Lifesavers come with caveat

Health:  The New York Times reports that those living longer with HIV are incurring myriad separate health problems, partly from the toxicity of the drugs that saved their lives.

World: The Honolulu Advertiser reports that Russia will join the RimPac military maneuvers this year in the Pacific off Hawaii. That is, unless relations between the U.S. and Russia cool. 

Tech: Here’s yet another innovation that will make your current tech gizmo obsolete. Looks like your old DVD player will not support the new wave of high-definition discs. And according to TheStreet.com,Warner Bros. will release DVD discs in the Blu-ray format that is not compatible with Toshiba’s HD-DVD format. Viacom and Paramount issue DVDs with HD-DVD. Can you say Beta versus VHS?

Business: The Buffalo News reports that Wegmans grocery store chain (based in Rochester, N.Y.) will no longer sell cigarettes and tobacco products. This chain is known for setting innovative trends — expect other stores to follow suit.

Living: In the never-ending obsession with body perfection, Beverly Hills women fight fat with “lunchtime lipo,” the BBC reports. The procedure involves injecting PCDC, a chemical derived from soybeans, into the area where problematic fat prevents perfection. Lipodissolve is not without problems and has many unanswered questions, such as “what happened to the fat once it was dissolved?” Yikes!

O P I N I O N

If I were Rep. Ron Paul, I’d be furious with ABC News. With its video editing — that is, cutting away to see other candidates roll their eyes or chortle every time he spoke — ABC News portrayed him as a fringe candidate, no one to take seriously. Paul, however, was the lone candidate with the guts to question the failed policies of the Bush administration, and he has the best grasp on problems with America’s currency — one of the key problems underlying our current economic woes.
     Why not just keep the camera on him until he finished speaking? Was it really newsworthy to show every shrug of the other candidates when he spoke? Of course the other candidates would distance themselves from him because they’re too concerned about toeing the GOP line. Paul offered refreshing, original thinking on the issues. Can’t say the same for the others. 
     On the Democratic line, Sen. Hillary Clinton showed strength (at a time when she needed to) and offered specific details instead of generalities about national security and Iraq. Each Democratic candidate appeals on a gut level to different segments of the population. Perhaps by taking the best of the four, the Dems could offer a smooshed-together candidate called O’Clinwardson.

♣ Nation/world news tally in my local paper today: 2¾ pages