Making the rules

Even if Viktor Yushchenko were your worst enemy, would you want to pummel him the way his sickness has? Whether his disfigurement was natural or state-induced seems still to be in question, but the director of a hospital in Ukraine today said it wasn't caused by poison. It's heartbreaking to look at him, especially considering how hard it has been for him, I'm sure, to campaign in a country where the leadership is dead against him and willing to go to great lengths (extensive voter fraud, for one) to prevent him from having a fair shot.

An AP story, including an "after" shot of Yushchenko's face that isn't for the flimsy, is here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=3&u=/041208/481/xel10112081636

When Ukrainians re-vote Dec. 26, if the government hasn't finished off the opposition leader by then, Yushchenko will inherit a job with a watered-down job description. After changes President Kuchma signed into law today, the parliament has more say in budget-balancing, and some high-ups once appointed by the president will now be appointed by the legislature. Many Yushchenko-supporters in parliament abstained from voting on the "reforms" today at the same time that new election law was being considered, at the request of opposition leader Yuliya Timoshchenko.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has good coverage of the Ukraine election crisis. The latest is here: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/12/d8d6c286-df70-4388-90d1-e338956c6cd3.html