Byline: By danny hakim section: Section B; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 1 Length

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: BANKING & FINANCE (91%); MORTGAGE BANKING & FINANCE (90%); STUDENT LOANS (90%); MORTGAGE LOANS (89%); HOUSING MARKET (89%); US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (88%); LEGISLATIVE BODIES (78%); PUBLIC FINANCE (78%); HOUSING AUTHORITIES (77%); COLLEGE STUDENTS (76%); COMMERCIAL BANKING (76%); HOMEOWNERS (76%); RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY (76%); STUDENTS & STUDENT LIFE (76%); TRENDS (74%); MORTGAGE REFINANCING (73%); LEGISLATION (70%); RESEARCH INSTITUTES (69%)
COMPANY: FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORP (FREDDIE MAC) (93%); FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION (FANNIE MAE) (91%)
TICKER: FRE (NYSE) (93%); FNM (NYSE) (91%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS522292 REAL ESTATE CREDIT (93%); SIC6162 MORTGAGE BANKERS & LOAN CORRESPONDENTS (93%); SIC6111 FEDERAL & FEDERALLY-SPONSORED CREDIT AGENCIES (93%)
PERSON: MICHAEL MCMAHON (52%)
GEOGRAPHIC: UNITED STATES (99%)
LOAD-DATE: July 14, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
DOCUMENT-TYPE: News Analysis
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

583 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 13, 2008 Sunday

Late Edition - Final

Turning to T-Shirts to Spiff Up Downtrodden Cities
BYLINE: By CATRIN EINHORN
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; National Desk; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 958 words
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS
As Jeff Vines pulls down the iron on the heat press in his small studio here, he is trying something far grander than simply searing another image onto another T-shirt. The machine hisses, Mr. Vines opens it and sizes up his handiwork: a cotton weapon in his quest to revive his long-challenged city.

The St. Louis-themed shirts that Jeff Vines and his identical twin, Randy, make are not for tourists. They sport neighborhood references and inside jokes unintelligible to those not from here. Some easily offend, displaying profanity and raunchy innuendo. But to the Vines brothers, their edginess is part of their mission for St. Louis -- a place many of their friends from high school fled -- to rehabilitate its image from the inside out and, ultimately, to make future generations want to stay.

''You have to get the people who live there to be the best advocates for the city, or else you don't really have much,'' Randy Vines said. ''So you need to change the psyche and change the way they see their own city.''

The Vines brothers, 30, are not alone in their effort. In cities like Youngstown, Ohio, and Detroit, damaged by the decline in manufacturing and decades of population loss, entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s are pushing back with the simple stuff of T-shirts, tote bags and soap. Faced with condescending attitudes from outsiders and grumbling from many locals, they are determined to peddle in pride, and hope to convert others in the process.

''It's reframing the identity of these places that have been misrepresented,'' said Abby Wilson, a co-founder of the Great Lakes Urban Exchange, a new group dedicated to bringing post-baby boomers together to work for the health of postindustrial cities in the Great Lakes region.

The Vines brothers' company, STL-Style, makes retro-looking T-shirts that extol and lovingly tease St. Louis; slogans include ''My Way or Kingshighway,'' and ''Where the Mullet Meets the River.'' In Pittsburgh, Lindsay Patross, 28, offers T-shirts and aprons that read ''Pittsburghers are tasty.'' At City Bird in Detroit, siblings Emily and Andy Linn, 30 and 25, make clocks, lamps, earrings and bracelets patterned with maps of their city. Another company, Rusty Waters Apparel, sells skull-adorned T-shirts celebrating Youngstown, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. A quote on the company's MySpace page says: ''Don't mess with the underdog. Rustbelt Warriors!''

Another Rusty Waters Apparel design depicts a downtown Youngstown building, the Home Savings and Loan, hanging upside down from the neckline, with birds flying around it.

''The fact that it's upside down signifies the struggle that Youngstown has gone through,'' the shirt's designer, Kate Butler, 24, explained. But the birds are flying right side up, symbolizing hope, she said.

