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ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 2 | Issue 33 |

| 17 April 2009

Helen Clark’s real UN job

on the

INSIDE

Documents suggest UN to become ‘world government’

By Ian Wishart

NZPA

Briefing documents from a prestigious socialist think-tank that boasts Helen Clark as a senior member indicate the United Nations is being groomed to become a world government, and Clark’s new UN role is part of that overhaul.

The briefing paper is from Socialist International, a left-wing organization boasting a number of world leaders as members, and which lists Helen Clark as the co-chair of its Asia-Pacific Committee.

Details of the plan are contained in the latest Investigate magazine, which goes on sale this Sunday.

It comes hard on the heels of a United Nations climate change briefing paper leaked to Fox News which also indicates the global warming scare is a smokescreen for a much bigger political agenda: “A United Nations document on ‘climate change’ that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge re-ordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes,industrial relocations,new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes – all under the supervision of the world body [the UN],”reported Fox. The Investigate story has even more detail.

“What is at stake is to launch a reform process of the general UN system in view of fostering a new global agenda and building a New World Order,” begins the Socialist International briefing on the planned reform of the UN. The group, which includes British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as a member and President Obama’s new climate change czar Carol Browner, talks of a five year phase in where elected politicians in countries like New Zealand would also become members of a proposed new UN parliament: “Member States should make way for an enhanced

VEITCH SLAPPED

Graham Henry’s criticism Page 3

role for parliamentarians in global governance.They should instruct the Secretariat to work with national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, as appropriate,to convene one or more experimental global public policy committees to discuss emerging priorities on the global agenda.These committees would comprise parliamentarians from the most relevant functional committee in a globally representative range of countries.In an experimental five-year period, different organizational arrangements could be tested and, through periodic review, refined over time.

“At some point, contemplation of a UN Parliamentary Assembly will be needed to complement UN General Assembly, where the states are represented. Such a development should be supported by the gradual emergence of truly global citizenship,” says Socialist International.

“International democracy is feasible and politically necessary. Such an Assembly should be more than just another UN institution. It would have to become a building block of a new, democratically legitimate, world order.”

The UN, with two parliaments, one for the nations as exists now and another for individual parliamentarians, would gradually take over responsibility for the military forces of nation states, and control world economic flows.

The briefing paper draws heavily on reports completed by Kemal Dervis,Helen Clark’s predecessor as UN Development Programme head, which indicates Socialist International has been working closely in plans to reform the United Nations along these lines.

The full story, including Helen Clark’s role, is outlined in the May edition of Investigate magazine.

NZ taxpayers invest $30m in China

By Ian Llewellyn of NZPA

Shanghai, April 17 – New Zealand will spend $30 million constructing and promoting its pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, Prime Minister John Key said today.

The sum is five times the amount spent at the last world expo at Aichi in Japan and Mr Key said he was planning to return to China next year with a

business delegation to promote New Zealand and its business links.

The Chinese are estimating 70 million people will visit the expo and Mr Key said if only a small number of those chose to buy New Zealand goods or visit the country, then the economic spin-offs would be enormous.

Speaking at the opening of a business centre for New Zealanders working in Shanghai, Mr Key said

New Zealand had to invest heavily to increase trade into China.

The time for debating the merits and potential of doing business with China was over.

“The question is how you convert that into a long term successful business model and that has eluded a lot of businesses in the past and it is not to be underestimated the challenges that are here,but that is why New Zealand has to invest heavily,”Mr Key said.

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NUKE STRIKE Israel will hit Iran Page 6

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More Vitamin D news Page 16

Government agencies were there to help and would continue to do so, he said.

Both Zespri and Solid Energy said they would be spending money on developing New Zealand’s exhibition to help draw the attention of the millions of visitors expected to visit the expo.

New Zealand’s exports to China have been booming since the two countries signed a trade deal a year ago despite the global economic recession.

China has reported its worst economic growth data since 1992. It slowed in the first quarter of Continue reading

NEW ZEALAND

off BEAT Woman, 86, made burglary suspect cry TREHARRIS, Wales, April 17 (UPI) – Police in Wales said an 86-year-old woman used her metal crutch to beat a 26-year-old burglary suspect to tears and forced him to sit and wait for officers.

Gwyneth Davies, who is recovering from pneumonia, broken ribs and a hip fracture, told police she was on her way to bed when she discovered the man in her kitchen, The Sun reported.

Davies said she struck the man four times with her metal crutch and ordered him to sit on a stool in her kitchen while she called the authorities.

“I lashed out. He was bent over the worktop pretending to cry,” Davies said. “It was better than going to the pictures. The police arrived and asked if I was all right. I said, ‘You’re asking the wrong one!’”

Detective Constable Justin Noble said police officers were impressed with Davies.

“She’s my new heroine,” he said.

The suspect was arrested and charged with burglary.

Snakes on a plane! Plane grounded MELBOURNE, April 17 (UPI) – An Australian airline said two flights were cancelled due to the escape of four baby pythons from a container in a plane’s cargo hold.

Qantas bosses said workers discovered that a shipment of 12 non-venomous Stimson pythons in the cargo hold of a plane that arrived in Melbourne from the city of Alice Springs was light four snakes, Britain’s The Daily Mail reported.

Officials said the Boeing 737 was grounded after staff members were unable to locate the escaped pythons.

“At first we were not sure what had happened to the other snakes,” Qantas Corporate manager David Epstein said. “A reptile expert suggested that some of the baby pythons had eaten the others because apparently it is not uncommon for baby pythons to eat each other.”

But the only conclusion we could draw was that four of them had broken free of the packaging, he said.

Epstein said the plane was returned to service after fumigation.

“If these snakes turn up they will very much be dead snakes,” he said.

Police nix music to avoid fees TROWBRIDGE, England, April 17 (UPI) – Police officers in England’s Wiltshire county are prohibited from listening to music at work, a move intended avoid having to pay license fees, officials said.

Officials said they banned the public playing of music on radios, Web sites, TVs and MP3 players after the Performing Rights Society for Music demanded the police force pay a NZ$50,000 license fee, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The PRS told police bosses the license fee is required for all uses of music in police stations, offices, gyms and other communal areas. The Wiltshire Police announcement said playing of music by any means across the force would cease forthwith.

“I know that many of you will feel that this is a ridiculous situation. I agree,” Wiltshire Chief Constable Brian Moore said in a letter to officers. “However, chief officers and I fundamentally object to paying a license fee to PRS for Music to cover Wiltshire Police premises.”

Scottish cops seek ‘police speak’ overhaul DUMFRIES, Scotland, April 17 (UPI) – Police in Scotland’s Dumfries and Galloway council area are proposing the Scottish Police Federation do away with police speak in favour of plain English.

Officers have submitted proposals to the Scottish Police Federation conference scheduled for next week asking top officials to consider doing away with many confusing and irritating phrases they are forced to use while dealing with the public, The Times of London reported.

“The mover of the motion feels strongly that for too long the Police Service has chosen verbosity over accuracy and clarity and that in 2009 there should be a return to plain English,” the proposal reads. “Too many documents are crowded with management terminology and buzz phrases which wax and wane in popularity.

“A return to plain English would avoid confusion and doubt about exactly what we are saying and meaning and would benefit not only the police service but the communities we serve,” it states.

Constables said phrases and acronyms they want to get rid of include SPOC for single point of contact, SOCO for scenes of crime officer, ‘party’ for person and ‘negative’ for no.

17 April 2009

OECD calls for health insurance Wellington, April 17 – Recommendations in an OECD report on New Zealand to create a greater role for private health insurance have been welcomed by the industry body here.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report yesterday identified New Zealand as the most indebted country in the group of 30 industrialised nations.

It painted a grim economic picture and suggested significant policy changes, including reviewing government ownership to try to spur competition.

The health sector came under scrutiny, with the report questioning its governance system and calling for more private sector involvement to spur competition.

Health Funds Association of New Zealand (HFANZ) executive director Roger Styles said the organisation welcomed calls for a greater role for private health insurance.

“New Zealand is currently way below the OECD

average in terms of the level of private contribution to healthcare costs,”he said.

“With the current fiscal pressures facing the Government, smarter use of the private sector in health is becoming even more important.”

Mr Styles said a rebate proposal looked at by National last year before being dropped in the tough economic climate needed reassessment in light of the OECD report.

He said other countries such as Australia had successfully grown the private sector contribution.

While HFANZ warmed to the report’s findings, others in the health sector were not so impressed.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell described the report’s health prescription as “ideological bonkers”.

“The report advocates running the health system as if it was a commercial business, forgetting that this was tried and failed in the 1990s.”

New Zealand was too small a country to have a

health system based on competing units, he said.

Mr Powell called for greater collaboration and integration of services.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said today the Government was focusing on increasing productivity in the sector rather than major structural changes.

That included encouraging greater collaboration between district health boards, increasing the number of medical training places and getting better primary care cooperation at GP level.

Meanwhile, the Researched Medicines Industry Association (RMIA) has called for the government to take note, leading into next month’s budget, of recommendations for increased funding for medicines.

There was barely enough funding for existing medicine approvals, let alone new innovative medicines becoming available, RMIA chief executive Ken Shirley said.

– NZPA

Ski company reassures public Wellington, April 17 – Skifield operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts today emailed customers to say its database security had been tightened, after personal details were found to be accessible to those who knew names and birthdates.

The oversight on the Mt Ruapehu skifield website had been remedied, marketing manager Mike Smith told customers in the email.

While no financial or payment information was kept on the website, from the beginning of April visitors could access the home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of 18,000 pass holders.

Customers accessed the database only when buying a season pass.

The amount of information required had now been reduced, after complaints from “a number of customers”, Mr Smith said.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner contacted website operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which today added password protection to the site.

Alpine Lifts then removed “all external access” to the database.

“We would like to assure customers who have already bought a 2009 season pass that their information can not be accessed by anyone outside of the company and apologise for any alarm this situation may have caused.”

– NZPA

2009 to 6.1 percent, but some analysts see signs of a recovery with hope that the last quarter was the trough.

Growth was 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2008, but the first quarter GDP figure dropped as exports fell 17 percent in March.

China’s government has said it is determined to achieve annual growth of 8 percent, and to expand its domestic demand.

Mr Key said while the Chinese export sector was being hit hard, internal demand remained strong.

New Zealand had to work hard to build on the trade deal.

“I strongly believe the potential upside is enormous for both countries, the FTA provided us with an entree into the Chinese market and the challenge for New Zealand is to convert that into real success for our economy.”.

Mr Key continues his trip in Shanghai today, before flying out to the Boao Forum on Hainan Island over the weekend.

The forum is a regional economic summit bringing political and business leaders together.

Mr Key believed his trip to China had been a tremendous success, with Chinese leaders saying relations between the two countries had never been better.

Ian Llewellyn travelled to China with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation

PM on China-Fiji relationship Wellington, April 17 – Prime Minister John Key is continuing to tread carefully over China’s relationship with Fiji, saying a collaborative approach to Pacific Island issues will get the best results.

Fiji’s self-imposed leader Frank Bainimarama has continued to inflame international opposition by ramping up political reforms over the past two weeks.

China has been financially supportive of Fiji and there have been concerns that continued aid could undermine attempts by Pacific countries to encourage a return to democracy in Fiji.

Prime Minister John Key, who is on an official visit to China, was asked today about China considering loans to Fiji of US$228 ($NZ405) million.

“It’s my view if that we could work constructively with China when it comes to aid... then I think we can add value and I think it can deliver better results for everybody,”he said.

“In the end though, China is an independent country and it is free to make commercial loans wherever it wants to, we can’t stop that, nor would we try to.”

He said he had raised the Fiji issue with Chinese leaders to point out that New Zealand and China could work for the betterment of both the Pacific

region and each other through collaboration.

“All I can do is repeat the comments that Premier Wen (Jiabao) made yesterday, which was that he has made it clear to the Fijians that to work constructively with New Zealand and other Pacific Forum leaders is in the best interests of getting a successful outcome.”

Fiji’s Court of Appeal ruled last week that Cdre Bainimarama’s military regime was illegal under the country’s 1997 constitution.

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo responded by sacking the judges, dissolving the constitution and ruling out any election for five years.

He briefly removed Cdre Bainimarama before re-appointing him as prime minister.

Since then there has been intense government censorship of local media, deportation of international journalists, and a 20 percent devaluation of the Fiji dollar by a new military-appointed Reserve Bank governor.

The 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum has said it will suspend Fiji from the group on May 1 if Cdre Bainimarama hasn’t announced an election date.

Since such an announcement has been ruled out and forum chairman, Niue’s Premier Toke Talagi, has called for immediate suspension.

– NZPA

NEW ZEALAND

17 April 2009

Henry speaks out against Veitch Wellington, April 17 – All Blacks coach Graham Henry has spoken out against Tony Veitch’s assault on his former partner after coming under fire from Women’s Refuge for his perceived support of the broadcaster.

Veitch, 35, was yesterday fined $10,000, placed on supervision for nine months and ordered to do 300 hours of community work after pleading guilty to injuring his former girlfriend Kristin Dunne-Powell with reckless regard to her safety.

The Auckland District Court was presented with a raft of character references for Veitch, written by high-profile sports and broadcasting figures, including Henry.

The coach described Veitch as a fair and objective reporter who had abstained from “bagging” individuals following the All Blacks’ early departure from the 2007 Rugby World Cup. “Because of his qualities as a journalist and his willingness to help others,Tony has many supporters in the community and they all hope that he gets an opportunity as soon as possible to be able to get on with his life,”Henry said.

Women’s Refuge chief executive Heather Henare, who yesterday praised Veitch for taking responsibility for his actions, said yesterday some of his supporters should be embarrassed, and she singled out Henry’s statement.

