Robin Gibb in coma

THE Bee Gees' Robin Gibb is lying in a coma as doctors fear he only has days to live, it has been reported.

The Bee Gees star's family were keeping a bedside vigil, praying for the 62-year-old's survival.

He appeared to have made a recovery from liver and colon cancer this year, but doctors believe a second tumor may be present, reported Britain's The Sun.

He has also developed pneumonia.

His wife Dwina, brother Barry, 65, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 39, and Robin-John, 29, were at his bedside at a private hospital in Chelsea, West London.

A family friend told the newspaper: "Our prayers are with Robin. he has kept so positive and always believed he could beat this. Sadly, it looks like he has developed pneumonia, which is very bad in his situation.

"If there is anyone you would put money on pulling through such a dire situation, it would be Robin because he is a fighter. But this is a battle he will struggle to win."

Robin revealed his battle with cancer in October 2010.

He had emergency surgery to treat a blocked bowel, before a further operation to treat a twisted bowel. Colon cancer was then discovered and it had spread to his liver.

His twin brother Maurice died of complications resulting from a twisted intestine in 2003, aged 53.

Barry Gibb earlier this week jetted into the UK from Tennessee in the US to join other members of the family.

At first Robin's illness was thought to have been due to the hereditary intestinal condition which led to the death of his twin brother.

In an interview earlier this month, Gibb pondered whether his illness is "karma" for the fame and fortune he has enjoyed.

"I sometimes wonder if all the tragedies my family has suffered, like Andy and Maurice dying so young and everything that’s happened to me recently, is a kind of karmic price we are paying for all the fame and fortune we’ve had.

"But we’ve worked hard for everything we’ve achieved."

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, Gibb and his brothers lived their first few years in Manchester then moved in the late 1950s to Redcliffe, north-east of Brisbane, where they began their musical careers.

After achieving their first chart success in Australia with Spicks and Specks, they returned to Britain in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.

[Source: Daily Mail]

You need Bersih 3.0 and here's why

BERSIH 3.0 : We will, we will rock you

BERSIH 3.0 going GLOBAL!

The Malaysian diaspora is all set to stand up for electoral reform, but this time, by sitting down.

Those in 33 cities have confirmed that they will organise solidarity sit-ins on April 28, in support of that organised by the clean and fair elections NGO Bersih 2.0 in Kuala Lumpur on the same day.

Out of that, at least 20 cities have settled on the time and venues for the events and started promoting their respective events on social media and local event listings.

The New Zealand group will kick off the global sit in at Aotea Square, Auckland at 1pm.

“Due to the time zone, Bersih 3.0 in Auckland will be the first one to kick off Bersih 3.0!” organiser Lydia Chai said in an email to Malaysiakini.

Neighbouring Australia would follow suit with gatherings in all seven capital cities, from Hobart to Perth.

Perth organisers got in the spirit early through a ‘yellow barbecue’ earlier this week, in keeping with Bersih’s theme colour.

In Asia, Bersih 2.0 steering committee confirms that Malaysians in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzen, Hong Kong and Taipei will hold solidarity sit-ins.

In Singapore, organisers are waiting for authorities to reply to an application to use the Hong Lim Park speakers’ corner for their sit-in. It this fails, supporters plan to carpool to Kuala Lumpur.

Those in Osaka are also confirming the venue with authorities alongside those in Tokyo, who can confirm that it will be held at a venue along the Yamamoto train line.

Over in Europe, a sit-in is planned in front of the Malaysian High Commission in London while those in Edinburgh should head to the Meadow Park for a protest picnic.

Other venues in the region include Graz, Stockholm, Geneva and Newcastle.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, Malaysians in up to 11 US cities, too, will put on yellow shirts for electoral reform.

Sit-ins are confirmed to take place in Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Portland and Columbus, with Canadian city Toronto, too, set to see some action.

Concurrent sit-ins in Malaysia

Back at home, up to nine other Malaysian cities will get their share of the excitement including Kuantan, Alor Setar, Miri, Sibu, Kuching, Penang and Ipoh.

However, only organisers in two cities have confirmed the venue - Dataran Pahlawan in Malacca and Padang Merdeka in Kota Kinabalu.

“The others will be announcing the venues at a later date,” said Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah.

Also joining the rally would be anti-Lynas group Himpunan Hijau, which successfully held a rally attended by thousands in Kuantan earlier this year.

The Himpunan Hijau group plan to meet at KLCC before making their way to Dataran Merdeka, where the Bersih sit-in will take place, and have urged Kuantan folk to join the events in Kuala Lumpur.

Supporting them will be the Bukit Merah residents who protested the Asia Rare Earth plant there in the 1980s. Their April 28 sit-in will be held at the former plant site at the Perak town.

