I was dismayed to hear that Rush Limbaugh was taken to the hospital with chest pains. However, with all of the medical advances with heart problems (if that is the diagnosis), I hope that he will be out and back with his show soon. I have been listening to his guests hosts (I love Mark Steyn) and while they are good, there is no substitute for Rush.
Update: Rush had an angiogram yesterday and nothing was found to be wrong with his heart. Hopefully, he'll be back at work soon.
Do blogs drive public perception of a business?
You bet they do. A reader emailed me a post on social media and reputation management that featured my post entitled, "All Men are Pigs" that discussed my negative experience at a health food store. The former post makes clear how important it is for businesses to monitor their online reputation:
I must say that I have been very impressed with some of the social media people who have stopped by here and other blogs to comment and offer help or apologies. For example, I just wrote about my experience with Comcast and heard from their Customer Service Center in the comments. I emailed Melissa Mendoza to tell her my complaints and she said she would have someone call me from the local Comcast office to see what can be done. My phone rang and a professional Comcast customer service person listened to my complaints but said that I would have to pay the extra charges, downgrade my service, or bundle all my services together to get a reduction in price. Nice gesture, but nothing was accomplished.
Perhaps bloggers should offer more praise when things go right with businesses. For example, my local Walgreens was awesome today in helping me to get the drug Tikosyn that I take for my heart rhythm problems, even though there is a shortage currently. They called me promptly when there was a problem and helped to resolve it.
Do you think that it is important that businesses monitor their online reputation and respond to bloggers and readers who criticize them?
An online dialogue about your goods, services or business practices can be the sharpest of double-edged swords: everyone�s either a critic or an advocate. But mostly a critic. When�s the last time you blogged about how glad you are that your morning soda wasn�t stale, or that your roof didn�t cave in today? After all, we�re more likely to tickle a keyboard in frustration than praise. It�s human nature. And due to the social networking explosion, there�s a lot of human nature out there for your current and prospective clients to see. If William Congreve thought scorned women were bad news, he would have been even more disturbed by what a disgruntled customer can do to a business� reputation over the Internet.
Which begs, nay screams, the question: are you managing your online reputation?
I must say that I have been very impressed with some of the social media people who have stopped by here and other blogs to comment and offer help or apologies. For example, I just wrote about my experience with Comcast and heard from their Customer Service Center in the comments. I emailed Melissa Mendoza to tell her my complaints and she said she would have someone call me from the local Comcast office to see what can be done. My phone rang and a professional Comcast customer service person listened to my complaints but said that I would have to pay the extra charges, downgrade my service, or bundle all my services together to get a reduction in price. Nice gesture, but nothing was accomplished.
Perhaps bloggers should offer more praise when things go right with businesses. For example, my local Walgreens was awesome today in helping me to get the drug Tikosyn that I take for my heart rhythm problems, even though there is a shortage currently. They called me promptly when there was a problem and helped to resolve it.
Do you think that it is important that businesses monitor their online reputation and respond to bloggers and readers who criticize them?
"The men eager to self-detonate on infidel airliners are not goatherds from the caves of Waziristan but educated middle-class Muslims"
Great point by Mark Steyn:
So once again we see the foolishness of complaceniks who drone the fatuous cliches about how "in this struggle, scholarships will be far more important than smart bombs". The men eager to self-detonate on infidel airliners are not goatherds from the caves of Waziristan but educated middle-class Muslims who have had the most exposure to the western world and could be pulling down six-figure salaries almost anywhere on the planet. And don't look to "assimilation" to work its magic, either. We're witnessing a process of generational de-assimilation: In this family, yet again, the dad is an entirely assimilated member of the transnational elite. His son wants a global caliphate run on Wahhabist lines.
Can eating carbs make you thin?
So, with people feeling fat after the holidays and New Year's resolutions being considered, the typical glut of diet books seem to be circulating. We received one in the mail the other day so I picked it up as the title made the diet sound a little different from the normal fare. The Serotonin Power Diet: Eat Carbs--Nature's Own Appetite Suppressant--to Stop Emotional Overeating and Halt Antidepressant-Associated Weight Gain
was written by two experts who founded a weight loss center.
