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POPSUndercover Investigation Shows the Horrors of the Pork Industry
You don’t have to be a licensed veterinarian to understand the level of suffering these animals endured before being haphazardly slaughtered for pork products that were sent to stores in New England including Shaws, Hannaford and Stop and Shop under the brand name Hatfield’s. While abuse of this nature is commonly associated with factory farming, much of what’s depicted in the footage are standard industry practices on any farm, large or small, from the confinement of gestation crates so small they cause sores to mercilessly killing the runts of the litter. “What we documented is standard and largely accepted by the pork industry and as a civilized society it’s our moral obligation to make sure animals don’t suffer needless cruelty. It’s important we look at these animals the same way we look at dogs and cats because there is no difference. They feel the same pain, the same joy our beloved animals at home do,” said Daniel Hauff, MFA Director of Investigations.
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POPSIn Memory of the Berlin Wall Today, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 57 percent, or an absolute majority, of eastern Germans defend the former East Germany. "The GDR had more good sides than bad sides. There were some problems, but life was good there," say 49 percent of those polled. Eight percent of eastern Germans flatly oppose all criticism of their former home and agree with the statement: "The GDR had, for the most part, good sides. Life there was happier and better than in reunified Germany today." Something in the water perhaps?
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POPSUntil Medical Bills Do Us Part A complicating factor was that this was a second marriage. M.’s first husband had died, leaving an inheritance that he had intended for their children. She and her second husband had a prenuptial agreement, but that would not protect her assets from his medical expenses. The hospital told M. not to waste time in dissolving the marriage. For five years after any divorce, her assets could be seized — precisely because the government knows that people sometimes divorce husbands or wives to escape their medical bills. “How could I divorce him? I loved him,” she told me.
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POPSSomething to think about…. 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
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POPSEnd the Use of Live Pigs for Training at Baystate Medical Center The study Dying to Learn: Exposing the Supply of Dogs and Cats to Higher Education also found that both medical and veterinary students can learn just as well through alternative teaching methods that can include hands on training at shelters for vet students and simulators for medical students. Dying to Learn site: http://www.dyingtolearn.org/cruella.html
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POPSFood Critic Murders Baboon: Needed Fodder for His Column?! While admitting there was no good excuse for his action, he nonetheless tries to explain: "I noticed that, when it was alive, I thought about the baboon as a thing. Now he’s dead, I’m posthumously anthropomorphising him, and that was one of the reasons I killed. I wanted to get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone, a stranger." Stop. Breathe. I note my first reaction: Excruciating execution for this guy, preferably slowly bleeding to death in front of his buddies, sounds like a good idea. Exhale. Pause. Next reaction: What the heck was he thinking? What sick person would find it perfectly acceptable to write about his urge to explore killing primates in a food column? Is he so disengaged from life and his place in it that he thinks this is witty? Educational? Cool?
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POPSSurfer Dawgs My dog would love to surf..except that most beaches in NSW, Australia don't allow dogs on beaches. :=/
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POPSEvery time the little bear cub moved, I heard her cry with pain Trembling at the prospect of each blow from the stick, each rough pull of the rope, she is forced to wander the dusty roads, standing and swaying on her hind legs on command. She tires easily from her poor diet, pants with thirst in the oppressive heat, shakes with fear and exhaustion. Yet this bear cub dare not stop dancing, and she must do so again and again. This story is typical of the plight of many bear cubs in India. Sadder still, over 50% of these beautiful little creatures do not even survive the journey to 'market'. They simply die in cages en route, from starvation, dehydration and trauma. That's why these bears desperately need your support. WSPA is working with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to stop this barbaric practice. Our aim is to halt it at the source, and your help is vital in helping us stop this cruelty.
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POPSBrain Tumor Survivors Shouldn't Take It Easy The mice that were able to exercise scored just as well on a memory test as normal mice did; however, the mice that did not have access to the exercise wheel did not. "It was remarkable that the irradiated, running mice were just like the normal, non-irradiated mice that didn't exercise," lead researcher and graduate student Sarah Wong-Goodrich of the Duke Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, was quoted as saying. "We were expecting some memory retention issues with a longer delay and there weren't any." The researchers believe exercise benefits the mind by improving blood flow to the hippocampus in the brain, a key area for learning and memory.
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POPSNow Pakistan - Sequential Destruction of Muslim Nations Many Western policymakers rarely see Muslim nations, including allies, with any inherent respect. Vice President Dick Cheney described the Muslim world as "brute and nasty." Obama advisers, though more guarded in their word choices, see Muslim nations no differently. The idea that Islam is inherently violent, openly expressed during the Bush administration, continues to animate foreign policy. The White House holds a new President but Congressional leadership and Washington policymakers are more or less the same. Anti-Islamic policies of warfare and destabilization are intact.
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POPSWaziristan Displaced Crave for Help "“Everyone was running from here to there to get transport. Through there were a few vehicles owned by local people they were useless because of the curfew as all main roads are closed for traffic,” he added. “All had to travel on feet to reach here, with women carrying their kids and men carrying their belongings on their heads and shoulders.” Khan said the journey was difficult. “We would rest for a few minutes after every two to three hours as we could not risk our lives due to the bombings and artillery shelling.” The UN Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says that around 250,000 out of South Waziristan’s total population of 800,000 left. However, independent sources believe 60 percent of the populace has been displaced in the new operation."
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POPSStudy Says Dabbling in Surrealism can Boost Your Brain Power During the study, Proulx and Steven J. Heine, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia asked that participants to read an abridged and slightly edited version of Kafka"s "The Country Doctor," which involves a nonsensical -- and in some ways disturbing-series of events. And second group read a different version of the same short story, one that had been rewritten so that the plot and literary elements made sense.
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POPSAm I crazy or did I just see a clown? Of those listening to MP3 players or walking without any devices, more than 50 per cent noticed the clown; 70 per cent of those walking in pairs saw the clown, while only 25 per cent of people on phones noticed.
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POPSCorporate Dirty Work (or Big Fat Lies Exposed) Peta kills animals. Mercury in fish is not a problem. Increasing wages of the lowest paid will harm America. Trans fats and sugars are good for you. Junk food is good for you. Climate change not a problem. The Washington Tea Baggers protest grew out of a grass roots movement: American corporate spin, aided and abetted by Rick Berman and exposed by Maddow. Brilliant!
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