Among the most important passages cited by both our authors is one that every reader of Shakespeare will recollect, when it is mentioned to him—Hamlet’s speech over the, skull in the grave-digging scene. But although this speech is remarkable for the number of law terms used in it, only one of them seems to evince any recondite knowledge of the law. This is the word "statutes," in the following sentence:
This fellow might be in’s time a buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries.
—Act v. Sc.1.
The general reader supposes, we believe, and very naturally, that here "statutes" means laws, Acts of Parliament concerning real estate. But, as Mr. Rushton remarks, (Malone having explained the term before him,) "The statutes referred to by Hamlet are, doubtless, statutes merchant and statutes staple." And "a statute merchant (so called from the 13th Edward I, De mercatoribus) was a bond acknowledged before one of the clerks of the statutes merchant, and the mayor, etc., etc. A statute staple, properly so called, was a bond of record, acknowledged before the mayor of the staple," etc., etc.
Here we again have a law-term apparently so out of the ken of an unprofessional writer, that it would seem to flavor the Attorney and Solicitor theory. But let us see if the knowledge which its use implies was confined to Shakespeare among the dramatists of his time.
In Fletcher’s "Noble Gentleman," a comedy, first performed in 1625, we find a lady, sorely pushed for ready cash, crying out,
Take up at any use: give bond, or land,
Or mighty statutes, able by their strength
To tie up Samson, were he now alive.
—Act i. Sc. 1.
And in Middleton’s Family of Love, (where, by the way, the Free-Love folk of our own day may find their peculiar notions set forth and made the basis of the action, though the play was printed two hundred and fifty years ago) we find a female free-loveyer thus teaching a mercantile brother of the family, that, although she has a sisterly disregard for some worldly restraints, she yet keeps an eye on the main chance:
Tut, you are master Dryfab, the merchant: your skill is greater in cony-skins and woolpacks than in gentlemen. His lands be in statutes: you merchants were wont to be merchant staplers; but now gentlemen have gotten up the trade; for there is not one gentleman amongst twenty but his lands be engaged in twenty statutes staple.
—Act i. Sc. 3.
And in the very first speech of the first scene of the same play, the husband of this virtuous and careful dame says of the same "Gerardine," (who, as he is poor and a gentleman, it need hardly be said, is about the only honest man in the piece,)—"His lands be in statutes." And that poor debauchee, Robert Greene, who [93] knew no more of law than be might have derived from such limited, though authentic information as to its powers over gentlemen who made debts without the intention of paying them, as he may have received at frequent unsolicited interviews with a sergeant or a bum-bailiff, has this passage in his Quip for an Upstart Courtier, 1592:
"The mercer he followeth the young upstart gentleman that bath no government of himself and feedeth his humour to go brave: he shall not want silks, sattins, velvets to pranke abroad in his pompe; but with this proviso, that he must bind over his land in a statute merchant or staple; and so at last forfeit all unto the merciless mercer, and leave himself never a foot of land in England."
Very profound legal studies, therefore, cannot be predicated of Shakespeare on the ground of the knowledge which he has shown of this peculiar kind of statute.
It is not surprising that both our legal Shakespearean commentators cite the following passage from As You Like It in support of their theory; for in it the word "extent" is used in a sense so purely technical, that not one in a thousand of Shakespeare’s lay readers nowadays would understand it without a note:
Duke F. Well, push him out of doors,
And let my officers of such a nature
Make an extent upon his house and lands.
—Act iii. Sc. 1.
"Extent," as Mr. Rushton remarks, is directed to the sheriff to seize and value lands and goods to the utmost extent; "an extendi facias," as Lord Campbell authoritatively says, "applying to the house and lands as a fieri facias would apply to goods and chattels, or a capias ad satisfaciendum to the person." But that John Fletcher knew, as well as my Lord Chief Justice, or Mr. Barrister Rushton, or even, perhaps, William Shakespeare, all the woes that followed an extent, the elder Mr. Weller at least would not have doubted, had he in the course of his literary leisure fallen upon the following passage in Wit Without Money (1630):
Val. Mark me, widows
Are long extents in law upon men’s livings,
Upon their bodies’ winding-sheets: they that enjoy ’em.
Lie but with dead men’s monuments, find beget
Only their own ill epitaphs.
—Act ii. Sc. 2.
George Wilkins, too, the obscure author of The Miseries of Enforced Marriage, uses the term with as full an understanding, though not with so feeling an expression or so scandalous an illustration of it, in the following passage from the fifth act of that play, which was produced about 1605 or 1606:
"They are usurers; they come yawning for money; and the sheriff with them is come to serve an extent upon your land, and then seize your body by force of execution."
Another seemingly recondite law-phrase used by Shakespeare, which Lord Campbell passes entirely by, though Mr. Rushton quotes three instances of it, is "taken with the manner." This has nothing to do with good manners or ill manners; but, in the words of the old law-book before cited,
"is when a theefe hath stollen and is followed with hue and crie and taken, having that found about him which he stole—that is called ye maynour. And so we commonly use to saye, when wee finde one doing of an unlawfull act, that we tooke him with the maynour or manner." —Termes de la Ley, 1595, fol. 126, b.
Shakespeare, therefore, uses the phrase with perfect understanding, when he makes Prince Hal say to Bardolph,
O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years ago, and wert taken with the manner, and ever since thou hast blushed extempore."
—1 Henry IV. Act ii. Sc. 4.
But so Fletcher uses the same phrase, and as correctly, when he makes Perez say to Estefania, in Rule a Wife and Have a Wife,
How like a sheep-biting rogue, taken I’ the manner,
And ready for the halter, dost thou look now!
—Act v. Sc. 4.
But both Fletcher and Shakespeare, in [94] their use of this phrase, unusual as it now seems to us, have only exemplified the custom referred to by our contemporary local authority,—"And so we commonly use to saye, when wee finde one doing of an unlawfull act, that we tooke him with the maynour"; though this must doubtless be understood to refer to persons of a certain degree of education and knowledge of the world.
It seems, then, that the application of legal phraseology to the ordinary affairs of life was more common two hundred and fifty years ago than now; though even now-a-days it is much more generally used in the rural districts than persons who have not lived in them would suppose. There law shares with agriculture the function of providing those phrases of common conversation which, used figuratively at first, and often with poetic feeling, soon pass into mere thought-saving formulas of speech, and which in large cities are, chiefly drawn from trade and politics. And if in the use of the law-terms upon which we have remarked, which are the more, especially technical and remote from the language, of unprofessional life, among all those which occur in Shakespeare’s works, he was not singular, but, as we have seen, availed himself only of a knowledge which other contemporary poets and playwrights possessed, how much more easily might we show that those commoner legal words and phrases, to remarks upon Shakespeare’s use of which both the books before us (and especially Lord Campbell’s) are mainly devoted, "judgment," "fine," "these presents," "testaments," "attorney", "arbitrator", "fees," "bond," "lease," "pleading," "arrest," "session," "mortgage," "vouchers," "indentures," "assault," "battery," "dower," "covenant," "distrain," "bail," "non-suit", etc., etc., etc.—words which everybody understands—are scattered through all the literature of Shakespeare’s time, and, indeed, of all time since there were courts and suits at law!
Many of the passages which Lord Campbell cites as evidence of Shakespeare’s "legal acquirements" excite only a smile at the self-delusion of the critic who could regard them for a moment in that light. For instance, these lines in that most exquisite song in Measure for Measure—"Take, oh, take those lips away"—
But my kisses bring again
Seals of love, but seal’d in vain
and these from Venus and Adonis,
Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, still to be sealing!
to which Mr. Rushton adds from Hamlet
A combination and a form, indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal.
