Despite their long has-been status as a country of importance, many French people continue to believe that they are a significant factor in the world of today.

These folks still think that their language should be a dominant language among others, and/or even that it should be accepted, period.

Jacques Chirac foolishly made this more than plain, as is evidenced in this post by my friend Raven at And Rightly So.

Speaking of France, another blog friend, GM, has more to say on the subject at GM’s Corner.

Drew at Conservative Outpost gives on-the-money commentary on name only Republican and Presidential hopeful(perhaps wishful would be a better word)John McCain.

Back in June, as a brand new blogger, I posted on Eliot Spitzer and conveyed my own disapproval of the self-seeking, ethically-challenged New York State Attorney General rather bluntly.

Columnist John Podhoretz’ opinion of the man is apparently not all that different from my own, and he adds some good background, to boot.

Here’s what the Times editorial endorsing him said in 1998: “Spitzer has misled the public about how his father’s wealth was used to support about $9 million in loans that financed his campaigns in 1994 and 1998. His conduct may not be illegal, but it was clearly designed to circumvent laws that would have limited his father’s direct contributions to the campaign. In normal circumstances, Mr. Spitzer’s evasions would have made it impossible to endorse him for the state’s top legal position.”

Pretty extraordinary, don’t you think, in light of Spitzer’s shameless pose as a heroic Mr. Clean, throwing the moneychangers out of the Wall Street temple?

Read on.

Senator John McCain(R/D Arizona) is getting quite a bit of exercise, standing at center aisle and leaping from foot to foot, left side to right side, doing his almighty best to please both Democrats and Republicans. Boy, he really wants to be elected President.

In the end, of course, he’ll find very few takers on either side.

Sen. John McCain disappointed Democrats on Capitol Hill on Sunday by defending the Bush administration’s decision to use the National Security Agency to monitor a limited number of domestic phone calls in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Here’s the article.