1
POPSPlainclothes Police at the March for Our Lives in St. Paul (Theyt even had a pemit)
"There was nothing subtle about the undercovers. The guy on the right in the black with glasses approached my black-clad comrade and asked, "hey can I get a quick pictures". The response, "hell no." Then he asked me, "well can you please do me a favor?" To which I responded some of the same and we both pointed our fingers at him to call it out. Also to note, there was at least one person dressed in all black (hood and bandanna too) who was definitely wearing an ear piece. There was a woman not in your photos who was wearing black clothing (not bloc style but more plainclothes like, maybe sunglasses too, can't quite remember) who was walking by me, not looking directly but I could tell she had me in the peripheral vision. Camera was held down by her waist as if she were 'just carrying it', but I noticed that the lens was pointed near my face as she was nonchalantly walking. I definitely saw her click the shutter at this point. Did anyone else notice the "window washers" on the
4
POPSAyers and Obama
The fact that they are now calling Obama a terrorist because of this is outrageous, even given all the facts. Assume that Obama knew Ayers history, so what? Are you going to resign in protest from a charitable board, or refuse to be recruited because 30 years ago the guy recruiting you was a bomber protesting the Vietnam War, gave himself up to the FBI, who (shock and dismay) blew the intelligence so they had no case. That makes you a terrorist? I must be a hardened criminal because I worked on a loading dock once with a guy who I knew was a loan shark. John McCain consorted with financial criminals who stole money from poor retirees who lost everything in the S&L crisis, he must be a criminal too and a thief and someone who would let retirees pensions disappear on purpose. Actually he's also a racist because he accepted an endorsement from a pastor who was know as a racist. No wait, he's a rampant liberal because he consorted and even sposored legislation with Ted Kennedy.
1
POPSThyroid health Poor thyroid function may lead to balding and many serious health effects including weight gain. It complicates all other outstanding illness
1
POPSNo Political Sermons? The good old days when powerful politicians could stomp all over free speech. "The debate over Jones’s bill and Johnson’s amendment reveals once again how confusing and confused church-state jurisprudence is and has always been and will always be. Both sides claim that the other is violating the separation of church and state. Barry Lynn, a minister who is executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argues that “We just can’t have sermons converted into political advertisements for candidates,” and he warns against using “church collection plate money on an ad telling people” to vote for one candidate rather than another. " Oh come on. Seperating church and state is one thing. Stopping the clergy from making political statements is a whole different and very dangerous ballgame. Are you going to stop the clergy from speaking on immigration? How about speaking out about the plight of the poor? Should they stop making speeches about genocide? I
2
POPS"Only through direct contact with the destitute" The heartlessness of Reagan theory implanted in Clinton law leaves us with a more brutal society, and a need to cry out "unceasingly for ... the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor" - excellent writing from Catholic Workers
1
POPSIs Your Prawn Cocktail Toxic? But boycotting farmed prawns won't hurt the real villains in all this. As in any tale of shipping foods of the poor world to the rich in bulk, it is big corporations, processors and retailers which make the bulk of profits, and they should therefore take responsibility.
3
POPSBigPicture=Acorn+Fannie+SubPrimeGoneMad 1993,Congress gave Fannie and Freddie the go-ahead to finance it all by buying loans from banks, then repackaging and securitizing them for resale on the open market. "We have to use every means at our disposal to end discrimination and to end it as quickly as possible," Clinton's comptroller of the currency, Eugene Ludwig, told the Senate Banking Committee in 1993. Wall Street eagerly sold the new mortgage-backed securities. Not only were they pooled investments, mixing good and bad, but they were backed with the implicit guarantee of government.
3
POPSThe U.S. Needs to Open Up to the World It's better for everybody to have a stake in society than to have a resentful underclass bent on wrecking things. To many Americans, this sounds like socialism, big government, the nanny state. But so what? The result is: Europe has less gun crime and homicide, less poverty and arguably a higher quality of life than the U.S., which makes a lot of us wonder why America doesn't want some of what we've got. America as a gated community won't work, because not even the world's sole superpower can build walls high enough to shield itself from the intertwined realities of the 21st century. There's a better form of security: reconnect with the rest of the world, don't shut it out; stop making enemies and start making friends. Perhaps it's asking a lot to expect America to act differently from all the other empires in history, but wasn't that the original idea?
11
POPSQuestioning Someone Else's Debt I almost wish dulios had not told me about the snarky comments on Clipmarks related to my indebtedness. It's called student loans. Since when are they supposed to be embarrassing? Just because my parents could not pay for me to go to college, I am supposed to be ashamed? And of course, without child support or any contributions, I raised my two youngest siblings for seven years. Sometimes I had to borrow more money in student loans to support them. I was 25 and in graduate school with custody of my 13 year old sister, and the next year getting custody of my 12 year old brother. Where else was I supposed to get money? My story is in the clipped book as Chapter 7.
1
POPSOct 4th: Feast of St. Francis of Assisi - Patron saint of animals Born 1181/1182, Assisi, Italy Died October 3, 1226, Assisi, Italy ..."Saint Francis, nature, and the environment A garden statue of Francis of Assisi with birds A garden statue of Francis of Assisi with birds Many of the stories that surround the life of St Francis deal with his love for animals. Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint’s humility towards nature is recounted in the 'Fioretti' (The "Little Flowers"), a collection of legends and folk-lore that sprang up after the Saint’s death.
3
POPSImmigrants Being Locked Up - Indefinitely? Out of Spite? Interesting that the world has many defenders of free trade or fair trade but fewer and fewer support free movement of people. I guess it's just the money that those folks favor the free movement of and keep the poor, the oppressed, and the different away from my door!
18
POPSWhat percent of US budget goes to foreign aid? Most Americans drastically over-estimate it. Despite laudable recent increases in US giving to poverty, US aid as a percent of personal income is second to last among wealthy nations; most of that doesn't go to the poorest countries. We give about 25 cents per American per day ] day in foreign aid; with private giving, another dime. It's a lot, because there are a lot of us. But it's far behind the level of sacrifice made by people in most developed nations.
1
POPSFour more years??? When you think about things like this, which nearly a decade of Republican rule in America has accomplished, it boggles the mind to think that this is actually a close race. Do people think that by voting back in the party that made things such an unholy mess, they're going to suddenly change their tune and fix everything they messed up? Let's not be ridiculous. The Republicans got what they wanted; 8 years of catering to the whims of unscrupulous profiteering companies, making the gap between the rich and the poor larger than it's ever been in America. Experience tells us it'll just be more of the same if they vote a senile, bad-tempered, hair-trigger old Republican into the office of President. So why aren't the polls showing a landslide for Obama? It boggles the mind!
5
POPSWall Street Fat Cats Aren't at Fault This Time That’s because Raines was transforming Fannie Mae from a boring but stable financial institution dedicated to making homes more affordable into a risky venture that abused its special status as a “Government Sponsored Enterprise” (GSE) for Raines’ personal profit. Fannie bought the bad loans and bundled them together with good ones. Wall Street was glad to buy up these mortgage securities because Fannie Mae was deemed a government-insured behemoth “too big to fail.” And others followed Fannie’s lead.
3
POPS Investigated For Election Fraud In At Least A Dozen States ACORN's practices have corrupted our political process as well. It has engaged in questionable election activities for years—stretching back even to the organization's founding years in Arkansas. In recent years, as its political power has increased, so have instances of fraud. In the past few years, it has been investigated for election fraud in at least a dozen states. Want examples? In Florida, ACORN employees filed a false voter registration form for 68-year-old former St. Petersburg Democratic mayor Charles Schuh – amazingly, they registered him as a 30-year-old Republican woman. In Ohio, ACORN and its affiliate Project Vote submitted registration cards that had the highest rate of errors for any voter registration group.
2
POPSHacking is Easy, Fun, But Unfortunately Still Wrong Now I don't like Palin but this doesn't mean that I agree with what this guy did. I would be pissed if someone hacked into my email. Poor guy it wasn't even worth it, he didn't even find anything incriminating....cool how he easy it was though....but yes still wrong.
7
POPS"Class Warfare!" Luke 1:52-53 - “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 6:20-21 - “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Luke 9:10-17 - Jesus takes food from someone who has more than he needs and gives it to those who have none. Luke 12:13-21 - A parable where Jesus denounces a man who builds bigger barns and storehouses instead of sharing his wealth with those in need. Luke 18:18-30 - A story where a rich ruler asks Jesus what he must do the be righteous, and Jesus tells him to give away all of his money and possessions to the poor.
15
POPSJesus was a Community Organizer, Pilate was a Governor Thank you to my friend Daniel, who has done community organizing from Harlem to LA to Boston. Thank you to Biko Baker of League of Young Voters, who I once interviewed and was immediately impressed by. Thank you to Saul Alinsky, largely considered the father of community organizing (pictured above). Thank you to all of you I don't know, who every day, make the choice to listen to ordinary people's stories and help them link these stories into a template for honest-to-goodness social change. And, yes, thank you to Barack Obama, for making the choice to be a community organizer so many years ago and for continuing to be proud and loud about the importance of the role of the community organizer for our nation's well-being.
7
POPSSocialism for Dummies Any politician who votes to bail out Wall Street titans while simultaneously telling average Americans to suck it up and tighten their belts should be booted from office. Any politician who claims taxes can continue to be cut in the face of the gargantuan debt we are about to take on should be shown the door. The chatter in the business world is that a “new model” of finance must emerge from the ruins left by the shattering of the old. The same must apply to our politics, too.
1
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update