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Aussie mum reunites with children who were robbed from her by government due to diagnosis of a now discredited mental disorder

Jane Hansen
The Sunday Telegraph
Sun, 22 Jul 2012 15:32 UTC
Image
© The Daily Telegraph
After years of fighting a mother is finally reunited with her young family
Robbed of her beloved kids and branded a "dangerous" mum, a NSW woman has spoken of her joy of being reunited with her daughter after nine years of separation.

For 19-years, the mother struggled to keep her family together as childcare authorities were hellbent on tearing them apart.

But her courage and conviction has finally won. The baby "stolen" from her 23 days after she entered the world in 2002 is safely by her side.

The youngster has spent her life in foster care after childcare authorities believed the mum suffered from the discredited condition known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy in 1993.

"I've been waiting 10 years to bring my baby home," said the elated mum, who has requested not to be identified for the childrens' sake. She was labelled with the condition, in which mothers harm and even kill their children to gain attention, after her second-born son failed to thrive. Her next two children were removed as well.
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Bad Guys

Elite Pathocrats Hide £13 Trillion Hoard from Taxman

Heather Stewart
The Guardian
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 15:00 UTC
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© David Doubilet/National Geographic/Getty Images
The Cayman Islands: a favourite haven from the taxman for the global elite.
- Study estimates staggering size of offshore economy
- Private banks help wealthiest to move cash into havens

A global super-rich elite has exploited gaps in cross-border tax rules to hide an extraordinary £13 trillion ($21tn) of wealth offshore - as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together - according to research commissioned by the campaign group Tax Justice Network.

James Henry, former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has compiled the most detailed estimates yet of the size of the offshore economy in a new report, The Price of Offshore Revisited, released exclusively to the Observer.

He shows that at least £13tn - perhaps up to £20tn - has leaked out of scores of countries into secretive jurisdictions such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands with the help of private banks, which vie to attract the assets of so-called high net-worth individuals. Their wealth is, as Henry puts it, "protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy". According to Henry's research, the top 10 private banks, which include UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, as well as the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, managed more than £4tn in 2010, a sharp rise from £1.5tn five years earlier.
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Cult

Fire-Walking Event Ends in Wails of Pain, Burnt Soles

Matt Williams
The Guardian
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:40 UTC
Image
© coachcomeback.com
Tony Robbins' fire walk experiences goes wrong; 21 burned on hot coals
Over 20 people treated for burns after multi-day motivational event encourages attendees to take a leap of faith on coals

Burnt soles rather than cleansed souls awaited attendees at motivational speaker Tony Robbins's latest life coaching seminar, with 21 people needing treatment after a painful walk across coals.

During a four-day gathering in California entitled Unleash the Power Within, the famed lifestyle guru encouraged participants to take a leap of faith and test their luck on the red-hot surface.

Emergency services were called to deal with the fall-out, as many in the group suffered second- and third-degree burns. Three needed hospital treatment, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

"I heard wails of pain, screams of agony" one witness told the newspaper.

"First one person, then a couple minutes later another one, and there was just a line of people walking on that fire. It was just bizarre, man," Jonathan Correll, 25, said.

The injured fire walkers were among thousands who attended the Robbins event. As part of the multi-day seminar, a crowd were led to a park where 12 lanes of hot coals had been laid out.
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Whistle

Fury as Police Accidentally Kill Man After Going to WRONG Apartment


Mail Online
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:16 UTC
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Killed: Andrew Scott, 26, was shot dead in his home by a sheriff's deputy

The death of a man shot inside his home, by a sheriff's deputy who went to the wrong apartment looking for a criminal suspect, has sparked protests this week over police procedures in the central Florida city of Leesburg.

Andrew 'Drew' Scott, 26, a pizza delivery driver, was shot dead at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday when deputies knocked on his apartment door without identifying themselves as law enforcement officers.

Scott opened his door holding a gun, according to Lake County Sheriff spokesman Lieutenant John Herrell.

The Lake County Sheriff has no policy requiring deputies to announce themselves, Herrell told Reuters.
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Arrow Down

Kentucky teen faces charge for naming attackers


Xfinity
Sat, 21 Jul 2012 06:39 UTC
Louisville - A 17-year-old Kentucky girl who was upset by the plea deal reached by a pair of teenagers who sexually assaulted her is now facing a contempt charge for tweeting their names in violation of a court order.

Savannah Dietrich of Louisville told The Courier-Journal she is frustrated by what she feels is a lenient deal for her attackers. After posting the names on Twitter, Dietrich wrote, "I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell."

The Associated Press does not normally report the names of sexual assault victims, but Dietrich and her parents say they do not want to shield her identity and want her case to be public.

The boys' attorneys have asked a judge to hold Dietrich in contempt for violating the confidentiality of a juvenile hearing and the judge's order not to speak about it.
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Stormtrooper

Police Shooting in Anaheim Leads to Violent Clash


NewsLlVE
Sun, 22 Jul 2012 09:05 UTC

California - A police shooting that left a man dead led to a violent clash as angry witness threw bottles at officers who responded with tear gas and beanbag rounds to suppress the crowd, authorities said.

The man was shot in front of an apartment complex around 4 p.m. following a foot chase, Anaheim Sgt. Bob Dunn said. He died three hours later at a hospital.

