Newser Story Index from August, 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.
Meghan McCain to Sit In for Hasselbeck on the View
New York Post
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Aug 20, 2009 12:55 PM CDT
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Meghan McCain will sit in for new mom Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the View in September, the New York Post reports. The daughter of John McCain and one-woman youth movement in the GOP has proven popular on the chatfest, and will tape 3 episodes. Also filling in for Hasselbeck later in the year will be ED Hill, the Fox News anchor canned for suggesting...
Policy-Wonk Pawlenty Steers Clear of Wackos
Politico
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Aug 20, 2009 12:44 PM CDT
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Voters are “ticked off and scared,” by Barack Obama’s health care plans, says Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, because those plans are “out of step with common sense, out of step with the notion that the government isn’t going to run everything.” Pawlenty, an oft-mentioned possibility for the GOP’s 2012 nomination,...
In Search of Profit, Tobacco Farms Morph Into Vineyards
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 20, 2009 12:30 PM CDT
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A falloff in demand and an end to subsidies has tobacco farmers across the country turning to the vino, the Wall Street Journal reports—farming grapes and making wine, that is. “The small-plot tobacco farmer is a thing of the past,” says a North Carolina wine official, who notes that wine production is one of the few ways small,...
Twins Ratted Out Jon to Kate
Star
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Aug 20, 2009 12:18 PM CDT
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Turns out the real reason Kate Gosselin tried to barge into the house during Jon’s time with the kids—which turned into such a noisy mess that the cops showed up—is because the twins called her, Star reports. Jon apparently got touchy-feely with babysitter Stephanie Santoro in front of Cara and Mady, who phoned mom. And it gets...
Test Finds Mercury in Every Fish
Associated Press
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Aug 20, 2009 12:04 PM CDT
(AP) -
Catch a fish in one of America's streams, and there's a good chance it will have at least trace amounts of mercury. The most comprehensive survey to date from the US Geological Survey tested more than 1,000 fish from nearly 300 streams around the nation—and found mercury in every single one of them. The good news? Only about a quarter had...
UK Police Arrest Third Man in $65M Robbery
Times (UK)
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Aug 20, 2009 12:00 PM CDT
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British police arrested a third man today suspected of participating in the biggest jewelry heist in British history, the Times of London reports. Police already have two men in custody, having captured at least one from DNA evidence left at the scene of the crime. Authorities have said that the robbery, in which $65 million of jewelry was taken...
Trust Me, Caster Semenya Is a Woman: Grandma
Times (UK)
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Aug 20, 2009 11:50 AM CDT
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Caster Semenya’s grandmother thinks it’s ridiculous that people are accusing the new women’s 800-meter champion of being a man. “I know she’s a woman—I raised her myself,” she tells the Times of London. Maphuthi Sekgala says Caster has long been teased for her boyish appearance, but adds "what can I...
Murdered Model's Hubby Fled: Cops
TMZ
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Aug 20, 2009 11:37 AM CDT
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Authorities believe Ryan Jenkins, the former reality show contestant named as a person of interest in the murder of his model wife, has fled to his native Canada. But Honduras—where his architect-dad once designed a resort—may be his final destination, TMZ reports, adding that Jenkins was charged with battery in June for allegedly beating...
Disgraced Reporter Jayson Blair Now a Life Coach
Associated Press
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Aug 20, 2009 11:21 AM CDT
(AP) -
Former journalist Jayson Blair knows his new profession—life coach—smacks some people in the face like a bad punchline. "People say, 'Wait a minute. You're a life coach?' That makes no sense,'" says Blair, who’s best known for foisting plagiarism and fabrications into the pages of the New York Times . "Then they think...
High-Tech Mug Keeps Coffee Just Right
Der Spiegel
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Aug 20, 2009 11:02 AM CDT
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German scientists have developed a coffee mug that gets your joe to the right temperature and keeps it there, Der Spiegel reports. The secret is phase-change material, waxy stuff used in home-building to maintain temperatures indoors. It's also stuffed inside winter jackets, and if these scientists have their way, it will soon be stuffed into the...
