The Corrupt Corporate Incarceration Complex
Link: http://www.truthout.com/public-private-incarceration-complex/1309275395
Seventeen-year-old Hillary Transue did what lots of 17-year-olds do: Got into mischief. Hillary's mischief was composing a MySpace page poking fun at the assistant principal of the high school she attended in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Hillary was an honor student who'd never had any trouble with the law before. And her MySpace page stated clearly that the page was a joke. But despite all that, Hilary found herself charged with harassment. She stood before a judge and heard him sentence her to three months in a juvenile detention facility.
PermalinkElk and safety: Zookeepers stunned as moose rescues drowning marmot from watery death
Keepers at Pocatello Zoo, Idaho, were worried when they noticed Shooter, a four-year-old elk, acting strangely at his water trough. Baffled, they watched as the animal - who is so massive some keepers are afraid to even enter his enclosure - tried to dip his hooves into his drinking trough, before attempting to dunk his whole head in the water. But they were amazed as 10ft tall Shooter lifted his head from the trough clutching a tiny marmot - a kind of large squirrel - between his jaws.
Bet you wish your ATM receipt looked like this: 'Hedge fund manager' drops slip showing $100 million bank balance
It's a fair bet that he wasn’t as bothered by the £1.75 fee for withdrawing his cash as us mere mortals might have been. The unidentified Wall St banker took out $400 (£250) but forgot the slip, which showed his balance was $99,864,731.94.
On Sale, Girls Look for Chinese Husbands
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56325
North Koreans have increasingly been crossing into the northern border cities of China, with women outnumbering men. "Women represent about 70 percent of some 200,000 North Koreans who fled from North Korea into China in the past few years," Kim Tae Jin, a North Korean defector who leads a nongovernment organisation to protect the human rights of fellow North Koreans tells IPS. Young North Korean women are sold as brides to Chinese farmers in northern border villages, while older ones take menial jobs working in restaurants or karaoke rooms. "We estimate about 80 percent of North Korean women who fled the North are sold as brides to Chinese men," Kim says. "Once in China, fear of being sent back to North Korea grips them, keeping them silent and obedient no matter how abusively they are treated," Kim adds.
US Rejects Demands to Vacate Pakistan Drone Base
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28448.htm
The United States is rejecting demands from Pakistani officials that American personnel abandon a military base used by the CIA to stage drone strikes against suspected militants, U.S. officials told Reuters. U.S. personnel have not left the remote Pakistani military installation known as Shamsi Air Base and there is no plan for them to do so, said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive material.
Movement to Abolish Corporate Personhood Gaining Traction
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/01-14
In the year and a half since the Citizens United decision, Americans from all walks of life have become concerned about corporate dominance of our government and our society as a whole. In Citizens United v. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court (in an act of outrageous “judicial activism) gutted existing campaign finance laws by ruling that corporations, wealthy individuals, and other entities can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.
Extreme Weather Link 'Can No Longer Be Ignored'
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/01-6
Scientists are to end their 20-year reluctance to link climate change with extreme weather – the heavy storms, floods and droughts which often fill news bulletins – as part of a radical departure from a previous equivocal position that many now see as increasingly untenable.
Activist Convicted of Resisting Arrest Without Violence
Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2011/07/activist-convicted-of-resisting-arrest.html
Orlando Cop Watch activist, John Kurtz, has been ordered jailed for 30 days with 1 year probation for resisting arrest without violence. Kurtz's case came to public attention in January after he was arrested for filming a case of police brutality administered at the hands of officer Adam Gruler, well known for his questionable conduct and liberal use of tasers and verbal abuse. Kurtz was facing a possible 6-year prison sentence for his audacity to film a public servant attacking a member of the public even after the person was restrained with handcuffs.
Obama DOJ Leaves Medical Marijuana Patients Sick and Suffering
On Wednesday, the Obama Justice Department issued a new memo to all U.S. Attorneys clarifying the DOJ's position on federal prosecutions of state-sanctioned medical marijuana use. It's not good news. According to Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, the new Obama DOJ policy states that only medical marijuana patients and caregivers should be left alone by federal prosecutors. But those who cultivate or distribute marijuana are fair game. Cole
Bachmann Lived on Kibbutz, Staunchly Pro-Israel
Link: http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/MicheleBachmann-Israel-support-Kibbutz/2011/07/01/id/402147
For Rep. Michele Bachmann, staunch support for Israel is a personal matter: Teenage Bachmann spent a summer working on a kibbutz in Israel. Michele Bachmann, Israel, kibbutzThe 55-year-old Minnesota Republican, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus and a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, went to Israel in 1974, immediately after graduating from high school. Her mission was sponsored by Young Life, a Christian ministry.
Elixir of life discovered on Easter Island
A drug has been discovered which scientists believe can reverse the effects of premature ageing and could extend human life by more than a decade.
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