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POPSU.N. body adopts resolution on religious defamation
Defamation of religious is a serious affront to human dignity leading to a restriction on the freedom of their adherents and incitement to religious violence," the adopted text read, adding that "Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism." It called on states to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are protected, to reinforce laws "to deny impunity" for those exhibiting intolerance of ethnic and religious minorities, and "to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and beliefs." ISLAMOPHOBIA, CHRISTIANOPHOBIA, ANTI-SEMITISM The 47-member Human Rights Council has drawn criticism for reflecting mainly the interests of Islamic and African countries, which when voting together can control its agenda. Addressing the body, Germany said on behalf of the European Union that while instances of Islamophobia, Christianophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of religious discrimination s
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POPSObama: Start The Revolution Without Me So one of two things are going to happen. Either the demonstrators are going to succeed in overthrowing the current government which has already become destabilized, or the conservatives in Iran will unleash an unprecedented bloodbath against the protestors. Either way Obama's position of trying to stay in their good graces for the sake of negotiation has become obsolete, a situation that neither he nor his advisors have been able to recognize. But so far Obama has not seized the opportunity. He insists on giving legitimacy to the current government..The world seems ready to line up against the current Iranian government and their actions as the statements of condemnation from other European countries have shown. Obama could be the one to rally them. Instead he doesn't want to "meddle". People are taking their lives into their hands to stand up against a repressive government that poses a threat to the whole world . . . .
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POPS Helping Mahmoud How naive those words sound in retrospect. Presidential wishful thinking has crashed head-on into Islamofascist reality. Mousavi, of course, whose candidacy (unlike so many others) got the stamp of approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, is no moderate at all.he vowed during the campaign to continue Iran's nuclear program. Moreover, as Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman note in their newly published history of nuclear proliferation, "The Nuclear Express," "Pakistan's A.Q. Khan first began to transfer uranium enrichment technology to Iran in 1987" — in the midst of Mousavi's 1981-89 tenure in power. Any Obama-Mousavi version of the Camp David Accords would have preserved Iran's widely dispersed, tough-to-monitor nuclear program in some form, through which it can produce fuel for a bomb.
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POPSDangers of NeuroBabble A very important point is being made in this article.While the materialist reduction of identity is as philosophically risible as it has always been, the ideological aspects of the discourses which see so much hot- eyed enthusiasm for popularised neuroscience require attention. The article concludes: "Hard-line identity theorists, and eliminativists above all, don’t appreciate how much they would change things if indeed we could come to believe and implement their theories. Our world would increasingly be leeched of meaning, morality, dignity and freedom, and if we rejected folk psychology in favour of scientific terminology about brain states, not only would we know less, not more, about ourselves; we would also have less to know about, because we would be less."
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POPS Why We Love America # America is the God-given dignity of every individual. You can’t love America, and at the same time believe that the “elite” – that is, government bureaucrats – should have the power to tell people how to live their lives in every tiny detail. # America is the infinite value of every human life. You can’t love America, and at the same time devalue the lives of the very young, the very old and the severely disabled. # America is individuals taking care of themselves and their families, as well as of those less fortunate by means of religious and secular charities. # America is the right of individuals to own property and enjoy the fruits of their labor. You can’t love America, and at the same time believe that the state should have the power to take things away from one citizen and give them to another whenever it pleases.
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POPSIntroducing The Warrior Legacy Foundation “I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free.” – Military Code of Conduct The statement above is from the military code of conduct and has been repeated by every veteran since President Eisenhower installed it into our culture. A month ago, bloggers like Pat Dollard and others like This Ain't Hell have remarked at the partisan nature of veteran organizations. Many of you have express frustration with the current set that attempt to represent veteran issues but seem to have ulterior motives - painting veterans as victims is an easy way to raise money and get media attention. But what does that do the public's perception of us? The Warrior Legacy Foundation is a non-partisan organization that is committed to the protection and promotion of the reputation and dignity of America’s Warriors.
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POPSThe battle of the Berlusconis - pop culture & politics Maria Laura Rodota, a commentator with Corriere della Sera's popular online forum on pop culture and politics - in Italy, the two go hand-in-hand - says Mrs Berlusconi has "struck the most formidable and effective challenge to Berlusconi's mystique to date. I record a growing, ebullient cross-party female indignation online. It might be a minority, but it is significant in a country which is ranked almost last in Europe, with Turkey, for the freedom of the press, and I think in the long term the 'Noemi-gate' will have political consequences."
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POPS New Prez Flunking Global Test
Its Dem-adored prez tries to ban opposition parties and gut the judiciary. It has nukes and seethes with hatred of America. And Islamabad controls our primary supply route into Afghanistan, using it as an extortion tool. Obama's response? Billions in new aid for Pak pols to pocket. We'd be better off handing the money to AIG to pay out more bonuses. Afghanistan : Obama's Vietnam. Am I the only American who remembers that candidate Obama had a plan to capture Osama bin Laden and fix our previous "mistakes" in Afghanistan? President Obama doesn't have a clue. Iran : Obama tried to reach out, to talk. After all, talking got him to the White House. But America-bashing is what keeps Iran's leaders in office, it's their political essence. After 30 years of fierce hostility, hasn't anyone figured out that the senior mullahs need us as an enemy? Without the Great Satan America to blame, they'd have some real explaining to do to their homies. So O got the left-hand finger
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POPSBehaviorism Pioneers ~ Ivan Pavlov And B.F.Skinner Pavlov demonstrated how animals learned a behavioral response to stimuli. Pavlov's early research lay in the physiology of mammalian digestion, showing, for example, that the secretion of digestive juices in the stomach is prompted by the sight of food and nerve stimulation via the brain. For this work Pavlov received the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine (1904). Pavlov openly criticized communism and the Soviet government. In 1922 he requested and was refused permission to move his laboratory abroad. Skinner showed that animals could learn that their actions would bring a desired response — operant conditioning. His Skinner box was a sound- and light-proof chamber with a response lever. When the rat that was kept in the box pressed the lever, a food pellet was released. Skinner showed that an aspect of the rat's behavior could be conditioned. B.F. Skinner was born on this date in 1904.
