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POPSObama draw crowd of 200k in Berlin by
dl211 Yesterday 6:16 PM 
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Sounds like he's stumping for president of the EU or Sec. Gen. of the UN, instead of the US Presidency. But then again, he could talk about manure and still get the same accolades from his followers.
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POPSRemoving Tattoos: Who Does It and Whyby
dl211 Yesterday 5:58 PM I'm sure in a few years, the removal of tattoos will become big business. About the time when gravity and age start sagging those fine works of body art into an unrecognizable piece of graffiti.
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POPSThe High Cost of Intelligence Secrecy
The cult of secrecy coupled with bureaucratic sclerosis has given some 4,000 federal employees the power to classify documents. But 84 percent of federal agencies can't keep up with Freedom of Information Act requests. It took the CIA 20 years to declassify the fact Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, had a taste for distilled wine. In 2006, $134 was spent creating new secrets for every dollar spent releasing old secrets. Another impediment to good analytical intelligence is the youth and inexperience of some 45,000 analysts in the 16 intel agencies. Most of them were hired after Sept. 11. Their average length of service is just over five years — and many of the best ones are hired away by Fortune 100 corporations at triple their government salary. Subscribers pay $35,000 a year for their daily assessments. "Prospects 2008" on "Key themes and issues for the year ahead" is pricey at $3,500 for non-subscribers and $1,000 for regular clients. Its 261 pages cover every maj
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POPSCIA Official Had Implicit Approval To Destroy CIA Tapes When Black - who played a key role in setting up the secret prisons and instituting the interrogation policy - left the CIA in December 2002, Rodriguez took his place. Colleagues recall that even in the deputy's slot, Rodriguez was aware of the videotaping of Zubaida, and that he later told several it was necessary so that experts, such as psychologists not present during interrogations, could view Zubaida's physical reactions to questions. By December 2002, the taping was no longer needed, according to three former intelligence officials. "Zubaida's health was better, and he was providing information that we could check out," one said. An internal probe of the interrogations by the CIA's inspector general began in early 2003 for reasons that have not been disclosed. In February of that year, then-CIA General Counsel Scott W. Muller told lawmakers that the agency planned to destroy the tapes after the completion of the investigation. That year, all waterboarding was halted; and a
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POPSRep Jefferson hearings continue The afternoon hearing in U.S. District Court is continuation of one in December at which FBI agents defended their photographing of documents they found in Jefferson's home related to various business deals he had engineered in West Africa. Jefferson's attorney Robert Trout has argued that the documents are outside the scope of the search warrant and led the government to a host of business dealings that now should be excluded from the indictment. He has also argued that Jefferson spoke to agents because he felt under duress when they knocked on his door at 7 a.m. and noted the congressman was followed to the bathroom at one point. Trout said he planned to call Jefferson to testify. The trial is scheduled for Feb. 25.
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POPSpresidential candidates must confront illegal ... The bottom line is America has over 12 million immigrants here illegally. Much of the rest of the population has the perception they are bearing the burden for the health care, education, and crime of those who are here illegally. They want something done about it, now! Whatever is keeping candidates unplugged to the number one issue uniting the nation, they best turn off whatever oddity they’re tuned into and face the crowd staring them down. If they don’t start acting like leaders and address this issue with debate in a civilized manner the rest of us may need to brace for demonstrations that just might get ugly.
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POPSMy eyes have seen conning of the law The Taneytown City Council met Monday night to discuss a plethora of issues, but it was Councilman Paul L. Chamberlain Jr.'s Resolution No. 2007-23 that garnered most of the attention - and discussion. Chamberlain's resolution would have declared that Taneytown is not a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. The resolution would have declared that, if it had passed. But Taneytown's five-member City Council chose another option. They chumped out. By a vote of 3-2, Chamberlain's resolution was shot down like a convict making a break for the outer gate of a penitentiary. Just when you thought the days of interposition and nullification were over, they rear their heads again in the matter of illegal immigration. But instead of Southern governors, mayors and legislators invoking those doctrines to defend segregation, we have advocates for illegal immigrants invoking them because they find immigration laws inconvenient for those who either come to or remain in America illegall
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POPSIllegal immigration can't be ignored The illegal immigration issue is hugely important to the American middle class who are overwhelmingly opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants. Amnesty, or whatever term the politicians choose to call it, would amount to an insult to immigrants who came here legally and obtained their citizenship in the traditional manner, as did our ancestors. In addition it is the middle class who are paying for the illegal aliens who are receiving free medical care in the emergency rooms of our hospitals, free public education for their children, free police and fire protection, and welfare services. I can understand why Bush, ever the servant of the wealthy and big business, would welcome open borders and a never ending supply of cheap labor. After all, cheap labor means lower labor costs and fatter profits. But why do liberal politicians think that cheap, exploitable labor is good for this country? Are there any politicians out there willing to represent the middle class?