They start the book by explaining that carbs are not the enemy. From what I gathered from the first chapter, eating carbs helps the brain to produce serotonin (the brain's natural "feel good" chemical and appetite suppressant) which in turn keeps a person happy, stabilizes his or her mood, and results in less stress eating. Eating protein alone, on the other hand, results in less serotonin getting to the brain and may produce a lack of energy and binge-eating of carbs. So, the way to quit binge eating carbs is to eat carbs in a more controlled manner with snacks and foods that feed the brain serotonin.
It seems to me this is all rather intuitive, so who needs a whole book about it? If I don't eat carbs for even one day, I am grumpy and in search of them the next. But the book is worth a read if you want some good examples and details of how to eat carbs in a controlled and sensible manner. It has a kitchen list for meals for those who don't want to cook and basic meals that lay out what to eat and when. They are also a big fan of snacking and have you eat three carb snacks daily during the first phase of the diet. This phases out over time. But the snacks look decent and include low-fat biscotti, Fig Newtons, marshmallows, and pretzels.
The book also contains good information on how to help yourself if you are on antidepressant drugs and are gaining weight. Overall, it seems to be pretty decent and based on some good research.
was written by two experts who founded a weight loss center. They start the book by explaining that carbs are not the enemy. From what I gathered from the first chapter, eating carbs helps the brain to produce serotonin (the brain's natural "feel good" chemical and appetite suppressant) which in turn keeps a person happy, stabilizes his or her mood, and results in less stress eating. Eating protein alone, on the other hand, results in less serotonin getting to the brain and may produce a lack of energy and binge-eating of carbs. So, the way to quit binge eating carbs is to eat carbs in a more controlled manner with snacks and foods that feed the brain serotonin.
It seems to me this is all rather intuitive, so who needs a whole book about it? If I don't eat carbs for even one day, I am grumpy and in search of them the next. But the book is worth a read if you want some good examples and details of how to eat carbs in a controlled and sensible manner. It has a kitchen list for meals for those who don't want to cook and basic meals that lay out what to eat and when. They are also a big fan of snacking and have you eat three carb snacks daily during the first phase of the diet. This phases out over time. But the snacks look decent and include low-fat biscotti, Fig Newtons, marshmallows, and pretzels.
The book also contains good information on how to help yourself if you are on antidepressant drugs and are gaining weight. Overall, it seems to be pretty decent and based on some good research.
Is cable worth it?
Every six months I have to get into it with Comcast, my cable company who doubles or this month almost tripled my bill when a "promotion" ran out. I have been calling and getting the promotions for over 4 years now but this time pretty much ran into a brick wall when the customer service representative just kind of shrugged and gave me simply a ridiculous number instead of an over-the-top one.
One thing I really hate about Comcast in Knoxville is that if you want to quit, they will not cut your bill off immediately. Instead, you have to pack up the equipment and drive it across town to some out of the way building in a far away location. I assume they do this on purpose-- knowing full well that many people do not have the time to get the equipment back quickly and either forget it or take weeks to return it. What do you do if you are a single person who is disabled and wants to cut off service? Perhaps you have no way to get the equipment back.
I hate to quit cable altogether as I use it for work, ideas for blogging, and I like HGTV. But I can't stand the stress of wheeling and dealing with Comcast.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Update: Comcast Customer Service responds in the comments:
Hello all!
I just wanted to drop a line here for Dr. Helen and anyone else who may be interested in our team's assistance. Feel free to email our team at the address below with your billing or service concerns. Our team is always happy to help.
Kind Regards,
Melissa Mendoza
Comcast Customer Connect
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@comcast.com
@ComcastMelissa
Update II: I emailed Melissa Mendoza to tell her my complaints and she said she would have someone call me from the local Comcast office to see what can be done. My phone rang and a professional Comcast customer service person listened to my complaints but said that I would have to pay the extra charges, downgrade my service, or bundle all my services together to get a reduction in price. Nice gesture, but nothing was accomplished.
One thing I really hate about Comcast in Knoxville is that if you want to quit, they will not cut your bill off immediately. Instead, you have to pack up the equipment and drive it across town to some out of the way building in a far away location. I assume they do this on purpose-- knowing full well that many people do not have the time to get the equipment back quickly and either forget it or take weeks to return it. What do you do if you are a single person who is disabled and wants to cut off service? Perhaps you have no way to get the equipment back.
