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POPS The Execution Of A Teenage Girl CRUELTY OF SHARIA LAW PENALTIES imposed by Iran's religious mullahs include: THEFT: Amputation of hands or feet for persistent offenders. sion, death. ADULTERY: Death by stoning. UNMARRIED SEX: 100 lashes. CONVERSION TO RELIGION OTHER THAN ISLAM: Death. SODOMY: Death for adults, 74 lashes for consenting child. LESBIANISM: 100 lashes, or on the fourth occasion death. HOMOSEXUAL KISS: 60 lashes. RUBBING ANOTHER MAN'S THIGHS OR BUTTOCKS: 99 lashes - on 4th occasion, death.
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POPSSaudi woman to be beheaded for being a "witch" Being beheaded by sword in a public place... For being a "witch" or practising "witchcraft"... Welcome back to the Middle Ages: "Burn the witch!" or "Behead the witch!", by the name of God. Correct me if I'm wrong, Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US, who enthusiastically invaded Iraq to bring "human rights and democracy" to Arabs, right?
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POPSHow Hatred Transforms Your Brain "What is surprising is the degree to which hatred is associated with logic and planning. The researchers write in their paper: What seems not to be in doubt is that this cortical zone involves the premotor cortex, a zone that has been implicated in the preparation of motor planning and its execution. We hypothesize that the sight of a hated person mobilizes the motor system for the possibility of attack or defense. In addition, the involvement of the frontal pole consider to be critical in predicting the action of others, arguably an important feature when confronted by a hated person . . . it is more likely that in the context of hate the hater may want to exercise judgment in calculating moves to harm, injure or otherwise extract revenge."
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POPSWill Alabama execute an innocent man? I cannot comprehend why they refuse to do this simple test. Are they so fearful of having made a mistake that they would prefer not to administer the test? If they are sure they are right, why not administer the test just so they can say "I told you so"
26
POPSWhen Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans The 300 apes in Spanish zoos would not be freed, but better conditions would be mandated. Meanwhile, even in democracies, the law accords diminished rights to many humans: children, prisoners, the insane, the senile. Teenagers may not vote, philosophers who slip into dementia may be lashed to their beds, courts can order surgery or force-feeding. Spain’s Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals. One said such thinking led to abortion, euthanasia and ethnic cleansing.
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POPSArtificial brain predicts death-row executions Since the direct approach had failed, the researchers turned to an artificial neural network (ANN) - an intelligent computer system, modelled after the human brain - that is able to deduce how various factors within a jumble of data relate to each other. The system can then take what it has learned and make predictions about a new set of data.To find out which factors might be linked to executions, the researchers first "trained" their ANN by entering the profiles of 1000 death row inmates between 1973 and 2000. Half of this sample of prisoners had been executed and the other half had survived. Each profile contained 18 factors, including the inmate's sex, age, race, marital status, educational level and information on their capital offences.
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POPSChurch removes "horrifying" crucifix Oh, and did I mention that they pretend to drink that prophet's blood in Church on Sundays (in this case it's definitely pretend, even to them, as St John's is Anglican)? Now that's really something to scare the kids with.
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POPSTexas will Execute 10 Men in 30 days This is the worst place of the free world for execution, this is not just the worst place for America," he said of Texas. Before the state revised such laws in 2001, a defendant could be represented by a divorce lawyer with no experience in criminal prosecutions, and judges were not required to instruct juries of alternative punishments such as life in prison without parole, he said. Nine of the 10 to die this month were sentenced before 2001. Mr Halperin claimed "judges are very happy to get rid of these people as quickly as possible." He described a sort of year-end catch-up
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POPSOffended Muslim Syndrome In order to guard against OMS, health officials warn individuals who are at risk to make sure that the objective reality they are exposed to does not: * Make them aware of the outside world * Trigger curiosity about the Western notions of "logic" or "rationality" * Make life more enjoyable * Cause them to question the need for martyrdom * Have side effects such as independent thinking and longing to live as a productive individual * Create an illusion that communication with infidels is possible without hostage-taking
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POPSExecution as human sacrifice A very interesting interview with historian Thomas Cahill where he argues that execution, which shows no deterrent qualities, is not punishment but is likely a deeply held, ancient behavioral need to kill that was acted out in ancient societies as human sacrifices.
