Does Mitt Romney's Flip-Flop on Gay Rights Make Him Malleable, or Simply a Liar?

So, do we believe the Mitt Romney of 2012, or the Mitt Romney of 1994?

"Mitt Romney earned huge cheers at a conservative conference in February when he bragged, "On my watch, we fought hard and prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage." But in 1994, running for Senate against Ted Kennedy, he told a local gay and lesbian paper he was even more pro-gay rights than Kennedy."

This Is How Proud Romney Was to Be Pro-Gay Rights in 1994 (The Atlantic Wire)

Symantec: Religious Websites Have 3X More Malware than Pornographic Sites

Symantec's 'Internet Security Threat Report', published earlier this year, makes the following observation (p. 33):

"...religious and ideological sites were found to have triple the average number of threats per infected site than adult/pornographic sites. We hypothesize that this is because pornographic website owners already make money from the internet and, as a result, have a vested interest in keeping their sites malware-free – it’s not good for repeat business."

Internet Security Threat Report (PDF, Symantec)

Maureen Dowd Eviscerates Akin and Ryan

I suppose it's low-hanging fruit, but Maureen Dowd's column on the Todd Akin debacle in yesterday's New York Times is just too good to resist highlighting. Here are a few choice excerpts:

"Paul Ryan, who teamed up with Akin in the House to sponsor harsh anti-abortion bills, may look young and hip and new generation, with his iPod full of heavy metal jams and his cute kids. But he’s just a fresh face on a Taliban creed — the evermore antediluvian, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-gay conservative core. Amiable in khakis and polo shirts, Ryan is the perfect modern leader to rally medieval Republicans who believe that Adam and Eve cavorted with dinosaurs."

Ouch. Quoting a Standford professor:

"'The biological facts are perhaps inconvenient, but whether the egg meets the sperm is a matter of luck or prevention,' says Dr. Paul Blumenthal, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology who directs the Stanford Program for International Reproductive Education and Services. 'If wishing that 'I won’t get pregnant right now' made it so, we wouldn’t need contraceptives.'"

And she brings in the thoughts of a Republican strategist:

"'Next we’ll be trying to take away the vote from women,' lamented Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist who advised Romney in the 2008 race. 'How can we be the party of cool and make the generational leap forward when we have these recidivist ideas at the very core of our base?'"

Finally, I cannot help but include a concisely worded comment from New York Times reader "Ralph":

"The problem is not limited to Missouri. A number of voters are willing to consider voting for Ryan as VP; his views are every bit as retrograde as Akins'. The only difference is he is oblique, rather than honest."

Just Think No (New York Times)

Douglas Adams on Money and Unhappiness

"This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."

From the late, great Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Todd Akin Continues the Current GOP Tradition of Celebrating Ignorance

Here's another one from the 'You Can't Make This Stuff Up' department. As we all know by now, yesterday Representative Todd Akin (R-MO) said the following on television:

"...from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Jezebel has concocted a fitting response to these frighteningly stupid remarks: The Official Guide to Legitimate Rape.

Apparently People Still Take Ayn Rand Seriously

Ayn Rand's books were a good read in high school--perhaps even into the early days of one's college experience--but it's hard to believe that grown-up, working adults still take them seriously. Steve Almond (writing at 'The Rumpus') provides a sufficiently eviscerating take on Paul Ryan's love affair for Rand:

"Rand’s sway over the male adolescent mind is not especially subtle. Her fairytales always feature some badass rich guy battling a bunch of nebbishes who spend their hours devising new impediments to progress and pleasuring welfare queens with golden vibrators. Nobody gets how brilliant the rich guy is, and how much better he wants to make the world and it’s so unfair! Also, he gets laid. ... 

"Rand geeks were made of stiffer stuff [than Vonnegut geeks]. They marched around pronouncing grave syllogisms and dreamed of omnipotence. They clung to a grand vision of personal destiny: science fiction as governed by Ronald Reagan. They honestly believed in the free market as the path to utopia. ... 

"Rand’s vision is a cartoon of capitalism, in which there is no poverty or environmental ruin or lack of equal opportunity. In her world, generosity is a false and malignant impulse. Nobody is just born rich. They must pursue wealth, and this pursuit is by definition a heroic one. Brave inventors and industrialists hold the key to paradise, if only they can throw off the shackles of religious superstition, liberal guilt, and bureaucratic tyranny. 

