The invitations went out just before Thanksgiving, but by the end of the holiday weekend the White House has confirmed that President Obama's jobs summit on Thursday will include about 130 business leaders, union chiefs, academics, mayors and representatives of nonprofit groups.

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NBC had a little extra to be thankful for this year: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade saw its highest ratings in three years.

The parade, broadcast on NBC, drew a 12.7 rating and 27 share in the overnight ratings — meaning 27% of all TVs tuned in on Thanksgiving morning were watching the parade. Those are the highest ratings since 2006, and they represent a 2% increase over last year's ratings.

NBC Research estimates that 45.8 million viewers watched all or some of the three-hour parade.

National ratings, viewer averages and demographics will be available on December 4.

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BALTIMORE — Third-string quarterback Dennis Dixon was doing a fine job for the Pittsburgh Steelers in his first NFL start – until he was forced to work overtime.

An interception by rookie Paul Kruger set up a 29-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff with 6:42 left in the extra session, giving the Baltimore Ravens a 20-17 victory Sunday night.

Dixon started because Ben Roethlisberger was sidelined with a concussion and backup Charlie Batch had a broken left wrist. Dixon had thrown only one pass in two seasons before getting the nod against the Ravens.

For much of the game, Dixon did his best impersonation of Roethlisberger. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes, and even added a personal touch, running for a 24-yard touchdown to put Pittsburgh up 17-14 in the fourth quarter.

But in overtime, Dixon's lone turnover provided the Ravens (6-5) a much-needed win and sent the Steelers (6-5) to their third straight defeat – their longest skid since a three-game run in 2006.

"We will not go gently," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "We won't go in a shell. We're going to go into attack mode, because that's what's required."

Kruger picked off the pass and returned it 26 yards to the Pittsburgh 28, and six plays later Cundiff delivered the game-winner in Baltimore's first overtime win since November 2005 (against the Steelers).

"To be a part of that victory is huge for me," said Kruger, who was playing in only his fourth game. "It was a designed blitz. I was the dropper. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

Pittsburgh's past two defeats have come in overtime. Dixon went 12 for 26 for 145 yards, and Rashard Mendenhall gained 95 yards on 24 carries.

"Please don't talk to me about moral victories and things of that nature," Tomlin said. "That would be disrespectful to those guys in the room. We didn't get the job done; we came up short. We accept responsibility for that."

Joe Flacco completed 23 of 35 passes for 289 yards and a touchdown to keep Baltimore in the thick of the playoff hunt.

"You have to be ready to play 60 minutes. Today we played more than that," Flacco said. "It feels good. It's what we needed. Against these guys, it's even bigger."

The game was a rematch of last season's AFC championship, when the Steelers completed a three-game sweep of the Ravens with a 24-13 victory.

With Roethlisberger in full uniform looking on from the sideline as the third quarterback, Dixon ran around the right end for a touchdown on a third-and-5 from the Baltimore 24 to give the Steelers their first lead, 17-14, with 6:24 left.

But the Ravens came back. Facing a fourth-and-5 from his own 46, Flacco completed a 44-yard pass to Ray Rice to set up a 24-yard field goal by Cundiff with 1:51 to go.

Cundiff came up short on a 56-yard try on the final play of regulation.

Pittsburgh closed to 14-10 in the third quarter when Jeff Reed kicked a 44-yard field goal to end a 24-yard drive that featured a 20-yard pass from Dixon to Mendenhall.

The Ravens took a 14-7 halftime lead by putting together an 89-yard drive late in the second quarter. Flacco completed passes of 11 and 54 yards to Mark Clayton before connecting with Derrick Mason for a 10-yard score.

Baltimore nearly picked off Dixon's first pass and forced a punt on Pittsburgh's first possession. Willis McGahee then capped a 73-yard drive with a 2-yard run, the Ravens' first touchdown on offense before halftime since Oct. 4.

On Pittsburgh's second drive, Dixon had an impromptu 31-yard run wiped out by holding. But there were no flaws the next time he got the ball: Dixon was 3 for 3 for 60 yards, including a touchdown pass to Holmes.

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Bobby Bowden says he has not made a decision about his coaching future at Florida State and plans to meet with university officials again Tuesday.

Bowden told The Associated Press at his home Monday evening that he is still sifting through "options" presented to him when he met with Florida State President T.K. Wetherell and athletic director Randy Spetman for an hour earlier in the day.

"Yes, there are options," said a relaxed Bowden, who was eating a light dinner while seated in an easy chair in his home office surrounded by memorabilia from his long career. "One of them is to be the head coach."

