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Poland: President vetoes bill allowing GMO seeds

Gabriela Baczynska
WTAQ News Talke
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:25 UTC
No GMO
© Unknown
Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski on Wednesday vetoed a new legislation that would allow some genetically modified seeds in the country, saying it ran against European Union rules.

Poland currently forbids any GMO cultivation or sales on its soil and must align its legislation with the more lenient one of the EU after Warsaw lost a court case against Brussels on it.

But Komorowski said the bill was faulty after parliament changed the government's original proposal significantly, finally approving a bill that still contradicted EU rules.

"If the parliament approves my veto, I will immediately propose a seeds bill that would not have the GMO element because we need a seeds bill," Komorowski said, adding he knew of no proof that GMO food could be dangerous for human health.


Comment: That's hard to believe: GMO: Health Risks


This is the second presidential veto of a law put forward by the center-right government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who brought Komorowski to the presidency a year ago.
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Bizarro Earth

Why the birds and bees are dying: The EPA knows, but aren't telling


Brasscheck TV
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:12 UTC
Banned everywhere, but legal in the US

Does it get more corrupt than this?

A corporation is allowed to rip the heart of America's agricultural system (honeybees are ESSENTIAL for pollination) and not one of the scumbags in Congress or the empty suits in the White House are doing a thing about it.

We don't have a government in this country. We have a gang of self-serving thieves.

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Arrow Down

Sad! National Organization for Marriage Speaker Blames East Coast Earthquake on Gays

David Edwards
RawStory
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:14 UTC
Within hours of an earthquake striking the eastern U.S. Tuesday, a rabbi that has spoken for the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was already blaming homosexuals.

In a video posted to YouTube, Rabbi Yehuda Levin asserted that "one of the reasons God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgressions of homosexuality."

"An email went out in my community just a few hours ago, 'How long will it take Rabbi Levin to tie this earthquake in with homosexual marriage?'" he began. "Not very long at all. I'm happy to see that people - even if some of them are scoffers - are starting to see the connection."

"Yes, there is a direct connection between earthquakes and homosexuality. There was in Haiti and it is here, in New York, in Washington, D.C., where they passed homosexual legislation ordinances, in New York City and state, where they opened, especially on Sunday early, where they passed the homosexual marriage law."
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Heart - Black

Perth, Australia: Terrified man 'threatened with snakes'

Aja Styles
The Sydney Morning Herald
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:33 UTC
Jagoe leaves court
© Channel TenGriffin Xanda de la Hunty Jagoe leaves court.
A 20-year-old man has described being tortured with railway spikes, having salt rubbed into knife wounds and then enduring a threat of being thrown into a pit full of snakes during his 12-hour kidnapping by "a genuine psychopath".

Griffin de la Hunty Jagoe continued giving evidence against Simon Sun, 46, Ranjardar Said, 28, and Sammy Conteh, 19, in a Perth District Court today.

All three men deny the charges of kidnapping, extortion and assault occasioning bodily harm.

Mr Jagoe was rescued by the police Tactical Response Group after they were alerted to his capture by his mother Barbara de la Hunty, the court heard.

Mr Jagoe was taken to a house in Bentley where he was allegedly threatened for more money on Friday, October 15 last year, until the following evening as part of ongoing extortion efforts by the three men, the prosecution and Mr Jagoe claimed.

Some of the alleged incidents were filmed on a mobile phone and played to the jury.
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Megaphone

NATO's Libya generals should be hauled to court, says Dennis Kucinich

Reid J. Epstein
Politico
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:10 UTC
bombs, libya
© ReutersDennis Kucinich wants NATO 'held accountable' for its airstrikes in Libya.
NATO commanders who authorized the Libya bombing campaign should be "held accountable" to international law and hauled before the world court for civilian deaths, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Tuesday.

"NATO's top commanders may have acted under color of international law, but they are not exempt from international law," Kucinich said in a statement released by his office. "If members of the Qadhafi regime are to be held accountable, NATO's top commanders must also be held accountable through the International Criminal Court for all civilian deaths resulting from bombing. Otherwise, we will have witnessed the triumph of a new international gangsterism."

Kucinich, who in March suggested President Barack Obama's authorizing of airstrikes on Libya were "an impeachable offense" and sponsored a July measure to defund the military effort there, criticized what he called an evolving rationale for the NATO offensive.

