An IQ of 47, and a prison sentence of 100 years

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-paris7-2009apr07,0,6948133.story

Aaron Hart's sexual assault case in Paris, Texas, has left court officials pondering if justice was served. A new attorney will seek a new trial with testimony about the teen's mental disability.

Reporting from Houston -- The crime Aaron Hart confessed to was undeniably repellent.

In September, the 18-year-old was charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old neighbor boy behind a tool shed in the small east Texas town of Paris. A relative of the victim said she walked outside and saw Hart with his pants pulled down, standing next to the boy.

Police read Hart his Miranda rights, and he quickly admitted his guilt. On Feb. 11, Hart's court-appointed attorney entered guilty pleas to each of five related felony counts, a jury recommended multiple sentences, and a judge ruled that the prison terms be served consecutively, for a total of 100 years.

That might have been the end of Cause No. 22924 in the 6th Judicial District Court of Lamar County, Texas. Except that now, every court official who had a hand in the case seems to agree that Hart doesn't belong in prison for the rest of his life.

That's because Hart has an IQ of 47, and his parents say he functions at the level of a 9-year-old. The boy he confessed to molesting is mentally disabled as well.

Read more...

Public Policy That Makes Test Subjects of Us All

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/science/07tier.html?hpw

Suppose you wanted to test the effects of halving the amount of salt in people’s diets. If you were an academic researcher, you’d have to persuade your institutional review board that you had considered the risks and obtained informed consent from the participants.

You might, for instance, take note of a recent clinical trial in which heart patients put on a restricted-sodium diet fared worse than those on a normal diet. In light of new research suggesting that eating salt improves mood and combats depression, you might be alert for psychological effects of the new diet. You might worry that people would react to less-salty food by eating more of it, a trend you could monitor by comparing them with a control group.

But if you are the mayor of New York, no such constraints apply. You can simply announce, as Michael Bloomberg did, that the city is starting a “nationwide initiative” to pressure the food industry and restaurant chains to cut salt intake by half over the next decade. Why bother with consent forms when you can automatically enroll everyone in the experiment?

And why bother with a control group when you already know the experiment’s outcome? The city’s health commissioner, Thomas R. Frieden, has enumerated the results. If the food industry follows the city’s wishes, the health department's Web site announces, “that action will lower health care costs and prevent 150,000 premature deaths every year.”

But that prediction is based on an estimate based on extrapolations based on assumptions that have yet to be demonstrated despite a half-century of efforts. No one knows how people would react to less-salty food, much less what would happen to their health.
Read more...

Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-04-05-scrip_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip&poe=HFMostPopular

A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

Workers with dwindling wages are paying for groceries, yoga classes and fuel with Detroit Cheers, Ithaca Hours in New York, Plenty in North Carolina or BerkShares in Massachusetts.

Ed Collom, a University of Southern Maine sociologist who has studied local currencies, says they encourage people to buy locally. Merchants, hurting because customers have cut back on spending, benefit as consumers spend the local cash.

Read more...

Hora Cero: Hoy sentencian a Fujimori por delitos de lesa humanidad

http://peru21.pe/noticia/270109/juicio-alberto-fujimori-llega-hoy-su-punto-final

La sentencia por el caso de violación de los derechos humanos será leída desde las 9:00 a.m. La pena no sería alta pese al pedido de 30 años de prisión del Ministerio Público.[Qué raro...por acá no se dice nada.]

A las 9 de la mañana de hoy, tras más de 160 audiencias, Alberto Fujimori, ex presidente de la República, estará en el banquillo de los acusados, listo para escuchar la sentencia de la Sala Penal Especial que, por 16 meses, lo ha juzgado por los crímenes de Barrios Altos y de La Cantuta y por los secuestros del empresario Samuel Dyer y del periodista Gustavo Gorriti.

Aun cuando se desconoce la decisión de los vocales, el fallo ya ha sido calificado de “histórico” y, qué duda cabe, sentará un precedente internacional pues es la primera vez, en este lado del hemisferio, que un ex mandatario civil es sentenciado por crímenes de lesa humanidad.

