Study: Conservatives actively prefer wasteful tribalism

I neglected to blog about this when I first heard about it earlier this week, but an interesting and revealing (if not entirely surprising) new study seems to confirm that not only do more hardline conservatives care little about preserving the environment, they’ll actively go for the more wasteful and inefficient route in order to spite ’em some tree-huggerin’ librulz, even if it means paying more out of their own pocket for it:

A study out today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined attitudes about energy efficiency in liberals and conservatives, and found that promoting energy-efficient products and services on the basis of their environmental benefits actually turned conservatives off from picking them. The researchers first quizzed participants on how much they value various benefits of energy efficiency, including reducing carbon emissions, reducing foreign oil dependence, and reducing how much consumers pay for energy; cutting emissions appealed to conservatives the least.

The study then presented participants with a real-world choice: With a fixed amount of money in their wallet, respondents had to "buy" either an old-school light bulb or an efficient compact florescent bulb (CFL), the same kind Bachmann railed against. Both bulbs were labeled with basic hard data on their energy use, but without a translation of that into climate pros and cons. When the bulbs cost the same, and even when the CFL cost more, conservatives and liberals were equally likely to buy the efficient bulb. But slap a message on the CFL's packaging that says "Protect the Environment," and "we saw a significant drop-off in more politically moderates and conservatives choosing that option," said study author Dena Gromet, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

[…]

Gromet said she never expected the green message to motivate conservatives, but was surprised to find that it could in fact repel them from making a purchase even while they found other aspects, like saving cash on their power bills, attractive. The reason, she thinks, is that given the political polarization of the climate change debate, environmental activism is so frowned upon by those the right that they'll do anything to keep themselves distanced from it.

Australia: Vaccines (once again) proven safe and effective

It’s more restating the obvious, but that doesn’t make it less worthwhile:

Some good vaccine news for a change: A vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) appears to be working. HPV causes genital warts, and can lead to cervical cancer in women. In Australia, which began use of the HPV vaccine in 2007, cases of genital warts in young women aged 12 - 26 dropped 59 percent, and 39 percent for men. Not only that, but cervical abnormalities dropped as well—a glimmer of hope that for these vaccinated women, their chance of getting cervical cancer is dropping as well.

Meanwhile, US scientists and medical workers are still struggling to get the American populace to understand that Gardasil will not turn teenaged girls into sex-crazed nymphos by demonic possession or something. Then again, this is the same country that’s facing more and more outbreaks of easily preventable diseases (some of them deadly) because of baseless and endlessly disproven fears that shots turn children into Rain Man, so you can only expect so much in the end.

A little comparison between the two vaccine camps

Herein is a tale of two sides in the vaccine manufactroversy. On the one hand, we have the reality-based camp, which just got renewed confirmation via yet another study:

A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics Friday may put [worried parents] at ease. Researchers found no association between autism and the number of vaccines a child gets in one day or during the first two years of the current vaccine schedule.

The research was led by Dr. Frank DeStefano, director of the Immunization Safety Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Together with two colleagues, DeStefano and his team collected data on 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children who did not have autism. The children were all born between 1994 and 1999 and were all continuously enrolled in one of three managed-care organizations through their second birthday.

The researchers not only counted how many vaccines a child was given, they also counted how many antigens within the vaccines children were exposed to over three different time periods: birth to 3 months, birth to 7 months and during the first two years. They also calculated the maximum number of antigens a child would receive over the course of a single day.

[…]

"When we compared those roughly 250 children with ASD and the roughly 750 children who did not have ASD, we found their antigen exposure, however measured, were the same," said DeStefano. “There was no association between antigenic exposure and the development of autism."

The researchers also found no association between antigenic exposure and ASD.

And on the other hand, we have anti-vaccinationist fear-monger David Kirby, lying about a vaccine-related court case at (where else?) The Huffington Post. Orac reports in his wonderfully thorough (if long-winded) fashion:

Daily Blend: Friday, February 22, 2013

Diana Medley

Ontario top appeals court rules it just fine if police want to snoop around a suspect’s cellphone – so long as there’s no password, or then they have to ask permission.

