Society's ChildS


Chalkboard

US: Matt Damon Slams Reporters While Defending Teachers


RT.com
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:46 UTC
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© http://www.mattdamonfan.netMatt Damon
What can make one of the most popular actors in America furious? Apparently it's disrespect towards teachers.

The Good Will Hunting actor attended the Save Out Schools rally in Washington DC on Sunday with his mother, a teacher, and appeared offended when a reporter from Reason TV asked him if he thought teachers receiving tenure did not have the incentive to give their job their all. The reporter suggested Damon might work harder than teachers, since his job does not necessarily come with a guaranteed security. Teachers with tenure, however, know that they will always receive compensation.
"You think job insecurity makes me work hard?" questioned Damon. "A teacher wants to teach. Why else would you take a shitty salary and really long hours and do that job unless you really love to do it?"
Damon then fired back at a cameraman who lobbed a statistic that 10 percent of teachers were "bad." When Damon asked him where he got that figure, the cameraman responded "I don't know."
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Cow

US, California: Who cut the cheese? Police Raid Raw Dairy Producers in L.A., Destroy Inventory

CJ Ciaramella
The Daily Caller
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:28 UTC

A yearlong sting operation involving a multitude of state and federal agencies brought to justice Wednesday a dangerous ring of raw dairy enthusiasts in California.

Los Angeles police yesterday arrested a farmer, one of her employers and the owner of a raw foods store on criminal conspiracy charges stemming from their allegedly illegal production and sale of unpasteurized milk, cheese and other nefarious dairy products.

Sharon Palmer, 51, James Cecil Stewart, 64, and Eugenie Victoria Bloch, 58, were all charged in a thirteen-count complaint, which includes "the felony crime of processing milk without pasteurization" and four counts of conspiracy. Arraignments were scheduled for today.

Stewart is the owner of Rawesome Foods, a private buying club that offers customers raw milk and cheese, in addition to other products. State agents raided his store yesterday and seized or destroyed his entire inventory.
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Cult

Young woman recounts her escape from Israeli cult

Tamar Rotem
Haaretz
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:25 UTC
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© Olivier Fitoussi Cult leader D. during his arraignment earlier this week.
In mid-May, a young woman called the Israel Center for Cult Victims, asking that her identity be kept secret. "I live in a Jerusalem collective," she told center director Rachel Lichtenstein. "I'm not certain, but I think it's a cult."

That call led to the exposure of the Jerusalem cult whose ringleader, D., was indicted yesterday along with two other members.

In several meetings with center staffers, the caller, in her early twenties, revealed the story of her life in D.'s house. She later agreed to complain to the police. Her detailed testimony about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse inflicted on the household's women and children led to an investigation that ended with the police and welfare authorities raiding the house. The women and children were sent to shelters; D. and two others were arrested.

Now, according to her lawyer, Ami Savir, the complainant will be the key prosecution witness in the trial.
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Arrow Up

A Sign of the Times? Edmonton, Canada: Officials Maintain Murder Rate an Anomaly

Angelique Rodrigues
Edmonton Sun
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:27 UTC
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© UnknownPolice and firefighters continue to investigate at the scene of a fatal fire at the Bethany Senior Citizens Home, 9920 - 83 Ave
In the wake of what may be the city's 34th homicide of the year, city officials continue to maintain the spike in murders is simply an anomaly.

"This is an aberration, this is not indicative of what's to come," said Edmonton Police Association President Tony Simioni. "We have to consider this year a freak of nature."

Simioni said if police did see an emerging trend they would be actively implementing strategies to combat it.

"I don't think this is a new precedent for Edmonton, and I don't think it will last," he said. "For the average Edmontonian, this is still a safe place to live."

Many of the suspects and victims were people who knew each other and engaged in high-risk behaviour, he noted.
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Dollar

US: USPS posts $3.1 billion loss in Q3, warns of default

Emily Stephenson
Reuters
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:31 UTC
mail carrier
© billingsgazette.com
Washington - The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in.

Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.

