47
POPSPentagon Admits Use Of White Phosphorous Chemical weapons. How deep into the moral abyss can the US sink? There seems to be absolutely no limit. WARNING: The video contains very graphic images. Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre
38
POPSDoes Religion Make You Nice?Does atheism make you mean? It is at this point that the "We need God to be good" case falls apart. Countries worthy of consideration aren't those like North Korea and China, where religion is savagely repressed, but those in which people freely choose atheism. In his new book, Society Without God, Phil Zuckerman looks at the Danes and the Swedes—probably the most godless people on Earth. They don't go to church or pray in the privacy of their own homes; they don't believe in God or heaven or hell. But, by any reasonable standard, they're nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And—even without belief in a God looming over them—they murder and rape one another significantly less frequently than Americans do.
37
POPSMind Reading Is Now Possible "The more detailed the thought is, the more different these patterns get, because different people have different associations for an object or idea," says Haynes. "We're much closer to this than we were two years ago, but still far from a universal mind-reading machine." How far? The CMU group is determining the brain patterns that encode abstract ideas (honesty, democracy), words and sentences, a big step toward a mind-reading dictionary.
33
POPSWoman Kills Boyfriend With iPod He musta been really weak to be bludgeoned to death by a girl with an iPod.... I can SO see her goin' off on him for erasing all her torrented music! ROFL
31
POPSA Holocaust Photo Essay This photo essay is part of a compilation of photos, documents and other information related to the Holocaust. Go to source for captions and photo credits that accompany these photos, and for the other documents and links provided. Last night I watched two parts of an excellent PBS series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State", which is a chronological exploration of the largest mass murder site in history. Information about that series can be found here , with a link that allows you to check for local listings by zip code, state or territory if you live in the US. I watched it in Canada on our PBS station.
30
POPS7 Terrible Abuses Suffered By Women Around The World Barbaric - we have no right to call ourselves developed nations of the 21st century until such scourges are removed from the face of this earth forever and those guilty of these heinous crimes are severely punished. I ask what 'honor' do people speak of when they treat women so degradingly?!
23
POPSWhy religion is outdated, and dangerous. I find it most disturbing. On the verge of development that will prolong life with less illnesses, and will increase the degrees of freedom and responsibility a so called 'prolife' religious mass is trying to take us back.
22
POPSA Texas Church Cancels a Funeral.....the deceased was GAY! Unbelievable! A nondenominational mega-church offers to plan and pay for the funeral of the brother of one of its members, reneges on the deal at the last minute when they discover the deceased was gay. The pastor said some of the photos that were to be displayed at the service showed hugging of two men. The mother wanted those pictures shown. The pastor felt that the mother of a murderer wouldn't expect to display photos of her son committing a murder, so why should this woman want to display a photo of her son indicating he is gay. This is enough to make me want to vomit. I am so sick of religious hypocrites causing pain for innocent and good people because of their own inborn sickness. Shame on this church and its so-called spiritual leader. My wish is for him to become a spirit as soon as possible.
22
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
21
POPSNo Smiting But God still has some growing up to do. Wright argues that much of the problem isn’t with the religious texts or teachings themselves, but with the social conditions — the “facts on the ground” — that shape the sort of God we choose to create. Change the world, and you change the God. “If history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral truth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe — conceivably — the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.”
21
POPSWhat is a Confessing Sam? Researchers ironically note that it is often just as difficult to know whether or not someone is telling the truth when they plead against themselves as when they plead for themselves. Dr S M Kassin and two colleagues from the Department of Psychology at Williams College in Massachusetts report in the April, 2005 Law and Human Behaviour that when college students and police investigators judged 10 prison inmates confessing to crimes (half the confessions were true, half were false as they were concocted for the study), the students were more accurate than the police in determining who told the truth. -More than 50 people confessed to having committed the famous and still unsolved Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles in 1947. -At least six people have confessed to being the Zodiac Killer. -At last count, 20 individuals have confessed to the 1996 murder of child beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey.
21
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.
20
POPSTwo Teens Kill Friend For Fun This is one of the sickest things I've heard. Really should read the whole article. Bitches should get life before they kill someone else for fun...and they will...