Brits Groan as Convention Goes American-Style

(NEWSER) - UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will resign her post, the Times of London reports, in an effort to hang onto her seat in parliament despite the expense scandal swirling around her. Smith has been badly embarrassed by revelations that she had charged taxpayers for her family home, several digital cameras, an iPod, a personal accountant, and, most embarrassingly, five porn movies her husband watched. More»

There's only room in this town for one adult show... even in Los Angeles

(NEWSER) - Things are getting dirty. Competing sex conventions in Los Angeles are in the middle of a public feud over the right to host events at the LA Convention Center. The managers of Adultcon—the largest of the three—have canceled two of next year's shows because the city is allowing Exxxotica and the Everything To Do With Sex Show to take place around the same time, reports the Los Angeles Times . More»

Internal disputes, profiteering concerns derail event

(NEWSER) - A much-ballyhooed Tea Party convention is coming apart, as the veteran protesters turn their rage on their own gathering. Sponsors and participants are pulling out, outraged over the enormous cost—tickets are a whopping $549, plus a $9.95 fee—and the $100,000 the convention is reportedly paying keynote speaker Sarah Palin. Some accuse Tea Party Nation, the group organizing the event of profiteering, though its founders tell the New York Times it's a nonprofit outfit. More»

The Safari Club is a big GOP donor

(NEWSER) - Attendees at the Safari Club International Annual Hunter’s Convention in Reno will surely have a “night to remember” when former President George W. Bush gives the keynote address on the last night of the gathering later this month. That’s what SCI promises, at least. The hunters' rights group—and big GOP donor—crows on its website that Bush’s “intellect and humor” ensure an experience the audience can “share for years and years.” More»

Nancy Gibbs reflects on women's freedom to choose title

(NEWSER) - Not so long ago, feminism and convention waged a battle over titles—Miss, Mrs., and the young upstart, Ms. Though seemingly trivial, the question of whether a woman should have to specify her marital status in stating her name cut to the core of women’s place in society—and was never fully resolved, observes Nancy Gibbs. Twenty years after the New York Times, a staunch holdout, accepted "Ms," women continue to use all three. More»