Truth or Progressivism--take your pick

Study: Hot female reporters are distracting

Hey pal, eyes up here. She's trying to tell you about genocide and financial collapse. What's that you say? You missed the headlines again because the anchor babe was confusing your man brain? You're not alone – a much-forwarded study published this week from Indiana University researchers Maria Elizabeth Grabe and Lelia Samson in Communication Research found that the SEXIER A FEMALE NEWS REPORTER IS, THE LESS LIKELY MALE VIEWERS WERE TO REGARD HER AS QUALIFIED FOR WAR AND POLITICAL REPORTING – AND TO REMEMBER WHAT SHE SAID.

Researchers had a 24-year-old woman do a short newscast twice, one time wearing a shapeless outfit, and another dolled up in red lipstick and dressed to accentuate her waist-to-hip ratio. The more alluring the waist-to-hip ratio, the less credible the reporter appeared. But while a sexed up anchor might not make a dent into her male viewers' ears, the Indiana study found women viewers reported no such disconnect. The study also didn't mention whether all its subjects identified as straight, so who knows what results the researchers might have obtained if they'd throw a little Ron Corning into the mix? Who among us has not occasionally spaced out the fact that someone was a litany of bad news because said individual was also wicked hot?

http://www.salon.com/news/media_criticism/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/01/27/men_ignore_hot_news_anchors


Hawaii bill would charge $100 for President Obama's birth records

FOR JUST $100, YOU TOO MIGHT BE ABLE TO OWN A COPY OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BIRTH RECORDS.

Democratic lawmakers in Hawaii introduced a bill this week that would allow anybody to obtain Obama's personal documents, an effort aimed to silence so-called “birthers" and CLOSE A PROJECTED $800 MILLION BUDGET DEFICIT OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

The legislation would reverse a privacy law that bars the release birth records to anybody without a tangible interest, like family members.

"IF IT PASSES, IT WILL CALM THE BIRTHERS DOWN," THE BILL'S PRIMARY SPONSOR, REP. RIDA CABANILLA SAID. "All these people are still doubting it because they don't want the birth certificate from Obama. They want it from our state office."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/01/28/2011-01-28_hawaii_bill_would_charge_100_for_president_obamas_birth_records_effort_to_silenc.html

This would answer a lot doubts. I think it’s a good idea, but I doubt it will pass.

What a surprise!

A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS AIRPORTS TO REPLACE GOVERNMENT SCREENERS WITH PRIVATE SCREENERS IS BEING BROUGHT TO A STANDSTILL, JUST A MONTH AFTER THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SAID IT WAS "NEUTRAL" ON THE PROGRAM.


TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/index.html?hpt=T2

Of course he doesn’t see any advantage to it. It makes TSA look bad. A government monopoly is still just a monopoly only they can simply ban competition.

Democrats Charged in 'Massive' Voter Fraud Case

TWO DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS IN AN UPSTATE NEW YORK CITY HAVE BEEN CHARGED IN A "MASSIVE" VOTER FRAUD CASE first reported a year ago on Fox News.

A 59-page, 116-COUNT INDICTMENT CHARGES TROY DEMOCRATIC CITY COUNCILMAN MICHAEL LOPORTO AND EDWARD MCDONOUGH, DEMOCRATIC COMMISSIONER OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY BOARD of Elections, with forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument. The two men arrive in court in handcuffs on Friday and pleaded not guilty.

SEVEN OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES ARE SAID TO BE TARGETS OF THE CONTINUING INVESTIGATION. The Fox News Voter Fraud unit first reported the brazen allegations just over a year ago, with reports that absentee ballots and applications were forged to try to stuff the ballot box and steal an election.

The case involves absentee ballots from the Working Families Party primary in September of 2009 for the Troy City Council and Rensselaer County legislature. It has been alleged the signatures and absentee excuses of unsuspecting voters were forged, all to ensure the Democratic candidates also won the Working Families Party line. Democratic candidates in New York State often run as Working Families Party hopefuls

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Old Rules Won’t Determine GOP Presidential Candidate Our politics have changed.

The weakest part of our political system, by a considerable margin, is the presidential nominating process. It tends to exclude from consideration those with the greatest experience in areas that are uniquely the president’s responsibility: foreign policy and military strategy.

It tends less strongly to exclude members of Congress, particularly House members but also senators, whose extensive voting records inevitably contain material that is politically damaging at some point in the process. The process has become so lengthy that candidates often come up with strategies and programs that are rendered obsolete by the time of the next presidential inauguration.

