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POPSThe Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy. This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.
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POPSWhen Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans The 300 apes in Spanish zoos would not be freed, but better conditions would be mandated. Meanwhile, even in democracies, the law accords diminished rights to many humans: children, prisoners, the insane, the senile. Teenagers may not vote, philosophers who slip into dementia may be lashed to their beds, courts can order surgery or force-feeding. Spain’s Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals. One said such thinking led to abortion, euthanasia and ethnic cleansing.
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POPSThe Body Museum in Netherlands Her Majesty Queen Beatrix opened CORPUS on March 14th, 2008. More on anatomy-related museums: bignosemousie's clip - Mutter Museum: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/893A0557-1D6D-414A-9BBA-89A151ADE310/ kore7's clip - Body Worlds 2 Anatomical Exhibit: http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/64D2D534-55F7-4D13-A9B0-D0B4EF4F4ADD/ an interesting gadget: 3D printed Brain Lamp - http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/26/3d-printed-brain-lam.html
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POPSWe Are At War!...and don't you forget it!....clipable A summation of Bush's "State Of The Union" address that gives a well thought out critique of the deeper meaning of his words and statements. One thing that I didn't notice was his refusal to use the word "Democratic" instead of "Democrat"...may sound trivial, but this is exactly how this administration operates.
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POPSAlien Hand Syndrome Another totally weird syndrome! I find these disorders fascinating. So much can be learned about the human mind and consciousness if we ever learn to understand these disorders. I have heard of several cases where that hand is aggressive and tries to choke or hit and harm the *owner* constantly. Creepy... The Anarchic Hand
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POPSBush: War Criminal's Crimes; Mass Murderer; WarMonger, Bush wants to murder more. We have to kill Iranians "over there," Bush says, "before they come over here." There is no possibility that Iranians or any Muslims who have no air force, no navy, no modern military technology are going to "come over here," and no indication that they plan to do so. The Muslims are disunited and have been for centuries. That is what makes them vulnerable to colonial rule. If Muslims were united, the US would already have lost its army in Iraq. Indeed, it would not have been able to put an army in Iraq. Lacking US troops with which to invade Iran, the Bush administration has decided to bomb Iran "back into the stone age." Punishing air and missile attacks have been designed not merely to destroy Iran’s nuclear energy projects, but also to destroy the public infrastructure, the economy, and the ability of the government to function. ... http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts222.html
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POPSAre you a Patriot or a Loyalist? For anyone who dares to call peaceful protesters wackos or delusional, I would dare to differ and perhaps even call them cowards or traitors. The whole article is worth a read. These considerations would aptly apply to anyone, anywhere and in any country. Always.
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POPSFirst They Came for the Lawyers The words of Martin Niemoller are the exact reason, why I clip stuff like this and I can hear that little quote too in the back of my mind that goes: "Evil thrives, when good men do nothing" Gitmo, CIA secret prisons, FEMA detention camps, extraordinary rendition, the MCA and cases like José Padila's just have to be challenged by everyone, all the time. They just have to...
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POPSWhen Habeas Corpus is suspended The right of Habeas Corpus is the right a person has to make a petition against unlawful detention:They have the right to be represented by a lawyer, and historically, has been an instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary state action. ' Due to 'national security concerns, and zero tolerance, the right of Habeus corpus has been suspended.' For every U.S. Citizen
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POPSJuan Cole: MANY TORTURED DETAINEES INNOCENT! Why habeas corpus is Morality 101: "prisoners were routinely abused even after it became clear that they had no intelligence value" We have no right to imprison and torture innocent people. Apparently, some previously innocent prisoners were so radicalized by US torture that they took up arms after being released.
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POPSSettlement in anti-Bush T-shirt case I always thought that the right to protest was not challenged in this country. I guess I was a little naive on this point. Amazing how you can just assume that you have rights in a free America......then, something comes along that makes you realize not to let your guard down, or you might find yourself in an America that you don't recognize anymore. Good thing we got the ACLU to counteract the bullies who want control over the masses....at any cost......including the degradation of the U.S. Constitution. Bush and the boys have been doing this sort of thing for the past seven years.
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POPSThe Late, Great American Nation "Think about some of the changes that have already moved us closer to a police state: the invasive USA Patriot Act; the increased domestic surveillance of citizens' emails and telephone calls; attempts to deny habeas corpus to prisoners; a national ID card; and now this alarming new law. In addition to opening the doors to a military state, the law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detaining of protesters in detention camps that are already being built on American soil by the Halliburton corporation. Americans are incredibly naive if they believe those camps being built are just for illegal aliens."
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POPSTop 25 Censored stories of 2008 "Project censored is one of the organizations that we should listen to, to be assured that our newspapers and our broadcast outlets are practicing thorough and ethical journalism." — Walter Cronkite last three: # # 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq # # 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President # # 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
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POPSThank You, Jimmy Carter Don't let the right-wing propaganda machines convince you that Carter is anti-Semitic when he is not! More from Rabbi Lerner: "In an interview...in the January issue of Tikkun magazine, Carter points out that he is “not referring to racism as a basis for Israeli policy in the West Bank, but rather the desire of a minority of Israelis to occupy, confiscate and colonize Palestinian land.” To enforce that occupation of Palestinian land, Israel has built in the West Bank separate roads for Jewish settlers and Palestinians, built separate school systems, has totally different allocations of money, water, food and security for each population, wildly privileging the Jewish settlers and discriminating against the Palestinians whose families have lived there for centuries." "What Carter is arguing is that the best interests of Israel and the United States are not served by the current policies."
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POPSIs a Presidential Coup Under Way? Continuation: The list of Bushite excesses is long...and growing: Their sweeping, secret program of warrantless spying on Americans The usurpation of legislative authority by attaching "signing statements" to laws passed by Congress Suspension of habeas corpus for anyone whom Bush deems to be an "enemy combatant"-allowing innocent people to be detained indefinitely in prison without charges or civil trial, subjected to abuse and even torture, and denied access to judicial review of their incarceration (thus usurping the power of the courts) The assertion of a "state secrets" doctrine to prevent citizens and judges from pursuing legitimate lawsuits An ever-expanding grab bag of autocratic actions, including using "national security letters" to sidestep the courts and spy on American political groups and individuals with no connection at all to terrorism
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POPSTop ten civil-rights abuses of 2006! [P] Ten most egregious Bush administration violations of the American spirit of freedom and openness during 2006. It's a sorry-looking list. Original source: http://www.slate.com/id/2156397/ I'm adopting Godfrey's notation here -- this is a poppable version of a long clip.
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POPSMy Corporate Fascist Nightmare "There is another ominous sign in the rise of corporate fascism worldwide: "civil liberties are now systematically under attack. For instance police forces in free societies, in return for being allowed to use their new toys of torture such as a Taser (1), have yielded power to private security guards at our airports, bus stations, workplaces and financial institutions. These private, armed guard companies operate beyond the control and oversight of any legislation or the "rule of law" and it appears, have only contempt for "due process" and the principles of habeas corpus or the presumption of innocence in their daily dealings with the public at large" "Benito Mussolini who coined a phrase that describes the term very well: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.""
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POPS"President" = "Commander-in-Chief"? The militarization of US political culture Historian Garry Wills on the use of the phrase "commander-in-chief" to refer to the US President. He reminds us that the Constitution designates the POTUS as "commander in chief of the U.S. Army and Navy" -- not of civilians -- and suggests that the prevalent use of military language to refer to civilian political institutions is indicative of a wider and more problematic trend.
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