"Depression isn't a disease of the rich or of affluent countries. The World Health Organization reports that it's at least 50 percent more common among poor people, whether in Ethiopia or Germany, Zimbabwe or the United States. That most poor people simply live with their pain doesn't mean they don't suffer."

-- Virginia Postrel

Interesting: What "facts" should we be concerned about when looking at legal opinions? Taking the landmark Marbury v. Madison case as its platform, this article (.pdf) argues that various political and social facts should be taken into consideration if one wants to truly understand the reasoning of the opinion. A bit of legal realism explained in basically layman terms, this draft of a future article is worth reading for those interested in the subject.

Politics: A federal court upheld the mid-term redistricting in Texas which will increase the Republican presence in its congressional delegation. The reasoning is two fold: it was not unconstitutional as a political gerrymander (though a pending case might change the test) or for being mid-term and did not violate civil rights laws in regards to upholding racial equality (the dissent disagreed in part on this issue). The latter issue being somewhat esoteric, I'd focus on the first two -- they might very well be right.

All the same, as a political matter: "frequent redrawing of district lines will undermine democratic accountability and exact a heavy cost on state independence as federal congressional leaders exert their influence to shape state districting behavior." Thus, Congress should (as is their right) ban mid-term elections, and this current one is bad pool. And, there is good evidence that it is a pretty blatant political gerrymander that affected minority power, even if it didn't reach the level so that a federal court could strike it down.

David Brooks stupidity strikes again! The NYT needs conservative opinion writers, but this one leaves a lot to be desired.

David Letterman came back from vacation yesterday, after visiting the troops over the holiday. He eloquently praised their patriotism and service, suggesting why I continue to not only enjoy, but also respect, his show. It also seems that his new son is now an ongoing thing for guests to talk about. Jennifer Aniston was on and joked about he's keeping the "so-called" mother of his child hidden. This followed Julia Roberts making fun of him not getting married and so on. It's amusing, but might get tired after awhile.