An example of how stupid politicians think we are

... or just another example of a stupid politician.

Contributor: "YYC"

The thing I hate about politicians is the outrageous lies they tell, and how they just brazen it out when they are exposed. Looks like Lepp gets his ideas from TV phone ads. Which means there is a female involved.

[Communications Director for the Ontario Conservatives] Sakach said the device was operating on camera mode in his front pant pocket when it went missing.

The comments below the article are a hoot:

►OMG! You mean that BlackBerry's are now capable of taking x-ray photographs through fabric! Holy crap!!!

►Another politician revealing his shortcomings.

►This guy looks just like George W. Bush and is apparently just as smart

Oh wait, Lepp is now saying that isn't his junk. But, but ... it's wearing his name tag! (I knew you'd want a peek.)

Lockheed Martin's Criminal Negligence

Contributor: "YYC"

My upstart brother (I know he's going to ask if that makes our other brother the "downstart" one, and I'm surprised to discover that "downstart" is a real word) sent me this link thinking I might be interested in it. Does he have my number or what?

Lockheed Martin's Hack Attack

Lockheed Martin has claimed, and the US Department of Defense has confirmed, that the megalithic defense contractor has suffered a "cyber incident." ... If this private corporation really is bestowed with such a grave responsibility and it was incompetent enough to put sensitive information and systems onto the public Internet, it should immediately have such responsibilities stripped away and perhaps undergo a vigorous investigation in regards to its criminal negligence in handling sensitive state secrets.

You should probably have thought twice about sending in your completed census form.

Until recently I had forgotten that my original complaint about Lockheed Martin being involved in our census was that they are war profiteers and our government is forking over millions of tax dollars to them, so that anti-war Canadians are indirectly supporting the military/industrial complex against their will and conscience.

The privacy issue is secondary, or should be. Still, it's probably the best incentive for most Canadians to avoid the census like the plague.

"Lone Assassins" - protected for jobs well done?

Contributor: "YYC"

Vince Li, known as the Greyhound beheader, is getting closer and closer to freedom.

Which is pretty much what we predicted back in March 2009. There is still nothing to suggest that Li was not a mind control experiment. There is nothing to suggest otherwise about Jared Lee Loughner either (also known as erad3 in the Above Top Secret forum), who was recently judged unfit to stand trial.

Whoever set these guys up grooves on the sound of "Lee", perhaps to reinforce that Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed a lone assassin and not a patsy. Oswald had to be killed because he was about to blab, but these other guys were mentally conditioned to feel guilty, or at least confused about their behaviour.

Not surprisingly, Vince Li's case was heard by a judge alone - no jury - who pronounced him not criminally responsible for his gruesome crime.

The mother of the murdered boy says, quite rightly: "The thing I want to get clear to everyone is that this man will not have a criminal record for what he did to my child".

That's what his handlers want made clear too. So that eventually he can be pronounced cured and released back into the community, having served somebody's interests very well.

Even the killer of John Lennon has unknown (to us) persons supporting his parole. As it is, he is well protected in prison from the roughest of inmates, and has had conjugal visits with his wife for practically the whole of his time inside. His big problem (and Lee Oswald's) was killing a wildly popular public figure, so it's possible he accepts that his life is better guaranteed inside.

All four killers were victims, but what do you do with somebody who was (is) an "intelligence" experiment? I have the same quandary about Omar Khadir. The only thing that could right their situation is a time machine, and so far that's not possible. I think they will always be considered "assets" (even the dead Oswald).

Dentists blaming aboriginal victims?

Contributor: "YYC"

Here's an article that has circulated, word for word, like wild fire around the Internet and among all of the mainstream media:

Aboriginal baby tooth decay called 'serious problem'

Note how it describes an aboriginal mother picking up a dropped suss, licking it off and inserting it back into her child's mouth - as if only an aboriginal mother would do such a disgusting and dangerous thing.

Note also the strange, ambiguous language (emphasis mine):

►More than 90 per cent of young children living in some Canadian aboriginal communities ... This (deliberately?) does not accurately describe the prevalence among all aboriginal peoples. Are the "some" the poorest communities?

►... he's seen aboriginal children from remote communities with 18 out of 20 of their baby teeth rotting away. ... How many has he seen, and are these "remote" communities poverty stricken?

► Aboriginals are accused of having "poor diet habits", but is it more likely malnutition due to poverty?

►In Manitoba alone, more than 2,300 children every year under the age of six undergo dental surgery ... Are all these children from aboriginal communities, or from impoverished ones, both native and "white"?

So what do these unimaginative dentists come up with: Fluoride, of course. Lots and lots of it - painted on the teeth, in the toothpaste, in the water, yessir, lets drown those little babies in manufacturing waste material that's been reported both to prevent and not to prevent cavities, but certainly solves a waste management problem and further enriches our mining corporations.

Why they are focusing on fluoride when there is so much talk of shortages is a mystery, and why are they using the high cost of health care to gain approval when the administration of fluoride is also expensive?

All this despite the fact that at least one study done by the Department of Community Health Sciences in Winnipeg, Manitoba, well over a decade ago, concluded the following (emphasis mine):

Prevention has focused almost exclusively on education directed at changing the postnatal feeding practices despite the fact that teeth begin formation in utero. Prenatal deficiencies of calcium and vitamin D can lead to enamel defects, and enamel defects in turn predispose teeth to caries. Baby-bottle tooth decay is especially prevalent in Aboriginal people, for whom studies have consistently reported diets deficient in vitamin D and calcium. BBTD may be a consequence of the poor socioeconomic conditions and malnutrition. Perhaps more attention should be given to primary prevention.

Perhaps?

Is DSK a warning to uppity puppets?

Contributor: "Bugman"

The below article shows, if and when the conditions are right, how easy it is to take a person out of circulation. It does not matter how important he is.

One of the better write ups of the DSK affair:

Obama, financial war and the elimination of DSK

Leaving aside any considerations of his innocence or guilt, the steamrolling of such a high-profile personality can only provoke anguish in the ordinary citizen. If someone like him is unable to defend himself, then how can we hope to succeed if we were to be accused like him?

-----

Ed Note: Via email this morning:


I would venture to say that when these people are being groomed for high position, including Reagan, Clinton, GWB and Obama, they are deliberately led into a lifestyle that makes them blackmailable, the better to ensure that the power afforded them does not go so far to their heads that they begin to think they really are somebody and can make independent career moves.

Sometimes I feel like a genderless chile ...

sometimes I feel like I'm almos' gone
a long ways from home

(Sheet music in PDF format)

Contributor: "YYC"

Without even having to discuss the moral rights or wrongs of this sociological experiment at the hands of one's own parents, there's no way in hades that the project is going to succeed. Jazz knows the baby's gender, for one thing, and so does a family friend, and so do the parents. And if you're religious, so does God.

