Bill Cosby, as ever, was saying this 50 years ago. And it's still funny (and right).

I should have sat down and reread Pi and the AGM, one of my favourite books in grad school (I still have my preprint version). Totally irrational but transcendental, if you get what I mean.

I don't think it is hard to understand what is going on if one ties this into increasing levels of government indebtedness. People elect governments that borrow to provide themselves services (including social peace) they don't wish to pay for on their own either through taxes, or charity, doing on their own, or doing without. So in general one accumulates capital while passing the cost on to future generations, and the longer one is in the game, the better one does. (This first struck me a number of years ago when I noticed the total Canadian government debt was roughly the same as the total amount put away in retirement plans.)

I don't think that robbing one's children in such a manner is generally a good idea, those debts eventually do come due.

"Pravda-on-the-Hudson" goes back to at least 1996, though (if my memory serves me right) it's actually much older.

Thanks genferei. Scotland was on my mind when I posted that, but I really don't know much about its cultural history. I wonder though if they could have gained many of the same things from the the Scot tendency to travel and engage in politics and commerce on an broad international level? I have some reading to do :)

Off hand, one of the greatest drivers of this seems to be simple diversity combined with materialist culture. I don't think that it would be far off the mark to note that the great centers of human development in modern history, especially since the Reformation, have also been those  that accepted large numbers of immigrants, tolerated diverse religions and philosophies, and were largely capitalistic. Examples might include Golden Age Holland, Paris, Great Britain,  modern Israel, Beirut (for awhile), the US, especially NY and LA.

Of course, looking at the ethnic and religious make-up of Turkey is not heartening.

I much preferred their earlier work; from Her Satanic Majesty's Request (1967) and on, it just gets more commercial.

There's more on the story at the Sun. It really does seem to point to a serious problem.

I quite agree, and for this one I would probably hold the school board accountable. Once they tell the police "X's dad has a pistol" the police have to investigate.

But to be fair, we did have an illegal arms dealer arrested in our neighborhood about a decade ago, though I don't know what tipped off the police. They did bring in an impressive haul. He lived across the street from the local elementary school, in a pretty quiet neighborhood.

We lived in Newfoundland back when the police were not allowed to carry sidearms, they had to be kept secure in the trunk of the car, and needed to call in to get  permission to bring them out. It was actually a wonderful place to live.

It's actually pretty good (I've been on my own since my youngest set his sails 4 years ago). But then again, I do enjoy my own company, as well as that of a close circle of friends & neighbors, and the odd drop of Ricochet.

FWIW, I found the second article (about shortened lifespans for singles under 65) more interesting than the NYT article, I think that's more due to the greatest sustenance of life being its having meaning and purpose. Most, including myself, naturally find that in family and children; that drive seems to generalize - also quite naturally - with age.

If you read it as a parody of the angst, wishful thinking, historical illiteracy, and unfounded romanticism that makes up the Occupy-think of eternal adolescents, it's actually pretty funny.

Certainly on the sound bite level, both candidates seem the same. But if you look at it in the larger context of their positions with respect to the role of the federal government - as well as to whether they will consider opposing positions - they come off very differently. Obama, like Santorum, believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, however Obama has also stated that his views are evolving, and that he believes that this is an issue that should be settled at the state, not federal, level, for example here.

From Santorum, OTOH, we are getting quite a mishmash of opinion. He hasn't done himself any favours with his comments ranging from limitations on privacy to bestiality, and his peculiar interpretation of the child abuse scandals in the Church. At the same time he does not appear to be offering a clear way forward on the issue of same sex marriage. That conflict is what leaves him open to ridicule on this subject; it is an important issue for many, and just saying "No" without much explanation isn't going to cut it.

One of the things I used to enjoy as a kid, and my son did as well, is to take a walk in Lafayette Square (the park facing the north side of the White House), there's usually an interesting assortment of oddball prostesters. at least there used to be, I don't know what is happening there these days. Also the Adams Morgan area (near the Zoo) had lots of good inexpensive international style restaurants a decade or so ago, does it still? (When I was a sprog, it was a slum).

@Charlotte - glad to hear the Waffle House is still running, great all day breakfasts... 

Some corrections - the Inaugural gowns were at the American History, I should have said Air and Space (not Science and Tech), and visit the Canadian Embassy for a great Haida sculpture. The Botanical Gardens are also cool. Someone also offers a walking tour of haunted houses downtown, but I never went on it...

Almost forgot - if you are going downtown, try and leave the car behind, and take the Metro. DC drivers are terrible, and you can get just about everywhere tourist friendly on it, except Georgetown, but that's gotten too pricey anyway.

I' know what your daughter likes (or doesn't), but some places mine enjoyed when she was her age were all the free museums along the Mall - from Natural History to National Gallery to Science and Tech - one even has (had) a display of First Ladies' Inaugural gowns.  There's other art museums - like the Philips' (for Impressionist art), the Freer, the Frick, and the Corcoran.  And the merry-go-round on the Mall (though maybe she feels too old for that).

Then there's the Zoo (my kids loved that), walks along the Canal, Rock Creek Park, Great Falls (the Maryland side), Mt. Vernon, and for ages (don't know if it's still there) a great greasy spoon across the street from Ford's Theater. The Washington Cathedral is still beautiful, and there are places she might find interesting, like the Mosque (if that's still open to the public). Take a side trip up to Baltimore & see the Aquarium.

Unfortunately it's been a number of years since I've been in DC....

I think another thing aspect that should be examined in this discussion is the unintended consequences. For example, there seems to be a pretty strong relationship between aggressive prosecution of drug use (or more particularly, drug trafficking), and the rise of harder, more addictive, and more dangerous drugs. And there's the effect of drug conviction - and even arrests that don't result in prosecution - on employment prospects. The War on Drugs has been an essential element in creating an American underclass.