Society's ChildS


Laptop

Best of the Web: Syria Drops off the Internet Amid Turmoil

sorry, no internet
© n/a
In what appears to be the latest bid by a government to throttle access to news and information amid growing civil unrest, the Syrian government Friday shut down all Internet services.

Internet monitoring firm Renesys reported that starting around 7 a.m. EDT today, close to two-thirds of all Syrian networks were suddenly unreachable from the global Internet.

In just 30 minutes, routes to 40 of 59 Syrian networks were withdrawn from the global routing table, said Renesys' chief technology officer, James Cowie, in a blog post.

The shutdown has affected all of SyriaTel's 3G mobile data networks, as well as several of the country's ISPs, such as Sawa, iNet and RunNet.

Light Saber

Canada: 'Stop Harper' placard gets Senate page turfed from Throne Speech

page protest Canada Parliament
© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian PressA Senate page protests against the Harper government from the floor of the chamber as Governor-General David Johnston delivers the Speech from the Throne on June 3, 2011.
A Senate page disrupted the Speech from the Throne by taking out a sign saying "Stop Harper" in the middle of the opening of the new parliamentary session.

She was immediately removed from the Senate chamber and fired from her job.

Brigette DePape, from Manitoba, has been working in the Senate for a year. A statement issued in her name said she opposes the agenda of the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, which won a majority mandate on May 2.

"This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces," the statement said.

She went on to give a series of media interviews. She explained she feels the Conservative government's policies on the environment, social programs and the military are destructive, and that civil disobedience is needed to try and stop them.

Dollar

US: Slow-moving economy runs into brick wall

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© Randy Bish/Politicalcartoons.com
Policymakers, investors and economic forecasters are hoping that a sharp slowdown in economic growth last month was only a speed bump on an already bumpy road to recovery.

Because otherwise the ride could get a whole lot rougher.

Friday's jobs numbers showed that the economy produced a meager 54,000 new jobs in May with weakness across all sectors. The data capped a week of reports pointing to a sudden, unexpected slowdown in the recovery.

"It is now pretty clear that the economy ran into a brick wall last month," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

Prior to this week most data had been pointing to a slow but steady increase in the economy's momentum. What took the wind out of the recovery's sails so suddenly, and will the doldrums last?

On top of the list is a surge in gasoline prices that has forced consumers to tighten spending on the rest of their household budget. Job growth in the retail, leisure and hospitality industries, which had been showing healthy advances, ground to a halt last month.

Comment: "On Thursday, a second major credit rating agency warned Congress and the White House that if they don't agree on a way to raise the nation's borrowing limit, the U.S. government could lose its top debt rating."

We're not economists, but how does raising the debt ceiling ("top debt rating") fix the credit rating of a country? At this point more debt equals more interest, equals less money (equals lower dollar value, equals hyper inflation, equals..).


Hourglass

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, dies at 83

Dr. Jack Kevorkian
© ReutersDr. Jack Kevorkian poses at the 62nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles

Detroit, Michigan - Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, known as "Dr. Death" for helping more than 100 people end their lives, died early on Friday at age 83, his lawyer said.

Kevorkian died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he had been hospitalized for about two weeks with kidney and heart problems, said Mayer Morganroth, Kevorkian's attorney and friend.

The Detroit Free Press reported that Kevorkian, previously diagnosed with liver cancer, died from a blood clot that lodged in his heart.

Cult

Flashback Spain - Tenerife's Bishop: 'There's children who want to be abused, they even provoke you"

Sott.net translation.

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© Diocese of TenerifeBishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Álvarez
"There could be children that allow it - referring to abuse - There are 13 year old underage teenagers, who are perfectly in agreement with, and what's more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you," he said." These are the words that the Roman Catholic Bishop Bernando Álvarez, the man in charge of Tenerife's church, used to describe the severe problems of child abuse on Christmas Eve, in an interview given to the local Tenerife newspaper La Opinión de Tenerife.

Additionally, the bishop compares homosexuality with child abuse, and even if he assures that the difference between homosexuality and the abuses are evident, he poses this question: "why does the child abuser have to be considered a sick person?"

Even if Álvares states that he respects the sexual condition of homosexuals, he shows again his most critical side and claims that "the homosexuality phenomenon is something that damages people and society in general".

Gear

Right-wing Alert! US: "I Forged Obama's Certificate" Identity Near Discovery


Comment: The article below comes from a right-wing site. What is the agenda here?


