slogging on the campaign trailis the chance to sprawl on the chaise and watch a vacuously spunky andgenerically sassy chick flick. So imagine my delight, my absoluteastonishment, when the hokey chick flick came out on the trail, a Cinderellastory so preposterous it's hard to believe it's not premiering on Lifetime.Instead of going home and watching "Miss Congeniality" with Sandra Bullock,I get to stay here and watch "Miss Congeniality" with Sarah Palin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31dowd.html?ref=opinion

-Editorial: Let's Hear It for New Zealand
If you are feeling anxious - and you should be - about the world's appetitefor nuclear weapons, there is a bit of good news. More countries than weever expected are refusing to be pressured by the United States and India toapprove an ill-conceived nuclear deal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31sun3.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Columnist: Tortured, but Not Silenced
by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
An early test of the next president's moral courage will come as he decideshow to engage two Sudanese people named Bashir. One is President Omaral-Bashir, who faces indictment for genocide by the International CriminalCourt. The other is Dr. Halima Bashir, a young Darfuri woman whom theSudanese authorities have tried to silence by beatings and gang-rape.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/opinion/31kristof.html?ref=opinion

-Drawing Women's Attention, Maybe Not Allegiance
Judith France and her daughter Holly France-Kremin have been torn abouttheir choice for president ever since Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton lostthe Democratic nomination to Senator Barack Obama. Now Senator John McCainhas made up their minds, but in different ways, by his surprise pick ofSarah Palin, the little-known Alaska governor, as his Republican runningmate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/us/politics/31women.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1220191241-ndVhzvo/NV3H4218OU0sxA

-Bush Unlikely to Appear Monday at G.O.P. Convention
President Bush is unlikely to attend the Republican convention in Minnesotaas scheduled Monday because of concerns about Hurricane Gustav, the WhiteHouse said Sunday. Bush planned to get an update on preparations for thestorm, which could make landfall along the Gulf Coast as early as Monday,from disaster relief officials and state and local representatives lateSunday morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush-Gustav.html?hp

-G.O.P. Holds to Firm Stance on Abortion
The Republican Party platform this year will reassert the party's oppositionto abortion. And again it will not allow for exceptions in the cases ofrape, incest or to save the life of the mother, even though Senator JohnMcCain, the presumptive presidential nominee, has long called for suchexceptions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/us/politics/31abortion.html


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

-MCCAIN'S DILEMMA: Sounds Nice, But Will It Get Votes?
Republicans gather for their presidential convention in the Twin Cities thisweek to nominate Arizona Sen. John McCain, a man who "brings a lifetime ofexperience to the campaign," who exhibits "personal courage and heroism,"and who "has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some veryimportant issues." And that's just what Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and BillClinton have to say about him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902335.html

-Continuing Deception: Mr. McCain's ads on taxes are just plain false.
THERE IS a serious debate to be had in this presidential campaign about the fundamentally different tax policies of Barack Obama and John McCain. Thenthere is the phony, misleading and at times outright dishonest debate thatthe McCain campaign has been waging -- most recently with a television ad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001681.html

-GOP Still Adjusting to McCain
Some Conservatives Embrace Him, While Others Still Eye Him Warily
Just after John McCain defeated George W. Bush in the 2000 New Hampshireprimary, Tony Snow, then an interviewer for Fox News Sunday, asked someprominent Republicans about the senator from Arizona. He got an earful.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083002096.html?hpid=topnews

-INFLUENCE IN QUESTION: Long-Standing Feud in Alaska Embroils Palin
For the past several years, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vicepresidential candidate, has been embroiled in a bitter family feud that hasdrawn in the state police, the attorney general, the governor's office andthe state legislature.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083002366.html?hpid=topnews

-New Orleans Empties as Gustav Closes In
Mayor Orders a Full Evacuation as Storm Gathers Over the Gulf of Mexico
Mayor C. Ray Nagin on Saturday night ordered a mandatory evacuation of thiscity ahead of Hurricane Gustav, which swelled from an already deadlytropical storm into a monster depression with winds of more than 150 mph.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083000547.html

-Palin Has Republican Delegates' Confidence
When Washington area Republicans learned that Sen. John McCain had pickedAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate Friday, the feeling was"literally like if the Redskins had just won the Super Bowl," said JeffFrederick, chairman of Virginia's Republican Party, who was already inMinneapolis meeting with fellow conservatives in advance of the RepublicanNational Convention.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001991.html


