Headlines from September 5, 2008

Op: The G.O.P., which usually scoffs at "identity politics," has staked everything on biographies.
For a man who has lived 72 years and 67 days, there is between a 14.2 and 15.1 percent chance of dying before Inauguration Day 2013.
Obama campaign avoids racial tones in responding to allegations of being "uppity."
Some Kenyan first ladies turn down plush honorariums for being "responsible," some don't.
Video: Jon Stewart outlines Republican double-talk.
Papers deal blow to hopes cancer genomics studies will speed up a cure.
Photos and narration track the devastating impact of oil exploitation in Nigeria.
Hepola: Reality shows we'd like to see, e.g., "Hangover CSI."
Critical appraisal of Madness's videos.
Welcome to the passionate plights of the numerati--crunching your data to make sense of our world.
Poem: "The Clay Army," Yusef Komunyakaa.
Let us now all appreciate the (seemingly threatened) books section of the New York Sun.
Print for Sunday: Kurds, Turks, and Kemalism.
Chart outlines the 100-year forecast.
Three hundred love letters.
The next president must make it clear that we do not endorse a particular set of Iraqi leaders, but rather the system as a whole. How to exit Iraq.
Online reactions to McCain's speech.
The top 10 speeches of all time--and how they can help the current presidential candidates.
Georgia was beaten back, Europe wobbled, but Russia's imperial overstretch, lack of friends is a long-term consequence.
On the economic impact of the Georgian conflict: Politicians make investors scared to lift Russia's lagging economy.
Analysis: The Georgian conflict introduced Medvedev to the world, allowing him to emerge from behind Putin.
Cheney visits Ukraine--Putin doesn't consider it a real country, pro-Western government struggles.
The polar bear may be a Trojan horse to effect climate change action--a role that will do little to save the species.

Researchers assure that climate change is warming our seas, increasing hurricanes' frequency, ferocity.
Up to two percent of Americans live without TV--often they're the extremely liberal and the extremely conservative.
"The show is fundamentally about clumsy, awkward, uncomfortable real life, and it's one of the last places on television where children can see it honestly reflected." Chris Ware on Mister Rogers' cancellation.