Kimmers,

My point was that you can't ignore them or the feed on their own irrationality. The logical fallacy is From Ignorance - The assumption that because something can't be shown to be false, it must be true. Just point out the irrationality as clearly as possible. IMO, anyway.

I agree that troll seems to reaching for something and not quite getting there. I know that family is very important to him (and to me too, come to that). Living in a college town, we have a fairly large number of single (by choice) parents. And the County used to have a very high teen pregnancy rate, all of which may help explain the more emotional than usual reaction.

Hope you'll share some statistics next week. In the meantime, some 'fun' facts from (in Florida). 85% of the 12-15 y/o juveniles picked up for criminal offenses (as opposed to curfew violations and the like) come from single parent homes.

Pilot programs show that if you can engage them and keep them occupied until around 8 PM, you can cut the delinquency rate by well over half. Most such programs are school based, btw. They work. They aren't funded at the State level after the federally funded pilot phase because the powers that be have determined that what's needed is harsher sentences. Compassionate conservatism in action. Oh, and part of the Juvenile Justice System has been privatized by under the same compassionate regard for our children. Now lets think about the logic of a private company being paid on a per service basis. The more people run the system, the more money I get and the more profit I make. Some incentive to try to reduce the numbers. And as their "per client cost" is generally lower (or at least the numbers they provide show same), they cab even claim to be saving the State money. After all, they don't create the juvenile delinquents.

Regards

John