FRANK NEWPORT, - The Gallup Organization
Stephan: Here we see the effects of willful ignorance as a social phenomenon. And think for a moment: A majority of Republicans are creationists. That is to say one of the major parties of America's democracy chooses to live in a fact free reality. This is how the Dark Ages occurred.
PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-six percent of Americans believe in the creationist view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years. The prevalence of this creationist view of the origin of humans is essentially unchanged from 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question. About a third of Americans believe that humans evolved, but with God’s guidance; 15% say humans evolved, but that God had no part in the process.
Trend: Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings? 1) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process, 2) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process, 3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so
Gallup has asked Americans to choose among these three explanations for the origin and development of human beings 11 times since 1982. Although the percentages choosing each view have varied from survey to survey, the 46% who today choose the creationist […]
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JIM MELWERT, - CBS (Philadelphia)
Stephan: When are we going to recognize that prohibition never works, even when you put millions of your citizens in prison for decades, and spend billions each year on so called educational programs? All over a common plant that grows like... well, a weed. There is just so much money being made by the prohibition forces that only state by state rejection of prohibition is going to end it.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A study from the CDC finds tobacco use among teens continues to decline, but there is some alarming news in this study.
The government study shows more teens are smoking pot than are smoking cigarettes.
The study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys over 15,000 teens across the country looking at all kinds of risky behavior in 2011.
And while only 18 percent of teens reported smoking a cigarette in the past 30 days, a higher percentage – 23 percent - say they smoked marijuana in the past month.
Tianda, a high school junior here in Philadelphia says she’s not surprised by the findings, and says students are rarely warned about the dangers of marijuana.
‘I just hear a lot of dangers of cancer and cigarettes and I think that’s why a lot of teens look to marijuana.
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SOFIA RESNICK, - The American Independent
Stephan: This is what happens when the firewall the Founders put in place to separate church and state is breached. Are you happy your tax dollars are being used in this way?
Across the country, explicitly religious groups running ‘crisis pregnancy centers
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MICAH ZENKO, - The Atlantic
Stephan: We have turned ourselves into a soft police state, and sacrificed our liberties on the altar of our fears. It is perhaps the most extraordinary overreaction in recorded history, and it will be studied for centuries; the way we study the fall of the Roman Empire.
Today, the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) released its 2011 Report on Terrorism. The report offers the U.S. government’s best statistical analysis of terrorism trends through its Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS), which compiles and vets open-source information about terrorism–defined by U.S. law as ‘premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.’
Although I invite you to read the entire thirty-one page report, there are a few points worth highlighting that notably contrast with the conventional narrative of the terrorist threat:
‘The total number of worldwide attacks in 2011, however, dropped by almost 12 percent from 2010 and nearly 29 percent from 2007.’ (9)
‘Attacks by AQ and its affiliates increased by 8 percent from 2010 to 2011. A significant increase in attacks by al-Shabaab, from 401 in 2010 to 544 in 2011, offset a sharp decline in attacks by al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) and a smaller decline in attacks by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).’ (11)
‘In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97 percent […]
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ROBERT SANDERS, - University of California - Berkeley
Stephan: This came out several days ago and I have held it waiting to see what kind of response it engendered, with the idea of devoting an entire edition of SR to the announcement and the reactions it generated. I was not surprised, but deeply saddened, that it stimulated almost no discourse in the Congress and almost nothing in the media, particularly the cable media. Listen closely. That sound you hear is the smoke alarm of civilization ringing like a fire siren in the night.
BERKELEY — A prestigious group of scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a planet-wide tipping point that would have destructive consequences absent adequate preparation and mitigation.
‘It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,
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