Next Added Fee At Ryanair- Coin Slots On The Loo

One airline is considering charging its customers to use the loo during a flight. Ryanair has suggested that passengers hand over £1 to have a sky high potty break.

Ryanair is Europe’s biggest discount airline.

Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary says that the airline is investigating putting a coin slot on the doors of its fleets lavatory doors.

Times Online reports:

“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future,” he told BBC Breakfast this morning.

“We are always at Ryanair looking at ways of constantly lowering the cost of air travel to make it affordable and easier for all passengers to fly with us.”

This idea is angering consumer groups and airline crew members. Already this week the airline has announced that it is closing check-in desks and raising the fees for baggage.

CNN reports:

“It seems Ryanair is prepared to plumb any depth to make a fast buck and, once again, is putting profit before the comfort of its customer,” said Rochelle Turner, Head of Research at Which? Holiday.

Consumer groups note that passengers may forego their expensive drinks in order to avoid having to use the washroom on flights.

Still if Ryanair chooses to go this route it’s in accordance with the Civil Aviation Authority.

Mr. O’Leary’s team is trying to save some face and stop the anger.

“Michael makes a lot of this stuff up as he goes along and while this has been discussed internally there are no immediate plans to introduce it.

“Ancillary revenues, all of which are avoidable, help to reduce the cost of flying Ryanair and passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilet so why not on airplanes?

“Not everyone uses the toilet on board one of our flights but those that do could help to reduce airfares for all passengers. Then again, maybe O’Leary was just taking the p*** this morning.”

Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen Tie The Knot

Tom Brady has married super model Gisele Bundchen during a private ceremony in Santa Monica, California Thursday evening. The couple opted for a small affair after reports of a huge wedding had hit the media circuit.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his bride wearing a Dolce & Gabbana gown said their vows at St. Monica Catholic Church. The guests were close friends and family.

US Magazine reported that Bundchen was wearing “a form-fitting ivory lace strapless gown with a trumpet skirt, scalloped edges, long train and a floor-length veil with attached handmade satin roses and attached headband.”

The couple have been together since 2006.

Gisele Bundchen’s side of the aisle included her three small dogs donning floral lace collars. Brady’s side included his one-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Slumdog Millionaire Kids Leave Hollywood For the Slums

It seems that the promise of a new flat for the child stars of Slumdog Millionaire may not play out. On Wednesday Ashok Chavan denied that clearance had been given to Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail from Garib Nagar in Bandra for new housing.

This announcement closely follows the Mhada clearing a proposal for each of the actors to have a flat. The CM has been sent the file for approval.

Charvan is quoted by the Times of India:

Chavan said, “We have not allotted a flat to any of the children. The proposal is being considered.”

On Thursday the children were back in their slum homes after a week in Hollywood.

CNN quotes the mother of Azharuddin:

“It would be nice to get a proper home.” She says she has heard rumors the government may provide her family with one, but no one has confirmed any plans for a new home. “I’ve been praying for a new home for so long. It’s all up to Allah now.”

Oxford University’s Cherwell Editors Resign

The editors of the Oxford University newspaper Cherwell have resigned in the wake of a spoof edition titled the Lecher. The staff that resigned were not responsible for the spoof as they were not part of the editorial team at the time of publication.

Sian Cox-Brooker and Michael Bennett, who took over as joint editors of Cherwell last month, have stepped down from the school’s oldest student publication. Fifty copies of the edition were handed out during a meal held by the weekly paper during a sponsored by the editorial staff in November.

Cox-Brooker and Bennett are quoted by Time Guardian on their resignation statement.

The Guardian reports:

“The tone and content of Lecher was clearly intended to be satirical, and was received as such by its intended recipients,” they said in a statement.

“We were not responsible for the compilation of the edition of Lecher before it was printed last year. We understand that satire can be misconstrued, and as this term’s editors of Cherwell we apologise for any offence which might have been caused and have now resigned.”

The spoof paper was filled with racist comments, pornographics images and the like. There was a mock up of a former editor in Ku Klux Klan clothing. The paper’s lead story featured two students sexually abusing and killing infants.

The spoof was meant only for the eyes of the incoming editoral staff of the paper. It is the tradition of the Cherwell to make a spoof paper at the end of each term when the leaving editorial staff hands over the reins to the new staff.

The Cherwell publishes 15,000 copies each week.

Last week the spoof was leaked and to Oxford students condemning the paper. The Oxford University Student Union’s president Lewis Iwu was appalled by the spoof.

Iwu is the school union’s first black president. He has handed back an award he was given by the Cherwell and has demanded an investigation into the publication of the paper

The Oxford Student Publications Ltd. had demanded the resignations. The Guardian reports:

Christopher Stylianou, the chairman of the Oxford Student Publications Limited (OSPL) which publishes Cherwell, said: “The contents of the document are utterly deplorable, and OSPL condemns it in the strongest possible terms We have demanded and received the resignation of the individuals who claimed responsibility.”

Oxford is struggling with a series of offending ‘jokes’ as of late. In December members of the university’s under-21 rugby team had hosted a dinner that as billed as a “bring a fit Jew” party. Those students were ordered to attend a cultural diversity lesson.

The Rocky Mountain News Is Closing Shop

The Rocky Mountain News will publish its last paper on Friday just short of its 150th anniversary. E.W. Scripps Co., owner of the newspaper, made the announcement Thursday on the company web site.

The Associated Press reports:

“The Rocky will forever be remembered for its vital role in the city’s history and the city’s success,” said William Dean Singleton, chairman and publisher of The Post and CEO of MediaNews. “Although we competed intensely, the talented staff of the Rocky earned our respect with each morning’s edition.”

The Rocky Mountain News had been for sale but no buyers came forward forcing it’s demise. The paper lost $16 million last year as the ad revenue slumped and readers began turning away for Internet news services.

In the past 2 and a half months 33 United States daily newspapers have found themselves seeking Chapter 11 to survive. Many of those newspapers are on the market now looking for buyers.

Just this past weekend saw New Haven (Connecticut) Register publisher Journal Register Co. and by the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. filing for bankruptcy.

In December newspaper heavyweight Tribune Co. filed for the protection that Chapter 11 offers.

Earlier this week Hearst Corporation announced that it will have to close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if they can’t reduce the costs within just a few weeks.

Scripps CEO Rich Boehne said that the Rocky Mountain News staff will be paid through April 28. There are about 200 employees. 10 staffers have been hired by The Post. Scripps has owned the paper since 1926.

During the long history of the paper the world has changed. First covering the mining rush and the Indian Wars the newspaper has been a staple in the Rocky Mountain area.

The Denver Post is now the only daily paper in the Denver area.

Ban lifted on U.S. media covering fallen soldiers returning home

The U.S. Department of Defense has lifted a media ban on news coverage of the return of fallen service members announced Robert M. Gates on Thursday. Now it’s up to the family members of the dead.

The ban has been a source of controversy within the media. The ban was imposed by former President George H.W. Bush. Media was denied the right to cover the return of military remains at Dover Air Force Base from the first Gulf War.

The media has often used images of the return of coffins rolling off planes in the politics of a war.

The term “the Dover test” was applied in the 1990’s to describe the public’s tolerance for troop casualties. Both parties have upheld that ‘Dover ban’ with some exceptions. One of those was in October 2000 when the Pentagon handed out photographs of coffins arriving at Dover from the bombing of the USS Cole.

The ban was made even more broad in March 2003 when the US invaded Iraq. The ban then expanded to include other ports of arrival in the ban.

CNN reports that the families are split on the new ruling.

Karen Meredith favors the lifting of the ban. She had written to President Obama on lifting the ban.

“I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don’t see those images we don’t know that these young men and women are dying,” she told CNN.

“And to me its an honor to have an honor guard at Dover when they’re bringing these men and women back through the mortuary. But we’ve never been able to see those pictures of the honor being given.”

Others though are in favor of privacy. Vince Rangel wondered what the good is of making the caskets anonymous fallen.

“I would rather take that attention and give it everything it deserves at the gravesite in the communities where you can get all that information, so people can understand these people as human beings. Not just as a flag-draped casket that comes out of a plane.”

Jay Leno Could Be Yanked From Writer’s Guild

When Jay Leno went on the air during the writer’s strike last year he performed his own material. The Writers Guild of America is considering tossing him out because of that.

Leno is a member of the Writers Guild of America and should have been on strike right beside them according to their rules. The union is putting the late night talk show host on trial. On Wednesday he appeared before the union with his lawyer on charges that he broke the rules, a year after the alleged violations.

Jay Leno is fighting back. He is insisting that he did no wrong. He is the highest profile of writers who are being reviewed by the committee. That committee will rule on what actions should be taken. Penalties could include a reprimand, a fine and finally at the worst case, expulsion from the union.

Leno is being accused of performing “struck work” that would otherwise have been done by a WGA member.

Last January Leno told his audiences that he was doing his old job for himself according to the LA Times.

“I’m doing what I did the day I started,” he told his audience on his first night back on the air. “I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Honey, is this funny?’ “

“We are following the guild thing,” Leno assured his viewers. “We can write for ourselves.”

Leno maintains that as a performer he was exempt for the rules that banned any members from performing work that would have been done by striking writers. As a guild member and a writer credited on the show, Leno was also barred from writing in general.

NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks has said that the network will support Leno in this matter.

Jobless Rate Tops 5.1 Million

The recession is making for an extremely high jobless rate in the United States. On Thursday that rate topped 5.1 million. Employers are having to shed positions to survive the economic crisis.

A year ago the jobless rate was at 2.8 million.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the request for unemployment benefits jumped from last week’s high of 631,000 to 667,000 this week.

The four-week average of initial claims is the highest in more than 26 years. That rate is likely to get worse before it gets better. Thursday JPMorgan Chase & co. has said that they will be handing out 12,000 pink slips. Even the NFL is having to slash jobs, 169 jobs have had to be cut. Milliken & Co. out of Spartanburg, South Carolina is letting go of 650 jobs worldwide. Zales, the jewelry company, is closing 115 stores which will put another 245 people on the unemployment lines.

Big-ticket items are also a victim to the global economic crisis both at home and abroad. In January the plunge on those products was at 5.2 percent.

The Associated Press reports:

Companies are “becoming extremely cautious and … shelving their capital spending plans and working with the minimal possible work force,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Normura Securities International.

New Jersey is the hardest hit with Virginia, Rhode Island, Vermont and South Dakota following in last week’s claims for benefits.

Sexual orientation said to be motive in brutal Florida murder

On March 14, 2007 Ryan Skipper was brutally stabbed to death. His accused murderer is currently on trial in Florida and the jury is expected to rule on the case later today.

During his closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo told jurors that Joseph Eli Bearden and William David Brown Jr. Brown picked Skipper as an easy target because he was gay. The Lakeland Ledger reports that the jury panel listened as Castillo wrapped up his case against Bearden.

Bearden faces charges of first-degree robbery, accessory after-the-fact, tampering with evidence and dealing in stolen property and first-degree murder in the Skipper case. William David Brown Jr.’s case is still awaiting his trial. Both men are facing a capital punishment sentence.

As the Lakeland Ledger reports:

“His life was less precious, less important, less significant than those of a heterosexual person,” Castillo said. “No one was going to come to his rescue,” Castillo said. “This place was selected as the place where Ryan Skipper would take his final breath.”

The jury is expected to have reached a verdict by today’s end.

Skipper, 25, was found on Morgan Road in Wahneta. The man bled to death after being stabbed 19 times.

Castillo said that the wounds to Skipper’s body showed that the crime was premeditated. He went on to state that the attack showed that Skipper’s murderers showed “hatred, contempt and utter disregard for another human being because he is gay.”

Skipper’s car was found abandoned on a boat ramp at Lake Pansy Road with the interior slightly burnt. Brown is said to have tried to burn the vehicle when he and Bearden could not find a buyer.

Bearden said he only helped to sell Skipper’s car and didn’t kill the man. He said that Ray Brown, cousin of William Brown, Jr., was the actual murderer.

Bearden and William Brown’s fingerprints were found in Sipper’s car while Ray Brown’s were not.

Castillo has dismissed the claims that Ray Brown was involved:

“It’s actually a despicable attempt at manipulation by blaming somebody that is innocent of murder,” Castillo said.

Bearden’s Defense Attorney Byron Hileman has questioned the credibility of state witnesses. The Orlando Sentinel reports:

“Virtually all civilian witnesses are folks who have lived in a world where drugs are the most important things,” Hileman said in his closing arguments. “The credibility of a great many witnesses is in question.”

EastEnders Wendy Richard Dead at 65

With her husband by her side at the Harley Street Clinic in London former EastEnders actress Wendy Richard has passed away. The actress had told the media last October that she had cancer.

The BBC reports:

Her agent Kevin Francis said: “She was incredibly brave and retained her sense of humour right to the end.”

Richard had survived two bouts of breast cancer before it came back last autumn. This time the cancer attacked her kidneys, bones and spine.

She married her partner John Burns not long after being told that the cancer was terminal.

She was a popular actress in the UK appearing on Are You Being Served?, Dad’s Army and Grace and Favour. She is best known for the role of EastEnders matriarch Pauline Fowler. For 21 years she graced the small screen until 2006 when her character died.

She left the role because of objections with some parts of her storyline. At one point Richard accused the writers for using the soap opera as a means for their own political opinions. Her character had been written to have a tirade against Margaret Thatcher; Richard refused to perform the scenes.

Department of Homeland Security Keeping Close Eye On Mexico

The Department of Homeland Security is ready if the violence in Mexico spills over into the United States. As Mexico drug cartels rain terror down on that nation’s citizens the United States is keeping a close eye on border states.

If the increasing Mexican violence starts to spew out of control in the United States DHS personnel and other resources are on the ready.

In Mexico over 5,300 lives were lost in 2007 because of drug wars. The violence is being likened to Islamic terrorists with the criminals out gunning the Mexican authorities. Just last week United States citizens have been warned that a tropical vacation to Mexico is not safe. College students preparing for spring break ahve also been alerted that Mexico is under a travel advisory.

UPI reports:

The DHS plan, which “does not change or supersede any existing authorities … addresses how a number of government agencies would deploy federal resources to help state and local partners on the ground if local resources were overwhelmed,” DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa told United Press International. She said the agencies would include the U.S. military “as needed.”

“We have been coordinating with the Department of Defense,” she said.

If needed military troops could be called into action along the border. That action is not being called for yet nor have resources been outsourced to the border. But if the types of crimes, such as beheading and military firefights cross that thin line between nations military power will be called in.

The drug cartels are already achieving a state of terror in Mexico. Past reports tell of parents afraid to send their children to school because of the gunfights.

There are fears that the government in Mexico could collapse allowing the drug cartels even more power. If that were to take place the United States border will be heavily armed and waiting.

If the Mexican government “retreats into tacit agreements with key drug cartels to adopt a live-and-let-live attitude,” said Ray Walser of the Heritage Foundation, allowing local corruption to flourish unchallenged, “parts of Mexico could become no-go zones” for law enforcement, he said.

“The corruptive influence and increasing violence of Mexican drug cartels impedes Mexico City’s ability to govern parts of its country,” Director of National Intelligence Adm. Dennis C. Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month.

Scott Symons, Groundbreaking Author Has Passed Away At 75

Before it was legal to be gay in Canada writer Scott Symons flung open his closet door. In 1967 he wrote Place d’Armes, a groundbreaking book with gay themes and an experimental style.

The novel presented as a journal, unusual for its time. The stream-of-consciousness style told of a man who escaped Toronto’s Anglo-Canadian morality to live in Montreal.

Symons was no stranger to scandal. He fled Toronto with his 17-year-old male lover for the warmth of Mexico. Left behind was his wife and young son.

He was born in 1933 amidst the wealth of Rosedale. He was educated at the University of Toronto, Cambridge University and The Sorbonne. Early in his career he was a journalist with the Quebec Chronicle Telegraph and La Presse. His career path lead him to the Royal Ontario Museum where he wrote Heritage, A Romantic Look at Early Canadian Furniture during his time as curator.

Evading Mexican police who were seeking him at the request of his and his lover’s families he moved to Morocco. There he lived for 25 years. He wrote his novel Helmet of Flesh while residing there.

In 2005 Symons returned to Toronto where he resided until his death Monday.

Some States Consider Repealing Capital Punishment To Cut Costs

A death sentence may be a thing of the past if the recession has anything to do with it. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is telling states that are cash poor to abolish the death penalty to cut costs.

O’Malley is using a bit of logic when he says to slash the death penalty and a bit of his own religious convictions. The fact is according to the Catholic politician that homicide cases that seek a death sentence cost three times more than when the highest sentencing is life in prison.

MSNBC reports:

“It is time to ask whether public executions, even of the guilty, are consistent with the future we prefer for our children’s world. Our free and diverse republic was founded not on fear and retribution. It was born from higher things, rooted in unalienable rights endowed by our creator — freedom, justice and the dignity of the individual,” he said.

He’s not alone, lawmakers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and New Hampshire are using the same reasoning. Experts are expecting bills to repeal the death penalty will pass in Maryland, Montana and New Mexico.

Some states are looking at early releases for nonviolent offenders to cut costs.

Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico is not using the profit line though in his state’s repeal of capital punishment, rather the concerns of miscarriages of justice.

Capital cases cost much more for the state. Along with the standard witnesses when a person is on trial for their life costly expert witnesses come on board. That and the multiple appeals that follow end up taking more and more out of state funding.

After all is said and paid for most that are given the death sentence end up with a life sentence in the end.

Still there are opponents to repealing capital punishment.

The New York Times reports:

“How do you put a price tag on crimes that don’t happen because threat of the death penalty deters them?” said Scott Shellenberger, the state’s attorney for Baltimore County, Md., who opposes the repeal bill.

Mr. Clooney Goes To Washington

George Clooney has been meeting with President Barack Obama about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur instead of hitting the Oscar parties. He brought to the White House 250,000 postcards gathered by the Save Darfur organization.

George Clooney has been active in years with the humanitarian work being done in the Darfur region. His voice is getting louder and now he’s talking to the top brass of the United States to get more action for his cause. Clooney has been said to have asked President Obama for an envoy to be employed full time that would report back to the Oval Office on the conditions in the war torn region.

CNN reports:

Clooney said of his conversations with Obama and Biden: “Basically, we were just talking about coming back from Chad and right on the border of Darfur. And we were talking about there’s a moment coming up relatively soon — probably by the middle of next week — where the International Criminal Court is going to indict the president of Sudan for war crimes, which has never happened before — a sitting president.”

Clooney has been visiting refugees in Chad recently. More than 250,000 refugees are in the African country barely surviving.

The Celebrity Cafe reports:

“I think somehow we should all know that these people are hanging on by the skin of their teeth,” Clooney said.

After years of dealing with former President Bush the Enough project, a campaign that is working on ending the genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region was excited with Clooney’s announcement that Obama had listened and would be appointing a special envoy.

Politico reports:

“This is a phenomenal outcome, with the extraordinary series of crises that the new president has inherited, to have someone of Clooney’s stature and seriousness galvanize attention to this question on Darfur,” said John Prendergast, co-­chairman of the ENOUGH project, a campaign to end genocide.

“It is a very positive step, and we are fortunate,” he said. “The envoy, working with a team and other countries, could help catalyze peace in Sudan.”

There are some reports that list the death toll at 2 million during the Darfur conflict. More conservative reports have 300,000 as the number of dead. During last year’s campaign both Obama and John McCain condemned the Sudanese government and demanded that the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement be implemented.

At that time Obama is quoted as saying:

“When you see a genocide, whether it’s in Rwanda or Bosnia, or in Darfur, that’s a stain on all of us, it’s a stain on our souls,” Obama said in an interview with the Save Darfur activist group. “We’re running out of time, and we have to maintain that sense of urgency. We can’t say, ‘Never again’ and then allow it to happen again.”

It is likely that either Anthony Lake, President Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser; former Sen. Bill Frist; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; or Roger Winter will be named as the envoy.

Monday night after spending the day talking with vice-president Joe Biden, Clooney appeared on the Larry King show. There the actor reported that Biden was very vocal about the issue. CNN quotes the actor:

Vice President Biden has been incredibly vocal on the issue. We had a long talk about the idea of, first and foremost, appointing a high level, full-time envoy that reports directly to the White House so that it’s not just temporary. We need somebody working on this, you know, every day — getting up every morning with their sole job to find peace in the area.

Clooney has been on this mission for several years. He has been campaigning to have more US activism to help held the conflict between rebels and the Sudanese governments.

Barenaked Ladies’ lead singer Steven Page leaving band

Steven Page the lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies has left the group to pursue a solo career. The band that has won almost 20 Juno Awards will keep making music and are set to tour this fall.

On his personal blog Steven Page announced:

Yes, it’s official. I am no longer a Barenaked Lady. After twenty years (plus a few months), I’m heading out on my own.

Don’t worry the Barenaked Ladies will still be around, just without their lead singer.

Page and Ed Roberson formed the band in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. They hit the big time with their 1992 album Gordon.

On the band’s official website they also announced that Page has left the band and include a quote from Page:

Page says “These guys are my brothers. We’ve grown up together over the past twenty years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future.”

The band also wish Steven well in all of his endeavors. Ed Robertson says: “It’s the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here’s to the future!”

Last year Page was arrested in New York on a felony drug possession charge. He was able to avoid time in jail when the judge downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor. After his arrest Page admitted that 2008 was a difficult year as the Canadian Press reports:

“Yes, it’s been a terrible year for the band, and for me personally, but there have also been many things to be happy and grateful for,” he wrote.

“Falling in love, a renewed sense of peace, the best health of my adult life, some amazing creative and artistic opportunities, and the chance for a renewed and fruitful relationship with my band, friends and loved ones.”

Page won’t be just sitting around. He’s got a slew of projects already in place. He is expected to turn composer for “Bartholomew Fair” at the Stratford Festival later this summer.

Meanwhile the band will be in the studio come April working on a new album before they head out on tour in the fall. They are currently up for another Juno for their children’s album “Snack Time.”

India Is Giving Slumdog Child Actors Decent Housing

The two youngest “slumdogs” are moving on up. The Indian government has announced that Slumdog Millionaire’s Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail will be receiving new homes when they return from the United States.

Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail played the roles of Latika and Salim as children in the movie that swept the Oscars.

Prior to the Oscars it was revealed that the two young actors were living in Garib Nagar, a slum in north Mumbai and were paid very little for their roles in the movie. At present Azharuddin lives under a tarpaulin next to a road. His father supported his family on just a £1 a day. He has been unable to work because of his failing health from TB. Rubiana’s family has it slightly better, they share a one-room hut that is next to an open sewer.

MSNBC reports:

“These two children have brought laurels to the country, and we have been told that they live in slums, which cannot even be classified as housing,” said Gautam Chatterjee, head of the state-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority.

Danny Boyle, the director of the film, and producer Christian Colso have denied claims that the children were exploited in the making of the film. Instead they say that Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail were paid above local Indian wages. They also contend that the children are now enrolled in school with a fund in place to pay for their education, medical emergencies and other basic living expenses.

The nine children that were featured in the film were at the Academy Awards. Fox Searchlight Pictures paid for their visas, travel and accommodations to California so that they could attend the Oscars.

While the government is getting housing ready the children are enjoying their time in California. Danny Boyle took them to Disney on Monday.

The Daily Mail reports:

Boyle told the Daily Mail: ‘These are bricks and mortar flats. They will have electricity, running water and good sanitation.

‘They will still be close to their friends and extended family.

‘Their community is very important to them, and they don’t want to move too far away from them.

The children all have a trust fund set up for when they turn 18. But 18 is a long ways off when they live in extreme poverty.

At this time the film’s investors and distributors are setting up a fund for the slum and street children residing in Mumbai. The initial figure is at £500,000 and expected to rise.

Palin must refund kids’ travel expenses to Alaska

Sarah Palin isn’t admitting she was wrong to take the kids with her on government trips but she will be paying back a bit for those trips. The cost out of her pocket is nearly $7,000 as Alaska looks into her expenses and if she has been abusing her power.

The Alaskan legislature has been examining Sarah Palin’s abuses of power and the cost to the taxpayers. She has now said she’ll pay back some of those costs for bringing her kids with her but she is not admitting that she did anything wrong and only followed the advice of her advisors. In fact she is saying the complaints against her are “an obvious political weapon, with an associate of a political adversary filing this and making it public — against state law — just before the election.”

The state though is saying that their governor has abused her power.

Frank Gwartney, a retired electrical power lineman from Anchorage had filed the complaint about Palin’s use of state funds covering her children’s travel expenses.

ADN.com reports:

“Sarah had run on this platform of ethics and cleaning up the state,” Gwartney said. “It’s fairly hypocritical. She’s just repeating the same thing everyone else has done.”

Governor Sarah Palin has agreed to reimburse Alaska $6,800 to cover the costs on nine trips that her kids took between 2007 and 2008.

She made the announcement on Tuesday that she will be settling the ethics complaint that the Personnel Board filed in October. She has agreed to pay back because she wants to let the people know that she “adheres to the highest level of ethics,” attorney Thomas Van Flien has been quoted as saying.

Palin aslo has announced that she will not be using the Chevy Suburban that the state provided any longer. She had discovered the free ride wasn’t so free after all. State officials told her on Monday that she will be paying taxes on her personal use of the car. She’s also being told to pay taxes on all that expense money she got to live in her own home in Wasilla.

The actual bill has yet to get to Palin’s desk but it is estimated just for the traveling brood to come to $6,800.

The Anchorage Daily News quotes the governor:

“This is a big state, and I am obligated to — and intend to — keep Alaskans informed and meet with them as much as I can, from Barrow to Marshall to Ketchikan,” Palin said in a written statement. “At the same time, I am blessed to have a large and loving family, and the discharge of my duties should not prevent me from spending time with them.”

New Skin Disorder Dubbed PlayStation palmar hidradenitis

There’s a new reason parents should limit the amount of time that their kids with those PlayStations; a skin disorder. That’s right, some people may develop painful sores from over gaming.

The condition being called PlayStation palmar hidradenitis was recently written about in the British Journal of Dermatology.

The researchers outlined the case of one 12-year-old Swiss child who went to hospital after developing sores on her palms. The girl played on a game console often. When she abstined for ten days the sores healed.

The true name of the condition is ‘idiopathic eccrine hidradenitis’. It has previously been linked to children who take part in heavy physical activities like jogging. Most often the sores are found on the soles of the feet.

