February 12, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Obama leads pack in general election matchup
Trevor Tompson/Associated Press (02/12/2008: concordmonitor.com)
If Democrats want their best shot at defeating John McCain this fall, a new poll suggests Barack Obama may be a better bet than Hillary Clinton.

Huckabee: I’ve been ghettoized
Ken Herman/Austin American-Statesman (02/12/2008)
GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, insisting his campaign will go on regardless of results in upcoming primaries, says he has been frustrated by what he sees as media attempts to overplay his background as a Baptist minister.

Huckabee hangs in despite the odds
CNN (02/12/2008)
GOP front-runner John McCain has all but sealed his party's presidential nomination, but instead of focusing on his national campaign, the Arizona senator is still contending with Mike Huckabee.

Polls show some U.S. evangelicals vote Democrat
Ed Stoddard/Reuters (02/11/2008)
DALLAS - Exit polls during the U.S. presidential primaries in Missouri and Tennessee last week show the Democratic Party has some support from white evangelicals, a group strongly associated with the Republican Party.

WWED: What will evangelicals do?
Manya Brachear/Chicago Tribune (02/12/2008)
When longtime evangelical leader James Dobson endorsed Mike Huckabee for president last week, how many voters were listening? Polls and scholars suggest not as many as in the past. In fact, surveys say the same voters who catapulted George H.W. Bush and his son into the White House favor Democrats in this year’s presidential election, spurred by a new generation of evangelical leaders.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Gay Mormons Seek Meeting With New Leader
Jennifer Dobner/Associated Press (02/10/2008: ap.google.com)
SALT LAKE CITY — A group of gay Mormons is seeking an unprecedented meeting with the new church president and his counselors, hoping to begin a conversation and find ways to address the concerns of its members.

BUSINESS
Jews Worried Again as Methodists Mull Divestment Plan
Rachel Pomerance/Religion News Service (02/12/2008: pewforum.org)
The United Methodist Church is poised to become the next U.S. church to consider divesting from Israel, a topic so controversial that it prompted the Presbyterian Church (USA) to backpedal on its own divestment program two years ago.

Nuns allege gas supplier misled them
Joshua Boak/Chicago Tribune (02/12/2008)
A group of Chicago-area nuns claims that an unregulated natural gas utility, since charged with fraud by the Illinois attorney general, pressured them into signing an exploitative contract. The Sisters of the Living Word are among hundreds of customers who allege that salesmen for U.S. Energy Savings Corp. misled them about cutting their gas bills.

POP CULTURE
Secrets of the Great Seal revealed
Matthew Lee/Associated Press (02/12/2008: usatoday.com)
WASHINGTON — Conspiracy theorists take note: The myths surrounding one of America's oldest and most enduring national symbols are about to be debunked ... if you believe the government, that is. The keepers of the Great Seal of the United States, the familiar emblem on the back of the $1 bill, want you to know what it is not. It is not a sign that Freemasons run the country, it has nothing to do with the occult, and it does not contain clues to a fabulous hidden treasure.

ARTS AND MEDIA
Screenwriter Sues Over `Passion' Script
Associated Press (02/12/2008: ap.google.com)
LOS ANGELES — A screenwriter has sued Mel Gibson and his production company, claiming he was misled by the actor-director into accepting a small payment for writing "The Passion of the Christ," and was refused extra money when the film became a blockbuster.