Don't Mess with Laurence

The acerbic Texan is back. What's he doing, when he's not linking me? Grouching around beautifully and holding the line against linguistic corruption:

I write a lot on Command Post: Global War On Terror. Every now and then, a category pops up that I will crush like a whack-a-mole.

Someone changed "Palestinians" to "Palestine" yesterday. Nope. Not on my watch. Changed it back. When you can show me Al-Qaidaville on the map, then I'll believe that there's a Palestine. And Oz. And Mordor. And that Perfect place that seems to be full of Wallgreens.

Every now and then, a Lebanon appears. Sorry. No such thing as Lebanon anymore. Lebanon is a fully-annexed property of Syria. They're Syria's bitch. Merged it back. Sorry, Klinger. You'll have to settle for Toledo.

It's hard to argue, actually. But one of Laurence's own readers, Mark L., weighs in with this little datum:

Of course there is a Palestine. It is right here in Texas -- county seat of Anderson County. About 170 miles north-northeast of where you live, Laurence.

Best way to get there from where you live is up I-46 to SH-19 at Huntsville. Then up 19 to Palestine. When you hit Loop 256 take a right. Then go east on US84 a few miles to reach the Texas State Railroad, where you can catch a ride on a train pulled by a gen-u-ine steam locomotive.

When I lived there, half the time mail from the UK would end up getting routed through the PA first. Made for some interesting postmarks.

Of course if you get pulled over by a cop for speeding in Palestine, best tell him that you are in Pal-es-TEEN, rather than Pal-es-TINE. He might figgure you for a local and just give you a warning. Otherwise you'll give yourself away as an outsider.

I want to go back to Texas someday; I haven't seen nearly enough of it. Really—just the panhandle. And there's a lot of it to see.