'Well may the pope defy "the petty gossip of dominant opinion". But the Holy See can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity. The anomalous claim of the Vatican to be a state - and of the pope to be a head of state and hence immune from legal action - cannot stand up to scrutiny.

'The truly shocking finding of Judge Murphy's commission in Ireland was not merely that sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' institutions but that the church hierarchy protected the perpetrators and, despite knowledge of their propensity to reoffend, allowed them to take up new positions teaching other children after their victims had been sworn to secrecy.' (Guardian article).

media-underground.net

'London's oldest esoteric bookshop, which closed last month after more than a century, is to re-open.

'Watkins Books in Cecil Court off Charing Cross Road, whose customers included occultist Aleister Crowley and poet W.B. Yeats, owed £500,000 in tax.

'Now American Etan Ilfeld, who owns an art gallery in the street, has bought it from the administrators.

'The shop, which sells books on magic, astrology, the occult, Eastern religions and witchcraft, will resume trading from tomorrow.' (Evening Standard article & The Bookseller article).

media-underground.net

'Glancing at the two McDonald's Happy Meals [pictured in article], you may feel they look pretty much identical.

'Astonishingly, however, this is the same meal, photographed 12 months apart.

'Where any other food might be a mouldy, decomposing mess after a year, the McDonald's meal shows few signs of going off apart from the beef patty shrivelling and the stale burger bun cracking.

'Proof, says the American nutritionist who took these photographs, that it contains so many preservatives that it is bad for the children it is aimed at.

Joann Bruso said: "Food is supposed to decompose, go bad and smell foul eventually. The fact that it has not decomposed shows you how unhealthy it is for children."

'Mrs Bruso left the Happy Meal uncovered on a shelf at her home near Denver, Colorado, to see what would happen. She has revealed the results on her blog, in which she gives healthy eating advice to parents.' (Daily Mail article).

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'An investigation has begun into the mysterious and “highly unusual” deaths of scores of starlings which were found in the garden of a village house.

'Seventy-five birds were found in an area measuring only 12ft in diameter, each with severe injuries including broken beaks and legs, and abdominal wounds. Only six were alive and they were put to sleep.

'The householder, Julie Knight, 53, a nurse, returned to her home in the Somerset village of Croxley at 4pm on Sunday to discover the grisly scene.

'“It was like something out of a horror film, like Hitchcock’s The Birds. It was absolutely terrifying,” she said. “The sky was raining starlings. One of my neighbours saw them. They seemed to just fall out of the sky.”' (Telegraph article).

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'A major diplomatic and political scandal is erupting that could have significant import for French-American relations. It involves new research into the mysterious outbreak of “mass insanity” in a village in southern France that affected some 500 people and resulted in five deaths.

'According to reliable US sources, the US State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research has been given a confidential inquiry from the office of Erard Corbin de Mangoux, head of the French intelligence agency DSGE (Directorate General for External Security).

'According to the report the inquiry regards a recently-published account of U.S. government complicity in a mysterious 1951 incident of mass insanity in France in the village of Pont-Saint-Esprit in southern France.

'The strange outbreak severely affected nearly five hundred people, causing the deaths of at least five, two by suicide. For nearly 60 years the Pont-St.-Esprit incident has been attributed either to ergot poisoning, meaning that villagers consumed bread infected with a psychedelic mold or to organic mercury poisoning.

'Scientists with the highly respected British Medical Journal were quickly drawn in September 1951 to what it dubbed the “outbreak of poisoning.” After initial thoughts that the cause was bread infection, they concluded that mold could not explain the event or the afflictions that struck hundreds of people in the village.

'Scientists dispatched to the scene from the Sandoz Chemical company in nearby Basle, Switzerland also stated that the mold was the cause, but many other experts disagreed with them.

'Over time the mystery of the outbreak only deepened and no answers were found to be satisfactory. A 2008 book about the history of bread published in France by Professor Steven Kaplan emphasizes that the “mystery remains unsolved” and at the time, still continued to perplex scientists.' (War And Peace article & Rule Of Law Radio podcast).