These T-shirt makers know, of course, that their merchandise will not cure the deep-seated problems of their cities. But they see them as one way to fight against powerful stereotypes, and consider them more authentic than city officials' public relations campaigns.

Mark-Evan Blackman, chairman of men's wear design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, said T-shirts can have a profound effect on social change, and that these shirts should not be underestimated. ''It's saying we're cool, we're here,'' Mr. Blackman said. ''We've not jumped out of the boat, this city is cool and we're making it cooler, and look at us.''

T-shirts became popular in the United States after they were issued to soldiers and sailors in World War II, he said. They became acceptable to use as outerwear, and companies and political campaigns soon realized that T-shirts could be turned into walking billboards.

The tourist-oriented location T-shirts, of course, are hawked the world over. The iconic ''I NY,'' started by a state marketing campaign in the 1970s, is widely mimicked, and has been parodied in some Rust Belt cities; perhaps to portray gritty authenticity, the Rusty Waters Apparel version replaces New York's heart symbol with an anatomical heart.

In 2002, Michael de Zayas catapulted a place-driven apparel craze with Neighborhoodies, a company he started after he was hounded for the hooded sweatshirt he made, emblazoned with the words Fort Greene, the name of the Brooklyn neighborhood he loved.

People love flaunting where they are from and where they live, said Jana Eggers, chief executive of Spreadshirt, an online retailer that lets users design T-shirts and other apparel and sell them online.

''It's all about identity,'' Ms. Eggers said. Shirts featuring places are popular items to make and sell using her site, often displaying inside jokes.

But can they affect a city?

''It's not the T-shirt that's turning around the image,'' Ms. Eggers said. ''It's the conversations that start.''

While some of the T-shirt makers said they made essentially no money on their merchandise, most dreamed of building successful businesses and expanding to other Rust Belt cities.

In their first year, the Vines brothers sold about 250 T-shirts; six years later, in 2007, they sold about 1,400, plus some 300 other items, including underwear, onesies and stickers. Both work full-time jobs.

About 40 percent of their T-shirts, they say, go to people who have left St. Louis. Occasionally, they get e-mail messages from homesick St. Louis natives.

''Thanks for promoting my favorite city,'' wrote Jim Saracini, who left St. Louis 30 years ago after failing to find the right job there.

But as Randy Vines sat at his desk, stuffing T-shirts into envelopes to ship out, he seemed especially pleased to see an order going to a St. Louis address. ''One more proud city resident is going to be sporting these,'' he said.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: CITIES (76%); TWINS & MULTIPLE BIRTHS (76%); BABY BOOMERS (73%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (65%); POPULATION DECLINE (58%); MANUFACTURING OUTPUT (51%)
COMPANY: HOME SAVINGS & LOAN CO INC (50%); HOME SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION OF OKLAHOMA CITY (50%)
GEOGRAPHIC: PITTSBURGH, PA, USA (90%); CLEVELAND, OH, USA (79%) PENNSYLVANIA, USA (90%); MISSOURI, USA (79%); OHIO, USA (79%); MIDWEST USA (72%) UNITED STATES (90%)
LOAD-DATE: July 13, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Jeff Vines, left, and his twin, Randy, who make shirts in St. Louis. Slogans include ''Where the Mullet Meets the River.''(PHOTOGRAPH BY DILIP VISHWANAT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

584 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 13, 2008 Sunday

Late Edition - Final

McCain's Conservative Model? Roosevelt (Theodore, That Is)
BYLINE: By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MICHAEL COOPER
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; National Desk; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1416 words
DATELINE: HUDSON, Wis.
Senator John McCain in a wide-ranging interview called for a government that is frugal but more active than many conservatives might prefer. He said government should play an important role in areas like addressing climate change, regulating campaign finance and taking care of ''those in America who cannot take care of themselves.''

''I count myself as a conservative Republican, yet I view it to a large degree in the Theodore Roosevelt mold,'' Mr. McCain said, referring to Roosevelt's reputation for reform, environmentalism and tough foreign policy.

