Free Republic

If a lawyer can sue a surgeon for damage should the law not allow a defendent to sue the plaintiff's lawyer for bringing unjustified (strategic) litigation. I believe the legal argument against this is that a lawyer should be free to do his best unencumbered by worry but if this is not an important enough argument for a surgeon I do not think it is important enough for a lawyer.

The South was trying to take slaves out of US jursidiction, which probably would have meant prolonging their bondage. The Civil war was not primarily about ending slavery but this was nonetheless a, to some extent unstated, secondary objective without which far fewer northerners would have been willing to fight.

By comparison in the War of Independance slavery was a very minor issue. Britain may have had it's abolition society by 1774 but it was hardly government policy by 1776. Had the revolution been delayed until 1807 then slavery would have been a major issue & the balance of right would have shifted to the British side. Equally had it been delayed that long it is unlikely that the northeren colonies would, by then, have supported an independance joined to slaveholding states.

When it comes down to it Europeans of all flavours dislike the EU. Every time any country holds a referendum on anything to do with it & all respectable politicians campaign stongly for it, they either lose or win by about 1%. If you look at the early history of the European movement (or the Bilderberg group - pretty much the same thing) you will see the CIA was funneling money to them - the idea has never had to survive on it's own. Incidentally if the Germans are feeling guilty about Adolf they have a funny way of showing it. As open Nazis like Tudjman (Croatia) & Izetbegovic (Bosnia & the SS) can attest. There is a significant minority in Britain who would much prefer Nafta, if offered>

Koyoto is not the answer but we should not pretend that global warming is not a genuine question. Firstly there should be more research to see if anything is happening & if so how much. Secondly there should be some serious preparations doing something. There has been research on stimulating plankton growth, orbital shades & my personal favourite - paying airlines to drop off unburned carbon/dust in the stratosphere. Most "ecologists" have an idealogical opposition to a pro-active response.

Since Albania barely has a government, or indeed an economy, & the Kosovo "assembly" is run by thieves, drug runners & pimps the only part of this story which is of any importance is the bit about the world bank being willing to pay. Legally, of course, Kosovo is still Yugoslav but then legally (Clause 1 Sect 1 Helsinki Treaty) we are legally obliged to "take no action against the territorial integrity or unity" of any signatory including Yugoslavia, so I guess legality isn't really a consideration.

If the cockpit has a locked door openable only from the inside (like most banks) it is impossible to hijack a plane. It is possible for a suicide bomber to destroy it, but neither a pilot as sheriff, or anything else, will stop that.

"Hitler's new European Order can be justified by the need to be rid of the Jews" Franjo Tudjman, Croatian leader shortly before coming to power. A few years later Clinton sent soldiers to provide Tudjman's militia with "democracy training" (really) & de facto organise the Krajina holocaust. With the full resources of the State Dept advising him there is no possibility that Clinton didn't know what his friend stood for.