Silent Emptiness

The most effective counter to desire to have children... is to have some. The number required to shut down any instinctive desire to reproduce will vary from person to person - for some, merely being an aunt or uncle is sufficient; most find that "two's company, three's a crowd"; for others, "eight is enough"; and a very few seem to feel kids are "cheaper by the dozen". But eventually grandkids come along and that cheaper "fix" for infant-addiction, combined with memories of the reality of child-rearing, will almost always be sufficient to shut down the reproductive urge. As a result, once life extension becomes practical, we'll find that the reproducing fraction of the population will drop steadily until eventually zero growth will be hit as suicides match births. Population will likely grow until that point is reached. In fact, we'll probably find that for the first century or so after full control over bodily health is po

For Iraq, the Democrats need a position other than "Stay the Course, reluctantly" - that's too near the Republican's position. They can't do "Cut and Run" - the Republicans have already positioned that as cowardly - and it'd probably be stupid in terms of the disaster it'd be for Iraqis as well. Also - the Democrats need to stake out a position that appeals to the military (and their families) to pull over some of the conservative and moderate voters. My recommendation - US troops to pull out of all cities/towns, but stay in Iraq, ready to move in if the Iraqis can't hack it. Still provide training and material support - just outside the urban areas. What does that accomplish? Well, we stop creating new terrorists/insurgents by killing civilians, for one thing. Iraqis will have less sympathy for insurgents blowing things up in the city - hopefully that'll mean a lower level of violence around civilians and against the police. And of cours

My first post will be almost empty.