Op-Ed: How Will The Sponsors Of The Olympics Fare In August?

This summer should be a marketer’s dream. The Olympics have always been a business mecca. But will Beijing 2008 prove to be a marketing nightmare?

The images that lead up to the Olympics generally bring a spirit of excitement to those watching. The torch being held high as it journeys to light the flame. This year that torch run has been marred in controversy and riots. Is this just a glimpse of what will take place at the Games?

Generally in the background of the media rush to get images consumers will catch a glimpse of logos that sponsor the Games. Not this year; brands like Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics are in hiding.

Will this Olympics see the logos of General Electric, Johnson & Johnson or Visa or will they turn away to avoid the torrent of protests that have been raging on?

It may be a tricky year for the “Worldwide Olympic Sponsors” who help fund this endeavor. Giving upwards of $70 million to be at the highest level of sponsorship these companies are already committed in what happens during this August in Beijing.

“There’s been some form of political protest at each Olympics going back decades,” says Kenneth Shropshire, director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative. “With these venerable brands, you hope they were sophisticated enough to ask themselves, ‘What is our protest contingency for the Olympics?’ If they didn’t think of that, shame on them.”

Will the biggest names be able to come out of Beijing with heads held high and an extra jingle in their pockets? Will they instead distance themselves as much as possible and suffer a loss? Are they in danger of international boycotts of their products for helping to sponsor the Games in a country that is being criticized for their human rights policies?

The cost of this Olympics may be felt for years. Come August the nations will have to decide if the basis of the Games will override the problems of China when it comes to the companies that are heavy hitters in the sponsorship game.

The Music Copyright Society of Kenya Celebrates First Year

In only one year of operation The Music Copyright Society of Kenya has seen music users obtaining licences and royalties for their works. Their membership has grown from just 400 a year ago to 1,300 today.

In the past businesses didn’t know that they should have a licence to play music. MCSK has set about educating the public for that need and by doing so has been able to help artists have addition income.

“The problem has been that music users have not been aware of their obligation to get the licence for the use of music,” vice-chairman Tom K’Odiyo said. “Many people were surprised, but are now more than willing to pay up.”

By going to businesses the group has seen their members receive a “general collection” of Sh6,000 each. That collection was given to even members whose music had not been played on broadcasting stations.

Getting broadcasting stations to pay for the music they are playing has allowed MCSK to collect about Sh60 million in a year.

The organisation’s biggest achievement though is the campaign to bring a new generation of musical artists on board. In the past year Ambassadors of MCSK has seen young artists including genge star Jua Cali, rapper Nonini, Nameless, Amani and Nyota Ndogo, Fundi Frank, Iddi Achieng, Esther Wahome and Jemimah Thiongo shine.

Iddi adds: “As ambassadors of MCSK, we are the ones who go out there and reassure music users that the money they pay for using out music gets to us.”

Another highlight this year is seeing local stations playing music of the nation’s artists more than in the past.

“The licence is renewable every year, and any other organisation, including Namcos, is free to apply when the times comes. We have done our job fairly and musicians all over the country are our witnesses,” says veteran musician Joseph Kamaru, one of MCSK’s directors.

Op-Ed: Aren’t They The Lucky Ones

It has always been the goal of each generation to leave the children more than they had. The children that inherit the world we are leaving are getting a sorry inheritance.

There is no question that the world is changing. Food price increases, powerful storms, war and a host of other issues have changed the world drastically in the past decade. Those changes are leaving behind a legacy of poverty and hunger for future generations according to UNICEF.

Adults will face the same challenges in the future as children but will be better equip to deal with them. Children of the future are much more likely to not know what a full tummy is or what it is like to have a home to rest their head.

As people have to migrate to survive our future children may likely have the stamp of refugee imposed on them.

“Even existing estimates, more than a decade old, predict that hundreds of millions of people will be forced from their homes by floods, drought and famine sparked by climate change.”
Human Tide: The Real Migration Crisis

The rich likely will not have to deal with the devastation that could be coming. Of course the rich only compose about 1 percent of the world’s population. That leaves the mass majority picking up the pieces.

The poorest of the poor live in areas that are already feeling the pinch of climate change, war, drought and famine. Of those poor the children are the ones who suffer most.

Although not all agree that global warming is a man made problem most will concede that it is a global issue. The weather has changed in the past few decades bringing stronger, more deadly storms. Each major storm that destroys a village packs on more the burden of poverty. 98 percent of those killed or affected by natural disasters come from developing regions of the world. Of the 15 emergency appeals issued by the UN in 2007 only one was not weather related. Mother Earth appears to be rather ticked off.

The Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is warning that some disadvantage communities will not survive environmental disasters without urgent attention.

The ‘Untouchables’ of India were the ones that were most affected during the 2007 flooding. When after a long wait help did reach them it was subject to discrimination as to who was given aid.

And sometimes it’s the rush to improve things that puts the poorest of the poor at risk. In South America small farms are being forced to leave so that crops for bio-fuels can be planted.

“Not only are minorities and indigenous groups disproportionately suffering as a result of climate change but they are affected by what the world sees as solutions to climate change. There is now a greater urgency to make these voices heard in the climate change debate,” Ishbel Matheson said.

Droughts in Kenya are reducing livestock by 70% and adding to the hunger of the people.

The melting Arctic is affecting the Sami people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia who for generations herded reindeer. As the higher temperatures cause more rainfall lichen that feeds the reindeer is getting harder to reach.

“If the reindeer herding disappears it will have a devastating effect on the whole culture of the Sami people.… In that way, I think that climate change is threatening the entire Sami, as a people.” he said.

And all of this brings us to the children, our future. They are growing up in a world vastly different from the one that those of my generation grew up in.

War has always been with us, though globally the recent waves of terrorism has increased. Children are often the victims of bombings that years ago would have been reserved for those fighting a battle. More and more of the world’s children know what sounds different types of armory makes. They know to run when they hear a rocket coming into their pay areas.

UNICEF UK tells us that clean water and food supplies will continue to get harder for the world to have access to. The regions hardest hit will be Africa and Asia. The report, ‘Our climate, our children, our responsibility’, was drawn up by Emma Back, a global health policy expert, and Catherine Cameron. How the world is already dealing with the poorest of the poor’s children in the areas of poverty, disease, health and education is not encouraging.

The future? Children not being able to attend school, instead they will be having to help their families find water and fuel. The children will be working hard along side their parents for families to be able to have something to eat. That is the children that survive to an age old enough to help. Malaria, Diarrhoea and Dengue are all diseases that increase as climate changes happen.

The world we leave behind shouldn’t be a cesspool that our young have to deal with. Unfortunately it is rapidly becoming one.

Aren’t they the lucky ones?

There Will No More Americans Adoptions From Vietnam After July 1

After allegations of baby selling, fraud and corruption Vietnam has halted all American adoptions. The announcement follows an AP article of an U.S. Embassy report.

According to the report from the U.S. Embassy hospitals are selling babies when mothers don’t have the funds to buy their hospital bills as just one example of the overall corruption with the Vietnamese adoption industry.

“It is tragic for children that the U.S. government has not been able to find ways to work with the Vietnamese government to prevent adoption abuses while at the same time processing legitimate adoptions,” said Tom Atwood, president of the Washington-based National Council for Adoption, a research and advocacy organization.

“Many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children will not have families as a result of this failure of leadership.”

Just this year there have already been 1,200 adoptions of Vietnamese babies by American parents. Angelina Jolie adopted her son Pax from the country last year.

The cost that Americans are willing to pay could be a large reason for the corruption reported by the Embassy. American adoption agencies pay up to $10,000 per referral to orphanage officials.

As of July 1 no adoption applications will be taken by Vietnam from Americans. All applications prior to that time will have be affected.

In 2003 Vietnam suspended all adoptions with foreign countries over concerns of corruption. In 2005 they resumed U.S. adoptions under a bilateral agreement. That agreement was to be reviewed this year on September 1.

Guatemala has also halted or severely restricted adoptions for Americans because of suspected fraud and other irregularities.

Foreign adoptions with Ethiopia though have increased 71 percent. The cost of an adoption in that nation is about $30,000.

“Ethiopia has become a country where, because of the transparency of the system, many are adopting,” said Wallace.

United States parents looking to adopt often seek infants from across their own border. The U.S. system is very expensive and restrictive.

“We started out wanting to adopt domestically, but we found we were the last one on everyone’s list, because we have other children,” J.B. Sikes, of Anselmo, Neb. said.

His family recently adopted Binyam from Ethiopia.

“It was my desire that my family represent what the Kingdom of God looks like, and that’s all different colors,” the 39-year-old corn farmer said.

Could Play Groups Help Protect Young Children From The Most Common Childhood Cancer?

Play groups may spare children the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most common form of childhood leukaemia by thirty percent according to a University of California, Berkeley study.

The researchers reviewed 14 studies that involved almost 20,000 children. 6,000 of those child later developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

One in every 2,000 children in the industrial world will develop ALL. The disease occurs most often in the youngest of the population, between the ages of two and five.

Scientists believe that it takes two steps for the disease to be triggered. The first is a genetic mutation that happens during pregnancy and then a second trigger during childhood. The second trigger can be as simple as an infection.

While scientists believe that an infection triggers the disease they also believe that some common infections may actually help the immune system be primed to fight off leukaemia. The infections that young children encounter when exposed to each other from settings like daycare and play groups may protect the young from other infections that would trigger the blood cancer.

Lead researcher Professor Patricia Buffler said: “Combining the results from these studies together provided us with more confidence that the protective effect is real.”

The Berkeley team discovered this startling protective effect after studying 12 other studies.

The children that came from larger families though seem to not have as much protective from these early infections as children from smaller families.

Edward Copisarow, of the charity Children with Leukaemia, said: “These findings are important because this is the first time the results of all the relevant studies have been put together and it clearly shows that there is an effect here.

“This is the kind of research that brings us a step closer to understanding the causes of this complex disease and how we can prevent it.”

This may give parents an additional reason to have their young children interacting with other kids.

Researchers May Have Found A Way To Use Marijuana Medically Without The High

The days of a legal medical high from marijuana may be numbered. Scientists researching how to get the medical powers from the plant without the memory-robbing properties may have found the way.

It is going to take some time though for the new breed of medical marijuana to hit the drug store.

This has great potential but it’s years away from human application,” said one expert, Dr. Dennis J. Patin, associate professor of clinical anesthesiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “I expect that some drug company will research further,” he said.

The active ingredient in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol can relieve both pain and anxiety but it can also affect memory. One study of MS patients that smoke the drug found that those patients were more apt to suffer depression and anxiety.

Casida and colleagues at the University of California, Berkley and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California have found the organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents block the breakdown of certain enzymes. Those enzymes stimulate the cannabinoid receptors in the brain.

Using lab mice the researchers were able to give the rodents the therapeutic effects of THC without the memory problems by using OP compounds.

“We find that that a single organophosphorus compound is capable of eliciting full-blown cannabinoid effects that mirror those of direct cannabinoid receptor stimulators such as THC,” said Casida, who is director of the Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory at Berkeley. “We believe our compound does not act directly on the cannabinoid receptors, but instead elicits its effects by blocking the enzymes that degrade the endogenous cannabinoids . . . which in turn stimulate the cannabinoid receptors in the brain.”

“Blocking these enzymes not only raises endogenous cannabinoid signaling power but also lowers arachidonic acid levels, which may be relevant for pain relief,” Casida added. The arachidonic acid pathway is involved in pain and inflammation.

This research may open the door wide for patients who have been denied the benefits of marijuana because of legal issues. There is every likelihood that in time there will be a marijuana product that doesn’t get a patient ’stoned’ but relieves pain that is caused by medical conditions.

Over Half Of The Teenage Girls At Eldorado Either are Pregnant Now or Had A Child

A total of 53 teenage girls were removed from Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. 31 of those in the massive child removal have either had a baby or are now pregnant. Two of the girls that are now pregnant may also have had children in the past.

“It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive,” Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar said.

463 children were removed from the ranch early in April. The members of the ranch are part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The polygamist group believes that teen girls are old enough for ’spiritual’ marriages regardless of what the law dictates. In Texas children under the age of seventeen cannot have sex with an adult. A girl is allowed to get married at the age of 16 with parental permission. None of the girls at the ranch at believed to be in a marriage that is legal under the provisions of Texan law.

Members of the church deny that their children have been abused and that the state is enforcing a form of religious persecution.

Civil-liberties groups and lawyers for the children both have questioned the state about the removal of children who are not alleged to have faced abuses.

There are 250 girls and 213 boys that are being retained in custody by the state. The children are all being placed in some kind of foster care while the case moves forward.

Canada Warned That Food Costs Will Be Increasing

As the world’s food prices raise Canada will not remain immune. Within months the problems dealing with the rising cost of food will be appearing on the Canadian horizon reports the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Other than baked good Canada has so far been able to breath easily when it comes to higher food costs. That will be changing in the coming months. With even the United States citizens worried enough to become hoarding basic staples the world is in the midst of global change.

The strength of the loonie compared to the declining US dollar has cushioned Canadians. Most commodities like grain, fuel and fertilizer are priced in U.S. dollars.

“But I don’t think Canada can escape the sort of food pass-through that has been going on in the global economy indefinitely,” says Derek Holt, vice-president at Scotia Capital Economics, who wrote the report.

“This is the year it starts to catch up to Canada. We’ve already started to see in some key categories and that will intensify in the summer months.”

In the past year global food prices have risen 57 percent. Rice prices have doubled during that time. As the costs creep into the Canadian marketplace spending habits will change drastically. There is a very real risk that Canadian by this summer will have to spend hundreds more than they are now a month for staples, heating and gasoline. This is not the time to be buying extra frills.

“That becomes a very dangerous scenario where you can have some sectors doing very well, food and energy, but other sectors see their pricing power totally evaporate,” Holt said.

Holt warns that food rationing could come into play in Canada.

Farmers have begun to switch to cash crops to take advantage of the food shortages. It will take at least three years though for the higher production levels to be seen within the nation.

Outbreak In Chinese City Has Killed 19 Young Children

19 children have died from an intestinal virus called “enterovirus 71″ in Fuyang, China. The victims have been between the ages of two and six. The virus is sometimes called “hand-foot-mouth disease.”

The children have came to the hospital with fevers and blisters, ulcer in the mouth or rashes on the hands and feet. As of Saturday 204 children are in hospital with the virus, four of those are in critical condition. A total of 789 children have become ill from the virus.

Province and central Ministry of Health officials and doctors are in Fuyang to investigate the outbreak and help with the care of the patients.

The report from China did not give a source of the virus or why this one city has been hit so hard. Fuyang, a city of 900,000 is a industrial and agricultural hub. In 2004 it was revealed that at least eight infants died in the city when the milk powder they were given had no nutritional value.

In past years there have been “enterovirus 71″ outbreaks in Taiwan, Malaysia and some East European countries. The disease is spread from conduct with the infected blisters or feces. It is most commonly found in very young children.

The virus brings fever and blisters or ulcers inside the mouth. The ulcers and blisters can also appear on limbs. At times the disease can cause deadly fevers, paralysis and swelling of the brain or brain lining.

The drinking water and food served at schools, kindergartens and the villages the surround Fuyang are being inspected to find the source of the virus.

Ed Wiley’s Mission To Keep His Grandkids Safe

What would you do if you knew what was making your grandchildren sick? Ed Wiley was posed with that dilemma and started fighting to make sure not only granddaughter Kayla got better but all of the kids at Marsh Fork were safe.

Since 2006 that’s just what this West Virginia redneck has been doing all the way to the state’s capitol.

Ed Wiley picked up his granddaughter Kayla from Marsh Fork Elementary in April of 2004 when he noticed that the little girl was listless and a red rash was once again on her face and neck.

“Possum, buddy, you okay?” he recalls asking her. “Tears were running down her face. And she said, ‘Gramps, these coal mines are making us sick.’”

Wiley knows coal mines. He spent most of his life working in them like most of the 10 generations of his family before him. He knew Kayla wasn’t just whistling Dixie when she blamed those mines for making the kids sick at her school. He himself had worried that the arsenic, chromium, lead, manganese, and other carcinogens from the coal slurry might leak into water that served the school. An independent study showed that fine dust from the coal silo and other mining facilities was likely being breathed in by the kids at the school. This silo was just a few hundred yards from where the kids were spending their days learning.

www.ilovemountains.org (All Rights Reserved)

The school that Kayla was attending Marsh Fork Elementry School in Sundial, West Virginia is located 400 yards down slope from a mountaintop removal mine. Massey Energy owns the Shumate sludge impoundment.

In 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that the dust was present at the school but no other tests were run to determine the health risks.

Wiley started to look into the 385-foot-high earthen dam at Marsh Fork. He was part of the crew that built the dam for the coal companies in 2000. It is a massive pile of rocks and soil that goes across the valley. There was a dam at Buffalo Creek just like it in Logan County once. It burst without warning in 1972 killing mostly women and children in their homes. The death toll was a staggering 125. Wiley knew that if Marsh Fork dam went the kids at Kayla’s school would be goners.

That dam is holding back 2.8 million gallons of coal sludge. It stands right uphill from the little school.

Coal sludge is what is created when coal is washed to remove the soil and rock so that it can be shipped. It’s pretty nasty stuff.

“sludge contains carcinogenic chemicals used to process coal. It also contains toxic heavy metals that are present in coal, such as arsenic, mercury, chromium, cadmium, boron, selenium, and nickel.”
Sludge Safety Project

Some of the parents knew how big a risk it was, when a heavy rain came they refused to send their kids to the school where a potential disaster was waiting. Still most of the small community did their best to ignore what could be.

“All the guys in the valley work for Massey,” he says. “They like to walk around in their blue uniforms with red stripes and never take them off. They’s all young guns, who say if we complain about the coal company, the company’s going to leave us.”

Wiley went to the school board and asked them to move the school. That didn’t work. Ed Wiley isn’t a quitter. He came up with a plan called “Pennies of Promise.” Going to local neighbours Wiley started collecting pennies to help seed a new school. He marched for 40 days carrying his $400 worth of pennies to the governor’s mansion in Charleston carrying a flag with Marsh Fork embroidered on it. A news crew was on hand when he confronted Gov. Joe Manchin with Kayla by his side. Manchin promised to look into the matter and quickly was whisked away by aides.

Wiley is now an activist who has been on the Today Show in New York and jailed for protesting outside the governor’s office.

Massey Energy is planning on building another coal silo next to the school. Wiley’s reaction to that was to stage a hunger strike to stop the construction.

The government doesn’t seem to be concerned that the kids are in danger from either toxins or flood. There is no plans to move the school nor study safety issues.

Manchin’s general counsel, Carte Goodwin, who said, “If there is a need and a justification for the closing of Marsh Fork Elementary and relocating it…that is an analysis and a decision that needs to be made by the residents of Raleigh County.”

Raleigh County Board of Education president Rick Snuffer in one of the nation’s poorest counties responded with;

“The problem isn’t the school,” he said. “The problem is the coal mines, which came in after the school was there. Massey and the state of West Virginia created this mess, and they want to pass the buck to us.”

Kayla is now in middle school but her grandfather is not giving up his fight. He has two more of his grand-babies due to start kindergarten at Marsh Fork in a few years.

Wiley says, his next campaign will be to protect wildlife endangered by strip-mining and mountaintop removal. “My eyes have been opened to a lot of things,” he says. “I’ve started down a whole new road in my life.”

New Insurance Plan Insures Unborn Children In Australia

Australian mothers can insure their unborn children against birth defects and death under a new policy. Mothers who deliver a stillborn baby would be awarded a $10,000 payout under the new plan.

The insurance company ING has formed a plan for women between the ages of 16 to 40 that gives payouts of up to $46,640 if a child is born with Down’s syndrome, spina bifida or a cleft palate.

This new insurance policy is drawing some criticism with New South Wales Midwives Association because it draws on the fears that pregnant women already have.

“It is making women think about the terrible things that can happen when the reality is there are very few mothers who suffer from complications during pregnancy,” secretary Dr Hannah Dahlen told the Sun-Herald.

“It is marketing fear and uncertainty when women are vulnerable during pregnancy.”

Investment and Financial Services Association head Richard Gilbert says that despite the issues that this plan may raise it is wise to have a plan in place for unseen problems.

“Some people will think it’s not ethical but the cost of covering for a disability is monstrous and that’s why people will look at this,” he said.

Considering the high costs involved when babies are born with disabilities this insurance program could be a step in the right direction.

Parents Say Don’t Recite The Pledge Of Allegiance In Any Language Other Than English

An uproar has begun in a high school in Wisconsin over The Pledge of Allegiance being broadcast in Spanish over the Intercom. Once a year at Edgerton High School Spanish classes have recited the pledge. This year a parent got hot under the collar.

On March 11 the daily announcements at Edgerton High School had the Spanish class reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as it has for many years. It only happens one day per school year but this year is causing a fuss.

Parents are demanding that the Spanish teacher, the principal and the superintendent be fired over reciting the Pledge in a language other than English. On April 28 the issue will be front and center at the school board meeting.

The group against the once a year Spanish version have gone so far as to physically threatened Dr. Norman Fjelstad for what they believe.

“There were a couple of people who made threats,” he said. “I said, ‘It’s a felony to threaten me,’ and they apologized. Once they got set back on their heels, we had a good discussion. It’s the people who leave the messages on my phone—it’s like shooting you in the back. I don’t even know who they are.”

The uproar stems from some parents believing that by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in any other language than English it is disrespectful to the troops.

Scott Angus of the Janesville Gazette the had run an article about the parents anger. After realizing that the issue at stake is mostly racist he pulled the debate.

“It started out fairly high brow,” Angus said, “but then it got to be a racist thing.”

Students and parents are saying that the issue is it’s not American to recite the Pledge in any other tongue than English yet when other languages from exchange students were on the announcements these parents didn’t push the bar, only when Spanish was spoken.

As one who posted their opinion in the Gazette said:
“I go to Edgerton High School and I don’t appreciate Mexicans saying the Pledge in Spanish. . . . If you think Mexicans can waltz right in this school and have an influence on these American students, then you’re wrong. This is America, home of the free and not the illegal.”

Those opposed to the Spanish version don’t care that 110,000 Spanish speaking members of the United States military serving the country in Iraq or Afghanistan would argue with them. That also don’t remember that during George W. Bush’s inaugural in 2001 the National Anthem was sung in Spanish.

“I’ve heard their frustration,” says Superintendent Fjelstad. “I understand what they’re saying. They feel it dishonors our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. My response is this: I know there are 400 Hispanic speaking soldiers that won’t disagree with them. They can’t disagree because they gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there are 110,000 Spanish-speaking Hispanics serving in the military that I believe would agree with me that speaking Spanish does not dishonor the military.”

What do you think? Is this a patriotic argument or a bunch of parents trying to push racist views into school rulings?

Op-Ed: Are We In Danger Of Using The Right To Believe?

Are we beginning to ride a slippery slope to a world where personal beliefs are not tolerated? As insane as that statement appears to be with the current world issues seem to point at religion being used to abuse others.

The removals of children from a religious sect, the crimes of church officials against children, Tibetan monks protesting, the Olympic torch being protested and religion based terrorism is it only time before all religions are banned world wide?

That future would see believers of every faith criminals. It was foretold in the Christian Bible in the Book of Revelations that when the anti-Christ rules the world only the religion of one would reign. Was a prediction to keep early Christians in “line” on the verge of becoming a reality?

If you think about it the impact of a world without internal bickering over who’s God is the right one it makes perfect sense. Each belief is set up to disagree with all others. Inside of each belief lays the groundwork for individual sects to further disagree. Global peace in this context will never be achieved.

And yet.

To take away the beliefs of a person is taking away a very important personal freedom. It does not work. Nazi Germany is an example of what happens when toleration is outlawed. The list of countries that have used genocide is endless. At the core of all genocide is taking away personal spiritual beliefs.

Humans seem to not be programmed to achieve this dream of global peace. Even if religion was removed there would be other issues that would take it’s place.

There is no answer. There never was meant to be. It is a flaw in human nature. As much as peace throughout the world is a dream it is chasing at windmills until each person can believe what they want to and honestly allow their neighbour to believe what they want without conflict.

Martin Luther Jr. had a dream that children of all skin colours could play together in peace. In many ways that has begun. The new dream is that all adult child can hold hands with each other no matter what belief they share.

It is just a dream.

Twitter Helps Free Arrested Blogger James Karl Buck

When James Karl Buck and his translator, Mohammed Maree were arrested in Mahalla, Egypt while covering an anti-government protest he whipped out a quick one word blog post.

“Ärrested.”

That quick posting using Twitter from Buck’s cell phone quickly had bloggers and friends spreading the word within seconds.

Buck had only been using the micro-blogging site for a week after being taught about it from the same colleagues that sounded an alert when Buck was arrested.

Hossam el-Hamalawy, a Cairo-based blogger at UC-Berkeley, used his blog to spread the word about Buck. Surprisingly the police did not remove the young man’s cell phone when they placed him in a cell.

“Usually the first thing the police go for is the detainees’ cameras and cellular phones,” el-Hamalawy said. “I’m surprised they left James with his phone.”

Twitter has been used during natural disasters for activism and journalism although it is mostly a social networking tool.

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, says that Buck’s arrest and the use of the tool in natural disaster just goes to prove how valuable it really is.

“James’ case is particularly compelling to us because of the simplicity of his message — one word, ‘arrested’ — and the speed with which the whole scene played out,” Stone said. “It highlights the simplicity and value of a real-time communication network that follows you wherever you go.”

Buck was at the protest working on his master degree’s thesis. He was covering the events of Egypt’s “new leftists and the blogosphere.”

When he was alerted by Twitter about a planned protest in Mahalla dealing with the rising food prices and decreasing wages on April 6. On April 10 the American returned to Mahalla where the protests were still going on. He knew there was a risk of arrest so he kept his distance from the protest. He and his translator had a bad sense and tried to escape. During their attempt they were detained.

He used Twitter quickly to insure that he wouldn’t just disappear as others have during similar arrests. Buck knows that his contacts from Twitter were a large reason that his stay in the Egyptian jail was only a day long. His translator Maree though wasn’t as fortunate.

While Attiya Shakran, press counsel for the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco has said that Maree was released on April 13 there has been no sign of the man.

Buck continues to use Twitter to keep Maree’s plight updated.

Huntington Bank Robbery Victim Loses Twins

A pregnant bank teller that was shot on Tuesday during a robbery has lost the twins she was carrying. The gunman aimed at her abdomen when he fired his gun.

The babies were not hit by the bullet that entered Katherin Shuffield during the Tuesday morning robbery at Huntington Bank in Inianapolis. Mrs. Shuffield remains in critical but stable condition at Methodist Hospital. Sadly the fight to save her babies came to an end on Thursday night.

The police had arrested three men in connection to the robbery but it appears that the connection was based on false information. 25-year-old Shed James Jr. lied to the police. He will be charged with false reporting.

The new bank robber and any aides he had in the crime remain at large. Prosecutors will have to decide they can charge the shooter will feticide. Because Shuffield was just five months pregnant the charge of manslaughter can not be leveled. The state law requires that infants killed in the womb must be at least seven months along.

Additional reports about the robbery are here and here.

Op-Ed: Toronto – TTC Employees Went On A Surprise Strike At Midnight Friday

If you use public transit in Toronto you are not going to be happy. The union workers have gone on strike surprising the city when the TTC stopped picking up passengers at midnight on Friday. Gee thanks Greg Kinnear for a great start to the weekend.

Greg Kinnear set out a surprise announcement at 10:50 p.m. Friday night that the Amalgamated Transit Union was striking at midnight.

The strike comes after the TTC and the Union had a tentative deal from the previous weekend. Without any warning the union backed out of the deal and citing that that they didn’t announce the strike in time for people to have alternative means of transportation was for the safety of transit workers.

“We have assessed the situation and decided that we will not expose our members to the dangers of assaults from angry and irrational members of the public,” Kinnear said.

Kinnear’s actions have put the residents of Toronto in a virtual hostage situation with people stranded waiting for a bus that will not come tonight.

I believe that one man sums up the situation completely.

“Wonderful,” was the sarcastic reaction of 41-year-old security guard Sean Patenaude, as he waited for a streetcar late Friday night.

“It’s going to screw up a heck of a lot of people trying to get to and from their jobs, it’s going to cause a lot of economic hardship and a lot of personal hardship,” he said.

“It’s unforgivable really, you can’t hold the entire transit population of the city hostage on a whim and that’s what it’s starting to feel like.”

Mayor David Miller calls this action “unacceptable” and “unnecessary”. Ontario Premier Dalton McGinty has promised to introduce back-to-work legislation.

“I informed the mayor that we will be proceeding with back-to-work legislation at the first available opportunity,” McGuinty said in a release early Saturday. A spokeswoman for the premier would not elaborate on when the earliest opportunity might be.

If you rely on the TTC to get around Toronto you will be out of luck at least on Saturday. The union will not be meeting until the afternoon with mediators.

We can thank the two-thirds of the workers who voted against the three year deal that the Toronto Transit Commission and the union had agreed to last weekend.

Thanks guys, it’s time to walk instead of being held hostage by a Streetcar Named Greed.

Could Smirnoff Ice Be Sold At 7/11 In Maryland?

