Society's ChildS


Syringe

'Disabled children cost too much and should be put down': Calls for UK councillor to stand down after outrageous rant

Image
Councillor Collin Brewer's remarks were described as 'depraved' but he is refusing to quit
  • Cllr Collin Brewer refuses to quit and has apologised to Disability Cornwall
  • Told BBC radio that the timing wasn't good because of upcoming elections
  • Charity says his apology was an insult and he should quit his post
  • Defended himself by saying he was 'hot under the collar' after a meeting
  • Mr Brewer forced to write apology a year and a half after offensive remark
  • 97 per cent of people in local paper poll say Mr Brewer should resign
  • Katie Price tweeted 'How would you like to dispose of my son Harvey???'
  • Cornwall Council distanced itself from Mr Brewer's 'ignorant' comment
A councillor told a charity worker who helps youngsters with special needs that 'disabled children cost the council too much money and should be put down'.

Collin Brewer, 68, an independent councillor at Cornwall Council, has refused to stand down after making the 'depraved' remark to the member of a charity during an information event.

What he said has received wide-spread condemnation including that of Katie Price whose son, Harvey, is severely disabled.

Mr Brewer admitted that he made the comment to 'provoke a reaction' and has now been forced to apologise in writing for the offensive remark.

Wolf

Animal obesity a growing problem in the U.S.


  • Los Angeles - Much like their human owners, animals have to deal with unwanted weight, too.

    KCAL9's Sibila Vargas reported that animal obesity is an epidemic across the country with more than 50 percent of pets now overweight.

    Natasha, who owns an adorable dog named Colonel, said she knows her furry friend has overindulged in food.

    "Every time he goes up the stairs, he expects a treat. You spoil them and then you don't realize what you're doing," she said.

    For the past few months, Natasha has been working with Dr. Jeff Werber, a Los Angeles veterinarian, to help her dog lose those stubborn extra pounds.

    Werber said cutting calories is the key.

    Comment: Animal obesity is a serious issue, but one that is easily solvable by switching your furry friend's diet to an all-meat diet. Contrary to popular belief fruits, veggies, grains, and other additives that are put in brand name pet food are very harmful to animals. Those harmful ingredients go against the animal's carnivorous nature. They need meat, much like us humans! For more information on all-meat diets for your furry friend, please read:
    Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition
    Doctor J.com for information on Canine nutrition
    and
    Raw Meaty Bones.com


    Extinguisher

    New York City firefighter accused of beating wife with iPad

    Image
    © Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
    Report: Eric Bischoff Went Ballistic Over Image She Posted On The Internet

    A New York City firefighter was arrested this week, on charges that he bashed his wife in the head with an iPad following a heated argument.

    The FDNY's Eric Bischoff, 39, was arrested at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the 123rd Precinct on the south shore of Staten Island. He was charged with second-degree assault.

    Police told 1010 WINS that Bischoff attacked his wife in their home and beat her with the Apple device.

    When she tried to escape, he grabbed her by the hair, threw her onto a patio floor and locked the door, according to published reports.

    The couple had been arguing over a photo his wife had posted on the Internet, but authorities have not said what was in the photo, according to published reports.

    Padlock

    Mexican teachers union chief appears behind bars after arrest

    Elba Esther Gordillo
    © Juzgado Sexto de Distrito en Pro / Associated Press In this photo released by Mexico's federal court system, Elba Esther Gordillo appears for a hearing in Mexico City.
    Elba Esther Gordillo, Mexico's powerful teachers union leader, appeared behind bars Wednesday in an unusual public display as authorities read the charges against her.

    Gordillo, 68, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of using more than $200 million in union funds for personal gain.

    Gordillo stood in a plain white turtleneck with her hair pulled back, behind a grid of black metal bars, a standard court setup in Mexico. But its live airing on cable TV was unusual because such proceedings in Mexico are rarely accessible to the public. When they have been aired, judicial reform activists have criticized them as unfairly incriminating a suspect.

