Tag: Docudharma Times

The Steam Shovel Of Stupidity

Continues To Run At Full Tilt For

The McCain Campaign

Around the World, the Signs Of Slowdown Spiral Outward



By Steven Mufson and Blaine Harden

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, October 25, 2008; Page A01

Pessimism about the global economy deepened yesterday as fresh evidence of a worldwide slowdown showed up in feeble corporate profit reports from Asia, sinking commodities prices, and a scramble by emerging economies to prop up their sagging currencies and avert credit defaults.

The signs of trouble popped up around the globe. Japanese giants Sony and Toyota, as well as South Korea’s Samsung, the world’s largest maker of memory chips, flat-screen televisions and liquid crystal displays, posted weakened profits and sales outlooks. Toyota’s quarterly sales fell for the first time in seven years. Britain reported its first economic contraction since 1992.

Japan’s Papers, Doomed but Going Strong

 Loyal, Older Subscribers Allow Industry To Delay Demographic, Internet Effects

By Blaine Harden

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, October 25, 2008; Page A10

TOKYO, Oct. 24 — Due to a shrinking population and an expanding Internet, the decline and fall of newspapers in Japan is all but guaranteed.

“I am in a dying industry,” laments Kenichi Miyata, a senior editor and writer at the Asahi newspaper, a national daily with a circulation of 8 million. “Young people do not read newspapers, and our population is getting very old very rapidly.”

But something unexpected is happening en route to the ink-stained graveyard.

USA

Guantanamo tribunals overseer under investigation

Thomas Hartmann, an Air Force brigadier general, is accused of improperly influencing prosecutions.

 By Josh Meyer

October 25, 2008

Reporting from Washington — A Pentagon official overseeing the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals is the subject of two investigations into his conduct, including one wide-ranging ethics examination into whether he abused his power and improperly influenced the prosecutions of enemy combatants.

An internal Air Force investigation into the activities of Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann appears to be the more significant of the two probes because it was launched only after a preliminary inquiry found sufficient grounds to move forward, military officials said.

evidence despite prosecutors’ objections.

It also is looking into allegations that Hartmann made intentionally misleading statements, both in public and during the Guantanamo tribunal proceedings, in an effort to downplay the direct role that he played in the overall prosecution effort and in several cases, according to interviews with military lawyers.

Alan Greenspan “Regrets” Sending

The Economy Right Into A Blackhole

How Nice

Asian Markets Plummet on Earnings Fears, and Europe Follows



By BETTINA WASSENER

Published: October 24, 2008

HONG KONG – Japan and South Korea led Asian stock markets in steep declines Friday as dismal corporate earnings and economic data underscored the depth of the challenges facing the export-dependent economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

As the Asian markets closed, Europe’s major exchanges opened with declines of around 5 percent. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London fell by 4.9 percent to 3,885.11, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 4.9 at 3,148.78 and in Frankfurt the DAX lost 5.3 percent at 4,279.78. But the declines were not as severe as in Asia where some markets crashed through key levels.

West is in talks on credit to aid poorer nations

 

By Mark Landler Published: October 24, 2008

WASHINGTON: With the financial crisis engulfing developing countries from Latin America to Central Europe, raising the specter of market panic and even social unrest, Western officials are weighing coordinated action to try to stabilize these economies.

The International Monetary Fund, which is in negotiations with several countries to provide emergency loans, is also working to arrange a large credit line that would allow other countries desperate for foreign capital to borrow dollars, according to several officials.

The list of countries under threat is growing by the day, and now includes such stalwarts of the emerging market as Brazil, South Africa and Turkey. They have become collateral damage in a crisis that began in the American subprime housing market.

The fast-growing economies of the developing world depend on money from Western banks to build factories, buy machinery and export goods to the United States and Europe

USA

AIG Has Used Much of Its $123 Billion Bailout Loan



 By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 24, 2008; Page D01



The troubled insurance giant American International Group already has consumed three-quarters of a federal $123 billion rescue loan, a little more than a month after the government stepped in to save the company from bankruptcy.

