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POPSThe Democrats' Fairy Tale
And the improvements in Anbar could never have been sustained without aggressive American military efforts — efforts that were more effective in 2007 than they had been in 2006, due in part to the addition of the surge forces. Last year’s success, in Anbar and elsewhere, was made possible by confidence among Iraqis that U.S. troops would stay and help protect them, that the U.S. would not abandon them to their enemies. Because the U.S. sent more troops instead of withdrawing — because, in other words, President Bush won his battles in 2007 with the Democratic Congress — we have been able to turn around the situation in Iraq. And now Iraq’s Parliament has passed a de-Baathification law — one of the so-called benchmarks Congress established for political reconciliation. For much of 2007, Democrats were able to deprecate the military progress and political reconciliation taking place on the ground by harping on the failure of the Iraqi government to pass the benchmark legislation
2
POPSWall Street Likes The Bailout Plus Drill, Drill, Drill
But my thought is that a Senate victory might just blow Pelosi out of the water and open the floodgates to Democratic defections in the House. If a drilling bill ever passes Congress, oil prices will keep on plunging — perhaps all the way to $75 a barrel, which is the profitable break-even point for lifting the extra barrel of oil. That would drive the Dow to somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000, and it would have a huge tax-cut effect on the economy. And, of course, it could completely change the November election outlook in a highly favorable way for the GOP. The conventional wisdom says Republicans are gonna get clobbered again this fall. But drill, drill, drill would overturn that wisdom. More drilling today would have the potency of the Reagan tax cuts 28 years ago in the 1980 landslide race. But the GOP has got to make the case. And deregulating oil, which is great policy, would offset much of the bad policy pain coming out of the Fannie-Freddie housing bailout.
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POPS"Honor Killings" In America but multiculturalism hits a crossroads when honor killings come to America. The United States has avoided this bloodstained trend until recently. Some consider Kanwal's death the first documented honor killing here. Others point to the murder of sisters Amina and Sarah Said in Irving, Texas, on New Years' 2007. (Their MySpace page remains up. Featuring assimilated teen culture and American music, it is haunting.) Their father remains on the run from police. In upstate Monroe County just a few days ago, a girl was stabbed by her brother for wearing immodest western clothing and wanting to move to New York City. According to court documents, Waheed Allah Mohammad explained the stabbing by saying his sister was a "bad Muslim girl." "Honor killing is a misnomer," author and exile Ayaan Hirsi Ali told me. "The killing occurs because these girls have allegedly brought shame on their family. The paradox is that these are individuals who have emancipated themselves.
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POPSMore bad news for alarmists For example, the recent summary by Fred Singer and 22 expert contributors to “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate” makes some extraordinary statements about computer models. (In addition to the many excellent contributors, this summary also contains 167 references to the scientific literature). This is important since computer models are being improperly, yet extensively, used by state legislatures as the basis of policies for greenhouse gas mitigation, rather than using actual climate data taken from the real world. These statements include: Computer models do not consider variations of irradiance and magnetic fields of the sun Computer models do not accurately model the role of clouds Computer models do not simulate a possible negative feedback from water vapor Computer models do not explain many features of the Earth’s observed climate. Computer models cannot produce reliable predictions of regional climate change.
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POPSHousing Bill Passes Ron Paul has a very educational speech on this "bailout" Go here to watch, the video is in the upper right hand corner "Congressman Paul talks about the Housing Bill". http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml
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POPSMcCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office? Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage
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POPSMaliki DID Endorse Obama's Planby
Wisco Yesterday 1:56 PM I don't usually clip my own posts, but this ought to kill the debate started here . If this isn't enough evidence, there's more at the post . Now, excuse me while I dance in the end zone...
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POPSMedia "Obamathon" Couric Showcases Obama Over McCain The Media Is In Love With Barack It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair. Watch the video 2:56 http://www.johnmccain.com/ It has been an Obamathon ever since the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee touched down in Afghanistan. At today's press conference in Amman, a throng of reporters recorded his every move. In total, 200 journalists requested seats on “Air Obama” -- 40 of them were accepted. The bill for the trip? About $20,000 each.
