To watch the film “The Iron Lady” is like trying to learn about a person from a list.
Grocer’s daughter, check. Politician, check. Anti Thatcher demonstrations, check. Falklands war, check. Going to celebrate the fall of the Iron curtain, check.
For anyone not aware of the history of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the quick scenes depicting some […]

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All is fair in love and war and, I suppose we have to accept, politics as well. ‘Twas ever thus perhaps – only someone seriously ignorant of history would say that politics has ever been free of cant and cover up and of posturing and play-acting.  As Harry Truman said “If you don’t like the […]

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World War I is getting some attention in the entertainment industry lately, with the high class hit “Downton Abbey” and now the Stephen Spielburg film “War Horse”.
The plot is simple: think of Lassie comes home (the 1943 version) of a beloved animal separated from his master and trying to survive. Except in this one it […]

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(London, UK) Autism Sunday celebrates 10 Years (2002 - 2012) on Sunday the 12th of February this year. Autism Sunday is the brainchild of British autism campaigners Ivan and Charika Corea - what started as a small acorn of an idea in their front room has turned into a massive global event, celebrated in many […]

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It rained last night, and more coming. In some ways, this is good news, because it means we don’t have to pay so much to irrigate our “dry season” crop. But it is bad news for the south, which is still recovering from the devestating storm that killed over a thousand people..
Superficially, the storm makes […]

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Public Service workers balked at the idea that government pensions might be cut. The answer, so the unions claimed, was to stage a major walk out. The numbers are still being tallied, but it appears that more than a million public service workers took Wednesday off.
Was it successful? Well it depends on your point of […]

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“Traumatic grief, with its unanswered questions, its numbing shock, its horror, its ability to sear disturbing images into our souls that cannot be erased by sleep or by time–this process follows the same general path both for persons and groups.”
When 12:30 struck, none of us fourth graders knew that our young president was being […]

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Debates on whether aid works, how much aid budgets should be and how they are spent ought not to be the only focus, says the India800 Foundation, a charity that will present its work at the House of Lords in London on Monday. […]

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A lot of Americans seem puzzled about why NATO is so eager to get rid of Khadafi in Libya. Yes, he was behind the TWA bombing, but why get rid of him now?
But what the US press also misses is why Libyans are angry. To paraphrase James Carville: It’s the corruption, stupid. Khadafi has billions […]

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The outbreak of E Coli induced Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome by those who ate salads in northern Germany is still a puzzle.
First they blamed Spain for dirty cucumbers (implications: Spaniards are not as clean as Germans). This has caused a lot of financial problems for Spanish farmers, and it doesn’t help that it’s now found it […]

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US President has created a controversy involving Cyber Laws by using “Autopen” to sign a Bill. Mr Obama was abroad at the time the Bill had to be signed and he has authorized application of his signature with the use of the “Autopen” equipment.
The move has been approved by the legal department stating that the […]

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It was called “Operation Vengence”.
He had ordered the deaths of thousands of Americans using airplanes, and alerted the average American that a war of civilizations was now endangering them.
Therefore, the president used secret intelligence networks to find where the mastermind was hiding. And after some discussions, the president approved of the mission tasked to kill […]

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I am aghast at a lot of the news coming out of US sites about what is going on in Libya.
First, there are the “ain’t it awful” posts, lamenting that the side backed by the West hasn’t won yet, (in 7 whole days).
Second, they find out that some of those revolting are Islamicists. Well, duh. […]

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(Westminster) The Coalition Government plans to scrap the Disability Living Allowance in next week’s Budget which will be introduced by Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne in the House of Commons in Parliament. The Government plans to save over £1 billion pounds in the budget by scrapping the disability living allowance by 2014/15.
The Coalition […]

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ArcheologyNews reports that a researcher claims Henry VIII didn’t die of a combination of syphillis, obesity related diabetes and malaria, (and perhaps a bit mentally unstable from cerebral syphilis and the mercury used back then to treat it).
No, they claim it was a rare complication of the Kells’ antigen called McLeod syndrome.
Research conducted by […]

