Nightly Ramble:The Economy Vs Men’s Tastes in Women; Biden;Murtha, Again; More.

Welcome dear reader, to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere… BitsBlog’s Nightly Ramble.

• Over at Q&O, Lance points out that our tastes in women tend to change with the economic conditions. It’s called the ‘ Environmental Security Hypothesis ‘?
  

  Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, heavier, taller Playboy Playmates of the Year with larger waists, smaller eyes, larger waist-to-hip ratios, smaller bust-to-waist ratios, and smaller body mass index values were selected. These results suggest that environmental security may influence perceptions and preferences for women with certain body and facial features.

  (Shrug) Personally I’ve always assumed as much, (though I’ve never really quantified it all) and have considered the reasons for such varience to be what the men involved thought was attainable given the money they had to toss around.  Look, there’s a lot of landmines, here, no question… but I would suggest it’s not the world economic condition, but perhaps of greater import, the economic condition of the individual,too.  example; You very seldom see knock-out blonde models piloting their progeny around in 15 year old mini-vans like this one,  through the depressed areas of town, right?  That line of thought would also be consistent with how it is that so many men who couldn’t rate a date to save themselves, personality-wise, end up being homosexuals… it’s what they figure they can get, given their own brand of insecurity. Again, and of course I’m not saying they’re ALL that way, and again, there’s a lot of pitfalls here. But it seems to me to be right on line with the anicdotal observations of people I’ve known and observed and spoken with over the years. Enough of a parallel, I think to suggest there’s something to the connection.

• On the other side of that coin is what financial conditions lead to women thinking men are attractive.  Sure, having a certain amount of money doesn’t hurt, but what you do with it is equally important, says The British Journal of Psychology that Fox News reported on recently.
  

  “Evolutionary theory predicts competition between individuals and yet we see many examples in nature of individuals disadvantaging themselves to help others,” said lead researcher Tim Phillips, of the Behavior and Ecology Research Group at the University of Nottingham in England. “In humans, particularly, we see individuals prepared to put themselves at considerable risk to help individuals they do not know for no obvious reward.”

  The factor for women is who will make a good parent, and on an instinctive level, women see an altruist as such a person.

  “The expansion of the human brain would have greatly increased the cost of raising children so it would have been important for our ancestors to choose mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents,” Phillips said.

  With all this going on under the surface, it’s a wonder we ever get together at all with the opposite sex.

• I mentioned this morning, a quote from Joe Biden. Boortz adds his two cents to the quote and it’s worth noting. (I’m taking the whole subtext, because it doesn’t edit without distorting the point)
  

  So we didn’t really get to this yesterday, but Joe Biden seems to be preparing his supporters for the worst. I guess he figures that if he prepares them for the worst, at least you can’t say you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into. Here’s Joe Biden’s quote,

  “Mark my words … it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

  

  Missed it by THAT MUCH

  Um, thank you? What he is really getting at is the international community sees Barack Obama as weak … they want to test him because they want to know the type of America they will be dealing with for the next 4-8 years – an appeasement, cut-and-run America or a stand-up-and-fight America. Based on the history of Joe Biden and the little bit that we know of Barack Obama’s foreign policy philosophy … which America do you think they will choose?

  I dunno about you guys but it seems to me that this quote from Biden, in light of Boortz’ comments, is likley the closing argument against electing Obama.  Biden’s saying we elect Obama, we’ll far more certainly have another attack against us… Can you imagine the charges of ‘fear mongering’, had a Republican said this? And you know, for all the quips about Palin not being ready for prime time, what shall we say about Obama’s pick?

• Oh… speaking of my comments this morning, I also allowed as how the commercial pollsters were undersampling Western PA. Apparently, John Murtha’s been seeing the same numbers I have. He knows theyr’re not doing well out there. Of course he blames ‘Rednecks’. No, this is not recycled comments either. He’s sticking his foot even more firmly into his mouth.
• Elsewhere around the country too, apparently, Democrats are seeing trends they don’t like, and talking about it.
• When someone starts mumbling about ‘change as a platform, it’s usualy best to ask ‘Change? From what are we changing, and TO what are we changing? Doctor Thomas Sowell dares to question the Chosen One on this point.
• Gas is back under three bucks a gallon, in most places. Still $3.20 up here in the land of Taxes, though I see prices down to $2.30 at the reservation. Maybe I’ll make a fun run to that area this weekend. Crude prices meanwhile, are floating a bit. The expectation of a cut in production from OPEC has the investors skitish.
• I see more hemorrhaging from AP. This time, the Columbus Dispatch. Good. Does my heart good to see. A few more like this and we may actually have a real news service rise from the ashes of the nitwit collection AP has become.
• Someone mentioned to me the other day about how the idea of vote fraud was all BS, because the DOJ says it isn’t happening. You mean THIS DOJ?
• The WSJ talks sense on taxes.  Specifically, on the topic of Obama’s tax plan nonsense.
  

  Revenues will inevitably be diverted from Social Security. — Now we know: 95% of Americans will get a “tax cut” under Barack Obama after all. Those on the receiving end of a check will include the estimated 44% of Americans who will owe no federal income taxes under his plan.

  At Hot Air Ed Morressy lays it out plainly: The Democrats want more taxes. Yeah, that’ll help, huh?

• Obama, reportedly is on his way to visit his grandmother, who apparently isn’t doing well. This is the woman who he referred to as ‘Just your average white person’.  I wish them well in this, but I can’t get over the idea, given Biden’s comments I spoke to befiore, that he’s setting himself up for an easier to explain failure, given the recent shift in the numbers away from himself and to John McCain.
• Over the last 20 years or so I’ve been writing on the various networks I’ve often openly wondered if the various polling orgs (and those who hire them) weren’t trying to create their own reality. Ann Coulter, by way of looking at the polling data vs the actual results of voting,  in every election over most of our lifetimes, agrees. Thing is, she’s got the numbers to back the position.