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• Other officials said the blackout might have been the result of states drawing too much power from the grid. Some analysts dismissed that explanation, saying that if overdrawing power from the grid caused this kind of collapse, it would happen all the time.
• ___

• BERLIN (AP) -- The British were offended, the Palestinians accused him of racism and even in friendlier Poland, Mitt Romney's union policies drew criticism from the current leaders of the movement that toppled Communism.
• Romney's visit to Britain, Israel and Poland was never expected to produce the same media frenzy as then-candidate Barack Obama's extravagant, eight-country tour of 2008.
• Obama received rock star treatment from international media and world leaders as he traveled from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to the glittering chancelleries of Europe.
• Nevertheless, comparisons were inevitable and much of it was less than favorable to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
• "The designated Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wanted to demonstrate foreign policy expertise and diplomatic skills with his trip to Britain, Israel and Poland," the Swiss newspaper Tages-Zeitung said Tuesday. "Today, on the last

day of the tour, he must be made to admit that he clearly missed this target."
• ___

• In a world more to his liking, Gore Vidal might have been president, or even king. He had an aristocrat's bearing -- tall, handsome and composed -- and an authoritative baritone ideal for summoning an aide or courtier.
• But Vidal made his living -- a very good living -- from challenging power, not holding it. He was wealthy and famous and committed to exposing a system often led by men he knew firsthand. During the days of Franklin Roosevelt, one of the few leaders whom Vidal admired, he might have been called a "traitor to his class." The real traitors, Vidal would respond, were the upholders of his class.
• The author, playwright, politician and commentator whose vast and sharpened

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