Sunday roundup

The International Criminal Court would do well to branch out beyond Africa.

Industrial chemicals really f* up workers, and OSHA is not on it. For more failures in safety regulation, see coal. A friend of mine, who is libertarian and from coal country, recently shrugged off the dangers of coal (to the miners and people who just happen to be closest to the pollution it wreaks) as "when your contract with god is up, it's up."

Is it right to sell the site of Wounded Knee? Is it right to develop over the Berlin Wall?

Two reflections on two men with two countries each.


It's heart-wrenching to break up with a child.

Our principles are easily bent to utilitarian concerns.

The military might consider domestic outreach to civilians.

Chip and Dan Heath's roadmap for better decision making.


Frank Bruni on child-rearing.

I'm in no position to disagree with the experts, but I'm going to anyway:

Eating her fruits and veggies, even if she can get them at a decent price in her neighborhood, won’t do much for the single mother who has three children, an hour-long, multi-bus commute and an angry boss who can easily find another employee if this one shows up late.

Depends on how you define "much," but eating those fruits and veggies will serve her more than not eating them. Ultimately, I disagree with the message of the column, which is that we're at the mercy of external factors. I'm not suggesting that people aren't entitled to their stress responses to stressful situations, but I can't agree with the idea that we can't manage that stress. I recently spoke to a friend who had had PTSD (she is better now). She talked about how wanting to recover, helped her recover. I may be misstating things, but her point was that optimism of sorts will help get you through, and most mental health professionals will agree that we have a choice, at some level, in how we choose to respond to the events in our lives.