by Peter J. Boyer
from The New Yorker

Is what New York never liked about Rudy Giuliani exactly what the heartland loves?

The South Carolina State House, a grand, copper-domed structure in downtown Columbia, is a showplace for the state’s long history of hellbent defiance. The most prominent feature on the grounds is a monument to fallen Confederate soldiers, whose virtues “plead for just judgment of the cause in which they perished.” Beside it, atop a thirty-foot pole, waves the Rebel flag, the object of fierce national debate a decade ago, when it flew above the capitol dome, and no less conspicuous now, in its new location. Among the nearby statuary stands a life’size likeness of Benjamin R. (Pitchfork Ben) Tillman, the four-term United States senator who led the movement that disenfranchised black voters in 1895 and instituted Jim Crow. Inside the building, cast-iron staircases rise to an elegant lobby, and portraits honor the men who shaped the state’s querulous history, including John C. Calhoun, who contrived the rationale-nullification-for Southern secession, and Strom Thurmond, who led the South out of the Democratic Party. The lobby opens at either end to the state’s two legislative chambers, which, in March, ratified an amendment to the state constitution that bans not only gay marriage but gay civil unions. That month, the state house of representatives also passed a bill requiring any woman considering abortion to reflect upon an ultrasound image of the fetus.

It was here that Rudolph Giuliani, New York’s thrice-married, anti-gun, pro-gay, pro-choice former mayor, found himself one morning in April, in what appeared to be a critical moment in his young campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. The previous day, during a campaign stop in Florida, he was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if he supported the public funding of abortions. Giuliani seemed flustered by the question and finally answered, “If that’s the status of the law, I would, yes.”

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By Emily Kaiser - Analysis
from Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Credit spreads and collateralized debt obligations may not mean much to the average U.S. consumer, but if market gyrations persist, Wall Street’s pain may come home to hurt Main Street.

Consumer spending, the driving force behind the U.S. economy, has slowed in the past few months, although it did prove remarkably resilient through a series of gasoline price spikes and the early stages of the housing market slump.

Easy credit terms have underpinned that spending, and this week’s wild ride in financial markets shows how deeply the global economy depends on that free-flowing cash too.

The problem is, the easy money is drying up.

First it was mortgage-related markets where credit tightened as home prices fell and subprime mortgage defaults hit a record high.

The root of the problem can be traced back to U.S. home loans made to people with poor credit histories. But it became a global market problem when the investment community bundled those loans and sliced them up into risky, riskier and riskiest pieces that were resold to investors such as hedge funds and banks.

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from The Pew Research Center

If 90% feel an obligation to vote, can you imagine what it would be like to have a 90% turnout on Election Day? - JS

Nine-in-ten Americans continue to see voting as a duty, and most say they feel guilty when they do not get a chance to vote. The vast majority that agrees that it is their “duty as a citizen to always vote” includes 96% of Republicans, 91% of Democrats and 88% of independents. More than two-thirds of Democrats (71%) and Republicans (68%) also say that they personally feel guilty when they do not get a chance to vote. Independents, by comparision, are somewhat less likely to feel guilt about not voting (60%).

United Press International

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12 (UPI) — TV game show and hotel mogul Merv Griffin, who started his career as a $100 a week singer in San Francisco, died of prostate cancer Sunday.

The 82-year-old underwent had started a number of successful business ventures, including the creation of popular game shows “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune,” Los Angeles- FOX11 reported. He parlayed that into a billion-dollar hotel and casino enterprise.

Marcia Newberger, a spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment said Griffin was recently hospitalized for a recurrence of prostate cancer, which he had been treated successfully for more than 10 years ago.

Griffin also had a brief career on the silver screen before moving to television as the host of “The Merv Griffin Show,” which aired for more than 20 years.

He is survived by his son Tony.

“My father was a visionary,” said Tony Griffin in a statement Sunday. “He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized.”

The Associated Press

TOKYO - Asian markets rebounded Monday in early trading, recovering gradually from a worldwide plunge set off by volatility from a U.S. mortgage crisis.

The Nikkei 225, the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, edged up 0.5 percent in morning trading to 16,844.59, as jitters subsided over the subprime mortgage problem that had set off aggressive selling Friday.

Taiwan shares also were higher in morning trading, inching up 0.3 percent at 8,961.09.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials closed out a tough week, ending with just a 31-point deficit, or 0.23 percent, and managed to post a gain for the week.

The U.S. Federal Reserve injected billions of dollars into the banking system to calm market turmoil. On Thursday, the Dow fell 387 points and extended a series of triple-digit moves that began in late July.

Earlier, other global stock markets had tumbled.

Stock markets in Europe declined, unappeased by the European Central Bank’s decision to inject another 61 billion euros ($83.9 billion) into the banking system Friday, a day after it provided nearly 95 billion euros ($130.8 billion), the bank’s biggest infusion ever.

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The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson said Sunday he is dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination after finishing sixth in an Iowa straw poll.

“I have no regrets about running,” he said in a statement released Sunday evening by his campaign.

“I felt my record as Governor of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services gave me the experience I needed to serve as president, but I respect the decision of the voters. I am leaving the campaign trail today, but I will not leave the challenges of improving health care and welfare in America.”

The statement was issued several hours after WITI-TV in Milwaukee reported that Thompson, 65, told one of its reporters he was withdrawing.

“I have very much enjoyed my years in public service and I am comforted by the fact that I think I made a difference for people during that time,” Thompson said in the campaign announcement. “I hope to continue working to serve others over the next few years.”

The statement said Thompson intends to take some time off before returning to the private sector and his nonprofit work.

He had said before the Iowa event that he would drop out of the race unless he finished first or second.

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