The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

RAY SUAREZ: Good evening. I'm Ray Suarez. Jim Lehrer is on vacation. On the NewsHour tonight: The news of the day; a car bomb rips through a hotel in Jakarta; U.S. and international forces struggle to bring peace to Afghanistan; Episcopalians set aside allegations of misconduct by a gay priest; politicians take

their campaigns to the internet; and essayist Anne Taylor Fleming on the return of "Charlie's Angels."

NEWS SUMMARY

RAY SUAREZ: A powerful car bomb killed 14 people and wounded some 150 today in Indonesia. The explosion tore into a hotel in downtown Jakarta. There was no claim of responsibility, but police focused on Islamic militants with links to al-Qaida. We have a report narrated by Tanya Sillem of Independent Television News.

TANYA SILLEM: It was an audacious attack on a western target, the smoke billowing from the American-owned hotel, a defiant strike at the heart of Jakarta's business district. The J.W. Marriott was popular with expatriates, tourists, and embassy staff. Medical staff at several hospitals said over 150 people had been injured, many with shrapnel wounds. Most were Indonesian, but four Singaporeans, two Americans, two Australians, and a New Zealander were also wounded. Of the 14 dead, only one, a Dutch bank executive, was foreign. Just a month ago, American embassy staff held their 4th of July party here. As police moved quickly to evacuate guests and staff, fearing the building might collapse, eyewitnesses said the explosion had been like an earthquake-- the shattered dining room a stark message that the Indonesian security forces are still a long way from winning their war against terror.

RAY SUAREZ: The attack came just two days before a verdict in the trial of a key suspect in the Bali nightclub bombing. That blast, last October, killed more than 200 people. We'll have more on all this in a moment. U.S. Airport screeners got the word today to look more closely at cameras, computers, and CD players. The Department of Homeland Security warned that al-Qaida terrorists might use them to conceal bombs. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said there was very specific intelligence behind the advisory.

TOM RIDGE: We gave it to our professionals at the airports and asked them to improve their scrutiny, enhance their scrutiny of these devices -- simple as that. And we ask the traveling public, if you have electronic devices in your carry-on baggage, pull them out because if we find them in the x-ray machine, we're going to pull you aside and take a look at them anyhow.

RAY SUAREZ: Ridge said the advisory listed the kinds of cameras that terrorists might use, but he did not name them or give other details. An American civilian contractor was killed today in Iraq. An anti-tank mine exploded under his truck as he drove in a convoy north of Tikrit. And one U.S. soldiers was wounded in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. Insurgents fired grenades at a police station there. As the wounded Americans were taken away, a crowd chanted support for Saddam Hussein. There were new questions today about Liberian President Charles Taylor and his promise to step down. Nigeria's government said Taylor wants the war crimes charges against him dropped before he goes into exile. But South Africa said Taylor will leave right after he resigns, on august 11. Amid the confusion, U.N. cargo planes ferried 70 more Nigerian peacekeepers into Monrovia today. And the fighting died down, with rebels and government troops waving and shaking hands at contested bridges. Leaders of the U.S. Episcopal Church moved toward a vote today on approving their first openly gay bishop, the reverend Gene Robinson. Church bishops cleared him of allegations that he improperly touched a man, and had ties to a website with links to pornography. The confirmation vote On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 149 points to close at 9036. The NASDAQ fell more than 40 points, or 2 percent, to close at 1673. That's it for the News Summary tonight. Nowit's on to a terrorist bombing in Jakarta, an update on the search for peace in Afghanistan, clearing a gay Episcopal priest of charges of misconduct, political campaigns conducted in cyberspace, and an Anne Taylor Fleming essay.

FOCUS - TERROR IN JAKARTA

RAY SUAREZ: Margaret Warner has the latest on today's bombing in Indonesia.

MARGARET WARNER: Joining me by phone from Jakarta is Tim Palmer, the Indonesia correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He also covered the bombing in Bali last October.

Tim palmer, welcome. I understand you got to the scene shortly after the blast. Describe it for us.

TIM PALMER: Well, the scene after the blast, and some hours after the blast, was one of fire and tangled mess, really. There were flames pumping out of the lower parts of the building; the foyer, itself, completely destroyed. And if you look up along this giant tower, something like 33 stories, I think twenty or twenty-two stories the windows are punched out to that height, so a significant blast. Even now, some 12 hours later, the place appears completely ruined. And the carcasses of three or four vehicles are still in this u-shaped driveway that police are concentrating on, believing that the vehicle that carried out this bombing was driven into that driveway, possibly using the vacant taxi rank to avoid security checks, and was detonated there. Police now focusing their attention on a Kijang vehicle, a very common Toyota vehicle here in Indonesia, which they think might have entered that part of the ramp. They are checking the serial numbers. And what police have also suggested is that they are checking body parts found in and around that suspect's vehicle, fearing that this could be a suicide attack, which would make this again-- I mean, the chilling similarity to Bali-- the second suicide attack in this region.