The fact that the girl’s hands were involved was very unusual. Her parents confirmed that she played for several hours a day on the family’s PlayStation. After getting the sores she continued to use the gaming device.

This condition can be added to a growing list of problems that can come from excessive gaming. There have been enough acute tendonitis cases for the term Wiitis to come out.

The BBC reports:

“If you’re worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don’t play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating.”

YouTube Video Leads Police To Pot Farm

When a 25-year-old saw how great his pot crop was he decided to post a video on YouTube. He gave a through report on the stages of growth of his crop in Bridgwater, Somerset.

The man made it very easy for the police to find him, he used his real name.

Police searched his house and was able to take in one large cannabis plant and hydroponics equipment for grow house purposes.

Metro.co.uk.com reports:

PC Adrian Peck, of Avon and Somerset police, said: “The male had been videoing the growth of the plant over a number of months and uploading his horticultural endeavors onto the site to document it – providing us with fairly conclusive evidence.

“The cultivation of cannabis is illegal. If you break the law and are foolish enough to then advertise your criminal activities on the Internet, it makes it very easy for the Police to catch you.”

The man admitted to the police that he was cultivating cannabis. He received an official police warning. It is against police policy to release a person’s name if they have received a warning.

Permafrost and Methane Could Be A Force In Climate Change

Each time a bubble breaks through are we at a greater risk? Those bubbles are coming from the the Arctic Circle and the risk is methane. Methane at a rate that could speed up climate change across the globe.

11,000 years ago it is believed methane was a major factor in a period of global warming. Methane levels in our atmosphere have tripled since pre-industrial times. Much of that increase (70 %) can be traced to rice cultivation, cattle raising, coal mining and other human activities. Mother Nature takes the lead on the other 30 percent.

At the end of the 20th century the 51 million metric ton methane emission rate came from the north; 64 per cent from Russia, 11 per cent from Canada, and 7 per cent from Alaska.

Katey Walter, a University of Alaska researcher, is conducting research in the Arctic Circle that is rising world wide attention. The LA Times reports:

Walter’s work “has gotten a lot of attention,” said John E. Walsh, chief scientist of the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks. “She found direct evidence of methane releases in high-latitude lakes. That was not fully realized before.”

For the last half century the Arctic Circle is warming twice the rate of the rest of the world. Polar bears and emperor penguins may be lost due to that increase. While the glaciers and sea ice have been the focus of news headlines the growing concern now is the transformation of permafrost.

By the end of the century the 20% of the Earth’s surface that is frozen may have thawed out. Air temperatures in the Arctic Circle are expected to rise as much as 6 degrees Celsius. When that happens the emission of carbon compounds will hit the atmosphere at an alarming rate.

The upper 3 meters of permafrost holds 1.9 trillion tons of carbon. That is more than double what is in the atmosphere today.

The LA Times reports:

“We are seeing thawing down to 5 meters,” says geophysicist Vladimir Romanovsky of the University of Alaska. “A third to a half of permafrost is already within a degree to a degree and a half [Celsius] of thawing.”

If only 1% of permafrost carbon were to be released each year, that could double the globe’s annual carbon emissions, Romanovsky notes. “We are at a tipping point for positive feedback,” he warns, referring to a process in which warming spurs emissions, which in turn generate more heat, in an uncontrollable cycle.

For the next two years the researchers funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA, will move between Siberia and Alaska. They will drill, analyze and try to determine how the methane from these Arctic lakes will change the future climate of the Earth.

“By figuring out how quickly permafrost thawed in the past, we can test our models to predict how fast it could thaw in the next 100 years,” says Lawrence Plug, a geophysicist from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada; Guido Grosse, a German geologist, who will make the complex calculations. “If the temperature warms a couple of degrees Celsius, the lakes could expand at two or three times their current rate.”

Nearly 75 % Of Bush’s Staff Are Jobless

The unemployment lines are filling up with nearly 3,000 former members of the Bush administration out of work. It appears working for the former president is a sure ticket to unemployment benefits.

Nearly 75 percent of the Bush staff have yet to find a new job since their man left the Oval Office.

Raw Story reports:

“That ‘is much, much worse’ than when Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton left the White House,” Carlos M. Gutierrez, who served as Bush’s commerce secretary, told the paper.

With the Democrats in power in the Congress and the White House high-profile Republicans have little chance in gets a job with the standard think tanks.

Those employees that do find a spot are going the academic route. Henry Paulson is now a fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Along with her huge book deal the one who appears to come out ahead is Condoleezza Rice. She has her old job back at Stanford as a political-science professor and senior fellow at its Hoover Institution.

This Pop’s For You, US Airways Brings Back Free Drinks

On Monday US Airways announced that free beverages will be making a comeback on their US Airways and US Airways Express Flights starting in March.

Last year when US Airlines started asking a $1 for a cup of java and 2 bucks for a water and soft drinks they heard the boos. They are now receding that profit margin to get in the good graces of air travelers.

The move was an effort to offset the higher cost of fuel.

The New York Times reports:

“With US Airways being the only large network carrier to charge for drinks, we are at a disadvantage,” Mr. Parker wrote in the memo. “This difference in our service has become a focal point that detracts from all of the outstanding improvements.”

Passengers will soon be offered soda, juices, tea, water, and coffee to enjoy on their flights.

For those who require something a bit stronger beer, wine and cocktails for $7.

While the airlines is giving their customers a free drink don’t expect the baggage fees to shrink anytime soon. That is where US Airlines is making a huge profit.

The company is expecting to make between $400 and $500 million this year on checked baggage, premium seats and pillows.

In the last year US Airlines has moved up its service in terms of being on-time. They had the best record among the big six US carriers. The U.S. Transportation Department had ranked it at or near at dead last in prior years.

Perhaps the announcement has already helped the company. US Airlines shares were up to 5.77 percent at $3.30 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Toronto Poet Truth Is Tells It Like It Is

How do you change the viewpoint of society? For some it’s the pen. For some that pen bleeds the soul of an audience, hitting hard. Powerful words in the form of poetry shook us to the core. Such words are spoken by a Toronto poet named aptly Truth Is.

“Words mean nothing without expression!” -Truth Is

For Truth Is word are in fact truth. Her truths the truths of the underdog. The truths of one who is shy or beaten or angry. Truth is a hard crevice to conquer at times for it’s not always a pretty picture of white picket fences. There are holes in those roads. There are reasons why she doesn’t write letters to Santa Claus. Her words mean something. She means something.

Truth Is is young. Only 24 but making a huge impact on the Spoken Word circuit in Toronto. She has been performing for the past three years but only in the Slam scene for the last sixteen months.

Her words have seen the airwaves as both FLOW 93.5’s OTA LIVE and CBC Radio One 99.1’s Big City, Small World have aired her poetry.

She is involved with Strong Words, Cryptic Chatter, Word Jam, Dementia 5, Underground Sounds and the Toronto Poetry Slam. She also gives of her time working with youth shelters, schools and the Children’s Peace Theater.

Karen Emerson, artistic director of the Children’s Peace Theater said in a phone interview that Truth Is has been an inspiring artist for those who have had the pleasure to work with her for the last three years. Her volunteer work with the group has been “amazing.” Truth has not only performed but worked on long term projects helping the youth of the city of Toronto.

Those in Toronto have a chance to check her out on March 1, 2009 at The Boat at 158 Augusta Avenue.

Checking In At The Local Meth Lab Near You

The drug trade has a new location for cooking up meth. Motel and hotel rooms are a cheap alternative for on the go drug makers. They can mix up their next batch of product in just a few hours leaving behind the toxins that can harm you.

Motel rooms are considered more attractive to these drug manufacturers than their own homes. For one, the police can not seize a motel room like they can a house or trailer.

During the past five years police have found evidence of the cook set ups in 1,789 motel rooms. Considering that many of the rooms used are not discovered that number may just be a trickle in the stream.

Those hired to clean up the mess say that most of their work is being done on rooms that have been used long ago for drugs.

The toxins stick around for days if the ‘cooks’ wearing hazmat suits to protect themselves don’t clean up properly. Those clean-ups can cost up to $20,000.

The innocent motel guest can face eye and skin irritation, vomiting, rashes, asthma problems and other respiratory issues if they stay in a room that was recently used as a cook lab.

CBS News reports:

“It probably happens all the time,” said John Martyny, a National Jewish Medical and Research Center associate professor who is also an industrial hygienist and meth researcher. “The difficulty is, how do you make that attribution? You might think it is from cigarette smoking.”

Sex Research Puts University of Georgia Professors in Hot Seat

The Senate Committee of Higher Education was the location last week for three professors from Georgia State University. It appears some in Georgia would like for any education that has to do with a sexual nature be tossed from the desks.

The educators were having to defend their jobs after Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock)called them out for having experts in oral sex and male prostitution. Human Events.com reports Rep. Clarlice Byrd (R-Woodstock,, Ga.) went to the Senate with these fighting words:

“This is not considered higher education,” Byrd said. “If legislators are going to dole out the dollars, we should have a say-so in where they go.” The legislators, their supporters and groups like the Christian Coalition will join together to pressure fellow lawmakers and the University System Board of Regents to eliminate the jobs of these fringe educators or move them into different subjects. They ask the question “is this really what a research institution ought to be teaching?”

On February 18 Dr. Kirk Elifson, Dr. Mindy Stombler and Dr. Donald Reitzes, the chair of GSU’s sociology department, were in the Senate explaining their decades of research.

Elifson’s research has dated back to the Vietnam War when he begun studying the habits of American servicemen. That study showed that 10 percent of servicemen visited male prostitutes. His study prompted that CDC to work with him in 1991 when they were investigating the outbreak of HIV and AIDS that was happening within the gay population.

Stombler is working on a study about oral sex. Her research based in education theory has yet to be published.

The Senate questioned the value of these and other studies because of funding.

SOVO.com reports:

“How do I go back and explain to the 7,500 veterans of this state that we have money to pay for male prostitution experts and oral sex experts, and queer theory?” he asked. “How do I go back and explain to the 7,500 veterans that we have money to pay for these things but not for veteran housing?”

Both Elifson and Stombler’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health. That didn’t stop Charlice Byrd and Calvin Hill from saying that students are being taught classes on oral sex. They were wrong on that declaration.

Press Release 365 reports:

“CNN missed the real story. Scientific research is the underpinning of effective policy and prevention-especially in areas such as healthy sexuality, where misinformation and stigma flourish,” said NSRC director and San Francisco State professor Dr. Gilbert Herdt. “It is not only shameful to ridicule and undermine sexuality research, it undermines our national health. The public’s sexual literacy depends on it.” In fact, the NSRC has its own journal, Sexuality Research and Social Policy, whose primary goal is to translate research into policy.

State Sen. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) and Sen. Seth Harp (R-Hull) both acknowledged the value of the studies.

“Learning about your work with the national security connects the dots and shows how important your work can be,” Orrock said.

Within 48 hours the National Sexuality Resource Center was able to garner thousands of signatures from advocates and sexuality researchers around the world in support for the professors.

Dr. Deborah Tolman, Professor of Social Welfare at Hunter College School of Social Work and the Graduate Center, CUNY, spoke out for the need that these studies provide.

“Identifying and understanding developmental differences are critical to sound educational and social policy to support healthy development. Research can challenge myths and determine what, in the words of Bristol Palin, is realistic for adolescents and young people to know about their choices and expectations about oral sex.”

New Antibody Discovery Could Stop The Flu Dead In It’s Tracks

An “antibody cocktail” is being touted by some researchers as a means to stop all flu types. If researchers are correct doctors may have the means to protect their patients from a pandemic flu invasion.

Webmd.com reports:

“I certainly believe that a therapy for all kinds of influenza may be within our grasp,” study researcher Robert Liddington, DPhil, director of infectious diseases at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif., said at a news conference announcing the finding.

The researchers could not make a flu in the lab that was resistant to new monoclonal antibodies. They believe that is only a small chance that viruses could mutate in such a way that the new treatment would become obsolete.

This breakthrough medication was a joint venture from labs at Burnham Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the CDC in Atlanta.

According to Wayne Marasco, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, these new monoclonal antibodies could quickly be turned into a wide range of drugs.

“We hope these antibodies are in clinical trials during the 2011-2012 flu season — maybe earlier,” Marasco said. “This really is an important advance in the field of antiviral therapy. The possibility of having a universal therapy for flu is made more real and possible because of these discoveries.”

In the lab mice infected with the deadliest strain of Avian Flu were protected even when they got their first dose three days after infection with what should have been a lethal dose of the virus.

It may be possible to use this new technology in making an univerisal flu vaccine. That vaccine though may not be as important as the medicine cocktail researchers believe.

“People tend to emphasize vaccines as the Holy Grail of flu, as it were. But these antiviral antibodies are very effective, and can be very effective in a pandemic setting — they just need to be used judiciously,” Liddington said. “These antivirals are ready to go and should be effective just as they are, as soon as they get through FDA approval and are stockpiled in large enough amounts in metropolitan areas where an outbreak might begin.”

The findings of this new discovery are reported in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Business Laptops Need Better Security Protection

Business people are choosing laptops over desktops at record numbers. The business laptop user also tends to lose their laptops at the airport. Reports of lost and stolen laptops come in at a rate of 12,000 per week. How does one keep that laptop safe?

Considering the large number of lost and stolen laptops security has to be considered when purchasing a new model. More than 50% of those carrying their company’s confidential data and 65% of those not securing that data properly this is a real issue.

Ponemon.org reports:

“It’s staggering to learn that up to 600,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports annually, many containing sensitive information that companies must account for,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. “IT departments must re-evaluate the steps they’re taking to protect mobile professionals, the laptops they carry and company data stored on mobile devices.”

All business laptops need to have drive encryption. Passwords are not enough to keep hackers at bay. There is no technology available to bypass drive encryption at this time. When a thief can’t get into the machine, the machine is often thrown in the trash with the data undetected. Because of this security when a system is encrypted it doesn’t have to be reported. There is one problem though with encryption, if the system refuses to boot your computer is toast. That has made some users wary of it. Still it’s much safer business wise to have to rebuild a machine than chance that the data on it has been stolen.

Another way of protecting the data on your lost or stolen laptop is with built-in anti-theft protection. With this service a user or the IT department at your company can remotely disable a laptop. The prices are not so high that it’s out of range for most business travelers and the protection is well worth it. PC PhoneHome, Locate My Laptop and Lojack for Laptops are some services to look in to for this service.

One more service is actually being built into newer models, the finger reader. When the laptop will only operate for the finger then it’s much harder to hack. That is as long as the thief doesn’t decide to hack your finger with your machine.

Jerry Lewis Given The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

The Academy Awards honoured Jerry Lewis on Sunday with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Lewis looking much more fit than in recent years was presented the award by Eddie Murphy for this good works with MDA.

“For most of my life I thought that doing good for someone didn’t mean you would receive commendation for that act of kindness,” Lewis said. “At least until now.

“This award touches my heart and the very depth of my soul because of who the award is from, and those who will benefit.”

Jerry Lewis is now best known for his work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Lewis has been the advocate of those stricken with the diseases that the association works for since 1966. In that time he has helped to rise $2 billion.

Lewis began with the group though many years before the first telethon. He has refused to reveal the reasons for working with the charity.

The Associated Press reports:

“The impact of his humanitarian efforts on people with muscle-wasting diseases is beyond measure,” Muscular Dystrophy Association President Gerald C. Weinberg said in a statement released earlier this month.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is named for the Danish actor who co-founded the Motion Picture Relief Fund. That fund helps to pay for those in the movie industry who can’t afford their own medical care. Hersholt also served as one of the Academy’s presidents.

There were some behind the scenes though who were not for this award. A small band of protesters picketed saying that the MDA telethons are dated and that Lewis wants people to pity those with muscular dystrophy.

Opinion: Politics, The Academy and A Little Guy Called Oscar

This year Slumdog Millionaire won eight of the awards including best picture. Were the awards deserved or was Hollywood shouting out a message?

Presenters this year announced Slumdog Millionaire over and over. Editing, score, song, sound mixing, cinematography, writing, directing and of choice best film each was another golden statue for the film.

Granted the awards were well deserved. Still could the global economy crisis have played into the voting? That from poverty good things can come? That the lowest of the low can be winners?

Is it too lofty an idea that by a movie that shows extreme poverty and hardship could inspire others? The movie shows after all Jamal’s intelligence wins. That the education of being poor, of not having it all was the one that made him a winner.

We’re living in a time where Slumdog Millionaire’s poverty is a reality for much of the world. We see in the news the hunger of children. We know of the crimes, the hopelessness, the cruelty. Isn’t it nice to think that someone can rise up and win from that situation?

The public is not privy to the ways different stars choose their picks. But is it not possible that when sitting in front of the screen those voters want their choices to matter? To say something. to be a ray of hope?

If that is the case, the voters did their job.

UK Bans Westboro Baptist Church’s Fred Phelps and Daughter

Fred Phelps and his daughter have been banned from entering the United Kingdom. Best known for their Westboro Baptist Church positions, the two have rallied people to protest a performance of “The Laramie Project.”

The Westboro Baptist Church has protested at funerals of those killed in the Iraq War. They are known for inciting intolerance of homosexuality. Fred Phelps has also riled against the Muslim faith and the Catholic church.

“The Laramie Project” tells the story of Matthew Shepherd, a gay student who was killed in 1998. It was scheduled to open on Friday. Only one demonstrator showed up and left after being heckled by the crowd of counter-demonstrators.

The move to ban the Phelps follows another ban. Geert Wilders was denied entry for his anti-Muslim views. He was deported immediately when he flew into London.

Kansas City.com reports:

“Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behavior by inciting hatred against a number of communities,” a U.K. Border Agency spokesman told the Times Online, the online site of The Times of London. “The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.”

The authorities were forewarned that the pair was planning to come to the protest after reading about it on the Phelps website. The website has a press release issued about the play as The Guardian reports:

“God hates the Queen Mary’s College, and the fag-infested UK, England [sic] and all having to do with spreading sodomite lies via ‘The Laramie Project’, this tacky bit of cheap fag propaganda masquerading as legitimate theatre.”

Phelp’s daughter was not happy with the ban. The BBC quoted Mrs Phelps-Roper about the decision to ban her and her father from entering the UK would “bring great wrath upon your heads”.

The church is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League.

George W Bush Turns Down Job Offer

George Bush went to a local Dallas hardware store which offered him a job as a greeter. The hardware store placed an offer in a letter published in a Dallas newspaper.

Bush and his posse, the Secret Service, went on down to the local retailer of nails and chains to take them up on the offer. After spending an hour chatting and doing a bit of shopping the former president declined the gig, even though it came with free parking and a nifty yellow vest.

The BBC reports:

“We’re confident that your experience working in your own family business, as well as your people skills developed throughout years of meeting with foreign dignitaries would make you an excellent candidate for the position,” read the job offer, signed by Kyle Walters, president and CEO of Elliott’s Hardware.

“Furthermore, like you, many of our greeters are retired from the corporate world, so we’re sure you’ll have no trouble making new friends.”

The job would have been part-time leaving Bush plenty of time working on his presidential library. He also is said to be writing about the eight years he spent in the White House.

The Bush’s moved into their new home on Friday in a pricey Preston Hollow. They also have their ranch in Crawford, Texas.

After declining the job offer Bush returned home where he and wife Laura greeted the local Boy Scout troop looking for donations door to door.

Boy Charged With Murders Of Kenzie Houk, 26, And Unborn Infant

Friday morning a Wampum, Pa. boy coldly shot and killed the woman that was pregnant with his half sibling before stepping on the school bus to go to school with the victim’s young daughter.

It is said that Jordan Brown, 11, was so jealous of the unborn baby that he blew away Kenzie Houk, 26, as she lie in bed.

Brown is being charged as an adult for ending the lives as Houk and the infant due in just two weeks. He has been charged with two counts of criminal homicide.

Family members knew that Jordan was upset at the upcoming birth of his younger brother.

Between 7 am and 8 am Brown is alleged to have taken a youth-model 20-gauge shotgun won two weeks ago at a shooting competition into the bedroom of Houk. He then fired once, shooting Houk in the head. He acted as nothing was unusual as he and Houk’s daughter, 7, got on the school bus.

After the police talked to the girl they charged Jordan.

The last thing the little girl heard her mother say was to hurry so the two children would not miss the school bus. She claimed that Jordan took the shotgun downstairs and then took it back upstairs. She heard a big boom while she was putting her shoes on for school. When she asked Jordan what the noise was he refused to tell her.

The New York Daily News reports:

“She didn’t actually eyewitness the shooting. She saw him with what she believed to be a shotgun and heard a loud bang,” said Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo.

Houk’s younger daughter, just four-years-old walked into the bedroom discovering her mother was dead. She fled the home flagging down nearby tree trimmers.

The murder weapon was found under Jordan’s bed.

At the time of the shooting Christopher Brown, father of Jordan, was working.

Brown is being held in a cell away from others in the Lawrence County, Pennsylvania jail.

The Daily Contributor reports:

“I wouldn’t know anybody in the whole world who would want to kill a 26-year-old beautiful daughter like mine and take a child,” Houk’s father, Jack, told MSNBC. “I don’t know who would be crazy enough and nutty enough to want to do something like that — has got to be sick. I hope they find out who it is and they give them life or whatever the got to do with them, it’s horrifying.”

At Least 74 Death In China Mine Explosion

The death toll has climbed to 74 in Gujiao city near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province in China after a mine blast. Sunday morning at about 2 am the coal mine exploded.

Dozens are still trapped in the Shanxi Coking Coal Group’s burning shaft of what is being called the worst mining disaster of the year. Some reports say that as many as 65 miners are still inside those burning tunnels.

The hospitals are dealing with 113 injured workers, 21 of those are in critical condition. They are suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. There is no odor to warn that death is knocking.

At the time of the explosion 436 workers were in the Tunlan Coal Mine. There is no word as to what caused the explosion yet.

The over 100 rescue workers have been hampered by the flames that burn on inside the shaft.

Shanxi Coking Coal Group owns 28 mines. They are China’s largest coal producer. The mines are considered some of the best facilities in the nation. There had been no reports of any major accidents in the past five years prior to this explosion.

Over 3,000 deaths a year in China are the result of fires, floods and explosions in the mines.

For years China has promised to improve the conditions of their mines. In that effort over 1,000 small mines were considered so dangerous that they were closed last year. Last year 3,200 people died in mining accidents last year. That is a 15% decline from 2007.

The numbers are misleading. Those smaller mines accounted from the majority of deaths. The larger, state-run mines are considered some of the world’s safest. They tend to have safety records of other developed countries. That can not be said of the small mines that have few safety rules, little equipment and employees with little to no training.

Those small mines number at 80 percent in a nation that has 16,000 mines.

iPhone Apps Die A Quick Death According To Research

Do you have an iPhone? Chances are all of those apps that you just had to have are quickly gathering space and dust on your phone. Pinch Media has been collecting data from more than 30 million app downloads.

The mass majority only uses an app once after they download it. Pinch Media found that only 20 percent of users return to apps after they take the time to download it. This finding covers both free and pay for apps. By the time a new app has been on a users phone for a month only 5% bother with it. When an app hits the 3 month mark it’s in the grave.

Chief executive Greg Yardley presented the findings at the New York iPhone Developers Meetup. He stated that while paid apps do get more use initially they are downloaded much less.

This may start advertisers from questioning the value of giving away apps to iPhone customers.

Apple Insider reports:

Assuming free apps are run a dozen times by each user, and that those free apps are run about 6.6 times more often in total than paid apps, Yardley showed that “the typical application would have to bombard its users with ads to beat the money it’d make from paid sales.”

Opinion: McDonald’s Denies Benefits To Hero Employee

Heroes are few and far between. Nigel Haskett is one of those unsung heroes who intervened when a man at the McDonald’s he was working at started beating a woman inside the restaurant. In that process Haskett ended up fighting for his own life.

McDonald’s is denying his claim for workers compensation benefits.

Last August Haskett was working in an Arkansas McDonald’s when he saw the assailant, later identified as Perry Kennon battering a lady at the fast food chain. After getting Kennon to leave the store Haskett stood guard outside the door to prevent the attacker from reentry. That heroic act almost ended his life.

Kennon went to his car to get a gun. Returning to the door Kennon pumped bullets into Haskett, now 22. Those bullets were the source of three abdominal surgeries. Haskett will carry for life a piece of a bullet lodged in his back.

When the hospital bills arrived they exceeded $300,000 according to attorney Philip M. Wilson.

The legal system worked. Within days Kennon was picked up and sits in the Pulaski County Jail. He is set to go to trial later.

McDonald’s is another story. The fast food giant has refused to grant Haskett his claim with Arkansas’s Workers Compensation Commission. The company’s claims specialist for insurer, Ramsey, Krug, Farrell and Lensing, Misty Thompson issued a letter to the Commission on why they are denying the claim. The Arkansas Times reports:

“we have denied this claim in its entirety as it is our opinion that Mr. Haskett’s injuries did not arise out of or within the course and scope of his employment.”

The franchise owner of that McDonalds is trying to smooth things over by saying, hey this isn’t my fault. As MSNBC reports:

“We are all grateful to Nigel and that’s why it is so unfortunate that he’s having a difficult time with the insurance claim however, the fact of the matter is that I do not have control over whether my employee’s claim is paid by Worker’s Compensation. It is my understanding that there has not been a final determination by the Arkansas Worker’s Compensation Commission. I am taking this very seriously, and doing what I can to help and I hope his claim will come to a quick resolution and the right thing will be done for my employee.”

Isn’t it nice to know that when a hero comes along the giants have no problem shooting them down.

The case is set to go to the court. Hopefully a judge can see to it that justice gives one to the good guy.

George Mason University Homecoming Queen Is Really A Queen

Ryan Allen is a Big Man on campus at George Mason University. He’s also the Homecoming Queen as of last week’s crowning during the half-time of the basketball game against Northeastern at the Patriot Center.

Allen beat two women who were running against him for the crown.

Ryan Allen performs at local clubs as a drag queen was named Ms. Mason in front of the sold-out crowd. The openly gay student was joined by Ricky Malebrache who was named Mr. Mason during the ceremony.

The university has a population of 30,000 students. About one third of those students are minority. The commuter school has been trying to get a better image in Fairfax County.

The student body is divided as to the crowning of a gay student. Some felt it was a cutting edge move while others thought it will be a joke to other schools of higher learning.