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POPSBy hook or by crook, I WON! Indian government wins confidence vote... The drama that had unfolded involving the monumental corruption and horse trading of the MPs all across the parties, that were highlighted by the national media before the no-confidence motion, is a monumental shame to the congress-led Govt... The poor common man looks on, feeling furious and frustrated and this is the so-called largest Democracy in the World, my dear Watson!
0
POPSObama's Foreign Policy Goes Neocon--Unjust Wars Will Continue
The real Obama policy. Must see video interview (at link) where Obama 1) legitimizes the "war on terrorism" (as necessary and true war); 2) escalate war in Afghanistan (regime change, like Iraq continues); 3) willing to attack targets inside Pakistan--i.e. invade any sovereign country to kill and destroy alleged 'terrorists' (think collateral damage on civilians or wrongly accused from missiles and UAV drones). Watch the interview, Obama does not answer one "why?" question of Lara Logan about the "necessity" of the "war on terrorism", he simply dodges and assumes its legitimacy without reason or debate. UNJUST WAR is the problem here. Where is the protest? The "war on terrorism" is not a true or legal constitutional war, and enabling Obama to do the same as Bush without criticism is hypocritical and partisan blindness. It has always been the goal to finish Iraq and legitimize and spread the war on terrorism. Note the media: War = Patriotism
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POPSOur Culture Of Debt "We absorb a way of perceiving the world from parents and neighbors. We mimic the behavior around us. Only at the end of the process is there self-conscious oversight. America once had a culture of thrift. But over the past decades, that unspoken code has been silently eroded."
0
POPSMcCain and Obama Go to Church, as US Gov't Goes to Hell
Not just any church of course, but a Mega-Church. 1. Obama uses Rick Warren as an endorsement to escape his association in public minds with the so-called "reverend" Wright: “looking forward to going back to Saddleback with his good friend Pastor Rick Warren.” Obama spoke at Saddleback in 2006. 2. McCain gets to publicly show that he is not averse to (so-called) Christian political churches, which he has criticized in past. 3. Rick Warren, Mr. Hireling and his "Purpose Driven Church"(merchandisers), gets to increase his publicity and no doubt a huge intake of "tithes and offerings" (and 5013c IRS laws will not prevent, since it is bipartisan) for his corrupt church, which Jesus and the apostles would not recognize any more than a Roman Catholic Mass. All in all, this is theater and corruption, religious and political leaders, like the Pharisees and Herodians getting together (who persecuted apostles, as Jesus warned), but no one dare say so.
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POPSMcCain Alone on Withdrawal What Team McCain had thought would be their candidate's greatest strength is turning into a weakness. McCain's "steadfastness" on Iraq is looking more and more like the mulish obstinacy it actually is. At a time when even the White House is moving toward the obvious reality, McCain stands in opposition to the inevitable.
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POPSHeath Ledger (1979-2008) Heath Ledger already had buzz for his performance in Christopher Nolan's grittier follow-up to " Batman Begins" before his untimely death in January. His version of the Joker -- sloppier, grimier and not as comic as Nicholson's -- has already become a polarizing benchmark for those who want to debate which actor had the best Joker performance.
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POPSThe DRILL Act (Drill here, drill now!) "Where better to drill than the NATIONAL Petroleum Reserve. That is what it is for. That is why it was set aside. The National Petroleum Reserve. "My colleagues, situated on the North Slope of Alaska, this Reserve is no pipe dream like ANWR - which is a bumper sticker approach of our energy woes. 10.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil! "Far more than ANWR, which is not open to leasing. And if opened, would be far behind bringing energy to Americans than the National Petroleum Reserve. "In Alaska, 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas has been stranded - think about that - 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - because there is no pipeline to bring it to market. Elsewhere, there is 68 million acres of federal lands. Onshore and offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf. Under oil and gas leases. That are not producing. May be subject to speculation. Being warehoused. "I say drill it! Drill it.
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POPSMyth Of Consensus Explodes: American Physical Society Opens Debate The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible." http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=12403