#I'm back
3 messages in this thread
There's an LA-based Cantonese language station on Ku band (K-2, the NBC
satellite). The ads are hilarious.
All of those folks who dream of a Balkanized U.S. (there's a similar
movement among many Hawaiians) have never paid any attention to history. There
was a little thing called the American Civil War that settled the question of
whether one could leave the union once in.
Besides, think of what a precedent Aztlan would set. We would, of course,
then have to return it and Mexico to Spain….
It Ain't Gonna Happen. Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union are good
examples of why it just wouldn't be allowed here.
Canada, though, may be a different story.
If "balkanization" can ever be amusing, I have a favorite story…
When living in Ecuador, there was constant agitation for a division of the
country whereby the coastal area would become independant. This, of course,
stopped when oil was discovered to the East of the Andes in significant
quantities to qualify for OPEC membership.
The main battlefield for this conflict was sierra zone vs. coastal zone soccer
games, and the weapon of choice was the .66 liter beer bottle. When full, it
could be hurled at referees or players on the field, and when empty, was a nice
club for brawling in the cheap seats. I never heard of a fatality, but the
injuries were a boon for the ambulance companies that conveniently parked
outside of the stadiums (stadia?).
Of course, there is the famous Soccer War between Honduras and El Salvador in
the pre-civil war days, all over a disputed soccer game. Unfortunately, there
were deaths and invasionary forces in that one.
Ah, yes, I remember the soccer war.
And then there are the British soccer fans, who wage their own war game
after game, with injuries and sometimes deaths.
Sometimes I think we're lucky we have baseball and football here.