The views expressed by Mr. McCain in the 45-minute interview here Friday illustrated the challenge the probable Republican presidential nominee faces as he tries to navigate the sensibilities of his party's conservative base and those of the moderate and independent voters he needs to defeat Senator Barack Obama, his Democratic rival.

His responses suggested that he was basically in sync with his party's conservative core but was not always willing to use the power of the federal government to impose those values. He also expressed a willingness to deploy government power and influence where free-market purists might hesitate to do so and to consider unleashing military force for moral reasons.

In recent weeks, Mr. McCain has left many Republicans unsettled about his ideological bearings by toggling between reliably conservative issues like support for gun owners' rights and an emphasis on centrist messages like his willingness to tackle global warming and provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Those tensions were apparent in the interview as well, as Mr. McCain offered a variety of answers -- sometimes nuanced in their phrasing, sometimes not -- about his views on social issues.

Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. ''I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption,'' he said.

But he declined to take a specific position when asked whether only evolution should be taught in public schools. ''It's up to the school boards,'' he said. ''That's why we have local control over education.'' Mr. McCain has said he believes in evolution.

Many social conservatives strenuously oppose California's decision to allow same-sex marriage. But Mr. McCain, who also opposes same-sex marriage, has always said that the issue is up to the states, and in the interview he said he would stick to that position as president even if California chose to continue allowing gay marriage after putting the matter to a statewide vote in November. ''I respect the right of the states to make those decisions,'' he said.

Asked if he considered himself an evangelical Christian, Mr. McCain responded, ''I consider myself a Christian.''

''I attend church,'' he said. ''My faith has sustained me in very difficult times.'' Asked how often he attended, he responded: ''Not as often as I should.'' He has recently been photographed going to church as his campaign has begun to make public the times he attends services.

Mr. McCain sat down for the interview, conducted after he held a town-hall-style meeting on economic issues, at the end of a week that his campaign had hoped would mark a turning point in a candidacy that has been plagued with missteps and often seemed unsure of its message.

After a period in which his campaign again endured internal battling and staff upheaval, Mr. McCain argued that competing tensions in an organization -- be it a presidential campaign or a White House -- can be good thing, up to a point.

''Because of the bubble that a president is in, and the bubble that a candidate is in, sometimes you find out afterwards something that, 'Oh boy, I wish I had heard thus and such and so and so,' '' he said. ''So I appreciate and want some of the tension. I don't want too much of it.''

When asked if he felt that it was more difficult to run against Mr. Obama because of the sensitivities of race, Mr. McCain responded wryly: ''I'd like to make a joke, but I can't.''

''We are in a situation today where all words are parsed, all comments are diagnosed and looked at for whatever effect they might have,'' he said. ''We have to feed the beast, the hourly cable shows, the instant news in the blogs and all that. That is just the situation that we're in, and I'm not complaining about it, because that would be both foolish and a waste of time.''

Mr. McCain went on to say that he did not consider running against Mr. Obama any more complicated than running against, say, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. ''No, I have to base my approach to Senator Obama as one of respect,'' he said. ''As long as I do that, then I don't have to worry about any language I might use.''

He said, ruefully, that he had not mastered how to use the Internet and relied on his wife and aides like Mark Salter, a senior adviser, and Brooke Buchanan, his press secretary, to get him online to read newspapers (though he prefers reading those the old-fashioned way) and political Web sites and blogs.

''They go on for me,'' he said. ''I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don't expect to be a great communicator, I don't expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.''

Asked which blogs he read, he said: ''Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously. Everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics.''

At that point, Mrs. McCain, who had been intensely engaged with her BlackBerry, looked up and chastised her husband. ''Meghan's blog!'' she said, reminding him of their daughter's blog on his campaign Web site. ''Meghan's blog,'' he said sheepishly.

As he answered questions, sipping a cup of coffee with his tie tight around his neck, his aides stared down at their BlackBerries.

As they tapped, Mr. McCain said he did not use a BlackBerry, though he regularly reads messages on those of his aides. ''I don't e-mail, I've never felt the particular need to e-mail,'' Mr. McCain said.

