Drinking alcohol 10 times a month " decreases symtoms of rheumatoid arthritis", according to a study by the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust. "Patients who were consuming alohol tended to have slightly better arthritis than the patients who weren't and as intake gradually increased, the arthritis continued to get better" says James Maxwell. lead researcher and consultant rheumatologist. Alcohol supresses the immune system and that is why arthritis attacks decreace. The group was inspired by Scandinivian and American studies......Skoal!!
     The Harper government's decision to get rid of the long form is based on their claim that it invades privacy and threatens fine and/or jail time, if you do not comply . This is baseless, when you consider that a whole host of organisations who  are forced by the government to supply information , what the president of the Criminal Lawyers Association called "a giant system of snitches Stalin weould be proud of". Banks, casinos, race tracks, curency exchanges, life insurance companies, real-estate agents, post offices, chechcashing services etc. have to file reports of "suspicious?"(not defined) behaviour and they must not tell you. Failure to comply can result in a fine of up $2 million and/or five years in prison. THESE THE REAL INVASIONS
     Statistic Canada has long been viewed as the best of its kind in the world. Its impeccable methodology and autonomy is renowned. Getting rid of the mandatory long-form census and replacing it with a voluntary survey will skew results and demographic record and thus affect all government programmes, whether it be transfers to provinces or spending on social and other programmes. The Harper government has put a muzzle on StatsCan workers and so they cannot talk about the changes and senior staffers cannotwhat advice they gave to the minister.The head of StatsCan has resigned and gone public to try and save the reputation of the agency.
     The travelling/ grovelling show has taken British Prime Minister David Cameron from the United States, where  he tried to get the Obama administration to go easy with BP (HE FAILED), to Turkey where he was so keen to win some trade dollars, Turkish friendship and curry-favour with the Arab states that he accused Israel of turning Gaza into a "prison camp", and critized the Israeli attack on the "humanitarian flotilla."Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp", he squeaked.He stood with Turkish P.M. Erdogan, who compared the Israelis to Somali pirates, and also demanded compensation and an apology. Erdogan refused to Caneron's appeal to use his position..."unique role", to persuade Iran to co-operate. Erdogan had critized European Union sanctions on Iran. Oh how low can you go!!!!.Now he is making nice with India. He sees rupees all over, rupees to bail out the pound. He looksat the projected tens of billions that India will spend over the next few years and he begins to salivate....if I can get some of these billions. I can turn them into British jobs and get elected with a majority and not have to share power with those snivelling Liberal Democrats, he is thinking. He condemns Pakistan's(music to Indian ears)support for the Taliban and also the support given by Pakistan's ISI, to groups operating against India in Kashmir.
     Britain is in desperate economic state. It needs huge influx of investments, contracts, and trade. India withits burgeoning middle class is a huge market hungering for "toys" and Britain wants in. It cannot play the old colonial connection and so must resort to fawning. It is such a pitiable sight.......Sic transit gloria mundi.......

     The conference attended by 80 countries and organisations aimed at getting Afghanistan "on the road to stability", agreed to an Afghan security force "to lead and conduct military operations in all provinces by the end of 2014". This would allow foreign troops to begin withdrawal from this deadly quagnire. While this will give cover to a withdrawal, it will not work, until and umless the etnic distrust....Pashtuns vs. Tajik, Uzbeck and Hazarras, is dealt with. The recent history of Afghanistan is riddled with ethnic rivalries and widespread bloodshed. It will allow the Pashtun/Taliban to dominate and will make matters worse in the region and will continue to be a training ground for al Qaeda.
     It was also decided to give Karzai more direct control of billions in aid money...how and where to spend it. This is like giving Pooh bear control of the honeypot. Karzai and his coterie stand accused of corruption and incompetence. To think that they will spend this aid money evenly and fairly, to the benefit of all Afghans is to be ignorant and/ naive, if not downright stupid. 
     Asbestos kills. Thousands die each year worldwide. 
     The Quebec Medical Association, representing Quebec'c 9,500 doctors. releazsed a strong ststement demanding that the Quebec government turn the request for a loan guarantee for $58 million for the expansion of the Jeffrey Mine in the town of Asbestos.
     The British Broadcasting Corp. in partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, released results of a nine-month investigation into the global asbestos industry and the Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute's role in marketing the product abroad(asbestos use is banned in Canada, but can be sold abroad). Entitled, Dangers in the Dust, it claims that both the Quebec and the Federal govts' have been subsidizing the industry , giving $35 million to Chrysotile Institute over the past 25 years.( Asbestos is synonymous with Quebec's fight for independence since the asbestos strike of 1947, which is seen as the first attempt to free the province from the rigid control of the government and its alliance with the Catholic church and the corporations that control business in the province . As a result it is a very politically sensitive issue for the province and Ottawa). Quebec is the fifth largest producer and the fourth largest exporter ($97 million in 2008) of raw fibre. It has gone to India, Mexico and Brazil and other developing countries. The BBC/ ICIJ revealed in their research that the Chrysotile Inst. has spent upwards of $100 million, promoting the product in Canad, India and Brazil, usung local lobby groups and overwhelming "activsits and health organisations, opposed to the product".    
     The World Health Organisation, the Canadian Medical Association and the Quebec Medical Association oppose export of the substance. Also doctors and public health researchers from 21 countries, sent a letter last month to Quebec Healtg Minister Yves Bolduc, accusing him of ignoring his duty as a medical doctor by supporting Quebec's continued export. "Chrysotile asbestos is a proven carcinogen in humans and it causes asbestosis", said Jean-Francois Lajoie of the AMQ....Quebec Medical Association. 



