Aug
22
2013
In the three weeks since a Truthout investigation revealed that federal regulators have approved at least two hydraulic fracturing operations in federal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel since 2009, a state commission has launched an investigation into the practice, California lawmakers have demanded a federal investigation, and environmental groups discovered that fracking also has occurred in state waters.
Internal government documents released to Truthout under the Freedom of Information Act show that fracking technology has …
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Aug
22
2013
A covert national security programme allows the FBI and US immigration authorities the power to indefinitely delay immigration benefits to Muslims and those from Muslim countries, according to an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The previously unknown programme, which began in 2008 under George W Bush to identify those with links to terrorism, has continued under President Obama to blacklist law-abiding applicants and profile Muslims as “national security concerns”, according to the ACLU.
Migrants who …
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Aug
22
2013
A plan to make female high school students undergo mandatory virginity tests has been met with outrage from activists, who argue that it discriminates against women and violates their human rights.
Education chief Muhammad Rasyid, of Prabumulih district in south Sumatra put forward the idea, describing it as “an accurate way to protect children from prostitution and free sex”. He said he would use the city budget to begin tests early next year if MPs approved …
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Aug
22
2013
Bradley Manning, who has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking government and military documents, announced Thursday intentions to live as a woman, requesting that she now be identified as Chelsea and with female pronouns. She provided the following statement on “the next stage of my life”:
I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and …
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Aug
22
2013
Canadian Muslim Kathy Nalas says she won’t give up her headscarf or her job as a children’s speech pathologist in Quebec, amid reports that the provincial government aims to ban religious dress and symbols from places that receive public funding — a move that would essentially import controversial European legislation on religious dress to North America.
Quebecois hospital and school workers would reportedly need to “display their religious neutrality,” according to a report that was published …
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Aug
22
2013
The UK Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed in a statement he ordered his top civil servant to make sure the Guardian destroyed classified data on US and British surveillance programs. This comes amid implications that Cameron was behind the decision.
The deputy Prime Minster, Nick Clegg, who is leader of the more liberally leaning Liberal Democrat party, has told the British media that he backed Cameron’s decision, a spokesman for the Deputy prime Minster said in …
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Aug
22
2013
President Obama plans to announce a set of ambitious proposals on Thursday aimed at making colleges more accountable and affordable by rating them and ultimately linking those ratings to financial aid.
A draft of the proposal, obtained by The New York Times and likely to cause some consternation among colleges, shows a plan to rate colleges before the 2015 school year based on measures like tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings of graduates, and the …
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Aug
22
2013
August 21, 2013 |
New rule (as Bill Maher would say): If you make billions of dollars a year selling unhealthy food, you don’t get to tell us to work out.
It was one thing when Cookie Monster began telling kids to eat vegetables. Cookie Monster doesn’t earn a living by selling cookies, and vegetables are a fantastic alternative to cookies.
But it was a totally different story when Ronald McDonald went all …
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Aug
22
2013
TOKYO: The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Thursday new spots of high radiation had been found near storage tanks holding highly contaminated water, raising fear of fresh leaks as the disaster goes from bad to worse.
The announcement comes after Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said this week contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation was leaking from a storage tank.
A tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi power plant north …
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Aug
22
2013
When I first met Reverend Rick Hoyt he said, “You don’t have to call me Reverend – just Rick is fine.
The bespectacled and youthful pastor sporting a salt-and-pepper beard, certainly didn’t look like a conventional “man-of-God.” In fact, the Unitarian Universalist church to which Rick belongs is known for defying Christian theological convention. And, Rick’s home at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles also has a history of defying political convention.
The church, according to …
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