AIG has borrowed $90.3 billion from the Federal Reserve’s credit line as of yesterday, the bulk of it to pay off bad bets the company made in guaranteeing other firms’ risky mortgage investments. That’s up from roughly $83 billion AIG had borrowed a week ago, and the $68 billion level it reached a week before that. The news comes as the company’s new chief executive warned Wednesday that the government’s financial lifeline may not be enough to keep AIG afloat.

Sometimes Its Better To Just

Not Speak Rather Than To Keep

Digging With That Power Shovel  

Rivals Split on U.S. Power, but Ideas Defy Easy Labels

IF ELECTED .

By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: October 22, 2008

WASHINGTON – John McCain has said his worldview was formed in the Hanoi Hilton, the jail where as a prisoner of war he learned to stand up to his country’s enemies and lost any youthful naïveté about what happens when America shows weakness.

Barack Obama has written that his views began to take shape in the back streets of Jakarta, where he lived as a young boy and saw the poverty, the human rights violations and the fear inspired by the American-backed Indonesian dictator Suharto.

It was there, Mr. Obama wrote in his second autobiography, that he first absorbed the “jumble of warring impulses” that make up American foreign policy, and received a street-level understanding of how foreigners react to “our tireless promotion of American-style capitalism” and to Washington’s “tolerance and occasional encouragement of tyranny, corruption and environmental degradation.”

Wealth gap creating a social time bomb

 • Race behind division in US cities, says UN report

• Beijing is most egalitarian place in the world

John Vidal, environment editor

The Guardian, Thursday October 23 2008

Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.

In a survey of 120 major cities New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable “alert” line used to warn governments.

“High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies,” said the report. “[They] create social and political fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity.

USA

Job Losses Accelerate, Signaling Deeper Distress



 By Neil Irwin and Michael S. Rosenwald

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, October 23, 2008; Page A01



Employers are moving to aggressively cut jobs and reduce costs in the face of the nation’s economic crisis, preparing for what many fear will be a long and painful recession.

The labor market has been weak all year, with a slow drip of workers losing their jobs each month. But the deterioration of the job market is now emerging as a driver of economic distress, according to a wide range of data and anecdotal reports from corporate America.

In September, there were more mass layoffs — instances in which employers slashed 50 or more jobs at one time — than in any month since September 2001, the Labor Department said yesterday.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

The Racist Republicans Go Running To

Every Microphone In Sight    

3 Agencies Vie for Oversight of Swaps Market



By David Cho and Zachary A. Goldfarb

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, October 21, 2008; Page D01

The government is moving forward with its first significant effort to bring oversight to a vast, unregulated corner of Wall Street that has severely exacerbated the financial crisis.

But a turf war is brewing among three leading federal agencies that have contrasting visions for how the $55 trillion market for speculative financial instruments known as credit-default swaps should be regulated.

While the credit crisis has upended global financial markets and given a lift to advocates of heightened regulation, it has not resolved traditional disputes in Washington over how deeply the government should be involved in free markets.

Iraqi fishermen face tough times

 They complain of smaller catches, and harassment by the coast guards of Iran and Kuwait.

By Raheem Salman

October 21, 2008

Reported from Faw, Iraq — Some days, fisherman Aoun Saleh loves life on the seas: the friendships, the jokes, the singing, especially when they have a big catch. But some days he rues the day he first walked onto the docks.

Like the time, he says, the Kuwaiti sailors stopped his boat in midwinter and forced the entire crew to swim in the cold waters. Or when the Iranian coast guard held him and other fishermen captive, forcing them to cook and clean for them. More recently, he said, Iranian sailors stopped his boat in Iraqi waters, stole the fish and threatened to take the Iraqis to Iran.

Saleh thinks the lack of respect is a sign of how far Iraq has fallen since Saddam Hussein was overthrown five years ago.

“They didn’t dare to do that during Saddam’s time,” he bristles. “Now we don’t know who can protect us — the British? The Americans? The government? Or none of them?

USA

An eroding model for health insurance

Working Americans once could rely on employer-based benefits. But more people are being forced into the individual market, where coverage is costly, bare-bones and precarious.

 By Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzik

October 21, 2008

First of three parts

Jennifer and Greg Danylyshyn of Pasadena are conscientious parents. They keep proper car seats in their used BMW, organic vegetables in the family diet and the pediatrician’s number by the phone.

