7
POPSCulture versus Biology: the Darwin Legacy This is a very good article, succinctly describing the ideological structures underlying the uses and interpretations of science; also on the humanities-sciences dichotomies. I have highlighted a short section as there is a contemporary championing of technological innovations especially in neuroscience towards a utopian future eugenically designed to eliminate the 'inferior' : such dangerous rhetoric is severed from all human values, history and ideology.
6
POPSMcGovern Admits to Heresy
Cont... It can be galling to hear companies argue that they have to cut wages and benefits for hourly workers – even as they reward top executives with millions of dollars in stock options. The chief executive of Wal-Mart earns $27 million a year, while the company’s average worker takes home only about $10 an hour. But let’s assume that the chief executive got 27 cents instead of $27 million, and that Wal-Mart distributed the savings to its hourly workers. They would each receive a bonus of less than $20. It’s not executive pay that has created this new world.The current frenzy over Wal-Mart is instructive.Its size is unprecedented.Yet for all its billions in profit, it still amounts to less than four cents on the dollar.Raise the cost of employing people, and the company will eliminate jobs.Its business model only works on low prices, which require low labor costs. ...Consumers continue to enjoy these low prices and thousands of applicants continue to apply for those jobs.
7
POPSGW Bush is the Fruit of Liberalism " I must admit that the colossal and explosive growth of the federal government under Bush has surprised me. But I can't deny its logic, given the legacy of liberalism. What surprises me more painfully is that Bush has done all of this with so little protest or resistance from conservatives who should know better."
2
POPSEverything Dolphin The Endangered Species Act requires the US federal government to identify species threatened with extinction, identify habitat they need to survive, and help protect both. In doing so, the Act works to ensure the basic health of our natural ecosystems and protect the legacy of conservation we leave to our children and grandchildren.
8
POPSAmerica: State of the Nayshun
the real cost of America's hate-affair with knowledge is paid by children, for whom words like "learning" and "wisdom" sound biblical and words like "intelligence" elitist and judgmental. Those of us old enough to remember the sixties well remember that every classroom had at least one kid (usually an immigrant from Canada or Pakistan) whose father (usually an academic or ACLU attorney) had turned the television set into a planter. But those of us who have survived The Love Boat, Three's Company and Charlie's Angels to enter the world of Rap and shows about whinnying wannabe Britneys celebrating million dollar Sweet Sixteen parties have survived to witness the reversal of culture—a new barbarism and a vulgarity that, unlike the old vulgarity, incoherently accepts political correctness while exploiting and expanding every stereotype, every dumb opinion, every rude form of discourse. It's a barbarism fueled by technologies made available to the know-nothings by the know-hows, free speech
12
POPSThe Credit W Deserves In addition, trade with Africa has doubled during Bush's tenure. Yet you don't hear much about his African legacy. Bush came into office promising "compassionate conservatism." And he's largely lived up to that promise, but he gets little or no credit. Aid to Africa is only one aspect of that compassion. This week, an annual report to Congress notes a historic drop in America's number of chronically homeless people over a two-year period: a 30 percent decline between 2005 and 2007. The study showed that a new policy enacted to promote "housing first" for chronically homeless people - most of whom are either mentally ill or substance abusers - actually works. Instead of allowing these individuals to shuttle between the streets, shelters and hospitals in a vicious cycle, the new policy called for intervention to get them into permanent housing.
19
POPSGulags: Then and Now Stalin’s regime threw Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in a Siberian Gulag for eight years for referring to the dictator sarcastically in a private letter; Kruschev liked him, and personally okayed the publication of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which in 1962 was the strongest indictment of Stalinist repression to date. Both the semi-autobiographical Denisovich and the non-ficiton Archipelago described Gulag life in harrowing detail, and forced the West to finally acknowledge the grave human rights abuses perpetrated inside Stalin’s brutal work camps, which at their peak housed more than two million prisoners.
1
POPSHow Karadzic stirred global Islamic terror
After the Dayton Accords, which in 1995 brought an end to the fighting - and to Karadzic's career - foreign mujahideen were meant to leave. But having obtained Bosnian citizenship, most eluded the requirement. Under US pressure, some of the most suspect were later removed, but many have stayed. Islamist hopes of a quick conversion of Bosnia's Muslims to extremism have so far been frustrated. But the conditions exist for it. Huge sums of Saudi money have financed the building of new mosques, many of whose future imams are receiving training abroad, subject to radicalising Wahhabist influences. Within Bosnia, a network of foreign-based Islamic relief and educational foundations, charities and NGOs operates in the social space left by ineffective, corrupt government. Elsewhere, these have proved conducive for Islamist extremism and al-Qaeda. In any case, it is not necessary for most Bosnian Muslims to radicalise in order for Bosnia to become a base or gateway for terrorists.
1
POPSStalin's lost Railway??? When you live in Africa it dosn't look lost, it looks normal somehow, with this difference that in Africa they still try to use it...and sometimes actually do....!
4
POPSThe Ironic Destruction Of Our National Guard Under President "Do Not Volunteer For Overseas Of all the statistics and stories I have read on this issue, many from the work I do with Veterans For America, one sticks out. This fall, half of New Jersey's National Guard will be in Iraq, half. What happens if there is another attack this fall at the end of the election cycle and half of New Jersey's National Guard is gone? What happens if a hurricane strikes the Jersey Shore? What happens if the National Guard is needed and they simply aren't there? Other issues with Iraq get more attention, but the silent destruction of our National Guard and the impact of this administration's policies on the future of the guard are often over-looked. As this administration breaks with long-standing Guard policy, like the fact that the Guard used to give five times as much time at home as deployed, morale and enrollment in the Guard will surely decline.
0
POPSLegacy Design Group For your website, graphic design, print, marketing and advertising needs, the Houston-area Legacy Design Group is your "one-stop" shop. Visit them today at Legacy Design Group
1
POPSChina Using Olympics As ‘Pretext’ For Crackdown: Amnesty
“Authorities have used the Olympic Games as a pretext to continue and in some respects, intensify existing policies and practices that have led to serious and widespread violations of human rights,” the report added. It listed a series of recommendations urging China to: * release all prisoners of conscience; * stop police arbitrarily detaining activists and dissenters; * impose a moratorium on the death penalty; * allow complete media freedom; and * account for those killed or detained in Tibet. “It is very disturbing that Chinese authorities have indulged in such a big crackdown on the activists,” Mark Allison, China researcher for Amnesty, told AFP. “These are people who represent many many more people in China.” Officials were also extending the use of punitive administrative detention, notably of activists and petitioners as well as beggars and peddlers, Amnesty said. In January, Beijing police launched a campaign against “illegal activ
1
POPSRecord Deficit Expected for 2009 The fruit of "conservatism" is record deficits, inadequate revenues and runaway spending. It did under Reagan and now under Bush. Now it's setting a new record.
0
POPSA Quote from Randy Pausch Here's a tremendous quote from Randy Pausch, the inspirational former Carnegie Mellon professor who's "Last Lecture" was one of YouTube's most watched videos. Randy died this past Friday, 7/25/08, and I pray he is now resting with our Lord in heaven. He truly inspired me to live life by finding joy in every moment. Blessings to him and his family. May his legacy live on through them. Here's a link to his "Last Lecture". I promise you'll enjoy all 75 minutes of it.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
1
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.
3
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update