According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the “licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour”, otherwise known as “moral balancing” or “compensatory ethics”.
Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the “halo of green consumerism” are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. “Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours,” they write.
And this cannot be disputed, because it is science!
The latest from the crazy people in the tea bag movement is, uh, a story about, um, Virginia Thomas, she is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; and she’s setting up a teabagger nonprofit group. Now this will be interesting because the teabaggers are essentially racist; and how are they’re going to deal with a very dark Clarence Thomas and a very white Virginia Thomas setting up subdivision of their crazed tea bagger party; how they’re going to deal with that will be great fun to watch.
Yeah, because, you know, conservative white patriots just hate Clarence Thomas so much, and have proclaimed publicly that his opinions are “poorly written” and that he is “an embarrassment to the court.”
The people who live in California’s San Joaquin Valley have had their water turned off in order to protect a tiny fish called the delta smelt. As a result farm land that used to be prime agricultural land are now dust bowls. It devastated the economy as well, driving up the the unemployment rate in some areas to as high as 41 percent. Yet for months on end, President Obama said and did nothing to help the people in the Central Valley.
But now the president’s health care reforms are on the ropes and the San Joaquin Valley’s two blue-dog Democratic congressmen Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa have been reluctant to support the president’s reforms. So imagine everyone’s surprise when the Department of the Interior announced yesterday that it is dramatically increasing the water supply to the valley’s parched lands. And what a coincidence, now the two California congressmen who were once “undecided” are being moved over into the “yes” column….
Man, just wait until this blatant corruption gets covered in the mainstream media! I am sure they will get right on that story as soon as they finish that super-important expose on Chairman Zero’s NCAA picks. (1,153 articles on Google News this morning.)
When the San Francisco über liberal Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of the House she said she was going to drain the swamp of political corruption they claimed were created by 12 years of Republican control of Congress. Instead of draining anything Speaker Pelosi and her ham-fisted cohorts have brought slime time to prime time as they wallow in what they came to drain. (more…)
Hawaiian public service officials are normally the most laid-back public service officials in the country; to get on their last nerves you really have to work at it.
HONOLULU — Birthers beware: Hawaii may start ignoring your repeated requests for proof that President Barack Obama was born here.
As the state continues to receive e-mails seeking Obama’s birth certificate, the state House Judiciary Committee heard a bill Tuesday permitting government officials to ignore people who won’t give up.
“Sometimes we may be dealing with a cohort of people who believe lack of evidence is evidence of a conspiracy,” said Lorrin Kim, chief of the Hawaii Department of Health’s Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development. …
Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino issued statements last year and in October 2008 saying that she’s seen vital records that prove Obama is a natural-born American citizen.
But the state still gets between 10 and 20 e-mails seeking verification of Obama’s birth each week, most of them from outside Hawaii, Kim said Tuesday.
A few of these requesters continue to pepper the Health Department with the same letters seeking the same information, even after they’re told state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. Responding wastes time and money, Kim said.
Ed Morrissey has done a terrific job at Hot Air chronicling President Obama’s malapropisms, blunders, fantasy math, and history-flubbing with his “Obamateurisms” series. It’s a gaffe-a-minute with the supposedly silver-tongued emir of eloquence.
If there were a Nobel Prize for Gaffetastic-ity, Obama would be a deserving recipient (for once).
Now comes this bizarro statement from tonight’s interview with FNC’s Bret Baier — a hands-down winner for tomorrow’s Obamateurism of the Day:
Transcript:
BAIER: Do you know which specific deals are in or out, as of today?
OBAMA: I am certain that we’ve made sure, for example, that any burdens on states are alleviated, when it comes to what they’re going to have to chip in to make sure that we’re giving subsidies to small businesses, and subsidies to individuals, for example.
BAIER: So the Connecticut deal is still in?
OBAMA: So that’s not — that’s not going to be something that is going to be in this final package. I think the same is true on all of these provisions. I’ll give you some exceptions though.
Something that was called a special deal was for Louisiana. It was said that there were billions — millions of dollars going to Louisiana, this was a special deal. Well, in fact, that provision, which I think should remain in, said that if a state has been affected by a natural catastrophe, that has created a special health care emergency in that state, they should get help. Louisiana, obviously, went through Katrina, and they’re still trying to deal with the enormous challenges that were faced because of that.
(CROSS TALK)
OBAMA: That also — I’m giving you an example of one that I consider important. It also affects Hawaii, which went through an earthquake. So that’s not just a Louisiana provision. That is a provision that affects every state that is going through a natural catastrophe.
