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04 Dec 2011 22:57

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U.S.: Scandal-plagued megachurch leader Eddie Long steps aside, for now

  • The church needs a cleansing. I’m real disappointed. He was a man we all looked up to.
  • Valencia Miller, a former worshipper at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta • Discussing church leader Eddie Long’s decision to stop preaching at the influential megachurch temporarily, in the wake of a sex scandal involving five young male parishioners, a settlement, and the subsequent announcement that his wife was seeking a divorce. Vanessa Long made the announcement Thursday, wavered Friday, then wavered back that same day. Now Eddie Long is taking a break. For parishioners like Miller, they hope Long (who long preached against homosexuality, making the allegations even more troublesome) leaves the church for good. source
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04 Dec 2011 21:49

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Politics: POLL: Newt Gingrich looks strong (but beatable) in Iowa

  • If he doesn’t screw up over the next month … With Iowa just around the corner, the former House speaker has momentum to spare, leaping far ahead of Romney. And look at Ron Paul’s super-impressive showing in this poll. (In another poll, he’s ahead of Romney.) With Cain now out of the race, it looks like Gingrich could get a huge bump out of this whole thing, on top of the one he already has. Think Gingrich will coast, or will Romney become the comeback kid? Or will other candidates crop up? source
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04 Dec 2011 21:01

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Culture: About time: Tiger Woods wins first tournament in over two years

The last time Tiger Woods won a tournament, he was still married and everyone thought the last thing that could happen to the golfer was a career-damaging scandal. Think about that. source
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04 Dec 2011 20:40

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U.S.: Occupy DC needed to build wooden structure to draw police scrutiny

  • A rare flash point, in wood form: Unlike most of the Occupy movements across the country, the Occupy DC movement has largely remained fairly quiet, in part because of the city’s protest-heavy history and in part because McPherson Square is managed by the National Park Service, not the city. So, as you might imagine, they would have to do something special to draw police scrutiny. Here it is, according to the movement’s Web site: “A prefabricated wooden structure that had been designed by professional architects and engineers to provide shelter, warmth and space for General Assemblies during the winter months.” If they wanted to draw police scrutiny, it worked. If they were trying to hold General Assemblies, not so much. The structure — and the National Park Police’s attempt to get it removed — has brought about some fairly interesting moments tonight. This is one of the most fascinating moments of the whole Occupy affair. source
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04 Dec 2011 09:30

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World: German town discovers WWII bombs hiding in Rhine River

  • 45,000 people evacuated over old bombs source
  • » They were hiding in a river: In one of the weirder discoveries since the end of WWII, record-low water levels in the Western German city of Koblenz exposed old bombs from the latter part of the war — including a 1.8-ton bomb that would be big enough to destroy the city center. It’s a very sensitive situation and one that officials are very careful to handle only without people nearby. “Only when we are sure that all of the 45,000 Germans have left the town (can) the regional bomb-disposal squad start to operate,” said brigade spokesman Ronald Eppelsheim.
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04 Dec 2011 09:13

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Culture: Chelsea Clinton’s slow reinvention: Now she’s embracing the spotlight

“For most of my life, I deliberately led a private life in the public eye,” Clinton notes. The former first daughter has worked out a different tactic in recent weeks — it involves being a journalist for NBC News. source
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04 Dec 2011 08:43

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U.S.: Cash-strapped Detroit could face state takeover bid

  • The entire structure of the city reflects a 1950s model in which the United States was the dominant economy of the world and automobile manufacturing was the core driver. None of that is true anymore.
  • Former Detroit City Council member Sheila Cockrel • Discussing the city’s major financial issues — which are so bad that the state has ordered a review of the city in a move that could lead Michigan to take it over. It would be the largest city of its kind to be taken over by the state government, but one that has fallen the furthest: With a quickly-declining population that has fallen by a quarter in the past decade, a $150 million budget deficit and a $45 million financial shortfall expected for the current fiscal year, options are running slim for a city defined by auto industry culture in good ways and bad. If the state takes over, the council that Cockrel was once a member of and mayor Dave Bing could get sidelined. Ouch. source
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