—Act iii. Sc. 4.
Now must your conscience my acquittance seal.
—Act iv. Sc. 7.
And because indentures and deeds and covenants are scaled, these passages must be accepted as part of the evidence that Shakespeare narrowly escaped being made Lord High Chancellor of England
It requires all the learning and the logic of a Lord Chief Justice and a London barrister to establish a connection between such premises and such a conclusion. And if Shakespeare’s lines smell of law, how strong is the odor of parchment and red tape in these, from Drayton’s Fourth Eclogue (1605):
Kindnesse againe with kindnesse was repay’d,
And with sweet kisses couenants were sealed.
We ask pardon of the reader for the production of contemporary evidence, that, in Shakespeare’s day, a knowledge of the significance and binding nature of a seal was not confined to him among poets; for surely a man must be both a lawyer and a Shakespearean commentator to forget that the use of seals is as old as the art of writing, and, perhaps, older, and that the practice has furnished a figure of speech to poets from the time when it was written, that out of the whirlwind [95] Job heard, "It is turned as clay to the seal," and probably from a period yet more remote.
And is Lord Campbell really in earnest in the following grave and precisely expressed opinion?
"In the next scene, [of Othello]Shakespeare gives us a very distinct proof that he was acquainted with Admiralty law, as well as with the procedure of Westminster Hall. Describing the feat of the Moor in carrying off Desdemona against her father’s consent, which might either make or mar his fortune, according as the act might be sanctioned or nullified, Iago observes,
Faith, he tonight hath boarded a land carack:
If it prove a lawful prize, he’s made forever;
the trope indicating that there would be a suit in the High Court of Admiralty to determine the validity of the capture"!—p. 91.
Why did not his Lordship go farther, and decide, that, in the figurative use of the term, "land carack," Shakespeare gave us very distinct proof that he was acquainted with maritime life, and especially with the carrying-trade between Spain and the West Indies? We respectfully submit to the court the following passage from Middleton and Rowley’s Changling—first published in 1653, but written many years before. Jasperino, seeing a lady, calls out,
Yonder’s another vessell: He board her: if she be lawfull prize, down goes her topsail.—Act i. Sig. B. 2.
And with it we submit the following points, and ask a decision in our favor. First, That they, the said Middleton and Rowley, have furnished, in the use of the phrase "lawful prize", in this passage, very distinct proof that they were acquainted with Admiralty law. Second, That, in the use of the other phrases, "board," and especially "down goes her topsail," they have furnished yet stronger evidence that they had been sailors on board armed vessels, and that the trope indicates, that, had not the vessel or lady in question lowered her topsail or top-knot, she would them and there, have been put mercilessly to the sword.
But what shall we think of thy acumen and the judgment of a Chief Justice, a man of letters, and a man of the world, who brings forward such passages as the following as part of the evidence bearing upon the question of Shakespeare’s legal acquirements?
Come; fear not you: good counsellors lack no clients.
—Measure for Measure. Act i. Sc. 2.
One that before the judgment carries poor souls to hell.
—Comedy of Errors. Act iv. Sc. 2.
Well, Time is the old Justice that examines all such offenders,—and let Time try.
—As You Like It. Act iv. Sc. 1.
And that old common arbitrator, Time.
—Troilus and Cressida. Act iv. Sc. 5.
No cock of mine; you crow too like a craven.
—Taming of the Shrew. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Bestial oblivion or some craven scruple.
—Hamlet. Act iv. Sc. 4.
By which last line, according to Lord Campbell, (p. 55) "Shakespeare shows that he was acquainted with the law for regulating ‘trials by battle’"!
But to proceed with the passages quoted in evidence:
Is not this a lamentable thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled o’er, should undo a man? Some say, the bee stings: but I say, ‘tis the bee’s wax; I did but seal once to a thing, and I was never mine own mine since."—2 Henry VI, Act vi. Sc. 2.
Upon citing which, Ms Lordship exclaims,
"Surely Shakespeare must have been employed to write deeds on parchment in courthand, and to apply the wax to them in the form of seals. One does not understand how he should, on any other theory of his bringing-up, have been acquainted with these details"!
One does not; but we submit to the court, that, if two were to lay their heads together after the manner of Sydney Smith’s vestryman, they might bring it about.
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Sunday, October 31, 2010
GEOENGINEERING MORATORIUM AT UN MINISTERIAL IN JAPAN RISKY CLIMATE TECHNO-FIXES BLOCKED
News Release
29 October 2010
www.etcgroup.org
NAGOYA, Japan – In a landmark consensus decision, the 193-member UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will close its tenth biennial meeting with a de facto moratorium on geoengineering projects and experiments. “Any private or public experimentation or adventurism intended to manipulate the planetary thermostat will be in violation of this carefully crafted UN consensus,” stated Silvia Ribeiro, Latin American Director of ETC Group.
The agreement, reached during the ministerial portion of the two-week meeting which included 110 environment ministers, asks governments to ensure that no geoengineering activities take place until risks to the environment and biodiversity and associated social, cultural and economic impacts have been appropriately considered. The CBD secretariat was also instructed to report back on various geoengineering proposals and potential intergovernmental regulatory measures.
The unusually strong consensus decision builds on the 2008 moratorium on ocean fertilization. That agreement, negotiated at COP 9 in Bonn, put the brakes on a litany of failed “experiments” – both public and private – to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide in the oceans’ depths by spreading nutrients on the sea surface. Since then, attention has turned to a range of futuristic proposals to block a percentage of solar radiation via large-scale interventions in the atmosphere, stratosphere and outer space that would alter global temperatures and precipitation patterns.
“This decision clearly places the governance of geoengineering in the United Nations where it belongs,” said ETC Group Executive Director Pat Mooney. “This decision is a victory for common sense, and for precaution. It will not inhibit legitimate scientific research. Decisions on geoengineering cannot be made by small groups of scientists from a small group of countries that establish self-serving ‘voluntary guidelines’ on climate hacking. What little credibility such efforts may have had in some policy circles in the global North has been shattered by this decision. The UK Royal Society and its partners should cancel their Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative and respect that the world’s governments have collectively decided that future deliberations on geoengineering should take place in the UN, where all countries have a seat at the table and where civil society can watch and influence what they are doing.”
Delegates in Nagoya have now clearly understood the potential threat that deployment – or even field testing – of geoengineering technologies poses to the protection of biodiversity. The decision was hammered out in long and difficult late night sessions of a “friends of the chair” group, attended by ETC Group, and adopted by the Working Group 1 Plenary on 27 October 2010. The Chair of the climate and biodiversity negotiations called the final text “a highly delicate compromise.” All that remains to do now is gavel it through in the final plenary at 6 PM Friday (Nagoya time).
“The decision is not perfect,” said Neth Dano of ETC Group Philippines. “Some delegations are understandably concerned that the interim definition of geoengineering is too narrow because it does not include Carbon Capture and Storage technologies. Before the next CBD meeting, there will be ample opportunity to consider these questions in more detail. But climate techno-fixes are now firmly on the UN agenda and will lead to important debates as the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit approaches. A change of course is essential, and geoengineering is clearly not the way forward.”
