Explosion Kills 70 in Hama, Syria

A large explosion, on Thursday morning, took out an entire building in Hama, Syria, killing as many as seventy people. Rescuers continue to dig through the rubble in search of survivors and the dead.

Opposition groups claim that security forces either shelled or launched a rocket at the site. Whereas, the government claims that the explosion was by an accident amongst anti government bomb makers.

International human rights groups are unsure what actually occurred, and asked the UN observers to investigate. No word yet from them.

It is actually quite possible that, that government forces did shell the building, causing a bomb being made by anti government forces to detonate. Whatever the truth, we may never know. Either way it continues to show how little peace there actually is in the country.

Wednesday, brought reports of as many as twenty-five being killed around the country. That total includes civilians, opposition fighters, government troops, security forces, and a member of the Red Crescent.

France has suggested to the UN that the time is past for observers, and that international troops are necessary to enforce peace.

Burger King Promises 100% Cage Free Eggs and Pork

On Wednesday, Burger King announced that by 2017, it will get its egg and pork supplies, from 100% cage free animals.

So far only 9% of the company's supplies are cage free. It is unclear how the company expects to accomplish the remaining 91% in under 5 years.

Burger King is the world's second biggest fast food chain, and it's big promise will force other companies to make similar jumps.

Both McDonald's and Wendy's had already announced that they would work to the same goal, but neither of them set a time table.

Companies such as Wal-Mart and Costco, have already moved their private label eggs to 100% cage free. Hellmann's, Sonic, Subway, Ruby Tuesday, Kraft Food and ConAgra Foods have all pledged to work towards it as well.

Studies have shown that it costs one cent more an egg, for cage free eggs. A study has not yet been completed to find the difference in cage free pork.

Greece Cutting Pensions of 200,000 Dead and Liars

Greece has announced that it is halting benefits to over 200,000 people.

Investigations showed that benefits were continuing to go out to families of people who were dead, and others who had falsified their information in order to receive pensions.

Greece states that ending those accounts will save them nearly $1 billion, and that they will also be recouping all money that was fraudulently taken.

The government blames the previously uncaught fraud on people lying to authorities who were either too overwhelmed or corrupt.

Investigations are continuing, and Greece hopes to save even more money, as they catch more people.

According to budget information released earlier this month, the pension fund used up 44% of it's year's budget, within the first quarter.

Black Box For Your Car

In March, the United States Senate passed a bill that requires all new vehicles, starting with 2015 models, to have a "black box".

Many are concerned with the ease of which such devices would allow the government to track you.

Officially it would only record data before, during, and after a car crash and a privacy provision is included. But it does give the government the authority to access the black box in a number of circumstances including: court order, consent of the owner, an investigation or inspection, or to determine the need for emergency responses.

Additionally, the same bill allows the IRS to revoke passports of anyone who owes more than $50,000 in back taxes. An odd combination that has some conspiracy theorists in rabid form.

Some theorists have stated that if this technology was ever combined with biometric scanners, the government could control whether or not you could drive your own vehicle, where you could, or when you could.

Connecticut Removes Death Penalty

Connecticut's Democrat Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed a law Wednseday that removes the death penalty as a possible penalty for crimes.

Governor Malloy pushed the law through without media present, behind closed doors.

Polls taken by Quinnpac University after the signing show that 62% of the state supports the death penalty.

47% of the state disapprove of Malloy.

Hamas Executing Israeli Collaborators

Hamas has announced that it will begin executing anyone found to be collaborating with Israel.

The head of security in the Gaza Strip, Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad, made the announcement and also stated that they had arrested ten known collaborators.

Earlier in April, a Palestinian man was hanged by Hamas after being charged with being an informant for Israel. His identity was not released by Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the execution, stating that they had not authorized it. Executions are not supposed to take place without PA President Mahmoud Abbas' permission.

In the past Hamas, had granted pardons to collaborators who turned themselves in, confessed, and repented.

Unknown Symbols and Structures in China

A series of lines, symbols, roads, and structures in Northern China, near the Mongolian border, have been spotted through the use of Google Maps. They are near where China performs it's space operations, nuclear program, and some of it's most top secret military maneuvers.

The Telegraph was nice enough to link to the Google Maps location of some of them, and they are there. However the others weren't clearly marked, so not so easily found.

It is completely unknown what purpose they serve. The location would definitely suggest that it has some sort of military application. But as they are unrecognizable, everything is just guesses at this point.

Some were clearly built up, in some form or another, by the shadows the pictures show. Others you can't tell if area's were painted or just bulldozed flat.

Remembering: The Easter Rebellion

April 24, 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood is joined by militant socialists in an uprising against British rule. They launched attacks against British government buildings in Dublin and seized the General Post Office.

Their success prompted them to declare Irish independence. By the morning of the 25th, they controlled most of the city.

British response came that evening, and by the 29th the rebellion was no more. It's leaders, who survived, were executed for being traitorous rebels, but to the Irish they became martyrs.

