Society's ChildS


Cult

Special Report - Who knew what in U.S. priest child porn case?


Reuters
Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:29 UTC
Priest
© ReutersBishop Robert Finn is pictured in Kansas City, Missouri, in this undated handout photograph obtained on November 30, 2011. Authorities have filed criminal charges against Bishop Finn, the leader of the 133,000-member Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, for failing to report to authorities the actions of one of its priests, who prosecutors have said was producing child pornography
Computer technician Ken Kes was supposed to be repairing a laptop for a local priest as part of his work for a Catholic Diocese in Kansas City. But as Kes opened a series of picture files stored on the computer, he slowly realized that the odd images of young children were not merely strange; they seemed pornographic.

"I looked at the first one. It was a young girl climbing up the back of a pickup truck and I thought, huh, that's kind of a neat shot," the 59-year-old Kes recalled. "The next one that I clicked on was a girl... climbing out of swimming pool and all it showed was her rear end. Then there was a little girl on the grass with her legs spread. All you could see was the area from her belly button to her knees."

By the time Kes got to a graphic photo of a little girl on a bed, exposed below the waist, his hands were shaking and he was in full panic.

"I stopped looking right there and got on the phone," he said.

That discovery last December yielded hundreds of such photos on the laptop of Father Shawn Ratigan, ultimately landing the 46-year-old priest in jail on multiple child pornography charges. He is awaiting trial next summer after pleading not guilty and remains jailed.

Comment: Far from an isolated case: Vatican Christmas Shocker! Pope says child rape isn't that bad, was normal back in his day

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Info

US: Two Army Helicopters Crash in Washington State, 4 Dead


Reuters
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Robert SorboA U.S. Army Humvee drives down a dirt road near the scene where two U.S. Army helicopters crashed during a training exercise on Monday, killing four aviators on board near the town of Rainier, Washington, December 13, 2011.
Two U.S. Army helicopters crashed on Monday during training exercises at a Washington state military base, killing four aviators on board, the base said in a statement.

Brendalyn Carpenter, a spokeswoman for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, confirmed that "there was an accident" in the evening and that military police and emergency personnel were en route to the accident scene at the base near Tacoma.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and loved ones of the soldiers involved in this tragic accident," said Major General Lloyd Miles, acting senior Army commander at the base.

"We will conduct a thorough investigation into this incident, and we will do everything in our power to support the families of the brave soldiers who died this evening," he added.
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Bandaid

France: Paris bans beggars from most popular shopping and tourist hotspots

Angelique Chrisafis
The Guardian
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:26 UTC
Image
© AlamyThe Champs Elysées is one of three popular tourist and shopping areas in Paris decreed as no-go zones for beggars.
French authorities claim no-go zones aim to stop pestering of foreign visitors by 'delinquents' run by criminal gangs

The glittering Christmas window displays in Paris's luxury stores are often offset by a shivering person begging for coins nearby, huddled behind a cardboard sign saying "hungry".

With the French economy in crisis and the looming spectre of another recession, Paris's poor and homeless people are more present than ever in doorways and metro entrances. Campaigners have demanded action on the country's housing crisis. Instead President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a war on beggars, setting himself against Paris's popular mayor.

Sarkozy's interior minister and long-time right-hand man, Claude Guéant, has issued a series of decrees banning begging around Paris's most popular Christmas shopping and tourist spots. He says arresting and fining beggars is crucial to stop foreign visitors being pestered by begging "delinquents" run by organised mafia gangs.
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Attention

Stephen Colbert Reports Norway's Butter Shortage

Davis MacMillan
Minyanville
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:14 UTC
Last night on the Colbert Report, Stephen reminded us that if you "pick up any object in the US, there's a good chance it's butter." Apparently, this is not true in Norway, where butter prices have climbed as high as $740 a box thanks to a severe shortage.

The butter shortfall was caused by a surge in popularity for a high fat, low carb diet. Things have gotten so bad that one man was caught trying to smuggle 90 kilos of the spread over the border. The segment prompts Americans to count themselves lucky to live in a country with enough butter to support a product called I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.

Stephen's full report is below. Here's some more info on the Norwegian butter shortage.

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Gear

Media Firestorm Over Korean Towers Resembling WTC On 9/11


redOrbit
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:22 UTC
Korean 2Towers
© redOrbit
The Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has come under heavy fire this week for its proposed design of two high-rise luxury apartments in Seoul, South Korea.

According to critics, the two roughly 850-feet towers bear a striking resemblance to New York's ill-fated twin towers shortly after they were attacked by terrorists flying two high-jacked jetliners.

Designers say that the buildings' design - which they call 'The Cloud' - was intended to resemble a "pixilated cloud" connecting the mid-section of the towers. A number of mostly American critics, however, say that the similarity is just too uncanny to be coincidental.

"I think it's a total lie and they have no respect for the people who died that day," vented Jim Riches, a former NY firefighter whose son died in on 9/11, to the New York Daily News.

"They're crossing a line. It looks just like the towers imploding," he added. "I think they're trying to sensationalize it. It's a cheap way to get publicity."
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Info

Another School Bus Crash Sparks Fury in China


Reuters
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© ReutersAlthough the water in the ditch was not deep, it still claimed 15 young lives
Fifteen children were killed when a school bus crashed in China's eastern province of Jiangsu, state media said on Tuesday, the latest in a string of accidents fanning public fury across the country.

