Mirror Mirror

It has been said that perception is reality, but perhaps it’s time to update this popular expression.  How about “Reality is Reality”?  Americans are overweight, and getting bigger.  Diabetes caused by poor diets is one of this country’s fastest growing health problems, and the long-term cost of treating the disease will impact everyone’s wallet.

I came across this tidbit:

Despite surging obesity numbers in the U.S., a new survey finds that just one out of 10 Americans say their diet is unhealthy.

The survey, conducted by Consumer Reports, also found that while four in 10 admitted being "somewhat overweight," just 11 percent said they were very overweight or obese — a direct contradiction of previous weight measurements taken by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which show that 68 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.

 

"There does seem to be a disconnect," between reality and the answers most of us give when asked questions about our diet, how much exercise we get and our weight, said Molly Kimball, a registered dietitian at Ochshner's Elmwood Fitness Center in New Orleans. (from MyHealthNewsDaily by Karen Rowan)

Full article:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40907754/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/ 

“A disconnect”???  We certainly are a complex organism of rationalizations and self-deceptions.  68% of us are overweight or obese, and yet only 40% admit it.  My basic math skills tell me that 28% of people are overweight or obese, but do not recognize it.  Step One to recovery is admitting that there is a problem, so we have some work to do before we get to Step One as a nation. 

 

As troubling as that is, I find it equally troubling that at the other end of the spectrum, teenage girls are struggling with body image and increasingly obsessed about their own physical appearance to the point of self-induced illness.  Some waifs think they are too fat, and popular culture does nothing to dissuade them from this notion.  The American Dream for girls is no longer career, marriage, family.  It’s flat abs in 8 minutes a day.

In America, there are 2 certainties about our own body image (like politics, I might add):

·         The truth is somewhere in the middle (pun intended)

·         The closer you are to the situation, the harder it is to see the objective truth    

It is time to look at ourselves as individuals, and find our own healthy equilibrium between rest, exercise, diet, lifestyle, and weight.  The medical community and popular culture will sometimes be in sync with their messaging, and sometimes they will be at odds.  Our personal health is a combination of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  “Healthy” is something that only we can define for ourselves, but in the meantime, take a long look at yourself in the mirror and a quick jog up two flights of stairs.  You’ll be closer to the truth after that.

Hold the Buffalo Wings

Spending time in Buffalo would make anyone a bit edgy, but as a hockey player, this story makes total sense to me:

Associated Press, January 6, 2011 - CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. –

An unruly Team Russia was booted from a flight at the Buffalo airport while trying to get home after winning the gold medal at the world junior hockey championships.

Airport spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer says all 32 or so members of the Russian contingent were asked to get off a Delta flight headed to Atlanta after boarding for takeoff early Thursday morning.
Hartmayer says the group then left the terminal but didn't know where it went.

Tournament officials had no immediate comment. A call to a Delta spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned.

Russia overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to stun Canada 5-3 in the gold-medal game Wednesday night.

So which event will happen first?:

·         Russian players are found.

·         Delta returns the phone call.

·         Flight attendants submit work comp claim for emotional distress and loss of consortium.

·         Canadian players are shipped to the Yukon for 10 years hard labor.

·         Stolichnaya Vodka inks the team to an endorsement deal.

I turned off the game in the 2^nd period when Team Canada was winning 3-0, but the game is being replayed on NHL Network later this week.  Looking forward to seeing it.

Repeal Appeal

The first order of business for the newly elected majority in the House is grandstanding.  I know, I know, you saw one of the new, powerful GOP House members on TV telling you with a squared jaw and steely eyes that it is all about jobs, jobs, jobs.  Brace yourselves – they were lying about that one, and a few others things, for good measure.

The first fact to know is that the Affordable Care Act will not be repealed, at least not in the next 2 years.  The Senate will not back the House, Obama would veto the repeal if it even got that far, and the GOP lacks the votes to overturn the veto.  It’s not even close.  This fact will not slow the GOP from doing what new Majority Leader Eric Cantor says “reflects what most people inside the beltway and outside the beltway want”.
  
