Dutch Scumbag Still Preying On Women

Infamous Dutch serial killer Joran van der Sloot, serving 28 years in prison for murdering a Peruvian woman, and who is wanted in the U.S. in connection with the disappearance of another woman, is scheming to marry his Peruvian girlfriend in an attempt to avoid extradition to the U.S.

26-year-old van der Sloot is currently serving time in a Peruvian prison for the murder of local college student Stephany Flores.  The Dutchman was long suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, but her body was never found and charges were never made.   In 2010, van der Sloot tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s mother in return for details about her daughter’s death.  Van der Sloot took a $25,000 down payment and then ran off to Peru, where he met  Miss Flores in a Lima casino,   He became enraged after she found out about his suspected involvement in the Natalee Holloway case and he murdered her. 

He now faces extortion charges in the U.S.,  and his extradition to the U.S. was approved in principle last year by Peru's Supreme Court-- but only after he serves out his sentence in Lima. He could serve less than ten years in his Peruvian prison for good behavior.

After he lost his extradition appeal at the Peruvian Supreme Court last year, there were rumors that he would marry a Peruvian girl in July-- but those plans fell through.

Recently Van der Sloot has been visited in prison by 22-year-old Leydi Figueroa Uced, who was last reported to be pregnant with his child (although no reports of the baby’s birth have ever been released).   If van der Sloot is able to convince Figueroa Uced to follow through with his current wedding plans, he will be able to  automatically apply for Peruvian citizenship, which will hinder America’s chances of ever extraditing him.

Unapproved Franken-Wheat Found In Oregon

Unapproved genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field, a potential threat to trade with countries that have concerns about genetically modified foods.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has said that the genetically engineered wheat is safe to eat and there is no evidence that modified wheat entered the marketplace. But the department is investigating how it ended up in the field, whether there was any criminal wrongdoing and whether its growth is widespread.

The unidentified farmer discovered the modified wheat when farm workers were trying to kill some wheat plants that popped up between harvests. The farmer used the herbicide glyphosate to kill the plants, but they did not die, prompting the tests at Oregon State to find out if the crops were genetically engineered to resist herbicides.  USDA officials would not identify the farmer or the farm's exact location-- but the field with the genetically modified wheat is in the eastern part of the state.

The tests confirmed that the plants were a strain developed by Monsanto to resist its herbicides and tested between 1998 and 2005. At the time Monsanto had applied to USDA for permission to develop the engineered wheat, but the company later pulled its application.

USDA said that during that seven-year period, it authorized more than 100 field tests with the same glyphosate-resistant wheat variety. Tests were conducted in in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.  During the original testing and application process, the Food and Drug Administration had reviewed the variety found in Oregon and said it was as safe as conventional varieties of wheat.

As of today, however,  no genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.  While most of the corn and soybeans grown in the U.S. are already genetically modified, the country's wheat crop is not.

The discovery could have far-reaching implications for the U.S. wheat industry if the growth of the engineered product turns out to be far-flung. Many countries around the world will not accept imports of genetically modified foods, and the U.S. exports about half of its wheat crop.

The discovery also could have implications for organic companies, which by law cannot use genetically engineered ingredients in its foods. Organic farmers have frequently expressed concern that genetically modified seed will blow into organic farms and contaminate their products.  Consumers have shown increasing interest in avoiding genetically modified foods. Several states are considering bills that would require them to be labeled so consumers know what they are eating.

Bye Bye Batshit Bachmann

Tea Party wing-nut Michelle Bachmann announced today that she will not be running for reelection. In her nine-minute web video announcing the move, she denied that her decision had anything to do with her ongoing ethics inquiry nor the FBI investigation of her presidential campaign.  Maybe it was due to the lawsuit against her for the theft of an email list-- she forgot to mention that.

In any case, it doesn't matter much-- nor does it seem to matter to anyone in her party, as there was no accolades or public comment of any kind from her GOP colleagues.  But that's no surprise, as she was little more than a carnival act, having accomplished next to nothing during her eight-year congressional career. 

