We don’t either. Indeed, after two successive scandals, more financial conflicts of interest than can be properly counted, and “An Inconvenient Truth” being ruled inaccurate by a UK Court, it’s starting to become a mystery how this doomsday cult-style prophecy attracted the kind of credibility it did.

But unfortunately, not everyone appears to have caught on that it’s old news. To that end, Canada apparently is still being besieged by the global warming lobby, especially in the media. Which makes this epic rant from Canadian conservative pundit Ezra Levant all the more satisfying to hear:

Highlights from the lengthy deconstruction follow, courtesy of Fox Nation:

Most journalists who are most normally the most skeptical people in the room turn into obedient stenographers when faced with global warming salesmen. Any other multi-billion dollar industry would be treated cynically by reporters, not so the Global Warming industry or its high living jet setting tycoons. Journalists become fanboys! Yeah, no thanks. I’m not that obedient. Political correctness accounts for some of this, I mean it’s still fashionable in elite circles to follow the global warming fad and journalism professors are usually left wing.[...]

But I think the largest factor is the simplest! Follow the money. There are billions of dollars spent each year on global warming, not on fixing the so-called problem. But rather funding the political, diplomatic and journalistic class that keeps this so called crisis bubbling and keeps beating the drum for big government solutions. And if you‘re a professor try getting a research grant if you’re a global warming skeptic. You can’t! Universities have been bought too!

But here’s the good news. Normal people are not buying it. A new survey by Atticus research shows when Canadians are asked to rank their environmental concerns, global warming comes in dead last, out of 7 choices. People are sick of the propaganda, sick of being told what to think and sick of being told that we are in a perpetual crisis and I think people are sick of high energy prices, high gas prices for your car, high power prices at home. And we’re sick of the hypocrisy of David Suzuki with his 3 homes lecturing the rest of us to cut back.

The PFC Auction house said in a statement that the seller had withdrawn the item, which was linked to the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, and plans instead to donate it to the former president’s foundation.

(Related: Ronald Reagan Foundation Pledges to ‘Use Every Legal Means’ to Stop Sale of the Late President’s Blood-Stained Vial)

The statement said the seller, who has remained anonymous, had obtained the vial at a U.S. auction earlier this year.

The decision not to sell the controversial item was praised by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California, which had earlier announced plans to try to stop the sale through legal means, as The Blaze initially reported.

“We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter,” said John Heubusch, executive director of the foundation. He added that he was pleased the late president’s blood will be kept “out of public hands.”

The item being donated is a five-inch (12.5-centimeter) glass vial that is one half-inch in diameter and has a green rubber stopper. The auction house said it clearly contains traces of dried blood. It is said to have been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan’s blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin.

“While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory, and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012, were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation,” Heubusch said.

Reagan’s family, his foundation and his surgeon had earlier this week criticized the proposed sale. They said it was a violation of the family’s privacy for medical items linked to his treatment to be sold on the open market.

Online bidding on the item had reached more than $30,000 when the sale was suspended. It had been set to conclude Thursday evening.

In its statement, the auction house, which is based in the Channel Islands between England and France, revealed new details about the aborted sale.

It said the seller had purchased the item at a public auction in the United States earlier this year for $3,550. It quoted the seller as saying he was a serious collector of presidential memorabilia who had donated to museums in the past.

“I would personally be delighted to see this important artifact put on public display by the Foundation,” the seller said.

Reagan required emergency surgery after he was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel shortly after speaking to labor union officials on March 30, 1981. Hinckley fired six shots at the president from close range. All six missed, but one bullet ricocheted and hit Reagan.

The president was wounded just two months after taking office. He suffered a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding that required life-saving surgery.

His popular press secretary, James Brady, was left paralyzed after being shot. Two people protecting Reagan also were wounded.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He remains in a psychiatric facility in the Washington area but has been allowed to spend some time outside the facility with his family.

The crash of 2009, according to Schiff, was just a precursor for what’s coming next.

So what does he think will cause the “real” crash? The “government’s phony cure” for the lousy economy, Schiff argues in his book The Real Crash: How To Save Yourself And Your Country.

