Bloggers Will be Out in Force at Democratic National Convention

Bloggers will be out in force this year at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. A record number of bloggers will be given credentials to cover the political event this summer.

“We’re excited to provide bloggers with the opportunity to be the eyes and ears of so many at this convention,” Aaron Myers, director of online communications for the Democratic National Convention Committee, said Thursday.

“Today, we are shattering the standard we set just four years ago, when the 2004 Democratic Convention was the first to credential blogs,” he said.

“This year, we will more than triple the number of blogs credentialed to witness history in the making.”

Four years ago only 30 blogs were allowed access to the convention when it took place in Boston. Since that time blogs have gained public approval, in some cases to the extend that people get their daily news from blogs instead of other media sources.

The DNCC released a list of 124 bloggers who received credentials to cover the convention as members of the media. The Democratic National Convention will be held August 25-28 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

A list of the blogs that will be reporting is here.

Conception The Geek Way

Never worry again about how those latex condoms are effecting the environment. Scientists in Australia have come up with a way to use a microchip that works like a vasectomy until kids are wanted.

By inserting a silicon microchip into the vas deferens, the tubing that carries semen, scientists have figured a way to make a completely reversible vasectomy with only one doctor visit. The microchip sends out RF waves just like the gizmo for your car’s locks.

(Thankfully they function on different waves or open and lock could have a totally new meaning. Plus your bluetooth could make for some interesting commands.)

The chip has a pause and reverse function that allows a device to send RF waves to it. The chip translates pause into blocking sperm from passing by expanding. the expansion blocks sperm from completing their mission. When the man decides to have kids he hits the reverse button and that blockage goes away without a trip to the doctor. Pretty nifty huh?

Ben And Jerry’s Offers ‘Imagined Whirl Peace’

In a tribute to John Lennon the ice cream giant is bringing forth a new flavor that has chocolate-covered peace signs. The company worked with John Lennon’s estate to come up with the new flavour.

The promotional for the base of caramel and sweet cream ice cream with bits of peace signs and toffee will include a recreation of the “Bed-In”. In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged a “Bed-In” to promote world peace. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jerry Greensfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, will reprise the roles.

Perhaps a “Lick-In” would work. How could peace not be achieved if everyone in the world had an ice cream cone at the same time. It’s hard to frown or be negative when licking a cone of sugary goodness.

Coach At Fordson High Let Go After Assistant Tries To Convert Muslim Students

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For the past 35 years Jerry Marszalek has been a coach at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan. His contract was not renewed this year because of a one-time assistant and parent on the wrestling team turned to convert Muslim students to Christianity.

The school’s principal Imad Fadlallah appears to have the support of the mostly Muslim community. The decision not to renew the coach’s contract stems from the wrestling team’s contact with a local clergyman, Rev. Trey Hancock of the Dearborn Assembly of God.

For ten years Hancock helped Coach Marszalek. He has admitted to attempting to convert Muslim youths that are on the team and to baptizing a 15-year-old Muslim student in Port Huron a few years ago.

Hancock says that he never approached youths while on the school grounds or while helping the wrestling team. He also admits that he will try to reach as many people as he can for his religion.

“I consider it my work to pastor to anyone who is within my reach. So I can imagine they would be concerned. But is the Dearborn Public Schools going to be dictating what every pastor can or cannot do within his congregation?”

The coach has been aware that there could have been some problems dealing with Hancock and religion for the 10 years he served as an assistant. He says though that the pastor never in his presence though discussed religion with the team or any other students.

“The principal has never, ever attended a practice or a wrestling meet,” Marszalek said. “But he makes judgments on the team according to which Arabic parent complains about another parent, who is a Christian minister, and I get lumped in.”

Parents and students of Arabic descent defended Fadlallah at a meeting on Tuesday. He has been credited for turning the once troubled school around in a few short years.

“There is a clique involved in joint efforts with outsiders, including fanatical Christians, to squeeze Mr. Fadlallah out of Fordson High School,” said Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Before Mr. Fadlallah became principal, there were many problems. He has changed much.”

What do you think? Should a coach be responsible for those under him when it comes to religious issues in the school?

A Toy In England Turns Out To Be Rare Persian Relic

In 1945 John Webber’s grandfather gave him a cup to play with. The gold cup adorned with the heads of two women was assumed to be made of brass. Last year he decided to have his old “toy” that had sat in a box under his bed appraised.

That piece was not brass but a solid gold Persian treasure made from one sheet of gold made hundreds of years before Jesus Christ walked the earth. The gold is “consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing” and dates back to the third or fourth century BC.

The Achaemenid empire was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
The golden cup is going on the auction block at Duke’s in Dorchester. It is expected to bring in roughly 500,000 pounds.

Webber now 70 remembers that as a child he used the cup as target practice with an air gun. He says that his grandfather always did have a good eye for antiques and picked up all sorts of things as a scrap metal dealer in Taunton.

First Tropic Depression Forms Days Before Hurricane Season

A tropical depression couldn’t wait until Saturday, the start of hurricane season to form. Located off the coast of Costa Rica the depression is expected to be a tropic storm within 24 hours.

The storm is expected to approach the coast of Nicaragua. The storm is expected to bring heavy rains but not the strong winds associated with hurricanes.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting a near normal or above normal hurricane season this year in the Atlantic Basin.

Vote it up! Credit: NOAA (All Rights Reserved)

“Living in a coastal state means having a plan for each and every hurricane season. Review or complete emergency plans now – before a storm threatens,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Planning and preparation is the key to storm survival and recovery.”

After 60 Years In Iron Lung, Power Failure Kills Dianne Odell

Almost 60 years ago, three-year-old Dianne Odell of Jackson, Tennessee was enjoying her childhood. Then came polio. Her life was changed as the illness forced her into an iron lung. On Wednesday a power failure took her life at the age of 61.

Dianne Odell had defied the odds and lived for almost six decades in the machine that helped her to breathe. She had spent her life in the same two metre tube since she came down with polio at the age of three.

Her family struggled on Wednesday to get an emergency generator working after the family house had a power failure.

“We did everything we could do but we couldn’t keep her breathing,” Beyer said. “Dianne had gotten a lot weaker over the past several months and she just didn’t have the strength to keep going.”

Emergency crews could do little to help as a tree fell on a power line.

Odell had the worst type of polio, “bulbo-spinal” polio, three years before the polio vaccine that helped stop the spread of the childhood disease.

Her life in the iron lung was anything but wasteful. She managed to further her education past high school with college courses all while being confined inside the tube. She wrote a children’s book. She believed that people were kind.

Her family and aides took care of her.

The iron lung uses positive and negative pressures to force air into the lungs and then expels it. A patient is sealed into it at the neck. The head is the only part of the body that is exposed. Vision is allowed through an angled mirror.

It is believed that about 30 people in the United States still rely on the machine to breath but few are totally confined to them.

Infant Only Survivor In Calgary Murder Scene

A multiple murder in Calgary on Wednesday left five dead and a one-year-old little girl is the lone survivor. It appears that this is a case of “domestic homicide” with three adults and two little girls dead in a grisly crime scene.

The crime took place in an upscale area of Calgary.

It appears that the killings were a murder-suicide. The victims appear to be two girls, 4 and 6, their parents and a female tenant.

The police responded to a call from a relative at around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning that “saw something that wasn’t quite right” when they went to the house. The scene inside was so disturbing that the initial emergency workers are receiving grief counseling.

“Anytime there’s a crime that involves children it has huge organizational trauma associated with it,” said Hanson. “Personally, I can’t recall an incident that’s involved this many people.”

There were no previous records of domestic violence reported with the residence.

After the initial discovery Calgary homicide had to wait until the afternoon for a search warrant to be issued for further investigation inside the home.

Upon entry to the home paramedics turned to the lone survivor and gave her immediate treatment.

Our paramedics are trained to deal with tragedies,” he said, but quickly added that the young children involved made the scene particularly bad.

“Initially our focus was on the baby … and thankfully the baby was fine. Now our focus is turning to the emergency crews that were on scene.”

Neighbours say that there was no signs of trouble from the family. As police canvassed the street there were no stories of violence.

“They weren’t a family that did anything crazy – there were no disturbances – and they were very loving. Every time I saw them they always had their kids with them, hugging and kissing.

“It really does blow my heart apart. I can’t imagine doing that to my kids, let alone thinking about it. Something must have really been wrong.

“I don’t understand and I’m at a loss for words as to why something like this would happen to that family.”

Neighbour Mia Albino

‘What Happened’ By Scott McClellan Gives A Viewpoint On The Bush Administration

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A new book out by Scott McClellan, former press secretary for President George Bush from May 2003 – April 2006, shows a damning view of the leader of the United States who among other claims is unwilling to admit mistakes he has made.

When McClellan was the press secretary for Bush he defended his boss on many controversial issues including Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. Now that he is not working for the White House it appears he has done a 180 on his thoughts on those matters.

“What Happened” is the first insider account of the Bush administration. McClellan calls the operation “insular, secretive and combative.”

The White House is not pleased with the contents of the book saying that it is a case of sour grapes.

“Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House,” said current White House press secretary Dana Perino, a former deputy to McClellan. “We are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.”

McClellan admits he was pushed out the door earlier than he planned on leaving. He is also bitter about not always being in on the loop during key decision sessions.

While he does not take the blame for selling the American public a pack of lies on issues like going to war in Iraq he does admit, “I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be.”

He has some harsh words for the reporters who were covering that time as well, saying that they were “complicit enablers” for focusing more on “covering the march to war instead of the necessity of war.”

He does not believe at the time Bush was seeking to mislead the American people yet his pen does come very close to making it appear that could be the case.

According to the former press secretary Bush had planned the war in Iraq at least a war prior to the first troops being sent over.

“He signed off on a strategy for selling the war that was less than candid and honest,” McClellan writes in “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.”

Vote it up! U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Curt Cashour (Public Domain) Iraq: US Army

The book was released Wednesday almost a week earlier than the targeted release date of June 3, 2008.

McClellan claims that the true reasoning before the Iraq War was to foster a transformation of freedom in the Middle East. Bush and his advisers though made a choice to “market” the war on the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. Using political propaganda the administion lead the American public to believe that the threat was a sure thing and not as questionable as it came out in the future. The White House also wanted to make sure that any discussion of “the possible unpleasant consequences of war — casualties, economic effects, geopolitical risks, diplomatic repercussions” was downplayed.

McClellan also claims by the time Bush was reelected that he was believing his own media spin about Iraq.

“The Iraq war was not necessary,” McClellan concludes.

100 Nations Sign Cluster Bomb Ban Treaty, U.S. Not One of Them

More than 100 nations have made an agreement to ban current designs on cluster bombs. A meeting with diplomats that took place for ten days in Dublin, Ireland has made some process into saving many lives in the future.

While most nations are backing the treating some of the heaviest users of the devices opposing it including Israel, India, Pakistan, Russia, China and the United States.

Most nations realize that this move could make the world a safer place. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that Britain will be one of the countries that retires cluster bombs.

The first draft of the new convention banning cluster bombs went before delegates from 109 nations on Wednesday afternoon. The deal was reached much quicker than had been expected.

Cluster bombs are made up of when a large container is opened mid-air and drops hundreds of smaller individual bombs across a wide area. These bombs generally explode on contact but have been known to fail until at a later date. In recent military history they have been used in Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Mr Brown said: “We have decided, after a great deal of discussion, that we can help break the log jam so that we can get international agreement that would ban cluster bombs.

“We have decided we will take all our types of cluster bombs out of service.

“I believe that is going to make a difference to the negotiations that are now taking place. I look forward to other countries following us in this action.”

One major issue in the works now is how to deal with situations where one nation signs the treaty but another nation that is involved in coalition operations have not.

That could very well come into play as both Britain and Canada having signed the treaty while the United States has opposed it. There is a very real stumbling block between the UK and the US concerning the fact that the US is using UK soil to stockpile the cluster munitions.

United States State Department expert Stephen Mull says that the ban called for in Dublin is impractical.

“We think that it will be impossible to ban cluster munitions as many in the Oslo process would like to do, because these are weapons that have a certain military utility,” Mull said.

“So rather than ban them, we think that a much more effective way to go about this is through technological fixes that will make sure that these weapons are no longer viable once the conflict is over,” Mull said.

This “impractical” peaceful ban calls for the signed nations to never use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer cluster munitions. The nations have six years to destroy any munitions they already have obtained.

These bombs have been widely used in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon with Israel firing at least 4 million submunitions that were from the Vietnam War era into Lebanon. About a quarter of the bombs that were fired did not explode at the time of impact. Since the time that the war in the region has ceased more than 200 causualities have been reported.

FEMA Trailer Kids Facing Lifetime Of Health Problems

After Hurricane Katrina FEMA set up trailers for the thousands of homeless families that lived in the path of destruction.

The parents of those families did not know that by moving into the shelter of those trailers they were putting their children at risk.

The trailers contained formaldehyde fumes up to five times the safe level. The interior glue that was used that contained the chemical was found present in many of the 143,000 trailers that had been sent into the area to house those displaced. FEMA found out about the chemical in 2006. The residents however were not informed of the risk until this year in February when FEMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started to push the residents out of the contaminated homes.

Congress and the CDC have their hands full now as the effects of those fumes are being felt by the youngest residents.

“It’s tragic that when people most need the protection, they are actually going from one disaster to a health disaster that might be considered worse,” said Christopher De Rosa, assistant director for toxicology and risk assessment at the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the CDC. “Given the longer-term implications of exposure that went on for a significant period of time, people should be followed through time for possible effects.”

Youngsters are most at risk for the dangers of Formaldehyde. The chemical is known to cause cancers 10 to 15 years down the road after exposure. The earliest signs that there is a problem is respiratory problems. Asthma is prevalent among the children housed in those trailers.

A planned five year study by the CDC will track up to 5,000 children that lived in those trailers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. Considering that the cancers caused by the chemical generally take ten to fifteen years to manifest this study will not prove to be accurate. Congress wants more done for these children that are in risk of cancer in the prime of their lives.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. has introduced legislation that will force FEMA and the CDC to provide health care exams for trailer residents that suspect that the chemicals in the trailers have made them ill. This bill is very similar to the one that set aside $108 million for the workers that have health issues after 9/11 when they worked in the World Trade Center site.

The preliminary exams though could cost much more than the trade center bill. What will cost even more are the class action suits that are in the future, there is already one in the works. Those suits could cost the government billions of dollars.

“It would be best for the government to get its act together now,” Arch Carson, professor of occupational medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston said.

There are still more than 22,000 FEMA trailers being used by residents of Mississippi and Louisiana. With little other housing in many of the areas that the FEMA trailers are in it will take time to clear out all of the residents.

Time that may further endanger the children that live in them.

Deven Galloway, 27, lived in a FEMA trailer in Bay St. Louis for seven months with 4-year-old son DeReion. The boy uses a nebulizer for asthma.

“One day he was like, `I’m going to take more so I can go ahead and be finished for a long time,’” said his mother. “I had to tell him it didn’t work that way.”

The disaster of Hurricane Katrina does not seem to be ending soon.

Greenpeace’s ‘Fred And Wilma Flintstone’ Busted In Brussels

Six Greenpeace activists dressed up as cavemen and traveled to the European Parliament in a Flintstone-style car on Monday to protest the influence of the auto industry and proposals to curb carbon dioxide emissions from cars.

They never made it, nabbed by police for public order offenses.

The “Flintstones” had with them a stone tablet accusing car lobbyists of being a mjor force of climate change. The goal was to give the tablet to lawmakers. That tablet was confiscated by the police who arrested the group.

This week European Parliament is set to start the debate process of legislation that will force CO2 emissions from autos to be reduced. The plan will see manufacturers who don’t comply with the law fined.

Lawmakers have considered reducing those fines and phasing in the laws more slowly than originally scheduled. Lobbyists from European carmakers are behind this move to reduce the fines because they can’t compete internationally if the new rules go into effect. With Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz being heavy hitters in the German economy, Germany is backing the car industry over the environmental improvements.

Our activists and their zero-emission vehicle are raising the alarm about the influence this dinosaur industry exercises over EU climate policy,” Greenpeace transport campaigner Melanie Francis said.

Broken Toilet On Space Station Needs A Plumber

The International Space Station is in need of a plumber. With its only toilet broken and no way to relieve yourself by taking a walk on the wild side those serving the station are in a pickle.

The three men that are currently at the space station have to deal with a smelly issue with their toilet out. It’s not easy to call Mr. Plumber when you’re orbiting the globe. NASA may have to order an in-orbit plumbing visit with the next visit. Discovery is due to be at the station next week.
Until then the men have rigged up a system when they have to urinate.

The Russian made toilet’s motor fan stopped working last week while one of the men was using the toilet. Liquid waste gathering has been on and off since. Thankfully the waste collecting portion of the toilet is working.

There is a spare toilet on the Soyus return capsule but it has very limited storage.

“Like any home anywhere the importance of having a working bathroom is obvious,” NASA spokesman Allard Beutel said.

This is the second time that the seven-year-old commode has broken down.

Discovery is due to launch on Saturday and dock on Monday with supplies. NASA is considering on adding the toilet supplies but with every supply payload carefully calculated it is hard to get it figured out by the weekend’s launch date.

The main payload this trip is a 14,500-kilogram Japanese lab addition. That addition is so large that the boom sensor system on Discovery had to be removed to make room.

Ontario’s Liquor Stores Ban Plastic Bags

You won’t be given a plastic bag from Ontario liquor stores any more. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has banned plastic bags at all of its retail stores.

The LCBO estimates that it was giving out about 80 million bags a year. From now on customers will be given the option of paper bags or cardboard boxes as soon as the last bags in the stores run out.

The change was announced on Tuesday by David Caplan, minister of public infrastructure renewal, and John Gerretsen, minister of the environment.

“The decision to drop plastic shopping bags but keep paper bags at LCBO outlets is a political decision, not a decision based on science,” said Serge Lavoie, president and CEO of the CPIA in a release.

“Once people understand that plastic bags are 100 per cent recyclable and are a better environmental choice than paper, they’ll make informed decisions based on fact.”

Caplan is challenging other retailers to do the same. The Canadian Plastics Industry Association says that this ban is unneeded. They contend that plastic bags can be reused and recycled.

The plastic ban movement though is growing in Ontario and across North America. Leaf Rapids in Manitoba has completely banned retailers from using the bags.

While some contend that plastic bags can needed they fill up land fills. While there is research being done on shortening the time it takes for the bags to break down at the present time it takes a thousand years.

Canadian Baby Offered Up For Sale On Craigslist

A couple in British Columbia have been arrested after placing an ad on online classifieds site Craigslist to sell their seven-day-old baby for $10,000 CAN. A woman alerted the police after reading the ad.

Using the cell phone number that was listed in the ad the police were able to arrest both of the parents.

The 23-year-old mother and 25-year-old father told police that the offer was a hoax but they were arrested and charged with public mischief with other criminal charges possible as the investigation continues.

The baby girl is now in the hands of social workers.

The ad described the infant as “very cute” and said that the parents couldn’t afford to care for her and wanted to give her to a good home.

While the parents may think that putting a child up on Craigslist is a good joke what will that child think later in life?

Shoplift At Gabe Fidanque’s Shop And Lose A Shoe

Gabe Fidanque owns a liquor store in Durango, Colorado. He has a unique way of dealing with shoplifters. Those that he nabs are given the option give up your shoes or he’d call the police.

The Durango police have told Fidanque to stop that offer. If he doesn’t he will be facing a charge of felony robbery.

The shoplifters can only be charged with a misdemeanor.

This isn’t good news for the shop owner who loses about $1,000 a month to the five fingered bandits.

Police Captain Micki Browning says the store owner should “find a different option that doesn’t involve giving up property.”

“What’s the difference between him saying, ‘Give me $20 and I won’t call the police’ or ‘Give me your shoe?”‘

Fidanque has been ordered to give back the shoes if he can find their owners. He’s agreed but isn’t that happy. Those who opted to be turned over to the police were often back at his place within hours of being arrested.

“That’s the whole point of it. They’re too humiliated to come back and ask for their shoe, and that also means they won’t steal again,” Fidanque said. “But it’s not worth jeopardizing my business.”

Inspiration For Mommy in ‘Family Circus’ Thelma Keane Dead at 82

The inspiration for the “Mommy” character from the comic strip Family Circle has died. Thelma Keane, wife of Bil Keane, died Friday at 82. She suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

“Family Circus” began in 1960. Bil Keane used his own family life to craft a good-humoured version of the family unit. It is now featured in about 1,500 newspapers.

“She was the inspiration for all of my success,” Bil Keane, 85, told The Associated Press from his home in Paradise Valley on Sunday. “When the cartoon first appeared, she looked so much like Mommy that if she was in the supermarket pushing her cart around, people would come up to her and say, ‘Aren’t you the Mommy in ‘Family Circus?’ and she would admit it.”

Bil and Thelma met in Brisbane, Australia during World War II. She was an accounting secretary and he was a promotional artist for the U.S. Army. Sitting side by side during the war they fell in love.

“I had this desk alongside the most beautiful Australian 18-year-old girl with long brown hair,” Bil Keane said. “And I got up enough nerve to ask her for a date.”

In 1948 they married. Keane took his bride to his hometown of Philadelphia. By 1958 they had five kids and a new hometown of Phoenix.

Thelma was more than Bil’s inspiration for the Mommy character of his famous comic strip. Thel was his business and financial manager. The family credits her wise moves for Bil becoming the first syndicated cartoonist to win the rights for his comic strip.

“There was nothing that I did in the cartoon world or in the business world that she wasn’t the instigator of, and she certainly deserves all the credit that I get credit for,” Bil Keane said.

Five years ago Thelma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She moved into an assisted living center near the family’s Phoenix home three years ago.

“We all had a time to say goodbye in the end,” Gayle Keane said. “I just think she’s in a better place, and she’s not dealing with that fog and confusion that Alzheimer’s brings into your life.”

Bil still works on the comic strip with the help of his youngest son Jeff Keane.

Thelma Keane is survived by husband Bil, sons Jeff, Neal, Glen, Christopher and daughter Gayle. She leaves behind nine grandchildren.

Bil says that his wife may be gone but she stays with him.

“The losing of Thel is a heartbreaking thing for me,” he said. “However, it makes me realize how important she was to my worldly success, and I know where she is now, I feel that she’s still helping me and probably giving me the inspirations you can only get from an angel in heaven.”

Five Year Old Jack Yeilding Is A Lemonade Machine In Oakville, Ontario

Jack Yeilding is a lemonade stand king. The five-year-old Oakville, Ontario boy raised $41,233 for Sick Kids Hospital Foundation this Saturday after serving over 1,000 customers.

Jack is a patient at Toronto’s Sick Kids. The little boy has a form of epilepsy that requires him to take 19 pills a day and follow a Ketogenic diet. He suffers from intractable epilepsy, a form that does not respond to typical medications.

The little boy who has at times suffered from daily seizures is being evaluated for brain surgery. His diet is strict, there are no sugary foods like cookies, candy or birthday cake that most little kids love to devour. Jack at five already knows how to check his own blood sugar with a finger prick.

This is the second year that Jack has raised money for the hospital by manning a lemonade stand that he and his dad built with materials from the local Home Depot. Last year brought in over $14,000. That was not bad for a man all of four.