Could looking at the beer case cause a few double takes in Maryland soon? Governor Martin O’Malley is holding off on a bill that would label carbonated alcoholic beverages like Smirnoff Ice in the same category as beer.

If O’Malley signs off on the bill carbonated alcoholic beverages would be allowed to be sold side by side with beer in convenience stores. That is striking a sour note with some groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

What’s at stake is a ton of money for the manufacturers and the Maryland State government. If these alcoholic canned drinks are in the same grouping as beer they will be taxed at 9 cents a gallon. With liquor at $1.50 a gallon the companies are hoping that the government lightens up the classification.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is leaning for keeping the status quo since the canned drinks at still at the core distilled spirits.

“They are no more beer than hot chocolate is,” He said.

With money on the line the chances are favorable that drinks like Smirnoff Ice will stay at the liquor store instead of the local 7/11.

Op-Ed: No Mothers Allowed

As of Thursday all the children from the Eldorado’s Ranch have been taken away from their mothers. Prior to then mothers with children under the age of 5 had been allowed to take care of their own.

The mothers are describing their final moments with their children as a emotional rushed time which they were rushed from the shelter they had been residing in.

“My two oldest were just terrified and they clung to me saying, `Mother, mother, we want to go with you,’” said Ruth, her voice breaking as she began to cry.

There were dozens of women who were bused away from their children on Thursday in the final parental clearing away for the children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Texas custody.

The mothers had been staying with their children at the San Angelo Coliseum until legal efforts were rejected by the court on Thursday.

Over the next few days all of the children will have been placed in group homes, shelters and residences. Some of the locations that these children will be placed are hundreds away from their families.

“There are no words to describe how it was,” said Velvet, a mother who was forced to leave her 13-month old. “We’ve been staying up nights to watch over the children because we didn’t know what would happen.”

Although many in the public have been behind the removal of the children others question if constitutional rights have been tossed aside as Texas deals with its largest child abuse case in history.

“It could very well be there’s some good reasons to remove some of those children, absolutely,” Doggett said. “But to suggest all of them be painted with this broad brush because they belong to a particular religion is a very dangerous thing, and that’s why we have courts.”

That is what is at issue. Is the removal of all of the children that belong to the church constitutional? Were each and every one of these children being abused? Is this a case of child abuse or has it turned into a witch hunt?

It has now been revealed that the initial call that started the mass exodus of children being removed from the ranch in Texas was made by a woman in Colorado who said she was a 16 year old who was forced into a marriage and her husband was beating her. That one phone call seems to have put into motion an investigation that had been in the works for some time.

The Texas authorities are not as concerned to where the call came from as to the abuses that they viewed when they entered the ranch.

“It’s really what we found that mattered,” Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar said.

Now the community has seen the removal of 462 children. Those children are in the beginning of a long maze of court proceedings that will decide their final fate.

Will the future tell a story that gives a ‘happy’ ending or a story of the beginning of a nightmare?

‘Operation Torch’ Hits The NYC Subway

Residents of New York City will be viewing the NYPD is full battle gear as they patrol subways. On Thursday the NYPD began ‘Operation Torch’ with patrols toting Mp5 submachine guns, rifles, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Five or six teams a day starting on Thursday will patrol major transits centers in New York City with the latest anti-terrorist efforts in the United States. Homeland Security gave the NYPD a fifty percent increase in grant money to fund the new program.

Times Square, Grand Central, Penn Station … the locations you would expect, but not only those locations. The assignments will vary and will be following no discernible pattern,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 the NYC subway system has been considered a prime target for a terrorist attack. Other lankmarks are also considered at risk including Wall Street and the Empire State Building.

For the next two years these police teams called Hercules Teams will be keeping subway patrons safe.

Cost tag? Only $30 million in federal grant money.

“Everybody has their opinion,” Kelly said. “We think this is a reasonable expenditure of funds. We’re doing everything that we think is appropriate to prevent another attack.”

Op-Ed: Food Allergies And Eating Out

Going out to eat is a simple pleasure most people enjoy but for the thousands who have food allergies it can be a time of life or death chances. Allergic diners have to be the smartest diners when eating out.

Fine dining used to be a luxury those with food allergies had to avoid but now restaurants are listening to their clientele and offering safe choices.

As the mother of a child who is allergic to milk protein I have lived this maze for fifteen years. It’s not enough to ask is there milk in the food you serve, an allergic person has to be aware of the oil it is cooked in. There are no “little” mistakes in the world of food allergy. That tiny fraction of buttery oil could be the cause of a child’s death.

If you deal with food allergies you probably already know how to order out but for beginners in this world here are a few tips.

Don’t assume that the waitress knows the ingredients in all meals. Ask to speak to the head chef. Yes it may seem like going over the top but chefs want their clientele to come back and will generally bend over backwards if there are health concerns. If they are snotty walk out and don’t feel bad about it.

Be prepared, this is not the time to forget your epi-pen or not know where the closest hospital is. Mistakes can be made even if you have been careful.
We made the mistake one time of not asking if a recipe had been changed at a favorite eatery. As the tell tale shows of allergy started we asked if the recipe had changed and it had, a mere sprinkling of Parmesan cheese made for a rushed ER trip.

There will be times that a talented staff will admit that you can’t have a dish you are craving. Don’t be upset, be glad they are honest enough to let you know that a dish is unsafe.

I don’t see it as an offense. It is honest communication,” Miller, a diner with allergies said, adding that it is the patron’s responsibility to be informed and vocal about their allergies and identify themselves to the restaurant staff. In turn, it is the restaurant’s responsibility to say to what extent they can feed that person.

Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network knows that the restaurant industry has been slow to embrace those with food allergies. It’s hard to train staffs with high turn over rates the dangers of allergy. In addition not all food suppliers are up to date on what ingredients to be aware of.

Those with allergies understand how hard it is to be diligent in their home. Reading labels is a skill that takes time and practice.

The best places know that allergic customers can be their best repeat clients. Once a diner knows a place is not only a great place to eat but accomodates their allergy they will return.

“It makes good business sense,” Muñoz-Furlong said. “They become your best customers because they’re very loyal.”

Bon Appetit!

U.S. Citizens Get Ready For A Little Extra Green

The U.S. federal government is about to start mailing out special tax rebate checks five days earlier than planned. The first mailing will hit the post office on Monday.

Last month the Treasury Department had said that the first checks would be sent out on May 2. 800,000 lucky tax payers now will see the government rebate on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. While there will be no rebates sent on Thursday Friday will be a massive payout day with 5 million checks in the mail.

Andrew DeSouza, a Treasury spokesman said the checks will be leaving early because of a new computer program that updates records daily. The older program only did weekly updates.

By July 130 million taxpayers should have received their rebate check. The federal government is hoping that the more than $110 billion that is being sent will stimulate the economy. These checks are meant for spending rather than putting into a family’s savings account.

People who filed their 2007 tax return will be given the rebate. Those who opted for direct deposit with the IRS will see the rebates before those who depend on snail mail.

The average taxpayer will get a rebate of $600 if they made under $75,000 with couples getting back $1,200. Each child in a family will receive $300. Those tax payers who do not owe tax but made at least $3,000 in income will be getting a $300 rebate.

The paper checks will be mailed on May 9. The order of the mailings depend on the last two digits of Social Security numbers.

Soldiers Serving In The Middle East Are At Risk For Hidden Mild Brain Injuries

Soldiers in combat zones may have hidden head injures. That’s the word from a clinical neuropsychologist who was speaking at a conference on military trauma Thursday.

Dr. Harriet Zeiner says that there could be many military personnel that have mild brain injuries that aren’t obvious yet still affect basic functions. Mild brain injuries can cause many problems including learning impairment, memory loss, severe fatigue, headaches.

“It’s these other folks that we’re missing,” Zeiner said in an interview. “That’s one thing we have to do, is figure out how to identify people who aren’t complaining,”

These mild brain injuries are becoming a “signature wound” of the military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is estimated that 320,000 soldiers have this condition according to Zeiner.

American legislators voted earlier this month to expand monitoring and research for brain injuries.

Canadian defense critic Dawn Black says that there isn’t a lot of information about the number of soldiers that have a mild brain injury due to their time in Afghanistan.

“Anecdotally, it would indicate that this is an increase and an issue to be very concerned about,” Black said from Vancouver.

The House of Commons defence committee is studying the issue and results should be available in June according to Black.

With as many soldiers exposed to the risk of this type of brain injury there is no telling what the future may mean for those serving their country in the Middle East.

How HIV Is Monitored Does Not Affect Survival Rates

In Africa doctors determine when to switch HIV drugs based on clinical symptoms instead of costly blood work as done in the West. Researchers have found that both set of patients have nearly the same survival rate.

In poorer countries costly blood work is not feasible when deciding which medicines to use with the nearly 2 million patients using HIV drugs. Doctors in these regions have to rely on tracking signs of decline instead. That tracking appears to be almost as reliable as the expensive blood work that Western countries use to gauge where patients disease progress is heading.

The blood work that is standard practise in the West counts the number of CD4 T-cells or the amount of the virus traveling in the bloodstream. The tests are very expensive though.

The new study indicates that perhaps they are not needed as much as a doctor tracking the disease through basic symptoms such as fever and fatigue.

“Our results suggest that use of antiretroviral therapy without monitoring of viral load or CD4 cell count does not have marked detrimental effects on patient survival or on development of resistance,” the researchers wrote.

HIV is an incurable virus but has become treatable with drug cocktails that help keep patients alive and in good health.

The study comparing the two means of tracking patient health was led by Andrew Philipps of University College London and included Dr. Charles Gilks on the team.

The study that was published in The Lancet was not based on actual patients but rather mathematical projections using a computer simulation model of HIV infection. The percentage of patients that survive 5 years after diagnose is roughly the same regardless of how a person’s disease was tracked.

The results of this study should reassure clinicians in Africa and Asia, who are treating literally millions of people without these laboratory tests, that they are not compromising patient safety,” co-author Gilks said in a statement issued by the Geneva-based WHO.

“In fact, the outcome of their treatment is almost as good as those patients in the United States and Europe where laboratory-guided treatment is the norm,” he added.

The rough breakdown was;

83 percent in patients using the viral load monitoring strategy
82 percent from CD4 cell count monitor
82 percent with clinical monitoring

In a twenty year projection survival rates were;

67 percent in patients using the viral load monitoring strategy
64 percent from CD4 cell count monitor
64 percent with clinical monitoring

AIDS has killed 25 million people globally and currently there are about 33 million who are infected with the virus.

We’re not saying don’t do the tests because they obviously do help but if you don’t have tests available, the priority remains to get drugs there in the first instance,” Gilks told Reuters. “Drugs are the most important thing because without them people die, it is as simple as that.”

Japan Dealing With Wave Of Suicides Using Chemical Gases

A spat of suicides in Japan are making others in the nation sick. The recent wave of suicides are using chemical fumes to bring on death. Those fumes are threatening nearby people.

A 14-year-old was one of the recent suicides by chemical reaction. The young girl mixed laundry detergent with cleanser. The fumes that escaped her apartment home were strong enough to sicken 90 people that lived in the building. Although 10 people had to remain in the hospital none of the neighbours were severely ill from the deadly hydrogen sulfide gas that killed the teen on Wednesday night.

The Japanese authorities believe that Internet suicide sites are the reasoning behind the new suicides that began to expand last summer.

On Thursday a 31-year-old man mixed detergent and bath salts inside his car in Tokyo. The dead man had put up a sign on his car window advising others to “Stay Away.”

In Shinga another chemical suicide death happened on Thursday in Shinga. A man in his 30s was found in a business hotel after employees noticed a strange smell coming from his room. The only details from that suicide that police are releasing is that the cause of death was deadly hydrogen sulfide gas.

Thursday afternoon another reported suicide by the gas was reported. A 42-year-old woman in Nagoya was found in a bathtub. Her chemical death was produced by toilet cleaner and bath powder. She had left a sign outside waring, “Poisonous gas being emitted. Caution.” Fire officials at that site reported that they could not detect hydrogen sulfide gas.

Japanese officials are not only concerned with the number of people committing the deadly act but also the means in which they are doing it. Others become in danger when the chemical gas is emitted. This year there have been about 30 people who have committed suicide in the manner.

It’s easy and everyone can do it,” said Yasuaki Shimizu, director of Lifelink, a Tokyo-based group specializing in halting suicides. “Also there is a lot of information teaching people how to do it on the Internet.”

Japan has had a large suicide rate for years. In 2006 32,155 killed themselves in the island nation. The government is hoping through anti-suicide programs to cut the number of people that commit the act. The government recently put aside $220 million dollars for those programs.

The New Endangered Species: Humans

Thousands of years ago, nearly 70,000 animal species almost faced extinction, and the human race dwindled down to a mere number of 2,000 living in Africa. The numbers started to rise in the early Stone Age.

An exciting report out of Stanford University tells how thousands of years ago humans were at the brink of extinction. The study made it’s conclusions after extensive genetic studies were made.

“This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species’ history,” Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement.

“Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.”

Launched in 2005 the Genographic Project was just published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Previous studies of mitochondrial DNA has traced modern humans back to a single “mitochondrial Eve.” According to that research we all stemmed from a single woman who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Humans didn’t leave the African continent for about 140,000 years. Finally 60,000 years ago humans started to venture around the globe.

This study looked at the mitochondrial DNA of the Khoi and San people in South Africa. They seem to have diverged from other humans between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago.

The researchers of the project were Doron Behar of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, and Saharon Rosset of IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. They discovered that prior to the Stone Age humans had spilt up into smaller clans. For whatever reason they began to reemerge together and increase their numbers during the Stone Age. At this time bands of humans began to spread out through the world.

In Eastern Africa there were severe droughts between 135,000 and 90,000 years ago. These droughts are believed to be the reason that small groups set out independent of one another.

Paleontologist Meave Leakey, a Genographic adviser, said: “Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction?”

It does appear that we humans are honestly one large family with many different branches. With the world population at more than 6.6 billion we certainly have an extensive gift list, don’t we?

Atlantic City Gamblers Have To Butt Out

Smoking at the casino will soon be a thing of the past at Atlantic City casinos. The City Council voted 9-0 in favor of a smoking ban at the gambling halls. A loophole in the statewide ban of public places had exempted casinos in the past.

The ban will take effect on October 15. That date gives the casinos enough time to add unstaffed smoking lounges if they see fit.

Casino workers are happy with the new ruling. Workers donning T-shirts with the slogan “Nobody deserves to work in an ashtray” gave the new ruling a round of applause.

“The employees of Atlantic City’s casinos have hit a jackpot of their own tonight,” said Dr. Arnold M. Baskies, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society in New Jersey and New York. “Hardworking casino employees have been keeping Atlantic City’s multibillion-dollar casino industry on a roll but have been gambling with their lives for far too long.”

Nationwide smoking has been banned in more than two dozen states inside casinos. Eight of those states have a total ban of smoking inside of gambling halls while two others will place their bans in 2009.

The ban was blocked in New Jersey in January 2007 when the owners of the casinos pressured the council. They claimed that the ban would cut their revenue by 20 percent. The City Council then ruled that no more than 25 percent of gambling floor space could have smoking zones.

That ruling did not work because there were no rules that regulated for those spaces to be separated from other non-smoking areas.

Smokers themselves are divided on the new ruling.

Germany Bans Children From Getting Cosmetic Surgery

Cosmetic surgery has been banned for children and adolescents in Germany. The ban was announced on Wednesday that will stop the tens of thousands of German youth going under the knife in the name of beauty.

“Wishing for a breast job after finishing high school is no longer the exception,” wrote the bill’s 30 parliamentary co-sponsors.

Children as young as 10 have become caught up in the cosmetic surgery craze. The Federation of Pediatricians are also very concerned about the number of young children who are having body piercings and permanent tattoos. Some of the members of NDR are also calling for a ban of those procedures.

The German Society for Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery is understandably upset by the ban. They say that the numbers have been exaggerated and have “nothing to do with reality.” They also contend that often the operations are medically necessary.

“If you (lawmakers) knew how thankful 14 to 16 year-old patients are after these procedures, that would put your worries in context,” Joachim Graf von Finkenstein, head of DCAEPC, said.

Plastic surgery for the very young who have not finished growing seems to be a little drastic. Boob jobs can wait until a child is an adult and can be sure that they honestly wish to deal with all the risks that are involved.

Nix The Kids Cereal If You Want A Healthy Quick Breakfast

If you want to feed your child a healthy breakfast cereal avoid the ones that are marketed to the younger set. Even the kid cereals with healthy marketing such as low fat or low sugar aren’t as healthy as the ones the parents choose for themselves.

In a recent article in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association researchers looked at 161 cereals. 46 of those cereals are marketed to the junior set. The researchers classified children’s cereals as those that are clearly marked as which on their web site or offered toys or games inside.

The cereals that are for children had more sugar, sodium, carbohydrate and calories per gram than non-children’s cereals, and less protein and fiber. Sugar made up one-third of the weight of the average children cereal. When it came to meeting the nutritional standards for foods that are sold in schools only 34 percent of kids cereal made the grade compared to 56 percent of cereals not marketed for children.

A healthy cereal contains 4 grams of sugar per serving and 4 grams of fiber.

The easiest way to make sure the cereals that your children are eating are healthy is to ban children’s cereals from your home. Teaching children from an early age that healthy choices are the way to go will help them to achieve healthier diet lifestyles.

“My advice to parents of young children is you’ve got to just make a decision and stick with it because if you give in once, you’re going to regret it. It’s just going to make your kid nag you even more,” says Dr. Marlene B. Schwartz of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Sam’s Club And Costco Are Limiting Rice Sales

Sam’s Club is bracing for a food shortage limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice. As the price of rice surges Sam’s Club and Costco are dealing with people’s fear that food supply shortages are imminent.

Costco Wholesale Corp is also limiting their customers rice purchases. The company said on Tuesday that they have seen an increased demand on staple items like rice and flour as customers begin to worry about global food shortages.

Sam’s Club has begun to limit the sale of rice to four bags per customer per visit. They are working with their suppliers to ensure that they can keep the products in stock.

Not only will individuals be dealing with rice supply limits. Restaurants and small businesses often depend on the warehouse clubs for their bulk size goods.

At this time other basic food items are not being limited at Sam’s Club but Costco has had to limit flour purchases also.

United States citizens are stocking up on their basic food staples as the global news shows a scary future.

Many countries are experiencing food riots as the high prices make providing a meal difficult. Since the beginning of 2008 rice pres have risen 68 percent.

Trade bans have been placed in India and Vietnam hoping to cool the domestic price of rice.

The United Nations has warned that higher food prices could cause problems with global growth and security.

The fears though in the United States may be a bit early. Tim Johnson, president-CEO of California Rice Commission, announced on Tuesday that there is no rice shortage in the Unite

Shrinking Penises Cause Behind Arrests Of Sorcerers In The Congo

Congo police have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers who are accused of using their magical powers to steal or shrink men’s penises. The penis snatchings have caused a wave of panicked men and some attempted lynchings.

Penis theft is not uncommon in West Africa where traditional beliefs are widespread. In this part of the world blood and body parts that come from ritual killings are still happening.

Last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo the rumours started up about penis theft. The city’s 8 million inhabitants quickly flooded radio call-in shows about the crown jewel losses and advised listeners to be aware of passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

14 victims have been detained by the police claiming that sorcerers just touched their man parts causing them to shrink away or simply vanish. Residents said this was an attempt to extort cash for the promise of a cure.

“You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We’ve had a number of attempted lynchings. … You see them covered in marks after being beaten,” Kinshasa’s police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Those arrested may be thanking the police later. The arrests come in a hopes to stop bloodshed. In Ghana a decade ago 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death. The 27 men accused in that crime have all been released.

I’m tempted to say it’s one huge joke,” Oleko said.

“But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it’s become tiny or that they’ve become impotent. To that I tell them, ‘How do you know if you haven’t gone home and tried it’,” he said.

Still there are those that believe that these penis snatching sorcerers have the black magic in them to do the job. Residents of the area blame a separatist sect from Bas-Congo who want revenge for a recent government crackdown.

“It’s real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny,” said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

The United States-Mexican Border’s $20-Million Virtual Fence Not Working

The virtual fence along the Mexican/United States border that cost taxpayers $20 million has to be replaced. The government had high hopes for the brand new system but have now declared that it doesn’t work well enough.

Two months after the Boeing Co. finished their virtual fence along the border Homeland Security is admitting it was a waste of $20 million dollars. The fence has failed to detect illegal immigration as it was meant to do.

The new plan is to add new towers, radars, cameras and computer software along the area where the expensive fence lined the border.

On February 22 Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff accepted the Boeing project after software glitches had been resolved. It took the Government Accountability Office one week to tell Congress that it wasn’t up to par.

“did not fully meet user needs and the project’s design will not be used as the basis for future”

The project consisted of a mere 28-mile section of the border near Tucson called the Sasabe corridor. With the failure a new plan of 17 towers with communications gear and cameras or radar will be put up. The cost of the new project has yet to be calculated.

The department is also pending millions on a customized computer program that will collect data quickly and fed it to Border Patrol agents.

The Boeing system is still in operation but it has yet to come close to the goals that were expected. Border Patrol agents had very little input on the project that was to be a huge help for them. The final version that is being planned will have more of their ideas and input.

The Boeing fence has been in operation since December resulting in 3,000 apprehensions. That’s not anywhere close to the estimated several hundred that are believed to cross the Sasabe corridor each day.

There has many much criticism on the project by politicians and others about the project that was to send a complete picture of the border to Border Patrol agents on their laptops.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office hasn’t been told of the plans, her press secretary said Tuesday. “It would have been nice of them to say anything to us,” spokeswoman Jeanine L’Ecuyer said. “If there have been new plans made regarding the virtual fence, they have not shared that.

“We certainly hope they will, and we’ve made inquiries to that effect to find out what’s going on.”

The Mexican border fence is just the first step to combat illegal immigration. When all the fences are completed the United States borders along both Mexico and Canada will have barriers and high tech equipment.

The Boeing Co. has been awarded $860 million to see this project through.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said it’s encouraging that Boeing will do laboratory tests before the new equipment is deployed, “given the fact that Boeing has already botched it once.”

Louisville Man Busted After Pumping Gas Into His Invisible Car

Joshua L. Moore was arrested for drug trafficking Sunday morning after he was found pumping gas into his car. The service station at called the police when they concluded that Moore was a little touched after viewing him pump gas into air.

The car Moore was filling up was only in his mind which along with a strong scent of marijuana alerted the Metro Police that drugs could somehow be involved.

When police arrived at the scene Moore was searched for drugs. The police found two large bags of marijuana, a load of Ecstasy, a cell phone and a large wad of cash. That prompted them to arrest the Kentucky man for drug trafficking.

Once Moore, 25, was brought to the station the police found even more narcotics on his person. He has been charged with three counts of trafficking.

Perhaps Mr. Moore should have stayed at home with his invisible car.

New Test May Trim Time Off Diagnosing Heart Attacks In The Future

A new saliva test may one day be handy for anyone to be able to tell if someone is having a heart attack. The quicker a person is diagnosed with a heart attack the better the odds that they can survive.

“Proteins found in the saliva have the ability to rapidly classify potential heart attacks,” Dr. John T. McDevitt, a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health.

Currently it can take about an hour and a half for some victims of heart attacks to be diagnosed. That gives a longer amount of time for damage of the heart to take place.

The one’s at risk for delayed diagnoses are often women who do not always present with the symptoms of a heart attack. Women can also have normal EKG readings even during heart problems.

“In our small trial, we had about one third of the patients with these…silent heart attacks on EKG.” These patients need to go the emergency department and have their blood drawn and tested for enzymes that are indicative of a heart attack, “which could take an hour to an hour and a half,” explained Dr. John T. McDevitt, a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health.

The saliva test has a person spit into a tube and the saliva is transferred into a credit card sized lab card that holds a standard battery of cardiac biomarkers. The card is then inserted into an analyzer as simply as one would insert a bank card into an ATM. The heart status can be determined in as little as 15 minutes.

A study that involved 56 people who had a heart attack and a control group of 59 who had not produced results that compare to standard testing that is in place now.

AHA Says Children Should Be Screened For Heart Problems Prior To Ritalin

Children should be screened for heart problems before they are prescribed drugs like Ritalin recommends the American Heart Association. While rare in children those with heart disease could suffer from sudden cardiac arrest from the medication.

Prior to being given drugs for hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder patients should be given a through heart exam including an EKG. The medicine already carried a warning for possible heart risks with those who have heart defects or other heart problems.

“We don’t want to keep children who have this from being treated. We want to do it as safely as possible.” said Dr. Victoria Vetter, a pediatric cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and head of the committee making the recommendation.

Between 1999 and 2003 19 children died from sudden death while taking ADHD drugs and 26 other child patients had strokes and fast heart rates.

Vetter says that through screening about two percent of 1,100 children were found to have some kind of heart problem. The doctor recommends that children already taking the medicines should be tested also.

“We thought it was reasonable to include the electrocardiogram as a tool for the pediatrician, the psychiatrist so that this would help identify additional children who have heart disease,” Vetter said.

Dr. Steven Pliszka, a child psychiatrist at the University of Texas in San Antonio is not convinced that an EKG is necessary for the children. He doesn’t see a bigger risk for the children who have been prescribed the stimulant medicine. Since most psychiatrists do not have an EKG the test will be considered an added expense and hassle for those who prescribe the medication.

CHADD, an advocacy group for ADHD says that parents should monitor their child’s reaction to all the medications they are on. The EKG screening “will bring an even further measure of safety to what is already a safe clinical treatment approach.”

Recent updates to the treatment guidelines for ADHD drugs by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry does not recommend routine EKGs according to Pliszka. Pliszka is the lead author of the treatment guidelines.

“We definitely did not feel we needed to screen everyone,” Pliszka said.

The drug manufacturer of Ritalin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s spokeswoman said that the company could not comment of the heart association statement as they had not seen it yet but did point out that the label itself does suggest that patients be evaluated for heart problems.

Eh, Did You Hear About Bob And Doug Mackenzie?

Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis’s famous characters Bob and Doug Mackenzie are about to hit the small screen in cartoon form. Global Television has acquired a cartoon based on the Second City Television characters.

The new cartoon will hit the air waves next year.

The “hoser” boys debuted in 1980 during SCTV. The skit was partly created to mock the public broadcasters having to air “Canadian content” because of federal government rules.

The characters went on to become favorites. In 1983 Moranis and Thomas’ characters starred in “The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew” and a slew on TV commercials.

There’s no doubt that those hosers are still laughing their way to the bank!

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal In 11 Death Row Cases

Eleven death row appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday. The justices’ had been expected to decline the cases that sat before them today.

The cases were from Georgia, Ohio, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arizona and Texas. The Supreme Court’s earlier decision on lethal injection is why these cases were on appeal. When the Court ruled in favor of the method the cases before them were not even reviewed because of the reason of their appeal.

Some of the cases that were rejected today were for the following men:

Carlton Turner Jr.,Texas

In 1998 Turner, Jr. shot and killed his adoptive parents. His father was shot several times in the head. He used their money to buy new clothes and jewelry, remaining in their home while their bodies rotted away in the garage.

Earl W. Berry, Mississippi

Killed a 56-year-old woman 20 years ago. Mary Bounds had left her church on Nov. 29, 1987 when Berry abducted her. He had intentions of rape but instead beat her to death. She died of head injuries resulting from the beating in the woods where he left her. Has had several appeals, all denied throughout his time on death row.

Thomas Arthur, Alabama

Convicted of the murder of Troy Wicker. There are those who say that Arthur did not commit the murder.

Kenneth Biros, Ohio

He was convicted for the February 7, 1991 Aggravated Murder of Tammy Engstrom. Other charges in the case that resulted in his death sentence are Attempted Rape, Abuse of a Corpse, Aggravated Robbery & Felonious Sexual Penetration.

Richard Cooey, Ohio

He was convicted of the rape and murder in 1986 of Dawn McCreery and Wendy Offredo, aged 20 and 21.

James Frazier, Ohio

He was convicted for the aggravated murder of Mary Lou Stevenson during a March 2004 robbery of her apartment. His conviction sparked some questions due to his very low IQ level.

Juan Velazquez, Arizona

Was convicted for the murder of 12-year-old Liana Venegas. He had moved into the home of Liana, her sister Isabella,3, and their mother Virginia Venegas in August 2001. On Sept. 26, 2002 Liana was reported missing. Her father arrived at the home and noticed that Isabella had bruises on her head. After he took her to the hospital it was found that the young child had a skull fracture, swollen bruises on her face and bruising on her chest and back. Velazquez was arrested the next day and admitted to abusing both girls and killing Liana. He dumped Liana’s body in a canal weighing her down with a cement rock. Tests revealed that she had died as a result to a blow to the head.

There will be new execution dates set for Thomas Arthur of Alabama, Earl Wesley Berry of Mississippi and Carlton Turner of Texas. The other death row convicts did not have a set date pending when their cases went to the Supreme Court.

Faulty Stun Grenades Stem From Navy Contractor

Pyrotechnic Specialties Inc. has been accused of selling faulty stun grenades to law enforcement agencies. The Georgia military contractor’s product left three FBI agents injured.

The grenades were rejected by the U.S. military after personnel were injured. That didn’t stop the company from offering the devices to American law enforcement companies.

