20
POPSOrigin of State Names GEORGIA. Named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732. HAWAII. An English adaptation of the native word owhyhee, which means "homeland." IDAHO. Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word for the Comanche Indians. ILLINOIS. The French bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means "men." INDIANA. Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians. IOWA. The Sioux word for "beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep." KANSAS. Taken from the Sioux word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who lived south of Sioux territory. KENTUCKY. Possibly derived from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning "dark and bloody ground." Or kan-tuc-kec, "land of green reeds", or ken-take, meaning "meadowland." LOUISIANA. Named after French King Louis XIV. MAINE. The Old French word for "province." MARYLAND. Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I.
19
POPSHow Electric Cars Could Save the Grid Benefits of the "Vehicle to Grid" project being developed by researchers at the University of Delaware "electric vehicles could do more than provide backup energy. If just a quarter of the nation's cars were electric -- about 50 million cars -- the power capacity of those batteries would be equal to 700 gigawatts, the entire power production capacity in the United States today" "For the system to have the most value, electric cars need to be equipped with a high, 80-amp/240-volt plug -- something a little more powerful than the plug on an electric dryer. (An electrician can install the corresponding outlet into any home.) But most of the existing electric hybrid cars come equipped with a low, 15-amp, 110-volt plug." "the low-amp plugs work...but if the electric car owner is selling electricity back to the grid, they want to sell as much as possible. A 15-amp plug could net a car owner about $400 year, whereas an 80-amp plug could net $4,000"
16
POPSShamefull Religious Intollerance That people would be so transparently discriminatory is honestly surprising to me, although it shouldn't be. There is no right to force non-Christians to recite Christian prayers in American public schools. There is no right to put God in the plege. Just like I have no right to force Christians to leave offerings before the statues of the Buddha. But don't get me wrong. This isn't about Christianity. Christianity no where condones this abhorrent and intolerant behavior. This is about the power of discrimination, and it is an addictive social phenomenon. These people would do the exact same thing with another religion. Christianity was just the most convenient vehicle for their hatred at the time. Apparently we still need to change a lot about our society before we can live with our neighbors in peace.
11
POPSOur Hackable Democracy Last month, Princeton researchers submitted a report based on their study of the machines' security, part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic against the state government aimed at decertifying Sequoia machines. The results of the study still aren’t known: A judge placed a gag order on the researchers that prevents them from publishing their work. "Any reasonably talented security researcher can compromise these machines" In fact, California's study of Sequoia's machines found that any poll worker with access to Sequoia's machines could quickly change the results of an election. In 2006, researchers at Princeton found that a Diebold machine could be hacked in less than a minute. There's a possibility their votes will be hacked, lost or miscounted. But that's no excuse not to vote, argues Smith. "You'll just have to take a chance," she says. "The only way to be sure your vote won't count is not to show up.
9
POPS50 States, 50 Constitutions, 50 Preambles about God
Delaware 1897, Preamble. Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences .. Florida 1845, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Florida, grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty ... establish this Constitution... Georgia 1777, Preamble. We, the people of Georgia, relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution... Hawaii 1959, Preamble. We, the people of Hawaii, Grateful for Divine Guidance . establish this Constitution .. Idaho 1889, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings ... Illinois 1870, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors
8
POPSWomen forcibly ejected from Santorum book-signing receive settlement Back in August 2005, four women at a book-signing by then-Sen. Santorum were overheard by members of his staff discussing their disagreement with Santorum's policies. At the staffers' request, Delaware state troopers forcibly removed the women from the bookstore and arrested them. They have now reached a small settlement with the state police, which they are donating to charity. The ACLU, which supported the case, comments that "you can't use the state’s police power to cleanse crowds of dissenting voices." Note that the women weren't even accused of being disruptive or of "protesting"; they were simply overheard talking about opinions unfavorable to the senator -- yeah, one of those guys who used to like to sell himself as a tireless defender of "freedom."
8
POPSSoak the Rich, Lose the Rich One last point: States aren't simply competing with each other. As Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently told us, "Our state is competing with Germany, France, Japan and China for business. We'd better have a pro-growth tax system or those American jobs will be out-sourced." Gov. Perry and Texas have the jobs and prosperity model exactly right. Texas created more new jobs in 2008 than all other 49 states combined. And Texas is the only state other than Georgia and North Dakota that is cutting taxes this year.
8
POPSIf Not Now, When? "Could the rest of our nation deal with everyone in 10 major cities killed and every person in 12 states wounded, if 216,000 doctors had left the U.S. in the last three years, and just last year 3,000 doctors were kidnapped and 800 killed; with our roads, schools, and housing falling apart; with three times as many people out of work as during the Great Depression; with unknown horrors to come from depleted uranium?"
8
POPSOh, the Glory of it All: Nuclear War and North Korea Coming on the heels of Bush's retro-active opposition to the ascension of Raoul Castro, we see another naive and anachronistic policy push from the extreem right wing: trying to intimidate North Korea. For all those who don't get cable news in their fall-out shelters, North Korea is already a nuclear power. Why are we so eager to provoke what would inevitably become a nuclear war? Because it won't hurt us. There's no way that N.K. could reliably hit the US, their first targets would probably be Seoul and Tokyo. So for Republicans like Bolton and his ilk, the nuclear destruction of Seoul (Population 30,000,000) would be "sad" but convenient, because it would provide us with the pretext to use our nukes and annihilate North Korea, which deep down they secretly think would be kind of fun. So, tell me again: Who is it that is Evil?
7
POPSSchool Board to Pay in Jesus Prayer Suit I live in a small town in North Florida, and I can't believe the "holding hands", and prayer meetings that are conducted on public school grounds and in public meetings. I think it is an infringement on the rights of people of other faiths to have to endure this kind of over-the-line challenge to the Founding Fathers insistance on the separation of church and state. My God!, ....what is more important than for a kid to be able to go to school without feeling like he is not a part of the community because he is of a different faith! Or, maybe even, ...heaven forbid.....not of any faith at all! It's time for a change!,....and a return to the faith of our Fathers in our inherent God given right to be who we are! I'm fed up with it all!
6
POPSJuly 17th - Welcome your Congressman/Senator home with TEA Click your state at http://teapartypatriots.org/HC.aspx if links below don't work. Click on your State here to find your local event and to RSVP. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
7
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update