30 September 2010: Morning By The Morning News — 30 Sep 2010 Democrats up for reelection find distancing from Obama helps their chances for keeping their seats. The U.S. Postal Service may soon run out of cash, wants a 5.6% postage rate hike or $5 billion, or both. Across the country, the recession forced police departments to cut ranks--and crime increased. McDonald's warns it may drop health plans for 30,000 workers unless the government eases "mini-med" plan regulations. Researchers believe at least 58 million children in China are growing up without one or both parents, who have left to find work. Jim Al-Khalili imagines Baghdad when it was the "richest, proudest, most supercilious city on the planet for half a millennium." Pakistan is just like India, except when it's just like Afghanistan. Guide to the clichés that fill articles about Pakistan. Related: Portraits from Pakistan. Video: Fine roasting moments from comedian Greg Giraldo, who died yesterday. Just in time: Astronomers first the first habitable planet outside our solar system. Op: Cosmology is so popular because it's theology for the scientific crowd. Two amazing things: Ze Frank's "Young Me Now Me"; the "It Gets Better" video project. "I don't think they can quite believe it." Dad converts 1976 Land Rover into a replica of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.