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  • Breaking news – Poor People (surprise) pay the brunt of taxes.

    Number of comments: 1
    As reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal, in their state, the poor pay the largest percentage of their income in taxes, at 11 percent. That includes sales tax, the most regressive of all taxes. Not surprisingly, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report for 2009 shows that this is [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 8:40pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Bill Moyers to retire. Maybe. In other news, Bill O’Reilly likes to assault old people.

    I bumped across this through the Washington Monthly. Bill Moyers, longtime host of NOW on PBS is retiring. I think. Of course the article is merely through a blog on the NYT, because apparently nearly40 years in journalism at PBS, the monstrosity of partially public funded television that eats at [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 7:44pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Why Tim Geithner Should Be Sacked

    Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner should never have been nominated to his current position in the first place, and his complete incompetence on the job since his appointment means he should be the first Obama Administration Cabinet member to go (perhaps along with Lawrence Summers, the Chairman of the [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 7:04pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman, IDS Columnist

  • Missing the Point

    Number of comments: 1
    In my column a few weeks ago I proposed raising the state sales tax by 1.93% in order to provide free (at the point of delivery) post-secondary education to in-state students at public Indiana Universities. Among the many comments that this column got that completely missed the point, one commenter [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 6:35pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman, IDS Columnist

  • Helping the Homeless Confront the Barrier of Education

    I’ve reflected.  And I’ve thought.  I’ve recently written that a major problem for our homeless communities is the lack of an adequate education that could guarantee a sustainable job and lifestyle.  An article published by the New York Times argues that  in some cases, a homeless individual can attain stability if ultimately provided a [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 12:46pm EST
    by Jordan Jacobs, IDS Columnist

  • Your dog is killing the planet

    There are three things I care about: Cars, Dogs and the Earth. I offset my carbon footprint this year by driving my scooter to class instead of my rotary-powered, gas-guzzling car. But now, I might have gone right back to where I was, killing the planet slowly, by buying my [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 7:37pm EST
    by Christopher Nelson, IDS Columnist

  • Crazy like a Fox!

    Number of comments: 1
    As President Barack Obama forwards his political policies with little or nothing to show for it thus far, the bandwagon of hope and change is beginning to lose riders. The latests numbers for cable news ratings now show Fox News as the only TV news outlet to increase viewership since [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 2:54pm EST
    by kenfield

  • University Tuition Hike in California- (The fight is ours as well)

    Dear colleagues, friends, and casual observers, We currently live in a time of increasing economic hardships, as you well know.   We live in a time that sees tuition rising higher and higher, and higher.  We also live in a time that sees student disgust with this upward trend.  But sadly, we [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 10:54am EST
    by Jordan Jacobs, IDS Columnist

  • The EU gets a President

    The European Council voted today in a closed-door meeting to appoint the low-profile Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister, to the newly-created position of Permanent President of the European Council, passing over the heavyweight candidacy of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair that was heavily campaigned for by the [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 6:05pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman, IDS Columnist

  • I’m the Greatest F—-r Here

    You don’t have to look far today to find people talking in plain language how America is the greatest nation in the world. Whether it’s the correspondents on MSNBC, Newt Gingrich, Fox News, it’s basically reiterated every time you turn on the TV, and how Obama, by trying to be [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:16pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • When they ask you if it hurts, show ‘em your Poker Face.

    Number of comments: 3
    In yet another show of just how out of touch they are with the modern youth, MTV has shown how the Grammys will NOT nominate Lady Gaga for Best New Artist.  I mean, she all ready won the VMA award for the same,  because as MTV says - Few new artists [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:37pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • If you can’t beat em, make your own dictionary!

    Number of comments: 1
    In case you’ve lived on a secluded island for the last couple of years, in which case, Hello! And how can I get there?, you have probably heard of Conservapedia, brainemptyshell project of Andrew Schlafly, son of historically unimportant right wing non figure Phyllis Schlafly, a woman unaware of the [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:34pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Bowers Beware

    Once again, Mr. Obama is being faulted for bowing to a foreign leader.  Here is the video of our president briefly genuflecting to Emperor Akihito of Japan. Barack Obama bows to Japan’s Emperor Akihito All the president is doing is showing his respect for another culture’s traditions.  I happen to believe that [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 6:51pm EST
    by Josh Kraus, IDS Columnist

  • Hang’em High!