The officials of Pyrotechnic Specialties Inc. have been accused of a laundry basket of charges. PSI has not responded to calls on the charges of conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud and defrauding the government.

The company had a multi-million dollar contract to provide the military with stun or “flash-bang” grenades. The Navy awarded the company with three contracts for the MK141 devices between 1996 to 2007. The weapons are considered nonlethal and work to disorient their targets by producing a bright flash and loud bang.

According to the indictment problems with the device were noticed in March 2003. A part of the device would at times crack rendering the product hazardous for those nearby.

Improper detonation could, and did, cause serious injuries to personnel using the device,” according to the indictment.

After the initial problem the Department of Defense issued a “stop work order” and PSI came up with a $3.72 per unit correction to fix the device.

PSI officials are said to have taken the defective products and sold them to state and local law enforcement agencies claiming they met the department’s standards.

Between 2003 and 2004 the devices were sold to more than a dozen FBI offices and several California police departments.

“Our understanding is that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is supporting the FBI in this investigation,” Lt. Geraldine Carey of Marine Corps Systems Command said in a written statement

The company employs 160 people in Byron, Georgia. They also make automotive airbag products.

Torontonian selling house for $1

Do you have a Loonie? If so, you have enough to purchase a east-end Toronto home. Omar Ibrahim is hoping that his listing price will create a bidding war on a home in an area that generally lists for $340,000.

Ibrahim’s real estate agent may just think his client is a little off the deep end though.

“I think about it every day,” Asim Khan said with a laugh.

As of Friday afternoon Ibrahim had yet to get an offer. Perhaps Canadians are thinking if an offer is to good to be true than it’s a scam.

Still the professional house flipper is thinking that the new hardwood floors and kitchen may interest more than a few buyers.

The home is located at 93 Badgerow Ave. in Riverdale.

“I figured, ‘What’s a good way to attract the buyers’ audience? What’s a good way to draw in as many people through my front door as possible?’” he asked. “I figured a dollar is a good way to do it.”

I think we may just make an offer on this one. What about you?

British Columbia’s Bountiful Community Is Watching Texas FLDS Case Closely + Update

The residents of Bountiful, British Columbia are praying for their United States “relatives.” Bountiful is home to Canada’s version of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Located just a kilometer from the United States border this small community is one of the most private locations in Canada. It is also an area that brews controversy.

On Sunday the spiritual leader Winston Blackmore and his congressional packed their temple in order to prayer for their brethren in Texas. There is talk that some of the children seized by the U.S. authorities are Canadian children.

Any parent should be concerned about every child, whether they are Canadian or not,” Blackmore said during a 20-minute conversation.

“A lot of those people are our relatives and our friends and I’m concerned about them. I’m sure sorry that (the raid) happened.”

Blackmore was in L.A. last week for a spot on Larry King Live.

The Canadian children that were seized in Texas will not be coming home to Canada, instead they will be placed with the others in foster care in Texas. The Department of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment on the situation this weekend.

All of the children will have individual hearings in the coming weeks. At that time on a case by case basis their final fate of foster care or being returned to their parents will be determined. All of the cases must take place by June 5.

Blackmore doesn’t agree with the actions of Texas authorities saying that he doesn’t believe it’s the Canadian way and that it shouldn’t be happening in Texas either. The Canadian leader though has not been in contact with the members down in Texas for more than six years.

Not all of the 600 or so commune residents in Bountiful are in allegiance with their Texas counterparts.

The Canadian group are also polygamists.

“If there is abuse they should go in and get whoever is doing the abusing,” said the man, who said he was 40 years old and born in Bountiful. “How do they justify taking the 400 children?”

Bountiful has itself been under intense scrutiny from the provincial authorities. B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal wants to persecute members of the sect for polygamy and sex assault. He can’t though because of a review of the Charter challenge of freedom of religion laws is being referred to the B.C. Court of Appeal.

Blackmore is not a fan of Oppal.

“Our attorney general reminds me so much of Warren Jeffs,” said Blackmore. “He went to great pains to get the very best legal opinion he could. He should go join him (Jeffs).”

It will take time to see if the Texas case makes any bearing on this Canadian community.

Update:

Bountiful had a visit from the RCMP on Monday concerning the more than 400 children that are in state custody in Texas. The Canadian community in British Columbia is part of the FLDS sect.

The leaders of the Canadian group are hoping that by working with the RCMP their families will not deal with the same fate as the Texas congressional.

Earlier this month on a tip from a mysterious “Sarah” yet to be located the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas was raided and 437 children were taken into custody. On Friday it was disclosed that some of those children may be Canadians.

The U.S. consul called B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal on Monday to talk about the possibility of Americans living in Bountiful.

“His concerns were that there are a number of Americans in Bountiful. . . Apparently there are, according to some authorities,” Oppal said.

“We have been led to believe over the years that there’s been significant movement from the United States to Canada and vice versa.”

At this time the Canadian consular officials in Texas are monitoring the situation and have offered support for any of the children who are Canadian.

“To date, no confirmation has been received on the citizenship status of the children,” Cormier-Lassonde said in an e-mail.

Palmer has no information on if any of the children from Bountiful are now in state custody in Texas.

In Bountiful there are two factions of the Mormon sect, one that follows Warren Jeffs and the other that supports Blackmore. The town is divided almost in half between the two different leaders.

Blackmore is concerned that what happened in Texas could happen in his community.

Premier Gordan Campbell has vowed to take care of any of the children who are found to be Canadian.

Melting Timebomb: Mountains And Water Supply

Every year the melt begins sooner, glacier and mountain snow melting in record time. By the time the summer rolls around with lower rainfall people who rely on that water are out of luck.

The areas most affected by the lack of drinking water and water for agriculture include parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, the United States, South America and the Mediterranean.

As the temperature of the globe increases the melt water comes earlier and soon may not be able to provide a stop gap of supply.

“This is just a time bomb,” said hydrologist Wouter Buytaert at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna.

“In some areas where the glaciers are small they could be gone in 30 or 50 years time and a very reliable source of water, especially for the summer months, may be gone.”

Buytaert, from Britain’s Bristol University, has focused her studies in the Mediterranean but says her research applies to the entire Alps region and other global mountain ranges where the surrounding areas rely on melt water. Up to 40 percent of mountainous regions could be at risk. These areas rely on the water that their populations can not obtain from other sources.

The most vulnerable areas according to Daniel Vivroli, from the University of Berne, is the sub-tropical mountainous regions. These areas account for 70 percent of melt-water. Without the melt water there is not enough drinking water nor water for crop maintenance.

The Hindu Kush in Afghanistan is home to 3,500 of the world’s glaciers. They are already feeling they effects of global warming.

“Glaciers are getting smaller and smaller,” U.S. Geological Survey researcher Bruce Molnia.

Because of the glaciers decreasing in size an added problem is happening, flooding. Snow has completely disappeared during months of the year that used to see snow blanketing the mountains. Many of the basins have become drained.

Researchers are having a difficult time collecting data in the region though because of the Taliban. They have to rely of satellite imagery instead of actual data.

“Mountains are seen as having water all the time and everywhere so people think they can take it all the time,” Buytaert said.

“But mountains are black boxes in the scientific sense, there is so much data missing for our models. We don’t quite know what is going on.”

Another Teen Arrested Who Wanted To Blow Up His School

Ryan Schallenberger of Chesterfield, South Carolina youth was arrested on Saturday after his parents called the police. It has been revealed that the 18-year-old had a plot to bomb his school.

The parents of Ryan Schallenberger called the police when a shipment of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home. The 10 pound shipment would have been enough to kill dozens of people at Chesterfield High School.

Police Chief Randall Lear say that Ryan Schallenberger has plans to build several bombs. A journal kept by Schallenberger had details of the plan to blow up his school. The journal had been kept for more than a year and included maps of the school.

At this time the teenager does not have an attorney.

A Cancer Patient May Have Come Up With A Machine That Kills Tumours

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A dying broadcast engineer may have come up with a machine that could kill tumours. 63-year-old John Kanzius has leukaemia. During his 36 courses of chemo he was inspired to help the children he met during his treatments.

Many of those children have since died but the suffering they endured on their quest to survive gave John Kanzius an idea that may just cure some cancers.

Using pots and pans from his family kitchen John Kanzius built a machine that sends direct radio waves at tumours, heating and killing them without damaging surrounding tissues. The machine offers up the possibility of a cancer treatment with no side effects. Sadly the chances are unlikely that the inventor will live long enough to see his machine begin to save lives.

Two teams of American cancer researchers have used a refined version of Kanzius’ machine to kill static tumours in mice and rabbits. They are now researching on cancers that spread throughout the body. Within four short years human trials could be taking place.

Kanzuis knew that radio waves heat up metal because of his work in broadcast engineering. His goal was to find a way to eliminate chemotherapy from the cancer treatments.

“I saw the young children suffering and I said to myself: chemotherapy is brutal. There’s got to be a better way to treat cancer. It doesn’t work half the time. The treatment is worse than the disease.”

Using his wife’s pie pans he set out to make a machine that would pinpoint tumour and wipe them out. He experimented with hot dogs and copper sulphate. the injection area would get hot but the rest of the hot dog was not changed by the machine’s waves.

Steven Curley of the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas said: “For a fellow who is himself battling with cancer, John is tireless. It’s remarkable that a man with no medical training came up with the idea. When he first called me I saw some problems with his design. Within a month he called and said he had fixed them.”

Dr. Curley is Kanzius’ own oncologist. He and Rick Smalley, another of his patients who just happened to be a Nobel Prize winner for discovering nanoparticles made of carbon started experimenting with the machine in August 2005.

“We now believe we can treat cells for perhaps as little as 15 seconds and produce enough heat to kill them and minimise any damage to surrounding normal tissue.”

Smalley died shortly after the initial experiments took place of lymphoma. Before his death he gave encouraging words about the machine to his doctor.

‘Stay with this boys, it’s going to change the world’.”

Dr. Curley’s team has just published two articles in the Journal of Cancer and the Journal of Nano-biotechnolody. There are three more articles to be published later this year.

Dr Curley said: “It’s very, very exciting and promising. I’m a bit more cautious than John because I want to make sure I don’t make any outrageous claims. But this has the potential to treat multiple types of cancer.”

Chelsea Clinton Checks Out Gay Scene Friday Night

Chelsea Clinton is taking it to the streets. Friday night in the city of Brotherly Love young Clinton was out trolling the gay bar scene preaching her momma to the mobs.

Gov. Ed Rendell took Chelsea on a tour of where the local gays and lesbians hang out on a Friday night. The patrons were happy to see her.

“Chelsea, the gays love you!” one fan exclaimed, as she took the microphone at Bump, a restaurant and bar that was her first stop. “Oh, gosh, I don’t know if everybody loves me,” she responded.

It almost seemed like Clinton was on the red carpet as she posed for photos and shook hands while making her way from one club to the next.

Instead of the frequent questions of who her mother was picking for running mate Clinton fielded queries of what was mom going to wear on Inauguration day.

The night’s walk was a smart political move. Chelsea made fans left and right. Those fans are good ones to have on your side when the chips are being stacked for the battle.

Rendell has toured gay bars in Philadelphia since the 1970s, he said, and made a similar trek for John Kerry in 2004.

“We’ll see tonight, easily, 1,500 people,” Rendell said. “And they’re all voters.”

Did Israeli Tank Target Journalist?

A Palestinian cameraman may have been the target of an Israeli tank crew earlier this week in the Gaza Strip. Fadel Shana, 23 was one of the five civilians that died in the attack.

Human Rights Watch announced on Sunday that Wednesday’s attack “recklessly or deliberately” fired at the cameraman and his sound man. Shana was an employ of Reuters news agency.

“Israeli soldiers did not make sure they were aiming at a military target before firing, and there is evidence suggesting they actually targeted the journalists,” HRW’s Middle East director, Joe Stork, said in a statement.

The footage that Shana was shooting shows that there was no military action by Palestinian militants at the scene.

Sound man Wafa Abu Mizyed told HRW that as he and Shana traveled they passed an Israeli tank on a hilltop. The then stopped to film the surrounding area. According to Abu Mizyed there was no shooting in the area at this time. Some children had gathered around the journalists and Shana asked the cameraman to push them away. Shane was wearing a flak jacket clearly marked “Press” at the time.

Abu Mayzed then heard a “sound like boof”. Shana was on the ground praying. Three civilians were also killed in the blast, two of which were teenage boys on a bike. On Sunday two more teenage boys injured in the attack died.

Abu Mizyed ran towards the main road looking for help. His hands were both injured from the blast.

The final footage that Shana shot was that of an Israeli tank firing a shell. The screen then went black. Other journalists that arrived at the scene were also fired upon.

“The Reuters truck was clearly marked ‘TV’ and ‘Press’ and drove by the tank twice, so it’s hard to believe the Israeli tank crew didn’t see the pickup contained only journalists,” Stork said.

Israeli has stressed to journalists that they put their lives at risk when they enter combat zones.

The New Way To Remove The Appendix

When Jeff Scholtz woke up from his recent appendix surgery he had a sore throat. That’s not the typical side effect of having an appendix removed, but Scholtz had the procedure done through his mouth.

Scholtz is one of the first patients to have their appendix removed through the mouth. The operation causes no scare and other than the sore throat no side effects.

What’s most important though about this procedure is the rapid recovery time. Within 48 hours the former U.S. marine was back at work and in just a total of 3 days was able to do sit-ups.

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Using a flexible tube to thread surgical instruments down into the stomach of Scholtz doctors in San Diego, California were able to make a tiny incision in the stomach wall to get to the appendix. After the appendix was cut away it was bagged and pulled into the stomach and from there it was removed through the mouth.

Scholtz was up and eating pizza within three days. A 42-year-old clothing manufacturer admits that doctors told him to take it easy but he great fine from the get go.

“You’d think the way it was done, going through the stomach wall, I’d have had all kind of stomach pains, but there was nothing.

“My father had the conventional appendix removal. I didn’t want the standard issue scar.”

The conventional appendectomies requires that patients stay in hospital for up to a week and have to avoid certain activities like sports for up to six weeks.

The new painless procedure is not only scarless but carries less risk of infection. The risk of hernias from the operation is cut also.

Professor Horgan, who leads the hospital’s Centre for the Future of Surgery, told Sky News: “Imagine a day when surgery requires no incisions or just one tiny incision that is only millimetres in length.

“Scarless, painless techniques are what the centre is setting the stage for right at this minute. Patients deserve it.”

Prince Andrew’s Little Princess Is Grown Up And Looking For Pricey Student Lodging

Princess Beatrice, daughter of the Duchess of York and Prince Andrew could be slumming it at a £4.25million four-bedroom, four-bathroom house in London, With a 24ft patio garden she is bound to be able to tan while she crams for her exams.

The nineteen year old princess will be attending Goldsmiths College in September after enjoying her gap year.

She was seen viewing the Belgravia house last week. The young royal has had access to the trust fund set up for her by the late Queen Mother since she was 18. Although the sum that she has at her ready is not known for sure it has been claimed to be £2.5million spilt between her and her sister Eugenie.

Her mother is taking a keen interest but nothing more than that,” said one. “They get on very well and they are very close but they are not about to move in together.

“Beatrice has been looking at a number of properties around Central and South-West London. She wants a flat or a house and the search has been going on for a few months.

Better Safe Than Sorry, Canada Intents To Ban Plastic Polycarbonate Baby Bottles

Canada intends to be the first in the world to ban polycarbonate baby bottles. The news has been swarming about the possible dangers of the containers which appears to be tied to two types of cancer and early puberty.

Polycarbonate is a plastic that is made with bisphenol A. The chemical has been shown to be tied to early puberty, prostate cancer and breast cancer. Bisphenol A is a man-made chemical that allows it to occupy estrogen receptors on cells. The clear plastic which resembles glass is also used in the manufacture of DVDs, helmets, dental sealants and epoxy resins lining the insides of food cans.

Gerber, Avent and Playtex all use the soon to be banned plastic in their baby bottles. The chemical has been found to leak when heated, such as when a dishwasher is used.

”Any parent that is currently using these bottles should get rid of them immediately and spring for the $40 it will take to replace them all,” said Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence.

Makers of baby bottles though are saying there is little danger in using their products. They insist that the chemical is harmless and do not pose a health threat.

The American Chemistry Council, a trade group based in Arlington, Va., said in a statement that BPA from baby bottles ”is not a risk to human health at the extremely low levels to which consumers might be exposed.” It dismissed concerns as ”another plastic-baby-bottle scare.”

Canada though has decided that even the most remote threat to the nation’s infants is not worth the future risk. The bottles will soon be banned from being imported into the country and they will be taken from the shelves. A date for the ban has not been set.

Religion And Cell Phone Marketing

Customized cell phones can express an owner’s religious devotion with religious ring tones, scripture messages and content filtering just to name a few options. Which religion has the best cell phone?

When reporter Mike Elgan started to research for his recent article he found that surprisingly there are no Christian, Hindu or Sikh cell phones.

Don’t worry though if you’re Christian as you can add the features to your current phone. Even though the Christian market is the largest religion wise in cell phone use there isn’t a carrier that markets solely for those whose faith is based in the New Testament. Ring tones and cell cases aside there appears to be a ripe market in the making.

That leaves only three major contenders in the religious cell phone company market; Islam, Buddhism and Judaism.

The Jewish Cell Phone

While a cell phone can not be technically kosher Mirs Communications Ltd., an Israeli subsidiary of Motorola Inc. is as close as you can get without the food. The phones have their own censorship board, the Rabbinical Committee for Communications. The cell was not started as a regular cell phone like many other religious models, instead it has less features than its competitors.

When you buy a “kosher phone” you get a phone that makes and receives calls. That’s it. No texting. No camera to show off. Dating services and sex hotlines are blocked.

And the cost? Mirs punishes users that need to make a call on the Sabbath at $2.44 a minute. Per minute charges between kosher phones do have a nice discount though.

The Muslim Cell Phone

With the calling to prayer five times a time Muslims need a cell phone with extra features. If you’re at home and close to a Mosque being called to prayer isn’t a problem but away and in a foreign city prayer times get to be confusing. One doesn’t have to worry with several Muslim cell phones available world wide.

The creme of the crop is Ilkone Asia based in Singapore. The Ilkone 1-800 plays a call to prayer at the right time and points which direction Mecca is.

The full text of the Quran is also embedded into the phone in either English or Arabic.

The phone is available in Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, North Africa, Singapore, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan and India. There are plans for it to make an appearance in both Europe and the United States soon.

The Buddhist Cell Phone

The very best of religious cell phones are for Buddhists and available only in China. The Nokia N70 features ring-tones, software and other properties with a Buddhist leaning.

The gold-plated phone has a jade “Buddha video button” that enables uses to watch a Buddhist video. All of the components feature embossed images of Buddha.

Op-Ed: What’s A Little Scandal When It Comes To Sex, Child Abuse And The Pentagon?

Here it comes folks, the Pentagon was in cahoots with the Warren Jeffs’ little love fest. Maybe not directly but they signed over many a check to Jeffs. Over time the Pentagon has paid over $1.7 million in defense contracts to companies owned by the sect.

Do you want to get more incensed by the whole mess? As Jeffs was running around the country hiding out on the top ten list of the F.B.I. the Pentagon was making deals with the group.

With all the contracts for defense going on with the Pentagon who can blame them if a little misunderstanding like dealing with a felon came up.

Utah Tool and Die, Western Precision and NewEra Manufacturing all are owned by FLDS leaders. Today, the companies all operate under the master name NewEra Manufacturing which is owned by John C. Wayman a close associate to Warren Jeffs. What’s more the checks were sent to FLDS Church/Warren Jeffs.

It was my understanding that Western Precision was paying roughly $50,000 a week into the coffers of the church,” former sect member Richard Holm said. “It would have been close to $200,000 a month.”

Gosh, now we know where the money came to keep this loving clan living so nicely. That’s right, the Eldorado Ranch was quite possibly built with the taxpayers money.

Of course the companies haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not their fault that they are owned by a felon in a round about way.

“The Department of Defense awards contracts on the basis of who can most effectively meet our requirements for supplies or services at the most reasonable cost to the taxpayer,” he said.

“We do not consider religious affiliation or marital status when selecting vendors, but illegal activity is certainly cause for termination of a contract and perhaps even debarment, which could prevent a contractor from doing business with department ever again.”

He added, “However, DoD is not aware of any criminal allegations against anyone managing the companies in question.”

And the Pentagon does do background checks on bidding contracts. So was Jeffs name on the companies letterheads?

They’re just going to shake their head and say here’s another example of our tax money going down the drain to support this polygamist in Texas who abuses children and women,” Maginnis said. “They’ll be appalled and rightly so.”

It’s not like Jeffs committed crimes that would put the country at risk, just the children in his own little community. That’s not that bad now is it?

The President/CEO of NewEra Manufacturing is John C. Wayman. He has been identified as an FLDS leader and a close associate to Warren Jeffs. When it comes to the tax division of Utah they have had a little trouble getting answers from this company.

“He’s been provided no records at all, and no one inside the organization has provided any inside knowledge. … It’s a very difficult thing to do,” Bodily said. “Progress moves slow when dealing with these people. Texas has its hands full.”

Another little tidbit about Wayman. When Jeffs was finally arrested he was motoring around in Wayman’s Cadillac Escalade.

Hey, did the Pentagon miss that in their background check?

Jacob Jessop incorporated JNJ Engineering in Las Vegas in 2002. The company has owned millions in Las Vegas snaring $11.3 million from the Las Vegas Valley Water District. Oh, Jessop is part of the FLDS.

Jeffs required most of these business giving him a certain amount of control in his followers’ business.

“Warren has his hand in all these businesses,” Wisan said, naming NewEra Manufacturing and JNJ Engineering, among others.

“Everything is micromanaged by Warren, especially if there is any money to be made out of it,” said Brower, who works for a law firm that is suing Jeffs and the church on behalf of women who allege they were sexually abused within the church and on behalf of young men who were kicked out of the church.

But folks don’t worry the Pentagon wouldn’t make a big mistake like this again. Right?

Op-Ed: Hush Don’t Tell, Bullies and the School Kids Welcome the Combat Zone

The world our children live in is a maze of joy and sadly struggle. Too often bullies mar the way of our ‘babies’ and turn what should be enjoyable activities such as learning into a nightmare. But has bullying changed since we were kids?

Yes and no. At some time in most peoples lifetime they confront a bully. If you haven’t look into the mirror and you may see a bully staring back at you. The difference with today’s bullies and those of yesterday isn’t that they are different, it’s that they have more avenues to pursue their victims. Facebook and MySpace have had cases where a bully uses these media social networking platforms to terrorize. The cool kids think they are pretty much a hoot.

Nowadays kids do have more to contend with then when many of their parents were growing up. A fight in the schoolyard years ago dealt with fists and maybe if it was really rough a knife. Nowadays that fight is liable to be an honest battle til the death match.

Kids today deal with with violence, guns, drugs, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, and bullying. We dealt with drugs, parents that just didn’t understand and bullying.

Each day 160,000 children in United States miss school due to bullying. Stress related illnesses are cropping up in schools because of bullying. What has happened in just one generation that our children are so afraid of other children?

Going to the bathroom at school can be a danger zone. Each month 282,000 students are attacked in secondary schools. The school grounds are sometimes the most dangerous places in a town. And don’t expect the staff of the school to come between a bully and their victims, the statistics show that only happens 4% of the time.

Kids know how to kill today. Almost anyone in school can tell you how to make a bomb and if not how to where to find out how. The means to learn how to fight back are there they just aren’t the right means. Is there a right way though to fight a bully? We remember standing up to a bully may mean a black eye, today it may mean a gravestone holding your name.

Peer Mediation can help but it’s not always the wisest move. Last year at a school in Toronto a child was beaten when he moved into help another. He was part of the elementary school’s Peer Mediation group. He was kicked in the head hard enough to require medical attention. In the end seven students were taken from that school and placed throughout the area to finish the term. There were no news reports on the matter for all of the children involved were in the eighth grade. I know of the case only because I was part of the parent’s group at that school.

Next week is the 11th annual National Day of Silence on April 25. Students take a vow of silence to protest bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools.

“I think it’s time for me to stand up … and help educate, because I’m lucky enough to have been given a voice to be able to talk and grab the attention of people,” said 28-year-old Lance Bass, who’s gay.

“Everyday, thousands of students are silenced. They’re silenced by fear, they’re silenced for being who they are. … They’re brothers, they’re sisters, they’re gay, they’re straight, they’re you, they’re me.”

Do I think this day will make a huge difference? Sad to say but chances are that it won’t change a thing.

I have no answers on how to stop the madness. If I did I would be a millionaire spouting my pearls of wisdom at every education boards meeting place. I know enough to say that bullies will always be with us. There will always be those who root the on. Chances are their victims will lose a bit of self esteem with every taunt and punch that comes their way.

That is until someone wiser than I can figure out how to change the human beast known as the Bully.

Seeing Into The Future Could Be Getting Harder In The UK

Street corner fortune tellers in the UK may see the police raiding them in their crystal balls if they cannot justify their readings. Parliament is set to debate changing the rules of the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951.

If the change comes about paid for paranormal ventures will fall into the new Consumer Protection Regulations.

It doesn’t take a psychic to see that some mediums aren’t that pleased with the possible changes. Having to prove that you see dead people isn’t that easy a task. Smart seers will give their clients the disclaimers of this isn’t science.

Having ‘healing hands” Alison Lyndle is concerned with the new rules. People say Lyndle has the power to heal. The spiritual healer, shaman and “space clearing consultant” operates out of Harrow.

“I agree that there needs to be something in place to stop people who are fraudulent,” she says. “I get e-mails from people from time-to-time saying they have paid thousands of pounds to people.”

She fears that the new rules could open up lawsuits from malicious complaints.

Those affected by the new rulings have David McEntee-Tayor and his wife Carole on their side. They have set up the Spiritual Workers Association, a group to help protect spiritualists and their churches. One of his concerns is that a church service would have to open up with a disclaimer.

“If you believe why should there be a disclaimer? Why should it be different for us?”

The Spiritualists’ National Union composed of 100,000 members though are unconcerned about the changes about to take place. Minister Steven Upton, a spiritual healer and the movement’s public relations head, welcomes the tackling of fraudsters by the new regulations.

“We don’t understand why people are protesting. If you are claiming you can prove life after death you’ve got a problem. We never guarantee it is going to work. Trained mediums don’t make false claims.”

The Office of Fair Trading say that the new regulations will be used mostly against those foreign mass mailshot fraudsters that go after the big bucks. They don’t plan on targeting the churches and store front psychic vendors that people visit. Still the crystal balls are seeing a big change coming up and it’s not in their favor.

E Street Band’s Danny Federici Dead At 58

Danny Federici, keyboardist of the E Street Band passed away Thursday from skin cancer. Bruce Springsteen was invited to sing with the band 40 years ago and the rest is musical history. Federici was one of those who had approached the New Jersey singer.

“Danny and I worked together for 40 years — he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much … we grew up together,” Springsteen said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Born in Flemington, New Jersey Federici met a kindred soul in Springsteen in the 1960s. “Phantom Dan” was playing with the band called Child along with Springsteen. The name of the band changed through the years but the sound was always the same.

During the late 90s Springsteen spilt from the E Streeters but in 1999 they rejoined for a successful tour.

“Bruce has been supportive throughout my life,” Federici said in a recent interview with Backstreets magazine. “I’ve had my ups and downs, and I’ve certainly given him a run for his money, and he’s always been there for me.”

While Federici was the least flamboyant of the band his song styling helped shape them.

In November of 2007 Federici had to take a leave of absence from the band to begin the long battle against the melanoma that took his life.

SkyTrain Transit Police Stunned Passengers That Tried To Get A Free Ride

Are transit police on SkyTrain stations in Vancouver Taser crazy? It’s been reported that the police group has fired their Taser guns at least 10 times since January for those who tried to get a free ride.

Ottawa is performing an internal police report of the transit police’s use of the Taser gun. Of the 10 times that the police group fired on suspects three times involved non-violent suspects.

The transit police guide says that the Taser gun may be used when the situation demands control over a non-compliant, suicidal, potentially violent, or violent individual and lower force options were ineffective.”

Those rules don’t include for persons who attempt to ride for free and run away when caught. That was one of the cases that transit police deployed the controversial Taser this year though.

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, thinks that the transit police have gone too far. He’s on a federal committee reviewing the use of Tasers in Canada.

“That’s the example where Taser use has just gotten out of hand and I believe the government needs to actually bring them under some kind of control,” he said.

John van Dongen, solicitor general in British Columbia hasn’t commented on if the transit police are justified but does say that they must abide by the same rules as all other police in regards to Taser use.

“They are expected to conduct themselves in the same manner using the same tools as other police, and they are subject to the same review process [and] the same accountability through the office of the police commissioner.”

Van Dongen will await the report from Ottawa before taking action in the Taser use.

Hidden Messages On Lululemon Athletica Reusable Bags Raise Eyebrows

Sometimes what you see isn’t the message at all. Consider the hidden messages from inside Lululemon Athletica shopping bags that one mother in Toronto found when doing a load of wash.

“Some brief or quick-fix incidences when our minds are clear to be creative are….when drunk or stoned…just after an orgasm,” it says.

