A simple survey could be the key to detecting the most deadly gynecologic cancer before it's too late. Ovarian cancer has long been called a "silent killer" because the early-stage disease offers so little hint of its presence. But a new study suggests that attention to the frequency and duration of particular symptoms could be an important tool in targeting the disease early.
While Democrats and liberal think tanks have been raising the volume over the issue of growing income inequality, less has been said about spending inequality. Now, you're probably well aware that your investment banker brother-in-law spends more than you do–darn those fat year-end bonuses!–but that makes sense since he earns more than you do. But what's interesting is knowing whether or not his spending is growing relative to your spending. As it happens, the Labor Department has recently released its 2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Delving into the numbers, I compared consumer spending in 2001 vs. 2005, looking at spending by various quintiles. In 2001, per-person spending in the top 20 percent was $24,879 vs. $16,817 in the second quintile, $14,264 in the third quintile, and $12,041 in the fourth quintile. (Think of the second, third, and fourth groups as the broad middle class.) Next, I compared the 2001 numbers with the 2005 numbers.
It's interesting, to say the least, that the president has decided to do an intensive review of where we are in Iraq. Obviously, the report of the Iraq Study Group–a political gift to the president–has inspired the White House to do some thinking, and that's a great idea. (Why it hasn't been done before is the mystery.) And it's also smart that the president not rush into any national speech without studying all his options, so today's announcement that there won't be any Christmas fireside chat is fine.
AP - President Bush has decided the general direction he wants to take U.S. policy on Iraq and has asked his staff to work out the details as he wraps up a highly public review of the war and its aims. Bush scheduled a session Wednesday with senior defense officials at the Pentagon.
AP - A car bomb exploded near a crowded bus stop in eastern Baghdad during morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing 11 people and wounding 27 in a mostly Shiite area, police said.
Police in eastern England are searching rural areas for clues in the deaths of five women, all believed to be prostitutes killed by a serial killer. Police are warning prostitutes to stay off the streets of Ipswich, fearing the killer could strike again. "Clearly it's not safe, they need to stay off the streets," said Chief Supt. Stewart Gull of Suffolk police.
A car bomb exploded at a busy outdoor market in eastern Baghdad Wednesday morning, killing at least 10 people and wounding 26 others, an official with Iraq's Interior Ministry said.
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