MORE OF MY SECONDHAND IDEOLOGY, NOT THAT YOU ASKED: My pal Brian (or "Hops" as some of you know him) forwards a great article that, in many ways, is consistent with what I learned as a night setup guy at a hotel, as a messenger and bar cleaner, as a carpet-cleaning trainee and so forth. Dunno why the whole "the deck is stacked against the common man" meme is so alluring to young people, especially college students. Actually, maybe I do: In college, you're still afraid you may not make it, and so you're (I was) looking for something to blame in case you don't. And by "make it," I'm simply referring to being able to feed and clothe yourself, and to gradually eke out some meaningful and not-too-painful existence. I remember (like it was yesterday) when all of that was in doubt...

BTW, this City Journal site (from whence came the aformentioned article) is very intriguing. I'm sure somebody's gonna tell me it's a front for Christian fundamentalists or Freemasons or something, but until then I'm a'gonna check it out.