Si bien ha trascendido que el tribunal condenará a Alberto Fujimori, la pena no sería alta pese al pedido de 30 años de prisión del Ministerio Público. Hasta el cierre de esta edición, las especulaciones crecían en torno a la cantidad de años que se le impondrían.

Leer más, por favor...

Violento despertar del [volcán chileno] Llaima provoca emergencia agrícola por aluviones y cenizas

http://diario.elmercurio.com/2009/04/07/nacional/nacional/noticias/AE77CB1D-EAE2-4A56-9F1B-88D750CCED98.htm?id={AE77CB1D-EAE2-4A56-9F1B-88D750CCED98}

·Vulcanólogos dicen que el comportamiento del nevado es impredecible
·Diez mil agricultores de cinco comunas son los potenciales afectados, de persisitir la emisión de lava y de cenizas volcánicas

[Llaima lanzando lava y ceniza, volcán a 700 kms. al sur de Santiago, Chile.]

TEMUCO.– Los aluviones provocados por el derretimiento de las nieves del volcán Llaima aumentaron ayer los daños causados por la erupción que comenzó la noche del viernes. El arrastre de material volcánico, rocas y troncos, destruyó puentes y caminos, y ocasionó además de la acumulación de cenizas daños en suelos agrícolas, principalmente praderas que sustentan ganado y cultivos, lo que hizo al Gobierno declarar en emergencia agrícola a las comunas de Vilcún, Cunco, Melipeuco, Curacautín y Lonquimay.

La medida anunciada por la ministra de Agricultura, Marigen Hornkohl, responde al plan de contingencia diseñado para enfrentar potenciales efectos que podría ocasionar la nueva fase eruptiva. Ésta muestra signos de ser más violenta que la del 1 de enero de 2008 y se caracteriza por explosiones, emisión de lava y cenizas, más deshielos que generan aluviones volcánicos (lahares) y que ya han destruido un puente de madera en el sector del río Calbuco y tres kilómetros de caminos al interior del Parque Nacional Conguillío, en el área del río Captrén.
Leer más...

Going for a more expensive song: iTunes raises prices

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6051017.ece

Apple introduced variable pricing to its iTunes online music store today, raising the top price for a song to 99p[25% increase!!].

Most songs used to cost 79p, and some still will, but the company's new three-tier pricing system means some will also be sold for 59p.

In the US, the prices will be $1.29, 99 cents and 79 cents. Anticipating a backlash before the announcement, Apple pointed out that for every one song they raise to $1.29 they will be reducing 10 songs[which 10 songs might they be? hum?] to 69 cents. All tracks are also now DRM-free, and so can be played on all types of music player.

The new price changes are the first big test of how much fans are willing to pay for digital music[...aahhh, the truth!]. Record labels have been lobbying Apple to raise the top rate of tracks, which in the US has been 99 cents since the iTunes store was launched in 2003. Apple previously rejected their pleas saying a price rise would dent sales.
Read more...

Legalisation of drugs could save UK £14bn, says study

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/07/drugs-policy-legalisation-report

[Front page from July/August, 2001 issue of The Economist.]

The regulated legalisation of drugs would have major benefits for taxpayers, victims of crime, local communities and the criminal justice system, according to the first comprehensive comparison between the cost-effectiveness of legalisation and prohibition. The authors of the report, which is due to be published today, suggest that a legalised, regulated market could save the country around £14bn.

For many years the government has been under pressure to conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of the current drugs policy, but has failed to do so despite calls from MPs. Now the drugs reform charity, Transform, has commissioned its own report, examining all aspects of prohibition from the costs of policing and investigating drugs users and dealers to processing them through the courts and their eventual incarceration.

As well as such savings is the likely taxation revenue in a regulated market. However, there are also the potential costs of increased drug treatment, education and public information campaigns about the risks and dangers of drugs, similar to those for tobacco and alcohol, and the costs of running a regulated system.

