5
POPSParting Ways With The Right Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.) Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source) And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff. I won’t be going over the cliff with them.
24
POPS50 Beautiful Watercolor Paintings "Watercolor paintings are considered as a unique way to creatively represent dreams, illusions, emotions, and bright feelings using water-soluble pigments. This medium of art is still very popular nowadays, and therefore we have prepared a list of some really impressive watercolor artworks that will surely inspire you."
9
POPSWe Must Be On Guard For Extremism "When dealing with soldiers far from their homes and families and subject to the greatest imaginable stress, the Army needs to be on the watch for the predatory inroads of any form of political or religious extremism -- whether it be the jihadism to which Hasan was drawn or the Christian identity nonsense that inspired Timothy McVeigh."
2
POPSAre "Cheeky" Cemetery Campers The Nouveau "Chic" Of Travelers?
Let's step away from Christmas for just a sec and channel Halloween again - I came across this article from news.com.au complaining about so-called "cheeky," low-budget travelers pitching tents in a local graveyard. The article derides such travelers as part of the "backpacker brigade" descending on the hapless Town of Darwin, Australia. The article goes on to refer to such travelers as "tight-fisted." Possibly. But, if you do a Google search on the phrase "haunted travel destinations, guess how many hits you get? As of about 2 minutes ago, 3.6 million, to be exact. So, that got me to thinking. Instead of posting no camping signs on the headstones, as town officials apparently have done, Darwin ought to consider its name, think "survival of the fittest," and tap into the haunted travel craze. I clipped just two hits from my Google search, which includes a specialized haunted travel channel on travelchannel.com, nicely sub-divided into one's choice of aliens, creepies, an
18
POPSI heard my albino daughter being hacked to death for her legs "Convictions have been few and far between, but earlier this month campaigners celebrated four men being sentenced to death for the murder of 50-year-old albino, Lyaku Willy. ‘ A terrible noise was coming from the children's room. I saw my daughter's legs were gone. I realized she was dead and I couldn't stop crying. ’ It was the first time sick body part traders had been brought to justice. As authorities step up their fight against the racket, even family members have been discovered striking deals for body parts belonging to their own children. Shockingly, cops investigating Eunice's death earlier this year believe it falls into this category. Sobbing, Mary says: "My husband was arrested. He was charged with our daughter's murder and remains in custody to this day." Unsurprisingly, Mary's other albino daughters are severely traumatized by their sister's killing, and live in fear that they'll be next."
2
POPS And Yet It Cools ..... to where the scientific orthodoxy is running Star Chambers, branding rivals as heretics, trying like Urban VIII to put a thumb on publishing scales, and basically sticking its head in the sand. No little irony, BTW, that the other big news in orthodoxy debunkment yesterday was that Galileo’s fingers had been located and will go on display. Unclear whether those digits are the ones he flipped at the pope, though without doubt among those the pope twisted. Yeah, I can believe it. They’re all only human after all. The problem now, which Galileo would entirely get, is how to get not only the establishment scientists but the pols to catch up with the science. Quick, before they re-engineer our economy back into the middle ages with that bizarre scheme of double-reverse robber baronry they’re working on. forward movement ... Jules Crittenden Read more ... http://tr.im/FsXL
4
POPS"Defund Acorn Act" May Be Unconstitutional Rachel does her usual superb job of muckraking. A little more from the article below: The GOP smear machine tries to link ACORN to prostitution. Beyond the hypocrisy of Republicans denouncing prostitutes (long history of using them), do they really want talk of prostitution? One former Blackwater employee recently stated in a sworn declaration that Blackwater owner Erik Prince "failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men." Another former employee described "having young girls provide oral sex to Enterprise members in the 'Blackwater Man Camp' in exchange for one American dollar." Even if ACORN did provide inappropriate tax advice to a prostitute, is that really on the same level as this conduct being conducted on a huge U.S. government contract? If you think these are just the allegations of disgruntled employees, read the Justice Department’s perspective on Blackwater’s crimes and how its
4
POPSDeadly denia' Ralph Peters always goes to the heart of a matter. He and Bolton are Americans' friends. We need people to clear the cob-webs from our brains and from the PC that we've been guilted into accepting. See the realities or succumb and speed up the decline of America.
1
POPSKeep the government out of the news business
Turning to Washington for help to save the declining news business says much about the mentality of mainstream journalism leaders, an attitude that we and the government are on the same side. This is the mentality that led to the news establishment’s acceptance of the Iraq War. Go to the clip to learn what happened to Mother Jones after becoming a tax exempt non-profit after it reported on lobbying in Washington. Once you allow the government or private corporation to have any controlling link to the media you lose independence. Editors become fearful of criticizing the hand that feeds it. Publishers and benefactors become cozy and unbiased reports become fewer and fewer. Journalism becomes a de facto advertisement for consumer products. We hope in the future we’ll see more I.F. Stones, more guerrilla warriors on the Web, in print and on the air. Because of them—and not because of a government handout—great reporting will survive, as it always has.
