Society's ChildS


Bizarro Earth

Bodies Found in Mexico Might be Kidnapped Marines

The Mexican navy said Thursday it found bodies in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz that could include those of three marines and a naval cadet kidnapped by suspected drug cartel gunmen earlier this month.

Mexican drug cartels have kidnapped and killed military personnel before, but it remains a relatively rare occurrence.

The navy said in a statement that objects belonging to the kidnapped servicemen were found in a raid on a warehouse Sunday and that investigators later found the four bodies in four pits on the outskirts of the state capital.

The raid also resulted in the capture of five people suspected of participating in the abductions, authorities said.

Neither the navy nor federal security spokesman would say which cartel the suspects allegedly worked for, but the Zetas gang is known to be active in the area.

Handcuffs

US: Ohio sells state prison to private contractor for $73 million

prision

Cleveland - Ohio said on Thursday it had gone through with a controversial plan to privatize a portion of the state's prison system, the latest step in Republican Governor John Kasich's campaign to shrink government and close the state's budget shortfall.

Officials said the state had sold the Lake Erie Correctional Institution, an 11-year-old prison housing about 1,500 nonviolent prisoners, to the Corrections Corporation of America for $72.7 million. The state will now pay the Nashville-based company to run the facility.

The privatization of parts of Ohio's prison system was one of the deficit-closing provisions contained in the budget Kasich signed into law earlier in June.

Che Guevara

Dozens Arrested in US as Pipeline Protest Kicks Off

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© Agence France-PressePipelines are seen in Canada 2007. Dozens were arrested at the White House Saturday as protesters began a two-week sit-in expected to draw over 2,000 opponents of a proposed pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.
Dozens were arrested at the White House Saturday as protesters began a two-week sit-in expected to draw over 2,000 opponents of a proposed pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.

"President (Barack) Obama can stop this climate-killing disaster with the stroke of a pen," said Bill McKibben, spokesman for Tar Sands Action, the environmental group that organized the protest. Tar Sands said on its website that more than 70 people were arrested Saturday.

"This is the most important environmental test that President Obama has faced. He has to decide whether or not to grant permission for this giant pipeline," said McKibben.

A total of 2,200 people from all 50 states are expected to take part in the event, which is designed to pressure Obama to deny a permit for the $13 billion Keystone XL pipeline project due to stretch across 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers).

X

North Carolina, US: Mother Accused of Hacking Daughters to Death Says Ghost Did It

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© WYFF
A 33-year-old mother accused of killing her two young daughters with a hatchet and then trying to kill herself told investigators that a ghost killed her children, according to a warrant.

The murder warrant against Naiyana Patel also said that she has said she does not want to live and she did not want surgery for her head injuries.

On Saturday, Patel's husband, Lalji Patel, returned home from work to find his daughters, 7-year-old Jiya and 4-year-old Piya, dead and their mother seriously injured.

Police said Naiyana Patel struck herself in the head repeatedly with the hatchet after she killed the girls.

Relatives said Naiyana was being treated for depression after a pregnancy she did not carry to full term, and, at some point she switched medication because the initial prescription did not seem to help.

Handcuffs

US: Daryl Hannah Arrested in White House Oil Protest

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© The Associated Press / Evan VucciActress Daryl Hannah is arrested by U.S. Park Police in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, during a protest against the Keystone oil pipeline.
Actress Daryl Hannah has been arrested in front of the White House along with other environmental protesters who oppose a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The sit-in Tuesday involved dozens protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. It would go through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

Before she was arrested, Hannah told The Associated Press the protesters want to be free from dependence on fossil fuels. The group calls for clean energy investments instead. Hannah says they hope President Barack Obama will not bow to oil lobbyists.

Hannah sat down on the sidewalk near the White House and refused orders from U.S. Park Police to move.

She has been arrested in the past for environmental causes.

