Saturday Links

1. More on studies showing that children do not in fact make people happier. I'm not sure how much I can add to what I said last year; children actually make some people happier (as opposed to making them think they're happier) but yes, children also make a lot of people less happy. I don't know why we're pitter-pattering around the obvious truth, which is that there are a lot of people who should never have kids. That does not mean that the people who are having kids are falling prey to a "noble lie."  

2. Senate Democrats are considering increasing funding to the Legal Services Corporation, which in turn funds legal aid programs across the country. The poor in our country are in desperate need of adequate legal representation. This won't provide it, but more money is always better than less.

3. Tribal disenrollments over gambling money? Gambling has benefited Native tribes immensely, but it's hardly made some tribal members less selfish or short-sighted.

4. Disappointingly, the Obama administration indicates no interest in settling the over a decade long case against the Federal government over misappropriated trust funds. The the Federal government's ineptitude has long been highlighted by this case, officials in the Interior Dept. apparently believe that more time in court is the way to go.

5. Afghanistan: Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says we need a "complete rethink" of drug policy towards Afghanistan. No ideas what this means yet, but it's better than the more of the same approach that's failed so far. Fred Kaplan breaks down the Obama administration's war plan in Afghanistan; "counter terrorism plus" but again, nobody seems to know what success in Afghanistan will entail.