Category Archives: Fail!

Second Oregon wolf killed by hunter in Idaho | OregonLive.com

The wolf was a member of the Imnaha pack, the first to breed in Oregon from wolves that migrated from Idaho after their reintroduction in the 1990s. It was fitted with a GPS tracking collar by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and turned loose in February 2012, after getting inadvertently caught in a coyote trap. A young male wolf from the pack, OR-9, was shot in Idaho in February 2012. Young wolves regularly leave their packs in search of a mate and a new territory. At last count, Oregon had 64 wolves, up from 48 in 2012. Four of the eight packs, all located in northeastern Oregon, successfully produced pups.

via Second Oregon wolf killed by hunter in Idaho | OregonLive.com.

Manufactured ignorance » Butterflies and Wheels

This is a subject that has always interested me – agnotology, the study of the cultural production of ignorance.

It’s a rich field, especially today when whole industries devote themselves to sowing public misinformation and doubt about their products and activities.

The tobacco industry was a pioneer at this. Its goal was to erode public acceptance of the scientifically proven links between smoking and disease: In the words of an internal 1969 memo legal opponents extracted from Brown & Williamson’s files, “Doubt is our product.” Big Tobacco’s method should not be to debunk the evidence, the memo’s author wrote, but to establish a “controversy.”

via Manufactured ignorance » Butterflies and Wheels.

Why New York City Streets Keep Exploding, and You Can’t Predict Where’s Next – The Wire

The explosion in Harlem on Wednesday that leveled two buildings and killed at least two people was only the latest deadly explosion in New York City in recent years. While the reason the buildings blew up isn’t yet known, there’s good reason to consider old, cast-iron gas lines a primary suspect. Those gas lines run throughout the city, and — not to be alarmist! — could fail at any time.

In 2007, 69-year-old Kunta Oza was killed when her house in Sunnyside, Queens exploded. That explosion was traced back to a break in a gas main in the street outside — as the Daily News reported,  “an 80-year-old cast-iron gas main.”

Both the age and composition of that main are significant. In a remarkable bit of timing, the Center for an Urban Future released a report this week detailing the age of various parts of New York City’s infrastructure, and it included a look at the aging natural gas network. In the area of Wednesday’s blast — 116th and Park Avenue — the gas provider is Con Edison. According to the CUF report, Con Edison’s network has a number of trouble spots.

via Why New York City Streets Keep Exploding, and You Can’t Predict Where’s Next – The Wire.

Israeli police restrict access to Aqsa compound | Maan News Agency

Israeli forces on Tuesday prevented Muslim worshipers under the age of 50 from entering the al-Aqsa mosque compound, locals said.

Israeli police closed all but three gates leading to the holy site and dozens of youths had to perform prayers in the streets after being denied access.

Israeli police detained two young men inside the compound, witnesses added.

via Israeli police restrict access to Aqsa compound | Maan News Agency.

Intolerable restraint of freedom to worship – remind anyone of how Jewish people were treated in Germany and Easter Europe and now this is how they treat Muslims?

Louisiana Inmate Likely to Be Freed After 30 Years on Death Row | Death Penalty Information Center

Glenn Ford, who has spent 30 years on Louisiana’s death row, could be freed as soon as March 12, after prosecutors filed motions to vacate his conviction and sentence. Prosecutors said they recently received “credible evidence” that Ford “was neither present at, nor a participant in, the robbery and murder” of which he was convicted in 1984. Ford, who has always maintained his innocence, was tried and sentenced to death by an all-white jury. One of the witnesses against him said at trial that police had helped her make up her story. A state “expert” who testified about the victim’s time of death had not even examined the body. Ford’s lead trial attorney had never tried a jury case before. A second attorney, two years out of law school, worked at an insurance defense firm. They failed to hire any experts to rebut the prosecution’s case because they believed they would have to pay for the experts themselves. The Louisiana Supreme Court earlier said it had “serious questions” about the outcome of the trial, but did not reverse Ford’s conviction. Ford may have been involved in trying to pawn jewelry from the victim that he received from one of the original codefendants.

via Louisiana Inmate Likely to Be Freed After 30 Years on Death Row | Death Penalty Information Center.

