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Old movie goer touches young woman

The only place you should put your hands when you’re at the movies is on your armrest. Police in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin arrested a 70-year-old man unidentified man last week for touching a woman’s hair and arms while he sat behind her in a mall movie theater. The woman told the theater manager she felt the man “caressing” her arms. She added that she’d been suspicious of him since he sat behind her, despite there being several open seats in the theater.The manager contacted police and said he had received similar complaints about the man earlier this month, as well. When officers arrived on the scene, the woman took them to the theater, where they watched as the elderly fondler his face in another lady’s hair and rubbed her arms. In addition to getting arrested, the man was also banned from the mall for five years.

COMPLETE: 2008 Politics in Review

The race for the White House and the global economic meltdown easily dominated the headlines in 2008, eventually becoming intertwined as Election Day neared. Overseas, the war in Iraq seemed to be winding down after more than five years while the situation in Afghanistan worsened. The Russian invasion of former Soviet republic Georgia and a massive earthquake in China that killed tens of thousand were just a few of the other major news events of the year.

JANUARY: The presidential primaries immediately jumped to the forefront when Illinois Democratic Senator BARACK OBAMA scored a surprising win in the Iowa caucuses (Jan. 3) as he sought to become his party’s first African-American nominee. Obama defeated New York Senator HILLARY CLINTON in her attempt to make history as the first woman nominee. However, Clinton came back strong to score an impressive victory in the New Hampshire primary (Jan. 8). Over on the Republican side, Arizona Senator JOHN MCCAIN lost in Iowa to former Arkansas Governor MIKE HUCKABEE but then only gained strength as the primary season went on.

President GEORGE W. BUSH also delivered his final State of the Union address (Jan. 28), touting the security gains made in Iraq after nearly five years of frustration that left close to 4,000 American soldiers dead.

FEBRUARY: Democrat Barack Obama continued his winning ways in February, reeling off a string of 11 consecutive primary wins with Hillary Clinton hanging close behind in what turne d into a one man-one woman race. John McCain clearly emerged as the Republican frontrunner, picking up the most delegates on Super Tuesday (February 5). His main opponent, former Massachusetts Governor MITT ROMNEY, threw in the towel on his presidential ambitions a week later.

Aboard, Pakistani President PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, an important U.S. ally in the war on terror, began to see his tenuous hold on power slip away as his party went down to defeat in the parliamentary elections (February 18). Meanwhile, Cuban President FIDEL CASTRO, an adversary of the U.S. for half-a-century, resigned, citing medical reasons (Feb. 19). However, he officially turned the reins of power over to his brother, RAUL, ensuring that Cuba would remain a Communist state.

MARCH: Without breaking a sweat, John McCain clinched the Republican nomination for president with primary wins in Texas and Ohio (March 4) although it took several weeks before Mike Huckabee dropped out. Meanwhile, Barack Obama was dealing with other distractions as incendiary comments made by his former pastor, the Rev. JEREMIAH WRIGHT, threatened to derail his bid for the Democratic nomination. Obama delivered an impassioned speech on race relations in the U.S. while also repudiating Wright’s anti-U.S. statements.

Scandal also rocked the political scene when federal prosecutors caught New York Governor ELIOT SPITZER having sexual relations with high-priced call girl ASHLEY DUPRE in a Washington, D.C. hotel room. It wasn’t the first time Spitzer che ated on his wife either. He resigned his office (March 12) and was succeed by Lieutenant Governor DAVID PATERSON.

In Iraq, the U.S. suffered its 4,000 fatality (March 23).

APRIL: China, host of the Summer Olympic Games, discovered it would be a rocky road to Beijing as protests over its human rights record disrupted the running of the Olympic torch in London (April 6) and Paris (April 7). In Iraq, the national army won an important victory by driving out militant elements of the Mahdi Army from the southern city of Basra (April 19.) The Shiite group had held sway in the city since 2003. But trouble increased in Afghanistan as Taliban militants targeted President HAMID KARZAI in an assassination attempt (April 27). Karzai was unhurt but three people were killed and dozens wounded during the incident..