"In other words, Romney and Ryan have to convince voters that capitalism is not just an economic philosophy, but a moral system, and that any attempt to curb its appetites is therefore immoral."

The Week in Greed #11: The Ayn Rand Program (The Rumpus)

We Are All Connected

This beautiful video illustrates the parallels between humanity and the rest of the natural world. 

Here is the link to the video on YouTube.

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

"'You fall through the cracks and there's nothing you can do about it,' said the 52-year-old home health aide. 'It makes me feel like garbage, like the American dream, my dream in my homeland is not being accomplished.' 

"Many working parents like Pico are below the federal poverty line but don't qualify for Medicaid, a decades-old state-federal insurance program. That's especially true in states where conservative governors say they'll reject the Medicaid expansion under Obama's health law. 

"In South Carolina, a yearly income of $16,900 is too much for Medicaid for a family of three. In Florida, $11,000 a year is too much. In Mississippi, $8,200 a year is too much. In Louisiana and Texas, earning more than just $5,000 a year makes you ineligible for Medicaid."

pdxbound writes, "As Jesus said, 'Only provide help for the old and weak if enough wealth can be transferred. If the individual is without sufficient wealth, let them perish in obscurity and humiliation.' Amen."

This apparently comes from the GOP version of the Bible.

Is a $5,000 salary too much for Medicaid? (CBS News)

Internet Habits and Mental Health

Following-up two recent posts (here and here) on internet addiction, recent research by computer scientists, engineers, and psychologists suggests that the mechanics of internet usage (frequency of email, online chat, streaming media, task-switching) may predict the tendency to experience depression.

"It turns out that very specific patterns of internet use are reliably related to depressive tendencies. For example, peer-to-peer file sharing, heavy emailing and chatting online, and a tendency to quickly switch between multiple websites and other online resources all predict a greater propensity to experience symptoms of depression. Although the exact reasons that these behaviors predict depression is unknown, each behavior corresponds with previous research on depression. Quickly switching between websites may reflect anhedonia (a decreased ability to experience emotions), as people desperately seek for emotional stimulation. Similarly, excessive emailing and chatting may signify a relative lack of strong face-to-face relationships, as people strive to maintain contact either with faraway friends or new people met online."

 What Internet Habits Say About Mental Health (Scientific American)

Paul Ryan Hasn't Really Crunched the Numbers

Paul Krugman writes:

"What Ryan is good at is exploiting the willful gullibility of the Beltway media, using a soft-focus style to play into their desire to have a conservative wonk they can say nice things about."

The Ryan budget plan's long-term spending projections are 'laughable':

"His plan projects an absurd future, according to the Congressional Budget Office, in which all discretionary spending, now around 12 percent of GDP, shrinks to 3 percent of GDP by 2050. Defense spending alone was 4.7 percent of GDP in 2009. With numbers like that, Ryan is more an anarchist-libertarian than honest conservative."

In the words of one commenter on Krugman's post: Paul Ryan is "a carefully crafted gee-whiz nice guy policy nerd facade concealing a machiavellian ambition and sociopathic policies perfectly aligned with ALEC. He is a consummate con-artist."

U.S. Corn Production Down Due to Drought--Ethanol Production Criticized

Following-up Tuesday's post regarding extreme temperatures: Corn production in the United States is down significantly because of this summer's high heat and lack of precipitation.

"On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for the corn crop by nearly 17% and raised the upper end of its price forecast by 39% to almost $9 a bushel. ...

"The drought has some in the U.S. clamoring for the Environmental Protection Agency to relax its ethanol production mandates. Currently about 30% of U.S. corn is diverted to ethanol production and critics say the policy drives up corn prices." 

Amid drought, USDA cuts corn crop estimate to 17-year low (LA Times)

Christian-Lite

"I don't always read the Bible, but when I do... I only read the parts I like. Christian-Lite: Mostly Jesus Christ, without the evil stuff."

Why Is Everyone So Quiet about the LIBOR Scandal?

Huffington Post has a compendium of articles on the LIBOR scandal, and here is a link to the Economist's coverage of the topic.

Classic Quotes from Rick Santorum: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Fortunately, we haven't heard much from Rick Santorum lately. His strong showing in the Republican presidential primary, however, likely means that he's going to stay on the scene for a while. Though I don't miss his narrow, bigoted outlook, I did enjoy the profound dumbness of some of the soundbites that came out of his mouth. Let's take a moment to refresh our memory:

"I don’t believe in an America where the separation between church and state is absolute," and, related, that watching John F. Kennedy’s speech to the Baptist ministers in Houston in 1960 made him want to "throw up."

