France's President is Going to the Chapel

Who would plan a first year in office like this? A bruising close election against Segolene Royal, inaugurated as president, Celia Sarkozy wife of eleven years as France's First Lady collects Bulgarian medic hostages from Libya, bitterly divorces wife, riots in the streets of Paris and petrol strikes, Moamer Qaddafi descends upon the French with a Bedouin tent to make a splashy head dictator visit, off to meet the Pope - model/songstress girlfriend gets a no Holy See, and now, announce he's going to marry his gal pal. Will she make an honest man of him?

France will have had two different first lady's inside of a year. The first marriage was said to be, um, rather combative with three children under the age of twelve. The French president, considered conservative, is playing by his own political rules as he takes Carla Bruni with him on his official trips. Christmas was spent amongst the ancient pyramids of Egypt, home to ancient civilization's first twisted mangled messes of mixing the political with affairs of the heart. Carla is not Cleopatra though.

An elegant brunette and heiress to a tyre fortune, with a reputation as a "man-eater," the former supermodel had a surprise hit with the release of her first pop album "Quelqu'un M'a Dit" (Someone Told Me) in 2004.

Bruni's mother Marisa Tedeschi Bruni -- who accompanied Sarkozy on a trip to the Vatican last month -- has been quoted in the Italian press saying the president had asked for her daughter's hand, and that she had gladly agreed.

While polls initially suggested a majority of voters saw Sarkozy's romance as a strictly private affair, there were growing signs the paparazzi fuelled coverage of his love life could be harming his confidence rating.

"The intense media coverage of the president's private life, touching on the image of the presidential function, appears to bother (his) traditional supporters," Rozes told Le Parisien.

Petra, Jordan is the latest presidential stop for the two lovers. February seems to be the month that his fiancée will become the new/latest/final? Mrs. Nicholas Sarkozy. President Sarkozy will become a stepfather to her young son, Aurelien Enthoven. Protocol offices around the world are wringing their hands at how to handle Carla when she visits as it creates quite a headache because of her lack of official something or other, but she sleeps in the bedroom with a head of state. Believe it or not, the blithe French are scandalized.

Invited by King Abdullah II to spend the weekend at his palace in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, Mr Sarkozy and the singer were flown to Jordan by royal jet.

The couple's appearance in Egypt, giggling and whispering as they took in the tourist sites trailed by a swarm of paparazzi, provoked criticism in France that the President

was turning his private life into a circus. His latest romantic getaway to Jordan looked likely to trigger a similar reaction.

Indian authorities are struggling to find the right protocol should Ms Bruni accompany Mr Sarkozy on his first official trip to New Delhi later this month. In a country of conservative sexual mores, India's Foreign Ministry is reported to be in confusion after Paris said the President's girlfriend might accompany him, as she is not his spouse.

Gallic shrugs have given way to anger. The president seems to have a measure more hubris than even the French can tolerate. Viciously, but oh so salaciously for the tabloids, his rival, former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, has called him Tom Cruise for the diminutive hieight of the president, the style of Top Gun aviator shades he prefers and the dilettante movie star lifestyle. The added subtle insult to Sarkozy was to compare him to a crass American.It just adds to the drama that though they were both rulers of France at two different times, Napoleon famously has the ownership title for short men trying to overcompensate. That would be to grand to compare him to a self-anointed Emperor. Reading Paris Match ought to be hilarious in the coming months. No one does trashy tabloid tarring and feathering quite like the Europeans. (Getty photo from Jordan)

Republic day is a big day for India and Sarkozy must not have understood the cultural reaction when Richard Gere went a peck-on-the-cheek-too-far with a Bollywood star on stage. A French president, with no seeming interest in world opinion, is thumbing his nose at traditional values. He was the conservative guy in the presidential race and seems to have morphed overnight. No worries, Americans know what its like to vote for compassionate conservatism and get totally incompetent.




The book the French are avidly reading filled with flaming vitriol is Des Hommes d'Etat (Men of State), but Dominique de Villepin proves he knows His French history with all of Napoleon's contributions in Les Cent-Jours: ou l'espirit de sacrifice.

Australia Heats Up & Dries Out

Hotter than Hades and dryer than dust is not the way Australia wants the description to read in the weather section of travel guides. It is summer now and describing the Land Down Under as a dried up prune won't inspire a stampede of tourists rushing to book tickets either. Last year was the island's hottest on record in the south and overall ranked 6th hottest country wide. Sydney is the warmest on record since record keeping began 149 years ago. Scientists do not foresee dropping temperatures or enough rain even during La Niña. Starkly, if the ocean warms one more degree on a consistent basis, The Great Barrier Reef along with others, is in danger of dying. Climate Change and its consequences have decided Australia is just dandy for a long term stay.

It may be time to stop describing south-eastern Australia as gripped by drought and instead accept the extreme dry as permanent, one of the nation's most senior weather experts warned yesterday.

"Perhaps we should call it our new climate," said the Bureau of Meteorology's head of climate analysis, David Jones.

