NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - September 18, 2008

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

-Supreme Court's Global Influence Is Waning
Judges around the world have long looked to the decisions of the UnitedStates Supreme Court for guidance, citing and often following them inhundreds of their own rulings since the Second World War. [...] "One of ourgreat exports used to be constitutional law," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, thedean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs atPrinceton. "We are losing one of the greatest bully pulpits we have everhad." [....] Another reason is the diminished reputation of the UnitedStates in some parts of the world, which experts here and abroad said is inpart a consequence of the Bush administration's unpopularity around theworld. Foreign courts are less apt to justify their decisions with citationsto cases from a nation unpopular with their domestic audience. "It's notsurprising, given our foreign policy in the last decade or so, that Americaninfluence should be declining," said Thomas Ginsburg, who teachescomparative and international law at the University of Chicago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/18legal.html?hp

-McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds
Senator John McCain is widely viewed as a "typical Republican" who wouldcontinue or expand President Bush's policies, according to the latest NewYork Times/CBS News Poll.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/politics/18poll.html?hp

-Palin Plans to Visit U.N. and Join Anti-Iran Rally
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska will have meetings at the United Nations nextweek, officials with Senator John McCain's presidential campaign said onWednesday. The campaign was vague on which foreign officials Ms. Palin mightmeet as well as the time and place of the sessions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/politics/18york.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1221706825-5kkbtvfMRD2gM4b0CmvCjQ

-The McCain of the Week
At rally in Ohio, Senator John McCain morphed into a new persona - a ragingpopulist. If he is going to keep changing into new people, he should sendout notices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/opinion/18collins.html?ref=opinion

-Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required.
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
I'm delighted to announce that Richard Fuld, the longtime chief of LehmanBrothers, is winner of my annual award for corporate rapacity and poorcorporate governance. [...] He took home nearly half-a-billion dollars intotal compensation between 1993 and 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/opinion/18kristof.html?ref=opinion

-First a Bridge, Now a Road
Senator Harry Reid should make sure that American taxpayers don't spend a dime on Alaska's latest pork-barrel project to build a Road to Nowhere.[...] another Alaska boondoggle and a surefire environmental disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/opinion/18thu4.html?ref=opinion

-Ballot-Pruning in Texas
"Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr has filed suit that would keepvoters from seeing the names Barack Obama and John McCain on their votingmachines, saying they failed to follow the Texas law to get their namesplaced on the ballot," reports the Dallas Morning News.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/ballot-pruning-in-texas/index.html?ref=opinion

-Pell Grants Said to Face a Shortfall of $6 Billion
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/education/18grant.html


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

-Obama casts light on McCain's abortion stance
Republican John McCain, an abortion rights opponent with a conservativeSenate record on the issue, seems content with the public's perception that he's more moderate on the subject.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091800250.html

-Morgan Stanley CEO's E-Mail to Employees
To: All Employees
From: John Mack
I know all of you are watching our stock price today, and so am I. After thestrong earnings and $179 billion in liquidity we announced yesterday --which virtually every equity analyst highlighted in their notes thismorning -- there is no rational basis for the movements in our stock orcredit default spreads. What's happening out there? It's very clear tome -- we're in the midst of a market controlled by fear and rumors, andshort sellers are driving our stock down. You should know that theManagement Committee and I are taking every step possible to stop thisirresponsible action in the market. We have talked to Secretary Paulson andthe Treasury. We have talked to Chairman Cox and the SEC. We also are communicating aggressively with our long-term shareholders, ourcounterparties and our clients. I would encourage all of you to communicatewith your clients as well --make sure they know about our strong performanceand strong capital position. I'll be hosting a town hall tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT to address anyquestions that you have, and would encourage all of you to participate inthat discussion. Viewing details are available on Morgan Stanley Today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702923.html?hpid=topnews

-What a Bank Failure Would Mean for Depositors
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this week launched a Web site --http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov-- to explain to consumers exactly how much ofthe money they have in deposit accounts is protected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091703183.html?hpid=topnews

-Obama casts light on McCain's abortion stance
Republican John McCain, an abortion rights opponent with a conservativeSenate record on the issue, seems content with the public's perception thathe's more moderate on the subject.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091800250.html

-McCain's Closing Argument
Conservatives, who reputedly have lumps of coal where their hearts shouldbe, have fallen in love. So have many people who are not doctrinalconservatives. The world is a sweeter place because Sarah Palin hasincreased the quantity of love, but this is not a reliable foundation forJohn McCain's campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702975.html

-The Hannity-Palin Infomercial
I watched Sean Hannity's interview with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last night,but prudence suggested I wait for a transcript before offering thoughtsabout what I thought I had just witnessed. Now, having had a chance to readfoxnews.com's rush transcript this morning, I can state, without fear ofcontradiction, that Hannity's "exclusive" interview with Palin was 100percent pure infomercial. [...] I just wish that before the Hannity-Palininfomerical got underway, Fox News had run a disclaimer warning that "thefollowing program is a political advertisement." The evening's biggestwinner going away was the John McCain campaign. It didn't have to pay a centfor the prime-time ad that lasted almost a full hour -- and continuestonight.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/the_hannity-palin_infomercial.html