Now I have said that there are certain provisions, like this Nebraska one, that don’t make sense. And they needed to be out. And we have removed those. So, at the end of the day, what people are going to be able to say is that this legislation is going to be providing help to small businesses and individuals, across the board, in an even handed way, and providing people relief from a status quo that’s just not working.
Cassy Fiano and Allahpundit intrepidly attempt to decipher:
Apparently, there was a devastating earthquake in Hawaii that we all somehow missed.
Oh, wait, no. That’s right. There was no earthquake, and Obama is just totally clueless, as usual. In fact, the last earthquake in Hawaii to cause any deaths at all was in 1975, and two people died.
In any case, why is he using this argument, anyways? He’s turned this health care bill into a one-size-fits-all solution for everything. Not only will it fix our health care, but it will apparently create jobs and give disaster relief around the country!
…Update (AP): …My guess is Obama meant to say that Hawaii went through a tsunami caused by the quake in Chile and got distracted in his irritation at Baier. But who knows what goes on in his mind at this point? This is a guy who thinks universal health care is going to reduce the deficit.
A friend and occasional Power Line contributor writes:
If [Obamacare] passes, the Dems will own every doctor complaint out there. Moreover, the complaints will multiply, and not just because care will deteriorate as demand increases and supply decreases. They are going to multiply because the care-seeking population is about to become the Baby Boomers — i.e., the most indulged, demanding and complaining generation in a hundred years, or maybe ever. The Dems are (apparently) fixing to take over medicine at exactly the time The Giant Complaining Horde shows up at the door.
Of course, the irony, as ever with these egalitarian programs, is that people with money will still come out ahead. One reason I found out about [my] liver cancer in time to do something about it was that, knowing I had a potential problem, I paid $4,000 out of my own pocket for an exotic annual physical exam beyond what insurance would reimburse.
What is actually going to happen is that there will spring up a quasi-underground medical practice for people who can pay their own bills and do not rely on Medicare or (what will become dwindling) private insurance. Indeed, this has already started to happen with boutique clinics like the one I used. If I were a shrewd businessman, I would figure out some way to franchise it, or something, and make a fortune.
The basic thing the Dems detest is inequality born of the fact that people who think about what they’re doing tend to come out ahead of people who don’t. Oh well.
And in other news, did I tell you that my doctor never returns my calls?
Spring can’t come too soon to the Upper Midwest. That’s always true, of course, but especially this year, as the Minnesota Twins open their 2010 pennant drive in brand-new Target Field. Baseball fans here are giddy with excitement. The team will be good, despite losing closer Joe Nathan for the season to elbow surgery. And despite not having signed superstar catcher Joe Mauer to the anticipated ten-year deal; not yet, anyway.
This preview offers a suitably optimistic assessment of the team’s prospects. We’ve added Orlando Hudson, J.J. Hardy and Jim Thome to our already-strong lineup. Sure, there are always things that could go wrong. Like Justin Morneau’s back. Like the starting pitching, which looks solid; but then, it did at this time last year, too.
But even if the Twins don’t win their division, which would be an upset, it will be a fun season. Because the Twins are just a fun team. In the gym last night I read a Sports Illustrated article about a phenom catcher named Matt Wieters, who is about to play his first full season in the majors for the Baltimore Orioles. The article was effusive–Wieters’ college teammates nicknamed him “God”–and suggested that Wieters is following in Joe Mauer’s footsteps. Maybe. But Wieters is 23. Mauer is 26, and he’s won three AL batting titles and an MVP award.
A lot of the excitement surrounding the Twins centers on Target Field, which will open the regular season on April 12. Target Field has been dubbed “the coolest ballpark in America.” High praise, but if you read the linked article from Twin Cities Business magazine, you may be persuaded.
One thing is for sure: there will be days when Target Field is the coldest park in MLB. The younger generation, reared on the unlamented HHH Metrodome, doesn’t remember the April days when 1,000 brave fans wore down parkas to Twins games at the old Met, occasionally watching the action through flurries of snow. They used to spray-paint the dirt green to make it look as though the grass was up. Night games in September got cold, too.
But no one here in Minnesota is thinking about that. The field at the new park is heated, so snow will melt, and a remarkable drainage system will make the grass field playable in all but the heaviest downpours. Plus, the concourses are heated so the fans needn’t be cold, even if the players are.
From a construction standpoint, the Target Field project was remarkable. It is built on a tiny plot of horrible soil–so bad that the stadium doesn’t rest, structurally, on the soil at all:
Steel pipes, 10 inches in diameter, were driven 100 feet down to bedrock, then filled with concrete. This isn’t wildly unusual, [M. A. Mortenson project manager Dan] Mehls says, except for the number of them, which was 3,300–more than 62 miles of pipe–and the fact that it took six months to drive them all. Target Field actually sits on those columns. You could dig out 100 feet of dirt from beneath the stadium, Mehls says, and it would just stand there.
