The Curious Assemblages of J. Shea | Colossal
►http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/02/the-curious-assemblages-of-j-shea
@fil, à la The Nightmare Before Christmas
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The Greek parents too poor to care for their children
Greece’s financial crisis has made some families so desperate they are giving up the most precious thing of all - their children.
One morning a few weeks before Christmas a kindergarten teacher in Athens found a note about one of her four-year-old pupils.
“I will not be coming to pick up Anna today because I cannot afford to look after her,” it read. “Please take good care of her. Sorry. Her mother.”
In the last two months Father Antonios, a young Orthodox priest who runs a youth centre for the city’s poor, has found four children on his door step - including a baby just days old.
Another charity was approached by a couple whose twin babies were in hospital being treated for malnutrition, because the mother herself was malnourished and unable to breastfeed.
Cases like this are shocking a country where family ties are strong, and failure to look after children is socially unacceptable - they feel to Greeks like stories from the Third World, rather than their own capital city.
One of the children cared for by Father Antonios is Natasha, a bright two-year-old brought to his centre by her mother a few weeks ago.
The woman said she was unemployed and homeless and needed help - but before staff could offer her support she had vanished, leaving her daughter behind.
►http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16472310
victime collatéral du capitalisme -
Egypt’s Coptic pope celebrates Christmas with call for unity | World news | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/07/egyptian-copts-christmas-uk-fearsAt the start of the festive celebrations in Egypt, prominent figures from across the political spectrum, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and members of the ruling military council, attended Friday night mass at Cairo’s main Coptic cathedral.
The Coptic pope, Shenouda III, commended their presence and appealed for national unity for “the sake of Egypt”.
He said: “For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt. They all agree ... on the stability of this country, and in loving it and working for it, and to work with the Copts as one hand for the sake of Egypt.”
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Christmas in the Radiation Zone | The Indypendent
►http://indypendent.org/2012/01/03/christmas-radiation-zoneIt’s the first thing you notice. Electric orange, ripe and luscious persimmons hang from every bough. As we drive through the country and over the glittering, snow-specked mountain range from Fukushima city to Soma on the northeast coast of Japan, we pass many persimmon trees dotting the landscape, all laden with fruit, ready for harvesting.
But this year, the persimmons of Fukushima prefecture will remain untouched. Bounty only for microbial decomposers, they are a silent reminder of the slow-burning, far-reaching menace of a nuclear accident.
Since March 11, local people, long skilled in farming this verdant and fertile region, have added expertise about the effects of radiation to their library of stored knowledge. The persimmons are deemed unsafe, irradiated by the releases from the stricken nuclear plant at Fukushima-Daiichi, 15 miles south of here. I am told the persimmons, which, when peeled and dried by a traditional process, are called hoshigaki, were a local specialty. Now, they have particularly high levels of radioactive contamination.
As we drove through the glistening mountains, I watched the readings of the omnipresent dosimeter dangling casually from the rearview mirror of the car first oscillate, then grow alarmingly. Arriving in front of a children’s summer camp and quietly handed a face mask, there is an ominous beeping sound as the readings—corroborated by a second dosimeter brought to check the calibration—peaked above 1 microsievert per hour. We pass an old local incinerator at work burning refuse, and the numbers spike again.
The people of Fukushima prefecture have become amateur radiologists, tracking radiation from place to place as wind and rain transport it in random patterns across the local landscape. Worried and angry because they have not received accurate information from the Japanese government about the radiation threat, and because they want the government to evacuate more affected areas, the people of Fukushima have had to take matters into their own hands.
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Destroy Property merry christmas world from bethlehem ghetto
►http://destroyproperty.com/post/14823170023/bethlehem -
For Christmas, Your Government Will Tell You When It’s Legal to Kill You. Just Kidding: It’s Classified | Common Dreams
In the wake of the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, the DOJ has rejected a Freedom of Information Act request from the New York Times asking for the legal basis for the American program of targeted drone killings of U.S. citizens off the field of battle. A lay-person’s look at that decision.
Plaintiffs The New York Times Company, Charlie Savage, and Scott Shane (jointly, “NYT”), by their undersigned attorney, allege for their Complaint:
1. This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") ... seeking the production of agency records improperly withheld by Defendant United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") in response to requests properly made by Plaintiffs.
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4. Given the questions surrounding the legality of the practice [of “targeted killing”] under both U.S. and international law, notable legal scholars, human rights activists, and current and former government officials [i.e., Democrats and Republicans] have called for the government to disclose its legal analysis justifying the use of targeted lethal force, especially as it applies to American citizens.
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Protests held at Lacoste stores across France against “racism” and censorship of Palestinian artist | The Electronic Intifada
►http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/protests-held-lacoste-stores-across-france-against-racism-and-cePalestine solidarity activists staged protests on Christmas Eve at Lacoste clothing stores in several French cities to protest the censorship and expulsion of Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour from a prestigious art competition sponsored by the French luxury clothing.