This year’s mega-stand was open for two days. On May 3 he was outside Longo’s supermarket. There was also a car wash event on May 10. Still Saturday’s stand was a sight to behold outside of his Oakville home. The lemonade stand kept customers cool while they were entertained by pony rides, carnival games, the Home Depot Kids workshop and a fire show by local busker Brant Matthews. His doctors were on hand along with Lieutenant Governor David Onley, Argonauts CEO Pinball Clemons, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton and a team of Oakville firefighters.

“Despite his medical condition, Jack is determined to turn his lemons into lemonade by holding an annual lemonade stand to help his friends at SickKids,” said his mom Jodie Yeilding.

Jack recently received the “Kids Believe in SickKids Spirit Award” and is an ambassador for the hospital that he’s a frequent patient at.

Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder of children. One out of 100 children has epilepsy and at any moment the child can be seized. One day, seizures seized Jack. He decided to seize them back. At SickKids we work day and night on ways to cure epilepsy, and we are making headway. Please help us help Jack seize his life back”

Berge A. Minassian MD
Canada Research Chair in Paediatric Neurogenetics
Epileptologist and Scientist,
SickKids Hospital, Toronto, ON

If you want to help pad Jack’s donation to Sick Kid’s Foundation you can donate online here.

Op-Ed: The Animals Knew The Quake Was Coming

Thousands of toads appeared on the streets in one Chinese town days before it hit. Zoo animals started acting strangely hours before the worst earthquake in China’s history. Could these signs have been used to alert people something was about to happen?

When a natural disaster is brewing often the animals are the first sign something is up. They seem to have an added sense that bad tidings are on the way that we humans are lacking.

Would the earthquake that struck China last week have a smaller death toll if those signs had been investigated? Chances are they would not have mattered. Who would pay attention to the news anchor spouting take cover the frogs are invading?

“If the seismological bureau were professional enough they could have predicted the earthquake ten days earlier, when several thousand cubic meters of water disappeared within an hour in Hubei, but the bureau there dismissed it,” one commentator wrote.

In the aftermath of such a massive disaster there will be those asking why wasn’t more done before hand. The answer is there is no sure way to predict when the earth will buckle. Signs from nature may indicate that something is brewing but pinpointing what it is hasn’t been figured out yet. Scientists aren’t Doctor Dolittle, they can’t talk to the animals and get those natural disaster ESP signals.

Three weeks ago the first signs from nature appeared that something big was coming. In Enshi city in Hubei province large amounts of water suddenly disappeared from a pond.

Three days before the quake Mianzhu’s streets were crowded with thousands of toads.

The morning of the quake the zoo animals at Wuhan were going wild.

Still even together those signs could only say something was coming, not pinpoint what or where.

Seismologists think that the movement of underground rocks prior to a quake generates an electrical signal that some animals can feel. Other scientists theorize that animals feel the weakest shocks before an earthquake that humans don’t.

In the pass twenty years the China Seismological Bureau has used some of these signs to predict 20 earthquakes. that is a very small number compared to the number of quakes in China in twenty years.

“The problem now is this kind of relationship is still quite vague,” Zhang Xiaodong said.

Should we pay closer attention to the wildlife around us for clues to what could be coming? Perhaps they are just a bit smarter than we are when it comes to Mother Nature.

Will I Have Sex Again? The Question That No One Talks About After A Military Injury

When it comes to side effects with injuries from war there is one question that isn’t discussed often. Sex. More importantly, will the injury that was suffered cause a lack of sexual function.

While many find the issue of sex when it comes to health terms embarrassing those questions need to be addressed. The lack of sexual function affects the rest of a soldier’s life and could be leveled when quality of life compensation packages are looked at.

Sex is important. So important that many who face spinal cord injuries rank sexual function above the ability to be able to walk.

Being able to have healthy intimate relationships can help in recovery. The inability to have such relationships can be devastating. It has been factored into the cause of some soldiers suicides.

My feeling is the sooner it’s discussed and the more it’s discussed, the more chance of having less arguments, less confusion, less frustration,” soldier B.J. Jackson who lost both of his legs in Iraq said in an interview. “The more you communicate among yourselves the better off you’ll be, instead of well, ‘I’m mad, so I’m just going to roll over.”‘

In a world where discussion of sex is avoided talking about the concerns often doesn’t happen at the bedside of a hospital room. Fear can keep a patient quiet while a doctor may not feel it is an appropriate issue to discuss.

While Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is discussed sex could be an underlining factor in the condition. According to the Veterans Affairs Department’s National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder those with problems with sexual function have higher incidents of having the condition.

If facilities like Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s lead is followed though sex may become a common discussion among recovering injured military personnel and the health care providers they deal with.

Dr. Harold Wain said it’s common for patients to question how their appearance is perceived, whether they can perform sexually, and whether they will be loved again.

“What you want to do is give back to the injured person the sense that they are whole and they have appropriate behavior patterns and they can be loved for who they are,” Wain said.

BioArts Has Cloned Missy The Dog

A U.S. company can bring back Fido for the super rich. With a price tag of more than $100,000 a pet’s DNA can be used to clone new puppies.

Next month BioArts plans to have an online auction for five wealthy pet owners that will allow for the winners to have their dogs clones. The pet owners will be able to have a genetically identical pet that matches their existing one or a new puppy from the frozen tissue of a dog that has passed on to greener fields.

It’s not an easy process to clone an animal. Cloning successes come on the heels of miscarriages, stillbirths and early deaths.

Animal welfare groups and ethical experts say that BioArts uses science to exploit pet owners fears of losing a beloved pet.

‘It could easily end up being price comparable to a luxury car, or a vacation house,’ Lou Hawthorne, head of BioArts said. ‘It’s not going to be cheap. But then the process isn’t cheap.’

Hawthorne has already created three clones from his mother’s collie-husky mix Missy who died in 2002. Samples of DNA had been taken from Missy in 1997 and again after her death in 2002.

The cloning was part of a joint venture with South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk. Hwang Woo-suk produced the world’s first cloned dog in 2005 but after revelations that he had faked other aspects of his research he was forced to resign from Seoul University.

Hawthorne’s team used single cells taken from Missy’s body and removed their nuclei. Each removed nucleus was injected with a hollowed out egg cell from another dog and fused with electricity. Those cells began to divide and grow just like any other newly conceived embryo.

The embryos that were the healthiest were implanted into a surrogate dog in a few days. That dog gave birth to the puppies 60 days later. The puppies are a genetic copy of Missy.

BioArts claims they have a 25 percent efficiency rate when it comes to cloning. One in four implanted embryos will develop into a healthy pregnancy. Of live birth clones, one in five of the pups did not survive into adulthood.

Animal welfare lobbyists and experts in the ethics fields argue that cloning an animal is cruel and unnatural. To produce one puppy three animals require surgery; the DNA donor, the egg donor and the surrogate mother.

Dr Penny Hawkins, of the RSPCA, said: ‘People would be better off giving a home to an unwanted dog.’

Val Thomas Is A Medical Miracle

Val Thomas is a living miracle. The 59-year-old West Virgina woman had two heart attacks and no brain waves for over 17 hours. Not only that but she already had rigor mortis beginning to set in. Somehow the woman is alive and talking.

Last Saturday the West Virgina woman’s heart stopped around 1:30 a.m. The doctors could not find a pulse and her body started to begin the death process of rigor mortis. She was put on life support even though life appeared to have left her body.

“Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled,” Thomas’ son, Jim, told NewsNet5.com. “Death had set in.”

Thomas was rushed to a West Virginia hospital to be put on a special machine that induces hypothermia. The process cools the body down for 24 hours and then rewarms it.

Her heart stopped again after the procedure.

As the family started to mourn and say their good-byes doctors kept Thomas attached to a ventilator as organ donation possibilities were discussed.

Then the impossible happened.

Thomas wake up and started talking.

“The nurse said, ‘I’m so sorry, Mrs. Thomas,’ and mom said, ‘That’s OK, honey, that’s OK,’” Jim Thomas said.

The medical miracle was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic where specialists found she was A-OK.

Thomas thinks that God may have something in store for her.

“I know God has something in store for me, another purpose,” Val Thomas said. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure he’ll tell me.”

Group Wants Wi-Fi Banned From Public Buildings In Santa Fe

Could Wi-Fi be causing medical problems for a group in Santa Fe? Dozens of electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe want the city to be banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg is one of those from the group who claims Wi-Fi is affecting his health. He also has problems from cell phones and certain types of electric fields.

“I get chest pain and it doesn’t go away right away,” he said.

Firstenberg and dozens more in Santa Fe with electro-sensitivity are claiming that the electrical fields that Wi-Fi produces is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is checking if Santa Fe is indeed in violation of discrimination. He hopes to have a legal answer by the end of the month.

City Councilor Ron Trujillo says that the city is saturated with wireless Internet, not just the public buildings.

“It’s not 1692, it’s 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it’s not going away,” Trujillo said.

This Year’s OCR Exam In England Came With The Answers

A printing error could have helped the scores of 12,000 teens in the UK on their OCR exams. The exams arrived with all the answers on the back page.

The exam board thinks that only 5 percent of the scores could have been affected by the information. For that reason those who have taken the OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) examination will not have to redo it.

“It is unlikely that any of the 12,000 students sitting the examination would have recognised the value of the information … and subsequently used it,” said the spokeswoman, adding there had been just 20 queries from teachers.

“OCR is confident that the procedures put in place will ensure that all candidates get the grades that their hard work deserves.”

Ontario Teen Finds Way to Avoid Mountains of Plastic Bags

When Daniel Burd, 16, was doing his science fair project he latched onto the idea that plastic bags could be broken down much quicker than 1,000 years. The kid was right. His reseach shortens break down time into a mere 3 months.

As TheRecord.com reports:

“Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me,” he said. “One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags.”

The Waterloo, Ontario teen figured out a way to break down the polymers in plastic bags. Burd a student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute hypothesized that since the bags would eventually break down there had to be a way to speed up the process. He isolated and augmented the degrading agents.

The thing is, the process is pretty easy. Burd combined the polyethylene plastic bags he had ground into a powder, sodium chloride, dirt from a landfill and a yeast mixture in shakers for four weeks at a temperature of 86 degrees. At the end of the month he took a sample from that mixture and combined it with a new one, hoping to increase the overall concentration of microbes. After one more repeat, Burd put fresh plastic bags in the solution for six weeks. At the end of the six weeks the plastic had degraded almost 20 per cent. After figuring out which microbes were working the best he increased the degradation to 32 per cent.

As TheRecord.com reports:

“The process of polyethylene degradation developed in this project can be used on an industrial scale for biodegradation of plastic bags. As a result, this would save the lives of millions of wildlife species and save space in landfills.”

By the way Burd won the Canada-Wide Science Fair. He took home $30,000 in a

Sugar Boss In Vietnam Loses Company Funds In The Stock Market

When Pham Nhu Hoa of La Nga Sugar Joint Stock Company spent company money to buy shares of 10 companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center in 2007, he did so without the consent of the company’s managing board.

The stocks fell sharply with the Vietnam’s stock market. At the time of purchase the stocks Hoa spent 17.7 billion dong (1.1 million dollars). Those stocks lost 6 billion dong. On Monday the VN-Index closed at 521, down more than 43 percent on the index from January.

Hoa is expected to turn in his resignation letter post haste but as of Monday he hadn’t quit. He had asked the permission to vacate the seat of CEO and general director last weekend during a board meeting.

We haven’t seen any letter of resignation from our boss,’ said the secretary of the company’s managing board, Chu Thi Hue.

The police are investigating the matter.

Nipple Cream Can Give Infants Health Problems

Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream is can be anything but blissful for the infants whose mothers use this creme. The ingredients can cause respiratory distress, vomiting and diarrhea in infants.

The FDA has warned women not to use or buy the creme marketed by MOM Enterprises Inc. of San Rafael, Calif.

The creme is promoted to soothe dry or cracked nipples that nursing mothers can encounter. Two of the ingredients though, chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol, put infants are risk for health problems.

“FDA is particularly concerned that nursing infants are being unwittingly exposed by their mothers to this product with dangerous side effects,” said Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Additionally, these two ingredients may interact with one another to further compound and increase the risk of respiratory depression in nursing infants.”

The company has stopped selling the creme. The FDA is warning parents to consult a doctor if their infants have had any problems after the use of the creme.

Mothers who have children with adverse effects are asked to call the FDA’s MedWatch at 800-332-1088.

Man Dies After Eating Toxic Toad Love Resin

Guys if you’re looking for a little spice in the bedroom do not go for the toad venom that claims it is an aphrodisiac. A 35-year-old New Yorker is now dead after ingesting the substance.

The product, which is illegal, sells under the names Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock is often sold in sex shops. It has been banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

The substance appears as a hard brown resin and is made from the venom of toads of the Bufo genus. Those are the same toads that Amazon blow darts that kill are made from. The resin is supposed to be applied to the skin and not eaten, which the dead man in New York did. Even skin contact though can disrupt heart rhythms.

“There is no definitely safe way to use it,” said Dr. Robert Hoffman, director of the city’s poison control centre. “Don’t buy it. Don’t sell it. If you have it, don’t use it. Throw it out.”

At Least One Family Reunited In Texas’s Fundamentalist Church Child Abuse Case

Twelve of the over 400 children removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been returned to their families.

As the court begins to sort through each child’s case in light of this week’s announcement that the removal of all of the children was wrong at least one family is back together again.

Joseph Steed Jessop Sr. and his wife, Lori have had their three children returned to them after a hearing in San Antonio on Friday.

There is an agreement that the family must stain in the county under state supervision until the Texas Supreme Court weighs in with their verdicts.

On Thursday the 3rd District Court of Appeals court ruled that the removal of all of the children was unwarranted.

“I think it’s clear that if [Thursday's ruling] stands, all these kids are going back with their mothers,” Toobin said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°.”

A sect mother who has four children in state custody said Thursday that the possibility of an appeal kept her from celebrating too much.

“I’m very grateful, but I’d like to see the children in my arms before I rejoice greatly,” Margaret Jessop said on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

The removal from their homes has been tough on the children according to their parents. Some of the children are in locations far away from their families.

In a religious sect that trained their children from birth to be wary of outsiders Texas authorities proved those teachings were justified. Regardless of who was in the right these children are the victims by both the alleged abuses that they witnessed or endured and by the State of Texas by removing them all in a mass exodus.

The state’s Child Protective Services stands by their decision that the removals were needed.

“Child Protective Services has one duty: to protect children,” the statement said. “When we see evidence that children have been sexually abused and remain at risk of further abuse, we will act.”

Abandoned Ontario baby Angelica-Leslie has Three Siblings, Parents in Custody

The Ontario parents that abandoned Angelica-Leslie in January have three other children, it’s been revealed. The 30-year-old parents are now in custody charged with child neglect and assault.

The couple have been married for 6 years and are unemployed. They had moved to Kitchener, Ont. last month.

The three young siblings of the little girl dubbed Angelica-Leslie are now in the custody of Children’s Aid Society.

The couple have not been forthcoming about any information on the infant found in a cold stairwell this January. It is believed that she was about eight months old when she was abandoned on one of the coldest days of the year.

The child is, however, in a foster home and is thriving, CAS spokeswoman Melanie Persaud said. “Her foster mom describes her as the perfect 91/2-month-old. She has a healthy appetite, she eats well, she sleeps well, she’s talkative, she’s babbling, she is mobile.”

After a court appearance on Thursday the couple was remanded in custody until their next court date next Thursday.

The mother appears to be pregnant. The father understood the charges, while the mother appeared confused.

It is now alleged that the father was the one driving the car that was seen in video footage when the infant was dropped off at a stairwell on Leslie Ave.

The Aftermath: One Town In China

Xiang’e, China is quiet. Most of the children that lived in the town died during last week’s earthquake. Those that survived quietly stick closely to their mothers.

Li Hongxing,14, is alive because he ignored his teacher’s orders and went to the bathroom. His sixteen-year-old brother was obedient. He now lays in a mass grave with 400 other students.

His brother was obedient. The obedient ones all died,” his cousin said.

Built 10 years ago the four storey school in Xiang’e collapsed during the earthquake. A new dormitory built across from the playground is one of the few buildings that still stands in this town.

“In one minute, it dropped straight down, just like September 11. The second floor became the first floor,” said a townswoman.

“The students and teachers are all buried in one grave. They were so mangled together no-one could tell who was who anyway.”

Hongxing screamed for help from the bathroom. He was rescued within a few hours.

Other screams came from the rubble. Schoolchildren trapped below four storeys of concrete planks yelled out for help. The planks were too heavy for those in the town to move. By building the area was quiet. The following evening when soldiers came to help the buried students were dead.

Hongxing survived but his mourning is intense. His relatives all say that his heart has left him.

Two weeks ago the town was filled with the laughter of children. School has not restarted. There aren’t enough children in town for one.

Measles Alert In Toronto

The Toronto Public Health has revealed that those who were treated at North York General Hospital on May 13, May 16 and May 17 in the emergency room have been exposed to measles.

Toronto has an ongoing measles outbreak that began in March. There have been 15 cases of the disease confirmed with others still being investigated.

The person in question in the North York General Hospital case was in emergency three times last week and also in the both the ultrasound room waiting area and the main cafeteria.

Hospital officials are trying to contact all of those who may have been exposed. If you were at the hospital on those days and want to be checked out contact Toronto Public Health at 416-338-7600.

Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, running nose and red burning eyes that water. White spots on the inner lining of the mouth and a rash that starts three to five days after the first symptoms can last for up to six days.

Measles is very contagious and spread by coughing, sneezing or talking, and direct contact with nasal or throat secretions. Because of immunizations the risk of contacting the disease has been lowered.

The Van That Followed Terry Fox Set To Roll Across Canada Raising Money For Cancer

The Ecoline van that Terry Fox and his brother lived in as Fox attempted to run across Canada during his Marathon of Hope has been restored and is set to begin a cross-Canada tour.

As Terry Fox ran across eastern Canada the Ecoline van followed closely behind for the 143 days of his run.

Starting on May 25 the van will make its way across the nation to raise money and awareness for cancer starting in St. John’s.

The van was retooled at Oakville’s Ford Canadian headquarters. It was revealed for the first time since it was found and acquired by the Terry Fox Foundation on Thursday.

During the ceremony in Oakville Darrell Fox said that the van brought back a lot of memories of that time when the brothers started their impossible quest.

“It’s quite emotional, to know that this is where Terry slept … this is where he prepared every day for the Marathon of Hope. And I’m just coming to grips with what we experienced this morning,” he told CBC News.

The support van was forgotten after the run. The van was located by author Douglas Coupland when he was approached at a party in Vancouver. The guest had read the story of Terry Fox in Coupland’s 25th anniversary book about the Marathon of Hope.

“So Doug gave me a phone call later that day, and the next day we were out on a mission to find the Marathon of Hope van,” Fox, the national director of the Terry Fox Foundation, told CBC Radio on Friday morning.

The van had been on loan to the brothers by the Ford company during their run. After the Marathon of Hope it was sold to a family. At one point the van was used by a heavy-metal rock band during North America. That is fitting as the brothers listened to rock music during the Marathon of Hope.

On April 12, 1980 Terry Fox started in St. John’s after dipping his artificial foot into the Atlantic Ocean to run across the country raising money for cancer research. He ran about 42 kilometres a day with the van following his every move down the highway. Fox ran until September 1, 1980 when chest pains and breathing problems forced him to stop in Thunder Bay. He died on June 28,1981 from the cancer that had spread to his lungs forcing the run to end.

Before he passed on he was awarded the Order of Canada. He is the youngest person ever to be given that honour.

Since his death more than $400 million dollars has been raised in his name.

“I’m gonna do my very best. I’ll fight, I promise I won’t give up.”

Terry Fox

Buy A Car, Get A Gun in Missouri

In a scene out of Bowling For Columbine, a car dealership is offering a handgun with every car and Michael Moore is nowhere in sight.

Generally, side deals with cars involve items like a free CD player or an ice scraper to get your windshield clear on a wintry day. Not so in Butler, Missouri where Moore is offering a free hand gun with his new car sales. That’s Walter Moore, not the famed filmmaker Michael.

Until June 1, buyers can choice between $250 in gas or a gun when they pick out their latest ride at Max Motors.

There is fine print though making sure that to get the gun a buyer has to pass the background check first.

Moore says, “Down here, we all believe in God, guts and guns.”

Moore says that most are opting for a semiautomatic handgun instead of the free gas.

Angelica-Leslie’s Parents Have Been Arrested

The parents of baby Angelica-Leslie have been located and charged. The couple are from Toronto. The child was left in a cold stairway in January.

The parents are both 30 years old. They were arrested in Kitchener, Ont. where they had moved on Wednesday. To protect the baby’s identify their names will not be released.

Both have been charged with abandoning a child, fail to provide necessaries of life, assault causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

After Angelica-Leslie’s picture was released this winter there have been over 80 offers to adopt her. Children’s Aid Society had delayed the adoption process after police thought they were close to finding the child’s parents early this month.

The parents were known to the police although they did not have prior criminal records. They had been interviewed twice previously during the investigation.

Angelica-Leslie remains in the care of the CAS.

Predicting A Future California Earthquake

If California were to suffer an earthquake like last week’s 7.9-magnitude quake that hit China would the state’s residents fare any better? That question has been detailed by a group of earthquake scientists. (What follows is speculation, not fact or a current event.)

Today Los Angeles fell as a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the ground for three minutes at 10 this morning. The city is in flames and at least 1,800 have been declared dead.

Cars fell out of the sky as a section of Interstate 15 broke apart. Rescue teams are making their way through the rubble to search for survivors.

Most of those who died perished in house fires. There are too many for the LAFD to handle, including several of the stations that are engulfed in flames.

There are reports of raw sewage flowing into local waterways as sewer pipes burst during the impact of the quake. Several areas are without water because of water pipes breaking, hampering the LAFD’s attempts to battle the city’s blazes.

Many of the injured are being treated in the parking areas of local hospitals. With more than 50,000 vying for space in the emergency rooms local hospitals are calling for any uninjured health care workers to help with the overflow.

There are reports of about 300 buried under their former high-rise condo that collapsed during the quake.

The governor has called for a State of Emergency. President Mickey Mouse has also declared the area a state of emergency and is sending in the National Guard to help restore order.

The damage is already being estimated at $85 billion.

More details will follow as they come in.

This type of scenario was worked out by a team of 300 scientists, governments, first responders and industries. The team also performed a state-wide drill earlier this year to help prepare local emergency teams. The report was released on Thursday in Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey.

The chances of this type of scenario is very real.

USGS geophysicist Kenneth Hudnut said scientists wanted to create a plausible narrative and avoided science fiction like the 2004 TV miniseries “10.5″ about an Armageddon quake on the West Coast.

“We didn’t want to stretch credibility,” said Hudnut. “We didn’t want to make it a worst-case scenario, but one that would have major consequences.”

The figures in the stimulus take in the assumption that the state takes no continued action to retrofit buildings that are not up to code.

The study was based on the San Andreas Fault. Risk analysts used the data of earlier quakes to help come up with the scenario.