They don’t have access to the group medical insurance offered by many employers. She’s a stay-at-home mom. He’s a self-employed music supervisor in the TV and film industry. So they buy individual policies for each family member.

As careful consumers, they shopped for the best deals, weighed premium costs against benefits and always assumed they could keep their family covered.

Then last spring Blue Shield of California stunned them with a rejection notice. Baby Ava, their happy, healthy 7-pounder, was born with a minor hip joint misalignment. Her pediatrician said it was nothing serious and probably temporary.

What Is Real America?

Its All Americans No Matter Who

Or What They Are    

Barack Obama has advantage of big bucks, a big name: Colin Powell

 News of the Republican’s endorsement and a record $150 million raised in a month propel the Democrat as he campaigns in GOP country.

By Mark Z. Barabak and Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

October 20, 2008

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Barack Obama strongly boosted his presidential prospects on Sunday, winning the coveted endorsement of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and ringing up a staggering $150 million in contributions in a single month of fundraising.

The endorsement from one of the country’s most respected statesman-soldiers enhances Obama’s credibility on national security issues, and his huge cash haul allows him to extend his crucial advantage on the television airwaves.

The Illinois senator’s showing came as he continued to drive deep into Republican territory, stumping in North Carolina, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1976.

Republican John McCain campaigned Sunday in must-win Ohio, where polls show a close race, and spent part of the day defending running mate Sarah Palin’s qualifications on national television and in a call with Jewish leaders.

Call Centers Are Fodder For India’s Pop Culture

 Bollywood Movie Is Latest Manifestation

By Rama Lakshmi

Washington Post Foreign Service

Monday, October 20, 2008; Page A10

NEW DELHI

In a training session at a suburban call center, groups of fresh-faced Indian recruits jettison their Indian names and thick accents and practice speaking English just like the Americans do. They have hesitant conversations with imaginary American customers who complain angrily about their broken appliance or computer glitch.

The instructor writes “35 = 10” on the board, as though he is gifting the recruits with a magic mantra.

“A 35-year-old American’s brain and IQ is the same as a 10-year-old Indian’s,” he explains, and urges the agents to be patient with the callers.

USA

As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam?

OIL SHOCK

 By Steven Mufson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, October 20, 2008; Page A01

Just four months ago, a conference here on electric cars drew four times as many people as expected. District fire marshals ordered some of the crowd to leave, and the atmosphere was more like that of a rock concert than an energy conference. A brief film depicted an electric car owner driving off with a beautiful woman to the strains of “The Power of Love” while her original companion struggles to pay for gasoline. The audience cheered.

One discordant note in the series of enthusiastic speeches came from Bill Reinert, one of the Toyota Prius designers. He cautioned that designing and ramping up production of a new car takes five years.

McCarthy And Cold War Era Fear And Paranoia

Return Thanks To The Irresponsible McCain/Palin

Campaign

This Is Not How One Shows Leadership    

Arduous Transition Awaits Next President

 Inherited Problems Bring Crushing Pressure

By Michael D. Shear, Michael Abramowitz, Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray

Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, October 19, 2008; Page A01

If Sen. Barack Obama wakes up as the president-elect on Nov. 5, he will immediately assume responsibility for fixing a shredded economy while the Bush administration is still in office. If Sen. John McCain wins the election, he will face an imminent confrontation over spending with a Democratic Congress called back into special session with the goal of passing a new economic stimulus package.

The man who knows too much

 He exposed the My Lai massacre, revealed Nixon’s secret bombing of Cambodia and has hounded Bush and Cheney over the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib… No wonder the Republicans describe Seymour Hersh as ‘the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist’.

Rachel Cooke

The Observer, Sunday October 19 2008

Every so often, a famous actor or producer will contact Seymour Hersh, wanting to make a movie about his most famous story: his single-handed uncovering, in 1969, of the My Lai massacre, in which an American platoon stormed a village in South Vietnam and, finding only its elderly, women and children, launched into a frenzy of shooting, stabbing and gang-raping. It won him a Pulitzer prize and hastened the end of the Vietnam war. Mostly, they come to see him in his office in downtown Washington, a two-room suite that he has occupied for the past 17 years. Do they like what they see? You bet they do, even if the movie has yet to be made. ‘Brad Pitt loved this place,’ says Hersh with a wolfish grin. ‘It totally fits the cliché of the grungy reporter’s den!’ When last he renewed the lease, he tells me, he made it a condition of signing that the office would not be redecorated – the idea of moving all his stuff was too much.