    The following is directly from a Facebook post Sarah Palin put up November 13 regarding the Obama Administration’s use of the American Justice System: “Horrible decision, absolutely horrible. It is devastating for so many of us to hear that the Obama Administration decided that the 9/11 terrorist mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:33pm EST
    by Stephen Hammoor, IDS Columnist

  • My Videos of the Week

    There’s really only one video I’ve seen this week that’s worth repeating (besides Rep. Buyer’s amazing interview) - 1) Auto Tune the News But in honor of the recent IU conference on Black impact on Rock , I thought that it was worth mentioning the rapper from “the only place more dangerous [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 11:43pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Burn him!

    Apparently, in a manner befitting a democratic society, the “Teabagger” groups have decided to burn effigies of Virginia Representative Tom Pereillo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Because nothing says democracy and freedom like burning effigies suggesting to murder democratically elected public officials. In a small session he had with some [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 12:24pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • A Boehner of a Comment

    As noted recently in the Washington Monthly, House Republican leader John Boehner has released as a statement bashing Attorney General Eric Holder’s attempt at prosecuting 9/11 mastermind Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed in NYC.  Stating that “The Obama Administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 11:58am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • University protests in Honduras

    Number of comments: 1
    As we sit in the comfortable confines of our humble abodes, let’s reflect, for just a quick minute, on the situation of fellow university students  in the country of Honduras. The film is called La joven revolución Hondureña (the young Honduran revolution), written by Johannes Wilm, who “went to Honduras to film the [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 12:13pm EST
    by jsjacobs

  • Greatest Inventions of the last 10 years

    As 2009 draws to a close, Newsweek has compiled a list of the top-ten most important innovations of the last ten years. Check them out online: http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/unknown-in-1999-indispensable-now/chipotle.html Their list includes Wikipedia, YouTube and – my personal favorite – Chipotle. But, I think they left a couple out. Here are my addendums: 1) Facebook 2) [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 10:40pm EST
    by Erin Chapman, IDS Columnist

  • Speaking of Steve Buyer, smoking lettuce, and Auto – Tune

    Number of comments: 1
    In my previous post, I linked to an interview of Buyer from CBS, but I missed THIS link to an amazing video of him singing in session about smoking lettuce.  There’s also a cameo by Joe Biden. No further words could do this video justice. [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:24pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • And From Indiana’s Fourth District

    Steve Buyer was interviewed recently by CBS regarding a “charity” for college students here in Indiana that was running out of his office.  I’ve never seen someone not accused of a crime sweat and stammer as much as he does in the video. Unless it’s the liberal heat of the [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:14pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Education: it’s not just the money

    Even in this economy, it is important for us to remember that education is about people, not money. [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:31am EST
    by Joshua Held, IDS Columnist

  • AMA requests government review of marijuana “Schedule 1″ classification

    Here’s an update to my October 27th column about the War on Drugs, and the subtle, slow-to-come signs that the government is beginning to consider more seriously the medicinal uses of various “harmful substances”. The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially requested that the government review its classification for marijuana as [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 12:49am EST
    by Ben Smith

  • Breaking News – More Liberal Bias.

    Lou Dobbs has left CNN. As mentioned in the NYT article, CNN president Jonathan Klein had the audacity to ask Mr. Dobbs to vent his opinions on radio and anchor an objective newscast on television, or he could leave CNN. This is just another glaring example of the Liberal Media railroading a [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:20pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Activists Attempting to Raise Our Tuition for Corporate Gains

    Number of comments: 1
    The cost of college is out of control, rising three times faster than inflation, even during a recession, and yet despite the recession activist groups on campus are pushing for policies that are leading to huge profits for architects of the financial collapse like Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. The Sierra Club, [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 4:16pm EST
    by Mitchell Blatt

  • Dollar ReDe$ign

    The US economy is falling apart, global and domestic confidence in the US dollar is at a record low, and the value of our currency is plummeting. If the US economy was a company, what would we do? We’d do what tobacco giant Philip Morris did when it became Altria: [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 11:28pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • Some figures.