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

-Gustav taking aim; New Orleans residents ordered out
Residents were ordered to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans Sundayas another monster storm bore down on Louisiana nearly three years to theday after Hurricane Katrina wiped out entire swaths of the city. HurricaneGustav, which already killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean,strengthened quickly into a Category 4 and was poised to become a Category 5storm, packing winds in excess of 156 mph. It slammed Cuba's tobacco-growingwestern tip before moving away from the island country into the Gulf ofMexico.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-hurricane-gustav-2,0,5001907.story

-Complaints mount against Plantation executive job search firm
A lawyer, sales executive and business owner in South Florida turned toPrinceton Executive Group for help securing high-paying jobs withdouble-digit signing bonuses. Out of work in a weak economy with soaringunemployment, these executives sought special expertise to land newpositions earning at least $100,000 a year.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzprinceton0831sbaug31,0,7860026.story

-As officials push religious, anti-West message, many Iranians are defiant
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) _ They file in slowly, patiently submitting to bodysearches, men in one line, black-clad, head-scarved women in another. Mostare poor, old or very young, and most are ready for some America-bashing.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-letter-from-tehran,0,7893564.story

-Latin America: Authoritarians going out of style?
Authoritarian populism in Latin America may have reached its peak. Therecent defeat of the Argentine government's attempt to impose draconiantaxes on its agricultural sector represents the latest in a series of setbacks for governments in the region - such as Bolivia and Venezuela -that use class or racial conflict to justify depriving their middle andupper classes of political and economic power.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-forum31latinsbaug31,0,23367.story

-Choice of pro-life Palin energizes evangelicals
Sarah Palin already has energized conservative religious leaders who hadfretted that John McCain would pick an abortion rights supporter as hisrunning mate. The Alaska governor was raised in a Pentecostal church and hascalled herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flaevangelicals0831sbaug31,0,4700562.story


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

-President Bush -- the elephant in the room
The Republicans gathering in Minnesota for their national convention face an interesting challenge: Hiding George W. Bush under an invisibility cloak.With his approval ratings hovering miserably around 30 percent, thepresident is only slightly more popular than Dick Cheney, who is onlyslightly more popular than Hannibal Lecter.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/664637.html

-Separating obscenity from art
by Leonard Pitts, Jr.
You can't blame Karen Fletcher for deciding not to fight. Had she lost, shefaced the possibility of five years in prison. Under the plea agreement sheaccepted in early August, she got six months of house arrest, five years onprobation and a $1,000 fine. But if the agreement allows Fletcher, ofDonora, Penn., to avoid the more onerous punishment, it also allows us toavoid what surely would have been a violent collision between morality andthe Constitution.
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/


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

-Palin electrifies conservative base
The selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate has electrified conservative activists, providing a boost of energy to the GOPnominee-in-waiting from a key constituency that had been previously had beenlukewarm - at best - about him.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13016.html

-Scholars question Palin credentials
John McCain was aiming to make history with his pick of Alaska Gov. SarahPalin, and historians say he succeeded. Presidential scholars say sheappears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join amajor-party ticket in the modern era.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13001.html

-2 Top Alaska Newspapers Question Palin's Fitness
Since yesterday's shocking arrival of Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain'srunning mate there has been the usual cable news and print blathering aboutthe pick from those who know little about her. But what about thejournalists close to home -- in Alaska -- who know her best and havefollowed her career for years?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/2-top-alaska-newspapers-q_b_122625.html

-Does experience matter anymore?
Stay tuned on Nov. 4
Let's hear it for youth and inexperience. After choosing little-knownAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, it's going to be a littlehard for Sen. John McCain to hold those qualities against Sen. Barack Obama.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0831pageaug31,0,5921458.column

-TILTING AT TURBINES: Making Gore's Switch Isn't Quite So Simple
Al Gore must be kidding. The former vice president, now in his secondcareer as a climate Cassandra, has spent the past few weeks pushing thenotion that the United States can be "repowered" -- that all its electricityneeds can be met without producing greenhouse gases. He says it can be donewithin a decade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902332.html?hpid=opinionsbox1


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MoveOn.Org

-McCain's dangerous choice
Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldestpresident ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for"inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat awayfrom the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreignpolicy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.
Huh? Who is Sarah Palin?
Here's some basic background:
.She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Herprevious office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. Shehas no foreign policy experience.1.Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rapeor incest.2 .She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for presidentin 2000. 3
.Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.4.She's doesn'tthink humans are the cause of climate change.5.She's solidly in line withJohn McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oildrilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued theBush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species-she wasworried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.6 .How closelydid John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. Theyspoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about beingvice-president. Then he offered her the position.7

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