News Around the World

UN Foreign Aid Money Misused

jd4fox23 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:19:28 GMT

Foreign Aid Money Spent on $23 Million Art Ceiling at U.N. Human Rights Council

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The U.N. Human Rights Council, frequently accused of coddling some of the world's most repressive governments, threw itself a party in Geneva Tuesday that featured the unveiling of a $23 million mural paid for in part with foreign aid funds.

In a ceremony attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling artwork reminded him of "an image of the world dripping toward the sky" — but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.

"In Spain there's a controversy because they took money out of the foreign aid budget — took money from starving children in Africa — and spent it on colorful stalactites," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch.

Spanish taxpayers paid for most of the sprawling sculpture, which has been compared to the Sistine Chapel, but around $633,000 came from Spain's budget for overseas development aid.

Spain's conservative opposition party blasted the government for diverting money from projects to alleviate poverty in poorer countries, though the government insisted the funding for Barcelo's work was kept separate.

Ban himself praised the piece and thanked Barcelo for putting his "unique talents to work in the service of the world." The artwork will soar above the Human Rights Council's chambers at U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, which may soon undergo a $1 billion renovation — but only after a $1.9 billion facelift of the U.N.'s New York offices is completed.

Meanwhile, international humanitarian groups pleaded with the human rights panel to take time out from their party to address the worsening human rights "catastrophe" in the Congo, where the government is fighting a deadly battle with several rebel groups.

"Mass displacement, killings and sexual violence — involving hundreds of thousands of victims, if not more — require an urgent response," according to a statement issued jointly Tuesday by Freedom House and U.N. Watch.

Congo has been off the radar at the Human Rights Council, which removed its monitor from the African country in March when the Congolese government and a group of neighboring nations applied pressure on the council to expel the monitor.

"When the Human Rights Council was established two years ago there were about 12 or so monitors, and gradually one after another has been scrapped," said Neuer. "The other ones are all on the chopping block."

Violence is worsening in the country, where an estimated 4 million people have been killed in the past 10 years and tens of thousands have been displaced in recent months. <CLIP>

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454191,00.html

The Coal Industry

jd4fox23 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:31:32 GMT

Hidden Audio: Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry

SHOCK Audio Unearthed OBAMA TELLS SAN FRANCISCO HE WILL BANKRUPT THE COAL INDUSTRY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdi4onAQBWQ <LISTEN in BO's own voice and words>

Fascinating Facts

jd4fox23 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:22:25 GMT

Illegal in Arizona

It's illegal to do this in Arizona and it doesn't matter if they have one hump or two.

The Keystone State
In Pennsylvania, ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is this.

Which came first?
Which art is older, mapmaking or writing?

The human body
Studies show that one out of every 3,000 children has some form of what?

The solar system
How many nova erupt in our galaxy each year?

A slippery situation
What reptile gives birth like a mammal does?

On This Day In History......

jd4fox23 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:15:40 GMT

Interesting new set of pages on our site ...

	On this day, August 6th Hiroshima is devastated on this day in 1945 when the Enola Gay drops the atomic bomb "Little Boy" instantly killing tens of thousands of people.
	On this day, August 5th The world mourns the deaths of several Hollywood legends today including Carmen Miranda in 1955, Richard Burton in 1984, and Marily Monroe in 1962.
	On this day, August 4th Today marks the day in 1944 when a tip from an informer leads to the discovery of Anne Frank and her family.

High on Mount Sinai

Unwashed Mass — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:22:14 GMT

Think of what the world would be like today had they had a "war on drugs" back then...

JERUSALEM (AFP) - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/israelreligionoffbeat

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.

MySpace sexual assault suit dismissed

Marlin — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:05:54 GMT

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Federal law gives MySpace.com immunity from a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a man she met on the social networking Web site, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that a Texas girl's family filed against MySpace and its parent company, News Corp. The family said MySpace didn't protect young users from sexual predators.

The appeals court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 bars such lawsuits against Web-based services like MySpace. A federal judge in Austin, Texas, dismissed the $30 million lawsuit on the same grounds last year.

"Parties complaining that they were harmed by a Web site's publication of user-generated content have recourse; they may sue the third-party user who generated the content, but not the interactive computer service that enabled them to publish the content online," Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote in the ruling.

The girl's family argued in the appeal that MySpace isn't immune from liability because it partially creates the content of its profiles. The appeals court refused to consider that argument because it wasn't presented in district court.

The 5th Circuit also noted that the girl, identified in court papers as Julie Doe, circumvented the Web site's safety features when she lied about her age. The girl was 13 but misrepresented herself as 18 years old when she created a MySpace profile in 2005. MySpace requires its users to be at least 14.

The girl was 14 when authorities say a 19-year-old man she met on MySpace sexually assaulted her in a Texas parking lot. The man was later indicted on a sexual assault charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

MySpace applauded the court's ruling and said it "takes the safety and security of our members very seriously."

