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Thousands evacuated after China chemical plant blast


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:43 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse View of the Chinese city of Guangzhou in 2005. Around 6,000 people have been evacuated after an explosion at a chemical plant near Guangzhou, state media reported
Around 6,000 people were evacuated Thursday after an explosion at a chemical plant near the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, state media reported.

The accident occurred early afternoon at the Futian Chemical Company in Panyu district, Xinhua news agency said, quoting the local government.

Residents were evacuated after "a small amount" of toxic hydrogen chloride gas was detected in the air following the blast, Xinhua said.

Industrial accidents are common in China and people who live close to industrial sites frequently express concern about the effect of hazardous pollutants on their health.

Fourteen workers were killed Saturday in an explosion at a chemical plant in east China.
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Better Earth

Occupy Peace

David Krieger
Truthout
Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:48 UTC
occupy peace
© Magickriver

The Occupy movement is demonstrating its durability and perseverance. Like a Daruma doll, each time it is knocked off balance it serenely pops back up. The movement has been seeking justice for the 99 percent, and justice is an essential element of peace.

For decades, our country has been in permanent preparation for war, spending over half of the total annual discretionary funds that Congress allocates on "defense," our euphemism for war.

World military expenditures exceed $1.5 trillion annually, and the United States spends more than half of this amount, more than the rest of the world combined.
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Vader

North Carolina, US: 61-Year-Old Man Dies After Being Shot with Stun Gun


WRAL
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:46 UTC
Roger Anthony
Roger Anthony
Scotland Neck - A 61-year-old Halifax County man died Tuesday, a day after police shocked him with a stun gun while he was riding his bike, family members said.

Scotland Neck Police Chief Joe Williams said they received a call Monday night about a man who fell off of his bicycle and injured himself in the parking lot of the BB&T bank, 1001 Main St. The caller was concerned that the man was drunk.

When Officer John Turner arrived, he saw Roger Anthony pedaling away along 10th Street. He followed Anthony in his patrol car, briefly put on his sirens and lights and yelled out of the window for him to stop, but Anthony continued to ride away, police said.

Williams said Turner then saw Anthony take something out his pocket and put it into his mouth. At that time, Turner got out of the car and yelled for Anthony to stop. When Anthony didn't stop, the officer used a stun gun on him, causing him to fall off of his bike.

Anthony was transported to Pitt County Memorial Hospital, where he was declared brain dead, his sister Gladys Freeman said. He was taken off of life support on Tuesday.
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USA

20 Signs That America Is Going Crazy


The American Dream
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00 UTC
crazy frog
Has anyone else noticed that America seems to be going crazy? I'm not talking about the "woo hoo - let go out and have some fun" kind of crazy. I'm talking about the "lock them up in the looney bin" kind of crazy. Our society is rapidly coming apart at the seams and people are seriously starting to lose it. Criminals are going crazy, young people are going crazy, children are going crazy, law enforcement authorities are going crazy and the federal government is most certainly going crazy.

Way too many Americans seem to be losing all sense of what is right and what is wrong. Way too many Americans seem to be losing all sense of what it means to treat others with dignity and respect. Yes, the economy is falling apart and people are feeling the stress of hard times, but it goes much deeper than that.

It is almost as if some sort of mental illness is spreading throughout our society that is expressing itself in thousands of different ways. We are seeing anger, rage, malice and brutality rise to very dangerous levels. Our population has become way too greedy, proud, selfish and hateful. America is on a very dangerous road and we need to wake up.

The following list could contain thousands of examples, but hopefully the 20 signs listed below will be enough to convince you that America is rapidly going crazy....

Comment: For a deeper understanding of what's really going on here, please see the following links:

Political Ponerology: A Science of Evil Applied for Political Purposes

Ponerology: The Study of Evil - Interview with Marian Wasilewski

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Family

US: Parents Sue D.A. for Charging Their 6-Year-Old Son With a Felony After He Played Doctor With a 5-Year-Old Girl

Jacob Sullum
Reason
Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:01 UTC
Last week the parents of a Wisconsin boy sued Grant County District Attorney Lisa Riniker for charging their son with first-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony, after he played "butt doctor" with a 5-year-old girl. He was 6 at the time. When the boy's lawyer tried to have the charge dismissed, Riniker replied: "The legislature could have put an age restriction in the statute if it wanted to. The legislature did no such thing."

According to the complaint (PDF), the girl is "the daughter of a well-known political figure in Grant County," and her brother, who is the same age, also was involved in playing doctor but was not charged. In addition to Riniker, the lawsuit names as defendants retired Grant County Sheriff's Sgt. James Kopp and Jan Moravits, an investigator with Grant County Social Services "whose regional supervisor...is the political figure's wife's sister-in-law" - i.e., the aunt of the alleged victim.