The Tallahassee Democrat and ESPN.com reported Bowden, the second-winningest coach in major college football history, is expected to announce his retirement Tuesday morning.

When asked about reports Bowden was stepping down, his wife, Ann, told AP that nothing had been finalized – "that's why they're meeting tomorrow."

Bowden said that no time had been set for the meeting on Tuesday and Browning Brooks, director of communications for the university, said no press conference has been scheduled.

The coach, who turned 80 on Nov. 8 and is in his 34th season at FSU, said earlier Monday that an announcement about his coaching future would come Tuesday.

Bowden ended the 10-minute interview at his home saying only, "I'll see you tomorrow."

After Florida State lost to its regular-season finale to Florida on Saturday, Bowden said he had to do some soul searching before deciding whether he would return in 2010.

There are questions about how responsibilities will be divided next season between Bowden and coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher – especially when it comes to hiring assistant coaches. Fisher, the offensive coordinator, receives $5 million from Florida State if he's not the head coach by January 2011.

Earlier this year, Bowden had strongly suggested he wanted 2010 to be his last season. But Bowden, whose 388 career wins are second only to Penn State's Joe Paterno among major college coaches, has also said he could not return as a head coach with no authority.

Spetman described Monday's meeting in Bowden's office as congenial.

"It's always cordial with coach Bowden," Spetman said. "He's a good man."

The coach was in good humor when he told a couple hundred boosters Monday at his weekly luncheon that he had the discussion about his future. The coach drew laughs from fans several times with quips and one-liners.

Bowden was not as upbeat after FSU's embarrassing 37-10 loss to the Gators on Saturday. The Seminoles have lost their last three games to Florida by scores of 45-12, 45-15 and 37-10.

But by Sunday, Bowden said he wanted to return in 2010 for his 35th season at Florida State, but that decision couldn't be finalized before he met with Florida State administrators.

Bowden has been on a one-year rollover agreement with the university for several years, but that ends after the 2010 season.

The winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Bowden teams put together the one of most dominant runs in college football history between 1987 and 2000 with 14 consecutive finishes in the nation's top five and a pair of national titles.

But the Seminoles' fortunes haven't been nearly as good in recent years, finishing this year with a 6-6 record after starting the year with high expectations and a preseason No. 18 ranking.

In 1993, despite a late-season slip at Notre Dame, Florida State won its first national title after near misses in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992 – several seasons because of losses to nemesis Miami, which won three national titles during that span.

Bowden had his lone perfect season in 1999 as the Seminoles became the first team to go wire-to-wire in The Associated Press poll ranked No. 1 from the preseason to finish.

Since winning their 12th ACC championship in 2005, the Seminoles have been 16-16 over the past four seasons against league opponents.

"There's no doubt in my mind Florida State will come back," Bowden said Monday.

More on College Football

Katie Holmes explained and defended daughter Suri's affinity for wearing high heels at the inaugural event for her Dizzy Feet charity Sunday night.

Photos of Katie at the event, without Tom or Suri, are here.

Holmes told "Access Hollywood" of Suri, "She, like every little girl - she loves my high heels" and wanted her own.

She said despite the uproar, they are safe for her young feet

"They are actually ballroom dancing shoes for kids," Katie said. "I found them for her and she loves them."

Suri has been spotted wearing the heels on many occasions in recent months.

More on Suri Cruise

It's not often that a news organization is determined to kill off its readers, but that's what WorldNetDaily seems to be doing in its wild fearmongering about the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

WND has long fearmongered against vaccines. A 2007 issue of WND's Whistleblower magazine was entirely dedicated to it. Among the articles included was this:

"Doctors' group opposes all vaccine mandates." The 4,000-member Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, established in 1943, has called for a moratorium on the government forcing any vaccines on the American people, warning, "Our children face the possibility of death or serious long-term adverse effects"

The AAPS is little more than a conservative advocacy group whose views WND has touted in the past. Indeed, the AAPS has peddled its own medical inaccuracies, such as a notorious 2003 journal article falsely claiming that leprosy had sharply increased due to illegal immigration.

A June 2007 column by WND managing editor David Kupelian, which also appeared in that magazine, encapsulates those anti-vaccine talking points. While Kupelian concedes that "vaccines have saved countless lives," he is quick to add: "They also have a history of disastrous side effects and suspected or proven dangers - a dark downside utterly covered up by the public health establishment." Kupelian goes on to attack the societal benefits of vaccination:

It's critical to understand clearly that most "health officials" concerned with immunology are not focused on what is best for you and your individual child, but on what they perceive to be the best interests of the population as a whole. And from that macro viewpoint, they strive to maintain what they call the "herd immunity." In other words, if large numbers of people opt out of vaccination, even for the most wholesome and sensible of reasons, the medical establishment will oppose it out of fear that once-eradicated (like smallpox) or near-eradicated (like polio) diseases will come back.

