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POPSWhy we stand in line to vote - a historical photo essay Over the last few days when looking at the photographs of people standing in line at early voting sites across the country, I've been reminded of so many pictures I've seen of election lines before - lines of voters from throughout the world, voters who have had to fight for the fundamental right to vote, voters for whom standing in line is perhaps the easiest part of everything they've had to do to bring about change. … So when I think about whether we'll have to wait in long lines on Tuesday, I'm not intimidated. I know that we won't be standing in those lines alone, we'll be accompanied by the history of millions of people a whole lot braver and tougher than we'll ever need to be to stay in line for a few hours.
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POPSStudy Of Countries I do not claim that sites such as this are the be all and end all of research regarding any given country. But still they are fairly comprehensive. If any given country or nation intrigues you then I recommend further research. If this site creates a even greater thirst for knowledge then I will have done something useful.
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POPSThere are more Slaves Today Than at Any Time in Human History
During the four years that Benjamin Skinner researched modern-day slavery, he posed as a buyer at illegal brothels on several continents, interviewed convicted human traffickers in a Romanian prison and endured giardia, malaria, and dengue. But Skinner is most haunted by his experience in a brothel in Bucharest, Romania, where he was offered a young woman with Down syndrome in exchange for a used car. We in America are not affected by this, right? On average, every half-hour, one more person will have been trafficked to the US into slavery. About 14,000-17,000 are trafficked into the U.S. each year and forced to work within U.S. borders under threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence. Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking and Free the Slaves both work to bring attention to this modern day horror. Barack Obama is still setting his foreign policy agenda. He needs to hear from all of us that the true abolition of slavery needs to be a part of his legacy.
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POPSChild Marriage A very good resource on the worldwide prevalence of child marriage. Source also has a section containing stories of young girls who went through this....
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POPSWhy is India 30 minutes out of step with everybody else? After the standardization conference, most countries "rounded off" their local time, as it were, so that it differed by a whole hour(s) from GMT and from adjoining time zones. But some, for reasons of geography or politics, rounded off to the half-hour.
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POPS Lost Treasures of Tibet" watch online 3 hour-long program !!! 1 Sacred 500-year-old paintings are crumbling off the walls of a Buddhist monastery, and a Tibetan monk sets off on a pilgrimage to see them. 2 Journey to Lo Monthang On his way to the monasteries of Lo Monthang, Lama Guru Gyaltsen encounters a hidden cave where deities are said to emanate from the walls. running time 7:04 3 Restoring a Temple's Glory British architect John Sanday and art conservator Rodolfo Lujan from Rome contemplate how to resurrect a temple and its murals. running time 7:28 4 Traces of the Masters An infrared camera detects the original drawings under the painted murals, revealing the intentions of the master artists. running time 7:31 5 The King's Approval The King of Mustang arrives to pass judgment on the work of the conservators. running time 5:27 6 An Uncertain Future Mustang's holy temples may still be in peril as the kingdom makes way for roads and automobiles. running time 4:59
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POPSThe Next Crisis: PAKISTAN - Musharraf is losing his grip... Although I can appreciate what he is trying to do... simultaneously keep both the US and Al Qaeda from bombing his country, I think Musharraf is loosing his grip. A lot of these scenes seem very familiar. I watched them happen in Nepal as King Gyanendra struggled, and ultimately failed, to keep control of Nepal. Musharraf's government feels very close to a dangerous tipping point. This should be a big concern for everybody, because the results will leave no one unaffected. Making sure Pakistan remains stable and progressive should be a first-class diplomatic priority for all of the world.