Society's ChildS


Nuke

Massive smoke between Japan's Fukushima reactor 2 and 3

Mochizuki
Fukushima Dairy
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
On 2/28/2012, smoke was observed from between reactor 2 and 3.

It was from 10:52 ~ 11:58. The smoke reached over the reactor buildings.

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Bomb

Funding Terrorism: Qatar to offer £63m to buy weapons for the syrian Rebels

Martin Chulov
the guardian
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
Sheikh Hamad
© Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty ImagesSheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, last year pushed for the Arab League to suspend Syria.
On Monday, Qatar's prime minister declared his state's intent to start helping the Syrian opposition "by all means", including giving them weapons. Two days later, anti-Assad officials received an offer of a $100m (£63m) donation, from their brothers in arms in Libya. Coincidence? Unlikely, if the Libyan revolution is any indicator.

The third act, in what looks very much like the beginning of a concerted push to arm the Syrian insurgency, took place today when the previously gun-shy Syrian National Council formed a military council, which it says will act as a clearing house for anyone offering it arms.

Two probabilities have quickly emerged: the first is that a militarised Syrian National Council is unlikely to be short of suppliers. And, second, Libya is merely a conduit for the $100m, which was at least partly funded by Qatar to get things rolling.

Libya's national transitional council has been quick to stress that the money it is sending is for humanitarian aid, which is clearly desperately needed in western Syria, withering under a regime offensive. No one in the nascent Tripoli government is quibbling about where the cash comes from. When asked yesterday how a state still in turmoil could afford such a generous gift, an spokesman for the Libyan council replied simply: "It won't be a problem".
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Handcuffs

Government plans for police privatisation

Alan Travis and Zoe Williams
Guardian
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:08 UTC
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© Press Association/Lewis WhyldStreet patrols could be handled by security firms under the government's police privatisation plans.
West Midlands and Surrey police offer £1.5bn contract under which private firms may investigate crime and detain suspects

Private companies could take responsibility for investigating crimes, patrolling neighbourhoods and even detaining suspects under a radical privatisation plan being put forward by two of the largest police forces in the country.

West Midlands and Surrey have invited bids from G4S and other major security companies on behalf of all forces across England and Wales to take over the delivery of a wide range of services previously carried out by the police.

The contract is the largest on police privatisation so far, with a potential value of £1.5bn over seven years, rising to a possible £3.5bn depending on how many other forces get involved.

This scale dwarfs the recent £200m contract between Lincolnshire police and G4S, under which half the force's civilian staff are to join the private security company, which will also build and run a police station for the first time.

The home secretary, Theresa May, who has imposed a 20% cut in Whitehall grants on forces, has said frontline policing can be protected by using the private sector to transform services provided to the public, but this is the first clear indication of what that will mean in practice. May said on Thursday that she hoped the "business partnership" programme would be in place next spring.
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House

Investors buying homes by the dozen

Michelle Conlin
Reuters
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:16 UTC
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© Rebecca Cook/ReutersInvestors are buying homes by the dozen in places such as Detroit, where the depressed housing market has homes going for $500 a pop in some cases.
When Vena Jones-Cox entered the foyer of the once-grand Colonial-style home in downtown Columbus, Ohio, she stepped onto a wood floor that was so moldy and mushy that it actually wiggled. As Cox proceeded down the basement stairs, they disappeared from underneath her.

"I found myself lying on the floor," says Jones-Cox, 45. "Staring at a dead rat, by the way."

The house tour from hell didn't stop her from making an offer on the place. While she was at it, she bid on some other houses, too. Forty nine houses, actually.

She's paying $3,000 for each, a bit more than the cost of an Apple Mac Pro. "We're at a bottom," says Jones-Cox. "I mean, where else is there to go but up?"

As the greatest real-estate fire sale in the history of the United States rages on, the bulk buy is the dead hot deal of the moment. In some of the most foreclosure-ravaged parts of the country, it is almost as if the housing market has become the new big box store, with investors wiping out whole shelves at a time.

Comment: In the original 'Great Depression' similar things happened and that is how many of the rich were able to cash in on the misery of those who'd lost everything. The statement "The idea is to arbitrage other people's misery" says a lot.

Arbitrage: Finance - the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities [houses], or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices.

arbitrage
late 15th century from French. arbitrage, from arbitrer "to arbitrate, judge."

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Wolf

Russia and the changing world

Vladimir Putin
Russia Today
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:09 UTC
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© RIA Novosti / Aleksey Nikolsky
In the run-up to Russia's presidential elections, prime minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin has published his seventh article in which he defined Russia's niche in a "changing world."

In my articles I have already mentioned the key challenges that Russia is facing internationally today. Yet this subject deserves a more detailed discussion and not only because foreign policy is an integral part of any national strategy. External challenges and the changing world around us affect our economic, cultural, fiscal and investment policies.

Russia is a part of the big world, economically, culturally and in terms of information flow. We cannot be isolated, and we do not want to be isolated. We expect our openness will bring the people of Russia more prosperity and culture and will promote trust, an item that has been in short supply lately.

