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.
Best War Movies Ever
Huffington Post
|
Nov 11, 2009 7:29 PM CST
(Newser) -
In honor of Veterans Day, the Huffington Post runs down the best war movies of all time: Apocalypse Now: Vietnam War From Here to Eternity: Pearl Harbor Patton: World War II Braveheart: Scotland’s battle for independence Lawrence of Arabia: World War I Band of Brothers: World War II (and, yes, a mini-series,...
US Ambassador Disagrees on Afghan Troop Surge
Washington Post
|
Nov 11, 2009 6:49 PM CST
(Newser) -
The US ambassador to Afghanistan—a former general who served there as recently as 2007—is against increasing troop levels until the Afghan government gets its act together. In classified cables ahead of President Obama’s deliberations on a surge, Karl Eikenberry cites rampant corruption and mismanagement in Hamid Karzai’s administration....
Bad Weather Blamed for Brazil Blackout
Associated Press
|
Nov 11, 2009 6:17 PM CST
(AP) -
Heavy rain and strong wind last night caused blackouts that left nearly a third of Brazilians—60 million people—in the dark, officials said today as they scrambled to restore confidence in the country's infrastructure before soccer's 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The weather made transformers on a vital high-voltage transmission...
Spitzer to Give Ethics Lecture at Harvard
New York Daily News
|
Nov 11, 2009 5:12 PM CST
(Newser) -
A Harvard University ethics center is hosting a lecture by none other than Eliot Spitzer tomorrow. The disgraced governor will speak about when it's right for the government to intervene in the markets. Despite the intellectual theme, his former madam tells the Daily News that Spitzer is a "man without ethics" who has no place at the...
Physicists: Bird From the Future Damaged Collider
Time
|
Nov 11, 2009 4:50 PM CST
(Newser) -
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is having a tough time getting on its feet—construction delays, birds, etc.—but now two physicists have a novel theory about why: The experiment is so “abhorrent” to God, or nature, that the universe is conspiring to sabotage it. When scientists get close to revving up their search for the...
Jolie, Voight Reconcile
Us Weekly
|
Nov 11, 2009 4:31 PM CST
(Newser) -
Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie are back on good terms after a 7-year estrangement. The father and daughter met “face-to-face” in February and have been “in touch, but not regularly” since, Voight tells US Weekly . They topped speaking after he asked her to seek help for “serious mental problems” in a TV appearance....
Fort Hood Hero: It Was 'Confusing and Chaotic'
CNN
|
Nov 11, 2009 4:13 PM CST
(Newser) -
The police sergeant who brought down the Fort Hood shooter tells Oprah she's “doing well” despite three gunshot wounds. Kimberly Munley, 34, said the call came in as she was washing her patrol car at the end of her shift. "The entire incident was very confusing and chaotic," Munley said from her hospital room. "There was...
Drew Peterson Wants to Sell His Home—to the Media
Chicago Sun-Times
|
Nov 11, 2009 3:56 PM CST
(Newser) -
Drew Peterson is broke and has huge legal bills, so he’s looking to sell his home. But not to just anyone. The former police sergeant, accused of murdering his third wife, figures he’ll get a premium if he sells it to a news organization as a “base camp” to use while covering his trial, reports the Chicago Sun-Times . "It...
Palin's Book Will Settle Scores With McCain Aides
Time
|
Nov 11, 2009 3:22 PM CST
(Newser) -
Can't wait to find out what's in Sarah Palin's Going Rogue ? It's not out until next Tuesday, but Mark Halperin has some info at his political blog at Time . The book has: The names of McCain aides she believes undermined her candidacy. Lots of scorn for the media. A testimonial to the importance of faith in her life. A "warm and...
Dow Rises 44 on Rates News
Wall Street Journal
|
Nov 11, 2009 3:15 PM CST
(Newser) -
Stocks retreated from an earlier rally but closed with solid gains after the Dallas Fed president reaffirmed the central bank's commitment to keeping interest rates low. Meanwhile, home-builder Toll Brothers announced a surge in contracts for the third quarter, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dow gained 44 points to close at 10,291. The...
