Newser Story Index from October, 2009
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.
Dress Like a Mad Man for $998
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Need an excuse to chain smoke and drink excessively in true 1960s style? No problem: Come Monday, you can dress up like Mad Men ’s Don Draper for a mere $998. Brooks Brothers, which has collaborated on the show’s costumes, is rolling out 250 of the “ Mad Men Edition” sharkskin suits designed by the series’ Emmy-nominated...
Climate Bill's Best Hope? Drill, Baby, Drill
FiveThirtyEight
|
Oct 14, 2009 1:13 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The new climate bill introduced with some fanfare by John Kerry and Lindsey Graham actually has a fighting chance of getting through the Senate, thanks to its offshore drilling provision. Despite Democrats’ supermajority, cap-and-trade legislation probably only had between 52 and 55 votes before this. But this bill, which also includes nuclear...
Damien Hirst Paintings 'Shockingly Bad'
Independent (UK)
|
Oct 14, 2009 1:09 PM CDT
(Newser) -
“Bad boy of British art" Damien Hirst decided to put his headline-grabbing, conceptual art projects aside and return to painting. Critics, however, are not impressed with the exhibition of 25 new paintings, which opened today: “There are many painters in evening classes much worse than Hirst,” writes Tom Lubbock in the...
Six Senate Swing Votes
Wall Street Journal
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:55 PM CDT
(Newser) -
As health care reform bills merge and change on the Senate floor, the pool of legislators to watch has grown. The Wall Street Journal takes a look: Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: Her vote for the Finance Committee bill was clutch, but "doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow," she says. Susan Collins, R-Maine: The...
In Its First Estimate, Iraq Says 85K Killed Since '04
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:47 PM CDT
(AP) -
At least 85,694 Iraqis lost their lives from 2004 to 2008 in violence, the Iraqi government said today in its first comprehensive tally released since the war began. Another 147,195 were wounded during that four-year period, says the Human Rights Ministry. The number includes Iraqi civilians, military, and police, but not insurgents, US troops, or...
Dow Hits 10,000 for First Time in Year
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:31 PM CDT
(AP) -
The Dow Jones industrial average reached 10,000 today for the first time since Oct. 7, 2008. The milestone, which triggered a whoop from the trading floor, was buoyed by surprisingly strong earnings reports from Intel and JPMorgan. The latter stoked the market's optimism as it handily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion...
DVR Viewers Give Ratings Boost to Grey's , Others
USA Today
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:27 PM CDT
(Newser) -
TV networks dismayed at low ratings early in the season are getting a ray of hope in the form of the once-feared DVR. Sure, ad buyers won’t pay out when a viewer watches Grey’s Anatomy on TiVo, but that and other shows are gaining a massive audience days after the broadcast. Execs think they will migrate back to primetime once the herd...
First-Grader With Camp Knife Back in School
News Journal (Del.)
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:14 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The Delaware first-grader suspended for bringing a camping knife to school is welcome to return after the school board amended its zero-tolerance policy. Zachary Christie was to spend 45 days at an alternative school; now, kindergarten and 1st-grade students with a “dangerous instrument”—a blade less than 3 inches—face a 3-to-5-day...
Columnist Backtracks, Slightly, on Limbaugh Quote
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
|
Oct 14, 2009 12:08 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Columnist Bryan Burwell acknowledges that he is among those who ran with an old quote attributed to Rush Limbaugh on the "merits" of slavery without verifying it. Limbaugh insists he never said it, and Burwell is fine taking him at his word on that. It doesn't change his view that Limbaugh has no business trying to buy the St. Louis Rams....
Cougar Town Deserves Scorn, Not Yuks
Salon
|
Oct 14, 2009 11:57 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Cougar Town is our nation’s newest guilty pleasure—“‘guilty’ in this case meaning ‘it makes you want to stick your head in the oven’ and ‘pleasure’ referring to the feeling humans get from having their fingernails ripped off one by one,” writes Heather Havrilesky for Salon. Tina Fey and...
India Won't Hand Over Mother Teresa's Remains
BBC
|
Oct 14, 2009 11:50 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Mother Teresa isn’t going anywhere, say Indian authorities. Teresa’s parents were from Albania, and the country had requested her remains. Macedonia, where Teresa grew up, may also want the body ahead of the 100th anniversary of her birth next year. “Mother Teresa was an Indian citizen and she is resting in her own country, her own...
GOP Takes Down Tweet Linking Pelosi, Hitler
CNN
|
Oct 14, 2009 11:34 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Turns out linking a genocidal dictator with the speaker of the House might be a little over the top, as the National Republican Congressional Committee found itself today taking down a tweet with a link to a video comparing Nancy Pelosi to Adolf Hitler. A broadside from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—“House Republicans...
