JamieZ

The USA v Germany match has been pacey and end-to-end and is shaping up to be worthy of the two top-ranked teams. Germany's keeper has already made key goal-line and breakaway saves. USA edging it on the balance of play, but barely.

I've been thinking about trying them. Do you have a preferred type/brand?

I know this is going back a couple of pages, but I wanted to agree with everyone on the Florence Welch thing. I miss being able to go to the grocery store without some banshee wailing about her dog days being over. Leave me alone. Stop yelling at me. I just want to buy this milk and get on with my day.

Some Kate Bush strikes me that way, but not "Running Up That Hill". "Babooshka" makes me want to stab out my own ear drums. But I'm funny with Kate Bush—my reaction to her music is always very polar. I think "Cloudbusting" and some of her other music is magnificent, but then some of it is just God awful.

Thrilled to have him. I have nothing else to add to the discussion.

I've got a calf injury at the moment, as well, and it's turning into more of an issue than I'd anticipated. I figured a week or two off it and I could jump right back into things, but even cautious jogs have reaggravated it. I'm not sure whether I'm dealing with a muscle tear or ligament damage or what, but I may have to get it looked at. Running for me is as much about mental health as it is about physical health, so I hope I'm not laid up for too long. In the meantime, I should look into swimming or another alternative exercise.

But probably the opposite outcome.

I just wanted to make a note that I'd trade in all of my aforementioned Top 5 "Never Want To Hear Again" songs for the opportunity to never hear Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" ever again in my life.

The French couldn't have done much more than they did in this World Cup. What a loss that this was only a quarterfinal.

This match has been awesome.

Bit early for that isn't it, England haven't been knocked out yet! Oh, take my word for it. This is the final.

Anybody else watching the Women’s World Cup final between France and Germany?

Congratulations! You have homework. Please listen to each of the following and record your reactions in a one-page, double-spaced paper.

Is there anything ambiguous about this, taken from the Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union? "...A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that “Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,” and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety." If you read the secession declarations of various Southern states, you'll see there's very little room to argue this wasn't about slavery. States' rights? Sure, the states' right to protect slavery, especially as pertains to the establishment of new territories in the West. Here's a great article.

I'd be overjoyed to see all of those flags and statues torn down, all of those streets and landmarks renamed—but I fear that this focus on rebranding the South is going to distract from the real issue here, which is America's deep-seated race problem, something far more insidious and firmly-entrenched than some visible symbols of a remote historical past. And it's not a Southern legacy alone. You can make over the South to look more like the North, but America's race problem isn't a Southern issue—it's a national issue. The entire nation needs to take a look at itself, ask some difficult questions, and go through an even more difficult process of growth and maturation. I've never lived in the States and I see what you are saying but I'm not sure I agree. I don't think tearing down a few flags and renaming a few streets is going to solve the problem overnight but those streets are named after men who went to war to fight for slavery and those flags are they symbol of a nation which tried to exist so it could build an economy based on enslaving black people for physical labour. It's a spin on the clean trains program which was used to clean up NYC isn't it? The logic back then is that if you cleaned up graffiti on the subway then you remove the perception that the city is a crime ridden shithole or owned by a certain group of people that others find intimidating. Remove that imagery and the city can remove that perception. It can change a message which the very fabric of a place can display. The same can be done in the former Confederate states, remove that imagery and maybe you can chip away at an attitude which is perceived to be there. Some people might see that as Orwellian newspeak, others might see it as a necessary step on the way to dragging race relations into the 21st century. It won't solve things overnight. I can't emphasise that enough, but why shouldn't they try it? Does anybody really need to glorify the memory of guys who were basically fighting for an evil regime? Yeah, I don't think there's any disagreement there at all. I'm all for tearing down the flag. I'm just not for stopping when we get there, because that's where the real work starts.

Maybe not letting psyco's pack heat would be a good start. Until the Yankee gun laws are changed you are always going to get incidents like this. Couldn't realistically be done. That redneck boast "They'll take my guns when they prise them from my cold, dead hands" is a confident one. What could the government do when the voluntary hand-in fails? Send an already overstretched police to take them? Send the army against their own citizens? It's simply not feasible. I don't think gun control is a real solution to our country's race problem. I think it's an excellent solution to our country's "people won't stop shooting each other" problem. I agree we're past the point of easy solutions, but saying things like "It just won't work!" is no excuse not to try as far as I'm concerned.

I'd be overjoyed to see all of those flags and statues torn down, all of those streets and landmarks renamed—but I fear that this focus on rebranding the South is going to distract from the real issue here, which is America's deep-seated race problem, something far more insidious and firmly-entrenched than some visible symbols of a remote historical past. And it's not a Southern legacy alone. You can make over the South to look more like the North, but America's race problem isn't a Southern issue—it's a national issue. The entire nation needs to take a look at itself, ask some difficult questions, and go through an even more difficult process of growth and maturation.

Refused - Freedom

I like it as well.

The Norwegian women's team released this video in response to common criticism (cf. pages 1-7 of this thread) of the women's game. Not bad. Fair play to Norway.

Bang Gang - The Wolves Are Whispering

It wouldn't be very profitable, though. And how much of American policy comes down to what's profitable?