The latest news on Kagan Nomination Approved by Committee, Finance Reform Targets Congo, Oil Spill, Feature: Top Secret America, Part 3, British PM in U.S., Clean Energy, Afghanistan-U.S. Congress, Afghanistan, Iran, and Select Op-Eds.

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Quote of the Day. "No one spent more time trying to beat President Obama than I did, except maybe Senator McCain. I missed my own election. I voted absentee. But I understood -- we lost; President Obama won. The Constitution in my view puts a requirement on me not to replace my judgment for his." "It would not have been someone I would have chosen, but the person who did choose, President Obama, I think chose wisely." Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), explaining his vote to confirm Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. (New York Times, Washington Post)

RELIGION IN THE NEWS

Granberg-Michaelson to Retire from RCA "After 17 years as head of the Reformed Church in America, the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson announced Tuesday that he will retire as general secretary next year."

Obama Gains Evangelical Allies on Immigration "At a time when the prospects for immigration overhaul seem most dim, supporters have unleashed a secret weapon: a group of influential evangelical Christian leaders."

Road to Missouri U.S. Senate seat runs through black pulpits "Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, and Roy Blunt, a Republican, have been meeting with members of the black clergy lately, not to save their souls, but to win one of the top political contests in the country, a U.S. Senate seat from Missouri."

Faith Leaders Urged to Tackle HIV/AIDS Together "A meeting held on the eve of the AIDS2010 conference brought together some 200 representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths from Africa, Asia, and Europe."

NEWS AT HOME

Unemployment Aid Extension Passes. Senate votes, 60-40, to advance jobless benefits legislation "The Senate broke a months-long stalemate Tuesday over a plan to restore emergency jobless benefits to millions of people who have been out of work for more than six months, voting to advance the measure over Republican objections that it would add $34 billion to the nation's bloated budget deficit." Jobless Benefit Extension Clears Senate Hurdle "The Senate cleared the way Tuesday for more unemployment pay to reach millions of Americans who have been out of work for six months or more as the Democratic-led Congress pruned one more item off the list of issues it hopes to tackle in an intensely polarized election year."

Kagan Nomination Approved by Committee. Kagan nomination approved by Senate judiciary panel "The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to approve Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, clearing a key hurdle on her path to winning confirmation as just the fourth woman to serve on the high court." Senate Panel Backs Kagan Nomination, With One Republican Vote "Solicitor General Elena Kagan moved one step closer to becoming a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 6, almost entirely along party lines, to forward her nomination to the full Senate for consideration."

Finance Reform Targets Congo. U.S. financial reform bill also targets 'conflict minerals' from Congo "The financial regulation bill that President Obama will sign into law on Wednesday is supposed to clean up Wall Street. But an obscure passage buried deep in the 2,300-page legislation aims to transform a very different place -- eastern Congo, labeled the 'rape capital of the world.'"

Immigration. Students disclose illegal status as part of push for immigration law reform "On a patch of asphalt outside the White House this week, Renata Teodoro, Maricela Aguilar and scores of other students are risking deportation simply by sharing their full names and immigration status with anyone who asks." For Those Deported, Court Rulings Come Too Late "An aggressive government interpretation of 1996 immigration laws that has been increasingly invoked in recent years, was rejected by the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision in June. But the ruling came too late for Mr. Donnoli and thousands of deportees like him, all former lawful residents who have no way to turn that legal vindication into a chance to come home." Immigrant deaths in Arizona desert soar "The number of deaths among illegal immigrants crossing the Arizona desert from Mexico is soaring so high this month that the Pima County medical examiner's office is using a refrigerated truck to store some of the bodies."

Oil Spill. BP Kept Drilling After Report of Leak, Worker Says "In Tuesday's hearings, investigators focused on equipment failures leading up to the explosion. A BP official, Ronald Sepulvado, a well-site leader, testified that BP continued drilling for oil in the days before the disaster despite internal reports of a leak on a safety device on the rig." BP relief well 'nearly complete' "Hope is rising that the ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well may be sealed for good in weeks after it was announced a relief well was nearly complete."

Feature: Top Secret America, Part 3. The secrets next door "Fort Meade, Md., is the capital of Top Secret America -- an alternative geography of the United States defined by the concentration of top-secret government organizations and the companies that do work for them." (Here are Part 1