Number Of Religious People Shrinking

post from jobsanger on 12 August 2012 01:04:00 AM. © jobsanger

For the last three decades or so in the United States, the religious right has been very vocal in trying to inject their religion into government and the political arena -- more so than at other times in this nation's history. This may be because those people can see that as time passes in this modern world, less and less people say they are religious. It was verified recently by a survey by the Pew Research Center, which showed that each of the last five generations in the United States has been less religious than the generation that preceded it.

Now there is a new survey that shows this is not just happening in the United States, but is a worldwide phenomenon. The poll was done by Win Gallup International (not connected to the U.S. Gallup Poll) between November 2011 and January 2012. It covered 57 different countries and polled at least 1000 adults in each of those countries (and has a margin of error of 3.5 points). This survey found that religion is indeed shrinking in the United States, just as it is worldwide. The people in all the countries were asked the same question:

IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER YOU ATTEND A PLACE OF WORSHIP OR NOT, WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE A RELIGIOUS PERSON, NOT A RELIGIOUS PERSON, OR A CONVINCED ATHEIST?

Worldwide about 59% of the population considered themselves to be religious, while 23% said they were not religious and 13% said they were atheists. Compared to 2005 (when the same question was asked), that is a 9 point drop in the number saying they are religious. Those claiming not to be religious showed a 6 point rise, and those saying they were atheists showed a 3 point rise.

One of the interesting aspects of the survey was that it showed those making less money are more religious than those making more money. Here are the numbers of those claiming to be religious (divided into quintiles according to income):

Lowest quintile...............66%
Second quintile...............65%
Middle quintile...............56%
Fourth quintile...............51%
Highest quintile...............49%

Here in the United States, 60% said they were religious (a 13 point drop since 2005). This put the United States in the top ten countries showing the largest drop in religiosity. Here are those top ten countries (with the first number being those who say they are religious and the number in parentheses being the percentage it has dropped since 2005):

COUNTRIES SHOWING LARGEST DROP IN RELIGIOUS SINCE 2005
1. Vietnam...............30% (-23%)
2. Ireland...............47% (-22%)
3. Switzerland...............50% (-21%)
4. France...............37% (-21%)
5. South Africa...............64% (-19%)
6. Iceland...............57% (-17%)
7. Ecuador...............70% (-15%)
8. United States...............60% (-13%)
9. Canada...............46% (-12%)
10. Austria...............42% (-10%)

And here are some other interesting rankings:

COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST ATHEIST POPULATIONS
1. China...............47%
2. Japan...............31%
3. Czech Republic...............30%
4. France...............29%
5. South Korea...............15%
6. Germany...............15%
7. Netherlands...............14%
8. Austria...............10%
9. Iceland...............10%
10. Australia...............10%
11. Ireland...............10%

COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS POPULATIONS
1. Ghana...............96%
2. Nigeria...............93%
3. Armenia...............92%
4. Fiji...............92%
5. Macedonia...............90%
6. Romania...............89%
7. Iraq...............88%
8. Kenya...............88%
9. Peru...............86%
10. Brazil...............85%

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eople-shrinking.html

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Climate Change Denier

post from jobsanger on 12 August 2012 01:03:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by John Cole in the Scranton Times-Tribune.

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.html

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Janitors Win In Houston

post from jobsanger on 12 August 2012 01:02:00 AM. © jobsanger

As you may have known, the janitors in Houston have been on strike for a livable wage. The employers, with the aid of the Houston Police Department (who arrested strikers and supporters, and ticketed drivers who honked their horns in support), tried every trick in the book to defeat the strike, but it looks like they failed. There has now been an agreement and the strike is over. The union janitors held a rally at the CWA Hall yesterday afternoon to thank their supporters. Here is the announcement sent out by the Houston Chapter of the Service Employees International Union:

