Religion and voting, election of 2004 and 2008

Gallup's final survey conducted before the 2004 election estimated that 63% of voters who attended church weekly or almost every week voted for Bush; 37% voted for Kerry. Sixty percent of those who seldom or never attended church indicated a vote choice for Kerry; 40% voted for Bush. The same directional patterns have been observed between self-reported importance of religion and vote choice. http://www.gallup.com/poll/16381/Church-Attendance-Party-Identification.aspx

Barack Obama has made no headway among white evangelical Protestants who attend church at least once a week; just 17% of this group supports him. By contrast, 37% of white evangelicals who attend services less frequently support Obama. Similarly, while Obama has made gains among Catholics overall, he runs even with John McCain among observant white Catholics (45% to 45%). He now has a clear lead among white Catholics who attend Mass less frequently (53% to 38%). http://www.pewforum.org/2008/10/23/how-church-attendance-affects-religious-voting-patterns/

I guess this could account for the fact Democrats are more hostile to traditional Christian values—pro-life values, marriage, hard work, legal immigration--if they can just get enough Christians to stop going to church, think of the vote gain!

And an opinion piece about the black church and voting: Many people call for the separation of church and politics. However, within the black community, the two cannot be separated. For this reason, my research looks at how African American congregants behave after hearing their pastors, and the church itself, preach conservative values on social issues, but yet, advance notions of voting for whoever is on the Democratic ticket, claiming the party of the left is the best way to advance the interests of the black community. This paradox is important because black churches are more than spiritual gathering places, they are power centers within the black community. For this reason, black churches have power – socially, economically, and politically. The political power of the church shows in the pulpit when pastors allow candidates to speak or advocate on behalf of a candidate or party. When looking at the structure of a black church, the public face of any black church is the pastor, and the pastor is seen as a cue-giver. With that said, this study is important because it has serious implications for the future of the Democratic Party. This is because scholars note African Americans are at a standstill between supporting a party which wants nothing to do with them and a party which takes them for granted. With pastors being cue-givers, they could become middle man to voters and candidates. This study is both qualitative and quantitative.   http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2524069

Why you talk white?

“I was visiting my older sister shortly after I had begun working at the Wall Street Journal, and I was chatting with her daughter, my niece, who was maybe in the second grade at the time. I was asking her about school, her favorite subjects, that sort of thing, when she stopped me and said, “Uncle Jason, why you talk white?” Then she turned to her little friend who was there and said, “Don’t my uncle sound white? Why he tryin’ to sound so smart?”

She was just teasing, of course. I smiled and they enjoyed a little chuckle at my expense. But what she said stayed with me. I couldn’t help thinking: Here were two young black girls, seven or eight years old, already linking speech patterns to race and intelligence. They already had a rather sophisticated awareness that, as blacks, white-sounding speech was not only to be avoided in their own speech but mocked in the speech of others.”

Jason L. Riley, Race Relations and Law Enforcement, Imprimis, January, 2015

What did a high school record tell about a PhD holder 50 years ago?

In today's climate of providing women extra assistance for education  a report written in 1965 provides an interesting look back. 

When boxing and pitching files a few years ago, I came across a copy of National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. 1965a. High School Ability Patterns: A Backward Look From the Doctorate. Prepared by L.R. Harmon. Washington, DC. It had been withdrawn from the OSU Library and I’d apparently picked it up at a book sale.  NAS went to a lot of trouble to do this research and I think Mr. Harmon got several publications out of it. 

It's a study of high school aptitude and achievement of PhDs of 1959-1962 (i.e., folks a few years older than me). It samples 20,440 doctorate-holders, men and women, compares them with randomly-selected classmates, and looks at sex, grades, rank and IQ scores as well as type of school, size of class, and region.  It is a fascinating study but I don't know if anyone paid any attention to it or adjusted any educational goals accordingly. Harmon’s other publications for NAS on the topic of doctorates  have numerous cites in ISI, but I think this study only had two when I looked. His study doesn't include race or economic information.

Here’s what Lindsey R. Harmon reported from all that data.

• In high school, these graduates were about 1.5 standard deviation above the mean of the general population, and 1 standard deviation above their classmates.
• There was a positive relationship between school retention rate through the 12th grade and eventual doctorate attainment rate by students in those schools.
• Among the schools, independent schools' students measured highest, then denominational schools, then public schools.
• It was possible to sort about 40% of the high school students into their eventual doctorate fields solely on the basis of their high school information.
• Girls' mean GPA in all areas was higher than boys (even among the non-doctorate controls), but boys' intelligence test scores were better (boys had a higher drop out rate which culls the less intelligent students).
• Girls (who went on to get doctorates) outscored the boys in high school math and science.
• Married, female doctorates by any index were brighter than men in the same fields of specialization.
• They also outperformed (in high school records) single women--in both GPA and mental tests. 
• Married men's GPA and mental tests, however, were lower than single men.  There was a lot of speculation about these differences.

