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.
What Is a Health Care Co-Op, Anyway?
Washington Post
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Aug 18, 2009 9:37 AM CDT
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The likelihood of there being a public health care option is fading—which has some in Congress pushing for an alternative: nonprofit health cooperatives, the Washington Post reports. Few details have emerged about how such plans would work; as it stands, their defining feature seems to be that they wouldn’t be government-run. While that...
Collectors Give 50 Artworks Each to 50 States
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 18, 2009 9:14 AM CDT
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Herb and Dorothy Vogel had just modest incomes—he was a postal clerk, she a librarian—but over four decades they acquired more than 3,600 drawings, paintings, and collages from America's leading artists. They collected so much that they had to stuff works under their bed. But now the Vogels' one-bedroom apartment has been cleaned out, and...
Heaton + Basic Math = Painful TV
Gawker
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Aug 18, 2009 9:05 AM CDT
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Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond embarrassed herself and everyone watching last night on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Gawker reports. She acted as if her simple question—“If a euro is worth $1.50, five euros is worth what? Thirty quarters, 50 dimes, 30 nickels, or 90 pennies”—was rocket science, then Regis had...
Madoff Liked Them Gorgeous, Blond, and Young
New York Post
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Aug 18, 2009 9:03 AM CDT
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Bernie Madoff practically had his own harem, and former mistresses were often paid off—to the tune of $250,000 in one case—to keep quiet, the New York Post reports in a look at the latest Madoff book. “He started having affairs all over the place,” one insider tells Jerry Oppenheimer in Madoff With the Money . A former employee...
Russia Arrests 8 in Ship Hijacking
Associated Press
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Aug 18, 2009 8:57 AM CDT
(AP) -
Russia's navy arrested eight men accused of hijacking the Arctic Sea freighter near Sweden and forcing the crew to sail to West Africa, the defense minister said today. The suspected hijackers were detained by the naval vessel that found the Russian-crewed freighter yesterday off Cape Verde, thousands of miles from the Algerian port where it was supposed...
McSteamy Video Was Stolen: Star
TMZ
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Aug 18, 2009 8:37 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Kari Ann Peniche, she of recent McSteamy nudie vid fame, tells TMZ it was shot more than 2 years ago and stored on her hard drive—until Mindy McCready, Peniche’s Celebrity Rehab co-star and roommate, stole it. The three naked revelers got together with McCready and their reps last month and Eric Dane, aka McSteamy, was given full rights...
Dozen Gun-Toters Spotted at Obama Event
Associated Press
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Aug 18, 2009 8:24 AM CDT
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The man who brought an assault rifle to Barack Obama’s speech yesterday wasn’t alone. Roughly a dozen protesters were seen carrying guns, the AP reports. Phoenix police say the men didn’t need permits, and didn’t commit any crime. In fact, they say they were worried someone would try to harm the man carrying the AR-15 semi-automatic...
'Beep Ball' Gets Blind in the Game
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 18, 2009 8:20 AM CDT
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Baseball isn’t the national pastime only for those lucky stiffs who can see the ball. The blind have their own version of baseball, the Wall Street Journal reports, played with a beeping softball. Players use that beeping to time their swings and dive for balls. Some aspects are simplified—batters need only run to a single base before...
Desperate for Cash, People Sell Grave Sites
Washington Post
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Aug 18, 2009 8:15 AM CDT
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When she got sick, Debbie Jenkins lost her job, both her houses, and burned through her savings. Living in an unheated garage and still unable to pay rent, she discovered her last remaining asset: two cemetery plots. She posted them on Craigslist, declaring they “MUST SELL!!!” It’s an increasingly common story in recession-racked...
Strep Throat Likely Killed Mozart
Reuters
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Aug 18, 2009 7:56 AM CDT
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Some have speculated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died of eating undercooked pork; others have said he was poisoned. Now researchers believe he may have died of strep throat, Reuters reports. There was a “minor epidemic” of strep in Vienna when Mozart died, and findings suggest “Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed...