“We’re talking about someone who had a broken back as a result of an assault.”

Henry said today he would be concerned if his comments had been “misconstrued”.

“I don’t condone what happened. It was a terrible act,”he said.

“I provided a character reference for him based on the relationship I had with him professionally and my knowledge of the work he had done with sporting clubs and charities.”

Dame Susan Devoy also spoke out today against her own words being used in court and in the media.

She said she had provided a testimonial for Veitch’s application to have his passport returned and it was not for use during his sentencing.

“I feel misled,”the squash legend said this morning.

In her testimonial Dame Susan said Veitch deserved a chance to get his life back and have the opportunity to work again.

She had been asked to provide a testimonial on Monday, but did not know then that he would be appearing in court this week, and was taken aback when he did, she said.

“I honestly wrote my testimonial in the belief it was to support an application from Tony to get his passport back for the possibility of a job opportunity,”she told Radio Live.

She had written it because she believed Veitch, whom she knew and whose stepmother was a close friend, deserved a chance to work again.

“I mean we can’t ostracise him for the rest of his

Broadcaster Tony Veitch talks to the media outside the Auckland District court after his sentencing after pleading guilty to reckless disregard causing injury over an assault on his former partner Kristin DunnePowell.NZPA / Wayne Drought

life. But it is a different kettle of fish when you are writing a letter of support of someone coming up for sentencing.”

She said she would not necessarily have refused to provide a testimonial for his sentencing.

Meanwhile,Veitch’s lawyer, Stuart Grieve, QC, said his client had been“stitched up”by the media over

NZ dollar ends week testing downside Wellington, April 17 – The New Zealand dollar was testing support at lower levels today as the week drew to a close. The NZ dollar was at US57.10c at 5pm, not far above the US56.80c it dropped to during a bumpy Thursday night.

On Tuesday it was worth as much as US59.10c.

Consumers Price Index data today did not prove

to be a market moving event as the 0.3 percent rise in the index in the three months to March was in line with expectations.

The annual rate of 3 percent has fallen from an 18year high of 5.1 percent as recently as the September quarter.Economists were divided on the implications for interest rate policy, with Deutsche Bank seeing

little merit in further interest rate cuts.

However, the NZ dollar continues to move around largely in reaction to changes in international investors’ appetite for risk. Data this week, including weaker than expected GDP data in China, suggested the global economy is still struggling.

– NZPA

Speculators and intraday traders have been driving trading in major currencies.

The NZ dollar edged up against the Australian dollar to A79.40c at 5pm from A79.20c yesterday.

The NZ dollar was 0.4362 euro from 0.4360 and 56.80 yen from 56.95.The trade weighted index was 56.94 at 5pm from 57.04 yesterday.

– NZPA

Witness: Robin Bain didn’t suicide

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the rifle beside him.

Mr Walsh said he tested the path of ejected cartridge cases from the rifle and concluded that if the firearm was on the lounge side of the curtain – where Robin Bain was found – it was possible for the case to be ejected and bounce through a small gap in the curtain, or go beneath it.

One spent cartridge was found in the alcove.

He also examined white gloves which were found in the bedroom of 14-year-old Stephen Bain, who had been killed after a struggle.

He found a partially burnt particle on a glove, which supported the proposition that the gloves were worn by someone handling or firing the rifle.

The hearing is continuing.

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Christchurch, April 17 – A third expert witness has told the David Bain murder trial today that examination of his father Robin’s bullet wound showed that he could not have taken his own life.

ESR scientist Kevan Walsh placed the placed the rifle shot at “beyond 200mm” from Robin Bain’s skin surface.

His evidence supported that given earlier by two pathologists.

David Bain, 37, is being retried for murdering his parents and three siblings at the family’s Dunedin home in June 1994.

But the defence claims that Robin Bain shot his wife and three of his children before turning the gun on himself.

Mr Walsh told day 26 of the trial before Justice Graham Panckhurst and a jury in the High Court at Christchurch that there was less than expected soot around the wound than if it was a self-inflicted wound.

There was no obvious tearing of the skin which occurred with contact wounds because of gas entering the wound.

There were red marks around the wound which he said were “unburnt powder particles embedded under the skin surface”.

The Crown has claimed that David Bain killed his mother, two sisters before shooting his father from behind a curtain in an alcove in the lounge.

Robin Bain’s body was found in the lounge with

several issues and another barrister intended to bring defamation action against some outlets.

Mr Grieve said the“media frenzy”had made the situation difficult for everybody and“whoever runs the (defamation) case for Mr Veitch will not have difficulty in establishing it”.

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EDITORIAL

17 April 2009

Editorial

Family Matters

A watershed year We’re back, not quite at full strength but almost.

Since December we’ve been juggling the production deadlines of TGIF every week, Investigate magazine (three weeks out of every four),WSD Global Markets Ltd’s ill-fated lawsuit attempt (six weeks) and writing Air Con, the new book on global warming (every week).

Did I mention the birth of our daughter Sophia Trinity, squeezed in there as well (right in the middle of the lawsuit, actually)?

Talk about juggling, but we got there.

The process of getting into the thick of it has been useful, because it turns out that what appeared to be separate threads are in fact part of the same piece of rope. Case in point, Helen Clark’s appointment to the United Nations. It seemed like just a diplomatic job to close off the career, until you join the dots that lead to climate change.This year,

2009, is a make or break year for the global warming industry. The United Nations and its political sycophants are pouring everything they have into getting a Treaty at Copenhagen this Christmas that will replace Kyoto with compulsory and enforceable carbon emissions cuts and penalties.

How does this connect to Clark? Because as our front page story, the latest Investigate magazine and Air Con all make clear, the United Nations has been angling for a massive increase in funding for the past twenty years and a new direction as a real global government.

The UN Development Programme – which Clark takes over from Monday – published its plan for this back in 1994,calling for global taxes on fossil fuels and pollutants in order to fund the UN into global governance mode. Clark’s immediate predecessor in the job has co-authored a blueprint spelling out exactly how

By Bob McCoskrie

the UN will become the world government.

Throughout the years, the call for taxes on pollutants (carbon) and financial transactions (the Tobin Tax) have been central to the UN documents.This year, Helen Clark miraculously turns up to run the UNDP as her predecessor steps aside, and tells the Listener she’s been appointed to“reform”the UN. And this Christmas, for the first time ever, the UN is within a whisker of getting its paws on those global carbon taxes it has always wanted.And if the UN gets that money, this planet is in for a shake-up like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Helen Clark is preparing the UN to become a world government – that’s the job she’s been given based on the briefing documents we’ve seen. Imagine what was done to New Zealand being done on a world scale.

We are indeed living in interesting times.

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Comment

A tale of two banks

By Martin Walker

WASHINGTON – Tucked away inside the small print of the latest Federal Reserve report on its balance sheet is a jaw-dropping nugget of information.

A year ago, American banks had $1.8 billion on deposit with the Fed above and beyond the regulatory requirements.This month, these excess deposits have soared to $771.2 billion.

This is not just massive evidence of hoarding of funds by the banks. It also means that the banks are undermining the Obama administration’s attempts to stimulate the economy. Just as President Obama pumps $787 billion of deficit spending into the economy, the banks take $771 billion out of it and sock it away in the Fed’s vaults.

It’s not quite as bad as that, thanks to the heroic efforts of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to boldly go where no central bank has ever gone before and create unprecedented amounts of money.

In the last six months – as far as we can measure since the Fed no longer issues traditional moneysupply data – the old M3 measure of money supply has increased by 17 percent. (That last bastion of monetarism, the St. Louis branch of the Fed, still publishes a form of M3 data even though the head office in Washington decided to drop it for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained.)

Bernanke’s Fed has expanded its balance sheet from less than $800 billion when this crisis really began last September to around $2 trillion now as it seeks to recapitalize the banks by taking just about anything as collateral. The Fed has even bought more than $450 billion of mortgage-backed securities, the toxic stuff that got us into this financial mess in the first place.

This is all very daring and unprecedented, and it may help to explain the public nervousness of the Chinese government over its dollar holdings. The dollar was one thing when it was backed by gold in Fort Knox, but it is quite another now that the currency is backed by dubious assets.

“The Fed has gone mad,” I was told by a very senior German banker, speaking off-the-record on a recent trip through Europe.

Curiously enough, on returning to Washington, this columnist heard a similar comment about the European Central Bank from one of Obama’s economic advisers. The trans-Atlantic divisions over economic policy between European and U.S. political leaders that were on display at the G20 summit in London on April 2 are but a fraction of the much wider differences between the rival central banks.

The ECB, to be fair, is still a very young institution and feels the need to prove itself through displays of rigorous orthodoxy in winning unimpeachable anti-inflation credentials. That was why it raised eurozone interest rates last July, at a time when the

recession had already landed. It still insists on keeping interest rates much higher than those in the United States and Britain and engages in none of the fancy footwork like quantitative easing that the Anglo-Saxons are deploying.

It also means real economic pain for eurozone countries like Spain and Greece and Ireland that are deep in recession but can get no monetary easing – and no hope of some gentle inflation to get them off the hook. For the ECB, there is no such thing as gentle inflation.

But the impact on European countries is devastating. Unemployment in Spain is at 15 percent and rising. Greece is beset by general strikes and social unrest. Industrial output is collapsing, by 24 percent in Spain, 23 percent in Germany, 21 percent in Italy and 14 percent in France.

Ireland is in agony. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has just introduced a ferocious cost-slashing budget that is designed to stop this year’s budget deficit from hitting 13 percent, and private analysts say it will be higher than that. Ireland’s economy

could shrink by a stunning 8 percent this year, Lenihan said, in addition to the startling 7.1 percent shrinkage in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has denounced the ECB for adopting a ruinous policy.And the difficulties of managing a global recession when the central banks of the two biggest economies are running wholly contradictory policies are evident.

A terrifying experiment is under way to see which of these two, the Fed or the ECB, is right. Given the traditional vigour and innovation of the U.S.economy, my money would be on the Fed,except that it is fighting with one hand tied behind its back by the plight of the American banks. By socking away so much of their depositors’ money in the Fed, where it earns a modest interest, the banks may be rebuilding their capital to buy themselves out of the U.S. Treasury Department’s intrusive Troubled Asset Relief Program. But they certainly aren’t helping haul the economy out of the ditch they drove it into.

– UPI

-Classic Quotes on the Anti-Smacking Law The anti-smacking Referendum has been confirmed to be held between 31 July 2009 and 21 August 2009. It will be a postal ballot.

This week we feature some recent ‘classic quotes’ from politicians and leaders who have ignored the weight of public opinion and lobbied and voted for a flawed law that has impacted on good families – so sit back and be astounded!

1. Phil Goff – Leader Labour Party Interviewer: Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?

Phil Goff: Well my answer to that is no it shouldn’t be a criminal offence (Q+A’s Paul Holmes interviews Labour’s Phil Goff TVNZ Sunday 12 April 2009) Phil Goff doesn’t understand that the law he voted for did make it a criminal offence, and believes that if you break the law, you should not be prosecuted for it. Goff is effectively supporting the amendment being put up by ACT MP John Boscawen which is similar to National MP Chester Borrows’ original proposed amendment.

It begs the questions – why didn’t they simply vote for Borrows’ amendment in the first place? Well, I guess we know the answer to that one, but she’s left the country now Mr Goff. You’re in charge.

But at least he did answer the question, unlike....

2. Bill English – Deputy PM Interviewer: …do you think a smack should be allowed as part of good parental correction?

Bill English: Well, look, I think the law, as it is, is the law of the land and needs to be enforced in a sensible way. And...

Interviewer: But do you think a smack should be allowed as part of good parental correction?

Bill English: I – I think the law, as it is, is the law of the land that should be enforced. If there is evidence that it is being enforced in instances where it’s – where it’s inappropriate because the event is trivial or [indistinct]...

Interviewer: No, no. Sorry, Minister, I just wanted to know whether you could answer that, that should – do you think a smack should be allowed as part of good parental correction?

Bill English: Look, it’s a matter of complying with the law of the land.

(Radio Live 14 April 2009. Read full transcipt) Mr English is asked five times a simple yes or no question. He refuses to answer it five times. Unfortunately he has the unenviable task of defending the indefensible.

Bill English should find like-minded MP’s in National who oppose the current law (which would be most of them) and demand that it be amended. When you can’t even answer a simple question with a yes or a no, it’s quite clear that the political agenda is hampering common sense.

3. Cindy Kiro – Children’s Commissioner The Wellingtonian newspaper: Did you smack your kids?

Kiro: I tried a couple of times. When my oldest was in nappies and was showing an interest in putting things into plug-points, I smacked him. And when they got to about eight or 10, I might have tried it, but I knew it was useless and pointless.

(The Wellingtonian, 8 April 2009) Yep – this is the same ‘Cindy Kiro’ that said “we know more about parenting and child health and development now than we did in our parents’, grandparents’ and great grandparents’ times.” Cindy Kiro knows better than we do, and better than she did.

4. Andrew Little – Labour President He has smacked his son once or twice, “but our approach is non-violent discipline, and he is a pretty well-balanced kid”.

(Dominion Post, 6 December 2008) So a parent can use a smack but have a non-violent discipline approach. Yes – we agree!! Andrew Little understands that smacking is not necessarily abuse, just as time out is not imprisonment, and a good telling off is not emotional abuse.

It’s not the technique that’s the problem – it’s how it’s used. Why don’t they just admit it?

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ANALYSIS

17 April 2009

Israeli strike on Iran, and war, almost certain

By Arnaud De Borchgrave, UPI Editor at Large

WASHINGTON – Gulf Cooperation Council members – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman – are getting ready for what many now assume will be retaliation from Iran following Israeli bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities later this year.