MARGARET WARNER: This was a Marriott- owned hotel, a U.S.-owned hotel. It would seem an obvious target. How well secured was it?

TIM PALMER: Yes, it clearly was a western hotel, in its own right, and so well secured that it became very much a western figurehead, because it was considered to have such good security that western diplomats and other officials flocked there. A number of embassies were in buildings attached to the hotel, right in the heart of the diplomatic circle of Jakarta-- considered, I guess, one of the least likely targets to be hit. Again, this shows how hard it is to protect this type of generally soft target from an attack of this nature.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, you mentioned that authorities think this may well have been a suicide bombing not unlike the Bali bombing. Are authorities there saying what officials here are saying in the background, which is that the MO really does bear the hallmarks of the same group that did the Bali bombing?

TIM PALMER: Very much so. Officials are pointing to the Jemaah Islamiyah group here. Suspects are obviously now being tried for the Bali bombing, and a verdict is expected on the first of those suspects, just a couple of days away. At the same time, the alleged leader of that group, Abu Bakar Bashir, gave evidence in his trial in Jakarta today. There are some suggestions in some quarters that the coincidence of these events may have provided the timing for this attack. Secondly, as you say, the actual operation bears the hallmarks of previous Jemaah Islamiyah attacks, including the Bali attack, which used a car bomb and a suicide bomber, if that is the case with this attack and thirdly and perhaps most critically, a recent point is that just a few weeks ago, Indonesian police in Jakarta and another Javanese city arrested nine members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a new cell of this group, which of course has been linked to al-Qaida only last week in terms of funding. They suggested that this group was planning to attack targets in Jakarta, and had amassed an enormous arsenal: 30,000 rounds of ammunition, a large number of weapons, more than a thousand kilograms of the same type of explosives used in the Bali attacks, and 150 kilograms of military-style high explosive, with many, many detonators and prepared bombs. And the police said targets had been singled out in Jakarta. There had been assassination targets, and other soft targets, like hotels and malls, would probably have been picked out. And critically, what they said at the time of these arrests was that two made-up bombs, or at least shipments of explosives, had already been sent from Semiran to Jakarta, and had never been traced. And police till today still have not found those two bombs.

MARGARET WARNER: So, in general, since the Bali bombing, how aggressively and how effectively have the Indonesian authorities cracked down on this group?

TIM PALMER: Well, this has been the question that's been raised as they've made inroads onto the group. Each time the police rounded up a significant number of suspects in Jemaah Islamiyah, particularly as they chased the Bali bomb suspect across Indonesia-- and remember, they captured one of the key suspects only last month with another large cell in the island of Sumatra, then this group of nine in Jakarta, previously replacement leaders in Jakarta they had rounded up-- the government was presenting this as having made serious inroads in potentially sweeping up the remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah. I think with this most recent attack and the most recent arrests showing a collection of weapons are now beginning to suggest rather than sweeping up remnants, the place they are just uncovering now is just a much larger and more widespread network of Jemaah Islamiyah in this region than was previously thought, and the Indonesian government today clearly expressed through the security minister, Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono, its regret and clearly humiliation at failure in its attempts since Bali to really thwart extremism in this country.

MARGARET WARNER: I gather today you also went to the morgue. Was what that like?

TIM PALMER: It's a fairly grim scene, of course, and again very reminiscent of Bali, because if this was meant to be an attack on wealthy westerners, something symbolic, the scene at the morgue certainly suggested something almost the opposite. There was one western body there, the body of a Dutch banker-- in fact, the general manager at the Rabah Bank here in Jakarta-- but all of the other eight or nine bodies in this morning, this ad hoc morgue, are in body bags-- some terribly disfigured, some represented just by body parts -- were largely poor Indonesian workers who'd been working outside the front of the hotel. And with many of the Indonesian victims of Bali, this was the case-- taxi drivers killed. Here, again, there were poor families of taxi drivers turning up, looking for missing men. At least three or four drivers are believed to be amongst the dead, many others wounded. Of around 150 wounded, nearly all of them are Indonesians. If this attack was meant to be against the wealthy or the westerners or the Americans, it certainly seems mainly to have cut down Indonesians and Indonesian Muslims.

MARGARET WARNER: Tim Palmer, thanks so much.

TIM PALMER: Thanks, Margaret.

FOCUS - ASSESSING AFGHANISTAN

RAY SUAREZ: Stemming terrorism was the reason for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan nearly two years ago. Now, that nation faces increasing instability and turmoil.