I hate to quit cable altogether as I use it for work, ideas for blogging, and I like HGTV. But I can't stand the stress of wheeling and dealing with Comcast.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Update: Comcast Customer Service responds in the comments:
Hello all!
I just wanted to drop a line here for Dr. Helen and anyone else who may be interested in our team's assistance. Feel free to email our team at the address below with your billing or service concerns. Our team is always happy to help.
Kind Regards,
Melissa Mendoza
Comcast Customer Connect
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@comcast.com
@ComcastMelissa
Update II: I emailed Melissa Mendoza to tell her my complaints and she said she would have someone call me from the local Comcast office to see what can be done. My phone rang and a professional Comcast customer service person listened to my complaints but said that I would have to pay the extra charges, downgrade my service, or bundle all my services together to get a reduction in price. Nice gesture, but nothing was accomplished.
Women's violence against men is really dangerous
Ann Althouse makes a good point in response to an article that reports Elin Nordegren hit Tiger Woods with a golf club to wake him from an Ambien-induced sleep. Her response is to a commenter who thought that hitting a man with a golf club wasn't attempted murder, but a wake up call:
I'll add this: it doesn't matter if Nordegren knew Woods was in an Ambien-induced sleep. A spouse has no right to hit his or her partner with a golf club for cheating, regardless of the reason. Yell? Yes. Cry? Yes. Tell him to leave? Sure. Leave herself? Of course.
But to use a weapon to whack him and run him out to the car to escape, if this is what really happened, is not the way to resolve a problem like this, nor should it be legal for a male or female to beat their spouse with a weapon for cheating. It is very dangerous in this case, because, as a man, Woods probably had no other recourse than to get in the car and get away, or face being put in jail for defending himself.
AllenS wrote: "Nonsense, it was a wake up call." Now, I was going to use a "wake-up call" wisecrack in the original post. Why did I reject it? Because it would signal that women's violence against men isn't really dangerous, isn't really a crime. It would say that when a woman has a righteous reason to be angry at her man, what would otherwise be a crime is not a crime. Think about how ugly it is to hit someone with a golf club while he is asleep. Did she know it was an Ambien-induced sleep � from which it will be very difficult to wake up and defend himself? How hard a swing did she take at him? It seems it was scary enough to make him run out of the house and attempt to drive � quickly � when he was in no condition to drive.
I'll add this: it doesn't matter if Nordegren knew Woods was in an Ambien-induced sleep. A spouse has no right to hit his or her partner with a golf club for cheating, regardless of the reason. Yell? Yes. Cry? Yes. Tell him to leave? Sure. Leave herself? Of course.
But to use a weapon to whack him and run him out to the car to escape, if this is what really happened, is not the way to resolve a problem like this, nor should it be legal for a male or female to beat their spouse with a weapon for cheating. It is very dangerous in this case, because, as a man, Woods probably had no other recourse than to get in the car and get away, or face being put in jail for defending himself.
Learned helplessness or learned optimism? You decide.
A reader emailed me today to ask if the American people were experiencing a kind of learned helplessness in response to our current government, much like the dogs in psychologist Martin Seligman's studies. For those of you unfamiliar with learned helplessness--it is a technical term that "means a condition of a human being or an animal in which it has learned to behave helplessly, even when the opportunity is restored for it to help itself by avoiding an unpleasant or harmful circumstance to which it has been subjected."
Are people fed up and ready to give up in the face of overwhelming obstacles such as the health care bill debacle? Perhaps some, but I pointed out to this reader that one third of the dogs in the learned helplessness studies never gave up or became helpless:
Like the more resilient dogs, those of us who love freedom, believe in making our own health care choices and know to our very core that the government does not own us must never become helpless but must continue to find ways out of an unpleasant situation, and look forward with optimism, knowing that no condition is permanent.
Update: Stuart Schneiderman has some additional thoughts.
