No Kids

Via Ezra Klein, I found this provocatively titled and subtitled piece by Ronald Bailey: Why Are People Having Fewer Kids? Perhaps it's because they don't like them very much."

My thought is that it's because having kids is basically regarded as an extremely expensive hobby, at least in the U.S., with its lack of any real support for parents, but never mind.

Grouchy Old Men

After enduring Tim "Pumpkinhead" Russert's inane "gotcha" questions on last night's Democratic debate, I was kind of in the mood for this piece by Garrison Keillor.

Boskone 45

With George Zebrowski, I will be attending Boskone 45 on February 15-17, 2008, at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.

John Edwards Drops Out

My favorite candidate is dropping out of the presidential race, but as Ezra Klein points out here, "John Edwards' campaign...triumphed. The progressivism of the race, the focus on ideas, the courage of the Democrats -- all were products of his early example...his candidacy, even if it fails, will have been far more successful than most."

Update: More from Ezra Klein here.

Not Ready for a Fight

At Slate, Fred Kaplan tells us some bad news about the Army's newer recruits. For more about losses among the officer corps, read Andrew Tilghman's article for the Washington Monthly, "The Army's Other Crisis," here.