Intellihub.com
Great Barrier Reef (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
RT
July 21, 2013
The AV-8B Harrier jets took off from the aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard and each released an inert bomb and an unarmed explosive bomb off the coast of Queensland, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement on Saturday.
The four bombs, weighing a total 1.8 metric tons (4,000 pounds), were dropped in more than 50 meters (164 feet) of water away from coral that was supposed to have minimized possible damage to the reef, the statement said. Each Harrier jet dropped two 227-kilo bombs: one BDU 45 and one High Explosive GBU 12. None of the bombs exploded as the BDU 45s are inert and the GBU 12s were unarmed when released.
The training mission went gone wrong as the jets from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit were originally told to drop the bombs at the Townshend Island bombing range. That plan was aborted after the controllers said the area was not clear of hazards.
The pilots then went ahead with an emergency jettison as they were not allowed to land with bombs on board and both were low on fuel, the navy said.
The US Navy and Australian authorities are now investigating the incident.
The US Navy is planning to recover the bombs that are lying about 100 kilometres offshore and about 16 nautical miles south of Bell Cay in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The US say that the chance of the bombs exploding was extremely remote.
‘‘Due to low fuel and the inability to land with the amount of ordnance they were carrying, the on-scene commander determined it was necessary to designate an emergency jettison area for the ordnance,” US Navy spokesman Commander William Marks said.
He said each bomb was jettisoned in a ”safe, unarmed state and did not explode”.
The Australian Defense Force said the bombs posed ”minimal risk or threat to the public, the marine environment or civilian shipping passing the reef area”, according to AP.
”The incident is being investigated by the US and findings will be provided to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority so that the way ahead can be mutually agreed,” a spokesman said.
Senator for Australian Greens Party Larissa Waters has called the dumping of bombs on the World’s Heritage-listed site “outrageous”.
“We’re letting the US military drop bombs on the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef. I mean, have we gone completely mad? Is this how we look after our World Heritage areas now? Letting a foreign power drop bombs on it?”
The failed training mission happened on the second day of the biennial joint training exercise Talisman Saber that brings together 28,000 US and Australian military personnel over three weeks.
Environmentalists and anti-war activists Graeme Dunstan, who is against the joint exercise, said that the incident proves the US cannot be trusted to protect the environment.
“How can they protect the environment and bomb the reef at the same time? Get real,” Dunstan told AP.
The Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the world’s largest coral reef system, made up of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands, stretching for more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) along the Australian northeast coast.
July 21, 2013 | Categories: Australia, news, science, tyranny, US, videos | 1 Comment
The Weather Network
[VIDEO]
Staff writers
Sunday, July 21, 2013, 4:52 PM – The New Zealand capital Wellington was rattled by a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake on Sunday that broke water mains, smashed windows and downed power lines.
The New Zealand capital Wellington was rattled by a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake on Sunday that broke water mains, smashed windows and downed power lines.
Wellington Police Inspector Marty Parker said there had been minor structural damage that had left parts of the city without power. There have been no reports of injury and no tsunami.
July 21, 2013 | Categories: natural / "natural" disasters, New Zealand, news, science, videos | Leave a comment
Psychology Today
Is circumcision cleaner and healthier?
There’s a lot of hype about how circumcision is better for a man’s health. But is it really?Here is Part 2 of our series on myths about circumcision.
NOTE: Primary author is Lillian Dell’Aquila Cannon (see her blog)
Myth: You have to get the baby circumcised because it is really hard to keep a baby’s penis clean.
Reality check: In babies, the foreskin is completely fused to the head of the penis. You cannot and should not retract it to clean it, as this would cause the child pain, and is akin to trying to clean the inside of a baby girl’s vagina. The infant foreskin is perfectly designed to protect the head of the penis and keep feces out. All you have to do is wipe the outside of the penis like a finger. It is harder to keep circumcised baby’s penis clean because you have to carefully clean around the wound, make sure no feces got into the wound, and apply ointment.
Myth: Little boys won’t clean under their foreskins and will get infections.