Are people fed up and ready to give up in the face of overwhelming obstacles such as the health care bill debacle? Perhaps some, but I pointed out to this reader that one third of the dogs in the learned helplessness studies never gave up or became helpless:
However, not all of the dogs in Seligman's experiments became helpless. Of the roughly 150 dogs in experiments in the latter half of the 1960s, about one-third did not become helpless, but instead managed to find a way out of the unpleasant situation despite their past experience with it. The corresponding characteristic in humans has been found to correlate highly with optimism; however, not a na�ve Polyannaish optimism, but an explanatory style that views the situation as other than personal, pervasive, or permanent. This distinction between people who adapt and those who break down under long-term psychological pressure was also studied in the 1950s in the context of brainwashing.
Like the more resilient dogs, those of us who love freedom, believe in making our own health care choices and know to our very core that the government does not own us must never become helpless but must continue to find ways out of an unpleasant situation, and look forward with optimism, knowing that no condition is permanent.
Update: Stuart Schneiderman has some additional thoughts.
More Serial Killers.....
on Biography. This one is a French serial killer by the name of Michael Fourniret. You can watch me on this show as an expert tonight, Friday, December 18 @ 8 pm ET on the Biography channel. Here is a description of the show:
You can see more about the show here.
He's known worldwide as the "Ogre of the Ardennes." Frenchman Michel Fourniret's exploits terrorized Europe in the 1980s and '90s as he kidnapped, raped and murdered nine young women in a reign of terror across France and Belgium. When he attempted to kidnap his 10th victim, his wife refused to conceal his sickness any longer. She went to authorities. Fourniret was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison where he remains today.
You can see more about the show here.
What's wrong with Christmas sweaters?
Whenever I read about fashion (which is rare as I don't really care, unless I have to dress up for work), I see tips like this one made by Amy Alkon:
Okay, I can understand not wanting to wear a Christmas sweater like this one
but is this one
so bad? I think it is festive and nice. I admit having given something similar to someone for a gift years ago. Am I a bad person for doing so? Yes, according to Manolo, the shoe blogger, who says:
Do you wear Christmas clothing--sweaters, sweatshirts etc.? Or, do you consider it a fashion faux pas like so many others?
Avoid Christmas sweaters at all cost. If you have one, burn it, so you can ensure that you will never be drunk enough to put it on. Oh, sorry -- considering what they're usually made of, make that "melt it in a well-ventilated area."
Okay, I can understand not wanting to wear a Christmas sweater like this one
but is this one so bad? I think it is festive and nice. I admit having given something similar to someone for a gift years ago. Am I a bad person for doing so? Yes, according to Manolo, the shoe blogger, who says:So, listen to the advice of the Manolo, and make this the season of joy by giving your holiday sweaters to the garbage man.
Do you wear Christmas clothing--sweaters, sweatshirts etc.? Or, do you consider it a fashion faux pas like so many others?
PJTV: Amy Alkon on Rude People
Amy Alkon talks with me about her new book, I See Rude People: One woman's battle to beat some manners into impolite society.
She has advice for everyone who has ever encountered an internet troll, violent girls with no empathy for others, underparented kids and more.You can watch here.
Serial Killers on Biography
If you get the Biography channel on cable, you can watch me as an expert on a show about serial killer Robert Pickton, a pig farmer charged with killing 27 women in Canada. Here is the description:
The show airs at 8:00 eastern time tonight, Dec. llth.
Update: If you are a night owl and don't mind having nightmares, you can watch it again tonight, Dec. 12th at 12:am.
Between 1995 and 2001, serial killer Robert "Willie" Pickton killed at least six Canadian women. All the women were known drug addicts or prostitutes from "Low Track"--Vancouver's gritty Downtown Eastside neighborhood. Pickton picked up his victims from the street and took them back to his pig farm in Port Coquitlam. There, Pickton would strangle or shoot each woman before mercilessly cutting her up in his slaughterhouse. By the time police caught up with Pickton, more than sixty women were missing from Low Track. After the most extensive forensic investigation in Canadian history, Pickton was charged with murdering 27 women. He was finally convicted on six counts of second-degree murder. He is currently appealing those charges, and is yet to stand trial for a further 20 murders.
The show airs at 8:00 eastern time tonight, Dec. llth.
Update: If you are a night owl and don't mind having nightmares, you can watch it again tonight, Dec. 12th at 12:am.
"Of course even pretty young girls can kill."
