Robert Reich: Why I'm Worried About America

We used to understand that leadership required something other than drones and bombs.
...  Read more

The Science of Fox News: Why Its Viewers Are the Most Misinformed

Authoritarian people have a stronger emotional need for an outlet like Fox, where they can find affirmation and escape factual challenges to their beliefs.
...  Read more

Shocking New Report: Superrich Have Grabbed Half the World's Assets

They're eyeing the other half.
...  Read more

Christopher Hitchens versus Jay Richards in this debate

Does God exist? and is faith a good thing?
http://youtu.be/At7d4vZuOuc

Innovative Family Planning Option Undergoing Testing in Developing World"

"...This patented family planning option is based on the highly effective Standard Days Method ® of family planning. For the woman asking, “When do you ovulate?” or “How do you get pregnant?” the CycleBeads smartphone app enables her to plan or prevent pregnancy by tracking her periods and identifying which days of her cycle she is fertile..."

http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/news/2014/10/21/8078986.htm

School to parents: Does your son have to be Buddhist?

“Every day, driving the same route … he would get upset and tell me, ‘Pull over, I’m going to throw up,’” Lane recalled. “What the kicker was is when he told me that he’d rather die than go to school.” ... Those tests routinely featured the question, “Isn’t it amazing what the _____ has made!!!” Fill in the word “Lord” and get extra credit... “She called him stupid," Anna said, "because he believed another religion and he didn’t know all about Christianity.”...

...Troubled by the science tests, Scott Lane, C.C.’s stepfather, decided to do some detective work. He says Negreet often resembled more of a Sunday school than a public school. Prayer at mealtime was commonplace. Bible verses scrolled on an electronic marquee in front of the school. Christian-themed posters adorned the school’s walls. The Lanes said they got the sense the school was systematically proselytizing to its students...

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/10/21/buddhist-religionschool.html

Does Being 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Really Mean Anything?

"Spirituality begins with a reverence for the ordinary that can lead us to insights and experiences that are anything but ordinary."

http://apr.org/post/does-being-spiritual-not-religious-really-mean-anything

Turek vs Gay Marriage

http://youtu.be/FWLt7XpeYzQ

God Did Not Fine Tune the Universe for Life

http://youtu.be/6AaDEe5i7Ns

We Spend $9 Billion a Year to Lock Up People With Mental Illnesses: Here's What We Should Do Instead

San Antonio, TX has found a better approach to mental illness than handcuffs and jail cells.
...  Read more

Sweden, the land of välfärd, also has some beautiful views to offer. I present to you, Sarek national park. [2372x1182] photo by Claes Grundsten.

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Crazy Laura Ingraham Believes 'The Left' Wants Americans To Die From Ebola To Pay Off A Debt To Africa

Laura Ingraham rises high in the Wingnut Hall of Fame as she proclaims "left wingers" would sacrifice American lives to Ebola to pay off some weird African guilt trip we have.
...  Read more

Even One Soda A Day Changes How Your Cells Age

New research suggests that, in addition to increasing the risk of certain diseases. it can also shorten our lifespan.
... Read more

Anti-Abortion groups oppose Ebola vaccines because stem cells were used

Anti-abortion group protests Ebola vaccines made with embryonic stem cells because a "massive amount of people will refuse them" on moral grounds. Huh? ...  Read more

GOPer Doubles Down On Gays: 'These Creatures... Are So Destructive'

"...same-sex couples that want to destroy traditional marriage and our way of life, they're Gremlins," Culler said. "They're these creatures that are so destructive." Read more

New GOP Nonsense: Medicaid Expansion Isn't 'Connected' To O-Care

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) raised some eyebrows on Monday when the Associated Press reported that he said Obamacare repeal wasn't going to happen and o... Read more

Discussion: GOP Candidate Warned Of 'Mussolini-Hitler-Stalin Type Regime' Taking Over USA - The Hive

"Are we in danger of this Mussolini-Hitler-Stalin type regime?" Dasher wondered. "Are we in fear of this happening here in America? Is this is far fetched to think that America could decline to a point where we are susceptible to be taken over by an authoritarian government? Well, I want you think about that for a second because I think we arrogantly think 'nah, that'll never happen in America.' Why not? Why not?"

