And now for somethng completely different: The Lupa Capitolina's not ancient, just really old.

Any of you who have been to Rome surely remember the statue of the she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, the founders of ancient Rome according to legend. The statue is a symbol of Rome.

The statue, known as the Lupa Capitolina, supposedly was 2,500 years old and Etruscan. Only it's not:

A statue symbolising the mythical origins and power of Rome, long thought to have been made around 500BC, has been found to date from the 1300s.

The statue depicts a she-wolf suckling Remus and his twin brother Romulus - who is said to have founded Rome.

The statue of the wolf was carbon-dated last year, but the test results have only now been made public.

The figures of Romulus and Remus have already been shown to be 15th Century additions to the statue.

In a front page article in the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, Rome's former top heritage official, Professor Adriano La Regina, said about 20 tests were carried out on the she-wolf at the University of Salerno.

He said the results of the tests gave a very precise indication that the statue was manufactured in the 13th century.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Manekin Piss remains a fitting symbol of Brussels, home base of the EU which continues to attempt to shove a constitution on countries which don't want it.



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"UNASUR - A South American EU?"

One of the pleasures of blogging is that it gives me the opportunity to come in contact with very interesting websites. A couple of hours ago I received an email from Adam Kott of the International Affairs Forum, which has recently completed a roundtable on UNASUR that explores the organization's potential to become a strong political and economic bloc similar to the European Union.

The forum participants are:
Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies,
Laura Carlsen, Center for International Policy
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Cato Institute
Francisco Panizza, London School of Economics
and Michael Shifter, Inter-American Dialogue

You can read their responses here: "UNASUR - A South American EU?". Each response is well thought-out and interesting.

I look forward to more of these forums. The website itself is an excellent resource on foreign affairs, too.



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Chavez threatens to stop oil sales to EU, EU says he "misunderstood"

Since Blogger seems to be having issues posting, you can find my latest article on Chavez at Newsvine

Ireland rejects EU reform treaty

Ireland rejects EU reform treaty

Voters in Ireland have rejected the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty in a referendum by 53.4% to 46.6%.

The vote is a major blow to leaders in the 27-nation EU, which requires all its members to ratify the treaty. Only Ireland has held a public vote.

The Baron has the graphic:


EU Referendum

...there is no way that the "colleagues" can get round this. Spin they might, but the fact is that, in the ONLY referendum on the treaty, the voters said Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

EU Referendum has more, much more.


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In this morning's podcast: Michael van der Galien

Today at 11Eastern we talk to Michael van der Galien also a BTR host, about how the Europeans view the US Presidential campaign.

Tomorrow at 5PM, we will continue the conversation on Sovereignty- Winners, Losers and who pays that we started last Sunday with Canadian bloggers Darcy of Dust My Broom and Meaghan and Charles of Somena Media.

Chat's open 15 minutes before the podcasts start, and the call-in number is (646) 652-2639. Join us!

Michelle as Hillary redux, and other posts from the FIHMYs

It's time for a Friends I Haven't Met Yet roundup:

The Anchoress says Michelle Obama is just Hillary redux, and The Anchoress is right.

Siggy tackles Confusion And The Crumbling Nation and hits the ball out of the ballpark while I mix my metaphors.

Laurie Kendrick comes across The Stamp of Disapproval.

Jeremayakovka quotes U. S. Grant.

Spanish Pundit has a bilingual post on why Kosovo's independence is not a good thing.

John Chappell ponders the news in Barcelona.

Nothing Is As Lovely As Global Warming On A Tuesday In February

Speaking of global warming, Gateway Pundit's got cold news. Tim Blair wants us to listen to the AAAS.

ShrinkWrapped opens the archive on The Arab Mind.

Mamacita goes shopping.



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Yesterday's podcast, and Gaddafi's water

Yesterday Siggy and I had the pleasure of talking to Erik Svane of No Pasaran.



(Yes, every time I post Erik's photo a couple of people email saying that he's easy on the eyes, so I'm happy to oblige.)

You can listen to the podcast here.

We started by mentioning Eugene Schlanger's excellent book of poems Wall Street Sonnets, which I highly recommend (and which you can buy at the Underbahn link if you live in the EU. American readers should buy it here). Underbahn is also the publisher of Houdna

Erik's written three books, La Bannière Étalée, and two General Leonardo graphic novels, all of which I hope will be available in English soon. Don't miss also Erik's essay on patriotism.

