Who Is Wiser, Barack Obama or Sarah Palin?
That all depends, of course, on your definition of wisdom.
A Modest Proposal for Training Future Presidents
Let's think outside the box when it comes to choosing a leader, shall we?
Obama and Desperation: A Wall Street Analogy
What happened to Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers might now be happening to the Obama campaign.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Presidential Race
We've seen it all and the race is essentially tied. What's next?
Surviving Hurricane Ike
When disaster strikes — even in modern America — the refugee experience gets primal pretty quickly.
Film Critics Shut Their Eyes to Terrorism
As their response to Traitor demonstrates, they want your eyes to be shut as well.
Solidarity on Standing Up To Iran? Not in the Obama Camp
A bi-partisan rally against Ahmedinejad's arrival in NY falls victim to politics.
Justice Department vs. Republicans
Partisan career lawyers twist civil rights statutes to suppress perfectly legal political activity.
Palin Email Hacker Suspect: A Democratic Legislator’s Kid
Now who thinks politicians should be able to control their offspring's behavior?
Obama’s Trickle-Up Economics
Democrats promise to make their tax increases rain only on the rich. Can they?
The Aussie View of Sarah Palin
To those who live Down Under, Palin is Middle America incarnate — for better and for worse.
Palin ‘Disinvited’ from Iran Rally
Organizers bar all politicians after Hillary Clinton refuses to share stage with McCain's running mate.
The Creative Personality
I recently saw a link to this a href=”http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-19960701-000033print=1″ span style=”font-style:italic;”Psychology Today/span article/a on the creative personality at a href=”http://www.conservativegrapevine.com/”Conservative Grapevine/a and thought I would share it with you (it is several years old but still worth a read). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of such books as a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060928204?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0060928204″ span style=”font-style:italic;”Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention,/span/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0060928204″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / summarizes the ten points of the creative personality. You can read the article to see all ten but here are a few of the highlights that caught my eye:br /br /blockquoteCreative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest. They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. This suggests a superior physical endowment, a genetic advantage. Yet it is surprising how often individuals who in their seventies and eighties exude energy and health remember childhoods plagued by illness. It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than to the superiority of their genes….br /br /The earliest longitudinal study of superior mental abilities, initiated at Stanford University by the psychologist Lewis Terman in 1921, shows rather conclusively that children with very high IQs do well in life, but after a certain point IQ does not seem to be correlated any longer with superior performance in real life. Later studies suggest that the cutoff point is around 120; it might be difficult to do creative work with a lower IQ, but an IQ beyond 120 does not necessarily imply higher creativity….br /br /Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead….br /br /Creative people are both rebellious and conservative. It is impossible to be creative without having first internalized an area of culture. So it’s difficult to see how a person can be creative without being both traditional and conservative and at the same time rebellious and iconoclastic./blockquotebr /br /I have conducted thousands of IQ tests in my career and I must say that IQ is overrated. I have seen lawyers with 105 IQs who are performing well at their jobs and seem to be creative and others who scored over 140 who are unemployed and talking about what geniuses they are. It seems like the more a person talks about how smart and bright they are, the less creative and really productive they really are. Have you noticed that?
PJM Political 9/17/08: Sex, Lies, and Mucinex
Tune in each Wednesday to XM Channel #130, POTUS ’08 at 1:00 PM Eastern/10:00 AM Pacific for PJ Media’s weekly PJM Political show! (And at 12:00 AM Eastern Friday/9:00 PM Pacific Thursday for a rebroadcast.) If you missed this week’s show, click below to listen:
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(Want to download instead of streaming? Click here to download this week’s show. Or click here to download the lo-fi edition.)
Fighting a cold and armed with plenty of Mucinex and DayQuil, host Steve Green explores the state of the presidential race. Join his guests:
- Jennifer Rubin, PJ Media’s DC Editor, on Charlie Gibson’s interview with Sarah Palin; and her thoughts on Jill Greenberg, the freelance photographer who shot the cover for the Atlantic’s John McCain interview, then risked a lawsuit from the Atlantic after her comments on the Internet exposed herself as Patient Zero for the burgeoning new condition, McCain Derangement Syndrome.