They will consciously behave as if they don't know, but unconsciously as if they do know. And they have set this child up to be a public curiosity and a big guessing game until the poor kid's genitals loom like a golem in his/her dreams.

I personally don't see anything wrong with being known as a female who has a few traits that are considered traditionally male, or even the vice of the versa. And I love it that it's okay now for girls to wear pants, which are so much more comfortable than skirts and don't require tanning lotion or (yuk!) pantyhose.

And it's quite acceptable to me that so many parents deliberately choose pale yellow or green instead of pink or blue for their newborn's layette, even though it may confuse nosy strangers as to the sex of the child. I also treasure a photo of one of my sweet grandsons at the age of four wearing a hot pink t-shirt, although maybe it would be a better world if I weren't so conscious of that fact.

Say, did you notice the pine slab table and the old, painted kitchen chair in the family's home? An interesting combination, that - throwback furniture and terribly modern ideas.

But is this really a modern idea? Hasn't the public exposure of one's genitals always been considered a no-no?

Not forgotten?

Contributor: "YYC"

Afghan mission claims quebec soldier

... Harper said in a statement ... " We will remember his dedication and sacrifice alongside all of those who have lost their lives in the defence of our country."

Defence Minister Peter MacKay also issued a statement on Saturday morning, calling the death "a tragic loss." "Bombardier Manning's hard work and dedication will not be forgotten."

If you see Steve or Petie on the street, ask them what the name was of the most recent soldier to die in Afghanistan.

And then ask Harper the name of the Israeli who did NOT ask him to squash the proposed G8 statement regarding the pre-1967 borders. Was it even necessary to make such a request? Did the G8 really want to go ahead with that statement?

Did Bombardier Karl Manning see one too many bombings of Afghan children?

Barcelona - Over 100 injured, 25 arrested - for what?

Contributor: "YYC"

I don't mean to harp on Spain when there are so many protests going on in this world, but one might get the idea that the protests there against "high unemployment and austerity cuts" came to an end with the election, and not realize that "hundreds of protesters" (which may be media downplay talk for thousands) are still camped out in Catalunya square in Barcelona.

Not to be confused with another crowd of young people who were sufficiently distracted by Barca's big win last evening over Manchester United that they inadvertently demonstrated how the police behave when the international media aren't looking as closely as they were a week ago. See the video at this link.

In the accompanying article you'll notice that both the celebrators and the protesters are reported to have "clashed with the police", and not the other way around. Oddly, it was the "clashers" who were injured - reportedly 90 of them - and not the police!

The Daily Mail headline screams Riots in Spain and that over 100 were arrested. So who really knows just how violent the police action was, and how much of it actually contributed to the vandalism (which is not violence!) that eventually occurred.

In a more sympathetic article (with video) you'll see that "anti-riot police" had come out earlier against the peaceful campers in the square, even though there was deliberately no riot, but a sit-down to keep their tents from being dismantled, and themselves swept out like so much refuse. And the protesters must have won that skirmish, because they're still there - those who aren't in hospital!

So that makes at least a hundred young people injured and at least a score arrested by police in Barcelona in the past couple of days - with no international condemnation!

Questions, Period

Contributor: "YYC"

Surprise! I don't have any strong opinions today. I have questions, though.

The Rafah crossing is open (Video), and "experts" have opinions on that (one of them being a wanted man who can't enter Britain for fear of arrest). It must literally be a breath of fresh air for Palestinians, but does anybody think this in any way resembles a solution?

Another Canadian soldier has died in Afghanistan just as he was nearing time to come home. It wasn't foul play, enemy action has been ruled out, and it wasn't accidental. What's the matter, the military can't say the word "suicide"?

The Ontario Tories are revving up their engines for an election. Traditionally, when the feds are Conservative, the province is usually Liberal, and vice versa. Will this time be the exception?

Mubarak was fined (video) for shutting down the Egyptian Internet. Will he earn the money to pay his fine by teaching the NATO countries how it was done?

Last question: would you like to see a really good video that explains the conflict between Spain and Catalunya? It will remind you so much of Quebec, except that the French were co-founders of Canada while the Catalan people were drug into Spain against their will.

Oh, and would you like to know how the Barca/Manchester United football game is going? Looks good for Barca! Oops, game over! Barca wins.

No United answer to Barca genius
Sir Alex's side left chasing shadows as brilliant Barca boss Wembley showpiece

Image borrowed from here.

Spring Time at the G8

O! how this spring of love resembleth The uncertain glory of an April day! Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away!
Proteus, Act I, Scene III, The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare

Contributor: "YYC"

G8 leaders throw weight behind Arab Spring

Wow, billions and billions to support what the West loves to call "democracy" in the Middle East - except when unapproved leaders are elected. That's weighty indeed, but talk is alway quite cheap, unless it's over Bell long distance.

(Here's everything you did or did not want to know about the Arab Spring)

Oh look, Canada's PM Harper is not in as generous a mood as everybody else at the G8. Are we surprised? Maybe that's why he's seen sitting alone at the table, well away from Obama?

According to the Globe and Mail, he also stands alone, due to his decided lack of enthusiasm about the pre-1967 borders that the other G8 members claim to want for Israel.

He does try to sound suitably ambiguous in this video, however, and you'll notice that both he and Obama have taken to "steepling", so that's encouraging.

Bad omen for whatever David Cameron is trying to get across to Obama in the photo: the Prez is leaning back in his chair (and his legs are crossed too - that has to mean something)! Was it something about Cameron's apparent resignation from the JNF? Or was the removal of his name from the JNF membership list a non-specific strategy as well? Something to make it appear that members of the G8 are allowed free will?

Which is nonsense, of course. There hasn't been a committee struck anywhere that isn't controlled by its alpha member. Just think honestly about every committee you've ever sat on. In a show of hands, did the members really vote the way they wanted to? (This phenomenon is explained in Yo Momma's "Conform or Die".)

Remember the old adage: if you want to make it appear that something is being done, establish a committee. Oh, and the one about how Australian animals look as if they were put together by a committee.

They certainly rushed to downplay the notion that Russia has been asked to act as mediator with Gadhafi to get him to step down peacefully, if not gracefully. Does Merkel's statement: "We do not create specific structures" apply to the aid consensus as well?

Vaccines & Autism: from injury to insult?

Contributor: "YYC"

As you know, vaccines are touted as wonderful, safe, and a boon to humankind, while anybody suspecting otherwise is officially labeled a "nutter". So it's a little odd that in 1986 the US established a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

From the Journal of Emergency Medicine (emphasis mine):

The VICP went into effect on October 1, 1988 and is a Federal "no-fault" system designed to compensate individuals, or families of individuals, who have been injured by covered vaccines. From 1988 until July 2006, a total of 2531 non-autism/thimerosal and 5030 autism/thimerosal claims were made to the VICP. The compensation paid for the non-autism/thimerosal claims from 1988 until 2006 was $902,519,103.37 for 2542 awards. There was no compensation for any of the autism/thimerosal claims.

