Countdown Newsletter: 10/04/05 -- Bush This & That

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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In the face of criticism from the left and right, President Bush insisted Tuesday that Harriet Miers is the nation's best-qualified candidate for the Supreme Court and assured skeptical conservatives that his lawyer-turned-nominee shares his judicial philosophy - and always will. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9587683/
Bush on CIA Leak case... no comment.

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Officials ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses finding far fewer bodies than once feared and school children returned to classes as New Orleans revved up efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina. On Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton was to travel to Louisiana to meet with hurricane survivors at a Baton Rouge shelter, get a briefing from officials on the relief effort and tour New Orleans' largely destroyed Ninth Ward. Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush are heading up the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, which has raised $100 million to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-03-katrina-deaths_x.htm

Some 2,500 U.S. troops along with Iraqi forces launched their second major offensive in western Iraq in a week Tuesday, sweeping into three towns to take them back from insurgents who had killed Marines there last month. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9530709/
Preview of the movie about Edward R. Murrow fighting Joseph McCarthy, "Good Night and Good Luck."

Sex toys are moving out of the novelty shops and into your local drug store and big-box retailer. Minnesota-based Target is one of the national chains that will be carrying a new line of women's products that includes a vibrator. http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=583970&nid=104

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

Finally,
The Seattle city council approved some of the strictest adult-entertainment regulations of any big city in the country, banning lap dances and the tipping of dancers in their G-strings. The council voted 5-4 on Monday to require that dancers stay 4 feet from patrons, and that the clubs maintain at least parking-garage brightness throughout the premises. Private rooms will not be allowed and patrons will be offered a tip jar, instead of dealing directly with dancers. http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=104556
OK... but the parking-garage brightness part, kinda mean.

-- Carey Fox

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

More:
The United Nations has begun distributing millions of copies of Iraq's draft constitution ahead of an Oct. 15 referendum to approve or reject the document, which was reportedly criticized in a leaked U.N. memo. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9584857/

Chinese authorities have shut down an online discussion forum that reported on anti-corruption protests in a village in the country's south as well as a Web site serving ethnic Mongolians, overseas monitors said Tuesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9587499/

Hurricane Stan smacked into Mexico's Gulf coast on Tuesday, dumping rain on low-lying areas, closing ports and whipping up winds of nearly 80 miles per hour. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9588034/

Just when we thought we couldn't get any fatter, a new study that followed Americans for three decades suggests that over the long haul, 9 out of 10 men and 7 out of 10 women will become overweight. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9583615/

Americans John L. Hall and Roy J. Glauber and German Theodor W. Haensch won the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that could lead to better long-distance communication and more precise navigation worldwide and in space. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9586654/

Microsoft Corp. has broken off licensing talks with the four global music companies, raising questions about the software giant's plans to start a subscription-based music service, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9587205/

Thousands of people from northern Portugal to the heart of Africa donned protective eyeglasses Monday to watch the moon cover the sun like a black plate in a rare and spectacular eclipse. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9576288/