Firefighters watch (AGAIN) as couple's home burns to the ground (because they hadn't paid $75 subscription fee) -

Firefighters watch (AGAIN) as couple's home burns to the ground (because they hadn't paid $75 subscription fee) - 


A couple stood helplessly by and watched their home and valuables go up in flames because a team of firefighters refused to help - as they had not paid their 'subscription fees'. 
Vicky Bell and her boyfriend managed to escape from their trailer home but did not have time to grab many personal belongings. 
Miss Bell, from Tennessee, said the blaze was terrifying - but almost as shocking was seeing fire trucks sitting in the distance and doing nothing to help.


Rural residents who want to be protected by the fire officers in their nearby town of South Fulton must pay a $75 annual subscription.
South Fulton Mayor David Crocker told Local 6 WPSD that if they don't collect fire fees, the fire department can't survive -  and if they make exceptions to the rule, no one will ever pay the fee.


However the mayor added that they will always help when people are in danger. 
Calls to City Hall officials were not returned to MailOnline at the time of the story being published. 
The local fire department also refused to comment on the fees.  
Miss Bell said she did know about the fees but just didn't think a fire would ever happen to her.
She told local TV station WPSD: '911 said they [the fire department] were in fact dispatched and they showed that they were on the scene.
'You could look out my mom's trailer and see the trucks sitting at a distance.'
On the South Fulton Fire Department website their mission statement reads that 'the mission... is to protect the lives and property of its citizens, and provide good public relations through fire safety education to all businesses and schools'.
October was fire awareness month at the station.
The home of Gene Cranick who also lives outside the city limits, burned down last October. 
Mr Cranick said he had forgotten to pay the fee and begged firemen with money to put out the fire but they refused. His three dogs and a cat were killed and Mr Cranick and his wife Paulette lost their home.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070834/Firefighters-watch-couples-home-burn-ground-hadnt-paid-75-subscription-fee.html

Mercedes-Benz’ brand "Smart" will debut world’s smallest pickup truck - fits between the axles of a Ford F-150 -

Mercedes-Benz’ brand "Smart" will debut world’s smallest pickup truck - fits between the axles of a Ford F-150 - 




What’s the best way to America’s heart? Build a pickup truck.
At least that’s what the Germans are hoping.
Mercedes-Benz’ little sister brand smart (lowercase ‘s’ intended) will debut what may be the world’s smallest pickup truck at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.
Called the smart for-us, the tiny two seater is admittedly a tounge-in-cheek concept of an ultimate urban cargo carrier.
Short enough to fit between the axles of a Ford F-150, the for-us has electric drive, an electric tailgate and outlets to charge two of smart’s upcoming electric e-bikes in the bed. There's no rearview mirror. Instead, it has a mounting point for a smartphone that links to a rear-facing camera in the back of the vehicle.
Read: 2011 Ford F-150 EcoBoost
The once independently marketed smart brand has seen a steady decline in sales since was launched in the United States in 2008, leading to it being absorbed by Mercedes-Benz USA earlier this year. Only 1,942 cars have been sold through November 2011.
Perhaps a truck isn’t such a bad idea. It sure can't hurt.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/12/07/smart-unveils-petite-pickup-truck/?test=faces

Medicare has spent quarter billion in taxpayer cash on PENIS PUMPS -

Medicare has spent quarter billion in taxpayer cash on PENIS PUMPS - 




According to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare has spent more than $240 million of taxpayer money on penis pumps for elderly men over the past decade, and will surpass a quarter of a billion dollars this year for costs since 2001.


The cost to taxpayers for the pumps more than quadrupled during that period, from a low of $11 million in 2001 to a high of more than $47 million in 2010. And these represent only the costs for external devices, technically classified as “Male Vacuum Erection Systems,” not implantable devices or oral drugs such as Viagra.


Easy to Qualify


In order to obtain a pump, according to CMS’s Local Coverage Determination (LCD) revised in October this year, the “patient’s medical record must contain sufficient documentation of the patient’s medical condition to substantiate the necessity for the type and quantity of items ordered,” noting erectile dysfunction (ED) can “commonly occur in men in the Medicare age group.”


