New York Times Top Online Stories: Tue 11/23/10

The New York Times lead headline online early Tuesday morning says "Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor." The paper says American and Afghan officials say that a man purporting to be Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, a key figure in negotiations who was paid by the West, was faking.

It says a day after signing off on a $100 billion bailout, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would dissolve the government next month.

The paper says Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, said that the huge exodus of Catholics from the church had to be stopped.

The Times says children are vulnerable to radiation, but dentists use X-ray film requiring high levels of it, and orthodontists are embracing technology that emits more radiation.

It says the University of Cape Town is engaged in a searching debate about just how far affirmative action should go.

And the most popular story is an op-ed by Paul Krugman which says Former Senator Alan Simpson's comments that “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April" is "one more piece of evidence that our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown, than most people realize."