Society's ChildS


Attention

UK: Protesters Against NHS Reforms Occupy Westminster Bridge

Matthew Taylor
The Guardian, UK
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:15 UTC
Up to 2,000 UK Uncut activists and health workers join in Block the Bridge, Block the Bill demonstration

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© Kerim Okten/EPAA protester against the government's NHS changes on Westminster Bridge.
Anti-cuts campaigners and health workers have joined forces in central London in protest against the planned shakeup of the NHS.

More than 2,000 people staged a sit-down protest on Westminster Bridge from 1pm on Sunday to highlight the health and social care bill, which is due to go before the House of Lords this week.

The bridge, normally one of London's busiest, links St Thomas's hospital on the southern bank with the Houses of Parliament.

As Big Ben struck 1pm protesters unfurled banners and sat down, blocking the bridge in both directions as hundreds of police looked on.
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Brick Wall

US: Unemployed Seek Protection Against Job Bias

Sam Hanael
The Associated Press
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:38 UTC
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© AP Photo/Tony DejakSelena Forte, 55, poses for a photo by a FedEx drop box Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, in Cleveland.
After two years on the unemployment rolls, Selena Forte thought she'd found a temporary job at FedEx that matched her qualifications.

But Forte, a 55-year-old from Cleveland, says a job recruiter for a temporary agency told her the company wouldn't consider her because she had been out of work too long. She had lost her job driving a bus.

"They didn't even want to hear about my experience," said Forte. "It didn't make sense. You're always told just go out there and get a job."

Forte, scraping by now as a part time substitute school bus driver, is part of a growing number of unemployed or underemployed Americans who complain they are being screened out of job openings for the very reason they're looking for work in the first place. Some companies and job agencies prefer applicants who already have jobs, or haven't been jobless too long.

She could get help from a provision in President Barack Obama's jobs bill, which would ban companies with 15 or more employees from refusing to consider - or offer a job to - someone who is unemployed. The measure also applies to employment agencies and would prohibit want ads that disqualify applicants just because they are unemployed.
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Che Guevara

UK: Julian Assange: 'Journalists are War Criminals'

Jason Li
Digital Journal
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange made a rare public appearance today at Trafalgar Square to decry war and accused journalists of propagating lies that lead to it.

The event was an anti-war assembly commemorating the ten year anniversary of the Afghan war, followed by a protest march down to Downing Street, where the official residence of the country's prime minister is.

In his short five minute speech as a guest speaker, Assange called on the crowd to "form our own networks of strength" to combat a "transnational security elite" who are conspiring to launder taxpayer money through war.

Listing a series of wars, including WWII, Somalia, and the 2003 Iraq War, Assange said that wars like Afghanistan are the result of lies. He also called journalists war criminals because of the media's role in the spread of such lies.

He concluded by saying that "peace can only be started with truth", and encouraged his audience to continue sending Wikileaks information: "Go and get the truth, get into the ballpark and get the ball and give it to us and we'll spread it all over the world."

For more information about the event, go to www.stopwar.org.uk.
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Sherlock

US, Portland: Dead body found in Oregon may be linked to murder spree

Teresa Carson
Reuters
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:55 UTC
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© Oregon State PoliceHandoutWhen Holly Grigsby and Joseph Pedersen were captured, they were wanted in connection with a murder in Washington and two disappearances.
An unidentified dead man was found inside a black Jeep in rural Oregon, police said on Saturday, the latest evidence in a possible two-state murder spree linked to couple with white supremacist leanings.

Oregon State Police declined to identify the deceased male, but the Jeep belongs to David Jones Pedersen, who has been missing since September 26. His wife, Leslie Pedersen, was found brutally stabbed to death in her Everett, Washington home on September 28.

Her stepson, David Joseph Pedersen, 31 and his girlfriend Holly Grigsby, 24, were arrested in California October 5 and are expected to be extradited and charged in Leslie Pedersen's murder. They are being held in the Yuba County, California jail on charges including felony possession of a firearm and theft of a vehicle.
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Handcuffs

US, Louisiana: Turkey Creek Police Officer Arrested


Daily World
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:00 UTC
police car, cop car, sirens
The former police chief of the Evangeline Parish town of Turkey Creek was arrested Thursday by Louisiana State Police on a variety of charges stemming from a deries of thefts that allegedly occured at a retail store in Lafayette, according to Trooper Stephen Hammons in a press release from State Police Troop I.

