Kiddie condoms with regular fries, please

Extra small condoms for 12 year-old boys go on sale in Switzerland
Alexandra Williams in Geneva
Published: 8:13PM GMT 03 Mar 2010

Called the Hotshot, the condom has been produced after government research showed 12 to14-year-olds did not use sufficient protection when having sex.

The study, conducted on behalf of the Federal Commission for Children and Youth, interviewed 1,480 people aged 10 to 20.

It showed more 12 to 14-year-olds were having sex, in comparison with the 1990s.

The Hotshot condoms, which cost 7fr60 (£4.70) for a packet of six, have been created by Lamprecht AG, a leading condom manufacturer in Switzerland.

The company has said the UK would be "top priority" if they expanded abroad, considering that it has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe....

Nancy Bodmer, who headed the research, said: "The result that shocked us concerned young boys who display apparently risky behavior. They have more of a tendency not to protect themselves. They do not have a very developed sexual knowledge. They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing and leave the young girls to take care of the consequences"....

Maybe they should package the Hotshot mini-condoms with McDonalds Kiddie Meals. While they are at it, it might be a good idea to produce and market Hotshot versions of various adult items for kids too. Like mini sports cars, mini drug syringes for drug abuse, even mini guns and knives for the quarrel-prone
kids. They could even throw in bubblegum and regular fries as a promo.

Perhaps the commission should go the extra mile by establishing kiddie clinics for abortion just in case the Hotshot condoms fail, as condoms are wont to do. As head researcher Nancy Bodmer says: "They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing...". Surely this conclusion applies to all ages as well, and must be the most significant finding in the research.
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Clinton defines reproductive health

Madam Secretary Clinton could not be any more blunt, and it appears she
is lecturing her Canadian hosts.

On Tuesday, at a press conference in Quebec after a meeting of G8 foreign ministers, Clinton was asked in the light of the “debate in Canada,” whether she thought contraception and abortion should be included in the G8 maternal healthcare focus.

“I’m not going to speak for what Canada decides, but I will say that I’ve worked in this area for many years,” she replied. “And if we’re talking about maternal health, you cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion.”...

Whoah. I imagine the jaws of her Canadian hosts dropping on that one, but there she said it clear as daylight. I also imagine she added "...you m*r*ns..." under her breath, but thanks, Madam Clinton. We can stop wondering whether ObamaCare would include funding for abortion, or whether 'maternal health' is an euphemism.
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Campaigns to intensify

May 10 is just around the corner...
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Roxas City, Philippines - Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III on Thursday said that the Nacionalista Party (NP) also has many good and upright candidates. "I believe LP has the best platform for governance. Although we have different political views with the NP, I have a high respect for Villar and his partymates. May the best candidates win in the coming elections. Let the people decide." NP spokesman and senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla said in response: "The feeling is mutual. Although we are convinced that Villar is the best candidate for the presidency, we believe that Noynoy Aquino is a very worthy challenger.". For this part, LP vice-presidential candidate Mar Roxas added that their campaign has been marked by "a strong emphasis on instructive platforms for good governance", which shows the "high maturity level" of our politicians and the electoral system. Meanwhile, former President Joseph Estrada's campaign manager reported that Erap is still busy campaigning in Cebu, informing the people of his "comprehensive plans to eradicate poverty".

With just 24 days to go before the May 10 presidential elections, the campaigns are seen to intensify.
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The above report are excerpts from the highly accurate New York Times.

Lessons from a commencement speech

Portions of MVP's Ateneo speech side by side with plagiarized sections are documented here.

MVP's apology and offer to resign is posted here.

...and the latest:

Ateneo rejects MVP resignation
By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - The Board of Trustees of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) has rejected the resignation of businessman Manuel Pangilinan as the board’s chairman following the controversy over plagiarized portions of his speech during the recent graduation rites in the school.

Fr. Bienvenido Nebres told a press briefing yesterday at the Ateneo campus in Quezon City that the Board of Trustees met last Sunday and decided to ask Pangilinan to reconsider his offer to resign....

Nebres said the unanimous decision of the board is not to accept Mr. Pangilinan’s resignation and the board expressed full confidence in his leadership as chairman...
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There are 14 members in the Ateneo board, excluding chairman Pangilinan, and they voted unanimously to reject the offer of resignation. Curiously, not one of them considered that this decision might only fan the fires of controversy, instead of closing the book. What mixed messages are they imparting to the students? To the general public? From now on, would they now forgive all the "unintended" dishonesties of its students? How does one weigh accountability for results against intentions? How about facing consequences? How about understanding consequences? Isn't the Ateneo board opening itself to charges in favoring the monetary contributions of MVP? What are the lessons learned? The way I look at the board's decision, there are more excuses than lessons learned. MVP's graduation speech has many more lessons to impart, long after it has been delivered.

Off you go, graduates.
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Arrest the Pope!

