Americans grow happier as they age

A new Pew Research Center survey shows the tendency is holding up as the economy tanks. Happiness is a complex thing. Past studies have found that happiness is partly inherited, that Republicans are happier than Democrats and that old men tend to be happier than old women. And even before the economy got nasty, seniors were found to be generally happier than Baby Boomers. Some of that owes to the American Dream being lived by past generations, while Boomers work two jobs and watch the dream wither. In times like this, it's clear how age can have its advantages. While not all seniors are weathering the recession well, for many the impact is much less severe than it is for younger people. Why? Many people 65 and older retired and downsized their lifestyles before the economy imploded, according to Pew analysts. Most aren't raising kids and many are not so worried about being laid off. Loss of income can be, of course, a source of stress and displeasure. (While money doesn't buy happiness, a study in February 2009 showed cash can help, especially when people use it to do stuff instead of buy things.) If you're thinking that Republicans are happy just because they perhaps make more money, that does not seem to be the case. The study that found Republicans to be happier than Democrats also showed that it held true even after adjusting for income.

Jewish candidate told that Muslims would not accept her

Elaina Cohen, formerly of Manchester, claims that former Birmingham Lord Mayor, Labor councillor Mahmood Hussain, told her he would not support her application to stand for the inner city ward of East Handsworth and Lozells - a safe Labor seat - as his Muslim members would object to her because she was white and Jewish. Councillor Hussain has denied the allegations. Two days after the alleged conversation Mrs Cohen, 50, was rejected by a pre-selection panel in favor of a black South African.

A Muslim extremist has been found guilty of firebombing the home of the publisher of a novel about the Prophet Mohammed and his child bride

Abbas Taj, 31, a minicab driver from Forest Gate, East London, had claimed he was simply giving two other men a lift to the house in an exclusive square in Islington, North London. The other men, Ali Beheshti, 41, and Abrar Mirza, 23, had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to recklessly damaging property and endangering life following the attack on Saturday September 27, 2008. The men were under surveillance by police who had warned Martin Rynja, 43, and his partner, to move out of their four-storey townhouse, which had an office in the basement. Taj's car, a Honda Accord, had been bugged by officers and their conversation was recorded as they drove to the square. The 3 men were observed driving twice through the square in Islington before Beheshti and Mirza approached the front door with a petrol can in a white plastic bag, poured diesel fuel through the letter box and used a disposable lighter to set it on fire. It was alleged that Taj, who was born in Somalia, East Africa, but moved to Britain at the age of 15, was acting as the getaway driver and as armed police swooped, his car was stopped near the Angel tube station not far away. Rynja, who ran a company called Gibson Square Books, had been planning to publish a historical novel by US author Shelley Jones called the Jewel of Medina about the Prophet Mohamed's third wife Aisha, who married him at the age of nine.

Black women, breast cancer and mortality

Although black women are one-third less likely than women of other races to develop cancer, they are 30% more likely than other women to die if they are diagnosed with the disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Researchers found that among women with breast cancer the likelihood of finding breast cancer in black women at age 33 is the same as in finding it in white women at age 40.

Genes and middle-class children

Are middle-class children more likely to be clever than those from poorer families because they have better genes?

The failure of multiculturalism in Brixton

Sathnam Sanghera says that if you stick people from different backgrounds in one place they will have nothing to do with one another.

Race and voting

The Audacious Epigone has some interesting demographic information regarding the Presidential election.

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Red region, blue region, smart region, dull region

Toilets and brides in India

In rural India, having a toilet has become an issue of a woman’s right. Many homes don’t feature plumbing because men, in particular, question the expense – even the desirability – of indoor facilities. That’s changing rapidly in the state of Haryana, where the government is putting up funds and village women are leaning on their men to get with the program. Their slogan: “No toilet, no bride.” The combined effort has helped boost the number of rural homes with toilets to 60%, up from less than 5% four years ago, says Kashi Nath Jha, the Haryana local chairman of the sanitation organization Sulabh International. In Ladravan, a village of farms and brick kilns about an hour’s drive from Delhi international airport, one bride has already divorced her groom when she learned that his family lied about having a toilet, says Anil Kumar Chhikara, one of the village leaders. Another young woman, Monica, says of any potential suitor, “I’ll be asking him to build a toilet.” And if he doesn’t? “Then I won’t marry him.” Women have more clout these days in the village, says Mr. Chhikara, because years of selective-sex abortions have left more bachelors than potential brides. Kamla Devi sits on the front porch of a new home being built for her son and his fiancée. The toilet was one of the first items to be completed. The government will refund 90% of a completed toilet’s construction cost. Until now, Mrs. Devi had no toilet and, like others, would wait until nightfall for privacy. “It was very embarrassing when I was outside and I saw the light of a car … on me,” she says.

