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POPSMultilateralism Comes With A Price We must work with our allies, but we also must recognize that multilateralism comes with a price. Coalitions can dilute effectiveness. The European concept of multilateralism is Washington's obeisance to European positions. Western Europe exists in a bubble of stability and affluence, unable to fathom how dangerous extremist ideology in Tehran and Pyongyang can be. Multilateral organizations are not the answer; at best, they are ineffective soap boxes, at worst cesspools of venality. Rose petals and well-digging have never stopped bombs, racism or genocide. A strong military has. Obama says, "Let us remember this history." Let us hope he first learns it. Leadership is about more than rhetoric.
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POPSKaradzic's Nation of Murderers It is tempting, in a world supposedly caught in a clash of civilizations, to think that the only way to survive is to have the Kardzics in your corner, fighting to protect people who look like you, talk like you, pray like you. That is certainly what the young Serbian men who burned flags and threw bottles in defense of Karadzic believe. The logic essentially goes like this: “He’s a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our son-of-a-bitch. And in a world of sons-of-bitches, you better have the toughest son-of-a-bitch in your corner.” That’s misdirected rage talking, not reason. Misdirected rage applauds “our” murderers, believes they are necessary. It not only thinks the clash of civilizations is real, it needs the clash of civilizations to justify support of its murderers.
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POPS"Good Faith" Torture Deemed OK Interesting that they set a subjective standard for torture: viz., if the interrogator thought in "good faith" that the method wouldn't cause long-term mental harm. Note that it didn't require that the method would probably cause long-term mental harm, only that the interrogator didn't believe it would. By defining torture subjectively, the Bush administration: 1. Consigned the definition of torture to belief, thereby making it impossible to adjudicate by objective measures. 2. Totally marginalized the detainee's likely reaction to the method and, thereby, nullified the detainee's humanness and recognition as a rights-bearing being. This kind of sophistry one would expect of a brutal dictatorship.
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POPS"My First-Hand Experience with Gov't Spies" America's new government, including the states, in action: Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.
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POPSThe market for plug-in cars is fast approaching Very exciting stuff. This is no longer the talk of what's ifs and hypotheticals...it's reality and it's coming soon. In my opinion, the introduction of plug-in cars will be a major catalyst for the development of additional sources of energy - including more wind and solar generated. It will also be the tipping point for allocating the massive resources needed to upgrade our nation's power grid.
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POPSAl Gore Inches Toward Solartopia A major root of the Solartopian vision of an Earth totally free of fossil and nuclear fuels dates back to the 1975 “Toward Tomorrow Fair” at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Featuring, among others, the work of wind pioneer William Heronemus and efficiency guru Amory Lovins, the gathering joined the vision of a totally green-powered Earth with the rise of the grassroots No Nukes movement.
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POPSPelosi blocks vote on Bush request to lift ban... This is so typical of Pelosi and her fellow Democrats in Congress. She won't even allow it to be voted on!! She will do whatever it takes to continue to stonewall this Administration...no, the democratic system...with her refusal to allow the process to move and bring this to a vote. Why? Because she would lose! FTA: "In the House, the power rests in the speaker, the power of recognition, of setting the agenda. ... Very different rules,"
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POPSPelosi: The Power Of One "In the House, the power rests in the speaker, the power of recognition, of setting the agenda. . . . Very different rules," Pelosi said. Acknowledging her ability to influence decision-making, Pelosi said in the CNN interview that she gets to operate differently than her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Reid must reach out to Republicans to muster 60 votes — enough to stop a filibuster — to get anything done. It's an example of the vast power placed in the office of the speaker, who sets the agenda for the 435-member House. Members can force a vote if enough of them sign a petition, but that's a rarity because it requires rank-and-file Democrats to line up against their boss. In this case, Pelosi is going against a rising tide of public opinion. Faced with rapidly increasing gasoline prices, 73 percent of Americans now favor offshore drilling, according to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp.
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POPSThe Group Of Eights' Empty Rhetoric With rising gas costs, Americans in a variety of polls have shown by a majority they now want to explore offshore drilling, so this move will be popular among that majority and John McCain has been pushing for it as well. Reported on June 26, 2008, the InsiderAdvantage/Poll, asks "Do you favor or oppose increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off the coasts of Florida?” Favor (61%) Oppose (32%) No opinion (7%) Rasmussen- June 17, 2008: "67% Support Offshore Drilling, 64% Expect it Will Lower Prices." Zogby- June 26, 2008: "74 percent support offshore oil drilling in U.S."
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POPSThe Failure of the New Yorker Cartoon Look at the huge amount of information that exists in the world. Before you can even start to understand it, you need to decide which parts of it you are going to spend time understanding, and which you will largely ignore. This means taking a glance at a huge quantity of information and forming quick opinions. From this initial scan, some elements will catch your eye. Those are the parts that you will look at in more detail. It will be a very small percentage of the total amount of information available. For the vast majority of the items we come across in an average day, we glance at the head lines, make our snap judgments, and we move on, looking for the item that strikes enough interest to generate a more thorough examination... The New Yorker magazine failed to take this into consideration, and created a cover that communicated the opposite of what they wanted to communicate. Does clipmarks contribute to this?
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POPSCulpable Ignorance It takes less arrogance to say that we have a variety of important issues – from the future collapse of social security, to global warming, to a struggling economy, to poor education, and to simply add, "I don’t know which one is the most important, which is why I want somebody with sufficient breadth of knowledge to deal with all of them."
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POPSTwo tough Questions Click on Source for all full questions and answers, you may be surprised! The last question not able to clip is the best in my humble opinion.
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POPSAshcroft Still In Favor of Torture Re-writing history and the laws that govern conduct. This conduct is " unbecoming" and this man and many others should be arrested. Even World War II veterans, most, will not support any form of torture.
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POPSCongress ratings plunge in poll Reid's comment speak volumes!! The Dems have completely refused to co-operate with the President whenever possible...they preferred to investigate and undermine the Administration. Talk about a 'do-nothing Congress'! Rasmussen had the percentage at 9.
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