Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is real

It's real, doctors say.  At last they have proof.  The good news is that sufferers have a specific chemical signature in their blood, similar to changes seen in hibernating animals.

Symptoms include extreme mental and physical tiredness and painful limbs but in extreme cases, some have had to quit their job and retire to their bed or end up in a wheelchair.

Today, the cause is still unknown and patients are often dismissed as malingerers.  And that's why this new discovery is so important.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, analysed blood samples taken from 45 people with CFS and 39 healthy individuals of the same age. This revealed a distinct set of chemical changes that were only present in those with CFS.

Lead researcher Robert Naviaux said something similar happens when animals hibernate and in CFS, the body may get stuck in this state which leads to chronic fatigue.  He said the blood test is more than 90 per cent accurate in diagnosing this condition.

Symptoms vary and were similar to other diseases, so the blood test will speed up the correct diagnosis.

But Andrew McIntosh, an Edinburgh University psychiatrist described the new discovery as 'intriguing' and cautioned that much more work needed to be done before the test is suitable for widespread use.

"Nevertheless, it's a promising start" he said.

Aboriginal people urged to lose culture

Larrakia Nation teamed up with the Universities of Sydney and Tasmania to investigate race relations in the Top End.

Contrary to what many people think, the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in Australia's eastern states and not in remote desert regions. The majority are in work and live successful lives.

More than 66 per cent live in NSW, Queensland and Victoria while Western Australia and the Northern Territory contribute only 24 per cent of the Aboriginal population.  Queensland is expected to overtake NSW for the title of most Aboriginal residents.  South Australis has 5.6 per cent, Tasmania 3.6 per cent and the ACT 0.9 per cent.

But it's the people in Alice Springs and Darwin who continue to get the bad publicity.

A three year study was done with 500 Aboriginal people living in Darwin ranging from the long-grassers (homeless people living rough) to university students, resulting in a report called Telling It Like It Is.

Larrakia Nation, which represents the Larrakia  people of Darwin teamed up with the Universities of Sydney and Tasmania to investigate race relations in the Top End.

If you've ever been to Darwin you will know they are not good.

"I don't drive, so I use public transport and I see bus drivers going past because there are black fellas standing at the bus stop" Larrakia and West Arnhem woman Kathy Williams Browne said.  "Often it's a mother and her kids and they just drive straight past."

The bottom line of the report suggests something we knew but weren't game to say out loud - Aboriginal people are facing enormous pressure to lose their traditional culture in order to lead a successful life in Australia.

"There was a strong emphasis on the materialism and individualism of white Australian culture and what that costs people" former head researcher at Larrakia Nation Penny Taylor said.

"Respondents considered a lot of white Australians to be quite lonely and isolated, they say they have beautiful houses and nice cars but that they're carrying a lot of stress to be able to have those things in their life, and the trade-off is sometimes supportive relationships with family and friends."

Were truer words ever spoken?

Research suggests experiences of marginalisation, stigma, stereotyping and racism lead to physical and mental health problems, poor educational outcomes, self esteem problems, and an inability for individuals to reach their potential.

Salim Mehajer's rant

Salim and Aysha Mehajer on their wedding day

Salim Mehajer's life isn't going well.  His wife left him just months after the wedding, he lost his job of Deputy Mayor when Auburn and Holroyd merged to become Cumberland Council, and the Taxation Office is taking an interest in his business affairs.

And to top it all off, A Current Affair this week showed footage of Salim caught in a psychotic rant, screaming at his wife into a mobile phone, calling her a slut and other vile names and promising to rape her mother and father if she didn't call him within five minutes.

Last year, Salim closed off the whole street where he lives in Suburban Lidcombe for his wedding procession.  He arrived by helicopter and made his way to his house amid hundreds of guests, a fleet of luxury cars, motor bikes and men banging on drums.  It was the craziest thing Sydney has ever seen.

Now Salim's younger sister is planning a similar extravagance this coming Saturday but Cumberland Council said "no application has been received and no approvals given."

The council said it was working with police to "ensure the amenity of surrounding residences was protected should wedding party vehicular activity occur that is not authorised, particularly given previous experience."

