Free Republic

Americans now tilt "pro-life" by nine-point margin, 50% to 41%

For the second year in a row, 24/7 Wall St. examined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s report on life satisfaction in the developed world. Economic prosperity, health and a strong social support network continue to correspond highly with happiness. Once again, the United States fails to make the top 10 happiest nations in the world, while countries like Australia, Israel and all of the Scandinavian nations do. The OECD measured more than 30 sets of data in 11 different categories, including education, health and employment. The study also asked residents of each country to rank, on a scale...

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my...

You can be right, or you can be married; take your pick. I can’t remember who told me that, but I do remember that they were only half-joking. The other half, the serious half, is exceedingly important. This is why. Many therapists aren’t crazy about doing marital therapy. It’s complicated and messy, and it often feels out of control. In the worst case scenario, the therapist has front row seats to a regularly-scheduled prize fight. But I love to do marital therapy. Why? Maybe I enjoy the work because I keep one simple principle in mind: if marriage is going...

Culture Challenge of the Week:  Finding A Good Man Call it the lament of the young, single woman: there are no good men left. Or if there are, where are they? And how can a young woman pursue a healthy, marriage-minded relationship in a singles culture of casual sex and perpetual adolescence? In her new book, The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After (Regnery Publishing, 2012), Elizabeth Kantor provides some answers. She writes, “Of course it’s no secret that modern mating rituals have gone badly wrong.� And indeed they have: the number of cohabitating couples has doubled in the...

The world needs a new economic model based around “gross global happiness” rather than simply making money, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ban, speaking at a meeting organized by the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan called “Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”, said social and environmental factors should be considered, a statement posted on a United Nations website said. “Gross National Product has long been the yardstick by which economies and politicians have been measured. Yet it fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress,” Ban told at the meeting at U.N....

Part Two: Happiness: The first three Beatitudes PETER KREEFTChrist proposes a vision of happiness which is the exact opposite of what everyone in the post-Christian West assumes to be the sources of the greatest happiness in life. Blessed are the Poor in Spirit We say how blessed we are as individuals or as a nation when we have wealth. He says no, you are blessed when you are poor. Poor not only in your bank account, but even more than that, not less, poor down to the depths of your heart, poor in spirit, detached from riches, whether you are physically...

This is my first youtube about a very effective,simple and perfect way to overcome the negative stresses of living in an almost totally socialist nation. It is being used widely by our troopers now and can be heard for free! Please listen.

If you've ever wanted to be as good a person as your dog thinks you are but feared you'd never reach your dog's standards, Think Again. Recently, when speaking before the Rotary Club of Aspen, one of more than 33,000 Rotary clubs worldwide, I discovered a treasure trove of virtue — they're called Rotarians. As if powdered slopes beckon, dozens of Aspen's most respected and engaged residents rise early on Thursdays to enjoy breakfast, social networking and a guest speaker. Most important, they uphold an important American ethic — they ask not what their country can do for them but...

Hello and happy Holy Days to all! I hope it is okay to post this today, as I am sitting here in my room in Rowland Heights, a good looking never been married man of 49, by myself on Christmas day. Although I am perfectly happy by myself, it would be so nice to share this and many other days with a bright and cute woman of the same conservative ideals that I have! Maybe this thread can be a beginning point for other FR sinlges to someday meet and get to know each other?

Parker Brothers made millions of dollars marketing the table game Monopoly. It takes two to three hours to play a round of the game. Its history can be traced back to 1904 where it was developed as a teaching tool to explain the single tax theory. Poker is a game where betting begins with some form of forced bet by one of the players. Each player is betting that the hand he has will be the highest ranked. Each of the other players must either match the maximum previous bet or fold. Both games include one striking similarity . ....

I have been thinking and reading about happiness ever since I came across the work of Michael Argyle on the subject in the 1970s. And, despite many complexities in the research findings, I think in the end the facts about it are surprisingly simple: It seems that happiness is to a quite extraordinary degree a trait rather than a state. In other words, we are born happy, unhappy or somewhere in-between. There are a lot of people who are always miserable (most Leftists, for instance) and some who are always sunny in mood no matter what. Even when we find...

Conservatives have been talking about this particular choice for decades, and the future is now. This isn't hypotheticals wrapped in high-minded rhetoric. California is now forcing online businesses that have any physical presence in the state to collect sales tax from business it does there. Here's why... The legislation was intended to eliminate a perceived business impediment for brick-and-mortar retailers in the state, according to California Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who helped develop the bill. State and local sales taxes can total 10 percent in some California cities, and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart complained that tax-free sales on Amazon were...

