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POPSThe 10 Weirdest Facts about American Presidents 7. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was reported to be a very interesting character. When not having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfasts in bed or riding his own mechanical bull, he was ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. 8. So far, all American presidents have claimed ancestry limited to one or more of just seven nationalities: Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh. 9. Grover Cleveland was the only president to openly admit that he had fathered an illegitimate child. 10. There were four presidents who were not actual presidents of the United States: Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones were all presidents of the Republic of Texas. Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America.
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POPSCIA involvement in murderous Operation Condor The US ambassador to Paraguay, Robert White, feared that the US connection to Condor might be publicly revealed at a time when the assassination in the USA of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Moffitt was being investigated. White cabled that "it would seem advisable to review this arrangement to insure that its continuation is in US interest." This demonstrates that the US facilitated communications for Operation Condor, and has been called by J. Patrice McSherry (Long Island Univ.) "another piece of increasingly weighty evidence suggesting that U.S. military and intelligence officials supported and collaborated with Condor as a secret partner or sponsor." It has been argued that while the US was not a key member, it "provided organizational, intelligence, financial and technological assistance to the operation."
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POPSAxis of Evil: SOA School of the Americas/WHINSEC "SOA Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas, under whatever name it is called, through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and non-violent protest, as well as media and legislative work. The Pentagon has responded to the growing movement and Congress' near closure of the SOA with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in January of 2001."
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POPSWe Are Screwed! And we have a congress that just cannot say NO! He is way out of control, the sixties must have been REALLY good to Bush and the others in charge of government, these are not the actions of sane, rational thinking people, you would have to either be on drugs or lost enough brain cells from their use to think this is okay!
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POPSAmerican fascism? From a fascinating interview w/ author Chris Hedges (son of a Presbyterian minister and a Harvard Divinity School grad) about his new book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. This guy has a sense of perspective most of us don't, based on his experience as a war correspondent for the NYT. Not a religion-basher, but a realist who's incensed both with the manipulation of entire classes of people and the cluelessness of the left when it comes to awareness of the real issues we're grappling with as a society.
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POPSYankees Go Home: US 'diplomacy' in Ecuador Did anyone imagine that the last fascist state in South America, Columbia could cross Ecuador's border without sanction of the Yankee master. I hadn't known about the primary reason for the US stirring it with Ecuador previously. I hadn't know the the US lease is up on its Ecuador and wouldn't be renewed unless Ecuador could have a similar base in Miami!!! The nerve of Correa! Did you know of this affront to Bush imperialism? I'd say he's getting off light with the blatant incursion into his territory! Probably only round one.
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POPSNicaragua's Vampire Problem Blood feeders, on the other hand, are extremely rare — only three out of 1,100 species of bat are vampires, and all are found in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. Bill Schutt, a zoologist and author of the book Dark Banquet, about 10 species of bats were erroneously named "vampires," while the true blood-feeders were given more innocuous-sounding Latin names. "Bats Vampyrum, Vampyrops, Vampyrina, Vampyressa, Vampyriscus, and Vampyrodes aren't sanguivores , while Desmodus, Diaemus, and Diphylla are true vampires," when people act on their ignorance and kill beneficial bats, they are really putting themselves at even greater risk from the real blood-feeding terrors of the night: mosquitoes. Many more people die each year from mosquito-born diseases than from bat-transmitted rabies.
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POPSGang 'killed victims to extract their fat' more (at source): "The fat was extracted from the thorax and thighs," said Eusebio Felix Murga, chief of police of Dirincri district. Police also showed a photo of the rotting head of a 27-year-old male victim discovered last month in a coca-growing valley. Medical experts said human fat had cosmetic applications to keep skin supple but were sceptical about an international black market. "It doesn't make any sense at all because in most countries we can get fat so readily and in such amounts from people who are willing and ready to donate," Adam Katz, a professor of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia medical school, told the Associated Press.
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POPSNorman Borlaug: 'The Man Who Saved The World' more ( at source): Yet his work had a far-reaching impact on the lives of millions of people in developing countries. His breeding of high-yielding crop varieties helped to avert mass famines that were widely predicted in the 1960s, altering the course of history. Largely because of his work, countries that had been food deficient, like Mexico and India, became self-sufficient in producing cereal grains. “More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world,” the Nobel committee said in presenting him with the Peace Prize. “We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace.”
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POPSOAS Killer Contractors from Latin America in Iraq. "It is ironic, for instance, that the U.S. government presses the Colombian military to protect human rights on its own soil, yet hires Colombian ex-soldiers to work in Iraq through private firms whose vetting procedures are less than transparent. Moreover, the United States has invested a good deal of money and effort into helping the region’s new democracies transform their militaries and police forces into professional cadres that respect human rights and abide by civilian control. Yet the contracting phenomenon directly challenges these goals when PMFs drain the best trained and most motivated soldiers and police officers out of regular service to their own societies, and when militaries provide PMFs with munitions and infrastructure—public resources—without seeking authorization from their civilian defense ministry superiors."
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POPSObama offers partnership — and humour Is Obama now Chavez's latest Amigo, joining with the ever increasing list of friends of the Venezuelan leader? What 'balls'! Al last, America has a leader that will not be chased out of South America, as Bush was. Long live peace for all in the Americas.
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POPSOld Man Yells at Clouds - Again In a performance reminiscent of Ronald Reagan in his later years as Alzheimer's was taking hold, McCain appears to confuse Spain and Mexico. Or maybe it's just the case of his talking points getting garbled.
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POPSAMERICAS DARKEST SECRET- The Nine Stages of American Autogenocide great depth in article. cannot clip all relevant parts. Psychopathy in power unveiled. Katrina revealed the 'humanity' of our elite cabal. And their blackwater mercinaries... It is impossible to dehumanise others and retain 'humanity' within ourselves. Once someone dehumanises another human being they also destroy their own latent humanity within themselves. It is impossible to harm others without harming ones own soul. Unfortunately many people are becoming ponerized themselves. Dehumanizing, fearing, persecuting manufactured enemies, while not seeing the enemy within, not without... the psychopathic cabal... Rose colored glasses are deadly.
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POPSRussia is buying off our closest neighbors The U.S. move to place missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic is being viewed as antagonistic by Russia. Their answer is to sell military weaponry to U.S. neighbors. Latin America and South American countries are being used as pawns in a new form of arms-race. Venezuela and Bolivia, have expelled their U.S. ambassadors. The geo-political map is changing and the U.S. is losing ground. This is yet another foreign relations failure that can only be blamed on the Bush administration. The next administration needs to do some old-fashioned diplomatic manuvering to prevent another Cuban missile crisis. I hope they are up for it.
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