(Still no word on charges being filed against Michael Jackson‘s doctor.  We keep hearing “any minute now,” but we’ve been hearing that for weeks.)

Coroner’s findings:

They were two young women living the high life in Hollywood, both dying recently in the prime of their lives.  Was foul-play involved?  Not according to coroners’ findings just released in both cases:

1)  Actress Brittany Murphy died from cardiac arrest brought on by a combination of pneumonia and intoxication.

2)  Heiress Casey Johnson died from complications of her diabetes.

Study this:

Some patients thought to have been completely unconscious for years apparently have not been.  Imagine that, being aware of what was going on around you but unable to let anyone know for years.  One has to wonder what mental state a person would be in after years of that.  At least now these rare patients may have hope of communicating with the outside world again even if they never regain control of their bodies.  In scanning the brain waves of patients believed to be completely comatose, looking for any signs activity, it was discovered that a few of them could actually alter their brain waves in response to questions (e.g. think about one thing as a “yes” response and about something else as a “no” response, such that the scanner could detect the difference).

And finally:

With the swearing-in of new Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown this afternoon, the drastic changes to the American health care system proposed in the past year are highly unlikely to become law, and as you know if you read regularly, I think that’s a good thing.  The system’s not perfect, but more government involvement in it, I believe, would’ve made it worse, not better.  It sounds good to “guarantee” certain things, like food, shelter, and health care, to everyone, but whenever governments try to do that, they run up against the reality of human nature.  There’s always going to be a small minority of people in a society who simply can’t pull their own weight (i.e. can’t provide for their own basic needs).  So, in order to run the society efficiently and effectively, you need everyone who can pull his/her own weight to do so.  Then, you need some, hopefully many, people to pull more than their own weight, because that’s where you get excess, wealth, that can be used to help the truly helpless.  But how do you motivate every capable person to pull at least his/her own weight and hopefully more?  You may not like this answer, but fear is one of the primary and strongest motivators of human behavior.  Most people work and educate themselves and acquire skills and work some more in large part — subconsciously perhaps, but nevertheless in large part — because they fear what would happen to them (and to those who depend on them, e.g. their children), if they didn’t.  That fear is actually a good thing.  When you guarantee everyone that their basic needs will be met, you take away the fear, and you end up with capable people not pulling their weight, by choice rather than inability, and you start to get a burden of “need” that’s heavier and heavier and eventually difficult for the remaining, productive members of your society to bear.  Of course I want everyone to be healthy and to have access to care when they need it.  But I don’t want to promise it to them from birth.  I want them to wonder where it would come from if they don’t procure it for themselves.  And if they haven’t procured it for themselves and need it, I want them to have to explain to somebody why they need it and to appeal to that person or agency for help rather than being able to count on simply filling out a government form and having the help handed to them unconditionally.  In a sense, when you say to some people, “Have no fear,” you’re unintentionally, subconsciously, but effectively saying “have no motivation.”  Not having guarantees, allowing there to be some fear, incentivizes those who are able to pull their own weight (and more) to do so, and when they do, the group that truly can’t is small enough that voluntary assistance is more than adequate to meet their needs, especially in a society as generous as ours.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of things that the government can do to help make health care more affordable and accessible to people without mandating or guaranteeing or directly providing coverage/care — things like allowing people to purchase health insurance from companies across the country instead of just the ones operating in their home states — and if you’re interested in those, I wrote about them numerous times during 2008 in the run-up to the presidential election.

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Celebrity news:

The daughter of Billy Joel, an aspiring musician herself, is speaking out about her December overdose of homeopathic pills. She says it was brought on by a breakup and “heartbreak-related depression.” Now, I don’t know that we need to add “heartbreak-related depression” to the DSM (diagnostic manual of mental disorders), but I can confirm from clinical and first-hand experience that the grief associated with breakups can be profound, so I applaud Ms. Joel for her plan to speak about it to young people in 2010.

It looks like criminal charges are imminent against the physician who prescribed a surgical-strength sedative to Michael Jackson. Expect involuntary manslaughter and probably some lesser charges.

Tila Tequila‘s back in the news — her “fiance,” an heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune was found dead at her (Ms. Johnson’s) California home, an apparent drug overdose, and there’s since been a series of bizarre “tweets” from the ever-classy Ms. Tequila disavowing any knowledge that Ms. Johnson was in danger.