While in office, she sponsored 58 bills-- 53 of which were immediately referred to committee (in other words, went nowhere).  Of the remaining five, three were agreed to without a vote: HR 373 (support for designating "National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month") HR 923 (recognizing Minnesota's 150th anniversary) and HR 79 (honoring public child welfare agencies).  Another bill (HR 850, facilitating a proposed project in the lower St Croix river) got out of committee but failed to get any action in the full House.  HR 45 (repeal of "Obamacare") passed the house, but went nowhere further (as it has failed to do another 30 or so times since then).  Impressive!

Bachmann has never wielded a committee gavel (either at the full or subcommittee level) and her amendments have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control.  As lame as she was, she was certainly entertaining--- and for that, we'll miss her!

It's Time for the Millenials

The Scoop on Poop in Venezeula

First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities – toilet paper.  Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the government says it will import 50 million rolls to boost supplies.

That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper.  "This is the last straw," said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in Caracas. "I'm 71 years old and this is the first time I've seen this."

One supermarket visited by reporters in the capital was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.  "I've been looking for it for two weeks," said Cristina Ramos. "I was told that they had some here and now I'm in line."

Economists say Venezuela's shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government's controls on foreign currency.  "State-controlled prices – prices that are set below market-clearing price – always result in shortages. The shortage problem will only get worse, as it did over the years in the Soviet Union," said Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University.

Nicolas Maduro who was selected by the dying Hugo Chávez to carry on his "Bolivarian revolution", claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilise the country.  The government this week announced it also would import 760,000 tonnes of food in addition to the 50 million rolls of toilet paper.

Commerce minister Alejandro Fleming blamed the shortage of toilet tissue on "excessive demand" built up as a result of "a media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country".  "The revolution will bring the country the equivalent of 50 million rolls of toilet paper," he said. "We are going to saturate the market so that our people calm down."

 

Another Warning To Those (Still) Using Facebook

Facebook has been caught again in an act that further erodes its credibility-- by censoring the free speech of users who are critical of global corporate giant Monsanto.  Facebook recently suspended of an account that posted a photo of children rallying against Monsanto during a protest against genetically modified food.  The photo posted by Facebook user Andrea Lalama shows her children carrying hand-drawn signs.

After this picture was shared on Facebook, Andrea's account was immediately suspended.

As a result, Andrea Lalama can only re-post other people's content but is disallowed from posting her own content. Another woman, Georgia Gallucci, was also censored by Facebook-- her account was also suspended by Facebook after reposting a friend's photo from the Monsanto March.

Yet another account called "Reversing Autism" was also suspended by Facebook for posting Monsanto march photos, claiming that they were "abusive."

Krewella - Alive

Tweet From A Twit

Sarah Palin entertained us yet again with her failure to comprehend current events.  She tweeted the following earlier today: 

The IRS is closed for the day, feel free to use your phones.
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) May 24, 2013

It's unclear how the IRS is connected to anything having to do with phones, but it's likely that Palin was confusing that scandal with the controversy over the DOJ's seizure of two months' worth of Associated Press phone records in 2012.   Oops!

High Salaries For Kenyan Parliament Trigger Protests

Protesters in Kenya have released a dozen pigs outside  the parliament building to show their anger at newly elected MP's demanding higher salaries.  The animals licked blood spilled by a protester outside the parliamentary gates in the capital, Nairobi, according to reports.

The unusual demonstration, organized by civil society groups, was intended to portray the MP's as greedy.  The MP's are demanding a monthly salary of about $10,000.  Kenya's Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has recommended that their monthly salaries be pegged at around $6,300.

Kenya's MP's are among the highest paid in the world, and their salaries have often triggered controversy.  The average annual salary in Kenya is about $1,700.  "We have spilled the blood of the pigs to show that the MPs are greedy like pigs," said Boniface Mwangi, an organizer of the "Occupy Parliament" march.  He and other organizers were arrested by police, Reuters news agency reports. 

Parliament is made up of 416 MP's - 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate.  The MP's say they deserve a $10,000 salary because they work very hard.  They also argue that they spend some of the money on their constituents - sometimes even paying for their school fees, our reporter adds.

MP's in the previous parliament awarded themselves a $107,000 retirement bonus in one of the last sessions before the election.  The package also provided them with an armed guard, a diplomatic passport and access to airport VIP lounges.