Up and down the Persian Gulf, Patriot missile batteries have been quietly deployed around key oil installations. The Patriot system is designed to detect, target and then hit incoming missiles that may be no more than 10 to 20 feet long and flying at three to five times the speed of sound. Iran has hundreds of missiles and rockets.

There is also a steady traffic in and out of Washington of high-ranking GCC military and defense officials, including army, air force and navy chiefs.

Gulf rulers are fearful Israel’s new government, headed by the tough, uncompromising Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, will walk away from any possibility of a Palestinian solution. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said as much when he made clear“we are no longer bound by the previous government’s undertakings for the negotiation of a Palestinian state.”The Annapolis accord of 2007 for a two-state solution? Didn’t happen on our watch, said Israel’s new governing team. Lieberman even wants to strip any rights from Arab Israelis who are disloyal to the Jewish state.

Undeterred,George Mitchell,the new super negotiator for a Middle East settlement,went back to the region for the third time since Barack Obama became president of the United States. He sees a glimmer of hope for a peace deal with Syria that would detach the ruling dictatorship from its close ties with Iran.

But a Netanyahu government in Israel is not about to give up control of the Golan Heights it has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War. While Iran may unclench its fist in words, as President Obama unclenched America’s, no one in Israel, and very few in other countries, believe Iran’s theocrats will relinquish the nuclear ambitions they have been working on secretly for the past quarter of a century. Netanyahu echoed nearunanimous Israeli feelings when he said an Iranian bomb, coupled with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats of destruction against the Jewish state, is an“existential crisis”that Israel cannot and will not ignore.

Israel’s moderate President Shimon Peres added

a stern warning. If forthcoming talks with Iran don’t yield results, he admonished,“we’ll strike.”

But, he added, this cannot be done without the United States. Israel’s military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the emergence of a nuclear arsenal in Iran is now “mainly dependent on a political decision.”

The assumption among most GCC rulers is that Israel will launch bombers against some of Iran’s 27 nuclear sites as soon as it becomes clear the mullahs won’t agree to surrender their nuclear option at upcoming six-power talks.The United States and Iran will be at the same negotiating table – along with China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany – for the first time since the Iranian Revolution ousted the shah 30 years ago.

Iran’s next presidential elections are scheduled for June 14, when Ahmadinejad may lose the presidency to a candidate judged by Western powers to be comparatively moderate. But the latest word from Iran watchers is that the supreme religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, favors the re-election of his extremist protege. This would be another green light for the Netanyahu coalition government to order an attack.

Interestingly enough, not all the ruling Sunni families in the gulf are against an Israeli attempt to disrupt Iran’s nuclear plans. Most feel threatened by nukes in the hands of a Shiite clerical regime that dreams of dominating the gulf, as the shah once did when Britain in 1968 gave up all its commitments east of Suez. In 1971, the shah seized three strategic islands near the Strait of Hormuz – Abu Musa and Lesser and Greater Tunb – that Britain had entrusted to the ruler of Abu Dhabi.The mullahs refused to return them – and then militarized them with naval guns.

There is plenty of tinder up and down the gulf for a major conflagration throughout the region should Israel strike Iran. The mullahs with their revolutionary guards and far-flung intelligence services possess formidable asymmetrical retaliatory capabilities.They also have at their subversive disposal Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza coupled with a growing influence in the West Bank.

Morocco recently severed diplomatic relations with Iran after its agents were caught proselytizing against Sunni Islam and King MohammedVI.Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates,has 400,000 Iranian residents – including scores

The assumption among most GCC rulers is that Israel will launch bombers against some of Iran’s 27 nuclear sites as soon as it becomes clear the mullahs won’t agree to surrender their nuclear option at upcoming six-power talks of undercover agents.Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, where most its oil fields are located, as well as the world’s largest offshore oil terminal at Ras Tanura and the kingdom’s oil nerve center at Abqaiq, also has a large Shiite minority. And in the kingdom of Bahrain,headquarters for the U.S.5th Fleet,a majority of the population is Shiite and subject to frequent agitation against the ruling Sunni family.

Qatar, which now enjoys the world’s highest standard of living with a per capita income of $78,000, straddles the gulf fence with both ears to the ground, a somewhat ungainly posture but one that’s deemed far more secure. The firebrand satellite television station al-Jazeera was created by Qatar’s ruling al-Thani family and is headquartered in Doha, the capital. But the United States was also authorized to build a base in Qatar with one of the

world’s longest military runways. Qatar is forward headquarters for the Tampa-based Central Command headed by Gen. David Petraeus. For the past 15 years the charismatic Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, the Qatari emir’s wife, spearheaded an educational drive that brought several leading U.S. universities to establish branches in Qatar.

If attacked, Iran could also jeopardize an orderly U.S.military exit from neighboring Iraq in 2010.The two countries fought a war from 1980-1988 that killed about 1 million soldiers from both countries. Iran is influential in the western region of Afghanistan.

Oman, which faces Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, has always made good relations with Iran a top priority. But the prudent Omanis also have the gulf’s best internal security system.

– UPI

Walker’s World

Next rider of the Apocalypse: Famine by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 7 million fewer acres were being planted for all WASHINGTON – We tend to forget that the world- crops.This came after the USDA’s January report wide plunge into recession last year was the result of that noted that winter wheat acreage was down 7 three separate phenomena that combined to breed percent. disaster.The financial crisis was joined by a food criThis means lower output from the United States, sis and a fuel crisis as the prices of food and energy the world’s top food producer, at a time when world soared, triggering food riots across the world. stocks are already low, and farmers are blaming the And now there are ominous signs of another food difficulty in getting credit and the high costs of key crisis in the making this year, spurred in part by the inputs like fertilizer. ongoing credit crunch that has made it difficult for Mother Nature is making things worse, with the farmers to get loans. worst drought in almost 70 years hitting northern “I think the world would like to focus on one China and devastating the winter wheat crop. More crisis at a time, but we really can’t afford to,”warned than 200 million acres in China’s top six grain-proJosette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N.World ducing provinces have been hit, and yields are down Food Program. Food supplies are tight and prices by as much as 40 percent. still high, she said, and more people in poor counThe problem is not just hitting grains.With world tries are unable to afford what they need because soybean stocks 9 percent lower than they were this of the recession. time last year, a further drought in Latin America is “These are not separate crises.The food crisis and a new concern.Yields in southern Brazil, Paraguay the financial one are linking and compounding,” and Argentina are also running at 40 percent of she noted, adding that food shortages often trig- last year’s levels. All this is triggering concern in ger political instability.“I’m really putting out the the markets, where analysts are warning that price warning that we’re in an era now where supplies are hikes are looming, and the speculators coming into still very tight, very low and very expensive.” the market could drive prices even higher.

Alarm bells are starting to ring about another “It’s my opinion that producers feeding livestock food crisis this summer. Last week’s acreage report need to protect against a possible sharp rise in corn

By Martin Walker

prices,”said Dennis Smith, a food-price specialist at Archer Financial Services.“This trade idea would also apply to a speculator looking to profit from a sharp move upward in the corn prices as well.”

Smith also factors in the prospect of biofuels distorting the markets again, as they did last year when high oil prices triggered a demand for biofuels like ethanol, which sent crop prices higher.“What happens if crude oil prices continue to move higher and ethanol margins expand?”Smith asked.

Sheeran, whose World Food Program stands between the world’s poor and starvation, said she will need about $6 billion this year for food aid,which feeds about 100 million of the world’s poorest people in 77 countries.That is slightly more than she raised last year, when food riots erupted across Asia and the Middle East. As of March, donor countries had pledged less than 10 percent of the sums required,or $453 million,mostly thanks to $172 million from the United States and $129 million from Japan.

The one relatively bright spot is in rice, where stocks are relatively high. But concern is rising across Asia. Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary for the Philippines, has warned the United Nations that he fears his country will not be able to secure enough food this year. And Ralph Hautman, the Asia Pacific marketing and global finance officer for

the Food and Agriculture Organization, warned last week that the credit crunch is pressuring farmers to reduce the amount of land they cultivate.

“If farmers or agriculture producers have less access to credit, they are less likely to buy a lot of new seeds and fertilizers, and they’re also less likely to expand their production areas,” Hautman said.

“Then there would be less agriculture production.

This is the concern. The lower production of food crops caused by the lower availability of credit may lead to lower food stocks and shortages.”

This is precisely what has happened in Brazil,where farmers encouraged by last year’s high food prices borrowed money to put more acreage under cultivation and buy new farming equipment, only to face bankruptcy when the squeezed banks called in the loans and foreclosed on their farms and tractors.

Part of the problem is underproduction in some parts of the world, where for various reasons of national planning and priorities, farmers are not free to respond to market signals. This is particularly acute in Russia;analysts at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development noted that 16 percent of the world’s arable land is in Russia, but it produces only 6 percent of the world’s food because of a shortage of both public and private investment.

– UPI

ANALYSIS

17 April 2009

Scair travel: what price safety?

By Peter Curson

New Zealanders are probably some of the world’s most enthusiastic overseas travellers, particularly by air. Proportionately almost twice as many kiwis jump aboard that overseas flight compared with Aussies. But just how safe is air travel these days?

Are there particular health risks associated with air travel? Are we more at risk in the air than we are on the ground?

A recent paper in The Lancet has once again drawn our attention to the medical issues associated with taking a commercial flight. At somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 metres above sea level with a beer or glass of wine in your hand watching the in-flight entertainment system, you might feel safe and relaxed.The downside is that if there is someone sitting near you coughing or sneezing and/or if your own health is already poor,then you might well have some difficulty in surviving the flight unscathed.

There are many health and safety issues involved in flying these days, but first things first.What about pre-departure stress? It seems a very long time since you could arrive at an airport,get your boarding pass, check your bag,pass through immigration etc and be aboard the aircraft in about 30-40 minutes.Now,you are told to be at the airport at least two hours before departure time and you nearly always encounter long slow moving check-in queues,followed by even longer immigration and security queues, and if by chance you trigger a security scanner, its back in the queue sans belt, shoes, jewellery followed by a gentle pat down.The pre take-off formalities are no longer quick and relaxing, but generate stress, irritation, frustration, anxiety and psycho-social stress. And are we safe on the ground in airline terminal buildings? Well, possibly not.

Leaving aside the matter of pre and post-arrival fatigue and stress which is exacerbated by long immigration and baggage check queues,studies show that

crowded terminal buildings are often poorly ventilated and air-conditioned, and good incubators and spreaders of infectious disease as new arrivals and departees mingle with waiting crowds.

What is the risk of contracting an infectious disease on your next long-haul flight? This is not an easy question to answer as the risk depends on a number of variables including, chance, mode of transmission, infectiveness of the source, pathogeneity of the organism, proximity to someone infected, duration of exposure and environmental conditions such as humidity, air flow and ventilation.

Evidence seems to suggest that sitting close to an infected passenger (i.e. within two rows) with a flight lasting eight hours or more are the critical variables. That said it is not difficult to dredge up exceptions. During the SARS epidemic, for example, an Air China flight saw some passengers sitting as far away as seven rows infected in a flight time of only three hours.The moral? Be wary of coughing/ sneezing passengers.A reason for a possible upgrade perhaps? One should be so lucky!

The main concern is not the spread of disease within an aircraft so much as the spread of disease around the globe by individuals infected in one location who then travel to another carrying the infection with them.With more than 2 billion people travelling by air every year, most on journeys which are far shorter than the incubation period of nearly all infectious diseases, modern air travel is probably the most efficient vector of disease the world has ever seen.

Aircraft also carry a wide array of non-paying passengers such as mosquitos and other insects who joy ride along with international passengers and their luggage, only to infect people living close to airports. Over the last few years there have been a number of mini outbreaks of diseases like malaria in the immediate vicinity of European airports brought about by mosquitos hitching a ride on

That’s because proposed new carbon cuts to be finalised this December are expected to eventually cost each household thousands in extra taxes and fees every year! This is your money – don’t you want to be sure the problem is real?

Whether you currently believe global warming is caused by humans, or whether you have nagging doubts, you’ll find Air Con is a compelling read…

“I started reading this book with an intensely critical eye, expecting that a mere journalist could not possibly cope with the complexities of climate science … [But] The book is brilliant. The best I have seen which deals with the news item side of it as well as the science. He has done a very thorough job and I have no hesitation in unreserved commendation.”

– Dr Vincent Gray, UN IPCC expert reviewer

of cattle class? These conditions have been blamed for causing or contributing to, potentially fatal blood clots.This is probably the medical condition which has engendered the most discussion over recent years. Airline brochures draw attention to this condition and suggest a variety of foot and leg stretching movements designed to help circulation during flights. In the cramped conditions of economy travel, have you ever tried to do this successfully, without injuring yourself or the person in the seat in front of you? Perhaps you should regularly trot up and down in the aisle or perform complicated calf muscle exercises while queuing for the toilet? Again, not very easy in today’s modern aircraft with their narrow and heavily trafficked aisles and their totally inadequate toilets.

Dehydration also plays a role – so go easy on the alcohol and caffeine.Perhaps the answer lies in compression stockings? But again put them on before boarding the plane as access to the toilet is somewhat limited pre take-off, and it is often not easy to down trousers or skirts in an economy seat! And for many of us,arrival at our destination is tinged with elements of jet lag – daytime fatigue, broken sleep, reduced appetite and concentration. Perhaps a small price to pay for travelling across the world.

One other aspect needs mentioning. Medical emergencies remain one of the most common reasons for diverting an aircraft.With a rapidly ageing clientele, many with pre-existing health issues, the advent of new super airliners with twice the passenger numbers as the old Jumbos, will surely double the likelihood that on any given flight someone will require emergency medical treatment.