Mike Tyson’s back in the news as well, another run-in with a photographer in an airport, no charges filed against either party yet. At this point, it’s sad what a train wreck this guy’s life is.

Study this:

A new study of spanking found that spanking does not necessarily turn kids neurotic or psychopathic and that many kids who were spanked have grown up to be highly-functional adults. Now, the group studied wasn’t that large, and the methodology doesn’t sound like it was that great, and I’m not advocating spanking as a disciplinary tactic of first resort, and I certainly never condone violent spanking (spanking that causes more than mild discomfort), BUT, it does on some level seem consistent with what’s occurred to me (and I think to many people who got the occasional spanking and have lived fairly successful lives) whenever previous studies have linked spanking to every horrible outcome from suicide to serial homicide!

Major case developments:

A body found wrapped in plastic in a remote area of Utah is not the body of the missing mother of two who supposedly “disappeared” while her husband took their small kids “camping” in the middle of the night. This body belongs to an as-yet-unidentified Hispanic male.

Before 2010 was even a full week old, we had a mass shooting — disgruntled former employee shooting eight former co-workers at a St. Louis factory, killing three, before turning the gun on himself. Apparently, he was upset about his retirement benefits (second time we’ve heard that in a week — the Las Vegas courthouse shooter apparently had the same motive).

An Arizona baby is missing, his mother is under arrest, and another couple have been named “persons of interest” in the baby’s disappearance. Confused? Apparently the mother didn’t want the baby’s father to have any custodial time with the baby. So, she arranged to give the baby up for adoption to the couple, but then she sent a text message to the baby’s father telling him that she’d killed the baby. Cops caught up with the mother in Florida and took her into custody, but the baby wasn’t with her. She’s since said that she gave the baby away in Texas. The couple, who are from Arizona, have spoken openly to the media and volunteered to take polygraph tests to prove that they never received the child and don’t know where he is (they sound innocent to me, but my data’s limited to soundbytes, so I certainly could be wrong). Nevertheless, cops have indicated that the couple may know more than they’ve told about what the mother’s plans were. On the bright side though, cops also say there are unspecified “indications” that the child’s probably still alive. Still confused? Sorry, stay tuned, and I’ll try to sort it out and get back to you.

The deceased body of a Playboy video model was found on fire in a Miami dumpster. Her boyfriend has been questioned by cops and apparently has been cooperative at this point, but the couple did reportedly argue on the night she was reported missing. Could be innocent, could be another Ryan Jenkins, stay tuned.

And finally tonight, this is “McNuts”:

A woman right here in the Kansas City area apparently was pretty unhappy with her McDonald’s burger — so unhappy that she threw a violent tantrum in which she did over thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to the restaurant before fleeing the scene. No word on whether she got fries with that, but there’s reportedly video surveillance footage that hopefully will lead to her arrest before she tears up another restaurant — one that I might actually be in at the time!

Have a great weekend, see you back here and on the tube next week!

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The Florida man who allegedly murdered several family members at Thanksgiving dinner and fled the scene was captured, still in Florida, hiding out in a motel in the Keys. Maybe now we’ll find out what motivated him.

Actor Charlie Sheen allegedly assaulted his wife on Christmas. According to her, he held a knife to throat and threatened to have her killed. She reportedly was drunk at the time, however. So, when I came on Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell via satellite early the following week to discuss the case, I said I’m most concerned about the couple’s small children. As a child custody expert, it doesn’t sound like either parent is parent-of-the-year in the Sheen household. Shocking, I know. (By the way, some in the media compared Sheen’s troubles to those of golfer Tiger Woods and questioned why the public didn’t seem as troubled by Sheen’s alleged behavior. That’s easy: Woods let people down. Sheen didn’t. People didn’t really expect better from Sheen, so his alleged behavior was less of a disappointment to people.)

A Delaware pediatrician was arrested and stands accused of molesting numerous child patients during office visits and videotaping the crimes. Questions abound in this case, like why so many parents apparently left their kids alone with this guy long enough for them to be molested by him, and why the authorities in Delaware didn’t act sooner on complaints of inappropriate behavior. Medical boards around the country send doctors here to Lawrence, KS to be evaluated by my colleagues and me when there are questions about the doctors’ fitness to practice. I wish the Delaware board had sent this guy to us when suspicions were raised approximately a year ago. I can’t tell you for certain, but I certainly hope that we could’ve spotted some red flags that could’ve spared some kids from becoming sex-crime victims.