And yet, because there are real dangers to vaccines, we owe it to our children, to ourselves and to God to become informed, and then make our decisions based on what is truly right for us, not on other people's notions of what they think serves the collective good. They might well be wrong.

Remember, despite the medical establishment's paramount concern over "herd immunity," we are not cattle.

Kupelian refused to point out the obvious -- that vaccinations are the reason those diseases were all but eradicated, and if large numbers of people are not vaccinated against them, they will, in fact, come back.

A May 2008 column by WND editor and CEO Joseph Farah defended the idea that refusing to immunize one's children is a good thing. In railing against an apparent decision by Texas officials to have the children of cultists that they have taken into custody vaccinated against the usual diseases, Farah asserted that the parents are "mothers and fathers made conscious and well-informed decisions not to immunize their kids because of the potential for dire health risks." Really? How does Farah know this? Indeed, he offers no evidence that the parents "made conscious and well-informed decisions not to immunize their kids"; in fact, one can argue that, given that they are members of a polygamist cult, they have a demonstrated history of not making "well-informed decisions."

A July 2008 article by Bob Unruh asserted, based on the claims of an blogger with no demonstrated medical expertise (and who describes himself as "retired from corporate"), that the nasal-ingested flu vaccine FluMist poses a great danger to children. While Unruh quoted from some MedImmune press release about expansion of flu vaccination recommendations, he does not give MedImmune any opportunity to respond to the attacks. Unruh also quoted Jane Orient of the AAPS without noting the group's political affiliation or anti-vaccination activism.

WND has also long touted supposed links between vaccines and autism -- specifically, the role of thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines -- defending it even as more evidence comes to light questioning such a link. For instance, a Feb. 28, 2008, article reporting on a government agreement to pay compensation to the parents of a child who developed autism after receiving a series of vaccinations distorts the case in question to promote its own anti-vaccine agenda. WND quoted only anti-vaccine activists and ignored other evidence in the case that weakened the argument of those activists.

However, as a March 7, 2008, Associated Press article noted, the child received five simultaneous vaccines as a toddler, after which she regressed into an autistic state. The parents, according to the AP, "were exploring two theories to explain what happened to [the child]. One is that she was born with the mitochondria disorder and the vaccines caused a stress to her body that worsened the condition. The other is that the vaccine ingredient thimerosal caused the mitochondrial dysfunction."

Further, as a March 8, 2008, New York Times article reported:

The disease control centers, the Food and Drug Administration, the Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all largely dismissed the notion that thimerosal causes or contributes to autism.

Five major studies have found no link, and since thimerosal's removal from all routinely administered childhood vaccines in 2001, there has been no apparent effect on autism rates.

The Times article also stated:

"Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism," Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday. "That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of the case and a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today."

Similarly, the AP article added:

"There are no scientific studies documenting that childhood vaccinations cause or worsen mitochondrial diseases, but there is very little scientific research in this area," said Chuck Mohan, executive director the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based group that raises money for research.

It's a much more complicated case than the WND article made it appear. But WND did not feel compelled to report the full story.

As worries about H1N1 swine flu began to mount this year, WND seized on it to repeat its old anti-vaccine attacks, then ultimately filter them through its anti-Obama obsession.

In June, WND carried an ad reading: "Obama and super-flu ... a connection? Globalist's agenda of world population reduction by bio-weapon!" As blogger Richard Bartholomew detailed, the ad linked to a website asserting that the swine flu is "a bio-engineered weaponized 'flu' designed for mass population reduction." The ad went on to state:

The Globalists (people who run the world and have 90% of all wealth, influence and authority) have elected to create total chaos to undermine and finish breaking the world's economy so they can complete implementing the "New World Order" a fascist regime of world domination, brutal controls and Martial Law...The politicians who did this answer to the Globalists and not to those who elected them to office.

[...]

The Globalists dug up frozen 1918 flu death cadavers in Siberia, extracted the DNA of the deadly Spanish flu and combined it with the very deadly Bird Flu (H5N1), mixed it with Swine Flu (H1N1) and merged it with a "carrier agent" of the highly contagious generic flu we all get to trigger certain and rapid human-to-human transmission.

