NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - October 09, 2008

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

-Young, Black and Republican in New York, Blogging Against the Tide
The barbs have become like a soundtrack to Richard Ivory's life: Uncle Tom, sellout, self-hater. Being black and Republican does indeed have its challenges - especially in New York. And even though the remarks sometimes wear on Mr. Ivory, they mostly seem to have emboldened him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/nyregion/09repubblog.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=gay&st=cse&oref=slogin

-U.S. May Take Ownership Stake in Banks
Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials. Treasury officials say the just-passed $700 billion bailout bill gives them the authority to inject cash directly into banks that request it. Such a move would quickly strengthen banks' balance sheets and, officials hope, persuade them to resume lending. In return, the law gives the Treasury the right to take ownership positions in banks, including healthy ones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/economy/09econ.html?hp

-In Flailing Iceland, Disbelief and Regret
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - People go bankrupt all the time. Companies do, too. But countries? The global financial crisis has laid waste to some major banks and other financial institutions in the United States and Europe, but Iceland may be the first country to face the prospect of going bust along with them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/worldbusiness/09icebank.html?hp

-One Man's Crony ...
The good, the bad and the ugly of lobbying are well known, but it's a stretch for John McCain, who has 25 years in Washington, to demonize it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/opinion/09thu4.html?ref=opinion

-Op-Ed Contributor: Saved by the Deficit?
Berkeley, Calif. BOTH presidential candidates have been criticized for failing - at Tuesday's debate and previously - to name any promises or plans they're going to have to scrap because of the bailout and the failing economy. That criticism is unwarranted. The assumption that we are about to have a rerun of 1993 - when Bill Clinton, newly installed as president, was forced to jettison much of his agenda because of a surging budget deficit - may well be mistaken.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/opinion/09reich.html?ref=opinion

-The Right Goes Negative . . . on McCain
Alright, the morning-after recriminations have set in, and the right side of the blogosphere is furious - with John McCain. "We have a disaster here - which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case," writes Andy McCarthy at the Corner.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/the-right-goes-negative-on-mccain/?ref=opinion

-G.O.P. Facing Tougher Battle for Congress
The economic turmoil is threatening to topple Republican candidates, putting more seats within Democratic reach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09cong.html?hp

-Pope Defends Pius XII Over Holocaust
Pope Benedict XVI gave a push to possible sainthood for Pope Pius XII as he defended the World War II pontiff Thursday from accusations that he did little to spare Jews from the Holocaust. Benedict contended his predecessor acted silently to save as many Jews as possible and expressed hope that efforts aimed at his beatification would proceed ''smoothly.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-EU-Vatican-Pius-XII.html

-Bailout Role Elevates U.S. Official
For months, as Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. traveled to Capitol Hill to testify about the unfolding financial crisis, he has been shadowed by a man with a shaved head and intense eyes who many assumed was a Secret Service agent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/business/09kashkari.html

-McCain Excites Crowds With Criticism of Obama
Senator John McCain devoted most of two campaign appearances on Wednesday to lusty attacks on Senator Barack Obama and gave less attention, and offered very few specifics, to the growing economic woes of American voters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09mccain.html

-Taxpayers, Not Lenders, Would Bear Costs of McCain's Mortgage Proposal
The homeowner assistance plan that Senator John McCain announced without detail in the presidential debate Tuesday night would allow millions of financially stretched Americans to refinance their mortgages with government help, but it would leave taxpayers to cover the losses, rather than the financial institutions that hold the original mortgages.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09mortgage.html


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

-A Lead Like Warner's Might Make Obama More Interesting
Mark Warner isn't running against Barack Obama, but he's beating his fellow Democrat by a stunning 25 or so points. The former governor is trouncing his Republican opponent for the U.S. Senate, Jim Gilmore, by upward of 30 points in recent polls. Obama, in contrast, holds a slim lead over John McCain in most Virginia polls.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803550.html

