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POPSIran to hang 30 for murder, other crimes: report At least 10 people were hanged in the country in July. In September last year, 21 people were executed in one day, in two different locations. Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's Sharia law, enforced since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Amnesty International in April listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death, trailing only China which carried out 470 death sentences.
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POPSFalun Gong Targeted Ahead Of Beijing Olympics authorities have instead been using the Olympics as a pretext to escalate persecutions of religious and political dissidents. Chinese authorities fear that Falun Gong, along with Tibetans, Uighurs, and other dissidents, may use the international media presence during the games to draw attention to their causes. "It is now imperative that the international community leverage real pressure and stop these deplorable actions, lest the legacy of the 2008 Olympics be hundreds of Beijing residents languishing in labor camps," Zhang said. The apparent animosity towards Falun Gong on the part of the Beijing Olympics organizer is hardly new. In 2004, the head of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, Liu Qi, was found liable in a U.S. federal court for his role in the torture of Falun Gong practitioners while he was serving as mayor of Beijing.
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POPSBlackbeard (S9 Biography)
The Scourge of the Spanish Main and the last Great Pirate of the Age of Sail (Jean LaFitte was a smuggler) Blackbeard's life is shrouded in myth and legend and facts about him are verd hard to verify 300 years later. Edward Teach or possibly Thatch, was famous for several things that are documented and reek of the strange and as Kenneth Hite says, High Weirdness. He would drink a mixture of gunpowder and rum set aflame... Talk about a Belch you do not want to be around. He tied "slow matches" (used for lighting cannons) into his hair and beard so there would be a wreath of smoke around his head. He shot his best friend and first mate, Israel Hands in the knee, crippling him for life just a day before his death at Okecroake Island off NC. When Israel asked why, Teach said he was saving his life! (Knew about his own death? Planned it himself?) Weirdest Fact: Held Charleston, SC hostage for several weeks until his ransom was paid - a box of Native herbs and Tobacco... See what I
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POPSLwalessness In USA- Red Cross and Others... Lawlessness as the American way. No accountability, only protection of those who break the laws with a spineless democratic leadership paving the way. There is no turning back now. We are hopelessly sunk in the swamp of right wing garbage. They have tried for 100 years and finally succeeded. We have no more justice.
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POPSCrazy Indonesian man kills 42, but a human rights agency tries to save him from the death penalty.
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POPSThe Political Establishment and Telecom Immunity — Why It Matters
The Senate is dragging its feet because the compromise bill’s opponents — mostly Democrats — want also to punish the telecommunications companies that answered President Bush’s order for help with his illegal, warrantless wiretapping program. That is the wrong target. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the White House directed telecommunications carriers to cooperate with its efforts to bolster intelligence gathering and surveillance — the administration’s effort to do a better job of “connecting the dots” to prevent terrorist attacks. In its review of the effort, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the administration’s written requests and directives indicated that such assistance “had been authorized by the president” and that the “activities had been determined to be lawful.” We now know that they were not lawful. But the companies that followed those directives are not the ones to blame for that abuse of presidential power. Contrary to what the Nancy Soderbergs
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POPSChild Detainees Battle System Alone
Eight immigrant youths suing the Abraxas Hector Garza Treatment Center in San Antonio describe being beaten repeatedly, so severely that several required hospitalization. The abuse continued even after it was reported to their caretakers' supervisors. In Nixon, Texas, ten detained young people filing a Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid lawsuit allege repeated assault and retaliation upon reporting the abuse. Of course, most abused detainees do not have access to pro bono lawyers and cannot hope to sue; much more often than not, their stories go untold. For the most part, however, the facilities' violations are kept from the public eye - and the eye of the federal government doesn't see much of them either, according to a recent OIG report noting that "interviews with Department of Unaccompanied Children's Services central office officials indicate that little oversight of facilities occurs." Federal officials aren't required to meet with children when they visit the facilities.
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POPSThe Club Gitmo Experience Thirty-one flavors of crazy down in Washington today. The lengths people will go to to enable those who'd gladly slit their throats.
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POPSEveryone Caves in to the Fascists (almost) WTF is going down? The USA...Even The Miracle Man Obama is comfortable with the corporations being given immunity....The very definition of fascism...reminiscent of the Nazis defending Krupp and other German industries. "MURRIKA UBER ALLES!!!!"
