Say it slowly - ‘diarrhea morbidity‘. That should help that steak ‘n egg breakfast go down nicely…

As a Filipino-American with two toddlers at home, this disturbs me on a number of levels - the World Health Organization announced today that the Philippines ranks second only to China in the number of children under 5 that succumb to fatal diarrhea. The cause? A lack of proper sanitation related to poor access to clean water and facilities….aaaand parents not telling their kids to wash their fucking hands.

Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC), said the National Government has also launched its own analysis for the year 2000 on handwashing practice among adults and children.

Among adults, 90 percent have said they wash their hands before eating but less than 50 percent of children below 12 years old adhere to the practice.

She said the study also indicated that only 20 percent of children below five years old, 37 percent among adolescents, 44 percent of adults, and 50 percent of older people wash their hands after they use the toilet.

Yeah, there are some serious problems back in the land of my forebears.

North Korea, take a word from the wise - just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not after you.

“We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot,” Song told Kyodo in what the agency said was North Korea’s first reaction to the reports. “Western media have reported falsehoods before,” he said, according to the report from Pyongyang.

It was not the first time North Korea sent a message to the outside world through Kyodo. Kim Yong Nam also gave the news organization an interview two days after North Korea carried out its first-ever nuclear test blast in 2006.

In another indication that the North’s leader is alive, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim sent a birthday greeting Wednesday to Syria’s leader.

Shadowy speculations from the U.S. intelligence community indicate that North Korean leader asshole Kim Jong Il may have suffered a stroke, after his absence at an anniversary parade was noted.

“It does appear that Kim Jong-Il has suffered a health setback, potentially a stroke,” an official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She said there have been no signs of a change in governing power and that assessing whether Kim was still capable of governing would “call for a lot of speculation.”

Earlier, South Korea’s largest daily, the Chosun Ilbo, said Kim collapsed last month, citing a South Korean diplomatic source in Beijing.

Kim has not been seen in public for a month and U.S. officials were closely watching the day’s military parade for signs to the leader’s health. As leader, Kim attended parades for the 50th and 55th anniversary of the state founded by his father, Kim Il-sung.

North Koreans call Kim the “Dear Leader” and he holds absolute power in the Stalinist regime.

And while I’m on the YouTube frenzy this morning…