4 
    

     The visit of Netanyahu was markedly different from the previous one, when he was snubbed. The red carpet was rolled out and lunch was served and the bonhomie was palpable. They held hands and looked into each others eyes and avoided the reality, that the so-called peace process is on precarious life-support, if not dead. 
     The 10 month-month freeze, which Netanyahu reluctantly agreed to will end in September. The ultra-right wing parties in Netanyahu's coalition has declared that the freeze will not be renewed. Obama on the other hand has the mid-term elections to worry about. This belie the public show of amity. Bibi will not stand up to the "ultras" and Obama will not take on the pro-Israeli lobby and their potent friends amongst the Christian evangelicals
.     The more Israel build on the West Bank, the less the chance of a Palestinian state. In 1993, when Oslo Accords was signed, there were about 110,000 settlers, now it is over 300,000 and growing.The more they build and the larger the numbers, the harder it will be to evict them. There are highly idealogical, fanatical Zionists amongst them, and they have vowed to fight Israeli soldiers who are sent to evict them and they are highly armed. This will provoke a civil war, which no one in Israel want.
     The Palestianians have added to this,  by the split in leadership between Hamas in the Gaza and the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank. Also, Arafat dilly, dallied over Oslo and that opportunity was lost and the mess became greater. 
     Ehud Olmert (Netanyahu's predecessor), had promised the Palestinians 98.1% of the West Bank and they will accept no less. Netanyahu has said that Israel will not leave the Jordan Valley and that he is opposed to the division of Jerusalem. The Palestinian will not accept this. The already truncated West Bank will be turned into an unviable collection of hamlets, separated by settlements and security roads, that turn what would be a 10 minute walk into hours of intimidation and humilations. You cannot build peace on this.
     Can Obie and Bibi find some way around this? Obama has less domestic pressures than Netanyahu. Yitzak Rabin (who was publicly ridiculed by Netanyahu after his murder), understood the risk on Israel, of not having peace and he took the bold step. Bibi is not a risk taker and is too much the politician, in love with power. He will shimmy this way and that, in turn offering to talk and then change his mind, depending on the "political winds". In the meantime, the chances will become dimmer and dimmer as more and miore land is built ion, more and more settlers pour in, more and more buildings belonging to Palestinians are bulldozed, more and more roads are built , on which only settlers and other Israelis can travel and more and more the frustrations and privations of Palestinians, rise.
     Will the bulldozers and cranes roll out in October? Unfortunately, YES.        
    

      Gen. Petraeus has now taken over command in Afghanistan and he will try to use the same tactics he used in Iraq. In Iraq, the Sunni tribal leaders were weaned away from the insurgency by tens of millions of dollars in "bribes", and this complemented the "surge" to allow the Americans to begin their"drawdown". The Americans are not leaving Iraq. More than 50,000 troops will remain behind, ostensibly to be a counter-force to Iran, but really to protect American investments in Iraq...especially the flow of oil, and to prop up a friendly government. The Americans are drawing in the Chinese, whiose appetite fir resources are growing and are attracted by Iraqi oil and gas. The Chineses would want a peaceful Iraq and will work with the Americans....strange bedfellows. Expect the French, the Brits and the Russians to follow suit.
     Religion and regions separated Iraqis. In AFghanistan, it is ethnicity and regions that separates the Afghanis. The majority Pashtuns (south) have dominated powers over the years at the expense of the Tajiks, the Uzbeks and the Hazarras(north). The Talibans are controlled/dominated by the Pashtuns and are the mortal enemy of the other ethnic groups, especially the Hazarras, who are considered to be outsiders and non-muslim....thousands were slaughtered by the Taliban, when they were in power. After the defeat of the Taliban, an uneasy truce was established, with Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazarras, sharing powers in the government. Recently, there have been strains, with the Tajik Chief of the military and the Intelligence chief resigning....they were considered to be the most competent and least corrupt of Karzai's ministers.
     There is now talks to bring in "moderate" Talibans into the peace talks. The Americans are spending tens of millions to facilitate this. There is even talks of moderating the position on the drug trade, in order to placate the Pashtuns, who control most of it. The Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazarras are so concerned about this, especially bringing the Taliban into the power- sharing that they see a return to ethnic fighting as inevitable. The "surge" and "dollars" worked in Iraq.....separating the Sunnis from the insurgency. Will it work in Afghanistan? It can, if the Tajiks, the Uzbeks and the Hazarras can be convinced that they will not be left at the mercy of the Pashtun/Taliban. Also Pakistan  must stop its meddling in Afghani affais and al-qaeeda must be neutralised. Only then can some kind of arrangement be possible. 
     Netanyahu is coming to visit Obama and to rally Israel's supporters, especially as a new and compelling issue is about to take center stage. There will be pressure on Netanyahu  to sign the  Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel will refuse and this added to the already strained relationship...the boarding of aid ships and the resulting deaths, building and demolishing in East Jerusalem and the Gaza blockade, will further drive a wedge between the two "close allies".
     I received an e-mail recently about the great conspiracy between BP and Obama.....BP caused the spill and it helps Obama's political agenda. Right......BP loses billions and Obama gets blamed for the spill and on the moratorium on off-shore drilling,..... and they did this for what? I love conspiracy theories, but this is ludicrous and can only be dreamed up by the shallow Republicans ( Obama started the war in Iraq and Afghanistan) and their kooky ( Paul) Tea Party off-shoots         

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