Society's ChildS


USA

Serving and hungry: The Farm Bill is a mixed bag for military families

Steve Holt
Takepart.com
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:27 UTC
Image
Stricter eligibility requirements for SNAP will likely drop some service members from the program.

When Congress finally passed a budget deal last year, one cut was included in the bill that neither Democrats nor Republicans planned on allowing to happen: a small reduction in pension payments for 750,000 veterans. It was unexpected because when it comes to benefit programs, service members are deservedly sacrosanct in the eyes of the government: They're owed for their sacrifice. And just this week Congress approved a new bill to restore the full pension payments. The cut in nutrition assistance that will soon hit military families that rely on food stamps, however, isn't being treated so expediently.

Which is not to say that the cuts won't have an impact: Representatives from groups supporting military families say they're seeing plenty of food insecurity in their consultations with service members. And amid a conversation about nutrition assistance that tends to generalize recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and other federal benefits as "entitled" or "takers," nobody is ready tolabel the more than 5,000 military families receiving SNAP as such. Same goes for the more than 900,000 veterans the Department of Agriculture says live in households that receive food stamps.

Comment: Way to go U.S.A! What a stellar way to go about Supporting your Troops! Take away active-duty families food subsidies and then 'help returning military veterans pursue careers in agriculture and assist them in accessing USDA programs' and this is the good news about the Farm Bill?! Veterans can look forward to working for the Big Ag/Big Pharm controlled USDA:

Corruption: USDA Looks Out Only for Self Interests
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created in 1889 and has the stated mission of providing for the health and safety of American agriculture while promoting good agricultural practice. It has devolved into an organization whose primary purpose appears to be to protect and defend Big Agribusiness and the profits it brings while ignoring the safety and health concerns it causes.

The latest in the saga of corruption and conflicts of interest to beset the U.S. government's agricultural oligarchy is President Obama's appointment of Islam Siddiqui as chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. trade representative.[1] Siddiqui was appointed in a sidestepping maneuver that went around Congress, despite serious concern expressed by citizens, small farm advocates, and organic growers.

Siddiqui is not new to the government game. He was undersecretary in charge of the marketing and regulatory programs of the USDA's organic labeling standards. These are the same standards that allowed genetically modified (GMO) crops, irradiated foods, and worse to be labeled as "organic." He also worked hard to convince the European Union to accept both hormone-treated beef and GMO crops.
USDA Fires Organic Farming Specialist for Expressing Opinions
Wait, Did the USDA Just Deregulate All New Genetically Modified Crops?

Read More...
Arrow Down

Mass murderer Breivik to hunger strike for better video games

Pierre-Henry Deshayes
Agence France-Presse
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:10 UTC
Breivik
© AFP/File, Odd AndersenPicture taken on August 24, 2012 shows Anders Behring Breivik arriving in court room at the central court in Oslo for sentencing.
Oslo - Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik threatened to go on hunger strike for better video games and other perks to alleviate his "torture"-like prison conditions, in a letter received by AFP Friday.

The right-wing extremist -- who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage on July 22, 2011 -- enclosed a typed list of 12 demands sent to prison authorities in November.

He described as "torture" the conditions in two prisons -- Ila near Oslo and Skien in southeast Norway -- where he is serving out a 21-year sentence.

The demands include better conditions for his daily walk and the right to communicate more freely with the outside world, which he argues are in line with European rights legislation.

He also demanded the replacement of a PlayStation 2 games console for a more recent PS3 "with access to more adult games that I get to choose myself" as well as a sofa or armchair instead of a "painful" chair.

"Other inmates have access to adult games while I only have the right to play less interesting kids games. One example is "Rayman Revolution", a game aimed at three year olds," wrote the 35-year-old convicted killer.

Held apart from other prisoners since 2011 for security reasons, Breivik wrote that he has behaved in an "exemplary fashion" in prison, arguing that he has the right to a wider "selection of activities" than other inmates to compensate for his strict isolation.

Breivik also wants his standard weekly allowance of 300 kroner ($49, 36 euros) to be doubled, particularly to cover his postal charges for written correspondence.

His mail is monitored and censored by prison authorities which, he complained, considerably restricts and slows down his contact with the outside world.
Read More...
Calculator

Hackers to demo a $20 iPhone-sized gadget that zombifies cars

Lisa Vaas
Naked Security
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
At Black Hat Asia next month, two Spanish security researchers are going to show a palm-sized device that costs less than $20 to build from off-the-shelf, untraceable parts and that, depending on the car model, can screw with windows, headlights and even the truly scary, make-you-crash bits: i.e., steering and brakes.

The upcoming demo, colorfully titled "DUDE, WTF IN MY CAN!", is being given by Javier Vazquez-Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera.

Forbes's Andy Greenberg spoke to the researchers for his writeup of the technology behind the upcoming demo. The hacking tool works by bypassing the security of a modern vehicle's Controller Area Network, aka the CAN bus. The tool hooks up to a car via four wires, allowing an attacker to then take over a car remotely.
Read More...
Nuke

New TEPCO report shows damage to Fukushima Daichii Unit 3 fuel pool MUCH worse than that at Unit 4


Fairewinds.org
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Image
Damage in Unit 4

As the eyes of the world have been focused on the Unit 4's removal of spent fuel,
TEPCO released a report entitled, TEPCO's Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Roadmap, that contained some astounding information regarding Unit 3. Follow Fairewinds Energy's Arnie Gundersen as he shows you the 35-ton refueling bridge that fell in the Unit 3 spent fuel pool during the Unit 3 detonation explosion. Do the math. The bottom line here is that TEPCO has just acknowledged that at least 50-tons of rubble has fallen on top of and into the spent fuel pool in Unit 3. What does this 50-ton pile of debris mean to the Unit 3 spent fuel pool and its cleanup?
Read More...
MIB

Psychopathic British veteran murdered four year-old twin boy in his bed


Yorkshire Post
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 15:57 UTC
Image
Anwar Rosser
A PSYCHOPATH has been given a whole life sentence for the "savage" and "sadistic" murder of a four-year-old twin boy from West Yorkshire who was attacked as he slept in his own bed.

