NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - August 30, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Choice of Palin Is Bold Move by McCain, With Risks
In choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and bidding for supportersof Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain risked undercutting his case againstBarack Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30assess.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Sarah Heath Palin, an Outsider Who Charms
Ms. Palin in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau with her daughters. She roseto prominence by impressing voters more with gumption than with anestablished record.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30palin.html?hp

-McCain's Baked Alaska
The idea that women are going to race off to vote for any candidate with thesame internal plumbing is both offensive and historically wrong.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/opinion/30collins-.html?ref=opinion

-Investigators Are Looking at Governor About Firing
In unveiling Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as Senator John McCain's runningmate, the campaign is portraying her as a champion of ethics reform fortaking on members of her own party whom she saw as beholden to specialinterests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30trooper.html

-Two-Front Republicans
THE country is at war. The economy is in shambles. The Republican Party isweaker than it has been in decades. So whom does John McCain choose as hisvice presidential nominee? A former beauty queen turned governor fromAlaska. Think the 47-year-old Barack Obama is too inexperienced to bepresident? Mr. McCain says the 44-year-old Sarah Palin, who has two yearsfewer of experience as governor than Mr. Obama has as a senator fromIllinois, is up to the job. Concerned that Americans do not know enoughabout Mr. Obama, who spent part of his childhood overseas and went toprivate school in Hawaii? Ms. Palin is a total unknown who also hails from anoncontiguous state, one most people know only from watching Animal Planet.And that state is steeped in corruption and oil money. Its senior senator isunder indictment. They try to build bridges to nowhere there. What on earthwas Mr. McCain thinking?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/opinion/30continetti.html?ref=opinion

-Surge in Natural Gas Cars Has Utah Driving Cheaply
Utah has become the first state to experience broad consumer interest in theidea of running cars on clean natural gas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30gascars.html?hp

-The Massachusetts Way
The gains of the Massachusetts health insurance program suggest that theplan could become a model for universal health coverage for other states orthe nation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/opinion/30sat1.html?ref=opinion

-Millions Are Displaced by Floods in India
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/world/asia/30india.html

-Your Money: Automated Bill Payments Are a Cinch (Not So Fast)
A few months ago, in my first column for this newspaper, I extolled thevirtues of automated bill payments: Set them up once, let your utilities,phone and credit card companies pull what you owe from your bank accounteach month and never sit through the drudgery of a bill-paying sessionagain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/yourmoney/30money.html


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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Obama and McCain Tax Proposals
According to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of theUrban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Democrat Barack Obama andRepublican John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result incuts for most American families. Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts tothose who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to thevery wealthy. For the approximately 147,000 families that make up the top0.1 percent of the income scale, the difference between the two plans isstark. While McCain offers a $269,364 tax cut, Obama would raise theirtaxes, on average, by $701,885 - a difference of nearly $1 million.
Check the comparison chart:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/06/12/GR2008061200193.html?referrer=emaillink

-Don't Do It
Hillary Clinton's supporters will be committing political suicide if theyfall for Sarah Palin.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902891.html

-Topic A: Assessing Sarah Palin
The Post asked political experts for their thoughts on John McCain's runningmate. Below are contributions from: Michael Feldman, Newt Gingrich,Catharine A. "Kiki" McLean, Greg Mueller, Grover G. Norquist, John Podesta,Douglas E. Schoen and Lisa Schiffren
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082901777.html

-THE ANSWER, MY FRIEND
Want a Better Way to Power Your Car? It's a Breeze. Legendary Texas oilmanT. Boone Pickens is half right. We do need to harness this country's windresources for a homegrown source of electricity, as he has been urging thissummer in expensive television ads. And we do need to reduce the $700billion we may soon be paying annually for imported oil. But part two ofPickens's plan -- to move natural gas out of electricity production and useit to fuel cars instead -- just doesn't make sense.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902334.html

-Abortion on Ballots in 3 States
Voters to decide measures that could add fuel to movement to overturn 1973Roe v. Wade ruling.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903142.html?hpid=topnews

-Russian Offensive Hailed in Mideast
For some in the Middle East, the images of Russian tanks rolling intoGeorgia in defiance of U.S. opposition have revived warm memories of theCold War. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew last week to Moscow, wherehe endorsed Russia's offensive in Georgia and, according to Russianofficials, sought additional Russian weapon systems.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903127.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Thousands seek refuge from India religious attacks
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of people, most of them Christians,have sought shelter in makeshift government camps in eastern India, drivenfrom their homes by religious violence which has killed at least 13 peoplethis week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082900264.html?hpid=sec-religion

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