Every single Old European out there is rooting for Lance to get smoked, since he's won their big prize for the last four years in a row.

Eggs-zactly. I think Armstrong is to be commended as much for rising above the petty European bullshit (especially the French flavor) and refusing to be rattled by it as much as for whipping that international peleton four years in row after surviving cancer. Greg LeMond was better liked (though not by much) but once or twice made the mistake of answering the hyenas' provocations. It never helps, and Lance does better to just shut up and win. Oh, how sweet sweet sweet those four times he rode up the Champs E'Lysee to all that muted French applause.

Go Lance...

Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist
I don't think of the summer as a reading period, any more than any other season. I therefore never have anything to offer. The whole concept of beach and book-bag is multiply repellent to me. I hate holidays anyway.

Clare Short, politician
I have set myself the task of reading the Koran over the summer. I think the growing divide between the Muslim world and the west is unnecessary and a great threat to us all. I have started taking my mother to Mass on Sundays and am working my way through the Old Testament. It would be good to read the Koran at the same time. I hope I have the discipline to do so.
Buy the Bible at Amazon.co.uk
Buy the Koran at Amazon.co.uk

Well. We can all breathe a sigh of relief, Clare Short will sort out this "growing divide" for us by reading the Koran. I'll be looking forward to her set of proposals for bringing the jihadis under one big happy tent with the rest of us for a good old fashioned sing along.

Wonder how many of those other fellows are reading the Bible right now in the same spirit? Well, exactly. Why should they? After all, this is all our fault, anyway.

"It is insane that most businesses don't cater to people of size, from an economic point of view," said Mindy Sommers, who runs a Vermont-based Web magazine called Abundance, which she says receives 13,000 to 14,000 hits a week. "We have a lot of money. We are not a niche market anymore; we're very much mainstream."

THE mainstream going by the statistics, actually. Well, that's free enterprise. We await more resorts and getaways where other socially stigmatized demographic groups can go and let their hair down (resorts for the bald excepted).

Also attracting attention was the presence in court of Srba's present and former wives, who spoke with each other out loud and received a court reprimand for doing so.

Reminds me of that Czech film, Vrchni, prchni!, where Josef Abrham dresses like a waiter and collects money from people in restaurants to finance his various mistresses and illegitimate kids, in addition to his current family. At his sentencing three or four women stand up trying to catch his eye as he's led out, a few are holding up babies for him to see.

Back to Srba, now come the appeals and the re-assertions that he is being made a scapegoat etc. by other, more powerful forces. We'll see how the court handles this part of the unending process. Guy's got 30 million crowns (he saved it up on his government salary!), and he'll be willing to invest a good deal of that to remain outside of the crossbar hotel I would think.

Here's a reminder of what this is about. Be sure to see Jan Kavan's (the current distinguished President of the UN General Assembly to you and me) smug mug dismissing the whole charge against his former close aide as ridiculous.

The court didn't come to the same conclusion. (BTW, please let me know if you see any reactions from Kavan to this.)

This is too much: I got the above BBC link by Googling a picture of Srba. Do that and you get a page with five pictures of Srba, and one of Jan Kavan. The caption under Kavan's picture says "Srba a najemna vrazda? Ale no tak, to je i na me trosku silna vodka." (Srba and contract murder? That vodka seems a little too strong to me.) The vodka bit could be translated a few different ways I guess, but the sense is that the allegation seems too strong to be true.

After hearing this news, I wonder if the President of the UN General Assembly reached for the real vodka?

Exclusive Extracts From Harold Pinter’s New Book Of Poetry ‘Harold Pinter’s War’

Bum shit bollocks
And wank,
There goes that twat Bush
In a tank.

Arse, piss, wank
And poo,
Swearing in poems is easy
To do.

It’s anti-war, so it’s
Alright
To come up with something
Completely
Fucking
Arseing
Shite.

"Had it not been for Sen. Thurmond's helpfulness and guidance in 1972, I would never have sought election to the Senate. I am therefore one of millions around the world who on this day are aware they have lost a good and faithful friend." - former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.

If only...

...he once waved at Jimmy Carter's motorcade at an Air Force base in Germany, once shook hands with Senator Al Simpson at a University of Wyoming football game, once took a couple of shaky pictures of Mike Dukakis at an Alabama campaign stop, once heard Governor Bill Clinton make some remarks during a July 4th program at a church in North Little Rock, once watched Al Gore's motorcade go by on the campus of North Carolina State University, and once walked right past Sonny Bono on a sidewalk outside the Capitol building.

Link.

I went to see the Vice-President make a speech a few nights ago. He finished with a reference to the war in Iraq, telling his audience: "You did well - you have my thanks."

Were these troops or government officials he was addressing? Neither, in fact: the occasion was the annual dinner of the American Radio and Television Correspondents Association.

It's all very, very cosy. No wonder the BBC table was No 148. Next to the lavatories and the emergency exit.

