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POPSStunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know A year from now, we will likely see more than 220,000 US-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan. The US has spent more than $23 billion on contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. By next year, the number of contractors will have doubled since 2008 when taxpayers funded over $8 billion in Afghanistan-related contracts. Despite the massive number of contracts and contractors in Afghanistan, oversight is utterly lacking. “The increase in Afghanistan contracts has not seen a corresponding increase in contract management and oversight,” any USAID staff are “administering huge awards with limited knowledge of or experience with the rules and regulations.” According to one USAID official, the agency is “sending too much money, too fast with too few people looking over how it is spent.” As a result, the agency does not “know … where the money is going.”
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POPSLearn to Rescue Yourselves I'd liked to have seen FEMA issue a release like this before hurricane season. We still want to believe a magical white stallion will rescue us no matter how little we do to help ourselves. FTA: "“Within 72 to 98 hours from the time of impact of a disaster, you only have each other to depend on for help,” Cruz told The STAR in an interview. “People are so reliant on (hotlines like) 911, thinking it’s (rescue) going to happen (soon). The fact is it’s not,” he added.
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POPSSOLD: Sen. Nelson Buys The 60TH Nail In The Pro-Life Coffin
elective abortion coverage, and a majority of Americans do not believe government health care plans should include abortion coverage. Currently, federal appropriations bills include language known as the Hyde Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, while another provision, known as the Smith Amendment, prohibits federal funding of abortion under the federal employees’ health benefits plan. Under the Reid “manager’s amendment” the new health care plan that will mirror the federal employees’ plan and be managed by the Office of Personnel Management will NOT be subject to the Smith Amendment. Instead the amendment includes layers of accounting gimmicks that demand that plans participating in the Exchange or the new government-run plan that will be managed by the Office of Personnel Management must establish “allocation accounts” when elective abortion is a covered benefit (p. 41)
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POPSOfficials in Southern California Prepare For Inevitable Nuclear Attack, Thanks to SmartPower™ "Hollywood is raising awareness about the aftermath of a mega disaster and what needs to be done to survive," Kondo said. Experts are especially concerned about the possibility that Iran one day could launch ship-based nuclear missiles, said Brian Kennedy, president of The Claremont Institute's Ballistic Missile Defense Project. "The West Coast of the U.S. has limited missile defense against a North Korean missile," Kennedy said. "And, unfortunately, we're almost completely vulnerable to a ship-launched ballistic missile attack." Kennedy is also concerned a ship-launched nuclear missile detonated at a high altitude would create an electromagnetic pulse, possibly destroying electronic equipment and knocking out the nation's power grid - leaving the country with little or no communications and no ability to provide food and water to potentially hundreds of millions of people. http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/0DE6BA09-9CE6-4770-9518-2CF80C3C9054/
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POPS 30,000 The president seemed in sticker shock, watching his domestic agenda vanishing in front of him. “This is a 10-year, trillion-dollar effort and does not match up with our interests,” he said . Looking around, I haven’t found any reports that say McChrystal was looking for a 10-year, 100,000-plus total troop commitment. I recall he said he needed two years to make a decisive impact, in the counterinsurgency campaign and building up the Afghan military, and that the war could be won or lost in that time. So where’s the explanation of how we get from a 40,000-troop escalation to a 30,000-troop surge, from “10 years” to 18 months? (If the OMB meant that just 2 years at 40,000 on top of the rest of the effort drives the overall cost to $1 trillion, then cutting out six months and 10,000 doesn’t change that substantially.) “If people are having trouble swallowing 40, let’s see if we can make this smaller and easier to swallow and still give the commander what he needs, "
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POPSUnion Calls NBC Grinch....Threatens Strike During Tree Lighting
The union is accusing NBC of growing "increasingly hostile, ignoring the concerns of the union's membership," and it has created a Web site, NBCStoleChristmas.com, to promote its cause. "We can't let the Grinch at NBC steal another Christmas from thousands of honest working people," NABET-CWA Local 11 President Ed McEwan said in a news release. "This charade must stop. Christmas is supposed to be a time of goodwill, but the network's management is trying to hide behind their fancy lights while leaving their employees in the dark." The union says it represents nearly 3,000 of NBC's producers, writers and technicians. NBC Universal fired back at the union in a statement saying the union canceled three days scheduled for negotiations, Nov. 18, 19 and 20, and has not offered alternative dates. "Progress can only be made in labor negotiations when the parties are negotiating," the statement read. "It is unfortunate that the union is resorting to threats as opposed to meeting its
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POPSA need to 'dig beneath the corporate surface' COMMENTARY | November 10, 2009 Simon Johnson of MIT says reporting like Ida Tarbell's of 100 years ago is badly needed today. One suggestion: the press should take on the financial institutions that helped cause the financial collapse, and are even benefiting from it.