I mean, yes, they feel that way, but you're just not supposed to say it. While I love the ClimateWire headline -- "U.S. vows continuing effort toward a 17% emission cut" (subscription required), sort of like I vow to continue my effort toward hitting fewer pedestrians when I drive...not to hit fewer pedestrians when I drive...ah, J-school -- the following excerpt from the piece is simply beyond belief. Speaking to a U.N ‘Kyoto II' negotiating group in Bangkok, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing "noted in a series of slides that U.S. emissions have declined about 8.7...

Something to think about... On a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces in the corridor of a DC Metro station.  In that period of time over 1100 people whisked past, most of them on their way to work... After about 3 minutes, one middle-aged man in the throng noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, but then hurried on to meet his schedule... @ :04 the violinist received his first dollar: the woman threw money in the hat and without stopping and continued to...

What sort of life do you want to live? Many people would respond to this question by saying something in the fashion of: “I want to live a good, fulfilling life that has meaning and purpose!” This would be a life that offered its share of challenges, no doubt, but would reward the person with a maximum of self-satisfaction, peace, love, and joy and a minimum of self-doubt, guilt, and despair. But where can you find this kind of life? Some in the world say that it can be found through the acquisition of much secular learning and study of...

Premature babies feel pain more acutely than healthy newborns largely due to the invasive hospital treatments they receive, experts believe. The researchers say better pain relief should be given to premature babies in intensive care. Their study is published in the journal NeuroImage. Being born prematurely and undergoing intensive care affects pain processing in the infant brain. This suggests that the premature group is more sensitive to pain. This, say the researchers, implies that premature babies can benefit from a mother's touch - being held or cuddled - in the same way as normal infants. Andy Cole, chief executive of...

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the...

..."But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way." (1Cor. 12:31) I woke up in church this morning. Not on a cold dark floor or surrounded by votive candles and stained glass, but next to my partner in faith, my best friend, my beloved wife of 34 years, Laurine. We are staying overnight this Christmas at the home of our oldest daughter. She wanted to host Christmas this year for the first time. She is the first of our five grown children. Her home is filled to overflowing with love, and the floors...

According to polls — Pew Research Center, the National Science Foundation — and studies such as Arthur Brooks’s Gross National Happiness, conservative Americans are happier than liberal Americans. Liberals respond this way: “If we’re unhappier, it’s because we are more upset than conservatives over the plight of those less fortunate than ourselves.” But common sense and data suggest other explanations. For one thing, conservatives on the same socioeconomic level as liberals give more charity and volunteer more time than do liberals. And as regards the suffering of non-Americans, for at least half a century conservatives have been far more willing...

"According to polls . . . and studies . . ., conservative Americans are happier than liberal Americans. ". . . conservatives on the same socioeconomic level as liberals give more charity and volunteer more time than do liberals. And . . . for at least a half-century, conservatives have been far more willing to sacrifice American treasure and American blood (often their own) for other nations' liberty. "The upshot of all this? There is an amazingly simple way to defeat the left: Raise children who are grateful to be American, who don't complain, who can handle losing and who...

Despite a thriving pharmaceutical industry promising to change your brain chemistry and make you happy, depression continues to hit all-time highs in western culture.

Why Isn't Spain Happy? By Arthur C. Brooks Friday, September 10, 2010 /snip By all rights, Spain should be getting happier, too. After all, Spain has "progressed" tremendously over the past three decades, from increasing the size of government, to liberalizing social policy, to loosening the grip of the Catholic Church. Consider the following examples. Government social spending in Spain has increased from 15.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 21.2 percent today, well above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average. Where once abortion was illegal, today Spain has the most liberal abortion laws in Europe,...

The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000By Robert Frank September 7, 2010, 10:32 AM ET **SNIP** Bloomberg News The study, which analyzed Gallup surveys of 450,000 Americans in 2008 and 2009, suggested that there were two forms of happiness: day-to-day contentment (emotional well-being) and overall “life assessment,” which means broader satisfaction with one’s place in the world. While a higher income didn’t have much impact on day-to-day contentment, it did boost people’s “life assessment.” Now we have more details from the study, conducted by the Princeton economist Angus Deaton and famed psychologist Daniel Kahneman. It turns out there is a specific...

...Living in the first home of the whole human race, his mother's womb, this last Prophet of the Old Testament and First Prophet of the New responded to the arrival of Jesus the Savior with a dance of Joy. St. John the great theologian records in his Gospel where John the Baptizer explained the reason for his joy, "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease." (John 1:29 -...

Stress, anger and worry fade after the landmark birthday when we begin experiencing greater daily joy than younger adults, it is claimed. Despite increased risk of death and disease, it seems that people worry less and that they ignore the negatives and accentuate the positives. Dr Arthur Stone, a psychologist of Stony Brook University, New York, said the findings were "striking". "You would think as chronic illness threatens life would get worse but that is not the case because people don't focus on the threats," he said. "They focus on the good things in life like family and friends." A...

