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POPSThis Mob Is Big in Japan Most Americans think of Japan as a law-abiding and peaceful place, as well as our staunch ally, but reporting on the underworld gave me a different perspective.
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POPSFirst Philippine Assembly Centennial On October 16, 1907, the inaugural session of the First Philippine Assembly was held at the Manila Grand Opera House in Sta. Cruz, where William H. Taft, U.S. Secretary of War, delivered the inaugural address.
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POPSWhat's Become of the Jewish-Zionist Press?
Today it is precisely this realization that leads me to refuse to serve. I cannot recognize the humanity of Israelis but not that of Palestinians." The two women, both 19, were invited to campus by the Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine. The same day the women will also appear at Harvard and Northeastern universities... Am I imagining that at one time two such people, brought to campus by such a group, would have been treated as a shameful matter? That perhaps a paper like The JEWISH Advocate would have provided the context for readers to understand this, rather than giving them a straight-up second page bit of publicity? Is shame dead? Are we supposed to admire these girls for standing up for the wrong values and spreading lies? Or have we no values any longer? Can we no longer call a lie for what it is? And look how this supposed Zionist newspaper treats anti-American and anti-Israeli leftist groups Code Pink and Jewish Voice for Peace:
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POPSUnpublished Palin memoir already No. 1 Much much scarier than Palin, is the demoralizing realization that there are so very many dimwits who are actually willing to pay money to read the words of this intellectual midget ... the patron saint of fools and charlatans
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POPSFour things about the Hofstra rape/recant story More: 4) Honestly, this case just makes me so sad. I think it's highly likely that something bad happened that night, whether or not she literally consented. It's hard to imagine something like this happening if all the parties had engaged in direct sexual communication and sought enthusiastic, affirmative consent - not just lack of protest. For me, this whole mess just demonstrates how badly we need a real sea-change in how we talk about and view sex in our culture. Here's where a conclusion should go, but this column has none. Because this case has none. And this crisis has none. At least none so far. But we're working on it. Right?
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POPSIt Took The Republicans 7 Years To Do What The Dems Have Done In 7 Months . . . P'Off The Independent Center
Once they went down this path, they’re going all in here, and you can’t take that bet back.” Couldn’t agree more. The public option made it into too many versions in the House to snuff out without a backlash from the fanatical left. But the realization that we could be heading towards the disaster which is the UK’s and Canada’s crumbling ‘public options’ has woken up the electorate and they will have nothing of it. And it always comes back to how to pay for it, and that sets the target clearly on seniors and their rising ranks of health care consumers. Our naive President let this whole mess get out of control. He did not lead and establish a baseline, he let the wing nuts in Congress run amok, and he got the result he deserves. If anyone is serious about health care reform they will junk the current abominations from the left wing and produce something palatable to the nation. It may not save the Democrats from the voter backlash, but it sure will lessen the backlash
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POPSWikipedia Will Limit Changes on Articles About Living People
“We are no longer at the point that it is acceptable to throw things at the wall and see what sticks,” said Michael Snow, a lawyer in Seattle who is the chairman of the Wikimedia board. “There was a time probably when the community was more forgiving of things that were inaccurate or fudged in some fashion — whether simply misunderstood or an author had some ax to grind. There is less tolerance for that sort of problem now.” The new editing procedures, which have been applied to the entire German-language version of Wikipedia during the last year, are certain to be a topic of discussion this weekwhen Wikipedia’s volunteer editors gather in Buenos Aires for their annual Wikimania conference. Much of the agenda is focused on the implications of the encyclopedia’s size and influence. Although Wikipedia has prevented anonymous users from creating new articles for several years now, the new flagging system crosses a psychological Rubicon. It will divide Wikipedia’s contributors into t
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POPSThe end of Death The psychologist Ernest Becker wrote in his pulitzer prize winning book, “The Denial of Death,” that in the face of an acute and agonizing awareness of his mortality, man has developed three main devices to sustain his sanity.These illusions act as temporary solutions to the problem of death. The Religious Solution The Religious Solution invents the concept of God and projects onto him the power to grant us what we all really want: the ability to bestow eternal life on ourselves an our loved ones; to be freed from disease, decay and death. The Romantic Solution The second illusion Becker identifies - when we no longer believe in God, we then turn our lovers into gods and goddesses.When in love, man can “forget himself in the delirium of sex, and still be marvelously quickened in the experience”. We are temporarily relieved from the drag of “the animality that haunts our victory over decay and death.” When in love, we become immortal gods.
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POPSFrom Alinsky to Axelrod: Pro-ObamaCare Protesters Were Bused In for NH Town Hall One of Obama's early mentors in the Alinsky method was Mike Kruglik, who had this to say to an Ryan Lizza of The New Republic, about Obama: "He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards. As with the panhandler, he could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better." The agitator's job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the "realization" that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve...
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POPSStill Missing When my daughter was % yrs old she went missing for about two hours before the police found her playing down the lane at another little girl's house. I can't express the range of emotions I went through for just that short period of time. Now in it's sixth month, the search goes on for little Haleigh. If you pray do it. If you don't pray, wish or hope, or whatever you do. There are some links you can click on to read up on the criminal mind.
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POPSEmpowering Women "Women's empowerment is vital to sustainable development and the realization of human rights for all."
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POPSCompare the two pitches I've seen little league pitchers than can throw better than that. A lot of people are wondering why liberals are still so crazy angry. They have their inexperienced president dismantling America both domestically and abroad, so shouldn’t they be unhappy instead of still all unhinged and deranged? I think they realize, though, that them getting power is a freak accident and is just going to lead everyone to really really hating them and trying to throw them into the sea where they will be Aquaman’s problem. How long can they possibly hold power before they screw up so royally that they are chased out of society? Success is what will end them, and probably some realization in the back of their brains of that fact is what made them so crazy angry to begin with.
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POPSEpiscopals Continue to Strain the Anglican Communion over Gay Folk And we thank them. Unitarian Universalists have long been fully supportive of GLBT folk (in committed relationships or not) being fully engaged in the life of the denomination at all levels. It is good to see other denominations come to the realization that gay people are, gasp, people.
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POPSIllnesses Afflict Homes With a Criminal Past (former meth house) With meth lab seizures on the rise nationally for the first time since 2003, similar cases are playing out in several states, drawing attention to the problem of meth contamination, which can permeate drywall, carpets, insulation and air ducts, causing respiratory ailments and other health problems.
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POPSDaft Punk - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem 
This is the full 65 minute video of Daft Punk's Interstella. Not only the music is amazing, but the same can be said of the animations by Leiji Matsumoto. Put them together and you end up with this: a masterpiece. From the source: Interstella 5555 is a feature-length Japanese animated musical film originally released on December 1, 2003. The film is the visual realization of Discovery, an album by Daft Punk. Each track from the album has been animated as an episode in the story of the abduction and rescue of an interstellar pop band. The film was produced by the creators of the Discovery album, along with Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. The film has no dialogue and minimal sound effects. Music list 1 "One More Time" 2 "Aerodynamic" 3 "Digital Love" 4 "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" 5 "Crescendolls" 6 "Nightvision" 7 "Superheroes" 8 "High Life" 9 "Something About Us" 10 "Voyager" 11 "Veridis Quo" 12 "Short Circuit" 13 "Face To Face"
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POPSCreeping Socialism Awakens Conservative Beliefs Core beliefs matter, real experience matters, fiscal responsibility matters, and that the wisdom of our Founding Fathers matters. For those Democrats who believe these to still matter, perhaps you haven't left the party, but the party has left you.