Again, it’s probably best to lead with the good news.

We may’ve found a cure for AIDS. 

An American man who was given the same bone-marrow transplant
used to fight leukemia, appears to’ve been cured,
within two years of the treatment.

His doctors say it may’ve been a fluke. 

But they say it’s reason enough to do more genetic research. 

Thirty-three million people have the virus, worldwide.

And BIG progress was made this week against
the spam that floods your e-mail.

The amount of spam was cut by two-thirds on Tuesday,
after two internet providers cut-off web access
for the McColo Corporation. 

McColo’s responsible for 75 percent of the world’s junk e-mail...
and the worst of it— fake pharmaceuticals and child pornography,
to name two.

Experts say McColo will probably find a new home on the web,
but—for now—the amount of spam has dropped dramatically.

More people filed for unemployment last week,
than any week since just-after Nine-Eleven. 

A half-million new people filed for help,
bringing to nearly four million the number of people now on the rolls.

And THAT number...is higher than it’s been...in twenty-five years.

Foreclosures were also up last month, for the 34th month-in-a-row.

Florida, Nevada, and Arizona got the worst of it.

Nevada’s foreclosure rate is SIX TIMES the rest of the country’s.

Nationwide, foreclosures are up twenty-five percent,
over this time last year.

American Express has stepped up to the bailout buffet,
asking for three and a half billion dollars.

I say:  Fine—so long as they pay it off by the end of the month,
along with a membership fee. 

The company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W,
and Long John Silver’s...says it’s cutting hundreds of jobs and...”shifting” hundreds more.

Yum Brands says it’s restructuring...and hoping
to sell more of its locations to local franchisees.

Yum profits fell sixteen percent in the third quarter,
because of higher prices and lower sales...
while business is up eight percent at McDonald’s.

But, LIKE McDonald’s, the Yum products are doing gangbusters business, overseas.

So, like McDonald’s, Yum is now REALLY focusing on its overseas business.

And Wal-Mart reports that its third-quarter profits are UP TEN PERCENT!

Its focus on low prices is just what this economy ordered.

Wal-Mart made eight billion dollars MORE in THIS third-quarter,
than it made in the third quarter of last year.

Wal-Mart is now making sales totaling nearly
four-HUNDRED-billion dollars a-year.

And that brings us to Sarah Palin, who makes it pretty plain,
she’s running for President in 2012. 

In her starring role at the Republican Governor’s convention in Miami,
Palin said—quote—“It’s what I represent: Everyday, hardworking,
American families.  A woman on the ticket perhaps represents that.”

Perhaps.  Or, it could be the will of a higher being.

She told FOX News Monday, “I’m like, okay God, if there is an open door for me somewhere—this is what I always pray. 
And if there is an open door in ’12—or four years later—
then I’ll plow through that door.”

A handful of other Republican governors are planning on running, as well.

They just don’t attract as much attention, for some reason.

But Palin still has her work cut out for her.

A quick check of history shows that losing ticket running mates who ran
as the lead four years later...didn’t do so well.

Witness John Edwards, Al Gore, and Joe Lieberman.

If you watched Bones last week, you saw the story of a body
found inside a bale of scrap metal, bound for recycling.

In Twin Falls Idaho this week, they found a body inside
a bale of newspaper, bound for recycling.

As in the TV show, police say it may’ve been an accident—
or even a suicide—but they haven’t ruled out...MURDER.

A recent murder in Canada, likewise,
seems to match a storyline on Dexter.

A filmmaker who’s also a fan of the Showtime series
is accused of killing one person...and trying to kill another.

In his script, the main character lures a cheating husband
by pretending to be a woman online, then kills him
in an extremely gory and violent manner.

The suspect was arrested...on Halloween.

It’s a thin line...between love and hate.

And scientists are starting to figure out why.

Brain scans mapped-out at a university in London show that
the same two areas of the brain that get active from romantic love...
also light up when confronted with images we hate.

And they found that the more we hate something...or someone...
the more active those parts of the brain become.

In Canada, a prisoner has been released...
because he’s too fat for a cell.

A Montreal paper says Michael Lapointe weighs about 500 pounds.

Because he can’t fit through the cell door, he’s been released.

He was facing a five-year sentence.  The paper didn’t say what crime.

FINALLY:     

Around the world with...There Are No Accidents.

In the Ukraine, a 29 year old woman named Ludmilla Vasko,
fell from her apartment balcony...into a vat of grapes.

Doctors say she was not injured in any way, except for the shock.

The winemaker one hundred feet below, is also grateful.

Quoting him, “She crushed most of the grapes when she landed on them.”

In Germany, a 13 year old boy was sitting on the toilet,
and had used A LOT of air freshener.  And then he struck the lighter.

When he woke up, he noticed he smelled like barbecue...
and that he was naked...and outdoors.