NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - September 10, 2008

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

-Across Country, New Challenges to Term Limits
A decade after adopting rules to oust politicians, many local governmentsare considering reversal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/nyregion/10limits.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Wall Street's Fears on Lehman Bros. Batter Markets
Investors were gripped by fears that another big financial institution mightfounder - and that the government might not come to the rescue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/business/11lehman.html?hp

-Still No Exit
President Bush wants to have it both ways - claiming success in tamping downviolence in Iraq and yet refusing to make the hard choices that would flowfrom that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10wed1.html?ref=opinion

-From the Gut
Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama's coffee needs to be found andarrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold. [...]How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as theparty that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of"change?" That's politics. There's no shame. But what this has done is tomake the word "change" as a campaign slogan meaningless. Obama will need tofind another way to connect his ideas - clearly, crisply and passionately.Because, while the pollsters tell us it is still really close, my owntotally unscientific, seat of the pants poll tells me this: When you sayObama's name today and ask people for their first impression - a quick,flash, gut, first impression - no single word or phrase or policy comes tomind. His opponents will fill that vacuum if he doesn't. They already are.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10friedman.html?ref=opinion

-MAUREEN DOWD: My Fair Veep
Now all Sarah Palin has to do is prove that she can be the leader of thefree world on a moment's notice, and field dress Vladimir Putin as adeptlyas she can a moose. [...] For the first time in American history, we have a"My Fair Lady" moment, as teams of experts bustle around the most famouswoman in politics, intensely coaching her for her big moment at the ball -her first unscripted interview here this week with ABC News's CharlieGibson.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10dowd.html?ref=opinion

-Meaner Streets in Washington
A bill being considered in Congress that would eviscerate gun controls inthe District of Columbia is a gross trampling on the right of the districtto govern itself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10wed2.html?ref=opinion

-North Korean Leader Is Very Ill, U.S. Official Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/world/asia/10korea.html


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

-Bob Woodward - Washington Post Associate Editor
Washington Post investigative journalist Bob Woodward will be online
Wednesday, September 10 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the revelations in The WarWithin: A Secret White House History 2006-2008, his just-published fourthbook about the presidency of George W. Bush. The book draws on exclusiveinterviews with administration insiders, including the President himself, toportray the divisions between the White House, the Pentagon, the StateDepartment and intelligence agencies over military and political strategyfor the Iraq War. Excerpts appeared this week in the Washington Post.Woodward has worked for the Washington Post for 37 years, where he firstmade his name with his coverage of the Watergate scandals of the Nixonpresidency. He has authored or coauthored 11 national best-sellers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/09/04/DI2008090402466.html?hpid=topnews

-Doubt, Distrust, Delay - Part 1
The War Within
The inside story of how President Bush's team dealt with its failing Iraqstrategy
By Bob Woodward
Sunday, September 7, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/06/AR2008090602691.html?hpid=topnews

-The War Within | Rift - Part 2
Outmaneuvered And Outranked, Military Chiefs Became Outsiders
By Bob Woodward
Monday, September 8, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090702426.html?hpid=topnews

-'You're Not Accountable, Jack' - Part 3
How a Retired Officer Gained Influence at the White House and in Baghdad
By Bob Woodward
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090802839.html?hpid=topnews

-A Portrait of a Man Defined by His Wars - Part 4
President Bush still has few doubts, but he has tempered his rhetoric overseven years.
By Bob Woodward
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903491.html?hpid=topnews

-The Commander in Speech
Fighting an unpopular war and low approval ratings? Give a victory speech.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903137.html?hpid=topnews

-Trig's Breakthrough
In addition to Barack Obama making history as the first African American tobe nominated for president and Sarah Palin taking her shotgun to the glassceiling, there was a third civil rights barrier broken at the politicalconventions this year. Trig Paxson Van Palin -- pronounced by his mother"beautiful" and "perfect" and applauded at center stage of the Republicanconvention -- smashed the chromosomal barrier. And it was all the moremoving for the innocence and indifference of this 4-month-old civil rightsleader.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902519.html

-How to Beat McCain's Bounce
Sarah's a hit with the ladies -- white ladies, anyway. Monday's WashingtonPost-ABC News poll, which showed a newly deadlocked presidential race,registered a 20-point bump for the McCain ticket among white women since theprevious poll, taken before Sarah Palin was loosed on the world. Among thesewomen, Barack Obama's eight-point lead has turned into a 12-point deficit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902518.html