Allen himself entered the running as a joke. During the qualifying pageant on February 9 he lip-synced to Britney Spear’s “Womanizer”adorned in a silver bra and zebra-print pants. That competition was overseen by the current Miss Virginia 2009.

Allen has been very involved after coming out his freshman year in high school in gay rights. He had to suffer the barbs of bullies during those high school days but found a home at George Mason. He started his drag show act under the name of Reann Ballslee. Each year he has emceed a drag show for George Mason during Pride Week.

Tolerance set this young man free. As he is quoted in the Washington Post;

“When they said ‘Ms. Mason 2009 is Reann Ballslee,’ the crowd went wild,” Allen said. “It was one of the best feelings I’ve felt in a long time. I had so many friends supporting me.”

Opinion: ‘Frozen River’ The extraordinary picture of the year

The breakout picture of the year can be seen in this year’s “Frozen River.” Both Melissa Leo and Misty Upham give the performances of their lifetimes as two struggling mothers doing what they have to for their families.

Set on the Mohawk Reservation border between New York and Quebec this powerful film by Courtney Hunt tells the story of two mothers turned human smugglers.

The chance of fast money to provide a better home for her young sons proves to tempting to mother Ray Eddy. With her husband run off just a week before Christmas and a balloon payment due for a double wide Ray is at her wits end.

Enter Lila, a young mother who’s son was taken from her at birth. Lila’s worked the illegal job of smuggler in the past.

The two form a bond that transcends the bigotry that is common in this area.

The performances of all of the small cast is stellar. This low budget underdog is worth the ticket price. Leo deserves the Oscar this time around.

Opinion: Oscar Contender The Wrestler Falls Flat

Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are both up for Academy Awards for “The Wrestler.” This is a movie that either grabs you or it doesn’t.

I have heard some who were got engaged with The Wrestler and others who aren’t as thrilled with the film. I am in the latter group. While there are some touching scenes the movie couldn’t grasp me as in some of the other films that are up for the Oscars.

Rourke does give a convincing performance as a has been. Has been as a father, wrestler and in life. I waited to see a redeeming point, something that would help me feel for the character. Perhaps that was the entire premise but for me it fell flat.

Tomei was convincing as a dancer but I failed to see any true chemistry in the scenes with Rourke.

There are movies though that don’t touch each person that views it. This is one of those.

Opinion: The Dark Knight: A Victory For Ledger?

The Dark Knight is an action packed drama unlike many of the genre. A super hero and a super villain fight it out as people around them die. It was the final full performance for Heath Ledger and one that could garner him an Academy Award.

The question is does his performance honestly deserve the most coveted prize in the industry. The answer in my opinion is no, although his performance was amazing. If Ledger’s daughter Matilda gets the Oscar it may well be in honour of the work her father never had a chance to accomplish.

Ledger’s take on The Joker was haunting and powerful. He was the best Joker in history. He played a charactyer that had a depth that other actors in the past did not go to. His Joker was not comical. He was what he was, a psychopath who toyed with an entire city to play against the head honcho. In that he should be applauded.

Ledger’s last performance was a fitting end to the short career of a brilliant thespian. He lived life to the fullest and his characters were always believable. To be believable in the super hero genre is a feat rarely achieved. Well done, Heath.

Sometimes You Just Know: Reviewing the Film ‘Doubt’

What do you do when you believe someone is doing wrong but have no proof? That is the premise of Oscar nominee “Doubt.” The film is hard hitting with excellent performances by Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Director John Patrick Shanley explores the suspicions and doubts of Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St. Nicholas in the Bronx about Father Flynn. Set in 1964 the film shows the subtle changes undergoing in the church while exploring the possibility of a priest who could be molesting a student.

The questions that arises within the plot leaves viewers searching along side Sister Aloysius for a glimmer of truth. Innocent Sister James struggles also with the same questions with unjaded eyes.

When is moral certainty enough to ‘convict’? The film ends with viewers still thinking about the consequences of those doubts and certainties.

As always Streep is transformed into the character she plays. There is no question of the hard edges, the stern compassion and the fire of righteousness from her Sister Aloysius.

Hoffman is believable as Father Flynn. He’s easy to like and feel for and yet you can’t help but wonder if there is more to the story than what you see.

Sister James is played with just the right amount of innocence and wisdom by Adams.

While only on the scene for brief moments Viola Davis plays to perfection the role of mother Mrs. Miller. Her tears are that of a woman dealing with too many conflicts and love.

Streep, Adams and Davis are all in the running Sunday night for an Oscar.

Opinion: The Law is Narrow in Best Picture Nominee The Reader

To define the meaning of one’s life one must be willing to face the secrets in one’s past. Our secrets can destroy us and those that are touched by us. Our pasts weave through the foundations of all. There lays the quiet beauty of “The Reader.”

Sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns……..The Odyssey

Director Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader” is powerful in its secrets. The story is woven in twists that bring you to a truth that hammers home.

The words on the page take on a new meaning as the reality of Hanna Schmitz’s early life is revealed. Kate Winslet’s work as the war criminal is a work of art. One can feel for the woman and yet there is a wall drawn that prevents the viewer from truly knowing her. The wall of her shame, not from the crimes she and other guards committed but a more internal shame.

The truth could set one free and yet the truth at times can be the prison one makes for themselves.

When asked in later years if Hanna learned anything from the past her reply is one that is a truth of life.

It doesn’t matter what I feel
It doesn’t matter what I think
The dead are still dead.

The past is the past.

Michael Berg, a young man in love and then a law student watching his former lover on trial is played convincingly by David Kross. His eyes say much more than the words spoken.

The adult Berg, played skillfully by Ralph Fiennes shows how life lived in silence and secrets brings pain.

This is a must see movie. It will tear at your heart but the message is too powerful to miss.

Opinion: ‘Rachel Getting Married’

“Rachel Getting Married” is one of this year’s sneaky films. With the feel of a home movie and hard driven plot it taps you on the shoulder with a soft staying power.

Anne Hathaway’s role as Kym, the black sheep of her family guides the film through the twists that is family.

Rachel, played by Rosemarie Dewitt, is getting married. That ceremony brings sister Kym home on a weekend pass from rehab. As with any family there is pain and love that mingles on the edges of togetherness.

Jonathan Demme’s direction provides a realistic look at one family blending together through the hardships that life brings.

While not as hard hitting as some of this year’s contenders for awards it still is able to bring something to the table. This is a film that will softly tap you on the shoulder and allow for thought of one’s own family struggles and triumphs.

Opinion: A Mother Knows Best in Oscar Contender The Changeling

Clint Eastwood’s film “The Changeling” tells a story that proves fact is stranger and at times more horrifying than fiction. On March 10, 1928 9-year-old Walter Collins vanished.

His mother Christine’s story about her search for her son helped change the history of California.

Christine Collins, played by Angelica Jolie had the moxie to take on the corruption of the Los Angeles Police Dept. when law meant corruption. Her fight for her son and in the end for herself was a story of courage.

After waiting for the standard 24 hours the police started their search for the boy. After following up on many leads a boy claiming to be Walter was found in DeKalb, Illinois. When reunited with the boy Ms. Collins knew he was not her son. The police tried to convince her otherwise.

The Changeling tells the story of how the police department’s had the mother committed to the psychiatric ward at Los Angeles County Hospital under a “Code 12″ internment and the trials of both the department and the man believed to be the murderer of Walter Collins.

Jolie gives a powerful performance as a mother fighting for her son, dead or alive, against police corruption. She is dead on, easily slipping from the face of a loving mother to a force to be reckoned with.

Opinion: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who hasn’t said that they wouldn’t like to do it all again with the knowledge of time. That theory is played out by Brad Pitt in the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

The premise of a child born as an elderly man and then living his life in reverse seems implausible. Pitt’s portrayal though of Benjamin Button is right on the mark.

From the beginnings of a child trapped in an elderly man’s body to the sadness of not remembering a full life as age reverses rapidly plays true to the storyline.

As in all good stories love is a key component to Benjamin Button. Bittersweet as one ages and one goes younger love in this case does carry through from first steps to diapers.

The theme of the movie makes for a true question of one’s life. To be thankful for the way time does pass in a life is something I took away from the viewing.

Benjamin Button is set to be the darling of the Academy Awards with 13 nominations. This is a hard call for me. The acting is good and the story is promising, yet other films also have a huge potential to knock director David Fincher`s work off of the top pedestal.

Opinion: A Man’s Path To A Woman’s Scar: Slumdog Millionaire

The story of Jamal K. Malik in the movie Slumdog Millionaire is as heartrending as it is powerful. Love carries through to the powerful end in a way only true innocence and truth can.

Poverty is a way of life for young Jamal K. Malik in India. Amidst the poverty of Mumbai a young child and the love of his life Latika weave through battles that would fall most adults.

The story is gritty and raw. It carries you to a world where daily horrors are commonplace.

Based on the novel “Q & A” by Vikas Swarup
screenwriter Simon Beaufoy transforms the tragic past of young Jamal into a work of art.

As a game show contestant Jamal, uneducated by conventional standards raises to the highest ranks. His answers come from the bitter realities of his life. Interwoven through the plot is a love so pure and a spirit so brave that it takes your breath away.

Knowing that Jamal’s story is plausible is even more heartbreaking. That children live his life everyday in the slums of India and yet they go on as did Jamal. The movie shows a side of life that most will not live through without the barrier of total sadness. The plight of Jamal, Latika and Jamal`s brother Samil is not a story of ease. Still in Jamal`s eyes one can see the beauty of innocence and beauty that can only be seen through a man of inner strength.

The only crime of Slumdog Millionaire is that Dev Patel was not up for an Academy Award. His performance was stellar. This is one movie that deserves to be watched and then watched again and again.

Opinion: Blood Running In The Gutter- Milk, A Film About Victory

Milk starring Sean Penn is more than just a film, it’s an education of what was and what one group of people, particularly one man, can do to accomplish the impossible. It is worthy of an Oscar nomination.

In the early 1970’s and 1980’s homosexual rights were non-existant. By using aged film and by an art feel the film feels like a documentary.

The film shows the struggle that Harvey Milk faced on his path to political victory. The loves, the challenges and in the end the victories.

The gay movement is well illustrated by Sean Penn’s portrayal of Harvey Milk. From the highs to the complete lows. He is Harvey Milk.

As his chief political opposition, Dan White played by Josh Brolin is riveting.

The break out performance though is a young Clive Jones played by Emile Hirsch. His youthful eyes brings a powerful truth to the film.

Current with today’s political struggles with Prop 8, the story of Prop 6 shows how the past is in actually the present.

While the story is about the gay rights it is really the story of every man. The struggle to overcome odds and in the end see victory.

Milk is a film that should be viewed by everyone, in part for the historical value. The greater part though is the story comes to life with brillant acting. From beginning to end it will grasp you and hold you. The ending will leave you in tears.

“I need a change.”

Milk used his last decade changing the world. That change brought true a prediction that he would not live to be 50. He wanted to give people the hope for a better tomorrow. He achieved that dream.

35% of UK kids have cellphone by age 8

Today’s primary school child gets out of school, races for a school bus, grumbles about homework and calls their parents on their cell about their day. That’s right, the youngest members of a family often have their own cell phone.

Believe it or not, the average age of a new cell phone user in the United Kingdom eight years old. By the time they’ve reached 15, three-quarters of the population has at least one cell with which they can chat and text friends.

Researchers from the charity Personal Finance Education Group found kids are hitting the electronic age hard and at a very young age. Data was collected from an online survey questioning 1,435 people. Those questioned included 546 children aged seven to 15, 676 parents and 759 grandparents. The survey was held between Jan. 16 and 26.

By the time kids are 10, they have the skills to go online and buy stuff. That means kids have been given their parent’s credit cards or have slipped those numbers away for online shopping. They tend to get computer games or vote in television competitions like American Idol.

Sadly, only 18 per cent use their parent’s hard-earned dollars to buy a book online.

The Telegraph reports:

Wendy van den Hende, chief executive of the charity, said: “Children today face a kind of ‘technological tipping point’ forcing them to develop financial awareness at an earlier age. It is therefore, vital, that they are equipped with the skills and judgment to make sound decisions about money management from an early age.” The research also found that average weekly pocket money now stands at £6.32.

In the UK, it’s cheaper for kids to be chatting it up with their friends; the average cost of cell phone service is $479.05 a year according to an interactive map provided by CBC. Comparatively, cellphone service costs about $572.86 per year in Canada and $635.72 per year in the United States.

Obama visit to Canada costing a pretty penny

If U.S. President Barack Obama took a commercial plane to Ottawa this morning, taxpayers would shell out only about $5,000 for a round trip first class seat, compared to the $2 million it will really cost.

Of course Obama couldn’t make it on a commercial flight. Air space is being restricted to no-fly radius of 12 nautical miles around Parliament Hill, with ceiling of 12,500 feet, except police and military aircraft, scheduled commercial flights, approved emergency or humanitarian flights. For the two time periods coming and going for Obama there will be delays at the airport.

The costs for the United States President to travel add up quickly. For starters housing the team of Secret Service officers that have spent a month scouring Ottawa in preparation of the 6 hour trip happening today. For days there have been security teams and bomb-sniffing dogs checking out the route from the airport to Parliament Hill.

For Ottawa the cost of extra police being called in as far as London, Ontario will take a bite out of Maple Leaf wallets. Tours of Parliament Hill can’t make a buck today, they are all canceled.

Journalists and staff that will be at Parliament Hill today have already passed the special RCMP background checks. There will be no last minute dash for a reporter at large to cover the quick meeting.

For those along the route of the presidential convoy doors have to be closed and there will be no peeking out the window to spot which car is holding Obama.

Today’s visit in Ottawa will be exciting for sure but it sure is going to cost a pretty penny.

Disney Next Company On The Pink Slip Merry-Go-Round

On Wednesday the Walt Disney Co. announced that they would be handing out an undisclosed amount of pink slips. They are planning on combining their back-office operations for their two United States parks.

Disney is a key employer in Central Florida, already struggling with high unemployment rates. The Orlando based park employees 62,000 of their 80,000 Disney employees.

Employees affected work in the “operating infrastructure” that includes menu planning and purchasing.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

In a memo to employees Wednesday, Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo wrote that “organization changes require difficult decisions, including the elimination of some roles.

“These decisions were not made lightly and we know this will be a challenging transition. The people affected are our friends and colleagues, and they have made valuable contributions.”

Earlier this month Disney stated that their profits fell 32 percent in their first quarter. Operating profit in the parks-and-resorts division fell 24 percent during the last quarter of 2008.

Who Gets The Statue If Heath Ledger Wins At the Oscars?

On Sunday Heath Ledger could win the Oscar for his role of the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” If he wins the legalities of the statue will be stretched to the limits. When Ledger died last year he was unmarried and his oldest child is now three.

Matilda Ledger is the legal heir of the statue if her father’s name is called Sunday night. Because of her age, though, the statue will not be released to her for 15 years until she’s of legal age.

The Associated Press reports of what the academy has to deal with if Ledger’s the winner of this year’s Supporting male lead category.

“It’s complicated, because there are two different questions that have to be answered,” says Bruce Davis, executive director of the academy. “First, we have to decide who gets the job of accepting the award onstage on the night of the ceremony. And then there’s the question of the eventual disposition of the posthumous statuette, which may not stay with the person who accepts it.”

To accept the Oscar one has to sign a winner’s agreement. That agreement says that a person will not resell the statue without first offering it back to the Academy for a dollar. Matilda Ledger at three can not sign that document. Her mother, Michelle Williams also can’t sign the document in her behalf because it would obligate Matilda to the agreement without her consent.

After discussions with the Ledger family and Michelle Williams an agreement has been reached that for the time period will take care of the problem. If Ledger wins the statue will go to Matilda under her mother’s trust. Williams will sign the document that will end in 15 years and be the legal custodian of the Oscar. If in 15 years Matilda refuses to sign the document the statue will be returned to the Academy at no cost.

As for who will make the acceptance speech? That one is a guarded answer that will come if Ledger wins on Sunday night. That secret and more will be broadcast as they happen Sunday night on Digital Journal.

Professor Says He Knows Where Bin Laden Is Hiding

Has a geography professor done what the US can’t, locate Osama Bin Laden? That’s the claim that Thomas Gillespie at the University of California in Los Angeles is making.

The professor and his team used patterns of how animal species spread to track down the head of al Qaeda. They report that he’s in a North West Pakistan town in the tribal region.

The team figured in the need for electricity, ceilings high enough to accommodate his height, spare rooms for body guards and security. That left three walled compounds.

Like out of the television show “Num3bers” the team used mathematical models to theorize that Bid Laden would be close to the last place that he was spotted. They also figured in the need for secrecy. If they are correct the US forces should be going to Parachinar which is only 12 miles away from the Afghanistan border.

The town would be able to support medical needs like the dialysis that Bin Laden reportedly uses.

Using satellite pictures the team even has the location down to one of three houses.

Not everyone is convinced though that the research is viable. The Guardian reports:

Kim Rossmo of Texas State University, who has worked with the military to find terrorists told USA Today: “The idea of identifying three buildings in a city of half a million especially one in a country the authors have likely never visited is somewhat overconfident.”

Gillespie`s forte is Biogeography, Forest Ecosystems and Remote Sensing.

3 Out Of Every 10 Young Adult In the US Without Health Insurance

They are young and risk it all because they can’t afford health insurance. American twenty-somethings are often having to choice between having rent paid or having health insurance. A roof over their head wins that coin toss.

When the politicians go on about the problems with health insurance they focus on children and older adults who have lost their jobs. Little is said about the largest portion of uninsured, young adults in their 20’s. Three out of every 10 young adult is at risk of becoming ill because they do not have insurance.

In the United States there are 13.2 million young adults that go without insurance. When they get sick they log on to self-diagnose ailments, borrow their friends prescriptions, stretch their own medication for diabetes and asthma and cross their fingers they don’t get so ill that they have to end up in the hospital.

The young are often working low paying jobs. They struggle to make ends meet as it is. They often have no means in order to add on huge bills from company insurance plans.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) says that 35 percent of men and 28.8 percent of women aged 21 to 24 do not have health insurance. They are the most uninsured portion of American society.

Some young adults opt not to pay for coverage even if they have the money. The Springfield Connection reports that Nancy Chance is one of those young adults;

“By the time you pay all the co-pays and deductibles, it’s the equivalent of a full visit to the doctor,” the Springfield resident said. “Plus a lot of the part-time insurance policies don’t offer benefits like dental. I’m not concerned — as long as you’re not doing stuff you’re not supposed to do, you’re going to be all right.”

For young adults will pre-existing conditions the stakes and costs are even higher. The insurance industry has a ‘tough love’ approach to young adults, as soon as they can knock a kid off their parent’s plan they will. That makes for a new client, if the client can afford them. As long as a child remains in school most companies will continue to carry them, but there are rules. The student must carry a certain hour load to be able to qualify as a ‘full-time’ student. There is no allowance for a gap-year.

If a young adult was covered by their parent’s employer-sponsored plan they can apply for COBRA under federal law for 36 months. The gap insurance programs costs roughly $450 a month.

Realistically young adults often have to forgo insurance in order to pay their bills. That means not having a yearly exam to make sure they are healthy, not going to the doctor when they are sick and not having the proper medicines to get better.

There has to be a better way.

Opinion: Facebook Listens To The Mob, New TOS Shelved For Rewrite

The Facebook team put a new terms of service on the site on February 4, 2009 that has angered the masses. Those angry mobs have convinced the site’s staff to go back to their older terms, yet was there that much change to the new terms.

Last year I wrote an article about the terms of service on Facebook. The TOS, at that time, let members know that Facebook owned all information on the site, including your credit card information. At that time though you could eliminate your information after several difficult steps.

The new TOS changed that. According to the new TOS your information is on file for life with Facebook. That is the cause of anger.

The thing is there was a good reason behind the change of wording. In the past if a person went through the steps their information vanished. That information though could be needed in some cases if the person who was now invisible was say, stalking another person. Paper trails can be useful. The messages you have written prior to any cancellation of service will be available to the sender. Your photos and all other content will continue to be removed from the site.

Other media may have helped spread the anger over these changes.

CNN reported:

“Facebook should now be called The Information Blackhole,” one Consumerist commenter proclaimed. “What goes in never comes out. Be careful what you huck in there.”

Facebook is now rewording their TOS in order for everyone around the world to be able to understand them. The staff has also set up a page titled; Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. The aim of the page is for members to have an input on the new TOS that is being worked up. The newest version is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

Facebook is not claiming rights to photos and other content. They do have a license however to share the content that you put on their site. The actual wording as CNN reports is:

Facebook’s terms of service claim that the company does not have ownership over content, yet that it does have “an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (to)…use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works, and distribute” material as long as it doesn’t violate the privacy preferences set by the user.

Your information is not being shared without your permission. Owner Mark Zuckerberg admits that the wording was too broad on this issue. Facebook staff is attempting to do what may prove to be impossible — allow you to share your personal information with a select few and at the same time shield it from those who could be lurking in the hacker zone. It’s not an easy job.

If I give out my e-mail to my friends on Facebook that is my risk. My ‘friends’ could pass that information along to another. Facebook can not be held liable for that.

The terms on Facebook aren’t that different from any other social networking site. They are wordier though. It takes a while to sit in front of the computer reading each term. It’s always a good idea to thoroughly read the terms of service for any new site you want to become a member of. That is the only way to insure you are not signing away a right that you do not want to.

Man Kidnaps Woman and Tortures Her With Bible Verses

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An Ohio man is being held on kidnapping charges. It is alleged that the man picked up a woman in Detroit on Wednesday night after she told him she had nowhere to stay. He then is accused of crossing state lines to Toledo and bringing her into his home.

Once at Troy Brisport’s home the woman, 22, told police she was held captive in handcuffs and a diaper for three days listening to Bible verses.

The woman alleges that when she fell asleep Brisport bound her wrists and ankles, gagged her, removed her clothing and put her in an adult diaper. She said that she was not sexually assaulted but instead was forced to listen to her captor read verses from the Bible.

Court documents also allege that Brisport attempted to suffocate the woman with a pillow and a blanket.

The woman escaped Saturday after Brisport, 34, fell asleep. Police found her wearing only a T-shirt, diaper and handcuffs by the wrists.

The Free Press reports:

“It’s kind of a mixed bag,” said Capt. Ray Carroll. “He takes her to his house, holds her captive, handcuffs her. We don’t know what the diapers are about. And then he’s reading the Bible to her. I don’t know. Maybe it was a saving-her kind of thing,” he said.

Brisport has been charges with felonious assault, ransom / shield hostage and kidnapping. Brisport had his first court appearance on Monday. He is being held on a $400,000 bond. The case has been continued until Wednesday in order for Brisport to obtain an attorney.

The police have said that Brisport may have committed this type of crime in the past according to the Detroit News. Captain Ray Carroll of the Toledo Police Dept. has reached out to jurisdictions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for assistance on this case.

Opinion: Obama Needs Canada and Harper Needs The US to Grow

On Thursday President Obama will make his first trip to Canada. Stephen Harper has to get it through the new president’s head that open trade between the two countries makes good economical sense.

President Obama is playing a game of buy American only. That game will backfire for both Canadians and the citizens of the United States. The United States needs the strength of the Canadian bank and Canada needs the ability to export to their largest buyer. Hand in hand we prosper, split both nations will have a hard road to walk.

The Canadian Press reports:

“It would be marvelous if there were a joint declaration by both Obama and Harper saying they resolutely reject protectionism,” said Thomas d’Aquino, head of the association representing Canada’s largest corporations.

“It’s not only good for Canada and the U.S., it would be a signal to the world that the two countries that are most heavily inter-dependent on trade feel strongly on this.”

That could change though if the US stopped buying Canadian goods and services. We’re talking about $560 billion in trade annually. Both countries would feel that pinch.

When you consider that Canada supplies much of the United States energy it’s not hard to visualize the huge costs that the citizens of the United States will have with higher energy bills. Those on the other side of the border will also suffer as the needs decrease for the product. Those lessened needs will result in job cuts.

While Canada’s banks are in good standing the nation’s manufacturers have taken heavy hits because of global money woes. And the near future may not be any rosier. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers this weekend in Rome that he expects that the numbers will continue to worsen each month this coming year.

The Globe and Mail reports that the United States recession is affecting the manufacturing sales in Canada.

“It’s coast-to-coast,” said economist Marc Pinsonneault of National Bank Financial. “This reveals how the U.S. recession, and the global economy, is taking its toll on Canadian manufacturing.”

Quebec seems to be getting off easiest in the recession game, with manufacturing sales down just 5.3 percent compared to Ontario’s 17.6 percent and Saskatchewan’s 14.2 percent. Prince Edward Island actually showed growth in the last quarter with manufacturing sales up 2.3 per cent.

Opinion: Canada’s Banks Could Show The World How To Thrive

How is the Canadian banking industry being affected by the United State’s economical turmoil? In reality not as badly as one would suspect considering the closeness of the two nations. Canada is holding its own and doing a decent job of it.

Even though Canada is often considered the little cousin in the corner by the United States the bankers have learned how to do ‘it’ right compared to the United States. Last year the banking industry in Canada was ranked the healthiest in the world. The United States was far below at a mere 40th and the United Kingdom even farther at 44th. How did the ‘new kid on the block’ rise up in the ranks during a time of world wide financial crisis?

Regulation is the main reason Canada’s banks aren’t falling into the recession crevices.

Canoe Money reports:

“We’ve had a couple of financial institutions in Canada that ran the risk of falling outside the capitalization requirements,” he said during a news conference on Wednesday.

“We required them… to maintain the appropriate capital requirements and raise capital as necessary, which was done months ago.”

While other world banks are collapsing Canadian banks are growing. In just one year the Toronto Dominion Bank has gone from the 15th largest bank in North America to fifth.

The underlining growth of Canadian banks can be accounted to one basic principle; common sense. Instead of allowing lenders with nothing to show free rein on the housing market Canadian banks aren’t afraid to just say come back when you can show us your money. Banks require at least a 5 percent down payment before the loan officers will start talking to you.

As Canoe quotes Brad Smith of Blackmont Capital:

“Some Canadian banks have experienced far more stress than others, but collectively the strong banks are carrying the less strong banks through.”

