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US: Nearly 1.3 Million in Ohio Sign Recall of Union-Busting Bill

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:19 UTC
Image
© Ohio AFL-CIO
The pro-labor coalition We Are Ohio delivered nearly 1.3 million signatures Wednesday to repeal SB 5, a new law restricting the collective-bargaining rights of public employees, placing it on the November 8 ballot.

People's World reported that the 1,298,301 signatures were delivered to the Secretary of State's office by a semi-truck packed with 1502 boxes of petitions and accompanied by a large "People's Parade."

We Are Ohio collected more signatures than any other petition drive in Ohio history thanks to the work of more than 10,000 volunteers.

The signatures must now be validated by each county board of elections office.

"Today we celebrate the unprecedented achievement of the more than one million Ohioans who want to repeal SB 5," Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio, said in a statement. "This historic number of signatures sends a strong, clear message to the extreme politicians who played political tricks to pass SB 5 and to the rest of the country."
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Health

Hugo Chavez Cancer: Venezuelan President Has Surgery to Remove Tumor

Ian James
The Huffington Post
Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:23 UTC
chavez
© AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, delivers a speech before the arrival of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that he is fighting cancer after having a tumor removed in Cuba, raising uncertainty about his political future even as he assured his country he expects to fully recover.

Chavez was noticeably thinner and paler as he appeared on television Tuesday night, reading from a prepared speech with a serious and at times sad expression. He said he is resolved to "be victorious in this new battle that life has placed before us."

Chavez said he has undergone two operations in Cuba, including one that removed a tumor in which there were "cancerous cells." The 56-year-old president said the surgery was performed after an initial operation nearly three weeks ago for the removal of a pelvic abscess.

Chavez said the tumor was in the pelvic region but didn't say exactly where or what type of cancer was involved. He said he is continuing to receive treatment in Cuba but did not give details.

He said it was a mistake not have taken better care of his health through medical checkups.
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Nuke

Fukushima spin was Orwellian

John Vidal
Guardian.co.uk
Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:58 UTC
baby,radiation
© Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters
A baby is tested for nuclear radiation at an evacuation centre in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
Emails detailing how the UK government played down Fukushima show just how cosy it is with the nuclear industry

It was an open secret that Britain's decision to back nuclear power in 2006 was pushed through government by a cosy group of industrialists and others close to Tony Blair, and that a full debate about the full costs, safety and potential impact on future generations was suppressed.

But the release of 80 emails showing that in the days after the Fukushima accident not one but two government departments were working with nuclear companies to spin one of the biggest industrial catastrophes of the last 50 years, even as people were dying and a vast area was being made uninhabitable, is shocking.

What the emails shows is a weak government, captured by a powerful industry colluding to at least misinform and very probably lie to the public and the media. When the emails were sent, no one, least of all the industry and its friends in and out of government, had any idea how serious the situation at Fukushima was or might become.
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Attention

Australia: 200 Psych Patients Died Suddenly in Victoria

Kate Hagan
The Age
Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
More than 200 psychiatric patients died in ''unexpected, unnatural or violent'' circumstances last year, a report by Victoria's chief psychiatrist reveals.

Six patients died by committing suicide in hospital but most of the 237 deaths occurred in the community.

Chief psychiatrist Ruth Vine could not provide a breakdown of the number of deaths that occurred inside hospitals but said it was ''very small, and when it does occur it is followed by a very thorough review''.

Dr Vine said deaths in the community could include those due to car accidents or house fires, but it was the role of the coroner to determine their cause.

The Age reported in February that a coroner was investigating the deaths of two psychiatric patients thought to have suffocated while being restrained in separate incidents at Frankston and Dandenong hospitals in 2007.
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Stormtrooper

UK: Bullying Police Drag Boy, 13, Out of Bed at Midnight for Throwing an Apple

Andrew Levy
The Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:28 UTC
Image
© Eastnews
Angry: Clive Lindloe has made an official complaint over the way police treated his son Charlie, who was accused of throwing an apple.
When two police officers turned up on his doorstep at 11.20pm, Clive Lindoe feared the worst.

But the father of three was shocked and angry to learn the reason for the late-night visit - an allegation that his youngest son had thrown an apple at another boy.

They even threatened to arrest Charlie, 13, when his father initially refused to let them see him until the morning.

The schoolboy was then woken up and taken to the 'bullying and brutish' officers, who made him sign what is believed to have been a neighbourhood resolution agreement, used to resolve minor disputes - even though he denied hurling the apple in the first place.

Mr Lindoe, 50, has since made an official complaint to Essex Police, accusing the force of leaving his son traumatised by the heavy-handed treatment. 'We had been enjoying a lovely evening together as a family,' said Mr Lindoe, who lives with his wife Lyn, 48, and their children Charlie, James, 14, and Robyn, 16, in Great Horkesley, near Colchester.