Erick recommends James W. Ceaser's book Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought

But as the conversation turned to Gaddafi's current trip to the EU, Siggy mentioned Gaddafi's big water project. Mind you, this is not new - but it carries huge implications to the region.

Here are some links:
Libya's Vast Pipe Dream Taps Into Desert's Ice Age Water

From a 2004 article in the NYT: Libya's Vast Pipe Dream Taps Into Desert's Ice Age Water

In one of the largest construction projects in the world, engineers are trying to "mine" ice age rainfall, now locked in the sandstone beneath the Sahara, and convey it to Libyan cities and farms along a vast waterworks.

The project is almost invisible, except when something goes wrong.
...
But the option that Colonel Qaddafi chose — the extensive pipeline and pumping system that bores into the earth to draw down nonrenewable reserves of fossil water — is now about half completed on a landscape twice the size of Texas and has been delivering water for more than a decade, with occasional interruptions for repairs.

And 2006 at the BBC: Libya's thirst for 'fossil water'

Libya had oil money to pay for the project, but it did not have the technical or engineering expertise for such a massive undertaking.

Foreign companies from South Korea, Turkey, Germany, Japan, the Philippines and the UK were invited to help.

It is impossible not to be impressed with the scale of the project
In September 1993, Phase I water from eastern well-fields at Sarir and Tazerbo reached Benghazi. Three years later, Phase II, bringing water to Tripoli from western well-fields at Jebel Hassouna, was completed.

Phase III which links the first two Phases is still under construction.


When it's finished, the Grand Omar Mukhtar will be Libya's largest man-made reservoir.

Siggy will be posting on this later on, I hope.

For now, go listen to the podcast. I'm sure you will enjoy it!



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Stop the Crescent Memorial blogburst, and today's items

At GM's Corner, Stop the Memorial Blogburst: Support Tom Tancredo’s call to scrap the crescent memorial
Here's the contact info:
Secretary Kempthorne's phone number is 202-208-7351.
Snail-mail: Hon. Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of Interior
Office of the Secretary
Rm. 6156, ms7229-MIB
1849 C St, NW
Washington, DC 20240-0001
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We're popular!
Now EU leaders are Doing the Sarkozy

In France "Sarkozy l'Américain" went from a derisive nickname to a compliment in the six months since his election. Speaking openly of his admiration for the U.S., the new President works closely with Washington on Iran, Kosovo and other issues. He vacationed in New Hampshire this summer. His moving address to a joint session of Congress last week sealed the rapprochement. Then this weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel paid the first visit by a German Chancellor to the Bush ranch in Crawford to talk about Iran's nuclear program.

So Monday night, in his first major speech on foreign policy since moving into 10 Downing Street, Mr. Brown sought to out-Sarkozy the Frenchman. "It is no secret that I am a lifelong admirer of America," he said in London. "I have no truck with anti-Americanism in Britain or elsewhere in Europe. I believe that our ties with America -- founded on values we share -- constitute our most important bilateral relationship." In noting the recent pro-U.S. tilt across the Channel, Mr. Brown said, "It is good for Britain, for Europe and for the wider world that today France and Germany and the European Union are building strong relationships with America."

That's what happens when George W. Bush squanders the good faith of the EUros...
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The Fraud That Is Benazir Bhutto, The Taliban And The Leftists Who Love Her
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You must be a legal resident to get a driver's license in Mexico
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Variety: Writers' Strike Rush Limbaugh's Fault?
Not to worry, they'll get around to blaming Bush soon enough.

"France is bankrupt", but not when it comes to Iran

French PM Fillon tells farmers 'France is broke'

France is bankrupt and can no longer afford to pay its workers generous salaries and subsidies, its prime minister has declared.

Francois Fillon made the undiplomatic outburst during a trip to the French island of Corsica, where farmers were demanding more government money.

"I am at the head of a state that is in a position of bankruptcy," he said.

The head of the European Central Bank agrees, and

has attacked France for being Europe's "number one spender".
Mr Trichet warned that in comparison to its GDP, the country was well on the way to spending much more than its European neighbours during 2007.

Sarko is pushing for deficit reform, which puts him at odds with the EU guidelines,

The French leader wants to cut taxes, a move that means France will breach a rule set by the EU on public deficits.

