Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Corruption Fear on New Police Roles


The Press Association
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
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© GoogleSir Norman Bettison expressed concerns that younger chief constables might be influenced by commissioners
One of Britain's most prominent chief constables has warned that the new directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners could be vulnerable to "corruption with a small 'c'".

West Yorkshire chief Sir Norman Bettison, who is a vice-president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he fears that those elected could feel obligated to people who helped them win power.

He said he also has concerns about new commissioners undermining operational independence.

In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Sir Norman accepted that a lot of candidates will stand for election simply because they want to make the world a better place.

But he said: "My fear is that (in other cases) it could be the door that unlocks corruption and anything that does has the potential to destroy public trust in policing. There is potential for some corruption with a small 'c'. What I mean is not the problem of huge frauds and secret banks accounts in Monaco.
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Bizarro Earth

Is America a Police State Yet?

Donald Pennington
Yahoo Contributer Network
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
police state graphic
© n/a
Like a page out of George Orwell's 1984, the skies of America soon might be filled with the privacy-invasive, Fourth Amendment-ignoring, civilian drones watching us all like we're prisoners needing to be monitored at all times, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The author briefly touches upon the topic of personal privacy and our rights as citizens, all the while covering the topic as if the only concerns anyone should have are those of safe operation among other airborne craft. But no, the real concerns are our rights to privacy as Americans. We let our freedoms slip away inch-by-inch, as if not a drop of blood was ever shed for any of them.

These drones range in size from the 116-foot-wingspan "Global Hawk" down to the "Whirly Bird," as small as a maple leaf seed -- "equipped with imaging sensors." While these devices can have many productive, beneficial uses for farmers and businesses, the great majority of the demand is for use by law enforcement. And remember, here in the new America -- you're guilty and not allowed to prove yourself innocent.
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Whistle

Wikileaks: Global Intelligence Files Released


WIkileaks
Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:54 UTC
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© Wikileaks
On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.

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Monkey Wrench

Monsanto's Minions Attack California's Right to Know About GMOs

Alexis Baden-Mayer
Organic Consumers Fund
Sat, 25 Feb 2012 15:29 UTC
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© organicconsumers.org
You can't argue with consumers' right to know what's in our food. That's why 9 out of 10 people support labels for genetically engineered food. But, money talks, and companies like Monsanto that have gotten rich hiding GMOs in our food are already on the attack in California, where a movement to label GMOs is working to get the issue on the November 2012 ballot.

Monsanto found an ally in Dan Morain at the Sacramento Bee who tried to find fault with the CA Right to Know/Label GMOs coalition. Here are Morain's points, along with our rebuttal.
#1 "Although there's no proof that genetically modified food has caused anyone's nose to fall off, labeling is not a terribly bad idea. People like to know what they're eating."
Guided by common sense, Dan Morain can't help but to agree with us.
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Handcuffs

Best of the Web: Shocking Abuse of Power and Human Rights: Family Invaded after daughter draws picture of gun at school

Dianne Wood
The Record
Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:13 UTC
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© The Record/Peter LeeArrested: Jessie Sansone was arrested at his daughter's school after the 4-year-old drew a picture of a gun.

A Kitchener, Ontario father is upset that police arrested him at his children's' school Wednesday, hauled him down to the station and strip-searched him, all because his four-year-old daughter drew a picture of a gun at school.

"I'm picking up my kids and then, next thing you know, I'm locked up," Jessie Sansone, 26, said Thursday.

"I was in shock. This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a piece of paper at school."

The school principal, police and child welfare officials, however, all stand by their actions. They said they had to investigate to determine whether there was a gun in Sansone's house that children had access to

"From a public safety point of view, any child drawing a picture of guns and saying there's guns in a home would warrant some further conversation with the parents and child," said Alison Scott, executive director of Family and Children's Services.
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Crusader

Philadelphia Priest Says Catholic Cardinal Ordered Child Abuse


Raw Story
Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:57 UTC
child baptism
© iStock
The highest ranking cleric charged in a Philadelphia pedophilia scandal asked a judge on Friday to dismiss his case because his boss - the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua - ordered a list he made of predator priests be shredded.

Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn, 61, filed the motion to dismiss conspiracy and child endangerment charges as jury selection in the case was underway in Common Pleas Court.

Lynn, who served the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese as secretary of the clergy during Bevilacqua's time as archbishop from 1987 to 1998, would be the first church official to stand trial in a child sex abuse case if opening arguments begin as scheduled on March 26.

As clergy secretary, Lynn on his own initiative reviewed secret church archives and created a list of 35 priests who had been involved in abusive conduct or were classified with a sexual disorder, Lynn's lawyers said in court documents.

He handed the list over to Bevilacqua in 1994. Bevilacqua soon afterwards, in a handwritten note, ordered the document destroyed, apparently by Lynn's then supervisor Monsignor James Molloy, the lawyers said. Molloy died in 2006.
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Nuke

Depleted Uranium In America's Wars


Press TV
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:45 UTC
A prominent investigative journalist says the United States is using illegal weaponry - particularly depleted uranium - during its wars in the Middle East.

Interview with Gareth Porter, investigative journalist.

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Dominoes

Wyoming House advances doomsday bill

Jeremy Pelze
Star Tribune
Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:56 UTC
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© Wikipedia
Cheyenne, Wyoming: State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government.

The task force would look at the feasibility of:
Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.
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Bizarro Earth

Indian women sell wombs for survival


Russia Today
Sun, 19 Feb 2012 06:31 UTC
The double-hit of infertililty and recession is forcing some wannabe parents to get creative. In the U.S. it costs as much as 100,000 dollars to use a surrogate mother to start a family. But get on a plane, and it could be much cheaper. RT's Priya Sridhar met one such couple.

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Propaganda

Zombify to Unify: European Schools Teach EU Propaganda


Russia Today
Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:21 UTC
Greece is teetering on the edge of bankrupcy, the future of bailed-out Portugal is uncertain and the single currency itself could be in trouble. The ranks of people writing off the Eurozone and even the European project itself are only swelling in number. So, perhaps that's why the message for a United Europe is being pushed on an all new platform - the classroom.

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