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POPS"People have found other ways to be cooperative – without God." The study also points out that in today's world religion has no monopoly on kind and generous behaviour. In many findings, non-believers acted as prosocially as believers. The last several hundred years has seen the rise of non-religious institutional mechanisms that include effective policing, courts and social surveillance. Very interesting read, on the social function of god. maybe we can say that JC, Moses and the like are history social workers :)
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POPSBailout Marks Karl Marx's Comeback Marx’s Proposal Number Five seems to be the leading motivation for those backing the Wall Street bailout. If he were to rise from the dead today, Marx might be delighted to discover that most economists and financial commentators, including many who claim to favour the free market, agree with him. At first glance, anyone who understands economics can see that there is something wrong with this picture. The taxes that will need to be levied to finance this package may keep some firms alive, but they will siphon off capital, kill jobs and make businesses less productive elsewhere. Increasing the money supply is no different. It is an invisible tax that redistributes resources to debtors and those who made unwise investments. So why throw this sound free-market analysis overboard as soon as there is some downturn in the markets? The rationale for intervening always seems to centre on the fear of reliving the Great Depression.
5
POPSThe Truth about Wal-Mart, continued Since that long thread of differing opinions about the 'Merikan Dream and Wally world where I was attacked as being a non-productive, lazy Hippie (untrue--I was a semi-productive, Happy Hippie), I found this interesting, informative Anti-Wally site....see if you can defend these charges about Wally's relationship with Communist/monopoly Capitalist China and the US consumer rip=off, Willie, Esundby, and the rest of you bozos who think I was some non-productive lazy Hippie all my life.
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POPSMcCain's sex-ed lie "shameful; downright perverse" Ad falsely accuses Obama of advocating explicit sex education for kindergartners; the Illinois Senate bill referred to recommended teaching kids to recognize inappropriate touching, encouraged teachers not to go along with "stork"-type myths; it never even suggested "sex education" in the way the ad portrays. McCain lies again.
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POPSGeorgia/Russia - The story behind the story
"No sooner was BTC completed, however, than Western officials began exploring the possibility of other pipelines that could reach beyond Georgia and Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, which was thought to have some of the world's largest gas reserves. Their interest was not only in "energy security" and the prospect of oil riches for Western energy companies, but also in promoting Western-style democracy and free-market capitalism in the former Soviet republics. " "Putin understands better than anyone that oil and gas are the source of Russia's resurgence as a military and economic power and his own control over the Russian government and key sectors of its economy. It is oil and gas that provide the money to maintain Russia's powerful military, along with a vast internal security apparatus and network of government-controlled enterprises that allow the president-turned-premier to maintain his iron grip on the levers of political and economic power. "
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POPSPutin Makes His Move Putin's aggression against Georgia should not be traced only to its NATO aspirations or his pique at Kosovo's independence. It is primarily a response to the "color revolutions" in Ukraine and Georgia in 2003 and 2004, when pro-Western governments replaced pro-Russian ones. Ever since, Putin has been determined to stop and, if possible, reverse the pro-Western trend on his borders. He seeks not only to prevent Georgia and Ukraine from joining NATO but also to bring them under Russian control. He seeks to carve out a zone of influence within NATO, with a lesser security status for countries along Russia's strategic flanks. That is the primary motive behind Moscow's opposition to U.S. missile defense programs in Poland and the Czech Republic. His war against Georgia is part of this grand strategy. Putin cares no more about a few thousand South Ossetians than he does about Kosovo's Serbs.