Don't Worry, McSteamy: Sex Tapes Are Good for You
E! Online
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Aug 20, 2009 10:45 AM CDT
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For better or worse, sex tapes turned Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian into household names. So rather than being annoyed at the leak, the stars of the McSteamy nudie vid should be grateful: “Sex tapes have been proven to provide a significant career boost,” one adult-industry editor tells E! Looks like video star Kari Ann Peniche is already...
To Cure Health Care, See This Doctor
Washington Post
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Aug 20, 2009 10:25 AM CDT
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To fix health care, we need a commander like Gen. David Petraeus: “a professional who can break through the political chaff and describe a strategy for reform that can unite the country,” writes David Ignatius in the Washington Post . He nominates Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Denis Cortese, who’s already doing what the country needs: “providing...
Burress Pleads Guilty, Gets 2 Years
Newsday
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Aug 20, 2009 10:06 AM CDT
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Plaxico Burress pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree this morning, as part of a plea deal that will send him to prison for two years, Newsday reports. “Unfortunately, there was no legal defense we could offer,” his attorney said. Burress will also receive two years' probation.
Why Stimulus Gets a Bad Rap
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 20, 2009 10:04 AM CDT
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The Democrats’ $787 billion stimulus package is less popular than ever—even though it’s already working, writes David Wessel for the Wall Street Journal . The case against it is weak: Fed rate cuts hadn’t slowed the recession, already a year-old at that point, making the stimulus an appropriate move. Now the economy is improving,...
Afghan Polls Close; Taliban Attacks Dampen Turnout
Associated Press
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Aug 20, 2009 9:55 AM CDT
(AP) -
With polls now closed, Taliban threats appeared to have dampened voter turnout in the militant south in today's Afghanistan election. Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide, and bomb attacks that closed some polling sites. After 10 hours of voting, including a last-minute, one-hour extension, election workers began to count the millions of ballots...
Woman Who Claimed Sex Assault Sues Copperfield
Seattle Times
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Aug 20, 2009 9:41 AM CDT
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The Seattle woman who accused David Copperfield of sexual assault two years ago filed a federal lawsuit against the magician last month before the two-year statute of limitations expired, the Seattle Times reports. The 22-year-old model and former Miss Washington USA contestant says Copperfield used her in his act in January 2007, then lured her...
NRA Shouldn't Tolerate Gun-Toting Protesters
Washington Post
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Aug 20, 2009 9:34 AM CDT
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If the National Rifle Association is really, to quote its website “dedicated to the lawful, effective, responsible, and above all safe use of firearms,” then it should loudly discourage people from carrying those firearms to political rallies, writes Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post. Politics aside, it’s just bad gun safety....
Surprise! Fox News Is Liberal: Stewart
Comedy Central
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Aug 20, 2009 9:08 AM CDT
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Jon Stewart made a discovery on last night's Daily Show: Fox News has turned into a big, fat liberal! As proof, Stewart showed a series of clips, including one of Bill O'Reilly praising conservative town hall protesters ("We don't describe the protesters as 'loons,'" he says) contrasted with a 2004 clip in which its talking heads called...
Bernanke: Hero on Wall Street, Despised in Congress
New York Times
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Aug 20, 2009 9:00 AM CDT
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Ben Bernanke can expect a standing ovation from economists at a Fed retreat in Jackson Hole today—for the financial establishment, the Fed chairman is a superhero, hailed for his aggressive, unprecedented actions to stem the worst crisis in generations. Yet on Capitol Hill he's far less popular, and the White House still isn't showing its cards...
Inside the Octomom TV Special
E! Online
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Aug 20, 2009 8:51 AM CDT
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The Nadya Suleman “suckfest” debuted last night on Fox, and it was “even more horrible than we could have imagined,” writes Natalie Finn for E! Among the “lowlights” of the special: The octuplets’ delivery: “Gee, what a coup that someone was filming!” writes Finn. (Bonus: It included a near-brawl...
