TBR.cc

Clark invites Field to quit

Helen Clark is wanting to cut Field adrift.

She's told Holmes he needs to consider a new career.

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Evolution?

The following story suggests this is proof of swift evolution:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5657338&ft=1&f=1024

I suggest they're clutching at straws. There is a growing school of scientific thought that believes many environmental switches lie dormant in our existing DNA code, that can be triggered or deactivated depending on environmental conditions. These are changes that are microevolutionary, in the sense that they show change within a species, but not enough to create a species jump.

Whether it is mussels, fruit flies, peppered moths, horses, finches, penguins, whatever, all of these examples show change only within their species, and usually minor in nature.

There is still no hard evidence of species jump evolution.
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Jon Benet Ramsay case arrest

If this guy turns out to be the one, and apparently he has confessed to unpublished aspects of the crime, then one hopes the sneering liberals who accused the ditzy conservative mother and drove her to her death will feel the guilt personally...how vicious they were.

http://c.feeddirect.com/click/here.pl?j612562140&w=2265039
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Press Release: New Zealand must take heed of new abortion research

A press release from Family Life International, New Zealand

Wednesday 16th August, 2006

New Zealand must take heed of new research which shows that abortion is far riskier for adolescent women than pregnancy

A new US study just published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence demonstrates that abortion poses far graver mental health risks to adolescent women then carrying a pregnancy to full term does.

The research by Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a research psychologist at Bowling Green State University, found that adolescent women who abort unintended pregnancies are fives times more likely to seek subsequent help for psychological and emotional problems compared to adolescent women who carry "unwanted pregnancies" to term.

The study also found that adolescents who had abortions were also more than three times more likely to experience subsequent trouble sleeping, and nine times more likely to report subsequent marijuana use.

This study is not the first to show such results, but it is one of only a handful of studies that has compared the outcomes for adolescent women who abort with the outcomes for adolescent women who carry unintended pregnancies to term.

This study also has several other methodological strengths that bolster the significance of its findings.

These methodological strengths are important because other similar studies have been rejected by pro-choice advocates and groups who claim that the serious psychological harm to women shown in such studies was being caused by the unintended pregnancy and not the abortion.

This study clearly shows that such assertions have been incorrect.

"The New Zealand Government and healthcare providers must take notice of this research" says Family Life International media spokesperson; Brendan Malone.

"This study confirms the findings released earlier this year by Professor Fergusson of the Christchurch School of Medicine; which showed that abortions are harmful to the mental health of adolescent women."

"These studies are part of a growing body of research which scientifically dispels the myth that abortion is better for a young woman than carrying a pregnancy to full term is."

Past research showing these types of outcomes for women who have had abortions was criticized for its shortcomings. However such studies that have been released in the last five years have systematically addressed the concerns relating to previous studies, and they have been rigorously scrutinized by the peer review process.

"Adolescent women make up the second largest group of women having abortions in New Zealand, with 3,718 last year alone" says Brendan Malone.

"If our government and our society truly cares for women's health, then we will take urgent steps to implement strategies to protect adolescent women from the harm that abortion causes them, by providing them the necessary support and assistance to carry their babies to full term."

"If we don't take urgent action on this issue then we will have to deal with some very serious and costly social and psychological health problems in the coming years" says Brendan Malone.

ENDS

NZ cameraman taken in Gaza

Our prayers and thoughts are with Olaf Wiig...a former colleague of mine from Real TV days...kidnapped while working for Fox in Gaza.

Wiig married Anita McNaught in the late 90s and has been based in Britain since then.

Nice guy...unassuming...tall.

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Brash/Brownlee - Deep sadness over death of Maori Queen

Don Brash MP
National Party Leader

15 August 2006

Deep sadness over death of Maori Queen

National Party Leader Don Brash says it is with deep sadness that he learnt tonight of the death of the Maori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

"Dame Te Atairangikaahu's immense popularity was underlined in May this year when thousands upon thousands joined celebrations for the 40th anniversary of her coronation.

"During her 40-year reign she received a host of national and international honours, and presided over substantial gains for Maori, including significant progress on the settlement of outstanding Treaty of Waitangi claims.

"My colleagues and I will be among many thousands of New Zealanders who will visit Turangawaewae Marae in the coming days to pay our respects to a great New Zealander," says Dr Brash.

Meanwhile, National Party Deputy Leader and Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee says Dame Te Atairangikaahu conducted herself with the utmost dignity and earned great respect.

"I wish to convey my deepest sympathies to Dame Te Atairangikaahu's family. I note that she is the longest serving Maori monarch and she will be deeply missed."

Can we trust scientific "studies"?

This was brought to my attention by a reader:

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/fda-scientist-survey .html

SNIP>Basically, a just completed survey of 1,000 scientists working for or affiliated to the US Food and Drug Administration finds massive twisting of figures to suit bureaucratic or sponsor requirements:

"I have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or my conclusions in an FDA scientific document."

That's a remarkably candid statement, coming from a scientist employed by the FDA. But that statement wasn't made by a single scientist; about 180 FDA scientists agreed that they could honestly make that astonishing claim.