"However, a lawsuit against MySpace was not the appropriate way to redress any harm to Julie Doe," the company said. "We continue to make our site even safer by creating new features and educating our users about online safety."

Gregory Coleman, a lawyer for the girl's family, said he was disappointed but needed more time to review the ruling before he could comment.

link

Cleared by DNA, man tries to reclaim his life

Marlin — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:10:11 GMT

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- James Woodard is slowly returning to life. He is starting over after spending 27 years behind bars. He was wrongly imprisoned and cleared by DNA.

Routine chores are a test of endurance when the only identification card in his wallet is issued by the Texas prison system.

With his new friend, Clay Graham of the Innocence Project of Texas, serving as his guide and driver, Woodard is on the hunt for the basics of everyday life.

When he went off to prison, Ronald Reagan was president, gas was cheap, AIDS was barely on the radar and no one had a cell phone or a personal computer.

"It's sort of like waking up from a dream," Woodard said, walking through the corridors of Dallas City Hall, trying to track down his birth certificate. "When you first wake up you are first kind of groggy and then as time passes you get more coherent."

He may be free, but he doesn't have his life back yet -- or even proof of his life. He crisscrosses the city looking for the birth certificate.

He can't open a bank account with a prison-issued I.D. He can't get a state I.D. card without a birth certificate or Social Security card. It's not easy starting over. Woodard calls it an "adventure."

Woodard was convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison. He was released on April 29, the 17th Dallas County inmate to be exonerated by DNA testing.

In one aspect at least, Woodard and the 16 others are lucky; the evidence that freed them was preserved even after their appeals were exhausted and the courts finalized their convictions. If they had been tried in a county or city that has no preservation laws, the DNA to clear them would have been destroyed long ago.

But more and more counties and states are passing laws for evidence preservation, according to the Innocence Project, practicing what Dallas County has long been doing.

The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization, based in New York, dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. Its Texas branch has been instrumental in handling the Dallas cases.

Since 2001, Dallas County has had more DNA exonerations than any other county in the nation.

For years, Woodard wrote letters to the prosecutors from his prison cell begging and pleading for help. Woodard says he never gave up hope.

"A man gives up hope, he gives up his life. You can't never give up hope," Woodard said.

But bad luck -- or maybe even bad faith -- put Woodard in prison in the first place. Woodard's attorney says prosecutors in the Dallas County district attorney's office sat on information that could have kept Woodard out of prison.

The jury believed Woodard was the last person seen with the victim. But according to court records, there were two other men that were with her. Police never followed up on the lead and prosecutors never shared the information with defense attorneys, even though they were legally obligated to do so.

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins is on a mission to right the wrongs of the past. He's suggesting that it's time to start prosecuting the prosecutors to keep innocent people like James Woodard from going to prison.

"When individuals intend to cause a person to be convicted for a crime they did not commit, that's an embarrassment for our profession," Watkins said during an interview at his office inside the Dallas courthouse.

Watkins says the prosecutor who handled Woodard's case deserves prison time. CNN made several attempts to reach the prosecutor involved. He did not return our calls.

Because it's unlikely that any of the prosecutors would face prison time under existing law, Watkins said, he wants to make it a crime from now on for prosecutors to knowingly hide or suppress evidence that could help a defendant.

"In order for us to have credibility with people and jurors and citizens I believe we had to take on this fight," he said.

Watkins' comments are sending shock waves through the Dallas legal community. Many of the prosecutors who handled the exonerated criminal cases have moved on to lucrative careers in private practice.

But many former prosecutors say the idea of criminalizing prosecutors' mistakes will have a chilling effect on the justice system.

"You need to be careful before you start saying 'Let's throw them in jail,'" said Robert Rogers, a former Dallas prosecutor.

Critics of Watkins' idea say the threat of criminal charges will drive people away from becoming prosecutors because they'd be afraid an honest mistake could cost them their careers, or even jail. But James Woodard thinks that kind of fear would make prosecutors think twice.

The only time James Woodard sounds angry about his experience, spending half of his life in prison, is when he talks about the man who prosecuted him.

"I think he should pay a penalty. I paid 27 years," Woodard said. "He took my life away from me. What's the difference if it's by a gun, by words or by lies. What's gone is gone."

link

Man sues Jetblue Airlines for $2million

stormer171977 — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:34:54 GMT

Anyone hear this story? Man is suing Jetblue Airlines because the pilot made him sit in the bathroom during the flight all because one of the stewardess didn't want to sit in her seat but instead sit with everyone else? Can you believe this? It was all over the news.

Now I'm REALLY DEPRESSED.....

patriot1947 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:54:05 GMT

I just found out that my second identity has just been destroyed! I,m mad as heck, they put lead paint on my "BILLY BOB TEETH", and they're being recalled! Now when I'm interviewed about my UFO abduction experience, I'll no longer be believable without my Hillbilly Teeth.

