Five Presidents Line Up for Dallas Library Ceremony !

A few days ago, after 2 years of construction, last Thursday, there was a gathering of the five living U.S. presidents to commemorate George W. Bush's Presidential Library. The last time five presidents were together in one place was a Richard Nixon's funeral in 1994. On this unique reunion I and Joseph Curl watched and listened and saw one outclass the others.

Mr Curl is a writer and political columnist for the Washington Times and reflects on an insightful conversation he had with a female reporter back 2008, shortly after Barack Obama was elected. She had covered President George W. Bush all eight years and admitted she'd had enough of travel and the stress and strain of the White House beat, that she was moving on. Curl asked her if she'd miss covering President Obama. ''Not at all. He's an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional and profound man. Obama is all surface, shallow, obvious, robotic, and frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one with gravitas.''  By the way, she's a hardcore Democrat!

But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched Thursday's ceremonial event to open George W's imposing new presidential library. Jimmy Carter was first to speak. But he was, as always, befuddled. He opened with, ''In 2000, as some of you may remember, there was a disputed election for several weeks.'' Nice way to start. Then he took credit for giving W the idea to intercede in Sudan. He never mentioned 9-11 and the war on terror, or the commander-in-chief's leadership during America's most trying hour. Which is why his comments lasted just 3 and a half minutes.

Bill Clinton followed. He, of course, spoke twice as long, filling his speech with jokes and faux humility. He was his usual affable self.....but Mr Clinton, for all his prodigious gifts, will always be the class clown. George H.W. Bush, turning 90 in June, was a welcome respite. Somewhat frail now, he spoke only briefly from his wheelchair, but garnered two standing ovations and the biggest laugh of the day from his oldest son. After his remarks, just 24 seconds, he shook his boys hand and said. deadpan, ''Too long?''

President Obama took the podium next. Every bit as cunning as Slick Willie, his speech too was filled with fake self-effacing insights, including one on ''the world's most exclusive club,'' which he said ''is more like a support group.'' Then....on a day that was intended top be without politics, he hawked his push for amnesty. Mr Obama skipped the praise he had laid on W, at the dinner, the night before. ''Whatever out political differences, President Bush loves this country and loves its people and shares that same concern and was concerned about all people in America, not just those who voted Republican. I think that's true about him and I think that's true about most of us.''  Except it's not! Especially not this president. He has made his presidency about dividing America along the lines of class, sex, race, sexuality, you name it....
Then, finally, W took the podium. He gave a profound lesson to his successor and his predecessor; ''In democracy, the purpose of public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. Elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves. As president, I tried to act on these principles every day. It wasn't always popular. And when our freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep the American people safe,'' he said to loud applause. But it was the end that gave us the truest glimpse of the man.  With tears in his eyes, his voice breaking, he said: ''It's the honor of a lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the United States.'' By the end he was in tears, barely able to creak out: ''God bless Amer.....''

But there was one last classy move not many saw. The program nearly over, Sgt 1st Class Alvy R. Powell Jr. came to the side of the stage to perform the ''Star Spangled Banner.'' A big, powerful black man, Sgt 1st Class Powell belted out the anthem. With the crowd applauding, the sergeant moved along the line of people, shaking hands with all. After greeting W, he turned to go, but the 43rd president put his hand on the sergeant's arm and said, ''Stay,'' just as a chaplain stepped forward to give a benediction. This is why his popularity numbers are dramatically up, because he's the farthest thing from Barack Obama. ''Obama fatigue'' has opened the way to Bush affection.

The Way I See It....George W is genuine at being modest, humorous, proud but unassuming, and essentially philosophical about his turn as president. History will decide. No finger pointing or scoring points. If he feels rancor or resentment he didn't show it. He didn't attempt to manipulate. His sheer normality seemed like a relief, an echo of an older age.

And all this felt like an antidote to Obama, to the imperious I, to the inability to execute, to the endless interviews and the imperturbable drone, to the sense that he is trying to teach us, like an Ivy League instructor taken aback by the backwardness of his students. And there's the unconscious superiority....  I have a strong feeling that this opening day of the George Bush library was the day ''Obama Fatigue'' became apparent as a fact of America's political life. The scales are starting to fall from his supporters eyes....Hallelujah!

When Bush left office, his approval rating was in the lo 30s. Now it's at 47%, which is what Obama's is. That is amazing and not sufficiently appreciated. The spirit of the Bush Library remarks is that everyone is older and nicer.....but President Obama was more formal than the other speakers and less confident than usual, as if he knew he was surrounded by people who have something he doesn't. He veered into current policy disputes, using Mr Bush's failed comprehensive immigration reform to buttress his own effort. That was manipulative, graceless and typical.

Another Country, Another Amina and Less Women's Rights !

Mohammad has blood on his hands!  More so those idiots who follow him and allow basic human rights and common sense to be flushed down the toilet. To complete the scene perhaps using the religious version of Mein Kampt, the Koren, as toilet paper would be apropos.

Oh god, another one! A girl of 16, named Amina, in Morocco was raped, and the judge ruled that she had to marry her rapist, which was nice for the rapist because it allowed him to stay out of jail, but it was horrendous for her. The rapist, to show his gratitude to Amina Filali, beat her severely. She was so terrified and depressed that she ate rat poison and died. This caused a national and an international uproar that this still goes on.

The girl's father said he ''did not want to accept this marriage,'' which some have said was pushed in order to protect the family's honor. But ''my wife, my family and the court of the city of Larache wanted the union to proceed", as it did. ''The judge decided he must marry her and I had no opportunity to refuse the judge's decision,'' the father said. ''I wanted to send the eventual husband to prison and have my daughter stay with me until she became an adult.''  As parents (photo left) they have to live with the circumstances but the mother remorsefully regrets allowing the family to agree to the decision.

Poison...even castration seems like a better arrangement than tying Amina for life to the Muslim scum who raped her, but then again, it's ''the family's honor.'' How anybody in their right mind can think it's ''honorable'' to force a girl of 16 to marry the man who raped her is beyond me. ''Through this law, the rape becomes legitimate,'' said Fouzia Assouli, president of the Moroccan advocacy group the Federation of the Democratic League of Women's Rights. "This law has its roots in the Dark Ages and was just changed in 2004.''  To its credit, Morocco changed its code of family law, shifting away from old Islamic principles by giving more rights to women regarding divorce and polygamy, and raising the minimum marriage age for women to 18 from 15. But conservative judges have been finding ways around the law.

Courts have granted special dispensation for minors to marry in 90% of the cases that have appeared before them, according to data reported by the Justice Ministry. And while human rights groups, like Femen which I reported a few weeks ago in a blog entitled, ''Feminists Launch 'Topless Jihad Day' to Protest Islamic Oppression,'' are urging Moroccan leaders to further reinforce women's rights, but amending the penal code further remains a sensitive issue. While the government has ratified international treaties on human rights, its own laws do not yet conform, a situation that has led to protests, with Amina as the focal point (photo left).

