NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - January 26, 2009

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

-Op-Ed Columnist: Bad Faith Economics
By PAUL KRUGMAN
As the debate over President Obama's economic stimulus plan gets under way, one thing is certain: many of the plan's opponents aren't arguing in good faith. Conservatives really, really don't want to see a second New Deal, and they certainly don't want to see government activism vindicated. So they are reaching for any stick they can find with which to beat proposals for increased government spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/opinion/26krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

-Editorial: Texas Two-Step
One would think that by now the teaching-evolution-in-schools debate was settled. But not in Texas, where the State Board of Education fumbled a decision on curriculum standards last week. The struggle will be resumed in March, when the board is scheduled to take its final votes on new science standards that will govern what is taught in the classroom and in textbooks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/opinion/26mon3.html?ref=opinion

-Banking Nationalization Gets a New, Serious Look
By DAVID E. SANGER
Only five days into the Obama presidency, members of the new administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: Is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation's banking system?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/business/economy/26banks.html?hp


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

-A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls
By Yasmeen Hassan
I have such fond childhood memories of summer holidays in the Swat Valley in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, a place well known among Pakistanis for its breathtaking views, cool summer climate and lush fruit orchards. But today the Swat Valley is experiencing heartbreaking pressures, as the Taliban strike with disconcerting regularity and, among other atrocities, impose a ban on the education of girls.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/25/AR2009012501770.html

-Ready-for-Disaster Republicans
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Beneath the warm pledges of bipartisanship and the earnest calls for cooperation in the midst of a grave crisis lurks an unpleasant fact: From the moment it loses power, the opposition party turns to the task of getting it back.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/25/AR2009012501771.html

-World court told Congo warlord used children to kill
By Aaron Gray-Block
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga trained child soldiers to kill, pillage and rape, a prosecutor told the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the start of its first war crimes trial Monday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012600516.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Pastor: New Life will recover from new allegations
By DAN ELLIOTT
New Life Church will recover from new allegations in the 2-year-old sex scandal that brought down founder Ted Haggard, its pastor said Sunday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/25/AR2009012501094.html?hpid=sec-religion


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

-Obama Moves to Let States Set Own Rules on Emissions
By STEPHEN POWER and LAURA MECKLER
President Barack Obama plans to call on the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to consider allowing states including California to regulate automobile greenhouse-gas emissions, said people familiar with the administration's thinking.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123293646635914469.html


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

-Republicans step up criticism of Obama
Sen. John McCain and House Minority Leader John Boehner object to the economic stimulus plan. McCain also criticizes a Pentagon appointment and the decision to close Guantanamo.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-stimulus26-2009jan26,0,7544832.story

-Biden: We've Inherited A Real Mess
Face The Nation: VP Says Stimulus Plan Is Off and Running, But U.S. Faces Challenges On Pak-Afghan Front, Closing Gitmo
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/25/ftn/main4752148.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

-Bush's legal foes now Obama's legal team
By BEN SMITH
President Barack Obama is staffing his Justice Department with some of his predecessor's fiercest critics, and lawyers who have spent years defining the limits of executive power will now be helping to wield it.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17895.html

-Gillibrand unpopular among peers
By PATRICK O'CONNOR & GLENN THRUSH
Within the high school gossip circle that is New York's congressional delegation, Kirsten Gillibrand's nickname is "Tracy Flick" - a not-so-flattering reference to the over-eager, blonde, bubbly and viciously competitive Reese Witherspoon character from "Election."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17877.html

-Hamas Proposes Year-Long Truce With Israel
By AP / SALAH NASRAWI
(CAIRO, Egypt) - Hamas officials in Cairo are proposing a year-long truce with Israel and an opening of the crossings into the Gaza Strip.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1873885,00.html

-Impeachment trial to proceed without Illinois governor
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS
If there's such a thing as a "normal" impeachment trial, the one that starts Monday in Illinois doesn't qualify. The defendant, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, won't participate. He'll be talking to Whoopi Goldberg and Larry King instead of facing the state Senate. And while the Democrat acknowledges his conviction is certain, he refuses to resign.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/national-116/1232917456161010.xml&storylist=topstories

-Twenty-five people at the heart of the meltdown ...
Julia Finch, with additional reporting by Andrew Clark and David Teather
The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part. In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump, Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis - Poll: Who led us down the Road to Ruin?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy

-White House, GOP spar over speed of stimulus
By Ken Dilanian
Obama administration officials vowed Sunday to spend three-quarters of the president's $825 billion stimulus package in 18 months, responding to criticism from Republicans that the money would flow too slowly to jolt the economy.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/president/2009-01-25-obama-economy-sunday_N.htm?csp=34


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Inside Higher Education
http://www.insidehighered.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Israel Boycott Movement Comes to U.S.
Movement to cut academic ties - subject of intense debate in Britain for several years - now appears on other side of Atlantic.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/26/boycott


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From Barbara Streisand
I'm writing to you now to let you know about my friend and President Obama's nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder.
Eric Holder is a man of unique integrity, as committed to liberty, the rule of law and our constitutional rights as anyone I know. He has enormous experience pursuing justice as a Superior Court Judge, a U.S. Attorney and as Deputy Attorney General for the United States. He has worked with people on both sides of the political aisle. That's why I'm so angry that Republicans in the Senate have chosen to make him a target. And it's why I am asking you to join me in making a donation to People For the American Way today to help them rebuke the partisan attacks on Eric Holder and ensure his speedy confirmation. [...] Eric Holder is a man of unique integrity, as committed to liberty, the rule of law and our constitutional rights as anyone I know. He has enormous experience pursuing justice as a Superior Court Judge, a U.S. Attorney and as Deputy Attorney General for the United States. He has worked with people on both sides of the political aisle. That's why I'm so angry that Republicans in the Senate have chosen to make him a target. And it's why I am asking you to join me in making a donation to People For the American Way today to help them rebuke the partisan attacks on Eric Holder and ensure his speedy confirmation.
https://secure.pfaw.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&df_id=2120&2120.donation=form1&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr006=dytqz7lwz1.app305a


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