No compensation for any of the autism/thimerosal claims? Certainly not so anyone would notice. No doubt many claimants were legally advised that their claims would better pass muster if they only listed symptoms and omitted a diagnosis of autism - since so many government studies claim to have debunked any connection between autism and vaccines - and no doubt, since it's a "no fault" program, those who received compensation were asked to sign a waiver promising to take the money very quietly.

"No fault" of course protects the Pharmers from liability and obscures the true nature of the vaccine damage. Nothing to see here. Nobody to blame. We're just being kind and generous.

In 2008, however, the father of one of the compensation recipients, himself a Johns Hopkins neurologist, admitted openly that his daughter was autistic - and this was immediately pronounced a "rare" case.

But he sparked a study that found 82 more cases of autism among 150 compensation recipients that the researchers were able to locate. And CNN reported that the "children compensated are much more likely to be autistic".

[The Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy] EBCALA is now asking for hearings into the VICP to see how many cases of autism are in the program in general, and what the government knows about vaccine/autism causation.

A clue to what the government knows and isn't saying out loud can be found in the following quote from a paper entitled Key realities about autism, vaccines, vaccine-injury compensation,Thimerosal, and autism-related research (PDF format, emphasis mine):

"... a test case for the theory that Thimerosal in vaccines causes autism scheduled for consideration in the Autism Omnibus proceedings in 2008 was conceded by the government medical experts based on the medical records and affidavits submitted by the petitioners before the petitioners’ experts’ reports were even filed ..."

Yo! We ARE the Zombies!

Update to "Yo! Are we the Zombies?"

Contributor: "Yo Momma"

Since the CDC is warning everyone about the imminent Zombie apocalypse, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, has prepared a video to help America deal with the horde!!!

It even tells you how to help the zombies get better!

How to Spot A Vaccine Zombie and Survive the CDC's Zombie Apocalypse

"Sometimes you find a whole family of Zombies ..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTnqoTTPIrY

Smallpox Dilemma?

Contributor: "YYC"

Smallpox-Destruction Deadline Delayed for 3 Years

The question now is at what point global officials will agree they no longer need the virus to develop medicines to protect the public against a potential bioterror attack using smallpox or an accidental release of the virus.

Picture it - a bunch of grown primates sitting around, scratching themselves, looking as wise as they possibly can while wondering whether or not to get rid of virus samples that have the potential to be accidentally released?

If they haven't developed the necessary "medicines" after all this time, there's only one reason they've been hanging onto those samples, and it isn't a good one.

They're probably scared of themselves most of the time.

Image borrowed from here.

The greatest threat to Israel

Contributor: "YYC"

Netanyahu is like a cripple who doesn't want to give up his crutch. He has only one gear - full throttle ahead, guns blazing - and can't idle his engines long enough to consider another approach. He must be getting lots of rewards from his bellicosity. Well, yes he is - 30 standing ovations in one speech from an equally one-faceted audience - stuck hopelessly in "you can't trust an Arab" mode! Happily being their own worst enemies.

Bibi savours his tactical triumph

Excerpts:

Mr Netanyahu milked his rapturous audience on Capitol Hill to the full, winning 30 standing ovations as he, for all practical purposes, spurned the peace parameters set out by Mr Obama last week...

He says any withdrawal to the 1967 borders would leave Israel indefensible, somehow implying that illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land are about defence. In fact, they are about colonisation, creating a huge and expensive extra security cost.

With a US security guarantee and billions of dollars of US aid ensuring qualitative Israeli military superiority, there is no combination of Arab armies that could defeat Israel on the battlefield, and it remains the sole nuclear-armed state in the Middle East.

The gravest threat to Israel, as many of its leaders have recognised, lies in its growing international isolation. Mr Netanyahu behaves as though the existential threat to Israel were peace.

Canada deep into coming world war

Contributor: "Bugman"

NATO goes Kosovo in Libya

NATO is expanding operations significantly. On Monday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe announced that 12 attack helicopters were headed toward Libyan shores on board of the amphibious assault ship Le Tonnerre, while French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told al-Jazeera that Britain would send helicopters as well (the British declined to comment). This is a new development which, barring an unexpected success in taking out Gaddafi and his forces, could well be a prelude to a ground war.

This was not covered by the original UN resolution, so why the added aggression? Ghadafi was trying to make Africa financially independent of its old colonial powers; that is a no no!!

So Syria is set up for an attack now, and Canada has proposed some sanctions there already.

The attack on the Navy base in Pakistan is setting them up also for our protective help and guidance; the poor guys cannot be trusted to do it themselves.

World war coming and Canada right in the middle of it for no reason. Soon we will need protection against the US empire.

-----

Ed Note: Bloody irony: "Global Peace Index": Canada among 10 most peaceful countries

To the Shores of Tripoli ...

We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun ... (US Marine Corp Anthem)

Contributor: "Bugman"

All I can say is damn Nato, damn USA, damn Canada and damm Harper.

No reason for this; when will it stop?

NATO's Feast of Blood By CYNTHIA McKINNEY

Excerpt:

... last night's NATO rocket attack on Tripoli is inexplicable. A civilian metropolitan area of around 2 million people, Tripoli sustained 22 to 25 bombings last night, rattling and breaking windows and glass and shaking the foundation of my hotel.

I left my room at the Rexis Al Nasr Hotel and walked outside the hotel and I could smell the exploded bombs. There were local people everywhere milling with foreign journalists from around the world. As we stood there more bombs struck around the city. The sky flashed red with explosions and more rockets from NATO jets cut through low cloud before exploding.

I could taste the thick dust stirred up by the exploded bombs. I immediately thought about the depleted uranium munitions reportedly being used here--along with white phosphorus. If depleted uranium weapons were being used what affect on the local civilians?

-----

VIDEO: NATO unleashes bombing blitz on Tripoli

Related: No end in sight for NATO in Libya

"It's actually going to increase. I think we want to underscore to Gadhafi that the foot is not going to come off the gas pedal in terms of the decisions he's going to have to make," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, traveling with President Barack Obama in London.

-----

Ed Note: Fidel Castro wonders if they're going to bomb Spain too because of the uprising there.

Palestinian Gandhis

Contributor" "PAJU"

You can make a difference in the lives of Palestinians who are peacefully advocating for change from within the Occupied Territories and refugee camps. You can help make their voices heard outside their borders – voices that the Western media say don’t exist.