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POPSPetraeus says Iran still training Iraq militants The commander of US forces in Iraq said on Wednesday that Iran was continuing to train militants despite Tehran's pledge to cut all support for the insurgency. General David Petraeus said he was uncertain if supplies of weapons flowing into Iraq from Iran was decreasing, but said that Iranian training of militants posed a serious threat to Iraq's stability. Asked whether Iran had stopped the flow of money and weapons into Iraq, Petraeus told reporters: "We honestly don't know, it is unclear. We do know that training (of Iraqi militants in Iran) has continued. "It is at an important scale, because these are individuals with considerable skill who can train other individuals in Iraq. "It is a very unhelpful addition to the mix. We call it a lethal accelerant to a situation in Iraq that already has enough challenges."
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POPSIslamic militants seize Pakistan army post A spokesman for the Pakistan military said the attack happened at midnight and lasted for about two hours. He said up to 40 of the attackers were killed. About 40 members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps occupied the fort. "Fifteen of the troops in the base escaped and they have reached Jandola," said the army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas. " scattered and there is no news of how many of them were martyred or fled."
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POPSStakes high as court hears case on gun rights versus control In March, the U. S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the meaning of the Second Amendment. It's the first time in 68 years the high court will look at the amendment, and arguably the first time ever that a definitive interpretation will emerge of what the Constitution guarantees with those incendiary words, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Gun rights versus gun control is at issue in District of Columbia vs. Heller, and the societal stakes are enormous. Because if the court does render an NRA-friendly judgment that the words are pretty much what they say, that an individual has the guaranteed right to keep a pistol at home for personal use, then a tsunami of test cases can be expected across the country that will crash over existing state and local gun control laws.
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POPSIS YOUR CONGRESSMAN A CROOK Sen Rick Renzi (R -AZ) Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.) Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) I'm sure there are others who just haven't been caught yet.
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POPSER Wait Times Getting Longer even people with insurance are left waiting in ERs, because there just isn't enough space or enough resources. "Too many hospital administrators think that the hospital begins on the second floor, but ERs need open spaces and open bays. It's what we used to do, and the problem today is that more and more, we just don't have open space for a heart attack patient. We're like a NASCAR pit crew. We're designed to immediately assess, stabilize and move patients ," said Kellermann. Without the open space, he said, the ER health-care team wastes valuable time moving patients and equipment around to try to get to the next patient.
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POPS$90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10 The research, along with other studies the authors allude to, are putting a serious dent in economists' notions that experienced pleasantness of a product is based on its intrinsic qualities. "Contrary to the basic assumptions of economics, several studies have provided behavioral evidence that marketing actions can successfully affect experienced pleasantness by manipulating nonintrinsic attributes of goods.
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POPSResearchers Create New Rat Heart in Lab Medicine’s dream of growing new human hearts and other organs to repair or replace damaged ones received a significant boost on Sunday when University of Minnesota researchers reported success in creating a beating rat heart in a laboratory. Experts not involved in the Minnesota work called it “a landmark achievement” and “a stunning” advance. But they and the Minnesota researchers cautioned that the dream, if it is ever realized, is still at least 10 years away.
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POPSNew Gun Control Law Is Killer's Legacy Before President Bush left Washington for the Mideast, he signed into law the first major federal gun control measure in more than 13 years. If the new law had been in effect last April, it might have prevented the Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, from buying a weapon at a gun store.
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POPSForgot gun was loaded, soldier says You never point a weapon if you don't intend to use it, this soldier is guilty if not of murder, of out right stupidity. You don't offer muzzle first, a weapon for inspection anyway and then stupidly pull the trigger. All weapons are supposed to be unloaded upon re entering the FOBs anyway and not reloaded and cleared until just prior to leaving. Some do forget, many live rounds went off inside the clearing barrels. Either way a tragic loss.
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POPSThree US residents arrested in Mexico shootout Gunfire broke out around noon Monday when Mexican federal agents chased a van full of people carrying assault weapons in the town of Rio Bravo, across the border from Donna, Texas, according to a joint statement from Mexico's federal attorney general's office and Defense and Public Safety departments. The army and federal police sent reinforcements after the suspects took shelter in a building, the statement said.
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POPSPhoto ID to vote? Only if all who are eligible Of course the simple solution is never followed, everyone in this country legally can obtain a valid ID. Drawbacks are states that allow illegals to obtain drivers licenses without proof of citizenship. Without consistency you may as well invite fraud.
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