WOW

The Dutch are an amazing and fascinating people. Terror strikes (Murder of Theo Van Gogh and subsequent grenade wars in the streets)....then there is a lot of extreme right backlash and hand wringing on the part of the everyday citizen who finally feels comfortable, but still shy, saying that they hate the Moroccans and Arabs and wish they didn't live in the their neighborhoods and that things had gone "too far."

Yet, their government as Prsident of the EU starts the path to Turkish membership. Can we trade governments? we'll throw in cash. A government that actually doesn't pander to the lowest common denominator...I can't even imagine that happening here anymore, and that's sad.

I found this too. Its an example of why I too am ambivalent about the Turks for my own reasons. 1) they deserve to be in the EU for historic reasons 2) they are horrible soccer fans and pretending to not hate their national side was difficult during the US world cup 3) my old landlord in Washington was a founding member of the US Turkish pride society...he was also a slime-ball who has a basement full of leftover furniture in a huge DC mansion. He showed me a scar on his leg fromVietnam and talked about Israel when we first met.

But I digress, good for Turkey and good for the EU!! Huzzah! Why do I suspect that in nine years the EU will have a new immigration policy worked out?