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Apple Not to Blame for Despicable Price Hike of Whitney Houston Album

Mike Schuster
Minyanville
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:25 UTC
Whitney Houston
© Minyanville
Last year, Microsoft came under fire for turning singer Amy Winehouse's death into a money-making opportunity. Only a few months after Bing used the devastating earthquake in Japan as Twitter ad campaign, Redmond promoted Winehouse's album Back to Black with its Zune Twitter account and urged fans to download it from the music service. Following the backlash, Microsoft released a statement: "Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse 'download' tweet seemed purely commercially motivated. Far from the case, we assure you."

And as that mea culpa failed to convince us otherwise, another posthumous money grab has revealed a corporation's true intentions, however ghoulish.

This past Saturday, world-renowned pop singer Whitney Houston died from an apparent drug overdose in a Los Angeles hotel room. Almost immediately, as fans were flooding the iTunes Store and Amazon to download her music, the price of her greatest hits album The Ultimate Collection rose from £4.99 to £7.99 in iTunes.
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Attention

Canada Cracks Down on Transgendered Air Travelers

Diane Bullock
Minyanville
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:21 UTC
Transgendered Travel
© Minyanville
What the Canuck?!
It looks like America can finally put a check in the "win" column over Canada for LGBT rights -- at least when it comes to air travel.

Suddenly, flying the gay friendly skies over our neighbor to the north may be a thing of the past for its transgendered citizenry. Due to an obscure amendment to the country's airline screening regulations, Canadian men and women who don't identify with their genetic sex will be prohibited from boarding any commercial aircraft for travel.

Meanwhile, guys like this -- who dress in women's lingerie -- go untagged by the US government's No Fly List, are waved right on through the checkpoint line by the Transportation Security Administration, and are welcomed aboard US Airways flights as preferred customers. They may not be able to get married in the majority of our country, but at least we give them the right to fly through it.
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Document

US: Washington State's Governor Signs Gay Marriage Law

Nicole Neroulias
Reuters
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:36 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Robert Sorbo
Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire signs legislation legalizing gay marriage in the state, in Olympia, Washington February 13, 2012.
Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation on Monday to make Washington state the seventh in the United States to legalize gay marriage, but opponents vowed to try to prevent the law from taking effect.

Gregoire, a Democrat and a Roman Catholic, signed the measure to raucous applause during a ceremony in the ornate reception room of the Olympia statehouse, declaring, "This is a very proud moment. ... I'm proud of who and what we are as a state." It was the latest victory for the U.S. gay rights movement.

Six other states already recognize gay marriage - New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa - as does the District of Columbia.

The measure, which won approval from state lawmakers on Wednesday, remains essentially on hold until at least early June, following a standard enactment period that runs until 90 days after Washington's legislative session ends.

Opponents of the statute have vowed to seek its repeal through a ballot measure in November that could delay enactment further or halt it entirely. The issue is also likely to figure in the state's Republican presidential politics.
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Stormtrooper

US, Virginia: Cop Shoots Unarmed Woman Motorist To Death For Rolling Up Her Car Window


WUSA
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:11 UTC

Culpeper -- An eyewitness to a fatal police shooting in Culpeper, Virginia is contradicting the State Police version of the story.

Kris Buchele says he saw a Culpeper Town Police officer shoot 54-year-old Patricia Cook to death in the Epiphany Catholic School parking lot at around 10 a.m. Thursday, February 9.

Buchele is a carpenter who was working on the house next door. He says he heard loud arguing outside and looked through a window where he had a clear view of the school parking lot. Cook was in her Jeep Wrangler .

State police say Cook rolled up the window, catching the officer's arm inside, and then dragged him.

Buchele says it didn't happen that way. He describes an encounter which looked and sounded like the officer shooting a person a point blank range, not because he feared for his life, but because the woman did not obey his order to stop rolling up the window.
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Heart - Black

Canada: Quebec Town 'Heartbroken' After Killing of Woman, Sisters


CBC News
Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Radio-Canada
Juliette Fillion, 8, and her sister, Laurence, 11, died in Saint-Romain, Que., on Friday.
A small Quebec town is in mourning Sunday after a Quebec man was charged with killing his nieces and his mother, who were found dead in their family home.

Pascal Morin, 35, was arrested Friday night after authorities found the bodies of two girls and his 70-year-old mother in a rural house in Saint-Romain, a small community between Lac-Mégantic and Thetford Mines. He has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Morin was in his mother's house when police arrived at the crime scene around supper time Friday, after receiving an emergency phone call.

The victims have been identified as Ginette Morin, 70, and her two granddaughters, Juliette and Laurence Fillion.

Ginette Morin was a retired school teacher who taught in the region for several years, and her students included many residents of the town of 600.
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Green Light

Canada: How Old is Too Old to Drive?

Andy Radia
Political Points
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
A new Statistics Canada study has raised some alarming statistics about the physical and cognitive abilities of our driving seniors.

According to the report, 19 per cent of the 3.25 million people aged 65 and over that had a driver's licence could not see well enough to read a newspaper or recognize a friend on the other side of the street - even with glasses.

Moreover, one-quarter of seniors with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia still had a valid driver's licence.