USA

Building Flawed American Dreams

THE RECKONING

By DAVID STREITFELD and GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Published: October 18, 2008  

SAN ANTONIO – A grandson of Mexican immigrants and a former mayor of this town, Henry G. Cisneros has spent years trying to make the dream of homeownership come true for low-income families.

As the Clinton administration’s top housing official in the mid-1990s, Mr. Cisneros loosened mortgage restrictions so first-time buyers could qualify for loans they could never get before.

Then, capitalizing on a housing expansion he helped unleash, he joined the boards of a major builder, KB Home, and the largest mortgage lender in the nation, Countrywide Financial – two companies that rode the housing boom, drawing criticism along the way for abusive business practices.

The Financial Bailout Funds

Being Put To Excellent Use

Salaries And Bonus’s For Wall Street Bankers and Investors  

Obama’s Ad Effort Swamps McCain and Nears Record

 

By JIM RUTENBERG

Published: October 17, 2008

PHILADELPHIA – Senator Barack Obama is days away from breaking the advertising spending record set by President Bush in the general election four years ago, having unleashed an advertising campaign of a scale and complexity unrivaled in the television era.

With advertisements running repeatedly day and night, on local stations and on the major broadcast networks, on niche cable networks and even on video games and his own dedicated satellite channels, Mr. Obama is now outadvertising Senator John McCain nationwide by a ratio of at least four to one, according to CMAG, a service that monitors political advertising. That difference is even larger in several closely contested states.

Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout

 Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package

Simon Bowers

The Guardian, Saturday October 18 2008

Financial workers at Wall Street’s top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year – despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.

Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government’s cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.

Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements.

USA

Thousands Face Mix-Ups In Voter Registrations

In New Databases, Many Are Wrongly Flagged as?Ineligible

 By Mary Pat Flaherty

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, October 18, 2008; Page A01

Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.

The challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come with a huge turnout.

David Letterman Hands

McCain His G. Gordon Liddy  

In Downturn, Families Strain to Pay Tuition

 

By JONATHAN D. GLATER

Published: October 16, 2008  

In difficult dinner-table conversations, college students and their parents are revisiting how to pay tuition as personal finances weaken and lenders get tough.

Diana and Ronnie Jacobs, of Salem, Ind., thought their family had a workable plan for college for her twin sons, using a combination of savings, income, scholarship aid and a relatively modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job at Colgate-Palmolive.

“It just seems like it’s really hard, because it is,” Ms. Jacobs, an information technology specialist, said of her financial situation.

Kenyans follow Obama’s fortunes nervously

 Many are proud of his connection to their country but believe there is a lingering racism in the United States that will prevent a black man from being elected president.

By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 17, 2008

NAIROBI, KENYA — A popular morning-radio personality summed up how many Kenyans are viewing the U.S. presidential race.

“There’s no way,” said disc jockey Maina Kageni, “the U.S. is going to elect” a black man.

Despite Sen. Barack Obama’s strong lead in the polls and his huge popularity here in his father’s homeland, some Kenyans can’t shake a sense of doubt about whether Americans are ready to put a black man in the White House.

The quiet pessimism is rooted in Kenyans’ perceptions about racism in the United States and sharpened by the nation’s own flawed presidential election 10 months ago, which saw hatred among tribes come to the fore.

USA

McCain Forced to Fight for Virginia

Traditionally Red State Finds GOP Struggling to Match Obama Operation

By Michael D. Shear and Amy Gardner

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, October 17, 2008; Page A01  

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain will take different messages to different audiences in different parts of Virginia over the next two days, but they will have the same goal in mind: to urge their supporters to spend the final stretch of the campaign fighting for every vote they can find.

Obama will hold a rally today in Roanoke, a conservative part of the state where he hopes to keep the race relatively close. McCain will travel tomorrow to Prince William County, where he aims to cut into Obama’s Northern Virginia base.

