Schneier points me to this article on the neuroscience of cons:
The key to a con is not that you trust the conman, but that he shows he trusts you. Conmen ply their trade by appearing fragile or needing help, by seeming vulnerable. Because of THOMAS [The Human Oxytocin Mediated Attachment System], the human brain makes us feel good when we help others–this is the basis for attachment to family and friends and cooperation with strangers. "I need your help" is a potent stimulus for action.
There’s more than a little blowback at Palin’s endless publicity tour.
They may not be eating enough:
A 9-year-old should consume 1,400 to 2,200 calories daily to sustain growth, said Dr. Roberto Trevino, director of the nonprofit Social and Health Research Center. But in the study of 1,400 inner-city children, 44 percent were consuming less than 1,400 calories, and 33 percent were obese. "They were not overeating," Trevino said. "This study shows these kids were not eating enough, and when they did eat it was all the wrong things." Missing from the children’s diets were four key nutrients: calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. All play important roles, but magnesium is involved in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body that help to spur metabolism and cell function.
I realize I like Ted Stevens in a post-everything kind of way:
Walking back into the Mansfield room to join his colleagues, a reporter wished him a happy birthday. "I hope you have a better one than me," replied Stevens.
Castenau de Montmiral, France, 6.15 pm.
A chorus of voices is demanding a new direction for national gay politics, which will require, at a minimum, the removal of the current, failed "leadership". Chris Crain calls for a federal civil unions bill, backed by even Sarah Palin in the veep debate, supported by majorities in polls – but simply unthinkable for the Human Rights Campaign, whose agenda has not changed since the late 1980s.
I wonder what Steve Hildebrand is doing next year. He was the genius behind Obama’s ground game, a gay guy, and crazy in the best way. We have the talent. We just don’t have them in leadership.
Frum’s next venture sounds promising:
Starting over Inauguration Weekend, I’ll be launching a new website, NewMajority.com. It will be a group blog, featuring many different voices. Not all of them identify as conservatives or Republicans. But they – and people like them – are the people conservatives and Republicans need.
That sound you just heard is of National Review dying. It didn’t survive its founder, did it?
A useful reality check for what’s ahead with the Republicans:
Weeks after voters elected Barack Obama president and increased Democratic majorities in Congress, social conservatives in Iowa who have a huge influence in state politics have indicated they won’t back down. That has some Iowa Republicans worried the party is adopting too narrow a focus. "We’ve gone so far to the social right, particularly in caucus attendees, that unless you meet certain litmus tests you have a very difficult time competing in Iowa," said Doug Gross, the party’s 2002 gubernatorial nominee. "I think you’ll have some candidates who won’t compete here unless they perceive that’s somehow changed." David Roederer, who headed John McCain’s Iowa campaign, agreed. "I would not encourage a moderate to come right now and participate in the caucuses," Roederer said. "It is a danger for the party, and it is a danger for the future of the caucuses."
It will get worse before it gets better.
The website goes all dead-tree on us.
Read his latest. It is a classic of the genre. Fury at the alleged "self-righteousness" of others; anger that other conservatives are telling the truth about the "conservatism" he has shilled for for eight years; and then total capitulation on the substance of the argument:
For the record, I have no problem with arguments about how the GOP has become too religious.
Sad, really. They have nothing left but their contempt for those with a modicum of honesty.
The Dish 