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US: Tuscan Shooting Suspect, Loughner Writes Letters to Court


ABC 15
Wed, 11 May 2011 20:43 UTC
Jared Lee Loughner
© Scripps Media, Inc.
The new photo of Loughner was released by U.S. Marshals on February 22.
A judge in Arizona has ordered that two letters recently written by the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage should be given to his defense attorneys but not prosecutors.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns says defense attorneys for 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner should get copies of the letters because they pertain to the attorney-client relationship.

For that same reason, Burns says the court also determined the letters should not be disclosed to the government.

The judge did not provide any details about what the letters say.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the Jan. 8 mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
      Read More...
USA

OK to kill Osama bin Laden? Absolutely, U.S. says


Chicago Sun Times
Wed, 11 May 2011 09:14 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press / Jason DeCrow
With the new One World Trade Center building in the background, second left, a large, jubilant crowd reacts to the news of Osama bin Laden's death at the corner of Church and Vesey Streets, adjacent to ground zero, during the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 2, 2011 in New York.
Was the U.S. right to kill Osama bin Laden? Absolutely, and about time, Americans say.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll shows the nation supporting the raid with rare unanimity - nearly 90 percent.

About 50 percent said it increased the threat of terrorist acts against the United States. Seventeen percent said it decreased the threat, while 31 percent said they believed it had no effect on terrorism.
      Read More...
Camera

US: Pastor Regrets Posting Baby TSA Pat-down Photo on Twitter

Kevin Murphy
Reuters
Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Twitter
An unidentified baby is searched by male and female TSA agents at Kansas City International Airport.
The Reverend Jacob Jester said on Wednesday he wishes he never would have posted a picture on Twitter of a baby being patted down by security agents at Kansas City International Airport.

Jester's photograph has been picked up by Internet news and blogging outlets worldwide, making the Independence, Missouri, pastor a hero of sorts to those who think security screening has gone too far.

"I'm not a political person and what happened has taken on a life of its own," Jester said Wednesday. The publicity has interfered with his personal life, said Jester, a pastor for a youth ministry.

He said the level of reaction to the picture is out of proportion to his views on the pat-down. He didn't even want to discuss those views anymore, except to refer to other media interviews in which he said he thought the pat-down was an extreme step.

After posting the photo, Jester said he became concerned the baby's mother would be upset about the publicity. But he said he has heard from her and she was not concerned. The faces of the baby and mother are turned slightly from the camera.
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Heart - Black

Revolting! Peace Corps insensitive to volunteers rapes


MSNBC
Wed, 11 May 2011 17:05 UTC
Image
© Emilie Jacobs-Finnegan / AP
Peace Corps volunteer Catherine "Kate" Puzey of Cumming, Ga., was killed in March 2009 after she complained by email to Peace Corps managers about a local man who worked with the volunteers — who has since been accused of the crime. Puzey's mother testified before Congress Wednesday about how poorly the agency responded to the crime.
It was an extraordinarily dramatic scene, even for Congress: Three Peace Corps volunteers raped while serving overseas, plus the mother of a fourth who was murdered in Benin, complaining to lawmakers about one of the government's most revered agencies.

Their theme was similar: The Peace Corps, which happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, did little to train its workers about how to avoid or deal with violent attacks. And it reacted insensitively and unhelpfully in the aftermath of the crimes, they said.

"I want the young women who go into the Peace Corps today to be protected," said Carol Marie Clark, who testified Wednesday that she joined the Peace Corps in 1984 at age 22 in Nepal and was raped and impregnated by the program's director there.
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Eye 2

US - California Child Kidnapping and Murder Statistics: By the Numbers

Sylvia Cochran
Yahoo News
Wed, 11 May 2011 14:05 UTC
missing child
© Unknown
Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped on June 10, 1991. Her stepfather witnessed the abduction and chased the kidnappers' car; sadly, to no avail. After 18 years, Dugard was found alive at her kidnappers' home in unincorporated Contra Costa County, Calif. What are the California child kidnapping and murder statistics? The California Child Abduction Task Force offers some sobering numbers.
      Read More...
Black Cat

Man airlifted to hospital after fight with cat


NBC Sports
Wed, 11 May 2011 13:31 UTC
This is a black day for Texas. How could an adult male get so totally owned by a housecat that his injuries would require an air ambulance evacuation? Is this the same state that fought in the Alamo?

