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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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POPSOne Man’s Hands: The Watts Towers Watts residents didn’t know what to make of the project. There was a rumor that the towers were radio antennae for transmitting messages to Japanese forces. Another rumor was that there was treasure hidden in the complex. Rodia, fed up with life in Watts where he didn’t get along well with the neighbors and children vandalized his art, gave the property away and moved back to northern California, saying he wanted to die near his family. He was 75 years old by then. Rodia settled in Martinez, California, where he died in 1965, only a month before the Watts Riots.
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POPSMore on NASA's "Life on Mars" Controversy -What's Your Bet? Perchlorates are the salts that are derived from perchloric acid, and are found naturally on Earth, in such places as Chile’s hyper-arid Atacama Desert. The compound is stable, according to NASA’s press release, and does not destroy organic material under standard circumstances. In fact, some microorganisms on Earth are fueled by processes that involve perchlorates. But most importantly to the discovery on Mars, is that perchlorates are oxidants, in other words, they can release oxygen.
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POPSConfronting the Swirling Rumors of Discovery of "Life on Mars "The reason that all this seems so hush-hush is due to a future paper and press release that appears likely to pop out of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its Science magazine. Whatever the poop is from the scoop that’s been studied by Phoenix, that information is purportedly going through peer-review."
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POPSThe future of reputation Full Text The full text of The Future of Reputation is now available online for free. Click on the links below to download PDFs of each chapter. The front matter to the book is at the beginning of each chapter.
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POPSSupport Of Obama Shaped By Ahmad Chalabi Advice
security decisions of Iraq's army to forward a Shiite confessional agenda. The role of Mr. Chalabi, whose party failed to gain any seats in the 2005 federal parliamentary elections, should be of interest to close watchers of the Bush administration. While Mr. Chalabi has clashed with both the American embassy and at times with Mr. Maliki, he nonetheless is still regarded among the Shiite political class as knowledgeable of American politics from his days lobbying for the Iraq Liberation Act in Washington. At the time, in the late 1990s, Senator McCain was one of Mr. Chalabi's biggest supporters. Mr. Brooke yesterday pointed out that Mr. Chalabi was appointed in 2007 by Mr. Maliki to chair a special committee aimed at restoring basic services to the citizens of Baghdad. "Maliki was number two in the Debaathification commission from the beginning when it was started in 2003. He has been in constant contact with Dr. Chalabi since that time," Mr. Brooke said.
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POPS The $4 Billion Senator Only last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an investigation into the role of rumor-peddlers in the run on Bear Stearns. We somehow doubt that Mr. Schumer will receive similar SEC scrutiny for his very similar role in bringing about a liquidity crisis at IndyMac. But he may be more deserving. Last week, Mr. Schumer's Senate colleague Chris Dodd took the spotlight to insist that everything was fine, just fine, at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For how that turned out, see here. In its own way, Mr. Dodd's declaration was as irresponsible as Mr. Schumer's, given that its goal was to protect the companies from greater regulatory scrutiny of the kind long proposed by the Bush Administration. http://online.wsj.com/ Paulson's Fannie Test Mr. Schumer was not content merely to share his profound concern with regulators. He also leaked the June 26 letter to the press – which is more like shouting "fire" in a crowded bank than dialing 911.
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POPSMAKING IT: How Chicago Shaped Obama. There was also a more general belief that, after Obama won the 2004 United States Senate primary, he ignored his South Side base. Preckwinkle said, “My view is you have to bring your constituency along with you. Granted, you have to make some tough decisions. Granted, sometimes you have to make decisions that people won’t understand or like. But it’s your obligation to explain yourself and try to do your supporters the courtesy of treating them with respect.” Ivory Mitchell, who for twenty years has been the chairman of the local ward organization in Obama’s neighborhood—considered the most important Democratic organization on the South Side—was one of Obama’s earliest backers. Today, he says, “All the work we did to help him get where he finally ended up, he didn’t seem too appreciative.” A year ago, Mitchell became a delegate for Hillary Clinton. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza?printable=true
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POPSTwenty-Five Rules of Disinformation
Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation Top Note: The first rule and last five (or six, depending on situation) rules are generally not directly within the ability of the traditional disinfo artist to apply. These rules are generally used more directly by those at the leadership, key players, or planning level of the criminal conspiracy or conspiracy to cover up. 1. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Regardless of what you know, don't discuss it -- especially if you are a public figure, news anchor, etc. If it's not reported, it didn't happen, and you never have to deal with the issues. 2. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the 'How dare you!' gambit. 3. Create rumor mongers. Avoid discussing issues by describing all charges, regardless of venue or evidence, as mere rumors and wild accusati
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POPSBig oil stifles oil alternatives! It is clear the oil industry has been killing alternatives as they reap record profits! "Big oil" has held the World to ransom! Ironically it "window dresses" something quite different!
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POPS Experts study nomadic 'Rainbow' group's health "They are easy to distinguish from their well-heeled counterparts, Sullivent says. They do not wear gold rings, expensive watches or high-priced hiking shoes. They are young, skinny and obviously unwell." "Many of the young people they met reported physical abuse by a parent, forced sexual intercourse and use of medication for depression. Many had run away from home."
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POPSBehind the Michelle Rumor I heard about this today. Rush & other's got blamed for spreading the rumor but the clip used to target Rush as the instigator was a clipped portion where he was describing the advancing of rumor itself. Talk about dirty tricks! This guy goes up in my book for laying the blame where it belongs and not using it to further the deception. Campbell's remarks were pretty revealing though.