Norma Columbus and her daughter Heather decided to see what other messages they could find when one one side of the reusable shopping bags inspiration messages started to peel away.

“The athlete’s high is the most long-lasting as it can last up to six hours,” the note continues to say.

“There is little difference between addicts and fanatic athletes. Both are continually searching for a way to remain in a creative state.”

Columbus thought she was seeing a joke but not so says a company spokesman, the message just wasn’t meant for the public’s eyes.

Columbus isn’t the only curious person to peel away a message to find something more controversial written on the bags under the more inspiration public message. The messages have been chatted up on Facebook.

“You only have 30,000 days to live and then you are dead,” the note said.

The company is known for being a bit different. In 2002 they offered a free outfit to anyone who would stand naked in front of their second Vancouver for thirty seconds a free outfit.

40 people showed up to vie for the 30 freebie outfits.

An emailed response to questions from CTV stated that the messages were troublesome to some customers and that’s why they were covered up with new messages.

“lululemon athletica is a company known for speaking our mind and inspiring creativity and freedom of thought in everything we do. We are also a company that listens closely to our guests’ feedback and acts in environmentally-responsible ways. When we learned that a phrase printed on the side of our small shoppers was troublesome to some of our guests, we took the responsible step of stitching a covering over this language on the remaining bags, rather than destroying them. We subsequently heard that the language was still viewable to curious guests and last week we removed what few remaining bags we had in our stores. We’ll continue to strive to inspire people to open their minds to new ideas and experiences because it’s what drives us as a company.”

Why Was Wayne Stokes Driving?

Wayne Stokes of St. Johns was already sitting in a prison cell when his 19th drunk driving case came before the judge. The judge added on an additional 30 months to the 3.5-year sentence he is serving right now but why was the man driving to begin with?

Stokes, 53, won’t be able to get behind the wheel of a car for at least another five years but only because he is in prison.

The man has shown that he has no concern for his fellow man by driving drunk over and over. His last arrest came as he was awaiting trial last December for his 18th drunk driving offense.

This time he ran over a stop sign. He left the scene of the accident. It wasn’t hard to find him. He was arrested outside of a nearby bar. Go figure.

He has completed a program on substance abuse this March but it’s not the first program he has taken. The others didn’t seem to stick with him. Because of his utter disregard for both others and the law the court had to take a hard line with Stokes.

“Mr. Stokes, unfortunately, despite having received similar types of counselling in the past, continues to reoffend,” Crown prosecutor Donovan Molloy said.

“The Crown feels he is a significant danger to the public, and that’s why the Crown sought the significant period of incarceration for him.”

Stokes had no comment as he was lead back to prison after Wednesday’s hearing.

Torstar Corp. Cutting 160 Positions For Ontario Newspapers

The Toronto Star’s company announced on Thursday that is was cutting 169 positions in a combination of voluntary and involuntary staff reductions as they restructure their newspaper division.

Among the companies holdings are Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, and digital properties including thestar.com, Toronto.com, LiveDeal.ca, Workopolis and Olive Canada Network and Harlequin Enterprises.

This move is expected to save the company in the range of $12 million annually.

“Our two largest expenses are labour and newsprint,” Toronto Star publisher Jagoda Pike wrote in a letter to his staff.

“We tackled newsprint first and reduced our consumption by more than 10 per cent through a number of initiatives. We then took steps to reduce labour costs, including through changes to our collective agreements and now with the (voluntary severance program).”

The Toronto Star will be losing 122 employees in the restructuring. The Star employs about 1,800 people.

As the growth of online news sources continue newspapers face a shaky future.

The New York Times Co. posted a loss of $335,000US in the first quarter of 2008.

Today’s news was not unexpected. In February Torstar Corp. warned that 2008 would be a rough year for Ontario newspapers because of the province’s economic outlook. It seems that prediction came true today for the many staff at the Star that will be looking for another job in a shrinking field.

Come Monday It Will Be Time For Another TTC Strike

If the powers that be don’t give in to the TTC workers those who rely on public transit in Toronto will be hoofing it come Monday morning. That’s the word from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 president Bob Kinnear.

“We haven’t taken this decision lightly,” said Kinnear. “We recognize the majority of Torontonians who use the TTC have no alternative but we cannot continue to subsidize this transit system.”

Kinnear gave a press conference today in Toronto letting the public be aware that Monday morning the red and white streetcar, buses and subway will not be ferrying people to and from work.

If the union walks out will Toronto help those who rely on a ride get to work?

The proposed strike will have 8,900 workers having a day off as the streets in Toronto are minus the TTC fleet. That is if Mayor David Miller doesn’t make a quick fix.

Miller is in China at the moment and has no plans to rush back home to haggle with Kinnear.

TTC chairman Adam Giambrone promises that they are planning to reach a settlement with the union, but will it be in time for Monday morning?

“We’re also very committed to our front-line employees, and as you know they are not the ones at the table,” Giambrone said.

“They are the ones who are serving the public each and every day, moving the 1.5 million people who use the TTC every day, and deserve our respect. They don’t conduct the negotiations.”

What do those who rely on the TTC think?

Breaking News: RCMP Arrest Allan Schoenborn, Father Of Triple Slaying Victims And Update

Allan Schoenborn has been arrested in Merritt, B.C. for the murder of his three children thus ending a nationwide manhunt.

A local tracker Kim Robinson is reportedly the one who discovered Schoenborn.

“They have him down on the highway now, last I heard,” says Smith. “The bloodhounds got him, just about chewed his arm off. Kim caught him and tied him to a tree.”

Allan Schoenborn is accused of killing Kaitlynne, 10, Max, eight, and Cordon, five. Their bodies were discovered by their mother on April 6. The murders took place inside the home.

“At this time we’re confirming that Mr. Schoenborn is in custody and he is alive,” Const. Tracy Dunsmore of Merritt RCMP told a local radio station

Schoenborn has been on the run since the murders. He had been arrested just days prior to the killings for uttering threats at the children’s school. He was released by a justice of the peace on bail who did not have the information that Schoenborn’s wife Darcie Clarke had a peace bond that restricted his contact with her.

The case has risen questions when the RCMP did not inform the public to be on the lookout of the slain children’s father for 20 hours. That time allowed the prime suspect, Schoenborn to escape.

Update:

Allan Schoenborn, the man suspected of killing his three children earlier this month, is in Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, B.C. He was transported to the larger hospital after being treated at in Merritt, B.C.

Schoenborn was captured on Wednesday after a nation wide manhunt for the man suspected
of killing his three children.

Schoenborn was treated in Merritt for dehydration after his arrest. It is not known if the transfer is related to that ailment. Schoenborn was found in the bush outside of Merritt and photos from his arrest show him in a wheelchair.

It is not known if that 40-year-old has been questioned on the deaths of his children. He was scheduled to make an appearance in court on Thursday in Kamloops but that has been delayed because of the need for medical attention.

“He’s been transported to Merritt hospital at 5 o’clock this morning, as investigators felt that he was in need of medical attention,” said Const. Annie Linteau.

Schoenborn is the prime suspect in the murder of 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon on April 6.

Las Vegas Ricin Case Arrest

Roger Bergendorff, 57, was released from a Las Vegas hospital and promptly arrested for possession of a biological toxin and two weapon offenses.

Bergendorff has been in the hospital since Feb. 14. On Feb. 26 and 28 ricin and weapons were found in the room he was staying at in an extended-stay motel close to the Las Vegas Strip.

It has been discovered that Bergendorff obtained the castor beans that are used to make ricin in June 2002. He made the ricin while living in the basement of his cousin’s home in Riverton, Utah. That cousin Thomas Tholen, 54, was indicted earlier this month for allegedly failing to report that the substance was being produced illegally. His official charge is misprision of felony.

The making or possessing ricin is against the law. The only legal use of the biological agent which is deadlier than arsenic is for cancer research.

Bergendorff has a total of three charges levied against him. Possible sentences could give him a total of 30 years in federal prison and a $750,000 fine. He is scheduled to appear on Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas.

“He was released from the hospital and he’s in custody,” said Agent Joseph Dickey, spokesman for the FBI office in Las Vegas.

Bilal Hussein Is Free After Two Years Of Detention

A Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist has been freed after two years of being detained by the United States military. Bilal Hussein was handed over to AP colleagues today at a checkpoint in Baghdad.

“I want to thank all the people working in AP … I have spent two years in prison even though I was innocent. I thank everybody,” Hussein said after being freed.

Hussein is now resting with his family after the long ordeal.

He is a journalistic face of how the United States military has been detaining individuals deemed to have ties to insurgents without having to file charges.

Last week Hussein’s case was finally over when an Iraqi panel dismissed all charges. Since that time it’s been a waiting game for the photographer’s release from Camp Cropper in Baghdad

Showered with candy and flowers Hussein embraced his family in an emotional reunion. A feast is being prepared in his return with two sheep being roasted.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York is thrilled by his release.

He now joins a growing list of journalists detained in conflict zones by the U.S. military for prolonged periods and eventually released without any charges or crimes ever substantiated against them,” said Simon. “This deplorable practice should be of concern to all journalists. It basically allows the U.S. military to remove journalists from the field, lock them up and never be compelled to say why.”

It really is a time to celebrate when a journalist is released from prison. This man had been proven time and time again to be innocent. Finally justice has prevailed. Covering this story for the past few months I have received letters from others trying to free this man. I am happy to see the light beaming brightly as Hussein steps back into the sun.

Op-Ed: Do You Really Think An Average American Could Ever Be President?

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Children in America are being told that they can grow up and become President of the United States. Really? Sorry to burst your dreams but Bubba really doesn’t have much of a chance if he’s the average American.

The average American kid growing up today will have a mom, dad, step mom, and step dad. He will work hard to make around $60,000 a year if he’s doing as well as Billy Bob down the street by the time he’s 30. That is if he went through four years of college and added in some grad school. Chances are more likely though that he’ll pull in about $40,000. Bubba’s wife Cindy Lou who took some college courses is making by with about $30,000. They are doing a little better than most families on average.

The lowest salary of the three candidates running for the Presidential office this term is Obama who only raked in a million last year. They are not the national average at all.

Bubba is probably going to finish high school like 85.2% of Americans. About half of all Americans take some college classes but only 36.2% finish a two year program and 27.6% finish all four years.

For Bubba to even think he’s got a shot at the White House he’s got to hit those books hard. Going to Main Street U.S.A. Junior College isn’t going to help him in his bid for the top job.

Harvard, Yale, the Naval Academy……those are the type of schools that shape the future commander-in-chief for the nation. Those schools don’t come cheaply and the average student isn’t allowed through their Ivy gates.

Most people fall into the lower middle class or the working class, struggling from pay check to pay check. Can any of the current candidates be considered in these classes? I don’t think so. Bubba’s got to aim high to make it to the upper middle class and still that’s not a high enough class to take the reins of the nation. The Capitalist class making up of just 1% of all Americans rules the world.

The reality is that Bubba is shuffling out the door to his office job at 8 hoping beyond hope that the lay-offs don’t come this year. He had a house but lost it in the non-recession that he swears that is while tossing back a few beers on the weekly boys night out. He got married to Cindy Lou and they worry about how they are going to pay for their kid’s (Bubba Junior and Mary Jane) next doctor visit. The last time Bubba Jr. got really sick almost wiped out the little bit of savings they had. College savings are being thought of but the kids will have to work their high school years to help that dream along.

And when Bubba told Bubba Jr. that he could grow up to become the President of the United States? He burst out laughing when he walked out of the room.

First Centre For Sexual Deviants To Open In Czech Republic

The Czech Republic will open its first detention centre for sexual deviants and criminals with psychological problems. There have already been about 200 people slated to be housed there.

Prime Minister Mirek Tapolanek announced on Tuesday that the Czech Republic will join other European countries in housing the most dangerous criminals with psychological problems in a facility where escape is much harder than normal hospitals to escape from.

The facility will be located in the city of Bro. The first of three planned centres will house 48 patients. The other two located in Opava and Vidnava will be able to house an additional 400 patients.

The cost of housing a criminal in this type of facility is high at at close to $1.57 million dollars but it will insure both staff and the public safety.

The 200 individuals that have been selected to be the first inhabitants have almost no hope of being cured by psychiatric treatment.

“Delinquents can only be placed in such centres following a court decision, with the obligation to review their psychiatric state every 12 months,” he said.

Top Canadian General Rick Hillier Submits Resignation As Defence Chief

Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada’s top military commander and Chief of National Defence, submitted his resignation to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The ‘Soldier’s soldier’ is expected to make a statement on the reasons behind his stepping down soon.

Hillier is expected to work until July 1, 2008. Hillier has been in the position for the last three years. The 52 year old has been the most visible Canadian military leader in decades. He often has made blunt statements on his assessments of Canada’s enemies and defense policy.

“I admit I am no politician. And I don’t think I’m very wise. But I represent the 87,000 Forces members and their families.” – Nov. 6, 2007.

The current government has considered the military man both a blessing and a curse. He has been very vocal about the need of the mission in Kandahar. Both Harper and predecessor Paul Martin have relied on Hillier’s military advice.

The top military job generally lasts for three years. When the third anniversary passed on Feb. 5 rumours started as to when the leader would vacate the position.

“He brought a combination of drive, intelligence and experience … that made him in the end the logical choice,” said former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham.

The top contender to place Hillier are Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie and Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk.

Hillier will leave behind a stronger Canadian military. He made getting new aircraft, vehicles and other equipment a priority.

He has been a part of the military for 36 years when he joined the army. He has always stated that he just wants to be a soldier.

And that he is.

Patrick Kennedy Awaits Lethal Injection For Raping A Child

If you ask the state of Louisiana, child rapists deserve the death penalty. It is the only state of the United States that condemns felons to death for crimes other than murder. Patrick Kennedy will is set to be executed for that crime.

Patrick Kennedy raped his 8-year-old stepdaughter. He is the only person of the 3,300 in the United States awaiting the executor for a crime other than murder.

Kennedy is housed at the nation’s largest prison, Angola Prison. He awaits a final decision on his fate as the United States Supreme Court decides if the death penalty for violent crimes other than homicide constitutes “cruel and unusual” punishment.

“A lot of people think there should not be the death penalty [in this case] because the child survives,” said Kate Bartholomew, a sex crimes prosecutor in New Orleans. “In my opinion the rape of a child is more heinous and more hideous than a homicide.”

The child who is referred to as L.H. in court documents accused her stepfather Kennedy of raping her which he has denied. He accused a teenager who was cleared of any wrongdoing.

In 2003 Kennedy was sentenced to die for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter in her bed. The child needed extensive surgery because of the attack which caused internal injuries and bleeding.

In 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment for rape or any other crime except for murder. Louisiana passed a law 19 years later allowing for the execution for sexual violations of a child under the age of 12. The Louisiana lawmakers contended that the earlier Supreme Court cases pertained only to crimes against adult women.

Those who are against the use of execution for child rapists argue that capital punishment gives attackers the motivation to kill the children that they prey on.

If they’re going to face the death penalty for raping a child, why would they leave a living witness?” said Judy Benitez, executive director of the Louisiana Foundation against Sexual Assaults.

Benitez also contends that capital punishment for attackers put an additional emotional hardship on the victims.

The last execution of a rapist was in 1964. Since that time it has been ruled that other than murder no other crime in the United States can have a death penalty sentence.

In Louisiana though the court thinks that those who attack the youngest of society deserve to pay for their crimes with their lives.

“It takes away their innocence, it takes away their childhood, it mutilates their spirit. It kills their soul. They’re never the same after these things happen,” said Bartholomew, an assistant district attorney in Orleans Parish.

“Louisiana has been a pro-death penalty state for a very long time,” the prosecutor added. “And I think a lot of people agree with the death penalty for this type of case here in our state.”

Skin colour is also playing in this case. Kennedy is black. in a state that has had a considerable amount of racial discrimination the race factor has to weigh into the equation. There is another though waiting the same fate as Kennedy in Louisiana, Richard Davis. Davis is white.

“It’s going to be justice,” said Lynn Ray, the victim’s cousin. “It’s going to be that she can look forwards and not backwards, and not have to look over your shoulders, and one day see him. Or see him coming after her.”

A decision by the Supreme Court is expected by late June.

Deadly School Fire Claims At Least 19 Student Lives

At least 19 young girls were killed in a school fire in Uganda overnight. The initial investigation says the evidence is pointing the fire is homicide.

The doors to the dormitory for Buddo Primary School were locked from the outside. It’s possible that there were up to 70 students in the room that was on fire. At least two adults were also reported to have died in the fire.

The identity of the students has been difficult because there are sometimes only peices of bodies being found.

The fire was started at 10:00 p.m. at the school near Kampala. The school is one of the top performing private schools in Uganda.

“Several students who survived the incident have been taken to hospital with minor injuries but we are yet to know how many were in the dormitory at the time of the fire,” police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told the BBC News website.

Recently the school’s staff has been on strike over unpaid salaries.

There have been three deadly school fire

United States Teenage Pregnancy Rates Show Decline

The United States is reporting that there’s been a record drop in the teenage pregnancy and abortion rates while more single women have decided to have children without marriage.

The pregnancy rate for teens dropped 38 percent from 1990 to 2004. That said the news isn’t all good. Black and Hispanic teens and young women more than double the rates of white women.

Women wanting their children at the time of conception fell from 90 percent in 1996 to 86 percent in 2003. The lowest rates were that of black women, 74 percent of that group wanted their children from the start.

Abortion rates fell 5 percent between 1990 to 2004. Still 37 percent of black women ended unwanted pregnancies surgically while white women stood at 12 percent and Hispanic women’s rates were at 19 percent.

Birth rates though have increased slightly in the United States going from 63.6 per 1,000 women in 1997 to 2004’s 66.3 per 1,000 births per woman.

In 2004 there were 4.11 million babies born from the 6.4 million pregnancies in the United States. Abortion was the largest cause for unfinished pregnancies with 1.22 million surgical removal of embryos. 1.06 million pregnancies were reported to end as the result of miscarriage or stillbirth.

While most women had children during their twenties since 1991 older women have had increased pregnancy rates.

Who Says Geeks Aren’t Romantic?

Bernie Peng is in love with Tammy Li. So much so that he wants to marry her. When it come time to propose the financial software programmer wanted to do something completely unique.

Tammy’s favorite video game is “Bejeweled.” Bernie decided to reprogram that game so that when Tammy reached a certain score a ring and a marriage proposal would pop up on the screen.

“I thought it was pretty cool, in a nerdy way,” Peng told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The reprogramming wasn’t as easy as the programmer thought it would be. It took him a month before he was able to spring the new and improved game on Tammy.

Tammy reached the needed score. And she said……….

Well it appears since the couple are tying the knot over the Labor Day weekend the geek got his mate. PopCap, the company based out of Seattle will be treating the Jersey City couple to a trip to Seattle for part of their honeymoon. The company is also providing a copy of “Bejeweled” for each of the wedding guests.

Most video game companies would frown on people manipulating their games,” said Garth Chouteau, a spokesman for PopCap.

“But it won him a woman. As a bunch of geeks we have to say, ‘Bernie, hats off to you.’”

Op-Ed: Is Taking Away Mothers The Best For The Children Of Eldorado?

Is separating the children taken from the Eldorado ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on April 3 from their mothers in their best interest?

Only children under the age of four are being allowed to have their mothers to stay with them.

The mothers were given a choice on Monday after a courtroom conference: Go back to the Eldorado ranch or to another safe location. Some of the women chose to go to a safe house.

The state of Texas is accusing the sect of both physical and sexual child abuse. If the court has its way both parents of these children will be stripped of their rights and the children will be either placed in foster care or put up for adoption. With so many children involved with this case the state is not sure what they are going to do.

The mothers were removed from their children on Monday after they and the children were taken by bus to the San Angelo Coliseum. The retreat they were living at is 45 miles away.

More than 350 lawyers from Texas have volunteered to represent the children free of charge. The 139 mothers who left the sect voluntarily may be hiring lawyers also to help them fight for custody of their children.

The mothers have been complaining about the condition of the fort saying that the cramped quarters are causing the children to fall ill and traumatizing them. Mothers have been told that if they leave the shelters that the state has been them in they will not be allowed to return.

The children are having a difficult time adjusting to the outside world. They have been taught from birth to not trust anyone outside of the sect.

By removing the mothers from these children is the state acting their best interest? These children have been removed from a world that is very foreign from what most children in the state of Texas are used to. With only each other to lean on and no parents around will they be able to navigate through the legal mazes they are about to venture through?

The state is not even sure how to proceed with the sheer number of children needing care in this one case. These are children that at times change their very names when asked who they are. Children are used to being passed around from one family to another.

By isolating them, by not letting them talk to their lawyers or giving them the choice between leaving their children and being able to talk to lawyers and prepare for this hearing, they feel that that’s unfair,” said Parker, the FLDS lawyer, who has represented the church and some of its members in civil and criminal cases. “And of course they are out of their element, they’re frightened of all those things.”

Rod Parker, a church lawyer, has said that the remaining men on the ranch have said that they will leave if the state would allow the children and mothers to return with child welfare monitors. The Children’s Protective Services agency said that they have yet to see such an offer and have no comment on it.

10 women have met with San Angelo legal aid to seek help for the upcoming child custody battle and another 100 women are in need of lawyers. The women began to meet with lawyers this weekend.

In the end will there be any winners in this case? Yes, the children have been removed from a situation that is completely unfathomable yet will their treatment be improved as they shuffle through the state foster care system?

Would it be better to allow mothers who agree to live without the backing of the sect to tend to their young children or have complete strangers try to understand these little ones?

The road ahead for the youngest victims in this case will not be without bumps no matter what the final choices the state makes for them. Hopefully they will be able to get to the end of the journey in a better place than they are at now.

Listen To Jackie: Peace Should Be Top Billing Of Olympics

Film star Jackie Chan thinks that instead of talking about politics people should be focusing on peace. The star believes that the Olympic games represent “unity, love and peace” instead of a platform for politics when asked at a premiere promotion.

The Beijing Olympics have become a breeding ground for protests in recent months as China’s human rights record and Tibet have taken center stage. Instead of focusing on the bad Chan doesn’t think the games should be used as a sounding board for the complaints.

They wish to find an outlet to voice their opinions, but I don’t think they should use the Olympics to do so,” Chan said after arriving with co-star Jet Li for Wednesday’s world premiere of the film, inspired by the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West.”

“I hope people do not mix sports with politics. This is wrong,” said Chan. “I don’t understand why people would want to destroy the Olympics.”

Not only is Chan promoting the games with television commercials for Visa he recorded the official countdown song, “We Are Ready.”

Chan’s comments come as the torch approaches Beijing on the longest run in history. Twenty different nations will host a trek of the torch as it heads for it’s spot at the games. While the torch is meant to build excitement for the games that showcase the best athletes from across the globe protests have marred it’s path.

When Jet Li, a devoted follower of Tibetan Buddhism, was asked about his thoughts on the situation in Tibet he refused to comment.

“I’m sorry. You cannot ask these sort of questions. This is for a movie.”

“Forbidden Kingdom” is the story of an American child’s dream journey to ancient China. Along the way he meets many characters of Chinese mythology. Chan plays the Drunken Immortal and Li plays the Silent Monk. The movie has had a few rewrites to appease a more Western audience. It was thought that a kung fu fighting monkey would be too far-fetched for the North American audience.

Asked if those of a Chinese background would still be able to appreciate the story Chan responded with;

“They should be able to accept it,” Chan said. “It’s child’s dream. … It’s just a dream!”

Health Canada Is Looking For Firm To Grow Its Pot

Are you an Ontario farmer that needs a new cash crop? Health Canada is looking for firms to bid on a contract to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana.

Right now Prarie Plant Systems Inc. in Flin Flon, Man. has the contract.

The firm that wins the bid will have to be sending out a steady supply of the ‘wacky tobacco’ by this fall to those who are certified for medical use.

Health Canada has the posting on a government tenders website asking for bids to be submitted in the spring of 2008 without a specified date.

Ottawa has become a reluctant dealer of the weed since court ruling forced it into the medical marijuana biz. The medical marijuana program licences those who are certified medical users to grow their own Mary Jane, have someone grow it for them or buy it straight from Health Canada.

Health Canada’s supplier has been paid more than 10 billion dollars to grow the weed in a mine shaft in Flin Flon, Man. Prairie Plant Systems ships 30-gram packages straight to users via courier.

Prairie Plant has had the contract to grow marijuana for Health Canada since late 2000. Since 2006 it has been extended in six month installments.

“We didn’t expect that this process would be able to continue. … These are the rules that they have to abide by,” Zettl said.

“We had anticipated internally that something would have to happen. We expected it would be something along these lines.”

It is expected that the firm will bid on the new contract.

What could be at stake in this contract is supplying all medical marijuana users as Health Canada works to end the licensing of home grown weed. When and if that happens medical users will have to get their marijuana straight from Ottawa. It may end up on the local pharmacy shelves.

There are concerns though that the government will not be able to keep up with enough supply.

“The government’s just had such a horrible track record in terms of supplying medication to patients,” he said.

“There are many different strains of cannabis out there and the government’s position to date has been, ‘Well, we’re growing one strain and we’ve got one supplier and that’s it. Live with it.’

“The pharmacological evidence is that different ailments require, and different symptomology require, treatment with different strains. And the government hasn’t paid heed to that at all.”

This January the Federal Court made it legal for growers to supply more than one licenced user. The federal government is appealing that ruling.

Cubans Allowed To Have Cell Phones If They Can Pay The Price

Cubans are lining up to get their first cell phones. On Monday the people of Cuba were finally allowed to have cell phones, something that had been restricted to only government officials and foreigners in the past.

In February President Raul Castro took the reins of the island nation and has been easing restrictions ever since.

“It is an advance, like other things that are happening in Cuba now,” said Alejandro, smiling with his new contract in hand. The self-employed Cuban has used a cellular telephone illegally for years in the name of a foreigner.

Cubans will be able to use their new phones to receive and make international calls. All cell phone use will be made by using prepaid cards.

When Fidel Castro’s younger brother took power earlier this year he quickly moved to life what he has called “excessive prohibitions” for his people.

These new freedoms have seen Cubans now able to stay at tourist hotels and buy electronic goods.

There is a catch though, the prohibitions may have been lifted but the cost is often too high for the average Cuban to afford the newly available goodies.

Most people in the communist country bring home a monthly wage of 400 Cubans pesos. In U.S. funds that would equal a mere 18 dollars a month. Most the these new consumer goods are listed in convertible pesos (CUC), which are worth 24 times that of a Cuban peso.

A cell phone line costs 110 CUCs and the cheapest cell phone on the market is about 60 CUC.

“It is expensive for us. I can’t pay that in one month or in 10 months,” said Mayerlin. She said only Cubans who rent rooms to foreigners, work for a foreign company or receive money from abroad could afford the prices.

Still these new freedoms are a shift in a positive direction. Hopefully a shift to higher wages will be the next step forward.

Quebec: Don’t Water The Snow

Quebec City is telling its residents to stop watering their snowbanks. The city is warning that if residents are caught using their garden hoses to help melt the snow in their yard, they’ll be fined $150.

This year Quebec City in Canada got hammered with 5.5 metres of snow. That smashed all other years giving the winter of 2007-2008 more than a metre’s snow record.

Now even though the city understands the residents want spring to arrive in their town hosing out the snow just isn’t the way to go. With spring peeking around the corner the residents want to be rid of the white stuff.

The city is also reminding those thinking of thawing out their lawns that treating water costs money. This is a case of just waiting it out and the snow will finally be gone.

Ashlee Simpson Is Engaged And Pregnant

Ashlee Simpson is expecting her first child with fiance Pete Wentz. The couple announced their engagement just days ago.

The younger sister of Jessica Simpson is the latest pop star to announce an unplanned pregnancy. Simpson, 23, has been with the Fall Out Boy bassist since 2006.

Last Thursday the couple posted on the Web site friendsorenemies.com that they were planning on tying the knot.

“We are thrilled to share that we are happily engaged. We consider this to be a very private matter, but we wanted you to hear it straight from us,” the announcement said.

Colbert Report Heads To Philly

“Philadelphia, you’re about to get a new brother to love. No tongue.”

Stephen Colbert may not be on route to the Oval Office after his failed attempt to take over the presidency race but he is hitting the Democratic Pennsylvania primary in Philly.

“I don’t need to be president. I don’t need to be president,” repeated the comedian in a recent interview, as if trying to convince himself. “If somebody else needs that, if Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Barack Obama need that title to make themselves feel good, that’s fine.

“I just want the power to decide who will be president and I’m going to Philly to help exercise that.”

For the first time the “Colbert Report” is going on the road. Normally the show is shot in their Manhattan studio. Starting on Monday though Colbert will be broadcasting from the University of Pennsylvania’s Zellerbach Theater.

The road trip will bring some special touches to Colbert’s political satire. John Legend (who will sing the “Star Spangled Banner”), Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Governor Ed Rendell and rap group the Roots are all slated to be part of the scenery.

Colbert failed to be added to the South Carolina Democratic primary ballot last fall. At the time he was leading in the polls and the party officials claimed that “serves to detract from the serious candidates.” America may not be able to get the master of satire into the White House but at least they can watch his take on the Primaries.

“I’m a king maker,” he said. “It’s not a dirty word.”