    Number of comments: 1
    While I’m certainly no expert in economics, I still found these figures to be quite interesting: In the thirty years before 1980, median family income (adjusted for inflation) increased by 50.45%. Since 1980, around the time of the start of significant deregulation of modern finance, median family income has increased by only [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:32pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • The fate of WoW in China…serious news here.

    A battle is waging now between two Chinese government agencies, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the Ministry of Culture regarding the regulation of online gaming, particularly the widely popular World of Warcraft. The game literally has China divided over the issue of online media regulation. Here’s an [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:29pm EST
    by Ben Smith

  • And from Argentina, a Bill Hicks quote…

    News that I missed… The Buenos Aires Herald reported that the Argentinian Supreme court ruled that marijuana will no longer be treated as a criminal offense for users, stating that “…it is unconstitutional to punish marijuana consumers, if that action does not harm third parties. The decision would put an end to [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:49pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Obesity and Choice

    An article on CNN came out, stating that “More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat,” putting a quantifiable number on obesity cancer cases. Obesity, as we all know, is bad for you due to other major health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high blood [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 3:48pm EST
    by ragoldbe

  • Generational Gap

    I’ve seen a disproportionate number of middle-aged persons on campus this weekend. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against the older generation. I just don’t see them that much in Bloomington. We’re a college town, remember? Apparently, the influx of people over 40 is a result of an IU initiative: Parent’s [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:40pm EST
    by Tyler Chernesky

  • Is Fox News Biased?

    Overwhelmingly no! At least, that is, according to a new poll by NPR.  In fact, with nearly 1.8 million votes saying no currently, compared to only 200k voting yes, clearly they are not biased, if even NPR listeners say no. Well, except that it turns out that conservatives sent out [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 11:36am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Video(s) of the week

    In case you happened to miss them,  these have to be two of the best things I’ve seen this week. One: Cartman singing a much less terrible version, somehow guitar hero made, of poker face to a montage of Stan fighting whalers. Two: The Box parody – Funny or Die. [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 10:33am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Nuclear War, New York.

    I just saw this video for the first time, really well done, and interesting.  Unless I just see the picture wrong, it also looks like there are banners of Lee Harvey Oswald during a soviet parade as well, not sure when or why (well I could guess maybe why). [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:50am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Interesting Info on some Organic Food

    I’ve never been the biggest purveyor of organic food, mainly because I pay all my own expenses dollar to dollar, so I can’t always justify the higher prices for myself,  particularly the Odwalla 4 dollar little drinks (which this shows as being owned by coke anyway) that never tasted that [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:09am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Campus Stonework

    Earlier this week, I wrote to advocate the placement of artistic stone work on the New Housing 2010, also known as the replacement Ashton. In that column, I talked about the multitude of stonework exhibited on this campus, and the tradition it represents. I wanted to point out a great photo [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 2:36am EST
    by brownjoh

  • Glenn Beckery

    Just when one would imagine that the comedy pinata, Glenn Beck, had been busted, John Stewart makes a few insightful connections. 11/3 Project [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 1:00am EST
    by schammoo

  • More Artificially Inflated Home Values, More Record Extentions of Entitlements

    If we’re in the midst of an economic crisis caused largely by artificially inflated home values, our Congress thinks the solution is to continue artificially inflating home values. They just extended (again) a tax credit that pays people $8,000 to buy a house. You even get $6,500 if you already own [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:38pm EST
    by Mitchell Blatt

  • Laughter, the Best Medicine

    Number of comments: 2
    It seems right after our local fight here in Bloomington for the atheists to have the right to say that they too can be good, even without god, that now the city of New York finds itself in the same situation. And who better to remind the citizens of New [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 1:13am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • Et tu, Cliff Clavin?

