Okay, this is just insulting. There is no way Steve Green is only #20.

John Hawkins shares a list of his favorite Conservative blogs.

The stupidification of America

Shrinkwrapped: "A society that "educates" its children to believe that 2 + 2 = 5 is "close enough" and that they are the smartest and most special because to be found wanting might damage their self esteem is a society that has already committed suicide..."

Male whistles, simulated murder and videogames

A reader sends in a post (thanks) from a woman by the name of Leigh Alexander, who writes about a new videogame called "Hey Baby" that shoots and kills men who make comments to women on the street. Here is a description of this lovely game:

Ladies, are you sick and tired of catcalling, hollering, obnoxious one-liners and creepy street encounters? Tired of changing your route home to avoid uncomfortable situations?

IT'S PAYBACK TIME, BOYS.....

Alexander is just rendered powerless by men on the street who (gasp!) ask her to smile:

It's latent misogyny that happens in big cities; it takes my power away. It makes me an object in front of people I don't even know, and that's not okay whether they're nice about it or not. It is nothing less than a slow-burning chronic trauma.

My favorite catcall in the 'Hey Baby Game'? "Smile for me, baby." It fills me with rage that a stranger on the street feels at liberty to demand that I smile. I smile when I feel like it, and I sure as shit don't want to do it for you, buddy.

I lived in NYC for 7 years in alphabet land on the lower east side among drug dealers and pimps. Never once did I feel powerless when someone made a comment. I never smiled for anyone if I didn't feel like it and went about my business. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Women who let catcalls on the street make them feel angry enough to need revenge through simulated murder are no better than the guys they denounce for shooting hookers in Grand Theft Auto. Or maybe these "feminists" are just as sadistic as the men they denounce and they need a reason (men are asking me to smile--how dare they?!!) to give them the balls to play a game that acts out their long-standing internal rage. Whatever the reason, comments on the street may be annoying but they are hardly a reason to wish someone dead.

The other thing I find ironic about these "feminists" is that while they call for the simulated murder of men who dare whistle at them, they typically believe in gun control and try to take away the rights of women in real situations of danger such as being robbed or raped. Maybe they should focus on gun rights for women in real danger instead of simulated murder to give embittered women a thrill whose only danger is that they can't stand to have a man ask them to smile once in a while.

What are the best places for the avoidant?

I just got back from the gym this morning and it was almost empty, it was great. It's usually full of people getting on the machines and staying there while listening to music, talking on the phone or just plain staring into space. I also got up at 6 this morning to get on the phone to try and get our internet connection fixed. I actually got a live person on the phone. I must admit that Glenn finally fixed it but that's not the point of this post. It is the sheer joy of finding few or no people in my immediate surroundings so that I can get some peace and quiet.

At this point, if you are an introvert like I am, you totally get what I just said. If you tend more towards extroversion, you will write me off as a kook. Fair enough. I have talked to numerous introverts that go to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night, grocery shop at odd hours and basically avoid people like the plague. Some call them odd, I call them comrades. There are other experts who say that being an introvert is a positive thing. I agree.

Are you an introvert? If so, where do you go or what do you do to avoid people when you feel overwhelmed by them?

I just read that Rush Limbaugh got married to his long time girlfriend Kathryn Rogers. I hope he has some kids, we need more like him.

Employers on strike

WSJ: Employers on strike:

Almost everything Congress has done in recent months has made private businesses less inclined to hire new workers. ObamaCare imposes new taxes and mandates on private employers. Even with record unemployment, Congress raised the minimum wage to $7.25, pricing more workers out of jobs. The teen unemployment rate rose to 26.4% in May, and for those between the ages of 25 and 34 it rose to 10.5%...

Ms. Romer said yesterday that to "ensure a more rapid, widespread recovery," the White House supports "tax incentives for clean energy," and "extensions of unemployment insurance and other key income support programs, a fund to encourage small business lending, and fiscal relief for state and local governments." Hello? This is the failed 2009 stimulus in miniature.

It's always a mistake to read too much into one month's jobs data, and we still think the recovery will lumber on. But if Ms. Romer wants this to be more than a jobless recovery, she and her boss should drop their government-creates-wealth illusions and start asking why so many private employers remain on strike.

How does "going off" help?

I find it absurd that Spike Lee told Obama to "Go off" in response to the oil spill:

One time, go off!" director Spike Lee urged on CNN's "AC 360°." "If there's any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster."

Lee's sentiment echoes the frustration of people who want to see Obama get loud, take charge and inspire them like he did during his presidential run.

And pray tell, how will "going off" help? The oil spill is a problem that needs to be solved with a cool, level head, not screaming to "do something." I guess some of those on the left don't understand that just "feeling something" will not make it so. They are so used to screaming and demonizing people to get their way (because it works) that they think it will work in every situation. Unlike in the movies and Democratic politics where feelings dominate and seem to save the day, cool, rational thought is needed to deal with this particular crisis.

Neo-Neocon on the Gore's marriage breakup:

It’s almost always upsetting and even somewhat shocking to hear of a long, long marriage gone bad.

People are wondering why? WHY? You made it through all sorts of tough stuff, the way all couples married for forty-one years must. Couldn’t you just hold on till death do you part?

I don't know. I'm always surprised that people make it married this long. Just because you get older doesn't mean that you become a person willing to tolerate anything, just to "make it until death do you part." Maybe, if your marriage is not a good one, you figure you better get out before you die.

Dr. Wes: Providing health care will get you investigated.

How do you keeping from cracking?

Does the news upset you to the point where you feel it's hard to watch or read anymore? I think we all feel this way at times. For me, lately, I have a hard time reading about crimes or atrocities committed against men who have little recourse in the legal system or whose lives are deemed by society to be expendable. Readers mail in many of these articles and at times, I feel helpless and angry to the point where I wonder if there is much I can do. And yes, keep sending those in because I do appreciate hearing from all of you.

But when my anger and frustration get to be too much, this is when I decide to pursue more positive activities for a while until my mental state goes back to neutral and I can think more clearly. My positive activity has been to re-read a book entitled Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault and to think about returning to the Kra Maga lessons I was taking about two years ago that I described here.

I think feeling that you have some control over your own life despite all that goes on in the world is important. How do you manage to make your own life better, freer or more fun, despite the problems going on in the world? Do you have hobbies, interests or pursuits that lead you to a more positive place? If so, share them with me (us) and maybe we can learn something.

Does political correctness teach lack of empathy?

Stuart Schneiderman has additional thoughts on why college student's lack empathy:

Here political correctness makes a contribution, especially by teaching young people to be intolerant of differing political and cultural viewpoints. If you tell people that they should only listen to people whose ideas echo their own, you are in the business of producing narcissists. ....

Clearly, something paradoxical is afoot in the land. Dr. Helen Smith identifies the problem clearly. In her view, students are gaining their good feelings on the cheap. They support government programs that are supposed to care for people because they want to feel good about having the right feelings. They have not advanced to the level of wondering about whether these programs are helping real people.

The students are so involved with their own good feelings that they have no sense of the realities of the programs they support. If you really care about other people you care about whether they have jobs. If you support quasi-socialistic experiments that end up costing jobs and then vote for politicians who want to set up more and more programs to take care of the unemployed... does that show how much you care for other people or how little you are interested in their lives?