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POPS 18 Reasons to be Cheerful After Copenhagen The outcome of Copenhagen is depressing if you only look at what happened at the official summit, and persist in the belief that those guys are "world leaders". They are not: they are followers, guardians of a dying regime.
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POPSChina’s Asset Bubble It is a matter of time. What will it mean to the Chinese Government? Will it buckle under the weight of massive dissatisfaction? Or will it mean some dark years for the Chinese people? What will it mean to the US Dollar? Will China unload the dollar thus massively devaluing the currency in order to keep their economy afloat? But would they if they are so dependent on foreign trade? And what will it mean to the world economy. Will the world economy be firm enough to absorb Chinese economic contraction? So far, China's economy has been one of the few bright spots. If the world economy is not strong enough China's asset bubble burst may lead to another global recession.
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POPSThe Great Wall of Israel Ever heard of it? Neither have I. Makes for interesting, if depressing reading. Probably makes the anti-immigrationists jealous in this country, though. What a waste!
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POPSGreece downgraded over high debt Europe is falling. What will the order be: 1) Greece, 2) Ireland, 3) Italy, 4) Portugal, 5) UK, 6) Spain? What could Germany and France do then, but follow. What happens then is the $64 trillion question. Hyperinflation? More deflation? Nobody knows, but they will know soon. The knowledge is liable to be depressing for believers in eternal economic growth.
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POPSObama Will Bankrupt America The Numbers. What a depressing and alarming read! And yet there is no stopping him. That being said, Congress is equally responsible.
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POPSInside a Failed State - Zimbabwe I watched about this in Anthro today--absolutely depressing, but that doesn't even express it. I don't have time to watch the whole video, but it seems to sort of represent what i saw today. :( Hopefully the video gets the point across.
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POPSTo whom it may concern: I resign More: I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colours, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams,the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow. So.... here's my cheque book and my car keys, my company badge, my credit card bills, and all 32 of my computer passwords. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause, TAG!! YOU'RE IT!!
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POPSNazi-Democrat Analogies Leaves Jewish Groups Alarmed But the vast majority of instances, as a review of recent of recent news clips shows, have been offered by Republican or conservative figures targeting the president or Democrats. Take, for instance, former Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson, who warned that Obama - like Hitler - "killed the weak, the sick, the old, and babies and races/religions he didn't like. Hitler also controlled the media." Then there is radio host Rush Limbaugh, who insisted that, "Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate," and RedState.com's Erick Erickson, who insisted that the president's health care adviser, Linda Douglass, "really is the Joseph Goebbels of the White House Health Care shop."
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POPSTexting instead of sleeping
This is so disturbing. Social media has such wonderful potential, but seeing it used like this is depressing. Call me crazy but i would strongly consider advocating legislation that caps the number of text messages, tweets, status updates, etc. that a minor is allowed to send. God knows how many of them text while driving, putting us all at great risk. Between twitter and text messaging, society's use of social tools to stay connected 24x7 all day, every day just makes no sense to me. Seeing tweets about what people are doing, who they're with, where they're going, what they're eating, what they're watching just makes no sense to me. Who cares! Is there no joy in doing something anymore unless we can instantly tweet about it, upload a photo of it or broadcast it to our 'friends' on facebook? I think there is so much to gain from social media...so much to learn. But right now i feel like people are drunk on the idea and using it extreme ways that will look foolish in hinds
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POPSThe way the brain buys Scientists used to assume that emotion and rationality were opposed to each other, but Antonio Damasio, now professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, has found that people who lose the ability to perceive or experience emotions as the result of a brain injury find it hard or impossible to make any decisions at all. They can’t shop. ergo we shop with our hearts..;-)
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POPSBarbara Ehrenreich on the criminalization of poverty There are a lot of Kafkaesque stories in this piece, like that of wheelchair-bound 62-year-old homeless veteran Al Szekely, who was imprisoned after a nighttime raid on a homeless shelter. His crime? He had an outstanding court summons for criminal trespassing -- he'd gotten a ticket for sleeping on a sidewalk. In other words, " hey arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless." The truancy discussion strikes me as the most vicious part, though.
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POPSRemembering 9/11, Eight Years Later the ideological battlefield. As someone who was galvanized into a political awakening and eventual transformation by 9/11, it has been disheartening to see the country slide back into somnolence. Indeed, I have wondered at times whether we have entered a post-post-9/11 age. I believe the memory still lingers in our collective consciousness, but it has retreated to the farther reaches. When one looks at history, this depressing pattern emerges time and time again. One has to wonder if human beings generally don't learn from history, but rather, are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. Jolted out of slumber every so often by horrific events, we then sink back into oblivion once the threat no longer seems urgent. A few will always stand on the sidelines trying to bring attention to the looming threat of the day, but by and large, we only listen when forced. Nonetheless, the fight must go on, for the alternative is far too frightening.
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POPSDepressed astronauts might get computerized solace (AP) I couldn't help thinking how that the first paragraph is almost the same as that for a soldier. There are a lot more reasons for a soldier to become depressed though. And a lot less effort being made to help them, unless you consider a handful of a drug cocktail treatment.
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POPSA Degree in English Roman writers composed some of the world’s most thrilling verse and were masters of historiography, oratory and philosophy. But diploma Latin is some of the most depressing and long-winded legalese you can find. Hiding behind the lovely calligraphy are maddening syntax and appalling neologisms. How do you say the name of every college town in Latin? You shouldn’t have to. (Nor should you have to struggle to read the text in the illustration that accompanies this piece, so let me help you out. It says: “I can’t understand this either.”)
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POPSLearning to Live with Islam by Mark Steyn Ah, right. That's the big worry, is it? If you're wondering why the link above doesn't go to Lucy Cockcroft's report itself, that's because the Telegraph's original story appears to have suddenly gone missing. Funny how that happens when the subject under discussion is Islam. I would imagine Sebastian Faulks was asked a straightforward question and gave an honest answer. Lux et veritas ("Light and Truth"), as they used to say at Yale. But I would bet that, in the long run, the Zakaria approach will prevail. (Full disclosure: Sebastian came to stay at my pad in New Hampshire to research a novel partly set in my neighborhood. Aside from a blazingly vivid description of the breakfasts I made him, don't pick it up if you're looking for glimpses of real life chez Steyn: He turned me into a woman and had sex with me. I thought of issuing a fatwa and burning down his publishers, but I'm not the type to make a fuss.)
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