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POPSRepetition Makes False Beliefs Permanent Politicians and other unscrupulous types have long exploited what psychological studies are now confirming: due to the neurophysiology of the learning process, simple repetitive association between two concepts is enough to make false propositions "feel" true and well-supported. Worse, after enough exposure to such associations, subsequent denials can strengthen the perception of the falsehood instead of weakening it. (This is a major reason why the stigma of a false accusation can persist even after innocence is proven.) Indeed, repetition seems to be a key culprit. Things that are repeated often become more accessible in memory, and one of the brain's subconscious rules of thumb is that easily recalled things are true.
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POPSJodie Comes Out Guess what conservative America? There are so many gays and lesbians in your own families. In fact, I doubt there's on American family today that doesn't count at least one gay or lesbian member somewhere in its ranks. Count them--and then love them. Isn't it totally un-Christ-like to turn against your own son or daughter, or brother or sister, just because he or she happens to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual? What difference does it make? He may be gay, but he's still your son. She may be a lesbian, but she's still your daughter. Sure, evangelical ministers and conservative politicians will continue to denounce homosexuality from the pulpit and urge parishioners to join them in denying equal rights to gays and lesbians. And some poor misguided souls will blindly agree. But their hate speech will eventually fail, as people realize those attacks are directed against the people they love the most, their family members.
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POPSHow to Become President with Clipmarks You heard it here first. In 2008, you just won't get elected without reaching out to the coveted Clipmarks community. And you can bet we'll be checking candidates' sign-up dates. :) The publicity for Clipmarks 2.0 rolls on....
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POPSThe Crisis is Coming: How Peak Water Could Reshape Civilization With advanced technologies and more prudent water usage, the majority of Earth’s inhabitants will be able to continue to enjoy the luxury of clean water for a long time to come. Yes, we need to fundamentally rethink water usage and plenty of bigger changes are needed, but at least we’re heading in the right direction. With better stewardship and improved city planning, humans will likely be able to avert a good portion of the more disastrous scenarios.
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POPSPolitical Junkies: Why it Feels Good to Be an Extremist In The Political Brain , psychologist Drew Western summarizes fMRI experiments exploring the neuro-psychology of systematic bias and rationalization in the brains of political extremists. Finding ways to dismiss contradictory evidence triggers pleasant emotional releases in partisans' brains, eventually becoming a pleasurable, learned behavior. Once partisans had found a way to reason to false conclusions, not only did neural circuits involved in negative emotions turn off, but circuits involved in positive emotions turned on. The partisan brain didn't seem satisfied in just feeling better. It worked overtime to feel good, activating reward circuits that give partisans a jolt of positive reinforcement for their biased "reasoning." These reward circuits overlap substantially with those activated when drug addicts get their "fix," giving new meaning to the term political junkie.
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POPSRediculous Propaganda from FEMA FEMA is a disaster all its own. The next president will need to give them a serious overhaul! Of all the people who shouldn't be afraid to face an ugly situation, it's FEMA's job to face disasters, not create them! Scolding is not enough for this. They should all lose their jobs. Immediately. Once again this shows that the administration only cares about pats on the back and looking out for its own interests, not in actually getting things done. Which is probably why in the last 6 years, Bush has achieved nothing except for ardent self-congratulation. These people are totally insufferable politicians! On a side note, the state department is having trouble filling positions at the Iraqi embassy. I can't think of a better place for Bush and his cronies to serve their retirements. Maybe they might actually do something for their country!
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POPSHAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, INDIA! However your country is, however your politicians are, however the weather, the circumstances, the terror strikes, the price hikes, the conditions of living are... there is something that pulls and chains you strongly and emotionally to your mother country! Love you India!!!
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POPSThe Future This is a special report that appeared on Forbes on 10.15.07 and has an impressive list of visionaries talking about the future. highly recommended reading. click the names to read the visions
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POPSWhere are the Republicans? Only .5% of Americans fighting in Iraq.
By Cptenaud. There's no vacation for our troops in Iraq, Joe Galloway writes that as we are, "hard upon the dog days of August. Members of the U.S. Congress and the Iraqi parliament will soon slither away to the shade of cooler rocks, and President Bush will no doubt head off to Crawford to take his frustrations out on some brush with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the 60,000 American combat troops who daily patrol the most dangerous streets and roads in the world will carry on fighting, dying and bleeding in the broiling sun where temperatures nudge the 130-degree mark and 40 pounds of body armor and Kevlar helmet plus weapon and ammunition weigh more with every step an Infantryman takes. The politicians in Washington and Baghdad will take their summer breaks, happy to postpone any further thought of Iraq at least until September, when the U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus makes his progress report on the American troop surge to Congress, as though that may make some dif
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POPSPrivate Space Project Rolls On White Knight Two will launch SpaceShipTwo, which will be the size of a corporate Gulfstream capable of carrying six passengers and two pilots. Both will be built wholly from ultra-light composite materials.