'Big Wave' Theory Challenges 'Dark Energy'
Space.com
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Aug 18, 2009 7:38 AM CDT
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The 'Big Wave,' a new explanation for the universe's mysterious accelerating expansion, is sending ripples through the world of astronomy. According to the theory, the Big Bang set off a wave, or waves, that rippled outward through space-time, making distant galaxies appear to expand away from us. Mathematicians came up with the Big Wave as an alternative...
In-the-Red Sony Delays Superflat TV
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 18, 2009 7:19 AM CDT
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Sony will delay production of its next-generation ultrathin television as the struggling electronics giant seeks to avoid further losses, reports the Wall Street Journal . The organic light emitting diode, or OLED, television was to succeed a three-millimeter-thick model released in late 2007, but will be held back until at least next year. At present...
Jackson's Mom Mulls Wrongful Death Suit
Associated Press
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Aug 18, 2009 7:04 AM CDT
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Michael Jackson’s mother is considering a wrongful-death lawsuit over the passing of her son, the AP reports. The likely target: Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray. “Dr. Murray’s name has been floated because he is under investigation,” said an attorney, who wouldn’t say whether Jackson’s concert promoter would...
Taliban Peace Talks Dominate Afghan Race
New York Times
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Aug 18, 2009 6:53 AM CDT
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As Afghans prepare to vote on Thursday, the top issue for all the leading presidential candidates remains whether and how to negotiate with the Taliban. Hamid Karzai, still predicted to win, has made vocal calls for negotiations but has done little so far in office, and Taliban insurgents are imperiling the election. His top challengers both want a...
Mistress: Madoff Was Pot-Smoking Don Juan
New York Daily News
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Aug 18, 2009 6:32 AM CDT
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"When we made love, I was on fire"—that is the frank admission by Bernie Madoff's married mistress in a new tell-all book about their years-long affair. Sheryl Weinstein, who worked for a Jewish women's group and lost her life savings with Ponzi schemer, reveals that she and Madoff smoked marijuana during their hotel-room trysts...
Ga. Couple Killed by Dogs
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Aug 18, 2009 6:15 AM CDT
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A retired professor and his wife whose bodies were found this weekend were mauled to death by a neighbor's dogs, an autopsy concluded. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that several of the dogs—the neighbor had 14, all mongrels—were guarding their prey when a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses found the bodies. Locals say the dogs remained...
Texas Mom Gets 99 Years for Cutting Off Son's Genitals
Houston Chronicle
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Aug 18, 2009 5:58 AM CDT
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A Texas mother was sentenced to 99 years in prison last night for cutting off her infant son's genitals, an attack she blamed on the family's dog. Katherine Nadal, now 28, tested positive for cocaine, methadone, and Xanax the day after the mutilation. None of the baby's severed parts were found. At the sentencing Nadal shouted that she "didn't...
Nobelist Peacemaker Kim Dae-Jung Dies at 85
Associated Press
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Aug 18, 2009 5:27 AM CDT
(AP) -
Kim Dae-jung, the former South Korean president who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation efforts with the North, died today at age 85. He had been hospitalized with pneumonia since last month. As a pro-democracy opposition lawmaker, Kim built a reputation as a passionate champion of human rights and democracy, and he survived several suspected...
DNA Evidence 'Easy to Fake'
New York Times
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Aug 18, 2009 4:57 AM CDT
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Think DNA evidence is foolproof? In fact, it's so easy to fabricate that "any biology undergrad" could engineer a crime scene, claim scientists in Israel. Raising troubling implications for a legal system that treats DNA as a gold standard, the scientists have demonstrated that DNA samples are vulnerable to both intentional tampering...
McSteamy Rompers: We'll Sue Over Nudie Video
TMZ
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Aug 18, 2009 4:32 AM CDT
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Just hours after a nudie celebrity video hit the net, two of the featured threesome are threatening legal action, TMZ reports. The lawyer for Eric "McSteamy" Dane and Rebecca Gayheart warned he'll sue anyone who publishes the "private, confidential" tape, which he insists is not a sex tape—just three naked people "maybe...