Federal Police a "boys club"

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin and Elizabeth Broderick

Elizabeth Broderick took six months to put together a report from 1,000 interviews with members of the Australian Federal Police.  She found that if you were brave enough to lodge a sexual complaint against a male colleague, you would be sent to Coventry and could kiss your career goodbye.

She found that some women had been raped and others subjected to attempted rape.

"All of this ends today" Andrew Colvin said yesterday.  "The process we have put in place from today will be different" he said, vowing to take action.

But surely he doesn't expect us to believe that he didn't know that the bullying culture of women didn't exist under his watch, even though it has prevailed for decades?

The closest he came to telling the truth was to admit that the ADF was a 'boys club'
and conceded, on reflection, that he had seen evidence of bullying first hand.

He actually urged members who told their stories to Ms Broderick anonymously to come forward.  Is he insane?  That would be one quick way to end your career.

Assistant Commissioner Ray Johnson will head up a new division to lead the reform but we've heard it all before - disgusting behaviour and promised change from the ADF, but things stay the same.

Andrew Colvin became Commissioner of the AFP in September 2014 and even though he admits knowing about it, did nothing.  Hardly your finest hour Mr Colvin because the buck stops with you.

Dark Justice nabs paedophile Douglas Smith

Douglas Smith

Vigilante group Dark Justice did a superb job of setting up and catching 56 year old paedophile Douglas Smith.

He thought he was chatting to a 13 year old schoolgirl who had never had sex before but was willing to try it with him.  She wanted to know if it would hurt and he reassured her that it wouldn't because he had a small penis.

But when he turned up to meet her he was confronted by members of Dark Justice who filmed the meeting, a vigilante group who pretend to be children online.

Smith was already on the Sex Offenders Register as a result of an earlier conviction for viewing indecent images of children.

Smith was arrested when he turned up at Central Station in Newcastle to meet the girl.  He pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child after grooming and breach of registration requirements by failing to tell authorities where he was living.

He was jailed for one year and eight months and ordered to serve an extended licence period after he is freed.  He must now sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Judge Jeremy Freedman said "You clearly intended there should be full sexual intercourse even though you knew the girl was a 13 year old child who had no sexual experience of any sort."

"The person you in fact communicated with was an organization called Dark Justice who track down people like you who attempt to groom children through social networks.

"It is deeply concerning that you have not changed your behaviour in any way, despite being on a sex offenders treatment program."

His excuse?  He was "lonely" and "flattered."

And there we have it - another case of where this socalled Offender Treatment Program is a joke.  All they have to do is undergo the course, convince their counsellors they are cured, and out they come, back on the street.

And what are authorities doing about it?  Absolutely nothing and that's why we need to thank Dark Justice for doing an outstanding job.

Caster Semenya looking for gold

Caster Semenya has testosterone levels three times higher than normal women and was forced to undergo gender testing after a successful season in 2009.  

She was cleared to compete but during the London Olympics in 2012, she was forced to take testosterone suppressants by the AIFF and she won silver in the 800m. 

But last year, an Indian athlete successfully challenged the AIFF's treatment for hyperandrogenism and the rule was subsequently dropped.  

So this time, she's running without testosterone suppressants, and that's what all the fuss is about.

Because of her rare condition, she doesn't have a womb or ovaries and has internal testes.

Officials are so worried about the hostility towards her, she has personal bodyguards around the clock and nobody except her coach and team-mates are allowed near her.

Bars and cafes were packed with fans anxious to witness the start of her campaign for gold.

She's been subjected to hundreds of hate messages on social media and in return, she posted on Instagram "To all the haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at, just be patient."

I hope she wins.

Paedophile ring busted in Perth

Detectives involved in the case leaving court

Kate Campbell Perth Now

A PERTH father, who was jailed for more than 22 years for orchestrating a sick pedophile ring and sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly for years, told police “it was fun while it lasted”.

The shocking case was described by District Court Judge Philip Eaton as one of the most serious examples of child sexual abuse to ever come before a WA court.

