Was reading about books as gifts on Althouse and thinking about the sadness in my grandmother giving me the Reader's Digest for Christmas and reflecting that she was a contemporary of Scofield Thayer more or less and could have subscribed to The Dial, his avant-garde journal. Except for being moderne which seems now old fashioned I guess there is only the challenge that there were some beautiful, structurally challenging or penetrating things done. In Googling Thayer to find the article (again), I came upon the author of Sea Power, I would expect a relative. Thayer was apparently analyzed by Freud and became schizophrenic; it's an interesting story. I came to it because of his connection to ee cummings, an old fashioned moderne of whose is:

I'm very fond of
black bean
soup(O i'm
very
fond of black
bean soup
Yes i'm very fond
of black bean soup)But
i don't disdain
a beef-
steak

Gimme gin&bitters to
open my
eyes(O gimme
gin&
bitters to open
my eyes
Yes gimme gin&bitters
to open my eyes)But
i'll take straight rum as
a night-
cap

Nothing like a blonde for
ruining the
blues(O nothing
like a
blonde for ruining
the blues
Yes nothing like a blonde
for ruining the blues)But
i use redheads for
the tooth
-ache

Parson says a sinner will
perish in the
flames(O parson
says a
sinner will perish
in the flames
Yes parson says a sinner
Will perish in the flames)But
i reckon that's better
than freez-
ing

Everybody's dying to be
someone
else(O every
body's
dying to be some
one else
Yes everybody's dying
to be someone else)But
i'll live my life if
it kills
me

The 'lost poem' in the Thayer article is even more scandalous to the pc reader. I had thought that 'the only emperor is the emperor of ice cream' was his but it's from Walther Stevens though I would like to see a copy of the book Sound and Sense by Laurence Perrine where I swear it's done by Edward.

When Gingrich stood up to oppose hysteria over Mexican participation in our country, he got credit for courage and then talking about allowing children or adolescents to work brought out a lot of applause from those who found work throwing papers as kids. Romney responded to the first action by slip streaming behind him as I understand it. Well, when Romney said he should return the $1.4 million he got from Fannie, Gingrich didn’t find this a useful criticism but made a grandiose justification for it. He’s not going anywhere IMHO. He’s a tribune without power who will not have power though, yes, some may enjoy his talking back to the judicial teacher of Roe v. Wade and homosexual marriage being embedded in various constitutions, etc.

From my 2 cents.

The DNA of the United Kingdom.

Christopher Hitchens solves a mystery for me and gives me some German to pass along to my son. Freud said something like Nietzsche new himself best or had the best grasp of psychology in the previous generation. Nietzsche died shortly after having jumped in a river yelling some wild statement; so this didn't make sense to me. Hitchens points out that he had tertiary syphilis (which doesn't preclude you being sane earlier). Having addressed this mystery, there comes up the idea that Nietzsche would seem to have addressed issues of narcissism whereas Freud was more into dynamic understanding, anyway a lessor problem.

When I saw this review of the biography of George Kennan, I thought of how the U.S. might have done better with him as Secretary of State during the Kennedy period. I see that Kissinger had some recent comments on Kennan also.

For Gingrich

I'd have to agree. What bothers me most about Romney is his attitude that he's going to tell China what to do about their currency and remind Iran that it forgot to grovel, not to mention running over Perry on humanitarian issues. I'm afraid it's the fat man with the sexual past. Here are the reviews of books he has done on Amazon; the beginning of them, the most recent, are about the campaigns of Grant & Lee in the last phase of the Civil War.

Peggy Noonan had a column in the WSJ yesterday that resonated with me. Perhaps more later. In brief, the product vs. salesmanship.

I read the review of this, And the Show Went On, in the WSJ and read part of it at my daughter in laws house, fascinating. Riding also wrote a book on Mexico, Distant Neighbors, I'd like to look at.

The Recent Chinese Transformation

Book on Deng Xiaoping recommended.

Tom Maguire argues for Huntsman at this point.

Following a thread: Jews, Communists and Jewish Communists at Volokh. References there on the history of the Communist takeover of China and U.S. Asian Foreign Policy prior history in the area.

