Society's ChildS

Che Guevara

US, California: Thousands of Occupy Protesters Disrupt Busy Port

Terence Chea, Lisa Leff and Terry Collins
Sacramento Bee
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:38 UTC
Image
© N/A
Several thousand Occupy Wall Street demonstrators gathering in Oakland forced a halt to operations at the nation's fifth busiest port Wednesday evening, escalating a movement whose tactics had largely been limited to marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.

Police estimated that a crowd of about 3,000 had gathered at the Port of Oakland by about 5 p.m. PDT. Some had marched from the city's downtown, while others had been bused to the port.

Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said maritime operations had effectively been shut down, and interim Oakland police chief Howard Jordan warned that protesters who went inside the port's gates would be committing a federal offense.
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Dollar

UK: The Who's Townshend Slams "Vampire" Apple


Breitbart
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:32 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PressePete Townshend, the legendary frontman behind British rock group The Who, has attacked Apple's online iTunes service for bleeding artists "like a digital vampire"
Pete Townshend, the legendary frontman behind British rock group The Who, attacked Apple's online iTunes service for bleeding artists "like a digital vampire".

Townshend, speaking in Manchester in northwest England, called on the online giant to do more to help the artists from whom it was making so much money.

"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west Internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire... for its enormous commission?" he asked.

Record labels and music publishers had in the past provided a range of services to artists, offering editorial guidance and nurturing them creatively, he said.
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People

US, California: Cindy Sheehan leads 30 Occupy Sacramento defendants to mass arraignment Thursday; courts balk at other 'occupier' cases

Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan's Soap Box
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:16 UTC
Cindy Sheehan
© unknownCindy Sheehan
Anti-war Mom Cindy Sheehan and 29 other Occupy Sacramento defendants will appear in the largest mass arraignment yet this Thursday - even as Sacramento Superior Court judges try to stop the constant barrage of "occupiers" into the courts.

Sheehan and the others will be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Dept. 3 and 4. They will hold a media availability outside the courthouse (720 9th St.) at 8 a.m.

The trial courts Wednesday refused to let additional occupiers be arraigned Thursday because it became apparently the courts can't handle the load.

83 arrests have been made at Occupy Sacramento at Cesar Chavez Park since Oct. 6. Dozens of people still have not had their court dates. Thursday will be Day 29 of the occupation.

All are expected to plead not guilty, reject any offer by the City of Sacramento and demand a jury trial.
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Binoculars

US: Pro Surfer At San Francisco Event Withdraws After Seeing Large Shark


CBS San Francisco
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:59 UTC
A professional surfer competing in a contest Tuesday in the cold waters of San Francisco's Ocean Beach left the waves before the end of his heat after saying he saw a large shark.

Surfer Dusty Payne, 22, of Hawaii left the surf while competing against Jordy Smith of South Africa. Payne said he spotted a large shark fin just outside the "lineup," where surfers sit in the water and wait for their turn.

"I was just sitting there, and I was waiting for a wave. I've seen dolphins before, and it wasn't a dolphin," Payne said during an interview on the beach with the Rip Curl Pro Search event's camera crew. "It was the biggest fin I've ever seen in my life coming straight at me."

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Pistol

US: 16 shot, 2 fatally, on Halloween in New Orleans

Mary Foster
Associated Press
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:24 UTC
New Orleans
© Associated Press/Gerald HerbertA surveillance camera is seen overlooking the intersection of Bourbon St. and St. Louis St. in the French Quarter section of New Orleans, where eight people were shot in New Orleans, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Another four were shot nearby on Canal St. in a separate incident
Sixteen people were shot and at least two killed in a bloody Halloween in New Orleans that included gunfire on Bourbon Street, the tourist hot spot in the French Quarter.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, at a news conference called Tuesday in response to the five separate shootings, said a "culture of violence," that involved young black men with illegal guns has plagued the city and must be stopped.

