However, this condition is historically and geographically quite a rarity, even exotic. It may well prove out to be a transient paranthesis. Judging by the debate up here, surprisingly and chillingly many are prepared to sell it down the river by issuing an official apology from the gov't for what a private magazine has printed.
WTF? If European civilization has a founding father, it's either Jesus or Socrates, depending on your point of view. Both were executed by the state for subversive blasphemy. In the meantime we have had the so-called Middle Ages, the Reneissance, and the Enlightenment, followed by renewed onslaughts of oppression, and finally, the freedom we enjoy today. Surely we haven't come all this way just to sell out the saving grace of European culture for temporary convenience and the privilege of selling dairy products to despicable dictatorships.
Sorry if I sound high-strung. The world's northernmost desert wind.
I've been lurking here for a while and this is my first post so let me say that myself and many of my friends look to Europe for encouragement and admire the freedoms you enjoy. Not to mention the train system. "I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson
