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.
Stewart Catches Hannity Faking Video Footage
Comedy Central
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Nov 11, 2009 7:44 AM CST
(Newser) -
Sean Hannity should know by now that Jon Stewart will go to the tape. The Daily Show host caught Hannity using old footage—from Glenn Beck’s 9/12 rally, no less—to make Thursday’s anti-health care bill rally appear to have, as Michele Bachmann and Hannity claimed, 20,000 to 45,000 attendees. The Washington Post reported...
Gitmo Mickey Dee's Now Hiring
Miami Herald
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Nov 11, 2009 7:32 AM CST
(Newser) -
The only McDonald's in Cuba is looking for an assistant manager. An ad posted on a job website last week invited candidates with valid American passports to apply for a job at the franchise at the Guantanamo Bay base. Burgers are shipped in from Florida and detainees cleared by the courts are allowed to place take-out orders.
In Palin We Don't Trust: Fox Checks Coin Claim
Talking Points Memo
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Nov 11, 2009 7:23 AM CST
(Newser) -
Even Fox News has started fact-checking Sarah Palin. Last night anchor Bret Baier responded to Palin's claim during a speech Friday that the phrase "In God We Trust" had recently moved from the face to the rim of the new dollar coin: Another case of Obama pushing a secular America, Palin implied. But as Baier joined Politico in pointing...
Hard Times Catch Up with Well-Heeled Jobless
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 11, 2009 7:07 AM CST
(Newser) -
Time and money is finally beginning to run out for large numbers of people who lost their jobs, and have been living off hefty severance packages for up to two years. Many workers who received generous exit packages from the financial and auto industries kept on spending the way they were used to in the expectation of soon finding another job, and...
O'Reilly: 'We Can't Kill All the Muslims'
Huffington Post
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Nov 11, 2009 6:45 AM CST
(Newser) -
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly believes the US wants to win the "hearts and minds" of the world's Muslims because we can't kill all of them, the Huffington Post reports. He let slip last night during a discussion with novelist and retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters about alleged Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan. Peters said he was "outraged"...
Scale Tweets Your Body Fat to the World
Associated Press
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Nov 11, 2009 6:06 AM CST
(Newser) -
Want the world to follow the ups and downs of your body weight in real time? A French company has just the product for you: the WiFi body scale, equipped with a wireless connection to post your weight and body fat to your Web page and iPhone—and to tweet them automatically to your Twitter followers. "What's next?" in the world of embarrassing...
Feds Point Fingers in Hasan Missteps
Washington Post
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Nov 11, 2009 5:43 AM CST
(Newser) -
The FBI and the Pentagon are fighting off accusations that someone dropped the ball on Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. Department of Defense officials say that the FBI never notified them that Hasan had been in contact with extremist imam Anwar al-Aulaqi, while the FBI's defenders say that his exchanges with the Yemen-based imam were innocuous,...
Rape Witness: 'I'm No Snitch'
ABC Local
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Nov 11, 2009 5:02 AM CST
(Newser) -
An East Bay witness arrested, then released for lack of evidence, in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance last month said he didn't report the attack because "snitching is something you don't do." Salvador Rodriquez, 21, said he watched as attackers kicked the victim in the head. "They were beating...
5 Missouri Men Busted on Child Rape Charges
WDAF-TV
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Nov 11, 2009 4:50 AM CST
(Newser) -
Five members of the same family were arrested in connection with sex crimes against children in a raid on a Missouri farm yesterday. The men, aged from 47 to 77, are believed to be a father and his four sons, police say. They face multiple felony charges including forcible sodomy, forcible rape with a child less than 12 years old, and use of a child...
Poll: Grouchy Public Sticks With Obama
Associated Press
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Nov 11, 2009 4:49 AM CST
(Newser) -
America's mood has crashed hard after the euphoria that greeted Barack Obama's inauguration: A recent poll shows the country in a pessimistic funk as the president struggles to revive the economy and fight two wars abroad. But Americans haven't lost all faith in Obama: His approval stands at 54%, no change from October, according to the AP-Gfk poll....
Iran Blasts Oxford Tribute to Dead Protester
Times (UK)
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Nov 11, 2009 4:25 AM CST
(Newser) -
The Iranian regime has condemned Oxford University's offering of a scholarship in the name of a young woman killed in protests earlier this year as a politically motivated move staged by its enemies. The scholarship is named after Neda Soltan, a 26-year-old philosophy student who became the symbol of the Iranian protests after photographs and a video...
Mormons Back Salt Lake Gay Rights Law
Associated Press
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Nov 11, 2009 4:20 AM CST
(Newser) -
The Mormon church has come out in support of gay rights legislation for the first time in its history, backing a pair of Salt Lake City ordinances passed yesterday by the city council protecting gays from discrimination in housing and employment. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence...
Time to Drop-Kick the Dems, Ladies
Salon
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Nov 11, 2009 3:59 AM CST
(Newser) -
House Democrats got their health care package through, but not before selling women down the river (again) by "restricting access to abortion in unprecedented ways," complains Kate Harding in Salon . The latest betrayal is just more evidence that it's time for women to dump the Dems, "who act exactly like Republicans did before their...
Shark Babies Born in Bite
BBC
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Nov 11, 2009 3:30 AM CST
(Newser) -
Never mind nurse sharks: A New Zealand aquarium appears to be home to a midwife shark. A shark there bit another in the midsection, effectively giving it a Caesarean section and causing four babies to swim out of the wound as shocked visitors looked on. Staffers found four more babies tucked inside the shark and moved all eight to a tank where they...
Santa Cruz Seeks Deadhead Archivist
San Francisco Chronicle
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Nov 11, 2009 3:03 AM CST
(Newser) -
Far out. The University of Santa Cruz is seeking an archivist to help handle its horde of Grateful Dead material—for a very un-hippie-like $70,000 salary, plus benefits. The school is seeking a "creative" professional with a master's degree, and preferably "expert knowledge" of the "history and influence of the Grateful...
ET, Phone Rome: Vatican Holds Alien Conference
Telegraph (UK)
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Nov 11, 2009 2:35 AM CST
(Newser) -
Does intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe and if so, is it Christian? Those and other weighty questions are up for discussion this week at a Vatican conference on astrobiology. Religious leaders and a range of scientists—including some non-Catholics—have been called in to discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial life and...
RI Man Gets 25 Years for Wife's Scuba Murder
CBS News
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Nov 11, 2009 2:10 AM CST
(Newser) -
A former scuba shop owner has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for murdering his wife during a dive in the British Virgin Islands. David Swain of Rhode Island killed his wife by ripping off her mask and shutting off her air supply as the pair swam near a shipwreck. Swain was motivated by his desire to date another woman, and to get his hands on...
Time for Gays to Go Nader on Democrats
Huffington Post
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Nov 11, 2009 1:46 AM CST
(Newser) -
The two-party system gives gay Americans a terrible deal, and the proposed gay boycott of Democratic National Committee fundraising is a big step in the right direction toward changing the situation, writes Emma Ruby-Sachs . Cutting off funds to the party will push Democrats toward eliminating discrimination against gays and could lead to some real...
Music Biz Drops Concert Camera Bans
CNET
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Nov 11, 2009 1:22 AM CST
(Newser) -
As camera phones held aloft become as common as lighters in the air used to be at rock-and-roll concerts, the music industry is starting to give in to reality and drop camera bans. Most bands are allowed to choose their own photo policy, and a growing number are letting fans capture gigs with any kind of camera they want. Others, including U2, allow...
Blackwater OK'd $1M Bribe Fund After '07 Iraq Shooting
New York Times
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Nov 10, 2009 9:39 PM CST
(Newser) -
Security firm Blackwater set aside $1 million for secret payments to critical Iraqi officials after the 2007 Baghdad shootout that left 17 civilians dead. With Blackwater fearing it could lose its lucrative operating license in the country, former executives tell the New York Times , then-president Gary Jackson authorized the bribe money’s...