RAY SUAREZ: The combat phase of the Afghan War is largely over, according to the Pentagon, but peace has been elusive. It's been 22 months since the U.S. launched a bombing campaign and special operations ground attacks that ousted the Taliban government, which had provided sanctuary for the al-Qaida terrorists who planned the September 11 attacks. Yet nearly every day, there are attacks on U.S. and coalition peacekeepers, humanitarian workers, civilians, or journalists. President Hamid Karzai's government, with an army of just over 4,000 soldiers, has little control over the country outside Kabul. Karzai himself survived an assassination attempt last year, and his vice president and tourism minister were both killed by opposition groups. The capital, Kabul, is supposed to be secured by an international force of about 5,000. Known as ISAF, the force is currently led by the Germans and Dutch, but NATO will take over the mission this month. Still, even Kabul is a dangerous place. In early June, four German peacekeepers died, and more than 30 were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb next to the German bus. Karzai blamed foreigners for the attack. To compound U.S. concerns, Taliban forces appear to be regrouping on the border with Pakistan. The U.S. military has launched raids to rout out Taliban holdouts and al-Qaida terrorists from the mountains of southeastern Afghanistan. At the Pentagon today, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers said the hunt for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden continues.

GEN. RICHARD MYERS: There's a question of whether he's alive or not. If he's alive, a lot of people believe that the region he is in is in the... that border area where the terrain is very rugged, and where he might find people sympathetic to his outlook on life. And beyond that, it's one of those things, just like Saddam Hussein, that we'll continue to keep pressure on those kind of individuals. It's another... it's important. It's one more step.

RAY SUAREZ: The southern city of Kandahar in recent weeks, three Muslim clerics sympathetic to the U.S. Have been assassinated by Taliban forces. The Afghan conflict continues to claim American lives-- five in the last three months. Outside Kabul, much of the country remains under the control of Afghan warlords, many of them opposed to the Karzai government. Habiba Sarabi, Afghanistan's minister of women's affairs, is worried about the power the warlords wield.

HABIBA SARABI: Security is a big problem, not only in the city, but in the countryside. It's a big problem because of warlords. And so they have the power, and anything they want to do it, they can do it.

RAY SUAREZ: The U.S. plan to bring about stability involves creating an Afghan military and police force, and stationing a small number of forces in a few regions in Afghanistan. Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state, said improving security and reconstruction go hand in hand.

PAUL DOBRIANSKY: The United States in tandem with the Afghan government has come forward with what is known as the provincial reconstruction teams. These are civil military teams that are designated to certain areas, particularly those areas in which security has been a problem.

RAY SUAREZ: Decades of conflict have left Afghanistan in ruins, many Afghans face poverty, high unemployment, and lack of basic infrastructure. President Bush has promised a massive reconstruction effort, not unlike the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the Second World War.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: As George Marshall so clearly understood, it will not be enough to make the world safer. We must also work to make the world better. True peace will only be achieved when we give the Afghanistan people the means to achieve their own aspirations. Peace will be achieved by helping Afghanistan develop its own stable government.

RAY SUAREZ: But Afghanistan's foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, has said that effort is not paid off yet.

ABDULLAH ABDULLAH: The people appreciate the support which has been given to them. But at the same time, they think that it hasn't been sufficient. That's the overall perception of the people. Nevertheless, most of the assistance, so far, has gone to the humanitarian side. So you don't see lots of visible signs of reconstruction.

RAY SUAREZ: Independent observers within the United States have also issued criticism. In June, the Council on Foreign Relations issued a report entitled "Afghanistan: Are We Losing the Peace?" And last week, the New York- based group Human Rights Watch issued a report blaming the U.S. and Afghan governments for a surge in violent crime. The Bush administration has said it recognizes more needs to be done, and is expected to announce a $1 billion aid package for Afghanistan soon. And last week, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters at Bagram Air Force Base that U.S. troops, now numbering about 8,500, will remain in Afghanistan for as long as it takes.

RAY SUAREZ: For more on the situation in Afghanistan, we get three views. Torek Farhadi is an economics advisor to President Karzai and an advisor to the Central Bank governor in Afghanistan. Born in Afghanistan, he is now a U.S. citizen. Frank Wisner was the co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations' task force on Afghanistan, which issued the report "Afghanistan: Are We Losing the Peace?" He served as ambassador to India during the Clinton administration. And Sara Amiryar was born and raised in Afghanistan, is now a U.S. citizen. Last summer, she was a delegate to Afghanistan's Loya Jirgah, or Grand Assembly, which selected its current government. We asked the Bush administration to participate in this discussion, but they declined.

Sara Amiryar, is the United States losing the gains that it fought to win in Afghanistan?

SARA AMIRYAR, Delegate to Afghan Loya Jirgah: If the current situation is not changed, if the security is not really increased beyond Kabul, and if human rights abuse is not stopped, I doubt that actually that the full promise and the full democracy will be reached in Afghanistan.

RAY SUAREZ: So things -- if I understand what you are saying -- are moving away from the direction you need them to move in, right?

SARA AMIRYAR: That is what I believe, yes.

RAY SUAREZ: Torek Farhadi, the same question: When you look at what the war aims were, 21 months ago, is the United States, is Afghanistan in danger of losing what it had hoped to gain?