For most of us air travel has now become a way of life. Perhaps we need to know a little more about the medical risks involved.

Peter Curson is Professor in Population & Security, at the Centre for International Security Studies, Faculty of Economics & Business, the University of Sydney. He is also a TGIF Edition subscribe

AIR CON THE Inconvenient TRUTH ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

CON

EARLY REVIEWS: “Air Con demonstrates, with hundreds of scientific references, that ‘global warming’ was not, is not, and will not be a global crisis …The ‘global warming’ debate is not really a debate about climatology – it is a debate about freedom… I commend this timely book, which makes the scientific arguments comprehensible to the layman. Those who read it will help to forestall the new Fascists and so to keep us free.”

– Lord Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, former adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Ian Wishart AIR

What you are about to read is the most up-to-date and easyto-understand write-up on the global warming debate, and arguably the most important new book you’ll read this year.

an international flight. Decades ago international aircraft were subject to spraying inside the cabin before doors were opened and the passengers disembarked. But alas no longer and to our detriment.

I suspect that given the widespread re-emergence of infectious disease it might not be too long before such procedures reappear.

After take-off while the cabin air might seem normal it is actually the equivalent of being 1500 -2400 metres up a mountain, which probably means that you are getting less oxygen than normal. If you are in good health you can probably tolerate this cabin pressure. If you have a heart or respiratory condition, you might just be tipped over the edge.

Otherwise, you may just experience some light headiness, fatigue, dry eyes, stuffy noses and headache, particularly after about four hours in the air.

These days the quality of cabin air is carefully controlled. Exchange with outside air and filtration of recirculated cabin air produces a change of air every 15-20 minutes.This level of ventilation is considerably more than you would find in most New Zealand buildings. Most aircraft these days recirculate about 50% of the air delivered to the passenger cabin for humidity and fuel efficiency reasons.This air is usually passed through highly efficient particulate filters before delivery to the cabin.

Generally, the volume of air conditioning and ventilation is able to maintain a low bacteria and fungi count in the passenger cabin. The high efficiency filters also help in screening out more than 99% of all micro-organisms except viruses. Many viruses, however, are probably caught by the filter as they tend to travel in clumps or in larger dust particles.

Over the years there have been reports of ventilation units being regularly switched off on long-haul flights as a fuel economy measure, as well as reports of filters failing because of becoming clogged with fungus and moulds rendering them inefficient.

And what about the cramped seating so typical

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WORLD

17 April 2009

update

in 60 seconds QUEEN ‘MOST TRUSTED’ London (dpa) – Queen Elizabeth II enjoys greater trust than any other public figure or politician in Britain, according to a survey published Friday.

The monarch, on the throne since 1952, is believed to keep her word by 53 per cent of the British public.

She comes far ahead of her son, the heir to the throne Prince Charles, who is trusted by only 31 per cent of the public.

Among musicians, Bob Geldof – organiser of the Live Aid and G8 campaigns for Africa – comes top, with 26 per cent trust.

A third of Britons believed no politicians were trustworthy. Of the remaining two-thirds, Conservative opposition leader David Cameron enjoys 21 per cent trust, with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, languishing on just 12 per cent.

TAXPAYERS TO SUBSIDISE GREEN MOVE London (dpa) – The British government said today it will offer cash incentives to motorists who buy electric cars.

Under measures due to come into force in 2011 drivers will receive a subsidy of between 2,000 to 5,000 pounds (13,000 dollars) if they switch to electric vehicles.

The green scheme, expected to cost 250 million pounds, is designed to help the environment and inject life into Britain’s struggling car industry.

Electric cars will soon be a “real option” for motorists, Transport Minister Geoff Hoon said in announcing the plans.

According to Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, only 0.1 per cent of the 26 million vehicles on Britain’s roads were powered by electricity.

He said electric vehicles will play a key role in cutting emissions and paving the way for a “low-carbon future.”

MOVIES ON YOUTUBE Los Angeles (dpa) – YouTube has struck deals with major Hollywood TV and film studios to distribute full length movies and TV shows on the Google-owned video streaming site, the company announced today.

YouTube, which is the internet’s largest video site, announced a string of deals with entertainment companies CBS, Sony Pictures, MGM and the BBC, to post their content online.

The professionally created “premium content” will be accessed through special tabs on the site’s front page and will be supported by advertising, the company said.

The site was bought by Google in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars, but has struggled to attract advertising dollars as marketers hesitated to associate with the wildly inconsistent amateur content featured on the site.

Entertainment companies have generally preferred to keep tight control over how their shows are distributed online, but in recent months have moved to allow their content on ad-supported sites like Hulu.com.

GOOGLE BANKS PROFITS San Francisco (dpa) – Internet search powerhouse Google bucked the economic downturn in the first quarter, posting an 8.9-per-cent rise in profits as revenues climbed 6.2 per cent.

The Silicon Valley-based online advertising giant earned 1.42 billion dollars in the quarter, up from 1.31 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose 6.2 per cent to 5.51 billion dollars but marked a 3- per-cent drop from the fourth quarter – the first time that the internet search company saw a decline in revenue between two consecutive quarters.

“Google had a good quarter given the depth of the recession,” Google CEO Eric E Schmidt said in a statement.

“These results underline both the resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the web as users and advertisers shift online. Going forward, our priority remains investing for the long term to drive future growth in our core and emerging businesses.”

The earnings report marked the first results of Google’s effort to trim costs by cutting 300 people from the workforce, closing projects that lacked promise and reducing some employee benefits.

Israel shoots down US solution JERUSALEM – In a direct challenge to President Barack Obama’s commitment to rejuvenate moribund Mideast peace talks,Israel today dismissed Americanled efforts to establish a Palestinian state and laid out new conditions for renewed negotiations.

Leaders of Israel’s hawkish new government told former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, the special U.S. envoy, that they aren’t going to rush into peace talks with their Palestinian neighbours.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would require Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish state in any future negotiations – a demand that Palestinians have up to now rejected, Israeli government officials said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Obama’s envoy that past Israeli concessions led to war, not peace.

These were Mitchell’s first meetings with Israeli leaders since Netanyahu’s centre-right government took power two weeks ago.

Palestinian leaders have said they won’t open peace talks with Netanyahu’s government until it agrees in principle to the idea of a two-state solution and imposes a freeze on building Jewish housing in the West Bank.

As expected, Mitchell made it clear that the Obama administration sees the two-state solution as the foundation for future talks.

“U.S. policy favours – with the respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a two-state solution,

which would have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel,”Mitchell said before meeting with Lieberman.

Netanyahu has refused to embrace that formula and has instead floated the idea of offering Palestinians limited rights that would fall short of independence.

Netanyahu reiterated his stand in his meeting with Mitchell, said one Israeli government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the details of the conversation.

Netanyahu also indicated that Palestinians would have to accept Israel as a Jewish state in negotiations.

“For us, this is a crucial element,”the official said.

“It’s a fundamental element in peace talks.”

In recent years, Israeli leaders have been pushing this demand as a way to ensure that the nation retains its Jewish identity. However, compelling Palestinians to accept the idea would all but require them to abandon their demands that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to homes they abandoned when Israel was established in 1948.

Yossi Alpher, a former official with Israel’s Mossad spy agency and a co-founder of the bitterlemons.org Middle East political Web site, said that Netanyahu’s conditions could be a poison pill that prevents any peace talks from getting under way.

“The position he took today cannot in any way generate a peace process,”Alpher said.“The Palestinians

are not going to offer him this recognition.It could be a deal-breaker,but it could be an opening gambit.It’s too early in this whole new process to tell.”

Mitchell also faced resistance from Lieberman, an ultranationalist Israeli leader who began his tenure as foreign minister by declaring the death of the U.S-led peace talks that then-President George W. Bush launched in November 2007.

Lieberman told Mitchell that 15 years of faltering peace talks with Palestinians “brought neither results nor solutions,” the foreign minister’s office said after the meeting.

Real stability, Lieberman said, would require an American focus on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, who sought to quash growing concerns that Israel might attack Iran if international diplomacy fails, echoed that sentiment.

“Wide international cooperation must be created on the Iranian issue but, at the same time, all the remarks about a possible attack on Iran by Israel are not correct,”Peres said.“The solution with Iran is not military.”

Peres called 2009 “a decisive year in the Middle East.We do not have time to waste.”

Mitchell will meet tomorrow with Palestinian leaders, who are expecting the Obama administration to put more pressure on Israel to negotiate seriously.

Global economy stablising, slowly

By Steven Thomma McClatchy Newspapers

Washington – As some major economies begin to show signs of stabilizing,the International Monetary Fund today warned that any global recovery from the downturn could take more than three years.

The IMF and its sister lending agency, the World Bank,have already predicted that 2009 will mark the first worldwide contraction since World War II.The IMF’s latest report,which draws on lessons from past downturns, suggests that the global economy could remain sluggish well beyond that timeframe.

The financial crisis, which began last year in the United States and Europe but has since wreaked havoc on economies across the world, combined

with the global nature of the downturn meant government efforts to revive their economies were having less success than in past crises.

Such recessions can last as long as two years, but it takes another three and a half years on average for economies to recover to their level of output before the crisis, the IMF said, according to evidence drawn from similar downturns.

“The fact that the current downturn is highly synchronized and associated with deep financial crises suggests that it is likely to be persistent, with a weaker-than-average recovery,”said IMF economist Alasdair Scott, who co-wrote the report.

“The current recession is likely to be unusually long and severe,” Scott said.“Based on historical patterns, recovery is likely to be slow and weak.”

But IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard warned there were few similar examples and that the current recession was“very different”from past cases, making solid predictions on the future difficult.

The IMF will release its full updated economic forecasts – the World Economic Outlook – next week ahead of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads from the world’s top economies in Washington.

The report comes amid signs that the situation in some major economies may be stabilizing.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday said many regions of the country were showing small signs of improvement amid better-than- expected data from US manufacturing, housing and banking.

– DPA

WORLD

17 April 2009

Old Nazi gets temporary reprive Washington – In the latest of legal scuffles, alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk was given a reprieve today until next week in his fight to stay in the United States instead of being deported to Germany to stand trial.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio asked justice officials for a medical report on the 89-year-old man, setting a deadline for April 23 for the information.

Demjanjuk’s lawyer and family have argued that he is too frail and ill to stand trial in Germany.

The court ordered the government, which is pushing for Demjanjuk’s deportation, to describe its “plans for transportation to Germany”and provide a doctor’s report“which forms the basis for its conclusion that the petitioners medical condition is such that he is stable enough to travel safely.”

The decision was posted on the court’s website.

The order puts another stone in the way of the US government to resolve the 20-year-old case which has

taken Demjanjuk to Israel, where he was sentenced to death in the 1980s but then released on appeal for his alleged role in killing tens of thousands of Jews at Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland.

The current case involves Demjanjuk’s alleged role at another death camp, Sobibor, in Poland. A German court has issued charges against him in the case, and asked the United States to deliver him to stand trial.

Earlier Thursday, the US board of immigration appeals in Virginia ruled in favour of the government by refusing to block Demjanjuk’s removal from the United States.

On Tuesday, immigration agents removed Demjanjuk in his wheelchair from his home in Seven Hills, Ohio, for the transport to Germany. But they had to return him after the Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio granted a temporary stay.

In today’s order, the Circuit Court was following up by asking for more information from prosecu-

tors as well as Demjanjuk’s lawyers before making a final decision.

German authorities allege that the Ukrainianborn Demjanjuk, then 23, worked from MarchSeptember 1943 as a guard in Poland at Sobibor concentration camp, where at least 29,000 Jews died during that time.

Prosecutors in Munich issued an arrest warrant for him last month.

Following World War II, Demjanjuk lived in Germany as a refugee until 1952 when he changed his first name from Ivan to John and moved to the United States.

Demjanjuk was acquitted in 1993 by the Israeli Supreme Court of charges that he worked at a different death camp,Treblinka, saving him from the death sentence of a lower court in Israel.

But after his return to the US,he was stripped of his citizenship for lying about his immigration status.

on our commercial ties, on strengthening border infrastructure, on working together on clean energies which can produce jobs on both sides of the border,”he said.

Both presidents agreed that protectionism and trade restrictions would make the world economic crisis worse.They said they would eventually work out the dispute over whether Mexican trucks can cross into the U.S. Obama noted that Congress – not his administration – ended a pilot program that allowed Mexican trucks to cross into the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

He said he would like to see labor and environmental standards become part of the trade agreement – and not “sidebar”agreements, as is the case now – but added that any negotiations on that would have to wait until the economic crisis had passed.

Obama said that his recent decision to allow Cuban-Americans to travel more often and send more money to relatives in Cuba was a“show of good faith”but that lifting the travel ban for all Americans would depend on the course of U.S.-Cuba relations.

“A relationship that has been frozen for 50 years is not going to thaw overnight,” he said.“We talk about the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba, but there’s not much discussion on the ban of Cuban people traveling elsewhere. ... I make that point only to suggest that there are a range of steps that could be taken by the Cuban government that would start to show that they want to move beyond the patterns of the last 50 years.”

Tomorrow, Obama will head to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas with heads of state from the region.

– DPA

Obama’s Mexican day out MEXICO CITY – President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon set out an ambitious bilateral agenda today that includes immigration reform, but focused their immediate aims on concrete actions to weaken drug cartels.

At a break during their meetings in Mexico City, the two presidents said their four years in office together will be marked by a new era of cooperation, not just on the drug crackdown but on trade ties and even working together toward better U.S.-Cuba relations and clean energy.

“This is my first trip to Mexico as president, and I see this trip – as I know President Calderon does – as an opportunity to launch a new era of cooperation and partnership between our two nations,”Obama said.

Speaking about a controversial assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, Obama said he has not backed off his campaign promise to seek its reinstatement but added that now is not the time to do so.

