I just couldn't stomach writing about Petraeus today

Jyoti Amge, the world's smallest teenager

David Seaton's News Links
General Petraeus is in Washington and I know I'm going to have to write about Iraq again sometime this week, I'm even going to get paid for it... but I'm going to hold off as long as I can...

Depressing is not exactly the word... The war in Iraq is like... I dunno, writing about Iraq is like... like playing the part of Bill Murray in "Ground Hog Day"... on LSD, or like rowing a boat with a clothes line.

HDS Greenway has got it down pretty good in the Boston Globe:

"The American public hears no realistic plans from Democrats on how to disengage from this fruitless enterprise. McCain talks about a 100-year troop presence as if Iraq were a homogeneous, industrial democracy like Japan, (...) In the meantime, the through-the-looking-glass atmosphere surrounding whatever Bush says about Iraq becomes ever-more bizarre."

After surviving all the atomic perils of decades of cold war, who would have ever thought that the USA would attempt suicide in a place, that if God were to give the earth an enema, he would surely insert the hose?

So today, instead of Iraq, I have decided to pay homage to this lovely little person, Jyoti Amge from India. Here is what the agencies have to say about her:

A teenager from India who stands at a tiny 1ft 11in (58cm) tall is the smallest girl in the world.

Jyoti Amge, 14, is shorter than the average two-year-old child and only weighs 11lb (5kg).

Despite this, she goes to a regular school in Nagpur, central India, where she has her own small desk and chair, and her classmates treat her like any other student.

She said: 'I am proud of being small. I love all the attention I get. I'm not scared of being small and I don't regret it.

She will even be releasing an album with her favourite Indian pop star, the bhangra/rap star Mika Singh.

Jyoti is ambitious and hopes to work as a Bollywood actress one day.

She said: 'I would love to work in a big city like Mumbai, act in films and travel to London and America."

I love the line, "'I am proud of being small. I love all the attention I get. I'm not scared of being small and I don't regret it." She is obviously intelligent and from the expression on her face sitting next to the baby, she also has a mischievous sense of humor and must be full of fun. Irresistible!

Personally, I think that if a drip like Paris Hilton can get all the attention she gets, this adorable tiny creature is going to be a (adjective that means "big" or "huge" without being a joke) star.

Jyoti Amge should be making a world tour, not Alan Greenspan. DS