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September 17, 2008
McCain, Obama Trade Jabs on the Economy
O bam a laughed that o ff as "the
oldest W ashington stunt in the
book."
"This isn't 9/11," O bam a told a
noisy crow d o f more than 2.1XX) at
the Colorado School o f Mines,
dism issing the idea o f a need for
study. "W e know how w e got
into this mess. W hat we need
With meltdown on Wall Street
(A P ) — John M cC ain and
Barack Obama traded increasingly
barbed insults along with pre­
scriptions for the ailing econom y
Tuesday as financial fears shoved
aside other political issues with
ju st w eeks left in the long presi­
dential cam paign.
An ad by D em ocrat O bam a
sneered: "How can John M cCain
fix our econom y if he doesn't un­
derstand it's broken?"
G etting even more personal,
R epublican M cC ain retorted:
"Sen. O bam a saw an econom ic
crisis, and he's found a political
opportunity. My friends, this is
not a tim e for political opportun­
ism: this is a tim e for leadership."
The verbal dueling show ed the
im portance both candidates put
on the issue o f the econom y as
the continuing financial meltdown
on Wall Street has driven all other
issues out o f the news.
Both cam paigns now believe
the candidate who manages to
w rest control of the issue and
gain voters'confidence could wel I
be the next president.
Earl ier in the day, McCain called
for a crisis com m ission, while
Democrat Barack Obama
cranked up his assault
Tuesday on John McCain
after the Republican declared
the US economy was 'strong'
despite the Wall Street
turmoil hammering global
markets. (AP photo)
now is leadership that gets us
out. I'll provide it. John McCain
w on't."
M c C a in , c a m p a ig n in g in
Florida, promised reforms, too, to
expose and end the "reckless
c o n d u c t, c o rru p tio n and u n ­
bridled greed" that he said had
caused the financial crisis on Wall
Street."
The bew ildering turmoil has
shaken A m ericans’ confidence,
erased hundreds o f billions o f
paper w ealth for U.S. stockhold­
ers and led M cCain and O bam a to
forsake other controversies and
scram ble back to the econom y as
the primary concern o f voters.
Texas Coast Devastated by Ike
Korkie Smith looks at the devastation of her neighbor Renee Napier's house on Tuesday in
the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in Baytown, Texas. (AP photo)
Hurricane
leaves grim
scenes behind
R e m e m b e r in g 9 -1 1
Members of The Commodores. William King (from left), Walter Orange, and J.D.
Nicholas assist a soldier of the 3rd Infantry Division to place a wreath at the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. last week to
remember the victims o f the Sept. 11. 2001 terrorist attacks on the seventh anniver­
sary o f that fateful day.
(A P) — Grim scenes greeted
rescuers as they penetrated the
areas hardest-hit by H urricane
Ike, two days after it thrashed the
Texas G u lf Coast over the w eek­
end and left thousands hom e­
less.
The Bolivar Peninsula and the
west end o f G alveston Island saw
some of the heaviest dam age from
the storm and took the longest to
reach as flooded roads, high
winds and washed-out bridges
b lo c k e d s e a r c h - a n d - re s c u e
teams. But when help finally ar­
rived to the last unexplored, Ike-
ravaged area, there were few
people around; they had either
gotten out ahead o f the storm or
escaped afterward.
W hat rem ained o f the penin­
sula, a vibrant beach resort o f
30,000 residents during the peak
season, was a 27-m ile wasteland.
Ike’s storm surge rolled over the
skinny spit o f land separating the
G ulf o f M exico from G alveston
Bay and swept away everything
in its path.
The w ater’s retreat revealed an
apocalyptic scene.
From the air, al 1 that was left on
streets once lined with houses
were tw isted black stilts reaching
up from the sandy soil. In other
places, concrete slabs were wiped
clean by the surge.
Even the helicopters ferrying
out survivors had difficulty find­
ing som ew here to land am id the
debris.
Rescuers who did m ake it to
the peninsula town of G ilchrist
visited the few houses left stand­
ing to check for survivors and
cam e back describing a scene of
total destruction.
Four deaths were reported in
G alveston.
Mary M axymillian rode out the
storm with seven friends in a brick
house on High Island, a bit o f
elevated land in the m iddle o f the
peninsula that stayed high and
dry. She wants to stay, but the
group w as running low on fuel for
the generators after siphoning
some from a boat to keep them
going.
"The general consensus is we
w an t re lie f, w e w an t h elp ,"
M axymillian said. "1 w anttostay,
and at the same tim e I'm scared."
But she worries that if she
leaves now, officials w on't let her
com e back for months.
T hat's exactly the m essage
authorities were giving residents
o f Galveston.
"Galveston can no longer safely
accom m odate its population,"
said city m anager Steve LeBlanc,
w ho p red icted it w ould take
"days, weeks and months" to get
the island cleaned up.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger questions witness Bruce Fromong during OJ.
Simpson's trial in Las Vegas, Tuesday. (AP photo)
Simpson Witness Contradicts Himself
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(A P ) A key w itn ess in the G abriel G ra sso he d id n 't have
O .J. S im pson robbery trial w as m oney on his m ind w hile a lle g ­
co n fro n ted w ith co n trad ictio n s ed ly b ein g ro b b ed o f sp o rts
in his testim o n y T u esd ay , in ­ co lle c tib le s by S im p so n and a
clu d in g his claim that he didn't g ro u p o f o th e r m en.
T he atto rn ey p lay ed a tape
try to p ro fit from the ca sin o
hotel room co n fro n tatio n that reco rd in g o f the 2007 incident
led to charges against the form er in w hich F rom ong said, "It's not
(ex p letiv e)o v er. I'll h av e'In sid e
football star.
M e m o ra b ilia d ea le r B ruce E d itio n ' dow n h ere for us to ­
F rom ong, w ho returned to the m orrow . I told them I w ant big
stand after b eco m in g ill M o n ­ m oney."
Fromong acknow ledged it was
d a y , to ld d e f e n s e a tto r n e y
his voice and he conceded that he
later advertised m em orabilia on
eB ay with the statem ent, "The
same ones stolen by O.J. in Las
Vegas."
T he testim ony cam e on the
first anniversary o f Sim pson'sLas
V egas arrest. He and co-defen­
dant C larence "C.J." Stew art are
charged with 12 counts o f rob­
bery, kidnapping, assault with a
deadly w eapon and coercion.
They have pleaded not guilty.
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Alaska Airlines and Horizon
A ir say they will reduce fights
from Portland International A ir­
port as a part o f larger cutbacks.
Both are ow ned By A laska Air
Group.
Horizon A irw ill trim daily d e­
part ures from Portland from 94 to
68. A laska Airlines will reduce
Portland departures from 35 a day
to 29, trim m ing its num ber o f
Hights to Denver. Las Vegas, San
Jose. Calif, and Sacram ento and
elim inating its llight to Orlando,
Fla.