political nonsense

Scientists reported that smoking cigarettes doesn’t make you skinnier.

[but it still looks cool]
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A State Department review of its own security practices in Iraq assailed the department for poor coordination, communication, oversight and accountability involving armed security companies like Blackwater USA and DynCorp, Blackwater was being accused of tax evasion and defrauding the government of millions of dollars by designating many of its employees as independent contactors instead of company personnel, President Bush requested another $46 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bringing the total request this year to $196 billion, Osama bin Laden released a video urging Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq to unite to fight against the US, about 10,000 Turkish troops were amassed along Turkey’s border with Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he would shut down the offices of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and will not allow the group to operate in Iraq after Kurdish rebels killed 12 Turkish soldiers on Sunday. The PKK has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984.
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Scientists pointed out that not sleeping makes you crabby.
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Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, waived several environmental laws to resume building the Mexico border fence; meanwhile President Bush announced he will ask Congress to approve a $500 million package to help Mexico fight drug cartels, the largest international anti-drug effort by the United States in nearly a decade.
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People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia.

[somewhere not in south or east Asia]
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It was reported that since the US invaded Iraq in 2003 an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, US-led forces reported killing 49 insurgents and no civilians on Sunday during predawn clashes with renegade Shiite militia members, while Iraqi police said at least 13 civilians were dead, including three children and a woman, at least 3,834 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war, and Kurdish rebels crossed the Iraq-Turkey border and killed at least 17 Turkish soldiers Sunday, while the Turkish army retaliated by stepping up its bombardment of the Iraqi side of the border, hitting 11 different areas close to towns and villages, Kurdish officials said.
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that emotional well-being is not an independent factor affecting the prognosis of patients with head and neck cancers. “While there can be lots of emotional and social benefits of psychotherapy, patients should not seek such experiences solely on the expectation that they are extending their lives,” they said.
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The amount of Carbon Dioxide being absorbed by the world’s oceans has decreased, and rising sea levels were reported to threaten 21 major cities by 2015.

[coming your way]
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Hospitals throughout Gaza have shut down their operating rooms due to a lack of essential anaesthetic drugs, the Hamas de facto administration in the Strip said.
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Stephen Colbert announced he was running for president. “I don’t want to be president. I want to run for president. There’s a difference,” he said.

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A survey found that most Americans now believe that humans are causing global warming, and that we should do something about that.
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The FDA voted to ban cold medicine for small children, because they are potentially extremely harmful and there is no proof that they do any good.
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The military regime in Burma is still holding up to 2,500 people in prisons and labour camps around the country, and continues to arrest suspected dissidents, the British government claimed yesterday.
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At least three civilians were killed and nine wounded when an explosive charge went off south of Baghdad on Saturday morning, and in the northern oil city of Kirkuk insurgents blew up an oil pipeline, battled a convoy carrying bodyguards of a deputy prime minister and ambushed a police chief,
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50% of American voters polled said they would never vote for Hillary Clinton, up from 46% in March.

[cause she’s scary]
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The Chair of the Federal Communications Commission proposed doing away with media ownership rules that bar companies from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.
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Turkey authorized a military offensive against Kurdish rebels in Northern Iraq.
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It was reported that Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are cousins.

[duh]
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Scientists reported that more Americans are killed by the superbug than by AIDS.
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It was reported that swearing boosts work morale.
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