Obama's Sexy Salsa Irks Michelle
TMZ
|
Oct 14, 2009 11:23 AM CDT
(Newser) -
President Obama may have gotten on his wife’s bad side last night after salsa dancing with Mexican pop singer Thalia at the White House’s Fiesta Latina. TMZ points to a YouTube video (watch it at left) showing Michelle appearing to give Barack the cold shoulder after he returns to his seat. Thalia, however, is still a fan, telling him:...
Google Wave Too Bloated, Complicated
Slate
|
Oct 14, 2009 11:13 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Google Wave, the long-awaited chat/email/collaboration doohickey, is ambitious and sturdy, and packed with bells and whistles… and Twitter kicks its butt. See, Twitter’s main feature is simplicity, writes Farhad Manjoo on Slate, but Wave asks the world of users. It tries to replace email with “an entirely alien interface that isn’t...
Armani's New Underwear Model: Megan Fox
Women's Wear Daily
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:53 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Megan Fox is already everywhere you look, but she’ll really be all over the place come January, thanks to her new gig as the face—and body—of new Armani underwear and jeans campaigns, Women’s Wear Daily reports. The label also signed Cristiano Ronaldo, but the two won’t appear together, probably “owing to some...
Anna Nicole Bottle-Fed in Last Days
New York Daily News
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:50 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Anna Nicole Smith’s last days are getting the inevitable rehash thanks to the Howard K Stern hearing, and the details are about as disturbing as you might guess. The Playboy Playmate was so drugged she had to be fed Pedialyte with a baby bottle, and her final hours were spent lying in a bed covered with her own feces, the New York Daily News...
Madonna: I Was 'Provocative' at 13
Rolling Stone
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:40 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Madonna is still making headlines 25 years after telling Dick Clark she planned “to rule the world” on American Bandstand . She looks back at the past three decades with Rolling Stone , revealing her first “provocative performance” as a seventh grader, her life as a “geek” in high school, and her worst fashion...
B&N E-Reader Sports 2 Screens: E-Ink and LCD
Fast Company
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:32 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Barnes & Noble’s entry into the e-reader market, supposed to be under wraps until next week, has been ferreted out, and it’s got something no one else has. Rumors predicted color e-ink—not true—but the device has “got something almost better,” Kit Eaton writes: two screens. The gadget has a regular, non-backlit...
I Know Lilo's Drug Dealer: Dad
Radar
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:23 AM CDT
(Newser) -
For all those wanting to know exactly which drugs LiLo is on, Michael Lohan might have the answer. In yet another TMI interview with Radar, the celebu-dad says he definitely knows who her drug dealer is: “This guy follows Lindsay all over the place,” he says, adding, “He has no job.” What, does supplying Lindsay with drugs not...
Climate Activists Torqued By Obama Nobel
Good
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:14 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The Taliban and conservative commentators in the US aren’t the only ones steamed by Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. “It’s hard for me to emphasize enough the thickness of the international resentment towards America at the climate negotiation level,” Ben Jervey writes. The argument is simple: The US “is the biggest...
Pals Not Taking Khloe-Lamar Seriously
Radar
|
Oct 14, 2009 10:10 AM CDT
(Newser) -
In today’s “ridiculous quote of the day” corner: Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian, who still can’t agree on a pre-nup arrangement. Friends are getting frustrated with Odom for listening to “hanger-on friends” who—shockingly!—don’t seem to “have the best interests of Lamar and Khloe as a couple...
US Eyes Saudi Rehab for Yemeni Detainees
Washington Post
|
Oct 14, 2009 9:53 AM CDT
(Newser) -
When a Saudi Arabian returns home from Guantanamo Bay, a top Saudi prince personally informs their families—then asks them to sign guarantees that he will not return to terrorism. It’s part of Saudi Arabia’s highly effective extremist rehabilitation program, which has so far graduated 108 detainees. Now, the US is all but begging...
Robinson, Now a 'GOP Hero,' Hated GOP
Plum Line
|
Oct 14, 2009 9:40 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Whoops. The RNC’s new “GOP Heroes” website devotes a page to baseball legend Jackie Robinson, declaring him a “great Republican” who campaigned for Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller. There’s just one problem: Robinson was a registered independent who professed he’d “never identified with one party...
How to Slash Your Phone Bill
PC World
|
Oct 14, 2009 9:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Your cell phone plan sounded pretty good when you got that nifty handset, but if you aren't vigilant, carriers can hit you with fees and charges that will bleed you dry. PC World lists five ways wireless companies gouge you, and how to avoid them. Texting fees: Go over your limit and you'll be charged shocking fees; send just a few and...
Teabaggers Turn on Graham
Huffington Post
|
Oct 14, 2009 9:15 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Sen. Lindsey Graham drew the ire of teabaggers at a town hall yesterday for colluding with John Kerry on climate legislation. Angry protesters called the South Carolina Republican a “traitor” who made a “pact with the devil” by “going to bed” with the Massachusetts Dem in an op-ed detailing the dangers of CO2 emissions...