In September, detectives with Louisiana State Police Region 2 received information about the theft. The complaint

alleged 43-year-old Robert Moreau of Turkey Creek was removing store items from the shelves, then leaving with them without permission and without paying for them, according to the news release.
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Info

US: Bizarre theft: Owners report 50 foot bridge stolen from Western Pennsylvania

Josh Simeone
News Works
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
A business owner in New Castle, Pennsylvania says he was shocked to learn the company's 50-foot bridge had been stolen.

According to the Associated Press, the 20-foot wide span in North Beaver Township was reported missing on Wednesday, September 27.

The bridge, made out of corrugated steel, is worth nearly $100,000.

It appears the thieves used a blowtorch to cut it apart.

The AP says the bridge was used occasionally as a back entrance to the company property.
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Camcorder

US: Casey Anthony gives video evidence in bizarre disguise at real-life 'Zanny-the nanny' defamation trial

Hannah Roberts
The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 01:21 UTC
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© unknownDefamation hearing: Casey Anthony is to be questioned by video from an undisclosed Florida hearing today
Casey Anthony gave video evidence this morning in the defamation lawsuit against her, disguised in a wig, baseball cap and sunglasses.

The testimony was part of the case brought against her by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who had the same name as the fictional nanny, 'Zanny', Anthony blamed for the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee.

It is the first time the 25-year-old has been seen since her release from jail in July.

This morning Anthony's lawyer repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as expected, according to John Morgan, Gonzalez' lawyer.

Morgan questioned Anthony, who was in a secret, remote, location in Florida, via video link.

Anthony did answer general questions, including whether she was present during her trial and whether she was in court for her attorney's opening statement, Morgan said.
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Attention

US: DC Museum Closed after Anti-War Protest; Pepper Spray Used

Jessica Gresko
The Associated Press
Sun, 09 Oct 2011 04:26 UTC
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© The Associated Press/Jose Luis MaganaOne demonstrator helps another flush her eyes with water after after police pepper-sprayed a group of protestors, who were trying to get into the National Air and Space Museum in Washington Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, as part of Occupy DC activities in Washington.
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington was closed Saturday after anti-war demonstrators swarmed the building to protest a drone exhibit and security guards used pepper spray to repel them, sickening a number of protesters.

Smithsonian spokesman John Gibbons said a large group of demonstrators, estimated at 100 to 200 people, arrived at about 3 p.m. and tried to enter the National Mall museum. When a security guard stopped group members from entering, saying they could not bring in signs, he was apparently held by demonstrators, Gibbons said. A second guard who arrived used pepper spray on at least one person and the crowd dispersed, he added.

A number of groups have been demonstrating in the city in the past week. The group that arrived at the museum Saturday included individuals taking part in the October 2011 Stop the Machine demonstration in the city's Freedom Plaza, which has an anti-war and anti-corporate greed message. The group also included protesters affiliated with Occupy D.C., a group modeled on the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City. Occupy D.C. has been holding marches and meetings in Washington's McPherson Square.
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Clock

US, Washington: Hertz: Muslim workers failed to follow break rules

Laura Myers
Reuters
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Reuters/Rebecca CookA Hertz sign is seen outside a rental car office in Ferndale, Michigan May 9, 2011.
Hertz rental car company, which was met with protests for suspending 34 Muslim shuttle drivers in Seattle in a dispute over prayer breaks, said it would reinstate the workers if they agreed to clock in and out.

Hertz said the Somali Muslim employees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were suspended not for praying but for failing to clock in and out for 10-minute breaks as required under a collective bargaining agreement.

Washington state law allows employees two 10-minute breaks during an eight-hour shift.

"This issue arose when breaks for prayers were extended for unacceptably long periods beyond 10 minutes for nonreligious activities, Hertz spokesman Richard Broome said in a written statement issued on Friday night.
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Chalkboard

US: California allows college aid to illegal immigrants

Greg Lucas
Reuters
Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Reuters/Lucy NicholsonCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown speaks after vetoing the budget passed the day before by state legislators in Los Angeles, California June 16, 2011.
California Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday signed a bill giving illegal immigrant college students access to state-funded financial aid, the second half of two-part legislation known as the "Dream Act."

The controversial measure, which passed the Democrat-controlled legislature on a party-line vote in September, represents a victory for immigrant-rights activists ahead of the 2012 presidential election. California is the nation's most populous state.

Only two other states, Texas and New Mexico, allow illegal immigrants to qualify for state financial aid for college, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking," Brown said in a written statement issued by his office.

"The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us," he said.
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