Indiana Republicans agree: One government-sanctioned rape by medically pointless transvaginal ultrasound just isn’t enough for women seeking an abortion.
(via @jennifurret)

I’m not sure what’s remotely surprising about a study that links childhood bullying to psychological disorders in adults (except to those “it’s normal/harmless for kids to pick on each other” assholes).
(via RT: @jennifurret)

Sullivan, Indiana teacher ^[pictured] suspended over anti-gay remarks, universally suspected of being special educator Dianne “gays have no purpose in life and I don’t understand it” Medley.
(via Friendly Atheist)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bob Beckel

Canadian free speech ombudsman asked to investigate whether federal scientists are being unfairly muzzled by the government. (Y’know, as opposed to fairly muzzling them.)

Make a Counter-Strike map of a real Montréal metro station, get threatened with a $50,000 fine because it might, like, scare people or something.

In shocking news to all, a new study reveals that religion isn’t actually a very good deterrent against criminal behavior.
(via Friendly Atheist)

Fox News token liberal Bob Beckel ^[pictured]: “When was the last time you heard about a rape on campus?” Hmm, let’s see.

And finally, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, “humiliated” by God after he was caught shielding child-molesting priests from justice, is “asking God to bless and forgive” … his critics. Quoth Ed Brayton: You should be in prison, you sick bastard.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Study: Abortions more common (and dangerous) when outlawed

This is a year old, but still relevant as ever. A joint study by the Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s research arm) and the World Health Organization reaffirms the obvious: Not only do anti-abortion regulations do nothing to reduce the number of women who terminate unwanted pregnancies anyway, but it actually results in more abortions taking place around the world when more women become pregnant due to a lack of access to birth control:

Abortion rates are highest where the procedure is illegal, according to a new study. The study also found nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, with the vast majority of unsafe abortions occurring in developing countries.

As for the overall global abortion rate, it remained virtually unchanged from 2003 to 2008, at about 28 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 4 - a total of about 43.8 million abortions - the study found. The rate had previously been dropping since 1995.

The new global abortion study - that's published in the Jan. 19 issue of The Lancet - is from the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization. Researchers found a link between higher abortion rates and regions with more restrictive legislation, such as in Latin America and Africa. They also found that 95 to 97 percent of abortions in those regions were unsafe.

Experts couldn't say whether more liberal laws led to fewer procedures, but said good access to birth control in those countries resulted in fewer unwanted pregnancies.

Unsafe abortions are responsible for about 47,000 needless deaths every year, according to 2008 estimates. But of course, that’s not something the “pro-life” camp really worries about, given how its opposition to reproductive freedom is primarily (if not entirely) rooted in controlling and punishing women for possessing sexual agency.

That’s why anti-abortion arguments inevitably fall apart under a minimum of scrutiny. If they actually cared about either women or their fetishized fetuses, their first priority would be to crack down on unwanted pregnancies – which is done by providing easier access to birth control. Y’know, since that’s kinda what contraception’s all about. The fact that they instead fight tooth and nail against birth control is just fundamentally revealing about where their true priorities lie.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Government report: 2012 was hottest year ever for U.S.

To the surprise of absolutely no-one in North America, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that 2012 was officially the hottest year on record for the continental U.S. and had the second most extreme weather to boot:

Last year was officially the hottest ever recorded for the lower-48 states. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric tallied weather and temperature data for 2012, and found that the year was both the warmest and the second-most extreme for weather ever recorded for the contiguous U.S.

According to NOAA’s latest “State of the Climate” report, the average temperature for the lower-48 states was 55.3°, which is 3.2°F above the 20th century average, and 1.0°F above the previous record-year of 1998.

Last year was marked by an historic drought, above-average wildfires, multiple freak storms that wiped out power to millions, and multiple severe heat waves. According to the U.S. Climate Extremes Index, 2012 was the second most extreme year on record — coming in below 1998, the previous hottest year on record.

Precipitation was also down significantly in 2012. Average rainfall for the lower-48 states was 2.57 inches below average, contributing to the severe drought that gripped the nation and helping make the wildfire season the third most destructive on record.

I wonder if 2012 will also make the last 12 years the 12 hottest ever recorded since temperature-keeping began in the 1800s.

But even then, I’m sure if the denialists throw up enough noise and fuss, the overwhelming evidence will all just magically go away and we’ll all be just fine without any need to take any real action to deal with the consequences of our society’s collective greed and complacency. (After all, that works for the ostriches, right?)

Daily Blend: Monday, January 07, 2013

James Dobson

Most Transparent Administration In History^TM allowed to continue hiding every single detail about its drone war.

Dishonest like a Breitbart acolyte arguing against gun control.

Looks like the design & technology community also has its issues with subconscious bigotry … and knee-jerk twits who perpetuate it.
(via @pzmyers)

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson ^[pictured] laments: “Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat.” Coincidentally, my causes are only getting better!

