1
POPSObama Needs a Shot of LBJ As distasteful as he may find doing so, Obama and his Congressional liaison staff must get in the faces of the recalcitrant members of his own party and barter, bargain or beat them into submission. It’s all well and good if the president wants to stay above the fray in his era of post-partisan politics. But why isn’t Rahm Emanuel body slamming Blue Dogs against the wall like LBJ and say, “There’s isn’t a Senator on the Hill who doesn’t want something. What do you want? We can drop our opposition to the defense budget rider you’re pushing. Money? We’ll give your state billions. Access? How about a weekend at Camp David for you and the family? What about stepping off Air Force One with the president back home?
5
POPSHouse 'Blue Dogs' Flex New Muscle on Health Care to the deficit, may be just a coincidence. But it also could be a carrot that Obama and Democratic leaders hope will attract some Blue Dog votes for the health care overhaul. That bill appeared to be on track until last week, when Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, said it lacked steps to control the costs of health care in the future, one of the Blue Dogs' biggest concerns. Meetings on the health care bill between the Blue Dogs, Democratic leaders and the White House are continuing. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said he spent much of Wednesday in closed-door negotiations with Waxman and planned to resume them Thursday. "We didn't get an agreement," Ross said after Wednesday's meeting, adding that Obama's goal to have a bill passed by mid-August wasn't part of the talks. "I refused to discuss any artificial deadlines," Ross said. "That's not part of the talks."
2
POPSParamus, New Jersey MORE: A section of Paramus known as Dunkerhook (meaning dark corner in Dutch) was an African-American community dating back to the early 18th century. Although historical markers on the current site and local oral tradition maintain that this was a slave community, contemporary records document that this was actually a community of free blacks, not slaves. SHORT STORY RESEARCH
4
POPSBig Brother is Watching You This is from my small hometown. Notice the flat land and blue sky. (It's a few miles to the mountains). Recently cameras were installed to catch traffic speeders (they must be tourist racing through). The stats on how much money comes in from this is impressive. But, lots of issues. Protesters pointed out all the data the government collects - and now this. A Foreign (!) private company runs the system: law & order for Profit!? The city no longer gets the traffic fines - the state does. This pocketbook reality helped a candidate become local sheriff promising to get rid of the traffic camera: He did so. Darn Australians! Next thing you know they'll be coming over here to introduce kangaroos and arrest non-Fosters drinkers. Ha. Ha. But do we really want foreign countries enforcing our laws for profit!? MyohMy. That's me on the right, btw, in red shirt, holding sign: "Read the Constitution, Please." Please. I've always believed in polite protest. It's a
2
POPSRinging in Sunday booze sales When I ran my one campaign for public office in 2000, I ran on the Libertarian Party ticket for Indiana House District 100 on a platform of repealing the Sunday Blue Laws regulating the sale of alcohol and vehicles on Sunday. 8 years later a group has formed to lobby for this much needed change in our laws in Indiana.
6
POPSProposed Law Could Be a Cold Shower for YouPorn
This is a tough one (for most of us). A: We MUST protect kids online. No sane person disagrees with that. B: We MUST have personal freedoms, that includes posting pictures/videos of you & your partner nude, etc. As long as the place you are posting is protected against kids accidentally accessing (ie: labeled properly with text & meta-data that let's filtering software know to block it) This law is meant to make it hard to post material containing images/video of individuals under the age of 18. Right now, I suppose a provider could claim thay weren't sure when a video may contain an individual that is actually 16-17. With the new law, this would be MUCH harder, if not impossible (without fake IDs, etc). Unfortunately, it would also make it very hard for the average poster to post their legal video as well. And it makes it hard and expensive for the hosting sites to collect, verify & maintain the data. I wonder, if this might be a slight bit of overkill? What do
2
POPSHaaretz - The JEWISH NATIONAL FUND collection box. Damming cartoon aping the JNF "blue box". Yellow instead of blue, calling to mind the star Jews were forced to wear under Nazi rule & affixed with the logo of racist organisation, "Kahana Chai". On the bill allocating JNF land to Jews only.
0
POPSIntelligent Life He's right...if you have ever been in prison...remember the blue lights on the wall, yeah to kill airborne diseases
9
POPS DUMB LAWS Don't be offended, Alabama. All the states are represented at the site.
1
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update