Double X blog has an article entitled, "Lady Killers and Why We Are Fascinated by Them" that is worth a read. As part of the story, they have a picture of Tiger Wood's wife, Elin Nordegren (along with Amanda Knox, who actually was convicted of killing another woman) which is a bit unfair, given that she may have engaged in domestic violence but is hardly a killer. However, I suppose she fits into the mold of how the public wants to believe that women, especially good-looking ones are always trying to help, rather than hurt others. The article makes a good point:
In her book, When She Was Bad...: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence,
Patricia Pearson has a chapter that addresses this topic called "Maybe You Mistook me for an Angel." She states:
Pearson points out that women are still receiving preferential treatment in the justice system; for example, one study found that men were 11 percent more likely to be incarcerated than women for violent crime. Perhaps, this is why people think women are less violent than they are. They do not receive much, if any punishment, and thus, are seen as innocent. It also shows up in the stats as a lesser crime or none at all.
What needs to change is our perception in the culture that women are not violent, for to do so encourages violence as there are no or few consequences for it on the part of women. Women do not get the help they need in order to change their behavior before it escalates. In addition, to pretend that women are not capable of real violence is to take away their autonomy and deny that they are capable of the full range of human behavior and emotions, and how sexist is that?
...most people are deeply uncomfortable with the idea that a woman�especially a fresh-faced young woman like Amanda�could be a violent criminal, they must create a more palatable narrative. Generally this involves a predictable twist: first normalize, then demonize.
In her book, When She Was Bad...: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence,
Patricia Pearson has a chapter that addresses this topic called "Maybe You Mistook me for an Angel." She states:Clearly, chivalry justice will continue to operate as long as the justice system has a host of exonerative excuses for female behavior and a highly simplistic vocabulary of motive.
Pearson points out that women are still receiving preferential treatment in the justice system; for example, one study found that men were 11 percent more likely to be incarcerated than women for violent crime. Perhaps, this is why people think women are less violent than they are. They do not receive much, if any punishment, and thus, are seen as innocent. It also shows up in the stats as a lesser crime or none at all.
What needs to change is our perception in the culture that women are not violent, for to do so encourages violence as there are no or few consequences for it on the part of women. Women do not get the help they need in order to change their behavior before it escalates. In addition, to pretend that women are not capable of real violence is to take away their autonomy and deny that they are capable of the full range of human behavior and emotions, and how sexist is that?
Interesting stats on divorce
I thought readers might be interested in these divorce figures (via Maggies Farm):
I thought this was also worth noting:
The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%
The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%
The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%
I thought this was also worth noting:
The divorce rate in America for childless couples and couples with children
According to discovery channel, couples with children have a slightly lower rate of divorce than childless couples.
Sociologists believe that childlessness is also a common cause of divorce. The absence of children leads to loneliness and weariness and even in the United States, at least 66 per cent of all divorced couples are childless.
Is there anything Glenn Beck can't do?
It seems like everywhere you look, you see Glenn Beck--either on television or in print. But instead of one of his political books, I received his new book The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book
(yes, the book was free and no, I was not paid in any way to write about this book, nor do I ever take money to write reviews about products) in the mail today and read over it in one sitting. It is a cute kid's book about a boy who wants a new bike and receives a handmade sweater instead. The illustrations by Brandon Dorman are terrific and the story is really sweet. It is about a boy who learns that a gift given with love and spending time with family is more important than a really cool gift.
That's good, because I have a feeling that all those kids hoping for the big toy this season, the Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster
will be disappointed when they find out that it hard to get and possibly should be recalled due to toxins.
Anyway, back to Beck, I don't watch him with any regularity but I must admit that he is a one-man show with all of the books, radio, tv and now kid's books that he does. Love him or hate him, you have to give him credit for being a jack of all trades.
(yes, the book was free and no, I was not paid in any way to write about this book, nor do I ever take money to write reviews about products) in the mail today and read over it in one sitting. It is a cute kid's book about a boy who wants a new bike and receives a handmade sweater instead. The illustrations by Brandon Dorman are terrific and the story is really sweet. It is about a boy who learns that a gift given with love and spending time with family is more important than a really cool gift. That's good, because I have a feeling that all those kids hoping for the big toy this season, the Zhu Zhu Pet Hamster
will be disappointed when they find out that it hard to get and possibly should be recalled due to toxins.Anyway, back to Beck, I don't watch him with any regularity but I must admit that he is a one-man show with all of the books, radio, tv and now kid's books that he does. Love him or hate him, you have to give him credit for being a jack of all trades.