The scandal led last week to the cancelation of the 2011 Lacoste Elysée Prize by the Musée de L’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland.
At actions in Paris, Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux, activists picketed stores, handed out flyers and told Christmas shoppers about Lacoste’s censorship, calling on them to boycott the company. Protestors held signs and prints of Sansour’s censored work and called out slogans condemning Lacoste’s “racism” against Palestinians.
à Lyon
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dftupH37oJk&feature=player_embedded -
L’idée-cadeau que tu y avais pas forcément pensé : More People Giving Guns as Christmas Gifts This Year
►http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=571797“A lot of guys are buying themselves guns for Christmas,” says manager Brandon Reynolds. “It’s Christmas bonus season and people have a little extra disposable cash.”
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No Christmas For Millions Of American Families This Year | Pakalert Press
►http://www.pakalertpress.com/2011/12/25/no-christmas-for-millions-of-american-families-this-yearFor millions of American families, there will be no Christmas this year. The sad truth is that an increasing number of families simply do not have money for Christmas presents or any other luxuries right now.
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Skrillex: Happy Holidays! Pirate My Music, I’ll Still Love You | TorrentFreak
Today, on a Christmas morning with giving, kindness and sharing on our minds, we thank Sonny John Moore for his contribution to the holiday spirit.
These days Moore is better known as Skrillex, and since taking his current form in 2008 he’s been going from strength to strength. Last year he released his debut EP, My Name is Skrillex, as a free download and he hasn’t looked back.
►https://torrentfreak.com/skrillex-happy-holidays-pirate-my-music-ill-still-love-you-111225
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A Christmas bonus for European financial elite—austerity for the masses
Un joyeux Noël pour les banques qui s’offrent un open bar sur note dos !
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/euro-d23.shtmlWhat is notable about the decision of the ECB, however, is that not a cent of its latest loans goes toward bailing out endangered European economies. Instead, the entire sum has been awarded to the banks and will benefit only those major bank stockholders, hedge fund managers and finance speculators whose criminal activities have wreaked so much havoc with European economies in the first place. The ECB loans will strengthen the hand of the very same financial elite that is demanding the implementation of drastic austerity measures across Europe.
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‘Pingu will die’: children’s perceptions of climate change | the green living blog
The children of today are the adults of tomorrow. Quite an obvious statement, I know, but a vitally important one when considering how best to educate our children about climate change.
...Currently, children are bombarded with an array of contradictory and confusing messages about our changing climate; ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ told them that the world is going to freeze over, last years ‘Mission Green Santa’ TV programme told them that Santa’s runway could melt and cancel Christmas (gasp!), while DECC’s ‘Change how the story ends’ adverts have turned their fairy tales into horrible nightmares.
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‘Politicians are idiots for doing nothing’
There was also considerable evidence that the children, like many adults, had engaged with an ‘alarmist’ repertoire. When questioned about the future, several children communicated a range of quite extreme answers, with responses ranging from the apocalyptic: ‘the world and everything in it will be destroyed’, to the downright saddening: ‘Pingu will die’. In fact, children appeared most concerned about the future of animals, communicating a fear for their survival that resonated throughout the study.►http://greenlivingblog.org.uk/2011/12/09/pingu-will-die-childrens-perceptions-of-climate-change
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Revealed: true cost of the Christmas toys we buy from China’s factories (The Observer)
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/04/chinese-toy-factories-christmas-disneyUndercover investigation alleges hours of overtime, late wages and fines for using the toilet without permission (...) Source: The Observer
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Revealed: true cost of the Christmas toys we buy from China’s factories
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/04/chinese-toy-factories-christmas-disneyBig brands such as Disney, Lego and Marks & Spencer pay only a fraction of the shop price of products to the factories that make their toys. Last summer – as factories geared up to cope with demand for the Christmas period – investigators spent three weeks in the industrial cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan. In some cases, they found that employees:
■ worked up to 140 hours overtime a month;
■ were paid up to a month late;
■ claimed they were expected to work with dangerous tools and machines without training or safety measures;
■ had to work in silence and were fined up to £5 for going to the toilet without permission.
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Police Use CS Spray on 14 year old Boy after Strike Rally as Santa Arrested - Bristol Indymedia
In the early hours of Wednesday November 30th some naughty elves dropped banners over every entry route in to Bristol City Centre bearing slogans including ’N30 Strike’, ’No Cuts In Bristol’, Stay Warm This Xmas – Burn The Rich” and ’Oi Scabs, You’re On The Naughty List’ ensuring no one was unaware of the big day.