Was going through the comments on 'Rage of a Privileged Class, TNC, Atlantic, and thought this solved something:

There were psychological studies of Nazi war criminals using Rorschach tests and other instruments which don't have obvious face saving answers. The lower level were unimaginative people with a simple view of order and what was proper. Being drug addled would not have been part of that or their behavior. The higher level such as Goering were at least at one time drug addicts but not that simple minded. The fact that Eichmann put on the pose of a banal bureaucrat,

Adolf Eichmann was, of course, in no way a banal bureaucrat: He just portrayed himself as one while on trial for his life. Eichmann was a vicious and loathsome Jew-hater and -hunter who, among other things, personally intervened after the war was effectively lost, to insist on and ensure the mass murder of the last intact Jewish group in Europe, those of Hungary,*

suggests a readily available pose or personality. Perhaps the rebellion inside that personality struggling to get out would find some identification with the Hebrew meaning of Isra el, he fought with God, but not having in some sense survived the fight with the internal imago of their parents, hate Israel and Jews for having done so. I am not familiar with Galbraith's report though.

* Ron Rosenbaum's article in Slate with better picture of Hannah Arendt.

It took 2000 years, but we've finally made the big time.

He said his teacher, Marsha McDonald, gave him an anti-Catholic pamphlet. The eighth-grade teacher handed it to him in his English class at Mineral Wells Junior High, he said. “It said ‘Are Roman Catholics Christian,’ and ‘Catholics only think about money,’” Velazquez said.

Maybe Richelieu was a clue.

Missed the debate.

The Deficiency of Obama

The "Exasperation of the Democratic Billionaire' quotes M. Zuckerman,

It's as if he doesn't like people," says real-estate mogul and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman of the president of the United States. Barack Obama doesn't seem to care for individuals, elaborates Mr. Zuckerman, though the president enjoys addressing millions of them on television.

The Boston Properties CEO is trying to understand why Mr. Obama has made little effort to build relationships on Capitol Hill or negotiate a bipartisan economic plan. A longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, Mr. Zuckerman wrote in these pages two months ago that the entire business community was "pleading for some kind of adult supervision" in Washington and "desperate for strong leadership."

This appears in the Oct. 15th WSJ.

The Cain surge

As I commented at Beldar's blog:

I'd have to agree with Colo above though I appreciate your ability to back up on Rick. Maybe he hasn't made you proud of Texas though; he has me. I think you could take the Obama argument and apply it here as well. Obama beat Clinton; so.. And that was his first real race IMHO. So if Cain comes out of nowhere etc... I do think it is mildly amusing that he's got 11 dates open and a book tour this October. You know when you expect one job to be part time and you've got something complementary. Hey, the guy is industrious. That makes me think he can get beyond the 9-9-9 plan when he has a chance to think how he will climb down though the consumption tax aspect being neglected is part of its interest. Anyway, in many ways he is such a naif Archie Bunker I think if he were as president to land the Air Force in Mongolia the Chinese instead of bombing our bases in Japan, the inclination with any other U.S. president, would say 'That stupid --, get him on the phone and tell him to go to Montana.' So apparent stupidity might be to our advantage.

Following reflections on the Cain surge at Althouse, about comment 220.

Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (See all History of Religious Studies Books) is really a great book. The former NSA chief lawyer gives some positive spin to the new (Amazon) Kindle Fire.

The meaning of various terms for physician relationships to Medicare.

A Hemingway biography.

Perry's poor debate and thoughts on Romney.

"ObamaCare is now rumbling toward a terrified health-care industry like Godzilla bouncing off buildings on Main Street." - Daniel Henninger establishing a preamble for discussing Obama's Tax and Jobs proposal in today's Wall Street Journal.

The Gospel Sunday is the familiar story about the farm owner who hires laborers 'at the usual daily wage' in the morning and others later in the day and then 'pays them (all) the same.' Jesus says this is 'like the kingdom of heaven'. As the story is placed in a sequence with Peter deifying Christ and then arguing with him when He will go to Jerusalem and be killed, I think it can easily be seen as Jesus saying that Jews are rewarded by God for their service but that those who listen to Christ now 'late' in time will be also, and in fact 'the last shall be first.' But the homily is never that perhaps because, even though it leaves the Christians first, the Jews would still be rewarded, a historically controversial idea for a Roman prelate. The theoretical idea would be acceptable, it seems to me, with the attitude of the current German pope whose attitude may be in reaction to war time atrocities but specific theorems based on the new axiom of small 'c' catholic inclusiveness await. This came up in commentary about 'The Eastern Front.'

Eastern European Jews and Communism referred to from an Economist blog.

