Newser Story Index from November, 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.
Peru Gang Accused of Killing to Harvest Fat
BBC
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Nov 19, 2009 10:00 PM CST
(Newser) -
Peruvian police today arrested four men accused of killing dozens of people and selling their fat to cosmetics companies in Europe. At a news conference that featured several bottles of fat, which police say the gang sold for $60,000 per gallon, authorities didn’t produce any evidence of sales, and experts tell the AP they doubt much of a market...
Fla. Jury: Philip Morris Must Pay Ex-Smoker $300M
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 9:21 PM CST
(AP) -
A South Florida jury today ordered Philip Morris to pay $300 million to a former smoker, agreeing that the tobacco company's negligence was the cause of her emphysema. The award for Cindy Naugle, 61, is the largest to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies. The award amounts to $56 million in compensatory and...
Sullivan Back; Still Hates Palin
The Atlantic
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Nov 19, 2009 8:49 PM CST
(Newser) -
The notoriously Sarah Palin-obsessed Andrew Sullivan has restarted his Atlantic blog after taking time off to read her book, and, not surprisingly, he found it ridiculous. “It is,” he writes, “a manifesto for the imagined life of an imagined Sarah Palin as a leader for all those who identify with the image and background she relentlessly...
Furious, Irish Beg France for Rematch Over Handball
Irish Times
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Nov 19, 2009 8:06 PM CST
(Newser) -
From the president on down, the Republic of Ireland is in a rage after the national soccer team was denied a spot in next year’s World Cup in a defeat by France—which got the winning goal as a direct benefit of an uncalled handball. Not only is the country’s soccer association pleading with its French counterpart for a rematch, but...
Eastwood Is Top 'Badass'
GQ
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Nov 19, 2009 7:33 PM CST
(Newser) -
GQ has broken this year's Man of the Year honors into several categories. That's why Clint Eastwood is Badass of the Year, Barack Obama is Leader of the Year, and Tom Brady the Comeback of the Year. Click the source link for the full list, and see the photo gallery for a sampling.
New Moon Eclipses Ticket Records
Entertainment Weekly
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Nov 19, 2009 6:52 PM CST
(Newser) -
It doesn't open until tomorrow, but the latest Twilight movie already is breaking records. Fandango, AMC, and MovieTickets.com all say that fans are scooping up advance tickets to The Twilight Saga: New Moon in unprecedented numbers. Thousands of shows are sold out around the country, leaving pre-sale records held by Harry Potter and Lord of...
Cops Use Facebook to Bust Underage Drinkers
LaCrosse Tribune
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Nov 19, 2009 6:19 PM CST
(Newser) -
Wisconsin college student Adam Bauer should represent a cautionary tale for Facebook users under 21, or otherwise on the wrong side of the law: be careful what you post, and whom you friend. Shortly after accepting a request from an unfamiliar, “good-looking girl,” Bauer was invited to the local police station—where a cop laid out...
Oprah Ending Show in 2011
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 5:42 PM CST
(AP) -
Oprah Winfrey will end her talk show in 2011 after 25 years. She will provide more details during tomorrow's show, says her Harpo Productions. Winfrey started her broadcasting career in Nashville and Baltimore before relocating to Chicago in 1984 to host WLS-TV's morning talk show AM Chicago . It became The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985 and has ruled...
In Piling On Palin, Liberals Make Fools of Themselves
Daily Beast
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Nov 19, 2009 5:30 PM CST
(Newser) -
Watching liberals vilify Sarah Palin all over again bothers Lee Siegel. He finds her terrifying as a political prospect—"some of her positions, like her religious opposition to health-care reform and her opposition to stem-cell research, strike me as just shy of sociopathic"—but as an American story, she's fascinating. She's a...
University of California Imposes 32% Tuition Hike
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 5:04 PM CST
(Newser) -
Student protesters chanted “Shame on you! Shame on you!” on the UCLA campus today as the University of California board of regents approved a whopping 32% tuition hike. A year at a UC school—not including room and board—will now cost $10,300, three times the price in 1999. The moves comes as the university system struggles with...