Support the Palestinian Gandhi Project. Peace activists Keren Batiyov and Pam Bailey created this project to give Palestine’s everyday heroes a megaphone. Batiyov and Bailey will film the stories, the work, and the messages of these non-violent leaders in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel and in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

The Palestinian Gandhis of An Nabi Saleh:

In December 2009, the Palestinian village of An Nabi Saleh (population: 500) began weekly non-violent demonstrations to oppose the annexing and theft of the village’s land by the illegal Israeli colony of Halamish. The Israeli army has brutally sought to repress these non-violent protests, arresting more than 10% of the village, including children.　

On March 24, 2011 dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed the house of activist Bassem Tamimi, arresting him and assaulting his wife and young daughter. The Israeli army then took 19 days to come up with charges against him, finally accusing him of "incitement" and "organizing illegal demonstrations". Read more ...

For more information, visit International Women's Peace Service

Bizarre email from Rona Ambrose's office

... or how to avoid discussing the JNF?

Contributor: "Ron"

Below is my response to a bizarre email from Minister of Public Works and Government Services Rona Ambrose in reply to an earlier email from me that detailed the racist character of the Jewish National Fund.

Minister Ambrose,

I find your email below concerning the Racist Jewish National Fund ("JNF") and its illegal fundraising through Canadian "Negev Dinners" to be bizarre, to say the least. As you can easily confirm with fellow Cabinet Minister Keith Ashfield, many Canadians including myself have been campaigning for years to have the Canada Revenue Agency revoke the "charitable" status of the Racist JNF.

On numerous (documented) occasions, I have informed you (along with all MPs) that the Israeli Attorney General ruled in 2005 that the bylaws and operations of the Jewish National Fund represent racial discrimination, as clearly reported in the Israeli, European and American press.

http://www.forward.com/articles/2854/
http://www.forward.com/articles/3112/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jul/27/therighttodiscriminate
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-racist-jewish-state-1.225919

If you had any ethics or sense of morality, you would be publicly leading a campaign to demand that the status of the Racist JNF be revoked in Canada and that JNF Directors along with complicit Canadian Government officials be brought to justice for their part in the racist JNF tax fraud, which has resulted in the theft of over $100 million from the Canadian Treasury and made the Canadian Government (and by extension the Canadian people) complicit in the promotion and funding of JNF racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing.

As I have reminded Minister Ashfield in the past, JNF racial discrimination takes place in Israel and is directed against the 20% of Israeli citizens who are not Jewish. The equivalent in Canada would be the Canadian Government funding racial discrimination against French Canadians, who make up 20% of the Canadian population.

It is high time that you and the Government of Canada stop playing games with bizarre emails like the one below and instead live up to your Ministerial oath and start following Canadian Law.

-----

Bizarre Email:

From: Helene.Paquette@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
To: montrealplanet@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 12:35:22 -0400
Subject: Invitation for June 5, 2011

Bonjour, on behalf of Federal Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, I would like to thank you for your kind invitation to attend the 2011 London Negev Dinner on June 5, 2011 in London. Unfortunately, Minister Ambrose has a prior commitment and will be unable to participate.
Thank you,

:o)

Hélène J. Paquette
Cabinet de l'honorable Rona Ambrose/Office of the Honourable Rona Ambrose
Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada/Public Works and Government Services Canada
11, rue Laurier, 18A1 Room 109, Gatineau Quebec, K1A 0S5
Téléphone/Telephone: (819) 997-5421
Céllulaire/Cell: (613) 866-9778
Télécopieur/Fax: (819) 956-8920
helene.paquette@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

The Irish drink too much.

Contributor: "YYC"

The Irish penchant for a pint or two (every few minutes) causes them to do weird things. They harbour the severed head of a saint named after a hair tonic (no wait, a degenerate named after a hair tonic and then turned into a saint), and that's all anybody seems to know about him except that the head is currently on sale in Ireland for a measly couple thou.

Even at Wikipedia, there's no information as to how he came to be beheaded or when he was made a saint, or even what miracles he performed to justify his sainthood, but I'm sure you could visit any pub in Dublin and get a good story about it.

Then yesterday, on the Queen's so-called birthday, the Irish youth did what youth do; they got pissed and headed off to a mammoth entertainment display that included their favourite sports hero, and oh yes, later on Obama comes out and gives one of his mesmerizing speeches, you know the one about "hope" - so naturally they all hoot and holler for him just as they did for the rugby star and all the other acts, because it feels good to be wasted and have a chance to let off steam, eh?

For Obama, however, it was probably the greatest photo-op of his whole fake career. The media are crowing that Obama charmed the Irish Nation.

And they can't take it back either:

This was an energized and pumped up Barack Obama, clearly a man in campaign mode, ready to start the re-election process with a rally in Ireland that will surely figure in television ads come the Fall of 2012.

Obama had better be careful; he might end up as the patron saint of blarney. His head might go for only a couple hundred, but his wiki entry will be much longer because somebody had the foresight to create a history - some believe out of thin air - for him.

Ipolitics.ca had an apt word for yesterday's Irish mood: "delirious", and they added this very loaded comment (emphasis mine):

For a president who has never had a permanent base — having lived in Indonesia, Hawaii, Chicago and now Washington — Moneygall seemed to give him a genuine sense of place.

Birthers take note.

Related YouTube video: Alias Harrison J. Bounel - Obama, the man with somebody else's past?

Related on YYC: Oh no! Obama's longform is a forgery?

Image borrowed from PHOTO GALLERY at Irish Central

Spain's regional and local election results

Contributor: "YYC"

There are some videos on YouTube related to the election results. Looks as if Zapatero will have to call a general election since his party was pretty much decimated across the country.

Not as many people in the Sol square now, but still bursting into chants now and then, and visitors to the live video site are still chatting it up.

Best of luck to Spain and to Catalunya. There are rumours that the PP will institute some serious budget cuts.

BBC: Anti-Zapatero vote tests market nerves
In Spain national elections do not have to be held until next March, but Prime Minister Zapatero is a lame duck. If further reforms are needed he lacks the authority to implement them.

Camping confused Sweet Baby Jesus

Contributor: "YYC"

Harold Camping appears to have been a disinfo artist, and he got Sweet Baby Jesus all confused about the time to put on the Rapture:

On May 10 he said this:

The end will come sometime around 6 p.m. on May 21 – not 6 p.m. California time or New York time or Hong Kong time. The world will end at 6 p.m. only when it is 6 p.m. locally, Camping said, citing his calculations. “People will see this coming to them from around the world,” he said. “It will follow the sun around.”

So I was wrong to say that it was probably 6 PM California time and that it would occur simultaneously, which is the standard belief about the Rapture. There is nothing standard about Harold Camping.

But get this, he later suggested that the time would be 6 AM. See emphasized text below.