The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as mail volumes fall. It has said personnel costs weigh heavily and is facing a massive retiree health benefit prepayment next month.
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Bomb

Bizarre Details Emerge in Australia Teen's Neck Bomb Hoax Horror


MSNBC
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:16 UTC
Man seen running from victim's home; ransom note bore name of sinister fictional character



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© EPAMadeleine Pulver, 18, had a suspected bomb attached to her after a masked man entered her family's home in Sydney on Wednesday.
A bizarre ransom note bearing the name of a fictional character was left by a ski-mask-clad man who broke into a suburban Sydney home and chained a fake bomb to the 18-year-old daughter of a wealthy Australia businessman, officials close to the case said Thursday.

The man apparently was spotted running away from the home in the suburb of Mosman by a neighbor and her driver, who told police he leapt into a car driven by a woman who had been "driving up and down the street, looking nervous," sources told the Daily Telegraph.

After telling police the car sped away, the neighbor, champion racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse, took to her blog to chastise the "crazy person" who sparked a 10-hour ordeal Wednesday as police removed the bomb-like device from Madeleine Pulver.
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Dollar

Carlos Slim World's Richest Man Loses $8 Billion in Four Days

Crayton Harrison
Bloomberg
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:55 UTC
carlos slim
© Fernando Castillo/LatinContent/Getty ImagesCarlos Slim, the world’s richest man, lost about $8 billion this week.
Carlos Slim, the world's richest man, lost about $8 billion this week.

The Mexican billionaire's stock portfolio, measured in U.S. dollars, has dropped about 11 percent since July 29, before today, and is valued at about $63 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 7.1 percent slide in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Slim, 71, has taken a hit as Mexico's benchmark IPC index dropped 7.4 percent and the peso slid 2.5 percent against the dollar on concerns that the flagging U.S. economy will hurt demand for assets in its southern neighbor. The removal of three of Slim's companies from the IPC index has made matters worse for the billionaire.

"He's been particularly hurt by those companies leaving the IPC," said Leon Cabrera, a trader at Mexico City-based Vanguardia Casa de Bolsa. "It reflects the nervousness out there. It's part of being in the market."
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Eye 1

What if the Oslo terrorist was Ahmad Breivik?

Joesph Wakim
The Drum Opinion
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:14 UTC
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If the Oslo terrorist suspect Anders was Ahmad, the blame game would have revealed a double standard.

Right-wing ideologues and hate peddlers both in Europe and Australia have hastily ducked for cover and denounced Anders Breivik as a deranged psychopath. They have tip-toed away from the crime scene, insisting that there is no blood on their hands.

By contrast, Muslim leaders step up to the podium, denounce acts of violence and assume a position of responsibility when any misguided Muslim commits a crime in the name of Islam. Rather than shy away, they face the press gallery, even if the criminal is a psychopath. They are cornered to be accountable, with a microphone and camera pointing to their head, as if there is something intrinsically evil about their creed.
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Bad Guys

Anders Behring Breivik: Mad or bad?

Nora Johnson
Euro Weekly News
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:40 UTC
Breivik
© UnknownBreivik got the limelight he sought

Anders Behring Breivik - who admitted killing 76 people in twin attacks in Oslo and Utøya - is a chancer. Narcissistic, full of his own self-importance and a control freak with an unhealthy interest in politics.

Janne Kristiansen, director of the Norwegian Police Security Service - Norway's M15 - told the BBC she did not believe he is insane, but calculating and evil, and someone who sought the limelight. Likewise, Peter Svaar, childhood friend and now successful TV journalist, challenged the insanity theory: "He is cold, clever and calculating. My biggest fear now is that he's still playing us - the media and public opinion - like a piano."

Breivik used the internet to attempt to spread his evil ideas (he wouldn't have got anywhere just a few years ago) and, naturally, the media are whooping it up. A number of individuals with equally repulsive views about immigrants and/or Islam have climbed on the bandwagon and used the internet to do likewise. Again, full of their own self-importance.
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USA

Ron Paul: 'Super Congress' created by debt deal is 'monstrous'

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:34 UTC
Thursday on the Fox Business Network, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) described the 12 member bipartisan special joint committee of Congress created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 as "unconstitutional" and "monstrous."

"It looks to me like with this 'Super Congress' and committee, if we don't vote for what they recommend, the [Office of Management and Budget] gets a lot of power, and that's part of the executive branch," he told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs. "And who knows? That's the area where I think that they may be raising revenue, closing loopholes. Who knows what they might be doing? But it is not a good sign for constitutional government."

Paul, who voted against the debt ceiling agreement, is currently running for President of the United States.
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