Armed riots continued and in 1921, twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland won independence. In 1949, they became a totally separate republic. The other six counties, would remain under British rule though.

The Irish Republican Army was formed in the north, and in the 60's civil unrest began. A three way conflict began, as the IRA fought the British army, and Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants fought each other.

Peace talks began in the 90's, but it took til 2005 for a cease fire to happen. Twas then that the IRA pledged to lay down arms, and seek their goals purely through peaceful means.

Til this day, the Easter Rebellion is credited as being the birth of Irish independence.

TSA Takes Stuffed Animal From Little Girl

 So, I'm standing in line, exhausted, and waiting to get through airport security in Charlotte, on my way home from #BLOGCONCLT. For whatever reason, the line seems particularly slow and long. Finally, I got my bin and proceeded to go through the drill: shoes, laptop, watch, jacket--but midway through the TSA strip tease, I glanced over at the next line. A woman was carefully trying to explain to her daughter what was going on.

The girl couldn't have been more than 6, with the kind of perfectly blonde hair that brunettes like me can hardly fathom. She was nodding, listening to her mother but seemed obviously perplexed, on the edge of being frightened. First time flying I suspected.

 She was a trooper. She allowed her shoes to be removed, all the while tightly hugging some kind of comforting stuffed toy. She loosened her grip only enough to take her mother's hand and walk through the metal detector. But of course, it is never that simple.

 TSA Agent: I'm sorry, she can't bring that through.
 Mother: Its just a toy.
 TSA Agent: Ma'am, it needs to go on the conveyor.
 Mother: All right fine. To her daughter. Honey, we need to put your bunny through the machine.
 Little Girl: But its my bunny!
 Mother: I know, it will only take a moment.
 Little Girl: But, but---

 Apparently the injustice was too great for words. To her credit, she did not throw a tantrum or even cry. She just solemnly gave up her bunny to another TSA agent who had stepped up to make sure the stuffed animal was appropriately handed over and searched. The agent then walked back around and ran a quick swipe over the bunny before even putting it on the machine.

 This incident probably sounds tame compared to some of the horror stories about children being searched, the infirm humiliated and general injustice. However, to me, it was a poignant example of how much our "security" has lost touch with reality. The simple image of a girl having her stuffed animal, a symbol which should resonate with so many of us as an item of eternal love and safety, taken from her to be checked for explosives embodies everything wrong with this system.

 I doubt anyone reading this doesn't already feel violated, directly or indirectly, by these procedures. Therein lies the problem, no matter your political persuasion, TSA is universally regarding as having serious problems. STILL.

 In September, a petition was created at We The People, an arm of the White House's online outreach. The petition went live in September 2011 and requested to abolish the TSA. By December it had more than 30,000 signatures, gaining viral support. The rapidly growing number of signatures forced the White House to respond. Their answer? "Thanks for playing along but we aren't actually going to do anything." Only months earlier the White House promised to use these petitions to deal with the issues most important to Americans. But when Americans called them on it, the response was gutless redirection; merely an explanation on why the TSA exists.

 Even Congress tried to take the TSA to task this past March. CSPAN showed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee admonishing the TSA about their budget. The hearing resolved nothing but the tone of the joint committees was anything but pleasant. Interestingly, right after this brutal review, the TSA rolled out their "PreCheck" program as something "coming soon, we promise!" But based on previous government promises, not only will it not fix anything, the definition of "soon" will transform into a date indeterminate.

 And finally, let's not forget Jonathan Corbett's video showing the straight-up ineffectiveness of the TSA with his blog about the body scanners. (Note: he is going to court involving the TSA now, so consider donating to this guy.) The TSA blog laughed him off, pretty much running him down as just "some blogger". It is the single most commented on post for their blog, with over 400 responses. Not a single one agrees with "Bob" the TSA writer. (It is also worth noting that the TSA blog only let's you see about 10 posts and does not allow you to view previous posts without a direct link. However, the amount SEO connected to that piece will force it to come up in a google search.) Every response to this blog was angry. In fact, I assume this post led to the newly instated TSA policy about deleting "off-topic" comments from their blog.

 This leaves us with only one question left: Why, with this reaction from the public, does the TSA still exist--and what will finally force it to disappear?

Originally Posted at SingleVoice

Blockbuster HQ Moving to Denver

Blockbuster has announced that it will be moving it's corporate headquarters from McKinney, Texas to the Meridian International Office Park in Douglas County, near Denver, Colorado.

The company is offering it's 150 corporate employees, the opportunity to move with them. The average salary is nearly $100,000.

Colorado's Economic Development Commission offered the company $2.5 million in tax credit, over the next five years, if they would make the move.

Last year, when Blockbuster went bankrupt, they were bought by Colorado based Dish Network. Dish is the second largest satellite-TV company, and is planning to expand into mobile broadband as well.