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'Since stories have started surfacing more recently, many have wondered, if the rumors are true. Are there really 'continents', or massive floating garbage patches residing in the pacific ocean? Apparently, the rumors are true, and these unsightly patches are reportedly killing marine life and releasing poisons that enter the human food chain, as well. However, before you start imagining a plastic version of Maui, keep in mind that these plastic patches certainly aren'tsolid surfaced islands that you could build a house on! Ocean currents have collected massive amounts of garbage into a sort of plastic "soup" where countless bits of discarded plastic float intertwined just beneath the surface. Indeed, the human race has really made its mark. One enormous plastic patch is estimated to weigh over 3 million tons altogether and cover an area roughly twice the size of Texas.' (Daily Galaxy article).

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At the time of writing this, Google News lists exactly 620 articles telling us that the UK is out of recession.

And what amazing figures does the Office of National Statistics have to back up this claim?

0.1%

Yeah, that’s right folks. It’s over! Woo hoo! Pop open the champagne and go back to spending like there’s no tomorrow, because according to some boring old fart called Joe Grice from the ONS, the GDP is up point one of a percent, meaning that all the billions of pounds the tax payer has forked out in bailing out this fucked up system, 0.1% clearly indicates an amazing economic recovery.

Let’s put this in perspective people. If my boss came to me tomorrow and told me I was getting a 0.1% pay rise, I’d tell him to shove it up his arse or put it in the charity box for children with bloated head syndrome or something.

How about another analogy? If someone told you there was a 0.1% chance that you’d die tomorrow, would you be overly concerned about smoking that last fag or drinking another pint of bitter before dinner?

What utter bollocks! Here’s what I think of the ONS and their spastic statistics.

media-underground.net

'Police are to use unmanned spy drones to monitor anti-social motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and flytippers.

'BAE Systems, which produces a unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for war zones, are developing the military-style planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent Police. Similar aerial devices have been used in the war in Afghanistan. Using the same techniques in the UK will undoubtedly raise concerns about the expansion of covert state surveillance.

'Documents from the South Coast Partnership, a Home Office-backed project, have revealed that the police are developing the drone plan with BAE. The documents have come to light under the Freedom of Information Act. They reveal that the partnership intends to use the drone in time for the 2012 Olympics. They also suggest that the police have talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies.' (Scotsman article).

media-underground.net

'Here comes the great global fight for democracy. Who's in charge, banks or elected governments? President Obama puts up his fists and every other democracy had better stand with him. He is taking a colossal risk, as Goldman Sachs and the rest thumb their noses at mere governments. Someone had to take on the bully power of money – and only America has the clout. The world's economy depends on it, so Europe must stop pussy-footing and back his plans to dismantle "too big to fail" banks.

'In Britain this comes to lift the spirits after a week that saw a government powerless against malign market forces - forces it has too often extolled. The hostile takeover of Cadbury by Kraft, financed by RBS, is a deal that stands to be a loser for all but the deal-makers. Not even Kraft's biggest shareholder, Warren Buffett, could stop what he called "a bad deal", as financiers creamed off $390m in fees. Cadbury's CEO cried crocodile tears and flaked out for £12m. Mergers and acquisitions mania is back, despite ­voluminous evidence that takeovers often fail and only benefit the fixers. Think Sir Fred Goodwin crashing RBS with his macho capture of ABN Amro.' (Guardian article).

media-underground.net

When the hell are we gonna rid the world of these despicable God Squad, Jesus Jumping morons? For the love of fuck, would someone stick a 9 mm to the back of this little cunt's head and give human evolution a fighting chance.

And while you're at it, do the same to Pat Robertson, Simon Cowell, Peter Mandelson and Dick Cheney...

'A Surrey pastor has found himself in hot water over comments he made at the weekend about the earthquake tragedy in Haiti. Justin Dennison, lead pastor at Johnston Heights Church in Surrey [British Columbia], said Wednesday that comments he made after a sermon on Sunday don’t accurately reflect what he was trying to say.