The single father, 42, who lived in Perth’s northern suburbs, met other men through online sites, including Craigslist, and then offered his daughter to the strangers to sexually violate.

The girl, who lived with her father after her parents’ marriage broke up, was aged between 11 and 13 when she was subjected to the abuse over a two-year period from 2013 to 2015.

The man was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in the WA District Court on Thursday – one of the longest terms imposed by that court – and won’t be considered for parole until December 2036.

As graphic details of his crimes were revealed today, Judge Eaton said they involved a “high degree of depravity and exploitation”.

They involved the father repeatedly raping his daughter, watching as the other men did the same, forcing her to shower with an abuser, forcing her to wear bondage attire, filming her and giving her a stupefying drug.

“You allowed strangers to treat your daughter as a sexual object and you treated her the same yourself,” he said.

The man placed online ads stating he was a lonely single father with a young daughter who was looking for friendship or modelling opportunities for his child.

Prosecutor Justin Whalley said the man had committed an “egregious breach of trust” and his actions were the “complete subversion of the proper role of a parent”.

Instead of protecting and nurturing her as any right-minded parent would do, he subjected her to “depravity of the highest order”.

He said the man, when spoken to by police in mid-2015, told them while he had regrets “it was fun while it lasted” but it had “went way over the line” and he wanted to leave “that scene” and return to a normal life.

Mr Whalley said the father watched the other pedophiles have sex with or molest his daughter, often encouraging her to engage in the activity and doing nothing when she protested or refused.

Other times, the strangers watched the father sexually abuse his daughter.

The abuse mainly happened at the father’s home, the homes of the other men or in hotel rooms.

The father was sentenced on 61 charges – including sexual penetration of a child, indecent dealing and recording of a child, procuring another to abuse a child, drugging his own daughter and compel her to provide a sexual service – after many of them were rolled into one or dropped. He was initially charged with 230 offences.

On occasions, the girl was forced to wear “bondage” attire and pose for sexually explicit photos taken by her father or the other men.

In one incident, a video was made of the girl shackled to a bed, wearing a black full-face mask, with a gag in her mouth and wearing a dog collar with the word “bitch” on it. In the video, the girl can seen struggling with her restraints and heard saying: “stop please dad”.

Dawid Volmer, former pastor of a Christian church in Carramar and the head of the WA Prison Fellowship Program was jailed for 10 and a half years for his role in the pedophile ring.Source:News Corp Australia

Another time, the father forced his daughter to have a shower with another man despite repeated refusals and her describing her abuser as “disgusting”.

The father also told of the other men that he was “in love” with his daughter.

Judge Eaton said the offender had written a letter to him, expressing his “remorse, regret and utter shame for what you did to your daughter”.

The father appeared to cry as he pleaded guilty to the charges and hid his head in his hands for most of his sentencing.

The judge said the man’s actions would likely have lasting and irreparable consequences for his daughter, who was now 14, and maintained an attitude of loyalty to her father despite what he had forced her to endure.

“I suggest she was doing it to please you while protesting from time to time,” he said.

The man did not pimp out his daughter for money rather for his own sexual gratification, the judge added.

Mark Wesley Liggins, 47, of Coodanup, jailed for two years in May for using an online chat forum to engage in sexual conversations and exchange nude photographs with children. Picture: Daniel WilkinsSource:News Corp Australia

Police charged eight men last July under Operation Ripstop, with the father pleading guilty in February.

In November 2015 Christian church pastor Dawid Volmer was also jailed for his part in the pedophile ring.

During sentencing it was revealed the girl’s father had answered Volmer’s ad on Craigslist offering sexual massages. Volmer proceeded to have sex with the man’s daughter on three occasions, which included drugging and blindfolding the girl while her father sat in the room.

Another man, Benjamin Simon Clarke, was sentenced to three years’ jail earlier this month for indecently abusing and taking naked and semi-naked photographs of the victim after her father answered an online ad Clarke had placed.

Clarke abused the girl while she was naked laying on a mattress after her father asked him whether he wanted to “do more” with her.

Mark Wesley Liggins was also charged as part of Operation Ripstop and was sentenced to more than two years behind bars in May.