The Utah mother of two who went missing shortly before Christmas while her husband supposedly had gone camping in the middle of the night in freezing conditions with their small kids (when he was supposed to be at work the next morning) unfortunately remains missing. The husband’s now a “person of interest.” Ya think?

A terrorist burned up his privates trying to ignite an explosion on an airplane, sending the U.S. air travel system into a panic at one of the busiest travel times of the year. Anybody feel sorry for him? Me neither. Why he and his potentially-deadly baggage weren’t screened out, however, is cause for all of us to be concerned.

A shooting at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas left the shooter and a security guard dead and a federal marshal wounded. From what we’ve been told about the motive/psychology of the shooter, he apparently was upset at the government because he didn’t think he was getting enough in Social Security payments.

Study this no. 1: A new study on depression in teens found that teens who are sleep-deprived are more likely to become depressed.

Study this no. 2: A new study on antidepressants found that in many cases, the drugs were not significantly more effective than placebos (inactive pills) in treating mild to moderate depression. Kind of scary when you think about how hard pharmaceutical companies and some psychiatrists are pressing to put more people on more of these drugs more quickly (at younger ages) despite potentially-low effectiveness and potentially-damaging side effects. If you know of someone, especially a child, who’s been harmed by psych meds, tell the person or the family to send me his/her/their story.

OK, that’s it for this rundown based on my memory of what I was hearing and saying here and there over the holidays, now let me know what I left out, and I’ll continue to follow the major cases, celebrity scandals, psychology news, and cultural chaos with you here and on t.v. in the year ahead!

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Merry Christmas!

I’m going to do something I don’t normally do — voluntarily give the floor to someone else. I recently got the following note from some good friends, Janet and Steve Hayes, and thought it pretty much said it all this Christmas, so thanks to them, I now get to share it with you. They begin by pointing out how many people wish us “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” at this time of year, but nobody ever tells us how we’re supposed to achieve that. They continue:

“Christmas is a state of mind. It is not about shoving folks at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving at pre-dawn Black Friday sales, or wrapping presents, or hanging lights on the house or decorating trees. It really has nothing to do with any of that. Odd isn’t it!! Christmas is all about faith — faith that a set of actions will produce results that don’t make any sense in the real world. Faith says give, and you will receive more than you could have gotten for yourself. Faith says show warmth and love in the face of cold indifference and you will break down boundaries that were set in stone. Faith says look at the world differently than everyone else. Faith is full of hope and promise. So, if you want a merry Christmas, or a happy holiday, or a joyous new year, you will have to become a giver. Giving doesn’t mean buying gifts and wrapping them, although you can if that’s your thing. A giver simply gives. Everyone has an excess of something in their lives. What is it that you have an overabundance of? It may not be money, it may be a positive attitude, or a great sense of humor. You might have extra clothes or gloves or earrings or shoes. Maybe you have a talent to fix things like cars, or furnaces, or washing machines. Maybe you are a great helper, or door holder, or house cleaner. Maybe you are good at sharing your company, or your compassion. You might just be a great listener, or have a heart-lifting smile. Everyone has something they can give. So give it. Give it often, give it now and throughout the new year. Share your talents and your gifts and your excess. Because in giving, you will receive a joy you can’t get or buy or steal from anywhere else. Giving to those in need will give you a sense of satisfaction and self-worth you can’t find anywhere on Earth. Giving will bring an abundance in your life you couldn’t gain on your own. Become a giver and experience the true wisdom of the Wise Men of old. We promise you, you will never regret the things you give from your heart.”

With some truly radiant bright spots along the way, 2009 has been a very difficult year for me, and maybe for you, too. At times, I’ve felt like I went from a brightly-glowing ember to a cold piece of ash on the morning after the bonfire’s all burned out. Maybe you have, too. Janet and Steve stoked a little bit of light back out of me with their note, and hopefully it will grow back into a glow in 2010. No matter what kind of year you’ve had, I hope that their note brought a little more light into your life as well and that you now bring a little more light into someone else’s this Christmas.

Thanks to Janet and Steve for writing, and thanks to you for reading. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Brian

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Tiger Woods updates:

1) A major sponsor, consulting firm Accenture, has dropped Tiger Woods as its spokesperson. Looks like the folks at Accenture have been reading my blog! Good!