David Bernstein had a blog-post in part on Freud which led me to comment with some thoughts I had been wanting to put on my blog:

There is a study that looks at hospitalized adolescents diagnosed with Borderline Personality treated with psychoanalytic (Freudian) methods vs. a control group that does better over 2 years in rates of rehospitalization over 2 years or other quality of life measures. Those sorts of things are possible. Also is ‘David Bernstein’ unscientific because he can’t scientifically prove that his name should be ‘DB?’ I mean how can you prove that his mother got the name right? In part, Freud developed a language. Ego and Mechanisms of Defence by his daughter who signed her name ‘Annafreud’ is very useful in that regard. Take a clinical thought example. You see the ads where the drug Seroquel or Abilify added to antidepressants helps with depression. These drugs were first of all indicated for schizophrenia which might be said to be characterized by the person not knowing what was happening inside or outside themselves, a loss of (ego) boundaries. Well David finds some threat to his self esteem by Brian Leiter’s attacks but he is able to set up a wall and say, ‘Well, you know that’s Brian (that’s not me). And, just to further establish that, let’s cite evidence as to what an odd monkey Brian is (case closed).’ OTOH, we may have a young man whose fiance’ broke up with him. There is, at least, some, probably more than implied, criticism of him. He can’t however regulate his self esteem within his own ego; that (image of) other person has become part of him and he has a narcissistic injury as well as an object loss. The antipsychotic drug Invega, ultimately, is given on the hypothesis that it will help him establish an ego boundary and rescue him from being suicidal. And it works.
Now one might say that Kraepelin, who systematized diagnosis in the early twentieth century is usually more relevant and correct than Freud or that Freud’s excluding Alfred Adler and his ‘will to power’ that may be a predecessor to Cognitive Therapy was incorrect. But there is the model of the mind and other things, but if that’s the sort of thing you like you’ll probably want a different explainer, that have contributed to the clinical science of psychiatry. However it might also be pointed out that psychoanalysis may appear to be like case law. It is built on the success in one reported case starting with certain previous findings from case law and going on to some successful outcome; the rules uncovered along the way may be applied to another similar case and so the ‘case law’ is expanded and refined. (Quote)

Been kind of an exciting political week. I like Perry's opening statement and boy has he raised some controversy. I enjoyed the debate over at Volokh. Jon Huntsman looks like he needs to learn to have empathy for forces in the American electorate. I thought he might be a good candidate. Greg Mankiw has a good recorded discussion of officials with or formerly with the fed. And of course it's bye-bye Qaddafi and will Parkland still have Medicare money.

Am really enjoying Dallas Public and Private: Aspects of an American City, a book by a, then, Neiman Marcus executive, on Dallas, it's development and social psychology at the time of the Kennedy assassination. Kind of fun for me, one of the first individuals he mentions in explaining Dallas, Robert Glenn, M.D. is someone I knew. He mentions him in the context of his moving to town and leasing an apartment at a swank address, 3525 Turtle Creek, that address sign curled the numbers on itself snake or Art Deco like. About arriving there on moving to Dallas, Dr. Glenn said, 'I didn't know any better.' A quarter century later he told me buying country property which was later bought for the new DFW airport area turned out to make him some money, a good preppy boy who stumbled blindly into money it seems.

Books on the Vietnam War including one looking at the effect on the Vietnamese. Also The Vietnam War: An Assessment by South Vietnam's Generals (Modern Southeast Asia)

Enjoying The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War
.

Nice post on the political science of 'The Deficit Mess' by Judge Posner.

The Norway Murders

I thought Claudia had the best comment, #41, in a very unfortunate situation.

It's all Greek to me

RE: the Euro crisis, there is an obvious at least partial solution that I have not seen discussed. The problem is the stickiness of wages and prices on the downside. To take the previously discussed example of Greece, were it not in the Euro, the Greek currency would be devalued and Greeks would work for less. This would keep them employed though their labor would be less valuable in world currency terms. As our language gives evidence, '2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate,' pieces of 8, the Spanish currency, were once legal tender in the US as was British currency. Why can't the Greek government pay its workers and pensioners in drachmas and make the drachma a legal tender in the country along with the Euro. It could be floated relative to the Euro, started at a useful conversion rate. A 'useful rate' that the Greek government and employers could see continuing employment at a lower pay scale.