Najat Oulami, a member of the women's advocacy group Al Amane says, "We help women navigate the system and make sure that every woman that comes to our offices asking for our help is treated well by the authorities.''  To avoid more tragedies like Amina's suicide, rights groups say that Morocco must change Article 475 in its penal code, which allows for a charge to be dropped in cases of statutory rape if the two parties get married. "It is abominable that rapists are allowed to swap the charges against them for a wedding ring and a child bride,'' adds Oulami. ''The problem is, many judges are very conservative (read backward), and they believe that it is better to save the girl's honor by giving their permission to let minors get married to such scum!''

Al Amane is one of several groups throughout Morocco working with Global Rights, a nongovernmental organization that aims to help women get more access to a fairer justice system. They have created a Website called Marsadnissa (Women's Observatory), where judicial decisions are listed in a database to help Moroccan lawyers argue the law more effectively. ''This kind of tracking mechanism is crucial as judges don't know how cases are decided across the country with no publication of court decisions at the local level,'' says Stephanie Bordat, an American Global Rights director for the Maghreb region of North Africa, ''which will lead to greater consistency of verdicts and protection of women's rights.''

Three months ago, the Justice Ministry issued a statement saying it was in favor of abrogating Article 475 and human rights groups are confident it will be struck down by Parliament. The Islamist-led government, however, is not showing much impetus to act...only time will tell. ''The pressure of civil society has already created an impact: It has become impossible now, since Amina's death, to marry a girl at the age of 16,'' Kachane Belcaide, a lawyer from Khemisset, said last month. ''Still the current government seems to be divided,'' he added. ''There is even no sign that a special law on violence against women will be put forward.'' Observers say that any changes undertaken will not mean much as long as there is not strong and independent judiciary to apply the law. Last year, a 3,700 member judicial association protested with a week-long strike in May and a sit-in in October about judicial corruption and interference by the executive branch, which they say undermines their independence (photo right).

The Way I See It.....despite the various initiatives, the biggest obstacle to advancing protections for girls seems to be the prevailing mentality in Morocco, and the majority of Muslim countries, about women and their place in society. A recent online documentary about the rape law, ''475: Treve de Silence,'' in which Moroccans of all ages and from different parts of society were interviewed on pre-marital sex and rape, showed a clear consensus that a girl who had lost her virginity had lost her value. ''A woman should stay at home and only go out to run errands,'' one man said, suggesting that a rape victim was responsible because she put herself in danger. ''She shouldn't be wandering around the streets.'' As one teenager put it: The man is never guilty.''

, In Tunisia, the other Amina (Tyler) is definitely not wandering the streets presently after posting on Facebook her half naked body with the words ''My Body Belongs To Me!'' in Arabic in March (photo). Another photo had the message, ''Fuck your morals.'' She is in hiding after receiving death threats and is planning to, or already has, left the country after her own brand of the women's rights protest she initiated sparked such a controversy. Even some women feel she might have gone too far and perhaps set back their women's rights initiatives, but she got rousing support with women rights activists around the world.  In Morocco that fact wasn't overlooked and has stirred anger and action with a big demonstration in Rabat, the capital, which is about 170 kilometers from Amina's hometown. Protesters held up pictures of Amina, held up banners and chanted in Arabic, ''Let's end the marriage of minors and jail rapists!''  It seems Moroccan law defends ''family morals'' but does not take into account the right of women as a person. Let's change that. Everywhere in the World....hopefully soon!

Islamic Leader Says Drop the ''We Are Victims'' Mentality !

Dr M. Zuhdi Jasser, a conservative author, activist and the president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), has a message for Muslim Americans and those in other Western countries: ''Step up to the plate and work diligently to combat Islamism and extremism.''  Jasser spoke out this week about his reaction to the Boston Marathon terror attack and his views on steps that should be taken within Islamic circles to prevent further extremism. When asked how he believes Muslims should be reacting to the terror attacks, the faith leader noted that he has been disappointed by the response thus far. He claimed that many Islamic leaders and mainly Imams have simply not done enough to speak out to condemn terrorist acts and that much more is required of the Muslim community as a whole.

''Swift condemnations of the act of terrorism are just not enough. I don't believe that the non-Muslim public is buying their mantra of denial and victimization, just look at the boys mother's yelling they were set up...spare me! They deny that the perpetrators were Muslim (basically committing 'takfir' as is typical for Islamists) -- all the while the list of hundreds of American Muslims either attempting to commit or having committed acts of terrorism continues to pile up." Jasser said.  He took particular aim at those Muslim leaders who he believes ''focus on their own victimization, patronizingly reminding the rest of the West not to be 'racists' or 'bigots.''' This Muslim leader said that it is time for faith leaders to confront the issues that so often lead to radicalization.

Jasser believes that rather than avoiding the discussion and claiming victimization, it is paramount for these leaders to figure out what's separating some Muslim youths from Westernization and leading them ''toward supremacist Islamism'' -- and he wants to address this phenomena sooner than later. We can't afford to wait any longer. ''There is a deep soulful battle of identity raging within the Muslim consciousness domestically and abroad between Westernism and liberalism,'' he said. ''In essence the Islamists confront every situation in a selfish 'we are the victims' mentality and the rest of  non-Islamist Muslims need to instead respond with a louder and more real leadership and say: 'We will not be victims.'''

Dr Jasser also noted that those who embrace the Muslim faith should openly acknowledge that the radicalisation problem requires believers to tackle the issue from within -- and that Muslims who embrace reform are the most essential to preventing future attacks. By all accounts, Jasser practices what he preaches. Through AIFD, he seeks to educate Muslims and non-Muslims, alike, in an effort to prevent extremism. We have been trying to engage as much of the public as possible as the long overdue attention to the greatest threat to our security in the 21st century is beginning to be realized,'' he said. ''The Islamist threat manifests as the early stages of radicalization domestically and it manifests as theocratic regimes (like the Iranian Khomeinists or Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood) abroad who will NEVER be our allies and ultimately seek our destruction.''

It is through engaging the public that he hopes Americans will see that AIFD can help keep the nation safe through vital and unique programs. One of those is called the Muslim Liberty Project, which works to engage young Muslims, ages 15 to 30, in an effort to help foster American identity -- a worldview that embraces the Constitution and the ''separation of mosque and state.'' The goal? To prevent youths falling into the paranoid extremist trap. Another program, the American Islamic Leadership Coalition, brings together diverse Muslim groups that are opposed to Islamism. Through public statements and press conferences their goal is to get the word out about combating extremism in all its forms and neutralize the hate-preachers like that Australian deadshit Imam Feiz Mohammad (photo right).

The Way I See It.....for more wide-ranging solutions, America needs to come to a national consensus -- one that examines terrorism as something rooted in a larger problem. I believe that political Islam (also known as Islamism) can't be defeated by military might and that these structures must be combated through a moral indignation-style engagement. The battle against these groups, though, must be waged by Muslims themselves. This needs to be engaged on many fronts with a public-private partnership where government, media, activist groups and academe begin to push any and all pressure points which break down the power systems of Islamist groups and ideas of victimization while bolstering the infrastructure and ideas of non-Islamist groups here and abroad. We don't need douchebag media personalities such as Geraldo Rivera or Tom Brokaw mouthing off with their leftist-liberal crap by saying that Americans must accept some of the blame for these home-grown terror attacks. Islamists feed on Western self-loathing. I'm happy to say that Dr Jasser has taken the politically incorrect bull-by-the-horns and called for President Obama to develop a Liberty Doctrine as the guiding philosophy for the nation to counteract the threat of Islamism. Let's hope Obama has the guts to do it.
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The Boston Bombers: By Sheer Coincidence....MUSLIM !!!

