Archive for September, 2009
One in Nine Americans Receiving Food Stamps
September 4th, 2009Via: Reuters: More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record as the country continued to grapple with the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The food stamp program, which helps cover the cost of groceries for one in nine Americans, […]
Documentary Filmmaker Shot Dead in El Salvador
September 4th, 2009Via: CNN: A French filmmaker who recently finished a documentary about a violent street gang in El Salvador was found shot dead in the town of Tonacatepeque, about 10 miles northeast of the capital city of San Salvador, authorities said. Christian Poveda, 52, was shot at least four times in the face, according to local […]
Trucks Carrying Nuclear Weapons Around The Country Revealed
September 4th, 2009I was nearly killed by U.S. Marines when I worked for FedEx in the 1990s. I was attempting to make a delivery to the part of a Marine Corps Air Station that, I later found out, housed nuclear weapons. Hint: If you’re ever trying to deliver a package on a military base and you see […]
Hitmen Kill 17 in Mexico Clinic on U.S. Border, Deputy Police Chief
September 4th, 2009Via: Reuters: About a dozen hooded gunmen burst into a Mexican rehabilitation clinic near the U.S. border on Wednesday, lining up patients before killing 17 of them. Drug gangs have targeted rehab clinics in the manufacturing city of Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, accusing them of protecting dealers from rival gangs. The attack […]
Journalist Flees Russia Over Arctic Sea Story
September 4th, 2009Via: BBC: A journalist has fled Russia after suggesting the Arctic Sea cargo ship that was apparently hijacked in July may have been carrying illegal weapons. Mikhail Voitenko said he had been told to leave Moscow or face arrest. The editor of Sovfracht, an online maritime journal, fled on Wednesday, saying he may not be […]
Pfizer Directed Doctors to Use Drugs at Eight Times the Recommended Dosage and for Conditions Different to Those for Which They Were Approved
September 4th, 2009Via: BBC: A whistle-blower in the Pfizer healthcare fraud scandal has said he felt he was “swimming upstream” when the firm was illegally promoting drugs. “It’s hard to do what’s right when everyone else around you is following management sales directive,” John Kopchinski told the BBC’s World Today. Mr Kopchinski was awarded $50m (£31m) for […]
H1N1: MAINE DECLARES CIVIL EMERGENCY
September 3rd, 2009Via: Bangor Daily News: Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday declared a statewide civil emergency because of the H1N1 influenza virus, paving the way for mass immunization of Maine schoolchildren and other residents. The emergency designation protects schools and health care providers against liability claims related to their participation in school-based vaccine clinics this fall for […]
Low-Wage Workers Are Often Cheated, Study Says
September 3rd, 2009Via: New York Times: Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 […]
Microsoft Pushes for Single Global Patent System
September 3rd, 2009Via: Cnet: A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world. In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft’s Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez said that a backlog of patent applications internationally was […]
USAID Probes the Possibility That Contractors Give a Cut to the Taliban
September 3rd, 2009Via: Global Post: The United States Agency for International Development has opened an investigation into allegations that its funds for road and bridge construction in Afghanistan are ending up in the hands of the Taliban, through a protection racket for contractors. And House Foreign Affairs Committee member, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) vowed to hold hearings […]
