(Credit: Stocksnapper via Salon)

A recent Pew study found that white American evangelical Christians think they experience more discrimination than blacks, Hispanics Muslims, atheists or Jews.

Really?

Christianity is the majority religion in the U.S. Many kinds of legally ensconced religious privileges are on the rise including the right to woo converts in public grade schools, speculate in real estate tax-free, repair religious facilities with public dollars, or opt out of civil rights laws and civic responsibilities that otherwise apply to all. By contrast atheists are less electable than even philanderers, weed smokers or gays; Hispanics and Muslims are being told to leave; Jews get accused of everything from secret economic cabals to destroying America’s military; and unarmed black youth continue to die at the hands of vigilantes.

Given the reality of other people’s lives, a widespread evangelical perception of their group as mass victims reveals a lack of empathy that should give thoughtful believers reason to cringe. And indeed, Alan Nobel, managing editor of Christ and Pop Culture, and a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University, […]

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How did that genetically modified wheat end up in a field in Oregon? Investigators still don’t know, but now they’ve found GMO wheat in Montana, too.
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Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) say that they cannot figure out how genetically engineered wheat appeared, as if by magic, in a farmer’s field in eastern Oregon in the spring of 2013.

Having “exhausted all leads,” the agency has now closed the investigation. But that announcement was almost overshadowed by a new mini-bombshell: More unapproved GMO wheat was discovered this past summer at Montana State University’s Southern Agricultural Research Center (SARC) in Huntley, Mont.

It was discovered when workers tried to clear a small field using the weedkiller glyphosate. Some wheat plants survived, because they carried the glyphosate-tolerance gene that Monsanto Corp. had inserted into its GM varieties.

There were field trials of […]

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TOKYO — Japan is caught in a demographic squeeze unprecedented among developed countries: a ballooning number of elderly, coupled with a decline in the overall population that is causing communities to wither and markets to vanish.

If the country is to maintain its vitality, new ideas are needed to combat the problem — and quickly.

Mount Hakodate, on the northern island of Hokkaido, is renowned for its view of the surrounding bay and city, especially at dusk. Tourists often gasp when they see the lights of the city below, and those of the squid fishermen out for their nightly catch.

But will there be anyone left to admire the scene in future years? In April, the central government designated Hakodate as a depopulated area, the first city with a population of around 300,000 or more in Japan to earn that distinction. The population of Hakodate has dropped to 270,000 from 340,000 in 1985, qualifying it for state support offered to localities whose populations drop by around 20% or more.

The fall is especially steep in the center of the city. The central government forecasts Hakodate’s population will fall to 170,000 by 2040. The […]

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Source: Gallup-Healthways, Global Well-Being Index

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fewer than one in five adults worldwide can be considered thriving — or strong and consistent — in levels of purpose well-being, as measured by the inaugural Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index in 2013. Residents living in the Americas are the most likely to be thriving in this element (37%), while those in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa are the least likely (13%).

The Global Well-Being Index measures each of the five elements of well-being — purpose, social, financial, community, and physical – through Gallup’s World Poll. Purpose well-being, which is defined as people liking what they do each day and being motivated to achieve their goals, was the lowest performing element of the five elements of well-being. Global results of how people fare in 135 countries and areas in this element, as well as the four other elements, have been compiled in the State of Global Well-Being report.

Latin Americans Have Highest Purpose Well-Being

Nearly all the countries with the highest thriving rates […]

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Liberty Voice

The infant mortality rate is higher in the United States than it is in European countries according to a recent government report. This means that in America, more babies are dying before they reach the age of one year than in other parts of the world. The report was released on Sept. 24 and was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report found that for every 1000 babies born in America, over six of them die. This is more than twice the infant mortality rate for Portugal, Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Israel, Australia and European countries. At the top of the report, Finland had a rate as low as just over two percent, closely followed by Japan. According to the CDC, approximately 24,000 infants died in the United States in the year 2011.

Marian MacDorman, lead author of the report, believes that it has been understood for some time that in the United States, there is a higher than average preterm birth rate, and that this can add to […]

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