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US Can Turn 70% of Afghan Taliban: Biden

Largest group of insurgents just hired mercenaries, VP says

(Newser) - A majority of the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are just hired guns whose loyalties could be bought by the US, Joe Biden said today. “Five percent of the Taliban is incorrigible, not susceptible to anything other than being defeated,” the vice president said. “Another 25% or so...

GOP Must Rethink 'Totally Misguided' Stance: Brooks

Obstructionist strategy seems lame

(Newser) - The Republican response to the fiscal crisis is “totally misguided,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times. Republicans are opposing everything out of a belated sense of fiscal discipline, “at the one moment in the past 70 years when it is completely inappropriate,” he sighs....

Tongues to Chest Hair, Stars Insure Prized Parts

Dolly Parton's chest worth $11K per inch

(Newser) - Celebrities are known for insuring their most famous body parts, but now other types are getting into the practice. This week, a coffee taster’s tongue was insured for $13.8 million, making it the most valuable in the world. To mark the occasion, the Mirror lists some of the...

Dems Paint Cantor as GOP's New, Obstructionist Face

Ads, op-eds, even Obama paint rising star as obstructionist

(Newser) - With Dick Cheney gone and Rush Limbaugh already tiresome, Democrats need a new go-to bugbear—and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is their guy, reports Politico. Democrats are using his name to tar other Republicans in ads and calling the young Virginian out in op-eds. The president himself said of...

Obama Foreign Policy Takes Cue From Aretha

US is right to show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T, says Rachman

(Newser) - Aretha Franklin gave a roaring performance at Barack Obama's inauguration in January—and maybe, writes Gideon Rachman, she's had a bit of influence on his foreign policy. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" has been the guiding principle for the new administration's rhetoric and engagements with Iran, Iraq, Russia, and China. Neocons might see...

Bomber Kills 33 at Iraqi Tribal Peace Conference

Army chief among the dead at gathering of tribal leaders

(Newser) - At least 33 were killed and another 46 injured today in a suicide car bombing in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, the BBC reports. The attack appeared to be targeting a peace conference that aimed to reconcile Iraq’s various tribal groups. A local army chief is among the...

Cops Nab $1.2M in Drugs at Phish Show

Cops also nab $68K cash, arrest 194

(Newser) - Phish fans came prepared to the band’s reunion weekend, but many left empty-handed. Police seized about $1.2 million in illegal drugs and more than $68,000 in cash during the three-night event in Virginia, AP reports; they also arrested 194 fans, mostly for drug possession, use, and distribution....

Mac Junior Rips 'Train Wreck' Coulter

Meghan calls pundit 'poster woman' for GOP extremism

(Newser) - John McCain's daughter Meghan has ripped into right-wing media harpy Ann Coulter as a hate-spewing "train wreck." "I straight up don't understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing," wrote McCain, 24, in a Daily Beast column. She lashed Coulter...

GOP Launches Offensive on Pro-Union Bill

Big business is paying big bucks to lobby against 'card check' bill

(Newser) - Republican lobbyists are swarming Capitol Hill this week, launching the battle over the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act—a fight one Chamber of Commerce exec describes as "Armageddon." Legions of GOP operatives are being enlisted to spend tens of millions of dollars offered by large corporations like Wal-Mart,...

Clarence Thomas Strays From Righty Line
Clarence Thomas
Strays From Righty Line
analysis
Mar 9, 2009 9:12 AM CDT

Clarence Thomas Strays From Righty Line

Slams Bush team, backs consumer protection in recent case

(Newser) - Clarence Thomas might be the Supreme Court’s rightmost justice, but he’s “never been shy about breaking with conventional wisdom,” writes David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times. In the latest such instance, he upheld injured patients’ right to sue drug companies, arguing that “agency...

Slain Pastor Blocked 1st Shot With a Bible

As confetti flew, Illinois parishioners thought it was a skit

(Newser) - What drove the shooting death of a pastor at an Illinois Baptist church service yesterday remains a mystery, as more details emerge, the Chicago Tribune reports. After exchanging words with the gunman who walked toward him, the pastor blocked the first of four rounds of bullets with a Bible, sending...

