NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - September 06, 2008

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About Sarah Palin from a Wassillan
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last2 days that I decided to write something up . . . Basically, Sarah Palin andHillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their goodlooks. :) You have my permission to forward this to your friends/emailcontacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post iton any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .
Thanks,
Anne Kilkenny
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate


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

-Barack Obama's the right choice for the color blind
Here's how I learned about racism: In the early 1960s, I arrived from Israelon a scholarship to the UCLA School of Journalism. One summer, I drove mybattered Plymouth to New York just to see how big America was. I pulled intoa gas station in Ft. Smith, Ark. While refueling, I went to the diner nextdoor and ordered a glass of milk and a tuna fish sandwich. The waitress eyedme from behind the counter, and said, "We don't serve Orientals." Troublewas, I had no idea who were "Orientals." I guessed she didn't like the way Ilooked - flowery Hawaiian pants, black camisole, long black ponytail. And adark California suntan. Still, I figured that people who didn't likesomeone, an "Oriental" in this case, wouldn't be crazy about Jews. So Ifilled up my bottle, bought a tin of peanuts and hit the road. Later, Ipassed a dumpy restaurant advertising fried chicken, with the caveat, "Wedon't serve colored." Now, in a historical swoop, Barack Obama, both"Oriental" and "colored," in a sense, is the Democratic candidate forpresident. TV pundits, liberal and conservative, breathing words into emptyspace, posit a dichotomy. At this point, they say, he should be 12 to 15percentage points ahead of McCain. So, why isn't he? Quick, get me a tunafish sandwich! People of a certain age in Boca Raton tell me I know Obamais a smart guy, but I just can't bring myself to vote for him.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/columnists/sfl-rpcol06sbsep06,0,1138666.column

-U.S. Rescue Seen at Hand for 2 Mortgage Giants
The plan would replace the leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac andvirtually wipe out their shareholders but let them continue to work with thegovernment standing behind their debt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/business/06fannie.html?hp

-Zardari Is Elected Pakistan's President
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhuttoand a controversial politician with little experience, was elected presidentof Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/world/asia/07zardari.html?hp

-In Destitute Swaziland, Leader Lives Royally
The extravagance of King Mswati III, who has given his 13 wives palaces andBMWs, is spurring protests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/world/africa/06king.html?hp

-Caught in the Cross-Fire
Unless the Pentagon comes up with a better strategy, the United States andits allies may well lose the war in Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/opinion/06sat1.html?ref=opinion

-Running From Reality
BOB HERBERT
From the speakers' faux populist gibberish, you would never have known thatthe Republicans have used their titanic power to lead the country to itspresent sorry state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/opinion/06herbert.html?ref=opinion

-McCain's Grizzly Politics
John McCain is not actually running for president. He's running for Senatemajority leader. All his passion is directed at defects in the legislativeprocess.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/opinion/06collins.html?ref=opinion

-The Mirrored Ceiling
It turns out there was something more nauseating than the nomination ofSarah Palin as John McCain's running mate this past week. It was the tone ofthe acclaim that followed her acceptance speech. "Drill, baby, drill,"clapped John Dickerson, marveling at Palin's ability to speak and smile atthe same time as an indication of her unexpected depths and unsuspectedstrengths. "It was clear Palin was having fun, and it's hard to have fun ifyou're scared or a lightweight," he wrote in Slate.
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/the-mirrored-ceiling/index.html?ref=opinion

-Tropical Storm Hanna Hits the Carolinas
With Hurricane Ike not far behind, Tropical Storm Hanna came ashore near theCarolina border.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/us/07storm.html?hp

-U.S. Spied on Maliki, Book Says, Upsetting Iraq
The Iraqi government reacted with concern and dismay on Friday toallegations that American officials spied on Prime Minister Nuri Kamalal-Maliki, and warned that it could affect negotiations over the continuingAmerican troop presence in the country. The claims about espionage againstsenior Iraqi government figures appear in Bob Woodward's book "The WarWithin: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," The Washington Postreported Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/world/middleeast/06iraq.html

-Some See a Fighting Spirit as Detroit Mayor's Ruin
When it looked to most people around here as if a 31-year-old might be tooyoung to win a mayoral election, Kwame M. Kilpatrick decided to take on thefight, and the reward was his inauguration in 2002 as Detroit's chiefexecutive. Mr. Kilpatrick has fought and won many battles since. But helost perhaps the biggest one of his life on Thursday. After holding out formonths in hopes that he could beat criminal charges against him, he reversedhimself and, in a deal with prosecutors, pleaded guilty to two felonies,agreeing to resign and serve jail time, among other penalties.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/us/06detroit.html

