Neighborhoods will be haunted by costumed ghosts and goblins this weekend, but many Americans say they have seen the real thing. Nearly one-in-five adults (18%) say they have seen or been in the presence of ghosts. Among Christians, the proportion is essentially identical (17%), a Pew Forum survey finds. Even more among the U.S. public (29%), including an identical proportion of Christians, say they have felt in touch with someone who has already died. The number of Americans who see dead people has doubled over the past decade. Just 9% said they had interacted with a ghost in 1996, compared with 18% today. The number saying they have felt in touch with someone who has died has also grown considerably, from 18% in 1996 to 29% today. Read more

One vow has changed, because in the earliest English marriage services the bride’s vows included a promise to be:

“bonny and buxom in bed and at board.”

This wonderfully alliterative phrase comes from the Use of Sarum, the earliest English marriage service I have found, which was authorised by the Bishop of Salisbury in 1085. In this very early version some of the vows were still in Latin while others were in old English. The whole service is almost identical with our modern version except that the Latin has been translated and the line about bonny and buxom brides has been omitted.

Originally these words meant something rather different from now. “Bonny” is from the French ‘bon’, or ‘good’; “buxom” is from an old German word meaning ‘pliant’ or ‘obedient’; “board” is where you put food (on the ‘sideboard’) so this means mealtimes; and “bed” simply meant ‘night-time’. So “Be bonny and buxom in bed and at board” meant: “Behave properly and obediently through night and day.” The meanings of these words changed over the years and the church objected to talking about bonny and buxom brides in bed, so we have now lost this vow.

Watching the Tudors, Henry VIII and Catherine Parr used this phrase in their marriage vows. Odd, isn’t it?

NPR News has terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims.

Williams appeared Monday on The O’Reilly Factor, and host Bill O’Reilly asked him to comment on the idea that the U.S. is facing a dilemma with Muslims.

O’Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC’s The View in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance.

Williams responded: “Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

For this he was fired? Sheesh…

The New American’s semi-annual congressional scorecard, entitled “The Freedom Index,” rates all members of Congress based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.

Since every Congressman takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, every Congressman should earn a perfect score on a congressional scorecard based on the U.S. Constitution. But that is far from the case, as both the “Freedom Index” and the unconstitutional actions of the federal government indicate.

All four installments of “The Freedom Index” are available below in PDF format. Each rates every member of the U.S. House and Senate based on 10 key votes.

If you live in northeast Wisconsin, for example, you might be interested to know that Congressman Steve Kagen has a 15% rating. In a spirit of fairness, I will say however, that I finally found something I like about the congressman. At the grand opening of the Platinum Flight Center in Appleton last week I noticed he’s a fan of New Balance shoes, just like I am. But I digress. Follow the ‘via’ link to check out the pdfs issue by issue…

Shop the Pig!

The economy’s recent downturn has forced many Americans to reconsider just how necessary certain everyday products are. In 2006, more Americans rated five items — car, clothes dryer, home air conditioning, microwave, home computer — a necessity than in any previous survey. But in the middle of a recession, far fewer say that they cannot live without these items. Cars have performed the best in maintaining their can’t-live-without status. Fully 86% say a car is a necessity today, just a five-point drop from 2006 when 91% said the same. The most recently popularized item, the home computer, also fared well. A high of 51% said a computer was a necessity in 2006, but 49% still said the same in the most recent survey. Other items did not hold up as well. An overwhelming 83% considered a clothes dryer a necessity in 2006; post-recession, just 59% said the same. Similarly, home air conditioning was needed by 70% in 2006, but just 55% in 2010. And while 68% couldn’t bear life without a microwave four years ago, today, a majority consider it a luxury (just 45% say necessity).