“I have not backed off at all from my belief that the assault weapons ban makes sense,”Obama said at a news conference.

“Having said that, I think none of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban will be easy,” he said,“and so what we focused on is how we can improve our enforcement of existing laws”making it illegal to traffic guns to Mexico.

Calderon said the expiration of the U.S. assault weapons ban caused an immediate increase in violence in Mexico and a spike in seizures of those weapons by Mexican law enforcement.

“Those guns are pointed at Mexican authorities and citizens,”he said,while stressing that Mexico would not inject itself into the U.S. debate on such weapons.

For now, both sides are seeking ways to increase border searches for weapons and money moving from north to south, such as scanning southbound trains and sending more agents to both sides of the border to search vehicles entering Mexico.

“I have the greatest admiration ... for President Calderon and his entire Cabinet and rank-and-file police officers and soldiers as they take on these cartels, but I will not pretend that this is Mexico’s responsibility alone,”Obama said.

“Demand for these drugs in the U.S.is what is helping to keep these cartels in business,”Obama said.

Calderon insisted that Mexico was getting a handle on the drug violence that has killed 10,000 people since he took office in Dec. 1, 2006. In the first three months of the year, he said, drug-related crime across the country had fallen by 25 percent.

Just hours before Obama’s arrival in Mexico, however, a shootout between soldiers and a convoy of armed men in the western state of Guerrero left 15 gunmen and one soldier dead, the military said.

The soldiers had been patrolling an area known for drug trafficking.

On immigration, Obama said he was “committed to fixing our broken immigration system that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws but also as a nation of immigrants,”Obama said. He added that Mexicans who entered illegally but have set roots in the U.S. should have a path to legalization while paying a penalty.

Obama also said the U.S.-Mexico relationship is not all about drugs and immigration.

“One of the things that we talked about was the extraordinary opportunities for us to work together

Japan, US, try to save Pakistan Tokyo – Japan and the United States Friday pledged to provide 1 billion dollars each in economic aid to Pakistan.

“Pakistan plays an extremely important role in the international fight against terrorism and extremism,”Prime Minister Taro Aso said at a ministerial-level meeting of the Friends of Pakistan group in Tokyo.

At the opening of the meeting, Aso officially announced Japan’s contribution of 1 billion dollars to Pakistan.The United States vowed to donate the same amount.

Aso recognized Pakistan’s potential to grow economically and pointed out the importance of cooperation from the international community in maintaining regional peace and stability in the south-western Asia, especially near the border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan faces various issues from lack of infrastructure and increasing poverty near the borders to a shortage of training programmes,Aso said.

Visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed the commitment of his government and people to defeat terrorism and militancy.

As Zadari called on the participating states to help fight terrorism, he said,“If we lose, you lose. If we lose, the world loses.”

The meeting also called on Pakistan to strengthen its diplomacy to attract further support from the international community while emphasizing the need for solidarity within the country, the chair’s statement said.

For Pakistan’s economic growth,the member states urged the South-West Asian nation to increase policy reform and encourage growth in the private sector as well as its accountability and transparency.

With the World Bank and Japan as co-chairs, a donors conference was scheduled to open later in the day, where 30 participating nations and international groups are expected to pledge 4 billion dollars over two years.

– DPA

– DPA

17 April 2009

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SPORT

17 April 2009

11

Close racing in store Hamilton

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

Hamilton, April 17 – A frantic final few minutes of practice at the Hamilton 400 today signalled that some close racing is in store over the next two days at the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercar Championship.

A late hot lap by Toll Holden Racing Team’s Will Davison gave him the day’s best time of one minute 23.5620 seconds over the 3.4km street circuit, as less than a second separated the top 20 drivers.

Davison was 0.2091sec ahead of the Team BOC Holden of Jason Richards, who was one of three New Zealanders in the top 10.

The track has had modifications done to it since the inaugural Hamilton event last April, with the biggest change being the tweaking of the troublesome chicane, with the final apex being removed.

The result was times that were significantly quicker than 12 months ago, when present series champion Jamie Whincup was fastest in practice, clocking 1:24.5843 in his Ford.

Davison, second on the points table behind Whincup after the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide last month, predicted that qualifying for the first of the weekend’s two 200km races tomorrow could produce a pole time of around 1:22.

He admitted that he was surprised to be sitting top of the leaderboard because of how competitive the practice sessions had been.

“I’m certainly not getting ahead of myself,” he said.

“The year’s gone off to a gem of a start, but you don’t get overconfident in this business.

“There was a certain stage where I thought I would struggle to make the top 10 and then the

next moment here I am at P1. It’s just the competitive nature of the category. It could be any one of the guys.”

However, while Richards was rapt with the changes made to the chicane, Davison was more ambivalent.

He said the exit curve was now easier on the cars, but the extra speed was also potentially dangerous.

“I had a pretty wild ride in my last lap and it could have ended a little bit worse than it did,”he said.

“It was how brave you wanted to be or how stupid.”

Richards, for his part, described the changes as “awesome”.

“It transformed the track for me,”he said.

“It just came alive.”

He could understand the basis of Davison’s opinion,“but from the driver’s point of view, it has

opened the track up and I just thoroughly enjoyed it out there”.

Richards, who changed teams in the off-season after five years with Tasman Motorsport/Sprint Gas Racing, climbed up the ladder from way behind, having been around 20th with 10 minutes to go.

Davison’s brother,Alex,prevent a Holden sweep of the top-three spots by claiming the third fastest time.

Two of Richards’compatriots, Greg Murphy and Shane Van Gisbergen, also finished in the top 10.

Murphy, a four-time winner of the New Zealand round when it was held at Pukekohe, was sixth, while 19-year-old Van Gisbergen was seventh in his Ford, after having been the first driver to go under 1:24 in Hamilton.

The two other New Zealanders in the field, Ford drivers Fabian Coulthard and Steven Richards, were 11th and 12th.

Warriors want home advantage to count

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

Auckland, April 17 – The New Zealand Warriors are looking to pull up the drawbridge when National Rugby League opponents the Sydney Roosters come visiting on Sunday.

The Warriors turned Mt Smart Stadium into a fortress during the second half of last year when they produced a sustained run from near the foot of the table to finish one match short of the grand final.

They continued to turn their own turf into an advantage at the start of the new season, repelling Parramatta in round one to make it seven wins in a row in Auckland since last July.

But their fortunes at home have taken a tumble since then, with losses to Brisbane and South Sydney, and coach Ivan Cleary doesn’t want the Roosters to complete a hat-trick.

“We don’t want to go through another, that’s for sure,”he said.

“It makes life tough if you can’t win at home, so we are looking to turn that around this week.”

The Warriors – who are sitting in ninth spot, one ahead of the Roosters – are boosted by the return from injury of two of their big names: skipper Steve Price and winger Manu Vatuvei.

Price has missed the past two rounds with a throat problem, while Vatuvei has sat out the past three with knee ligament trouble.

“You definitely miss your key guys, there’s no doubt about it, especially when Pricey is our captain and leader, and a lot of good things happen around Manu,”Cleary said.

“But in saying that, we have a squad that is well and truly capable of doing a job. We just haven’t quite got it done.”

The Warriors are looking to snap another disap-

Warrior’s Ian Henderson looks to fend off Rabbitohs David Fa’alogo in a NRL rugby league match, Mt Smart Stadium. NZPA / Wayne Drought

pointing streak, having lost their past three matches, the last at Newcastle last Sunday.

With the club having been tipped as title contenders at the start of the campaign, Cleary hoped they still carried that aura.

He said the premiership was a long hard road and he pointed to assistant coach John Ackland’s words of a few days ago that“you have to be on your game every week to win half your games”.

“We still feel like we’re a good team and not too far away from things,”Cleary said.

“The ball is not quite bouncing our way at the moment, but it just means we have to work a bit

harder.We’re still pretty confident in how the season is going to pan out.”

The Warriors will also want to get back to winning ways to maintain the big support they have attracted so far this year.

Their three home matches have produced an average gate of more than 21,000, a huge jump on their regular season average last year of just 11,444, the second lowest in the league.

The Roosters have the same two-win three-loss record as the Warriors and are also backing up after a last-up defeat, to Brisbane.

They welcome back Kiwi Sia Soliola from an eye

socket injury, with the centre/lock listed to start on the bench.

Soliola is one of five New Zealanders in the Roosters’squad,along with fellow test representatives Sam Perrett, Setaimata Sa and Shaun Kenny-Dowall, and Auckland-born prop Frank-Paul Nuuausala.

The visitors’ key to success could be their New South Wales Origin halves, Mitchell Pearce and fiveeighth and skipper Braith Anasta.

The sides met twice last year, both at Mt Smart Stadium, with the Roosters winning 38-12 in late May, while the Warriors prevailed 30-13 in the second week of the playoffs.

Marks poised for rare playoff action

By Daniel Gilhooly of NZPA

Wellington, April 17 – It’s a familiar scenario but a completely new role for New Zealand veteran Sean Marks as he suits up for the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs.

After enjoying easily the best regular season in his nine years of NBA action – averaging 14 minutes a game – the 33-year-old Aucklander is now ready to make his most significant playoff contribution with the New Orleans Hornets.

A slow end to the season saw the Hornets finish with a 49-33 record, ranking them seventh in the Western Conference and earning a first round playoff showdown with the second-ranked Denver Nuggets (54-28).

The opening games of their best-of-seven series are in Denver on Monday and Thursday (NZ time).

New Orleans coach Byron Scott has indicated to Marks he can expect some decent minutes off the

bench, adding the icing to a season where the former “Denver are stacked in my position (forward/cenTall Black has contributed in 60 of 82 games. tre) and we’ve got our hands full with keeping those His only previous playoff experience came via guys off the offensive glass.” three minutes of court time for the Phoenix Suns Momentum is on the side of the Nuggets following against the San Antonio Spurs last year. a strong second half of the season, but that doesn’t He was part of the faze Marks, who said His only previous championship-winning the recent return from Spurs team of 2004-05 injury of centre Tyson playoff experience but never got on court in Chandler is a major came via three minutes of boost. the playoffs.

“It’s unchartered court time for the Phoenix The clash of the star waters for me,” Marks point guards – the HorSuns against the San said from New Orleans net’s Chris Paul against Antonio Spurs last year today.

Denver’s Chauncey “Certainly in the past Billups – is likely to be (my role) has been a practice player and basically a decisive. cheerleader, supporting the guys from the bench.

“Hopefully we’re clicking and we’re all healthy “This year I have to be ready, it’ll depend on the now which is great and we’re looking forward to the match-ups. I don’t know how much I’ll play...but playoffs,”Marks said.

I’ll have to bring some energy there.

“The team’s been banged up pretty much all year

and we’ve had our ups and downs but I’ve got to contribute out there so that’s been great.”

The 2.08m Marks has posted career-highs in most statistical categories this season.

His previous record for appearances was 25 with the Spurs in 2005-06, while this year’s 838 minutes was more than double the next best, with the Miami Heat in 2001-02.

That season he scored 96 points, a tally that has been exactly doubled with this year’s 192.

Marks also recorded 187 rebounds – 62 offensive and 125 defensive – 33 blocks, 14 assists and seven steals.

On Tuesday, Marks posted his third double-digit points total of the season with 10 points and two rebounds in 21 minutes during an 86-66 road loss to the Houston Rockets.

He also pulled down a season-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes during the 111-103 loss to the Golden State Warriors on April 4.

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17 April 2009

13

TV & Film

17 Again

Something to Crowe about State Of Play

0Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams 0Directed: Kevin Macdonald 0Length: 127 minutes 0Rating: PG-13 (violence, strong language, sexual content, drug references), .

Tense late-night phone calls; cloak-and-dagger chases through shadowy alleys of Washington; a rapidly expanding political scandal that could very well bring down the entire government; and a pair of dogged newspaper reporters determined to get the story, even if it means getting their hands very dirty in the process.

With a tip of the hat to the classic All the President’s Men, Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play updates the investigative reporter thriller to a post-9/11 age, where corporate greed and war profiteering run amok. The movie doesn’t quite work – it’s neither as ruthless as it wants to be, nor as earnest as might have been – but even when it’s misfiring it has an engrossing, old-fashioned appeal. It’s a reminder that you never realize quite how much you’ve missed something until you get a taste of it once again.

Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, a Washington newspaper reporter of the old school: He costs too much; takes too long to write his stories; and has a particular disdain for the future of journalism, as represented by the newspaper’s perky twentysomething blogger, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams).

While investigating a mysterious double homicide, Cal learns that an aide to Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) has also been murdered – and he begins to suspect a connection. His editor (Helen Mirren), mindful of the new paper’s new corporate owners, who insist on turning a profit, would much rather pursue the juicy side of the story:The married Collins was having an affair with the aide, and now his attempts to bring down a Blackwater-like

defence contracting firm could be sabotaged. But Cal – who may or may not be trying to protect Collins, who just so happens to have been Cal’s college roommate – persuades her that there is a much bigger and more important story afoot.

As you might guess, there’s a lot going on in“State of Play,”which was adapted from a six-hour British miniseries that first aired in 2003. But Macdonald, much as he did in the similarly gripping The Last King of Scotland, keeps the proceedings barrelling along without ever losing sight of the characters.Beautifully inhabited by Crowe,with his hair long and unwashedlooking and a permanent five o’clock shadow on his face,McAfrey isn’t so much a workaholic as the kind of guy for whom life and work are the same thing.

He sinks so completely into the investigation that he doesn’t realize that his personal moral lapses are rapidly muddying his journalistic ethics.

He’s matched nicely by McAdams, who manages to humanize a woman who has been written as a walking, talking symbol of everything the newer generation of journalists could stand to learn from the old guard.

