We have some really interesting articles today, but make sure you read #1......
1/ We start with a controversial article, with a provocative title.......
The Republican Brain: Why Even Educated Conservatives Deny Science -- and Reality
New research shows that conservatives who consider themselves well-informed and educated are also deeper in denial about issues like global warming.
The premise of this story is that education and intelligence in conservatives does not lead to greater acceptance of science or facts like climate change, but actually has the opposite effect.......
Such is what is known to science--what is true (no matter what Rick Santorum might say). But the Pew data showed that humans aren’t as predictable as carbon dioxide molecules. Despite a growing scientific consensus about global warming, as of 2008 Democrats and Republicans had cleaved over the facts stated above, like a divorcing couple. One side bought into them, one side didn’t—and if anything, knowledge and intelligence seemed to be worsening matters.
Buried in the Pew report was a little chart showing the relationship between one’s political party affiliation, one’s acceptance that humans are causing global warming, and one’s level of education. And here’s the mind-blowing surprise: For Republicans, having a college degree didn’t appear to make one any more open to what scientists have to say. On the contrary, better-educated Republicans were more skeptical of modern climate science than their less educated brethren. Only 19 percent of college-educated Republicans agreed that the planet is warming due to human actions, versus 31 percent of non-college-educated Republicans.
For Democrats and Independents, the opposite was the case. More education correlated with being more accepting of climate science—among Democrats, dramatically so. The difference in acceptance between more and less educated Democrats was 23 percentage points.
This was my first encounter with what I now like to call the “smart idiots” effect: The fact that politically sophisticated or knowledgeable people are often morebiased, and less persuadable, than the ignorant. It’s a reality that generates endless frustration for many scientists—and indeed, for many well-educated, reasonable people.
And most of all, for many liberals.......
And the author has coined the descriptive phrase "smart idiots" for the intelligent conservatives who deny reality like climate change.....
But it’s not just global warming where the “smart idiot” effect occurs. It also emerges on nonscientific but factually contested issues, like the claim that President Obama is a Muslim. Belief in this falsehood actually increased moreamong better-educated Republicans from 2009 to 2010 than it did among less-educated Republicans, according to research by George Washington University political scientist John Sides.
I recommend this one be read in it's entirety, as it explains the polarization and corrosive politics we are dealing with......conservatives with strongly held views cannot be persuaded by facts or logic......and the more intelligent they are, the more they argue, because it's an emotional belief not a real one.......
This article might change your thinking.....
2/ Speaking of denying reality, Bill Maher takes aim at Mormonism including the tax deductions Romney takes when he tithes to the Mormon Church, which they then use for political lobbying.......very funny, with some excellent points in there.......brilliant clip.......
But don't forget if you convert to Mormonism you get your own planet when you die......woop woop.....4 minutes......
3/ Absolutely fascinating story on how a very small number of scientists are prolonging the ludicrous "debate" over climate change....and names the lead dissenter, a Dr. Richard Lindzen from MIT......very interesting, but one thing was lacking in the article which was "follow the money"......who pays him? A quick search below.......
LAMONT, Okla. — For decades, a small group of scientific dissenters has been trying to shoot holes in the prevailing science of climate change, offering one reason after another why the outlook simply must be wrong.
Over time, nearly every one of their arguments has been knocked down by accumulating evidence, and polls say 97 percent of working climate scientists now see global warming as a serious risk.
Yet in recent years, the climate change skeptics have seized on one last argument that cannot be so readily dismissed. Their theory is that clouds will save us.
They acknowledge that the human release of greenhouse gases will cause the planet to warm. But they assert that clouds — which can either warm or cool the earth, depending on the type and location — will shift in such a way as to counter much of the expected temperature rise and preserve the equable climate on which civilization depends.
Their theory exploits the greatest remaining mystery in climate science, the difficulty that researchers have had in predicting how clouds will change. The scientific majority believes that clouds will most likely have a neutral effect or will even amplify the warming, perhaps strongly, but the lack of unambiguous proof has left room for dissent.
“Clouds really are the biggest uncertainty,” said Andrew E. Dessler, a climate researcher at Texas A&M. “If you listen to the credible climate skeptics, they’ve really pushed all their chips onto clouds.”
Richard S. Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the leading proponent of the view that clouds will save the day. His stature in the field — he has been making seminal contributions to climate science since the 1960s — has amplified his influence.
