The bad homeworks of 2006

Here is my list of bad homeworks of 2006:

1. Britain’s new conservative party leader David Cameron took to bicycling to office to establish his green credentials. People soon found out that he also had a car following him with his papers.
2. The western intelligentsia has vigorously spoken about the need for democracy in the Middle East with the western governments paying lip service to the same cause. All of them were dumbstruck when the inconvenient Hamas swept the Palestinian parliamentary elections.
3. Pluto had been firmly established as a planet in our minds. Many Indian astrologers had even come up with stones and talismans with Pluto in mind. Unfortunately Pluto had to be re-classified as a dwarf planet
4. Jacob Zuma, ex vice president of South Africa, had unprotected sex with a woman he knew to be HIV positive. He claimed in the court that he took a shower right after to eliminate risk of infection. Health workers were livid at such dangerous public statements (showers provide almost no protection against HIV infection)
5. Baba Ramdev claimed that he would come up with a yogic cure for AIDS in 2 years (I love this upstart Baba); only to find out that all cure has to pass through something called extensive clinical trials which itself may last upto 5 years
6. Ted Haggard, firebrand American tele-evangelist, had made a career promoting right wing ideas including opposing homo-sexuality; he had to resign after interactions with gay prostitutes were revealed. HE had to say: I am a deceiver and a liar. The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality...There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life.
7. Israel probably did the worst homework when it attacked Lebanon. The verdict was almost unanimous: Hezbollah had defeated the invincible Israel
8. Richard Branson announces his plans to invest the next 10 years of profits from his airlines business to develop renewable energy technologies. Analysts pointed out that a decent contribution will only come if his polluting airlines thrive (thereby causing more pollution)
9. And even in 2006, there are no WMDs in Iraq