The National Institutes of Health previously estimated between 15 percent and 25 percent of 65-year-old men experience ED on a long-term basis, which the LCD notes may be caused by “diabetes, other endocrine abnormalities, vascular abnormalities, trauma, neurogenic, psychogenic, side effects of many medications, and other causes.” The Cleveland Clinic also points to “psychological factors, such as stress, depression, and performance anxiety” as possible causes.


If a medical exam and history shows a senior on Medicare meets the relevant threshold—a diagnosis of ED—he becomes eligible for a wide range of options under the Medicare Prosthetic benefit. Treatment Options covered by Medicare include “oral medications, pharmacological injections, intra-urethral suppositories, vacuum erection devices, and implantable penile pumps.”


Read more - 
http://investmentwatchblog.com/report-medicare-has-spent-quarter-billion-in-taxpayer-cash-on-penis-pumps/

Major League Baseball enacts dress code - For Reporters!! - no short skirts, flip-flops, or visible undergarments -

Major League Baseball enacts dress code  - For Reporters!! - no short skirts, flip-flops, or visible undergarments - 


Press pass? Got it. Laptop? Yep. Muscle shirts, short skirts and flip-flops? Stop right there.


For reporters covering Major League Baseball next season, beachwear and club outfits are no longer in fashion.


Baseball became the first major pro league in North America to issue dress guidelines for media members, putting them in writing this week at the winter meetings.


The no-wear list also includes visible undergarments, tank tops or anything with a team logo.


"This is not in response to any single incident," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said Tuesday.


However, baseball was aware of the flap caused in the NFL when Ines Sainz, a Mexican TV reporter, drew unwanted attention at the New York Jets' training camp in September 2010 and it formed a committee of executives and media representatives to work on guidelines.


Read more - 
http://www.wtsp.com/news/watercooler/article/224921/58/MLB-to-reporters-No-short-skirts-or-flip-flops

Facebook glitch reveals Mark Zuckerberg’s private photos - Hackers downloaded private images before engineers fixed -

Facebook glitch reveals Mark Zuckerberg’s private photos - Hackers downloaded private images before engineers fixed - 


Facebook users’ private pictures were exposed to unauthorized downloads for a few hours on Tuesday.


This is the latest in a series of incidents that highlight the fragility of security in a global social network that counts 800 million users.


A post on a BodyBuilding.com forum provided step-by-step instructions on how to pilfer a person’s private photos.


Curious people wasted little time downloading a shot of Mark Zuckerberg holding a chicken upside down, as well as other personal pictures posted by the Facebook founder.


Within hours, engineers at Facebook had plugged the security loophole, blaming the glitch on a software upgrade.


Read more - 
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1098228--mark-zuckerberg-s-facebook-photos-revealed-after-glitch-exposes-users-private-images?bn=1

Alabama farmers want to use prisoners in fields to replace migrants who fled the state after anti-immigration law -

Alabama farmers want to use prisoners in fields to replace migrants who fled the state after anti-immigration law - 


Alabama farmers have proposed using prisoners to work their fields to replace migrants who fled the state after it passed the country’s harshest anti-immigration law, officials said Tuesday.


The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industry officials met Tuesday in Mobile with farmers to discuss their proposal, a spokeswoman for the department told AFP.


“The suggestion to use prisoners who are eligible for work release programs was made as a way to help farmers fill the gap and find sufficient labor,” said Amy Belcher.


A statement by the department said the meeting with the farmers was convened “to help solve the chronic labor shortages created by Alabama’s new immigration law.”


Known as HB56, the new law requires local police to verify the immigration status of anyone they have a “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally.


The administration of President Barack Obama has challenged the constitutionality of the law, arguing it infringes on federal powers, and federal courts have blocked key provisions pending a definitive ruling.


But the law touched off an exodus of mainly Hispanic workers who moved to other states because of fears of being deported, prompting complaints by farm and construction industry groups of a shortage of workers in one of the poorest US states.


