Society's ChildS


Bomb

Bomb in Nigerian Church Causes Deaths at Christmas

Image
© Agence France-Presse
A bomb exploded in a Catholic church on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja during Christmas prayers Sunday and emergency services said they did not have enough ambulances available to evacuate all the dead and the wounded.

The precise number of dead and wounded in the blast was not immediately available.

"Yes, I can confirm to you that there has been a bomb blast in a church in Madala (suburb)," National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Yushau Shuaibu said by telephone.

"We are presently there, evacuating the dead and the injured, but unfortunately we don't have enough ambulances. Most of our ambulances have gone to operate on the major highways of the country," he added.

The blast in St Theresa's Church in Madala, an Abuja suburb blew out windows of at least one house nearby, a witness said.

Attention

Canada: U.S. Nuclear Sub Nearly Hit Freighter Near British Columbia

Image
© Eli J. Medellin/U.S. navyA U.S. coast guard cutter escorts the strategic nuclear missile submarine USS Kentucky through Juan de Fuca Strait in 2003.
A freighter captain's keen eye helped avert a run-in with a nuclear-powered American submarine in Juan de Fuca Strait, a body of water that splits Washington state and B.C. coasts, according to a U.S. periodical.

The incident, which saw the freighter and submarine come within 800 metres of each other, took place in early October but is only coming to light this week, says the Navy Times, which calls itself "an independent source for news and information for the navy community."

The Navy Times says that at around 8 a.m. PT on Oct. 12, the USS Kentucky ballistic-missile submarine had its periscope above water, but was otherwise hidden below the surface when it turned onto a new course that was blocked by a cargo ship.

The submarine's commanding officer, concerned about a trawler, ordered a change of course, but neither he nor the officer of the deck looked through the periscope to check if the course was clear.

Candle

Happy Christmas, O Prisoners of the Little Town of Bethlehem

little town of bethlehem
© n/a
Stuart Littlewood reminds us of the utter misery in which Palestinian Christians will mark this Christmas as they have marked every Christmas under Israeli occupation.

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting light

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight

While carving the turkey for your family and merrily quaffing mulled wine "midst happy laughter", remember that the romantic Little Town of Bethlehem at the centre of our childhood Christmases is now "an immense prison" in the words of Michel Sabbah, former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and entirely surrounded by Israel's ugly eight-metre-high separation wall bristling with machine-gun towers.

UFO

FEMA Manual: FEMA Makes Preparation For UFO Attack ?

News report showing FEMA manual which gives instruction to first responders for dealing with possible UFO attack.

Newspaper

EU Protests Israeli Occupation Policies

On December 23, Haaretz writer Barak Ravid headlined, "EU voices protest over Israeli policies in East Jerusalem, West Bank," saying:

"A day after four European Union members of the UN Security Council strongly criticized Israel's decision to speed up construction of settlements."

"EU ambassador to Israel Andrew Standley on Thursday submitted a formal protest to the Foreign Ministry over evacuating Bedouins and tearing down Palestinians' houses in the E1 area near" Ma'aleh Adumim settlement.

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Director Jeff Halper called it a major development, saying:

"The significance of this development is not only the creation of a greater Jerusalem that controls the center of the West Bank, but the emergence of Israeli Occupation territorial contiguity, that effectively eliminates the two state solution."

ICAHD's Co-Director Itay Epshtain added:

"ICAHD has long cautioned about the emergence of a greater Jerusalem linking the Judaization of East Jerusalem and displacement of Bedouins in E1, with the development of Ma'aleh Adumim, all the way to the Jordan Valley."

Sheriff

US Cop Murders: Florida Cops strip man naked then pepper spray him repeatedly until he died

Did Tampa-area police tie down, pepper-spray, and eventually kill a disturbed man who was arrested for public intoxication?

That's the account and accusation relayed by Reason.com. Over two years ago, 62-year-old Ohioan Nick Christie was detained for public intoxication while on a trip in the Tampa, Florida area.

