Archive for July, 2009

Conrad - A Face You Should Be Able To Trust

Friday, July 31st, 2009

win a resort - Dr ConradDr Conrad Murray, cardiologist and personal doctor to Michael Jackson has admitted administering the dangerous sedative propofol to the icon, the day he died. It is believed the powerful sedative was administered intravenously.

On the police warrant the possible charges are ‘manslaughter’, ‘excessive prescribing’, ‘prescribing to an addict’, ‘excess treatment or prescribing’ and ‘unprofessional conduct’.

Behind the face most people would trust, lurks a long time debtor. It is reported that Murray, like his boss, Michael Jackson, was drowning in debt. He stands to lose his expensive Las Vegas home as he falls further behind in payments.

Murray was sentenced to 10 days jail in 2009 and 25 days in 2008, for non-payment of child support. He did not go to jail either time, upon supplying more financial information.

Numerous law suits and court judgements against Murray have surfaced since the death of Michael Jackson. Murray has unpaid fines and penalties owing from as far back as 2000. Several tax liens were filed against him between 1993 and 2003 and $71,000 of student loans from medical school remain unpaid. Murray was receiving a salary of $150,000 a month when Michael Jackson unexpectedly died.

When Conrad’s office was raided a suspension notice from a Houston hospital was discovered. Conrad was employed by Jackson after being called in to treat one of Jackson’s children on a minor illness in 2006.

Michael Jackson now joins a long list of high profile deaths to be investigated by the L.A. coroner’s office, such as movie goddess Marilyn Monroe in 1962, the drowning of the film star Natalie Wood in 1981, Nicole Brown Simpson, ex wife of O.J. Simpson murdered in 1994 and the gang land-style gunning down of hip-hop rapper KingPin, the Notorious B.I.G in 1997. The L.A. coroner’s office is the busiest office in the United States, receiving between 15 - 20 bodies a day.

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Is It Back To Bare Skin For The Swimmers?

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Win a Resort - top swimmerRicky Berens, the US swimmer and Beijing relay gold medalist, ripped open the bottom part of his body suit, revealing his buttocks, before the qualifying heat of the 4X100 freestyle relay on Sunday, during the World Swimming Championships in Rome. Berens leaned down to stretch just before he stepped up to the blocks and the suit tore open.

However, it is more than just showing some bare bottom, that has the body-suits in trouble in an International pool of controversy.

From Jan 1 2010 the FINA (International Swimming Federation) will ban record breaking high-tech form-hugging body-suits, which assist flotation, while the swimmer remains dry.

Mr Wood, president of the USA swimming said, “The new technology in suits probably were more performance-enhancing than just allowing an athlete to compete at their ability level. They actually change the complexion of strokes. They allowed athletes who were not very strong in the core to not need to be because they had core stabilization”

Some people believed the suits allowed athletes, who were not great technically, to float higher in the water because they were buoyant. The suits are extremely expensive, which creates a real difficult situation for a large number of athletes who can’t afford to spend $600 for a bathing suits several times a year. “The primary reason is that the suits make the sport unfair,” says Wood.

The current controversy began when Biedermann wore a 100 percent polyurethane Arena suit, while racing against Phelps in the world championships. Body-suits from Italian manufacturers Arena and Jaked are considered faster. Phelps chose to stay with last year’s Speedo LZR Racer, which is less than half polyurethane. A suit Phelps had spent two years helping his coach to design.

Under pressure, FINA also announced a rule that suits have to be approved one year before Olympic competitions, or world championships and must be available commercially six months in advance.

A scientific commission with materials experts from each continent will approve swimsuits and monitor developments in technology, including the textile or fabric a suit can be made from.

All records up to 2010 will however, be allowed to stand, even though up to 60 or 70% of records were broken by swimmers wearing full body-suits at the Beijing Olympics. The major problem is that swimmers in world championship events and the Olympics, beyond the start of the ban of the body suits, will be competing against records set with a major technological edge.