Oops – another lie.  The public is split into thirds on this one.  Approximately one-third favors repeal, one-third favors expansion of the Act, and another third is willing to wait and see what happens.  Perhaps Cantor misspoke.  Perhaps he meant to say that the repeal effort reflects what the far right and health insurance companies want.  Hmmm, I thought they wanted jobs, jobs, jobs.

Of course, everyone knows that the ACA was a jobs killer.  Everyone knows this because someone said it on TV, or blogged about it, and it was repeated in the echo chamber as gospel truth.  Well, here’s the news from today about jobs:

• Private employers added 297,000 jobs in December compared with a revised gain of 92,000 in November, a report by a payroll processor showed on Wednesday.  The ADP gain in December was the largest in the history of ADP report.
• Fewer jobs were eliminated in nearly every major industry in 2010, the Challenger (Challenger, Gray and Christmas) report said. Layoffs in the automotive sector totaled 16,001, down 91 percent from a year ago. Retail employers — which cut 98,807 jobs a year ago — announced 38,751 layoffs in 2010, a decrease of nearly two-thirds.
• A report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., showed the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in December to the lowest level since 2000, while the combined yearly total was the lowest since 2007.
• Downsizing in 2010 totaled 529,973 lost positions, a 59 percent drop from the previous year. The 2010 total was the lowest since 434,350 job cuts were announced in 1997.

How could the private job growth picture have improved if ACA is still on the books?  Could it be that someone isn’t being completely honest with you?

During the debate on HCR, the Republican minority insisted that any bill, but especially the health care bill, be scored by the Congressional Budget Office to assess impact on the deficit.  They couldn’t possibly vote for any bill that added one penny to the deficit (oops – another lie: the tax compromise they voted for added trillions to the deficit).  As you may have forgotten, the CBO scored the ACA as directed, and determined that the bill would reduce the deficit over the next 10 years, while expanding coverage to 94% of Americans.  The Republicans voted against it anyway.

So I have a modest proposal – let’s send the repeal bill to the CBO to assess its impact on the deficit.  If it increases the deficit by one penny, don’t vote for the bill.  Oh no, that might expose a troubling hypocrisy in the right wing rhetoric.  The deficit is a critical issue when we discuss defunding NPR.  When reduced tax rates for all those small mom and pop stores on Main Street USA generating $1,000,000 in household income are under consideration, the deficit is not such a big deal.
   
If we skip the step of checking out the repeal bill’s impact on the deficit, let’s try something else that the GOP was for before they were against it.  Let’s have an open process and allow amendments to be added to the bill.  Not so much, says Rep. Cantor.  "It's a straightforward document," he said.
 
This should come as no surprise.  The GOP would not want to expose the component parts of the bill to public scrutiny.  Show of hands – who is in favor of allowing insurers to discriminate against children with pre-existing conditions?  I didn’t think so.  The ACA has benefits, some of which have come on line and some of which will not be in place until 2014, but exposing these benefits to the light of day would not be doing the ‘will of the people’ in this Orwellian new reality.

The Washington Monthly provides a good summary:

For two years, Republicans said all legislation had to be paid for ... but when it comes time to repeal health care reform, Republicans no longer care about their alleged principles.

For two years, Republicans said all legislation needed scores from the Congressional Budget Office ... but when it comes time to repeal health care reform, Republicans no longer care about their alleged principles.

For two years, Republicans said it was imperative for the minority to be allowed to offer amendments to legislation ... but when it comes time to repeal health care reform, Republicans no longer care about their alleged principles.

For two years, Republicans said self-executing rules and bypassing committees were outrageous abuses ... but when it comes time to repeal health care reform, Republicans no longer care about their alleged principles.

Boehner recently spoke at the AEI and said that the GOP should be "focusing on our collective responsibility to govern."  Oops – not so much.  Voting to repeal a bill that has no chance of repeal is not responsible governing.  Even if you hate the bill, the repeal effort is a waste of time.  Focus on making ACA work.
 

Never Too Soon

2011 for someone like me is like 2012 for everyone else.  2011 means the start of the 2012 presidential nominating season.  I’m usually burnt out on the entire enterprise by the June preceding Election Day.  I am well aware that few of my friends remember the short-lived campaigns of Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, or Duncan Hunter for the Republican nomination in 2008.  For me, I will never forget the quixotic campaign of Mike Gravel or the toe-in-the-water attempt at the Democratic nomination by Tom Vilsack in 2008 (he dropped out before the first debate in 2007!).  In my world, the time has come to begin sizing up the potential contenders for the opportunity to challenge Obama for the Presidency.  Pundits are predicting a later start on candidate announcements compared to the 2008 campaign, but I can’t wait any longer. 