The story originated from a call from British atheists Dawkins and Hitchens, as well as from a similar call in an article by a UN lawyer. Curiously, they called for an international trial based upon unfounded charges.

British atheists call for pope's arrest

UN Judge Says Pope Should be Prosecuted at International Criminal Court

I guess silliness knows no bounds in the current trend to smear the Pope with imagined charges. The fictional 'reporting' of New York Times and Associated Press is oh so typical. Dawkins and Hitchens, who pride themselves in idolizing empirical science, apparently are ready to abandon their facts-based 'ideology' when it comes to saying things about the Pope.

More on the Murphy Case

Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope

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Odds and Ends 4/12/10

Maternal mortality decline in Chile quashes pro-abortion claims

NEW YORK, USA, February 11, 2010—A CHILEAN epidemiologist’s findings examining the dramatic decrease in maternal mortality in Chile over the past fifty years appear to nullify claims by abortion advocates that liberal abortion laws reduce maternal deaths.

From the University of Chile’s Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Elard Koch said that the promotion of “safe pregnancy” measures such as “prenatal detection” and accessibility to professional birth attendants in a hospital setting are primarily responsible for the decrease in maternal mortality in the Latin American country. The maternal mortality rate declined from 275 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1960 to 18.7 deaths in 2000, the largest reduction in any Latin country...

Statistics released by the World Health Organization (WHO) support such conclusions. In South America, according to WHO, Chile boasts of the lowest rate of maternal mortality, whereas Guyana, which significantly liberalized its laws in the mid-1990s citing concern over maternal deaths, has the highest...

Well, we've always known long before that 1 + 1 = 2.
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Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope

The "exclusive" story released by AP yesterday, which has been dutifully passed along now by scores of major media outlets, would never have seen the light of day if normal journalistic standards had been in place. Careful editors should have asked a series of probing questions, and in every case the answer to those questions would have shown that the story had no "legs."...

So to review: This was not a case in which a bishop wanted to discipline his priest and the Vatican official demurred. This was not a case in which a priest remained active in ministry, and the Vatican did nothing to protect the children under his pastoral care. This was not a case in which the Vatican covered up evidence of a priest's misconduct. This was a case in which a priest asked to be released from his vows, and the Vatican-- which had been flooded by such requests throughout the 1970s -- wanted to consider all such cases carefully. In short, if you're looking for evidence of a sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, this case is irrelevant.

Now AP joins NYT and the rest of the "dutiful" media in reporting that 2 + 2 = 5.
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Tycoon builds dams vs drought in north Luzon

MANILA, Philippines—Tycoon Lucio Tan is building more mini dams and water catchment basins to help mitigate the impact of El Nino and severe drought in most parts of Northern Luzon.

Tan, 76, made the commitment during the inauguration of his latest water impounding project in Casilagan Norte, Banayoyo, Ilocos Sur on Good Friday.

The eighth mini dam restored by the tycoon in the last five years, the Casilagan Norte diversion dam is capable of storing 60,000 cubic meters of water. It was designed to serve 120 hectares of rice and tobacco farmlands even through the dry summer months...

The tycoon said he is building and rehabilitating mini dams to set an example that it doesn’t take much to store water that will enable farmers to plant even during the hot summer months. More importantly, he said his project teaches water conservation, helps farmers enhance productivity, and provides extra sources of livelihood.

Now here is one guy who knows how to do the math. Rehab and build dams = mitigate farmlands drought.
As for the government who's supposed to...
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Doubting

While reflecting on 'doubting Thomas' in yesterday's Gospel, my thoughts turned to choosing the right candidate in next month's presidential elections. So far the campaigns, if they might properly be called campaigns, appear to revolve around one basic issue: lying. That candidate is lying. My opponent is twisting the truth. The other camp is fabricating stories. That candidate cheated in the past. This candidate is making false claims, and so on. I have never even heard of campaign platforms bandied about, as the campaign issues mainly revolve around destroying the credibility of one's opponents. Being the case, the electorate is steered towards rejecting certain candidates based on perceptions of dishonesty, most of which are devoid of evidence and are simply innuendos. It is a very unsound way of evaluating presidential candidates, yet we cannot totally blame the electorate who are wounded by our painful political history.

But let us assume for a while that all the candidates are telling the truth, and let us give everyone the benefit of the doubt that each one will rigorously drive their political platforms once elected. No accusations of dishonesty will be made. The contest would now be focused on the political platforms, and how well the candidates justify and defend those platforms. Secondly, we must look at the qualification and track record of each candidate to give us a reasonable idea that the person has what it takes to drive results. In HR, we have this tried and tested assessment technique. The record of personal accomplishments (or lack thereof) in the past is a reasonable indicator of the suitability of the candidate to fulfill future requirements. While I do not discount personal re-engineering, usually a duck does not turn into a lion overnight.
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