6 February 2016. Here’s a GREAT Reason to Live in the Albany NY Metro Area…

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The Albany NY metro area came in DEAD-LAST in this listing of “bible-minded” areas.

PRAISE GOD!

It means that our region is mostly free of Antichristian Evangelical contamination. Mind you, the rural parts of the region are rather Mid-America, but they’re not as bad as the Deep South due to their proximity to (and rule by) saner and more balanced areas. Remember, “bible-minded” is Born-Again code for “Evangelical” hotpots. You now know where NOT to live… look at the “bible-minded” regions and you’ll be hip to where armed n’ dangerous Know-Nothing Nativist ignoranuses live. Radical Evangelical Sectarianism isn’t Christian… you err if you ever make such a mistake. Hat tip to the Barna pollsters for this one…

BMD

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Romney is Another Obama… The Only Difference is that He’s a Mormon

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Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination. His final speech on the last day at the Republican National Convention in Tampa FL met with a storm of applause. As one watched the convention, it was easy to get the impression that Romney was already president. The question of whether America is ready to elect its first Mormon president is still open. It happens in politics, just like in business, that a product becomes more popular due to the scale of its advertisement. However, the advertisement doesn’t change the product’s quality. This is Romney’s main problem. Even Romney’s rather unusual “confessional orientation” doesn’t matter as much. Why not elect a president from the ranks of the LDS movement? After all, four years ago, America elected its first Afro-American President, Barack Obama.

Sergei Mikheyev, the director general of the Centre for Political Status, said, “The fact that Romney’s a Mormon will play a certain role in the election, but this role won’t be decisive. The religious views of the voters themselves are likely to have an influence on their choice. Let’s be frank, the Mormons’ reputation is a bit tatty, but at the same time, there are many undisclosed Mormons amongst famous and influential people in the USA. In any case, America is a country of sects, although they wear many different visages. That’s why America, where everything intermingles, turning into an undreamt of mélange, may elect a Mormon as president”.

Romney’s main problem is that he’s a “hard sell” to most Americans. He can be inconsistent, and very few people are able to discern where one Romney, the moderate centrist, ends, and the next one, the radical rightwinger, begins. Hardly anyone notices a fascinating fact. Just before the last day of the RNC in Tampa, the American press published an opinion poll of likely Republican voters, which revealed an interesting fact… Romney’s one of the most unpopular GOP candidates in the past 30 years! Even George W Bush was better “liked”. Bush, by the way, didn’t receive an invitation to the RNC in Tampa; he had to be satisfied with an “appearance” via a video link. It was too problematical for them to claim the legacy of the last Republican President. The Democrats, by the way, at their convention, will give much attention to Bill Clinton.

Compared to Paul Ryan, the favourite of the Radical Rightwing Tea Party and “conservatives”, Mitt appeared quite “moderate” at the convention. On the one hand, Ryan’s candidacy will attract Teabaggers, but on the other hand, it greatly disappoints moderates and “independents”, who may stay home on Election Day. Romney needs all the help that he can get in this election campaign, but his ratings numbers are abysmal. His “approval” numbers run from 15 percent all the way up to 40 percent. It’s been a struggle for him to get even that. In the end, if we average out the polls, they show that Obama beats Romney by anywhere from 1 to 8 percent. If we factor in that the contenders for the White House in the last four elections were separated by a difference of 1 to 6 percent (Obama’s margin in 2008), then, it appears that Romney may have a slight chance to win 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

However, looking at the Republican Romney-Ryan ticket, the “friends of Barack” should be satisfied… the facts are such that the chances of Obama’s re-election aren’t decreasing, but increasing. Unless the economy collapses, which is unlikely, it looks like he’ll be lucky again. It’ll be a replay of 2008, where he had the luck of being matched with John McCain, an unelectable old codger. This time, it’ll be a somewhat different kind of luck. Lucky for them, the Republican economic programme is so confused that it resembles a mushy concoction, a problematical mixture of unrelated ideas and programmes. On the one hand, they promise to cut taxes, reduce government, and boost spending on defence, on the other, they promise no cuts in Social Security and Medicare. How they could reconcile this on the basis of the current tax base, it’s difficult to understand. Nevertheless, the current election is all about the economy, jobs, and money in your wallet.

