Free Republic

A new Columbia Business School study is out with the latest bizarre claim about man-made global warming — it could alter people’s personalities. “As climate change continues across the world, we may also observe concomitant changes in human personality,” reads the study, published in the journal Nature on Tuesday. It’s only the latest in a slew of studies on the potential psychological effects of future warming, and it’s not even the most bizarre. For example, recent studies have claimed worry about global warming is making people depressed. Those worried about man-made warming reported “feelings of loneliness and lethargy,” Reuters reported...

“When I think about the polar bears, I cry,”…” Panelist Favianna Rodriguez, a new media artist, talked about her explorations into polyamory and kink…“I’ll close it out with this image I created of an awesome sex party I went to,” Rodriguez said, displaying one of her paintings.”…” “You suck!” a man in the audience shouted at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.)….”..." Netroots also included several gender-neutral bathrooms and gave attendees tips on transgender etiquette..."

We’ve posted my story for tomorrow’s print editions on how Rep. Pete Stark’s defeat marks both the end of an era and, probably, the start of another Democrat-on-Democrat race for the 15th Congressional District in 2014. Here’s a few final thoughts for which there wasn’t room in that story, but which seem noteworthy nonetheless. This was a contest for which our editors wanted election-night photographs, but Stark’s campaign refused to tell us Monday and Tuesday where he would be Tuesday night; I still don’t know where he watched the returns. I take this as a sign that his campaign staff...

Supporters of Eric Swalwell, the Democratic insurgent who’s challenging Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, are up in arms about a recent Stark mailer which depicts Swalwell in a cup of tea – a la the Tea Party. Here are some excerpts: “Who is really behind Eric Swalwell? On the doorstep, at meetings, driving this rookie city councilman’s campaign? Tea Party supporters. They’ve given money, given energy and given life to the Swalwell campaign – and they’ll succeed unless we stop them.” “Campaign finance reports show that over $86,000 of Eric Swalwell’s contributions come from Republicans. Swalwell claims he’s no conservative, but...

Rep. Pete Stark, 80, has seven children; three are minors, the product of his third marriage. He once told the Los Angeles Times that he calls the three youngest his "second litter." Lucky Stark. Thanks to a dated Social Security system, he enjoys a "second-litter" subsidy. As Carolyn Lochhead wrote in The Chronicle, Stark has reported a net worth as high as $27 million, and he earns $174,000 as a member of Congress. Nonetheless, Stark's three minor children are collecting benefits from Social Security. The Social Security Administration estimates that 4.4 million kids, mostly children of deceased or disabled parents,...

The campaign of Rep. Pete Stark, the East Bay Democrat in a contested re-election race against fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell of Dublin, confirmed to the Chronicle that Stark’s children do receive Social Security benefits as allowed under the law, and that he has stopped paying his dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Stark campaign consultant Michael Terris wrote in an email that Stark “fought his entire career to protect Social Security from those who would dismantle it. Congressman Stark has been paying into the system for many years. And yes, like all Americans, he and his family intend to...

It was a revealing moment for California Rep. Pete Stark, the irascible East Bay liberal who has forged a reputation as a firebrand during four decades in Congress. The 80-year-old Democrat, in a meeting with Chronicle editors and reporters this week, appeared to be confused about Solyndra, the Fremont solar power company whose collapse has fueled Republican criticism of the Obama administration's energy policies this election year. "I wish I had enough expense allowance to get one of those new S's that Solyndra's going to make down there - the electric car," Stark said, after being asked about the company....

By many accounts, Rep. Pete Stark's re-election campaign should've been a cakewalk. But with less than five weeks to go before the primary election, his recent gaffes have left some wondering whether he's got a real race on his hands. The 80-year-old Stark, D-Fremont, has a long-standing reputation for (ahem) direct language. In 2003, he called a GOP congressman "a fruitcake." Three years ago, when a constituent asked him not to "pee on my leg and tell me it's raining," Stark replied that he wouldn't waste the urine. But those and other incidents tended either to be rhetorical ripostes or...

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, has made some nasty charges during his 19 terms in Congress. Stark has called a female colleague a "whore," a male colleague a "little fruitcake," and a black Cabinet member "a disgrace to his race." At a political debate last month, Stark accused Democratic challenger Eric Swalwell, a Dublin city councilman, of accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes" - without presenting any proof. Later, Stark issued a lukewarm apology. At a Chronicle editorial board meeting Tuesday, Stark completed the crazy circle when he accused someone in the room of giving money to Swalwell's campaign...

As days go by, I am growing more convinced that Democrat Alan Grayson is certifiably insane, rather than just an angry liberal with too much hate. Take a note that he left on his Facebook profile recently. In it, he extols the benefits of the government spending money. Why is spending money so good? Well, if we didn't, the United States could end up like "certain parts of the world, 100 years ago:" I'll be honest. Never have I thought that in our nation's economic state that people would begin to eat one another. Honestly, who thinks that the unemployed...

Obama says people are impatient but "now's not the time to quit...it took time to free the slaves...ultimately we'll make progress." White House Correspondent, Radio

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Pete Stark opens: "Minuteman want to have something to say? Who you gonna kill today?....Person asks a quesion about securing the border and Congressman Stark relentlessly mocks him at a Town Hall in California...(Video)

Woody Allen has a strange take on the democracy that allowed him to become rich and famous. The "Scoop" director said it would be a cool idea for President Barack Obama to be dictator for for a few years. Why? So he could get things done without all the hassle of opposing views getting in the way. In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia (that we translated), Allen says “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.” But wait - there's...

Caption these pics (the photos here are NOT photoshopped).

Here's a dispicable comment that Stark said to a Veteran on his answering machine: Stark's comments to a veteran

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark of California apologized Tuesday for comments he made last week suggesting President Bush was sending troops to Iraq to get their "heads blown off for his amusement." The apology came after the House voted 196-173 with eight members voting present to table a resolution introduced by House Minority Leader John Boehner censuring Stark.

Embattled Democrat Pete Stark has just publicly apologized to "the president and his family." He took the floor after his fellow Democrats successfully killed a motion to censure him in the wake of his remarks last Thursday asserting that American troops were fighting in Iraq to have their "heads blown off for the president's amusement." "I want to apologize to my colleagues, many of whom I have offended," Stark began. He then apologized to "the president and his family" and "the troops." "I hope that with this apology, I return to being as insignificant as I should be," he concluded...

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, has become the Democrats' Ann Coulter - he keeps saying things that aggrandize him while discrediting his political persuasion. Last week, after President Bush vetoed a bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover not only poor but also middle-class children, Stark accused Republicans of wanting "to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send them to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebuked Stark for his "inappropriate" comments. Stark then issued a new statement:...