Another thank you, Pamela!

My daughter, a native of San Diego, recently graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and got her M.B.A. from Tuck. She is earning $45,000 per year as a medical intern while her former colleagues in the Dartmouth M.B.A. program are earning on average, per my daughter, more than $300,000 per year just after getting their M.B.A. That figure astonished me! If money is important, that tells me that elite schools have something to offer. If not, then maybe not.

Pamela- I read your post and comments before reading the NYT article. The slant of the piece was clear but I agree with those who think that, despite that, you came across well and your central points were clear. Bottom line: much more positive than negative!

See blogger Debbie Schlussel from Michigan. Miss U.S.A. is a Shiite who reportedly has relatives in the upper echelons of Hizbollah. Read Debbie Schlussel and make up your own minds.

Does the professor mean what he says when he states that "hatred of Israel can be found in the genes of all Arabs?" Astounding!! As a psychiatrist, I agree with your comments, but I believe analysts are on shaky ground when an attempt is made to extrapolate from theories about individuals to theories about societies and cultures. This was done quite extensively in the 1950's with CIA money and resulted in a psychoanalytically oriented research project housed at Yale University. Doubtless the remains are still there. It was called "Human Relations Area Files," if I am not mistaken. As I recall, it never produced much actionable intelligence, but there was a lot of data and a lot of temporary jobs for social scientists.

It is an error to attempt to apply what we construe to be rational decision making norms to the Gaza situation, and probably to all conflicts involving Islamist entities with "infidels." The Koran is the basis for all values and decion making among committed Muslims. The Koran is believed to be the absolute and immutable word of God. The promises made by the Koran skew all decision making, and, because it is the word of God, no decisions by humans in contravention of the Koran are permissible. Nothing is greater than martyrdom because martyrdom is the certain path to Heaven. Hamas leaders claim that Gazans value death more than the Israels value life (except they complain when deaths actually occur). So the hypothetical 150lb man figures he has more to gain by dying than by living. Hence, he does what he does.