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| FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 13, 2009 |
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 WARREN BUFFETT: WORST IS OVER: Fresh off a massive $26.4 billion railroad deal, Warren Buffett is praising the U.S. economy for its resilience and growth potential. In a speech to Columbia University business students Thursday, Buffett gave both Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner “high marks” for handling the financial crisis, which he said had left its most dangerous phase. “The financial panic is behind us,” Buffett said, according to Reuters. “Our economy was sputtering, still is sputtering some.”
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ARMY SAYS MORALE DOWN AMONG TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN: Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday. Soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase for the first time since 2004, according to a new study.
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9/11 MASTERMIND GETS N.Y.C. TRIAL: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, and four other Guantnamo Bay detainees will face trial in a civilian federal court in lower Manhattan, blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once stood. A handful of other detainees, including accused U.S.S. Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri will face military commissions, possibly in South Carolina. The endeavor is key part of President Obama’s plan to close Guantnamo Bay.
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 PAKISTAN SPY AGENCY BOMBED: Pakistan’s main spy agency, which oversees counterterrorism in the border regions of Afghanistan, was bombed Friday. An Associated Press reporter on the scene says there were at least eight wounded or dead.
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WATER FOUND ON MOON, SCIENTISTS SAY: There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday, and considerable amounts of it. Indeed yes, we found water, Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASAs Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, said in a news conference. The confirmation of scientists suspicions is welcome news both to future explorers who might set up home on the lunar surface and to scientists who hope that the water, in the form of ice accumulated over billions of years, could hold a record of the solar systems history.
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OBAMA ARRIVES IN TOKYO: President Obama’s tour of Asia has begun, with Air Force One touching down in Tokyo Friday. The president will look to improve relations with Japan, which has drifted away from America in recent years on a variety of issues, including logistical support for the Afghanistan war.
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GUILTY: ‘Balloon boy’ dad Richard Heene pleads guilty to felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant.
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WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL QUITS: Embattled White House Counsel Gregory Craig is expected to announce his departure Friday. Craig had struggled to lead the effort to close the detention facility at Guantnamo Bay, which Barack Obama had promised to do within a year of being taking office. He will be replaced by Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney.
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MEDICINES TO DETER SOME CANCERS ARE NOT TAKEN: Many Americans do not think twice about taking medicines to prevent heart disease and stroke. But cancer is different. Much of what Americans do in the name of warding off cancer has not been shown to matter, and some things are actually harmful. Yet the few medicines proved to deter cancer are widely ignored. Take prostate cancer, the second-most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, surpassed only by easily treated skin cancers. More than 192,000 cases of it will be diagnosed this year, and more than 27,000 men will die from it. And, it turns out, there is a way to prevent many cases of prostate cancer. A large and rigorous study found that a generic drug, finasteride, costing about $2 a day, could prevent as many as 50,000 cases each year. Another study found that finasterides close cousin, dutasteride, about $3.50 a day, has the same effect. Nevertheless, researchers say, the drugs that work are largely ignored. And supplements that have been shown to be not just ineffective but possibly harmful are taken by men hoping to protect themselves from prostate cancer.
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LBN-BOOK NEWS: ***The Alaska governor’s new memoir will have no index, robbing D.C. insiders of their favorite game: seeing their names in print. Sarah Palin’s book Going Rogue isn’t out until Tuesday but leaked excerpts reported by the Associated Press are already setting off denials from John McCain’s old campaign staff. In response to the Palin’s reported claim that she received a bill for about $500,000 from the McCain campaign to pay for expenses related to her own vetting process, a McCain official told CNN that the story is “one hundred percent untrue.” The official added: “All those bills are from her personal attorney Thomas Van Flein, mostly relating to the Troopergate investigation and other ethics investigations. ***Tim LaHaye, co-author of the megaselling Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels, has switched publishers and will partner with lawyer-author Craig Parshall on a new apocalyptic series. Zondervan said it had signed LaHaye and Parshall to produce The End, a series set in the near future chronicling political events leading up to the end times. The series kicks off with Edge of Apocalypse, to release worldwide April 20, 2010, with a first print run of 500,000 copies.
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LBN-MEDIA INSIDER: ***Sirius XM Radio is naming Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein as chairman, replacing founder Gary Parsons. Hartenstein, a Sirius XM director and a former head of DirecTV, will continue as publisher of the Times. Sirius XM faces “a tough slog,” observers say. ***Washington Times top editor John Solomon is resigning, completing a management turnover. The Times, owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church, is in turmoil, and there is widespread talk that the newspaper may be on the verge of shutting down. ***LA Weekly film editor and chief film critic Scott Foundas is moving to Lincoln Center in New York as associate program director. His responsibilities will include the New York Film Festival. Newsweek critic David Ansen becomes artistic director of the Los Angeles Film Festival.
