Being 'Born-Again' Linked to More Brain Atrophy: Study

WEDNESDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who say they've had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds. According to the study, people who said they were a "born-again" Protestant or Catholic, or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or "atrophy") compared to people who identified themselves as Protestants, but not born-again. The study is published online in PLoS ONE. As people age, a certain amount of brain atrophy is expected. Shrinkage of the hippocampus is also associated with depression, dementia and Alzheimer's disease. In the study, researchers asked 268 people aged 58 to 84 about their religious affiliation, spiritual practices and life-changing religious experiences. Over the course of two to eight years, changes to the hippocampus were monitored using MRI scans. Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/topics/HealthDay653161_20111102_Being__Born-Again__Linked_to_More_Brain_Atrophy__Study.html#ixzz1hIAjeXIQ Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else READ MORE

Gingrich: I’ll send a ‘U.S. Marshall’ to arrest any judge

By Andrew Jones Sunday, December 18, 2011 Continuing his crusade on the judicial system, GOP presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich said Sunday morning that he wouldn’t mind arresting any judge who he disagreed with. When asked by CBS’ Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer him if he would “send capital police down” to make any arrest, Gingrich specified further his comments from Saturday. “Sure, if you had to,” he said. “Or you’d instruct the Justice Department to send a U.S. Marshal.” Gingrich called the judicial branch of the U.S. government “the weakest branch of the three.” WATCH: Video from CBS, which was broadcast on December 18, 2011.

Gingrich: I’ll ‘ignore’ any Supreme Court ruling I disagree with

By Andrew Jones Saturday, December 17, 2011 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is doubling down from Thursday’s Fox News debate on his vow to abolish federal courts if he disagreed with their decision. According to The Hill, in a conference call with reporters, Gingrich indicated that it was in the president’s power as commander-in-chief to deem any Supreme Court ruling irrelevant if he or she in the White House disagreed. The former House Speaker used the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Bush administration exceeding its constitutional authority in handling suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2008 as a basis for his extreme view. READ MORE

Inside the 1 Percent's Texas Enclave: One of the Richest, Whitest and GOP-Friendliest Zip Codes

It's fair to call 75205, the zip code for most of Highland Park, the most enthusiastically Republican enclave in the country.
December 19, 2011

At a strip mall clogged with Ferraris and fashion boutiques, Beretta Gallery salesman Chris Cope shows me a framed photo of one of his best clients, an oilman posing next to a bounty of elephant tusks. In addition to selling massive safari rifles, this high-end Italian weapons emporium in the Dallas suburb of Highland Park supplies $130,000 Imperiale Montecarlo shotguns as well as petite .22s and chic, lockable handbags to conceal them. All told, it sells more firearms than any other Beretta outlet in the world. Last year, the store presented George W. Bush with a $250,000 shotgun engraved with the presidential seal, a picture of his Scotty dog, and "43" on the lever. The gun, which required more than a year to assemble, was a thank-you from Mr. Beretta for a military order of a half-million pistols.
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The Great Republican Crackup:

How Angry, White, Southern Men Took Over the GOP and Made Our Government Into a War Zone The GOP's radicalism is dangerous for America. We need two political parties solidly grounded in the realities of governing. December 21, 2011 Two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican crackup threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since the GOP’s eclipse in 1932. That’s bad for America. The crackup isn’t just Romney the smooth versus Gingrich the bomb-thrower. Not just House Republicans who just scotched the deal to continue payroll tax relief and extended unemployment insurance benefits beyond the end of the year, versus Senate Republicans who voted overwhelmingly for it. Not just Speaker John Boehner, who keeps making agreements he can’t keep, versus Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who keeps making trouble he can’t control. And not just venerable Republican senators like Indiana’s Richard Lugar, a giant of foreign policy for more than three decades, versus primary challenger state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who apparently misplaced and then rediscovered $320 million in state tax revenues. READ MORE

Fischer: ‘Hitchens is in hell because God loves him’

Going a step further than Bob Bennett’s portrayal of Christopher Hitchens, controversial right-wing radio host Bryan Fischer thought the focus should be on where the late author’s afterlife will be spent. “If Christopher Hitchens is in fact in hell, he’s there because God loves him,” Fischer said. “Not because God hates him, but because God loves him.” He added: “To me, it would not be a loving thing to compel someone like Christopher Hitchens to spend the rest of eternity in a place that he hated. A place that he does not want to be.” WATCH: Video from Right-Wing Watch, which was published on December 17, 2011.

MN GOPer resigns over alleged ‘inappropriate relationship’

By Andrew Jones
Saturday, December 17, 2011

In yet another case of the GOP failing to uphold its “Family Values” mantle, Minnesota Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch resigned from her leadership post after facing allegations of an “inappropriate relationship” with a staffer.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Koch was confronted by her Republican colleagues about the matter, and removed herself from the top spot afterwards.

Earlier in the week, Koch neither confirmed or denied that the allegations were true to her state senators when they asked her, but considered resigning at that point.

“We’re here today with a lot of humility and some sadness and even shock,” said interim Senate Majority Leader Geoff Michel Friday evening, who declined to identify the staffer. “There is no doubt that a manager cannot have such a relationship with someone they oversee, whose budget they oversee.”
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