THE FULCRUM

A day after President Bush heralded his efforts to help the elderly cope with increased medical expenses, federal officials announced the largest premium increase in dollars in the Medicare program's history, raising the monthly expense by $11.60 to $78.20.

A Democratic Party official told Reuters that Clinton, who served two terms as president from 1993 to 2001, had checked into the hospital with chest pains. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, could not confirm that Clinton would undergo bypass surgery.

The severity of Clinton's coronary problem was discovered after tests at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, ABC News reported. His coronary results were not favorable and he was found to have multiple lesions, it said.

CBS News said doctors found a blockage.

CNN quoted a source close to the former president as saying the surgery could take place as early as Saturday.

In more than a dozen interviews, Republicans in their teens and 20s offered a range of answers. Some have friends in the military in Iraq and are considering enlisting; others said they can better support the war by working politically in the United States; and still others said they think the military doesn't need them because the U.S. presence in Iraq is sufficient.


"Frankly, I want to be a politician. I'd like to survive to see that," said Vivian Lee, 17, a war supporter visiting the convention from Los Angeles.

"It is true that a handful of people have tried to destroy our city by going up and yelling at visitors here because they don't agree with their views," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Think about what that says. This is America, New York, cradle of liberty, the city for free speech if there ever was one and some people think that we shouldn't allow people to express themselves. That's exactly what the terrorists did, if you think about it, on 9/11. Now this is not the same kind of terrorism but there's no question that these anarchists are afraid to let people speak out."

According to Mr. Siegel, the teen's mother called Manhattan central booking to inquire about her son and was told that "all demonstrators would be held until President Bush left town." Mr. Bush makes his acceptance speech tonight at the Republican National Convention.

The back-to-school shopping season got off to a sluggish start, as midprice department stores, discounters and specialty-apparel retailers rung up disappointing sales in August, reinforcing concerns that consumers are feeling the effects of a shaky and uneven economic recovery.

Upscale shoppers helped luxury department-store chains post hefty gains. Moderate- and lower-income shoppers continued to feel the bite of higher gas and grocery bills and lackluster job growth.

Upscale department stores posted strong gains. Neiman Marcus Group Inc., Dallas, said same-store sales jumped 15% for its Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman units combined, citing strength in designer handbags. Same-store sales at Nordstrom Inc., of Seattle, rose 7.2%, on brisk demand for accessories.

"...fate gave us George W. Bush for President"

A new assessment of Iran's nuclear program by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency says that, as early as 1995, Pakistan was providing Tehran with the designs for sophisticated centrifuges capable of making bomb-grade nuclear fuel. It also finds evidence that, as of the mid-August, Iran had assembled and tested the major components for 70 of the machines, which it showed to inspectors from the agency.

Israeli forces blew up two large apartment blocks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, making scores of Palestinians homeless after suicide bombers killed 16 people in Israel.

The army, carrying out its biggest Gaza incursion in weeks, said the operation in the Khan Younis refugee camp targeted twin five-storey buildings used by Palestinian militants for attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers.

You can call me “liberal.” I am liberal. But the headlines I’ve written comport more closely with the view held by most of the civilized world. The opposite views—the ones around which our political circuses spin—are held only by a tiny minority of people. It is the world’s colossal misfortune to have this tiny minority at the helm of the world’s most powerful nation, despite their side having lost the last election by any reasonable measure.

As speakers at the GOP convention trumpet Bush administration successes in the war on terrorism, an NBC News analysis of Islamic terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, shows that attacks are on the rise worldwide - dramatically.

[snip]

Moreover, the level of sophistication is increasing. Terrorism experts point in particular to the attacks apparently carried out by Chechen rebels during that 10-day period. The rebels, whose top military commanders have been Arabs, are operating at a whole different level.

"You have bombs on board planes, bombs at a train station and now a hostage taking," said Roger Cressey, a former deputy National Security Council director of counterterrorism. "This is all coordinated. These things do not happen by accident, and in fact, United States officials are frantically trying to determine if they are a forerunner of an attack aimed at the U.S."

The vice president hailed President Bush as a "superb commander-in-chief" who has helped restore the economy and will lead the nation to victory in the war on terror. Mr. Bush "does not deal in empty threats and half measures," Mr. Cheney said in his prime-time speech to delegates and a nationwide television audience.

Iran has announced plans to turn tons of uranium into a substance that can be used to make nuclear weapons, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Wednesday in a report stoking concern about Tehran's nuclear agenda.