So, is there life after high school?

Other publications by Harmon on this topic are listed in this bibliography.

Update: Although I can't be sure since the obituary doesn't list publications, I think this is the obituary for Lindsey R. Harmon author of the above cited publication and many others on college graduates.

Choice or aggression?

President Obama proclaimed “we need fathers to recognize that responsibility doesn’t end at conception.” In a sense, of course, he is absolutely right. But the problem is that, in another sense, he is completely wrong: Male responsibility really does end at conception. Men these days can choose only sex, not fatherhood; mothers alone determine whether children shall be allowed to exist. Legalized abortion was supposed to grant enormous freedom to women, but it has had the perverse result of freeing men and trapping women. . .

“Abortion facilitates women’s heterosexual availability,” Catherine MacKinnon [radical feminist] pointed out: “In other words, under conditions of gender inequality [abortion] does not liberate women; it frees male sexual aggression. The availability of abortion removes the one remaining legitimized reason that women have had for refusing sex besides the headache.” Perhaps that is why, she observed, “the Playboy Foundation has supported abortion rights from day one.” In the end, MacKinnon pronounced, Roe ’s “right to privacy looks like an injury got up as a gift,” for “virtually every ounce of control that women won” from legalized abortion “has gone directly into the hands of men.”

From Her Choice, her problem, First Things, 2009

It’s not enough for Eric Holder

Holder is a racist, in the sense that everything is about race because of his race.  He’s unhappy with the Ferguson investigations, so he makes one final hit as he leaves office.

“Attorney General Eric Holder called the need for “wholesale change” in the Ferguson, Missouri, police department as being “pretty clear” and “appropriate.” His comments on Wednesday came in light of revelations from local and federal officials that a plan is in the works to shakeup the police department, including a possible resignation of Chief Thomas Jackson and potential dismantling the department.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the need for wholesale change in that department is appropriate. Exactly what the form of that change will be, I think, we’ll wait until we complete our inquiry,” Holder said in an interview with Jonathan Capehart during the Washington Ideas Forum on Wednesday.”

No one was found guilty in the investigations; it was learned that many witnesses lied to the media and the police and investigators.  So it that the reason to dismantle? Yet DOJ investigators are meeting with a non-profit “justice” group that wants to nail the police.  Why? Would DOJ meet with the Tea Party or a Christian militia group to iron out their complaints?  Of course not.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/holder-supports-wholesale-change-ferguson-police-department

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article10643408.html

http://www.mediaite.com/online/eric-holder-may-take-legal-action-against-ferguson-police-before-he-leaves/

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/justice-department-ferguson-race-case-115275.html

HIV Infection Among Young Black Gay and Bisexual Men

“Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection in the United States.1 In fact, HIV is on the rise among all MSM, regardless of race or age, with the incidence of new infections increasing 12% annually between 2008 and 2010.2 Among MSM, however, youth and race converge to define a public health disaster of staggering proportions, with the greatest number of new HIV infections occurring among young black gay and bisexual men ages 13 to 24.2 In 2010, young black MSM accounted for 45% of new HIV infections among all black MSM and 55% of new HIV infections among young MSM overall.

The disproportionate impact of HIV on African Americans has been evident from the early days of the AIDS epidemic, with 261,000 deaths reported among blacks through 2010—a staggering 41% of total AIDS deaths—despite the fact that blacks account for only 12% of the U.S. population.3-5 Currently, the rate of new HIV infections among blacks in the U.S. is 8 times that of whites, with MSM accounting for most new infections among African Americans.”

Wait for it. . . It’s not just their risky behavior. . . Not just the higher rate of STDs among black men. . . Not just ignorance about the disease . . . Ready?  Stigma (aka other people’s fault) and lack of insurance.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/resource-center/HIV/Highest-risk/a/44567

http://www.medpagetoday.com/clinical-context/HIVAIDS/27887

http://www.hptn.org/web%20documents/HPTN061/Results/Pubs/KoblinCorrelatesHIVPLoS1.pdf

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Pages/HPTN061.aspx

Medical shortcuts and acronyms are fascinating.  Black Men Who Have Sex with Men Only (BMSMO) and  Black Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women (BMSMW). Explains how some women become infected with HIV. They seem to be victims of some bad choices.

