Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

When more cancer is good for GDP growth, we're measuring things wrong

Environmentalists have been asking some pretty tough questions of economists for the last 50 years.

In Natural Capitalism Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken point out that of every 100 units of raw material that goes into our industrial system only 6 per cent is still in use after six months. So 94 per cent is waste!

Or think about this: with just 5 per cent of the population, North Americans consume 33 per cent of the world's resources. So if everyone else in the world consumed as much as we do, we'd need another six planets to provide!

Clearly we can't have infinite growth on a finite planet. As one of my mentors, Thomas Berry used to say: Economics, as it is currently practised, is a form of pathology:

Ask any economist and they will tell you that GDP growth is good. So if more people get cancer, that's great, because spending on health care increases. When BP's rig in the Gulf of Mexico spills 4.9-million barrels of oil that's great because BP has to spend billions cleaning it up -- so GDP grows.

And when the U.S. goes to war in Iraq and Afghanistan that's FANTASTIC because the lifetime spending due to that war will be somewhere between 2.7- and 6-TRILLON dollars, according to Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz. But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that more cancer, catastrophe and war are not good.

Herman Daly, the former Senior Economist for the World Bank asks, is GDP measuring wealth or ilth?

Can any economist say that more cancer, more childhood asthma, more oil spills, more pollution in China, more species extinction, more tropical rain forest destruction, and more war represents more prosperity?

Stormtrooper

Californians outraged after police acquire military armored vehicle to patrol city

armored vehicle
© Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images / AFP
Police in Salinas, California are under fire after the department acquired a heavily armored military vehicle for SWAT team operations.

The $650,000 vehicle was gifted to the Salinas Police Department from the government through the 1033 program, which redistributes used equipment to other agencies. According to KSBW, the truck was used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to numerous outlets, police stated their SWAT team was in desperate need of a new vehicle. KSBW added that the new truck, built to withstand rifle fire and minefield explosions, has already aided officers looking to arrest a dangerous suspect. The individual was apparently spotted via the vehicle's high observation deck.

While Police Chief Kelly McMillin believes the vehicle "provides a high capability of protection for our officers and the community," other members of the community have been outspoken in their disagreement.

Posting on the police department's Facebook page, citizens criticized the acquisition as excessive, as well as a sign of the militarization of law enforcement.

"That vehicle is made for war," wrote one commenter. "Do not use my safety to justify that vehicle," another one wrote. "The Salinas Police Department is just a bunch of cowards that want to use that vehicle as intimidation and to terrorize the citizens of this city."

"To stop gang members?" asked a commenter. "Hmmm gang members don't riot in mass numbers. It's right in front of our faces and we don't see it. Why would the ARMY!!! give something like that for FREE!!! Let's think for once people."

Black Cat

Infamously abusive cop Sterling Wheaten ordered to pay victim $250,000 but still keeps his job

sterling wheaten
Atlantic City police officer Sterling Wheaten
Notorious Atlantic City police officer Sterling Wheaten may finally face some consequences for his alleged use of excessive force on the job. As we told you in November, Wheaten had an incredible 25 excessive force complaints filed against him between September of 2008 and April of 2012. He was cleared by Atlantic City Police Department internal investigations in all 25 of the cases, a fact that Atlantic City attorney Jennifer Bonjean called "statistically not credible."

In addition to the citizen complaints, Wheaten has also been targeted in at least five lawsuits in the last several years. One of these lawsuits concluded last week, and the jury handed Wheaten a strong serving of (likely overdue) punishment.

Wheaten was ordered to pay victim Michael Troso $250,000 for using excessive force and illegal arrest procedures against him in 2008.

Troso, who at the time was a deputy state attorney general, was arrested by Wheaten in 2008 on the night of his bachelor party. Troso lost his job as the result of the arrest.

"Officer Wheaten was certainly the leader when it came to the vicious attack that was practiced on (Troso)," attorney William Buckman said.

Arrow Down

New York Dad who threw son from roof was on first unsupervised visit

kanarikovs
Father threw son off high-rise roof, then jumped himself.
The Brooklyn dad who threw his 3-year-old son off a Midtown high rise and then leapt to his death was on his first unsupervised visit with the boy amid a a vicious divorce battle with his wife, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Dmitriy Kanarikov, 35, and his wife Svetlana Karanikov, 32, had split up in August after four years of marriage, and were locked in a rancorous battle over custody of their son, Kirill, Kelly said. Dmitriy had been getting supervised visits with the boy but on Sunday he was allowed to take the boy from the for a brief solo visit for a few hours, Kelly said.

"They separated in August of this year, where the woman moved to New Jersey and obtained an order of protection against the husband. Now, the husband was granted supervised visiting rights, where the father was only able to see the child in some sort of institutional setting. Yesterday was the first day in which that was not the case," Kelly told reporters Monday.

The father, who worked for the financial firm TIAA-CREF, picked up the boy at 10 a.m. and took him into 124 W. 60th St. just before noon on Sunday, Kelly said.