But, he said, for “domestic financial institutions to continue to outperform, you have to assume the economic environment here will continue to outperform – because if it doesn’t you’re going to get deterioration here as well.”

That doesn’t mean fewer Canadians own a home, the fact is in both countries home owners number roughly at 68 percent of the population. Canadians just don’t hit the foreclosure trail as often.

Some of the guidelines put into place by Jean Chretien nearly a decade ago are holding true to their promises. Canadian banks remain in a safe zone in part because of the refusal to approve any Canadian bank mergers.

The government in Canada has been in budget surplus for the past decade. The national pension plan has a solid footing. The citizens don’t fear losing everything because of a health crisis. Each of these issues are positives for the banker.

The most positive news though about the state of the Canadian banks came when on
Tuesday the International Monetary Fund report announced that Canada will lead the G-7 economics in 2009 with growth of 1.2 percent as the rest of overall global growth is slowing down.

Two Girls Found At Washington Barracks, One Dead, One In Hospital

Two teenage girls have been found on an Army base in Tacoma, one unconscious and one dead. The girls were found in barracks on Sunday morning. One girl was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was in stable condition at a hospital on Monday.

Neither girl had signs of physical trauma according to Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek. The results of an autopsy on the deceased girl may take a week for the details to be available.

The Army is investigating the matter. They are looking into if drugs or alcohol were involved. Just the girls being in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is a breach of the barracks visitation policies. Violations where civilians are on the bases are a serious security concern. Civilians are supposed to be tracked when they enter the base and when they take leave.

The names of the girls are not being released because of their age. A fort Lewis soldier who knew the two has been questioned. No arrests have been filed at this time.

The Army waited to release information about the incident until Monday in order to notify the families of the girls. Piek also stated that the death took place on a holiday weekend.

Safety Barriers On Toronto Subway Are Years Away

Safety barriers on the TTC subway platforms are at least 15 years away according to general manager Gary Webster. The barriers would prevent anyone from falling or being pushing into the train tracks.

Last year two teens were pushed onto the tracks at Dufferin subway station in Toronto. They escaped serious injury but the fall shows a safety concern.

If safety barriers were installed the doors on the barriers would open as the doors on the trains do. That would require the signals on the train system to be upgraded in insure that the trains were precise on their stops.

While the tracks are being upgraded on the Yonge-University line it isn’t due to be finished until 2016.

CBC reports:

“What we need to think about in the meantime,” Webster told CBC Radio One’s Metro Morning, “is from a customer’s point of view … how do you minimize the likelihood that you’re going to be faced by the random act of someone pushing you to the subway?”

The man who pushed the teens is in custody. He is facing three counts of attempted murder and two assault charges. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his first court appearance on Saturday.

The Donald Isn’t Doing So Well

It looks like The Donald is on his way to bankruptcy just like many other Americans. Donald Trump’s casinos are facing a meltdown as tourists aren’t looking at losing another fortune in Atlantic City.

Trump is facing $1.25 billion of corporate debt.

Press of Atlantic City reports:

“There is a restructuring plan the bondholders and the company hope to agree to. But we’re not there yet,” said Mark Juliano, Trump Entertainment’s chief executive officer.

If the Trump Corporation goes down it won’t be the first time. The company has faced rough times before. In 2005 used a Chapter 11 restructuring to clean up their balance and start over. Analysts say another Chapter 11 may be the only light at the end of the bill collector tunnel.

After four extensions since December, Trump will have to face the music on Tuesday.

Trump is blaming the bondholders for his company’s current woes. Casino Gaming Stock.net quotes Trump:

The bondholders “have made a series of bad decisions and encouraged wasteful spending, which has led to severe problems within the company.”

Both Pinnacle Entertainment and Penn National Gaming have cancelled plans for Atlantic City casinos recently. Atlantic City is not only dealing with the recession but other state’s opening slot parlors and the smoking bans in effect.

Online Casino Sphere.com reports that Donald Trump has resigned from the Trump Entertainment Board.

Donald Trump said of the trend, “It’s a disaster and I see what’s happened with so many others, and I don’t want to be a part of it.”

China Plans Blacklist For Journalists By End Of The Year

According to the Huffington Post China is planning on creating a blacklist of journalists. Those journalist are the ones that break the strict Chinese rules for media.

The announcement was made last Friday according to a report in the China Press and Publishing Journal. The agency controls state-owned Chinese media and plans to have a database of media professionals who have broken the rules up within the year.

Journalists that appear on the blacklist will have their press cards taken away. They will be restricted from news reporting and editing news material.

China is well known for controlling what is reported in the media. During the summer games in Beijing some of the rules were temporarily relaxed. That policy has gone with the Olympic flame. Journalists in China are imprisoned when reporting about corruption in the private sector or in the government.

The national database is just one of the means that the government has planned to supervise news coverage according to Li Dongdong, deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication. There will also be tightened reviews for press credentials and standardized qualifications for editors of newspapers and magazines.

These measures will not apply to outside journalists. Chinese citizens are forbidden to work as journalist for foreign media organizations.

UK Prisoner Keeps In Touch Through Facebook

Don’t feel sorry for prisoner for life Ashley Graham, he’s loving his home. The killer who lives at HMP Lindholme, South Yorks has been writing up his holiday like life on Facebook.

Graham was sentenced to life in prison after stabbing a man through the heart in 2001. Somehow he has been able to log onto Facebook everyday with a mobile phone that has been hidden from the guards.

He is able to use the social network site to keep in touch with friends and his wife.

The Prison Service says that their inmates are not allowed to use the web or cell phones.

HMP Lindholme offers it’s prisoners a games room, TV room with DVDs and an activities centre for computer classes.

According to The Sun a recent Facebook status for Graham was:

“HMP Holiday’s a place where men can come for a nice relaxin break from their moanin women and crying kids. No stress just rest.”

Harassing Whistling Neighbour Has a New Home, Prison

A man from Wingerworth in Derbyshire is in the slammer for whistling. Every time he saw his neighbours he whistled the theme to the Addams Family. For four years every time the elderly couple encountered their neighbour they felt harassed.

Michael and Kathleen Sharpe won a nuisance behaviour case against Leopold Wrobel last December. It didn’t take Wrobel long to violate the anti-social behaviour order he was handed.

Whenever the couple arrived or left their home there was Wrobel whistling the creepy melody. The action was caught on cameras on the Sharpes’ property.

While the crime may seem silly or even trivial on an isolated incident the overwhelming behaviour was very upsetting to the couple.

The couple is quoted by the Daily Mail:

‘It’s been devastating and it’s done what he wanted to do, to try to destroy our lives,’ the 68-year-old Sharpe said. ‘He very nearly succeeded.’

His wife told magistrates they could not leave the house without Wrobel being there.

The 66-year-old added: ‘He frightens me, I’ve not been able to live a normal life. I was a prisoner in my own home.’

Wrobel denied breaching the order in court. He was found guilty though by the magistrates and sentenced to 20 weeks in prison.

John Warren, chairman of the magistrates’ bench is quoted at the hearing.

Passing sentence, he said: ‘You pursued a course of conduct that caused great distress to the Sharpe family and have shown no recognition of the impact on that family.’

Scarlet Fever Is Back In Record Numbers In The UK

It’s back with a vengeance. Scarlet Fever, the unwritten star of The Velveteen Rabbit has reemerged in the UK with a record 3,000 cases last year.

The Health Protection Agency has started a program to monitor infections and spot any changes that could point to a change in the disease.

It’s common for scarlet fever to be seen in the winter but the past two months has had more cases than is expected. Alerts have been issued in the UK to regional health protection staff and consultant microbiologists. Hospital emergency wards and GP surgeries have also been issued a letter warning them to be alert.

Scarlet fever is also known as Scarlatina. It is caused by Group A Streptococcus, which is also the most common cause of strep throat. The symptoms of the disease is a high fever, sore throat and swollen glands. It can be treated with common antibiotics. Very rarely it can lead to pneumonia, throat abscess, sinusitis and meningitis.

There have been cases where the bacteria starts to attack the the flesh causing necrotising fasciitis (the “flesh eating” bug), septicaemia and toxic shock syndrome. There has been an increase of invasive Strep A. This strain is deadly, one in four will die. The risk is highest with those who already have a compromised immune system.

During the 19th and early 20th century Scarlet Fever was a killer. Almost 5 percent of those who fell ill would die at that time. After antibiotics came into play the death rates plummeted.

Speaking from personal history it is very important to treat scarlet fever and strep throats. If left untreated this illness can lead to heart disease. At times it can take decades for the heart disease to appear.

3,000 Workers Needed At Research In Motion

The makers of Blackberry phones is in need of 3,000 workers to keep up with the demands of their phones. Canada’s Research in Motion does not appear to be affected by the global economic crisis.

Research in Motion’s rise is in contrast of other cell phone companies who are having to slash their work force to keep afloat. Sony-Ericsson has plans to cut 2,000 employees. Nokia also had to reduce their workforce with last year’s 1,200 job cut.

AFP reports:

“We have grown our employees base by 50 percent in 2008. And we’re still hiring and we plan to keep hiring. We have growth in our business,” co-chief executive Jim Balsillie told AFP on the sidelines of an industry event.

“We hired about 4,000 people in 2008, currently we have 3,000 open jobs. We’re still hiring a lot.”

RIM reported a 66-percent increase in sales in the September-November period of last year, compared with the equivalent period of 2007.

The statements were made at the Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona , Spain.

Florida 7-Year-Old Baker Acted For School Room Tanrtum

When a little seven-year-old became uncontrollable on Wednesday in his Largo, Florida classroom the police stepped in and used the Baker Act. The child was forced to spend the night at Morton Plant Hospital against his parents wishes.

The child had thrown a temper tantrum in his class at Mildred Helms Elementary School. He alledgedly caused a mess in the room during his outburst. He also stepped on a teacher’s foot and “battered” a school administrator. According to Largo deputy police Chief John Carroll the other students had to be removed from the room during the tantrum. The school called both the police and the boy’s parents. When the police arrived they decided that the kid needed to be seen for a mental health exam.

This was not the first time the police had been called to the school about this child. The police officer at the scene decided that the child needed help instead of going home with his mother.

The Lakeland Ledger reports:

“He just felt that this young man needed some mental health service he wasn’t getting,” Carroll explained. “The Baker Act is a kind of a Band-Aid that allows us to have somebody introduced to the service providers that can actually do something for him.”

Mother Barbara Smith says that the police would not allow her to defuse the situation by seeing her son. She agreed to ride with the boy in the police car on route to the hospital. Since the incident neither the boy nor his sister, 9, have returned to school out of fear.

Raine Johns handles Baker Act cases for the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender’s Office. The Baker Act is used to get a mental health exam for people who are in danger of harming themselves or others. It can be used against their will.

That’s not the purpose of the Baker Act at all,” said Johns, who is not involved in the case. “Stepping on somebody’s foot doesn’t rise to the level of substantial bodily harm.”

In the Pinellas school system this year the police have evoked the Baker Act 83 times.

Carroll believes that the officers did the right thing for this child.

“The child got interviewed by mental health professionals,” he said. “He didn’t get arrested. There’s no criminal charges against him.”

The boy’s parents do not follow that belief. Richard Smith and his wife are not sure of their next step however they plan to speak to a lawyer.

Teacher Cuts Class For Side Job As Hooker

When teacher Amber Carter cut class on February 4 she didn’t lie when she said she needed to be in bed. But she did lie about being sick. The bed the Ohio teacher was en route to was at a motel for her second job as a prostitute.

Carter used her school’s computer to set up the afternoon side job. She had a listing on Craigslist for her cash-for-sex side line. That is how the Logan County Sheriff’s Department knew where to be for a sting operation.

The detectives arranged the meeting through Craigslist with Carter.

SIFY.com reports:

“It was done very subtly. We pulled up, I identified myself,” Lt. Rob Bibart said. “I put her in an unmarked car and off we went.”

Carter has been a teacher for 13 years with Bellefontaine City Schools. She has been put on administrative leave.

Carter was charged with misdemeanor prostitution and a felony count of unauthorized use of property. That property is the school computer that she used for her side job.

Happy Birthday Miep Gies

Miep Gies, the young woman who helped hide the Frank family in Amsterdam during WWII is turning 100. She is the one who found Anne Frank’s diary after the Nazi’s took away the family.

When Otto Frank, father of Anne, returned after the war had ended Gies handed him the diary. Anne’s diary went on to tell the world about her two years caged in the attic trying to evade the Nazis. It has been published in 55 languages selling more than 20 million copies.

At the time Miep Gies was the secretary for Otto Frank. In her early thirties she took the risk of her lifetime by helping hide the family.

She is now the only surviving member of the team that helped keep the Franks alive from 1942 until they were captured in 1944.

The Telegraph quotes her on memories of Anne:

“Anne was a lovely, lively, normal young girl. She was so full of the joy of just being alive. She looked forward to resuming her own life, going back to school, travelling abroad and becoming a writer after the war. She never doubted she and her family would survive.”

Mrs. Gies is celebrated her birthday with friends and family in Friesland.

Panasonic Orders Staff To Buy Panasonic

Panasonic has come up with a way to beat slumping sales — order their staff to buy £1,000 of Panasonic products. It’s expected that corporate Japan will latch onto this ideal.

Toyota has given kudos to its top brass when they shelled out to buy new Toyota cars. Fujitsu has also jumped on the bandwagon sending out an e-mail letting their staff in on how it would be ‘nice’ if they would buy PCs and cell phones from their own company.

Panasonic employees have until July to give their hard earned money back to the company. Upper management is required to shell out at least 200,000 yen.

This order comes just two weeks after the same staff were told that they would be seeing their salary and bonuses cut a bit.

Panasonic just announced at that time that it is closing 27 factories and cutting 15,000 jobs.

The company has 230 production sites world wide.

Times Online reports:

“The company’s business conditions have worsened, particularly since last October, largely because of the rapid appreciation of the yen, sluggish consumer spe

Take a Pill and Watch Your Fears Fade Away

Dutch researchers have discovered that a common blood pressure pill seems to ease anxiety disorders and phobias. In time they believe it could be used to take away bad memories.

The researchers tested a group of healthy volunteers by using a memory of spiders. The panel of 60 men and women were taught to associate pictures of spiders with a mild shock. This process gave the researchers the needed fearful memory. The control group were also shown the same picture of the spider without being shocked.

One day later the people who were given the drug propranolol were less likely to have a fear response when shown the spider picture compared to those not taking the drug.

The study plans to see how long the effects on the memory the drug has. Further steps will include patients who are suffering from panic disorders and phobias according to study leader Merel Kindt, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam.

Dubai May Lose WTA Standing Later For Denying Israeli Player Visa

Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer has been denied a visa that would allow her to compete in the Sony Ericsson World Tennis Association Tour in Dubai by the United Arab Emirates.

Peer would have been the first Israeli to participate in any professional sporting event located in the UAE.

While the governing body of women’s tennis is disappointed that the visa was denied they are not canceling the competition. This is against WTA policy that states no player should be barred from a country if she qualifies for a competition. It is possible that Dubai could lose its membership in the WTA tour later this year because of the ban on Shahar. This would mean that professional players would only be allowed to compete in exhibition matches in the nation. Results from exhibition matches do not count in the pro rankings of a player.

When Peer was told that she would not be granted a visa on Saturday she was understandably upset.

CNN reports:

“Ms. Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally,” Scott said.

“The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking.”

The Dubai Tennis Championships started in 1993. This year’s competition runs from February 15 to February 28.

This is certainly not the first time politics has infringed on the sporting world. While it does not seem fair to ban a player because of their nationality it has happened in the past. The United States boycotted the Olympics when it was held in Moscow.

Israel does not have a WTA tournament so it’s unclear if a member of the UAE would be banned a visa if the situation was reversed.

Researchers Find Staph Clings To Beach Goers

When you go for a pleasant swim at your local American beach you may be coming out of the water with a killer.
There is a 37 percent risk of leaving the beach with a staph bacteria including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

Researchers tested more than 1,000 beach goers in Florida. The test subjects spent 15 minutes dunking themselves in the sea and then bringing sea water back in a jug back with them.

Reuters reports:

“We think that people are the instruments for bringing their organisms into the water and leaving it behind,” Dr. Lisa Plano of the University of Miami told reporters at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago on Friday.

“I don’t know if that is the only source. The bacteria may still be in the sand left over from other people, but we haven’t studied that. These are things we plan to do in the future.”

Most people will not fall ill from the bacteria. Those with compromised immune systems though have a greater chance though of coming down with a staph infection.

For healthy sun bathers with no gaping wounds the experts say you should escape any serious infections.

To reduce your risk though shower prior to going to the beach and then once more after you get out of the water.

Wife Guilty in Death By Exercise Case

An Ohio wife plead guilty to charges that she killed her husband by over exercising him. On Thursday Christine Newton-John entered the guilty plea. Her sentencing has yet to take place.

Newton-John is said to have refused to allow her husband James Mason, 73, out of the pool even when he was gasping for breath. Surveillance video showed Newton-John, 41, pulling the elderly man around the pool by his arms and legs.

The video showed 43 incidents in which Mason’s wife blocked her husband from leaving the water.

The Lakeland Ledger reports:

“The video is bone-chilling,” Middlefield police Chief Joseph Stehlik said. “The whole case is very sinister.”

After the time in the pool on June 2 Mason has a heart attack.

There had been previous complaints that Mason was being abused. An officer who had worked those abuse complaints pursued the case believing that there was more to this than simply a heart attack.

Newton-John knew James Mason for a long time. He had been friends with her family prior to 1993 when Newton-John had a sex change operation.

The couple married in Kentucky in 2006. Kentucky allows people to have their gender changed on their birth certificates.

Newton-John could face up to five years in prison.

Subway Service On Toronto’s Yonge Line Has New Schedule

Starting Sunday February 15 the Toronto’s TTC will close some of their subway stations 90 minutes early every day except for Saturday.

The Yonge line north of Eglinton will shut down an hour and a half early six days a week. The time is needed for workers to begin repairs to the subway tunnel. The stations will keep the new schedule until late 2010.

The need to have the tracks clear is behind the changes in schedules. The TTC web site does not list these new changes.

Buses will run between Eglinton and Finch station at the following stations:

* Eglinton Station
* Lawrence Station
* York Mills Station
* Sheppard-Yonge Station
* Finch Station.

The North York Centre Station will not be operating at all after 12:30 am.

Eglinton Station will continue to have southbound train service.

The Sheppard Subway is still operating with their old schedule.

Nadya Suleman’s Publicists Quit Because Of Death Threats

The publicists for Nadya Suleman have quit because of the number of death threats that they have received. Their client had 6 children and was unemployed when she gave birth to octuplets on January 26.

Mike Furtney and his wife Joann Killeen, president of Killeen Furtney Group decided early Saturday to no longer carry Nadya Suleman. The couple was not charging Suleman.

The LA Times reports:

“They hope I die, they hope my business goes under, they want to rip her uterus out,” Killeen said. “They say I should be anesthetized and put down like a dog.”

Because of the threats both Suleman and Killeen were staying in a secure location last week before they returned home. The infants remain in hospital.

On Tuesday a web site was created by Killeen debuted. After the launch she received 55,000 e-mails. Most of those mailing were negative. She has also been given stacks of angry postal mail.

Police are saying that the threats are the worst they have seen since the O.J. Simpson.

Horror At The Subway, Man Pushes Two Teens In Front of Train

Friday night the Dufferin Subway Station in Toronto was the scene of what could have been the murder of three teens. A middle aged man pushed three teens into the path of an oncoming Toronto subway train.

Adenir DeOliveira appeared in a Toronto court room on Saturday. He is accused of shoving three teens into the path of a train at the station. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for the 47-year-old.

It appears that the attack was unprovoked. Two of the teens fell onto the tracks after being pushed. One of the boys escaped injury but the other was partially struck by the train.

Jacob Greenspon, son of Edward Greenspon editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail was taken to Sick Kids Hospital after his foot was run over. Jacob suffered some minor internal injuries and had to have surgery on his foot. He will remain in hospital for a few days for observation.

Incredibly neither boy touched the electrified bar.

The driver of the train hit the brakes when he saw the two teens on the tracks. Jacob’s friend rolled out of the way of the train pulling him back as the train sreeched to a stop.

The Globe and Mail reports:

“It’s an incredible trauma to suffer to be pushed in front of a train like that, and we’re extremely grateful they were not killed,” TTC spokesman Brad Ross said.. “I can’t imagine what they must be going through.”

The three teens that were not pushed into the path of the train chased DeOliveira when he tried to flee. A TTC collector was shoved by the escaping man as he ran outside. The collector caught up to him and with the help of another witness tackled the suspect, holding him until police arrived.

DeOliveira is also facing charges for assault on the TTC collector and the Good Samaritan.

The three teens ran to the platforms as emergency crews arrived. One pulled a lever to kill power to the train while the other two talked to their friends below them.

“They are not life-threatening injuries,” Mr. Greenspon said, adding media reports that said his son had lost his toes are not accurate.

Mr. Greenspon said his son is just trying to figure out why this happened. “Jacob was bewildered that anyone could just come and push kids onto a train track. He really wanted to understand why.

“And I want to know if there were cracks in the system that led to this. All of us need to be concerned with the public safety aspect of this. I have questions about that which I hope will be answered as the investigation continues.”

Opinion: Researcher Says Spend Money On Events For Joy, Not Shopping

Want the secret to happiness? Don’t shop. Okay I know that seems like torture to some of us that believe shopping is the world’s best sporting event but there is scientific proof that it may not be the root to all which is good.

Ryan Howell has found that doing something cool, like vacations or going to the movies is more prone to give a person a piece of joy. The assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University’s study included 154 people from age 19 to 50. The members of the study showed that experiences increase happiness. Most of these experiences are social in nature leading the researcher to believe that events rather than things makes the joy go rounds.

These experiences help make a person feel more alive. Positive memories also give a continued ‘investment return.’

The study was presented earlier this month at the yearly Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting. It will be published in the Journal of Positive Psychology later this year.

I wonder if it’s possible to turn this news into a thumbs up for me and my friends who are shopaholics. After all shopping can be done as a group effort making it an event.

Somehow I don’t think that will fly.

Opinion: Will Pirate Bay Be Slaughtered In Court?

Pirate Bay is one of the biggest bit torrent sites online. Four men from the site are about to step into a Stockholm courthouse charged with being accessories to breaking copyright law and may face fines or up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Will they make it out of court untouched and what does this court case mean to the rest of us.

Between Hans Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström there are 33 cases of alleged copyright infringement.

Pirate Bay contends that their web site does not house any copyrighted material. They say they are not responsible for the material that is being shared among those who use their service.

Pirate Bay has been dealing with the legal system for a while. In 2006 the company’s office was raided for the first time in 2006. It’s taken three years to bring the case to court.

The site is often under fire from United States film and music companies.

The Local SE reports:

“The record companies can go screw themselves,” said Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg to The Local on learning of the claims in March 2008.

In a world that exchanges data instantly this trial could change the way the Internet is used. It could give governments even more power.

On the other hand, if the four emerge unscathed then the power could go to the people. Information may be able to continue to freely flow from one computer to the next.

It’s true that entertainment companies need the revenue that these peer to peer sharing groups take away. Still in the past people passed along videos to their friends. Is that any different from what happens online?

If the Pirate Bay were to shut down many would go to the next torrent site before it’s Web doors are sealed. Pirate Bay is ranked as the 109th most popular web site.

Users of Pirate Bay are not charged to use the site. The company ma

Opinion: When The Homeless Become The Art

In the big city homeless people are looked down on, the making of a haven, a tent city is not allowed. The art of the street, graffiti is a crime. So how does it become art and tasteful?

Put it in a museum where people pay to see what is now considered beauty when a moment ago it was thought of as trash.

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 1 vote Vote it up! var imgid = “47403″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

At the Royal Ontario Museum there is a special exhibit going on until July 5, 2009 called Housepaint Phase 2: Shelter. It’s a collaboration between 10 street artists to draw attention to the unseen; the poor and the homeless.

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47404″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47405″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47406″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

The artists remember the former residents of Tent City, a home for about 100 people on the south end of Toronto. They were evicted from the land back in 2002. The land was owned by Home Depot. At the time Jack Layton told the CBC:

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47407″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

“As we’ve been pointing out for years, we need some affordable housing built,” said Layton. “At least at Tent City they’d built themselves a warm place for the winter.

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47408″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

“Now some of them will likely end up in the streets.”

The homeless still line the streets of downtown Toronto. They are still invisible.

The street artists still decorate the walls of the city. It is illegal.

special permission from photographer Jeff Wyonch street art 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47409″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

Now inside the walls of the ROM it is art.

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM this is art 1 vote Vote it up! var imgid = “47410″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

This is their art. This is our city. They exist. They are a part of our canvas. Let the art speak their words.

The following are pictures from KJ Mullins and photographer Jeff Wyonch who gave me permission to post his work. His pictures are of graffiti which is illegal. My pictures are art, because they are in a museum. The street is our canvas. In more ways than meets the eye.

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47411″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

special permission from photographer Jeff Wyonch Street art. 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47412″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47413″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

special permission from photographer Jeff Wyonch street art 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47414″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47415″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

special permission from photographer Jeff Wyonch street art 2 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47416″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

KJ Mullins Housepaint at the ROM the door is locked, you can look through the peephole though to see the names of the homeless that have passed away 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47417″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

special permission from photographer Jeff Wyonch

street art

3 votes

Vote it up!

Ice might be culprit in Buffalo plane crash that killed 50

The early theory on what downed Continental Connection Flight 3407 is ice. Air controllers began to quiz pilots about Buffalo’s ice conditions just minutes prior to the plane crashing into a suburban home, killing all aboard.

After the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in New York, air traffic controllers warned other planes about icing. Recordings from air traffic controllers suggest ice might be the reason the plane went down:

“Delta 1998, you getting any icing where you’re at?” a Buffalo air traffic controller asked just minutes after Continental’s 74-seat aircraft went down, killing 50 people. “We picked it up on the way down,” the pilot responds. “I don’t think it’s building any more here but about 6,500 (feet) down to 3,500 (feet) maybe.”

(Transcript courtesy Buffalo News)

One by one, other pilots confirmed their planes were taking on ice. Conditions at the airport included light snow, fog and 17-mph winds.

