Newser Story Index from November, 2008
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.
Bond Takes Quantum Box Office Leap
Variety
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Nov 16, 2008 5:00 PM CST
(Newser) -
Quantum of Solace continued its Friday momentum and shattered the record for the best Bond weekend opening, Variety reports. Solace banked $70.4 million, topping Die Another Day 's $47 million debut. Rounding out the weekend's top five: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($36.1 million), Role Models ($11.7 million), High School Musical 3: Senior...
Titans Stay Perfect by Beating Jags
Associated Press
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Nov 16, 2008 4:33 PM CST
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The Tennessee Titans kept their perfect record and the defending Super Bowl champs recorded a fifth straight win in today's NFL action: Titans' QB Kerry Collins tossed 3 TD passes and Albert Haynesworth terrorized on defense as Tennessee topped the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-14, the AP reports. The New York Giants stifled...
Nuke Tests Left Mark on Trees, People
NPR
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Nov 16, 2008 4:04 PM CST
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Scientists can now carbon-date baby boomers by detecting atomic bomb residue in their DNA, NPR reports. Turns out that carbon-14 released during above-ground nuclear tests in the 1950s and '60s hung around, then was absorbed into living tissue, experts say. Evidence, in the form of extra carbon neutrons, has been found in humans and trees that were...
Karzai Vows to Protect Taliban Chief in Talks
Washington Post
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Nov 16, 2008 3:50 PM CST
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ensure the safety of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar if he agrees to peace talks, the Washington Post reports. "If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices: remove me or leave," Karzai said, referring to US demands for Omar to be turned over.
Paul Wants to Release 'Beatles Holy Grail'
Guardian (UK)
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Nov 16, 2008 3:16 PM CST
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Paul McCartney says it's time to release an avant-garde Beatles track that features gargles, shouts, and distorted guitar, the Guardian reports. Recorded during Penny Lane sessions in 1967, the 14-minute Carnival of Light was played publicly only once at an electronic music festival. McCartney, who is releasing his third avant-garde record, says...
To Close Guantánamo, US Must Go Through Yemen
McClatchy Newspapers
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Nov 16, 2008 3:00 PM CST
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As the new administration decides how to make good on its promise to close Guantánamo Bay, the little nation of Yemen is proving to be big trouble. US officials began sending detainees to be held in their home countries in 2005, but have kept all 100-odd Yemenis over fears that their government will let them free, McClatchy reports....
W.Va. Town Is Nation's Tubbiest
Associated Press
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Nov 16, 2008 2:34 PM CST
(Newser) -
Dietary tradition helps make Huntington, W.Va., the nation's most obese and unhealthy city, the AP reports. The five-county area, where poverty rates are high, boasts many pizza and hot dog joints—but Huntington's mayor will not follow the lead of New York City and ban trans fats in restaurants. "We want as much business as we can have...
Congress Girds for Post-Election Rumbles
Reuters
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Nov 16, 2008 2:06 PM CST
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A new Congress takes office Jan. 6 and a new Oval Office occupant two scant weeks later, but the old Congress has plenty on its plate when it reconvenes next week, reports Reuters. The session will focus mainly on the economy, especially the auto industry, but legislators also must appoint new leaders, and dole out some wrist-slaps.
Newt: Palin's Not It in 2012
The Hill
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Nov 16, 2008 1:48 PM CST
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Newt Gingrich predicts that Sarah Palin will not be the Republicans’ 2012 presidential nominee, the Hill reports. “I think that she is going to be a significant player,” the former speaker of the House told Face the Nation . “But she’s going to be one of 20 or 30 significant players.” In other talk shows: ...
Emerging Economies Gain Clout in G-20
Washington Post
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Nov 16, 2008 1:34 PM CST
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The plans outlined by global leaders at the meeting to deal with the financial crisis reflect a shifting balance of power, with emerging economies such as Brazil, India, and China gaining influence, the Washington Post reports. And the Europeans largely got what they wanted from the summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after the emergency...
