NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - September 15, 2008

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From Barack Obama
You'd be surprised how many people you know aren't registered to vote.
Registration deadlines are coming up soon, and we need every single vote we
can get to win this election. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to
check out our new one-stop voter registration website.
http://www.voteforchange.com/index_obama.php?source=091008emailR


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

-2 Wall St. Banks Falter; Markets Shaken
Lehman Will File Bankruptcy; Merrill to Be Sold
In a reshaping of the landscape of American finance, Lehman Brothers said it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, while Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America. [...] But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. Staggered by losses stemming from the credit crisis, A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Financial Russian Roulette
PAUL KRUGMAN
If institutions need to be rescued like banks, they should be regulated like banks - why were we so unprepared for this latest shock?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/opinion/15krugman.html?ref=opinion

-Save the Environment: Drill, Baby, Drill
THE audience's mantra at the Republican National Convention - "drill, baby, drill" - reflected deep frustration with Washington's decision to lock down tens of billions of barrels of oil under American territory in an era of $4-a-gallon gasoline. Whatever the merits of his argument, Barack Obama's response that "drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution" won't make the sting go away as long as it costs $100 to fill the tank of a pickup truck. [...] We found that full-speed-ahead exploitation of the restricted oil reserves would lower prices at the pump by a few cents at most. Nonetheless, it's equally clear that the failure to develop these oil resources would cost the state and federal governments hundreds of billions of dollars in royalties and taxes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/opinion/15hahn.html?ref=opinion

-Rescue Teams Scour Ravaged Texas Coastline
The largest rescue operation in Texas history is taking nearly 2,000 people by boat and helicopter from towns ravaged by floods in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/us/15ike.html?hp

-A Crisis Highlights Divisions in Bolivia
As violent deaths in rebellious northern Bolivia increased, Evo Morales faced the worst crisis of his presidency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/americas/15bolivia.html?hp

-Pakistani Fire Turns Back U.S. Copters
The incident took place near Angor Adda, a village in the tribal region of South Waziristan where U.S. commandos in helicopters raided a suspected al Qaeda and Taliban camp earlier this month.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pakistan-usa.html?hp

-Iraq: Sunni Proponent of Reconciliation Is Killed
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html

-Afghanistan Is in Its Worst Shape Since 2001, European Diplomat Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/asia/15kabul.html


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

-Wall Street in Turmoil as Lehman Brothers Fails
Failure of nation's fourth-largest investment firm offers a profound test of global financial system; officials brace for upheaval in range of markets.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091500095.html?hpid=topnews

-Q&A: Advice for Average Investors, Homeowners
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091500095.html?hpid=topnews

-Video: Coast Guard View of Ike Damage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/09/14/VI2008091400942.html?hpid=artslot

-Bush Was Shielded From Crisis - Part 2
President was nowhere in the picture as Cheney fought to keep surveillance program on track.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091401974.html?hpid=topnews

-10 Suspects Arrested in Deadly New Delhi Blasts
On Saturday, TV stations received an e-mail bearing the name Indian Mujahideen and asserting responsibility for the attacks. Similar e-mails, which describe the group as a "homegrown Jihadi militia of Islam" were sent just before a series of bombs exploded in July in the western state of Gujarat, killing at least 45 people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402188.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Rivals Sign Power-Sharing Deal in Zimbabwe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091500504.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-Thailand Ends State of Emergency in Bangkok
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402035.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-After Georgian War, Russian Media Feel the Heat
"I'm not interested in who said these things," one participant quoted Putin telling the editor, Alexei Venediktov. "You are responsible for everything that goes on at the radio station. I don't know who they are, but I know who you are." [...] The Kremlin controls much of the Russian media, and Putin occasionally meets with friendly groups of senior journalists to answer questions and guide news coverage. On Aug. 29, though, for the first time in five years, he also invited the editor in chief of Echo Moskvy, the only national radio station that routinely broadcasts opposition voices.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402249.html?hpid=moreheadlines