“The Colbert Report” recently won a Peabody for broadcasting excellence.

The Deaves Talk About Their Children

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John and Jenny Deaves from South Australia have had two children. Normally that wouldn’t be controversial except for the fact that John is not only Jenny’s husband but also her father.

The couple says that they are okay with their incestuous relationship, it’s society that has a problem with it.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it for Christ’s sake. Don’t go attacking the kids or the car or anything else, it’s not the Australian way,” Mr Deaves said.

“We’re sure once people get to know us they’ll realise that we’re not going to pass on any disease to them, we’re not going to bite their head off and we’re not nasty terrible people,” Ms Deaves said.

Last night the couple spoke out about the death of their first child, Jackson born in 2001 with heart defects. He lived for only four days.

There’s dozens of babies born every year that have this complaint or similar complaints,” Mr. Deaves said.

The couple have been convicted of incest and put on three-year good-behaviour bonds which stipulate they not have sex.

Police are investigating on whether the couple received payment for talking on television. That’s against the law in Australia for criminals who can not benefit financially from their crimes.

Study Shows Cost to Parents For Kids’ Dream Jobs

So you want Junior to be a star. Better take out your wallet and leave it open, your kid’s star quest is going to cost you a bundle. Researchers have calculated that getting your child a step up in show biz can cost about 70,000 pounds.

British researchers looked at the cost of achieving the top ten chosen careers of both boys and girls that parents must foot. If you don’t want to chance the poor house perhaps you should steer the youngsters to life as a public servant. Becoming a police officer, fireman or career Army officer are all subsidised by the government.

Teaching is in both sexes top ten list of career choice. It’s also an expensive venture from degree to accommodation at 25,364 pounds.

The study surveyed 1,344 children from 5 to 11 as to what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was commissioned by the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society.

The most surprising result showed that it costs more to help your daughter to get her career hopes than for your son on an average of 22,000 pounds.

As for stage parents, getting your little star into the biz costs twice as much as having them become a doctor.

The Slave Sex Trade Is Strong In Canada

Human trafficking in Canada is feared to be larger than what the RCMP is reporting. Officials figures stand at between 800 to 1,200 are treated as slaves for the sex trade. Activists say that figure could be up to 15,000.

Joy Smith, the Conservative vice-chair of the parliamentary committee on the status of women says that the figure that the RCMP is using stems from arrest reports. Those reports may be giving a misleading view into the reality of the human slave trade.

According to the United Nations 2.5 million people are traded as slaves worldwide. Sadly 1.2 of those are children being forced to use their bodies for the benefit of those who “own” them.

The RCMP has noted that there are several cases where girls from Canada have been taken out of the country and sold. It appears the most sought after Canadian girls are from Quebec.

“They have a reputation for being good in bed,” said Lawrence-Thierry Bernard, a former candidate for the provincial Action democratique du Quebec. “They created a demand so recruiters began to recruit in Montreal.”

Street gangs are using the Internet to make postings for overseas work. The postings are merely a lure to trap young women into a life of slavery and prostitution.

In Canada victims often do not know what their rights are and may be leery of the police because of illegal immigrant status.

“It’s the crime of choice for criminal networks and enterprises because it’s high-profit and low risk,” said Laura Lederer, senior director for global projects at the U.S. State Department’s office for human trafficking.

“So many countries have been focusing on drug trafficking… so traffickers have been moving over into this area where there are few laws and they’re poorly enforced.”

Sadly the crime of enslaving other human beings doesn’t look like it’s going away.

There is a commodification that is taking place of human beings,” Leder said.

“Once that happens, you can buy or sell a person with no conscience.”

And yes, this is the 21st century.

Bilal Hussein Should Be A Free Man Soon

The story of a journalist for the AP has finally got a bit of good news. An Iraqi judicial panel has dismissed all criminal allegations from Bilal Hussein and ordered his release after a detainment of two years and one day with the U.S. military.

The Federal Appeals Court has granted Hussein amnesty on the allegations that the photographer had improper contacts with insurgents who killed Salvatore Santoro.

In December 2004 Hussein and two other journalists were taken by gunpoint to photograph Santoro’s corpse.

The decision made by the panel demands that Hussein be released immediately by the U.S. unless they can prove he has a connection with something else.

The U.S. military has made allegations that Hussein was in co-operation with terrorists and had bomb making materials in his home.

The Pulitzer Prize winning photographer has maintained his innocence throughout his detention. He states that he was only doing his job in a war zone.

The ruling of amnesty closes the case under amnesty law. Hussein has never been taken to trial by the United States.

“We are grateful for the decision of the Amnesty Council and the Iraqi judges,” AP President Tom Curley said after the ruling Sunday. “We look forward to Bilal’s safe return to his family and to AP.”

Hussein has been in United States custody since April 12, 2006 when he was arrested at the apartment he was staying at in Ramadi. He was eventually transferred to Camp Cropper in Baghdad. He has since that time been allowed visits from defence lawyers, family representatives and representatives of the AP.

In December 2007 the United States military referred his case to an investigating judge who after reviewing the case turned it over to the amnesty panel.

The AP has been following the case of their friend and employee. They have made extensive reports on his case. At no time in their investigation was the man who won a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005 found guilty of any activities beyond the normal role of a news photographer.

His detention has been widely reported and drawn protests from rights groups and press freedom advocates.

I, myself have been following his case for several months and am very happy that the light at the end of a long tunnel seems to be shining a little brighter. Hopefully Hussein can soon return to reporting the news by his photography skills.

Children’s Programming Needs To Be Protected, Advocacy Group Tells CRTC

Some of the best of Canadian television programming takes place on children’s shows. No longer is Canadian kids TV just for the kids of the Great White North as in the days of “Mr. Dressup” and “The Friendly Giants.”

Today’s children’s programming is seen worldwide and gaining more fans every season. The Shaw Rocket Fund, a private, not-for-profit corporation provides millions in funding wants the CRTC to protect the venue as it spreads through the world.

“We have a responsibility as a country to ensure that our kids are able to see programming that represents Canada and Canadian values and Canadian sensibilities,” Agnes Augustin, president of the Shaw Rocket Fund, said in a recent interview from Calgary.

In the past eight years the Rocket Fund has given Canadian-produced kids and family programs about $96 million. “Degrassi: The Next Generation,” “Ghost Trackers” and “Heartland” have all benefited from the funding.

The fund supply comes almost entirely from Calgary-based Shaw Communications. The cable giant is arguing with the CRTC to open up the market so that it can meet the demands of subscribers who want American super channels HBO and the like.

In Canada kids watch mostly Canadian television, gaining an appreciation for programming that comes from within the nation.

“If kids are watching Canadian programming and learn to appreciate Canadian television when they’re children, then they’ll likely watch Canadian programming when they’re adults as well,” she said.

The key issue in front of CRTC is genre protection, which the Writers Guild of Canada insists children’s programming in particular needs. Genre protection shields Canadian specialty channels, including the Food Network and TSN from competition from foreign and Canadian competition.
Without genre protection children’s programming could seriously be jeopardized. YTV, Teletoon and Family are all Canadian shows. If foreign channels, particularly American channels were introduced these shows could suffer.

“Given the lack of children’s programming on the conventional networks and particularly CTV and Global, it is essential to Canada’s children and youth that genre exclusivity continues to support a strong children’s programming industry,” the guild’s submission said.

The same points are expected to be made by the Alliance for Children and Television later next week when they meet with CRTC.

In the past four years Canadian children’s programming has taken off and become valued in other markets.

“Canadian children’s programming is among the most respected in the world,” Augustin says. “The networks have their positions and the cable companies have their positions on what the CRTC should do, but our position is simply this: there must be enough funding and enough Canadian programming available to our kids.”

Op-Ed: How The Olympics Is Improving People’s Lives

There is much talk about how the world’s nations should boycott the Olympics. Let’s put a different spin on it. Without the Olympics the people of China would not be getting human rights coverage.

The riots in Tibet are an example of how Chinese politics work but without the spotlight on Beijing would the world be putting the Chinese government under the microscope?

Pollution, shoddy merchandise, human rights, water shortages and a list of other problems that China has ignored in the past is now coming out into the open. As the government prepares Beijing for the summer games the world is able to finally get an up close and personal view of how this nation works.

Boycotting the games would in the future slam shut the doors that are starting to be opened to the rest of the world. Without the spotlight on this nation would the onslaught of consumer news have been possible?

The world is finally able to make an impact for the positive on the lives of those that live behind the largest bricked wall on this globe. Journalists are able to give unbiased reports on how the people live.

With the nations of the globe watching China can’t deny nor can it close itself off to the microscope. If it does it loses not only in an economical sense but the advancements that these games are being into the nation.

Let these games serve two purposes. The first, as always a way to highlight the best of the world through the venue of athletes. Second, a shining light for a people that have been in the darkness. We can use these games to let voices unheard ring loudly.

Maybe in the future the Chinese people will look back fondly at the games as the time that they saw their government learn what freedom was all about.

Florida Man Dead After Killer Bee Attack

A man in rural northwestern Okeechobee County, Florida has died as a result of a fatal reaction to bee stings. He was stung over 100 times by what officials believe were Africanized honey bees.

So called killer bees are more aggressive than the common honey bee. While their sting has no more potency than ordinary bee stings the danger comes because they attack in swarms. Experts say that they have been in Florida since 2002. There have been a few reports of attacks since that time.

The man was attacked by the bees on April 9 as he tried to dismantle a trailer. The man was aware of a nest of bees on the said trailer.

After the attack state officials destroyed the nest.

While ‘killer bees’ do not seek out people to attack they will act aggressively is they are disturbed such as someone poking their nest.

People should stay away from bee nests and call a professional to remove them. If possible when being chased by a swarm of bees people should run until they can get inside.

Wasp and hornet sprays should not be used on bee nests. Some of the bees will die but the spray can also release a pheromone that will cause a colony to attack.

Good Samaritan Gets Towed

A Navy medic stopped on Interstate 94 near Jackson, Michigan on April 2 to help calm a woman who’s husband was having a heart attack. He then helped the ambulance crew with CPR on route to the hospital. For his good deed he received a $60 towing bill.

Hospital Corpsman Tim Moore stopped when he saw the upset woman near the ambulance holding her husband. After he calmed her down the crew found out he was a medic and asked for his help with CPR while the went to Foote Hospital.

The man died at the emergency room.

When Moore got back to where he had left his truck he discovered it had been towed. Considered a travel hazard because it was parked partly over the white line deputies felt they had no choice in the matter.

The deputies had tried to call Moore but the phone number they had didn’t have an answer. The towing company levied the charge.

At The University Of Iowa Get Paid To Get High

The University of Iowa is looking for a few good heads. Researchers in the UI Department of Anesthesia are willing to pay test subjects to have a little toke all in the name of science.

There’s money involved but the test subjects won’t be making much more than a month’s rent for this job.

The study is examining how much marijuana affects brain function and cognition. There will be particular attention spent on the duration of use and the age of first toke. Along with brain imaging studies the ‘tokin subjects’ will have testing measuring math and verbal skills.

“The hypothesis is that people that use it at an early age have a greater effect, and the longer a person uses it, the greater the effect,” said Robert Block, an associate professor in UI Department of Anesthesia and the lead investigator on the project.

Block wants marijuana users and a control group of those who consume alcohol and tobacco but none of the wacky tobacco. The goal is to have 100 people in the study.

To qualify you must be right-handed and between the ages of 18 and 44 years old. Right now there are more male pot smokers on board and more female control members. He needs to fill up the male control panel and both male and female tokers.

All of the names in this study will be protected from disclosure by a federal certificate.

“Even if the police issue a subpoena, it could be refused,” Block said. “As a researcher, we would normally promise the subject confidentiality, and we do, but without this certificate, we don’t have the right to refuse a subpoena.”

Those chosen for the study will devote about 60 hours. There are two overnight hospital stays involved. The user group will be given a tobacco cigarette sized marijuana joint and have to smoke it as soon as they arrive to the hospital. The test doesn’t begin for another 24 hours after the first hit.

Participates will get $20 for the initial screening session and then another $600 when they finish up. All subjects will also get mileage and travel expenses if they are from out of town.

This research is in the third year of a four-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The NIH has given $659,000 this year for the project. The entire project has had about $2 million in funding.

The results of this study could be used in the future to support political positions on marijuana including whether it should be decriminalized or used for medical cases.

“Because it is a politically sensitive topic, if results show bad effects, it might be used by people who oppose drug use. If they are negative, it might be cited by people who support marijuana use for political purposes,” Block said, noting he does not have a personal agenda for the research.

Block has been studying marijuana effects since his college days.

“When I was in college there was a lot of interest in psychedelic drugs, like LSD. But by that time, it had become essentially impossible to do research on it. That had been shut down,” Block said. “Marijuana had some effects that were similar to psychedelics.”

New York Wants Online Retailers To Give Them Their Tax

Hey New Yorkers have you heard about the new way your state is going to tax you? The New York legislature has approved a bill that will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state.

It doesn’t make a difference if an online store doesn’t operate in the state or have employees working there. All that depends on if New York Governor David Paterson signs the measure.

The “Amazon tax” will close a loophole for Internet retailers who derive sales through affiliate programs where Web site owners place a link to the merchant on their site and earn a commission on those sales. The lawmakers say this gives those from out of the state an unfair advantage.

“This is a first step — but a critical one — in our ongoing battle to level the sales tax playing field between New York retailers and the out-of-state Internet giants that have, for years, capitalized on an unfair and unintended competitive advantage driven solely by tax policy,” James Sherin, president CEO of the Retail Council New York, said in a statement reacting to the bill’s passage.

Those in the legal biz expect Web affiliates to be challenging this motion.

New Yorkers have been allowed to shop online tax free. Consumers are required to report those purchases on their tax returns and remit a use tax. Most people haven’t a clue about that little tidbit though. Collecting that tax has been almost impossible.

The new requirement if passed will bring about $50 million into the revenue this year.

Spitzer entered the bill in February but had to hightail it out of office when his little online games came out in the media.

Back in 1992 Quill v. North Dakota made it so out of state retailers were not required to collect sales tax on buys made to states where they don’t have a physical presence. The tax laws from state to state differ so widely that making ecommerce sites have to know all the various ins and outs would put a burden on interstate commerce.

“Quill says what it says, and it says physical presence,” Goodwin told InternetNews.com. “It is an aggressive posture by the states. The states have to expect that there’s going to be some opposition to provisions that are coming really close to this definition. That’s where the battleground is.”

The law only hits those who collect at least $10,000 in annual revenue from affiliates that live in the state. The ruling though may become a nightmare for even the largest online retailers.

There are more than 7,400 state and local tax codes in the U.S. alone.

“Brick-and-mortar retailers will have to keep track of just one tax law at a time, while online retailers will have to keep up with 7,400,” he said. “A neutral tax system would have all retailers collect tax on one standard or the other.”

There is talk of streamlining the tax codes among the states but for the time being that is just talk. With the complexities of each state’s rules that ideal will be a fight in congress if it comes to pass.

GE Shocks Wall Street

If any company reflects the economy of the United States it’s General Electric. That being the case look out consumers, GE took a shocking fall the first quarter of the year.

Friday investors had their hopes dashed that the conglomerate would rise above the US economical slowdown.

Not only did the GE have low earnings for the first quarter of the year they are forecasting a second quarter that isn’t improving.

On Friday the shares of GE went down 12% after the quarterly report was announced. Investors had forecast the shares to be at about 51-cent-a-share, the reality is they are at 44 cents per share.

“This came as a surprise to analysts, because the company reinforced its expectations for the first quarter in March,” said Jefferies & Co. analyst Robert Schenosky.

In the business world GE is consistent at making or beating estimates. They don’t miss. That was before the United States started a downward spiral on Wall Street though.

The conglomerate has its fingers in health care, finance, energy, consumer electronics, industry and media. That makes it the perfect barometer for the health of the United States economy. That being the case, the outlook isn’t looking positive.

“Our primary shortfall was a decline in financial services earnings,” said GE chairman and chief executive Jeff Immelt. “We knew the first quarter was going to be challenging, but the extraordinary disruption in the capital markets in March affected our ability to complete asset sales and resulted in higher mark-to-market losses and impairments.”

GE doesn’t want to be wrong again. They are now assuming that the economic situation isn’t improving in the near future. They have lowered their goals for the near future.

There is a thin ray of hope though with the company. Their energy division is seeing a global demand for wind turbines. Perhaps the ‘green way’ will re-power this American powerhouse.

“While we are disappointed with our results, the fundamentals of our businesses are strong,” Immelt said. “Nevertheless, we failed to meet our expectations.”

New Jersey Cat Has To Be Put Down After Artillery Hits Bed

Friday a misfired piece of artillery crashed into the roof of a New Jersey home miles away. The two-pound piece landed on a child’s bed where the family cat was napping. The cat had to be euthanized.

This mistake could have resulted in the death of a child. The home in Jefferson Township was about two and a half miles from Picatinny Arsenal.

The arsenal was conducting tests of Friday afternoon when the accident happened. Picatinny is the site of Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center.

Armament conducts research on weapons systems.

Parents Fight Over Which Gang Child Will Join

Trying to decide which school a four-year-old attends may cause some families to argue. That’s fairly normal but for one family in Commerce City, Colorado the argument was over which gang to have their child “claim” was the fight.

Last Saturday Joseph Manzanares raged into his girlfriend’s place of employment, Hollywood Video, and caused a scene. He ran out after threatening to kill her and knocking displays and a computer over. The nineteen-year-old was arrested at his home for the bad behaviour.

The fight?

Mom is part of the Crips and he plays for the Westside Ballers gang. They have been fighting over which gang their little one should belong to.

“They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would ‘claim,’” Sandoval said.

Charged with conduct, harassment, and domestic violence Manzanares was taken to Adams County Detention Facility. Tuesday he plead guilty to the disorderly conduct charge and received a sentence of a year’s probation. The other charge was dropped.

Update: Daughter Who Shot Matthew Booth Sr. Likely To Get Probation

Matthew Booth Sr., 34 died at the hands of his daughter when she was 13. After years of sexual abuse she shot her father in the face last year.

The now 14-year-old could be placed on juvenile probation until she is 21 after accepting an offer from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office to be adjudicated delinquent. In juvenile court terms she plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

I think the DA’s office has been consistently very enlightened in its approach because they know my client suffered significant trauma at the hands of her father,” defense attorney Patrick Nightingale said. “And I’m very happy on behalf of my client that we won’t have to live through that trauma again in a trial setting.”

When the police first came to the dirty home that the child shared with her father she said two masked men had shot him. She soon confessed though that she was the one who had pulled the trigger.

Her story of abuse came next. Sexually abused since the age of seven this child was at the breaking point. She and her brother lived with their father in a flea infested home that smelled of animal waste.

The girl’s last known address was a residential treatment facility. Her mother who she had been estranged from is attempting to get custody of the child.

Until the girl is 21 she will be watched over by the juvenile probation department. If she does well at the of 21 her record will be expunged. Her lawyer acknowledges that her sentencing is lenient because of the circumstances that lead up to the shooting.

Yes, it’s a very serious offense, but the District Attorney’s Office acknowledges this little girl has suffered tremendously,” Nightingale said.

Because of the girl’s age and nature of the case the final outcome of the proceedings will not be announced.

Op-Ed: Internet Sports Site Show The Future Of The Online World

Where are the most inventive web sites? Believe it or not the big sport sites are where to look if you want to see what’s up and coming for websites.

Videos on the front page that change as the story unfolds. Leader boards with pop-downs that give you all the most important stats.

The face of sports goes in a rapid pace. It needs to have a website presence that flies as quickly as new scores arrive.

Like current event news sites these Internet portals have to make sure that they capture their audience. There are many to choose from and unless they stand out they lose out.

Bringing viewers in by comment boards is another tactic that the sports giants use.

These innovations come from long hours of hard coding. But the payout is impressive.

Digital Journal recently made major upgrades to their site. Those updates reflect the changing needs of their clients. Many of the innovations that are on the best sports sites are also on this Internet news source.

With all the new features on these sites maybe in the future TV will become a dinosaur as consumers get everything they need just by typing where they want to go on their keyboard.

Catalonia Approves Cannabis Spray

Cannabis has been proven to help patients who suffer from cancer, sclerosis and AIDS. The Spanish region of Catalonia announced on Thursday that it has approved an oral cannabis spray for those patients.

The spray is already on the market and helping patients in Canada where it is sold only by prescription. Doctors in Canada can prescribe the drug only after other pain medicines prove ineffective.

In Spain cannabis is illegal yet is more tolerated than many other European countries.

The drug is called Sativex. An oral spray delivers the medicine offering maximum pain relief and very little of the ‘high’ associated with marijuana.

“The side-effects are a lot less than smoking marijuana,” said Dr. Jock Murray, an MS specialist in Ottawa. “A lot of people surprisingly don’t want to get high, they want to get relief from their pain.”

The spray wins favor with doctors because there isn’t carcinogenic smoke being inhaled. There is a peppermint flavor for those who use the aerosol.

The biggest drawback in Canada is the cost of the medical spray at $500 a month. While Provincial drug plans do not cover the costs some private insurance plans do.

Those who think that the use of Sativex in the medical community is a foot in the door for the legalization of marijuana may be disappointed.

“In practical terms,” said Bruce Mirken, of the Marijuana Policy Project, “Sativex is to marijuana as a cup of coffee is to coffee beans.”

Op-Ed: Internet Sports Site Show The Future Of The Online World

Where are the most inventive web sites? Believe it or not the big sport sites are where to look if you want to see what’s up and coming for websites.

Videos on the front page that change as the story unfolds. Leader boards with pop-downs that give you all the most important stats.

The face of sports goes in a rapid pace. It needs to have a website presence that flies as quickly as new scores arrive.

Like current event news sites these Internet portals have to make sure that they capture their audience. There are many to choose from and unless they stand out they lose out.

Bringing viewers in by comment boards is another tactic that the sports giants use.

These innovations come from long hours of hard coding. But the payout is impressive.

Digital Journal recently made major upgrades to their site. Those updates reflect the changing needs of their clients. Many of the innovations that are on the best sports sites are also on this Internet news source.

With all the new features on these sites maybe in the future TV will become a dinosaur as consumers get everything they need just by typing where they want to go on their keyboard.

Michael Johns Is Voted Off American Idol

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Every so often on American Idol there’s a shocker. A couple of season’s ago it was when Chris Daughtry was voted off, Thursday night Aussie singer Michael Johns got the boot.

Johns has heard the comparisons between his being voted off and Chris Daughtry’s surprise booting. He considers that an honour.

Being from a beer drinking country he figures that if he’s to drown his sorrows it will be in a mug.

After the show the judges all gave him encouraging words.

“Look, I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to a concert you’re doing one day. You’re super-talented.” Randy gave me, “Dawg, I can’t wait to see what you do with your career.” Simon told America that they’re going to miss me and I’m a good guy — hearing you’re a good guy from Simon, that’s really cool.

What may have been the most special moment of last night’s show she John’s wife mouthing her love for her man before he sang his final song on the show.

Don’t worry though for Michael Johns made it through the show long enough to go on the summer tour. He has talent and American Idol losers often turn out to be winners when it comes to the recording industry.

I have to admit after Daughtry’s early boot off I stopped watching AI until this season. Johns seemed to have a shoe in for the top three until Thursday night. He’s not my inside pick to win but he wasn’t that bad.

Inside pick? David Cook, all the way. It’s time for a rocker to take center stage.

Elaine Sonnen, Unsung Hero

When Elaine Sonnen saw that her son was following in the footsteps of the boys who carried out the massacre at Columbine she stepped in saving countless lives. Her son Richard, 19, now is thankful for that intervention.

Two and a half years ago Elaine Sonnen was having a conversation with her son Richard when he admitted that he wanted to take out members of his school. Instead of turning a blind eye she had him write down a list of those he wanted to kill and gave his caseworker the list the next door. Then in a total act of love that had to have broken her heart she had Richard committed to an Idaho mental institution. That act helped turn Richard’s life around for the better.

Richard came into the lives of Elaine and Tom Sonnen when he was just four years old. Adopted from a Bulgarian orphanage the couple loved him from the beginning. There was a side though to the polite little boy that only Elaine and Tom saw. At times he was unpredictable and angry screaming that he wanted to destroy the ones who loved him most.

People thought he was just the greatest kid in the world. Very polite, well-mannered, caring,” remembers Elaine Sonnen. “At home, he could be anywhere from just a really helpful kid to a monster. A terrifying monster.”

Richard can now be thankful that his parents didn’t hide their heads in the sand but instead sought help from the mental health community. When he was in middle school he was diagnosed as being bipolar and put on anti-psychotic medicine. He dealt with bullies at his school that helped fire a deep anger within.

In 1988 when the Columbine shootings happened the Sonnen’s knew that their son could become like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. They wisely watched their son’s actions and listened to what he had to say.

“They planned it out so perfectly and so meticulously … that I just wow, you know,” Richard said. “They’re my Gods.”

He plotted to set bombs up around his school. His plan was perfectly analyzed to where those he wanted to take out sat and did their thing.

During that time period a talk with his mother changed what could of been into what should be. Richard spent a year and a half in an institution getting treatment and becoming mentally healthy.

“There, I opened up. I felt better. I moved on with myself,” Richard said.

“They felt at that point … they had done everything they could do for him,” added Elaine Sonnen. “He was doing great. He could make it on his own. They had no question.”

He started to attend Lewis-Clark State College in January of 2007. Taking a cocktail of three anti-psychotic drugs it seemed all was turning around for the young man.

Than the Virginia Tech shootings happened. Three days later Elaine received a call from the police saying that Richard had plotted to carry out a shooting at his college.

Richard says it was a misunderstand. He was just telling others about his plot in high school. Elaine believes that the police had it right though.

Richard now lives in Washington State on his own. He still takes his meds but no longer sees a doctor. Elaine can’t force him to, he’s an adult. He signed an order banning him from campus for a year.

Mrs. Sonnen admits she is afraid of her son.

“Yeah, at times, I’m very afraid,” she said. “Because he still has a lot of anger towards me.”

When he is home for a visit Elaine has an alarm on his bedroom door. She fears what could happen if he were to stop taking his medicine.

He’s not getting the help and the insight from a professional that could see the signs,” she said. “Because as a person with a mental illness you have skewed thinking.”

Why are mother and son speaking out now? To prevent others from not seeking help when it is needed. His mother hopes their story will help parents and authorities to listen to the warning signs and act fast if they hear words that could signal a disaster in the making.

Richard calls Elaine the “greatest person in the world.” Although she fears him, it’s clear that this mother’s love saved many.

Brave Nojoud Goes To Court To Get A Divorce

Nojoud Muhammed Nasser wants a divorce and her father to be prosecuted for sexual and domestic abuse. The Yemen girl is just eight years old.

Wednesday, April 2, your Nojoud bravely went to court by herself to find a judge willing to her case against her father Muhammed Nasser. Two months ago the man forced the young girl to marry Faez Ali Thamer, 30.

Because of Yemeni law Nojoud can not prosecute because she is underage. That didn’t stop the little girl from finding someone who could stop the insanity that had become her life. When court judge Muhammed Al-Qathi heard her pleas he had both her father and husband promptly arrested.

“My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn’t stop the marriage,” Nojoud Nasser told the Yemen Times. “I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, ‘We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.’ So this is what I have done,” she said.

Nasser’s uncle has taken the position of her guardian. He revealed that her father had lost his job as a garbage truck worker and became a beggar. He suffered mental problems according to the brother.

Thamer, the child’s husband claims that he is innocent of wrongdoing. He admits that he did have intimate relations with the young child but that it was within his right as her husband and that no one could stop him from that right. He remains in jail.

Nasser said that she was exposed to sexual abuse and domestic violence by her husband. “He used to do bad things to me, and I had no idea as to what a marriage is. I would run from one room to another in order to escape, but in the end he would catch me and beat me and then continued to do what he wanted. I cried so much but no one listened to me. One day I ran away from him and came to the court and talked to them.”

“Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months,” added Nasser. “He was too tough with me, and whenever I asked him for mercy, he beat me and slapped me and then used me. I just want to have a respectful life and divorce him.”

The father was released due to health issues. There have been no charges filed against the men because Nojoud arrived at court asking for a divorce.

Number 15 of Yemeni civil law reads that “no girl or boy can get married before the age of 15.” That though was amended in 1998 so that parents could make a contract of marriage between their children even when they are under the age of 15. That clause though does not give the husband the right to be intimate with his wife until she is ready or mature enough for the act.

“This law is highly dangerous because it brings an end to a young girl’s happiness and future fruitful life. Nojoud did not get married, but she was raped by a 30-year old man.”
Shatha Ali Nasser, a lawyer in the Supreme Court

This is not the first time in Yemen where the court has had to hear about a child marriage. It is however the first time that a child has gone to court on her own to seek a divorce.

“We are not planning to return Nojoud to her family. Who knows? Maybe after a few years the same thing will happen to her again,” said Shatha Ali Nasser. “We are planning to put her in Dar Al-Rahama [an non-governmental organization that works with children], where she can have a better life and education. We do not want her family to pay her expenses, as they are poor.”

Man Robs Bank To Have A Home In Jail

A man robbed a bank in Kitchener, Ontario in February in order to have a new home. Francis Long,43 wanted to go to jail.

