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POPSPowell spills it about Bush / Iraq Al-Qaeda, Powell asserted, was only 10% of the problem in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, its prime minister, lacked the political will to establish an effective government. After a promising start to the surge at the beginning of the year, 453 unidentified corpses were found on the streets of Baghdad last month, 41% more than the 321 bodies found in January, according to unofficial Iraqi health ministry statistics.
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POPSFT.com: Europeans see US as Threat to PEACE.!!! The level of European concern about the US has remained broadly consistent over the past year. In 11 previous polls dating back to July 2006 the proportion of respondents considering the US a threat to stability has ranged between 28 per cent and 38 per cent. The latest poll comes in the wake of the “surge” that has increased US forces in Iraq to about 160,000 troops, but which has not been accompanied by political breakthroughs or a dramatic reduction of violence.
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POPSHappy Orgasm Day! Did you know that "Orgasm Day" is an official holiday celebrated in 22nd of December? I didn’t know either!
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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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POPSThe Nearest Thing to Mind Reading “A person can put up a good face and avoid disclosing different types of information,” he added. “You would think depressed people party less, talk less, laugh less and interact less. But the students who reported having the most depressive symptoms did those things as much as anyone else.” The researchers uncovered a few things: Stream of consciousness writing often speaks more loudly about private personality traits than do public forms of expression and those who read personal narratives written by other people can most often come up with an accurate judgment of that person’s character.
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POPSFilling up your car with ELECTRICITY!! When we can fill up our cars with electricity instead of gasoline - and generate electricity through wind and solar power - and transmit more electricity over the grid - we will have truly changed global dynamics. The amazing thing is that it may not be more than a few years away! Any additional help we can get from Washington will make a huge difference. I hope to see this be a central issue in the upcoming election.
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POPSBritain Pulls Plug on Al Gore Interesting. I would not have guessed that this impact would have been so great. I would have assumed that total household consumption -- and this would have only involved the portion of households watching the concert -- was outsized by consumption of other users. Are our grids that fragile?
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POPSHalf the Jihadis in Iraq Are Saudi Arabians Okay, let me get this straight. Bin Laden is Saudi, 15 of the 911 hijackers were Saudis. Half the Jihadi enemies in Iraq are Saudis. And then there's Pakistan? Hmm. Oh heck, the Prez knows what he is doing, right? We just need to surge some more in Iraq and it will all work out.
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POPSA Coalition of the Co-Opted, the Corrupted and the Coerced: Joe Wilson
"In the absence of international consensus, the Bush administration relied on a coalition of what I call the co-opted, the corrupted and the coerced: those who benefited financially from their involvement, those who benefited politically from their involvement and those few who determined that their relationship with the US was more important than their relationship with anybody else.There is no underlying international legitimacy that sustains us throughout this action" "The increasing use of contractors makes wars easier to begin and to fight - it just takes money and not the citizenry," says Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who sued private contractors for alleged human rights violations. "To the extent a population is called upon to go to war, there is a necessary resistance to prevent wars of self-aggrandizement, foolish wars and in the case of the US, hegemonic imperialist wars. Think about Rome and its increasing need for mercenaries."
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POPSFather of India's Green Revolution Prepares for Evergreen Revolution
“In every crisis is an opportunity” Swaminathan is once again agitating for revolution -- this time a perpetual one. In the early ‘60s, India grew 12 million tons of wheat every year. Starvation was rampant and the country imported much of its food. Swaminathan, an agricultural geneticist, developed new strains of high-yield wheat for his country and the programs that led to an India that exports food. Today, India grows some 70 million tons of wheat and has become the world's second-largest wheat producer. He says that today India has reached a plateau in production and productivity because a problem of under investment in rural infrastructure. His M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development follows a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.
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POPSGlobal Orgasm for Peace The results are in! Ha ha! Oh well, no harm done in them trying, I guess! .:D The indication that this was a GCP project was overenthusiastic..... but the positive intent and good humor was obvious. Apparently this experiment all started here: Global Orgasm Here's a cartoon I found too: The G.O.P's New Strategy
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POPSAnother Casualty of War: 60,000 Military Marriages
(Read the full article) I have seen a lot of military marriages fall apart (due to actions on the part of both partners) and I have seen far too many divorces in my community. Not everyone can handle the stress of (continued) deployment. Honestly, I have a hard time with it, too. And, yes, my husband and I have gone through the turmoil of possible divorce. Though things are going a whole lot better for us now, there is no telling that we may not have to face that struggle again when having to go through yet another deployment. There are so many issues that go on that civilians do not understand and yet, the spouses are expected to go about the everyday as if everything is normal and not complain. Well-meaning people do not really want to hear how we "are doing"...they practice avoidance when spouses wish to be honest. It's even hardest for Reserve/Guard families-they live even farther away from military life. They need YOUR support almost more than active spouses.
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POPSIraqi Citizen Shows Gratitude to G.I. These are the pictures that never make our mainstream biased media. All we get is death and destruction pics and news from Iraq, and phots of that hideous Pilosi gloating in her new power, as she sells out our troops and country.
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POPSShould Chimpanzees Be Given Human Rights? This case promises to be very interesting! If a chimpanzee can be declared a person, then there's nothing in the way of a person becoming an ape--and I'm not just talking about a retroactive status applied to ex-husbands. In fact, I predict a surge in trans-specied people, who will eagerly go over to the side of the chimps. This bit is just BEGGING for me to make a GWB joke...but I won't. .:D
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POPSShhhh..... The Surge is Working Democrats worst nightmare. The surge is working, right when the cowards Pilosi and Murtha are conniving a way to stab our troops in the back. Who voted for these bums, anyway?!
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POPSNew thin-film solar panels easy to install These new solar panels look and sound easy to install. No price info here but links are provided for more info, including dealers and possible financial incentives available. With electricity prices going ever higher and solar power technology (and hopefully prices) improving, I hope to be able to go solar soon.
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POPS$1,000,000,000,000 - That's $1 TRILLION For Iraq War "The military will need more money because of the "surge" and the purchase of hundreds of armored vehicles capable of withstanding the roadside bombs responsible for most of the US combat deaths. England said the Pentagon will provide a revised 2008 cost estimate in September. But McGovern said he is worried about the long-term financial impact of the war, adding that his primary concern is that the United States is borrowing money to pay for it. Some leading economists have predicted that, depending on how long troops remain in Iraq, the endeavor could reach several trillion dollars as a result of more "hidden" costs -- including recruiting expenses to replenish the ranks and the lifelong benefits the government pays to veterans." Once again, that Sept. timeline rears its head. I can't help but wonder what cost diplomacy would bring. You know... diplomacy, that function experienced leaders say we are lacking in this warped effort.
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POPSScores More Dead, Yet We Are Told The Surge is Working
Whack a Mole! That is the game that the so-called surge is playing. We are constantly being set-up with a bunch of administration ass kissers who are trying to convince us that this "surge" is working. In September, it is almost certain that General Patreus will give his report and ask for another 6 months to continue the surge. How many more 6 month periods are we supposed to permit? They asked for an additional 6 months for the past 4 1/2 years. In the beginning Rumsfeld said the entire war AND occupation wouldn't last as long as 6 months in total. Now that the surge is on, the violence is just as bad only in different places. Areas which we never heard of before as being problems are suddenly being stricken with sectarian violence and bombings on a massive scale. And yet, we are told "things are getting better." "We are making progress." Chances are congress will give them another 6 months during which many more of our soldiers and hundreds or thousands of Iraqis will die