Environ-MENTAL-ist “Green Consumers” More Likely to Be Liars and Thieves

We needed a study to tell us that?

Greens more likely thieves and liars, says shock study
Trick-cyclists v hippies – who to trust?
By Lewis Page
8th October 2009 – TheRegister.co.uk

Psychologists in Canada have revealed new research suggesting that people who become eco-conscious “green consumers” are “more likely to steal and lie” than others.

The new study comes from professor Nina Mazar of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and her colleague Chen-Bo Zhong.

“Those lyin’, cheatin’ green consumers,” begins the statement from the university. “Buying products that claim to be made with low environmental impact can set up ‘moral credentials’ in people’s minds that give license to selfish or questionable behavior.”

“This was not done to point the finger at consumers who buy green products,” insists Mazar, who claims to be a green consumer herself.

“If we do one moral thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will be morally better in other things as well.”

Mazar and Zhong’s paper can be read in full online (pdf here). In it, the two psych eggheads write:

In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green than conventional products. However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products… purchasing green products may produce the counterintuitive effect of licensing asocial and unethical behaviors by establishing moral credentials. Thus, green products do not necessarily make us better people.

In this experiment that underlined the moral turpitude of eco-conscious consumers, two groups carried out purchases either in a “green store” or a normal store. They were then told they were to participate in an exercise intended to help design new tests, in which they would be paid money based on answers given. It was revealed to them in a dry run beforehand that they could lie about the answers in order to increase their earnings. They were also told to pay themselves – unsupervised – from an envelope of cash. As the profs put it:

Thus, in addition to having the opportunity to lie, participants could also steal…

Those who had made purchases in the green store lied and stole significantly more than the normal-store buyers, according to Mazar and Zhong.

Comment

So there you have it: People who buy green – who offset their carbon, who purchase greened-up electricity, who put windmills on their roofs etc etc – are in the main thieving, lying, holier-than-thou scumbags. The old adage is right: You can never trust a hippy.

Much as we’d love to believe it, though, the whole study – like all of its News McNugget fast-food psychobabble kind – has caused the needle on our bullshit meter to flick far across into the brown zone. Green consumers, we’d suggest, are far more likely to be ripped off by unscrupulous charlatans than they are to be charlatans themselves.

[Yeah, way to throw out that victim card, green-boy!  ]

Communist China Invades the United States!

Want to learn more?  CLICK HERE

Homeland Security Strong Arms Sheriff Arpaio—Strips Him of His Federal Powers

I didn’t see this story until today, but it is a very important story.

Still think Homeland Security was set up to protect America from terrorism?  Think again!  It’s just another Nazi-ish arm of the Leftist commies in our government—Like Janet Nappy-Latino.

Who do you think is going to get the blame if an illegal alien terrorist is pulled over by one of Arpaio’s deputies and then is allowed to run loose—eventually killing hundreds—all because Homeland Security doesn’t want Arpaio and his deputies enforcing the immigration laws?  You can sure bet it won’t be Homeland Security!:

Arizona Sheriff’s Powers Cut
Mr. Arpaio will be restricted to determining the immigration status of inmates
–WSJ

The Obama administration is curbing the powers of an Arizona sheriff who has led one of the most contentious fights against illegal immigrants.

Under an agreement involving local enforcement of federal immigration law, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies will no longer have the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in the streets in the course of their duty.

A senior official with Immigration & Customs Enforcement flew to Phoenix late last month with the revised agreement, which the sheriff signed late last week.

Homeland Security announced in July that all localities participating in the enforcement program — more than 60 from Alabama to California — would have to sign revised enforcement deals by Oct. 15. Unlike others participating in the program, Mr. Arpaio will be restricted to determining the immigration status of inmates booked into Maricopa County jails. Vincent Picard, an ICE spokesman in Phoenix, declined to comment. ICE is a unit of the Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Arpaio was an early participant in a federal immigration program that enlists and trains local police to identify suspected criminal aliens in jails and on the streets. The program, known as 287g, is designed to target drug dealers, gang members and human smugglers.

Since February 2007, Mr. Arpaio has arrested about 30,000 illegal immigrants who were booked into jails in his county. The street-enforcement component, the most contentious portion of the program, resulted in the apprehension of far fewer people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.

Human-rights activists have said Mr. Arpaio’s officers engaged in racial profiling and found pretexts, such as broken tail lights, to arrest undocumented residents of the Phoenix area. The Department of Justice is investigating whether officers used skin color as a pretense to stop Hispanics. Mr. Arpaio has said that his actions were in line with the law.