From a May 18 interview:

And so I have learned that Judgment Day will begin in one part of the world, when they arise on May 21, about six o’clock Standard Time. And then every time another city or an area of the world comes to May 21, at about six o’clock, they will be in the Day of Judgment. And so the rest of the world that has not arrived there yet will know that it is occurring, many hours before it comes to their nation. On May 21, beginning at the International Date Line, the moment that first earthquake happens, the whole world will know that Judgment Day has come. It will follow the sun, from east to west.

USA Today is still saying 6 PM, and if you can believe what else they say, they have been talking to Camping, so he himself apparently did not get Raptured and leave the rest of us behind. He will be making some kind of explanation on his radio program some time today.

You can listen online. I leave it to you to figure out what time!

Hamid Gul: Omar, Osama, 9/11 all a big lie

Contributor: "YYC"

The rumours of Omar's death comes from "unconfirmed sources", which can only mean they were started and spread in the social media by "intelligence".

Below is an interview of Hamid Gul, former ISI chief, who is now accused by the US of having ties to "Al Qaeda".

"Try and understand Americans are cheats; they carry out deception maneuvers and this is what they are doing ... no more Omar, no more Osama, vote for Obama."

"How could they say I am transporting him when I am here?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0WSYOSxVY

Who is Mullah Omar? You won't find any clearer information about him than this, and it's all conjecture. The last paragraph pretty much says it all; he's a legend, a creation of "intelligence" - you know, the ones NOT affiliated with "Al Qaeda".

Was Camping Raptured?

Contributor: "YYC"

From Page 2 of an ABC news item:

Camping, who lives few miles from his radio station, was not home late morning Saturday, and an additional attempt to seek comment from him late in the evening also was unsuccessful, with no one answering his front door.

Let's face it; all the signs were there:

Among them: a tornado killed one person and damaged at least 20 homes in Kansas, a 6.1-magnitude quake stuck 600 miles off New Zealand with no reports of injury, a much smaller quake, 3.6, was felt my many people Saturday evening in the San Francisco Bay area, and Iceland's most active volcano started erupting.

Was he Noah - the last good man on earth - without an Ark?

Is Stephen Harper at home? With any luck, maybe he went up with Camping. After his recent epiphany, he's certainly a changed man.

On second thought, if he no longer abhors the "benign dictatorship" of a majority government, maybe he loves a malignant one. Yeah, that seems more likely. So he's Satan on earth, right? Able to function fully now that Camping's good vibes are gone.

US-Engineered Regime Change in Syria?

Contributor: "Bugman"

We have seen this same system in practice in Yugoslavia/Kosovo. The Libyan civilians are 'protected” presently under the same motto and the whole country bombed to smithereens. Now it is Syria that is being threatened.

Perception management & US-funded unrest used to justify regime change
Article + Video

As we can see, no matter what the Syrian government is really doing, our perception of what is transpiring in Syria is being filtered through a propaganda network bent on the foregone conclusion of regime change and the subsequent reordering of the nation. The level of duplicity has reached a crescendo with presidential speeches still claiming before the American people that “it was the people themselves who launched these movements, and must determine their outcome.”

Some updates on Spain protests

Contributor: "YYC"

Spanish polls to open amid mass protests

Twitters re Spain Protest

Photos: Acampada Valencia (Protest Camp in Valencia)

More photos

Video: Spain's Indignados

Livestream Video
Off Air. Thanks to a commenter who says this live link still works.

Media rushing to Judgment Day

Contributor: "YYC"

CTV and other news outlets are rushing to judgment, literally, saying that Harold Camping is wrong because the predicted 6 PM Judgment Day did NOT occur in places like New Zealand.

How naive! This is so typical of the lazy, ill-informed, under-educated MSM.

The Second Coming will be simultaneous around the world. And everyone knows how narcissistic America is, so of course the 6 PM only refers to Camping's California time zone.

So there's still time to "get right with God", folks. On your knees!

Protests in Spain: Catalunya's big chance?

Contributor: "YYC"

World Map of Solidarity with Spain

Tens of Thousands in Spain Defy Protest Ban

VIDEO

As in the G20 protests in Toronto, the uprising in Spain is attended by protesters with numerous different causes. A big for-instance: many people aren't aware of the situation in Catalunya - you know, where Barcelona is, a province that has a different language and culture from the rest of Spain, yet which most people have been led to think of as Spanish, despite the fact that Catalunya identifies strongly with Canada's Quebec, and has been struggling for independence for quite some time.

El nacionalismo catalán intenta apropiarse de las protestas
Catalan Nationalism tries to appropriate the protests

Google Translation:

Take for five days, thousands of people are continually saying dozens of cities across Spain, under the name Movement 15M, as a sign of their anger and dissatisfaction with the current political, economic and social development. Despite the difficulties in coordination (decisions are made by local assemblies and have not appeared undisputed leaders of the movement) have managed to agree on a manifesto entitled Democracy and real.

The text denounces "the corruption of politicians, businessmen, bankers, 'and' the helplessness of ordinary people ', a situation calling for change to" build together a better society' that has among its priorities' equality, progress, solidarity, freedom of access to culture, ecological sustainability and development, welfare and happiness of people. "

Their demands include the 'right to housing, employment, culture, health, education, political participation, free personal development, and consumer rights of property needed for a healthy and happy life '. Claiming to be provided 'citizens' political participation 'versus' the dictates of the major economic powers "that support" a dictatorship led by the immovable partitocrática acronym PPSOE ', and conclude that' ethical revolution is needed. "

A manifest itself Catalan nationalism

Manifesto Catalan Revolution '.

However, since the movements are occurring in Catalonia has emerged a clear alternative or complementary to the previous one is having a significant impact on social networks. Revolution Manifesto entitled Catalan, and available only in Catalan, shares with the former most of the analysis and the claims, but includes some special features.

In particular, stresses that Catalan Revolution 'league and joining the social and national movements in Catalonia', 'claim to political groups that incite hatred among the people of Catalonia and Spain', and stressed that "democracy does not have to afraid of anyone 'and' self-determination is an inalienable right ', so' in this way a real democracy would accept as normal. "

Case against 'tax plundering of Catalonia "

It adds that 'Catalan Revolution requires fiscal sovereignty of Catalonia, because we understand that solidarity has to be proportionate, fair and just, and that the fiscal deficit situation is so untenable that drowns the survivability of our country. The tax plundering of Catalonia is a unique case in Europe. "

He concludes claiming 'the representation of Catalonia as a single constituency in every election over representative institutions,' and demanding 'the scrupulous respect for the democratic decision of the people of Catalonia', so 'can not happen again that what Catalan people voted in a referendum to be gutted, we emphasize: the democratic legitmidad is above the law. "

Against the officers of the Castilian in Catalonia

Another manifesto, less media coverage, entitled Manifesto Catalan nation, insists that 'the Catalan nation enjoys the inalienable right to self-determination', that 'the democratic legitimacy of the Spanish Constitution is void because the Catalan people could not freely expressed will of political, economic, legal and social his nation, 'and that' the Spanish state is not entitled to threaten the Catalan nation with military intervention. "

It adds that 'the Catalan nation knows no Spanish Crown sovereignty over its territory, as the Bourbon dynastic right ninún not boast about our country', that 'the citizens of Catalonia are not subject to Spanish law', that 'the taxes paid in Catalonia have to stay in Catalonia ', and concludes that "while recognizing the existence and legitimacy of the Spanish language, the nation's official language is Catalan Catalan as the language is a specific feature of our national identity' .

