How to identify a Meth Lab

Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”

State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase cafeteria food instead


http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html






A bit odd?

Walker Steals Mortgage Settlement Money

Just a couple of days ago, Scott Walker, Fartfuhrer of the Totalitarian Corporate Plutocracy of Fitzwalkerstan, formerly Wisconsin, was crowing about how he had balanced the budget. He was lying, of course. He had a balanced budget when he was elected, but despite gutting worker’s compensation and services for citizens, all his giveaways to the Koch Brothers and other corporate criminals have built up a significant deficit. Now that Fitzwalkerstan will be getting mortgage relief for homeowners, the Fartfuhrer’s plan for that money has nothing to do with the homeowners.



http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/2012/02/11/walker-steals-mortgage-settlement-money/

Purple Squirrel Spotted by Central Pa. Couple

A couple in central Pennsylvania found a very unusual critter in their backyard — a purple squirrel.

Percy Emert said he and his wife, Connie, have cage-like traps in their yard to keep squirrels away from the bird feeders. Percy Emery then releases the squirrels into the woods away from his home but joked that sometimes they make it back to his house before he does.

"I came home (one day recently) and my wife said, 'You're not going to believe it but I saw a purple squirrel in the yard,'" he said Thursday. "So I put out a trap with a couple of peanuts inside."

Before too long, the squirrel came back and found itself in the trap Sunday.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/purple-squirrel-spotted-central-pa-couple-15551391#.TzR4f5gnm18


Link with pics.


http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2012/02/09/purple-squirrel-found-in-pennsylvania-photos/

Bradley Manning: 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

February 1 2012 the entire parliamentary group of The Movement of the Icelandic Parliament nominated Private Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. Following is the reasoning we sent to the committee explaining why we felt compelled to nominate Private Bradley Manning for this important recognition of an individual effort to have an impact for peace in our world.

Our letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee:

We have the great honor of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings. These revelations have fueled democratic uprising around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on our foreign policies, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq.

Bradley Manning has been incarcerated for well over a year by the U.S. government without a trial. He spent over ten months of that time period in solitary confinement, conditions which experts worldwide have criticized as torturous. Juan Mendez, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has repeatedly requested and been denied a private meeting with Manning to assess his conditions.


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29077

Internet TV faces big obstacles

You say TV, I say Internet. Toe-mate-o, toe-maht-o.

Technology increasingly blurs the lines between computer, television, phone and tablet. Online video options grow almost by the hour. A screen, in the era of cyber choice, is a screen is a screen.

You can now plug the Internet straight into the newest TVs. You can buy gadgets that will bring the Web to your old set. Or you can use your phone, tablet or other electronic gizmos to tap into the Internet to give you TV on the go.

Still, to fill your screen with popular sports, comedies and dramas from the brands that dominate your television, generations-old economic models will have to be rearranged for the wild, wild Web.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/02/3407319/internet-tv-faces-big-obstacles.html#storylink=cpy


I don't even own a tv and watch everything on my mac. Here's the real obstacle:

"Commerce, meanwhile, hasn’t fully figured out the best way to make a buck off Internet video."

Iran now may support attacks in U.S., official says

WASHINGTON — Iran's top officials now may be more willing to sponsor attacks in the United States, the top U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday in a warning that reflected rising tensions over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper also said that while al Qaida remained a danger, the deaths of Osama bin Laden and other key figures had seriously degraded the core terrorist organization's ability to mount major strikes.

Testifying before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the findings of an annual report on threats facing the United States, Clapper said that continued "robust" U.S. counter-terrorism efforts could further reduce the Pakistan-based group's status to one of "largely symbolic importance" and fragment the global jihadist movement that bin Laden had inspired.

Iran and the danger posed by al Qaida after bin Laden's death in a U.S. special forces raid May 2 in Pakistan dominated the questioning of Clapper and other U.S. intelligence officials at the hearing on the 2012 Worldwide Threat Assessment.

Terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, attacks on U.S. computer systems _ especially by China and Russia _ and the cybertheft of government and corporate secrets constitute "the immediate forefront of our security concerns," Clapper told the panel.


Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/01/31/137428/new-us-intelligence-assessment.html#storylink=cpy




What a bunch of BS. Be afraid, be very afraid, and don't forget to give the military complex MORE money

Growing Number of Americans Can’t Cover Basic Expenses if Job Loss or Other Emergency Strikes

Washington, DC—In the United States, 27 percent of all households are “asset poor,” meaning they lack the savings or other assets to cover basic expenses for just three months if a layoff or other emergency leads to loss of income, according to the 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, released today by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED). Since the release of the 2009-2010 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard, the number of asset poor families has increased by 21 percent from one in five families to one in four families. The asset poverty rate is now nearly twice as high as the Census Bureau’s official income poverty rate of 15.1 percent.

For the first time the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard also includes a measure for “liquid asset poverty,” which excludes assets such as a home, business or car that can’t easily be converted to cash, and consequently provides a more realistic picture of the resources families have to meet emergency needs. According to that measure, 43 percent of households nationwide are “liquid asset poor” with little or no savings to fall back on if emergency strikes.

“Growing numbers of families have almost no savings or other assets to see them through if they lose their jobs or face a medical crisis,” said Andrea Levere, president of CFED. “Without savings, few will be able to build a more economically secure future, including buying a home, saving for their children’s college educations or building a retirement nest egg.”
Levere added that the Scorecard findings are “particularly disturbing in the context of precipitous drops in incomes for many Americans and widening of the wealth gap between the richest and poorest households.”



http://assetsandopportunity.org/scorecard/assets/National_Press_Release_Final.pdf

Pythons Are Wiping Out Mammals in the Everglades

According to a new study, the introduction of non-native snakes into southern Florida swamps has devastated the population of small mammals, almost completely wiping out some vulnerable species. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the number raccoon and possums spotted in the Everglades has dropped more than 98%, bobcat sightings are down 87%, and rabbits and foxes have not been seen at all in years.

Large snakes, like boa constrictors, anacondas, and pythons, are not native to North America, but are popular among reptile collectors and traders who — inadvertently or not — re-introduced them to the Florida swamps about a decade ago. Since that time they caused a huge disruption to the already fragile ecosystem, threatening wildlife and even some humans. They grow fast, breed rapidly, adapt well to their environments, and prey on small animals that don't recognize them as a threat. They're also great at hiding, which makes them both deadly hunters and difficult to catch.

They will also eat just about anything, even birds, deer, and alligators. (The 162-pound Burmese python pictured above had recently swallowed a gator.) That's why the government banned the import of Burmese and other pythons last year, although (thanks to lobbying by the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers) the reticulated python and the boa constrictor are still allowed to be traded.


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/01/pythons-are-wiping-out-mammals-everglades/48075/#.TyfmJDJgpPc.reddit

Ind. secretary of state faces voter fraud charge

NOBLESVILLE, IND. -- Indiana's secretary of state is facing voter fraud charges in a case that could decide if he remains as the state's top election official.

Secretary of State Charlie White appeared in good spirits Tuesday morning at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Noblesville, Ind., where a jury was preparing to hear voter fraud, perjury and theft charges against him.

Special prosecutor Dan Sigler Sr. wheeled a cart laden with 11 boxes of evidence into the courtroom before proceedings began.

White is accused of voting in 2010 from an address where he didn't live and of continuing to take his Fishers town councilman's salary after moving from the district.

The Republican has maintained his innocence. If convicted, he could face prison time and be forced to leave office.


Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/31/3401117/ind-secretary-of-state-faces-voter.html#storylink=cpy