He used an online chat forum to engage in sexual conversations and exchange nude photographs with children, but he was never charged with offences related to this particular victim.

Rather, Liggins had been in communication with the girl’s father, which led to his house being raided.

The four other men charged — Nicholas Adam Beer, Troy Phillip Milbourne, Alfred John Impicciatore and Ryan Trevor Clegg — are at various stages in the court process.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte won a landslide election in May on the promise to kill thousands of drug dealers and addicts.  

To date, at least 1,000 people have been murdered and 60,000 addicts have signed up in for treatment at clinics around the country.

"Those sons of whores are destroying our children......I warn you, don't go into that, even if you are a policeman because I will really kill you" the President said during an election speech in Manila.

During the election campaign, he said that 100,000 people would die and there would be so many bodies in Manila Bay, the fish would grow fat from feeding off them.  He promised to pardon police if they were charged with human rights offences for carrying out his orders.

However, the US has suggested that military aid could be withheld if respect for human rights is not upheld.

As more and more people are found dead in the streets, no suspects have been arrested and Human Rights lawyers are worried that the President is creating a nation without judges.

Yulia Efimova named as drug cheat

Yulia Efimova

Yulia Efimova, a Russian swimmer with a history of failed doping tests lashed out as Michael Phelps for his past marijuana and alcohol use yesterday when he received his 22nd Gold Medal at the Rio Olympics.

She was banned for 16 months for testing positive to 7-keto-DHEA in 2013 and later tested positive for meldonium.

She was upset with American gold medal winner Lilly King who named her as a drug cheat.

"What would she say about Michael Phelps?" she told reporters.  "Of course I'm not for doping and I've never used it on purpose....but I know there have been many occasions where people do it because they don't know or because they're stupid or naive.  There always should be another chance....when you are driving your car and you get a ticket you don't lose your license for life or get put in jail."  

And I agree with her, there should always be a second chance.  China and Russia have been caught cheating in front of the whole world and the athletes deserve another chance.  If the order did come from the top, as many believe it did, we could conclude that the athletes had little choice.

And if politicians can contain themselves and keep their noses out of sport, the 2020 Olympics in Japan could be the first clean, honest games to be held in decades.

Thanks to the article in the New York Times, the world finally found out the truth.

………A colleague stationed next door in the sample collection room would retrieve the correct bottles and pass them into the storage room through a circular hole cut through the wall near the floor, Dr. Rodchenkov said. During the day the hole was concealed by a small imitation-wood cabinet.

The sealed B bottles were handed over to the man Dr. Rodchenkov believed was a Russian intelligence officer, who would take them to an adjacent building. Within hours, Dr. Rodchenkov said, the bottles were returned to the storage room, their caps unlocked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=0

Rio 2016 Oympics a farce

Olympic legend Michael Phelps

It could be argued that the 2016 Rio Olympics is a farce, ruined by the IOC's inability to successfully weed out the drug cheats and instead of banning them, allowing them to compete. 

Michael Phelps said "It breaks what sport is meant to be and that's what pisses me off."

Mack Horton and Lilly King

Australia's Mack Horton has been hounded on social media by Chinese fans of swimmer Sun Yang after calling him a drug cheat. China was not pleased.

But how can they complain when it's a known fact that Sun served a three month ban after testing positive for trimetazidine, a stimulant added to the banned list in 2014.

The Chinese say he had taken the drug to treat an existing heart problem but French swimmer Camille Lacourt said yesterday that Sun "pisses purple."

Michael Phelps got involved after his young team-mate Lilly King beat the world champion Russian Yulia Efimova who served a 16 month steroid ban and this year tested positive for meldonium, the drug Maria Sharapova was banned over.

Phelps said it was sad that athletes testing positive twice were still allowed to compete. "I wish somebody would do something about it" he said.

And so do we.  The IOC told us that all Russian athletes who had a squeaky clean drug free background would get to compete so what happened?

If nothing else, the Rio games have embarrassed Russia and China, the two countries who still hold the misguided view that they have to win, no matter what.

