[tale of two ladies] can they arise, phoenix like

First the Bull moose. Among the stories reported by Fox News and Newsweek magazine:

-- She showed up in front of John McCain campaign aides "wearing nothing but a towel."

-- She sent campaign staff on a shopping spree for her family that insiders described as the "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

-- She was so shockingly ignorant of basic geography that aides prepping her for her single debate realized she didn't know that Africa is a continent and not a country, nor could she identify the countries that comprise North America.

The first is hardly a negative, the second can be adjusted by the GOP if it wants her and the third is a national American trait so if they want, as just said, she can be groomed for the part. There are grounds for it.

She does have brand image and not all of it is bad. If she is seen to grow into the role, she certainly has administrative experience [gubernatorial].

Across the pond, how is Segie faring? It's difficult to get up to date info in English but my rusty French encompasses this:

Ségolène Royal a enfin déclaré qu'elle souhaitait former «la meilleure équipe possible» en rassemblant tous «les les talents du Parti socialiste» (citant au passage Pierre Moscovici ou François Vallini).

In short, she's right in there and following the link back to le Figaro shows that at least she is the front runner. What it says to me, in both cases, is that there is deeply entrenched opposition to both women within their parties, perhaps even more so in that they are women.

On the other hand, they have both seen front line action and understand the process far better than before, something no other candidates can lay claim to.

[falklands] defended by the eu

Just a reminder of how the UK appears in EU eyes

The most serious sidelight in this new constitution seems to be:

The European Union classes the islands as a special overseas territory, subject to EU law in some areas, and eligible for some European funding initiatives. The inclusion of the islands in an appendix to the proposed European Constitution provoked a hostile Argentine response. Its mention is retained in the treaty replacing the abandoned Constitution, the Treaty of Lisbon.

As the UK is now virtually Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the nine formerly English regions, then the defenders of the Falklands are no longer Britain but the EU. Hence the self-determination on the islands and hence Argentina seeing its chance again.

Which forces would come to defend the islands this time? The UK's or the EU's? The latter has been looking for training practice. Their deployments so far, you'll notice, have not yet included former UK overseas dependencies.

However, Liam Fox has warned of the EU incursion, with particular reference to implications for NATO. The good news, if there is any, is that what the EU wants is not necessarily what they're immediately going to get.

[salmond] don't count your chickens

Just shows there is someone more detested than Brown in this local infight. Declaring they'd won even before the poll had closed - really!

[niagara] la vie est peut-être belle

La meilleure chanson de Niagara! La barre est haute pour toutes ces pseudo-star que nous offrent les majors aujourd`hui. Niagara n`a pas de frontiere, la bonne muse n`a pas d`époque!

This brings back so many memories of my time in France when I had a French friend and we'd travel over cobblestoned back roads with dry stone walls to country farmhouses [used later in my second novel] whilst listening to her music on the car cassette player, including Cabrel and Niagara.

Like many French groups of the time, they had some excellent songs and others which were a bit dud. Generally they rocked and from St Malo to Lille, it was a good time to be in la belle France.

Vive la youtube. Ah, le nostalgie. Here is their site and here the wiki entry. If you like them, here is another good track.

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[blogfocus] issues it would be nice to post on

The Croydonian raises the issue of people's memories of past history [20 years ago] fade with time. Some might venture to suggest it is because people are basically self-interested.

Chris Dillow writes "I don’t think anyone has grasped the full gob-smacking level of imbecility and venality within this ..." Great piece on Nu-Labour's grasp of economics and class hatred - not the usual rant.

Rob, of the Broadsheet Rag, writes of the feeling of depression or as he puts it, melancholy, he's been feeling. I do believe it is rampant across the world just now; it is especially so in Britain and more particularly, in the blogosphere. There have to be reasons. Mopsa adds to this in her way.

Eurodog has all you need to know about the background to the Basenji. You were obviously wondering where you could get your hands on such info before. Now you can.

The Flying Rodent, in his inimitable manner, writes: "From what I can pick up off FOX News and CNN, the internet's a veritable s--tstorm of rancid crazy, and here I am, reading mere books in my spare time! Proper ones, with no pictures!"

Hooky has a nice piece on Hewlett Packard getting it wrong again [Hooky puts it slightly differently] with: "Although the song used in the Hewlett Packard advert was a 1982 cover version sung by Joan Jett, the lyrics... Do you wanna touch (yeah)... Do you wanna touch me there, where..." are also those of Gary Glitter.

An older one from John Trenchard: "Britain loses control over immigration policy... and not a peep from the British mainstream media." 'Nuff said.

From L'Ombre: "Cat and dog owners are to be told to provide "entertainment" and "mental stimulation" for their pets under new government advice." Sigh - more government inanity. Longrider gives his take here. Interesting [to me] that two of my must-read bloggers should tackle the same piece. Well OK ... it's not that interesting, I suppose.

For those who like their posts a bit more enigmatic, you can't go past Lord Somber [that's his pic above left]. You make of it what you will but I agree with him.

If you like your entertainment earthy, the First Lady provides: "No, I canny see the ball at the end of the f****** table and I'm nay strong enuff, Im nay strong enuff to play snooker, and the ball, I canny see the balls, but see they Americans, they have much bigger balls, and bigger cues and bigger pockets ..."

Finally, how better to go out [and maintain the hellfire motif] than with Wonko's take on Guy Fawkes Night in this pic to the right.