The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. ~ Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.

Happy 1st Blogiversary to
Reality Pundit

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) EuroShock: France Moves Right

Europe appears in shock today as the center of European socialism has rejected the Socialists and moved to the right. The victory of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election has the continent abuzz, trying to discern its meaning and its impact for the rest of Europe.

Blue Crab Boulevard (Gaius) Sarkozy In Seclusion

It remains to be seen how much change Sarkozy will actually be able to implement in France, of course. There is a really high aversion to change in France as was evident when the government tried to give employers the right to fire newly hired workers last year. The unions and the students went bonkers over that one. Couple that with “youths” in the Paris suburbs who practically form a country within a country and there will be a really tough row to hoe for Sarkozy.

Gina Cobb Reaction to Sarkozy Victory

Despite the terrorists, thugs and socialists, France finally has a chance. But the French can’t just sit back and expect Sarkozy to do all the heavy lifting. Day by day, the French will need to choose economic freedom instead of socialism and security instead of excessive political correctness. France will have to make better choices not just in one presidential election, but again and again.

Last comes the beverage of the Orient shore, Mocha, far off, the fragrant berries bore. Taste the dark fluid with a dainty lip, Digestion waits on pleasure as you sip. ~ Pope Leo XII

Happy 4th Blogiversary to
The Talk Show American
and to
University Blog

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) A Bad Start For Al-Qaeda? — “For the fifth anniversary of 9/11, al-Qaeda’s executive officer Ayman al-Zawahiri celebrated by publishing a video that threatened a new phase in the group’s offensive against the West. In this new effort, the Egyptian terror leader told viewers that AQ would now target Gulf states, including oil facilities, that cooperated with the infidels. Foiled attacks on a Yemeni refinery and a Canadian-Yemeni storage facility appears to have launched the AQ offensive, but both failed to achieve their mission objectives:”

Outside The Beltway (James Joyner) Al Qaeda Declares France Enemy — “Does this prove that France was wrong not to join the U.S. in its effort to topple Saddam Hussein and establish a democratic bulwark against Islamists in Iraq? No. But it does seem to indicate that there’s not much a Western state can do to appease the terrorists.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Rightroots Blogburst — “Our goal is to get 100 donations per candidate by the end of the day on Sept. 20 and we can use all the help we can get from across the blogosphere to make that happen.” [I'll have more on this later. Jim]

Right Truth (Debbie) Summit on U.S. and Muslim relations – “Time for some debunkification, if that is a word. Yes, we ARE at war with Islam and Muslims and Islamic fundamentalism and Islamo-fascism. WE, the United States did not declare this war, Muslims declared this war, Osama bin Laden declared this war. So if you don’t like the label, go talk to the ones who began this conflict.”

Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring ~ U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting, 1849

California Conservative (Gary Gross) And Then What? — “Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, AKA the Dim-witted Duo, along with Congressional Democrats, are promising to capture bin Laden, a neat trick if they could pull it off.”

Red State (Leon H. Wolf) McCain-Kennedy: A Good Bill Or, In Which I Don My Asbestos Shorts — “I have come to a very simple conclusion: despite the demonization of this bill as a “soft on immigration” “amnesty proposal,” this bill is neither of those things. It’s not a perfect bill (no bill is), but it’s a surprisingly good one, and the Republican Senators who voted it out of Committee absolutely do not deserve to treatment they have received in some quarters of the conservative blogosphere.”

Or for a different perspective.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) A Virtual Wall Brings Virtual Amnesty — “[T]he bare minimum necessary for such a program to succeed is border security successful enough that it forces those who want to enter the US to do so through either legal immigration or the guest worker program. And that is precisely where the Senate bill fails, and fails miserably.”

SoCalPundit (Kevin K.) Oh, The World Owes Me A Living… — “Judging by the riots going on in France in the last few days over a new law, making it easier for employers to dismiss young workers during the first two years of employment, French kids apparently think that they not only deserve a good job with good pay and lots of vacation time, but plenty of job security as well.”

Dr. Sanity (Pat Santy) DOGMA , DENIAL, AND DIBS ON THE KOOL-AID — “Just a few days ago I predicted that the left would be unable to deal with the information coming out in the recently released Iraq documents:”