4
POPSPro-Pot - Anti-Gay Election Results
Yesterday in the state of Maine there were "pro-pot," and "anti-gay," referendums on the ballot. Results: Pot, yea; Gay, No. But...maybe that exaggerates the results. It wasn't like the people of Maine voted to pass out marijuana at the schools (they formalized a distribution method) and it wasn't like the voters of Maine wanted to start gay folks witch hunts (they didn't want to approve state "marriage status," to gays). There are lots of ways of looking at these political decisions. Should gay rights even be an item up for vote or a right protected by the Constitution? But is gay marriage a gay right? Maine is now the 31st state to have a direct referendum on gay marriage and they have all turned it down. Maine is now the 5th state to allow the "medical," use of marijuana. With Obama telling the Feds not to prosecute individual users acting in accord with their state's laws, I'd expect a lot more states to go this way. No knighthoods being given out, in either cas
7
POPSLiz Cheney emerges, the left's feeding frenzy (and "tolerance"), verging on abject panic So Liz Cheney, just like Palin, unnerves and upsets the Left, not simply because she might run for something and win, and not only because she is one of the most effective conservative spokeswomen on national security. She threatens their claim to the moral high ground and their assertion that women voters belong to the Left. That’s reason enough to send them into fits of rage. And you can bet they’re only getting warmed up. So predictable. Saw this coming a mile away. It's almost boring watching the left piss their pants again over a woman who happens to be a conservative. Maybe we can expect David Letterman to crack a rape joke about Liz and her family, on behalf of the "tolerant" left. Sad. Chinese Proverb: “A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion"
5
POPSStopTheWitchHunt.org Target Conservative Commentators' "Hate-Speech"
The website is designed to give voice to the millions of Americans who believe it is time for talk-show hosts and elected officials to stop stoking the racial anxieties of the fringes of America. Beck and his fellow band of hooligans have been telling scary stories about President Obama whom Limbaugh has disrespectfully referred to as "the little black man child." Beck recently accused the biracial President of having "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." And he has attacked a number of key Administration officials accusing them of being socialist and anti-American. Limbaugh, who has a history of making racially charged remarks about Obama, has called the mixed-race president "a halfrican American." Days before the President's inauguration in January, Limbaugh said, "I hope he fails" - the verbal equivalent of putting a razor blade in a candy apple. StoptheWitchHunt.org is just the beginning of a multi-media campaign to support a new resistance to these .
10
POPSChild Witches
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo nearly 50,000 children live on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital, because they were accused of witchcraft and rejected by their families. In Nigeria, the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network reports that nearly 25,000 children have been abandoned or persecuted on the belief they were witches or wizards. Organizations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund, Africa Unite Against Child Abuse, and Save the Children have stepped in where they could to stop the witch-hunt. But the phenomenon of “witch children” is so widespread throughout Africa these organizations have set up “witch camps” as shelters for children who cannot be safely placed with a relative. Throughout history, people described as witches have been tortured, persecuted, and even murdered. And it is usually society’s most vulnerable who are targeted. With the HIV/AIDS epidemic leaving many children orphaned, and rampant poverty ensuing from crop failure and decade-
7
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:
15
POPSThe Legend of the Bell Witch Andrew Jackson even had a run-in. The Bell Witch is the subject of the movie, "An American Haunting", starring: Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek. The Bell Witch is often referred to as the most documented haunting in American history.
9
POPSReligion Going Badly In what appears to be a blending of old nativistic religion and Christianity the children of Africa suffer.
5
POPSTexan Justice
Some of this is now coming back to haunt Rick Perry. He executed 199 people, more than any governor in American history. He gave consistent short shrift to clemency appeals. Many of those appealing were likely guilty, but it is now clear that one was innocent and that this fact was flagged for Perry before he ordered him put to death. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004 on charges that he killed his minor children. The charges arose from a fire that occurred in his home on December 23, 1991. Investigators concluded that the fire resulted from arson. However, subsequent scientific reviews have all found that the arson investigation was grossly flawed and that its conclusions reflected base prejudices rather than science. The prosecutor, John Jackson, acknowledges that the arson investigation was flawed, but he remains convinced that Willingham is guilty for two reasons. The first is that he beat his wife and was therefore capable of killing his children. The
4
POPS20 Tattoos You Don’t Want To Get (If You’re A Guy) I have to question why the title of the clip says you don’t want these tattoos “if you’re a guy”. Does this imply that they would be acceptable on a woman??? Anyway, after viewing these I have only one comment: Get some class.
6
POPSThe Two Faces of Granny Rictus Botox "And remember her promise of the most transparent, ethical Congress in history. Try not to laugh so hard, Mr. Rangel and Mr. Murtha. You might drop your bags of money. Another lying, hypocritical progressive Obamacrat. I know it's "dog bites man," but there you are"
8
POPS"Polanski's victim and me" by Robert Goolrick More: it is the absolute, final, and total end of childhood, of any sense of innocence and wonder. Perhaps the girl in California had already lost hers. Perhaps her mother manipulated the situation. I, frankly, don’t give a good goddamn. That girl is forever defined by that moment, as I have been defined by my own moment of terror and pain and horror. There is, for me, no place on this whole planet that is safe. I move farther and farther from the center of things. I find myself in hotel rooms or houses in remote places where nobody knows where I am, and very few even care. I have been an alcoholic, a drug user, a sexual deviant and addict. I have tried with what heart I have left to be kind and generous and loving, and I have wrecked my life and hurt people I love. I have tried to be whole, to be a regular man inside a regular man’s skin, and I have failed miserably.
2
POPSWhy inclusionary language matters More: You can believe with all your heart that sexism is terrible and evil, but when you call a woman a bitch, it kind of undermines your point. You can think that people with disabilities are oppressed and marginalized by society, and that this is wrong, but when you call something “lame,” you’re saying that you think it’s ok to continue oppressing people with disabilities. When you say that someone should “step up,” you are unconsciously erasing everyone in the population who cannot step, like wheelchair users and people who are bedbound. When you refer to someone or something as “insane” or “crazy,” you are using mental illness as a slur. So stop it. Stop using exclusionary language. Start including people. And stop trying to defend it. If you’re too lazy to find a better word or phrase to use, that’s your problem, not society’s.