Former soldier Anwar Daniel Rosser stabbed little Riley Turner 30 times after Riley's mum Sharon Smith and her boyfriend Guy Earwaker allowed him to stay at her house in Keighley, last January.

A court heard that Riley's mum woke at around 4.30am and was horrified to find Rosser curled up in a ball next to her bed - with four knives, including a brown-handled one which he had stolen from the pub where he worked as a part-time chef and used to stab little Riley.

Twin Riley was found semi-naked in his bedroom by his step-father who raised the alarm, while Rosser waited downstairs to "hear the devastated reaction" of Riley's parents.
Read More...
Attention

Sixth major train derailment in five weeks: 4,000 gallons of oil spilled in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania


Russia Today
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 09:27 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Jason CohnEmergency personnel examine the wreckage of a train derailment near Vandergrift, Pennsylvania February 13, 2014.
A 120-car train making its way across Pennsylvania derailed Thursday morning, spilling thousands of gallons of oil and alarming observers who have called for stricter safety standards on trains hauling hazardous material.

The train is owned by the New Jersey-based Norfolk Southern Corp -- company officials told Reuters that 21 tank cars went off the tracks at a turn near the Kiskiminetas River in Vandergrift, a small town in western Pennsylvania.

Nineteen of the cars contained crude oil while the other two held liquefied petroleum gas. Three of the 19 cars spilled as a result of the crash. Company officials maintained that the leaks were plugged but refused to say how many gallons of oil had spilled. Sources told the local WTAE-TV that an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 gallons had escaped the tanks.

"It's contained," said Norfolk Southern spokesman Dan Stevens. "The hazmat crews for the railroad are on site and will be taking care of that situation."

Comment: See the following for other recent train derailments:

Yet another major train derailment: 32 railcars carrying gas explode in Russia

Car-sized boulder breaks off mountain in French Alps, smashes into first carriage and leaves train dangling over steep embankment - 2 dead, 10 injured

Flying drone captures amazing footage of train derailed by shock landslide in Italy

Second Canadian train derailment within a week

CN train carrying crude oil derailed, on fire near Plaster Rock

Read More...
Eye 1

Airport security confiscates Toy Story doll's gun

Andrew Johnson
nationalreview.com
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 04:35 UTC
Image
Another gun-wielding toy has had its weapon seized by airport security. After a cowboy sock monkey Rooster Monkburn had his tiny harmless weapon seized last year, a Woody doll underwent similar probe at London's Heathrow Airport.

Healthrow traveler John Hazen posted a picture of his son's figurine to the social-media website Reddit on Tuesday showing a security official removing the doll's gun. "At Heathrow, security just confiscated his 'weapon,' keep the world safe boys,"​ Hazen wrote on the site. The doll does not usually come armed with gun - it was an accessory the family added.

A Heathrow representative did not confirm whether the gun was confiscated but said if the seizure did occur, it would be "a bit overzealous," according to the Huffington Post.

Hazen said that he brings the Woddy doll with him when he travels for work and sends pictures of it perched at different locations around the world to his son before going to bed.
Read More...
Sheriff

Video surfaces of BART officer repeatedly using stun gun on passenger

Christin Ayers
CBS San Francisco
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:35 UTC
Image
© CBSA BART passenger shot this video of police on the scene when an officer uses a stun gun on a passenger at the San Bruno station on January 29, 2014.
Video has been obtained by KPIX 5 showing a BART police officer who repeatedly used a stun gun to subdue a passenger in front of other riders.

A woman who witnessed the incident, who did not want to go on camera, told KPIX 5 the man was harmless and that the officer used the stun gun for no reason.

The video, which was taken on the evening of January 29th, begins with the BART officer giving the man a stern warning on a train at the San Bruno station.

"Sir, get off the train. Get off the train, Sir!" the officer said.
Read More...
Eye 1

OJ Simpson 'goes on hunger strike in prison to die‏' - pity ploy?


Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:07 UTC
Image
'Defeated': O.J. Simpson, pictured in court last year, is reportedly refusing to eat and wants to die.
OJ Simpson has gone on hunger strike in prison, saying, 'I used to live my way, and now I'm going to die my way,' sources have claimed.

The jailed former football star, who is serving out a kidnapping, assault and robbery sentence in a Nevada prison, is reportedly so depressed that he wants to 'just sit down in a corner and die'.

Sources spoke to the National Enquirer about Simpson's hunger strike and worsening health. His attorneys have yet to respond to a request for comment.

The source claimed that Simpson, 66, who is eligible for parole in 2017 after having an appeal for a new trial turned down last year, wanted to die so that his children would be able to get his millions.
Read More...
Cult

'Scientology minders were with me every day for TWO solid years': John Travolta reveals how cult kept their hooks in him after son's death


Mail Online
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 03:24 UTC
travolta
John Travolta has revealed that he was assigned round-the-clock Scientology minders after the death of his teenage son four years ago.

The 59-year-old Hollywood star was accompanied by representatives from his church every day for two years in order to help him through the ordeal.

Jett Travolta died at the age of 16, in January 2009, after suffering a seizure in the Travolta family holiday home in the Bahamas and hitting his head on the bath.
Read More...