The Times and Democrat from Orangeburg, South Carolina • 3

Tl IE TIMES AND DEMOCRAT I WWW.TI IETANDD.COM SATURDAY. JUNE 5. 2010 A3 NATION WORLD Afghan conference seeks talks with Taliban Piif II. II I I KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -Afghan President Hamid Karzai got a boost Friday from a national conferercsof tribal, religious and civic leaders for his plans to approach the Taliban to talk peace. Karzai's more difficult challenge: convincing insurgent leaders and the Obama administration.

The United States supports overtures to lower-level militants but thinks talks with top leaden will go nowhere until NATO-led and Afghan forces are success -ful in weakening the Taliban and strengthening the Afghan government in Kandahar province and elsewhere in the south. The Taliban insist no talks are possible until foreign troops withdraw from the country a step Karzai cannot afford with the insurgency raging. U.S. officials contend the Taliban leadership feels it has little reason to negotiate because ft believes it is vanning the war. Karzai, who organized the conference, clearly got what he wanted from it: a mandate for his peace efforts and his government months after his victory in an election tainted by fraud.

Still, the three-day conference, or jirga, represented the first major public debate in Afghanistan on how to end nearly nine years of war amid wide Clean-up crews look for tar Friday along Pensacola Beach, Fla. Waves of gooey tar blobs were washing shore In growing numbers on the white sand of the Florida Panhandle Friday at a slick from the BP spill drifted closer to shore. Disaster reaches Panhandle beaches Kagan pushed liberal policies with pragmatism By MELISSA NELSON and HOLBROOK MOHR Associated Press Writers PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. -Thesmeilof oil hangs heavy in the sea air. Children with plastic shovels scoop up clumps of goo in the waves.

Beachcombers collect tarballs as if they were seashells. The BP catastrophe arrived with the tide on the Florida Panhandle's white sands Friday as the company worked to adjust a cap over the gusher in a desperate and untested bid to arrest what is already the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. The widening scope of the slow-motion disaster deepened the anger and despair ust as President Barack Obama arrived for his third visit to the stricken Gulf Coast. The oil has now reached the shores of four Gulf states Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida turning its marshlands into death zones for wildlife and staining its beaches rust and crimson in an affliction that some said brought to mind the plagues and punishments of the Bible.

"In Revelations it says the water will turn to blood," said P.J. Hahn, director of coastal zone management for Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish. "That's whatitlooks like out here like the Gulf is bleeding. This is going to choke the life out of everything." He added: "It makes me want to cry." Six weeks after the April 20 oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers, the well has leaked somewhere between 22 million and 47 million gallons of oil, according to government estimates. A device resembling an upside-down funnel was lowered over the blown-out well a mile beneath the sea late Thursday to try to capture most of the oil and direct it to a ship on the surface.

But crude continued to escape into the Gulf through vents designed to prevent ice crystals from clogging the cap. Engineers hoped to close several vents throughout the day. "Progress is beingmade, but we need to caution against overoptimism," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man for the crisis. Early in the day, he guessed that the cap was collecting 42,000 gallons a day less than one-tenth of the amount leaking from the well.

Since It was installed, it had collected about 76,000 gallons, BP said in a tweet Friday night. Similarly, later In the day, in a visit to Louisiana, Obama said it was "way too early to be optimistic" about the latest attempt to stanch the spill. One unanswered question was whether the cap fit snugly. BP sheared off the well pipe before installing the cap but was unable to make a smooth cut. As the operation went on at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the effect of the BP spill was increasingly evident.

AROUND THE WORLD Wire Reports Obama to choose retired Gen. Clapper as Intelligence chief WASHINGTON A person familiar with the situation says President Barack Obama plans to nominate Pentagon official James Clapper to be his next intelligence chief despite objections from Capitol Hill. Clapper, a retired Air Force general, Is the Pentagon's top intelligence official. He's expected to be nominated in a Rose Garden ceremony Saturday morning. If confirmed, Clapper would replace retired Adm.

Dennis Blair, who resigned after frequent clashes with the White House. But Clapper's combative sparring during hearings has made him an unpopular choice with some in Congress. His critics also question whether he will be able to counter Obama's intelligence inner circle at the NSC and CIA. S. Korea hands over letter officially referring NKorea to U.N.

