in all the schiavo and papal madness the fact that other stuff is actually happening can get a little lost. here's stuff that i find interesting:
there's an outbreak of the marburg virus in angola. marburg is a close relative of the ebola virus and normally these outbreaks get prominent coverage (at least prominent for a story about africa). the problem seems to be the timing. a single floridian woman is much more important than 150 africans (with potential for a lot more if it escapes quarantine). american sources don't seem to give a shit about the story yet even though a couple of days ago some suspected that the illness may have reached italy. maybe if the pope got it, it would be news.
for a story closer to home: u.s. geological survey scientists fabricated quality assurance data in their report justifying the storage of nuclear wastes at yucca mountain. senate minority leader harry reid calls the revelation "worse than the Enron stuff" but it's still not bad enough to cut through the cloud of pope retrospectives (via cursor)
and, just for old times sake, we should also mention that stuff keeps happening in iraq. a well-coordinated attack on abu ghraib prison was repelled over the weekend. the assault involved about 40 insurgents and 44 american soldiers were wounded defending the prison. 48 hours later, there was a second attack on the prison. details of that one are a little sketchy, but there are apparently some american and iraqi casualties (no popes though).
britain is planning a partial withdrawal from iraq (which would reduce its 9,000 troops there to 3,500). the u.k. promises to use the freed up troops to make a "renewed attempt to capture Osama bin Laden and other members of Al-Qaeda network." (mmm, why does that remind me of something someone else once said?)
and for more positive iraqi news the iraqi parliament actually did something when it elected its first speaker. it's still not looking like they are capable of forming a government, but at least now they have someone to preside over the fruitless debates.
and last, but not least, auguste and the liberal avenger are on the trail of a ghost.