The Greek Problem

The economic discussion of this is all well and good. I was struck however with a picture of a young man wearing a gas mask with an upraised tall cylindrical stick in a charge at a riot policeman. He reminded me of one of those mythological man and horse combinations. It is clear that these people have an outrageous sense of betrayal. Who or what has betrayed them? It is said that there is a lot of tax evasion and entitlement disappointment in the country. Let us assume they are (to some extent) thieves. Bonnie and Clyde never gave the impression when they were robbing banks that they were mad at the townspeople for not putting enough money in the bank. Take an image of the Greek in the movies, Zorba the Greek. Asked by the Englishman if he has been married, he said, 'Yes, the whole catastrophe,' indicating that he was familiar with and accepted the financial loss of a family. What he didn't lose however was that he was the philosopher, the Delphic oracle, yes, and honored.

We have asked, 'Who are these people, the same genetic stock that created Athens and the beginnings of mathematical and scientific knowledge and democracy?' The answer may be that they ask themselves the same question and feel that they have betrayed themselves. Events remind them of that and they are enraged. Bismark saw this a century and half ago perhaps which is why he said the Balkans 'Weren't worth a Pomeranian(?).' In contrast it is a tribute to the Jews that they can be 'folded, spindled, and mutilated' and create a successful country.

Gloria Kaminer argues that cultural analysis is needed in the Weiner case. I have been struck that this is needed. Some say that the women who got his messages felt 'special not sleazy.' They would add that they were only angry when they found other women were getting them. Peggy Noonan has called his actions 'pornographic. ' Megan McArdle objects to them in that he was 'cheating on his wife.' I suppose this does imply that there was some (perhaps wanted) intimacy between Weiner and the recipients of the messages. Someone commenting on the TNC blog said* 'Weiner's ability to be such an effective attack dog for Democratic causes was deeply tied to the same arrogance that led him to make such huge mistakes.' The 'attack' in his twitter messages strikes me as putting the recipient in a sleazy relationship with Weiner and like the 'first rule of picking up girls which is to put them down' (so that they can then move on to recovering their virtue in your eyes). In that sense it would bear an analogy to the political attack, e.g. 'You're a racist, homophobe' unless, of course, you agree with what I say. But, to go back to the beginning, were the messages pleasing or not?

There Be Dragons

Here are Dragons.

The movie starts with a recreation of a medieval map including sea animals and 'Hic sunt Dragones' which I translate above. I appreciate two criticisms here as an opportunity to dialogue. 'It is two hours of preachy, turn the other cheek.' To quote from the movie Josemaria, 'Cervantes said," Our biggest dragons are within us," ' As far as not taking action, my daughter said, 'I thought the fascists were supposed to be bad? That is why I was confused.' Few would prefer the communists after watching this movie. The communists obviously threw out the Cervantian insight along with the other myths of Spanish Catholicism. There is a Jew who plays an insightful and creative role in Josemaria's development though lord knows how he found himself in that Catholic Spain. It has an essential historical accuracy in the words of the communist brigade leader, 'Our leaders argue in Madrid and send us nothing.' Stalin saw that factionalism as the cause of failure and instituted his late 30's purges on that basis. Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of Charlie?, does a great cameo role discussing dragons with the children. The physiognomy of Robert Torres well matches his father. I wonder which side is rushing past Manolo as he surrenders. My favorite abutted scenes are those of the girl who has ?PTSD who tells Josemaria she sees him climbing a mountain and his struggle next over leaving Madrid. The deus ex machina, one a bit too important, plays a role in his leaving.

It doesn't appear that Mr. Kissinger ever read "Wild Swans" or the biography of Mao by the same author, Jung Chang. - comment on the review of On China by H. Kissinger.

British News

Queen Elizabeth went to Ireland last week; this was reported in the Wall Street Journal:

"To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy," she said at a state dinner hosted by Irish President Mary McAleese. "With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all."

It was the only the only public address of her Irish visit, which is seen as a journey of reconciliation to Ireland.

Three plus hours of the Royal Wedding are available here on YouTube. For me it was partially of interest, as I commented at Catholic Analysis because:

Not on my knowledge but on someone from that tradition, the wedding is said to be of the form and have hymns of a very traditional Baptist church service (alteration of the Mass). I believe Baptist practice derives from Free Church practice in England; free being free of Church of England rule but retaining it's liturgy and theology. From an administrative point of view Henry VIII was well prepared to take the role he did. He was the second in line growing up and thus was educated in Church matters, e.g. liturgy and music, while an older heir apparent was raised in military matters.