What The Pundits See And Hear

John McCain On The Attack How Wonderful

He’s A Winner

What The People Who Count Want. That Would Be The Voters

A Discussion Of The Actual Issues

Barack Obama Is The Real Winner    

McCain Presses Obama in Final Debate

 

By JIM RUTENBERG

Published: October 15, 2008  

Senator John McCain used the final debate of the presidential election on Wednesday night to raise persistent and pointed questions about Senator Barack Obama’s character, judgment and policy prescriptions in a session that was by far the most spirited and combative of their encounters this fall.

At times showing anger and at others a methodical determination to make all his points, Mr. McCain pressed his Democratic rival on taxes, spending, the tone of the campaign and his association with the former Weather Underground leader William Ayers, using nearly every argument at his disposal in an effort to alter the course of a contest that has increasingly gone Mr. Obama’s way.

Draft agreement promises troop withdrawal by 2011

 

Simon Tisdall

The Guardian, Thursday October 16 2008

US troops will withdraw from Iraq by December 31 2011 and American and British soldiers deployed there in the interim period could face prosecution in Iraq’s courts for serious, premeditated “off-duty” crimes under the terms of a draft status of forces agreement outlined yesterday by officials in Baghdad and Washington.

The draft agreement, which is intended to replace the UN security council mandate that legitimised the US-led invasion in March 2003, and subsequent occupation, follows months of fraught negotiations. It must be ratified by the Iraqi parliament before the end of the year.

USA

Stocks Sink as Gloom Seizes Wall St.

Bernanke Forecasts Prolonged Economic Turmoil; Dow Plunges 7.9%

  By David Cho and Ylan Q. Mui

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, October 16, 2008; Page A0

Troubling new signs of a deep economic malaise touched off some of the worst stock market losses in history yesterday, a day after the government announced a massive intervention that officials hoped would boost investor confidence.

New data showed that consumers stayed away from malls, nixed plans for new cars and made do with old clothes in September, forcing the largest monthly decline in retail sales in three years. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke added to the gloom, cautioning that the nation should not expect an economic rebound any time soon.

Sarah Palin A Political Disaster Area

Where’s Brownie?  

U.S. Investing $250 Billion in Banks

 

By MARK LANDLER

Published: October 13, 2008  

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan on Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in banks, according to officials. The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for three years – a measure meant to encourage the banks to resume lending to one another and to customers, officials said.

And the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will offer an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits in accounts that do not bear interest – typically those of businesses – bringing the United States in line with several European countries, which have adopted such blanket guarantees.

London and Asian markets continue world-wide rally of shares after bailouts

 

From Times Online

October 14, 2008

Leo Lewis in Tokyo, Suzy Jagger in New York, Francis Elliott and Gráinne Gilmore

London and Asian markets continued the world-wide rally of shares today after governments committed trillions of dollars to stop collapse of the financial system – with America set to unveil its bailout plan in a few hours.

The FTSE 100 share index posted a 4 per cent rise in early trading today after Japanese dealing floors led the way in Asia, unleashing an unprecedented frenzy of buying to post the Nikkei’s biggest one-day gain.

France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Japan and Qatar all took measures to guarantee deposits or improve bank liquidity.

USA

At least 1 dead, more than 10,000 acres burned in two San Fernando Valley fires

Governor declares a state of emergency. A fire in Porter Ranch has scorched more than 5,000 acres and 19 homes. The Marek fire near Lake View Terrace has burned 5,300 acres.

  By Julie Cart,, Ari B. Bloomekatz and Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

October 14, 2008  

With treacherous Santa Ana winds as their bellows, twin wildfires raced through populated canyons, forests and brushlands on the northern fringes of the San Fernando Valley, claiming at least one life and 49 structures, and prompting authorities to suggest a hair-raising, worst-case scenario — that one of the blazes, which began near Porter Ranch, could burn all the way to the Pacific Ocean about 15 miles away.

“This fire has the potential to move from where it is now . . . perhaps as far as Pacific Coast Highway,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said Monday afternoon as he assessed what he called “a design for disaster.” Freeman said winds of up to 60 mph were expected to push the fire down through canyons at least through this morning.

