Three and a half years into President Obama's first term as president, half of Americans cannot accurately say what religion he is, according to a poll released this week.
Only 49 percent of respondents said that Obama was Christian while 17 percent inaccurately said he was Muslim. Nearly one-third of respondents said they did not know the president's religion, according to the poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.
More people - 60 percent - knew that Romney, who has not held elected office in a decade, was Mormon than knew which religion the sitting president subscribes to.
And while only 9 percent of respondents said Romney was a religion that he is not, more than twice that amount said Obama adheres to a religion other than Christianity. The vast majority of those claiming Obama is not a Christian said he was a Muslim.
Nearly one in three Republicans said Obama was Muslim, twice as many as in 2008, the Pew study shows.
"Unfortunately there has been a development of a bizarre echo chamber within right wing of the political spectrum that truth and reality have failed to penetrate," said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director at Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. "It's a self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing delusion."
But this seemingly large lack of basic knowledge about the president may have more to do with people's opinion of Obama than how much they know about religious beliefs, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
"It's entirely possible that what people are telling us isn't exactly what they know but they are expressing an opinion," Cooperman said. "We suspect - it's hard to prove it- that some of the people who tell us that the president is a Muslim are using the question as a way to express their distrust or dislike for the president."
Only 8 percent of Democrats said Obama was Muslim. Because there is such a wide divide between the parties' responses, Cooperman said the results do not "just show whether people are ignorant on the president's religion but more that they have an opinion on his religion."
The percentage of people who said Obama was Muslim has stayed fairly steady since August 2010, when firestorm erupted over plans to build an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City.
Hooper said that while the tension between Muslims and Christians has not been as public since the " Ground Zero Mosque " controversy, he has seen "a steady erosion of tolerance and mutual understanding based on this relentless campaign of Islamophobia" since Obama was elected.
"It is visceral hatred for President Obama and to justify it they have to come up with these reasons: he is the other, he's Muslim, he's foreign born."
But as of now, a candidate's religion will not likely be the driving factor for whether people pick Obama or Romney in November.
Even though 65 percent of those who think Obama is Muslim said they were uncomfortable with his religion, most of them also said they already planned to vote for Romney. And among voters who knew Romney was Mormon, 80 percent either said his faith did not make them uncomfortable or that it did not matter.
"I'm not going to say it doesn't matter at all," Cooperman said, but it "doesn't seem to have a lot of impact on their voting preference."
Paperpk classified ads Pakistan are best for jobs, cars sale purchase, to buy and sell property. PaperPk Classified ads in Pakistan website is a free, local, community-based classifieds website that can be used to buy and sell products in Pakistan, get jobs in Pakistan, buy new and used cars/ Bikes in Pakistan, rent houses/ apartments in Pakistan, purchase property or rent your realestate in Pakistan. At this web site you can post your advertisement for free to find a person who is interested to buy or sell something you want to sell free of cost. You can buy and sell in Pakistan person to person without involving any broker or agent. Yellow pages for Pakistan are also listed on this classified website. To access yellow pages for Pakistan visit paperpk.com/classified. Business Directory for Pakistan is fully indexed and searchable.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Charlie Sheen says he's not insane anymore.
Instead, these are good days for the "Anger Management" star, he declares, with his FX sitcom half-way through its initial 10-episode run and poised to get an order for 90 more.
Sheen told reporters Saturday that the prospect of continuing is as "exciting as hell," and added cheerily, "I don't think 90's gonna be enough."
With the expected pickup, FX plans to bring aboard Sheen's dad, Martin Sheen, as a regular cast member. He will play the father of Charlie Goodson, the anger-management therapist played by Charlie Sheen. The veteran movie actor, who also played President Jed Bartlet on the drama series "The West Wing," is guest-starring on an "Anger Management" episode that airs Aug. 16.
"I think that was the best episode we did," his son said.
Adding Sheen pere to the series "will give an extra dimension and make it a multi-generational family show," said FX boss John Landgraf in making the announcement.
The production schedule would call for filming a total of 100 episodes in just two years. This kind of cost-saving routine means no time for rehearsals, said executive producer Bruce Helford.
"The actors get the lines, we see the scene, the writers make changes, the actors go to makeup, cameras are blocked, we come back together and shoot the scene," he explained.
