And now a word on Finnish socialized dental care, via Helsingin Sanomat:

“Long Lines For Dental Care In Helsinki

"Up to 6200 people are in line to receive dental care in the county of Helsinki. The waiting time for care could be as long as half a year.

In acute cases a doctor’s appointment can be received on the same day, but that does not guarantee that treatment will begin in a reasonable amount of time.

Helsinki would require dozens of new dentist and dental assistant teams for waiting times to be reduced to a few weeks.

According to Helsinki’s Director of Dentistry Seppo Helminen, the dental care capacity of the city would be adequate for a city the size of Tampere.”

Looks like there's a lot of cocaine use in the EU parliament.

I love the banner on this blog! It's written by "two hot-blooded women, one American and one French, both living in a socialist paradise called France".

It's obvious that they have quite a lot of opinions about frogland. I've bookmarked them, as they're bound to have a lot of interesting views.

Thanks to the growing US economy, tax collection has increased - even with Bush's tax cuts - to the point where the budget deficit may drop as much as 24% this year.

Reminds me of the kind of group think that usually passes for consensus in a welfare state.

Ah, another good term to use to describe a phenomenon of our times: activista.

And Michael Totten is as insightful as ever.

More good news from Iraq.

American troops on the Syrian border are enjoying a battle they have long waited to see - a clash between foreign al-Qa'eda fighters and Iraqi insurgents.

[...]

Following al-Qa'eda's seizure of the main buildings a number of residents fled. Arkan Salim, 56, who left with his wife and four children, said: "We thought they were patriotic. Now we discovered that they are sick and crazy."

The strategy is working.

Jacques Chirac now agrees with Berlusconi:

"The only thing they [the British] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease," Mr Chirac said, according to the newspaper's report.

"After Finland, it is the country with the worst food."