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POPSThe Dalai Lama is a better man than I Sorry, I can't love the King St. George Dumbfuck just yet. I haven't evolved quite that far. Too much death, Blood and sorrow on Bush's hands. I guess I need some "inner disarmament", neh? Seriously.
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POPSThe language you speak affects your personality A study of bilingual women suggests that when you switch from speaking one language to another, your personality and your perceptions change as well. I've experienced this myself switching between German and English.
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POPSForgotten Inventor - The Fresno Scraper Fresno Scrapers served the US army in WW-I. The two-horse model retailed for $28, yet today's bulldozer blades are its direct offspring. The gigantic scraper-carryall earth mover is its grandchild.
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POPSExtremely Useful and Interesting Data Sets and Visualizations ( thanks, reflex) The site is set up to allow the entire internet to upload data, visualize it, and talk about their discoveries with other people There are hundreds of these at the source page. You can customize existing sets and create your own. I clipped the ones with the highest ratings, but you can also search for specific topics. Very cool.
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POPSUN: Israel guilty of colonialism, apartheid, occupation "Acts of terror against military occupation must be seen in historical context," Dugard says. "This is why every effort should be made to bring the occupation to a speedy end. Until this is done, peace cannot be expected, and violence will continue." As long as there is occupation, there will be terrorism, Dugard argues. Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the now-defunct U.N. Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a U.N.-mandated fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive in 2006.
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POPSWhat Motivated The 9/11 Hijackers? In an October 2001 video, Osama Bin Laden said, "We swore that America would not live in security until we live it truly in Palestine. This showed the reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its own people's interest. America will not get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it stops its support of Israel. " Former CIA Bin Laden Unit Chief Michael Scheuer has bluntly stated that politicians are lying to the American people about the terrorists' motives, "The politicians really are at great fault for not squaring with the American people. We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live. And there's a huge burden of guilt to be laid at Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton, both parties for simply lying to the American people."
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POPSMary Seacole: Black British Heroine Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother a Jamaican. Mary learned her nursing skills from her mother, who kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Although technically 'free', being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil rights - they could not vote, hold public office or enter the professions. In 1836, Mary married Edwin Seacole but the marriage was short-lived as he died in 1844.
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POPSPeggy Noonan on Obama: "bulletproof" Reagan's speechwriter points out that Obama's charisma and personality will make negative campaigning and dirty tricks by Republicans look even lower than they are. Clinton will be "easier for Republicans" to go after in the nastiest way possible.
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POPSThe Children of Iraq ... look what we have done to them and what for? How can even the most ardent conservative supporter of the war in iraq look at these photos and not take umbrage with that we are doing there. I would put the disclaimer that the photos towards the end of this piece are very gruesome, but we should see them so we have no illusions about what we are doing to these people. Saddam Hussein may have been an evil dictator, but when you see these photos, it is easy to see how we have replaced him tooth and nail in evil doing. We have successfully replaced regime for regime and these children are next in line to repay us for our suffering. It is a shame we have stripped so many beautiful children of their innocence and are sowing the seeds of hatred for their future. If you don't believe me, take the time to actually study the photos here, and think if this was happening on your own soil, how you would feel. Your resentment and anger would be theirs.
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POPSThe Lies Behind 'Free Trade' This book on disastrous trade policies makes clear that it's time to dismantle the barriers that keep so much of the world so poor. Neoliberalism is a rerun of what economists suffering from "historical amnesia" believe were the key characteristics of the international economy in the golden age of liberalism (1870-1913). The Third World was not always poor and economically stagnant. Throughout the golden age of capitalism, from the Marshall Plan (1947) to the first oil shock (1973), the United States was a Good Samaritan and helped developing countries by allowing them to protect and subsidize their nascent industries. forced to adopt neoliberal policies and to open their economies to much more powerful foreign competitors on unequal terms, their growth rate fell to less than half of that recorded in the 1960s . Apologists for neoliberalism have also revived an old 19th century and neo-Nazi explanation for developmental failure - namely, culture.