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POPSA quiet voice for gay marriage Many of these former spouses -- from those who still feel raw resentment toward their exes to those who have reached a mutual understanding -- see the legalization of same-sex marriage as a step toward protecting not only homosexuals but also heterosexuals. If homosexuality was more accepted, they say, they might have been spared doomed marriages followed by years of self-doubt. "It's like you hit a brick wall when they come out," Brooks said. "You think everything is fine and then, boom!" Carolyn Sega Lowengart calls it "retroactive humiliation." It's that embarrassment that washes over her when she looks back at photographs or is struck by a memory and wonders what, if anything, from that time was real. Did he ever love her?
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POPSCarrie Prejean Goes Down. Literally! Of course, all of this should have little effect on her career. If anything it will add fuel to it with the way Americans are infatuated with hypocrites and fallen angels. Vivid Entertainment Group, which specializes in adult films, made an offer of a million dollars to Prejean back in May to make a movie for them. Seems she might be a natural. This could only raise her value in the porn market. Practice makes perfect. I'm curious as to how all the rightwing Prejean backers will spin this and find a way to blame this on everyone but Prejean. I might even turn on Fox News to check it out. With Prejean's looks and attitude, she may end up with her own show over there since credibility isn't a factor in Fox's hiring practices. And for those of you who don’t remember who actually won the Miss California Pageant, her name is Tami Ferrell from Malibu. How soon we forget those with actual morals.
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POPSItaly Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case 
One of those convicted, former Milan consular official Sabrina De Sousa, accused Congress of turning a blind eye to the entire matter. "No one has investigated the fact that the U.S. government allegedly conducted a rendition of an individual who now walks free and the operation of which was so bungled," she said, speaking through her lawyer Mark Zaid. Despite the convictions capping the nearly three-year Italian trial, several Italian and American defendants – including the two alleged masterminds of the abduction – were acquitted due to either diplomatic immunity or because classified information was stricken by Italy's highest court. The case has been politically charged from the beginning, with attempts to mislead investigators looking into the cleric's disappearance and derail the judicial proceedings once the trial was under way. But the Italian-American relationship, conditioned on such issues as participation in the Afghan campaign, is unlikely to be hurt by the convic
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POPSIt's Never Easy {{iamonetoo}} told me once that she didn't understand why it had to be so hard to be herself. She could have taken the easy way. But she didn't and I admire her. Social change is hard, long and difficult work. It will often spawn hatred by other's who are just ignorant of human differences. That's ok; the struggle of civil rights for everyone is always worth it :)
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POPSRepublicans Need to Dump the Neoconservatives The republicans need a "tea party" within their own camp! The Bush and present GOP "conservatives" are pushing big government Statism as much as Democrats, with only a different slant. Wars for democracy are a key element of both parties now. There is an insidious philosophy underlying this acceptance of the "natural" growth of statism. Neoconservative columnist David Brooks wrote ... we need "a vigorous One Nation Conservatism ... by making the nation great, individuals are able to join their narrow concerns to a larger national project." Actually, it was originally the Democrats that used to believe in curtailing the powers of the Federal government. (This was after the Civil War where they were called Dixie-crats). See this related Clipmark: Danger--America Becoming Statist, First Bush Now Obama
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POPSProp 8 Redux Now it's Mains turn, keep your eye on this. What happen here can have major impact
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POPSNoor Almaleki is Dead :( :( Let's pray Rifqa Bary isn't next. Btw: I met Pam Geller, Robert Spencer and a whole wack of other awesome folks at the International Legal Conference of Free Speech and Religion last week in Washington Dc. It was a real honor. You can hear much more about the conference at : http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/11/legal-conference-on-freedom-of-speech.html#readfurther (and on a much needed lighter note, I had the good fortune to run into Steven Crowder at Dulles Airport last night and got to thank him for his work---he was exactly like he is in the videos---good guy )
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POPSCrazy Sheriff Joe Arpaio facing FBI investigation for abusing his power by arresting his critics We described Arpaio's incredible thuggery late last year in his dealings with the public, especially those who dare criticize him. An anti-Arpaio group called Maricopa Citizens for Safety Accountability, which formed last year in response to investigative reports and studies demonstrating that Arpaio's insane obsession with illegal immigrants was destroying his office's ability to actually deal with real law enforcement work, began showing up at county board meetings and asking to speak. Arpaio actually sent out his deputies in force to patrol these meetings, and they arrested people for merely applauding Arpaio's critics. If that sounds fascist to you, that's about right -- after all, some of the local neo-Nazis are Arpaio's biggest fans -- and he's been known to return the love.
