Breaking the Bubble

A lot of things went on outside the bubble of Tech in the past two weeks. Below are summaries of a few of the important events taking place throughout the nation and the world.

Iraqi militants murder South Korean

Kim Sun-il, a South Korean civilian working as a translator for a South Korean military supplier, was decapitated by Iraqi militants earlier this week. The terrorist group Tawhid wa al-Jihad is alledgedly responsible for the killing. The group released a video to the Al-Jazerra news channel, where they demanded that the South Korean government halt a planned troup deployment to Iraq. Pictures of the beheading were released to the internet, on the same web site used to disseminate videos of the murder of American Nicholas Berg.

Fulton County sheriff responds to allegations

Embattled Fulton County Sheriff Jackie Barrett is under fire for a successful escape attempt at the Fulton County jail. The prison break occured during the filming of a rap video by a Cobb County prisoner on work release. The escaped prisoner, Cara Williams, 23, disguised herself in medical scrubs and exited the jail through a staff hallway. Following her escape, she was quickly apprehended by Fulton County’s Fugitive squad.

In an interview with 11Alive News, Barrett expressed her displeasure with her subordinates approving the filming of the rap video. “I’m not at all happy about that. We are understaffed, overworked, and to have this occur in the middle of that really, really, really bothers me,” she said.

Bush supports condom use to prevent AIDS

President Bush announced that he supported the use of condoms as a measure to prevent the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS, breaking from his previous stance of supporting only abstinence-only sex education.

In a press conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Bush cited an AIDS prevention program in Uganda that stressed both abstinence, faithfulness in marriage, and the use of condoms.

Clinton autobiography receives mixed reviews

The autobiography of former president Bill Clinton went on sale this Monday, with a record setting 1.5 million copies published. Clinton received an estimated $10 million dollar advance for his memoirs, which have received mixed reviews. The New York Times reported that the book is “sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull.”

However, sales have been brisk, with 400,000 copies sold on the first day of release, according to publisher Simon & Schuster, breaking the record for a non-fiction book previously held by his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.