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Social Science Findings about Conservatism
Eric Zuesse
WHAT IS CONSERVATISM?
The great empirical social psychologist who specialized in studying bigotry, Bob Altemeyer, in his 1996 The Authoritarian Specter, and his other writings, reported his exhaustive empirical studies, of more than 50,000 individuals in many countries, demonstrating that bigotries against each and every minority group were the highest amongst the individuals who scored as being the most religious in any religion. In each religion, the more fundamentalist (believing in the inerrancy of some Scripture) one was, the more bigoted one tended to be, not just against non-believers, but against homosexuals, Blacks, and so forth. Religious belief, in other words, causes bigotry. His studies also found that his scale for “Right-Wing Authoritarianism” (RWA) or what’s commonly called conservatism, was exhibited the most strongly by fundamentalists (and, in the Soviet Union, those fundamentalists took as their inerrant Scripture not the Bible, but instead Marx's Das Capital). Moreover, as one would expect from persons of faith (even of an atheistic one; i.e., belief in an atheistic ‘inerrant Scripture’), people of high RWA tended to make incorrect inferences from evidence, accept internal contradictions within their own beliefs, oppose constitutional guarantees of individual liberty, believe more strongly in sticks than in carrots to correct a person’s behavior, and were closed-minded to criticism of themselves. In 1992, Altemeyer had co-authored in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, “Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice,” which examined “the relationships among right-wing authoritarianism, various indices of religious orientation, and prejudice. Measures of religious fundamentalism ... were good discriminators between prejudiced and unprejudiced persons.”
Leaked TPP Trade Bill Healthcare Annex
by Stephen Lendman
Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade legislation and its companion Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are anti-consumer stealth corporate coup d'etat freedom and ecosystem-destroying measures - nightmarish by any standard.
They let corporate predators establish unrestricted supranational global trade rules overriding national sovereignty and domestic laws. They serve investor rights at the expense of public ones. They permit anything goes for profit. They create a world more unfit to live in than already.
Israel Spied on Hotels Used for Iran Nuclear Talks
by Stephen Lendman
It's not the first time V on Iran nuclear talks was discovered. An earlier article discussed the following:
On March 23, the Wall Street Journal headlined "Israel Spied on Iran Nuclear Talks with US," saying:
Washington and other P5+1 nations learned Israel spied on their closed-door talks all along.
It was part of Netanyahu's scheme "to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal," the Journal cited current and former US officials saying. Israel "eavesdropp(ed), acquired information from confidential US briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe."
Espionage is common practice. Everyone watches everyone else.
Global Political Quagmire: Leaders who could Not Lead
Mahboob A. Khawaja, PhD.
“We should already know more than enough to be horrified by the state of our American world. It should disturb us deeply that a government of, by, and for the war-makers, intelligence operatives, bureaucrats, privatizing mercenary corporations, surveillers, torturers, and assassins is thriving in Washington. As for the people -- that’s us -- in these last years, we largely weren’t there, even as the very idea of a government of, by, and for us bit the dust, and our leaders felt increasingly unconstrained when committing acts of shame in our name. So perhaps the last overlooked anniversary of these years might be the 12th anniversary of American cowardice. You can choose the exact date yourself; anytime this fall will do. At that moment, Americans should feel free to celebrate a time when, for our “safety,” and in a state of anger and paralyzing fear, we gave up the democratic ghost.”…..“Among the many truths in that still-to-be-written secret history of our American world would be this: we the people have no idea just how, in these years, we’ve hurt ourselves.” (Tom Ingelhardt, “The 12th Anniversary of American Cowardice What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You.” TomDispatch.com: 3/28/2013).
The Heroic Anti-TPP Action by Alan B, Morrison — and More to Come
Eric Zuesse
On June 10th, Alan B. Morrison, one of America’s leading Constitutional lawyers, sent a letter to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, explaining why U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) would violate the U.S. Constitution.
The striking headline above his letter is "The Investor-State Dispute Settlement Provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Violate Article III of the United States Constitution.”
He explains, at the start:
"I am writing this letter because I believe that the creation of private arbitral tribunals to decide whether otherwise valid federal, state, and local laws are inconsistent with the investor protection provisions of the TPP improperly removes a core judicial function from the federal courts and therefore violates Article III of the Constitution.”
When Police Harass Cove Point Protesters, Is Dominion Getting What It Paid For?