Widen Palate to Reverse Overfishing
New York Times
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Nov 16, 2008 1:04 PM CST
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Call him a snob, but Mark Bittman prefers wild fish to their bland, farmed brethren—yet at the rate things are going, “by midcentury, it might be easier to catch our favorite wild fish ourselves rather than buy it in the market,” he writes in the New York Times . In just decades, overfishing has taken a serious toll on a wide range...
Emanuel Pokes Fun at Stephen Colbert
Huffington Post
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Nov 16, 2008 12:28 PM CST
(Newser) -
Emboldened by the election, at least one Democrat brashly took potshots at a satirist who relishes zapping politicians on TV. Barack Obama's new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel roasted faux newsman Stephen Colbert at a weekend charity function—but in a deft word twist managed to zing a number of politicians. Emanuel said he was "afraid of...
Wind Dies Down in SoCal
Associated Press
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Nov 16, 2008 11:54 AM CST
(AP) -
The winds have let up in Southern California, giving some relief to firefighters battling wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee. Gusts in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles were down to 39mph, much lower than the roughly 80mph winds that fanned the huge wildfire there yesterday, the National Weather...
Medvedev Hopeful That Obama Will Thaw Relations
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 16, 2008 11:17 AM CST
(Newser) -
Russia’s president believes Barack Obama’s presidency “will act to overcome problems which have accumulated” between his country and the US, he said in Washington. “We have great aspirations” for Obama’s White House, Dmitry Medvedev added. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who moderated the meeting,...
NYT Slaps Reporter for Facebook Source
New York Times
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Nov 16, 2008 11:00 AM CST
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Backlash against the New York Times reporter who contacted minors on Facebook to locate sources has led Times public editor Clark Hoyt to declare, “I would not have sent the messages.” Jodi Kantor, author of last month’s unflattering front-page profile of Cindy McCain, reached out to classmates of McCain's daughter to find parents...
To Save Economy, Go Shopping
New York Times
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Nov 16, 2008 10:37 AM CST
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To stop the economic recession from slipping into a depression, Barack Obama shouldn’t mince words: Americans need to go shopping and support federal efforts to rescue banks and homeowners, Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times . “No, it’s not fair. But fairness is not on the menu anymore,” he argues. “We will...
'Roll With a Hole' About as American Now as Apple Pie
Slate
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Nov 16, 2008 10:02 AM CST
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While many cultures claim credit for inventing the bagel, the basic roll-with-a-hole concept is centuries old, Joan Nathan writes in a look at the ubiquitous morning nosh for Slate. The Romans, Egyptians, and Europeans are all said to have savored this culinary curiosity, which was easy to transport and had “the advantage of lasting longer than...
Change He Can Believe: No More BlackBerry
New York Times
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Nov 16, 2008 9:25 AM CST
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As president, Barack Obama will likely have to make the ultimate sacrifice: giving up his beloved BlackBerry. Obama and the device were literally attached at the hip during the campaign, and email was his main link to everything from political memos to White Sox updates, the New York Time s reports. But security concerns and the fact that all presidential...
Maria Shriver: Why I'm a 'Cafeteria Catholic'
Washington Post
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Nov 16, 2008 8:51 AM CST
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California First Lady Maria Shriver likes the "compassion and justice of Jesus Christ" advanced by her Catholic religion, but can't abide the church's positions on gays, divorce and a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, she reveals in a Washington Post interview. "I'm a cafeteria Catholic," she declares,...
Sam Growls Over PETA 'Flour Bomb'
E! Online
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Nov 16, 2008 8:08 AM CST
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Fur-wearing Lindsay Lohan was "flour bombed" by a PETA activist in Paris over the weekend, and lover Samantha Ronson is whining about it, reports E! Online. "My dog is far more civilized than that person," Ronson sniffs in her MySpace blog. The activist dumped a bag of flour over Lohan at a Paris nightclub for wearing a fur coat,...