In Nagoya, Japan
Pat Mooney: mooney@etcgroup.org (Mobile +1-613-240-0045 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1-613-240-0045 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Silvia Ribeiro: silvia@etcgroup.org (Mobile (local): + 81 90 5036 4659 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting + 81 90 5036 4659 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Neth Dano: neth@etcgroup.org (Mobile: + 63-917-532-9369 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting + 63-917-532-9369 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
In Montreal, Canada:
Diana Bronson: diana@etcgroup.org (Mobile: +1-514-629-9236 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1-514-629-9236 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Jim Thomas: jim@etcgroup.org (Mobile: +1-514-516-5759 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1-514-516-5759 end_of_the_skype_highlighting)
Note to Editors:
The full texts of the relevant decisions on geoengineering are copied below:
Under Climate Change and Biodiversity (UNEP/CBD/COP/10/L.36)
8. Invites Parties and other Governments, according to national circumstance and priorities, as well as relevant organizations and processes, to consider the guidance below on ways to conserve, sustainably use and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services while contributing to climate‑change mitigation and adaptation:
....
(w) Ensure, in line and consistent with decision IX/16 C, on ocean fertilization and biodiversity and climate change, in the absence of science based, global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanisms for geo-engineering, and in accordance with the precautionary approach and Article 14 of the Convention, that no climate-related geo-engineering activities[1] that may affect biodiversity take place, until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and appropriate consideration of the associated risks for the environment and biodiversity and associated social, economic and cultural impacts, with the exception of small scale scientific research studies that would be conducted in a controlled setting in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention, and only if they are justified by the need to gather specific scientific data and are subject to a thorough prior assessment of the potential impacts on the environment;
[1] Without prejudice to future deliberations on the definition of geo-engineering activities, understanding that any technologies that deliberately reduce solar insolation or increase carbon sequestration from the atmosphere on a large scale that may affect biodiversity (excluding carbon capture and storage from fossil fuels when it captures carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere) should be considered as forms of geo-engineering which are relevant to the Convention on Biological Diversity until a more precise definition can be developed. Noting that solar insolation is defined as a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given hour and that carbon sequestration is defined as the process of increasing the carbon content of a reservoir/pool other than the atmosphere.
AND
9 9. Requests the Executive Secretary to:
….
(o) Compile and synthesize available scientific information, and views and experiences of indigenous and local communities and other stakeholders, on the possible impacts of geo‑engineering techniques on biodiversity and associated social, economic and cultural considerations, and options on definitions and understandings of climate-related geo-engineering relevant to the Convention on Biological Diversity and make it available for consideration at a meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice prior to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties;
(p) Taking into account the possible need for science based global, transparent and effective control and regulatory mechanisms, subject to the availability of financial resources, undertake a study on gaps in such existing mechanisms for climate-related geo-engineering relevant to the Convention on Biological Diversity, bearing in mind that such mechanisms may not be best placed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice prior to a future meeting of the Conference of the Parties and to communicate the results to relevant organizations;
Under New and Emerging Issues UNEP/CBD/COP/10/L.2 :
4. Invites Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to submit information on synthetic biology and geo-engineering, for the consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, in accordance with the procedures of decision IX/29, while applying the precautionary approach to the field release of synthetic life, cell or genome into the environment;
Under Marine and Coastal Biodiversity UNEP/CBD/COP/10/L.42
13 Reaffirming that the programme of work still corresponds to the global priorities, has been further strengthened through decisions VIII/21, VIII/22, VIII/24, and IX/20, but is not fully implemented, and therefore encourages Parties to continue to implement these programme elements, and endorses the following guidance, where applicable and in accordance with national capacity and circumstances, for enhanced implementation:
(e) Ensuring that no ocean fertilization takes place unless in accordance with decision IX/16 C and taking note of the report (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/14/INF/7) and development noted para 57 – 62;
Impacts of ocean fertilization on marine and coastal biodiversity
57. Welcomes the report on compilation and synthesis of available scientific information on potential impacts of direct human-induced ocean fertilization on marine biodiversity (UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/14/INF/7), which was prepared in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Maritime Organization in pursuance of paragraph 3 of decision IX/20;
58. Recalling the important decision IX/16 C on ocean fertilization, reaffirming the precautionary approach, recognizes that given the scientific uncertainty that exists, significant concern surrounds the potential intended and unintended impacts of large-scale ocean fertilization on marine ecosystem structure and function, including the sensitivity of species and habitats and the physiological changes induced by micro-nutrient and macro-nutrient additions to surface waters as well as the possibility of persistent alteration of an ecosystem, and requests Parties to implement decision IX/16 C;
59. Notes that the governing bodies under the London Convention and Protocol adopted in 2008 resolution LC-LP.1 (2008) on the regulation of ocean fertilization, in which Contracting Parties declared, inter alia, that given the present state of knowledge, ocean fertilization activities other than legitimate scientific research should not be allowed;
60. Recognizes the work under way within the context of the London Convention and London Protocol to contribute to the development of a regulatory mechanism referred to in decision IX/16 C, and invites Parties and other Governments to act in accordance with the Resolution LC-LP.2(2010) of the London Convention and Protocol ;
61. Notes that in order to provide reliable predictions on the potential adverse impacts on marine biodiversity of activities involving ocean fertilization, further work to enhance our knowledge and modelling of ocean biogeochemical processes is required, in accordance with decision IX/16 (c) and taking into account decision IX/20 and LC-LP.2 (2010);
62. Notes also that there is a pressing need for research to advance our understanding of marine ecosystem dynamics and the role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle;
Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering is a new publication by ETC Group that provides an overview of the issues involved.
METFORMIN CAUSES VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY
by David Gutierrez, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Long-term use of the popular diabetes drug metformin (originally marketed as Glucophage) may cause patients to develop a steadily worsening vitamin B12 deficiency, Dutch scientists have found.
"Our study shows that this decrease is not a transitory phenomenon, but persists and grows over time," wrote the Maastricht University Medical Center researchers in the British Medical Journal.
This is an issue of particular concern given the prevalence of diabetes and the popularity of metformin as a treatment.
"Metformin is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of diabetes and is the most frequently prescribed first line therapy for individuals with type 2 diabetes," the researchers wrote. "In addition, it is one of a few ... associated with improvements in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, which is a major cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes."
Earlier, short-term studies had found that use of the drug might lead to insufficient levels of the vitamin in the body. The new study confirmed this trend over the long term.
"Metformin does ... induce vitamin B12 malabsorption, which may increase the risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency -- a clinically important and treatable condition," the researchers wrote.
The researchers assigned 390 Type 2 diabetes patients at the outpatient clinics of three nonacademic hospitals to take either metformin or a placebo pill three times per day for more than four years. The average study participant had been diagnosed with diabetes 13 years prior and had been undergoing insulin treatment for seven years. Average participant age was 61.
Among those taking metformin, vitamin B12 levels began to steadily drop relative to those who were taking a placebo pill. The biggest drop occurred in the first few months, but the decrease continued over the course of the study.
After four years, participants in the metformin group had undergone a 19 percent relative reduction in their levels of the nutrient. They were 11.2 percent more likely than placebo participants to suffer from B12 insufficiency and 7.2 percent more likely to suffer from deficiency.
For every 8.9 patients treated with metformin, one would develop insufficient vitamin B12 levels. This increased risk remained after researchers adjusted for other risk factors including age, duration of diabetes, insulin dose, sex, smoking status and previous treatment with metformin.
"Our study shows that it is reasonable to assume harm will eventually occur in some patients with metformin-induced low vitamin B12 levels," the researchers wrote.
The researchers found that metformin seems to inhibit the intestine's absorption of vitamin B12. Fortunately, calcium supplements appear to reverse this effect.