Security Council over ship sinking UNITED NATIONS -South Korea officially referred North Korea to the U.N. Security Council Friday over the sinking of a navy ship that killed 46 sailors, taking its strongest step ever toward making the communist North face international punishment South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Park In-kook handed over a letter to Mexico's U.N. Ambassador Claude Heller, the current Security Council president asking for a response from the U.N.'s most powerful body to deter "any further provocations." North Korea has steadfastly denied responsibility for the sinking of the Cheonan and naval spokesman Col. Pak In Ho warned last month In comments to broadcaster AP Television News that any move to retaliate or punish Pyongyang would mean war.

Heller said he will circulate the letter to the 14 other council members and then Initiate consultations to give an appropriate answer to this request" He will talk to council members before setting a date for the first closed-door council discussion, Mexico's U.N. spokesman Marco Morales said. Despite a history of being attacked by North Korea, Seoul has never taken Pyongyang to the Se curity Council for an inter-Korean provocation, indicating now that it wants to take the matter beyond the Korean peninsula. Chilean police deliver Dutch murder suspect van derSloottoPeru LIMA, Peru -The young Dutchman long suspected in a U.S. teen's Caribbean island disappearance was delivered to Peru on Friday to face charges in the murder of a 21-year-old woman found with her neck broken in his Lima hotel room.

Joran vander Sloot told Chilean police questioners he did not kill Stephany Flores but did say the "he met her and at some point they went to a casino," said Fernando Ovalle, a Chilean police spokesman. The girl's father, Ricardo Flores, told The Associated Press that video cameras tracked the couple as they walked before dawn Sunday to van der Sloot's hotel from the casino in Lima's upscale Mira-flores district where they met playing poker. He said he doesn't want the death penalty for van der Sloot only justice. In Peru, murder carries a prison sentence of up to 35 years. California high school ends 'Beat the Jew' game; 7 face discipline LOS ANGELES -Seven seniors at a Southern California high school were facing disciplinary action for participating in a game called "Beat the Jew" in which losers were subjected to "incineration" or "enslavement," a school administrator said Friday.

The game involved some students playing the role of Nazis who blindfolded and dropped off other students playing Jews who must find their way back to the campus, said Sherry Johnstone, assistant superintendent of personnel for Desert Sands Unified School District It was not immediately clear what either punishment comprised for losing players, she said. spread belief here that the insurgency cannot be defeated militarily. "The one significance of the jirga is that for the first time a collective and structured voice of Afghans for peace has been presented to the government and to the international community," said Nader Nadery, deputy chairman of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission. Some 1,500 delegates from across the country attended the jirga, held inacolossal tent on the grounds of a university in KabuL While active militant leaders were not invited, some former Taliban and their sympathizers came. Many of them remain in contact with Taliban foot soldiers -who till their farms by day and lay roadside bombs by night.

Nadery said it's these rank-and-file Taliban who could be pressed by their communities to embrace the peace process, particularly rfbacked by govern incentives. "It's sigriifkant for the Taliban to hear that Afghans from different walksof life are tired of war, are calling onthem to at least talk peace," said Nadery. "The pressure from the communities won't be immediate but it could be the beginning." Friday, responding to a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to hold Kagan's confirmation hearings starting June 28. They were the first installment in a 160,000 trove that senators have been eager to peruse for clues about what kind of justice Kagan might be. In 1998, Kagan defended her boss' veto of a measure that would have banned late-term abortions unless the life of the mother was in danger.

She helped Clinton explain to a Catholic cardinal that he'd only support such a bill if it exempted cases where the mother's health was at risk. "Isupport an exception that takes effect only whenawoman faces real, serious health consequences," Kagan handwrote on the draft of a letter Clinton was writing. Not long after, though, Kagan was advocating that Clinton embrace stricter limits on federal funding of abortion than pro-abortion rights groups wanted. She said the restrictions should apply to all Medicare-funded abortions. That course, an internal memo noted, "stands the best chance of avoiding a high-profile legislative battle that we are unlikely to win." Unlimited Hours.

