Jacques be nimble

A thousand apologies to Detroit Tiger fans around the nation and to the club itself on my behalf. I had to open my metaphorical mouth yesterday to gloat about the surprising unbeaten start they had, and as soon as I posted, of course they dropped a game to the Rangers. My bad.......

Well the Tigers lost yesterday, but they did not give up. Jacques Chirac on the other hand had given up (as if France needed one more way to surrender), and given in to protests all across the country over the controversial youth labour law that would have made it easier for French business to fire workers under the age of twenty-six. From the outset the law was flawed and needs to be reworked, however there is nothing worse than a weak leader, and now thanks to Chirac, that is exactly what France has. Now that Chirac has backed down from this law, where does it stop? Will protestors just have to scream loud enough and long enough before they can get their way? The world anxiously awaits the outcomes of this defeat.......

In more European politics, Italy today resumes the second of two days of voting for the nation's next premier. Current conservative Silvio Berlusconi is fighting to maintain his status as premiere despite his criticism for backing President Bush (and America in general), entering the war in Iraq, and failing to revive a stagnant Italian economy. His opponent is Romani Prodi who took the Premiership from him ten years ago in 1996. Centre-left candidate Prodi is a former EU chief, and university professor of economics. The campaign has been a mud-slinging battle between the two candidates, and Prodi's main attack on Berlucsoni is that he has become lazy and ineffective while taking advantage of laws designed to keep the premier's party in Parliament as well as office, making it difficult for the dissenting voices to be heard. Stay tuned for the results.........

Congratulations are in order to Phil Mickelson, who won his second green jacket at Augusta yesterday. Besting his opponents by three strokes Lefty was able to tap in for par on 18 with a three-stroke cushion. This is only Mickelson's second major victory and he described as much less stressful than his first two years ago in the same tournament. In baseball both the Tigers and Reds dropped the final game of their series, just barely missing the sweep of the Rangers and Pirates. The Reds are off today, while the Tigers host the White Sox today in their home opener at COPA.