The female pilot on the downed flight spoke to air traffic controllers just minutes before the crash. She did not appear to be upset. After asking to fly at 2,300 feet the pilot could not be reached again:

“Delta 1998, look off your right side about 5 miles for a Dash 8. Should be about 2,300 (feet). Do you see anything there?” the tower asks.

“Uh, negative,” the Delta pilot answers.

Several minutes pass before the tower makes one final plea: “Colgan 3407, how do you hear?”

The airway was silent. The plane had already struck a home and was in flames.

Nadya Suleman Has Been Getting Death Threats

Nadya Suleman is back in the news as LA police begin to investigate threats made against her. The police will be advising her publicist on how to handle the slew of nasty mail coming in his office about the octuplet mother.

It seems that many people are a bit peeved that the mother of fourteen has been receiving public assistance. They have been letting her publicist Mike Furtney know by phone and e-mail what they think of Suleman and her children. Furtney already had 500 new e-mails early Thursday about his client.

The Associated Press states:

“We are aware of the media accounts of the threats, and that they are being sent to the West Los Angeles detectives for appropriate action,” Romero said.

Some of the constant phone calls though have offered the huge family some assistance. One Midwest family even offered the mother a home on their home.

Because of the threats Suleman’s location is being kept secret. She is visiting her newborns every day. The babies are expected to remain in hospital for several weeks.

Suleman has been receiving $490 a month in food stamps and Social Security Disability for three of her oldest six children. Those payments could total $2,379 a month.

She has said that her in vitro fertility procedures cost roughly $100,000. She said that she saved up that money by working double shifts and with an award she got for disability from an on-the-job back injury. That award exceeded $165,000.

The cost of raising 14 children until the age of 17 is estimated between $1.3 million to $2.7 million dollars.

Starbucks Is Going Instant

Starbucks is coming out with Via, an instant coffee. The coffee giant plans to announce the launch next week. It could be on sale at your local cafe as early as next month.

More information about this new product will be available after the company’s annual meeting on March 18.

I asked a local Starbucks employee in Canada about the new quickie brew and they were unaware about the product.

The instant coffee has been in the making for several years. It is designed to taste like the brew at local Starbucks.

The company hopes that Via will help change the image that Starbucks is just for people wanting to pay a ton for a latte.

This announcement comes on the heels of the $3.95 “breakfast pairings” that is hoped to give Starbucks a morning edge.

The instant packs will cost $2.95 for three quick java fixes or $9.95 for a dozen.

New York Starbucks clients will be the first to try out the instant brew in the coming weeks. More cities will follow.

Opinion: Rihanna’s Abuse Pain Could Help End The Silence

The news is breaking about Rihanna and Chris Brown’s stormy relationship. Could Rihanna’s public pain help other women survive abuse? It’s time to take the silence out of abuse and bring the light in.

As more comes to light about Chris Brown’s violent nature the world is getting a peek into a glass house of abuse. There are various reports on why Chris Brown and Rihanna fought. Let’s be clear here, it does not matter the why, what matters is the how. Brown allegedly physically harmed the singer. His fists became weapons.

That my friends is abuse.

When one person harms another it is abuse and abuse is illegal.

Are we clear on that?

Because of Brown’s money incidents in the past may have been swept under the table. He was able to pay for broken dishes and hush up staff at one hotel for sure. The Shore Club hotel is now telling of an incident with Brown’s mother that took place in 2007.

Chris Brown is unlikely to see any major time because of the attack on Rihanna this past weekend. Still if charged with felony domestic battery the charge is a serious one. Because of the high profile of this case unless it can stick the D.A. may not prosecute according to TMZ. A more serious charge would be criminal threat. It has been said that Brown told Rihanna that he was going to kill her.

Other news is stating that Rihanna’s friends knew something was up. The young singer had bruises on her neck in December. This makes sense if Brown is an abuser. Most of the time the first attack isn’t one that is in the public view. Another common thread in abuse cases is when friends rally around the abuser saying that it’s not the way a person really is.

The New York Daily News quotes an unnamed friend of Brown’s:

“You can tell everybody that Chris really feels bad about the whole situation, about it coming out the way that it happened, the way he went about it, the way she went about it,” another friend told People. “It’s just a wack situation.”

Abusers are generally seen to the outside world as charming. They are. If an abuser was always a pig no one would get close enough to be hit or threatened or emotionally scarred. Which unfortunately means before the bruises appear no one will take a victim as seriously. Why should they, that nice guy or gal could never do the kind of things their partner is not confiding in you about.

Domestic abuse does not come with a closed caption screen. It’s secret, silent and deadly.

The fights may be loud but the flowers and remorse is gentle.

Let’s hope that Rihanna is not silent. Let us hope that her pain is not in vain. If a young superstar can speak out maybe a young woman will follow that lead.

It’s time to remove the closet when it comes to abuse. Silence kills

Report shows man free of HIV after stem cell transplant

For two years, a 42-year-old man has tested HIV negative after a stem cell transplant carrying a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to the HIV virus.

On Wednesday the New England Journal of Medicine published a report on the patient of Dr. Gero Hutter of Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany.

In November the story broke about what appears to be a cured patient. The journal report in this month’s issue is the first official publication of the case.

As the summary states this is an exciting time in HIV research.

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) requires the presence of a CD4 receptor and a chemokine receptor, principally chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5). Homozygosity for a 32-bp deletion in the CCR5 allele provides resistance against HIV-1 acquisition. We transplanted stem cells from a donor who was homozygous for CCR5 delta32 in a patient with acute myeloid leukemia and HIV-1 infection. The patient remained without viral rebound 20 months after transplantation and discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy. This outcome demonstrates the critical role CCR5 plays in maintaining HIV-1 infection

Two years ago the American patient living in Germany underwent a stem cell transplant to treat leukemia. The treatment was not used to treat the HIV itself. However the team of doctor chose a donor who had the CCR5 delta32 mutation. CCR5 is a receptor that is normally found on the surface of T cells. Those are the immune system cells attacked by the HIV virus. Only 1 percent to 3 percent of white populations of European descent carry the delta32 mutation.

When a person is infected with HIV the virus uses the CCR5 in addition with CD4 receptors to latch on and in time destroy immune system cells. When a person has the delta32 mutation the virus can’t get that foothold because of the lack of CCR5 cells. People with the natural therefore have a natural protection from the most common strains of HIV.

It appears that people with one copy of CCR5 delta32 take longer to get sick or develop AIDS if they are infected with HIV. People with two copies of the mutation may not be able to get infected at all.

The patient in this case had a donor with two copies of CCR5 delta32.

CNN Health reports:

While promising, the treatment is unlikely to help the vast majority of people infected with HIV, said Dr. Jay Levy, a professor at the University of California San Francisco, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. A stem cell transplant is too extreme and too dangerous to be used as a routine treatment, he said.

“About a third of the people die [during such transplants], so it’s just too much of a risk,” Levy said.

While the patient appears to be clear of the virus doctors will not say that he is cured. Still the patient seems to be free of leukemia and HIV is absent from his body.

One year ago the patient had a relapse of leukemia and a second transplant from the same donor. He had some medical complications with his liver and kidney. Those complications are common with transplants and in this case were temporary.

This new treatment in time could be used to treat the HIV virus but it is still at least five years away for standard use. It is still a possible light at the end of a long tunnel for patients of the virus.

“For HIV patients, this report is an important flicker of hope that antiretroviral therapy like HAART [highly active antiretroviral therapy] is not the endpoint of medical research,” Hutter said.

Usher’s Wife Had Heart Attack Prior To Cosmetic Surgery

Tameka Foster was in a coma after she suffered a heart attack during liposuction. The coma was medically induced for 24 hours. She is now said to be recovering at that hospital.

Prior to the scheduled cosmetic surgery at Sirio-Libanes Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil Foster had problems during the anesthetization. She stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest.

It has been said that Doctor Gabriel Hunt, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles was flown to the Brazilian hospital to treat Foster during the past weekend.
He left San Paulo on Monday.

Usher rushed to his wife’s side when she fell ill.

Stuff.co.nz reports:

His spokeswoman Simone Smalls has not released details on Tameka’s illness, only saying: “Tameka is in stable condition. Her husband is with her at the hospital. The family requests privacy at this difficult time.”

Foster has in the past had complications from routine surgery.

Being ‘put to sleep’ is one of the most most dangerous parts of any operation.

The family has requested total privacy on Foster’s condition and the hospital is complying with that.

Often following cardiac and respiratory arrest a medically induced coma for 24 hours is used so that doctors can cool a patient and reduce brain cell death. It has not been said that this procedure happened in Foster’s care.

69 Computers Missing From Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Laboratory

Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory can’t seem to keep track of their computers. The New Mexico lab is missing 69 computers. The company says nothing classified could have been leaked from those computers.

According to spokesman Kevin Roark no classified information has been lost.

The news of missing computers came from the watch group Project on Government Oversight. They released a memo dated February 3 from the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration that said that 67 computers were missing. An update from Roark stated that a total of 80 were lost or stone in 2008 but 11 of those had been recovered.

Although the computers do contain personal information such as names and addresses they do not contain classified information.

The watch group also released an e-mail that said three computers were taken from a scientist’s home in Santa Fe on January 16. More frighting though is the news that another employee’s BlackBerry was lost overseas in what is being called a ’sensitive foreign country.’

The Associated Press quotes Roark:

Roark said computers with classified information are “kept completely separate from unclassified computing.”

“None of these systems constitute a breach of a classified system,” he said.

The lab employs about 10,000 people.

Did Baseball Great Roberto Alomar Infect Girlfriend With HIV?

Did Roberto Alomar know he had HIV when he was having unprotected sex with long time girlfriend Ilya Dall. She claims that he has the disease and is suing him for $15 million.

The baseball player was with Dall for three years. According to Dall the former couple started dating in 2002. The athlete convinced Dall that he was disease free a month after they began to date and they started having unprotected sex.

In 2004 Alomar is said to have cold sores in his mouth. In 2005 after a physical exam that was ordered by the Tampa Bay Rays he was diagnosed with thrombocytopenia purpura, a blood disorder sometimes linked to HIV. The doctor asked him to have an HIV test which he is reported to have refused. He said he had already been tested and was AIDS-free. In April 2005 Dall was told by Alomar that he was suffering from erectile dysfunction.

The New York Daily News reports that Alomar told Dall:

“he was raped by two Mexican men after playing a ballgame in New Mexico or a Southwestern state when he was 17,”

Around the same time Alomar started having a persistent cough and was bedridden with fatigue. He came down with thrush, a yeast infection common with the HIV virus, and again refused to have a HIV test. Alomar repeatedly told Dall that he was disease free. A few months later the couple moved to Cleveland where he finally tested positive to the virus. Dall then was tested. Her test results were negative. From that time on she did not have unprotected sex with him again. The couple broke up in October.

She is suing for emotional distress and exposing her children to the virus. Dall believes that she deserves $15 million in punitive damages.

“He jeopardized the health, well-being and life of the plaintiff, which caused her to have a fear of contracting AIDS, often referred to as AIDS phobia,” the suit says.

Alomar is considered one of baseball’s best second basemen. In 1996 he was the center of controversy when he spit in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck.

Alomar is saying that this is a false story. His father is also shocked as his son has not told his family of any disease status. Lawyer Charles Bach would not say if his client does have the virus but does contend that the lawsuit is frivolous.

“We believe this is a totally frivolous lawsuit. These allegations are baseless,” Bach said. “He’s healthy and would like to keep his health status private. We’ll do our talking in court.”

The lawsuit was filed on January 30 at the Queens Supreme Court. Alomar has had the case transferred to Brooklyn Federal Court this Tuesday.

Mayor to Police: Walk Me to the Bathroom Please

The mayor in an Atlanta suburb is asking for the police to escort him to the bathroom after he and another council member exchanged fiery words. Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer of Snellville, Ga., is trying to avoid confrontation with Councilman Robert Jenkins.

Police Chief Roy Whitehead is being called into service to be Oberholtzer’s bathroom buddy.

Oberholtzer has also had his son come with him for potty breaks.

Perhaps Oberholtzer is being wise. In May Jenkins sued Councilman Joe Anderson. He aledgled that Anderson falsely accused him of bribery and stalked him in a failed attempt to block him from public office.

The Atlanta Journal reports:

“I don’t want someone like him suing me or having me thrown in jail,” Oberholtzer said. “I am not going to put my personal life or the welfare of my family in jeopardy.”

Jenkins thinks that the mayor’s fears are unfounded. At least physical fears. Politically Jenkins is honestly out for the man.

“I don’t even see how he manufactures up or even imagines a reason to fear me, physically,” Jenkins said. “He damn well needs to fear me as a political opponent as long as he takes the positions he takes.”

“Unlike a real leader … Jerry most of the time will attack whoever is disagreeing with him personally. He’s attacked senior citizens in public meetings, council members. He evidently … does not deal with conflict in a peaceable manner.”

The two have a long history of butting heads in both their personal lives and their political careers. Just last week Oberholtzer tattled on Jenkins to code enforcers for not keeping his property at Street Deville up to code. Oberholtzer took pictures of an old tiolet and a car that was rundown and mailed the images to Snellville police. The code violations come with a fine of up to $1,000 and a possible 60 days in jail. Jenkins has until March 1 to clean up his yard.

Salma Hayek Nurses Another Woman’s Infant In Sierra Leone

Salma Hayek breast fed a child that was starving in Sierra Leone. The infant’s mother was unable to nurse her child so Hayek stepped up to the plate.

Hayek has a 1-year-old who is still nursing which is how she could offer a meal to the child. She was in the poor nation as part of Pampers’ “One Pack = One Vaccine.” The project is benefiting UNICEF’s fight against maternal and neonatal tetanus.

Salon reports:

Hayek also managed to powerfully endorse the wonders of breast milk. “It is the best thing you can do for your child, not only the bonding, that’s how you build the immune system, so in a [place] like Africa imagine how important it is for the mothers to do that,” she said.

In Sierra Leone many mothers stop nursing within the first few months under pressure from their husbands. It is considered unacceptable to have sex with a nursing mother in the culture.

Because of malnutrition and other factors the nation has the world’s highest infant mortality rate in the world. One in five infants born die before their fifth birthday.

Czech Republic Uses Surgical Castration on Sex Offenders

In the Czech Republic sex offenders are punished with a simple operation. Doctors make an incision in a man’s scrotal sack and remove the offender’s testicles. The Council of Europe is saying that punishment is degrading and wants it to be off the books.

Over the past ten years at least 94 prisoners have been surgically castrated as part of their sentence on sex crimes. The Czech government says that this is a medical issue and that the surgery is only performed at the request of those prisoners themselves.

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture has investigated the law. It says this is not a medical issue unless the genitalia is diseased or damaged.

Time reports:

“Surgical castration is no longer a generally accepted medical intervention in the treatment of sex-offenders,” the Council’s report said.

For thousands of years the act of surgical castration and outright castration has been part of world cultures when it comes to sex crimes. It seems to be somewhat affective. One survey in Germany from 1989 showed that when 104 voluntary castrates were questioned they had a 75% drop in sexual interest, libido, erection, and ejaculation. That survey though does not it reduces crimes though. In a 1989 Psychological Bulletin study concluded that, “the recidivism rate for treated offenders is not lower than that for untreated offenders; if anything, it tends to be higher.”

The Council of Europe’s report showed that the punishment is also being used on non-violent offenders like exhibitionists. Many prisoners request the surgery fearing that without it they will stay in jail for the rest of their lives. Also found were 5 cases where the offenders were legally incapacitated. In all the report contends that only two convicts came forward asking for castration spontaneously.

David Fathi, the head of Human Rights Watch’s U.S. Program says that rehabilitation of sex offenders is far more effective than castration. “There are no easy answers,” he says. “But castration does not work any more than cutting off hands treats kleptomania.”

Spain: No Penis, No Chance To Be A Solider

Aitor G.R., a transsexual, wants to join the Spanish military. He’s hoped that he will not be denied the opportunity to serve his country because he has yet to have a penis. His dreams were once again dashed when he was rejected in Cordoba.

Not having genitals is one of the illnesses that prohibits military service in Spain.

Next month he will reach the age of maximum age for entry into the Army in Spain. Spanish military age requirements at topped off at 29.

Aitor tried to join the military in 2007 and was rejected then. Aitor is waiting for that final step in the sex change process. He has already had surgery to remove his breasts.

Think Spain.com reports:

Aitor appealed against the initial decision and plans to do so again, saying that he ‘feels cheated’ and doesn’t want to hear ‘promises from anyone, only deeds’. He claims he is not the only one in this position, mentioning that the ’same thing happened to another bloke last week’.

Aitor says that his childhood dream has been to be a solider and to reach the rank of lieutenant.

Typically Spanish.com reports:

‘I want to be a soldier, not a porn star’, he said determined to make it clear he does not need a member to serve Spain.

Fox News Producer Busted On Child Porn

Aaron Bruns, a producer for Fox News, has been arrested and charged with one count of possession of child pornography. Bruns was allegedly conducting “pro-active undercover investigations” on an unnamed P2P network.

Bruns, 29, has been charged with having photos and videos on his computer that featured children under the age of 10 being sexually abused by adults. The Pennsylvania state police had been investigating a secret peer-to-peer network and found that Bruns was acting as a distributor.

Bruns allegedly taken naked pictures of himself.

This is his second arrest on child porn charges. In 1999 he was running a similar network while in college. At that time child porn was also found on his computer during a raid of his dorm room at the University of Michigan.

He has covered Hillary Clinton’s campaign during last year’s presidential race.

Media Bistro has a copy of the affidavit of this crime.

He is due to appear today in Washington D.C. federal court. A judge scheduled another hearing for Thursday, where he will consider whether to continue holding Bruns in jail.

Fox News is surprisingly silent on this matter. But Bruns has been suspended without pay.

Denver To Do Away With Grades Next Year

Schools across the United States are attempting to improve test scores and improve the way students perform. In the Denver area the latest approach is radical. No more grade levels and no more grades like their parents had.

Denver next year will be focusing on “standards-bases” learning. The plan will begin with the youngest students and then go to high schools. In time there will be 10 multiage levels instead of 12 grades. Depending on a student’s performance in subjects they could be in different levels. Students will only advance to the next step when they have mastered the material.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

“There was a sense of urgency to attend to what wasn’t happening for kids here,” says Roberta Selleck, district superintendent, explaining why she decided to go with a drastic approach. “When you see the stats for the whole school district over time, we realized we are disconnecting [from] our kids.”

Until a child achieves what is the equivalent of a “B” in old school grading will they advance to the next stage.

The approach is already in place in the Chugach district of Alaska. Before this method was in place only one college come out of the district in 20 years. It now has a 58 graduation rate.

Selleck decided that the Denver schools could benefit from this radical approach.

The goal is to have students accomplish more in a shorter period.
There will be complications. One of which is what do do with students who have most levels at a high school level but not all.

Some time it is hoped that colleges will look at this new breed of student wondering how every graduate has a 3.0 GPA. That will be a good day in education.

Sophie Waller, 8, Starved To Death

An eight-year-old died after doctors pulled all of her baby teeth. Little Sophie Waller had gone to the dentist for a cracked baby tooth. That act started a chain of events that lead to her death.

She refused to open her mouth so doctors at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro took that tooth and the rest of her baby teeth out in an operation.The doctors said that they needed to pull all the teeth to avoid the need for any further operations.

After the surgery Sophie refused to open her mouth, even for her parents. She stopped eating. The doctors ignored that behaviour and sent her home anyway. Three weeks late the child had starved to death.

Janet Waller was told to take her daughter to a child psychologist. That doctor said not to fear the weight loss the child suffered from refusing to eat. Another doctor told the family to give her nutrition drinks without bothering to examine her.

On December 2, 2005 Sophie was dead. The official cause was kidney failure brought on by starvation and dehydration. Before Sophie’s operation she weighed a healthy 72 pounds. The coroner saw a child weighing a third less than that.

Canoe reports:

No one saw her after she was discharged from hospital,” Waller, 34, told the inquest Monday. “I told (a child psychologist) she was sucking on a watermelon, she told me that was enough for her to survive on.”

The child had been in hospital for eight days after her surgery. That was the last time she was seen by a doctor. The doctors said that they were not concerned by the girl’s rapid weight loss.

After almost four years an inquest is being held on the child’s death.

Opinion: The Jolie-Pitt Kids Act Like Real Kids

Brad Pitt took his partner to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on Sunday leaving their little darlings with a nanny at the pricey Dorchester Hotel. Reports are coming in that the kids behaved like children. Oh dear!

The family had the almost entire third floor booked. It seems the kids enjoyed the space. They were said to be running in the hallway for an hour.

Oh my goodness, folks the kids were being (insert gasp!) kids! Pax, Zahara, Maddox and Shiloh were having fun on the floor that their parents had paid for running around.

There were complaints from the high paying guests that also were on the floor. Funny, when kids are having fun they are loud.

Both of their parents were up for an award at the BAFTA event; Pitt for ”The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” and momma Jolie for ”Changeling.”

The next day, though, the gossip rags weren’t talking about how swanky mom and dad were looking. Oh no, it was being touted that the kids were brats. The Improper even went as far as to say already seem to have adopted Angie’s rebellious streak an air of entitlement.

Entertainment One India quotes another guest of the hotel:

“They were running up and down the hallway for over an hour,” the Sun quoted a troubled guest as saying. “Their nanny tried to quieten them down and move them out the way when people came through. “But she had her hands full with the four of them,” the guest added.

The guest do pay a fortune for their rooms. The double suites cost over 4,000 pounds and that’s not including a breakfast. They have the right to expect that the halls will be quiet. What hasn’t been said is if the area that the kids were having fun in was paid for by their parents. If that is the case then these little snippets are folks just wanting to slam the family.

Honestly if the worst that can be written about a family’s children is that they were running down the hallway the parents most be doing something right. The walls weren’t damaged. No carpets were destroyed. It sounds like a case of letting some happy and active kids get energy out of their little bodies.

I say keep up the good job of allowing your kids to be just that, kids.

Opinion: The U.S. to bailout taxpayers for a change

Congress is about to bailout an unlikely group, the American taxpayer. By increasing the funding for food stamps the United States will be giving to those who generally pocket other bail outs. It’s about time.

When people have to choose between rent and food in the world’s ‘greatest’ nation something is very wrong. In the past 20 months in Florida the caseload for food stamps has grown from 500,000 people to 1.8 million. Those people aren’t professional welfare families, they are your brother, sister and best friend. They have worked hard to provide their families until that work shriveled up and died. And they are hungry today.

George Sheldon, the head of Florida’s Department of Children and Families wishes he could help them sooner than the standard 30 days after a person applies for food stamps. As NPR reports:

“That’s not fast enough. I mean, people don’t plan to be hungry 30 days from now or seven days from now. If people are hungry today, they need help today,” Sheldon says.

Florida isn’t alone. Almost every one of the 50 states are dealing with hungry people. They have all been waiting the economic stimulus bill. The bill will provide $300 million to help out the food stamp program.

In total the bill will increase benefits and boost the new food stamp program that has been renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Those programs will also help the economy.

“We are purchasing commodities from those who grow and raise commodities, which puts money in their pockets. Those commodities have to be trucked. Those commodities have to be shelved. Those commodities have to be sold and bagged and transported home. All of that generates economic activity in the community,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says.

The program will be increasing food stamps $79 a month for those already on the program. The goal is to allow families to afford food the entire month instead of just three weeks a month.

Obama isn’t mincing words when he has talked to the public about the crisis in the land. The Age quotes the president as he spoke to people in Elkhard, Indiana on Monday.

We have inherited an economic crisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression,” he said. “Economists from across the spectrum have warned that if we don’t act immediately, millions of more jobs will be lost.”More people will lose their homes and their health care and our nation will sink into a crisis that … we may be unable to reverse,” he said.

The bills are getting voted on. In the Senate the bill passed but not with an overwhelming victory. All of the Democrats voted for it but only three Republicans did. The only 38 votes against the bill were Republican.

Nice to know that they have the public’s best interest at heart.

Opinion: Let’s Get Real, Taxpayers Will Support The Suleman Family

She just had eight babies after fertility treatments. She has six children at home. She is unemployed and receives food stamps. Three of her six children have disability payments coming in.

Still Nadya Suleman told Ann Curry on Monday that she does not receive welfare.

With the eight children in the hospital likely having lasting disabilities it is likely her payments will go up in the coming months. She already gets $490 a month in food stamps and an undisclosed about in payments for her disabled children. The LA Times quotes her publicist Michael Furtney :

“In Nadya’s view, the money that she gets from the food stamp program … and the resources disabilities payments she gets for her three children are not welfare,” he said. “They are part of programs designed to help people with need, and she does not see that as welfare.”

Perhaps making more babies than you can afford is profitable? Of course it’s not. Her mother pays the rent and has already lost one home.

Suleman told Curry that she plans to support her brood of fourteen once she gets her master’s degree in counseling.

We all know the high rates social workers and the like bring in. Somehow I find it hard to believe that her paycheque will cover the cost of diapers, food, formula and a roof over the families head. It’s hard enough for a good wage covering those costs for a small sized family at times.

Now throw in day care for 14 kids. That would come to about an average of $14,000 a month for childcare. That’s $168,000 a year just to have someone watch the tykes to go to work. I know that’s high end but you have to factor in the extra needs for children with health risks that these children are very likely to have.

Somehow it doesn’t seem likely Suleman will command that kind of a salary as a counselor. So what are her choices?

Those choices are having taxpayers foot the bill so she can be a ’super-mother.’ Many families would love to be at home parents but they have to work, in part to pay taxes.

I wonder if Suleman will in years to come write a big thank you to all those working families for supporting her children?

Perhaps the clinic that implanted the embryos should be liable for the cost of this family. If these clinics would be held liable for the future security of bills being met it is less likely they would risk the taxpayers dollar.

Did The US Use British Detainee To Keep England In Line?

Documents about the treatment of Binyam Mohamed, 30, a British resident being held at Gitmo shows that waterboarding was one of the more easier forms of torture inflicted.

Mohamed’s lawyer fears that her client will die at the detention camp. Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, is planning on demanding the release of her client at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Bradley will also be requesting the disclosure of 42 secret documents that show not only that her client was tortured but that the British government knew it was happening.

The Telegraph reports:

Another source familiar with the case said: “British intelligence officers knew about the torture and didn’t do anything about it. They supplied information to the Americans and the Moroccans. They supplied questions, they supplied photographs. There is evidence of all of that.”

All terror charges were dropped against Mohamed last year.