No, this has nothing to do with sports. But read the account below and then tell me you're not glad I included it:
Catcopter
A Cleveland (TX) man was attacked by a housecat Friday afternoon and the man's injuries are so severe that he had to be taken by air ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

The altercation between the man and the animal occurred at a home on CR 3182 a few miles south of Cleveland in Liberty County.

At some point during the attack, the man and the cat reportedly were injured by a knife the man was holding. The man was taken to Cleveland Regional Medical Center before being transported to Houston.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

1,100 women raped every day in Congo


MSNBC
Wed, 11 May 2011 11:32 UTC
More than 1,100 women are raped every day in Congo, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health on Tuesday concluded.

The study found that more than 400,000 women aged between 15 and 49 were raped during a 12-month period in 2006-2007, AFP reported.

Image
© Pete Muller / AP, file
A mass rape victim comforts her son in the town of Fizi, Congo, on Feb. 20. She was among nearly fifty women who were raped by Congolese soldiers on the night of Jan. 1. Her son suffered a head wound when soldiers threw him to the ground prior to the rape. A court later sentenced an army colonel to 20 years in prison, convicting him of crimes against humanity.
The findings put the number of rapes at 26 times higher than a previous report from the United Nations, which said the number was 15,000 for the same period.

"Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring," Amber Peterman, lead author of the study, told AFP.

The study reportedly did not gather data on sexual violence among boys and men, or in girls younger than 15 and older than 49.

"Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," Peterman said.
      Read More...
Target

Defense Contractors Using Prison Labor to Build High-Tech Weapons Systems

Mike Elk
AlterNet
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:05 UTC
Image
© miss_millions
Prison labor seems like a win-win to many, but a closer look reveals a race to the bottom for skilled workers.

It is a little known fact of the attack on Libya that some of the components of the cruise missiles being launched into the country mayl have been made by prisoners in the United States. According to its website, UNICOR, which is the organization that represents Federal Prison Industries, "supplies numerous electronic components and service for guided missiles, including the Patriot Advanced Capability Missile (PAC-3)".

In addition to constructing electronic components for missiles, prison labor in the United States is used to make electronic cables for defense items like "the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron's (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems".
      Read More...
Bad Guys

US: FEMA asks for return of disaster aid

Ryan J. Foley
Associated Press
Tue, 10 May 2011 06:12 UTC
Van Fleet
© Van Fleet AP
In this May 5, 2011 photo, Justin Van Fleet stands at the site of where his home once stood before the flood of 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa - After the raging Cedar River filled his home with 13 feet of water and ruined most of his possessions, Justin Van Fleet pleaded for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get back on his feet.

Dead broke and living in a FEMA trailer following the 2008 flood, Van Fleet repeatedly submitted paperwork and made countless phone calls arguing his case. After seven months, the agency finally gave him more than $20,000, which he said gave him his life back and allowed him to move into a house.

Then in March, a letter arrived from the government with a shocking message: He should never have gotten the money. And he had just 30 days to pay it all back.
      Read More...
People

World population to pass 7 billion on October 31: U.N.

Patrick Worsnip
Reuters
Tue, 03 May 2011 07:07 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The world's population is projected to pass 7 billion on October 31 as it heads toward 10 billion or more by the end of the century, a new U.N. report said on Tuesday. The report also predicted that the global population would be higher by mid-century than its last edition forecast two years ago, reaching 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion.

It attributed this to fewer deaths as well as more births than it had anticipated. The October date for reaching the 7 billion mark is based on calculations from current trends and Hania Zlotnik, head of the U.N. economic department's population division, said it should be taken "with a grain of salt." Nevertheless, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced it would start a seven-day countdown on October 24 that would include a series of events. The world reached 6 billion people in 1998 and was 6.89 on July 1.

The report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," projected there would be 10.1 billion people on the planet by 2100, the first time it has looked that far ahead. But it said that if global fertility was just half a child more per woman than it expected, that figure could be almost 16 billion. U.N. officials said their figures were based on the assumption that fertility would taper off during the century.
      Read More...
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