America's Best Political Memoirs
Time
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Nov 19, 2009 4:38 PM CST
(Newser) -
With Going Rogue flying off the shelves, Time looks back on the best political memoirs ever, including: Ulysses S. Grant —The first presidential memoir to take the nation by storm, Grant finished his book just days before he died, and loaded it with thoughtful reflections and Civil War action.
Movie Popcorn = 3 Quarter Pounders, Plus Butter
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 19, 2009 4:10 PM CST
(Newser) -
Figure 1,600 calories, 60 grams of saturated fat, and 980 milligrams of sodium—that’s what you’re eating when you scarf down a medium helping of movie popcorn at the nation's biggest theater chain. Add a soda and it’s the equivalent of eating a pound of baby back ribs and a scoop of ice cream, or three Quarter Pounders with...
Kate Moss Slammed for Anorexic Motto
BBC
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Nov 19, 2009 3:53 PM CST
(Newser) -
Kate Moss has drawn fire from public health groups for saying she lives by the motto "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” The phrase is common on pro-anorexia websites. Advocates slammed the comment as “dangerous” and “unhelpful," the BBC reports. A Moss representative says the remark to fashion website WWD...
Obama to Cuban Blogger: Next Move Is Castro's
Miami Herald
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Nov 19, 2009 3:33 PM CST
(Newser) -
Prominent Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez emailed a list of questions to President Obama, and in an unusual move, he responded. Obama's answers, which Sánchez posted today, largely reiterate his stated positions on Cuba. But he also indicates he has no interest in "talking for the sake of talking," and he tactfully declines to...
Dow Drops 94, Tech Stalls
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 19, 2009 3:24 PM CST
(Newser) -
Stocks pulled up from their session lows but still suffered deep losses thanks to a downgrade in the semiconductor industry and an unchanged number of jobless claims, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow dropped 94 points to close at 10,332. The Nasdaq fell 36 points to 2,157. The S&P 500 lost 15 points, settling at 1,095.
Giuliani Plans Run for US Senate
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 2:56 PM CST
(Newser) -
Rudy Giuliani will run for US Senate next year as a possible steppingstone to a presidential bid in 2012, sources tell the New York Daily News . Giuliani plans to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton’s term. He had been expected to run for governor in 2010 but has decided against it, perhaps because of...
Martha Stewart: I Lost a Billion Bucks in Prison
People
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Nov 19, 2009 2:31 PM CST
(Newser) -
Martha Stewart says she lost more than a billion dollars by going to prison, but don’t cry for her: it’s humanity that lost out. In an interview to air tonight on Nightline , Stewart laments having been “prosecuted in such a way,” saying she lost an “inestimable” amount of money, "probably more than a billion...
Tribal Casino Defaults May Sink Creditors
Financial Times (UK)
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Nov 19, 2009 2:17 PM CST
(Newser) -
As the Native American tribe that own the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut looks poised to become the biggest defaulter yet on tribal casino debt, holders of billions of dollars of tribal debt are questioning whether US laws apply to tribes operating as sovereign nations. “With casinos such as Foxwoods located on sovereign tribal land potentially...
Latest Undeserved Honor: Black Belt
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 2:07 PM CST
(Newser) -
This has gone too far. First President Obama gets the Nobel Peace Prize “without actually producing any peace,” writes Andrew Malcolm. Now the South Korean president has awarded him a black belt in tae kwon do “after zero long years of study. What would Chuck Norris do?” Malcolm wonders in a Los Angeles Times blog post....
Fort Hood Suspect Feared He Had HIV
ABC News
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Nov 19, 2009 1:37 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nidal Hasan took an HIV test just a week before the Fort Hood shooting spree and was worried about the results, federal investigators tell ABC . Though there’s no evidence that Hasan was HIV-positive, the drug Combivir, which is often used to treat HIV patients, was found in his apartment, as was the antibiotic clarithromycin, which is sometimes...