10 EU Countries, Others, in Deals to Take Gitmo Detainees
Washington Post
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Aug 20, 2009 8:40 AM CDT
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The White House, in talks ranging from Australia to Georgia, is making progress on its attempts to resettle Guantanamo Bay detainees, the Washington Post reports. Ten EU countries have agreed to take detainees; the US is negotiating with Saudi Arabia to accept Guantanamo's 98 Yemenis; and 11 detainees, including four Chinese Uighurs taken by Bermuda,...
Let's Make Health Insurance Policies Readable
New York Times
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Aug 20, 2009 8:31 AM CDT
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There’s one important health care issue that’s generated little chatter: the oft-inscrutable language of insurance policies, writes Rhode Island health official John Cogan in the New York Times . Policies are penned at a grad-school level, which led his state to require, as of next year, that they be written at the level most people in...
Poor Nations Pick Up Tab as Obama Woos Big Pharma
Los Angeles Times
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Aug 20, 2009 8:15 AM CDT
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The Obama administration is thwarting poor countries' access to affordable drugs in order to win Big Pharma's support for health care reform, according to Doctors Without Borders and other NGOs. As the Los Angeles Times reports, governments from Asia to Latin America are feeling pressure from Washington on their use of generics, even on treatments...
Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber
BBC
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Aug 20, 2009 7:51 AM CDT
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The only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been released on compassionate grounds and will return to Libya, reports the BBC. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life for the murder of 270 people, but he is suffering from prostate cancer and is said to have only months to live. The Scottish...
Rush to Barney Frank: Oh Yeah? You Live on Uranus
Mediaite
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Aug 20, 2009 7:40 AM CDT
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Rush Limbaugh is eating up the town hall protests. Covering the Barney Frank town hall last night, Rush said it was “fabulous and fantastic and hilarious” that a woman showed up with a poster of Obama as Adolf Hitler and asked why Frank supported a Nazi health care policy, reports Mediaite. As for the openly gay senator’s celebrated...
Levi's Mom Pleads, Will Likely Get 3 Years
Anchorage Daily News
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Aug 20, 2009 7:15 AM CDT
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Sherry Johnston, the woman the world has to thank for the existence of Levi Johnston, is headed off to the pokey after taking a plea deal yesterday in her OxyContin-dealing case that will likely land her behind bars for three years, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Johnston pleaded guilty to one count in exchange for five others being dropped. She'll...
Rove: The Dems Can't Prove a Thing
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 20, 2009 6:54 AM CDT
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Karl Rove has been cruelly persecuted. For years now the House Judiciary Committee and the New York Times editorial board have been trying to pin him as the mastermind behind the US attorney firings. Recently the committee called him in for a two-day, 12-hour interview, and what did it discover? Absolutely nothing, Rove boasts in the Wall Street...
Court Makes Google Unveil 'Skanks in NYC' Blogger
Canada.com
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Aug 20, 2009 6:26 AM CDT
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A Manhattan judge has forced Google to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who called model Liskula Cohen a "40-something" "skank," reports Canada.com. In the precedent-setting ruling, Cohen, 37, convinced the court to unmask the writer so she could sue for defamation; when Google handed over the blogger's email address,...
DC Delegate: Ban Guns Near Obama
The Hill
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Aug 20, 2009 6:20 AM CDT
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Washington DC's congressional delegate is watching gun-toting protesters outside venues where Barack Obama speaks, and she's not gonna take it anymore, reports The Hill. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton—whose constituency last year had its handgun ban tossed by the Supreme Court—wants guns banned in the president's vicinity, and is calling...
CBS, Pepsi Embed Video Ads in Magazines
Financial Times (UK)
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Aug 20, 2009 5:59 AM CDT
(Newser) -
CBS and Pepsi have teamed up for an experiment in advertising that seems out of the Harry Potter films: talking video advertisements in the pages of Entertainment Weekly . Selected magazine subscribers in New York and LA will receive copies embedded with wafer-thin screens the width of a mobile phone display, which will feature clips from...
