So the "J4J" guy, as a guest, said some things at Palin's church. Big deal. That doesn't mean any of the Palins nor their pastor believe any of it.

Letting guest speakers spout off odd things is what free speech is all about. Go to any decent University and that sort of thing goes on all the time. Doesn't mean the University nor the audience endorses or believes any of it.

It's a non-issue. Unimportant. Worse, it distracts attention from the important stuff.

What's important for the electorate to know is what SP & Co. *do* believe, and how that belief would translate into action in public office.

For example:

What's their take on the Sermon on the Mount? Or the parable of the Good Samaritan? How about the business about loving your enemies, returning good for evil, nonviolence, good stewardship of the earth, and caring for others?

That's what matters. But I doubt you will see answers to those questions.

"And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL."

And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and

he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL."

And the seargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

But what kind of discipline?

What was the discipline for the Dora episode, once the mess was cleaned up?

Did the kid get a stern "NO!", a couple of minutes of time-out and no Dora - in fact no TV at all - that day? Or was the mess just cleaned up and the TV turned on?

If the kid got to watch TV, then what he learned was a new way to get your attention and get what he wanted.

The next time he tries something like that, take him in the bathroom before removing the nappy and keep your feet out of the way.

It's perfectly natural for a kid to test the boundaries to see what happens. The trick is that YOU have to make it clear that such behavior doesn't get the kid what he wants - ever.

You also have to be quick to grab-and-stop and the firm hold. Kid leaves the table at a restaurant? You jump up, grab him and bring him back before he does any damage. Won't stop screaming? You pick him up and take him outside until he calms down. Better yet, you take him to the car and strap him into the carseat while you stand outside, facing away, until he calms down.

Writes on the walls? All the crayons and such just go away into time-out for a couple of days.

The kid wants "control"? Fine, he can control certain things as long as he follows your rules. It has to be clear that he cannot control everything.

You say NO just once, then take action. Don't repeat yourself, don't get into a conversation or argument, don't try to reason with the kid. Just act.

The plain and simple fact is that you may not be able to do certain things with the kid at all, like going to a restaurant or even having the kid at the dinner table. (In some cultures they feed the kids first so the adults can eat in peace). You need to have a firm agreement with your spouse about who is watching the kid and what actions will be taken *immediately* if he misbehaves. Like grabbing his arm before he can punch somebody.

The time to take control of the situation is NOW, while you're still bigger, stronger and faster than he is. Because soon enough you won't be.

Been there, done that. The kid is a brat, pure and simple, but he can be trained not to be.

If the majority of Alaskans, or any other state, want to secede from the USA, I say let 'em go.

The way for that to happen is for the people to elect officials who put secession as a major platform plank, and then run a state-wide referendum or two.

Then have a peaceful wave goodbye.

The problem is that those folks don't understand the Law of Unintended Consequences. Sure, without the Lower 49, they could do certain things without interference. But they'd also have to pay big-time for a lot of things that are now heavily subsidized by the Lower 49. Imagine the cost-per-Alaskan of defending the entire state without outside help.

There's also the problem of internal disagreement. Separatists like to believe that everyone in their area thinks the same, but when external controls go away they often find it's not that way at all.