SOTT
SIGNS
OF THE
TIMES
OF THE
TIMES
Welcome to Sott.net
The World for People who Think
Society's ChildS
US - A Hawaiian mom said she was embarrassed after the TSA asked her to "prove" her breast pump was real by filling the bottles before being allowed to board.
Amy Strand was flagged in the security line at the Lihue Airport in Kauai on Wed. She was traveling with her 9-month-old daughter, reported KITV 4 News.
She had an electric breast pump with her, and because the bottles in the carry-on bag were empty, she indicated she was asked to "prove" the breast pump was real.
TSA reportedly wanted Strand to demonstrate the pump and fill the bottles. The breastfeeding mother asked if there was a private area where she could pump the milk, and the TSA sent her to a women's bathroom to fill the bottles.
© The Associated Press/Michal Legierski Rescuers work at the site of the train collision in Szczekociny, southern Poland Sudnay, March 3, 2012.
Both trains were traveling on the same track but toward each other and collided head-on, Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP, said in an interview on the all-news station TVN24. He said one of the trains, which was traveling south from Warsaw to Krakow, should not have been on the track. The other train, headed from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw, was on the correct track, Pawlowski said.
It wasn't immediately clear how the southbound train ended up on the wrong track. Maintenance work was being carried out on one of the tracks where the collision occurred, in the small town of Szczekociny.
BP announces settlement with PSC, subject to final written agreement, to resolve economic loss and medical claims from Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. Estimated $7.8B settlement expected to be paid from $20 billion Trust
BP has reached a settlement with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC), subject to final written agreement, to resolve the substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims stemming from the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. The PSC acts on behalf of individual and business plaintiffs in the Multi-District Litigation proceedings pending in New Orleans (MDL 2179).
© Drake Toulouse
"From the beginning, BP stepped up to meet our obligations to the communities in the Gulf Coast region, and we've worked hard to deliver on that commitment for nearly two years," said Bob Dudley, BP Group CEO. "The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast."BP estimates that the cost of the proposed settlement, expected to be paid from the $20 billion Trust, would be approximately $7.8 billion. This includes a BP commitment of $2.3 billion to help resolve economic loss claims related to the Gulf seafood industry.
© unknown
Two groups associated with the Occupy movement -- Occupy Colleges and Occupy Education -- organized the event, along with a group called the New York Student Aid Alliance.
Natalia Abrams, an organizer with Occupy Colleges, said that more than 70 schools pledged through the Occupy Colleges website to send at least 100 students each to the rallies, with some schools pledging hundreds more. She estimated turnout to be in the "mid to high thousands."
The event is the second in two days that has drawn attention to what might be described as a second wave of the Occupy movement.
Call it Occupy 2.0. After evictions ended the movement's camping phase a few months ago, the occupation went into hibernation. Activists regrouped and got more organized, focusing on specific issues. Wednesday's march targeted the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization that promotes policies intended to benefit corporations. Thursday's took aim at the high cost of education.
US: Bush's Former Campaign Manager Apologizes for Anti-Gay Marriage Agenda
President George W. Bush's re-election campaign manager and openly gay former Republican Committee chairman Ken Mehlman expressed regret with his role in the 2004 campaign's anti-gay marriage agenda. Mehlman, who left the Republican National Committee to work for a private equity firm shortly after coming out in 2010, apologized in an interview for pushing against gay marriage in 2004.
"At a personal level, I wish i had spoken out against the effort. As I've been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I've learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved," said Mehlman in an interview with Salon. "I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I'll do my part to be helpful."
President George W. Bush's re-election campaign manager and openly gay former Republican Committee chairman Ken Mehlman expressed regret with his role in the 2004 campaign's anti-gay marriage agenda. Mehlman, who left the Republican National Committee to work for a private equity firm shortly after coming out in 2010, apologized in an interview for pushing against gay marriage in 2004.
"At a personal level, I wish i had spoken out against the effort. As I've been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I've learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved," said Mehlman in an interview with Salon. "I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I'll do my part to be helpful."
© Unknown
© Dana Jensen/The DayMembers of the City of Groton Police Department talk to Erin Mitchell of New Haven before arresting her Wednesday for crossing a police line during a protest outside the main entrance of the Pfizer Research & Development facility in Groton.
Seven of the protesters linked arms just outside the pharmaceutical giant's entrance and refused to move, telling a Pfizer contractor that they wanted to talk to a company official about its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is an organization that brings legislators and corporations together to write new laws that protesters say favor corporations over working people.
"Unfortunately, as usual, we didn't get a response," Jason Morris of New London said.
Chanting slogans such as "Hey, Pfizer, what's the news - we just want to talk to you," the seven protesters were ushered peacefully into a van by state and Groton City police as the Occupy group yelled, "The whole world is watching," harkening back to language of the 1970s peace movement.
© Mother JonesBig Bank Theory
Ecologists say that when the gene-pool of a species is reduced beyond a certain point that species is in danger of extinction because it may not have enough alternative genes to recover from a negative event such as a plague etc.
Could this concept be applied to our new globalized economy and even to our educational resources?
When I saw the documentary "Food Inc", I was surprised to learn that less than half a dozen corporations control almost all of American agriculture and food production.
I was talking to someone on the far left the other day who said that economic power has become so concentrated in the USA that if you nationalized some 20 corporations, then, in one blow, you would have created a de facto, ad hoc, "real existent socialism". He gave Walmart as an example of a perfect "planned economy". Maybe he is on to something.
© Jose Luis Villegas / jvillegas@sacbee.comTommy Lee Daniels listens as he is sentenced for the conviction of molesting five girls in his Citrus Heights home between 2003 and 2005 Sacramento, Calif.
In handing down the term to the 49-year-old Daniels, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Trena H. Burger-Plavan told the pastor he "took advantage of his position of trust and confidence with very young victims."
Daniels, exhibiting facial grimaces throughout the sentencing hearing, made no comment. He has continued to maintain his innocence. His attorney, Michael L. Chastaine, filed a motion for a new trial that the judge rejected. Chastaine said afterwards he intends to appeal the Dec. 8 verdict handed down by the Sacramento jury.
The five victims in the case were between the ages of 5 and 13 when Daniels touched them inappropriately while they were in his family's care in his Wapiti Place residence. The molestations took place in his house between December 2002 and August 2007.
© Memri- TV
One academic, Prof. Alex Vitae of Brooklyn College, discussed the impact of OWS "locally and nationally" and pondered "whether or not this will have momentum that could have more far-reaching implications." Prof. Heather Gautney of Fordham University noted that the Occupy movement is "entering more into social institutions, and trying to pressure politicians or pressure leadership" and said that she thought "that the movement is going to be incredibly active in pressuring politicians to start addressing issues of social inequality." Both she and Vitae mentioned OWS's possible impact on the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
Prof. John Hammond of City University of New York spoke of the future, mentioning a "big movement planned in New York City, called Occupy the Corporations," and demonstrations in Chicago in May where the G-8 summit is set to take place.
