My perspective, based on decades of observations in my own life and that of friends, is that pot smoking suspends personal development. Smoke pot for a year, lose a year of personal growth. Smoke pot for a decade and you lose a decade of personal growth. Probably not entirely but I'd estimate at least a 90% drag. Some friends have been dopers for 30+ years and they haven't moved 30' either professionally, socially and personally.

Oleanders are used on highspeed freeways as natural traffic barriers that, I suspect, are tougher than steel barriers. They're highly poisonous. While large numbers of them in bloom can be pretty, they take up huge amounts of room. On normal neighborhood lots (less than an acre with houses set back less than 100'), they are very obnoxious as screens. I've never seen them used along the front of a property not on a highway; neighborhood plantings are always along the side of the house as a means of getting around the 8' limits on privacy fences.

But one thing oleanders are is cheap. A neighbor planting them on my yard would be taken as nothing less than an extreme insult and an intentional display of disrespect. Even if I felt the oleanders should stay, I'd have to deal with the disrespectful neighbor. One good scare or upset would typically be enough.

OTOH, maybe the old lady and her hospital-visiting son have other issues and priorities. Maybe those issues dwarf the petty neighbor's issues and her antics. And, so, they let the smaller oleander thing lie. If this is the case, a "helpful" neighbor that forces them to take up the petty neighbor stuff isn't being a help no matter how good their intentions.

The author acknowledges that cats and dogs in China are treated essentially the same as cattle and chickens in the western world. Then, the author does a "yeah but" in an attempt to justify a segue to why Chinese treatment of cats and dogs is worse. Then he quotes PETA as though it's a credible source for balanced perspective. The whole thing comes across as self-indulgent silliness. "An Olympic disgrace"? Please.

I would also point out that it's considered great sport in some oriental countries for hosts to come up with dishes that freak out their guests. At least, that was my experience. It was all good fun and something of a bonding experience. I didn't enjoy the dog (though my host insisted that it was brown dog (good) rather than white dog (bad)) nor was I particularly fond of whale. But both were better than some of the other "interesting" dishes that were served me.

Obama is a smart politician with smart operatives on his side. Obama gains no advantage by a revote or honoring an existing vote. He does gain an advantage by the status quo. That's why Obama's campaign raised questions yesterday about the problems of a mail-in revote. They don't REALLY care about the mail-in problems; the Obama campaign will raise questions about any revote. They will also gently obstruct any other solution that upsets the existing status quo. The only way they won't do this is if they decide they're giving up nothing of any consequence.

That's politics. It doesn't matter what Obama has said about seating the delegates in the past; those statements were, like many of his statements, politically correct at the time. Cynical? Sure. Anyone who thinks Obama is some kind of political white knight fails to recognize the personality needed to become president in the first place. At best, his knight outfit is a dingy light gray (not that that isn't somewhat of an improvement over the mean).

It's also politics that Hillary's campaign will gently try to do everything in their power to see Florida and Michigan delegates count. Revote... honor the existing results... either way, it can't hurt and might help her campaign. For that reason alone, she must and will do whatever it takes to gain that minuscule shift in the status quo.

Again, that's politics. Villifying Hillary or Obama for pursuing every advantage is counterproductive. A failure by either to at least make the effort would demonstrate a political weakness at the highest levels of the political game. Not going to happen.