"One of the things I will talk about that no President has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country..."

"President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob."

"I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money." Only black people need a little help, I guess? 

"It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

"Is anyone saying same-sex couples can’t love each other? I love my children. I love my friends, my brother. Heck, I even love my mother-in-law. Should we call these relationships marriage, too?"

"Look at the political base of the Democratic Party: it is single mothers who run a household. Why? Because it’s so tough economically that they look to the government for help, and therefore they’re going to vote. So if you want to reduce the Democratic advantage, what you want to do is build two-parent families, you eliminate that desire for government."

"This [gay marriage] is an issue just like 9-11. We didn't decide we wanted to fight the war on terrorism because we wanted to. It was brought to us. And if not now, when? When the supreme courts in all the other states have succumbed to the Massachusetts version of the law?"

"The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical. And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom. They hate Western civilization at the core. That's the problem."

The stupid is strong with this one. And what's absolutely frightening is that he's completely sincere.

Previously on this topic...

Internet Addiction: How Software Developers Strive to Make "Compulsion Loops"

Following-up my previous post on internet addiction: Last month, The Atlantic had an interesting commentary by Bill Davidow on this topic.

"In the 1990s, concern over obsessive-compulsive behavior associated with computer games and the Internet began to grow. Until roughly 2000, compulsive behavior remained a side effect -- not an intentional element of game design and other Internet applications. Application providers were simply supplying customers with services that made their products more appealing.

"But before long, people were referring to their BlackBerries as CrackBerries, and parents were beginning to worry about the number of hours their kids spent on video games. We now believe that the compulsion to continually check email, stock prices, and sporting scores on smartphones is driven in some cases by dopamine releases that occur in anticipation of receiving good news. ...

"Internet gaming companies now openly discuss compulsion loops that directly result in obsessions, and the goal of other applications is the same: to create the compulsion to gather thousands of friends on Facebook, thousands of followers on Twitter, or be pleasantly surprised to discover from Foursquare that a friend you haven't seen for years is nearby." [Emphasis mine.]

Exploiting the Neuroscience of Internet Addiction (The Atlantic)

NASA Scientists Link Recent Extreme Temperatures to Global Warming

"A new statistical analysis by NASA scientists has found that Earth's land areas have become much more likely to experience an extreme summer heat wave than they were in the middle of the 20th century. The research was published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

"The statistics show that the recent bouts of extremely warm summers, including the intense heat wave afflicting the U.S. Midwest this year, very likely are the consequence of global warming, according to lead author James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. 

"'This summer people are seeing extreme heat and agricultural impacts,' Hansen says. 'We're asserting that this is causally connected to global warming, and in this paper we present the scientific evidence for that.' 

"Hansen and colleagues analyzed mean summer temperatures since 1951 and showed that the odds have increased in recent decades for what they define as 'hot,' 'very hot' and 'extremely hot' summers.  

"The researchers detailed how 'extremely hot' summers are becoming far more routine. 'Extremely hot' is defined as a mean summer temperature experienced by less than one percent of Earth's land area between 1951 and 1980, the base period for this study. But since 2006, about 10 percent of land area across the Northern Hemisphere has experienced these temperatures each summer."

Research Links Extreme Summer Heat Events to Global Warming (NASA)

Link to scientific paper: Perception of Climate Change (PNAS)

Happiness Is Not Just About GDP

Here's something you don't often hear in economic circles: In remarks to an international conference of economists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the we need to improve our measurement of human well-being.

"'We should seek better and more-direct measurements of economic well-being,' as this is the 'ultimate purpose' of economics. ... National statistics like gross domestic product paint an incomplete picture of what many individuals are experiencing, he said. As economists continue to work on measuring well-being, there will likely be a greater recognition of the contributions of psychology, Bernanke said."

Frankly, that's good to hear.

Bernanke: Economists should focus on well-being (Marketwatch)

America's Political Finance System is "Legalized Bribery"

"So why is it [American government] so broken? Let's consider the matter of money. When I left for Oxford in 1974, the total spent by all candidates for Congress, House and Senate, was $77 million. In 2010, it was $1.8 billion. Members of Congress spend up to 70 percent of their time raising money; that is their job; they become fundraisers far more than they are legislators. In that same year [1974], 3 percent of retiring Congressmen became lobbyists. Now it's 50 percent of Senators, 42 percent of House members. Critics from the left and right and middle alike call our political finance system one of 'legalized bribery.'" [Emphasis mine.]

