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Quote of the day. “We don’t need the news that comes from TV. This is news we care about, and it comes fast enough for us." Ohio Amish farmer Karl Yoder on The Budget, a newspaper that has served as the main source of news for Amish communities since 1890. (Los Angeles Times)
FAITH IN THE NEWS
Obama Cautious on Faith-Based Initiatives “While President George W. Bush had expanded government contracts to faith-based groups, Obama promised to end that arrangement if the groups proselytized to the needy they served, or hired only members of that faith.”
Fight Nights and Reggae Pack Brazilian Churches “Reborn in Christ is among a growing number of evangelical churches in Brazil that are finding ways to connect with younger people to swell their ranks. From fight nights to reggae music to video games and on-site tattoo parlors, the churches have helped make evangelicalism the fastest-growing spiritual movement in Brazil.”
Opinion: Fact and fiction on the abortion-reduction bill (David Gushee,
NEWS AT HOME
Health care. Reform Bill Will Address GOP Fears “The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Monday that he will propose an overhaul of the nation's health-care system that addresses a host of GOP concerns, including blocking illegal immigrants from gaining access to subsidized insurance, urging limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and banning federal subsidies for abortion.” New Objections to Baucus Health Care Proposal “Two of the three Republicans in a small group trying to forge a bipartisan compromise on health care have requested numerous major changes in a proposal drafted by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, reducing the chances that he can win their support.” Politics trumps policy in health debate “After months of discussion about once-obscure policy particulars, the debate is reverting to well-trod political terrain over issues that have long divided Democrats and Republicans: whether lawsuits against doctors should be capped, how much care to provide the poor, whether to pay for abortions and whether people who came here illegally should be covered.” Medicaid expansion stalls health talks “A proposed expansion of Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans, has emerged as one of the last sticking points in the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill, with governors and state legislatures around the country worried they're going to get left with the tab.”
Immigration. Immigration, Health Debates Cross Paths “As Congress's debate over health-care legislation lumbers toward a defining test for the Obama presidency, partisans on both sides of another issue -- immigration -- escalated their own proxy war this week, concluding that the fates of the two issues have become politically linked.”
President on Wall Street. Obama Gets Stern With Wall Street “President Obama delivered a stern message to Wall Street on Monday: Don't forget what we did for you.” For Obama, a Chance to Reform the Street Is Fading “President Obama on Monday sternly admonished the financial industry and lawmakers to accept his proposals to reshape financial regulation to protect the nation from a repeat of the excesses that drove Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and wreaked havoc on the global economy last year.” Obama warns banks over new recession “A year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, President Obama told an audience of bankers today that their industry could drag the US into another recession if it does not submit to sweeping regulatory reform that would act to discourage 'bloated bonuses' and end the era of firms that were 'too big to fail.'”
Wealthy pay. World's Wealthy Pay a Price In Crisis “Observers say it is part of a far broader campaign in the wake of the Great Recession -- including curbs on bankers' pay and a rigorous global hunt for tax cheats from Switzerland to Singapore -- that is suddenly putting the world's wealthy on notice.”
Children in prison. U.S. leads the world in sending children to adult prison “After murders committed by juveniles spiked in the early 1990s, states toughened laws, making the United States the harshest nation in world in the legal punishment of children, according to a recent study.”
Green energy. Hawaii Tries Green Tools in Remaking Power Grids “With the most diverse array of alternative energy potential of any state in the nation, Hawaii has set out to become a living laboratory for the rest of the country, hoping it can slash its dependence on fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.”
Cuban embargo extended. Obama signs Cuban trade embargo extension “President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of the law used to impose the trade embargo on Cuba, disappointing those who favored allowing the law to expire as a friendly nod to Havana while reassuring others who oppose easing the sanctions.”
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
Afghanistan. Obama Rejects Afghanistan-Vietnam Comparison “President Obama rejected comparisons on Monday between the war in Afghanistan and the conflict in Vietnam a generation ago, but he expressed concern about 'the dangers of overreach' and pledged a full debate before making further decisions on strategy.” Obama struggles to gather support for Afghan surge “Osama bin Laden accused President Barack Obama Monday of being too weak to quit waging the wars started by his predecessor, George W. Bush, warning that the West's U.S.-led effort to crush the Taliban in Afghanistan is doomed.” UN chief Peter Galbraith is removed in Afghanistan poll clash “America’s top diplomat at the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been ordered out of the country after a row with his boss over how to respond to last month’s fraud-riddled presidential elections, it has been alleged.” Taliban makes IEDs deadlier “The Taliban has been building simpler, cheaper anti-personnel bombs made of hard-to-detect nonmetal components, increasing the number of lethal attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.”
Iran. US and Iran to talk over nuclear issue “The US and Iran are to hold their first face-to-face talks in three decades after the European Union struck a deal to resume nuclear negotiations.”
Iraq. US warns against forgetting Iraq “The senior American commander in Iraq has told the BBC that he is concerned that the country will be forgotten, amid the current focus on Afghanistan.”
Somalia. Al-Qaeda suspect killed in Somalia “A helicopter raid in southern Somalia has killed a man wanted for questioning over the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002, unnamed US sources say.” Somali insurgents vow US revenge “Senior insurgents in Somalia vowed revenge today for a US raid that killed an al-Qaida commander high on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list.”
Pakistan. Pakistan Army Is Said to Be Linked to Many Killings in Swat “Two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from Taliban militants, a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military.”
OPINION
A World of Hurt (Bob Herbert, New York Times) “But this is no time to lose sight of the wreckage all around us. This recession, a full-blown economic horror, has left a gaping hole in the heart of working America that is unlikely to heal for years, if not decades.”
Poverty rate rises, health care dips (Robert Greenstein, Washington Times) “The new Census Bureau data showing that the nation lost substantial ground on poverty, median income and health insurance coverage in 2008 is important not just for what it says, but also for the context in which it came.”
A Dangerous Kind of Hate (Colbert King, Washington Post) “There's something loose in the land, an ugliness and hatred directed toward Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, that takes the breath away. The thread of resentment is woven through conservative commentary, right-wing radio and cable TV shows, all the way to Capitol Hill.”
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