Pakistan, Campaign activists, Iran, Iraqi Cardinal, Mideast, Childrens health insurance, Evangelicals and polistics, Features, and selected Op-Eds.

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Pakistan . Pakistan Moves Against Opposition "Pakistan's government on Sunday executed a nationwide crackdown on the political opposition, the news media and the courts, one day after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule and suspended the constitution." Pakistan police clash with lawyers "Around 2,000 lawyers gathered on Monday in the eastern city of Lahore as police warned them not to violate a ban on rallies in Pakistan." 350 Pakistan protesters detained "Police fired teargas and baton-charged a crowd of 2,000 lawyers at the largest protest in the southern city of Lahore. Up to 1,800 people have been detained nationwide since the weekend, an interior ministry official said." Pakistani police arrest hundreds "Hundreds of opponents of President Pervez Musharraf, including venerable judges, human rights activists and rival politicians, were rounded up by police, signaling the start of what could be a long and concerted crackdown against those who have challenged his authority in past months." Despite warnings, Bush officials couldn't stop Musharraf "The imposition of emergency rule in nuclear-armed Pakistan underscores how little influence the Bush administration has on events in a country that has become the bulwark in the U.S. fight against terrorism." U.S. Is Likely to Continue Aid to Pakistan "The Bush administration signaled Sunday that it would probably keep billions of dollars flowing to Pakistan's military, despite the detention of human rights advocates and leaders of the political opposition."

Campaign activists. Where candidates go, activists follow "a small army of activists swarming Iowa and New Hampshire this election season, representing causes as varied as the White House contenders they court: taxation, education, Darfur, gay rights, global warming, defense spending, chronic illness. They share a common goal -- pushing their issue to the top of the nation's political agenda."

Iran . Experts: No evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons program "Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger "World War III," experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program."

Iraqi Cardinal. 2,000-Year-Old Christian Community in Iraq Gains a Spiritual First in Baghdad "There is neither a cross nor a sign on the heavy metal gate to indicate that this is the official residence of one of the country's most prominent Christians, the first in Iraq in modern times to be elevated to cardinal by the Roman Catholic Church.

Mideast . Abbas: Aiming for peace deal before Bush leaves office "Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that Israel, the Palestinians and the United States have agreed to aim for a regional peace settlement before President George W. Bush steps down in January 2009." Deadline Set for Mideast Peace Process "Israeli and Palestinian officials have given themselves to the end of President Bush's administration to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials said today."

Childrens health insurance. Child heathcare plan gaining national support, advocates say "Democrats and healthcare advocates are expressing increasing confidence that their emphasis on expanding children's health insurance - a measure already vetoed once by President Bush - has succeeded in putting healthcare on the national agenda." Missteps on Both Sides Led to Health Bill Veto "They met almost every day in the spring and summer, a handful of powerful senators who had cleared their schedules to forge a bipartisan compromise providing health insurance to 10 million children. … But even before they finished their work, President Bush attacked it."

Evangelicals and politics. Huckabee Builds Evangelical Support "As the 2008 presidential race heads toward the first nominating contests, Mike Huckabee is getting more news coverage, moving up in polls, and even drawing some attacks from other Republicans." Evangelical Democrat Stirs the Pot in Mississippi "He talks about banishing "the money changers" from state politics and about a health-care proposal focusing on the "least among us" -- just as Jesus would -- and the cornerstone of his stump speech is familiar to anyone who knows the bit in Matthew 6:24 about "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

Features.

The archbishop's advice (Haaretz) "One of the aims of the visit to Israel by Dr. Rowan Williams, head of the Anglican Church and the archbishop of Canterbury, was to improve relations, even partially, between him and the Church he heads, and the State of Israel and its supporters in the West."

Pakistan shakes off US shackles((Asia Times, M K Bhadrakumar, a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years) "Over the past six years, President General Pervez Musharraf has craftily ingrained himself and the Pakistani military as indispensable allies of the Bush administration. Now, with a much-weakened Bush presidency entering a lame-duck phase, Musharraf is looking beyond this close association."

Editorials.

When an antiterror ally fails (Christian Science Monitor) "As in love, so in diplomacy, it's wiser to see what people do than what they say. So far, the US has protested much about emergency rule imposed on Pakistan Saturday. But what will it actually do? Not much, if the past is any guide. Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf, after all, remains a valuable US ally in the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders along the Afghan border.

Republican Tricks on Children's Health(New York Times) "Cynicism and hypocrisy were on full display in the Senate last week when Republican leaders refused to wait for a possible compromise on a bill that would provide health coverage for millions of uninsured children. Instead, they forced a vote on a bill that they know President Bush will veto, with no chance of being overridden."

Op-Ed.

Congress's Unused War Powers (George F. Will, Washington Post) "While legislators try to leash a president by tinkering with a weapon, they are ignoring a sufficient leash -- the Constitution. They are derelict in their sworn duty to uphold it. Regarding the most momentous thing government does, make war, the constitutional system of checks and balances is broken."