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POPSThe Energy War Begins: From Russia With Bombs
The U.S. and E.U. are also backing an associated project for a natural gas pipeline that would, again, traverse Georgia and Turkey and bypass Russia, thereby lessening Europe’s dependency on gas either sourced from Russia or sourced from Central Asia but controlled by Russia. Tale of Two Pipelines: Europe Seeks to Lower Dependency on Russian Gas Friday, March 07, 2008 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor (CNSNews.com) - Russia's latest standoff with Ukraine over natural gas supplies has been resolved for now, but the dispute has reinforced the view in Europe that alternatives to Russian energy are sorely needed. Russia's state-owned Gazprom monopoly early this week cut supplies of gas to Ukraine by 50 percent over a longstanding financial dispute. Gazprom says Ukraine owes it $600 million. But after high-level negotiations the company said the restrictions had been lifted. http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=18989
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POPSThe future of science...is art
"But before any of this can happen, our two existing cultures must modify their habits. First of all, the humanities must sincerely engage with the sciences. Henry James defined the writer as someone on whom nothing is lost; artists must heed his call, and not ignore science's inspiring descriptions of reality. At the same time, the sciences must recognize that their truths are not the only truths. No single area of knowledge has a monopoly on knowledge. As Karl Popper, an eminent defender of science wrote, "It is imperative that we give up the idea of ultimate sources of knowledge, and admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it is beyond our reach." The struggle for scientific truth is long and hard and never ending. If we want to get an answer to our deepest questions—the questions of who we are and what everything is—we will need to draw from both science
4
POPSObama Considers Monsanto, Bush Sec. Of Agricuture for VP 
So, when Barack Obama even CONSIDERS a Monsanto person for his VP, we are looking at one hellish choice on his part and one large one on ours. Because ANYONE connected to Monsanto, at a time when our family farmers and ranchers (we are losing 1000 ranchers a month) are facing imminent collapse, is a threat to our land, our democracy and our lives. I hope you read the following with the horror it deserves and then get hold of every farming, environmental, human rights group you know and with them, let Obama know that some things are impossible to swallow, and monopoly over food with the loss of our farmers is TOP of the list. And in case you are late to who Monsanto is, you can read this to understand the dire significance of Obama's even considering such a choice and what it says about him as a "grass-roots" anything: Obama's Uniquely Awful Veep Prospect 2 hours, 4 minutes ago The Nation July 26, 2008 The Nation -- Barack Obama's vice presidential search team
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POPSJuly 28: Today In History The Fourteenth Amendment became part of the United States Constitution Soon after ratification, the Slaughterhouse Case tested the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment. Brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873, the suit argued that the monopoly the Louisiana legislature granted to a New Orleans slaughtering company abridged other businessmen's privileges as American citizens and deprived them of property without due process of the law. The court ruled against the slaughterhouses, narrowly interpreting "the privileges and immunities" of citizens and stating that the amendment did not extend to the property rights of businessmen. In their dissenting opinion, Justices Field, Bradley, and Swayne wrote that, in considering the Fourteenth Amendment, the right to pursue any lawful trade or avocation, without other restraint than such as equally affects all persons, is one of the privileges of citizens of the United States which can not be abridged by state legislation.
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POPSChavez Meets Russia's Medvedev For Trade Talks "We expect the signing of a range of contracts" in the arms sector, a member of the Venezuelan delegation was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. He added that purchases could include Russian tanks and submarines. Chavez was also due to meet Sergei Chemezov, who oversees Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport, a Kremin source said Tuesday. Rosoboronexport spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko declined to comment about specific weapons deals, but he told AFP the two sides had drafted a document providing a "legal basis" for future arms deliveries. The Kommersant daily said Tuesday that a complicating factor in talks could be Venezuela's relationship with its neighbour Colombia, which accuses Chavez of aiding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a rebel group. If Russian weapons surface in the conflict zone, Moscow would be threatened not only with a significant worsening of relations with Bogota, but with Washington too,"
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POPSHolding Liberals Accountable For Energy Woes In essence, an artificial “monopoly” has been created among the member nations, whereby they can unilaterally determine what the rest of the world will pay for its energy needs. But for this monopoly to survive and thrive, it requires the defacto cooperation of all other parties involved. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this situation is that such “cooperation” is effectively coming from the Democrat controlled Congress of the United States. In a sinister sense, America is officially refusing to increase the world production of oil, thus strengthening the OPEC monopoly and its ability to deliberately inflate the price of crude oil. By stubbornly refusing any consideration of exploring, drilling, and thus expanding American oil production, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA) and Senate Majority Harry Reid (D.-NV) along with their Democrat political machine in Washington, are effectively forcing the entire American oil industry into the role of collaborating OPEC members.
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POPSCreate a planet More from the guys who gave us how to disguise an elephant! The contest is on and voting will begin in 2 days - choose your winner or submit one! I liked the monopoly one!
