PJTV: Do men really want to get married?

Author and Award-winning CNN producer Alex Wellen says "yes" --men want to get married. He joins me today to talk about his new book, Lovesick: A Novel, about the rocky road to marriage for one man. Though men have been portrayed in the media as resenting or fleeing from marriage, Wellen finds out differently when he interviews men to get an idea of what they want from marriage. Recently married men tell him how they feel about being married--why did they decide to go through with it? On this blog, many men feel that marriage is not the right step for them. I would welcome your thoughts about what Wellen says.

You can watch the interview here.

Organic food found to be no healthier

I saw this article about organic food being no healthier than ordinary food. It doesn't surprise me. It often felt to me like the whole "eating organic" thing is more about feeling in control, or perhaps superior to others than it is about health. What do you think?

Imagine if the sexes were reversed...

"But if you are drawn to people who are toxic for you, then you may be better off staying single."

This is good advice offered by Christine Northan, a counsellor interviewed in a BBC News (via hotair) article on the scars of divorce.

There are many men who are drawn to toxic women who continue to stay and be emotionally abused by them --and who suffer from health problems as a result. While there are slew of books out there and other resources for women to learn how to cope with the problem of toxic men, there are fewer resources for men in dealing with toxic women.

In fact, when I searched Amazon with the key words women who hate men, I came up with only books about...men who hate women.

Big surprise.

I have just started reading Michelle Malkin's new book, Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies and saw that it was #1 on Amazon. Congratulations Michelle!

'Chairman Max Baucus told reporters he had heard some "interesting," "creative," and "kind of fun" ideas.'

I saw this article on Drudge this morning that one of these "creative ideas" is to tax plastic surgery. Thinking of all the ways to give away other people's money is "fun and creative" to Baucus? It reminds me of a study I read that showed how there are some people who enjoy giving away other people's money for the "fun" of doing it. It strikes me that the people in the current administration are no different.

Why men shouldn't volunteer with children

Amy Alkon: "You're a guy and you want to "give back"? Keep away from the kiddies or you could lose everything you have." Amy says this because of a post by Wendy McElroy:

I haven't been able to get Anthony J. Tripoli out of my mind. He is the 69-year-old man I wrote about in a July 19th blog post. He was a volunteer who tutored children one-on-one in reading skills at a public school in Florida. Based on the testimony of an 8-year-old girl and without any supporting evidence whatever, he was given a life sentence for allegedly touching her in an inappropriate -- that is, a sexual -- manner. In reading the news story, I thought the man was probably innocent and a victim of the public/legal hysteria that surrounds the issues of children and sex.

I must say it makes me both sad and angry that this is the case. Having worked with numerous kids and teens over the course of my career, many could have used some male influence. But this is the sad new reality.

Another reason to be worried about ObamaCare

I found a telling story about a woman who got a medal in Britain for standing up to the local health authorities (and her name is also Helen Smith!):

Helen Smith was a gifted student with a bright future when she was struck by a cruel and devastating blow.

She was 24 and had just started studying for a doctorate at London's Imperial College after graduating in biology from Bath University when she was struck down with virulent meningococcal septicaemia.

As she lay in a coma for three weeks, surgeons amputated both her legs.

Most of one arm had to be removed and her other hand amputated....

More than anything, she wanted to lead a "normal" life again.

But her pleas for realistic-looking prosthetics that would make that possible were turned down because they are available only from a private clinic.

Instead, she was given a hook for one arm and false legs which didn't fit.

Helen took on her local health authority and even offered to pay most of the cost after raising �65,000.

But the answer was No.

Thousands of Mirror readers moved and angered by her plight donated more than �20,000 - and next month she is due to get the full set of limbs she has worked so hard for.

Is this the path ObamaCare will lead us down?

How do you define excessive sexual activity?

Maggie's Farm describes how psychiatrists and others have "gone nuts" due to their desire to include sex addiction, shopping addiction and other behaviors as clinical disorders in the forthcoming DSM-V which is a revision of current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV:

I knew they went over the edge when they began talking about Sex Addiction. Who gets to define that? These are the sorts of thing that makes people think shrinks are nuts, and damage their reputations as serious Docs. You cannot pathologize every human idiosyncrasy, desire, hobby, or preoccupation, because these are the things that make people interesting, unique, and colorful.