- Pajamas CEO Roger L. Simon’s interview with John Ziegler, the producer of the new documentary, Blocking “The Path to 9/11”, and Bill and Hillary Clinton’s role in this ABC ratings smash not being released on DVD.
- James Lileks on Palinphobic Hollywood.
- Glenn Reynolds and Dr. Helen Smith of InstaPundit.com, and their interview with Massachusetts tax reduction activist Carla Howell.
- Steve himself explores the candidates and Wall Street’s financial woes before the show heads for the Delta Quadrant and concludes with a conversational Jeri Ryan cameo!
- Produced by Ed Driscoll; sponsorship requested from Bristol-Meyers.
Roger’s interview John Ziegler can also be seen on Pajamas’ new PJTV channel. If you missed any previous episodes of PJM Political, click here and scroll through for hours of audio archives.
Very Different Economic Times in Red vs. Blue States
If there is to be a recession, it will be blue-state thinking that brought it on.
Hey Obama, How’s That ‘Judgment to Lead’ Meme Going?
Another of his claims to the presidency evaporates before our eyes.
Palin and Pelosi: Worlds Apart in House-Cleaning Methodology
Each attained power by promising to clean up government. One actually did it.
Britain’s Jihad Industry Exposed
Saudi Arabia trains extremist clerics to preach hate and violence in British mosques.
a href=”http://neoneocon.com/2008/09/17/first-interview-with-the-unflappable-first-dude/”Neo-Neocon has a crush./a
Pontius Palin and Messiah Obama
"Jesus was a community organizer; Pilate was a governor" is ahistorical and just plain dumb.
Are Obama’s positions those of most Americans?
I was flipping through a new book on Obama entitled a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935071025?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=1935071025″span style=”font-style:italic;”The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama’s War on American Values,/span/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=1935071025″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / and read an interesting chapter entitled, “The Barack Obama Test.” br /br /The author used questions gathered from The Associated Television News/Zogby America poll of 1005 voters to find out if people agreed or disagreed with the positions of Obama. Some questions were posed to all Americans and other questions were posed to the 70% of Americans who paid taxes and then to the 30% who do not pay taxes (isn’t it amazing that almost 30% of Americans do not pay federal taxes! Personally, I think that if we have a federal tax, then all Americans should be required to pay taxes of some sort–but that’s a whole other topic). br /br /Here are a few examples of questions that were asked: “Should a doctor give medical care to a fetus that survives an abortion, or should medical care not be given?” Obama’s position (according to the book) is that care emshould not /embe given; only 17.7%of Americans agreed. A full 67.8% believed that medical care emshould /embe given and 14.5 % are not sure. br /br /On a Second Amendment question, “Would you favor or oppose a law that banned the sale of handguns?” 36% of Americans agree with Obama and would favor such a law but 59% of Americans opposed it and 5% aren’t sure.br /br /Let’s turn to taxes. “How much should Americans who earn $1 million per year pay in federal income taxes?” 50.1 % of those who span style=”font-style:italic;”paid /spantaxes said that Americans who earn that much should pay 35% or less and 52.3% of those who span style=”font-style:italic;”do not pay taxes/span thought that 35% or less was fair. Not bad–almost even–but Obama’s position (again, according to the book, his positions seem to be changing) is that the taxpayer should pay 35% or more and only 33.2% of all Americans agree with him, 33.1% of taxpayers and 33.4% of those who do not pay. br /br /Healthcare is another area where most Americans have a different take than Obama, unless they pay no federal taxes. The question posed was, “Do you agree or disagree with Barack Obama’s $65 billion dollar plan to institute taxpayer-funded universal health coverage, which would provide health insurance for those currently uninsured, including illegal immigrants?” 31% of those who paid taxes agreed with the plan and 65.1% disagreed, with 3.9% unsure. Those who did not pay taxes were split with 46.5% agreeing with such a plan and 45.5% disagreeing; 8% were unsure. br /br /The author correctly points out that many Americans who say they are for the change that Obama has in mind have different positions than those taken by Obama but don’t seem to realize it. Maybe after reading this book, they will.
Wall Street Blues Hit the Presidential Race
Who is to blame and what will our next leader do? (Also, Roger L. Simon: CEO or President?)
Many Gays Have No Problem with Palin
Despite their questions, gays and lesbians from both parties find much to like in the Alaska governor.
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