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US: Hair attacks force Ohio Amish to seek outside help

Andrew Welsh-Huggins and John Seewer
The Associated Press
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Jefferson County Sherrif's DepartmentThis combo made from photos provided by the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department shows, from left, Levi Miller, Johnny Mullet, and Lester Mullet, of Bergholz, Ohio.
Leaders within Ohio's Amish community faced a soul-searching question after what they say were hair-cutting attacks against several followers of their faith. Should they cooperate with authorities or adhere to their beliefs of forgiving one another and keeping disputes private?

In the end, church bishops decided to seek help from the outside.

"They didn't feel they could get it stopped any other way," said Timothy Zimmerly, a sheriff in Holmes County where authorities say an Amish bishop and his son were held down while men from a breakaway Amish group used scissors and a clipper to cut their beards.

Five men were arrested and accused of cutting the hair of several people, offensive acts to the Amish, who believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards and stop shaving once they marry.

While the attacks in recent weeks might seem bizarre to outsiders, they have struck at the core of the Amish identity and tested their principles. They strongly believe that they must be forgiving in order for God to forgive them. Often that means handing out their own punishment and not reporting crimes to law enforcement.
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Light Saber

Occupy Little Rock protest draws hundreds

John Lyon
Arkansas News
Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:30 UTC
occupy little rock
© John Lyon photoDemonstrators march through the streets of Little Rock on Saturday in a protest organized by Occupy Little Rock.

Little Rock - Hundreds of demonstrators marched through the heart of downtown Little Rock today, protesting against big corporations and government policies they said favor the super rich.

Organized by Occupy Little Rock in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, more than 400 people from across the state gathered at the Riverfront Park amphitheater and set out marching on Markham Street at about 10 a.m., chanting slogans such as "We are the 99 percent and we are too big to fail."

One of the movement's main themes is that power and wealth are disproportionately concentrated among the richest 1 percent of Americans.
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Heart - Black

US: 3 charged after 4 disabled adults locked up in Philadelphia

Ron Todt
The Associated Press
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC

Three people have been charged following the discovery of four malnourished mentally disabled adults chained to a boiler in a locked northeast Philadelphia basement room that was too small for an adult to stand up straight and also reeked of waste from the buckets they used to relieve themselves, police said Sunday.

Officers were investigating a report of squatters in a building Saturday when they found three men and a woman in a 15-by-15-foot room behind a steel door that was chained shut. The subbasement room they were in called to mind a Cold War-era bomb shelter and contained a makeshift bed, mattress and sheets, said Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman.

"It was horrible," she said Sunday. "The space was very tiny and confined."

Charges of criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, kidnapping, criminal trespass, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and related offenses were filed Sunday against Linda Ann Weston, 51, and Thomas Gregory, 47, both of Philadelphia, as well as Eddie Wright, 49, officially listed as homeless but originally from Texas. Listed numbers for the defendants could not be found Sunday and it was unclear whether they had attorneys.
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Bell

US: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's capital, files for bankruptcy

Michael A. Fletcher
The Washington Post
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:27 UTC
Harrisburg Incinerator
© AP Photo/Carolyn KasterThe Harrisburg Incinerator on South 19th Street.
The city of Harrisburg, Pa., filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, which supporters characterized as the only alternative to a state takeover that would force the city to use its most lucrative assets to pay off Wall Street creditors.

The bankruptcy filing was a hotly contested and emotional issue in Pennsylvania's capital city. It was strongly opposed by Mayor Linda D. Thompson (D), who has said that bankruptcy would leave an embarrassing mark on the city of 49,000 while crippling its future ability to borrow for municipal projects.

Thompson refused to sign the filing and then called the bankruptcy illegal after the papers were signed by a member of the City Council.

Harrisburg's bankruptcy filing comes as a growing number of municipalities across the country are struggling with mounting debt and a decline in revenue in the recession's aftermath.
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Stormtrooper

US, Texas: Steven Seagal to go from Hollywood to border law enforcement

Jim Forsyth
Reuters
Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Reuters/Mukhtar KholdorbekovActor Steven Seagal (C) holds a Kazakh national dagger as he visits a nomadic civilization festival, part of the "Astana" action films festival, in Astana July 3, 2011.
It's been said that what the world knows about the United States is what people see in Hollywood movies, and those perceptions could soon become reality in Texas.