Britain is countering that the United States threatened to withhold intelligence from the government if information was released on Mohamed’s torture.

The LA Times reports:

“Matters regarded as secret by one government should be treated as secret by others. For it to be called into question would pose a serious and real risk to continuing close intelligence-sharing with any government,” Reuters news service quoted the British Foreign Office as saying.

According to Bradley her client is dying at the camp and that conditions have worsened since Obama became president.

Of the 260 detainees at Gitmo 50 are on a hunger strike. Witnesses have stated that those prisoners are being force fed or face beatings when they refuse. There are at least 20 inmates that are listed on the critical list.

The Guardian quotes Bradley:

“It is so bad that there are not enough chairs to strap them down and force-feed them for a two- or three-hour period to digest food through a feeding tube. Because there are not enough chairs the guards are having to force-feed them in shifts. After Binyam saw a nearby inmate being beaten it scared him and he decided he was not going to resist. He thought, ‘I don’t want to be beat, injured or killed.’ Given his health situation, one good blow could be fatal,” said Bradley.

Disney Lands DreamWorks Deal

DreamWorks and Disney have finalized a deal that will help DreamWorks cover cost gaps. Just three days ago Universal Studios dropped Steven Spielberg’s movie studio.

For the next 15 years DreamWorks has a home with Disney. The deal gives Disney the relationship with mega-director Spielberg that is a plus in Hollywood circles.

Disney will be pocketing 10 percent of every DreamWorks film while they are partners with Spielberg’s studio.

CNN Money reports:

“I don’t care if a Touchstone movie does $100 million on $30 million of cost,” Iger told me three months ago. “Its success doesn’t breed any other success in the company.”

The agreement gives The Walt Disney Studios distribution to about six films a year produced by DreamWorks Studios and DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg. Those films will be made with partnership with Reliance BIG Entertainment.

The first of these films will be released under the Touchstone Pictures banner in 2010.

Xinhuanet reports:

“Disney is the birthplace of imagination and has always been as close to the worldwide audience as any company ever has,” Spielberg said. “I am so pleased that industry leaders like (Disney President/CEO) Bob Iger and (Disney Chairman) Dick Cook reached out to become our distribution partner. This is a major step forward for us and Reliance.”

Nepal Had Over 300 Attacks on Journalists Last Year

Attacks on journalists escalated last year in Nepal. A team of representatives from seven organizations found 342 cases of press freedom being attacked in the tiny Himalayan republic last year.

Attacks by individuals and organizations are forcing journalists to self-censor in order to survive.

Most of the accusations center on Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. The team met with Prachanda and with opposition leader and former premier Girija Prasad Koirala as well as Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Subhash Nembang to discuss the findings of their report.

SIFY reports:

“Attacks on media workers, publications and property are unacceptable,” the mission said in a statement. “Those responsible must be held accountable for their actions and any substantive grievances over work conditions must be addressed through dialogue.”

The group stated to the government that attacks on the media are an attack on the citizens of their nation. Authors of critical reports are being attacked with no justice being served towards their attackers.

The group also asked for an investigation in the murder of Dekendra Thapa. Thapa was killed in 2004. The radio journalist’s murder is thought to be at the hands of Maoists.

Another journalist, Prakash Thakuri’s killing in 2007 is under question by the group. The government recently had the charges against the accused dropped. Mission members said that Prachanda promised that the case would be reopened.

The team was made up of representatives from ARTICLE 19, International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support, International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders, UNESCO and World Press Freedom Committee.

This year already has had incidents of trying to silence the journalistic voice in Nepal.

In January Uma Singh was killed.

Last year Rishi Dhamala and three others was arrested when police alleged that the group had been involved with extortion of a businessman on behalf of Nepal’s Terai. It is said that the police did not follow procedure in that arrest.

Opinion: Who’s to Blame when Your Computer Dies?

Think your IT department is to blame when your laptop at work acts up? You’d be wrong. The chances are it is the fault of the user. Yes, that would be you.

Case in point? Houston’s Municipal Courthouse is closed today because of a computer virus.

Today the Houston Municipal Courthouse is closed because of a virus that infected hundreds of city computers. Staff began to notice the problems last week. The virus was isolated to 475 of the city’s 16,000 computers.

In other words the IT department’s nightmare.

People assume that passwords, keys, firewalls, locks on computer room doors and other systems-related tools will stop everything that can attack their computers. Sorry Charlie, while those stop gates do a decent job complete protection requires some basic common sense. That kind of thing tends at times to be missing if you are a member of the human race.

So want to have a fab machine that is almost perfectly secure?

First step keep the darn thing with you. Leaving your laptop open while you go get another donut at the coffee shop is quicker than taking it with you. That’s what some naughty people yearn for. Walk away from your machine and you may just come back with a problem. Are you ready to risk it?

Your company is doing some nifty stuff. You want to read about it right now, even though everyone in close proximity can see it when you bring it up on your screen. You’ve just given Eaves-dropper Evie a scoop to give her company. Her boss loves you now.

You’re the parent of the year! You always let your kids put their discs in your machine. Come on what kind of virus could a teen have on a disc anyway?

E-mail Eddy needs to borrow your machine just for a sec to scan her mail. She kinda forgot to let you know that she opened up a Bot Attack but hey that’s what your firewall is for anyway. Right? Cross your fingers and watch your computer die.

Come to think about it, Average Annie is not at fault at all. It’s got to be the IT guy that is growling in the corner trying to fix her machine.

Have Your Kids Had Their Mud Pie Today?

Today’s child in most developed countries are eating more healthy food. Moms and dads provide a nice range of veggies and fruits and keep their tykes clean. Maybe there’s a bit of over kill though according to scientists. Kids no longer taste the dirt.

Children need to eat a little soil every now and then in order to boost their immune systems. It is being thought that some allergies, immune system disorders and asthma may be increasing with cleaner kids. Those conditions have increased by the tens of thousands with North American kids.

It’s now thought that this could be due to excessive hygiene. It’s not a new idea, back in 1989 British epidemiologist David P. Strachan dubbed the idea as “the hygiene hypothesis.”

Immunology expert Mary Ruebush explores the hypothesis in her book Why Dirt Is Good. She contends that a baby’s immune system is like a computer that has yet to be programmed. It needs to have viruses and bacteria entered in to learn what to fight and what to ignore.

Now being cleaner isn’t a totally bad idea. Considering 80 per cent of diseases in the world come from water contamination being clean is being healthy.

In the future researchers may come up with a vaccine that kick starts a youngsters immune system. Until that time it may make sense to let Junior play in the dirt more. maybe mom and dad can just use old fashion soap and water to clean their kids up instead of spending more for those antibacterial soaps.

In other words, let the kids be kids. Mud pies may be more than just fun times, they may help keep the doctor away.

Smoking Marijuana Increases Risk Of Testicular Cancer

The increased rates of a certain type of testicular cancer in Western countries is being linked to smoking marijuana for the first time. The rise in the disease appears to be parallel of the the rise in the use of cannabis.

United States researchers have found that men who regularly smoke cannabis have a 70 per cent increased risk of developing testicular cancer. Those most at risk smoked the drug at least once a week or had a long history of use beginning in their teen years.

The study was based on questionnaires of 369 men with the cancer. The men were questioned on their history of cannabis use and then compared to 979 men who did not have cancer. Cannabis was linked to testicular cancer independently of other known risks.

The study is said to be the first time that cannabis use has been linked to testicular cancer.

The study showed a link between smoking pot and only one type of testicular cancer, nonseminoma. The cancer is aggressive and tends to attack younger men. It makes up 40 percent of all testicular cancer cases. The results are in today’s publication of the journal Cancer.

The Independent reports:

Stephen Schwartz, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, Washington, who led the research, said: “Our study is not the first to suggest that some aspect of a man’s lifestyle or environment is a risk factor for testicular cancer but it is the first that has looked at marijuana use.”

Erectile Dysfunction At 40 Poses Higher Risk of Heart Disease

Men with erectile dysfunction in their 40’s have an eighty greater percent risk for having heart disease than men without penile problems.

The Mayo Clinic studied 1,402 men living in in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, who did not have heart disease or erectile dysfunction when the study started on January 1, 1996. The men were checked for both urological and sexual problems every two years for a total of ten years. The study ended on December 31, 2005. Each man in the study had a regular sex partner.

The subjects in the study also took part in a Brief Male Sexual Functions Inventory (BMSFI) developed by Harvard Medical School. The questionnaire is used to help identify sexual problems like erectile dysfunction.

The two papers that followed the study have been published in the February 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The researchers with the Mayo Clinic study found that 2.4% of the men 40 to 49 had erectile dysfunction. Those odds went up with each decade a man lives; 5.6% had it between the ages of 50 and 59 years; 17.0% between 60 and 69 years; and 38.8% when 70 years and older.

Researchers also discovered that the men with ED in their 40’s had a very increased rate of heart disease compared to those without ED. The chances of getting coronary heart disease later was 48.52 per 1,000 men who got ED in their 40s. That compares to those men who got ED later in life. Those men had a risk for heart disease at only 0.94 per 1,000 men when the men did not get ED in their 40s.

iTWire reports:

The researchers concluded, “ED and CAD may be differing manifestations of a common underlying vascular pathology.”

And, “When ED occurs in a younger man, it is associated with a marked increase in the risk of future cardiac events, whereas in older men, ED appears to be of little prognostic importance. Young men with ED may be ideal candidates for cardiovascular risk factor screening and medical intervention.”

Where Can Medical Marijuana Users Smoke In Canada?

The rules are a little hazy on where those with medical marijuana cards can light up in Canada. Can business owners face discrimination complaints if they ask tokers to move from the front of thier businesses?

That is the question Ted Kindos, owner of Gator Ted’s Tap and Grill in Burlington, Ont., would like answered. He is being sued by Steve Gibson for discrimination after he asked the man to move from the front of his pub while toking.

The Montreal Gazette reports:

“We’re really looking to the court for assistance in resolving the tension between the liquor laws that apply to Mr. Kindos, which he is obligated to comply with, and the rights granted to the holder of a permit for the medicinal use of marijuana,” said Kindos’ lawyer Gary Graham.

Kindos and Gibson are heading to court after negotiations broke down between them last spring. Kindos then refused to sign a settlement paying Gibson $2,000 or to post a sign alerting patrons his establishment accommodated customers with medical marijuana exemptions. Kindos fears that that sign could put his liquor license in jeopardy.

Gibson says that Kindos is discriminating against him because he has a disability.
This case could settle where those with medical marijuana are allowed to light up in Canada. That is something that has not been addressed by federal regulations. Permit holders are asked to have common sense but without rules one man’s ideals may not be another man’s.

According to Health Canada smoking in public and potentially exposing others to the drug is not acceptable. Medical marijuana’s Health Canada rules have been in effect since 2001. Ottawa allows those who are dying or have symptoms of multiple sclerosis, spinal cord conditions, cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, severe forms of arthritis to have a permit if their doctor approves. Permit holders are allowed to grow it, have someone they designate to grow it or buy it through Health Canada.

Permit holders argue those rules aren’t good enough. Ottawa has failed to provide marijuana that is of good quality and it’s wait time is too long for those who are terminally ill. The wait time is now at eight to 12 weeks to obtain Health Canada’s approval for Canadian grown marijuana.

Barbara Hall, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission said there is a duty to accommodate people with disabilities.

“This is about the need to balance between the legal and medical rights of one person to smoke marijuana legally because of health issues and the rights of others impacted by that,” she said.

Permit holders are not asking for special rights, only to be allowed to smoke where those who smoke cigarettes are allowed to according to Russell Barth, a comedian who has a permit for medical marijuana. He has filed a complaint against the Ontario government after he was informed he could not smoke on a club patio. He is seeking to have the province recognize that medical marijuana users have the right to take their medication as any other person does.

“We feel nervous every time we go out that we can get hassled by police or some yuppie with their kid is going to get their bum in a knot about it,” Barth said noting when he reached out for help to his city councillor he was told to grow up and stop wasting taxpayers dollars with a frivolous human rights complaint.

Barth’s case will go into mediation in February.

Authorities Dragging Feet 6 Months After Sunrise Propane Blast

It’s been six months since Sunrise Propane exploded in Toronto. Little has yet to change for those affected on the morning of August 10. Insurance companies and politicians are both taking their time when it comes to help those affected by the explosion.

When the explosion lit the sky last August 12,000 residents were forced from their homes. Most have returned but dozens have been left homeless.

Houses are still boarded up unable to have their owners return. Insurance companies are taking their sweet time forcing the residents to make the needed repairs on their own.

Bob Leek, 55, was killed in the fire at the company. The firefighter had 25 years of experience. He was a district chief of emergency planning. He left behind a wife and son.

It’s not just the insurance companies that are dragging their feet according to the residents in the Keele and Wilson area. Politicians are passing the buck allowing those they serve to live in unlivable homes.

City councilor Maria Augimeri says that this is a province issue. She is quoted by City News:

“It’s wrong for people to live this way. And it’s wrong for the province to keep hiding,” she contended.

Sunrise Propane stills behind a fence now as the clean up effort is still on-going. The city is having to pick up most of the $1.9 million tab to clear the debris. The province’s Ontario Ministry of the Environment is paying for the 120 workers that were hired in the first days after the blast with $900,000.

Erectile Dysfunction At 40 Poses Higher Risk of Heart Disease

Men with erectile dysfunction in their 40’s have an eighty greater percent risk for having heart disease than men without penile problems.

The Mayo Clinic studied 1,402 men living in in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, who did not have heart disease or erectile dysfunction when the study started on January 1, 1996. The men were checked for both urological and sexual problems every two years for a total of ten years. The study ended on December 31, 2005. Each man in the study had a regular sex partner.

The subjects in the study also took part in a Brief Male Sexual Functions Inventory (BMSFI) developed by Harvard Medical School. The questionnaire is used to help identify sexual problems like erectile dysfunction.

The two papers that followed the study have been published in the February 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The researchers with the Mayo Clinic study found that 2.4% of the men 40 to 49 had erectile dysfunction. Those odds went up with each decade a man lives; 5.6% had it between the ages of 50 and 59 years; 17.0% between 60 and 69 years; and 38.8% when 70 years and older.

Researchers also discovered that the men with ED in their 40’s had a very increased rate of heart disease compared to those without ED. The chances of getting coronary heart disease later was 48.52 per 1,000 men who got ED in their 40s. That compares to those men who got ED later in life. Those men had a risk for heart disease at only 0.94 per 1,000 men when the men did not get ED in their 40s.

iTWire reports:

The researchers concluded, “ED and CAD may be differing manifestations of a common underlying vascular pathology.”

And, “When ED occurs in a younger man, it is associated with a marked increase in the risk of future cardiac events, whereas in older men, ED appears to be of little prognostic importance. Young men with ED may be ideal candidates for cardiovascular risk factor screening and medical intervention.”

H1N1 Strain of Flu Almost 100% Resistant To Tamiflu

Tamiflu is no match for the A H1N1 strain of the flu. Samples tested since October 2008 have shown an almost 100% resistant for that strain to Tamiflu.

This is horrible news considering that the United States has Tamiflu as the antiviral of choose stockpiled in the event of a pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now issued new guidelines for doctors when it comes to the flu. They are being advised to use Relenza or to use Tamiflu in combination with rimantadine is the main virus is the H1N1 strain in their communities.

Thankfully this had been a very mild flu season.

The flu vaccine each year is chosen from the three most prominent flu strains, two type A’s and one type B. Experts recommend the flu shot as the best defense from the flu.

The new findings bring to light the fear that doctors have had that misuse of Tamiflu could make it resistant. Tamiflu has been on the market for 10 years. Because the experts believed that the flu could become resistant of Tamiflu they wanted Relenza to be stockpiled in the same numbers. That has not been the case, Tamiflu has been stockpiled at a rate of four to one when it comes to Relenza.

The LA Times reports:

“There have been people, and I’m one of them, that have suggested that there be more of an equal stockpiling of oseltamivir and zanamivir,” said Dr. Anne Moscona, a pediatrician and professor of microbiology and immunology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The lure of Tamiflu is that it can be taken in both pill or liquid form and the general public can receive it. Relenza must be inhaled and can not be used in cases dealing with young children or the elderly.

The resistance to Tamiflu is not from overuse though. It appears that the resistant strain mutated naturally.

Mother Plasters Town With Posters, Don’t Serve My Daughter Drinks

A mother will do anything to save her child. That’s why Isobel Higgins is posting posters warning people not to give her daughter Jody, 16, alcohol. The child is an alcoholic and her mother wants to keep her alive.

Posters of Jody are all over Carlisle in the UK. They have Jody’s picture on them and the words, do not serve or buy alcohol for this girl.’

Higgins, 33, admits feeling a bit embarrassed by plastering her daughter’s face all over the town but she had to do something. Jody started drinking a year ago and quickly became addicted.

Her mother tells the Daily Mail:

‘She will drink vodka, cider, shots, whatever she can get her hands on and she doesn’t see she’s doing anything wrong. I think it’s an addiction.

‘I’ve tried everything in the book, including a curfew but you just can’t control a 16-year-old, not even with the help of the authorities. I don’t know where she is during the day. I can’t lock her up.’

Higgins turned to social services but that didn’t help. Jody was arrested for damaging the windows at Higgins home. That only got her known to the police.

Jody is now in counseling with Straightline, a drug and alcohol support service, and is getting help with her education.

Higgins hopes that by speaking out that she not only helps her own daughter but others. Public awareness is key.

Says the concerned mother:

‘This doesn’t just hurt the family, it is ruining her education and, most importantly, her health.

‘She is drinking to the point where she can’t stand up, that must be doing so much damage to her body. I will do anything I can to stop it and help her help herself.’

Bank Of America Tried To Collect Debt From Dead Woman’s Son

Paul Kelleher had the hard task of calling his mother’s creditors after she passed away last month from cancer. Although not easy to do the calls were routine until Kelleher got to his mother’s Bank of America card.

TPMmuckraker reports the call between the bank rep and Mr. Kelleher, 30.

Paul Kelleher: Yes, I’m calling to inform you that my mom died on the 24th of January.

Bank of America Estates representative: I’m sorry. Oh, it looks like she never even missed a payment. That’s too bad. Well, how are you planning to take care of her balance?

PK: I’m not going to. She has no estate to speak of, but you should feel free to just go through the standard probate procedure. I’m certainly not legally obligated to pay for her.

BOA: You mean you’re not going to help her out?

PK: I wouldn’t be helping her out — she’s dead. I’d be helping you out.

BOA: Oh, that’s really not the way to look at it. I know that if it were my mother, I’d pay it. That’s why we’re in the banking crisis we’re in: banks having to write off defaulted loans.

The bank rep continued to try to get Kelleher to pay his mother’s bill alternating between saying he was legally and morally responsible. The truth is neither is the case. Kelleher talked to the rep’s supervisor who apologized but it was unclear what for.

TPMmuckraker researched to see if this was standard policy. They were informed that it is. Employees that are responsible for collections are encouraged to get the money as long as they don’t lie outright. Those messages that your call is being recorded aren’t for you, they are to see if the rep is getting the most money back that they can.

“We were obligated to collect 45 percent of the debt that rolled in to us,” said the former rep, adding that that figure fluctuated. Employees who consistently failed to meet that baseline might be fired. “People lost their jobs all the time for non-performance.”

Reps are issued as much as $5,000 a month in bonuses when they bring in a certain amount of “collectible money.”

Legally the children of a deceased person are not responsible for those debts unless they co-signed for the loans or credit cards. Spouses are a different think. Kelleher did what was required, notifying the creditors but that was the end of his responsibility. When there is an estate that estate is responsible to pay for the debts.

As JuicyCampus Dies, College ACB Takes Its Place

The Internet site JuicyCampus has been put to bed. The site was often the place where cruel messages about college gossip surfaced. For those users trying to return to the site a redirect is sent to a tamer site College ACB headed by Peter Frank.

From saying rape victims deserved it to who was the easiest freshmen th JuicyCampus garnered the scorn of college administrators across the board.

Today though JuicyCampus is being replaced by CollegeACB.com. When one goes to the JuicyCampus site they are being redirected to the newer site started by Peter Frank. The new site promises to flag threatening, racist, or otherwise illegal posts.

The mission statement is:

The CollegeACB or College Anonymous Confession Board seeks to give students a place to vent, rant, and talk to college peers in an environment free from social constraints and about subjects that might otherwise be taboo.

As for the closing of JuicyCampus the adult buzz on the Web is elation. Yahoo Tech reports:

“We’re very happy,” said Erika Lowe, vice president of the student government at Western Illinois University, which had been working with administrators to block the site from campus computers there. “While we support free speech, there was nothing positive coming out of this Web site. It only served to dampen spirits and ruin friendships.”

The JuicyCampus site launched in 2007 on seven campuses. Founder Matt Ivester said that the site was getting 1 million unique hits a month.

The site went offline by Thursday. Ivester said that legal troubles were not to blame for the site’s removal.

“While there are parts of JuicyCampus that none of us will miss — the mean-spirited posts and personal attacks — it has also been a place for the fun, lighthearted gossip of college life. I hope that is how it is remembered,” he wrote, before signing off: “Keep it juicy.”

In an phone interview with the new site’s founder Peter Frank I asked if Ivester was part of the new site’s team. Mr. Frank said that he was not. The redirecting of the site from the JuicyCampus one was a deal that Frank worked out personally with Ivester.

Frank said that although Ivester had a terms of service little was done to enforce that. CollegeACB on the other hand is committed to keeping the problems that plagued JuicyCampus off-line. Not only does Frank personally moderate the content on the site users are involved. When a complaint is lodged it is quickly investigated.

Peter Frank is a student at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He has been the head of College ACB for just a few months. The site itself has been live for about a year.

‘The White House Boys Survivors’ Sue State Of Florida

The claims are heartbreaking. Almost 100 men who spent time in Florida reform schools five decades ago say they were raped and beaten by the employees hired to take care of them. Those men are now suing the state.

The group, “The White House Boys Survivors,” were inmates at the Florida School for Boys in Marianna during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Last October the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice admitted that the abuses took place. In January the group filed their lawsuit.

One of the stories coming out of that lawsuit is of an 11-year-old whose arms and legs were tied to two trees. The child was repeatedly kicked in the groin.

More of the stories are of children being lashed up to 100 times with a leather razor strip. There were times when the boys underwear had to be removed from their bodies with surgical tools.

The Lakeland Ledger reports:

“I’m ashamed of what they did to these people. When I heard these stories it cried out for something to be done,” said Thomas Masterson, a St. Petersburg lawyer who filed the lawsuit in Pinellas County Circuit Court. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.

There are claims of boys being sodomized with a ‘probing rod,’ of employees placing bets on who could draw first blood during beatings and other abuses. At least two of the boys who were abused can not be involved in the lawsuit, they died at the hands of those past employees. One of the dead died after being put in an industrial clothes dryer.

Thomas Masterson, a St. Petersburg lawyer, filed the lawsuit in Pinellas County Circuit Court after interviewing the men. The stories remained the same even though the men lived hundreds of miles apart. Those stories had horrific details that were supported time and again.

“If a reasonable person talks to the people who were there, you cannot help but draw the conclusion that these people are telling the truth,” Masterson said. “I don’t think that you can defend this by saying they’re not telling the truth or it’s an exaggeration.”

the lawsuit names four state departments as defendants, including the Department of Juvenile Justice, as well as former Marianna reform school employees Troy Tidwell and Robert Curry.

Governor Charlie Crist asked in December that the 30 unmarked graves near the Marianna School be investigated.

Could Syriac Bible Found During Raid Be 2,000 Years Old?

An ancient Syriac bible has been found in northern Cyprus in the dialect that is thought to be the native language of Jesus. The tome is believed to be about 2,000 years old according to Turkish Cypriot police.

The Bible was found while police were performing a raid on antiquity smugglers.

The manuscript has excerpts of the Bible and a drawing of a tree. The lettering is gold on vellum.

At this time it’s not clear if the manuscript is an original or a very good fake. Because of the gold lettering it is also thought that the manuscript is not as old as the Turkish Cypriot police say it is.

The language of the manuscript is Syriac. That is a dialect of Aramaic that was once used throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. It still survives in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India.

Reuters reports:

“One very likely source (of the manuscript) could be the Tur-Abdin area of Turkey, where there is still a Syriac speaking community,” Charlotte Roueche, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King’s College London told Reuters.
“The Syriac writing seems to be in the East Syriac script with vowel points, and you do not find such manuscripts before about the 15th century.

“On the basis of the one photo…if I’m not mistaken some words at least seem to be in modern Syriac, a language that was not written down until the mid-19th century,” he told Reuters.

There were other religious antiquities found in the raid. A prayer statue and a stone carving of Jesus was located. The raid also found dynamite.

The smugglers have been charged with smuggling antiquities, illegal excavations and the possession of explosives.

Surgery Rare Option For Pancreatic Cancer

The word cancer is a hard enough diagnosis for a person to digest, add pancreatic to the mix and it’s a virtual death sentence. It is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, often leaving no options.

When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery earlier today for a pancreatic tumor she was one of the few given the option for surgery. As few as 10 from every 100 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are given the option.

Most pancreatic cancers are adenocarcinoma and simply too aggressive to have treatments other than chemotherapy and radiation. The less aggressive type is an islet-cell tumor. While still a hard disease to treat there is a slim chance of a cure with this type. Sadly most pancreatic cancers are the most aggressive form, from 85 to 90 percent of the time.

Tumors in the pancreas are very aggressive. There is no detection test for it. Vague indigestion may be the only early sign. By the time symptoms begin to appear it’s often to late. Those symptoms are yellowing skin, itching, weight loss and abdominal pain.

There is not much known about the cancer. Family history and smoking seem to be top risk factors. High fat diets and diabetes are also considered risk factors also.

Chemotherapy will help to slow the disease but it is not a cure. Those who have surgery are treated with chemo to attack the remaining cancer cells.

The success rate for survival is a dismal twenty percent in early stage discovery.

There is no word as to which type of cancer Ginsburg has or what her overall prognosis is. The only thing that is known is that it was found in the early stages.

60-year-old Calgary Woman Gives Birth To Twins

After decades of trying to have a child Canadian Ranjit Hayer is the mother of two boys. The 60-year-old is one of the oldest women in Canadian history to give birth.

