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POPSExploring the powerful history of Gdansk This lovely street wasn't always so lively and carefree. On Sept. 1, 1939 — nearly 70 years ago to this date — Adolf Hitler invaded this once-German city, sparking World War II. By the end of the war, nearly 80 percent of the city had been destroyed, and the main street lay in ruins. Locals stubbornly rebuilt their town with the help of detailed drawings and photographs, mostly using the original brick. Today, excursion boats ferry history buffs through shipyards to Westerplatte point, where the war's first shots were fired.
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POPSSinger and radio star Jo Stafford dies at 90 Stafford's records of "I'll Walk Alone," "I'll Be Seeing You," "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" and other sentimental songs struck the hearts of servicemen far from home in both World War II and the Korean War. They awarded her the title of "GI Jo."
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POPSFund Health Care, Not War # "Until we remove the motive of profit from the financing of health care, we cannot and we will not resolve our current health care crisis." # "Any group that proposes reform policy that maintains the use of for-profit insurance companies in a so-called free market is being driven by one single motive -- to protect the golden coffers of their share of the $2 trillion cash cow!"
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POPSMugabe Vows to Go to War Before Ceding Post Unfortunately neither insanity nor old age seems to slow down this mad man. Unless of course, he has become little more than a belligerent puppet fronting for a military unwilling to give up their privileged positions
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POPSA tangled web we weave, when practice to deceive! How sad is this... Our mainstream news would probably spin this like a benevolent story of HELP for the families who are struggling to become American citizens in this wonderful land of opportunity and advantages for the few. But the truth of the matter is... THEY NEED MORE BOOTS TO CONTINUE THIS OUTRAGEOUS WAR IN THE HOPE TO SAVE FACE!! It's hard to believe, all the efforts to continue sending troops to Iraq are only to help this president's place in history because of a war that never should have been waged. A war of lies, no matter the spin, it seems this is the only truth. "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive!" - Sir Walter Scott Once again, how sad. thinkingblue.blogspot.com
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POPSIgnorance, Economics & Global Conflict This is a fascinating exploration of how common misunderstandings of the way economics work pervade in our society, and how these misconceptions have led to our current ill-conceived entanglements. Too much good stuff to clip, you'll have to click through to the source for the rest!
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POPSIraq is more than just an election issue! At this point we really should be asking ourselves: what is the real objective of the Bush administration? Is he actually trying to win the war? Or simply trying to keep it going until he is out of office? Isn't the troop surge perfect evidence of this? The new strategy amounts to nothing more than simply committing more men and material to the problem without a significant re-evaluation of our overall strategy, or its shortcomings. Unfortunately, the impractical Democrat bill on spending, and their quick retreat from that position also seems to suggest that many Democrats think that an ongoing war in Iraq might be a convenient election issue next year. I will vote for no candidate who plays politics while people's lives are on the line.
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POPSMark Twain's "The War Prayer" In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called "The War Prayer." His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too inflammatory for the times. Twain agreed, but instructed that it be published after his death, saying famously: None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth. "The War Prayer" was eventually published after World War I, when its message was more in tune with the times. Now, Washington Monthly's publisher, Markos Kounalakis, who was affected by Twain's words when he covered the war in Yugoslavia in the early 90s, has made "The War Prayer" into a short video for release this Memorial Day weekend. It features stunning illustrations by Akis Dimitrakopoulos and is narrated by Peter Coyote, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Erik Bauersfeld. *
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POPS$100 billion more for an unwinnable war: Congress caves to GWB Sanchez says that IF America commits AT LEAST 100,000 troops for 6 or 7 years and IF there is dramatically improved US and Iraqi leadership we may be able to salvage a stalemate. WTF. "A Congressional study has found that despite billions spent on training, Iraq has just 6,000 troops willing to operate independently from the coalition forces - with the rest refusing to fight unless backed by US firepower. The study indicates it will be years before Iraq has an army capable of battling the rebels." Hilary, Obama and 12 other senators voted against the $100billion bill, but were outnumbered by the hawks and the spineless. It's so, so frustrating and depressing to watch America go down the tubes this way.
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POPSWhy the Democrats can't stop the Iraq war To finish the point: "If they are able to meet these benchmarks, the Democrats (and Bush, for that matter) could declare victory. If they don't meet these benchmarks, then the Democrats could claim that we helped the Iraqis enough that they should have been able to meet these guidelines. This would warrant the claim that the Iraqis lack the will to engage in useful nation building and thus the failure is theirs not ours.Bush cannot accept this proposal because Bush knows that the Democrats will claim forever that he and the party that supported him got us into an unwinnable war." Interesting points made re: US not being accustomed to defeat; too long to clip, go to the source "
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POPSResponse to the type of propaganda that allows Bush to get away with murder This morning my brother forwarded me a piece of shameless propaganda, purportedly created by a fifteen-year-old girl. Here is the message being disseminated: "Lizzie Palmer who put this YouTube program together is only 15 years old." "There have been over 3,000,000 hits as of this morning." "In case you missed it, here it is." "The link below is the hottest thing on the internet and on Fox News today ." http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1 Quite a "Foxy" fifteen-year-old, no doubt. Damn that Faux News! Above is my heartfelt reply to my brother and to all the other people to whom he had forwarded the video when he sent it to me--and to you.
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POPSMothers' Day: Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe sought an annual Mothers' Day in the USA as early as 1870, shortly after the Civil War. Her plea is far different from the ooey-gooey of the modern observance!
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POPSExtensions Don't Just Stretch The Army, They Stretch Families, Too!
This war is putting a strain on many military families and marriages. I seem to regularly hear about "another spousal suicide" in my neck of the woods...things that do not get reported in the msm, because it's one of those things that the military doesn't report because it would "harm the troops morale". A year ago, a woman across the street was found dead, her husband was in Iraq and he worked side by side with my husband. He "got to" come home...sadly. I hear about divorces on a regular basis, some families work it out, most don't. Who gets married to spend most of their marriage apart? I guess it follows the old adage that if the Army wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one." I heard that a lot when I was pregnant and needed my husband home and we weren't even at war then! It's hard enough raising a child as a couple, it's even harder trying to raise normal, happy kids who know they have a daddy, but never get to see him.
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POPSRemember Protest Songs? The Best One You Never Heard! The protest song has played an important role in American history. Anyone old enough to remember Woodstock surely remembers the "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag", and the Fish Cheer that started it off. What ever became of protest songs? Where are they now? There is enough anti-war sentiment to produce some good ones, but the corporations, it seems to me, have choked them off. I know there are some I've missed, but they used to be like flowers in a field... everywhere, and impossible to overlook. The above is, in my opinion, the best post-Viet Nam outright anti-war song I've ever heard, and at 22 years old it is as relevant today as the day it was released. "And the throne, the pulpit, and the politician Create a thirst for power in the common man It's a taste for blood passed off as bravery Or just patriotism hiding bigotry" Where are Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger when we need them?
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POPSWhy I Fled George Bush's War Read the whole story, straight from the horse's mouth. It's just unacceptable what's going on in Iraq. This does NOT sound like a one off offense to me either! Neither did Abu Ghraib. I'm not buying it! What's going on with these people! Aren't we supposed to be the good guys?? Good grief, no wonder they all hate us...
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