Written by: Anne Meador
The shoulders of Cove Point Road in Lusby, Maryland are looking pretty ragged these days. Recently, heavy trucks and construction vehicles have crumbled the pavement as they thunder down the narrow road. Not far up Cove Point Road from the main highway, just past the sometimes clogged intersection with H.G. Trueman Rd., they turn left and enter the gates of the LNG plant that’s been there for 40 years, but is now undergoing a major upgrade. The road also looks a little brownish from dirt spilled by dump trucks.
Early in the morning on Sunday, May 31, there was no traffic to speak of when two cars with Pennsylvania license plates negotiated the gentle turns and hills of Cove Point Road. A police cruiser followed them. Soon after Cove Point Road turned into Lighthouse Blvd., the two cars, still followed by the police cruiser, turned onto Holly Drive. Blue lights flashed. A sheriff’s deputy wearing olive green pants and a black shirt got out and approached the first car.
“You don’t belong here,” he said. “You’re not welcome here.”As he leaned in, a white badge dangled from a lanyard around his neck. It read, “Dominion Contractor.”
The Double-Sided Badge
What happened over the next hour–an “investigation of suspicious vehicles” by ten officers and a drug-sniffing dog, which culminated in an arrest—might be traced back to the fact that the white badge had a flip side. When Dfc. Christopher Sloane turned it over, it suddenly became a Calvert County Sheriff’s Department badge on a black background.
Kiev Pronounces Minsk Agreement Dead
by Stephen Lendman
It was dead on arrival like the two previous 2014 ceasefire agreements - not worth the paper they were written on despite Russia and Donbass freedom fighters fully observing them.
The Kiev Post is a junta regime house organ. Its reports are virtual press releases. Independent journalism is banned in Ukraine.
Regime approved views alone are permitted. Violators risk harassment, arrests, imprisonment or death.
On June 5, the Kiev Post headlined Minsk is Dead: Now What?"
ICC Investigating Israeli War Crimes: Hold the Cheers
by Stephen Lendman
Despite decades of well-documented , its government and officials continue remaining immune from accountability. Expect nothing different this time.
Months ahead of Palestine joining the International Criminal Court on April 1, an ICC prosecutor began a "preliminary examination" short of an official investigation into Israeli war crimes.
It covered violations "in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem since June 13, 2014" - focusing on Israel's 2014 summer Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge. It was strictly procedural with no commitment for further action. The court so far never held Israel accountable for indisputable crimes of war and against humanity.
In April 2012, former chief prosecutor Jose Luis Moreno Ocampo rejected the Palestinian Authority's bid to investigate Israeli war crimes during its December 2008/January 2009 Cast Lead Gaza aggression.
European Parliament Surrenders to Washington on Russia Policy
by Stephen Lendman
The European Parliament, Council of the European Union and European Commission share EU legislative functions separate from individual member states' right of initiative power to propose and enact new laws for their respective countries.
During a June 10 plenary session in Strasbourg (two days ahead of Russia's National Day), MEP's adopted a resolution (494 to 135 with 69 abstentions) urging EU reassessment of relations with Moscow because of Ukraine crisis conditions. The measure includes a litany of irresponsible Russia-bashing accusations and Big Lies claiming:
Washington Post Editors Urge Aiding Ukrainian Fascist Tyranny
by Stephen Lendman
WaPo is one of America's leading presstitute publications. Located in the nation's capital, it shamelessly marches in lockstep with imperial US policies.
It features outrageous Big Lies, at the same time systematically ignoring hard truths - especially on major geopolitical issues.
A previous article discussed it's giving feature op-ed space to Ukraine's illegitimate prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk - one of many Ukrainian fascists masquerading as democrats, blaming Russia and Donbass freedom fighters for Kiev's high crimes.
WaPo editors support its regime - instead of denouncing it as a Nazi-infested fascist police state. They headlined "The US should send aid to democracy's front lines in Ukraine."
It outrageously called its US-installed coup d'etat regime a "freely elected government." It lied claiming it's "taken dramatic steps to reform its economy, fight corruption and rebuild democratic solutions."
Truth is polar opposite on all counts. Economic reforms are nonexistent. Rampant corruption is out-of-control.
Democracy is strictly forbidden. Opposition parties aren't tolerated. Independent views are stifled. Regime critics risk arrest, imprisonment or death by assassination.
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