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POPSFISA This is a great article outlining exactly what the Presidential power is and his responsibilities to the FISA court are.
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POPSBiofuels cause spike in food prices - duh! I currently think the U.S. is doing it all wrong. The Bush administration is very supportive of biofuels and drilling for oil, but they're not giving nearly enough support to wind and solar. Hopefully with a new President in a few months will come a much more effective energy policy.
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POPSUSA: Drowning in Pretend Patriotism? Any doubts as to this later governing impulse of our imperial ambitions were shattered with the recent news that U.S. advisers to our puppet government in the Green Zone of occupied Iraq have worked out agreements for American oil companies to gain control of Iraqi oil fields. But, then again, what did we expect when we elected a Texas oil hustler, and a failed one at that , to be our president? ... AlterNet
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POPSBill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support "It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist." White liberals are used to spewing out often bogus "racism" smears at their conservative opponents. It's ironic to see them tarred with their own brush.
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POPSInternal World Bank Study: Biofuel Caused Food Crisis The news comes at a critical point in the world's negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialised countries meet next week in Hokkaido, Japan, where they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of plant-derived fuels. It will also put pressure on the British government, which is due to release its own report on the impact of biofuels, the Gallagher Report. The Guardian has previously reported that the British study will state that plant fuels have played a "significant" part in pushing up food prices to record levels. Although it was expected last week, the report has still not been released. The leaked World Bank study disputes that: "Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large price increases."
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POPSJefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faithby
Kelika Yesterday 11:28 AM 
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"Like many other upper-class, educated citizens of the new republic, including George Washington, Jefferson was a deist. Deists differed from traditional Christians by rejecting miraculous occurrences and prophecies and embracing the notion of a well-ordered universe created by a God who withdrew into detached transcendence. Critics of the time regarded deism as an ill-conceived attempt to reconcile religion with scientific discoveries. For rationalists in the Age of Enlightenment, deism was one of many efforts to liberate humankind from what the deists viewed as superstitious beliefs."
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POPSPoland Rejects U.S. Missile Shield Offer "But it is also the case that the government greatly raised expectations and that these were never very realistic. Poland does need some compensation (for hosting the interceptors) but they went too far in demanding Patriots." Polish President Lech Kaczynski, a right-wing opponent of the Tusk government and a strong supporter of the shield plan, is now likely to step up his attacks on the government. But analysts said the domestic political fallout would be limited as Polish voters are largely hostile to the project. Washington has said it wants Poland to host the interceptors but that it would look elsewhere if Warsaw declines to take part. The Baltic republic of Lithuania, northeast of Poland, has been suggested as an alternative site for the interceptors.
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POPSObama Disappoints on FISA The piece goes on: "This was not an easy call for me," he wrote. "I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power... But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court." I think a lot of idealists out there are learning a couple of lessons; 1. If you want a candidate who believes exactly what you do, you're going to have to run. 2. In American Democracy, you pretty much wind up voting for the adversary you'd most want to have.
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POPSChickenhawk Smears Clark;Tries to Speak for Military But the fact that CNN had this kid on to talk about things for which he has no understanding wasn't the only thing that was disturbing. I love how it's totally unacceptable to give anything other than glowing reviews of John McCain's military experience in Media World, while it's okay to slander General Clark's military service. After Ferguson said that Clark had "ticked off everyone in the military," he went on to say that John McCain had "been in actual war zones while Wesley Clark was sitting in an air-conditioned room, telling people what to do with NATO." Ben needs to brush up on his talking points, because Clark was actually shot four times in Vietnam, and left the country on a stretcher. Most people would consider that having been in an "actual war zone." And to be honest, the next person to debate this kid on TV should ask for an apology--or just ask him what he has against wounded Vietnam veterans.
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POPSMcSame McCain gives up on trying to campaign on the issues and instead brings in professional BS spinners from the Bush years to sow confusion and fear into the electorate. Let's hope this plan fails.
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POPSFARC Hostage Ingrid Betancourt Freed But in becoming so famous, the 46-year-old Ms. Betancourt also became more valuable to the FARC, which was feeling the heat from the government under U.S.-ally President Álvaro Uribe (who, it so happened, hosted Sen. John McCain on Tuesday). FARC funds itself largely through drug trafficking and kidnapping, but despite such activities had found a friend in Hugo Chávez. The Venezuelan president and FARC had sought to use the selective release of hostages to get governments allied with him, such as Ecuador and Nicaragua, to grant the group diplomatic recognition -- a move that, if followed by other countries in the region, would undermine the Colombian government's offensive against the FARC and by extension U.S. influence in the region. Mr. Chavez had declared his motives to be purely humanitarian; but, in any event, it is the Colombian military that has now done the selective releasing.
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POPSBush breaks from the past? 
On the domestic front, Bush broadly expanded federal spending on education, signed campaign finance reform and orchestrated a huge expansion of health-care entitlements with his prescription drug benefit. Whatever the merits of those policies, it’s unlikely historians will see them as a radical, right-wing break from the Clinton years. much as Obama’s own foreign policy advisors have for a while — that his foreign policy promises will not survive contact with post-election reality. Already, Obama is changing his tune from his old, irresponsibly heated rhetoric about “immediate” withdrawal to talking about the need for policies that would adapt to the improving conditions in Iraq. Given Obama’s ideological leanings and inexperience, there’s clearly plenty of potential for him to make costly mistakes. But odds are he, too, would come to realize that America needs to win the war on terror and succeed in Iraq. Hence the greatest irony. A successful Obama presidency would have the u
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POPSYoo Roast Watch John Yoo squirm. Great fun. What is your question? I was wondering if the President could order a suspect to watch reruns of Roseanne?
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POPSMoral Depravity in the Highest Places
After 7 1/2 years of George W. Bush, much of the media and political establishment — which have never shown much interest in holding Bush to account — now appear anxious to simply move on. They seem determined to leave unexamined the full cruelty and mendacity of the Bush administration, with its unlawful wars and blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions. Moving on is a great idea - once there’s been some accountability, with a full public recognition of wrongdoing, and a commitment to bring about change. Otherwise, nothing will have been learned. The comments of Yoo, who authored top-level internal memos justifying torture and virtually unlimited presidential power, suggest a moral depravity in very high places. That depravity led to the horrific abuses at Abu Ghraib and at other U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and “black sites” around the world. The dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, Lawrence Velvel, argues that Bush and top administration offi
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POPSAverting our gaze from U.S. cruelty This article examines the depravity with which the Bush adminsitration has conducted itself since 9/11. It asks some very important questions. But the biggest question to me is why the hell is Bush and his henchmen not being tried for war crimes?
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POPS3 Facts That Could Change This Election
Share Them With Enough People If you want to learn more about the National Debt, check out these links: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock / http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20... http://zfacts.com/p/447.html (A running clock with the cost of the war) http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/business... Real incomes of working-poor families..grew six times as fast when Democrats held the White House. Only the incomes of affluent families were relatively impervious to partisan politics, growing robustly under Democrats and Republicans alike...": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/magazine/27wwln-ideal... Here is a short summary of this research: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008... And here is a good, short audio interview with Larry Bartels: http://youngturks.wmod.llnwd.net/a591/o1/4-25-08Bartels... This is according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Institute as reported by CNN: http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/can
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