As officers were investigating what happened at the scene, Dunn said an angry group of people began yelling and throwing bottles at them. He said that as officers detained several people, the crowd advanced on officers so they fired tear gas and beanbag rounds at them.
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Gear

'Cult' Cures on Medicare

Heath Aston
Sydney Morning Herald
Sun, 22 Jul 2012 01:14 UTC
Serge Benhayon
© Janie Barrett
"The One" ... Serge Benhayon.
His followers call him The One. They say he's the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci. He claims massaging women's breasts can prevent cancer. And his growing business empire, built on spiritual healing, is being funded in part by Medicare.

Serge Benhayon, a former tennis coach from Maroubra, has up to 1000, mainly female, devotees to his movement, Universal Medicine, based in the hills outside Lismore on the north coast of NSW.

Mr Benhayon told The Sun-Herald he had no medical qualifications but stood by the effectiveness of his treatments, including ''esoteric breast massage'' - administered only by women - and ''chakra-puncture''. His daughter, Natalie, 22, claims to be able to talk to women's ovaries - for $70 an hour.

Mr Benhayon defended himself against claims a personality cult had built up around him, with dozens of relationships from Brisbane to Byron Bay and Bangalow breaking down as a result. The Sun-Herald spoke to nine men who blame Mr Benhayon for their break-ups.

But Mr Benhayon said his female students had merely discovered the ''livingness of love'' from his ''esoteric way of life''. There is concern in the medical fraternity that certain treatments provided at Universal Medicine's Lismore headquarters are being subsidised by Medicare.

A physiotherapist, Kate Greenaway, and a psychologist, Caroline Raphael - both decade-long followers of Mr Benhayon who work at Universal Medicine - encourage patients to seek GP referrals for treatment. Medicare will reimburse two-thirds of the cost for long-term injuries.
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Pistol

Psychopaths and Mass Violence: The Ideological Component

David Neiwert
Crooks and Liars
Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:35 UTC
While the author is almost certainly on the right track, it's important to bear in mind that psychopaths, while sharing some essential qualities (or the lack thereof), appear to come in all shapes and sizes and that most of them don't resort to outright violence to get what they want.

There's going to be a lot of finger-pointing and hand-wringing in the coming days as we begin to process the awful tragedy that unfolded early this morning in Aurora, Colorado. In particular, it seems that right-wingers are eager to point fingers and are being hypersensitive about any suggestion of right-wing politics being even remotely involved in this case.

Of course, one of the foremost facets of events like these is that premature speculation is almost always wrong. It's wisest to let the facts emerge first, at which time we can begin making a rational appraisal of the event and its underlying causes. (We will, of course, be keeping a close eye on just what is in those "items of interest" found in the home of the suspect, James Eagan Holmes, since that will tell us a great deal.)

Unlike a lot of the talking heads out there, though, it seems silly to run and hide from the political dimensions of these kinds of tragedies, especially when it comes some of the broader social ramifications, most notably the role of the mass proliferation of handguns in American society that's occurred in recent years. Just ask folks in Seattle if that conversation isn't already under way here.
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Dollar

Propaganda Alert! London 2012 is 'greenest Olympics ever' says report


Construction Index
Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:04 UTC
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City environments are highly toxic. One of the planet's largest cities, London is no exception.
Despite failing on its renewable targets, the London 2012 games are being hailed as the most ecologically sustainable modern Olympics ever held.

A report by WWF-UK and BioRegional, called Towards a One Planet Olympics Revisited, concludes that London 2012 has succeeded in being the most sustainable Games yet, but that failures have occurred in some significant areas.

For example, the use of carbon footprint as a strategic tool was good, but the failure to build a significant and visible renewable energy source was bad.

The report's authors conclude that: "London 2012 is the Olympics that sets a new sustainability standard for future Games; we just wish London 2012 had been able to push sustainability a little faster, a bit higher and with an even stronger focus on changes beyond the Olympic Park."

In 2005, BioRegional and WWF-UK, worked with London 2012, to write the original sustainability strategy, Towards a One Planet Olympics. The new report provides a snapshot of progress on the eve of the Games, examining the 76 promises made then and rating them according to whether they have been met.

Comment: 'Sustainability', as it is used by the CO2-obsessed green movement, is a highly politicised term referring to 'targets' that might be reached if computer models tell them exactly what they want to hear - garbage in, garbage out. There is nothing 'sustainable' about a city like London. The only sustainable thing about 'sustainability' is that it is a cash cow.

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Pistol

Booby-trapped apartment where alleged Aurora theater shooter lived vexes cops

Tom McGhee and Monte Whaley
The Denver Post
Fri, 20 Jul 2012 21:26 UTC
apartment complex in which shooting suspect James Holmes lived is surrounded by fire engines
© Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
The apartment complex in which shooting suspect James Holmes lived is surrounded by fire engines, police and other investigators near the intersections of Peoria and 17th ave in Aurora. Authorities were worried that his apartment had been bobby-trapped with explosives.
A tangle of wires, trip wires, jars full of liquid and things resembling mortar rounds will keep bomb technicians out of the alleged Aurora theater shooter's apartment until Saturday.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates Friday night called the potentially explosive mess "vexing" and said Saturday, bomb technicians from Colorado will get help from the federal government.

"Hopefully, we will be able to address and solve that problem tomorrow," he said.

Until then, the building at 1690 Paris St., where the gunman who allegedly killed 12 and injured 58 others during early morning showing of the newest Batman movie lived, remains evacuated.

Residents evacuated from four other buildings near it were being allowed to return briefly to retrieve necessities, such as medication, Oates said.

Rumors flew around the complex at Peoria and 17th Avenue, as residents mingle with medical students from the nearby University of Colorado Anshutz Medical Campus and others who came by to see what has become a macabre reminder of the mass shooting at the nearby Aurora 16 Movie Theater.
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