JT Brings SexyBack... In a Leotard
People
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Nov 16, 2008 8:00 AM CST
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Justin Timberlake donned a leotard and heels for a surprise guest appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, People reports. The singer played one of three incompetent backup dancers, reuniting with real-life duet partner Beyoncé—who ultimately fired the trio. JT rubbed up against Beyoncé and repeatedly intoned a breathy,...
Iraqi Cabinet Backs US Pullout Pact
Reuters
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Nov 16, 2008 7:31 AM CST
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Iraq’s cabinet has approved a long-debated plan to allow US troops to stay in the country until 2011—three years beyond their UN mandate, Reuters reports. Consideration of the pact now moves to parliament, where it will likely pass, an official said. American troops are scheduled to leave Iraqi towns and villages during 2009 and quit the...
Obama: We've Got to Stop Foreclosures
New York Daily News
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Nov 16, 2008 7:07 AM CST
(Newser) -
Saving people's homes from bank foreclosures will be a priority of his economic crisis plan, President-elect Obama said in an interview airing tonight on 60 Minutes. "We've got to set up a negotiation between banks and borrowers so that people can stay in their homes. That is going to have an impact on the economy as a whole," Obama said...
Clinton Trial Lawyer Tapped as White House Counsel
Politico
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Nov 16, 2008 6:34 AM CST
(Newser) -
Barack Obama has chosen Gregory Craig, Bill Clinton’s lead impeachment trial lawyer, as White House counsel, Politico reports. Craig, 63, left the Hillary Clinton camp early in the primaries to support Obama, and knows his new boss well: He played John McCain in debate prep. He also advised Obama on foreign policy in the campaign.
30,000 Flee Raging Fires
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 16, 2008 6:05 AM CST
(Newser) -
Nearly 30,000 people have fled three massive fires scorching thousands of acres from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, reports the Los Angeles Times . Hundreds of homes have been gutted in three days of blazes fueled by raging Santa Ana winds that firefighters are struggling mightily to contain. Major freeways were closed, complicating escape for hundreds...
Economic Crisis Wallops Business Grads
BusinessWeek
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Nov 16, 2008 5:37 AM CST
(Newser) -
With the financial world in free-fall, recent business-school graduates are finding fewer jobs and fierce competition for the ones that remain, Business Week reports. “A lot of the factors affecting my future employment are out of my hands,” said one MBA student preparing to hunt for a job in an increasingly tight market after graduation...
Africa May Force Obama's Military Hand
Economist
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Nov 16, 2008 5:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
As Barack Obama prepares to become America’s new president, the dire situation in Africa may upend his anticipated plans to extract the US from overseas military commitments, the Economist writes. While Americans may be wary of bigger burdens oversees, “history does not take a holiday just because America needs a breather," notes...
Summit Puts Off Thorniest Questions Until Next Year
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 15, 2008 10:48 PM CST
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Today's summit of world leaders may have found broad agreement on the need for bold reform of the global markets, but it left the toughest decisions to future meetings, the Wall Street Journal reports. The broad strokes include greater oversight of banks and credit-rating agencies, a review of executive pay, and tighter control of complex financial...
Why Tragik Lolcats Tug on Human Hartz
Salon
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Nov 15, 2008 7:50 PM CST
(Newser) -
Lolcats are as funny as their fans believe, but it's the sadness of this kitty sub-genre that makes them special, Jay Dixit writes in Salon. On Icanhascheezburger.com, which attracts millions of hits a month, lolcats yearn and comfort each other, inspiring a teary eye in us human visitors. There is even a genus of lolcat, lolruses, dedicated to tragedy....
Are Cold War's Lost Nukes Still Ticking?
Der Spiegel
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Nov 15, 2008 7:20 PM CST
(Newser) -
Dozens of American A-bombs lost in Cold War accidents are corroding around the world, Der Spiegel reports. The US admits to misplacing 11, but German nuclear expert Otfried Nassauer says up to 50 went down, mostly in plane crashes. Bombers either collided with tanker planes or, short on fuel, plunged into the sea, says Nassauer, who recounts some...