The report looked at four potential scenarios, ranging from no increase in drugs use to a 100% rise as they become more readily available.

"The conclusion is that regulating the drugs market is a dramatically more cost-effective policy than prohibition and that moving from prohibition to regulated drugs markets in England and Wales would provide a net saving to taxpayers, victims of crime, communities, the criminal justice system and drug users of somewhere within the range of, for the four scenarios, £13.9bn, £10.8bn, £7.7bn, £4.6bn."

Read more...

Satélites de la NASA revelan la persistente reducción del hielo en el Ártico

[ATENCIÓN: para una visión 'diametralmente' opuesta a la contenida en este artículo, ver el post de marzo del 2009, Rise Of Sea Levels Is Greatest Lie Ever. Pero mejor visitar el blog Heliogenic.]

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=601904&idseccio_PK=1021

Imagen captada por satélite en la que se observa la extensión máxima del hielo sobre el mar en el período 2008-09. Foto: EFE / NASA HANDOUT

Las últimas imágenes de los satélites han revelado que los hielos marinos y la plataforma gélida del Ártico continúan reduciéndose como resultado del aumento global de las temperaturas, según ha informado la NASA.

El hielo espeso y antiguo ha comenzado a disminuir y está siendo sustituido por hielo nuevo y delgado que es mucho más vulnerable, según ha indicado la agencia espacial estadounidense.

El anuncio de la reducción de la masa de hielo ártico ha sido difundido tres días después de que el Instituto Geológico de EEUU (USGS) informara de que el cambio climático está derritiendo los glaciares antárticos mucho más rápido de lo que se creía hasta ahora.
Si quieres saber qué más tiene que decir la NASA sobre esto, continúa aquí...

[Además, por si hacía falta, los de LaVanguardia no se querían quedar atrás y publicaron su propio artículo titulado (con la misma fecha!), La NASA revela la persistente reducción del hielo Ártico.]

[ATENCIÓN: para una visión 'diametralmente' opuesta a la contenida en estos artículos, ver el post de marzo del 2009, Rise Of Sea Levels Is Greatest Lie Ever. Pero mejor visitar el blog Heliogenic.]

Pfizer pagará 55 millones por sus experimentos mortales en Nigeria

http://www.elperiodico.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=601806&idseccio_PK=1021&h=

[...algo es algo.....en fin.]
La farmacéutica indemnizará a las familias de 11 menores para evitar el juicio
La empresa ensayó, sin permiso, un nuevo fármaco contra la meningitis en 200 niños

Después de negarlo durante más de una década; de afirmar que aquellos niños no habían fallecido por culpa de su fármaco sino por las enfermedades que entonces, a mediados de los 90, hacían estragos entre la población nigeriana; de, según denunciaron los abogados de las víctimas, dilatar y seguir dilatando el proceso judicial hasta el cansancio, la multinacional farmacéutica Pfizer ha reconocido --al menos tácitamente-- que actuó al margen de la ley cuando en 1996 mandó a un equipo a Nigeria a probar un medicamento para curar la meningitis. El irresponsable arrojo de la compañía estadounidense, que utilizó sin permiso a 200 niños, acabó con la muerte de 11 de ellos y toda clase de gravísimos problemas para los demás: ceguera, sordera, lesiones cerebrales y parálisis.
Ese reconocimiento tácito ha quedado consignado en la decisión de la empresa, hecha pública el viernes, de pagar 55 millones de euros --poco más de la mitad, para las familias, y el resto, para la reconstrucción de un hospital-- con la condición de que los afectados retiren la causa. El estado de Kano, de donde procedían todos los pequeños utilizados en el experimento, reclamaba 2.000 millones, así que, al menos comparada con esos objetivos iniciales, la indemnización es exigua. Pero la causa que abrió más tarde el Gobierno nigeriano, pidiendo 7.000 millones, sigue abierta.

[Esquema de ganancias de Pfizer...queda claro su motivación]

Leer más...

