Age-Old Gender Stereotypes Right After All

A new study finds that men and women are psychologically very different after all, and those age-old gender stereotypes are more accurate than some today would like to admit.

Psychologists at Manchester University and in Italy analysed the results of personality tests which were given to 10,000 people and measured 15 traits.

In keeping with age-old stereotypes, women scored more highly on sensitivity, warmth (attentive to others) and feelings of apprehension, while men fared better on emotional stability, dominance (forceful and aggressive) and rule consciousness, or sense of duty.

The researchers concluded that there were 'extremely large' personality differences between the sexes which could have implications in the workplace.

The Ten Most Influential Conservative Women

In case you missed it, the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute teamed up with Human Event in December to bring you a series of profiles, authored by some of our favorite conservative men, highlighting the lives and achievement of ten exceptional conservative women. Take a few minutes to check them out.

1. Sarah Palin: Grit, Tenacity & Fortitude, written by Steve Bannon

2. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann: God-Given Rights, Small Government and a Strong National Defense, written by Glenn Beck

3. Phyllis Schlafly: The Clearest Political and Constitutional Thinker of Our Time, written by Rep. Steve King

4. Ann Coulter: Unapologetic, Unsinkable, Unwavering, written by Rob Long

5. Michelle Malkin: The Sledgehammer to the Left Who Holds the GOP Accountable, written by Jason Mattera

6. Bay Buchanan: Conviction and Courage, written by Pat Buchanan

7. Marji Ross: A Woman of Enthusiastic, Energetic and Personable Leadership, written by Newt Gingrich

8. Cleta Mitchell: A Passionate and Articulate Advocate for Conservative Principles, written by Al Cardenas

9. Michelle Easton: A Woman Who Changed the Face of the Conservative Movement, written by Ron Robinson

10. Star Parker: A True Conservative to Her Core, written by Patrick X. Coyle

Finally, a woman who has inspired and influenced conservatives in America and around the world: Lady Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady, written by Daniel Hannan.

Pass the Kool-Aid: OWS Protest Welcomed Only in Academe

The Occupy Wall Street protest movement has worn out its welcome even in the most liberal US cities, but there's one place idiotic Leftist ideas always find a home—the education system.

Next semester Columbia University will offer an OWS course "in which grad students and upperclassmen can earn a full course credit by getting involved in the movement's projects outside the classroom."

And in the Albemarle County, Virginia, school district, a group of third graders reportedly wrote the following lyrics—on their own—to an Occupy song:

Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent

I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99

Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent

I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99

Public school officials insist the eight-year-olds wrote the lyrics without any direction or assistance from school officials or adults. 

Of course they did. Pass the Kool-Aid, please.

Should Social Security Be Means-Tested?

It's curious that so many, including the Heritage Foundation, want to fix the federal debt by means-testing Social Security, especially since it would be the surest way to kill the program by turning it into a pure federal welfare program. After all, why should voters continue to support FICA deductions (i.e., Federal Insurance Contributions Act) from their paychecks when only the poor would ever receive anything from it?

In "Is Means-Testing Just," Paul A. Rahe develops a strong argument that means-testing is the wrong solution to the Social Security problem, and he cautions conservative policy-wonks not to "march over the cliff" without thinking this through. It's an important read, particularly for young conservatives.

"Here's Why I Love 'Greed' and So Should You"

The Wall Street Occupiers have it completely wrong. Human greed, writes Walter Williams, "gets the most wonderful things done."

When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.
Before the rise of capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man.
Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving one's fellow man. Capitalists seek to discover what people want, and then produce it as efficiently as possible [emphasis added].

Ironically, free-market capitalism's enemies are the political tyrants, intellectual elites, and useful idiots who prefer pre-capitalism's "despicable behavior" path to wealth. What they want, concludes Williams, "is congressional permission to share in the booty from looting their fellow man."

Read the full article.

Hayward: Voter ID and the Diluted Franchise

Why does a cybernetic info-society tolerate ridiculous amounts of voter fraud?, asks John Hayward at Human Events, after the Justice Department shot down South Carolina's voter ID law last month. "The Left deserves a measure of grudging admiration for convincing Information Age America to hold its elections in 1965, even as they conduct their daily affairs with 21st-century speed and accuracy ... especially since those elections are, increasingly, the only real control we have over vast swathes of our nationalized, hyper-regulated lives."

Shlaes: New Fiscal Buzzwords Obscure Old Problems

"As it happens, more young Americans know what Google Inc's Android operating system is than know some basic facts about our politics," writes Shlaes. Now, though, the "budget-ese we're not learning is allowing our legislators to get away with some deeply misleading claims, and it's threatening to make our fiscal problems much worse."

Second example: "making the rich pay their fair share." So what is a fair share? In the rest of the English language, “fair” means proportionality. “Share” implies equality by percentage. A bigger man lifts a bigger load, in proportion to his size. But our tax system isn’t proportional. It’s progressive, with a graduated scale, so that the wealthier man pays more than his share. The bottom half of all earners pay less than 5 percent of the income tax. 

That so many Americans don't know the difference between progressivity and proportionality is certainly convenient to revenue-hungry Washington.