Mr Sarkozy argues France needs to cut taxes by 11bn euros (£7.5bn) to tackle its spiralling unemployment problem.

But Baron Bodissey notices a pattern here:

French politics seem to be much like American politics: as soon as anyone points out the damage done by excessive government spending, the Left is quick to cite the most recent tax cut as the source of the problem.

It’s the first commandment of Socialism: Thou shalt never, ever cut taxes.

In this case, it was a "centrist" who decried the tax cuts, but that only proves how much of the European "center" has been occupied by the Left.

In not unrelated news, Sarko is in New York this week, but before leaving Paris he an interview to the NYT/IHT, making himself absolutely clear:

For Mr. Sarkozy, the most burning issue is Iran's nuclear program. France’s position, he said, is clear: "No nuclear weapon for Iran, an arsenal of sanctions to convince them, negotiations, discussions, firmness. And I don't want to hear anything else that would not contribute usefully to the discussion today."

And he's not playing the Iranians' game:

He equally refused to choose between a nuclear-armed Iran and the use of force, saying, "It is exactly what the Iranian leaders want. I am not obliged to fall into this trap."

From the looks of this, Sarko's not going to issue empty threats. He's just going to do.

On a postscript,

The brusque demeanor and nonstop movement during the interview vanished during a brief photo session afterward in his office. At one point, he posed for a photograph with the two women who interviewed him, gripping his arms around their shoulders. "I have a good job," he said.

I wonder if he allows interviews by women bloggers...
----------------------------------------------------
In the no-news news, Schroeder, Chirac and Putin are in bed together.

Captain Ed is getting Iranian spam.



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Kouchner: "World Should Prepare for Possible War With Iran"

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview on RTL radio and LCI television,

"We must prepare for the worst," Kouchner said, adding: "The worst, sir, is war."

Le Monde (link in French) also mentions that the French armed services are preparing for such an eventuality:

"We are preparing ourselves by trying to put together plans that are the chiefs of staff's prerogative (but) that is not about to happen tomorrow."

An interesting aspect is that Germany is apparently also involved,

"We have decided to … prepare ourselves for possible sanctions outside the U.N. sanctions and which would be European sanctions. Our German friends proposed it. We discussed it a few days ago."

How will this translate in the upcoming UN summit?

We shall soon find out.

One thing is clear: Europe can not afford to have Iran armed with nuclear weapons. The Iranians have made themselves perfectly clear that they will use those weapons as soon as they get them.

Update, Monday 17 September:
Hardly surprising, Iran scorns French warning of war.


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Another sign that the surge is working

I was just visiting at Captain Ed's and look what I found: French Plan Engagement In Iraq.

Sure enough, straight from the Times of London,

France proclaimed its desire to help restore peace in Iraq after a visit yesterday to Baghdad by its Foreign Minister ended the four-year diplomatic freeze that followed the US-led invasion.

As Paris media hailed "The French return to Iraq", Bernard Kouchner concluded his three-day trip with a pledge that under President Sarkozy, France would no longer sit on the sidelines saying "we told you so".

The BBC has more:

France's disagreement with the US over Iraq was now in the past, he [French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner] said.

I knew that Kouchner had writte The Black Book of Saddam Hussein and all that, but to hear that the Sarkozy government is taking this very bold move is amazing. Not only because it signals a complete reversal of the UMP's Iraq policy of the Chirac years but also because Sarko is no fool and would not be siding with the losing team at this point in the game.

Still, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. As Ed correctly points out,

The UN route will likely be the only way in which Sarkozy can provide assistance to the US due to France's domestic politics, which will do little in practical terms.

And then, of course there's the bien pensant attitudes, such as the Times headline itself, "Paris vacates the moral high ground to give Washington a helping hand." I'd say it's more like, Paris finally reaches to moral high ground...

Lybia, France, the EU and the Middle East

Siggy of Sigmund Carl and Alfred, and Dymphna and Baron Bodissey of Gates of Vienna and I just completed today's podcast. I'll be blogging more about it later, but for now, please listen.

More dead from heat in government-controlled healthcare, this time in Hungary

The universal healthcare system in Hungary (PDF file) is financed through income tax and social-insurance taxes.