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LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER: ***Baghdads first trade fair since the invasion six years ago attracted 396 companies, but only a few from the United States. ***G.M. will present its first post bankruptcy scorecard on Monday, when it reports third-quarter earnings and its cash reserves.
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LBN-RECOMMENDS: NYC Attraction Bob Dylan Walking Tour. For reservations please call 212.304.8223.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By LARRY GROBEL (Author): Are you in favor of reinstating the military draft? Why? The draft was a nightmare for my generation, but it did serve a purpose: it brought to white middle class America the realities of the war in Vietnam, and it was what helped stir the protests that eventually ended that war. Today, once again, there is a distance between our soldiers and many of the middle class (and upper class) families. If the draft was reinstated, there would be more unrest, more protests against where we put our troops, more demand for their better protection….and perhaps an end to some of the wars we wind up in. So, perhaps the draft should be reinstated. Let’s hope that Canada opens its borders to those who will burn their draft cards.
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 SMART PEOPLE READ THE LBN E-LERT: Two (2) members of the America Ballet Theatre along with approximately 317,000 other “influencers” understand that information is power and the LBN E-Lert is a power-tool.
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LBN-NOTICED: ***Bill Clinton with a dozen Chicagoans, including J.B. Pritzker, Elzie Higginbottom and Kevin O’Keefe, at Table Fifty-Two, the Windy City restaurant where President Obama took Michelle on Valentine’s Day. ***Taylor Swift celebrated her CMA victory with her mother Reba McEntire at Nashville hotspot Avenue. ***Adrian Grenier, Bailey Chase, Jerry Ferra, Kevin Dillon, and Jack Wagner teed off in a charity golf tournament at the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. ***Cher popped into Kitson Malibu looking for men’s clothing. ***Jessica Biel and Jennifer Garner were spotted at Madeo restaurant in West Hollywood. ***Adam Lambert met up with deejay Samantha Ronson at Bardot Hollywood for the Mr. Black bash. ***BE AN LBN-CORRESPONDENT Send your celebrity sightings to LBNElert@TimeWire.net.
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 LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER: ***Soprano star James Gandolfini left WME where he was represented by agent Brandt Joel back to CAA where he will be represented by agents Chris Andrews and Mat Del Piano. In recent weeks, CAA has made several client signings that include Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche, and “The Strangers” writer-director Bryan Bertino. ***Marvin Minoff, a producer who worked with David Frost on the historic Richard Nixon TV interview specials and had a long partnership with Mike Farrell, has died. He was 78. Minoff, who was married to actress Bonnie Franklin for 29 years, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. ***Brian Medavoy, Devon Jackson and Alan Nevins have hung a new management shingle. The company will be called Jackson-Medavoy Management and will be aligned with Nevins’ Renaissance Literary & Talent firm. They would have operated under one company name, but Nevins said Renaissance has value with publishers as an entity that reps authors, literary estates and book-speaking engagements.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By Andrew Breitbart (Author): My addictions: Grand Prize: Information. 1st. Place: Caffeine. 2nd Place: Positive & Negative reinforcement. 3rd Place: NL baseball.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By GARRISON KEILLOR (Author): My idea of perfect happiness? Wildly, desperately, carelessly, nakedly in love, of course. Crazy, obsessive love: brooding, baying at the moon, writing daily missives to the adorned. Who wouldnt want this? Even though the crash is painful.
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LBN-HEALTH WATCH: While obesity alone carries certain health risks, where and how fat is distributed throughout the body can also have an impact. Researchers say pear-shaped women who carry excess weight on their hips and thighs and apple-shaped men who accumulate fat in their waists are at greater risk of suffering a deep vein thrombosis or a clot in the lung called pulmonary embolism.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By MICHAEL LEVINE (Author and Media Expert): I’ve been going to Pete’s Tavern in NYC since 1961 and it hasn’t changed (except for the flat-screen TV’s) in the last 48 years. Of course that shouldn’t be a great surprise for a pub that first opened its doors in 1864 and is billed as the longest continuously operating bar and restaurant in New York City. I am told it looks exactly the same as when its most celebrated regular O. Henry wrote the classic Gift of the Magi at his favorite booth by the front doors, in 1904. Pete’s Tavern is a can’t miss for anyone interested in seizing the spirit of old New York.
