Odd Stories: Leech Found in Teen's Windpipe

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Mexico Faces Worst Drought in 70 Years (Video)

Odd Stories: Drugs, Two Bibles, and a Gun

Lancaster, South Carolina – A 28-year-old woman was arrested after she was discovered smuggling a cell phone, weapons, and drugs to a prison inmate using two hollowed-out Bibles.

Shareca Latoya Jones became the focus of the police department after the returned package was shown to have razors, a cell phone, ecstasy, and almost 30 grams of cocaine according to sheriff Barry Faile.

When they arrested her at a traffic stop, the police found a loaded handgun, almost 30 small bags of weed,, cell phones, and money in her car. She is currently facing charges such as trafficking cocaine, providing contraband to an inmate, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute a schedule IV substance, unlawful carrying of a handgun, and two counts of possession with intent to distribute a schedule I substance.

Odd Stories: License Plate

Nebraska - An attorney is taking the state of Nebraska to court so he can have a license plate reading “NE 420”.

Frank Shoemaker asked for the plate from the state's motor vehicle department and was told he wasn't allowed to have it. Beverly Nerth, the director, said the 420 numerals “were used to promote marijuana use, an illegal drug in the state.” She added the combination may also be assumed to represent Adolf Hitler's birth (April 20, 1889), and Colorado's Columbine High School massacre which happened on April 20, 1999.

The American Civil Liberty Union, who is representing Shoemaker, said nothing about the plate is obscene or offensive about the license plate and it's a political statement.”

License plates can be used to express a personal or political statement according to the 8^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, said ALCU's Tracy Hightower-Henne.

Update: Frank Shoemaker has been allowed to get the plate he desired.

Odd Stories: Typing Error Gets Candidate's Son Elected

Derby, Connecticut – A typing error may lead to the election of the wrong man to Derby's Board of Apportionment and Taxation.

The man, James J. Butler, got 1,526 votes for the position but calls the officials responsible for the election incompetent because they have him confused with his father.

James R. Butler, who really was running, told The News Times of Danbury and the New Haven Register he is the one interested in the job, not his son.

The secretary for the office, Av Harris, said the younger James Butler, who doesn't want anything to do with the office, should still be sworn in since he was elected.

Odd Stories: Darth Vader Invades Earth

Ukraine -Darth Vader has started his invasion of Earth with a claim to some of Ukraine's sea coast, according to Reuters and Dumskaya.net.

The villain visited the mayor's office to obtain it for free, citing a Ukrainian law recently passed giving every citizen the right to own 1,000 square meters of land.

"I am Darth Vader, the right hand of Emperor Palpatine," he said in a Youtube video. “Knowing that many (local legislature) deputies and the mayor have switched to the dark side... I have come for a land plot... for my space cruiser."

After the person in the outfit took off his helmet and showed his passport, the officials accepted his request.

The mayor's office has said it was a mistake to pass the law but haven't cancelled it yet.

Environmental Regulations Don't Kill Jobs

Washington D.C. - Anyone who tells you “environmental regulations kill jobs and hurt businesses” is at worst a liar and at best severely misinformed and there are documents to prove it.

Those who pay attention to politics, especially when it comes to regulation, knows the all-too-familiar rhetoric. After a regulation is proposed, usually by a Democrat, the Republicans moan and gnash their teeth about how it's going to destroy industries and put the country deeper into debt. While companies tell this to Republicans they are saying something completely different to their investors and financial regulators.

The Associated Press released an article in which two companies: DTEEnergy and FMC Corporation told Republican lawmakers what they want to hear regardless of the facts.

DTE Energy said on April 15^th to a House committee “Without the right policy, we could be headed for disaster.” In reality they don't know what effect it will have, saying to their investors it was “reviewing potential impacts of the proposed and recently finalized rules, but is not able to quantify the financial impact ... at this time." DTE environmental issues vice-president Skiles Boyd later said the testimony was meant to state the potential economic hardship on customers and the SEC report focused on the company's financial condition. Page 52 of the report (available if requested) states “We are subject to extensive environmental regulation. Additional costs may result as the effects of various substances on the environment are studied and governmental regulations are developed and implemented. Actual costs to comply could vary substantially. We expect to continue recovering environmental costs related to utility operations through rates charged to our customers.” In other words they will pass on the cost to the customer, but will not kill businesses or jobs.

FMC Corp's Jim Pearce, when called to a House hearing in February of 2010, said “The current U.S. approach to regulating greenhouse gases ... will lead U.S. natural soda ash producers to lose significant business to our offshore rivals...." Soda ash is used to produce glass, and is a major component of the company's business.” Just 13 days later in its SEC filings however the company said it was "premature to make any estimate of the costs of complying with unenacted federal climate change legislation, or as yet unimplemented federal regulations in the United States.

It continues to state (Note: Signing up is required to see the exact text, though I can email the document if requested) “At this point our U.S. facilities are not subject to any state or regional greenhouse gas regulation, and our foreign operations outside of Europe and Canada are not subject to national or local greenhouse gas regulation. Although some of our European and Canadian operations may be subject to greenhouse gas regulation, the cost to these facilities has not been and is not expected to be significant, and effect of European Union and Canadian greenhouse gas regulation has not been and is not expected to be material to FMC. We have considered the potential physical risks to FMC facilities and operations and the indirect consequences of regulation or business trends as a result of potential future climate change. Because of the many variables, not only with respect to the science, but also with respect to the nature and effect of future global climate change regulation itself, it is impossible to predict in any meaningful.”