Maria just sent this: Hungary heatwave kills hundreds

Up to 500 people have died in the past week from a heatwave in Hungary, a top health official has said.
...
The daily mean temperature in the past week had reached 30C, she said.

In the southern city of Kiskunhalas, the temperature reached a record high of 41.9C.

Here in the USA, the elderly and frail move to Arizona and Florida, where they swim in cooled swimming pools and a 30C day (86oF) in the Summer is an invitation to have dinner on the veranda.

In 2003 15,000 elderly and frail people died during a heat wave in France. Many died in the emergency rooms waiting for someone to bring them water.

For more on socialized healthcare disasters, Socialized Healthcare has plenty.



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Iranian games

A brief round-up of Iranian news shows the games are on:

There's the video game,:
Iran's New Game: `Rescue Nuke Scientist'

An Iranian hard-line student group unveiled a new video game Monday that simulates an attempt to rescue two Iranian nuclear experts kidnapped by the U.S. military and held in Iraq and Israel.
...
"We tried to promote the idea of defense, sacrifice and martyrdom in this game," Fakhrian said.

Does that means that you win if you blow yourself up at the end? And what about the 72?

The real-life nuclear game:
IAEA, Iran agree visit at disputed reactor site

The EU energy game:
US criticises Turkey-Iran gas deal

The American-hostages-on-TV game:
Iran Puts Detained Scholars Before TV Cameras

The fashion game:
Iran police step up crackdown on unIslamic dress, yet again. Mannekins are not safe, either.

The currency game:
Iran Asks Japan to Pay Yen for Oil, Start Immediately

The new axis game:
Oiling the axis - Iran and Venezuela develop closer ties

Lest you think that all these games amount to a lot of fun, a lot of people don't agree with you.

Hitchens on Kurchner

When Hitchens is bad, he's awful, but when he's good, he's really good. And he's really good writing about The French Correction
The principled new foreign minister shows how much France has changed of late (h/t The Anchoress):

The single best symbol of the change in France is the appointment of Bernard Kouchner to the post of foreign minister. Had the Socialist Party won the election, it is highly unlikely that such a distinguished socialist would ever have been allowed through the doors of the Quai d'Orsay. (Yes, comrades, history actually is dialectical and paradoxical.) In the present climate of the United States, a man like Kouchner would be regarded as a neoconservative. He was a prominent figure in the leftist rebellion of 1968, before breaking with some of his earlier illusions and opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan—the true and original source of many of our woes in the Islamic world. The group he co-founded—Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières—was a pioneer in the highly necessary proclamation that left politics should always be anti-totalitarian. (His former counterpart, Joschka Fischer of Germany, also took a version of this view before Schröder's smirking Realpolitik became too much, and too popular in Germany, for him to withstand.)

His principles led Kouchner to defend two oppressed Muslim peoples—those of Yugoslavia and Iraqi Kurdistan—who were faced with extermination at the hands of two parties daring to call themselves socialist. The Serbian Socialist Party of Slobodan Milosevic and the Arab Baath Socialist Party of Saddam Hussein are at last receding into history, leaving behind them a legacy of utter stagnation, hysterical aggression, and mass graves. I personally find it satisfying that a French socialist was identified with both these victories. Kouchner was instrumental in altering French policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later in filling the position—between 1999 and 2001—of U.N. representative in liberated Kosovo. Prior even to that, he had been extremely active in calling attention to the genocidal policy of Saddam in Kurdistan and in helping to introduce Danielle Mitterrand, wife of the then-president of France, to the exemplary role that she played in opposing it. A few years ago, he wrote the introduction to the French edition of The Black Book of Saddam Hussein, a vitally important volume that educates readers in the pornographic nature of that regime: a nightmare government that is now widely considered by liberals to have been framed up by the Bush administration.

Erik Svane and I discussed Kurchner in last week's podcast. Erik stated,

"The world did really well in getting Sarkozy as President and Kouchner as Foreign Minister."

Speaking of Erik, he's back from Cannes and he's blogging, but not before getting General Leonardo in the right hands.

In a lighter mode,
Here's the picture of Erik again, for all of you who wrote saying you like it,

Compare and contrast:

The sky may not be falling, after all

Victor Davis Hanson:

our rivals are weaker and America is far stronger than many think.

Take oil. With oil prices at nearly $70 a barrel, Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez seem invincible as they rally anti-American feeling.

