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A nudist, or naturist, lifestyle is certainly not for everyone, but those who practice it swear it's liberating practice. So, if stripping down and skinny-dipping is your cup of tea, check out these nine resorts where you can feel free to bare it all.



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When Derrick Reed was born, he was fragile and addicted to crack. With his drug addicted mother and drug-selling father out of the picture, he was raised by his grandparents and considered himself a "typical teenager"--until $75 in heroin landed him in adult prison at the age of 17.

Illinois is one of only 12 states that will automatically throw minors facing felony charges into the adult penal system, according to the Chicago Reporter. Instead of teens taking classes and interacting with their peers--hoping to turn things around after juvenile detention--many Illinois teens end up in the Cook County Jail, watching television and sitting in a cell all day.

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To help about 5,000 of the nation's most troubled schools, the Obama administration is offering competitive Race to the Top funds to districts that lift their caps on charter schools. This approach is just one part of a larger strategy to reverse the decline of failing schools in this country.

When we talk about turning schools around, more and more we're talking about improving educational outcomes for Latino and English language learner (ELL) students, who are often disproportionately represented in troubled schools. A new report, Next Generation Charter Schools: Meeting the Needs of Latinos and English Language Learners, by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) stops to examine the relationship between charter schools and Latino and ELL students, as well as how these schools could improve the outcomes for this growing population.

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When embedded reporters dutifully reported the last "combat" troops had left Iraq it looked as if President Obama was going to fall into the same trap as President Bush.

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Throughout his gripping new book, The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, Philadelphia Daily News reporter and blogger Will Bunch augments the notion that Glenn Beck is playing a fictional character named "Glenn Beck." A faker. Specifically, Bunch draws together evidence indicating that Beck is nothing more than a morning zoo deejay whose latest money-making stunt is to portray a new kind of televangelist, offering political and religious salvation for profit.

Watching Beck's concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, while simultaneously reading Bunch's book, it struck me that Beck has moved beyond a mere televangelist and has taken on a character role far more nefarious and dangerous.

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By Nicole Neroulias

Religion News Service

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In just a few short years, the Internet's growth has been truly astonishing. In the United States today there are more than 2 billion daily Internet searches - 20 times more than just ten years ago; roughly 250 billion daily emails vs. 12 billion then; and 10 billion iTunes downloads today and 150 million Facebook users compared to zero ten years ago. All told, the average American spends roughly 18 hours a week online.

The Internet has transformed the way we work, play, communicate, learn and so much more. It has helped people from Iran, China and beyond share their stories of oppression and pleas for assistance across the world. And it has brought us closer together. In fact, according to Harvard Business School, nearly one in five of all marriages today in the U.S. are the result of a bride and groom meeting online.

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While President Obama called on the nation last night to "move beyond our differences" on the disastrous US Iraq policy, the Congressional Republican leadership - John Boehner in the House and Mitch McConnell in the Senate- were delivering high-octane speeches attacking the president for opposing the military surge of US forces in 2007 that they claim turned the tide in the Iraq war.

In fact a surge did turn out to be a key to changing direction in the catastrophe that followed the US invasion and military occupation in Iraq. But, it wasn't the surge of military forces that Boehner, McConnell and their fellow Iraq war apologists talk about, but the surge in anti-war sentiment in both the United States and Iraq.

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Why would they get into bed together?

I doubt that any of us would like what Glenn Beck and Michael Moore would conceive, if they got into bed together. That's because, apart from the physically obvious, each is a close-minded ideologue who demonizes all who disagree.

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