I think you missed his point, Doug. We are a nation of "twinkie defense" excuse makers - there is an army of professional excuse makers supplying every imaginable excuse for every conceivable kind of slack, delinquency, vice, or dereliction of duty. The bottom line is, however, that people should be responsible for their actions, whether they had to go uphill to school both ways or not. It is common sense. What is so moralistic about it?
Wojtek