:
SoFlo: OCULAR CHADS -

They are no long short of ballots in their vote count up in Palm Beach County. Now, they've got too many ballots.

"Meanwhile, a judge in Tallahassee has ordered that the ballots be kept under a secure lockdown until further notice."

+ It isn't clear how that would help at this point.

:: SF Sun-Sentinel ::

...

:
SoFlo: PAYING FOR MULTIPLES -

Suspended municipal commissioner Keith Wasserstrom is being billed by Broward prosecutors $12,000 for photocopying costs allegedly incurred in his trial. It is rumored that they outsourced the process to New Delhi, India, but not known at this time if they kept the receipts.

Wasserstrom's defense lawyer,
Milton Hirsch of Miami, is appealing.

:: Miami Herald ::

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:
Bookish: INTRIGUING GRAB BAG (8#) -

Hong Kong: Meet Roland Soong who blogs at EastSouthWestNorth, a bridge blog about China, which is a bit like The Drudge Report, Leslie Hook tells us.

# The Village Voice gives us a preview of the Brooklyn Book Festival by Matthew Shaer. It starts this Sunday, Sept 14th.

# "Nadeem Aslam's follow-up to his acclaimed Maps For Lost Lovers is about people searching for someone they've lost, played out against two decades of war in Afghanistan." The Wasted Vigil is reviewed by John Harding.

# The Glass Of Time by Michael Cox is a story of
Victorian intrigue. Review by Hephzibah Anderson.

# Fall Books touted by
The Phoenix in Boston.

# Paul Boutin reviews science fiction writer Neal Stephenson's new book Anathem. Stephenson is the author of the well-known book Cryptonomicom.

This one takes place in an alternate universe populated by a group of cloistered scholars, until their world is invaded by outsiders.

Boutin's review is outstanding because he familiarizes us with some of the territory covered, but without giving too much away.

# Another review of Anathem by Nisi Shawl.

...

:
Bookish: ROAMING THE MOORS (4#) -

John Marshall interviews Kathy Reichs of TV Bones fame. Her new thriller, Devil Bones, is about devil worship and dismemberment in North Carolina. [spi]

# Otto Penzler brings News Sherlockian for the Big Screen and writes about a lady Private Eye by Robert Parker.

# And yet more Sherlock in a longish essay by Ruth Rendell: The Hound of the Baskervilles et divers.

# What's new in Crime Fiction this month by Adam Woog. Includes a review of Salvation Boulevard (scroll down to last) by Larry Beinhart, author of Wag the Dog.

...

:
Havana: IN THE RUINS (5#) -

The Aftermath of Hurricane Ike . . .

In what used to be the City of Havana, 67 buildings have reportedly collapsed, added to the 16 buildings that fell the previous day. And emergency crews have uncovered the body of Pedro Pablo Gonzalez, buried under three stories of rubble there.

Experts estimate at least 70 percent of the housing stock in the ruined city of Havana is unsafe, meaning that it would be condemned in the U.S.

The current regime there has admitted on television that they do not have sufficient resources to recover from the devastating damage.

According to Canadian TV: "UNICEF is evaluating the state of infrastructure on the island, setting up temporary shelter for those who require it and providing water and sanitation equipment to victims." [ctv]

The Granma regime's response.

...

:
UNCHAINED: Press Notes (3#) -

Can Lee Abrams Rescue The Sun-Sentinel?

Robert Love writes a lengthy portrait of The Tribune Co's new dramaturge, Lee Abrams. Comparisons may be made to the late Jerry Nachtman or Roger Ailes, but his official title is: Chief Innovations Officer. As such, he is having only a very superficial effect on the South Florida branch of the company so far.

I agree with this excerpt:

"In many ways, the anger directed toward Abrams now seems misdirected, if understandable. Abrams may be the herald for change, but he is not responsible for the meltdown that led to this crisis.The problems facing newspapers in this transitional period come from every quarter and have been festering for a decade, for the most part unaddressed... Still, I came away believing that he is acting in good faith."

But I have a problem with this:

"So he works away in his Chicago office, dreaming up new ways to connect readers to this rapidly changing content, cheering for innovation where it sprouts."

The SF Sun-Sentinel is not connecting to readers and exhibits every sign that they do not want to. They have developed a bunker mentality and flaunt their Recursion.

I think that Sam Zell is actually looking to Abrams to be a kind of rainmaker. And in that role Abrams may have only mixed success. [cjr]

* * * * * *
Plus, a couple of footnotes:

# Carlos Slim Helu, a reputed billionaire businessman,
has bought 6.4% of The New York Times Co. [e&p]

# Charles Apple has a glimpse of The Chicago Tribune's new design, scheduled for debut September 29th. And there is a video available there.

...

:
A TRIAL APART (3#) -
Meredith Kercher Murder Case -

Richard Owen reports that Rudy Guede will ask the judge for a separate trial, apart from Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. All three are due to appear before a judge on September 16th.

"Because of the history between the other two, he is afraid he might be framed," the Kercher family's lawyer explained.