Jamieson Kuhlmann Dead After Lacrosse Injury

A student, Jamieson Kuhlmann that went to Malvern Collegiate has died from injuries suffered during a lacrosse game that took place during the Victoria Day weekend.

Kuhlmann was hit at some point during a game on Monday afternoon. He played for the Toronto Beaches midget field lacrosse team. The game took place in Newmarket. It was a qualifying match for the provincial championships.

While Lacrosse is a physical sport with body checking this is the first death in the 30 year history of the Toronto Beaches Lacrosse Club.

“The incident is being reviewed by the Ontario Lacrosse Association,” John Steel, vice-president of the Toronto Beaches Lacrosse Club, told CTV Toronto.

“It’s too early to tell you what exactly happened.”

His parents are in the process of making funeral arrangements after their son was removed from life support on Wednesday. They understand that is was a horrible accident and that they are not blaming anyone for their son’s death.

Grief counselling is being offered to both students at Malvern Collegiate and the lacrosse players involved in the game.

After Cowell Apologizes Cook Declared This Year’s American Idol

At the end of a two hour finale show David Cook was awarded the title of American Idol for this season. At the end of the season it was down to two Davids battling it out, both equal contenders for the prize of a recording contract.

David Cook won with a landslide 12 million vote lead over young David Archuleta.

The judges had all but given the crown to Archuleta after Tuesday’s show. Before the winner was announced Simon Cowell did a back step and apologized to Cook, saying that he may have been a little disrespectful on Tuesday’s show.

It looks like Cook can now afford to give up his gig behind the bar with prizes that included a Hybrid car for both of the final Davids. As the winner was announced David Cook’s face told it all.

“The ride here has been pretty nuts,” Cook said to a roomful of reporters backstage. “You couldn’t write this — or maybe you can.

David Cook is the first truly rocker type to take the title of the show. Some of the past winners have taken their win to start a successful career, most notably Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

David Archuleta will likely do well also. The young seventeen-year-old from Murray, Utah was consistent with strong vocals throughout the season.

Cook’s attitude says it all. He has a quiet confidence that could let him ride this wave for the long term.

“I actually walked into this with no expectations and I’m walking out of it with no expectations. This show is a springboard,” he said, “but it’s still a crapshoot.”

Hamilton Jordan Dead At 63

Hamilton Jordan has died at the age of 63 in Atlanta. Jordan was the campaign adviser and chief of staff to President Carter.

Jordan battled cancer four times. Instead of taking it laying down, Jordan fought back and gave to children stricken with the disease. He and his wife founded Camp Sunshine, a camp for children with cancer in 1982. They also founded Camp Kudzu, a camp for children with Type 1 diabetes.

Jordan had been busy since leaving the political life. He was a renowned author, motivational speaker, investor and board member of many biomedical companies and founder of Georgia Cancer Coalition. That organization is funded by tobacco settlement money.

Jordan’s funeral service will be at the Carter Center in Atlanta on Friday at 2 p.m.

Gay Iranian, 19, Granted Asylum In UK, Boyfriend Killed

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, has been granted asylum in the UK because he is gay and from Iran. When he came to England to study English in 2005 he left behind his boyfriend. The boyfriend was charged with sodomy and hanged.

The Home Office should not send gay and lesbian people back to countries where they will be at risk of persecution, torture or death
Simon Hughes MP

Since 1979 more than 4,000 men and women have been killed by their government in Iran because they are gay.

Last year Kazemi had to flee to the Netherlands after the Home Offince in the UK rejected his case. When a Dutch court ruled that he could not claim asylum there he was returned to the UK while his case went back into the dockets for review.

Smart Parrot Returned Home

When Yosuke the parrot got lost he was able to tell a stranger his address so he could be returned home. The police had found the African grey parrot two weeks ago on a neighbour’s roof in Nagareyama, Japan.

Yosuke could have been home earlier except for the fact he didn’t seem to like the police. The feathered member of the Nakamura family refused to speak to the police who were searching for clues about the bird.

The police took the parrot to a veterinary hospital while they continued to look for his family. The parrot perked up a few days after spending time with the vet and introduced himself as “Mr. Yosuke Nakamura.”

Once Yosuke started talking he gave the vet his home address and entertained those around him by singing songs.

Sure enough Yosuke knew his address and the police were able to reunite the family who begun teaching their pet his name and address about two years ago.

Obesity Can Give Boys Some Nice Hooters

Some teenage boys who are obese have a problem that many women would love to have. They are growing boobs. Boys afflicted with gynaecomastia may need surgery to flatten their chests.

It’s not uncommon for overweight males to have “man boobs”, what is uncommon is the condition of gynaecomastia so bad that it requires surgery. Gynaecomastia is when males develop female breast tissue.

Christian Duncan, a plastic surgeon in Liverpool who deals with obesity-related surgery has operated on at least 20 young boys in the past year giving them breast-reduction surgeries.

The condition is becoming more common with teenage boys in Liverpool. Unlike girls who should develop breasts, these young boys face damage to their self esteem when breasts begin to develop.

Unlike those males who are simply so fat that they appear to have breasts those with gynaecomastia have female breast tissue under the nipples. While the hormone imbalance can right itself naturally in some cases the imbalance appears to be triggered by obesity.

Doctor Duncan explained that the cases that he has been seeing has to do with the growing problem of childhood obesity.

“We try to teach these boys about making lifestyle adjustments, like getting them to go to the gym, but they just won’t go. They become very self-conscious and it can start to affect their ability to socialise and concentrate at school. Often they are bullied. To rectify the problem for them we basically use liposuction to remove the glandular and breast tissue and fat from around the chest to give a flatter appearance.”

There are other causes for this condition other than being excessively overweight. Cancer, diseases of the liver or kidney, body-building drugs and recreational drugs can all affect either one or both of the breasts in men. Another possible cause is the increase of female hormones that are in the environment. While the condition can be common with younger boys it generally rights itself without treatment by the end of adolescence.

Op-Ed: Are You On The List of ‘Unfriendly’ Americans?

Why was James Comey in the spring of 2007 telling an odd story to Congress about how the government was planning on overriding the Constitution in the event of a major terrorist attack?

During George Bush’s first term as President James Comey was John Ashcroft’s second-in-command at the Department of Justice. He was a loyal member of the Republican Party.

In front of Congress Comey spoke of what could be if the henchmen that are with George Bush could get away with it. And what could be is so sinister that it reads like a spy movie complete with high speed chases and chatelaine meetings that Comey demanded that a neutral witness be present.

Comey began to feel uneasy after reviewing the Bush administration’s various domestic surveillance and spying programs. When he spoke to Congress he spoke of an operation so secret that not even the name could be used nor what the program was about could actually be talked on. What he could say though was prior to Ashcroft’s surgery in March 2004 the pair had discussed and tried to decide if this operation was legal under federal statues. When Ashcroft was too ill to be in charge leaving Comey at the helm he opted not to certify the program.

The White House was not happy with this decision and basically told him to take his concerns and ’stuff them in an undisclosed location.’

Comey would not budge. Finally everything came to a head on March 10, 2004 hours before the program’s authorization was to end. Instead of going to Comey who was technically in charge Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales paid a visit to a very sick Ashcroft. When Comey was alerted of what was about to take place he raced through the streets of Washington D.C. and ran up the hospital stairs to get there ahead of Bush’s sent little ‘party.’

Bush’s ploy did not work. Ashcroft may have been drugged but he was aware enough to tell the two men that he was not the acting attorney general and pointed to Comey, already in the room.

“I’m not the attorney general,” Ashcroft told Bush’s men. “There”—he pointed weakly to Comey—”is the attorney general.”

The two men left the hospital room furious without even acknowledging Comey. The next day the program went forward bypassing the required signature from the Department of Justice attesting as to its legality at the demand of the White House.

So what is this program? While not for certain to all details we do know that it has to do with spying on the American people.

One speculation is that this program is keeping tabs on those Americans that the government considers potential threats in the case of a national emergency.

The information gathering of such people has been quite possibly been conducted outside the federal law. That cute little Fourth Amendment may not be so protecting to those who are the citizens that it is supposed to protect.

According to a senior government official with high security clearances the truth is that of science fiction novels.

“There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived ‘enemies of the state’ almost instantaneously.”

Known as Main Core there could be up to 8 million Americans on the list. If a national emergency happens those on the list will be subject to heightened surveillance and tracking or just thrown into a cell.

Are you on the list?

We all could be.

The truth can be rather frightening, can’t it.

Obama Picks Up A New Name

Barack Obama has a new name; Barack Black Eagle. The presidential candidate has been adopted by the Crow Nation with honorary parents and a traditional ceremony.

Senator Obama was “adopted” by Hartford and Mary Black Eagle on the first ever presidential visit to the Crow Nation.

“I was just adopted into the tribe, so I’m still working on my pronunciation,” Senator Obama told a crowd after stumbling over some of the native names.

“I like my new name, Barack Black Eagle,” he said.

“That is a good name.”

Obama was campaigning in Montana in preparation of June 3’s primary election. The state has a large native population.

Senator Obama has promised to appoint a Native American advisor to his White House staff if he becomes the next president. He wants to improve the health care and education for those who reside on the many reservations across the nation.

“Few have been ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans, the first Americans,” Senator Obama said.

Dale Old Horn, the Crow Nation spokesman, said that Obama is related to the tribal members because of a shared background.

“His heritage of being poor, of being an outsider, you know those two things are the commonalities that he has with us,” he said.

“We’ve always been treated like outsiders when it comes to government policy. In addition to that, we all grew up poor.”

Scammers Are Targeting Those Who Would Like To Give To Quake Victims

China is warning their citizens to be on the lookout for those who are looking for donations. The crisis in China has brought out the scam artists.

My family was in the earthquake. Dad and mum urgently need money. Send whatever money you can. Deposit it in our friend’s account,” read one phone text in the southern province of Guangdong proven to be fake by local reporters.

In times of crisis there will always be those who are out to make a fast buck at the expense of those who want to help.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has been receiving reports already of people giving donations to scammers in China.

The scammers are asking for funds to be deposited into private accounts. They have been using text messaging to seek out assistance.

Chinese message boards are showing the anger of such scams at this time of grief.

“Anyone who steals this kind of money will be cursed,” said one person on sohu.com, a popular web portal.

Another wrote: “I’m truly speechless. Why must there always be bad guys among our people?”

The State Information Office stated that by Monday China has received $1.63 billion in domestic and international donations.

As always be wary when approached by individuals for donations to help in times of crisis.

U.S. Is Currently Holding 500 Juveniles In Adult Prisons From Iraqi War

Since the war in Iraq started, more than 2,500 youths under eighteen have been detained, according to the United States report to the U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child.

At this time there are more than 500 youths in detention held as “unlawful enemy combatants” throughout Iraq by the United States. In Afghanistan another 10 are being detained.

The juveniles that the United States has detained have been captured engaging in anti-coalition activity, such as planting Improvised Explosive Devices, operating as lookouts for insurgents, or actively engaged in fighting against U.S. and Coalition forces,” the U.S. report said.

Most of those that are in centres are between the ages of 16 to 17.

There are also a total of eight juveniles that have been held at Guantanamo Bay. It is said that those children were released.

“It remains uncertain the exact age of these individuals, as most of them did not know their date of birth or even the year they were born,” the report says. But U.S. military doctors who evaluated them believed that three were under age 16.

Those held in Afghanistan are at Bagram Theater Internment Facility. The United States refuses to list those held there so the number of youths may differ.

In Bagram, a U.S. military spokesman, Marine 1st Lt. Richard K. Ulsh, told the AP on Sunday: “At any time there are up to 625 detainees being held at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. There are no detainees being held under the age of 16 and, without getting into specifics due to the frequent fluctuation in the number of detainees being held, we can tell you that there are currently less than 10 detainees being held under the age of 18.”

The United States reports shows that these young people are being housed in the same facilities as adult detainees. This violates the obligations of the U.S. under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict that the U.S. ratified in 2002. Children are to be housed in separate facilities and have certain rights not afforded to adults. It appears that these rights have been overlooked in the case of the Iraqi War.

Explosion At Hilton Hotel Being Built In San Diego

There has been explosion in San Diego at a Hilton hotel that is under construction. Thirteen construction workers have been injured in the blast with five in critical condition.

While the building did not burn after the explosion the workers that are in the most critical condition are being treated in a burn unit at hospital.

The explosion appears to be accidental.

“The reason for the explosion is not yet known. It is under investigation,” Mayor Jerry Sanders said. He said the blast damaged floors four through seven of the building.

The hotel suffered major damage. There was facade material dangling from the structure, blown out windows and a large equipment room were exposed with tanks and pipes visable.

More than 400 construction workers were on site when the explosion took place. Firefighters are searching for any more victims.

Nine of those that were injured are being treated at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego.

The building is scheduled to be opened by the end of the year. Located across from the convention center in San Diego the Hilton will have 1,190 hotel rooms and more than 165,000 square feet of space for meetings when it opens.

Three Held After Burying Woman Alive On California Beach

Three men are being held on involuntary manslaughter charges after burying a homeless women in the sand on a California beach. The woman died from suffocation.

The woman, Patricia Ann Kalbskopt was 53 years old. She had passed out after drinking at some dunes in Oceano, California.

The three men involved were also drinking. It is not believed that they had intended to kill the woman on Wednesday.

Kalbskopf’s greatest fear according to her family was being buried. Because of her extreme fear of that she had made her family promise to cremate her after her death. Her family plans on honouring her request.

The Wild West Taser Style

When Harvey Epstein, co-owner of Mamacitas restaurant in Boulder, Colorado and Casey M. Dane, a supervisor for Colorado Security Services Inc. started to argue over a metal boot that was parked behind Epstein the guns came out, Tasers that is.

Epstein was using a bolt cutter to try and remove the boot that a guard employed by Dane had placed on a wheel of a van that was parked behind the restaurateur.

When Dane confronted Epstein he said he was afraid the man was going to hit him with the bolt cutter. Epstein said he never threatened anyone.

Epstein said that Dane had his hand on a holstered pistol and said he was going to shoot. Dane says his hand was there but he never said he was going to shoot.

Then it turned into the Old West with both men drawing their own Taser.

“They shot each other,” Police Sgt. Pat Wyton told the Camera newspaper. “It was just kind of a bonehead deal.”

In the end it was Epstein that was arrested on suspicion of felony menacing and using a stun gun.

Neither man needed medical attention.

Project To Restore The Everglades Is Suspended

A project to store runoff water to the Everglades in southern Florida has already cost $250 million dollars and is expected to have a final cost of up to $800 million. The plan was to have the project completed by 2010. It has now been suspended.

The cause behind the suspension is that the National Resources Defense Council is suing the state. They claim that the state is not legally committed itself to using the water primarily for restoration.

The state says that at least 80 percent of the waters will be used for environmental purposes with the rest possibly being used for agricultural or development resources.

The Council said that the lawsuit was not meant to stop construction of the project but instead to legally bind a resolution that would insure that the waters are used mostly for the environment.

“It will be much more expensive if we got into the middle of this contract and then all of a sudden it gets shut down,” district spokesman Randy Smith said. “The board’s decision was made solely on prudent financial responsibility to the taxpayers.”

The project will be halted on June 1 until the end of the year. The contractors will still be paid $1.9 million per month that the project is delayed. That could end up costing taxpayers $14 million for work not being done until the end of 2008.

The project will redivert waters that used to flow south of Orlando into the Everglades. As more and more people populated the area the overflow was sent to the ocean to allow for the population growth. That has left the Everglades in a precarious situation and near collapse.

The reservoir when finished will store water and divert it to the Everglades at various times instead of sending it out into the Atlantic.

Could Passion Fruit be a Cure For Asthmatics?

With over 400 million people suffering from asthma worldwide could the cure be found in a South American fruit? Scientists think that there is a possibility that passionfruit holds the cure in its peel.

The peel of the passionfruit contains compounds, chemicals, acids and other ingredients that provide relief to those suffering from the lung condition of asthma.

Scientists from the University of Arizona and Mashhad Medical University in Iran have been working with the peel of the purple variety of the fruit, freezing it and then making a powder form of the peel.

The researchers then tested it on groups of asthma sufferers in both the United States and Iran with a control group given a placebo.

Researchers said the powder “significantly improved the symptoms of asthma after only four weeks.

“Patients experienced less wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath.”

Doctors now want to expand the test on larger numbers of patients to see what the long term benefits of the fruit could be.

Gunman Wounds Two At Church In Southern California

A gunman opened fire this morning at a festival outside of the St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic church in Granada Hills. There was a school festival going on at the time.

Bystanders held the man suspected of this crime until the police arrived.

There were two people hit in the gunfire. There is no word on their condition at this time.

China’s Sichuan Province Hit by 6.1-Magnitude EarthquakeThe U.S. Geological Survey reports a 6.1-magnitude earthquake has hit about 78 kilometres west of Guangyuan. There have not been any reports of further damage or deaths from the latest wave of disaster in the region.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 6.1-magnitude earthquake has hit about 78 kilometres west of Guangyuan. There have not been any reports of further damage or deaths from the latest wave of disaster in the region.

The death toll now stands at 28,881 from Monday’s massive 7.9 quake. Earlier on Saturday waves of people fled a potential flood zone near the epicenter of the first quake. While there has not been flooding the potential is there and if the river does flood it will inundate the town.

“I’m very scared. I heard that the water will be crashing down here,” said Liang Xiao, one of the people fleeing on Saturday. “If that happens, there will be over 10 yards of water over our heads.”

There are close to 11,000 still buried under the rubble in Sichuan province according to the regional government.

The United Nations just authorized a grant of up to $7 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help those caught up in this crisis.

In Shifang, a city north of Chengdu there is a tent city serving as a home for 2,000 people. Tents though are in short supply.

Unlike other areas hit by disasters of this magnitude China reports that there have yet to be any major diseases or serious health care problems.

Autumn Kelly Of Canada Is Now A Royal

Autumn Kelly is now the wife of Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne. The couple were married Saturday afternoon at Windsor Castle. Phillips is the oldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth.

Kelly wore a white bridal gown and carried a bouquet of white flowers. She was given away by her father, Brian Kelly.

The couple, both 30, had a private wedding with about 300 guests. Prince William was not at the wedding, instead he attended another wedding of a childhood friend’s. His girlfriend Kate Middleton attended the wedding though in Prince William’s absence.

Those watching the Royal family are taking this as a sign that William and Kate will be the next Royal couple to wed.

Kelly and Phillips meet while working at Montreal Grand Prix in 2003. They had been engaged for a year.

Kelly had to renounce her Catholic faith and join the Church of England in order to marry the young Royal. Because of centuries old laws a member of the Royal family who marries a Catholic can not inherit the throne. Phillips does not have a royal title himself. When the couple first met he did not reveal his heritage. Kelly only learned of his connection to the throne when they were watching a show about Prince William.

Kelly is from Montreal. Her middle class upbringing has been a source of many tabloid stories.

Phillips now works at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The couple have sold their wedding story to the magazine Hello! for what is believed to be $1 million.

After The Quake: The One Child Policy In China Adds To The Grief

In earthquake ravaged China parents are mourning the many children that have been killed this week. With China’s one child only policy those grieving are often now childless.

Many of those who are listed among the dead are the children that were buried in the rubble of their schools.

For the parents that survive their children their grief may make restarting their live that much harder as they set forth with added guilt and regret that they only had one child.

“She died before becoming even a young adult,” said Bi, an intense, wiry chemical plant worker, standing beside the grave of 13-year-old Yuexing – one of dozens sprinkled amid fields of ripened spring wheat and newly planted rice. “She never really knew what life was like.”

As common policy in many schools all but the main doors were locked leaving only one exit for children to attempt to escape from.

In China the quake toppled almost 6,900 classrooms. The shoddy construction highlighted that the schools were woefully underfunded in small towns.

Launched in the late 1970’s China imposed a one child only law limiting family sizes. This policy was meant to enable China to be able to give their children a better education and medical care. Because of the law there have been forced abortions, sterilizations and an imbalanced sex ratio with families aborting girls in favor of having a son.

In some rural areas the policy has been relaxed if the first child born is a girl allowing for an additional birth. That though is not the case in much of the region hit by Monday’s earthquake.

Surviving parents can be expected to feel intense guilt that they lived on while their child died. They can feel that they failed their role as parents by not protecting their young. Often these parents will look back and regret their interaction with their children, dwelling on negatives (thinking they were too stern, did not show them sufficient love or did not interact with them enough) instead of positives.

Hopefully China will be able to provide grief counselling for these parents after the initial recovery effort has eased.

Thousands Try To Out Run Overflowing Lake In China

A county near the epicenter of Monday’s 7.9 earthquake were ordered to evacuate Saturday after fears a lake had burst its banks. Thousands of able bodied people have taken for the hills to flee the possible flooding.

As the waters rise 1.2 million people are in the process of being evacuated from Qingchuan 55 miles from Beichuan. In the city of Beichuan, already hard hit by the earthquake, there are 46 people who are in dire need of help to escape the flood waters but too seriously injured to make the trek up into the mountains on their own.

At this point even the rescue workers have been running for their lives as the radio announced an “all retreat” warning.

There has been concern about the hundreds of dams in China that were structurally damaged during Monday’s earthquake and the continuing aftershocks that have shook the region. In the mountainous province of Sichuan the concerns have been growing daily. The area is the size of Spain.

Five days into the recovery effort there is some good news to report as survivors are still being found in the rubble. A German tourist was pulled out from debris in Wenchuan after being buried for 114 hours.

The current death toll in China has reached over 22,000 but it is expected to reach a much higher 50,000 as more bodies are found.

The quake has left about 4.8 million people homeless.

“Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work,” President Hu told distraught survivors just over a week after a jubilant China celebrated the Olympic torch reaching the summit of Mount Everest.

In other earthquake disasters in the world survivors have been found alive after two weeks but those cases are few and far between.

33 people were found alive in the rubble of Beichuan on Saturday. One man and 18 scientists were among those rescued.

Not only is the region having to deal with the destruction on towns and cities from the earthquake itself but as the concern grows daily on the shape of the dams this area will take a long time to recover. Some of the dams have already reported leaks. Several of those are along the Min River.

Another growing concern is that there are possible radiation leaks in the area as well. China’s chief nuclear weapons research lab is in hard hit Mianyang. There are also several secret atomic sites in the area but there are no nuclear power stations there.

After Report Of Asbestos Jail Guards Refuse To Work

A jail where 76 inmates are held in Nova Scotia has had asbestos discovered in the building. As a result of that discovery several of the guards are refusing to step back into Cape Breton Correctional Facility.

After the union that represents the guards learned on Thursday about the asbestos guards have not reported to work for their Thursday evening or Friday morning work detail. There are about 10 guards per shift. It’s not clear on how many refused to work.

“At the moment we’re satisfied that managers are safely managing the situation there,” said Sheri Aikenhead, a spokeswoman for the provincial Justice Department.

“If the RCMP are required, they will be called upon.”

Last month the asbestos was discovered in piping in some areas of the jail. The jail is 33 years old. Aikenhead said that air testing done May 8 failed to find any traces of the mineral.

“Asbestos, if it’s left undisturbed, doesn’t pose an immediate threat to anyone,” Aikenhead said.

