'Phonsie, you and I would disagree about the mass of the electron, much less anything like this. n common point of reference. Cset la vie. Personally, I think the great American experiment in keeping a diverse, pluralistic society intact is about out of gas. Just as a nation could not exist half slave and half free, I have grave doubts that it can exist much longer half red and half blue. It took partition, followed by four years of copius bloodletting the last time to reach some equilibrium. I see no reason to be sanguine about prospects for the fututre. Hopefully, we will find a way to accomplish it without bloodshed but who knows. It was a wiser man than I who said that the roots of the tree of liberty required periodic refreshing with O Positive from both sides. As Bette Davis said, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken