NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - September 17, 2008

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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/

-U.S. to Take Over AIG In $85 Billion Bailout
The U.S. announced an emergency rescue of AIG with an $85 billion bridge loan, signaling the intensity of concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the financial system. The step marks a dramatic turnabout for the federal government, which had been strongly resisting overtures from AIG for an emergency loan or some intervention that would prevent the insurer from falling into bankruptcy. Just last weekend, the government essentially pulled the plug on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., allowing the big investment bank to go under instead of giving it financial support. This time, the government decided AIG truly was too big to fail.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122156561931242905.html

-Iraq Voter Drive Lags
Election officials say they are disappointed by low voter registration ahead of provincial polling in Iraq that could take place this year.Last month, only 2.9 million out of 17 million eligible voters went to election centers during a registration drive, according to election-commission figures. That was after officials extended their deadline by a week. Just 100,000 of Iraq's internally displaced population of more than two million have applied for absentee ballots. The low rate won't necessarily translate into low turnout. Iraqis who voted in the last election, in 2005, didn't need to reregister if their personal details hadn't changed. More than eight million people voted then in Iraq's first free elections in decades.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122159468848044337.html

-Palin Implied Trooper Was Unfit
A former public-safety official said he heard from Palin, her husband and aides "at least a dozen times" on the subject of the Alaska governor's former in-law.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122158863680544013.html

-Inflation Eases as Energy Prices Decline
As the credit crisis continues to wallop the economy, one piece of good news stands out: Inflation is subsiding in the U.S. and parts of Europe and Asia. U.S. consumer prices fell last month for the first time in two years, the Labor Department said Tuesday, while the consumer-price index fell 0.1% in August after rising 0.8% the previous month. A 3.1% decline in energy prices was the main force behind the overall price drop; excluding food and energy, the CPI rose 0.2%. With price pressures easing, U.S. inflation should continue to cool in the months to come
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122156688482642943.html

-Stocks Fall as Bank Gloom Persists
9:57am - Wednesday
Stocks fell Wednesday morning despite the sigh of relief investors breathed over the Federal Reserve's $85 billion rescue of American International Group, which will allow a key cog in the financial system to continue to function. On the other hand, even without the AIG meltdown investors had feared as a worst case, dozens of other financial firms remain at risk because of their own unwise credit bets. The details of the AIG bailout are hardly friendly to the Dow Jones Industrial Average component's shareholders. The insurer's shares slid 21% following the opening bell and weighed on the blue-chip indicator, which was down 190.28 points, off 1.7%, at 10868.74. All the Dow's other financial components traded lower as well, including a 7% slide in shares of Citigroup.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122164849424947571.html


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

-Perhaps, Time for Someone to Play Offense
The government has acted aggressively, but not on the underlying reasons that the economy got into this mess.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/business/17leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

-Mr. McCain and the Economy
On Tuesday, John McCain clarified his remarks on the economy. The clarification was far more worrisome than his initial comments.In clarifying his comments, On Tuesday, he clarified his remarks. The clarification was far more worrisome than his initial comments. He said that by calling the economy fundamentally sound, what he really meant was that American workers are the best in the world. In the best Karl Rovian fashion, he implied that if you dispute his statement about the economy's firm foundation, you are, in effect, insulting American workers. "I believe in American workers, and someone who disagrees with that - it's fine," he told NBC's Matt Lauer.
Let's get a few things straight. First, no one who is currently running for president does not "believe in American workers." Mr. McCain lavished praise on workers, but ignored their problems. That is the real insult.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/opinion/17wed1.html?ref=opinion

-Keep It in Vegas
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Government's job is to police that fine line between the risk-taking that drives innovation and gambling with other people's savings in ways that threaten us all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/opinion/17friedman.html?ref=opinion

-'Barbies for War!'
MAUREEN DOWD
At gatherings in Wasilla, Alaska, pastors pray for reporters, drilling evokes cheers and Todd Palin is hailed as a guy who likes to burn fossil fuels. The Wall Street Journal reported that McCain was thinking about taking Palin to the U.N. General Assembly next week so she can shake hands with some heads of state. You can't contract foreign policy experience like a rhinovirus. To paraphrase the sniffly Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls," a poy-son could develop a cold war.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/opinion/17dowd.html?ref=opinion

-Holding Mr. Rove in Contempt
Congress must not adjourn before voting to hold Karl Rove in contempt for defying a subpoena to testify about the United States attorneys scandal. There is a vital national interest in getting to the bottom of this matter - and in not allowing Congress's authority to be undermined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/opinion/17wed2.html?ref=opinion

-Some Seek Agency to Buy Bad Debt as Long-Term Answer
Some lawmakers and experts are considering creating a new agency to dispose of the assets at the core of Wall Street's woes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/business/17resolution.html?hp

-Abortion Issue Again Dividing Catholic Votes
A struggle on how Catholics should apply their beliefs in politics is reaching swing cities like Scranton, Pa. [...] Progressive Catholics complain that by wading into the history of church opposition to abortion - Mr. Biden brought up St. Thomas Aquinas, Ms. Pelosi discussed St. Augustine - Democratic officials are starting a distracting debate with the church hierarchy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/politics/17catholics.html?hp