Vitamin B12 is critical for maintaining nerve and red blood cell health. It can be found in animal products, nutritional yeast and fortified breakfast cereals. Symptoms of deficiency include anemia, fatigue, nerve damage and cognitive changes. Because similar symptoms often occur in diabetics and the elderly, deficiency may be hard to detect in such populations. Yet while B12 deficiency can carry severe consequences, it is relatively easy to correct with supplementation.
The researchers suggested that all patients taking metformin have their vitamin B12 levels tested regularly to avoid potentially severe consequences.
"Vitamin B-12 deficiency is preventable; therefore, our findings suggest that regular measurement of vitamin B-12 concentrations during long-term metformin treatment should be strongly considered." the researchers wrote.
Nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population, or 24 million people, suffer from diabetes. Of these 5.7 million are undiagnosed. In addition, 57 million people in the United States alone are estimated to be pre-diabetic, or at imminent risk of developing the disease.
Worldwide, an estimated 246 million people suffer from the disease. Prevalence is only expected to increase as the spreading Western diet and lifestyle lead to increasing rates of obesity.
Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS... http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle... http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocri....
(NaturalNews) Long-term use of the popular diabetes drug metformin (originally marketed as Glucophage) may cause patients to develop a steadily worsening vitamin B12 deficiency, Dutch scientists have found.
"Our study shows that this decrease is not a transitory phenomenon, but persists and grows over time," wrote the Maastricht University Medical Center researchers in the British Medical Journal.
This is an issue of particular concern given the prevalence of diabetes and the popularity of metformin as a treatment.
"Metformin is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of diabetes and is the most frequently prescribed first line therapy for individuals with type 2 diabetes," the researchers wrote. "In addition, it is one of a few ... associated with improvements in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, which is a major cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes."
Earlier, short-term studies had found that use of the drug might lead to insufficient levels of the vitamin in the body. The new study confirmed this trend over the long term.
"Metformin does ... induce vitamin B12 malabsorption, which may increase the risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency -- a clinically important and treatable condition," the researchers wrote.
The researchers assigned 390 Type 2 diabetes patients at the outpatient clinics of three nonacademic hospitals to take either metformin or a placebo pill three times per day for more than four years. The average study participant had been diagnosed with diabetes 13 years prior and had been undergoing insulin treatment for seven years. Average participant age was 61.
Among those taking metformin, vitamin B12 levels began to steadily drop relative to those who were taking a placebo pill. The biggest drop occurred in the first few months, but the decrease continued over the course of the study.
After four years, participants in the metformin group had undergone a 19 percent relative reduction in their levels of the nutrient. They were 11.2 percent more likely than placebo participants to suffer from B12 insufficiency and 7.2 percent more likely to suffer from deficiency.
For every 8.9 patients treated with metformin, one would develop insufficient vitamin B12 levels. This increased risk remained after researchers adjusted for other risk factors including age, duration of diabetes, insulin dose, sex, smoking status and previous treatment with metformin.
"Our study shows that it is reasonable to assume harm will eventually occur in some patients with metformin-induced low vitamin B12 levels," the researchers wrote.
The researchers found that metformin seems to inhibit the intestine's absorption of vitamin B12. Fortunately, calcium supplements appear to reverse this effect.
Vitamin B12 is critical for maintaining nerve and red blood cell health. It can be found in animal products, nutritional yeast and fortified breakfast cereals. Symptoms of deficiency include anemia, fatigue, nerve damage and cognitive changes. Because similar symptoms often occur in diabetics and the elderly, deficiency may be hard to detect in such populations. Yet while B12 deficiency can carry severe consequences, it is relatively easy to correct with supplementation.
The researchers suggested that all patients taking metformin have their vitamin B12 levels tested regularly to avoid potentially severe consequences.
"Vitamin B-12 deficiency is preventable; therefore, our findings suggest that regular measurement of vitamin B-12 concentrations during long-term metformin treatment should be strongly considered." the researchers wrote.
Nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population, or 24 million people, suffer from diabetes. Of these 5.7 million are undiagnosed. In addition, 57 million people in the United States alone are estimated to be pre-diabetic, or at imminent risk of developing the disease.
Worldwide, an estimated 246 million people suffer from the disease. Prevalence is only expected to increase as the spreading Western diet and lifestyle lead to increasing rates of obesity.
Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS... http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle... http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocri....
VATICAN CAUGHT IN MONEY-LAUNDERING ROW AFTER ITALIAN INVESTIGATORS FIND SUSPICIOUS BANK DEALS
Come clean: Pope Benedict XVI has ordered the Vatican bank to follow strict EU rules
The Vatican has been caught in a money-laundering row after Italian prosecutors uncovered allegedly suspicious financial activity within the organisation.
In recent weeks the Vatican bank has pledged to pass anti-money laundering legislation, report and investigate suspicious transactions, identify customers to law enforcement and create a special compliance authority.
But prosecutors have refused to accept the promises on face-value and launched investigations into bank chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and his deputy Paolo Cipriani after financial police seized euro23 million from a Vatican bank account on Sept. 21.
They claim that even as the bank was claiming to tackle money-laundering, it broke the law by trying to transfer money without identifying the sender or recipient, or what the money was being used for.
Italian prosecutors have placed bank chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and his deputy Paolo Cipriani under investigation.
The Vatican initailly reacted furiously by insisting that the omission of data was just a 'misunderstanding' that could be easily clarified. It tried to get the seizure lifted, but the court refused.
But now Pope Benedict XVI has ordered the Vatican to implement strict EU rules on financial dealings.The Vatican has now finally given its commitments to some of the key institutions involved in the fight against money laundering.
An official at the FATF said that Vatican bank officials had recently made a written commitment to the Financial Action Task Force - the Paris-based policymaking body that develops anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing legislation - to do whatever is necessary to come into compliance with its norms.
The FATF requires the Vatican to pass legislation making money-laundering a crime, to establish an entity to report suspicious transactions and then investigate them, and to pass legislation requiring that the bank identify its customers properly and make that information available to law enforcement agencies, the official said.
Amadeu Altafaj i Tardio, spokesman for European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn, said: 'Vatican bank officials met with European Commission officials and agreed that Pope Benedict XVI would act to bring into Vatican law EU directives on money laundering that are required of euro-zone countries.'
He said that the bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works, also pledged to establish a compliance 'authority' headed by a senior Vatican cardinal on Jan. 1 to implement the anti-money laundering legislation. The authority will be the contact for all EU and international agencies working to fight money-laundering.
Jeffrey Owens, head of tax issues at the OECD, said that Vatican bank officials also had two meetings starting in the spring of this year with officials from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to learn how to get on the 'white list,' of countries that share tax information to crack down on tax havens.
To join the OECD's club, the Vatican must first make a formal commitment to transparency and exchange of financial information and then take part in peer review sessions. To get on the 'white list' the Vatican must enter into tax information sharing agreements with at least 12 other countries - a process that can often take years.
Mr Owens said: 'The next stage is: They know what the standards are. Do they want to advance the dialogue with the aim of committing to the standards?'
Despite such efforts - which predate the seizure of the Vatican account - prosecutors have said the Vatican has done nothing concrete to comply with Italian law, to which it is subject, much less international norms to fight money laundering.
In a court document released in October, prosecutors said such compliance 'doesn't even seem possible' given the lack of internal norms at the Vatican.
Citing an Oct. 6, 2010, Bank of Italy memorandum, prosecutors said the Vatican bank's consultations had been 'completely fruitless,' according to Corriere della Sera.
Gotti Tedeschi has insisted his efforts are sincere and has said he is mortified by the scandal. He has continued speaking publicly about the need for ethics in finance and has continued his promotion of the pope's encyclical on the global financial crisis.