East Germany's First Lady Unrepentant
Independent (UK)
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Nov 10, 2009 8:43 PM CST
(Newser) -
The wife of former East German dictator Erich Honecker loses no sleep over the policies she and her husband championed, including one that forcibly placed children of dissidents into other families or foster homes. “We lived good lives in our GDR,” Margot Honecker tells the Independent . More than 2,000 Germans still searching for children...
Beltway Sniper Executed
Twitter
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Nov 10, 2009 8:25 PM CST
(Newser) -
The state of Virginia executed John Allen Muhammad, the so-called Beltway sniper, tonight, with the man who led the 2002 shooting spree that killed 10 dying of lethal injection at 9:11 EST. The 48-year-old was “quiet and relaxed,” a prison official tells CBS’ Andrew Cohen . “I didn’t hear him utter a word.”
Millions Without Power in Brazil
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 8:10 PM CST
(Newser) -
Trouble at the world’s largest hydroelectric dam has millions in Brazil without power tonight. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro—the nation’s largest cities, with combined metropolitan populations well beyond 20 million—are affected, as are many smaller towns. An official at the Itaipu dam tells the BBC that it has lost its entire...
Clinton to Dems: 'The Worst Thing to Do Is Nothing'
Politico
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Nov 10, 2009 7:28 PM CST
(Newser) -
Bill Clinton pounded Democratic senators on health-care reform today, telling them that passing a bill this year is imperative. “Just pass the bill, even if it’s not exactly what you want,” Clinton said. “When you try and fail, the other guys write history. … The worst thing to do is nothing.”
Germany's Keeper Dies in Train Suicide
Guardian (UK)
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Nov 10, 2009 7:12 PM CST
(Newser) -
German soccer fans are stunned tonight over news that the man likely to be the national team’s goalkeeper at next summer’s World Cup committed suicide today by stepping in front of a train traveling 100 mph. Robert Enke, 32, had been “unstable” recently, the president of his club team said, though gave no further details. ...
Two Dead in Shooting at Ore. Drug-Testing Lab
Oregonian (Portland)
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Nov 10, 2009 6:46 PM CST
(Newser) -
A gunman killed one woman and injured several other people before taking his own life at a drug- and alcohol-testing clinic near Portland, Ore., today. While authorities wouldn’t identify the shooter or victim, the local police chief tells the Oregonian the dead woman was a clinic employee and appeared to have had a relationship with the...
UK Cops Pull Suspected Drunk Pilot Off United Jet
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 6:33 PM CST
(AP) -
British police pulled a United Airlines pilot off a Chicago-bound plane today at Heathrow airport and charged him with being over the alcohol limit while on the job. Police and airline officials say Erwin Vermont Washington, 51, was pulled from United Airlines Flight 949 after a co-worker suspected him of being drunk. The flight was canceled and the...
Huge Cache of Bomb Material Seized in Afghanistan
New York Times
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Nov 10, 2009 6:25 PM CST
(Newser) -
Coalition forces discovered an enormous cache of bomb-making material Sunday in Kandahar, seizing 500,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer illegal in the country and widely used in homemade bombs. A single bomb requires only 60 pounds of the substance, meaning the discovery will prevent thousands of bombs from being deployed. Fifteen people...
Ex-Editor Sues 'Racist' NY Post
Reuters
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Nov 10, 2009 5:56 PM CST
(Newser) -
A former associate editor of the New York Post says she was fired for complaining about the paper’s racist and sexist atmosphere. Sandra Guzman, who identified herself as the “only female editor of color at the Post, ” is suing parent News Corp. Her suit claims she was among those who complained about an infamous cartoon in February...
Jury Clears Fund Managers in Bellwether Case
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 5:29 PM CST
(AP) -
Two Bear Stearns executives who ran hedge funds that collapsed after betting heavily on the shaky subprime mortgage market were acquitted today of lying to investors—a defeat in the government's bid to punish fraud exposed by the financial crisis. The closely watched case was the first one against Wall Street executives related to the meltdown...
