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POPSPentagon plans microchips for soldiers brains. Like with 'IBM Verichip' this seems to be an attempt to introduce 'Organic Tracking Cookies'. All they have to do is convince people they are safe, or introduce them in a way that will not bother people (Like when they are unconscious, or offline) Soldiers, maybe, but when they talk about injecting them into trauma victims, they don't mention any approval by patients. Will it be left to the discretion of the treating physician ? Will they be obliged to tell the patient ? Will they consider the ignorance of the patient to be in the best interests of the patient, and the health system. Not long ago these might have seemed stupid questions "What is there to doubt" Surely we can trust the pentagon.They won't need an electoral roll, they'll have a catalog. Whoever gets the contract is going to make a fortune.
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POPSDubya dissed by world leaders: Or is it? [SEE COMMENTS] 11/21/08 Okay, CNN has come out with the official explanation . Maybe it wasn't an official snub after all. Protocol & all that. I still bet Angela Merkel thinks Bush is a dick and that he'll be remembered as the WORST PRESIDENT EVAR! We liberals don't hate America, we love America. We just hate Bush and what he stands for and what he's done to the country. Nor do we think speaking bad of the Great Leader is disloyalty to the state like the right-wing Kool-Aid drinkers seem to. ORIG COMMENT: Notice how the WORST AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN HISTORY doesn't even make eye contact with Angela Merkel of Germany, nor she with him. Guess she figures getting groped on camera by a by him once before was enough. There's an old Irish saying that 19 world leaders seem to have gotten wind of: Touch the Devil and you can't let go.
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POPSDo we want a truly liberal society? A liberal society embraces pluralism, in the sense that it does not seek to impose any one vision of what it means to be virtuous or to lead a good life. Within such a society, approval is commonly expressed for John Stuart Mill’s view that “experiments in living” should not be merely tolerated, but actually welcomed and celebrated (Mill 1974: 120). As Max Charlesworth writes, “In a liberal society personal autonomy, the right to choose one’s own way of life for oneself, is the supreme value.” He adds that this includes what he calls ethical pluralism: members of the society are free to hold a wide range of moral, religious, and non-religious positions, with no core values or public morality that it is the law’s business to enforce (Charlesworth 1993: 1). Accordingly, a liberal society makes a sharp distinction between the sphere of personal moral views and that of the law; no one can use the law to impose their beliefs on others (16-20).
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POPSThe American Flag I agree, the flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo. This clip is to illustrate the silliness of the "flag-wavers", who yell anti-American or traitor, at anyone who has the conscience to oppose the unjust war in Iraq (or elsewhere) This is for those, who think that draping oneself in stars and stripes thoughtlessly and manically, is nothing more than a misguided political fashion statement of people desperately trying to 'prove' their equally misguided patriotism. Silly really, isn't it? .;)
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POPSLet's junk the myths and celebrate what we've got Moreover, we need to become responsible versus petty humans; in the words of the article "When you see nothing but junk, create quality. Where quality is hard to find, curate it, adding your own seal of approval with a link. When you read inaccuracies and misunderstandings, add facts, corrections, context and journalism. If people on the internet get things wrong, educate them. When you hear the noise of people talking online, listen." Thumbs up.
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POPSWho Are We? Coming of Age on Antidepressants The reason has to do with the way drugs are tested and approved. To get F.D.A. approval, a drug has to beat a placebo in two randomized clinical trials that typically involve a few hundred subjects who are treated for relatively short periods, usually 4 to 12 weeks.So drugs are approved based on short-term studies for what turns out to be long-term — often lifelong — use in the world of clinical practice. What do I say to a depressed patient who is doing well after five years on such a drug but can’t stop without a depressive relapse and who wants reassurance that the drug has no long-term adverse effects?I usually say that we have no evidence that the drug poses a risk with long-term use; and since the risk of untreated depression is much greater than the hypothetical risk of the drug, it makes sense to stay on it.
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POPSCreationist gag order for Grand Canyon park rangers Political appointees overseeing National Park Service operations have ordered that Grand Canyon park rangers not say anything about the geological origins of the canyon to avoid offending biblical literalists who believe it originates with Noah's flood.
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POPSThe Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace (?????) hahahahahahahahaha---this guy is so delusional...with all the damage Bush has done and is STIL tryin to do with his latest round of environmental deregulations designed to profit his cronies, I find it impossible to show him any respect whatsoever--He has no regard for people or the Earth! He should be prosecuted for war crimes and other felonies that he and Cheney have committed, not defended by this bozo.
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POPSA Win for the Workers Laid-off Republic Windows & Doors workers accept package for eight weeks salary and paid health care, and accrued vacation pay.
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POPSDrug for Longer Life The other drug is a small synthetic chemical that is a thousand times as potent as resveratrol in activating sirtuin and can be given at a much smaller dose. Safety tests in people have just started, with no adverse effects so far. The hope is that activating sirtuins in people would, like a calorically restricted diet in mice, avert degenerative diseases of aging like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s. There is no Food and Drug Administration category for longevity drugs, so if the company is to submit a drug for approval, it needs to be for a specific disease. Nonetheless, longevity is what has motivated the researchers and what makes the drugs potentially so appealing.
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POPSFormer Professor Says - Bush A Terrible Student And Pathological Liar Tsurmi said Bush sometimes came late to class and often sat in the back row of the theater-like classroom, wearing a bomber jacket from the Texas Air National Guard and spitting chewing tobacco into a cup. He was such a bad student that I asked him once how he got in. He said, “My dad has good friends”. Bush scored in the lowest 10 percent of the class. I hope we have learned never to be so unaware again. The lack of mindfulness can be devastating.
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POPS3-PART PATRIOT PLAN Really...this White House is out of control, going to war and war even when against the will of Congress and the American people, and yesterday Cheney basic said on national TV, "If you don't like it you can..."
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POPSPress and "Psy Ops" to Merge Information Operations advises on information designed to affect the will of the enemy, while Psy Ops includes so-called "black operations," or outright deception. U.S. General David McKiernan, the commander of 50,000 troops from more than 40 nations in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ordered the combination of the Public Affairs Office (PAO), Information Operations and Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) from December 1, said a NATO official with detailed knowledge of the move. The new combined ISAF department will come under the command of an American one-star general reporting directly to McKiernan, an arrangement that is also against NATO policy, the NATO official said. "What we are seeing is a gradual increase of American influence in all areas of the war," the NATO official said. "Seeking to gain total control of the information flow from the campaign is just part of that."
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POPSIrani Minister backs brief marriages to curb illicit sex Sunni Muslims say it is illegal and akin to prostitution, but some Shiites scholars say it reflects the reality of human nature and provides for the rights and responsibilities of both the man and the woman Sixty per cent of Iran's population is under 30 years of age and the average age of marriage has risen to 30 for men and 26 for women, according to unofficial estimates