The Canadian was smiling Wednesday as a prosecutor described how he robbed a bank in order to be arrested.

Mr. Long was homeless when he committed the crime. He told the bank teller that he was looking for a home in prison and invited her to call the police. After leaving the bank Long waited patiently outside for the police to arrive, waving them over when they did.

“You’re looking for me,” Mr. Long told the officer who pulled up.

Long told the police on the way to jail that he hadn’t been able to find a job since the plant he had worked for closed.

Long is hoping to complete his high school education which he will use to gain a job when he leaves prison.

Sentencing will take place May 8.

Prince William Earns His Wings

Britain’s Price William will receive his Royal Air Force pilot wings during a graduation ceremony on Friday. The ceremony held at Cranwell Air Force will see Prince Charles handing out 25 wings to the graduates including his own son.

The twenty-five year old prince is a second lieutenant in the British Army serving in the Household Cavalry. He has spent the past four months gaining experience with various branches of the military at the Royal Air Force. Later this year he will serve with the Royal Navy to continue his training.

Prince William spent the four months learning to fly a Grob 115E light aircraft, the faster Tucano T1 plane, and a Squirrel helicopter. He was with the program for eight days when he took his first solo flight.

“Going solo is one of those things — if you had a list of the top 50 things to do before you die, it would be in there,” he said in January.

35 years ago Prince Charles earned his wings at the same air force base. Prince Andrew flew Sea King helicopters in 1982 during the Falklands War.

Breaking News: Marine Cesar Laurean Has Been Captured In Mexico

U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean has been captured in Mexico Thursday. The marine is wanted for the murder of 20-year-old pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach.

There has been a manhunt for Laurean since January when he fled as the search for Maria Lauterbach was in full swing. The marine has been indicted on charges of murder, ATM card theft, attempted card theft, fraud and robbery with a dangerous weapon. North Carolina authorities are waiting for his extradition back from Mexico.

Laurean was captured at 7 p.m. Thursday near Mexico City in the town of San Juan Vina.

I’m very happy he was caught today in Mexico, but I’m disappointed we didn’t catch him in America,” said Dewey Hudson, district attorney for Onslow County, North Carolina.

Because of extradition rules Laurean can not be given the death penalty for the murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. Laurean is accused of not only the murder of the pregnant woman but also for rape. He has denied the rape allegation. It is unclear if he was the father of the fetus that Lauterbach was carrying.

According to a note that Laurean wrote prior to his escape to Mexico he claimed that Lauterbach slit her own throat during an argument. There was a 4 inch wound found on the woman’s neck but medical examiners have determined that wound would not have been fatal. Lauterbach’s body was found in a fire put in the backyard of Laurean in Onslow County, North Carolina.

Authorities have seized a computer that belongs to Laurean’s sister-in-law that has communications between Laurean and his wife on it. His wife’s diary has also been taken into evidence.

“It’s clear she’s still deeply in love with him and she is vacillating between loving him and being angry at him for not being faithful to her,” the official said. “It’s not necessarily illegal for a wife to talk to her husband, but if she had tried to help him in any way, there would have been a problem.”

Op-Ed: Maybe Being A Trophy Wife Is A Good Thing

Trophy wives have had a bad image but it seems that they may have one of the better marriages. Both husbands and wives in these types of marriages are supportive of each other. Supportive marriages are generally the best ones.

“Men are very sensitive to women’s attractiveness. Women seem to be sensitive to men’s height and salary,” said Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of Management.

Maybe it’s because the men are grateful that their woman looks so good compared to them. Maybe it’s because the women like being on a pedastal. For whatever reason marriages with the woman more attractive to the man work.

Could it be if the grass is greener in your own backyard men want to make sure everyone is a happy camper?

Women tend not to care as much as men about the attractiveness of thier mate. It’s more important that he is supportive of her. For men though having some eye candy on their arm is priceless.

So the next time you feel like gossiping about how Cindy Lou landed that balding guy with stacks of money consider the possibility that they just may love each other madly.

And men, if you’re not tops in the looks department don’t underestimate your qualities to reel in the cutest babe at the party.

Beauty and the Geek can be a match made in heaven.

Could Canada’s Bill C-10 Derail New Productions For Fear of Censorship?

Parliment was treated to a host of Canada’s entertainment best and brightest today. The members of the entertainment industry were there to denounce a federal bill they have deemed nothing more than censorship.

The Bill C-10 could force Canadian productions out of the country due to tax credits being denied if the film or television production was deemed offensive.

“Any whiff of censorship is chilling for us,” actress Sarah Polley told a news conference before the Senate hearing.

“It’s the job of artists to provoke and to challenge. Part of the responsibility of being an artist is to create work that will inspire dialogue, suggest that people examine their long-held positions and, yes, occasionally offend in order to do so.”

At this time producers apply for a bank loan for the production of the film or television program. When the production is complete it may qualify for a government if it meets Canadian content rules.

The new ruling would give the government the power to revoke credits if they deem the project unacceptable. Those in the industry fear that this change could change the way banking institutions would react to new productions.

Other than India and the United States artists rely on public money. Taking away those funds could change the Canadian voice.

“When censorship, historically, has ever been introduced – and always with the best of intentions – it never goes right,” actress Wendy Crewson said.

“We do not want to open that gate in any capacity, under any government.”

Miracles Do Happen

Wednesday in the Swiss town of Moehlin a miracle happened when an infant survived being hit by a train. While the buggy that the child was in didn’t make it through the ordeal the infant came away with only a bump.

A strong gust of wind blew the infant’s buggy off of a platform just as a train was approaching. The crowd could do nothing more than watch in shock as the pram was demolished.

As the train came to a stop a cry rang out. Underneath the train the baby had fallen between the rails.

The mother and her child were treated for shock at the local hospital and released.

Women Are Getting Geisha Services In Japan

For hundreds of years in Japan geishas were a man’s companion on a night out. That tide is shifting a bit as women are now paying for the services of geisha men.

A night out with a geisha man isn’t cheap. The rates for the service range from $1,000 to $50,000 for a night of total attention being lavished upon the woman.

“There’s nothing wrong with a woman paying to be entertained by a man,” one female client says. “It’s just another step in equality.”

24-year-old Yunosuke doesn’t mind being thought of as a woman’s accessory. He shouldn’t, last year he earned more than $200,000 by being the eye candy for his lady clients. Some of those earnings go to his daily upkeep like hitting the salon for a hair dye and blow dry.

“I give women things that men normally don’t do, like complimenting their appearance,” says one host, 24-year-old Yunosuke, who only goes by his single host name. “I make women happy.”

With the increase to women’s salaries more host clubs in Japan have opened up. The gender reversal isn’t frowned about in this Eastern country.

Like men at the end of a long day women are demanding the destressing time with their geisha to cope with the demands with the business world.

Childhood Cancer Survivors Face Unknown Health Future

The Canadian Cancer Society says that more children are surviving cancer today than in the past but that doesn’t mean the battle is over for them.

82 percent of Canadian children have survived cancer, living at least five years after the date of their diagnosis. That figure is an 11% increase from 15 years ago.

This year about 850 kids in Canada will be diagnosed with childhood cancer with about 135 dying from the disease.

“We know that childhood cancer, fortunately, is a rare disease, but it is the leading cause of disease-related death in children over one month, second only to accidents,” Heather Logan, the society’s director of cancer control policy, told a news conference.

“When you look at childhood survival … it shows us the advances we have been able to make,” said Logan, noting that from 1985 to 1988, 71 out of every 100 Canadian children with cancer survived five years. That number rose to 82 in every 100 kids diagnosed between 1999 and 2003.

“And that’s 11 more faces that are alive now that wouldn’t have survived the disease more than 15 years ago.”

The battle against cancer though doesn’t go away after five years. Many childhood survivors of the disease develop “late-effect” problems with their health that can be life-threatening.

According to oncologist Dr. Paul Grundy kids who survive malignancies have more risk for health problems later in life, both mentally and physically.

The brain changes in the young who have had chemotherapy and radiation can cause learning disabilities. Delayed puberty, infertility and organ damage also factor into the cost of the life saving drugs.

There are side-effects of treatment that may not even occur for up to 20 years after the therapy,” Grundy explained.

“We’re very concerned about the development of second cancers, so not a relapse or recurrence of their original disease, but the development of an entirely new cancer, probably in large part caused by the original cancer chemotherapy or radiation,” he said.

“These are the physical ones. We also have to be concerned about various psychological or emotional issues related to cancer survivorship.”

Grundy says that for some childhood cancers doctors have been able to reduce the amount of chemo and radiation. It’s hopeful that this will help later in life. But not all cancers will allow for that. To cure one must use a heavy duty arsenal of drugs.

At this time we don’t know how those who were cured will be doing 50 years for now. Today’s cancer survivors will be the test subjects on the long term challenges of having childhood cancer.

With each year we will see more and more children walk out of the hospital to live life after cancer. In time doctors may be able to find ways to reverse the lasting effects of the drugs that allow for that to happen reducing the chance of side effects years later.

Op-Ed: Using Religion As A Guise For Pedophilia

From the recent discoveries at the YFZ (Yearning For Zion) Ranch to the endless tales of Catholic priests who prey upon children pedophiles are using God as a guise to have sex with children. Are these crimes more heinous than other child abuse cases?

Religion is supposed to be a safety net for people’s souls. Those in leadership positions within these organizations, though just mere humans are still expected to be above others in their morals. It’s assumed that if your child is in a religious organization that they are safe. It’s the perfect breeding ground for those who want to harm children with their perverse desires.

Revelations coming out from the ranch in Texas where 416 children are now in state custody show that an entire section of the adult male members of the sect abused the children that resided inside.

Overall the children’s health is good. There is a chickenpox outbreak with about a dozen or so children but that is a normal part of childhood.

What is not a normal part is a bed in a temple used to consummate teenage children being married to much older men.

“observed the bed within the temple that had disturbed bed linens and a strand of hair that appears to be from a female head.”

The young girls within the polygamist compound were sexually assaulted by these men using God as their reason to have sex.

The bravery of one sixteen year old girl broke the case when she telephoned an abuse report to a local family violence hot line. It’s not clear if that ‘hero’ is one of those who was rescued. The police are hopeful yet she has not come forward at this time.

Because of this one girl though 416 children may get the chance to have a more normal childhood without dealing with the issues of having been a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

In the ranch’s case the sexual abuse was among young girls. In the case of Catholic priests and young children it is generally little boys who are the victims.

Are abusers within the Catholic Church different from others that prey on children? Yes and no.

Pedophiles all share the unnatural desire for sexual acts with the youngest of society. It matters not that they have a special collar around their neck, lead religious sects or are ‘Joe Blow’ from down the street. Most of the time though Joe Blow isn’t that social when it comes to adult contacts. They prey on those who don’t have a loud voice, who are shy and may look up to the special friend they now have.

On a general basis these takers of innocence aren’t sociable. Then there are those who use religion as a guise for their sexual conquests of child. These individuals tend to be more social within adult boundaries. They blend in easily with society just as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

These crimes have the added element of not only destroying a portion of a child’s innocence but taking away a core part of a spirituality that becomes perverse, religion.

These are the devils that walk beside us. They deserve the most severe of punishments. Sadly justice doesn’t have the laws at these time to add on time to a sentence if one is a religious figure. Those held in these special status tend to be protected in a way that places them above the law.

It’s time to make sure the wolves that prey on children pay the price. The cost they have extracted from the young will never be able to be refunded.

Lessons Learned: More Boosters May Be Needed After College Mumps Outbreak 2006

In 1990 health officials started giving children a second booster of the vaccine to prevent mumps. There’s concern now that another booster is actually needed after the outbreak at college in the U.S. in 2006.

Almost 6,600 people, mostly college students came down with the mumps during an outbreak in eight Midwest states in 2006. Of those who were infected with the illness 84 percent had both sets of the mumps shot that the CDC and state health departments recommended.

Public health experts didn’t think that the vaccine would have such a short life in immunity. The mumps strain that was involved in the breakout was new and not targeted by the vaccine. There is evidence though that in other outbreaks that the shot has stood up to the new strain.

It’s thought that the outbreak stemmed from students or travellers from the UK where the second vaccine is not voluntary. The United Kingdom was had large breakouts of the mumps of the same strain. Future cases are expected as much of the rest of the world doesn’t vaccinate against mumps.

“If there’s another outbreak, we would evaluate the potential benefit of a third dose to control the outbreak,” said researcher Dr. Jane Seward, deputy director of the CDC’s viral diseases division.[/quote

The disease is spread by respiratory secretions and saliva. College students living in close quarters such as dorms are especially vulnerable.

Mumps itself cause fever and swollen salivary glands in the cheeks. The disease has complications in some individuals that cause deafness, viral meningitis and testicle inflammation. The latter can cause sterility.

The only United States mumps vaccine was created in 1967. It has remained unchanged since Merck & Co. that time.

Over 500 million doses have been sold since the 1970s when it became put of the measles-mumps-rubella shot. The current schedule for the vaccine is one at 12 to 15 months and the other at age 4 to 6.

A third booster is being considered for college students. 85 percent of those exposed to the outbreak were protected. That percentage though wasn’t high enough to prevent the spread of the disease.

Federal Employees Spend, Spend, Spend When It Comes To Government Debit Cards

Citizens of the United States paid for Internet dating services, iPods, expensive clothing and lingerie they will never enjoy. The reason? They went to federal employees who charged millions to government debit cards.

While a big night out for many taxpayers is dinner at a cheap steak house and a movie their federal employee counterparts are whopping it up with $13,500 dinners and lingerie wore at jungle training in Ecuador.

Something doesn’t seem right right.

An audit of government credit or debit cards found almost $2 million unaccounted items that included computers, iPods and digital cameras.

It appears that in 2006 almost half of the debit card purchases were improper. And U.S. taxpayers are the ones footing the bill.

These purchases were not authorized nor did they meet the government’s requirements for using the purchase cards.

Congressmen Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, and Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who initiated the investigative audit are not happy with the audit’s report.

“Too many government employees have viewed purchases cards as their personal line of credit. It’s time to cut up their cards and start over,” Coleman said in a news release about the GAO study.

The report used purchases from July 1, 2005, through September 30, 2006 to examine spending across federal agencies. What the study found was way too many buys that can only be categorized as “fraudulent,” “abusive,” or “improper.”

What’s most shocking is that these buys on the taxpayers pocketbooks were not found until the investigative audit.

One postmaster thought that the American people should fund his Internet dating expenses of $1,000. After being caught he paid back the money and was removed from his position.

Employees attending a national postal forum in Orlando were treated to a $13,500 dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse.

The dinner included more than 200 appetizers and the agency paid for about $3,000 of alcoholic drinks, including more than 40 bottles of wine and top-shelf liquor, the study said. It deemed the dinner as an “excessive cost.”

The cards came into use in the late 1980s allowing federal workers to use them for needed purchases. They were intended to streamline federal purchasing.

It doesn’t appear that ideal is in use.

Little Darisabel Baez Killed By Game Controller

Little Darisabel lived in York, Pennsylvania until Monday night when her short life was taken in a violent rage. It wasn’t the first time the child had been beaten, it was the last time she had to endure the pain of child abuse.

Darisabel Baez died Monday night after being attacked my her mother’s boyfriend. The two-year-old was beaten with a video game controller as her mother listened and did nothing until her daughter was unconscious.

Her 19-year-old mother Neida E. Baez sprung into action only after it was too late. She called for an ambulance after her boyfriend Harve L. Johnson brought her child’s limp body to her. Darisabel was limp and wet as Johnson handed the toddler to her mother after he had tried to revive her in the bathtub.

There was nothing the hospital at Hershey Medical Center could do other than announce the child’s death. Another soul gone because of the crime of child abuse. Bruises and injuries alerted the medical professionals that this tiny child had survived at the hands of those who had been gifted with her on more than just this occasion.

Johnson, 26, acknowledged beating the girl with a video game controller but did not say why, police said. Baez said that Johnson had abused the girl in the past and that she heard the girl scream after Johnson beat her Sunday, according to the affidavit.

Both mother and boyfriend are in jail this morning. Johnson, 26, is charged with homicide and a list of other charges. Baez is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Their bonds are set at $200,000 and $25,000.

Protesters Scream We Are Hungry As Food Price Riots Take Over Haiti

The presidential palace in Haiti is under attack from crowds of demonstrators protesting the price of foods in the island nation.

Protesters were held back by UN troops who fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd when they tried to use metal bins to smash down the palace gates.

The have been several injuries reported in the riots. Since last week when the protests begin five have been killed in the city of Les Cayes.

“We are hungry!”

Protesters are demanding the resignation of President Rene Preval who has been in power for two years.

“I compare this situation to having a bucket full of gasoline and having some people around with a box of matches,” Preval adviser Patrick Elie was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

“As long as the two have a possibility to meet, you’re going to have trouble.”

The people of Haiti are some of the world’s poorest. As food prices rise people have become unable to feed their families. More than half of the population struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day.

Critics of Mr. Preval say that the president has focused too much energy of political stability at the cost of a poor and hungry nation.

The people of Haiti are fighting back in order to feed themselves. The fragile stability in the nation is undermines by the current socio-economical environment that at this time does not seem to be improving.

Currency Exchange Workers At Malaysian Airport Robbed

Six have been shoot in an airport heist in Malaysia. Six people have been wounded as robbers fled with about $1 million in U.S. funds from Malaysia’s main airport early Wednesday.

The group of robbers numbered between four and six. They opened fire at two currency exchange workers and the security guards that were guarding them at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Believed to be locals the robbers knew the movements of the victims involved. Police believe that this is a case of organized crime.

Armed with automatic pistols they fled in a getaway car after the robbery. The entire time frame was three minutes. The airport suffered damage to the windows at the entrance during the shootout.

Flights went on as scheduled as the four employees and two bystanders were wounded.

Bride And Groom Honeymoon In Jail After A Taser Blast To The Groom

When Taurice Williams and Miss Smith got married on Saturday they didn’t know that their honeymoon would be spent in jail. The couple from Vallejo, California were having a rip roaring party to celebrate their nuptials.

That party turned into their undoing as police arrived to quiet the festivities down a notch. Seems like the groom didn’t like the sounds of that when the police arrived the second time. Williams, 30 ended up being arrested for public drunkenness and resisting arrest. In the process of the arrest police tasered both Williams and Delorean Johnson, brother and best man of the wedding party.

“On our second trip out there, our officer warned the wife, a Ms. Smith, to take it inside,” Nichelman said. “Smith says, ‘you can’t tell my husband what to do,’ and there was a back and forth thing that went on. And then the husband came at the officer in an aggressive manner. He took a fighting stance; he refused to comply with requests to go inside, so the Taser was fired into his chest, and worked successfully.”

Smith also ended up being arrested for public drunkenness.

This was not a first arrest for Williams. He is on parole for carjacking.

Before being taken to jail the groom and best man had a side trip to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vallejo where the taser barbs were removed.

After a few hours the arrested members of the wedding party were released.

Neighbours say that they weren’t disturbed by the loud music and a few slept through the commotion.

Stacie Miller, a neighbor from a few doors down, said she, too, was aware of loud music Saturday night, but wasn’t kept awake by it.

“We have the double-paned windows, so, after midnight when we went to bed, we didn’t hear anything,” Miller said. “We’ve been in the neighborhood since 1999, and it’s usually very nice. The last incident was four or five years ago. But there was a gunshot involved in that one.”

The couple could not be reached for comments.

Refugees In China Fear They Are Next In ‘Security Sweep’

As the Olympics approach Beijing is trying to clear their refugee rosters by sending people back into nations that may very well persecute them.

According to the UN 15 refugees have been returned to their countries of origin from China in a security sweep. The latest case is a 17-year-old from Pakistan. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has requested an explanation about the deportation. They have yet to hear back from Chinese authorities.

180 other refugees living in mainland China are fearing that they will be next in the security sweep to be returned to their native homes.

The Pakistan case may be in violation of China’s obligation under the global refugee convention.

“It does seem that this is happening because of the security sweep ahead of the Olympics,” Jennifer Pagonis of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said. “That’s fairly clear.”

Most of the refugees in mainland China live in Beijing. They are from southwest Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

China is part of the 1951 refugee convention that states a country must refrain from sending a person back to their countries of origin if that have credible grounds to fear persecution, torture or other ill-treatment.

“We always have concerns when refugees are sent back to their country of origin. This is basically something that should not happen,” Pagonis said.

Coffin Bumped From Air Canada Flight To Make Way For Luggage

The family of Dennis Hamilton want to know why his body was bumped from a flight to make more room for luggage. Because of Air Canada’s action his funeral was forced to be delayed.

The family from Springfield are devastated at the treatment of their family member’s remains. Twice last week they had to deal with horrible news over the telephone. The first was a call that Hamilton had died in Fort McMurray. The second call may have been even more unsettling when they were informed that his body was left in Montreal.

“This was the funeral director, saying, ‘He’s not here.’ He said he got bumped in Montreal, and the cargo went on, but he got bumped,” Sister-in-law Judy Hamilton told CBC News.

While the airline is not commenting on the incident an official has stated that an investigation is looking into the matter.

Because the body of Dennis Hamilton didn’t arrive until 12 hours after it was expected both the viewing and the funeral were delayed.

According to the Hamilton’s they have not heard a peep from Air Canada. The family wants an assurance from the airlines that no other family will have to endure this again.

AIDS Group Claim Security Guard Humiliated Them At Prince George Airport

Seven members of an AIDS support group claim that airline security humiliated there at the Prince George Airport Authority. They are thinking about filing a human rights complaint over the matter.

The seven members are part of Positive Living North. They were flying to a conference in Vancouver last week when their flight was delayed for an hour when a security guard working for the airport raised questions about their “diseases.”

Alison Paul, an AIDS prevention and support worker with the group, told CBC News on Monday about the incident. She is not HIV positive. She claims a security guard insisted that a wipe down was needed because of the “diseases” that the group had.

“He [the security guard] said that he had recognized one of the members or one of my group from [Prince George] downtown. He said he knew this person has diseases and that he was trying to keep the staff and people safe in the aircraft,” she said.

“I broke down in tears and said, ‘I’ve been travelling with the organization for a long time and never have I been treated like this.’”

The WestJet pilot of the plane Paul’s group was on said the guard’s concerns were ridiculous. He apologized to the group and the airplane took off.

Members of the group are angry at the treatment they received because of this lone security guard.

I was disgusted … I just thought, ‘Who the hell do you think you are? You don’t even know me,’” said Tina Joyce, who’s living with AIDS.

“What can I say it’s not going to happen again?” Joyce said.

“I don’t think it was ever our intention to have to wipe down the plane,” Richard Bartrem, director of brand and communications at WestJet Airlines, said Monday.

“There was no reason why these people could not travel with us. The captain made that determination,” he said.

The Prince George Airport Authority is not happy with this embarssment either. They are wanting answers from Garda World Security. That is the name of the security company at the airport. A spokesman for the authority Todd Doherty says that Prince George airport is concerned about all sides of customer service from baggage issues to the overall experience a customer has at the airport.

Garda World Security says that they are looking into the incident.

Six-Year-Old Quebec Girl Dead From Accidental Hanging

A little girl is dead tonight because of an accidental hanging when the belt of her housecoat became entangled with her bunk bed. The mother of Laval, Que. attempted CPR but it was too late.

The child had been watching a movie in her room late Sunday afternoon when the incident occurred. Her mother had been checking on her every 30 minutes or so.

When she opened the door to check on her daughter the last time the mother found her tied up in her clothes. She was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

“It’s an accident. No one is being blamed for that,” Laval police spokesperson Nathalie Laurin told CTV Montreal.

Loose belts and strings are always a danger for youngsters. If at all possible eliminate them from your children’s clothes.

Beer Made A Comeback 75 Years Ago In The United States

Today is the 75th anniversary of beer returning to the people of America. For 14 years drinking a beer was a crime during the days of Prohibition but for 3.5% beer that came to an end on April 7, 1933.

Today American brewers have gotten together to celebrate the day when it became legal again to sit down and have a brew. If you are near St. Louis, Missouri you can take in Anheuser-Busch’s bash. Next weekend in the same city Schlafly Beer is throwing its Bottleworks festival.

Seventy-five years ago Prohibition wasn’t really over and the beer that was allowed to be sold was pretty weak but it was the beginning.

The U.S. hasn’t completely rid itself of the Prohibition Era. There are still some states (Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah) where the beer you can buy is still the watered down 3.2% instead of the standard 5% that beer lovers like best. If you want beer on Sunday you’re out of luck in many places and don’t think you can pick up a six pack at the local grocery store wherever you are. Some counties in the nation still live in the Prohibition Era by keeping their region as dry as the desert sand.

There are those are don’t see the anniversary as a day to celebrate.

It is the product of choice for underage drinking,” said Michael Scippa, advocacy director for the Marin Institute, an alcohol industry watchdog group.

“We’re not neo-Prohibitionists or teetotalers,” he said. “We’re not trying to tell adults what to do. ” He said his group just wants the industry to operate more responsibly.

Still the United States was given an economic boost in the arm with the renewal of beer sales. It was the first of the presidential promises FDR kept when he took power in 1933. At 12:01 a.m. April 7, 1933 the beer gates opened to the sound of cheering crowds. The brew may have tasted like weak swamp water but it was BEER and therefore it was good.

The Prez was making sure to get into the action also. Several breweries sent cases straight to the White House and the Capitol.

Within the first 24 hours 1.5 million barrels had been bought.

“I know everyone gets excited about it, but you were offered a watered-down version of beer. That’s all you got,” Bob Skilnik, author of eight books about beer said. “It probably wasn’t a very satisfying drink. If you wanted to have a shot [of hard liquor] on the side, you still had to wait until December 5th for that to happen.”

Beer breweries employed 50,000 people in the midst of the Depression. Cities that had major breweries got a quick and steady economical boost.

FDR was a smart man. Within 48 hours the nation was already started to get its footing back in the face of economical disaster. The government was a major benefactor, taxes from beer sales totaled $7.5. That was just for April 7.

“April 7th was really just … FDR looking for an economic shot in the arm,” Skilnik said. “And it was a very successful shot in the arm. There was a hell of a lot of money spent.” He said $25 million was pumped into breweries and associated businesses — helping farmers, truckers, and glassmakers as well as brewers and pubs — in the first 48 hours of sales.

Who would have thought that beer was the beginning of the U.S.’s road to recovery from the Great Depression?

Iraqi Prime Minister Wants Answers From Blackwater

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki wants answers from the U.S. government concerning the renewal of Blackwater. Al-Maliki says the company has yet to answer for the “massacre” of 17 people last year on September 16 at Baghdad’s Nusoor Square.

The fact that the security company’s renewal in Iraq wasn’t brought up to Iraqi officials is a sore spot.

No judicial action has been taken and no compensation has been made,” al-Maliki said Sunday. “Therefore, this extension requires the approval of the Iraqi government, and the government would want to resolve the outstanding issues with this company.”

According to victims from the massacre the security company opened fire without provocation. The guards that were involved has been accused of committing premeditated murder. There is an ongoing investigation with the FBI on the matter.

After that incident a joint Iraqi-American committee was set up to enforce the rules of engagement and the use of force had to be changed.

Now a State Department security official is required to be with any convey that is manned by contractors. Each vehicle in the convoy is also required to have a security camera on it to monitor behaviours.

On Sunday the prime minister said that the renewal of the Blackwater contract is not final “because they committed a massacre against Iraqis and until now this matter has not been resolved.”

About 25,000 private contractors employed with Blackwater, Triple Canopy and DynCorp work in Iraq to protect diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. Because of a provision put in place early into the U.S. occupation in Iraq these contractors have immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

In 2006 the US signed a five-year contract with Blackwater. The deal is up for review every year and will be up for renewal next month. The US has announced that the renewal will go through for another year. Iraq is not confirming that order though.

According to Greg Starr, acting assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, Blackwater must follow Iraqi laws.

However, Starr said, “I am not going to prejudge what the FBI is going to find in its investigation. It’s complex. I think the U.S. government needs protective services.”

Blackwater is defering all questions to the State Department.

Op-Ed: The Gift We May Not Deserve

The most intelligent form of being on planet Earth are human beings. With intelligence comes the job of taking care of the home. As a species human beings aren’t doing that great of job with the gift of a home.

We have polluted this planet. Air and water pollution has been the cause of many fish and animal species dying in record numbers.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (Public Domain)

Beautiful sights along the roadways now serve as a trashcan. We may say no to littering but by the looks of it that no at times is a well just this once.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (Public Domain)

Our seas are a dumpster. Because of trash and toxins the fish that don’t die are too toxic eat.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (All Rights Reserved)

We wonder why the birds, bees, insects, bats.…..take your pick are no longer pollinating our crops. They can’t. They are dying as we add more and more chemicals to the landscape.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (All Rights Reserved)

Our grass at home must be greener than the Joneses. We have to have more and more. We want the best that chemicals can provide.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (All Rights Reserved)

Then we scream out about the pollution. We shout to our leaders to have them fix the problems we have created for our children.

http://www.ukrivers.net/pollutionpics.html (All Rights Reserved)

We wonder why Mother Nature has increased the power of storms. When confronted with the idea that it could be our own fault naysayers shake their heads and say it’s the way of the land.