 

Here’s what you have to look forward to:

Mike Huckabee:  The GOP loves to nominate their losers from the previous cycle, and Huckabee was the last man standing before McCain clinched the nomination 4 years ago.  Marra and I heard him deliver his living room stump speech in an eco-friendly New Hampshire farmhouse, and he can be very engaging, very witty.  His Fox News exposure should help his name recognition this go-round.  His belief that Earth is only 6,000 years old might discourage independents, and people who can think.  He put forth the fair tax as a key proposal in 2008.  I am interested to see if he tries to ride the tax issue all the way to the nomination.

Ron Paul:  Half Republican, half Libertarian, half cocked.  A man who votes strictly according to his philosophies is admirable.  A man who doesn’t vote according to reality is unelectable.  I like him in the mix, though, because he does challenge conventional wisdom, something that is sometimes sorely lacking in GOP candidate “debates”.

Haley Barbour:  Current Governor of Alabama and former head of Republican National Committee, poised to run as an outsider because he has a Southern accent.  The vision of a white, heavyset male Southerner with a thick drawl running against a thin, black male from Chicago is too much for me to bear.  The media would eat it up, and our fantasy of a post-racial world would disappear faster than Gore votes in a Palm County recount.

Tim Pawlenty:  He was on the short list for VP in 2008 (you have to wonder how short that list was…).  His book tour begins January 11^th.  Let’s see how that goes first.  He is also known for taking principled positions, like refusing federal funds that could help the citizens of his state.  So what if his constituents suffer for his political posturing?  He’s a leader, but then again, so was the Pied Piper.

Sarah Palin:  Don’t worry, I’m kidding.  According to the recent polling data, only defenseless caribou want her to run.

Rick Santorum:  This season’s Sam Brownback – looks good on TV, but then he starts talking.  When I think of Santorum, the first thing that pops into my head are his views on bestiality, and that can’t be a good sign for his chances.

Mitt Romney:  Just because his hair doesn’t move when the wind blows doesn’t mean he is the heir apparent to Reagan.  He has a major dilemma, since he signed an individual mandate for health insurance into law in Massachusetts, and that issue is sure to be a candidate litmus test in 2012.  Perhaps he was for it before he was against it.  He can afford to stick around, and hope the other candidates do something dumb, and given this group of names, that could be a winning strategy.

Chris Christie:  He was President of the Student Council my senior year of college at Delaware.  Anyone I went to college with cannot be President. 

 

Jeb Bush:  Don’t discount this guy making an appearance.  Two term governor of a key electoral state (Florida); instant name recognition; access to a large group of well-heeled donors; good connections within Latino community; smarter than George.  Given the fact that he would be surrounded by reality TV show characters, he’d look like the one adult in the room.

Newt Gingrich:  His professorial tone will sink him, since the average voter wants to elect someone they could have a beer with.  More voters would prefer to dump a beer over his head.  His ex-wives will be offered a daytime show to compete with The View, and Newt will return to throwing stones from a comfortable distance.  It is also easy to misspell his last name as Gingrinch, and that won’t help.

John Thune:  He has a chance, simply because no one knows who he is, and he lives near Iowa, a critical state for anyone with a real interest in the Presidency.  He’s tall, too.  That’s important.  Just ask Dennis Kucinich.

Mitch Daniels:  The first time I saw this name, I thought it was a gag.  Mitch Daniels sounded like the name of the Godfather in Old School (part played by Luke Wilson).  After some exhaustive research, I discovered that the character’s name was Mitch Martin, not Daniels, but you get my point.  Daniels, Indiana governor, combines the positive qualities of other candidates, like Thune (unknown), Bush (governor of key state), and Santorum (not ugly).  Beyond that, he feels to me like the Evan Bayh of the GOP – good on paper, but that’s about it.  VP option, and maybe that’s why his name is being floated.