The man's wife asked that he be taken to the hospital, but Lee County cops allegedly decided instead to "strip Christie naked, tie him to a chair, cover his face, and then pepper spray him repeatedly, until he died."

His death was ruled a homicide because he was restrained and repeatedly pepper-sprayed by law enforcement officers. But to this day, no one has been charged with a crime, and the state attorney cleared the sheriff's office of criminal fault in the case.

Evil Rays

US: Smart Meters Make Themselves At Home . . . by Force

smart meter fraud
© n/a
Many Idaho residents want nothing to do with the new Smart Meters forced on them by Idaho Electric and the Public Utilities Commission in order to replace analog electric meters.

Some simply don't want them, others don't appreciate the eerie surveillance of residents' whereabouts and usage and the ability for remote power shut-off, especially where medical devices are concerned.

Most alarming have been the health effects from the EMF output - headaches, insomnia, nausea, ringing ears and more reported by residents nationwide.

Idaho Electric has been caught installing Smart Meters without permission, despite protest, even hopping fences while residents are away. Whether residents are home or not, IE reps have brought armed law enforcement to make sure the job gets done and police go without questioning or filing paperwork.

The media has been strangely quiet about the incidents and the outraged residents. One reporter interviewed an investigative blogger who brought the incidents to light, and wanted to clear it with her editor first. The story never made it to the papers. If anything, the mainstream media have lauded the new "energy efficient" Smart Meters despite growing evidence of health hazards and power spying.

USA

US: Voters Leaving Republican, Democratic Parties in Droves

USA illustration
© Anthony Freda Illustration
A recent analysis conducted by USA Today showed that American voters are fed up with both mainstream political parties and are leaving them in droves.

The newspaper claims that "More than 2.5 million voters have left the Democratic and Republican parties since the 2008 elections."

Over the last decade this trend has only seemed to accelerate says USA Today. While many people feel there is little difference in the parties, their options remain slim. Yet, voters switching to Independent have climbed dramatically.

According to the statistics gathered from eight swing states, "Democrats' registration is down by 800,000 and Republicans' by 350,000. Independents have gained 325,000."

Nationally, Democrats still outnumber Republicans 42 million registered voters to 30 million, however Dems have lost the most voters since 2008. Meanwhile Independents are becoming a viable party in itself with 24 million registered voters.

Bell

Best of the Web: "I Cannot Eat Your Prayers": How Student Debt Changed One Woman's Mind on "Christian Charity"

From an evangelical home to over $100,000 in student loans and healthcare debt, one writer faces the ways in which even progressive Christianity comes up short.

Image
© Jasmic
I'm going to tell you a story. It's the story of a good girl from a quiet town who prayed, studied hard, said no to drugs, and otherwise did everything she was told - and then went on to become Sallie Mae's bitch and lost just about everything. This story is mine.

I grew up in an evangelical home, and was an earnest "liberal-evangelical" into my early twenties. Now I think that my former religious faith - not unlike my faith in the U.S. higher education system - gave me a warped sense of optimism about the way the world works. I believed in faith-based platitudes, plus a few secular ones. Examples:
  1. God has a plan for my life.
  2. My whole future is ahead of me.

Eye 1

Hysteria Alert: US Passenger's frosted cupcakes spark airport terror alert

cup cake
© File pictureTerror!: Airport security staff confiscated two cupcakes claiming the icing could be explosive
A woman who just flew back home from Las Vegas says an airport security officer confiscated her frosted cupcake because he thought the icing on it could be a security risk.

Rebecca Hains said the Transportation Security Administration agent at McCarran International Airport took her cupcake Wednesday, telling her its frosting was enough like a gel to violate TSA restrictions on allowing liquids and gels onto flights to prevent them from being used as explosives.

'I just thought this was terrible logic,' Hains said Friday.

Hains, who lives in Peabody, just north of Boston, said the agent didn't seem concerned that the cupcake could actually be explosive, just that it fit some bureaucratic definition about what was prohibited.