The interview underscored the extent to which Mr. McCain defies easy ideological characterization, a fact that might help him in a general election but has been a persistent cause of concern among some conservatives. Mr. McCain has long argued that his stances are evidence of his political independence; many of his critics say it is more an example of a politician deftly trying to shade positions to win an election in complicated electoral terrain.

Mr. McCain said he believed that the United States government had an obligation to intervene to stop genocide, though only if it was clear that a solution was possible. Mr. McCain also said that the Federal Reserve was right to step in during the collapse of the investment firm Bear Stearns, and that he would similarly support some sort of aggressive action to avert a meltdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, should that prove necessary.

''I don't know if a government, quote, bailout is necessary now,'' he said. ''Because there are other courses of action that are being explored in order to ensure their survival. But I don't believe we can afford to have them fail, because of their impact on the overall economy.''

Asked to name a conservative model, he skipped over the suggestions of three names typically associated with the conservative movement -- Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barry Goldwater, the founder of the modern-day conservative movement who occupied the Senate seat Mr. McCain holds today -- to settle on Theodore Roosevelt.

Mr. McCain has long admired Roosevelt, and in the interview he identified with him as a fellow reformer and environmentalist and also touched on his assertive foreign policy. The choice might to some extent be an indication of how Mr. McCain would like to position himself now that he has moved from the primary to the general election.

''I believe less governance is the best governance, and that government should not do what the free enterprise and private enterprise and individual entrepreneurship and the states can do, but I also believe there is a role for government,'' Mr. McCain said. He added: ''Government should take care of those in America who can not take care of themselves.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 2008 (91%); INTERVIEWS (90%); US REPUBLICAN PARTY (90%); GAYS & LESBIANS (89%); MARRIAGE (88%); GAY PARENTING (86%); SAME SEX MARRIAGE & UNIONS (85%); EDUCATION SYSTEMS & INSTITUTIONS (78%); POLITICAL PARTIES (78%); VOTERS & VOTING (78%); US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (78%); PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (77%); CITIZENSHIP LAW (77%); EDUCATION (76%); GLOBAL WARMING (72%); ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES (72%); CAMPAIGN FINANCE (72%); INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (70%); IMMIGRATION (70%); FOREIGN POLICY (70%); ENVIRONMENTALISM (70%); PUBLIC SCHOOLS (70%); COHABITATION (69%); ADOPTION (67%); EVOLUTION THEORY (60%)
PERSON: JOHN MCCAIN (94%); BARACK OBAMA (56%)
GEOGRAPHIC: CALIFORNIA, USA (92%) UNITED STATES (92%)
LOAD-DATE: July 13, 2008
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS: PHOTO (A1)

Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, left, in Hudson, Wis., on Friday at a town hall-style meeting on economic issues. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ALLEN BRISSON-SMITH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(A20)

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

585 of 1231 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
July 13, 2008 Sunday

Late Edition - Final

INSIDE THE TIMES: July 13, 2008
SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 1726 words
INTERNATIONAL

A PARISIAN EMBRACE,

This Time for Bikes

A year after its introduction, the cheap rental bicycle system known as Velib' seems a signal success in Paris. The sturdy gray bikes are being used all over the city, 26 million times so far in a city of roughly 2.1 million people, many of them daily devotees for their commute to and from work. PAGE 6

TRADE DEAL THREATENED

As President Bush sees the free-trade deal his administration negotiated with Colombia, it would open a new market for American produce and manufactured goods, not threaten American jobs and shore up a respected ally, President Alvaro Uribe. But approval by Congress remains a long shot, because of opposition by American labor unions, Democratic leaders in Congress and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. PAGE 15

NO HAVEN IN CANADA

During the Vietnam War, Canada's Liberal prime minister welcomed American deserters and draft dodgers, declaring that Canada ''should be a refuge from militarism.'' But while the current Conservative government has not backed the Iraq war, it has shown little sympathy for American deserters. It has not deported any, but that is not for lack of effort. PAGE 6

