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POPS“Apocalypse: The Second World War” ~ Veterans Day November 11, 2009 remember the guys who have been fighting them in the sand, fighting them in the dust, fighting them in the mountains, and now fight on in the hospital wards. The Valour IT push is on, to give laptops to wounded servicemen. At the invitation of Cassandra at Villainous Company, whose Marine husband is forward deployed in Afghanistan, we’re with Team Marines this year. Pushing the Marines ahead is just the fun part of the drive. It all goes to everyone in all branches. Give as you can. Donate via Team Marines Apropos of all of the above, VC offers up a good quick read: "Marines though the Lens of History".
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POPSThe United States’ Place in The World … and he needs to grow a set via Weekly Standard, Lieberman, Kyl and Bayh, “Whatever it takes … crippling sanctions.” I dunno, I can think of other measures that might be more effectively crippling. Whatever … Also at WS, Steven Hayes, hurtfully, “Speak timidly and don’t carry a stick.” Ralph Peters, NYPost, cruelly: “Appease-y does it for weak Prez on the road to a Mideast apocalypse.” Greenwald, Should any Iraq lessons be applied to Iran? I can think of a few quick applicable Iraq lessons off the top of my head. Whack one tyrant, the rest notice. Also, whacking tyrants effectively neutralizes their ability to cause trouble. Also, follow-on is important, don’t let the Euros weasel out of it, and ignore the Dems and the anti-war American left. They are loud, but harmless.
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POPSSix Word Stories "Satan practices trigonometry" :lol: Almost Zen!!! :-) These remind me of the Japanese tea ceremony, or the Zen Koans et al - Nice, simple, art
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POPSMore on why we all die today.......not ! Love this stuff. Amuses me that people actually worry about this stuff. Ever since the beginning of time there has always been a doomsday just ahead. Only benefit i can see if when we all wake up tomorrow we can give that sigh of relief....lol
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POPS"Bush's Shocking Biblical Prophecy" more: "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac: "This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins". The story of the conversation emerged only because the Elyse Palace, baffled by Bush's words, sought advice from Thomas Romer, a professor of theology at the University of Lausanne. Four years later, Romer gave an account in the September 2007 issue of the university's review, Allez savoir. The article apparently went unnoticed, although it was referred to in a French newspaper.
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POPSDaniel Dennett on Evolutionary Theology You've got to love these typical Dennett-style skeptical questions. Full report by Daniel Dennett on the "Darwin Festival in Cambridge", funded by the Templeton Foundation, via PZ Myers blog: Pharyngula.
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POPSThe Myth of Progress <<<Solitude is inimical to power, shuns power, seeks its own progress. A progress that is an illusion, enhancing the few and fooling the masses, is for the solitary the opposite of progress, for it does not consult nature or quiet the mind in order to begin reconsturcting the self. But the theory of progress is an old device masking power, and concealing what the 20th century creative souls — and those brave 19th century figures like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche — unmasked as lies about human nature. What is the alternative to progress for the grand institutions of today? It is a devolution to simplicity, to individuals and small social units, to natural industry and exchange, to a relationship to nature based on value and not exploitation or power. The alternative to progress is a devolution of artificial wealth, privilege, and legitimacy.
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POPSAn Investigation Into Civilization's End In a scientific research city in the heart of Siberia, he meets with geophysicists who contend that the solar system is moving into a highly charged interstellar energy cloud. And on the tip of South Africa, he interviews physicists and psychics who are trying to make sense of the fact that the earth’s magnetic field is vanishing.
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POPSAmerican Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse The mysterious story of R. C. Christian and the absence of information about the true meaning of the Guidestones was bound to become an irresistible draw for conspiracy theorists and "investigators"of all kinds. Not surprisingly, three decades later there is no shortage of observers rushing to fill the void with all sorts of explanations. Indeed strange...
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POPSPeople Power! SILENCE is complicity. Our president’s refusal to take a forthright moral stand on the side of the Iranian freedom marchers is read in Tehran as a blank check for the current regime. The fundamentalist junta has begun arresting opposition figures, with regime mouthpieces raising the prospect of the death penalty. Inevitably, there are claims that dissidents have been “hoarding weapons and explosives.” Foreign media reps are under house arrest. Cellphone frequencies are jammed. Students are killed and the killings disavowed. And our president is “troubled,” but doesn’t believe we should “meddle” in Iran’s internal affairs. (Meddling in Israel’s domestic affairs is just fine, though.) We just turned our backs on freedom. Again. … For decades, Washington policymakers from both parties have prodded Iranians to throw off their shackles. Last Friday, millions of Iranians stood up. And we’re standing down. That isn’t diplomacy. It’s treachery
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POPSObama, Minions cave in to Big Coal, Mountaintop Mining
Gawd what a buncha hypocrites and LIARS they are becoming. More: And EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said this year that the agency had "considerable concern" about the projects. She pledged that her agency would "use the best science and follow the letter of the law in ensuring we are protecting our environment." Soon afterward, the agency blocked six major mountaintop projects in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. But this month, after White House meetings with coal companies and advocates such as Rahall and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the EPA gave the green light to at least two dozen projects. "It was a big disappointment," said Joan Mulhern, a lawyer for Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that has led court challenges to mountaintop removal. Mulhern charged that the EPA "blew off" Jackson's earlier promises that the agency would adhere to science and conduct an open process. Ed Hopkins, a top Sierra Club official, said that some of the projects that obtained