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POPSNo Gay Sex, Please; We're from Virginia The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has a large and vibrant gay nightlife, where club managers said many Republicans were expected this week. "We've had quite a spike, mostly people who are curious come down and they wind up leaving and having a good time," said Robert Parker, the manager of the Gay 90's club in downtown Minneapolis which features a popular "drag queen" show. "Mississippi, Alabama, California, Arizona, I've seen people from all over, said Parker.
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POPSWhen Hairballs Become Hazardous One of my cats is having a terrible time expelling hairballs and may be in trouble. I'm going to follow this advice with respect to adding some oil and fiber and see if this helps the old girl.
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POPS A Reform Ticket Bear in mind that Mr. Murkowski had already served as junior U.S. Senator from Alaska for 22 years. Mr. Murkowski was junior senator for so long because Senator Ted Stevens (who was recently indicted for corruption) had lifetime tenure in the senior post. Shortly after joining the oil and gas commission, Mrs. Palin commenced an ethics probe of the state's Republican party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, involving conflicts of interest with oil companies. The probe resulted in a $12,000 fine for the party chair. She crossed party lines in 2004 to join a Democratic representative's ethics complaint over an international trade deal against the Republican Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who had ties to the Murkowski machine. Mr. Renkes resigned. In late 2005, Mrs. Palin announced her run for Governor before then-Governor Murkowski had announced his intention to stand for re-election. In a three-way primary, Mrs. Palin got 51% to Mr. Murkowski's 19%.
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POPSLou Dobbs: Media 'in the tank supporting the Obma candidacy" HANK SHEINKOPF, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good for democrats, not so good for the nation in the long term. Barack Obama is interesting, he's new, therefore he is news. OK. The fact that a black man can reach that pinnacle of success, raise the amount of money, run this kind of organization, beat Hillary Clinton is big news. At some point there has to be some fairness in the discussion. The problem here from the beginning is from day Obama showed up, I was wondering when the reporters will start chiseling his face on to Mt. Rushmore and the guy hadn't even won the nomination yet. That's the danger here, Lou. And people know it and they're not stupid. Average guy says wait a second, I want news and he isn't getting it.
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POPSStay loose, Joe, stay loose "Twenty years later, a stronger, less restless, more comfortable Joe Biden is going to be a problem no matter what the RNC’s talking points say today – and they know it. "
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POPSStem cells could allow 'blood farms' One of the issues recently has been the shelf life of blood, where the rotation principle-first in first out can leave blood 'stale' and unsafe. There is also the fact that the contributions cannot meet the demand, and the increase in surgery that requires large volumes of blood. Transplant, and heart surgery being prime examples. They have been searching for a means of producing blood artificially, but the prospect of using stem cells, makes it more likely to be a reality. One of the most important aspects is that the red cells have no nucleus, so no nucleic DNA. A fact that can relieve many ethical, and practical problems.
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POPSLet Them Eat Rice: Washington's Unedifying Ethanol Food Fight And what about the impact of the Chinese livestock and meat complex, alluded to by Senator Grassley? According to China expert, Darrell Ray, Director of the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, "China has not been importing corn to grow her livestock industry. China continues to export more corn that she imports. With regard to grains, China has been taking care of China as if it were a planet on to its own, completely independent of what is happening elsewhere. . . .To attribute today's international grain prices to China essentially assumes that beginning two years ago the market decided there may be a need for China to become a net importer of some corn in the future, say 2012, and so bid-up the price of corn by double." As this "let them eat rice" soundbite made clear, the debate over the food versus fuel issue is about as undignified as a full out real food fight at a summer camp cafeteria.
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POPSOil Supply Increases, Oil Price Increases Proof again supply is not the problem driving prices on oil and gas. Note this happens as the oil laden Caspian region (Russia, Georgia, etc.) comes into play with war and rumors of war--and particularly as Condi Rice (former exec at Chevron) goes around heightening US rhetoric against Russia and signing provocatory missile agreements with its satellite states. It is not actual supply so much as perceived supply which is effected by wars and "geopolitical" tensions and factors . Change the (neoconservative) war policy, prices will drop.
