The major papers here in the Philippines tend to echo the headlines of the New York Times or CNN.
So this week, all the headlines are about Gaza.
Needless to say, few here are aware of small things like Hamas having the goal to eliminate Israel, or the thousand missiles that have kept Israelis in bomb […]

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In June 2007, pursuant to Congressional order, a Department of Defense (DoD) Mental Health Task Force issued a report entitled, “An Achievable Vision,” assessing the mental health needs of the Armed Forces and the ability of the DoD to meet those needs.  It came as no surprise to veterans advocates when the Task Force reported that […]

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 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, January 7, 2009, San Francisco – In yet another show of incredibly poor judgement combined with bad timing and ulterior bureaucratic motives resulting in a major waste of U.S. tax dollars, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a bipartisan body responsible for U.S. international broadcasts, had silenced Voice of America (VOA) radio […]

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Mankind Project came into public view via a Houston Press article on the suicide of Michael Scinto. Due to statements made after the New Warriors Training Adventure weekend by Mr. Scinto, his parents came to believe that the weekend conducted by MKP-Houston was responsible for the tragic death. The Scintos sued and settled with MKPH […]

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One can only feel sympathy for the Travoltas, who lost their beloved son Jett in a seizure.
They were Scientologists. Was this church related dogma to blame for the child’s failure to use the seizure medicine that could have saved his life?
So when I read that the Travoltas had refused to go along with their son’s […]

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 FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog  The Federalist Commentary, January 6, 2009, San Francisco
Thinking About The Unthinkable
by The Federalist
If you think about the above phrase coined by the late nuclear war theorist, Herman Kahn, you might find it  both unusually appropriate and alarming when applied to US public diplomacy.
There is a fundamental flaw in the […]

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By Shimon Z. Klein

The pressure cooker had threatened to blow up for a long time. Hamas had been firing rockets indiscriminately into southern Israel turning the lives of the people living there into a living hell. This has been going on for nearly eight years and nobody, apart from Israel, protested. These inhabitants are not […]

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In the past several years, there have been many instances in India where Cyber Cafes have been used either for real or false terrorist communication. Several Cyber Crimes including stealing of bank passwords and subsequent fraudulent withdrawal of money have also happened through Cyber Cafes. Cyber Cafes have also been used regularly for sending of obscene […]

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Despite what you may have read about the government protests at Suvarnbhumi Airport, Thailand is still as safe as it ever was. While many people see it as politically unstable, they don’t know very much about it’s history.
The country has had several coups over the last century when the military doesn’t approve of the current […]

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The intriguing story  that ExxonMobil has Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) in its sights will send shivers down the spines of Shell’s senior executives as they plan their strategy for 2009 and beyond. It may also give much food for though to those in the European Union who want to keep European hands on key energy […]

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As the holidays are finally over, I am finally able to start getting back into the swing of things after two weeks of being away from blogging and all things Peer Abuse. Now, I am finally able to catch up and boy and figured a continuation of the Rock of Love Charm School scandal involving […]

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“There have been approximately 7,200 rockets (Grads, Qassams) and mortars launched at Israel since 2005″, according to IDFSpokesperson.com.  There are more stats at the link, but let that one sink in for a moment (especially after reading this headline).
Now consider that when Israel finally defends itself, and launches a counter-attack, with the goal, not of […]

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Whilst there is no avoiding the trials and tribulations of “modern times” there is the chance to escape and to visit a world which whilst it certainly is not without stress or tension, is joyous to behold and a delight to listen to. This is the world of The Nutcracker - surely one of the […]

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Japanese whalers have left Australia’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ), and are now heading for the waters of the Ross Dependency, which is under the claim of New Zealand. The Sea Shepherd, an envrionment conservation group, said that the three whaling vessels are now heading eastward.
Sea Shepherd’s Captain, Paul Watson, said, “They are now in the […]

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We prayed again for peace in church today.
The news reports that the 200 Filipinos in Gaza are safe and being evacuated to Jordan. That is good news, although one wonders why they are there: as nurses? or as maids? Drivers? Entertainers?
Filipinos are all over the place, and here one reads about the latest war by […]

