Society's ChildS


Vader

Why Did Harper Announce Canada's "Major Transformations" in a Foreign Country?

Andy Radia
Political Points
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00 UTC
Stephen Harper
© The Canadian Press/Adrian WyldCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivers his address to business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Thursday January 26, 2012.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper used his speech at the World Economic Forum, Thursday, as a means to outline his government's plans in the month's to come.

As reported in the Globe and Mail, Harper vowed "major transformations" including a change on how Canadians finance their retirement. He will overhaul the immigration system. He will make oil and gas exports to Asia a "national priority" and aggressively pursue free trade in India and Europe.

While what he said was quite significant, it's where he said it that's leaving some scratching their heads.

NDP finance critic Peter Julian says that was very disrespectful to Canadians.

"(It's) particularly very disrespectful to Canadian seniors to roll out this type of speech among the world's billionaires in Davos rather than addressing us here as home," Julian told Yahoo! Canada News.
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Attention

Amazon Seller Caught Bribing for Good Reviews

Diane Bullock
Minyanville
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:22 UTC
Bribery
© MinyanvilleI love you, now pay me!

Man, what does it take to get a five-star review on Amazon anymore? Well, if you're selling a sub-five-star product, almost ten bucks. At least that's what it cost online retailer VIP Deals who paid customers of a protective leather case designed for the Kindle Fire.

The Vipertek brand premium slim black leather case folio cover was originally listed on Amazon by VIP Deals for $59.99. But a special offer on the merchant's page had the item marked down by over 80% -- for $9.99 plus shipping. And if you think that's a good deal, what would you say to a full 100% off?

That's precisely what people who took advantage of the sale were offered from VIP Deals when the Kindle Fire case arrived. Inside the package was a letter stating that the entire order would be refunded in exchange for a review on Amazon. While a positive review wasn't asked for explicitly, the letter offered a less than subtle nudge in that direction. "We strive to earn 100 percent perfect 'FIVE-STAR' scores from you!" the letter stated.

Of the 355 reviews written about the leather cover on Amazon last week, 310 were five-star and the remaining 45 were four-star. In a fit of honesty, one of the reviewers let slip out, "I would have done 4 stars instead of 5 without the deal."
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Crusader

US: The Romney Family Converted Romney's Father-In-Law - After He Died

Wendy Gittleson
Addicting Info
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:49 UTC
Mitt Romney
© Unknown

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about the Mormon religion, but from what I do know, they are quite evangelical and why not? As religions go, they're new and that's how new religions grow, through recruitment. But when I read this story, I couldn't help but feel, well...creeped out.

From Gawker:
Ann Romney's Welsh-born father (Mitt's father-in-law who Mitt mentioned in last night's debate to shore up his pro-immigrant bona fides) was an engineer, inventor, and resolute atheist who disdained all organized religion and raised his children accordingly. Davies, his son Roderick told the Boston Globe in 2007, regarded the faithful as "weak in the knees." But when Mitt began seeing Davies' daughter Ann, the Romney family launched a concerted effort to convert not only Ann but her entire family to Mormonism. And they were wildly successful: Within a year of meeting Ann, Mitt and his father had converted all three of Edward Davies' children. Days before she died in 1993, Ann Romney's mother asked to be converted as well. Edward Davies was the only member of his clan whose soul the Romneys never claimed for their church.
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Heart - Black

Spain's Unemployment Total Passes Five Million

Tom Burridge
BBC News
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:25 UTC
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Spain's unemployment figure passed the five million mark in the last quarter of 2011, official figures show.
Spain's unemployment figure passed the five million mark in the last quarter of 2011, official figures show.

The National Statistics Institute said 5.3 million people were out of work at the end of December, up from 4.9 million in the third quarter.

The rate rose from 21.5% in the third quarter to 22.8% - the highest rate in nearly 17 years.

Spain already has the highest jobless rate in the 17-nation eurozone and is expected to slide back into recession.

The 22.8% rate is more than twice the average unemployment rate of the eurozone, which stood at 10.3% in November, according to data released earlier this month.
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Attention

The Truth About Race & Religion in Politics

Gary Stix
Scientific American
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:09 UTC
POTUS Speech
© White House Photo, Pete SouzaPresident Obama delivers his State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol.

The color of a candidate's skin failed to sway voters to depress the lever for either Obama or McCain in the 2008 election, immediate analyses of that contest seemed to suggest. Some pundits hailed it as the first postracial election.

But a closer look after the election has revealed a much more nuanced picture of that historic faceoff. It turns out that as many as a fifth of the voters cared about race more than other considerations like gender, endorsements by a local newspaper or a candidate's political party.

A study by political scientist Brian F. Schaffner at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the December issue of Political Psychology showed that concerns about race may have meant that Obama procured 3 percent less of the vote than he would have if he were white - enough to decide an election in a close race. "It's pretty clear that if Obama were white he would have done better than he did," Schaffner says.