The Best All-Time Beards
Times (UK)
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Nov 15, 2008 6:49 PM CST
(Newser) -
To celebrate the public premiere of Charles Darwin's beard (or at least hair from it his great, great grandson found in a small leather box) at the British Natural History Museum, the London Times lists the best all-time chin hairs: Karl Marx. The collapse of the Soviet Union may have deflated his Communist Manifesto, but the richness of...
Gay Advocates Protest Marriage Ban Across US
Associated Press
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Nov 15, 2008 6:16 PM CST
(AP) -
Gay rights supporters waving rainbow colors marched, chanted, and danced in cities coast to coast today to protest the vote that banned gay marriage in California and to urge supporters not to quit the fight for the right to wed, the AP reports. Crowds gathered near public buildings in cities large and small, including Boston, San Francisco, Chicago,...
Twilight Fans Flock to Gloomy Town
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 15, 2008 5:43 PM CST
(Newser) -
A vampire and a werewolf are helping to revive the flagging economy of a Washington timber town, the LA Times reports. This year alone, more than 7,000 giggling, eager teens have visited Forks, Wash., to see locations from Stephenie Meyer's best-selling Twilight series. Most locals are playing along, and making a profit too.
Open My Rape Dungeon to Tourists: Fritzl
Telegraph (UK)
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Nov 15, 2008 5:12 PM CST
(Newser) -
Josef Fritzl has proposed turning his dark, rat-filled subterranean dungeon into a tourist attraction, the Telegraph reports. Fritzl's sister-in-law told an Austrian tabloid that he hoped to collect 10 euros per visitor and give proceeds to his traumatized family. “It is completely mad,” she said. “The family rejected his ‘business’...
Huge LA Fire Roars Into Orange County
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 15, 2008 4:38 PM CST
(Newser) -
The worst LA wildfire in nearly 50 years has forced 10,000 people to flee and charred more than 500 homes in Sylmar, Calif., the LA Times and LA Daily News report. Flames also swept into Orange County today, burning at least 40 more homes and surrounding a high school. Meanwhile, power outages struck San Fernando Valley neighborhoods and the...
Amazon Leads Charge Against Clamshell Packaging
New York Times
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Nov 15, 2008 4:05 PM CST
(Newser) -
Stories of angry and even injured customers have inspired companies to ditch sealed clamshell packaging for easy-to-open alternatives, the New York Times reports. Amazon leads the pack, working with suppliers to ship products in plain cardboard boxes ahead of the holidays. Even some offline companies, which rely on clamshells to guard against theft,...
Jury Awards $2.5M to KKK Beating Victim
Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
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Nov 15, 2008 3:30 PM CST
(Newser) -
A KKK leader and one of his followers must pay $2.5 million in damages for the vicious beating of an American Indian teen in 2006, the Courier-Journal reports. Prosecutors hope the verdict in the civil trial will be economically devastating to the Kentucky-based Imperial Klans of America, the second-biggest Klan organization in the nation.
Tibet Strategy 'Failed': Lama
Times (UK)
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Nov 15, 2008 3:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nearly five decades since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, he and his followers are growing restless. Last month, the Lama announced that the “middle way” strategy he pursued for 30 years—an attempt to negotiate autonomy for Tibet rather than pure independence—had failed. “As far as I’m concerned, I have given up,”...
Quantum Breaking Bond Record
Variety
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Nov 15, 2008 2:39 PM CST
(Newser) -
Quantum of Solace is poised to post the biggest opening weekend in James Bond franchise history, Variety reports. The blockbuster grossed $27 million in domestic box-office returns yesterday, when it opened in 3,451 theaters nationwide. The movie is expected to bank more than $60 million over the weekend, besting previous record-holder Die Another...
DC Schools Clamoring for Obama Girls
New York Times
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Nov 15, 2008 2:12 PM CST
(Newser) -
The politicos are debating Barack Obama's cabinet, but Washington’s parents are intent on another Presidential speculation: Where will the Obama girls go to school? Michelle Obama toured two of DC’s top private schools last week, and a third top academy is also thought to be on the shortlist. With tremendous prestige at stake for the chosen...