The questions remain – will this open up a can of worms? Nearly every sport is capable of using technologically advanced equipment from running shoes, kayaks to helmets, tennis rackets and even boxing gloves. Do we need to return to the original Greek method of competition – naked?

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Challenging The Decency Laws

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Win a Resort - Sudanese WomenIt is rare for Sudanese women to take a public stance on any issue, let alone her right to defy the dress code and challenge the laws of decency. Hussein is not afraid to face the maximum penalty of 40 lashes for her bravery.

Wearing the same green slacks that caused her arrest, a former United Nations journalist, Lubna Hussein, created chaotic scenes when she appeared in court. Hussein quit her job at the United Nations as her position appeared to give her immunity.

Hussein was among 13 women arrested in July, when members of the public-order police force raided a party at a popular restaurant in Khartoum’s Riyadh district. All but three of the women were flogged at a police station two days later and fined 25 Sudanese pounds (around $120).

A woman wearing pants publicly is considered indecent, by the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan’s Islamic regime. The restrictions however, on public decency, are only spasmodically enforced in Khartoum, though indecency cases are not uncommon in Sudan.

Islamic Sharia law was implemented in Sudan when an army coup led by President Omar al-Bashir seized power in 1989, toppling an elected but ineffective government. However activists and lawyers say the implementation of the law is arbitrary.

Hussein said “Thousands of women are punished with lashes in Sudan but they stay silent. The law is being used to harass women and I want to expose this.” Lashings are handed out as a punishment for a variety of dismeanours, ranging from wearing pants publicly to brewing alcohol. “This article is against the constitution and even against Islamic law itself,” said Hussein after the hearing.

Human rights groups are closely watching the proceedings in this test case. Diplomats from various embassies attended the court hearing, including France, Canada, Sweden and Spain. There were also politicians and members of the Sudanese Women’s Union present, plus many supporters wearing pants.

A senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, (SPLM) the strongest party in southern Sudan said “The SPLM is calling for this law to be repealed. It humiliates both Christian and Muslim women.” Flogging is against the international human rights standards.

The question has to be asked, why was this particular group of women signaled out in this restaurant? Particularly as one of them was a woman journalist. Was it because she dared to write criticisms against the Sudanese oppressive regime?

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Corruption Incorporated

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Win a Resort - money launderingIllegal business may slow slightly in New Jersey, where the selling of body parts and false Gucci handbags and money laundering has ruled the roost.  In an FBI sting, 44 people were arrested, mainly city officials. This was the result of a 10-year long investigation.

The anti-corruption sweep included the three-weeks-in-office, 32 year old Peter Cammarano, mayor of Hoboken. Two other mayors were also arrested, plus five rabbis, two state assemblymen, several city councilmen, local commissioners, regulatory inspectors and other government officials.

“The list of people we arrested sounds like it should be the roster from a meeting of community leaders,” said head of the FBI’s Newark office, Weysan Dun. “But sadly they weren’t meeting in a boardroom this morning. They were in the FBI booking room.”

It was a money-for-access scheme that involved mayors receiving cash in diners, to rabbis depositing untraceable money into charities, to Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, ‘the kidney salesman,’ brokering body parts.

Rosenbaum has been charged with buying kidneys from donors in Israel for $10,000 and selling them  to American transplant recipients for $160,000. He has been marketing illegal kidneys for 10 years. “I am what you call a matchmaker,” Rosenbaum told undercover agents.

The sting began when a northern New Jersey real estate developer and son of a prominent rabbi in the Syrian community in Deal, N.J., turned government witness, after being accused of defrauding a bank of $25 million. He is out on a $10 million bond and will receive credits for assisting the FBI investigation.

Over a three year period the witness, turned undercover agent, met with government officials, who took a total of $650,000 in bribes. Rabbis and their associates washed millions of dollars for the witness, through charities and connections reaching from Deal to Brooklyn, Israel and Switzerland.

Patrick Murray, a New Jersey voter for more than three decades, said citizens of the country’s most densely populated state were inured to corruption problems. “They don’t see any way out of it.”

