Countdown Newsletter -- 11/30/05: Defending the War

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Tonight on Countdown
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President Bush, facing growing doubts about his war strategy, said Wednesday that Iraqi troops are increasingly taking the lead in battle but that "this will take time and patience." He refused to set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10253079/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Analysis: As usual, the rhetoric surrounding the war in Iraq is about two elections - one there and one here. President Bush and the Republicans need the first one to succeed to have a chance of surviving the second. (Howard Fineman)http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10254949/

As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-infowar30nov30,0,5638790.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Police say a motor home was converted into a strip club on wheels outside the stadium before kickoff on Sunday's Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Police have charged six dancers with being nude where alcohol is served, and with being nude in a commercial establishment, misdemeanor violations of city ordinances. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/strange/news-article.aspx?storyid=48071

Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle. Scientists at The Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, used a CAT scan to follow intramuscular injections in 50 patients, half men and half women, of different sizes and shapes, and found that, on average, almost 70 percent of the dose did not get through the derriere's fatty tissue to reach the muscle. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2002652533_needles29.html
Countdown looks at which celebrities may need bigger needles. Michael Musto joins us.

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
A 13-year-old boy stole a Mesa Police cruiser Monday night and took it on a joyride, then called police on a cell phone he found inside and was talked into surrendering, police reported. The operator persuaded the teen to go to a nearby restaurant and wait for officers, who arrived and took him into custody.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JOYRIDE_POLICE_CRUISER?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Moral of the story: no matter what the situation, teens cannot resist cell phones.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
The Supreme Court is considering its first abortion rights case under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, with an unpredictable outcome because of the court's changing makeup. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10260140/

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito told senators Wednesday that federal judges must constantly guard against slipping into judicial activism to get the results they want, especially when dealing with the nation's highest law, the U.S. Constitution. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10265262/

The record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends on Wednesday, but don't tell that to residents of Bermuda, where a last-minute tropical storm, Epsilon, could still cause dangerous surf conditions, forecasters said. Epsilon, the 26th named storm of the busiest hurricane season on record, formed Tuesday in the central Atlantic. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10253286/

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a $450 million settlement between a small patent holding firm and the maker of the much-used BlackBerry e-mail device, Research in Motion, is not valid. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10265694/from/RS.3/

A Southern California cab driver's simple act of honesty has turned to gold. Two weeks ago, the driver, Haider Sediqi, tracked down a jeweler and returned to him the $350,000-worth of diamonds he left in the back seat of the taxi. As a way of saying "thank you," the jeweler sent the cabbie a $10,000 check and a diamond bracelet. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10264327/