    Number of comments: 2
    Salon had a great piece on Michelle Bachmann and the wingnut teabag teaparty group protest over the health bill on Thursday.  I’ll leave the obvious jokes here to others, and point out the main thing that caught me off guard - “C-list Hollywood celebrities (Jon Voigt, John “Cliff Clavin” Ratzenberger) made [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 1:05am EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • How Not to Win an Election…

    Number of comments: 6
    Well, gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states that it has been popularly voted on, and this is how one gay activist in Maine is responding… In a defiant speech to several hundred lingering supporters, No on 1 campaign manager Jesse Connolly pledged that his side “will not quit [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 8:57pm EST
    by Mitchell Blatt

  • Remember when?

    Number of comments: 4
    Writing my column about President Barack Obama’s first year I was looking for some articles about his stop in Bloomington before the Indiana presidential primary. I stumbled across this YouTube video: I remember attending that rally. Everyone in Assembly Hall was pretty excited. The person sitting next to me was so [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:07pm EST
    by Nathan Dixon

  • Maine: pot is more important than equal rights

    Number of comments: 4
    The citizens of Maine voted yesterday by 20 percentage points to effectively legalize marijuana. Unfortunately, they also apparently thought that smoking pot was more important than allowing gay people to be able to have the same marriage rights as the rest of the state because they repealed the states already-approved [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 3:22pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • Italy Convicts 23 Americans for Rendition

    An Italian court convicted 23 American intelligence officials of kidnapping in broad daylight a 23 year-old Muslim man that they suspected (incorrectly) of terrorism from the streets of Milan and subsequently sending him to Egyptian authorities (a country known to torture prisoners), where he was then (surprise) tortured. Unfortunately, this is [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 3:14pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • Breaking News: Glenn Beck Still Alive

    Number of comments: 1
    news from wisconsin: Glenn Beck not burned alive. [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 12:47pm EST
    by Matt Straw, IDS Columnist

  • The Boys’ Club

    Number of comments: 3
    Women are sorely underrepresented in positions of power and authority around the world. Among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the median percentage of females members of parliament (MPs) is only 23%. This is especially shocking considering that the OECD is composed of thirty of [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 4:49pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • Military Aid to Egypt

    While in Marrakesh, Morrocco today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged $100 million in aid to the greater Muslim community to “boost ties” with the Muslim world, with a large portion of that undoubtedly going to Egypt, which has been ruled by a domestically unpopular autocratic regime for decades. [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 4:38pm EST
    by Zach Ammerman

  • There is an afterlife! (For your profile)

    Number of comments: 1
    This week Time magazine ran a story answering one of the great existential questions of our age: What will happen to my facebook profile after I die? As far as mortality questions go, the answer is relatively straightforward: It will live on – that is if your surviving friends and family [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 5:59pm EST
    by Erin Chapman, IDS Columnist

  • Close Call in Darfur

    This article provides an interesting account of a short-term crisis situation occurring between the US military and the Sudanese forces in Darfur. A plane (originally just intending to pick up a soldier so that he could be with his sick wife) was surrounded, the State Dep’t gave orders to the American [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:53am EST
    by Sarah Wilensky, IDS Columnist

  • Take Five

    This is a friendly note to keep on searching the internets for interesting and original blogs that will keep your mind off of the grind and wind of exams coming up, not to mention family time. Here’s a sprouting one with both meaty commentary and a few surprises to keep [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:31am EST
    by schammoo

  • ZZZzzzzzssss Please

    Okay we’ve heard it a million times: we college students don’t get enough sleep. Now there is even more research coming out that when we pass on sleep we are doing ourselves long-term harm. A new study suggests that not only does sleeping improve memory, it actually helps people to [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 9:53pm EST
    by Erin Chapman, IDS Columnist
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Jordan Jacobs, IDS Columnist, Erin Chapman, IDS Columnist, Sarah Wilensky, IDS Columnist, schammoo, Ben Smith, Matt Straw, IDS Columnist, Mitchell Blatt, jsjacobs, Zach Ammerman, Chad Quandt, Joshua Held, IDS Columnist, Nathan Dixon, Zach Ammerman, IDS Columnist, Tyler Chernesky, ragoldbe, Josh Kraus, IDS Columnist, Stephen Hammoor, IDS Columnist, brownjoh, Christopher Nelson, IDS Columnist, kenfield

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