-Detroit Faces $3 Million Election for an 8-Month Mayor
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/17detroit.html

-Gates Apologizes for Afghan Deaths
KABUL, Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday expressed "sincere condolences and personal regrets" for the recent deaths of Afghan civilians as a result of American and allied air strikes that have brought widespread condemnation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/world/asia/18gates.html?hp

-Schwarzenegger to Veto Budget and Other Bills
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he would veto a long-overdue state budget, and he threatened also to veto hundreds of other pieces of legislation, as the state's 78-day budget crisis dragged on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/17calif.html?hp

-Crews From 31 States in Texas to Restore Power
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/17ike.html?hp

-U.S. Embassy in Yemen Hit by Bomb
SAN'A, Yemen (AP) -- A car bomb exploded at the front gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital Wednesday, killing six Yemeni guards and four civilians, officials said. No American personnel were reported hurt.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-ML-Yemen-US-Embassy.html

-Russia harshly criticizes NATO visit to Georgia
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Foreign Ministry issued an unusually harsh condemnation Wednesday of the NATO chief's visit to Georgia, saying it showed ''Cold War reflexes'' and will further destabilize the region.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-EU-Russia-Georgia.html

-Obama Looks to Shift Focus of Campaign to Economy
Senator Barack Obama has delivered at least four major addresses on the economy in the course of his presidential candidacy. Yet even his advisers conceded that voters might not have noticed until he spoke here Tuesday as turmoil rippled through the financial markets.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/us/politics/17obama.html


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

-20 Months in Baghdad
BAGHDAD -- The night before Gen. David Petraeus turned over command here, a group of senior officers gathered at Camp Victory to say goodbye. It was like a football team's testimonial dinner at the end of a winning season: There were steaks and baked potatoes and a highlight film of the general's 20-month command, scored with rock music, called "Surge of Hope."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091602875.html

-Obama's Faulty Logic
Bill Clinton beat Papa Bush in 1992 by blaming him for economic woes, even though the downturn of that year was over by the time of the election. Now Barack Obama is hoping to blame that hyphenated adversary, Bush-McCain, even though the facts don't fit his narrative.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/obamas_faulty_logic.html

-One Way to Clear the Air
John McCain owes it to the American people to clear the air of some of those ominous dark clouds hovering over the head of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. It's within his power.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/if_mccain_believes_in_transpar.html

-Obama's Panic
Seldom has there been a larger contrast between the style of a candidate and the strategy of his campaign. Barack Obama is cool, firm and permanently unruffled. It is precisely this quality of steadiness that has made him seem a credible prospective president with the thinnest of résumés.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091602876.html

-Oil Prices Stage a Retreat
In the past two months, the world's total energy costs have dropped by more than $4 billion a day.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091600247.html?hpid=topnews

-McCain Shifts Regulation Stance
Nominee scrambles to recast himself after years spent as a proponent of fewer financial rules.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html?hpid=topnews

-Italy's Right to Curb Islam With Mosque Law
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Northern League, allies of centre-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, want to limit the growth of Islam in the centre of world Catholicism by blocking the construction of mosques through strict new regulations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091600887.html?hpid=sec-religion


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

-Forecast bleak for post-Ike Texas: Deserted beach towns idle, most of Houston without power
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-ike,0,3315248.story

-Alaska attorney general says state employees won't honor subpoenas in probe of Gov. Palin
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-palin-troopergate,0,1007688.story

-Forget her gender; Palin's unqualified
Dare to criticize Sarah Palin and you'll find yourself back in high school, with all the petty taunts.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-17sanchezsbsep17,0,6136523.story



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From NARAL Pro-Choice America
I always knew NARAL Pro-Choice America activists were clever and creative. We asked for bumper-sticker slogan ideas, and you delivered...more than 6,000 of them! Narrowing them down was tough, but we've picked what we think are the five best-the ones that best capture the threat John McCain and Sarah Palin pose to our reproductive freedom and privacy. Now the ball is in your court. You vote. You decide which one best says that the McCain-Palin ticket is on the radical anti-choice fringe. Click here to access your ballot.
http://action.prochoiceamerica.org/site/PageServer?pagename=McCainPalinSloganVote&JServSessionIdr012=hzwdx48iq1.app45b


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

-McCain campaign stumbles through day
Top advisers to Republican presidential candidate John McCain spent much of Tuesday with their feet in their mouths.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mccain-campaign-stumbles-through-day-marked-by-gaffes-2008-09-16.html

-Obama campaign sues Michigan GOP over voter challenges
Obama says the GOP is continuing a historic pattern to thwart Democratic voters, while the GOP says Obama's suit is based on a false media report. The Obama campaign filed a federal lawsuit in Michigan on Tuesday, responding to statements by a local Republican Party official who last week said the GOP was planning to challenge the voting rights of people who lost their homes to foreclosure. The local GOP official in question Tuesday denied he made those statements, demanding a retraction from an independent Michigan website and threatening to sue for libel.
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/99087/obama_campaign_sues_michigan_gop_over_voter_challenges/

