RACE IS REAL -- AGAIN

Even mentioning the word "race" makes one into something of a polecat these days but reality does not go away because it has become unfashionable and reality is my no. 1 interest in life. The only "reality" Leftists have in mind when they claim to be "reality-based" is their devotion to a theory! And the theory concerned -- evolution -- is a highly imperfect one!

Anyway, there are a few scientists -- mostly Asian -- who continue to do research on human genetics that includes mention of race. And they of course uniformly find that the allegedly "social" construct of race in fact has an overwhelmingly genetic basis. The more genetic markers they use, the more accurately they can tell what your racial origins are. I reproduce the abstract of the latest such study -- by Tang et al -- below. Note that they could even pick out Hispanics reliably on the basis of their genes -- presumably because Amerindians are distinct genetically and "Hispanics" are in fact mostly Amerindian.

"We have analyzed genetic data for 326 microsatellite markers that were typed uniformly in a large multiethnic population-based sample of individuals as part of a study of the genetics of hypertension (Family Blood Pressure Program). Subjects identified themselves as belonging to one of four major racial/ethnic groups (white, African American, East Asian, and Hispanic) and were recruited from 15 different geographic locales within the United States and Taiwan. Genetic cluster analysis of the microsatellite markers produced four major clusters, which showed near-perfect correspondence with the four self-reported race/ethnicity categories. Of 3,636 subjects of varying race/ ethnicity, only 5 (0.14%) showed genetic cluster membership different from their self-identified race/ethnicity. On the other hand, we detected only modest genetic differentiation between different current geographic locales within each race/ethnicity group. Thus, ancient geographic ancestry, which is highly correlated with self-identified race/ ethnicity-as opposed to current residence-is the major determinant of genetic structure in the U.S. population. Implications of this genetic structure for case-control association studies are discussed".

Still, I suppose all those Leftist "intellectuals" who cannot believe the evidence of their own eyes as they walk down the street (all those black skins are "socially constructed", don't you know?) are not going to be much moved by research of any kind. The PDF of the whole study is here

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ELSEWHERE

There is a post here which is a very good example of Leftist elitism. The writer dismisses the Iraq election on the grounds that Iraqis are too simple to have minds of their own. So a nice dictatorship is all that they are fit for. And did you know that the only reason American troops are in Iraq is "Bush's vanity"? A lot of these Leftists really are sick puppies.

Adult Stem Cell Research Discovery Could Change Entire Embryonic Debate: "Scientists at the University of Louisville say they have made a discovery of a certain kind of adult stem cell they say could drastically change the debate about embryonic stem cell research. The researchers have reportedly found stem cells from adult mice to change into brain, nerve, heart muscle and pancreatic cells. The ability to take on the characteristics of other cells is the primary selling point for using embryonic stem cells, which can only be obtained by destroying unborn children in their earliest days. The discovery could greatly expand the dozens of therapies and treatments already available from adult stem cells and the researcher say it could end the entire stem cell research debate. "We have found a counterpart for embryonic stem cells in adult bone marrow. This could negate the ethical concerns""

Michigan Brownshirts Rampage for Race Quotas: "Momentum continues to build for a noisy showdown over racial preferences in Michigan. Just how ugly the issue could become was starkly demonstrated last week in Lansing, the state capital. The state's Board of Canvassers, a four-person body split by law between Democrats and Republicans, was meeting to decide whether to certify for the 2006 ballot a referendum that would ban the use of race in state hiring and admissions policies. But no sooner had the meeting started than a mob of mostly black students from Detroit schools, led by a radical national outfit calling itself By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), stormed the building, overturning tables, jumping on chairs, stomping their feet and yelling "They say Jim Crow - We say hell no.""

If you have broadband (or a lot of patience) there are some excellent and revealing photos here which were taken outside the gates of San Quentin Prison on the evening of December 12, 2005 during a vigil marking the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. They show the Left at their looniest and most intolerant and also show the media displaying their usual bias.

Hopeless British Tories: "But the Cameron thing is not a revival of Conservatism. Early indications are that the arrival of this apparently young, dynamic leader may well boost his party's standing in the polls. But in political terms, his accession marks the final demise of anything that might be recognised as a Tory Party. The political emptying-out of Conservatism, a process that has been proceeding in faltering fashion for some time, is now set to accelerate towards a conclusion. Many comparisons have been made between Cameron and prime minister Tony Blair. Here is one that seems to have escaped the notice of most commentators. We now effectively have a non-Tory leading the Conservative Party, to go with our non-Labourite leader of the Labour Party".

Apply zero tolerance to something that matters : "He was once in the Air Force, he says, refueling jet fighters. He once worked for a military contractor, building nose cones for missile defense systems. But he can't work for the city of Scottsdale. The city this week pushed Garrett Ross out of his job as a building inspector. This, because of a 4-year-old speeding ticket. Or more precisely, his failure to disclose said speeding ticket when he applied for his job in 2004. How the city and its bureaucrats managed to survive with such a hardened criminal in their midst is beyond me. Fortunately, they caught on last month. 'This letter is your notice that under the provisions of Sec. 14-74 of the Scottsdale Revised Code request that your presence is required at a Pre-Termination Hearing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 ... ,' said a Nov. 29 ungrammatical letter from Frank Gray, general manager of Planning and Development Services."

See here for America's first libertarian student newspaper, the Pennsylvania Independent. They aim to make sure the next generations of Americans value liberty, and hope to be the first in what is to be a rightward shift toward libertarian principles and values. It has some good articles.

Chris Brand has just done a new lot of posts -- on his usual themes of IQ and race.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here. On Social Security see Dick McDonald and for purely Australian news see Australian Politics (mirrored here).

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Practically all policies advocated by the Left create poverty. Leftists get the government to waste vast slabs of the country's labour-force on bureaucracy and paperwork and so load the burden of providing most useful goods and services onto fewer and fewer people. So fewer useful goods and services are produced to go around. That is no accident. The Left love the poor. The Left need the poor so that they can feel good by patronizing and "helping" them. So they do their best to create as many poor people as possible.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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