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The ecosystem in the Philippine island of Palawan is unique, and to make it worse, the island has only recently been cleared of terrorists and reopened for tourism, so there is worry that the terrible scars from mining will destroy tourism too.
A couple months back, a reporter and civic leader was assassinated because he had […]

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I expected to be bored by the movie “The King’s  Speech”, but I quickly became absorbed in this quiet drama of a man struggling to overcome his fear.
I was going to write “fear of speaking in public”, but that trivializes the dread that most people feel when talking or performing in public. But in the […]

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Jose Henriquez, the Chilean Miner has sent a special message to parents and carers of children and adults with autism to mark Autism Sunday 2011 which falls on Sunday 13th February. Jose Henriquez was one of the 33 miners trapped underground in the San José mine in Chile. Henriquez organised daily prayers deep down in […]

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I always say: “Follow the money”.
A couple of days ago, a lot of my green bloglinks were rhapsodic about those isolated Amazon tribes who were filmed from a plane. So when I checked on the group that released the photos and story, voila, sure enough: they are run by folks with very European/white American names, […]

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Despite the fact that the shooting in Arizona was caused by a mentally ill person, the spin was followed by a week of Sarah Palin bashing.
With the State of the Union address, it’s calmed down a bit, but nevertheless Time Magazine decided it was important news to complain that Sarah Palin put the flag on […]

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Autism Sunday falls on Sunday 13th February this year. Cathedrals, churches, organisations, community groups will be marking Autism Sunday with church services and autism awareness raising events around the world.
Autism Sunday was launched in 2002 by British parents and carers, Ivan and Charika Corea. What was a small acorn of an idea hatched in their […]

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It took years, and an enterprising reporter to check on the facts, but now it’s official: The  “MMR vaccine causes Autism”paper was not only flawed, but was made up. It was part of a money making scam concocted by a lawyer who hoped to make money off of a class action lawsuit, with the help […]

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China has already used it’s economic clout to intimidate many countries to boycott the Nobel Prize cermony that honors their poet Liu Xiaobo.
This boycott has gotten them criticism from some human rights groups, including those in our Philippines.
The ability and willingness of China to use it’s economic clout for political purposes is a very important […]

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When a major news outlet incorrectly implies that Catholics think Test Tube babies are not children in the eyes of God, I must simply protest.
From USA TODAY:
‘Test tube babies’: God’s work or human error?
Do you think a baby conceived in test tube is still a child in the eyes — or mind or […]

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Since before the election in the Spring that turned Labor out of office in favor of a Conservative/Liberal Democratic government, British voters have been promised a thoroughgoing reevaluation of family law. Begun under the Brown government, the review of family law has been largely cloaked in mystery.
But last week, Lord Justice Wall, President of the […]

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I am bemused when the elites of both parties are horrified at a woman candidate who overturned their chosen candidate in the primaries.
No surprise about this, after all the Press promises to promote the propaganda, never mind the truth of the matter. From the Atlantic:
Chuck Todd said it first…
“There will be an all out effort […]

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Follow the money. Yes, that’s right, follow the money.
You really didn’t think that the “Wikileaks” scheme was about being anti war, did you?
From ZDNET, a computer related website:
…Wikileaks founder Julian Assange…(is) now blackmailing Amnesty International and other human rights groups for $700,000 to remove names of Afghan civilians who might get killed by […]

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Tom Lehrer famously said that “political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize” - we are in the same territory when we look at some of the things Tony Blair has done since stepping down as Prime Minister. Along with George W Bush Blair was the world leader most responsible for […]

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(London, UK) The UK Autism Foundation is backing a new Autism Consultation launched by Care Services Minister Paul Burstow and Her Majesty’s Government. The Department of Health Consultation titled - ‘Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives’ is aimed at improving are services and healthcare outcomes for adults with autism in England.
The UK Autism Foundation is fully […]

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The Taliban did it again. Killed a medical team whose only crime was to travel into isolated areas to treat eye disease.
Their “crime”? They were supposedly being “spies”, even though only a few of the medical team were Americans. Oh yes: And they were (gasp) Christians. Can’t have that, can we. Kill the infidel. Never […]

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