Morning dip: Obama on fascistic healthcare, Razib on religion, & other notables

At Gene Expression, Razib casts a skeptical eye on a study of the neuroanatomical variability of religiosity.

The brain areas identified in this and the parallel fMRI studies are
not unique to processing religion [the study states], but play major roles in social
cognition. This implies that religious beliefs and behavior emerged not as sui generis evolutionary adaptations, but as an extension (some would say "by product") of social cognition and behavior.

May
be something to that, Razib says -- but it would be nice "get in on the
game of normal human variation in religious orientation
(as opposed to studies of mystical brain states which seem focused on
outliers)."

The Atlantic Wire rounds up reactions to Obama's case for more and longer school days. TAPPED, meanwhile, opines that Obama is winning on education.
One reason? States are passing reform tweaks in order to compete in the
$4.3 billion "Race to the Top" competition. Money talks.

Dawdy notes a BMJ study linking (again) antidepressants to raised (but still low) rates of birth defects in women taking some antidepressants in the first trimester. An extremely tricky issue. 

The President describes the puzzlement of other world leaders that trying to give everyone healthcare comes off as a fascism. (H/T TPM)

"One of the [G20] leaders, I won't mention who it was, he comes up to
me and ... he says, 'Barack, explain to me this health care debate.' He
says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everyone has
health care and they're putting a Hitler moustache on you. That doesn't
make sense to me, explain that to me,'" Obama said. "He didn't
understand."

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Notables from the last 24: Over at Gene Expression, Razib casts a skeptical eye on a study of the neuroanatomical variability of religiosity. The brain areas identified in this and the parallel fMRI studies are not unique to processing religion [the study states], but play major roles in social…
Neuroanatomical Variability of Religiosity: We hypothesized that religiosity, a set of traits variably expressed in the population, is modulated by neuroanatomical variability. We tested this idea by determining whether aspects of religiosity were predicted by variability in regional cortical…
There was a paper recently in PNAS on "The cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief". A couple of bloggers, Epiphenom and I Am David, come to opposite conclusions. Epiphenom says that the study shows that religion is not a side-effect of the evolution of cognitive processes, while IAD…
Last week, we looked at how the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" education 'reform' legislation screwed over Massachusetts because MA had the silly idea that changing the curriculum (dumbing it down, actually) of one of the most successful educational systems in the world should be…

You mean the international community can't understand how so many people in the US are such ignorant racists?

Neither can I.

But they are, they are.

See the CNN news story: 47% will pay no federal income tax!

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/30/pf/taxes/who_pays_taxes/index.htm?cnn=y…

I am outraged! I had no idea the problem was this bad. These people are nothing but filthy beggars!!! And, now itâs time to start paying for their health-care. Give me a break. Iâd rather be mugged, thereâs more dignity in it.

We need a new political party in this country, the two weâve got are nothing but robbing everyone. The republicans are steeling from the middle class and giving to the rich and the democrats are buying votes with our money by allowing this bunch of freeloaders to get a free ride.