Christine -- so good to hear from you. Allow me to agree and disagree with you.
SI, IMO, has clearly taken a bad turn. I believe Bob's comments, while fairly reasonable, have cast a pall.
It's what happens when bigness comes to bidness. It's what happens when Starbucks replaces the old neighborhood place run by some half crazy guy with B.O., that served shitty coffee. We may have wished for something else but we miss it.
I watch no "Raslin'" on TV. My best friend in college was an NCAA runner-up. I don't begrudge a legit wrestler who cashes in on the craze. Maybe it's like SI going from classic to new-and-improved because that's where the money is?
Re global warming -- I'm not going back to check what I said. Too late for research. I THINK my reference was actually a whine about the fact that we had three weeks of winter on Hilton Head this year v. zero winter last year.
Beyond that -- I believe we ARE experiencing global warming.
Every couple of years I spend a month or two hiking the Alps and it is starkly evident that glaciers are shrinking. On the other hand, I think this has NOTHING to do with the activity of man.
In any case -- So what?
It astounds me that the same ardent environmentalists who regard every footprint in the forest as a call to arms, actually want to freeze nature in it's present (or some more desirable) state. NOTHING could be more UNnatural.
Re the Irish. I've long been in favor of driving the Brits out by force. How strange that the most clever of the crown's subjects should be the only ones still in harness.
On the other hand, regardless of the cause, regardless of the offense, regardless of the faith or the color, a terrorist is cowardly scum. Whether the bomb is in an airplane or a car parked by a market, the man (or woman) who put it there should rot in hell (or -- an English prison if that is worse). This view may be argued by others or dismissed by a super-sovereign court but it will remain my view, my ethic, my morality.
FWIW, I view our bombing of Serbia/Kosovo a terrorist and stupid act.
Re Iraq -- your country's actions result from sanctions imposed at the end of the Gulf War. Please remember this the next time a pol demands that we fight bad behavior with sanctions and that we give sanctions time to work.
I prefer to persist in the belief that you and I and Mr Christine could thoroughly enjoy a few beers together in spite of a bit of shouting.
All the best,
Mike |