According to the union the guards are within their rights because of the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act. If they feel that they are in danger business of work related issues they can demand to have a through investigation completed before they go back on the clock.

The prison violated their rights by not informing their employees as soon as the asbestos was found.

“Everybody should have been notified when they found out there was asbestos found in the wrap on those pipes. They refused to do that,” Gordie Gosse, a New Democrat in the legislature for Cape Breton Nova said.

“It’s like taking a handful of fish hooks and eating them. Your lungs can

Huckabee Jokes That Obama Was Ducking A Gunman

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention on Friday afternoon Mike Huckabee made a tasteless comment about a noise offstage about Obama dodging a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

Obama supports extending the assault rifle ban, limiting gun sales and a nation law banning concealed weapons. These choices don’t make for fans with the NRA.

John McCain on the other hand has the NRA’s support. He will be speaking to the convention later on Friday.

Mike Huckabee is endorsing McCain.

Ontario Tax Payers to Foot Bill for Sex Changes

George Smitherman, Ontario Health Minister, announced Thursday the province plans to reinstate funding for sex change operations. While the details have not been finalized the province is moving forward on a promise made years ago.

Nearly a decade ago the Conservative government at that time stopped the coverage for those who were undergoing the procedure.

Between 1997-1998 OHIP paid $122,000 for eight sex changes. Those eight were the last ones in the province to not have to foot the bill of a sex change operation. Once the details have been ironed out, four people who have been approved for surgery will get the go ahead.

The demand isn’t that large; only eight to ten people qualify for the surgery each year. It is likely the province will pay about $200,000 a year for those needing gender reassignment surgery.

“It is the government’s intention to move forward with the provision of services on about the same level as they were (when) cancelled some number of years ago,” Smitherman said, noting the details of the leaked announcement have yet to be finalized.

To undergo the surgery an individual must complete a rigorous psychological evaluation at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The previous government’s refusal to pay for such operations has been deemed discriminatory and McGinty’s government was compelled to put things rightly back into place.

A population which has needs that are quite difficult to understand were subjected to a lot of politics,” Smitherman said. “I think we should be careful not to use what is $200,000 dollars on a $40.2 billion budget as an excuse to try and create a them-and-us conversation,” he added noting the government also funds other people with specialized needs.

The procedure will likely take place in Montreal where most sexual reassignment surgery is currently performed. The current cost for a sex-change operation at the Centre Metropolitain de Chirurgie Plastique is $17,000.

“It probably makes sense from a clinical outcome standpoint that those be done in a place that is most specialized in the country,” Smitherman said. “That is the way it had been in the prior circumstances.”

Ontario will join the ranks of Alberta, B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan covering this surgery. With medical documentation Newfoundland and Labrador also will cover costs. Quebec will not be funding patients for this particular surgery. While the surgery is covered for many in Canada, travel expenses and post surgical accommodations are not.

Activists are happy that the province will finally be keeping its promise made years ago.
“This will save lives,” DiNovo said. “It’s the end of a long journey and it’

Austrian Kidnap Victim Now Owns Home She Was Held In For Eight Years

Natascha Kampusch was help captive by Wolfgang Priklopil for eight and a half years. She now owns the house she was help hostage at as part of the compensation.

The young Austrian was kidnapped at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998 as she made her way to school. Priklopil kept her locked away for the next eight and a half years in a dungeon under his home.

While Kampusch owns the property it is not thought that she is residing on it. She had been awarded two-thirds of the property with Priklopil’s mother owning the other third. Kampusch made a deal with the woman to gain control of the final third. The home was built by Priklopil’s father.

Now 20 Kampusch escaped her captive in 2006 while washing his car. A cell phone call pulled him away from her side and she ran through yards until her pleas of help were finally taken seriously by a neighbour who called the police. Priklopil killed himself by jumping in front of a train after Kampusch escaped.

But she also said: “I always had the thought: Surely I didn’t come into the world so I could be locked up and my life completely ruined. I give up in despair about this unfairness. I always felt like a poor chicken in a hen house. You saw my dungeon on television and in the media. Thus you know how small it was. It was a place to despair.” Dietmar Ecker, Kampusch’s media advisor, said Kampusch told him Priklopil “would beat her so badly she could hardly walk. When she was beaten black and blue, he tried to smarten her up. Then he would take his camera and photograph her”.

Ken Griffey Jr. Pays Off Debt To Josh Fogg In Pennies

Ken Griffey Jr. owed Josh Fogg a debt of $1,500. The Reds teammates watched as Fogg opened his locker on Wednesday to discover the debt was paid in full using pennies.

Fogg’s locker was stuffed with 60 boxes full of pennies. Each box weighed 16 pounds and had $25 worth of the one cent pieces inside.

“Basically, it’s like having 60 bowling balls in your locker, only with no holes to pick them up with,” Griffey said.

No one is talking about why Griffey owed Fogg the money. Griffey had told Fogg he was going to pay him back in pennies but his teammate didn’t believe he would actually do that. There are times though a cheque just won’t do it.

“I’m going to take them out to the bullpen and count them,” Fogg said. “I’ve got a lot of time on my hands out there.”

As China Digs Out, Aftershocks Hit

A strong aftershock has hit the epicenter of China’s earthquake this morning. The aftershock has caused landslides further hampering rescue efforts.

As day four begins, more survivors have been pulled from the rubble. The first foreign rescue teams are on the scene. Leaflets are being dropped from helicopters providing survival tips and urging the people to work together.

In Beichuan, 17 survivors have been pulled from the debris.

A man in Shifang city was pulled from the wreckage of a fertilizer plant.

As the aftershocks bury more of those who have survived the nation is still in danger.

The death toll on Friday stands at 22,069. There are still at least 14,000 people buried in Sichuan. The hardest population hit by this quake has been the school children whose school have become their tombs.

A total of 6,900 classrooms were destroyed during the 7.9-magnitude earthquake. The government has promised to launch an investigation of those responsible for the shoddy construction of those structures and hold them responsible.

Not only has the country lost much of its housing it is dealing with a water supply situation that is “extremely serious” in Sichuan. There are twenty cities and counties that have no water flowing into them at all.

“I have just been so frightened this whole time. I don’t know what we are going to do,” said Pan, 35. The only belongings the family had were some clothes and a little food, among hundreds camped along the road. “We’ve lost everything. There’s nothing left of our village, nothing left of our home.”

President Hu Jintao made his first trip into the disaster zone rallying the huge troop relief operation. There are 130,000 soldiers and police working together to help find survivors and keep the peace.

“The challenge is still severe, the task is still arduous and the time is pressing,” Hu was quoted as saying by Xinhua. “Quake relief work has entered into the most crucial phase. We must make every effort, race against time and overcome all difficulties to achieve the final victory of the relief efforts.”

Foreign rescue teams from Russia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea are also on hand to help the operation.

This is the first time that China has allowed outside foreign aid into the country to help with a disaster.

China has also received $457 million in donated money and goods for the rescue effort according to the Ministry of civil Affairs.

Jolie Makes It Offical: Twins Are On The Way

Angelina Jolie and partner Brad Pitt will be adding two more to their brood when she gives birth later this summer. Jolie let the cat out of the bag at Cannes.

“I’m sitting and talking a lot, and everybody’s being very nice to me,” Jolie told reporters. “If I was feeling too pregnant everybody said I didn’t have to come.”

The 32-year-old mother of four is taking it easy at the Cannes Film Festival while her partner Brad Pitt takes care of the kids.

“I think I have a very even partner right now, and I think we’re very balanced at home with our power-sharing,” she said. “But I think every woman in some way is a tigress or would like to be.”

She was at the festival on Thursday to promote “Kung Fu Panda” and “Changeling.”

The star also revealed what has been speculated, she plans on these two babies having France as their home country.

Texas Expels The Most Pre-K Students In the Nation

Can a child younger than 6 be so bad they need to be expelled? According to Raising Texas and the Texas Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies kids in Texas in prekindergarten classes are being expelled at an alarming rate.

An event held on May 8, 2008 at the University of Texas highlighted the issues of a survey of licensed child care and registered family child care centers across Texas.

The findings of that survey showed the following:

• 66% said that they have children in care with suspected and diagnosed behavioral or emotional difficulties
• 58% have seen an increase in challenging behaviors in the past 5 years
• 60% said that it had become necessary to ask a parent to remove the child from care
• 81% said that they had received somewhat or no training at all to address emotional behaviors
• 24% received no training to address emotional behaviors

Texas expels more preschoolers than double the amount of any other state in the U.S. This is in spite of the fact that Texas has a state policy against expelling the state’s youngest pupils.

These expulsions cost the state and the children who are denied an education during their earliest years. In the past 5 years 110 Texas school districts have referred Pre-K and Kindergarten students to Alternative Discipline Programs. The state policy is that children under the age of six are not to be referred to such programs unless they bring a firearm into the school. More than 3,000 first graders were also referred to the alternative programs.

While behavioural problems do make it difficult for a child to excel in the public school setting when children are expelled they have to also deal with cognitive delays as well. Texas retained 47,000 children in Kindergarten through second grade in the 2005-2006 school year at the cost of $343 million dollars to the state. Most of these retentions dealt with behavioral problems and not academic ones.

Gas Consumers Got An Instant Refund Yesterday From The Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Yesterday across Canada some lucky people were getting an instant refund at the gas pump. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was giving consumers back the amount of the gas tax to highlight what they say is government gorging.

With the gas tax at 28% a lot of the money that goes into your tank goes straight to the government.

“You’re kidding,” Wrigley said when federation director John Williamson offered him $23 – the equivalent to the tax the Halifax retiree paid on the $71.80 it cost him to fill up his Hyundai Sonata.

“I didn’t think it was that much, but I knew it was high,” said the 65-year-old.

Wednesday was the 10th annual gas tax honesty day. The federation was handing out the tax refunds to call out to the government to lower gas taxes and for them to spend more money on the roads in Canada.

Gas prices have been steadily raising this past year, up 17 cents from last year. For each litre that is pumped into cars 10 cents goes straight to the federal government. Last year those 10 cent per litres gave the coffers an extra $4 billion.

Williamson said that Ottawa spent 37 percent of the gas tax revenue on roads this year. Next year that will increase to 52 percent. That may help take away a couple of the many potholes lining the highways.

Still Williamson calls for the government to do away with 1995’s “deficit elimination tax” that charges an additional 1.5 cents per litre of gas.

Lawmakers in Ottawa and across this country will often point their fingers at big oil and suggest there’s nothing they can do to control the pump price,” Williamson said.

“But we suggest there is actually a lot lawmakers can do both at the provincial level and federally.”

Don’t hold your breath that any changes will be happening soon though. There are no plans to reduce gas taxes according to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

“We already reduced the cost of gasoline by two per cent (through) the reduction of the GST,” Flaherty said.

This Catwalk Helps Dreams Begin

The catwalk in Milan was showcasing a collection of three beautiful designer gowns but the designers were not from the fashion world. Milan’s San Vittore prison on Wednesday was the scene of the fashion show.

Designers like Prada and Alberta Ferretti had their collections go down the same catwalk as the prisoners who were launching their womenswear line.

While security is always tight at these high end shows it isn’t generally armed prison guards in charge.

The project that puts inmates and former prisoners together is called Cooperative Alice. They already have a line of T-shirts under the ‘Jail Cats’ brand.

“For them, it is a beautiful moment,” Alessandro Brevi, of the Cooperative Alice said, adding that the show, the cooperative’s fifth, was a call for distribution. “Initially we start with the website, then — who knows — maybe Paris.”

This is the sixteenth year of the cooperative. Former inmates work in the office which makes getting employment after a jail sentence much easier.

“It is important for social work, fashion and business,” said Tiziana Maiolo, of the Milan city council, adding that two fashion houses had taken on some of the women for work. “Who knows if one of them isn’t the new Prada.”

Jefferson Memorial’s Sea Wall Is Sinking

The sea wall protecting the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. is sinking and needs to be repaired according to a study released on Tuesday.

The soil that the wall is built on is soft and that has compromised it. There are some portions of the wall that have sunk almost a foot since it was built in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

While repairs will be needed a yearlong engineering survey by the National Park Service says the wall is not in danger.

It has been recommended that the wall should be reinforced by installing pilings through the mud flats and anchoring those to the bedrock deep in the earth. This repair could cost taxpayers more than $10 million dollars.

“It’s a significant issue,” said Nathan James, a project manager for HNTB Federal Services of Washington, one of the firms that conducted the study. “If it isn’t addressed, there’s nothing to stop (the sinking), nothing to arrest the problem.”

The memorial remains open and according to the park service is safe and sound. There will b more evaluations made before the project moves forward.

Growth In Nine Year Old Turns Out To Be Her Twin

A nine-year-old in Greece had to be hospitalized when it was discovered that she was carrying her embryonic twin in her stomach. The child had to have an operation to remove what at first was thought to be a growth.

As the doctors removed the growth they discovered that it as actually her twin. The embryo was about two inches long.

“They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn’t suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo,” hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.

Cases of one twin absorbing another in the womb happens in one out of every 500,000 live births.

The embryo was formed but had no umbilical cord or brain. The girl’s family asked to remain unnamed.

The little girl has since made a full recovery.

Op-Ed: The Change Is Here Ready Or Not

Is Mother Earth doing a clearing out? 2008 has begun as a very deadly year. Between war, famine and natural disasters thousands have already died this year and it’s not even summer yet.

The Myanmar cyclone death count could be as high as 127,990.

At least 10,000 people have died in China this week from a massive earthquake.

That’s roughly 138,000 people gone from the planet just this week in one big swoop.

Countless dead from the Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars.

Hand, foot, mouth disease killing children in China.

What’s going on? Is this a result of global warming? Humans not able to play nicely in the world wide playpen?

As the world begins the mourning process for Mayamar and China’s dead has anyone asked why so many dead in such a short period of time?

The world at times seems to do a global clearing. Remember the Black Death? As millions exited the planet change and renewal came forth. Are we at the brink of a new age of awareness?

Some may say we’re in the end of days but could we be at the beginning of a whole new age?

The world is changing rapidly. As it changes are we keeping up? Globally there is a conscience effort to give back to this rock we call home. It’s slow but the process is progressing.

Each day brings forth new discoveries of how to treat different illnesses and yet thousands die from extreme hunger. We have famines that are making the rich richer and the poor dead. Are we lacking progress or simply lacking the morals to give to our brothers?

Worldwide there are religious conflicts. Each one claims to be the way, the most peaceful, the most loving…….as they gun down others who do not see things their way. Is this progress?

To my eyes the world is spinning wildly and we are at the foot of some huge changes. These changes won’t be happening just in our children’s lifetimes but ours as well. Are we ready?

It doesn’t matter if we are as the changes will take place regardless.

Hang on Human Race, we’re about to go on a bumpy ride.

The Polar Bear Makes The List

The polar bear has been added to the list of endangered animals. As the rising temperatures in the Arctic Sea causes the ice to vanish so are the bears.

The polar bear is the first animal to be added to the list of threatened animals as a result of global warming. In Canada the bears are already listed as a species of “special concern.”

Surveys ordered by Dirk Kempthorne, the U.S. Interior Secretary shows that the sea ice is even less than earlier models had predicted they would be.

If the ice continues to melt as rapidly as it is now the polar bear will be down to two-thirds of their now dwindling population by 2050.

There are an estimated 25,000 polar bears is in the Arctic now. Most of those live in the 30 million acres of the Alaska’s Chukchi Sea. That area is about to be auctioned off for oil and gas exploration by the United States.

The World Wildlife Federation and other environmentalists had been after the U.S. to add the polar bear to the endangered species list prior to the auction which would allow for additional protections added to the sales agreements.

Two West End Fires Suspected To Be Arson In Toronto

Is an arsonist to blame for two house fires in the west-end of Toronto? Police think that may be the case of the early morning fires that were started on Wednesday. The first call came in at 3 a.m.

A person noticed that a wood lawn decoration had been pushed up against the door of a home and lit on fire. The quick thinking neighbour alerted the resident who put out the fire.

“It was intentional, a symbol because they are blocking the front door of my house,” said Francisco Rico Martinez, the owner of the Oakwood Avenue home.

“To wake up to a fire in front of your door…your children inside, all your belongings, your life…it’s very frightening,” he said.

Just minutes later firefighters were called to another home in the Oakwood and St. Claire Avenue area.

The second fire was started at the back of the house. The fire department was able to save the home but the damage was estimated at $100,000.

That homeowner was alerted to the fire by his barking dog. He at first thought the sun was rising up until he realized that his back porch was blazing.

Baby Left Home Alone In Vancouver

A tot was left behind in Vancouver by an immigrant family. The 23-month-old was only discovered missing after his family had started the second leg of their journey.

Jun Parreno told The Vancouver Sun that the child was left behind when he, his wife and two grandparents of the child, J.M were racing at the airport to connect between their arrival in Canada and a flight to Winnipeg in Air Canada.

The family who is emigrating from the Philippines only had 10 minutes to unpack and repack their luggage between boarding. They were literally running for the gate, minus their youngest family member.

Parreno thought his son was with the three older adults who were at the gate ahead of the rest and the grandparents thought the parents had the tyke.

The toddler though spent the time wandering between security checkpoint and the flight gates in Vancouver.

“We were called by (security) who told us one of the security people had a toddler in tow,” Mah said. “He doesn’t speak English, so we found a Tagalog-speaking agent who has been looking after him.”

Airport security was at a loss because the child did not have a boarding pass and no calls had come from frantic parents until the family landed in Winnipeg.

Air Canada staff began checking flights that had left, and “we eventually determined who his parents might be … and the flight crew talked to them,” Mah said. “They didn’t realize until then that the baby had been left behind.

“We’re not aware of this ever happening on an Air Canada flight before.”

Air Canada did their job and took excellent care of the lad putting him on a flight to be reunited with his parents.

Solar-Powered Bra Can Charge Cellphone, iPod

A new solar-powered bra can generate enough electric energy to charge your mobile phone or iPod. That’s right, ladies, you have the power to let your boobies do their part for the green way of life.

Triumph International Japan Ltd showed off their green coloured “Solar Power Bra” in Tokyo on Wednesday. The bra features a solar panel worn across the stomach.

The bra though isn’t going to be generating energy anytime soon.

The panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, said Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda, as “people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it.”

The bra may get a little stinky as you are not allowed to wash it least you damage the solar power panel.

In Japan being green is a fashion statement. Triumph International Japan Ltd also carries other green-themed underwear. One bra can be reused as a shopping bag while another featured metal chopsticks.

But the best news for us girls is the bra actually feels good.

“It is very comfortable and I can really feel involved in eco-friendly efforts as well,” model Yuko Ishida said.

Op-Ed: Fergie Strikes Back At Those Giving Bea Grief About Weight

The Duchess of York is not holding back at those who are giving her daughter grief about being a bit curvy. The nineteen year old Princess Bea is a healthy size 10 yet critics are telling her to cover up.

After Princess Bea was photographed in a bikini on a Caribbean beach some in the media have been stating that the Royal should be covering up. That’s a sure fire way to get her mother’s dander up.

“Touch me, fine, but don’t touch my children,” the Duchess said.

“Beatrice is a healthy size 10. She’s a fabulous girl. She’s suffered with special needs at school, dyslexia from the age of seven.

“She combatted it to get a grade A* in history to go and read history at Goldsmiths University. Can we not focus on that?”

Fergie knows the woes of dealing with the press concerning weight. She was often ridiculed in the past by the same media that is starting to give her daughter a hard time.
She is now a representative of Weight Watchers.

Her daughter looks healthy unlike many of the stick figured models that grace the covers of magazines. There is no reason for the nasty comments that have been hitting the rags.

The Duchess of York has tried to get in touch with Daily Mail columnist Allison Pearson who made comments about getting Bea a sarong to cover up. Pearson has not returned Fergie’s calls.

“This woman, I would like to go to her house, to see her family. Should we focus on her derriere?” she said.

“You know what come and see me, come and meet Beatrice, she’d be delighted.”

I say give them hell Fergie! When a girl who is of normal size gets insulted by the media it only sends a horrible message to others. And the world of gossip media may just need a mother raising the roof to get a touch of reality back into the picture.

China Now Dealing With Dams Damaged by Earthquake

The situation in China could be getting worse. Troops have been rushed in to plug dangerous cracks in a dam close to Dujiangyan in Sichuan province.

“It (the dam) is only five kilometres away, we are downstream of it,” Speaking from Dujiangyan, Sky’s China correspondent Peter Sharp said.

“We understand that some of the People’s Liberation Army troops that are deployed here helping with the rescue operation… 2,000 of them [have been moved] upriver to seal some serious cracks in the dam wall.”

The Zipingku Dam has suffered dangerous cracking due to the 7.9-magnitude earthquake on Monday in China.

China rushed 2,000 of their troops in to plug up the cracks. This is not the only dam though in the nation devastated by the massive earthquake. On the National Development Reform Commission’s website it was stated that 391 dams have been damaged, two of those are large dams, 28 medium sized and the rest are small dams. The website did not state if Zipingpu was one of the dams.

The city of Dujiangyan would be swamped if the dam were to burst. The ministry has set up an emergency command centre at the dam “to discharge the reservoir’s rising waters and guarantee that the damage posed no threat to Dujiangyan and the neighboring Chengdu Plain.”

The reports of the damage at these dams comes as search and rescue effects intensify to find survivors amongst the rubble. As the hours tick away those still alive by not be rescued in time. 15,000 have already been declared dead with an additional 14,000 people listed as missing. There are reports that a group of 15 British tourists are among those missing.

One small town suffered 7,700 deaths.

Those at the epicenter are just beginning to receive aid as China begins making the first airdrops of food into the region.

The death toll in China is rising from the quake. If any of these dams come down that toll will rise even higher as waters flood the already damaged cities and villages of central China.

The largest dam in China, Three Gorges Dam, appears not to have suffered any damages from the earthquake.

Student Gets Ticket For Sitting On Park Ledge

In Montreal it can be costly to seat on a park ledge instead of a park bench. Brendan Colin Jones, 25 was sitting on a ledge at a park at de Maisonneuve Blvd. when the police gave him a ticket for $628.

At the Émilie Gamelin Park many people sit on the granite surfaces to take in nature and relax. Most have no idea that they are breaking the law for those minutes that they are relaxing. Jones, a student at Concordia University was doing just that when the police came by giving him a ticket for “using urban equipment for uses other than those intended.”

In defense of the police Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafrenière says that Jones was told several times that he had to rest his bum on a park bench instead of the granite structures prior to his ticket.

The law is a new bylaw in Ville Marie and Jones has 30 days to contest the ticket.

Jones is an economics and history student at the Quebec school had decided to take a break from his studies and enjoy the sun for a bit on Saturday. When he saw some people nearby who were drinking alcohol being approached by the police he took out a digital camera and took some pictures.

“I saw this as an opportunity to observe how police deal with underprivileged people,” Jones recounted.

Then a police officer came by and asked if he had been taking pictures.

“Once I realized she was attempting to get me to give her my camera, I became confused and told her I would not give it to her,” Jones said.

“I had not committed any crime and had been sitting peacefully, just like many others around me.”

Two other police officers joined the female officer as Jones pocketed his camera. The police told Jones that it was illegal to sit in a city park unless on a park bench. Jones couldn’t see any park benches around the park.