But if we find alternate energy sources, or reduce slightly our oil hunger, we can defang all three rather quickly. None of their countries have a middle class or a culture of entrepreneurship to discover and disseminate new knowledge.

Russia and Europe are shrinking. China is an aging nation of only children. The only thing the hard-working Chinese fear more than their bankrupt communist dictatorship is getting rid of it.

True, the economies of China and India have made amazing progress. But both have rocky rendezvous ahead with all the social and cultural problems that we long ago addressed in the 20th century.

And European elites can't blame their problems - a bullying Russia, Islamic terrorists, unassimilated minorities and high unemployment - all on George Bush's swagger and accent. The recent elections of Angela Merkel in Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy in France suggest that Europe's cheap anti-Americanism may be ending, and that our practices of more open markets, lower taxes and less state control are preferrable to the European status quo.

In truth, a never-stronger America is being tested as never before. The world is watching whether we win or lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Middle East is either going to reform or remain an oil-rich tribal mess that endangers the entire world.

Read it all.

And there is no evidence for Global Warming in the Southern Hemisphere. Just ask the South Africans.
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Mary Katherine has the Great Cinematic Moments of the Comprehensive Immigration Bill
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John Edwards proves that there is no "War on Terror" (h/t Larwyn).
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From Janette, Gene Simmons gave an interview

Q: I'm guessing you're not in favor of the Iraq troop withdrawal bills being proposed right now in Congress.

GS: It's not the policies and the bills; it's how we treat our military. It's how we treat our young men or women who go out there, at 18 years old, and risk their lives. There's no fame, they're certainly not getting rich, and a lot of them are dying, simply for something they believe. By the way, it's a volunteer army, all volunteer. The fact that anybody would have a fucking thing to say about that is astonishing. And the VA hospital that Sophie and I went to, it's about an hour and a half down the road from Malibu. These morons can't get up off their asses and out of their $10 million homes, get into their SUVs, and drive down to the VA hospital just to say, "Hey, what you do matters." Doesn't matter what they think of President Bush. It matters that 18-year-olds are getting out there and risking their lives. I didn't see a single person there. That's the most embarrassing thing. I'm furious at Hollywood.

Go read the rest.

More blogging later.

The disquieting creeping-up of European censorship

Last March I posted that the French Constitutional Council had approved a law that could lead to creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet, effectively banning journalists from reporting violence. At that time, the French government proposed

a certification system for Web sites, blog hosters, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers, identifying them as government-approved sources of information if they adhere to certain rules.

One of the reasons I post on France is that, where France leads, Europe follows.

Well, today Baron Bodissey posts about censorship in Finland, The proposed law, however, is much more far-reaching and included IM and IRC, and includes the hiring of moderators censors to monitor it all.

The items in italics are the replies by Finnish State Prosecutor Mika Illman on the proposed law:

Hiring an adequate number of moderators would become mandatory, as it already is mandatory for a network publication to have an editor, who is responsible for controlling the journalistic work.
...
3. How does your suggestion take IRC and instant messages into account?

The principle is the same. The administrator would have a duty to monitor the discussion and in due time to take action against clearly illegal material. This is no stronger obligation than the one TV or radio broadcaster has in the case of live broadcast.

Who would pay for all this and how it would be done two of the many unasked questions.

Couldn't happen here, you say? Here in the USA, broadcast radio is trying to censor internet radio. Little Miss Attila explains why you should support H.R. 2060.

Update: And then, there's using the Fairness Doctrine As Political Intimidation

In preparation for the 2008 elections, Democrats in Congress are trying to intimidate radio and TV broadcasters into including more Democrat views into their programs.

They are trying to resurrect an antiquated Federal Communications Commission regulation, the Fairness Doctrine, to require that opposing sides be presented to arguments. The Fairness Doctrine emerged at a time of very few radio, then TV, stations. Although in 1969 the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality, in 1974 the Supreme Court did conclude the Doctrine "inescapably dampens the vigor and limits the variety of public debate", and in 1984 that a scarcity of airwaves argument was by then flawed as a multitude of stations emerged and were expected. In 1985 the FCC ceased to support a Fairness Doctrine, and formally scrapped it in 1987. The number of radio stations has doubled since 1970, the former three networks’ TV stations are now challenged by over 500 alternatives, and the Internet carries a wide-diversity of views.