Pakatan will rule Perak again

Nizar: Ku Li says ‘be ready’ for BN Perak defeat

Nizar said Ku Li had counselled him on how best to win over the Malay voters. — File pic

Former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin asserted last night that Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had told him to “be ready” to rule Perak again, pre-empting Barisan Nasional’s (BN) possible fall in the coming polls.

The PAS leader said Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as “Ku Li”, had conveyed the message to him during a function in Ipoh’s Syuen Hotel on April 1.

The Kelantan prince, Nizar added, had said it would be two key issues that was likely to turn the tide against BN in the next election: the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal and the purportedly “spendthrift ways” of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

“Ku Li said that the cattle issue (NFC) had truly affected the hearts of the Malay electorate, particularly those in the villages,” as well as allegations linking Rosmah to a diamond ring reportedly valued at US$24 million (RM72 million).

“PR (Pakatan Rakyat) does not even need to campaign very hard,” Nizar said before an audience during a forum on the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) federal student loan scheme at Dewan Kiambang MBSA here last night.

Nizar joked to the crowd that PR’s campaign materials could include flyers bearing only pictures — Rosmah and former minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil at front, and cattle images on the back — and this would be enough to convey their message to voters.

He claimed that recent voter surveys from various pollsters, including the independent Merdeka Center, have all pointed to BN’s imminent fall in the northern state.

“That was the message from Ku Li. Be ready, he said, it may be very difficult for BN... perhaps it can only retain three states.

“(He said) I am here to make sure you are well-prepared for the uncertainty,” Nizar said.

Speaking to reporters later, the PAS leader explained that he had met with Ku Li when the latter was in Ipoh to launch a book.

The Gua Musang MP, Nizar said, had provided “a lot of internal news” to indicate that BN would be facing “a lot of difficulty” to retain power in the coming polls.

This, he added, was the very reason why Najib has been visiting Perak more than the other states.

“Ku Li was more or less saying we should give out the good word.

“So I think his feedback was more or less what (former Selangor mentri besar) Khir Toyo and what Tun Daim Zainudin had said before,” he said.

On the two issues raised by Ku Li, Nizar said that PR would be “maximising and optimising” them to woo the Malay vote in the next election, widely expected to be called in June.

“It would cost about three sen, maybe five sen for coloured prints of these campaign materials... Just the faces of Rosmah and Shahrizat would be enough to paint a thousand words,” he said.

The opposition parties of DAP, PKR and PAS ousted BN from Perak in Election 2008 but was toppled from power barely a year later following the defection of three lawmakers.

[Source: The MI]

What a Holy Week it was

The photo appeared in The Star showing the Catholic faithful performing the Station of the Cross possession in the church ground of St Francis of Assisi (Gethsemane) in the afternoon of Good Friday.  In the sweltering heat, the parishioners took to their strides as they recalled the steps taken by Jesus Christ on the way to His  crucifixion.  The possession was led by the parish priest, Father Valentin Dompok.

This photo was taken by Sin Chew showing my son, Marcus, holding my grand daughter, Tiffany, as she performed her part in the Veneration of the Cross on Easter Sunday.

It was another blessed Easter for me as I was able to catch up with old friends and relatives, and spending Easter lunch with the family.  I hope it was for you too.

OMG, MCA supports UTUSAN

Doesn't this sound like the death knell for MCA?  I guess the 6-foot deep grave they have dug for themselves so far is still not deep enough.  With this tacit support for UTUSAN, MCA has dug for themselves another couple of feet deeper.

DAP has hit back at an MCA leader's claim that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was a racist for advising Chinese schools not to subscribe to Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian.

In a statement today, Guan Eng's special officer Zairil Khir Johari said Penang MCA secretary Lau Chiek Tuan had ignored the fact that Lim had urged the schools to subscribe toSinar Harian, which the chief minister deemed as more objective.

"In any case, the chief minister's original remarks of supporting Sinar Harian instead of Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian were made in jest and never meant to be a threat in the first place.

"It is the MCA who is politicising the issue by twisting his original statement to paint the chief minister as a political opportunist and a racist.

"What is really inexplicable is the fact that the MCA would even deign to support Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, especially when the latter is well-known to adopt a racist and often malicious line of reporting," said Zairil (left).

Yesterday, Lau said that Lim's "threat" to Chinese schools, although it was clear that it was a joke, it was inappropriate and against racial unity.

“By making such a threat, especially when it involves education, it shows that DAP is willing to politicise anything for its own benefits,” he said.

Lim had made the joke during a speech when he handed out funds to 84 Chinese schools on April 7.

“Schools commonly subscribe to newspapers in order to improve their students' vocabulary in a language.

By stopping Chinese schools from subscribing to these papers, the students may end up without a strong foothold in the national language,” he said.


[Source: Mkini]

Monday Humour

MARRIAGE COUNSELING

After 15 years of marriage a husband and wife went to a marriage
counselor. When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a
passionate, painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in
the 15 years they had been married.

She went on and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness,
loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list of
unmet needs she had endured over the course of their marriage.