 

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

Woman Lights Up for the Joint

Smokey in the pokey

A deputy in Sacramento was allegedly slapped by a woman trying to kick her nicotine addiction, WPTV reported. Investigators say the slapper, 31-year-old Etta Lopez, was hoping she would get thrown in jail, where she would not be able to smoke.

Deputy Matt Campoy of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office says he was leaving the jail at about 4:20 Tuesday when Lopez stepped into his path and he attempted to avoid her.  “I stepped to the left, she stepped to my left,” Campoy told the Sacramento Bee. “I stepped to the right, she stepped to my right. I stepped to the left again and she suddenly stepped into me and slapped my face.”

Lopez allegedly told investigators she wanted to be thrown into jail, where she would not have access to cigarettes.  She had allegedly been waiting outside the jail for hours waiting for a uniformed deputy to emerge.Lopez was booked into the county jail on suspicion of battery on a peace officer.

Sad But True

Dick Trickle Peters Out

Retired stock-car driver Dick Trickle, known for his colorful name and short-track prowess, died on Thursday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 71.

The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call, apparently from Trickle, that "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Center workers tried to place a return call to the number but did not get an answer.

Trickle, a native of Wisconsin, has been a resident of Lincoln County since the early 1990s. His only victory in NASCAR's premier series was a non-points victory in the 1990 Winston Open.

Not that this story is particular newsworthy-- I just wanted to blog that headline.

Retail Indifference To Bangladeshi Workers

The deadline to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh passed last week, and at least 10 major North American retailers refused to participate.

The agreement, which demands a five-year commitment from participating retailers to conduct independent safety inspections of factories and pay up to $500,000 per year toward safety improvements, has seen greater support internationally than in the U.S.

Major European retailers -- for example, Marks & Spencer and Carrefour -- have joined the agreement. Others who've signed on include companies recently involved with factory disasters in Bangladesh, such as Swedish retailer H&M and Italian fashion house Benetton. A 2010 factory fire at a facility that made cardigans for H&M killed 21 people, and Bennetton had a supplier in the Rana Plaza factory that collapsed last month, killing more than 1,100 people.

PVH, parent to Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, signed the accord, along with Abercrombie & Fitch, which agreed just hours before the deadline. Many U.S. retailers are still absent from the agreement, according to the Worker Rights Consortium, an international labor monitoring group.  Many of these companies claim that they are working on/improving their own safety programs.  But of course, none of those measure are legally binding (like the Fire and Building Safety accord)-- so there's no guarantee that those companies will curtail/cut back/eliminate their safety programs after the headlines fade away.

For those of you who factor moral issues into their retailing decisions, here is a list of the largest U.S. retailers who lack the courage to follow the lead of most international companies in guaranteeing improvements in safety for Bangladeshi workers:

WalMart
Gap
Target
Kohl's
Foot Locker
American Eagle Outfitters
Macy's
Nordstrom's
Sears
JCPenney
North Face

Guatemalan Dictator Guilty of War Crimes

A court in Guatemala has found former military leader Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.  A three-judge tribunal sentenced the 86-year-old to 80 years in prison.  Montt was sentenced to 50 years for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity.

Rios Montt was convicted of ordering the deaths of 1,771 people of the Ixil Maya ethnic group during his time in office in 1982 and 1983.  Survivors described horrific abuses committed by the army against those suspected of aiding left-wing rebels.

The retired general had denied the charges, saying he neither knew of nor ordered the massacres while in power.  He is expected to appeal against the court's decision on the grounds of his age.  Rios Montt's former chief of military intelligence, Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, who was on trial with him, was acquitted.

It is the first time a former head of state had been found guilty of genocide by a court in his or her own country.  Other genocide convictions have been handed down by international courts.

Relatives and indigenous leaders cheered when the sentence was read out by Judge Jazmin Barrios in Guatemala City.  "The Ixils were considered public enemies of the state and were also victims of racism, considered an inferior race," Judge Barrios said.  "The violent acts against the Ixils were not spontaneous. They were planned beforehand."

During the nearly two-month trial, dozens of victims gave harrowing testimony about atrocities committed by soldiers.  An estimated 200,000 people were killed in Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war, the vast majority of them indigenous Mayans.