What is with the media's dangerous silence on Islam.  They behaved so politely after the Boston Bombings. None jumped to the correct conclusion: these terrorists were yet again Muslim. In fact, even after the scumbag brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, of Chechen origin, were identified and found to be - surprise, surprise - Muslim and still pretended not to notice or think it relevant.  Muslim?  Really?  ''What an amazing coincidence....but there is still no clear motive for the attack.''  Really?  I don't see Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Christians or Mormons blowing anything up, but don't mention the ''M'' word. Don't discuss something that's sick in a strand of Muslim culture -- the rage of failure, the exhortations of hate and the licence given to kill. Always turn it back on the ''unjust'' West. ''It's all America's fault because these kids were brought up in America, not (the dungheap called) Chehnya,'' says the president of Chehnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Indeed. Here's what wicked America did to these men, Chechens actually raised in Dagestan. It let them both into the country. A federal official said the younger brother arrived on a tourist visa in the U.S. on July 1, 2002, at age 8. After seeking asylum, he was granted citizenship on September 11, 2012. It let Tamerlan study engineering at Bunker Hill Community College. It offered his younger brother a place at the University of Massachusetts and even gave him a $2,500 scholarship from the city of Cambridge. And when Tamerlan beat up his girlfriend three years ago,  America didn't throw him out. He was on a Green Card, but never the less could have been deported after the domestic violence conviction. That means the Obama administration missed an opportunity to remove him but evidently didn't feel ''his being very religious'' represented a big enough threat.

The Russian intelligence agency alerted the FBI before Tamerlan was expected to visit Chechnya and relatives in Dagestan (Al Qaeda hotbeds) in 2011 and stated ''he was a follower of radical Islam''. After an investigation the FBI said it found nothing of concern. When Tamerlam returned after spenting six months in Dagestan, he instilled his newly energized ideology into his younger brother. Both brothers became open about their devotion to Islam and Tamerlan's Web postings suggested an attraction to radicalism. He posted a video to his YouTube playlist extolling an extremist religious prophecy associated with Al Qaeda. Yet, the FBI never came back for a second evaluation. The YouTube page includes religious videos, including one of (photo left)  Feiz Mohammad, a fundamentalist Australian hate-preacher. This pile-of-camel-dung rails against the evils of Harry Potter, says women in ''suggestive'' attire deserve to get raped and children should be raised to follow jihad and become martyrs to Islam. One playlist includes a video dedicated to the prophecy of the Black Banners of Khurasan, which is embraced by Islamic extremists, particularly Al Qaeda. The prophesy states that an invincible army will come from the region of Khurasan in central Asia to help Imam Mehdi to establish a new Caliphate at the Kaaba in Mecca.

Still, as investigators try to assess the brothers' journey to Muslim-style terrorism, search for ties to militant groups and draw lessons for preventing attacks, they will be thinking of some notable cases in which longtime American residents with no history of violence turned to terrorism; the plot to blow up the New York subway in 2009, the Fort Hood shootings the same year and the failed Times Square bombing of 2010, among others.  ''I think there's often a sense of divided loyalties in these cases where Americans turn to violent jihad -- are you American first or are you Muslim first? And also of proving yourself as a man of action,'' says Brian Fishman, who studies terrorism at the New America Foundation in Washington.

Akbar Ahmed, the chairman of Islamic studies at the American University, also in Washington, described such men: ''They are American, but not quite American, young men caught between life in America and loyalty to fellow Muslims in a distant homeland. Turning to violence is partly a way of settling the puzzle of their identity.'' His new book, The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terrorism Became a War on Tribal Islam, examines how tribal codes have shaped the reaction to American counterterrorism strikes. ''They don't really know the old country,'' Professor Ahmed said of young immigrants attracted to jihad, ''but they don't fit in to the new country. Add feelings of guilt that they are enjoying a comfortable life in the States while their supposed brothers and sisters suffer in a distant land and an element of personal estrangement -- say, Tamerlan's statement in an interview long before the attack that after five years in the U.S., ' I don't have a single American friend ' -- and it becomes a combustible mix.''

The Way I See It....I'm sick of being told that Islam is a ''Religion of Peace'', when everyday I can read stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family ''honour''; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; Muslims burning down schools for girls; Muslims murdering Christians and Jews because they aren't ''believers''; Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for ''adultery''; Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because Qur'an and Sharia law tells them to.

On the other hand I see assimilation isn't working its usual magic among many of the young Lebanese Australians. Or should we start referring to them simply as Lebanese in Australia? The head of Australia's domestic intelligence agency has confirmed that hundreds of Australian-Lebanese men have have joined the fighting in Syria. ''We are also concerned that young Australians go overseas and become quite severly radicalised in the extremist Al Qaeda-type doctrines.'' ASIO director general David Irvine said, ''It's people who develop the sort of skills that terrorists can use and more importantly the commitment that drives terrorism, that remains a concern for us.'' He says most of them were born in Australia or came to Australia at a young age. It good to see these scum leaving the country...in a way. We can only hope that the membership in those Lebo-Gangs terrorising Sydney must have dropped a bit by now.

NOTE:  The sign the child's holding up reads Behead Those Who Insult The Prophet. How nice!!!

UPDATE: Tamerlan's former brother-in-law points to the Boston bomber's possible motivation:
                            ''He was angry that the world pictures Islam as a violent religion.''
Glad we cleared up that little misconception. He obviously didn't have a sense of irony.
     Meanwhile the source of the killers bomb-making knowledge seems to have been accurate: They learned to make these pressure-cooker bombs from Inspire, the online Al Qaeda magazine site.

Paltrow's Paltry Eating & Crackpot Diet Advice !

Gwyneth Paltrow's latest contribution to ameliorating the terrible malnutrition suffered by swaths of the world's population -- everyone but Paltrow, in fact --has just been published in the UK under the title ''It's All Good.'' And indeed it is, if your approach to food is completely crackpot served up with a hefty side of overprivilege. In short, if you thought Pippa Middleton's book ''Celebrate'' read more like an Internet parody than an actual book written by an actual person for which publishers paid actual money, you ain't seen nothing until you've read La Paltrow's contribution to the genre.

While ostensibly a cookbook, It's All Good is a cookbook characterised by a complete fear of food. Paltrow explains in the beginning how she was inspired to write the book when she nearly died after eating too many french fries (I am not exaggerating here) and submitted herself to medical tests and came up with a diagnosis that her body was in crisis. A doctor duly decreed that she was allergic to pretty much everything, and should eat next to nothing...except quinoa and maybe some pomegranate , occasionally. I kid you not!

So, Gwyneth, with the kind of self-centred self-righteousness that only Hollywood A-listers can master, decided that if she needs to follow this medically dubious ''elimination'' diet (a diet one doctor has described as ''at best a non-evidence based hope, and at worst plain old malpractice''), then so does everyone else in the world. Hence, her cookbook is food-phobic, a treatise on nutrition that contains about as much science as a Thomas the Tank Engine book. In short, Paltrow's concept of nutrition casts extreme doubt on the efficacy of the private schools system in Manhattan that educated her so expensively.

