Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Russian senate OKs controversial Academy of Sciences reform


RIA Novosti
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:26 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti. Alexei NaumovAcademy of Sciences
The upper house of Russia's parliament approved a contentious reform of the country's Academy of Sciences on Wednesday, as some 200 protesters gathered outside the legislature's building in downtown Moscow.

The bill outlining the reform passed the Federation Council with 135 members voting in favor and two abstaining.

Its main provisions transfer the management of most academic property to a new federal government agency and merge three previously existing academies - focusing on the sciences in general, medicine and agriculture - into one, but bar the state from interfering in the academy's scholarly activities.

An earlier version of the bill approved by the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, provided for the abolition of the academy, but the bill was reworked considering strong protests from the scientific community.
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Light Sabers

Truth becomes treason in an empire of lies: Attacks on health reporters and their readers are escalating

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:00 UTC
Truth becomes treason in an empire of lies. Attacks against health web sites like yours truly and others, and our readers - yes, that would be you - are rapidly escalating.

Thinly veiled threats are issued not just by industry spokespersons (many of whom hide their industry ties from their readers), but also international organizations like UNICEF. It's become very evident, very quickly, that now more than ever, we need your support to counter the increasingly dirty tactics of these industry players.

Simply by reporting the scientific evidence - which is published in peer-reviewed journals, mind you - I've been labeled as a top "anti-vaccine influencer" for my pro-safety stance on vaccines, and a "media supporter of domestic eco-terrorists" for my reporting on the hazards of Roundup and genetically engineered foods.
Why Is UNICEF Accusing Health Journalists of Lying? A recently published report1 by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reveals that the organization is tracking "the rise of online pro-vaccine safety sentiments in Central and Eastern Europe," and has identified the most influential pro-vaccine safety influencers" on the web.

UNICEF included me on the list, along with other independent health websites like GreenMedInfo.com, Mothering.com and NaturalNews.com, just to name a few. In their opening reference, they use a quote by Mark Twain that reads:
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
Clearly, UNICEF is inferring that I and other vaccine-safety advocates are lying about the situation and therefore should be ignored. This would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious.
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Eye 2

Employee finds copperhead snake inside Charleston day care

Travis Crum
The Charleston Gazette
Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:18 UTC
Image
© Wikimedia CommonsClose up of head of the copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix).

Wildlife biologists will inspect the Sacred Heart Early Learning Center in Charleston after an employee found a small copperhead snake in a drawer beneath a crib on Tuesday.

The employee captured the 8-inch snake inside a Styrofoam cup until a biologist with the state Division of Natural Resources arrived. How the snake got there is still a mystery, said DNR spokesman Hoy Murphy.

The center is housed inside the Sacred Heart Pavilion on the corner of Quarrier Street and Leon Sullivan Way.

"This is not typical," Murphy said. "We are talking about it being right in the middle of downtown Charleston."

Eric Richmond, a DNR wildlife biologist, said the agency would sweep the building Tuesday night and early this morning and would then recommend how to prevent other snakes from getting in, Murphy said.

Even though the snake was small, it carried as much venom as an adult-sized copperhead, Richmond said. The snake was turned over to Noel Braley of Wildlife Removal Service in Charleston.

Dawn Snyder, director of the Sacred Heart Early Learning Center, did not return phone messages. The center is licensed by the state to provide care for 52 children age 6 weeks to 3 years, according to its website.
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Info

Portland company creates 'placenta prints' in unique new moms trend

Teresa Blackman
KGW
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 05:46 UTC
Placenta Art
© Portland Placenta Services.
Portland - Placenta is being used to create art in a growing trend for new moms.

The placenta prints, as they're called, involve placing the placenta and the umbilical cord on acid-free paper and making a work of art that looks something like a tree. Some families frame and display their prints while others save them as personal keepsakes.

A local company called Portland Placenta Services specializes in making placenta prints and was featured in the NBC Today Show's Mom blog this week.

Doula Raeben Nolan runs and owns Portland Placenta Services. She has an art background and started honing her skills at making the prints six years ago. These days, it's not uncommon for her to work with 10 clients a month as interest has grown for the unique art.

"Portland is definitely more amenable to it," she said. "People really love it. I think it's a really great way to honor the birth."