If you Google Dr. Lindzen there are dozens of articles by fellow scientists debunking his version of science, but this one is the most telling - his funding is from the Cato Institute [a right wing think tank] funded by the oil, gas and coal industry who have a vested interest in prolonging and politicizing this "debate".......
It's amazing - 97% of scientists agree climate change is man made and heating up the earth, but this one bought and paid for 'scientist" who has sold his ethics keeps this phony debate going.......
Richard S. Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Professor Lindzen's academic interests lie within the topics of "climate, planetary waves, monsoon meteorology, planetary atmospheres, and hydrodynamic instability."
Lindzen has published work with the conservative think-tank, the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute has received $125,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. In his 1995 article, "The Heat Is On," Ross Gelbspan notes that Lindzen charged oil and coal organizations $2,500 per day for his consulting services.
4/ I love Lewis Black - I know his style takes some getting used to, but he is very funny indeed......and this segment on artisanal [?] foods is so spot on.....about 4 minutes of laughs.....
5/ Occasionally we sneak a look inside the corporate empires around us, and a nasty fight at TBN, a Christian TV network, gives us a look at the lifestyles enjoyed by the founders and their family paid for by the stupid, poor and lonely viewers of this garbage......"Praise Jesus, and send us money" is the message 24/7 on this network, and a lot of their 'ministers" get very rich.....and of course it's all tax free......
A local item - Janice Crouch has a side business "the Holy Land Experience" which is right off I-4 near the Millenia Mall......this was featured in Bill Maher's wonderful movie "Religulous"........
Good article......
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — For 39 years, the Trinity Broadcasting Network has urged viewers to give generously and reap the Lord’s bounty in return.
The prosperity gospel preached by Paul and Janice Crouch, who built a single station into the world’s largest Christian television network, has worked out well for them.
Mr. and Mrs. Crouch have his-and-her mansions one street apart in a gated community here, provided by the network using viewer donations and tax-free earnings. But Mrs. Crouch, 74, rarely sleeps in the $5.6 million house with tennis court and pool. She mostly lives in a large company house near Orlando, Fla., where she runs a side business, theHoly Land Experience theme park. Mr. Crouch, 78, has an adjacent home there too, but rarely visits. Its occupant is often a security guard who doubles as Mrs. Crouch’s chauffeur.
The twin sets of luxury homes only hint at the high living enjoyed by the Crouches, inspirational television personalities whose multitudes of stations and satellite signals reach millions of worshipers across the globe. Almost since they started in the 1970s, the couple have been criticized for secrecy about their use of donations, which totaled $93 million in 2010.
Now, after an upheaval with Shakespearean echoes, one son in this first family of televangelism has ousted the other to become the heir apparent. A granddaughter, who was in charge of TBN’s finances, has gone public with the most detailed allegations of financial improprieties yet, which TBN has denied, saying its practices were audited and legal.
The granddaughter, Brittany Koper, and her husband have been fired by the network, which accused them of stealing $1.3 million to buy real estate and cars and make family loans. “They’re just trying to divert attention from their own crimes,” said Colby May, a lawyer representing TBN. Janice and Paul Crouch declined requests for interviews.
6/ Some Republican ladies want the federal government to burrow into their lady parts.......hilarious......2 minutes, with Kate Beckinsale.......
7/ Fascinating article from one of the .01%, a colleague of Romney's at Bain Capital, who has written a book that says the income inequality here in the US, worst in the world, is a good thing......wow......
Ever since the financial crisis started, we’ve heard plenty from the 1 percent. We’ve heard them giving defensive testimony in Congressional hearings or issuing anodyne statements flanked by lawyers and image consultants. They typically repeat platitudes about investment, risk-taking and job creation with the veiled contempt that the nation doesn’t understand their contribution. You get the sense that they’re afraid to say what they really believe. What do the superrich say when the cameras aren’t there?
With that in mind, I recently met Edward Conard on 57th Street and Madison Avenue, just outside his office at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he helped build into a multibillion-dollar business by buying, fixing up and selling off companies at a profit. Conard, who retired a few years ago at 51, is not merely a member of the 1 percent. He’s a member of the 0.1 percent. His wealth is most likely in the hundreds of millions; he lives in an Upper East Side town house just off Fifth Avenue; and he is one of the largest donors to his old boss and friend, Mitt Romney.