The food and literary establishments have described It's All Good as ''laughable Hollywood neuroticism about eating taken to the next level''  and ''plainly quack science''. Yahoo gleefully pointed out that to eat as Paltrow suggests would cost $300 a day! There are some cheaper tasting recipes in it, if you like lots of brown rice. It's easy to make fun of Paltrow -- I've just done it for 450 words without breaking a sweat -- but it's sad that there must be a whole generation that doesn't know Paltrow was once a talented actress as opposed to a cheerleader for tofu. However, the reality seems to be that during the past decade Paltrow appears to have decided to jettison her career and become a full-time spouter of nonsense about food, exercise and her own ''inner journey.'' all detailed on her website, Goop.com.

These are the cliched characteristics of a celebrity today and Paltrow embodies them all to an extraordinary overblown degree. The net result is that she now gets far more press for being this parody of a celebrity than she ever got for being an actual celebrity. Sure, a lot of the attention might be negative, like this week's STAR Magazine poll announcing that Paltrow tops it's Top 20 list of most hated celebrities, but at least it's attention.  Mail Online is so enthralled with pronouncements from Gwyneth's boasting ''I have a butt of a 22 year old stripper'' or saying ''I would rather die than let my kids eat Cup-a-Soup", and her gluten intolerance that they have a whole section dedicated to her. Columnists are learning that making oneself into a laughable figure can be very lucrative sideline.

The Way I See It....aside from her myopic sense of overprivilege, giving her children silly names and the tendency to dabble in embarrassing hip-hop parlance, Paltrow seems to have realised at just the right point that the difference between being a 20th and 21st Century celebrity is that the former required some talent and the latter requires only self-exposure. So if that means becoming a laughing stock along the way, she can laugh herself all the way to the bank. Her nonsensical book has currently garnered twice as many Google hits as Iron Man 3. Gwyneth Paltrow: modern-day genius or embodiment of modern day ills?  Whatever...it's all good.

Father of All Men is 340,000 Years Old !

Albert Perry carried a secret in his DNA: a Y chromosome so distinctive that it reveals new information about the origin of or species. In fact, the last ancestor that Perry shares down the paternal line with most other men walked the Earth before our species appeared! One possible explanation for Perry's bewildering ancestry is the hundreds of thousands of years ago, modern humans interbred with a species that is now extinct.

A man gets his Y chromosome from his father, who in turn got his from his father, and so on. Trace every man's father-son lineage far enough back in time and they all converge on one individual who -- calculations show -- lived between 60,000 and 140,000 years ago. This man was far from the only one alive at the time, but he is known as the ''Y chromosomal Adam'' because by chance all men acquired their sex chromosome from him. Or so we thought. Perry, recently deceased, was an African-American who lived in South Carolina. A few years ago, one of his female relatives submitted a sample of his DNA to Family Tree DNA, a company in Houston, Texas, for genealogical analysis. When the company's technicians tried to place Perry on the Y chromosome family tree, they just couldn't. His was like no other so far analysed.

Chief scientist at Family Tree DNA, Dr. Michael Hammer, heard about Perry and did further tests.  These showed that Perry's Y chromosome lineage probably separated from all others about 338,000 years ago. So the accidental discovery of Perry's DNA means we now know of at least one man who did not descend from the Y chromosomal Adam. The title of the father of all men must be passed to another man....who lived more than twice as far back in prehistory. Perry is unlikely to have been the sole member of his unusual lineage. Hammer estimates that another 1500 American men carry the new Y chromosome. What's more, further analysis uncovered similarities between 11 men living in a village in Cameroon, in sub-Saharan Africa, called Mbo, indicating roughly where his ancestors originally hailed from.  Jon Wilkins of the Ronin Institute, in Montclair, New Jersey says, ''After looking at chromosomes for years, so having to change where the root of the Y-chromosome tree is at this point is extremely surprising.''

The first fossils of our species are 195,000 years old, so the new Y-chromosomal Adam lived long before our species appeared. What are the implications? Unlike the other human chromosomes, the majority of the Y chromosome does not exchange genetic material with other chromosomes, which makes it simpler to trace ancestral relationships among contemporary lineages. At some point after our species emerged all those years ago, a female Homo Sapiens may have mated with a male from a cousin species that had split from our own 338,000 years ago. The male's species later vanished, but the random mating meant his Y chromosome was transferred to our species and eventually made its way into Perry's cells. If this happened, it adds to other examples of our interbreeding: with Neanderthals in the Middle East and with the Denisovans somewhere in South-East Asia.

''The theory fits with the fossil record'', says Chris Stringer at the Natural History Museum, London. In 2011, he was involved in an analysis of fossils from a Nigerian site called Iwo Eleru. The fossils showed a strange mix of ancient and modern features, and were found just a few hundred kilometres from the village of Mbo. ''This was surprising because previously the most diverged branches of the Y chromosome were found in traditional hunter-gather populations such as Pygmies and the click-speaking KhoeSan, who are considered to be the most diverged humans living today.  It certainly looks like we have a more complex scenario for the evolution of modern humans in Africa,'' says Stringer.

The Way I See It....we must be cautious against popular concepts of a mitochondrial Eve or Y chromosome Adam that suggest all of humankind descended from exactly one pair of humans that lived at a certain point in human evolution. There has been too much emphasis on this in the past. It is a misconception that the genealogy of a single genetic region reflects the population divergence. Instead, genetic test results suggest that there are pockets of genetically isolated communities that together preserve a great deal of human diversity. It's exciting to think that it is likely other divergent lineages will be found and that some of these may further increase the age of the Y chromosome tree. Dr Hammer sums it up with, ''There has been a lot of hype with people trying to trace their Y chromosome to different tribes, but in this case, Albert Perry from South Carolina can say he did it!'' 

NOTE:  For more information about the Y-Chromosome read my JULY 7, 2010 posting entitled; "X-Celling Over Men !"

Arrest of Egyptian Satirist No Laughing Matter !

Egypt's Islamist rulers clearly have no sense of humor -- and that may contribute to their undoing. The country's top prosecutor issued an arrest warrant on March 30 for Bassem Youssef, Cairo's most popular comedian.  Youseff hosts a mock news show called, ''El Bernameg'' (The Programme) that evolved out of the uprising two years ago. Its spoofs and satires have become the symbol of a more tolerant society willing to make fun of its foibles.

Yousef's show also reflects the cultural change that has been as important as political change in the Middle East's transformation. Comedy, hip-hop, theater, poetry and film helped give voice to the rejection of both autocrats and extremists in the decade after 9/ll. That changing culture then helped embolden protesters to take to the streets in 2011. But the government of President Mohamed Morsi seems too thin-skinned to tolerate even playful criticism.The prosecutor has charged that the skits on Youseff's late-night show went too far by ''insulting Islam and mocking Morsi.'' But Yousef is outspoken in his adherence to his Muslim faith, and he is an equal-opportunity satirist.

