Poll: Muslims, atheists most likely to reject violence

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I found this poll via @almightygod on Twitter. The poll was conducted by Gallup and according to their interviews "Muslims and atheists were most likely to reject violence". This poll doesn't surprise me at all since we all know that atheists only eat babies.


Here is the poll at a glance: 


Do you agree that "violence which kills civilians is never justified"

79% of Muslims agree with this statement
56% of atheists agree with this statement            
39% of Catholics agree with this statement
38% of Protestant Christians agree with this statement

Would it be justified for "an individual person or a small group of persons to target and kill civilians"
89% of Muslims disagreed with this statement
76% of atheists disagreed with this statement
71% of Catholics disagreed with this statement
71% of Protestant Christians disagreed with this statement

Herman Cain: We can ban Mosques

In order to be a viable Presidential candidate you should need to have a basic understanding of the constitution.  Based on Herman Cain's comments, in the following interview, it is clear that he doesn't understand the constitution or Islam.



I am afraid these comments will actually get him more votes in some circles of the Republican party, but in a general election this would be used by Obama to obliterate him. There are also plenty of stronger candidates running against him so there is a very slim chance that he will be the Republican parties candidate for President. However, he might find another position to run for or use the publicity of running for financial gain. Which is why these comments shouldn't be ignored. A person that is this bigoted has no business profiting from his stupidity and insulting rhetoric.

Stolen religious relic found

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Christians say that their prayers have been answered! A religious relic that was stolen on Monday June 13th  was returned to them. I guess that is why God hasn't helped the children that are dying of starvation this week or those that are struggling with cancer he was busy trying to find a religious relic. It also explains why he didn't save this firefighter that died while battling a church fire.

However, I don't understand how a god that made the whole universe in 6 days took 4 days to find a religious relic that was being proudly displayed in a living room. This seems like it should have been an easy task for him to do while doing everything else that a loving wonderful god should be doing. Also, if god is now working on lost and found cases maybe he could focus on the missing children or he could work to find fugitives before they have the chance to commit more crimes against innocent people.

Confessions of a News Junkie

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I have been a news junkie since I was a junior in high school. Everyday I read at least twenty five news articles, listen to at least an hour and a half of news from National Public Radio (NPR), watch one to three hours of news from Al Jazeera and enjoy three news programs (Anderson Cooper 360°, The Rachel Maddow Show, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams) via their podcasts. I feel that it is very important to know what is happening from a variety of different news sources. I started paying attention to the news as a Junior after an English teacher that I had started each class with a few students presenting a news article that they had read recently. We never knew who she was going to call on so we were expected to be prepared everyday.  By the end of the school year I had fallen in love with current events and was reading and watching everything that I could.

Through all of these sources I have learned quite a bit about a wide range of topics that I might not have learned about any other way.  I think that more junior high and high school teachers need to stress to their students the importance of current events. There are a lot of benefits that students can enjoy by staying informed in what is happening in the world and their own communities. First, it could assist them with college interviews or essays. Second, they could learn about volunteer and job opportunities in their community. Third, by staying informed they will have more topics that they can  talk with others about. Fourth, and maybe most important to students, they could save money by learning about special sales and lower gas prices. Fifth, after they turn eighteen it is important for them to pay attention to politics so that they can be an informed voter.

About six months ago I found out that Al Jazeera English is streamed live 24 hours a day online and via their iPhone app. I like this channel quite a bit because they cover stories from around the world in more detail than the national news stations in the United States. Also, since I don't have cable this is the only 24 hour news source that I have found.that is streamed live online and on the iPhone. Also CNN streams press conferences, political speeches, criminal trials, and breaking news videos which can be quite interesting some days.

Gingrich's Goofs

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Newt's campaign is loosing staff at an alarming rate. Many of them worked for him in key states like Iowa and New Hampshire. The staffers that have talked to reporters said that they were trying to direct Newt's campaign, but he wouldn't follow their advice.  Others said that they were afraid that their reputations would be damaged if they stayed with him any longer.