-The Town Hall Debate: This Is American?
A couple of points on Tuesday's debate. When the candidates were asked whom they might appoint as Treasury secretary, Obama dodged the question -- as one might expect. But McCain straight-talked it, which turned out to be a big mistake. His first answer, Warren Buffett, conveyed the right general idea but no grasp of reality. Yes, Buffett has the power to inspire market confidence; but he does that better by investing his own money (as he has done recently) than by investing the government's. The second name McCain threw out was even more troubling. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay? Doesn't McCain know there is a difference between succeeding in Silicon Valley and figuring out how to unfreeze credit markets? Before running eBay, Whitman worked at Hasbro, where, according to Fast Company, she managed the Playskool brand and Mr. Potato Head.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/10/the_town_hall_debate_this_is_a.html

-No Depression: This Time, Uncle Sam Has Got Our Back
Global markets have not been reassured by the coordinated interest rate cuts of several central banks or by recent congressional action, but they should be. Our bet is that financial markets will return to normal in short order and that the U.S. economy will squeak by with a moderate recession. Recapitalizing the banks and working out mortgages will take time, but the financial system will not collapse -- the government won't let it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100802931.html

-17 Detainees
A federal judge overreached in an effort to free Chinese Uighurs from an unjustified legal limbo. A FEDERAL APPEALS court intervened yesterday to block one judge's precipitous decision to order the release of 17 Chinese Uighurs held for years at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Issuing the emergency stay was the right thing to do, but not because the Uighurs don't deserve their freedom.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803286.html

-MOMENTS OF TRUTH | OBAMA IN SPRINGFIELD
From Outsider To Politician
The taunting began as soon as Barack Obama joined the Illinois Senate in January 1997. He had expected to face some skepticism as a political neophyte, but not such outright hostility. For the first few months of his career as a lawmaker, Obama navigated the unfamiliar corridors of the state Capitol like a misfit lost in a new school, sometimes complaining to colleagues that he was "getting it from all sides."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100803890.html?hpid=topnews

-Stem Cells From Testicles an Option to Embryos
Cells taken from men's testicles seem as versatile as the stem cells derived from embryos, researchers reported Wednesday in what may be yet another new approach in a burgeoning scientific field. The new type of stem cells could be useful for growing personalized replacement tissues, according to a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. But because of their source, their highest promise would apply to only half the world's population: men.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/08/AR2008100801774.html?hpid=sec-health


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Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
Go to the links for the following articles:

-McCain Reshuffles Rescue Deal
McCain's $300 billion plan to help struggling homeowners carries benefits for the real-estate sector, but could reduce the funds available for rescuing banks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122351316270117559.html

-And the Best Executive M.B.A. Programs In 2008 Are...
In the Journal's first survey, two schools stand far above the rest
Topping the list: Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, which ranked No. 1, and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, which came in No. 2. The two schools have among the largest E.M.B.A. programs, with 406 students currently enrolled in Wharton's two programs and 843 candidates in the seven Kellogg programs, including four international partnerships and a satellite campus in Miami.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122244975223379303.html

-News Flash: The Media Back Obama
Its activist role has been the single constant in this eternal election.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122351645893317913.html


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

-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remained in the dark while her husband repeatedly asked top state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the state police force, Palin's husband and top aides said in affidavits provided to The Associated Press. Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is the focus of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her authority by firing the state's public safety commissioner to settle a long-standing family dispute. The commissioner says he was fired after resisting pressure to fire Mike Wooten, a trooper involved in a bitter divorce with Palin's sister.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/718703.html


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St. Petersburg Times
http://www.tampabay.com/

-Bailed-out AIG dropped $443,000 at lavish resort
We're pretty sure it wasn't planned this way, but now the words "AIG" and "pedicure" may prove inseparable. The insurance giant's decision to blow $443,343 - oh, and 71 cents - on a celebratory week of fancy rooms, food, manicures, pedicures, facials, massages and golf at California's only Mobil five-star resort right after AIG was saved from collapse with an $85-billion federal bailout loan earns the insurer first prize as the firm most out of touch with financial reality.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article844838.ece

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