Belgian Named EU Prez After Blair Bid Fails
Guardian (UK)
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Nov 19, 2009 1:15 PM CST
(Newser) -
Tony Blair won't be the first president of the European Council. The job went to Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy today after British PM Gordon Brown withdrew Blair's nomination when it became clear he didn't have enough support. Blair tells the Guardian he isn’t surprised, because the “direction of travel” of the council was clear....
Levi, You're the Buffoon of My Dreams
Los Angeles Times
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Nov 19, 2009 1:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
Levi Johnston may be an “opportunistic buffoon” and a “grammatically challenged, Playgirl-posing, pistachio-shilling media pawn,” but he’s also a guilty pleasure. He’s hot, he’s cute, and his "unverifiable claims" about Sarah Palin are fascinating, writes Meghan Daum of the Los Angeles Times ....
McDonald's Gets Euro-Chic Makeover
New York
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Nov 19, 2009 12:41 PM CST
(Newser) -
McDonald’s is getting a makeover, starting with one New York restaurant that now features a sleek, European-inspired look, flat-screen TVs, and free wi-fi. The redesign features employees in all-black uniforms and “Danish Modern furniture,” reports the AP —or, as Daniel Maurer writes in New York , “knockoff mod furniture,...
Artist Jeanne-Claude, Wife of Christo, Dead at 74
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 12:29 PM CST
(Newser) -
Jeanne-Claude, the artist who with her husband, Christo, traveled the globe creating massive works of public art, died yesterday in New York at age 74 after a brain aneurysm. Christo and Jean-Claude first caught the public eye in the 1960s and '70s in Europe wrapping landmark buildings and bridges in colorful fabric, the New York Times reports....
Post Office Drops North Pole Letter Program
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 12:18 PM CST
(Newser) -
Furious North Pole residents are accusing the Postal Service of playing Grinch by ending its letters to Santa program—because it attracted a sex offender. Since 1954, the Postal Service has happily sent letters to Santa to North Pole, Alaska, where volunteers respond and mail them back with a North Pole postmark. But the program has been canceled,...
Ex-NBA Star Cops Plea in 2002 Shooting
Star-Ledger
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Nov 19, 2009 12:09 PM CST
(Newser) -
Former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams has agreed to a plea bargain in the 2002 shooting death of a limo driver and the subsequent attempt to cover up his involvement. Under the deal, he will plead guilty tomorrow to aggravated assault, receive a sentence of 3 years, and serve a minimum of 18 months before being eligible for parole. Williams was about...
General Hospital More Sopranos Than Soap Opera
DoubleX
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Nov 19, 2009 12:05 PM CST
(Newser) -
Sure, it’s weird that James Franco is guest starring on General Hospital —but what’s weirder is that the soap is one of the small screen’s most violent creations, even by daytime television’s dubious standards. It stopped being a show about a hospital long ago, writes Willa Paskin for DoubleX , and now focuses on thugs—of...
Twitter Founder: Murdoch Will 'Fail Fast'
BBC
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Nov 19, 2009 12:00 PM CST
(Newser) -
Biz Stone says he’d “love to see what happens” if Rupert Murdoch really yanks his newspapers from Google, predicting that he’ll “fail fast.” The Twitter co-founder thinks News Corp would be better off trying “to make a ton of money from being radically open rather than some money from being ridiculously closed,”...
McCain Defends Staffers From Palin
Reuters
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Nov 19, 2009 11:47 AM CST
(Newser) -
John McCain is careful to praise Sarah Palin at the same time he stands by the staffers she's going after in her book. “There's been a lot of dust flying around in the last few days,” he tells Reuters , referring to the publication of Palin’s Going Rogue . “I just wanted to mention that I have the highest regard for Steve...
Your Boss Can't Read Your Email, Courts Say
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 19, 2009 11:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
No matter what your employers tell you, they probably can’t spy on your emails without telling you, recent court rulings suggest. While in the past courts have often sided with corporations on issues of email privacy, lately they’ve been more sympathetic to employees, the Wall Street Journal reports. Earlier this year, for example,...