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POPSObama's Interview With Military Times July 02, 2008 Somebody please ask junior Senator Barack Obama what he means when he says that contract worker support of our war effort should be just used for kitchen work and automobile repair. Does Barack Obama actually know what kind of invaluable service outfits like Blackwater perform in the support of our efforts in ferreting out zeolots who want to do harm to the Iraqi citizens we are trying to liberate? This is what Barack said to The Military Times, July 2, 2008: There is room for private contractors to work in the mess hall, providing basic supplies and doing some logistical work that might have been done in-house in the past. I am troubled by the use of private contractors when it comes to potential armed engagements… It is frightening to think Obama is one step away from being Commander in Chief. UPDATE: Astute Bloggers has more on Obama's Far Left attitude on Blackwater employees.
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POPSTop 10: Worst Male-Bashing Ads AT&T A guy is in Las Vegas, probably for a convention, and he’s never gambled before. He gets a taste for it, and loses money at the tables. Sounds like it could happen, right? Now here’s the AT&T version: same setup, but the guy calls his wife to report how much fun he’s having and explains in the naive tone of a kid going to school for the first time that he lost “chips” he wasn’t aware were worth money. Believable? Sure, as a science-fiction plot in which men are house pets. In the real world, even the crazy guy who bets his life savings has brains enough to know he’s not playing Monopoly.
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POPSGasprom Predicts Oil Will Reach $250 I hear a lot of people decrying the "greedy Arabs" for charging so much for their oil. Yet I have close friends with oil wells on their ranches who I admire and would certainly not consider unpatriotic, who sell their crude at market prices. It's going to be a rocky road, folks. I've just converted my truck to burn waste vegetable oil as fuel, and staked out sources of WVO at several restaurants nearby. (see www.greasecar.com or www.fryer-to-fuel.com).
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POPSNational Conference For Media Reform And Progressive Media Outlets As AIM has documented in the book, “The Death of Talk Radio?,” and in a TV advertisement, the movement to control the content of the media is a real danger to the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. But the Broadcaster Freedom Act, which would stop the return of the Fairness Doctrine, is being bottled up by congressional liberals, who don’t want it to come up for a vote. If Obama captures the White House and gets the opportunity to appoint the FCC chairman, liberals would then have a 3-2 majority capable of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine through administrative action, without the need for congressional approval. A new Fairness Doctrine could be challenged in the courts. In the meantime, as court battles proceed, conservatives could be forced off the air by liberal FCC bureaucrats. The 2007 National Conference for Media Reform, also covered by Accuracy in Media, included members of the Revolutionary Communist party and other Marxist groups.
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POPSGen. McPeak drops hammer on McCain foreign policy Ön Iraq: "his idea that all we have to do is execute better and this will turn into a big victory for us is wrong"; on not talking to Cuba and Iran: "This whole idea that diplomacy is attending cocktail parties with your best friends, that's kind of dumb."
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POPSIraq Contractor Shakeup A sort of good news/bad news thing. The good news is that Kellog, Brown, and Root (KBR) -- a Halliburton subsidiary who have really, really sucked -- is losing the exclusivity to its contract. The bad news is that it looks like it'll result in even less oversight, aggravating an already corrupt system of contractor funding.
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POPSIran Not Alone in Proxy Wars, U.S. Doing Same Republican Pat Buchanan uncovers the truth of why Iran MAY be (so he believes, naively methinks) arming militants in Iraq--if you believe the propaganda from Crocker and Patreus. The fact is that the U.S. is arming militants (i.e. terrorists) against Iran , and Buchanan thinks they are just responding in kind. So just who is fighting "proxy wars", especially when the U.S. is fighting all of this for ISRAEL? If there were more republicans like Buchanan and Ron Paul we would not be in wars presently, nor the dollar worthless, gas prices high, and the economy sinking (due to debt spending on war).
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POPSThe U. S. Electric Grid: Will It Be Our Undoing? An important article about an under-discussed topic. The investment required to keep the grid from falling apart is billions (hard to find at the best of times, harder in the "credit crunch"). Will the result be re-nationalisation and e-rationing?
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