Atheists score 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. Denominations differ significantly in IQ and income. Religiosity declines between ages 12 to 17. It is suggested that IQ makes an individual likely to gravitate toward a denomination and level of achievement that best fit his or hers particular level of cognitive complexity. Ontogenetically speaking this means that contemporary denominations are rank ordered by largely hereditary variations in brain efficiency (i.e. IQ). In terms of evolution, modern Atheists are reacting rationally to cognitive and emotional challenges, whereas Liberals and, in particular Dogmatics, still rely on ancient, pre-rational, supernatural and wishful thinking.

IDT, creationism, person-hood-at-conception, Schiavo are all examples of conservative thought that relys on pre-rational, supernatural, and wishful thinking.
retart4life is a christian accomodationist I guess.
Heres a question…..where is the godly intervention point?
Since you believe god designed evolution…what happens when we prove genetic evolution is an emergent property of nanoassemblers?
And then…when we prove nanoassembly is an emergent property of pico-assemblers and fermi-assemblers?

Yes and sadly this type of thinking is being encouraged in the media, many universities/colleges,
Upstater85 on March 16, 2009 at 2:11 AM

Exactly right,
Facts don’t matter to liberals,they only get in the way of enforcing their ideology.

This happened under the noses of corrupt, human regulators. Timmy G won’t fix anything. Neither will Maxscam Waters…
Upstater85 on March 16, 2009 at 2:11 AM

And they have the media covering for them so they can do the same thing again.

Geithner was right smack in the middle of this economic meltdown:

Where Was Geithner in Turmoil?

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/business/25sorkin.html?_r=1&dbk

But Mr. Geithner’s involvement in several ultimately ill-fated efforts to buttress the American financial system is the very reason some Wall Street C.E.O.’s — a number of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of piquing the man who regulates them — question whether he’s up to the challenge.

“We have only two things to say about Tim Geithner, who we do not know: A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers,” said Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics. “Throw in the Bear Stearns/Maiden Lane fiasco for good measure,” he said.

“All of these ‘rescues’ are a disaster for the taxpayer, for the financial markets and also for the Federal Reserve System as an organization. Geithner, in our view, deserves retirement, not promotion.”

Ouch.

“He was in the room at every turn of the crisis,” said another executive who participated in several such confidential meetings with Mr. Geithner. “You can look at that both ways.”

But super genius who can’t even take care of his own taxes
was touted as a “young hero that we can’t do without”.

It is obvious that the same people who sign 1.3 trillion dollar spending bills without reading them are the same people that seemed to miss the fact that Geithner has a record of failure similar to Barney Frank’s and Chris Dodd’s:

Obama’s economic saviour savaged as Keating lets rip
Peter Hartcher
March 7, 2009 – 12:54AM

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/obamas-economic-saviour-savaged-as-keating-lets-rip-20090306-8rk7.html

In a speech to a closed gathering at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Thursday, Paul Keating gave a starkly different account of Geithner’s record in handling the Asian crisis: “Tim Geithner was the Treasury line officer who wrote the IMF [International Monetary Fund] program for Indonesia in 1997-98, which was to apply current account solutions to a capital account crisis.”

In other words, Geithner fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem. And his misdiagnosis led to a dreadfully wrong prescription.

But hey,this is just a distraction.
We are in great hands.
Look at the excellent leadership that has been shown so far in dealing with this economic crisis:

Hello……Hello…….Hello,
is there anybody in there.
Just nod if you can hear me,
is there anyone at all???????????????????????

“We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”
Barak Obama
Feb. 2009

But wait…hold on….new assessment.

“They’re (the economy)not as bad as we think they are now.”
Barak Obama
Mar. 2009

Man is that a relief.
Uh…what…wait..hold on:

White House Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag declared that “fundamentally, the economy is weak.”
Peter Orszag
Mar. 2009

Dam#…I thought Obama just said it is not as bad as we think,…well..right after he told us it is the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Wait..Hold on:

economic adviser Christina Romer. When asked during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if the fundamentals of the economy were sound, she replied: “Of course they are sound.”
Christina Romer (Obama Economic Advisor)
Mar. 2009

Well there we go,…everything is okay,the economy is fundamentally strong just like Obama…no wait…just like
McCain said.

