Free Republic

Energy: Small- and medium-size businesses serving Louisiana's energy industry are shedding employees, dipping into personal savings or moving elsewhere to stay afloat. The administration's war on fossil fuels is taking its toll. The federal six-month moratorium on drilling that was issued in May 2010, after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, has been officially lifted, but it might as well still be in effect. The glacial permitting process put in place in the aftermath in the name of public safety is killing an industry pledged to wean us from the "energy of the past" will not mourn. A...

LONDON (Reuters) - A weaker sun over the next 90 years is not likely to significantly delay a rise in global temperature caused by greenhouse gases, a report said Monday. The study, by Britain's Meteorological Office and the university of Reading, found that the Sun's output would decrease up until 2100 but this would only lead to a fall in global temperatures of 0.08 degrees Celsius. Scientists have warned that more extreme weather is likely across the globe this century as the Earth's climate warms. The world is expected to heat up by over 2 degrees Celsius this century due...

Many in U.S. Are Arrested by Age 23, Study FindsBy ERICA GOODE Published: December 19, 2011 By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life. The study, the first since the 1960s to look at the arrest histories of a national sample of adolescents and young adults over time, found that 30.2 percent of the 23-year-olds who participated reported having been arrested for an offense other than a minor traffic violation. That figure...

It did not take long for a new study finding a link between abortion and mental health to spark unfounded criticism of the paper and attacks against the author. The prestigious British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP) recently published “Abortion and Mental Health: Quantitative Synthesis and Analysis of Research Published 1995-2009.” The paper, a culmination of Dr. Priscilla Coleman’s extensive experience in the field of abortion and mental health, finds that women who have undergone abortion have an 81% increase in the risk of mental health problems, and an even greater risk for substance misuse and suicidal behaviour (230% and 155%...

Researchers at KTH say they have found further proof that the wolf ancestors of today’s domesticated dogs can be traced to southern East Asia — findings that run counter to theories placing the cradle of the canine line in the Middle East.Dr Peter Savolainen, KTH researcher in evolutionary genetics, says a new study released Nov. 23 confirms that an Asian region south of the Yangtze River was the principal and probably sole region where wolves were domesticated by humans. Data on genetics, morphology and behaviour show clearly that dogs are descended from wolves, but there’s never been scientific consensus on...

RALEIGH – Emergency room visits by North Carolinians experiencing heart attacks have declined by 21 percent since the January 2010 start of the state’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law. State Health Director Dr. Jeffrey Engel reported the results to the Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force this morning. “We pushed for passage of this law because we knew it would save lives,” said Governor Bev Perdue, who signed the law into effect. “Our goal was to protect workers and patrons from breathing secondhand smoke and we are seeing positive results.” The N.C. Division of Public Health report cites...

Posting the most flattering picture possible alongside one’s profile may seem a legitimate part of the internet dating game. But if new research is to be believed, those who try to level the playing field by using photos which disguise their worst features could be wasting their time. According to a university study, women can still identify a physically attractive man just by reading his profile. It found good-looking men were able to convey their confidence and attractiveness in their written self-description – and that women volunteers were able to recognise their beauty without being shown the lonely heart’s accompanying...

Is the way you study the Bible offensive to God? Did I get your attention? What!!? God can be offended when we study the Bible? As Christians gather together for a Bible study, often what happens is that the leader reads a verse or short passage of Scripture, and then he turns to each member of the group, asking for their comments. Starting with the man next to him on his right, he asks, "Bill, what do you feel this means to you?" Bill struggles to think of something to say, but stumbles through the ordeal, and relates an incident...

A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation underlines that many of the promises surrounding President Obama’s health care legislation remain unfulfilled, though the White House argues that change is coming. Workers at the Flora Venture flower shop in Newmarket, NH, remember when presidential candidate named Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., promised that their health care costs would go down if they elected him and his health care plan was enacted. On May 3, 2008, the president told voters that he had “a health care plan that would save the average family $2,500 on their premiums.”Last year workers at the flower...

