pablito

Exactly! posted 07/14/2008 at 07:15:37

The example of the Ahmadinejad cover is not a good example. Was there some rumor circulating that he is a closet homosexual? Blitt's current cover is absurdist to the extreme, and will ONLY net damage, not understanding. posted 07/14/2008 at 07:15:14

I am a New Yorker subscriber, I like to think of myself as sophisticated, I'm a university professor, and I "get" this joke. I deplore knee jerk reactions based on political correctness concerns, and I love satire. But, I have to say that this cover is ridiculous. Because MOST OF AMERICA WON'T GET THE JOKE, AND THAT IS THE OFFENSIVE PART!!!! They will look at this cover and think: Even the left leaning media think Obama has malicious intentions. posted 07/13/2008 at 19:10:41

Talk about taking way too long. How about the fact that the guy couldn't win his state's Dem primary as a reason to exclude him from the party? He IS NOT A DEMOCRAT. posted 07/12/2008 at 22:22:20

"It is precisely this sort of lawlessness, precisely these sorts of policies, that have driven up public discontent with the Bush administration. Opposing telecom immunity - really, opposing just about any aspect of the Bush White House's un-American series of executive power grabs - is a winning stance at all points on the Democratic spectrum."

RIGHT ON, Jason. Obama's wishy washy line of bs on the FISA bill was probably a WTF on the level of anything Bush/Cheney could say or do for the extreme stark contrast between the portrait that has been painted of him. I was for Edwards and only grudgingly have accepted Obama as our guy. A big part of that acceptance was finally accepting the Obama ideology of principle and change. His FISA stance is a huge slap in the face no matter how he spins it. posted 07/07/2008 at 19:33:35

I agree with the commenter who suggested that Bush is running out the clock. His handlers know that the best way for him to support McSame at this point is to limit his potential for saying and doing stupid things that can have meaningful impact. So it's a much safer game for everyone -- including, of course, the rest of the world -- to keep this idiot involved in sideshow acts.

Honestly, at this point the only thing safer for the world would be to lock him up in a cell and throw away the key. It's the least that he and Cheney and the other war pigs deserve for their crimes. posted 07/04/2008 at 14:03:57

Another step back for the Obama camp. Certainly veterans are to be respected for what they contributed to our country, but the use of POW status and (less than distinguished) military service for political gain is old hat these days. The future of this country rests with the generations that came after the so-called "Greatest Generation" and their baby boomer offspring, which hopefully will be the LAST generations in the history of this country prided for nothing more than association with war. Come on Obama, take a stand and call out McCain for what he is... one of the last vestiges of the horrendous military industrial complex that does nothing for this nation except maintain or promote endless war. posted 06/30/2008 at 14:07:07

As sickening as it is that Ringling Bros got some of your money, I'm glad you had this experience. Humans treat animals horribly in all domains, but the circus is one of the more obviously egregious. posted 06/28/2008 at 00:08:08

Trusting engineers is tricky these days given their command performance with respect to levee building and waterway management in Louisiana. (Yes, I was living there at the time.) posted 06/26/2008 at 14:06:46

Look, I'll be the first to admit that some scientists-- across ALL disciplines, not just the social sciences -- interpret their data with clear agendas and not just truth seeking. The NICHD child care study is a sad case in point. Day care and home care really have no appreciable difference in terms of kids' ultimate outcomes so long as each setting provides high quality, safe, and attentive care.

I realize that it is hard for laypeople to discern between good science, bad science, and good but biased science so I can see where some of your limitations lie. I can't ask you to accept the findings of all published studies, because that would be silly, and without proper training in research methods I can't expect you to filter what is out there. So, try just to rely on reputable sources. In behavioral science, the APA journals are usually quite excellent at publishing only the "good science."

Good luck raising your kids too. posted 06/26/2008 at 11:21:51

Why have the preference of not spanking if you think it does no harm? You just gave yourself away. Hitting kids doesn't help, and ON AVERAGE it harms. posted 06/25/2008 at 20:31:35

Actually, the current research on same-sex partnerships with children in the home indicate quite clearly that this kind of domestic arrangement does not produce negative outcomes for kids -- and there is certainly a substantial amount of research showing that children of single parent households are not necessarily worse off than are children of dual parent households. Further, divorce per se has not been shown to be a problem in and of itself, rather the attendant interparental conflict that accompanies it is what is damaging to children, and that occurs independently of divorce in many cases.

There is tremendous agreement in the behavioral science community that spanking and other forms of physical discipline are bad for kids. Any controversy on this issue typically is raised only by the two or three most vocal holdouts on the matter who do not have strong enough data to support their claims.

The studies on religion are mixed -- there are positive impacts for sure, and negative ones as well. No behavioral or social scientist worth his or her salt would endorse your point about encouraging families to form as monogamous heterosexual religious households. That would be ridiculous and unsupported by the data.

Quite to the contrary of everything you said, the behavioral and social science research community has very high standards for well conducted research and the peer reviewers of the top journals (e.g., those published by the APA) are highly cautious and critical in their evaluations.