The ticket the police gave him will be fought. He is having a hard enough time giving his tuition and has a debt of $30,000 in student loans. This term has yet to be paid. The $628 fine for sitting on a rock is just too much.

He may want to take Montreal architect Gavin Affleck, a specialist in urban spaces with him when he goes to court. The professional says the purpose of the granite surfaces at Émilie Gamelin Park is for people to sit on them.

“A successful public space develops conviviality, use, social interaction, and obviously sitting around is basic,” Affleck said in an interview.

“Trying to eliminate that from a public space is completely opposite to its whole intention.”

Playing Hide And Seek Online Can Yield A Cheap Seat

Bargain hunters know that using the Internet can sometimes give travelers a great deal when traveling. Last week Gilda Chavez-Diaz flew home to Fort Lauderdale from L.A. for a total of $18. That was the fee round trip by the way.

Chavez-Diaz is a master when it comes to getting from point A to point B on the cheap. She’s traveled to places like Las Vegas and the Virgin Islands never spending more that $68 per round trip ticket.

While it is getting harder to get those kinds of fares any traveller can get their airline tickets much cheaper if they take the time to seek those cheap seats.

The newer airlines often offer up fares much lower than the old standbys. Often searching at the last minute has the best cheap ticket payouts. Smaller airlines need to get people into their seats and will do so for a song at times.

“This is just a crazy summer. There are no absolutes. You have to look around, and it’s really important to be flexible and look at all the dates,” Kellie Pelletier, spokeswoman for Kayak said, noting that the cheapest airfare to St. Lucia from Los Angeles this summer is on the Fourth of July weekend. In years past, the holiday was among the most expensive for the route.

Do beware of the small print though on these cheap fares, sometimes that small print includes huge restrictions.

But by being a careful consumer you too may be about to find a deal you can’t pass up like last month’s Spirit Airlines held a 24-hour promotion offering a round-trip ticket to the Bahamas for 36 cents.

It’s worth the extra time to play hide and seek online.

Mexico’s Macho Culture Hinders Putting A Stop To Domestic Violence

Mexico’s women who live in homes with domestic violence have little help from those ordered by the law to protect them. Much of the law enforcement of the nation still hides behind the macho mentality that allows violence to be hidden away.

Last year Mexico passed a law requiring women to be protected in cases of domestic violence. The feedback though shows a nation that hasn’t changed from the thought of being a man’s world.

“We are enormously concerned about complaints that the justice system isn’t working,” Emilio Alvarez Icaza , the president of the commission, told Mexico City’s legislators during his April 24 presentation of the report.

Mexico has come some ways into offering women protections though. A few years ago killing a cow was treated more harshly than killing a woman. Still in a nation where a rapist can get away with his crimes by saying he was seeking to satisfy an erotic fantasy Mexico has a long ways to go to improve the rights of women.

Just by changing the laws the nation have not done enough until those laws are kept. Allowing abusive husbands to get away with hurting their wives the nation has shown women that they are not as valuable as the men of the nation.

“They say, ‘You’re going to forgive your husband, aren’t you?’ ” Marisela Contreras Julian , president of the Commission on Fairness and Gender in Mexico’s lower house of Congress said. “It’s the culture. …And some of these men are abusers themselves. Therefore, they look for a way to justify the actions.”

Domestic violence does not end until society focuses on the need to stop it in its tracks. Empowering women to be able to leave a bad situation won’t take place in Mexico until all women are treated as a valuable portion of society.

Drew Barrymore Doesn’t Let Driver Get Away With Accident

When actress Drew Barrymore was rear-ended on Monday she didn’t sit by idly when the other car just drove away. Like The ‘Angel’ she plays in the “Charlie’s Angels” movies she took off and followed the car.

The 33-year-old actress was not injured in the accident that took place in Los Angeles Monday but her car wasn’t as lucky.

When the car that hit hers took off Barrymore followed it retrieving a licence plate number which she gave to the sheriffs deputies that are working the case.

As of Tuesday morning no arrests have been made.

“It could be dangerous,” Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Kristin Aloma said of following someone after an accident. Still, she emphasized that getting a licence plate number is instrumental to tracking down a hit-and-run motorist.

Child A Prisoner In His Hospital Bed Because Of Cancer

As a young boy in Hamilton, Ontario struggles to deal with leukemia his family says his faith is floundering because of the use of chemo given to him against family wishes.

The young boy is in Child Protective Services after fighting doctors with his father over the desire to try chemo in a bid for life.

The child’s father (because the child is in protective custody he can not be names) says that his son is now run down and wants to come home.

The boy was diagnosed when he was seven with acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL). Chemotherapy sent the cancer into remission but now four years later that cancer has returned.

Medical officials say the boy only has about six months to live without chemo and insisted that he go through another round even though the boy and his family wanted to try alternative approaches. With chemo his chance of survival are at best 50-50.

According to the father now that his son is alone in this struggle without his family’s faith he has given up.

The boy lies in a hospital room that is surrounded by security guards and CAS and youth protection workers.

“He’s a little prisoner, he can’t leave his room or anything, he can’t visit with any other sick children, he can’t go anywhere because he’s under house arrest,” the father said.

“He’s a criminal for having cancer.

The child has undergone the round of chemo and will not be released from hospital until Thursday at the earliest. A judge in Hamilton court is having to decide where the child will go when he is released from hospital, his family or foster care.

“We told him, ‘Don’t worry buddy, please try to be healthy, relax, relax, relax, relax,’ and he even said to me, ‘I don’t care. They can even kill me with their chemo and stuff I don’t care, as long as I can come home and be home with you and mommy,” the father recalled.

“You know what that feels like to hear your son say that?”

This child shows a stark face of what can happen when families and doctors don’t agree on a medical course.

Getting Physical Early Can Reduce Your Chance Of Breast Cancer

Signing your teen daughters up for a local gym doesn’t just make fitness sense it could help them avoid breast cancer later in life. The earlier girls start to get involved with their fitness the better according to a new study.

“This really points to the benefit of sustained physical activity from adolescence through the adult years, to get the maximum benefit,” said Dr. Graham Colditz of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the study’s lead author.

Researchers tracked almost 65,000 nurses from the ages of 24 to 42 for a major health study. The test subjects answered detailed questionnaires about physical activity dating back to the age of 12. Within the six years of enrolling in this study 550 were diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer which is typically much more aggressive. Of the women who were in the study 23 percent of those who were physically active as teenagers were less likely to develop early breast cancer as opposed to those who lead a sedentary life as teens.

The largest impact of preventing future breast cancer appears in those doing at least 13 hours of walking a week between the ages of 12 to 22.

The theory that researchers used to believe was that intense physical activity during these years reducing early breast cancer dealt with estrogen because periods tend to be delayed with young female athletes. This study challenges that idea because most of those who did physical activity during the teen years were not excessive about it which would have changed estrogen levels drastically although it could have made a slight enough change to effect the future health.

“I’d say you and your daughter are getting off the couch,” Dr. Alpa Patel, a cancer prevention specialist at the American Cancer Society said. “Women who engage in physical activity not only during adolescence but during adulthood lower their risk.”

Schools In China’s Quake Trap Thousands Of Students

The earthquake disaster in China may well be remembered by the massive amount of young students lost when their schools tumbled down trapping them into the earth.

Juyuan Middle School has beneath its former walls at least 900 students. At this time 60 bodies have been pulled from the rumble. The school comprised of eighth an ninth graders was in the middle of classes when the 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Monday afternoon. Located in

As the rain poured down on rescue workers bodies have been quietly been placed under a tarp. Parents wait in shock for word on a miracle taking place and their child being uncovered alive.

At least one family has had that miracle answered as a teenage girl was pulled out of the rumble alive Tuesday morning.

Some of the few survivors of the school were about to escape by running out of the building before it fell down.

“You tell us to wait, we can’t wait anymore. We must have some information,” a woman pleaded with soldiers Tuesday at the edge of the school in this hard-hit town. The troops were lined two deep, keeping the emotional family members away from the building.

“Give us information, tell us what’s happening,” the crowd shouted at the soldiers, surging forward every now and then before being pushed back.

The families of students at Juyuan Middle School are not the only ones praying for miracles. Several schools in China went down as the quake ravished the nation. In Mianyang city another school collapsed leaving at least 1,000 students and teachers entombed. That area though has been inaccessible for rescue workers.

Workers are trying to find the students in these schools with pickaxes, shovels and electric saws.

As the families wait in makeshift tents in a pouring rain specialized earthquake rescue units try to find miracles in the rubble. Let’s send out prayers that those miracles appear.

Neil Young Has New Spider Named After Him

A fan of Neil Young who happens to be a biologist named a newly discovered spider after the Canadian rocker. The trapdoor spider, Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi lives in Alabama.

East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond recently declared the spider is a new species and has sent students there to collect more of the species for specimens.

The musician is “worthy of that honour” because he’s been an activist for social and political issues, said Bond.

Bond is known for using names of people he knows when naming new species of spiders; Stasimopus mendelai is named after the South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela and the spider Apomastus kristenae is named after his wife, Kristen. I hope he didn’t use his wife’s name to get out of an anniversary present.

There are currently about 30 species of trapdoor spiders in California that need to be named. Bond has a list of names that are on his mind for those but not all of the spiders get a named after people.

Joel Graves, a spokesman for Young says that the company Lookout Manager that handles the Canadian has no comment.

Chinese Earthquake Causes 9,000 Dead, Buries Students, Sparks Chemical Leak

The news coming in from China after a massive afternoon earthquake is not good: Already there are reports of more than 9,000 dead, students buried under the rubble of a school and a toxic chemical leak that the nation is having to deal with.

The magnitude 7.9 earthquake shook much of China early this afternoon about 2:30 p.m. The hardest hit area appears to be Sichuan province where 8,533 have been reported dead. At least 300 others were killed in three other provinces and a major city, Chongqing took a huge hit from Mother Nature.

In Sichuan province’s Bueichuan county almost 80 per cent of the buildings have been destroyed. As rescue efforts begin there is the fear that the death toll will start to raise.

A chemical plant in Shifang city has cratered burying hundreds of people while spilling 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia.

This afternoon’s quake was felt as far away as Thailand.

The quake’s epicenter was about 60 miles from Chengdu, a city of 3.75 million. The quake hit during the middle of the afternoon with students in classes and business offices filled with workers. The initial tremor lasted for almost three minutes.

“It was really scary to be on the 26th floor in something like that,” said Tom Weller, a 49-year-old American oil and gas consultant staying at the Holiday Inn. “You had to hold on to something like that or you’d fall over. It shook for so long and so violently, you wondered how long the building would be able to stand this.”

Most of the buildings within the cities held up to the powerful shaking but rural structures did not fare as well. Several schools collapsed.

Landslides have hindered rescue efforts. The government is having to move it’s people into affected areas by foot as heavy rain has prevent four military helicopters from being able to land.

In Mianyang city all able-bodied men under the age of 50 have been ordered to take water and tools to Beichuan to help with the rescue area. The city has 80 percent of its structures fallen.

As people wait for help they have felt 313 aftershooks.

Panama Searches For 6,000 Potential Victims Of Contaminated Drugs From Two Years Ago

Panamanian investigators are on the hunt for 6,000 patients who received medicine that was contaminated with a chemical found in antifreeze and brake fluid. The medicine was handed to the government two years ago when 116 people died.

The medicines handed to the government were cough syrup, antihistamine tablets, calamine lotion and rash ointment made at a government laboratory. They all contained diethylene glycol.

Two years after the fact the Health Ministry is searching for those whose names were on the bottles to see if they still need treatment.

Relatives of those who died question the totals that the government say were sickened by the medicine. They believe the death count could be as high as 300.

A committee that represents the families of the victims is behind the new initiative after urging for some time for a more through investigation on the affects of the poisoned medicine.

“For us this is very important because it has been one of our demands,” Gabriel Pascual told RPC Radio. “Time will show we are right, and health authorities will have to really commit to helping everyone who was affected.”

So far the government has determined that 86 people survived after taking the medicine. 185 victims have already been compensated costing Panama’s government $7 million(U.S.).

The chemical was made by a Chinese company that sold what they claimed was 99.5 pure glycerin to a Spanish company. The Spanish company then allegedly sold the chemical to a company inside of Panama.

Canadian Named Playboy’s Playmate for 2008

The 2008 beauty named Playboy’s Playmate of the Year is Jayde Nicole of Canada. She is the first Playmate of the Year from Canada since Shannon Tweed claimed the title in 1982.

Jayde Nicole of Port Perry, Ontario was the owner of a modeling agency, Jayde Nicole Incorporated before getting the attention of Playboy in 2007. She was Miss January 2007.

The 22-year-old also won $100,000 in prize money and a 2008 Cadillac CTS along with the ten page spread in Playboy’s June issue. She will also star in her own special on Playboy’s TV channel.

NASA Makes Plans To Land On An Asteroid

NASA is about to make history as it plots to land spacemen on an asteroid that is traveling in space at 28,000mph towards the Earth. The massive rock called 2000SG344 is the size of a yacht.

If projections are correct it will narrowly miss the third rock from the Sun in 60 years.

If this yacht sized asteroid were to hit the Earth it would have the power of 84 Hiroshimas.

If NASA’s plan works out a manned flight would land on the rock and then piggyback it home while studying it. The mission has been dubbed Near Earth Object.

The mission won’t take place for a few more years though with crews being sent to the asteroid on a three month mission. The planned date is set for September 2030.

An asteroid will one day be on a collision course with Earth,” said Rob Landis, an engineer at Johnson Space Centre and co-author of the report, which is due to be published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

“Doesn’t it make sense, after going to the moon, to start learning more about them? Our study shows it makes perfect sense to do this soon after going back to the moon.”

NASA is hoping to explore deeper into the solar system. The Bush administration has announced that there are plans in the works for a manned mission to Mars.

Sounds like NASA is taking its latest directions from the sites of Hollywood. Armageddon anyone?

Robbery At The Sick Kid’s Shopper’s Drug Mart In Toronto

A man with a knife robbed the Shopper’s Drug Mart at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto on Saturday. Along with an unknown amount of money the robber took off with regular Tylenol.

Wielding a knife the man demanded money from a clerk at the hospital’s drug store. The store is often filled with youngsters and their parents. Thankfully no one was injured in today’s robbery.

According to Toronto police Staff Sgt. Jay Frosch a man entered the store at about 11:30 a.m. He is described as a white male in his 40s. He has brown hair and a goatee. He was wearing a Blue Jays cap, a two tone beige jacket and white shoes.

The Sick Kids Shopper’s Drug Mart is owned and operated by the hospital.

If you have information on this case please contact the Toronto police department.

Jeff Archuleta Is Banned From Rehearsals At American Idol

One of the final contestants on this year’s American Idol has a family problem. David Archuleta’s father Jeff has been banned from all further rehearsals.

Archuleta is one of the youngest contestants to make it into the competition. Sadly it appears his father is a bit of a problem when it comes to the rehearsals for the shows.

A source said that Jeff Archuleta was told that he is not welcome at rehearsals by the producers of the show.

Young David is a fan favorite making it into the top three. The seventeen-year-old from Murray, Utah could take the prize this year.

Jeff Archuleta’s backstage involvement in changing lyrics has cost the show money. By adding a verse from Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” to “Stand By Me” Archuleta pushed the producers into action.

Fox would not comment on the incident. Archuleta was not reachable. The phone number listed in Murray, Utah is no longer in service.

Down On His Luck Mike Gilbert Pens An O.J. Simpson BookA new tell all book is out in the market about O.J. Simpson. His ex-manager Mike Gilbert says that the former football star confessed to him that he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Simpson.

A new tell all book is out in the market about O.J. Simpson. His ex-manager Mike Gilbert says that the former football star confessed to him that he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Simpson.

On Monday “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse” by Gilbert will be in stores telling a tawdry tale of O.J.’s life during the following the June 12, 1994 murder of Nicole Simpson.

Gilbert says the alleged confession from Simpson during a night that Simpson consumed marijuana, beer and a sleeping pill. Simpson told Gilbert that the knife that was used was Nicole’s.

“Nothing more needed to be said,” Gilbert writes. “O.J. had confessed to me. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Simpson’s lawyer says that Gilbert is down on his luck because of a drug addiction and he owes the IRS.

“I’ve talked to O.J. about it,” said Galanter, who refused to allow Simpson to comment directly because of his upcoming robbery trial in Las Vegas. “This stuff not only didn’t occur but it’s not factually supported by the evidence.”

Gilbert says that it’s true about owing the IRS but he’s not a drug addict.

Gilbert says that he told Simpson to stop his arthritis medicine before the trial so his hands would swell and not be able to fit the gloves that were a key part of the evidence. He also said that he wasn’t the only one that helped Simpson get an innocent ruling.

It seems with the crowd that Simpson hang around when they get down on their luck they use the connection to the man and write a book. Who really knows if its a work of fiction or the true story.

Locke High School Fight Involved 600 Students

Police had the task of breaking up a fight between 600 students at Locke High School in South Los Angeles. The fight between rival black and Hispanic gangs started around noon on Friday.

As the fight raged students that were not involved were locked into their classrooms. Once order had been restored by the police those who were involved in the fight were separated by race, Hispanics were sent to the gym with black students sent to another of the schools rooms.

There were only four arrests to come out of the melee. Three of those arrested were students charged with fighting and one person who was not a student was charged with suspicion of possessing a knife.

Although no was was injured seriously enough for a trip to the hospital many were treated at the scene.

School staff had a difficult time telling who was involved in the fighting and who was trying to escape the insanity.

“The kids were crazy, running from place to place jumping on other kids,” Smith said. “Some of my kids were crying because they were walking to class with friends and they got jumped.”

According to student Victor Wong the root of the fight started on Wednesday between two graffiti gangs. Friday’s fight was planned after the first and was at first to be between 10 Hispanic students and 10 black students.

The group meet at the handball courts but spread throughout the school like a California wildfire. School security would show up to stop one fight only to find out other fights were being staged elsewhere.

The school district police sent 60 officers to the scene and the LAPD sent in another 50 officers along with more than a dozen police cars.

Senior Ronald White said that when the police arrived some of the students began to fight with them. Officers used their batons and pepper spray to subdue the riot.

Locke High School is known in the area as a violent school. Fights are a common occurrence during the school year. Friday’s melee though was the worst fight in years for the school.

There are 2,600 students enrolled at Locke. 65 percent of those are Hispanic and 35 percent black.

Pentagon Changes The Rules On Cremations For The Troops

The Pentagon is changing military cremation procedures after a soldier complained that a friend’s remains were taken to what he considered a pet crematorium.

The crematorium in question is located near Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The facility has two separate incinerators, one for animals and another for humans. The location of the property in a warehouse district and the signs on the building do not give the place the look of respect that one would expect for those killed in action. One of the signs that the Tolbert Funeral Home displays advertises the “Friends Forever” pet cremation service.

The mere fact that they are in a facility that also performs this same service for pets is, in the estimation of [Defense Secretary Robert Gates] and, I daresay, almost all the men and women you see walking around this building in uniform today, not appropriate for their service and sacrifice,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Those who are killed in battle are sent to Dover Air Force Base Port Mortuary. That building does not have its own crematorium. Dover has contracts with Torbert and Pippens Funeral Home for those who wish to have cremation for their burial.

Pippens’ incinerator is only used for humans.

The new policy that Gates has put in place will require that in the future only the facilities that deal in only humans can be used for the troops. There will also be a comprehensive review governing cremation and remains at all mortuary facilities used by the military.

“The families of the fallen have the secretary’s deepest apology,” Morrell said Friday evening.

“This report is very disturbing and our men and women in uniform who make the ultimate sacrifice must be treated with dignity,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain wrote.

The Story Of The Weather Channel, A Bidding War and A Sex Scandal

What happens when a television channel starts looking around for the highest bidder? The Weather Channel did just that at the beginning of the year saying they could bring someone at least $5 billion in sales.

When the story broke on the New York Times that the Weather Channel and its website weather.com were out looking for a new owner people started to check the place out.

Within days it had the interest of General Electric; the News Corporation; and Comcast.

What’s at stake here? One of the few remaining basic cable stations. A station that is widely watched and as one potential buyer stated the equivalent of “beachfront property” in the virtual scheme of things.

With climate change looming the station will only increase in viewers. Advertisers love this place. There are a lot of professional employees who know their stuff already in place. Heck Weather Channel employees 125 meteorologists.

Now if the television station wasn’t tempting enough they threw in their web site. A web site that is ranked the 18th largest media site by traffic. Last November they had a total of 32 million unique users.

Psst….that beats out those little guys like CNN.com and Facebook.

This seems like a no brainer for investors right?

It is except for this little, tiny sexual goof that is playing out behind the scenes.

Back in 2003 Hillary Andrews was hired to co-host along side Bob Stokes for the prime-time weekend show for The Weather Channel. She was brought in because the previous host had complained about hostile and abusive behaviour. That lucky anchor got shoved off into the nowhere land of late night TV.

Stokes never even got a slap on the hand for being the naughty boy in this picture. After all he did make the ratings and the public liked him so behind the scenes acting up was overlooked.

Now Ms. Andrews is a pretty lady so Mr. Stokes decided to hit on her. Andrews wasn’t interested. Stokes didn’t give up and tried to use his standing with the show to get her to change her mind. It didn’t work. Andrews now was being sexually harassed on a daily basis. Still because he was a big time player with the show she didn’t have a foot to stand on when she complained. It’s not like the execs were blind to what was going on.

Managers at The Weather Channel often thanked Ms. Andrews for “working with Bob, “getting along with Bob,” and “putting up with Bob.”

Finally the water cooler rumors reached beyond the ears of the ‘powers that be’ about Ms. Andrew’s not being able to take Stokes behaviour anymore. She got the word that her three year contract wasn’t going to be renewed. Next step, they moved her from the desk with Stokes for a series of lousy shifts and assignments. Funny, these moves were the same ones that the company had used with the previous co-anchor.

Ms. Andrews isn’t stupid. Before her contract was up she filed a demand for arbitration according to her contract with The Weather Channel. Her complaint? The company TWC allowed Bob Stokes to sexually harass her.

She won. On January 31st, 2008 the arbitrator issued an award of an undisclosed amount to Ms. Stokes.

For some reason the Weather Channel doesn’t want this little story out in the media while a bidding war is going on. They want that 17 pages of arbitration hidden until they get a new owner.

Oops, I think I just helped with the other media sources spill the beans

Myanmar’s Victims Suffer As Government Refuses To Allow Aid Workers Into Country

As the victims of Myanmar’s tragic cyclone wait for help, the U.N. has halted aid. Over 38 tons of biscuits that had been sent into the country were seized by Myanmar’s junta. Those biscuits could be providing relief to as many as 95,000 people.

“All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated,” U.N. World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said. “For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time.”

The government of Myanmar said that they indeed take over the shipment but that it plans to distribute the aid to the affected areas itself but says that U.N.’s comments on the action are baseless.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, government spokesman Ye Htut said the junta had clearly stated what it would do and denied the action amounted to a seizure.

“I would like to know which person or organization (made these) these baseless accusations,” he said.

With more than 60,000 people dead this is not the time for governments to play games. There are an estimated 1.5 million people in need of food, clean water and medicine. Many of the survivors are camped outdoors or crammed into Buddhist monasteries trying to make by.

