I heard this story on the radio yesterday -- that British swans were turning pink and some American scientists found a cure -- and what struck me and made me laugh is that the swans on the Thames river belong to the Queen, because apparently in the 12th century the Crown claimed ownership. Ha! Royalty is so weird.

I'm reminded of my Swedish class; our teacher used to organize these debates about social issues, and they were always a lot of fun. But I'll never forget the time she tried to divide the class to argue for and against having a royal family. No one could think of a single reason to argue for it! So we ended up as a class debating the teacher. We kept asking her how a people who are so intense about equality and lagom could be content to pay up to 60% of their income in taxes while another family got a free ride. You see this dress Victoria is wearing? You paid for it! Our teacher clearly didn't understand our protestations, saying that Swedes liked the royals and thought it was a good tradition. But she didn't get any takers among the Americans to argue for royalty.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:47 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I think the Pope should've chosen his words more carefully when he said on Easter that "nothing positive comes from Iraq." Tell that to the women Uday raped, the children who were released from prison, and the girls who are going to school for the first time. Noel of Cold Fury reminds us that the Pope was once a forced member of the Hitler Youth; maybe he'd do well to remember what American sacrifice can achieve. Michael Novak thinks that the Pope is having a hard time transcending his European outlook on the world, and writes:

The Coalition forces cannot oblige Iraq to form a successful, patient, slowly maturing democracy. But the Coaliltion forces are giving the people of Iraq the chance to do so — a rare and precious chance in the Arab world of the last one hundred years. Maybe the vision will not succeed. But do not say that the vision itself was not positive. It was, indeed, noble, and carried out with much self-sacrifice, heroism, and devotion to others. Many Coalition forces willingly laid down their lives for the liberty and human rights of people who had earlier been strangers to them. Do not, dear European friends, contemn nor trivialize these generous sacrifices.

Posted by: Sarah at 04:43 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Man this reminds me of a story that my fiances priest told me (I think to butter up the atheist in me): he said that a priest friend of his was in Rome and met Prince Phillip (the Queen's hubs) at a gathering honoring the visit of the queen to Rome. And Prince Phillip asked the priest what he was doing in Rome, and the priest said he was working on some Vatican conference about marriage. And so Prince Phillip apparently replied in true Prince Phillip foot in mouth fashion: "No offense, but what do a bunch of guys who have never f**ked a woman, know about marriage?" *Sigh* So my fiance's priest only said "effed", but I thought it was fabulous...really buttered me up to having the Catholic marrigae.

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at April 11, 2007 07:47 AM (deur4)

2 Great observation! Funny, the Dems are actually touting this comment by the Pope -- not that they listen to his opinion on other matters... Like life issues.

Posted by: Nancy at April 11, 2007 11:41 AM (8i2KG)

3 fuck the pope. and in addition, fuck american involvement in iraq. it's bullshit to think that anything america does with its army in iraq will come to any good for any muslim woman there. It's. About. The. Oil. Period.

Posted by: Will at April 11, 2007 10:55 PM (soQkB)

4 On. Your. Period. Maybe.

Posted by: Noel at April 12, 2007 12:38 PM (JQe3J)

5 If. I. Say. It. With. Bad. Punctuation. It. Will. Be. True. It's. MAAAAAAAAGIC.

Posted by: Patrick Chester at April 13, 2007 10:12 AM (MKaa5)

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