Michael Jackson “The King of Pop” 1958-2009

I have not written anything on my blog since March 22, but when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had died, I knew it was time to get the blog up and going again.

Michael Jackson is one of the biggest, if not the biggest performer that has ever lived. He produced hit after hit. Michael is known all over the world for his contribution to music.

He started his career singing with his brothers in Jackson 5 at the age of 11. Together the produced hits as: I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, I´ll Be There, Mama´s Pearl, Never Can Say Goodbye and Dancing Machine.

His solo albums:

Got to Be There (1972)

Hits: Got to Be There, Rockin` Robin

Ben (1972)

Hits: Ben, My Girl

Music and Me (1973)

Hits: With a Child´s Heart

Forever, Michael (1975)

Hits: One Day in Your Life, Just a Little Bit of You

Off the Wall (1979)

Hits: Don´t Stop`til You Get Enough, Rock With You, Off the Wall ,Girlfriend, She´s out of My Life

Sold over 20 million

Thriller (1982)

Hits: Wanna Be Starting Somethin, The Girl is Mine, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

Sold over 100 million, the only album to ever do so in music history

Bad (1987)

Hits: Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Another Part of Me, I Just Can´t Stop Loving You, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal

Sold over 30 million

Dangerous (1991)

Hits: Remember the Time, Heal the World, Black or White, Give it to Me, Dangerous

Sold over 32 million

HIStory (1995)

Hits: Scream, They Don´t Care About Us, Earth Song, HIStory, plus many previous releases

Sold over 20 million

Invincible (2001)

Hits: You Rock My World, Cry

Sold over 10 million

With all different releases included and several greatest hits album, Michael was the fourth best selling artist off all time, selling over 750 million albums.

Michael is also known as a amazing dancer, and “The Moonwalk” has become one of his trademarks. Throughout his life he we was surrounded with controversies (sexual abuse accusations, drug addiction, holding his baby over the railing of a four story hotel balcony) and media attention.  But at the end of the day I think he will be remembered as “The King of Pop” for his contribution to music.

Here are some of Michael Jackson´s many hits:

If some of them dont work, just double click on them and a new window will open.

Jackson 5, I Want You Back

Rockin`Robin

Don´t Stop `till You Get Enough

Thriller

Beat It

Billie Jean

Bad

Smooth Criminal

Heal the World

Black or White

Scream, with Janet Jackson

Earth Song

You Rock My World

Cry

Michael you will be missed

Links in the media:

Kan gå dager før dødsårsaken er klar

Michael Jacksons dødsdrama – time for time

Sony: – Han var et geni

Michael Jacksons ekskoner i sorg

Den utrolige historien om Michael Jackson

Hylles av sørgende fans

Nekrolog: Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

Jermaine Jackson: – Dette er hardt

Albumsalget rett til værs

Etterlater seg gigantgjeld

Dødsårsaken foreløpig ukjent

Jacko-dødsfallet skapte mediekaos

- Jeg er overveldet av alle mulige følelser

Kongen av pop ble 50 år. Dødsfallet etterforskes.

Her fraktes Jackson bort

– Et kontroversielt geni

Michael Jackson: 1958 – 2009

- Forsøkte gjenoppliving i en time

Michael Jackson, pop music legend, dead at 50

Jermaine announces that his brother has died

Jackson\’s death stuns fans at Glastonbury

Jackson was star the world could not ignore

Singer Michael Jackson dies at 50

Obituary: Michael Jackson

Tributes paid to Michael Jackson

Prayer vs. medical treatment

Last year Kara Neumann (11) became so sick that she neither stand up or walk. But her parents didn´t take her to see a doctor, so she got worse and worse.     When Kara´s aunt found out how bad shape Kara had become, she rang the local police to come and save Kara. 23 March 2008 an ambulance came to take Kara to the hospital, but sadly she died before the ambulance got there.

So what was making her sick? It turned out she had diabetes, all she needed was some insulin. So why didn´t her parents take her to see a doctor? Well, her parents don´t believe in modern medicine, they believe that God is the only healer. Her parents Leilani and Dale prayed for Kara to get better, but Kara just got worse and worse. According to her parents taking Kara to the doctors would be giving into Satan´s influence, so they prayed. 

Marathon County in Wisconsin has made an indictment against the Neumann´s, accusing them of second-degree reckless homicide. The parents have tried to get the case dismissed, under the basses of the religious freedom. The judge answered: “the Constitution protects religious conviction, though, but not necessarily religious acts”. 

The case come goes to court in may. If they get found guilty, they risk up to 25 years in jail for causing death by negligence, reckless homicide. In Wisconsin there is a law that says you cant convict parents for abuse or undeliberate death, if they believe for religious reasons that prayer is the best option. In other words if someone ends up killing their child because they thought prayer was an better option than medical treatment, they have parts of the law on their side. 

Should parents that end up killing their children because prayer is better than modern medical treatment go to jail? Before you try to answer that question here are some facts:

• Over 300 american children have died in the last 25 years because their parents didnt seek medical treatment because of religious reasons
• 90% of the children died of diseases that where for example antibiotics could have healed them
• 2% of americans practice healing by prayer

This video is from posted on youtube by the Assocated Press on April 28, 2008:

Here are some news articles about the case:

Neumann Parents Seek Dismissal of Reckless Homicide Charges

Judge Sets Separate Trials for Neumanns

Karas foreldre ba og lot henne dø

Trials for Parents Who Chose Faith Over Medicine

Fred Phelps denied entry to the UK

I was surfing online when I read that came across an article about pastor Fred Phelps and his daughter, being denied entry into Britain. I had heard about the Phelps family before, and when reading about them trying to bring there hatred to the UK and Europe, I just had to write a post on my blog about them. 

