"Rolling," he shouts.

Others throughout the cavernous studio echo his call.

"Rolling! Quiet please!"

David Zucker is sitting in a high-backed director's chair with his name on it. (I'd always assumed they were just used for effect in movies, but here one was.) Zucker is looking at a monitor showing the inside of an empty New York City subway station. It's actually just a set--a stunning replica of a subway station--and it sits 15 feet to Zucker's right.

The first assistant director breaks the silence.

"Action!"

The set jumps to life. Two young men--both terrorists--enter the station. They are surprised to see a security checkpoint manned by two NYPD officers. "I'll need to see your bag, please," says one of the officers. The lead terrorist glances nervously at his friend and swings his backpack down from his shoulder to present it to the cops. Just as the officer pulls on the zipper, however, a small army of ACLU lawyers marches up to the policemen with a stop-search order. The cops look at each other and shrug their shoulders. "This says we can't search their bags."

The young men are relieved. They smile fiendishly as they walk toward the crowded platform. As the lead terrorist once again slips the backpack over his shoulder, he mutters his appreciation.

"Thank Allah for the ACLU."

Zucker's latest movie, An American Carol, is unlike anything that has ever come out of Hollywood. It is a frontal attack on the excesses of the American left from several prominent members of a growing class of Hollywood conservatives. Until now, conservatives in Hollywood have always been too few and too worried about a backlash to do anything serious to challenge the left-wing status quo. [...]

Zucker has always been interested in politics. He was raised in Shorewood, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, in a household where Franklin Delano Roosevelt was viewed as either a hero or a dangerous conservative. He was elected president of his senior class at the University of Wisconsin, and, when he addressed his classmates at commencement in the spring of 1970, his speech was serious--a friend describes it as "solemn" and political. Among other things, Zucker condemned the Kent State shootings and lamented the mistreatment of America's blacks. Two years later, he appeared on stage with lefty leading man Warren Beatty and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. Zucker says at the time he was "very liberal." [...]

David Zucker got his start in entertainment right after school. In 1971, he teamed up with his brother and two friends to create an irreverent revue called Kentucky Fried Theater. They drew large crowds to cafés and small theaters in Madison and soon outgrew the college town. They went to Hollywood to chase the dream, and, surprise, the show worked in Southern California, too. [...]

In 1984, one of Zucker's college friends, Rich Markey, suggested he listen to a local Los Angeles talk radio show, "Religion on the Line," hosted by Dennis Prager. Zucker took the advice and soon struck up a friendship with Prager, whose conservative views appealed to Zucker as common sense. Although his politics were evolving, Zucker remained supportive of California Democrats, giving $2,400 to Senator Barbara Boxer in the mid-1990s. He contributed another $600 to an outfit called the "Hollywood Women's Political Committee" which, with members like Jane Fonda, Bonnie Raitt, and Barbra Streisand, probably wasn't calling for low taxes and abstinence education.

Zucker was still nominally a Democrat when George W. Bush was elected in 2000. "Then 9/11 happened, and I couldn't take it anymore," he says. "The response to 9/11--the right was saying this is pure evil we're facing and the left was saying how are we at fault for this? I think I'd just had enough. And I said 'I quit.'"

He decided to write a letter to Boxer, sharing his disgust and telling her not to expect any more of his money. Having never done this before, he asked a friend with the Republican Jewish Committee for help. This friend recommended Zucker contact Myrna Sokoloff, a former paid staffer for Boxer, who had recently completed a similar ideological journey. [...]

The holiday in An American Carol is not Christmas and the antagonist is not Ebenezer Scrooge. Instead, the film follows the exploits of a slovenly, anti-American filmmaker named Michael Malone, who has joined with a left-wing activist group (Moovealong.org) to ban the Fourth of July. Along the way, Malone is visited by the ghosts of three American heroes--George Washington, George S. Patton, and John F. Kennedy--who try to convince him he's got it all wrong. When terrorists from Afghanistan realize that they need to recruit more operatives to make up for the ever-diminishing supply of suicide bombers, they begin a search for just the right person to help produce a new propaganda video. "This will not be hard to find in Hollywood," says one. "They all hate America." When they settle on Malone, who is in need of work after his last film (Die You American Pigs) bombed at the box office, he unwittingly helps them with their plans to launch another attack on American soil.

The entire film is an extended rebuttal to the vacuous antiwar slogan that "War Is Not the Answer." Zucker's response, in effect: "It Depends on the Question."

"God bless you and may He protect you," Biden said a day after his debate with his Republican rival Sarah Palin, who as Alaska's governor saluted her 20-year-old son off to war last month.

A spokesman for coalition forces said Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, had been al Qaeda in Iraq's "emir" of the Rusafa neighborhood of the capital.