I have left out lots of other possibilities – Pataki, Trump, Jindal, Pence, Giuliani, Condi and a yet unknown Tea Bagger-to-be-named-later.  The only guarantee is that “Unopposed” will not appear on the ballot after Obama’s name in November 2012.  We’ll take it slowly.  After all, the Iowa Caucus is still one year away, and time NEVER flies.   Besides, the first scheduled debate isn’t until THIS SPRING at the Reagan Library. 

 

I wonder who will be the first candidate to recommend privatizing the library.  Sarah is even money right now.

New Year’s Revolutions

Revolution (noun): major change: a dramatic change in ideas or practice; or complete circular turn: one complete circular movement made by something round or cylindrical, e.g. a planet around the sun.

One more trip around the sun is nearly complete, so time to take stock and set our sights on the 2011 journey.  Many of you are planning your resolutions for the coming year.  Perhaps these sound familiar:

1.       Lose weight.

2.       Exercise more.

There is nothing wrong with these vague ambitions, but let’s face it.  These 2 have been done to death, and have a shelf life of 4-6 weeks before being added to the scrap heap of good intentions.  Resolution #3 is often “Stop procrastinating, you lazy bum”.  We might be more successful with our goal attainment if that became Resolution #1.

I take the New Year’s resolution business seriously.  I carry my New Year’s resolutions in my wallet, and I do look at them from time to time throughout the year.  I’ve made some progress over time, and on some pretty large goals.  It’s important not to allow perfect to be the enemy of good, I like to say, so I celebrate the progress and vow to work harder at the shortcomings.

  

I am not into sharing my goals for 2011 with the virtual sea of humanity that’s flooded the Internet, except for this one public declaration:

I will grow grass.

No, not that kind.  Not that I couldn’t use the extra income, but I am somewhat risk averse in my middle years.  I mean the regular “kids running and playing on” kind.  Simple, right?  Now, let’s make this more specific:

Grow a thick, even, lush, weed-free lawn in the backyard by June 30, 2011.

I will watch You Tube videos demonstrating the proper care and feeding for the lawn.  I will read newspaper columns on the topic.  I will listen to friends and neighbors drone on about their lawns, and this year, I’ll pay attention.   I will not cheat by installing Astroturf.  For some of you, this goal doesn’t demonstrate much ambition on my part.  Let me tell you, though, it is a challenge for me.  I don’t have a green thumb.  In the yard, I am all thumbs, and none of them are even shaded green.  The ambitious part for me is overcoming my fear of failure.  If anyone can kill a lawn, it’s me.  I am the oo7 of lawn care, baby - licensed to kill.  A man’s got to know his limitations, and yard work is one of mine.  Accepting and embracing my problem is the first step towards recovery. 

     

Our backyard experiences both heavy shade in spots and full sun in spots, and it is built on rock solid Virginia red clay.  There are bare spots.  There are spots that collect water during heavy rains.  There are heavy traffic areas.  It can be done, however, with perseverance, dirty hands, and dumb-luck.  I begin 2011 with confidence, the confidence of the ignorant.  It is also the confidence that comes from knowing I won’t have to face the reality of this goal until it gets warmer.  Growing a beautiful lawn in my backyard won’t change the world; just my little corner of it.  I think globally and act locally, and how much more local can I get than the backyard?

I will do this.  It says so in my wallet. 

 

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.”

-          Sydney J. Harris

Happy New Year.  I hope to see you or hear from you during the 2011 revolution.

Debrief

I remember that my father asked for very little each Christmas from his children – socks, underwear, and to be left alone for 5 minutes once in awhile.  I realize now that all three items could be easily hidden from public view, unlike a Charlie Brown tie, or a pom-pom knit cap, or a night out at a Disney double feature.  He aspired to the simple, quiet life, but he did have twice as many kids as I do.  Simple was not an option for his every day, but at least he could try to simplify his own Christmas experience.  Now that I have attained a similar age, I ask for the same things he once did.  Ah, the Holy Grail of Simplicity, where are you?  This year, I am happy to report 66% success on my three main requests – I took a nap and got new underwear.  I’ll have to buy my own socks.  Here’s a summary of some other notable Christmas 2010 gifts:

6 New Pairs of Underwear:  Yes, this is what Christmas has become for me – the predictable joy of annually replacing aging pairs of underwear that are a few threads beyond their expiration date.  My new assortment of 6 pairs gives me permission to dispose of 4 pairs.  I cannot bring myself to do a one-for one swap, because I never want to get caught ‘short’.  Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Tin of Altoids:  The longer one is married, the more important minty fresh breath becomes.  The tin also fits comfortably into the toe of the Christmas stocking, and this benefit cannot be underestimated.  On top of that, they are “curiously refreshing”.