What the ad was actually selling was "MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution)," a "germicidal agent capable of attacking and killing even early stage 'flu' viruses. It operates without regard for the strain or variation that may evolve or be manufactured." It could be yours for just $24.95. The operator the website, Bartholomew noted, is a man who runs a companion website called "SML", or "Survive Martial Law," with similar globalist conspiracy-mongering.

The website later stated (before it was shut down entirely; a copy is here): "We have removed our MMS and SML sites because of the need for people to understand what is really happening in the world and not just simple survival techniques when people still will spiral down to death regardless of what we do to keep you alive a little longer." It goes on to state, "We have moved into the period of the Great Tribulation and soon the horrors beyond anything man has seen or done in all history will be our final lesson."

(Then again, the removal of the MMS website may also be because that little potion has all the earmarks of a scam.)

An Aug. 31 article touting the latest Jerome Corsi Red Alert report claimed that the White House is "trying to cause a panic over a possible H1N1 virus that could inflict massive illness and death on the American people." The goal,WND suggested, is "to use the pandemic panic to create enough fear that the American public will acquiesce to the passage of Obamacare."
Corsi and WND engaged in more fearmongering, claiming that "a massive public relations program launched by the federal Center for Disease Control aimed possibly at creating the atmosphere in which U.S. citizens could be forced to take H1N1 vaccinations against their will." WND ignored the possibility that such a campaign should be taken for what it actually is -- an effort to save lives.

The article also stated: "Neurologists around the world have been warned to watch out for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or GBS, which was generated by a similar swine flu vaccine administered by the government by the Ford administration in 1976." In fact, the 1976 vaccine was never definitively linked to GBS, which also "may be an extremely rare reaction to any vaccination."

The article then asserted:

"Red Alert intends to closely watch how the H1N1 scare is handled by the White House," Corsi wrote. "With the Obama administration intent on the government taking over major sectors of the private economy, we are concerned the swine-flu pandemic scare is simply another component of that socialist agenda."

So what happens if low vaccination rates result in a swine flu epidemic? Can Corsi and WND be held liable for causing the deaths of Americans by their fearmongering?

In Sept. 1 and Sept. 3 articles on swine flu vaccines, reporter Chelsea Schilling referenced a claim by "investigative journalist Wayne Madsen" that "even scientists who helped develop a vaccine for small pox are saying they will not take the vaccine and urging friends and family to refrain from taking the injection as well." But Madsen has a record of making dubious claims -- including claims about Barack Obama's birth certificate that apparently even WND didn't find credible enough to embrace.

Madsen has already made one discredited claim about swine flu: that it is the result of "gene splicing" and could not have occurred naturally -- an echo of the conspiracy-mongering WND advertiser from earlier in the year. In fact, research has shown that the progenitor for the virus first surfaced in pig farming and processing operations in 1998.

WND reported in October 2008 that one claim in a lawsuit filed by Philip Berg over Obama's birth certificate was that "Wayne Madsen, Journalist with Online Journal as a contributing writer and published an article on June 9, 2008, stating that a research team went to Mombassa, Kenya, and located a Certificate Registering the birth of Barack Obama, Jr. at a Kenya Maternity Hospital, to his father, a Kenyan citizen and his mother, a U.S. citizen." But WND has not referenced the claim since, suggesting that it doesn't believe it to be true (despite WND's history of reporting false claims on the subject).

Madsen has also claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working with increasingly discredited birther lawyer Orly Taitz and conservative groups in the U.S. to use the birth certificate issue against Obama in retaliation for the Obama Administration's pressure on Israel to restrict expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. You'd think that this would be a claim tailor-made for WND, since it merges two of its favorite obsessions, the birther stuff and Aaron Klein's efforts to portray Obama as pro-Muslim and anti-Israel (mostly through anonymous sources).

But WND has curiously kept its hands off that claim as well. Do they not believe it? Or are they a functioning part of Netanyahu's conspiracy?

Given that WND apparently can't trust Madsen's reporting on other subjects it's interested in, it's strange that Schilling and WND have decided he is trustworthy on the subject of swine flu vaccines -- even though he has previously been discredited.

Such freak-outs made it inevitable that WND's first instinct after President Obama's declaration of a national emergency over the H1N1 flu virus was to fearmonger.

