Society's ChildS


Red Flag

Foxconn Labor Report Reveals Overworked Conditions


TomsHardware
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:00 UTC
The FLA has returned from Foxconn with its investigative report, and it's not pretty.
Image
© Foxconn

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) has finally returned from Foxconn after investigating allegations of improper labor practices against the manufacturer. Hired on by Apple, the watchdog group drilled over 35,000 anonymous Foxconn employees over the course of 3,000 hours. What the FLA learned was both good and bad.

For starters, there was no sign of underage workers, or "child slaves," despite other reports and rumors. The wages were paid on time too, and surprisingly above the applicable legal rates in China. According to the report, the legal minimum wage in Shenzhen is RMB1500, while the starting wage at Foxconn is RMB1800. After the probation period, wages go up to about RMB2200. Still, 64.3-percent of workers thought that their salary was not sufficient to cover their basic needs.

Now for the negative. The FLA discovered that workers building Apple products were being overworked. More specifically, all three factories exceeded the FLA Code Standard and the requirements of the Chinese labor law at some point in the last 12 months. During peak production periods, the average number of hours worked per week exceeded the FLA Code Standard of 60 hours. Also, there were periods in which some workers did not get one day off in seven days. Thing is, 48-percent thought that their working hours were reasonable, and another 33.8-percent stated that they would like to work more hours and make more money.
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Bacon

Bakers Green Acres vs. Michigan DNR - Family Farm Under Attack

Mark & Jill Baker
Bakers Green Acres
Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC

A family farm in rural Michigan may be shut down by a Government Entity who has passed a law stating that the breed of hogs they are raising are a threat to neighboring croplands. In truth, the Big Pork Industry has been planning this campaign to take down all family farms with hopes to eventually siege complete control of the American Food Supply. This short-film was created with hopes to inspire the public to take action.

The Baker Family website is HERE and their battle has just begun. Please join in their fight.
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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: We Are All Conspiracy Theorists Now: The Mainstreaming of 9/11 Truth

Saman Mohammadi
The Excavator
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:36 UTC
Forumsweek cover
© Forumsweek
"Our leaders do not control the tides of history -- they are just surfing them. They are doing their best to keep on top of them. They do not make the tides -- the tides of history come from a million different vectors: our advancing technology, our advancing worldview. These are the things that actually make a difference to the flow of history, and our leaders try to sit on top of it, and perhaps try to give the impression that they are controlling it, but history's history. Time and tide -- they don't pay much attention to any human leader." - Alan Moore. This is quote is from Professor Sean Carney's essay, "The Tides of History: Alan Moore's Historiographic Vision."

Although 9/11 truth is still a red line in mainstream Western political discourse, the boundaries of discussion about the attacks are harder to enforce in the global alternative media, whose positive influence on public debate is rapidly expanding.

The global 9/11 truth and justice movement is not going away because it is based in reality and history. One of these days, it will become politically safe for mainstream organizations, journalists, and politicians to demand a new international investigation into the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth is one of the organizations that is leading the charge in educating the global public about the scientific evidence behind the 9/11 truth and accountability movement. Its founder Richard Gage is currently on a lecture tour in Canada. He was recently interviewed by Victoria Handysides of Canada's Here Magazine. Here is an excerpt from her article called, "Truther disputes 9-11 attack":
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Ambulance

Mom booted from ER dies in jail


MSNBC
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:26 UTC
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© Associated PressPhoto provided by the Jennings Police Department Mug shows Anna Brown.
Officials at a St. Louis hospital on Thursday defended their actions in the case of a homeless woman who sought treatment for a sprained ankle and died in police custody after being arrested for refusing to leave the emergency room.

An autopsy determined that Anna Brown's death in a jail cell in September was caused by blood clots that formed in her legs and migrated to her lungs, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The newspaper also obtained surveillance footage of the woman's final moments. In the video, officers are seen carrying Brown into a jail cell. The cell door closes and Brown is heard moaning and crying.

Brown's family says authorities treated the 29-year-old mother of two unfairly and have hired a St. Louis-based lawyer, Keith Link. Link did not respond to telephone messages from msnbc.com on Thursday.

St. Mary's Health Center says its staff followed medical guidelines and performed appropriate tests, acknowledging the "outrage being expressed in this tragic event."

Comment: Sounds like another case of blame the victim.

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Stop

Canada to Pull the Penny from Circulation

Eric Pfeiffer
The Sideshow
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
money, penny
© Canadian Royal Mint
The Canadian government announced on Thursday that it plans to pull the penny from circulation at the end of 2012, saying the copper-coated currency is more expensive for the Royal Canadian Mint to produce than its actual currency value.

"Pennies take up too much space on our dressers at home. They take up far too much time for small businesses trying to grow and create jobs," said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. He also said it costs 1.5 cents to produce each penny.

"We will, therefore, stop making them," he said.

Nonetheless, the news has been causing quite a stir across Twitter today.