Source: The Associated Press

Attention

U.S. Issues Worldwide 9/11 Travel Alert to Americans

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© Al Diaz, Miami Herald/MCTSanjay Roy of Miami checks the departure board as flights at Miami International Airport in a file picture.
The U.S. State Department on Friday issued a worldwide travel alert ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, calling on Americans living and travelling abroad to remain vigilant.

The department said it had not identified any "specific threats" about possible attacks but that al-Qaida and its affiliates had "demonstrated the intent and capability to carry out attacks" against the U.S. and U.S. interests.

"In the past, terrorist organizations have on occasion planned their attacks to coincide with significant dates on the calendar," the State Department said.

The alert expires on January 2, 2012, it said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was "no specific or credible intelligence that al-Qaida or its affiliates are plotting attacks" linked to the anniversary of the worst terror strikes on U.S. soil.

But she added: "We remain at a heightened state of vigilance, and security measures are in place to detect and prevent plots against the United States should they emerge."

Stormtrooper

US, New Mexico: Police Officer Who Had Sex on Duty Won't Face Charges

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© KOB televisionA New Mexico State Police officer is under investigation after a surveillance camera at a remote Santa Fe ranch caught him allegedly having sex with a woman on the roof of a car.
A uniformed on-duty New Mexico state police officer who was caught on camera having sex with a woman on a car hood, embarrassing his department, will not face criminal charges, police said on Thursday.

"At this time we don't believe that any criminal acts occurred," New Mexico State Police Sgt. Tim Johnson said in a statement.

He said the officer involved in the encounter was currently on paid administrative leave and that the case was still "in the disciplinary process" in the department.

Johnson told Reuters that after speaking with the woman, investigators decided the trooper hadn't broken any laws.

"This officer made a horrible personal decision that will obviously reflect poorly on the whole organization," he said.

Eye 1

How Real is the Threat from Islamic Terrorism in the U.S.?

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Statistically, your chances of dying from a bee sting or a lightning strike are much greater than your chances of dying in a terrorist attack in America.

The anthrax attack and the Fort Hood shooting had nothing to do with foreign terrorists. The shoe bomber and the underwear bomber were not attacks in the US. I'll give you the Times Square bombing, even though it was such an utterly incompetent failure that it's difficult to believe that it was actually meant to succeed. I mean, really, what kind of moron thinks that a large firecracker will blow up a propane tank? If they actually had meant to kill people it would have been ten times easier and almost foolproof to just fill a Ryder truck with drums of gasoline, stop it in one of the tunnels at rush hour, and torch it.

The anthrax attacks, in particular, were traced to U.S. scientists at Fort Detrick, MD who were viciously anti-Muslim. These attacks had absolutely nothing to do with Al Qaida, and everything to do with causing enough hysteria to enable the administration's plans to repeal the Bill of Rights piecemeal without anyone daring to protest. Blaming these attacks on Muslim terrorists is simply the worst kind of disinformation, and this is no longer even controversial.

Bad Guys

Toxicologist: Oil spill far more toxic than admitted

oil spill, michigan
© Unknown

Nicholas Forte has spent the last year with an array of health issues. Headaches. Migraines. Nausea. Breathing problems so severe they would land him in the hospital.

"We have no idea what it is," the 22-year-old Battle Creek resident told Michigan Messenger. "Then it escalated to seizures."

And while the seizures landed him in the hospital - at one point stopping his heart and his breathing - doctors are at a loss to understand why. Tests indicate none of the expected patterns for epilepsy.

Crusader

UK: Anti-Israel protests disrupt BBC Proms concert

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© UnknownA group of about 20 people had gathered outside the hall to protest the appearance of the orchestra
Protesters have disrupted a BBC Proms concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The soloist, Gil Shaham, was about to play Bruch's violin concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta when some people in the audience began booing and shouting.

BBC Radio 3 interrupted its live broadcast twice before returning later.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign had earlier called on people to boycott the concert and urged the BBC to cancel it.

The pro-Palestinian group claimed that the IPO showed "complicity in whitewashing Israel's persistent violations of international law and human rights".