Thursday September 7, 2006

The Final Word: “*Smack!* 'Pull Yourself Together Man!' Edition”

(The media experiment in which we conjoin the headline and last paragraph of each bylined article in the A-section of today's New York Times.)

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President Moves 14 Held in Secret to Guantánamo:

On Capitol Hill, Democrats were also critical. Representative Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Mr. Bush should have disclosed the program years ago and called his speech "the opening salvo in the fall campaign."

Legislation: Proposal for New Tribunals for Terror Suspects Would Hew to the First Series:

To inoculate officials and civilian interrogators from the potential of being charged under the War Crimes Act for what they may have done, the bill has a provision making it retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks.

A Challenge From Bush to Congress:

Democrats have been trying to do that for months, betting that the chaos in Iraq is their ticket to regaining a majority in the House, and perhaps the longer shot of the Senate. Now Mr. Bush is betting that once again Americans will look at the faces of the terrorists the C.I.A. has captured, and give the president one last shot at fighting the war on his terms.

9/11 Polls Find Lingering Fears in New York City:

But Sandy Jackson, 47, a homemaker in Aberdeen, Md., said, "When the planes hit the Pentagon, I thought it was war, and I rushed to get my daughters out of school." Ms. Jackson added: "I'm still nervous because we can't put our guard down. I think they're looking to do us harm."

Leak, Inquiry and Resignation Rock a Boardroom:

The search warrant affidavit, on file in Marin County in California, where Mr. Perkins lives in an expansive hilltop home with ocean views, also reveals that the attorney general and AT&T are considering civil lawsuits as well.

A Board in Need of an Emily Post: Hewlett-Packard, in an S.E.C. filing, said it believed that its disclosures regarding Mr. Perkins were "accurate and complete at the time of filing and were based upon Mr. Perkins' actions and representations prior to such time concerning the reasons for his resignation."

Mrs. Astor's Guardian Says Son May Have Mishandled Millions:

J. P. Morgan Chase's documents also say that Mr. Marshall used Mrs. Astor's money to pay for certain costs like monthly maintenance fees for the East 79th Street apartment he shares with his wife, Charlene, and for expenses associated with operating the house in Maine. The Maine expenses include payroll and health insurance for personnel at the property.

Israel Will Ease Grip on Lebanon:

Israel, the United States and Europe want Hamas to recognize the right of Israel to exist, forswear violence and recognize previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Some Europeans are now suggesting, according to a senior French diplomat, that those restrictions be eased if the Palestinians come up with a national-unity government that at least forswears violence and terrorism. The United States and Britain are against weakening the terms demanded of Hamas.

Other News

Roddick Returns Just as Nadal Disappears:

"It was a good day," Youzhny said. "One of the best."

Pressure on Blair Mounts as 8 Aides Resign:

Mr. Brown has not spoken publicly about a fight that has seized the headlines to the delight of opponents like David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who said the crisis showed the government was in "meltdown."

Gene Called Link Between Life Span and Cancers:

Dr. Scott Lowe, a cancer gene expert at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island who was not involved in the three papers, said the results were interesting because they linked to aging a gene of central importance in cancer.

Ex-Governor of Illinois Gets 6½ Years in Prison:

"Cynicism is inconsistent with patriotism," Judge Pallmeyer said. "Government leaders have an obligation to stand as the example. Mr. Ryan failed to meet that standard."

Second Drug Test Appears to Exonerate Jones:

After a pair of lackluster seasons, Jones has returned to form this summer, running the 100 in 10.91 seconds, her fastest time in five years.

The Multiplex as Opera House: Will They Serve Popcorn?:

In the end, Mr. Gelb said none of this would have been possible without concessions from the house's stage, musician and singer unions. Because he is the new man on the block, he said, one union leader told him, "We decided to give you a pass."

International

In Brazil, Former Ally May Spoil Race for the President:

"Lula is going to win, but I am going to vote for her anyway," Antélio Ramos da Silva, a retired farm worker, said after he and his wife embraced the candidate. "She's a fighter and she's honest, and that's just what we need to clean up that nest of corruption in Brasília."