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POPSBut, Bush is a "Fascist"..... Pot calling kettle... We should face the fact that the Progressive movement of the early 21st century has reverted to it ways of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
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POPSThe Myth of Hispanic Family Values Exposes a key facet of liberal racism, one used (designed?) to make us happy to see Jewish and other European-Americans being phased out and replaced by Third Worlders, many of whom are antisemitic, anti-American, anti-Israel and "racist" against whites in general, and often against blacks too.
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POPSIrishman Angry at the Bush Junket Disruption! Willie has 'balls'. Few would publicly crisis the disruptive Bush. Doesn't he know that the grinning George is responsible for the torture of more humans than all Americans to date? Does he think that being Irish makes him immune to waterboarding. Surely as a aircraft man he knows of 'extraordinary rendition' where you are on permanent tour of the best torture prisons on earth. Even Shannon seems to be on the CIA itinerary according to Amnesty. And your personal politics or none is no disbarment. From Israel, to Egypt, to Iran, to Russia, to Africa, to Cuba, to Abu Ghraib, to Bagram, all are catered for. Fear of flying is sorted with drugs and huds, in best gangster fashion. There are no numbers yet on 'lost in flight' customers, but getting there. After all, this was a favourite method of disposal for the US trained South American juntas. "Lost at sea" is permanent and 'clean'.
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POPSDemocrats give Bush the powers of a King. The country I live in is not the one I grew up in. The country I was raised to cherish is in the past. These are the proverbial Chinese' "interesting times" we now live in. There was no fight, we gave it away and now must make sense of this strange new frontier.
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POPSDems Agree to Expand Domestic Spying, Grant Telecoms Amnesty This is the "chilling effect". Once people know they are being spied on, they can no longer speak freely. This is the most unconstitutional thing our government has done, or so I currently believe. Look at that smug s.o.b. That's the grin of a man who just sold his country to the interests of corporate entities. His constituents are the megacorps and not the US public as this move clearly shows.
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POPSMcCain Proposes La Raza Townhall a group McCain has courted, with some success, through his support of comprehensive immigration reform. In 2005, McCain co-sponsored a bill, which La Raza endorsed, critics said would award amnesty to illegal aliens with Democratic Sen. Teddy Kennedy (Mass.). The bill did not pass and McCain’s work to push it cause irreparable damage with many members of his GOP base. McCain’s call for a La Raza town hall is the latest in a drumbeat of invitations he’s given to Obama in hopes of holding a series of 10 joint town hall meetings, where the McCain camp believes their candidate would give a strong performance. So far Obama has only offered to hold one town hall on July 4, almost ensuring the event would be overlooked by most voters enjoying the Independence Day holiday. La Raza will be holding their annual meeting in San Diego July 12-15. Both McCain and Obama are scheduled to address the more than 20,000 expected attendees. TownHall.com
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POPSGuantánamo future in doubt; Bush cannot go to Congress this time Lawyers for the prisoners yesterday hailed the ruling as a vindication of their battle to have Guantánamo, in Cuba, closed. It is the third time that the supreme court has ruled against Bush on Guantánamo. On the previous two occasions, the administration and the Republican-controlled Congress changed the law to strip the detainees of their right to habeas corpus. Bush cannot go to Congress this time because it is now controlled by the Democrats, who favour closing the camp.
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POPSUS quits Human Rights Council? “We don’t understand the reasons nor the timing of the decision”, said Sebastien Gillioz of Human Rights Watch. “There have even been some positive signs during this Council. For example Belarus was not re-elected as a member in 2007 nor Sri Lanka this year”. The stupefaction was made greater by the fact the US actively took part in the universal Periodic Review (UPR) process where 32 countries were scrutinized by their peers in April and May. In particular a series of recommendations were made regarding Romania, Japan, Guatemala, Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine, Indonesia and others. Diplomats are equally concerned. If the current president of the Council, Doru Costea, declined to comment, his predecessor, Luis Alfonso De Alba said that he didnt see any reason to justify such a decision. Several observers mentioned Washington’s growing discontentment with the influence of the Islamic and African countries in the Council. “It is an aberration”, said Peter Splinter of Amnesty Internatio
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