Eroding Liberties!! (taxes)

cricket — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:21:25 GMT

Eroding Liberties when we allow our government to constantly take our little hard earned monies, our Constitution allows us not to be taxed, unless we the people approve of it. Our taxes enrich the richer. After we're bled of taxes, then we have other priorties taken away from us. People have paid on Social Security for years, now the government is saying: Social Security is going dry, our children won't have any left for them. We pay FCIA, city, state, Social Security taxes when we get paid to work plus, then the gas, water, electric and everyone else, raises more prices of taxes on us. When will it ever STOP? Where are our raises? The government when they retire receive thousands of dollars all at once, plus extremely large Social Security checks every month. That is probably where our taxes are going, in their fat pockets. If you don't feel your being taxed to death, check out the value of a dollar..(cricket)

Barack Hussein Obama, now apologize for using my middle name?

patriot1947 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:20:45 GMT

What is with Barack Obama? Someone used his middle name and he acts like they called him a bast**d child. Does anyone understand exactly what happened, I just got the tail end of it, could look it up, but thought some of you socially concious forum folks might be able to enlighten me. Was he afraid it might make some voters nervous? Well, maybe I am silly, but it worked on me.

McCain laughing

patriot1947 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:19:46 GMT

Hillary in a hail of sniper fire in Bosnia? Wonder if they ever thought about reviewing that film before talking about it? Haven't seen anyone give the enemy this much ammo since George senior and the first Desert Storm!

Wheelchair Dumping Deputy Turns Herself In

patriot1947 — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:58 GMT

The Deputy in Tampa who dumped a paralyzed man out of his wheelchair because she didn't believe he was crippled has turned herself in. HooHah! Big Deal, like she is going to get any sort of punishment for it. I dare say if the man in the chair had been black, and the deputy had been white instead of the other way around, Rev. Sharpton would have been running around with monkeys flying out of his a**, his podium strapped to his back, touring the country demanding the deputy be fired, run out of town, then sentenced to life in the electric chair! Justice may not be blind after all, it might just be black.

Starbucks in Saudi Arabia

jd4fox23 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:25:11 GMT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3321637.ece

A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.

Would You Do This?

patriot1947 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:54:12 GMT

Don't know if there are any Christian Science(Scientology) folks here, not trying to insult anyone, but I just saw a list of what some actors gave last year, and I was shocked and somewhat appalled by the amount and how much it could have benefited some life giving organizations. Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson makes 5.5 million per year, gave 10 million or two years salary to the church of Scientology, Kirstie Alley gave 5 million, John Travolta gave 1 million, Kelly Preston gave 1 million, Pricilla Presley gave 50 thousand, and that is just what that few gave, would love to see L.Ron Hubbards records, bet he does'nt pay taxes because he is a church.

Would You Do This?

patriot1947 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:56:11 GMT

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

Marlin — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:38:06 GMT

US condemns Pakistan attack

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. is condemning the attack in Pakistan that, according to aides to Benazir Bhutto, has killed the Pakistani opposition leader.

President Bush is demanding that those responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto be brought to justice.

Bush spoke to reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas this morning, after the death of the former Pakistani prime minister who's been a leader of the opposition to President Pervez Musharraf.

Bush said the U.S. "strongly condemns" what he calls a "cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy."

He says, "Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice."

Bush expressed his condolences to Bhutto's family and to the families of others who were killed -- and to the people of Pakistan.

He called on them to honor Bhutto's memory by, in his words, "continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."

MORE

Poisonous Puffer Fish Sold as Salmon Kills 15 in Thailand

chekist — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:13:59 GMT

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294190,00.html

i wonder if they learned this trick from the chinese?

Arizona Woman Allegedly Stabs Estranged Husband During Sex

chekist — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:10:38 GMT

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294230,00.html

this story is so wrong on so many levels yet funny too....id prolly get banned if i said some of the things that im thinkin right now...ill try to come up with some cleaner ones

Vampires

Sunshine — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:25:29 GMT

A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a Burger King in New York City was beaten by a man who insisted it was a vampire.

Animal control officials in Staten Island say the bird was beaten so fiercely that most of its tail feathers fell out and it had to be euthanized.

The seven-year-old male peacock wandered into the restaurant parking lot and perched on a car hood last week. Charmed employees had been feeding it bread when the man appeared.

A restaurant worker says the man grabbed the bird by the neck, hurled it to the ground and started stomping it. She says when he was asked what he was doing, he responded, "'I'm killing a vampire!"'

Employees called police, but the man ran when he saw them.

How weird-What was this guy drininkg?

Welcome to News Around the World

jd4fox23 — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 04:44:52 GMT

Have you seen an interesting story that was thought provoking? Not your ordinary story that you'd see on the nightly news? Here's a place to discuss world hunger, or global warming. Enjoy!

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