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Dr. Jerome Corsi
Dr. Corsi, author of new book also speaks out on Trump motives

Dr. Jerome Corsi, whose latest book Where's the Birth Certificate stated that since publication of the book he has received many more leads that point to President Obama being ineligible to be Commander-in-Chief.

Dr. Corsi is a senior staff writer with WorldNetDaily, the largest independent news site on the internet. He has spent over three years of research for the book including trips to Kenya and Hawaii. In the past five years, Corsi has written five New York Times bestselling non-fiction books including Unfit for Command and The Obama Nation.

In an exclusive interview with the Greeley Gazette, Dr. Corsi said after only four days of sales the book is already on the New York Times bestseller list. "There is no way this controversy is going to stop" and the mainstream media will have to continue covering the issue.

While the book has been heavily criticized by Obama supporters and the White House, Corsi said no one has offered any specific problems with the book. "They say the book is all lies, but do not offer any specifics. There are over 125 documents in the book. The reader can see it is well substantiated."

Black Cat

Right-wing Alert! US: President Proposes Giving More Power to "Death Panels"


Comment: The article below comes from a right-wing site. What is the agenda here?


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Barack Obama has called for giving an unaccountable "death panel" board even more authority to regulate health care for individuals.

While health care legislation was being debated, critics, including Sarah Palin, warned the law would create "death panels", deciding which elderly would live and which would die. Following her statements, Palin was verbally crucified in the media.

The 2000 page health care bill calls for the establishment of over 150 boards and commissions to administer the program. One of these, the Independent Payment Advisory Board is tasked with overseeing health care costs. The board is tasked with specific target growth rates and is to ensure Medicaid costs stay within these limits.

Ambulance

US: New York City Woman Dies After Fainting Due to Heat, Falls on Subway Tracks

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© Dan BrinzacTragic: Fatoumata Binta Amina Diallo tried to crawl away from the oncoming train.

An aspiring doctor was killed in a horrific subway accident yesterday when she passed out on a sweltering Upper East Side platform and fell onto the tracks -- realizing what happened too late to escape an uptown train bearing down on her.

Fatoumata Binta Amina Diallo, 21, "was cut in half," said one shocked witness.

Diallo fainted at around 3 p.m. at the 77th Street/Lexington Avenue station, which was filled with schoolkids on their way home, said transit and police sources.

The Bronx woman had been returning from a dental appointment, said her family.

Attention

US: CSX Train Derails; Taunton Police Investigate Theft of Railroad Tracks

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© Taunton Gazette / Charles WinokoorA CSX employee examines an area of track where a railroad engine derailed Wednesday because of what authorities said was the theft of two lengths of rail track.
A CSX railroad engine en route to a delivery in Taunton's Myles Standish Industrial Park derailed Wednesday afternoon after thieves cut away two 8-foot sections of solid steel track, authorities said.

No one was injured as a result of the incident, which observers on scene said ranks as the most audacious example of metal theft in recent memory.

"It stopped a little too late and derailed - it just dropped down on both sides," CSX trainmaster Mark Smith said of the four-axle GP40 engine that was pulling two cars and a rear engine.

The engine's front wheels landed astride the tracks, but neither it nor the other engine and two cars, tipped over. The rear engine, with the two cars in tow, by late Wednesday managed to pull away, leaving the front engine mired in the dirt among shards of shattered railroad ties.

Smith, 52, said the slow-moving train derailed at 1:30 p.m. as the two-man crew was delivering goods to Agar Supply, a foodservice distributor located at 225 John Hancock Road.

Bizarro Earth

US: Rally To Urge City Leaders To End Urban Beach Weekend

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Saying 'enough is enough' several community activists are gathering forces for a rally Friday evening in front of Miami Beach City Hall to urge city leaders to end Urban Beach Weekend.

Herb Sosa, who publishes the online magazine Ambiente, is a leading figure to end the unofficial Memorial Day weekend event which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to South Beach.

In an open letter to Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower, Sosa writes that the Urban Beach weekend
"shows our city as nothing short of a warzone - Filthy streets, a drive by shooting, multiple cars crashed in the process, and total chaos on the streets. This is unacceptable and must be controlled before we totally lose our city, tourism & residents. It is not limited to Ocean Drive or Collins - there isn't a residential street in South Beach not affected by tons of garbage, crime to our vehicles, excessive noise 24 hours a day, and simply a lack of respect for our community, citizens & property."