-Mexico's War
The government's battle against drug gangs is deadlier than most Americansrealize.
MANY PEOPLE in Washington are rightly alarmed about the rising toll ofmilitary and civilian casualties in Afghanistan. They might be surprised tolearn that a roughly equal number of people have been killed so far thisyear in a war raging much closer to home -- in Mexico. More Mexican soldiersand police officers have died fighting the country's drug gangs in the pasttwo years than the number of U.S. and NATO troops killed battling theTaliban. Civilian casualties have been just as numerous, and as gruesome: There have been scores of beheadings, massacres of entire families andassassinations of senior officials. By the official count, kidnappings inMexico now average 65 a month, ranking it well ahead of Afghanistan andIraq. The challenge facing Mexican President Felipe Calderón, whocourageously declared war on the drug syndicates shortly after taking officein December 2006, gets relatively little attention here because Americansare only rarely among the casualties. But U.S. money and weapons are fuelingthis war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902844.html

-U.S. Shifts Tactics in Hunt for Bin Laden
Predator drones are increasingly used to search for the al-Qaeda leaderafter efforts were stymied by an inability to develop informants, officialssay.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903404.html?hpid=topnews

-Does the Truth Matter Anymore?
This is not false naivete: I am genuinely surprised that John McCain and hiscampaign keep throwing out false charges and making false claims without anyqualms. They keep talking about Sarah Palin's opposition to the Bridge toNowhere without any embarrassment over the fact that she once supported it.They keep saying that Barack Obama will raise taxes, suggesting he'd raisethem on everybody, when Obama's plan, according to the Tax Policy Institute,would cut taxes for "about 80 percent of households" while "only about 10percent would owe more." And as Sebastian Mallaby pointed out in his recentcolumn, Obama would cut taxes for middle-income taxpayers "moreaggressively" than McCain would. And now comes a truly vile McCain adaccusing Obama of supporting legislation to offer "'comprehensive sexeducation' to kindergartners." The announcer declares: "Learning about sexbefore learning to read? Barack Obama. Wrong on education. Wrong for yourfamily."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/does_the_truth_matter_anymore.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

-Massive particle collider passes first key tests
GENEVA -- The world's largest particle collider passed its first major testsby firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile(27-kilometer) underground ring Wednesday in what scientists hope is thenext great step to understanding the makeup of the universe. After a seriesof trial runs, two white dots flashed on a computer screen at 10:26 a.m.(0826 GMT) indicating that the protons had traveled clockwise along the fulllength of the 4 billion Swiss franc (US$3.8 billion) Large Hadron Collider _described as the biggest physics experiment in history.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091000274.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-No questions, please; Palin sticks to her script
John McCain took a risk in picking little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as arunning mate, but now the campaign's playing it safer. She's sticking to agreatest hits version of her convention speech on the campaign trail andsteering clear of questions until she's comfortable enough for a hand-pickedinterviewer later this week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902009.html?hpid=sec-politics

-Palin's nomination adds fuel to abortion debate
The abortion debate is gaining a higher campaign profile this year than inother recent general elections, partly because of divisive ballot measuresand partly because of Sarah Palin. Veteran leaders in the anti-abortioncamp say they have never before seen the degree of enthusiasm that greetedPalin's selection as John McCain's Republican running mate. She opposesabortion even in cases of rape or incest, and lived out her convictions bybearing an infant son she knew had Down syndrome.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090902002.html?hpid=sec-religion


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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-Hurrican Ike - 5-day forecast map
http://weather.sun-sentinel.com/tropical/tracking/at200809_5day.html


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

-Palin seen as asset to win evangelical vote
While Barack Obama is working harder than his Democratic predecessors tocourt Christian voters, he is facing a groundswell of support foranti-abortion Republican Sarah Palin.
http://www.miamiherald.com/979/story/679697.html

-DETROIT MAYOR
Being black doesn't mean innocence
If Kwame Kilpatrick were white, don't you think he'd have been thrown out ofoffice a long time ago? Heck, he'd be out of jail by now and shopping hismemoirs. Instead, it was just last week, after a year of scandal andrevelation that has paralyzed his city and made it the punchline to aninternational joke, that Detroit's mayor surrendered his office and copped aplea: 120 days in jail, five years probation and a $1 million fine. Because,you see, Kilpatrick is not white, he is black in a city that is itself morethan 80 percent black. And that complicated things.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/679582.html

-More than a handout this time, a full-fledged bailout
The government's seizure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issobering evidence of the depth of America's housing and mortgage crisis.Only six weeks ago, Congress approved a housing-rescue package thatauthorized the Treasury Department to extend credit to Fannie and Freddie --if the mortgage titans needed it -- to avert a loss of confidence that couldtrigger a worse crisis. Now the government is saying, in effect: Forget theloan; we have to intervene directly to restore confidence.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/677946.html

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