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POPSEnd of life management - Conservative Style Feel sorry for the guy that he felt that was his only way out. Seems like physician assisted suicide would have been far less jolting on his loved ones. It's sad when you can not have a way to end your life on your terms in a dignified manner. On another note. While in Ireland Egan will be most remembered for attending a Sinn Fein annual convention right after 9/11. Because the visit took place directly in the aftermath of 9/11 Sinn Fein was under pressure on the terrorism front. Egan's presence signaled that the Bush administration was still determined to deal with Sinn Fein despite 9/11. What's this, conservatives negotiating directly with terrorists? Seems like all the noise from conservatives regarding direct political talks with terrorists is merely posturing and grandstanding for political gain regardless of outright hypocrisy.
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POPSSenator to-be Franken picks up 87 votes. Republicans still obstructing Democracy. Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar, meanwhile, has been one of the most vocal critics of Coleman's legal strategy, saying this past week that the former Senator and national GOP "is playing not just with fire, but with dynamite ... this thing is going to blow up in their face." Former Republican Sen. Dave Durenberger has said that the party leadership in Washington does not have "Coleman's best interests in mind." "If Norm had to finance this recount on his own, he never could have gone through it," he said. "Norm couldn't afford to put a nickel into this thing, but John Cornyn could." GOP = Grand Obstructionists Party
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POPS3 Backward States - Well, really only 1, a Conservative one
So an always correct, irrefutable, preening popinjay makes an agenda driven claim that is obviously inaccurate on several levels. First, Indiana, is a conservative craphole (word selection determined by original clipper). Secondly, you certainly can make your first time ever initial application for unemployment benefits by phone in Massachusetts, and online in Illinois. I contacted both offices and was very specific in determining if I could file a first time ever initial unemployment benefit claim by the means "his royal jack***" claimed could not be done. I was assured that you most certainly could by a very helpful lady in Massachusetts, and a very helpful gentleman in Illinois. The gentleman from Illinois kept repeating "thousands and thousands and thousands" of people have filed their first time initial application for unemployment benefits online in Illinois. So I will leave it to his Royal Imminence Scatmaster to prove conservative Indiana is not a craphole.
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POPSBest Countries for Women - U.S. lagging Europe Sweden was 3rd at 81.4% Other countries in the top 10 include Iceland (80%), New Zealand (79%), the Philippines (76%), Denmark (75%) and the Netherlands (74%). The U.K. ranked 13th (74%), "Personally, the U.S. was a surprise," said Saadia Zahidi, one of the study's authors.
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POPSJohn Edwards = John McCain Edwards was a typical "guy" in his cheating ways: "But going out and getting stupidly laid and then coming home and reconciling with the wife is not the same as going out, getting stupidly laid, then divorcing the crippled wife and marrying the pretty young thing (and taking out your marriage license before the divorce is final). One is stupid. The other is cruel. Brutal. Heinous. And well within the moral capacities of our Republican presidential candidate." Cenk Uygur, in his regular blog at AOL News, observes, "Now that Edwards has admitted to an extramarital affair, everyone will now condemn him and say he has no political career left. I want to ask all of those people, how is Edwards' affair any different John McCain's? If Edwards is disqualified from running for office because of this, isn't McCain as well?"
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POPSDemocrat tied to Obama wins special election in Mississippi More: The special election was held to fill the seat of former Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Sen. Trent Lott’s term last December. Wicker had never faced a competitive race since first elected in 1994, and the district gave President Bush 62 percent of the vote in 2004. The results amount to a rebuke of the Republican strategy of trying nationalize the race by tying Childers to Sen. Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama held low approval ratings in the district, but the nearly $2 million that GOP groups poured into northern Mississippi failed to make the race a referendum on the national political landscape. A GOP House leadership aide told Politico last week that “if we don’t win in Mississippi, I think you are going to see a lot of people running around here looking for windows to jump out of.”
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POPSTexan Republican faces stunning defeat: Democrats riding wave in GOP Gerrymandered State.
This election is a sign of the future. In less than 2 years, Texas Democrats have picked up 8 state house seats with rumors circulating that another may be on the way. Before the primaries are over, the gains made by the Republican's have been cut in half while we still compete on the same Republican favored, unconstitutional, Tom DeLay sponsored map. We sit on the edge of a Democratic House because we have won special elections, general elections, and the hearts and minds of voters across the state. Texas Democratic Party Chairman, Boyd Richie stated simply: Dan Barrett won in a district drawn by Republicans to elect a Republican, and his victory is a slap in the face to Speaker Tom Craddick and the failed Republican leadership in this state. Voters have sent a message that they are tired of "business as usual" in Austin and want leaders who will replace the pay-to-play politics of the Republican Party with a state government that works for all Texans."
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POPSHistory Lesson: Bloated Republican Spending, W. and the 109th Congress Some of the rightwingers are trying to make hay over Nancy Pelosi having spend $16,000 over the course of a year for flowers. Many of which are used to entertain foreign dignatories who visit the U.S. at the request of the Bush White House. When you compare that to, (1) the record spending and deficits of the Republican controlled 109th Congress, and (2) Bush never casting a single veto to stop a spending bill, you see how desperate the Republicans are. Shjould we talk about the $2 trillion dollars of waste in Iraq? This article is from the Cato Institute. A conservative think tank (possible oxymoron).