Last month, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released the results of a survey sent to nearly 6,000 FDA scientists. About 1,000 replied. Here's a sampling of their responses:
* 20 percent said they had been "asked explicitly by FDA decision makers to provide incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information to the public, regulated industry, media, or elected/senior government officials."
* 61 percent said, "Department of Health and Human Services or FDA political appointees have inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions."
* 60 percent said they were aware of instances "where commercial interests have inappropriately induced or attempted to induce the reversal, withdrawal or modification of FDA determinations or actions."
* 40 percent said they would fear retaliation if they publicly expressed "concerns about public health"
When asked if the FDA "routinely provides complete and accurate information to the public," less than half agreed.

This is a major scandal, surely. Yeah, we all know figures get fudged, but the sheer scale of it is frightening.
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National ping Hubbard's council

John Carter MP
National Party Local Government Spokesman

14 August 2006

C’mon Dick, stop the excesses

National Party Local Government spokesman John Carter says there’s absolutely no way Auckland City ratepayers should be funding séances and international phone calls to the Congo.

“If anything will cause a crisis of confidence in local Government, it’s precisely these sorts of bizarre extravagances at the ratepayer expense.

“Labour, which gave councils sweeping new powers of general competence, needs to explain to the struggling Auckland ratepayer why they are now paying for things like tarot card readings and séances.

“Yes, they are small examples, worth less than $5,000, but they are indicative of the wider issue about what councils should and shouldn’t be dabbling in.”

Auckland ratepayers have been clobbered with a 44% rate increase since October 2004, with plans for a mammoth 135% rise over the next decade.

“Tell the pensioner living at home why they’re paying for members of the Congolese community to call the Congo to speak with candidates in elections there.

“Tell the family struggling to keep warm in the face of rising power bills that their rates are paying for such nonsense. Is this really what rates are for?

“Before we start tackling the problems in the rating system itself, ratepayers need to make it clear to their central Government leaders what it is they expect councils to be involved in.

“Weeding out the waste is the first logical step, followed closely by a commitment from Labour that it will stop passing the buck and loading extra costs onto ratepayers.”

National has identified at least 67 Labour policy changes which have added costs to rate bills.

Ends

Islam supports child sacrifice

News reports on Newstalk ZB and elsewhere disclose that two of the alleged hijack plotters in Britain were a married couple who'd also planned to take their six month old baby on the suicide missing with liquid explosive in his baby bottle.

Presumably this is nothing more than an illustration that Islamofascism has as much spiritual integrity as the blood cults of the Aztecs.

Monday 14th TV One, very important doco

This just in from Hilary Butler.worth a look:

Hi all,

Very important doco. Record it if you can, and make sure that people who need to see this doco, see it, because right now, most people with autism spectrum disorder kids are unlikely to have positive outcomes. Hopefully this will kick a few people up the backsides and make the medical profession take note.

Cheers,

Hilary.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/413551/434386

Mercury Falling - Monday August 14th at 8.30pm

'A documentary that follows a mother's extraordinary journey as she seeks a cure for her two autistic sons.'

Louise Bewsher is the mother of two boys, Ben, who's nearly four, and Jamie, who's three. With husband Owen, she leads a fairly typical Kiwi lifestyle - save for one thing. Both of their sons are autistic.

At the time when Ben was diagnosed with autism, Jamie was happily running around the house. Louise felt relieved and able to cope with one autistic child. However, months later, her world came crashing down as Jamie's diagnosis was confirmed - he too was autistic. For Louise, her sons are her life, and that life was now dictated by caring for two boys who made little or no eye contact, were unable to speak, and suffered from frequent, unmotivated tantrums.

Not willing to accept that this was it for Ben and Jamie - all they could expect from life - Louise and Owen, with a great deal of family help, managed to get the money together to pay for the boys to undergo ABA - Applied Behavioural Analysis - an intensive education programme. However, this treatment was slow and unlikely to realise Louise's dream.

Her dream is one that many parents would never give a second thought. All Louise wants is to hear her boys speak. It's August 2004, and here's where the documentary picks up Louise's story.

Through a chance meeting, Louise hears of another autistic boy who has undergone a mercury detoxification treatment, which produced seemingly miraculous results - the child was speaking within a matter of weeks.

The premise of the treatment appeared simple - high levels of mercury, particularly in a child's brain, may impede normal development, possibly resulting in very similar symptoms to those of autism. Therefore, the removal of this mercury could be equivalent to breaking through the road block which is stopping a child's development. Once the mercury has been removed, the brain and body can begin to function properly (or so some doctors believe), and an autistic child can become normal again.

This discovery leads Louise on a journey that takes her to the very limits of her endurance. Driven by this dream to hear her boys speak, she stops at nothing to pursue this extremely controversial and (in New Zealand) at the time, little-known treatment.

Mercury Falling follows Louise and the two boys as they embark on this remarkable rollercoaster of a journey. Through interviews with leading proponents and detractors of the treatment, in New Zealand and overseas, the documentary also examines the theories behind this highly disputed procedure and poses questions such as:

'Is this really a cure for autism, or just pseudo-science amounting to little more than garbage?' (Ministry of Health).

'If high levels of mercury really are a cause of autism, where does the mercury come from? Is it vaccines, passed from the mother, or absorbed by the environment?'

Above all, this documentary illustrates the extraordinary lengths a mother will go to in seeking a cure for her two boys - or, more simply, just to hear them speak. Will the treatment work, or will it all be for nothing? Mercury Falling will reveal all.