Society's ChildS


Attention

Food stamp cuts sneaking through the House during Syrian crisis

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© Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call| Getty
The debate in Congress over whether the United States should bomb Syria may be diverting attention from the economy at home. While the House and Senate hold hearings on authorizing military force, a bill that would cut food stamps is headed to the House floor next week with relatively little fanfare.

"There are 50 million people in the United States of America who are hungry, 17 million are kids," Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said in an interview. "It is something we all should be ashamed of, and the United States House of Representatives is about to make that worse. This is a big deal and my hope is that we'll treat it as such and not just let it go by without a lot of discussion and debate because we're all focused on Syria."

Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the rate of "food insecurity" in American households remained constant from 2011 to 2012, with 15 percent of the population struggling to afford food at some point during the year. That's 47 million people, roughly the same amount as are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. Research shows that enrollment trends track economic conditions.

Next week the House will vote on legislation to cut SNAP by roughly 5 percent. The bill is bypassing the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees food stamps, because it is a priority of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Sheriff

Louisiana police chief Steve E. Bodine indicted on child rape

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© Steve E. Bodine
Bodine being held on $500K bond Spearsville Police Chief Steve E. Bodine, accused of aggravated rape of a child under the age of 13, has been indicted by a Union Parish grand jury. Bodine, 64, was booked late Monday afternoon into the Union Parish Detention Center. Third Judicial District Court Judge Cynthia Woodard set bond at $500,000.

Union Parish Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Dusty Gates said the indictment and arrest of Bodine came after a yearlong investigation by sheriff's investigators, Louisiana State Police detectives and the District Attorney's office.

"This investigation took a while because this all occurred before he became chief two years ago," Gates said. "They were also witnesses located out of state that we had to find and interview." Gates said the investigation started after a family member filed a complaint with the sheriff's office.

Pistol

Missouri teen fatally shot himself

Ashland shooting
Barrett Glascock, Southern Boone school board member, talks with law enforcement outside the Southern Boone County Middle School on Tuesday where lawmen had converged on a report about a potential threat to the school. Classes were cancelled before 6 a.m. Tuesday because of the threat
Police were trying to question him about text threat against school

An Ashland teenager fatally shot himself in the chest after Boone County law enforcement personnel tried to take him into custody in order to question him about a text message threatening the Southern Boone County School District.

The incident happened early Tuesday morning.

The name of the 17-year-old - who authorities said lived with his father and stepmother on Bob Veach Road, northeast of Ashland - was not released at a press conference held mid-day Tuesday.

Ashland Police Chief Lyn Woolford said the situation came to his department's attention around 10:30 p.m. Monday when "a fellow student" reported receiving the threatening text message. The message was forwarded to the Ashland police and to Southern Boone County School Superintendent Chris Felmlee.

Subsequent investigation by Ashland police and Boone County sheriff's deputies deemed the threat to be "non-descriptive," but also "credible" and "dangerous." They declined to elaborate on the exact wording of the threatening message.

Play

Caught on Camera: Texas cop charged for beating the whole family because the son was speeding

The officer reportedly broke the son's ribs, bruised his father's face, and dragged his mother.

Texas cop beating family
© Unkown
A Texas officer has been caught on camera beating up several members of a family. According to KHOU.com, Harris County Deputy Jimmy Drummond followed the son home for allegedly speeding, then attacked members of his family when they approached him. The altercation was recorded on a dash cam.

According to KHOU, the officer, who's due in court on Friday, broke the son's ribs, bruised his father's face, and dragged his mother.

Cult

And finally... Fox anchor asks viewers to consider if bombing Syria is a harbinger of the second coming of Christ

Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on Monday devoted an entire segment to the possibility that a United States attack on Syria could be a sign of the End Times, a period in which Christians believe that Jesus Christ will return to face the emergence of the Antichrist.


"This Syria stuff is way old," Cavuto explained. "I mean Old Testament old. That's how old I'm talking about. Don't laugh. Some biblical scholars say it's all there in black and white."

The Fox News host invited author Joel Rosenberg to weigh in on the link between the Syrian conflict and the Bible passages, which he said were "uncanny" and "kind of scary."

Arrow Down

Florida man draws 60 years in Connecticut cannibalism case

Tyree Smit
© Ned GerardTyree Smith listens to testimony during his trial in Bridgeport Superior Court, in Bridgeport, Conn. on, July 8th, 2013. Superior Court judge John Kavanewsky ordered Smith committed to the state’s maximum security psychiatric hospital in Middletown for up to 60 years for the murder of Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez.
A Florida man who killed a vagrant with an ax and ate his brain and eyes has been committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in Connecticut after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Tyree Lincoln Smith, 36, of Lynn Haven, Fla., was ordered committed Monday by a three-judge panel in Bridgeport Superior Court. The panel in July found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

Smith apologized for killing Angel Gonzalez, whose mutilated body was found in a vacant apartment in Bridgeport in January 2012, a month after he was hacked to death.

"I'm really sorry for what I did, that I couldn't be myself," Smith told the judges. "It really had nothing to do with the other person."

The apology surprised relatives of Gonzalez who were in the courtroom, the Connecticut Post reported.

Magic Wand

"Riddikulus!" Young Arizona 'exorcists' set out to save England from Harry Potter

Brynne Larson
© BBC ThreeYoung Arizona exorcist Brynne Larson
A trio of Arizona "exorcists" has ventured to England to fight what it describes as the endorsement of satanic elements in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.

"Harry is using this magic for good," 18-year-old Brynne Larson explains in video posted by the Daily Mail on Monday. "So here we have the dangerous idea that you can use this magic for good or bad. When in reality, all magic is bad 'cause you're getting your power from Satan."

Cult

Sexual Predator: Ex-pastor Brent Girouex had sex with boys 'to help them with homosexual urges'

praying hands
© Unknown
An Iowa pastor has been arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after several of his alleged victims came forward and revealed that he had sex with them when they were teenagers.

Brent Girouex claimed he had sex with the teenage boys because he was trying to help them gain "sexual purity" in the eyes of God, and that it was his duty "to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them]."

Gold Bar

Peru gold mining poisons natives: Study

Peru Gold Mines
© PressTVBefore-and-after image showing the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, with the left-hand side stripped by illegal gold mining.
New research shows informal gold mining in Peru's Amazon region has poisoned mainly the indigenous people who get most of their protein from fish.

The Carnegie Institution for Science published Monday a study showing that Peru's indigenous people living in the Madre de Dios region have the highest traces of mercury contamination among any other group.

About 76.5 percent of the people living in the region, both rural and urban areas, were found to have mercury levels more than five times the maximum acceptable levels and 2.3 times greater than those in non-indigenous communities, the report showed.

Moreover, the indigenous children had three times more mercury in their bodies than children from non-native communities.

Cowboy Hat

Shocking increase: U.K. police use of Tasers doubled since 2009

taser
© AFP Photo / Ethan MillerTaser International's X2 two-shot Taser.
The use of Taser guns by British police has more than doubled since 2009, sparking concerns among rights groups and the wider public about the device's potentially lethal outcome and its frequently improper use by under-trained police personnel.

According to numbers by the Office for National Statistic released on Tuesday, officers fired the weapon 3,500 in 2009, against more than 7,000 times in subsequent years.

Some critics see the device as a coercion tool abused by the police force, especially when used as a stun gun and thrust into a person's body with the intention of inflicting pain - the so-called 'drive-stun' tactic.