At the same time, the bank is gearing up for another possible assault by Holocaust survivors who claim that Nazi loot was stored at the Vatican. A U.S. federal appeals court threw their case out in March after determining the Vatican bank enjoyed immunity since the Holy See is a foreign sovereign.
Attorney Jonathan Levy has since taken his case to the European Commission, asking for an investigation into whether looted Nazi gold had been used in Vatican euros and commemorative coins.
He said:'The issue here is that it's the EU's problem because they entered into an agreement with the Vatican to mint euros.
'From our point of view, it's the EU's responsibility to hold the Vatican responsible to meet money laundering standards.'
GREENS CANDIDATE'S 'DIRTY WORK'
Peter Rolfe and James Campbell SUNDAY HERALD SUN OCTOBER 31 2010
THE Greens candidate for Melbourne in the state election is working for a company that mines "dirty" brown coal.
Barrister Brian Walters is running for the key inner-city seat in the November 27 election while able to earn up to $7000 a day defending La Trobe Valley mining partner Downer EDI in a workplace death case.
And financial documents show Mr Walters has also bought into the Queensland resources boom by investing in industrial factories at Rockhampton.
ALP state secretary Nick Reece said: "The Greens party always talks about dirty coal, but it is obviously not dirty enough to stop him seeking to profit from it."
Melbourne MP and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike branded Mr Walters "a hypocrite".
Mr Walters denied any conflict of interest.
"I've got a duty as a barrister to accept briefs in an area in which I can practise. It would be an ethical breach for me to turn it down," he said.
He denied he was cashing in on the mining industry, saying he made a real estate investment in a "little series of warehouses" because his brother was the developer.
The revelations came as the Liberals' candidate for Seymour Mike Laker pulled out of the election race.
YEMENI POLICE ARREST WOMAN SUSPECTED OF MAILING PRINTER BOMBS
A SUSPECTED al-Qaeda parcel bomb found on a US-bound cargo jet was designed to blow up the plane, British premier David Cameron said, as Yemeni authorities arrested a suspect in the plot.
The discovery of two packages containing explosives on aircraft in Dubai and Britain on Friday sparked an international security alert, with US officials saying the parcels were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.
But Cameron said that after examination of the device found at East Midlands airport in central England, British authorities "believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane."
"There is no early evidence it was designed to take place over British soil but of course we cannot rule that out," the prime minister told BBC television from Chequers, his country residence near London.
US President Barack Obama has pointed the finger for the plot at al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based branch of Osama bin Laden's extremist network.
In Yemen, security forces on Saturday arrested a woman "suspected of sending two parcel bombs," after surrounding her house in the capital Sanaa, the defence ministry said, without providing further details.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh - who also announced that the suspect's house had been surrounded - said his country was "determined to fight terror but will not allow anyone to intervene in its affairs."
News of the arrest came shortly after Cameron and Obama's top countererrorism adviser both called Saleh to urge his "close" counterterrorism cooperation following the bomb plot.
Obama also called King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Riyadh provided the tip-off for the discovery of the bombs.
In Dubai, police said that the bomb found there contained the powerful high explosive PETN - the same substance used by would-be 2009 Christmas Day bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab and 2001 attempted shoe-bomber Richard Reid.
Dubai police chief General Dahi Khalfan told AFP: "This was a parcel bomb and a terrorist act could have occurred," adding that the device could have "exploded" on board the airplane had it not been intercepted in time.
The device consisted of a computer printer whose ink contained explosive material, connected to a mobile phone SIM card and a circuit board, a police statement said.
The statement said it "bears the hallmarks of those used by terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda."
The parcel was flown in from the Yemeni capital Sanaa via Doha in Qatar on a Federal Express aircraft, an Emirati aviation official later said.
Yemeni authorities also announced the seizure of 26 other parcels on Saturday and said they were being examined.
The cargo scare offered a new twist as Western authorities have usually focused on dangers posed to passenger planes following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when al-Qaeda hijacked jets and struck targets in New York and Washington.
Cameron highlighted the new dangers, saying: "A package that started in Yemen, that landed in Germany, that landed in Britain en route to America, it just shows how united and determined we have to be to defeat terrorism."
Police in Britain said the package intercepted there was flown in from Yemen via Cologne, Germany.
The White House said Obama had telephoned Cameron on Saturday to thank him for his country's "close cooperation" in helping disrupt the plot.
Top officials said the threat level to the United States was unchanged, but the Department of Homeland Security announced it had boosted security measures.
Britain said there were no plans to change a threat level already at its second-highest point, suggesting an attack is highly likely, but added that it had banned all unaccompanied cargo from Yemen.
French aviation authorities on Saturday also suspended air freight from Yemen.
Obama has said the bombs represented a "credible terrorist threat," and his Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the plot bore the "hallmarks of al-Qaeda."
Yemen, the ancestral homeland of bin Laden, has become a haven for violent extremists over the past decade.
It is the headquarters of AQAP and the hiding place for US-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been linked to high-profile terror plots in the United States.
BA BOSS MARTIN BROUGHTON ATTACKS US OVER REDUNDANT AIRPORT SECURITY
AP HERALD SUN OCTOBER 29 2010EXCESSIVE passenger screening at airports is a step too far and is only adding to passenger misery, a major airline boss has said.
BA chairman Martin Broughton said measures such as forcing passengers to take off shoes and separate checks of laptop bags were redundant and unnecessary.
His comments come as the United States is making excessive demands for the screening of airline passengers, including measures it doesn't require on US domestic flights, the Financial Times reported.
Mr Broughton aired his complaint at the annual conference of the UK Airport Operators Association where he said it was time other countries, such as Britain, stopped kowtowing to America's beefed-up security demands.
Australian passengers flying domestically and internationally are forced to remove laptops from bags and in some cases shoes.
"America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do," Mr Broughton was quoted as saying.
"We shouldn't stand for that. We should say, 'We'll only do things which we consider to be essential and that you Americans also consider essential.'"
Mr Broughton added that British authorities should not "kowtow to the Americans every time they wanted something done."
"We all know there's quite a number of elements in the security program which are completely redundant and they should be sorted out," he was quoted as saying.
"Take the iPad. They still haven't decided if it is a laptop or it isn't a laptop. So some airports think you should take it out and some think you shouldn't."
Colin Matthews, chief executive of BAA PLC, which owns Heathrow airport, says security is subject to regulations set by US, European and domestic authorities.
"There are some aspects which have been frustrating to everyone, but equally everyone understands we have to keep the passenger safe," Mr Matthews told the BBC.
But Alan West, the security minister in the previous British government, supported Mr Broughton's complaint and said a multinational agreement could make the checks "much less onerous".
"We have had requirement on requirement laid on top of each other, and certainly I need to be convinced about all these various layers," Mr West told the BBC.
"I do think it does need to be rationalised, because I think we have gone too far. There are too many layers, too much inconsistency."
America's Transportation Security Administration did not directly respond to Mr Broughton's demands to scrap excessive measures.
But a statement by the organisation said it worked with all international airlines to ensure passenger safety.
McDONALD'S FINED FOR OBESE EMPLOYEE
HERALD SUN OCTOBER 29 2010
A BRAZILIAN court has ordered McDonald's to pay a former franchise manager $US17,500 ($18,000) because he gained 29kg while working there 12 years.
The 32-year-old man says he was forced to sample food products each day to ensure that quality standards remained high because McDonald's hired "mystery clients" to randomly visit restaurants and report on the food, service and cleanliness.
The man also says McDonald's offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job.