Not only that, the park is squeezed amid highways and railroad tracks, next to the county’s garbage burner. Target Field may be the country’s most legitimately urban ballpark:
Nevertheless, it is a thing of beauty:
The season can’t begin soon enough. In the meantime, maybe this will tide us over–the Twins’ song, one of the best in major league sports, I think. Unfortunately, the original version of the song, dating to 1961, can’t be found anywhere on the web. This is the “jazzy” 1980s version, but you can still get the idea:
We can also daydream about highlights of Twins seasons past. Rod Carew was one of the Twins’ greatest stars; the new park has giant art works, portraits of Carew and Kirby Puckett etched into wood. I think I once saw Carew steal home, but memory is tricky and I can’t be sure. Once, he stole home twice in the same game:
And, of course, we can reminisce about Game 6, the occasion of the only paranormal experience I’ve ever had, far away in Munich, Germany. Here in the Upper Midwest, no explanation is necessary. It’s just Game 6:
Spring can’t come soon enough. Despite unseasonably warm temperatures and plenty of rain, the snow pile in the street in front of my house is still six feet high.
We’ve written before about President Obama’s willingness to follow only the second half of the Godfather’s adage, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Abe Greenwald has described the phenomenon this way: “If you’re an enemy we’re sorry; if you’re a friend you’re sorry.”
In the aftermath of the latest manifestation of this phenomenon — the fit Obama has thrown against Israel — Robert Kagan compiles the case histories. Our “sorry” friends include, in addition to Israel, Great Britain, France, several Eastern European countries, Japan, and India. The nations Obama has courted include Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and Burma.
Kagan notes that Obama is departing from a 60-year old American grand strategy when it comes to allies. I’m not nearly as learned as Kagan, but I think he’s understating the matter. Isn’t it fair to say that Obama’s counterintuitive approach is unprecedented?
Kagan declines to speculate about why Obama curries favor with our enemies while treating our friends with disdain. For my part, I’ve been unable to move beyond the two tentative explanations I offered last July:
Perhaps there is a side of him that harbors contempt for nations that find large amounts of common ground with the U.S., a country for which Obama himself feels the need constantly to apologize. Or perhaps, Obama sees himself as a philosopher king, a “neutral” who stands above the usual politics of favoring particular nations. From this lofty, ahistorical perch, it may be possible to view Britain as “the same as the other 190 countries in the world.”
For years the government has taught us that any amount of the “American Dream” can be achieved with just a little help from the government. Watch what we do and duplicate it. Unfortunately the truth…
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In a post called “Is Eric Holder a Dope?,” we noted a colloquy between Attorney General Holder and Rep. John Culberson in which Holder testifed that Osama bin Laden and Charles Manson are comparable people, at least to the extent that they both have “the right to go before a jury [and] get the acts that [they are] charged with proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Holder went on to downplay the practical consequences of his position, telling Culberson:
Let’s deal with reality. You’re talking about a hypothetical that will never occur. The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom.
But, as John noted in an update to the post, General McChrystal says it’s the military’s goal to capture bin Laden alive. And with good reason. Bin Laden may well remain actively engaged in plotting attacks against the U.S. and others. In all likelihood, he also possesses valuable information about terrorist networks. Thus, killing him, when capturing and interrogating him is an alternative, would be a grossly irresponsible act.
But, it is also the natural outgrowth of this administration’s policy on dealing with detainees. Obama and Holder view detainees as a problem — where do we house them; do foreigners like how we treat them — not as part of the solution — an invaluable source of information with which to combat terrorism and terrorists.
Moreover, the Obama administration’s policy on interrogating terrorists reinforces its inability to see detainees as part of the solution. The less harshly we are allowed to question them, the less value they have.
Thus, Holder’s odd and irreponsible position that, realistically, we will never capture bin Laden isn’t just an escape hatch to tough questions from a congressman. It is the logical consequence of administration policy. Unfortunately, as Gen. McChrystal’s reaction shows, it is an illogical approach to keeping America safe.
If it matters, Holder’s gymnastics are also an illogical escape hatch. If Holder wants to kill, rather than capture, bin Laden under all circumstances, then bin Laden can’t be comparable to Charles Manson, a criminal we would (and did) capture.
Holder appears to be deeming bin Laden entitled to a jury trial that he guarantees we will prevent. And he does so while admonishing us to “deal with reality.” The Democrats are giving reality an unreal shape these days.
March 18, 2010
5:47 am 
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