 

Anna Kendrick - Cups

Can-do Attitude

As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe focuses on boosting his country's bottom line, a lingerie company is hoping to give Japan a different type of lift.

The "Branomics Bra" from Triumph International is a play on Abe's economic policy known as "Abenomics."  While Abe hopes to bring down Japanese inflation to two percent in two years, the lingerie company says their new garment has a "growth strategy" to help bust Japan's persistent inflation problem, according to Reuters.

The concept bra features three toy arrows and a target shaped pouch, modeled after the prime minister's "three arrows" plan. Business Insider explains Abenomics this way: "The plan ... involves a massive increase in fiscal stimulus through government spending, a massive increase in monetary stimulus through unconventional central bank policy, and a reform program aimed at making structural improvements to the Japanese economy."

Swiss-based Triumph says its creation also has a little something extra up top. "We put in these pads that boost the bra's cups by 2 percent," Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda said, according to UPI. "We hope that as the Japanese economy grows we can also help bust sizes to get bigger."

Known for its surprising intimate apparel, Triumph has also produced bras that can be recycled as fuel, the chopstick bra and the husband-hunting bra. But don't look for any of these brassieres – including the Branomics version – in stores. They're not for sale.

Classic Quotes From Charles Ramsey

Icona Pop & Charlie XCX - I Love It

Sunday Sermon

Little Mix - Wings

Safety of Women In India Gone To Shit

Most of the cases of rape of women and girls in India's Bihar state occur when they go out to defecate in the open, police and social activists say.  The police reported more than 870 cases of rape in Bihar last year.

Some 85% of the rural households in the state, one of India's poorest, have no access to a toilet.  More than half-a-billion Indians lack access to basic sanitation. Many do not have access to flush toilets or other latrines.

There have been a number of recent cases where women and girls have been raped in Bihar after they stepped out of their homes to defecate:

•     On  May 5, an 11-year-old girl was raped in Mai village in Jehanabad district when she was going to the field at night;                                                                                                                  
•     On April 28, a young girl was abducted and raped when she had gone out to defecate in an open field in Kalapur village in Naubatpur, 21 miles from the state capital, Patna;                           
•     On April 24, another girl was raped in similar circumstances on a farm in Chaunniya village in Sheikhpura district. She told the police that two villagers had followed and raped her. One of them has been arrested.

Senior police official Arvind Pandey said that about 400 women would have "escaped" rape last year if they had toilets in their homes.  The Bihar government says it plans to provide toilets to more than 10 million households in the state by 2022 under a federal scheme.  A law making toilets mandatory has been introduced in several states as part of the "sanitation for all" drive by the Indian government.

Charles Ramsey Songified

Donald Trump's New Career As A Military Expert

This week, the Pentagon released a report on the rampant sexual assaults occurring within the military.  According to the report, the number of rapes reported by members of the military rose from 3,192 to 3,374 in 2012, while the department estimates that as many as 26,000 service members were assaulted, based on anonymous surveys.   Most politicians and observers condemned the findings, but rocket-scientist real estate mogul Donald Trump had a different take on the matter:

26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2013

The Generals and top military brass never wanted a mixer but were forced to do it by very dumb politicians who wanted to be politically C!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2013

Last Rhinos in Mozambique Killed by Poachers

The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged.

The 15 threatened animals were shot dead for their horns last month in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also covers South Africa and Zimbabwe.  They were thought to be the last of an estimated 300 that roamed through the special conservation area when it was established as "the world's greatest animal kingdom" in a treaty signed by the three countries' then presidents in 2002.

The latest deaths, and Mozambique's failure to tackle poaching, has prompted threats by South Africa to re-erect fences between their reserves.  Wildlife authorities believe the poachers were able to track the rhinoceroses with the help of game rangers working in the Limpopo National Park, as the Mozambican side of the reserve is known.

A total of 30 rangers are due in court in the coming weeks, charged with collusion in the creatures' deaths, according to the park's administrators.  Conservationists say the poorly-paid rangers were vulnerable to corruption by organized poaching gangs, who target rhinoceroses for their horns which are prized in Asia for their reputed aphrodisiac and cancer-curing properties.