Turks Warm to Iran, Jilting Allies, Poll Finds:

In Turkey, the survey was based on in-person interviews of 1,000 randomly selected adults from June 6 to June 24. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.

Letter From Mexico: Long History of Vote Fraud Lingers in the Mexican Psyche:

What is sure is that Mr. López Obrador has defined himself for many voters as the candidate who lost the election, not through his own errors but because the entire apparatus of the state was against him. That is an old tune in Mexico, one that many know the words to.

Lebanese Documentary Unveils 1980's Tape of a Prisoner:

"The Northern Command has to check carefully how it happened that two kidnappings that Hezbollah prepared and practiced succeeded in being performed in an almost identical manner," he wrote. "Where were the failures? Where did we not learn the lesson?"

2 Muslims Are Charged in Plot for a Bombing in Denmark:

Friends and relatives of the suspects said they were all active in the same neighborhood mosque and that several were members of Dawa — the name loosely translates as a Call to God — a devout, local Muslim group that seeks out errant Muslims who have turned to drugs or alcohol and tries to bring them back into the fold.

Musharraf Vows to Aid Afghanistan in Fighting Taliban:

"This is our concern," he said. "I have brought it to President Karzai."

U.S. Air Force Major Missing in Kyrgyzstan:

"I think at this point we just can't speculate," Ambassador Yovanovitch said.

On Austrian TV, a True Story of Captivity:

Of her captor, she said: "I think I was stronger. He had an unstable personality. In a certain way, he lacked something like self-assurance."

Shiites Push Laws to Define How to Divide Iraqi Regions:

But it remains unclear what role Mr. Saeedi played in that attack, and American officials have not said whether Mr. Saeedi ordered or planned the bombing.

National Report

Democrats See Chances to Gain in Florida:

"I'd like to see her have competent staff, begin to run a tight schedule, pick up on her fund-raising and take it to Bill Nelson in a way that starts impressing those of us who have been around for a while," Mr. Cardenas said. "Whether folks will gravitate toward her will have a lot to do with how she picks up the ball and runs with it."

Blaze Devastates Wilderness Area Prized for Beauty:

The first order of business, though, is to put out the fire.

Women Slain at Inn Are Said to Have Wanted to Evict Suspect:

"Julie wanted him to leave,'' Ms. Taylor said.

Washington Memo: Lieberman Returns as Media Magnet and Party Pariah:

Sitting, apparently.

Report Finds U.S. Students Lagging in Finishing College:

The vice chancellor at CUNY, Jay Hershenson, said that, among other things, the report sharply understated the average amount of aid to undergraduates who receive state aid and failed to take into account more than a quarter-million students in nondegree programs that lead to college.

Electrical Problem Leads to Another Delay for Shuttle:

The devices, which are serviced between flights, each produce 10 to 12 kilowatts of continuous power in space.

Turning to Lady Luck to Bless Launchings:

At the space center here, some controllers pick a different place to park the day after a liftoff is scrubbed. Not Mr. Leinbach, the launch director — he has a reserved spot. "So I park in the same spot all the time," he said with a laugh. "I don't have to worry about that."

Intersex Fish Are Found at High Rate in a Region:

"Fish are a great indicator of the health of our waters,'' she said, "but they are not a great indicator of what may translate to humans."

Democrats Force a Debate, but Can't Get a Vote on Rumsfeld:

Democrats dismissed such assertions, and said they intended to cooperate with Republicans on national-security legislation. But they said they would also assertively challenge Republican accusations that they were soft on security.

Inmates Report Mental Illness at High Levels:

One in three state prisoners, one in four federal prisoners and one in six jail prisoners had received some form of mental health treatment, often medication, during their current incarceration, the study said.

Three From Clinton Administration Urge Disney to Cancel or Revise 9/11 Mini-Series:

Marc Platt, the executive producer of "The Path to 9/11," said he had known that turning a 600-page report into a five-hour drama would ruffle some feathers. "The challenge in any adaptation," he said, "is how do you render it as dramatic as you can without exceeding the boundaries of what's fair and accurate."

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