Illustration by DigitalJournal.com (Creative Commons – Attribution) - DigitalJournal.com File Photo

We flick off our lights for an hour called EarthHour and pat ourselves on the back.

Somehow it doesn’t seem right that those who have created the problem should be proud of an hour.

It’s time to stand up and take the blame. Honestly make changes. Teach our children that we were given a gift and the gift must be taken care of.

If not that gift can be taken away.

Climate Scientist Warns Projected CO2 Emissions Still To High

James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York warned the EU that and international partners that carbon dioxide estimates in the atmosphere have been grossly underestimated. The result could be catastrophic.

The EU’s target of 550 parts per million of CO2 need to be slashed to 350 ppm according to Hansen. Those drastic cuts have to be met if “humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed” warned the climate scientist who along with eight others just finished a paper on climate findings.

The report used evidence from the Earth’s history instead of theoretical models. Taking core samples from the bottom of the ocean the researchers were able to track CO2 levels for millions of years. Those findings showed that 35 million years ago when the Ice Age began the CO2 in the atmosphere was at about 450ppm.

“If you leave us at 450ppm for long enough it will probably melt all the ice – that’s a sea rise of 75 metres. What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster – a guaranteed disaster,” Hansen told the Guardian.

What Hansen found with the research is startling. At the projected goal of 550ppm the oceans would warm by 6C. Estimates prior to this report guessed that the warming would be in the 3C range.

Hansen was one of the first scientists to bring climate warming concerns to Congress back in the 1980s. His relationship has been frosty though with the Bush administration. In 2005 he accused the White House and NASA of trying to censor him.

The projected future that Hansen lays out is frightening.

As the ocean temperatures rise caused by greenhouse gases ice and snow will melt. They will leave behind exposed ground that instead of reflecting sunlight will absorb more heat.

Satellite technology have shown that over the past three years this has begun to happen. Greenland and west Antarctica have both lost mass because of the melting ice sheets.

Many climate scientists have said it will take thousands of years before the ice sheets will shrink. This attitude is not carried by Hansen.

“If we follow business as usual I can’t see how west Antarctica could survive a century. We are talking about a sea-level rise of at least a couple of metres this century.”

The good news according to the climate scientist is that the reserves of fossil fuels have been exaggerated. That being the case alternative sources of energy will have to be put into place much quicker. Those energy sources could help reduce the CO2 emissions.

French War Graveyard Victim To Racist Attack

Vandals have desecrated 148 graves in the biggest WWI cemetery in France. All of those graves were of Muslims who had served their country.

A pig’s head was hung on one of the headstones in a vile insult to Islam. Slogans insulting Islam and the French Muslin justice minister were also spread throughout the graveyard.

During World War One about 78,000 colonial subjects of France died protecting the nation. Many of those were Muslims form North Africa. The Notre Dame de Lorette war cemetery is the site of some of the largest battles that took place during the war.

There are about 100 police officials on the site investigating this hateful crime of racism. Those responsible will face rapid detention and punishment for their crime according the French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In April 2007 two men painted Nazi slogans and swastikas on 50 graves in the Muslim sector of the cemetery. Those men were sentenced to one year of prison for their crime.

Abortion Was Taken Off Health Sites Search Terms

A United States government funded database is having to be reprogrammed after it was discovered that the word ‘abortion’ was restricted.

The health database POPulation information onLINE, at John Hopkins University in Baltimore has more than 360,000 articles on reproductive health. According to Timothy M. Parsons, a spokesman for Hopkins the restriction was placed in February because of questions from federal officials.

On Friday the restrictions were lifted after complaints by librarians and women’s health advocates complained to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The dean of the school Dr. Michael J. Klag told reporters that he learned on the restrictions on Friday. He ordered the administers of the website to restore ‘abortion’ back to the search topic list. He is planning on starting an inquiry on why the limits to the search had been made.

Sri Lankan Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle Assassinated

A Lankan minister was assassinated by suspected LTTE rebels on Sunday. The blast also killed a former Olympian and 10 others. Almost 100 people were also injured as Sri Lankans celebrated the country’s traditional New Year.

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, was considered by many to be the next prime minister of the nation was about to wave a flag starting a marathon when the bomb went off in Grampaha.

Fernandopulle was a critic of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He died in hospital from the injuries sustained in the bombing.

Fernandopulle had been part of the failed peace talks with the Tamil Tigers.

Fernandopulle was a prime target of the LTTE. He is the second government minister to be assassinated by the group this year. D M Dassanayake, Minister for Nation Building was killed on January 8 from another bomb blast.

The bombing took place at the Kanthi playground in Weliveriya. Also killed in the bombing were former Olympic marathoner K A Karunaratne and national athletic coach Lakshman de Alwis.

The local hospital saw a rush of over 100 bloodied victims. Grampaha police Senior Superintendent Hector Darmasiri was one of those who is being treated.

Condemning the attack as a “cowardly” act of the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed for calm.

“While calling on the people to be calm and collected in the face of such extreme provocation by the forces of terror, I wish to reiterate that this dastardly act will not weaken our resolve to eradicate terrorism from our midst, and bring peace, harmony and democracy to all our people, which was also the constant and unqualified wish of Mr Jeyaraj Fernandopulle,” Rajapaksa said in a statement.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland since 1983. Tens of thousands have been killed during the ongoing conflict.

New Deadly Heroin On Toronto Streets

There’s a new form of heroin circulating in Toronto. Police are warning the public about the deadly new form that has put eight people in hospital with near death overdoses.

Heroin is known for its overdoses but this new brand has produced more serious reactions that what is normally expected from the addictive drug.

“It is very scary stuff and people can die,” says Dr. Rakaesh Kumar, who works at the Humber River hospital.

“The bad dose of heroin can make them stop breathing all of a sudden and they can turn blue, and their heart can stop all of a sudden too.”

Some of those who overdosed are still in hospital. None of the users have been charged at this time. They are also not helping the police on the case.

Police are still looking into where the source of the deadly strain of heroin is coming from. Toxicology reports are pending to determine if the overdoses have been caused by the intensity of this drug or if it is being laced with another substance.

“It is very frustrating for the police,” says Sgt. Marcel Marriot. “We’re out there trying to do the best job that we can. We’re hoping to get to the source before anyone else falls ill.”

If you have information about the drug please call 416-808-3100 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

The Best Gossip Of The Week: George Mugged, Beyonce Is Hitched, Leo’s Living Green

There are so many shows devoted to the latest Hollywood news that it’s time DigitalJournal has a quick peek at the world of celebs. So here are your three hits for the week.

If you hadn’t already crossed off the Sudan as a vacation spot perhaps George Clooney’s recent mugging will do it for you. He was going though a checkpoint when he was attacked.

“There were all these young kids with AK47s,” Clooney, 46, tells British men’s magazine Zoo Weekly. “They pointed guns at us and stole what they could. It happens all the time.”

Did you send your wedding gift? Jay-Z and Beyoncé got hitched Friday night at the groom’s pad in NYC’s Tribeca neighborhood.

They had Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin show up to give them well wishes.

The stars are donning matching tats on their ring finger. The bride was dressed in white.

“It was amazing — very special, very private, very intimate,” a source tells Us. “Everyone had so much fun. It ended up being a wild party. DJ Cassidy was spinning and people partied until 4:30 a.m.”

Green Leo DiCaprio buys Eco-friendly NYC condo at the Riverhouse. The 33-year-old star is well known for his leanings towards the green way of life even having a website that gives great ideas on the matter.

His new place features programmable thermostats, a 24-hour fresh-filtered air system, a gray and black water treatment facility, rooftop green landscaping and free bike storage and is powered by solar energy.

His rep confirmed the purchase, telling New York, “Riverhouse is a prime example of how green technology is both accessible and achievable for new residential developments — it is a groundbreaking building.”

Toronto’s Connection To The MLK Assassination

Forty years ago Toronto had one of the most wanted killers hiding in rooming houses to evade police. James Earl Ray stayed on Ossington Ave. and Dundas Street W. for almost a month before he was captured.

Fifteen years ago Ray spoke to Robert Benzie and Jeff Bassett of the Ottawa Sun from his cell at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution about Toronto.

Because the reporters were out of Ottawa they never published Ray’s observations about Toronto.

On April 4, 1968 it has been alleged that Ray murdered Martin Luther King. He had been staying in a Memphis flophouse across from the Lorraine Motel where the fatal shot was fired. Fearing that a roommate had set him up Ray fled the state.

Ray never admitted to being the man who killed King. Others also believed that he was a patsy in a conspiracy including King’s own family and Rev. Jesse Jackson. He died in 1998 still maintaining that he was an innocent man. In 1999 a Tennessee jury concluded that racist Memphis cafe owner Loyd Jowers was the man behind the scheme to kill King.

Ray though wasn’t just an innocent who stumbled around in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was an escaped felon from the Missouri State Pen where he had been serving a 20-year sentence for armed robbery. He escaped in 1967.

According to Ray he was in his 1966 yellow Mustang doing his part in a gun-running scheme when he heard on the radio King had been murdered. A smuggler named Raoul was with him that fateful day. Raoul was from Montreal. Figuring that Raoul had set him up because after all they were staying right across from the motel that King died at Ray fled to Atlanta. In Atlanta he boarded a Greyhound for Detroit under the alias Eric S. Galt. In Detroit he hopped into a cab and crossed the border to Windsor. He then caught a train to Union Station in Toronto.

“I got to Toronto pretty late in the day (on April 6, 1968). It was 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Then I started walking and trying to find a room and I walked quite a while until I found this Ossington St. address,” he said.

“I went in and this Polish lady in there, they couldn’t hardly speak English. So I rented a room off them. I don’t think I even gave them a name that time.”

He had spent the summer before in Montreal robbing brothels and rolling tourists at the Expo but figured that Toronto would be a safer bet. He wanted to get a passport and fly to Europe and then on to Africa. Once in Africa he hoped to become a mercenary.

He stayed at his Ossington rooming house during the night and rented another room on Dundas street W. from Yee Sun Loo for $9 at week to stay inside during the day. He wanted to avoid arousing suspension for just staying in one room all day long. He didn’t go out bar hopping like some have side because he didn’t drink.

When he had been in Canada for a week his real name was announced making that low profile he had been keeping even more needed.

By researching old newspapers at the Toronto Telegram on Front St. he was able to acquire a false birth certificate and Canadian passport. One day when he left the Telegram he was stopped by the police.

. “He said I was jaywalking and asked for my name and address,” Ray said.

“I’d got an address from a lonely hearts club … to use as a cover. So I gave him this address from … Condor (Avenue, near Pape and Danforth). I’d never contacted this woman or anything, but I guessed the police wouldn’t check it.”

Although he after checking on the ticket the next day he was told there wasn’t one he burned his identification papers and assumed the new names of Paul Edward Bridgman and Ramon George Sneyd. The name of Sneyd was a Toronto police officer.

Ray was onto Identity theft before the world of computer databases. Ray had no trouble obtaining duplicate birth certificates. In order to get a passport he would call the man he was wanting to pose as pretending to be a government clerk. He would then ask questions about the man’s lost passports. If they said they had never applied for one he would apologize for the misunderstanding and then adopt that name. With so many different identities he was able to be his own reference on passport applications.

Ray was almost set. He purchased his ticket to London for $345 from the Kennedy Travel Bureau in the Annex on April 16, 1968. He had to wait three weeks though for his passports to arrive.

He left Toronto on May 6 flying to London. At Heathrow Airport the jig was up and Ray was arrested.

He was from that time tied into the trio of 1960s assassins; Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sir Han and Ray.

“I don’t think I have much in common with these others,” Ray told me. “I mean, Sirhan, he’s Arab from Jordan or wherever and Oswald, he was in politics. Here I am, I’m just involved in criminal activity. I just did dumb things like coming back to the United States from Canada.”

Coronation Street Actors Expecting First Child

Coronation Street’s Tina O’Brien and boyfriend Ryan Thomas are expecting their first child. O’Brien left the popular UK soap in December. She is reportedly 12 weeks into her pregnancy.

The couple were also a couple on the popular soap with Thomas’ character ditching O’Brien’s at the altar.

O’Brien said that the pregnancy was unexpected but the couple are happy to be starting their family.

The 24-year-old star who played Sarah-Louise Platt on Coronation Street is pursuing other acting projects in London. Thomas who stars on the soap as Jason Grimshaw is staying in Manchester.

“It may not be the best timing in terms of her career, but she loves Ryan and they know they can make it work,” a friend told the Sun.

“Tina has a flat in Manchester but has bought a big house in Cheshire as she wants a quieter home better suited to having children.”

Two Year Old Dead After Wrestling With Big Brother

A toddler is dead after he and his four year old brother had a wrestling match. Two year old Jocquian Davis of St. Louis passed away Wednesday at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. The cause of death is yet to be released.

A full report might take months to determine the final cause of death. In the meantime one child is dead and a family has been spilt apart.

East St. Louis police spokeswoman Francella Jackson said that the boys 21 year old mother found the younger boy unresponsive after some kind of wrestling move. While the mother is not a suspect the four year old and a 4-month old sibling have been removed from the home. They are now in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Killdeer, North Dakota’s Roads May Contain Cancer-Causing Mineral

Killdeer, North Dakota’s gravel roads and ball fields may be a ticking cancer time bomb. The gravel contains erionite, an asbestos-like mineral found in the white rock mined in the Killdeer Mountains.

The fibers that can be breathed in collect in the lungs of people and can cause lung cancer. Then again this scare could be officials making a mountain out of a molehill.

Although the mineral is not regulated by the EPA the agency knows that’s it not safe. Steve Way, a federal Environmental Protection Agency coordinator said that studies have proven that erionite causes cancer in lab rats.

Local ballparks have been shuttered as a precaution for health concerns in Killdeer, South Dakota. Residents though are much more concerned about the road maintenance than the risk of cancer from the gravel. Using gravel from outside of the area will cost much more and this is an area that may not be able to afford those costs.

A local town meeting where 60 residents gathered on Tuesday night showed that while the EPA may have concerns about their health they aren’t buying that they are facing a serious risk to their health.

“It seems to me like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill with what little data you have,” State Rep. Shirley Meyer told EPA and state officials. “The taxpayers in this county are having a tough time trying to swallow this.”

This isn’t new news to the government. For the past two years they have been testing rocks and airborne samples from Dunn County, North Dakota. Now they want to start testing humans. The EPA is looking for volunteers who have had long-term exposure to erionite. The testing would start in the spring and last for 18 months.

“I’m 80 years old and it hasn’t killed me yet,” said Milton Johnson, who ranches in the Killdeer Mountains. “They can test my lungs if they want – I’ve been breathing it all my life.”

The man who notified the EPA on the erionite in the region two years ago state geologist Ed Murphy said that the county is trying to balance two equally important health concerns. One, the gravel that may be a potential cancer risk and two the roads being kept safe.

There are hundreds of miles of roads in western North Dakota paved with erionite. The white gravel mined in the state’s mountains saves money for road maintenance which would be too costly if the state used asphalt.

There is a chance that the erionite in North Dakota is safer than the mineral found in the nation of Turkey. In Turkey the sodium based mineral has been linked to mesothelioma, an incurable form of lung cancer. The North Dakota mineral is a calcium base.

So is the sky falling in or are the governmental officials making to big a deal out of nothing? Lung cancer in the state is comparable to other states in the nation.

In 2004 the national age-adjusted death rate for cancer per 100,000 person was 199.8. The rate for North Dakota was 184.7.

When it came to lung cancer the overall state rate was 45.1 to the national 56.2 but for Native Americans the rate was at 100.3 to the national average of 36.3. One has to take into consideration the large population of Native Americans in the state though when looking at those figures.

Carl Leone Sentenced To 18 Years For Not Telling Partners That He Is HIV Positive

Carl Leone was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault for exposing women to the virus that causes AIDS. The Ontario man passed the virus on to at least five women.

Fifteen women were involved in the assault charges. In Ontario if a person knowingly engages in sexual activity after learning they have HIV and does not tell their partner they are committing assault. Leone, 32, found out that he was infected with HIV in 1997 seven full years before his arrest. None of the fifteen women that Leone had been sexually active with knew of the man’s condition.

Leone plead guilty to all 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault last April. Friday Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn handed down 15 consecutive sentences totaling 49 years in prison but reduced that to 18 years. Quinn told the court that he considered Leone’s age, lack of criminal record and the fact that he admitted his guilt to spare his victims the trauma of a court hearing when he was making the man’s sentence.

Leone will be allowed to apply for parole in six years. His name will be added to Ontario’s sex offender registry.

Leone expressed remorse and hopes that in time his community will forgive him his actions. There are no plans to appeal the court’s decision.

A Story Of Love: Best Friend Gives The Gift Of Life

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When Stephen Gottschalk needed a new kidney his best friend Michael A. Moore thought nothing of getting tested to give his friend the gift of life. That test may have saved Moore’s life in the long run.

Moore, 51, of Westfield, Ind. called his best friend from high school Gottschalk, 50, of Hillsboro, Mo. last year when Alport’s disease caused the man’s kidneys to fail to see if it was okay with him if he was tested to donate a kidney.

He found out on Nov. 19 that he was a positive match but at the same time he was pre-diabetic. That condition is one of the ones that makes donation impossible. Moore decided to change his life style in order to improve his own health and by doing so be able to donate to his friend. He lost 25 pounds by going on the Atkins diet and started to workout. He also started posting low key videos to YouTube to boost Gottschalk’s spirits. Health officials though were able to view those videos and watch his organ donation process.

His healthy attitude and new found body was deemed clear to have the donation surgery. On Wednesday the day before the operation that will hopefully give his friend a better quality of life he visited his friend’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital room minus his former man boobs.

“If you came to me on Nov. 19, and said, ‘Mike, you’ve got to stop eating chocolate or you’ll die,’ I’d have said, ‘Let’s order a chocolate cake and plan a funeral.’ I would not have lost this weight for myself.”

As boys the two played football for Hillsboro High School, participated in rodeos on the weekends and had the same friends. Moore was the extrovert while Gottschalk the academic.

After they finished school they both went to work in the 1970s for the same construction company. Later they took a gamble and tried to drive a truck together.

“Oh, it was bad. His feet stunk, and I snored,” Moore recalled.

The two remained close even when Moore moved to Westfield, Ind. where he owns a safety consultant business and is a volunteer fireman.

Kidney disease runs in Gottschalk’s family so his relatives could not become donor candidates. He still can’t find the words to describe the gift his friend Moore gave on Thursday.

“He’s going to save my life. How do you…? I’m just in awe of the whole thing. It’s hard to describe in words,” he said.

On Thursday the pair were under the knife for six hours in side by side operating rooms. The friends are part of the 16,600 kidney transplant operations that go on each year in the United States.

But this isn’t the story of a transplant operation, it’s the story of the love between two best friends.

Both men were doing well right after surgery. When Moore is back up and about he plans to give Gottschalk a “deed of transfer and ownership” for the kidney stating that Moore gave it freely and willingly to his friend. The deed also comes with a few disclaimers such as “any neglect to kidney prior to transplant that may or may not have been caused by consumption of Anheuser-Busch or like products.”

If Michael wakes up in pain:
“I look forward to sitting in Steve’s recovery room and blaming him.”

Donating an organ is the true gift of life whether the donation comes in your lifetime or just after your death. In order to donate your organs after you are dead your family needs to know your wishes. Carrying a organ donor card in your wallet is one step in the right direction if you want your death to become another’s chance of life.

Updated: Busload Of Children Taken By Authorities From Warren Jeff’s Retreat

Child welfare officials and state troopers in Eldorado, Texas have taken custody of a busload of children that were residing in a religious retreat built by Warren Jeffs. Most of the children retrieved were girls.

Late Thursday the the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints retreat was surrounded by authorities. The retreat was sealed and no one was allowed to enter or leave. By Friday morning armed with search and arrest warrants the authorities went into action.

The warrants appear to be the result of a complaint issued by a girl that lived at the retreat. No firm details though are being said on that though.

The compound has a 80-foot-tall white temple that is visible on the horizon. There are multiple buildings. In 2006 it was thought that there were 150 buildings on the property. the property was purchased in 2004 for $700,000. It is located about 160 miles northwest of San Antonia, Texas.

Built by the sect that believes in polygamy it was lead by Warren Jeffs after his father passed away in 2002. Jeffs was sentenced to a five years to life sentence in Utah for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who was wed to her cousin in 2001. He is currently prisoned in Kingman, Arizona awaiting for trial on another case dealing with incest and sexual conduct with a minor. The sect has been in the media because of their practice of arranged marriages of very young girls.

Updates:

The total number of children removed from the retreat was m the ages of 6 months to 17. 18 of the girls that have been removed are now in state custody because it appears that they have been abused or were in immediate risk for abuse. At this point the abuse does not to be of a sexual matter.

No arrests have yet been made.

The children were removed in two borrowed church buses from the ranch. Those living at the retreat are cooperating with the authorities.

Pirates Seize French Yacht And Its Crew

Pirates seized a French luxury yacht on Friday in the Golf of Aden. There are thirty crew members aboard the yacht. The pirates stormed the Le Ponant as it was returning from the Seychelles.

At the time of the attack there were no passengers aboard the yacht.

“This is a blatant act of piracy,” Prime Minister Francois Fillon told reporters while on a visit to Brussels. “The Defense and Foreign ministries are mobilized to act as quickly as possible, I hope in the coming minutes or hours to try to win the freedom of these hostages.”

The area is heavily populated with the French military. A base in Djibouti and a naval flotilla are both in the area.

Some of the crew of the seized yacht are French. The yacht features two restaurants, four decks and both indoor and outdoor luxury lounges. It can carry up to 64 passengers. April 19th is the next scheduled trip with passengers is a 10 day, seven night trip from Alexandria, Egypt to Valletta, Malta.

The luxury cabins start are $3,465. That price does not include air fare or taxes.

In the past year pirates have taken over more than two dozen ships in the waters off Somalia’s coast.

Denmark paid a ransom to these pirates in August to gain the release of a Danish cargo ship. That ship’s crew were held for more than two months.

Several patrols have been led in the area by international groups to fight back the pirates in the area. Last year the USS Porter fired on a pirate skiff that had taken over a Japanese tanker.

The International Maritime Bureau has recorded a 10 percent increase of piracy in 2007.

Wayne “Frosty Freeze” Frost Dead At 44

Hip-Hop dancer Wayne “Frosty Freeze” Frost has died at the age of 44. He and the Rock Steady Crew helped highlight breakdancing when they appeared in the movie “Flashdance” in 1983.

Frost passed away at Mount Sinai Medical Center after a long illness on Thursday.

“He was one of most charismatic b-boys that ever lived,” said Benson Lee, director of the new documentary film “Planet B-Boy.”

During the early 1970s a new form of dance began in the Bronx and Harlem called breakdancing. It was the beginning of the hip hop culture that still thrives today.

Breakdancing featured dance moves, Bruce Lee style martial arts and showmanship worthy of James Brown.

Frost was known for his style and choreography. One of his signature moves involving back flips and head spins was dubbed “Suicide”.

In 1978 Frost joined the Bronx based Rock City Crew. In 1981 he joined up with Rock Steady Crew along with other famed breakdancers Ken Swift and Lil Crazy Legs.
The dance group toured around the world with hip-hop artists. Breakdance though wasn’t a worldwide craze until Rock Steady Crew’s appearance in the movie “Flashdance.”

Frost’s appearance with Rock Steady Crew in “Flashdance” spread the breakdance phenomenon globally, said Joseph Schloss, a visiting scholar in the music department at New York University. “He was one of the first B-boys that most people ever saw,” Schloss said.

Funeral arrangements are not complete at this time.

Prince Philip In Hospital

Prince Philip of Britain has been admitted to hospital for the assessment of a chest infection. The 86-year-old royal is married to Queen Elizabeth II.

The BBC reported that the prince was admitted on Thursday night to King Edward VII’s Hospital in central London. There is no word as to what condition Philip is in.

Prince Philip married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947. He is a member of the Greek royal family but renounced his royal title in 1947 when he became a naturalized British subject.

In 1939 he joined the Royal Navy and served during World War II as a Lieutenant. When Elizabeth became queen Philip gave up his career in the Navy to support his wife.

Other than being one of the queen’s privy counsellors Philip has no constitutional role in the government.

Op-Ed: Sex May Sell But Virgins Are Red Hot In Hollywood

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Everything goes full circle. Last year the teen theme from Hollywood was be as bad as you wanna be. This year it’s the year of the virgin. Teen celebs from Miley Cyrus to Adriana Lima are on the celibate train.

Perhaps the shift to more family values this year in Tinseltown stems from last year’s over the top naughtiness.

Young Miley Cyrus just 15 has had to defend herself from rumours that she’s pregnant. She let it be known that at this time she plans to be a virgin on her wedding night.

“It’s given me the street cred to say that would be impossible, because I’m living my life the way I believe is right and that is to stay pure,” she said.

Boy band the Jonas Brothers all wear purity rings. The young brothers aged 15 to 20 believe the rings will help remind them to stay pure with all of the temptation to play laying in wake for them.

This call to Virgin Power though isn’t a new fad. Back when Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson were giggly teens they both pledged to be pure as the driven snow on their wedding day. It appears one may have come close on that vow, one not so much.

Now the public may want this new crop not just to talk the talk but walk the walk.

Being a virgin helps a young star’s bank account. Parents would rather their kids were looking up to a ‘nice girl’ or ‘good boy’ role model than a trashy sex idol. The better reputation a young star has the more likely parents will shell out more money on their products.

“[Stars who pledge their virginity] help win over parents who see their kids getting bombarded with sexual imagery and lyrics,” Barolomeo said. “Virginity certainly helps them get a bigger following.”

PR guru Lizzie Grubman says that pure and innocent has always been the best brand in Hollywood. Young stars that proclaim their purity in public helps their PR machine also.

“Whenever you have a star who is under 18 you usually sell their virtue — Britney did this, the Olsen twins did this and so did Hillary Duff,” said S. Tia Brown, senior editor for InTouch Weekly. “It’s to help sell their brand — parents are making the decision about what’s being purchased and want to see it’s a young girl or guy that can be a role model for their children.”

The young may tell their adoring fans that they are virgins but is that just for hype? America does not want their teen image to reflect ’slutty’ or ‘rebel’ behaviours. Paparazzi may pray for the chance to capture the naughtiness of a young star but if that does happen the public often falls out of favor with that month’s flavor.

The fact is that those saying that they are virgins could be what some would consider sexually active. To some any sexual act is sex while others believe sex is only sexual intercourse.

“We all have different definitions about what sex is and what abstinence means,” said New York-based sex expert Logan Levkoff. “Is sex just about vaginal intercourse, or does it include oral or anal sex?”

“The fact is that teenagers are finding ways to get around the idea of virginity, because for them it means only vaginal intercourse,” Levkoff said.

Perhaps it’s that teen image though that has helped Britney Spears survive a media career even with the massive amount of negative press her actions has garnered. Her good girl cover helped promote her star power.

Still not even Britney was able to live up to the virginity pledges that she has promised her fans in America. But can anyone blame her? Promises that one makes as a young teen can’t always be the ones that people expect to make it through to young or middle adulthood. Not everyone will be a virgin on their wedding bed.

So is it all a hype game? Do these younger stars in Hollywood honestly believe that they will remain pure? Whatever the answer their PR people are loving it.

Identity Theft Could Have Destroyed Simon Bunce’s Life

ID fraud can ruin your life and not just your credit rating. Simon Bunce of Hampshire, UK learned the hard way when a pedophile stole his credit information.

Bunce’s credit card was one of many four years ago to come up during Operation Ore, the UK’s largest police hunt against online pedophiles. Bunce wasn’t the one viewing the indecent materials but his life was scattered none the same.

Before the online police hunt Bunce had enjoyed online shopping thinking that his credit card information would be safe because he only used big name retailers with secure websites. He thought he was doing well to avoid the hordes of shoppers in malls only to discover that danger lurked in the matrix.

When his credit card number came up during the police sting four years ago Brune was arrested on suspicion of possession of indecent images of children, downloading indecent images of children and incitement to distribute those images. That arrest cost him his job where he was making 120,000 pounds a year. Worse though was the disownment by close members of his family.

“I made the mistake of telling my father, and he cut me off,” Mr Bunce says. “He then told all my siblings and they also cut us off.”

Without his income Bunce had to consider putting his family’s home up for sale while he cleared his name. Kim, his wife trusted in her husband and stuck by him.

Bunce knew that he wasn’t guilty. The computer that the police took away would clear his name without a doubt. Police computer techs though take several months to examine all the data that had been stored on a machine. Those were months that Bunce knew his reputation couldn’t afford.

“I knew there’d been a fundamental mistake made and so I had to investigate it.”

Identity fraud was threatening to ruin Bunce and his family’s life as it does to the other thousands caught up in its web. In 2007 there were over 185,000 identified cases in the UK. That is an increase of almost 8% from 2006.

Operation Ore was able to take many suspected pedophiles off the market. The sting was based out the of the United States via a portal called Landslide. Landslide was a gateway site and central credit card handler for hundreds of websites including those that were used by sites that sold indecent images of children. Hundreds were successfully prosecuted including actor Chris Langham because of Operation Ore. Media coverage was massive.