Attention

Explosion at police headquarters in Egypt has killed 11 people and injured over 80

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© AhramThe explosion partially damaged Mansoura's security directorate (Photo: Ahram)
An explosion at a police headquarters in Mansoura, Egypt, early Tuesday morning has killed at least 11 people and injured over 80, according to Egyptian state news and a security official.

The Middle East News Agency said the explosion at a security directorate in Mansoura, capital of the Daqahliya province in northern Egypt, caused a partial collapse of the five-floor building. A security official told AP 11 people were dead and over 80 injured as a result. Most of the dead were among police agents inside the security building.

The head of the security directorate was among those injured, Daqahliya governor Omar El-Shawadfy told Egypt state television.

Hisham Masoud, General Manager of Mansoura's hospitals, told Ahram the casualty toll is expected to rise based on eyewitness reports of the condition of those in the badly-damaged Daqahliya security directorate.

Wine n Glass

French Fascism: Pub raided, owners jailed and fined €9,000 after customers returned empties to bar - because it's 'undeclared labour'

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© The Independent
French officials have fined a pub in Brittany €9,000 for "undeclared labour" after a customer returned some empty glasses to the bar.

For customers at the Mamm-Kounifl concert-café in Locmiquélic, carrying drinks trays and used glasses back to the bar was a polite tradition.

But for social security agency URSAFF, it was also an infringement of labour laws because customers were acting like waiters, French local newspaper Le Télégramme reported.

"Around half-past midnight, a customer returned a drinks tray. She passed by the bar to go to the toilets. That was when it all kicked off. My husband was pinned against the glass by a man. A woman leapt on me, showing her ID card and that's when I realised it was a URSSAF check. They told me I had been caught using undeclared labour," owner Markya Le Floch told Le Télégramme.

Arrow Down

DA's office wants more info on Luzerne County teacher sex case

harrington-cooper
© THE CITIZENS' VOICELauren Harrington-Cooper, left, covers her faces as he leaves from her arraignment Thursday in Wilkes-Barre. Harrington-Cooper, a teacher at Wyoming Valley West High School, is accused of having sex with a student.
The case against a Wyoming Valley West High School teacher charged Thursday night with institutional sexual assault is part of "an ongoing investigation," a Luzerne County prosecutor said Friday.

Anyone with information about the case should contact the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office, Assistant District Attorney Jenny Roberts said. The teacher, Lauren Harrington-Cooper, 31, was arrested Thursday for having sex with an 18-year-old student, Roberts said.

The age of the alleged victim, an unidentified male senior, was not included in arrest papers filed Thursday night. His age explains why the teacher was not charged with statutory sexual assault or corruption of minors.

A victim must be under 16 for statutory sexual assault and under 18 for corruption of minors, Roberts explained. The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16, and a defendant charged with statutory sexual assault must be four or more years older than the victim.

Institutional sexual assault is a third-degree felony, Roberts said. Certain employees of specific institutions, such as school employees and volunteers, can be charged with the crime if they have sex or indecent contact with wards of the institutions or students at the school. The charge can result in a prison sentence of seven years.

Apple Green

GMO Apples: Easy to spot?

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© Unknown

In a few months regulators are poised to approve the first genetically modified apple. The new fruit is expected in grocery stores as early as 2014.

Made by Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF), the Arctic Apple comes in Golden and Granny Smith varieties, with Fuji, Gala, and others to follow. Unlike conventional apples, Arctic does not brown when sliced or bruised.

The Arctic Apple differs from other genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in a very important way: consumers will be able to identify it.

All fresh fruit will be labeled with an Arctic sticker, and processed foods containing more than 5 percent of Arctic Apples will bear the Arctic logo. Only pasteurized products such as juice and sauce will not be labeled.

Rainbow

Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina released from Russian jail

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© Guardian
Alyokhina released early under amnesty from two-year sentence for protest against Vladimir Putin

A member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, walked free from jail on Monday under an amnesty allowing her early release from a two-year sentence for a protest in a church against president Vladimir Putin.

"They've just released her," Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of fellow band member Nadia Tolokonnikova, who is also due to be released under the amnesty, told Reuters.

Alyokhina, 25, and Tolokonnikova, 24, were convicted of hooliganism for performing a "punk prayer" in a cathedral against Putin's ties to the Russian Orthodox church.

Bad Guys

Alabama man again avoids prison for series of rapes

clem
A north Alabama man convicted in a series of rapes has again avoided a prison sentence for the assaults.

Limestone County Circuit Judge James Woodroof suspended a 35-year sentence for Austin Clem and ordered him to spend five years on probation for a series of assaults on a former neighbor.

Woodroof issued a written order Monday. Prosecutors appealed after Woodroof's original sentence didn't require prison time for the 25-year-old Clem. They claimed the sentence violates state law. An appeals court ordered another sentencing, and Woodroof again let Clem stay out of prison. The victim says she is "extremely upset" and feels like she's been punched in the face.

Clem was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman three times. Prosecutors say the assaults began seven years ago when the victim was 13

Comment: More on Austin Clem: Man avoids prison for raping teen, but attorney laments he can't drink beer or go buy lottery tickets