But Mccain was called out of touch and ignorant for making such an idiotic statement during the worst economy since the Great Depression …..that is not as bad as we think…..
that the fundamentals are weak….no the fundamentals are strong…..but…ahhh….nevermind:

During the fall campaign, Obama relentlessly criticized his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, for declaring, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Obama’s team painted the veteran senator as out of touch and failing to grasp the challenges facing the country.
Barak Obama
Nov. 2008

Whew!!!
I know I feel better knowing such strong decisive leadership is in charge…..DDDDDDUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Obama administration has no clue what is going on or what the hell they are doing.
“Yes We Can!!!!”

Instead, with all the facts on his side, McCain let Obama hang the housing meltdown around conservative necks. Wonder if McCain truly took a fall, and what he gained by doing so.

tigerlily on March 16, 2009 at 1:03 AM

In McCain’s eyes, the housing meltdown is the fault of outdated laissez-faire policies. Regulation, regulation, and more regulation!!! What people of this mind set will not admit, is that Wall Street is far from the Wild-Wild West. This happened under the noses of corrupt, human regulators. Timmy G won’t fix anything. Neither will Maxscam Waters…

He!! of a bubble these idiots live in.

Baxter Greene on March 16, 2009 at 1:56 AM

Yes and sadly this type of thinking is being encouraged in the media, many universities/colleges, and public schools. Stewart himself fuels this kind of ignorance. He may mock the spoon feeding of O’Reilly et al; however, whenever someone that has something of meaning to add to the conversation, Stewart’s editing department goes into overdrive.

I would respect Strangelet if she would back up all of Lynn’s assertions, but apparently she finds some of these claims too uncomfortable to stand by in this New Era of Science.

Upstater85 on March 16, 2009 at 12:50 AM

Which is typical of this mindset.
Selective rationals.

strangelet tries to show everybody how incredibly intelligent she is by trashing anyone who is religious as ignorant.

Then when shown fact after fact of Obama showing how religious he is,genius here states he is just lying, full of sh!t,and saying whatever it takes to get votes,as if this somehow defends her lame assertion concerning religion/IQ or somehow makes Obama more credible by admitting he is a typical,lying,narcissistic politician.

He!! of a bubble these idiots live in.

Instead, with all the facts on his side, McCain let Obama hang the housing meltdown around conservative necks. Wonder if McCain truly took a fall, and what he gained by doing so.

AUINSC on March 13, 2009 at 9:04 PM

Here’s another crazy idea: Stewart could ask pointed questions of Obama, such as, “What in the world were you doing representing ACORN in a lawsuit against Citibank to force them into giving loans to people who couldn’t afford them?”, or maybe, “In 2005, you blocked the Bush Administration, along with Frank and Dodd, when they tried to pass legislation to reign in Fannie and Freddie – how does it feel to have been a major player in the housing debacle?”

Stewart needs to grow a brain …wait, some things just aren’t possible.

Mark Hemingway made a similar point.

No,super smart strangelet probably just thinks Lynn is being “Machiavellian”.

Baxter Greene on March 16, 2009 at 12:27 AM

Strangelet represents those pseudo-scientists who would have you think that they are oh so rational; however, they ignore key assertions made by their Barnes & Nobles Pop-Science Writers (not to diminish Lynn’s research…). I would respect Strangelet if she would back up all of Lynn’s assertions, but apparently she finds some of these claims too uncomfortable to stand by in this New Era of Science.

You posted a link to an article (actually just the abstract) written by Richard Lynn. Do you agree with Lynn’s theories on low IQ’s for African and African-Caribbean Immagrants to the UK? Do you agree with his theories on the IQ difference between men and women?

Upstater85 on March 15, 2009 at 9:04 PM

No,super smart strangelet probably just thinks Lynn is being “Machiavellian”.