Chinese Storm Lead Plant in Poison Protest
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 18, 2009 4:04 AM CDT
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Chinese furious about a lead smelting plant that has sickened some 600 children stormed the factory yesterday after a suicide attempt by teenager who feared she had been poisoned, reports the Wall Street Journal . Some 150 children have been hospitalized due to lead poisoning near the plant in northwest China's Shanxi province. Protesters busted down...
Cleese Not Laughing About $20M Divorce
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 18, 2009 3:36 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Holy Monty Python. John Cleese has a whopping $20 million check to write in a California divorce settlement, and he's not happy about it. “What I find so unfair is that if we both died today, her children would get much more than mine," grumbled the 70-year-old star. American psychotherapist Faye Eichelberger, married to Cleese for 16...
Facebook Sued for Privacy Breach
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 18, 2009 3:14 AM CDT
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A group of Facebook users has sued the social networking company for violating consumer privacy laws by harvesting personal information for commercial purposes and failing to compensate clients, reports CNET. "Plaintiffs and the general public desire and expect a level of privacy, which Facebook has failed to satisfy," states the California...
'Stress Camp' Aimed at Bucking Up US Troops
New York Times
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Aug 18, 2009 2:52 AM CDT
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The army has a new plan to fight rampant suicide, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder: a $117 million program to train soldiers in "emotional resiliency." Beginning in October, all 1.1 million soldiers will receive intensive training aimed at helping them identify and change destructive thinking patterns, reports the New...
85% of Dollars in US Cities Test Positive for Cocaine
Guardian (UK)
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Aug 18, 2009 2:23 AM CDT
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The US money supply is literally soaked in cocaine, the Guardian reports.Tests performed by the American Chemical Society found that an average of 85% of paper money circulating in big US cities tests positive for traces of the drug. While cross-contamination between bills bundled together is a factor, it cannot explain the increasing abundance of...
Chicagoan 'Fesses Up to 'Joker' Poster
Associated Press
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Aug 18, 2009 1:52 AM CDT
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A 20-year-old college student from Chicago is the artist behind the now-famous image of Barack Obama as Heath Ledger’s Joker, the Los Angeles Times reports. Firas Alkhateeb made the image using Photoshop and Time magazine’s Obama cover when he was bored one day during winter break. It attracted over 20,000 views on his Flickr page,...
Public Option a 'Must' for Health Care Reform: Key Dems
Washington Post
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Aug 18, 2009 1:21 AM CDT
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Leading advocates for health care reform are concerned about the Obama administration’s apparent willingness to drop a government-run insurance program from the package in order to ensure the support of the Senate, the Washington Post reports. Prominent Democratic senators have voiced support for the public option, with John Rockefeller describing...
McSteamy, Gayheart Nudie Video Hits the Net
Gawker
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Aug 17, 2009 8:25 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Grey's Anatomy 's "Dr. McSteamy" is starring in a nudie video with his wife and an ex-beauty queen that's heating up the Internet, Gawker reports. Eric Dane shares camera duties with wife Rebecca Gayheart and looker-cum-Hollywood-madame Kari Ann Peniche as the three act high and riff on their "porn names." Eventually the women...
McCarthyism? Try 'Palinism'
Washington Post
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Aug 17, 2009 8:07 PM CDT
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If Sarah Palin echoes a figure in American politics, it's Joseph McCarthy—so "try this on for size: Palinism," writes Richard Cohen in the Washington Post . Like McCarthy, she has a lefty "menace" to invent facts about, and she's succeeding in wounding health reform with a "loopy" remark about "death...
