Thanks for the useful comment. It helps clarify what I was trying to say. I was not trying to suggest that mass killers today are motivated to mass kill political opponents. I meant only, as you say, historical revolutionary ideologies, originally targeting ruling classes, changed over time in America to become a mythos about killing oppressors of any kind; and that his mythos was/is attractive to disordered minds. I hint in concluding paragraphs of the article that gun restriction is counter-productive. Expansion of government regulation convinces persons who believe the 2nd amendment is important to protect liberty that there is a need to do so. The way to de-fang the revolutionary ideology is to expand democracy, not to remove government from the people by centralization and bureaucracy; more democracy would prove the revolutionary ideology is out of place and time. For clarification, I did not say American "ideal". I referred to American cultural value/values. Values are different from ideals. Ideals suggests positive aspirational principles. Values simply implies public symbollic orientation of thought.

Well, do other highways and streets in Germany have speed limits and other traffic laws governing driver behavior? Hey, how about France? The UK? Sure, I'd be down with making alcohol production and consumption illegal. I think there are great differences between alcohol and marijuana, but okay. And for thousands of years, cannabis and hallucinatory drugs, derived from well known effects of mushrooms, have been socially suppressed and restricted to religious and ceremonial use, such as warrior ceremonies described in the Iliad. Finally, note that regular marijuana users are overwhelmingly young males ages 15 to 30. Such a statistic makes it likely that regular marijuana use is a symptom of a medical problem--probably linked to testosterone issues (too much? too little?) and is a form of self-medication. Let's figure out the problem and solve it, rather than distorting society to conform to the pathologial needs of these users.

I wondered if anyone would take the bait. Thanks. Of course, you are right. The tutor, or instructor in the US, was not a "Professor". He was only a "professor" in the colloquial sense.(Though in the English university system, even senior faculty teach in tutorials and are called tutors.) As I recall, in the campaign of 2008, there was much made of how Obama was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. But of course he was not a "Professor" as the dissembling, silent insinuation put out by his campaign web site made out. He was only a "professor" in the colloquial sense of a teacher or instructor in a college or university. He was in fact only a contract lecturer without qualifications for a tenure line professorial appointment. The professor of O'Donnell's class wrote a superb recommendation, with much greater effort and care than most Professors take, and his high estimation of her was supported by his discussion of context and performance. As a professor for 34 years, and a Distinguished Professor for the final five years of my career, I read, oh, probably, over two thousand professorial recommendations in one context or another. Most of them were sloppily written, many were outright dishonest, as the writer feared law suits (as recommendations in the US are not longer protected by privacy), and nearly all of them were written grudingly (as several female professional colleagues of mine complained resentfully, writing letters of recommendation was an onerous chore). Congratulations to Christine O'Donnell for being an outstanding student. Congratulations to the "professor" who taught who taught her on being a conscientous teacher who recognized and rewarded the outstanding student and fulfilled his professional obligation to his student. No congratulations to distractors who wish to diminish her accomplishment or her teacher's evaluation of it.

Yes. Same fungus. Easily tranferred.

I didn't think I was putting Michelle Obama in her place. I thought I was putting her in the well-worn role of the American princess arriving in the Old World, a role pioneered by the white daughters of wealthy American businessmen; hence, the final reference to James.

Um, what small facts, what big ones, what evasion?

Puff on, dude. But, when the haze parts long enough, note that personal experience is often idiosyncratic, not typical, and not a guide to a scientific understanding of the medical characteristics and condition of the whole population. You're lucky, that's all. Most users aren't.

Interesting suggestion. I'm not sure of the significance of obesity-linked carbon emissions from transport (etc.) but there is probably some connection. The difficulty in measuring such an effect would be that the transportation infrastructure is already in place and producing emissions, with or without the perhaps 20% increase in foods and processed foods eaten at the obesity margin. The trucks won't stop running if their loads decrease by 20%. But a 20% drop in consumption would be a health blessing for the over-weight consumers!

My condolences on your tragic betrayl in your youth and the sorrowful decision that you felt compelled to make, for which you have paid every day since then. You needed support, love, and assistance when none was offered, by family or friends or strangers.

I provide lots of thoughtful posts about a variety of important issues that nobody comments on. After nearly six years (yes, Typepad folks, that six years) of blogging on Typepad, maybe you could boost my blogs by citing me, instead of someone doing pop culture.

Thanks, Jack! Are you for hire as a spelchekker?

Go to your eye doctor as soon as possible.

Thank you for stepping forward.

Dogs are, I am told by my vet, fairly sensitive to foods. Allergy to wheat is common in dogs. So avoid dog foods with wheat or wheat glutin (check the ingredients on the label). Frequent changes of dog food sometimes lead to vomiting and intestinal distress. Dogs intestines are made for a "high quality" diet, meaning a diet high in protein. Dogs' intestines don't have the enzymes to digest most vegetables. Carrots pass through them unchanged. So "diversity" in a dog's diet is difficult. You should stick with a lean high protein diet. Avoid human foods that are high in fats, such as cheese, as these have an even more pronounced effect on dogs than on humans.

President Obama is not a criminal. He shouldn't be gunned down in the streets. Keep the discussion about politics and political behavior.