Even though people were aware that an FBI investigation had been ongoing since 1999 and there had been 130 arrests and convictions, the corruption simply continued.

Perhaps the arrested government officials will  meet up with Bernard Madoff and exchange notes.

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Undercover Journalist Beaten

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Win a Resort - foreign studentsA young Indian ABC undercover reporter, acting for the Australian television program, Four Corners, was attacked and beaten, after having received threats during the making of the program. The program was to reveal fraudulent migration and education scams, aimed at foreign students.

Posing as a prospective student, the woman approached two different migration agents. She was told she could obtain a fake work certificate and pass an English Language Test without any skills, for up to $5000.

Four Corners aimed to reveal how Indian students are being exploited by fake colleges and unscrupulous migration and education agents. Some students pay up to $20,000 for a good result in an International immigration and education scams in Australia. For an extra fee, false bank documents and loans, that satisfy the Australian immigration law, can be arranged.

It is feared the $15.5 billion international education sector has become a corrupt immigration racket, complete with sham marriages, forged English language exams and bogus courses. Universities on average rely on international student for up to 15% of their revenue. Around 70,000 Indian students each year study in Australia, with approximately 500,000 international students living in Australia. Many students enroll in courses in order to gain permanent residency in Australia.

Three men were arrested in the city of Ludhiana, Punjab, the main feeder community for Indian students wanting to enter Australia. They were charged with impersonation and forgery, after being caught sitting an IELTS exam for hopeful foreign students. Other operators arrange ‘contract marriages’ to partner students who have passed the mandatory English test.

Prabmeet Singh’s family spent $40,000 on a course in a flying school in Sydney, Aerospace Aviation. Pushpinder Kaur, says her son has no pilot’s license and the family is broke. “It is a fraud. The Government should be more alert in these type of matters because it is the career of the children which is at stake.”
Kumar Khatri, from Nepal, enrolled in a Sydney cooking school, Austech. “I do not believe the college even has a kitchen.”

An education and migration agent based in Sydney, Karl Konrad says “I have been aware of a black market in dodgy documents for years.” Konrad reported to the Immigration Department. They told him they would pass the information onto the Trades Recognition Australia, but nothing ever came of it.

Around fifty-one foreign students died Australia in 2008. 34 from unknown causes, 15 from accidents and three from illness. A major proportion of them Indians, whose families had sold land and taken on huge loans in the hope their child’s success would repay the loans.

Some students are forced to work long hours without a break in lieu of fees, with the demand outstripping the supply. These students are trapped in economic slavery.

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Nudists On New York Harbour

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Win a Resort - nudists During the oppressive summer heat, New Yorkers and their visitors can enjoy cool breezes and stunning views, dressed with nothing more than a hand bag. Now bare-skinned ’sun lovers’ can take a leisurely trip on the sloop ‘Ventura’ and enjoy the sights, as they cruise New York Harbour.

Believe it or not, hanging around nude in New York isn’t such a difficult thing to do, if you are into baring it all. There are numerous places where you can prance around naked amongst your nudist peers.

However, despite nudists’ desire to let it all hang out, they don’t seem to particularly like being caught on camera. Perhaps it’s because not many sun-loving nudists can claim to be members of ‘Body Beautiful’.

Now, however, the clock is turning back, as the younger generation of women are opting to cover-up, both in fear of skin cancer and in rebellion against the obsessive cult of the ‘body beautiful’, where no imperfection is tolerated. Going topless is no longer seen as a feminist act, in an age where sex equality, equal pay and work-family balance, has taken a greater precedence.

Near nudity does not stop in restricted areas in New York.  Now the man who ‘Knows how to do more with less’, is up for election. The long-haired  and tattooed ‘Naked Cowboy’, Robert Burck, entertains crowds of tourists wearing only his underwear, in Times Square, heedless of the weather conditions.  Burck has launched his bid to run for mayor against billionaire, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

This comes at a time when 44 people, including three mayors and some rabbis were arrested in an anti corruption raid in New Jersey, during an investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and false Gucci handbags.