Mitt Romney has tried to accomplish two tasks in his debate performances — defend his health-care overhaul in Massachusetts known as MassCare but often called RomneyCare, and tout his record as a governor whose policies fostered job creation in the state. A new study by a conservative think tank at Suffolk University will complicate both strategies. According to the Boston Herald, the study shows that MassCare cost the state more than 18,000 jobs since its enactment: The Bay State’s controversial 2006 universal health-care plan — also known as “Romneycare” — has cost Massachusetts more than 18,000 jobs, according to an...

t may have taken the largest wildfire in Arizona history, but for the first time in decades, environmentalists and government officials agree on a key element of future forest management. The U.S. Forest Service said in a report this month that “intense thinning treatments” can ease future wildfires, by removing trees between six and 18 inches in diameter to allow for additional space between trees. “Everyone agrees that a lot of the dry forest types need to be treated in terms of removing the vegetation,” said Morris Johnson, a research ecologist with the Forest Service and co-author of the report....

Study: 80 Percent of Lawmakers Lack Academic Background in Business, EconomicsFoxNews.com Published August 25, 2011 Congress might want to find some consultants as it tries anew to tackle the country's deep deficits. A report from the Employment Policies Institute finds that only one in five members of Congress has an academic background in business or economics. The organization looked at lawmakers' college degrees and found that most of them -- 55.5 percent -- majored in either a government-related field or "humanities." Just over 8 percent majored in economics, while almost 14 percent studied business or accounting. The numbers raise questions...

(Reuters) - If you are angry that someone spoiled the plot of a movie or revealed the ending of a book, don't be. A new study by researchers from the University of California at San Diego shows spoilers may enhance enjoyment, even for suspense-driven story lines and film plots.

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years. "Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10-...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An estimated half-million illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, according to a study that is one of the first to try to measure the number of local residents living in the U.S. illegally. The report by the Public Policy Institute of California used tax returns, previous national estimates and mathematical models to determine that 563,000 illegal immigrants live in the Bay Area, about 8 percent of the region's total population. Santa Clara County leads the Bay Area with 180,000 illegal immigrants, followed by Alameda County with 124,000 and Contra Costa County with 79,000, the study found....

A previously undisclosed report by the inspector general of the Department of Defense concludes that the fix – maybe even handed down by the White House – was in before the military ever started asking soldiers and sailors about how opening the ranks to homosexuals would affect the nation's defense.

Study: No savings at 62 mpgby Automotive News June 13, 2011 10:17 AM PDT Raising federal fuel economy standards to as high as 56 mpg in the 2025 model year would yield fuel savings to consumers that more than offset higher vehicle prices, a new study found. But lifting corporate average fuel economy to 62 mpg would result in vehicle price increases that exceed fuel savings over a five-year period, according to the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research. The report highlights room for compromise on the Obama administration's preliminary proposal to raise CAFE to between 47 mpg and 62 mpg...

A few years ago when I was on the mission field, a fellow missionary said, “I don’t find the Old Testament much help in my work. So I seldom read it and have never really studied it.” When he saw my eyebrows go up a few inches, he added, “Look, my call from the Lord was to take Jesus to the people of this country who have never heard of Him.” Recently, a member of my Bible study said, “I suppose I should know more about the Old Testament, but I don’t really see what it has to do with...

Once again, a study has show that American students are woefully ignorant of history. Test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress demonstrate, writes the Wall Street Journal, that only “20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced’…” and only 12 percent of 12th-graders were so. In fact, their knowledge is so lacking that fewer than “a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea's ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence,” the paper continued. Other studies...

Study: High % of Women Using Abortion Drug Hospitalized Canberra, Australia -- A new study from Australia finds a high percentage of women using the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug require hospitalization -- undermining the argument that the mifepristone pill is safe for women. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/10/study-high-of-women-using-abortion-drug-hospitalized/

No smoking signs may be driving more people to light up, a psychological study suggests. Scientists say the messages have an 'ironic effect' on smokers that increases their craving for tobacco. Without being aware of it, they react to the signs by thinking of and wanting cigarettes. 'You get ironic effects when you couple information that people perceive with negation,' said researcher Brian Earp, from Oxford University. 'When I say "don't think of a pink elephant", I've just put the thought of a pink elephant in your head. 'A lot of public health messages are framed in a negative way...