The air is filled with the stench of rotting corpses that lie in the water. The Myanmar’s chapter of the Red Cross is sending in 20,000 body bags to begin the task of collecting bodies.

In the village of Kongyangon, someone had written in Burmese, “We are all in trouble. Please come help us” on black asphalt, a video from the Norway-based opposition news network, the Democratic Voice of Burma, showed. A few feet away was another plea: “We’re hungry.”

Water is scarce with the price increasing by more than 500 percent. Rice and oil prices have also skyrocketed.

The U.N. is getting more and more critical of the government within Myanmar refusing to allow foreign aid workers in to access the damage. The government wants the aid but not the personnel that generally comes with this type of natural disaster.

While the U.N. has had problems being allowed into the country the Red Cross has not. On Friday three planes lands loaded with shelter kits and emergency supplies to aid victims.

The victims themselves know that the government is unlikely to allow the aid to get to those most affected by the cyclone’s path.

“Believe me, the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area,” said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw.

“The government only cares about its own stability. They don’t care about the plight of the people,” he said.

Media representatives and search and rescue teams have not been given permission to enter the country so they stand by and wait to help.

The state media claims that 23,335 people have died with an additional 37,019 people missing. The coming weeks may see many more pass away because of illnesses associated with this type of disaster. Other sources estimate that the death count is closer to 100,000.

More than 2,000 square miles of land is underwater.

Never before has a government refused aid in the face of a nature disaster that would help its own people. We can only expect more devastating news to come forth about those who are suffering.

BBC Bureau Hit By Rocket In Baghdad

The BBC is the latest to face an attack in Iraq. The BBC’s bureau in Baghdad was hit Friday with a rocket. The details of the hit are very minimal with no one claiming responsibility for the attack.

The rocket hit the building that houses the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Baghdad bureau. There is damage to the roof where the rocket made a huge hole. Equipment is also reported to be damaged. There are no injuries as a result of this hit.

The rocket was part of a rocket and missile barrage in the Green Zone of downtown Baghdad.

Student At East End Toronto School In Hospital After Life-Threatening Stabbing

As the day was about to end Wednesday at Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute a sixteen-year-old boy was stabbed in the abdomen in a basement hallway of the school. The result was a lock-down of the school that lasted over an hour in the Toronto school.

The school located near Greenwood and Danforth Avenues was quickly being run by the Toronto police moments after Wednesday’s stabbing. The police spent 75 minutes going to each of the classrooms searching for those responsible for the stabbing.

“At this point, it’s being investigated as a robbery,” Sgt. Marilyn White said last night at the scene.

“I know there was an altercation,” she said, explaining few details were immediately available.

“I have been told by the officers doing the investigation that it was a robbery. But I don’t know what property, if any, was taken.”

The police were unable to find the suspects who are believed to be two teenage boys aged 16 or 17. The boys may or may not be students of the school.

The victim was rushed to treatment at St. Michael’s Hospital’s trauma centre. His stabbing is considered potentially life-threatening.

The school has almost 600 students and prior to this incident had not seen violence of this nature before.

Police are talking to students who may have been a witness to the crime. They are checking the school’s surveillance system to see if the crime was captured on tape.

If you have any information that would help police in this case place call the police at 416-808-5504 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

Boys In The East End Of Toronto Have Been Approached By A Suspected Sex Offender

Police in Toronto are warning parents of young boys living in the east end to be aware of a potential sex offender. A man has been reported approaching young boys and following them.

Two boys, 10 and 11, told police that while they were riding their bikes in the Leslie St. and Gerrard Street East area of town a man approached them on Tuesday. The man offered to pay the boys to go into a secluded area with him and “act in an inappropriate manner” according to the police. The boys went to one of their homes while the suspect followed them. When one of the boys left that home to go to his own home the suspect followed him. The next morning the suspect was outside of one of the boys homes. As soon as the child got to school he reported the incident. When police arrived the suspect was not around.

On Wednesday another ten-year-old boy was approached while walking in the Woodbine Avenue and Eastwood Drive area in the same manner near. The man was on a bike himself when this child was approached. From remarks made to the boy the police believe that the child was being watched by this man for some time prior to his approach. Again the suspect offered money. He stopped following the boy at Gerrard Street East.

Another incident later on Wednesday afternoon saw two 12-year-old boys being approached and offered money at the Bowmore Road School playground. The boys went into the school’s community centre and reported the incident. The man left when an adult from the centre approached him.

The man speaks English with no accent. He is between 40 and 60 years old. He has a small frame and is about 5 foot 8 inches tall. He has slight facial hair. On Wednesday he was on a silver BMX bike with light blue wheels.

The man was wearing a black hoodie with a football player print on the front of the garment. He had a black baseball cap on and black sunglasses with yellow and orange arms.

If you know this man or have had any contact with someone fitting this description please contact the police at 416-808-5505. Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 416-222-

First Love Born Just Hours After Cyclone Nargis Blew Away Village

In the face of sorrow from Cyclone Nargis comes new life. Than Win lost seven of her 10 children in the Cyclone. On Wednesday she gave birth to her eleventh child in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta where over 10,000 are now dead. The 41-year-old mother gave birth to Chit Oo Mg which translated means “First Love” after clinging to a tree beside her home for two hours.

The baby was born at 20:46 shortly after the first medical team arrived in the town. Five members of the team quickly rushed her into a makeshift clinic in one of the few standing homes left in the village.

Australian State Is Banning Piercings For Minors

Within weeks teens under the age of 16 will have to get their Mum or Dad to sign off if they want to get a piercing in New South Wales.

The ban on young teenagers is going in effect because of the health risks that can come from the fashion trend. Nipple and genital piercings for those under 16 are outlawed outright. Parents can give their permission for ear, nose and navel piercings.

“Personally, I can’t see why any child under the age of 16 would want to expose their genitalia to a stranger just to fulfil the needs of a fashion or a trend,” he said.

Piercings have the risk of hepatitis B or C, toxic shock and blood poisoning.

Operators who choose to break the law will faces heavy fines. If they are found to have carried out an intimate piercing on a minor they will have to pay up to $22,000. Other piercings completed without parental permission will carry a possible $3,000 fine.

Hackers Attack The Epilepsy Foundation Website Causing Headaches and Near-Seizures

Hackers that tapped into the Epilepsy Foundation’s website with hundreds of rapidly changing flashing pictures have shown that these criminals can be motivated by not just greed but malice also.

The breach on the site has caused some viewers to experience severe migraines and near-seizure reactions when they viewed the images. People who have photosensitive epilepsy can have seizures when exposed to flickering images.

The hackers found a security hole in the foundations publishing software that allowed them to quickly make multiple posts and overwhelmed the site’s support forums.

The posts looked like helpful spots with a link that lead viewers to pages that had kaleidoscopic images.

“They were out to create seizures,” said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing for the foundation, which is based in Landover, Md.

Because of the attack users will no longer be allowed to post images to the support forum or have direct links to other sites. The attack also made 24 hour a day moderation a need. The FBI is investigating the attack.

Security experts say this and other recent hacker attacks illustrate the dangers that websites face when allowing users to post content on parts of their sites.

Another recent example of hacking came when someone went into the coding of Senator Barack Obama’s site and redirected users to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s site.

The attack on the Epilepsy Foundation’s site does not appear to be motivated by profit. There was no attempt from the hackers to gain control of a victim’s computer by coding. The result though was quite cruel.

“I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it’s funny to put a cat in a bag and throw it over a clothesline – they don’t realize how cruel it is,” said Paul Ferguson, a security researcher at antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. “It was an opportunity waiting to happen for some mean-spirited kid.”

Blogger’s True Story About Being Damned To Hell

Have you been bad? I mean really bad, bad enough that perhaps you’ve been told you’re a candidate for Hades? Are the Moral Right on your back? Are your toes getting a bit singed from the brimstone? If so I have a line on a get out of Hell free card.

Randy Cassingham is a blogger. He writes about bizarre news stories over at This Is True. Like everyone who blogs the news one of his stories caused a bit of an uproar with a reader telling him he was going to go to hell. When he replied that his consulting minister didn’t have a problem with said story the reader decided that the minister was hell bound too.

The story was on feng shui by the way. The reader didn’t seem to grasp that feng shui isn’t even a religion and it’s not “anti-Christian” but to each there own.

That’s the middle of this story though. Years ago Cassingham had made up a batch of cards for Cathie Walker of SillyGirl.com when she mentioned an evil scheme she was working on.

I said to her “Ooooh: you’re going straight to hell for that one!” Cathie quickly joked back, “But wait, I have a Get Out of Hell card here in my purse!”

Great ideas come up when you’re just joking around. Next thing you know Cassingham is designing said card and printing a few up for his friend. And that was that, a sweet gesture for a friend to save her soul from the fires of Hell.

Zoom forward to the present. Cassingham remembered those cards he had made years ago. He touched up those long forgotten cards and printed out 2,000 of them. Blogger that he is, Cassingham told his readers the whole story and they went nuts. He offered to send them to readers who had made requests 10 of them for a buck to cover printing and postage.

He had 2,000 cards so Cassingham figured that they would last for months. Boy, was he wrong. They made it for three days. He made up 2,000 more and they lasted for 4 days. He had to keep increasing the print orders until they were at 20,000 a time.

The cards have gone to each and every of the 50 States and all of the Canadian provinces as well. They are so popular there have been orders sent to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey.

It’s a nice little side business now.

So go ahead and write an article that gets you damned you can send off for your own ‘Get Out Of Hell Card’ too.

Bees Not Getting Stronger, More Hive Deaths Reported

A survey of the health of honey bees released on Tuesday revealed how the insect’s numbers dwindled and crops were in danger in the past year.

At the end of last year’s honey bee season it was a wait and see period to be able to judge if the honeybees could come back strong. The answer from the Apiary Inspectors of America is not giving a good outlook. With 36.1 percent of the United States’ managed bee hives lost this year looks even worst than last year. Last year there was a loss of 32 percent of the hives.

The honey bees are succumbing to new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite in record numbers.

Colony deaths are proving that bees are dying at levels that can not be sustainable. It does not appear that the situation will be improving either.

“For two years in a row, we’ve sustained a substantial loss,” Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of Apiary Inspectors of America said. “That’s an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm.”

The survey of commercial bee hives included 327 operators. Those operators account for 19 percent of the United States’ 2.44 million commercially managed bee hives.

Colony Collapse Disorder is a major concern again this year with 29 percent of the deaths of hive due to this cause. Beekeepers that have dealt with CCD have much larger losses than those who are clear of the disorder.

Because of the huge number of bee hive deaths federal grants and funding from companies like Haagen-Dazs are increasing. Haagen-Dazs relies on honey bees to pollinate the many fruits, berries and nuts that go into their products for flavoring.

The Hunt For Angelica’s Family

Toronto police think they may have found a woman related to little Angelica Leslie. The infant was abandoned in a stairwell in December when she was a mere eight months.

Because of the recent development, authorities are asking for a month’s delay in naming the now-11-month-old a Crown’s ward while they investigate a “person of interest.”

Once Angelica is named a ward of the Crown, the Children’s Aid Society can go forward in seeking an adoptive family. There have been over 80 requests for adopting the baby with an angel’s facesince she was found in a cold stairwell this winter. Found in a plaza on Leslie Street and Finch Avenue, the child was named Leslie by those who took her in.

The security video from the scene showed a green car pulling up to the stairwell and then driving away. The police are not sure if there is a connection between Angelica and the woman on the film.

In the number of people that we are looking at, there is a possibility that some of them could be kin. I wouldn’t go so far as to say (that one of them could be the child’s mother) but that is a possibility.

If Angelica’s mother were to be found it is unlikely that the child would be returned to her.

Children’s Aid Society authorities say that the baby is doing very well in her foster care placement.

Maybe Father Does Know Best, At Least For Britney Spears

After a few months of being on a very short leash, Britney Spears is starting to emerge a little stronger. She won more time with her sons in court yesterday. Could it be her father’s strict rules are paying off for the pop star?

Spears was diagnosed with bipolar disorder earlier this year according to many press reports. The mental illness that composes of odd behaviours among other symptoms requires daily medication. During the midst of her breakdowns and hospitalizations Jaime Spears stepped in to take over the reins of his daughter’s empire. While criticized about money it appears that a tough love approach has worked wonders for the young singer.

As the judge listened to Spears in court Tuesday, he praised her for getting her personal life back in control. That added measure of control will allow her to regain a small amount of time added to her visitations with her and Kevin Federline’s two toddlers. Federline has had full custody of the boys since October when Spears behaviour spiraled out of control.

“We all see indicators of progress by Ms. Spears,” Federline’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, told reporters after the closed door hearing, which heard a report on Spears by a mental health expert.

“What was a seemingly daily state of extreme flux has been stabilized,” Kaplan said.

Unlike previous court appearances when Spears arrived late and in cocktail dresses to see the judge Tuesday she was on time and dressed for the occasion in a simple brown polka dotted dress and sweater.

Spears has begun to work again appearing on the show “How I Met Your Mother” in March. She has also stayed out of the limelight in the past two months.

Jaime Spears has control of both Britney’s personal and business affairs.

Kevin Federline is reported to be pleased with the way Spears is heading. He has appeared to be supportive of his ex-wife in regards to their children even having visitation altered to enable Spears to see the children after she had been denied any access to them at all.

Federline’s spokesman, Elliott Mintz, told reporters that Federline was pleased by Tuesday’s hearing. “At the end of this saga he is hoping and believing that there will be two children who are raised in the company of the two people who love them,”

24 Sussex Needs Massive Repairs

The latest reports out of Ottawa are 24 Sussex will cost about $10 million to repair. When the reno begins the Prime Minister will have to have other lodgings for as long as 15 months.

Stephen Harper, however, has no plans to go anywhere “between now and the next election,” says a spokeswoman.

“The prime minister and his family find 24 Sussex adequate to their needs, and see no need for substantial renovation programs at this time,” said Carolyn Stewart Olsen.

Stephen Harper isn’t planning on vacating the 34 room house that overlooks the Ottawa River. Built between 1866 and 1868 the house has many of the problems of any other home from that time period. Given the massive size of the home that spans three hectares and it’s easy to see why the cost of the renovations could cost as much as they will.

Everything needs to be overhauled from heating to wall fixes. There may be asbestos as well to deal with.

The house is drafty, so drafty that the beautiful bay windows have to have plastic wrap placed on them during the winter.

The repairs needed are a massive undertaking. The ceilings and interior walls have to be opened up to replace wiring, install new air ducts and to remove toxic materials. All the major systems within the residence are out dated and should be replaced, the wiring and plumbing systems are years behind.

By repairing 24 Sussex the home could be a model in green living and still preserve the historical value.

These needed repairs are not news. Before Harper moved into the residence he was asked to wait so they could be completed. Harper refused.

While the repairs could be scheduled here and there it makes most sense to do them all at once and be done with it. That would require for the Prime Minister and his family to be housed elsewhere while the work was being done.

“The official residences are more than housing provided to the country’s senior government leaders,” Sheila Fraser says. They’re also at times used to welcome foreign dignitaries, or to host ceremonies and high-level working meetings.

“They are part of Canada’s heritage and need to be preserved.”

Now it’s just a question of getting Harper to vacate the premises long enough to do what needs to be done.

Recall: Bags From Indigo And Chapters

About 10,000 tote bags have been recalled from Indigo and Chapters book stores in Canada. The bags have caused a skin irritation in some people.

The bags were part of a promo for Mother’s Day. The gift bags are blue floral with a green lining and were offered as a gift with purchase. The stores pulled them May 2 after tests revealed that there is the presence of a potential skin irritant. They were given out between April 30 through May 2.

If you have one of the tote bags return it to the store in exchange for a gift card.

Huge Drug Bust At San Diego State University

Students at San Diego State were living the high life a bit too much. An undercover drug operation arrested 75 students on Tuesday. There were a total of 96 arrests made by the DEA and police. Partying hard is going to cost many more than just bail.

Some of the students are in school studying for degrees in criminal justice and homeland security. Those arrested had guns, money and drugs in their possession.

The operation began in May 2007 when a student overdosed. Another overdose death happened as recently as Februaru at a frat house.

“DEA agents infiltrated several student drug distribution cells and more than 130 drug purchases and seizures were made” during the investigation known as Operation Sudden Fall, according to the press release.

The arrests were a direct result of an SDSU-led investigation according to the school’s website. Arrested students have been suspended and will not be allowed to take final exams until completion of the due-process review entitled under the law. Those that lived in dorms have been evicted.

The drug charges ranged from possession to selling cocaine. Defendants will face the judge later this afternoon.

Why Are So Many Children Dying?

Almost 10 million children will die this year before they celebrate their fifth birthday. They are dying from diseases that are easy to treat if the treatment was available.

“A child’s chance of celebrating a fifth birthday should not largely depend on the country or community where he or she is born,” said David Morley, president and CEO of Save the Children Canada upon issuing the report. “We need to do a better job of reaching the poorest children with basic health measures like vaccines, antibiotics and skilled care at childbirth. These simple measures, while taken for granted in Canada, are not reaching millions of children under age 5, and can determine whether a child lives or dies in poor countries and communities.”

Basic health care is the key to changing the death rate of the very young. In countries like Nigeria the simplest health care is no where to be found.

Simple measures could save lives. A knitted cap could keep a baby alive in colder climates like Tibet where half of all infants come down with hypothermia within the first week of their life.

“Parents do everything they can to protect their babies from cold. But the most important thing, putting a hat on the baby’s head, is neglected – that’s like
leaving a thermos bottle filled with hot water but without a lid.”
TashiTsering, Save the Children’s Health Project Manager in Tibet

Save The Children’s annual global report is showing a sad case in regards to how the youngest are treated medically.

In sub-Saharan Africa four out of every five mothers bury a child.

Developing countries lack the simplest basic health care services that would cut child death rates drastically. Simple interventions like prenatal care, skilled assistance during birth, immunizations and treatment for diarrhea and pneumonia are denied to 30 percent of all children in countries that are developing.

The line between poor and rich children’s health care is huge even in the countries with the best ranking.

Antibiotics that cost less than 30 cents could treat the number one killer of children, pneumonia. A solution of salt, sugar and potassium can help keep children suffering from the number two killer diarrhea alive.

Why are these measures not available for every child that is born into the world? War, extreme poverty, remoteness all are factors.

“When children die needlessly, we have a moral and humanitarian imperative to act. Our nation has always adopted the common cause of those in need. And at a time when we have the tools and the knowledge to save millions of young lives each year, we should do so with greater urgency and commitment. During the two hours it has taken us to have this hearing, some 2,000 children have died. The clock is ticking. The time to act is now.”

Feb.2008 – Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., (Current Chair of Save the Children US’ Survive to 5 campaign)

Eight of the 55 countries in the Basic Health Care Report Card reach 60 percent. Eight out of 55 countries are horrible odds when it comes to the life of a child. In Ethiopia the odds are stacked in favor of death with only 20 percent of the nation’s children getting basic lifesaving care.

Even in the countries that are in the top rankings like the Philippines fall short when it comes to the care of the Filipino children. These kids are 3.2 times more likely to go without health care than their richer neighbours.

To stack the odds in favor for the children of the world Save The Children recommends the following:

1. Design health care programs to target the poorest mothers and children. By filling the gap between the richest and the poorest child death rates will decease.

2. Invest in educating and obtaining community health workers to treat the poorest of the poor. Many children die of such simple conditions that with basic health care would not even require a hospital stay.

3. Deliver basic maternal, newborn and child health care that takes into account the realities of life for the poorest families. It’s one thing to prescribe a pill for a child, it’s another thing to make sure the family can obtain that medication.

For more information about the report feel free to contact Save the Children at
416-221-5501 ext 305.

You can download the report at the Save the Child website here.

The Smell Of Marijuana Filled The Air At Saturday’s Global Marijuana March In Toronto

This past weekend it was a high old time on some of Toronto’s downtown streets as marijuana fans marched. The air was scented with the smell of Mary Jane as some toked it up in the Canadian city.

The march was to celebrate the cannabis culture and push for legalization of the drug.

Police let marchers stroll down Bloor Street light up without a word. Chanting “free the weed” the merry crowd blended in with shoppers as smiling motorists honked with approval.

Toronto was the flagship of the 200 cities worldwide taking part in the Global Marijuana March for the tenth year.

Saturday’s march has shown a raise in popularity as the issue of marijuana legalization remains political TNT.

When the Liberals were in charge of Canada it seemed that marijuana legalization was about to take place. That changed when Stephen Harper’s turn came up killing the bill in 2006.

While smoking pot still isn’t legal in Maple Leaf country the laws are generally more lenient than south of the border in the USA. There is a nationwide medical marijuana program in Canada for those who can show a need for it.

The rally was organized by a 36-year-old only known as “The Gerbz.”

“It’s about coming together to build awareness and to break through the stereotypes and stigmas that political elements and the media have perpetuated over the last 70 years since ‘Reefer Madness,”‘ he said, referring to a 1930s propaganda film that featured melodramatic scenes of marijuana turning teenagers into homicidal maniacs.

Starting at Queen’s Park the rally had a festival air. Smoke could be seen floating from bongs as music livened up the already festival attitude. The police were in the background more concerned with traffic than the merry band of tokers.

“We’re letting them smoke if they want to smoke,” one traffic cop said with a grin and a shrug.

“The city gave them a permit.”

Olympic Tickets Selling Out Quickly

Ready to get your tickets for the Beijing Olympics? You better bring some serious cash if you’re not a national of China. Most of the events are pricy and finding those tickets may not be an easy task.

75 percent of the tickets being sold only to Chinese nationals. The rest could have been bought online at Cosport but the sales have already ended. There are no further ticket sales at that site.

At another online site there are still ticket sales going on. If you want to see the Opening Ceremonies though you better be ready to sell out some serious bucks, the lowest price is $5,500. Tickets to the team finals for Women’s artistic gymnastics are $510 to $600 while the preliminaries range from $385 to $450. Tickets to see fencing though are a bit cheaper at $150.

Those prices are for the tourists though. The Chinese people will have a better chance to obtain and afford to see the games. 58 percent of the tickets being sold in China will cost about $12. Some tickets are being reserved just for students at the price of a buck.

In China people can get their tickets from the Internet or any of the 1,000 branches of the Bank of China that are serving as a ticket agent. The nation is hoping to make $140 million in sales from selling the sporting tickets. There first ticketing plans were announced in 2007. Since that time there have been some problems getting those tickets out.

Ticket sales have seen limits placed so group bookings are not a possibility. In the case of the opening and closing ceremonies only one ticket per person is being sold in China. At the most popular events only two tickets can be obtained per person.

Limiting tickets to one per person is a problem for sure, but there are just too many of us Chinese,” Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing Organising Committee said. “We’ve taken this policy to ensure many more people can watch the games.”

There have been measures taken to guard against fake tickets being put out in the marketplace. Rong Jun, head of ticketing says that electronic chips will be used.

The online system collapsed during the demand for tickets the first time they were offered six months ago. On Monday another wave of tickets were released. The Internet was slow but survived the onslaught of customers.

There were reports of people waiting in lines at Bank of China branches to pick up one of the 1.38 million new tickets that went on sale.