TOREK FARHADI, Advisor to President Karzai: Well, the war was aimed at stopping al-Qaida and destabilizing their operations. I think it has achieved that objective. A second objective of U.S. involvement was to make the place a better place and a safer place and that is taking time, will take time. We are dealing with a challenging situation for security reasons, but also for structural reasons. This is a country that has been in civil war for about two decades. People have not gone to school. Education is lacking. Women have not had the opportunity to go to school. Civil servants haven't received any continuing education and they don't know what modern techniques of management and they don't know or -- and they don't know computers. So it will take time. I'm optimistic that the work we have initiated is going to pay off. But we need to do much more. We need to continue this partnership between the United States and Afghanistan and do much more to create an economic opportunity for the people of Afghanistan and create jobs so that they can get off the militias and they can get off signing up with the militias and go to work and produce and create an economic life for themselves. Once you have that, then they will fight not to lose it.

RAY SUAREZ: Ambassador, Wisner, your report, the council's report, seemed to imply that many of the things Mr. Farhadi suggested had to be done have to be done really right away or else you risk the country sliding back in anarchy?

FRANK WISNER, Former State Department Official: That is correct. We argued that the situation in Afghanistan has approached a pivotal point where decisions need to be taken in three regards: First as your first speaker pointed out, to deal with the pressing security situation; to make certain that peacekeeping forces are deployed outside the capitol, that the provincial bosses or warlords get a strong signal it's time to disarm and third to accelerate and development of a national army and police force; in short, to back up with strong security measures the Karzai regime and the move towards constitutional government. We also suggested and believe that the time was right to take a firm step toward a sustained economic reconstruction program, the international community has been called upon to put $15 billion over five years on the table, $1 billion or $5 billion -- $1 billion a year or $5 billion total from the United States. And third we felt it was also very important that the United States use its diplomacy to bring the key regional powers back around the table, Iran, Russia, Pakistan, India, to create a consensus among them that this was the time to push Afghanistan along back the Karzai government, and move the country towards the constitutional outcome and elections we hope will take place next year.

RAY SUAREZ: Sara Smiryar you heard Ambassador Wisner refer to the Karzai government when you are traveling through much of Afghanistan outside the capital, is there any sense that there is a Karzai government, that there is a central administration that has some influence in the day-to-day affairs of the country?

SARA AMIRYAR: Well, I have traveled actually to 20 provinces. I did not really see that there is power actually or central government's power is respected in other provinces. The other provinces actually are ruled by the commanders and by the warlords. And also, I believe that security is just in Kabul. Kabul is not Afghanistan. In the other provinces, there is no safety, there's no security and I believe that if they want really peace to come to Afghanistan and democracy, the central government, President Karzai's government, should have power -- actually should actually rule the provinces. And the commanders and the governors they really do whatever they want to do.

RAY SUAREZ: Torek Farhadi is that situation really in the cards? Are the provincial leaders and the warlords going to give up power to the central government?

TOREK FARHADI: The provincial leaders have come to Kabul time and time again and they have promised loyalty to President Karzai. So there is acknowledgment that there is a central government, there is acknowledgment that there was a ground council, is a Loya Jirgah last year and President Karzai was elected as the president of Afghanistan by all these people. So now, the central government ought to have the capacity to deliver services to these regions. That is how loyalties will be bought in Afghanistan. At this point, the central government has had little resources to deliver these services -- being security, reconstruction, regional development, education. All of these services have just started to being delivered.

RAY SUAREZ: But isn't one reason why they don't have the resources the fact that many of the conventional sources of revenue for a central government are in fact being collected by the regional people and not making their way to the central administration?

TOREK FARHADI: In one or two parts of Afghanistan the leaders in that region are collecting customs revenues and their argument is that we are spending this money on our own region because you, the central government, cannot do anything for us anyway so we're going to spend it here. But they have agreed that they will submit the revenues to the central government and the central government will parcel out the revenues to all the regions of Afghanistan because there are some poor regions in Afghanistan as well. There is -- in the center of Afghanistan, Afghanistan itself is a land locked country. The center of Afghanistan there is a province named Bayam -- it doesn't have access to it, roads to it. So it is a challenging situation. This is going to take some time. And we have to stick to the challenge but we ought not to get discouraged.

RAY SUAREZ: Ambassador Wisner, comment on what you just heard from Mr. Farhadi -- this push-pull between the provinces and the center.

FRANK WISNER: Well, I think he has put his finger on it. The history of Afghanistan underscores a central fact and that is if there isn't a degree of Kabul authority over the country, Afghanistan as a country cannot make any progress. At the same time, the reality of Afghanistan is a federal or more dispersed nature. What is at work today is a constitutional process to divide the responsibilities of Kabul and the surrounding regions. And your commentator was absolutely right when he pointed out that government has to be able to give to create loyalties but the provincial leaders have to be able to cede in order to make an effective Afghanistan. Here, I think the issue is not for tomorrow. It is a today issue. It's very important that we as the United States send an unmistakable signal that the time is right for the Karzai government to succeed, to extend its authority, to make the necessary political deals but with strong American backing.

