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POPSBeat Whitey Night A group of 30 or 40 individuals were roaming around the fairground calling it "beat whitey night", there were a series of fights, but the police found no racial overtones. Am I missing something here or is this a deliberate cover up?
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POPS10 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Falling Apart The U.S. government has accumulated a national debt that will soon surpass the 14 trillion dollar mark. Things are deteriorating so fast that according to one member of Barack Obama's national debt commission, the U.S. government will be paying 2 trillion dollars just in interest on the national debt by the year 2020 if nothing changes. Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more leaves the United States than enters it. This represents an almost unbelievable transfer of wealth. At the end of every single month, the United States is poorer than when the month began. Nobody knows exactly how big the derivatives bubble is, but low estimates place it at around 600 trillion dollars and high estimates put it at around 1.5 quadrillion dollars. Once the derivatives bubble pops there simply will not be enough money in the entire world to fix it.
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POPS Now, that's news The U-turn is especially notable because Mr. Wyden once championed an individual mandate in the bill he sponsored with Utah Republican Bob Bennett. We have differences with Wyden-Bennett, but it was far better than ObamaCare and would have changed incentives by offering more choices to individuals and spurring competition among providers and insurers. Mr. Wyden should have known better than to vote for ObamaCare given his market instincts and health-care experience. Even so, the price for his support included the Section 1332 waivers that he is now promoting. In addition to the individual mandate, states may evade regulations about business taxes, the exact federal standards for minimum benefits, and how subsidies are allocated in the insurance "exchanges"—as long as the state covers the same number of uninsured and keeps coverage as comprehensive. Medicaid also grants some indulgences toward state flexibility, even if those waivers are difficult to acquire.
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POPSOn The Road To Political Power And Theocracy The Christian Right needs scapegoats for it's rise to power. Particular targets are the war on "terror" (how the religion of Jesus became pro-war should be a haunting question) minorities, and gays and lesbians. "They look at a stagnant economy and see "illegal aliens" not runaway capitalism, which they generally support. They look at teenage delinquency and then blame teachers unions instead of the consumer culture that trains young people to shop and not think." They are constantly portraying themselves as victims being thrown to the lions by "the left". What they want is pretty basic. They want laws to limit a womans right to control what happens to her own body. They want gays and lesbians to go back into the closet and pretend they don't exist. "They want high quality schools; they think the public schools are failing not for lack of resources but because kids can't pray or read Genesis in biology class."
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POPSA Faithful Nation "But straight is the path and narrow is the way. Even the first time around, judging by the reaction, the Gospels were pretty unwelcome news to an awful lot of people. Taking seriously the actual message of Jesus, though, should serve at least to moderate the greed and violence that mark this culture. It's hard to imagine a con much more audacious than making Christ the front man for a program of tax cuts for the rich or war in Iraq. If some modest part of the 85 percent of us who are Christians woke up to that fact, then the world might change. It is possible, I think. Yes, the mainline Protestant churches that supported civil rights and opposed the war in Vietnam are mostly locked in a dreary decline as their congregations dwindle and their elders argue endlessly about gay clergy and same-sex unions. For Christians, the plainspoken message of the Gospels is clear enough. If you have any doubts, read the Sermon on the Mount."
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POPS“Flying While Muslim” Such incidents only strengthen the hands of extremists and help reinforce their narrative. The profiling of ordinary Muslims not only opens other avenues for the extremists, but results in the harassment and potential loss of support from the very people we need on our side to contain the extremists: ordinary Muslims.
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POPS11-year-old boy mauled by sea lion in Australia Massive exaggeration by the press. The youngster said he didn't know he had been bitten till someone noticed the blood. He also said that the seal may have tried to eat him because he smelt of fish and chips. One story says the seal panicked when the boy went behind a cage. Don't know. A good kid and seemed ok, bit embarrassed if anything.
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POPSI am getting sick and tired of people wearing religion on their sleeves
You know, this is just a rant, but what if we all give our Gods and our Religions a break and keep them in our closets at home? Wouldn't the society be a better place if we could talk and see each other on the basis of our secular identity? So Zuleyha, you like to tell the world that the thing which should be in your closet, is not a terrorist? Well, how about instead of focusing on that, you just visit this fair, mingle around, have fun and chit chat with others on topics which really matters. Imagine if the politicians drop God from their narratives? Perhaps they could then focus on substantive public policy matters. I know Muslims need assurances that their fellow citizens are not thinking about them as terrorists, but ... I am just getting sick and tired of seeing people of all faith wearing their religion on their sleeves (that's including Mr. Glenn Beck). Faith and God should be like your personal and private possession, you should keep it in your heart and/or inside you
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POPSRajendra Pachauri Hounded Despite His Innocence A review by the auditors KPMG, of Pachauri's full financial records and the accounts of the organisation he works for, shows that the story is without foundation. In the 20 months to December 2009, he received only his £45,000 annual salary and a maximum of £2,174 in outside earnings. The auditors' report concluded that: "No evidence was found that indicated personal fiduciary benefits accruing to Pachauri from his various advisory roles that would have led to a conflict of interest." (guardian uk) I was pleased to read this piece by George Monbiot.
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