'Indelible' Ink Washes Off, Afghan Candidates Charge
Guardian (UK)
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Aug 20, 2009 5:51 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers in today's Afghanistan election rubs off easily with household detergent, raising fears of widespread ballot fraud. Campaigners for Abdullah Abdullah, the main opposition candidate, found they could remove the ink with minimal effort, and a Guardian journalist scrubbed his finger clean in...
US-Canada Border Crossings Plummet
Globe and Mail
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Aug 20, 2009 5:42 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Fewer Americans visited Canada last month than at any time since record-keeping began in 1972, as new passport controls and a weak US dollar kept tourists away. One-day car trips dropped 26% from May to June, and US tourists in Canada fell to half their number 5 years ago. The dramatic drop has dealt a blow to the tourism industry on both...
US Life Expectancy at Record High: 77.9
NPR
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Aug 20, 2009 5:34 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Americans are living longer than ever before, with an average life expectancy of 77.9 years, reports NPR. The CDC, citing 2007 death certificate records, says US men now live 75.3 years, and women 80.4. Great news, until you consider people in more than two dozen other countries are living longer, notes Joseph Shapiro.
Kennedy Urges Mass. Leaders to Fill His Senate Seat Quickly
Boston Globe
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Aug 20, 2009 5:33 AM CDT
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In a letter indirectly invoking his own terminal illness and the current health care debate, Ted Kennedy has urged Massachusetts leaders to take special measures to make sure the state won't lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant, the Boston Globe reports. Kennedy called for the governor to be given authority to appoint someone to fill the...
Judging Gender Trickier Than You Think
Slate
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Aug 20, 2009 5:25 AM CDT
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After her big win yesterday in a world track meet, South Africa's Caster Semenya has to undergo a gender test to prove that she is, in fact, a woman. This is way more complicated than it sounds, writes Melonyce McAfee in a Slate Explainer column updated from a similar case a few years ago. It requires a small army of specialists—"gynecologists,...
Grassley: Town Halls Telling Us to Scale Back
Washington Post
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Aug 20, 2009 5:21 AM CDT
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Chuck Grassley, the leading Republican senator negotiating health care reform, said yesterday that Congress should pass a substantially narrower bill in the face of town hall anger. The Iowa legislator said baying crowds at public meetings had convinced him that the public has rejected "a government takeover of health care." It's the latest...
Ensign: My Affair Wasn't 'Legally Wrong'
Associated Press
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Aug 20, 2009 4:34 AM CDT
(AP) -
John Ensign says that his affair with a friend's wife was different than former President Bill Clinton's relationship with a White House intern because he didn't lie under oath. "I haven't done anything legally wrong," the Nevada GOP senator said. "President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people."
Afghan Polls Open as Race Tightens
New York Times
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Aug 20, 2009 1:53 AM CDT
(Newser) -
As polls open in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai's chances of claiming enough of the vote to avoid a runoff no longer look like a sure thing, the New York Times reports. Voter intimidation by the Taliban, a surge in popularity by one of Karzai's opponents, and limited election monitoring could conspire to keep Karzai from gaining the necessary 50% in today's...
Venus, Serena Buying Stake in NFL's Dolphins
Miami Herald
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Aug 20, 2009 12:58 AM CDT
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It looks like the Williams sisters are branching out into a new sport. Venus and Serena are expected to be named next week as part owners of the Miami Dolphins, reports the Miami Herald . Serena acknowledged ongoing talks but did not confirm a done deal. The team would say only that it plans to announce new "limited ownership partners"...
CIA Hired Blackwater to Help Plan al-Qaeda Killings
New York Times
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Aug 19, 2009 10:49 PM CDT
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We knew the US outsourced a lot of its work in Iraq to Blackwater, but this takes the cake: The CIA hired the infamous military contractor in 2004 to help it figure out how to track down and kill al-Qaeda operatives, reports the New York Times . The move to hire an outside agency to assist with assassinations raises a host of thorny questions,...