The subhead of a Oct. 24 article by Drew Zahn read, "Is president's proclamation formality, or institution of Obama martial law?" Zahn then focused on the latter, offering the possibility that "the Obama administration might use the declared emergency to suddenly expand government power," citing a writer for InfoWars -- not explaining that InfoWars is affiliated with conspiracy-monger extraordinaire Alex Jones. Zahn also cited "a WND reader in an e-mail" who allegedly wrote, "Here we go with martial law." Zahn framed these as "rumors" that were "quick to flame" because the news media offered "little explanation" about what the emergency declaration meant.

Zahn curiously didn't completely dismiss the InfoWars assertion that "we may witness a move toward martial law, forced vaccination and internment of those who refuse," and indeed suggests that it's a realistic possibility. It's not until the seventh paragraph that Zahn finally broke away from the fearmongering:

But even if there really is a plot to manipulate the H1N1 virus scare into enforcing a sweeping expansion of federal power, today's "national emergency" falls far short of martial law.

In fact, the laws enacted by the president's proclamation do little more than clear administrative hurdles for quicker processing of Medicare payments, and the very provisions of the National Emergencies Act that the president cited in his proclamation actually limit the power his administration can take.

Why didn't Zahn lead with that instead of indulging in fearmongering and media-bashing accusations? Because fearmongering is what WND does.

Joseph Farah spent his Nov. 2 column alternately downplaying fears about H1N1 and spreading fears about H1N1 vaccine. Farah began with the downplaying:

U.S. deaths have surpassed 1,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Nearly 5,000 have died worldwide, according to WHO.

That sounds bad.

But is it worth the hysteria?

What is it about these deaths that have government health bureaucracies apoplectic?

Is it time for a little context?

What happens when we turn to the same sources to compare deaths due to swine flu with other leading causes of preventable deaths?

Worldwide, nearly 3,000 people die from malaria every day.

Worldwide, nearly 6,000 people die from AIDS every day.

Farah doesn't acknowledge the main differences: Unlike malaria, swine flu is not confined to Third World countries, and AIDS, unlike swine flu, is not an airborne disease.

Farah then wrote that "malaria could be eradicated much easier and more economically. But the most effective weapon in the arsenal against malaria, DDT, has been banned in the U.S. and much of the rest of the world, even though it saved the lives of tens of millions, because of pseudo-scientific hysteria about alleged, unproven environmental effects."

In fact, contrary to Farah's claims that DDT's effects on the environment are "unproven," it has been found to cause cancer, endocrine disruption and adversely affect the immune system (though some studies claim otherwise).

Now, on to the fearmongering:

While no one disputes DDT's absolute effectiveness against malaria, there are no studies that prove the H1N1 vaccine actually prevents swine flu. In addition, many doctors consider it to be dangerous because it contains aluminum, a toxic metal, thimerosal, a mercury toxin and is believed to contain a squalene product that can injure the immune system.

In other words, the swine flu vaccine may not prevent people from getting the swine flu and it may well cause other problems more serious than the swine flu. The cure could well be worse than the disease.

First, some flu vaccines do not contain thimerosal. Second, as the CDC states:

Since 2001, no new vaccine licensed by FDA for use in children has contained thimerosal as a preservative and all vaccines routinely recommended by CDC for children under six years of age have been thimerosal-free, or contain only trace amounts, except for some formulations of influenza vaccine. Unfortunately, we have not seen reductions in the numbers of children identified with autism indicating that the cause of autism is not related to a single exposure such as thimerosal.

But that's not good enough for Farah:

I don't know about you, but I don't trust the government to make medical decisions.

I don't know about you, but I don't trust the government to make rational public health decisions.

I don't know about you, but I don't trust the government to play doctor or, worse yet, play God.

I don't know about you, but I don't trust the government to make decisions that affect the lives and the health of my loved ones.

Does Farah think he's more trustworthy than the government on life-and-death decisions? WND's fearmongering has likely scared some people out of getting the vaccine who will, as a result, contract H1N1. A few of those people may die.

In other words, WND may very well be killing its readers.

Farah may not trust the government, but people would be absolute fools to take medical advice from him and WorldNetDaily.

(A version of this article appears at ConWebWatch.)

More on Swine Flu

LOS ANGELES — Tom Arnold is married again.

Arnold's spokeswoman, Staci Wolfe, said the "True Lies" and "Happy Endings" actor-comedian wed Ashley Groussman on Saturday in Maui.

It is Arnold's fourth marriage. He was first married to actress-comedian Roseanne Barr from 1990 to 1994. He was married to second wife Julie Lynne Champnella from 1995 to 1999 and third wife Shelby Roos from 2002 to 2008.

Arnold currently hosts the weekly "Laughing With The Stars" comedy show at The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles.

___

On the Net:

http://tomarnoldcomedy.com