To Make America Great Again, We Need to Leave the Country (The Atlantic)

Republicans Aghast at Suggestion that We Eat Less Meat to Conserve Water

Much of the U.S. is suffering from extreme drought right now. In response, the USDA made a non-binding recommendation that its employees who want to conserve water could refrain from eating meat on Mondays. They were joining the "Meatless Monday" campaign, backed by thousands of cafeterias around the country. Well, some republicans didn't like this very much:

"...upon the release of the USDA newsletter, lawmakers who have pocketed massive campaign contributions from the meat-centric agribusiness industry were out in force — as if the agency had declared war on the American Way of Life. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, called the recommendation “heresy” and pledged to “have the double rib-eye Mondays instead.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told his drought-stricken constituents that “I will eat more meat on Monday to compensate” for the USDA suggestion. And Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, proudly posted a photo to his Facebook page showing a Caligulian smorgasbord of animal flesh that his Senate colleagues were preparing to scarf down as a protest against USDA."

Where, oh where, is the pragmatism in our politics?

“Meatless Monday”: Where’s the beef? (Salon)

Let's Ask the Question: Did Mitt Romney Seek Amnesty for a Swiss Bank Account in 2009?

Why won't Mitt release his tax returns? Is there something in 2009 he doesn't want the world to see?

"Wealthy U.S. taxpayers, concerned about an Internal Revenue Service crackdown on the use of secret overseas bank accounts as tax havens, are rushing to meet a Thursday [October 2009] deadline to disclose those accounts or face possible criminal prosecution. The concern was triggered this summer when Switzerland's largest bank, caught up in an international tax evasion dispute, said it would disclose the names of more than 4,000 of its U.S. account holders. 

"The decision shattered a long-held belief that Swiss banks would guard the identities of its American customers as carefully as they did their money, and it raised concern that other international tax havens might be next. Under an amnesty program, the IRS is allowing taxpayers to avoid prosecution for having failed to report their overseas accounts. As a result, tax attorneys across the nation have been besieged by wealthy clients who are lining up to apply even though they will still face big financial penalties."

Did Mitt Romney Take the 2009 Swiss Bank Account Amnesty? (Slate)

Chick-Fil-A Conservatives: Savor Your Moment--It Is Fleeting. The Future Is Coming for You.

In this silly Chick-Fil-A situation, a Christian has come out with a statement that implicitly ostracizes homosexual families. The rest of the world has stood up and shouted, "Hey, that's not a very nice thing that you said!" Christians are NOT being attacked, in this case they are ATTACKING! To twist this around as an attack on Christians' free speech is, simply put, a blatant lie.

From the depths of THE INTERNET:

"EAT YOUR CHICKEN. That's right. Enjoy it. Chow down. Get seconds and eat some more. Savor every bite. But before you swallow, look at it. Get a real good look at that fried bird on bread. Take a moment to really take it in. 

"'Cuz this is it. Your church leaders failed you. Your politicians ignore you. The media laughs at your demise and mocks you daily. Because you made gay sex your focus. All that insecurity about the life you chose, the company you keep, the future your children will choose. And it comes to this. A chicken sandwich. This is all the power you have left. A fast food sandwich.

"And you're banking all the power you have left on expressing yourself through an ephemeral media event. In two weeks no one will remember this, how you stood in a line for a sandwich in the hopes your little obsession might be noticed. And then it's over. 

"The future is coming for you, for your family. There is no stopping it. You cannot resist the inevitable, you cannot depend on your church or politicians to do anything but to keep selling you out. All you have left is this sandwich. Same-sex marriage will be a reality any day soon, like gays in the military; the legal wheels are already in motion. Gays in your children's schools. Gays on television and gays in the church and goverment. Because nobody with any power actually cares what gays do. Only you."

RIP Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal died Tuesday night at age 86. The Daily Beast has compiled a selection of some of his best quotes:

"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn."

"Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically by definition be disqualified from ever doing so."

"Fifty percent of people won't vote, and fifty percent don't read newspapers. I hope it's the same fifty percent."

"The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country— and we haven't seen them since."

