> But it is still better having some cop
> on the beat, even if he's fat, stupid, ignorant,
> drunk, and helpless in front of a halfway real menace
> -- than none at all.
Not at all. The choice is between a psychotic mass murderer, a.k.a. the Texas Chainsaw Empire (it's scary to think of how closely Hooper's horror classic foretold the bloodthirst of the Bush clan) and the Eurocorps. The EU spends maybe $220 billion a year on its military, around 2% of GDP, plenty for defense. (The figure is bumped up a bit by UK and France, which still have occasional delusions of thermonuclear grandeur, the rest of Europe spends 1.5% of GDP.) Bring on the twelve stars, I say.
-- DRR