A friend told be about some research allegedly done in Israel that had two very interesting conclusions: 1.) The Zionists hail from an ethnic group that adopted Judaism ca. 1000 A.D. in Eastern Europe. They have no ancestral ties to the Middle East. 2.) The Palestinians, both Christian and Moslem, are the off-spring of the Biblical Jews. They mostly converted at the edge of various swords.

Thus, in order to have all of Biblical Israel controlled by the Biblical Jews, the Ashkenazi Jews need to cede control to the very Palestinians they are oppressing. Of course, even if the above story is true, the odds of such a role reversal is essentially zero (About the same as the Native Americans getting their land back). But, it could inspire some people to soften their edges a bit and maybe realize our incredible interconnectedness. How can one hate Jews if one's own ancestors were Jewish? How can one oppress the descendants of Jews in the name of Zionism?

Thirty-five years ago my high school had a large number of Swedish foreign exchange students and several of my classmates went to Sweden. I remember a friend who went over telling me how it took three girls to get each girl's jeans on. In fact, they wore them so tight that the medical community became worried that their hips would not be able to develop properly for future childbirth.

At least Swedish females in the '70s weren't fat like so many Americans today (both genders). I am routinely amazed at how much adipose I see hanging over American pants. Doesn't anyone own a mirror?

Prior to the onset of the "Great Recession" approximately 1/3 of Americans received health insurance through their private employers, 1/3 received health insurance from government employers or government aid, and 1/3 either paid out of pocket for (inadequate) insurance or went without. Millions of job losses later, it is safe to say that the fraction of private-sector insured people is substantially smaller and the fraction of uninsured is much larger. Another decade or two and there will be nothing left of the post-WWII private-sector job-related health insurance. Then can we start from scratch and do it right?

Maybe Jefferson was right and we need a good revolution every so often. If our current aristocracy doesn't stop killing people soon, we may be the generation that sees WWII, Depression II and Civil War II.

Where I live I am watching the only bike-possible connector to the neighboring city being closed down (again) for the construction of car bridges across the river. First they closed the bike path to build a "temporary" bridge because the existing one could not handle trucks with weights over 80,000 lbs (the legal limit in most states). Now they are closing the bike path to build three more bridges (two permanent bridges and one more temporary bridge to work from). Meanwhile, we still have very few usable bike lanes or bike paths, although this city would tell you otherwise.

Still more federal largess is being spent to expand a ridiculous diesel-fueled "bus rapid transit" line. This line will remove key parts of the only east-west bike path in the city. And diesel? We live in the northwest where the feds have built us enormous hydroelectric facilities. When liquid fuel prices got a little less low last year, the buses had to cut back because the fuel costs were over-budget.

How hard would it be to first fund every city's wish list of non-car related projects? I think this administration is content to pose rather than risk their political capital moving this nation of slugs into a sustainable future.

While this suit works its way through the court system, can't we just have an initiative to make Mormon and Catholic marriage illegal?

In the interest of irony, I would like to see the government use its ownership of GM to convert it from a car manufacturing company to a trolley manufacturing company. We could even use some stimulus/climate money to guarantee some customers. This seems only fair since it was GM who bought up and killed most of our public transit streetcars in the '50s.

On a distantly related note, I used to pass a fenced in trolley car as I bicycled past the Hayward, CA BART station (three decades ago). I always hoped I would live long enough to see the trolleys back in operation and a car relic placed in such a display. I'm feeling a little more optimistic now.

Male ducks lose their phallus at the end of mating season, so mallard on human female sex will only be a seasonal affair.

Also, a few years ago my son, who has pet ducks, noticed that the males would attempt to have sex with anything. At the same time our state had one of those anti-marriage equality initiatives on the ballot so we say several "one man one woman" signs. My teen-age son always added "... and one very angry duck."

"The challenge facing us: Finding a way to institutionalize norms that encourage the free flow of ideas and collaboration[.]"

Those anchors started out in government funded university laboratories where nearly everyone understood the concept of enlightened self-interest (I help a neighboring lab get their grant and that brings in more people and equipment to help me get my grant). The key here is Government Funded, as in Single Payer! Cutting the vultures out of the health industry and turning it into the health care field is long overdue.

that I'd miss Nixon. At least he confined himself to one illegal war at a time (albeit in multiple countries) while destroying our country. Actually, compared to his successors in the White House, he looks better all the time, and more honest too.