Child's breast removal for gender dysphoria

A 15 year old girl, diagnosed with gender dysphoria has been given permission by Australia's Family Court to go ahead with surgery to remove both breasts.  Although she was born a girl, she has dressed as a boy since the age of 4.

Because she has not been taking hormones to suppress puberty, she has developed large breasts which need to be removed before she starts taking testosterone which will result in a hairy chest and facial hair.

A psychologist told the court "Society has begun to accept transgender individuals however, I am highly doubtful they would accept an individual with a beard, a hairy chest and a E-cup bust."

The child understands the operation will deny her the opportunity to breastfeed a child and hopes to begin hormone treatment within 12 months.

International guidelines which recommend genital surgery should not be performed until children have reached 18 years of age, and lived 12 months as the opposite sex, was acknowledged and accepted by the court.

The court heard the child's situation was unique and that her large breasts were causing psychological and physical pain.

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

There is a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands called the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China.

Aside from the 1945 to 1972 period of administration by the US as part of the Ryukyu Islands, the archipelago has been controlled by Japan since 1895.

China began to question the sovereignty of the islands in late 1970 when evidence of oil reserves were discovered.  The territory is also close to key shipping lanes and rich fishing grounds.

The Chinese claim there is evidence to prove that before the First Sino-Japanese War, the territory belonged to China but was later seized by Japan.  They argue that the islands should be returned to China as the rest of Imperial Japan's conquests were returned in 1945.

The islands are included within the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan which means the US would be obliged to come to Japan's aid in the event of war.

Donald Trump said on Friday that he would 'walk' from Japan and other US allies if they don't commit to defending America and pay their fair share of NATO expenses.

"You know we have a treaty with Japan, where if Japan is attacked, we have to use the full force and might of the United States" he said in Iowa.

"But if we're attacked, Japan doesn't have to do anything, they can sit home and watch Sony television, OK?"

Bill Leak in trouble over Aboriginal cartoon

Bill Leak

Brilliant Australian cartoonist Bill Leak has been accused of racism for his cartoon depicting an Aboriginal father holding a beer can, unable to remember the name of his son.  He said the cartoon was inspired by Aboriginal men who spoke the truth.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and many other posters on social media said they were disgusted with the cartoon, but a defiant Mr Leak came back yesterday with another one, this time with himself in place of the Aboriginal boy.

Mr Lek said the outrage of "sanctimonious Tweety Birds" and "tantrum-throwers" was preventing intelligent debate "on serious social issues such as the rampant violence, abuse and neglect of children in remote indigenous communities."

"I was trying to say that if you think things are pretty crook for the children locked up in the Northern Territory's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, you should have a look at the homes they came from" he wrote.

Paul Whittaker, editor in chief of The Australian, defended the cartoon.  "Too often, too many people skirt around the root causes of tough issues" he said.  "Bill Leak's confronting and insightful cartoons force people to examine the core issues in a way that sometimes reporting and analysis fail to do."

Liberal Democrat's David Leyonhjelm said Bill Leak had "a knack for point out the obvious."

Bill Leak has won 9 Walkely awards, 19 Stanley awards and two News Awards.

Lonely Dutchman waits for online love

Lonely Dutchman, Alexander Pieter Cirk 41, fell in love with a beautiful 26 year old Chinese girl called Zhang on the internet. He was so smitten, he flew all the way to China to meet her for the first time.  But she didn't show up.

He was so convinced she would come, he waited in the terminal for one and a half weeks.  He slept on benches in the arrivals lounge and refused to leave.  As he became more dishevelled, people were concerned and he was eventually rushed to hospital with an IV in his arm.

After the story went viral in China, a Chinese television station finally tracked Zhang down and according to CCTV news, she said that when he told her he was coming to China, she thought it was a joke.

"One day he sent me a photo of air tickets and I thought it was a joke" she said.  "He didn't contact me later."

The reason he didn't contact her was because he couldn't - she went offline and went to another city for plastic surgery.

A brokenhearted Cirk flew home to the Netherlands after being released from hospital.

Zhang said she wanted to continue their romance and would meet him after recovering from her surgery.