According to a recently released German study, the supposed "environmentally friendly" compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's), are reported to have "cancer causing chemicals" that are sent out when the light is switched on, reports London's Daily Telegraph: Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on. Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin's Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment.”

I know what you’re thinking. This is news? But this statistical study covers 50 years of the Times‘ history from 1946-1997. Here’s what author Riccardo Puglisi found: The main finding is that the Times displays a Democratic partisanship, with some anti-incumbent aspects. This is the case, because there are systematically more stories about civil rights, health care, labour and social welfare during the presidential campaign, but only so when the incumbent president is a Republican. The Democratic partisanship hypothesis is con rmed by the fact that (during presidential campaigns) there is no countervailing variation in the

PARIS (AFP) – Charging electric cars at night eases a smog problem caused by fossil-fuel plants which provide the power for these vehicles, researchers reported on Tuesday. Plug-in cars are viewed as a key tool in the fight for a cleaner planet as they do not emit tailpipe pollution when they run on electricity. But they contribute indirectly to pollution, as well as global warming, if their electricity comes from a power station that runs on coal, oil or gas. In a study published in a British journal, scientists in the United States simulated the local impact from "plug-in hybrid...

Scientists from Keele University found that letting forth a volley of foul language can have a powerful painkilling effect, especially for people who do not normally use expletives. To test the theory, student volunteers placed their hands in a bucket of ice cold water while swearing repeatedly. They then repeated the exercise but, instead of swearing, used a harmless phrase instead. Researchers found that the students were able to keep their hands submerged in the icy water for longer when repeating the swear word - establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.

Yesterday afternoon, the Bloomberg financial news service picked up on a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that U.S. companies pay the sixth highest effective corporate tax rates in the world. "The tax rate for the largest U.S. companies between 2006 and 2009 was 27.7 percent, compared with a non-U.S. average of 19.5 percent, according to the study," reporter Richard Rubin noted. "Excluding the U.S., companies based in industrialized countries had an average rate of 22.6 percent." But when the Washington Post picked up the story, it condensed the 15-paragraph Bloomberg story to a two-sentence squib on the Economy & Business page...

Twitter and other social networks have provided social scientists with unprecedented means of measuring human interaction. As it turns out, that fact has implications for the media bias debate. In a study to be released next month, three Duke University researchers rank politicians and other public figures by political ideology as measured by a formula that incorporates whom they follow on Twitter, and who follows them. "The results dovetailed with ideological ranking systems based on the politicians’ voting records," the New York Times reported on Monday. If the study is accurate, it demonstrates just how liberal some of America's most...

n March 15, ABC News, in cooperation with the Washington Post, released the results of a new survey done by Langer Research Associates. One of the questions asked about the level of confidence that US citizens have in our system of government today.

Rightwing candidates are better looking than their leftwing counterparts, something they benefit from during elections, according to a study conducted by Swedish and Finnish economists. "One possible explanation is that people who are seen or consider themselves beautiful tend to be more anti-egalitarian and rightwing," Niclas Berggren, one of the three co-authors of the study, told AFP Wednesday. The study compared election results from parliamentary and municipal elections held in Finland in 2003 and 2004 respectively with an online poll of non-Finns to determine how the 1,357 participating Finnish candidates ranked in terms of beauty. More than 2,500 non-Finns were...

Study: 61 Percent of Teens Want to be Virgins until MarriageBy Jennifer Riley | Christian Post Reporter Wed, Feb. 09 2011 07:40 AM EDT Contrary to popular opinion, a solid majority of U.S. teens would like to be virgins when they marry, a newly released study finds. Sixty one percent of America’s youth said they would like to not have sex until marriage, finds OneHope’s comprehensive study, “Spiritual State of the Children,” released Wednesday. And 63 percent of respondents said they would like to regain their virginity if possible. The 91-page study – which also includes data about teen’s belief,...

