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POPSChicago's "CeaseFire" program uses social interventions to lessen gun violence The program sends "reformed" shooters into the community to defuse violent situations and accustom potential shooters to other ways of resolving conflict, while simultaneously working with trusted, local opnion leaders (e.g., clergy) to spread the message that violent actions are unacceptable -- not just wrong, but also foolish ("uncool"). Described as employing an approach drawn from epidemiology, but I don't really see the connection.
3
POPS15% of teens expect to die before age 35, and these expectations correlate with high-risk behavior I suppose this isn't surprising, but it's the first real, large-scale empirical confirmation that pessimism in teenagers is connected with dangerous behaviors (on the one hand) and with disadvantaging circumstances such as poverty or single-parent family situations (on the other hand). In other words, kids in bad situations are more likely both to believe they will die young and to act in ways that make it more likely that they will.
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POPSObama 'meddles' in Honduras -- and chooses the wrong side Its surely tough to make decisions about the diplomatic posture America should take when defending (or supporting) liberty and democracy around the world. Especially when you hardly believe in in yourself. Its gonna be a tough 3.5 years for Obama at this rate.
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POPSPoor governance continues in Africa... Poverty and exploitation will continue in Africa until corrupt leaders are bought to book. All credit to Chad and Benin who did not back the resolution, well done to them.
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POPSIf you aren't sick now, you soon will be Unreal. But wait, Obama PROMISED his taxes would not effect anyone making under $250k a year. You mean he lied? No way. So, once GWB's tax cuts for the rich expire, the average family making $40,000 a year see an increase of over $1000 in federal taxes. Then, Cap & Trade will cost us around $4000 a year in higher utilities and costs (and I think that is way underestimated) Then, forced health care will run another $12k for a family. Then what? Wonder how we will pay to feed our kids? Oh, that's right, tax the "rich" and give the rest of us food stamps. Great plan. Really doubt it will workout for most of us.
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POPSEconomics and Cap-N-Tax It is as if the House of Representatives suddenly passed a vote to reduce gravity by 10 percent in order to lessen the costs of obesity to putatively cut Medicare costs in the future. Truly amazing.
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POPSSocial Justice Social justice is what faces you in the morning. It is awakening in a house with adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to nourish your children and send them to school where their education not only equips them for employment but reinforces their knowledge and understanding of their cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity, free from discrimination. Mick Dodson, Annual Report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, 1993
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POPSPoverty Hurts Been waiting for science to confirm what I always knew & felt growing up in poverty. It's not just about the money, it's the pain that makes it traumatic. This article was life-validating.
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POPSSupport Teen Women and You Support the World “When women are not a productive part of a country’s economy and society, poverty persists,” says Greene. “Adolescent girls in the developing world are an enormous opportunity to transform their families, communities and countries, making the world a better place for everyone.” Greene spoke of the great potential for women’s clubs to reach out to women and girls in the developing world. She urged attendees to raise awareness in their communities of the importance of girls and advocate for policies and investments targeted toward improving their lives.
4
POPSFaulty Assumptions Could Be Inflating the Projections of Uninsured Americans
Clouding future projections of uninsured are tricky methods of counting them today. Even though legislation won't cover many of them, illegal immigrants are especially difficult to enumerate: Few raise their hands to be counted. Prof. Gruber estimates they make up about 13% of the uninsured today, or nearly six million people of that 45 million number. Of the rest, some people are eligible for health insurance but don't know it and many can afford it but don't want it. About 43% of uninsured non-elderly adults have incomes greater than 2.5 times the poverty level, according to a report released Tuesday by the business-backed Employment Policies Institute. Meanwhile, Census's state-by-state counts of the uninsured tend to be much higher than state surveys, which have their own flaws. For instance, some don't reach people without landline phones. The national agency assumes that people who don't answer its health-care questions are much more likely to be uninsured.
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POPSWhat is your political philosophy? Take the truth test!
My mother's other sin, (besides financial irresponsibility) was processing a false pride. She went to a government food distribution facility to collect such bulk staples as cheese, peanut butter and powdered milk, once or twice but found the experience quite humiliating and never went back... So hunger rejoined our family. You don't ask to be born nor to you have a choice as to what type of guardian/parent you will receive. Little children who have to live in abject poverty because they were conceived by unenlightened, uninformed and yes, ignorant parents (who were raised possibly by the same) are one of the main reasons for Liberalism. The very old and the very young are the vulnerable ones in any society. They have little or no tools for survival. And if government can't help them, most will fall prey to the very dark side of life. Pain and despair for these unfortunates are a way of life. More Here: http://www.thethinkingblue.com/areyouliberal.html
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POPSAn Ounce of Grace Love is a choice we can all afford. I once read that poverty was really something that referred to the spirit. You can be financially poor but rich in spirit. A poor soul was someone who could not love or give; a poor soul was not someone who had little money. You are as poor as you feel and that has nothing to do with what your checking account may say.
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POPSShallow Shouting from The Left "In a society that broke, on behalf of merit, the seemingly eternal chains of station by birth, they cry 'injustice.' In the names of fantasy worlds and mystical perfections, they have closed themselves to the Western, liberal miracle of individual rights, individual responsibility, merit, and human satisfaction. Like Marx, they put words like 'liberty' in quotation marks when these refer to the West…."