Stephen D. Clark comments

After the Cold War was over, the United States was at a loss until September 11, 2001. Then we got the War on Terror as a replacement ideology. It became America's national mission. We need an enemy.

Communism is dead in the People's Republic of China. The regime is overawed by its own lack of a mandate except one, nationalism--make the country stronger. That is now the Communist Party's only mission and justification, and friction with Japan is both its necessary consequence and a useful distraction from the corruption and the moral bankruptcy of the party.

I don't think it will result in war, though, because that would be too disruptive. We'll see. Passion knows little logic.

With the extinction of communism in the People's Republic of China, the governing regime needs an ideology to justify its hold on power and the only thing left to secure the people's accession is nationalism.

Just like Saudi Arabia's jihadist problem, the government is finding that it's useful to turn the subjected population's attention outward and distract it away from the regime's diminishing legitimacy as the rate in GDP growth inevitably declines.

For all you thoughtless types who say "use eyedrops" or "don't look at the computer screen so much," there are other reasons that a product like this is necessary that have nothing to do with behavior. My face is partially paralyzed due to a brain tumor surgery, and my left eye doesn't blink well so it dries out, especially in arid weather like we get during the wintertime in the American northeast. I need something like this product. Please don't make fun.

It's not a choice. I can't be putting eyedrops in every 30 seconds for the rest of my life or wearing a mechanical contraption that does it automatically for me (if such a thing exists). So far, there are some things that surgery doesn't fix. Permanent neurological damage in one of them. Special shields like these that prevent dry air from wafting past the eyeballs and evaporating their surface moisture are a good stopgap remedy for the problem.

For all you thoughtless types who say "use eyedrops" or "don't look at the computer screen so much," there are other reasons that a product like this is necessary that have nothing to do with behavior. My face is partially paralyzed due to a brain tumor surgery, and my left eye doesn't blink so well so it dries out, especially in arid weather like we get during the wintertime in the American northeast. I need something like this. Please don't make fun.

It's not a choice. I can't be putting eyedrops in every 30 seconds for the rest of my life or wearing a mechanical contraption that does it automatically for me (if such a thing exists). So far, there are some things that surgery doesn't fix. Permanent neurological damage in one of them. Special shields like these that prevents dry air from wafting past the eyeballs and evaporating their surface moisture are a good stopgap remedy for the problem.