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POPSNew Hypoxia Execution - Totally Humane & Cheap ...Emerging from the chamber, he believes the test to push his life to its limit has failed. Nor has he any recollection of his inability to reopen his oxygen supply or to put his mask back on. "I fooled you, didn't I?" he says triumphantly. "No, Michael, death was your final destination today," says Meeuwsen, who trains fighter pilots for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. "Hans saved your life." Portillo travelled to a military training base in the Netherlands to research the effects of oxygen starvation, technically known as hypoxia, on the body. His quest is unusually dark. What he really wants to know is if hypoxia can offer a humane method of killing people in the 55 countries that still have the death penalty on their statute books.
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POPSStoning victim "begged for mercy" The witness said people crowding round to see the execution said it was "awful". "People were saying this was not good for Sharia law, this was not good for human rights, this was not good for anything." But no-one tried to stop the Islamist officials, who were armed, the witness said. He said one boy was shot in the confusion. According to Amnesty International, nurses were sent to check during the stoning whether the victim was still alive. They removed her from the ground and declared that she was, before she was replaced so the stoning could continue.
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POPSMichael Vick indicted for dogfighting This makes me so sick. I really hope that he rots in jail. Of course he needs to be proven guilty first, but if the allegations are proven, Vick should be treated as he treated these dogs. There are times when you actually can't wait to see someone get punished...this is one of those times for me. I hope this NFL suspends him without pay immediately and then bans him forever from playing. His life should be ruined.
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POPSThe Ghastly Death of Mary Queen of Scots Mary’s dog was discovered to be hiding under her skirts. When the pet was pulled out, it insisted on lying between the shoulders and decapitated head of her body. Eventually, Mary’s servants took the dog, but not until it was thoroughly soaked in its dead master’s blood. Even for the people of the time, jaded from by frequent public executions, Mary’s beheading was full of exceptionally terrifying surprises.
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POPSShell Oil ‘Co-opted Nigerian Military’ Oil production in Ogoniland started in the 1950s, and what followed is a now predictable pattern in many oil-producing countries: Corrupt government officials enriched themselves; the local population was marginalized politically, and their ancestral land suffered enormous environmental damage.
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POPSExecution scheduled despite recanted testimony Convicted of murder solely on basis of witness testimony - no physical evidence. All witnesses but two have since changed their position; one of the two is the prime alternate suspect. But Georgia will not allow factual review of case, and has set execution for the 23rd of this month.
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POPSAs Adam Smith rolls in his grave... The WTO provides simply the latest example of how far we have drifted from the Capitalism of Adam Smith. Smith was a product of the enlightenment, and clearly envisioned capitalism as practiced by a society of enlightened humanists. The restraint that this would bring serves to vouchsafe the truly free market. When corporate collusion places profit margins ahead of the basic well-being of the people, then who could say this market is truly free? Are we not at their mercy? An economy controlled by corporate elites is no better than one controlled by the state. The Savage Capitalism of the WTO is different from communist or fascist economics in name and execution only. The resultant inequities in society are the same. Is this really the ideal to which we have committed so much blood and treasure?
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POPSOld Blighty, the birthplace of English "Collins' editors know that old words die hard — and that some people will vilipend (regard with contempt) any execution without a fair trial. So they've offered the chance of a reprieve. They have made public 24 words that face deletion because editors could find no example of their use in their database of English-language books, newspapers, broadcasts and other media. If, by February 2009, a word reappears in that database with at least six "high quality" citations, it could be spared from the semantic dustbin. "We're looking to see if dropping a little stone in the pond of language actually does generate ripples," says Brookes."
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