2) Some in the media are speculating that Tiger Woods has “sex addiction.” That’s a crock, and even if it weren’t, it wouldn’t excuse anything. Wanting to do something so badly that you’re willing to hurt your family to do it may mean you’re a messed-up individual psychologically, but it still doesn’t mean you can’t resist doing the behavior. It just means you’re selfish enough to put your wants above your family’s needs. That’s why I think that infidelity is a legitimate factor to consider in custody cases. While infidelity may not be a factor in dividing property due to “no-fault” divorce laws in 49 states, as a child custody expert, I do think it’s reasonable to consider it as a factor in determining custody of divorcing couples’ children. I have to question the judgment and commitment of a parent who’s willing to put his/her children’s happy home in jeopardy to have an affair.

3) Multiple “mistresses” of Tiger Woods have given interviews in which they’ve claimed to be “sorry” for helping Woods hurt his family. No, they’re not. If helping a married man hurt his family really bothered these women, they wouldn’t have done it.

4) Representatives of Florida’s child protective services reportedly have visited the Woods home, apparently to determine whether an altercation between Woods and his wife posed any danger to their two small children (by the way, it looks like sleeping pills may have contributed to the conclusion of that altercation, in which Woods crashed his vehicle in the couple’s driveway). Fine, but as I recently wrote, I’ll bet there are literally thousands of homes in Florida where the suspected danger to children is considerably greater, yet the investigative response is considerably slower.

Chris Brown update:

The rapper is reportedly upset that some stores apparently aren’t carrying his latest CD. Good! I hope they’re not. It’s about time people started making some judgments in this culture, and it’d be a step in the right direction if no one wanted to buy things from guys who beat women.

(Now here’s a step in the wrong direction: The prostitute who was involved in the scandal that toppled former New York governor Eliot Spitzer has reportedly been hired by the New York Post as…guess…a sex advice columnist. I don’t recommend patterning your life after this woman’s in any way!)

In other news:

On Monday night’s Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, we discussed a case in which a Utah mother went missing from her home after her husband claims to have taken their two toddlers on a midnight camping trip in freezing weather on a Sunday night, forgetting that it was a work night for both him and the wife. I’m not buying the husband’s story, several implausible elements strung together and illustrated with what look to me like crocodile tears. Even if his expressions of emotion are genuine, it’s still not clear to me what emotion it is, maybe grief but maybe also remorse or even fear (of being caught). I think that the four-year-old child may actually crack the case — as we saw in the “balloon boy” incident, it can be tough to get a kid to stick to a lie, so if the kid knows they went somewhere other than where the father says they went that night, I’ll bet skilled investigators can get it out of him.

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USA Today ran a story on Monday about golfer Tiger Woods’ alleged philandering with this stupid headline: “Mistake vs. serial cheating? More queries follow Tiger Woods scandal.” The article goes on to draw a distinction between people who cheat once and people who cheat multiple times. OK, now that I’m done throwing up, it’s obviously time for a crash refresher course on this topic, so here goes: Cheating is NEVER a “mistake”! A mistake is something one didn’t mean to do, i.e. an accident. Cheating is NEVER an accident. Cheating is ALWAYS an intentional betrayal for which there is NO excuse, whether it happens once or 100 times, period! Other than inducing vomiting, the USA Today piece does a good job of one thing — pointing out as I have many times that narcissism and a sense of entitlement are psychological hallmarks of cheaters.

———————————-

A Pennsylvania police officer was shot dead as he sat in his parked patrol car on Sunday night. The suspect is already in custody, and guess what? He’s a multi-convicted felon. Guess what else? He was on parole, released just days after serving the bare minimum sentence for his most-recent conviction, and wearing a tracking bracelet on his ankle at the time. And guess what else? The most recent conviction was for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. If this guy had served the maximum instead of the minimum sentence for that conviction, he would’ve been in prison until 2014, and a police officer would still be alive today. WHEN are we going to scrap the “two, three, four…chances” example and start actually preventing and deterring crime with a “you do this and your life’s effectively over” example?! Apparently not until I’m in charge.

———————————-

Remember that loon in Connecticut whose pet chimpanzee mauled a house guest to within an inch of her life earlier this year, blinding and severely disfiguring and debilitating the victim? Connecticut prosecutors have announced that the owner will face no criminal charges stemming from that incident. At least she’s still being sued civilly, and I hope the victim wins! These nuts who keep dangerous animals as pets need to be held strictly accountable for any damage their “pets” do. The State of Connecticut is also being sued for allegedly failing to enforce laws that should’ve prevented the chimpanzee from being kept as a pet, and I hope the victim wins that one, too!

