Since Sept. 11, I have seen some political leaders act with surprising caution and sensitivity, the Internet used to access alternative and independent news sources, the news media focus attention on thorough and somber reporting and communities come together.
The "heightened rate case risk" has also led to a number of somber analyst reports and credit downgrades from utility analysts.
But his tone on Tuesday was more somber, reflecting a new report that found consumer confidence plummeting as home prices have collapsed more rapidly than at any time in 20 years.
Some entries in the 25th report strike a somber note: "Life has been in many ways harder than I thought it would be: anxieties about money and career, dark periods and wrong paths taken".
But Monday's economic news was not all somber, as the U.S. Census Bureau reported factory orders were up 1.7% in June, more than expected and a bit better than a revised May figure of 0.9%.
In August, Politico reported on the somber mood in the D.C. bureau after the cancellation of "Political Capital," a public affairs program hosted by Al Hunt, who largely built the Washington operation.
The report ends on a somber note, noting that substantial challenges for the study of environmental carcinogens remain, including a recent decline in funding for occupational cancer research, and that fewer scientists are entering the fields of epidemiology, toxicology, and exposure assessment.
In a somber note on his site, he reported that his own registry had helped many in the first 24 hours but had since become "nearly useless".
The report ends on a somber note, Ling interviewing the parents of a girl who died of dehydration while rolling.
The project, at ElkhartProject.MSNBC.com, includes several strands of reporting, including the causes of the somber unemployment statistics, the impact of the federal stimulus funds and the views of young people about the economy.
