Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions.[2] Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.

HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a national survey that asks patients about their experiences during a recent hospital stay. Use the results shown here to compare hospitals based on ten important hospital quality topics. Read more information about survey of patients’ hospital experiences.

An article “Past Peak Prosperity” from a prominent Sunday News columnist:

“As our economy has evolved, it has distorted the very nature of our society. Once upon a time in America you could believe that if you worked hard your wages and standard of living would increase; your kids would live better than you did. All that’s inoperative now.

From AOL NEWS: Ten years ago, Portugal had some 100,000 heroin addicts — about 1 percent of its entire population. HIV infections from injecting drugs were among the highest in Europe.

Now the addict count has been cut nearly in half. HIV infections from drug use have fallen more than 90 percent. And the policy shift responsible for such a dramatic improvement in Portuguese life is something U.S. lawmakers — watching an escalating drug war on their southern border — might consider worthy of some attention: decriminalization.

USA Today’s front page article “Rise seen in births to illegal dwellers” huffs “The total number of children in the USA born to illegal immigrants on U. S. soil jumped to 4 million in 2009, up from 2.78 million in 2003, a report released Wednesday estimates. Those children – who are automatically granted U. S. citizenship – represents 5.4% of all children under the age of 18 in the U. S.”

Michelle Alexander has produced the best book ever written on mass incarceration and the war on drugs. The new Jim Crow isn’t just the old version implemented through different means; it is a new order rooted in different assumptions. There has been a real change in the way people view race. Today, assertions that appear to tolerate or promote racial inequality or blatant white supremacy will be rejected by the vast majority of Americans, conservative or liberal.

It was fitting that one of the most important editorials in some time to appear in the Intelligencer Journal was published on the evening of the day of Chariman John ‘Jack’ Buckwalter’s sudden death.

In “Democracy’s doorways”, the Intelligencer Journal is critical of state cut backs in financial aid to the library systems and threw it considerable influence behind greater local support.

Tony Judt, the distinguish British liberal historian, died last week from Lou Gehrig disease, but, even during the latter stage of his illness, his reminiscences appeared in a series of articles in The New York Review of Books. They weren’t his best work, but we were grateful to be able to be present at the conversation.

Republicans have cornered the market in generic ballot polls across all political spectrums, with a massive swing in Gallup’s most recent tally and a solid showing in Rasmussen Reports’ new figures.

In mid-July, shortly after the Senate passed the financial overhaul billed as corralling Wall Street, a Gallup poll showed Democrats leading Republicans, 49 to 43 percent, in voters’ generic ballot preferences for the midterm elections.

The below report is not for the Lancaster Syringe Exchange operated by the Bethel AME Church, but rather from a comparable Pennsylvania city.

Judge for yourself whether this is the type of work that should be funded by a Public Charity with the duty of furthering public health rather than by an individual and an inner-city church.

In the midst of a hot Saturday afternoon, the Watchdog visited Skyline Park and observed the operations of the pool from outside the chain link fence. He was concerned that circumstances no longer existed that had led to a child almost drowning and being rushed to the hospital in an unconscious state. Properly guarding this expansive pool is a daunting task since it consists of five distinct areas of varying functions, all interconnected in an irregular manner.