"This continues to be a battle for the future of our city," Landrieu said.

Around midnight, two men started firing at each other on Bourbon Street - near the famous Chris Owens night club. When the gunfire stopped, Albert Glover, 25, of New Orleans, was dead and seven others injured. Police spokesman Garry Flot said the injuries were not life-threatening.
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Eye 2

France: DSK scandal to be made into porn film


news.com.au
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:56 UTC
Dominique-Strauss-Kahn
© Larry Downing/ReutersUnscrupulous: french producers to turn Dominique Strauss-Kahn's pathological perversions into a porn movie
French producers are planning to make a porn film about the scandal surrounding former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his alleged sexual assault of a New York hotel maid.

Porn star Roberto Malone will play the lead character, "David Sex King" while Sandra Romain will play his wife, and Katia De Lys will portray the hotel maid, The Local reported.

The production company, My Porn Productions, is asking members of the public to help fund the project, which has the working title DXK.

The firm calls on people to donate a minimum of โ‚ฌ50 ($US68) toward the movie's โ‚ฌ200,000 production costs. In return, donors will have their names included in the credits and receive an invitation to the film's premiere.
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Stormtrooper

Cannes sheds its black tie image for G20 riot gear

Nicholas Vinocur
Reuters
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:58 UTC
Cannes security G20
© Reuters/Dylan MartinezSecurity make their way down the promenade near the festival palace in Cannes, southern France November 1, 2011
The glamorous and easy-going Riviera resort of Cannes turns into a fortified camp this week as French police prepare for the arrival of world leaders for a G20 summit set to be hijacked by fears that a euro zone crisis relief plan is unraveling.

Thousands of extra police have been deployed along the Mediterranean coast to stop protestors traveling the 30 km (19 miles) down from Nice, where they are being kept at arm's length, and sparking clashes that could disrupt the gathering.

Police have sealed off Cannes' mythical waterfront drag, set up a second security perimeter around the old town and told 'Cannois' locals aged over 12 they must wear identity badges to move around their own city during the Nov 3-4 summit.
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Light Saber

US: Senators Udall, Bennet propose amendment to overturn Citizens United ruling

Eric W. Dolan
The Raw Story
Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:09 UTC
Udall
Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The decision gave corporations and unions the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, so long as their actions are not coordinated with a candidate's campaign.

"As we head into another election year, we are about to see unprecedented amounts of money spent on efforts to influence the outcome of our elections," Udall said. "With the Supreme Court striking down the sensible regulations Congress has passed, the only way to address the root cause of this problem is to give Congress clear authority to regulate the campaign finance system."
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Newspaper

New Website Seeks to Hold Journalists Accountable


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Futureofcapitalism.com
A Wikipedia-style website launched on Monday which provides information about the journalists behind the bylines.

News Transparency is a creation of Ira Stoll, the founder of another website called FutureOfCapitalism.com and the former managing editor of the now defunct New York Sun.

In a statement on its home page, newstransparency.com, the website said its goal is to help users "find out more about the people who produce the news" and "hold them accountable, the same way that journalists hold other powerful institutions accountable, by posting reviews and sharing information."

News Transparency features an alphabetical list of hundreds of journalists and invites users to edit their profiles, which include basic biographical information such as age, education, current employer and work history.
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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: US: Buddy can you spare a dime? One in three Americans has no spare cash


Dailymail.co.uk
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:25 UTC
Global consumer confidence remained weak in the third quarter with more than 60 per cent of consumers saying it was not a good time to spend, and one-in-three Americans saying they have no spare cash, a new survey shows.

The economic outlook, followed by job security, became consumers' biggest concern in the third quarter, overtaking worries about rising inflation, according to the quarterly survey by global analytics and information company Nielsen.

The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index dipped just 1 point in the third quarter from the second quarter to 88 points, but it was shored up by a surge in confidence in emerging economies Brazil and Saudi Arabia, which masked weak confidence in major developed economies.
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