Leading scientists and naturalists, including Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David Attenborough, are claiming a victory over the creationist movement after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes.

The Department for Education has revised its model funding agreement, allowing the education secretary to withdraw cash from schools that fail to meet strict criteria relating to what they teach. (Read more)

On December 27, while most Brazilians prepared for the New Year by bleaching their whites and gathering flowers to toss into the Atlantic for the goddess Iemanjá, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, was gathering a group a conservative legislators to stealthily assist in drafting and enacting a Ceauşescu-like law requiring all pregnant women to register their pregnancies with the state.

At first glance, Provisional Measure 557 (PM 557) is not a bad law. It purports to address Brazil’s high maternal mortality ratio by ensuring better access to quality maternal health care, notably for pregnant women at a high risk for health complications. The problem is that it won’t reduce maternal mortality. Notwithstanding the fact that many of its provisions are legally and constitutionally questionable, its requirements are not based on sound public health policy.

So what is going on? Brazil, the most populous Catholic country in Latin America, finds its politics intrinsically tied to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Dilma, who won a last-minute reprieve from the church’s negative onslaught in the 2010 presidential elections once she disavowed any suggested support for abortion, is to a certain extent beholden to that base. Indeed, Dilma’s cabinet includes an unofficial church representative who was responsible for brokering an agreement between the Vatican and Brazil during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration. For years Catholic and evangelical parliamentarians have been trying unsuccessfully to establish a registry for pregnant women, with Dilma’s support they’ve finally succeeded.
(Read more)

Of course, the coverage supports the cop. “[He] isn’t just a police man, he’s a human being.”

No doubt you’ve heard the adage: a picture is worth a thousand words. A picture of 62-year-old Nick Christie could be worth thousands of dollars when a jury sees it.

The photo shows the Ohio man restrained inside the Lee County Jail with his body covered in pepper spray.

“This photo is a picture of a man who is strapped to a chair naked inside a jail for hours with a hood over his face. That evokes thoughts of being tortured,” says Cleveland-based lawyer Nick DiCello who represents the Christie family.

The photo, which was obtained by FOX 13′s investigative unit, was taken in the final hours of Christie’s life.

The District 21 Medical Examiner ruled his death was a homicide because he had been restrained and sprayed with pepper sprayed by law enforcement officers. But to this day, nobody has ever been charged with a crime, and the Lee County State Attorney cleared the sheriff’s office of any wrong doing.

It’s been more than two and a half years and his wife still can’t accept what happened. (Read more)

Patch.com reports:

Chris Hull, a 39-year-old Temecula resident, said he was inside the bar and saw the shooting happen.

Hull said he witnessed a man walking up while Hull and a group of friends were playing darts. The man reportedly identified himself as an off-duty cop and started a discussion with the group about darts.

“We were playing darts, and he says ‘I’m better at darts than you are,”’ Hull said.

“My buddy says, ‘Aw, you suck at darts.’ (The man) says, ‘That’s why I’m a cop, I can do whatever I want to do.’”

Hull said his friend, identified only as Danny, asked the man, “Really, you can do anything?” The man then pulled out his gun, Hull said, and after the group repeatedly asked him to put it away he “pops three rounds into my friend Sam.”

Hull identified his friend as Sam Venettes. He didn’t answer a request for Vanette’s age or hometown, but said he was a “hardworking guy” who “works three jobs.”

Police have not released any information on the name of the victim.

“I just watched the most horrific scene I’ve seen in my entire life,” Hull told Patch.

“This is the worst day of my life.”

It should be noted, the cop was a 10-year veteran of the force. (Read more)

CONCORD, N.H. (Jan. 5, 2012) – The New Hampshire House passed the TSA Accountability and Transparency bill Thursday, the first step toward reigning in overreaching TSA searches in the “Live Free or Die” State.

HB628 passed 188-136 along party lines. It will now move on to the Senate for consideration.

The bill would require state and local law enforcement officials to document complaints from citizens who feel TSA searches cross the line and then place the report in a public data base. It would also allow citizens to videotape encounters with the TSA and require police officers to take the citizens’ side against any TSA officer trying to stop them. The legislation includes TSA searches conducted at bus stations or along the state’s roadways.

“I would like to thank the members of the House who supported this bill for understanding the need to protect passengers and transportation vehicles while also respecting basic civil rights and decency,” Carolyn McKinney, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire said. “With the database created by this bill, the State of New Hampshire will be shining the light of public scrutiny on TSA officials, which will hopefully lead to their more respectful behavior toward citizens in New Hampshire—perhaps even across the country.” (Read more)

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wants it to be clear that it is not the “Airport Security Administration.”

These days, special teams of TSA officials can be seen appearing randomly at the country’s train stations, bus depots and ferry launches. Twenty-five “viper” (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams have made 9,300 unannounced visits at various transportation centers around the U.S. These included testing passenger bags for explosive residue at a Greyhound station in Orlando, Florida; inspecting trucks at weigh stations in Tennessee; checking passengers of cruise ships in the Carolinas; and inspecting spectators at NASCAR races and tourists boarding ferries in North Carolina.

The Department of Homeland Security says the viper teams should be expanded in number and has requested funding for about a 50% increase. The FY 2011 TSA budget for non-airport operations (a.k.a. “surface transportation security”) was $110 million. (Read more)

I guess all America is now a “Constitution Free” zone.