Sweet dreams are made of geomagnetic activity

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16871-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-geomagnetic-activity.html

Looking for an explanation for recurring nightmares of leaving the house without your trousers on or losing your teeth? New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, rather than a repressed childhood.

Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist formerly at the Center for Space Medicine in Berlin, Germany, found a correlation between the bizarreness of his dreams, recorded over eight years, and extremes in local geomagnetic activity.

Other studies have tied low geomagnetic activity to increases in the production of the melatonin, a potent hormone that helps set the body's circadian clock. So, based on anecdotal evidence that melatonin supplements used as a sleeping aid can cause off-kilter dreams, Lipnicki wondered whether local magnetic fields could induce the same effects.

Journal reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com

Learn more...

OVNI en Los Arenales, Córdoba, Marzo/2009

[Video grabado por Bartolomé Olivares, miembro de la sociedad ecologista Guadalquivir]

El crack económico dispara una crisis en el gobierno español

Los medios de ese país informan que el poderoso ministro de economía y vicepresidente segundo, Pedro Solbes, será sustituido el próximo martes por la actual ministra de Administraciones Públicas, Elena Salgado. Desde Turquía, Zapatero rehusó hacer comentarios sobre el cambio.

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/04/05/um/m-01891924.htm


El presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, sustituirá "el martes" al ministro de Economía, Pedro Solbes, y nombrará a un tercer vicepresidente, indicaron este domingo los medios españoles.

Zapatero declinó hacer comentarios al respecto al ser interrogado sobre ellos en conferencia de prensa en Estambul después de su encuentro con el primer ministro turco, Recep Yayyip Erdogan.

Solbes, que además es vicepresidente segundo, será remplazado por la actual ministra de Administraciones Públicas, Elena Salgado, según el diario El Mundo, que cita a fuentes socialistas y añade que la remodelación se efectuará "el martes".

El tercer vicepresidente será el actual presidente de la región de Andalucía (sur), Manuel Chaves, que estará encargado de "política territorial", es decir, de las relaciones con los gobiernos regionales, según el diario. Permanecerá en el cargo la vicepresidenta primera, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

Además, el número dos del Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), José Blanco, será nombrado ministro de Fomento, encargado de infraestructuras, en sustitución de Magdalena Alvarez.

Por último, Zapatero "planea una reducción en el número de ministerios", indicó por su parte la televisión CNN Plus. "No suelo decir nada al respecto, pero fuera de España, todavía mucho menos", declaró por su parte el presidente del gobierno español, que dijo querer ser "prudente". "Veremos si se acierta o no", añadió.
Leer más...

El PSOE y el Gobierno guardan silencio ante la posible remodelación.

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/04/06/espana/1239014303.html

El silencio se ha instalado en las filas del Gobierno y del PSOE después del fuerte malestar que provocó en Moncloa la filtración de los nombres que probablemente protagonizarán la remodelación ministerial que tiene previsto llevar a cabo el presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Ningún cargo importante del Partido Socialista ni del Gobierno ha entrado a valorar el tema que copa la actualidad de esta jornada. Además, la Secretaria de Organización del PSOE, Leire Pajín, ha suspendido su habitual rueda de prensa que, como cada lunes, estaba convocada al término de la reunión de la Comisión Permanente de la Ejecutiva de su partido.

Los nombres de Elena Salgado, como sustituta de Pedro Solbes, de Manuel Chaves, como tercer vicepresidente para asuntos autonómicos, y de José Blanco, como futuro ministro de Fomento, saltaron ayer a la prensa a través de una filtración precisamente el día en que Zapatero se reunía por primera vez con el presidente de EEUU, Barack Obama.

Leer más acerca de este 'silencio' aquí...

'Scientism' infects Darwinian debates

An unflinching belief that science can explain everything about evolution becomes its own ideology.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Life/Scientism+infects+Darwinian+debates/1464023/story.html

There are two major obstacles to a rich public discussion on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and what it means to all of us.

The most obvious obstacle is religious literalism, which leads to Creationism. It's the belief the Bible or other ancient sacred texts offer the first and last word on how humans came into existence.

