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Quote of the day. “These neighborhoods with gang problems don’t have a lot of assets. But there is a school, a park and a rec center. Those are public assets. Let’s use those to create social connections that replace gangs.” Jeff Carr, Director of Gang Reduction and Youth Development in Los Angeles, on a program to combat gang violence by keeping lights on until midnight in some of the city’s roughest park. (New York Times)
Sotomayor hearing. Sotomayor to step into the ring “Judge Sonia Sotomayor will go before a Senate committee this week and be pressed to answer questions that have lingered since President Barack Obama made her his first choice for the Supreme Court.” Few fireworks expected at Sotomayor hearing “Sotomayor has much in her favor: She has a lengthy judicial record, was first nominated by a Republican president and has been endorsed by respected legal and law enforcement groups.” Hearings Not Just About Sotomayor “The battle over President Obama's first court nominee is also likely to have broad and long-lasting political implications for the president and both political parties.”
Health care. Concern grows that healthcare overhaul won't cut costs “Although still publicly beating the drums for President Obama's healthcare overhaul, representatives of some of the biggest players are beginning to express concern behind the scenes that it won't do enough about the major problem: runaway medical costs.” 'Rationing' is GOP weapon against health reform “In political combat, there are few more potent weapons than a single word or a catchy phrase that can be used to target a proposal and drive it into the ground. For Republicans, 'rationing' could be that poison-tipped arrow for the Democratic-led health care bill.”
Anti-terror policies. Administration Reluctantly Moves Toward Revisiting Bush Anti-Terror Policies “After trying for months to shake off the legacy of their predecessors and focus on their own priorities, Obama administration officials have begun to concede that they cannot leave the fight against terrorism unexhumed and are reluctantly moving to examine some of the most controversial and clandestine episodes” Clamor grows over CIA secrets “Democratic lawmakers criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday for allegedly ordering that a CIA counter-terrorism program be kept secret from congressional leaders, with two senators questioning the legality of such concealment.” Obama Faces a New Push to Look Back“President Obama is facing new pressure to reverse himself and to ramp up investigations into the Bush-era security programs, despite the political risks.”
Race & poverty. Job Losses Show Wider Racial Gap in New York “Unemployment among blacks in New York City has increased much faster than for whites, and the gap appears to be widening at an accelerating pace, new studies of jobless data have found.” Minority mortgage loans rejected twice as often as whites “And the rejection gap is growing between whites and minorities, causing some community activists to worry about recurring discrimination in lending.”
Immigration. Activists push ballot initiative to end state benefits for illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children “The measure would end public benefits to illegal residents, challenge the citizenship of their U.S.-born children, cut welfare payments to those children and impose new birth certificate requirements.”
Child poverty. Child Poverty Rising, Report Says “A growing number of American children are living in poverty and with unemployed parents, and are facing the threat of hunger, according to a federal report released [Friday].”
Alternatives to prison. States Seek Less Costly Substitutes for Prison “Cash-strapped states are increasingly turning to alternative sentencing methods and to streamlined probation and parole as a way to keep low-level offenders out of prison and in their communities.”
Soldier suicides. Troubled soldiers' treatment criticized “Army commanders are failing at the day-to-day task of monitoring troubled young soldiers in their barracks back home, which is helping push suicides to record numbers, the head of the Army's suicide task force says.”
Obama in Africa. Obama speaks of hopes for Africa “U.S. President Barack Obama, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, has said Africa must take charge of its own destiny in the world.” Obama urges African democracy “Barack Obama, the U.S. president, has urged African nations to strengthen democracy and fight corruption in a keynote speech to Ghana's parliament.” President Obama urges Africans to help themselves “Visiting Ghana, the president condemns corruption and violence and says, 'Africa's future is up to Africans.' But amid high expectations, the lack of specific policies or aid disappoints observers.” Obamas tour slavers’ fort in ‘painful’ Ghana visit “America’s first lady, Michelle Obama, fought back tears yesterday as she toured a former Dutch slaving fort similar to the one in which it is believed her ancestors were held before being shipped to work on plantations in the deep south of the United States.”
Iraq. Churches in Iraq targeted in bombings; 4 killed "Sixteen people are wounded at a Baghdad church. Christians fear renewed persecution days after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraqi cities. In Nasiriya, a bomb explodes near the U.S. ambassador's convoy." Churches and Envoy Attacked in Iraq "A series of bombings hit five Christian churches here on Sunday, killing at least four people, and the American ambassador to Iraq narrowly escaped injury when a roadside bomb struck his convoy in Nasiriya in southern Iraq."
Sri Lanka. Tamils Now Languish in Sri Lanka Camps “Hundreds of thousands of Tamils remain locked in camps almost entirely off limits to journalists, human rights investigators and political leaders. The Sri Lankan government says that the people in the camps are a security risk because Tamil Tiger fighters are hiding among them.”
U.K.-Israel. U.K. ends Israel weapons contracts “The U.K. has revoked five export licenses for equipment to the Israeli navy because of actions during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza this year.” U.K. hits Israel with partial arms sanctions over Cast Lead “Britain has slapped a partial arms embargo on Israel, refusing to supply replacement parts and other equipment for Sa'ar 4.5 gunships because they participated in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.”
Iran. Candidate Declares Iran May Face ‘Disintegration’ “In an implicit rebuke to Iran’s ruling elite, a conservative presidential candidate warned Sunday that the political and social rifts opened by the disputed June 12 vote and subsequent crackdown could lead to the nation’s 'disintegration' if they were not resolved soon.”
Afghanistan. McChrystal says he won't pull punches on Afghan proposals “The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Sunday that when he gives his assessment to the Obama administration next month of what is needed to defeat the Taliban, he won't be deterred by administration statements that he cannot have more U.S. troops.” A Few Cracks Surface on Karzai's Road to Election Success “His portrait adorns giant billboards in every corner of the capital: hugging a child, making a speech and smiling serenely atop comforting platitudes about progress and peace.”
Editorial. More Immigration Non-Solutions (New York Times) “Here’s a rerun we didn’t want to see: President Obama’s Department of Homeland Security announced last week that it was pressing forward with — and even expanding — old, bad Bush administration ideas about immigration enforcement. The schemes were misguided, ineffective and dangerous then, and still are today.”
Opinion. A Homespun Safety Net (Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times) “So far, despite some temporary expansions of food stamps and unemployment benefits by the Obama administration, the recession has done for the government safety net pretty much what Hurricane Katrina did for the Federal Emergency Management Agency: it’s demonstrated that you can be clinging to your roof with the water rising, and no one may come to helicopter you out.” A bipartisan blueprint for immigration reform (Jeb Bush, Thomas F. McLarty III and Edward Alden, Los Angeles Times) “Our immigration system has been broken for too long, and the costs of that failure are growing. Getting immigration policy right is fundamental to our national interests -- our economic vitality, our diplomacy and our national security.”
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