I Think That Those In The Other

Party Are Beginning To See That Big

Black Abyss      

Today is the one year anniversary of Docudharma Times

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Britain Props Up Banks as Fed Leads Funding Effort

 

By MARK LANDLER and KATRIN BENNHOLD

Published: October 13, 2008  

WASHINGTON – After a whirl of emergency weekend meetings on both sides of the Atlantic aimed at rescuing the global financial system, Britain began propping up three banks Monday with taxpayer funds while the Federal Reserve and three European central banks announced that they will offer financial institutions unlimited dollars to ease the banking crisis.Before markets opened in Europe, a statement from the Federal Reserve in Washington said that it, along with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank would provide funds at a fixed interest rate in advance of each operation “against the appropriate collateral in each jurisdiction.”

Under ‘No Child’ Law, Even Solid Schools Falter

 

By SAM DILLON

Published: October 12, 2008

SACRAMENTO – Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now.

The school, perched on a tidy, oak-shaded campus in a working-class neighborhood here, has moved each of its student groups – Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English learners, the disabled – toward higher proficiency in recent years.

Over all, the number of its students passing tough statewide tests had increased by more than three percentage points annually, a solid record.

USA

Pentagon divided over John McCain

His military experience, while seen as an asset, makes him a less likely pushover for top brass, and he has long been a critic of Defense spending. But some welcome the prospect of sweeping reforms.

 By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 13, 2008  

WASHINGTON — For decades, the nation’s military officer corps has identified steadfastly with the priorities and values of the Republican Party. So the brass should be reveling in the presidential campaign of John McCain.

Yet, in a culture that typically prefers one of its own, many are wary of the Vietnam War hero.

McCain, a former Navy officer and prisoner of war, would arrive in the White House with more military experience than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower. But he also would bring a long congressional career as an outspoken critic of the Pentagon — prone to harsh assessments of its spending practices, weapons programs and military leaders.

As a result, defenders of some of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons systems are worried that if McCain is elected, he will order sweeping changes, killing a number of big-ticket programs. Perhaps unlike other civilian leaders, McCain would be able to draw on his experience and knowledge of the military to reject the advice of generals and admirals.

John McCain And His Campaign Can No Longer

Act Like Nothing Is Happening At

Their Campaign Events. It Was Their Decision To

Associate Senator Obama With William Ayers

They Must Take Responsibility For The Actions

Of These Supporters.      

White House Overhauling Rescue Plan

 

 By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and MARK LANDLER

Published: October 11, 2008

WASHINGTON – As international leaders gathered here on Saturday to grapple with the global financial crisis, the Bush administration embarked on an overhaul of its own strategy for rescuing the foundering financial system.

Two weeks after persuading Congress to let it spend $700 billion to buy distressed securities tied to mortgages, the Bush administration has put that idea aside in favor of a new approach that would have the government inject capital directly into the nation’s banks – in effect, partially nationalizing the industry.

The biggest bet in the world

 By the time G7 finance ministers met on Friday afternoon, they were staring into the abyss. In a desperate effort to restore calm to the markets, they took decisive action and came up with a five-point plan, which includes spending billions of taxpayers’ money to rebuild the global banking system and reopen the flow of credit. This is how the drama unfolded …

Heather Stewart and Larry Elliott in New York, Ruth Sutherland and Lisa Bachelor in London

The Observer, Sunday October 12 2008

It was 19 minutes to noon on Wednesday when Gordon Brown took the call from Mervyn King. With the seconds ticking away to the Prime Minister’s first Question Time in the Commons since the summer break, the governor of the Bank of England had dramatic news: secret consultations between the world’s most powerful central bankers had resulted in the decision to make the biggest co-ordinated cut in interest rates there had ever been.

With the world’s financial system perilously close to complete meltdown, bankers were determined to show they meant business. The move was to be announced at midday in London and 7am New York time, and King was nervous that Brown might be embarrassed by a backbencher picking up the news via BlackBerry as he stood up to speak

USA

Issue of Race Creeps Into Campaign



 By Anne E. Kornblut

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, October 12, 2008; Page A01  

In the first presidential campaign involving an African American nominee of a major party, both candidates have agreed on this much: They would rather not dwell on the subject of race.

But their allies have other ideas.

Yesterday, civil rights leader John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia, became the latest advocate to excite the racial debate, condemning Sen. John McCain for “sowing the seeds of hatred and division” and accusing the Republican nominee of potentially inciting violence.