Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

14-year-old pregnant rape victim slut-shamed in Indiana

rape
© miker/Shutterstock
Anti-choicers love to wax poetic about how beautiful it is for teenage girls to "choose life," even when raped. Unfortunately, as a recent story out of Indiana shows, the reality is anything but beautiful. In the small town of Elwood, Ind., a 13-year-old girl was raped by a 17-year-old and impregnated. The victim opposes abortion, and while she briefly considered making an exception for herself in this case, she ultimately went ahead with the pregnancy. The result? She's become a target for abuse and harassment in Elwood, and the formerly outgoing young woman is now a recluse. The Indianapolis Star reports on some of the abuse she and her mother, Kristy Green, have endured:

"I can't walk out the door without someone calling me a whore or slut," the girl said. "I used to have a lot of friends, or people I thought were my friends, but as soon as this happened I just isolated myself."

The repeated vandalism incidents at the family's home - including the words "whore" and "slut" scrawled on the garage doors - were reported to police. But Green said no charges were filed because there were no witnesses to the acts.

Her daughter also has been the target of mean-spirited rumors and speculation that her pregnancy is the result of promiscuous behavior.

Dollar

Policeman paid by Sun newspaper to visit Kate Middleton before Prince William's proposal

A policeman in the pay of the Sun newspaper said he would arrange for his colleagues to visit Kate Middleton's house to check a tip-off that Prince William was about to propose to her, it has emerged.

Paul Flattley
© PAFormer policeman Paul Flattley.
Paul Flattley, who was paid £7,600 by the Sun for 39 stories over the course of three years, also told a journalist he would check the rumour with his former sergeant, who was Miss Middleton's protection officer.

He also tipped off the newspaper about a theft from Zara Phillips's car and about the death of a 15-year-old girl.

He was jailed for two years in March after admitting conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, but the details can only now be made public after reporting restrictions on the case were lifted.

He had been jointly charged with Virginia Wheeler, the Sun's defence editor, who was accused of making several of the payments, but the Crown Prosecution Service announced today that it would not proceed with the case against her because she is unfit to stand trial.

Flattley, 30, began tipping off the newspaper within a year of joining the Metropolitan Police, the Old Bailey heard during his sentencing hearing.

In May 2008 he emailed the Sun to say that the former England footballer Paul Gascoigne had been sectioned by police under the Mental Health Act.

Info

Fort Gordon radios jam garage door remotes

Garage Door
© CorbisGarage with partially open door.
A new radio system being installed at Fort Gordon to enhance emergency communications across the area is causing mass frustration with hundreds of homeowners who have been locked out of their garages because of jammed remote-control signals.

The confusion started last week when Fort Gordon unexpectedly upgraded its land-mobile radios to a 390 megahertz bandwidth, the same frequency used in automatic garage door remotes.

As a result, nearly 500 residents have called or visited the Overhead Door Co. of Augusta to complain about garage doors that fail to open and close on command.

"It's about to kill us," Billy Sheppard, the service manager at the company, said of the business's increase in calls.

Though Sheppard said most complaints have been reported along Gordon Highway, faulty remotes have been encountered as far as 15 miles away from Fort Gordon.

Jason Milford lives on William Few Parkway in Evans and enters his home through the garage, where his wife parks her car. He thought boxes blocking ground sensors were the root of the problem, but he was wrong. The problem persisted after clearing the area around the alarms.

"On Sunday, I came home, sat in front of the garage in my car and pressed the remote seven or eight times before the door finally opened," Milford said. "I was not even 10 feet away."

Book

NSA Prism: George Orwell's '1984' is flying off the shelves

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© CC/Борис УDonetsk, Ukraine graffiti reads "Big Brother is watching you," a reference to government surveillance in George Orwell's dystopian classic "1984."
In the wake of recent revelations regarding the secret National Security Agency surveillance program known as PRISM, George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 has seen a surge in sales on Amazon.com.

X

Woman accused of torturing two maids in Dubai

A woman has been accused of torturing her two maids and causing one of them to die of pneumonia, while she kept them unfed and locked in her Al Rashidiya home for more than a month.

The surviving maid, a Filipina, alleged that the 45-year-old Emirati woman, R.M., beat them with sticks while naked, banged their heads against the wall until they bled and forced her to drink cleaning products. She told the court her Ethiopian colleague was so hungry she searched for food in the garbage.

Prosecution records said the severity of the torture and conditions of their confinement led to the Ethiopian's death and caused the 29-year-old Filipina, E.K. to suffer severe injuries.