At first, the cast members "felt like basically they were on the ledge. But by the third episode, everyone found the characters to the point that the writers were following their lead," Helford said.
"I feel like how we started, we just scratched the surface ? barely," said Sheen, who arrived for his appearance at the Television Critics Association session clad in Bermuda shorts, a long-sleeve shirt and loafers without socks.
He likened his tumultuous departure from "Two and a Half Men" and the stormy aftermath last year to a dream he couldn't wake up from. Or like "a train I couldn't get off of, except that I was the conductor," he added, speaking in quick bursts and fidgeting in his chair.
He said he learned a lot from that period, including "stick to what you know." Referring to his disastrous "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" tour in spring 2011, he got laughs from the group when he advised, "Don't go on the road with a one-man show in 21 cities without an act. "
"I'm not insane anymore," he summed up.
What's different now from Sheen's angry stretch on "Men," characterized by his much-publicized clashes with series creator Chuck Lorre?
Helford weighed in with a theory. On "Men," he ventured, "Charlie didn't really have a voice with creative input. It wasn't built that way."
On "Anger Management," Helford said he's forged a partnership with his star.
"We built this together," he said. "And when Charlie's on the stage, that's his stage. When you feel that, your creative juices are flowing, everything is better for you, because you have a say in what you're doing.
"When you don't control your destiny, things get screwed up in your head," he said as Sheen nodded.
On "Anger Management," Charlie Goodson thrives on chaos. Sheen was asked if he does, too, or if he longs for a simpler life.
"I can wish every minute for a simple life. It's not gonna happen," Sheen replied. "But I don't really look at it as chaos. I look at it as challenges."
I'm not going to lie, I hate going into sex shops like Good Vibrations as much as the next geeky dude who still can't get over the fact that we're all adults and sex is something that pretty much everyone does -- or attempts to do. They usually have pretty knowledgeable, friendly staff, which is awesome but can also be a little creepy when you're asking for suggestions on a cock ring. (Uh, hypothetically.) And you know, there's always sort of this feeling that you're being watched by the other store patrons, which is probably true, because you're also checking out whatever vibrator they're checking out. It's just a weird experience. What if you didn't have to go through that every time you wanted to try something new? What if sex toys just showed up at your door once a month for a fairly nominal fee? That's what Boink Box is for. It's bringing subscription commerce to the world of adult toys, promising its subscribers monthly packages of a variety of toys.
Contact: Peter Reuell preuell@fas.harvard.edu 617-496-8070 Harvard University
Harvard researchers find link between climate change, ozone loss and possible increase in skin cancer incidence
For decades, scientists have known that the effects of global climate change could have a potentially devastating impact across the globe, but Harvard researchers say there is now evidence that it may also have a dramatic impact on public health.
As reported in a paper published in the July 27 issue of Science, a team of researchers led by James G. Anderson, the Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, are warning that a newly-discovered connection between climate change and depletion of the ozone layer over the U.S. could allow more damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach the Earth's surface, leading to increased incidence of skin cancer.
In the system described by Anderson and his team, water vapor injected into the stratosphere by powerful thunderstorms converts stable forms of chlorine and bromine into free radicals capable of transforming ozone molecules into oxygen. Recent studies have suggested that the number and intensity of such storms are linked to climate changes, Anderson said, which could in turn lead to increased ozone loss and greater levels of harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface, and potentially higher rates of skin cancer.
"If you were to ask me where this fits into the spectrum of things I worry about, right now it's at the top of the list," Anderson said. "What this research does is connect, for the first time, climate change with ozone depletion, and ozone loss is directly tied to increases in skin cancer incidence, because more ultraviolet radiation is penetrating the atmosphere."
Unfortunately, Anderson said, we don't know how this process will evolve over time.
"We don't know what the development of this has been we don't have measurements of this deep convective injection of water into the stratosphere that go back in time," Anderson said.
"But the best guide for the evolution of this is to look at the research that connects climate change with severe storm intensity and frequency, and it's clear that there is a developing scientific case that the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is increasing climate change, and in turn driving severe storm intensity and frequency."
While it's impossible to know how many skin cancer cases may be related to ozone depletion over the U.S., the link between ozone loss and increased incidence of the disease has been extensively studied, Anderson said.
