Texas. Instead of leaving it alone, the US annexed Texas. We in the upper 49 would have been far, far better off to have left Texas alone, or in the hands of the Mexicans, or a French colony.

They even have a language of their own, unintelligible to ordinary Americans. Try to understand what George W. Bush is saying, for instance. What does "Mission Accomplished", or "Afghanistan is free of the Taliban", or "The United States is a peace-loving country" mean when spoken by a Texan? Not what it does in the upper 49.

If we'd have just followed Spain's example, and left that wart on someone else's hind end, we'd have been far, far better off. Spain ain't so dumb.

In fact, with "virtual" universes of computers, I wonder if we could annex Texas to Portugal in some virtual world? I think this Texas thing is a big part of the problem in the US.

(Said half in jest, with no content personal to anyone except GWB.)

Arf