Four of the competitions sold out within the first 30 minutes.

“The website may become a little bit slow at peak hours, but it’s still normal and there’s no problem,” said Zhu Yan, director of the Beijing ticketing centre. He said about 320,000 tickets were sold with the system – at its peak – receiving 27 million hits in an hour.

A year ago organizers claimed that 7.2 million tickets would be available for domestic and foreign sales, that figure went down to 6.8 million with no explanation.

We have made sufficient preparation this time including the tests of our network, our credit card operation and our system for the acceptance of purchase applications,” said Xu Zheng, Olympic affairs director for the Bank of China. “The preparation work was done in a very careful way because we had lessons to learn in last year’s experience.”

The Games will begin on August 8.

Death Tends To Quiet A Reporter, No Arrests Keep Others Silent

In the past 15 years there have been 500 deaths with only 15 percent of the cases being brought to justice for one career. Would it surprise you to know that journalism is a dangerous business and the law isn’t that concerned when a reporter is murdered?

“Every time a journalist is murdered and the killer is allowed to walk free, it sends a terrible signal to the press and to others who would harm journalists,” said Joel Simon, executive director of New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Censorship is alive and well in many parts of the world. Silence is achieved by a bullet into one who doesn’t conform and gets the truth out. In 2007 alone there were 65 journalists silenced. According to CPJ governments either don’t have the means available to prosecute those who quiet reporters or have no desire to even bother with the case.

Last November the Global Initiative to Combat Impunity was launched by CPJ. They just released the “Impunity Index” to coincide with World Press Freedom Day. That was on Sunday, it barely made a blip in the world of media.

This year the list detailed journalists who were killed in the line of duty whose cases have had no convictions. For a country to be included in the list it had to have had more than five unsolved murders between 1998 to 2007.

Cases where a journalist was killed in combat zones were not included on this year’s list for the sake of objectivity. Cases that included a conviction of the murder but not the mastermind behind such assassins were also not included on the list.

Not surprisingly the countries with the most unsolved murders of journalists were Iraq, Sierra Leone and Somalia. These three countries have high levels of internal conflicts. What is surprising is that other countries listed have stable governments and are considered democracies such as India, Russia and Mexico yet the murder of journalists still go unannounced.

In some incidents journalists have been killed because they uncovered and expose government corruptions. Such was a case in the Philippines where a journalist was murdered after using the media to highlight that a mayor had stolen steel beams from a public construction site for his own use. Other local journalists may cease to write about such corruptions for fear they will be the next target of a gunman. When these murders go without arrests it tells those who wish to quiet the press that they are in the clear.

Censorship doesn’t just take place with the loss of life. Threats, intimidation all play a part in quieting reporters. When it’s life and death rules sometimes a journalist will opt to play by the ‘rules’ and survive.

Generally if a conviction does take place in the worst offending countries it is because a foreign journalist was the target of an assassin’s bullet.

“We are calling for action, thorough investigations and vigorous prosecutions in all journalist homicides,” Simon said

As The World Gets Hungrier The Big Name Food Companies Get Richer

The world food crisis is beginning to accelerate sending millions of people to the brink of starvation. As the world faces food prices so high that people are facing hunger mega agribusinesses are making a killing.

Something is not right here. With the price of wheat, corn and rice soaring how can the profits for the food companies be at an all time high?

Cargill is one of those companies that is going full steam ahead. Their net earning in the first quarter of 2008 went up by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030 billion.

Archer Daniels Midland is the world’s largest processor of soy, corn and wheat. It would be safe to assume that they are suffering as much as the 100 million people in the world who face severe hunger. You’d be wrong if you believed that. The companies net earning rose 42 percent in the first quarter this year going from $363m to $517m. The grains merchandising and handling operations jumped from $21m to $341m.

What the heck is going on here?

Mosaic Company is one of the world’s largest fertiliser companies. Over the past year the price of some of their products tripled over last year. Because of the higher price developing countries are having a hard time being able to afford their fertiliser. The company has to be suffering right along with those who are struggling to have one small meal a day, right? Wrong. The first quarter of the year saw a 12-fold rise in income going from 42.2 million dollars to 520.8 million.
Something stinks more than the manure here.

As demands increase the big food companies pockets are getting stuffed with green. World food stocks are at a record low and yet the companies that profit from this are at a record high.

Cargill says that its results “reflect the cumulative effect of having invested more than $18 billion in fixed and working capital over the past seven years to expand our physical facilities, service capabilities, and knowledge around the world”.

As the world struggles to deal with the increasing food crisis these companies can expect to only gain more monies. Supply and demand are making the rich much richer as the poor starve to death on the street.

Op-Ed: What Are Human Rights?

Human rights are a big buzz word in today’s media. Tibet, China, Iran, Iraq and even the countries of North America have been questioned over their human rights policies. But what exactly are human rights?

“ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ”

—Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)[2]

Being born free. Equal. With dignity.

All humans are born free to have the right to the basics in life. Right? Well it depends on where you are born. If you are born poor you may not get those same rights that everyone is spouting out about.

Human rights are a ‘new age’ philosophy if you look back to its humble beginnings. It is also a very selective philosophy.

Consider that women were just recently deemed equal to men in most parts of the world, historically speaking. In other parts of the world they are still not quite so equal.

Let’s get to the root of human rights. If you bring it down to brass tacks it was meant for the ‘average white man’ to have the same freedoms as all other ‘average white men.’

The thoughts about human rights of course have changed since the humble beginnings of many Western governments giving their citizens basic rights.

Seriously though when one considers what human rights are who has them all? In North America we are allowed to worship who we choose. But are we? If we go against the grain and opt for a non-Christian lifestyle then even the rulers that govern us condemn us with their words.

“I am committed to the First Amendment principles of religious freedom, tolerance, and diversity. Whether Mormon, Methodist, Jewish, or Muslim, Americans should be able to participate in their constitutional free exercise of religion. I do not think witchcraft is a religion, and I do not think it is in any way appropriate for the U.S. military to promote it.” -George Bush

What about the right to obtain an education? That again depends on where you live and if you were lucky enough to be born into a family with money.

We can expect to not be arrested for something without a reason. Well, unless the government thinks you have ties to terrorism or are a terrorist because then human rights are not so much there. We have the right to fall in love, as long as we fall in a heterosexual type of love. Otherwise it’s iffy and depends on where you live. We have the right to have food, as long as we can afford it. If you can’t afford it and you fit in the right boxes on the welfare agenda then you are given money for food. If you don’t fit into the box though there are soup kitchens and the like in the bigger cities. There is always mudpies it you are dirt poor.

Did you ever notice that the right to medical care isn’t listed in human rights? Free medical care is not a right in parts of the world. Loopholes have all the fun.

Human rights are a glorious idea but are they real? In a perfect world yes but this world isn’t perfect. Human rights are a standard that governments aim for but often fall short. The West does have some of the best human rights of the world but it’s not perfect. We have to remember that it’s also not always the same desires of other cultures to be like the West.

We are all the same under our coverings yet that covering changes what rights we can hope to have. Men have different rights than women, whites have different rights than blacks, religious people have different rights than non-believers and so on. It’s not perfect, it’s not fair but it is the reality that we live

Insulin Pumps Have Been Linked To Injuries And Death In Some Diabetic Teenagers

Teens with Type 1 Diabetes often use Insulin pumps as part of treating the disease but an FDA study shows the device has been linked to injuries and a few deaths.

The FDA is not saying the teens with juvenile diabetes should not be provided the insulin pump that can help make life more manageable. Parents though do need to be keeping a close eye on their children’s devices and understand that the machine is not infallible.

Some of the problems with the pumps and teenagers is simply lack of education when a teen wasn’t sure on the correct use. Another problem observed was not taking care of the pump or dropping them.

“The FDA takes pediatric deaths seriously,” said the agency’s Dr. Judith Cope, lead author of the analysis. “Parental oversight and involvement are important. Certainly teenagers don’t always consider the consequences.”

There were also two possible suicide attempts using the pump to administer too much insulin.

With the proper care the pumps can be a part of normal teen life for diabetes patients. Up to 100,000 teens may already be using the machine that costs about $6,000 with supplies running at $250 a month.

Insulin pumps are used for Type 1 diabetes. Between 5 and 10 percent of all diabetic cases are Type 1 which is also known as juvenile diabetes. Type 2 is the more common form found in adults primary and often linked to obesity.

Up to 24 million people worldwide have the Type 1 version of the disease. Type 1 happens when the body attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. When insulin levels are too high they can cause heart disease, blindness and kidney damage.

The pumps are small, the size of a cell phone, and worn on a belt or carried in a pocket. Through a plastic tube that is inserted under the skin insulin is carried into the body. Users using the device tell the machine how much insulin to give prior to each meal based on the estimated carbs they are eating. There are also devices designed to give a constant low level flow of insulin.

The FDA study appears in the May issue of the journal Pediatrics reporting the adverse effects and deaths associated with the pumps in adolescents between 1996 to 2005. The FDA required that the manufacturers to report any injuries that can be linked to medical devices. The study looked at cases reported from the pump with patients aged from 12 to 21. The reports they reviewed were not always clear as to the cause of death or injury.

Even with the pump patients must check sugar levels although some of the devices cut the number of times with a glucose monitor.

One of the problems that has been observed is a blocked tube that can quickly cause an episode of high blood sugar.

“In a matter of a few hours, all the insulin in the body disappears,” said Dr. John Buse, the American Diabetes Association’s president for medicine and science. “Metabolically, the child starts to spiral out of control.

“Kids need to be aware of the risk, monitor their blood sugar and be ready to give themselves an insulin injection.”

While there are some problems with the pumps they are still a vital part of diabetes treatment giving teens a better chance of a ‘normal’ life. When used correctly and with monitoring they enable events like pizza nights out with friends that in the past was frowned upon.

This Beer Is For Bramanti

When Bill Bramanti passes away he will still be partying like this past Saturday night. The Pabst Blue Ribbon lover got his custom-made casket delivered and decided to throw a party.

Bramanti, 67, loves his favorite brew so much that when he goes he will be packed up in his silver coffin that looks like a huge Pabst’s can.

Saturday night the Glenwood village administrator threw a party for his friends filling his new coffin with ice and his favorite beer.

“Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?” said Bramanti’s daughter, Cathy Bramanti, 42.

The coffin was designed by Scott Sign Co. of Chicago Heights. Bramanti ordered the coffin from Panozzo Bros. Funeral Home in Chicago Heights.

Toronto Fire Destroys Salvation Army Toys and Food Donations

A fire broke out near Victoria Park and Lawrence Avenue in Toronto on Sunday destroying toys and food that were in a Salvation Army warehouse. The millions of dollars destroyed had been collected for the annual toy Mountain drive in the fall.

A fire sprinkler system helped to save the building from the blaze but the toys were damaged by the water and smoke. The result is thousands of toys that were to be given to area children will not be of any use.

CTV sponsors the yearly toy drive during the fall. Because of last year’s drive 85,000 children in Toronto who may not have otherwise had gifts under their Christmas trees saw a little something from Santa.

About 100,000 toys were damaged in the fire. The Salvation Army keeps a reserve of toys because they only start to get donations in the fall. If they didn’t have the reserve the many area child whose parents rely on the charity may not have gifts.

“We don’t start to get enough toys in volume in order to meet the need at Christmas so we like to have some in reserve before we start and that way we just keep on replenishing as it comes,” he told CTV Toronto on Sunday. “So yeah, we have to get some toys in to restock so we have that lift-up during the Christmas season.”

It is estimated that $4 million of toys and food stocks were damaged. Although the building was covered by insurance it will still take time to replenish the lost items.

Clean up is expected to take several days.

You don’t want to see something like this happen at all,” said acting Toronto fire chief Don McCormack. “These toys would have gone to a very good cause.”

Brazil Ferry Sinks Killing At Least 15

A boat carrying at least 80 people sank early Sunday as it ferried people home from a party in Brazil’s Amazon. Fifteen were killed and dozens more are still missing.

The Comandante Sales ferryboat sank during a rainstorm in the predawn hours on the Solimoes River. The wooden boat was grounded several months ago because it had failed inspections. It is unclear as to how many people it was authorized to carry.

Because there are so few roads in the region boats act as buses.

Rescue workers had recovered 15 bodies by Sunday evening and will be back to work in the morning to look for the others who are missing. Most of those who died where women.

It may take up to three months to know the cause of the accident. It is suspected that heavy rainfall contributed to conditions that caused the boat to capsize. Another factor is likely to be overloading of passengers, a common practice on the Amazon.

The passengers were traveling from their small river town to another for a party. Some of those who survived were able to swim to shore while others were rescued by boats that were in the area when the accident took place. Authorities are not sure how many of the passengers have survived.

Suspected Bomb Damages San Diego Court House

It is suspected that a pipe bomb that exploded at a federal courthouse in San Diego damaged the front entrance and blew out a window. There are no reports of injuries.

There were a few people around the building early Sunday morning when the explosion took place. The building is located in the Gaslamp Quarter of the city.

The explosion took place at about 1:40 a.m. Sunday morning. About 40 agents combed the area looking fr explosives. At this time there have been no arrests.

Debris was found eight stories up across the street in the AT&T building that faces the courthouse. It is hoped that the surveillance cameras that are outside of the building will provide some answers. There are no cameras that face the doorway.

While the investigation is ongoing local streets have been closed. The courthouse will be closed on Monday so that repairs can be made.

Op-Ed: China Vs. The Dalai Lama, It All Depends On Who You Believe

As the Dalai Lama’s envoy meets with Chinese officials what is the feeling in China? In the West we hear the side of the Dalai Lama and often not the China’s version. The Chinese version is generally the opposite of what is being said in the West.

Both governments are hoping for positive results with the current talks. The four representatives are China’s Zhu Weiqun and Sitar (who uses only one name) and the Dalai Lama’s two private representatives Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen meeting in Shenzhen, north of Hong Kong.

“Our policy toward the Dalai Lama is clear and consistent, and the door for dialogue remains open,” President Hu told journalists from 16 Japanese media organizations during an interview.

“During this brief visit, the envoys will take up the urgent issue of the current crisis in the Tibetan areas,” Chhime Chhoekyapa, a secretary to the Dalai Lama, said earlier.

“They will convey His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s deep concerns about the Chinese authorities’ handling of the situation and also provide suggestions to bring peace to the region.

China’s position is that the local government was right to take accordance with the law when the peaceful protests in Lhasa turned violent. The government simply moved in to safeguard the legal system and was in the best interest of the Tibetan residents.

The government wishes for the Tibetan government-in-exile to stop plotting against the Chinese government in order to have a peaceful Olympics in Beijing this summer. During the torch run to Beijing there have been several protests urging for a Free Tibet.

But do the Chinese people believe that Tibet’s human rights issues really matter in the wide scope of things? The Communist Party of China published in the The People’s Daily an article that said the Dalia Lama has no right to even talk about human rights issues. the article “The ‘Tibet Issue’ has nothing to do with human rights” was written by He Zhenhua. The columnist has recently published several other articles that supports patriotism in China and criticizes the Dalia Lama.

According to He the old Tibet was a maze of human slavery with Tibetans divided into different classes. Slave owners were only 5% of the population and reigned over all other Tibetans. He goes on to say that the Dalai Lama should be more concerned about his fellow Tibetans in exile who he claims have no human rights at all in India.

Tibet has maintained an average of 12 percent annual growth with free medical services and education. Private housing in the region is also growing. That’s the Chinese line.

Yet the Tibetan refugee community in exile is considered one of the most successful refugee communities worldwide. The India government provides medical and educational facilities for these refugees.

It’s all a matter of which side you believe.

The Chinese government has been accused of denying religious freedoms. On the other hand that same government has accused the Dalai lama of stirring up trouble within Tibet.

The world has been watching the explosive situation in Tibet for months as Beijing prepares to host the Games. This international microscope has highlighted human rights issues that had been underscored in recent years. It doesn’t seem likely that the two sides of the coin will merge as one in the near future. Depending on which side of the coin you believe tells the history of this story.

Journalist Serwa Abdul-Wahab Killed In The Streets Of Mosul Sunday

Gunmen pulled reporter Serwa Abdul-Wahab from the taxi she was riding in, shooting her once in the head. As the woman laid dead in the street of Mosul, she joined the ranks of journalists who have been killed in Iraq for reporting the news.

There are conflicting reports to who Serwa Abdul-Wahab worked for in Iraq. Fellow journalists say that she contributed to www.muraslon.org. an Iraqi news site.

Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist. Since 2003 the Committee to Protect Journalists based in New York estimates 127 journalists have died. That figure does not include Abdul-Wahab yet.

In a nation where there are so many cultural and religious conflicts journalists have been targeted for the very nature of their work. Reporting on any one side of the conflict will bring forth enemies from the other sides.

In February Shihab al-Tamimi, 74, was gunned down in an attack on his car. He was the head of Iraq’s biggest journalist organization.

CPJ says that three journalists have been killed so far in 2008 while Reuters puts the number at 5.

Not only is Iraq a dangerous region for journalists to cover the news but it has a horrible track record in bringing justice for the murders. At this time there are 79 unsolved journalistic murders.

In Mosul journalists struggle to both bring the news and remain low profile. Al Qaeda has threatened those who attempt to bring forth current news in the area. Mosul is the last city stronghold of the Sunni Islamist group.

Iraqi First Lady Escapes Injury In Bombing

Iraq’s First Lady narrowly escaped death on Sunday as a bomb hit the motorcade she was riding in. The motorcade bombing took place in Baghdad’s Karrada district. Four of Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed’s bodyguards suffered injuries.

Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed was on route to the National Theater to attend a cultural festival when the bombing took place around noon. It is not clear at this time if she was the target or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Teen Jogs To Hospital After Giving Birth In Home Shower

When seventeen-year-old Xochitl Parra started having labor contractions while getting ready for school in her shower she sat down and pushed the baby out.

It was only 5:30 a.m. so instead of disturbing her neighbours she jogged to St. Mary Medical Center with her little boy still attached.

Parra had gone through her pregnancy in secret afraid if her mother was aware she’d kick her out of the family home. Parra wanted to finish her education at Long Beach Poly High where she is a sophomore.

On Friday morning the teen was getting ready for school when the first labor pains started. Alone and in a house without phone service she gave birth in the bath tub. Wrapping up her newborn son Alejandro in a blanket she hurried on foot to the closest hospital. As she entered the lobby of the hospital she finally asked for help.

She and the baby are doing fine. Her mother has accepted the situation and will help the young teen so she can complete her education.

“We hear so much negative with teenagers throwing their babies in the Dumpsters,” Dr. Jose Perez, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit said. “This baby is fine, and hopefully there will be a happy ending with the extended family.

Tragedy At The Track As Eight Belles Is Put Down After Coming In Second

When Eight Belles broke both ankles at the Kentucky Derby Saturday she was put down on the spot. The top choice of Hillary Clinton finished second just 4 3/4 lengths behind winner Big Brown. Clinton had daughter Chelsea bet on the only mare in the race.

Eight Belles was the first filly since 1999 to run in the Kentucky Derby. The heartbreaking scene happened just after she had crossed the finish line with the crowd still cheering her on. An ambulance was called to the scene but in the end Eight Belles was euthanized by injection.

“There was no way to save her. She couldn’t stand,” trainer Larry Jones said. “She ran an incredible race. She ran the race of her life.”

Jockey Gabriel Saez slid off of Eight Belles as she went down after the first turn suddenly. There was no warning when she simply dropped. Many in the crowd were not aware what was happening below them as the celebrating of the Derby had just begun.

Eight Belles was considered to be a wagering favorite for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, an all female race. Her owner though decided that she should run with the boys at the Derby.

Eight Belles was strong as she cleared the wire.

Winning jockey Kent Desormeaux and Big Brown galloped by Eight Belles in her waning moments.

“This horse showed you his heart and Eight Belles showed you her life for our enjoyment today,” he said. “I’m deeply sympathetic to that team for their loss.”

The fracture that Eight Belles suffered opened the skin allowing for contamination to set in on her left front ankle. She wasn’t able to have her front leg splinted in order to board the ambulance. She also suffered from at least one of her sesamoid bones being broken.

“She didn’t have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was immediately euthanized,” Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian said. “In my years in racing, I have never seen this happen at the end of the race or during the race.”

Pam Anderson Is Having A Yard Sale

Pam Anderson is throwing a yard sale at a Malibu site. Although curious bargain hunters won’t be tramping on Anderson’s lawn they will be able to look over and buy some of the blond star’s old things.

Pam Anderson has some used linens, old clothes and even an old chair up for sale. She even has a Chrysler electric car listed with Helping Hand Estate Sale Service who is co-ordinating the garage sale.

The sale will run through Sunday. The notice that was listed online did not indictate if Anderson would be attending her sale. It’s a sure bet that many curious fans will be shifting through the Canadian’s discarded things. I wonder if she really needs the money that will come from the sale.

What Is EV71 And Why Are Kids Dying In China?

The recent outbreak in China of enterovirus 71 has been called Hand, foot and mouth disease. HFMD is a common illness in infants and children. In most cases it is a mild condition that doesn’t require medical treatment and goes away in 7 to 10 days.

While HFMD is a common ailment of children and is widespread in North American daycares the virus in China is the EV71 which is a much more serious form. The main concern isn’t the virus itself but the syndromes that can come from it including acute flaccid paralysis (similar to paralytic poliomyelitis), bulbar and brain encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and rapidly fatal pulmonary edema and hemorrhage.

In 1998 a huge outbreak took place in Taiwan. From March to December 1998 there were 129,106 cases of the disease reported in the nation’s children. That is just the reported cases. It was estimated that the total number of children that came down with the disease was over one million. 405 children had the most severe cases and in 19.3 percent of those cases death was the final outcome. All of the children who died were under the age of five although older children did have severe cases.

In an autopsy it was revealed that the presence of the EV 17 virus had invaded the spinal cord. When these children went to hospital they have generally already suffered for 2 to 4 days with high fevers. Once they were so sick that they were hospitalized the children died within 24 hours. Almost all of the children in the Taiwan outbreak died from pulmonary edema and hemorrhage or after they developed brain-stem encephalitis.

While prior to the outbreak in Taiwan it was thought that the only mode of transmission was fecal-oral it has started to be believed that it can also be transmitted by respiratory transmission.

The transmission of this disease can linger for months after recovery as it stays present in the feces for at least two months.

There is no set treatment for the virus. Rather doctors have to wait for a symptom to develop and then treat.

Once a child has HFMD they should be excluded from child care and school until any blisters have healed. If a child has Enterovirus 71 neurological disease they should be isolated from other children until their feces are clear of the virus.

China is in the early stages of this disease. With 22 children having already died in Fuyang it is sad to say but chances are the virus will be present during the time span of the Summer Games in Beijing.

There have already been reports of other areas in the Anhui provision where Fuyang is of children being ill and two probable deaths from the virus.

Will Beijing be safe for the athletes come August? Because the virus is most prevalent in young children it would appear so. Still that leads to the question of the safety of the youngest tourist coming to witness the games. There is a slim chance that children should stay away if the virus spreads to Beijing. It is always better to err on the side of caution when considering the risks to children’s health.