But why are all American "journalists" so compliant, so docile, so trusting of anyone and everyone in authority? Easy:

Americans, remember, still go to church. For all their rhetoric of freedom, there is nevertheless an acceptance of a higher power here in the United States. And an acceptance, too, of unimpeachable motives.

I wonder if I should be reading the Independent more often. They seem so calm, so measured, so free of bias. The name itself says it all, doesn't it? How reassuring to know that there is a truly Independent voice out there with no sycophantic agenda to bend or sway the purity of its reporting. Sigh....

Advocates of whiteness studies -- most of whom are white liberals who hope to dismantle notions of race -- believe that white Americans are so accustomed to being part of a privileged majority they do not see themselves as part of a race.

Seem nutty? It's a nutty country. Or idiosynchratic. Or a mite susceptible to prolonged navel gazing.

But. But. Reading this article it occurred to me that this is the kind of introspection and self-questioning fostered by the education system in the US that does the most to differentiate it from the rest of the world. It's true that US students leave high school and in many cases college knowing less in aggregate than their European counterparts. [nb: Just ask any, any, European about it. For some reason, they are all experts on the state of American schools. Even those that have never been there nor read anything on the subject. It's amazing.] But I think young Americans are better trained in self-criticism, critical thinking, questioning assumptions, are more prone to change their minds on issues, more open to adventurous changes in career. The tendency to experiment in education in preference to the European style emphasizing rote learning has at least produced legions of people used to looking hard at themselves in the mirror when it comes to naming their cultural prejudices. I probably wouldn't take that class. But I'll resist the temptation to roll my eyes because I think it's a manifestation of a generally good impulse.

Finally, do have a look at some sober, thoughtful reflections on America's own unique style of interracial relations.

The anti-Euro campaign in Britain, which so ostentatiously waves the banner of "our history" seems, in fact, to be appallingly ignorant of it. Do we imagine that a few miles of dirty water truly separate us from the fate of our "continental" neighbours?

Or that we can remain indifferent to their attempt at a coalition? Name one disaster in British history that did not result from getting this wrong.

Can't think of one, myself. Can think of a lot of reasons to bemoan the fact that history is in fact nowhere in the picture in the whole of the European debate, apart from a few and sundry political figures piously clearing their throats with the rare and weak historical allusion. At its base, the opposition in Britain to the Euro comes down to tawdry zenophobia and idiotic and misplaced pride in tinny and mythical fairy tales of the plucky British, alone and defiant against a world of barbarians. Somebody should wake them up.

...the new law covers 20 types of online violation, including publishing articles that insult Islamic values, Iran's leadership, top clerics, revolutionary values and the ideas of late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Looks like most of the Iranian blogosphere, including our favorite Iranian girl, is batting 20 for 20 at this stage. Hehe..

Tuesday, June 10, 2003
A great day for freedom.
BBC world service on FM in Baghdad.

Some online publications run by nonprofessionals can be very influential and therefore damaging to the reputation of other people," Thorhallsson told me. "It may be precisely against these (kinds) of publications that there is a need to grant a remedy. It's true that it may look burdensome for a blogger to be obliged to grant a right of reply. Some have suggested that a solution could be that individuals could make a deal with their service providers to administer the right of reply. (What the f....?!? - ed.)

...

Eurobloggers who wish to use their real names may be out of luck. For better or for worse, Europe lacks a First Amendment and the respect for limited government, private property and free enterprise that America still enjoys.

Read this whole article. Having just voted on EU accession, it's worth pausing to reflect on the fundamental fact that all bureacracies spend an inordinate amount of time passing ill-conceived and unenforceable regulations simply to have something to do, never pausing to consider the effects. (Link via Andrew Sullivan.)

"I expected such a result. I had no doubts about the referendum result. The only question was the turnout," Klaus said.

Patronizing bastard, isn't he? So, Professor, if you were so sure about the extent of support in the country, i.e. 77% in favor, what does the turnout really matter?

Here is Klaus' game: of course he counted on the passage of the EU measure as the most likely outcome. By making clear his opposition, he is taking out insurance against what many would say is the high probability of serious difficulties over EU accession in the next few years to come. And there will be wise old uncle Vasek, catcalling from the sidelines (the castle), intoning his favorite mantras "I told you so" and "you all really should have listened to me." This also fortifies his alliance with the Communists, whose support will be crucial when the time comes to try and precipate the government's fall. In this respect I don't quite agree with the Final Word today which suggests that Klaus has suffered a pretty big setback. People's memories are short, and when it starts getting rough, Klaus will right there, reminding the public where the blame belongs.

The Prime Minister, meanwhile, comes off looking good at least for now, which must be a strange and wonderful new feeling for hiim. What's more, he is sound on history (it's his background, I believe), reminding us that the roots of these recent events reach directly back to world war II. I hope some of the teachers out there are big enough to overcome their latent old regime habits and point this out to their students.

Thanks to the Prague Monitor for all the links today.