Originally trained as a cardiac surgeon, he raced to Tahrir Square in early 2011 to treat protesters badly beaten by baton-wielding thugs on camelback. The experience turned him into a revolutionary committed to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. It also led to a career change. ''The revolution triggered the idea to do a show exposing the hypocrisy that was happening,'' he said, ''So I became a comedian overnight.'' The first skits made fun of the ensconced elites backing Mubarak. The YouTube videos were an instant sensation at a time when social media was the revolution's primary tool. After Mubarak's ouster, Youseff was picked up by an Egyptian satellite channel. His current show is among the most popular, reaching some 30 million viewers.

During the 18 months of military rule that followed, he daringly poked fun at the generals. During the first democratic presidential last year, he lampooned all 13 candidates. Since Morsi's election in June, Youseff has regularly spoofed the Muslim Brotherhood official, teasing him for everything from his policies to his sometimes clumsy English. Egyptians have a long history of comedy, but political satire was rarely public until the 2011 uprising. For his part, Yousef has taken his arrest on April 1st in stride. ''Police officers and lawyers at the prosecutor general's office want to be photographed with me. Maybe this is why they ordered my arrest,'' he tweeted from the courtroom. He was interrogated for almost five hours and released on bail pending further investigation. ''This won't tame my humor at all,'' he told the mob of reporters. ''I am already planning the next show. I am going to make fun of what happened to me --- and President Morsi. Who else?

Actually, his arrest followed a presidential warning on March 24th that the government was prepared to take unspecified actions to ''protect this nation.''  It is understood that several arrest warrants were soon issued for other critics, a move which raised international concerns over freedom of expression in Egypt's supposed democratic government. The reaction overseas could cost the government dearly. At a moment when Washington was preparing for Morsi's first visit, the State Department criticized Cairo for ''disturbing'' restrictions on free speech, activist unrest, violence against Coptic Christians and uneven justice. In fact, many in Washington are wondering why President Obama would even think of inviting a man who, as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, actively spoke of destroying Israel and renewing ties with Iran. He should wait until he and his government change their rhetoric.

The Way I See It.....if a television program brings down a regime, then this means it was a weak regime that did not deserve to stay in place. I never heard of a program that brought down a regime. It was a relief to hear the case against him was dismissed last week. The court overruled the complaint against Yousef and his show on the grounds that the plaintiff did not have an interest in the case. Mahmoud Abul-Enein, a lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood, had demanded the withdrawal of the licence of the TV channel that screens El Bernameg, claiming the show ''corrupted morals and violated religious principles.'' President Morsi's office distanced itself from the action, citing the ''the importance of freedom of expression.''

''We did not revolt against a regime that suppresses freedoms to replace it with a regime that (always reminds us) of the alleged freedom it gives,'' Yousef  added that he is denying reports that the Egyptian authorities were behind his decision to stop airing the show for a few weeks. He said he decided to stop production for a while to his team a well-deserved break. ''I will be traveling to America to attend a very important international event that announce shortly.''  Yousef also said that he will continue producing his show, adding that he will turn to YouTube if his program is ever shut down. In conclusion he said, ''The Arab world's new democracies should take note; freely elected governments have a hard time retaining legitimacy -- and ultimately power -- if they can't take a joke.''

To Michelle, a ''Beard'' By Any Other Name Would Be The Same !

As a young single black woman, Michelle Robinson was a fixture in the home of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who along with Rev. Jeremiah Wright ''arranged'' her marriage to Barack Obama, according to sources in Chicago who know the couple. ''If you want to understand Michelle Obama, you've got to go back to Jesse Jackson,'' a woman called ''Robyn'' for this article told to WND (America's Independent News Network).

Robyn, who spent several years years working for Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition, explained to the WND investigator in Chicago that Michelle Robinson ''just about grew up in Jesse Jackson's home. Jesse should have charged her rent and board for the amount of time she spent in his home instead of her own.'' Jackson's daughter, Santita, is still one of Michelle's best friends. Santita and Jesse Jr. call her ''sis,'' short for ''sister.''  Santita likes to say that she has known Michelle since they car-pooled together as high school classmates. Santita was maid-of-honor at Michelle and Barack's wedding and she is the godmother to the Obama's older daughter, Malia. Santita's brother, Jesse Jr., a Democratic Party member of the U.S. House (from Illinois), served as the national co-chairman of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

It all relates back to Trinity United Church of Christ and to the Jesse Jackson orbit of blacks here in Chicago who gave Obama legitimacy and helped him establish his identity as a black man,'' Robyn explained. ''The political socialist Left wanted to push a black into the presidency, and the key operatives in the Democratic Party decided long ago it wouldn't be Jesse Jackson (Sr.). Then Jesse wanted it to be his son, but Jesse Jr had serious drug and mental problems that we know about now. These were known about in the Party and Jesse Jr. was never going to be the black president. So, the political Left then chose Obama.''

Obama's retelling of an event most spouses remember precisely for the rest of their lives has caused confusion. Exactly when and how did he first meet Michelle Robinson? Obama stated he first met Michelle at university and were classmates. Not True!! The problem is that Michelle earned her degree from Harvard in June, 1988, and Obama did not arrive at Harvard law School until that fall, graduating in 1991. The common accepted story is that they first met in Chicago in 1989, when Barack took a summer job as an intern at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin, and Michelle, who was employed as a lawyer at the firm, was assigned to be his mentor. On a number occasions she would take him to Trinity Church on Sunday where he met Rev. Wright and many of her upper middle class influential friends.

Political connections played large throughout Michelle's young life. Her father, Fraser C. Robinson lll, was a volunteer Democratic precinct captain in addition to his job in the boiler room at Chicago's water purification plant. As precinct captain, Robinson had power and influence, given his access to ''street money'' the Mayor Daley machine freely handed out to make sure South Side black voters turned out to vote for Democratic candidates. After Obama graduated in 1991 he returned to Chicago to work as a lawyer and as a community organiser and joined the Trinity Church congregation. Rev. Wright recognized his gay leanings and encouraged him to become member of the Down Low Club (exposed in my last posting), where he could meet other gay men in secret with Wright's blessing. Obama's participation in the gay bar and bathhouse scene got to be well known, but it was time to seriously groom him for politics.

The selection of Michelle Robinson for marriage to Obama was made by Jesse Jackson, and Rev. Wright agreed it would be a good combination. Robyn explained, ''Michelle came from a political family; she was intelligent even if she didn't really like to work. Wright knew Obama was gay, but he needed the cover of a wife if he were to succeed in politics, what gays would call 'a beard.'''  Jackson explained to Michelle that she would live a life of luxury once Obama was president, and that she never again would have to work and worry about money. Carolyn added that Michelle was ''essentially treated like she was Jesse's daughter, and Michelle's connections in Chicago were going to be a key to Obama's rise to power.''  Robyn elaborated, ''Michelle was nasty (photo), and most straight guys would never be able to put up with her moods and temperament. But Obama really didn't care. Michelle had the credentials and she looked the part. Obama wasn't interested in her for sex, he just needed a 'fag-hag.''' 