AIG's Benmosche: I'm Not Quitting
Wall Street Journal
|
Nov 11, 2009 3:00 PM CST
(Newser) -
AIG CEO Robert Benmosche isn’t fed up with running a government-controlled insurance giant after all: Backing away from his threat to quit, Benmosche said today that he remains "totally committed” to the company. The CEO conceded, however, that he and the board “are indeed frustrated” with the government’s restrictions...
Hasan Didn't Try to Leave Army
Washington Post
|
Nov 11, 2009 2:48 PM CST
(Newser) -
Nidal Malik Hasan may have been disgrunted with the military and wanted to get out, as a relative has claimed, but he did not formally apply for a discharge. The suspected Fort Hood shooter might’ve talked to his superiors privately about not wanting to serve in Afghanistan, but he never submitted any paperwork, an Army official who's seen his...
Fed-Up Principal Bans Word 'Meep'
Salem News
|
Nov 11, 2009 2:30 PM CST
(Newser) -
A Massachusetts principal has banned an unlikely word from school grounds: meep. The nonsensical word—it's from the character Beaker on The Muppet Show —has for inexplicable reasons gone viral. Meep was such an epidemic at Danvers High—where students were using Facebook to plan a mass meeping—that principal Thomas Murray sent...
'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Gone in 2010: Frank
The Advocate
|
Nov 11, 2009 2:13 PM CST
(Newser) -
A provision repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will be included in the 2010 defense authorization bill, Rep. Barney Frank says. The authorization would see debate and a vote in spring and summer, and go into effect in October. “'Don’t ask, don’t tell' was always going to be part of...
Porn Doesn't Have to Ruin Sex
Nerve
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:57 PM CST
(Newser) -
Porn’s been getting a bad rap of late for turning men into bad lovers. But it’s really the guys’ fault, not the porn, writes Cord Jefferson . A Nielsen survey reports that a third of visitors to XXX websites are women, so clearly porn itself isn’t a definitive turn-off. But women tend to favor lesbian porn, a female friend...
Now Pitching for the Court: Chief Justice Roberts
Legal Times
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:46 PM CST
(Newser) -
On the heels of Supreme Court justice bobblehead dolls comes, of course, baseball trading cards. The first depicts Chief Justice John Roberts as the pitcher in the stance of famed fellow Indiana native Mordecai “3 Fingers” Brown, with legal stats on the reverse. Why? “First, it's fun,” creator Ross Davies, editor of the quirky...
Democrats Ought to Thank Stupak
Politics Daily
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:40 PM CST
(Newser) -
Liberal Democrats are angry at Bart Stupak for forcing an amendment restricting abortion into the House’s health care bill. But one day, they may view the unassuming congressman as a savior of health care reform. Polls show the American public is evenly split on abortion, and most don’t want government health care to pay for it. Stupak’s...
Boys 'Pornified' From Birth
DoubleX
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:22 PM CST
(Newser) -
Lyn Brown and Sharon Lamb determined in their 2006 book Packaging Girlhood that our culture conditions girls early on to behave as sexual objects. But what about boys? In their new book, the researchers take a look at the other side of the playground and find that the “stark commercialization of gender” applied just as strongly: boys...
How Reality TV Ruins Everything
Vanity Fair
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:16 PM CST
(Newser) -
Pop culture critic James Wolcott says the dregs of reality TV have ruined television and, in doing so, ruined America. It's not talent-based competitions like Top Chef we need to worry about, he reasons, but programs about the "contrived antics of glorified nobodies and semi-cherished has-beens." His acid-tongued essay for Vanity Fair...
Dems Should Embrace a Health Care Filibuster
Washington Post
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:07 PM CST
(Newser) -
The Senate is broken, writes Steven Pearlstein , its members so mired in dysfunction they don’t even realize how undemocratic current legislative practice is. The mere threat of a filibuster is enough to kill a bill, a fact that "violates the letter and spirit of the US Constitution." In the quest for the almighty 60 votes, health...