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POPSMichigan Raid Reveals a Mysterious Islamic Sect According to documents filed in U.S. District Court here earlier this week, Abdullah, 53, called his followers to an “offensive jihad,” rather than a “defensive jihad,” and urged them to carry, and use, firearms and swords. The documents note the group was evicted from its Detroit mosque earlier this year because it failed to pay property taxes. The precise origins of the Ummahs are unclear. Its national leader is Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a militant former civil rights activist also known as H. Rap Brown. In 2002, he was convicted of fatally shooting two Georgia police officers. He is serving a life sentence at a federal prison. Read more: http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2009/10/29/michigan-raid-reveals-a-mysterious-islamic-sect/#ixzz0VNInOYMF
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POPSBackdoor Legislation: Obama Signs Hate Crimes Bill with Defense Bill How to Pass Unpopular Legislation 101: Attach them to Defense Spending. This is how Bush administration got through REAL ID. This is contrary to the purpose of Congress which should read and debate ONE BILL AT A TIME, instead of this fraudulent manipulation through "must pass" Defense bills. As for the bill itself, while a woman could slap a man for being too forward in a bar now normal men cannot do the same to a pressing homosexual who might "hit on them" without being charged with a new Federal "Hate Crime". Some are just "more equal than others" now and have Special Protection of the Federal government ABOVE all other U.S. citizens.
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POPSSimilarities Between the Assassinations of Kennedy and Lincoln Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife Kennedy was shot in the back of the head in the presence of his wife Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre Kennedy shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford He was shot on a Friday He was shot on a Friday The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was known by three names, comprised of fifteen letters Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a warehouse *3 Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater Booth was killed before being brought to trial Oswald was killed before being brought to trial There were theories that Booth was part of a greater conspiracy There were theories that Oswald was part of a greater conspiracy Lincoln's successor was Andrew Johnson, born in 1808 Kennedy's successor was Lyndon Johnson, born in 1908
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POPSRita Mae Brown: New Book Adores Critters Steve Phillips Girlfriend: Rita Mae Brown prolific author, fox hunter, civil- and gay-rights activist, and, most of all apparently, animal lover, tells her life story through the furry creatures she's cherished, in "Animal Magnetism" (Ballantine Books, $25, ... Rita Mae Brown, Diane rehm show, zoopla.co.uk, diane rehm, countrywide residential lettings, upmystreet.
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POPSRepublicans Hit Poll Bottom, again The withering slide in support for Republicans continues, now down to 19-20% in this latest poll. (Only our corrosive and toxic media might make it seem otherwise). The party deserves to be driven into extinction, due to misleading nations into a false war based on deliberate lies, endorsing the use of torture, violating civil and Constitutional rights, and for being nothing more than a Smear Machine trying to win votes based on fear and hate. The new president (despite the ceaseless rabble and rabid critics) continues to also live up to his campaign promises and has set the nation back on the right track in many important ways. The "Dark Side," is losing; as it should. GOP elephants going extinct. 80% of the nation turned off to their drivel.