At the same time, everything we do will be based on our own interests and goals, not on decisions other countries impose on us. Russia is only treated with respect when it is strong and stands firm on its own two feet. Russia has practically always had the privilege of pursuing an independent foreign policy and this is how it will be in the future. Furthermore, I strongly believe that the only way to ensure global security is by doing it together with Russia, not by trying to "demote" it, weaken it geopolitically or undermine its defensive potential.

The goals of our foreign policy are strategic rather than short-term. They reflect Russia's unique role in international affairs, in history and in the development of civilization.
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Mr. Potato

Video: Sarkozy, booed by protesters, hides in bar


Russia Today
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:17 UTC
Campaigning in Bayonne, a town in France's southwestern Basque region, President Nicolas Sarkozy was booed by hundreds of protesters. The French leader escaped to a café under the protection of riot police.

­The president was jeered as he got out of his car heading, to a bar to meet with voters. Protesters mobbed the president, threw eggs and cried insults at Sarkozy, causing him to seek refuge in Bar du Palais. The protesters are believed to be Basque separatists and opposition Socialist party loyalists.


Comment: Let's watch that in action-replay, this time from The Guardian:










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Pirates

Libya's Western puppet regime celebrates takeover by caging and torturing blacks


Russia Today
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:10 UTC
A shocking video has appeared on the Internet showing Libyan rebels torturing a group of black Africans. People with their hands bound are shown being locked in a zoo-like cage and forced to eat the old Libyan flag. ­"Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience. God is Great," screams a voice off-camera.

Thanks to NATO, now Libyans can also enjoy the freedoms of psychopaths run amok.

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Heart - Black

Ohio Adoptive Father Accused of Prostituting Adopted Boy

Ann Sanner and Dan Sewell
The Associated Press
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Police Photos via The Daily News This combination made with police photos shows Patrick Rieder, 31, of Dayton, Ohio, left, and Jason Zwick, 29, of Beavercreek, Ohio. Law enforcement officials are widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against the two men and an adoptive father, authorities said Thursday, March 1, 2012.
US: Ohio, Troy - A 10-year-old boy shook when asked about being prostituted to two other men by an adoptive father who regularly had sex with him, according to police, who said the boy was fearful of talking because he didn't want to be taken from his home or separated from his new siblings.

The adoptive father has been charged with raping three boys in his care and compelling prostitution by hiring the 10-year-old out for sex. He and two other men remained in jail Thursday on rape charges.

Federal and local law enforcement officials said they're widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against the father, who worked out of his home as an insurance claims adjuster. His name is being withheld by The Associated Press to protect the children's identities.

Troy police said they impounded the father's truck and seized four laptops from the home and a video camera and two wooden paddles from the master bedroom.

School officials said the man had recently withdrawn the three adopted children from school, saying he would home school them. A neighbor said he had no idea anything lurid might be going on in the home.

"You don't know what goes on inside people's homes," said neighbor Ed Rogers, who had lived across the street from the man the past five years in a neighborhood lined with single-story ranch homes, typical in this working class city of 25,000 people about 20 miles north of Dayton. "I'll never look at that house the same way again. I'll just look at it with sickness."
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Pistol

Greek Man Shoots Two, Takes Hostages Over Layoff


Reuters
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
greek police
© unknown
Athens - An unemployed man shot and wounded his former boss and one other worker and took another two hostage at a small factory in Greece in protest at losing his job, police said on Thursday.

He later released the hostages and turned himself over to police after officers surrounded the factory in northern Greece.

Police said the man, a 61-year-old father of two who was laid off about seven months ago, did not harm his captives.

Greeks are growing increasingly desperate as public sector spending cuts, designed to save the country from a debilitating debt crisis, exacerbate a recession now in its fifth year. Rioters last month torched and looted buildings in Athens as Greece's parliament approved austerity measures in order to secure an EU/IMF bailout.
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Megaphone

'Time to Set Scientists Free': Prominent Journal Slams Harper Government

Helen Branswell
The Canadian Press
Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00 UTC
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© bulletproofcourierStephen Harper's Science Censor-Matic
Canada, Toronto - One of the world's leading scientific journals has criticized the federal government for policies that limit its scientists from speaking publicly about their research.

The journal, Nature, says in an editorial in this week's issue that it is time for the Canadian government to set its scientists free.

It notes that Canada and the United States have undergone role reversals in the past six years, with the U.S. adopting more open practices since the end of George W. Bush's presidency while Canada has been going in the opposite direction.

The editorial says that since taking power in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has tightened the media protocols applied to federal government scientists and employees.

Nature says policy directives on government communications that have been released through access to information requests have revealed the Harper government has little understanding of the importance of the free flow of scientific knowledge.

The journal says its own news reporters have experienced firsthand the obstacles the Canadian government puts in the way of people trying to gain access to science generated by government scientists on the public payroll.
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