North Waziristan is a stronghold of Islamic militants, including the Taleban and al-Qaeda, which US and other international troops are fighting in Afghanistan.

Jefferson was opposed. He hated financial markets and manufacturing, which he thought were the industries of the past, associating them with Europe from which America had just broken away. He believed the future lay in small farming. Jefferson also believed that the Hamilton bailout plan was unconstitutional, and he talked Madison into fighting the plan in the House. Populists in the House said that since the debt was not created by the federal government, the federal government ought not to put itself on the hook.

Hamilton's case was simple. When any part of a nation participates in a massive repudiation of debt, the creditworthiness of the whole nation is damaged. Hamilton saw this as a national problem in need of a national solution. He argued that the whole nation would benefit from a return to a well-functioning credit market, with low interest rates fueling growth.

Hamilton believed that if the Constitution gave executive power to the president, then that included the authority to create specific institutions and programs necessary to exercise that power.

Jefferson's brand of suspicious populism held sway in the lower House and the bill was defeated. Credit markets reacted with panic.

Finally Hamilton and Jefferson sat down together and hashed out a compromise. Jefferson traded his support for the ultimate piece of political pork--the District of Columbia. The nation's capital was to be moved south, from New York to northern Virginia. The Washington administration agreed; Jefferson told Madison to support it. It passed; the Treasury bought up the paper, America's credit markets were restored quickly, and although we've had a few rough patches, the ensuing 218 years have gone pretty well so far.

“I want to get back to Michigan, and I want to try,” Palin said in an interview on Fox News. “Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan. We'd be so happy to speak to the people there in Michigan who are hurting.”

The McCain campaign confirmed yesterday that it will be moving resources out of Michigan to more favorable terrain in Pennsylvania and Maine.

The Alaska governor first heard the news this morning and fired off a quick e-mail to campaign officials expressing her displeasure with the move.

"We've made this bill better," said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Is it perfect? No. But it clearly is better than it was a week ago."

The four broadcast networks airing last night's debate totaled a 28.1 overnight meter-market household rating.

That's 33% higher than last week's morning-after returns for Friday's presidential debate, which scored a collective 21.4 rating among the major networks.

But Matsuzaka's season has been quiet in some ways, overlooked in some ways. There is a type of agony in his starts, as well.

Over and over the game reached the fifth inning, and there was Matsuzaka, already with 100 pitches. He was ready to keep going, often with just three or fewer hits on his stat line. But his coaching staff is not so forgiving, which is why he barely qualifies for the ERA title (one inning pitched for every game played by the team).

"It's always been my mind-set that even if I allow runners on base, whether it's a hit or a walk or an error, as long as I don't let them score, that's OK," Matsuzaka said. "I've always felt that way. That hasn't changed since last year.

"As it's been pointed out, I know that pitch count is an issue for me. Even if I allow runners on base through hits or walks, I want to hold them, prevent them from scoring. But at the same time, I know I need to keep my pitch count down, and that's always been an ongoing area of improvement for me. In the games that I start, I'm aware that I'm putting strain on the bullpen at times, and I always feel guilty about that."

Just 12 starters since 1901 have amassed at least 18 wins with 200 innings or fewer in one season, though Matsuzaka would have had more than his current innings total had he not spent three weeks on the disabled list. Beyond even that, there are only three who have done it with ERAs less than 3.00. That would be Pedro Martínez, who won 20 games in 2002 with a 2.26 ERA in 199 1/3 innings, and Urban Shocker, who won 18 in 1927 for the Yankees, with a 2.84 ERA in 200 innings.

And now Matsuzaka, who will start Game 2 against the Angels Friday night.

"There are times when he doesn't want to give in to the hitter," Valentine said. "He wants to have the hitter get himself out if he will. If hitters don't bite and it comes down to the time of reckoning; the true time of reckoning is the bases loaded with a 3-2 count. What looks like trouble to some isn't trouble to others.

"He grew up being the guy who would pitch until the game ended, no matter what the pitch count."

This year is different. Like some maritime dust-bowl migration, more than 1,000 of these penguins have floated ashore in Brazil, nearly as far north as the equator. By the time their webbed feet touch sand, many are gaunt and exhausted, often having lost three-quarters of their body weight. Even more have died.

"This year is completely anomalous," said Lauro Barcellos, 51, an oceanographer who founded a rehabilitation center for penguins in southern Brazil. ". . . I've worked in this field for 35 years, and I have never seen anything like this."

Zoos here are building new storage spaces for the penguins. Lifeguards are learning how to give them first aid. Scientists are using satellites to track their movements. Animal lovers, such as Breves, are taking in survivors to help out the overwhelmed zoos and marine centers.