Since the beginning of his campaign he hasn't successfully gotten off the ground.  First, he spoke out against the Paul Ryan budget proposal and then did a flip flop when he began to feel some heat from his own party for his stand. Also, he didn't do himself any favors when he said: "So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood." Then the last straw for his senior staff seems to be his fourteen day luxury cruise instead of actually campaigning.

When he can't even run his campaign how is he going to run the country.  Many though are saying that Newt doesn't want to become president he is just trying to get his name out there in an effort to get more money through speaking engagements and political pundit jobs. Well, if Gingrich really wants to become president maybe some of those that were working for Trump's campaign are available. They gave Trump some excellent advice and if Trump's reality show hadn't been renewed I am sure he could have been our next president.

The Vatican on The Today Show

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I was catching up on some podcasts and was surprised to see that the Today Show did a couple of episodes from Vatican City recently. Vatican City, depending on who you ask, can bring up a wide variety of emotions thoughts. My first thought, was WTF then I grabbed my notebook and began writing about the church, Pope, and city. Most of the time when I begin jotting down my thoughts on a topic I write down a few bullet points and then turn it into a tweet or a Facebook status, but these notes quickly filled several pages in my notebook and could have filled much more of it if I hadn't decided that I should switch to my computer for the rest of my notes on this frustrating topic.

Even as a believer the catholic church angered me for the obvious reasons which include, but aren't limited to, their stance against the use of condoms, the lies that they spread about AIDS, the sex abuse that they allowed to go unpunished and tried to cover-up, and their extreme wealth that could help so many worthy causes. The biggest problem that I have with the catholic church is the lies that they have spread about how condoms aren't effective in stopping the transmission of the AIDS virus. In developed countries we know that condoms are effective in stopping the spread of AIDS, but in developing countries where sex education is very poor these lies are deadly and unconscionable. For years scientists have known that condoms can prohibit the spreading AIDS, but because the church is opposed to any form of birth control they have stooped to lying about condoms and have therefore caused many more people to contract AIDS than would have if the church had only been truthful.

The Today show could have focused on many more worthier topics, but because there are so many catholics in this is a place that would interest many of their viewers. Even so, they could have just stuck to the facts and didn't need to make such an effort to show the pope so much undeserved respect. They were making such an effort to paint the pope as such a holy person, I was actually surprised that they even brought up the fact that there was a sex abuse scandal. However, they didn't go into how the church has done everything that they can do to cover-up the scandal which led to more children being abused. In closing, I know that the Today Show has covered the scandal quite throughly in the past and that they probably didn't want to make these episodes a rehash of the information that they and other news programs have reported before or upset the Vatican after they had been given so much access to the pope and the city.

Tragedy in Libya

I am a major news junkie.  I am almost always watching Al Jazera's live online streaming broadcast.  I don't have cable so this is the only free online news broadcast that I am aware of.  I also read as many articles as I can. Reading and watching the news has helped me learn about a wide variety of subjects as well as stay informed about current events. 

Lately, like many others, I have been closely following the protests in Libya.  At first, I thought that this protest would be like the ones in Tunisia and Egypt, but this protest has been much more violent.  The protesters were peacefully protesting, but Gaddafi reacted by using live ammunition against them.  When that didn't stop the protesters Gaddafi has ordered the army to bomb the protesters, foreign mercenaries to shoot anyone they see, and he has tried to turn citizens against each other, by saying the protesters were part of al-Qaeda and drug addicts that needed to be arrested and brought to court.

World leaders need to do more than just make speeches declaring that Gaddafi needs to stop the violence.  More governments should follow the lead of the Swiss government and freeze Gaddafi's bank accounts in their country. Also, more humanitarian aid needs to be able to safely enter into Libya and treat those that are too injured to get across the border with Egypt where there is a makeshift hospital that has been setup.  Also, it would be nice to see them setup a no-fly-zone to stop Gaddafi from being able to bomb or shoot the protesters from the air, although I realize that this would be hard to enforce and could make evacuating people harder. I  hope this comes to an end very soon, way too many innocent people have died.