We have to be careful not to say anything controversial today. Otherwise, we won't be able to keep up with the mail. (Catch up on Bill's controversial essays about the Oregon situation here and here.)

What other people think matters. People get upset – even homicidal – over ideas and myths, not reality.

Catholic, Protestant, Shiite, Sunni, Democrat, Republican, land rights in the West… captured U.S. soldiers… racial slurs… the master race… Manifest Destiny… terrorism… global warming – there is no idea so bogus it can't be the cause of a government program or a massacre.

Thoughts – like viruses – enter the brains of humans and take control of them.

Then, acting as though they know what they are doing, people try to "improve" the world around them. They tax, kill, argue, torture, demonstrate, seize public land, write letters to the editor, and call up Rush Limbaugh.

Ditto to that!