It's an incendiary topic in academia -- the pervasive belief that women are underrepresented in science, math and engineering fields because they face sex discrimination in the interviewing, hiring, and grant and manuscript review processes. In a study published Feb. 7 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cornell social scientists say it's just not true. It's not discrimination in these areas, but rather, differences in resources attributable to career and family-related choices that set women back in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, say Stephen J. Ceci, the H.L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology, and...

PARIS (AFP) – Toddlers who have a diet high in processed foods may have a slightly lower IQ in later life, according to a British study described as the biggest research of its kind. The conclusion, published on Monday, comes from a long-term investigation into 14,000 people born in western England in 1991 and 1992 whose health and well-being were monitored at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half. Parents of the children were asked to fill out questionnaires that, among other things, detailed the kind of food and drink their children consumed. Three dietary patterns...

You may not believe this part of the story but it is very true. Somewhere under a giant rock, located by the northern part of the Potomac river where it splits and forms a pattern that kind of looks like a wishbone, there is a secret lair filled with computers and television screens. The people who work there spend all day watching Fox news, reading conservative columnists, and listen to talk radio and surfing the net trying to identify anyone who disagrees with a project that George (Spooky Dude) Soros is behind. The name of this nefarious organization is Media...

PHOENIX (Reuters) – The number of illegal immigrants in the United States leveled off at around 11 million last year, ending a two-year slide since the start of the recession, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study by the Pew Hispanic Center noted 11.2 million illegal immigrants living and working in the shadows in the United States in March 2010, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. The report, which drew on U.S. Census Bureau data, noted the number of illegal immigrants in the workforce remained steady at around 8 million. The leveling off last year followed a two-year...

OSLO (Reuters) – A North Atlantic current flowing into the Arctic Ocean is warmer than for at least 2,000 years in a sign that global warming is likely to bring ice-free seas around the North Pole in summers, a study showed. Scientists said that waters at the northern end of the Gulf Stream, between Greenland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, averaged 6 degrees Celsius (42.80F) in recent summers, warmer than at natural peaks during Roman or Medieval times. "The temperature is unprecedented in the past 2,000 years," lead author Robert Spielhagen of the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A large number of US university students fail to develop critical thinking, reasoning and writing skills because of easy classes and too little time spent studying, a study found Wednesday. The study of 3,000 students at 29 four-year universities found that 45 percent "did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning" during their first two years in college as measured by a standardized test. After the full four years, 36 percent had shown no development in critical thinking, reasoning and writing, according to the study, which forms the basis of the new book "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning...

It isn’t Fox News Viewers who are misinformed, its anti-Fox News advocates who attempt the vilify the truth in order that the radical Left wing socialist agenda of the Democrat Party can continue in relative ignorance. Liberals recently used a fraudulent University of Maryland study to continue their attacks against what they perceive as Conservative ideas and values. (see 21:10 video)

Missing link only - Brain thickness determines political leaning: study

The university of Maryland recently published a study concluding that Fox News viewers are morons. Okay it doesn't actually say that, but we can all read between the lines. Democratic underground followers are cackling amongst themselves and sharing it on facebook as their consolation prize for the 2010 shellacking. Part of me doesn't want to do this, I have liberal friends, I don't want to leave them with nothing to celebrate on New Year's Eve. I mean, seriously, we got the House of Representatives and all they got was Rice A Roni, turtle wax, and a version of the home...

You are not going to believe some of the things that the U.S. government is spending money on. According to a shocking new report, U.S. taxpayer money is being spent to study World of Warcraft, to study how Americans find love on the Internet, and to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam. Not only that, but money from the federal government is also being used to renovate a pizzeria in Iowa and to help a library in Tennessee host video game parties. These are just some of the examples in a new report on government waste from Senator...