Research indicates crime rates may be directly influenced by … leaded gasoline? First I’ve heard of this; while certain hazards increase risks of congenital defects, can they really have such a clear effect on complex adult behaviors decades later?

And finally, this is even more tragic than what’s happened to the History Channel:

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Saturday, January 05, 2013

Orly Taitz

Interesting: New meta-analysis finds most “overweight” or “obese” U.S. adults actually have a lower mortality risk than people of normal weight.
(via @radleybalko)

Damn, it’s like everyone’s getting targeted by Bill Donohue but me. I must try harder to offend him! (Which, to be fair, I’m sure can be accomplished by looking at him funny.)

Birther queen Orly Taitz ^[pictured] is the (notoriously misattributed) definition of insanity.

And finally: Just how sexist is the news media? Predictably so:
(via Pharyngula)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Busy reading, so have an early Daily Blend for today.

I am shocked – shocked! – to learn that the anti-feminist/Atheism Plus/Freethought Blogs camp doesn’t actually have any good arguments.

Study: West Antarctica is warming up twice as fast as predicted and at thrice the planetary average rate.
(via ThinkProgess)

White House website petition to label Westboro Baptist Church a “hate group” is the most popular ever. Only problem: No such designation exists under any U.S. law.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, here’s one particularly creepy ritual put into perspective:

Don’t forget the hover text! [‘Communion’ | xkcd (by Randall Munroe)]

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, November 30, 2012

Bill O’Reilly

Awesome: New law demands that all free public schools in England must teach proper Evolutionary Theory or lose government funding.
(via @BadAstronomer)

Today in less-than-good news: New international study shows Antarctic and Greenland ice is melting faster than ever, contributing to rising sea levels. Evidence so damning, even this Fox News talking head has stopped calling global warming a “conspiracy”.
(via @JFitzsimmons7)

And finally, yes, Bill O’Reilly ^[pictured] actually thinks that Christianity is not an “organized church”, but a “philosophy”. I’m not even touching that one.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Random polar-bear-cub-in-a-basket pic of the day [source | full size (510×360)]

Another Catholic institution, this time a Montréal, Canada school for deaf boys, sued for repeated child molestation that lasted decades. Makes me prouder than ever of the Quiet Revolution.
(via My Secret Atheist Blog)

U.S. Supreme Court upholds the right to record on-duty police officers in Chicago, IL.

PZ Myers tears into an anti-Atheism Plus douchebag for misrepresenting scientific research to defend vaginal douching.

And finally, Ed Brayton takes apart that stupid Fox News column about a supposed “war on men” where “women aren’t women anymore”.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Report: U.S. abortions still declining thanks to birth control

Some good news on the reproductive health front today as a new report finds that not only has there been a dramatic drop in abortion rates lately, but it’s pretty much directly linked to the widespread use of birth control, especially during hard economic times:

U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.

The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.

[…]

Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That's up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.

[…]

[Duke U. researcher Elizabeth] Ananat said another factor may be the growing use of the morning-after pill, a form of emergency contraception that has been increasingly easier to get. It came onto the market in 1999 and in 2006 was approved for non-prescription sale to women 18 and older. In 2009 that was lowered to 17.

In addition to the increased use of contraception, there’s also the fact that fewer women are willing to face pregnancy and child-rearing during a recession, though that may well change now that the U.S. is slowly but surely limping out of its financial chasm. These numbers also originate from before the flurry of anti-abortion legislation crammed through by state and Congressional Republicans in the last couple of years, so be wary of lying ideologues who will doubtlessly try to claim the lower rate of abortions as a victory for their sex-shaming, women-oppressing camp.

All in all, this paints yet another devastating picture for the anti-abortionist argument that women just need to abstain from sexual activity if they really want to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Not only is abstinence-only complete ineffective hogwash, it’s simply pointless with the availability and efficacy of modern birth control methods. Women no longer need to prevent themselves from enjoying one of life’s great pleasures in order to retain control over their bodies and lives, regardless of what the Orwellianly-labeled “pro-life” movement claims.

(via ThinkProgress)

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Savita Halappanavar

Irish woman ^[pictured] has a miscarriage. Catholic hospital refuses to abort the dead fetus. Woman suffers and dies. To keep in mind for the next time some anti-choice asshat claims abortion doesn’t save lives.