Sans Brad, Angie Shops for Baby No. 7
OK!
|
Nov 11, 2009 1:01 PM CST
(Newser) -
Angelina Jolie is planning to adopt yet another child, this time a girl from Syria—whether Brad Pitt is on board or not. The actress hasn’t hidden her desire to have “more kids—one way or another,” though Pitt is reticent. “He has made it clear that six children are more than he can handle,” an insider tells...
Plastics Chemical Linked to Male Sex Problems
WebMD
|
Nov 11, 2009 12:52 PM CST
(Newser) -
A study of workers exposed to high levels of bisphenol A—a chemical widely used in plastic bottles and packaging—have a much higher incidence of sexual dysfunction than their counterparts. The study of Chinese workers found those exposed to BPA were 4 times more likely to report erectile dysfunction and low sexual desire. They were 7 times...
10 Accidental Celebrities
Newsweek
|
Nov 11, 2009 12:46 PM CST
(Newser) -
Some people set out to be famous; other people are made famous accidentally—and then they either run with it (see Levi Johnston) or don’t (see the guy that Dick Cheney shot). Newsweek runs down the top 10 accidental celebrities: Harry Whittington: He probably made Dick Cheney angry, and then the veep shot him just to prove that...
How Taylor Swift Shot to the Top
Associated Press
|
Nov 11, 2009 12:28 PM CST
(Newser) -
Barring interference from Kanye West, Taylor Swift heads to Nashville to fight for country music's top prize tonight: Entertainer of the Year. The 19-year-old singer is up against the old boys of the industry, but Randy Lewis of the LA Times thinks she's got a shot. If the Pennsylvania-born Nashville transplant wins, she'll be the first woman to...
GOP Wants to Resurrect That Town Hall Feeling
Politico
|
Nov 11, 2009 12:23 PM CST
(Newser) -
Republicans are hoping to re-create the late-summer town hall meetings at which angry voters lashed out over proposed health care legislation. Sen. Lamar Alexander tells Politico the party is planning 50 phone and in-person gatherings over the next few weeks. "If every American has a chance to read the bill, understand what it costs and how...
Nation Marks Veterans Day
Associated Press
|
Nov 11, 2009 12:18 PM CST
(Newser) -
The nation honored its war veterans today at services around the country. President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington, telling vets and their families that "there is no tribute, no commemoration, no praise that can truly match the magnitude of your service and your sacrifice."
Dem Agenda Hijacked by Christian Conservatives
Salon
|
Nov 11, 2009 11:59 AM CST
(Newser) -
The US Council of Catholic Bishops is getting credit for the 11th-hour inclusion of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the House health bill last weekend, but the real force is the shadowy alliance of evangelicals and Democratic lawmakers called the Family, Jeff Sharlet writes on Salon. Though Stupak—a Dem and a Catholic—is coy about it, he...
25 Chicago Kids Jailed After Food Fight
NBC Chicago
|
Nov 11, 2009 11:46 AM CST
(Newser) -
Twenty-five Chicago students ages 11 to 15 had to cool their heels in jail for 5 hours last week after a food fight at their school apparently got out of hand. The kids face charges of misdemeanor reckless conduct, NBC Chicago reports. Parents are angry that their kids were treated like criminals and worried that a rap sheet will affect college applications....
Best Buy, Dr. Dre Woo Would-Be DJs
Billboard
|
Nov 11, 2009 11:38 AM CST
(Newser) -
Best Buy is hoping the fascination with sound quality and all things DJ will make its new “Club Beats” in-store sections a hit. The new areas will be heavily promoted by Dr. Dre—whose Beats by Dr. Dre headphones will feature prominently—as well as other artists like Lady Gaga and Will.i.am. Many “Club Beats” areas...
Body of Missing US Soldier Found in Afghan River
Associated Press
|
Nov 11, 2009 11:27 AM CST
(AP) -
Military divers have found the body of a US soldier who disappeared last week with a fellow soldier as the two tried to recover airdropped supplies from a river in western Afghanistan. The two Americans, from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, went missing Nov. 4 in Badghis province, a remote area that borders Turkmenistan. Local...