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Camels Produce Chocolate

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

win a resort camel chocolateThe oldies can remember a time when there was camel tobacco available, but now the world is about to be inundated with high-end camel milk chocolate international, from Dubai.

Al Nassma Chocolate has a farm of around 3,000 head of camels and is aiming to soon peddle his product in the US, Europe, Japan and Asia, as well as Arab markets. The venture is financed by the Abu Dhabi royal family.

The company claims camel chocolate contains less fat, less lactose and five times more vitamin C, with more insulin, than cow’s milk. All chocolates are natural with no preservatives or additives and will be available in a range of local popular spices, nuts and honey.

“Powdered camel milk is sent from Abu Dhabi to  Austria where we produce raw chocolate then send it back for processing to a factory in the desert,” says Johann George Hochleitner, head of Chocolatier Hochleitner  in Austria.

Camel milk chocolate is considered a luxury and only places such as Harrods will sell the new delicacy. Company manager Martin Van Almsick said “It’s a luxury product, so we will never be in supermarkets. The plan is to be in one mall in each UAE city”.  The chocolate is currently being sold in luxury hotels and private airlines in Dubai.

It is claimed that camel milk has therapeutic properties against jaundice, malaria, diabetes and constipation. It is believed that raw camel milk can be kept unspoiled for about seven days.

win a resort - camelThe camel milk industry is mainly operated entirely by women, in most arid and semi-arid countries. In Nairobi substandard unhygienic raw camel milk brings twice the price of pasteurized quality cow’s milk. Many wealthy Somali diabetics undergo camel milk therapy for diabetes. Tests have been carried out with tuberculosis patients, with very positive results for those treated with raw camel milk, compared to those fed raw cow’s milk.

Camel milk normally has a sweet and sharp taste, but can at times be salty. Other times the milk can taste watery. The quality of milk is affected by the age of the animal, the number of calvings, the stage of lactation, the quantity and quality of feed and water available to the animal.

The question remains however, who is going to volunteer to milk the camels, given they are creatures with such nasty natures.

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Who Is Wendy Stenberg-Tendys?

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Win a Resort - Rick and WendySeveral people have been asking just who am I and what are my credentials, so I have decided to give you a quick run-down.

I have always enjoyed writing. My first extended study course was written in the early 1990’s, which I also taught. I published a 500 page book on the same subject, The Tabernacle of Moses, besides writing three fiction novels.

Over the past two and a half years I have turned to writing for the Internet. I have published over 350 articles and press releases on a wide variety of subjects. I enjoy anything unusual or interesting that captures the imagination. My blog’s byline is ‘What Others Won’t Tell You’.

I enjoy discussing items that take ordinary everyday things and grab your attention:

  • from observations on the activities of politicians,
  • rights of women,
  • education,
  • extreme sport,
  • some ‘how to’ advice articles,
  • unusual destinations or sports,
  • entertainment personalities,
  • society in general in articles such as the growing centenarian club (those over 100 years old). I have discussed
  • the facts behind child brides stolen by China,
  • the use of blood diamonds in Africa,
  • the Soamli pirates,
  • why Madoff was permitted a consultant to choose his jail and whether Ruth Madoff was involved,
  • the makeover of Susan Boyle,
  • the military coup in Fiji,
  • an overview of Nelson Mandela and his thoughts on education,
  • to clownless circuses in England.

I receive many requests for my articles to be reproduced in magazines, or projects, or for use in text books.

I currently research and write up to 10-14 items every week, on an average of 450 words per item. All are published first on my websites Winaresort Blog Blog, or  Tropic Post then they are sent out to many different sites on the Web.

I earned a Bachelor in Theology, Master in Missiology and Doctrate of Divinity over 20 years ago. I have taught in many countries around the world in Christian circles, as well as teaching English in a school in the New Territories, Hong Kong. I am supposedly retired now in Vanuatu (ha). I don’t know the meaning of the word retirement.

My husband and I co-founded YouMe Support Foundation and are currently raising funds to provide high school education for children in Vanuatu, where there is no free education.

