NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 17, 2008

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

-Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education
By SAM DILLON
A $10 billion promise would be the largest new initiative for young children since Head Start began in 1965.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/us/politics/17early.html?hp

-Bush Prepares Crisis Briefings to Aid Obama
By PETER BAKER
The White House has created contingency plans to help Barack Obama in the event of an early crisis
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/us/politics/17transition.html?hp

-Fixing Interior
As secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar's most urgent task will be to remove the influence of politics and ideology from decisions that are best left to science.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/opinion/17wed1.html?ref=opinion

-As Privacy Ends for Kennedy, a Rough Path Awaits
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
Caroline Kennedy's decision to enter politics represents a gamble on her carefully cultivated reputation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/nyregion/17kennedy.html?hp

-Impeachment Inquiry Hits Bumps in Illinois
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/us/17illinois.html

-Two-Parent Black Families Showing Gains
By SAM ROBERTS
The number of black children being raised by two parents appears to be edging higher than at any time in a generation, at nearly 40 percent, according to newly released census data.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/us/17census.html?hp

-The Evidence Gap
Geography Has Role in Medicare Cancer Coverage
By STEPHANIE SAUL
The medical tool's catchy name, CyberKnife, evokes digital accuracy. But the way the federal Medicare system treats CyberKnife seems anything but precise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/health/policy/17knife.html?hp

-The Great Unraveling
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Our banking crisis has made it increasingly clear that the U.S. and China are becoming two countries, one system. But they appear to be on very different historical trajectories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/opinion/17wed1.html?ref=opinion

-First Face Transplant Performed in the U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/health/17face.html


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

-A New Education Secretary
In Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, Barack Obama finds a reform-minded pragmatist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121602475.html

-Salazar Selected for Interior
Colorado lawmaker is known for brokering deals between warring interests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121602651.html?hpid=topnews

-India's Greatest Ally: Pakistan
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/vivian_salama/2008/12/indias_greatest_ally_pakistan.html

-Germany's 'Madame No'
By Michael Weber
On a recent cover of Der Spiegel, Germany's leading newsmagazine, she's referred to as "Angela Mutlos". Translation: Fainthearted Angela. The headline of a recent article in The Economist asks where she can be found. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's response to the world's economic crisis has been slow and hesitant, earning her the nickname of Madame No in media across Europe
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/sais/nexteurope/2008/12/germanys_madame_no.html

-Detroit Papers Drop Home Delivery to 3 Days a Week
By Ed White
Fighting to stay in business, Detroit's two daily newspapers will cut home delivery to three days a week, print smaller editions on other days and encourage people to get information online. The Detroit market is the largest in the country to undergo that transformation. The move reflects a calculation facing the newspaper industry, with print circulation dropping as readers increasingly get their news on the Internet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121602699.html?hpid=sec-business

-Rep. Jackson Said to Have Reported Blagojevich Request
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121602846.html

-On violent day in Iraq, Britain affirms withdrawal
By JIM HEINTZ
BAGHDAD -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday his country's troops will leave Iraq by May 31, ending a mission that provided the second-largest military presence in Iraq after the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121700219.html?hpid=moreheadlines


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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us

-Bush Abortion Rules Face Possible Reversal
A swath of abortion and other reproductive-health issues are under review by the Obama team, which is preparing to reverse a variety of Bush measures.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122947155578512197.html

-Road Risks Rise as Drivers Drop Insurance
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122947388659212351.html


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

-GOP wrong to reject Detroit
BY PATRICK J. BUCHANAN
`G OP to Detroit: Drop Dead!'' What are Republicans thinking of, pulling the plug, at Christmas, on GM, risking swift death for the greatest manufacturing company in American history, a strategic asset and pillar of the U.S. economy?
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/815984.html


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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-A Test of Political Knowledge
Hillary's New Job Better Known than Dow Jones Average
While just about everyone knows Obama's new secretary of state, fewer than half were generally aware of where the Dow is trading these days. A new Pew News IQ survey provides an updated look at the public's knowledge of political and world affairs. Read more

-How Much Do You Know?
Test your own knowledge of current affairs against that of the broader public before you read the report in our updated online quiz. Read more
-Labor Report
Latino Workers in the Ongoing Recession: 2007 to 2008
The current recession has seen a small but significant decline in the percentage of Latino immigrants active in the U.S. labor force; however, the absolute number of immigrant Latinos working or seeking work still increased slightly over the last year. Read more

