Something I've been meaning to do

For some time I have wanted to write something about an Economist article. So, here 'tis.
The article is "The Big Sort" in the US of A section of the June 21st 2008 issue (just in case you really want the whole thing).
The header is "Americans are increasingly choosing to live among like-minded neighbours. This makes the culture war more bitter and politics harder" As you can see, a bit of fluff journalism.

So, what are we on about here? Well, in the interest of saving one friend (you know who you are), I will use the briefest of synopses:

1. Some (many) communities are becoming close knit, ideologically segregated enclaves. Conservatives live near other conservatives, liberals near liberals. Evidence comes from the presidential election results.
2. 1976 Carter won 50.1% of the vote, but 26.8% of Americans were in "landslide counties" where Carter won or lost the county by 20 percentage points or more.
3. 2000 Bush won in a dead heat; 45.3% landslide counties.
4. 2004 Bush wins again; 48.3% landslide counties. All this comes from a recent book -"The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart".
5. Americans are mobile and can indulge even a mild preference for living with similar kooks. Over time, this means they are less likely to be exposed to contrary views. In data from 12 countries, Americans were the least likely to talk about politics with those who disagreed with them.
6. The more educated Americans are, the more insular they are. That is positively weird.
7. Same thing with radio, TV, Internet. Many more channels etc. make migration to a constant point of view easier.
8. So what? Groups that are ideologically the same become more extreme. Even judges. Decisions by a group of nothing but conservatives are more hard edged than thsoe by a group of conservatives with a few lost liberals. Even judges.

Where does this all lead? Not sure yet, but some evidence is out there. Debate is seldome civil; it is a shouting match. Partisan lawmakers cannot reach concensus to fix real problems.

And so to a few pictures.

The first Morning Glory, and a new rose.



Our first wisteria bloom (after many years of patience).
And a Day Lily.

Nationalistic Celebrations

OK, this will be weird. I am out of practice and there are some experiments to try. Like this doodle. Seems I can load any JPEG. Y'all are in big trouble now. The back yard looks great. Nice side-effect of all the rain and thunder stuff we have been having. Guess that's what you get when the warm damp air meets the Great White North. Bob & Doug just had their 24th anniversary, by the bye.
I'm doing all this verbiage in and among the pictures just to annoy a neighbour (who can't).

So we all got together for the annual Canada Day parade. Just a small, neighbourhood thing that is completely hokey. With Dana, Jason and the grandkids, it is super. We all walk around the block with some cops and a fire truck. Someone puts out water and freezies for the kids.
Penny, Jason and Henry here.
Then over to Dana's (and Jason's) for lunch. Bennett had water mellon.
So did Hannah.Jack finished his quickly.

And Charlotte took it all in.

It was a great day. Thanks to you all!