Many see Romney as a moderate conservative. When one takes into account that the American South is an especially-rabid hotbed of the Radical Right, as shown by its support for the so-called Tea Party movement, and that it’s the Baptist “Bible Belt” of America, where Mormons are thought of as worse than heretics or schismatics, it’s not so simple for him. If you averaged all the polls amongst American Christian believers {that is Radical American Sectarians, in real terms: editor}, it turns out that a quarter to a third of them aren’t ready to accept a Mormon in the White House. Whilst Mormons claim to be Christians, outside of their sect, members of the LDS movement still face a prejudiced and/or suspicious attitude. Mitt Romney isn’t just a simple rank-and-file Mormon… he’s former “clergy” of the LDS movement, the head of a ward (parish). I must say that Mormon “clergy” are more like businessmen than real clergy. Later, he became a bishop, the head of a stake (this includes several dozen wards).

Mitt shows signs of flexibility and political consideration. However, his Democratic rivals and opponents believe that he’s notorious for waffling, concealment, distortion, and God knows what else. For example, David Axelrod, who was the chief architect of Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, who’s now one of the leading lights in his current election campaign, called Mitt a “charlatan”, saying, “He takes two positions on every issue, one more moderate, and the other on the Far Right, but that doesn’t make you a centrist. It makes you a charlatan”. Amazingly, even fellow Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry claimed (prior to Romney winning the GOP nomination), “[Mitt’s] a buzzard, a Fibber, and differs very little from Obama in his gutter ideology”. Indeed, everywhere, Mitt seems to say exactly what he thinks people want to hear. He’s a furious Tory in one state, a moderate in another, and politically malleable in a third. However, any road, he’s still a Mormon.

The only trouble is that he doesn’t present any real alternative to the Obama’s economic course. This delights Obama’s camp, for it makes it easier for Obama to compete against Romney. As Professor Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute of the USA and Canada, said, “Romney doesn’t have much chance of winning. It isn’t because he’s a bad candidate, but because it’s difficult to defeat a sitting president, who has powerful administrative resources at his disposal. To do this, he should be someone outstanding, but Romney isn’t that. I think the strategy of the Republicans is only to give a formal opposition in this election; they’re focusing on seriously preparing for the next election, when Obama’s second term expires”.

Romney’s a graduate of Harvard Business School; he’s a lawyer, businessman, and politician, a very wealthy man, the head of Bain Capital, a major investment firm. In 2002, he was head of the Winter Olympics Organising Committee in Salt Lake City UT. He managed to eliminate waste in collected funds, and instead of a projected shortfall of 375 million USD (12.1 billion Roubles. 300 million Euros. 235 million UK Pounds), the Games gained a profit of almost the same amount. Mitt and his wife invested in about a million dollars of their own funds in the Games. When Romney was the governor of Massachusetts in 2003-07, he conducted an economic policy that was similar to Obama’s current economic policy. When he took office, the state treasury had a shortfall of 600 million USD (19.4 billion Roubles. 477 Euros. 378 million UK Pounds) to meet current outlays, and there was an estimated deficit of 3 billion USD (97 billion Roubles. 2.4 billion Euros. 1.9 billion  UK Pounds) for the following year. Yet, he raised taxation over expenditures by almost 700 million USD (22.7 billion Roubles. 556 million  Euros. 440 million UK Pounds). He solved his budget problems by closing tax loopholes for corporations, increased excise duties on petrol, and introduced higher fees for driving licences, gun licences, and marriage licences, and so on. By the way, his state was the first one to introduce a mandate that all citizens obtain health insurance. Obama was only able to do something similar on the national level after three years. In general, everything or most of the things that Romney did in Massachusetts, the Obama administration is doing now. Does America really need a second Obama, with the only difference is that he’s a Mormon?

