And The Winner Is?

Sarko!

Edit: Blair had this to say about Sarkozy via YouTube.

Mulder?

"Have you ever searched for life on this planet?" - Scully

"I've seen life on this planet, that's why I'm looking elsewhere." - Mulder

Landslide?

One poll has Sarkozy ahead of Royal 55% to 45%. If that is how things go tomorrow that result would be - at least in terms of traditional left v. right contests in French Presidential elections (that is, throwing out 2002) - a landslide.

What's my prediction?

Sarkozy 54% - Royal 46%

What Will Sarkozy Likely Do?

First, many apologies to Royal, but I don't expect her to win tomorrow. If she does turn out to be the victorious party, well, kudos for her.

Second, a caveat. Much of what he will be able to do will depend on the outcome of parliamentary elections in June. If his party does not control the parliament following those elections (if France has a period of political "cohabitation"), he'll have to deal will a legislative body hostile to many of his proposals.

So what's on Sarkozy's agenda? What is he ready to serve up?

Economy: Tax cuts and labor market reform will be a theme of his administration. Sarkozy likely isn't a secret libertarian at heart but he will be (IMHO) the most pro-market President France has elected during the Fifth Republic (when French Presidents really started to matter in the French political scheme).

Foreign Policy: I expect to see generally warm relations with the U.S. from his administration. I also think that he's generally in favor of the E.U. I don't expect to see him involve French forces in Iraq.

Paris

The Roman Emporer Julian called Paris "Cara Lutetia" - "Beloved Lutetia." Back then the Roman name for the place was Lutetia.

Leo Strauss

What the heck is the deal with trying to jam Leo Strauss into some neo-conservative framework? To me that is a very problematic association at best (at least as I understand neo-conservatism). Needless to say it bugs the heck out of me.

Test Post

Testing...

Debate

Tonight (in a little less than seven hours as of this positing) Sarkozy and Royal will debate the issues. It is the only debate of the second round. Here's a preview. Maybe we'll see some fireworks.

Edit: For some reason this post has been published under the date 30/04/07. It was actually published 2/5/07.

Watching Al Jazeera

You can watch the English version of Al Jazeera here.

The New Strategy In Iraq

Can someone please explain to me what the "new strategy" in Iraq consists of?

Thanks.

The Last Magnet

Workers have installed the last magnet for the world's new highest-energy particle smasher, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The installation marks an important milestone; however, researchers still may not get the collider completed in time to start it up in November as planned.

Though I'm not quite sure if this is the sort of things that governments should be doing, I do hope that they discover some interesting stuff.

When The Stars...

Go Blue

Some nice harmonies.

Today's Word

Melic

Rioting In Estonia

MOSCOW, April 27 — Estonian government workers removed a Soviet-era war memorial from the center of the Estonian capital, Talinn, early this morning, after a night of protest and violence that killed one, injured dozens and left a swath of
shattered windows and overturned cars in the city center, Estonian officials said.

Basically - from the Russian POV - the statue symbolizes the defeat of the Nazis; from the Estonian POV it symbolizes the Soviet Union's brutal occupation, etc. of Estonia. If I recall correctly many Estonians (and perhaps the Estonian government?) weren't exactly hostile to the Nazis and may have aided them in exterminating Estonia's Jewish population. All of this makes for a fairly complicated and contested historical narrative.

Whoever is "right," let's hope events there don't become too volatile; after all, as the 20th century demonstrated, people are more than willing to kill each other over their preferrred, idealized, emotionally laden historical perspectives.

...It Was Just Right

An Earth-like planet spotted outside our solar system is the first found that could support liquid water and harbor life, scientists announced today.

I always wonder what the cultural, religious, etc. implications of discovering extraterrestrial life (intelligent or otherwise) will be. I will predict that at the very least it will take several generations for the full effects of such a discovery to play out.

Edit: Oh, and they are calling it Gliese 581 C. We need a better name than that. Not "New Earth" perhaps, but certainly something more interesting than Gliese 581 C.