Gorbachev: Take It From Me, Leave Afghanistan
Bloomberg
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Nov 10, 2009 5:01 PM CST
(Newser) -
Mikhail Gorbachev—the man who pulled the Soviet Union's troops out of Afghanistan after a decade of stalemate—says the US should do the same. "There is no prospect of a military solution," he tells Bloomberg . The nation is too fragmented among clans, dooming even a troop surge to failure, he says. “They should be preparing...
Admit It Wolf, You Smoked Pot
New York
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Nov 10, 2009 4:38 PM CST
(Newser) -
Wolf Blitzer can stay calm and collected on nearly any subject—except when marijuana comes up. Yesterday, during a discussion of Barney Frank’s brush with pot, the anchor noted that he couldn’t recognize the plant but could recognize the smell, then got flummoxed when asked to elaborate. And this was Wolf’s second brush with...
'Diaper' Astronaut Gets Light Sentence
Reuters
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Nov 10, 2009 4:15 PM CST
(Newser) -
Ex-astronaut Lisa Nowak will serve a year of probation for the bizarre attack on a romantic rival in 2007. Nowak pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misdemeanor battery and burglary of an automobile. She drove 1,000 miles from Houston to Orlando, famously telling police that she wore a diaper en route, and attacked Colleen Shipman with pepper spray...
Want a Beer From the Hindenburg? $8K, Please
BBC
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Nov 10, 2009 3:55 PM CST
(Newser) -
“You wouldn't want to drink it,” the auctioneer tells the BBC . “It is probably quite putrid to taste.” And yet, if the bottle of beer sells as expected, it will be the most expensive ever bought. Why? It’s a Lowenbrau rescued from the smoldering ruins of the Hindenburg by a New Jersey firefighter in 1937 and then buried...
Images From Fort Hood Service
Dallas Morning News
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Nov 10, 2009 3:34 PM CST
(Newser) -
Here are images from today's memorial service at Fort Hood for the 13 people killed in last week's shooting spree. "We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers," President Obama told the crowd. "You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers. But here is what you must also know: your loved ones...
Privacy Advocates Hijack 300 Facebook Groups
CNN
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Nov 10, 2009 3:29 PM CST
(Newser) -
A group advocating for social-networking privacy has hijacked nearly 300 Facebook groups over the past few days to point out weaknesses in the site’s control of personal information. The protesters renamed all the Facebook groups “Control Your Info,” pointing out that after administrators of groups step down, anyone else can take...
Dow Up 20 in Seesaw Day
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 10, 2009 3:19 PM CST
(Newser) -
Stocks closed mixed today after a seesaw session, mostly managing to hold the gains from yesterday's big rally. Kraft Foods, Bank of America, and American Express saw gains, notes the Wall Street Journal . The Dow rose 20 points to close at 10,247. The Nasdaq lost 3 points to settled at 2,151. The S&P 500 closed flat at 1,093.
Dave Ready to Testify Against Blackmailer
New York Post
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Nov 10, 2009 2:49 PM CST
(Newser) -
David Letterman is ready to take the stand in order to convict accused extortionist Robert Halderman. Dave “is fully prepared to see this case through to the end, including testifying at trial," said lawyer Daniel Horwitz. He added that Halderman’s new claim—in a bid to get charges dropped—that he was merely trying to sell...
Dodd Unveils Sweeping Financial Overhaul Bill
Wall Street Journal
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Nov 10, 2009 2:41 PM CST
(Newser) -
Chris Dodd introduced a sweeping financial regulation bill that creates no fewer than three new agencies to oversee the banking industry. Dodd’s bill creates an Agency for Financial Stability to identify systemic risks to the economy as a whole. It entrusts all bank supervision to the Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration, stripping...
Obama Salutes Victims, One by One
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 2:23 PM CST
(AP) -
President Obama spoke the names and told the stories today of the 13 people slain in the Fort Hood shooting rampage, honoring their memories even as he denounced the "twisted logic" that led to their deaths. "No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor," Obama told the crowd....