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POPSThe 7 habits of highly effective propagandists citing a qualified source is a good way to emphasize a legitimate idea. But you should consider whether or not the source being cited is really qualified to make judgments about a particular issue. 5. PLAIN FOLKS The “Plain Folks” technique is at work whenever a speaker promotes the idea that he or she is “of the people,” just an Average Joe despite the fact that he or she may go home to a mansion at the end of the day. 6. CARD STACKING “Stacking the deck” is a gimmick used by magicians where a deck of cards appears to be randomly shuffled but is in fact arranged in a specific way. The IPA borrowed the term to describe a technique where only one side of a topic is favored, or another side is ignored or played down. 7. BANDWAGON The idea behind the Bandwagon technique is that, since everyone else is doing it, so too should you.
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POPSThe Meaning Of America I've watched it happen over the years since hate radio and its multimillionaire mavens first gave voice and increasing political clout to resentment, intolerance, bitterness, anger, frustration over broken dreams, and unfulfilled entitlement. We've turned mean. We've been encouraged to go onto knee-jerk, scorched-earth attack mode by politicians, activists, and media brokers who gained influence and financial reaffirmation. The loudest and most dominant voices don't urge us to find root causes of problems and their solutions, or to reach for true understanding. All we are told, and all we know anymore, is hitting, and hitting harder, and hurting deeper, killing, demonizing, punishing, mocking, name-calling, eviscerating, marginalizing, threatening, intimidating, bullying, bombing, and war-making.
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POPSOnly 1% fight for this country This opinion piece says it all, says it well, and leaves but only one conclusion given the American people will reject THE DRAFT, allow Congress and this President to continue expoliting, using, abusing, the few select souls either foolish enough of willing to be the jest of abuse, then ONLY our troops can end IRAQINAM. http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070921/cm_usatoday/thesoldiersburden;_ylt=Aod.RvtTyy84cyTTz6Wj2ZhkM3wV Anyone wondering why the debate over the Iraq war is so frustrating and likely to remain so need only look at the choice the U.S. Senate faced this week. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., proposed an amendment that, on its face, no reasonable American could object to. Webb wanted to guarantee troops at least the same amount of time at home as they've spent on deployments. A year in Iraq, a year at home, and so on.
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POPSIraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day I've been thinking this to myself privately but didn't wanna seem insensitive, but now that juan cole is with me I can raise the issue. This is not to say that you can really compare deaths and loss and grief, but its something to think about.
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POPSGod-Drunk vs. Godless From the Atlantic Monthly's article "The American Idea" - Scholars, novelists, politicians, artists, and others look ahead to the future of the American idea. I thought the juxtaposition of these two pieces in particular was interesting. Sam Harris is the author of The End of Faith (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006). Tim LaHaye is a minister and the author of more than 50 books, including the best-selling Left Behind series. I have clipped both pieces below because Atlantic Monthly won't let you view the entire article.
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POPSShabby, Cheap US Politician "Have Blood on their Hands" not Iran "The claims that Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and has called for the destruction of Israel are false. He has called for regime change, which is something American politicians do every time they find a country whose policies they disagree with. Regime change is a change of government, not genocide. As for the Holocaust, he said it raised two questions: Why put people in prison who question details of the official version, which is what several European countries do. Why should the Palestinians be made to pay for it? Both are good questions. "How American politicians can call Iran a dangerous country and claim that it poses a threat to the U.S. is a mystery. On second thought, it is not a mystery. It just tells you that the politicians think you and I are so stupid that we will fall for the exact same parade of lies and exaggerations that was used to justify the war against Iraq. "Think for yourself. Iran has no nuclear weapons, and its military is designed for defence. It has
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POPSHersh: Inside Track. Limited WAR, for now. “There is a desperate effort by Cheney et al. to bring military action to Iran as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the politicians are saying, ‘You can’t do it, because every Republican is going to be defeated, and we’re only one fact from going over the cliff in Iraq.’ But Cheney doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Republican worries, and neither does the President.” Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said, “The President has made it clear that the United States government remains committed to a diplomatic solution with respect to Iran. The State Department is working diligently along with the international community to address our broad range of concerns.” "I was repeatedly cautioned, in interviews, that the President has yet to issue the “execute order” that would be required for a military operation inside Iran, and such an order may never be issued. But there has been a significant increase in the tempo of attack planning. In mid-August, senior officials told reporters that th
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POPSHumans' response to risk can be unnecessarily dangerous, study The results of Lotem's research may also be used by economists, politicians and psychologists, who need to know when people will take risks, says Prof. Lotem. A wider understanding of this phenomenon can affect business decisions, the economy ― and, hopefully, the number of road accidents in America each year.
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