For all that Macdonald gets right here, though, State of Play nonetheless seems plagued by a certain Hollywood-itis;in the pursuit of delivering popcornmunching thrills, it steadily loses credibility.Affleck, for instance, is not just wildly miscast (at what university, other than one that contains a fountain of youth on the campus green,would he and Crowe have been roommates?). He also turns the congressman into a speechifying paragon of political self-righteousness, prone to pounding his fist on the table and demanding justice. In his scenes opposite the vastly more understated and intuitive Crowe, it feels as if we watching two different movies.

Or perhaps just one very conflicted one. Indeed, the bigger problem here is that State of Play doesn’t really have the courage of its own cynical convictions.As the onion layers of the story are unpeeled, we learn that Cal has had an affair with Stephen’s

wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn). He also makes a critical decision to ignore a clearly newsworthy aspect of the story, presumably to prevent Stephen further embarrassment.

The screenplay begins to flirt with a very provocative idea, that Cal is just as corrupt as the journalists he’s covering; and that – in the modern media-industrial-political complex – everyone is so hopelessly interconnected that it’s impossible to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys. In the final section of the movie, as a series of all-too-predictable reversals play out, Cal emerges as a traditional Hollywood hero. He even manages to stop the movie cold periodically to take a proud, Capra-esque stand for the ailing newspaper industry.

With a screenplay credited to the three writers in Hollywood trying to resurrect the spirit of 1970s conspiracy thrillers, Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom),Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) and Billy Ray (Shattered Glass), State of Play ends up feeling a little at odds with itself. It wants us implicate us on the characters’transgressions and allow us to feel superior.

See it regardless, for its taut pacing, for its gorgeously moody photography (the cinematography is by Rodrigo Prieto, who also did Brokeback Mountain), and for two startling interludes. One features Jason Bateman, who turns up briefly, electrically and unforgettable, as a slick, high-as-a-kite public relations agent, fearful for his life, who resolves a number of the story’s mysteries.

The other is the closing credit sequence, which observes the process of the newspaper being laid out, printed and then loaded onto delivery trucks, as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s“Long as I Can See the Light”plays on the soundtrack.The elegiac and the ironic come together exquisitely, and – better late than never – Macdonald seems to finally find the delicate tone he’s been searching for all along.

0Cast: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Leslie Mann 0Director: Burr Steers 0Length: 1:34 0Rating: PG-13 (mild language and sexual talk) Even before the hero of 17 Again, Mike O’Donnell, magically morphs from aging grouch (Matthew Perry) into his springy adolescent self (Zac Efron), you may feel sceptical.

Not about the magical part– that’s perfectly normal in movies like Big and Freaky Friday. The question is this: If you possessed the sparkly good looks of Efron to begin with, how grouchy could you be?

Plenty, apparently. In 1989, Mike was the star of Hayden High’s basketball team and dating the beautiful Scarlett, whom he would soon marry. Make that really soon: Moments before a big game, while a college scout watches from the bleachers, Scarlett reveals she’s in a family way. In a moment of truth, Mike tosses away the ball to do the honourable thing.

Twenty years later, Scarlett (Leslie Mann) wants a divorce.

Mike’s children, Maggie (Michelle Trachtenberg) and the younger Alex (Sterling Knight), want nothing to do with him. Equally depressing: Mike is crashing with Ned (Thomas Lennon), the school nerd who became a rich techie.

Let’s be honest, fellas: What would you do if you woke up looking like the star of Disney’s High School Musical? Probably re-lose your virginity and then some. Instead, Mike befriends his own kids, helping Alex make the basketball team and protecting Maggie from an aggressive boyfriend. Director Burr Steers and writer Jason Filardi take the high road, but a few scenes of base hedonism would have been fun.

Efron, as a teen with the brain of a father, ably carries this featherweight movie; he’s particularly sweet when wooing the now-older Scarlett (one of several mildly Freudian constructs here). Mike even tries, unsuccessfully, to convince several girls to respect their bodies. “This is some other dad’s problem,” he mutters.

Another nagging question: Why didn’t Mike just play that big game in 1989, become a professional athlete and make Scarlett a wealthy wife?

Ah, the road not taken.

Watch the trailer

– By Rafer Guzmán

Watch the trailer

– By Christopher Kelly

REVIEWS

14

17 April 2009

Music

A haunted aura

Q&A with Marianne Faithfull

By Steve Horowitz PopMatters.com

Marianne Faithfull’s musical career dates back to London during the Swinging ‘60s.

She was closely associated with the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham penned her first hit single,“As Tears Go By.” She repaid the favour by introducing Jagger to Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita,”which influenced him to write“Sympathy for the Devil.”Faithfull served as the inspiration for the song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”and co-wrote the track“Sister Morphine”(1969).As the song title suggests, by the late ‘60s, Faithfull became heavily involved with hard drugs.

She spent much of the ‘70s homeless and addicted, squatting in London wherever she could. She reemerged from the squalor as a recording artist in 1979, her voice a gruff approximation of her once songbird-pretty tonalities. This fit the roughness of her new material. The success of her comeback release,“Broken English,” especially her cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero,” revealed a tougher artist and introduced her to a whole new audience.

Since then Faithfull has embarked on a host of new musical projects, from recording covers of Brecht/Weill material to renditions of Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry to joining in with“Dr. Strangelove”co-writer Terry Southern and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg to paying tribute to folk anthologist Harry Smith, and much, much more.The specific works just mentioned were all made in collaboration with Hal Willner.

Willner produced Faithfull’s latest record, her 24th since 1965,“Easy Come, Easy Go.”She recorded two

versions: an 18-track, 2-CD deluxe edition with a bonus DVD and a shorter 12-cut single disc. (It’s also available on vinyl.)

The 62-year-old Faithfull spoke over the phone from a New York City office. Her voice retains a British accent, and she laughs often while speaking, not in jest, but to underscore the seriousness of her remarks. She refuses to be coy and directly responds to inquiries, sometimes impatiently before the question is finished.

Faithfull is clearly proud of her latest effort and should be. It is a wonderful collection of material that includes some of the best songwriters and singers from the last century, from Duke Ellington

and problems. Did suffering help you as an artist, or is that line about artists needing to suffer for their art a bunch of hooey?

A. I don’t think it helped me. I can’t tell for sure.

It’s possible, but mostly when I look back at that time I just see it as a waste. Drugs caused me to waste a lot of time and caused me a lot of unnecessary pain.

I consider myself an artist and suffering has nothing to do with it. Look, I know there are some terrible things happening in the world.That doesn’t make the world a better place. I am a citizen of the world and accept all of it as it is.

Q. You’ve chosen a fairly gloomy group of songs.

I have always been attracted to the bleaker aspects of life. I love drama. Even at the beginning of my career I sang such songs. This is nothing new. Penitentiary songs have been a love of mine for years. They are so wonderful. Everything is so black and white and Billie Holiday (“Solitude”) and Bessie Smith (“Easy Come, Easy Go) to country icons like Dolly Parton (“Down from Dover”) and Merle Haggard (“Sing Me Back Home”) to classic rock such as Smokey Robinson (“Ooh Baby Baby”) and Steve Winwood (“Many a Mile to Freedom”) to more contemporary artists including the Decemberists (“The Crane Wife 3”), Neko Case (“Hold On, Hold On”), Morrissey (“Dear God Please Help Me”) and The Espers (“Children of Stone”).

Q.Your autobiography Faithfull documents how much you suffered: your drug addictions, poverty

The 12-track disc begins with a song about an abandoned woman with a stillborn baby (“Down from Dover”) and ends with one about a man on his way to his execution (“Sing Me Back Home”).

What attracts you to the dark side?

A. Hah! I have always been attracted to the bleaker aspects of life. I love drama. Even at the beginning of my career I sang such songs. This is nothing new. Penitentiary songs have been a love of mine for years.They are so wonderful. Everything is so black and white. It’s really just one thing or another, life or death.

But that doesn’t mean there are no happy songs on the album.Take the title song,“Easy Come, Easy Go”....

Q. But that’s a blues number?

A. Yes, but it is still full of joie de vivre. It has a positive energy. Life is complex. Songs need to express this instead of fill you full of sugar.There is so much (expletive) out there.

The songs on the new album are not all depressing. There are deeper meanings behind the songs.

It’s subtle, not obvious. Don’t take the songs at face value. Listen to my voice. It’s full of hope.A lot of the stuff that comes out now is much too easy without even the slightest bit of an edge. It is ridiculous. I can’t do work without an edge.Take the Eno song (“How Many Worlds”). It offers hope, but with a twist.

Q. Your record does contain an incredible selection of songs.Were there any songs you wanted to record but didn’t, either because they didn’t seem to fit with the others or because they were too difficult to sing or produce?

A. We recorded the album in eight days so we didn’t spend much time on things that didn’t work.

We just went and did it very fast. The hard thing was there wasn’t any time to do rough mixes, so I couldn’t judge my performances. I just jumped into everything blind. It was like walking on a tightrope without a net. It felt like we were taking terrible risks, and I am not sure if I want to make another album that fast again, but then again, listening to rough mixes makes me more self-conscious. Making this record was more like giving a performance.

There was one song I couldn’t quite get the feel of,“I Get a Kick Out of You.”We were doing this Gil Evans arrangement that he did for Miles Davis.

It was weird and difficult. I got scared and said I can’t do it. But we kept the take. I heard it recently and thought it was good, so maybe one day we will release it.

Q. Was it intimidating covering songs that had already been recorded by great singers like Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith? Did you not listen to the famous versions before you took them on, or did you play them for inspiration?

A. Our arrangements were so different than the famous ones, that it didn’t seem to matter. I did listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of“Black Coffee” and thought, I’ll never be able to hit those out-ofthe-world crystal-breaking sonic vibrations that she can.That frightened me. But I also listened to Bobby Darin’s version.You know, the“Mack the Knife”guy?

He doesn’t have that kind of range Ella does, but he does a great version, too. It reminded me that there are many ways to perform a song and still give an honest interpretation.”

Q.There is something evocative about the record’s atmosphere.Were you deliberately aiming for a certain effect? How would you describe it?

A. I always like to create a haunted aura, to give the record a magical charisma built up of some mysterious ingredient“X.”It gives the record a real shape and purpose.The mood we chose to create was that of something unrushed.We wanted the pace to be able to allow the songs to breathe.That’s why we recorded in analogue. It gives the music space.

Q. You have some very talented musicians on the album and a number of famous guest stars. Did you get everybody you wanted, or were there some musicians that couldn’t be on the record because of schedule conflicts and such?

A. I got everyone I wanted,basically because they are all friends of mine.The first person I called was Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons). I met him in Paris three years ago and we have become very close. He has an incredible voice. Can you believe how beautifully he sings on“Ooh Baby Baby?”

I’ve known Rufus (Wainwright) for years. His mum (Kate McGarrigle) is an old and dear friend.

Of course, my relationship with Keith Richards goes back decades. It was wonderful to sing with him again.And who else, Nick (Cave) and Chan (Cat Powers)? Everyone was right there for me. Hal (Willner) assembled the band. I’ve worked with many of them before on his productions.

The Ballad of Lucy Jordan

REVIEWS

17 April 2009

NEW CD RELEASES Micachu & The Shapes 0Jewellry 0Beggars

Mica Levi is a 21-year-old, classically trained Brit who plays a half-sized acoustic guitar and already has performed her compositions with the London Philharmonic. The skittering music she makes with her trio Micachu & the Shapes on her wholly original-sounding“Jewellry,”which was produced by esteemed Brit electronic poobah Matthew Herbert, beeps and blurts and bangs; expresses caution (“No, I won’t have sex because of STDs,”she sings matter-of-factly over a rat-a-tat rhythm on “Just in Case”); and loses itself in vocal harmony on the terrifically catchy “Golden Phone.”

Like a more hyperactive version of glitchy German noise poppers the Notwist, Levi knows how to get her artistic jollies while taking gleeful delight in fracturing her music to pieces and never losing sight of the pleasures of the 2 1/2-minute pop song.

– Dan DeLuca

Neil Young

0Fork in the Road 0Warner Bros.

“Taking a trip across the U.S.A., going to see a lot of people along the way,” Neil Young sings on “When Worlds Collide” at the start of “Fork in the Road,” his loosely constructed concept album about his electric car, the LincVolt.

Yep, you read that right.Young follows his muse where it takes him, and in this instance his ragged garage blues have gone rolling down the Interstate, gasoline free, with consecutive titles such as “Get Behind the Wheel,”“Off the Road,” and “Hit the Road.”(Neil, we get the idea.)

The good news is that Young is easily distracted by what flashes in front of his windshield, so his slapdash American odyssey gets diverted toward other topics, such as the cratering economy, which he focuses on with positive results in the title cut– promising that “there’s a bailout coming, but it’s not for you”– and with not so salutary an effect in the goofy“Cough Up the Bucks.”And he thankfully breaks the undifferentiated rawk spell toward the end with the album’s quietest moment, the lovely “Light a Candle,”which locates age-of-Obama hope in its high beams, because“there’s something ahead we’re looking for.”

– Dan DeLuca

Claudia Acuna

0En Este Momento 0Marsalis Music The Chilean-born singer Claudia Acuna assembles a collection with lusty South American roots.

Acuna, who has been chasing the jazz dream in NewYork since 1995, chooses several tunes in Spanish from her childhood. She picks three more, including a spry “El Cigarrito,”from poet Victor Jara, who was killed by the dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1973 and whom Acuna describes as“the Bob Dylan of Chile.”

She takes a sultry turn with tango masterAstor Piazzolla’s“VuelvoAl Sur,”while her own“Tulum,”celebrating a pristine part of Mexico,comes off as invigorating.