Dear friends,On Wednesday, Houston janitors reached a tentative agreement with cleaning contractors that raises wages 12 percent over four years and beat back a key demand of the contractors that would have significantly weakened the union in Houston.?Today we proved that when workers join together, we have strength. This is a huge victory for janitors and so many workers,? said Adriana Vasquez, a bargaining committee member and janitor who works for ISS at Chase Tower. ?With this new contract, our families can live a little better.?Houston area janitors had been on strike since July 10th. Janitors had been making only $8.35 an hour, and cleaning contractors had initially offered only a 50 cent raise over 5 years. According to the agreement, janitors? wages will increase 12 percent to $9.35 an hour over four years?double the contractors? initial proposal. The agreement was reached with Houston?s largest cleaning contractors. Janitors are continuing to bargain with Pritchard.Cleaning contractors had been insisting on a provision that would have allowed them to underbid union standards in any building covered by the contract?a move that would have effectively reduced wages and benefits for thousands of janitors. However, we reached a compromise that protects wages and benefit gains that janitors have won since 2006. The changes will not adversely affect union janitors.It?s thanks to supporters like you that we won this fight. Every phone call made to business leaders and every step marched with the janitors brought us closer to this victory.Thank you again for all you have done.

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on.html

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Grabbing The Third Rail

post from jobsanger on 12 August 2012 01:01:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Steve Greenberg at steve@greenberg-art.com.

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tml

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Late Late Night FDL: The Bashful Buzzard

post from Firedoglake on 12 August 2012 01:00:07 AM. © Firedoglake

Beaky Buzzard -- The Bashful Buzzard. This Warner Bros Merrie Melodies cartoon was released on September 15, 1945.[...]

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Just Kidding

post from jobsanger on 12 August 2012 01:00:00 AM. © jobsanger

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See You in a Week

post from Talking Points Memo on 12 August 2012 12:00:55 AM. © Talking Points Memo

Happy trails. I didn't realize it would be such a big news day. But I've been pleasantly oblivious to it - though I confess it required a bit of self-discipline to remain that way. As of yesterday afternoon I'm away on a much needed vacation. I may[...]

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ek.php

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Someboby Loves Goldman Sachs

post from DownWithTyranny! on 12 August 2012 12:00:38 AM. © DownWithTyranny!

Yesterday we asked what Wall Street wants in return for switching allegiance to the GOP this cycle. The Obama Administration certainly just handed them a good reason to not switch, or to not switch entirely-- although it was probably a major mistake that will backfire from all cylinders. The Justice Department is letting a bunch of crooked banksters get off scott free... again. It was announced on Thursday in an unsigned Justice Department memo that there will be no criminal charges for the firm or any of it's shady employees in a subprime mortgage scam called Abacus. Goldman got a wrist slap two years ago, settling with the SEC for $550 million, without admitting wrongdoing.

As for who loves Goldman Sachs... it shouldn't be the American public, but Goldman takes good care of our political elites. Not even counting lobbying-- so just, basically the legalistic bribes big companies pay politicians-- Goldman is the #1 donor in the entire Financial/Isrance/Real Estate sector. So far this cycle they've paid out $4,947,604 to politicians. Goldman and it's employees have given 6 times more money to Romney, the top recipient of their largesse this cycle, than to Obama and their big bets are on a mix of pro-Wall Street shills from both sleazy parties, though mostly to the Republican sleazy party:

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)- $72,200
Bob Corker (R-TN)- $67,500
Chris Murphy (D-CT)- $66,860
Scott Brown (R-MA)- $60,550
Marco Rubio (R-FL)- $51,000
Ted Cruz (R-TX)- $37,750

Their biggest bribes to House incumbents went to Boehner (R-OH- $28,000), Cantor (R-VA- $26,000), Crowley (New Dem-NY- $25,850), Jim Himes (New Dem-CT- $25,300), Peter Roskam (R-IL- $21,000), Rick Berg (R-ND- $18,500) and Kevin McCarthy ($17,500), all among the most notoriously corrupt Members of Congress, especially when it comes to Wall Street. And this cycle Goldman is the #1 biggest single contributor to 145 Members of Congress, including most of the sleaziest Members-- a few examples of Members owned by Goldman Sachs: Aaron Schock (R-IL), Adam Schiff (Blue Dog-CA), Allyson Schwartz (New Dem-PA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dave Camp (R-MI), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Ed Royce (R-CA), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), John Boehner (R-OH), Joe Crowley (New Dem-NY), Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R-NY), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rick Berg (R-ND), Scott Brown (R-MA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Steve Israel ("ex"-Blue Dog-NY)... you get the picture? Goldman Sachs, the key to American economic meltdown and subsequent bankster bailout is the #1 donor to these heavy hitters. And you wonder why the system doesn't function for ordinary working families? Goldman is also the #1 contributor this cycle to the RNC, the DNC, the NRCC and the NRSC.