-India's Christians Face Hindus' Wrath
Mob: "India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!"
All told, as many as 4,000 Christian homes and 115 churches were destroyed in the region.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402209.html?hpid=sec-world


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

-Wake-up time for `real conservatives'
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
So it seems George W. Bush is not really conservative. Nor are Mitt Romney, John McCain and, indeed, the vast majority of the Republican Party. Or so I'm told by a number of readers who took exception to a recent column lambasting Romney for his speech at the GOP convention. In it, Romney declared that the way to fix Washington is to turn it over to conservatives. If you didn't know any better, said I, you'd think conservatives had not been in charge most of the last decade. This kind of babblespeak...
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/684287.html

-Obama blames Wall St. crisis on Republican policy
"The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren't minding the store," Obama said in a statement. "Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression." [...] "I certainly don't fault Sen. McCain for these problems," Obama said, "but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/top-AP-stories/story/685986.html

-Hillary Clinton tells Ohio supporters: 'No Palin'
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/686227.html


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From Ron Mills:

Slideshow: Alaska Rejects Sarah Palin Rally in Anchorage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvKy-5yFz8


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Video: I'm John McCain and I definitely DO NOT approve this.
The Facts vs. the McCain Campaign.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/325.html


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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Barack Obama and Bill O'Reilly Face Off
A man of his word, as Bill O'Reilly said, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama sat down with the conservative gab fest host to talk about the election. And while the two didn't see eye to eye on several issues, one thing is certain... the two men make for some entertaining TV. Take a look!
http://election2008.advocate.com/2008/09/barack-obama-an.html


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

-Karl Rove: McCain's Ads Have Gone Too Far (VIDEO)
When Karl Rove is saying your political ads have gone too far, you know you must be doing something dishonest. The former Bush chief strategist, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said that John McCain had stretched the truth in his recent round of attacks against Barack Obama, in the process opening up the Arizonan to a round of effective counter-attacks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/14/karl-rove-mccains-ads-hav_n_126280.html

-Democrats gain edge in Florida Hispanics
The Democratic Party, which for decades badly trailed the GOP among Hispanic registered voters in Florida, has finally streaked ahead of the Republicans as the two parties race for the finish line of the November elections. In 2006, Hispanics registered as Republicans in Florida outnumbered Democrats by 45,000, stoked by an overwhelming advantage in the conservative South Florida Cuban community.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/14/hispanicvote0914.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=76

-Obama Campaign Reports Raising $66 Million in August
Democrat Barack Obama again set a monthly record for presidential fundraising, bringing in $66 million in August that included donations from half a million new people, according to his campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091401975.html

-Forum Sells 'Obama Waffles' With Racial Stereotype
Conservative Political Forum Sells 'Obama Waffles' Featuring Obama As A Racial Stereotype
Activists at a conservative political forum Saturday were snapping up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/13/ap/politics/main4447327.shtml

-'Jim Crawford' Republicans
The GOP is working to keep eligible African-Americans from voting in several states. It was a mainstay of Jim Crow segregation: for 100 years after the Civil War, Southern white Democrats kept eligible blacks from voting with poll taxes, literacy tests and property requirements. Starting in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court declared these assaults on the heart of American democracy unconstitutional.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/158392

-Fannie, Freddie CEOs denied exit bonuses: report
U.S. regulators will not allow mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay their departing chief executives multimillion-dollar severance packages outlined in their contracts, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has notified former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd and former Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron that the so-called "golden parachutes" will not be paid, the Post reported, citing an agency statement.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402664.html

-Ask an Expert: OK, so who is the small-business candidate?
Q: Will Obama really raise taxes on my business? Are McCain's tax cuts just for the rich? Who is telling the truth here? - Larry A: While it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff in presidential campaigns, this one is worse than most, with half-truth and flat-out untruths flying fast and furious. It's insulting, actually.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/strauss/2008-09-15-candidates-small-business-1_N.htm

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