Evidence is reviewed pointing to a negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief in the United States and Europe. It is shown that intelligence measured as psychometric “g” is negatively related to religious belief. We also examine whether this negative relationship between intelligence and religious belief is present between nations.

strangelet on March 14, 2009 at 7:05 PM

Amusing. Wasn’t “psychometric g” the method used by Arthur Jensen to prove that blacks have inferior intelligence to whites?

Which party is strongly associated with religion?
Obama is a Machiavellian, not an Evangelical.
Obvious because his professions of faith are lipservice, see hESCR, abortion rights.
mmmkay?

strangelet on March 15, 2009 at 11:32 AM

Are you serious with this blather.
I know liberals will twist and contort in any manner to spin their hypocrisy,but how stupid do you have to be to use the excuse “Obama is not really religious,he is just lying about it to fool everybody” as defense.

I am also sure all the democrats that go to church and are constantly claiming how devoted they are to God without being a crazy right winger would take offense to your fact less and unproven super smart theory of the Republican party
being “strongly associated with religion”.

I mean you could at least try to make sense and have the thinking ability of the average 5th grader who would never
use “The President is a full blown liar and spent 20 yrs. in a church to get your votes” as a defense of liberal policies.

Your drivel is so ignorant that Stewart’s comedy show is the only place you could spout this idiocy without getting laughed out of the place.

“Machiavellian”……how pathetic.

In the scientific community we are seeing more and more studies correlating religious belief and lower IQ and g.
In Science, we go for proof by reproducibility.

strangelet on March 15, 2009 at 11:36 AM

You posted a link to an article (actually just the abstract) written by Richard Lynn. Do you agree with Lynn’s theories on low IQ’s for African and African-Caribbean Immagrants to the UK? Do you agree with his theories on the IQ difference between men and women?

Beautifully written. Well thought out and absolutely true.

Capitalism is the best system in the world. But not capitalism which is unethical,unbridled and predatory, destroying it’s own.

Profit was not enough. We had to have profit at the cost of the greatest manufacturing base in the greatest country the world has ever seen.

Now China, India, et al, can enjoy as we eat their dust.

God help the USA

Hawthorne on March 15, 2009 at 5:01 PM

absolutely true, very well said…and this oppression will be beyond anything the world has known before…if I read the signs right, its time for the dark man to raise his wounded head..and institute global governance, and global control of commerce….

mmkay

let me guess…you’re a valley girl!! bet you sound like megan mccain!!

have you ever noticed that you are unable to debate the issues..all you can do is throw out a few talking points..and then head for the hills…like the good liberal troll you are. but then independent thinking isn’t encouraged on the left.

oh and this artificial life…that is such a ‘problem’ for me…right..how are they doing it?? using INTELLIGENT DESIGN…and copying from the already existing DESIGN….duhhhhhhh when are you gonna get a clue, and evolve some intelligence? oh yeah you can’t cause there is no evolution…

laughable.

right4life on March 15, 2009 at 2:39 PM

All too true. That is the essential idea from my final paragraph. The “dirty little secret” that many on the left does not want to hear is that America became strong because of freedom and religion. Freedom allowed Americans to be industrious and inventive, while religion checked our tendency to feed upon each other in our greed. Since our religion allowed us to be self-regulated we did not require as much governmental intervention.

The problem we are facing now is that the central justification of agnosticism is proving to be all too false. It turns out that as we lose our belief in God, we are not retaining our ethics and morality. Instead we are becoming a decadent and narcissistic society. Humans have an almost infinite capacity to rationalize and justify their actions. Even Hitler felt he was right. Our jails are filled with people that will swear that they are innocent. We are not qualified to be the judge of what is correct because we are not objective enough to avoid corrupting that judgment.

So as we lose our religion, we are gravitating closer and closer to a police state. The void in ethics created by lacking a moral and ethical foundation from religion is filled by governmental action in an effort to maintain civilized behavior. But once we allow humans to define what is “right and proper” behavior, it all becomes a matter of your perspective. Then we are on the road to oppression.