His identity was not released.
The ruling against McDonald's was signed on Wednesday by judge Joao Filho in Porto Alegre.
McDonald's can appeal the case. A local company spokesman did not immediately return calls today.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
HMV VOUCHER BRIBE FOR TEENAGE GIRLS TO HAVE CERVICAL JABS: FURY AT ‘PROMISCUITY SCHEME’ AS NHS FACES CUTS
By Daniel Martin 26th October 2010
Teenage girls are being bribed with high street shopping vouchers to receive a highly controversial vaccine.
A health trust is promising them £45 in tokens for stores such as HMV, Argos and Debenhams if they agree to the cervical cancer jab, which protects against a sexually-transmitted virus that can cause tumours.
Opponents say the vaccine - dubbed the 'promiscuity jab' - encourages girls to have sex earlier than they would.
The 'Love to Shop' vouchers are being offered to girls aged 16 to 18 who have cervical cancer jab
Only last week the government said it could not afford to fund Labour's pledge that all cancer victims should have one-to-one nursing care and one-week access to diagnostic tests.
The shopping voucher scheme is being run by Birmingham East and North primary care trust, and costs around £22,500 a year.
It offers 'Love to Shop' vouchers to girls aged 16 to 18 which can be spent at high street stores. They receive a total of £45 worth of vouchers for turning up for all three injections against the HPV virus.
The trust was advised by Mark Brighton, who used to work for Sainsbury's Nectar card but has now set up a company called Healthy Incentives.
he shopping voucher scheme is being run by Birmingham East and North primary care trust, and costs around £22,500 a year
He said: 'What Birmingham East and North had seen is that they'd get a number of people turning up for the first injection but then they wouldn't see the whole course through.
'So we thought - is there a way we can offer incentives for each of those three injections, so that we can encourage a better attendance rate and therefore a better vaccination rate?
'They are offered a decent lump - a nice little £20 to come along to the first session, £5 for the second session and another £20 for the final, third, injection.'
A spokesman for the trust said 500 teenage girls had been offered the vouchers, and the effectiveness of the scheme was being monitored.
Professor Theresa Marteau, from the Centre for the Study of Incentives in Health, said there is evidence that paying for girls to have vaccines can work.
But she added: 'There is a concern that if you give that amount of money to young people, they will run along to get the money and not pay attention to the treatments that are being offered.'
A health trust is promising the teenage girls £45 in tokens for stores such as HMV if they agree to the cervical cancer jab
Norman Wells, of the pressure group Family and Youth Concern, said: 'This is yet another example of public money being thrown at a problem that has its roots in declining standards of morality.
'There is already evidence that the vaccine is giving some girls a false sense of security and leading them to think that because they have been vaccinated they are protected against the worst effects of sexual promiscuity and can therefore engage in casual sex without consequence.'
The Birmingham scheme is just one example cited by Radio 4 in a programme on controversial incentive schemes in the Health Service, to be broadcast tonight at 9pm.
Other trusts are paying the obese to lose weight or pregnant women to stop smoking.
And cocaine addicts are receiving hundreds of pounds as a reward for getting off drugs.
The programme found that although drugs payment schemes can work, there is little evidence that paying people to lose weight or stop smoking is effective.
WAKE UP AUSTRALIA
Darryl O'Bryan Community Law Reform Group www.clrg.org
Article taken from “THE NEXT STRATEGY” Volume 1, Issue 1 September 2010
Transcribed by Michael Byers
Our Constitutional rights are being ignored by both Government and the Sovereign People. As a result of our ignorance of the law the Community law reform group was formed to bring those rights to the sovereign people without any obligation.
As a result of the ignorance of the Constitution by the Governments both State and Federal and the general breakdown of our Government obligation to maintain their position as our servants a group of Constitutionalists in 1992 annexed all of Australia's national estate............
We the people still have time for our football meat pies and Holden cars but seriously people we have been taken serious advantage of and it is time to wake up and take a good look at what we can do and what cannot do. Our rights have been laying dormant for too long and the profession that we the people have entrusted with our Consent in the courts have been with holding our rights, “Woe unto you, Lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” Luke 11 verse 52. Australia we have been under the rule of lawyers for too long.
“That at the time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenabts of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 12.
These are 2 quotes from the Holy Bible King James version that are used as a basis for laws that are a part of our rights as shown in our Commonwealth Constitution and the laws that stem from that Constitution.
“Vulnerable: Capable of being wounded; liable to injury or criticism; subject to being affected injuriously or attacked; as, a vulnerable nation;” Websters Dictionary.
We research the law and pass that vital message onto those that will listen and increasingly those numbers are growing, safety in numbers.
What is government as this word is misused by all of us. Government is made up of 3 separate tiers each created by the people to serve the people: The Executive made up of the Monarch and the Governor General and the Governors of the States whose job it is to assent to a bill from the Parliament. The Executive only assents to a bill that has passed the close inspection of the Executive against the law of the land.
The Parliament is made up of the Upper and Lower houses or also known as the Senate and the House of Representatives. This is where the elected representatives sit and express the will of their constituents.
The Judiciary is made up of the State and federal courts all putting into motion federal jurisdiction and where the people can challenge any legislation brought forward by the Parliament through the Executive. Juries are the fundamental under pinning of a properly functioning judiciary.
So when we hear our parliament claiming the title “government” this is in a Constitutional sense incorrect. But what we have in this country at the moment is not government as defined in our Constitution, it is by definition a reflection of government relying on your ignorance for its survival.
Federation took place in 1901 having passed the test of referendum and as the Constitutional debates leading up to federation confirm an end to Sovereign Parliaments”.
Well that lasted about thirty years and the parliaments started to claw back their claim to Sovereignty through the Westminster Act 1931 and then the final blow came about in 1986 with the Australia Act. In 1984 we the people voted in a referendum where the question was put, do we approve of the equalisation of powers of the States to that of the Commonwealth, and we the sovereign people said no, the then government ignored a direct instruction from the sovereign people and through the Executive assented to the Australia Act 1986 which took us back to the 19th century and the very reason the Commonwealth Constitution was created, which was to create one set of laws for which all the States are bound by. The Australia Act was a whole new foundation for which States could use to create legislation ignoring the Constitutional requirements and the laws of England. All of course without our permission. In 1991 the federal parliament claimed it as sovereign so therefore completing the web of deception. Legislation began to pour out of these cartels all claiming their right to dismantle our Constitutional rights and our property rights.
Our courts have been eroding for years with the misbehaving beginning around 1927 in South Australia under section 5 of the Juries Act which stopped juries sitting in any civil cases. Of course this is inconsistent with our Commonwealth Constitution and the 2 Acts that are to be read alongside our Constitution, that being the Judiciary Act 1903 and the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. Section 80 of the Judiciary Act 1903 is headed “Common Law to Govern”, and shows by definition that there is no distinction between civil and criminal. Section 80 Commonwealth Constitution brings in juries on indictment against any law of any State and it has been argued by the courts that indictment means criminal.
Indictment is a presentment or what is also known as a “Summons”. The courts created the term “Summary Offence” which they argue is only to be heard by a single justice, of course these offences are the bread and butter of “sovereign parliaments”. Our courts have re-erected “Star Chambers” which are an extension of the sovereign parliament and extend arbitrary decisions based on inconsistent laws that we the people have not given permission to use. Habeas Corpus 1640 section 8
“An Act for the regulating of the privy council, and for taking away the court commonly called the star chamber.”
We have not gone forward with governance since federation. We have clearly gone backwards and it is time for we the sovereign people to take charge and make ourselves aware and bring about a government in fear of its people.
