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Camps trade barbs on race

WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain's U.S. presidential campaign officials cried foul when Barack Obama's camp seemingly implied the Republican Party would make race an issue.

During a campaign stop, Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, said attacks on him were trying to "make you scared of me," ABC news reported Thursday.

"You know (by saying) he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all of those other presidents on the dollar bills," Obama said.

The comments were "a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama," McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said. "Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria."

The Obama campaign later denied the Illinois senator was referring to the McCain campaign, saying it meant opponents generally and right-wing commentators specifically.

Senators write to IOC on China's spying

WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Two U.S. senators called on the International Olympic Committee Thursday to abandon an Internet censorship agreement it reportedly reached with China.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and James Inhofe, R-Okla., said reports of such a deal were disturbing and demanded the IOC provide open Internet access to media covering the Beijing Olympics, The Hill reported Thursday.

"Censorship is anathema to the very spirit of the Olympic Games, which celebrates diversity, emphasizes mutual respect and demands dispassionate, unadulterated representation of each competition," the senators wrote to IOC President Jacques Rogge.

The letter followed by a day the introduction of a resolution by Republican Sens. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Jim Bunning of Kentucky calling on Chinese government to suspend its plans to spy on visitors to the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Brownback this week said China's government asked international hotel chains to install computer software and hardware that would allow real-time monitoring of Internet activity of journalists and visitors.

"China had promised to provide media covering the games with the same access and freedoms enjoyed at all other Olympic Games," Inhofe and Brown said. "The IOC cannot sacrifice the Olympic ideals in the name of harmony with its host city."

McCaffrey: Afghanistan a 'narco-state'

WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- Former U.S. drug czar and retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Thursday illegal drug trade in Afghanistan is the funding source for al-Qaida and Taliban.

The international community must demand that opium and cannabis be eradicated and alternative energy activity supported, McCaffrey said in a statement.

McCaffrey said the "the battle will be won in Afghanistan" by, among other things, an expanded Afghan police force, increasing the Afghan National Army from 80,000 and 200,000 and deploying a five-battalion engineering brigade to train Afghan engineers.

Among other findings from his weeklong trip to Afghanistan, McCaffrey said Afghans have a life expectancy of 44 years and the country has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

McCaffrey, a former commander in the Gulf War, is now an adjunct professor at West Point.

Schwarzenegger cuts state worker pay

SACRAMENTO, July 31 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday signed an order cutting the pay of most state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.

The Los Angeles Times reported the move is aimed at ensuring the Golden State has enough cash on hand to pay its bills until the Legislature approves a state budget.

The budget was due July 1. Legislative leaders and the governor are in negotiations.

Schwarzenegger said the state's financial situation "leaves me with no easy choices," the Sacramento Bee reported.

"I have a responsibility to ensure that our state has enough money to pay its bills. This is not an action that I take lightly," the Republican governor was quoted as saying.

Under the plan, once a state budget is adopted, the roughly 200,000 state workers affected by the plan will receive their full back pay, the Times said.

State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat who is responsible for paying state employees, has said he would not implement Schwarzenegger's executive order.

He has said the state has enough money to pay its bills without the pay cut, Legal Newsline reported.