31 August 2012

Andrei Fedyashin

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2012_08_31/Romni-vtoroj-Obama-tolko-mormon/

Gallup: the Top “Most Religious” and “Least Religious” States in the USA

A map showing levels of religiosity in the USA

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Gallup released another one of its trademark surveys, this time exploring which states are the “most” and “least” religious. Does it surprise you that Gallup found the majority of those identifying as “very religious” in the South (the “Bible Belt”)? Gallup’s Frank Newport wrote, “Mississippi’s the most religious US state, and it’s one of eight states where Gallup classifies at least half of the residents as ‘very religious’”. Of course, there’s an exception to the “Southern rule”. As we’re sure you’ve already noticed, and despite the fact that it’s surrounded by states that are either “average” or “below average” in religiosity, Utah’s the second most religious state in the country. Newport stated, “Coupled with the Southern states in the high-religiosity category is Utah, the majority of whose residents are Mormon… the most religious group in America today”.

Gallup’s Top Ten “Most Religious” US States (percentage identifying as “Very Religious”):

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On the opposite end of the spectrum, the “least religious” states in the USA are primarily located in New England. Does that surprise anyone either? Newport observed, “Vermont and New Hampshire are the least religious states, and are two of the five states… along with Maine, Massachusetts, and Alaska… where less than 30 percent of all residents are ‘very religious’”.

Gallup’s Top Ten “Least Religious” US States (percentage identifying as “Very Religious”):

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So how did Gallup go about putting together this report? That is, what does Gallup mean by “very religious” and how does one qualify as such? Newport explained, “Gallup classifies 40 percent of Americans nationwide as very religious… based on their statement that religion’s an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week. Another 32 percent of Americans are nonreligious, based on their statement that religion isn’t an important part of their daily life and that they seldom or never attend religious services. The remaining 28 percent of Americans are moderately religious, because they say religion’s important, but that they don’t attend services regularly or because they say religion isn’t important, but still attend services”.

Gallup’s Level of Religiosity in the USA by State:

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However, why is there a huge discrepancy between the Southern states and New England? Apparently, it has to do with “state culture”. The Gallup report stated, “Gallup research has shown that these state differences appear to be part of a ‘state culture’ phenomenon, and aren’t the result of differences in the underlying demographics or religious identities in the states”. It appears that there’s something about the culture and normative structure of a state, no doubt based partly on that state’s history, which affects its residents’ propensity to attend religious services and to declare that religion is important in their daily lives.

So, what’s the takeaway? What did we learn from Gallup? Their report observed, “America remains a generally religious nation, with more than two-thirds of the nation’s residents classified as very or moderately religious. These overall national averages, however, conceal dramatic regional differences in religiosity across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Of course, there are political implications”. Religion is related to politics in today’s America, and it is clear from a glance at Gallup’s map posted above that the “most religious” states in the union generally are the most Republican, whilst the “least religious” states skew more toward the Democratic Party. This means that the most divided states… and, thus, those where most of the heavy-duty campaigning in this year’s presidential election will be taking place… are the ones where residents tend to be neither at the very religious nor at the nonreligious end of the spectrum. That is, President Obama shouldn’t worry about winning over Vermont as much as he should worry about Ohio. Likewise, whoever the GOP nominee is, he probably shouldn’t waste too much time campaigning in Maine, and should focus more on, say, Arizona.

29 March 2012

Becket Adams

The Blaze

Yahoo News

http://news.yahoo.com/gallup-top-5-most-religious-least-religious-states-221709284.html

Editor’s Note:

This is a crook survey due to poorly-conceived questions and crank presuppositions on the part of the pollsters. To start with, it disregards the differences inherent in two planes. We have Christian vs Non-Christian standards, and Sectarian vs Normative Christian standards. For instance, in New York and California, there are higher levels of non-Christian believers, whose definitions of “religiosity” aren’t those of the Gallup Poll. In addition, “Catholic” (i.e. Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican) believers tend not to be weekly attendees, for normal Sunday attendance amongst “Catholics” tends to average out at one in six. What this survey shows in bold relief is not religion vs irreligion, but rather Normative Christianity vs Sectarian “Evangelicalism”. Every state in the Top Ten has a Sectarian majority amongst believers… amongst the Bottom Ten, some are secular (in the West) and New York/New England are more “Catholic”, thus, having fewer weekly attendees.