All that said, we are stuck with it — or stuck with the version of the schedule that the national Democratic and Republican parties, acting for once in concert, and the various state parties and state legislatures can agree on.

SO IT MAY BE WORTHWHILE, BEFORE TRYING TO ASSESS THE CHANCES OF LIKELY, PUTATIVE, AND POSSIBLE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES IN THE 2012 CYCLE, TO DISMISS SOME OF THE RULES OF THUMB THAT HAVE ARISEN OVER THE YEARS.

The first is the notion that the Republican nomination always goes to the candidate next in line in seniority.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/258070/old-rules-won-t-determine-gop-presidential-candidate-michael-barone

A good read as to what the new rules may be.

How to Get Rich from Liberal Delusions

The secret to instant wealth is to spot a mass delusion and bet against it. The Tulip Craze. Florida swamp land.

Getting the timing right is tricky, but we are blessed with an overload of mass delusions. You can pick your own favorite. Delusional bubbles have to pop at some point, because the people who are paying for them eventually figure out that they've been had.

GLOBAL WARMING FRAUD is now in the midst of a slow collapse. The Chicago Carbon Exchange just closed, because the investors figured out the scam. But the list of liberal crazes is long, and we can EXPECT THE MEDIA TO MAKE UP EVER-NEW HEADLINES TO KEEP THEIR BUSINESS MODEL ALIVE. For George Soros, it's not only profitable, but it's also a good cause, because socialist world government is his guiding fantasy. It was socialist Europe that made up global warming, and turned Mad Cow into a mass hysteria. You can bet that the big investors had it figured out long before things got rolling…..

THE ONE THING WE KNOW IS THAT THE LEFT WILL FIND ANOTHER SCARE STORY TO PANIC YOU WITH.

OUR MEDIA HYSTERIAS ARE SO DUMB -- THEY ARE SO ANTI-SCIENCE, ANTI-TECHNOLOGY, AND ANTI-COMMON SENSE -- that the only question is "When will the next balloon go up?"

BUT DON'T EXPECT THE LIBS TO FIGURE IT OUT. They will fall for it the way they always do. Mass delusion satisfies their need for a personal faith. THEY MAY NOT BELIEVE IN ANY ORGANIZED RELIGION, BUT THE MEDIA HAVE THEM BELIEVING IN ORGANIZED PANICS.

MAKING MONEY FROM LIBERAL DELUSIONS IS NOT NEW. Bernie Madoff ran his Ponzi scheme on liberal charities 'cause that's where the biggest suckers are. Starry-eyed college kids are now planning careers in "the nonprofit sector," meaning they expect to take their salaries and perks off the top. But they need good media sob stories, like Obama's and Bill Ayers's pitch to a foundation, getting 196 million bucks for inner-city schools with a "jazz-based curriculum." Then they took the money to buy political IOUs in Chicago.

OBAMA STARTED OFF AS A CON ARTIST, AND HE IS STILL DOING IT, BUT ON A MUCH GRANDER SCALE. Millions of liberals still bow down to their little home shrine of Obama today because they're terrified of being called "racists" if they don't. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS A GIANT GUILT TRIP TO BILK AMERICA. AL SHARPTON GOES FOR DIRECT EXTORTION, BUT THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO MILK THIS COW.

Barney Frank specialized in laws requiring empty mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/how_to_get_rich_from_liberal_d.html

What is amazing to me is how the left accuses the right of ruling by fear.  It seems to be more than  a bit hypocritical.


The Supreme Court Is Not Our Benevolent Dictator

The clear and inherent constraints of the Constitution would, if applied with intellectual honesty, put an end to the expansionist vision of the federal government that IS ESSENTIAL TO THE LEFT'S PROGRAM OF STATISM.


The Left cannot abide applying the Constitution as it is written because this would upend its multipronged efforts to reshape American government and society at large. There is, for example, NOTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION ALLOWING FOR A FEDERAL MANDATE THAT ALL ADULTS PURCHASE HEALTH INSURANCE.


The Founders gave their political successors an amendment process so they might alter the text as the latter deemed wise (with, of course, the consent of voters in the states), and even included an amendment of their own (the 10th) clarifying that what is not delegated to the federal government is the province of the states. WHY WOULD THEY BOTHER WITH THESE THINGS IF THEY BELIEVED THE TEXT SHOULD BE OPEN TO CONTINUOUS, IDEOLOGICAL REINTERPRETATION?

These are chilling notions to the liberal ideologues who wish to impose their omni-beneficence on us plebian unwashed. Only a "living, breathing" Constitution affords the room to get around the text's obvious constrictions. Just so my meaning is sufficiently transparent: A person breathes. A document states.


