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POPSSenate Health Care Bill Creates New Marriage Penalty Ryan Ellis, tax policy director at Americans for Tax Reform, said the new marriage penalty comes on top of an existing one that's always been part of the payroll tax, which funds Social Security and Medicare. He said when the payroll tax was created to fund Social Security during the New Deal, lawmakers didn't anticipate the freelance of two-income families, so there's always been a sort of marriage penalty for couples whose incomes topped the single-earner income taxation level. Washington Times read full article: http://tr.im/FoGt
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POPS Global Warming Causes Prostitution!
Says Mukherjee, the shore-based women in heat will then “perform sexual services for transient seafarers.” Not for free. For a fee. I know what you’re thinking. What about those poor seamen without leave? No worries, mate! The prostitutes will be ferried to the “bigger ships” on the rising tide “by their pimps,” who presumably will be master oarsmen all. The natural question is: will there be enough to go around? Mukherjee assures us there are 92 million Filipinos (she doesn’t say, but I’m guessing that half of these are female types), with the stock increasing to “146 million in the next 40 years.” Further, “60 percent” will be able to see the sea from their abodes. And if these women don’t like baiting hooks"fishing!"some will be “tempted to go into prostitution.” What can we conclude from these facts? “ omen are taking the brunt of climate change.” Ahem. Obviously, Mukherjee was juiced when she tossed off her musings, but she must have been near the bottom
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POPSGeithner Says Credit-Default Swaps Weren't the Problem, After All. But if Mr. Geithner now says the AIG bailout wasn't driven by a need to rescue CDS counterparties, then what was the point? Why pay Goldman and even foreign banks like Societe Generale billions of tax dollars to make them whole? Regulators say that having taxpayers buy out the counterparties improved AIG's liquidity position, but why was it important to keep AIG liquid if not to protect some class of creditors? Yesterday, Mr. Geithner introduced a new explanation, which is that AIG might not have been able to pay claims to its insurance policy holders: "AIG was providing a range of insurance products to households across the country. Yet, if there is one thing that all observers seemed to agree on last year, it was that AIG's money to pay policyholders was segregated and safe inside the regulated insurance subsidiaries. If the real systemic danger was the condition of these highly regulated subsidiaries"where there was no CDS trading"then the Beltway narrative implodes.
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POPSHouse Attacks Fed, Treasury ... Ron Paul's Measure Approved The Fed faces a stinging backlash from legislators from both parties who argue that has too much power and too little oversight. On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee began debating legislation that would largely remove the Fed from bank supervision over the objections of the Fed and the Obama administration. The Fed audit provision was added to pending legislation on financial regulation that the committee's chairman, Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, had planned to put to a vote Thursday. But he abruptly announced late in the afternoon that the bill wouldn't move ahead until after Thanksgiving. The reason: Ten members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the committee said they would oppose the bill to protest a lack of action to address the economic pain borne by their constituents. Although the economy appears to be growing again, lawmakers face increasing pressure in their districts to do more to boost growth and address an unemployment rate now at
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POPSAccused Shooter Asked Radical Cleric When Is Jihad Appropriate? But yet, our feckless idiotic President will not call this what it is; the worst act of terrorism since 9/11. Could it be because our President secretly sympathizes with this crazy mans actions? Sometimes I wonder. Countdown to Liberals crying rAAAAcism in 5…4….3…2 Others: The Jawa Report, YID With LID, The Strata-Sphere Major Hasan's E-Mail: 'I Can't Wait to Join You' in Afterlife ABC News The Blotter from Brian Ross By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ Nov. 19, 2009 Read more http://tinyurl.com/yh293xc Watch Ft Hood Shooter Before the Massacre http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=9093174 More videos: Inside the Mind of suspected Shooter at Ft Hood Ft. Hood suspect Ties to terrorists Who Is the Ft Hood shooter?
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POPS Peter Schiff For Senate 2010 This is a set of video and audio clips of Peter Schiff explaining the basic problem of the US Economy as well as how other economists and politians are contributing to the economic crisis. http://tinyurl.com/y998lq2
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POPSThe $100 Million Senator's Vote? Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d), as amended by sections 2001(a)(3) and 2001(b)(2), is amended— (1) in subsection (b), in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘subsection (y)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (y) and (aa)’’; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: ‘‘(aa)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), beginning January 1, 2011, the Federal medical assistance percentage for a fiscal year for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State shall be equal to the following: ‘(A) In the case of the first fiscal year (or part of a fiscal year) for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), increased by 50 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y) ..... blah, blah, blah .....
