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POPSThe sleazy advocacy of a leading "liberal hawk" What Galbraith kept completely concealed all these years was that a company he formed in 2004 came to acquire a large stake in a Kurdish oil field whereby, as the NYT put it, he "stands to earn perhaps a hundred million or more dollars." In other words, he had a direct -- and vast -- financial stake in the very policies which he was publicly advocating in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and countless other American media outlets, where he was presented as an independent expert on the region. As Cobban wrote: Galbraith has never expressed any such regrets, and last November, he was openly scornful of Bush's late-term agreement to withdraw from Iraq completely. The revelation that for many years Galbraith had a quite undisclosed financial interest in the political breakup of Iraq may now further reduce the clout, and the ranks, of the remaining liberal hawks.
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POPSCBS and NBC Skip Hasan's Ominous 'We Love Death More Than You Love Life' 
Brian Ross reported: The Washington Post reported today that Hasan presented this PowerPoint presentation at Walter Reed hospital in 2007, saying: “It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims.” Under comments, he wrote: “We love death more than you love life.” And his conclusion was that Muslim soldiers be given the option of being released from the military, as conscientious objectors, to decrease what he called “adverse events.” Bob Orr, on the CBS Evening News: There were reasons to worry. Hasan received poor performance reviews at Walter Reed, frequently criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and in June, 2007, Hasan gave a shocking presentation to colleagues. Using slides, Hasan argued forcing Muslim soldiers to fight wars in Muslim countries puts them “at risk to hurting/killing believers unjustly” and he ominously warned of “adverse events." .....
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POPSDeadly denia' Ralph Peters always goes to the heart of a matter. He and Bolton are Americans' friends. We need people to clear the cob-webs from our brains and from the PC that we've been guilted into accepting. See the realities or succumb and speed up the decline of America.
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POPSNidal Hasan Bought A Para-Military Automatic Pistol With Armor-Piercing Capabilities The FBI dispatched agents from Austin, San Antonio and Waco to the scene, and pressed into service a 15-member forensic unit to help military police collect evidence. Agents from the bureau's Washington field office interviewed relatives, neighbors and friends who knew Hasan during his years in the Washington area. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also are on hand to help with weapons analysis. Investigators also focused on Guns Galore, a firearms store just down the highway from the mosque. Store owner David Cheadle said federal agents interviewed him about the sale of a FN Herstal Five-Seven pistol that was used in the shootings. "It is a popular choice for personal defense," Cheadle said, pulling one from his case, "but it's expensive" -- more than $1,100 at his store. The officials said a continuing search of Major Hasan’s computer indicates that he had logged on to Web sites that celebrated radical Islamic ideologies and that he had....
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POPSALL POLITICS IS LOCAL...or is it? the more sophisticated the populace the more likely national issues will be percieved as local as voters realize the local impact of national decisions
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POPSGovernment health care rescues protesters at anti-government health care rally. By the end of the day, “medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care.” Bachmann=proof that being severely developmentally and emotionally delayed does not preclude Government service. Ironically, she's the best argument that the government should not be running anything.
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POPSDana Milbank Is, as Mark Levin Describes Him, "A Punk, a Liar and a Coward" Constitutional attorney, bestselling author and hit radio show host Mark Levin certainly doesn't mince words. Alerted to Milbank's latest hit piece in The Washington Post, Levin called Milbank out as a propagandist of the first order. The reason: out of literally tens of thousands of patriotic signs and shirts at Thursday's Capitol Hill protest, Milbank picked out a handful as supposedly representative of a crowd he described as "hateful and gruesome." An outraged Levin called Milbank a "punk, a liar and a coward" while challenging him to a debate on his show. Here's a Nazi reference that Milbank might appreciate: I think of him as the Josef Goebbels of his age. He writes patent propaganda in service of the State. And I can prove it. Bubba visited DC for the rally and wandered through the crowd for hours taking scores of photos. I created a montage -- click to zoom if you'd like read the dozens of visible messages -- from his collection.