-Wall Street's Just Deserts
At the risk of speaking ill of the dead, what good was Lehman Brothers,anyway? And if Merrill Lynch was so bullish on America, why is it that,despite the torrent of foreign investment that flowed in to Lehman, Merrilland their Wall Street peers over the past half-decade, so few jobs werecreated in America during that period of "recovery"?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702971.html

-The Power of Oil Consumers
The tripling in the price of oil from $30 a barrel in 2001 to around $100today represents the largest transfer of wealth in human history. The 13OPEC members alone are expected to earn more than $1 trillion this year fromoil sales. Inevitably, this will bring with it major political consequences. Not the least significant aspect of this political and economic earthquakeis that it is being exacted upon the world's most powerful nations by someof the world's weakest. Yet the victims stand by impotently as if the priceof oil were some natural event determined by a competitive economic marketthat is not and cannot be influenced by political forces.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702969.html

-Down Days for McCain
When it's September and important issues cry out for attention but we seemconsumed by trivia -- watch out. In September 2001, cable news and evensome "serious" newspapers were preoccupied with Gary Condit, a marriedCalifornia congressman who had an affair with a Justice Department internwho disappeared and later was found murdered.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702970.html

-Scrambling to Clean Up After A Category 4 Financial Storm
You know you're in a heap of trouble when the lender of last resort suddenlyruns out of money. Having pumped $100 billion into the banking system andlent $115 billion more to rescue Bear Stearns and AIG, the Federal Reservewas forced to ask the Treasury yesterday to borrow some extra money toreplenish its coffers. If there was any good news in that, it was that investors here and abroad were eager to help out, having decided that theonly safe place to put their money is in U.S. government securities. Indeed,demand was so brisk at one point yesterday that, for an investor, theeffective yield on a three-month Treasury bill was driven below zero, oncethe broker's fee was figured in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091703834.html?hpid=topnews

-Podcast: Q&A With Barton Gellman on the Cheney Legacy
While Dick Cheney may be the most powerful vice president in the history ofthe United states, we may never fully understand the secrets behind hisextraordinary influence. That's according to Washington Post reporter BartonGellman, who sat down recently with washingtonpost.com's Travis Fox toreflect on some of the most revelatory aspects of his new book, "Angler: TheCheney Vice Presidency."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/09/audio_test_gellman.html?hpid=news-col-blogs


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

-Obama Leads McCain in New Zogby Poll
Democrat Barack Obama has a 2-point lead in the U.S. presidential race onRepublican John McCain, whose choice of Sarah Palin as his running matehelped shore up support for both candidates, according to a Reuters/Zogbypoll released on Wednesday.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_leads_mccain/2008/09/17/131841.html

-How Financial Madness Overtook Wall Street
If you're having a little trouble coping with what seems to be the completeunraveling of the world's financial system, you needn't feel bad aboutyourself. It's horribly confusing, not to say terrifying; even people likeus, with a combined 65 years of writing about business, have never seenanything like what's going on. Some of the smartest, savviest people weknow - like the folks running the U.S. Treasury and the Federal ReserveBoard - find themselves reacting to problems rather than getting ahead ofthem. It's terra incognita, a place no one expected to visit.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1842123,00.html

-Money talks, Barack. Are you listening?
With the fall of the Dow, Obama has the chance to change the nationalconversation to something more important than moose hunting.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/18/economy_elections/index.html

-Palin's Favorability Ratings Begin to Falter
To know her, it seems, is not necessarily to love her. When John McCainpicked Sarah Palin as his running mate late last month, the Alaska governorquickly became a media phenomenon. Largely unknown, she existed at first insomething of an information vacuum, and due to the shock of herselection--everyone loves a surprise--the press rushed to fill the void withwhatever data was easily available. Mostly this consisted of human interestmaterial; Palin had plenty to go around. Mooseburgers. Float planes. IceFishing. Beauty pageants. Teen pregnancy. Et cetera. By the end of her first15 minutes in the spotlight--which included her speech at the RepublicanNational Convention in St. Paul--Palin existed mostly as an idea: a frontiersupermom who'd triumphed over adversity (the Ol' Boys Club, the "liberalmedia"). Palin spent her first week reading from a teleprompter and avoidingquestions from the press--and the public--so as not to sully this positivefirst impression.
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/16/palin-s-favorability-ratings-begin-to-falter.aspx

-Why Obama's not leading by a landslide
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/18/why_obamas_not_leading_by_a_landslide/

-Sarah Palin inquiry is showing more signs of distress
A bipartisan panel may meet to discuss delaying the investigation intowhether the Alaska governor dismissed a top official because he would notfire a state trooper who was divorcing her sister.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-trooper18-2008sep18,0,4572373.story?track=rss

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