In 1991, during their engagement, top Obama adviser Marxist Valerie Jarrett, then serving as the deputy chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, hired Michelle to a job in the mayor's office. ''Michelle hated working for the city even more than she hated working at Sidley Austin,'' Robyn told WND. ''She didn't last for long at the law firm and at the City Hall, where she worked under the Mayor, Michelle had one of those 'Jesses hires' positions. These are patronage jobs where recipients did nothing except collect a check for doing very little.''  When Jarrett left Mayor Daley's office to head Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, she took Michelle with her. Later, Jarrett became chairwoman of the Chicago Medical Center, and gave Michelle ''a cushy job'' at the medical center with a salary of $317,000!
It was a lot more than Barack was getting teaching constitutional law at the local university.

The Way I See It....nearly two decades ago, Ms Valarie Jarrett swept the young lawyers of an arranged marriage (photo) under her wing, introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own, and eventually secured contacts and money from Jewish Marxists and Socialist Blacks that was essential to Barack Obama's long-shot to a Senate victory. Michelle almost divorced him when he failed to get elected the first time, but Jackson and Wright forced her to stick with him. Edward Klein, in his book, The Amateur (2012) , describes Jarrett as the ''de facto'' president of the United States and ''the best friend of the first lady and soul mate of the president.''  For more information on Valerie Jarrett's past and present influences read my Blog Posting, A Svengali in a Cabal of Commies  (September 13, 2012).

The Low Down on Barack Obama's Down-Low Club !

Ten years ago, the New York Times reported in an article, ''Double Lives on the Down Low'', on a growing underground subculture in America's black community known as Down Low , comprised largely of men who secretly engage in homosexual activity while leading ''straight'' lives in public. The Times story said that though many black men reject ''a gay culture they perceive as white and effeminate, they have settled on a new identity, with its own vocabulary and customs and its own name: Down Low.''  The article continued with ''so it seems that the majority of those having sex with men still lead secret lives, against the tenets of black culture that deems masculinity and fatherhood as a black man's primary responsibility -- a viewing homosexuality as a white man's perversion.'' 

Then in 2008, Hillary Clinton's campaign researchers investigated rumors that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was running a ''matchmaking service'' for members of his Trinity United Church of Christ known as the Down Low Club, which it was found, that it included Barack Obama. That information was suppressed and nothing became of it. So now....recently, WND (America's Independent News Network) investigators, over several months, have interviewed a number of members of the church who claim the president benefited from Wright's efforts to help black men who engage in homosexual activity appear respectable in black society by finding them a wife.

The Down Low Club at Trinity ''doesn't have meetings, and it isn't like a Rotary Club,'' a source identified as ''Carolyn'' explained to a WND investigator in Chicago. ''It was more that Wright served as a matchmaker,'' said Carolyn, a 25 year-year member of Trinity who worked in the church's administration and knows the Obamas personally. ''He kept his eye on the young guys coming to church,'' she said, ''and if he spotted someone that acted or looked gay, then Wright would give them a guidance counselor-type direction on how to keep down low -- how to do things they wanted to do, but then also getting married and looking 'respectable'-- being part of black society.''

To Trinity insiders, the Down Low Club was simply known as ''the program.''  ''That's the terminology. At Trinity, you're urged to 'get-with-the-program,''' explained a male beneficiary of the Club. ''What that means is it's OK to go ahead and have sex with men, just as long as you get-with-the-program and marry a woman, somebody no straight guy would want to marry.'' The wife, the Club member explained, is ''your 'beard', your cover -- so you can look like you're living the straight life, even though you're not.''  With this opportunity for respectability, the majority of Club members were willing to marry an unattractive woman to be their ''fag-hag'', who otherwise might have ended up a lonely spinster with no means to provide for a living.

Carolyn explained that for many black families, attending Trinity was a way out of poverty. ''Trinity was a chance to network. The shit Wright preached was hateful, but about 70% of those who went there ignored the radical rhetoric and were just trying to get ahead. Trinity helped a lot of blacks get successful and connected.'' Carolyn added, That's what Wright did for Obama. He connected Obama in the community and he helped Obama hide his homosexuality.''  Carolyn and other members of Trinity who provided statements corroborating her testimony were insistent that WND conceal their identities. ''I'm still scared to discuss this,'' Carolyn said. "At Trinity, if you even hint at talking about Obama being gay, you are reminded of our dear departed choir master who was killed and it was made to look like a robbery.'' 

Carolyn's reference was to Donald Young ( photo right ), the 47 year old homosexual choirmaster at Trinity who died of multiple gunshot wounds in his Chicago apartment on December 24th, 2007. Young's murder was preceded in November 17th, with the execution-style murder of 25 year old Larry Bland, another black gay Down Low Club member also murdered in his home. It seems they were very close friends and sexual partners with Barack Obama and had sessions of sharing crack cocaine during their sexual encounters.

In late October, Larry Sinclair, a friend of Young claims he received a text message from him stating that ''Young was intimately involved with Senator Obama and that Obama was discussing with him and Rev Wright how to publicly acknowledge Obama's drug use in 1999.'' The text message also indicated that Obama wanted to make sure Young had not discussed the sexual encounters or drug use with any media at that time. Sinclair's last contact with Young was early December with ''A disappointed sounding Mr Young making it clear that Obama had no intention of acknowledging publicly their friendship and the use of crack cocaine in 1999 and that should be the end of it.''  The Obama camp was obviously very woried about any leaks at such a critical time in the campaign.

The Way I See It.....it was understandable that with so many gay Chicagoans being aware of Barack Obama's lifestyle that they were shocked when he ran for president and finally won the White House. Of course it helped to have a ''blind'' and adoring media that overlooked and kept the public from seeing Obama's dark, queer side. Rumors could be denied but when you have two close friends that share intimate sexual and drug encounters you have a weak link in the chain of one's reputation. The knowledge that could be unearthed by a persistent reporter from Donald Young and Larry Bland could be a campaign killer, so it seems a lethal cover-up to protect Obama was initiated.

NOTE: My next Posting will cover the sham marriage of Barack Obama to his fag--hag:  Michelle Robinson.

Feminists Launch ''Topless Jihad Day'' to Protest Islamic Oppression !

A number of my female readers around the world contacted me after my March 29th posting, ''Are You Being Groped Like an Egyptian?'' telling me about a Ukrainian women's activist group named FEMEN that have instigated an international outrage over human rights abuses in Islamic countries. Their outrage was called ''International Topless Jihad Day'' and was displayed by many hundreds of their members in major European cities including Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Kiev and Paris. With their bodies painted with slogans such as, ''bare breasts against Islamism,'' the activists protested outside of mosques and Tunisian embassies in each city. (photo right)

These feminist rallies on last week are in support of a 19 year old Tunisian activist dubbed Amina Tyler who posted two pictures of herself online on Facebook last month with a slogan across her breasts that read in Arabic, ''My body belongs to me and is not the source of anyone's honor''  and the other in english, ''f**ck your morals.'' (photo below) The Femen organization published a corresponding reply, ''We're free, we're naked, it's our right, it's our body, it's our rules, and nobody can use religion, to abuse women, to oppress them.''  On Jihad Day, while outside a Paris mosque, a Muslim man kicked an activist donning a black hijad (photo left), there were dozens of Femen members chanting outside a Berlin mosque in freezing temperatures, ''We'll fight against them. And our boobs will be stronger than their stones." The reference to 'stones' is a scary and a real possibility.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has, according to Human Rights Watch, ''long been viewed as the most progressive Arab country with respect to women's rights.''  Yet, in the two years since the revolution, the rise of Islamism has seen women's rights deteriorate. The ultraconservative deadshit Salafis have gained in might since 2011. The Salafi cleric Almi Adel, leader of Tunisia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice , called for Tyler to be punished according to sharia, with eighty lashes, but because of the severity of the act she has committed, she deserves to be stoned to death.''  He warned that her act could be contagious and give ideas to other women. Tyler is in hiding after receiving death threats and said ''I must leave Tunisia.''

