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POPSPayroll Withholding The only way the government got the American citizens to consent to paying taxes is through a war. I also find it interesting this escrow system still exists now, whether there is a war or not.
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POPSCan a 13-year-old refuse treatment? "How old is old enough to decide whether to live or die? Priscilla Alderson, professor of childhood studies at the Institute of Education, says her research had found that even very young children could give or withhold informed consent to medical treatment. Decisions about treatment, or even about whether to live or die, cannot be based on age, she argues. "Our research has found that age isn't a helpful criterion - but experience is," she says. She has found that even at four years old, a child who has diabetes can understand the principle of insulin treatment - and it is vital they do understand or they risk interpreting the pain they as some kind of parental punishment."
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POPSThomas Jefferson on Inalienable Rights "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Declaration of Independence
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POPSWacky Mormons I've often wondered how someone could read the history of Mormonism and still join up. I actually laughed out loud reading about Moroni and the ancient Israeli tribes in the US. True examples of classic hucksterism.
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POPSThe Internet of things In doing so, the internet of things promises to reshape our lives as fundamentally as the introduction of the railway, but with less public consent or even debate about its arrival. Before it does arrive, perhaps we could spare a moment to think what it might mean. As one day in the future you might even get assigned your own unique IP number. By then, of course, it will be too late to complain.
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POPSAnti-Abortion Terror The doctors and ordinary women are forced to pay a price for dirty politic, which bloating and exploiting family, health, may be moral question of our routine life.
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POPSGreat Terror Plot Building in UK (to Coerce Legislation) Do you recognize this pattern? Timing is everything, isn't it? How convenient for legislative purposes to motive the "necessity" of draconian laws, which Parliament just rejected, and now must be punished for to change their minds. The stunning speech came after the Government failed to extend the powers of special terrorism laws. This is right out of the BF Skinner psychological model of stimulus-response training, a form of training any animal to even torture indoctrination, using threats or rewards. The US might have something like this announced too before the Nov elections, as usual, since the Economy has trumped the usual "terrorism" and "national insecurity" issue that worked so well for Bush. (Bin Laden always makes a pre-Halloween video tape which SITE conveniently finds and the MSM parrots for headlines on Drudge). Fear is a powerful weapon to obtain "consent" to reduce liberties.
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POPS What I Would Like To Ask Sen.Obama During The Debate Since you still haven't actually been the principal sponsor of a single piece of significant and controversial federal legislation from the drafting stage through passage into law during your almost four full years as a U.S. Senator, why should voters think you'd be any more effective in the vastly harder job of President of the United States?
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POPSDangers of "Group Think" Evident in March to War These are characteristics of most all groups, especially highly charged political parties which are easily recognized here. Note the silence of individuals plays a key role in conformity. Speak up! Collective Rationalization reminds me of the "group think" that led America to war against Iraq (per the neoconservatives preconceived plans), even though it did not harbor terrorists or attack the U.S., just because Bush and Cheney, after 9/11, said so. This same "group think" is within the entire story of 9/11 and the Collective Rationalization for a continued "war on terrorism" to invade other countries at will. GROUP THINK MUST BE CHALLENGED TO PREVENT UNJUST WARS. Number 8 (did not have room to clip) is here: Mindguards: Some members appoint themselves to the role of protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency.
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POPSThe 'unitary executive' question
"Bush's aggressive exercise of unilateral powers has attracted serious opposition. Unfortunately, too many imagine that the unitary executive doctrine and its kingly prerogatives will leave office with him. That hope is false. History teaches that presidents do not give up power -- both Democrats and Republicans have worked to keep it. And besides, hoping the next president will give back some powers means conceding that it is up to him to make that decision." "If people have found Bush's exercise of executive power alarming, they should not only begin questioning presidential candidates about it, they should make it clear to their congressional representatives that they want these excess powers checked. Barack Obama has already promised that he will continue using signing statements, though he will not act as if they have the force of law. Interestingly enough, John McCain has suggested he will end the practice. These slim indicators deserve more pressure and scrutiny."
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POPSFinancial Crisis: Fed Becomes Rogue Power
The Fed under Bernanke does whatever it wants. There is little constraints on it by law, being a creature actually outside of government. The "central bank" is actually a consortium of private banks with authority to print money "from thin air", as it states here. The Federal Reserve is no more "federal" than Federal Express. The only reason the Fed Chairman Bernanke went to Congress for a Bailout Plan (by using Treas. Sec'y Paulson to front, and hiding behind Bush) was to cover his hindquarters, and gain "consent" (by fear and coercion) of Congress, and putting Americans on the hook with them. Note the article states that the Fed acted already on its own to bailout Bear Stearns and make other "loans" (print money) without Congress: The Bernanke Fed first invoked rarely used 1930s powers to intervene — with taxpayer backing — in March when it provided a $29 billion loan as part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of Bear Stearns. The Fed is now Czar.
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POPSAbolish the Federal Reserve --- Ron Paul from '02 (cont.)From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the burst of the dotcom bubble last year, every economic downturn suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial "boom" followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts. With a stable currency, American exporters will no longer be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. Stabilizing the currency will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings. Those members concerned about increasing America's exports or the low rate of savings should be enthusiastic supporters of this legislation.
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POPSBush's Financial WMD Speech, Fear to Force Consent Did Bush's speech sound eerily familiar? It should. It's patterned after a more successful one that produced fear and coerced Congress to act. This Clipmark juxtaposes Bush's financial "mushroom cloud" speech --a Warning of Mass Destruction , which he employed last night to manipulate the people to push Congress despite their better judgment-- against his earlier fear-mongering Iraq WMD speech of 2002 urging Americans that "we must act now" and not delay or we could face a "mushroom cloud". The purpose and the pattern of these two speeches are remarkably similar, to use FEAR to cement national consent for bad and unjust policy. And we know the earlier one was entirely bogus. Fortunately, Congress, particularly the fiscal conservative minority among the GOP (who fear losing their base who are calling them socialists) resisted and did not close unjust bailout deal.
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POPSTHE PRINCIPLES OF NEWSPEAK,1984 Take for example the well-known passage from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government... It would have been quite impossible to render this into Newspeak while keeping to the sense of the original. The nearest one could come to doing so would be to swallow the whole passage up in the single word crimethink. A full translation could only be an ideological translation, whereby Jefferson's words would be changed into a panegyric on absolute government.
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