While I was helping some young chess players (most of whom had been bullied in school), I got to know a psychologist who specializes in bullying. Apparently there has been quite a lot of research into this. There were two important conclusions from the published research (sorry, I don't have the citations handy):

1.) Remove the BULLY from the school, not the victim. This generally helps both the victim and the bully get fresh starts.

2.) While the victims generally have very few long-term problems as a result of the bullying (assuming they survive it), the bullies are much more likely to end up in prison, unemployed and divorced.

Unfortunately, most schools feel that transferring the bully out of the school is a punishment and therefore won't do it unless they have overwhelming proof of a crime.

It was nice to see our 45th President squash some poisonous bugs.

I sold my pitchfork when I moved to town. Now what am I going to bring to the big bash?

Today Paul Krugman points out that salaries at investment banks are nearly back up to their peaks. Economic crises? What economic crises. The masters of the universe are back on their thrones, largely thanks to TG.

Large disparities in wealth (I mean really large, like we have seen in the last fifteen years) seem to both reduce our overall standard of living and create a lot of excess investment dollars that tend to create bubbles. How about taking out two birds with one stone: create a wealth tax. If properly structured, it will not remove the incentive to amass wealth but will weaken the ability of wealth to concentrate in too few hands.

Also, count me as vote #3 for Spitzer.

The fact that this question is even asked is a testament to just how dumbed-down our fellow citizens have become. Either that, or we are all so branded that we cannot accept the fact that if faced with a choice of reducing profits or killing people a corporation is obligated to do the latter, especially when the evidence will be very difficult and expensive to gather.

Any biologist worth her salt is well aware of the fact that CAFOs are disease breeding grounds. There really are no competing hypotheses worth considering. First MRSA, then swine flu, next comes-who-knows-what but I'm sure more is yet to come.

"Imagine if Paul Krugman had been writing a column for the New York Times in 1933! "

Well, considering Krugman's hero, Keynes, didn't publish his seminal work until something like 1937, it is hard to imagine what he would have said about an anti-Keynesian approach.

Executions!? That sounds a bit harsh. Maybe we can just exile them to some awful foreign land. How about Texas?

Christ on a crutch, Cheney has admitted to initiating and supporting torture. The CAT requires us to investigate credible claims of torture and prosecute. End of story. Let's return to the rule of law.

My problem with accepting all performance enhancements is what it does to the teenager with delusions of grandeur. I really don't want hundreds of thousands of kids, probably with their parent's consent and/or urging, to be guinea pigs in a large juicing experiment where no one is even keeping the data. Also, I kind of like the idea of competing with rules and showing the sportsmanship to follow them.

As regards Bonds' records: if Selig takes them away, he needs to give Dave Stewart the Cy Young awards that he would have won but for a certain (l)East coast juicer, and only after both have been proven to have knowingly cheated.

How about Hilary? She may be a bit old, but will certainly outlive the wingnuts on the court. I'm not sure I would like her positions on most issues, but she is definitely a solid reproductive rights vote and Ruth could use some company.

Given Clarence Thomas' obvious health issues, maybe it would be better to name Ms. Hill to his seat when he departs from the court. I'm betting Pres. Obama will still be in office when this happens.

I'm waiting for the poll that asks, "Should religious zealots be allowed to marry?"

My dog died four years ago and he is still a better man than the creatures W. made Supremes. I'm not sure the bar can be set any lower than Alito and Roberts, although Thomas and Scalia sure do make regular attempts to get under it.

Just a few hours ago, I read a biography of Greg Mortenson titled "Three cups of Tea". This man has been building schools, medical clinics, clean water supplies and more in some of the poorest areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. From a selfish American viewpoint, for very little money he keeps entire villages out of terrorist-training madrassas and creates a kinder view of us. He will be speaking in my city this week and I will probably be parting with some cash, which is pretty rare for me, but it is always rewarding to feel like one is a part, however small, of something that is truly good.

This is a great idea and quite timely as well. However, I can't help but feel sad for all the teenagers who have no adult to turn to. Where I grew up (or at least where I spent my teen years) every school seemed to have either a young idealistic semi-hippie staff member or a very trusted older woman who could cut through the embarrassment we all felt and help us through those hormone-dominated years of self-consciousness. Maybe all of the Ms Sampsons and Mrs. Bowens are now working these text lines, but I can't help but feel the kids really need a relationship with a flesh and blood person to guide them.

So the Rude one throws his wife under the bus, then throws the folks who gave him a lift after that under the same bus. He is a Republican, after all.