JPMorgan Earns $3.6B, Despite Loan Losses
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 9:02 AM CDT
(AP) -
JPMorgan Chase reported strong third-quarter earnings today as its thriving investment banking business more than offset rising consumer loan losses that the bank warned would continue. The company, the first of the big banks to report, showed a $3.59 billion profit, or 82 cents per share. But it also roughly doubled the amount of money it set aside...
Pay Czar Going After AIG Bonuses—Again
New York Times
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:59 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is making another run at AIG’s bonus payouts—or trying to, with the help of a little arm twisting. Feinberg doesn’t have authority over the$198 million in bonuses promised to employees at the infamous trading unit because the contracts were created before the bailout. So instead, he’s threatening to...
Homer Had Never Heard of Playboy : Marge
New York Post
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:51 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Marge Simpson does more than just strip down in the November issue of Playboy —she talks too, telling the magazine about the moment she knew she’d marry Homer: “Well, when the doctor said I was pregnant, I heard a voice saying, 'That's the man you're going to marry.' The voice was my mother's.”
Palestine Says Hope in Obama 'Evaporated'
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:36 AM CDT
(AP) -
The Palestinian president's political party says all hopes in the Obama administration have "evaporated," accusing the White House of caving to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby and backing off a demand to freeze Jewish settlement. Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party also accused the US of failing to set a clear agenda for a new round of Mideast...
Thousands Marry in Mass Moonie Wedding
Times (UK)
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:19 AM CDT
(Newser) -
He is nearly 90 years old, but Sun Myung Moon—cult leader, Washington Times founder, self-proclaimed Messiah—can still draw a crowd. The leader of the Unification Church led a mass wedding for some 40,000 people outside of Seoul today, on the campus of, yes, Sun Moon University. It was the largest of the cult's so-called "blessing...
Guru at Sweat Lodge That Killed 2: 'I'm Being Tested'
Associated Press
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The self-help guru who ran a spiritual retreat where two people died during a sweat lodge ceremony last week says he is "being tested" by the tragedy. James Arthur Ray told a seminar audience that he is "frustrated and confused" and has hired his own investigators to find out what went wrong. 'This is the most difficult time I've...
Fat America Won't Need Mittens
Toronto Star (Canada)
|
Oct 14, 2009 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) -
America’s ever-expanding waistlines may eventually render mittens obsolete, a new study suggests. Researchers for the NIH found that overweight people generate more heat than their lean peers, but don’t retain it any better. Instead, the heat exits from the hands and feet—so an overweight person’s extremities are, on average,...
Pay Cuts: America's New Norm
New York Times
|
Oct 14, 2009 7:49 AM CDT
(Newser) -
In previous recessions, layoffs were the principal way for employers to cut costs—pay cuts were seen as demoralizing and a sure-fire way to lose workers to other jobs. But now pay cuts, sometimes in the form of demotions or shortened workweeks, are more common than at any time since the 1930s. Production workers, who represent 80% of the work...
Jaycee: I'm Happy to Be Home
People
|
Oct 14, 2009 7:31 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Jaycee Dugard’s 18-year kidnapping ordeal is over, and she spends her time now riding horses, cooking, and maybe collaborating on a book. The 29-year-old lives “a surprisingly normal life” with her mother and daughters Angel, 15, and Starlit, 11, says her mother’s stepmother. Now, Dugard speaks out for the first time since she...
Cheney Dynasty Is a Chilling Prospect
New York Times
|
Oct 14, 2009 7:26 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A new political dynasty appears to be rising from the ashes of the Bush administration and it's creeping out Maureen Dowd. The Cheney clan has been leading the way in attacking bipartisanship and painting Obama as soft on foreign policy, Dowd writes in the New York Times. And now they're hanging out their shingle, with Liz Cheney starting a family...
Britain to Send 500 More Troops to Afghanistan
BBC
|
Oct 14, 2009 7:11 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,” a BBC correspondent said....
PETA Peeved Over Paris' Pig
Digital Spy (UK)
|
Oct 14, 2009 6:47 AM CDT
(Newser) -
PETA has found a new poster child for its ire: Paris Hilton, who recently adopted a $4,500 miniature piglet. Despite naming the animal “Princess Piglette,” TMZ notes, PETA claims the "wretched example" treats her pets like “disposable accessories”—“as disposable as her friends,” to be exact, Digital...
Robot-Assisted Prostate Surgery Linked to Problems
Boston Globe
|
Oct 14, 2009 6:28 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Men who undergo minimally invasive, robot-assisted prostate surgery were more than twice as likely to suffer from impotence and incontinence a year and a half later, compared to those receiving conventional surgery, a new Harvard study has found. Some 4.7% of those treated with laparoscopic surgery, using remote-controlled techniques, developed the...
