Bill joins Hillary for the free trip

By Calvin Palmer

Hillary Clinton climbs aboard an aircraft that will take her on her maiden overseas trip as Secretary of State and look who is behind her, husband and former president, Bill Clinton.

Lurking in the shadows: Bill Clinton follows Hillary aboard the aircraft taking her on her first trip overseas as Secretary of State. Picture courtesy of The Times.

I do not seem to recall Colin Powell’s wife accompanying him on overseas trips. And Condoleezza Rice seemed to manage all right by herself.

What message does having Bill Clinton freeloading send out to the rest of the nation about profligate spending?

The banks are rightly condemned for lavish expenditure in these hard times but it is apparently perfectly all right for Bill Clinton to get a free trip at the taxpayers’ expense.

Hillary is there to do a job.  What is Bill’s excuse?  Why is he there?

The United States only appoints one Secretary of State, not two.  If he is there to advise his wife, clearly Hillary Clinton is not up to the task.

Does a brain surgeon take his wife to the operating theater when he is about to perform surgery? Does a female airline pilot have her husband sitting beside her in the cockpit of the aircraft she is about to fly?

So why is Bill Clinton there?  Well, it’s free and it gives him the opportunity to glad hand the top people of other nations and probably ask them for donations to his foundation.

His presence alongside Hillary is not quite the “change we can believe in” the electorate was led to expect during Obama’s presidential campaign.

Seems more like the kind of abuse of power the Wicked Witch of Wasilla, Sarah Palin, might go in for.

Or is it just a case of the more things change, the more they remain the same? And it is also nice work if you can get it.

FAA cannot explain fireballs seen over Texas

By Calvin Palmer

Fireballs were seen in the north Texas sky this morning and authorities seem to be at a loss to explain what they were.

Doug Schmidt of Richardson was driving on Central Expressway, Dallas, at 11:00 a.m. when he saw a flash of light in the sky.

“It was like a ball of flame with a tail. It looked like a meteor,” he said.

Reports of falling debris were made in Waco and Austin, Texas, and as far afield as New Mexico.

Roland Herwig, southwest region FAA spokesman, said: “We don’t know what it was.”

It was thought earlier that it may have been debris from a falling satellite but the U.S. Strategic Command said there was no connection to the sightings over Texas and Tuesday’s collision of satellites from the U.S. and Russia.

“There is no correlation between the debris from that collision and those reports of re-entry,” said Maj. Regina Winchester, with STRATCOM.

The FAA has issued a warning to pilots to be aware of falling satellite debris, although sightings appear to be limited to the southwest of the United States.

No reports of injury to people or damage to property have been received as a result of the sightings in Texas.

A  derelict Russian military satellite and a working U.S. Iridium commercial satellite collided some 500 miles above Siberia last Tuesday, scattering debris 300 to 800 miles through space.

[Based on reports by The Dallas Morning News and Associated Press.]

Two other boys dispute 13-year-old’s claim to fatherhood

By Calvin Palmer

Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old reported to be Britain’s youngest father, may not have fathered the child born to 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman.

Two other boys, aged 14 and 16, claim they could have fathered the child.

Chantelle’s neighbors in Eastbourne, Sussex, have also alleged that at least four boys had been allowed to spend the night in her room.

The schoolgirl and her mother, Penelope, 38, have insisted the claims are false.

Alfie told The People newspaper: “Other stupid boys are lying, saying bad things like they have slept with Chantelle too.

“But I am the only boyfriend she has had and we’ve been together for two years, so I must be the dad.”

However, some members of Alfie’s family are questioning the paternity and have suggested he should have a DNA test.

His father Dennis, 45, a vehicle fitter who has eight other children, told The People: “A DNA test is the only way to settle this once and for all.
“I kept asking if she was sure because I thought a boy of his age wasn’t capable of conceiving.

“But then these other lads have come out of the woodwork claiming they have gone with Chantelle too.

“I am not saying I believe them and I don’t want to blacken the girl’s reputation, but we have to know for sure – for Alfie, for her and for that baby.”

It is also claimed that Alfie’s mother Nicola Patten, 43, who has split from his father, would like him to take the test to settle the issue.

Richard Goodsell, 16, a trainee chef, has claimed he often shared a bed with Chantelle over a period of three months around the time she became pregnant.

His mother Barbie-Jayne, 35, also backs his story.

He told the News of the World: “I know I could be the father. Everyone thinks I am. My friends all tell me that baby has my eyes– even my mum thinks so.

“Only a DNA test is going to sort this out properly. If I am the father, I have the right to know.”