The bus rolled into a ditch as it veered off the road to avoid a pedicab, the Xinhua news agency said. At least eight children were injured in the accident, which happened after school on Monday.

"Students became trapped at the bottom of the overturned bus and drowned as water gushed into the wreck," Xinhua reported, citing Zhang Bin, a deputy head of the Fengxian county, where the accident happened.

The driver, he said, had been detained.

Xinhua gave conflicting accounts on the number of children on board the bus, but all the reports suggested it was not overloaded. Xinhua last reported that 29 were on board.
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Ambulance

Pakistan President Had 'Mini-Stroke': Associate

Chris Brummitt
The Associated Press
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Asif Ali Zardari
© EPAPakistani President Asif Ali Zardari
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari suffered a "mini-stroke" that led to his extended hospitalization in Dubai, but he is improving quickly and will return to his country within two weeks, a close associate and a government spokesman said Tuesday.

Zardari's health has been the subject of speculation and contradictory statements by government officials since he was rushed to Dubai last week. His trip triggered rumors he could be on the verge of resigning. Officials deny that.

The president's absence coincided with domestic political attacks against him over a memo delivered to U.S. officials asking Washington's help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military. It came also during a spike in tensions between Washington and Islamabad after NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border.

The associate, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said that Zardari's diagnosis of a "mini-stroke" was made by the president's two physicians.

A "mini-stroke" is medically known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted, causing symptoms similar to a stroke but not as long-lasting, because with a TIA, the blood supply is restored.
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Attention

US: 2 students shot, wounded at Texas middle school

Christopher Sherman
The Associated Press
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC

Authorities suspect hunters may have shot two South Texas middle school students who were wounded by gunfire Monday afternoon while trying out for a basketball team.

Two boys - ages 13 and 14 - were shot, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino. Classes were not in session at Harwell Middle School when the shooting happened around 4:45 p.m., but the school complex was immediately placed on lockdown. Edinburg school district spokesman Gilbert Tagle said a number of after-school activities were going on besides the basketball tryouts, including a concert and a faculty meeting. He estimated as many as 200 children could have been on campus.

One of the wounded boys was in critical condition Monday night with a bullet embedded in an organ. The other was stable and awaiting X-rays, Trevino said.

At the time of the shooting, one of the boys was going for a layup. The other was waiting his turn to try out, Trevino said.
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Pistol

Attack in Belgian city leaves 4 dead, 75 wounded

Raf Casert
Associated Press
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:10 UTC
Image
© Associated Press/Ermindo ArminoEmergency vehicles are parked in front of the court of justice following a grenade attack in the city center of Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011.
Liege - A man armed with grenades and an assault rifle attacked holiday shoppers Tuesday at a central square in the Belgian city of Liege, leaving four people dead and wounding 75 others, officials said.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the attack in the busy Place Saint-Lambert, the central entry point to downtown shopping streets in the industrial city in eastern Belgium. The attack ignited a stampede of hundreds, as shoppers fled the explosions and bullets.

Interior Ministry official Peter Mertens said the attack did not involve terrorism but did not explain why he thought that.

Belgian officials identified the attacker as Norodine Amrani, 33, a Liege resident who they said had done jail time for offenses involving guns, drugs and sexual abuse. He was among the dead, but Liege Prosecutor Danielle Reynders told reporters it was unclear if he committed suicide or died by accident. He did not die at the hands of police, she said.

The dead also included two teenage boys, 15 and 17, and a 75-year-old woman, she said. The La Libre newspaper reported that a 2-year-old girl was clinging to life.

Comment: In the above article a single man with a gun and grenades commits the attack.

Here: Men armed with grenades attack Belgian city "Several men armed with hand grenades and guns attacked a busy bus stop in eastern Belgium today, killing at least two people and wounding about a dozen, officials and media reports said."

Further: 3 men launch deadly attack in Belgium "Three men armed with hand grenades and guns attacked a bus stop in eastern Belgium on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding at least 10, Belgian media reported." (Found, titled and linked Dec. 13 2011 11:10AM PST)

Footage of the aftermath from The Guardian:



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Airplane

Iran rejects U.S. request to return spy drone

Laura Rozen
Yahoo News
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:53 UTC
Iran has--unsurprisingly--rejected an American request to return its downed spy drone.

President Obama, speaking at a news conference with the visiting Iraqi prime minister Monday, said the United States had asked Iran to give the downed American reconnaissance plane back.

"We've asked for it back," President Obama said of the drone Monday. "We'll see how the Iranians respond."

Iranian news agencies ridiculed the request on Tuesday as Iranian officials made clear they had no intention of giving back the American drone.

"Obama begs Iran to give him back his toy plane," proclaimed a headline from Iran's Fars News Agency Tuesday.

Comment: So Jennifer, they don't have 10 of your agents? Hezbollah controls a news agency, wouldn't that be cause they are a political body vs. American claims of being a terrorist organization? The Government of tiny Lebanon allows Hezbollah to operate and is not out trying to prosecute them. Why is that? Why is no one consistently sounding the alarm bells? Because they are a threat to no one but those who threaten it. Stop the threats, make peace and you have the recipe for something good to last. Continue to threaten, attack and you have a recipe for more of the same. And more of the same is all the Western nations want, in the hope that it keeps us from realizing what is going on at home (Empiricism, Police State(s), Militarism and Pathocracy).

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