Watch the Business Insider interview:

Front page photo source: TPM

Morgan challenged Romney’s claim that, by virtue of the fact that he worked in private equity, he created jobs.

“That’s not why any private equity company buys a company,” Morgan said, “They don’t buy it to create jobs. They buy it to turn it around and make a profit.”

“I agree with that,” Welch immediately.

“So is [Romney] wrong to say ‘it’s about job creation?’” Morgan asked.

Welch conceded that the former Massachusetts governor’s current “job creator” argument may not be the correct one, but he also pointed out that Romney is not wrong when he says private equity helps create good, durable, and well-paying jobs.

“You don’t create scads of jobs, but you do create good paying jobs in a continuing industry,” Welch said.

Morgan moved on and asked Welch whether he thinks the discussion over who’s more qualified to create jobs will be the thing that decides the election.

“If it is, Romney oughta’ wipe it out,” Welch said, “When you look at those things I gave you for the qualifications, compare it to someone who was handing out leaflets as a community organizer, the global experience of doing all this — Piers! It’s not even close!”

Watch the discussion of Romney’s qualifications (via CNN):

And in regards to who’s better suited to handle the economy, Morgan asked Welch if he could think of anything President Obama should be credited for.

“What do you give him credit for in terms of the economy?” Morgan asked.

Welch’s answer, though non-verbal, speaks volumes (via WFB):

See more of Welch’s interview here.

A little background on the issue before we plunge into the specifics of the case: Most college campuses make some sort of provision for transgendered students – IE students who believe they were born the wrong gender and are in the process of transitioning to physically resemble the other (presumptively correct) gender using surgery and/or hormone therapy.

These provisions typically include the creation of spaces such as “gender neutral bathrooms” (IE bathrooms that can be used by both sexes), or even in some cases the allowance of completely gender neutral housing which would permit men and women to live in the same dorms. In some cases, students are even taught to use substitute pronouns for gender-nonconforming individuals such as “ze” or “hir,” and often this includes being told that there are more than just two genders. In extreme cases, students are told that there is no such thing as gender at all.

Full disclosure: The author of this article actually went through such an orientation, and has written a firsthand description of the process:

For evidence of this, one has only to look at what is actually argued in these sessions. Among the more interesting facts I gleaned from my session of BiLeGaTa were the following:

1. Gender is a social construct.

2. There are at least five genders (what the other three are is not explained), not two, and that’s a conservative estimate.

3. The proper pronoun to use to describe transgendered people is not “he” or “she” but rather “ze.” The possessive form of this word is “hir.” The word to use in formal address (as in “Sir” or “Madame”) is “Ziram.”

And…

4. Anyone who disagrees with any of this, or even questions it, is automatically “heteronormative” or worse, “heterosexist.”

Why bring all of this up? Because many of these measures (for instance, the creation of gender neutral bathrooms) were implemented by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS), which is the school being sued. Unfortunately for them, that was apparently not enough for our tormented would-be woman, who wanted the right to use not just gender neutral bathrooms, but any and all bathrooms intended for women, despite the presence of decidedly non-female reproductive organs. Meet Jennifer Braly, the plaintiff in this case:

Yes, that is actually a 38 year old man

For the sake of simplicitly, we’ll be referring to Ms. Braly by her preferred pronoun throughout this article, if only because we don’t know what her original male name was, and hearing someone named Jennifer referred to as “he” is headache inducing. Campus Reform brings us further details on the story:

A letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) caused the University of Arkansas at Ft. Smith (UAFS) early this month to reverse policy and allow a 38-year old anatomically male-student permant use of women’s bathrooms on campus despite opposition from female students.

The university made the reversal on “advice of counsel” after receiving a letter the DOJ sent in response to a complaint that a single, self proclaimed “transgender” student filed with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

“Because of the stance we took, the individual filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Justice,” Mark Horn who is the vice president of university relations explained in an interview with Campus Reform on Tuesday.

Mark Horn

Jennifer Braly, the student who filed the complaint, calls [herself] “transgender” with a “gender identity disorder.” Braly, however, remains anatomically a man and is currently raising money online for Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

Braly filed the complaint with the DOJ after the university initially told [her] to use the campus’s several gender-neutral bathrooms instead of the women’s restrooms.