His finding echoes the results of similar probings by other researchers into the 2008 statistics. Schaffner's work stands out, though, because of the care that he took in trying to figure out whether a voter was trying to mask biases about the hyper-sensitive issue of race. The researcher devised what he calls an "unobtrusive observational measure" to try to elicit a voter's real opinions.
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Crusader

Vatican Whistle-Blower Begged to Continue Crusade Against Corruption

Philip Pullella
Reuters
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:54 UTC
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© CNSArchbishop Vigano, now apostolic nuncio to the US, apparently said there was a corruption problem at Vatican City in a letter to Benedict XVI
A senior Vatican official who was transferred after he exposed a web of corruption begged to be allowed to continue his crusade and denounced a "vulgar and insolent" cleric behind a plot to destroy him, according to a leaked letter on Friday.

The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who is now the Vatican's ambassador to Washington, will increase consternation in the Vatican which has been put on the defensive by the growing scandal.

Vigano wrote on May 8, 2011, to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone imploring "your eminence to radically change your opinion of me," according to the letter published by the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, one of two news organizations which have been leaked the correspondence

Vigano wrote that letter nearly two months after Bertone, the second-most powerful man in the Vatican after the pope, informed him that he was being removed from his position three years before the scheduled end of his tenure.

Letters broadcast on Wednesday by the investigative program The Untouchables on the private television La7 showed Vigano was transferred against his will after complaining to Bertone and Pope Benedict about corruption and mismanagement.
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Better Earth

US: 28 States to Consider Toxic Chemicals Legislation in 2012

Sarah Doll, National Director
Safer States
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:31 UTC
With no action yet from Congress, state legislatures continue to work to protect citizens.

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© Safer States
The past couple years have seen unprecedented changes in the toxic chemicals landscape across the United States. In the past nine years, over 80 chemical safety laws have been passed with an overwhelming margin of bi-partisan support in statehouses across the country.

But this is not a time to rest on our laurels. Across the country, families still come into contact with unregulated toxic chemicals. Every day, we are exposed to hundreds of different chemicals in our home and at our work - chemicals like formaldehyde and chlorinated Tris which are known carcinogens, and bisphenol-a (BPA) which contributes to health problems with reproductive development.

None of these chemicals are effectively regulated by the federal government: it is a widely held myth that manufacturers even have to prove a chemical's safety before introducing it into products we buy. They don't have to, and they won't often even disclose which chemicals make up their products. Instead, they hide behind the claim that the information is proprietary.

The hope for federal regulation is still that - just a hope; the law overseeing toxic chemical regulation is over 30 years old, and its overhaul is being buffeted by strong opposition from the industry trade association which is backed by billions of dollars of influence. So while Congress tries to figure out how to change the rules on the federal level, it is up to the states to fill the gap in protection.
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Boat

US: Ship Strikes Kentucky Bridge, Portion Collapses


The Associated Press
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:33 UTC
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© Stephen Lance Dennee/APThe Delta Mariner is draped with two spans of the Eggner's Ferry Bridge after the boat hit it on Thursday night.
'All of a sudden I see the road's gone and I hit the brakes,' motorist says

Benton - State officials are inspecting what's left of a southwestern Kentucky bridge that collapsed after a cargo ship carrying aviation parts struck it.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says inspectors began the in-depth review of the Eggner Ferry Bridge at daylight Friday.

The Delta Mariner cargo ship struck the span Thursday evening. No injuries were reported. Officials were unable to say where the ship was traveling when it struck the bridge.

They said the collapse meant vehicles needing to cross the Kentucky Lake reservoir and the Tennessee River had to be detoured for dozens of miles.

Officials say about 2,800 vehicles travel daily on the bridge, which was due to be replaced.
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Bad Guys

US: Bastrop Pastor Charged with Animal Cruelty Over Death of Neighbor's Cat

Andy Campbell
The Huffington Post
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:22 UTC
A pastor is being accused of throwing a neighbor's cat off of a bridge.



"Love thy neighbor" is a lesson that goes back to Leviticus, but Texas police say one pastor forgot the Golden Rule, or at least doesn't think it applies to your neighbor's cat.

Bastrop Christian Church Pastor Rick Bartlett, whose sermons promise "deliverance and renewal from wrongs suffered and caused" in life, allegedly left his neighbor's 12-year-old cat Moody in a cage in the back of his truck for three days, then chucked the pussy off a bridge where it fell 50 feet to its death on Jan. 15, according to KEYE TV.
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X

Talk about a dangerous cult! Canada: Quebec woman was 'cooked to death' at retreat, coroner says

Jan Ravensbergen
National Post
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:06 UTC
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© Postmedia News filesChantal Lavigne’s body temperature was 40.5C when taken to hospital.
Quebec police officers have completed their report into the bizarre death of Chantale Lavigne - who was "cooked to death" at a personal development seminar - and investigators are expected to meet with the Quebec prosecutor assigned to the case as early as next week.

It will be up to the prosecutor "to decide whether any charges will be filed, and, if so, what they would be," Rene Verret, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said Thursday.

The manner in which Lavigne died was "very unusual," Verret noted.

An autopsy report on Lavigne's body has yet to be completed, the Quebec coroner's office said. But Radio-Canada quoted coroner Gilles Sainton as saying the 35-year-old mother of two from St. Albert, Que., "was cooked to death."

Sainton conducted that interview last November for the TV show Enquete, said Dana Deslauriers, a lawyer for the coroner's office.

Sainton wouldn't be available for any followup interview, Deslauriers added.
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