More than enough time for the Old Countries to have developed animosities all over again.

Oh yeah. Just not ancient ones... unless xenophobia (perhaps the most ancient animosity of them all) counts. The EU has bags of that.

The cultural split I thought WT was referring to is the one between convivial society and top-down control, between joyous anarchy and overdetermined classism-by-birth. But I - like so many of us - tend to see every conversation as reflecting my own particular hobbyhorse, so I cry your pardon if I read it wrong.

Are you sure you didn't rip that from the Onion?

...pending cuts in Byrne money and in federal payments made to counties to offset the loss of timber revenues have essentially disbanded the Josephine Interagency Narcotics Team (JOINT).

"We've just withdrawn from JOINT," he said. "There's no funding...

The best jokes just write themselves, I guess.

which brown skinned nation has the EU invaded lately?

Well, the EU doesn't have a standing army, which I suspect you know, so I can only assume that was some kind of rhetorical question.

The xenophobia I was talking about was surrounding the immigration issue which, while several orders of magnitude more sane and humane than that of the US, is fairly quickly being demagogued up.

You're going to have to talk to William about what William means.

Have you taken a peep at the new flag of Kosovo?

White five-pointed stars on a blue background, like the U.S. flag.

The Council of Europe flag has thirteen yellow stars on it.

You misunderstand me. You seemed to be saying that the stars on the Kosovar flag were somehow related to the CoE flag, even though those stars are yellow. I mentioned the U.S. flag just by way of pointing out that it seemed like yours was a specious comparison.

It seems to me that the Kosovar flag is more evocative of the flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is, you know, in the neighborhood, but what do I know?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina.svg

I'm having a very complex, kind of bewildering reaction to this. It's not to say that I in any way disagree with Glenn's oft-repeated argument that people should be held to the same standard, rather than one party getting a pass for the same behaviour that draws loud, public denunciation of another.

I guess it just makes me a little sad to see Glenn playing any role in this Battle of the Bigots. It's not criticism of Glenn, as I say, nor do I have a philosophical complaint to make here.

Perhaps it's just esthetics. Maybe I'm just having an "ick" reaction to Glenn talking to Donohue.

Hm.

I didn't like Alien vs. Predator, either.

I will probably come around and pop some kernels with Aychy once I've had a chance to get my head around the idea, as it were.

And there's nothing self-indulgent about art. :-P

I'm sure there is, but only on college campuses. It's like the Giuliani "9/11" drinking game... you start by watching a Republican campaign speech and end in the emergency room. I ask you, where's the fun?

Over the last 30 years Sun Myung Moon outspent anyone funding and molding today’s conservative movement.

Do you have a source for that? I don't know if you're right or wrong, I've just never heard "outspent anyone" before.

"possessed?"

;-)

The New York Times, February 28, 2008:

President Bush was asked whether he agreed with Senator Barack Obama that the United States would be better off if the president were willing to hold direct talks with leaders of countries like Iran and Cuba.

Though the president has generally shied away from commenting directly on the presidential campaign, he launched immediately into a vigorous criticism of Mr. Obama's idea.

"Embracing a tyrant?" he asked, seeming worked up at the idea. "It'll send the wrong message. It'll send a discouraging message to those who wonder if America will continue to work for the freedom of prisoners, it'll give great status to those who have suppressed human rights and human dignity."

The Washington Post, February 28, 2008:

More than one in 100 adult Americans is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released today.

I think that's what chapped my ass about the "in public" bit from the press conference. The guy is a snotty little frat-boy child of privilege who thinks he's king of the world.

And what galls is - for the time being at least - he's right.

You do realise The Major's a parody troll, jes?

1. grab bottle

2. twist neck

3. enjoy

Grazie a Dio è venerdì.

see under Sadr, Moqtada al-

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

even if you do get a Mac, you gotta back your files up

I'll run the risk of starting a platform flame war in comments and add this plug for the Mac: Time Machine makes backing up (and restoring) files very easy, even for non-propellerheads.

The key to backing up is doing it consistently, and the only reason to have backups is the ability to easily restore files you've lost. Time Machine is easy to set up, and it just runs in the background unobtrusively.

</macwhoring>

I don't really mind much when this blog veers off into aimless bickering, especially since some can make it so entertaining at the same time.

I do mind a bit from time to time, but it's a personal thing. Adult child of alcoholics, and all that. I just tend to hit the road and let the tough kids play... ;-)

I do find the tussles amusing quite often, though. You guys give good bicker!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/01/ricin.hotel/

What kind of doofus anarchist uses a "textbook?"

Back in the day we did it da capo.