“BMSMW, in comparison to BMSMO, were significantly older, less educated, had lower incomes, were more likely to be unemployed, less stably housed, and more likely to have been incarcerated prior to enrollment. BMSMW were also more likely to use some drugs and had higher internalized homophobia scores, lower social support and higher frequencies of depression symptoms.”  Journal of Urban Health, 2013. DOI:10.1007/s11524‐013‐9811‐1

It’s about acceptance of lifestyle

“The most recent U.S. Census data reveal that in the last 15 years only one in five or 150,000 same-sex couples have taken advantage of legal recognition. This is less than six tenths of one percent of the population. And since two-thirds of legally recognized same-sex couples in the United States are female, the number of committed men seeking marriage is about two tenths of one percent of the population.”

“In the Netherlands, gay marriage is actually declining in popularity. 2,500 gay couples married in 2001 -- the year it was legalized -- since then it has declined more than 50%. In 2009 more than 98% of marriages in the Netherlands were to opposite-sex couples.”

“For some in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, the same-sex marriage argument is a cover for advancing a demand for universal legal acceptance of their particular lifestyle.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2013/03/the_annulment_of_same-sex_marriage.html

Pastors shouldn’t conflate loving the homosexual with accepting the acts

“As a Christian, the conflict between my sexuality and my faith would become the deepest and most intense of my life. Now in my forties, I’ve gone from being closeted to openly lesbian to celibate to heterosexually married. The fact that I need to qualify my marital union as a heterosexual one reveals how much the cultural landscape has changed in that time—just as much as my own personal landscape has, though in very different ways. . .Same-sex sexual activity is outside the design and will of the good plan of God. To claim otherwise requires ignoring Scripture, historical Christian authority, and natural law. ”

“May I make two requests? Continue to love me, but remember that you cannot be more merciful than God. It isn’t mercy to affirm same-sex acts as good. Practice compassion according to the root meaning of “compassion”: Suffer with me. Don’t compromise truth; help me to live in harmony with it.

I’m asking you to help me take up my cross and follow Jesus.”

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/12/14149/

It’s expensive to fund terrorism

Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to look at allegations that the Islamic State group is using organ harvesting as a way to finance its operations.

Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told reporters that in the past few weeks, bodies with surgical incisions and missing kidneys or other body parts have been found in shallow mass graves.

"We have bodies. Come and examine them," he said. "It is clear they are missing certain parts."

He also said a dozen doctors have been "executed" in Mosul for refusing to participate in organ harvesting.

 http://www.Newsmax.com/Headline/iraq-harvesting-organs-isis/2015/02/18/id/625371/

Commitment, not communication, is the essential ingredient for a successful marriage

http://eppc.org/publications/commitment-chastity-mercy-are-the-building-blocks-for-a-happy-marriage/

“What makes such deep, unreserved commitment possible? God’s grace, which allows us to love in the face of ordinary struggles and impossible challenges. Couples sometimes treat the sacramental graces of marriage like a generous check received on their wedding day. They fear that once it’s cashed, it’s gone, so they don’t use it, saving it instead for something really big. Or they forget they ever received it and never cash it at all. God’s grace in marriage is a credit line (a lifeline, really) meant to be drawn upon daily. Unlimited, it’s available on request.

So what’s our part? Our task is to cultivate virtues — habits — that will help us live out our commitment to love. . . chastity and mercy.”

Why does PBS offer apologetics for Islam?

“One can start by concentrating on just two items: a film entitled Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, currently available on DVD; and a website of the same name based around it. Both the documentary and the materials on the PBS website are more or less pure apologetics about Muhammad and certain aspects of Islam.  . . .  inadequate monitoring of textual content, interviewee selection, and association with external agencies. . . . religious propaganda in place of balanced educational, instructional, and public information material. . .

The film Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet premiered on December 18, 2002, to wide praise across America. . . . The documentary has since been rebroadcast on more than 600 individual PBS stations. The U.S. viewership is estimated at more than 10 million. . . The film is used in thousands of communities, schools, universities, religious congregations, and civic organizations throughout the United States to increase Americans' "understanding" of Muslims and Islam. . . .

There is much to be gained from better knowledge and superior information as a route to community integration within America's melting pot. Such a project is exactly the sort of thing PBS should be broadcasting. But with Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, PBS lost its way and created not a balanced and educationally sound approach to that purpose, but an explicit piece of Islamic propaganda that presses all the buttons of Muslim missionizing (da'wa) and apologetics.”