TRL Going Out With a Bang
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 15, 2008 1:45 PM CST
(Newser) -
After 10 years of screaming fans, frantic voting, and celebrity appearances, MTV’s Total Request Live is finally going off the air. A star-studded 2-hour finale will air tomorrow, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sinking ratings for the music video show are behind its demise—about 322,000 watch the weekday afternoon program now, compared...
Maliki, US Reach Deal on Troops
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 15, 2008 1:30 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nouri al-Maliki has thrown his support behind the latest version of a proposed US-Iraqi security pact and will urge his Cabinet members to do the same, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Iraqi prime minister’s support represents a huge step in the contentious negotiations to replace an expiring UN mandate. Under the deal, US troops...
German Inmate Mails Himself Free
BBC
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Nov 15, 2008 1:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
German police are on a manhunt for a convicted drug dealer who escaped from prison by mailing himself in a cardboard box, the BBC reports. The 42-year-old man crawled into the box after a long shift of making stationery. An unwitting express courier then loaded the box onto his truck and drove off. The prisoner soon cut a hole in the tarpaulin covering...
Global Economic Crisis Threatens US Security
Washington Post
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Nov 15, 2008 12:35 PM CST
(Newser) -
The global economic crisis is raising the threat to national security, the Washington Post reports. Experts and intelligence officials worry that mounting inflation and unemployment in Third World countries could spark radical movements and destabilize friendly governments. What’s more, strained budgets in the West mean less money to spend...
Endeavour Heads to Space Station
Space.com
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Nov 15, 2008 12:06 PM CST
(Newser) -
The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off last night on a journey to the International Space Station, where astronauts will install new equipment and fix a solar panel, Space.com reports. The crew of the ISS will double from three to six next year; ahead of that, the Endeavour crew is installing new bedrooms, another toilet, and a high-tech device that...
Polling Guru Nabs $700K Book Deal
New York Observer
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Nov 15, 2008 11:58 AM CST
(Newser) -
Polling expert Nate Silver, the statistical mastermind behind FiveThirtyEight.com, has a new number to crunch: $700,000. That’s roughly how much Silver will net in his new two-book deal with Penguin, the New York Observer reports. Silver will pen one tome on the art of prediction, and a second Freakonomics- esque look at the inner workings...
Huge Mormon Push Doomed Proposition 8
New York Times
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Nov 15, 2008 11:30 AM CST
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Vigorous Mormon efforts were behind the success of California’s gay-marriage ban, the New York Times reports. Mormon leaders said they saw the ban as a “fundamental moral issue,” and contributed almost half of the $40 million collected to push Proposition 8 through; they coordinated an extensive campaign to contact voters, with...
Spitzer on Wall Street: I Told You So
Washington Post
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Nov 15, 2008 11:01 AM CST
(Newser) -
These days, Eliot Spitzer may be famous for his horizontal escapades, but once he was a pro-regulation crusader trying to reign in Wall Street’s excesses. Spitzer tried to raise the alarm about market transparency, AIG, and subprime lending, but he and those like him were always “scoffed at for failing to understand or even believe in ‘the...
Picking Hillary: Pros and Cons
ABC News
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Nov 15, 2008 10:30 AM CST
(Newser) -
Barack Obama is widely reported to be considering Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, causing a storm of speculation over the pros and cons of the choice. The case for Clinton is plain, Jake Tapper writes at ABC News. She's smart, strong, experienced, reasonably diplomatic—and she's familiar with many of the world's leaders....
Developing Nations Get a Say in Economic Summit
Washington Post
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Nov 15, 2008 10:04 AM CST
(Newser) -
When George Bush convenes his economic summit today, he’ll see some less familiar faces around the table. In what could signal a historic shift in global power, Bush hasn’t just invited the wealthy nations of the G-8 to this summit, but a wider Group of 20, including developing nations like China, Brazil, and India. It’s these up-and-comers,...