A nice story of the Obama Mama.

An apparently good book by South Vietnam's generals on the VN war is discussed. I ave read Sorely's history which is good.

HuffPo has a nice interview with Mitch Daniels, first time I hear him speak.

Well that was a short romance. I was inclined to vote for Obama for a week. Started with Abbottabad, the death of Osama bin Laden, and ended with the executive order that all businesses applying for government contracts have to list their political contributions. Why anybody would prefer a USSR system to an open economy like Chile is beyond me. Besides it's dangerous.

In the Interpretation of Dreams , Freud pointed out a mechanism of condensation which meant that an element in a dream could 'condense' disparate ideas or personalities. I guess that our arguing about celebrating Osama's death, a death that has been long imagined, is about a condensation of various issues. I ran across this report that asserts that in the month after 9-11 the Taliban offered to hand over Osama to a court of middle eastern countries; GWB rejected this. Thus Osama was allowed by military default to go into ISI protection. Is that something, the Middle Eastern Court trial, in retrospect we would want to have happened? There have been allegations that Iraqi intelligence was involved in 9-11 and the Bush administration was concerned in any event that this showed Iraq a way to attack the US. Was preemption appropriate and did forcing democracy in Iraq contribute to the Arab Spring? I suppose that opposing celebrating Osama's death reflects opinions on that/those hypotheses.

Thought I'd transfer this from a comment I left on Volokh Conspiracy on the admissibility of illegal alien stau in regards to liability of his employer in regard to 'wrongful death' damages:

Anthony:
As a practical issue, I’m inclined to think that a company that employs illegal immigrants (whether knowingly or otherwise) should be required to pay them the same benefits as legally present employees, including death and disability; thus, he should be granted benefits as if he were legally present (as a disincentive to illegal hiring). As a realistic estimate of lost income, though, it’s hard to see how the risk of deportation (both in general, and with the specifics of the immigration raid) isn’t relevant.
As a side note, there is a realistic chance that the immigration raid was related to the accident, either because accidents always get some official inspection, or because someone at the company figured that the fines would be cheaper than the wrongful death suit and self-reported.

A few years ago I had occasion to go to an outlying judicial office in the south of Dallas County. While waiting, I witnessed a woman discussing with the clerk about bringing an action about a relative not being paid for work performed. For the action to be started there was going to have to be proof of citizenship on the part of the complainant. The woman sought various ways around this to no avail. So Anthony’s hypothetical seems entirely realistic to me. And it seems the missing area in the immigration debate. Providing papers as resident aliens for those here illegally would remove them from surely not a slave situation but something both less and more reprehensible. Immigration status has been a problem but settled without resort to a theological certitude that now seems appropriate. This afternoon I was listening to a Saul L. who emigrated at the age of 12 to this country from East Prussia in the thirties. He was the oldest of 5 Jewish siblings and brought in under a special program ‘for the oldest.’ He was later drafted and began training with a division bound for Europe but then released as an ‘enemy alien.’ The Army then brought him back to train for the Pacific and made him a citizen.

Well, what's your view on the bin Laden take-down. Seems to me it is one case where Obama has gone 'beyond the partisan divide' as promised. TNC has a post which he titles, 'I feel like a black Republican.' Now he's referring to Lincoln in the Civil War ostensibly, and modern Republicans are not in the progressive view moral descendants of Lincoln but the language I think reflects Obama's shift or progression.

Non lawyers following Volokh.

Graduating Harvard Law students have a blog recommended by Orin Kerr at Volokh Conspiracy.

A Holy Thursday Mass at the Vatican.

Following a post in Volokh on the April 19th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising.

Recently bought A Literary Bible: An Original Translation at Borders close-out. 'The days became past' and Torah means telling come from it. Also got The Glory Guys: The Story of the U.S. Army Rangers. Has some great stories including that of the Mexican American war.

The Irish Setter Dad response to a Tiger Mom.

Caterpillar corporate intern program.

Looking for airfare deals at the last minute?

Why did the name Michael become popular in the 1940's and 50's

A newspaperman says that names are chosen by the upper class as distinctive and filter down. True maybe and perhaps related with a twist here. I was looking at a list of famous people with the name Michael. Mickey Spillane, born 1918, is included. I believe he is part of the answer, but his first book didn't come out until 1947. He was born Frank Morrison Spillane and chose the pen name Mickey. Mickey Mouse probably played a role, Mickey being a diminutive of Michael; he emerged in the 20's, the timing for an influence is good, and there had been, earlier, Michael Collins, in a way the real father of the Irish Republic, and Michael Sparks an American boxer, 1901-1981, and by the way, welcome aboard Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen who changed his name to Michael Todd and married Elizabeth Taylor.