University of Delaware Hooded Sweatshirt:  This gift is 30 years too late, but I can finally cross it off my Bucket List.  This blue and gold masterpiece garnered me the best compliment of the season, from my 6 year old daughter:  “Daddy, you look young in that sweatshirt.”  Kids never lie.

Starbucks Gift Card:  $10 value, good for 2 grande lattes.  So unfair, but so appreciated.

The Dad's Book: For the Dad Who's Best at Everything:  Thomas is at that in-between age, where I can’t tell if the book is meant as an innocent compliment (“You’re the best Dad ever”), or a self-help instruction guide (“Dad, you have some work to do, so read this to see where you are failing to meet my expectations of a father.”)  I’ll assume the former, and would appreciate not being corrected if it is the latter.

Nestles Crunch (Mini-Size):  It makes no difference to me that Lucy has saved this for me since Halloween (hopefully Halloween 2010, but you can never be sure).  It also makes no difference to me that Lucy has given me this same candy treat on several other occasions, including each day leading up to Christmas.  In her mind, this is the first time, and she knows that Nestles Crunch is my favorite candy of all-time.  It isn’t – I’d have to go with Reese’s (preferably frozen).  It was the joy and enthusiasm with which she presented the gift and insisted that I eat it that made the gift special.  No gift receipt with this present – she wanted to see it chewed up, swallowed, and savored.  The real gift was watching her face as I ate the candy.  Sweet. 

 

Toby’s Favorites:  When all the gift cards are spent, the underwear replaced, and the candy consumed, and I am left with only fading memories, this gift will most likely stand out.  As regular readers know, Marra  and I enjoy spirited musical battles over the car radio stations (see Station Break).  Marra’s gift is her attempt to bridge the generational divide, and it is inspired.

The title of the gift, Toby’s Favorites, comes from the name of the HOT 99.5 FM DJ who commented on one of my blogs a few months ago.  For the gift, Marra printed out the lyrics and acoustic chords to some of her favorite songs that I admitted that I could stomach.  Thanks to her compilation, I can now play Lady Gaga’s Poker Face on the guitar; Rihanna’s Only Girl in the World; Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind; and other popular club hits.  My versions lack the pulsating beat of the studio tracks, but I make up for that with my soulful strumming...or not.

If you are lucky, you will never hear me play and sing Poker Face, but in the quiet of my basement cave, I can now rock out to Lady Gaga.  My teenager is trying to meet me half way, and that doesn’t happen every day.  In fact, who knows when it will happen again?

 

Christmas is really about the giving, not the getting, so what did I give as the big Sherrier family gift this year?

Justin Bieber:  At ages 14, 12 and 6, my children are ready to take on more responsibility in their lives, so I broke down and bought a pet.  I wanted to start small, something that if we failed, we could flush.  That ruled out dogs and most cats.  Thinking ‘simplicity’, I opted for a betta fish – small, low maintenance, quiet.  As an added bonus, I am not required to carry the fish’s feces around the neighborhood in a plastic baggie.  Based on the fish’s flowing mane, youthful enthusiasm, and uncanny ability to carry a tune, we named him Justin Bieber.   He lasted through Christmas Day, before I had to provide an unceremonious “burial at sea” the next morning with a flick of the handle.  Rest in peace, Justin Bieber.  Your 15 minutes of fame in our house is over, but the memories live on in the bowl of tepid water you once called home.

Now it’s time to straighten up the house, and prepare ourselves for the January blues and the onset of seasonal affective disorder (otherwise known to my children as “back to school after winter break” disorder).  As I look back on the holiday, I believe I will hold the underwear gift closest throughout the year as a daily reminder of Christmas 2010, and with luck, it will reciprocate and hold me close (for about 20 more years).

