Thursday October 26, 2006

The Final Word: “Taken With A Box of Salt Edition”

(The media experiment in which we conjoin the headline and last paragraph of each bylined article in the A-section of today's New York Times.)

Page 1

New Jersey Court Backs Full Rights for Gay Couples:

The ad features a cancer-stricken police officer, Lt. Laurel Hester, recalling her fight for death benefits for her female partner. Ms. Hester, bald and struggling to breathe, taped the commercial before she died early this year. The ad concludes with words appearing on the screen that read, "Support marriage equality. Your gay neighbors are depending on you."

News Analysis: New Jersey's Justices Agree on All but the 'M' Word:

Justice Albin responded that courts can do only so much. "Plaintiffs seek not just legal standing," he wrote, "but also social acceptance."

Court Outlines Rights It Says Gay Couples Are Due:

Even something as routine as the "the unquestioned ability to probate the estate," she said, has "given people enormous piece of mind."

Gay Marriage Backers Plan Big Push to Sway Trenton Lawmakers:

But the immediate response to the court's decision, he said, "is now up to the Legislature to decide."

As News Sinks In, Plaintiffs Who Call Themselves 'Second-Class Citizens' Are Optimistic:

But Cindy Meneghin, 48, of Butler, who has been with her partner, Maureen Kilian, for 32 years, since they met in high school, concluded: "They agreed that we needed equality, and that means marriage. Everything else is unequal. As far as I'm concerned, we're getting married."

Conceding Missteps, Bush Urges Patience on Iraq:

While Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that the two parties' approaches to Iraq should be a major issue in November, he acknowledged Wednesday that ultimately one person should be held responsible for progress in the war. "The ultimate accountability," Mr. Bush said, "rests with me."

News Analysis: Bush’s Gamble: Turning the Spotlight on the Iraq War as Republicans Try to Dim It:

"Many factors have come together to force him to re-evaluate," Professor Edwards said. "But we also have a long history of him being obdurate, while we don't have a long history of his being a particularly insightful decision maker about these things. We still should have some skepticism."

Iraq's Leader Jabs at U.S. On Timetables and Militias:

The push by the Iraqi authorities for more control over their own security comes as American military officials have scaled back estimates of the readiness of Iraqi troops. General Casey said Tuesday that it would be another 12 to 18 months before Iraqi troops would take control, longer than originally predicted.

Study Sees Gain on Lung Cancer:

"A lot of patients ask about it," Dr. Patz said. "We counsel them and tell them what the data are. Then they are not interested."

In Tight Race, Ad on Black Candidate Stirs Furor:

Mr. Ford said later that he was not thinking history. "I'm trying to win a race," he said, before he jumped into his bus, whose destination sign read, "success express."

The Ad Campaign: A Playboy Party at the Super Bowl, a Wink and an Invitation:

SCORECARD The commercial strongly questions Mr. Ford's character, and even his opponent, Bob Corker, sought to distance himself from it. Critics say the spot has racist overtones. Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen called it "a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment." Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said he thought it was fair; the Corker campaign urged television stations to pull it. The campaign called the spot "over the top, tacky and not reflective of the kind of campaign we are running."

With Beheadings, Drug Gangs Terrorize Mexico:

"People used to sleep outside on the porch if it got too hot," he said. "Not anymore. You stay inside, and you put three or four locks on the door."

Other News

Diller Takes the Prize for Paid the Most:

To be sure, Mr. Diller is now running two public companies. But they are the same businesses that were under the IAC/Interactive umbrella two years ago.

Putin Promises to Remain Influential:

He also vowed to solve a string of recent contract murders, including the slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist. He said, however, that murder for hire, the ultimate Russian system of settling disputes, had declined under his watch as the authorities became more successful at solving the crimes.

Killer of 5 Florida Students Is Executed:

"Once everything quiets down, I'll think about Tracy and I'll be sad," she said. "But right now, he's gone. He's gone."

Radio Chain Said to Weigh Selling Itself:

Last year, Clear Channel sold 10 percent of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, its advertising unit, in an initial public offering. The company also spun off Clear Channel Entertainment, an events producer, to shareholders.

International

Libya Sends Children With AIDS to Hospitals in Europe:

Dr. Montagnier said patient files suggested that some of the 400 patients on Libya's list of those supposedly infected by the Bulgarian nurses seemed to have been infected before or after the brief period when the Bulgarians worked in Libya.

Pavón Journal: Eulogy for an Outlaw Prison (It Was a Jungle in There):

Many former inmates who are now serving out their sentences in a nearby jail say they miss Pavón. Scams continue in their new quarters, but gone are the many occupations, from bartender to cocaine mixer to cobbler. Vanished is the prison bar, the prison disco and the prison video arcade.

"It almost wasn't like prison before," said a former soldier serving hard time for robbery. "Now it is."

Draft Iran Resolution Would Restrict Students:

The draft resolution states that sanctions would apply to fuel at Bushehr but not construction, diplomats said.

In Germany, U.S. Official Addresses Rift With Allies:

The previous government is also under scrutiny in the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who was abducted in Macedonia in 2003 and turned over to American agents, who flew him to Afghanistan, on the mistaken belief that he was involved in terrorism.

Chad Says Sudan Is Arming Rebels:

The increased conflict along the porous border between Chad and Sudan has stymied aid operations to help the estimated 250,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad and 2.5 million displaced Darfurians inside Sudan. It has also forced tens of thousands of Chadians to flee their homes, some into war-ravaged Darfur.

48 Taliban Die in New Wave of Fighting, NATO Says:

Last week, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan urged NATO forces to use caution while battling Taliban forces. Earlier, an Afghan government investigation found that at least 20 civilians had been killed in fighting in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand Province in the first weeks of October.

After 41 U.N. Ballots, Venezuela-Guatemala Logjam Persists:

Other countries mentioned as possible third candidates are Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

National Report

French Lick Journal: Town Hopes Casino Brings New Gilded Age:

"You don't get something for nothing, you just don't," Mrs. Walker said. "I think this casino's going to make everyone's life better here — if they take advantage of it."

1867 Mormon Tabernacle Pews Are Casualties of a Face-Lift:

For Robert Charles Mitchell, a retired newspaper editor from Salt Lake City who lives in Logan, the fate of the pews and the bank tower hit the "same vein." "It's an issue of values," he said. "We glorify our pioneers. We talk about their travails and bless their devilishly hard work. We laud them on the one hand and run roughshod over them on the other. We're dishing up ersatz history and throwing away the real thing."

Rights Group Fires Publisher of Foley E-Mail:

The posting continued: "The true hero here is the page who reported the e-mails in the first place."

In Old Textile District, the Free-Trade Issue Dominates:

Further, his record on free trade is not easy to simplify. The Democratic campaign has focused on his last-minute decision to cast the deciding vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement last year, when he yielded to blandishments from Republican leaders after vowing to vote no. Mr. Kissell says the vote was a "flip-flop" that broke faith with constituents, but Mr. Hayes argues that the late concessions he wrung from the Bush administration changed the nature of what he was voting for.