Mr. Bunce was able to obtain a complete copy of all relevant material on his case because Landslide was based in the United States. The US Freedom of Information Act was key to his personal investigation as to how his credit card was used. Using that information he was able to contact webmasters to obtain the IP address on who was using his identity information. He discovered that his credit card details were being used by a computer in Jakarta, Indonesia. That information along with the proof that he was in fact in London on the same date and time was the beginning of proving his innocence.

“I can’t be in two places at once, so somehow my data had got to the man in Indonesia.”

He went on to discover that the online identity of his credit card information was named “Miranda”. “Miranda” was a webmaster who hosted and produced pornographic websites and got a commission from Landslide for subscriptions to his website that were paid by credit card. “Miranda” used Bunce’s information to take out a subscription to one of his websites.

In September of 2004 the police told Bunce that his case was not proceed any further. His computer, as he already knew, was clean of indecent materials.

It took him another six months though to find a job. That job paid a quarter of the salary less though than the job he had prior to the arrest.

His family is now reconciled.

He does not shop online.

“I wouldn’t say that I live in the cash economy now, but I’d rather go to the bank to withdraw money to buy petrol, as you hear of card details being harvested at garages. I’m paranoid about data security. I shred everything, I never use credit cards anymore.

“Being arrested and accused of what is probably one of the worst crimes known to man, losing my job, having my reputation run through the mud, it’s a living nightmare.”

He is now bringing a High Court action against Landslide for allowing his personal information to be compromised.

WestJet Customers Can Use Paypal To Buy Tickets

Buying a plane ticket just got easier at WestJet. WestJet is now allowing consumers to use their paypal accounts to purchase tickets online.

Customers have already been able to pay for their tickets with debit cards, bank accounts, stored balances and credit cards without having to share financial information. The company prides itself on giving great customer service. WestJet plans on being in the top five airline companies within less than 10 years.

In other air traffic news ATA has closed their doors in the face of bankruptcy. The tenth largest United States airline’s closing has left thousands of travelers stranded.

“It ruins my vacation,” said Beatrice Martinez, who was trying to reach Guadalajara, Mexico, from Midway International Airport in Chicago. “I’m in shock. So I guess I’ll try to make other arrangements. Right now I just need to get to Mexico.”

Southwest Airlines has been picking up their slack and booking fliers who were caught in the closing. They are attempting to book those customers with dates and times as close to their previous tickets as possible.

“ATA Airlines has been an outstanding partner for Southwest, and we are disappointed to hear this unfortunate news,” Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines chief executive officer, said in a press release. “We are sad to end our codeshare relationship with ATA but understand it’s extremely difficult for an airline to flourish in today’s arduous financial environment that has been plagued by soaring fuel prices.”

The news though didn’t help the company in the stock market. Its shares fell 19 cents in morning trading. Shares are now worth $5.52.

Arkansas Marriage Bill Changed, No More Risk Of Child Marriages

Until Wednesday anyone could get married in Arkansas, even toddlers if their parents okayed it. Gov. Mike Beebe repealed the measure on Wednesday making the age requirement now 17 for boys and 16 for girls.

Last year lawmakers didn’t catch the wording on a law about marriage until it was too late.

The bill read: “In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage.”

The word not in the bill made it legal for anyone to obtain a marriage license. Last year some lawmakers wanted to have a special session to change that wording fearing that pedophiles would jump onto the ill written bill. Gov. Mike Beebe at the time didn’t see any crisis brewing and doubted that there would be any children getting married using the wording.

This week though legislators had the chance to change the law when Beebe convened a special session about severance tax on natural gas. At the special session the marriage law was repealed and the new ages were put into play.

Rep. Will Bond is the member who had written the botched 2007 law. He apologized to his colleagues for the error stating “throw me a rope and bail me out here.”

There are no reports of any child weddings this past year.

“I always thought if you put your name on a bill, you should be ready to take the blame if you’re willing to accept the credit,” Bond said Wednesday.

Letter Left Behind Reveals Why Pinella County Teacher Thought He Had To Kill

When Oliver Thomas Bernsdorff killed himself and four other people, including his family, he was committing an act of ‘cleansing’ according to a letter he left behind. The suicide and murders took place in December in Largo, Florida.

“Though this act may be viewed as depraved and evil, it does, in fact, leave the world a better place,” authorities said Oliver Thomas Bernsdorff wrote in a letter found on his computer after the slayings.

Details of the letter were just released according to the Associated Press. According to Bernsdorff he and his ex-wife Jennifer Renee Davis, 27 were sociopaths and he believed that his children Oliviana, 4, and Magnus, 2, would also turn out to be the same.

Bernsdorff killed himself when state troopers tried to pull him over for driving erratically in December. The ballistics tests show that the gun that the man used to committ suicide was the same one that he used to kill his ex-wife, two children and his ex-wife’s roommate, Andrea Pisanello, 53.

Bernsdorff had been dealing with mounting debt issues in the months leading up to the crime. There were no records that the Pinella County teacher had any history of prior mental illness.

Given their genes and the “trauma” of the couple’s separation, Bernsdorff wrote, “it is in the best interest of society and follows natural law that the aberrations, Jennifer, the progeny, and myself included, be eliminated.” He also targets Andrea Pisanello, writing that she is “an unethical and salacious human being” and should also be killed

Police found the bodies of Davis and Pisanello early December 14, 2007. The children’s bodies were found later in their beds with fatal bullet wounds.

Three Presumed Dead In Scaffolding Accident

Three workers are believed to be dead after the scaffolding they were on collapsed tipping the men more than 100 feet into the fast moving Arkansas River.

The incident happened in North Little Rock where a crew had been installing a 30 inch water main below a bridge over the river.

One of the bodies was recovered about 8 hours after the incident Wednesday morning. The worker found was entangled in the rope that was attached to the platform.

The river was moving to rapidly for divers to search for the other two workers bodies. That condition is unlikely to change Thursday. Recent rains have helped to swell the river.

The scaffolding was large enough to hold the three men plus two generators and a welding machine. Central Arkansas Water had contracted Oscar Renda Contracting Inc. of Roanoke, Texas, employer of the three men, to install the waterlines under the bridge. The company had worked on the project before in April 2006.

The scaffolding weighed as much as 10,000 pounds with the equipment.

Family members were being contacted by the company.

Thailand Bans Cosmetic Castration

Thailand has banned cosmetic castration Wednesday. Hospitals and clinics in the nation have been doing the fairly quick surgery where the testicles are removed. The operation only takes 15 to 20 minutes to perform.

Thailand is home to a fairly large number of “ladyboys” or “katoey.” The term applies covers males who are transvestites all the way up to a man who has a full sex change.

Tolerance is shown to those who are considered the “third sex” in the Asian country. It is now the leader of sex-change surgery in the world.

A letter was sent to 16,000 private health units in Thailand from the government alerted doctors that continue to do the operation will face up to six months in jail.

It’s hard to track them down as it takes only 15-20 minutes to have the surgery,” senior health official Tara Chinakarn told Reuters.

Internet advertisements offer the surgery for only 4,000 baht ($125).

The ban comes because the operation takes such a quick period of time. Normally sex change surgery is just one step in the total picture. It also includes requires rigorous physical and mental evaluation of the patient and a lifetime commitment to taking certain medications that alter the body.

David Cook Of ‘American Idol’ Seeks Medical Treatment For High Blood Pressure

“American Idol” contestant David Cook was treated at an area hospital for high blood pressure on Tuesday night according to show producer Nigel Lythgoe.

The 25 year old from Missouri was treated and released from an area hospital. Medics that work at the show’s studio had taken the singer’s blood pressure prior to the show and told Cook the reading was far too high. They urged the young man to seek medical treatment which he did but only after the show had finished taping. Doctors gave him medication that brought down his blood pressure and he went home after a few hours.

The bartender vying for the top prize on the favorite reality show of many has been dealing with many pressures so far this season. His brother is battling cancer. At one point the rocker collapsed before a performance thinking he could not continue. He did continue though and made it through the program.

“After the show, he [Cook] was in the elevator and said he was going to go to the hospital. He said he had high blood pressure and wasn’t feeling well. Now he’s back at the hotel,” Lythgoe said in a text message to Ryan Seacrest, who relayed the message on his radio show Wednesday.

Cook will find out tonight if Tuesday’s performance of Dolly Parton’s “Little Sparrow” will give him another week on the show.

He did indeed make it through for another week.

Wisconsin Church Destroyed In Gas Explosion

Details are just coming out about a gas explosion at the First Baptist Church in Oconomowoc. The building has severe damage and a house next to the structure is in flames. At least one other home was damaged.

The explosion took place at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The entire downtown area could feel the shock waves.

“The church basically had disappeared and the only thing remaining was the steeple in the front,” Waukesha County Board Supervisor Kenneth Herro said.

Construction crews had been working in the area prior to the explosion. It is thought that a service line was hit causing the blast.

There are possible injuries because of the explosion. the church is located in a residental area. The small town is located 30 miles west of Milwaukee. It has a population of 12,000.

Bye Bye Penny Bye Bye

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If Pat Martin has his way the Canadian people will soon be penniless. A bill introduced today calls for the penny to be gotten rid of. If the measure passes it will save the government a tonne of money.

“The penny is of no commercial value, it does not circulate and costs more to produce that its actually worth,” said Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre), who introduced a private members’ bill today calling for the penny’s demise before year’s end.

Each penny produced costs 4.5 cents. Those shiny little coins that collect dust bunnies under beds, in jars and in the gutter has passed its prime and is no longer a productive member of coin society.

Each year the government of Canada spends $130 for the one cent pieces. The 1.2 billion new pennies rolled out each year just isn’t what it used to be. Other countries like France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand have already moved to stop their penny production.

Martin said this year marks that 100th anniversary of the penny in Canada. “We believe at the same time we have a birthday party for the penny, we should have a funeral.”

If the bill does pass I bet the streets will be filled with people running to their banks to get some money for those little copper pieces before they are put to rest.

Head Of OMA Explains Why Ontario Has Doctor Shortage

The President of the Ontario Medical Association knows why the province is losing doctors. In an area where 1.5 million people don’t have a family doctor Ontario needs to make sure that it can keep the ones they have but is that a fading hope?

According to OMA head association president Dr. Janice Willett, an obstetrician, paperwork demands and stress on the job are two of the leading reasons that Ontario doctors pack up their bags moving elsewhere in the country.

The sheer amount of paperwork required of province doctors is staggering. Most doctors put in 20 hours a week just filing out forms, calling on lab results and making phone calls on behalf of their patients. That paperwork is due to increase further now that the provision wants to keep track of wait times for procedures.

Doctors face stress issues because they often can’t do their job. With a lack of medical backup, to few hospital beds and not enough specialists doctors worry more about their patients.

Some doctors move on to more rural areas for a measly $5,000 bonus. That bonus hasn’t increased in size since 1978. To be able to obtain more rural doctors the bonus should be closer to the $15,000 mark if it was using the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator.

There is some hope though for the medical profession. The government’s encouragement of family health centers places doctors, dietitians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals together in one venue easing stress on general providers. Ontario patients are benefiting also. 500,000 Ontario residents now have access to medical care because of these centers.

In Ontario there are just 84 doctors per 100,000 people. There are 1,000 doctors that are needed to deal with the shortage. The average age of family physicians in Canada is 49 which means sooner rather than later even more doctors will be needed as the current ones prepare for retirement.

The rest of the population is aging right along with their doctors increasing the need for more medical care. It’s a no win situation that may get a lot worse before there is a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Journalists Have A Site To Let It All Out

They are ticked off and letting the world know it. They are journalists who work in shrinking newsrooms for demanding editors. Now they have angryjournalist.com to shout their criticism from the highest virtual mountain.

An online complaint board angryjournalist.com allows journalists to anonymously let it all out.

What are journalists so angry about? The Internet for one. The Internet has changed the face of journalism forcing newspapers and television networks to reinvent themselves or fold.

They are angry that they are asked to come up with filler articles to fill up websites.

A former journalist created the website. Working as a Web editor in Chicago Kiyoshi Martinez, 23, didn’t like direction journalism is going. He quit reporting in February and launched his site after reading about journalism burnout.

“Things get said on this website that otherwise would not get said — other than perhaps at the neighborhood bar to co-workers or at home with a spouse,” he wrote in his column last month. “I can’t help but think that this is a good thing for the news industry.”

Steve Outing, a columnist for the trade publication Editor and Publisher

Martinez is now a happy camper earning more money in a better working environment.

Man Escapes Prison And No One Notices

When Esequiel Pena escaped from jail no one seemed to notice. The convicted felon from San Antonio, Texas who was serving time due to violating terms for his supervised release from an undisclosed crime.

Pena had already served time before on a weapons charge.

The 35 year old seems to have disappeared into the abyss. He had been missing for an entire day before the jail even noticed. What’s more the jail is located across the street from the police headquarters.

Somehow Pena was able to pull back chain-link fencing around the rooftop recreation yard and climb down the eight-story fire escape.

The private facility holds 700 inmates and is operated by the GEO Group. The company is assisting with Texas Marshals to find the escaped convict.

Students In Evansville Get To Erase First Four Weeks Of Current Grading Period

A computer glitch wiped out a month of grades from students at four schools in Evansville, Indiana. While it may be a welcome bonus to struggling students those who were achieving have lost their grades as well.

Three high schools and one middle school in the community will not be issued report cards because of the malfunction. The final two weeks of the current six week period will instead be used with the final six weeks of school. Students will therefore have only the final report cards this year.

School Bus

Some of the teachers had already printed out grades prior to spring break but most were waiting until they had finished their mid-year vacation week.

The school district said that IBM engineers have figured out that the cause of the malfunction was an unfortunate and very rare combination of hardware problems and backup configuration settings.

Man Arrested At Orlando International For Makings Of A Pipe Bomb In Luggage

The Orlando International Airport found components that could be made into a pipe bomb in a traveler’s luggage. The man was preparing to fly from Orlando to Jamaica on Tuesday.

The TSA will only confirm that suspicious items were found in the man’s luggage. The items generated a high level of concern.

TSA will not confirm a report printed in the Orlando Sentinel that the found items included “unassembled pipes with end caps, metal ball bearings and other potentially explosive materials.”

Orlando police turned the unnamed suspect over to the FBI. He had a ticket to fly on Air Jamaica for Tuesday afternoon. The TSA said that the man’s suspicious behaviour alerted them to do a through examination of his luggage. An arrest was made when the man checked his luggage.

Passengers were evacuated from the section of the airport that deals with Air Jaciaca, Air Canada and Air Frontier ticket counters. 11 flights were delayed because of the incident.

Married Couples Serving In Iraq Allowed To Bunk Together

Married American soldiers in Iraq have at least one good thing to write home about, couples are now allowed to bunk together. It’s a little change in policy that could make a huge difference to spouses that serve their time together.

In the past married couples had to part ways when it was time to bed down when they were stationed off base in the army.

Because of long standing Army rules married couples couldn’t share sleeping quarters in war zones. The couples were not allowed to have private space to keep the home fires burning. That changed in May 2006 with little press coverage or fanfare. The result are happier couples and much less stress in the most stressful of situations.

This is the first war that American troops have had to deal with long separations for couples who are both in the same location in the military. In the past women were stationed out of the war zones as much as was possible.

With over 10,000 couples in the Army this war with it’s extended tours of duty has been rough on marriages.

While couples can be as affectionate as they want behind closed doors in public PDAs are still not allowed. It’s against the rules to hold hands on duty or in the mess hall.

The only downside of allowing couples to bunk together in private rooms is the possibility of pregnancies.

Sgt. Amanda Christoper, 25, and her husband, Sgt. Matthew Christopher, 22 are one couple that has benefited from the ruling change. They have spent four months of their nearly one year marriage in Iraq. They both work in a military hospital in the Green Zone.

“Some of the stuff I’ve seen, if she weren’t here, I’d be a lot less cool about it,” Matthew said as the pair sat inside their potpourri-scented living quarters — a mere 120 square feet, with a TV set atop two black lockboxes, an impressive collection of stuffed animals and a Chicago Bears plaque. “There was one night in particular, I saw something and I just thought, ‘Oh, God.’ I came in here, talked to her for a few minutes, went outside, took a deep breath and I was good to go.”

Capt. Jessica Hegenbart and her husband, Chief Warrant Officer Brian Hegenbart had to wait for two months to be able to bunk together because all of the trailers for couples had been claimed. They have been able to rest together since June. They say that the only problem with bunking together is that they may now worry even more about each other’s safety in the dangerous war zone.

Because we’re so close out here, we know to the hour when our loved one’s supposed to be home from a mission,” Jessica said. “So if they’re late, our brains starts going to that place where you start to wonder what went wrong. That happens more often than I’d like to admit.”

Air Farce Will Be Leaving The Small Screen On New Year’s Eve

For 15 years, Canadians have laughed along with sketch troupe The Royal Canadian Air Farce but as this year ends so will the comedy show. This season will see only 10 new shows because the season closes on New Year’s Eve.

“All good things must come to an end,” producer Don Ferguson said. “Our last deal with the CBC was made after our 12th season and it was for three years and the feeling was that would be long enough.”

Those in charge of CBC programming seemed to agree with those sentiments too.

Not everyone is ready though to see the show go including some of the cast members. Luba Goy is taking the decision to call it over hard.

She’s upset; this has been her main gig forever and ever,” Ferguson said.

“I have kind of mixed feelings about it. Thirty-five years is a long time, and if there’s a chance we’re ever going to do anything else in our lives besides this, we have to stop this first. But personally I feel bad for all the other people on the staff and the cast – none of them wanted to stop. So I am feeling kind of responsible in a sense.”

Head of CBC’s network programming Kirstine Layfield says that Canadians will still see the cast members. There will be other projects that are already in the works.

The show started on television in 1993 after a 24 year run on CBC Radio. In 2007 “Air Farce Live” returned to it’s original live format.

The show gently teased famous Canadians from Stephan Harper to George Stroumboulopoulos.

“Politicians are so mealy-mouthed, they would never admit if we’d angered them,” Ferguson said. “We can be occasionally nasty but we’re not mean-minded. We’ve never been sued or anything; it’s not our style. We wanted our stuff to sting a little bit, but there’s no real pleasure in personally attacking somebody.”

With 10 more shows in the works there is still time to get a first hand look at the show by being in the studio audience.

A Group Of Third Graders Plot To Hurt Their Teacher

A group of as many as nine third graders were plotting to harm their teacher in Waycross, Georgia. They had gone as far as to bring handcuffs and a knife to Center Elementary School.

The group consisted of eight and nine year old boys and girls. The plot came undone when another student saw the knife in a backpack and reported it.

“A plan had been developed amongst several of our third-grade students to allegedly do harm to their teacher,” said Theresa Martin, of Ware County Schools.

The students also had duct tape, ribbon, handcuffs and a heavy crystal paperweight. The students have since been suspended and are facing expulsion after a police investigation wraps up.

The educational authorities could ask for the police to press conspiracy charges against those who were involved with the plot.

The motive appears to stem from a time out one of the students received from the unnamed teacher. That theory though is still under investigation.

German Woman Has Unwanted Surgery Performed On Her

Ingrid Bruelling of Germany had succeeded on a crash diet losing 16 stone. She was treating herself to an operation to tighten her skin and remove wrinkles when she got more than she bargained for; a boob job.

While many women pay loads of money to get big ta-tas 33 year old Ingrid wasn’t in the market for a boob job. She woke up from her operation with D cup breasts.

Doctors said that by increasing her breast size was the best way to remove wrinkles.

So in this day and age of medical lawsuits it’s Okay to disfigure a patient and then tell them that they shouldn’t complain? I don’t know about you but I would be budding up to a lawyer quickly. What do you think?

Hamas Puppet Show Entertains Children By Killing President Bush

A new puppet show on Hamas’s al-Aqsa television is teaching children anti-Bush sentiments. Using the “sword of Islam” a Palestinian boy stabs to death President George W. Bush. Peace is a long ways away with this type of propaganda brewing.

You are a criminal, Bush, a despicable man. You made me an orphan. You deprived me of everything,” said the hand-held puppet, representing a child and accusing the U.S. president of killing his family in Iraq and in Gaza in collusion with Israel.

The television station has used puppets and cartoon characters in the past that show extremist ideals.

Last year a Mickey Mouse like character named Farfur urged young children to fight Israel in the name of Islam. Farfur was killed on-air by an actor posting as an Israeli security guard.

These types of messages show that peace in the region are a long ways away. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. It is shunned by the United States government because it does not recognize Israel as a nation and refuses to denounce the violence in the region. The group has accused the United States of causing civilian deaths by backing the Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.

Fasting Mice Protected From Side Effects Of Chemo

Researchers at the University of Southern California have discovered that making mice fast prior to intensive chemo treatments protected them from the side effects. Could the results make it so humans can survive cancer treatments with the same response?

A 48 hour fast was enough to protect from such intensive chemo that wiped out much of the cancer they had.

It’s now time to see if fasting is the way to go for humans. Valter Longo, an Italian researcher team has applied to run a small clinical trial on California cancer patients.

“We were able to treat with a very high dose of chemo and the animals were running around like we didn’t give them anything,” said lead author Valter Longo, an Italian researcher at the University of Southern California.

Also in the works are developing a specialized diet that would achieve the same protective effects for cancer patients about to have intensive chemo treatments.

Researchers have already shown that the starvation response protects against other medical stresses like heat shock and to protect the liver’s cell death from use of acetaminophen. Before Longo’s team tried the 48 hour fast on mice they had in tested the response of chemotherapy drugs in yeast, human and rat cells.

Not only were the test subjects able to tolerate the chemo side effects better the cancer cells in their body had no protection from the blast of drugs.

Within four days after the chemo treatments the mice had regained most of the weight they had lost during the two days of fasting.

More than half of the mice that were not starved died of toxicity from the chemo while only one of the 28 mice who fasted died.

Not all of the cancer was eliminated from the mice with the one treatment. The life span though was doubled because of the test.

Longo’s team is still working to see if multiple chemo treatments will totally cure the starved mice of their cancers.

“Ideally, you want to kill all the cancer cells, but if you think about it, it might not even be necessary to get to that level,” he said.

“You can’t necessarily expect to kill all the cancer cells based on the cancer, but this could allow you to keep it under control – if it works – by doing many, many different cycles of chemo.

Because of the simplicity of this treatment if it works on the mice it will be able to go to human trials much faster.

Eventually this is going to work,” he told AFP.

“We just have to find the equivalent… is it 48 hours, or is it 48 hours plus maybe targeting certain receptors in certain genes? We know the system pretty well we just have to find the equivalent. I’m confident that within a year or two we’ll have that.”

To think that cancer survival could boil down to something as simple as fasting.

Catholics Are Not Top Dogs In World Religions According To The Vatican

Pope John Paul II blesses pilgrims from his apartment’s window at the Vatican. – File Photo: DigitalJournal.com/Adam Bujak

The Roman Catholic Church is no long the world’s largest organised religion according to the Vatican newspaper. Sunday the L’Osservatore Romano announced that the Islam is the religion of 19.2 percent of the world’s population.

The Roman Catholic faith has a 17.4 percent share of followers among the world population.

“It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer,” Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said.

That’s not to say there are more Muslims than Christians. Catholics are only one sect of the entire Christian population. The entire group make up 33 percent of the world population.

Gambling Causes Pastor To Be Banished From Church

A pastor from White Plains, New York has been accused of stealing from his church to support his gambling habit. Rev. Patrick Dunne has been removed from Our Lady Of Sorrows Church forever by the Archdiocese of New York.

Monsignor William Belford has stated that prosecutors are investigating the misuse of parish funds. The man of the cloth has a “very powerful” gambling addiction.

Prior to Thanksgiving the archdiocese’s finance office reported on undocumented checks being cashed at the parish.

We do not know the extent of what took place and how much money was misused,” said Belford, who described the scandal as an “enormous shock for the parish” and a “personal tragedy” for Dunne.
“So please understand that I cannot offer you any numbers or answer any questions” although Belford said that a large amount of church funds was involved.

Rev. Dunn had been away since Christmas time on an extended vacation.

Owen Thor Walker Convicted Of Computer Crimes

Owen Thor Walker has been convicted in New Zealand for his role in a global crime ring that infected at least 1.3 million computers worldwide. The crime ring caused about 20 million in economic damages.

Eighteen year old Walker allegedly lead the computer hackers. He plead guilty to six computer crimes in Thames, New Zealand. He will appear again in court on May 28 to begin the sentencing process.

Walker will likely not spend any time in jail for his part in the crimes. Walker suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism. If he does end up with prison time he could face maximum sentences of five years.

Walker went by the online name of “Akill” and was still in school when he began committing the alleged crimes.

He was able to design a unique encrypted virus that antivirus software was unable to detect. The virus was able to access user names and passwords and credit card numbers. That information was then used by others to commit crimes.

The crime spree was halted by New Zealand police working hand in hand with the F.B.I. and Dutch authorities. A computer attack on the server at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 was the beginning of the end for the crime spree.

Walker was living at home at the time. He parents thought that he was doing legal computer programming work.

Mandi Hamlin’s Case Causes TSA Revision

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Last week’s news story about 37 year old Mandi Hamlin and being forced to remove her nipple ring to board a plane has brought some good news for passengers with body jewelry. The media frenzy has helped change the policies within the TSA regulations.

The U.S.’s Transportation Security Administration has announced that from now on those with nipple piercings won’t have to remove their jewelry instead they will have to allow for visual inspections.

A recap for those who are not aware of what happened; Mandy Hamlin was on route to Dallas when she was forced to use pliers to remove a nipple ring in order to board the plane. Several of the male staff members of the TSA were heard snickering during this painful procedure. Hamlin alerted the media and demanded a public apology from TSA.

Because of the media haze on the incident the TSA has revised it’s policy last week to read:

“TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed. In the future TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question.

Score one for the common man and the power of the pen.

Op-Ed: Changing The Legal Drinking Age Won’t Stop Drunk Driving Accidents

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The Middlesex-London Health Unit voted to raise the drinking age from 19 to age 21 in Ontario this past week. The vote was passed to the Association of Local Public Health Agencies conference in June for backing.

In much of North America the drinking age is set at the age of 21 but in Canada that rule doesn’t play.

Statistics often show that young people tend to have more alcohol related car accidents by 45 percent of the rest of the population. Is that because older drinkers are wiser and call a cab though?

Perhaps the easiest way to curb the problems of young drinkers is by bettering education on the subject. Changing the law may look like a solution but chances are young people will still drink but do so illegally.

The easiest way to change society’s attitudes though tends to be by using money. If bars were held responsible for allowing drunk drivers on the road and fined for that they would change their policies quickly.

If drunk driving had higher legal consequences less people would drink and drive.

Changing the age of legal drinking may make an initial difference but it’s not a long term solution, rather a slippery band-aide fix. Changing laws and consequences for drunk driving would make a true difference.

Presently the laws for drunk driving in Ontario are:

Penalties/Suspension on Conviction, Prohibition, Minimum Fine/Jail

255. (1) Every one who commits an offence under section 253 or 254 is guilty of an indictable offence or an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable,

(a) whether the offence is prosecuted by indictment or punishable on summary conviction, to the following minimum punishment, namely,

(i) for a first offence, to a fine of not less than six hundred dollars,

(ii) for a second offence, to imprisonment for not less than fourteen days, and

(iii) for each subsequent offence, to imprisonment for not less than ninety days;

(b) where the offence is prosecuted by indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; and

(c) where the offence is punishable on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

Comments : Minimum fine on first offence $600, Minimum 14 days in jail (may be intermittent/weekends) on second offence, Minimum 90 days in jail (may be intermittent/weekends)on third offence.

Ontario did change the age in the 1970s to 19 instead of 18. They have no plans to make another age increase at this time.

Medical Detective: On The Hunt For A Reason Of An Abscess

Recently a family member has been abscesses appear on her lower body. Had she been an older person in a nursing home this by not be very surprising but the fact is she is a healthy teenage girl.

Where did they come from? And why did it take the medical field a month to figure it out?

Abscesses can start like a pimple gone bad, a sore that simply doesn’t heal and keeps getting bigger. Sometimes it’s an allergic reaction but often it’s a bacteria brewing inside of you. Generally it’s the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that has decided to come for a visit.

Abscesses are also called boils. They are painful knots of pus that are just below the skin’s surface. They can be several inches in diameter. Not only are they painful these little pus pockets can make you feel sick and run down. Fevers are not uncommon when dealing with these skin conditions.

Antibiotics are often needed to clear the infection up, dicloxacillin and cephalexin are two of those that are often used. Special liquid soaps can also be prescribed to help work on healing the sores.

There’s another bacteria though that can cause these painful sores, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It’s a little known condition that comes from a wonderful relaxing pastime that many of us enjoy. The hot tub.

In the hot tub Pseudomonas aeruginosa thrives unless the water acid and chlorine levels are strictly controlled. Most of the time they heal on there own but in severe cases they need to have an antibiotic to clear them up.

The condition has a name; hot tub folliculitis. It was first reported in 1975 when hot tubs and whirlpool spas became a craze. We as a family have learned about this bacteria the hard way. We also learned that it can take doctors a while to get the right diagnoses. The good news is that the sores generally clear up with no further problems. That bad news is that they are painful and generally not in an area that doesn’t cause some embarrassment for the younger members of a family.

Just a side note, showering after being in a contaminated hot tub will not stop these types of abscesses.