Acuna’s focus on tunes that matter to her gives this set resonance.She’s also working with producer Branford Marsalis, who plays soprano sax on one track and helps this session develop in a Latin-folk direction.Pianist Jason Lindner helps make the simpatico backing,along with drummer Clarence Penn,bassist Omer Avital, and guitarist Juancho Herrera.

– Dan DeLuca

15

Books

Radio host has book of tips for women on the male mentality Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment 0Steve Harvey 0Amistad, US$13.19 via Amazon

Steve Harvey is a traitor to mankind. Or at least to men.His book, Act Like a Lady,Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment, offers surprising insights into the male mentality and gives women a few strategies for taming that unruly beast.

Apparently there’s a big market for this type of information. Act Like a Lady has spent the last seven weeks atop the NewYork Times best-seller list in the Hardcover Advice category.

What qualifies the stand-up comic and radio host as a gender authority?

“I happen to be an expert on mankind,” says Harvey during a recent phone call.“My research was done by a nonclinical study, which is the best kind. All my friends are men – from celebrities to insurance salesmen to factory workers. I gathered all this information on men and just put the truth on a piece of paper.”

His central premise is that all men are driven to establish their identity, their livelihood, and their earning potential. Intimacy is simply not possible before all three are attained.

“Until you get yourself together, it’s got to be all about you,”he says.“I’m not saying that’s bad. It’s just the way it is.”

Women need a book like this to crack the male code because your typical guy is incapable of telling on himself.

“Men don’t learn to communicate,” Harvey, 52, says.“You fall off your bike as a little boy, nobody asks you,‘How do you feel about that?’They tell you, ‘Get up and don’t cry.’”

“The Steve Harvey Morning Show”is syndicated in more than 60 markets.The program provided the initial impetus for Act Like a Lady.

“I have a segment called Strawberry Letter. Listeners write in for advice,”he says.“It started off as a way to get more comedy into the show,‘cause some of the letters are funny.

“But 98 percent of these letters come from women, and 98 percent are problems they have with a man. I would say, ‘Ladies, I’m going to tell you how men really think.You may not like what I have to say, but it’s the truth.’After about a year and half, women started saying,‘Steve, you should write this in a book.’“ The result is surprisingly substantial and serious.

“I’m married, and as I was reading the book, I was learning things about my own relationship,”says Dawn Davis, Act Like a Lady’s editor.“It’s beyond an entertainer writing a witty book.There’s truth to it.”

Harvey encourages women not to compromise.

“The one thing I’ve learned as a man is, we don’t mind rising up to the bar,”he says.“But if you don’t have a bar, we’re only going to give you as much respect as you demand. The main crux is to get women to upgrade, to demand respect. If that takes a little time to get from a man, so be it.”

One of his relationship axioms: Don’t give up the cookie (his euphemism for sex) until you’ve been dating at least 90 days.

What shines through consistently in Act Like a Lady is the author’s deep regard for the fairer sex.

“Absolutely. A thousand percent,”he says.“I was youngest of five children (growing up in Cleveland).

I was raised by a father who I saw treat my mother until the day she died with the utmost respect. I’ve always had a respect and an admiration for women, and I’ve passed it on to my three sons.”

As a comedian, Harvey is perhaps best known as one of the four funnymen from the Kings of Comedy tour in 1997.

One wonders what his profane partner, Bernie Mac, who died last August, would make of Act Like a Lady.

“He’d be laughing at me so hard,” Harvey says.

“He’d call me, because he’s a gracious cat, and he’d immediately ask me,‘How’d you think of this?’

“I’ve gotten calls from Ced(ric the Entertainer) and D.L. (Hughley, the other King),”he says.“They tease me.‘Man, I saw your book in the airport.’‘Man, you’re killing them with the book.’ It’s just called ‘the book’ right now.That’s the nickname.”

– By David Hiltbrand

– especially – speak like real people. Dialogue tends toward speechifying, often in the tones of a position paper. Or it reads like something out of a secondrate telenovela:“Well, you can’t break me, you little whore!You never could, you never can, and you never will.”Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Sci-fi aficionados,thrilling to Sterling’s mastery of future technological and social possibilities, might scoff at this kind of criticism. But his sins against basic principles of narrative prose exist right there on the page. Just because sci-fi is a genre doesn’t mean we should grade it on a curve.

– By Chauncey Mabe

Ham-fisted prose Columbine, Kennedy hurts optimistic look and babies: Books to at the world in 2060 watch for The Caryatids

0Bruce Sterling 0Ballantine ($25)

Here are a few upcoming books likely to gain attention: Columbine, by journalist Dave Cullen This 432-page narrative has been released April Bruce Sterling is a bright guy, a perceptive futurist, 6, just two weeks before the 10th anniversary of the and the author of 10 novels – three of them NewYork massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Times Notable Books of theYear.Along with William Cullen spent nearly 10 years researching the lives Gibson and Neal Stephenson, he’s one of the three and events surrounding the tragedy that saw two most important science-fiction writers around. He students kill 12 classmates and a teacher, wound 23 has won two Hugo Awards for short fiction. others and kill themselves.

Which is amazing, given the grave sins against He talks about the book in a YouTube video, prose fiction in his latest novel, The Caryatids. which can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=6(u Don’t get me wrong, the book bristles with tech- nderscore)BUR8u8a0Q. An online except of the book is nological ideas and social insight, features fascinat- available at www.hachettebookgroup.com/books(underscor ing if not altogether credible characters, and even e)9780446546935.htm. manages a certain narrative momentum.

Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died, by But providing a modicum of vision and enter- Edward Klein tainment value is not the same thing as writing a Klein, the controversial writer of five earlier New good novel.

York Timers bestsellers on the Kennedy family, adds The title characters are seven cloned sisters, their yet another title to the growing list on ailing Mas“mother”a mad Balkan war criminal.The surviving sachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. sisters – Vera, Radmila, Sonja and Bizerka – may The new book, due out in May, includes a look at or may not have the gifts needed to save the world Sen. Kennedy’s relations with the Kopechne family from pending ecological calamity. and niece Caroline Kennedy’s decision to withdraw Bizerka being a nutbag terrorist, Sterling focuses from consideration for a New York senatorial seat. on the other three, a clever strategy that uses each as In the 2003 release The Kennedy Curse,Klein drew an entry into the life, strife, business and politics of criticism from Kennedy friends for his portrayal of the world’s three powers in 2060.The Dispensation, John F. Kennedy Jr.’s marriage to Carolyn Bessette. centered in Los Angeles, aims to turn a profit with Klein claimed the marriage had devolved into disaster, popular entertainment.The Acquis, a“bright green” with incidents of infidelity, drugs and even violence.

European collective, works to rehab nature through It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, the application of radical technology. China, the last a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita, by nation, survives by sacrificing half its citizens.

Heather B.Armstrong Best of all, Sterling has written an optimistic A new memoir quickly gaining attention, this novel, showing it may be possible for humanity to book is an offshoot of Armstrong’s popular blog survive dire challenges. (www.dooce.com), which she has used since 2001 Too bad The Caryatids reads as if Sterling typed to write about depression, childbirth and parenting. it while wearing boxing gloves.The prose is not only USA TODAY reports the site averages 1.5 million inelegant, but at times rife with the kind of mis- visitors a month. steps you would expect from a first-year creative In an interview with the paper,Armstrong comwriting student. mented,“People come to me because I will say what For starters, Sterling often tells rather than shows they’re afraid to say. It’s really raw and unfiltered, a his story. In the space of 1 1/2 pages, he tells us three little rough around the edges. Sometimes it seems times that a certain male character is “ugly.”What like I’m going off like a fire hose.” does ugly even mean? As a storytelling word, it’s as Last year for the first time, a blog that give way to vacuous as “beautiful.” a book made USA TODAY’s list of top 50 bestsellers.

“Vera analyzed her boss’s ugly face.”Ugly how? Swol- The book,“I Can Has Cheezburger?:A LOLcat Collen nose? Bad skin? Lazy eye? Nope, just“ugly.” leckshun,”came from the Web site www.icanhascheezWhen Sterling does move aside the exposition burger.com, featuring pictures of cats with captions. for actual scenes, the characters do not behave, or – By Diane Evans

HEALTH

16

17 April 2009

medicine at a glance

Melanoma protein therapy target identified PHILADELPHIA, April 17 (UPI) – U.S. medical scientists say they’ve discovered a protein called Mcl-1 that plays a critical role in allowing melanoma cells to metastasize.

Researchers led by Thomas Jefferson University Associate Professor Andrew Aplin said the protein causes cell-resistance to a form of apoptosis – a type of cell death called anoikis. That resistance, Aplin said, enables the melanoma cells to metastasize and survive at sites distant from the primary tumour.

“When we depleted Mcl-1 from the tumour cells they were susceptible to cell death,” said Aplin, who conducted the study at Albany Medical College in New York. “Our findings show that targeting Mcl-1, which is unregulated in a majority of melanoma cells, could be a viable treatment strategy.”

Aplin said there is one drug now in development that targets Mcl-1. That agent, called obatoclax, is in phase I/II trials.

The research is reported in the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

Study: Low vitamin D can worsen inflammation A secret to night vision found in DNA MUNICH, Germany, April 17 (UPI) – German-led scientists say they have discovered an important element of DNA that creates good night vision in nocturnal mammals.

Ludwig-Maximilians University researchers in Munich said they discovered the DNA within the photoreceptor rod cells responsible for low light vision turns the rod cell nuclei themselves into tiny light-collecting lenses, with millions of them in every nocturnal eye.

“The conventional architecture seen in almost all nuclei is invariably present in the rod cells of diurnal mammals, including primates, pigs and squirrels,” said researcher Boris Joffe. “On the other hand, the unique inverted architecture is universally present in nocturnal mammals.”

“That architecture has important ramifications for the optical properties of those cells,” said Jochen Guck of the University of Cambridge. Diurnal nuclei are basically scattering obstacles, he said. “In nocturnal animals, they are little lenses. In one case, light is scattered in all directions and in the other it is focused in the forward direction, meaning that even at night, what little light there is can travel deeper into the eye where it can be perceived.”

The research is detailed in the journal Cell.

New nerve block may change pain management

BOSTON, April 17 (UPI) – Children’s Hospital Boston scientists say they’ve created a slow-release anaesthetic drug-delivery system that could potentially revolutionize pain treatment.

The researchers said their National Institutes of Health-funded work might change the way physicians treat pain during and after surgery, as well chronic pain.

The scientists said they used specially designed fat-based particles called liposomes to package saxitoxin, a potent anaesthetic, and produced long-lasting local anaesthesia in rats without apparent toxicity to nerve or muscle cells.

“The idea was to have a single injection that could produce a nerve block lasting days, weeks, maybe even months,” said Dr. Daniel Kohane, the report’s senior author. “It would be useful for conditions like chronic pain where, rather than use narcotics (that) are systemic and pose a risk of addiction, you could just put that piece of the body to sleep, so to speak.”

The scientists said previous attempts to develop slowrelease anaesthetics haven’t been successful due to toxicity problems. But in the new study, Kohane and his colleagues report saxitoxin packaged within liposomes is able to block nerve transmission of pain without causing significant nerve or muscle damage.

Kohane said he is now optimizing the formulation to make it last even longer and it is conceivable clinical trials could soon start.

The research appears in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By Blythe Bernhard St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Most people don’t get enough vitamin D.And while it’s well-known that vitamin D deficiencies can lead to bone problems, a University of Missouri professor has also found a link to inflammation.

Healthy women with low vitamin D levels had higher concentrations of an inflammatory serum in a recent study conducted by Catherine Peterson, assistant professor in the university’s College of Human Environmental Sciences.

Peterson’s research could help understand how the vitamin can prevent and treat inflammatory

diseases like heart disease, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Several studies have shown that people are not getting enough vitamin D and that the recommended levels are too low for optimum results.

These days people aren’t exposed as much to sunlight, the best source of vitamin D. People also don’t get enough of the vitamin in their diets, mostly because it isn’t readily found in food sources.

“The only substantial source is from vitamin D fortified milk, and many adults don’t drink milk for whatever reason,” Peterson said. Additionally, the levels of vitamin D in milk are still far too low to confer real benefits.

Almost all cells in the body respond to vitamin D, Peterson said, not just bone tissue as previously believed.

“We’re trying to figure out now what vitamin D levels a human needs to optimize all functions, and therein lies the debate among nutrition scientists,” she said.

The nonprofit Institute of Medicine has convened a committee to look into changing the recommendations for vitamin D intake. The standards were last updated in 1997 and recommend a daily intake of 200 IU (international units) for people younger than 50 and 400 IU for older folks.

“Most assuredly both the recommendations as well as the tolerable upper level will be increased,” said Peterson, who recommends daily vitamin D intake of 1,000 to 2,000 IU. Spending 10 minutes in the sunlight three days a week should be sufficient, she added.

Too much vitamin D from food supplements can lead to elevated calcium levels in the blood, but the condition is rare.There is no overdose risk from vitamin D generated through sunbathing, which is why some professionals believe sun exposure is the best way of obtaining vitamin D safely.

In her latest work, Peterson is studying how vitamin D can help regulate blood glucose levels in people with diabetes.

‘Chair disease’ – give it a rest licist with back pain who sits behind her computer For more information: officewalkers.ning.com. for 10 hours a day.

Squat. It’s more comfortable than sitting because Movement is key because the disks in our verte- most of the weight of the abdomen is supported on Where are you right now? Lounging on an over- brae are important shock absorbers. When we’re the thighs, said Dr.William Meller, author of“Evolustuffed couch with the newspaper and a cup of cof- locked in one position, we’re starving the disks of tion Rx”.“Also squatting with the head and shoulfee? Sitting on a kitchen chair taking in the news nutrients. ders held up and back keeps the low back in its online? Well, I hope you’re sitting down for this bit “There’s no vascular or nerve supply to the disks; natural position,”he told me. of news. (Or maybe you should stand.) Your chair is they get their nutrition through movement,” said Use a lumbar roll. About 6 inches in diameter, slowly killing you.