A Massachusetts woman who flew home from Las Vegas this week says an airport security officer took her frosted cupcake because he thought its vanilla-bourbon icing could be a “security risk.” (Read more)

GoDaddy not only helped write #SOPA they are also exempt from it.
You may have heard about the mass exodus of customers from GoDaddy due to their support of SOPA. You may have also heard that GoDaddy no longer supports SOPA. The problem is, only one of those things is true. While GoDaddy no longer publicly supports SOPA, that is just a PR move. They have not withdrawn official support for the bill, let alone actually come out in opposition to it. But it gets worse. According to [THIS ARTICLE], not only did GoDaddy help write the damn thing, they are also exempt from complying with the law! (Read more)

Imgur to Boycott GoDaddy Over SOPA Support
(Read more)

http://www.carbonated.tv/biztech/wikipedia-boycotts-godaddy-over-sopa
(Read more)

How to Jump Ship from GoDaddy to a Better Web Host and Registrar
(Read more)

Boycott forces GoDaddy to drop its support for SOPA (Read more)

GoDaddy Boycott Fizzles; Twice As Many Domains Transfer In As Out
(Read more)

List of Companies behind SOPA

List of Companies behind PIPA

The Central Intelligence Agency is systematically monitoring Twitter, following up to 5 million foreign tweets a day, according to a new report.

The CIA’s Open Source Center reviews and analyzes information widely available to the general public, including Twitter and Facebook, and keeps eyes on everything from blogs to tweets to more traditional media, The Associated Press says in a feature article on the unit. (Read more)

In a leaked letter sent to Spain’s outgoing President, the US ambassador to the country warned that as punishment for not passing a SOPA-style file-sharing site blocking law, Spain risked being put on a United States trade blacklist . Inclusion would have left Spain open to a range of “retaliatory options” but already the US was working with the incoming government to reach its goals.

United States government interference in Spain’s intellectual property laws had long been suspected, but it was revelations from Wikileaks that finally confirmed the depth of its involvement.

More than 100 leaked cables showed that the US had helped draft new Spanish copyright legislation and had heavily influenced the decisions of both the government and opposition.

Now, another diplomatic leak has revealed how the US voiced its anger towards outgoing President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last month upon realizing that his government was unlikely to pass the US-drafted Sinde (site blocking) Law before leaving office. (Read more)

SOPA, Piracy, Censorship and the End of the Internet? Stephen Kinsella on Freedomain Radio

WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet

SOPA Versus Free Speech

Koopia pole vargus — remixed (jazz)

Not many consumers realize that the FDA does not require genetically modifiedfood to be labeled.

That’s because the FDA has decided that you, dear consumer, don’t care if the tomato you’re eating has been cross bred with frog genes to render the tomato more resistant to cold weather.

Some consumers may not be concerned with eating Frankenfood, but for those who are, here’s how to determine if the fruits and vegetables you’re buying are (GM) genetically modified.

Hat tip to Marion Owen for her valuable information. Here’s how it works:

For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU codeon the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9.

Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8.

For example:

A conventionally grown banana would be: 4011

An organic banana would be: 94011

A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be: 84011

These tips are specially important now that over 80% of all processed foods in the US are genetically modified.

Many countries in the European Union have beenbanning GM products and produce (including Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg).

We say “Eat healthy, buy or grow organic”. (Read more)

Wow!

1) Starting tonight, Ron Paul will begin winning caucuses. This will be followed by either an assassination, or, in the long term, prosperity. Remember, they killed Bobby Kennedy after he began winning primaries. The chances of this are probably small. I do think there are powerful people and institution who would consider it.

If Ron Paul is assassinated, it’ll be followed by isolated instances of violence against federal institutions. These will be used to discredit anything libertarian. Government will declare new powers for itself, and the gigantic anti-terrorism apparatus will turn its full attention to Americans. An assassination would also be followed by large scale tax protests which would cripple the state. They will resort to printing money and slander tax protesters as domestic terrorists.

If, on the other hand, Ron Paul wins the primary, he will defeat Obama. Democrats will defect en masse to support him. The media mud slingers will realize their impotence. The markets will celebrate, perhaps with the exception of large commercial banks. They will threaten to blow-up the economy as revenge upon a public that elected Ron Paul. We will call their bluff.

2) At least one country will leave the Euro Zone. The EU will remain intact, but calls to end it will grow louder and more insistent. The turmoil in Europe will continue to create the illusion of economic stability in the U.S. and capital will flow away from the headlines, but once things have stabilized there, expect the much bigger and much more destructive problems of the U.S. to resume their unfolding. The prices of precious metals will resume their climb. Let’s hope Ron Paul is in power so the crisis isn’t used to lead us further down the road to serfdom.

3) SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, a thinly veiled attempt to censor the internet will fail. However, it’s proponents will very quickly put another piece of legislation on the table. They will not stop until it is passed.

4) A massive troop reduction will occur in Afghanistan. It will be done for political reasons. The media will spend weeks praising Obama.

5) A galvanizing incident will be provoked or staged in Iran. There will be an outbreak of hostility, but the United States, despite the propaganda from neo-con politicians and the media will not fully commit to a war.

See also, predictions for:
2011
2010
2009
2008