Not surprising that the strip of deeper red is in the white rural south, but a number of demographic areas really stood out sharply:

* The direct correlation between college degree and depth of blue and indirect correlation with depth of red, to the point where the citzens of the deepest blue counties were 2.5 times more likely to have college degrees than the deepest red.

* Similar correlations on population density, with reverse trends on income under $30,000 and Southern Baptist proportion.

* Perhaps starkest of all is an old favorite of mine, population growth: only the deepest red were, on average, stagnant from a growth perspective.

The depth of color on the chart is only change vs 2004–it was already understood that population density correlates to democrats along with wealth and education–but what this data means is, when the vast and overwhelming majority of American counties trended toward a Black man and away from Bush’s failed policies, there is a silent and increasingly irrelevant minority of poor, white, rural, Southern, Christian, undereducated voters in isolated stagnant counties who strongly resist such change.

This could mean that rather than asking “what’s the matter with Kansas?” future democrats may well be able to ask, “so what?”

Meanwhile, in Denmark, prosecutions are humming right along, with two successful prosecutions of suspected suicide bombers.

Ditto, in Britain, where “Britain has prosecuted suspects in all the major terrorist attacks in the country since 2005 [and] has achieved a 90 percent conviction rate.”

So what explains this difference? According to one high-ranking former British intelligence agent:

The response to 9/11 was “a huge overreaction”, she says. “You know, it was another terrorist incident. It was huge, and horrible, and seemed worse because we all watched it unfold on television. So yes, 9/11 was bigger, but not … not …” Not qualitatively different? “No. That’s not how it struck me. I suppose I’d lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life, and this was, as far as I was concerned, another one.”

Rimington hopes President Bush’s successor will stop using the phrase “war on terror”. “It got us off on the wrong foot, because it made people think terrorism was something you could deal with by force of arms primarily. And from that flowed Guantánamo, and extraordinary rendition, and …” And Iraq, I suggest. “Well yes,” she says drily. “Iraq.”

Next up on the America First chronicles: “US infant mortality rate now worse than 28 other countries ”

1. Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple (1973)

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana (1991)

3. Walk This Way – Aerosmith (1975)

4. Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix (1967)

5. Sweet Child O Mine – Guns N’ Roses (1987)

6. Paradise City – Guns N’ Roses (1987)

7. Ace Of Spades – Motorhead (1980)

8. Enter Sandman – Metallica (1991)

9. Under The Bridge – Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1992)

10. Welcome To The Jungle – Guns N’ Roses (1987)

11. Run To The Hills – Iron Maiden (1982)

12. Walk – Pantera (1992)

13. Johnny Be Goode – Chuck Berry (1958)

14. Back In Black – AC/DC (1980)

15. Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin (1970)

16. Wake Up – Rage Against The Machine (1992)

17. Highway to Hell – AC/DC (1979)

18. My Generation – The Who (1965)

19. 7 Nation Army – The White Stripes (2003)

20. Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf (1968)

21. Give It Away – Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1991)

22. Paranoid – Black Sabbath (1970)

23. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) – Jimi Hendrix (1967)

24. Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor (1982)

25. Money For Nothing – Dire Straits (1984)

• The Replacements – Left Of The Dial
• Mercy Rule -Spark
• Pavement – Summer Babe
• Broken Social Scene – Major Label Debut (Fast)
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Little Dawn

Happily stumbled across a new favorite blog, one-minute sketches of subway commuters.

If you like Granddaddy, you’ll love Sono Oto.