DISQUS

My parents vote in northeastern Ohio. The polls opened at 6 am, which is when my parents arrived at the polling place. But the voting materials didn't arrive until 7:30 am. Then the workers had to set up. By this time the line was very long. It would have been longer, but a lot of people left because they had to go to work.

When I got to Ms. Allen's pseudo-scientific analysis of the female brain ("... make one wonder whether there isn't some genetic aspect of the female brain ... that turns the pre-frontal cortex into Cream of Wheat ..."), I had to find out who this person is. This is from her Web site:

"Unfortunately, it would appear at this point that I have been involuntarily retired. I have neither an agent nor a publisher. Currently, the quality of writing has very little to do with what gets published."

In Ms. Allen's case, I'm afraid that the quality of her writing and analyses has everything to do with why she has no agent or publisher.

I'm a neurobiologist, so I must come clean and admit that one of my pet peeves is fake scientific analyses that present themselves as fact. I'm also a woman and not dumb and not swooning--and I support Senator Obama. Women scientists who came of age in the early 1980's have realized that it isn't enough for a woman just to become a scientist--it is necessary to be a good, successful scientist. So we don't feel obligated to vote for a candidate just because she is a woman. I will vote for Senator Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee. But I have chosen to back Senator Obama because I think he is the braver of the two--I feel he is less likely to spend his first term as president making decisions that will ensure him a second term. I also feel that it is time for the baby boomers to step aside and allow a new, less self-absorbed generation to take the reigns.

For the record, absolutely no swooning took place while I made my decision.