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5211/pbs-islam

http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/muhammadand.shtml

Creepy old Joe Biden

Chocolate mashed potato cookies

Lately I've been hungry for cookies made with mashed potatoes. I have no idea why--not sure I've ever had any. But I made them yesterday, and have pronounced them good--after eating 2. Here's what I did:

• 1 box of Devil's Food cake mix for all the dry stuff you usually put in cookie dough.
• 1 stick of melted butter, to which I added 2 squares of dark baking chocolate and 2 eggs. Mix thoroughly.
• 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes, without any seasoning or butter, but with some milk/cream to make it fluffy.

Mix it all thoroughly, drop in balls, or teaspoons to ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 11 minutes at 350.

I rolled the balls in sugar and pressed with a fork. The last batch I flattened and then frosted when they cooled. Makes about 45 medium size, soft, not terribly sweet cookies. Potatoes probably add a lot of nutrition without many calories. Most recipes I found  for something similar used dry flake or processed instant, but I was making soup for lunch and wanted the potato water, so just make them myself.

The soup was really good, too.  I cooked some frozen mixed vegetables in the potato water with some onions and cauliflower. To make a cream sauce, I added about 2 Tbsp of flour and 2 Tbsp of sour cream together to make the white sauce with the potato water.

Cloth diapers vs. disposable

I hadn’t looked at figures like this since the 1970s when we were told diaper services were cheaper than home washed cloth diapers, but noticed it today in a story about a woman who got a $.25 minimum wage increase and now she could afford more disposable diapers for her grandchild.  I hope she doesn’t have any government benefits she’s counting on like Obamacare, because that pay increase could really mess her up in claw back or fines if she skip it.

My first reaction was she should buy cloth diapers, but then I looked it up.  It’s pretty much a wash (no pun)—the more children you have using that original investment, the lower the cost per diaper change, but that’s about it.  Also learned a bit reading the comments.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/cloth-diapering-a-real-world-analysis/

“If we assume 2240 diaper changes in Year 1, and lets assume that there will be fewer diaper changes in Year 2 (we’ll say on average 5 changes per day – 1825/year) then we would say that over the course of Year 1 and Year 2, there will be 4,065 diaper changes. That gives us a cost of$.28 per diaper change. . .

Total cost to use disposable diapers for 2 years – $1354.25
Assuming 4,065 diaper changes over the course of 2 years, that gives us a cost of $.33 per diaper change.”

Americans unaware of what they voted for when reelecting Obama

“Up to 6 million Americans are expected to pay a penalty for not having coverage in 2014, according to recent Obama administration projections. The 2014 penalty for this tax season is $95, or 1 percent of family income — purposefully on the weaker side to let people adjust to this new coverage scheme. Most of the uninsured won't actually face the penalty because they'll qualify for an exemption, either related to their inability to afford coverage or some other hardship.

But it's likely that a lot of people who will have to pay don't know it yet. Despite the unpopularity of the individual mandate and the high-stakes Supreme Court case over it three years ago, there's still limited awareness of the penalty among those who could risk triggering it. Nearly half of uninsured Americans weren't aware of the penalty, and almost as many don't realize the law offers financial help to purchase coverage, according to a Harris Poll survey in the fall.”

So of course, Democrats want a work around, as if this is the only problem with the government taking over 1/6 of the economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/17/democrats-are-bracing-for-another-obamacare-backlash/

Government speak: “The fee is sometimes called a penalty, fine, or Individual Shared Responsibly Payment. It is part of the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision, which is often called the Individual Mandate. “

Adding a child to insurance under Obamacare rules

It’s been a lot of years since I added a baby to our health insurance, but as I recall, we simply called our agent, who then probably filled in the blanks on a form, and like magic the little one had insurance from the minute we supplied the information.  Not today.  Not under Obamacare. Story from Sharyl Attkisson.

“A true story. About a baby who was born on June 4, 2014 A.D., in America. The baby’s name is Hannah Johnson, 8 lbs 14 oz. Green eyes, brown hair and a beauty to behold. When Hannah was born (the very first newborn to be added to the health insurance rolls of our office since healthcare.gov went live) we printed out the Change Form from SelectHealth’s website and faxed it in, just like we had always done. The reason we did it that way was because, to our knowledge, no one told us to do it any other way. So off it went, on June 30, 2014. On July 7th we called in to SelectHealth to make sure that the baby had been added, because neither we nor the insured had received anything confirming that little Hannah was on the policy.
Fortunately though, SelectHealth informed us that they had received our request and that the addition was being processed. They confirmed that “the addition was being processed” because apparently no one ever told the customer service reps at SelectHealth that they would need to add the baby some other way. When a few weeks passed without any confirmation that the baby was indeed insured, Hannah’s mom called into SelectHealth to follow up on the policy endorsement. She continued this process, calling in to her insurance company to inquire about little Hannah’s status, for a couple of months without any resolution. In fact it wasn’t until mid September, a good three months after Hannah’s birth, that SelectHealth told Hannah’s mom that they actually couldn’t change her health insurance policy. That all changes to the policy needed to be routed through healthcare.gov. “  Read the rest of the story here—it gets worse.