Survey: Religion Shrinks in US
 Survey: Religion Shrinks in US 
Mar 9, 2009 7:00 AM CDT

Survey: Religion Shrinks in US

Most groups lose members; Christianity falls 11%

(Newser) - A new survey shows sweeping changes in US religious attitudes over the past 18 years, with most religions losing members despite population growth, USA Today reports. Those identifying themselves as Christians have dropped 11% in a generation; mobility and marriage patterns have uprooted many religious affiliations. “More than ever...

Twitter: It's All About Self Promotion

Tricks to being heard in the clutter

(Newser) - Without understanding Twitter's purpose, the social networking rage—which has gained 1.2 million viewers from last year—can feel "like a noisy bar where everyone is shouting and nobody is listening," Julia Angwin warns in the Wall Street Journal. "It's about promoting yourself." That's why...

Now is Kennedy's Chance for Health Reform

'Stars are better aligned' with friendly president, business community

(Newser) - Recent praise of Ted Kennedy has “the feeling of a grand farewell,” but don't bury the cancer-stricken senator just yet, Eleanor Clift writes in Newsweek. Far from it—the liberal lion is "burning up the phone lines" as the third and best shot at enacting his cherished...

Earth to GOP: Obama's No Socialist
Earth to GOP: Obama's
No Socialist 

analysis
Mar 8, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

Earth to GOP: Obama's No Socialist

Obama favors free-market approach

(Newser) - Horrified by President Obama's stimulus plan, conservatives are calling him a European-style socialist—when in fact he's all-American, Jacob Weisberg writes in Newsweek. Obama envisions “cradle-to-grave opportunity, as opposed to the European model of cradle-to-grave security,” writes Weisberg, who explains that Obama’s plans to tackle hot issues...

12K US Troops to Leave Iraq by Fall

US will turn over facilities to Iraqi control starting this month

(Newser) - A total of 12000 American and 4000 British troops will leave Iraq by September, the US military said today, just hours after a suicide bomber killed 32 people at the entrance of Baghdad's main police academy. The blast—the second major attack to hit Iraqis in 3 days and the...

With Talks, US Looks to Split Taliban

Experts push for controversial negotiations

(Newser) - The idea of negotiating with the Taliban may seem absurd to many Americans—but experts are increasingly encouraging the Obama administration to talk with some of the group’s low-ranking members, writes Helene Cooper in the New York Times. Such a strategy could help divide the Taliban by targeting insurgents...

Dad Says Military Masked Rape-Murder as Suicide

Questions raised about dead soldiers who may have been sexually abused

(Newser) - A California father is accusing the US military of covering up the rape and murder of his soldier daughter who authorities say committed suicide, reports the Los Angeles Times. Army Pfc. LaVena Johnson, found dead of a rifle blast in her mouth in an Iraq contractor's tent without a suicide...

Frum: GOP Needs Reform, Not Rush
 Frum: 
 GOP Needs 
 Reform, Not Rush 
OPINION
Mar 8, 2009 9:16 AM CDT

Frum: GOP Needs Reform, Not Rush

Stick-in-the-mud Limbaugh makes disastrous figurehead

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh is gunning to be the face of the Republican Party, and the GOP is allowing it—with potentially disastrous consequences, writes noted conservative David Frum. “With his private plane and his cigars, Rush is a walking stereotype of self-indulgence,” Frum writes. Worse, Rush insists Republicans need...

Facebook Founder Unmasked on Twitter

Exec looks to Twitter as model for facebook changes

(Newser) - Facebook founder and tech wiz Mark Zuckerberg has been secretly keeping an account on rival Twitter, VentureBeat reports. Zuckerberg has had a private site on Twitter at @zuck since last May, but recently opened a Twitter account at finkd that allows users to follow him publicly. Maybe Zuckerberg has taken...

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