Grown Ups Talking

French food has laid me low for longer than is reasonable. I’m now gingerly back in the saddle, though beer may be out of the question for a while.

Work has been thin on the ground, but a new class may be in the offing, nothing groundbreaking, but a further small hedge against economic collapse.

Being in France, all the news tends to be Brit-o-centric, and occassionally Paddy-o’centric. News in French seems to come in short bursts on the radio, in between nonsensical studio banter and truly anodyne French “Rock". So we veer towards BBC Longwave and a newly-found Irish station that mysteriously broadcasts this far.

But the New York Times website has been coming to the fore for checking out the latest Yank-o-centric follies. Most of it seems taken up with Sotomayor’s hearings. They have “How Will This Affect Future Possible Judges”, “Don’t Mess With The Judge”, and an almost plaintive, “Is This A Big Waste Of Time?” among others.

A bit of overkill, yes, but nice to know a gal is dominating the news, particularly since she isn’t Sarah Palin.

Happy July. — Pomerol

As I write, I am hearing about Al Franken winning the Minnesota senatorship. This is great news for President Obama. He can theoretically do an end-run around a filibuster as long as Arlen Spector plays ball and the blue dogs stay with the pack.

So good news, but no guarantees. This means the democrats will still have to make their case. Not a bad thing in a democracy.

Also nice to have a sense of humor in politics.

Congrats Senator Al.—Pomerol