"There has been a major effort by the medical community to define the relationship between decreases in ozone and the subsequent increases in skin cancer," he said. "The answer is quite clear if you multiply the fractional decrease in ozone protection by about three, you get the increase in skin cancer incidence. There are 1 million new skin cancer cases in the U.S. annually it's the most common form of cancer, and it's one that's increasing in spite of all the medical research devoted to it."
But it isn't only humans who have to worry about the effects of increased UV radiation.
Many crops, particularly staple crops grown for human consumption such as wheat, soybeans and corn could suffer damage to their DNA, Anderson said.
Ironically, Anderson said, the discovery that climate change might be driving ozone loss happened virtually by accident.
Though they had worked since the mid-1980s to investigate ozone depletion in the Arctic and Antarctic, by the early-2000s, Anderson's team had turned their attention to climate studies. In particular, they were working to understand how the convective clouds updrafts that cause storms to build high into the sky contribute to the creation of cirrus clouds.
"It was in the process of looking at that mechanism that we came to this unexpected observation that the convective clouds in these storm systems over the U.S. are reaching far deeper into the stratosphere that we ever expected," Anderson said.
While earlier tests performed in the Arctic had demonstrated that water vapor was a key component in creating the "free-radical" compounds that break down ozone, Anderson said the latest finding is much more troubling, because it suggests the process can happen at much higher temperatures than initially suspected.
"The bottom line is that if you increase the water vapor concentration, you actually increase the threshold temperature for executing this chemical conversion from the stable forms of chlorine to the free radical form," Anderson said. "If the amount of water vapor and the temperature over the U.S. satisfies the conditions for rapid conversion of inorganic chlorine to this free-radical form, we've got a real problem, because the chemistry is identical to what we previously demonstrated is taking place over the Arctic."
Also surprising, he added, was the realization that, to throw water vapor high into the atmosphere, storms needn't be unusually large.
"We have hundreds of measurements world-wide addressing the photochemical structure controlling ozone, but only a limited number of flights over the U.S. in summer," he said. "The flights were studying average storms over the middle-west, and of the 20 observations we made over the U.S., about half demonstrated significant penetration into the stratosphere," he said.
The next step in the research, Anderson said, is to conduct a series of tests to confirm whether the free-radical form of chlorine and bromine are present in the stratosphere at significantly elevated levels in the presence of convectively-injected water vapor.
"In my mind, this is not just a broad public health issue," Anderson said. "This is about actually being able to step out into the sunlight it's about your children and your children's health. Of course, we don't know how rapidly the frequency and intensity of these storms will increase, so we can't place a time scale on this problem, but the core issue here is quite straightforward and simple, because we understand this chemistry."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Peter Reuell preuell@fas.harvard.edu 617-496-8070 Harvard University
Harvard researchers find link between climate change, ozone loss and possible increase in skin cancer incidence
For decades, scientists have known that the effects of global climate change could have a potentially devastating impact across the globe, but Harvard researchers say there is now evidence that it may also have a dramatic impact on public health.
As reported in a paper published in the July 27 issue of Science, a team of researchers led by James G. Anderson, the Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, are warning that a newly-discovered connection between climate change and depletion of the ozone layer over the U.S. could allow more damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach the Earth's surface, leading to increased incidence of skin cancer.
In the system described by Anderson and his team, water vapor injected into the stratosphere by powerful thunderstorms converts stable forms of chlorine and bromine into free radicals capable of transforming ozone molecules into oxygen. Recent studies have suggested that the number and intensity of such storms are linked to climate changes, Anderson said, which could in turn lead to increased ozone loss and greater levels of harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface, and potentially higher rates of skin cancer.
"If you were to ask me where this fits into the spectrum of things I worry about, right now it's at the top of the list," Anderson said. "What this research does is connect, for the first time, climate change with ozone depletion, and ozone loss is directly tied to increases in skin cancer incidence, because more ultraviolet radiation is penetrating the atmosphere."
Unfortunately, Anderson said, we don't know how this process will evolve over time.
"We don't know what the development of this has been we don't have measurements of this deep convective injection of water into the stratosphere that go back in time," Anderson said.
"But the best guide for the evolution of this is to look at the research that connects climate change with severe storm intensity and frequency, and it's clear that there is a developing scientific case that the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is increasing climate change, and in turn driving severe storm intensity and frequency."
