le parcours with The Maximum Leader

Since our friendly Hominid is on his way back to these United States today, I have decided to fill in for him and do a brief rundown of comment-worthy items. In this task, I cannot hope to fill the Hominid's shoes; only fumigate them and fill out an environmental impact statement... On to the news!

There has been a shooting in the town of Casa Grande, Arizona. I have visited Casa Grande twice and it struck me as a quiet little down. One of those places where all the people on the news would say "I can't believe this happened. This is such a quiet town." If you happen to be in the area, I recommend seeing the "Casa Grande." It is a large adobe house that is about 400 years old. Very interesting. But don't go in July or August (like I did) and walk around in the 110+ degrees heat.

Prospects for peace in Sri Lanka (Ceylon as I learned it) seem to be diminished. I must admit that I have never quite understood what the Tamil Tigers really wanted to do to their country and why their rebellion has gone on so long. (If you can give me a quick rundown feel free to e-mail me at: nakedvillainy@cox.net) But to address this case, whenever a president fires his ministers, dismisses parliament, and calls out the army one can bet the going will get tough. I will hope for the best. UPDATE: I am aware that the Tamil Tigers represent an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka. (Or at least represent themselves as a minority.) And they want some sort of separate state. I am unaware of how they claim to be oppressed or otherwise mistreated in a way that merits armed insurection. And I am a little too lazy right now to do a Google search and comb through the results to find what I am looking for.

CBS has decided to pull its planned Reagan miniseries. I believe this is a good thing. As you may know from the Hominid's writings (or my own), I am a Reagan fan. (And did meet President Reagan once. The product of the meeting was a signed photo which is stil one of my most prized posessions.) As someone who studied history in college, I was very disturbed by the alleged portrayal of Reagan in the miniseries. I feared, as did many, that this fictionalized account of the Reagan Presidency would become a de facto historical image of that time in the minds of many. Just as (unfortunately) JFK by Oliver Stone has become a de facto account of the Kennedy Assasination. (By the way, Oswald acted alone. Sometimes a wacko with a rifle and some training gets lucky.) CBS now is thinking of running the program on Showtime. Personally, I would prefer the network not ever run the program. Then they would learn a costly lesson in how you should approach making a miniseries from actual events. I suggest they spend some time watching HBO's Band of Brothers for a lesson.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich was involved in an on-line chat today with the Washington Post. During this chat he said that the US must leave Iraq. This is becoming the very tiresome refrain of all of the Democrats running for president. They don't seem to be putting together all the pieces of the puzzle. Haven't they heard things are getting better in Iraq? Hell, even ABC News and Time think it is getting better. And what would Rep. Kucinich have us do. Leave and sulk around at home waiting to be attacked again? Did he not review the press statements from Al Queda saying that the US is a paper tiger because when you start killing American troops they start running away? At some point the Democrats need to move on. The war, regardless of your stance on how, when, or if it should have been fought, is over and done. The US is doing the right thing by sticking it out and rebuilding the country. I tip my hat, and thank God every day, for our brave troops doing yeoman's work in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other places around the world. UPDATE: I re-read the whole interview. Good God! This man is taken seriously and has supporters! Alas, just because you can vote doesn't mean you have to have any sense. I mean reparations for slavery, in the form of universal health care (presumably for the decendents of slaves but not others) and other entitlements. Egad! Is it really that bad?

A friend of mine forwarded to me this WebMD article that confirms my suspicions:

Women Like Cads for Sex, Dads for Mating

Cads Win for Short-term Flings, Dads for Long-term Relationships

By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
on Friday, October 24, 2003

Oct. 24, 2003 -- When women think of "Mr. Right" it's usually a kind, compassionate, and moral man who reminds them of dad. But when it comes to picking "Mr. Right Now," it's the devilish cads that win out, hands down.


A new study shows once again what romance novelists have written about for centuries: women prefer bad boys for flings and good guys for long-term relationships.


Researchers tested this evolutionary mating theory on a group of female undergraduates by using classic dad and cad prototypes drawn from British romance novels and asking them to pick which type they'd rather be with.


Not surprisingly, they found women's tendency to pick cads over dads increased as the length of the hypothetical relationship decreased.


"About 60% of the women said they would prefer to have sex with a cad when considering a brief affair," says researcher Daniel Kruger, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, in a news release.


Sorting the Dads From the Cads

In the study, the young women read descriptive passages of prototypical dads and cads drawn from classic British romantic novels. Waverly from Waverly by Walter Scott and Valancourt, from the Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe represented the dads, and George Staunton from The Heart of Mid-Lothian and Clement Cleveland from The Pirate by Walter Scott represented the cads.


In the passages, the dads were described as domestic, happy, peaceable, bookish, moral, gentle, compassionate, frank, and shy. The cads came off as daring, arrogant, moody, passionate, rebellious, strong, humorous, vulgar, shrewd, and slanderous.


After reading each description, researchers asked the women a series of questions, such as how much they thought they would like each character, how well they would get along with the men, and how likely they would be to have a short-term, long-term, and brief sexual relationship with each character.


To make the choices even more clear-cut, the women were also asked to choose which character they would be more likely to go on a three-week road trip, a formal date, have sexual relations with, marry, and prefer to see engaged to their 25-year-old daughter.


Bad Guys Get the Girls, Good Guys Keep Them

Overall, researchers found that the women thought they would like the dads more than the cads. But they preferred cads for a short-term relationship and dads for the long haul.


When forced to choose between a pair of dad and cad characters, the dad was the top choice for a formal date, marriage, and as a son-in-law.


But the results were mixed on the other options. When it came down to choosing who they would like to have sexual relations with or go on a road trip, the women preferred cads in one comparison, but had no clear preference in the other.


The results appear in the current issue of the journal Human Nature.


Researchers say the findings show that the dad vs. cad distinction is intuitive to women, and when given only a brief character sketch, women seem to be able to make informed dating decisions.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCES: Kruger, D. Human Nature, 2003; vol 14: pp 305-317. News release, University of Michigan.
This must explain why I had trouble dating in college. I was too nice. Well damnit, I am an evil Maximum Leader now. So watch out! UPDATE: As I reflected on this article I wondered, if women are looking for cads to date, but nice men to marry; how do they break the cycle? How does a woman know it is time to forget the cads and settle down? Doesn't there become some sort of a habit ingrained in the woman whereby they start to like the cads and think they can "change" them? Trust your Maximum Leader ladies. And I'll shout this out for you all. MEN DON'T CHANGE. If you date a cad, they will remain a cad until their death. I don't know why this annoys me to the extent it does. But it does...

Tenacious D is showing that they are socially aware; and by doing so bring attention to the plight of their record sales. I will keep the group in my constant thoughts during their ordeal. I love Tenacious D. In fact, the Hominid himself introduced them to me.

Koreans are addicted to gambling. There are more Koreans addicted to gambling (at least as a percentage of population) than Americans in Nevada (home of such gambling meccas as Las Vegas and Reno). I don't know what this says about Koreans or Korean society, but it can't be all that good.

To close, let me just say that the Villainettes are hoping to spend some quality time with the Hominid while he is on his native soil. And finally, read your Maximum Leader's blog. Scandalous items concerning his college experience are revealed!

And lastly, welcome home my friend.