The seven-term Cleveland congressman released his statement just as forces loyal to Qadhafi appeared to have abandoned their defense of his heavily fortified Tripoli compound. It was not clear where Qadhafi is, though a Russian chess official said he spoke with the dictator and reported he remains in the capital.
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Sheriff

US: The 'West Memphis Three' and combating cognitive biases

Jennifer L. Mnookin
The Los Angeles Times
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:50 UTC
Damien Echols
© Danny Johnston / AP PhotoDamien Echols, right, one of three men who pleaded guilty to crimes they say they did not commit, and his wife Lorri speak to reporters after the three were freed at the Craighead County Court House in Jonesboro, Ark., Friday, Aug. 19, 2011.

The case shows we see what we expect to see. That can mean innocent people go to jail while criminals remain free.

Last week, the "West Memphis Three" were released from prison, having spent half their lives - 18 years - behind bars for crimes they almost certainly didn't commit. So what made prosecutors and investigators sure they had the right guys, and why were those beliefs, once established, so hard to reverse?

The crimes for which the three Memphis men were convicted were brutal. Three 8-year-old Cub Scouts were found dead, hogtied and apparently mutilated. The police decided early on that it was likely the boys had been victims of a satanic cult killing, which led them to consider self-described Wiccan teen Damien Echols, a young man with asymmetric black hair, a pale face and oddball taste in clothes and music. They hauled in an acquaintance of his, a minor named Jessie Misskelley, who had an IQ of 72, and interviewed him for hours without his parents or an attorney present. Finally, he confessed, implicating Echols and another friend, Jason Baldwin.
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Arrow Down

US: Diet Book for Girls as Young as SIX Branded 'Irresponsible' by Nutrition Experts

Chris Brooke
The Daily Mail
Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:07 UTC
Image
Healthy: Anna Wood before her anorexia and then 'ravaged' by the illness
A controversial children's book tells how a girl 'transforms' her life and becomes a school hero by losing weight.

The work, called Maggie Goes on a Diet, is written in verse and aimed at those as young as six.

Last night it was condemned by parents and experts for sending a dangerous message to vulnerable youngsters and encouraging eating disorders.

Although it won't be published until October, Amazon is taking orders for the 44-page book written by U.S. author and father Paul M. Kramer.

A summary on the website says the plot features 'a 14-year-old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal-sized girl who becomes the school soccer star'.

It continues: 'Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self-image.'
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Camera

UK: Study Finds That Speed Cameras CREATE Accidents

Jason Groves
The Daily Mail
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:50 UTC
Image
Many speed cameras have not cut accident rates, figures show (a speed camera pictured on the A14 in Cambridgeshire)
Many speed cameras have not cut accident rates and may even have increased them, figures reveal for the first time today.

Statistics published by the Department for Transport show many cameras have done little or nothing to improve accident rates, but have proved highly effective in clocking up speeding fines.

Only a small number of councils have agreed to publish the full data on each speed camera in their area.
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Vader

Million dollars not enough for brutal police slaying of Kelly Thomas, says family

Rady Ananda
Activist Post
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 18:40 UTC
The surviving family members of Kelly Thomas, who was brutally murdered by Fullerton Police (Orange County, California) in July, rejected an offer of $900,000 not to pursue civil action.

On July 5, 2011, closed circuit TV caught six Fullerton cops brutally murdering a homeless, mentally ill man. Kelly Thomas, age 37, died after being taken off life-support five days later.

A whistleblower who viewed the unreleased city-owned video of the event says an officer crushed Thomas' windpipe by "drop-kneeing" him "more than once.

His last words are heard on this CCTV video where he's screaming, "Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!"
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Wolf

US: Rick Perry holds record on executions

Andrew Jones
Raw Story
Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:45 UTC
rick perry
© NA
Advocates against capital punishment will not find an ally in Rick Perry anytime soon.

The Washington Post has reported that the Texas governor holds the record for most executions ever for a governor, and by a large margin. Perry has presided over 234 executions, increasing Texas' reputation by far as the #1 state in executing people.

George W.Bush reportedly presided over a higher rate of executions than Perry in his five years as governor before becoming President, while Democratic governor Ann Richards had 50 executions in her one term. Thanks to its size and lack of appeals from lower courts, the overall structure of support for the death penalty is a constant in Texas, no matter who is governor.

However, Perry has been even more aggressive in pushing for capital punishment than his predecessors.
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