The state has released no official figures on how many workers have been lost since the law went into effect in September.


The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that there were about 120,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state before the law passed.


Read more - 
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/06/alabama-farmers-look-to-replace-migrants-with-prisoners/

Another reason to never go - Saudi Arabia to Give Australian 500 Lashes, and One year Jail for Blasphemy -

Another reason to never go - Saudi Arabia to Give Australian 500 Lashes, and One year Jail for Blasphemy - 




Insulting the friends of the founder of Islam earned an Australian national 500 lashes and a year in jail in Saudi Arabia last month.


Mansor Almaribe, a resident of southern Victoria state, was arrested by religious police on November 14 in Medina while participating in the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca known as the hajj. His eldest son Jamal told The Melbourne Age newspaper that Almaribe was reading and praying in a group at the time.


Family members told Australian media that Saudi officials accused the 45-year-old of insulting companions of Islam's Prophet Muhammed; blasphemy is considered a serious offense in Saudi Arabia, which is governed under Shari'a (Islamic) law.


No information is available about exactly how or when he insulted them, or even which companions of Muhammed he allegedly had insulted. 


He was convicted Tuesday and sentenced to two years in prison and 500 lashes. The court later reduced the sentence to "only" one year in jail, in the presence of an Australian consular official who attended the proceedings.


The maximum number of lashes ever allowed to be used as a sentence under Jewish law during the time of the Holy Temples was 39, and that was to be delivered under the supervision of a medical doctor, in sets of three, so as to ensure the convicted person did not die as a result. 


A sentence of 500 lashes is considered equivalent to a death sentence.


Another son of Almaribe, Mohammed -- named for the very prophet on whose behalf he is set to be tortured -- has expressed fears for his father's safety. "Five hundred lashes on his back, and he has back problems," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I wouldn't think he'd survive 50." Almaribe, a father of five, suffers from diabetes and heart disease.


Australian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Neil Hawkins has appealed to Riyadh for leniency, according to Canberra's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "The Australian government is universally opposed to corporal punishment," the department in a statement.


Read more - 
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150481#.Tt-JuLLsipB

Bill Gates Teams With China to Build Nuke Reactors - picked China because it's solved many of the problems of poverty -

Bill Gates Teams With China to Build Nuke Reactors - picked China because it's solved many of the problems of poverty - 




Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates confirmed Wednesday he is in discussions with China to jointly develop a new and safer kind of nuclear reactor.
"The idea is to be very low cost, very safe and generate very little waste," said the billionaire during a talk at China's Ministry of Science and Technology.
Gates has largely funded a Washington state-based company, TerraPower, that is developing a Generation IV nuclear reactor that can run on depleted uranium.
The general manager of state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation, Sun Qin, was quoted in Chinese media last week saying Gates was working with it to research and develop a reactor.


"TerraPower is having very good discussions with CNNC and various people in the Chinese government," said Gates, cautioning that they were at an early stage.
Gates says perhaps as much as a billion dollars will be put into research and development over the next five years.
TerraPower says its traveling wave reactor would run for decades on depleted uranium and produce significantly smaller amounts of nuclear waste than conventional reactors.
"All these new designs are going to be incredibly safe," Gates told the audience. "They require no human action to remain safe at all times."
He said they also benefit from an ability to simulate earthquake and tidal wave conditions. "It takes safety to a new level," he said.
Since leaving Microsoft Corp., Gates has concentrated on philanthropy and advocating on public health, education and clean energy issues.
Gates was at the Ministry of Science and Technology to talk about a joint project between China and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support innovative research and development to help alleviate poverty.
Gates said the ministry will help identify entrepreneurs and companies to manufacture new products in global health and agriculture to "change the lives of poor people," including new vaccines and diagnostics and genetically modified seeds.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/07/bill-gates-to-build-next-gen-nuclear-reactors-with-china/?test=latestnews

Sasha and Malia Obama's School, Opts For Japanese Food On Pearl Harbor Day - oops... -

Sasha and Malia Obama's School, Opts For Japanese Food On Pearl Harbor Day - oops... - 


What are President Obama's kids eating at school on Pearl Harbor day? Asian food, of course!


