Newser Story Index from March, 2007
Welcome to the Newser Story Index. Here you find stories written by Newser writers and editors, assembled with supporting photos and videos from the files of the news story.
Richardson Backs Medical Marijuana Law
Associated Press
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Mar 18, 2007 10:45 PM CDT
(Newser) -
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who's been pushing for a law to legalize marijuana for medical use since he took office in 2002, will finally get a chance sign one. And he's not going to sweat the political consequences, he says. The bill that passed the New Mexico legislature Wednesday, will affect very few people, he observes.
Art Market Fuels Boom in Private Museums
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 18, 2007 10:13 PM CDT
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Contemporary art collectors, no longer content to hang the Julian Schnabel over the sofa, are commissioning celebrity architects to design special exhibition spaces, complete with soaring ceilings, professional lighting, and temperature controls. With the art market booming, so is the market for private museums, worrying some observers that important...
Apple: America's Best Retailer
CNN
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Mar 18, 2007 8:44 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Jerry Useem summarizes Apple’s unlikely rise as a retailer for Fortune. With sales at its New York store running a staggering $4,000 per square foot (50% higher than Tiffany’s), Apple is the best retailer in America.
Satellite Sisters
New Yorker
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Mar 18, 2007 8:44 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Jim Surowiecki describes how the “Chicago School” of economists revolutionized anti-trust thinking in the 1970s. By arguing that it is not the number of competitors but rather their strength that mattered, these economists posited that some mergers stimulate competition.
Libby's PR Flop
Vanity Fair
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Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT
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Michael Wolff attends the trial of Scooter Libby, concluding that Cheney's factotum was hung, drawn, and quartered because he failed to do well what Republicans have always (until now) done well: PR.
The Uncontainable Kurds
New York Review of Books
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Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT
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Tehran resident and frequent commentator on Iran, Christopher de Bellaigue, travels west to Turkey to examine the status of Kurds in Turkey. He describes how some have become the fully assimilated Turks that the government so much wanted them to become; but that many have maintained a separate ethnic and cultural identity in their southeastern Turkey...
'LIFE' GOES ON
Chicago Tribune
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Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Stevenson Swanson wonders how and weather Chicago Public Radio god Ira Glass can really do a television show and, even more daring, a show for the premium cable only network, Showtime.
The Moral-Hazard Myth
New Yorker
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Mar 18, 2007 8:43 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, examines the premise underlying U.S. health insurance known by the Dickensian term: Moral Hazard. The theory of Moral Hazard describes the notion that insurance can change peoples’ behavior. Without deductibles, co-payments and other barriers to use, people will use too much health care.
The Women's War
New York Times
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Mar 18, 2007 8:41 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Sara Corbett writes in The New York Times Magazine about the role of women soldiers in the Iraq war and the extraordinary toll it is taking on many of them.
Google's Worst Nightmare
Fast Company
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Mar 18, 2007 8:41 PM CDT
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Fast Company’s Alan Deutschman profiles Wikipedia founder Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales’ effort to take on Google in search. With 1000 initial volunteers, $4 million, and a commitment to mass collaboration Wales’ new for profit company, Wikia, mostly has idealism on its side as it takes on Google.
Newser Crushes HighBeam (in Game 3)
10pin
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Mar 17, 2007 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) -
In a surprising comeback, the Newser Ninjas crushed the HighBeam Highlanders in the third game of their semi-annual competition. After the game, Newser captain John Filut summarized his participation, saying, "I was proud to win with a high score of 195, but I felt sorry for the HighBeam bowlers that had practiced so hard only to fall short...
Email Fingers Rove in Attorney Scandal
New York Times
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Mar 16, 2007 12:09 PM CDT
(Newser) -
An email released Thursday implicates Karl Rove in the U.S. attorney firings scandal, suggesting he knew of the plotted purges much earlier than previously acknowledged. In a message dated January 6, 2005, a White House lawyer reported that Rove had asked to discuss the firings with D. Kyle Sampon, the attorney general's then-chief of staff.
Gunmen Ambush Sadr City Mayor
New York Times
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Mar 16, 2007 12:07 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The mayor of Sadr City was wounded and his police chief killed in an ambush yesterday, creating new challenges for the U.S. military effort to bring security to the Shiite stronghold and rein in the Mahdi Army. The mayor, Rahim al-Daraji, has been a key figure in negotiating with American officials to disarm the militia.
Afghan Women Choose Death by Fire
Associated Press
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Mar 16, 2007 11:42 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A new human rights report suggests that self-immolation is on the rise among Afghan women, who believe setting themselves on fire is the only sure way to end their agonized lives. The study interviewed the family members of 800 such women, who reported that rape, domestic violence, and accusations against their honor drove them to choose hellish death.