Obama Haters Carve Swastika on 18th Hole
Boston Globe
|
Oct 14, 2009 5:52 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The Obama-equals-Hitler folks have left us a puzzle. Vandals carved "I swastika Obama"—with the swastika facing the wrong way—on, of all places, the 18th hole of a country club golf course 40 miles north of Boston. It's unclear who did it or even when, but a club manager speculates that it might have been carved with a golf cleat....
Gretzky, Montana Sons Hobnob on High School Team
New York Times
|
Oct 14, 2009 5:40 AM CDT
(Newser) -
California's Oaks Christian is ranked the fifth best high school team in the country but the sporting icons in the stands often get more attention than the players. The '49ers superstar Joe Montana and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky regularly turn up to watch their sons, quarterback Nick Montana and his understudy Trevor Gretzky. Teammates say the teens...
Wall Street Forking Out Record Pay
Wall Street Journal
|
Oct 14, 2009 5:36 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Major financial firms have bounced back from the brink of meltdown and are on course to hand out their biggest-ever pay packages this year. The total payout at the big banks and securities firms will hit $140 billion this year, according to Wall Street Journal projections based on revenue figures at 23 companies. That's up 20% from last year,...
Biden's Doubts on Afghan Strategy Wins Allies
New York Times
|
Oct 14, 2009 5:21 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Joe Biden was a lone voice of skepticism on Afghanistan strategy after his fact-finding tour there earlier this year, but many in the White House have gradually swung to his point of view. Biden's perspective that the mission should be narrowed is now favored by administration liberals. The position reflects both Biden's own shift in stance from "liberal...
Anthropologist: Modern Male Is 'Worst' Man Ever
Reuters
|
Oct 14, 2009 5:00 AM CDT
(Newser) -
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is such a girly man by Neanderthal standards that some caveman's wife could have kicked his ass in arm wrestling, an Australian anthropologist argues in his new book. In fact, Peter McAllister calls modern males the "worst" men in history, at least when it comes to physical prowess. Australian Aboriginals...
Thai Man Kills Lover, Decapitates Her Child
Bangkok Post (Thailand)
|
Oct 14, 2009 4:55 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A man in Bangkok has confessed to murdering his lover and then shooting and dismembering her 5-year-old child, setting off a media frenzy in Thailand. The child's body parts were found in a deserted housing project, stuffed into four separate plastic bags. They were discovered by a garbage man on Monday, who first opened the bag that contained the...
'Svengali Sex Slave' Case Heads for Supreme Court
CNN
|
Oct 14, 2009 4:34 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a case involving a sex trafficker, nicknamed the "S&M Svengali," who whipped and mutilated a "sex slave" and then posted photos of it on his for-profit website. Glenn Marcus claims that the acts were consensual, but the woman testified she felt like a prisoner and was manipulated...
Après Le Deluge: French Battle Anglo Terms in Web Age
Wall Street Journal
|
Oct 14, 2009 4:27 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Defenders of the French language are fighting a rear-guard action against a flood of Anglo-Saxon computing terms. In a process that lags far behind advances in technology, experts are tasked with finding French equivalents for new computing technology. The terms must then be passed by a panel of linguists and professors, who are often puzzled by the...
Vicious Beating of NY Gay Caught on Tape
New York Daily News
|
Oct 14, 2009 4:11 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The brutal hate-crime beating of a gay man on a deserted Queens street was captured on a neighborhood surveillance video. Jack Price, 49, tries repeatedly to escape his attackers who continue to punch and stomp him on the tape. "From beginning to end, it was absolutely horrible," Price's sister-in-law told the New York Daily News . Two men...
Economy Sparks Record Military Recruitment
Washington Post
|
Oct 14, 2009 3:41 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The recession has helped boost the US military to its best recruitment year since the post-Vietnam switch to an all-volunteer force. Recruiters hit or exceeded all their targets for the first time since 1973, surprising even Pentagon officials. In addition to rising unemployment, recruiting was helped by bonuses, a recruiting budget that averages $10,000...
Polanski Finishing Film Behind Bars
Times (UK)
|
Oct 14, 2009 3:19 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Director Roman Polanski is finishing up what could be his last film from his Swiss prison cell, according to a friend. The filmmaker finished editing The Ghost , which stars Pierce Brosnan as a British prime minister accused of war crimes, the day he was arrested. Polanski, who faces extradition to the US to be sentenced for unlawful intercourse with...
Apple's Snow Leopard Devouring Data
BBC
|
Oct 14, 2009 2:57 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A rare but extremely damaging bug is causing users of Apple's Snow Leopard operating system to lose huge amounts of data. Apple says it's working on a fix for the bug. The glitch wipes out personal data for users who have upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard and log on to their machines on a guest account. Users are advised to immediately back up...