In late March, Tyler told Italian journalist Federica Tourn that she believed she would be beaten or raped if Tunisian police tracked her town. She claimed that ''nothing they could do would be worse than what already happens here to women, the way women are forced to live every day. Ever since we are small they tell us to be calm, to behave submissively, to dress a certain way, everything to find a husband. We must also study to be able to marry, because young men want a woman who works.''  She added, ''Women are ready for change: We have reached the height of self-determination, we no longer meekly obey authority, neither family nor religious rules. We know what we want and we make our own decisions. The revolution promised us a more broader freedom and they have taken it away.''

The Way I See It....FEMEN deserves the support the Arab Spring got. They are giving the patriarchy and mealy-mouthed relativists....a kick up the arse! And you thought this stuff was complicated. Religious traditions, respect for cultural difference, fear of legitimating Islamophobia. You'd think twice about declaring a jihad on Islamic attitudes to women and their bodies...right?

Not Femen. At a time of tight-lipped liberal relativism when even the president of the United States is damned careful what he says about the nastiness of Islam, here are women bearing their bodies, quoting Tyler's anti-religious message......standing up for the Sisterhood. Clearly, the protest is provocative, as the above Paris mosque photo shows. Some of the media have criticised Femen's ''jihad'', arguing that it is naive to defend the rights of women in north Africa in this cheerfully secular way. But what is wrong with stating clear principle and shining the West's glare on a medieval system of female subjugation as the Arab Spring goes cold?

Thatcher was Far Smarter Than the Warmists Claim !

A great leader is dead. Margaret Thatcher was not merely Britain's first female Prime Minister. She was one of the greatest, overshadowed only by Winston Churchill among her nation's Prime Ministers in the 20th Century. Her great achievement was to smash the sclerotic and suffocating state socialism that had made Britain weak and contemptible. She reformed the crippling power of the arrogant trade unions, sold off nationalised industries and restructured the British economy by cutting top tax rates of 83% down to 60% and creating a nation of shareholders. In doing so she made her country a nation of opportunity. Thatcher left Britain richer, stronger and more confident than it had been since WW ll. She also fought the great battles for freedom for other peoples, combining with Ronald Reagan to help destroy communism in East Europe.

When it came to the budding hysteria of global warming she was at first convinced of the science presented. At the second World Climate Conference in 1990, she said in a speech, ''The danger of global warming is as yet unseen, but real enough for us to make changes and sacrifices, so we do not live at the expense of future generations.''   But ten years later, with her training in chemistry, she began to change her mind after studying further evidence. She thereby became one of the earliest and most prominent sceptics. At first, back in 1988, she had fallen under the spell of Sir Crispin Tickell, England's man at the U.N. In the 1970's, he had written a book warning that the world was cooling. This led to the famous 1974 issue of TIME magazine with it's front cover headline declaring "An Ice Age Coming!" Unfortunately, Sir Tickell got sucked into the warmist hype and converted to the belief that it was warming instead.

Mrs Thatcher found equally persuasive the views of another prominent convert to the warmist cause, Dr John Houghton, then head of the United Kingdom's Met (Meteorological) Office. She backed him in setting up the United Nation's (now defunct) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. It is not widely appreciated, however, there was a dramatic twist to her climate convictions. In 2003, towards the end of her last book ''Statecraft'', in a passage headed "Hot Air and Global Warming'', she issued what amounts to an almost complete recantation of her earlier views. She voiced precisely the fundamental doubts about the warming scare that have since become familiar to us.

Pouring scorn on the ''doomsters'', she questioned the main scientific assumptions used to drive the scare, from the conviction that the chief force shaping the world climate is CO2, rather than natural factors such as (the now proven) solar activity, to exaggerated claims about rising sea levels. She mocked Al Gore and his his largely misleading documentary, "The Inconvenient Truth'' and the futility of ''costly and economically damaging schemes'' to reduce CO2 emissions. She cited the 2.5C rise in temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period as having had almost entirely beneficial effects. She pointed out that the dangers of a world getting colder are far worse than those of a CO2-enriched world growing warmer. She recognised how distortions of the science had been used to mask an anti-capitalist, Left-wing political agenda which posed a serious threat to the progress and prosperity of mankind. She saw firsthand what a corrosive force socialism is to freedom.

The Way I See It....Margaret Thatcher championed individual liberty and had an unapologetic optimistic patriotism that rang true with her citizens that led to her being elected for three momentous terms of office as British Prime Minister. When the British Conservative Party had lost its way in the 70's and decided to go left, Thatcher went right and by doing so she saved English democracy. Also, long before it became fashionable, Lady Thatcher was converted to the view of those who, on both the scientific and political grounds, are profoundly sceptical of the climate change ideology. Now we just need more of the world's leaders to get ''the Big Idea."

For the ratbags that marched in celebration at news of her death with rude placards of ''Ding Dong the Bitch is Dead'' yesterday I try to imagine a world by their like. The pictures which reoccur are the French Terror, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao. Of people once described by Bertrand Russell: ''Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power."  Or on these ''moral thugs'' C.S. Lewis wrote: ''Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.''   Enough said.

The Herd Immunity Myth: Pitting Parent Against Parent !

The latest attempt by the media and conventional health authorities to keep vaccination rates high is by pitting parent against using the concept of ''herd immunity.'' Herd immunity is based upon the idea that 95% of the population must be vaccinated for a particular illness in order to prevent epidemics. Some are even arguing that 100% vaccination is necessary for a protective effect. I heard this just last week on Australia's TV morning ''Today'' show where resident M.D. His Smugness, ''Dr Rick'', pontificating on the need to get everybody to take the latest flu shot.

With vaccination rates continuing to fall each and every year as more parents hear of the dangers of vaccination, they delay or forgo shots entirely for their children. So now authorities are blaming unvaccinated children for putting the population at large at risk or worse, for outbreaks themselves. This relentless blame game being played out in the media and at doctor's offices has caused some parents of vaccinated children to fear and look down on the unvaccinated children as potential harbingers of disaster for society and even lash out in rage at parents who choose not to vaccinate.

Note the following comment posted in The Healthy Home Economist page by on such parent who views unvaccinated children as almost in the same league as rabid dogs:
          ''If you do not vaccinate, please home school. I do not want your child to make a pregnant woman lose her pregnancy, or hurt an immunocompromised child. Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose. Vaccines work on a population basis, not an individual basis. Its a public health issue, not an individual health issue. You can drink til your liver is pickled, but stay off the roads we drive. People really do die from childhood diseases and I have not seen my children get these illnesses because the majority of our kids have been vaccinated and not because they are lucky.''