-Online Oracles
Future of the Internet III: How the Experts See It
A survey of internet leaders and analysts finds they expect the phone to become a primary device for online access, artificial and virtual reality to become more embedded in everyday life and the architecture of the internet itself to improve. But they disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance or better home lives. Read more

-Daily Number 36% - Tattooed Gen Nexters
Gen Nexters, Americans in the 18-25 age bracket, are not afraid to express themselves through their appearance and tattoos are the most popular form of self-expression -- more than one-in-three (36%) now has one. Check back every weekday for another number in the news. Read more


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Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-China Closes the Clean-Coal Gap
The United States and China are both focusing on technologies to clean up coal power.
By Peter Fairley
China looks set to overtake the United States in the application of technologies to clean up coal-fired power generation, if several proposed projects come to fruition. GreenGen--a joint venture established by Chinese utilities--has broken ground on China's first integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant and signed agreements to build two more.
At the same time IGCC is stalled in the US. In February, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) canceled an advanced IGCC technology demonstration project called FutureGen, and climate concerns have paralyzed all but one of 30-plus IGCC projects proposed by U.S. utilities since 2000. GreenGen is now the most advanced project of its kind in the world, according to Ming Sung, Beijing-based Asia/Pacific representative for the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit environmental consulting firm based in Boston. "They are ahead because they have completed engineering [and] design, major equipment is selected and on order, and site preparation and foundation [work] has begun," says Ming.
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=21887&channel=energy§ion=


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

-How the SEC Got in Bed with the Madoffs. Literally.
by Charlie Gasparino
Inside the twisted loyalties and conflicts that kept Wall Street's top cop from catching one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history. Since the story of Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme broke, a recurring theme has been shock over how Wall Street's top cop-the Securities and Exchange Commission-missed so many red flags. Knowing more about who did the SEC's investigations makes it all less surprising.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-12-16/how-the-sec-got-in-bed-with-the-madoffs-literally/

-Will Arne Duncan Shake Up America's Schools?
By Kathleen Kingsbury
A willingness to compromise. In the heated world of education politics, that was the clearest message coming from President-elect Barack Obama when he tapped Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan to become the next Secretary of Education. (See Obama's other Cabinet picks.)
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1866783,00.html

-The case of the vanishing GOP voter
By Eric Fehrnstrom
AN ORGANIZATION beset by declining market share is in need of radical restructuring. Meanwhile, it's desperately looking for someone, anyone, to bail it out of its current predicament.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/12/17/the_case_of_the_vanishing_gop_voter/

-Dude, where's my $700 billion?
By Mike Madden
Congress handed Wall Street a huge wad of cash to jump-start the economy. It didn't work -- so where did all that money go? Giving $700 billion to a bunch of Wall Street bankers was never overwhelmingly popular. Back in October, the weekend after Congress passed what was supposed to be an emergency plan to save the economy, only 40 percent of voters said they liked the idea. But the stock market was tanking, and banks looked pretty woozy and, the theory went, the bailout would help stabilize things.

-White House pressured by lawmakers on auto bailout
The Bush administration faces competing pressures from lawmakers in different congressional factions as it reviews its options for bailing out the downtrodden U.S. auto industry. Conservative Republicans implored the White House not to use money from the $700 billion bailout for the financial sector to aid carmakers. A leading House Democrat, meanwhile, said the government should secure veto power over the companies' business decisions as part of any aid.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/12/17/white_house_pressured_by_lawmakers_on_auto_bailout/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/12/17/700_billion/index.html

-How We Got the Worst Health Care System Mountains of Money Can Buy
By Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello and Brendan Smith, TruthOut.org.
As Americans respond to President-elect Barack Obama's call for town hall meetings on reform of the American health care system, an understanding of how that system came to be the way it is can be crucial for figuring out how to fix it. The American health care system is unique because, for most of us, it is tied to our jobs rather than to our government. For many Americans, the system seems natural, but few know that it originated not as a well-thought-out plan to provide for Americans' health, but as a way to circumvent a quirk in wartime wage regulations that had nothing to do with health.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/113112/how_we_got_the_worst_health_care_system_mountains_of_money_can_buy/


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