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POPSRacist Undertones Of The 'Socialist' Epithet
More From The Article: Take another black leader, another society fraught by racial division. In 1956, Nelson Mandela and 155 other antiapartheid activists were arrested by the South African government under the infamous Suppression of Communism Act of 1950, a law that was used gratuitously to incarcerate anyone who was critical of the government. The treason trial that followed resulted in a 1961 acquittal for all those involved, the government unable to prove any "socialist" intentions. But the political equation of black activists as "communists" would continue up through the 1980s. The Reagan administration egregiously soft-pedaled the issue of apartheid on the basis of the South African government's purported anticommunist stance. Indeed, the South African government itself viewed its policies not as racist, but as anticommunist. Only popular pressure through a global antiapartheid movement persuaded the US to isolate South Africa. It takes the cry of "socialism!" liter
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POPSChild Porn Fears Scupper Airport ‘Nude X-ray’ Scans The Rapiscan works by beaming electromagnetic waves on to passengers as they stand in a booth, creating a virtual three-dimensional black-and-white ‘naked’ image from the reflected energy and sending it to a computer monitor elsewhere in the airport where it is examined by a security officer. The whole process takes only about 20 seconds and then the image is deleted. But the scans show every contour of people’s bodies – even revealing breast implants – which some may find intrusive.
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POPSAmnesty Now! Let’s play a hypothetical game. Let us assume that Gutierrez’s bill passes, and he achieves his major goal of a general amnesty. The 12 million aliens currently residing in the country illegally suddenly find themselves free to stay, become card-carrying members of the Democratic Party, and live happily ever after. What happens to the next person who steals across the border? History has shown us that, after an amnesty, the rate of illegal border crossings increases. After the last amnesty bill in 1986, the US experienced a flood of new illegal aliens crossing the border. In the twenty-year period between 1985 and 2005, the number of illegal residents soared from an estimated 2-3 million to about 11 million. It is only human nature that, upon hearing of an amnesty, people would, predictably, risk all to come to the US by any means and simply wait out their chance in the hopes of catching the next one.
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POPSProp 8 lawyer admits he doesn't know how same-sex marriage would threaten opposite-sex marriage More: Walker pressed on, asking again for specific "adverse consequences" that could follow expanding marriage to include same-sex couples. Cooper cited a study from the Netherlands, where gay marriage is legal, showing that straight couples were increasingly opting to become domestic partners instead of getting married. "Has that been harmful to children in the Netherlands? What is the adverse effect?" Walker asked. Cooper said he did not have the facts at hand. "But it is not self-evident that there is no chance of any harm, and the people of California are entitled not to take the risk," he said. "Since when do Constitutional rights rest on the proof of no harm?" Walker parried, adding the First Amendment right to free speech protects activities that many find offensive, "but we tolerate those in a free society."
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POPS'Now we have proof' jihadis infiltrating D.C. "Until now, CAIR has remained a powerful force in the nation's capital and across the country, from demanding the Obama administration stop FBI counter-terrorism tactics to compelling a school district to apologize to Muslims."
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POPSGang Finds Suing New York Pays Better Than Crack The gang's leader, Anthony Lawrence, was shot multiple times in his apartment in August. The robbers weren't there to steal his crack profits; they were after the $17,000 settlement he'd received in his latest suit against the city.
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POPSWhy Letterman's behavior was problematic, even if consensual
More: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “does not prohibit isolated instances of preferential treatment based upon consensual romantic relationships,” but is less sanguine when such treatment permeates an office: “If favoritism based upon the granting of sexual favors is widespread in a workplace, both male and female colleagues who do not welcome this conduct can establish a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII regardless of whether any objectionable conduct is directed at them and regardless of whether those who were granted favorable treatment willingly bestowed the sexual favors. In these circumstances, a message is implicitly conveyed that the managers view women as ‘sexual playthings,’ thereby creating an atmosphere that is demeaning to women.”… Another former writer e-mailed me: “And the No. 1 Sign David Letterman is changing his ways: ‘Mr. Letterman’s office. Lloyd speaking.’"