'Following Sunday’s weekly sermon, Dennison moved on to the topic of Haiti: “Haiti is infamous for its voodoo spiritual darkness,” he said in comments tape-recorded by a parishioner. “I can't help think that maybe God has shaken them, shaken them against the kingdom of darkness.”' (Province article).

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'While campaigning for donations on television after the disastrous earthquakes that ended the lives of tens of thousands of people in Haiti, Pat Robertson, a leading conservative Protestant pastor, suggested that the islanders had it coming. According to him, Haitians who suffered under harsh colonial rule by the French “swore a pact to the devil” that they would worship him in return for their freedom.

'“Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other,” Robertson said. Although they got independence as a result of the contract, according to him, they roused the wrath of God and have now been driven into a hell on earth.

'Hidden behind his improper remark is the prejudice of the Western people against the voodoo religion.

'From the time Christopher Columbus discovered Haiti, a lot of black Africans were taken to the New World as slaves. Together with them, the African native religion that worshipped one god and many spirits called “loa” came over to the continent. While they resisted the demands of the whites to convert to Christianity, black slaves deceived the watchful eyes of their masters by substituting their god as the Christian God and their spirits as Christian saints.

'Thus the African native religion and Christianity were mixed together to give birth to a new fusion religion, voodoo.' (JoongAng Daily article).

media-underground.net

'Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

'The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

'U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against Al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

'One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

'Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

'Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.' (ABC News article).

media-underground.net

'On first sight, it may have seemed an open-and-shut case: a software engineer accused of running one of the world's largest music-sharing websites was found with $300,000 (£185,000) in his PayPal accounts, running a site with 200,000 members who had downloaded 21 million files. But yesterday, 26-year-old Alan Ellis - who ran the Oink website and was the first person in the UK to be prosecuted for illegal file-sharing - was unanimously acquitted of conspiracy to defraud. He had told jurors that he used the site he created in his bedroom while a student as a project to "better my skills for employability"

'He insisted that Oink did not host any music itself but merely indexed the files users had available on their computers. The system allowed members to find people on the web who were prepared to share files - meaning users could download music for free. The £35,000-a-year software engineer added that the money had been donated by the site's users in return for permission to invite a friend to join. He said those funds were then used to pay for the server's rental, while any "surplus" went towards buying his own server.' (Independent article).

media-underground.net

'It hardly shrieks of billion-dollar glamour. The US nerve centre of the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, consists of a collection of low-slung prefabricated buildings along a four-lane highway in north-western Arkansas. Wal-Mart's head office is hundreds of miles from the nearest big city. It isn't even handy for the state capital, Little Rock, which is three and half hours' drive away.

'But hopeful merchants beat a path from all corners of the world to hawk their wares here, in a series of bare Perspex rooms along a "supplier corridor". Staff work in spartan cubicles and reminders of the retailer's low-cost culture are constant - in an employee lounge an honesty box invites payment for tea and coffee with a blunt message: "Drinks are not free."

'It was nearby, in the main square of the modest town of Bentonville, that Wal-Mart's founder, Sam Walton, opened a discount store, Walton's Five and Dime, in 1951. That shop, now a museum, helped spawn a retail empire that spans 8,100 stores in 15 countries generating $401bn (£248bn) of revenue annually. With a market capitalisation of $210bn, Wal-Mart is worth as much as the gross domestic product of Nigeria.' (Guardian article).

media-underground.net

'Heavy Metal singer Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, his wife has said.

'Writing on his official website, Wendy Dio said the former Rainbow and Black Sabbath singer was in the early stages of the illness. Mrs Dio added he was starting treatment immediately and would be back on stage after "he kills this dragon".

'Dio, 67, had to cancel his band's European tour last week after he became unwell and was taken to hospital. "Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic," Mrs Dio said. "After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans."' (BBC News article & Bible Black official music video).

media-underground.net

'Gary McKinnon's distraught mother yesterday accused Gordon Brown of hypocrisy over his treatment of British citizens facing punishment overseas. Janis Sharp said it was bewildering that the Prime Minister tried to halt the execution of drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh, a father of five from London who was put to death in China last week.

'At the same time, he was refusing to intervene to halt the removal of Gary to the U.S. - despite doctors warning the Asperger's sufferer is likely to commit suicide if extradited.

