Interesting book review in the Washington Post about how history textbooks from around the world say startingly different things about U.S. history. In itself, I guess, that is not too startling, but this article echoes the book's thesis (called History Lessons) that the texts are too insular and nationalistic. Perhaps, but that seems to miss the whole point of who is writing these texts, usually well-known and prosperous history professors. Which makes one wonder about Canadian historians:

According to Canadian texts (six are cited), the United States planned to conquer and annex Canada during the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and at various points in between. During the Cold War, the United States repeatedly bullied Canada into supporting its aggressive military policies. Canadian officials hoped that NATO would evolve into a North Atlantic community that would act as a counterweight to U.S. influence in Canada, but in vain: Canadian governments had to toe the U.S. line or suffer humiliation. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker, concerned that Kennedy's belligerence might lead to a nuclear war, waited three days before announcing that Canadian forces had gone on the alert. In the next election, the Americans used their influence to topple the truculent prime minister. Diefenbaker's successor, Lester Pearson, aligned Canada more closely with the United States, but in 1965 he annoyed Lyndon Johnson by calling for a bombing pause and a negotiated settlement to the Vietnam War. In a meeting after the speech, Johnson grabbed Pearson by the lapels and shouted, "You pissed on my rug."

And you wonder why young Canadians don't like us.

Just when you'd think Anglican bishops would have far better things to do with their time and pulpit (like save the Communion from schism perhaps), one bishop wants Britons to stop singing "I Vow To Thee My Country" because It's saying my country right or wrong. I don't think anybody could actually say they could adopt an approach whereby they said they would not ask any questions of their government and their policies and so on ... The government under the Queen in this country is actually the representation of this country and it has all the... echoes of 1930s nationalism in Germany and some of the nastier aspects of right wing republicanism in the United States. I'll leave aside the anti-American barb, because it makes absolutely zero sense. Bereft of any historical perspective or common sense, the bishop apparently sees no qualitative difference between Weimer Germany and 2004 Britain. It's all of the same cloth to him. Here's the hymn (listen here), judge for yourself:

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love:
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

Shocking, isn't it? Such reckless language, such violent imagery...

Global warming is killing grouse, and deep-sixing the "Glorious Twelfth." Right. Isn't it possible to have a damp summer and not have it mean apocalypse? I mean, it was cloudly here in Indiana yesterday, and I don't think it meant anything more than a passing cold front. We had a lot of snow two years ago in NH, and not as much this year. Must fluctuation always mean something global and nightmarish? Sometimes it just rains.

Remember Killington, Vermont? The town attempting to secede to New Hampshire because Vermont state taxes are too high? Add another. Dorset, Vermont is planning to join the secession movement.

Doesn't this make you want to visit Manhattan ... at least for one Tuesday ... the bowties (check), the cocktails (check), the Château Peyraguey and strawberries (I wish). Fogeys of the world unite!