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POPS"The tragic comedy of suburban sprawl" [podcast] Suburbia is a cartoon of country living in a cartoon of a house with a cartoon of a front lawn. It has all the worst aspects of being isolated out in the boonies, and none of the benefits of living in a city. It is a lifestyle that will come grinding to a halt once people realize that the cheap oil and fossil fuels that made the entire living arrangement possible are a thing of the past as The Long Emergency dawns on us.
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POPSReport From a Forgotten War: Second in a Series
Taliban leaders also provided a haven for Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda to launch the 9/11 attack. In November 2001, when they were deposed by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance, many of the Taliban fled south to Pakistan and east into Iran. This spring, they came back, intent on overthrowing the democratically elected government of President Hamid Karzi. That's when the Marines of TF 2/7 arrived "in country" to train and mentor Afghan Army and police forces. It's been a challenging assignment for the 1300 Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen of TF 2/7. The unit's Area of Operations (A/O) is more than 28,000 square kilometers — roughly the size of Vermont. There is only one paved highway. Overland transport to some of the fifteen forward bases and combat outposts where TF 2/7 operates often takes more than 24 hours of continuous day and night movement. Until this week — when four CH-53 transport helos and four Cobra gunships arrived, the task force had to rely on NATO aircraft...
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POPSRussian Journalist Watchs Russian Forces Move Toward Tbilisiby
merrie Yesterday 12:41 AM 
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pointing in the direction of Tbilisi. “Everyone went that way, both recognizance and the infantry. Now the equipment is tagging along behind.” The soldiers do not know why the army is moving forward after the signing of the ceasefire. They do not even know about the ceasefire. They find it unexpectedly upsetting when I tell them. “Medvedev betrayed us. There, in Ossetia, they mowed down 2000 of our guys, and he made peace. This is a political war,” a soldier said. That was all there was to say about politics. “So did we win a lot of gold at the Olympics?” “Some gold,” I answer. “But no one is talking about the Olympics now. You are in all the news.” The soldiers look around and laugh. When we try to catch up to the column of equipment, we find that it has already been spread out through the fields and hills along both sides of the road around Igoeti, about 36 km. from Tbilisi. Near the village, we are stopped by a soldier in full uniform.
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POPSRussians Defy Cease-Fire: Troops In Georgia Digging In Elsewhere in Georgia, it appeared very clear that Russian troops were staying put, building ramparts around tanks and posting sentries on a hill near Igoeti, a central Georgia town only 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tbilisi. Russian troops still effectively control the main artery running through the western half of Georgia because they surround the strategic central city of Gori and additionally the city and air base of Senaki in the west. Both cities are on the main east-west highway that slices through two Georgian mountain ranges. Russia also confirmed Sunday that it had taken over a major power plant in western Georgia. Rice noted that the text of the cease-fire, negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current leader of the European Union, outlined a very limited mandate for the soldiers that Russia calls peacekeepers who were in Georgia when hostilities escalated. She said these soldiers can go on limited patrols within the two separatist areas but in Georgia
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POPSAfghan Militants Butcher American Soldiers
I didn't say anything about it here or elsewhere because a.) I didn't know what the families knew, and b.) I couldn't confirm it with anyone else. As for the soldiers being alive when captured, I still don't know with certainty whether or not that's true or just battlefield rumor. But everything else my source told me has turned out to be correct. The New York Times explains in more detail: The three were identified as Sgt. First Class Matthew L. Hilton, 37, of Livonia, Mich., of the Michigan Army National Guard; and Sgt. First Class Joseph A. McKay, 51, of Brooklyn; and Specialist Mark C. Palmateer, 38, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., both of them part of a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition unit of the New York Army National Guard, according to a Pentagon news release. Their Afghan interpreter was 21-year-old Muhammad Fahim from Kabul, who had been working with the Americans for the last three years. His body was burned beyond recognition, his family said.
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POPSRice Arrives in Georgia With Cease-Fire Concessions Meanwhile, a flurry of international diplomacy was set in motion, even as regional tensions escalated dramatically over a missile defense deal between the U.S. and Poland — with a top Russian general saying the pact exposes Poland to attack. Gori, about 45 miles west of the capital Tbilisi, is key to when — or if — Russia will honor the terms of a cease-fire that calls for both sides to pull their forces back to the positions they held before fighting broke out last week in the separatist region of South Ossetia. By holding Gori, Russian forces effectively cut the country in half because the city sits along Georgia's only significant east-west highway. Russian military vehicles were blocking the eastern road into the city on Friday, although they allowed in one Georgia bus filled with loaves of bread. President Bush video statement
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POPSSC Official "Kept the Money in His Safe at Home" If you want to keep the money for "helping the kids" - then keep it out of your own greedy pockets! Continued misuse by Official Offices of Oversight need to keep being exposed! "Former human resources director says checks were made out to him to keep funds from being spent".....yeah, right.... Really pathetic behavior.
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POPSThe Terror Blob Strikes Venezuela The most popular theory holds that the cheap, poorly-made asphalt used in the construction of the road is bleeding oil at high temperature and in a country where corruption is rife there is the inevitable finger-pointing. The Venezuelan national oil company, responsible for producing the road, received a large contract for the job and many feel they cut costs on cheap production techniques to maximise profits. Some even believe they are purposefully botching the repair job in order to keep raking in profit. Ruth Capriles, Venezuela’s foremost whistle-blower thinks political opponents of President Carlos Andres Perez were dumping oil on the roads to make his government look bad. “There could be corruption, but who knows for sure? Everybody is giving a different explanation.”
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