Finally, after allowing this to go on for a sufficient length of time,
the therapist got up, walked around the desk and, after asking the wife
to stand, embraced and kissed her passionately as her husband watched
with a raised eyebrow. The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though
in a daze.

The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife
needs at least three times a week. Can you do this?"
- 
- 
- 
- 
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The husband thought for a moment and replied, "Well, I can drop her off
here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I go fishing."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WOULD YOU MARRY AGAIN?


A husband and wife are sitting quietly in bed reading when the Wife looks over at him and asks the question.... 

WIFE: "What would you do if I died? Would you get married Again?" 

HUSBAND: "Definitely not!" 

WIFE: "Why not? Don't you like being married?" 

HUSBAND: "Of course I do.." 

WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you remarry? " 

HUSBAND: "Okay, okay, I'd get married again." 

WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt look) 

HUSBAND: (makes audible groan) 

WIFE: "Would you live in our house?" 

HUSBAND: "Sure, it's a great house.." 

WIFE: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?" 

HUSBAND: "Where else would we sleep?" 

WIFE: "Would you let her drive my car?" 

HUSBAND: "Probably, it is almost new." 

WIFE: "Would you replace my pictures with hers?" 

HUSBAND: "That would seem like the proper thing to do." 

WIFE: "Would you give her my jewelry?" 

HUSBAND: "No, I'm sure she'd want her own." 

WIFE: "Would you take her golfing with you? 

HUSBAND: "Yes, those are always good times." 

WIFE: "Would she use my clubs? 

HUSBAND: "No, she's left-handed." 

WIFE: -- silence -- 

HUSBAND: "shit." 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


A 70-YEAR SENIOR WORKING AS A CASHIER IN A SUPERMARKET

Is this how far gone our Maths standard?

You will have to first read the news report in the Malaysiakini on April 3 2012 than take a look at the video below.


A written parliamentary reply to DAP’s Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching may shows that something does not add up in the Home Ministry.

The March 29 reply from Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein states that, in 2009, 14 people had died in custody.

But curiously, the 14 "consist of three who died in prison, seven in police custody and 17 at Immigration detention depots".

"I am totally confused after reading the written reply: 14 = 3 + 7 + 17?" Teo (right) asked on her Facebook page, where the written reply is also posted.

The mind-boggling arithmetic continues with the minister noting that 13 people had died in custody in 2010 - "one in prison, nine in police custody and 18 at Immigration detention depots."

Iin 2011, it was a case of "17 dead in police custody and 18 at Immigration detention depots" making it a total of "21 deaths".

The causes of death were given as "HIV/AIDS and other diseases such as tuberculosis, Hepatitis C, asthma and heart disease."

The written reply, which had been shared by 22 people on Facebook as at yesterday, were met with incredulous comments, with some wondering if the minister had been using Google Translate to calculate the numbers.

A Facebook user commented: "(The deputy prime minister) just declared that we have the best education system, better than UK... YB, you need to calculate again."

Earlier this year, the Defence Ministry has been left red-faced when numerous mistakes were found on its website after it used the free Google Malay-English translation service.

The website published translations from its Bahasa Malaysia website, including advising visitors against wearing "clothes thatpoke eye"", a literal translation from the Malay language term for 'revealing clothes'.

‘Rectify this outside House’

Teo today raised the matter in the Dewan Rakyat, citing Standing Order 36(12) and accusing the ministry of trying to mislead the House.

"The calculation doesn't tally. Instead of 27 deaths in 2009, the ministry stated that there were only 14.

"It is just simple mathematics... even those in Year Six will not make mistakes like this. I appeal to the home ministry to rectify their mistakes.”

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, however, pointed out that the issue raised does not fall under Standing Order 36(12).

"I've read the Standing Orders from 1 to 100 many times... if only there is a provision that allows for arbitrary action against YBs (yang berhormat) who misuse Standing Orders just to delay proceedings.

"I don't know if they don't understand or they don't want to understand," complained Pandikar.

He explained that Standing Order 36(12) is specific to misleading the House with intent and that any such matter must be raised immediately after the fact.

Saying there must be a reason for the mistake, he instructed the Home Ministry to rectify it but said this does not necessarily have to be made in the House.

"YB Serdang could have rectified the error outside the House. It could have been corrected while having coffee too," remarked the speaker.





Fast forward to 3:40, you will notice that the police officer warned the Pakatan leaders that he would give them 3 minutes to disperse.  Then he started counting, 1 ..... 2 ....... 3 .... tangkap.  Did that look like 3 minutes to you?  Three minutes would mean 180 seconds, but he counted only 3.  Now we can see how far gone our educational standards that even police officers do not know the difference between minute and second.  Shocking, isn't it?

Here's wishing you a blessed and joyous Easter and may the Grace of our Lord be with you always.

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemTheMovie on Vimeo.