RAY SUAREZ: And what does sending a signal mean? What does that consist of?

FRANK WISNER: It means making it clear, unambiguously clear, to the provincial leaders that while they played a useful role in toppling the Taliban, the time is right now, to support Karzai, and allow the constitutional process and elections to come in and then play a normal political role in the country's future as the end of the elections would foresee.

RAY SUAREZ: Now in the Afghanistan that you saw, was there any sign of what the ambassador described was happening?

SARA AMIRYAR: In some parts. What I saw -- my observation -- I believe that Karzai is a good person he has a good heart and he means well for the country. But his power is limited. And the United States really also should get its policies consistent with the promises that they made. For instance, the warlords, the previous fundamentalists they still receive support from the United States. Pakistan is interfering and they are not being stopped. And who is actually training the al-Qaida people and also the Taliban and send them inside Afghanistan? All these latest disturbances -- who created all that? The United States understands that you know that Pakistan and other neighboring countries are the core of this problem in Afghanistan and there should be a policy to stop that. And as Mr. Farhadi mentioned about the economic situation if the economy is not revived and education not enhanced, then I think that we are not really looking for a very successful future or democracy in Afghanistan. We are -- and I think that the United States and also the world cannot afford really to make the same mistake in Afghanistan as they did in the 90s. Afghanistan was left at the mercy of Pakistan and Wahaby of Saudi Arabia and look what happened. And now if the same mistake is repeated, I think that the not just Afghanistan but the whole region will be ruined. So they have to look at the policies again and be consistent with the application of that policy toward Afghanistan and also the promises that the world made, the donors made they should keep that.

RAY SUAREZ: She has made serious charges: Pakistan, an American ally in the war against terrorism actually being part of the problem in reconstituting Afghanistan.

TOREK FARHADI: Well, I think Afghanistan also has to put itself together. We need strong police force and border guards. We need to be able to safeguard our borders in order to limit the infiltration of terrorism into Afghanistan. We need to have a national army that is stronger. And we need to create frankly, economic opportunities for people so that the culture of war is un-rooted and the culture of effort and creation of resources comes to play.

RAY SUAREZ: Very quickly. The ambassador suggests there is a very limited window of time in which to start achieving these things, do you agree?

TOREK FARHADI: I agree absolutely, yes. And I think there is a signal the United States is going to double up its help. The USAID is going to get involved -- the OPEC, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, many efforts are in the works to help the situation.

RAY SUAREZ: Guests thank you all very much.

SARA AMIRYAR: Thank you.

UPDATE - A CHURCH'S CHOICE

RAY SUAREZ: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight: Delays and dilemmas for Episcopal Church leaders; campaigning online; and summertime movies.

RAY SUAREZ: Once again today, there was drama in Minneapolis, where the leaders of the Episcopal Church are embroiled in a debate over homosexuality. And once again, Fred de Sam Lazaro of Twin Cities Public Television has a report. Amazing grace

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The daily worship service and business of this Episcopal Convention went on amidst of what many called one of the most unusual moments in the church's history. Yesterday afternoon, the House of Bishops abruptly put off the final vote that would have elevated Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop.

THE MOST REV. FRANK GRISWOLD, Presiding Bishop: Questions have been raised and brought to my attention regarding the bishop elect of the diocese of New Hampshire.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: A Vermont man accused Robinson of inappropriate touching and separately, Robinson was alleged to have been connected to a website with some links to pornography. That triggered what church leaders called an automatic investigation, unprecedented and sobering to many bishops like Rhode Island's Geralyn Wolf.

BISHOP GERALYN WOLF, Rhode Island: Initially we were numb. We just couldn't get over that this had happened. None of us could anticipate this. We also moved to the point where we realized how vulnerable each of us was -- that times had changed dramatically -- and any of us could receive an e-mail making an accusation and that each of us in our own way and in our own time in fact had received some accusations --usually not of a sexual nature but of all kinds of different things. And so in that sense of vulnerability we were hushed.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For his part conservative Robinson opponent Kendall Harmon called for a fair hearing.

REV. KENDALL HARMON: Is this a community based on trust. This is the Church of Christ and we live in a society where there is the presumption of innocence. So I want to say that right up front. The other thing that we need to say is as a church we need to take any allegations very seriously. Everybody in this room is well aware of the terrible situation in which the Roman Catholic Church finds itself. And if there were anything to these allegations and they weren't investigated, everybody here knows that the charge of cover up would be quickly hurled at the church.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Amid speculation at the investigation could last longer than this week's convention, this afternoon, there was another unexpected turn. Gordon Scruton, the bishop leading the inquiry, announced its findings.

BISHOP GORDON SCRUTON, Massachusetts: In both allegations it is my conclusion that there is no necessity to pursue further investigation and no reason on these grounds to prevent the bishop's with jurisdiction from going forward with their vote being whether or not to consent to Robinson's consecration.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Many said they were confident he would be cleared but the president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts said the last minute allegations marred the process.

