How can addiction destroy a nation?

In the drug legalization debate, there are many sides to come at it from. Societal costs, difficulty of enforcement, libertarianism, etc. But it is important to remember that addictive substances should also be feared for the distortions they can put onto economies. Consider this situation in Yemen with their national addiction, Qat.

Qat, a mild narcotic plant, is chewed daily in almost every part of the country and is an integral part of the culture here. It has become Yemen's addiction, requiring a steady supply to feed the nation's growing demand.
"The farmers here prefer growing qat to growing grapes," laments Mohammed. "Growing qat makes them more money, but growing it also uses up much more water."...
The situation is so critical that, out of the country's 15 aquifers, only two are being replenished. Some members of Yemen's government have floated the idea of moving the capital, as well as desalinating seawater on the coast and pumping it to Sana'a...
When asked if he knows his country will soon run out of water and what that means for future generations, he sighs.
"The farmers here -- we have no future -- we have to rely on God," says Mohammed. "We only have God's mercy to rely on."

Sometimes the costs on society of bad choices do not end with the individual. These bad choices can easily mushroom and draw thousands of others into a trap with no way out.

Stress leads to more baby girls?

Here is one of those facts that appears to e widely-known, but had somehow passed me by. Societal stress leads to more baby girls born, while male fetuses are spontaneously aborted.

IT HAS been known for a while that stressful conditions such as famine result in more girls being born than happens in good times. The shift in the sex-ratio is tiny—around 1%—but in a large population that is still noticeable. A possible evolutionary explanation is that daughters are likely to mate and produce grandchildren regardless of condition, whereas weedy sons may fail in the struggle to have the chance to reproduce at all. In hard times, then, daughters are a safer evolutionary bet. Regardless of why the shift happens, though, it has long been argued that the moment when it happens is conception—or, more probably, implantation. A womb exposed to stress hormones, runs the hypothesis, is less likely to accommodate a male fetus.

One wonders what the current Recession is doing to the future demographics of the nation. Will a shift in gender numbers change attitudes of the culture in general?

Call to arms for Fathers

I have been stricken recently by a trend I see more and more in society of expecting less and less of fathers. Commercials have designated the father as the butt of all jokes. Sitcoms show fathers as either bumbling or clueless. Dramas usually show them as abusive or absent. And the phrase you hear most often of fathers in the office is, "Well, at least he isn't a deadbeat dad." Not exactly high praise. Our society has gone from "father knows best" to "father's gone missing." So it is nice to see at least one commentator calling us on this trend.

I remember watching an OnStar commercial. And as the company touted the features, it showed a father driving his child around, and when the kid starts to cry, the dad freaks out and has to quickly call the mom to calm the baby down. I'm watching that and saying, "Man, it's your child, too! So calm it!"

Then there is the commercial -- I don't even remember what they were pitching -- of two or three kids in the kitchen making a mess after spilling the cereal. The hapless and hopeless dad looks at them and says, "Where is your mom?"

Every time that commercial comes on I scream at the TV, "Where is your mom? Where are your parenting skills, you ingrate!"

I am still a single guy, so I don't have a lot to offer on fatherhood. But I respect my friends who are fathers, and who truly give everything to be good dads to their kids. I know this Sunday is Mother's Day, but here is a Mod-Blog salute to good fathers, too!