Sarah Meyer

Storm Clouds over Rodmell Photo © Sarah Meyer

Birth Is The Disease; Death Is The Cure.

The language applied to cancer sounds like Obama’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hear about "battles" - “Fighting the Enemy” and the “War on Cancer.” Constructively discussing the actual process of life and death can often be a no-go zone. Even the word 'death' is replaced by the awful term, “passing away.”

I am almost 73 now, and I am ready for death. The suffering of peoples on our planet is a burden for me. I have tried for much of my life to be useful, but of course one cannot ‘cure’ this central crux of life itself.

Some people emailed that they were "shocked" at my cancer news. Why is this? Cancer is a big reality in our times. 1 in 3 people die of cancer (UK).

I hope that this essay will be helpful and informative for others. If you would wish to write to me with your own experiences of cancer, or obstruction of your wishes, or treatment, please email me (see About Me above), with subject: "cancer."

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Henry Porter

Government attempts to override a free speech clause in a homophobic hatred bill illustrate its determination to attack rights.

"The politically motivated trampling of free speech is something that should concern us all," says a letter in the Times from the Conservative peer Lord Waddington and the Labour MP and former backbencher of the year David Taylor.

After a free speech clause was inserted into a new offence of homophobic hatred in May 2008 and the bill was enacted, the government has returned to try to get its way by introducing a clause in another bill that repeals the earlier guarantee. You can't have a better example of the remorseless energy that attacks rights. It will surprise few to learn that the new clause appears in the coroners and justice bill which has been drafted by Jack Straw's Justice Department. The letter says:

The free speech clause is supported across the political spectrum. Liberty, the Church of England, Matthew Parris and Rowan Atkinson have also joined the ranks who back it.

The old clause says:

For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.

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Mitchell Prothero & Peter Beaumont

"What they're after is the Litani River and the Bekaa Valley. Both will they take by force. They will divert the Litani, fill Lake Tiberias and strengthen the Jordan River. Their ill-gotten land will stretch from the Nile in the West to the Euphrates in the East. The Kingdom of Jordan will be forced to cede land – all of the Jordan Valley will be taken from this fated kingdom. War with Lebanon and Syria is inevitable." - Editor

Israel wants the Litani River water.

Jordanian Professor: Israel Will Go to War over Water. Hezbollah gears up for new war.

Fighters rearm and reinforce positions in valleys amid fears that Israel is about to launch attack on Islamic group

Hezbollah is rapidly rearming in preparation for a new conflict with Israel, fearing that Benjamin Netanyahu's government will attack Lebanon again prior to any assault on Iran's nuclear facilities.

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