NATIONAL

LOOKING TO LIFT SPIRITS

In Downtrodden Cities

In cities like St. Louis and Detroit, damaged by the decline in manufacturing and decades of population loss, entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s are pushing back with appeals to civic pride. Their media: the simple stuff of T-shirts, tote bags and soap. But the target customers for their wares are local residents, not tourists. PAGE 18

MEDICARE FIX ELUSIVE

Congress's vote to block a cut in Medicare payments to doctors did nothing to solve the fundamental problem with Medicare's funding formula, and the issue will come back to haunt the next president and the next Congress, lawmakers and health policy experts say. And while Democrats and Republicans agree that the formula for paying doctors is broken, they say fixing it would be phenomenally expensive. PAGE 18

METRO

ETHNIC CHANGES PORTEND

Shift in Balance of Power

New immigrants made up at least one-third of the increase in the number of New York City voters since 2004, a transformation that foreshadows a momentous shift that could upend the balance of power that has governed local politics for decades. And with so many seats coming open next year, new strategies could be crucial for candidates. PAGE 25

PEDDLING RAP

They work the sidewalks of Times Square, Herald Square, Union Square and the Village, peddling CDs with sales performances rivaling their rap talents. Rejection is frequent.Disappointment is not allowed. ''For every hundred noes there are 10 yeses, and that's a hundred bucks,'' one says. PAGE 27

SPORTS

TWO TEXAS ALL-STARS

Mending Reputations

They called themselves the Risk Brothers, two players with checkered backgrounds who found themselves on the Texas Rangers. But Milton Bradley and Josh Hamilton are showing the baseball world that the biggest risk they present is to opposing pitchers, while they travel somewhat different roads to redemption. PAGE 2

STICKING CLOSE TO HOME

Matt Grevers faced a tough decision when a coach from the Netherlands offered him a chance to swim for that country in the Olympics, especially when he looked at the Americans ahead of him in the 100-meter backstroke line. But instead of changing countries, he changed events. So far, it looks like a good choice. PAGE 1

COURSE IN BRITISH HISTORY

The British Open returns to Royal Birkdale, a course that for whatever reason has never taken its rightful place as one of golf's more important sites. Among its past champions are Arnold Palmer, Peter Thomson, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller. Most golf courses under consideration as major championship sites in the United States would sacrifice their next year's member dues and assessments for that kind of list. PAGE 10

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

WILL LITTLE HAVANA SWITCH

To Blue for '08 Election?

Republicans have been able to count on the Cuban-American vote for decades. But Cuba is slowly changing, and the exile community of South Florida may also be changing, in time for the November election. PAGE 46

THE LONG WAR

As a cop, he attacked Mexico's big drug cartels. Now the narcos are retaliating -- by going after the police. PAGE 32

TO RAT OR NOT TO RAT

Should his fellow students rat out a team member who took a free ride on a group project in a course at a major business school? The Ethicist. PAGE 21

Questions for: Patti Smith 13

SUNDAY STYLES

I'LL TRADE YOU 2 RINGOS

For a Lock of John

It began as a gentleman's hobby, oddly enough, at the turn of the 20th century: collecting the hair of the famous. Now it's a multimillion-dollar business, albeit a potentially grisly one. (Think Abraham Lincoln and dried brain matter.) Demand is said to be insatiable, and prices can be dear. Elvis, anybody? Good luck. PAGE 7

WHAT DIVORCE CASE?

For Hamptonites, the messy divorce between Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook is not just another celebrity train wreck, it's local news involving two fixtures of the area's social scene. Not that anyone was paying attention, of course. And oh, isn't it too bad about the children? PAGE 1

BOOK REVIEW

OVERSELLING '60 OLYMPICS

As an Epic Sports Event

''A desperate search is under way these days among authors for the epic sports event,'' David Margolick writes in his review of ''Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World,'' by David Maraniss. While calling Maraniss ''a gold medalist of a writer,'' Margolick adds that ''he has put together a silver medal of a study of a bronze medal of a topic.'' PAGE 18