African troops sodomized pygmies in March 2009 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, believing they would gain supernatural powers

"Some soldiers from the 85th Brigade sodomized three male pygmies to gain supernatural powers and protection in Kisa village in Walikale territory," the Human Rights League of the Great Lakes said. "The village chief was stripped and (sodomized) in the presence of his wife, his children and daughter in-law. The children in turn were stripped and raped in front of their father." It said armed groups in the region also abused the pygmies. Elderly citizens and children were also being raped by the armed groups and wayward FARDC soldiers in eastern DRC, it added. The pygmies live essentially as subsistence hunter-gatherers in the forests in the DRC's equatorial zones and have been targeted by militia groups in the past. Among the armed groups roaming the eastern part of Congo are the Rwandan Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda rebels. Some of its members are accused of being among the main perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide by Hutus against the Tutsi minority. The United Nations and global human rights organizations have accused the FDLR of engaging in mass murder, rape and pillage of locals' property.

AIDS is the leading cause of death for black women between the ages of 25 and 34

Nationally, of the 126,964 women who had HIV/AIDS in 2005, 64% were black, 15% were Hispanic, and 1% were Asian or Pacific Islander, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Our gift of life is free

D.C. HIV rates surpasses Africa

Black men are most likely to cheat and least likely to marry

Asian men are least likely to cheat and most likely to marry.

The acquittal of former AIPAC operatives Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman on espionage is yet another victory for the Israel Lobby

Kevin MacDonald on the strength of the Israel Lobby.

Related:

Criminalizing Criticism of Israel

Ignore AIPAC at America’s Peril

AIPAC, Espionage, and Legal Sabotage

Middle Eastern gang leader says that Australians are racist

The leader of Sydney's radical Middle Eastern street gang - Asesinoz MC - has accused Australians of racism. The 29-year-old, who calls himself Sam "The Assassin", defended the Parramatta-based gang's violent image in its YouTube videos and MySpace site. They promote anti-Australian sentiment and flag burning. "There are a handful of good Australians but most are racist by assuming Lebanese people are responsible for all crimes," he said. "When they see a Middle Eastern walking down the street they assume they are Lebanese. I am half Lebanese and half Iraqi but I want the public and the police to know this: Don't forget about the Persians, Iraqis, Afghanis, Turks etc . . . because they do crimes too. That is why we have posted these videos up." The president of one of the city's newest street gangs, he said he was known as Sam Asesinoz, which means assassin in Spanish, although it was not his real name. On the gang's MySpace site, he warns: "Now we can't be f. . . . . with, coz we will take your life, we are the true soldiers." He revealed that the Asesinoz MC had 70 members. Senior police are concerned about the growth of gangs among young Middle Eastern men and have identified them, including Asesinoz MC and the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, as recruiting grounds for biker gangs.

Police figures have revealed that immigrants are carrying out one in six rapes in Britain - and an astonishing one in three in London

One South African rapist targeted women who were white.

Related:

Model's life destroyed by rape and acid attack after meeting man on Facebook

Cremation and Chinese crime gangs

Gangs are thought to be kidnapping and murdering elderly people, then selling the corpses for cremation to superstitious families who do not want their own dead loved ones incinerated. The bereaved in southern China are buying substitute bodies for the cremation and secretly burying their dead relatives. Cremation is promoted as hygienic and space-saving, and in some regions it is obligatory. However, many believe if a body is burnt the spirit will be angry and misfortune will befall descendants. If it has the proper rites the spirit is content in the next world and protects relatives. Although nationwide only 1% of the population is cremated, in the county of Jieyang in Canton, where it is mandatory, the figure is 100%. The sinister theory is emerging that many of the bodies are elderly people living alone who have been snatched and murdered. Several gangs are reported to be involved in the trade of substitute corpses, charging 10,000 yuan (almost £1,000). The South China Morning Post reported how increasing numbers of missing-person posters had appeared in the towns of Jeixi and Puning in recent years. It is thought about 400 elderly people have disappeared in the region. One villager said: “My 67-year-old brother-in-law disappeared in February and my mother’s cousin three years ago. We have never received the slightest news.” Tong Xiaopin, a social sciences investigator in Canton, said: “Many people, above all in the countryside, believe that improvements in living conditions are not the result of social reform but because of the way in which they buried their ancestors.”

49% of black respondents in a study reported having had a friend or relative in jail or prison during the past 5 years, compared with 20% of whites

Being related to a prisoner can affect your health.

Jews, insanity and immigration policies

Patrick Cleburne has an interesting post on the Jewish "contribution" to U.S. immigration policies.

Muslim gang on trial for Jewish murder

A gang of 28 Muslims are on trial for the 24-day torture and murder of a young Jewish man that appalled France due to it's brutality and apparent anti-Semitism.

Black killer, white victims

A black man is the biggest serial killer in Los Angeles history.

Among registered voters, genetic factors explain about 60% of the difference between those who vote and those who do not

James Q. Wilson explains the role that genes play in shaping human behavior.