Eastern Europe?

The Economist has some ideas about naming the various bits of Europe.  My favorite: “Solvent Europe”, which Estonia is part of...

On That Idea for a European Union...

Rachel Lucas (an American currently living in Italy) has a post on current events in the European Union/EuroZone.  She concludes:

That idea of a real political union among the countries over here is borderline absurd. They’re too different, period. I cannot remotely imagine it happening, and the only way it can or will happen is if the Germans are in charge of it. It should be fun to watch this play out…I guess.

Meanwhile I’m buying more canned corn and re-teaching myself how to light a fire from scratch.

The rest of her post is even funnier, but I couldn't find a small quote that made sense out of context. Just take a couple minutes to go read the whole thing...

You Can Stick a Fork in France, Greece...and Maybe Everywhere Else, Too...

Oh, this does not bode well.  France and Greece both elected people with strong socialist leanings, who (quite explicitly) advocate solving their fiscal problems by taxing the rich.  That isn't going to work, as any rational analysis will show.  But that didn't stop the entitlement-sotted voters of either country. 

That's bad for France and Greece.  Unfortunately, the effects of their low voter IQ won't stay within their borders – our markets are poised to open lower on the news, the trade impacts will be keenly felt, and – worst of all – the probability of sovereign debt default just jumped dramatically higher...

These are the sorts of things that happened in the runup to past European wars.  Let us hope that's not the case this time...

Why the Young People Can't Find Work...

A great post by Warren over at CoyoteBlog...

Decoy Jews...

They're being used by police in Europe to suss out Muslim harassers.  Neo-neocon has some thoughts...

The Charisma of a Damp Rag...

Wow!  I'm not sure if this style of political debate actually accomplishes any more than the (much) more boring American style, but it one hell of a lot more entertaining!

A Day at the Flag Shop...

Never let it be said that the Germans can't poke a little fun at themselves – and the Palestinians at the same time...

Enjoy...