Society's Child

Generations pay off debts through slavery

Cable News Network
Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:49 UTC

© Cable News Network
Durgawati, her husband and children stand before piles of bricks, with their brick homes in the background.

Uttar Pradesh, India - An army of workers, their faces encrusted with dust, toils beside a story-high pile of unfired bricks. They are helping build a new India that appears to be leaving them behind.

From sunup to sundown they spend their time pouring wet mud into molds, lugging them to the kiln, firing them and then pulling them out. For their backbreaking work, they do not receive wages.

They are working to pay off a debt.

In India they are known as bonded laborers, bound to those who gave them or their forefathers an advance or a loan. Human rights advocates call them modern day slaves.

"I cannot leave here unless I pay my debt," said Durgawati, a mother of three.

A contractor had approached Durgawati and her husband, offering them work in a far-off village. He had said there were plenty of opportunities and offered to pay an advance to prove it. Desperate to make a living and with no work in sight where they lived, they leapt at the chance and took the 1000-rupee ($22) advance, she said.

Lawful Rebellion in England: Protestors storm court and arrest county judge for treason

Stephanie Cureton
wirralglobe.co.uk
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:43 UTC

Hundreds of anti-establishment protestors stormed a Wirral court today and "arrested" a judge.

In chaotic scenes, police rescued Judge Michael Peake from their clutches and escorted him safely from the building.

Protestors from the public gallery charged at Mr Peake to make a civil arrest chanting "arrest that judge".

Police scrambled over court benches to control the near-riot and one protestor shouted "seal the court."

Another sat in the judge's chair at the head of the court and declared Mr Hayes as "released".

Around 600 chanting demonstrators massed around the County Court in Birkenhead.

Deafening cheers and chants could be heard from the crowd outside and protestors used mobile phones to film arrests being made.

Roads were blockaded and dozens of police officers deployed to keep order.

Arab media says Gaddafi looking for exit deal

Reuters
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:19 UTC

Two Arab newspapers and al Jazeera television said Monday Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was looking for an agreement allowing him to step down, but there was no official confirmation of the reports.

Al Jazeera said Gaddafi had proposed to Libyan rebels to hold a meeting of parliament to pave the way for him to step down with certain guarantees.

It said Gaddafi made the proposal to the interim council, which speaks for mostly eastern areas controlled by his opponents. It quoted sources in the council as saying Gaddafi wanted guarantees of personal safety for him and his family and a pledge that they not be put on trial.

The Cynical Psychology of Capitalism

Allen D. Kanner
Tikkun Magazine
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:37 UTC

Two years ago, three psychologists and an economist published a long journal article on the dubious psychology that underlies American corporate capitalism. The original title of the piece began with the phrase, "A Taboo Topic," but the authors (myself among them) were warned by a sympathetic editor to be as unprovocative as possible to avoid being instantly written off as leftist ideologues. We deleted the phrase, thus assuring that the taboo against criticizing capitalism remained alive and well.

It's time for us all to confront this taboo. Capitalism rests on several key ideas regarding human motivation and development that fly in the face of much of Western psychology. Here I will focus on two of these: that people are primarily self-interested and that the acquisition of material wealth is the key to happiness. If these "insights" prove false or seriously incomplete, then capitalism unravels at the seams.

US: Police: Body Hit at Least 20 Times on 10 Freeway

KTLA News
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 01:49 UTC

A witness reported seeing a car stopped in front of the body.

Police now know how a man's body got onto the 10 freeway early Monday morning.

Authorities said the man wandered onto the 10 Freeway near Crenshaw Boulevard and was reportedly struck repeatedly by cars before a motorist pulled over and called the police and a sigalert was issued.

California Highway Patrol Officer Brent Leatherman said troopers received a call about the body of man in his mid-30s lying in the slow lane on the westbound 10 freeway at around 3:41 a.m.

A witness reported seeing a car stopped in front of the body.

That vehicle left the scene, according to the witness, who remained behind to try to divert traffic.

Even if it was an accident, Leatherman said drivers should always stop if they have struck a pedestrian.

UK: How Could the Man Cleared of Raping Me Have Thought I was His BRUNETTE Girlfriend?

