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I found the article fascinating but the anti-bush bias and (in the last few paragraphs, the xenophobic racism) was over the top. It did point out that blue cities tend to be that way because young singles go there to concentrate on their careers and live it up. When they have families they see the virtue of putting some distance between themselves and the throbbing streets. Author Sailer does point out the often overlooked phenomenon of neighborhoods, municipalities, regions, etc. wanting to pull up the drawbridge and keep the riffraff out (through zoning, "environmentalism," clamping down on roadbuilding, etc. I object to his blanket insinuations about "poor people." A great many "poor people" are youngsters starting out. As Mr. Jack Kemp (re: Empower America) would tell you, even "poor people" of whatever color tend not to despoil their own communities when they own their own homes, however humble. Dr. Theodore Dalrymple reminds us in his every article that the barbarism of the ghetto/barrio/trailer park is caused by the psychological debilitations of the welfare state. Thomas Sowell, when he gets going on about his youth, never hesitates to remind us that poor communities are not necessarily sinkholes of pathology.

The houses of my own neighborhood in Arlington, VA have become rental properties as the older residents die off. The newest phenomenon is that of old houses being bought and torn down with mini-Mcmansions being built on the lots for wealthy empty-nesters. But very few young families can afford to come here. The place has gotten very "young" as all the renters tend to be up-and-comers fresh out of college starting their careers in Beltway-land. If they settle and have kids they have to move farther out and subject themselves to the torment of commuting. The "beaners" live crammed like sardines in an area of comparatively old, cheap apartments.

Concerning abortion, I do belive in the "Roe Effect" but would like to point out some other hard to quantify factors. As others have noted, conservative families TEND to have more children and conservative (and religious) families TEND to stay together. What we need is to survey high-school valedictorians, SAT top scorers and Phi Beta Kappas and see just how many of them come from stable, two-parent (and coincidentally conservative) families. It's more than raw numbers, I am willing to bet this country's new generation of movers and shakers tend not to come from single moms, broken homes, "blended families" or any other kind of fashionable arrangement liberals profess to love.

And again, I venture to point out this where the Muslims have the advantage, being that in their self-segregated societies, women are not allowed to do anything BUT have kids. Then again, that points out the supreme logic of welfare reform in this country as (unlike Old Europe) we will no longer pay people to have kids on the taxpayer dime. Remember the most important thing about Abu Hamza, the notorious hook-handed, hate-spewing imam of London's infamous Finsbury Park Mosque was that he and his entire family turned out to be living it up on the dole.