Just an unremarked genocide

Just a comment on the news that, as usual, around the world, Christians are being persecuted, and Christian politicians say nothing ...... as usual.

First came the news that over 10,000 Christians have been driven into camps or the forests in India (The country we have given £825 million pounds in aid to). Christian Aid runs an appeal on behalf of Hindu flood victims in Bihar, but nothing for the relief of homeless Indian Christians, which about sums up their "PC" infection, when they favour Hindus over Christians. Only the Pope speaks out.

Second the tiny band of Christian Somali's living in Kenya report being persecuted, again, who cares? certainly not the West, who only seem to care about Islam or other violent religions 'rights'.

As I have reported before the persecution of Christians by Muslims or others is now a worldwide trend, but you would hardly know it in the West.

Anglo Saxon Sluts?

The revelation (if you will pardon the fundamentalist metaphor), that the Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol is a teenage pregnancy statistic, would be vaguely interesting outside the US, but not much more than that, however the side statistic that the US has the worst teen pregnancy rates in the Western world makes it very interesting.

For the land of the Fundamentalist Christian to also be the land of the teen pregnancy is quite ironic (if the US does irony), and in fact a look round the "Anglo Saxon" world shows that in second slot is, yep the United Kingdom :-) In fact outside of Sub Saharan Africa (where teen marriage is the norm), it appears that its us and the US that lead the way across the Anglos Saxon world.

• The US has 44 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19.
• The UK has 27 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19.
  

The Canadian rates are 16 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19.

This UN report lists all the figures in this age group for 2002, and shows the following:

Edited List for the year 2002

1 Niger 233
26 Afghanistan 111
34 Zimbabwe 92
42 Jamaica 79
49 South Africa 66
51 Haiti 64
58 United States 53
66 Turkey 43
68 Bulgaria 41
69 Iraq 38
69 Saudi Arabia 38
69 Ukraine 38
70 Romania 37
72 Armenia 34
73 Georgia 33
76 Russia 30
77 Belarus 27
77 New Zealand 27
78 Estonia 26
78 Lithuania 26
80 Latvia 24
83 Hungary 21
84 United Kingdom 20
85 Croatia 19
88 Australia 16
88 Canada 16
88 Poland 16
89 Ireland 15
90 Austria 12
90 Malta 12
91 Germany 11
91 Norway 11
92 Cyprus 10
92 Greece 10
93 Belgium 9
93 France 9
93 Luxembourg 9
94 Finland 8
94 Slovenia 8
95 Denmark 7
95 Sweden 7
96 Italy 6
96 Singapore 6
96 Spain 6
97 China 5
97 Netherlands 5
97 Switzerland 5
98 Japan 4
99 South Korea 3

The full list is on the link above

Things have evidently got worse in the last 6 years!!

It should be noted that many of the non western countries have large numbers of early marriages e.g. Turkey.

In my opinion, its the casual acceptance in the West, that the state has too pay for, and support, any teenage girls who get pregnant, for life, that lead to these high rates.

Stop welfare and you stop teen pregnancies.

Real Madrid - Spanish Hypocrite's

Just a little blog on Real Madrid CF who every year set out to unsettle any player at any other football club who they want to get on the cheap. This is blatantly illegal, but for some reason the world bodies FIFA and UEFA refuse to take any action against this public 'tapping up', which happens every year (and FC Barcelona do it as well, when it suits their club politics).

Now every club practises these dark arts to some extent, but never quite to the level that Real Madrid practise - this year they have spent three months trying to force Manchester United to 'let Cristiano Ronaldo follow his dream and come the Real Madrid (on the cheap)' .... this interest only petered out a week or so ago, but has now so unsettled the player and the Manchester United board, that he is likely to leave next summer, despite being under contract until 2012.

Its not as though Real Madrid are the only suitor for Ronaldo, Italian giants Lazio for example would be keen, and it would be a sellers market if Man Utd decided to cash in.

Ramon Calderon the Real President has been talking about all of his clubs dealings, and now claims it was all a misunderstanding - however that's not why I am writing this article. Its the funny sight of Real Madrid, finding that the boot is very uncomfortable when its on the other foot!!

One of their stars, Robinho, has been approached by mega rich Chelsea FC, and despite Real saying he is staying, the player has publicly called a press conference today and told them that he wants to go to Chelsea and not stay at Real Madrid .... and of course Real Madrid are furious with official club site denouncements of both the player and Chelsea.

