France's Socialist Sweetheart, Them Putin Girls

Paul Krugman

"President Obama hosts an early Cinco de Mayo White House party today. I thought it was weird when he made all the guests climb over the fence to get in." – Jimmy Fallon

"President Obama has come up with a new campaign slogan — 'Forward' — that's the slogan. And believe me, if unemployment doesn't improve by November, it'll be 'Forward my mail.'" – Jay Leno

"German authorities report they have discovered digital files hidden in a porn movie that outline Al Qaeda's plans for more terrorist attacks. I believe this is the first time that a porn film has ever contained a plot." – Jay Leno

I had my most recent post already written, the photos added, all that left was to publish it to my blog, when I fell asleep last night with the laptop in my lap. everything was frozen this morning, and I had to take out the battery in order to reset the computer, losing everything I had written. I had hoped to watch the full Supermoon last night, but it ended up cloudy and raining here, so I ended up trolling for pictures on the Internet... and then I fell asleep...

Many of the policies that our conservatives favor have been put in practice in Europe, first. Including the favorite economic bugaboo that austerity measures are what is needed to make the economy grow, a major plank of the Paul Ryan budget, and what conservatives have been whining over since 2008. The European austerity program was put in place by Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy, and then rammed down the Greek's government as the only way to save them.

Over the weekend, Greece and France had elections. The two parties that had been in power for the last 40 years could,'t muster a majority, leaving the country in flux as to what will happen next. More people ended up voting for fringe parties, both to the Left and to the Right, one with the bizarre name of Golden Dawn and the propensity of bearing torches to meetings in the night... If some kind of coalition government can't be formed within the next three days, then the whole process will begin again...

Of course, by now we all have heard that Nicolas Sarkozy lost to a more moderate candidate, someone who has been branded as having more civility, patience, and genuinely seems to care about building a fairer government. Yes, they elected a Socialist... Francios Hollande is thought to be less of a fanatic and might bring a level head to the argument. He also vows to bring French soldiers back from Afghanistan by the end of the year, and pundits feel that he won't be following in the footsteps of the US and Israel in their policies towards Iran. Who knows, since France has the largest amount of nuclear reactors generating electricity in Europe, they might have a new business client in Iran, if they can only get the mafia to stop illegal dumping of nuclear wastes... Conservatives fear that this may spark a trend that would ultimately replace Merkel in Germany and what's his name in Britain...

Funny how conservatives in the US try to make the word Socialism into a bad word, as if Socialists and the godless Communists were interchangeable in thought and deed. It's the old Cold War mentality, having an us versus them, with no other way, and the loser is evil by default. It's how we have been taught at school for over 60 years and too many folks of my generation can't seem to break themselves of this archaic way of thinking. Hence, by labeling Barack Obama as a Socialist, he is a bad man, with evil thoughts and has to be vanquished. In Europe, Socialists have been part of an actual political movement that responds to events in the real world, and are more accepted. I hope that the world will give Mr Hollande a fair shake, at least until the first sex scandal is uncovered...

Speaking of the godless Communists, the next best thing, Vladimir Putin, was inaugurated. His spontaneous, celebratory crowd of 30,000 were bussed into Moscow to counter-react against the planned protest of 20,000 opposition members. If you're thinking that no good would come from this, you might be right. The two groups didn't clash with each other, their permits directed them to different places. Which left the police to free to attack and arrest over 400 at the opposition rally... Putin is getting more paranoid, and can be heard muttering to himself that it's all the fault of the US. Who knows, it could be true, the CIA could be after him. Next thing you know, he'll have nightmares of nocturnal visits from Seal Team 6, payback for all of the journalists he's had assassinated and political opponents rotting in some jail cell...

Of course, if Mr Putin wishes to appear in a kinder light, he is going to need the help of more than a few fake pictures of him in nature. Luckily, all he has to do is set up an interview with People magazine or a video with Entertainment Tonight with his two daughters. Or use stand-ins, since no-one really knows what they look like. He has erected an iron curtain over his family, the only photos for sure of his daughters were taken when they were little. I include one photo of them as teenagers here to the right, but, really, they could just be a couple of citizens, admiring the half-naked premier, for all we know... Anyway, Vlad could use some humanizing and his daughters could provide the stories. If done tastefully, they could tone down the constant complaining about how inhumane he is. After all, even Vlad the Impaler loved his children... OK, I made that up...

It's said that one of the reasons they have been kept out of the spotlight is because he and his wife have been estranged for years. It would explain the girlfriends he's been photo'd with. He pretty much ignores his wife whenever they have t be seen in public. One bad joke shows a picture of Putin and his wife, with the caption reading: "So, see you again in six more years?"