Society's Child

US, Utah: Thousands run through the streets of Salt Lake City in their underwear to protest against Utah 'being so uptight'

The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:22 UTC

When thousands of people took to the streets of Salt Lake City in their underwear, they were not just hoping to break records.

Wearing just boxers, panties and bras, are the crowds of people said they were there to break stereotypes.

Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon church, which is a vocal opponent of gay marriage and a bastion of conservatism.

© The Associated Press
Cool runnings: Wearing very little, around 3,000 people took part in the Salt Lake City Utah Undie Run

Hundreds Face Arrest in Canada Pipeline Protest

Michel Comte
Agence France-Presse
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:15 UTC

© Agence France-Presse/Michel Comte
Police move in to arrest demonstrators who breeched a barricade during a protest in front of Canadian Parliament

Ottawa - Dozens were arrested Monday for storming Canada's Parliament to protest Ottawa's support for a proposed pipeline to bring oil from Canada's tar sands to the US Gulf Coast.

And up to 200 more arrests were expected as scores of environmentalists and aboriginals lined up to breach a police barricade around the neo-Gothic building and hold a sit-in inside.

"The tar sands represent a path of broken treaties, eroded human rights, catastrophic climate change, poisoned air and water and the complete stripping of Canada's morality in the international community," said Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

US: Alabama town to offenders "Go to church or go to jail"

David Edwards
Raw Story
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:35 UTC

The small town of Bay Minette, Alabama is telling people convicted of small crimes to choose Jesus or choose jail.

Starting this week, the city judge will implement Operation Restore Our Community (ROC), which gives misdemeanor offenders a choice between fines and jail or a year of Sunday church services.

"Operation ROC resulted from meetings with church leaders," Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland told the Alabama Press-Register. "It was agreed by all the pastors that at the core of the crime problem was the erosion of family values and morals. We have children raising children and parents not instilling values in young people."

Europe will collapse because 'Goldman Sachs rules the world'

Stephen C. Webster
Raw Story
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:02 UTC

Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) this morning, independent stock trader Alessio Rastani predicted that a European market crash is imminent and many investors know it.

"This problem cannot be solved," he said. "I'm fairly confident that the Euro is going to crash, and it's going to fall pretty hard."

Rastani added: "Personally, I've been dreaming of this moment for three years. I have a confession, which is, I go to bed every night and I dream of another recession. I dream of another moment like this. Why? Because people don't seem to really remember. The depression in the 30′s wasn't just about a market crash. There were some people who were prepared to make money from that crash. I think anybody can do that."

'Occupy Wall Street' protest spreads to Los Angeles

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:16 UTC

A small group of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to show their support for 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters in New York City.

"Corporate interests seem to be controlling both parties," one protester told laactivist.com. "The 'little man,' the 'American every man,' just isn't getting their voice heard. When you need $35,000 to donate to a campaign to get your voice heard, to have a meeting, that's not democracy."

Watch video, uploaded by YouTube user philippecrusoe, below:

Israel ordered to pay in Palestinian girl's death

Associated Press
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:58 UTC

Jerusalem - An Israeli court has ordered the government to pay $432,000 to the family of a prominent Palestinian peace activist whose 10-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli rubber bullet in 2007.

Abir Aramin was standing at a distance from stone-throwing demonstrators in the village of Anata, north of Jerusalem, when Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse the protest. One hit Abir, and she died of her wounds two days later.

Her father, Basam Aramin, is a founder of Combatants for Peace, a group of former Israeli and Palestinian fighters who now promote peaceful coexistence.

Originally, police claimed a rock killed the girl. But an autopsy ended up showing she was hit by a stray bullet.

The ruling, issued last week, was made public late Sunday.

Woman decapitated in Mexico for web posting

Mark Stevenson
Associated Press
Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:22 UTC

Mexico City - Police found a woman's decapitated body in a Mexican border city on Saturday, alongside a handwritten sign saying she was killed in retaliation for her postings on a social networking site.

The gruesome killing may be the third so far this month in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the internet.

Morelos Canseco, the interior secretary of northern Tamaulipas state, where Nuevo Laredo is located, identified the victim as Marisol Macias Castaneda, a newsroom manager for the Nuevo Laredo newspaper Primera Hora.

The newspaper has not confirmed that title, and an employee of the paper said Macias Castaneda held an administrative post, not a reporting job. The employee was not authorized to be quoted by name.

US: Five found dead in rural Indiana

Susan Guyetb & Jerry Norton
Reuters
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:55 UTC

Indianapolis - Five people were found dead on Sunday afternoon in two rural Franklin County, Indiana, homes after police were called to check on a small child wandering near the road.

Indiana State Police are trying to determine exactly what led to the shooting deaths of four people -- two male and two female -- at one address and a man they found dead in a house across the street.

State Police Sergeant Jerry Goodin told reporters that investigators don't know how many shooters were involved or if the shooter was one of those found dead.

Autopsies will take place Monday morning and names of the victims will be released after families are notified.

Police are advising those living in the area to be cautious answering their doors and to report any suspicious activity to 911.

Obama Upends No Child Left Behind, Returns Power to Local Schools

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben
Yahoo News
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:27 UTC

© Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
Undated: President Obama talks with third and fourth grade students at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md.

President Barack Obama announced Friday he is changing most of former President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law. NCLB moved education from district and state control to the federal level. NCLB was written to increase proficiency in math and reading. Few would argue that those are worthy goals. However, the application of NCLB had many unforeseen and negative consequences.

NCLB links funding to measures over which teachers have little control

No Child Left Behind was designed to bring poorer schools up to par with better-performing school districts. To level the educational playing field, the NCLB act created a series of high-stakes proficiency tests. In high-stakes testing, schools are awarded funding based on student proficiency. Educators can teach content, but they can't make students learn. It's like paying a dentist based on how well his patients brush their teeth.

High stakes tests are limited measures of achievement

Students demonstrate progress in tangible and intangible ways. Testing only measures ability to choose a correct answer in artificial circumstances. Tests can be subjective, biased and confusing. Tests say nothing about how students apply knowledge. Some students struggle with traditional testing. Test grades give a one-dimensional, distorted view of student achievement.