Dubai Police's forensic expert, who examined the injuries of the Ethiopian, K.J., confirmed that she had been tortured consistently for more than a month.

Cut

Putin and wife announce that their 29-year marriage is over


Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his 29-year marriage to his his wife, Lyudmila, was over - after removing his wedding band as they watched the ballet together.

The 60-year-old and his 55-year-old wife broke the news of the end of the 29-year marriage in an obviously staged TV interview after a night at the ballet.

Before the ballet at the Kremlin Palace, Putin was pictured wearing his wedding ring, but he must have removed it during the performance because he was not wearing it by the time he left and was interviewed.

Brick Wall

Guantanamo Bay hunger strike grows - 41 now being forced fed

forced feeding guantanamo
The number of hunger strikers being force-fed by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has risen to 41, with the protest showing no signs of abating more than a week after President Obama renewed his commitment to close the detention facility.

The military said in a statement Thursday that 103 detainees are on hunger strike and that 41 of them are being force-fed. The military also said four detainees who are being force-fed are being observed at the hospital.

None of the hunger strikers has a life-threatening condition, said Lt. Col. Samuel House, a spokesman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

Comment: Remember that these men have never been found guilty of any crime whatsoever, yet they have been imprisoned and tortured for years, against all international and human rights laws. This force feeding sounds like one more torture technique they suffer for no reason at all.


Mr. Potato

France bans far right youth rally in Toulouse after the killing of left wing student

Clément Meric
© Agence France PresseClément Meric was member of the Solidaires students' union and the far-Left anti-fascist movement.
French authorities banned a far-Right youth rally set for Saturday in the southern city of Toulouse after the killing of a left-wing student this week sparked alarm over street violence by ultra-right groups.

Toulouse's Socialist mayor had expressed concern about a planned torchlit evening march to commemorate the victory of a Christian army in 721 over Muslims besieging the city, after a clash between ultra-Right and far-Left youths in Paris on Wednesday led to the death of a 19-year-old student.

Toulouse police headquarters said it had feared a "serious risk of public disorder" if the rally went ahead.

France has been shaken in recent months by scenes of far-Right youths hurling bricks at police and smashing cars as they piggybacked on street marches led by conservatives and Catholics against a reform to legalise same-sex marriage.

The sudden visibility of far-Right groups is shaking up the already fragmented Right-wing opposition, as National Front leader Marine Le Pen seeks to distance herself from them and the UMP conservative party squabbles over whether to embrace or oppose the anti-gay marriage movement.

Comment: While the world burns: Huge gay marriage protest turns violent in Paris


Heart - Black

Sgt. Robert Bales describes killing 16 Afghans

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© APStaff Sgt. Robert Bales, left, stands before military judge Col. Jeffery Nance Wednesday in this court sketch.
The American soldier charged with killing 16 Afghan civilians during nighttime raids on two villages last year pleaded guilty Wednesday then described shooting each victim, telling a military judge there is "not a good reason in this world" for what he did.

To avoid the death penalty, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder at the hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle. He then read from a statement in a clear and steady voice, describing his actions for each killing in the same terms.

Bales, 39, said he left the remote base where he was posted in southern Afghanistan in March 2012, and went to the nearby villages of mud-walled compounds. Once inside, he said he "formed the intent" of killing the victims, then shot each one.

"This act was without legal justification, sir," Bales told the judge while seated at a defense table, his handles folded in front of him.

Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were burned. Relatives have told The Associated Press they are irate at the notion Bales will escape execution for one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war.

USA

When fascism comes to America, it will be cloaked in patriotism

paul ryan
© Unknown
There is a quote (often misattributed to Sinclair Lewis) that states, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." While the actual quote seems to be a condensed meme of a collection of prognostications from the 1930′s as Hitler came to power, it is very true of where we find ourselves headed in the 21st century here in the United States.

The word "fascist" is thrown around a lot these days and it's usually by people who have no clue what it really means. They bleat about "Big Brother" and an authoritarian government, even as they ironically vote for the politicians who support the very same things. Even though we won the war against fascism in Germany, it seems as if we brought that back with us like a parasite that would lay dormant for a few decades.

In a nutshell, fascism is basically an authoritarian government for corporations, by corporations. Extreme nationalism, the loss of individual liberties, and collectivism that benefits corporations rather than people. Basically, corporate protection and welfare. This is where the dollar is placed above the individual, where human beings are just cogs in the wheel. Have you ever heard your boss say "you're an asset to the company"? That's it, you are an asset just like the office printer - and just like that printer, you'll be thrown away once your usefulness has run its course.