3684

It keeps the money coming in

Because I worked in academe and was required to publish (actually I liked that part of my job), and purchased for my library publications paid for by government grants and foundations with an axe to grind, I should know better than to be surprised by "research studies." Still, some are so obvious, you just have to hope that the P & T committee saw through them. Here are two, one in the social sciences, one in medicine:

"Who evaluates a presidential candidate by using non-policy campaign messages?" by Marisa Abrajano, Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 1 (March 2005): pp. 55-67. Apparently Ms. Abrajano discovered this no-brainer, which will allow her to be cited in the literature. When candidates give out non-policy campaign messages (my brother is married to a Mexican (Bush), or my son was born on Cinco de Mayo (Gore)), the less education the Latino voter has, the more likely he is to fall for it and think favorably of the candidate. Imagine this break through. The candidate needs to give different campaign messages depending on the age, education level, ethnicity, sex, and income level of his audience.

I remember chatting with a salesman in the Chef-o-Nette (my coffee spot) thirty five years ago who was always a snazzy dresser. One day he came in wearing khaki slacks and open collared shirt, but no jacket. "What's up? Got the day off?" I asked. "No, I'm going to my southern Ohio territory today, and you don't want to look like a city slicker with the good-old boys down there. You'd be laughed out of town." See? Didn't even need a government grant or a voter survey--he knew his product and his customer.

But here's my favorite. There's a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry (2004; 61:73-84) which uses PET scans and glucose monitoring to show that methamphetamine users lose their ability to control negative emotions, and so that might be why they are involved in so many serious crimes that involve violence. I'll bet you are surprised by that one, aren't you? Meth users out of control? I'm thinking there are a few cops on the street who could have put this one together without PET scans or glucose monitoring.

One of the big dangers from the meth users is their toxic "footprint." The walls, carpet and drapes of their "labs" are a toxic waste dump for the next tenant. You don't need to be a user in the traditional sense of the word to have your brain damaged. Here's a 59 page guidebook for cleanup (including sheetrock, plaster, counter tops, fabric) from Minnesota.