BISHOP STEPHEN CHARLESTON, President, Episcopal Divinity School: What is unsettling is the feeling of a political quality to this. That it would be in perhaps some ways deliberate rather than just coincidental. I think that is the most unsettling and troubling effect that will linger far beyond what we're going to experience over the next day or two.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Late this afternoon the House of Bishops began the debate that we expected to have started 24 hours earlier. And that debate continues in the chamber adjacent to this one: A final vote expected sometime after 6:00 P.M. Central U.S. Time. It's much longer than anyone expected -- perhaps an indication of how difficult this issue has been. Ray?

RAY SUAREZ: Fred, when we talked yesterday, it seemed like the investigation could last a good long time. There is speculation that the vote might not be held before the convention broke up. It seems like it was handled pretty quickly?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The Church has very automatic processes in place, ray and when an allegation surfaces it has to be thoroughly investigated and, of course, the investigators cannot let on when they think they might have a verdict because it might indicate how seriously they are taking the charges. So we did not get any such indication. As it turns out the charges were dismissed rather quickly by Archbishop Scruton, who is not, as the tape said, from Vermont but western Massachusetts.

RAY SUAREZ: Tell us more about the charges and the findings.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The charges of course were two separate ones: One that he was associated with the website which in turn had links to pornography sites. It was well established he had no links at all to this website. He helped found the organization that it belonged to years ago. The most serious charge, the one involved charges from a particular individual in Vermont who is of inappropriate touching. Now, the investigators did in fact talk to this individual and established that the touching specifically involved here was of a forearm and the back and was in full public view; it was at a public gathering and the person in fact said he was sorry that he had issued a charge of harassment, which was contained in the e-mail. With all this in mind, Bishop Scruton was able to dismiss the charges and the House of Bishops is now in session voting on this issue.

RAY SUAREZ: Were opponents and supporters of Cannon Robinson glad to get this off the table?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: I think there was -- two schools of thought on this, Ray: Most people were saying we need to get this cleared and we need to get Gene Robinson's name cleared and the matter cleared up very, very quickly. There was allegations that there was dirty political tactics afoot to delay and stonewall the nomination or the confirmation, rather, and that would drag it out and perhaps derail it. And this of course coming from the pro Robinson supporters. But from all the public rhetoric they were supportive and respectful of the process that has gone on here at this convention.

RAY SUAREZ: As you mentioned, the debate in the House of Bishops is now finally underway one day later. Can you tell us what people have been saying?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In the debate, ray, it's pretty much the same debate that has been held in several forums here this is a deliberate church in terms of passing these kinds of resolutions and confirming people to officialdom in the church. The debate is very much the same. It's over whether scripture affirms or disaffirms homosexuality and the role of gays in the church. And of course, in many eyes this is a church affirming or making official something that carries on unofficially at the local diocese level in many parts of the Episcopalian Church in the united states.

RAY SUAREZ: And Fred is there an expectation that this is going to be over tonight, the vote?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Every expectation, yes, indeed; they expect this will be done tonight. If Bishop elect Robinson is confirmed he plans to become the bishop and not the gay bishop of New Hampshire he says. He will be consecrated in November. He does not plan to appeal through any of the processes if he is not confirmed.

RAY SUAREZ: Fred, thank you for being with us.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Thank you, Ray.

FOCUS - PLUGGED-IN POLITICS

RAY SUAREZ: The Internet is powering big changes in American politics, some spearheaded by Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

Media correspondent Terence Smith has our story.

TERENCE SMITH: Howard Dean calls his presidential bid the "people- powered campaign."

HOWARD DEAN: The power to change this country is in your hands, and boy, have you ever proved it in the last week and a half. ( Cheers )

TERENCE SMITH: That sounds like old- fashioned populism, but the new element is the powerful Internet engine that's behind it.

HOWARD DEAN: Holy cow!

TERENCE SMITH: At the moment, his campaign is the not-so-little engine that could. The self-appointed political elite-- pundits, the media, and insiders from both major parties-- never anticipated the former Vermont governor could attract such early national attention. But he has, largely by computer- assisted grassroots organizing and fund-raising.

Once a month, his campaign promotes what it calls "meet-ups" online. The concept is simple: The Dean campaign uses the web site meetup.Com, which organizes groups of people with similar interests, from poodles to politics. In fact, at the moment, popular categories, such as Bill O'Reilly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, are being overshadowed by Dean, who now has now garnered more than 67,000 supporters through the site.

WOMAN: I'm going to pass around my contact information if you want to write that down.

TERENCE SMITH: Generated by the Internet, these "smart mobs," as they're coming to be known, gather at a designated place. On this night, some Dean supporters meet up at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and at a Cajun restaurant in Denver, and in 310 other cities across the country.

SPOKESMAN: Now, folks, this, this here tonight, this is what a legitimate grassroots campaign looks like.