Meanwhile, an ongoing study publishes preliminary findings: Women who have an abortion don’t fare any worse than those who are denied.
(via Wonkette)

Ed Brayton nails it: The Republican Party did everything in their power to bring about its latest crushing defeat, and they should absolutely be ridiculed for it.

Radley Balko at his most optimistic: Americans seem to be leaning away from punishment and towards reason and rehabilitation on drugs and crime.
(via The Agitator)

And finally, outsiders shouldn’t have any say in Illinois’s East Aurora School District’s handling of trans anti-discrimination policies, says group of hate-mongering outsiders.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Yet another study finds gays and lesbians make great parents

It looks like homophobes will need yet another change of underwear, as a new report in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry concludes that not only are same-sex parents every bit as good as their heterosexual counterparts, even when raising “high-risk” children, but they’re actually more likely to help underprivileged kids in the first place:

Of the 82 foster children that psychologists at UCLA monitored for the study, 60 were placed with straight parents and 22 with gay or lesbian parents. After a two-year period of evaluation, the psychologists found little difference between the children’s positive outcomes.

According to the study’s lead author, doctoral candidate Justin Lavner, “The children showed meaningful gains in heterosexual, gay and lesbian families. Their cognitive development improved substantially, while their behavior problems and social development were stable.”

There was, however, one important difference: Gay and lesbian parents were significantly more likely to adopt children with heightened risk factors — such as premature birth, prenatal substance abuse or repeat placements in foster care. And yet, despite the additional challenges, these children made near-identical gains to the others in the study.

This isn’t the first report that indicates how LGBT parents may actually be better on average at raising well-adjusted kids. I suspect the cause for this is more cultural than biological; after all, who better to teach young’uns to be loving and understanding than people who faced problems with acceptance back in their own formative years? There’s no reason to believe that sexual orientation in itself has anything to do with one’s parenting instincts, but our society’s treatment of LGBT people most certainly affects how they go about their child-rearing duties, having “been there”, themselves.

Meanwhile, friend of Preliator Rob F posits the following theory:

This is why anyone who is why simultaneously being both anti–choice and anti–LGBT adoption is a hopelessly incoherent position. These people cannot possibly think that research going on since the 1970′s and all showing the same result (same–sex couples are just as good as different–sex couples) is inadequate. The only possible explanation is that they really do believe that being raised by a same–sex couple is worse than death. If they do believe that then they really are the worst sort of homophobe. If they don’t, then they are simply the usual anti–choicer who sees forced birth as a woman’s punishment for daring to have sex. That’s why those people’s opposition to LGBT adoption is motivated not only by homophobia but also by deep misogyny.

I see his point, but I think the answer is actually simpler. What I’ve seen from homophobes (and other regressives in general) leads me to believe that people who devote their time and energy to hatred and advocating for oppression generally lack the clarity of mind to recognize their own prejudice, resulting in an unholy amount of cognitive dissonance in their closed little minds. They can be perfectly intelligent and aware otherwise, and may even present the occasional semi-cogent (if invariably fallacious) argument, but I don’t believe they have it in them to realize the glaring incongruity in opposing both abortion and LGBT adoptive rights. Rather, they’re simply victim to knee-jerk reactionism against both and never bother to try and reconcile the differences between the two contradictory positions.

After all, bigotry isn’t particularly renowned for its cognitive vigor.

Edit (10/29/12 10:11 PM ET) – Fixed a typo (via Grammar Nazi).

Daily Blend: Thursday, October 04, 2012

Bill Donohue

47,000 women die around the world every year from complications due to unsafe abortions. Just another data point to keep in mind for the next time you encounter a so-called “pro-lifer”.

Republican-appointed federal judge in Missouri declares that forcing employers to provide contraception coverage to their employees at no cost of their own doesn’t violate their religious liberty.

There truly is nothing that Christianist wingnuts won’t twist into a dishonest attack on LGBT people.

Chicago court decides that cops aren’t always being entirely truthful when they claim they can smell marijuana as an excuse for a drug search.
(via @BlanksSlate; RT: @radleybalko)

Bill Donohue ^[pictured] is incensed that two Hollywood magazines refuse to air his pearl-clutching indignation about a new TV show, which obviously means that “Hollywood hates Catholics”.

Catholic group: Birth control makes women unattractive and turns men gay. No, really.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Headline of the day: WND plays “GOP women are prettier” game

There’s a new study floating around that purports to find how female Republican lawmakers are supposedly more “feminine” in appearance. The study authors, a couple of university psychology researchers, postulate that this is a result of conservative voters preferring political candidates who have more “gender typicality” – ie. who conform more to traditional gender roles. Democratic voters, apparently, aren’t so stuck up about appearances and prefer to be swayed by policy over physical attributes.