World's Most Powerful Women
Forbes
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Aug 19, 2009 9:54 PM CDT
(Newser) -
German leader Angela Merkel keeps her spot as the world's most powerful woman for the fourth straight year on the annual Forbes list. Other notables in the top 100: Michelle Obama debuts at 40, just ahead of Oprah (41) and Queen Elizabeth (42). Hillary Clinton is 36, down from 28 and just a notch behind Nancy Pelosi at 35. FDIC chief Sheila...
Dems May Split Health Plan Into 2 Bills to Skirt GOP
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 19, 2009 8:55 PM CDT
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Here's the latest health care strategy gaining traction among Democrats: Pass two bills instead of one. The idea, as laid out by the Wall Street Journal , goes like this: Democrats would tuck most of the legislation's more controversial spending measures—maybe even a public insurance option—into a first bill they can jam through the Senate...
Gadhafi Readies Private Jet for Lockerbie Bomber
Times (UK)
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Aug 19, 2009 8:05 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has his private jet ready to zip into Glasgow to pick up the Lockerbie bomber, reports the London Times . Scottish officials say they have made a decision about Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi but won't announce it until 1pm local time. Megrahi, who continues to insist on his innocence, is expected to be released on compassionate...
Poll: Most in US Say Afghan War Not Worth It
Washington Post
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Aug 19, 2009 7:34 PM CDT
(Newser) -
On the eve of Afghanistan's elections, a major new poll finds sinking support for the US war effort there. A poll by the Washington Post and ABC finds that 51% of Americans don't think the war is worth fighting, up 6 points from last month. Only 24% think President Obama should agree to send more troops, while 45% want a reduction in US forces....
Richardson Hails Warmer Signals From North Korea
MSNBC
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Aug 19, 2009 6:52 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The tentative thaw continues in North Korea relations. On the heels of Bill Clinton's trip, Bill Richardson hosted two high-ranking officials from the North today at the governor's mansion in New Mexico and declared that Pyongyang is sending a "positive vibration" about detente. “What I sense was, one, the temperature has really cooled...
Neurotic People Die Earlier
LiveScience
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Aug 19, 2009 6:06 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Neurotics are more likely to die prematurely than their mellower peers, LiveScience reports. A new study that followed nearly 1,800 men for 30 years found that those who fit self-descriptive criteria for neuroticism—constantly worried or anxious—were more likely to die early, in large part because they were more likely to smoke in order...
Obama Honors NASCAR as 'Uniquely American'
Associated Press
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Aug 19, 2009 5:45 PM CDT
(AP) -
First bowling, now NASCAR. President Obama continued his sports education today by honoring last year's champ, Jimmie Johnson, and the rest of NASCAR's top drivers at the White House. "NASCAR is a uniquely American sport," said the president, praising its rise from the humble roots of moonshiners racing around Daytona Beach. He also lauded...
Rock's Worst Career Moves
Independent (UK)
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Aug 19, 2009 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Bob Dylan’s decision to record a Christmas album is certainly ill-advised—“fans may have stuck by him throughout the musically self-destructive late '60s, the God-bothering late '70s, and the Grateful Dead-collaborating-Madonna-imitating mid '80s, but surely even Bob's fans have a limit,” writes John Matthew Hall for the Independent....
Nearly Half of Employers Screen Social Media Profiles
Mashable
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Aug 19, 2009 4:45 PM CDT
(Newser) -
It’s becoming increasingly likely that a prospective employer will check your Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn profile, Mashable reports. A recent survey found that 45% of human-resource departments search the social-media profiles of prospective employees, with another 11% planning to institutionalize a social-networking screen in the near future....
Twitter Helps Kill Ugly Buick Hybrid
Jalopnik
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Aug 19, 2009 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Irate Twitterers appear to have forced General Motors to scrap a proposed Buick plug-in hybrid based on the Saturn Vue, Jalopnik reports. “VUE, with a touch of Buick,” tweeted one hater. “I dub thee the Vue-ick.” GM cited “the overwhelmingly negative response to this vehicle” in its decision to cancel the model....