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The economic ideology that has failed is a Conservative ideology. It was once called Reagonomics or Thatcherism and it was adopted, not lock stock and barrel but substantially, by Blair/Brown. However at the Tory Party conference in 2007 David Cameron and George Osborne hammered Brown for his economic emphasis saying that it was too Stalinist […]

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A New Zealand Families Commission report has revealed that New Zealanders often prefer turning to family and friends for help in preference to seeking support from professional counsellors when it comes to their relationships.
The study, titled Reaching Out: Who New Zealanders turn to for relationship support, spoke to 50 New Zealanders at in-depth level and asked them who they spoke to when it came […]

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There is no doubt that the timeless story of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” has been rewritten and rehashed dozens of times over throughout the years. But what if Dickens was a subscriber to Rush Limbaugh’s newsletter and had a penchant for Leslie Nielson films.  Surely you remember Airplane and The Naked Gun, and yes […]

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Autism Sunday 2009 - The International Day of Prayer for Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome falls on Sunday 8th February 2009. Cathedrals, Churches and religious organisations have been asked to remember 60 million people with autism around the world in prayer. Autism is now a very serious education and health issue facing many nations.
Autism Sunday was […]

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 The late Harold Pinter once asked “How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?” Well Israel’s latest bit of genocide in Gaza has reached 400 and is still on the rise. Indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children. Actions which can […]

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The United States is considering banning imported honey from China because it is contaminated with the antibiotic Chloramphenicol. SFGate reports that in 1997, Chinese beekeepers used the antibiotic instead of destroying hives when their bees suffered from a bacterial infection, and that traces of the antibiotic continues to be found in honey imported from China. […]

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One US soldier’s wife told me that even though the war in Iraq was essentially over, that some of the terror groups left deliberately targeted non combat American troops with mortars out of hatred for the good they did.
So the sad news of the Christmas holidays was that Doctor John Pryor, a Combat surgeon on […]

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O what a dump! Pols and players are porking each other with bailout after bailout. Stimulus is being served at the bar, the one with the hot mortgage joint out back. When Wall Street met Main Street both faked it. Folks who stayed home are shovel ready for the clean-up. Thank heaven for humor. Drop […]

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Anti-Social Behavior of Young Children:
Turns USA Small Towns into Disturbia

A recent Dear Abby contained a plea from “Afraid in Wisconsin” who expressed concerns about the behavior of a new neighbor’s 11-yr-old son. This letter highlighted the plight of many who live in a suburbia across America: antisocial kids who terrorize their neighborhoods, and the inability […]

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Real Housewives, Orange County version:
Nice Guy Jeff Beitzel Passes Away
Who’s Throwing Stones?

It’s season four of Housewives with two new additions: 30-yr-old Gretchen Rossi and Lynne Curtain. Curtain replaced Lauri Waring Peterson after Peterson opted to drop out of the show when her son was arrested for drug possession.
The storyline surrounding Gretchen has her dealing […]

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Naavi.org has been advocating some agency to address protection of the rights of Netizens. Digital Society Foundation as well as the Cyber Crime Complaints and Resolution Assistance Center which is part of the activities of Naavi.org is trying to provide some guidance to innocent victims of Cyber Crimes. However these NGO like efforts cannot provide the complete […]

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Did BBG End U.S. Surrogate Broadcasting in Russia on Radio Liberty in an Attempt to Appease Mr. Putin and Pursue Its Marketing Strategy?
FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog, December 30, 2008, San Francisco — FreeMediaOnline.org has been reporting in recent months on the intimidation of Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda) journalists in Russia and the […]

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Despite the initial predictable calls for a political solution to a military conflict and justified concerns that Israel’s retaliation to Hamas rocket attacks will only create a new wave of martyrs eager to attack the Jewish state in the future, Germany openly defends Israel’s right to defend itself and puts the blame squarely on those […]

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My award for the most absurd article of the week is the one in the Washington Post defending Carolyn Kennedy’s weak resume by insisting she is like the rest of ordinary women who cut back on their work to raise children:
the way I see it, if you strip away the glamour, the name and […]

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Blogging from Phoenix- While India and Pakistan engage in another round of saber rattling, it seems unlikely India intends to respond to recent attacks on Mumbai with a military strike. However beneath the current war mongering is a renewed interest in New Delhi to push for adoption of a “Cold Start” military doctrine.
A Cold Start […]

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