Random thoughts on the passing scene:

 Neither the depth of despondency nor the height of euphoria tells you how long either will last.

 We are so easily deceived that many people think that the Senate Judiciary Committee is acting nicely if the Senators wear a genial expression while asking insulting questions or smile while they are lying about the nominee.

 Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism.

 I usually read the Wall Street Journal before breakfast. I can't take the New York Times on an empty stomach.

 Homeschooling is not new. John Stuart Mill was homeschooled two centuries ago and never spent a day in a school or college.

 People who think that they don't owe anything to anybody should read David McCullough's outstanding new book "1776," to see what hell other people went through to create the freedom that we enjoy and abuse today.

 Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Judge John Roberts whether his being Catholic would interfere with carrying out his duties on the Supreme Court but she would undoubtedly have felt insulted if anyone had asked her whether being Jewish would interfere with her carrying out her duties as a Senator.

 One of the reasons for the poverty in the United States that is seldom mentioned by the left is that many poor people are coming here, both legally and illegally, from other countries.

 I don't know anything about Judge Consuelo Callahan but I love the name. Possibly she could be related to the economist Pedro Schwartz.

 The Middle East "peace process" is an illusion. No one can make peace with others who is not at peace with himself -- and the Arabs cannot be at peace with themselves so long as they lag so visibly far behind the rest of the world. No concessions from others can give them what would satisfy them, their own achievements and self-respect.

 Economist Steven Levitt's best-selling book "Freakonomics" is not really about economics. It is about applying systematic reasoning to all sorts of social problems. Systematic reasoning is needed even more than economics. Continued...