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POPSBrazilian Attends Own Funeral A "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity if there ever was one. I would LOVE to have seen the look on the faces of the gathered family and friends.
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POPSCorrupted doctors When you lied once at least, who will trust you further? :cool: Striking example of our totally corrupted medicine and health care. Corrupted by whom? Who corrupt society and its institutions? How we calling those who perform the corruption and their accomplices? If these organized individuals do corrupt our society, how can we expect any benefits for our health and well being from them, their actions? Lie cannot last forever and in the end the truth will find its way out. Who will resist to make it happen?
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POPSAmong the dead at Fort Hood: An Expecting Mother, Age 21 Army strong. The 2006 Kelvyn Park High School graduate served in Korea and most recently in Iraq, where she drove fuel tankers. She made her father proud. "She was the best I have. The light of my family," Juan Velez said of his only daughter. "She was living my dream . . . to be part of the military, part of the United States. To be part of something. Just to give back to the United States because this is where we are from."
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POPSThe Slaughter of Kathryn, Connor and Cameron Maxwell You can prevent a tragedy if you are willing to acknowledge that family homicide and domestic violence are real crimes. Learn the signs of trouble, abuse, stalking, domestic violence, get involved by holding community informational gatherings, post the information in the schools, business and places of worship. If you begin a dialogue you just might be surprised at how many lives will be saved in the process.
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POPSOakland's Peerless Coffee is still going strong More: Peerless' cupping room, in fact, might be the most charming around, with the same furniture that John Vukasinovich used decades ago lining its cramped quarters, along with a shiny new spittoon - essential for cupping. "We thought for hygienic purposes, we should retire the old one," jokes George Jr. Perhaps it will last into the next generation - there's already a fourth in the wings. Will Kristina's oldest son, 7-year-old John William, become the family's next great cupper? "I hope," George Jr. says with smile. "Bring him on."
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POPSThankfulness Tree This is the second year we have had a Thankfulness Tree. I have some fake branches that I put in a big vase to hold the leaves. I went to a scrapbooking store and used their die cut machine to make many many leaves from paper. If you buy the paper there, you can use the machines for free. I punched holes in the leaves to hang on the branches without having to mess with string or glue or hangers of any sort. I place the leaves in a bowl with a pen so any guests that come during November can write something they are thankful for on a leaf and hang it up. On Thanksgiving we read the leaves and we give thanks for all the friends and family that have come to our house. Then I put the leaves in a bag and date it so we can read them in future years too. Yesterday, my daughter wrote that she was thankful for "being born" and for "being in this family." I am so thankful for those things too. Go, get your thankfulness on!
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POPSAmerican Evangelicals Role In Uganda Effort To ‘Wipe Out’ Gays This barbaric legislation stifles free speech by threatening anyone who is accused of “promoting” homosexuality with five to seven year prison sentences. Snitching on gay friends and family members is strongly encouraged because “failure to disclose the ‘offence’ within 24 hours of knowledge makes somebody liable to a fine or imprisonment of up to three years.” Sadly, this witch-hunt has the blood stained fingerprints of leading American evangelicals. The Fellowship, (aka The Family) one of America’s most powerful and secretive fundamentalist organization’s, converted Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni (pictured top) to its anti-gay brand of Christianity, which is the “intellectual” impetus behind the anti-gay crackdown. The clandestine organization’s leader, Doug Coe, calls Museveni The Fellowship’s “key man” in Africa. Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family”, writes of the African strongman’s conversion:
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POPSMy perfect stick figure family More: I'd maybe get a set of stick figure stickers if I could find the ones I'm looking for – three kids, a guinea pig, a fish, two cats, a step dad, a mother, and a pair of dogs with a line through them because I lost them in the divorce. Though I'm not sure there is enough room on the back glass for that much honesty.
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POPSHow Much Obamacare Costs the Average Family
That Obama is charging premiums to those living at or on the border of poverty is absolutely incredible! And this from a candidate who pledged that he would not tax the middle class! If you have insurance, you will get hit by his proposed 40 percent tax on insurance premiums. When the tax -- and the legislation -- takes effect in 2013, all families making about $120,000 or more in combined household income (14 percent of all families or one in seven) will have to pay the tax. By the next year, 2014, the tax will hit every family making more than $100,000 (about 18 percent of all families or one in six). By 2019, 10 years hence, the tax will reach down to affect every family making more than $75,000 a year (31 percent of families or one in three). The tax will take 40 percent of all premiums above $21,000. So if you don’t have insurance, you will be socked with a mandate to buy coverage and pay a hefty proportion of your income to do it; and if you have insurance . . .
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POPSObamacare Means $1,700 More in Insurance Premiums for a Typical Family 
And, with a government subsidy, you gain nothing by paying for all those years when you don't need insurance. So Obama's program turns out not to be one to spread insurance and thus spread the risk of costly illness, but one to make people pay 7.5 percent of their incomes once they get sick, with the government picking up their remaining premium and the health insurance customers paying for the medical expenses. Some deal! So tote up the cost of this bill on the middle class: -- $1,700 more in insurance premiums for the average family. -- Medical devices like wheelchairs and hearing aids get taxed. -- Those who are sick must pay an average of about $600 more a year in income taxes because the bill raises the threshold for deducting medical expenses from 7.5 percent of income to 10 percent. -- A $404 billion cut in Medicare. -- Ending the subsidized Medicare Advantage insurance for costs over and above Medicare. Without Medicare Advantage, the elderly can only .
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POPS"The Family" - Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places Headquartered in Washington, D.C. at a place known as the "C Street Center" or "Fellowship House," this 1890 townhouse, located behind the Madison Annex of the Library of Congress and near the United States Capitol, has 12 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five living rooms, four dining rooms, three offices, a kitchen, and a small "chapel". The property is exempt from real property taxes because it is classified as a "special purpose" use. District of Columbia law exempts from taxation "buildings belonging to religious corporations or societies primarily and regularly used for religious worship, study, training, and missionary activities" and "buildings belonging to organizations which are charged with the administration, coordination, or unification of activities, locally or otherwise, of institutions or organizations entitled to exemption."