Slate has a good article about the DSM subtitled, "The Diagnostic madness of DSM-V" which seems fitting:

....The fifth edition of the association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is expected in 2012. The APA isn't just deciding the fate of shopaholics; it's also debating whether overuse of the Internet, "excessive" sexual activity, apathy, and even prolonged bitterness should be viewed, quite seriously, as brain "disorders." If you spend hours online, have sex more frequently than aging psychiatrists, and moan incessantly that the federal government can't account for all its TARP funds, take heed: You may soon be classed among the 48 million Americans the APA already considers mentally ill.

So, how would you decide what constitutes excessive sexual activity?

"People say bureaucrats never do anything. The bureaucrats of CBO might have killed health care."

Peggy Noonan in the WSJ:

The White House misread the national mood. The problem isn�t that they didn�t �bend the curve,� or didn�t sell it right. The problem is that the national mood has changed since the president was elected. Back then the mood was �change is for the good.� But that altered as the full implications of the financial crash seeped in. The crash gave everyone a diminished sense of their own margin for error. It gave them a diminished sense of their country�s margin for error. Americans are not in a chance-taking mood. They�re not in a spending mood, not after the unprecedented spending of the past year, from the end of the Bush era through the first six months of Obama. Here the Congressional Budget Office report that a health care bill would not save money but would instead cost more than a trillion dollars in the next decade was decisive. People say bureaucrats never do anything. The bureaucrats of CBO might have killed health care.

I must say that I have little (okay, almost no) faith in bureaucrats but in this case, the CBO rose to the occasion and we should give credit where credit is due.

PJTV has streaming live video of their health care forum from Washington D.C. You won't hear the typical PC fare. You can view it here.

"Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the pain killer.."

He didn't really say that, did he? I must say I was appalled when watching this ABC news clip of Obama making this ludicrous statement to the daughter of a now 105-year-old woman who needed a pacemaker (she needed the surgery at 99). The daughter in question, Jane Sturm, was asking the President if he thought medical criteria such as age should be used or should quality of life and joy be important in making the decision to provide care. From his answer, which basically boils down to "Mom can take a pain pill," Obama shows himself not only to have no understanding of medicine, life, or the science of improving people's lives, but no empathy for those of us who have life threatening illnesses that require immediate medical intervention.

Some heart arrhythmias are deadly, and a doctor telling a patient to take a pain killer to treat V-tach or V-fib should be guilty of malpractice. For example, the American Heart Association states:

The term "arrhythmia" refers to any change from the normal sequence of electrical impulses. The electrical impulses may happen too fast, too slowly, or erratically � causing the heart to beat too fast, too slowly, or erratically.

When the heart doesn�t beat properly, it can�t pump blood effectively. When the heart doesn�t pump blood effectively, the lungs, brain and all other organs can�t work properly and may shut down or be damaged.

Heart arrhythmias can be absolutely terrifying leading to panic attacks and/or fatigue so crippling that one cannot get off the couch. A pain killer is not going to help. But maybe that's the idea. Obama is so determined to get his health care plan passed--no matter what the consequences-- that he doesn't care how or if people suffer, especially older people.

Is Obama heartless, mean or just plain ignorant? His response to Jane Sturm leaves me wondering which.

Law Professor Eugene Volokh has an interesting post entitled, "Court Refuses To Order Restrictions on Reader Comments at Media Web Pages Related to Death Penalty Trial."

The new 1950's man

I read over an article by Jason Whitlock entitled: "This is why athletes should never marry" (thanks to the reader who emailed this):

McNair, 36, was shot by his 20-year-old mistress, Sahel Kazemi, a waitress at Dave & Buster's. Gatti, 37, was allegedly strangled by his 23-year-old wife, Amanda Rodrigues, a former dancer at Scores.

I'm not dismissing the smaller, more obvious lessons: 1.McNair needed to keep his butt at home with his wife and kids; 2. Middle-aged, millionaire men shouldn't romance 20-year-old children who are looking for their lottery ticket.

And I'm not blaming the victims. McNair and Gatti did not in any way get what they deserved. No one deserves to be murdered.

