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POPSThe Challenge of Freedom Part I
a desperate struggle, conducted in the defiance of inevitable defeat. As a religious and spiritual people, we have a tendency to regard the triumph of the righteous as assured, and see victory as the destiny of virtue. The evidence of history says otherwise. No one would have given the American patriots winning odds at the outset of the Revolutionary War, fought against the most disciplined and well-equipped military force of the era, by men who marched through the snow in the tatters of disintegrating boots. Even patriotic Americans of today don’t always appreciate how special our achievement is… not just in its success, but its endurance. Most victorious “revolutions” end with a new class of slaves cleaning up the victory celebrations, beneath the whips of a new set of tyrants. As Binyon points out in his Times Online article, grisly regimes like North Korea remain in power, despite decades of poverty and manifest failure. The image of a lone, unarmed man standing against
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POPSIndependent commission led by former lawmakers, economists releases plan to control federal debt 
The rest of the plan includes an enforcement mechanism to stay on track (featuring automatic triggers to raise taxes and cut spending if targets aren’t met), then actually stabilizing the debt in 2018, followed by continued debt reductions toward the nation’s 50-year average of below 40%. The nation’s public debt is now 53% of U.S. gross domestic product — up from 41% a year ago — and on track to become 85% of GDP by 2018, 100% by 2022 and 200% by 2038, under the commission’s projections. The group says before those levels are reached, the U.S. would likely face a debt-driven crisis in which interest rates spiral higher and squeeze out other priorities. “The tipping point is impossible to predict, but the United States is already hearing concerns about its fiscal management from some of its largest creditors, and the country is uncomfortably vulnerable to shifts in confidence around the world,” the report stated.
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POPSThe Enemy Within Comments on the attack at Fort Hood, is this an example of terrorism or an isolated case? Maybe the tipping point for something altogether more sinister should certain elements use it to their advantage.
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POPSA Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion - the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals - the technique of the marketplace. Milton Friedman The other day, someone told me the difference between a democracy and a "people's democracy." It's the same as the difference between a jacket and a straitjacket. Ronald Wilson Reagan
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POPSThe Tipping Point To Acquire New Clients In the journey that a prospect takes towards becoming a customer, they are in control and receive free information to help them make a decision. But there comes a point in this timeline when the prospect hands over their money to you, the coach, and entrusts you to do your job and deliver what you say you are going to deliver. I call this the tipping point. The point where a prospect tips into being a client. It’s a difficult decision to make. Just think about the last time you made a major purchase like a house or a car. House hunting or car shopping was fun: You saw new things and you dreamed about the possibilities. But it felt like there was an invisible hand holding you back from handing over your cash!
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POPSNot Better Liked Of course, Osama thinks he’s a loser. Now even the IAEA is making him look like an a-hole. That’s pretty bad. On the very day when he makes his big peace-in-our-time Neville Chamberlain chess move. via Breitbart: Iran has the ability to make an A-bomb and is developing a missile to carry it. That’s before we get to the domestic part. The big question looming now is, how soon do we hit the tipping point where he starts to make Jimmy look good? At the risk of sounding like one of the kids on a long car ride … are we there yet?
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POPSVan Jones Round-up: MSM Reaffirming the "truth" Behind 911 on the Government's Behalf Conditioning at its finest. Better not look into 911 or you might be considered disturbing, radical, conspiratorial, a target of outrage, anti-American, wacky, crazy, repugnant, an extremist, alarming, and compared to the likes of clansmen and holocaust deniers. Anyone think such treatment of what the MSM thinks should be perceived as "delusion" a little curious? Maybe the ratings on that Nat Geo show were a little too high.
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POPSAmerica's Short Memory We have never been short of conspiracy nuts and lunatic fringers. Yet it seems that each new generation believes it has invented craziness. Birthers and deathers have always been here, waiting for that tipping point to don their aluminum foil helmuts and do war with the enemy. The causes have shifted but the underlying detachment from reality remains the same.
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POPSTEXAS now in play? Is that a typo? Gallup shows only 5 states leaning or solidly Republican while 37 are solidly or leaning D. Eight new Red states, including Texas (which now polls 42% D, 40% R) are solidly in play. Perhaps Democrats owe a debt of gratitude to birthers, Palin and Limbaugh, and "death panel" politics. Now we'll see if they have the courage to step up and do something worthwhile.
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POPSClimate Change: It's Already Too Late “There is no tipping point, just a slope that gets ever steeper,” writes Lovelock. “Because of the rapidity of the Earth’s change, we will need to respond more like the inhabitants of a city threatened by a flood. When they see the unstoppable rise of water, their only option is to escape to higher ground. We have to make our lifeboats seaworthy now stop pretending there is any way back to that lush, comfortable, and beautiful Earth we left behind sometime in the 20th century.” Dr. James Lovelock Warns the World: Enjoy it While You Can
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POPSThe Uprising Is On and There’s No Turning Back But is it true that a strong U.S. position in favor of the Iranian democracy movement would create a backlash against America? The reality is that those who are advancing this argument are in fact trying to shield the Iranian regime in the West. The Khomeinist propaganda machine is unleashing all doubts possible about international support to the demonstrators. In fact, the tipping point against the ayatollahs’s militias is precisely a world outcry in defense of the uprising. Presently there are no neutral Iranians who could be irritated by American or Western verbal support to democracy in Iran. The argument is inserted in the debate to confuse the public and mollify outside solidarity. What can shift the ground against the oppressive Pasdaran is precisely this, if a wide majority of Iranians feel the international community is, at least morally, on their side.
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POPS“Neda,” The Farsi Word for Voice And The Call For Freedom I felt haunted by this face all day since I saw the video (below). I knew I was not alone. I felt this could be the incident that broke the camel’s back and unleashed the Iranians. The Supreme Leader said their would be violent consequences for protesting. He is about to learn that there are also consequences for killing a young woman - and they will be violent as well. When you look at this brave human being, her life blood poring from her beautiful young face, the life in the blood itself still fresh it has yet to turn dark, her face still flushed with the last breath of life - though you can tell her spirit has moved on - you feel the need to do something. This act of cold brutality must be avenged. Humanity cannot go down this path, where the bodies of our young litter the way for old, viscous men to hold onto power. The face of Neda could very well be the tipping point for many clerics, government leaders and military leaders.
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POPSTipping Point! We cannot see what is happening, but as The Anchoress so elegantly demonstrates, we can peak in through Twitter and other bits of information drifting out. Iran’s government is on its heels, desperately trying to get control and hide the truth of its predicament from the world. We will know soon enough which side will win out. If the thugs can be isolated and crushed, then a new Iran will rise from this fire. To me the key is the military. As this story notes, the Iranian military is very large compared to the Revolutionary Guard and their militia thugs: Khamenei also picks the head of the armed forces - the 125,000-strong Revolutionary Guard and the 400,000-strong regular forces, plus 350,000 reservists. The local police are probably another force that could tip the scales and bring Iran out of the darkness. With sufficient numbers of military and police units protecting the protestors this revolution could just happen.
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