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- Palin Pick Pushes Us Women'S Group To Back Obama
- Fed Boosts Support For Goldman, Morgan
- Army Suicide Rate Could Top Nation'S This Year
- US Military Deaths In Iraq War At 4,152
Prominent US women's rights groups on Tuesday backed Democrat Barack Obama for the White House and slammed his Republican rival John McCain for trying to lure women voters by choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate.
"The nation's oldest and largest women's rights organization... the National Organization for Women (NOW), proudly endorses Senator Barack Obama for president of the United States," NOW chief Kim Gandy told a news conference held jointly with other groups claiming to represent millions of women voters.
"For more than a decade, Barack Obama has said 'yes' to women's rights while John McCain has consistently said 'no'," she said.
"Although it is very unusual for us to endorse in a presidential election, this is an unprecedented candidate and an unprecedented time for our country," she said.
One after the other, leaders of the other groups present -- Ellie Smeal of the Feminist Majority, Deborah Frett of Business and Professional Women (BPW), Betsy Clark of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and E. Faye Williams of the National Congress of Black Women -- stood up and firmly endorsed Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph Biden.
Their backing for the Democratic ticket came as McCain's campaign was enjoying the leg-up it had been given in opinion polls by the nomination of the devout Christian, anti-abortion Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate.
And then there were none.
Federal regulators converted Wall Street's remaining stand-alone investment banks - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - into bank holding companies Sunday night.
The move allows Goldman and Morgan to scoop up retail banks and to streamline their borrowing from the Federal Reserve. The shift also is aimed at removing them as targets of nervous investors and customers, who brought down their former rivals Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch this year.
But it also puts Goldman and Morgan under the Fed's supervision, increasing the agency's regulatory oversight and possibly forcing them to raise additional capital.
And it brings to a close the era of the Wall Street investment bank, a storied institution that traded stocks and bonds, advised mergers and showered lavish bonuses on its executives.
"The separation of investment banking and commercial banking has come to an end," said Bert Ely, an independent banking consultant.
As of August, 62 Army soldiers have committed suicide, and 31 cases of possible suicide remain under investigation, according to Army statistics. Last year, the Army recorded 115 suicides among its ranks, which was also higher than the previous year.
Army officials said that if the trend continues this year, it will pass the nation's suicide rate of 19.5 people per 100,000, a 2005 figure considered the most recent by the government.
The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,375 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
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