———————————-

Study this: The second new study on loneliness to be released in the past week found that people who lack social support are more vulnerable to cancer (both more likely to get it and more likely to have it be more aggressive).

And study this: Another “new” study found that antidepressants also have a calming effect on some people, making them less “neurotic” (i.e. less anxious). I’m not sure what’s “new” about this. Doctors have been prescribing antidepressants (rather than more-dangerous, more-addictive benzodiazepines like Xanax and Ativan) to people with mild anxiety symptoms for years.

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A jury in Italy found Amanda Knox guilty on Friday, and she’s been sentenced to over 27 years in an Italian prison. There’s been a lot of talk in the media this weekend about the circumstantial nature of some evidence in the case, but I’ll bet that the jury was right, and here’s what sealed it for me — how she reportedly lied immediately following her arrest and implicated a totally-innocent guy who, luckily for him, turned out to have an air-tight alibi. To me, that willingness to implicate an innocent person to save one’s own ass from a murder charge is consistent with capability of the crimes for which Knox has been convicted.

Also on Friday, a Michigan woman (I can’t bring myself to call her a “mother”) was allowed to plead “no contest” to a charge of involuntary manslaughter for starving her ten-year-old adopted quadriplegic daughter to death. She apparently deprived the girl of fluids that were supposed to have been administered through a feeding tube. The plea bargain allowed the woman to avoid the more serious charge of second-degree murder. Ok, but here’s what I don’t understand about this case. Both second-degree murder and manslaughter charges are appropriate only when the person committing the crime didn’t premeditate it. This murder — and that’s what I think it was — must’ve taken a while, and it seems to me that the woman must’ve thought about it over and over again as the poor child wasted away. Why a prosecutor and judge would agree to pretend like it was an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment act is beyond me. The woman now faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but is likely to get less than half of that. Sounds like the Italians are doing a better job of administering justice than the folks in Michigan are doing!

Several relatives and friends of the man who ambushed and killed four Seattle police officers last weekend have been arrested for assisting him when he was on the run (he’s since been shot and killed by a police officer). I’m very glad to see these additional arrests being made — we don’t prosecute accessories to crimes nearly as often as we should.

The ignominious head football coach at the University of Kansas, about whom I wrote back on 11/17/09, has resigned under pressure. That’s good, but university officials should still talk to me about how to write future coaching contracts so that someone who behaves as shamefully as this guy doesn’t get to walk away with millions of dollars.

Study this: Even as the FDA approved two more antipsychotic medications for prescription to children as young as ten years old, it also recommended further study of the long term consequences of a common side effect, weight gain. I think this trend whereby kids are being diagnosed and medicated as psychotic at younger and younger ages is psychotic in itself (see my column “A Perfect Storm” if you want to know why), and if you know of a child who’s been harmed by an antipsychotic medication, tell the parents to send me their story.

And study this: Here’s a positive one — a new broad-based study found no significant correlation between cell-phone use and brain cancer.

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A panel of military psychologists is preparing to examine the Ft. Hood shooter to determine whether a mental disease or defect prevented him from knowing that his actions were wrong. In the meantime, he’s now facing 32 attempted-murder charges in addition to the original 13 murder charges.

Soldier Blames Crimes on PTSD

A soldier stationed at Ft. Drum in New York after returning from Iraq has been charged with stabbing two fellow soldiers to death, and it sounds like he’s probably going to claim that PTSD prevented him from knowing right from wrong at the time. If so, I have plenty of experience diagnosing and treating veterans with PTSD as well as plenty of experience determining people’s sanity when various crimes were committed, and I’ll be highly skeptical.

Ohio Man Pleads Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Finally tonight, the Ohio guy who apparently used his “second chance” (after serving prison time for a similar prior conviction and then being released) to rape and kill at least eleven women (whose bodies were found hidden in his home) reportedly has entered a plea: not guilty by reason of insanity. I would love to be the prosecution’s expert on this one — there’s evidence of premeditation and consciousness of guilt all over the place, which tells me that while he may be nuts and probably is, he likely knew what he was doing and that it was wrong, in which case he’s guilty, sane or not.

