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The Oregonian wrote a story about American soldiers who have deserted and are now living in Canada. The story says that under the Geneva Convention, three dozen U.S. soldiers have applied to Canada for refugee status. Officials there said that since the war began, thousands have deserted, and many may be living in the country illegally. The Oregonian reports:

Desertion is a normal part of the military. Since it became an all-volunteer force after the Vietnam War, the Army's rate of desertion has remained relatively constant, at about 1 percent. That contrasts with a high of 3.4 percent in 1971, when more than 33,000 soldiers deserted to avoid combat in Vietnam.

How big is the problem? 

The Army said 19,390 soldiers have deserted between 2001 and 2006, an average of 3,231 a year, or about 1 percent of the entire force.

"The vast majority of the soldiers who desert have been on active duty for less than six months, and the reasons for deserting typically cited are personal problems, money problems, things like that," said Lt. Col. Robert Tallman, an Army spokesman.

The story continues:

Most deserters turn themselves in, said J.E. McNeil, director of the Center on Conscience and War, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that provides legal advice to U.S. troops.

"Going to Canada is a bad idea," McNeil said. "This is not Vietnam. At that time, you could walk in, set your bags down and stay."

She said a better option is to return to the military. Most who do are discharged under the "other than honorable" classification, she said. Few have been convicted of desertion, she said.

Stateline.org reports that more states are considering laws that would be more tolerant of adults who are only a few years older than their teenage lover. In most states, a 19-year-old who has sex with a 17-year-old may be charged as a sex criminal. In some states, a 17-year-old who has a relationship with a 15-year-old might be charged. But four states -- Connecticut, Florida, Indiana and Texas -- have passed laws trying to take into account whether there is a real relationship going on between a couple. The article says:

The new state policies take different approaches but share a goal of preventing low-risk adolescents from facing the same penalties as serious predators. Lawmakers who support the laws emphasize that the measures are not "soft" on crime but are designed to eliminate unintended consequences -- such as lifetime inclusion on sex-offender registries for young people convicted of less-serious infractions.

"The typical phone call I would get is the mother of a 20-year-old kid who got caught up in this and is now on the sex-offender registry and it's ruining his life," said Connecticut state Rep. Mike Lawlor (D), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor. Lawlor said states are "getting a little more focused and trying to go after the real predators."

The new laws come amid an ongoing crackdown on sex offenders. States approved scores of measures targeting sex offenders in 2006, restricting where they can live, authorizing Global Positioning System satellites to track where they go and -- in Oklahoma and South Carolina -- allowing the death penalty for some sex crimes, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. This year has seen a similar flurry of activity intended to clamp down on sex offenders.

Connecticut lawmakers agreed to a compromise that widens the age gap between consenting sexual partners from two years to three, in an attempt to cut down on the number of "Romeo and Juliet" romances prosecuted. The original legislation called for a four-year gap.

Caution: Some links in this piece will take you to spoiler sites that claim to reveal important details from the soon-to-be-released "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

I want to be clear: I see no reason to reveal this stuff in news stories. The book is fiction, so why ruin it for readers? I also want to warn you that while I point to some sites where you can download what is purported to be the book, it is probably a serious copyright violation to do so.

I have not downloaded from any of the sites. I point you to the sites so you can see with your own eyes how widespread and blatant this copyright violation appears to be.

The leaks mostly occur on torrent sites. A "torrent" is a file that is shared directly rather than through a third party.

I thought it was interesting that journalists entered some of the chat sections of the torrent pages trying to find torrent users to talk with. I found several copies of what are purported to be the new book on The Pirate Bay. Their quality is pretty bad.

A Web site called TorrentFreak reports that spoilers claim to be banning together to type out the chapters page by page because the photographed pages are too difficult to read when posted.

There have been other torrents in recent weeks claiming to have the pages, but torrent site watchers say all of them, before now, were fakes.

This is a link to a spoiler site. Do NOT click on this if you do not want to know details of what happens in the new book. I am sending it to you because some journalists are reporting stories about the book being leaked on the Web. The site includes some photo images of what it claims is the new book. It also includes what are thought to be some highlights of the book's plot.

Here are some other torrent sites that have posted what purport to be the entire book:

• Mininova.org says it is working with Scholastic and its lawyers to keep the Harry Potter links off the site.
  

• MediaFire included a 396-page PDF that appears to be all, or nearly all, of the book.

• BitDig offers individual screen shots of pages.

• TorrentPortal has loaded many Harry Potter torrents, each claiming to be the full book.

CTV reports:

In Canada, both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail published alleged plot details of the final book documenting the adventures of the young wizard and his band of friends.

And Globe ran a review that is apparently based on leaked details of the book -- said to be one of the most closely guarded secrets in contemporary literature.

The Star's story began:

Warning: If you would prefer not to know what happens in the leaked version of the final Harry Potter novel, stop reading right now.

We can thank The Rural Blog for finding this story in the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star. The story says rural kids are 25 percent more likely to have weight issues than urban kids. Dr. Martin Lipsky, regional dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, says: 

"Rural children may have less access to healthier foods. There may be a fast-food restaurant in small towns, but not other types of restaurants. They may lack diversity in fresh fruits and vegetables in their markets. Sometimes there is less opportunity for physical activity like sports, a sidewalk to walk on or even having to park far away from an event and walk."

The study will run in the September issue of Obesity.

The Rural Blog also mentions this story in The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about thieves stealing tractors and even metal feeders to sell for scrap. There have already been more metal thefts reported in Iowa this year than in all of last year. There were 96 thefts in Iowa last year, an increase from 34 in 2005.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.