“If this boy were able entirely to forget his origin, to cast off he ethical and religious influences which are his birthright, there would be no serious struggle in his soul …. He would be like any other practical, ambitious, rather worldly American boy. The struggle is strong because the boy’s nature, at once religious and susceptible, is strongly appealed to by both the old and the new. At the same time that he is keenly sensitive to the charm of the American environment, with its practical and national opportunities, he has still a deep love for his race and the old things.”

Engineers build useful things yet after work our grandparents went to lectures very much like the ones Gershom is giving now. We need writers and poets too or we are incomplete. I think Gershom is making a great contribution.

No surprise given the overall assault on Science – see Chris Mooney’s book, http://www.waronscience.com/home.php.

In Magic, you repeat a spell or incantation regardless of factual evidence or demonstrated cause and effect. Rep. Boehner keeps repeating “we need tax cuts”, the Bush II economic plan and magic spell. Despite the current financial crisis and other evidence that cutting taxes while fighting two wars is fiscally unsound, that’s the Republican economic recovery plan and counter-proposal to the stimulus package. Just keep repeating the spell, it obviously takes more than 8 years to be effective!