What I'm saying is the institution of lying/marriage is a horrible idea for athletes.

Okay, fair enough, the author talks about why athletes should not get married but what caught my eye was this comment:

If McNair could keep his dick in his pants, he'd be alive today, and that's a fact.

As Mr. Whitlock noted, no one deserves to be murdered in the way that these men were--and that is really what the debate is about. Women are murderers too and the men are being blamed for it. A society that believes that McNair and other men had what was coming to them because of their male sex is one that is neither just nor fair. It is just that now, the genders are reversed. Men are the new 1950's women --but at some point, this will change, as men get wise and quit taking it. Women need to be held responsible for these murders in order to reduce them.

Instapundit: Matchmaker

Glenn and I just had a really nice lunch with Ann Althouse and her fiancee, Meade, who were passing through Knoxville while traveling. Ann and Meade met though her blog where he was a commenter and they are now engaged. If you haven't read their story, do so, it's quite lovely.

When I hear about the "horrors" of the internet, such as it being an addiction or dangerous, I have to laugh, because, there are so many wonderful things about it, one is that it can help a person find love. Meade actually found Ann's blog through Instapundit. There have been other bloggers who met through Instapundit and I hope there are more. Did you get a date or meet someone through a blog? If so, leave a comment and tell us how it went.

Update: Ann Althouse has more.

The Diageo/Hotline Poll: "Compared to June, the decrease in Obama�s job approval ratings is being driven primarily by decreases among male voters (-15 points), Independent voters (-15 points), and Rural voters (-15 points)."

Maxims of Manhood?

I had some time today and picked up a new book entitled, The Maxims of Manhood: 100 Rules Every Real Man Must Live By that was floating around the house (sent by a publisher to Glenn). As one can gather from the title, the book is full of little maxims about "how to be a man." Though there were some decent maxims to sift through, I must say I wasn't terribly impressed.

I guess if you are a man who likes being told what to do or needs tips like "keep the one-night-stands classy," then this little gem is for you. Me, (granted, I am not a man) I would rather go my own way without a set of rules that sound more like the writer is afraid to trust himself and resorts to cliches about what men should be rather than be who he is (but he does admit in the end of the book after all the maxims that one should use his own judgment).

My biggest complaint is that his "modern code of masculinity" reads more like a cross between objectifying women on the one hand and being a bit too PC for my taste (others may disagree) on the other. For example, Maxim #86--"First date is always drinks" sounds harmless enough until you read the reasoning. The author points out that if the date is gorgeous and laughs at your jokes, there is no need to buy her dinner, if ugly, she has wasted your time and your money and finally, if she is just horny, you could just "take her to Home Depot and you'd still be in good shape." Real nice treatment of women there.

On the other hand, he spends some time with PC nonsense--pretty much acting as if most men are either pigs (Maxim #90--"You Don't Cheat") or just plain goofballs. In Maxim #67--he states "Don't be That Guy." "He's the scourge of nightlife, the butt of all jokes, the dregs of our gender...." If you're acting like just about any of Carrie's dates in "Sex and the City," you've turned into That Guy." What has "That Guy" done to deserve this title?

He paid for a beer with a hundred-dollar bill... "as if women will come flocking because he's made 20 percent of what a hooker makes in an hour." He clipped a Blackberry to his belt, tipped too little, or talked/ bragged loudly on his phone about his stock portfolio, and dances too close to women. Annoying? Sure. But to be called the "dregs of our gender," seems a bit extreme. I can think of things a lot worse. Of course, some radical feminists can't.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think this book is totally without merit. But I must say that it was not for me--but then, I am not his target audience.

If you have other books with advice for men that you have enjoyed, or not, drop in a comment with the title and why you like/disliked it.

Swearing isn't all bad

It turns out that a study shows swearing mitigates pain (via Instapundit). I have always sworn like a sailor when I stub my toe or hurt myself in some way, maybe I was just ahead of my time. At least, it always made me feel better.

Amy Alkon: "Why I've Started Having A Baby...Every Night."

"Can you, doctor, be our 'yes man?'"