Although the boy, now 7, is too young to be prosecuted or named in a juvenile delinquency petitition, Madison.com reports, county officials are using the felony charge to force his parents into accepting "protection or services" for him. The lawsuit says that once he turns 18, he will be listed as a sex offender.

I noted a similar case in my July Reason story on sex offender laws.
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Bomb

Triple bombings in south Iraq kill 11, injure 72

Nabil Al-Jurani, Mazin Yahya & Rebecca Santana
Associated Press
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:55 UTC
Image
© UnknownReference Image
Basra - A string of bombings in a southern oil city killed 11 people Thursday evening and injured dozens more, a grim sign of the security challenges Iraq will face after American troops go home.

The U.S. military is drawing down its troops ahead of an end-of-December deadline to have all American forces out of the country. Incidents like Thursday's triple bombing in a city seen as key to Iraq's economic development show the dangerous prospects awaiting Iraqis next year.

Three bombs went off in a popular open-air market in Basra, police officials said.

The third bomb exploded a few minutes after Iraqi army and police forces arrived on the scene in response to the earlier blasts, officials said. The third blast caused all the fatalities and almost all of the injuries, the officials said.

Among the dead and wounded were many policemen and Iraqi army soldiers.

The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Kamal Ali was working at a clothing shop across the street when the blasts went off. He said after the first explosion, bystanders rushed to help the victims. When another blast went off about five minutes later, the terrified people ran to escape.
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Bad Guys

Pepper or Not - Still Potentially Lethal Chemical Weapon

Sayer Ji
GreenMed Info
Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:05 UTC
Pepper Spray_1
© GreenMed Info.com
Were it not for the stoic immovability of the protestors in this picture, the image would resemble even more stunningly an exterminator dispassionately spraying a nest of roaches ... only, roaches know what to expect, which is why they scatter in all directions when approached with chemicals designed to harm them.

Who, among these young protestors, could rightly have expected to be doused -- directly in the eyes -- with a purportedly "non-lethal" chemical weapon, simply for sitting there?

Older protestors were more likely able to anticipate what was coming the moment they saw their paramilitary gear-laden "public servants," towing their projectile-less and therefore not-so-bad sounding "Sound Canons" (mind you, which can crush your eardrums and make them bleed) behind them.

And many old-timers already knew through direct experience that in the United States the freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and freedom of speech -- all of which establish the right to protest -- have little more than sentimental value in our history books (many of which, at this rate, will soon be burned).

After all, we are in the post-911, post-PATRIOT Act era. What's a little pepper spray, considering the crimes against humanity perpetuated of late by our once great nation-state, on self (citizens) and other ( resource-rich countries), in the name of universal freedom, security and democracy?
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Heart - Black

Native blood: the truth behind the myth of 'Thanksgiving Day' (now with video)

Mike Ely
LINKS International Journal of Social Renewal
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:28 UTC
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Bizarro Earth

Brazil Suspends Chevron's Drilling Rights

Peter Murphy
Reuters
Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:30 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Rogerio SantanaAn aerial view shows oil that seeped from a well operated by Chevron at Frade, on the waters in Campos Basin in Rio de Janeiro state November 18, 2011.
Brazil's government suspended Chevron Corp's drilling rights until Chevron clarifies the causes of an offshore oil spill, the latest twist in a political firestorm threatening the U.S. company's role in Brazil's oil bonanza.

The decision on Wednesday came as the head of Chevron's Brazilian unit testified before Brazil's Congress, where he apologized for the November 8 spill that leaked about 2,400 barrels of oil into the ocean off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said it decided to halt Chevron's drilling rights after determining there was evidence that the company had been "negligent" in its study of data needed to drill and in contingency planning for abandoning the well in the event of accident.

The agency, known as ANP, also rejected a request from Chevron made before the leak to drill wells in the deeper subsalt areas in the Frade field where the spill occurred. The field is located in the oil-rich Campos Basin and is the only block in Brazil where Chevron produces oil as the operator.
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Wall Street

Mexico: More than 20 bodies found in Guadalajara

E. Eduardo Castillo
Associated Press
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:45 UTC
Image
© UnknownGeographic area of Mexico pointing out where the state of Jalisco and city Guadalajara are located.
More than 20 bodies were discovered early Thursday in vehicles abandoned in the heart of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city and the site of the recent Pan American Games, an official said.

that the bodies were found early Thursday in three vehicles left near the Milennium Arches, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the western city, an official with the prosecutor's office in the state of, where Guadalajara is located, told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information.

The arches stand less than a 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Expo Guadalajara events center, the site of both Pan Am Games events and the Guadalajara International Book Fair, which opens Saturday and describes itself as the world's most important Spanish-language book fair. The fair's website said it was expecting more than 600,000 visitors from around the world.

Guadalajara was flooded with police and soldiers during the Pan American Games and was spared significant violence.
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