No Contracts! FREE 2477 Tacnnteal Support Instant Messaging two your buddy IM 10-mria(ttrMMwhVnunl Custom Start Paga nm, math I moral sJOemar Surt up to 25x faster! uniman Sign Up OnMntl www.LocalNtt.com SSafe Ca Today Savd locoNet" 'UMT3TTT1 lillMU keep your home cooler warmer in the winter. sNn IU i Obama sees progress WASHINGTON (AP) -Newly released documents from her days as an aide to former President Bill Clinton portray Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a person of strong opinions and sometimes overtly liberal views, but above all a pragmatist who pursued middle-ground solutions on issues ranging from abortion to taking on Big Tobacco. There's little in the papers that suggests Kagan, President Barack Obama's choice to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens, would stray far from Stevens' perch on the left of the political spectrum. In 46,500 pages of notes and memos from her time as a domestic policy adviser to Clinton, Kagan argues in favor of a veto of a late-term abortion ban, for strong gun control measures, against a federal law prohibiting assisted suicide and endorses a legal argument for affirmative action. But she tempers much of her advice with strong notes of political and legal practicality, often opting for a middle course likely to produce results without unduly angering opponents.

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Thad Allen, the chief federal official for the spill response, and the governors of Louisiana, Florida and Alabama, along with other officials. He then headed for Grand Isle, a small barrier island, to hear from people whose livelihoods are threatened by the spill the shrimpers, oyster fishermen, shop keepers and hotel workers so dependent on a thriving Gulf. A driving rain forced him to drop plans to travel by helicopter and instead make a 2Vi hour drive. The president's visit came as engineers with BP worked to settle a funnel-like cap over the deep-sea leak to try to collect some of the crude now fouling four states. It was not clear how much oil was being captured, Good, Broken or Just Don't Want Ho one pays mm iwtnral tvv sir Buy, sell or trade Any type, name or style.

Medical Scrubs 3 Pes. Only $10 STOP IH TODAY! 1069 Broughton Orangeburg 803-268-9811 Jt on oil spill and some continued to flow, generatingfrighteningphotosof seabirds clogged in the muck. Underscoring the mounting political implications, Obama late Thursday abruptly canceled plans for his trip to Indonesia and Australia later this month. Ahead of the Gulf visit he declared hirnself furious at a situation that "is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years." He critjdzedBPfornot responding more quickly. But polls show the public growing more negative toward the president's own handling of the spill, and he was aiming to demonstrate he was staying on top of the situation Friday without getting in the way.

Obama visited the Gulf region twice in May, and this tour surely will not be his last VACATION EI2LE SCKM OMtfflO 'Soitina On Mink Jvut Jmouietian, enwim A 1 SI At St SI am. izwv newt 8C3-534-J 353 num info. FURNITURE EXCHANGE "Furniture Is Our Middle Name 534-2570 '2PDo Qun KENNER, La. (AP) On his third personal trek to the Gulf disaster, President Barack Obama said Friday he sees some progress in fighting the enormous oil spill but it's "way too early to be optimistic" about BP'S latest control effort. Aiming to demonstrate command and personal engagement on day 45 of the catastrophe, Obama criticized the British oil giant for spending money on advertising and paying dividends to shareholders in the midst of crisis.

"What I don't want to hear is when they're spending that kind of money on their shareholders and spending that kind ofmoney on TV advertising that they're nickeling and diming fishermen or small businesses here in the Gulf who are having a hard time," he said. Thepresident spoke after arriving at the New Orleans airport for his third inspection tour, and his second in eight days, with national frustration boiling over. Obama indicated he felt ft, too, along with residents of the Gulf and the rest of the country. "This has been a disaster for this region, and people are understandably frightened and concerned about what the next few months and the next few years may hold," Obama said Mioses 803-308-0353 803-837-3190 Neeses, SC 29107 At You are cordially invited by the Yy Orangeburg County Republican Party to the Second Annual Orange Elephant Banquet i HOMES THAT NEED ROOFING 4 A select number of homeowners in Orangeburg and the surrounding areas will given the opportunity to have a lifetime Erie letal Roofing System installed on their home at a reasonable cost. Qualified homeowners will receive attractive pricing and have access to our special low interest unsecured bank financing.

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