Got that? The university tried to settle this problem by telling Ms. Braly to just use the gender neutral bathrooms in order to avoid making female students who wanted privacy in female bathrooms uncomfortable. She claims on her website that this was inconvenient because gender neutral bathrooms did not exist in all buildings on-campus:

So the University called me into a meeting and told me I had to use unisex bathrooms and that was it. I can’t use any male or female public bathrooms. One problem to this is there are not unisex bathrooms in every building. Especially the two main buildings where most of my classes are, so I have to go to a completely different building to use the restroom.

Inconvenient? Sure. But the reasonability (or not) of Braly’s complaint suffers rather a lot when you realize that this “woman” considered having to walk five minutes to go to a bathroom she could use to be an infringement worthy of asking the Federal Department of Justice to sue the school. It’s also ruined by the fact that, according to Campus Reform:

The university offered to convert more current bathrooms into gender-neutral restrooms, but still Braly was unsatisfied and decided to sue.

“We tried to make reasonable accommodation and to find a common ground, converting the number of bathrooms on campus to gender-neutral,” Horn from UA said on Tuesday.

Finally, however, it was the letter from DOJ that convinced the legal department and administrators at UA to yield to Braly’s demands.

So the school not only set up gender neutral bathrooms rather than expecting Braly to use the men’s room and possibly risk feeling really uncomfortable, but they also offered to convert existing bathrooms to being unisex. But no, apparently Ms. Braly believes that being able to walk through a door with this sign on it is a civil right as sacrosanct as the right to vote:

What a scandalous instance of segregation

Now, to be fair, it’s not clear what the letter from the Justice Department said (they’ve refused to release it to the press), so for all we know, there could be an airtight legal case in the letter. Certainly something spooked the university.

To be doubly fair, some might argue that so long as Braly acts like a woman, doesn’t behave in a meaningfully threatening way towards women and shows no signs of being attracted to women (and thus has no ulterior motives for wanting to enter a women’s bathroom), then this really is a rather silly, old-fashioned move on the university’s part.

Fair enough. Except it’s not true. Despite her supposedly false gender, Braly evidently is attracted to women – so much so that she’s been married to other women twice and even got one of them pregnant with a daughter. From Braly’s website (emphasis added):

I have lived with this condition for the first 36 years of my life and I am now 38. During the first 36 years of my life I tried everything to conform to the male standard but nothing ever seemed to work. I had two marriages and both ended in divorce. My second marriage ended with my ex wife being pregnant with my daughter. A three year visitation battle ensued because of my decsion to transition into the woman I am today, and it drained all my funds. In the end for lack of representation in court I ended up having to sign my rights away.

Now, say what you like about “conforming to the male standard,” but getting someone pregnant takes more than just being a good actor. Either the attraction is there or it isn’t. If Braly is capable of knocking girls up, then those girls have every reason to want her away from them in the bathroom so long as she retains the organ that would permit her to do so. This is just basic common sense.

And not that you needed another reason to think this all sounds like a bad joke gone wrong, but it turns out that Braly actually was able to use women’s bathrooms for a good portion of her time at UAFS. So why isn’t she allowed to use them anymore? Because apparently she thought it was a good idea to do a campus lecture tour talking all about how she’s secretly a man and accusing anyone uncomfortable with that fact of being transphobes. Again, from her website:

When I started living full-time as female at the University I was fine. I was living in stealth mode, quiet, and kept to myself. It just semed safe. I would use womens public bathrooms with out any complaints. Then I took General Psychology and had asked the professor if I could give a lecture on Gender Identity Disorders for some extra credit. She not only allowed me to speak to my class but her other 2 classes as well. She also referred me to another professor and I spoke in his class too. I was excited I was educating people about being a transsexual and the other types of Gender Identity Disorders. Those lectures would be the beginning of all my problems. As I did get many great responses from students how my lectures greatly changed their perspective of what transsexuals are, some students were not so accepting. Some saw me using the womens public restrooms and complained to the University that they didn’t think I should be using the restroom with them.

