Even the Democrats are falling for the Big Oil bullshit. They are willing to settle for a loose confederation, but with the oil revenue controlled by a central government. I suppose they think it will be easier to make deals with and control a single entity than three. One or two of the three might make nice with the French or Russians as Saddam was doing when we invaded. Saddam was a little pissed at us for first giving him permission to invade Kuwait, then taking it back after Houston reminded Bush 1 that the Kuwaitis were paying protection to Big Oil. The real axis of evil extends from Houston to Riyadh, with side branches in Cairo and Kuwait.

Sorry Erica, but the fourteen minutes starts at the initial foreplay. Penetration might take about half that. My wife didn't need "medication" until she was in her 60's. Neither did I for that matter. But DHEA is a cheap over-the-counter supplement, that probably costs us two or three bucks a month. 25 mg of DHEA a day is pretty minimal "medication". At 73 I do not require any other chemical assists, but I have slowed down from being a teenager who thought that a couple of times a day was pretty minimal. I was lucky that at 18 I had a divorced 25 year old girlfriend who took advantage of my youth.

Years ago primate researchers studied the sex habits of a number of primates. That fourteen minute time was typical of humans, Gibbons took over an hour. Chimps took about 60 seconds.

Yesterday my wife and I went XC skiing in the mountains which included an hour and a half of climbing a 10% mountain slope. We are both in excellent physical condition, which we both strongly believe is crucial to sexual pleasure. I suspect that most of men and women who have problems with orgasm are in poor physical condition, and look for any excuse that does not include being strong and healthy.

I'm a private pilot who always flew light planes with control wheels. A year ago I flew a Cirrus (yes, the infamous East River Plane) which has a side stick. It took about five minutes to become totally at ease with the control. The motions with the wheel and side stick are very similar, and since most flying is done with the left hand (the right hand handles the throttle, mixture, radios, etc) it was an easy transition. The pilot in the right seat has the same adjustment, since he would normally fly the plane with his right hand and do the other stuff with his left.

The most important thing that humans can do is to procreate. So-called "careers" are an enticement by those in power (who tend to have several children) to convince competent but dumb people to work for them. We are in competition with each other to put as many of our genes into the next generation as possible. Those who don't understand this are in slavery to those to do. Upper middle class and above people know this very well and tend to have stable families with several children. Of course very rich men have serial wives, and children with all of them. They can afford to do this, and they have no problem finding intelligent women who are happy with such a deal.

France has opted to solve its birth rate problem by heavily subsidizing mothers and children. We and Japan should do the same. If there were significant subsidies a lot of women in Japan and here would quickly opt out of the work force to have children. A career is really a second rate choice for women of child-bearing age.

I've been both. Very few jobs in the real world can allow the flexibility that FWA requires. Professionals have a little more flexibility than others, but not that much.

The basic problem is not FWA, however. It is what are the important things that an individual, male or female, needs to do in the short time we have on Earth. I wrote the following about the problem of Japanese women, but it is appropriate here, too.

The most important thing that humans can do is to procreate. So-called "careers" are an enticement by those in power (who tend to have several children) to convince competent but dumb people to work for them. We are in competition with each other to put as many of our genes into the next generation as possible. Those who don't understand this are in slavery to those to do. Upper middle class and above people know this very well and tend to have stable families with several children. Of course very rich men have serial wives, and children with all of them. They can afford to do this, and they have no problem finding intelligent women who are happy with such a deal.

France has opted to solve its birth rate problem by heavily subsidizing mothers and children. We and Japan should do the same. If there were significant subsidies a lot of women in Japan and here would quickly opt out of the work force to have children. A career is really a second rate choice for women of child-bearing age. If the childless work more hours, and pay a lot more taxes to fund the subsidies, well, that is their duty. Having sufficient children to maintain the population would sure beat unlimited immigration.

The real axis of evil starts in Houston, and goes to Riyadh with side branches in Cairo and Kuwait. Texas (and Saudi) oilmen need a powerful imperial president to maintain their power and wealth. They would much rather have a US empire than a republic. It's a lot easier to control one emperor than hundreds of congressmen.

Cheney seems to divide his time between listening to Texans, Saudis, and whispering in the ear of his stooge, Bush.