However the truth isn't stopping the Republicans from touting their lies. Using the continued meme they plan to attack the President Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, and the Environmental Protection Agency. They are also holding hearings and trying to pass several bills to stop environmental regulation from passing. None have passed the Senate. The Obama Administration doesn't help matters any when it postpones the regulations under the guise of “looking at them”, after which they silently throw it away or “give it up” in exchange for another proposal.

Thankfully not all of the Democrats break so easily. Henry Waxman, one of California's Representatives, said of the SEC filings they “show that the anti-regulation rhetoric in Washington is political hot air with little or no connection to reality." California Senator Barbra Boxer said about the bills “I will see to it, to the best of my ability, to try to stop everything...Republicans will lose seats over this.”

Thankfully some people in Washington are paying attention to not just what the businesses are saying but what they're putting in their economic reports as well. Otherwise we'd just have a bunch of people listening to and believing what is being told by them and nobody doing any fact-checking.

Woman Loses Her Baby Due to Police Brutality

Seattle - After being pepper-sprayed and attacked by Seattle police, Jennifer Fox, a pregnant woman who joined the Occupy Movement, had a miscarriage. Homeless and pregnant, she felt it was her duty for her and her child's future to join the protesters.

When the police started to move in and attack – an unfortunately all-to-familiar scenario now – she said to the police “I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let methrough. I am trying to get out.”

Instead of letting her go the police started to hit her stomach, step on her, pepper-spray her face, and push a bike into her.

Everything seemed to be fine until Sunday when she “started getting sick, cramps started, and I felt like I was going to pass out.” A trip to the hospital revealed she was having a miscarriage, possibly due to the kick and pepper-spray that affected her child.

This took place during the same protest which saw an elderly woman hit with the spray as well.

She said she is currently looking for a lawyer to take her case.

Hopefully one of the people she sues will be Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel who said “pepper spray is not age specific. No more dangerous to someone who is 10 or someone who is 80.”

Looks like you're wrong Jeff, as you traumatized a mother and caused her to miscarry.

Some of the video of the aftermath can be seen here.

Brazil Orders Chevron to Pay 27-million Dollars for Oil Spill

Brazil - Chevron, the U.S. oil giant, will have to pay a 50-million real (27-million American dollars) fine due to November 7th's oil spill. More fines may be imposed upon the company if a federal investigation brings more issues to light.

The oil spill, which occurred on November 7^th, was the result of what Chevron says was “wrongly estimating pressure and rock strength in the reservoir.”

The money from the fine, according to Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc, will “be used to overcome environmental problems caused by the spill.”

While the fine seems high, it is approximately three days worth of the oil pump's output.

Prisoners Using Social Media to Harass Victims.

United States – People who are victims of crimes may not be able to rest safely when their attackers are behind bars – at least for now.

Through the smuggling of the phones into their cells, prisoners are gaining access to cell phones at an alarming rate, California prison officials found more than 12-thousand phones in ten months' time. Six years ago 261 phones were confiscated in the same amount of time. After they set up Facebook accounts, they use the website to contact their victims or intimidate witnesses.

Timothy Heaphy, a U.S. attorney, said criminals' use of social networks to reach witnesses made his job harder.

"We deal every day with witnesses who are afraid of being identified. If there are increased instances where folks who are incarcerated can reach outside the walls of the jail, that's going to make it more difficult for us to get cooperation." He said.

Rob Bovett, an Oregon district attorney, said the increasing numbers is troublesome and the law isn't catching up with technology.  Along with the obvious smuggling issue that arises in the prisons, it can also be hard to determine who exactly is sending the messages. Those who are caught rarely face any punishments.

Dogs Getting Sick From Chicken Treats

United States - People who love to give their dogs chicken jerky need to watch out, as they may be responsible for spreading sickness and death among the canines.

The Food and Drug Administration warns at least 70 dogs became sick after eating the products, which come from China. Last year there were 54 reports.

So far the only knows it's chicken-treat related. Symptoms of something wrong are “decreased appetite, decreased activity, vomiting, diarrhea, increased water consumption and increased urination. If your pet displays these issues, you are recommended to stop feeding the treats. If problems persist after about a day or are serious,seek medical help.

You can go here to report your dog's problems.

Commentary: Corporal Punishment Doesn't Work, Study Finds

Corporal Punishment Leaves Too Many Scars, Inter Press Service, Sunday, November 20, 2011 (posted by Global Issues)

What I'd really like to see is more things like this article showing corporal punishment doesn't work (especially for drug offenses) and, as noted in the piece, may cause them "to take even harder drugs than before, making their whole problem worse." It would also be great to see this kind of study done with America jailing people for non-violent drug use. Could it be called torture? If you're poor and/or non-white then the answer would definitely be yes. What happens to those people when they get out? How does society treat them? Why are don't they get the chance to go to state-funded rehabilitation (because the state providing it is way more cost-efficient than imprisoning them for an extended period of time, not to mention the human lives ruined by the prison system)?

Sy Hersh, Iran and the I.A.E.A

Sy Hersh was on Democracy Now today with a very informative piece.  I recommend everyone read it.

FBI Fails to Follow-up on Lead, Media Focus is Elsewhere

New York – The Federal Bureau of Investigations failed to follow up on a plot to blow up New YorkCity according to police officers knowledgeable about the case.

Since they started keeping tabs on him in May 2009, the city's police force tried twice to get the FBI to take on the case, but decided Jose Pimentel, the suspect, didn't have the “predisposition or the ability to carry out the plot.” He is thought of plotting to blow up police and post offices around the city as well as attack soldiers who returned from overseas.

Police say Pimentel was building bombs in his apartment based off instructions from recently deceased cleric Anwar al-Awlaki's website. They say he was due to finish his bomb, made as retaliation to the cleric's death from a military drone, in an hour's time when they arrested him.

Pimentel is currently being held on domestic terrorism charges without bail.