I've gotten as far as page 25 of 212 in the main thesis, and it's tough slogging through the academic writing style. I think they teach them a hierarchical writing style which amounts to repeating the same points in ever-greater detail. Sigh...

I'm forming an impression of a gigantic case of groupthink. Bush was clearly always leading opinion because his statements are first, then the media echoes them with almost 100% correlation, then the message gets diffused a bit in Congress. There are references to the press sometimes being the first to raise some issues in their questions, which may have fed back into the official thinking.

But 25 pages in, this is still all descriptive, a fractal elaboration of the executive summary. Maybe in another 100 pages I'll encounter something actually quantitative.

In a completely unrelated vein, I watched the DVD of the latest Harry Potter last night. The only reason I paid attention to a kid's movie series was your recommendation long ago, and I'm glad I listened. They're great, and in this one, didn't the dragon fight rock? Partway in I thought to myself that it's time now to do a Dragonriders of Pern movie. The HP creature models would be a fine start. Sad, dark ending, though. I'll bet parents of younger kids have to do a little counseling afterward. Thanks for that recommendation.