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POPS Health Bill Hoax ... But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill " said to cost only $849 billion over a decade " would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." Part of the "profit" in this bill will be achieved through several hundred billion in Medicare cuts. There are also fees on insurance companies, drugmakers and medical device manufacturers " sure to discourage innovation with costs passed on to health care consumers. "Higher premiums, tax increases and Medicare cuts to pay for more government " the American people know that is not reform," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Let's hope he's right. It's easy to achieve savings when you front-end the taxes and phase in the supposed benefits later. This bill, if passed, will have to be merged .....
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POPSReid’s Health Bill Requires Abortion Fee Section 1303(a)(2)(C) describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run health plan and for those who are given an affordability credit to purchase insurance coverage that includes abortion through the Exchange. The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month. A majority of Americans believe that health care plans should not be mandated to provide elective abortion coverage, and a majority of Americans do not believe government health care plans should include abortion coverage. Currently, federal appropriations bills include language known as the Hyde Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, while another provision, known as the Smith Amendment, prohibits federal funding of abortion under the federal employees’ health benefits plan.
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POPSGeithner Under Fire From House Democrats and Republicans policies are too closely geared to Wall Street. "Quite frankly, all the gambling on Wall Street is doing nothing to put people back to work in America and rebuild our economy," he said. The tension comes amid a growing unease from Democrats as they approach the 2010 midterm elections with the unemployment rate at 10.2%. Several Capitol Hill aides said support for Mr. Geithner has frayed, but noted he makes an easy target for critics because he is considered the face of White House economic policy. Overshadowing third-quarter economic growth of 3.5% are fears about the weak state of the job and housing markets. Rank-and-file lawmakers have come under increasing pressure at home to address the shaky economy, said several Democratic leadership aides. House Democratic leaders have vowed to take up job-creating legislation in December. Mr. Geithner has played a lead role in the White House's response to the economic crisis and tried to steer a middle ground .....
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POPSGoogle Holding Chrome OS Event Thursday Complete Overview And Launch Plans To Be Revealed. Google is planning to hold a special Chrome OS event at its headquarters in Mountain View, CA this Thursday morning, we’ve just been notified. The plan is to give some technical background information as well as show off some demos, we’re told. More notably, they will be giving a “complete overview” of the new OS, which they say will launch next year. Sundar Pichai, Google’s VP of Product Management and Matthew Papakipos, Google Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS will be speaking at the event. And there will be a Q&A session afterwards. http://tinyurl.com/yhno533
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POPSHeading to Oslo in Weeks, Facing Tough Days on the Diplomatic Front for a vote on the United Nations Security Council. Earlier on his trip, in Singapore, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, the U.N.-sponsored climate conference's chairman, formally announced that he did not think there would be an agreement coming out of Copenhagen, and more negotiations will be necessary. Then, after meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a side meeting in Singapore, President Obama acknowledged that US-Russian negotiators would almost certainly not make the deadline for a new nuclear disarmament agreement to take the place of the START treaty that expires on December 5. More frustrations followed . On Monday, Chinese government officials refused to broadcast live President Obama's Shanghai town hall meeting on state-run television. Jake Tapper ABC news blog http://tinyurl.com/yc5bapc
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POPS7 Things That Could Leave You Extra Vulnerable to Colds and Flu 1.) Eating too much sugar doesn't just pack on pounds … A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating 100 g of sugar (think three cans of soda) significantly hampered the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria for up to 5 hours afterward. 2.) There's a reason moms and doctors always push fluids on you when you're sick. Your body needs plenty of water to flush out toxins"and yes, coffee and tea are acceptable sources. How much fluid you should drink daily varies from person to person. You're drinking the right amount if your urine is pale yellow. Drink this immune-boosting beverage instead 3.) You know excess weight is unhealthy for your heart, brain and other organs. But it's also bad for your immune system. In fact, those who become most seriously ill with swine flu tend to share the same characteristic: a body mass index over 40, meaning they are morbidly obese. Excess weight can cause hormonal imbalances and inflammation ...