While it's impossible to know how many skin cancer cases may be related to ozone depletion over the U.S., the link between ozone loss and increased incidence of the disease has been extensively studied, Anderson said.
"There has been a major effort by the medical community to define the relationship between decreases in ozone and the subsequent increases in skin cancer," he said. "The answer is quite clear if you multiply the fractional decrease in ozone protection by about three, you get the increase in skin cancer incidence. There are 1 million new skin cancer cases in the U.S. annually it's the most common form of cancer, and it's one that's increasing in spite of all the medical research devoted to it."
But it isn't only humans who have to worry about the effects of increased UV radiation.
Many crops, particularly staple crops grown for human consumption such as wheat, soybeans and corn could suffer damage to their DNA, Anderson said.
Ironically, Anderson said, the discovery that climate change might be driving ozone loss happened virtually by accident.
Though they had worked since the mid-1980s to investigate ozone depletion in the Arctic and Antarctic, by the early-2000s, Anderson's team had turned their attention to climate studies. In particular, they were working to understand how the convective clouds updrafts that cause storms to build high into the sky contribute to the creation of cirrus clouds.
"It was in the process of looking at that mechanism that we came to this unexpected observation that the convective clouds in these storm systems over the U.S. are reaching far deeper into the stratosphere that we ever expected," Anderson said.
While earlier tests performed in the Arctic had demonstrated that water vapor was a key component in creating the "free-radical" compounds that break down ozone, Anderson said the latest finding is much more troubling, because it suggests the process can happen at much higher temperatures than initially suspected.
"The bottom line is that if you increase the water vapor concentration, you actually increase the threshold temperature for executing this chemical conversion from the stable forms of chlorine to the free radical form," Anderson said. "If the amount of water vapor and the temperature over the U.S. satisfies the conditions for rapid conversion of inorganic chlorine to this free-radical form, we've got a real problem, because the chemistry is identical to what we previously demonstrated is taking place over the Arctic."
Also surprising, he added, was the realization that, to throw water vapor high into the atmosphere, storms needn't be unusually large.
"We have hundreds of measurements world-wide addressing the photochemical structure controlling ozone, but only a limited number of flights over the U.S. in summer," he said. "The flights were studying average storms over the middle-west, and of the 20 observations we made over the U.S., about half demonstrated significant penetration into the stratosphere," he said.
The next step in the research, Anderson said, is to conduct a series of tests to confirm whether the free-radical form of chlorine and bromine are present in the stratosphere at significantly elevated levels in the presence of convectively-injected water vapor.
"In my mind, this is not just a broad public health issue," Anderson said. "This is about actually being able to step out into the sunlight it's about your children and your children's health. Of course, we don't know how rapidly the frequency and intensity of these storms will increase, so we can't place a time scale on this problem, but the core issue here is quite straightforward and simple, because we understand this chemistry."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street?in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street?in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street?in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, tours the GREAT Pavillion Exhibit with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, right, and British Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, meets with British opposition leader Ed Miliband in London, Thursday, July 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
LONDON (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has caused a stir in Britain by questioning whether the country is prepared to pull off the Olympic Games without a hitch.
The former Massachusetts governor is visiting British political Thursday while trying to show he has what it takes to represent America on the world stage.
But instead of highlighting ties with America's staunchest ally, Romney may have embarrassed the Brits instead.
Romney said in an interview that it's unclear whether Britain can overcome the issues that have dogged its final preparations for the Games.
Leaving a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Romney said he expects the Games will be successful.
Cameron said Romney and others will "see beyond doubt that Britain can deliver."
RockoyBlasty ? Music Entertainment News ? Chris Castle: Talking With Leslie Lewis, GRAMMY Nominees and Ted Soundtrack ProducerJuly 26, 2012 2:00 amYou are here:Home News Chris Castle: Talking With Leslie Lewis, GRAMMY Nominees and Ted Soundtrack ProducerPosted by adminon July 25, 2012
I'm not going to lie, I hate going into sex shops like ![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uSFEzO_Qt88TP37X6UrE6jclnApN7xBzoEY5J2iMRZWrCrkJJ2QEOCMREyEQ5t1OdmM52k0tzI2K8GcNXrd4R1g-tepx__c3isRIAQOVU=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Jul-2012
Share ]