Free Republic

Here's some fun new research looking at "the consequences and predictors of emitting signals of victimhood and virtue," published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper—from University of British Columbia researchers Ekin Ok, Yi Qian, Brendan Strejcek, and Karl Aquino—details multiple studies the authors conducted on the subject. Their conclusion? Psychopathic, manipulative, and narcissistic people are more frequent signalers of "virtuous victimhood." The so-called "dark triad" personality traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—lead to characteristics like "self-promotion, emotional callousness, duplicity, and tendency to take advantage of others," the paper explains.

The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading in oil futures to determine whether the surge in prices to record levels is the result of manipulation or fraud. They might want to take a look at wheat, rice and corn futures while they’re at it. The whole thing is a hoax cooked up by the investment banks and hedge funds who are trying to dig their way out of the trillion dollar mortgage-backed securities (MBS) mess that they created by turning garbage loans into securities.

You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist in the 1990s to figure that speculative investment in dot-coms with no revenues would be disastrous. The same goes for lenders giving mortgages to borrowers with no job, no income and no assets. So after surviving the tech bubble and while trying to extricate the economy from the housing bubble, why are we bent on heading into the global warming bubble? So who in their right mind would push for this? I met many of them up-close-and-personal last week at a major Wall Street Journal conference at which I was an invited...

Judging The President Judging the President has become America’s favorite sport – if the chatter on the Net and in the Media is any gauge. Some of his “friends” ( Don’t get me started ! ) leave much to be desired . A few of those same friends have created considerable dismay. But what about his ENEMIES ? Joseph Conrad once remarked : “ You shall judge a man by his foes, as well as by his friends.” Others have said pretty much the same thing: “ If you want to judge someone accurately, look at his enemies .” Who...

TOKYO (AP) - Former President Clinton said Sunday that his wife, Hillary, would be an excellent choice as the first female leader of the world's most powerful nation. In an interview with Japan's TV Asahi, Clinton said he did not know whether his wife, the senator of New York state, has any plans to one day run for the presidency. "I don't know if she'll run or not," he told the network, but added, "She would make an excellent president, and I would always try to help her." Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to run for re-election as...