The second major barrier to a rewarding public conversation about the impact of evolution on the way we understand the world is not named nearly as much.

It is "scientism."

Scientism is the belief that the sciences have no boundaries and will, in the end, be able to explain everything in the universe. Scientism can, like religious literalism, become its own ideology.

The Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics defines scientism as "an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of natural science to be applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences and the humanities)."

Those who unknowingly fall into the trap of scientism act as if hard science is the only way of knowing reality. If something can't be "proved" through the scientific method, through observable and measurable evidence, they say it's irrelevant.

Read more...

Homelessness up as families on the edge lose hold

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-05-homeless_N.htm

Cities and counties are reporting a sharp increase in homeless families as the economic crisis leads to job loss and makes housing unaffordable.

In Seattle, 40% more people are living on suburban streets. In Miami, calls from people with eviction notices have quadrupled.

"The demand from families with children has increased dramatically," says Robert Hess of New York City's Department of Homeless Services. Each month since September, shelter requests have been at least 20% higher than they were a year ago.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a one-day count in January of people living on the street, in shelters or in transitional housing. National figures have not been compiled.

Of 56 places where figures were available, 35 reported an increase in homelessness; 12 had a drop.

Read more...

Music fans will buy songs, says head of free online music site Spotify

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/06/spotify-digital-music-downloads

Record sales are down, illegal file sharing persists and a whole generation is getting used to enjoying music for free.

But Daniel Ek[traitor!], the man behind Spotify, the world's fastest growing online music service, is convinced that fans will still pay for songs they love if they are packaged in the right way.

In one of his first interviews since the British launch in February of the "online jukebox" which allows users to listen to songs instantly for free in return for occasional adverts, Ek outlined a new blueprint for the music industry.

Ek is confident that the future is bright if the music industry seizes the digital initiative. "If you truly connect and empower your fan base, people will pay for music. Perhaps that revenue won't come primarily from selling records, but ad-supported music services, subscription music, downloads, merchandise and live shows as well as CD sales are all going to make money for labels and artists," he told the Guardian.

Today Brighton's new music festival and convention The Great Escape - think South by Southwest by the seaside - announced that Ek will share a stage with Patrick Walker, director of video partnerships at YouTube/Google at the event next month.

Read more...

Primera Reunión Zp-Obama. Inédito!

[En un mingitorio londinense, durante la cumbre del G-20.....]


Secun de la Rosa y su gag sobre Obama y ZP, en 'Saturday...'.

"Hay que sacar provecho de las nuevas tecnologías para garantizar la privacidad de la gente"[??!!!!!]

La proliferación de zonas videovigiladas ha obligado a la Agència Catalana de Protecció de Dades a endurecer la normativa.[...uf! Menos mal...]
http://www.lavanguardia.es/ciudadanos/noticias/20090406/53673042217/hay-que-sacar-provecho-de-las-nuevas-tecnologias-para-garantizar-la-privacidad-de-la-gente-ley-organ.html

Silenciosas y discretas, miles de cámaras vigilan nuestros movimientos cada día. Y estas máquinas que velan por nuestra seguridad, son también agentes que detentan contra nuestra intimidad. Para regular su uso, La Agència Catalana de Protecció de Dades ha presentado una instrucción que endurece las exigencias para la instalación de estas cámaras y fija las pautas de acuerdo con la Ley Orgánica de Protección de Datos. El texto establece que se debe informar sobre la existencia de las cámaras mediante carteles informativos y exige que las administraciones redacten una memoria que justifique su finalidad, las características técnicas y las formas de conservación de las imágenes. El documento señala también que la voz es un dato personal y que, por tanto, los carteles de señalización de videovigilancia deben especificar cuando se esté grabando la voz[vaya...eso no lo sabíamos!]. Hablamos con la directora de la APDCAT, Esther Mitjans (E.M.), y el asesor jurídico, encargado de redactar la normativa, Santiago Farré (S.F.)

