Trends That Will Affect Your Future …

God and Caesar in America

The war on religion which the Catholic Church and the Evangelicals are promoting with utter cynicism, masks a much deeper reality. This excellent essay is as good an exposition of what is really going on as I have found.

DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM - Foreign Affairs

In the wake of the Great Recession it would seem natural that the 2012 election would be fought over economic issues. Yet so far in the Republican primaries, we have seen social issues, and religion especially, move to the forefront. Rick Santorum is only the latest in a series of Republicans who have infused their campaigns with talk about God. Even Mitt Romney, a Mormon who has generally tried to avoid discussing religion, has recently pledged to defend "religious liberty" against the Obama administration. Increasingly, the rhetoric of the leading Republican contenders echoes the Republican fringe of twenty years ago. Then, we heard Pat Buchanan -- the quintessential protest candidate -- bombastically declare that America was in the midst of a culture war. Today, the frontrunners all play to the Republican base by describing the White House's "war on religion."

Deepening the mystery of the GOP's turn to God ...

Read More - http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137100/david-e-campbell-and-robert-d-putnam/god-and-caesar-in-america

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Study: Homophobic People Likely Repressing Homosexual Attraction

The Theocratic Right's profound sexual dysfunctionality issues -- which is why so much of the Right's political focus centers on sexual issues -- has become so extreme that scientists are beginning to study it. Here is a report on one of the insights emerging.

DAVID EDWARDS - Raw story

People who have negative feelings toward homosexuality often have secret attractions to the same sex - and are more likely to have grown up in households that forbid homosexual feelings, according to a recent study.

A research team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara found that '[h]omophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires.”

'Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves,” the study’s lead author, Netta Weinstein, explained.

'In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward,” co-author Richard Ryan added...

Read More - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/09/study-homophobic-people-likely-repressing-homosexual-attraction/

This should come as no surprise to anyone here.

giovonni

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As weather gets biblical, insurers go missing



PITTSBURGH — As weather disasters strike with more frequency, homeowners first get hit with the destruction or total loss of property. Many are then hit with the unexpected loss of homeowners insurance policies as insurance companies re-evaluate their financial liabilities.

After a tornado ripped through Springfield, Massachusetts, last year, R. Paula Lazzari's home was badly damaged. The retired teacher found broken windows, missing siding and a damaged roof. Her insurer offered to fund repairs for one broken window and some of the siding. It took nine months -- and mediation services from an independent adjuster and the Massachusetts Division of Insurance -- to get her bills paid, according to the parties involved...

Read more - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47006736/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/#.T4wSnNUeiVp

Just One of Monsanto's Crimes, or Why We Can't Trust the EPA

As I have been doing the research for today's edition I have come across not one but two different stories on the trend of poisoning the planet, including ourselves.
Do you note that little of this is ever discussed in the mainstream media? Take it as a measure of the level of corruption and control special interests exercise in our country.

ALEXIS BADEN-MAYER - Nation of Change

2,4-D and the dioxin pollution it creates are too dangerous to allow, period, but in the hands of bad actors like Monsanto and Dow Chemical the dangers increase exponentially. What's the Environmental Protection Agency doing? Helping cover-up the chemical companies' crimes!

In February, Monsanto agreed to pay up to $93 million in a class-action lawsuit brought by the residents of Nitro, West Virginia, for dioxin exposure from accidents and pollution at an herbicide plant that operated in their town from 1929 to 2004.

That may seem like justice, but it is actually the result of Monsanto's extraordinary efforts to hide the truth, evade criminal prosecution and avoid legal responsibility.

A brief criminal fraud investigation conducted (and quickly aborted) by the EPA revealed that Monsanto used a disaster at their Nitro, WV, plant to manufacture "evidence" that dioxin exposure produced a skin condition called chloracne, but ...

Read More - http://www.nationofchange.org/just-one-monsanto-s-crimes-or-why-we-can-t-trust-epa-1334496958


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Researchers: GM Crops Are Killing Monarch Butterflies, After All


Monsanto, a corporation strongly supported by Bill Gates, who has made a very large investment in the company, is on my top ten list of the most evil corporations on earth. There just doesn't seem to be any limit to its perfidy and the negative effects it has wrought across the planet. First the bees and, now, this about Monarch butterflies. I began covering this story, about the in 2005 (see SR archives) and, like the bee decline, it just keep getting worse.

It is long past time that we realized an enormous experiment is being perpetrated, so large that it is almost beyond our comprehension; and it is placing all of us at risk.