A feeder march started outside Easton Community Centre, taking detours to show solidarity with picket lines and making their way to College Green to join the 20,000 strong march that then meandered through Bristol, ending with a rally in Castle Park.In the spirit of the season a group of local anarchists handed out 100 Santa hats and 300 carol sheets with seasonal songs to inform the public of tax dodgers, cuts supporters, and other companies that had earned themselves a position on Santa’s Naughty List.
Then with festive cheer 200 people left the rally and marched through Broadmead stopping at Vodafone, Barclays, Boots, Marks and Spencer, Topshop, TK Maxx, Savers, Tesco, and the ’meet your local police’ kiosk in the Galleries. There are numerous reasons for these companies to be on the naughty list this year, many of them are responsible for dodging billions of pounds worth of tax while pensions, housing benefit, legal aid, and many other vital services are being cut, others for signing letters to state their support of these cruel government cuts, and the police, well they proved exactly why they’re on the naughty list during the demonstration.
Avon and Somerset Constabulary, hereby known as ’The Cops That Stole Christmas’, gave a tremendous display of police intelligence when they grabbed a straggling Father Christmas and arrested him on suspicion of being someone else, given the large number of people who commit crimes dressed all in red with big white beards it’s obviously and understandable mistake! To be fair the likeness to Santa was so great that even the Guardian had to reasure thier readers that this was not the real Santa.
Terrified at the prospect of a Christmas without Santa, the rest of the march came to his aid, and a scuffle broke out as Santa’s helpers were met with extreme anger and force by the cops. People were thrown back, shoved, stamped, and, in a move that no one expected, sprayed CS spray at the crowd, leaving several people lying on the grass in castle park including a 14 year old boy with Santa’s helpers trying to wash their eyes out. Santa later described his view “The police were all pushing me and screaming at me, all I could see was black masks and Santa hats”
An legal observer later commented “During the peaceful Santa Uncut action earlier today police arrested Santa because he couldn’t prove he WASN’T someone else (yeah we hadn’t heard of that offence either). In some of the most bizarre protest scenes in awhile, police proceeded to nearly run over an elf before pepper spraying several of Santa’s helpers.”
In a sign of solidarity with both the Santa and Huw ’Badger’ Norfolk (who the police had mistaken santa for) the march continued defiantly to Trinity Road police station, taking a detour past the Evening Post building singing ’I’d rather be a Badger than a cop’ and waited outside.
Inside the police station Santa was treated as some sort of spectacle with every officer in the station including CID coming to stare at him, slap each other on the back and even (they admitted) placing bets on the outcome of the finger print check. In the Cells Santa was forced to remove is top to show his chest to the officers while Santa’s solicitor had to complain about why he had not been able to see his client yet.
Santa was release without charge and a warning that he was likely to be arrested again should he continue to look like someone else.
This is the second time the police have made themselves look like fools by arresting someone who they thought was Huw, and just another act of unnecessary violence and aggression which can’t be given a number because of the frequency of it’s occurrence.
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24 ways - web design and development articles and tutorials for advent
►http://24ways.org24 ways is the advent calendar for web geeks. Each day throughout December we publish a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer.
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The State Will Never Shut Down Social Networks « beyondclicktivism
►http://beyondclicktivism.com/2011/08/12/the-state-will-never-shut-down-social-networksOn Christmas Eve in 1913 in Calumet, Michigan at a crowded party for striking mine workers and their families, seventy-three people were trampled to death in a panicked rush for the exits when someone shouted “Fire!”. Fifty-nine of the dead were children. There was no fire.
Woody Guthrie’s song “1913 Massacre” blames the event on strike-breaking thugs hired by the mines and it is a dramatic illustration on the necessary limits free societies place on free speech. Reckless and malicious speech – popularly described as “falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre” – is not a protected or guaranteed right.
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This will never happen.
Technically, politically, economically it is impossible.
Technically, it is impossible. Those who want to use communications networks to cause trouble will find ways around the censor ....
Politically, it is impossible. Those who used social networks to share vital information when press and police were absent will not stand for a government that tries to close their only avenue of communication.
Economically it would be a disaster. Business would not stand for it.
To consider shutting down social networks because one person might shout “fire!” is as willfully ignorant and dangerous as suggesting that after someone shouts “fire!” in a crowded theatre we should switch off all the lights.
David Cameron may have shown extremely poor judgement over the last week but even he is not that stupid.
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A viable and just business model for the Ebook age (Norman Spinrad)
►http://normanspinradatlarge.blogspot.com/2011/03/viable-and-just-business-model-for.htmlHubris, or not, I’ve been asked to write something like this by diverse interested parties, for the American publishing industry from top to bottom—the writers, the publishers, the points of sale—is in the middle stage of a deep crisis it cannot possibly survive in its current configuration.
The times they are a-changing, the question of when will probably be answered after the next Christmas season as ebooks emerge at minimum as a major market force, over 20% of book sales is a conservative guess, so the answer to that one is soon. (...)