-Obama leads McCain by 2 points: Reuters poll
Democrat Barack Obama has a 2-point lead in the U.S. presidential race on Republican John McCain, whose choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate helped shore up support for both candidates, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1642854220080917?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

-McCain has 2 faces: Washington in- and outsider
John McCain embraces and expels Washington like an accordion player belting out a song. Squeeze in and e touts his vast knowledge of the capital city. Draw out and he casts himself a reformer bent on changing its ways.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/17/mccain_has_2_faces_washington_in__and_outsider/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news


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From Obama Campaign

-Your passion and energy are crucial to electing Barack Obama president and moving this country in a fundamentally different direction. Right now, you can help shape this campaign in the final stretch. Fill out a short online survey, and share your feedback on what is most important in the general election. Whether you've been involved heavily or just a bit, whether you've been a supporter since the beginning or are new to this movement, your feedback will inform the planning and help us adjust for the next phase.
Building a grassroots movement of this scale is unprecedented, and it has been shaped by you every step of the way. And with less than 50 days left, your input is essential to moving our campaign forward. Which issues are you interested in? How would you like to get involved? Share your feedback now:
http://my.barackobama.com/survey


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Saturday Night Live video on Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton together
If you didn't have a chance to see the Saturday Night Live hit on Sara Palin and Hillary Clinton together, follow the link below. It is hysterical. Be prepared to laugh really hard.The video is about 1/2 way down the page.
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx/?news=330748>1=28103


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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:

-Politics and Parenthood
The Post-Palin Mommy Wars
Who makes better candidates -- moms or dads? The answer depends, in no small part, on whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. A new Pew survey, like others before it, found Republicans far more troubled than Democrats by the long term trend toward mothers of young children working outside the home.
But these surveys were conducted before Sarah Palin entered the political scene. Read more

-State of Play
Teens and Video Games
The first nationally representative study of teen video game play and civic engagement looks at which teens are playing what games, the equipment they use, the social context of their play, and the role of parents and parental monitoring. Read more

-Covering the Campaigns
JohnMcCain.com vs. BarackObama.com
With roughly seven weeks left until Election Day, which candidate has the edge online, and how so? A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism finds both campaigns' official sites are now quite advanced. Read more

-Palin Comparison: Half of Campaign Storylines Revolve around GOP VP
For the second week in a row, the GOP vice presidential hopeful got more coverage than the man atop the ticket, John McCain. Yet this measure does not fully convey the Palin-centric nature of the news coverage. Read more

-Online News
Should You Be Reading This at Work?
The internet is allowing Americans to stay constantly informed about the news of the day -- on the company dollar -- regardless of whether keeping up-to-date is important to their job. Read more

-Daily Number
66% - Boomers See Times as Tougher Now Than in the Past Baby boomers, members of the large generation born from 1946 to 1964, are pessimistic not only about their own finances, but also about everyone else's; they are more likely than younger or older Americans to believe that it is harder for people to get ahead now than a decade ago (66% says so) as well as harder to make progress, and easier to lose ground, than it was in the past.. Check back every weekday for another number in the news. Read more


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From Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

-As you may have heard, I've decided to make my new film, "Slacker
Uprising," available for free to everyone in the United States and Canada. It is the first time ever that a major feature-length film is debuting as a free download on the internet -- legally. I am doing this for two reasons:
1. Next year it will be 20 years since my first film, "Roger & Me," so I'd like to give those of you who've supported my work over the years a thank you gift in the form of a brand new movie; and 2. I hope the release and wide distribution of this new movie will help to bring out millions of young and new voters on November 4th.
"Slacker Uprising" takes place in the wake of "Fahrenheit 9/11," during the run-up to the 2004 election, as I traveled for 42 days across America, visiting 62 cities in a failed attempt to remove George W. Bush from office.
My goal was to help turn out a record number of young voters and others who had never voted before.
To sign up for the download of "Slacker Uprising," click here. You have my blanket permission to share the movie with your friends, to set up screenings in your communities or theaters, to show it on your campuses -- all at no charge. I encourage you to rally voters with it, to raise funds for your favorite candidates, to air it on your local cable access channels or web broadcasts. You can also click here to request a free DVD of "Slacker Uprising" for your school or university library. As I said, this is a movie for you, my fans -- a little 97-minute digital treat that I think you'll really enjoy. I hope you'll check out SlackerUprising.com and download it a week from today, next Tuesday, September 23rd. Thanks again for coming to my movies all these years. It's meant a lot to me. I feel very privileged and blessed, and I am honored to be in this "virtual" community with you as we try to reclaim our beloved country.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
To sign up for the download of "Slacker Uprising," click here.
http://slackeruprising.com/


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Joke of the Day!
John McCain and Barack Obama somehow ended up at the same barbershop.
As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken. The barbers were even afraid to start a conversation for fear it would turn to politics. As the barbers finished their shaves, the one who had McCain in his chair reached for the aftershave. McCain was quick to stop him saying, 'No thanks, my wife will smell that and think I've been in a horehouse.' The second barber turned to Obama and said, 'How about you?' Obama replied, 'Go ahead; my wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like.'

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