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POPS TARP's Moment of Truth and Senate Democrats Only this week AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka dreamed up a new use for TARP money, demanding it be recycled into favored community banks or small businesses. This is how an emergency bailout program morphs into a White House's "walking around" money. Senator Thune has tried several variations on the end-TARP theme, and with each attempt has picked up Democratic support. When he offers this new proposal "perhaps as part of must-pass legislation to raise the debt ceiling to an eye-popping $13 trillion "taxpayers will be watching "deficit-hawk" Senators, from Alaska's Mark Begich to Arkansas's Blanche Lincoln to Nebraska's Ben Nelson. For Democrats who claim to care about runaway spending, no vote could be easier. TARP has served its purpose, and then some. End it.
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POPSWe Knew the "FActs" Were Wrong! What's the Big Deal?? The numbers were made up. They were lies. A lie is when someone knowingly misrepresents facts, for any liberal who may be reading this. The lies were simple once the MSM decided to look at them. Jobs were reported as created in places that do not exist. The Obama administration's well oiled machine even put up the erroneously reported statistics on a website without attempting to correct them. Confronted with the magnitude of the incorrect figures, Ed Pound (Director of Communications for the Recovery Board) explained "We expected all along that recipients would make mistakes on their congressional districts, on jobs numbers, on award amounts, and so on." Ahhh, so you expected the numbers to be wrong. That explains it. When I read this statement my first thought was " I wonder if Director of Communications for the Recovery Board was one of those "created jobs ." I can only hope that any others are better uses of your tax dollars
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POPS Ga Ga for Sarah The success of Palin’s book will help pay the enormous legal bills she and her husband faced as the result of malicious suits brought against her, all of which have ended in failure to find any wrongdoing. Her speaking fees will provide her family with a lifestyle that she has earned by being tough enough to meet the extraordinary challenges with which her political and personal life has presented her. Beyond that, I do not see her reentering the political scene by running for Senator from Alaska, for its Governor again, or any other position, least of all the presidency. I think she will continue to evolve into a spokesperson for values and principles that many Americans share, but which are being eroded by a full scale attack by the Obama administration. So, let’s all go ga-ga for Sarah for a little while and let’s hope she will eviscerate Barack Obama with the same gusto she hunted moose. Canada Free Press ..... more http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/16971
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POPS $6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts ..... Bill McMorris November 17 Many other recipients carried the banner for congressional districts that have been defunct for decades. South Carolina’s 7th took the cake, garnering more than $27 million in stimulus funds, despite being eliminated in 1930. The stimulus helped to create 35 congressional districts in Washington D.C. and the four American territories, all of which have no congressional districts. These areas received $5 of the $6.4 billion distributed to the non-existent districts. New Mexico Watchdog broke the story on Monday morning after finding that $26 million in stimulus money had been distributed to 13 congressional districts"ten more than the state actually has. Similar reports soon followed from New Hampshire, Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota and West Virginia. A reporter from the Montana Policy Institue confronted the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which oversees the site, about these non-existent congressional districts on Monday afternoon.
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POPSSeventeen Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat History of Cats The cat wasn't domesticated to make a pet or companion; the cat was domesticated by accident. In the Valley of the Nile (which is now Sudan, but then was Upper Egypt), the cat was first domesticated. Now the Pharaoh had much grain that needed protection from vermin. He wanted to confiscate all of the cats in Egypt and keep them near the palace graineries, but he couldn't. Cats were so popular among his people that to remove all the cats from all the people in Egypt would have caused a revolt. So, instead he cleverly declared all cats "demigods." This means that they weren't gods equal to the Pharoah's status, but they certainly were more valuable than the average person. With this plan, people could care for the demigods (cats) while they remained the official property of the Pharoah. The status of the cat shot up overnight. If anyone killed a cat, they were sentenced to death. If a house caught on fire, the cats were pulled to safety first.
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POPSChina Bans Oba-Mao T-Shirts Before Obama Visit To view video please click on link: http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/10/obama-commie-gear-sells-big-in-china-video/ Two security guards happened to pass by at the moment I announced to the camera: “This is the T-shirt everybody is talking about.” And that was it. They scrambled towards us and tried to pry the shirt out of my hands. I didn’t give in. There was a bit of yelling and quite a scuffle. My producer Jo Kent emphatically stated our case. Photographer Miguel Castro kept his cool. By this point, we had everything on tape. We ended up being detained for two hours in the cold, maze of a market. A crowd gathered round. More security and then police showed up. They wanted our press cards, our passports, but most of all, they wanted the shirt. It was worth it. The shirt got attention on the air and sparked buzz online. In fact, some members of the White House pool and a few colleagues in Atlanta actually tried to bribe me for it.
