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POPSProtesting Clippers could face Prison or Fines. Well it's too late for me I reckon, so I might as well just keep on keepin' on peacefully protesting. Now more than ever, it seems so necessary. This is another "I dare you" clip. Are they trying to scare, intimidate or threaten people to the point, that they just don't dare comment or clip or pop or blog or speak out anymore? Should I just cave in and "turn myself in" quarterly and bow down to oppression? I think not. I will not be silenced. If I ever stop clipping about all this, you'll know why. See ya in Guantanamo! - The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence. - Chertoff pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a political tool.
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POPSThe US is its Own Terrorist I wrote this August 01, 2006. How appropriate now after Bush's State of the Union. Please see .... http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/FA485DF5-5A4D-4186-BB58-BA93A0C85386/
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POPSPowell spills it about Bush / Iraq Al-Qaeda, Powell asserted, was only 10% of the problem in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, its prime minister, lacked the political will to establish an effective government. After a promising start to the surge at the beginning of the year, 453 unidentified corpses were found on the streets of Baghdad last month, 41% more than the 321 bodies found in January, according to unofficial Iraqi health ministry statistics.
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POPSAn Icelandic woman's experience visiting the US What is wrong with the United States of America? Is it the stimulus-response mechanism of experiencing terror → making war on terror → terrorizing ? Are the United States of America a hysteric or paranoid nation? I wonder if Erla Ósk Arnardóttir Lilliendahl (that's her correct name) will experience any excuse on the part of the U.S. administration, and I wonder if those responsible will be removed from office. If not, I would be inclined to declare the U.S.A. a closed mental hospital.
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POPSThe Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy. This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.
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POPSBush's America: LESS Safe, LESS Free. In a new book, "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror," law professors David Cole and Jules Lobel argue that the problem lies in the aggressive "preventive paradigm" the Bush administration adopted in the wake of 9/11.
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POPSAnother Bush Lie: On Torture From the article: "Mr. Gonzales approved the legal memorandum on “combined effects” over the objections of James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, who was leaving his job after bruising clashes with the White House. Disagreeing with what he viewed as the opinion’s overreaching legal reasoning, Mr. Comey told colleagues at the department that they would all be “ashamed” when the world eventually learned of it."
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POPSNever Say Die: Why We Can't Imagine Death The common view of death as a great mystery usually is brushed aside as an emotionally fueled desire to believe that death isn’t the end of the road. And indeed, a prominent school of research in social psychology called terror management theory contends that afterlife beliefs, as well as less obvious beliefs, behaviors and attitudes, exist to assuage what would otherwise be crippling anxiety about the ego’s inexistence. Yet a small number of researchers, including me, are increasingly arguing that the evolution of self-consciousness has posed a different kind of problem altogether. This position holds that our ancestors suffered the unshakable illusion that their minds were immortal, and it’s this hiccup of gross irrationality that we have unmistakably inherited from them. Individual human beings, by virtue of their evolved cognitive architecture, had trouble conceptualizing their own psychological inexistence from the start.
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POPSRussell on Religion & Atheism I think that I ought to say that I am an Atheist, because, when I say that I cannot prove that there is not a God, I ought to add equally that I cannot prove that there are not the Homeric gods. Bertrand Russell
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POPSJudges With Guts Rule! :) "The concept of preemptive imprisonment, like that of preemptive war, should have no place in an open society."
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POPS10 Ways We Get the Odds Wrong And the two last ones: IX. We Love Sunlight But Fear Nuclear Power Why "natural" risks are easier to accept. X. We Should Fear Fear Itself Why worrying about risk is itself risky. Though the odds of dying in a terror attack like 9/11 or contracting Ebola are infinitesimal, the effects of chronic stress caused by constant fear are significant. Studies have found that the more people were exposed to media portrayals of the 2001 attacks, the more anxious and depressed they were. Chronically elevated stress harms our physiology, says Ropeik. "It interferes with the formation of bone, lowers immune response, increases the likelihood of clinical depression and diabetes, impairs our memory and our fertility, and contributes to long-term cardiovascular damage and high blood pressure."
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POPSNORTHCOM Plans 5 Day Martial Law Exercise There is no question that Vigilant Shield 08 is either government preparation for the implementation of martial law or a way for criminal elements within the government to distract emergency responders in order to conduct a false flag terror attack as a pretext to actually implement martial law and engage in foreign war. Hmm... I don't like the sound of this, but as my S.O. always says: "Hope for the best, but expect the worst".
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POPSThe Best Way to Control the Masses Remember FDR’s words: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” When the Shadow Powers determine the choices available to us they control us. Sure it’s subtle. You bet it’s effective. And we all think we’re free.
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POPSHow to Lose a War: The American Way An American military spokesman denied that the request for American forces to leave was ever made, either formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties. But the episode underlines differences of opinion among NATO and American military forces in Afghanistan on tactics for fighting Taliban insurgents, and concerns among soldiers about the consequences of the high level of civilians being killed in fighting.
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POPSA Fallen American Soldier continued; his father, Feroze Khan, told the Gannett News Service in a story printed shortly after his death. "He looked at it that he's American and he has a job to do." Powell framed the entire "Obama is a Muslim" debate in striking terms with his reference to this fallen American soldier. "Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that's not America," he said. "He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life," Mr. Powell said. "Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way." The highly charged rhetoric used by McCain and Palin to tie Obama to terrorism and Islam is once again an affront to all Muslim Americans. We saw this type of fear and backlash just after 9/11. We see it also in the McCarthy-like invocations of Michele Bachmann. I challenge Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to tell this grieving mother that her son is anti-American because of his faith.
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POPSBoy Allegedly Buried In Horror Bullying Episode The alleged ringleader's mother told reporters her son was a sweet child and that she had lost faith in the justice system. A sweet boy?? Geeeez!! Her statement is almost as shocking as the incident itself! One can only imagine the immense fear and terror the poor victim must have felt. It's simply shocking and so hard to fathom, that kids so young can do something so heinous and horrific. Poor boy...I hope he'll be okay. :(
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POPSWild-Eyed Bush Thumping Chest: "I Am the President" The comments about the other ranting in the article: ome big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be OK…etc., etc. This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.
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POPSInterventionism, Not Muslims, Is the Problem
Thus, rather than ceasing its policy of interventionism after 9/11, which is what the U.S. government should have done even while pursuing the perpetrators through criminal-justice means, it did the very worst thing possible — it continued and even expanded its policy of interventionism in the hope of killing those whose differences with America’s values had risen to the level of rage as a result of U.S. interventionism. Not surprisingly, that only fueled more anger and rage. So, what should the U.S. government do now? It should do what it should have done after 9/11: Exit Afghanistan and Iraq and the entire Middle East. Bring all the troops home. Everyone seems to know this, but America. I read a lot of hate against Muslims on CM and I find that highly troubling. It's a crock. Muslims DON'T hate us, they are NOT the enemy and if the US just left other countries alone, the "War on Terror" would be over. Don't buy into it.. Bring the troops home.
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POPSThe Answer Terrifies Them Foreign terrorism against Americans would disappear along with the need for a "war on terror." Civil liberties that were suspended could be restored. A sense of balance and harmony could return to our lives. Ending interventionism would mean that the era of big government in foreign affairs could be brought to an end.
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POPSThe "Out-of-control" Military Machine Citizens must fight the militarism that's choking our democracy. Given the power and money of the military lobby, we're not likely to get any encouragement from either party or any presidential candidates, at least not at first. But we can force the issue into the dialogue and remember who listened and who didn't. Call it politics for the long run, the politics of hope with a sharper edge.