In 2007 the BBC made a documentary (The Most Hated Family in America) about the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church. Here we follow Louis Theroux as he gets to know the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church.

The Most Hated Family in America:

Fred and Shirley Phelps were going to protest against a play, thats about the murder of a gay man. But they were denied entry because of their unacceptable behavior to incite to hatred, according to a spokesperson from the ministry. 

So what is it that Fred Phelps and his church believe? They claim that the US is doomed to destruction because of its tolerance towards homosexuality. And so they travel around to preach that. They shout slogans like: God hates you, God hates fags, Fags doom nations, God hates America, Thank God for dead minors, Thank God for 9/11, Thank God for dead soldiers and Thank God for Hurricane Katrina. 

They have been alot in the US media for coming to US soldiers funerals and showing their hatred (Dodge City showdown at funeral). They shout their slogans, and bring big signs with their slogans to the funerals of fallen soldiers. Just in the period from June 2005 – March 2006 they tried to tarnish over 100 funerals.

They hide behind free speech. Yes, do they have a right for their own opinions, but this is pushing it. The Westboro Baptish Church preach hate, not free speech or the Bible as they say. 

I think the UK made a good choice when banning them from entering the UK, but what do you think?

Here are some other news articles about the Phelps family:

Anti-gay preachers banned from UK

British government bans Fred Phelps, daughter from entering U.K

 

Dyrere forsikring for røykere

For noen dager siden kom jeg over denne artikkelen på www.dinside.no, Dobbelt så dyrt for røykerne. Der kommer det fram at forsikringsselskapene vil øke livs- og helseforsikringene for tobakkavhengige.

Storbrand Livsforskirng har allerede økt tariffene sine for røykere, og flere av konkurrentene planlegge det samme. Det skriver Aftenposten: En sigarett om dagen gir dyrere forsikring. Saken ble også nevt i VG: Røykere får dyrere forsikring

Disse nye økningene er 50% for dagligrøykere, og 100% for personer som røyker 15 om dagen. Det vil si er du en kvinne på 35 år, og røyker over 14 sigaretter om dagen, kan premien øke mer 9000 kr.

“Det er rimelig at røykerne betaler mer“, sier direktør Jan Otto Risebrobakken i Storebrand til Aftenposten. Hvorfor gjør forsikringsselskapene dette? Grunnen er svært enkel. Jo mer du røyker, jo mer utsatt er du for helseskader. Nesten 7000 nordmenn dør av røyking hvert år. Røykere har i gjennomsnitt 11 år lavere levealder i forhold til ikke røykere. 

Hjerte- og karsykdommer, kols, lungekreft og blindhet er bare noen konsekvenser av røyking. Da er det bra at Røyking blant ungdom halvert .

Siden røyking har så mange alvorlige konsekvenser som forsikringsbransjen må betale for, velger de å øke prisen for røykere. Dette er helt logisk og nødvendig, men ikke alle er enige. Til de har jeg dette spørsmåket: Hvorfor skal vi ikke røykere være med å betale forskringen til røykere? De velger selv å røyke, de har et valg. Hvis de ikke vil betale mer for forsikringen så slutt å røyke. 

Et av hovedargumentene imot dette er at forsikringsbransjen driver med sortering av mennesker, og i følge mange er det på grensen til diskriminering. Forsikringsbransjen driver allerede med sortering, eks folk som driver med risikosport må betale mer og ungdommer som skal forsikre bil må betale mer. Dette gjør de allerede, men ikke all sortering er bra. 

Så lenge de sortere etter ting folk velger selv er det greit. Røyking er et velg, å kjøre bil er et valg og å drive med risikosport er et valg. Å ha en historie av kreft i familien er ikke at valg, å være født med en sykdom er ikke et valg. Så lenge sortering skjer p.g.a valg er det vell greit. Det er feil å gjøre livs- og helseforsikringen dyrere for folk som som har ting som feiler dem som er ut av deres kontrol. 

Men det finnes jo et spørsmål om hvordan skal forsikringsbransjen faktisk kan skjekke om folk røyker eller ikke. Det er ikke lett for de, men de sier at hvis folk lyver når de søker forsikring vil de få konsekvenser. 

Uansett hvordan du ser på det mener jeg at dette er helt logisk og rettferdig. Røykere bør betale mer for livs- og helseforsikring.

2008 Summary

Another year has past, and we now start year 2009. But before we really get going in 2009, lets have a summary of 2008. 

This blog started in the summer of 2008, and the first post (Smoking ban in Netherlands) was posted on 9th of July. Since then I have posted many different posts. Here are some statistics from 2008:

• Total views: 2740
• Most views in one day: 322
• Most views in one month: 916
• Most viewed post: www.skattelistene.no = www.snoking.no ? Over 250 views
• Total posts: 43 
• Total polls: 3
• Total poll votes: 98
• Most used search words that people write that to my blog: skattelistene.no, top comedians, skattelister 2007, nrk lisens
• Strange search words that somehow have lead people to my blog: cam look w dekoderze, tv show life det charlie cruse statu, what president did not put his hand over
• Total video links: 44
• Total comments: 42

2008 has been a good year for papamoskitos weblog, and I´m hoping that 2009 will be an even better year.

If you have any ideas for posts, just write them in comments under this post.

Here are links to all my posts so far, in the order they were posted:

Smoking ban in Netherlands

Big Brother Bush

NRK lisens

Top 3: comedians

The Montauk Monster

Left-hander´s Day 2008

Beijing Olympics opening ceremony

Hillary supporters and Obama

Digitale pass, deg selv i kortformat

To Google, or not to Google

FRP elsket og hatet

The vice-presidential choice

Top 3: film trilogies

The second presidential debate

www.skattelistene.no = www.snoking.no ?

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama

And The Winner Is…..

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Happy new years