BREVITAS

WORD

Ask the powerful five questions 1. What power have you got? 2. Where did you get it from? 3. In whose interest do you exercise it? 4. To whom are you accountable? 5. How can we get rid of you?

Only democracy gives us that right. That is why no-one in power likes democracy - and that is why every generation must struggle to win it and keep it. Including you and me - here and now. - Tony Benn

CYBER NOTES

PR WATCH - A Google advertising sales rep has apologized after using her company blog to urge healthcare companies to take out Google ads attacking Michael Moore's new movie, "Sicko." Moore "attacks health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst," wrote Lauren Turner. "Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care." In response, she suggested, Google ads can help companies "better manage their reputations through 'Get the Facts' or issue management campaigns. ... We can place text ads, video ads, and rich media ads in paid search results or in relevant websites within our ever-expanding content network." After coming under heavy criticism from non-Google bloggers, Turner beat a hasty retreat, writing that her statement was just "my personal opinion." According to a report in Forbes, however, "The incident does more than call attention to Google's ever-cozier relationships with corporate advertisers as it deepens its role as an online advertising agency: It also highlights Google's unorthodox use of bloggers to communicate with the public. Google has long used blogs as a casual form of public relations, both on its official sites and on the personal sites of its employees, sometimes blurring the line between the two."

OUTLYING PRECINCTS

RADAR - It isn't only Antonio Villaraigosa's political rivals who are gleeful over the Los Angeles mayor's extramarital exploits. Democratic presidential hopefuls not named Hillary Clinton are snickering at how one of the party frontrunner's most coveted supporters has suddenly become a potential embarrassment. Villaraigosa, who serves as one of four national co-chairmen of Clinton's campaign, admitted earlier this week that he's been having an affair with Telemundo news anchor Mirthala Salinas. Villaraigosa's wife Corina - who merged their last names, Villar and Raigosa, when they married in 1987 - announced their separation last month. . . A rising star in the Democratic party, Villaraigosa's endorsement had been heavily courted by other candidates, especially New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, the only Hispanic in the race. "They're probably pretty relieved now that they didn't win that one," laughs an insider from another campaign.

MID EAST

PALESTINE INFORMATION CENTER - An opinion poll conducted by the website of the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper has shown that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's popularity was at its lowest ebb with only 13% voting for him as president if elections were held now. The poll further said that if an honest election process was held Ismail Haneyya, premier of the caretaker government, would win 51% of the votes, which is 38% more than Abbas.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

PRESS WATCH - Data-crunching detects a risk in cholesterol drugs, but is it real? The Wall Street Journal contains a feature article on meta-analyses carried out by Ralph Edwards of the WHO's drug monitoring centre, who has amassed about four million reports of medical problems experienced by people taking prescription drugs. One such statistical analysis showed that of 172 people on his database who developed Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis- ALS) or similar conditions while taking prescription medicines, 40 had been on statins. Pfizer, which brings in nearly $13bn a year from Lipitor, says it too noticed the ALS signal last year in adverse-event reports, but concluded that it was not significant.

THE POLICE BEAT

SKY, UK - Guests helping to clear up after a dinner party in Belgium discovered the bodies of the host's wife and son in the freezer. A woman, one of two guests, made the gruesome discovery after dining at the home of 43-year-old Didier Charron. As she opened the freezer to put away remnants of the meal she found the body of a woman and underneath the body of a boy, both with knife wounds. She immediately alerted police who found the bodies were those of Charron's 46-year-old wife Chantal and her 12-year-old son Brian. Both had not been seen in public for several months. Charron, who had been married to his wife for three years, has been arrested and is being questioned by police.

KATHY MARKS, INDEPENDENT, UK - She was a wealthy widow; he was a former English police officer with a harem of girlfriends and a taste for sports cars and French champagne. Des Campbell took his third wife, Janet, on a camping holiday, and pitched their tent a few feet from a cliff edge. Her body was found at the bottom.

Australian-born Mr Campbell, who left the Surrey force in disgrace in 1997, told police his wife fell over the 120ft cliff after she went outside at dusk to answer a call of nature. He did not attend her funeral and, a week later, flew to Queensland for a holiday with one of at least three other women he was seeing at the time. . .

A few days after her death in 2005, he inquired about her will and made plans to sell their home. Soon afterwards he withdrew A$70,000 (L30,000) from a mortgage account, and traveled to the Philippines to bring back a woman he had met through an internet dating service. That woman is now his fourth wife, and they have two children.

FURTHERMORE. . . .

AP - They're flush with pride in a southwestern Chinese city where a recently-opened porcelain palace features an Egyptian facade, soothing music and more than 1,000 toilets spread out over 32,290 square feet. Officials in Chongqing are preparing to submit an application to Guinness World Records to have the free four-story public bathroom listed as the world's largest, the state-run China Central Television reported Friday. "We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV," said Lu Xiaoqing, an official with the Yangrenjie, or "Foreigners Street," tourist area where the bathroom is located. "After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy."

EMENDATION

ROBERT FLAMMIA notes that the line "Some rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen" are not the words of Pretty Boy Floyd, but from a song about Floyd by Woody Guthrie. LYRICS