  • Primary school attendance       -  55.8%
  • Never attended or pre-school  – 18.3%
  • Junior secondary                        – 16.8%
  • Senior secondary/vocational    –  7.8%
  • Tertiary                                        –  1.3%

As the United Nations Rights of A Child declares, every child has the right to an education. We are doing our part in our small corner of the world.

You will find more information on Wikipedia about YouMe Support Foundation.

Or you can meet Maimona, on video. She is the first student to receive an education grant from YouMe Support Foundation.

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Flying Nuns Shock Police

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

In a nation where speeding is very much a national pastime, even the Italian traffic police were in shock when they had cause to pull over a Ford Fiesta doing 50kph over the speed limit. The police never suspected the occupants would be elderly nuns.

Three Salesian nuns, aged 65, 78 and the 56-year-old driver, were forced to sit submissively in their car as the traffic cop wrote out a speeding fine. The nuns told the policemen they were on a mercy dash to get to Pope Benedict’s side after his accident, in which he broke his wrist. “The news of His Holiness’s injury had made us truly anxious,” said one of the nuns. They were afraid of being late.

The driver’s license was suspended for one month and fined $650. However, the driver is determined not to accept the cop’s decision, her lawyer Anna Orecchioni said. “She is planning to appeal and we think we can invoke the ’state of necessity’ in the law that allows speeding.”

Orecchioni is also defending a priest who was stopped for drink-driving, who claims that the communion wine he sipped at four consecutive masses pushed him over the limit.

Win a Resort - Pop Benedict82 year old pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, lost his balance and slipped in the bath and broke his wrist while holidaying in his chalet in the Italian Alps. The Pope underwent surgery.

What pained the Pope the most was his inability to bless with his right hand and to be no longer able to clasp his hands together in prayer, with his wrist in plaster.

The Pope is in good company in that Hilary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, also underwent similar surgery when she slipped and broke her right elbow. The Pope however does not appear to be wearing any official insignia on his blue arm sling. Clinton proudly displayed an official State Department insignia on her arm sling, during the time of her incapacity.

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Politics Have Finally Gone To The Dogs

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Win a Resort - dog candidate

You know politics have finally gone to the dogs when Fidel, a bull terrier has been put forward as a candidate in the local elections in Guadalajara, Mexico. Fidel’s owner is protesting against corruption in politics.

This is in a country where a gang shot and killed Mayor Hector Ariel Meixuerio, in the northwestern Chihuahua state of Mexico, near the US border. In just a 48 hour period, 30 people were killed, including 12 police officers.  Twelve bodies were lined up on the road, with evidence of having been tortured. The killings have been attributed to the ‘La Familia’ drug cartel that operates vigorously in the region. It is considered one of the most violent criminal gangs in the whole of Mexico.

win a resort - drug cartelsIn the crime capital, Ciudad Juarez, 11 men were killed in what is claimed to be a flashpoint for drug-related violence. Gun battles continue between rival factions fighting to control lucrative trafficking routes, into the United States.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed around 36,000 soldiers and federal police in an aggressive nationwide clampdown, as security forces continue the war on drug cartels. More than 10,000 have died in gangland-style violence since President Felipe Calderon launched the military crackdown two and a half years ago.

It is estimated over 2,700 people have died in organized drug-related crimes this year. Last year 6290 deaths were reported, compared to the 2,700 in 2007 and the 1,500 in 2006.

This follows visits by Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Mapolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder, then finally President Obama, in an attempt to arrive at a solution to the escalating drug war, which is beginning to spill over into the United States. The Obama administration has tightened security on the U.S. –Mexico border and has pledged $80m to help Mexico buy Black Hawk helicopters in an attempt to defeat the well-armed extremely wealthy drug cartels.

Police say up to 90% of the assault weapons used by Mexican gangs, including the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, come from the United States. During her visit to Mexico, Hilary Clinton said the US must take part of the blame for drug-related violence in Mexico. “America’s appetite for drugs and its inability to stop arms crossing the border were helping fuel the violence.”

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