Next week, Brazilians plan to load 50 penguins onto a navy ship to begin their journey home. While some scientists have suggested that climate change may be playing a role in the penguin invasion, as of yet the basic question remains unanswered: What exactly is going on?

CLSA predicts GDP growth will slow to 7.9% next year, down from a forecast 9.5% this year, and 11.4% in 2007. Achieving 8%, however, will require a concerted effort by Beijing to goose the economy. Indeed, the net export contribution to nominal growth has been negative since the beginning of the year. In August exports fell 2% year on year, and September is unlikely to look any better.

Coastal areas that rely more heavily on exports have been hardest hit. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Guangdong, which for years was the head of China's economic dragon. Thousands of factories have been shuttered as companies move to lower-cost areas inland and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and the region could become China's next rust belt if things continue.

At malls, shopping districts and on the Web, the discounts are growing desperate. "Up to 60% off," say signs at AnnTaylor Loft stores, "50% off" at Old Navy. Restoration Hardware Inc. e-mailed $100 gift vouchers to customers Thursday for purchases of $400 or more.

Holiday items are starting to flow into stores, and they're expected to be marked down immediately, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group Inc.

If House Republicans follow through Friday by passing the bailout bill.

The McCain-Palin ticket’s slide over the past three weeks hasn’t been primarily due to various McCain-Palin campaign missteps--though there have been plenty of those. It’s happened as a result of the meltdown of the financial markets. The McCain campaign’s fall coincides with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and everything that follows. The financial crisis was inevitably going to hurt the candidate of the incumbent party. The situation was made worse by the perception that the GOP (the Bush administration) was both presiding over a financial meltdown and obstructing efforts to deal with it (House Republicans). Republicans lost both ways. If you disliked the bailout, you were angry the Bush administration--and if you thought the bailout necessary, you were angry at the House Republicans. All in all, it was a bad three weeks for the Bush administration and congressional Republicans--and the Republican presidential ticket suffered.

Now there’s a chance to halt the political bleeding--and even to turn things around.

In Montgomery County, for instance, students in poverty have earned better scores on Maryland's reading test in each of the past five years, slicing in half the 28 percentage-point gulf that separated their pass rate from the county average. They also have made a major dent in the math gap. [...]

The results show substantial progress in the Washington area toward the law's core goal: raising performance of disadvantaged children. Although concerns persist about the law's emphasis on standardized tests, many educators say it has forced schools to concentrate more systematically on each struggling student.

"As much as I'd say I wish we didn't have to necessarily take these tests, I know it's made us better," said Angela Robinson, principal at Loudoun County's Sugarland Elementary School, which reached achievement targets under the law this year after falling short in 2007. "Before NCLB was put in place, yes, we paid attention to those groups, but it was not with the same focus that we do now."

"In the past, minor supply disruptions caused major price swings" for oil, said Charles Perry, president of energy-consulting firm Perry Management. "But what I see now is the traders in oil futures are looking at supply and demand much more realistically."

There's little of the former "hysteria" left in their estimates of future supply and demand, he said. [...]

The one good thing for oil is that the uncertainty surrounding a rescue plan and financial concerns has been getting rid of a lot of the speculation that has been driving oil prices, said Perry.

Back in the spring, "speculative fever spread in the oil market, with the rising prices driving expectations even higher," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research.

GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, said she was switching her "no" vote to a "yes" after the Senate added some $110 million in tax breaks and other sweeteners before approving the measure Wednesday night.

"Monday what we had was a bailout for Wall Street firms and not much relief for taxpayers and hard-hit families. Now we have an economic rescue package," Ros-Lehtinen told The Associated Press.

Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, another of the 133 House Republicans who joined 95 Democrats Monday to reject the measure, also announced he was now onboard, even though "I hate it." He told the AP, "Inaction to me is a greater danger to our country than this bill."

Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota also switched to "yes," partly because the Senate attached the bailout to legislation he spearheaded to give people with mental illnesses better health insurance coverage.

Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri was switching, too, said spokesman Danny Rotert, declaring, "America feels differently today than it did on Monday about this bill."

And Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada said she would back the bill after business leaders in her Las Vegas-area district made it clear how much it was needed. She said, "There isn't a segment of the population that hasn't been slammed and is not asking for some relief."

Emboldened by the feverish bidding for votes, other members of both parties were demanding substantial changes to the legislation before they would vote for it. A group of Republican opponents indicated they'd back it if the price tag were slashed to $250 billion and several special tax breaks added by the Senate — including for children's archery bow makers, imported rum producers and racetrack owners _were removed. Democrats wanted to add a way to pay for the bailout and more help for homeowners staring at foreclosure.