Para empezar, ¿me podrían aclarar qué es un dato personal?
S.F.: Cualquier información sobre la vida de una persona. No sólo los más evidentes como nombre, apellido, dirección o teléfono, sino que también la imagen y la voz. [Primero te dicen que hacen nueva normativa para protejer tus datos, a la vez que re-definen 'dato personal'...y así, toda tu información se convierte en un solo metadato personal, de ahí al chip implantado o, por qué no? al código de barras.......1 9 8 4.]

¿La voz?
S.F.: Precisamente es el dato que menos se tiene en cuenta y, hasta ahora, la regulación de aquí no especificaba qué pautas había de seguir la captación[se dá por hecho!] de voz.

¿Cuál es el objetivo de la instrucción?
S.F.: Establecer cómo se debe aplicar la ley de protección de datos en videovigilancia. Hasta ahora sólo existía una normativa que, desde 1997, regulaba las cámaras policiales.[Porque quieren regular TODAS las camaritas...]
Leer más...

Spinning Crop Circle Keycodes

Spinning Crop Circle Keycodes

[Part 1]


[...and 2]


[...maybe there is a message somewhere in there :) ]

Riot Police Attack Peaceful Protesters At G-20 Climate Camp (Vid)

Riot police use shields and batons in unprovoked attack on peaceful protesters. It took place at the Climate Camp on Bishopsgate in the City of London during the first day of the G20 protests.

Black Bloc Provocateurs Set Strasbourg Hotel on Fire

http://www.infowars.com/black-bloc-provocateurs-set-strasbourg-hotel-on-fire/
Infowars, April 4, 2009

[Agents provocateurs posing as anarchist 'Black Bloc', to demonize anti-NATO peaceful protests, Strasbourg]

“Protesters demonstrating against a NATO summit in Strasbourg set fire to a hotel in the city near the river Rhine on Saturday, AFP journalists witnessed.”

Described as “hardline,” the Black Bloc provocateurs, “armed with metal bars,” also wrecked a wrecked a chapel, a pharmacy, an empty police post and other buildings at the French end of the Europe bridge connecting Strasbourg with Germany, according to AFP.

In order to demonize the anti-NATO protests as the work of violent “anarchists” (agents provocateurs), the New York Times described participants as “a mix of anti-globalization and anti-military activists (who) set a hotel and border post on fire, while riot police used tear gas to keep them back.”

Sky News (owned by Rupert Murdoch) reports: “Some of the protesters — throwing rocks — tried to storm a massive police blockade at the Pont d’Anvers bridge, and were driven back by water cannon, tear gas, flash bombs and rubber bullets.”

The BBC filed a video report highlighting the staged violence.

Police used the staged violence as an excuse to arrest demonstrators. “Police later detained dozens of demonstrators, lying them face down on the ground before hauling them away,” Sky News reports elsewhere. “Journalists were stopped by police from approaching the campsite area… The campsite had been set up to house demonstrators during the two-day talks.”

As noted in the video here, the legitimate anti-NATO protesters are determined to use non-violent civil disobedience to block the summit. In order to provide an excuse to use batons and rubber bullets against them, agents provocateurs masquerading as Black Bloc anarchists have been dispatched with instructions to burn down hotels and vandalize churches.

Earlier in the week, “anarchist” agents provocateurs were dispatched during the G20 with orders to smashed up the Royal Bank of Scotland. The corporate media used images of this vandalism to demonize non-violent demonstrators.

“The British authorities seemed to have little problem with allowing a group of violent black bloc anarchists to smash up the RBS building while provoking police yesterday, despite the group announcing their target in advance, yet a legitimate anti-poverty organization has had its ‘accreditation’ to protest at the G20 removed on the orders of Downing Street,” wrote Paul Joseph Watson on April 2. The authorities “knew that the building was a prime target, and yet it was the only one in the street not boarded up. A cafe across the street was boarded up and yet the RBS building was left completely vulnerable to attack.”

To learn more about block-nato go here...