Those who try to slip across the Rio Grande from Mexico into west Texas may find themselves arrested by newly sworn-in Hudspeth County Sheriff's Deputy and action film star Steven Seagal.

Seagal, currently starring in an A&E Network reality show detailing his experiences as a reserve deputy in New Orleans, contacted County Sheriff Arvin West about his interest in "patrolling the border", West said.

He was sworn in this week for the position in Hudspeth County, which runs along the Rio Grande east of El Paso, West added. Seagal, 59, could not be reached for comment.

"Mr. Seagal is not in this for the celebrity or publicity," West told Reuters. "He has a sincere passion for his country and he wants to do more to help. I think he will make a significant contribution to this office and to our community."
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Info

Canada: Man, 27, collapses, dies during Toronto marathon; cause of collapse unknown


The Canadian Press
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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© unknown
A 27-year-old participant in a Toronto marathon died just a few hundred metres from the finish line, police and organizers said Sunday.

The man was around 300 metres from the finish line of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon when he collapsed, Bruce Minnes, medical director for the marathon, said in a statement.

"The individual received an immediate response from a bystander who initiated CPR," the statement said.

Emergency response units working with the marathon were on the scene within moments.

The man was transported to St. Michael's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man's identity and the cause of death were not being released until all his family members were notified.
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Wall Street

The Megabanks are trying to prevent bank runs in the United States


Pacific Progress
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:27 UTC
Megabanks around the world are reeling from their customers removing their capital and closing their accounts. People are standing up worldwide in a non-participational form of civil disobedience in order to do anything possible to bring down these corrupt megabanks.

There was an Italian bank run scare in at the beggining of August that really started the gears in motion for the possibilities of future bank runs.

Financial blogs predicted a run on the French banks during the economic turmoil in the EU and Eurozone countries. Many corporations in France have moved their money out of French banks and into safer short term holdings for the time being.
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Che Guevara

Occupy Canada protesters planning 'large impact' event for Monday

Diana Mehta
The Canadian Press
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:46 UTC
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© unknown
After spending their first night camped outdoors in protest, Canadians who gathered to decry corporate greed and social inequality used Sunday to hammer out their action plan for the coming week.

Many taking part in the Occupy Canada movement braved crisp autumn weather to spend the night at parks in various cities including Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver.

As the sun rose over protesters camped in Toronto's St. James Park, one demonstrator said the day would be spent making decisions via consensus.

"Today's going to be a major day for planning a large impact for Monday as a demonstration for (when) the Stock Exchange opens," said Niko Salassidis, a 20-year-old who set up the Occupy Toronto Facebook group.

"We plan to make a very large statement."

The Occupy movement, which began peacefully in cities across Canada yesterday, was inspired by the month-long Occupy Wall Street protest south of the border.

Demonstrators are speaking out against what they see as a corporate system which favours a wealthy elite but disregards the masses, or "the 99 per cent."
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Eye 1

UK Facing Biggest Income Drop in 35 Years

Simon Veazey
The Epoch Times
Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:30 UTC
money
© Alan Crowhurst/Getty ImagesInstitute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says UK median income will fall while absolute poverty is forecast to rise. However, the government's newly announced Universal Credit scheme could reduce both absolute and relative poverty in the longer term.

In the next two years, the U.K. faces the largest drop in income in the last 35 years, according to a report by the economic think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Median income is expected to fall by around 7 percent, in the period between 2009 - 2010 and 2012 - 2013, as absolute poverty is forecast to rise by 1.4 million.

The report says that the government's newly announced Universal Credit scheme will be able to reduce both absolute and relative poverty in the longer term, bringing just over 1 million out of poverty by 2020.
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Family

US: Police arrest 46 at Phoenix Wall Street protest


ABC15.com
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:58 UTC
Police moved into a crowd of protesters around midnight Saturday and arrested several people following an anti-Wall Street rally in Phoenix.

Reporters and protesters on the scene saw an estimated 40 people detained at Margaret T. Hance Park just north of downtown Phoenix. In a Sunday morning news release, Phoenix police said 46 arrests had been made for criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.

Sgt. Trent Crump said, "most of those arrested were passive in nature and no injuries were reported to either officers or demonstrators."

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© ABC15Occupy Phoenix arrests
The arrests came hours after anti-Wall Street protesters gathered in Phoenix and Tucson as part of a series of protests across the country against financial institutions.

About 1,000 people attended the Occupy Phoenix event that began with a noon rally at Cesar Chavez Plaza.
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