Society's Child
On the website, The American Dream, Michael T. Snyder, writes:
Police Shut Down Lemonade Stands And Cookie Stands Run By Kids All Over America - Is There Anything We Are Still Free To Do Without Government Permission?
If you plan on using the bathroom before you get done reading this article, you might want to check with the government to see if you are still allowed to do that. There are very, very few things that Americans still have the freedom to do today without government permission. Back in the old days, if young kids wanted to earn some extra money they would set up a little stand outside and sell some lemonade or some cookies. For many little kids, this was their very first practical experience with making money. Once upon a time, you would see lemonade stands all over the place during the summer in America. In fact, "lemonade stands" became such a part of American culture that people knew exactly what you were talking about the moment you mentioned them. Even up until a couple of decades ago, nobody would have ever dreamed that little kids would need the permission of the government in order to set up a little stand to sell some lemonade or some cookies. But today, everything has completely changed. If you are a little kid and you try to sell some lemonade in "Amerika" today, the authorities will swoop in and shut you down in a heartbeat.
© Agence France-Presse / Nuclear Power of India Limited
India gets less than 3% of its energy from atomic power
India gets less than 3% of its energy from atomic power
The Tumalapalli mine in Andhra Pradesh state could provide up to 150,000 tonnes of uranium, Srikumar Banerjee, secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, told reporters after a four-year survey of the site was completed.
"It's confirmed that the mine has 49,000 tonnes of ore, and there are indications that the total quantity could be three times that amount," Banerjee was quoted as saying in The Times of India.
"If that be the case, it will become the largest uranium mine in the world," he said.
Previous estimates suggested that only about 15,000 tonnes of uranium would be produced at the mine, which is due to start operating by the end of the year.
S.K. Malhotra, spokesman for the Department of Atomic Energy, told AFP that experts at the Tumalapalli mine were "quite hopeful" that the eventual volume from the mine would reach 150,000 tonnes.
© Unknown
Jason Steitler and his wife Jennifer were heading home to New Port Richey, Florida on the morning of July 6th. Both Steitler and his wife are in wheelchairs and they believe they were unfairly targeted because of their disabilities.
Steitler says officials got down along his inner thigh and they made him push himself up in his chair so they could check his backside. His wife described a similar experience.
The Steitlers received emails from the Transportation Security Administration apologizing for any insensitivity, but also saying the screening measures were necessary.
© unknown
Laurence Honoré has admitted to stalking with intent to kill her husband Christian
Laurence Honoré has admitted to stalking with intent to kill her husband Christian
Laurence Honoré, 44, is facing attempted murder charges and is accused of enrolling a former French spy and the personal bodyguard of the president of the French parliament in her botched assassination plot.
The middle-class housewife has admitted to stalking with intent to kill her husband Christian, a municipal councillor in Valenton in the Val-de-Marne, a region northeast of the French capital encompassing Disneyland Paris.
But she said she failed to pull the trigger when she had him in her sights after a last-minute change of heart.
Lawyers say the case is a tale of frustrated political and family ambitions that turned sour after Mr Honoré lost a bid to become the town's Right-wing coalition mayor backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party.
Described as "a touch paranoid" by friends and neighbours, Mr Honoré had often voiced fears of being attacked since he was mugged in 2009 and his car burned. He thought the threat came from political opponents - Communists, who now run the town, or "big UMP cheeses" - not his wife.
Police are looking for some vandals who stole metal rods from a veterans' cemetery, most likely for cash.
The thieves took at least 18 markers made of copper, bronze and brass from the graves of war heroes at Mount Vernon Cemetery.
Cemetery superintendent John Burnett said the staff that holds the marker together with the American flag is what the grave robbers are looking to fence, not the medallions that come with them.
"What they do, they leave the medallion on the ground because they can't turn them in because scrap metal people won't take them because it's a veteran marker," Burnett said.
© Josh Keppel
A lesbian couple was asked to leave the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco for holding hands. The museum has since apologized and taken action.
A lesbian couple was asked to leave the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco for holding hands. The museum has since apologized and taken action.
Holding hands in public might be a Faux pas for some but in "anything goes" San Francisco it's hard to imagine offending anyone with a little PDA.
But the San Francisco Chronicle's C.W. Nevius tells the story of one couple that was asked to leave a San Francisco museum for doing just that.
An eyewitness tells the seasoned columnist that she saw "a young lesbian couple" arguing with a security guard at the Contemporary Jewish Museum Sunday afternoon.
The security guard allegedly told the couple that they were not allowed to hold hands in the museum. The couple demanded to see someone in charge at the museum and a small crowd began to gather around them as the argument ensued.
A museum spokesperson confirmed that the incident happened last Sunday and that the women met with the head of security, who issued a verbal apology to the couple.
© barracudabrigade.blogspot.com
Mayor Earnest Nash is completely opposed to the plan and is willing to go to court rather than see the ordinance pass.
"This is still America," Mayor Nash told Fox 16.
"You just can't vote and violate people's constitutional rights," he said.
Last Monday, the council voted to ban groups from gathering or forming without city approval.
Sonja Farley, a member of the Gould City Council, said that no matter the group, if anyone meets to discuss the city, that meeting must be approved by the city.
"You can't just come in here, get with four people and decide to start an organization," Farley said, adding, "You will go through your city council with legal documentation and get approval."
© WJCL
Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn't know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.
The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.
The girls needed a business license, peddler's permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.
One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.
© The Associated Press / St. Lucie county Sheriff's office
This photo provided by the St. Lucie county Sheriff's office on Monday shows Tyler Hadley, 17, of Port St. Lucie, Fla.
This photo provided by the St. Lucie county Sheriff's office on Monday shows Tyler Hadley, 17, of Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The 17-year-old made his first court appearance Tuesday after being charged in the killings of his parents, Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley, whom authorities say he bludgeoned with a hammer Saturday before hosting a party for dozens of friends. A motive remains unclear.
In his brief appearance via video conference from jail, the teen glanced downward and calmly replied, "No, sir," to two questions from the judge. He was ordered held without bail and appointed a public defender.
© Unknown
The US Environmental Protection Agency's desire to allow more ethanol to be used in conventional vehicles should not be allowed to harm investments motorists make in safe, reliable, and economical vehicles, according to Bob Greco, American Petroleum Institute downstream and industry operations director. Greco told the committee's Energy and Environment Subcommittee: "The oil and auto industries cannot support a premature action that could put consumer satisfaction and safety at risk."
The hearing came 2 days after Rep. F. James Sensenbrunner (R-Wisconsin), the full committee's vice-chairman, released statements from 12 automakers regarding the consequences of fuel with 15% ethanol on engines, fuel economy, and warranties.
The statements, in response to a survey he sent June 2 to General Motors, Ford, and 10 other automakers, expressed reservations about allowing ethanol concentrations to rise above their current 10% limit. "Americans need a fuel that will give them more miles out of a gallon of [gasoline] - not one that will prematurely send their vehicles to the junkyard," Sensenbrunner said on July 5.
Comment: To get an idea of the destruction done to the environment, human health and greater society from the addition of ethanol to the fuel supply, check out these links:
Dead Zone in Gulf Linked to Ethanol Production
The Unraveling of the Ethanol Scam
The Dark Side of Ethanol and Biodiesel Subsidies
Surprise: Ethanol as Deadly as Gasoline For Now