My submission is that Sectarianism has secular and political ramifications. Let’s look at a map below of state acceptance of corporal punishment in the schools:

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It’s interesting how the permissibility of corporal punishment and Gallup’s “most religious” status so often coincide. This is due to the tenets of Sectarianism (and these odd tenets do set Sectarians apart from Christians). To begin with, we have the strange idea of salvation current amongst Sectarians… that one “gives one’s heart to Jayzuss”… for a group that hollers so loudly about its adherence to Scripture, such a phrase is unknown to the Bible. Jayzuss is NOT the same as the Lord Christ worshipped by Christians. Jayzuss smiles at violence, Jayzuss hates all gays and degenerates, and his votaries are to attack all those who only seem “threatening”, not only all those who differ from them in doctrine, but in lifestyle as well. In states with Sectarian majorities, one finds over-permissive gun laws, and “stand your ground” laws.

This is due to the aggressive subculture of the original settlers of the American South, exacerbated by the Slave Culture of Antebellum Dixie. Evangelicalism is a religious apologia for racism, a vicious capitalism that would make Jay Gould blush, and a violent armed attitude to life. This isn’t “religious” in the least, and the fact that such people attend services weekly and “tithe” doesn’t redeem it in the least. If you want a key to the region, look at the history of Texas. Anglo settlers went to Texas and brought their slaves with them. When Mexico abolished slavery, the settlers refused to follow the law and revolted. Anglo society in Texas lionises these slave-holding insurrectionists to this day. These people don’t really believe in laws; they believe in personal revenge and “honour”, they would’ve refused to abolish slavery had it occurred via legislative fiat by the Congress.

Here’s another telling map… it’s of the regions that suck most on the Federal tit:

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From the top, let’s leave Alaska and Hawaii to the side… they’re special cases, requiring special outlays. However, do notice that Alaska is on the “plus” side of the ledger, meaning that Sarah Palin took all the federal bucks that she could lay her hands on… that does blow her “conservative” pretensions all to hell, doesn’t it? Do notice that the Sectarian-majority states with their rants of “personal responsibility” are first in line at the Fed’s slop chute. In short, they’re hypocritical liars and smarmy poseurs. That’s “most religious”… do excuse me, as I hurl!

Sometimes, even bad surveys serve a purpose, as does this one. For instance, there was a crook survey just published by the Ecumenical Patriarchate claiming all sorts of crank notions… I’m going to go after that one after I study an independent academic survey more thoroughly (for instance, it undercounted Native Orthodox in Alaska, and, probably, over-counted Greeks). It does have a good moment or two, though. To return to the Gallup Survey, it does show us where the Sectarians are strongest, and where the Radical Republican Redoubt will be after the Obama Landslide this fall. Make no mistake on it… the GOP’s now so heavily tied to Sectarian crazies that it’s becoming a regional and confessional faction. However, that’s another post…

BMD

8 December 2011. Tennessee Firemen Watch House Burn to the Ground and Do NOTHING

If you haven’t paid up the swag demanded by the rightwing pigs in South Fulton TN, they’ll REFUSE to put out the fire… they’ve done it TWICE.

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Read this. When I tried accessing the City of South Fulton’s webpage, all that I got was a “Fedora Test Page”. They use the ususal rightwing dodges… people didn’t pay the demanded fee… they should understand that if they don’t pay up, well, they won’t be protected. That’s what the Republican slimers believe in and they do act upon their gross and inhumane ideology whenever they can. If you don’t pay up… we won’t protect you! That’s the “Christian USA” for ya… Tennessee is one of the Buckles on the Bible Belt. “See how they love one another”… indeed.

NB:

When I checked Wikipedia earlier, there was an item stating that South Fulton was the city where firemen TWICE refused to put out fires because people in outlying communities hadn’t ponied up a demanded fee on rural townships. That information’s no longer there. It’s why you can’t totally trust Wikipedia, any jerk can edit it. Wikipedia should put the information back in (it’s true) and “lock” the piece so that lying Republican slimers can’t edit it out. This tells you volumes about the Republicans and their attitude to the Truth, doesn’t it?

BMD