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.