Society's ChildS


Nuke

Fracking debris considered too radioactive even for waste site


RT
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:24 UTC
Protestors hold signs against fracking
© AFP Photo / Justin SullivanProtestors hold signs against fracking during a demonstration.
A truck carrying drill cuttings from a fracking site set off a radiation alarm at a landfill in Pennsylvania. Emitting gamma radiation ten times higher than the permitted level, the waste was rejected by the landfill.

After the alarm went off, the MAX Environmental Technologies truck was immediately quarantined and sent back to the Marcellus Shale fracking site it had come from in Greene County, Va. The 159-acre Pennsylvania landfill site accepts residual and hazardous waste, but the cuttings were too radioactive for the site to safely dispose.

The Pennsylvania landfill, located in South Huntingdon, rejects waste that emits more than 10 microerm per hour of radiation. The fracking materials were found to emit 96 microerm per hour of Radium 226 - a rate that is 84 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's air-pollution standard and ten times higher than the landfill's permitted level, Forbes reports.

Exposure to the materials taken from the fracking site can have serious health consequences, including the risk of developing cancer. The high level of radiation emitted by the materials serves as alarming news for environmentalists and residents located near hydraulic fracturing sites across the US.
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Airplane

Protesting drone warfare, sanctions and the prison industrial complex

Brian Terrell
AntiWar.com
Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:58 UTC
Brian Terrell
© WNV/Jo LarmoreBrian Terrell
Editor's note: Brian Terrell was arrested in April of last year for protesting drone warfare at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and wrote the following from Yankton Federal Prison Camp, where he is nearing the end of a six month sentence.

In the final weeks of a six month prison sentence for protesting remote control murder by drones, specifically from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, I can only reflect on my time of captivity in light of the crimes that brought me here. In these ominous times, it is America's officials and judges and not the anarchists who exhibit the most flagrant contempt for the rule of law and it is due to the malfeasance of these that I owe the distinction of this sabbatical.

As I share in the perspectives gained from residing in the federal prison camp in Yankton, South Dakota, it is important to disclose that as a political prisoner sent up on trumped misdemeanor charges for a few months, my situation is not the same as my fellow inmates - all nonviolent "offenders," most are prisoners of the war on drugs and most are serving sentences of many years. I also try to avoid the temptation to exaggerate the hardships and privations I've suffered here. Certainly, doing time in a minimum security camp is easier time than in most other kinds of jails. If basic necessities are barely met, they are met. I am in good company and time is passing with little drama and without fear. For me, these months have been more a test of patience than of courage.
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Black Magic

Lynne Stewart's savage jail torment further proof of U.S. totalitarian state

Finian Cunningham
Information Clearinghouse
Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC
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Half a century ago this month Martin Luther King wrote his famous prison protest against racial injustice, entitled 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'. An excerpt reads: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality... Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Fifty years on to this very month, King's defiant cri de coeur could hardly be more apt to express the barbarous injustice being committed by the US government against one of that nation's bravest defence lawyers - Lynne Stewart.

Ms Stewart (73) is dying in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, from cancer that has spread from her breast to the rest of her body. Her family has little doubt that her life-threatening illness has been induced by the vindictive conditions of her incarceration by the US authorities.

Ralph Poynter, her husband for the past 50 years, and more than 10,000 petition signatories from across the world are mobilising to face down the barbarity of the American regime. Her supporters are demanding Lynne's immediate release from her prison cell on compassionate and legally entitled grounds.

Lynne Stewart's story is not just one of personal harrowing torment. The US state's cruel persecution of this woman epitomises the general destruction of human rights and the rise of draconian police powers across America in the aftermath of 9/11 and the fraudulent "war on terror".
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Pistol

Guns in every home: Colorado town considers proposal requiring all households to own assault-style rifles

Jonathan Wolfe
Opposing Views
Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC
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The small town of Craig, Colorado, is seriously considering a proposal that would require every household in the town to own a sporting rifle equipped to hold a high-capacity magazine.

The idea, proposed by town resident Craig Rummel, is an attempt to gain the attention of state legislature. Craig believes that the Democrat-controlled state senate is overlooking the needs and desires of western and rural residents.

