Prof Scruton & katievs:Well, truly & righteously said -- both of you.

Well, not THAT old.  You quote Kipling's famous poem. Here's a bigger piece:

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld

You never get rid of the Dane.

This is another lurker waiting -- praying -- for more Long/Goldberg/Steyn podcasts.

One of the great political ironies is that it was Louis Brandeis who coined the phrase "right to be left alone."  Given that Brandeis is one of the progenitors of the Progressive Movement, it's clear he didn't really mean it.  Here's hoping we get a government that means it.

The real test question is whether you know why American judges wear black instead of scarlet & ermine.  Hint: Queen Anne is involved.

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"

One of my father's oft-stated aphorisms:

"If you find your self in Hell just because you followed the road paved with good intentions, where you're at is still Hell -- and you deserve to be there.  You are responsible for the pernicious outcomes of your good intentions."

Unless, of course, you are a Democrat.

So, Turkey is a NATO ally, right?  An attack upon one is an attack upon all, right?  If those tanks cross the border, NATO will do, what?

I love the resort to a "presumption of innocence."  That presumption, of course, is one of those disdained Anglo-Saxon notions nonexistent in French law.  And disdained by the French elites.  If the presumption of innocence creeps in to continental culture, like le weekend and le car, then perhaps we can hope.