But it doesn't end there. Goldman also has a PAC and that's been handing out bribes to our political elites like there's no tomorrow. So far this cycle the Goldman Sachs PAC gave $336,000 to House Republicans and $275,500 to House Democrats. They tend to favor the most corrupt Members with the highest contributions, so no surprises here. These are all big bribe recipients (over and above what they got from Goldman executives) and each is a notorious Wall Street whore:

John Boehner (R-OH)- $10,000
Rick Berg (R-ND)- $10,000
Dave Camp (R-MI)- $10,000
Eric Cantor (R-VA)- $10,000
Joe Crowley (New Dem-NY)- $10,000
Robert Dold (R-IL)- $10,000
Nan Hayworth (R-NY)- $10,000
Greg Walden (R-OR)- $9,500
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)- $9,500
Patrick McHenry (R-NC)- $9,000
Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)- $9,000
Ed Towns (D-NY)- $9,000

So why doesn't the media report on this kind of grotesque corruption? Meet the financial media:

Adam Davidson is the co-creator and host of the popular economic news radio program Planet Money. On air, Davidson plays the role of an earnest, brainy reporter who?s doing his best to make sense of the complicated, jargon-filled world of finance to report business news in a way that NPR listeners can understand. However, behind the dweeby, faux-naive facade Adam Davidson presents to his listeners is a shrewd propagandist with a long, consistent history of shilling for powerful and destructive interests-- and failing to disclose his financial ties to the companies and industries he reports on.

Over the years, Davidson has boosted for the Iraq War and whitewashed the occupation of Iraq, praised sweatshop labor and "experimenting on the poor," attacked the idea of regulating Wall Street, parroted libertarian propaganda about the government?s inability to directly create jobs, argued for "squeezing the middle class," and shamelessly fawned over Wall Street for allegedly blessing Americans with "just about anything that makes you happy."

While Adam Davidson has recently come under increasing scrutiny for using his NPR platform to promote the narrow interests of the super-wealthy in this country, little attention has thus far been given to Davidson's corruption-- his numerous financial conflicts of interest that seriously undermine his claims to being a journalist, and instead reveal Davidson as a glorified product spokesman for his Wall Street sponsors.

...As a piece of journalism, Davidson's report on the subprime fraud was a failure bordering on journalistic malpractice. By absolving the role of rampant predatory criminality and spreading blame in a grand false equivalency, Davidson provided a narrative frame that comforted the American Establishment at a time when it badly needed comforting, and was duly rewarded for his services. The mainstream media joined Timothy Geithner in lavishing praise on Davidson's subprime fraud whitewash, and awarded him and his partner with the prestigious "Peabody Award" while New York University's Journalism Institute named the segment one of the "Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade."

Thanks to this broad acceptance and praise of Davidson's whitewash, he was given his own show, which launched just as the entire financial system began to melt down.

The new show, called Planet Money, was a partnership between NPR and Chicago Public Media's This American Life, and was molded on Davidson?s successful subprime episode. Not surprisingly, Planet Money was compromised almost from the very start.

In early 2009, just a few months after Planet Money was launched, NPR announced it had secured Ally Bank (formerly GMAC) as the show's exclusive sponsor. It was an unusual setup for NPR, and unusual (and highly dubious) for anything that called itself journalism, because it meant that a major troubled financial institution was the only source of money for a news program about finance. At the time that the unusual agreement was signed, Planet Money was the only NPR program underwritten by a single exclusive sponsor. The arrangement raised eyebrows and would have been unthinkable before the crisis-- but even by post-crisis funding arrangements, Planet Money's deal with Ally Bank stood out as such an obvious violation of basic journalism standards that even Ad Age, the advertising industry's trade publication, was taken aback by the "close alignment of message and news program."