We should assume that we will still be engaged in war against Jihadist terrorists. Indeed, their attacks will increase over the next few years, as their attempts here in America have increased in the past year. Eventually, the terrorists will realize they can strike at the American rail system, just as they did in Spain and England a few years ago. They will do so. Immediately, extensive security procedures will be required for all the major terminals and stations where large numbers of trains arrive and depart and mass numbers of passengers and the public gather. In short order, the security checks will require as much time for railroads as they do for airlines. The notion of a 1 hour savings at downtown stations will evaporate just as soon as we have spent tens of billions of dollars to obtain it for the few passengers who try to take advantage of it. Sorry. Can't agree with you. Saving one hour downtown won't be a real benefit, after all.

A sensible place to begin would be a food sensitivity test, which is different from a standard food allergy test. The best known food sensitivity test is the Al-Cat test, a proprietary test that involves drawing blood and testing blood cell response to antigens. I used the Al-Cat test. Go to a naturopathic doctor who can arrange for the test, interpret the results, and assist you in changing your diet.

Thanks! Welcome aboard.

Okay. The coloring of invisible-to-us radiation frequencies from space with colors we can see "reveals" the invisible. But the radiation in space doesn't have the colors as objective properties. It's the pictures that are colored. Not to say they aren't beautiful scenes, as so revealed by fake colored photographs!

Thank you for your long, thoughtful response. I surely did not mean to malign Martinsville and regret if I did so. I was responding to the linked article written about Martinsville unemployed men and the retraining programs they were taking. The linked article implied that the retraining was not useful for the men. I was developing that point, to say that government retraining programs aren't really useful, because they train for the jobs of the past, not the future. Community college education is a different issue. I well understand what community colleges can do. Your testimony is evidence of the benefit of community college education and vocational programs. Community colleges provide the best preparation of people for the jobs of the future--precisely because community colleges are in close contact with the industries of their communities. The colleges know what the industries and businesses need for workers and can provide some of the education those businesses need for their jobs. But the point still remains that the businesses themselves do most of the training for their jobs, but building on what the community colleges do. California is pretty dumb about many things, but not about the important role community colleges play in preparing our state's labor force for the future. As for Martinsville ... we have a second life in West Virginia, Greenbrier County, preparing for farming (see my blog "Eighty Seven Acres"); so we share with you a vested interest in the success and prosperity of the West Virginia-Southwestern corner of Virginia. I'm sure that Martinsville is a great place. It must be when it is so ably defended as you have done!

I think you are correct that an internal cause is involved in some cases. Improper diet (e.g.,too much sugar) can disrupt the bacteria-fungus balance by causing acidosis and killing bacteria, allowing fungus to flourish. But note that fungus are everywhere in and on the body, and in our environment. We can't eliminate fungus from being on and in our bodies. This issue is keeping fungus growth in check. This is my understanding, but you would be advised to check with a naturopathic doctor or physician about this analysis and the appropriate remedy or treatment regimen.

Nope. No scam. Not working with the naturopath. It would be unethical and illegal of him. And unethical of me. Just passing along information about a diagnosis about finger cracks and their remedy.

For characteristics of marijuana use and users, see this 2004 survey. http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k4/dailyMJ/dailyMJ.htm On marijuana use and health, see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080123104017.htm (lungs) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070521145539.htm (lungs, cardio) http://www.ukcia.org/research/RespiratoryEffectsMarijuanaAndTobacco.pdf (lungs) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1490047/ (lung) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090202175105.htm (brain) Marijuana use surveys show several characteristics of users that suggest marijuana use is a dual diagnosis issue; that is, that users of marijuana suffer from pre-existing, underlying, undiagnosed health problems of which they are unaware and which they are trying to self-medicate with marijuana. (This relationship is much clearer in older marijuana and other illegal drug users who show up in drug courts.) Users are overwhelmingly young males. This fact suggests hypothetically that marijuana use in this demographic profiles similar to alcohol abuse. The profile would include emotional maturation issues and difficulty dealing with the social context of testosterone surge. Indirect support for this hypothesis is provided by the fact that marijuana use drops off as males get older, as the emotional issues resolve and testosterone plateaus, or as users move, alas, to more powerful intoxicants. Any person using marijuana frequently should encouraged to seek medical evaluation and treatment for correlated underlying health issues.

Regime change would not necessarily bring an end to the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Nor would a new, genuinely representative government, letting Iranians enjoy some freedoms. Further, there is no evidence that the Iranian revolution is in favor of a secular or non-Muslim state. The greatest likelihood is that any successor regime would exist within a huge upwelling of Iranian nationalism and populist Muslim belief. And that any new government, existing within that nationalism and Muslim doctrine, would insist on maintaining its nuke program. Certainly that would be the case until a small arsenal of bombs and their delivery missiles are build. Why would any government give up the program before it is successful and when their bargaining power is weakest? Further, bombing the nuke sites would intensify Iranian nationalism, making it likely that even a successor regime would try to repair the program. Nonetheless, this is the horror of existential state decisions, Israel is better off getting rid of the Iranian nukes now, even at the cost of a war; for Iran has made it clear that it intends to use the nukes to destroy Israel. Destroying Israel would probably help the current regime stay in power. And possession of nukes and destroying Israel would make Iran, whether led by the current Mullahs or by successors, arguably the leading power of the Middle East. And that would help keep the regime in power.