Man Fleeing Cops Jumps From Geo. Washington Bridge
Record (Bergen Co., NJ)
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Nov 19, 2009 11:30 AM CST
(Newser) -
A man being pursued by police drove his red Pontiac onto the eastbound George Washington Bridge, abandoned the car, and jumped into the Hudson River this morning. It's not clear why the cops were after the driver, and a search of the water beneath the span is under way, reports the Record of Bergen County. A plunge from the bridge is not necessarily...
Gender Bending Is Back in Fashion
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 11:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
Call it the new cross-dressing: Young fashionistas are exhibiting a willful disregard for whether items of clothing are “men’s” or “women’s,” mixing and matching what works for them into an androgynous personal statement. So while one young clotheshorse allows he might not don a skirt, “a long drapey shirt...
Yoga Gets Competitive
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 11:07 AM CST
(Newser) -
Yoga as an Olympic sport? It could happen, if two leaders in the field have their way. The creators of Bikram yoga brought yoga championships to the US, but many practitioners say the very idea of competition in yoga is antithetical to the core tenets of the practice. After all, as proponent Rajashree Choudhury tells the New York Times , “We...
Alcohol Good for Men's Hearts
BBC
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Nov 19, 2009 10:59 AM CST
(Newser) -
Drink up boys, it’s good for you—or for your heart at least, says a new study. Drinking cut heart disease risk by 35% to 50% in the survey conducted in Spain. It followed 15,500 men and 26,000 women, and found that daily heavy drinking did wonders for the men’s heart health. Women benefited to a much smaller extent, reports the BBC...
Twilight Star: I Got a Fan to Strip for Me
People
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Nov 19, 2009 10:46 AM CST
(Newser) -
Teens and tweens the world over are swooning for Robert Pattinson—and the Twilight star convinced one overzealous fan to get naked for him. When she asked, at an autograph signing, “What can I do to get your attention,” he jokingly replied, “Um, just take your clothes off,” he tells Ellen DeGeneres in an interview airing...
Disgruntled Dem Wants Geithner, Summers Sacked
Huffington Post
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Nov 19, 2009 10:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
Rep. Peter DeFazio wants Barack Obama to fire the Larry Summers and “Timmy Geithner” for being Wall Street lap dogs, and says there’s a “growing consensus” in the Progressive Caucus that agrees with him. Summers and Geithner oppose a Progressive proposal to use unspent TARP funds to create jobs through infrastructure projects....
Alexandra Kerry Charged With DUI
TMZ
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Nov 19, 2009 10:27 AM CST
(Newser) -
John Kerry’s daughter was arrested this morning in California in a suspected DUI. Alexandra Kerry was pulled over at 12:40am, and refused to take a preliminary alcohol screening test after her field sobriety test, police sources tell TMZ . Though her blood alcohol level was ultimately found to be under the legal limit at .06, she may still be...
Senators See Upcoming Vote on Obama—Not Health
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 10:18 AM CST
(Newser) -
The upcoming Senate debate on health care reform, like the House vote before it, will be more a referendum on President Obama than a reflection of constituents’ concerns, Andrew Gelman, Nate Silver, and Daniel Lee write. What happened in the House is clear: 31 of 39 Democrats who voted no on the bill come from districts that fell to John McCain...
Trump Sees Porn in Prejean's Future
New York Post
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Nov 19, 2009 10:15 AM CST
(Newser) -
Quote of the day goes to Donald Trump, who recently suggested that Carrie Prejean’s next career move be to enter the porn industry. The dethroned Miss California has apparently been calling the pageant owner, asking for career advice, the New York Post reports. The Donald told one source, “Maybe she should become a major porn star,...
FAA Says Airport Computer Glitch Fixed
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 9:56 AM CST
(AP) -
FAA officials say failed computers that delayed flights across the country are now working again. The air traffic controllers union says the computer failure involved both of the Federal Aviation Administration's computer centers in Salt Lake City and Atlanta, which handle flight plans for air traffic throughout the country.