At root of the current push by Democrats is, as conservative columnist Geoge Will observed, "The illiberals' transparent, and often proclaimed, objective is to silence talk radio." Why? "By trying to again empower the government to regulate broadcasting, illiberals reveal their lack of confidence in their ability to compete in the marketplace of ideas, and their disdain for consumer sovereignty - and hence for the public."

Read evert word.

The World Bank putsch, and today's items

Wolfowitz 'broke World Bank laws', claims the Beeb; the WaPo says the committe found that Wolfowitz undermined the integrity of the institution.

Clarice Feldman explains The Attempted Putsch at the World Bank

This suggested, of course, that Wolfowitz would be allowed to directly comment to the Board on their testimony before the Ad Hoc Committee issued its final report but apparently he will not be, the Board having received an updated version of the Ad Hoc Report without Wolfowitz having been given an opportunity to address his rebuttal directly to the Board ahead of that transmittal. Certainly, he was given no opportunity to cross examine these witnesses himself, and as the discrepancy on the record of outgoing vice president for human resources Xavier Coll shows, there is plenty of reason to question the veracity of the chief witnesses against him.

Confidential proceedings of this group and the Board are regularly being leaked to friends in the press and to outside organizations critical of Wolfowitz, while he and Riza have been gagged and precluded from responding quickly by releasing internal documents supportive of their defense. In this way, it seems clear the Ad Hoc Committee is trying to force recalcitrant Board members to cede to their recommendations, thereby precluding independent judgment by the larger 24 board of Executive Directors. Indeed, although the media has been rushing to print every word of Board members and staffers opposed to Wolfowitz, the report takes issue with his deigning to defend himself against these baseless and overblown charges of improper dealing.

(h/t Larwyn)

World Bank Jobbery
More evidence the Wolfowitz accusers chose to ignore.

All of this is further evidence that what Mr. Wolfowitz is facing here is a kangaroo court. The Europeans and bank staff thought they could get him to leave quietly if they smeared him and Ms. Riza enough in the press. But now that he has fought back to clear his name, the Europeans led by Dutch politician Herman Wijffels have decided to ignore evidence to justify their one-sided conclusions. They also largely ignore Ms. Riza's own statements to the committee while condemning her for objecting to a process that all but ended her career at the bank.

Claudia Rosett writes on World Bokum.

Meanwhile, George Soros sets his sights.
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Call It the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Dictatorships
Business as usual as Zimbabwe takes a seat. This is exactly how the UN is meant to work.
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Sarkozy soap opera grips Paris
Amazing how the press is spilling the beans on Sarko but kept silent everybody else's soaps - starting with Chirac and his Japanese mistress.

Update: Via Maria, No rest for Citizen Chirac as he relinquishes the throne

"Jacques Chirac has deep convictions," he told Le Monde. "A locomotive like Chirac will get things moving."

As vans shuttled the Chiracs' belongings across the Seine, staff at the Elysée Palace spent the day shredding documents. Orders were given to destroy or take home all personal documents and notes. Tapes of meetings and press conferences were also destroyed and deposited in rubbish skips that were parked around the palace.

Don't expect any new developments to shed light on Chirac's mysterious millions any time soon.

Or ever.
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Getting past prestige names when searching for a college

Strategically, students have a better chance at capturing merit money if they look for schools where they will be among the top 25 percent of incoming students in grades and SAT scores. You can find out how your child stacks up by looking at the CollegeBoard.com and examining the range of SAT scores.

Being in the top tier of kids, however, won't get you any money if the school doesn't award any. So it's important to know which schools do. This will be especially important if you do not expect to receive any need-based financial aid. Some Ivy League schools and other prominent East Coast schools don't award merit money.

Sarko meets Tony

In yesterday's podcast, one thing Siggy and I discussed was how Blair made the British people proud of being British again. Then in last night's France2 news they showed Nicolas Sarkozy giving a speech saying he wants the French to be proud of being French again.

I find that a very refreshing idea but I'm not optimistic for its prospects. Instead of a collective show of EU hands, it's time for individuals to take pride for their own heritage and what their nations have and can contribute. On the other hand, Sarko's proposing a mini-treaty to replace the failed EU constitution, which would mean that people wouldn't be able to reject it through referendums as they did the first time.