"For too long, the state Legislature has been hammering us," Craig said. "They're destroying our economy. Our voices are not being heard, but if we pass an ordinance, it will go viral, and then they'll be forced to listen to us."

The proposed ordinance would include exemptions for those not mentally or physically capable of operating a firearm, those who cannot afford a firearm, and those who oppose owning a firearm for personal or religious reasons.
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People

U.S. academic nonprofit votes in favor of boycotting Israeli academia


Source
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:37 UTC
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© Alon RonStudents on the campus of Tel Aviv University
Association for Asian American Studies passed vote last week during its annual conference; Ex-AAAS president Rajini Srikanth said boycott applies only to institutions, not individual.

The Association for Asian American Studies voted in favor of boycotting Israeli academic institutions.

The academic nonprofit, known by the acronym AAAS, passed the vote last week during its annual conference in Seattle, according to Inside Higher Ed.

The resolution calling for a boycott passed unanimously and accused Israeli universities of being complicit in violations of international law by the Israeli government.

In addition to other claims, the resolution also accused the universities of discriminating against Palestinian students and academics.

Former AAAS president Rajini Srikanth said the boycott applied only to Israeli institutions, not individuals.
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Alarm Clock

Couple fights to get their baby boy back from authorities

Gabriel Roxas & Siemny Chhuon
News10.net
Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:23 UTC

A Sacramento family was torn apart after a 5-month-old baby boy was taken from his parents following a visit to the doctor.

The young couple thought their problems were behind them after their son had a scare at the hospital, but once they got home their problems got even worse.
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Arrow Up

Unemployment in France hits record high


Connexionfrance.com
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:40 UTC
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Unemployment in France has hit a new record of 3.224 million - beating the previous high set in 1997.

The number of jobseekers grew by 36,900 in March, the 23rd consecutive month of growing unemployment, and the number of long-term unemployed who have been out of work for more than a year also hit a record high of 1.89 million.

The previous unemployment record in France was 3.195 million in January 1997.
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Info

Pimlico pavement explodes, narrowly missing passer by


BBC
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:30 UTC

A central London resident has released video footage of the moment when a pavement exploded in central London, narrowly missing a passer by.

The blast, which left a crater in the street, occurred at about 10:25 BST on Thursday and is thought to have been caused by a faulty power cable.

Eyewitness Charlie Brook filmed the second explosion from her window.

UK Power Networks said: "Safety is our top priority and the cause of this incident is being investigated."
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Phoenix

Fire at psychiatric hospital in Russia kills 38 amid fears patients were sedated and strapped to their beds

Natalie Evans
Mirror
Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:15 UTC
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© UnknownRubble: Firefighters at the scene in Ramensky
There were 41 people believed to be inside the building at the time - 36 patients, three nurses and two doctors - and only three managed to escape.

A fire has torn through a psychiatric hospital in Russia, killing 38 people, many of them in their beds.

The blaze broke out at the single-storey hospital building in the village of Ramensky, 70 miles north of Moscow, at around 2am local time this morning.

There were 41 people believed to be inside the building at the time - 36 patients, three nurses and two doctors.

Only three people - believed to be a nurse and two patients - escaped the fire, prompting speculation the patients were heavily sedated or strapped down and unable to escape.

At least 29 people were burned alive, said Irina Gumennaya, a spokeswoman for the federal Investigative Committee.

The Emergencies Ministry said the patients at the hospital ranged in age from 20 to 76.

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© UnknownBlaze: Firefighters battle to tackle the huge fire
Gumennaya told Russian news agencies that most of the people died in their beds.
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Target

Hospital to simulate hyperbaric chamber explosion


Herald-Tribune
Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:25 UTC
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Sarasota County emergency managers, local fire, police and EMS personnel and Sarasota Memorial Hospital will participate in a disaster drill Friday.

The training drill will simulate an accidental explosion at the hospital in a hyperbaric chamber on the fourth floor of the Waldemere Tower.

The exercise will include actors in make-up and Hollywood-like special effects, testing Sarasota County's disaster response, evacuation procedures and triage and emergency care of multiple mock victims.
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