A Holiday Dog

Every year about this time, the amount of goods and services produced in this great land of ours, well, slackens. And this is also true in the blogosphere, at least the part that Spot inhabits. Well, okay, maybe it's just Spot. Anyway, Spot confesses that he is a Holiday Dog. That is why his posting has been spotty--although his ear for the pun remains undiminished!

In the closing weeks of the year, boys and girls, Spot would like to return to a favorite topic: intolerance in general and religious intolerance in particular. Although he doesn't have any more for you today, Spot would like you to consider the following remarks, made by Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street after he returned from his recent trip to meet with President Bush:

The prime minister said he believed it was the duty of all immigrants to embrace those values [belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage]. "Our tolerance is part of what makes Britain, Britain. So conform to it, or don't come here," he said. [italics are Spot's]

The UK doesn't have a First Amendment, boys and girls, but there are more Establishment and Free Exercise issues contained in that one sentence than you can shake Spot's fetching stick at.