A question for Jessica Ashley, a proponent of violence against men
It seems that Shine staff columnist Jessica Ashley feels sorry for Elin, the wife of Tiger Woods (via Instapundit):
Gee, Jessica, have you ever read Newsweek? It seems that American women lead secret lives that are not so secret to many people, if they would just open their eyes:
So my question to this proponent of violence against men is this: Given that women's marital infidelity is approaching that of men (who are catting around just like Tiger), should their husbands feel free to take the tool of his wife's trade and smash in her car and perhaps her face? Because that is what you are advocating. Cheaters get beaten and their property trashed. I don't agree.
Or maybe what you are really saying is that you are for female privilege. If so, just say it out loud so everyone can know where you and your fellow sadistic "crowd" stands, not for equality between the sexes, but as a proponent of violence against men.
I am not going to opine about whether Elin should or should not stick with her husband (although early reports are saying she's planning to stand by him, after a revision of the prenup). Instead, I say that she should do whatever it is she has to do. If that is taking the tool of her husband's trade to smash the window of his Cadillac Escalade, so be it (my emphasis).If that is combing through his phone and dialing up any suspicious numbers, go to it. If that is trying to work through it (hopefully, with help of a professional), then help yourself. If that is to handle it behind closed doors, then do that.
Although none of us is in the relationship with Tiger and Elin, many of us certainly have been in that situation. If this statistic is right, that 1 in 4.6 married or cohabitating men have been unfaithful, then big crowds of us can understand any of the choices Elin might make (my emphais).
While there will certainly be an audience waiting with bated breath to criticize whether Elin stays with Tiger or walks away, I think we should stand by Elin instead. And if she needs a friend to go at the rest of the windows, pass the golf clubs, Elin. I've got your back.
Gee, Jessica, have you ever read Newsweek? It seems that American women lead secret lives that are not so secret to many people, if they would just open their eyes:
Just how many married women have had sex with people who are not their husbands? It's hard to say for sure, because people lie to pollsters when they talk about sex, and studies vary wildly. (Men, not surprisingly, amplify their sexual experience, while women diminish it.) Couples therapists estimate that among their clientele, the number is close to 30 to 40 percent, compared with 50 percent of men, and the gap is almost certainly closing. In 1991, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago asked married women if they'd ever had sex outside their marriage, and 10 percent said yes. When the same pollsters asked the same question in 2002, the "yes" responses rose to 15 percent, while the number of men stayed flat at about 22 percent. The best interpretation of the data: the cheating rate for women is approaching that of men, says Tom Smith, author of the NORC's reports on sexual behavior. When Michele Weiner-Davis, a marriage counselor and founder of the Divorce Busting Center in Woodstock, Ill., started practicing 20 years ago, just 10 percent of the infidelity she knew of was committed by women. Now, she believes, it's closer to 50 percent. "Women have suddenly begun to give themselves the same permission to step over the boundary the way that men have."
So my question to this proponent of violence against men is this: Given that women's marital infidelity is approaching that of men (who are catting around just like Tiger), should their husbands feel free to take the tool of his wife's trade and smash in her car and perhaps her face? Because that is what you are advocating. Cheaters get beaten and their property trashed. I don't agree.
Or maybe what you are really saying is that you are for female privilege. If so, just say it out loud so everyone can know where you and your fellow sadistic "crowd" stands, not for equality between the sexes, but as a proponent of violence against men.
Will Obama donors, academics and Union leaders lead to job growth?