'The boys had gone to bed and then suddenly there was a banging at the door - really hard knocks.

'When the police told me they were investigating reports of an apple being thrown I could not believe it was about such a petty issue.
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Attention

UK: Public 'At Risk' After 999 Operators Strike

Mark Hughes, Robert Winnett and Andrew Porter
The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:19 UTC
Britain's biggest police force faced a staffing crisis today after 95 per cent of its 999 call handlers failed to turn up for work because of the national strike.


The number - which relates to 192 out of 202 members of police staff - was revealed by Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, who warned that the public were receiving a "degraded" service because of the walk-out.

Sir Paul said that 335 officers had to be taken off their usual beat to man the phones.

But he warned that, due to officers not being used to handling the sophisticated call-handling and despatch technology, calls were being handled slower than usual.

Speaking to members of the Metropolitan Police Authority, he said: "90 per cent of police staff call handlers have not turned up for duty. It is a very, very significant number.

"While I fully understand the lawful right of people to withdraw their labour in certain circumstances...I am the commissioner of the Met and my job is to run a police service.
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Stormtrooper

UK: Dozens of protesters arrested just yards from Downing Street after violence breaks out on strike march

James Chapman and Richard Hartley-parkinson
The Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:26 UTC
  • Protesters stage 'sit-in' on Whitehall as police try to re-open the road
  • Up to 1million children stayed at home as two-thirds of schools hit
  • Just one in five civil servants took part in strike action
  • Dozens of people have been arrested for various offences
  • Leave cancelled for 10,000 police officers to control any violence
  • 192 out of 202 999 operators in London join the walkout
Riot police today swooped and arrested protesters as violence broke out during pension reform protests.

A large group split from the main demonstration, pushing over a fence before being penned in by over 100 police in Central London.

There were some scuffles between officers and protesters after fears that anarchists might infiltrate the march were realised close to Downing Street.

Image
© Getty Images
This protester is one of several arrested along Whitehall as a group broke from the main crowd and rushed towards Downing Street

Image
© The Associated Press
After troubles settled on Whitehall, some protesters staged a 'sit-in' but were swiftly removed by police
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Wolf

Uncle Sam Food History Exhibit Promotes Food Control

Rady Ananda
Food Freedom
Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:29 UTC
Image

Oh, gag me with a bowl of propaganda. The National Archives is hosting an historical exhibit on government say in what we eat and grow and how to cook it: "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam: The Government's Effect on the American Diet." From the opening lines of the website, you know our control freak "Uncle" has launched another major psyops campaign to convince us that Government Knows Best when it comes to food:
"We demand that our Government ensure that it is safe, cheap, and abundant. In response, Government has been a factor in the production, regulation, research, innovation, and economics of our food supply."
Though painting Uncle Sam as Mrs. Doubtfire, when it comes to the results of government intrusion into the food supply, he's more like Joseph Mengele. Over the last hundred years, we've seen climbing rates of cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and neurological disorders, thanks to Uncle Sam's "regulation" of food additives and environmental pollutants. We've also seen the number of farms decline by 98%.
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Footprints

Genetically Modified Crop Saboteurs Go Free in France

Rady Ananda
foodfreedom.wordpress.com
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:46 UTC
Image
© wikipedia
Joseph (José) Bové is French farmer and member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina
On June 28, 2011, the court of Poitiers in central France acquitted eight defendant Volunteer Reapers (les Faucheurs Volontaires) of destroying a genetically modified field trial in 2008.

Among those acquitted were anti-globalist Jose Bove and Francois Dufour, recognized as "repeat offenders."

The court also dismissed Monsanto's financial claims. Apart from their own legal expenses, the Reapers owe nothing for the 2008 mowing of a GM field trial of Monsanto's GM corn, Mon810 x Nk603.
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Vader

US: Cops Just Love Those Tasers-Mentally Handicapped Boy Tasered, Pepper Sprayed and Hog Tied

Kevin Koeninger
Courthouse News Service
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:13 UTC
Image

Dayton, Ohio - Dayton police "mistook" a mentally handicapped teenager's speech impediment for "disrespect," so they Tasered, pepper-sprayed and beat him and called for backup from "upward of 20 police officers" after the boy rode his bicycle home to ask his mother for help, the boy's mom says.

Pamela Ford says her "mentally challenged/handicapped" son Jesse Kersey, 17, was riding his bike near his Dayton home when Officer Willie Hooper stopped him and tried to talk to him.

The mom says that "Prior to the incident described below, defendant Hooper knew Jesse and was aware that Jesse was mentally challenged/handicapped and a minor child."
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