Marine Beats Terrorist... Er, Orthodox Priest
St. Petersburg Times
|
Nov 11, 2009 11:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
A Marine reservist in Tampa chased down a terrorist and beat him with a tire iron—only the terrorist was actually a lost tourist and Greek Orthodox priest who spoke little English. Jasen D. Bruce went after Alexios Marakis after Marakis approached him asking for directions. Bruce chased him for three blocks, even calling 911 to tell police he...
Speidi on How to Be Famous
OK!
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:52 AM CST
(Newser) -
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag’s new book, How To Be Famous , hits shelves Monday. From offering up photo-by-photo instructions on “how to say ‘I hate you’ without saying a word” to hard-hitting advice about which body parts to have surgically enhanced, this book has it all—including...
Dems Who Dissed Health Bill Feel Their Party's Wrath
Politico
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:51 AM CST
(Newser) -
They can't win. The 39 House Democrats who voted against the health care bill may have thought the move would win them the favor of their often Republican-heavy districts; instead they're fending off attacks from constituents and interest groups from the left, Politico reports. In Florida, about 60 people protested outside the office of Rep. Suzanne...
Celine Dion Not Pregnant After All
People
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:48 AM CST
(Newser) -
Céline Dion announced her pregnancy in August, but it turns out her IVF procedure didn’t actually take, husband René Angélil tells a Canadian paper. “We were shocked” to find out she wasn’t pregnant and tried again, but were still unsuccessful, People reports. Still, “Celine is more determined...
Tyler: I'm Not Leaving Aerosmith
Rolling Stone
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
Reports of Steven Tyler’s solo career have been greatly exaggerated. The Aerosmith frontman made a surprise appearance at last night’s Joe Perry Project concert in New York, assuring fans he was not leaving Aerosmith. He told fellow band member Perry, who earlier Tweeted that the band would look for a new singer, “Joe Perry, you are...
Winehouse Addicted...to Ping-Pong
Daily Mirror (UK)
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:42 AM CST
(Newser) -
Amy Winehouse has a new addiction. What vice is it this time: Cocaine? Her ex-husband? Nope. It’s her new ping-pong table. “She barely leaves the house,” a source tells the Mirror . In equally ridiculous Winehouse news, the recently-breast-enhanced singer is now pining for bigger boobs—and considering a butt job. “She...
Student Journos in Court Over Murder Investigation
Reuters
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:40 AM CST
(Newser) -
A group of Illinois journalism students found themselves in court yesterday, accused of flirting with and paying off sources during a 2003-2006 investigation for the Medill Innocence Project. The Northwestern students claim to have uncovered evidence exonerating Anthony McKinney, convicted in 1982 of murdering a security guard. Both sides went to court...
Teen Robin Hood Leads Cops on Merry Chase
Independent (UK)
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:13 AM CST
(Newser) -
Whether they want to arrest him or turn his life into a movie, everyone wants a piece of teen fugitive Colton Harris-Moore. The 18-year-old, on the run since April 2008, is wanted for at least 50 burglaries—some of them Catch Me If You Can -style capers involving planes and speedboats, the Independent reports. "To see an 18-year-old...
Noisy-Sex Woman Loses Appeal
BBC
|
Nov 11, 2009 10:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
A judge in England has upheld the conviction of a woman whose loud noises during sex "constituted a statutory nuisance," the BBC reports. Caroline Cartwright appealed an earlier decision, saying she had a right to "respect for her private and family life," but the court disagreed. And so did her neighbors. "The noise sounds...
Sammy Sosa: Skin Cream Did This
New York Daily News
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:48 AM CST
(Newser) -
Sammy Sosa attributes his newly lightened skin to three things: facial cream, all those baseball games he played out in the sun, and, of course, those pesky camera flashes, which “made my skin look lighter” at an event last week, he tells Univision. He wouldn’t divulge the name of the cream, but says he is in talks to market it, the...