I Told My Kids About the Sex Tape: Pam
Sun (UK)
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Nov 19, 2009 9:48 AM CST
(Newser) -
Pamela Anderson was finally forced to tell her pre-teen sons about the infamous sex tape she made with their dad, Tommy Lee. “I just said, ‘Look, Mommy and Daddy were massively in love, we videotaped everything,’” she says in a British TV special, the Sun reports. Her cameo in Borat , which refers to the tape, spurred her...
GOP Traffic-Jam Ploy Is Snarling Senate
Washington Post
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Nov 19, 2009 9:43 AM CST
(Newser) -
Senate Democrats are starting to turn on each other like angry drivers stuck in rush-hour traffic thanks to Republican obstructionism, writes EJ Dionne. Republican senators are eating every word they once said against filibusterism and are stalling even legislation that they support in a Machiavellian effort to keep the Democrats from reaching the...
Manager: I Warned Nic Not to Buy That Castle...
New York Post
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Nov 19, 2009 9:33 AM CST
(Newser) -
The business manager Nicolas Cage is suing for fraud is suing the actor right back, claiming he warned Cage he would have to make $30 million a year to support his extravagant lifestyle. Samuel J. Levin’s suit also claims he cautioned the actor—who recently lost two New Orleans homes to foreclosure—against purchases like two castles,...
Welcome to the Conspiracy to Ration Mammograms
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 9:28 AM CST
(Newser) -
Republicans are right: the new government guidelines urging women not to have mammograms in their 40s are definitely a nefarious conspiracy to start rationing care. “Whatever happens, we do not want the government conducting any studies on whether current health practices actually do any good,” writes Gail Collins in the New York Times...
Amy's Boobs Exploded: Dad
Living TV
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Nov 19, 2009 9:24 AM CST
(Newser) -
Just as she feared they would, Amy Winehouse’s new and improved boobs went and ruptured on her, sending the troubled singer to the hospital. Oversharey dad Mitch explained, on his Living TV show, his daughter was not hospitalized for a cold as had been reported. “She’s fine, she just had a little leaky something or other,”...
Colum McCann Wins National Book Award
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 9:12 AM CST
(Newser) -
Irish-born author Colum McCann won the National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin , a fictional take on the effects of Philippe Petit’s 1970s tightrope walk between the Twin Towers on multiple New Yorkers. The non-fiction prize at last night’s ceremony went to TJ Stiles for his biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First...
Many Terror Suspects Share Link to Awlaki
New York Times
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Nov 19, 2009 9:06 AM CST
(Newser) -
Nidal Hasan is only the latest in a series of Western Muslim terror suspects inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, a web-savvy New Mexico-born radical cleric who preaches jihad in American-accented English. Devotees of Awlaki's sermons include a conspirator in the 2007 plot to attack Fort Dix and a group of Canadian Muslims who plotted to behead their prime...
Dakota Fanning Dishes on Kissing Kristen Stewart
Access Hollywood
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Nov 19, 2009 8:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
“Really close” Twilight co-stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart lock lips in next year’s The Runaways , and it is indeed a passionate kiss, says Fanning. “We were so into the scene and into the script and the characters,” the 15-year-old tells Access Hollywood . “We’re playing Joan Jett and Cherie...
Notes Scoured for Watergate Key
Associated Press
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Nov 19, 2009 8:47 AM CST
(Newser) -
Forensic scientists think their latest tools could solve one of the enduring mysteries of American politics: what was said in the 18 1/2 minutes missing from the Watergate tapes? The answer may lie in the yellow notepad on which Nixon's chief of staff, HR Haldeman, took notes on his meeting with Nixon on June 20, 1972—the day the tape was erased....
Time to Crack Down on Jihad 2.0
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 19, 2009 8:46 AM CST
(Newser) -
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has knocked Nidal Hasan out of the headlines but the Fort Hood suspect is the kind of threat America needs to focus on, warns Daniel Henninger. Home-grown terrorists, indoctrinated over the Internet, are now more of a danger than "old-school" jihadis abroad, and the ideology that radicalizes them is currently protected...