Life looks a little rosier after 50, a new study finds. Older people in their mid- to late-50s are generally happier, and experience less stress and worry than young adults in their 20s, the researchers say. The results, based on a Gallup phone survey from 2008 of more than 340,000 Americans, held even after the researchers accounted for factors that could have contributed to differences in well-being with age, such as whether the participants were married, had children at home or were employed. So if having a partner and getting rid of the kids aren't responsible for the uptick in...

"When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him: They have no more wine." John 2:3 This incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world's joys. The wine gave out at a wedding-feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end of the feast. It is just so with all earth's pleasures. It comes in cups--not in fountains; and the supply is limited and soon exhausted. It is especially so with sin's pleasures. The prodigal soon ran out of money, and began to be in need. A poet compared the...

Would you be happier if you spent more time discussing the state of the world and the meaning of life — and less time talking about the weather? It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a study on the subject. “We found this so interesting, because it could have gone the other way — it could have been, ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ — as long as you surf on...

About 10 years ago I was having my annual holiday party, and my niece had come with her newly minted M.B.A. boyfriend. As he looked around the room, he noted that my employees seemed happy. I told him that I thought they were. Then, figuring I would take his new degree for a test drive, I asked him how he thought I did that. "I'm sure you treat them well," he replied. "That's half of it," I said. "Do you know what the other half is?"

Happy people tend to talk more than unhappy people, but when they do, it tends to be less small talk and more substance, a new study finds. A group of psychologists from the University of Arizona and Washington University in St. Louis set out to find whether happy and unhappy people differ in the types of conversations they tend to have. For their study, volunteers wore an unobtrusive recording device called the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) over four days. The device periodically records snippets of sounds as participants go about their lives.

If you're trying to buy happiness, you'd be better off putting your money toward a tropical island get-away than a new computer, a new study suggests. The results show that people's satisfaction with their life-experience purchases — anything from seeing a movie to going on a vacation — tends to start out high and go up over time. On the other hand, although they might be initially happy with that shiny new iPhone or the latest in fashion, their satisfaction with these items wanes with time. The findings, based on eight separate studies, agree with previous research showing that experience-related...

Want your kids to be happy and successful? Well, then couples should spend less time striving to be perfect parents - and instead try to be perfect spouses. The advice comes from family therapist and Wall Street Journal writer David Code in a new book entitled To Raise Happy Kids, Put Your Marriage First . He said that kids become demanding and dissatisfied if they receive too much attention from over-anxious ‘helicopter parents’ who hover over them constantly. Instead, parents should leave their children to forge their own path and instead focus on having a fulfilled marriage to provide them...

As readers of The Up Blog know, I don’t write many personal posts mentioning my life or family. But before you view what will be one of the most inspirational videos you ever watch (if you enjoy humor and sappiness), I wanted to fill you in an a few details that caused me to find it. My wife and I are church planters. We have dedicated our life to helping people know Jesus. We befriend many people who have felt rejected at church and decided to leave. We have gathered these new friends into “Bible Study” ” Better Man” “Better...

According to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control, the five happiest states in the nation are Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, and Arizona. Analyzing the data in the December 17, 2009 issue of Science, Professors Andrew J. Oswald and Stephen Wu concluded that these states offer a higher level of "life satisfaction." This is scientist-talk for saying that people are happier in places with abundant sunshine, less congestion, and lower taxes and living costs. Those of us who reside in one of the aforementioned states know this to be true, but I believe that another factor plays a crucial role....

Last year was not a happy one. Economic crisis. Job losses. Wars. Yet, while we can quantify things such as gross domestic product or home foreclosures, it's harder to measure their impact on our collective happiness. One way to gauge that effect is through what has become known as the economics of happiness -- a set of new techniques and data to measure well-being and contentment. Hundreds of thousands of people are surveyed and asked how happy or satisfied they are with their lives, with possible answers on a scale between very unhappy and very happy. How much happiness does...

Our little girl was clinging to me, wondering why we were in this strange place. Then I looked at my wife, understanding that in a short time she would be hospitalized. Brain surgery in Boston. The doctor inserted a shunt from her brain to her heart, passing under the skin behind her ear. Her hair was shaved off in preparation for the surgery. That year, we were both alone for Christmas in the "big city." Holidays would be quite strange that season, that was for certain.

In this season given to tidings of comfort and joy, word has come that we New Yorkers are the sad sacks of the United States. This is something of a surprise. Sure, we complain a lot. Grumbling could qualify as the official state sport. But are we really the unhappiest of them all? It seems so, judging from a study by two economics professors, newly published in Science magazine. The academics — Andrew J. Oswald, of the University of Warwick in Britain, and Stephen Wu, of Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. — examined piles of data, tossed them into a...