TOM PHILPOTT - Mother Jones

f any insect species can be described as charismatic minifauna, it's the monarch butterfly. The gorgeous creatures flutter about in a migratory range that stretches from the northern part of South America up into Canada. The monarch is the only butterfly species that undertakes such a long-distance migration. And when they alight upon a place en masse, heads turn. No fewer than five states-Texas, Alabama, Idaho, illinois, and Minnesota-claim the monarch as their state insect.

Unfortunately, the monarch populations appear to be in a state of decline. Why? A new study (abstract; press release) from University of Minnesota and Iowa State University researchers points to an answer: the rapid rise of crops engineered to withstand herbicides.

Their argument is powerful. Monarchs lay their eggs on one particular kind of plant: the milkweed. And when the eggs hatch, the caterpillars feed exclusively on the weed. Milkweed is common ...

Read More - http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/03/researchers-gm-crops-are-killing-monarch-butterflies-after-all

Gulf Seafood Deformities Alarm Scientists

The Gulf catastrophe seems to be no longer of interest to the corporate media. But that doesn't mean the story is over only that, like so many stories of substance,
this media has chosen not to cover it so they can devote 24/7 to stories like Helen Rosen's off the cuff remark about Ann Romney. A story with nothing but sensoids.

Click through to see pictures of sea creatures taken from the Gulf; it will give you a better sense of what is happening.

DAHR JAMAIL - Aljazeera (Qatar)

New Orleans, LA - "The fishermen have never seen anything like this," Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. "And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I've never seen anything like this either."

Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.

Cowan's findings replicate those of others living along vast areas of the Gulf Coast that have been impacted by BP's oil and dispersants.

Gulf of Mexico fishermen, scientists and seafood processors have told Al Jazeera they are finding disturbing numbers of mutated shrimp, crab and fish that they believe are deformed by chemicals released during BP's 2010 oil disaster.

Along with collapsing fisheries, signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: horribly mutated shrimp, fish with oozing ...

Read More - http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html

However you perceive these situations and challenges ... Just keep in mind ... We all have the power within to change all these things for ourselves.

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More Baby Boomers Facing Old Age Alone

This is a very sad but, I am afraid, very realistic assessment of what is coming for Baby Boomers. The inability of Americans to see that collective action to support a social need is essential to a civilized nation is going to produce a number of social outcomes like this one. It is very strange and would seem incomprehensible to the Founders who, mostly, would be considered socialists today.

JEN SOBOLEWSKI - Bowling Green State University

Startling new statistics from Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research paint a bleak future for the largest generation in history, the baby boomers, as they cross into old age

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Startling new statistics from Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) paint a bleak future for the largest generation in history, the baby boomers, as they cross into old age.

Using data from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 censuses and the 2009 round of the American Community Survey, Dr. I-Fen Lin, an associate professor of sociology, and Dr. Susan Brown, a professor of sociology and co-director of the NCFMR, found one-third of adults aged 45-63 are unmarried. This represents a more than 50 percent increase since 1980, when just 20 percent of middle-aged Americans were unmarried.

Most single boomers are divorced or never married. In fact, one in three single baby boomers has never been married. Just 10 percent of unmarried boomers are widowed.

"The shift in marital composition of the middle-aged suggests that researchers and policymakers can no longer focus on widowhood in later life and should pay attention to the vulnerabilities of the never-married and divorced as well," said Lin.

According to Brown, one in five single baby boomers is living in poverty compared to one in 20 for their married counterparts. Single boomers are twice as likely to be disabled, but they are also less likely to have health insurance.

The previous marital status of unmarried baby boomers also has significant repercussions. In general, divorced boomers have more economic resources and better health than their widowed or never married counterparts.

Of particular concern is the large share of unmarried boomers who have never been married. According to the researchers, the probability of marrying for the first time during middle age is extremely low, meaning that nearly all of the never married boomers will remain unmarried.

"The economic and health vulnerabilities of single boomers are concerning because boomers are now moving into old age when failing health becomes even more common and severe," said Brown.

"In the past, family members, particularly spouses, have provided care to infirm older adults. But a growing share of older adults aren't going to have a spouse available to rely on for support. Our figures indicate one in three boomers won't have a spouse who can care for them. And, unmarrieds are less likely to have children who might provide care. These shifting family patterns portend new strains on existing institutional supports for the elderly. As more singles enter older adulthood, we as a society may have to reconsider how we care for frail elders. The family may no longer be a viable option for an increasing segment of older adults."

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/bgsu-mbb041612.php

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U.S. Standard of Living Has Fallen More Than 50%

This will confirm what you may already suspect, and have witnessed in your own life, or the lives of your friends.

Click through to see the chart that illustrates the main points.

