'Cogent' was not intended to be mocking. Okay, it had a small undertone of mock, but it meant what it said. As any Roman could point out, it has the same root as 'cogitate', which you're obviously good at. The old cog-wheels haven't fallen off the war-wagon yet.

I agree, of course, that modern civilized nations don't invade one another anymore. Sometimes (Falklands/Malvinas) they fight over a piece of colonial turf. But even that sort of thing is on the way out.

In some current cases of so-called 'failed states' - Somalia being the obvious example - I don't think it makes sense to talk of 'nations' at all, even if they have a nominal UN seat. No central government, nobody to negotiate with, not even any ethnic unity -- just warlords and whatever they can grab.

As for the USA/Canada border, didn't some faction of the Irish Republican Brotherhood/Army try to attack 'England' in the 1870s by launching an invasion from upstate New York? Buffalo, maybe? I could be wrong. And anyhow, they never reached England.

I watched a documentary last night about the start of World War I -- archive footage of crowds cheering in various nations and empires. The bloodlust -- or the innocence, or some weird combination of both -- is shocking by today's standards.

Americans may have actually understood this before anyone else, as the civil war was the first large-scale industrial-age conflict, with trains, machine guns, high explosives, mass casualties, and the rest. Europe had to wait until the Somme to see what it was like.

And - one last point - in many countries, I think, the same atavistic urges existed in 1914 ... but old-fashioned nationalism prevented people from seeing how alike they were to the 'enemy'. For example, Padraig Pearse (poet, extreme nationalist, leader of 1916 'Easter Rising' in Dublin) and Rupert Brooke (English 'war poet' killed during WW1) said almost identical things about the beauty of war, the manliness of young males, the cleansing effect of battle on an effete civilization, and so on. Utter tosh, of course: romanticism at its most dangerous. But young males still get suckered by that kind of thing.

I think we are living at a time of relative exception to the general rule here though. Throughout history countries have invaded each other for one reason or another. The A-Bomb has now made the price of doing so very costly indeed, but I would not rule out a global conflict in the near future over the world's remaining oil supplies or if global warming really bites hard, countries will be fighting for arable land just like the good old days.

If it is a choice between definite starvation or launching an attack and seeing if the enemy has the guts to go nuclear or not then I suspect I know what the decision will be.

As long as we aren't talking a war of total extermination, I think it is likely two nuclear nations could fight conventionally without pushing the button.

My front runners for this would be India and Pakistan and Russian and China.

This is because as global warming takes hold, China will lose vast amounts of arable land and areas of Russia which are today too cold for crops will become hospitable and very much more desirable.

So you don't think of me as a one dimensional caricature, I think All Quiet On the Western Front is beyond outstanding, and does a great job exposing the stupidity of the romanticizing of war.

So there were about 40 hacks, journos, critics etc lined up at one end of the room, and the entire Naked Gun entourage - about ten of 'em, directors, producers, stars, Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla, etc - sitting at the other end behind a pile of microphones and tape recorders. I used to use a minicassette that needed a new tape every 15 mins, so I had an excuse to keep going back to the star end of the room and fiddle with my equipment.

In hindsight, there's one really ironic thing in all this. The movie company flew *everyone* in from Hollywood -- I don't think I'd ever seen such an assembly of cast and crew. But they left out one lead actor - they reckoned nobody in Europe would have heard of OJ Simpson.

MostlyAverageJoe won #7, #15, & #23
Apollo33 won #11 and #19
I won #8 & #24, (snoozing thru #16).

But MAJ got #20 as well, ruining the pattern. And SwitchingQuylthulg's two wins come 12 places apart ...

I would never think of you as a caricature, never mind one with so few dimensions. And likewise, I hope.

Where we differ, perhaps, is that I'm deeply suspicious of words/concepts like 'duty', 'flag', 'honor', 'country' etc in just about any context. I don't think of them as noble - more like push-buttons for mass hypnotism.

heh

<All the badges, flags, and emblems...

Looks like we bit off, more, than

We could chew>

"You gotta get in, to get out.."

"Wouldn't it be easier to put the whole country on stilts?"

I wrote something recently about this - in the 19th century there were still huge historical murals commemorating the likes of Nelson and Wellington. A Corkman - whatever that is - named Daniel Maclise did some extra-big ones for Westminster at the behest of Prince Albert.

Great word, that. "I say, old chap, could I possibly behest a wee favour from you?" -- "Well now, yer majesty, since it's yourself that's doing the behesting ..."

Anyhow (gist of article) historical romantic painting got chucked out when modernism arrived, and all we have left is gable-end propaganda murals in places like Belfast.

Sic transit gloria mundi. (Latin for "Gloria was sick in a transit van on Monday" ... )

Gloria and Van. Spooky, almost, innit? But spookiness is at home in Frogspawn and falls under the rubric of <Saint Dom's Purview>.

Last week, dioxin contamination in a 'pig processing plant' led to a recall of all bacon products. Entire sausages were binned. So many hams were destroyed that the TV news ran out of political pundits and spokespersons.

As a non-bacon consumer, I could smile wryly at this, along with the Muslims, the Jews, and the Vegans.

But this week they've gone further. They've recalled <bottled spring water> from supermarkets. Apparently somebody accidentally added something other than H2O.

This is *famine*, pomo-style. Even I can only go so long without water. Heaven forfend, I might have to go back to drinking the stuff that comes out of taps, or faucets, or whatever they are.

As for buttered bread, I prefer Swedish rye bread, thank you. It hasn't been banned or binned yet.

*sigh*

<King Richard> is dead unfortunately. But in highschool I got to listen to a recording of him reading <The Ryme of the Ancient Squab> and I liked it so much they let me dub it and take him home.

He's certainly a better narrator than poor old Canadian stalwart <James T. Kirk>, who, though always well-meant, has ruined one too many <Astrophysics Documentaries> for me.

I like the ones best where they just get an anonymous guy with an English accent and most of the "audio" in the show is actual scientists dumbing things down so that I can almost understand them.

This is the <Squabmus Holiday> but that means <sighs> as well as <lows>. Please pass on my prayers and well wishing to you and your compadres in this tough economic break for <Erie> during times that are already tough for most.

Oh and also, wishes of celebration!!

For an, ehh, innaresting debate on happy hols and festive flaming, check out some of the kibitzes at Clemens vs Eisenschmidt, 1890. Somebody, methinks, is a few jerks short of a cracker.

I stuck my pedantic 'ore' in, two.

<Dom> brilliant find....

You *are* aware that you "answered" a post that was TWO YEARS old, right?

<jackmandoo: <Asstard> I find that offensive and would greatly appreciate if you said Happy Holidays instead. We're celebrating the birthday of some wacko 2000 years ago running around a village claming to be the son of God. I celebrate Festivis>

HAHAHAH <Festivus> is what <George Costanza's> father celebrates on <Seinfeld>

HAHAHAHAHA

<Festivus challenges>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA