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POPSGarrett to push point to whalers Saw a bit on how the Aussies do it. No inconvenience to the whales and the scientists get all they need. Use a weapon which fires a small container into the whale, pulls out easily with a bit of whale inside. At least it is a more positive attitude than just shooting the Japanese.
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POPSIn The Crystal Ball Some predictions are vaguly on target. Most respond through the lens of 1900 and offner no new insights. I suspect our predictions will seem as naive in 2100.
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POPSThe Case for U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan So if aerial bombardments and occupations give legitimacy to those very fundamentalists who Afghans would remove from power, what does the real war on fundamentalism look like? And it's not just that the Afghan population believes that the Taliban resistance is legitimate; that resistance is legitimate under international law. No less important a document than the United Nations charter gives the Taliban and other Afghans the right to legitimate self-defense against U.S. aggression. Instead of scaling up an already disastrous war, the United States should change it's course The whole article is worth a read.
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POPSObamas poor country formative education,blinkers OFF I recently heard Mick Dobson Aboriginal australian spokesman heartened by Obamas intention to embrace issues with the Indiginous Nations issues in USA.I hope like others that he is not blinkered to overseas exploitation of other indiginous cultures and walks the talk globally,, cherry picking will be the cowards way given his pride in statements that he grew up in the "poor" country till he was 10. That country has extremes between rich and poor and justice is often very expensive depending on colour and religion.Melanesians have no respect or rights and due to USA policy in cold war years had their self determination shredded by US and corrupt Sakano,s expansionist ambitions.
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POPSThe Savagery of a Surge That Failed He didn't scream. Instead, the sight induced a sort of catatonia; he picked up the head, cradled it in his arms, and started walking aimlessly. He carried on like this for days, until tribal elders pried the head from his hands and convinced him to deal with his loss more constructively. He decided he would get revenge by becoming a suicide bomber and inflicting a loss on some American family as painful as the one he had just suffered. The Taliban are as uninterested in social services and human rights as the Karzai government or the international forces, but they know how to turn a world of poverty, insecurity, and death from laser-guided missiles to their advantage. Washington spends about $100 million a day on this war - close to $36 billion a year - but only five cents of every dollar goes towards aid. From this paltry sum, "a staggering 40% has returned to donor countries in corporate profits and salaries".
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POPSBecause We Don't Need It... We don’t need more debts. Palin spent 15 million on a new sports center in the valley, leaving the small town of Wasilla, Alaska in debt to the amount of 22 million. (That’s 22 million more than the debt she took on when taking on this lovely playtime as mayor.) We don’t need family feuds interfering with duties. I know you feel your ex-brother-in-law was a dick… but trying to get him fired...Sarah? We don’t need another vote against gay marriage. This is just standard every day equal rights being overlooked. Sarah Palin disagrees. We don’t need to overlook global warming. Science can now tell us "Yup. That is happening.” Not my words, that is science speak. Sarah Palin disagrees.
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POPSA Better Strategy on Opium in Afghanistan The statistics are bleak and we are pursuing typically myopic policies in Afghanistan. Hitchens (whose writing I think is superb) makes a great case for a different approach. "in the short term, hard-pressed Afghan farmers should be allowed to sell their opium to the government rather than only to the many criminal elements that continue to infest it or to the Taliban. We don't have to smoke the stuff once we have purchased it: It can be burned or thrown away or perhaps more profitably used to manufacture the painkillers of which the United States currently suffers a shortage. (As it is, we allow Turkey to cultivate opium poppy fields for precisely this purpose.)"
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POPSPterodactyl-inspired Robot To Master Air, Ground And Sea The drones have put us into the world of science fiction. The sole purpose for the development is war. Be it that they may save lives ( the last concern of present govts, if the treatment of troops who served in Iraq is any guide), it would seem easier not to invade countries.
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POPSNot exactly Pro Life “She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.” (Eve Ensler) Aerial hunting is a method of hunting from an airplane, which gives the hunter an unfair advantage over the animal (I mean, even more unfair than just using a weapon). In addition “animal rights activists call it inhumane, since airborne gunmen rarely get a clean (i.e., relatively painless) kill.” source This lifetime member of the NRA offered cash incentives for hunting wolves. Don't see how anyone could support this
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POPSHurricane Ike Damage Photos This is the best set of photos I have seen showing the damage lacking from mainstream news reports. Ike disappeared from the media's attention but people struggle on.
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POPSU.S. Perpetuates Mass Killings In Iraq
I couldn't care less who wins the elections. Looking at both candidates, it seems America isn't the least bit interested in real change. Is anyone asking the candidates about what they are going to do about the US' slow but steady slide into fascism? Or about limiting presidential power? Or about banning torture? Or about the return of Habeus Corpus? Or about extraordinary renditions and secret prisons? Or about preemptive aggression? Or about making your war criminals pay for their crimes? Hmm? Anyone? No. No. Let's just keep it entertaining, low key and unsubstantial. Let's talk about lipstick! Yeah! Blacks vs whites, Democrats vs Republicans, pro-life vs pro-choice, Christians vs atheists blah blah blah... "Divide and conquer!". The power elite working behind the scenes have that pat down and the US citizenry is blissfully (perhaps willingly) oblivious... *shaking my head in disbelief* Oops! No time to comment any more! The O'Reilly Factor's on! No spin! Really!