'Launching a New Year text petition on her 43-year-old son's behalf, Janis said: "Gordon Brown wrung his hands over the execution of a mentally ill drugs carrier in China. Yet he and his government remain complicit in the U.S. authorities' hounding of my vulnerable son, despite knowing that for Gary, extradition amounts to nothing less than a death sentence, given his growing mental instability. Why can't the UK just ask our supposedly strongest ally, President Obama, to show clemency towards Gary by cancelling the extradition request and allowing a UK prosecution?"

'She is urging the public to text "GARY" to 65000 to demonstrate support for her son, who faces 60 years in a U.S. jail for hacking into Nasa and Pentagon computers.' (Daily Mail article & FreeGarry website).

Note: Texts are charged at normal UK network rates.

media-underground.net

Darth Benedict XVI was wrestled to the ground by a female member of the rebellion yesterday, who breached the security barriers at the start of this year's Xmas Eve Black Mass.

The 325-year-old ex-Nazi pontiff was caught on camera being dragged to the floor as he proceeded down the main aisle in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The assailant, dressed in a red hooded tunic, was arrested by Storm Troopers and later described by Death Star spokesman Federico Lombardi as “apparently unbalanced”.

He said she had tried - and failed - to carry out the same stunt 12 months earlier but escaped execution by getting an Aladdin Blue Flame droid to hack the controls of a blast door.

Mr. Lombardi played down the incident and said the Emperor showed “great self-control of the whole situation”.

He went on: “It was an assault, but it wasn't dangerous because she wasn't armed and at any moment the Emperor could've electrocuted her with his fingertips.” (Telegraph article & video stream).

media-underground.net

'The great irony of the Rage Against The Machine vs The X Factor race to be the UK Christmas No.1 is that both the gormless Joe McElderry and everyone’s favourite alt.metal anarcho-rockers are signed to the same label.

'So even if you’re behaving like a decent, upstanding member of society and buying RATM’s 'Killing In The Name' , the money is all going into Sony’s coffers. This is something the previously unheard of Jon Morter and his wife Tracy might have thought of before they set up their Facebook and Twitter campaigns to ensure that this year’s UK Christmas No.1 would be anyone but the X Factor winner.' (Irish Times article).

media-underground.net

'American rap metal titans Rage Against The Machine could be propelled to Christmas No.1 thanks to an internet campaign.

'2009 has been a year beset by almost unprecedented financial strife. Amid the choas caused by the collapse of the American sub prime market banks across the planet felt a bead of sweat drip down the shallow of their necks.

'Bailed out by world governments to the tune of billions, the financial system is still creaking on the verge of collapse with investments in Dubai left exposed after numerous economic difficulties in the region.

'Enter Rage Against The Machine. Fans tired of the stranglehold taken by X Factor over the Christmas No.1 slot in Britain have commenced a campaign to place the incendiary metal giants at the top of the charts.' (Clash Music article).

media-underground.net

'In the darkness of this sleepy island town, the beam of a deputy's flashlight caught the back of a lanky teenager wanted in a notorious 18-month burglary spree.

'The teen glanced over his shoulder, and then vanished into the woods. "He virtually vaporized in front of me," deputy Jeff Patterson recalled.

'Such encounters have become all too common on the bucolic islands north of Seattle as police hunt for an elusive thief whose crime spree is quickly becoming a local legend. Colton Harris-Moore is suspected in about 50 burglary cases since he slipped away from a halfway house in April 2008.

'Now, authorities say, he may have moved on to a more dangerous hobby: stealing airplanes.

'The saga continues, as Harris-Moore keeps finding new ways to embarrass police by slipping through their grasp.

'The 18-year-old typically breaks into businesses or unoccupied vacation homes, lies down on the couch and then dashes into the woods if confronted. He earned himself the nickname of "the barefoot burglar" by committing some of his crimes without wearing shoes.

'But authorities say the case has taken on a dangerous new dimension now that Harris-Moore is apparently joyriding in small aircraft.' (CBS News article).

media-underground.net