It's a sensitive question but it's one that needs to be addressed by governments across the country: how old is too old to drive?

Unfortunately, as people age they tend to suffer from decreased vision, slower reflexes, and their ability to attend to multiple stimuli (e.g. pedestrians, signs, and traffic) is compromised.

Additionally, seniors are more susceptible to illnesses such as heart disease, arthritis and dementia which can lead to tragic consequences on our roads.

It's a problem that is only going to get worse.
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Family

US: Arizona Bill Would Likely Prohibit Teachers And Professors From Teaching Any Book With 'Profanity'

Adam Peck
Think Progress
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:02 UTC
A new bill in Arizona is seeking to impose harsh restrictions on teachers' conduct, even in their own homes. The bill, SB 1467, states that educators at the state's public schools and universities can be fined, suspended and ultimately fired if they "engage in speech or conduct that would violate the standards adopted by the Federal Communications Commission concerning obscenity, indecency and profanity if that speech or conduct were broadcast on television or radio."

That does a great deal to limit what can be taught in classrooms. Banning books is certainly not a new practice, but this law would cover far more than controversial books. Here's a look at some of the key books that would be outlawed in Arizona classrooms:
Image
© unk
Worse, as Angus Johnston notes, the bill is so ineptly drafted that it could intrude deeply into teacher's private lives. SB 1467 doesn't just ban public speech or conduct, but all speech and conduct. That means public school teachers in Arizona will be forbidden from engaging in any FCC-regulated activities no matter where they are. That means no sex, no going to the bathroom, no cursing and no showering. Ever.
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Ambulance

US: Whitney Houston was Found Underwater, Unconscious: police

Dan Whitcomb and Mary Slosson
Reuters
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Whitney Houston
© Reuters//Gary Hershorn
Pop star Whitney Houston was "underwater and apparently unconscious" when she was discovered in a Beverly Hills hotel room bathtub, police said on Monday, as her body was reported to be heading home to New Jersey.

Beverly Hills Police, in a written statement released to address "many rumors" circulating in the media, also said they could not yet speculate on the cause of Houston's death at 48.

"She was underwater and apparently unconscious," Beverly Hills police said. "Ms. Houston was pulled from the tub by members of her staff and hotel security was promptly notified."

The entertainer, who battled drug addiction during her life, was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday on the eve of music's Grammy Awards, stunning friends, family and fans.

Some media reports, citing unnamed sources, have mentioned a possible accidental drowning. Others have highlighted her past drug and alcohol use.

Coroner department officials have declined to provide much detail pending toxicology tests that could take weeks to complete.

"As can be expected in a high profile incident such as this there have been many rumors circulating and much speculation by the media and the public," Beverly Hills Police said in the statement.

"In order to minimize such speculation, the Beverly Hills Police Department has asked the Coroner's office to place a security hold on their findings until they have a complete and final report prepared."
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Nuke

U.S green lights two new reactors


Outcome Magazine
Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:54 UTC
Peter Lyons Bill Borchardt
© UPI/Roger L.
Acting Assistant Energy Secretary Peter Lyons of the Office of Nuclear Energy, (L) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Executive Director for Operations Bill Borchardt testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the construction of two new nuclear reactors, the first to be built in the United States since 1978.

The commission voted 4-1 in favor of the construction and operating license Thursday for Atlanta-based utility giant Southern Co.'s Alvin W. Vogtle plant in Waynesboro, Ga., which already has two reactors dating to the 1980s.

With the new reactors, units 3 and 4, it will be the largest nuclear facility in the country.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko voted against the approval.

"I simply cannot authorize issuance of these licenses without any binding obligation that these plants will have implemented the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident before they operate," Jaczko said in a written statement explaining his dissent.
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House

US, California: Mortgage problems? Turn your house into a billboard

Tim Reid
Reuters
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:57 UTC
When they saw the house on El Dorado Drive in this Los Angeles suburb being painted a startling orange and green and giant billboards hung on the outside, Scott and Beth Hostetler's neighbors were initially angry and confused. Some even considered calling the police.
Image
© Reuters
An ad you can live in: Beth and Scott Hostetler pose with their daughter Sarah in front of their Buena Park, California, home that has been changed into a giant billboard

But what they witnessed on Friday was not an offensive redecoration decision by the Hostetlers, but rather the debut of one of the more unusual schemes to arise from the housing crisis. In return for allowing the front of their four-bedroom house to become a garish advertisement, the Hostetlers are getting their nearly $2,000 monthly mortgage paid by the marketing company behind the project, Brainiacs From Mars.

In a residential neighborhood without heavy traffic, cars passing by the house slowed and drivers gawked at the vivid colors and a giant Brainiacs From Mars billboard.

Romeo Mendoza, the company's founder and CEO, told Reuters that his ultimate goal is to turn 1,000 homes across the United States into giant advertisements for his marketing firm.

And in each case struggling homeowners will get their mortgage paid, for up to a year.

"If we roll it out to scale and impact the foreclosure crisis, that would be amazing," Mendoza, 42, said.

Mendoza said he chose the Hostetlers because they are nice people and he wants to choose the most deserving cases rather than homes on the busiest streets.
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