The Social Costs of Pornography

Not surprising:

RealClearPolitics - The Social Costs of Pornography: "'The large body of research on pornography reveals that it functions as a teacher of, a permission-giver for, and a trigger of many negative behaviors and attitudes that can severely damage not only the users but many others, including strangers.'

But to me the most important potential cost of porn is its effects on ordinary men and their ordinary relationships. According to Layden: 'Exposure to pornography leads men to rate their female partners as less attractive than they would have had they not been exposed and to be less satisfied with their partners' attractiveness, sexual performance, and level of affection, and expressed a greater desire for sex without emotional involvement.'

She concludes: 'For males, more pornography use was associated with greater acceptance of sex outside of marriage for married individuals, greater acceptance of sex before marriage and less child-centeredness during marriage. The reduced desire for children is especially pronounced in a reduced desire for female children.'

Men who use porn do not want daughters. What does that tell you about the social costs of porn?"

Diversi-Tea Training

Intolerance for the opinion of others. How progressive:

Diversi-Tea Training - WSJ.com: "'Oreos,' 'Uncle Toms,' 'spook at the door': it turns out people are 'lobbing' racial slurs! When Johnson speaks of the assumption that 'the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks,' does anyone doubt the accuracy of his perception?

It is Democrats, not Republicans, who hold this race-based assumption. And it doesn't actually go both ways. No white American today suffers the indignity of being labeled a 'traitor' to his race; the supposedly liberal assumption is that blacks, and only blacks, are expected to think a certain way because of the color of their skin. As Bauman reports:

Black conservatives don't want to have to apologize for their divergent views.
'I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'�' said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.
Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.
'I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions,' he said. 'They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community. .�.�. Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?'"

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies

Wow, this is from CNN?

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies - CNN.com: "When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story.
Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders; racist rhetoric spewed from what seems to be a largely white, male audience; and angry protesters rallying around the Constitution.
Case in point: During the health care debate last month, opponents shouted racial slurs at civil rights icon Georgia Rep. John Lewis and one person spit on Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The incidents made national headlines, and they provided Tea Party opponents with fodder to question the movement.
But here's what you don't often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: Patriotic signs professing a love for country; mothers and fathers with their children; African-Americans proudly participating; and senior citizens bopping to a hip-hop rapper."

Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem

Very interesting:

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Progressives can't get past the Knowledge Problem | Washington Examiner: "'If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?' -- President Reagan, Jan. 20, 1981.

Economist Friedrich Hayek explained in 1945 why centrally controlled 'command economies' were doomed to waste, inefficiency, and collapse: Insufficient knowledge. He won a Nobel Prize. But it turns out he was righter than he knew.

In his 'The Use of Knowledge In Society,' Hayek explained that information about supply and demand, scarcity and abundance, wants and needs exists in no single place in any economy. The economy is simply too large and complicated for such information to be gathered together.

Any economic planner who attempts to do so will wind up hopelessly uninformed and behind the times, reacting to economic changes in a clumsy, too-late fashion and then being forced to react again to fix the problems that the previous mistakes created, leading to new problems, and so on."

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake

Oops! Sorry about that. Heh, this guy is a weapon of mass destruction.

Chopra Blames Own Meditation for Baja Quake - AOL News: "The U.S. Geological Survey is blaming day-to-day seismological changes for Sunday's 7.2 earthquake along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-medicine practitioner and transcendental meditation guru, is pretty sure he knows what really happened.

'Had a powerful meditation just now -- caused an earthquake in Southern California,' Chopra wrote to his nearly 179,000 Twitter followers shortly after the quake.

And then, to clarify: 'Was meditating on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake,' he tweeted. 'Sorry about that.'"

For some, a low profile on health vote

The old duck and cover strategy:

For some, a low profile on health vote - James Hohmann - POLITICO.com: "Before Congress left town for the spring recess, Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged rank-and-file Democrats to return home and tout the benefits of the landmark health care bill.

But instead of barnstorming their districts celebrating their historic accomplishment, some have been content to remain beneath the radar, reluctant to advertise their role in passing the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s domestic policy agenda.

Rep. John Boccieri, who represents this conservative area in northeast Ohio, is one of them."

Who Lost Iraq?

This doesn't look good:

Center For Security Policy: "Back in February, Vice President Joseph Biden declared: 'I am very optimistic about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration.' Even for a politician much given to strategic ineptitude compounded by foot-in-mouth disease, that was a doozy.

As has been pointed out innumerable times since, if Iraq turns out to be a truly 'great achievement' in any ordinary sense of the word, Mr. Biden and Barack Obama - two of the most insistent opponents of George W. Bush's efforts to consolidate Iraq's liberation - are among the last people in Washington who should take such credit.

Worse yet, unfortunately for the Iraqi people and others who love freedom, it looks increasingly as though the Obama administration will have the loss of Iraq as one of its most signal accomplishments."

The Psychology of UCI’s Muslim Student Union

Interesting:

Pajamas Media The Psychology of UCI’s Muslim Student Union: "No modern phenomenon has impacted college campuses today more than the Muslim Student Association/Union. Founded in 1963 by the Muslim Brotherhood — the same radical Sunni organization that spawned the terror group Hamas — the MSU has since made headlines around the country due to its militant and controversial rhetoric. The MSU, especially that of University of California at Irvine, is infamous for attracting charges of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, as well as for sparking the 2007 investigation of UCI for anti-Semitism. The MSU is no stranger to the First Amendment. Come May every year, the organizations hides behind it so its members can spout anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic remarks on college campuses. And just last February, MSU members at UCI attempted to use their right to free speech in order to deny Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren his own free speech, as Pajamas Media’s Roger L. Simon documented when he interviewed Oren for PJTV.

Despite all this, the MSU continues to grow unhindered on college campuses around the world. The questions that I and many others ask is: why?"

Note to Liberal Elite: It's Not About Race

The charge of racism is losing it's meaning:

RealClearPolitics - Note to Liberal Elite: It's Not About Race: "New York Times columnist Frank Rich argues that opponents of Obama's healthcare legislation are motivated by racism. The Washington Post's Colbert King believes Tea Party activists 'forerunners' are Southern segregationists. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Cynthia Tucker views racist incidents as a 'reflection on the Grand Old Party' overall.

We heard the same arguments last September. Liberals were struggling to make sense of the angry town hall meetings. 'An overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man,' Jimmy Carter said. Days before, the Times' Maureen Dowd concluded that the 'shrieking lunacy of the summer' had 'much to do with race.'

Gratuitous charges of racism are no sideshow. They capture an enduring mistake of modern liberalism. And that mistake disserves liberals most."

Obama the Promise Keeper!

Hot Air Video: NRSC hails Obama the Promise Keeper!