JEFF NIELSON - The Street

NEW YORK -- In writing about the relentless collapse of Western economies, I frequently point to "40 years of plummeting wages" for Western workers, in real dollars. However, where I have been remiss is in quantifying the magnitude of this collapse in Western wages.

On several occasions, I have glibly referred to how it now takes two spouses working to equal the wages of a one-income family of 40 years ago. Unfortunately, that is now an understatement. In fact, Western wages have plummeted so low that a two-income family is now (on average) 15% poorer than a one-income family of 40 years ago.

Regular readers will recognize the chart below on U.S. average wages.

Using the year 2000 as the numerical base from which to "zero" all of the numbers, real wages peaked in 1970 at around $20/hour. Today the average worker makes $8.50/hour -- more ...

Read More - http://www.thestreet.com/story/11480568/1/us-standard-of-living-has-fallen-more-than-50-opinion.html?goback=.gde_4122540_member_1086041

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As Extreme Weather Events Increase, so Does Acceptance of Climate Science

As this report makes clear it is slowly dawning on Americans that climate change is real. I don't think for a moment that this will do much to alter the behavior of the Congress. The power of old energy is too dominant. By 2016, however, when people in Oklahoma can't get insurance for their businesses and homes, and people on the coast of Florida have seen their properties flood repeatedly perhaps something will move. But, by then, it will be too late. As I have said, climate change is going to happen, the question now is how are we going to get through the world it creates.

JEANNA BRYNER, LiveScience Managing Editor - The Christian Science Monitor

Severe droughts in Texas and the Great Plains. Hurricane Irene sweeping the Eastern Seaboard. Tornadoes in the Midwest, and floods in Mississippi. Record-breaking temperatures across the U.S. With such widespread madness, it's no surprise that the majority of Americans say they have personally experienced an extreme weather event or natural disaster in the past year.

That's according to a new nationally representative survey that also found a majority of Americans say U.S. weather is getting worse. Furthermore, a large majority of Americans think global warming made several high-profile weather events even worse.

The results, which are part of a long-term project at Yale, suggest global warming is becoming less of a "down the road" and "out of sight" issue and more of a "here and now" problem in the minds of Americans.

The researchers found early on in this project, a decade ago, that for many Americans ...

Read More - http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0418/As-extreme-weather-events-increase-so-does-acceptance-of-climate-science-video

From the Schwartz Report...

"Finally, the truth about nuclear power in Japan, Fukushima, and the U.S. involvement is coming out. And once again it is clear that the citizens of both countries have been systematically lied to for over a generation.
This report puts a big part of the story on the table. It will appall you."


United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium



[SIZE="1"]Monju Nuclear Power Plant[/SIZE]

Joseph Trento - National Security News Service

The United States deliberately allowed Japan access to the United States’ most secret nuclear weapons facilities while it transferred tens of billions of dollars worth of American tax paid research that has allowed Japan to amass 70 tons of weapons grade plutonium since the 1980s, a National Security News Service investigation reveals. These activities repeatedly violated U.S. laws regarding controls of sensitive nuclear materials that could be diverted to weapons programs in Japan. The NSNS investigation found that the United States has known about a secret nuclear weapons program in Japan since the 1960s, according to CIA reports.

President Reagan and Vice President Bush

The diversion of U.S. classified technology began during the Reagan administration after it allowed a $10 billion reactor sale to China. Japan protested that sensitive technology was being sold to a potential nuclear adversary. The Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations permitted sensitive technology ...

Read More - http://www.dcbureau.org/201204097128/national-security-news-service/united-states-circumvented-laws-to-help-japan-accumulate-tons-of-plutonium.html

HUMAN COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER: THE TOP 10 COUNTDOWN TO OUR OWN EXTINCTION

http://www.activistpost.com/2012/04/human-colony-collapse-disorder-top-10.html

Very good article with lots of links contained within the gist of article...

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As Above So Below

Extended Daily Fasting Overrides Harmful Effects of a High-Fat Diet


This has a huge potential to change your health. Read it carefully and adjust your eating habits accordingly.

Science Daily

It turns out that when we eat may be as important as what we eat. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that regular eating times and extending the daily fasting period may override the adverse health effects of a high-fat diet and prevent obesity, diabetes and liver disease in mice.

In a paper published May 17 in Cell Metabolism, scientists from Salk's Regulatory Biology Laboratory reported that mice limited to eating during an 8-hour period are healthier than mice that eat freely throughout the day, regardless of the quality and content of their diet. The study sought to determine whether obesity and metabolic diseases result from a high-fat diet or from disruption of metabolic cycles.