MAY: China suffered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent years as 7.9 magnitude earthquake devastated three western provinces (May 12). At least 68,000 people were killed but the true death toll may never be known.

Domestically, the California Supreme Court ruled that a law barring gays and lesbian from marrying was unconstitutional (May 15), paving the way for same-sex unions in the Golden state. On Capitol Hill, longtime Massachusetts Senator EDWARD KENNEDY was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor (May 20), later undergoing risky surgery to remove the growth.

JUNE: Barack Obama declared himself the undisputed victor in the race for the Democratic presidenti al nomination by capturing 2,154 delegates after the final primaries (June 3). Hillary Clinton soon suspended her campaign and threw her support to Obama (June 7). Obama also decided later in the month not to accept public financing during the general election, enabling him to eventually raise a record $750 million.

In California, judges began performing gay weddings while opponents vowed to place a referendum on the November ballot to overturn this new right. The U.S. Supreme Court also handed gun owners an important victory by tossing out a law in Washington, D.C. that bans private ownership of handguns (June 26).

JULY: With the nomination in hand, Barack Obama decided to bolster his foreign policy credentials by meeting with U.S. military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama culminated his trip with a speech before hundreds of thousands in Berlin at the same spot where former Presidents JOHN F. KENNEDY and RONALD REAGAN delivered their own famous speeches (July 24). The Obama trip was mocked by Republican rival John McCain, whose campaign ran off a series of effective commercials that alleged the Democrat was all style and no substance.

Federal prosecutors were set to make an important arrest in the 2001 anthrax mailing case that killed five people when the lead suspect, microbiologist BRUCE IVINS, committed suicide (July 29). It was determined that Ivins’ access to the deadly toxin and other evidence were enough to determine that he sent the anthrax.

AUGUST: Russian troops swept into the former Soviet Republic of Georgia (Aug. after Georgian troops tried to put down a rebellion in the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia, which still had close ties to Moscow. Russia soon moved into Abkhazia and began launching air strikes on the Georgia capital of Tbilisi, spurring the White House to call for the immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces. A peace deal was brokered but Moscow didn’t begin calling back its troops until later in the month. The aggression aggravated tensions between the U.S. and Russia as Prime Minister VLADIMIR PUTIN reasserted himself as the true power in the Kremlin.

In Pakistan, Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf gave up his long battle to stay in office and decided to resign rather than face impeachment, leaving the government to former political enemies, including ASIF ALI ZARDARI, the husband of slain former Prime Minister BENZAIR BHUTTO.

Barack Obama picked Delaware Senator JOE BIDEN as his running mate (Aug. 23) took another major step toward his improbable run for the White House by accepting the Democratic nomination for president. (Aug. 28). In his acceptance speech, Obama recalled the struggles and triumphs of slain civil rights leader Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. He also criticized Republican John McCain as being out of touch with the problems facing the nation.

One day later, McCain made a surprising pick for his vice presidential candidate, choosing Alaska Governor SARAH PALIN, a move to appeal to the Repub lican Party’s conservative base. It was the first time the GOP put a woman on the presidential ticket.

The sports world crowned a new hero at the Beijing Summer Games as swimmer MICHAEL PHELPS collected his eight gold medal in a single Olympics, breaking the record of seven held by MARK SPITZ.

SEPTEMBER: The Republican Convention didn’t start off as planned (Sept. 1) as Hurricane Gustav narrowly missed wreaking havoc on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Sarah Palin made her acceptance speech as John McCain’s running mate (Sept. 30), mocking Barack Obama’s experience as a, quote, “community organizer. McCain accepts the Republican nomination for president, touting his military experience, which included nearly six years as a POW during the Vietnam War. He promised to shake things up in Washington, declaring himself a maverick amid the crowd on Capitol Hill.

For the second time in less than two weeks, the Gulf Coast was threatened by a major natural disaster. Hurricane Ike made landfall as a deadly Category 3 storm, slamming into the port city of Galveston Texas (Sept. 13), leaving behind billions of dollars in damages.