Heres the statement in full (in case the link dies):

"Real Madrid believes all its attention should be paid exclusively to tonight's important official match. This criteria has been completely ignored by the player Robinho with the announcements he made just hours prior to the game.

Concerning Robinho's comments, the Club once again stresses the contents of a previous official announcement, in which it said it would have no other choice but to accept a unilateral resolution of the player's contract if he willed it so.

Real Madrid CF deeply regrets the behaviour of Chelsea FC Board Members who, despite knowing Real Madrid's negative to transfer the player, have continued to make gestures and announcements that reached their peak with the selling of Robinho Chelsea shirts through the club's official website. All this has complicated the situation further and confused the public."

Funny how its wrong when a club do it to Real Madrid, but OK for them to do it to Manchester United or any club they feel able to destabilise..... of course Chelsea are a richer club and can offer more salaries so Real feel intimidated when Chelsea come a calling.

I don't know what the Spanish word is for Hypocrites (it may even be the same word), but Calderon should look it up.

Australia's "Big Dry"

Most people will be aware that Australia is prone to Wets and Drys i.e. a cycle of rain and droughts, that usually balances out over a long enough period.

Always something of a joke, Australians have often played on the 'parched' thirst jokes e.g.

Its so dry in Australia that .....

If the England cricket team wasn't touring we'd never see ducks.

The Red Cross has launched a wet blanket appeal.

We're actually drinking the new Vanilla Coke

You're only permitted to eat watermelon between 8pm and 8am.

The Government has introduced a water pistol buyback scheme.

Thieves are siphoning off radiators instead of petrol tanks.

I'm encouraging the kids to wee in the pool.

Jesus has turned the wine into water

We are having to hand feed the rocking horse.

Everyone is now an expert - because you can't find anyone who is wet behind the ears.

All the bottom of the harbour tax schemes are re-surfacing.

I saw two trees fighting over a dog.

All the Baptists have become Anglicans.

When my daughter fainted it took three buckets of sand to bring her around.

All the dogs are marking their territory with chalk.

Some of the 4 wheel drives in Toorak have actually got dust on them.

and many books have parodied the lack of rainfall e.g The Lost Continent by Terry Pratchett.

However for the last decade, Australia has been living through the "Big Dry" - the most severe drought in a century. This has reached the point where the very ecosystem is in danger of collapse across large areas of Australia and is having far reaching social consequences.

Maybe the most surprising, is that despite their reputation for water shortages, Australia has so far refused to recycle water for drinking i.e. they only use recycled water for agriculture, and not for drinking.

Well guess what, they are going to have to use water properly, like the rest of the world - drinking water shortages are the biggest threat to humanity and for one continent to act as though it isn't affected, is plainly daft.

Recycled effluent water is not straight from the sewers, and then back into the drinking supply .... its a process like this...

1. Waste water is pumped into a clarifier
2. After passing through filters it is then disinfected with UV light
3. The water is then pumped into rivers or lakes, to be taken back into the water supply later as part of the natural cycle.

Aussies, remember that your river water has

• Dead fish,
• Dead animals
• Animal and fish faeces,
• Industrial waste, and
• Pesticides

in it, before you treat it and drink it ..... how can human waste make that worse?

Cane Toads Australian Invasions Halted?

A while back I blogged on the rise and conquest of the Cane Toad in Australia.

At the time it looked as though nothing could stop them, and I even entered into correspondence with scientists in Australia who were trying to control them .... I was interested in the story and their plans.

Anyway, this week came some good news, some parts of Australia maybe 'too cold' or 'too dry' for the Cane Toads to advance into these areas. This story on the BBC, offers hope that some areas may survive the Cane Toad invasion and allow scientists a chance to develop control methods.

However a note of warning, the toads have proved very adaptable so far, and may yet find away around difficulties e.g. accidental introductions bypassing natural barriers or even local wet periods, or warm spells temporarily removing the obstacles.

The danger still remains that they will get into the major river systems in the south of the continent, or the permanent water sources like those in the West MacDonnell Ranges and the Pilbara in the interior and adapt to local colder water conditions (after all, turtles manage to do this in the UK and are now thriving).

But its still some good news for the local wildlife and may yet prove to be a temporary answer for some areas, but somehow I suspect this adaptable invader may yet find a way past this obstacle.