"It's a dogma that a high-fat diet leads to obesity and that we should eat frequently when we are awake," says Satchidananda Panda, an associate professor in the Regulatory ...

Read More - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120517131703.htm#.T7nEYf2LcwY.email

Note ~ Neonicotinoids, like nicotine, are nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonists... And because most neonicotinoids bind much more strongly to insect neuron receptors than to mammal neuron receptors, these insecticides are selectively more toxic to insects than mammals.

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Farmers, Scientists, and Advocates Concerned About Lack of Pesticide-Free Seeds

This is a measure of how the multinational Agr Corporations are gaining complete control over our food supply. The only way to eat safely today is to buy locally grown organic produce from reliable producers, and/or to grow your own.

eNews Park Forest

WASHINGTON, DC -- American farmers are growing increasingly more frustrated with the lack of commercially available seeds that have not been pretreated with pesticides. Farmers across the Midwest have called on federal officials this week to provide greater access to seeds without pesticide treatments. The request comes as scientists and beekeepers highlight the nearly pervasive use of neonicotinoids as seed treatments on corn as a critical factor in recent bee die-offs, including colony collapse disorder (CCD). Beekeepers from Minnesota to Ohio to Canada report large losses after their hives forage near treated cornfields. Scientists from Purdue University and a multi-year series of studies from Italy point to toxic dust, or neonicotinoid-contaminated powder from recently planted corn fields as key pesticide exposure pathways for bees. The request comes on the heels of a report aired by NBC Nightly News this week entitled 'Bee Deaths Linked to Pesticides”, as well as ...

Read More - http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science-a-environmental/33595-farmers-scientists-and-advocates-concerned-about-lack-of-pesticide-free-seeds.html

Student Loan Bubble Putting Hundreds of Colleges at Risk

The alarm bells ring but few listen.

Business Insider

Very few topics have received as much attention as the student loan/debt bubble.

The size, scope, and impact of this problem is an enormous anchor weighing down our next generation and our nation's economy.

Make no mistake, this anchor is not only impacting thousands of students and families but is also having an equally burdensome impact on colleges and universities nationwide.

Embedded within a very recently released Bloomberg commentary is a study by Richard Kneedler, President Emeritus of Franklin & Marshall College. In light of the economic crisis that hit our shores and continues to envelop our nation, in early 2009 Kneedler released a very granular review of the economic condition of close to 700 private colleges and universities. For anybody with even a passing interest in this issue, Kneedler's work, is a MUST read. What do we learn?

1. Using this post-crash model (and may ...

Read More - http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/student-loan-bubble-putting-hundreds-colleges-risk-125000050.html

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The Right to Record

This is a very big deal. Had this decision gone the other way, citizens would be precluded from recording the excesses of the increasingly over-reaching militarized police in this country.

The New York Times

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department took an important stand last week, declaring that citizens have a First Amendment right to videotape the actions of police officers in public places and that seizure or destruction of such recordings violates constitutional rights.

The Justice Department made the statement in a federal lawsuit brought against the Baltimore Police Department by Christopher Sharp, who used his cellphone to take video of the police arresting and beating a friend at Pimlico on the day of the 2010 Preakness. The officers took Mr. Sharp’s cellphone while he was recording and wiped the phone clean of all videos before returning it to him.

The Courts of Appeals for the First and Seventh Circuits have wisely found that the Constitution protects the right to videotape police officers while they perform official duties. The video taken by another witness of the beating at Pimlico ...

Read More - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/opinion/the-right-to-record.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120521

Nearly a Quarter of Teens Diabetic or Prediabetic, Report Says

This is the latest update on an increasingly distressing trend. We are literally maiming our young in the service of profit for the few. The only way out of this that I can see is eating locally grown organic food, or food you raise yourself, eating nothing that is processed. Your children's health hangs in the balance.

JANICE D'ARCY - The Washington Post

Now, yet more evidence that children’s health is in dire need of attention: A new study released today shows that almost a quarter of teens have diabetes or prediabetes.

Almost a quarter.

That’s up from 9 percent a decade ago, according to a study in the June 2012 issue of Pediatrics, published online today.

The findings come from a report that looked more broadly at the risk factors teens have for cardiovascular disease. 'Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Among U.S. Adolescents, 1999-2008” examined data from nearly 3,400 adolescents age 12 to 19 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The authors, affiliated with The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, set out to examine why American teens have become more susceptible to cardiovascular disease - the leading cause of death among U.S. adults.

They found little significant change in the last decade for ...

Read More - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/nearly-a-quarter-of-teens-diabetic-or-prediabetic-report-says/2012/05/21/gIQAh2MVeU_blog.html