Financial Reform: How to Prevent Another Greenspan
Wall Street Journal
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:44 AM CST
(Newser) -
There's a lot riding on reform of the financial industry, but the administration's plans to overhaul financial regulation carries the seeds of its own destruction, writes Thomas Frank. Taking oversight away from the present confusing array of agencies and making the Federal Reserve One Big Regulator means that when the administration changes, regulation...
100 No-Nos Insulting to Waiters
DoubleX
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:37 AM CST
(Newser) -
Along with the rest of the world—or at least, frequenters of the New York Times website—Lauren Bans read restaurateur Bruce Buschel’s recent “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” And the former waiter is pretty annoyed. “No minimum wage job should ever require a list of 100 Don’ts,” she...
Would-Be Robbers Return Wallet to Soldier
Associated Press
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:28 AM CST
(Newser) -
A group of Milwaukee muggers proved yesterday that there is, in fact, honor among thieves. After stopping a university student, holding a gun to his neck, and rummaging through his wallet, the group spotted an Army ID and decided to spare the man. "At one point he actually thanked me and he actually apologized," the student told AP . "The...
AMA Mellows on Medical Marijuana
Los Angeles Times
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:12 AM CST
(Newser) -
The American Medical Association has finally softened on marijuana, urging the government to give it a new classification that would open the door to serious research on its medical merits. Now a Schedule I drug, with no accepted medical uses, under the AMA proposal it would become a Schedule II narcotic, like morphine—still addictive, but with...
First US Citizen Sues Feds for Rendition
Washington Post
|
Nov 11, 2009 9:06 AM CST
(Newser) -
A New Jersey man yesterday became the first US citizen to sue the federal government for "rendition," the extrajudicial transfer of terrorism suspects between countries. Arrested in Kenya in 2007, Amir Meshal was secretly flown to Somalia, then to Ethiopia, where he claims US agents repeatedly threatened him with "torture, forced disappearance,...
Annoyed by Feds, AIG CEO Threatens to Quit
Wall Street Journal
|
Nov 11, 2009 8:43 AM CST
(Newser) -
Just 3 months after taking the job, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche is threatening to storm out in a huff. At a directors’ meeting last week the voluble Benmosche, formerly of MetLife, told colleagues he was “done” with trying to operate the 80% taxpayer-owned company under federal supervision, particularly with regard to compensation. He...
John Travolta, Ella Bleu Hit Ellen
The Ellen Degeneres Show website
|
Nov 11, 2009 8:25 AM CST
(Newser) -
John Travolta filmed his first interview since son Jett’s death, talking to Ellen DeGeneres yesterday in a segment that airs today, E! reports. “I just want to take one moment to thank each and every one of you throughout this country, throughout the world, for all your support and all your love for our family,” he says. Daughter...
Lack of Health Insurance Kills 2K Veterans a Year
ThinkProgress
|
Nov 11, 2009 8:16 AM CST
(Newser) -
Some 2,266 US veterans under 65 died last year because they didn't have health insurance, a team from Harvard Medical School estimates. Although most vets get medical care through the VA, there are about a million and a half, under 65, who were not wounded and are "too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid...
Surfer Dude's Theory of Everything May School Science
Telegraph (UK)
|
Nov 11, 2009 8:09 AM CST
(Newser) -
Science needs more people like Garrett Lisi, writes Roger Highfield at the Daily Telegraph . Lisi kitesurfs on Maui, lives in a yurt, snowboards at Tahoe—and has wowed physicists with his "theory of everything." The surfer dude scientist claims to have solved the biggest problem in physics by finding a model of the universe that...
Top Obama Advisers Push 30K Troop Increase
New York Times
|
Nov 11, 2009 7:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
As President Obama heads into a meeting with his national security team today, one of the four options on the table for increasing troop levels in Afghanistan has emerged as a favorite of his top advisers. Hillary Clinton, Mike Mullen, and Robert Gates all favor a plan to send about 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan in the next year, the New York...