White House's Fox News Foe Stepping Down
Washington Post
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Nov 10, 2009 2:11 PM CST
(Newser) -
President Obama’s communications director will cede her post to a deputy at the end of the month, Chris Cillizza has learned. Anita Dunn notably took on the Fox Network and accused it of being a Republican mouthpiece. Dunn, who said from the start she was taking the post on an interim basis, will turn over the job to Dan Pfeiffer.
Free Holiday Airport WiFi From Google, Microsoft
PC World
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Nov 10, 2009 2:03 PM CST
(Newser) -
There’s a new public option in town: free wireless from Google for the holidays. The search giant has partnered to provide WiFi gratis in 47 airports nationwide from now until the middle of January; the generosity even extends to in-flight access on continental Virgin flights, PC World reports. Google would probably like to spread its beneficence...
Any Random Conservative Would Crush Snowe in 2010
Talking Points Memo
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Nov 10, 2009 1:54 PM CST
(Newser) -
Olympia Snowe could be in trouble in 2012: a new poll found that a generic conservative challenger would trounce the Maine moderate in a primary. The hypothetical conservative got 59% of the vote, while Snowe received just 31%. While it can be argued that results for hypothetical candidate have little bearing on a real race, it’s clear that conservatives...
Obama, First Lady Meet Victims' Families
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 1:34 PM CST
(AP) -
Stepping for the first time into the role of national consoler, President Obama is honoring the 13 people slain in the Ft. Hood shooting rampage by remembering what they left behind, offering personal stories about the lives they touched and the service they provided to their country. The president and first lady Michelle Obama began an afternoon of...
Precious a Perfect Look at Black America
Salon
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Nov 10, 2009 1:17 PM CST
(Newser) -
At first horrified, political alarms blaring, as she watched the Precious trailer, Erin Aubry Kaplan realized after seeing the film that it’s actually a story that has long needed to be told: “that of a big, black, sullen-faced, illiterate girl who lives in the depths of the ghetto and in all likelihood will stay there,” Kaplan...
Senate Dems Say Obama Plans Don't Fix Spending
New York Times
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Nov 10, 2009 1:05 PM CST
(Newser) -
Some Democrats in the Senate are worried that reform legislation under consideration doesn't do enough to rein in out-of-control health care spending. President Obama has promised $2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years, but critics say the proposed changes aren't nearly aggressive enough on the current pay-per-visit system favored by doctors...
Meet the Man Behind Elmo
Time
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Nov 10, 2009 12:37 PM CST
(Newser) -
When Kevin Clash does a live Sesame Street event, the kids “don’t know me from a hole in the wall and they don’t care to,” he tells Time . “I’m the guy holding their friend.” That friend would be Elmo, the furry red monster Clash puppets and voices, one of the most popular characters in the show’s...
Steele: I Scare White Republicans
NewsOne
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Nov 10, 2009 12:32 PM CST
(Newser) -
Rack up another gaffe for Michael Steele. The Republican National Committee chair has been trying to improve his party’s relationship with minority voters, but he may have been a little too honest in a recent interview with NewsOne's Roland Martin. Martin suggested that white Republicans were "scared" of African Americans, to which...
Boston Subway Just Misses Woman
Associated Press
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Nov 10, 2009 12:10 PM CST
(Newser) -
A Boston subway train came to a screeching halt just before hitting a woman who had fallen onto the tracks. She told authorities afterward she'd been drinking. Both the train's driver and another Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority employee have been hailed as heroes for their quick action.
Senate Health Bill Runs Into Abortion Divide
Politico
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Nov 10, 2009 12:05 PM CST
(Newser) -
With a last-second concession barring federal dollars from funding abortions, Nancy Pelosi largely skirted the full brunt of the issue, but Harry Reid may not be so lucky. The Senate majority leader likely won't get the 60 votes he needs without similar language— which a Planned Parenthood VP calls a “middle-class abortion ban”—but...