    Gordillo lifted her eyes toward the ceiling and sighed briefly as the charges were read. She is accused of misusing funds belonging to the National Syndicate of Education Workers, or SNTE, for real estate, designer goods, artwork and plastic surgery.

    Gordillo, who is considered "president for life" of the teachers union, was arrested Tuesday as she arrived at the airport in Toluca, west of Mexico City, along with three aides.

    Info

    Central Michigan University set to host 'STD Bingo' as part of 'condom casino' night

    Image
    The Condom Casino promises to be a "highly interactive" program "arousing college campuses around the country."
    Central Michigan University (CMU) will host a "Condom Casino" on Wednesday night, in which students can gamble to win condoms in games such as "5 Card Foreplay Poker" and "STD Bingo."

    "Experience what happens when a casino night, speed dating and the topic of sex combine for a provocative night of prizes and awareness," the official website for the event reads.

    CMU has outsourced the event to a private company, which apparently puts on the "Condom Casino Tour" across the country. It is not clear if the individuals employed by the organization possess any special medical credentials to discuss matters of sexual health with students.

    The organization describes the Condom Casino as a "brand new program arousing college campuses across the country."

    The program also promises to be "highly interactive" and advertises to attendees "it is fun, it is fast paced, it is full of surprises and it is certainly a safe bet to sex awareness on any campus!"

    In a video, a spokesman for the Condom Casino Tour says organizers aim to avoid the sensitive subject of morality in their programming.

    Pills

    Panic in Greek pharmacies as hundreds of medicines run short

    Pharmaceutical companies accused of cutting supplies because of low profits and unpaid bills.
    Image
    © John Kolesidis/ReutersA woman gestures at the state health fund office in Athens. Chemists say patients have been going from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of prescription drugs.
    Athens - Greece is facing a serious shortage of medicines amid claims that pharmaceutical multinationals have halted shipments to the country because of the economic crisis and concerns that the drugs will be exported by middlemen because prices are higher in other European countries.

    Hundreds of drugs are in short supply and the situation is getting worse, according to the Greek drug regulator. The government has drawn up a list of more than 50 pharmaceutical companies it accuses of halting or planning to halt supplies because of low prices in the country.

    More than 200 medicinal products are affected, including treatments for arthritis, hepatitis C and hypertension, cholesterol-lowering agents, antipsychotics, antibiotics, anaesthetics and immunomodulators used to treat bowel disease.

    Separately, it was announced on Tuesday that the Swiss Red Cross was slashing its supply of donor blood to Greece because it had not paid its bills on time.

    Chemists in Athens describe chaotic scenes with desperate customers going from pharmacy to pharmacy to look for prescription drugs that hospitals could no longer dispense.

    Folder

    Bellagio dealer sues after she was severely slashed on face in casino

    Image
    © The Associated PressBrenda Stokes Wilson appears in Clark County Justice Court, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Las Vegas.
    Las Vegas - Joyce Rhone didn't see the attack coming -- and certainly not at a blackjack table at the vaunted Bellagio Hotel and Casino, her attorney said. But in a scene that shocked onlookers, fellow Bellagio employee Brenda Stokes is accused of attempted murder in a box-cutter attack on Rhone. Stokes allegedly used two razors and repeatedly slashed the victim's face with cuts so deep to her cheek that they revealed Rhone's teeth.

    Now a lawyer representing Rhone in the December attack has filed a civil lawsuit against the Bellagio, claiming that the casino's security force failed to ensure "that its property was reasonably safe and to render aid to" Rhone.

    Stokes, who is also a blackjack dealer at the Bellagio, came to the casino on her day off, a company violation, the suit says. Even though several security workers saw her before the attack, she was not asked to leave the premises, the suit claims.

    "It's bad enough that the victim was slashed," Rhone's lawyer, Harold Gewerter, told the Los Angeles Times. "What happened afterward was even worse."

    The lawsuit claims that no one from the Bellagio's staff came to help Rhone, and that she was saved by a casino patron who finally stepped in to stop Stokes' attack.