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POPSGoldman Sachs Is Arming Themselves Against Angry Mobs. Guilty Conscience? While we wait, Goldman has wrapped itself in the flag of Warren Buffett, with whom it will jointly donate $500 million, part of an effort to burnish its image -- and gain new Goldman clients. Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein also reversed himself after having previously called Goldman’s greed “God’s work” and apologized earlier this month for having participated in things that were “clearly wrong.” Has it really come to this? Imagine what emotions must be billowing through the halls of Goldman Sachs to provoke the firm into an apology. Talk that Goldman bankers might have armed themselves in self-defense would sound ludicrous, were it not so apt a metaphor for the way that the most successful people on Wall Street have become a target for public rage.
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POPSCall centre stress levels soar: survey It seems that for every company that sets their call centre overseas, another company comes back. The register to avoid such calls at meal times has worked well at this abode.
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POPSCope with Stress: Ten Stress Management Self-help Tips Managing stress is about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. of ourselves during stressful times, we will get sick. Getting sick can be as simple as getting a cold. Stress is linked to heart attacks, cancer, arthritis, chronic fatigue and many more dis-eases. The final goal is a balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun – plus the resilience to hold up under pressure and meet challenges head on.
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POPSOakland Mayor Ron Dellums needs to explain tax mess or resign More: The debt owed to this city by Dellums is incalculable and there is nothing but pride - or arrogance - standing between him and a full public disclosure of the facts surrounding his tax problem. Anything short of that constitutes unacceptable behavior by a public official and violates the public contract between an elected official and the constituency the office serves. I tried to reach the mayor for comment - but he declined to speak with me, his press secretary Paul Rose told me. No one has asked Dellums to disclose anything that any other politician in the same set of circumstances wouldn't be asked to explain. If he cannot provide a public explanation for a controversy that has become another national embarrassment for this city, it's difficult to see how continuing in his current position is going to be good for anyone - either him or Oakland's citizens.
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POPSNAU-USANORTH Logo This is alarming as it appears to be further evidence that we are already living in the North American Union. Rather than announce it because they know there would be resistance, they integrate us without our permission or knowledge.
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POPSTravel Updates Read the blog that talks about updates on traveling including detailed information about the Travelocity, the sixth largest travel agency that provides travel management services.
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POPS"I, Too, Am in Favour of Abolishing Large Cities" More from Einstein: My personal opinion is that those methods are in general preferable which respect existing traditions and habits so far as that is in any way compatible with the end in view. Nor do I believe that a sudden transference of economy into government management would be beneficial from the point of view of production; private enterprise should be left its sphere of activity, in so far as it has not already been eliminated by industry itself by the device of cartelization. There are, however, two respects in which this economic freedom ought to be limited. In each branch of industry the number of working hours per week ought so to be reduced by law that unemployment is systematically abolished. At the same time minimum wages must be fixed in such a way that the purchasing power of the workers keeps pace with production.
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POPSBeijing National Stadium (bird's nest) designer didn't get an invitation to the Opening Ceremony ?!!
Q: You’ve coined the phrase, “pretend smile,” as a label for China’s Olympic effort. Why? Ai: I did say it’s a “pretend smile.” I was questioning whether it’s possible for a society that doesn’t have democracy to excite the joys and celebrations of its people. Q: What disappoints you about China’s Olympic effort? Ai: The biggest disappointment is that China has fallen short of its promises, which is, “One World One Dream,” or to show the world a “New China, New Beijing, New Olympics.” I doubt there’s anything new here. What we’re seeing are the deep-rooted lack of courage and confidence, and the want for real happiness and civil participation. Instead, we see more of inept management and a blind sense of self-defense. Q: How can China benefit from the Olympics? Ai: Maybe China and its people will further realize that today’s world cannot be divided. China has common political, cultural and economic interests with the rest of the world. The only way for it to produce wonders is
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