So much for the individuals.

Sarko's EU strategy has two other points:

• calls for Europe to "protect" its citizens from globalisation
,
• his call for an explicit statement that Turkey will never become a full member of the EU.

Sarko will take office on May 16. There's more in the works:

• Today he's meeting with Tony Blair in Paris. They will discuss the EU. There's another meeting scheduled on a different date with Angela Merkel. The emergence of leaders like Merkel and Sarcozy signals to perhaps not a new Europe, but perhaps a Europe less hostile to America. (No, anti-Americanism didn't start with GWB. It's been around for decades.)
• Chirac and Sarko met with Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, signalling continued support of the Lebanese over Syria. Will the Sarko years reflect Chirac's customary duplicity? We'll have to wait and see.
• Sarko's been criticized for taking a 2-day luxury cruise on a billionaire's yatch. Not only is he unapologetic - since the trip was not at taxpayers' expense - he asserts his position that he wants rich people to remain in France and to invest in France.
  (and according to Erik, apparently he was wearing a NYPD t-shirt while jogging)

Next month's Parliamentary elections are crucial.

Meanwhile, out on the streets, the link above states that there have been over 1,200 cars torched in France since last Sunday's election: 730 on Sunday, 296 on Tuesday, 200 on Wednesday. I don't know how many were torched on Monday night, but we'll know Sarko has changed things when whatever few French automotive insurance companies are left in the country lower their rates.

In other French news, Erik Svane made it to the front page. He looks marvelous.

Update: The French Left Pitches A Fit

----------------------------------------------------
For an excellent essay on how Tony Blair's attitude towards the EU went sour, read Richard North's article at Pajamas Media

On Blair's announcement

I've been reading the posts listed in the Pajamas Media round-up.

In this morning's conversation during our Blog Talk Radio podcast, Siggy and I discussed Blair's tenure as Prime Minister.

Siggy's position is that, in a sense, Blair is leaving in a high note, because the economy is booming, the integration into the EU was well handled, and Blair kept the pound as currency. The Blair economy influenced the boom in Ireland which in turn influenced the peace process in Northern Ireland as Northern Ireland saw how their neighbors were flourishing - and Blair is credited by both sides, for instance,

"the Prime Minister's concerted efforts helped in ultimately securing devolution in Northern Ireland."

Siggy feels that Blair became a great prime minister because he blurred party lines, and,

"Blair understood that there needed to be changes, and that techonology was going to change the way information moved within England... within Europe, and not just within Europe but across the globe. That was a very very important shift.

"Blair redefined British politics, and by doing so, redifined European politics."

Blair is a man of conviction,

"You can disagree with the war, you can disagree with the politics, but no one can say that Tony Blair is not a decent guy"

which even the BBC notices

Conviction politician

He said he had "a deep respect for the British people and it's been an honour and privilege to lead them". But he said he had "changed" over the past 10 years. He was a "different sort of person" now, who was less concerned about being "liked".

Blair had been hardened by a decade in office.

He had become a conviction politician - a very different character to the one that had first walked into Downing Street in 1997, guitar case in hand.

On the matter of Blair's successor, Rick Moran speculates on the future,

The US and Great Britain have steadfastly supported each other through some of the most turbulent times in world history. The alliance has benefited each country enormously both economically and strategically. We've had each other's backs for more than 100 years – World Wars, the Cold War, Viet Nam, the Falklands, and now Iraq. We've assisted in peace efforts in Northern Ireland as well as using Britain's good offices on more than one occasion when our diplomacy has been stuck in a rut. There is a symbiosis, a melding of interests between the two countries that would not be easily pried apart. And any effort to do so would not only affect our two countries, but also Europe and points beyond as well.

For these reasons, I feel confident Mr. Brown will resist calls to redefine our relationship and instead, try and establish that special bond with the American President – whoever it ends up being – that has been the hallmark of this, the most remarkable partnership the modern world knows. It has benefited both nations in the past. And I see no reason why it can't be a plus in the future.

Siggy basically concurs, but you'll have to listen to him.

Red State asserts that Blair has taken the Jihad lightly.

Siggy and I didn't discuss Blair and the Jihad; we'll just have to do another podcast to discuss that.

For the time being, however, go and listen to this morning's podcast.

Cross-posted at Heading Right