Jon's Gal: Public, Media 'Stripped My Self-Esteem'
E! Online
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Aug 17, 2009 7:28 PM CDT
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Jon Gosselin's gal pal scorns the media and TLC while gushing only warm fuzzies for her beau in an exclusive E! Online interview. "I don't want to say the public and media stripped me of my self-esteem," says Hailey Glassman, 22, Jon's chum-turned-sweetheart. "But they really have." She swears his marriage to Kate went south a year...
Judge OKs Jackson Merchandising Deal
Associated Press
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Aug 17, 2009 6:56 PM CDT
(AP) -
A judge has approved a deal that will bring more Michael Jackson merchandise to store shelves. The judge heard from attorneys for Jackson's mother, Katherine, the current administrators of Jackson's estate and a newly appointed attorney for the singer's three young children. The merchandise agreement allows for items such as trading cards, clothing...
Iran's 'Kennedys': Will They Fight Back?
Time
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Aug 17, 2009 6:20 PM CDT
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Dubbed Iran's "Kennedys," the Larijani brothers have risen to power as counterweights to President Ahmadinejad's hardline politics—but to what end? All five bespectacled and bearded brothers have held important posts, and two of them are now running two of the nation's three government branches. Backed by the Supreme Leader Ayatullah...
Tunisian Tops Octomom With 12 Babies
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 17, 2009 5:45 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A woman in Tunisia is close to trumping octomom Nadia Suleman by giving birth to— duodectuplets? Reportedly 9 months pregnant, the teacher became pregnant with 12 babies by using a fertility treatment after two miscarriages. She and her husband are thrilled, but fertility experts are mortified: "The chances of there being a happy ending...
A Quarter of Middle-Aged Men Binge Drink
New York Daily News
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Aug 17, 2009 5:24 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Binge drinking is generally thought to be a college-age phenomenon, but middle-aged people—especially men—live it up as well, the New York Daily News reports. A new study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that 23% of men and 9% of women between 50 and 64 years old had binged—consumed five drinks or more in the same day—in...
Hutchison Kicks Off Bid for Texas Governor
Dallas Morning News
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Aug 17, 2009 5:03 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her bid for Texas governor today and began a 5-day string of stumping appearances around the state, the Dallas Morning News reports. Talking at her old high school, Hutchison attacked fellow Republican Gov. Rick Perry for allowing property tax rates to rise and for failing to address problems in state education....
Brit Nurses Fear Swine Flu Vaccine: Poll
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 17, 2009 4:46 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A full two thirds of British nurses are undecided about or outright against getting vaccinated for swine flu, the Telegraph reports. Some 60% of those who plan to decline say they are concerned about the safety of the untested treatment. “I would not be willing to put myself at risk of, as yet, unknown long-term side effects,” one says....
Alcoholics Are Less Able to Read Your Face
Chicago Tribune
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Aug 17, 2009 4:32 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Long-term alcoholics have a diminished ability to sense others’ emotions, even if they have been sober for years, the Chicago Tribune reports. A new study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to look at the brain activity of abstinent alcoholics and non-alcoholics while they looked at pictures of faces that expressed positive,...
Hackers Indicted in Theft of 130M Credit Cards
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 17, 2009 4:17 PM CDT
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Federal prosecutors indicted three hackers in Washington today for allegedly snagging more than 130 million credit card numbers from retail and financial organizations, the Wall Street Journal reports. Calling it the greatest US debit- and credit-card data theft ever, feds hit Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, and two accomplices with charges of conspiracy...
Death Squads Ramp Up Killings of Gay Iraqis
CNN
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Aug 17, 2009 4:05 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Hundreds of gay men have been executed in Iraq in the last few months, CNN reports. Though homosexuals are stigmatized in Iraq, and honor killings by family members have been reported, some of the recent murders have been carried out by government security forces, Human Rights Watch says. “The peak was six months ago,” a gay man says....
Another Obama Speech, Another Armed Citizen
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
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Aug 17, 2009 3:50 PM CDT
(Newser) -
President Obama's appearance at a VFW convention in Phoenix today was marked by yet another appearance of a man with a gun, the Arizona Republic reports. As separate crowds of protesters for and against health care reform rallied outside the Phoenix convention center, a man with an AR-15 rifle and pistol on his hip could be seen milling about with...