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POPSChina's Blunt Talk for Obama Before heading to China, Obama underscored the urgency of his agenda on Iran by joining Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in warning Tehran that “we are now running out of time.” The trip has already had some hiccups. Wrangling between the administration and Beijing over Obama’s town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai on Monday was intense, with China wanting to screen the audience and its questions, and the U.S. wanting a freer exchange.
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POPSRussia Outwitted U.S. Strategic Defenses With Missile Test "At the same time, U.S. reconnaissance satellites are unable to detect submarines under thick ice floe in the Arctic," he said. The region around the North Pole is a perfect place for launches of ballistic missiles because it allows the submarines to arrive in a designated area undetected and to shorten the missile flight time to the target. The RSM-54 Sineva (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a third-generation liquid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile that entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2007. It can carry four or 10 nuclear warheads, depending on the modification. Russia plans to equip its Delta IV class submarines with at least 100 Sineva missiles. Read related articles http://en.rian.ru/trend/sineva/
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POPSThe Cost Of This Imperative Will Be Paid For In Lost Freedoms This bitter pill might be easier to swallow if the new left was at least honest in admitting that the cost of seeing this imperative through will be paid for in freedoms. These new Knights Templar have defended their cause with constant references to affordability and yet under their plan what is affordable ceases to be a subjective measure that each man can make for himself according to his individual needs and priorities. Rather it becomes an objective measure defined by the new “Commissioner of Health Choices.” Every American will be forced to purchase an insurance policy. The government will decide what benefits those policies must include. Even if you are happy with your current insurance plan you will have to switch to a policy that includes the government mandated benefits even if you don’t want them, will never use them and their inclusion will increase the price you pay for coverage. And suppose you decide for whatever reason that you are simply not going to pay? .....
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POPSBillionaire's Son Hiding in Yemen: UK Rape-Murder Charges Arab Playboy Highly trained soldiers want to get him because of this horrible example of injustice. "They have been used in Iraq. They said they are willing to get him and it has taken a lot of talking with them to get them to see it is not the way to go. "It would have to be very covert and it would be a tremendous political challenge. It would be much better if legal means could cause a breakthrough." A friend told the Standard: "The Yemen authorities are still holding out and the family can hide behind their constitution. The impression is they will not change their mind despite all the public pressure on them. "The father pretends there is nothing he can do as his son is a grown-up. It seems he is never going to be extradited for a British trial. "If they have not succumbed to pressure now, it is not going to happen. How can the world live with the fact some nation's citizens can be above the law?" Read more: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yhvw2k5
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POPS Expedition Great White EXPEDITIONS: * By mounting long-lasting tracking tags and taking measurements and DNA samples from live, wild sharks in this expedition, scientists are hoping to unravel the mysteries of the great white’s lifecycle ― where they are born, how they mate, where they migrate, aggregate, and more ― to help conserve and protect these endangered animals. * Dr. Domeier has developed profiles on almost 100 great whites based on their gill slits, pelvic fins, tails and color patterns. * He designed the most advanced real-time tracking devices ever made ― lasting up to six years and capable of sending 120,000 messages. * A line that can hold 5,000 pounds along with four fixed buoys can together create hundreds of pounds of drag that eventually wear down sharks’ resistance, allowing crew members to hand-reel them in safely. * The shark is then lifted onto the platform with a unique forklift that can safely hold 37 tons.