Shocking. And the truly ironic thing? Braly’s been banned from giving these lectures because apparently she’s not a qualified expert on the disorder, except by virtue of having it. This is not considered a credential. For instance, medical schools don’t invite amputees to lecture on the finer points of when to cut off limbs, even though they themselves might have had their limbs removed. Similarly, while Braly might suffer from the disorder she’s lecturing about, that doesn’t mean she knows how it ought to be treated, or its neuroscientific origins, or the history of its inclusion in the DSM-IV. Her opinion is only slightly more informed than a layman because of her experience. This doesn’t merit a status as a guest lecturer.

However, psychologists may still want to take note of this case for a very specific reason: given the response of the Justice Department, not being in your right mind may be contagious.

Four-year-old Anthony Smith was born with a genetic disorder that left him hearing-impaired. He was getting on fine with his blue hearing aid until one day when he told his mother that he didn’t want to wear it anymore.

“Basically, one day he woke up and I said, ‘OK, time to put in your hearing aid,’ and said, ‘Let’s put in blue ear.‘ We’ve always called it that. And he said, ‘No, superheroes don’t wear blue ears,’” his mother, Christina D’Allesandro, told WCVB-TV.

D’Allesandro assured Anthony that superheroes do indeed wear hearing aids — and on a whim, emailed Marvel Comics for help.

“Could you make a little guy’s day by drawing him a hearing-impaired super hero?” she wrote.

Bill Rosemann, an editor at Marvel, sent her back a note with a copy of a 1984 comic book cover showing Hawkeye of the Avengers wearing a hearing aid, the Concord Monitor reported. Hawkeye lost his hearing after he got hit with one of his own arrows.

“Print that out and show it to Anthony and tell him that superheroes definitely wear blue ears,” Rosemann wrote. “And he can become an honorary Avenger by wearing this.”

But Marvel didn’t stop there. They dispatched one of their cartoonists to draw a brand-new superhero: Anthony himself, otherwise known as “The Blue Ear.”

“Thanks to my listening device, I hear someone in trouble,” Blue Ear says in the drawing. Comic book-letters declare: “When DANGER makes a sound, The Blue Ear answers the call.”

D’Allesandro said Anthony was transfixed by the drawing. He brought it to show his classmates at his school for the hearing-impaired. The only problem? Now all the kids want their hearing aids to look like Blue Ear’s.

Rosemann told the Monitor that Marvel gets a fair amount of fan mail and personal requests, but D‘Allesandro’s email was different.

“This one just touched a bunch of us,” he said.

Now, whenever Anthony starts to waver on wearing his hearing aid, his mother points to his super alter-ego.

“I tell him he has to hear people calling for help,” D’Allesandro said. “He gets the whole connection. He’s loving it.”

“As long as the Republicans keep doing really dumb things about women’s reproductive health, that should help energize girls and women in this country,” she said. “It’s remarkable to me that I would be having conversations with my peers and the younger cohort about access to reproductive health. That’s the same conversation I have with girls and women in Bangladesh. It’s the same conversation I have in Cambodia and Madagascar. And here we are in America in 2010, talking about whether or not modern family planning is useful. I mean I find that extraordinary.”

Judd is in Washington, D.C., for the International Center for Research on Women’s Champions for Change gala, where she will be speaking. During her discussion with Gregory, she highlighted the global women‘s rights issues she’s a part of and was sure to also discuss the needs that women here in America have — particularly when it comes to Planned Parenthood and the services the group offers.

“When you try to close down Planned Parenthood, it’s an access issue. And it’s particularly an access issue for poor women,” Judd said. “And poor women who need flexible times during which they can go to the clinic, because they already have small children, because they have difficulty getting time off of work, or they’re trying to improve their education by going to a technical or vocational school.”

These are the women, the actress claims, that Planned Parenthood serves. Judd went on to lament the “crazily exaggerated and amplified conversation” that Republicans lead surrounding the controversial organization.

Watch her comments, below:

(H/T: Politico)

Considering all of the negative influences in television, film, music and sports, it‘s rare to find a positive role model who’s willing to boldly go against societal norms. Enter Lolo Jones, the 29-year-old track and field star who’s been getting a fair bit of press since tweeting earlier this year that she’s a virgin.