Too many cases like this in past 20 years. End the death penalty and at least, we will not execute by error. 30 years is a life time but he is still alive.

“They all look alike” Defense does not cut it with Jordan! Israel ‘regrets’ fatal shooting of Jordan judge | Maan News Agency

Israel expressed regret on Tuesday over the fatal shooting of a Jordanian-Palestinian judge by Israeli troops at a West Bank border crossing, a statement from the premier’s office said.

“Israel regrets the death of Judge Raed Zeiter yesterday (Monday) at the King Hussein (Allenby) bridge and expresses its sympathies to the people and government of Jordan,” the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

The shooting, which took place on Monday morning, sparked the fury of both Jordan and the Palestinians, with protesters in Amman demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the abrogation of the two countries’ 1994 peace treaty.

via Israel ‘regrets’ fatal shooting of Jordan judge | Maan News Agency.

H5N1: Antibiotics as “fat drugs”

If you walk into a farm-supply store today, you’re likely to find a bag of antibiotic powder that claims to boost the growth of poultry and livestock. That’s because decades of agricultural research has shown that antibiotics seem to flip a switch in young animals’ bodies, helping them pack on pounds. Manufacturers brag about the miraculous effects of feeding antibiotics to chicks and nursing calves. Dusty agricultural journals attest to the ways in which the drugs can act like a kind of superfood to produce cheap meat.

But what if that meat is us? Recently, a group of medical investigators have begun to wonder whether antibiotics might cause the same growth promotion in humans. New evidence shows that America’s obesity epidemic may be connected to our high consumption of these drugs. But before we get to those findings, it’s helpful to start at the beginning, in 1948, when the wonder drugs were new — and big was beautiful.

via H5N1: Antibiotics as “fat drugs”.

Ranbaxy calls back cholesterol drug in US – The Times of India

Ranbaxy Laboratories, facing a host of regulatory issues, has recalled over 64,000 bottles of the generic version of a cholesterol-lowering drug, Lipitor, in the US after a dosage mix-up was detected. It recalled the tablets of atorvastatin calcium after a pharmacist found a 20mg tablet in a sealed bottle marked for 10mg tablets, the US Food and Drug Administration said on its website.

Ranbaxy, India’s biggest drugmaker by revenue and majority owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, confirmed the recall of select batches of the drug. But it said the company had not received any product complaints. The recall is being conducted at the retail level. A company spokesperson said Ranbaxy is proactively recalling the lots out of an abundance of caution, keeping the safety of its patients in mind and with the full knowledge of the US FDA.

The recall is the latest in a series of problems to hit Ranbaxy, which has had all its domestic units banned from sending drugs and ingredients to the US, its biggest market.

via Ranbaxy calls back cholesterol drug in US – The Times of India.

Hunger strike by 750 immigrants at Washington state detention centre | World news | theguardian.com

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that 750 detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Washington state have refused to eat and say they are on a hunger strike.

via Hunger strike by 750 immigrants at Washington state detention centre | World news | theguardian.com.

Middle east – Video: Egypt expels female activists on way to Gaza Strip – France 24

Egypt on Friday deported dozens of female pro-Palestinian activists who had hoped to travel across the border to the Gaza Strip to celebrate International Women’s Day there.

The women, numbering around 100 in total and mostly from the Europe and the US, had flown to Cairo with the intention of entering the Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing.

However, they were unable to make it any further than Cairo International Airport after Egypt denied them entry to the county. After staging a sit-in at the airport, the activists were sent back to their home countries by the Egyptian authoritities

via Middle east – Video: Egypt expels female activists on way to Gaza Strip – France 24.