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Seattle police shooting update: The man who ambushed four police officers in Seattle over the Thanksgiving weekend has been shot and killed by a police officer. That’s good, but now there’s even more evidence that he never should’ve been on the street in the first place. Not only did former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee second-guess the Arkansas court that sentenced this guy to 108 years (a court that actually had an opportunity to see the guy and gauge his level of dangerousness) by commuting the sentence and allowing him to be paroled, but then a judge in Washington granted the guy bail just days before this weekend’s deadly ambush, even though he was a convicted felon with a violent history and had been rearrested for rape.

Does Everyone Deserve a Second Chance?

I feel for the cops who’ve got to be frustrated with the lenient, “everybody deserves another chance” mentality among many judges and lawmakers that forces them to keep risking their lives to catch the same people over and over and over. When I’m in charge, it’ll be once, and the cops won’t have to worry about seeing the same individual on the streets again for a long, long time, if ever!

Tiger Woods Update

Sounds like Tiger Wood’s wife may have had a reason (perhaps even a pretty good one!) for smashing into his car with a golf club other than the stated reason (that she was trying to help extricate an already-injured Woods from the car after he had crashed it). Not that I’m necessarily feeling sorry for Woods or wanting the wife to face any consequences, but is anyone else wondering now when and why the window smashing actually occurred?

Finally tonight, study this: A new study says that loneliness is catching. Hmmm. Anyone else puzzled trying to figure out how that would work exactly?

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Here are some holiday surprises for you (I know, nothing should surprise me anymore, but some things still do):

Remember the census worker who was found dead in a Kentucky forest with the word “Fed” written on his body? Well guess what — it turns out he committed suicide! Based on what I read at the time, I didn’t think that was a real possibility because I thought investigators on the scene would’ve identified it as a suicide right away if that’s what it was. Well, apparently the guy staged it so elaborately because he had bought two substantial life insurance policies that would’ve paid benefits if he were murdered but not if he committed suicide. No word yet on whom the beneficiaries would’ve been, but there’s also nothing to suggest that they knew anything about the guy’s suicide plan. Apparently this was a suicidal guy who thought that he could make his life be worth something (as if it wasn’t already) by leaving someone some money. Sad.

Remember the unidentified 15-year-old who was in custody for killing a nine-year-old in Missouri? Well guess what — she’s still in custody, facing an adult murder charge (but not the death penalty). That’s right, she. The defendant is a girl. Based on the initial reporting of the story, I guessed that it would be a boy, just based on statistical probability. There’s more. She reportedly has said that she did it just to see what it felt like to kill somebody. Regardless of the fact that she sounds like she knew what she was doing and that it was wrong, which would make her guilty of first-degree (premeditated) murder, it also sounds like she’s had mental problems (cutting herself, possibly attempting suicide, etc.) in the past that may have been minimized by adults in her life, which goes to show that as badly as we may want someone to be “normal” and to believe that a mentally-disturbed individual is “all better,” ignoring red flags to the contrary can put that individual and others in serious danger.

Study this: Remember my recent post about military suicides being on the rise? (If not, it’s dated 11/18/09.) About a week later, the Department of Defense released statistics showing that the number of divorces among military families had increased in the past year as well. At first, I thought it might be a dramatic increase, due in part to the stress that long-term deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have placed on military marriages, and that it might help explain the increase in military suicides. When I looked into it a little further though, I was surprised to find that the increase in divorces was actually quite small (up .2% to 3.6% from 3.4% the previous year) and that the military divorce rate doesn’t appear to be much different (and may actually be lower) than the civilian divorce rate (using a 2005 estimate from the Centers for Disease Control, roughly 43% of all first marriages occurring in 1995 had ended in divorce, which would be 4.3% per year on average — civilian statistics are not as good because civilian divorces are handled by the 50 states with no centralized tracking system). I was also surprised to learn that the divorce rate among military women was more than twice the divorce rate among military men (7.7% for women vs. 3% for men).

Finally tonight, remember the stampede at a New York Wal-Mart last “Black Friday” (the day after Thanksgiving and the “official” first day of the Christmas-shopping season)? Well, there were no deadly stampedes reported this “Black Friday,” which is why you didn’t have to watch me on t.v. yesterday explaining the psychology of emotionally-charged group (i.e. “herd”) behavior like I did last year. This year, shoppers in general apparently conducted themselves in a manner that’s relatively consistent with the spirit of the season — now that was a nice surprise! (OK, maybe stores just beefed up security, but I’m trying to think the best of people during the holiday season!)

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