Do your homework. posted 06/25/2008 at 20:30:17

Actually, the better studies do control for those kinds of issues, so I would recommend reading them. A good place to start is the meta-analysis published in 2002 by the American Psychological Association's flagship journal, Psychological Bulletin. The author is Elizabeth Gershoff. Once you've read her treatment of the issue, and had the chance to review some more recent work, I suspect your conclusions will change. Damning science like you have done smacks of how the Bush administration has been treating science for the past 8 years. Do your homework! Your email belies your ignorance of contemporary research. posted 06/25/2008 at 16:46:44

No one actually seemed to pay attention to what I wrote. I said, "on average." These are findings from many well conducted scientific studies, including meta-analytic summaries of the research. I will never acknowledge that hitting children is effective because there is no research to back up that claim -- only personal anecdotes which are fine for describing exceptions to the generally accepted empirical trends. Sorry to have offended, but these are the findings. posted 06/25/2008 at 16:32:37

Believing in spanking is about all you can do. The scientifically demonstrated reality of spanking is that it leads to children's mental and behavioral health difficulties. So have faith that you're not damaging your children, but accept the reality that in fact you are. posted 06/25/2008 at 15:02:21

Wrong, actually, on many counts. No reputable behavioral/social scientist has ever made the claim that spanking your child will cause him or her to become a killer. However, the bulk of well conducted research definitely shows that hitting (spanking, punching, slapping, etc) a child is on average associated with the child experiencing or exhibiting elevated behavioral and mental health difficulties. No matter what your beliefs, hitting your child is wrong, and the very first time you hit your child it will change your relationship with him or her forever. posted 06/25/2008 at 14:56:21

Anyone endorsing physical discipline of children is ignoring the behavioral and social scientific research on this behavior. On average, children who are hit by their parents end up with greater psychological, emotional, and behavioral difficulties than children who are not. No studies have ever shown convincingly that physical discipline is "good" for kids. I had not heard that Dobson was a child psychologist; if this is true, then it just amplifies his ignorance to endorse physical discipline. posted 06/25/2008 at 13:54:13

Pelosi was ridiculous to rule out impeachment. The Dems in Congress simply fail to realize that impeachment too is a "kitchen table issue." It's a flashpoint. I am certain that in the minds of many Dems in this country, and probably some Repubs too, Bush's criminal behavior is just the linchpin around which many other problems rotate.

Impeachment is of course a kitchen table issue. It's the biggest. It draws the line between sitting around a kitchen table in the USA that we all in our hearts know and love, and sitting around a kitchen table in the perverted Orwellian fascist plutocracy that Bush has been allowed to create. posted 06/25/2008 at 09:25:24

It's unfortunate that Feingold is considered among the liberal leaning progressives in the Senate. We need something more from him. Anyone catch his interview with Amy G on Democracy Now this morning? First of all, he refused to provide a simple "yes" to her question of whether he will filibuster FISA. The quotes above are double talk. He won't use the word and commit to the only aggressive response option he has available to him. Second of all, he blew off concerns about impeachment and said that the 2006 elections were about getting out of Iraq, changing domestic policy, etc. and that those things are what "the American people" really want. I find that hard to believe. The American people -- the majority, I have to believe -- want Bush et al to be impeached. IMPEACHED, Feingold! Not censured. Not dilly dallied with over distracting legislative issues. IMPEACHED. The war crimes have been confirmed. The domestic violations of the law have been confirmed. The politicization of every nook and cranny of government bureaucracy has been confirmed. IMPEACH, Feingold! Give the people what they want and stop pretending otherwise! IMPEACH!!!!!!!!!! posted 06/24/2008 at 19:34:56

The bucket just dropped on Charlie Gibson's Chinese water torture transformation from an apparently reasonable (however hokey and down home) newsman to a complete corporate monkey. posted 06/23/2008 at 08:33:02

This is pretty funny and ironic.

OF COURSE Democrats want to imprison George Bush, and Dick Cheney too. Just not for these relatively small potato reasons!

They should be imprisoned because they are WAR CRIMINALS and in violation of most basic human rights through their actions!

War pigs both! Nothing less than several years in a maximum security prison will do for those two. posted 04/01/2008 at 13:38:34

Plutocratic war pigs all. posted 03/26/2008 at 11:46:04

What, and let the war pigs ease into retirement without consequence? content in their smugness over having done what they thought was right, however horrendously wrong it was in reality? No way. Impeachment... conviction... imprisonment (hopefully with the general population...) posted 03/30/2008 at 15:11:11

Well, Senator Byrd, surely you realize that the American people are relatively powerless with respect to actually doing anything that would have an impact on the administration. Protests have been consistent for the duration of this war, what more do you want?

What is needed is for strong Congressional leadership to stand up and IMPEACH the president and vice president for war crimes. Speeches on the Senate floor are impressive, as are the political machinations intended to sway Senate votes against authorizing force, but COME ON -- you want to see real change? you want to see troops come home? you want to see your own legacy untarnished by your inability to end this war? CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT and spend all of your political capital getting the war criminals Bush and Cheney removed from power and -- hope of all hopes -- thrown into prison. posted 03/30/2008 at 11:10:37