The boys were born in Calgary by C-section Tuesday morning. Hayer is recovering in intensive care and the twins are in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

The babies had to be born early because Hayer had begun to hemorrhage this week. Doctors delivered the infants and then had to remove her uterus. She is in the ICU because she required blood transfusions to become stabilized.

Her previous three pregnancies had always ended in miscarriages. This one has left her with some serious medical conditions, high blood pressure and diabetes. She also suffered placenta previa which was the cause of her bleeding. That condition required the woman to spend the last 4 weeks in hospital.

One of the babies is able to breath on his own with the help of special equipment, the other is not. Other than their premature lungs though the boys are doing well. They will be released from hospital when they are large enough.

Many are questioning the ethics in Hayer’s case. That includes the specialist in Calgary that helped her to conceive.

The CBC reports:

“It all sounds very fine when this age group — isn’t it fantastic what medical technology can do, how we’re stretching the boundaries and everything else — but there’s so much more involved in this. It’s not just having the babies and being born,” he told CBC.

“There’s not just one generation gap here, there’s two generation gaps. They’re really what would be like the age of grandparents.”

Hayer had to return to her native India to have IVF treatments to get pregnant. She got pregnant with triples. One of the triples though had to be terminated because of medical reasons.

In Canada the cutoff age for IVF is between 45 and 50 years old.

“We need to think of this as the broader context, not just the individual circumstances here, as to what obligation is there in the Canadian health-care system or on the Canadian taxpayer to support the after-care for people who’ve received an initial intervention, at cost, somewhere outside of Canada,” she said Thursday.

Opinion: Don’t worry, ladies, you get hotter after 40

Are you about to hit 40 ladies? If you are don’t feel down in the dumps. You’re about to come into the age of fantastic sex. That’s what Health Plus magazine says at least.

The Daily Mail decided to ask around and see if that claim was the reality with 40-somethings.

Molly Parkin agrees with the article. She looks back to that time and remembers it fondly as a period of unbridled freedom. By the time a woman hits 40 she has been there, done that and knows what works.

Marcelle D’Argy sees sex at 40 is like suddenly seeing the light. She also thinks that sex at 50 is hot.

According to Dr Louise Foxcroft women in their 40’s are more likely to have multiple orgasms. That in itself is a blessing!

As for me, I fall in line with the above women. Sex when you’re old enough to revel in it is hot. Being able to have the stones to demand being taken ‘care of’ is empowering. There are hormonal changes of course that promote sex being more enjoyable but the truth is by 40 a woman is ready to lay back (or stand up if that’s what they enjoy) and go at it. We know that doing those Kegel exercises have a wonderful benefit. We know where we enjoy being touched. Basically we know.

Now medical people will list off the hormonal reasons that sex is hotter than a rocket during this time.

As the Daily Mail reports the scientific reasons that Peter Bowen-Simpkins, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians and medical director of the London Women’s Clinic gives:

‘Physically, it is the hormones that have the most impact, and one reason women in their 40s may feel more sexually driven is due to increased testosterone levels.
Testosterone is traditionally thought of as a male hormone, but all women produce it from puberty.

‘It has a number of different effects, including boosting sexual desire. However, it is a very powerful hormone, so women produce the sex hormone-binding globulin
(SHBG), which mops up much of the testosterone to help keep its effects in check.

‘Levels of SHBG are dictated by oestrogen, and as women approach menopause, their oestrogen levels fall. The knock-on effect of this would be an increase in testosterone – which could lead to increased desire.’

Ladies know that the truth is older women are just simply hot.

See kiddies, there really is something great to look forward to. Sex.

And yes that smile on my face is real.

Teen Could Face Almost 300 Years For Sexual Abuse Case

Anthony R. Stancl is accused of posing as a girl online to blackmail 13- to 19-year-old boys in get them to perform sex acts. He was charged on Wednesday of sex crimes in New Berlin, Wisconsin.

New Berlin High School had been the site of a bomb threat last November. On November 14 the school had to be closed. The threat was sent to the school from a computer at the New Berlin Public Library.

Stancl was the name that came up during an investigation.

As that investigation was starting a shocking twist came into light. A 15-year-old went to authorities alleging that Stancl was blackmailing him and forcing him to perform sex acts. He came forward after Stancl had demanded that he get photos of his younger brother. That was enough. The teen went to his parents and then to the police.

The police were told a tale of how Stancl blackmailed the teen after telling him that a girl he met on Facebook would release naked photos to the rest of the school. The teen had sent the ‘girl’ the photos through Facebook. That girl turned out to be Stancl himself. The 15-year-old was only one of at least 31 other boys who were caught in Stancl’s web.

All of the teens attend New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School. The sexual attacks happened at the high school, the school parking lot, a restroom at the New Berlin Public Library, Valley View Park, Malone Park, Minooka Park and some of the victims homes.

As the information came in the police obtained a search warrant for Stancl’s computer. That computer held the evidence to back up the 15-year-old’s story and much more. Stancl had more than 300 photos and movie clips of New Berlin boys. There were an additional 600 professional movies of child porn. The photos and movie clips were in 39 files labeled with either the children’s names or their screen names.

Authorities are asking that victims come forward.

Stancl used pictures of females from Facebook pages to persuade male students to email nude photos to him.

Stancl has been charges with the bomb threat plus repeated sexual assault of same child (at least three violations of first- or second-degree sexual assault), possession of child pornography, second- and third-degree sexual assaults, and five counts of child enticement. If convicted of all crimes he could be sentenced to almost 300 years in prison.

Stancl is currently being held on $250,000 bail after his first appearance in Waukesha County Circuit Court in Waukesha on Wednesday.

The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reports:

“In this court’s 7 1/2 years on the bench, this is the most horrific complaint the court has ever reviewed,” Waukesha Circuit Court Commissioner Laura Florian Lau said. “The defendant is facing 293 years if convicted on these 12 counts. . . . This is a crime allegedly that involved many, many, many victims. The court is extremely concerned as to whether defendant will return to court.”

Toronto Hydro Hits the Streets to Inspect Every Handwell Covers

The crews along Queens Quay were moving at a fairly fast pace. They quickly went from one handwell cover to the next. Handwell plates cover electrical equipment and wiring in the area.

Toronto’s Hydro crews are hitting each and every handwell in the city to make sure that no live wires are going to shock an animal or human again this winter.

Since November two dogs have been killed by the handwells in the High Park area. Hydro crews had assured the police at each of those events that the area was safe children were shocked in January. As reported by journalist Tamara Baluja up to five children were zapped on Jan. 29 at a handwell near the Dundas West and Keele area. While none of the children were seriously injured, school officials let parents know that they should take their children in to the doctor.

Today the crews were along Queens Quay and Bathurst Street checking each handwell. The inspection process can take as little as 10 minutes or as long as an hour. There are 15,000 handwells in the Toronto area.

KJ Mullins Workers inspect handwells along Queens Quay in Toronto. 3 votes Vote it up! var imgid = “47006″; <!– if(imgid) djp.votebtn(‘vtimg’+imgid,{ cls:’voteupgreen’,txt:’Vote it up!’}); //–>

The workers I spoke to seemed a little tired but understood the importance that the city had to be safe for the citizens and animals walking down each and every street. Electrical shocks can kill. There are no second chances.

Governor’s Island, The Green Design Of New York City

New York City is hoping to turn a section of Governor’s Island into a Green vacation zone. The southern half of the island could be a sustainable, eco-friendly park as soon as 2012.

The island became the property of the city in 2003. Before that it was a US Army and Coast Guard post. The 173-acre strip of land was purchased for a mere $1.

A team of architects, West 8 / Rogers Marvel Architects / Diller Scofidio + Renfro / Urban Design +, are planning a 2.2 mile long promenade along the waterfront. Greenhouses and an aquatic center is also on the drawing board. The team is planning on recycling the Coast Guard buildings for materials to make hills and mountains. It is also being tossed around to make a floating restaurant.

The island’s northern half is open to the public as an outdoor area to bike and picnic.

When the park is completed there will be more than 100 acres of green space open to the public.

National Guard Finds Jewel Kitrel, 92, Home Alone

A miracle survivor of last week’s ice storm has been found in northeast Arkansas. Jewel Kitrel was warming herself on a wood-burning stove when the National Guard came knocking.

Sgt. Michael Franks said that Kitrel, 92, was in tears when he and four other guard members brought in food and water. Her regular nurse had been unable to navigate the area since last week’s storm.

The Associated Press reports:

“She just broke down and started crying,” said Franks. “She was so happy that we had come out there, and that we cared enough to come out and see her to make sure she was alright.”

The National Guard is just making it into the most remote parts of Kentucky and Arkansas after the storm last week virtually cut the areas off from the world.

At least 56 people died as a result of the storm. Carbon monoxide poisoning, traffic accidents and hypothermia is what will be listed on the death certificates.

The Guard is hoping that their door to door efforts will cut any more deaths added to that list.

“We tried to get her to come back with us, but she was pretty adamant about not leaving,” Franks said as he chuckled slightly recalling the event. “She said she was more comfortable there than she would be anywhere else.”

The Guard plans to visit her twice a day to make sure she`s doing okay.

Did My Space Ousted Sex Offenders Travel To Facebook?

MySpace had rid itself of sex offenders. 90,000 of them have been kicked off of the site in the past two years. They seem to have found a new home, Facebook.

Former New York City police office and the CEO of Sentinel, a security technology firm out of Miami, John Cardillo has called Facebook a “safe haven” for sex offenders Sentinel helps other social networks ID sex offenders. Facebook is not a client.

Using a software program SAFE, MySpace has been able to locate and remove sex offenders who have joined. SAFE is a database of more than 700,000 sex offenders in the United States. The database includes names, address, photos, birth dates, email and IM addresses. It also has more than 100 data points in which to find offenders.

John Cardillo decided to look for the ousted members of MySpace on Facebook. He quickly found 8,000 of them without effort. He believes that the real number is up to 20 times that number.

Facebook has pledged to remove sex offenders from its site. When asked why the network does not use the Sentinel software the John Cardillo replied that the cost would be under a million dollars for the 150 millions that the social network site has.

Facebook could develop their own program saving them even more money.

Facebook told Tech Crunch:

Facebook does not allow the same investigations by an outsider as by insiders. Saying there is a positive match of 8,000 sex offenders is difficult to for an outsider to do. You would need would need more than a name and a photo the size of your thumb. The correct way would be to characterize them as potential matches.

For a company that has a mission to keep kids safe, we find it irresponsible that they wouldn’t share this with us. Or, if not with us, how about with law enforcement? This could have been an announcement that Sentinel and Facebook removed 8,000 potential sex offenders. We still don’t have the information on who they are. If you are willing to share that with us, we will investigate immediately.

Plight Of Sri Lanka Civilians Getting Worse As Hospitals Targeted

Patients able to are fleeing one of the last hospitals as artillery shells rain down on it. The Red Cross is in negotiations trying to evacuate the most severely wounded from Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital .

UNICEF’s Sarah Crowe told CNN on Monday that aid is getting into the war zone only every few days;

“We need open access,” she said. “These children and families need to be protected and they need to get out fast.” Hundreds of civilians, including children, have been wounding in fighting since the end of last week.

Last Thursday United Nation aid workers rescued 105 adults and 50 critically injured children from area hospitals.

The Tamil Tigers and government troops are battling it out in the streets of Colombo.

The Associated Press were handed pictures showing civilians killed and maimed on Monday. Photos of the plight of those trapped inside the conflict area rarely have outside media showing the destruction.

The government claims that it has captured the last airstrip of the Tamil Tigers in northeast of Piramatharukulam in Puthukkidiyiruppu on Tuesday. This will ground the guerrilla’s small air force and may hasten an end to the longest-running civil war in Asia. This conflict began in the 1970’s, the Tamil Tigers want a separate state for the Tamils. More than 70,000 people have died during the civil war.

SIFY News Reports:

“The target of the air raid was a LTTE radar centre and a commanding centre. The target was located 1.5 km north of the Mullaittivu lagoon. The air force confirms that the target was successfully engaged,” the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.

The Tamil Tigers have been urged to stop the war by the United States, the European Union, Norway and Japan. The joint plea comes as up to 250,000 civilians struggle to remain alive trapped in the cross fire.

The BBC reports:

Both sides “should recognise that further loss of life – of civilians and combatants – will serve no cause”, the nations said.

Could The Zipingpu Dam Have Caused Last May`s Chinese Earthquake?

Scientists are saying that last year’s 7.9 earthquake in China may have been man-made. The cause could be the 511 foot high Zipingpu dam that holds 315 million tons of water. The dam lies just 550 yards from the fault line.

The dam is only three miles from the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake.

Researchers in China and the United States bleieve that that weight of the water and the effects that the water had penetrating into the rock may have effected the fault line. The Telegraph quotes Fan Xiao, the chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu saying that it is very likely that the 2004 construction of the dam helped lead to the disaster that killed thousands.

“There have been many cases in which a water reservoir has triggered an earthquake,” said Mr Fan. “This earthquake was very unusual for this area.

There have been no seismic activities greater than a magnitude seven quake along this particular seismic belt before.”

The earthquake last June was one of China’s worst disasters. It left more than five million people without a home.

In the earthquake zone there are almost 400 hydroelectric dams. The government had been warned that so much activity in the area could be a danger but the warnings were not heeded.

“I not only opposed the construction of Zipingpu, but also the overdevelopment of the reservoirs on Minjiang River. There are ten major reservoirs on the main river, 29 on its tributaries and a lot more smaller-scale reservoirs, all of which block the flow of the entire river, and are very hazardous to the local geology,” Fan said.

The magnitude of the quake surprised scientists even with the area being prone to quakes. The fault line had not had major seismic changes for millions of years prior to the May earthquake.

Earthquakes and dams have a history. The Hoover dam area had several during its construction but none at the magnitude as the Chinese quake.

Opinion: Valentine Posies Can Be A Valentine To the Earth Too

It’s gearing up to Valentine’s Day. The time for chocolates, flowers and love. But how green are those posies that you may be handing over for your sweetie? Not very according to the Daily Mail.

The more exotic a flower the more it has had to travel to rest in that table side vase. Some flowers can travel over 2,000 miles. In Britain carnations can travel from Kenya, Chile, Ecuador or Colombia. considering the fact that once a flower is cut it is dead, just how romantic is it to add to greenhouse gases.

Now that said, I am all for pretty flowers and alas my thumb is as black as they come.

One of the kids hands over a plastic rose most years. I have them in a vase downstairs and one at my computer to give me a smile.

Home grown flowers are the way to go if you are a Green Heart and still desire a pretty bouquet. Ask your florist where they get their flowers and opt for the most local blooms.

The Earth will love you for it.

Exploding Cell Phone Battery Kills Man

An exploding battery in a cell phone has killed a man in Guangzhou, China. It is thought that the shop assistant had just charged the battery and put the phone in his breast pocket when the cell phone exploded.

It is not known the make of the phone or the battery. There have been reports that the computer store that the man worked at was a Lenovo shop but that has yet to be confirmed. Police are also checking to see if the phone and the battery were counterfeit.

There have been nine cell phone explosions in China since 2002.

While cell phone batteries are mostly safe the lithium battery can explode if they are overcharged or exposed to heat.

Both Motorola and Nokia deny that their promblems in the batteries in China. It suggests that the batteries are counterfeit.

To make sure your cell phone battery does not explode always use the original batteries that was meant for your phone model. Do not modify your phone. Charge your battery on the model’s original battery charger. Do not expose the cell phone to high temperature and try not to expose it to direct sunlight. Try not to have long phone calls. Do not answer your phone nor make calls while it is charging. Try to keep your phone in a bag instead of a pocket. Never use a damaged battery.

Gary Collins Arrest For Allegedly Driving Motor Home While Drunk

Gary Collins of television fame has been arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. That’s not that unusual in Hollywood circles but Collins was steering a hot sports car.

Collins is accused of driving his motor home in an erratic manner. He refused a field sobriety test at the scene but was given a blood alcohol test.

The 70-year-old has been released on a $25,000 bail after being booked.

This is not the first time for Collins and alcohol related arrests. In 2004 he was convicted of a DUI in Malibu. Just 13 months ago he plead no contest to driving under the influence in Los Angeles. He served four days in jail for that stint. He is still serving probation from that arrest.

Collins is a former former Miss America Pageant host .

Guilty Verdict Comes In On Baby Grace Case

A Texas jury spent less than two hours deliberating before turning in a guilty verdict for Kimberly Trenor. Trenor was found guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter dubbed by the media as “Baby Grace.”

Trenor will be given a life in prison sentence. the prosecutors in the case did not seek the death penalty.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II will face a jury later in the same case. Zeigler and Trenor are said to have killed her daughter Riley Ann Sawyers as they disciplined her.

Young Riley Ann endured a beating that included being dunked in cold bath water. After a day of torture the child’s skull was fractured. That punishment was designed to teach her good manners.

The couple is said to have enjoyed a picnic less than two weeks after the child was murdered.

The child’s remains were found in October 2007 in Galveston Bay. The toddler was identified by relatives in Ohio who saw news reports.

Woman Donates Kidney Through Vagina

A Maryland woman just donated a kidney for her niece. Surgeons removed the Kim Johnson’s kidney through her vagina. Both Johnson and niece Jennifer Gilbert, 23, are doing well since their operations on Thursday.

Kim Johnson, 48, said that the surgery was easier than childbirth. While kidneys have been removed through the vagina in the past those surgeries were due to cancerous or nonfunctional kidneys. Diseased kidneys have also been removed through the mouth and other orifices. Generally laparoscopical surgery is used to remove kidneys to be used for donation.

Inside of the typical keyhole incision Johnson has three pea size scars on her abdomen. One of those was hidden within her navel. Doctors are hoping that this means of removal will help encourage other women to donate.

When Gilbert was 13 her father donated a kidney. Johnson says that she is recovering more quickly than Mr. Gilbert did. She has had bladder surgery and said that this operation has been less painful.

Gilbert required the first transplant after infections destroyed her kidneys. The second kidney was needed after she began to reject the first one.

Vaginal removal has been used about 300 times for gall bladder and appendix removal. Some in the medical field fear that this type of removal could be a risk for other problems such as leaking stomach acid.

The Associated Press reports:

“There is the risk of infection having the kidney passing through a contaminated area and then going to another patient who is immunocompromised,” Dr. Jihad Kaouk, a urologist and director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery said. “That is the concern we have and we would like to monitor the outcome in that regard.”

First Skydive Terrifying, Instructor Has Heart Attack Mid-Air

Daniel Pharr’s first sky diving experience was terrifying. He was strapped to his instructor who had a mid-air heart attack. On Saturday he and his girlfriend went to Skydive Carolina in Chester, South Carolina to take their first skydive.

The quick thinking young man stayed calm and used images from past television shows to steer the deployed parachute to a safe landing. Had he panicked he may have not survived according to other skydive instructors.

George “Chip” Steele had what appears to be a heart attack during the Saturday jump. As the unconsciousness instructor died his charge took the reins to control the chute. Other instructors were impressed, had Pharr panicked and pulled the toggle too hard he would have spun out of control and likely died himself. He landed about a third of a mile from the airstrip that was the planned landing pad.

Steele had spent the time before the jump explaining what to do. He had told the group of about 10 going up that he had over 8,000 jumps to his name.

Pharr had been given the jump as a Christmas present by his girlfriend.

After landing the chute Pharr attempted to revive his instructor. His efforts were in vain.

The Associated Press reports:

“And then I just looked up at him and he looked like he was conscious, but just talking to him, I realized something was wrong,” Pharr said. “So at that point I realized I was just going to have to do what I had to do to get down to the ground and try to help him.”

“My only thing walking away is that I wish I could have helped him,” Pharr said. “I tried as hard as I could — all my training, I did everything I could.”

Pharr’s mother and girlfriend were at the airstrip waiting for him. They had heard that a tandem pair was down and that things did not appear to be good.

They were overjoyed when they got the news that Pharr was fine. Pharr is stationed at Fort Gordon. He has been in the Army for a year.

Pharr stated that his will be his first and last skydive even though he would like to do it again.

“My family has told me I have to keep my feet on the ground,” he said.

Humber College Students Design Radio To Talk To Space Station

Four Humber College students have designed and built a radio system that they used to call the International Space Station. The contact was made on Monday.

Toronto- The school`s instructors believe this is the first time students at the college level have made such an accomplishment.

The project to build the system began a year ago applying knowledge the students gleamed from their radio communication courses. Today at 12:29 p.m. they sent their signal live to the Space Station.

After a short lag astronaut Sandra Magnus answered on the second attempt. For 10 minutes the students were able to discuss technical questions with Magnus.

Operation First Contact is the final project for 34-year-olds Gino Cunti and Paul Je of Toronto, Patrick Neelin, 25, of Welland, Ont., and Kevin Luong, 21, of Mississauga, Ont.

Student contacts with the space station routinely use Amateur Radio.

The Canadian Press reports:

“It’s an incredible feat of undertaking and technology, and I’d just like to say I’m really, really proud of this team,” said Humber instructor Mark Rector.

“They’re playing way, way above their league today.”

Elton John’s Foundation Blings Out iPod

The Elton John AIDS Foundation hopes that folks will want a blinged out iPod. The Swarovski encrusted nanos are available in both the 8GB and 16GB models.

There are 900 nanos up for sale. Each colour, black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver and yellow, has just 100 models.

The models range in price from £399.99 for the 8GB to £449.99 for the larger 18GB model. At least 12.5% of the price goes to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The Goldgenie will also have “Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits CD” with each order.

The foundation provides funding for educational programs targeting AIDS prevention. It also works to eliminate the prejudice and discrimination against people who have the HIV virus.

Toronto Researchers Can Predict Who Will Survive Breast Cancer

Scientists now have the knowledge on who will survive breast cancer and who will most likely die from the disease. The way various proteins interact with tumors can help predict a woman’s chances.

Canadian researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto have found that breast cancer survivors have a different organization of the network of proteins in breast tissue than those who die.

The results of the study were published in Nature Biotechnology. The researchers were able to use the protein interactions for predicting the outcome in 82 percent of breast cancer patients in their study.

Reuters reports:

“We approached cancer as a problem in how proteins communicate with each other — or how proteins interact with each other in networks,” Jeff Wrana of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

“It could help to direct the appropriate therapies for individual patients.”

When a new patient is seen with protein interactions that predict a negative outcome they need very aggressive treatment using surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Mount Sinai Hospital has a patent on the process that identifies the interactions in a core group of 250 proteins. The researchers have formed a company, DyNeMo Biosystems, to explore commercial applications of this process.

465,000 women die each year world-wide from breast cancer.

Opinion: Does Nadya Suleman Plan On Cashing In On Her Babies?

She’s a single mom. She wants the money. Is that why Nadya Suleman has kept having babies? It’s been revealed that she wants 2 million from commercials and interviews. She wants interviews to plans with Oprah and Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer.

With fourteen children under the age of eight Nadya Suleman, 33, has to find a way to feed a lot of mouths. From her hospital bed she is trying to line up interviews and sponsorships. Was that one of the reasons she decided to have so many babies? Did she think that she would become rich from being a single mother of a slew of infants?

That money may not be forthcoming with her story front and center of ethical controversy. She ignored medical guidelines putting both herself and her eight youngest children at medical risk.

As the public becomes more aware of her story many have critized how an unemployed mother of six could consider adding eight more children to her family when she was not able to provide for the first batches. She has already added to her own parents financial strain.

Angela Suleman is watching her daughter’s oldest six until Nadya leaves the hospital. She claims her daughter is obsessed with children.

The children are the product of a sperm donor. She at one time worked at a fertility clinic. It is suspected that the donor is a friend of hers who is also the father of her twins.

Times Online reports:

Michael Tucker of the Georgia Reproductive Clinic, Atlanta, said Suleman’s story stunned him. “We are policed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which frowns upon implanting more than two or three embryos at a time. It is remarkable that any practitioner would undertake such a practice.”

Is it possible that shows like ‘John and Kate Plus 8′ and ‘17 And Counting’ on TLC have had a part? Both shows feature enormous children and families that appear to have it made financially.

The Duggar family have 18 children. They were all born from natural means. Their father has rental properties that supports them. they also make money from their books and shows.

The Gosselins have struggled at times according to their show with money. The show and other endorsements though have helped them to provide for their family. John works full time and Kate is a nurse.

Could the popularity of these two shows be responsible for a new trend of huge families? Could those families believe that they to will be famous and get money for having mega-sized families?

It’s Party time Again At the White House

There’s drinking at the White House again as President Obama has brought back the cocktail party that was missing during the Bush Era.

President Bush did not serve alcohol at the White House because of his religious beliefs. That is changing as the Obama Era begins.

On January 28 Obama sent out invites to Congressional leaders for drinks at the Red, Blue and Green Rooms of the White House.

Obama has been compared to the Kennedy and Roosevelt administrations. I doubt that those comparisons had anything to do with what was in the liquor cabinet but both of the former presidents enjoyed socializing.

Slate reports on Roosevelt’s martini times in the Oval Office.

“He mixed the ingredients,” recalled author Robert Sherwood, “with the deliberation of an alchemist but with what appeared to be a certain lack of precision since he carried on a steady conversation while doing it.”

Kennedy wasn’t a big drinker but there were many cocktail parties in the White House during his time there. What was most important during these get-togethers was the business that was completed because of the more relaxed atmosphere.

“Every party had at least a few senators or cabinet officials and a few big-time press people. It was all off the record and a lot of business got done,” Fred Harris, a former Democratic senator from Oklahoma, recounted to me. “The war on poverty and federal aid to education and civil rights, we hadn’t had yet the urban riots and the war in Vietnam was no bigger than a man’s hand. There were new and exciting programs and new and exciting people.”

Richard Nixon though shows how drinking at the White House may not be the best idea. Having some of the press over for cocktails when a president is overindulging is never a wise move.

As for Obama the Wednesday night cocktail party is just the beginning. Tonight he is hosting some Democrats and Republicans over to enjoy the Superbowl. There is no word as to who is on and who is not on the list.

Let’s hope it’s tamer than Congress.

Facebook Looks At Marketing Research As A Means To Survive

Facebook is hoping to exploit personal information on its 150 million members by creating the world’s largest market research database.

The company has struggled to make money with advertising. The new approach will be to allow multinational companies to target members to research the appeal of new products.

By targeting specially selected members the companies will be able to get marketing results. After all the details are already part of the site’s member profile pages.

