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POPSWars sending U.S. into ruin. Obama’s Afghan “surge” of 30,000 new troops will cost an additional $33 billion — more than Germany’s total defence budget. Military and intelligence spending relentlessly increase as unemployment heads over 10% and the economy bleeds red ink. America has become the Sick Man of the Western Hemisphere, an economic cripple like the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Pentagon now accounts for half of total world military spending. Add America’s rich NATO allies and Japan, and the figure reaches 75%. China and Russia combined spend only a paltry 10% of what the U.S. spends on defence. There are 750 U.S. military bases in 50 nations and 255,000 service members stationed abroad, 116,000 in Europe, nearly 100,000 in Japan and South Korea. Military spending gobbles up 19% of federal spending and at least 44% of tax revenues. During the Bush administration, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — funded by borrowing — cost each American family more than $25,000.
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POPS4Troops: Band Of Brothers-In-Arms The idea came from Sony executives, who asked Hurtado to create an ensemble that could sing, tour and raise money for veterans groups. A percentage of proceeds benefit a range of charities, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Read more: http://nosheepleshere.blogspot.com/2010/02/4troops-band-of-brothers-in-arms.html#ixzz0ekSLpytU
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POPSMore about Shadie Why do I harp on about this crook? Because he insulted all veterans by his unanswered diatribe related to all of us who served in Ulster. When I complained to my MP, Gordon Marsden, I was dismissed with an off-handed comment that it was not within his remit. Surely it is not within any former soldier's remit to vote for such dross?
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POPSThe Republicans' Reagan Amnesia And what were those principles, exactly? No. 1—according to the resolution—was “smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes.” Let’s take those from the top. Smaller government: Federal employment grew by 61,000 during Reagan’s presidency—in part because Reagan created a whole new cabinet department, the department of veterans affairs. (Under Bill Clinton, by contrast, federal employment dropped by 373,000). Smaller deficits and debt: Both nearly tripled on Reagan’s watch. Lower taxes: Although Reagan muscled through a major tax cut in 1981, he followed up by raising taxes in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1986. In 1983, in fact, he not only raised payroll taxes; he raised them to pay for Social Security and Medicare. Let’s put this in language today’s tea-baggers can understand: Reagan raised taxes to pay for government-run health care.
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POPSMontana Attorney The law firm, McLean & McLean, PLLP handles personal injury, wrongful death, bad faith insurance, and professional liability cases.
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POPSIsland residents sue U.S., saying military made them sick The U.S. government's response to their lawsuit is to invoke sovereign immunity, arguing that residents have no right to sue it. The government also disputes that the Navy's activities on Vieques made islanders ill, citing a 2003 study by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found no link.
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POPS2010 Grammys: Big Moments From the Show Just as George Clooney used the Golden Globes as recruiting grounds for his Haiti telethon, Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones did the same with Grammys for their "We Are the World" remake. The veterans of the original 1985 charity single spent the festivities stocking up on music stars to perform on the new rendition, to be recorded Monday in Los Angeles. Bono and Lady Gaga are among the latest on board for the Haiti-helping tune, joining the likes of Usher, Jason Mraz, Akon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, Enrique Iglesias and Toni Braxton. There could be as many as 100 singers on the new rendition. "It's like the biggest honor in life to get a call from our father in music, Quincy Jones," RedOne, who will help produce, told E! News backstage. Tonight's Grammys also featured a special Mary J. Blige-Andrea Bocelli duet of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The song will be available for download on iTunes with proceeds going to earthquake relief.
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POPSForklift Licence Sydney When you complete for forklift training course and you pass your licence test, you will be granted with a temporary licence. During this 60 day period, you are required to apply for a full licence. Read more here.
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POPSMYG | Amid scandal, Rep. Buyer (R-IN) won't seek another term
Autoimmune diseases are complex and numerous. The body's immune system protects from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body. These diseases tend to run in families. Women - particularly African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American women - have a higher risk for some autoimmune diseases. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and if so, which one. Getting diagnosed can be frustrating and stressful. In many people, the first symptoms are being tired, muscle aches and low fever. The diseases may also have flare-ups, when they get worse, and remissions, when they all but disappear. The diseases do not usually go away, but symptoms can be treated. ___ Click here for the most common autoi
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POPSBarack Hoover Obama In 1932, Herbert Hoover turned away thousands of starving veterans who had traveled thousands of miles to Washington looking to receive the bonus due them, never once addressing them in the 2 months the veterans where camped there. He got rid of them by calling out the military lead by General Douglas MacArthur himself with troops and tanks. Instead, Hoover shelled out millions to the banks to keep them afloat.