New Terrorist Leader Trains In Lebanon
New York Times
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Mar 16, 2007 11:37 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A new terrorist leader, Shakir al-Abssi, has emerged to pick up where Al Qaeda left off, assembling small teams to strike at Americans from his base in Lebanon. His militant Islamic group, called Fatah al Islam, boasts 150 members who operate freely because Lebanese officials claim they have no authority to enter the Palestinian refugee camp...
Is Your Cat Making You Neurotic?
Discover
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Mar 15, 2007 3:29 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A parasite that reproduces in cats, previously linked to schizophrenia in infected humans, has now, bizarrely, been implicated in mass personality changes in geographic areas where incidence of infection is high. A U.S. Geological Survey study of 39 countries shows that high infection rates of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite correlate to cultural traits...
Zimbabwe Gets a Hero
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 15, 2007 1:46 PM CDT
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When Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's police force brutally beat the leader of an opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, they might have unwittingly created their own Nelson Mandela. Photographs of a battered Tsvangirai being led to a hospital in police custody Tuesday circulated around the globe, prompting impassioned cries of protest.
NASA Discovers Seas On Saturn's Moon
Space.com
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Mar 14, 2007 9:18 PM CDT
(Newser) -
NASA's radar detected evidence of huge seas—one of them larger than any of the Great Lakes—on the surface of Saturn's moon, Titan. Although the spacecraft, Cassini, cannot confirm that the dark images are liquid until passing over the area again as scheduled in May, scientists believe they are bodies of liquid ethane or methane gas.
Email Outs Politicized Attorney Firings
Washington Post
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Mar 14, 2007 9:00 PM CDT
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Emails the White House handed over to investigators today outline a systematic plan to fire U.S. attorneys who were too independent. D. Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Alberto Gonzales, shot off a memo just after Bush's second inauguration suggesting Justice retain only attorneys who had "exhibited loyalty to the president and the attorney general."
Kerry-Smearers Eyeing McCain
The Hill
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Mar 14, 2007 8:58 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The veterans who helped sink John Kerry's Swift Boat to the White House is prepping for battle with John McCain. "Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry" founders Jerry Kiley and Ted Sampley have dusted off their 527 forms and created "Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain," to combat the former POW's "media-created image."
Viacom Sues Google
New York Times
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Mar 14, 2007 8:55 PM CDT
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Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Google yesterday for what it says is gross copyright infringement on YouTube, the company's newest acquisition. Google has promised to work with companies to remove copyrighted material, but Viacom complains that illegally posted clips of its programs like "The Daily Show" have been watched on YouTube...
Quickie Adoption for Angelina
BBC
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Mar 14, 2007 2:22 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Vietnamese officials say the paperwork on Angelina Jolie's adoption is nearly complete—just days after it was submitted in early March. Vietnamese officials say their efficiency was spurred by the child's age and complete files and not by preferential treatment, but the speed up likely has a simpler explanation: anticipation of a massive donation,...
British Torture Trial Backfires
Telegraph (UK)
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Mar 14, 2007 9:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The prosecution of a group of British soldiers for mistreating Iraqi detainees—one of whom died under questioning—has backfired on the British government. Four soldiers have been acquitted of various crimes after a three-year investigation. Now the knives are out for leading members of the British government over the botched prosecution.
Army Battles Officer Shortage
Boston Globe
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Mar 14, 2007 9:15 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The War in Iraq has left the Army so short of good officer material that the Pentagon is doling out promotions to unqualified soldiers, according to the Boston Globe . In 2006, the Army promoted thousands of soldiers ahead of schedule and against regulations to fill the void left by exhausted Iraq veterans.
College President Disputes Rankings
Inside Higher Ed
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Mar 14, 2007 7:43 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A college president is lobbing allegations of shoddy journalism at U.S. News magazine, accusing its annual college-ranking guide of fabricating data for its upcoming report. Although Sarah Lawrence tossed out its SAT requirement for incoming freshman, president Michele Tolela Myers says U.S. News decided to assign an average SAT score to the school...
Tracking Toxic Greens Is Growth Industry
Wall Street Journal
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Mar 14, 2007 7:25 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Still smarting from this fall's E. coli outbreaks, the produce industry is trying to coax Americans into eating their greens again with high-tech solutions. Companies like Dole and Western Growers are using radio-frequency tags and GPS surveillance to track veggies as they move from farm to grocery store.