Some see this uprising as a good opportunity for Catalunya; others, more cynical, wonder if it isn't somehow going to end badly - with big government reforms that will include a centralized "communist" style system that will "look after the little people"- after first abolishing Catalunya's current status as an autonomous province.

My feeling is that the PTB have been expecting, even encouraging uprisings around the world in order to justify "interventions" of all sorts that will eventually see the whole planet ruled by a central government. The worriers in Spain may well have a point, but the end result could go either way for Catalunya.

The best way to organize anything, even a closet, is to put like with like, and each grouping in its own separate space. Is this also considered the best way to rule the world from a central location?

Spain does not want to give up Catalunya because of its considerable tax revenues. Uprisings, however, may be used to split countries into manageable entities - the North American Union of 19 Nation States, predicted by various American and Canadian secessionist movements, being the closest-to-home example. Each nation state has its own character/culture, and in at least a couple of cases, its own language.

In essence, Spain is already a "nation state" within the EU. Catalunya could achieve equal status with Spain by being named a "nation state" in its own right, but would, of course, still be part of the entity called the European Union - which is, simultaneously with the Spain uprising, being reported as seeking state status at the UN.

Yo! Are we the Zombies?

Contributor: "Yo Momma"

The CDC asks: Where do zombies come from?

I was sitting in the sun and thinking about vitamin D generation in the body when I remembered something - Vitamin D is reportedly produced from cholesterol.

Do suppose that is why there is the trend to put people on medications that lower cholesterol (even children)? They put people on it even if they have no symptoms - as a preventive measure.

The prevailing wisdom:

► avoid the sun to avoid skin cancer
► take drugs to lower cholesterol, just in case
► use sunscreen

If this is not a conspiracy to make people D-deficient and weaken their immune systems, I'll eat a bottle of sunscreen!

We're also not supposed to eat fish because of pollution - but it's full of D too.

And now the Ddrops being widely advertised - how ironic. We can get all the Vitamin D we need for free if we eat the right foods and get sunshine, but instead they want to sell it to us.

And now for something really tin foil hattish:

Since the PTB seem to be looking forward to nuclear armageddon, they must be wondering how they will survive in their bunkers without sunlight. An interesting way to find out is to tell people to stay out of the sun, give them artificial D, and see how their bodies react.

Inneresting. And hey, don't they want to dump statins into the water supply as a preventive measure because the public eats too much artery-clogging fast food?

The lesser-known side effects of statins.

Ya gotta wonder.

Image borrowed from here.

You need to be watching Spain right now!

Contributor: "YYC"

This is what Canada should have done prior to the last election - boycott the whole thing entirely!

You Need To Be Watching What's Developing In Spain Right Now
From the outside looking in, it resembles the situation in Egypt in many ways.

Protests have been raging in Spain since Sunday, May 15. The one we've been seeing pictures of is in Madrid, in the famous Puerta del Sol. But there were protests in 60 different locations on Sunday, and they're still raging in different parts of the country.

FREE, CONSCIOUS AND OUTRAGED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUUi5ndec7s

A quick Guide to What's Happening in Spain Right Now
"Don't Look Now, But Spain is the Key for Everything"

On May 15th sixty different marchs were convoked using exclusively twitter, facebook, blogs and such. Not a single traditional media element echoed, neither any political party organized anything ...

Finally it seems the "civil society" as we say here are starting to awake. The slogans are incredibly varied , most of them very catchy, and covers dozens of topics, asking for fundamental changes in Elections Law (asking for open candidate lists, instead the current closed lists that made that even politicians currently waiting for corruption trials are elegible in this weekend Municipal Elections) ...

From the complete blackout that the biggest march on 15th was given by all newspapers, TV and in general, official media, to the several debate programs that today are running in every TV channel, this four days have seen a true meaning for everyone. This is not a kid's game, the Powers That Be are using everything on it: From only showing the typical dawn quarrels between 5 "professional rioters" and the police, in order to make a 20,000 people march appears like an anti-system battle ...

Demonstrators defy election officials by converging on Sol
Protest rallies held across Spain - Parties begin to take notice of demands - Central Electoral Board to make final ruling today

Anti-riot police were called in to enforce the ban, but at press time no one had been dislodged from Madrid's main square ...

Saying they are fed up with high unemployment and a faltering economy, demonstrators, mostly youths, are demanding a voting boycott against the major political parties in Sunday's local and regional elections.

LIVE VIDEO FEED

Apocalypse Tomorrow?

Contributor: "YYC"

U.S. officials turn to zombie 'apocalypse' to promote emergency preparedness

The U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control made its message of emergency preparedness a little sexier this year by turning to a trendy piece of pop culture: a blog offering advice on how to prepare for the inevitable moment when the walking dead take over the Earth and come looking to feed on you.

Yessir, some bottled water, some non-perishable foods, a flashlight and some handiwipes should see you through any flesh-eating emergency or nuclear fallout disaster - except, except ... the real apocalypse!

Odd that the CDC's cute little motivator appears just as Judgment Day (May 21) is upon us. But cheer up. The Zombie thing may only be a myth. Yeah, like the rest of this is not.

What is all this talk of a Zombie Apocalypse? Even if you are left behind in the May 21st Doomsday, you don’t need to worry about a Zombie Apocalypse. While Zombies are in fact real, they will not survive Judgement Day and therefore will not be present in the 2011 Apocalypse. You should still be worried if you will be here though – as locusts, famine, floods, and other disasters will prevent life from being comfortable in any way. You will be excited for the October 21, 2011 End of the World.

From a site called "Mystery History":

Judgment Day billboards have appeared in 17 Canadian cities, including Toronto, Kingston and Windsor [The World Will End May 21 2011, According To Harold Camping]

This is true; I've seen them with my own eyes in my hometown. And they are the only true thing about the predicted event. Yes, they are real billboards, exactly as depicted.

But not all Christians are convinced May 21 is the day, and in fact some are more concerned about the technology that could produce a fake Rapture (and/or an alien invasion).

