The Hindsight Factor

    Stocks fell sharply in late afternoon trading in New York on Thursday as concerns about the global financial system mounted and investors priced in a deep recession.

    The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down nearly 7.6 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 678.91 points, or about 7.3 percent, both posting one of their worst days in post-war history. The Nasdaq composite was down 5.4 percent.

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    In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona ran for president as a rock-ribbed conservative who yearned to roll back both the Soviet Empire and FDR's New Deal. He carried only six states with 52 electoral votes, and Lyndon Johnson remained the commander-in-chief that an entire generation loved to hate. Yet, even after suffering a stunning defeat, the rabidly anti-New Deal Republicans, ultra-right-wing millionaires, evangelical Christian preachers, John Birchers and other extreme anti-communists who backed Barry Goldwater went on to build the modern conservative movement that propelled Ronald Reagan into the White House.

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    Legal, real estate experts wonder how Dart's promise will play out.

    As the nationwide mortgage crisis puts the squeeze on homeowners, the Cook County sheriff's office is on pace to evict more people than ever from foreclosed homes.

    At least it was until Wednesday, when Sheriff Tom Dart announced he wouldn't do it anymore.

    Dart cited the growing number of evictions that involve rent-paying tenants who suddenly learn their building is in foreclosure because the landlord neg

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    A bit past midnight on a balmy night in late August, Hedayatullah awoke to a deafening blast. He stumbled out of bed and heard angry voices drawing closer. Suddenly, his bedroom doors banged open and dozens of silhouetted figures burst in, some shouting in a strange language.

    The intruders blindfolded Hedayatullah and, screaming with fury, forced him to the ground. An Afghan voice told him not to move or speak, or he would be killed. He listened for sounds from the next room, where his brother Noorullah slept with his family.

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    Watchdogs worry huge turn-out and a new untested voter database could spell disaster on Election Day.

    First there was Florida. Then there was Ohio. Will Colorado be next?

    The state has a brand new voter database system, the longest ballot in the nation and hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations to contend with, all of which raise the specter of chaos at the polls come November.

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    Low-income beneficiaries in Medicare's prescription drug program have fewer plans to choose from next year in every state except Wisconsin, raising concerns among advocates that millions will be forced to change plans - and may find skimpier coverage.

    An analysis out this week by Avalere Health, a for-profit research firm in Washington, found 308 stand-alone drug plans nationwide next year eligible to serve low-income residents, down about 200 from this year. Those beneficiaries are subsidized by the government.

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    Oakland, California - As the U.S. presidential race winds down and attack ads against Sen.

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    How to keep Ohio jobs and create more in a state with an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent has become a focus of the close presidential race here.

    Democrat Barack Obama plans a two-day bus trip his campaign calls the "American Jobs Tour." He'll be in some areas hard hit by job losses, starting Thursday in Dayton and heading into southern Appalachian Ohio.

    Republican John McCain has also been talking a lot about his plans to pump up the economy and create jobs as the economy emerges as the leading issue on man

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    Washington - Whales may simply have to pay the price as the Navy prepares for war, Supreme Court justices suggested Wednesday.

    In a closely watched environmental case, justices Wednesday morning repeatedly sounded sympathetic to Pentagon officials who want to run large-scale Navy exercises off the Southern California coast.

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    Falling from shoo-in status to widely rejected legislation within the space of four months, a resolution that would have opened the door for a naval blockade on Iran was officially shelved at the end of September, after several of its cosponsors withdrew their support. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman has promised not to bring the bill, House Concurrent Resolution 362, before the committee until concerns about the text are addressed.

    Given the scare-tactic-laden climate of the past eight years, 362's journey is remarkable: it represents a forceful effort by members of Congress - prodded by grassroots groups - to turn back the tides of impending war.

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