I somehow doubt it. I wonder how jobs will grow when many of the people going to Obama's White House jobs summit today are either academics, Union executives or Obama donors or a combination? Few of these people know how to run a small business where jobs are created, or their politics are such that they may hinder growth by sucking up to bad policies to keep on Obama's good side. The only CEO on the list thus far that looked promising to me was Fred Smith (though the list is not exhaustive and there may be more):
I am glad to see that only one CEO donated to Obama. But it seems to me if you want to promote job growth, it would help to have small business owners or those who represent them more fully present, and to take their ideas into consideration. The regime uncertainly of this administration is certainly stifling job growth. Businesses are scared to hire because they don't know what to expect next. Maybe lessening the tax burden and regulations on small business would be a step in the right direction for job growth. I imagine this job summit is more for show, however, so I won't hold my breath waiting for any sensible policies to emerge. I hope I am wrong...
Of the several award-winning economists slated to attend, some are academics who donated hefty amounts to candidate Obama, like Joe Stiglitz of Columbia University, an early supporter who doled out more than $4,000 for his presidential run.
Of the 29 known attendees, only one CEO -- Eric Schmidt of Google -- donated to Obama. Schmidt gave $25,000 in personal contributions to the president's inaugural celebration last January. Employees from Google Inc. doled out a whopping $803,436 for Obama's presidential campaign -- the fifth highest of any organization to donate to his record-shattering campaign bounty.
One other CEO slated to attend, Frederick Smith of Federal Express, gave money during the 2008 presidential campaign -- but not to Obama. Smith contributed $2,300 to Republican presidential nominee John McCain and served on the Republican's "kitchen cabinet" of campaign advisers.
I am glad to see that only one CEO donated to Obama. But it seems to me if you want to promote job growth, it would help to have small business owners or those who represent them more fully present, and to take their ideas into consideration. The regime uncertainly of this administration is certainly stifling job growth. Businesses are scared to hire because they don't know what to expect next. Maybe lessening the tax burden and regulations on small business would be a step in the right direction for job growth. I imagine this job summit is more for show, however, so I won't hold my breath waiting for any sensible policies to emerge. I hope I am wrong...
Toys for boys
If you are looking for gifts for boys, here are some of my favorite suggestions:
First are the Snap Circuits SC-300
which is good for the budding 8-14 year old engineer on your list that loves electronic projects. Another good toy for this age group is the Air Hogs Havoc Heli 
which is described as "the Smallest and Lightest Micro R/C Helicopter in the World." A number of guys seem to like this LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 
which is a building kit (though a bit pricey) that lets a kid construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move. And finally, for boys, there is always the old standby, The Dangerous Book for Boys.
You can hear our interview with the author, Conn Iggulden, here.
If you have other holiday gift suggestions for boys, drop them in the comments.
First are the Snap Circuits SC-300
which is good for the budding 8-14 year old engineer on your list that loves electronic projects. Another good toy for this age group is the Air Hogs Havoc Heli which is described as "the Smallest and Lightest Micro R/C Helicopter in the World." A number of guys seem to like this LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 which is a building kit (though a bit pricey) that lets a kid construct robots that see, speak, feel, and move. And finally, for boys, there is always the old standby, The Dangerous Book for Boys. You can hear our interview with the author, Conn Iggulden, here. If you have other holiday gift suggestions for boys, drop them in the comments.
Good news about porn
Many of you may have already seen the study saying that porn does not change men's perception of women or their relationship (via instapundit). The professor who oversaw the study had this to say:
I have often known women who seem very ill at ease if their husband or boyfriend viewed porn. Perhaps they should read this study and realize that viewing porn for most guys is not harmful (not that this should matter, I think guys should be free to view porn as long as there is no abuse or underage kids). This study might help those women realize that porn use is normal, so much so that the researchers couldn't find any guys in their twenties who had not viewed it.
Lajeunesse believes the early findings of the study cast significant doubt on the common perception that pornography dramatically changes the sexual behavior of those who view it.
�If pornography had the impact that many claim it has, you would just have to show heterosexual films to a homosexual to change his sexual orientation,� he says.
I have often known women who seem very ill at ease if their husband or boyfriend viewed porn. Perhaps they should read this study and realize that viewing porn for most guys is not harmful (not that this should matter, I think guys should be free to view porn as long as there is no abuse or underage kids). This study might help those women realize that porn use is normal, so much so that the researchers couldn't find any guys in their twenties who had not viewed it.
David Harsanyi:...as Climategate proves, a bit of skepticism will rarely steer you wrong. In fact, it's one of the key elements of rational thinking.
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