One website in particular goes to great lengths to protect the flock from having the wool pulled over ... the wolf (sorry, I couldn't resist the mixed metaphor).

The Illuminati now claims to have the technical capability to stage the Rapture. They might just carry it out in order to throw extreme panic, confusion, and despair into the hearts of genuine Christians just before their beloved Masonic Christ arises. God just may allow it as a final test of His saints. Would you be Biblically knowledgeable enough to spot the deception and stand firmly in your faith?

The New World Order is coming! Are you ready? Once you understand what this New World Order really is, and how it is being gradually implemented, you will be able to see it progressing in your daily news!!

Well, something for sure is progressing in our daily news. There have been hurricanes and earthquakes since the beginning of time, so why this now?

Too bad this zombie stuff has gotten mixed up with Jesus, but the government started it, eh?

Homeland Security Cheesecake

Contributor: "YYC"

Just in case you haven't yet seen this: Miss Airport 2011 Calendar.



Image: If anyone knows who deserves the credit, please let me know. It came to me in an email.

Oh no! Obama's longform is a forgery?

Contributor: "YYC"

Interesting video: There's kerning in Obama's purported longform birth certificate.

Kerning is a typeset operation used to fit text into a limited space by squeezing some letters closer together.

Bear in mind that this video is being promulgated by people who don't believe in evolution, so they may be prodigiously, religiously naive (although I don't think they question it - which would be okay - so much as they deny it). On the other hand, being Christian, they wouldn't lie, would they?

http://youtu.be/58vFN2FFu2U

If this video is as factual as it seems, then whoever is responsible for manufacturing "proof" of Obama's American citizenship is not terribly astute, or else, from the lexicon of GWB, they "misunderestimate" the astuteness of his foes.

What the US Department of Homeland Mendacity (I learned that word from a TV evangelist) needs, among other things, is a good counterfeiter! Wassamadder? They don't know any? So many things nowadays are so hard to believe.

Our real enemy ...

Contributor: "YYC"

This is a 2009 video, but it's even more applicable today. Our enemy is not in some foreign land.

American war vet: "We have more in common with the Iraqi people than we do with the billionaires who send us to war".

http://youtu.be/akm3nYN8aG8

DSK's idea of "all-inclusive"?

Contributor: "Bugman"

It looks like DSK was of the opinion that his $2000 plus daily accommodation was all-inclusive.

The whole affair has the look of a “honey trap”, looking at the action of the US authorities. It was not only Sarkozy who wanted to get rid of him. There is an important meeting of the IMF coming up and it is in the interest of the US to have a change of head for the IMF, considering the present financial condition of the US of A.

However there seems to be more to worry about for our friend DSK. Reports are floating around that the lady in question is presently domiciled in a HIV house in NY:

It has emerged the 32-year-old and her 15-year-old daughter were being housed in a Bronx apartment block by Harlem Community Aids United. The charity has not revealed the medical status of the maid, who is a migrant from Guinea, west Africa, but did confirm it only rents apartments for adults with either HIV or Aids.

Gleaned from a German blog:

“Ich wußte immer, dass der IWF den Ruf hat, die Armen zu vergewaltigen, aber ich wußte nicht, dass die das auch wörtlich nehmen”

Translation: "I have always known that the IMF had to screw the the poor people, but I did not know they took this literally."

Related:

The Strauss Kahn Frame-Up: The Amerikan Police State Strides Forward

DSK and the Obtuse Media

The jailbird who likes women

-----

Ed Note: In the first "Related" item above certain relevant facts are omitted. Roberts states: "I have never experienced a maid entering unannounced into my room, much less when I was in the shower."

This does make the rape story sound concocted, but in other reports, the maid said she "entered the room thinking it was empty", but it was not made clear whether the shower water was running (the sound of which should have alerted her immediately) or whether he was in the bathroom having just finished his shower - in which case she might have entered the bathroom to restock the towels and been startled by the presence there of a naked man.

DSK and the Obtuse Media

Contributor: "YYC"

Still, the media don't get the difference between forced and consensual sex.

Fortunately a commenter on this cartoon - that equates Strauss-Kahn's alleged sexual crimes with Berlusconi's alleged silly-old-coot dalliances - does get it.

anon382213839
9:30 PM on May 17, 2011

Berlusconi: paying for sex.
Strauss-Kahn: violently attempting to rape a woman.

One seems suspiciously much worse than the other.

-----

Related: The jailbird who likes women

Unwelcome guest in Ireland

Contributor: "YYC"

VIDEO: Protest the Queen's visit to Ireland 2011

The video is all text and photos, but the background audio is toe-tappingly infectious.

James Connolly is quoted in the descriptive area below the video (click on "show more" to see the entire quote):

"All these parading royalties, all this insolent aristocracy, all these grovelling, dirt-eating capitalist traitors, all these are but signs of disease in any social state - diseases which a royal visit brings to a head and spews in all its nastiness before our horrified eyes."

Well, they couldn't let him live, now could they?

And protest they did (VIDEO). As with the Palestinians, no doubt media will turn those stones into "rocks" and those angry young men into "terrorists".

Not that older men (in this case a member of Sinn Fein) aren't equally serious about Irish independence from the British:

VIDEO: Queen's Visit Part1
VIDEO: Queen's Visit Part2

"They [the elite] have become deeply, deeply discredited ... and what they needed was a spectacle ... flag waving citizens."

Take a look at the images accompanying the Queen's platitudes in this video:

No British Withdrawal? No Royal Visits!

Can you imagine the words HRH uses to describe the Irish in her private sitting room? Not hard to imagine what she was thinking at the Dublin Garden of Remembrance. By the look on her face I'd guess: "Rot in hell." Or maybe, "I should have peed before coming here."


Image borrowed from Euronews

JNF: A Charity like no other

Contributor: "Ron"

IJV Demonstration to expose JNF Canada:

Wednesday, June 1, 5:30pm - 6:30pm at Synagogue Hashomayim, 450, av Kensington, Westmount - a 15 minute walk from metro Atwater, 3 streets west of av. Clark and north of Sherbrooke O. Google map

At its June 1st fund-raiser, Jewish National Fund Canada is honouring Conservative Party icon Stockwell Day, a fundamentalist Christian, for his long-time support of Israeli expansionist policies.

Registered as an official Canadian charity, it is a charity like no other. Funded by private, tax-deductible, donations, it is in fact the official arm of the Israeli government Land Authority. The JNF is based on the removal and permanent exclusion of all non-Jews (Palestinians and Bedouins) from all Israeli-controlled land.

JNF Canada’s continuing tax-exempt charitable status has Canadian tax payers unwittingly participating in the on-going destruction of Palestinian and Bedouin villages, orchards and productive agricultural land, and the displacement of the inhabitants.