Louise Eccles
The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:53 UTC

© Roland Hoskins
Disgusted: Joanne Freeman, 39, said the defence of Mr Khan, who claimed he was so drunk that he went into the wrong hotel room and started having sex with her, was absurd

A woman who woke to find a man having sex with her has told of her disbelief at his acquittal on rape charges after he claimed he had stumbled into the wrong bed.

Haydor Khan, 22, said he was so drunk that it was not until he was having sex with Joanne Freeman that he realised she was not his girlfriend and that he was in the wrong hotel room.

But Miss Freeman, 39, said she struggled to understand how Mr Khan could have mistaken her - a petite, size six blonde - for his tall, size 12 brunette girlfriend Nicola Wood, 19.

China Says Dalai Lama Has to Reincarnate

Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard
Reuters
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:26 UTC

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, does not have a right to choose his successor any way he wants and must follow the historical and religious tradition of reincarnation, a Chinese official said Monday.

It is unclear how the 76-year-old Dalai Lama, who lives in India and is revered by many Tibetans, plans to pick his successor. He has said that the succession process could break with tradition -- either by being hand-picked by him or through democratic elections.

But Padma Choling, the Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet, said that the Dalai Lama had no right to abolish the institution of reincarnation, underscoring China's hardline stance on one of the most sensitive issues for the restless and remote region.

"I don't think this is appropriate. It's impossible, that's what I think," he said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China's parliament, when asked about the Dalai Lama's suggestion that his successor may not be his reincarnation.

"We must respect the historical institutions and religious rituals of Tibetan Buddhism," said Padma Choling, a Tibetan and a former soldier in the People's Liberation Army. "I am afraid it is not up to anyone whether to abolish the reincarnation institution or not."

Limbaugh's Parent Company Using Actors to Fake Radio Call-Ins

David Edwards
Raw Story
Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:32 UTC

The company responsible for syndicating big conservative radio names like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity has been using paid actors to call in to their radio shows.

According to a recent report in Tablet Magazine, Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, hired actors to call in as guests.

A website for the Premiere On Call service was taken offline before the report was published, but a cached version of the website is still available.

However, when Raw Story contacted Premiere's entertainment division, one individual who spoke off the record claimed that the service was still being offered.

"Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service," the website said. "We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we'll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won't hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners."

US: About 35 dead, living dogs found in feces-filled home

Lindsay Machak
Nwi.com
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:53 UTC

© John Luke, The Times
Dustin Keaton, from the Lake County Animal Adoption and Control Center, rescues a dog Friday from a home in the 7800 block of 245th Avenue in Schneider. The Lake County Sheriff's Department served a warrant at the home where authorities found more than 18 dogs living and about 15 canine carcasses in a freezer.

Schneider, Indiana - After wading through a foot and a half of animal feces, Detective Michelle Weaver stared in disbelief at a freezer full of individually plastic-wrapped canine carcasses. She said this was worse than she could have imagined.

Lake County Sheriff's Department investigators executed a search warrant on allegations of animal abuse and neglect on Friday at a residence on the 7800 block of 245th Street.

It was impossible for police to operate in the home without protective suits and face masks. The stench wafted uphill in the wind as they opened the front door. Sheriff's deputies said they could smell the odor more than 500 feet from the home.

Airplane Overhead locker tot outrage

Tony Sheahan
Heraldsun.com.au
Sun, 06 Mar 2011 10:47 UTC

Virgin Blue has sacked a male flight attendant and offered an angry mother free flights after her toddler was put in an overhead locker.

Natalie Williamson claims she, her 17-month-old son, Riley, and her now estranged husband were on a Virgin flight from Fiji to Sydney, when the flight attendant picked up Riley, placed him in the locker and closed the latch.

Virgin has admitted an incident did take place, but claims Ms Williamson's husband was playing a peek-a-boo game with Riley involving the overhead compartment when the flight attendant joined in.

"We conducted a thorough investigation of the incident and the staff member involved was subsequently terminated," a Virgin spokeswoman said.

The airline offered Ms Williamson three free flights, but the mother has said she is too shaken by the mid-air experience to redeem them.