MyNorthwest.com has more information about this fascinating athlete, whose conservative views on sex are rooted in her Christian worldview:

At 29-years-old, Lolo Jones has already had a life of overcoming challenges. She’s a multiracial, devout Christian who grew up “dirt poor” with her mom and four siblings in Iowa.

Jones, who competes in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, described living in the basement of a Salvation Army during the ESPN documentary about her life that was broadcast this week.

“I definitely would say, by sixth grade, I was a professional shoplifter and not because I wanted to. I’m not going out to shoplift earrings or clothes or shoes like the average teenager,” Jones says. “I was shoplifting frozen dinners at a grocery store. I could shoplift four frozen dinners, easily.”

Now she’s easily one of the biggest track and field stars in America. She has a sculpted, perfect body, and on top of everything else, she’s opened up about her ongoing struggles to remain a virgin.

ABC’s “The View” took this issue on yesterday as well and discussed a variety of themes surrounding both Jones and the challenges associated with adult virginity:

In recent interviews, the athlete has made known her wish to give her virginity to her future husband. The quest, of course, hasn’t been an easy one.

“It’s just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband. But please understand this journey has been hard. If there’s virgins out there, I just want to let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,“ she said this week on ”Today.“ ”Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”

And, as can be imagined, there have been plenty of temptations along the way.

“I’ve been tempted. I’ve had guys tell me, they’re like, ‘Hey you know if you have sex it will help you run faster,’” Jones said, going on to give her response: “If you marry me, then yeah.”

Jones has continued to share her experience and her pledge with her fans on Twitter. Donald Trump even weighed in on her virginity:

The track and field star first made her very personal announcement on Twitter earlier this year and she has continued to be open and honest about her struggles. Jones competed in the 2008 Olympics and will also be vying for a win in the 2012 London games.

ABC

S.E. Cupp got support from the hosts of “The View” Thursday when she appeared to discuss the fallout from the fake explicit photo of herself that recently appeared in Hustler magazine.

“I was horrified. It was disgusting and even though it wasn’t — I didn’t actually do that, by the end of the day I felt ashamed as if I had,” Cupp said of the photo. “Knowing that this photo will be out there forever, my children will see it when I have them one day, it’s sad.”

(Related: Hustler’s Larry Flynt Responds to Fake Explicit S.E. Cupp Image: ‘That’s Satire’)

Co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck pointed out that the National Organization for Women has remained silent on the issue — calling them “the National Organization for Some Women.”

“The outrage that we’ve seen for some other examples of this has not yet been matched,” Cupp said. “That’s OK, I’m not a victim here.”

Cupp said she probably won‘t be seeking legal action because it doesn’t seem like she would have a case.

“This is a First Amendment issue, [Hustler publisher] Larry Flynt does this professionally,” she said.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg seemed particularly outraged on Cupp’s behalf.

“Whether you’re a conservative or a Democrat, this should — this is not OK,” Goldberg said. “It’s offensive. This is not the dialogue we have when we disagree.”

The support for Cupp has not been universal — comedian Roseanne Barr took to her Twitter feed early Thursday and wrote a stream of posts decrying women for coming to Cupp’s defense:

Barr’s tweeting continued Thursday afternoon when wrote to Cupp, “you attack women’s rights, you are attacked — that is how it works now, watch and be aware.”

Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum joined Glenn Beck Thursday morning to do something he rarely does — endorse a political candidate. Noting the lack of sand-out contenders running for office who are knowledgeable, articulate, and demonstrate stellar leadership skills in equal measure, Santorum made it a point to share with Beck’s audience, his support for Texas senatorial candidate, Ted Cruz.

Cruz is second-favorite to the front-runner, the Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, who is outspending the underdog four-to-one. Santorum told Beck that he gravitates to those who may not have the most to spend, but the most to offer and characterized Cruz’s oratory skills and depth of knowledge “spellbinding.”

The Tea Party favorite has also been endorsed by David Barton, FreedomWorks PAC, Senators Rand Paul and  Jim DeMint, Congressman Ron Paul and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.