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POPSGamers Make Better Surgeons Yet another study, by Fordham University, measured the effect of learning a new video game on problem-solving skills in middle school aged children. It found that "playing video games can improve cognitive and perceptual skills." "Certain types of video games can have beneficial effects improving gamers' dexterity as well as their ability to problem solve - attributes that have proven useful not only to students but to surgeons," the researchers found. There are actually "games" where you perform virtual operations, BTW.
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POPSHappiness, not necessarily an advantage "This scientific debate raises the question of why sadness exists at all, Forgas says. “If sadness has no benefit, why is it so ubiquitous?” he asks. " Maybe happiness or sadness are obsolete descriptions? We need a different language.
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POPSDrug-resistant bacteria found in wildlife Notice, this is not a natural occurrence of resistance. "If it's really true that anti-biotic-resistant bacteria have spread so widely, it's going to be a big problem," WWW.OkieLogic.COM
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POPSMcCain campaign: Obama is "Big Oil" candidate HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. "New McCain communications flack Nicole Wallace — formerly of Bush Co. — took to “Morning Joe” this morning to push this deceptive storyline, only to get busted on it despite Joe Scarborough’s most valiant effort to cover for her"
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POPSStinging Tentacles Offer Hint of Oceans’ Decline The explosion of jellyfish populations, scientists say, reflects a combination of severe overfishing of natural predators, like tuna, sharks and swordfish; rising sea temperatures caused in part by global warming; and pollution that has depleted oxygen levels in coastal shallows. These problems are pronounced in the Mediterranean, a sea bounded by more than a dozen countries that rely on it for business and pleasure. Left unchecked in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, these problems could make the swarms of jellyfish menacing coastlines a grim vision of seas to come. “The problem on the beach is a social problem,” said Dr. Gili, who talks with admiration of the “beauty” of the globular jellyfish. “We need to take care of it for our tourism industry. But the big problem is not on the beach. It’s what’s happening in the seas.”
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POPSIs Syrian President Assad Bluffing? something his country has always refused since it considered that Lebanon is just a Syrian province. This was a huge condition for the French who see it a pledge given by Damascus to Lebanese sovereignty. Fifth, Syria has, according to Arab sources, made a big "summer housecleaning" by eliminating dozens of prisoners at the Sidnaya prison. Among them, two leaders of Jund al-Sham, the Islamist organization linked to Syrian services. Sixth, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah, Syria also asked Hamas leaders based in Damascus to leave the Syrian territory. The latter could move into the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Hezbollah stronghold. Seventh, Syria is allegedly trying to break up Hezbollah. Al-Seyassah believes that Syria has resumed its contacts with the former secretary general of Hezbollah and one of its co-founders, Sobhi Toufaili. Syria wants to strengthen Toufaili's faction to weaken Hassan Nasrallah and divide the party.
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POPSEurope's Love Affair With Barry a more "European" (that is, a more social-democratic) America, which at last casts off some of its nastier capitalist habits. An America that is a lot more like us Europeans who have forgone power politics and sovereignty in favor of communitarian politics and integration... After Inauguration Day, alas, Europe and the world will not face a Dreamworks president, but the leader of a superpower. Whether McCain or Obama, the 44th president will speak more nicely than did W. in his first term. He will also pay more attention to the "decent opinions of mankind." But he will still preside over the world's largest military, economic, and cultural power. This vast power differential is what Germans and Europeans don't quite fathom in their infatuation with Obama. Their problem was not Mr. Bush, but Mr. Big--America as Behemoth Among the Nations, unwilling to succumb to the dictates of goodness that animate post-heroic, post-imperial, and post-sovereign Europe.
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POPSGPS for the Moon -Helping Humans Navigate the Lunar Surface "We will help with navigation, but also with astronauts' health as well," Li said. "We want them to avoid the stress of getting lost, or getting frustrated with the equipment. Lunar navigation isn't just a technology problem, it's also biomedical." The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS).
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POPSChina and Fannie Mae China has already been burned badly with its Blackstone and Morgan Stanley investments. But with the Big Macs and Maes, it's still the same old problem, the Chinese loaned them money which they can't pay back, however, much both sides want pretend that one day they can.