Sidwell Friends School's website shows the menu for Wednesday December 7th, 2011, the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, as an Asian food day. 


Pearl Harbor Day is usually a time of remembrance for Americans. On December 7th, 1941, thousands of Americans died in a sneak attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor Navy base in Hawaii. An attack that thrust the U.S. into World War II.


It was the bloodiest foreign attack on U.S. soil in the modern war era, until the September 11th attacks in 2001. 


Here are the options for Malia Obama and her sister, Sasha on the "Day that will live in Infamy:" 


Read more - 
http://wusa9.com/news/article/178399/158/Presidents-Kids-School-Japanese-Menu-For-Pearl-Harbor-Day

'Mythbusters' Cannonball Accidentally Launches Into California Home - and smashing the window of a mini van -

'Mythbusters' Cannonball Accidentally Launches Into California Home - and smashing the window of a mini van - 




The Discovery Channel's popular mythbusting duo busted more than the myth this time.
A stunt for the show, "Mythbusters," went awry Tuesday when a cannonball was launched through the side of a California home.
The house in Dublin -- southeast of Oakland -- was hit at about 4:15 p.m. when a cannonball was "misfired" from a nearby bomb range, KTVU-TV reported, citing the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.
A sheriff's spokesperson said "the cannonball took a few unfortunate bounces" before hitting the home, going all the way through the house before smashing the window of a mini van, KTVU-TV reports.
"That cannonball careened off the hill at a very bad trajectory and carried into this neighborhood," J.D. Nelson of Alameda County Sheriff's Department said.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/12/06/mythbusters-cannon-accidentally-launches-into-california-home/?test=faces

RCMP cameras with crime photos found in trees - sloppy police work - they used a flash when they were filming -

RCMP cameras with crime photos found in trees - sloppy police work - they used a flash when they were filming - 




A B.C. man has seized two surveillance cameras he says RCMP had hidden in trees near his trailer home, and they are full of images from crime scenes and investigations.


Dion Nordick of Grand Forks told CBC News on Tuesday he found the motion-activated cameras in June, in trees overlooking the trailer he rents. They are now in his lawyer's possession.


Nordick said he took the cameras down, removed the memory cards inside, and found pictures of himself and his friends coming and going from his trailer among the 200 images on the cameras.


There were also pictures of drug busts, suicides and assaults, "and it looked like they just hadn't been erased off the card," said Nordick.


He said he saw a photo of a dead body and images of a woman who was the apparent victim of an assault.


"That corpse that I viewed is someone's loved one. Those pictures of that woman standing in her brassiere, covered in bruises - she probably had a hard time letting the police take those pictures. She probably had a hard time going to the police," said Nordick.


The cameras even had pictures of police installing the devices in the trees.


Flash gave cameras away


He said he was alerted to the cameras because they used a flash when they were filming.


"I would say it's 100 per cent sloppy police work. It's Charlie Brown technique, I would say," said Nordick.


Nordick said he believes the RCMP installed the cameras in the trees because he is a graffiti artist and they wanted to track his movements to help determine if he had been spray-painting tags around the community.


He said RCMP raided his home in June and told the local media they found evidence of a grow-op, but no actual marijuana plants.


They also found spray paint and stencils, which they took, he said.


Nordick said he gave the cameras to his lawyer, Jesse Gelber, who said police had no right to be on the property installing surveillance cameras.


"Generally, police don't have judicial authorization on private land. That's not legal; that's trespass," said Gelber.


Gelber said he is keeping the cameras until he gets an explanation from police.


But the RCMP say they want their cameras returned.


"The fact that someone has committed a criminal act and stolen our cameras certainly is, I guess, a concern for RCMP and for our investigators," said Sgt. Dan Seibel.


Read more -
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/canada/rcmp_cameras_with_crime_photos_found_in_trees/50a6c81e