http://pulse.me/s/2SGrTw

Fox Host Rails Against GOPers Calling Ebola Czar A Political 'Hack'

"I have a message for Republicans who continue to attack Ron Klain: Shut up and save it for issues that matter," Cavuto said. "Okay, so the president's Ebola coordinator doesn't have any medical experience. Neither do a lot of you guys, but that hasn’t stopped you from pontificating as if you were Marcus Welby just the same."... Read more

How A Notorious Conservative Group Tricked A Scholar Into Joining Their Attack On Latino Voters

Citizens United is back, and they are spreading conspiracy theories about Latinos.The post How A Notorious Conservative Group ...  Read more

Fed Official To Big Banks: Change Company Culture Or Risk Being Broken Up

Unless bankers change the internal culture that rewards executives and employees for financial misdeeds, a top banking ...  Read more

‘It Will Never Be The Same’: North Dakota’s 840,000-Gallon Oil Spill One Year Later

One year ago, when more than 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons) of crude oil spilled from a pipeline and soaked a wheat field in Tioga, North Dakota, the public almost never knew about it. After the spill was discovered by a lone farmer, it was not reported for nearly two weeks, and only after reporters from the The Associated Press asked about it specifically... The AP conducted an investigation after the spill, and found that nearly 300 oil spills and 750 “oil field incidents” had occurred in North Dakota since January 2012 — none of which were reported to the public. ...  Read more

Texas’ Top Toxicologist: EPA’s New Smog Regulations Unnecessary, Just Stay Indoors

“Since most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, we are rarely exposed to significant levels of ozone.” He adds that those who are “near death” and thus more vulnerable to ozone spend even more time inside. ...  Read more

Tesla blocked from selling in Michigan

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a bill which Tesla Motors says will prohibit it from selling cars in the state that's home to the U.S. auto industry.
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Virtually All Americans’ Wealth Has Dropped To Where It Was Three Decades Ago

At the same time, the share of wealth owned by the 1 percent has tripled since the 1980s.The post Virtually All ...  Read more

Congressional Candidate Calls Same-Sex Couples Gremlins, Destructive Creatures In Bizarre Video

"...Same-sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life.” ...  Read more

Proof That Comprehensive Sex Ed Classes Actually Help Kids Put Off Having Sex

A new study finds that a curriculum emphasizing healthy relationships helps middle school kids wait until they're older to ...  Read more

Everyone In America Would Be Better Off If We Soaked The Rich

 A 90 percent tax rate on the richest Americans would reduce inequality, raise revenues, and improve everyone's welfare.The post ...  Read more

Fox News Admits GOP Is Trying To Increase Obamacare Premiums, Then Tries To Cover It Up

Fox News admitted on Tuesday that a conservative-led lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act would raise health care premiums for millions of Americans. But then in its on-screen chyron, the network sought to attribute the increases not to the litigants involved in the case, but to President Obama, potentially confusing viewers.
...  Read more

We don't need Vatican affirmation, says gay Catholic congregation

"I think what we should do is to stop calling the American bishops 'bishops,' and start calling them homophobes," said the Rev. Joe Akus, a priest who ministers to a congregation called Dignity, a network of LGBTQ Catholics with dozens of branches and thousands of members across the country. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/we-dont-need-vatican-affirmation-say-gay-catholic-priests/

Fed official: Big banks should clean up their acts

The Fed official overseeing Wall Street says things need to change, and if the industry's risky culture isn't turned around, it may be time to break up the big banks.

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Bishops Actually Aren't So Open to Gays and Divorced Members

As a Vatican assembly on the family came to a close on Saturday, bishops ditched a document believed to signal a major shift in how the church views g...  Read more

"Vote Republican - IF..." by Old Fart Rants

"Vote Republican if you want another economic meltdown even bigger and more devastating than their last one. Vote Republican if you want full blown wars based on lies. Vote Republican if you never want to see the immigration issue fixed. Vote Republican if you want 50% of America not to have health insurance, and those that do barely being able to afford it. They have no plan for health care and never will, they have proven it with 50 votes to repeal Obamacare and no plan to back it up! Vote Republican if you want racial tensions to get out of control and see more bloody mass shootings. Vote republican if you want your taxes go up and the filthy rich's taxes go down. 