THERE IS ANOTHER DIMENSION TO THIS NARRATIVE: A WILLINGNESS BY SOME ON THE LEFT TO CONSIGN TO THE SUPREME COURT ALL POWER OVER CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION.

"Anybody who knows anything about constitutional law knows it's up to nine men or women [to determine] what the Constitution says," said Rep. Steve Cohen (D.-Tenn.) in his attack on the reading of the charter's text on the House floor. …


IF COHEN IS CORRECT, NOTHING DONE BY ANY OTHER BRANCH OR LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT CAN BE VIEWED AS FIRM. All remains tentative until five Supreme Court justices decide its validity. And then only until another five decide whether their predecessors were correct.


Consider the wise words of Abraham Lincoln, given during his first inaugural. Reflecting on the exact attitude toward the Constitution portrayed by Cohen, Mr. Lincoln noted that "IF THE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT UPON VITAL QUESTIONS AFFECTING THE WHOLE PEOPLE IS TO BE IRREVOCABLY FIXED BY DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT ... THE PEOPLE WILL HAVE CEASED TO BE THEIR OWN RULERS, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal."

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41473


I think the left is perfectly fine with the people ceasing to be their own rulers. They feel that a ruling elite could do the job better as they know what is good for everyone (read the book “What’s the matter with Kansas).

Advocating violence on the Left

Frances Fox Piven is a sociology professor who for four decades has advocated violent social upheaval as a means of effecting the radical change she believes in. HER NOTION OF APPROPRIATE CHANGE IS QUITE OBVIOUSLY THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE PRODUCTIVE CLASS AND ELECTED PUBLIC LEADERS IN FAVOR OF PEOPLE LIKE -- AHEM -- HERSELF.

This week, GLENN BECK CALLED PIVEN OUT ON HER ADVOCACY OF VIOLENCE. In response, the New York Times, a group that has amusingly chosen to call itself the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the American Sociological Association HAVE ATTACKED BECK FOR DARING TO TAKE HER AT HER WORD. Now, with Piven exposed to a broader audience than usual as a firebrand who holds views dangerous to democratic life, her friends have dolled her up in widow's weeds (her equally radical husband, Richard Cloward, died in 2001) and noted her age (78) to distract us from her work.

They want us to think, as did Psycho's Norman Bates channeling his long-dead mother, that "[t]hey'll see and they'll know and they'll say, 'WHY SHE WOULDN'T EVEN HARM A FLY.'"....

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/clarices_pieces_she_wouldnt_ev.html

Almost everything about this story is bad news for the left. The most recent article that Piven wrote came out January 10th right after the Gifford attack and the left’s accusation of the rights violent rhetoric. When Glenn Beck called her on it, the left who sees him as one of the worst offenders attacked him rather than disown Piven call for violence. They in effect doubled down and appear to be getting punished for it.


The 10 families who are costing us an astonishing £1m a year between them just in housing benefits

TEN FAMILIES IN ENGLAND ARE SHARING AN ASTONISHING £1MILLION A YEAR IN HOUSING BENEFITS, IT EMERGED LAST NIGHT.

The huge sums being lavished on the families by the taxpayer are allowing them to live in streets normally reserved for millionaires.

FIVE OF THE FAMILIES ARE RECEIVING THE MAXIMUM PAYMENT OF £2,000 PER WEEK.

It is the first proof that George Osborne was correct when he claimed some households were receiving sums in excess of £100,000 a year.

Last night, the Chancellor told the Daily Mail: ‘It is precisely this kind of shocking waste of public money under the previous Labour government that led to Britain’s debt problems.

‘We are bringing an end to this by putting a cap on the total amount of benefit that a family can receive so the days of £100,000 housing benefit claims are gone.’

THE COALITION TRIGGERED A FURIOUS REACTION LAST YEAR WHEN IT UNVEILED PLANS TO CUT THE TOP RATE OF HOUSING BENEFIT TO £400 A WEEK. Chris Bryant, the Labour justice spokesman, said the cuts would lead to ‘social cleansing’, with 200,000 people forced out of the capital.

THE MAYOR OF LONDON, BORIS JOHNSON, ALSO SPOKE OF A ‘KOSOVO-STYLE’ EXODUS.

Critics even questioned whether Mr Osborne could back his claim that some families were in receipt of six-figure annual sums......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351537/The-10-families-costing-1m-state-handouts.html#ixzz1CRJJsCx9


Well if you are progressive you can understand why the taxpayer should have to pay over $150,000 per year for someone on the dole to be able to stay in London.