[snip]

Another diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that enough highly enriched uranium could be produced from the hexafluoride derived to make several explosive devices.

[Andrea] Seabrook: Well, well I'm not...the Secret Service has blocked off that area. They're calling it a...a hazard because of the number of people who are a gathered around him. There aren't that many people, but the Secret Service won't let me around him anymore, so I think a the access to him might be cut off for a moment. We'll try to get back with him.

[snip]

Seabrook: Yes, I am in the middle of a...you might be able to hear the Secret Service yelling into my mic at the same time. There, there are a bunch of Secret Service that have surrounded Michael Moore's section. There are three or four reporters with him right now, but they are trying to kick all of the reporters and press photographers who are around him out of his area. The convention staff is also here. They're standing here telling us that we have to move from this are...they're obviously disturbed by the fact that Michael Moore is here and want as little public here as possible.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention found a new way to take a jab at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam service record: by sporting adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them.

Morton Blackwell, a prominent Virginia delegate, has been handing out the heart-covered bandages to delegates, who've worn them on their chins, cheeks, the backs of their hands and other places.

An Iraqi militant group said it had killed 12 Nepali hostages and showed pictures on an Islamist Web site on Tuesday of one of them being beheaded.

"We have carried out the sentence of God against 12 Nepalis who came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians...believing in Buddhah [sic] as their God," said the statement by the military committee of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna.

Sen. John McCain swept aside his differences with President Bush tonight and urged voters to re-elect him, heartily endorsing the Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of his 2000 rival for the White House.

[snip]

Mr. McCain said Mr. Bush has earned re-election because of his resolute actions since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 -- a key theme on the convention's opening night.

Last Thursday, my organization, People Reluctant To Kill for an Abstraction, orchestrated an overwhelming show of force around the globe.

At precisely 9 in the morning, working with focus and stealth, our entire membership succeeded in simultaneously beheading no one. At 10, Phase II began, during which our entire membership did not force a single man to suck another man's penis. Also, none of us blew himself/herself up in a crowded public place. No civilians were literally turned inside out via our powerful explosives. In addition, at 11, in Phase III, zero (0) planes were flown into buildings.

The five-day tribute, "Beam Me Up Scotty ... One Last Time," had been in the planning stages for more than a year before it was revealed, earlier this summer, that the 84-year-old [James] Doohan, who lives in Redmond, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Coming so soon after the death of the similarly afflicted former president, Ronald Reagan, the family's announcement added greater urgency — and no small degree of poignancy — to preparations.

Instead of going ahead with a purely festive "retirement party" for the beloved actor, Planet XPO elected to join forces with the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation to raise awareness of the disease. With the cooperation of Doohan's family, representatives of both groups quickly were able to refocus the event's theme, turning Saturday night's banquet into a benefit.

Doohan's final formal public appearance is expected tomorrow morning, when his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is unveiled, in front of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

In the past year, violence has escalated across Afghanistan despite the presence of NATO forces, including 18,000 U.S. troops. Taliban insurgents, remnants of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and others have been waging hit-and-run attacks against military and civilian targets throughout the country.

Hundreds of Afghans have been killed, and humanitarian relief workers have halted operations in many rural areas.

Iraqi National Guard troops are supposed to police their own hometowns and villages. But in many cases the soldiers refuse to arrest anyone for fear the insurgents will seek revenge against their families.

"I've seen insurgents put [remote-detonated roadside bombs] 100 meters from my Iraqi National Guard checkpoints," said Staff Sgt. Nicholas Fox, who oversees a company of about 90 Iraqi soldiers outside Fallujah. When Sgt. Fox asked the Iraqi soldiers why they didn't stop the insurgents, the soldiers replied that they were afraid their families would be targeted.

Two Iraqi National Guard units in al Anbar province, which encompasses Fallujah and Ramadi, were overrun earlier this month by insurgents who stormed their headquarters. The insurgents kidnapped the units' battalion commanders. The dead body of one of the commanders was found a few days later; the other man is still missing. The insurgents also took most of the two 800-soldier battalions' guns, helmets and body armor.

The police haven't performed well, either. Recently the Marines detained the police chief for the province, who is suspected of cooperating with the insurgents. His officers were guarding the provincial governor's home when it was attacked by insurgents and the governor's two sons were abducted. The police didn't fire a shot.