The values we would like to espouse are denigrated as "San Francisco values" or European values."

We need to fight back to restore our version of "American values." Which gets back to your point, sadly...

When I realized that their hate was based on the competition between baseball teams, I despaired of peace in the Balkans and the Middle East.

I wonder- does the basic human mind NEED a scapegoat? Nationalism is defined by the enemy; religion often breeds hatred. Politics is vitriol. A war was started over a soccer game. (As a Red Sox fan I have a small case of it myself.)

That being said, any view can be simplified through ignorance to intolerance. Those on the other side who enshrine Science and Reason without an understanding of their limitations- and ours- have perhaps an equally warped view.

I enjoy chatting with a science teacher I know and teasing him that he teaches philosophy. He denies it furiously- which tells me he doesn't understand his role as a science teacher. His philosophy is the scientific method, and his goal is doubt and skepticism.

Which may be why pure unquestioning belief seems so inappropriate to us. But it was the human condition for a looonnngg time.

• The high school I taught at got its first African-American faculty member- EVER- ten years ago. Small school, though, right? Nope- 160+ faculty. That lasted six years. We're- sorry, they're- back to pure. (But the student body has changed quite a bit.)

• There's a college guide published that lists "minorities" on campus. UNH's listed minority was "non-skiers." (I don't know if this is still true.)

But it could be worse. We had a guy work with us for a while from North Dakota. A colleague mentioned that he grew up in Maine and was 16 before he saw his first black person. The Dakotan replied "I was 14 before I saw someone with brown *eyes*."

I look at it this way- we're not Vermont. (The numbers will change quite a bit by the next census.)

As an observation- this kind of journalism is a lot cheaper than having to do all that investigatin'.

And- just to recycle-

Rush Limbaugh is hard to surpass

In the ratings; he's top in his class.

But I ask my friend Gary

"How does his voice carry

With his head so far up his big ass?"

'“Before 1933, the Nazis' comical salute was considered a joke. But we soon stopped laughing. I will never forget the first time I saw this salute, in 1928 or 1929. 1 stood waiting at a streetcar stop, the Mass was over, and a young man in normal Sunday clothes stood next to me. A streetcar came, and a fellow got out wearing a brown shirt, a red armband with swastika, and leggings. The two men looked at each other, threw up their arms, and loudly shouted "Heil Hitler!" Several older people shook their heads but didn’t say anything. I was 12 years old at the time and had no idea what it meant. I asked my father at home. He only smiled and said, "You can forget those assholes; they'll come to their senses." How is it said in Latin? "Errare Humanum est."'

Don't ignore. Don't dismiss.

So Vermont developed its own character. For a long time Vermont was rightist rural, but then Ben & Jerry came up with flavors of ice cream that appealed to the left, and the whole state changed.

The best way to tell if you are in Vermont or New Hampshire is to find a barn on the road. If you are in Vermont, that sign says "Antiques." If you are in New Hampshire, the sign says "Welding."

(By the way, my Vermont history may be a little off.)

I read last week (and can't find where) that psychological research indicates that when presented with a fear-inducing stimulus, one becomes less rational. Survival mode kicks in.

Could this explain the political "dialog" of the Republicans and Cheney, and the journalistic approach of FOX? That hard core set of believers are seeing the world through the veil of their fears. Ever notice how FOX really beats the stories that appeal to our fears? Maybe it's not the political advisors who have influence in the board rooms, but the psychologists.