Vote Republican if you want the government to be shut down, again and again, whenever they don't get their way about something. Vote Republican if you want to get stuck with the bill after the wars they make billions off of. Vote Republican if you want them to block any and all bills to help the veterans when they come home. Vote Republican if you want your right to vote taken away. Vote Republican if you want to see women put in their place, and treated like breeding stock who are too stupid to make their own decisions. Vote Republican if you want every person to be armed and ready to kill you, and get away with it by saying you scared them. 

Vote Republican if you want Wall Street to handle your Social Security money which you paid in! Vote Republican if you want banks and credit card companies to keep ripping you off. Vote Republican if you want Medicare to be run by private for profit systems whose only concern is their bottom line, not your health! Vote Republican if you want students to be strapped with so much debt after they graduate they'll never pay it off, especially since they won’t be able to find a job! Vote Republican if you want women to die in back alleys and from self-induced abortions. 

Vote Republican if you want your boss to tell you what kind of healthcare you can have, and what you can do in your bedroom. Vote Republican if you want your children to be taught fairy tales in school instead of reality. Vote Republican if you want to see the environment destroyed by people who think a book full of nonsense gives them the right to. Vote Republican if you want to watch, and pay for, sham hearings about Benghazi for 2 more years! The mid-term elections are just a couple of weeks away - if you want all these things to happen in America, then vote Republican. If not, you know what you need to do. This might be the last chance to stop the cancer the GOP has become from destroying our country."
http://youtu.be/mw9pZuFJZCI

Early morning at Lake Hintersee. Bavaria, Germany [1200x645] Photo by Armin Barth

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Do The Math, Rush!

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College Students Fight Catholic School’s ‘Unfair And Unjust’ Ban On Birth Control

Fordham University students are handing out condoms on campus, saying their administration's approach to contraception is ...  Read more

Earth Just Had Its Hottest September On Record

"If 2014 maintains this temperature departure from average for the remainder of the year, it will be the warmest calendar year ...  Read more

Politicians Who Say ‘I’m Not A Scientist’ On Climate Offer Their Advice On Ebola

On Saturday, political blogger Lee Papa made an interesting observation about Republicans who widely recommend panicking about Ebola. “Does any Republican talking about Ebola say, “I’m not a scientist” like they do with climate change?” he tweeted, referencing the long list of political figures who claim to not know the science behind climate change, even though they actively oppose any policy to fight it.
... Read more

Why Chicago is mandating coding education

"In three years time, you can't graduate from high school in the city of Chicago if you didn't take code writing and computer science," said Mayor Emanuel in conversation with Cisco CEO John Chambers. "We're making it mandatory."

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FORUM: Least religious countries are most moral, peaceful

"...What would the world look like if more and more people became atheists? Fortunately this is something about which we don’t have to speculate, because there are plenty of examples both abroad and at home. Societies that value and use evidence as their basis for public policy have, unsurprisingly, consistently healthier outcomes..."

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/opinion/2014/10/19/forum-least-religious-countries-moral-peaceful/17540031/

Finding healing and acceptance after same-sex love collides with religion

"...It is even harder when your parents are profoundly committed conservative Catholics, your brother is a prominent priest who represents traditional church views on Fox News, and you were raised to believe that everything the church teaches is true..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/finding-healing-and-acceptance-after-same-sex-love-collides-with-religion/2014/10/17/873e82f6-54ae-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

Catholic bishops reject welcome to gays in sign of split

"...American Cardinal Raymond Burke said the conciliatory language revealed last week was forced and did not represent the majority view, adding that gays were "intrinsically confused."..."

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/world/2014/10/18/bishops-scrap-welcome-to-gays/17502055/

Is your cat damaging your health?

What research says about cats: they're selfish, unfeeling, environmentally harmful creatures.  They also carry a parasite that infects humans.

"...People who have been infected have greater rates of neuroticism and schizophrenia, and have slower reflex times in lab experiments. As a result, it seems, they get into traffic accidents more often. There's evidence that they have higher rates of suicide..."

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/16/6982177/the-case-against-owning-cats

The U.S. Health System Vs. Ebola (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

If Ebola comes here, to the United States, it will be stopped in its tracks, we were told. It will be toast. But this week, we’ve got Ebola apparently, potentially, tracked all over the place. A dead patient in Dallas. Not one but two nurses who cared for him, infected. Sick. One, flying commercial, with CDC sign-off, to Cleveland. Those planes, hauling five more flights full of people around before they were grounded. Schools now closed in Ohio where a staffer flew on that plane. Stopped in its tracks? This hour On Point: the real state of American readiness. Getting real about Ebola in the USA. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/10/16/us-health-system-ebola-dallas

Yochi Dreazen: "The Invisible Front" (Diane Rehm Show)

Suicides in the military have skyrocketed since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military’s suicide rate jumped more than 80 percent between 2002 and 2009. One military family is trying to change that. The Grahams lost two sons: one in combat in Iraq and one to suicide. But the Grahams were astonished by the different reactions their deaths received from the Army. The one killed in combat was lauded as a hero, while the other’s death was met with silence. In a new book, Yochi Dreazen, the managing editor of Foreign Policy, shows how this family channeled their grief into working to transform the military’s approach to soldiers with mental illness.

Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-10-09/yochi-dreazen-invisible-front

A Conversation With Gen. Wesley Clark (Diane Rehm Show)

The United States is at a pivotal crossroads, says Gen. Wesley Clark. He believes our country’s history of rallying around conflict will no longer serve us, in the face of crises at home and abroad. After 35 years in uniform, a presidential bid and a return to the business world, Clark says it’s time for a new national strategy. With the eyes of the nation continually looking ahead to the next war, he says, we are paralyzed –- unable to address our most pressing issues, from climate change to China’s ascent. A conversation with Gen. Wesley Clark on why the issues uniting Americans should be energy independence and economic growth, not war.

Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-10-09/conversation-gen-wesley-clark

Russell Brand Says He Wants A ‘Revolution’ (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

British comedian, actor, provocateur, activist Russell Brand knows how to mix it up wild and funny. With his big mane, sharp mind, and glittering irreverence he has cut a wide swath in entertainment realms. Played the blazing rock star in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. Married and divorced Katy Perry. Toured doing stand-up last year with his Messiah Complex show. And now Russell Brand is going all-in on politics. Revolution, actually. Our world, our system is worn out and we know it, he says. Time for revolt. Up next On Point: Russell Brand, and revolution.
 / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/10/15/russell-brand-revolution-new-book

Weighing A Catholic Change For LGBT And Divorcees (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

It’s a working document.  The process isn’t over.  One-hundred-ninety bishops have to vote.  They’re still revising.  The Pope, Pope Francis, has the last word.  But the working papers already out of the Vatican this week and their message of more respect, more openness to the divorced, to the cohabiting, to gay Catholics have exploded in world headlines.  Bombshell, earthquake say advocates of change.  Heresy, “homoheresy,” say opponents.  The bishops say they have to meet people where they are to bring them to the church.  This hour On Point:  Catholics speak out on the changes on the table right now. / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/10/16/lgbtq-divorcees-catholic-church-change

Catholic Church criticised for gay U-turn

Pro-gay groups slam Vatican for backtracking over gays and divorcees, despite Pope urging the Church to accept "change".  Read more

Warren: 'The Game Is Rigged, And The Republicans Rigged It'

Warren told the crowd that she would fight against the banks that oppose her legislation that would allow students to refinance their student loans.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/warren-republicans-game-rigged

Today's Very Good News on Ebola - That You Probably Haven't Heard

With the real and disturbing news that at least two (it's possible there could still be more) Dallas health workers contracted Ebola during the care f... Read more

Congressional Candidate: Supreme Court Is Conspiring To Prevent Scott Walker From Becoming President

Republicans have some conspiracies about why the Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin's voter ID law. The post Congressional ... Read more

After Blocking Surgeon General Nominee, Republican Blames Obama For Surgeon General Vacancy

He dismissed questions about whether the NRA should have been given any influence over top public health position.The post ... Read more

George Will Spreads Misinformation About Ebola on Fox News

The conservative columnist came head to head with his fellow panelists -- and even host Chris Wallace -- in his attempt to spew ... Read more

CNN Host Grills Cruz About Ebola And GOP Opposition To Surgeon General (VIDEO)

CNN host Candy Crowley on Sunday challenged Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) while asking him how Republican decisions may have negatively impacted the United Sta... Read more

Wisconsin can be so beautiful this time of year. [960x960] [OC]

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