This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium – belated and short, as being in Victoria’s thrown my schedule out of whack. This week…

1. actor Charlie Sheen (whether he’s Jewish or not) [1a] and Christian Dior head designer John Galliano [1b] added themselves to my list of anti-Semitic racist bigots. They joined notable luminaries Mikis Theodorakis [1c] and Mel Gibson [1d]. And also 23% of Australians [1e].

2. Alan Krinsky explained why ‘Much-maligned Israel still the pick of the Middle East [2]. I suppose it never hurts to state the bleeding obvious.

3. Bernie Ecclestone suggested artificial rain to liven up Formula 1 ‘races’ [3]. Hard to tell if the little man said it with his little tongue in his little cheek. Or not.

4. Greg Baum (who I’ve previously lauded [4a], brilliantly sent up Ron Walker and the Australia F1 Grand Prix [4b]. Of course all satire contains truth.

5. Pope Benedict XVI declared that Jews bear no collective responsibility for Jesus’s death [5]. Great news. Now I’ll be able to sleep better at night.

6. in the MJA, high profile nutritionist Rosemary Stanton wrote [6a] that doctors need to exercise caution when recommending products bearing the Heart Foundation’s tick [6b]. As do consumers browsing supermarket shelves. Is the Foundation sacrificing ethics for commercial gain?

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.