To understand why Davidson's arrangement with Ally Bank is so odious, a little background is needed. Ally Bank is a subsidiary of Ally Financial, a giant financial services company formerly known as GMAC. There's a good reason why GMAC would have wanted to change its name to "Ally Financial" after the financial collapse: The bank is one of the biggest mortgage servicers in the country, and has been one of the very worst offenders in foreclosure fraud and in the very same subprime fraud that Davidson whitewashed as a "blameless" phenomenon. GMAC deserves far more blame-- and jail time-- than any of the subprime borrowers it fleeced and ruined. Since GMAC collapsed in late 2008, it has received more than $17 billion taxpayer bailout funds in a series of bailouts. As of August 1, 2012, 74% of Ally Financial was still owned by the U.S. Government.

At the time Ally signed its sponsorship agreement with Planet Money, the bank was being investigated across the country for foreclosure fraud, robo-signing fraud, and student loan fraud. Even as bad bailed-out banks go, GMAC/Ally is considered one of the worst, most tainted of them all.

Planet Money's relationship with Ally is a textbook example of a ?conflict of interest" of the sort every journalist is taught to shun. The bank had a clear and demonstrable interest in Planet Money's coverage of the financial industry, especially issues that affected the bank?s bottom line. As Planet Money's sole sponsor at a time when NPR funds were falling, Ally obviously wielded considerable power.

After Davidson sprang a vicious and bizarre smear-attack on Elizabeth Warren in 2009, some NPR listeners started to get wise to Planet Money's corruption problem, and made their concerns known. Following months of complaints from readers pointing to the conflict of interest and the way Planet Money's segments dovetailed with the banking lobby's own propaganda-- and with Ally's interests-- NPR?s Ombudsman was forced to issue a public statement on the Ally-Planet Money relationship. Perhaps not surprisingly, the NPR Ombudsman decided that listeners' concerns over the conflict-of-interest were "cynical"-- as if the problem lay in listeners' psychology, rather than in Planet Money's violation of basic journalism ethics. The NPR Ombudsman went further, arguing essentially that if listeners who complained about corruption weren't cynical, then they were ignorant.

Ignorant... so now we know. Democrats running the ad below think it will horrify normal American voters. But to banksters, it's like pornography. They get woodies and beat off to their photos of Ayn Rand when they look at it:

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2012/08/someboby-loves-goldman-sachs.html

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Sunday Talk: Perish the thought

I'm not saying that Rafalca Romney's failure to win a medal in the Olympics has put his life in danger; I'm just pointing out that Mitt's investments which underperform don't have a very good track record of survival.

I'm also not saying any of the following things:

Mitt Romney is a race-baiting hypocrite.
_{(Though some of his great friends are pretty racist.)}
Mitt Romney has a very sick sense of humor.
_{(Conservatives sure aren't laughing.)}
Mitt Romney is a tax cheat/evader.
_{(But inquiring minds want to know if he is.)}
Karl Rove and Dick Morris are full of shit.
_{(Reuters, CNN and Fox News are the ones saying this.)}
Mitt Romney is the Hamburglar.
_{(Romney himself admitted it.)}
Mitt Romney made a huge mistake in naming Paul Ryan as his running mate.
_{(Romney admitted this, too.)}
Mitt Romney is reaping what he sowed.
_{(Actually, I am saying this.)}

_{Disclosure: Barack Obama didn't approve this message.}

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e-thought

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A Great Day For Racing Even Though They Often
Treat The Horses And Jockeys Quite Poorly

It was a great day for racing yesterday at Arlington International Race Course in suburban Chicago. Here are some horses approaching the finish line and two photographers present to record the event. The New York Times has recently written a series of articles detailing practices in horse racing industry-wide that endanger horses and jockeys. And [...]

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http://texasliberal.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/a-great-day-for-racing-even-though-t
hey-often-treat-the-horses-and-jockeys-quite-poorly/

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