Meanwhile, how did that esteemed conservative publication known as the WorldNetDaily react to these findings?

Thus providing more evidence to support the long-running theory that a number of Right-wing outlets are secretly curated by horny fifteen-year-olds.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Gawker and the scientific case for treating pedophiles humanely

I got nuthin’, so here’s a flower

It’s been a while since I’ve (presumably) creeped y’all out with this subject matter, but long-time readers may remember that pervasive social stigmas faced by discouraged sexual minorities was an early running theme on this blog (whatever that might say of me). It’s now time to jump back in, not because some other travesty of justice or reason has transpired, but because Cord Jefferson at Gawker has penned a lengthy, detailed and wonderfully insightful piece on the changing scientific views of pedophilia and how those stuck with this most unfortunate sexual attraction truly aren’t the devils that our society makes them out to be.

The whole thing is a definitive must-read, but here are just a few highlights, starting with describing just some of the endless difficulties these people face in their everyday lives:

Then there's the problem of finding homes for pedophiles who are arrested and eventually put back into communities. In Florida, where Miami-Dade County has grown increasingly restrictive about where people who commit sexual crimes can live, the department of corrections has started housing a small group of pedophiles under a bridge, like real-life trolls. Elsewhere in America, with neighborhoods both informed and alarmed by a growing number of sex-offender tracking sites, it's now become easier than ever to harass and intimidate a pedophile in your neighborhood until he moves away. But to where? Nobody seems to care as long as it's not near them.

In an ABC News article from 2003, a corrections officer from Los Angeles told reporter Michael S. James that imprisoned pedophiles "usually don't make it" without protective custody. Leslie Walker, a prisoner's rights activist, told James, "[Child sex offenders] are at risk of being murdered, having their food taken, having their cells defecated and urinated in. Their life is truly a living hell." Good, most people will say.

I take it “most people” haven’t received the memo about how the precepts for being a decent human being include acting like one even towards those one wouldn’t consider to be decent human beings.

The article then focuses on the number of (mostly Canadian!) researchers who are growing convinced that rather than being a mental illness or some other potentially treatable (or even curable) disorder, true pedophilia – as defined as the exclusive sexual attraction towards prepubescent children (as opposed to hebephilia or ephebophilia, and unlike those who engage in pedophilic acts whilst still being attracted to adults) – is in reality more akin to an actual sexual orientation in shape and function, with the accompanying limitations:

Daily Blend: Thursday, August 09, 2012

Laurie Higgins

New research strongly indicates that this year’s extreme weather events were verifiably caused by global warming.

Relatedly, NOAA unsurprisingly declares last July to be the single hottest month ever in the U.S. since records began in 1895.
(via @BadAstronomer)

Laurie Higgins ^[pictured] at the Illinois Family Institute really hates it when the Friendly Atheist takes apart her group’s hypocritical, anti-gay Christofascist bullshit.

Oblivious U.S. police officer complains about strict Canadian gun laws, becomes the laughingstock of Canadians everywhere.
(via Pharyngula)

And finally, Fox News really just can’t get charts right:

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: James Hansen • global warming • climate change • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • NOAA • heat waves • Laurie Higgins • Illinois Family Institute • Christians • Hemant Mehta • homophobia • homosexuality • Walt Wawra • gun laws • Canada • Canadians • Calgary, AB • Calgary Stampede • Fox News • welfare • government aid • charts • bar graphs

Daily Blend: Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Happy Bigots for Chick-fil-A Day! The day where people at large recognize that being criticized or boycotted for espousing bad ideas is not a violation of their free speech rights is presumably the day where free speech protections are no longer needed.

Old but important: Teenaged brat lies about man “touching her” to stop him euthanizing her suffering dog, gets his life ruined by the insanely broken U.S. sex offender system.
(via @FreeRangeKids/@radleybalko)

Science journal officially retracts bullshit Regnerus “gays are less fit for parenting” study. “Censorship by Big Gay!” in 3 … 2 …

Sarah Palin (still) doesn’t understand the First Amendment.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Chick-fil-A • Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day • sex offender registry • Mary Devoy • Mark Regnerus • gay parenting • LGBT parenting • Social Science Research • scientific journals • Sarah Palin • Chick-fil-A • boycotts • First Amendment