SUNDAY BUSINESS

CHANGING A HABIT

To Fight Disease

When Val Curtis, an anthropologist then living in Africa, was looking for a way to reduce disease by persuading people in the developing world to wash their hands habitually with soap, she turned to the people who trained Americans to spray perfumed water on couches that are already clean. PAGE 1

QUESTIONING ETHANOL

The Bush administration's position has been that biofuels are a minor factor in rising food costs. But a former mild-mannered chief economist for the Department of Agriculture who has switched to the private sector has turned out research suggesting that the truth is much different. PAGE 5

FEARING AIRLINE CUTBACKS

With airlines looking to reduce flights to Las Vegas and Orlando, two of the biggest leisure-travel destinations in the country, anxious businesses and tourism executives in the two cities are looking to ways to recover visitors, including subsidizing flights. Travel Bug. PAGE 2

WEEK IN REVIEW

PONDERING HUMAN RIGHTS

For Animals, and Humans

A proposal in the Spanish Parliament to grant limited rights to the great apes -- chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans -- juxtaposes two sets of sliding scales that are normally not allowed to slide against each other: how much kinship humans feel for which animals, and just which ''human rights'' each human deserves. PAGE 3

JUST SAY MAYBE

New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggesting cholesterol-lowering statin drugs for children have been unfairly criticized, according to the doctors who wrote them. PAGE 3

BEWARE THE LANDING

If you are planning to use a bunch of helium-filled balloons to ease off into the skies, as various people have done over the years, it is recommended that you contact the Federal Aviation Administration first. And perhaps your lawyer, to update your will. PAGE 2

Arts & Leisure

AN UNSPARING VIEW

Of a Life of Pleasure

''Before I Forget,'' the new film from the French director, writer and actor Jacques Nolot, is a piece of often bitter truth. But there is humor there as well, along with quite a bit of sex, as it depicts the life of Pierre, a 60-ish writer and ex-gigolo who has been HIV-positive for 24 years. Page 9

DJ ON THE SMALL SCREEN

In her radio show on WBLS 107.5, Wendy Williams is known for blunt questions that often seem to take people to task. Her coming daytime television show is built around the same format: ''confessional paired with snarkiness,'' peppered with details about herself. Page 17

Travel

A FADING WOMAN'S ORDER

Inside the Catholic Church

Groups of women, under the aegis but not control of the Roman Catholic Church, sought a life for themselves outside the monastic box. They lived in enclaves called beguinages for centuries in a patriarchal world. Their numbers have faded over the years, along with the structures themselves, but some still live on in the same traditions. Page 3

ARE THE MILES MATURING?

To combat rising fuel costs, airlines have put new charges in place for users of frequent flyer miles. Some carriers say they are temporary and could be rescinded, while others have positioned them as ticketing fees. Makes a traveler wonder if redeeming the miles, much less airline loyalty, is even worth it. Page 6

AUTOMOBILES

ABOVE AND BEYOND

Driver's Education

Not surprisingly, given teenagers' lack of experience as drivers, traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for the age group. For anxious parents -- are there really any other kind? -- safe-driving programs can offer their children instruction beyond what they or driver's education are likely to offer. SPORTS, PAGE 12

Editorial

Posturing and Abdication

With no apology, the Bush administration has made clear it will do virtually nothing in the remaining months of this presidency to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. WEEK IN REVIEW, PAGE 11

Op-Ed

FRANK RICH

Possessed by ''ticking-bomb scenarios'' out of television's ''24,'' torture apologists have undermined American security. WEEK IN REVIEW, PAGE 12

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

A lone Montanan staying at the cheapest guest houses in Pakistan has done more to advance American interests in the region than the entire military and foreign policy apparatus of the Bush administration and at less than one ten-thousandth of the cost. WEEK IN REVIEW, PAGE 14

PUBLIC EDITOR

Some unguarded comments about Senator Barack Obama by the Rev. Jesse Jackson highlighted a tough choice for The Times and other news media. Where should they draw the line on printing words once thought unfit for what used to be called polite company? WEEK IN REVIEW, PAGE 12