Opens with a hilarious pix from memory lane for those around for the 1976 campaign:

All in the Presidential Family
By Mary Ann Giordano

Believe it or not,  this was written on Aug. 21, before Palin, was inspired by the Cindy McCain and Obama half-siblings stories going on around then.

....Given this year's strong "change" climate, Bush's unpopularity, the tendency for voters to want to give the other party a chance after one has controlled the White House for two terms, and the current Democratic advantage in voters' party identification, this race ought to be a sure thing for the Democratic nominee. But resistance to Obama is making it close--just as a stool with only three of its legs can stand but is shaky. Whether the fourth leg is defined as whites over 50, working-class whites, or whites over 65, McCain's challenge this week is to firm up his grip and keep Obama from adding the final leg to the stool.

,,,,In a survey of 1,006 adults by the polling firm IFOP just before the rentrée for the Sunday edition of the newspaper Ouest-France, only 33 percent of respondents described themselves as optimistic for the future of themselves and their children, the lowest figure in 13 years, and a drop from 53 percent since December. Some 67 percent said they were pessimistic.

Only 18 percent said they had confidence in the ability of Mr. Fillon’s government to ease the cost of living. In the last year, the prices of certain foods have risen considerably — chicken nearly 12 percent, milk nearly 13 percent....

According to the newspaper Journal du Dimanche, the French are the world’s biggest consumers of tranquilizers, with one of every five French men and women taking antidepressants....

from
Across France, Pessimism Clouds a Time for Renewal, by Steven Erlanger, August 30, Paris.

Does this mean Italy's funk from late last year is over or has it gotten worse? I believe they like to compete...

A Journalist in Russia Is Shot Dead After Arrest August 31, 2008:

...."He was very popular in Ingushetia,” Mr. Orlov said in a telephone interview. When local Internet service providers blocked the site this year, residents downloaded the news on their cellphones, which could still connect to it....

For more on cyberwar in the former SSR's, see the links in an exchange between me and member "lally" on an Aug. 18-19 thread here and here.