11.12.2008 10:47 am
Article explains how world leaders make phone calls
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Slate.com’s Daniel Engber notes that Sarah Palin joined some pretty good company when she recently took a prank call from a Canadian DJ pretending to be the president of France. President George H. Bush, Fidel Castro and Jacques Chirac have all been on the receiving end of calls from fake heads of state, the article reports.
Engber’s article explains just how the White House really does get in touch with other world leaders. Basically, it’s my people call your people and arrange a time for a call back.
If such things interest you, here’s a link to another Slate.com “explainer” on why world leaders still send telegrams instead of emails.
Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
Why are we still talking about Sarah Palin and why is the media still reporting more information about Palin than Obama or Biden?
The media is fascinated by Gov Palin. Afterall, the clothing thing was something the media craved. For me, I didn’t care if she was walking around in all-diamond gowns. It never came out of my pocketbook, so who cares? Obama and Biden are last week’s news. The media have moved on to other useless news items, like car chases in California and robberies in cities you have never heard of. Obama will be in the news in January, and in February when his ‘presidential honeymoon’ is cut short by congressional bickering. He’ll propose something that he campaigned on and Congress will see it differently, even though back in October they supported it.