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POPSWhere Has Susan Rice, our UN Ambassador, Been.... FTA: "The U.S. taxpayer pays 22% of the UN’s total budget and 26% of its Peacekeeping budget " more than $1 Billion every year." "While the Bush Administration had some success in starting a top to bottom review of every UN mandate and program, the Rice team has dropped the effort altogether. On November 19, 2009, the U.S. Government’s General Accounting Office issued a report questioning how some of the $330 million the U.S. gave to the UN Office for Project Services’ was spent, including a citation of $200,000 to renovate a guest house. So far, Rice and her team have done very little to follow up on this and other questionable budget issues." Another affirmative-action appointee? Do these folks just show up periodically to vote "present" and then enjoy the perks of position? I MISS John Bolton. :~(
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POPSHealth Care Reform will Bankrupt US! and that figure doesn’t include projected future costs ranging from care for soldiers wounded in those wars to the cost of replenishing worn out military equipment. At the war-fighting level, the Congressional Budget Office has already projected direct war costs over the next decade at $867 billion. The Pentagon’s 2011 budget is already the highest since World War II, Now, consider that the secretary of defense has just “pledged” more of the same for years to come. And note that none of this -- with the possible exception of that $33 billion supplemental request -- is considered particularly controversial by anyone who matters in Washington, or worth much front-page news attention. Sums that put health-care reform in the shade cause barely a stir. Thank goodness conservatives will save us from providing health insurance and services to all Americans.
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POPSVeterans and Military Families Speak Out There is a HUGE antiwar rally scheduled for March 20th in Washington, DC. More from the article below: "This reality cannot be hidden forever, and every day more of us are waking up. Every day it becomes more apparent that these are not wars for “national defense” or anyone’s “freedom”; these are wars for empire. On March 20, we will be marching on Washington. And the more people that join us, the more we can inspire other soldiers to do the same, and the closer we get to ending these criminal wars. –" "As mothers, when our sons and daughters are sent back in flag-draped coffins, we do not ask if they were one in 135,000 or one in 50,000. They are still just as dead. When our sons and daughters come home, broken in mind and soul, trying to kill themselves with many succeeding, we do not ask if they were one in 135,000 or one in 50,000. They are still just as broken, just as lost."
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POPSQuonset Huts Around 170,000 Quonset huts were produced during the war -- enough to house the combined populations of Portland and Seattle. Then the war ended, and they were too good a resource to throw away. So the military sold them to civilians for about a thousand dollars each. They made serviceable single-family homes. Returning veterans now occupied Quonset huts by choice. Universities made them into student housing. Architects took an interest and gussied them up in odd ways. Churches and small businesses took up residence in them. In 1948 the Sacramento Peak observatory was housed in Quonset huts. Playwright Robert Finton has written a play about them. He titled it Tents of Tin.
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POPSMilitary Service Suicide Rates on the Rise We don't count them among the casualties of our wars, but perhaps we should. I'm talking about those we think who return from war safely, only to kill themselves later. What horrors they must have witnessed. And often we ask them to experience these horrors in conflicts that have no clear national security necessity. For some, skewed by depression and pain, that must make their service seem meaningless. We need to do more to help them, to identify the ones that are hurting, and to provide them the care they need. A responsible nation cannot simply wink at the problems it creates.
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POPSCompaints Prompt Publix to REMOVE calandar that omitted Pearl Harbor She urged listeners to call Publix if the calendar offended them. Publix received several complaints, mostly about the Pearl Harbor anniversary missing from the calendar, Publix officials said. "We regret that the day of remembrance, Pearl Harbor, is not noted and as a result of customer feedback, we will add Pearl Harbor to next year's calendar," said Kimberly Jaeger, a Publix spokeswoman in Miami. Since 2005, Publix has provided the free calendar, which has solely marked holidays, including Independance Day and Veterans Day, Jaeger said. The calendar also features holidays celebrated abroad, such as Puerto Rico Commonwealth Constitution Day and Haitian Flag Day. Still, the calendar always has excluded days of observance and remembrance, including Pearl Harbor, "due to the number of holidays in a calendar year," Jaeger said.
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POPSPictures Of War "Thank you for your service," we are supposed to say. They are used to perpetuate the myth. We are used to honor it."
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POPSVA Loan Don't let your poor credit mortgage suffer any longer! Get rid of credit cards, missed payments, mortgage lates and high interest mortgages.
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POPSBorn in East Lancashire, but still in the Punjab Shahid Malik is the type of dross who can insult veterans as he hides behind Parliamentary pivilege. As the Labour spin machine gets into full turn, this poor excuse of a public official will bounce back stronger than ever. With so many young men dying for him to abuse his position, I will risk the wrath of the courts by pointing out that Maliks’ benefactors will do anything to rehabilitate him. But they will not join the British Armed Forces. Have you noticed how few of his people are actually in the Forces? Why should they? They can foster their own positions whilst Lancashire Lads are dying. And this MP in Yorkshire can continue to insult veterans and the types of Gordon Marsden will not take up the cudgel on veterans’ behalf.
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POPSThe US Military Is Exhausted These troops refuse deployment for a variety of reasons: some because they ethically oppose the wars, some because they have had a negative experience with the military, and some because they cannot psychologically survive another deployment, having fallen victim to what has been termed "Broken Joe" syndrome. The voices of refusal coming from within the US military send a powerful message that soldiers will not be fodder for an unjust and unnecessary war. And the longer the war in Afghanistan drags on - the more lives that are lost and destroyed - the more resistance we will see coming from within the ranks.