TERENCE SMITH: After hearing from Dean organizers and watching a video from the candidate, the people at this Denver gathering, who were brought together by computer, turned back the clock on technology and put pen to paper to try to persuade Iowans to support Dean in that important first-in-the-nation caucus state. Ben Schumacher says Internet organizing, in what has been dubbed the new "Internet primary," can converge with old- style campaign tactics, such as letter writing and direct mail, fund-raising events and TV ads. But cyberspace, he says expands, a candidate's appeal.

BEN SCHUMACHER: There's a lot of disaffected people who are Internet users. I personally would have considered myself one, who... this is the only reason I would have found out about Howard Dean, and probably one of the main reasons I'm out here today.

WOMAN: You've all got e-mail lists. We need to spread the word and send it to all of your friends.

TERENCE SMITH: The power of computer organizing is now even part of the candidate's lexicon on the stump.

HOWARD DEAN: What I would like meet-up to do...

TERENCE SMITH: Dean says the Internet builds cohesion.

HOWARD DEAN: It's a way of putting the community back together again that was taken away by television, where people sat passively at home, being entertained by people who spoke at them but not with them. And we can speak with people.

TERENCE SMITH: Independent of the campaign, there are 89 Dean web sites and 326 online discussion groups on Yahoo, including two for Spanish speakers. In addition, the campaign itself is communicating directly with people through interactive web logs, or so-called "blogs."

VOICE OF HOWARD DEAN: I'm amazed by the incredible outpouring of support we've seen on the Internet today.

TERENCE SMITH: This blog entry is an audio recording of Dean thanking supporters for their contributions during the last day of the second fund-raising quarter. Across the Democratic Party spectrum, political organizers at moveon.Org are using the Internet to try to mobilize Americans to get involved.

In June, members of this organization of 1.4 million liberal activists held the country's first online primary to pick a Democrat to challenge President Bush. And Dean, who won 44 percent of the 318,000 votes cast, was able to then raise more than $2 million in the final eight days of June. That brought his total earnings to $7.5 million in the second quarter of the year, more than half of which came from direct contributions over the Internet. He raised more than any Democrat in this most recent quarter, and a record amount in cyberspace for a non-election year. Some of the Democratic contenders criticized the candidate poll, and none attracted the needed 50 percent of the vote to get the group's endorsement.

ZACH EXLEY, noveon.org: Hey, how's it going?

TERENCE SMITH: Zach Exley of moveon.Org says the group may promote more polls in the coming months in an effort to mobilize field workers and help Democratic candidates raise small donor money before the early primary contests next year.

ZACH EZLEY: We're doing the opposite of winnowing the field. I think that the winnowing of the field is what happens in the money game and in the pundit game. What we're trying to do is let the people speak on... let a very broad and base of voters speak about who they think is electable.

MAX FOSE, Republican Internet Strategist: Howard Dean has definitely become the Internet candidate of the 2004 presidential election cycle.

TERENCE SMITH: Republican Max Fose was the Internet manager and treasurer for the McCain 2000 campaign. He advises Republican candidates around the country. Fose created the web site that signed up and organized over 142,000 volunteers nationwide, and raised $6.4 million online for McCain. He says Howard Dean is harnessing the power of the web.

MAX FOSE: If Howard Dean was able to win this nomination right now for the Democratic nominee, you could say Howard Dean, did he win because of the Internet? Well, no, because the candidate wins. But he could not have won without the Internet.

TERENCE SMITH: Other Democratic competitors, with far greater numbers in the polls, are starting to make more of a push for online fund-raising and organizing.

For example, on the campaign site of Congressman Dick Gephardt, there is an appeal to Spanish-speaking voters. Senator Joe Lieberman's site utilizes video, including a diary from the campaign which the candidate narrates.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN: So thanks for tuning in.

TERENCE SMITH: Senator John Kerry's features "virtual precincts," where supporters can trade information and organize their friends to vote for Kerry, while Senator John Edwards features his schedule, so people can see where he's going and what he's doing; Senator Bob Graham does the same.

SPOKESMAN: Three, two, one... happy draft!

TERENCE SMITH: And at this computer- organized meet-up, one of 36 across the country the same night, Internet-savvy attendees came to try to rally behind a candidate who is not even in the race, General Wesley Clark, a former NATO commander. People like Georgia Sullivan, a private school fund-raiser, say they were attracted to the campaign on the computer, and then sought out more information by joining the public meetings. John Hlinko, draftwesleyclark.Com co-founder, says that kind of story is duplicated over and over.

JOHN HLINKO, DraftWesleyClark.com: The Internet is the factor. It's unbelievable. I mean, we started the web site draftwesleyclark.Com just a little over two months ago, and what it's enabled us to do is to channel support from all over the nation and funnel it in the right direction, in a direction that can actually make this a movement rather than just a random series of e-mails.

TERENCE SMITH: But some 25 percent of Americans still are not connected to the Internet, the so-called digital divide. Governor Dean spoke to that limitation at a recent Rainbow/PUSH Coalition presidential forum.