The Gospel today, the Transfiguration, is one that I have always found challenging. Fr. Postell, S.J. once asked the assembled students when Jesus realized he was God. The Jesuits were founded by a wounded Spanish soldier and, of all religious, they seem to be set off on long range patrol in pursuit of truth with confidence that they can find their way back. He referred to a passage in Mark in which Jesus said he was going to Jerusalem and implied he might be killed. He told this to Peter who objected to his going. I assume this passage may recapitulate a dream Peter had along the way. Perhaps it was a dream of someone else. Regardless, the fact that the vision includes Moses and Elijah shows how embedded the Apostles were in the Jewish tradition and how important it was for the regulation of their identity.

The sadness of the Japanese tragedy struck me today in an article 'Yen Climbs to a Record Against Dollar*.' The yen got to a low of 76.32 Yen for a dollar on Wednesday. The previous high was within 0.25 of 80 yen per dollar. In other words, the Yen was more dear in dollars than it had been since WWII. It took more dollars to buy them. This suggests that the Japanese were selling their dollar assets in a time of crisis to buy things at home; this brought home to me their troubles and struggles.

*Wall Street Journal, page C1 March 17, 2011.

I showed up at St. Jerome's a little early Sunday and they had a librarian's cart of paperbacks in the vestibule. I looked at Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (Penguin Classics).

We saw him and he had neither comeliness nor beauty; his appearance was mean and inferior to that of other men. He was familiar with hard labor and the lash...,

p.20, was comforting and a new insight.

John March, M.D. authored a book, Talking Back to OCD: The Program That Helps Kids and Teens Say "No Way" -- and Parents Say "Way to Go", on my reading list. He turned me on to this meeting or web site and this Council Report which gives directions for the NIMH. The NCI and other institutes would also have Council Reports.

Evening Primrose Oil is discussed in PubMed as possibly being effective in diabetic neuropathy. Perhaps it is even more useful as sometimes the neuropathy precedes the diabetes.

McKinsey, the consulting firm, on their own, looked at what factors distinguished developing economies from those that didn't several years ago. One of the things that struck me is a situation that was counterintuitive to what might be expected of business consultants or, at least, counter ''conservative' that I think applies to the WI union argument. They said that the Sherman Antitrust Act which limited monopolies represented a government policy that helped growth. Basically the problem with public sector unions is that they gain monopoly power. Ironically again, it was the progressives of an earlier era, circa 1900, for whom the Sherman Antitrust Act represented a victory.

Dropping in on the Tango by way of a blogpost on Althouse. And the pessimist has an interesting take on Bach in the Top Ten composers discussion at Volokh.

Trileptal or oxcarbazepine during pregnancy appears relatively safe but drug monitoring because of lowering of its concentration may be useful.

The Rabbi and blood libel. He will soon have a new book out on the Jewishness of Jesus.

For reasons that Instapundit has gone into, I agree with the Second Amendment, however the Atlantic Wire had a recent article indicating that states with greater gun control had fewer homicides. Generally, by iteration and refinement, we can make things better. The current gun restriction in relation to mental illness seems archaic to me and, were itimproved, perhaps lead to greater sensible liberality in 2^nd Amendment rights. When McNaughton shot an ambassador, thinking that his country was plotting against him, there was no realistic hope that McNaughton could have become nonpsychotic. Today the situation is more like that of a domestic dispute, where hypothetical dangerousness might be temporary. What I would propose, in cases like that seen in the premurderous phase of the Virginia Tech killer or Loughner, would be perhaps a five year restriction on gun ownership or control.

Following a commentary on cultural equivalence.

The Sig Sauer P226 was recommended over the Glock. The first comment on this article reports that Sheriff Dupnik seems to have done a poor job of controlling crime in his county. It would be nice if it were possible to get a restraining order, restraining the purchase or possession of firearms when someone is mentally ill and dangerous but not to the point of being committable. I'm not a supporter of S. Palin for national elective office, but I think she has been deft with the phrase 'blood libel.'

Following a post on the Egyptian Coptic bombing.