TMI.

Best Blogs Not Written 2010

Time to clean up and clean out to be ready for the New Year.  I like to start January 1^st with a clean slate, a fresh outlook.  This exercise is both physical and mental.  Clean closets, clean mind.  As part of my annual housecleaning, here is a summary of several topics I have wanted to blog about this year, but never found sufficient inspiration to finish.  I need these out of my mental in box so I can focus on 2011:

Peek-A-Boo:  A New York University professor had a digital camera implanted into the back of his head to capture a still image once each minute for a full year.  This was part of an avant-garde art project.  This could have been a posting about how parents and some perceptive elementary school teachers already have this capability without the fuss and muss of implant surgery, or an interesting discussion on what constitutes art.  We’ll never know.

Can You Hear Me Now?:  The 111^th Congress, to my knowledge, was not accused of Constitutional overreach when it passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, “forbidding TV advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to startling levels during commercial breaks.”  I do look forward to some activist judges legislating from the bench working legal definitions of ‘abruptly’, ‘startling’, and measurements of sound ‘volume’ that cross the legal threshold, since legislators conveniently left these concepts vague.  The marketplace, it seems, could not root out the loud advertisers and punish them with fewer customers, so the government had to step in.  Bipartisanship works, at least when TV watching is involved.  Pass the Bud Light, please.

In the Hole:  According to Bloomberg.com, Americans have cut over $1 trillion in consumer debt since the 3^rd quarter of 2008.  This is good news/bad news.  Less consumer debt means a more secure future for our country, but it also means less spending at historic levels today, and the 2010 economy takes the hit.  Had Americans continued to spend frivolously, our short-term economic conditions would look better.  Apparently, smart personal money management is destroying the Democratic Party.  Once the GOP guts financial reform, maybe we’ll get those confusing credit card deals back again, and get America moving!

Lame Stream Media?:  The 2^nd largest stockholder in News Corp., owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.  He owns $2.3 billion of News Corp. stock.  Keith Olbermann is suspended for a few days for giving less than $7,000 total to 3 different Democratic candidates.  I wonder if anyone who leans on Fox for information could spin this Saudi ownership fact so that it fits smartly into the slogan “Fair and Balanced.”  I dare say $2.3 billion has more impact on election night than $7,000.

The War on Learning:  According to the Associated Press, due to budget shortfalls, more than 120 school districts across the country hold classes just 4 days per week.  The USA ranks 18^th in college and high school graduation rates.  Compared to other nations, we are 25^th in math, 21^st in science, 15^th in reading literacy.  76% of Americans nevertheless report that they are completely to somewhat satisfied with their children’s public schools.  Hard to address a problem that no one thinks is a problem.

The time for a revolution is our educational system is long overdue.  It is not just a tax revenue issue, it is not just a budgeting issue, it is not just a union issue.  Until it becomes a national security issue, we’ll continue to run our public educational system like it is 1960.  What will be the next great innovation in education?  (…and I don’t mean a new computer software package, either.)

The Right to Choose:  The makers of Aquafresh and Colgate toothpaste are in the middle of a pitched legal battle for the trademark rights to the “nurdle”.  As we all know, a “nurdle” is the perfectly swirled tri-colored curl of toothpaste on the outside of the package.  Aquafresh has used this nurdle for over 20 years, and claims Colgate is trying to trick oral hygiene shopping enthusiasts to buy its brand instead.  This is silly, but important, since the lawyers quote studies that demonstrate that consumers spend between 1/20^th and 1/100^th of a second identifying their preferred product on the shelf.  For men, I’d say that’s a generous estimate.

Monkey See, Monkey Do:  Humans share approximately 98.5% of their DNA code with chimpanzees.  It would be misleading, however, to say that humans are 98.5% chimp.  I thought of this whenever I saw campaign signs that said “______ Voted with Pelosi 97% of the Time”.  The associated quote in the article in The Week read, “What makes each kind of biological organism unique is determined by their small genetic differences, not their numerically greater similarities.”  Keep this in mind when watching the GOP 2012 Presidential candidate debates, which begin this April, by the way.  The small differences matter when deciding who is a Neanderthal and who is presidential timber. 

I feel more free already.