>>I must be aging, or I am cynical before my time.<< well, you score some points on both accounts, but... there's ample room for improvement, Jay.
>>The solution in the Philippines is self-rule.<< a big YES.
>>and perhaps Maldives<< Heck, it will take just a dozen Marlon Brandos and you wont have a place to put your ass on... Plus think of artic icefields melting - just spreadin the good news, Jay ....
>>though the Le Pen guy sounds suspiciously like the same beast that emerged from Europe a few dozen years ago<< The pendulum has been swinging right lately in Europe...Flamse Block, the new guy in Netherlands, not to mention Berlusconi and Haider. OTOH Le Pen is a symptom of dissatisfaction - unemployed (38% of those that voted for Le Pen for instance), downtrodden, havenots, previously the domain of the communists, who this time self-imploded into a non-issue. The fact, that, to get rid of far worse evil, they have to vote for the lesser one, makes french electorate extra pissed-off. It looks like my bet on 80% of votes for Chirac may be close to the actual tally tomorrow - just to flex the muscles and indicate to pere Jacques, Marianne is an unpredicable woman... -.
The result of elections in Germany in the autumn is at the moment open to both outcomes. Schroeder has not delivered and a lot of reforms (job market reform, tax reform,old-age security & family laws) are just getting piled up. Usually it was some brown and/or black person that focused the discontent of unemployed and dispossessed here (Schönhuber some time ago for instance) But their political voice was always as (un)important as their base. None of these creatures in sight now, so possibly (for me at least the worst) Germany may end up with nonvoters winning the election.
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