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POPSPresidential Pep Talk to USA
History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us. We stand together again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy--or we would have been standing at the steps if it hadn't gotten so cold. Now we are standing inside this symbol of our democracy. Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely President paces the darkened halls, and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. Tired of reading? Add this page to your Bookmarks or Favorites and finish it later. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song. We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of o
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POPSNancy Pelosi tries to spin meeting with Pope Benedict “the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception until natural death, which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists, and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of development.” Weigel adds that even though President Obama is not Catholic, “he should understand that he will get the same message if, as expected, he meets with His Holiness later this year.”
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POPSPelosi, pope meet in Rome She considers herself an “ardent” catholic? The pope does not. Neither do I. She can call herself a part-time practicing catholic, but that’s it. There are many people who consider themselves “ardent” believers in one religion or another. But if you get to pick and choose which of the foundations of a religion best suits your own viewpoint then you are indeed NOT an “ardent” follower. I don’t understand how she can stand in front of the highest (earth bound) symbol of her religion and say she is 100% catholic and not follow everything he stands for. I also don’t understand why, in this time of economic stress, she gets to take an entourage to Italy, using public money to fund the trip (along with her husband) of an eight day visit to the Italian Republic. What is the purpose of this visit? And why isn’t the media outraged? Can someone shed some light on this? It seems to me this is a personal vacation with a little ‘business’ so she can write the expenses off.
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POPSevery human has rights Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,... Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ... Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. ... Article 30 Nothing in this Declaration may
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POPS 1984 Jeane Kirkpatrick That's the way Democratic presidents and presidential candidates used to talk about America. These were the men who developed NATO, who developed the Marshall Plan, who devised the Alliance for Progress. They were not afraid to be resolute nor ashamed to speak of America as a great nation. They didn't doubt that we must be strong enough to protect ourselves and to help others. They didn't imagine that America should depend for its very survival on the promises of its adversaries. They happily assumed the responsibilities of freedom. I am not alone in noticing that the San Francisco Democrats took a very different approach.
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POPSWhy religion is outdated, and dangerous. I find it most disturbing. On the verge of development that will prolong life with less illnesses, and will increase the degrees of freedom and responsibility a so called 'prolife' religious mass is trying to take us back.
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POPS60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
For women around the world, domestic violence and discrimination in employment are a daily reality. Minorities suffer stigma, discrimination, and violence in developed and developing countries. The right to information is denied to millions through censorship and media intimidation. Poverty is our greatest shame. At least one billion very poor people, 20% of humanity, are daily denied basic rights to adequate food and clean water. While gross inequalities between rich and poor persist, we cannot claim to be making adequate progress toward fulfilling the ambitions set down 60 years ago. As we mark this anniversary, the question is how to protect the inherent dignity and equal rights of all people. A key part of the answer lies in more effective systems of accountability, so that rights are recognised and laws enforced. Yet if we take a long, hard look at what has been achieved over the past six decades – and at what remains resistant to all our efforts – then it is also clear
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POPSSpeaker in the Dock? Yesterday, on British television, the former mayor of London Ken Livingston tried to defend the indefensible by comparing the situation to fatuous others. A clear example why Labour is evil, corrupt and sick. If, like me, you have an MP who has but a single cause, that of homosexuals, do not expect any support from the Labour mice/rats when the matter is raised in the House. The munching f cheese will quickly drown the urgency of debate.
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POPSFreedom From Speech ~ Editorial The U.N. is no stranger to assaults on decency and common sense. Indeed, the new ban on religious defamation is essentially a restatement of a measure approved by the General Assembly last year but barely noticed at the time. What makes this year’s resolution different, and more dangerous, is that it is supposed to move on from the General Assembly to another forum, where it might acquire real teeth: the second World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, scheduled to convene next April in Geneva. Many legal scholars believe that the decisions of international conferences of this sort can be incorporated into international law, putting them under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Individual nations could not be forced to amend their laws, but they might find Interpol knocking at their doors, serving them extradition requests to hand over their cartoonists and novelists.
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POPSNew Catholic "Blessing of a Child in the Womb" This prayer "makes a plea that 'our civic rules' perform their duties 'while respecting the gift of human life.'" With those words you move the prayer away from the stated object and make it an political statement. I'm all in favor of religious political action, but when a mother comes to you for a blessing of her unborn child and you respond with a plea to "civic rulers," you denigrate the mother and her unborn child and make them tools for your goals rather than the focus of your thoughts.
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POPSBush Denounces 'Dungeon' of Cuba You'd think Bush was speaking of his own dictatorial reign, eh? "Our great nation that believes in human rights and human dignity, blah, blah, blah..." Hahahaha! What a joke! Tell that to the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or the people wasting away in Gitmo! I'd bet Castro's popularity ratings are higher than yours! Bush, why don't you just STFU? Fix your own country, who is "being repressed by a handful of elites" first, before trying to impose your twisted version of "freedom", on everyone else! Lift the embargo. The age of the red scare is dead and gone. It's the red, white and blue scare, most of the world is concerned about these days...SIR!
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