Tyler Barker, 14, also claims to have had a relationship with Chantelle, who appears much older than her years.

He told the News of the World: “I slept with Chantelle in her bed about nine months ago and I’m really worried I could be the father.

“I hope it’s not me. All my mates have been teasing me about it but this isn’t funny, it’s serious.”

Both boys and their parents are reported to have made sworn statements in front of a solicitor detailing their encounters with Chantelle.

The birth of 7lb 3oz Maisie, conceived when Alfie was 12 and Chantelle 14, has provoked outrage from politicians and charity workers who said it exemplified the “complete collapse” of parts of society.

Sir Bernard Ingham, once press secretary to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, told the Associated Press that people from across Britain’s political spectrum are in despair over the country’s social breakdown.

“It’s an indication that we’ve lost our way, that people don’t know the difference between right and wrong,” he said of young Alfie. “The plain fact is society can’t proceed on this basis. I think this is an indication of broken Britain.”

[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph and Press Association.]

Mexico takes world kissing record from Britain

By Calvin Palmer

Mexico City set a new record yesterday when nearly 40,000 people locked lips beating a record previously held by Britain.

Carlos Martinez of Guinness World Records verified the record of 39,897 people who entered the gated kissing area of the city’s Zocalo main square on Valentine’s Day.

The English seaside town of Weston-super-Mare set the previous kissing record of 32,648 people in 2007.

The Valentine’s Day kiss was meant to show love at a time when a crackdown against drug traffickers has led to widespread violence across the country. At least 6,000 people died in drug-related conflicts in 2008.

It also aimed to send a message to a local mayor who tried to ban kissing in the public square.

Tourist groups and community activists organized the event.

“More than 35,000 will simultaneously kiss to show that warmth and love are at the core of this capital, the heart of the Mexican Republic,” the city’s tourism department said in a statement.

The kiss “sends a message to the whole world about Mexico’s respect for all kinds of freedoms,” said local tourist official Alejandro Rojas Diaz.

[Based on reports by the Associated Press and AFP news agency.]

Jade Goody to cash in on terminal cancer for the sake of her children

By Calvin Palmer

Jane Goody, star of TV reality show Big Brother, is to marry her boyfriend and have her two sons christened as soon as possible after being told by doctors that her cancer is terminal.

Goody’s boyfriend Jack Tweed, 21, proposed to her in hospital after learning that she has just months to live.

The couple are expected to sell the media rights to the wedding and christening to raise money for Goody’s children, Bobby, five, and four-year-old Freddie.

“They need to get married as soon as possible,” her spokesman, the publicist Max Clifford, said last night. “She’s a young girl who’s petrified, who’s been told she’s dying, and she’s coping with it brilliantly.”

The 27-year-old, who rose to fame through Channel 4’s Big Brother, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in August. On February 3, doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, London told her the disease had spread to her bowel, liver and groin, and had become a Stage 4 cancer.

It has been reported that Goody plans to hold a “traditional” wedding ceremony unless she becomes too weak to leave hospital.

Asked if she would sell the picture rights, Clifford said: “I assume so. I’m going to try to make as much money for her as I possibly can in the coming weeks for the sake of the children.”

Earlier, Clifford defended Goody’s decision to “die in the public eye”.

He told Sky News: “What she said to me was simply this — ‘I’m doing this for three reasons, one: because I want to make as much money as possible for my children; two, because it keeps me busy, it gives me something to think about other than cancer, and what’s going to happen to me;’ and three, since last August when she announced she had cancer, the amount of women having cervical smears has gone up over 20 percent  right across Britain and that’s something she’s very happy about.”

Clifford added: “So those are the three main reasons, and what it comes down to is when you’re in a situation like that, God forbid, you know what’s the best way for you to handle it and this is her way, and I respect her for that.”

He said that health permitting, she plans to spend a few days at her Essex home with her family next week, but feels safer in hospital as doctors can control her pain.

Goody said: “I know they’ve done everything they can to help me and I’m grateful. But I really thought I might be OK.”

However, she added: “I suppose there was this little part of me that didn’t. Since my bowel operation last week the pain has been getting worse and worse and I still haven’t been to the loo and I knew that was a bad sign. But I was still praying for a miracle.”

Goody, originally from Bermondsey, south London, found fame on the 2002 series of Big Brother, where her anarchic appearance made her familiar to millions. Her popularity plummeted in 2007 after she was accused of racism and bullying towards Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother.

Her clash with Shetty prompted a flood of complaints — and led to the appearance on the Indian show where she first learned that she could have cancer.

[Based on reports by The Guardian and the Press Association.]