Buckled up and ready for takeoff, the 47 “wish kids” and their families erupted in deafening screams and applause as the Air Transat flight started to taxi down the runway. The festive, 90-minute flight was sponsored by Air Transat and organized by the Children’s Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses.

Louisiana really seems to take the term "Big Easy" to hear as it clocks in as the happiest state in America, while New York is the least happiest or saddest. The list that measures the Happiness level states in America was the result of work done by researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK and Hamilton College in the United States and published in the journal Science. "The researchers examined a 2005- 2008 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System random sample of 1.3 million United States citizens in which Life-satisfaction in each U.S. state is measured. This provided a...

Do you live in the happiest state in America? Well if you live in New York, you're in the least happy state according to the Huffington Post article. The top thing on the list that made the Empire State the least happy was the government. One resident described the government as “…corrupt, self-dealing and too quick to increase taxes.” It is no secret that New York has had a troubled government for sometime now. Constantly cutting well needed programs for children and the elderly. Not being able to pass a budget in a timely fashion or one that works for...

WASHINGTON — People in sunny, outdoorsy states — Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida — say they're the happiest Americans, and researchers think they know why. A new study comparing self-described pleasant feelings with objective measures of good living found these folks generally have reason to feel fine. The places where people are most likely to report happiness also tend to rate high on studies comparing things like climate, crime rates, air quality and schools. The happiness ratings were based on a survey of 1.3 million people across the country by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It used data collected over...

WASHINGTON -- A new study found that people who report more satisfaction with their lives live in states that score well on things like good schools, low crime and short commuting time, perhaps a first objective look at why some states are happier than others. The state-by-state list, from happiest to least cheery: 1. Louisiana 2. Hawaii 3. Florida 4. Tennessee 5. Arizona (snip) 45. Illinois 46. California 47. New Jersey 48. Indiana 49. Michigan 50. Connecticut 51. New York

"It can't be wrong when it feels so right." When Christian singer Debbie Boone crossed over onto the pop music charts in 1977 with "You Light Up My Life", it was these lyrics that made Christians really sit up and take notice. Does "feeling so right" really mean something must be right? Happiness. We all want it. In fact, we demand it. Now. On our terms. We're just claiming what is ours by right, because the Bible promises it ... doesn't it? After all, "happy is that people, whose God is the LORD."....

Sgt. Jonathon Chambers, a Streator, Ill. native with 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, helps separate supplies during a delivery to the Baghara Elementary School in Hawijah, Kirkuk province, Oct. 18. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas, 1st Cav. Div. KIRKUK — Seeing a disparity in the quantity and quality of school supplies in some Iraqi primary schools, one U.S. Soldier here decided to do something about it. Staff Sgt. Jared Wiegand, a Fort Wayne, Ind. native with 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was home last March...

"The woman's movement wasn't about happiness." That judgment, attributed to feminist Susan Faludi, seems to be the blunt assessment shared by many other women. As numerous recent studies now indicate, a remarkably large percentage of women describe themselves as increasingly unhappy. This issue came to light last month in a fascinating essay by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times. Dowd, whose columns often reveal the nation's Zeitgeist, cited the fact that a number of major studies indicate that "women are getting gloomier and men are getting happier." She asked: "Did the feminist revolution end up benefiting men more than...

First lady discusses her fitness routine, secrets for self-confidence and moreThe First Lady's number one health rule: Give yourself permission to be happy. Here she shares the eating habits, fitness routine, and secrets for inner confidence that she hopes to pass on to her daughters and the nation. An exclusive interview with Prevention Editor-in-Chief Liz Vaccariello. Liz Vaccariello, editor-in-chief of Prevention: My first question actually comes from my own mother. She wanted to know, have you always followed a healthy lifestyle, or did you have an "aha" moment? Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here First Lady...

According to the United States General Social Survey, women’s overall level of happiness has dropped since 1972.  Two professors at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania released a paper exploring female happiness, “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,” this spring which garnered national press attention.   One of the major findings in this study is that women’s happiness has declined both compared to 35 years ago and compared to men’s happiness. This study has prompted me to ask once again—Is feminism good for women?  Does feminism make women happier?  What does feminism hold for me?                I began asking these...

"[W]e are born to be happy, to be abundantly supplied with every good thing, to have fun in living, to consciously unite with the Divine Power that is around us and within us, and to grow and expand forever. " -- Ernest Holmes

Taller People Make Happier People, Study Shows Taller people appear to live happier lives, according to a new study.Researchers conducted a phone survey among more than 454,065 adults aged 18 and older between January 2008 and April 2009.Participants were asked to give their height as well as answer questions about their standard of living.Writing in the journal Economics and Human Biology, researchers said they used the Cantril "self-measuring striving scale", which allows participants to describe their quality of life through imagining a “life ladder” with rungs numbered from zero to 10 at the top. The top rung is associated...