July 10, 2008

DEATH PENALTY
Previously blocked execution goes forward in Texas
Associated Press (07/10/2008: usatoday.com)
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas inmate who fatally shot his adoptive parents was put to death Thursday night, almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his execution as it considered a challenge to lethal injection. Carlton Turner was executed about an hour after the same court rejected his last two appeals and refused to issue a last-minute reprieve.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Jackson's apology to Obama
John McCormick and Monique Garcia/Chicago Tribune (07/10/2008)
In a moment that framed the generational divide in parts of the African-American community over Sen. Barack Obama's historic presidential bid, Jesse Jackson moved quickly Wednesday to apologize for disparaging remarks he made about his fellow Chicago Democrat.

Jackson's Obama comments almost went unnoticed
Matea Gold/Los Angeles Times (07/10/2008)
A Fox News technician transcribing the tape overnight heard it, and it took off from there.

Do Black Activists Want a Black President?
Russell Goldman/ABC News (07/10/2008)
Everyone, even the Rev. Jesse Jackson himself, agrees that his comments about Sen. Barack Obama that an open microphone picked up were inappropriate. Why he said them at all, however, is cause for debate.

Some hope Obama can rebuild black-Jewish alliance
Nicole Neroulias/Religion News Service (07/10/2008: pewforum.org)
Since Jews and blacks both voted overwhelmingly Democratic in recent elections, few seriously doubt that they won't do the same in 2008. But some say a black candidate presents a rare opportunity for a frayed relationship to be renewed and revived.

MILITARY
Government: Dismiss atheist soldier's lawsuit
Associated Press (07/10/2008: usatoday.com)
TOPEKA, Kan. — An atheist soldier who claims the military violates religious freedoms should have complained through the chain of command instead of civilian courts, the government said in arguing that his lawsuit should be dismissed.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Crisis of Faith Between Church, Union?
Suzanne Sataline/Wall Street Journal (07/10/2008)
Many parishes in Scranton, Pa., display a picture of the Most Rev. Michael Hoban, the Scranton bishop who backed coal miners during a bitter six-month strike in 1902. But the church and organized labor don't see eye-to-eye in Scranton these days.