Nine days later-- Tucson the aftermath

The Chrysalis Opens

….Instead, the metamorphosizing PRESIDENT PUT HIS FINGER TO THE WIND. He soon learned that HIS LEFTIST BASE WITHIN 72 HOURS HAD TURNED OFF THE PUBLIC WITH ITS DEMAGOGIC CHARGES OF CONSERVATIVE CULPABILITY FOR A DERANGED KILLER murdering the innocent. And so Obama summarily JETTISONED HIS LEFTIST SCAPEGOATING BASE. In dispassionate fashion, he figured that within hours the New York Times et al. would Trotskyize their earlier narratives, and most of the left would cease the poll-killing (excuse the metaphor) “climate of hate” narrative.

HE WAS RIGHT. The progressive community snapped back into line, reminding the country that THE DESIRE FOR POWER AND STATUS ALWAYS TRUMPS IDEOLOGY. Hillary Clinton was especially embarrassed: one day she was sermonizing on foreign soil in morally equivalent fashion about an American version of an “extremist”; the next day, her boss told the world that the only thing extreme about the killer was his own nihilistic madness (and by implication damned those vultures [e.g., Ms. Clinton included] who clumsily try to make political points from tragedy).

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-post-tucson-era/


Obama apparently would rather be a two term president than one that is a hero to the hard left. This should be interesting to watch.

Dupnik confesses:



He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. HIS ANGER WOULD WELL UP AT THE SIGHT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16loughner.html

So Loughner was a truther and hated W. It seems he must have been a democrat or at least was undistinguishable from one politically.


Poll: Americans Split on What to Cut from Government

News poll finds that Americans strongly prefer cutting spending to raising taxes to reduce the federal deficit. While 77 PERCENT PREFER TO CUT SPENDING, JUST NINE PERCENT CALL FOR RAISING TAXES. ANOTHER NINE PERCENT WANT TO DO BOTH.

Yet most Americans could not volunteer a program they'd be willing to see cut in order to reduce the deficit - only 38 percent could name a program they would support cutting. The top responses were military/defense (six percent), Social Security/Medicare (four percent) and welfare/food stamps (four percent).

However, AMERICANS ARE MORE WILLING TO CONSIDER CUTS WHEN PRESENTED WITH SPECIFIC IDEAS, as the chart above illustrates. The most popular ideas for reducing the deficit are to reduce Social Security benefits for the wealthy, reduce the money allocated to projects in their own community, reduce farm subsidies and reduce defense spending. More than 50 percent supported reductions in each of those programs.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028612-503544.html


I believe the Obama Administration went on the spending spree feeling they would be able in the future to cut back on some of the huge increases in spending and make the case to raise taxes. It seems the left feels Americans aren’t tax enough already as they always compare us to Europe where a greater share of the national wealth is taken by government. Evidently their strategy has not worked.

Dreams of his Opponents

….The person Williams should have been asking about "responsibility" is the president. OBAMA'S CONSPICUOUS FABRICATIONS OVER THE YEARS HAVE CAUSED EVEN THE SOBER AMONG US TO DOUBT HIS ORIGINS STORY…..


….In his 1995 memoir Dreams from My Father, Obama made the same claim. "HE HAD LEFT HAWAII BACK IN 1963," HE WROTE OF OBAMA SR., "WHEN I WAS ONLY TWO YEARS OLD."



…Obama writes ruefully in Dreams, "NO MENTION IS MADE OF MY MOTHER OR ME, AND I'M LEFT TO WONDER WHETHER THE OMISSION WAS INTENTIONAL ON MY FATHER'S PART, in anticipation of his long departure." What Obama does not mention is that THE ARTICLE WAS DATED JUNE 22, 1962.



OBAMA WAS REPORTEDLY BORN ON AUGUST 4, 1961. He was not yet a year old at the time Obama Sr. left Hawaii for good. More to the point, OBAMA FAILS TO MENTION THAT HE AND HIS MOTHER, ANN DUNHAM, WERE LIVING IN SEATTLE AT THE TIME AND HAD BEEN SINCE AT LEAST AUGUST 19, 1961, THE DAY SHE ENROLLED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON…..



……QUESTIONS LINGER ABOUT THE PATERNITY OF MANY OF THESE OFFSPRING. In Dreams, Obama's cryptic and contrarian Aunt Sarah would tell her presumed nephew, " ... THE CHILDREN WHO CLAIM TO BE OBAMA'S ARE NOT OBAMA'S." Obama must have wondered whether she was referring to him.



