A niece of ours is a Franophile. I think that's safe to say. She's in college studying design, and France is one of the world's leading centers of fashion. We can all agree to that.

I think most of us can also agree that the French are otherwise not particularly loved around the world, almost as much as Americans. We're hated because we're strong and generous, and not always quite sensitive enough to use that strength and generosity wisely, in the opinion of some in the world. The French are hated because, well . . .

I'll let this article from the UK's Telegraph say it:

"Interviewees were simply asked an open question - what five adjectives sum up the French," said Olivier Clodong, one of the study's two authors and a professor of social and political communication at the Ecole Superieur de Commerce, in Paris. "The answers were overwhelmingly negative."

Words used by other Europeans to describe the French include:
stubborn
humorless
pretentious
agitated
shallow
cold
impolite
preaching
flesh-loving
egocentric
immoral
dirty

Yikes. Be careful what you ask for, eh?

Houston has a grackle problem.

Excerpt:
Aggressive grackles around the County Administration Building launched attacks Monday that left a lawyer bloodied and county employees wondering whether Hitchc ock's The Birds was make-believe.

I shouldn't do this, but I can't help myself:
Did someone flush a copy of the Crow-ran down a toilet, maybe?

Uff Da! Dem crazy Lut'rens up dere by Okoboji are just goin' nuts over dere, yah sure ya betcha . . .

Political satire by IowaHawk:

Military efforts to stabilize the violent ethnic Protestantism of the region have had a mixed record of success. U.S. paratroopers first landed along the Iowa/Minnesota border in early 2002 to root out extremist Uff Da militants, followers of the charismatic Lutheran cleric Pastor Duane Gunderson. Despite fears of being bogged down in the harsh Mankato winter, troops encountered little resistance, save sporadic eggings from ill-equipped insurgents atop the grain elevators of local cornlords. U.S. forces achieved swift success, taking as many as 1,500 Lutheran rebels into custody and bringing a momentary measure of stability to what has long been considered a dangerous Scandinavian backwater.

The closer you are to Sioux Falls/Sioux City/Minneapolis, the funnier this is.

Kathleen Sullivan, in the Orlando Sentinel:

First, we all can agree that flushing a Quran down a toilet, if physically possible, would be both insensitive and rude, though Westerners generally have a higher tolerance threshold for such offenses. Put it this way: You could flush a Bible down the toilet in front of Goober in Kabul, and it's unlikely that Mayberry suddenly would be awash in blood.

Sometimes, the headline writes itself--it certainly did for Stars And Stripes: Sauerkraut triggers alarm at Osan mall, post office

This is excellent:

A Challenge (the Second Amendment)

A well regulated Intelligentsia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and read Books, shall not be infringed.

What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

As reported in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Forbes Magazine has for the third straight year rated Sioux Falls, SD as the best small city (under 345,000 population) to start a business or a career. Rapid City, on the other end of South Dakota, ranked sixth.

Sioux Falls is a very, very nice town. Sadly, it's too cold for Snookums, however.

CBS News aired part of an interview with Ken Starr (yes, Whitewater/Clintongate investigator Ken Starr) where CBS reported:

Many conservatives consider the fight over judges their political Armageddon, but conservative icon and former federal judge Ken Starr says it has gotten out of control, reports CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger.

"The confirmation process has not only become ugly and has become a shouting match," he said. "This is a radical, radical departure from our history and our traditions and it amounts to an assault on the judicial branch of government."

Only problem is that Starr wasn't talking about the conservatives, as the quote implies, but about the Democrats stonewalling of judicial nominations.

Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Review e-mailed Starr, and got this response:

"In the piece that I have now seen, and which I gather is being lavishly quoted, CBS employed two snippets. The 'radical departure' snippet was specifically addressed — although this is not evidenced whatever from the clip — to the practice of invoking judicial philosopy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience. I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong. I contrasted the current practice . . . with what occurred during Ruth Ginsburg's nomination process, as numerous Republicans voted (rightly) to confirm a former ACLU staff lawyer. They disagreed with her positions as a lawyer, but they voted (again, rightly) to confirm her. Why? Because elections, like ideas, have consequences. . . . In the interview, I did indeed suggest, and have suggested elsewhere, that caution and prudence be exercised (Burkean that I am) in shifting/modifying rules (that's the second snippet), but I likewise made clear that the 'filibuster' represents an entirely new use (and misuse) of a venerable tradition. . . .

Snookums wonders why I will not watch "60 Minutes." Well, at this point, anyone who trusts anything coming out of CBS News is at best a dupe. Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" has more news credibility than CBS News.

Approximately 4,500 more ballots were cast than were registered voters in the Presidential election last November in Milwaukee.

The mainstream media awakens from their slumber:

Washington Post: Possible Voter Fraud Found in Milwaukee
San Francisco Chronicle: Investigators Find Evidence of Voter Fraud
Oshkosh Northwestern (editorial): Doyle losing more ground on ballot fraud problems
Indianapolis Star (editorial): Show your ID and avoid this mess

Powerline is more blunt: Was Wisconsin Stolen?

So, in the face of this as well as the ongoing Washington State gubernatorial controversy, why is the ironically named Democratic Party opposing the common-sense solution of presenting identification before being allowed to vote?

P.S. Anybody remember the incident where twenty (20!) Republican get-out-the-vote vans had their tires slashed the night before the election? "Isolated incident," the Democratic machine leaders say, "nothing to see here, no conspiracy."

Yeah, right.

P.P.S It will be amusing now to see the Google ads (over to the left) go nuts with bash-Bush pro-Democrat ads, now that I've posted an article which dares to use the D-word three times in a single article. Sheesh.

A small plane headed towards the heart of Washington, D.C. was turned back by fighters, but then turned back again towards the Capitol and the White House, causing both buildings to be evacuated. Fox News Channel now showing footage of F-16's banking sharply above Washington.