Fossil Proves We're All African
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 14, 2007 7:04 AM CDT
(Newser) -
An ancient jawbone found in Morocco suggests that modern human ancestry emerged 100,000 years earlier than previously believed—and in Africa, rather than Europe. Until now, scientists believed that modern humans didn't emerge until 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. But the Moroccan bone is 160,000 years old, with teeth that show a lengthy childhood—indicating...
UK Tunes into Gore TV
Guardian (UK)
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Mar 13, 2007 10:25 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Al Gore's viewer-driven Current TV Network, rolled out in the U.S. 18 months ago to 40 million homes, hit the UK yesterday in the next phase of its worldwide expansion. The broadcast offers "pods," or short 3 to 8 minute segments, rather than shows, a third of which will be created, submitted, and voted on by viewers through its companion...
Pace: Homosexuality Is "Immoral"
Chicago Tribune
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Mar 13, 2007 10:10 PM CDT
(Newser) -
"Don't ask, don't tell" works fine for Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because "homosexual acts are immoral" and should not be condoned any more than adultery within the ranks. Pace defended the Pentagon's current policy on gays to the Chicago Tribune , opposing proposed legislation that would repeal the...
A Generation Is Lost to Violence
New York Times
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Mar 12, 2007 2:19 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The generation of Palestinians now coming of age—and 56.4 percent of the population is under 19—have no hopes for peace, only of a lifetime of “resistance.” Growing up through two intifadas, they are isolated from the world, divided amongst themselves, and surrounded by violence, reports Steven Erlanger. The struggling...
Guestworker Abuses Cited
New York Times
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Mar 12, 2007 1:57 PM CDT
(Newser) -
American employers are systematically exploiting the 120,000 low-skilled guest workers they hire each year, from stealing passports and Social Security cards to consistently underpaying them. “I felt like an animal without claws—defenseless. It is the same as slavery,” says one worker, in a report published today by the Southern Poverty...
The Super-Rich Are Rewriting Hollywood Rules
MSNBC
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Mar 12, 2007 1:49 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A new breed of Hollywood players—so rich they don't need studio money—are financing and releasing slates of small-budget films on their own. Producers like Sam Nazarian, a 31-year-old scion of a wealthy Persian family, and self-made billionaire Sidney Kimmel, 78, are shouldering the costs of a full lineup of films, including...
Does Saudi Arabia Have a Dubai Complex?
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 12, 2007 1:23 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Saudi Arabia is on a building binge. King Abdullah City—a planned $26.7-billion development where multi-million-dollar yachts will dock in the ports that currently welcome 300,000 Mecca-bound pilgrims—is one of five major “economic cities” the government is building in an attempt to spur private-sector growth and create new...
Chait: John McCain Is No Luke Skywalker
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 12, 2007 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) -
John McCain liked to portray himself as Luke Skywalker in his 2000 presidential campaign, says LA Times columnist Jonathan Chait, but this time around he resembles a different Jedi: the corrupt Darth Vader. McCain claimed he was an anti-special interests crusader, but the last few years he's gone over to the dark side, pandering to conservatives...
Pentagon Exit Strategy Relies on Advisers
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 12, 2007 11:03 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Pentagon top brass preparing an exit strategy for Iraq should the troop surge fail are following the outlines set by the Iraq Study Group, using a small team of military advisers to replace troops as they stand down. It mirrors the strategy the military used in El Salvador in the 1980s, when the U.S. sent 55 Green Berets to help the government topple...
Chemicals Linked to Obesity
Washington Post
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Mar 12, 2007 10:46 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Chemicals found in everything from baby bottles to cleaning agents might be triggering the obesity epidemic, causing fat cells to grow and multiply out of control. A Centers for Disease Control study suggests that exposure of mice to chemicals like tributyltin—used in fungicides and plastics—increases fat cells, which in turn leads to the...
Glowing Wounds Will Signify Infection
BBC
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Mar 12, 2007 10:11 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Bacterial infections could be diagnosed in moments with the use of glowing polymers developed by British scientists. The designer molecules are made to identify bacteria, bind to it, and then change shape, causing them to emit light that would give the wound a glow that's discernible to the naked eye or under a fluorescent lamp.
Militants Burn Houses in Mixed Areas
New York Times
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Mar 12, 2007 9:31 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Sunni extremists burned houses in a mixed city 60 miles from Baghdad over the weekend, a new tactic in the campaign to drive out citizens who don't support a sectarian agenda. Attackers burned as many as 100 homes, both Sunni and Shiite, in an apparent effort to destroy mixed neighborhoods and force allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq.