The Telegraph quotes Randi Zuckerberg, global market director of Facebook and sister of the founder Mark Zuckerberg, 24, on the new venture.

“I had tonnes of people saying ‘this could be so incredible for our business’. It takes a very long time to do a focus group, and businesses often don’t have the luxury of time. I think they liked the instant responses,” she said.

“Davos is really a key place to launch an instant tool like this,” Ms Zuckerberg said. “It’s beneficial for everyone to see us as a global community of 150m users. The vast majority are not just college students in the US talking about things in their bedrooms. We are showing how we are a serious and insightful community.”

Facebook is now promoting its social network’s users as “serious and insightful” adults. That change is a reflection of the company’s attempts to entice marketers.

This endeavor could help Facebook survive the high costs of storing photos and videos. That price has risen to more than an estimated $70 million a year.

“The book value of some social networks may be written down and some companies may fail altogether if funding dries up,” said Paul Lee, Deloitte director of research for technology and telecommunications. “Average revenue per user for some of the largest new media sites is measured in just pennies per month, not pounds.

“This compares with a typical average revenue per user of tens of dollars for a cable subscriber, a regular newspaper reader or a movie fan.”

Bailed Out Banks Seeking Foreign Workers

The bailed out banks are now trying to get droves of foreign workers into the U.S. for high-paying jobs. That’s the word from the Associated Press’ review of visa applications.

More than 21,800 requested visas for senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists have been requested in the past six years. Their average salaries are $90,721. That is twice the average salary of the standard American household. You know the households where the taxpayers reside that footed the bailout of these banks.

It’s a little disgusting to know that taxpayers are paying people more than $150 billion when they themselves can not find a decent paying job.

When the banks that have received the bailouts pursue foreign workers instead of working in their own backyard something stinks in Corporateville.

Vast numbers of American bank employees were laid off last year. As those former workers lined up for unemployment the banks were requesting more visas for foreign workers.

While the number of visas actually granted is likely to be less than the 21,800 applied for it is still a slap in the face of the American taxpayer.

Opinion: The Number Two Pencil Tests Right Is Failing Students

The No Child Left Behind Act is not working, instead it is leaving a nation of children behind. A system based upon testing and statistics is not how to elevate students to knowledgeable adults. In the future it may be well called Leaving Everyone Behind.

Tests are not how children learn. Under the No Child Left Behind era reading and math were the only objective. Children have been subjected to cuts in other fields of education.

Using test scores as a measure to how well a school is doing and then how much funding that they receive has failed.

Progressive.org reports:

“The achievement gap between whites, blacks and Hispanics — as well as with rich and poor students – was well known before NCLB and it does nothing to close the gap,” says Fair Test’s Robert Schaeffer. “You don’t need to set up a system that punishes schools instead of helping them and creates pressures for classrooms to become test prep centers.”

Reading and math instruction are the main core subjects being taught at length due to the standardized tests.With 75 percent of class time dominated by teaching for the test other important skills are being neglected. That leaves subjects like history, geography, civics, and science fraying in the wind.

Without the basics that children used to get in primary grades once a child gets to high school they don’t have a foundation for these core subjects.

As Monty Neill, Ed.D. states the schools are pushing out students unprepared for college level work. The U.S. cannot test its way to better schools.

The system itself has the pit fall for setting schools and teachers up to fail. Disabled students and students where English is not their first language drag down the test scores. Some schools are now in the position of having to drive those students out of their schools to qualify for that prized funding dollar according to Neill.

The risk of losing funding could drive schools to cooking the books, juggling the numbers, and “customizing” definitions of grade levels and ethnic origins to stay ahead. Teachers are having to leave the very schools that need them to be eligible for raises. If your school is failing you don’t get the big bucks. If the tests are failing the students who else can be blamed but the teachers? That would seem the right answer except the best teachers don’t teach for the testing, they teach for learning. And that often does not mix.

What the United States has created is a system that will produce more unemployable members of society. Jobs are not based upon test scores. Employers want well rounded, educated employees.

Somehow learning how to pencil in the right box with your number two pencil just isn’t cutting the job.

Our grandparents and great-grandparents sat in one room school houses soaking up knowledge. Today there are so many methods and theories around on how to best educate and yet the schools fail. Perhaps it is time to take a few steps back and examine how schools succeeded in the past and apply those methods to schools today.

US Army Helping To Destroy Tunnels At Egyptian Border

The United States have sent engineers to the Egypt/Gaza border to install ground-penetrating radar in order to detect smuggling tunnels.

The equipment is being put in place by the United States Army. Smuggling tunnels at the Egyptian border through tunnels have been how Hamas obtains weapons and explosions.

Four trucks arrived at the Rafah terminal on Sunday to get the operation started.

The Army is in the process of training Egyptian soldiers on how to locate and then destroy the tunnels in Egypt. a second ground of Egyptian soldiers will be trained at a base in Texas in the near future.

Haaretz reports:

“The Egyptians have intensified their efforts along the border, but their activity is still a drop in the sea, and the smuggling is continuing,” Baidatz told the cabinet.

The United States have allocated $23 million to the project.

Israel has repeatedly asked Egypt to help end the tunnels.

There Are An Estimated Million Gang Members In The US

Gangs are growing in the United States. An estimated 1 million people are members of gangs. Those gangs are responsible for up to 80 percent of crime in the nation.

The Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center has not released its findings publicly.

USA Today reports:

“A rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships” with U.S. and foreign drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal groups to “gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs,” the report concludes.

In the last ten years gangs have increased in size and criminal activity. Most gang members live outside of prison walls. There is an estimated 147,000 in U.S. prisons or jails.

The larger cities are being being vacated by the gangs to smaller areas, migrating like immigrant laborers.

Both borders appear to have gang involvement going into the states and throughout Central America and Canada.

One of the gangs that has the eye of the authorities is the MS-13 based out of Salvador. The group is known for extortion, prostitution and other criminal enterprises. It’s numbers have grown throughout the United States with about 42 states having some involvement.

Many gang members appear to be illegal immigrants. The ‘revolving door’ on the border helps keep the numbers growing as arrested members are deported.

Grandmother Critical Of Daughter Desire To Have More Children

Her daughter always wanted babies according to the mother of Nadya Suleman, 33, who gave birth to octuplets this week. Angela Suleman has dealt with stress in the wake of her daughter’s obsession for children.

A psychologist has told Angela to order her daughter out of her home. That Angela couldn’t do as CBC reports;

“Maybe she wouldn’t have had so many kids then, but she is a grown woman,” Angela Suleman said. “I feel responsible and I didn’t want to throw her out.”

The elder Suleman’s filed for bankruptcy in 2008. They owe $984,426.30 to their creditors. When the couple did not follow through with the court proceedings the bankruptcy case was closed on July 22, 2008.

Nadya Suleman already had six children before she underwent fertility treatment resulting in the eight births this week. The father of four of the children David Solomon is in the service.

Angela Suleman admits she has not been supportive of her daughter’s latest round of fertitlity treatments. The Associated Press quotes Ms. Suleman;

It can’t go on any longer,” she said in a phone interview Friday. “She’s got six children and no husband.

“I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn’t want to get married.”

The eight infants will likely remain in hospital for a month. Nadya should be released within a week. While she recovers Angela is taking care of her six older grandchildren, one of whom is autistic.

The older children range in age from two to seven.

When the doctors discovered that Nadya was carrying eight embryos they recommended that she abourt some of them, as did Angela. Nadya refused.

Three years ago Yolanda Garcia, 49, of Whittier, California offered to care for the autistic boy.

“From what I could tell back then, she was pretty happy with herself, saying she liked having kids and she wanted 12 kids in all,” Garcia told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

“She told me that all of her kids were through in vitro, and I said, ‘Gosh, how can you afford that and go to school at the same time?”‘ she added. “And she said it’s because she got paid for it.”

All of the children have the same sperm donor.

This case has sparked debate over the ethics of fertility treatments. Medically it is irresposbile to implant eight embryos, both for the children and the mother.

CBS reports:

Dr. Mark Surrey, a fertility expert, told Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman that it is irresponsible and medically risky to implant eight embryos. “(Any doctor who would do that) should be criticized, censured, and professionally reviewed,” Surrey said.

“I don’t know of anyone who would applaud this as a good outcome,” said Surrey, adding that it was fortunate that all eight babies survived.

“I completely agree with Dr. Surrey,” Dr. James Grifo, Program Director at the New York University Fertility Center and one of the nation’s top infertility specialists, told Early Show Saturday Edition co-anchor Erica Hill. “I know no physician who would put eight embryos in a patient. We don’t do that, because of the risks. Our goal as practitioners is to help patients have a healthy offspring.

Nadya Suleman holds a degree in child and adolescent development from California State University. She is studying for her masters in counseling.

Opinion: Could That Foreclosure Be The Best Thing To Happen To You?

You bought a house plopping down the impressive $0 down payment. Your mortgage costs are a stretch but as long as that job you have holds on and your VISA is just this side of the limit all is well.

There is a crisis in the United States. More and more people have lost their homes due to foreclosure. When the magic of no down payment goes away the reality is families can’t afford that lovely huge home they didn’t scrap for.

Foreclosure. It’s a nasty word and yet for some it could be the best thing that ever happened to them.

You live and you learn. After leaving the house of your dreams and moving into a rented property you have to figure out what went wrong. Perhaps this crisis will teach people that credit is the crux of wanting and getting what you can’t afford. It’s a nice start, you have all these shiny new toys that your parents had to wait years for. You are proud of all your things and yet they really aren’t yours. They belong to the BANK. Foreclosure makes a person wake up and smell the power of saving. With saving comes the power of growing up. With growing up comes the power of visualizing a dream. And that dream comes into reach when you have taken the reins into your own hands and applied what your past has taught you about the future.

It may take the government years to figure out that credit is not the answer but you my friend have gotten it by round two.

Sure when you face foreclosure your credit is in the dumpster. Failure though is how success is achieved. The next round in your achievement path will be more realistic. You will know how much you need to have to get your dream. You will understand that a down payment for a home is a good thing. You will know that the most toys isn’t the path to happiness.

In the end you will look back at that foreclosure sign and grin. It may just have been the best gift you ever received.

Opinion: Give Me A Steak and I Can Still Have Great Bed Gymnastics

Are you worried that the only way you can have fantastic sex is if you give up your hamburgers? Don’t be. Just because PETA is telling all their vegetarian friends that they are the blue ribbon winners in bed it’s not necessarily true.

Now we have to give the veggie bunch a nod at generally being fit but that isn’t the whole picture when it comes to gym time under the sheets. Just because a tape on the love of broccoli is hot doesn’t mean that the real stuff gets the same lovin as the green stuff.

Of course PETA has to make the adult claim that meat makes people “fat, sick, and boring in bed,” claiming that vegetarians are, “on average, fitter and slimmer than meat eaters” and that meat and dairy consumption is linked to impotence, heart disease, and obesity. Well yeah, it’s true some meat eaters are a bit porkier than others. Some meat eaters though are fine tuned muscle machines.

Now those lovely folks ala PETA may not ingest any meat but they also may be lacking in zinc. Now zinc helps bring up the levels of testosterone. If you don’t have the right testosterone level you tend to not really care a fig if you’re a mustang in bed. Vegetarian ladies can also be more prone to amenorrhea, vaginal dryness and a poor libido. Just because most vegetarians are slim doesn’t mean they really want sex anymore than anyone else. Or any less for that matter.

With that kind of news I think I will stick to my nice juicy steak and a lovely baked tater.

Obama Girls Baffled By Snow Day

Barack Obama’s daughters are a little baffled at how ice could stop a city. The Chicago-bred children of the President of the United States missed school this Wednesday because of a little ice.

When schools closed in Washington D.C. because of ice the two little girls asked what was up with that. In Chicago it takes a major storm to shit down the school system. The last time that happened was in 1999 when the city got a dumping of snow of two feet. Where the girls went to school in Chicago, The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools has only shut down once in the past 30 years.

So Washington D.C. what’s up?

As their father told reporters and business leaders Wednesday D.C. needs to toughen up a bit.

The LA Times quotes President Obama.

“As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled. In fact, my 7-year-old [Sasha] pointed out that you’d go outside for recess in weather like this. . . . You wouldn’t even stay indoors. So it’s — I don’t know. We’re going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town.”

Heath Ledger Life Insurance Settlement Reached

ReliaStar Life Insurance Company has settled a claim for the estate of Heath Ledger. It has agreed to pay on the $10 million policy claim that is due to Ledger’s two-year-old daughter Matilda Rose.

The insurance company had tried to get out of paying the claim citing that the actor’s death might have been a suicide. Had that been the case the policy would have been null and void.

Heath Ledger’s death was ruled an accidental prescription-drug overdose. The actor died last January. He was discovered by a masseur coming for an appointment. His death shocked many.

Attorney William Shernoff filed a lawsuit on behalf of Matilda last July. He argued that the claim was due to the child as Ledger’s beneficiary. After the suit was filed the two sides negotiated. The insurance company finally decided to pay an undisclosed amount. The details to the agreement are closed.

Blackwater Barred From Iraq

Iraq has barred Blackwater Worldwide form providing security protection to United States diplomats. The company has been accused of using excessive force to carry out its mission. In 2007 17 Iraqi civilians were killed by Blackwater members.

Iraq’s move to bar the company takes away the US diplomats security force which has been labeled as criminals.

Blackwater personnel have not been given a date to leave the country. It is not clear if the company will be working until they are removed and another security team is in place.

The Associated Press reports:

“We have received no official communications from the government of Iraq or our customer on the status of those applications or the future of our work in Iraq,” Anne Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based company said.

“Blackwater has always said that we will continue the important work of protecting U.S. government officials in Iraq for as long as our customer asks us to do so, and in accordance with Iraqi law. That has not changed.”

This movie shouldn’t come to as a surprise as Iraq takes back the reins of governing their country. Blackwater’s actions during the time that they have been in Iraq have often been questionable. With a contract and directives from the government the company has free rein as to how they operated.

The U.S embassy is now working to address the “implications of this decision.”

CIA Official Accused of Raping Muslim Women

A CIA Station Chief in Algeria has been accused of raping at least two Muslim women according to ABC News. United States law enforcement sources have said that Andrew Warren used drinks with a knock out drug.

Andrew Warren has been issued an affidavit for a search warrant. The warrant was filed in Washington, D.C. by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.

Warren is said to be a convert to the Muslim religion. He was ordered to return to the United States from Algeria by David Pearce, the United States Ambassador. This happened after the two women came forward with a story of being allegedly raped by Warren.

The two cases are separate and were reported independently of each other.

The first woman said she was raped in September 2007 after a party at Warren’s residence. She stated that after Warren fixed her a cola and whiskey she felt ill. She said that Warren told he to spend the night at his home. She woke up nude with no memory of the actions of the previous night. She realized that sexual intercourse had taken place.

The second victim had a similar story. She was invited to take a tour of his home after meeting him at the U.S. embassy. Warren prepared her an apple martini. She felt faint and went to the washroom. At that point she claims that she could see and hear but not move. She further claims that Warren undressed her and told her she would feel better after a bath. She stated that she asked Warren to stop after he took her to his bed.

ABC reports:

“Warren made a statement to the effect of ‘nobody stays in my expensive sheets with clothes on.’” She told investigators “as she slipped in and out of consciousness she had conscious images of Warren penetrating her vagina repeatedly with his penis.”

This victim also claims that she sent Warren a text message accusing him of abusing her which he replied with “I’m sorry.”

An interview by Diplomatic Security investigators was carried out with Warren. At that time Warren admited that he had consensual sexual intercourse with the women and that his computer held their pictures. He would not allow for the seizure of that computer. Because of that refusal a search warrant had to be issued.

A search of Warren’s Algiers home uncovered Valium and Xanax and a handbook on the investigation of sexual assaults according to the affidavit.

According to the FBI lab the two drugs can be used as a ‘date rape drug.’

“Drugs commonly referred to as date rape drugs are difficult to detect because the body rapidly metabolizes them,” said former FBI agent Brad Garrett, an ABC News consultant. “Many times women are not aware they were even assaulted until the next day,” a source said.

The search warrant also uncovered videos that appear to have been recorded secretly and shows Warren having sex. One of the victims on the video is said to have been in a “semi-conscious state.”

The investigation will expand to Cairo because of time stamping date on the tapes.

Opinion: Do You Care?

There are wars going on all the time. Nations killing their own. Millions a year die because of armed conflicts. Do we care?

Currently there are nine nations in armed conflicts that have resulted in more than 1,000 deaths a year.

9. Mexico, since 2006 has been in a drug war. 8,400 have perished.

8. Since 2000 the Second Intifada has been playing out between Israel and the Palestinian Terrorities. Over 7,000 have had their blood run out from the struggle.

7. In 1988 Somalia has been in civil war. Over 300,000 have died.

6. Pakistan has been fighting in the north and west since 2004. Over 11,000 have been slain.

5. Iraq’s war has been ongoing since 2003. Reports of deaths range from 103,000 to over 1.1 million depending where you look.

4. War in Darfur, Sudan has claimed over 500,000 lives since 2003.

3. In 2001 war was launched in Afghanistan. 35,000 deaths have been reported.

2. The Kivu conflict started in 1997 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over 4 million people have died.

1. Since 1983 over 80,000 have perished as a result of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Again I ask, do we care? Many in North America can feel reasonably safe that they will not have to come face to face with these struggles. Our children will not play in the rutted fields caused by mortars. Our children can indeed play. They are safe from the diseases that come from lack of medical supplies. Many will never know what weeks of hunger and thirst feels like.

Do we care?

The top news items any given day will have some war stories. Those stories happen over there. Not at home. We will shake our heads at how life can be so horrid over there and be grateful it’s there and not here.

We will debate the causes of these conflicts and wars. We will point fingers at religion, government and cultures foreign to us. We will watch a bit of the news and then flip the channel over for some comedy to erase the images of crying children.

Do we care?

Writers will write their stories hoping to bring light on the issues and then move on to the next story. The fingers will tap out horrors that belong chained behind fences that never visit this world. Tears will be wept until the next story.

Do we care?

Before you answer the question think about it. The gut answer is yes we care, of course we care. The true answer though may surprise you. The true answer that may come out is it’s not my problem and it doesn’t affect me.

I want it to be over with. I want the children of Earth to not know war. I want to never type another sentence telling how children were killed when a bomb went awry. I want people to just get along with each other. What I want though isn’t the way the cookie crumbles.

Writers, reporters, bloggers, journalists will continue to write of the horror stories that humans produce. They will continue to light the darkness and then go on to the next story.

Until it happens to us it’s hard to grasp the full terrors. It’s hard to care about something so foreign. It’s hard to allow it to linger to long in your mind. Because if it does, then you have no choice but to care. Then you have to deal with the fact that humans wage war upon another, it’s the way of the food chain. As one conflict ends another will be tiptoeing in to take its place. And the innocents, the children, the people will suffer. And it doesn’t matter if you care. It doesn’t matter if you scream out into the dark, the story will still be there.

Do you care?

Hundreds Protest In Toronto For The Innocents Of Sri Lanka

Hundreds of protesters lined Toronto’s King Street East last Wednesday to protest Ski Lanka’s innocents being killed. Braving a snow storm they lined up protesting the government’s slaughter of Tamil civilians, aid workers and journalists.

Talking to one of the protesters I was moved by the man’s emotions. He is free in Canada but his family in Sri Lanka fear for their lives. He claimed that the media has kept the plight of his people quiet listening only to that of the government’s official stance.

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He went on to tell how Red Cross workers are being forced into the bunkers with the rest of the innocents just to stay alive. He spoke of schools, churches and hospitals being targets of the military guns. He spoke how journalists have to flee or face the jail cell or worse yet their own deaths for speaking out on the matter. As the police asked us to move off of the sidewalk many more gathered to talk about their concerns.

They are killing the innocents. That was the one statement that all that were lining the street wanted known. They want the message to be sent to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and United States President Obama. They want the word out.

In the last four days 86 civilians have been killed. The hospitals are dealing with at least 300 injured. Those hospitals are also dealing with bombs coming in by the fighting.

That word is difficult to leave their native land as journalists face a bullet for speaking out. In the past two years 15 journalist have lost their lives and 7 more have been jailed. Twenty-five journalists have fled the terror, again silencing the story in order to stay alive.

The innocents are in crossfire between the Tamil Tigers and the government forces. Dozens have been killed in the past few weeks.

The Toronto Star reports:

“They are killing innocent people, little children. The situation is so bad but the international community is not even talking about it.”

The coalition to strop war in Sri Lanka can be reached at actionsrilanka@gmail.com.

Could Football Players Have Brain Damage That Will Kill Them?

An autopsy for Tom McHale showed that he like five other former National Football League players had brain abnormalities. Those brain problems stem from years of concussions received while playing football.

McHale died at the age of 45. He joins a list of five others, Houston Oilers linebacker John Grimsley, former Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Andre Waters; and the former Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Webster, Terry Long and Justin Strzelczyk who had Chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

His widow told the Tampa Tribune that the nine years he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were violent. He spent his final three years dealing with anxiety, depression and an addiction to pain killers.

“He was fighting with everything he had and he didn’t have a chance,” Lisa McHale said of her husband, who died of an accidental overdose of prescription medications and cocaine. “It’s extremely disturbing for me. Tom and I had no idea such risk existed.”

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been known to be a problem for boxers but more recent findings link the condition to both hockey and football players. CTE can affect cognitive abilities, trigger depression and behavior. Boston University researchers are studying the long tern effects of concussions.

Techniques to diagnose CTE can only be administered once a patient is already deceased. That can be a source of worry for players and former players who may be having issues.

The New York Times reports:

“It’s scary — it’s horribly frightening,” said Randy Grimes, who played center next to McHale on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for several years. “I’ve had my share of concussions, too. More than my share. My wife says I have short-term memory loss. It’s really scary to think of what might be going on up there.”

The dead players that are in the study all died between the ages of 36 and 50. Research is using that they had changes in behavior that is similar to dementia in the elderly.

According to Lisa McHale her husband never sustained a concussion while playing football in college or during his professional time. The motions though that the offensive lineman of each play though could very well have caused a whiplash affect.

Greg Aileo, a NFL spokesman, told the New York Times that the league is doing their own study on concussions. That study will be completed in 2010.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have played football and other sports without experiencing any problem of this type,” he said, “and there continues to be considerable debate in the medical community on the precise long-term effects on concussions and how they relate to others.”

The NFL started issuing tougher penalties for helmet-to-helmet blows in 2007. Players who lose consciousness are no longer allowed to return to the game or practice until they have a normal neurological test result.

“I think it’s because this is considered an on-the-job injury and it’s a huge liability,” said Nowinski, a former college football player and professional wrestler who himself retired after suffering the effects of multiple concussions.

As for McHale the injuries he received playing football could be the root of CTE or it could have been his own drug use. The drugs ended up being the cause of his death when he took an accidental overdose of Oxycontin and cocaine.

As for the others? Researchers believe that the link to six NFL’s deaths and CTE is the game itself.

Does AOL Plan To Put Bebo on The Chopping Board

Tech Crunch is reporting that AOL may be selling Bebo, its social network. Last year the Internet provider bought up the ‘next big deal’ for $850 million. It never lived up to its promise.

One I trust has touted that the network is on the bidding tables at a mere $200 million. But this could just be a rumor. Both AOL and Bebo are denying an talk of a sale.

In January 2007 Bebo was being marketed by founders Michael and Xochi Birch hired Joanna Shields as their international president.

Social networking was still the new hit ticket and every real Internet company wanted their own shining site to draw in the web traveler.

As Tech Crunch reports:

“Shields was extremely really good at getting the slightly dim media buying agencies to automatically tell their clients that they just had to be on Bebo.”

Bebo was not pitched as a standard social network though. It was better, had more appeal as a new era television network.

It looked great. There was a problem though, no one figured out how to engage the Bebo user. That is how a social network falls flat on its face.

“Bebo was great at the time but now we are disappointed because socnets [social networks]are not about sending loads of traffic to a profile page. At the time it was fine, but people are now disappointed. You don’t get ‘friended’ much as a brand. It’s not just about being inside one socnet but about being everywhere.”

So is it true that AOL is taking a $650 billion dollar loss just to get Bebo out of its portfolio? We’ll have to keep an eye out on this one.

Fact or Rumor? Google To Buy Skype

With all the economic problems that Google has had in recent months there is still talk at the water fountain it plans to buy Skype. The VoIP Internet service that has actually increased its revenue during this recent money crisis.

Skype has increased its revenue by 26 per cent since last quarter. Still that increase isn’t enough to keep its home company eBay from trying to pass it off to the highest bidder.

Skype’s recent success isn’t enough to pull it out of the trash heap that eBay has gotten itself into. Revenue at the online auction house has taken a dive, down 7 per cent to $2.04 billion. Considering that last quarter is the time of year when cash cows rake in the dollars that is not a great sign.

Tech Radar reports:

“Even eBay has now admitted that its $2.6bn purchase of Skype in 2005 was too much. With still no logical integration between the telephony service and the auction site, speculation over a potential sale is again intensifying,” says Jemima Kiss in The Guardian.

The top bidder just may be the Internet giant Google. With its tentacles in all areas of the world wide web it makes sense that Google would be interested in Skype. Back in November 2007 Google had expected a desire to own the business.

So is this just idle chatter around the water fountain or is a deal in the works? Stay tuned for further updates.

Opinion: Does Cursive Writing Still Belong In School?

At one time penmanship was an important part of education. That was before the age of computers. Now learning computer skills is considered more vital than learning cursive. With schools dropping some programs should cursive go the way of the dinosaurs?

While cursive is still being taught nationwide some professionals in the education field are questioning if it is a skill that can be eliminated. Society seems to working in the favor of canceling out the art of writing. It is now rare to see cursive other than in a school situation.

As it is now having beautiful penmanship is no longer the objective; being able to write efficiently is. Cursive is nice for letter writing but other than that where is it used in society today? While my own mother may be rolling in her grave as I ask this, sometimes progress requires some skills of olden days to be replaced. Perhaps cursive is one of those subjects.

When I was in school I had to have all important papers written in cursive. My kids have to turn in their work after typing it up on their computers.

Perhaps cursive could be taken from the curriculum and recess take its place. Could it be possible to bring back art classes and have a unit on cursive as an form art?

If I had my choice removing cursive for the arts and physical activity may be the way to go.