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POPSBeautiful Man "He looks like a damned handsome man to me. You can't keep character from shining through, his is luminescent, any more than you can fake what's not there" (from post)
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POPS Dots, Not Connected Well, you don’t get to not go just because you don’t want to. Apparently was disturbed by what he was hearing from the combat-traumatized solders he was counseling. Very sensitive, couldn’t hang with the war wounds. Had poor performance reports and was himself in counseling. Sounds a bit like the psychiatrist, not simply unwilling and ill-suited to the military career he had chosen, might have been morphing into patient, or should have been, as he found himself increasingly conflicted at the intersection of various aspects of his life, which appears to have included a respectable level of stress and some potentially extreme contradictions. Given that he worked at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, that part of it starts to sound like a very big dot that shouldn’t have needed that much connecting. Here’s another one, dot-connection in process. Had been the focus of some level of attention by federal agents for at least six months....
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POPSGordon Brown to 'buy off' Germany and France to get President Blair Tony Blair is why Britain is in the state it is in right now and Gordon Brown(nose) want him to have a go at Screwing up the EU (More than it already is.) Not to mention that he is a 33 degree Freemason amongst other shady and Dark organisations. Simply put you wouldn't want this guy running a business let alone a continent.
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POPSPelosi Health Care Bill Blows a Kiss to Trial Lawyers While there is debate over the details, it is clear that medical malpractive lawsuits have some impact on driving health care costs higher. There are likely a number of procedures that are done simply as a defense against future possible litigation. Recall this from the Washington Post: “Lawmakers could save as much as $54 billion over the next decade by imposing an array of new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, congressional budget analysts said today " a substantial sum that could help cover the cost of President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s health system. New research shows that legal reforms would not only lower malpractice insurance premiums for medical providers, but would also spur providers to save money by ordering fewer tests and procedures aimed primarily at defending their decisions in court, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, wrote in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).”
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POPSReal men don't read D.C. pundits
Even worse than Krauthammer's column today, though, was David Brooks in the New York Times. Partly it's because Brooks likes to pretend to be open-minded and reasonable, while spouting neocon talking points, and occasionally liberals get pulled in by him. But today was trademark lazy ideological Brooks. As Glenn Greenwald notes, unbelievably he bragged about "doing what journalists are supposed to do" -- which he defined as talking to a handful of anonymous pro-war sources, who uniformly criticized Obama's inaction to date on McCrystal's troop request. That's some brave shit. Not quite David Rohde brave, but hey, he made the calls! If it was unanimous, that means he didn't call retired Marine Matthew Hoh, who resigned from a civilian post in Afghanistan this week because he said we can't win, and our presense is only fueling the insurgency. Hoh told the Washington Post's Karen de Young he's "not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love" and that he believes
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POPSReport: Dozens in Congress Under Ethics Scrutiny The inquiry involves lawmakers who steered appropriations to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm and received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients. The names included three lawmakers previously identified in the inquiry: the chairman of the defense subcommittee, Murtha; and Reps. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and James Moran, D-Va. The Post said others whose names were in the report included Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan. The committee, however, has not announced an investigation of any of these lawmakers. A committee statement said its security was breached through "peer to peer file sharing software" by a junior employee who was working from home. The staff member was fired. The committee said it is investigating whether Rep. Maxine Waters used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock, and whether the couple benefited as a result.
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POPSSomething to think about…. 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
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POPSDon't be surprised the media elite sided with Fox The point's neither complex nor subtle. In this country, journalists don't sponsor or participate in partisan political events. Maybe in Venezuela or China, but in the United States, no. Explaining to the New York Times, deputy White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said, "We simply decided to stop abiding by the fiction, which is aided and abetted by the mainstream press, that Fox is a traditional news organization." Quantcast Yet neither the Times nor most "mainstream" pundits evaluated the claim on its merits. Most pretended not to grasp the White House's point, and then went straight to the aiding and abetting. Many invoked the ghost of Richard Nixon. Why, to criticize Fox, claimed the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus and Charles Krauthammer, was downright "Nixonian." NPR's Ken Rudin recalled "what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list." So did CNN's Anderson Cooper. Rudin subsequently apologized for the "boneheaded" comparison; Cooper didn't.