Jacko to Be Buried on Birthday: Dad
New York Daily News
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Aug 17, 2009 3:37 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Michael Jackson will be buried on Aug. 29, what would have been the late artist’s 51st birthday, Joe Jackson tells the New York Daily News . The King of Pop’s father says plans for the burial, to take place at LA’s Forest Lawn Cemetery, were just made in the past few days. He also said he supports the LAPD’s inquiry into the...
Dow Falls 186, Biggest Drop Since July 2
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 17, 2009 3:32 PM CDT
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Stocks continued to decline after drops in world markets proved to be contagious at the open, with the Dow falling the most since July 2, the Wall Street Journal reports. The worldwide stock decline had investors scrambling to Treasurys and other safe havens. Home-improvement retailer Lowe's fell 10% after reporting a 19% drop in quarterly earnings....
PETA Launches Curious Attack on the Overweight
Huffington Post
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Aug 17, 2009 3:19 PM CDT
(Newser) -
PETA has rolled out a new ad campaign that does not sit well with the more portly among us, the Huffington Post reports. A billboard in Jacksonville, Fla., features a cartoon of an overweight woman in a bikini with the message: “Save the whales, Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian.” One blogger calls the ad “fat-shaming” and says...
Obama to Vets: Afghan War Is 'of Necessity'
Washington Post
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Aug 17, 2009 3:06 PM CDT
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President Obama defended the war in Afghanistan, spoke optimistically about Iraq, and tried to iron out misconceptions about health care reform today in a speech at a VFW convention, the Washington Post reports. “The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight. And we won't defeat it overnight,” he told veterans. But “I...
Dan Brown's Next Could Spark 'E-Book Revolution'
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 17, 2009 2:56 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Dan Brown’s next book has a 6.5 million-copy print run—one of the biggest ever—but the Lost Symbol could mark a new chapter in the digital world, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Da Vinci Code author’s publisher says an e-book version of the novel will be released Sept. 15, the same day as the hardcover, which could help...
White House Shuts Online Rumor Tip Box
Politico
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Aug 17, 2009 2:40 PM CDT
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The White House is closing its e-tip box for bogus health care rumors amid concerns over what the administration might do with such messages, Politico reports. On Aug. 4, a White House blog told readers: “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” But...
FBI, CIA Recruits Duke It Out With Actors on DC's Streets
Washington Post
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Aug 17, 2009 2:26 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Criminal incidents around Washington may not always be what they seem: The FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and other authorities stage crimes all over town, aiming to put trainees in the heat of the action, the Washington Post reports. Professional actors, students, retired cops, and others play bad-guy targets for new recruits—sometimes to the shock...
At 50, Kind of Blue Still Totally Awesome
Slate
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Aug 17, 2009 2:16 PM CDT
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In 1959, Miles Davis was looking to forge a path away from the bebop spearheaded by mentor Charlie Parker, Fred Kaplan writes on Slate. “Parker not only invented bebop, he perfected it,” Kaplan continues, leaving Davis nowhere else to go. So when Davis was introduced to so-called “modal” jazz—with the emphasis on free...
Israel Blames Emanuel for Mideast Policy
Politico
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Aug 17, 2009 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Israelis are none too pleased with the pressure the Obama administration is putting on them to halt the expansion of their West Bank settlements, but it’s not Obama they’re mad at; it’s Rahm Emanuel. The chief of staff has extensive personal ties to the country—“Israel” is literally his middle name—and many...
Reader's Digest to File Chapter 11
Reuters
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Aug 17, 2009 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The latest media company to groan under debt in the current recession, Reader's Digest Association, yesterday announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The publisher insists that "business as usual" will continue for its publications and employees, with no mass layoffs in store as the company slashes its debt load from $2.2 billion...