The decision to opt out of Medicare is often a difficult one for doctors, but for this primary care physician, the decision was worth it (via Instapundit):

This decision meant I might lose my shirt and put my home and small life savings at risk, something thousands of Americans in other professions do everyday. If they could take the risk, then my risk is nothing less than a trivial American story.

The United States was built on this: a country of immigrants fleeing an �old establishment� to build something new. It�s a group of people declaring: �You can�t tax us without representation!� It�s a government that permits us to challenge established norms, challenge power without being jailed or shot. The question today in health care for all of us as patients is will we stampede towards the utopian ideal of �free care� while ignoring the predictable consequences that nothing is free.

The question put to primary care doctors by Medicare is clear at the moment: Will you let us at Medicare regulate care, dictate �best� treatments and control individual health and choices since we know what�s best. Can you, doctor, be our �yes man?�

Eight years ago I cast my vote and opted out of Medicare. Predictably my journey has not been easy but I have never regretted the decision.

Me neither, about a year or so ago, I opted out of Medicare (no easy feat!) due to the paperwork, lack of control, frustration at having trouble getting paid, the regulations and a myriad of other reasons. It was a good decision that I do not regret. If Obamacare comes in, then doctors will have to decide to be "yes men," or "Go Galt" as many health providers are doing.

Victor Davis Hanson on The War Against the Producers: "Do not discount again the psychological element."

"..it�s very hard to imagine the media criticizing a married woman who was gunned down by her boyfriend."

Glenn Sacks: Death of Steve McNair�Domestic Violence by Women Is Not Uncommon, Says Public Health Specialist:

Former NFL star Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep last week by a 20-year-old girlfriend, police said Wednesday. While there are over 10,000 media entries on Google News for �Steve McNair,� hardly one of them is paired with the phrase �domestic violence.�...

Holstein, MD adds:

Many commentators are criticizing McNair because his murder revealed that he was apparently having an extramarital affair. This is another double-standard on men & DV�it�s very hard to imagine the media criticizing a married woman who was gunned down by her boyfriend.

Is this just the male version of "he asked for it?"

How is this not a hate crime? I'm not in support of hate crime legislation etc. but if we have such laws, shouldn't they apply equally?

The Mancession is here

Christina Hoff Sommers, author of such books as The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men, talks to PJTV host Allen Barton about the Mancession--which she describes as a recession that has more severe impact on men than women. She believes that women's groups need to spend more time helping women in Iran and other places outside the US to gain the equality that American women have already achieved. She states that some of these feminist groups spend their time denigrating men and ruining job skills for men--rather than helping women. I agree.

You can listen to the interview here.

Fox News: Police Say South Carolina Spree Killer Had Long Rap Sheet:

The serial killer who terrorized a South Carolina community by shooting five people to death before police killed him Monday was a career criminal paroled just two months ago, authorities said.

Patrick Burris, 41, was shot to death by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, N.C., 30 miles from where the killing spree started June 27. Bullets in his gun matched those that killed residents in and around Gaffney over six days last week, said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd....

Burris had a long rap sheet filled with charges such as larceny, forgery and breaking and entering from states across the Southeast, including Florida, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. He had been paroled from a North Carolina prison in April after serving nearly eight years.

"Look at this," Lloyd said, waiving a stapled copy of Burris' criminal record. "This is like 25 pages. At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this suspect was out on the street."

Yes, wouldn't you like an explanation? It seems that sometimes, the longer the rap sheet, the shorter the prison stay. Perhaps judges who put these criminals back on the streets should be held accountable in some way.

"...the Web's outpouring of human expression deserves a more exuberant response, too. It should delight us. "

I've been reading a new book, Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters, by Salon.com co-founder Scott Rosenberg this week. The book gives a good history of blogging, how it came about and why it is so important. Chapters such as the "Blogger Catapult," "The Rise of Political Blogging," "The Exploding Blogosphere," and "The Perils of Keeping it Real" give detailed accounts of what blogging is really about, the pitfalls and the upsides. In the ending chapter, "Twilight of the Cynics," the author points out that though the cynics said blogging wouldn't last, they were wrong:

Simple beat busy. Personal beat corporate. Links beat walls and gates. For years I'd wondered whether the cynical diagnosis, which offered itself as the wisdom of experience, might actually represent the resentment of a dying order. Finally, I concluded that it did.