Reality check: The foreskin separates and retracts on its own sometime between age 3 and puberty. Before it retracts on its own, you wipe the outside off like a finger. After it retracts on its own, it will get clean during the boy’s shower or bath. Once a boy discovers this cool, new feature of his penis, he will often retract the foreskin himself during his bath or shower, and you can encourage him to rinse it off. But he should not use soap as this upsets the natural balance and is very irritating. There is nothing special that the parents need to do. Most little boys have absolutely no problem playing with their penises in the shower or anywhere else! It was harder to teach my boys to wash their hair than it was to care for their penises. (Camille 2002)
Myth: Uncircumcised penises get smelly smegma.
Reality check: Actually, smegma is produced by the genitals of both women and men during the reproductive years. Smegma is made of sebum and skin cells and lubricates the foreskin and glans in men, and the clitoral hood and inner labia in women. It is rinsed off during normal bathing and does not cause cancer or any other health problems.
Myth: “My uncle wasn’t circumcised and he kept getting infections and had to be circumcised as an adult.”
Reality check: Medical advice may have promoted infection in uncircumcised males. A shocking number of doctors are uneducated about the normal development of the foreskin, and they (incorrectly) tell parents that they have to retract the baby’s foreskin and wash inside it at every diaper change. Doing this tears the foreskin and the tissue (called synechia) that connects it to the head of the penis, leading to scarring and infection.
Misinformation was especially prevalent during the 1950s and 60s, when most babies were circumcised and we didn’t know as much about the care of the intact penis, which is why the story is always about someone’s uncle. Doing this to a baby boy would be like trying to clean the inside of a baby girl’s vagina with Q-tips at every diaper change. Rather than preventing problems, such practices would cause problems by introducing harmful bacteria. Remember that humans evolved from animals, so no body part that required special care would survive evolutionary pressures. The human genitals are wonderfully self-cleaning and require no special care.
[READ MORE…]
[hat tip: Stefan Molyneux]
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July 21, 2013 | Categories: child abuse, circumcision, health, news, science, studies, tyranny | Leave a comment
The Weather Network
The Canadian Press
Sunday, July 21, 2013, 3:49 PM – A fierce storm hit east of New Brunswick’s capital Saturday night, leaving behind a wake of uprooted trees, broken phone lines and damaged buildings.
The powerful storm has some residents convinced a tornado swept through, but Environment Canada has not confirmed a tornado.
The area most affected by the weather was in the Grand Lake area, about 40 kilometres from Fredericton.
July 21, 2013 | Categories: Canada, natural / "natural" disasters, news, science | Leave a comment
By John Henrehan
FOX 5
July 18, 2013
Adam Kokesh
[VIDEO]
FAIRFAX, Va. –
Anti-government activist Adam Kokesh, who is currently jailed on drug charges and is facing a firearms charge in D.C., says he will someday run for President on a platform of abolishing the federal government.
Since July 9th, 31-year old Adam Kokesh has been incarcerated in a cell in the Fairfax County jail which measures seven by seven-and-a-half feet.
On Independence Day, Kokesh had a colleague record a video of the pro-gun activist loading a shotgun on D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. The District has strict gun control laws that generally forbid the carrying of firearms. U.S. Park Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department opened an investigation.
Several days later, U.S. Park Police used a flash grenade when their SWAT team served a search warrant at Kokesh’s home in Herndon, Va. Kokesh was arrested when officers said they found hallucinogenic mushrooms at the house.
In an exclusive jailhouse interview, Adam Kokesh denies any connection to the drugs. Here is part of the transcript of that interview with Kokesh: “If they found a stash of magic mushrooms in my house, they were not mine. ANY IDEA WHOSE THEY WERE, OR WHY THEY WERE IN YOUR HOUSE? I’m pretty confident that, whether or not they found anything, the full paper bags that [U.S. Park Police] brought into my house would insure that they had charges to bring against me. ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT THOSE DRUGS WERE PLANTED? Yes.”
[READ MORE…]
[hat tip: Mark Dice]
July 20, 2013 | Categories: drug war, gun-control, news, protests, tyranny, US, videos | Leave a comment
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