Gore Vidal’s Best Quotes (The Daily Beast)

Failing Our Children by Worshipping Success

Madeline Levine’s book, "Teach Your Children Well," is a reflection on our distorted view of success, and how we as parents pass this through to our children. From the New York Times review (emphasis mine):

"...Levine’s latest book is, in fact, a cri de coeur from a clinician on the front lines of the battle between our better natures — parents’ deep and true love and concern for their kids — and our culture’s worst competitive and materialistic influences, all of which she sees played out, day after day, in her private psychology practice in affluent Marin County, Calif. Levine works with teenagers who are depleted, angry and sad as they compete for admission to a handful of big-name colleges, and with parents who can’t steady or guide them, so lost are they in the pursuit of goals that have drained their lives of pleasure, contentment and connection."

And:

"These are parents who run themselves ragged with work and hyper-parenting, presenting an 'eviscerated vision of the successful life' that their children are then programmed to imitate. They’re parents who are physically hyper-present but somehow psychologically M.I.A.: so caught up in the script that runs through their heads about how to 'do right' by their children that they can’t see when the excesses of keeping up, bulking up, getting a leg up and generally running scared send the whole enterprise of ostensible care and nurturing right off the rails." 

How to Raise a Child (NYT book review of 'Teach Your Children Well,' by Madeline Levine).

Previously here on Opensewer, along this line of thought: Why Are You So Busy? and Envy, Snobbery, And A Gentler Philosophy of Success.

The Prescience of Orwell and Huxley

Predictions in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World that appear to have come true in 2012.

Silence is for the Grave

"Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence."

 Christopher Hitchens, from Letters to a Young Contrarian.

Religious Indoctrination via "Vacation Bible School"

On my Facebook feed this morning, a number of acquaintances (from an earlier time in my life) had posted photographs about something known as "Vacation Bible School". If you're unfamiliar with this, Vacation Bible School is typically a week-long program offered by local churches, full of activities, dramatic skits, snacks, and other fun stuff that kids love. It's all centered around efforts to 'win' children to Christ. Seeing these photos of children having fun under false pretenses made me so sad, and just a bit angry. It's propaganda, it's deceptive, and it's nothing more than an attempt to indoctrinate young, impressionable minds before they've had the chance to develop the ability to think critically.

Richard Dawkins, of course, has much to say on the subject.

Heard on the Internet

A couple selected quotes from around the web yesterday:

"If you rearrange the letters in the word 'faith', you get the word 'microwave'. No need to test this--just believe me."

"Hey, invisible hand of the market, stop hitting yourself." 

I particularly like the second one.

We're Starting to See the Last Gasps of a (Dying) Conservative Worldview

Desperation marks decline:

"Someday political scientists will try to date the decline of reasoned discourse in America to the moment when the left and the right began to invent their own facts. Climate change deniers, the purveyors of lies linking abortion to breast cancer, and creationists will all be blamed for the end of meaningful debate between liberals and conservatives. But that’s not quite right. The real end of civic discourse can be traced to the new conservative argument that facts themselves are dangerous. 

"It’s a dangerous contention not just for what it hides, but also for what it reveals: a lack of any other arguments."

The GOP’s War Against Facts (Slate)

Economists Predict U.S. Poverty Will Reach Highest Rate Since 1960s

"The analysts’ estimates suggest that some 47 million people in the United States, or 1 in 6, were poor last year. An increase of one-tenth of a percentage point to 15.2 percent would tie the 1983 rate, the highest since 1965. The highest level on record was 22.4 percent in 1959, when the government began calculating poverty figures. ...

"Demographers also say poverty will remain above the prerecession level of 12.5 percent for many more years. Several predicted that peak poverty levels — 15 percent to 16 percent — will last at least until 2014, due to expiring unemployment benefits, a jobless rate persistently above 6 percent, and weak wage growth. 

"Analysts also believe that the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the poverty level, will remain near its peak level of 6.7 percent."

US poverty rate projected to hit highest level since ’60s (The Boston Globe)

As If It Wasn't Generic Enough Already

Darden, the company behind the I-could-be-anywhere-USA restaurants Olive Garden and Red Lobster, has now started pairing the two under one roof in certain markets. As if we needed any more convincing of the dubious quality of the food at these places. Welcome to the continued generification of America.

"'This is really the first casual diner, full-service restaurant that I’ve seen do this,' said Senatore, who is based in New York. 'You have to ask: 'Why has nobody else done it?' Sometimes it’s because it’s not a great idea.'"

Darden Sees Olive-Garden-Red Lobster Making New Revenue (Businessweek)