So, if you ever wondered how blogging started--it wasn't invented, it evolved--or how Matt Drudge got his start (no, he's not really a blogger), or other general stuff about the Web, then you will enjoy the book.

Daily News: Retired NFL QB Steve McNair killed in murder-suicide by 20-year-old woman:

Former NFL star quarterback Steve McNair was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in a Nashville condominium Saturday - and authorities hinted he was murdered by a girlfriend who then turned the gun on herself.

Cops discovered McNair's bullet-riddled body slumped on a sofa inside his rented condo's blood-spattered living room, authorities said.

What will happen if the evidence finds that this woman killed the victim? Probably nothing. "Experts," politicians, and activists will continue to say we need to focus exclusively on domestic violence against women...and people will applaud. Does anyone see the irony here?

PJTV: The Depression Cure

Do you or someone you know suffer from depression? Then you must watch my PJTV interview with Dr. Steve Ilardi, author of the new book The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs. Dr. Ilardi discusses how modern life is causing depression; how ruminating over one's problems is linked to depression and most importantly, what can be done to beat it--either for yourself or a loved one.

You can watch the show here.

"America isn't hiring precisely because of government policy."

Jerry Bower, a guest blogger at CNBC, has good insight into why US companies are not hiring:

America isn't hiring precisely because of government policy. Small business owners, who are usually the first into and the first out of the job pool, are standing by the fence and watching. They are paralyzed by regulatory uncertainty. If they hire someone who ends up doing poorly, will they be able to fire that person? Will they have to pay their health care bills after they've been terminated? If so, for how long? Who will pay for all these stimulus checks? If it will turn out to be small business, why would they hire instead of keeping costs low to prepare for the big tax bill? Where will the market move? Are you in the right business or are your clients in a politically disfavored industry? Are your clients in health care (being nationalized), autos (already nationalized), banking (somewhat nationalized) or any energy production process which uses carbon (pulverized)? Until you know, you don't grow, and until you grow your market, you don't grow your payroll.

Jobs aren't languishing despite the government's best efforts. They're languishing because of them.

Exactly.

New research on the link between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

I just saw this interesting article on Drudge from The Independent entitled, "Unlocked: the secrets of schizophrenia:"

Scientists have discovered a remarkable similarity between the genetic faults behind both schizophrenia and manic depression in a breakthrough that is expected to open the way to new treatments for two of the most common mental illnesses, affecting millions of people.

Previously doctors had assumed that the two conditions were quite separate. But new research shows for the first time that both have a common genetic basis that leads people to develop one or other of the two illnesses. ....

"Discoveries such as these are crucial for teasing out the biology of the disease and making it possible for us to begin to develop drugs targeting the underlying causes and not just the symptoms of the disease," said Kari Stefansson, the head of deCode Genetics, the Icelandic company involved in one of the three studies. "One of the reasons this study was so successful is its unprecedented size. Pooling our resources has yielded spectacular results, which is what the participants from three continents hoped for."

If you or someone you know suffers from either of these illnesses, you will know how difficult and painful they can be. Let's hope this research leads to better treatment options.

But "she managed to disarm him and cut him".....

There are times when fighting back is a good thing--this is one of them:

Chicago police have released photographs of a man suspected of demanding money from a female doctor and attempting to sexually assault her in her North Side office Monday evening.

The doctor managed to disarm her knife-wielding assailant and badly cut him on one or both of his hands, police said this morning.

The doctor was alone in her office in a medical professional building in the 2900 block of North Commonwealth Ave. near St. Joseph Hospital in the Lakeview East neighborhood about 6:30 p.m. when a man came in asking for directions to another office, said Police Officer Laura Kubiak.

He then displayed a knife, put it to the doctor's throat and forced her to the floor, Kubiak said. The doctor, in her 30s, suffered a puncture wound to her thigh. She was also punched.

But "she managed to disarm him and cut him" before he fled, Kubiak said.

His hand wounds were severe enough to seemingly require medical attention, Kubiak said.

We are frequently told by "authorities" and others to act passively when involved in a crime situation--sometimes that's the wrong thing to do. But it is often the will to fight back, not the sheer amount of strength one has that is most important.