However, politics and hurricane soon took a backseat to the rapidly faltering economy. The writing for a major collapse was on the wall began when mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were put under government conservatorship. The breakdown in the housing market was caused by years of issuing subprime mortgages to buyers . When the values of homes began to plummet, owners couldn’t keep up with their payments. As foreclosures grew and houses didn’t sell, the ripple effect was felt throughout the financial world. Investors immediately grew skittish as Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America and Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial dropped 500 points (Sept. 15), the biggest day loss since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. While Treasury Secretary HENRY PAULSON and congressional negotiators came up with a $700 billion package to bail out banks and other financial institutions, the House rejected it as being too charitable (Sept. 29).

OCTOBER: After a lot of retooling, the House accepts the $700 billion package (Oct. 3), which includes increased insurance for bank deposits covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and billions in tax breaks for individuals and companies. President Bush then sign the bill into law. Still, economic experts predict it will take months, if not years, for the country to dig its way of the financial hole, a fact that also sends world markets into a tailspin. Meanwhile, the Dow falls below 9,000 for the first time in five years (Oct. 9) as unemployment rises and retirement account are dissipated by the financial meltdown. The White then announces it will invest an $250 billion in nine major U.S. banks, which comes from the $700 bailout bill (Oct. 14).

Still, politics continue pretty much as usual. In the vi ce presidential debate, Republican Sarah Palin appears to hold her own against the more experienced Democrat Joe Biden (Oct. 2) while Barack Obama and John McCain go toe-to-toe in two debates (Oct. 7 & 15). The second meeting is far more contentious as McCain goes on the offensive due to polls numbers showing Obama building leads in a number of key battleground states. In a strange twist of fortunes, the country’s economic misery proves to be a boon for the Democrat as McCain is tied to the unpopularity of President Bush.

NOVEMBER: Barack Obama is elected the nation’s first African-American president (Nov. 4), winning 338 electoral votes to 161 for John McCain. Obama ensured the White House by winning the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. His enthusiasm is muted during his victory speech as he asks for the support of the 55 million people who didn’t vote for him. McCain is gracious in defeat, pledging to help the new administration deal with the daunting problems that face the country. Democrats also make big gains in the House and Senate.

In California, voters accept Proposition 8, which overturns a law allowing same-sex marriages. Gay and lesbian activists vows to reinstate the law.

The bailout of the nation’s financial institutions continues as the Treasury and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation say they’ll back up more than $300 billion losses suffered by Citigroup (Nov. 23). The government also announces a new plan to=2 0spend $600 billion to buy debt guaranteed by mortgage underwriters and another $200 billion to help consumers secure various loans.

The financial capital of India is rocked as ten gunmen overrun hotels and other targets in Mumbai (Nov. 26). The siege lasts 60 hours and at least 171 people are killed including six Americans. Only one of the gunmen survives and is captured. The attack is blamed on a separatist group from Pakistan.

The Iraqi parliament approves the Status of Force Agreement (Nov. 27) that keeps U.S. combat troops in Iraq past the end of the year but also requires them to leave major cities by June 30, 2009 and totally withdraw from Iraq at the end of 2011.

DECEMBER: President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team that includes former rival Hillary Clinton as his new secretary of state (Dec. 1). At his press conference , Obama also announced that Defense Secretary ROBERT GATES would remain the nation’s top civilian head of the Pentagon for the time being. Rounding out Obama’s national security team are retired Marine General JAMES JONES, who will become national security adviser; former Justice Department official ERIC HOLDER, the nominee for U.S. attorney general; Arizona Governor JANET NAPOLITANO, Obama’s pick to head the Department of Homeland Security; and foreign affairs expert SUSAN RICE as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

What everybody already knew was confirmed when the National Bureau of Economic Research anno unced that the country was in a recession (Dec. 1) and had actually been in one since December 2007.

Another day, another political scandal. Illinois Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH is accused by federal prosecutors of trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacate U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder (Dec. 9). Obama and others call for the governor to resign but he refuses.

With the situation in Afghanistan still volatile, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he will try to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan from about 30,000 to just over 50,000 by the end of next spring or early summer. He speculates that American forces could remain in Afghanistan for years. (Dec 11).