Nolan said sometimes the moms, dads or even the grandparents ask to help make the print.
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Roses

Number of Dutch killed by euthanasia rises by 13 per cent

Bruno Waterfield
The Telegraph
Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:46 UTC
Dutch people killed
© AlamyThe number of Dutch people killed by medical euthanasia in Holland has more than doubled since it was legalised 10 years ago
The number of Dutch people killed by medical euthanasia has more than doubled in the 10 years since legislation was changed to permit it, rising 13 per cent last year to 4,188.

Voluntary euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, where a doctor is present while a patient kills themselves, usually by drinking a strong barbiturate potion, has been legal in the Netherlands since 2002.

Requests have risen steadily since 2003 when 1,626 people applied for medically administered euthanasia, in most cases by a lethal injection, or assisted suicide.

As previously controversial "mercy killings" have become socially and medically acceptable, the number of cases, the vast majority of medical euthanasia, have more than doubled over the decade to 2012.
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Handcuffs

China's crackdown prompts outrage over boy's arrest

Andrew Jacobs
CNBC
Mon, 23 Sep 2013 12:41 UTC
Tablet
© Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty ImagesThe Chinese social media website Weibo.
In their widening campaign against online "rumormongers" and other putative purveyors of social disorder, Chinese authorities have netted influential rights activists, freelance anticorruption sleuths and even a billionaire entrepreneur who championed the rights of poor migrants. Many of those detained in recent weeks remain in police custody.

But the enforcers of Internet propriety, it seems, were not prepared for the online outrage stirred up by the arrest last week of a 16-year-old boy who had publicly questioned investigators over the mysterious death of a karaoke club manager in China's northwest Gansu Province.

On Monday, the police in Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County apparently bowed to public pressure and released Yang Zhong, a middle school student who was among the first people to be charged under new regulations that criminalize the spreading of online rumors with up to three years in jail. The authorities contend the boy had simply confessed to his crimes and served his punishment. Hours after his release, he posted online a photograph of himself flashing a victory sign. His shirt read, "Make the Change."
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Clipboard

Record level of Americans believe that Gov't is too powerful

Joy Wilke
Gallup.com
Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:13 UTC
Record number of Republicans say the federal government has too much power

Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010. At least half of Americans since 2005 have said the government has too much power. Thirty-two percent now say the government has the right amount of power. Few say it has too little power.
Gov power
© gallup
These most recent data come from Gallup's Governance survey, conducted Sept. 5-8. The 7% who feel the government has too little power has been mostly steady since Gallup started tracking the measure regularly in 2002.
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People

Poland and Germany should unite, says Lech Walesa

Matthew Day
The Telegraph
Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:08 UTC
Lech Walesa
© AFP/Getty ImagesLech Walesa
Lech Walesa has called for Poland to unite with Germany to form one European state, despite the bloody history between the two countries.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Polish president, whose Solidarity trade union played a key role in bringing an end to the Cold War, said the world had changed and needed new ways of organising itself.

"We need to expand economic and defence co-operation and other structures to create one state from Poland and Germany in Europe," he said.

Speaking to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, Mr Walesa, 69, said national boundaries were not as relevant as they once were.
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Gear

Canada: Train derailment in Saskatchewan causes fire and oil leak


CBC News
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:47 UTC
train derailment map
© google mapsThe derailment happened close the town of Landis, Sask., about 130 kilometres west of Saskatoon
No reports of injuries

A CN Rail train has derailed just west of Landis, Sask., resulting in a grassfire and an oil leak.

There are no injuries.

RCMP said crews were on the scene Wednesday morning fighting the blaze and dealing with the derailment.

None of the 16 derailed cars had caught fire, the RCMP said. The fire, which was in a ditch, was extinguished.

The Saskatchewan government said the cars were loaded with ethanol, crude oil, car carriers and grain.
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Heart - Black

'Strip to prove you were raped,' Indian police tell teen girl


RT
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 10:42 UTC
India teen
© AFP / Roberto Schmidt
A 14-year-old girl turned to police in India to file a rape complaint, but instead she was allegedly forced to strip in front of a senior police officer to convince him that her allegation of rape was genuine.

Earlier this week the teenager had gone to a police station in Kushinagar, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, with her parents to file a report about her alleged rape by a local resident. But the girl's father was allegedly asked to pay 50,000 rupees ($800) to the police - to register the complaint and arrest the accused.

After the man refused to pay, the senior officer asked the man's daughter to accompany him into a room where he locked the door from inside and demanded that she strip for him to make sure she was raped, The Times of India reported.

"He took me into a room and closed the door and asked me to remove my clothes," the girl stated in her complaint. The police officer also allegedly verbally abused the girl and her parents and sent them away without filing a report.
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