Surrounded by saltwater, with rain diminishing for the Land of Oz's heavily populated areas affects the nation's water supply. That is a national security issue. Australia's, along with others, interminable drought season is wreaking havoc in certain areas such as Victoria, as replacement for diminished water resources is not provided by nature at its former usual clip or in the amounts needed to offset a drought. Wilder weather means certain storm systems may provide a surfeit of rain in other areas, causing flash floods with the amount of rainfall. Water conservation policies must be part and parcel of the plans for dealing with climate change from the effects of global warming.

Rainfall across Victoria was 7% below average, but again there were large contrasts between regions. Pockets of Gippsland — hit by floods in June and November — were as wet as they have ever been, while Casterton, in the south-west, had its wettest year since 1973.

"On the other hand, the area around Melbourne was significantly drier than normal, as was north-eastern Victoria — a key catchment area for the Murray basin," Dr Trewin said.

Wow, when Australia has a dust storm, they don't come in size small. This one from 21 December, 2007 stretched out over 50 kilometers.

Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said the reality of the weather was stacking up with all projections.

"It also shows that global weather is not just about warmer weather, it's about wilder weather," he said.

"The projections are for intense storms, flooding, droughts and bushfires and we had all of those in 2007."

Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said that the statement reinforced the need to tackle climate change.

Changes will invariably come to the landscape through the passages of time. But Australia is on an accelerated pace to change by virtue of the changing Climate. A classic look by National Geographic from Roff Martin Smith capture the nation at the beginning of the 21st century in Australia: Journey Through A Timeless Land.

Barack Obama A Win & A Speech For The Ages

The young, the old, the unions, the independents, the moderates, the liberals, women and grumpy old men came together to give Barack Obama a blowout win in Iowa. He did it with the help of an stellar organization that shall undergo serious scrutiny for those that want to run in the future it is so impressive. Over 226,000 thousand Iowans turned out to have their say - we want this man to lead us back from the divisive wilderness of American politics, together.

A victory speech like no other was made by Barack Obama involving a soaring scope of oratory reserved for preaching about Heaven. It was a feast of a speech which while magnificent pointed to the best that America had to offer the world again, not the Darkness that consumed the country for the last 7 years.

That he is of mixed race, with a name that is unusual, has lived in Indonesia and suffered the torments of any young person is a story he told with an amazing elan over 13 years ago in writing. Now he communicates it in rising rhetoric that shall last the length of history and inspire those with the ability to hear as well.

Japan's Clear Sky Green G-8 Agenda

The Land of the Rising Sun became the new giant head of the richy-rich conglomeration of G-8 nations today. They have plans, big bold plans that merit serious discussion. But first, Japan had to get rid of the embarrassing environmental PR issue by delaying that hypocritical hunt to find and kill 50 humpback whales for some sort of diabolical biological testing that nobody understands. Australia, a member of the Group of 8, made their righteous whale snit known with a spying ice breaker ship and energetic cheering from the USA, who for the first time in a really long time was on the right side of an international issue. But all that recent country camaraderie could prove illusory as the BIG topic of Climate Change steams to the forefront of Japan's agenda.

The US Department of State will publicly welcome the topics, while cringing, strong-arming or delaying action in the background on major parts of an agenda of reducing greenhouse emissions, Africa's future development and the exploitation of its resources, outrageous oil prices and the prevention of further nuclear proliferation. For years, the Bush administration rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, named for the city in Japan and knows the UN is also anxious for a signed consensus before the agreement expires. The unGreen Bush administration is in a prevent defense mode to stall progress on that front. Until recently, they were firm non-believers in Climate Change, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. China, while not an official G-8 kool kid, gets a coveted invitation with shuttle trips already occurring between the two governments. Things could be a mite tense as Japan's event is just before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, knowing China is one of the guilty top three Co2 polluters on the planet with enormous economic influence with all of their investments in Africa and the Middle East in exchange for resources. China is one of America's de facto bankers too, holding large sums of US debt. OOOH good times ahead. Diplomacy on parade!

Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Masaharu Kohno, says leaders need to reach a consensus on how to move the process forward when they meet.

"Without any common understanding among G8 leaders, we have to be very pessimistic about the outcome of the United Nations process," he said.

Japan will beautifully set the stage and have the international press spotlight in July as the summit takes place in Toyako, a swanky resort on the northern end of the volcanic island of Hokkaidō. But before the summit, Japan will leverage its influence with other regional Asian leaders with a pre-summit and discussion of the UN roadmap agreed to in Bali. Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, has an ambitious plan to discuss additional topics of critical importance with the G-8 and first in Davos, Switzerland, such as global health care with emphasis on the UN focus on poverty and disease prevention programs.

"Environmental issues will be a big agenda" item at the summit, Fukuda said in a New Year statement.

"Japan hopes to lead the worldwide discussions in order to hand over clean skies to our children."

It has announced four main issues for the summit: environment and climate change; the world economy; development and Africa; and broad political issues such as nuclear non-proliferation and the fight against terrorism.

Last week, Fukuda vowed to use Japan's presidency to promote eco-friendly technology, saying "we must promote our technologies to the rest of the world. That should benefit Japan and the rest of the world."

And the heat goes on or rather up...



Precious Air: The Kyoto Protocol and Profit in the Global Warming Game, outlines the immense amount of economic opportunity available from capturing a corporate as well as government competitive advantage. The book is from author, Alan Reed, trying to distill the complex regulatory maze into an understandable financial model.