-The Way We Live Now: 24/7 School Reform
In an election season when Democrats find themselves unusually unified oneverything from tax policy to foreign affairs, one issue still divides them:education. It is a surprising fault line, perhaps, given the party's longdominance on the issue. Voters consistently say they trust the Democratsover the Republicans on education, by a wide margin. But the split in theparty is real, deep and intense, and it shows no signs of healing any timesoon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/magazine/07wwln-lede-t.html


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

-So What Is Fair Game With Sarah Palin?
Look at the Rules Hillary Clinton Had to Play By.
Watching Gov. Sarah Palin explode onto the national scene over the last weekgot me thinking back to a cold evening earlier this year, just before theNew Hampshire primary. I was half-listening to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clintonspeak at an auditorium when a strange noise interrupted the event: two youngmen shouting, in muffled voices, "Iron my shirt!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090502656.html

-Thailand's New Crisis
An opposition movement claiming to defend democracy does its best to destroyit. THE GOOD news about democracy is that as elected government has spreadand deepened its roots around the world during the past two decades, poorpeople and neglected ethnic groups in many countries have gained power. Incountries such as Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico, government policies haveshifted to accommodate the newly enfranchised, and their lives haveimproved. The downside is that the expansion of the political system has, ina few countries, touched off cultural or class warfare that has underminedthe new freedom. In some cases, such as Venezuela and Bolivia, populistsclaiming to represent a poor or indigenous majority have won elections, thensought to entrench themselves in power and eliminate competition from theold elite. We've had a lot to say about the harm Venezuela's Hugo Chávez andBolivia's Evo Morales have done to their countries.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090503718.html

-Energy Loss: Sen. John McCain's acceptance speech was notable for what itdidn't say.
SEN. JOHN McCAIN's energy policy was pretty clear before he accepted theRepublican nomination for president Thursday in St. Paul, Minn. He wants tobuild more nuclear power plants, develop clean coal technology, increase theuse of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, and expandoffshore drilling. Despite the swipe Mr. McCain took at his Democraticopponent, there's not much difference between his energy policy and that ofSen. Barack Obama (Ill.).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090503719.html

-Abramoff Gets Reduced Sentence of Four Years in Prison
Judge Cites Assistance Ex-Lobbyist Provided In Corruption Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402321.html?hpid=sec-nation

-Rangel Says He Didn't Know of Loan Terms: Villa Deal Compounds Controversy
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) did not know that the Caribbean resort villahe purchased 20 years ago was financed with a no-interest mortgage from thedeveloper and has generated $75,000 in income that he should have reportedon tax and financial disclosure forms, his lawyer said yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR2008090503442.html?hpid=sec-politics

-Don't let them eat cake, Saudi cleric says
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- When Hala al-Masaad invited her girlfriends over tocelebrate her 18th birthday with cake and juice, the high school student wasstepping into an unusual public debate. Is celebrating birthdays un-Islamic?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402328.html?hpid=sec-religion


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-A good story, but look closely
You gotta love this campaign. No sooner does the curtain come crashing downon one climactic moment than up it goes on another. The Democrats chooseNoDrama Obama and the channel switches to Soap Opera McCain. You wantchange? I'll show you change: Introducing Sarah Palin, a running mate asunfamiliar as the tundra.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/674468.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-GOP Mocks Public Service
For the first time in American history, a major political party devoted asubstantial portion of its national convention to attacking grassrootsorganizing.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080922/dreier_atlas

-Most Clinton Backers Say Palin's Too Far A Stretch
Sandy Goodman was deeply disappointed when Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't getthe Democratic nomination, then again when she was bypassed for the VP spot.So Goodman, a longtime Florida Democrat, flirted with thoughts of shunningBarack Obama, and perhaps even voting Republican.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/05/ap/politics/main4421375.shtml

-Analysis: McCain sincere, short on answers
It's odd to present yourself as a maverick to the most partisan audienceimaginable, as John McCain did Thursday night. But the real audience wasn'tsitting in the Xcel Center this evening to watch the Arizona senator acceptthe Republican Party's presidential nomination; it was the independents athome looking for a reason to vote for him.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/05/schneider.speech/index.html

-Obama, Seeing Hope In Ohio, Shifts Schedule There
Obama Shuffles Schedule, Hones Campaign Strategy To Reflect Electoral MathSo much for the 50-state strategy. Barack Obama, who once pledged tocompete in every state, has shifted his thinking. Now, he'll pick and choosewhere to spend time and money.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/05/ap/politics/main4420868.shtml

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