According to a survey, the top 10 Astroturfers

TOP 10 ASTROTURFERS by Sharyl Attkisson

Astroturfers often disguise themselves and publish blogs, write letters to the editor, produce ads, start non-profits, establish Facebook and Twitter accounts, edit Wikipedia pages or simply post comments online to try to fool you into thinking an independent or grassroots movement is speaking. They use their partners in blogs and in the news media in an attempt to lend an air of legitimacy or impartiality to their efforts. They call truth a myth, then “de-bunk it;’ they build straw men then chop them down; and I think they make about 20% of their stories about LBGT, even though that’s 2% of the population. (My opinion, not Sharyl’s.)

1. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown

2. Media Matters for America

3. University of California Hastings Professor Dorit Rubenstein Reiss and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Dr. Paul Offit

4. “Science” Blogs such as: Skeptic.com, Skepchick.org, Scienceblogs.com (Respectful Insolence), Popsci.com and SkepticalRaptors.com

5. Mother Jones

6. Salon.com and Vox.com

7. White House press briefings and press secretary Josh Earnest [I’d add Marie Harf]

8. Daily Kos and The Huffington Post

9. CNN, NBC, New York Times, Politico and Talking Points Memo (TPM)

10. MSNBC, Slate.com, Los Angeles Times and Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and Jon Stewart.

http://sharylattkisson.com/top-10-astroturfers/

You can be sure my blog has no sponsors, no ads, it’s 100% Norma’s research, opinion, and experience. When I’m wrong and when I’m right, I’m standing on real grass, not Astroturf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU

I believe Barack Obama is a Christian

I’ve read his testimony given at a UCC conference before he became president.  It’s good.  Marks all the boxes, and is more conservative than most main-line Christians could say.

That said, if he were a Muslim mole in the White House, what would be different?

Although, Muslims are allowed to lie in their faith for Allah.  Christians are not.

Resistance Training improves cognitive function in older women

[Excerpts from the article] The EXCEL (EXercise for Cognition and Everyday Living) study was a 6-month randomized trial. Eighty-six community-dwelling women 70 to 80 years old were randomly allocated to twice-weekly resistance training (RT) (28 women), twice-weekly Aerobic Training (AT) (30 women), or twice-weekly balance and tone (BAT) training (control group) (28 women). Participants were classified as having probable mild cognitive impairment if they had a score lower than 26 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment8 and had subjective memory complaints. . . .

In senior women with subjective memory complaints, 6 months of twice-weekly RT improved selective attention/conflict resolution, associative memory, and regional patterns of functional brain plasticity compared with twice-weekly BAT exercises. In contrast, 6 months of twice-weekly AT improved physical function. We provide novel evidence that RT can benefit multiple domains in those at risk for dementia.

While we previously demonstrated that 12 months of twice-weekly RT significantly improved Stroop Test performance in cognitively healthy women 65 to 75 years old, (3) our current study found an improvement after only 6 months in women 70 to 80 years old with probable mild cognitive impairment. Thus, the benefits of RT on selective attention/conflict resolution may be more potent among those at greater risk for dementia.

Baker et al (6) previously demonstrated that 6 months of AT improved selective attention/conflict resolution and set shifting performance in older women with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. This may be attributed to differences in both the frequency and intensity of AT between the 2 studies. In addition, our study participants were older and had lower baseline Mini-Mental State Examination scores.

We also demonstrated that 6 months of RT twice-weekly significantly improved associative memory performance, co-occurring with positive functional changes in hemodynamic activity in regions involved in the memorization of associations. (10) Impaired associative memory is a hallmark of early stages of Alzheimer disease.

“Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment” Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(8):666-668

Resistance training is a specific component of any strength training routine. Technically put, resistant training is any exercise performed against an opposing force produced by a resistance. This resistance can be made from pushing, squeezing, pulling or bending. http://everything-about-pilates.com/resistance-training/

It’s not like there’s anything serious going on

Every time I think it's time to stop reporting how the media treated President Bush because it's old news, something like this appears. The media fawn over these antics while the middle east and northern Africa go up in flames. This makes the interview with bopping bloggers look classy. One of his selfies showed him making the pointed gun motion with his fingers—something that would get him kicked out of school!