Happy 4th of July!

The best part about being out of the country on Independence Day is that you wish you were home even more. (At least, it works that way for me.)

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"In my opinion a few pacifists are inwardly pro-Nazi, and extremist left-wing parties will inevitably contain Fascist spies. The important thing is to discover which individuals are honest and which are not, and the usual blanket accusation merely makes this more difficult. The atmosphere of hatred in which controversy is conducted blinds people to considerations of this kind. To admit that an opponent might be both honest and intelligent is felt to be intolerable. It is more immediately satisfying to shout that he is a fool or a scoundrel, or both, than to find out what he is really like. It is this habit of mind, among other things, that has made political prediction in our time so remarkably unsuccessful."

- George Orwell, quoted by Eugene Volokh As they say, read the whole thing.

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One of the unexpected nice things about the trip (which I will say more about later) was seeing Norwegian flags flying just about *everywhere*. No matter who we talked to, they like their country quite a bit, in the healthy 'yah! we're great' way that doesn't depend on running anyone down.

Lots of great things on this trip - seeing cool movies with friends, great hiking, beautiful countryside, holy places, all that. No writing, but the sort of experiences that writing comes out of.

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Speaking of flying the flag - i09 has an article on American Superheroes. It misses out on Martha Washington of Frank Miller's Give Me Liberty, though.

Traveling again tomorrow.