JUDICIARY ACT 1903
PAGE 82 DIVISION 2-APPLICATION OF LAWS
79 STATE OR TERRITORY LAWS TO GOVERN WHERE APPLICABLE
The laws of each State or Territory, including the laws relating to procedure, evidence, and the competency of witnesses, shall, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution or the laws of the Commonwealth, be binding on all Courts exercising federal jurisdiction in that State or Territory in all cases to which they are applicable.
80 COMMON LAW TO GOVERN
So far as the laws of the Commonwealth are not applicable or so far as their provisions are insufficient to carry them into effect, or to provide adequate remedies or punishment, the common law in Australia as modified by the Constitution and by the statute law in force in the State or Territory in which the Court in which the jurisdiction is exercised is held shall, so far as it is applicable and not inconsistent with the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth, govern all Courts exercising federal jurisdiction in the exercise of their jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Howard deserved 'a lot worse' says shoe-thrower
Paul Tatnell
October 26, 2010 - 1:45PM
A man who threw a shoe at John Howard on last night's Q&A program on ABC TV said the former prime minister "deserves a lot worse" than having shoes thrown at him.
Hunter Valley man Peter Gray was unapologetic about his actions this morning, telling Newcastle ABC Radio he was angry about Australia's involvement in the Iraq War and he "found the right type of protest" to get his point across.
"That is for Iraqi dead," Mr Gray shouted as the shoes missed their target.
However, he did express "regret" if his actions caused embarrassment to Q&A and its host, Tony Jones.
"I was certainly very frustrated to him [Mr Howard] not responding to the question I put to him," he said.
He also did not answer questions on whether the shoe throwing was premeditated or appropriate.
"I wish ... I didn't feel the need to do something like that," he said.
"Everyone will make their judgment on whether it was the right thing to do."
Mr Gray said he had a great deal of sympathy for Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist who was jailed for throwing his shoes at former US president George Bush.
"The reason I threw shoes ... [is] because it has significance for all the people in the Middle East and it's the people I want to send a message to."
Mr Gray confirmed that ABC staff refused to return his shoes.
"As soon as I get off the phone I will be buying another pair of shoes," he said.
Critics have called Mr Gray an "idiot" for his actions while others have questioned his half-hearted effort in shoe throwing.
The second shoe he lobbed hardly came anywhere near Mr Howard.
Mr Gray explained that it was a very difficult to stand up and conduct such a protest, especially because such action was against his nature.
"I certainly didn't want to hurt the man but I certainly wanted to make my point known," he said.
"Quite a few people said I throw like a girl."
Incident could not have been avoided: ABC
Q&A executive producer Peter McEvoy said the program would review its security but believed last night's "regrettable incident" could not have been avoided.
"I am not quite sure you can ever prevent an incident like the one that happened last night. I guess the security around the US president is as tight as it can get and, of course, famously someone managed to throw a shoe at George W. Bush," he said.
"We had extra security at the program last night ... but I think if someone wants to take off their shoes and throw them or throw a pocket handkerchief or a hat you can't necessarily be stopping all of those incidents from happening."
Mr McEvoy also praised Mr Howard for how he handled the confrontation.
"I think that, fortunately, no one was hurt. Apparently, according to the man who threw the shoe, it was not meant to hurt anyone. It was meant as a type of protest," he said.
"Thankfully, Mr Howard handled it very well and was very generous about it and was very calm."
The audience was asked "to show respect" to Mr Howard before filming, Mr McEvoy said.
"I had spoken to the audience before the program started like I always do and emphasised, but perhaps even more strongly, that Q&A is about having a civil discussion where you treat other people who are participants in the discussion, in particularly the panellists, and I guess particularly someone who has been prime minister of Australia for more than 11 years, with the appropriate respect," he said.
"We don't exclude people who are activists and there were lots of people in the audience who were active members of political parties. For example, there were about half a dozen members of the Liberal Party, half a dozen of the Labor Party [and] Q&A is in fact about encouraging people to be involved in political activity."
As for the now famous pair of shoes, Mr McEvoy said no decision had been made where they will end up.
"We have hung on to those. He did come back into the ABC and ask for his shoes to be returned but, in the circumstances, we didn't think that would be appropriate," he said.
"Perhaps they could be framed, someone mentioned bronzing ... perhaps they should be auctioned on eBay, but we will give it some thought in the coming weeks."
Debate on Twitter
The incident is still causing debate on Twitter today.
NSW Liberal staff member Sam Fairlie-Cuninghame tweeted: "I always suspected the show was a haven for the ignorant and juvenile. Yet another reason to switch off."
Another person said: "I for one am happy someone threw their shoes at Howard. It would have been better if it were pie, but you cant win em all."
Zerogeewhiz wrote: "Am I the only person who can't stand Howard but also thinks chucking shoes at him is unbelievably tedious? What a pathetic stunt."
For Michael Byrnes, last night's program was one to remember.
"In the competition for most controversial guest on #qanda, John Howard is a shoe-in."
Having a pair of shoes thrown at him was "all in a night's work", Mr Howard said this morning.
"Is anyone here taking their shoes off? I'm looking around," Mr Howard joked during a studio interview with Macquarie Radio.
"All in a night's work," he added. "I've been thrown at by experts so why should I worry about that?"
Confronted by David Hicks
On last night's show, Mr Howard was confronted by former terrorist suspect David Hicks, who asked why he had been allowed to languish in Guantanamo Bay for 5½ years without charge.
Mr Hicks, now married and living in Sydney, put his question to Mr Howard via videolink, adding that he had been tortured.
"Do you believe I was treated humanely?" he asked.
Mr Howard said he and his ministers had constantly pressed the Bush administration to expedite proceedings against Mr Hicks but the process was in part stalled by legal challenges to the military commission process.
He said it would not have been right for Mr Hicks to be allowed back to Australia after his capture in December 2001 because there was no law under which to charge him.
Mr Howard said that Mr Hicks had pleaded guilty to a minor terrorism charge and denied that the government recommended he plead guilty in order to get out of the prison camp.
It is not the first time Mr Howard has had to deal with a shoe thrower - an angry Australian man threw a boot at him during a debate at Britain's Cambridge University in 2009.
The boot was caught by another student.
He too failed to get his boot back.
- with AAP and Phillip Coorey
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/howard-deserved-a-lot-worse-says-shoethrower-20101026-171al.html
ISRAEL TORTURE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN BY ELECTRIC-SHOCKING
By Stephen Lendman * Sabbah Report www.sabbah.biz
Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine Section (DCI/Palestine) "is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children," according to international law principles.
Two earlier articles addressed their work, "Israeli Soldiers Sexually Abuse Palestinian Children" and "Imprisoning Palestinian Children."
Both covered Israel's systematic, institutionalized use of torture of Palestinian children as brutally as against adults. DCI/Palestine's latest September Bulletin adds more, saying:
"For the first time….three (documented) cases of children reporting being given electric shocks by Israeli interrogators (occurred) in Ari'el Settlement." Each was accused of stone throwing. Electric shocking extracted confessions although the boys maintain their innocence.
DCI and PACTI (the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel) demanded Israel investigate reports that a Gush Etzion settlement interrogator "attached car battery jump leads to the genitals of a 14-year old boy in order to obtain a confession to stone throwing."
The August 5 incident involved four boys walking near a road used by settlers when an Israeli jeep approached. "Just for fun," one boy waved. The jeep turned, was joined by others, and chased the boys. They were seized, blindfolded, painfully shackled, detained, and taken to the Zufin settlement, then to the Ari'el settlement where one boy, Raed, was interrogated.