Unlike his former colleagues, Conard wants to have an open conversation about wealth. He has spent the last four years writing a book that he hopes will forever change the way we view the superrich’s role in our society. “Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong,” to be published in hardcover next month by Portfolio, aggressively argues that the enormous and growing income inequality in the United States is not a sign that the system is rigged. On the contrary, Conard writes, it is a sign that our economy is working. And if we had a little more of it, then everyone, particularly the 99 percent, would be better off. This could be the most hated book of the year.
8/ Occasionally we put in a "nice" video....this is a blind dog living in a dumpster that gets rescued........even if you only tolerate dogs this should bring some moisture to at least one eye.......and dog lovers - get ready to weep........awwww......
9/ Matt Taibbi looks at the case of John Corzine, former Goldman Sachs honcho and Governor of New Jersey and the scandal at his former corporation MF Global. They took $1.6 billion of customers money, flat out fraud, but noone will do anything......
Taibbi also compares this to the George Zimmerman case.......an outrage.......
To make an obvious comparison: Much like the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case, the outrage here goes beyond the fact of the horrific crime. An equally profound insult in both cases lay in the fact that that serious crime obviously had been committed, and yet authorities refused to act for months. This situation with former Goldman chief and U.S. Senator Jon Corzine and the officials of MF Global involves a less physically savage offense, but the authorities' refusal to act is every bit as incredible.
Nobody disputes the fact that MF Global officials dipped into customer accounts and took over $1.6 billion of customer money. We not only know that company officials reached into customer accounts, we know they brazenly lied to bondholders, ratings agencies and investors about the firm's financial condition ("MF Global's capital and liquidity has never been stronger," wrote the CFO of MF Global’s holding company, on the same day Moody’s downgraded it to junk status).
10/ SNL looks at "Fox and Friends", and skewers them royally over their coverage of the Bin Laden anniversary.....love this clip.....5 minutes......
11/ Nicolas Kristof with an alarming column how chemicals called endocrine disruptors are affecting foetuses and children by disrupting their hormone balances. Chemicals banned in Canada and Europe are still used here because of the clout of "Big Chem"......
Read the last paragraph to see how scientists aware of this problem are protecting themselves and their families.....
Scientists are observing with increasing alarm that some very common hormone-mimicking chemicals can have grotesque effects.
A widely used herbicide acts as a female hormone and feminizes male animals in the wild. Thus male frogs can have female organs, and some male fish actually produce eggs. In a Florida lake contaminated by these chemicals, male alligators have tiny penises.
These days there is also growing evidence linking this class of chemicals to problems in humans. These include breast cancer, infertility, low sperm counts, genital deformities, early menstruation and even diabetes and obesity.
Philip Landrigan, a professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, says that a congenital defect called hypospadias — a misplacement of the urethra — is now twice as common among newborn boys as it used to be. He suspects endocrine disruptors, so called because they can wreak havoc with the endocrine system that governs hormones.
Endocrine disruptors are everywhere. They’re in thermal receipts that come out of gas pumps and A.T.M.’s. They’re in canned foods, cosmetics, plastics and food packaging. Test your blood or urine, and you’ll surely find them there, as well as in human breast milk and in cord blood of newborn babies.
In this campaign year, we are bound to hear endless complaints about excessive government regulation. But here’s an area where scientists are increasingly critical of our government for its failure to tackle Big Chem and regulate endocrine disruptors adequately.
12/ No middle ground with this video - Daft Punk "Around the World".....you are either fascinated with it, or hate it.......
13/ And here is another chemical about to be banned in Canada because it is basically a pesticide and toxic to the environment - triclosan, which is used in toothpaste and mouthwashes........check the ingredients of your toothpaste.....
I called Colgate about mine, "2 in 1 toothpaste and mouthwash", and they said it wasn't.......
Natural Health News — The Canadian government is set to declare triclosan, an antibacterial found in many toothpastes, mouthwashes and anti-bacterial soaps, as toxic to the environment.
Triclosan has been linked to numerous human and environmental health effects and has been the subject of petitions calling for its ban from consumer products. According to newspaper reports the move could see the use of the chemical curtailed sharply in Canada.
Toxic… like pesticides
Health Canada and Environment Canada – the departments within the Canadian government responsible for public health and environmental health respectively –conducted an investigation into the effects of triclosan on the body’s hormone system and whether the antibacterial agent contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance along with the effect of widespread use on the environment.