    "If not for the intervention of a patron who wrestled [the attacker] to the ground, Plaintiff Rhone most assuredly would have lost her life," the lawsuit claims.

    Stokes, 50, who remains in custody, has been indicted in the attack on Rhone and in the stabbing death of 10-year-old Jade Morris, her fiance's daughter.

    Eye 2

    Cannibal cop trial: Many emails in case seen as 'fantasy', FBI agent testifies

    Gilberto Valle
    Gilberto Valle
    An agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified on Wednesday that emails prosecutors alleged showed a New York City police officer planned to kidnap, kill and eat women mirrored scores of other online communications that he and other FBI officials deemed the stuff of fantasy.

    Officer Gilberto Valle, 28 years old, who has been suspended from the police force, has pleaded not guilty to a count of conspiracy to kidnap in the case in Manhattan federal court. None of the alleged plots were carried out, and Mr. Valle's attorneys have said he was a fetishist who was merely fantasizing in cyberspace.

    Under questioning by Mr. Valle's attorney Robert Baum, FBI agent Corey Walsh also said many of the names and photographs of women whom authorities have said were the subjects of the kidnapping conspiracy were also mentioned in emails the FBI determined were fantasy.

    Mr. Walsh spent parts of Wednesday and the previous day reading graphic chats and emails he said Mr. Valle had engaged in last year with three others. Those are Mike Van Hise, a 22-year-old New Jersey man who also has pleaded not guilty in the conspiracy; and two co-conspirators the FBI said it hasn't been able to identify except by their email names - Moody Blues and Aly Khan.

    In one of those communications read by Agent Walsh, Mr. Valle offered to deliver his wife to India so Aly Khan could kill and cook her.

    "Would the feet be edible," Mr. Valle asked, according to Mr. Walsh.

    "Yes, feet soup will be good and nutritious even," Aly Khan wrote back, the agent said.

    Info

    Colorado transgender girl can't use school bathroom

    Image
    © The Associated PressCoy Mathis sits with a book at her home in Fountain, Colo., Monday Feb. 25, 2013.
    Fountain, Colorado - At first, Jeremy and Kathryn Mathis didn't think much of their son's behavior. Coy took his sister's pink blanket, and shunned the car they gave him for Christmas.

    Then, Coy told them he only wanted to wear girls' clothes. At school, he became upset when his teacher insisted he line up with the boys. All the while, he was becoming depressed and withdrawn, telling his parents at one point he wanted to get "fixed" by doctors.

    When the Mathises learned he had gender identity disorder - a condition in which someone identifies as the opposite gender - they decided to help Coy live as a girl. And suddenly, she came out of her shell.

    "We could force her to be somebody she wasn't, but it would end up being more damaging to her emotionally and to us because we would lose the relationship with her," Kathryn Mathis said. "She was discussing things like surgery and things like that before and she's not now, so obviously we've done something positive."

    Now, her family is locked in a legal battle with the school district in Fountain, a town 82 miles south of Denver, over where Coy, 6, should go to use the bathroom - the girls' or, as school officials suggest, one in the teachers' lounge or another in the nurse's office. Her parents say using anything other than the girls' bathroom could stigmatize her, and open her up to bullying.

    Arrow Up

    30 Victoria homeless deaths in 4 months draw inquest calls

    homeless, poverty
    © CBC News
    Canada, British Columbia - An anti-poverty group in Victoria wants the regional coroner to hold an inquest into 30 deaths among the city's street population over the past four months.

    While the causes of death range from pneumonia to overdose to suicide, the Poverty Law Club at the University of Victoria says the number of deaths has tripled since the same time last year.

    Yanni Pappas-Acreman says an inquest could help find ways to prevent poverty-related deaths in the future.

    "It is within their power to conduct any inquest that's been reported to them on a class of deaths such as this that are related if it is in the public interest, and we think it is in the public interest," she said.

    "What we would hope to get out of it would be more information about the causes of death, but more importantly, recommendations leading from those facts."