Also: [ansa] ...... and [perugia shock]

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:
RAMADAN TV 2008 - (7#) -
What are the stories this year? -

I usually go to Egypt Today which has published the best comprehensive guide to the TV mini-series that are offered at this time of year, but they haven't posted their September issue online yet. And, alas, there doesn't seem to be anyone else out there who wants to share this information with us. Indeed, some surfers are complaining that these productions have proliferated so much, that there are just too many to keep track of these days.

# According to Gulf News, the Egyptians
once again offer the most productions this time round:

Noted as outstanding: Sharaf Fath Al Bab in which a government employee gets framed for a crime he didn't commit. Also noted, a Syrian production about the founding of Baghdad. And last, but not least, the third season of Cartoon Sha'biya. [Maysam Ali]

# But already, at least one TV series, a Syrian production, has been stopped because of many complaints: Sa'adoun Al Awaji on Abu Dhabi TV.

# "This year, Egyptian TV canceled the series A Girl Of These Times, about the lives of marginalized people in Egypt's shantytowns, because it was considered too racy for Ramadan.

# A Wednesday, a Bollywood movie
about terrorist activity in Mumbai gets
a favorable review by Abdulla Mahmood.

# It's Fake Mustache Time, says one blogger.

# And Amara Makhoul gives us a general overview.

...

:
BEYOND THE KHYBER PASS (3#) -

India has completed construction of a strategic road linking landlocked Afghanistan with a port in Iran, India’s envoy said.

# Afghan Air Corp: but yet it flies.

# International Fund for Animal Welfare is undertaking a search effort to detect illegal wildlife trade on the Internet.

...

:
MOSQUE'S SUSPECT LINKS -

The trio of convicted airline liquid bomb plotters had links to the group behind the proposed mega-mosque in London.

The London Marqaz, proposed for the site adjacent to the 2012 Olympics venue, may become the largest house of worship in Europe, if it is approved.

:: Daily Mail ::

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:
SoFlo: CONDO GLUT & EXIT LAWSUITS -

Condo buyers seeking to exit their
purchases and recoup their deposits
are not having much luck with the courts.

In Hallandale Beach:

"Despite the name,
the Ocean Marine Yacht Club has no marina."

:: Markus Balser, WSJ ::

...

:
Straits: OLD HAVANA COLLAPSING -

"By midday, Cuban officials reported 16 partial building collapses in the capital, brought down by heavy rains and winds from Hurricane Ike."

The imprisoned island is still reeling from the destruction wrought by the previous hurricane, Gustav.

:: Sentinel ::

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:
SOME NEWS NOTED TODAY (10#) -

OPEC meets today with the price of crude oil at a little over $100 a barrel. The rad states are claiming there's a glut and want a cut in production, which is unlikely to happen. Royal Dutch Shell is set to return to Basra.

* * * * * *
# Former Mouse Houser: The DOJ has hired outside lawyer Sanford Litvack to study a prospective Google/Yahoo advertising arrangement and, possibly, broader aspects of online advertising.

# Google is moving beyond
the Internet to broker ads for television.

"Internet advertising sales... probably will surge to $65 billion this year, according to... researcher IDC. More than a third of that will come from searches."

* * * * * *
Much chatter about the possibility
of kidnapping Iran's Ahmadinejad.

# Some intelligence suggests that N.Korea's 66-year-old Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke on Aug. 14 and may be incapacitated. He was absent from a national celebration on Tuesday and hasn't been seen in public for a month.

# CERN atomic collider
set to fire up on Wednesday.

* * * * * *
Man is suing American Airlines
for allegedly losing his wife's corpse for four days.

...

:
AFGHAN THEN & NOW (4#) -

with the Qaeda cult, Goat Boy,
and a package in their window . . .

As we near the 7th anniversary
of 9/11, the news heats up a little:

Less than seven years ago, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan with a murderous fist, depriving Afghans of their most basic rights. A key component of the Taliban's suppression was preventing people from communicating with one another; the country had virtually no telephones and no access to the Internet...

Today, Afghanistan bears little resemblance to the nation it was long forced to be...

Afghanistan has more than 500,000 Internet users and at least 18 Internet service providers.

Afghan Communications Revolution [wapo]

:: Al Qaeda issues new video
marking the seventh anniversary of 9/11.

:: Speculation that the
heavy metal Goat Boy is kaput.

:: Drone bombs Osama pal's
house, but Haqqani not home.

...

:
OPERATION EAGLE'S SUMMIT - (5#) -

The Epic Kajaki Dam Mission -

Jeremy Page contributes a nicely written dispatch, Road to dam and salvation, in which he conveys some of the sweep of the mission and furnishes some intriguing new details. This story has some stunning panoramic dimensions and seems to have the kind of cinematic potential reminiscent of movies like The Bridge on the River Kwai and even Khartoum. It really is an awesome story. [aus]

# The RAF has unveiled its special
Mantis drone to protect the Kajaki dam.

# Michael Yon's elaborate
dispatch on the Kajaki operation:
Where Eagles Dare (with photos). [yon]

# A Canadian dispatch.

# The Keeper of the Kajaki dam
for 30 years, Sayed Rasoul. [indy]

...