18 Honduran Prisoners Dead Affter Prison Attack

At least 18 Honduran prisoners have been killed during a prison attack in Tegucigalpa. The attack took place on Friday night after a prison transfer.

Security Ministry spokesman Wilmer Torres said that 31 prisoners were attacked by cell mates within hours of a transfer to the prison in Tegucigalpa from San Pedro Sula. The transferred prisoners were armed with knives and guns. The unarmed prisoners fought back. In they bloody end only 13 survived.

The police are investigating what the motive of the prison attack was. The prison was brought back under control by Saturday.

Canadian Athletes Will Be Wearing Chinese Made Uniforms In Beijing

Canada’s Olympic athletes uniforms are made in China. Yes, you read right instead of promoting the textile industry of Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee made the move to go out of the country for the gear.

The government isn’t happy about the decision to not use Canadian textiles and designers to suit up our athletes.

“This is a no-brainer,” New Democrat MP Paul Dewar said Friday.

“This is our Olympic team. We should be ensuring that all of our Olympic athletes are proudly wearing Canadian-made textiles and all of their uniforms should be made in Canada.”

As much as the government is ticked off they can’t change the way the Committee has done the deal.

“The Canadian Olympic Committee is an independent body that operates at arm’s length from the government,” said Blair MacLean, Guergis’ communications director.

“We do not agree with the decision to produce Olympic clothing offshore and would have preferred that the clothing was made in Canada.”

Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee stated on Friday that the government had never raised the issue with the committee. He said that it was impractical for completely Canadian-made uniforms because of the volume of products needed.

“Times have changed considerably,” Rudge said.

“The reality is that there’s no longer manufacturing capacity in Canada that can meet the volume needs that are necessary to manufacture particularly the replica clothing that is sold to the public.”

One of the problems with keeping the clothing made in Canada is the specialty fabric needed to help the athletes cope with the heat in Beijing. The uniforms are made of bamboo, cocona and organic cotton which is readily available only in Asia and primarily in China. The Hudson’s Bay Company is the official outfitter of our national athletes.

80 percent of the uniforms to be worn by the teams from Canada in Beijing were manufactured in China. The two times though that everything covering our athletes is Canadian will be the opening ceremony uniforms and when the athletes stand on the medal podiums.

Almost all off the clothing that athletes wear worldwide are from just one or two places in the world who specialize in the highly technical garments. HBC is not supplying that gear for the athletes.

While the athletes may wear foreign uniforms during this Olympics in 2010 that should be changing. Dewar wants to ensure that only Canadian made clothing is used when the Winter Games are in Vancouver.

“Wouldn’t that be an embarrassment to have, you know, our uniforms made in China or anywhere else for the upcoming Vancouver Olympics? So hopefully someone is doing their homework on that.”

HBC is already at work on the clothing to be used in Vancouver. While they would love for all the materials to be Canadian they know the reality is that most of the specialized fabric industry is overseas.

Marr Wanted ‘To Teach Her A Lesson’ Says Judge

On March 27, 2004 John Julius Marr claims he wanted to discuss money owned to him by his ex-girlfriend. That’s not what Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench judge Beth Hughes says the man aimed to do when he sexually attacked the woman over a period of time.

Marr went to his ex girlfriend’s home on that March day hiding in the dark after entering her home illegally. When she returned home he tied her up with tape and over a period of time raped her keeping his identity hidden from her during the violent act.

When Marr had finished his torture of the woman he took her car travelling to Banff, Vancouver and finally to the United States where he was a citizen.

Marr’s claims that he had gone to her home to discuss money and property owed to him didn’t jive with the court. For one thing he had no way of transporting the said items he had gone to retrieve.

“These are not the actions of a person who ‘panicked,’” said Hughes. “He made the decision to break into her home (and) wait in the darkness so he could teach her a lesson.”

Marr will remain in custody pending sentencing. Sentencing will take place after a pre-sentence report and psychological risk assessment have been completed by June 20.

Several Types Of Beef Patties Have Been Recalled Because of E. Coli

OTTAWA, Ontario – Several brands of ground beef patties have been recalled because they could possibly be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The following products are part of the recall:

From M&M Meat Shops across Canada: Steakhouse Beef Burgers in the 1.02 kilogram package Code Date 0858

From Ontario Costco Wholesale: Belmont Meat Products ground beef patties in 4.54 kilogram restaurant packs bearing the UPC code 0 60597 35020 9

Also in the alert are fresh regular ground beef packages of various weights sold between March 13 and 21, 2008 at the following stores:

Lone Tai Supermarket, 2300 Lawrence Ave. E.
Hong Tai, 2555 Victoria Park Ave.
Ton Tai, 3030 Don Mills Road

Be aware that food contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 do not look nor smell like there is anything wrong with them. If you have these products in your freezer do not consume them. At this time there are no reports of illness.

3 Students Were Stabbed Last Friday At Parkdale Collegiate In Toronto

Three students were stabbed during the lunch hour last Friday at Parkdale Collegiate in Toronto. There have now been five arrests made in the case.

Last Friday Principle David Freedman sent home a note and followed that note up with emails to parents on his email list about a multiple stabbing during the lunch period at the school in the west end of Toronto.

Police say that the fight is not to be considered a gang related incident. Students though have been told that they should not be wearing red or blue T-shirts to school because of this by some of the teachers.

My son attends the school and I waited to make public any information because of the police investigation.

The five males the have been arrested are between the age of 14 and 18. The two eighteen year ols are Sonam Topgyal and Gudak Gudak. They face several charges of assault and aggravated assault.

During the fight that started after a soccer ball was kicked into the basketball court three students were stabbed. All of those stabbed were 17-years-old and soccer players.

At least one of those students made it to the hospital on their own. Another student left the school campus and collapsed at their home before being rushed to hospital. All three students had none life threatening wounds. One of the students was able to return to classes on Monday. TDSB Safe School team offered to provide students at the school .

Op-Ed: What Is The History We Perceive?

As journalists plug out story after story recording the current events of our times, history is being written but is that history real? Consider the fact that recorded history is that of the victors. If a myth is well-received it becomes fact.

Articles written today reflect a wide range of ideals, political viewpoints and our perception of how events take place. That word perception is key. At any given moment ask 6 people what just happened in front of them and you will have six different answers. Whomever is perceived as the most knowledgeable will be the one others believe in most situations.

So are journalists just glorified story tellers? Yes and no. Yes for the fact that articles are the stories that are read. No for the fact that several viewpoints can come out of one article.

We are not infallible. We write as we perceive. History after all is all in the perception.

Our own perceptions of the world come into face when writing articles. Someone who has never lived a day of poverty will have a different spin on an article on welfare. Someone who thinks war is a cruel and unusual will perceive battle fields differently than one who has had to stare down their scope unto another persons body.

We are our own perceptions.

In the end it will be the article most believed that will end up being history, factual or not. Consider the ‘Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere’. It is widely believed that Revere was a huge hero during the Revolutionary War. He rode a total of 19 miles. Samuel Bissell a 23 year old postal worker rode more than 300 miles to warn the colonists about the advancement of British troops. Still if you Google him it’s not easy to find information about him.

History is perception.

History is also quickly forgotten. Not the actual facts and events but the beginnings of history. It is easy for victors to make twists and turns about what brought about history to make the winner come out smiling like roses. It is also commonplace for different countries to have different views on the same piece of history.

Ask any American who burnt down the White House. The answer is likely to be those darn Brits. Now ask a Canadian and the answer will proudly be announced we did it.

History is perception.

In time the major news stories of today will be summed up in a few words. While a few will go further to explore all the ins and outs of an event most people will take the perceived information as fact.

The world is flat.

The world is round.

The world was created in a total of seven days.

Planets take millions of years to completely form.

Perception. Fact. They are blurred.

As we write out the beginnings of our history we have to remember we write our personal perceptions of the events. Most articles are second hand viewpoints. We are the recorders of history.

At least what we perceive.

Dalai Lama’s Envoy Has Left India For Chinese Talks

An envoy for the Dalai Lama has left India for China to begin talks on how to end the crisis in Tibet. This is the first contact between the two governments since the violent protests in March.

The envoys are scheduled to meet in China on Saturday for informal talks. The representatives of the Dalai Lama will state their thoughts of concern over the Chinese governments handling of the crisis in Tibet and offer suggestions that they believe will bring peace back into the region.

The Chinese government last week agreed to meet with the envoy but had a list of preconditions for such a meeting. They include that the Dalai Lama unambiguously recognize Tibet as a part of China.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 wants to achieve meaningful autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from Chinese rule.

The last time the two government groups were in talk was 2006. Those talks ended with no true changes. Although both governments have tensions they have managed to keep an open channel for dialogue. The Dalai Lama’s special envoy Lodi Gyari has led the most recent discussions with China. Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen are the envoys that will be in discussions for Tibet’s government-in-exile during these talks.

The issue at hand are the recent protests and violence that have left at least 22 people dead in Tibet. The protests focused on China’s policies that stem to change the Himalayan region’s Buddhist culture. Tibet has challenged the number of dead saying many more than the 22 reported have died.

Operations Could Be Using McSleepy In The Future

The next time you have surgery McSleepy may be with you in the operating room. Canadian researchers have developed a machine that will send you off to Dreamland.

Montreal scientists from McGill University think they are the first in the world to use an automated system for general anesthetic dug administration. McSleepy feeds a patient three separate standard drugs to produce sleep during an operation and monitors the patients response to each of their effects without the need for manual intervention. Researchers claim their device can do a better job at dispensing the medications to a patient and monitoring the effects than a human. It is even able to recognize monitoring malfunctions.

Don’t worry though that anesthesiologists will be out of a job.

“Automatic systems in life only help us to perform our task better, they will not replace us,” principal developer Dr. Thomas Hemmerling said Thursday.

“The majority of our work is actually how we … manage everything that goes on with surgery. Bleeding, temperature control, all these kind of things should be much more important to us than just applying the drugs to make somebody sleepy, because that’s how we help the surgeons to do their job.”

“So if you have an automatic system covering the mere administration of these drugs, we can really focus on what else we’re doing.”

Best described McSleepy is a software program that oversees the infusion pumps in a patient’s veins during an operation. It works with the drugs that are designed to induce sleep, control pain and relax muscles which is needed for standard operations. The software is also able to give doctors precise measurements of how the patient is responding to those drugs throughout the operation by reading brainwave patterns, muscle contractions, heart rate and blood pressure readings. Dr. Shane Sheppard, president of the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society sees McSleepy would be especially useful for long operations where doctors have to administer certain drugs at variously timed intervals.

While this type of machine could prove invaluable during surgeries doctors are still needed to oversee the process and in the case of a malfunction. If the machine has a problem the device is equip with an override option.

McSleepy could be in operating rooms within five years. McGill is working with biomedical engineers at Universite de Montreal to complete the project.

The researchers will have to use McSleepy on 1,000 to 2,000 surgical patients before they can seek to obtain approval from Health Canada or the FDA.

“It will probably take two years to perfect the system,” Hemmerling said.

“McSleepy is born but it needs a lot of work.”

British Christians Can Get ‘Prayer Alerts’ Via Cell Phone

The Christian charity, Prayer In Action, has teamed up with telephone company Teimlo to offer a mobile phone prayer service. The group hopes to reach 500,000 people across England.

With a world in turmoil, it’s amazing to think that we could soon have half a million people in the United Kingdom alone joining in focused prayer on an issue of national concern.

“This will be a force for positive change in our nation,” Erik Fok, sales chief of Ecumen said.

Ecumen has a range of religious products that are designed for British mobile phones. They are affiliated with Teimlo.

Subscribers to the service will receive text messages asking for prayer on a wide range of issues. Last year Teimlo offered downloads of the Bible for mobile phones.

“The Prayer Mobile text service pulls together one of the oldest traditions known to mankind with one of the newest most prevalent technologies available. Prayer is only a text away,” Prayer in Action boss Carl Brettle said.

The service will cost subscribers about 50 cents a week. For that fee Prayer Mobile will send a weekly prayer alert out.

War Emblem Is Disappointing His Owners Over His Lack Of Desire

Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem doesn’t appear to be interested in the ladies. The stallion has been treated to Viagra and lots of lovely mares but he’s not having any of it.

The Japanese owners are at a loss at how to get War Emblem back into the swing of things. The 2002 Kentucky Derby winning stallion should be producing multiples of kids.

The horse was purchased by the prominent Yoshida racing family for about $17 million in 2002.

If he was a ‘normal’ stallion he’d be in heaven with the choice of all the mares put in front of him, but War Emblem has lost the desire of sex.

“We’ve tried everything,” Nobuo Tsunoda, director of the prestigious Shadai Stallion Station on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, told Reuters.

“You name it we’ve tried it. We had him on Viagra — that didn’t work. I even went into (Sapporo’s) red light district with 300,000 yen in cash and brought back a lot of ’special’ medicine to try and perk him up.

“It’s very odd. He’s not impotent. He’s just very choosy about his women. He’s more human than animal. Basically he’s a bit of a weirdo.”

It’s not that War Emblem can’t um, get it up it’s just he’s rather picky as to who he does the act with. Perhaps he understood the ‘Safe Sex’ ads on radios and is trying to make a stand.

“He’s been in contact with hundreds of mares but has successfully mated with a only a tiny percentage,” said Tsunoda. “We have him on male hormone injections to see it that will help.”

“It’s not normal,” continued Tsunoda. “A normal stud would climb onto any mare he sees but not him. He’s just doesn’t seem to like sex anymore — which is odd.”

Some Activists Are Being Turned Away From Hong Kong And The Torch Run

Two Canadians wanting to be part of the torch run on May 2 are out of luck in Hong Kong. The Chinese nation has been banned for Tsering Lama, 24, from Toronto, and Kate Woznow, 27, formerly of Vancouver. They were part of a group of seven denied entry.

Woznow is the campaign director the Students for a Free Tibet. The group has planned on holding a press conference to coincide with the torch run.

“When I pressed them further and said is it because I’m here to speak with media, they said they weren’t going to give me any details for the reason of my deportation and I was sent on a plane back to New York,” Woznow said.

The group had hoped that Hong Hong would them entry. In the past Hong Kong has been tolerant of those speaking out on China’s human rights issues. That appears to no longer be the reality. CTV’s Beijing Bureau Chief Steve Chao has also said that human rights groups in Hong Kong have been suppressed by the local government.

“To deport them for just wanting to express themselves is a big question mark as to exactly what kind of freedoms can be enjoyed in Hong Kong,” Chao added.

“And that is very much a concern to many residents in Hong Kong . . . where many people have fought long and hard to keep the freedom they have enjoyed for several years.”

Three Danish activists were deported last weekend and an organizer for an independent Chinese writers’ group that calls for freedom of expression in China was turned away from entering the country on Tuesday.

Hong Kong had been a British colony until 11 years ago when it was returned to China. The country had enjoyed Western-style civil liberties, including freedom of expression in the past.

Many Westerns have been granted entry visas which is raising the fear of demonstrations during Friday’s torch relay. There are plans in place to have 3,000 police officers guard the torch. The torch has come under protests in France, the U.K. and the United States.

Toronto’s Metropass April Holders Will Get A Small Refund From Transit Commission

The residents of Toronto who lost two days of subway and bus service due to last weekend’s surprise strike are entitled to a small refund. Transit riders with an April Metropass will receive up to $7 from the TTC.

Refunds will be given to customers who bring in their passes after May 5. Those who hand in their passes need to make a photocopy of their passes that are being turned in.

The refund is as follows:

* April Adult Metropass Discount Plan (MDP) $7
* April Adult VIP $6.50
* Adult Weekly Pass – Week 17 $9.50
* April Senior/Student Metropass $6.50
* April Senior/Student MDP $6.00
* Senior/Student Weekly Pass – Week 17 $7.50
* GTA Pass – Week 17 $7.50
* Day Pass – if marked April 25th only. $3

U of T To Open Public Health School With $20-million Donation

The University of Toronto is creating the what could be the largest network of Canada of public health researchers and educators after receiving a $20-million donation to build a school of public health.

The new school will be named after Paul And Alessandra Dalla Lana. It will deal with a wide range of public health issues from diseases like SARS to measuring the performance of the overall health-care system of Canada.

Paul Dalla Lana is the founder and president of NorthWest Value Partners Inc. The company is the largest private owner and manager of medical office buildings and health-care facilities within Canada.

The school will be headed by Dr. Jack Mandel of Winnipeg. Mandel is an epidemiologist who worked in the United States for 35 years. His most recent position was at Emory University in Atlanta as chair of epidemiology for the Rollins School of Public Health.

Mandel called his new post as director of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health “a tremendous opportunity.”

“I think it’s really one of the best opportunities out there in academic public health because of the resources that exist here, and by resources I mean the pool of talent that exists here within the university and within the community to mobilize and collaborate on addressing the health issues of today,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

The school will work jointly with other departments at the university including dentistry, nursing and health policy management. There will also be affiliations with hospitals that are already connected to the university, government and public health agencies.

The school will have a mandate with many issues of public health. Infectious diseases and chronic conditions will be focus issues.

So the school will really be broadly representative of all the areas of public health and will basically have all the disciplines you’d find in all public health schools in North America,” Mandel said.

“I would expect that this school will be one of the leading schools of public health in the world.”

Wife And Mother Nabbed After 32 Years On The Run

Marie Walsh escaped from prison 32 years ago. Tonight she has been returned to a cell after an arrest in California for the first time since when she left her prison home in 1976.

When Walsh,53, was in prison before she was serving a 10 to 20 year sentence for drug offenses. She escaped from a Detroit prison camp just a year into her jail term. At the name she was known at Susan Lefevre.

After escaping jail she moved to California, married and raised three children. The secret life she was leading came to an end on Wednesday after US Marshals Service agents closed in after getting a tip. They took her from her home for the past ten years in San Diego back to prison.

She is being held at a California women’s jail until her extradition to Michigan where she will serve the rest of her sentence.

Walsh at first denied being Lefevre. From a jail house interview the mother of three said her prior crime had been a minor one.

“It was a couple hundred dollars worth of drugs, a transaction that my friend did, and I was there in the car,” she told NBC 7/39, insisting she was just someone who “got in with the wrong crowd” as a teenager.

She is hoping for leniency when she comes before a judge again in Michigan. Her family is undoubtedly in shock as they had no idea that their wife and mother was an escaped criminal.

Protein Link Found In Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy

A type of muscular dystrophy has been linked to missing a protein. People suffering from limb-girdle muscular dystrophy are missing the c-FLIP protein.

This exciting news came from French and German researchers. It is hoped that this research can lead to new treatments to stop muscles from wasting.

The discovery could also prove to be a clue for other types of muscular dystrophy and situations where muscle tissue has died.

“Unfortunately, rare diseases like limb-girdle muscular dystrophy don’t get the attention or funding they deserve,” said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, which published the research Wednesday.

“Fortunately,” he added, “this study should provide researchers with a much-needed target for developing drugs to treat at least one of these conditions.”

According to the US Muscular Dystrophy Association limb-girdle muscular dystrophy is caused by the mutations in at least 15 genes that make proteins needed for normal muscle function.

Mint Copyright Blunder To Cost Japan 10 Million Yen

Japan recently minted 4.8 million commemorative coins to mark a centenary of ties between their nation and Brazil. There’s a problem though that is costing the government 100 million Yen. They didn’t have the copyright to the design.

Japan had planned on distributing the coins in March thinking that an immigrants’ association owned the bronze memorial that was featured on the coins. Not making sure of the copyright will cost the government though when it was revealed that the Brazilian sculptor refused to allow the design to be placed on the 500-yen coins.

It was back to the drawing board for the mint to get another coin ready. The new coins will feature the first Japanese immigrants to South America superimposed over a picture of Brazil. The new coins will be distributed on June 18.

“The minted commemorative coins are made of the same materials as the regular 500-yen coin so we will simply recycle them,” a ministry official said.

Brazil has more than 1.2 million people that have Japanese ancestry. That is the largest number of Japanese in any country other than Japan.

Ryan Schallenberger Wanted To Kill Jesus

Ryan Schallenberger wanted to blow up his school, get killed during the act, enter heaven and then kill Jesus according to federal authorities said on Tuesday.

Now comes the question if Schallenberger is fit to stand trial. Judge Thomas Rogers III wants an evaluation while Defense attorney Bill Nettles thinks the young man is competent enough to help in his own defense.

“His conduct is bizarre,” prosecutor Buddy Bethea told Judge Thomas Rogers III, who did not immediately issue a ruling. “I think it screams out in his conduct that he be evaluated.”

Schallenberger is currently being held at Chesterfield County jail. Prosecutors want him to be moved to a federal facility because they think he should be placed under a suicide watch. An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told sheriff’s that the teen indicted he wanted to commit suicide.

After going over his journal entries a pattern over more violent leanings has been observed.

He was arrested after a delivery of more than 20 pounds of ammonium nitrate came to his home. His parents notified the police after they went through the teen’s room. In his room they found a cassette tape that he wanted to be played after he was dead. The teen’s 50 page journal was also found at and the police have it. In the journal the teen praised the Columbine killers. He also had very detailed plans on how to bomb his own high school.

Pigeons In Seattle Are Under Attack

Seattle, Washington has an assailant attacking area pigeons with a dart gun. There have been several pigeons found within the city centre with metal darts in their skulls.

Some of the birds have survived their ordeal with the 3 to 4 inch dart remaining lodged behind their eyes.

“This is just a horrifying case,” Tori Perry, a cruelty case worker for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told the Seattle Times.

“Someone who would do this to an animal is a short step away from doing this to a human being.”

In this cruel act it appears a blow gun is being used. The injuries that follow create a very painful death for the city birds.

Animal-rights groups are offering a $2,000 reward for information about the attacks.

Local animal control officials are struggling to capture and treat the affected birds.

“They are quite athletic, good fliers,” said Don Baxter, enforcement supervisor for the Seattle Animal Shelter. “They’re not hanging around waiting for an officer to get close.”

Yahoo CEO’s Salary In 2007: $1

Jerry Yang, the co-founder and CEO of Yahoo Inc. shouldn’t have to pay much tax on his personal IRS bill this year. He takes only $1 in salary because the Internet icon has already made him a billionaire.

Yahoo disclosed the compensation packages for Yang and other top-paid executives for 2007 on Tuesday.

Yang,39, did not receive a bonus, stock options or anything else to supplement his $1 salary in a year that saw Yahoo earnings fall by 12 percent and stock prices loss nice per cent.

Yang took over the helm as CEO in June. He replaced Terry Semel who received a compensation package of $71.7 million. That package angered shareholders who believed that he had been unjustly rewarded.

The $1 token salary has been in effect for several of the creme de la creme of Silicon Valley. Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs and Google Inc. co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each take home an annual paycheck of a buck.

Joshua Turner Is Wanted By The RCMP

The RCMP is asking the public to help them find a sexual predator. Joshua Turner,24, out of jail for just days has already breached his probation order. All females are at risk of this man.

Turner is considered an untreated sex offender. He was released on Saturday from Headingley Correctional Centre in Manitoba.

If you see him do not approach but call the police at 984-1888, RCMP at 983-5462, or Winnipeg police at 986-6222. You can also call 911.

He has served time for sexual assault, harassing phone calls and indecent phone calls. He has a history of substance and alcohol abuse problems.