Located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was a gift of international friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States and is one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and democracy.

Statue Of Liberty National Monument

The L'Enfant plan was one of true genius, monumental in every sense of the word.

Reminder to Americans: the French designed your capital, people.

The L'Enfant Plan

France in the Revolution, a 26 chapter work by James Breck Perkins.

From the introduction, circa March 1911: On all this, the author of the present work has much to say that should be remembered, and never, perhaps, has the question of how and why what happened could take place, been so clearly put before the American reader.

"Public opinion became, at the last, the most potent factor in controlling the decision of the French government ... It was the popular enthusiasm for American liberty which penetrated the council chamber and influenced the ministers in their decision, even if they failed to recognize such a motive."

Would France keep her word, and, if success was attained, reserve for herself nothing on a continent two thirds of which had been hers?

She would, and did, keep her word.

Relationships can be hard work, but they are worth it.

France in the Revolution

The skillful leadership and professional wisdom of Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, the commander of the French land army, were vital in advising General Washington and in guiding the 'end-game' strategy that implemented the Yorktown Campaign.

Talk about your nation building ...

Expédition Particulière

"Bush might be unpopular in Italy, the Iraqi war is not popular in Italy, but Italians know damn well that in 1944, they were liberated by America from the Nazis," said Franco Pavoncello, a political science professor at John Cabot University in Rome.

Damn straight.

Likewise, Americans should know damn well what the French have done for the United States. Unfortunately, many do not.

American politicans, academics, and combinations thereof like to criticize Arab and Muslim educational systems for their deficiencies. I hope it is not too Democratic of me to suggest that people whose children are taught in glass portables should not throw too many rocks at the stone madrassas, lest they bounce back unexpectedly and disrupt a watered-down, papered-over, PC retelling of American history.

"Berlusconi is not simply pro-Bush, Berlusconi is pro-America," said a close aide. "His sense of gratitude is toward America for what it has done over the past 60 years, in World War II, the Marshall Plan, its role in the NATO alliance, in the cold war and, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in the fight against terrorism."

For Berlusconi, Bush's D-Day Visit Will Add Drama to the Drama

Mr. Obama's effort to connect in a more than superficial way with people across ethnic, economic and geographic lines should serve as a template for future campaigns in both parties.

A Leap of Faith

I'm glad to see NYT interested in telecom, but ...

Local phone rates across the nation may soon soar if the Bush administration fails to come to the defense of FCC rules aimed at promoting competition.

What? Local telcos would be crazy to raise rates, as long as they have a desire to stay afloat. Higher prices would only hasten the departure of their already shrinking customer base.

Of course, if the government continues to allow failed telcos to "reorganize" under Chapter 11, they have every incentive to collapse under their own weight and emerge, debt-free, to continue beating each other senseless in the marketplace. The Savvis purchase of C&W assets, and the MCI restructuring, among others, are reigniting the telecom death spiral. If the NYT is looking for a telecom hobbyhorse, this should be it.

Some 20 million American households no longer rely on the local phone company for local service. The Baby Bells now argue, prematurely, that the current regulatory arrangement is no longer needed because new technologies like wireless and cable telephony offer plenty of competition. They also argue that lease rates set by some state regulators are so low they are being asked to subsidize competitors, a claim belied by their strong financial performance.

Strong financial performance? Citations, please! Any evidence suggesting "strength" should receive the most stringent scrutiny. And it's not meaningful to look at wireline voice in isolation. The dwindling profits in this sector are the only support beam propping up an entire industry at risk of collapse.

Defending Phone Competition

The best parts of the book read like a memoir. Lake served under President Clinton for four years before he was nominated to head the CIA. When it became clear the GOP-controlled Senate was not likely to confirm him, Lake withdrew his name.

This is the book I was talking about. I don't necessarily recommend it for your library, but it's worth a look. Most of the Amazon reviewers are highly critical of it and Lake. While I do recall parts of it reading like a made-for-television movie, it shows that the "hype" around these worst-case scenarios was not of Tenet's making.

6 Nightmares

It either bungled or hyped its analysis of Iraq to spin fanciful threats from chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, threats that President Bush used to justify the invasion.

Clinton's national security advisor, Anthony Lake, wrote a book on the subject.

It utterly missed the dismal state Iraq was in and the strength of the insurgency that Americans would face after the fall of Baghdad.

This is true, at least in terms of what we see in the public record, but these failures are complex, and many factors are involved. Tenet was not responsible for the post-Cold War HUMINT problems; our assets were gone before he took the top post. (He may have been on the Hill at the time.)

While Bill Clinton was president, Mr. Tenet's team was stunned when India, a close ally, conducted nuclear tests. American intelligence did spot Pakistan's undisguised preparations for testing its own bomb.

This is a fair criticism.

Now we know that a Pakistani rocket scientist had been peddling nuclear technology all over the world for years, possibly with government sanction, without the CIA noticing.

That seems like an unfair characterization. Just because they didn't ring up the NYT doesn't mean they didn't "notice." Failure to obtain advance knowledge of the tests does not directly translate into the kind of "blindness" about programs and technologies suggested here.

... "personal reasons" ... It's easy to sympathize ... Whether the resignation was voluntary or forced, the timing was terrible.

This is, at least, slightly hypocritical. If you honestly sympathize with him, let him go. Better for him to depart now, intact, and be able to help with the reforms next year, than to wear him down to nothing just to have a convenient punching bag.

Instead of engaging in a partisan confirmation brawl, the White House and Congress could spend the summer on these issues, and present the winner of the election with the chance to name an intelligence director who has the personal stature, political mandate and, ideally, added authority to institute some real reform.

Agreed. Most of the Congressional commentary I heard yesterday was on the mark. Very few were taking cheap shots -- but there were definitely a few in that mode -- and many appeared ready to put some serious reform ideas into play.

George Tenet Resigns

Hrm.

Virtual Security Fence?