They have large brains.
Two of my favourite contemporary commentators on American affairs, generally of state, are coincidentally (?) featured in today's
Independent.
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Back in June, when John Kerry was beginning to feel like a winner, we had a quick rendezvous on a rain-soaked runway in Aspen, Colorado, where he was scheduled to meet a harem of wealthy campaign contributors. I told him that Bush's vicious goons in the White House are perfectly capable of assassinating Nader and blaming it on him. His staff laughed, but the Secret Service men didn't. Kerry suggested I might make a good running mate, and we reminisced about trying to end the Vietnam War in 1972.
That was the year I first met him, at a riot on that elegant little street in front of the White House. He was yelling into a bullhorn and I was trying to throw a dead rat over a black-spike fence and on to the President's lawn. We were angry and righteous in those days, and there were millions of us. We kicked two chief executives out because they were stupid warmongers. We conquered Lyndon Johnson and we stomped on Richard Nixon - which wise people said was impossible, but so what? It was fun. We were warriors then, and our tribe was strong like a river. That river is still running. All we have to do is get out and vote, while it's still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House.
PJ O'Rourke
Which country should the United States invade next, and why?
Canada. It's close at hand. We're used to the weather. And, although we don't know much about internal Canadian politics, I think we're better informed about them than we were about the situation in Iraq. Plus, they have a nice ethnic conflict between the English- and French-speakers, which we could expect to erupt after an invasion.
Hobbits don't
News that Australian and Indonesian scientists have identified a new and completely unexpected species of human, which was only a metre high and had a small brain should not have surprised anybody.
We are used to
small-minded people here. And I'm not just referring to
petty politicians.
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