Press.“If we’re not moving, everything stagnates.” lumbar rolls help maintain the natural curve of the Chair disease, as we like to call it, is an increasSitting also tightens and shortens the psoas – the back.You can use them in a car or the office. Order ingly common malady in the U.S. that is almost strong hip flexor – which can affect how the pelvis one – along with Angela Kneale’s useful handbook always caused by spending too much time parked rotates and increase the load on the low back. If “Desk Pilates”– at optp.com. on your rear end. you’ve ever run on a treadmill at lunch and then Practice Robin McKenzie’s “slouch-overcorrect” It’s not really the chair’s fault, though.The prob- returned to your desk, you know hamstrings also exercise. If you have to sit for a long time, move lem is that most of us sit wrong – slouched forward tighten when we sit.The gluteal muscles, meanwhile, from slouched position to upright 10 to 15 times, with our earlobes in front of our shoulders – and stretch out, but they’re not being used so they turn three times a day, said Gutierrez.Try the Alexander for hours without moving. The result? Avoidable off and get weaker (flabbier!) from sitting.

Technique. Studies have shown that the postural chair-related ailments, including flabby butts, an A significant portion of low back pain can be rem- educational system is an effective treatment for increased risk of blood clots, and back pain, the edied by avoiding what Chicago physical therapist back pain when used in conjunction with exercise. leading cause of disability in Americans younger Vincent Gutierrez calls the two most common sitting alexandertechnique.com than 45.And if you haven’t had back pain yet, just mistakes: leaning forward and wait; it affects 8 out of 10 people at some point dur- having the chair too low.But to Healthy Living ing their life, according to the National Institutes really stand up to chair disease, of Health. try the following techniques: “Sitting all day is the worst thing in the world Change your position. It’s Oatmeal is low in fat and high in fiber, vitamins and minerals, but its you can do for your back,” said Dr. Joel Press, the the single best thing you can nutritional value varies according to how it is processed. medical director of the Spine & Sports Institute at do, said Press. Stand up every Least processed, most nutritious the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

15 to 30 minutes and clasp your s Steel-cut oats After hull is removed (this step occurs in all processes), Sitting puts nearly twice the stress on the spine hands behind your back.Take oats are sliced with steel blades as standing; slouching while you sit increases the a phone call standing instead More processed, less nutritious pressure even more. of sitting or simply straighten s Old-fashioned oats Chopped, That’s because hunching forward pushes the back up, contract your abs and lean steamed, then rolled to give them a flatter shape into a convex or C shape.Try it. Now pull your shoul- back. Carmichael sets an Outders back and together and put your hand on your look reminder to tell her to Most processed, least nutritious Oat bran is usually removed, stripping lower back.That natural concave curve is what you move. oats of some fiber, vitamins want; slouching fatigues and overstretches the ligaGet a treadmill desk. Lisa s Quick-cooking oats Similar to oldfashioned oats, except that oats are ments, causing back pain.

Solomon operates her law finely cut before rolling To make matters worse, we stay in this bad C posi- practice from her New York s Instant oatmeal Oats are partially tion for hours, barely moving, even when nature calls. home while walking on a cooked, then rolled very thin; sugar, salt often added “I’ll be crashing on a project and three hours go by,” treadmill at 2.2 miles per Source: World’s Healthiest Foods, MCT Photo Service © 2009 MCT said Kara Carmichael, a 23-year-old Chicago pub- hour. She has lost 8 pounds.

By Julie Deardorff Chicago Tribune

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17 April 2009

Captain Grant’s story

Acclaimed science fiction writer Jules Verne didn’t just write Around the World in 80 Days, he also wrote an epic about New Zealand and Australia called In Search of the Castaways, published in 1867. If you missed the previous instalment of this serial, you can download it here.

Joy does not kill, for both father and children recovered before they had reached the yacht.The scene which followed, who can describe?

Language fails.The whole crew wept aloud at the sight of these three clasped together in a close, silent embrace.

The moment Harry Grant came on deck, he knelt down reverently.

The pious Scotchman’s first act on touching the yacht, which to him was the soil of his native land, was to return thanks to the God of his deliverance.Then, turning to Lady Helena and Lord Glenarvan, and his companions, he thanked them in broken words, for his heart was too full to speak. During the short passage from the isle to the yacht, his children had given him a brief sketch of the Duncan’s history.

What an immense debt he owed to this noble lady and her friends!

From Lord Glenarvan, down to the lowest sailor on board, how all had struggled and suffered for him! Harry Grant expressed his gratitude with such simplicity and nobleness, his manly face suffused with pure and sweet emotion,that the whole crew felt amply recompensed for the trials they had undergone.Even the impassable Major himself felt a tear steal down his cheek in spite of all his self-command; while the good, simple Paganel cried like a child who does not care who sees his tears.

Harry Grant could not take his eyes off his daughter. He thought her beautiful, charming; and he not only said so to himself, but repeated it aloud, and appealed to Lady Helena for confirmation of his opinion, as if to convince himself that he was not blinded by his paternal affection.

His boy, too, came in for admiration.“How he has grown! he is a man!” was his delighted exclamation. And he covered the two children so dear to him with the kisses he had been heaping up for them during his two years of absence.

Robert then presented all his friends successively, and found means always to vary the formula of introduction, though he had to say the same thing about each. The fact was, each and all had been perfect in the children’s eyes.

John Mangles blushed like a child when his turn came, and his voice trembled as he spoke to Mary’s father.

Lady Helena gave Captain Grant a narrative of the voyage, and made him proud of his son and daughter. She told him of the young hero’s exploits, and how the lad had already paid back part of the paternal debt to Lord Glenarvan. John Mangles sang Mary’s praises in such terms, that Harry Grant, acting on a hint from Lady Helena, put his daughter’s hand into that of the brave young captain, and turning to Lord and Lady Glenarvan, said:“My Lord, and you, Madam, also give your blessing to our children.”

When everything had been said and re-said over and over again, Glenarvan informed Harry Grant about Ayrton. Grant confirmed the quartermaster’s confession as far as his disembarkation on the coast of Australia was concerned.

“He is an intelligent,intrepid man,”he added,“whose passions have led him astray. May reflection and repentance bring him to a better mind!”

But before Ayrton was transferred, Harry Grant wished to do the honours of his rock to his friends. He invited them to visit his wooden house, and dine with him in Robinson Crusoe fashion.

Glenarvan and his friends accepted the invitation most willingly.

Robert and Mary were eagerly longing to see the solitary house where their father had so often wept at the thought of them. A boat was manned, and the Captain and his two children, Lord and Lady Glenarvan, the Major, John Mangles, and Paganel, landed on the shores of the island.

A few hours sufficed to explore the whole domain of Harry Grant. It was in fact the summit of a submarine mountain, a plateau composed of basaltic rocks and volcanic debris. During the geological epochs of the earth, this mountain had gradually emerged from the depths of the Pacific, through the action of the subterranean fires, but for ages back the volcano had been a peaceful mountain, and the filled-up crater, an island rising out of the liquid plain. Then soil formed. The vegetable kingdom took possession of this new land. Several whalers landed domestic animals there in passing; goats and pigs, which multiplied and ran wild, and the three kingdoms of nature were now displayed on this island, sunk in mid ocean.

When the survivors of the shipwrecked Britannia took refuge there, the hand of man began to organize the efforts of nature. In two years and a half, Harry Grant and his two sailors had metamorphosed the island. Several acres of well-cultivated land were stocked with vegetables of excellent quality.

The house was shaded by luxuriant gum-trees. The magnificent ocean stretched before the windows, sparkling in the sunlight. Harry Grant had the table placed beneath the grand trees, and all the guests seated themselves. A hind quarter of a goat, nardou bread, several bowls of milk, two or three roots of wild endive, and pure fresh water,

composed the simple repast, worthy of the shepherds of Arcadia. companions in misfortune, my friends, seconded me energetically.

Paganel was enchanted. His old fancies about Robinson Crusoe “We began like the fictitious Robinson Crusoe of Defoe, our model, revived in full force.“He is not at all to be pitied,that scoundrel,Ayrton!” by collecting the planks of the ship, the tools, a little powder, and he exclaimed, enthusiastically.“This little isle is just a paradise!” firearms, and a bag of precious seeds.The first few days were painful “Yes,”replied Harry Grant,“a paradise to these poor,shipwrecked fellows enough, but hunting and fishing soon afforded us a sure supply of that Heaven had pity on, but I am sorry that Maria Theresa was not an food, for wild goats were in abundance in the interior of the island, extensive and fertile island, with a and marine animals abounded on river instead of a stream,and a port the coast. By degrees we fell into When the survivors of the instead of a tiny bay exposed to the regular ways and habits of life. open sea.”

“I had saved my instruments shipwrecked Britannia took “And why, captain?”asked Glefrom the wreck, and knew exactly refuge there, the hand of man narvan. the position of the island. I found “Because I should have made began to organize the efforts we were out of the route of vessels, it the foundation of the colony of nature. In two years and a and could not be rescued unless with which I mean to dower by some providential chance. I half, Harry Grant and his two Scotland.” accepted our trying lot compos“Ah, Captain Grant, you have sailors had metamorphosed the edly, always thinking, however, of not given up the project, then, my dear ones, remembering them island. Several acres of wellwhich made you so popular in every day in my prayers, though cultivated land were stocked with never hoping to see them again. our old country?”

“No, my Lord, and God has vegetables of excellent quality “However, we toiled on resoonly saved me through your lutely, and before long several efforts that I might accomplish acres of land were sown with the my task. My poor brothers in old Caledonia, all who are needy must seed off the Britannia; potatoes, endive, sorrel, and other vegetables have a refuge provided for them in another land against their misery, besides, gave wholesome variety to our daily fare. We caught some and my dear country must have a colony of her own, for herself alone, young kids, which soon grew quite tame.We had milk and butter.The somewhere in these seas, where she may find that independence and nardou, which grew abundantly in dried up creeks, supplied us with comfort she so lacks in Europe.” tolerably substantial bread, and we had no longer any fears for our “Ah,that is very true,Captain Grant,”said Lady Helena.“This is a grand material life. project of yours, and worthy of a noble heart. But this little isle –” “We had built a log hut with the debris of the Britannia, and this “No, madam, it is a rock only fit at most to support a few settlers; was covered over with sail cloth, carefully tarred over, and beneath while what we need is a vast country, whose virgin soil abounds in this secure shelter the rainy season passed comfortably. Many a plan untouched stores of wealth,”replied the captain. :C@<EK was discussed here, and many a dream indulged in, the brightest of GL9C@:8K@FE “Well, captain,”exclaimed Glenarvan,“the future is ours, and this which is this day realized. :FM<I ;8K< J

')(-(--+* KI@D J@Q< country we will seek for together.” `e]f7`[\ek`k%Zf%eq 8; E8D<&ELD9<I And the two brave Scotchmen joined hands in a hearty grip and so sealed the compact.

A general wish was expressed Start talking and watch your productivity soar with Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® to hear, while they were on the island, the account of the shipwreck of the Britannia, and of the New More Speed. More Accuracy. More Features. two years spent by the survivors V e r s io N !

The experience speaks for itself™ in this very place. Harry Grant Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is here, and the world’s best-selling speech recognition system just keeps was delighted to gratify their Ţ Up to 15% more getting better. accurate curiosity, and commenced his Dragon NaturallySpeaking is faster and more accurate than ever, delivering up to 15% more accurate Ţ Up to 50% faster narration forthwith. results than version 9. Your transcribed words now appear on the screen in half the time it took in the Ţ Quick voice past. With new Dragon Voice Shortcuts, you can search the Web for information, products, news and “My story,” he said,“is that of more with a single voice command. formatting all the Robinson Cru-soes cast Ţ New look and feel Updated graphical icons for the DragonBar are intuitive and easy to upon an island, with only God see. New Quick Voice Formatting makes it easier to format, delete, Ţ Improved help and copy words and passages with a single command. system and tutorials and themselves to rely on, and Ţ Improved natural feeling it a duty to struggle for commands for life with the elements.

Firefox Ţ More flexible “It was during the night of enrollment for the 26th or 27th of June, 1862, younger speakers and users with that the Britannia, disabled by certain speech a six days’ storm, struck against challenges the rocks of Maria Theresa. The Ţ Regional accent support sea was mountains high, and Ţ One-click option to lifeboats were useless. My unfordisable conflicting tunate crew all perished, except services Ţ Better control of Bob Learce and Joe Bell, who commands vs with myself managed to reach dictation on the web shore after twenty unsuccessful Ţ Auto configuration for optimal attempts. performance based “The land which received us on system profile was only an uninhabited island, Ţ Formatting and word properties interface two miles broad and five long, enhancements with about thirty trees in the Ţ Embedded data interior, a few meadows, and a collection tool brook of fresh water, which fortunately never dried up. Alone The Nuance suite of Dragon NaturallySpeaking products is available through your usual computer software reseller. with my sailors, in this corner of Please contact sales@mistralsoftware.co.nz or your usual computer reseller for further information. the globe, I did not despair. I put Copyright © 2008 Nuance Communications. All rights reserved. Nuance, Dragon, and NaturallySpeaking are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. my trust in God, and accustomed in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the www.mistralsoftware.co.nz properties of their respective owners. myself to struggle resolutely for existence. Bob and Joe, my brave D`jkiXc Jf]knXi\ @em\jk`^Xk\

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