Sidelights.(Brief Article)

Anti-war protesters in La Habra, California destroyed flags, flowers and patriotic signs at a 9/11 memorial that residents had erected soon after the terrorist attacks.... In a piece in the Guardian on left-wing opposition to the war in Iraq, Julie Birchill observes that if "you really think it's better for more people to die over decades under a tyrannical regime than for fewer people to die during a brief attack by an outside power, you're really weird and nationalistic and not any sort of socialist that I recognize."

In England, a program that encourages underage teenagers to experiment with oral sex is being funded by the nation's Departments of Health and Education. The program is intended to reduce promiscuity.

390,000 people listed their religion as "Jedi" on the British census.

French professor Francois Heisbourg on how France views America: "The biblical references in politics, the division of the world between good and evil, these are things that we simply don't get." ... Andrew Sullivan asks "If the French refuse to enforce a resolution they signed, why is that a sign of incompetence on the part of the Bush administration?"

U2 singer Bono tells a British paper that "America has no experience with terrorism or even with war. In Europe, we know a little bit more about these things." Bono has been nominated for a 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.

Eighty percent of Americans polled by Gallup said no entertainer would change their minds on political issues. Sixty-five percent of those polled said there have been times when a celebrity's position made them less likely to go see that person's work. Senator John McCain recently described Hollywood as "Washington for the simpleminded."

Actor Vince Vaughn told USA Today that when he was in Europe, "one in three conversations wound up the same way, basically that `America is the devil.' So I'd ask folks to think about the Marshall Plan a bit and get back to me." ... The United Kingdom hopes to convene a special emergency summit to discuss anti-Americanism and its effects on the ...