Lt. Aldo Raine Would Sure As Hell Not Have Released al-Megrahi

Uh oh. The Scots-Irish and the Scots are falling out over terrorism. I don't even need to ask my relatives where they stand on this issue.

The Megrahi affair has highlighted the sometimes ambivalent relations between Americans and Scots. Millions of Americans claim Scottish descent and sociologists regard the Scots-Ulster heritage as a key ingredient of US culture, particularly in the rural south.

A Friends of Scotland caucus, with its own tartan, has 50 members in the US congress. Its leaders were in Scotland last week at the invitation of the Salmond government.

In Scotland itself, nationalists who include Mr Salmond have, however, criticised the folksy “whisky-and-shortbread” image of Scotland among their American cousins.

[Speaking of Inglourious Basterds, did any of you notice the theme music from The Battle of Algiers? It starts playing when they bust Hugo Stiglitz out of jail. One of the reason I love Tarantino is because of those little nods to classic movies, most of which I am sure I miss.]