The U.S. faces a similar dilemma, where it costs nearly two cents to produce a single penny. U.S. pennies are in fact composed primarily of zinc, and have a thin copper coating. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the Obama Administration has proposed using less expensive materials in the production of pennies and nickels, but public misinformation on the perceived value of coins would likely stir up controversy.
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Info

Polar Bear Shot Dead in Newfoundland After House Break-in and Livestock Attack


The Canadian Press
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
polar bear
© Getty Images
Canada: Goose Grove, Newfoundland and Labrador - Fifty-five-year-old Louis Reardon got the shock of his life early Thursday when he leapt out of bed to his son's cries of "Polar bear!" as a large male bear broke into their home in northern Newfoundland.

"He had the door busted open to the dining room with his two front paws and his head in through the door," Reardon said from tiny Goose Cove, just south of St. Anthony, N.L.

"I mean, it frightened the wits right clean out of me, to be that close to a polar bear."

Reardon's son Damien, 29, had heard a ruckus and flicked on the light to discover the animal. Polar bears are notoriously aggressive when cornered, and Damien slammed on a table trying to frighten the intruder as his father raced for a shotgun.

"A polar bear doesn't usually back down," Louis Reardon said. "If he came in the house, God knows what he would have done before he went out."

His other son, his daughter, her three young children and her boyfriend had all been sleeping when the commotion started just after 4 a.m.
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Pistol

Wife Shot Dead by Husband After Dog Poops in House

Marice Richter
Reuters
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:51 UTC

US, Dallas - A 76-year-old Texas man was charged with murder for shooting his wife and two dogs after one of the animals pooped in the house.

Police arrested Michael Stephen Stolz after a five-hour standoff at the man's home in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville late Tuesday. He was charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife, Bernice Stolz, and remained in the Denton County Jail on Wednesday on a $250,000 bond.

Stolz told officers he shot his 49-year-old wife and the couple's two dogs after the German Shepherd mix defecated on the floor on Saturday, said Lewisville Police Capt. Kevin Deaver. He told officers that he shot the dog, then their other dog, a Rottweiler, then his wife, who was screaming because of the shootings of the dogs, Deaver said.

Police were called to investigate after Bernice Stolz' employer reported that she failed to show up at work for several days. Stolz rebuffed officers who asked to enter the house and check on the woman's welfare, Deaver said.
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Heart - Black

Fakhra Younus, Pakistani Acid Attack Victim, Commits Suicide After Surgeries

Sebastian Abbot
The Associated Press
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Fakhra Younus FamilyThis combination of two undated photos provide by the family shows on the left, Fakhra Younus, some time after an acid attack twelve years ago, allegedly carried out by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse; and on the right, Younus sometime before the attack. Younus, who had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body, finally decided life was no longer worth living. The 33-year-old former dancing girl jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome March 17, 2012, where she had been living and receiving treatment.
Islamabad - Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.

The 33-year-old former dancing girl - who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse - jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

Her March 17 suicide and the return of her body to Pakistan on Sunday reignited furor over the case, which received significant international attention at the time of the attack. Her death came less than a month after a Pakistani filmmaker won the country's first Oscar for a documentary about acid attack victims.

Younus' story highlights the horrible mistreatment many women face in Pakistan's conservative, male-dominated culture and is a reminder that the country's rich and powerful often appear to operate with impunity. Younus' ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law's grip - a common occurrence in Pakistan.

More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's rights organization. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely an undercount.

"The saddest part is that she realized that the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy," Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, an activist at The Aurat Foundation, said of Younus. "She was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her."
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Attention

Self-immolation protests shock Italians


BBC News
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:40 UTC
Italy map
© BBC News
Italians have been left shocked by two cases of men setting themselves on fire in the past two days in protest at their financial hardship.

A 58-year-old builder accused of tax evasion set himself alight in his car in Bologna on Wednesday.

Another builder, a 27-year-old Moroccan, set himself on fire outside the town hall in Verona on Thursday, saying that he had not been paid for four months.

Both men are being treated in hospital.
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Play

Video Raises New Questions in Trayvon Martin Killing


CNN
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:07 UTC
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© CNNClick Here to Watch Video
The father of George Zimmerman, the man accused of shooting and killing an unarmed black teen in Florida, says the 17-year-old threatened to kill Zimmerman and then beat him so badly that it forced Zimmerman to shoot him.

"Trayvon Martin said something to the effect of, 'You're going to die now' or 'You're going to die tonight,' something to that effect," Robert Zimmerman told Orlando TV station WOFL. "He continued to beat George. At some point, George pulled his pistol. Did what he did."

A surveillance video from the Sanford police headquarters the night of the incident raises questions about the description of a beating.

It shows Zimmerman, his hands cuffed, exiting a patrol car and being led into the police station. First broadcast Wednesday by ABCNews.com, the video does not provide close-ups, but also does not show clear signs of Zimmerman having injuries.
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