Is Dick Cheney's Heart the Culprit?
New Republic
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Mar 12, 2007 9:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Dick Cheney watchers who've puzzled over the vice president's increasingly rigid, defiant, and tone-deaf behavior are beginning to consider whether could be his heart, literally, that's the culprit. With speculation about the Cheney's "darkening persona" an obsession in the capital, Michele Cottle explores the connection between long-term...
Futures Market Predicts Libby Pardon
CNN
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Mar 11, 2007 4:28 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Traders at the online market Intrade.com betting big that President Bush will pardon Scooter Libby. CNN reports that at the "prediction market," where people buy and sell futures contracts on real-world events, 63 percent of traders are bullish on the prospect of Libby receiving a pardon before the end of Bush's term. One in four think...
Mitt Throws Money at Former Critics
New York Times
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Mar 11, 2007 4:02 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Mitt Romney has been lining the coffers of conservative groups whose support he'll be seeking in his presidential bid. Late last year, just two months before he announced his candidacy, Romney gave five-figure personal donations to four Massachusetts groups, David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times reports—groups to which he had never contributed...
Britney: It Was All Postpartum Depression
CBS News
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Mar 11, 2007 1:56 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Britney Spears is doing time in rehab, but she's not toeing the line on why she's there. Spies at the pricey Promises clinic tell US Weekly that she caved to pressure from her family and manager to check herself in, but she's not copping to a substance abuse problem.
Bickering Among Agencies Undermines Iraq Rebuilding
Washington Post
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Mar 11, 2007 10:22 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Squabbles among agencies in the Bush administration have wasted countless hours and undermined initiatives to stabilize Iraq, the Post reports. The White House wants the whole cabinet involved, but State shuns other departments' initiatives. One battle between State and Commerce, over a proposal to end food rations, became so bitter the embassy blocked...
China Embraces Private Property
Economist
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Mar 9, 2007 8:57 PM CST
(Newser) -
China's burgeoning middle class will be feeling a little more secure next week, when the National People's Congress is expected to pass the country's first property-rights bill. The measure has become a lightening rod for criticism of China’s leadership, with communists using it as evidence that the government is abandoning the largely rural...
Disabled Vets Get Unequal Treatment
New York Times
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Mar 9, 2007 4:29 PM CST
(Newser) -
The V.A. is treating some disabled veterans like second-class soldiers, making them wait twice as long for benefits that are, when they finally come, less generous than others get. It all depends on where a soldier lives and how he served—active duty or National Guard. Worst: The more troops a state deploys, the more backlogged the response.
Billionaire's Club Welcomes New Members
Forbes
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Mar 9, 2007 10:27 AM CST
(Newser) -
The rich are getting richer, younger, and more geographically diverse, Forbes reports, with the number of billionaires up a whopping 19 percent, and their total worth up 35 percent to $3.5 trillion. Not only have billionaires been galloping away from the pack, they've been doing it earlier, bringing the average age down two years to 60.
Gingrich: 'I Cheat, but Don't Lie'
Associated Press
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Mar 9, 2007 10:07 AM CST
(Newser) -
Newt Gingrich, the former "family values" congressman from Georgia, was cheating on his wife even while hounding Bill Clinton for doing the same. In an interview that airs tonight, Gingrich confessed the 1998 affair to Focus on the Family's James Dobson. But he's no hypocrite, he reasons, because he never lied about it "in front of a...
Left Coast Democrats Lead in Nanny Laws
Los Angeles Times
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Mar 8, 2007 9:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
Smoking, trans fat and auto emissions are only the beginning: A group of California legislators is agitating for measures regulating everything from having your pet neutered to changing your light bulbs. They're called "nanny laws," and poli-sci types say they're a product of prosperity. It's "post materialist," says Bruce Cain,...
Vermonters Vote to Impeach President
Vermont Guardian
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Mar 8, 2007 5:47 PM CST
(Newser) -
Vermont, the state with civil unions, Ben and Jerry's, and a socialist senator, has taken the "think globally, act locally" motto to heart with a call for President Bush's impeachment—town by town. In a series of local meetings initiated by activists, residents introduced a resolution charging the administration with misleading the...
Bloggers Battle Over Hillary Hoax
Talking Points Memo
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Mar 8, 2007 2:40 PM CST
(Newser) -
Conservative blogs went into overdrive Tuesday when an audio clip of Hillary Clinton "putting on" a southern drawl began circulating, but the accent was more miscalculated than counterfeit. The clip was culled from a speech in Selma in which Clinton quoted a hymn written in vernacular. Conservative commentators went to town, chiding her for...