The trade in rhino horn has seen the numbers of rhino killed spiral in recent years. Over the border in Kruger, the South African part of the trans-frontier park, 180 have been killed so far this year, out of a national total of 249. Last year, 668 rhino were poached in South Africa, a 50 per cent increase over the previous year.

Kelvin Alie, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the fact that the rangers may have been turned while working on such an important conservation initiative "speaks volumes about the deadly intent of the wildlife trade".  "They will stop at nothing to get to their quarry," he said. "It is tragic beyond tears that we learn game rangers have now become the enemy in the fight to protect rhino from being poached for their horns."

A spokesman for South Africa's environment minister said she would be meeting her Mozambican counterpart in the coming weeks amid concerns that the country is not pulling its weight in the battle against poaching.  "Clearly the open fence agreement has become an open season for poachers," Albi Modise said. "Rangers in the Kruger National Park are engaged in daily battles with Mozambican poachers."

Whereas killing a rhino in South Africa can attract stricter punishments than killing a person, in Mozambique offenders generally escape with a fine if they are prosecuted at all.

"Rhinos being killed in Kruger are mostly by Mozambican poachers who then move the horns out through their airports and seaports," World Wide Fund for Nature's Jo Shaw said. "With huge governance and corruption issues in Mozambique, it's a huge challenge."

 

You've Got a Point There

 

Scores Dead in Collapse of Illegal Mine in Sudan

More than 60 workers were killed when an unlicensed desert gold mine collapsed in an area of Sudan's Darfur where hundreds died in fighting over the precious commodity, the district chief said.  It was not known how many people may still be missing after the accident in Jebel Amir district, more than 125 miles northwest of the state capital El Fasher.

Production from unofficial gold mines has become a key revenue source for Sudan's cash-strapped government.  It is also a tempting but dangerous occupation for residents of Sudan's poverty-stricken western region of Darfur which has been devastated by a decade of civil war.

"The number of people who died is more than 60," said Haroun al-Hassan, local commissioner for Jebel Amir, adding that rescue operations were still taking place.  "I cannot give exact figures because no one got precise numbers of how many people were going inside the tunnel," which descends 40 metres (yards), he said.

Rescuers were using hand tools to try to reach the victims, he said, without specifying whether anyone might still be alive.  "We cannot use machines because if they came near, the ground will collapse. People are using traditional tools and because of this, the rescue is very slow," Hassan said, unable to give more details.

"I myself saw this land collapse. It started from Monday evening but the main collapse happened on Tuesday," said a miner who works in a different part of the area.  "Nobody takes the names of those who go inside. Only their colleagues or their relatives know where they are," the miner said, requesting anonymity.  They risk their lives, maybe striking gold but often coming up empty.

"Sometimes you spend more than three or four weeks without getting anything," the miner said. "Other times you get gold that you can sell for 10,000 pounds ($1,590)".  A resident of El Sireaf, the main town in the surrounding region, said he visited the remote site of the accident.  "The problem is that those small mines are so close together and if one of them falls it will affect the others. That is what happened in this mine. All the neighboring mines collapsed," he said, also declining to be named.

Sudan is trying to boost exports of the rare metal and other non-petroleum products after the separation of South Sudan two years ago left Khartoum without three-quarters of its crude oil production.  The lost oil accounted for most of Khartoum's export earnings and half of its fiscal revenues, sending inflation above 40 percent while the currency plunged in value on the black market.

Happy Star Wars Day

May the fourth be with you!

Daft Punk - Get Lucky

Mexico Now One of the Most Dangerous Countries for Journalists

The hacked-up bodies of a photojournalist and another young man have been found in the northern Mexico city of Saltillo.  22-year-old photographer Daniel Martinez Bazaldua  had recently been hired to cover social events for Vanguardia, the paper said in a story in its online edition. Officials identified the other man as Julian Zamora, 23.

Saltillo is in northern Coahuila state, an area where the Zetas drug cartel is active. Another Coahuila newspaper recently announced it would no longer publish stories about drug gangs, after receiving threats apparently signed by a Zetas leader.

In some cartel-plagued cities in Mexico, covering even the society section can be dangerous, because cartel leaders may hang out at prominent social events and get angry if they are included in photos. In some cases, if they want the attention, they can be angered if they are left out.

Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, where more than 80 have been killed since 2000. 

 

Uncomfortable Truth