Though innocent, "Threat of electrocution" made him confess to stone throwing, after which his head was slammed against a cupboard. He was also punched in the stomach, and a second interrogator shocked him with a handheld device, making him dizzy and shiver. He then signed a confession in Hebrew he couldn't understand, was transferred to Salem Interrogation and Detention Center, after which he was taken to Megiddo Prison, in violation of Fourth Geneva's Article 76, pertaining to the rights assured protected persons detained under occupation.
A second incident involved a 17-year old boy, Malek, falsely accused of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. About 30 soldiers arrested and brutalized him like Raed before transferring him to Ofer Prison. On arrival, he was painfully struck on the head, then interrogated and threatened with physical violence and rape if he didn't confess. "He denied both accusations" during a two hour interrogation.
On September 15, 13-year old Khalil was arrested and accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail. At 1AM, Israeli soldiers smashed windows of his family's home, searched it, and took him to Ma'ale Adumin settlement. Though innocent, he was threatened with rape and intimidated to confess. He signed a six page document in Hebrew he didn't understand and has been detained at Ofer prison.
An earlier incident involved 16 year old Moatasem, arrested on March 20. He remains in administrative detention without charge or trial, at best hoping for a December release. Like the others, from arrest to detention, he was brutalized. During interrogation, he was asked about a plot involving a riot, bullets and weapons with no further explanation, something he knew nothing about and said so. On March 25, he was ordered administratively held for six months, then extended three more on September 26.
On average, from January 2008 – September 2010, Israel held over 300 Palestinian children captive, about 10% of them aged 12 – 15. Usually when complaints or requests for investigations into child arrests and mistreatment are submitted to the Judge Advocate General's Office (JAG), responses aren't forthcoming or issued raised are denied.
Shooting Children Collecting Building Gravel
Separately, DCI/Palestine reported on 12 incidents from May 22 – October 14, 2010, involving children aged 13 – 17, collecting gravel near Gaza's border fence with Israel. Under siege, Israel banned construction materials, forcing hundreds of men and boys to scavenge for what they can find, collecting gravel, placing it in sacks, loading it on donkeys, then selling it to builders for concrete.
In border watch towers, Israeli soldiers at times shoot and kill donkeys. They also target workers, usually shooting at their legs. In recent DCI/Palestine-documented cases, children reported being shot while working from 50 – 800 meters from the border.
In addition, a UN January 2009 – August 2010 study reported at least 22 Gazan civilians killed and 146 injured by live fire adjacent to Israel's border, including 27 children.
Of DCI's 12 documented cases, nine "were on, or outside the 300 metre exclusion zone unilaterally imposed by the Israeli army when they were shot." Under all circumstances with no exceptions, international law prohibits targeting noncombatant civilians. Israel, of course, flouts all international laws with impunity.
On November 10 and 11, DCI/Palestine in cooperation with DCI's International Executive Council and DCI International Secretariat, Geneva, will conduct an International Children's Conference titled, "Protective Environment – Active Participation," under the motto – "Together We Build and Change."
DCI explains that "Child participation is one of the four basic principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child." Under occupation, involving them is especially important to address their collective needs, interests, and concerns. The upcoming conference thus encourages children to participate and facilitates it "by finding the spaces for them to carry it out."
Some Final Comments
On October 19, palestinethinktank.com published a wide-ranging interview with Khaled Mesh'al, since 1996, Chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau. Exiled in Damascus, he became the movement's overall leader after Israel assassinated Abdul 'Aziz Rantisi in 2004. His comments below are based on a July published interview in Jordan's Arabic language Al-Sabeel newspaper.
(1) Negotiating with Israel
Calling it a thorny and sensitive issue, he stressed that it's "not absolutely prohibited….from a legal or political perspective," but must be subject to "equations, regulations, calculations, circumstances, contexts and proper management…." Otherwise, "it becomes a negative and destructive tool."
Currently, he calls it the wrong choice, given the imbalance of power favoring Israel, saying it "refuses to withdraw from the (seized) land, and does not recognise Palestinian rights." Negotiations under such conditions are fruitless. Israel demands but won't give. On equal fair terms, negotiations are very acceptable.
(2) Recognizing Israel
As things now stand, he believes recognition means legitimizing occupation, "aggression, settlement(s), Judaization, murders, arrests, and other crimes and atrocities against our people and our land." Recognition must be earned, not demanded or given, based on equity for both sides. Israel shows no sign of agreeing.
(3) Suggesting Israel and international insistence on recognition a sign of weakness, not stength
"Without a doubt, the enemy is concerned about (its) future….no matter" its regional strength. "The demand for recognition is certainly a sign of weakness, an expression of….inferiority, (and) a feeling that it is illegitimate and still rejected" by regional states "as alien" intruders.
However, superiority feelings also come into play, or in other words, the way "Western nations deal with third world countries," believing they alone dictate terms from a position of strength, including negotiating preconditions.
(4) Why Israel and the international community reject Hamas' proposed long-term truce
First, "the logic of power." Second, "they see Arab and Palestinian parties making (better) offers." Third, Israeli and Western experience suggests pressure works best, forcing adversaries or counterparties to succumb.
(5) Hamas' resistance model
It's "a natural and authentic part of the experience of the Palestinian struggle" for liberation and ending the occupation.
(6) Hamas and international relations
First, the "conviction that the Palestine battle (is for) humanity against Israeli injustice and oppression. Second, "the necessity of promoting (the) legitimate right to resist occupation and aggression." Third, the importance of using the world stage to address injustice. Fourth, concern for developing relations at all levels. Fifth, doing it begins in the region, "the plant (to) harvest (in) the West."
(7) Hamas and Jews
"We do not fight the Zionists because they are Jews; we fight them because they are occupiers," and commit crimes against the Palestinian people. The struggle isn't about religion.
(8) Hamas and women
"Women in the Islamic concept of thought, jurisprudence, mandate and role are – indeed – one half of society, and (have) been given (their) prestige and respect. However, there is a huge difference between respect and appreciation for women and (their) rightful role (on the one hand), and abusing (them) and presenting (them) as cheap commodit(ies) as is done in the Western civilization (on the other)." In Palestine's struggle for liberation, women play a distinctive role,"not only as mothers, wives and sisters," but as activists, teachers, fighters, and providers of logistical assistance.
(9) Zionism's future
It "has no future in the region." It's in decline, and except for attacking Beirut in 1982, Israel hasn't won a war since 1967. "This is an important indicator of the Zionist project's ability….In my estimation, the 'Greater Israel' project has come to an end, simply because the Zionist enemy is no longer able to accomplish it, and because Israel continues (self-destructively) on the same path as did apartheid South Africa."
(10) Israel's role as a regional strategic asset
It's no longer so, especially after the Goldstone Report and Gaza Flotilla massacre. As a result, "Israel is falling morally, and its true ugly face is being exposed. This is a very important development." It signifies "premature aging of this enterprise….In short, the Zionist project, like all other" forms of occupation, colonizations, and aggression, "has no legitimacy because it is alien to our region and lacks the elements of survival." It will end like all the others.
(11) The region's future
It's very much in flux with years before better resolution. However, we're "confiden(t) and hop(eful) that the future will be to the benefit of the nation and the Palestinian resistance and cause….Our reading is not fanciful, and is certainly not defeatist." It's realistic and achievable.
"We are a great nation, proud of ourselves, our religion, our land, our history, our culture and identity." Palestine and Jerusalem as one is "our beating heart and an indicator of our life and survival."
* Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon.
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