“They took away my authority on the streets. That doesn’t matter because I will still pursue illegals on the streets of Maricopa utilizing the authority I have as the elected official,” Mr. Arpaio said Tuesday in an interview.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a comprehensive review of the 287g program shortly after taking office.

A person close to the Obama administration said some DHS officials had been hoping Mr. Arpaio would withdraw from the program altogether when confronted with a watered-down version.

Mr. Arpaio, a headline-grabbing elected official in his fifth term, said: “They thought I wasn’t going to sign it. I signed it.”

Obama Wants to Kumbaya the Taliban to Death, I Guess…

Remind me again just who is it that we are fighting in Afghanistan?  I could have sworn it is al-Qaeda AND the Taliban—mostly the Taliban, right now.  Obama is a moron.  No wonder our Military men and women are getting so discouraged.  It isn’t that this is an un-winnable war, because it is certainly winnable, no, the problem is that Obama is tying our Military’s hands with all his “Team Delta Farce Kumbaya” crap.

Where are our Saudi friends?  Shouldn’t they be fighting alongside us in Afghanistan?  I mean, aren’t they the ones who exported al-Qaeda?:

AP source: Obama focusing on al-Qaida, not Taliban
Oct 8 01:47 PM US/Eastern
By JENNIFER LOVEN – via Breitbart

WASHINGTON (AP) – A senior administration official says President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan’s political future and is inclined to send only as many more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as are needed to keep al-Qaida at bay.

The assessment comes from an official who has been involved in the president’s discussions with his war council about Afghanistan strategy. The official was authorized to speak to The Associated Press about the discussions but not to be identified by name because the talks are ongoing.

Aides say the president’s final decision on Afghanistan strategy and troop levels is still at least two weeks away, but the emerging thinking suggests he would be unlikely to favor a large military ramp-up of the kind being advocated by his top commander in Afghanistan [General McChrystal].

As 2010 Approaches, Congress to Start Funding ACORN Again

Rep. Michelle Bachman admits what many of us were thinking:  Funding of ACORN will re-commence at the end of  this month.

What?  You actually thought the Commies were going to abandon their vote-cow with 2010 looking so bleak for them?  Not a chance, Comrade!

U.S. Dollar Tumbles Against Most Asian Currencies in Overnight Trading

This is bad.  Very bad, indeed!  I can’t even tell you how bad this is, if it continues.  At the risk of sounding like Rain Man, I’ll just say,  “it’s bad, very bad; yeah, definitely bad.”

No wonder the Lames Stream Media is keeping their mouths shut.  Wouldn’t want to make Our Dark Overlord look bad, now would we?

You know things are getting bad when, as Robert Wenzel said on his blog, “the Philippines is propping up the dollar. The Philippines!”

Note to self:  Buy more silver and gold…

Asian Central Banks Intervene as Dollar Tumbles

By DAVID ROMAN
WSJ

SINGAPORE — The U.S. dollar continued to tumble against most Asian currencies Thursday, prompting a wave of foreign-exchange intervention by central banks in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand seeking to limit damage to their export industries.

Traders said the dollar selloff is unlikely to fade soon, given the prospect for a long period of low U.S. interest rates to support a sluggish U.S. economy and increasing signs central banks in Asia will begin tightening monetary policies in the months ahead.

Surprisingly strong employment data in Australia bolstered speculation the Reserve Bank of Australia — which Tuesday became the first among Group of 20 central banks to raise rates — will deliver another increase before the end of the year. The news pushed the Australia dollar up sharply, and intensified buying of Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar.

[Crikey!  That’s a bloody corker!   Good on ya’, mates!  But, looks like the U.S. dollar’s come a gutser in the process, mate!]

“Investors need little encouragement to extend selling of dollars, but received two further green lights today in the form of ongoing weak U.S. consumer credit and a stunningly strong Australian employment report,” said Patrick Bennett, a strategist with Societe Generale.

The U.S. dollar’s downside against Asian currencies is “being slowed by intervention, but consolidation or rallies are opportunities to establish or add to shorts,” he said.

It was the latest effort by Asian monetary authorities in recent weeks to temper rallies in their currencies, which have been driven higher by investors fleeing the U.S. dollar and placing bets that Asia will lead the global economic recovery. While stronger Asian currencies could help to contain inflation as the region’s economy gathers steam, exports could suffer, leaving countries vulnerable when fiscal stimulus measures are eventually withdrawn.