Curiously, when Obama found the article about Obama Sr.'s departure, he found it "folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms." Later in Dreams, in a passage heretofore overlooked, OBAMA UNWITTINGLY REVEALS THAT THERE MAY HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS WITH THAT BIRTH CERTIFICATE.



On the occasion of his father's death in 1982, lawyers contacted anyone who might have claim to the estate. "UNLIKE MY MUM," OBAMA TELLS HIS HALF-SISTER AUMA IN DREAMS, "RUTH HAS ALL THE DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO PROVE WHO MARK'S FATHER WAS."



THE LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE COULD POSE A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS OTHER THAN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, including the date of Obama's birth, the state of his birth, and the identity of his father. Any one of these revelations could unravel the yarn that Obama has been spinning.



These problems derive from the fact that ANN DUNHAM ENROLLED AT UNIVERSITY ON AUGUST 19, 1961 and returned to Hawaii only after Obama Sr. had left Hawaii for good. Both of these facts are more firmly established than President Obama's Honolulu birth on August 4, 1961. In my forthcoming book, Deconstructing Obama, I review these possibilities in some detail.



The failure of the mainstream media to even address the inconsistencies in Obama's story is downright shameful. That failure has created a windstorm of curiosity that is becoming increasingly difficult for the media to ignore. The final responsibility for the outburst in Congress last week is theirs.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/what_obama_has_said_about_his.html


I had read about this before. Rather than being born of a foreign national in Kenya, the author appears to believe Obama’s father was not Obama Sr., but rather a friend of his grandfather and Obama was not born only 2 weeks before his mother moved to Washington State, but rather six months before he was supposedly born (that would eliminate Obama as his father). That is the reason he has not released his birth certificate. In short, Obama’s citizenship is not in doubt, but his paternity may be.

Many Russians here aligning with Republicans

MANY RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS to the "red borough" of Staten Island ARE FLOCKING TO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, saying that the NATIONAL DEMOCRATS' "SOCIALISTIC" POLICIES REMIND THEM TOO MUCH OF THE TOP-DOWN OLIGARCHY THEY FLED IN THEIR NATIVE LAND.


With many of the borough's Russian arrivees already owning businesses and active in civic organizations, their muscle could help the Island GOP solidify electoral gains made this year, when the party took back congressional and Assembly seats.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/many_russians_here_aligning_wi.html


Nothing surprising here.


The Looming Energy Debate

Over the past years, the CZECH REPUBLIC has invested heavily in renewable energy, such as solar power. Unsurprisingly, the Czech government IS NOW QUIETLY ADMITTING THAT ENERGY PRICES ARE GOING TO RISE, in part, due to these subsidies and the resulting higher energy costs which the public must now purchase.

Powerline suggests that this SAME LOOMING CONSEQUENCE IN AMERICA WILL BE "THE NEXT OBAMA DISASTER." In light of rising oil costs, energy is an issue waiting in the wings for its cue to take center stage in the public debate. Having opposed off-shore drilling and committed America to renewable energy, Obama will not endure such a debate unscathed.

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/2011/01/the-looming-energy-debate.php


The Obama’s administrations’ energy policy has been a disaster. Subsidizing as of yet unworkable technologies while shutting down workable ones will hit the American public soon. This will not bode well for Obama and the Democrats in 2012.

Free Speech in Academia

Concerned parents looking to send their kids to a college free from repressive speech codes can now add another option to their list. Last semester, the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA (UVA) ELIMINATED THE LAST OF A SERIES OF POLICIES THAT UNCONSTITUTIONALLY RESTRICTED THE FREE SPEECH OF STUDENTS AND FACULTY MEMBERS. Two-thirds of the nation's colleges maintain policies that clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech. But now, UVA is an exception to the rule having fully reformed four speech codes over the course of the last year.

PRESIDENT TERESA SULLIVAN SHOULD BE COMMENDED for overseeing these important changes, which guarantee the First Amendment rights of students and faculty members at the University of Virginia. Within just three months of taking office, President Sullivan has overseen the transformation of UVA from a school that earned FIRE's worst “red light” rating for restricting protected speech to their highest “green light” rating. But there is another UVA administrator who deserves even higher praise than President Sullivan.

FIRE began working with UVA administrator Dean Allen Groves in April 2010 after Adam Kissel gave a lecture on free speech that was hosted by two UVA student groups - Students for Individual Liberty and Liberty Coalition.

http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeAdams/2011/01/17/a_cavalier_administrator/page/full/


Who could object to free speech, especially at the University level? Evidently a lot of people can and do. But this article is good news.