Feminism Hurts Women

Via Eternity Matters (“The Real War on Women”), Wintery Knight sums up feminism and the sexual revolution:

A few decades back, a vocal minority of women decided to revolt against chastity, small government, low taxes, marriage, courtship, and motherhood. They decided that it was better to be able to have recreational sex before marriage, to put their own careers ahead of motherhood, to liberalize divorce laws, to pay women to have children without being married, to vote for higher taxes, to expand government to offer social programs and redistribution schemes, and to assault the traditional gender roles of husbands and fathers. Most men had nothing to do with starting this revolution, but men in general went along with it because they wanted freely available recreational sex more than they wanted children to be safe in stable, married homes.

Obama More Unpopular than Bush

A reader suggests that people should know about this, given the (liberal) narrative that Bush was a very bad, and very unpopular, president:

Gallup not only offers weekly averages of the current president’s job-approval ratings (“Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president?”), but also offers a number of historical comparisons.  Here are a few that I think are especially of interest:

Obama currently (March 19th–25th): 46%

“Term average to date” (January 2009–present): 49%

Obamacare Already Breaking Promises to Reduce Costs, Insure Everyone

…and it hasn’t even been fully implemented yet.

At National Review Online, Avik Roy offers an thorough but concise overview of all that has happened in the last year relating to Obamacare, with copious links to his sources.  A few excerpts:

Massachusetts continued to give us a preview of what Obamacare would do to the country. In May, studies found that, contrary to what was promised, the new health-care regime increased emergency-room crowding, and increased already-long wait times for doctors’ appointments.

More on Global Warming and the Limits of Human Knowledge

For those who have been wondering:

After an unusually cold winter in 2011 (December 2010-February 2011) the winter of 2012 was unusually warm in the continental United States. But the winter of 2012 was bitter in Europe, Asia and Alaska.

(from “Global Warming Models Are Wrong Again”, opinion section, Wall Street Journal)

Related entries:

• “More on Global Warming”
• “Re Global Warming, Be Reasonable”
• “On Conservatism and Global Warming”

What’s Wrong with FDR, as Explained by—FDR

I visited the FDR Memorial the other day.  It’s full of quotes from the man, many of which have to do with the New Deal (“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a New Deal for the American People”).  Many of them, on their face, might be ambiguous or generically in favor of helping the poor, but in the context of history, knowing what he actually did as president (the New Deal), it’s clear that he’s talking specifically about government policy.  In other words, FDR fell into the common liberal error (was it common then?) of conflating voluntary charitable help with forced redistribution.  Here’s just one example: 

Wise Words

Proverbs 17:27-28:

He who has knowledge spares his words,
And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit.

Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace;
When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.

‘One reason the western world is sliding off the cliff is because of an excess of “conventional wisdom”’

Great line from Mark Steyn:

One reason the western world is sliding off the cliff is because of an excess of “conventional wisdom” on everything from unsustainable welfare programs to climate change to Islam. Yet, at precisely the moment when we need to be broadening the bounds of public discourse, in Britain, Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere the same ideologically insecure political class that got us into this mess is growing ever more comfortable in regulating what the citizenry is allowed to say, read, listen to — and, indeed, think. I say nuts to that.

Liberals More than Twice as Likely to De-friend You for Disagreeing with Them

I was talking with a couple of friends recently about how (in my experience) liberals and conservatives use Facebook differently.  The vast majority of political commentary that comes across my news feed is from my liberal friends, not conservatives, and much of it is snide or flippant.  Just for example, at the moment, my feed includes (on the one hand) one Christian suggesting that Obama is attacking Christianity, and (on the other hand)

• a liberal relaying a “No, you can’t deny women their basic rights and pretend it’s about your ‘religious freedom'” picture,

• a liberal posting a snide Tina Fey quote about Sarah Palin,

Steyn on Fluke, America

Mark Steyn, as usual, is must-read material:

Nor is the core issue that, whatever the merits of government contraception, America is the Brokest Nation in History — although the Fluke story is a useful reminder that the distinction between fiscal and social conservatism is generally false. . . . When even casual sex requires a state welfare program, you’re pretty much done for.

More Accidental Government Humor

“Weakley County, Tennessee: Beautiful Since 1823″

“Welcome to the Western District of Louisiana Internet.”

“We are regularly out on the web.”

“It is recommended that you obtain legal council for probate matters as law from giving legal advice on probate matters prohibits this office.”

“Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors. Welcome message to site visitors.”

“What’s New !!!!”

(Guys in suits sit on table, dangle their legs.)

Almost as if Someone Had Designed It That Way…

Via Five Feet of Fury and Instapundit, another blogger (who is definitely not a chastity advocate generally) suggests an interesting way in which even the culture of fornication may inadvertently be creating renewed pressure for women to be chaste (warning: language):

However, such changes don’t happen in a vaccuum. As the sexual marketplace changed, male behavior also changed. So, not only are there fewer men now deemed marriageable, but those fewer men face significent negative incentives to marry. As per the law of supply and demand, the “price” of a husband of even moderate socio-sexual rank has gone up due to the decline in the supply.

Hamilton County Primary-election Results

We’re five for seven on the candidates this blog recommended as the best conservative and Tea Party choices.

Rick Santorum won most counties in Ohio but narrowly lost the state overall to Mitt Romney, 37-38.  Under Ohio’s rules, that gives Romney 35 delegates, Santorum 21.  Santorum won Oklahoma, Tennessee, and North Dakota, but Romney also won five states besides Ohio, while Gingrich won only his home state, Georgia.  Adding yesterday’s ten states, the total delegate count is now Romney 404, Santorum 161, Gingrich 105, and Paul 61.  It takes 1,144 to get a first-round majority at the convention and be assured of the nomination; most states’ primaries are still ahead of us.

Conservative/Tea Party/Insurgent Voter Guide

Update (November 2nd, 2013):  If you came looking for a Cincinnati voter guide for 2013, the best I can do is to point you to this Cincinnati East Tea Party 2013 voter guide.

 

Update (November 5th, 2012):  If you’re looking for the voter guide for November 2012, go here:

“Tea Party/Conservative Voter Guide for Ohio, 2012”

(The below guide was for the primaries.  The one linked above is for the general election.)

Update (March 7th, 2012):  Read about how things turned out here: “Hamilton County Primary-election Results”.

Ohio’s primary is tomorrow.  For your convenience, I’ve assembled a list of the best conservative candidate in each contested race in Hamilton County; feel free to print this out and take it with you into the polling booth.  If you want to know more about how I selected these candidates, with links to my sources and further information, read on below.

• Josh Mandel for U.S. Senate

• Brad Wenstrup for U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District

• Rebecca Heimlich for State Central Committee, 7th District

• Tom Brinkman for Ohio House of Representatives, 27th District

• Mike Wilson for Ohio House of Representatives, 28th District

• Louis William Blessing III for Ohio House of Representatives, 29th District

Santorum on Our Decline

Is it because Ohio is a “swing state”?  I got to hear both Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney speak at campaign events in the Cincinnati area today.  (Newt Gingrich was also in the area, but his event conflicted with Santorum’s.  Anyway I heard Gingrich when he was in town last month.)

8% of Americans Agree Contraception Is Wrong

Right around the same time that the Reformed Pastor and I were wondering whether there were any polling data about contraceptives as such (that is, what share of the population thinks contraception itself is immoral, not just the HHS mandate or any other current particular), Pew was releasing a report about exactly that, as Pew staff helpfully pointed out to me.

Pew estimates that 8% of the general population believe that it’s wrong to use contraceptives: