May 29, 2005
Update
The rejection of the proposed EU constitution is now official, the link in the preceding post now reaches the updated Wall Street Journal article, Here...
Posted by Seth at 11:11 PM |
"Way To Go" For French Voters
Today's Wall Street Journal Online features a story titled France Rejects EU Constitution.
Paris-- The French decisively rejected the European Union's proposed new constitution, plunging the bloc into polical paralysis and putting at least a temporary break on five decades of movement toward an ever-stronger pan-European government.
President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address late Sunday that he would decide later this week whether to shuffle his cabinet in response to the vote, which amounted to a bitter personal defeat for the French leader. A staunch supporter of the constitution, he conceded that his countrymen had spurned the charter, after partial official results indicated that the "no" vote was carrying the day by a margin of 57% to 43%.
This veering off from voting with Chirac could signal the beginnings of a lack of confidence among the rank and file Frenchman for Jock--sorry, I meant Jacques, which could be good news for that weasel country. Maybe the next president over there will be a little bit honest and also be endowed with a spine. Wait, we're talking France here, what am I saying!?
As far as the EU is concerned, I've never thought the concept was a very good idea. I would hate to see the United States surrender some of our sovereignty by joining a bloc of countries like that. Imagine having a lot of our policies decided during a vote by Bolivia, Costa Rica and Canada. 
Posted by Seth at 10:38 PM |
Iraq Stock Exchange
Over at FOXNews Online, there's a link from the home page to a video report on the Iraq Stock Exchange(ISX). To summarize the report,
The exchange has been open for eleven months, and in that time their sales volume has fully tripled. There are more than 100 companies currently listed.
In the first seven months, fourteen billion shares were traded and the increase since has been "exponential". The thing that really makes this newsworthy is that the ISX is only open five hours a week, yet Iraqi citizens are turning out in droves to invest in their country's future.
To date, they have been employing a marker and wallboard system, like Nevada race and sports books did before they went electronic, to keep track of trades, but a modern high tech exchange is being built and will soon be ready for the ISX to relocate there.
Watch the video. You'll be on Fox's home page, go to the right sidebar and click on Business, then on Iraq Stock Exchange.
Thank God for FOX News, they're one of very few media outlets without a tenacious liberal agenda, rather an eye toward the conservative point of view, without whom we would never read any news that might hint that something positive actually happened as a result of something George W. Bush set in motion.
Posted by Seth at 08:23 PM |
Memorial Day Weekend
This ain't just a weekend for Barbecue, Beach, Blue Angels and fireworks(though as my old Bomb Search and Recognition course instructor reasoned, "Why would anybody want to go someplace where people are playing with high velocity explosives?") with an extra day off from work thrown in.
It's a time to honor the men and women who have given their lives preserving the freedom that is the hallmark of our country's way of life, soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, coast guardsmen and the largely unsung heroes of the Merchant Marine.
So don't forget to say a prayer for those of our military personnel who are in harm's way today, a prayer of thanks and an appeal for their safe return when their respective tours are up, and say a few words of gratitude to those who gave their lives for us, their country, in past theatres of war.
Posted by Seth at 07:29 PM |
May 27, 2005
Ann Coulter/ Diane Ravitch
Today I finished reading a book called The Language Police by Diane Ravitch, a book about how both the left and the right, via pressure groups, influence what our children read in school. The politically correct changes of terms and words into what certain people deem acceptable terminology and the censorship cited by the author are so blatant as to be offensive to any truly intelligent person. The book is a read I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in knowing how children(perhaps their children), in the course of a school day, are being programmed, much of this subliminal indoctrination in blatant counterpoint to anything resembling the comparative literary honesty of primary educations twenty- five to thirty years ago and beyond.
Today, via one day delivery from Amazon, I received a great DVD called Is It True What They Say About Ann? It's a compilation of speech segments, book signings and interviews with the awesome Ann Coulter, including feedback from liberals who hate her and testimonials from people who admire her, including a Democrat or two. Having read her books and being in total agreement with the majority of her political opinions, I think the DVD is a must- buy for anyone who either loves her like I do or hates her like liberals do, and is interested in "up close and personal" encounters with political or literary icons.
For those who aren't familiar with Ann Coulter, she's a sexy, superintelligent(she has a Law degree and has worked in the field), aggressive conservative dynamo who's a syndicated columnist and the author of four books, including High Crimes and Misdemeanors, Slander, Treason and How To Talk To A Liberal(if you must). She is also a highly paid speaker and syndicated columnist.
I'm having a problem with links in posts right now that I'm in the midst of resolving, so I can't provide links to order either the book or the DVD in question, but both are well worth acquiring. Either can be obtained at Amazon, and the Ann Coulter DVD can also be ordered at her website(see "Links").
Posted by Seth at 10:53 AM |
