Society's ChildS


Nuke

Radioactive rain causes 130 schools in Korea to close - Yet rain in California had 10 TIMES more radioactivity

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Citizens arm themselves with umbrellas, raincoats, boots, Korea Times, April 7, 2011:

[Emphasis Added]
... The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) said radioactive iodine and cesium were found in rainwater collected in the early morning at a checkpoint on the island. The concentration level of iodine-131 was 2.02 becquerels per liter (Bq/l), that of cesium-137, 0.538 Bq/l, and that of cesium-134, 0.333 Bq/l. ...

Following the news that minuscule radioactive substances were detected on Jeju, people in all parts of the country carried umbrellas to work or school even though the rainfall was light.

Parents had their children not only use umbrellas but also wear raincoats, rubber boots and even masks. Some of them gave their children a ride to school, with streets near schools congested.

In Gyeonggi Province, about 130 pre-, elementary and middle schools were closed after the regional educational office allowed school heads to close them if they deemed it necessary. More than 40 others shortened school hours. ...

Handcuffs

Prosecutor orders Mubarak be moved to prison hospital

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Cairo - Egypt's public prosecutor ordered on Sunday that ousted President Hosni Mubarak be transferred to a prison hospital in Cairo after a doctor declared him well enough to travel.

Mubarak took refuge in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikhafter a popular uprising ended his 30-year rule. He now faces questioning over corruption and murder allegations.

"The public prosecutor has ordered the Interior Ministry to transfer former President Hosni Mubarak to Mazra'a hospital in Torah prison (in Cairo)" once the hospital is ready to receive him, the prosecutor said in a statement.

Coffee

Rising energy, food prices spark global protests

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© REUTERS/James AkenaSupporters of Uganda's Forum for Democratic Change leader Kizza Besigye participate in a protest along the road in the Kasangati suburb of the capital Kampala, April 14, 2011.
Oil prices hit their highest level in over two years this month, cutting into workers' incomes, compounding the effects of high unemployment, and fueling protests around the world.

West Texas intermediate crude oil reached $112 Friday, up 32 percent from a year ago. Average prices at the pump hit $3.84 in the United States, up 30 cents from a month ago, and over one dollar from April 2010, according to the American Automobile Association. Gas prices on the West Coast of the United States are even higher, averaging over four dollars per gallon.

Food prices edged down slightly from their February high last month, but remained higher than any other month on record, according to the world food price index published by the World Bank. Prices were up by 36 percent compared with a year ago.

No Entry

US: Man Sentenced To Over 250 Years for Rape, Assault, Robbery

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© unknown
A 25-year-old man was sentenced to over 250 years in prison Friday after a home invasion and robbery that left a woman raped and her boyfriend beaten. The presumptive sentence by Missouri Sentencing Commission guidelines would have been 20 years.

Taurian J. Burton, of Kansas City, had only been out on parole for seven months from another home invasion burglary in Jackson County. In July 2009, Burton and another person invaded the victims' home to steal their plasma TV. Once inside the home, prosecutors said Burton pistol-whipped and bound the pair.

"Our male victim had a skull fracture and a broken finger and was lying unconscious in the living room while his girlfriend was dragged into a bedroom, gang-raped at gunpoint, and sexually assaulted with the barrel of a handgun," Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White said.

The victim told jurors the rape lasted 45 minutes.

Handcuffs

US: FBI arrests Tenn. pastor in custody case of former lesbian partners

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© Vyto Starinskas / AP Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven, Vt., holds up a photo of her daughter, Isabella, in Rutland, Vt. The FBI has arrested Tennessee pastor Timothy David Miller, who is accused of helping Jenkins' former lesbian partner of fleeing to Central America with the girl.
Mother allegedly absconds to Central America with couple's daughter

A Tennessee pastor who allegedly helped a woman abscond to central America with her 9-year-old daughter has been charged with aiding a kidnapping, the latest twist in a long-running custody dispute between former lesbian partners.

Timothy David Miller, 34, of Crossville, Tenn., is accused of helping to arrange passage for Lisa Miller of Virginia and daughter Isabella Miller Jenkins, who have been on the run since 2009 and now are believed to be living in Nicaragua.

It doesn't appear that Timothy Miller is related to the mother. He works with an Ohio-based Christian ministry and people with links to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University may have provided a beach house where the two could live, according to an FBI affidavit.

"I know very little at this point, but I really hope that this means that Isabella is safe and well," said Lisa Miller's former partner, Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven. "I am looking forward to having my daughter home safe with me very soon," she said in a statement released by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which has provided legal help to her.

Bizarro Earth

Nuclear Fallout: You won't hear this on any mainstream news

Nuclear Facts. A very clued in professional who will not be bought or intimidated into silence:


Alarm Clock

Yemeni president agrees to step down

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© Muhammed Muheisen/APAn anti-government protester reacts during a demonstration demanding the resignation of of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday.
Sanaa, Yemen - Yemen's embattled president agreed Saturday to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.

The protest movement demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh's immediate departure said Saturday that it also accepted the latest draft of the deal but with reservations.

A day earlier, protesters staged the largest of two months of demonstrations, filling a five-lane boulevard across the capital with a sea of hundreds of thousands of people. A deadly crackdown by government forces and Saleh supporters has killed more than 130 people and prompted key allies to abandon the president and join the protesters.

The opposition movement, fed up with poverty and corruption under Saleh, took inspiration from the toppling of leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.

2 + 2 = 4

US: Homeless woman prosecuted for enrolling son in Connecticut school

Connecticut authorities have filed theft charges against Tanya McDowell, a homeless woman, alleging that she used a false address to enroll her son in a higher-income school district, The Stamford Advocate reports. If she's convicted, McDowell may end up in jail for as many as 20 years and pay a $15,000 fine for the crime.

McDowell is a homeless single mother from Bridgeport who used to work in food services, is now at the center of one of the very few false address cases in the Norwalk, CT, school district that is being handled in criminal court--rather than between the parent and school. Authorities are accusing McDowell of enrolling her 5-year-old son in nearby Norwalk schools by using the address of a friend. (Her friend has also been evicted from public housing for letting McDowell use her address.)

McDowell says she stayed in a Norwalk homeless shelter sometimes--but she didn't register there, which would have made her son eligible to attend the school.

"I had no idea whatsoever that if you enroll your child in another school district, it becomes a crime," the 33-year-old told the paper.

Family

Venezuela to spend oil income on social programmes

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© Miraflores Palace/ReutersHugo Chavez
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced that extra income from the country's oil exports will be used for social spending.

Venezuela, South America's biggest oil producer, has been receiving sharply higher income from its oil exports in recent months. Global prices on Venezuelan oil averaged $107 per barrel last week, while the 2011 state budget was balanced with the $40 per barrel benchmark, RIA Novosti reported.

'I have signed a decree that authorises spending additional revenues from oil sales on the implementation of various social programmes for the country's population,' Chavez, who will seek re-election next year, said on national television Friday.

Radar

The inevitability of the imperial presidency

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© Unknown
About this blog: President Bush asserted his executive power in managing the war on terror. President Obama showed the muscle of the White House in managing the financial crisis. Since the Republic's early days a subtle balancing act has negotiated power between the president, Congress and the courts. But by the 20th century, power had tipped in favor of the president and has continued to grow. In their book The Executive Unbound: After the Madisonian Republic, recently released by Oxford University Press, Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule explore the inevitability of the "imperial presidency" and argue that it must be accepted and is nothing to fear. Posner is a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, while Vermeule is a law professor at Harvard Law School. Here, Posner takes us through the evolution and impact of an assertive executive branch.