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POPSGood Intentions with Disastrous Effects
But fraud and corruption are only part of the failed system that is Medicare – the other is basic accounting. In this morning’s Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson compares the troubles with Medicare to the “public option,” which he calls a “mirage,” that is gaining strength in Congress. While Medicare is a monopoly, the proposed government-run health insurance plan seeks to attract investment capital to subsidize the enormous costs that it will incur (such as marketing campaigns). If this fails, which it undoubtedly would, Congress would step in to bail it out. When asked why it has taken Medicare so long to figure out they were being scammed, Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS’s Steve Kroft, "I think lack of resources probably. And then I think people I don't think necessarily thought that something as well intentioned as Medicare and Medicaid would necessarily attract fraudsters. But I think we have to understand that it certainly has." Good Intentions maybe but...
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POPSU.S. Official Resigns Over Afghanistan War Policy Hoh's letter caused a stir in the Obama administration, and he was hastened to meetings with senior U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington. They praised his record of service and begged him to stay, offering him new positions in both locations. Hoh initially accepted the Washington job, but changed his mind a week later. Hoh said that his act of protest and decision to speak out were painful, even "nauseating" at times, but he was strongly motivated by the friends he had lost on the battlefield and the mental anguish he has experienced since returning home. "I want people in Iowa, people in Arkansas, people in Arizona, to call their congressman and say, 'Listen, I don't think this is right,' " he explained, adding that he "is not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love."
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POPSAmtrak Our government does such a "wonderful" job with the post office and Amtrak, just think what they will be able to do with health care. Write your congressman now.
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POPSFirst, Do No Harm BU Med student accused of Craigslist killing and robberies. Gender-bending Harvard-educated rifle-wielding wife-murdering dermatologist Richard Sharpe ends it all in prison. Hooker-frequenting hammer-and-slash wife-murdering prominent allergist Dirk Greineder seeks a new trial. Harvard-trained doc who walked away from surgery does time on drug charges but skates on child rape charges when witness refuses to testify. You’ve got your nursing Angel of Death du jour. Nursing assistant accused of terrorizing elderly. Drug docs to the stars! A rash of them are staring at charges related to buried mistakes Jacko and Anna Nicole. All that’s before you get to the little remarked-upon regular run of docs who believe in hands-on examinations … whether their patients need it or not. In a lot of those cases, the oath should have been “First, Do No Pharm.” But howbout, “First, Weed Out Barmy.” I know, I know, for every murderous, abusive wackjob there are thousands of caring,
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POPSThe Washington Post's 2002 "reporting" on Iran The issue isn't whether you believe Iran desires to develop nuclear weapons; it's obviously possible (even rational) that they do. The issue is the painfully reckless, transparently irresponsible, and Iraq-replicating "journalistic" methods for disseminating these war-fueling assertions. In perfect 2002 fashion, Warrwick does not have a single named source for these scary allegations; instead, this is who fed him these claims: "many U.S. and European intelligence officials" and "two former senior U.S. officials" and "intelligence officials from the United States and allied nations" and "a senior Middle East-based intelligence official" (one wonders, in vain, which "allied nation" and which "Middle-East based" country might have whispered these things?). And while Warwick provides a cursory paragraph devoted to denials by Iranian officials of these accusations, he does not include a single expert or named source to dispute these claims. It's a purely one-sided, unquestioning and en
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POPSSecret Obamacare Negotiations Behind Closed Doors Democracy does not begin and end on Election Day for the American people. Whether you are for or against Obamacare, we the people deserve an opportunity to read, digest and understand the most important health care legislation to be debated in the United States Senate in our lifetime. The American people relied upon the promise of the Obama Administration and the leadership in Congress to be open and transparent, therefore it is time to stop the closed door negotiations and allow the American people to participate in the democratic process. Author: Brian Darling http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/19/secret-obamacare-negotiations-enter-day-6/
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POPSThe Long Road to Indecision (we need a "Decider") selecting Gen. Stanley McChrystal to implement it, the administration began to get very cold feet about the war it had described as a strategic necessity. Consider this quick timeline: March 27 . Accompanied by Gen. David Petraeus, author of the Iraq “surge” and head of U.S. Central Command, President Obama announces the conclusion of the “Af-Pak” review: a “comprehensive strategy” to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda” and “combat insurgents”"i.e., the Taliban. May 11 . McKiernan is fired and replaced by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. “We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. Late June . Traveling in Afghanistan with Bob Woodward"who has by now simply opened an office in the West Wing"National Security Adviser (and ex-Marine general) Jim Jones tells on-the-ground commanders “that the Obama administration wants to hold troop levels here flat for now, . . .
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