Extended exposure to Fox News makes voters stupid, university study findsBy Stephen C. Webster Thursday, December 16th, 2010 -- 4:53 pm The troublesome record of spin by conservative television station Fox News has long been a cause for concern to many Americans, who frequently allege that the nation's most viewed "news" network has the effect of dumbing down voters. Turns out, they were right. A University of Maryland study (PDF) published earlier this month found that people in the survey who had the most exposure to Fox News were more likely to believe falsehoods and rumors about national and world...

Document which sparked strong condemnations from Israel and the US returns on official website of the PA’s news agency Wafa. Only days after it was removed from the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Information website, a “study” denying Jews’ rights to the Western Wall has resurfaced, this time on the official website of the PA’s news agency, Wafa. By publishing the document on Wafa’s website, the official mouthpiece of the PLO and the PA, the authority has sent a message that its has officially endorsed its findings. The “study,” which had sparked strong condemnations from Israel and the US, was written...

I really liked this teaching course by Samuel Green. I got a chance to see Samuel in a debate and it was really good. Here is some description text from the site. ——————————————————- Islam has become an important worldview to understand and respond to. Even if you don’t know a Muslim you may be asked questions about Islam, or have questions yourself. Engaging with Islam equips Christians to understand Islam and to engage effectively with Muslims and those who make comments about Islam or have questions. Its goal is to help you to stand firm as a Christian, to defend...

Anyone with the IQ above your basic fecal speck knows that global warming no longer exists, and never was the result of man-made activity. False science doesn't end there, however. While a large volume of false scientific information is distributed in the United States, the problem is much more severe than we imagined. As it turns out, you are far more likely to be given inaccurate (or fabricated) scientific data by American scientists, than any other group of scientists in the world.

Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands. Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands. All deciduous trees in the Western world are affected, according to the study by Wageningen University. The city of Alphen aan den Rijn ordered the study five years ago after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees that couldn't be ascribed...

BERLIN (Reuters) – Climate change could lead to colder winters in northern regions, according to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on Tuesday. Vladimir Petoukhov, lead author of the study, said a shrinking of sea ice in the eastern Arctic causes some regional warming of lower air levels and may lead to anomalies in atmospheric airstreams, triggering an overall cooling of the northern continents. "These anomalies could triple the probability of cold winter extremes in Europe and northern Asia," he said. "Recent severe winters like last year's or the one of 2005/06 do not conflict with...

Jon Stewart's Comedy Central show has the most white people, fewest women. Comedy Central's Daily Show is the least diverse late-night show on television, according to a graphic put together by an artist that examined the race and sex of guests compared to the general population over a six-week period this past August and September. The artist, Bard Edlund, admits his study is imperfect, and numbers may be skewed because Jon Stewart typically only has one guest on per night. Plus, guests who didn't fall into the categories of white, Hispanic, black or Asian were left off altogether. The graphic...

The US healthcare system is to blame for declines in the country's life expectancy ranking, a study suggests. The Columbia University report rejects claims that factors such as obesity have shortened life-spans for Americans relative to other wealthy nations. The study blames reliance on costly and fragmented specialised care, and calls for systemic reform. Its release comes as President Barack Obama's healthcare reform remains a key issue in upcoming mid-term elections. Higher costs The study notes that in 1950, the US ranked fifth among leading industrialised nations for female life expectancy at birth, but only 46th in 2008. It finds...

Study Claiming Abortion Not Linked With Teen Depression Full of Problems Washington, DC -- A new study bandied about by the mainstream media over the weekend claiming abortion is not linked with teen depression is full of problems, according to one of the world's leading researchers on abortion and the adverse mental health issues women face afterwards. http://LifeNews.com/nat6728.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Even seemingly gentle antibiotics may severely disrupt the balance of microbes living in the gut, with unforeseen health consequences, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. An intimate study of three women given ciprofloxacin showed the drug suppressed entire populations of beneficial bacteria, and at least one woman took months to recover. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the common wisdom that antibiotics can damage the "good" germs living in the body. It may also support the idea behind the development of so-called probiotic products including yogurt with live cultures of bacteria.