Help us to end Canadian tax-payers role in this injustice. Independent Jewish Voices is committed to supporting the global campaign against the JNF and the central role it plays in excluding and destroying the livelihoods of the non-Jewish citizens of Israel, and those living under Israeli occupation.

Join us in exposing JNF Canada.

More information: montreal@ijvcanada.org

The poison of party driven democracy ...

Conform or be cast out

Contributor: "YYC"

Excerpts of Letter to The Sun Times:

Majorities are nothing more then dictatorships. Harper controls the senate, the parliament and the head office. Jack Layton's huge victory is exactly not that, it means nothing. Polarization has turned this country into thinking its one extreme or the other, we are becoming America ...

The existence of a "whip" shows two things (1) That politicians conform not to community and regional needs but to those of the party and (2) That politicians are so lazy and out of touch someone has to remind them that they have to show up and vote, you know to do their jobs. You would think the one thing politicians would know is the dates of voting and the issues they are voting for, but welcome to the party system; conform or be cast out ...

The bigger truth is that, Liberal or Conservative, Green or NDP, there just isn't that much difference folks. They are all in the same club, "The Big Club" and we the people are not in the "Big Club." The Big Club, oh yes: "See who owns the gold, see the power they will hold."

Read the whole letter

Need I say anything at all?

Related: Yo! Conform or Die?

MMR: Mind Messing Reality

Contributor: "YYC"

Mumps Vaccine Booster Recommended For Some

Although the MMR vaccine became available in 1969, it did not become a standard childhood vaccination until 1980, but with only a single dose, leaving children born between 1980 and 1996 susceptible to teen or adult infection of the mumps virus, which can have serious consequences such as meningitis and can cause sterility in men.

So, it takes a decade to permanently implant a myth - in this case an irrational fear of mumps.

In reality, if your son has mumps but doesn't experience painfully inflamed testicles (orchitis) in the process, (and the chances are slim that he will) he's not a candidate for sterility caused by mumps. And even if he did develop orchitis...

it is now known ... it is extremely rare for this to lead to sterility.

Health Canada, very big on vaccines, agrees that orchitis "may rarely cause sterility".

From a baby care site:

Fortunately only a small number of mumps cases are associated with orchitis. Mumps orchitis may lead to poor sperm production and reduced fertility in men. In most cases this will last only for 6 to 12 months, while permanent infertility is very rare.

Yet, the corporate-driven media work hard to keep the myths alive.

Okay, now let's look at the meningitis fairy tale:

Health Canada says:

About one in every 10 people with mumps gets meningitis. Fortunately, mumps meningitis does not usually cause permanent damage.

One in 10? I personally don't know a single soul who contracted meningitis with mumps, do you? And I come from a time long before the MMR vaccine was developed and lots of kids in my high school class came down with mumps. (except myself for some reason, although I begged the infected to cough at me so I could get some time off school). If any of them contracted meningitis, it had to have been so mild as to be unnoticeable.

The baby care site points out that it's a " ... mild form of meningitis that usually lasts no longer than 14 days".

Nevertheless, we've been trained to fear the mumps, along with a host of other things for which cash cows have been invented.

Conversely: You expose your child every day to oncoming vehicle traffic and your teenaged kids can't wait to get their driver's licences - a right of passage that even parents take pride in - despite statistics showing that:

... motor vehicle collisions [are] the leading cause of death among children 10 – 19 years of age ...

And that's the best example I can give of how the media deliberately shape our approach to life, all depending on what they want to sell to you.

The car ads stress the pleasurability of driving, and never mention the deaths and injuries. Ads for pharmaceuticals warn you of potential death and disaster while never revealing the rarity of such occurrences.

And some of us are left wondering what is the effect of too many vaccines on the human reproductive and immune systems. Because despite the miracle of vaccines, most people are sick with something or other, childhood asthma, immune disorders and diabetes are increasingly widespread, and fertility clinics are big business.

Related: John Tobin pleads guilty to impaired driving causing death

The jailbird who likes women

Contributor: "YYC"

Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face fresh sex assault complaint

French writer Tristane Banon claims the IMF chief acted like a 'rutting chimpanzee' in an attack on her nine years ago

This article is so chock full of grossly unethical sentiments and behaviours that it's almost hard to believe there could be such low standards among the politically well-connected. But what can you expect when smirking (video) and/or rutting chimps are considered presidential material?

[Banon] says she consulted a lawyer at the time, but was persuaded not to take action by her mother, a regional councillor in the Socialist party and friend of the Strauss-Kahn family.

This I find unconscionable. What kind of mother puts her own social/political standing ahead of her daughter's welfare? A political one, I guess, devoid of natural human empathy.

"Yes, I like women ... so what?" He said he could see himself becoming the victim of a honey trap: "a woman raped in a car park and who's been promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent such a story ..."

Scratch a man who says he "likes" women, and you'll find a misogynist. If he truly liked them they'd know it because they'd feel respected. At least two seem to feel very disrespected.

What he's really saying is: "It's important you think I'm a stud."

The fact that he anticipated his "liking" women would be used against him points to a very guilty conscience; he was already preparing his defence (even ready to play the antisemite card).

Jean-Marie Le Guen, a Socialist party MP who has known Strauss-Kahn for 25 years, said the story was "not credible" and inconsistent with what he knew of the politician's character. "Seduction, yes, but no way would he use constraint or violence. A certain number of facts, and certain aspects of the story we are hearing from the press, make this not credible."

So, did Le Guen accompany Strauss-Kahn on all his assignations? Otherwise, how could he be so certain of his proclivities?

Inconsistent with his character? He's on shaky ground with his third wife. That alone suggests he doesn't exactly have a way with women.

"What they are asking us to believe … it's just hallucinations. I'm a doctor and I know this can happen."

He's a doctor so he knows the accusers are hallucinating. Wow, then they must be, eh? Makes one wonder what else he knows that he would use his medical credentials to explain away.

"Politicians … enjoy a particular tolerance on this subject," [Libération editor Nicolas Demorand] wrote. "Part of the shock comes also from the unusual scene, until now unthinkable here: police arresting a top-level politician on a matter of morals."

With this statement Demorand indicts all politicians, and then he calls it merely "a matter of morals", as if he knew the meaning of the word. It's a matter of morals when you cheat on your first, second and then third wife. But it's a criminal matter when you force yourself sexually on another person.

Good for the judge who refused "DSK" bail (it would have been so easy for him to just skip), but would she have done the same had the accused been an American would-be president?

Okay, having said all that, we can't forget that the guy was IMF chief, and they don't come any more cold blooded than that. Consequently, he does probably have some well-earned enemies who might try to frame him.

Yeah, but then I keep remembering his own admission that he "likes" women.