I understand the advantages of government staying out of the business and financial sectors. I strongly believe government needs to be limited in what it does. But no oversight at all only allows the foxes to clean out the hen house.

There is a balance. Finding it will be difficult. The more we depart from ethical self-regulations the more we come to depend on governmental regulation. If we are not going to be a moral and ethical society voluntarily then we are doomed to become a police state.

Hawthorne on March 15, 2009 at 12:20 PM

as we’ve seen repeatedly, a company can only do limited damage…whereas a government can ruin and enslave an entire country…

strangelet on March 15, 2009 at 11:36 AM

you sure prove stupid is as stupid does…you must be masochistic….

oh an uh dumblet, atheism is a religion…and we see how easily such a ‘brilliant’ man is made to look like a fool when stein interviews him….

tell ya what ‘honey’ people like you prove the truth of the bible with every post…professing to be wise, they have become fools…

strangelet on March 15, 2009 at 11:36 AM

Your statement is interesting considering that modern physicists are often religious. I would point you to the essay by Professor Henry Margeneau as a reference. he explains it in great detail as to why. Here is a link…

Why I am a Christian
by Professor Henry Margenau

You see, the more the scientists start understanding how matter is composed and the universe is formed, the more there is an evidence of order and purpose. It is not a chaotic process formed by chance as many would like to present it. Much of what seems to be chaotic is actually our ignorance in how the process truly works because it is too complex to understand easily.

The problem that I have with modern science is that it has become unethical and intellectually dishonest. There is a growing relationship between science and politics that is very unhealthy. Science should seek to be the search for truth and understanding. Instead it is becoming a willing participant in political indoctrination and manipulation.

The current information given to us on “Global Warming” serves as a case in point. I can give you many examples of the intellectual and scientific dishonesty in the attempt to lay the blame for climate change at the feet of humans.

I am sorry, but science is quickly losing its credibility as an authority because so many scientists have sacrificed objectivity. They are now formulating their theories before there is enough evidence to even move away from a hypothetical foundation. The evidence is collected to prove what the scientists want to see and any conflicting evidence is rejected out of hand as anomaly. It is not science, it is manipulation.

We are entering another Dark Age I fear. This time it will be the religion of science that enslaves us. I hope that this time it will not take nearly a millennium to emerge from our stupidity. I suggest that you stop reading Voltaire and Immanuel Kant. They are bad for your sensibilities.

The stock market has become a negative factor in the growth of America and our wealth.

Somewhere along the line we have to reconcile the games that have been played to make big profits with how they impact us in REAL terms. The idea of profits at all cost has become too extreme. We have moved ourselves into performing actions with very negative long term impact in order to gain short term profits. The quarterly bonus check drives all.

So we push for profits to make the stocks rise and send our manufacturing to China. Never mind that the milling machines are used to make better propellers for their nuclear submarines so that we cannot track them as easily any more.

We are told we are becoming a service based economy and need to learn technology in order survive. So we learn computers. Then those jobs are off-shored too.

Then we learn that much of our aerospace has gone to China, enabling them to produce satellites and improve the accuracy of their ballistic missiles. So much for technology being the bastion of American industry.

In the end it is all about executives not caring what they do in order to gain a bonus check. They will tell you that they are an international corporation and are not responsible to America or our values. But for decades they used our labor and our capital to build their companies.

In the end they are killing the goose. They ignore the basics of economics and destroy their own market by destroying the wealth of middle-class America. Never mind that those are the people that buy their products. So now when it all falls apart, we are surprised?

Some folks just never figure out when it is time to stop worrying about ideology and start listening to common sense. You can take anything too far. That includes both liberal and conservative philosophies. I do not wish to live under fascism any more than I want socialists.

I understand the advantages of government staying out of the business and financial sectors. I strongly believe government needs to be limited in what it does. But no oversight at all only allows the foxes to clean out the hen house.

There is a balance. Finding it will be difficult. The more we depart from ethical self-regulations the more we come to depend on governmental regulation. If we are not going to be a moral and ethical society voluntarily then we are doomed to become a police state.