The assessment found that triclosan was toxic to the environment – not surprising since antibacterial chemicals are essentially pesticides.
However, the investigation did not find enough evidence to say conclusively that it is hazardous to human health. This is in part because so few studies exist into the long term effects of triclosan exposure
No proven health benefits
Triclosan has been used in consumer products since 1967. But it is only in the last decade or so that its use has exploded onto the marketplace. It is now used in hundreds of consumer products ranging from antibacterial soaps, deodorants, toothpastes, cosmetics, fabrics, toys, and other household and personal care products.
While antibacterial products are marketed as agents that protect and safeguard against potential harmful bacteria, studies conclude that antibacterial soaps show no health benefits over plain soaps.
Worse it has become ubiquitous chemical; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has found that triclosan is present in the urine of 75% of the US population, with concentrations that have increased by 42% since 2004.
But if your toothpaste is Colgate Total, it has it.........
14/ Watch Lindsey Lohan's face age and change over 25 years.....see the effects of drugs, alcohol and plastic surgery age a beautiful girl, and when you look at the final picture remember she's 25 years old!
I showed this to Mary, and she was horrified.......
15/ Our intrepid Governor the Rickster had a bad week........and also the ad campaign he was running for the past month has not worked - the same amount of people [majority] still think he is a scum sucking pig dog.....
As bad weeks go, you might argue John Edwards, on trial for being a louse in North Carolina, was practically tiptoeing through the tulips compared to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who over the course of a few short days may have successfully managed to offend more people than crazy-as-a-loon Gainesville pastor Terry Jones contemplating a match and a Koran.
First Gov. Clouseau jetted off to Miami for a publicity stunt to sign a loopy bill that would prohibit state and local governments from hiring companies for contracts worth at least $1 million if they also do business with either Cuba and Syria. Obviously, Syria was glued onto the legislation only after the regime's leader, Bashar Assad, decided to turn his country into the Cambodia of the Mediterranean.
This was always little more than a feckless and unenforceable political bone tossed to the Miami Cuban community. All the governor had to do was fly in, sign this cooked-up legislation, say bad things about Fidel Castro, have a cup of cafe con leche and get out of town.
But nooooooooo! Scott had to commit the worst possible boo-boo in politics. He admitted it was all just theater. No good would come from this.
Todays video - 'The Funeral".......a beautiful tribute.......
Todays clever jokes
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
3. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
4. Bozone: The substance surrounding people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
9. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
10. Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
11. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
12. Arachnoleptic Fit: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
13. Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
14. Caterpallor: The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee (n): The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj): Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate (v): To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Willy-nilly (adj): Impotent.
5. Negligent (adj): Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
6. Lymph (v): To walk with a lisp.
7. Gargoyle (n): Olive-flavored mouthwash.
8. Flatulence (n): Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
9. Balderdash (n): A rapidly receding hairline.
10. Rectitude (n): The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
11. Pokemon (n): A Rastafarian proctologist.
12. Oyster (n): A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
13. Circumvent (n): An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men
Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
3. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
4. Bozone: The substance surrounding people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
9. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
10. Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
11. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
12. Arachnoleptic Fit: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
13. Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
14. Caterpallor: The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee (n): The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj): Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate (v): To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Willy-nilly (adj): Impotent.
5. Negligent (adj): Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
6. Lymph (v): To walk with a lisp.
7. Gargoyle (n): Olive-flavored mouthwash.
8. Flatulence (n): Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
9. Balderdash (n): A rapidly receding hairline.
10. Rectitude (n): The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
11. Pokemon (n): A Rastafarian proctologist.
12. Oyster (n): A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
13. Circumvent (n): An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men
Todays retiree joke
I was in Starbuck`s recently when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to fart.
The music was really loud so I timed my fart with the beat of the music.
After a couple of songs I started to feel better.
I finished my coffee and noticed that everyone was staring at me…
And suddenly I remembered I was listening to my iPod
…and how was your day?
That's what happens when old people start using technology !
Todays guys joke
A woman arrived at a party. While scanning the guests, she spotted an attractive man standing alone.
She approached him, smiled and said, "Hello. My name is Carmen."
"That's a beautiful name," he replied. "Is it a family name?"
No," she replied. As a matter of fact I gave it to myself. It represents the things that I enjoy the most - cars and men. Therefore I chose "Carmen".
"What's your name?" she asked.
He answered "B.J. Titsengolf."
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