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SUPPORT LBN: Every reader of this LBN E-Lert can support it by simply CLICKING on all of the Sponsor Links. Support our advertisers.
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 LBN-RECOMMENDS By FRAN LEBOWITZ (Writer): I am very interestingly leafing through Imperial by William Vollmann. Its like, eight thousand pages, and its about agriculture in the Imperial Valley. Its pretty fascinating and theres a companion book of photographs. Its not your average book. Its very unusual, in a good way.
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LBN-RECOMMENDS By ERICKA T. BASS (Rant columnist): Go to Pink’s Hot dogs on La Brea in Hollywood. I meet the most interesting people in line there at 2 a.m in the morning. I have eaten as many at four (4) chili dogs in one sitting after midnight.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By A. O. SCOTT: Fantastic Mr. Fox is in some ways Wes Andersons most fully realized and satisfying film.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By MEHMET OZ, M.D. (Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University, author, radio and TV show host): Health care reform is not just about who pays. It must also address what we are paying for. And we have to start paying for health rather than treating sickness.
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 LBN-COMMENTARY By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: What a surprise — that someone who shouts “Allahu Akbar” (the “God is great” jihadist battle cry) as he is shooting up a room of American soldiers might have Islamist motives.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By PAUL KRUGMAN: With long-term unemployment at its highest levels since the 1930s and on the rise, the U.S. should consider policies that address job growth directly.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By DEREK THOMPSON: President Barack Obamas decision to send an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan took a detour Thursday when he was reportedly persuaded, by a foreign envoys cable, to delay escalation until the Afghan government proved its competence. Still the president is reportedly a matter of days from rendering his war strategy in Afghanistan. This will be a grave and significant commitment to a larger war effort that is already costing the U.S. taxpayer $144 billion, pre-escalation. So far, the debate over the war has been about strategycounterinsurgency vs. counterterrorismand has largely shirked the straitjacket of cost that nags domestic policy debates like health care and cap and trade. To that end, I ask a simple question: Why cant a debate about war also be a debate about money.
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LBN-COMMENTARY By BRYAN CURTIS: The New New Goatee is a beard for all seasons, as harmless as a tattoo. This becomes apparent by reviewing a list of Americans who have been sporting goatees lately: Kobe Bryant, Tim McGraw, Pastor Rick Warren, chef Rick Bayless, NBCs Chuck Todd, Todd Palin, Larry the Cable Guy, even Mariah Carey in her latest music video. There is no kinship at all, Chuck Todd, who is a good sport for answering his phone, tells me. Larry the Cable Guy does not concur: I think Brad Pitt might have the goatee just because I pulled it off so good, he says.
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 LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:…..Author Malcolm Gladwell….
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 LBN-OVERHEARD: ***A 26-year-old German citizen allegedly demanded $100,000 from Cindy Crawford and husband Rande Gerber, claiming that he had a “sexy photograph” of the couple’s 7-year-old daughter. Edis Kayalar said he stole the photo from a former nanny and wanted to return it to the parents so it wouldn’t fall into the hands of the tabloids. He then turned around and threatened to sell the photo to the media if the couple wouldn’t pay up. Court documents state that Kayalar claimed the photo exposed Crawford’s daughter “in revealing clothing, bound to a chair and gagged.” According to the court papers, the daughter told her parents that the nanny had taken the picture as part of a “cops and robbers” game. Kayalar was indicted Thursday, and the couple are making sure the photograph doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. ***Everyone was talking about Nicole Kidman at the Country Music Awards in Nashville. “She looked freakish,” said one witness. “She just had her lips done, and now she looks like Meg Ryan.” ***Vivica A. Fox seems to have forgiven ex-boyfriend 50 Cent. Fox, who publicly bashed the rapper after their split and derided their relationship as “ghetto love,” popped by the set of the video for his new single on Governors Island. ***According to public records, Cage failed to pay the mortgage debts on two multi-million dollar properties — and the bank eventually foreclosed. The two homes were each estimated to be worth more than $3 million — but, according to TMZ, Nic is dead broke and couldn’t pay his bills.
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DID YOU KNOW: ***Mid-men, the male versions of mid-wives, are called accouchers. ***The device used in alcohol distilleries for freeing the spirit from water is called the dephlegmator. ***Ducks are never male. The males of the species are called drakes. ***Another name for a shoemaker is a cordwainer. ***The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula.
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LBN-QUOTE: Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.” - Albert Einstein.
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LBN-HISTORY: On Nov. 13, 1956, the Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.
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