memeorandum: Thailand set to make Buddhism the state religion (Seth Mydans/International Herald Tribune)

John Vidal / Guardian:

US rejects all climate proposals — The US has rejected any prospect of a deal on climate change at the G8 summit in Germany next month, according to a leaked document. — Despite Tony Blair's declaration on Thursday that Washington would sign up to "at least the beginnings" …

Discussion: AMERICAblog and The Populist

New York Times:

U.S. Rebuffs Germany on Greenhouse Gas Cuts — The United States has rejected Germany's proposal for deep long-term cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, setting the stage for a battle that will pit President Bush against his European allies at next month's meeting of the world's richest countries.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

U.S. Rejects G-8 Greenhouse Climate Proposals — Despite recent press reports suggesting that the United States might at least start to inch towards the same page on greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. has rejected a German proposal that reportedly enjoyed great support in Europe …

Discussion: BBC

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

U.S. Rejects G-8 Climate Proposal — Germany Urges Limiting Emissions, Temperature Increase — U.S. officials have raised a second round of unusually bluntly worded objections to a proposed global-warming declaration that Germany prepared for next month's Group of Eight summit, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Andy McCarthy / National Review:

Sen. McCain, Keep Giving 'Em Flak ... er, Flack — Good for Senator McCain on his sharp rebuttal to Senator Obama. May I add one point, though, that continues to make me nuts? — Senator Obama says: " It is time to end this war so that we can redeploy our forces to focus on the terrorists …

Discussion: The RBC, Dr. Sanity, The Anonymous Liberal, Althouse, All Spin Zone, Central Sanity, Outside The Beltway, The Blue State, Hot Air and The Populist

Newsdesk / Chicago Tribune:
McCain to Obama: It's 'flak jacket'

Discussion: Power Line

The Huffington Post: Dave Johnson and James Boyce: Right Fires Up The Smear Machine Against Obama.

Greg Sargent / Election Central:
Obama Rips Romney And McCain, Scorns McCain's Baghdad Stroll

Discussion: The Hill, TIME: Swampland and Angry Bear

New York Times:

White House Is Said to Debate '08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50% — The Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst of the internal debate.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Roger L. Simon, PoliPundit.com, Blogs of War, Brilliant at Breakfast, TalkLeft and The Populist

L. Lavi / MEMRI:

Al-Azhar Lecturer Suspended after Issuing Controversial Fatwa Recommending Breastfeeding of Men by Women in the Workplace — The head of the Hadith Department in Al-AzharUniversity, Dr. Izzat Atiyya, recently issued a controversial fatwa dealing with breastfeeding of adults.

Jules Crittenden: Breastfeed Your Way Out of Sexist Oppression

Los Angeles Times:

Sadr reemerges, demands U.S. pullout from Iraq — KUFA, Iraq — Influential cleric Muqtada Sadr resurfaced today after months in hiding and delivered a fiery sermon in this Shiite Muslim holy city in which he reiterated his demand for the swift departure of U.S. forces.

Discussion: Informed Comment, Balloon Juice, Guardian, The Fourth Rail, Washington Post and The Populist

Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:
Sadr Reappears With Nationalist Ambitions

Discussion: IraqSlogger.com, ScrappleFace, CNN and Little Green Footballs

Margalit Fox / New York Times:

William Peters, 85, Journalist Who Examined Race in U.S., Dies — William Peters, a journalist and award-winning documentary film producer who chronicled American race relations during the turbulent years of the mid-20th century, died on Sunday in Boulder, Colo. He was 85.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Christopher Hayes / In These Times:

Who's Afraid of Democracy? — Believing that "people are rational as consumers and irrational as voters," many conservatives would favor free markets without democracy — SHARE Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine — Behavioral economists at UC San Diego recently conducted a study …

Discussion: Marginal Revolution, EconLog and Economist's View

Washington Post:

Top Talent Could Lose Fast Track to U.S. — Under Bill, Foreign Luminaries Would No Longer Skip Immigration Line — NEW YORK — Would America open its doors for the next Albert Einstein? Under the new immigration bill, the answer is maybe, but maybe not.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Seth Mydans / International Herald Tribune:

Thailand set to make Buddhism the state religion — BANGKOK: In a step that could sharpen divisions in its increasingly violent, largely Muslim southern provinces, Thailand appears ready for the first time to make Buddhism the state religion in a new constitution.

Discussion: The Belmont Club

Shaun Waterman / UPI:

LIBBY TRIAL JUDGE JOINS SECRET FISA COURT — The judge who presided over the trial of vice presidential aide Lewis Libby has been appointed to the secret court that oversees U.S. intelligence wiretaps. — Reggie Walton, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia …

Discussion: The Next Hurrah, New York Sun, TalkLeft, Firedoglake and The Strata-Sphere

James Rowley / Bloomberg:

McConnell Says Immigration Doesn't Hurt Lawmakers' Re-Election — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the controversial immigration bill in Congress won't cost ``a single member of either party'' at the polls next year and predicted the bipartisan compromise will win Senate approval next month.

Discussion: Right Wing News, PoliPundit.com and Examining Presidential …

Brian Lockhart / Greenwich Time:

Thompson headlines Prescott Bush Awards — STAMFORD — Character actor and former Sen. Fred Dalton Thompson's next role is as president — he's playing Ulysses S. Grant in the HBO film "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." — But Thompson last night did not end speculation about his possible run for the White House.

Discussion: Hotline On Call and Riehl World View