John Squared

The John Kerry/John Edwards coverage continues on today, with the usual John Edwards background stories plus several interesting opinions -- what he could bring to the presidential ticket from two sources, the fact that John Edwards is the first presidential ticket candidate not old enough to have fought in Vietnam, which might signal the beginning of the end over the controversy of that war, and how fast John Edwards has rose to fame from relative obscurity.

On the subject of Iraq, Bush has decided to dodge a question on Tony Blair's assessment yesterday that the coalition might not find WMDs in Iraq by simply stating that Hussein sought to acquire the weapons. Blair, on the other hand, has been defending his alliance with Bush despite their fundamental disagreements on both this issue and use of the Guantanamo Bay as a prison facility. The 9/11 commission has issued a release stating that it is standing by its finding that there were no legitimate links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Meanwhile in Iraq, the violence continues today with four Iraqi police officers killed in fighting insurgents in Baghdad as the new government attempts to impose emergency powers.

Also:
- We are currently at a local high point in sunspots, with recent studies indicating that the sun is more active now than it has been in the last 1000 years.
- The Hubble telescope has now found over 100 planets orbiting neighboring stars .
- Turns out that pot is the new carrot. According to a new study cannabis improves your night vision.
- A new study has linked drinking milk with a lower incidence of bowel cancer.
- The United Nations is beginning to tackle the issue of spam.
- The running of the bulls has started in Pamplona.
- Another scary article about the control and influence of Christian Zionists in America.
- Sierra Leone is testing a new model of justice in its war crimes tribunal, trying only a handful of rebel leaders to avoid the complexity that has plagued other African tribunals.
- The famine in the Darfur region of Sudan has the potential to turn into a catastrophe, according to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
- The British government is looking into the growing number of 'honour killings' that occur in their Muslim communities.
- A piece on how poor farmers in Laos are putting their economic hopes in a brand-new hydropower development.
- The American pilot responsible for dropping a bomb on Canadian forces positions, killing four soldiers, has been reprimanded by the military for having "flagrantly disregarded a direct order."
- The Archdiocese of Portland has declared bankruptcy over lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct by its priests.
- Another article discussing the Catholic Church and John Kerry, even though he has now expressly affirmed his believe that life begins at conception.
- Independence Day turns out to be not really the day of independence.
- An article on my new favorite browser: Mozilla Firefox.