Most alarming about an irrational comment like this is that it is based on completely wrong information -- a myth which is being perpetrated for the sole (financial) benefit of the pharmaceutical industry. What better way to keep Mr and Mrs Jones vaccinating Junior than through good old fashioned peer pressure? The fear that their next door neighbour won't let Johnny come over and play because he isn't ''vaxed'' is a very powerful influence of behavior is it not?

Herd Immunity never applied to vaccine induced immunity! The original definition of herd immunity applied to the protective effect that occurred when a population contracted and recovered naturally from infections.  Natural immunity lasts a lifetime whereas vaccine induced immunity does not. Short term and highly inferior vaccine-induced immunity in a highly vaccinated population cannot in any way be compared with natural immunity acquired by the same group of people.

The herd immunity myth as it is applied to vaccine-induced immunity took hold decades ago when vaccination proponents argued that vaccines provide lifelong immunity in the same was as natural immunity. When this was shown NOT to be true, booster shots were introduced to keep vaccine immunity from ''wearing off.'' To the dismay of vaccination authorities, outbreaks still occur in groups of children who have been fully vaccinated and receiving booster shots. Hence, the convenient blame game and finger pointing that is occurring with unvaccinated children said to be the ''cause of such outbreaks.''

There is a Logic which disproves vaccine induced ''Herd Immunity''. Dr. Russell Blaylock M.D., a retired neurosurgeon, says that if one takes a moment to consider the history of vaccination, the concept of herd immunity as it applies to vaccines unravels quickly. He explains, ''When I was in medical school, we were taught that all of the childhood vaccines lasted a lifetime. This thinking existed for over 70 years. It was not until relatively recently that it was discovered that most of these vaccines lost their effectiveness 2-10 years after been given. What this means is that at least half the population, that is the Baby Boomers, have had no vaccine-induced immunity against any of these diseases for which they had been vaccinated as children. In essence, at least 50% or more of the population was unprotected for decades.''

He continues, ''If we listen to present-day wisdom, we are ALL at risk of resurgent massive epidemics should the vaccination rate fall below 95%. Yet, we have all lived for at least 30-50 years with 50% or less supposed protection. That is, herd immunity has not existed in America for many decades and no resurgent epidemics have occurred.  Vaccine-induced herd immunity is a LIE used to frighten doctors, public-health officials, other medical personnel, and the public into accepting vaccinations.''

The Way I See It.....If you are a parent who chooses to vaccinate and put this crap (like genetically modified yeast, animal, bacterial & viral DNA, MSG, formaldehyde, aluminium, polysorbate 80, calf gelatin,  phenol and glutaradehyde) in your lovely child's veins and subsequent tissue cells, please be aware that the concept of herd immunity as it is erroneously applied to vaccines is being used to manipulate you into using scorn and fear to pressure family and friends within your circle of influence into accepting vaccination against their will.

Is this really the kind of flawed, divisive, misleading and highly misguided public health initiative you want to be a part of?  I have written a number of postings about vaccines, the most recent was this month with ''AUTISM: The Elephant in Your Doctor's office'' (April 1) as well as ''SURVEY: Vaccinated Children Prone To More Disease" (March 19th).

Two Years After Fukushima, Nuclear Power Makes a Comeback !

Nuclear energy is not on the wane. In fact, there has been relentless growth in the demand for uranium as China, Russia, India (photo), South Korea and the United States press ahead with their nuclear energy ambitions and Japan looks to restart its reactors next year. But for the Green / Environmentalist dimwits in Germany, that are shutting down their country's nuclear plants, and in Australia there is no ambition to follow the logic of a constant clean energy supply as well. Around the world, 435 nuclear reactors are in operation and another 65 are under construction.

Over the next 30 years, China is expected to add more than 150 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, which is half the U.S. capacity. As depleted weapons-grade uranium from Russia, a relic of nuclear disarmament, plays a diminishing role in the market supply, the emphasis will turn to mining activities and costs of uranium discovery and extraction. Given the very long lead times involved, there is a strong likelihood that the price of uranium over the next 2-3 years will climb much higher than today.

Uranium's availability to supply world energy needs is great both geologically and because of the increased technology to enhance its use. Increased mineral exploration has raided the world's known uranium resources. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ''Red Book'' on uranium suggests that Australia has the largest resource with around 31% of the world's total uranium (and not one commercial Nuclear power plant!), while Kazakhstan has about 12% and Canada and Russia about 9% each. Current annual usage is around  68,000 metric tons. At this pace, the world's measured resources of uranium are valued at the present spot price and are enough to last for about 80 years. As present resources are used up, with the added reactors coming on-line, higher prices and further exploration are expected to yield further uranium resources.

The spot price for uranium has traded in the region of $51-$53 a pound in recent months. A doubling of price from present levels is expected to create a ten-fold increase in measured economic resources over time. Moreover, if there was widespread use of faster breeder reactors, this could increase the efficiency of uranium use 50-fold or more! This the main reason the Premier of Queensland (Australia), Campbell Newman, has cancelled the previous Bligh Labor government's ass-kissing
arrangement with the Greens to ban uranium mining in north Queensland. He wants his state to share in the largess of this resource, even if the uranium is going overseas for now.

The uranium market is going to be in deficit by 2014 due to the commissioning of new reactors in China-Taiwan (171), India (57), Russia (41), Korea (5), and the U.S. (30). The World Nuclear Association (WNA) estimates that 487 new reactors are proposed or planned to be in operation by 2030, which is a higher count than before Fukushima. There's no holding back China with projects to increase its nuclear power capacity at least five-fold by 2020. Also, India and South Korea are to drive demand for uranium in the coming years. India has had several serious power outages last year, demonstrating the urgent need for power upgrades. They're hoping to reach around 42 reactors by 2032, with South Korea planning to increase capacity by 56% to reach 27.3 GWe by 2020. Construction of two new reactors has already begun.

Looking ahead, the WNA has revised its data to show increased global uranium mine production. In 2011, Kazakhstan was the world's largest producer, yielding 5.04 kilotons of uranium in the second quarter of 2012 (up 9% from the first quarter). In a new project in Namibia, production is projected to rise 20% in 2013, with growth of 12% a year to 2015 due to commissioning of the CGNPC Husab mine, Forsys's Valencia and higher grade access at the Rossing mine. In Canada, production is forecast to rise an average of 13% a year to reach 14.8 kilotons by 2015. A pact was recently signed to allow Canadian uranium producers to export to China and this should support higher production and increased exploration in Canada. Once Queensland comes into production, further access to uranium will become available to those who need it.

The Way I See It....Nuclear power is here to stay. A new generation of nuclear reactors, that have self-contained cooling systems, are missile and earthquake-proof, and much more efficient, will be capable of satisfying the desire for relatively cheap, sustainable and clean energy, is being rolled out in China, India, Russia, South Korea and the U.S.. While there are many uncertainties surrounding the requirement for newly mined uranium, the expectation is that the current surplus of production from all sources will disappear over the next two years, leading to a definite price appreciation. The wild card in the spot uranium market is inventory accumulation. Any threat to the continuity of supply will surely trigger renewed strategic stockpiling and a much sharper price increase. The prospects of uranium appear bullish with the long-term consenus price estimate to 2013 at $63 a pound and is forecast to rise to $80 a pound by 2015. I think it's time to investigate some personal investment in this very important resource.....don't you?