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POPSA Big Google Chrome Extensions Push Is Imminent seems to suggest this Extension launch is indeed imminent. The image on the right would look to be some sort of new Chrome menu placeholder icon related to extensions. And there’s more. Below, find some other pictures and information I was able to find in the Chromium Code Reviews area (placed by Google employees) that seem to make it very clear that Google is about to unleash extension support to rival that of Firefox. Based on what I’m reading, developers will be able to add icons to the Chrome toolbar (likely what the image above represents), add temporary icons inside the Chrome address bar (think: RSS icon), allow users to customize the extensions, and developers will apparently even be able to implement their own versions of “standard browser pages such as the New Tab page.” http://www.techcrunch.com/
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POPS15-ish Things Worth Knowing About Coffee “Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.” That’s the recipe for coffee, according to the utterly French statesman Talleyrand (1754-1838). AFRICAN ORIGINS (Circa A.D. 800) Goats will eat anything. Just ask Kaldi the legendary Ethiopian (map) goatherd. Kaldi, the story goes, noticed his herd dancing from one coffee shrub to another, grazing on the cherry-red berries containing the beans. He copped a few himself and was soon frolicking with his flock. Witnessing Kaldi’s goatly gambol, a monk plucked berries for his brothers. That night they were uncannily alert to divine inspiration. History tells us other Africans of the same era fueled up on protein-rich coffee-and-animal-fat balls"primitive PowerBars"and unwound with wine made from coffee-berry pulp. Coffee later crossed the Red Sea to Arabia, where things really got cooking... ESCAPE FROM ARABIA (Circa 1000 to 1600) Coffee as we know it kicked off in Arabia, where roasted beans
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POPS 'Consensus' on Climate Change Is 'Fake,' Scientists Say The present cooling was NOT predicted by the alarmists' computer models, and has come as an embarrassment to them. . . "We are flooded with claims that the evidence is clear, that the debate is closed, that we must act immediately, etc., but in fact there is no such evidence. It doesn't exist." The Oct. 29 letter also notes that the American Physical Society, an organization of physicists, did not sign the AAAS letter and states the society is "at this moment reviewing its stance on so-called global warming, having received a petition from its membership to do so. That petition was signed by 160 distinguished members and fellows of the society, including one Nobelist and 12 members of the National Academies. Indeed a score of the signers are Members and Fellows of the AAAS, none of whom were consulted before the AAAS letter to you."
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POPSNY-23 Remains Undecided, Owens Could Be Out the healthcare bill passed, Bill Owens' stint in the House of Representatives may be short lived. As it turns out, Doug Hoffman conceded the race down 5,335 votes with 93% of precints reporting. However, if had hung on, he would have only found himself down 3,026. Obviously not much better. While the 3,026 vote deficit is significant, even more significant is the fact that there are 10,200 uncounted absentee ballots which were used by members of the military as well as overseas voters. If those returns come back tipping the vote to Hoffman, he will replace Owens in Congress.
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POPSbow-wow, now roll over and beg I agree with Scott Johnson, Steve Gilbert, Andrew Malcom, and many others that the President of the United States should not be bowing before any head of state. But unlike these astute observers, I actually know a little something about the art of the bow in Japan, having lived in Japan four different times on a resident visa, taught East Asian Studies at Harvard, and counseled many hundreds of American, European, Middle Eastern, and Australian executives on how to work and negotiate with the Japanese -- including teaching them the right way to bow. Watch Heads of state greeting the Japanese Emperor below: http://domania.us/Oaccess/OBAMA/BOW-Japan346H.gif
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POPSGore's Presentation on Climate Change Draws 200 Protestors Organizers allowed the media to cover only the first few minutes of Gore's presentation. In addition to his nonprofit advocacy, Gore is a partner in a venture capital firm that finances "sustainable" and alternative energy businesses, prompting some critics to accuse Gore of promoting environmental policies that will fatten his bank account. "Cap & Tax " Don't Be Fooled: Al Gore Will Make billions," read a sign carried by Alan Tudor, who drove from Tampa to attend Saturday's protest. "Gore's Favorite Green Product? Your money in his pocket," said another sign. www.palmbeachpost.com http://tinyurl.com/yhny8o2 Note: TinyURL tool will ask you to click to “ Proceed to this site ”
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POPS What is The Loyal Opposition To Do? One year after his election victory, the wheels are coming off the Obama presidency. The first attempt in three decades unambiguously to govern America from the left is failing quickly and decisively. Our task is to minimize the damage to the country, and then to be ready to set things right--to use the next three years to lay the groundwork, intellectual and political, for a new era of a governing conservatism that can restore American prosperity, revitalize American strength, and restore the foundations for American greatness. --William Kristol Weekly Standard http://tinyurl.com/yfoxh7c Note: TinyURL tool will ask you to click to “ Proceed to this site ”
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POPSCall Evil by it's rightful name It's why we forbid soldiers on a military base from carrying weapons. It's why the Las Vegas police run background checks on casino workers, but then can't sort the work cards by countries of origin like, say, countries on the terrorist watch list. Maj. Hasan is simply the latest sad case in point. Maj. Hasan spoke openly (and ignorantly) about how his Muslim faith demanded the severed heads of infidels. He argued against Muslim soldiers killing other Muslims in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He kept counsel with radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, who had previous contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers. Investigators speaking on the condition of anonymity told reporters they wanted to investigate Maj. Hasan thoroughly but feared they would be "crucified" if they launched a probe into a Muslim officer communicating with his imam.
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POPSMumbai Under Attack: November 28, 2008 35 photos-boston.com...Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations
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