HOWARD DEAN: We have the most advanced Internet campaign in the country. We have 34,000 volunteers all over the country because of the Internet. The next biggest campaign has 1,300. We have a disproportionate number of white middle-class kids, because the Internet does not reach enough people in the Latino and the African American community.

TERENCE SMITH: And beyond reaching, mobilizing, and fund-raising in the primaries is the broader question: How would any of the Democratic candidates fare in an electronically charged match-up with President Bush?

SPOKESMAN: What you're going to see with President Bush's campaign is the ability to build the largest e-mail list in political history, and take what the RNC has done for the last four years, and build an e-mail list of millions of people, and take that to the next level where he'll probably have 20 million people on an e-mail list by the time the campaign ends.

George Bush has the ability to raise $20 million to $30 million online this year by going out and stumping and saying, "you know, if you support my message, if you support what I've done for the past three and a half years, go online and give me $25." I don't think they've started using the bully pulpit to its fullest.

TERENCE SMITH: In the future, expect to see more candidates text messaging-- sending messages to voters' cell phones-- transmitting video messages online, and building even more extensive e-mail lists by cross-referencing with commercial files.

It's the brave new world of campaign technology and organizing. But at this early point in the presidential race, no one can predict with any certainty what the net effect will be on the outcome.

ESSAY - SUMMER ANGELS

RAY SUAREZ: Finally tonight, essayist Anne Taylor Fleming samples some summer movies.

ACTOR: You cheated.

ACTOR: Pirate.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Summertime and the viewing is easy-- the movie viewing-- or at least that's the theory. The seasonal fare is per se escapist, rompish, silly, family-friendly. Think "the hulk" or "Finding Nemo"... ( screaming ) ...or "dumb and dumberer." It's an adolescent spree of goofy, gag-filled, often effects-heavy fun.

ACTOR: What stinks?

ACTOR: Could be me, sir. ( The kinks' "My Sharona" playing )

ACTOR: Bosley!

ACTOR: What's happening, angels?

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Into this mix has sashayed, or strutted, the three returning Charlie's Angels, Cameron, Drew and Lucy, back for their mega sequel. They made a fortune last time around with their act: Three well-built babes out to do good in a mean, old world. Well, they're back "full throttle" this time, slamming around the world in helicopters and on motorcycles, all giggly and righteous with awesome moves and awesome abs, a trio of angelic avengers kick-boxing their sweet, sexy way to box office heaven. So why did they make me so grumpy? After all, this is summertime, tongue-in-cheek fare, and I risk sounding silly taking on their silliness. It's like taking on Wonder Woman or any of these female-centric video games. Or "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider." But they strike the old nerve down there, the one that says: Come on, do we girls have to do it like the boys? Is that the bottom line here? That we are equally entitled to strut and kick and kill? Is that what all the hoopla was about, so cherubic-faced megastars can flirt and fight and pose and preen and slash and maim?

ACTOR: I know what you're thinking: Did he fire six shots or only five?

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Charlie's Angels, it turns out, are Dirty Harry's nieces. Their violence made winky-winky palatable by its heavily cleavaged, comic-book quality. At least Clint Eastwood movies hinted at a little moral complexity.

ACTPR: I got to know.

( Gasps ) ( siren wailing )

ACTOR: ( Laughs )

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: The thing that is really troubling is how these heroines are being sold: As the ultimate empowerment figures for young girls. That's the word, in fact, that all the "Charlie's Angels" actresses have been using in their promo rounds: "Empowerment." It's the feminist, post-feminist word covering a multitude of market excesses. It means you can wear Victoria Secret while blowing away the opposition. These are the new icons: Taut- bodied, take-no-prisoners girls with bikinis and botox.

SPOKESMAN: Three, two, one, go.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: You can see them front and center in all the new reality shows, going head to head and eating worms with the boys.

ACTOR: Come on.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Liberation means never having to say you're sorry; means living life in the female equivalent of a beer commercial; means making a tacit virtue of vulgarity and violence in the name of empowerment. It apparently also means being giggly and girlish in the mix, a strange kind of apologia for the new strength. The angels have it. So does our "Legally Blonde" star, half steel-trap mind, half pink plaid cutie pie.

ACTOR: Good morning, fellow public servants.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: But all the unexamined biases at the heart of these new "empowering" action chick flicks are disturbing for all that they say-- and don't say-- about our values as a society and as women at the beginning of the 21st century. I'm Anne Taylor Fleming.

RECAP

RAY SUAREZ: Again, the major developments of the day: A powerful car bomb killed at least 13 people and wounded some 150 in Jakarta, Indonesia. And leaders of the U.S. Episcopal Church moved toward a vote on confirming their first openly gay bishop. Earlier, church bishops cleared him of allegations of improper conduct.

RAY SUAREZ: And again, to our honor roll of American service personnel killed in Iraq.

RAY SUAREZ: We add names when the deaths are confirmed, and photographs become available. Here, in silence, are two more. We'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. I'm Ray Suarez. Thanks and good night.