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POPSRudy Giuliani: The Values Slayer More: When Rudy’s candidacy started to show legs, pundits and family values activists alike assumed that ignorant voters knew only his 9/11 video reel and not his personal history or his stands on issues. “Americans do not yet realize how far outside of the mainstream of conservative thought that Mayor Giuliani’s social views really are,” declared Tony Perkins, the Family Research Council leader, in February. But despite Rudy’s fleeting stabs at fudging his views, they are well known now, and still he leads in national polls of Republican voters and is neck and neck with Fred Thompson in the Bible Belt sanctuary of South Carolina There are various explanations for this. The most obvious explanation is the one that Washington resists because it contradicts the city’s long-running story line. Namely, that the political clout ritualistically ascribed to Mr. Perkins, James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer of American Values and their ilk is a sham
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POPSGOP Theft of 2008 Presidential Election via California More: "They're back," said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane in an email this afternoon. "This Freddie Krueger of initiatives is back and once again, it appears the shadowy conservative forces behind this electoral hijacking are trying to hide where the money is coming from."
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POPSBlackwater draws guns on U.S. Soldiers More: Testifying before Congress last week, 38-year-old Blackwater chief Erik Prince vigorously defended his company's "dedicated security professionals" In deflecting questions about a drunken Blackwater operative who allegedly shot and killed a bodyguard for Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi in the Green Zone on Christmas Eve last year, Prince said that the employee, later identified as Andrew Moonen, had been fined and fired. But on Friday House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman released a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recounting evidence that Moonen was able to return to Iraq and worked there for another company.
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POPSMethodists battle Bush over SMU Presidential Library More: SMU is a university of the church and is home to one of our outstanding theological seminaries. Its United Methodist identity and its moral authority would be seriously compromised were it to be identified with the policies of George W. Bush in this way." Executive Order 13233 Opponents are "questioning the educational value of the Bush complex" given that earlier in his administration Bush issued Executive Order 13233, "which," the press release notes, "provides former Presidents with virtually unlimited powers to deny or grant access to documents generated under their administrations." The Executive Order extends these powers to a president's heirs. a petition drive was launched by bishops, clergy and laity of the United Methodist Church that "call for the SMU trustees and the UMC to reject the Bush project. That petition now has the signatures of 15 UMC bishops and more than 10,800 Christians
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POPS729 Days in Iraq: Thanks, See Ya, Wouldn't Want To Be Ya More: "I would assume, and I would hope, that when I get back from a deployment of 22 months, my senior leadership in Washington, the leadership that extended us in the first place, would take care of us once we got home," Hobot said. Both Hobot and Anderson believe the Pentagon deliberately wrote orders for 729 days instead of 730.
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POPSRevealed: W knew Saddam was Willing to Bargain for Exile W is suppose to be our first MBA President but he can not even conduct a cost benefit analysis. Cost: Whatever minuscule amount compared to what we have spent that Saddam would settle for; and any bogus information his generals had convinced him existed. Benefits: 28,000 soldiers not wounded; 3800 soldiers not killed; 600,000 to 1,000,000 Iraqis not killed; $600 Billion to $1 Trillion dollars not wasted; standing and trust within the world community preserved. Ultimate cost to Bush: not looking tough; not having Iraqi oil under the control of US oil producers.
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POPSSubsidies still flow as Corn Farmers Prosper Hhhmmm, an African-American or Latino seeking public assistance is denigrated as a taxpayer's burden. A midwest Anglo republican voting farmer receiving public assistance......pure apple pie americana.
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POPSCouric, CBS Anchorwoman: "Iraq A Mistake" The problem with Couric? - I’d feel totally comfortable saying any of that at some point, IF REQUIRED, on television. If you aren't going to work to put the brakes on this,......who will? Newsanchors = Teleprompter readers Bring back Walter Cronkite!
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POPSSCOOP: Bush Promises Iraq Invasion Congress should never subjugate themselves to the ambitions of one individual ever again. The Founding Fathers foresaw this and wrote the Constitution with checks and balances giving Congress the responsibility of making declarations of war. Anybody, (1) who knew George Bush, (2) witnessed his pathetic address to the UN that showed it was a cursory walk-through before launching the invasion, knew he was lying all the time. I expect to hear the rightwing lunatic mythology that there was widespread support for this war but in fact the US was for the war only if Bush would secure a UN resolution and obtain a strong coalition mimicking the coalition in Kuwait in 1991. The Founding Fathers didn't want us to be ruled by Kings and Bush and Cheney are no exception. IMPEACH!
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POPSGas Guzzlers fund Mid East Acquisitions More: Officials representing Qatar said the country is looking for long-term investments in a variety of industries. Three Delta, a fund backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, says it is principally focused on acquiring companies in the United Kingdom, and it aims to support existing management at the companies it buys. The Qatari investment fund has also offered to pay $21 billion for British supermarket chain J. Sainsbury PLC. The fund has hired Tony Campbell, the former deputy chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s British division, to become nonexecutive chairman of Sainsbury if its takeover is successful. Other big sovereign funds from the Middle East and Asia have said they are looking for undervalued brand-name businesses. A Dubai investment firm bought a big stake in DaimlerChrysler AG when the big German auto maker was suffering from quality problems at its Mercedes-Benz division. It sold the stake after a year, doubling its money.
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POPS40% rise in Hate Groups since 2000: Southern Poverty Law Center More: "The defendants are members and high-ranking officials of one of the most violent white supremacist groups in America," said SPLC President Richard Cohen. "They promote violence and intimidation and call for the death of racial and ethnic minorities, homosexuals and so-called 'race traitors.' They targeted and viciously beat our client solely because he has brown skin." The IKA's compound in Dawson Springs, Ky., is situated on 28 acres owned by Ron Edwards. It is the site of Nordic Fest, a music festival that brings together Klansmen, skinheads and members of other violent hate groups each year in May.