“Europe” on The Daily Caller

Chances are you went to sleep yesterday without having celebrated Bastille Day. Even more probably, you did not expect to read today that the most important country on the planet is France. For most Americans, Europe is passé and the French are cliché — the epitome of all the old-world weakness, self-indulgence and irrelevance that the U.S. compares itself so favorably against. (more)

Talks about how to get private investors to contribute toward a new bailout for Greece widened Monday to include a possible buyback of Greek government bonds — but people at a meeting in Rome discussing the issue said there were no guarantees the ideas wouldn’t lead to a default by the heavily indebted nation. (more)

While fears stirred by Greece’s deepening debt crisis raced Wednesday through global financial markets, a quick check of U.S. banks showed they risk losses on tens of billions of dollars should the Mediterranean nation default on its payments. (more)

The rapidly developing European E. coli outbreak that has killed 18 people and sickened thousands, including four suspected cases in the United States, has become the deadliest outbreak of E. coli in modern history. (more)

The European Commission on Monday unveiled a “single European transport area” aimed at enforcing “a profound shift in transport patterns for passengers” by 2050. (more)

On Wednesday, two U.S. soldiers were shot  at the Frankfurt airport in Germany. The suspect, 21-year-old Kosovar Arif Uka, was detained and German authorities have suggested the shooting was motivated by Islamic extremism. (more)

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — International pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to end a crackdown on opponents escalated Monday as his loyalists fought rebels holding the two cities closest to the capital and his warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the east. The U.S. moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and said all options were open, including patrols of the North African nation’s skies to protect its citizens from their ruler. (more)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president said Wednesday he is certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East will spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people. (more)

Since embattled journalist Helen Thomas has fallen from grace, only to wind up at the Falls Church News-Press (Va.) as a columnist, she isn’t backing away from making provocative and seemingly outlandish statements. (more)

Today’s budget will flesh out the financial details of the president’s ardor for high-speed rail. In the stimulus package in 2009, in the State of the Union Address (where he argued for giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail) and via Vice President Biden’s speech on spending an additional $53 billion over the next six years, the administration has been arguing for a massive spending effort on trains as fast as planes instead of automobiles. But does it make sense? (more)

For decades, the United States has been the world leader in medical innovation. Individuals come from around the world to receive the best and latest care. What was experimental just a few years ago becomes common medical practice, saving and improving American lives. (more)

In his recent State of the Union speech, President Obama waxed poetic about the need for speed — high-speed rail, that is. He sounded just like my liberal friends who passionately yearn for the wonderful railroads of Europe. It matters not that such systems are losing money, or that the U.S. is much larger and more spread out than any Western European country. (more)

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities disclosed charges and sanctions against operators of an alleged smuggling network that was accused of purchasing millions of dollars in equipment for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. (more)

DUBLIN (AP) — Budget airline Ryanair announced an unexpected third-quarter net loss of euro10.3 million ($14 million) Monday and blamed snow-covered runways and air-traffic controller strikes for lost business. (more)

I agree with the liberal blogosphere — Obama’s State of the Union was “Reaganesque.” Well written and well delivered. Awe-inspiring. Except that it was all distortions, false promises, and bait and switch. Don’t believe a word. It was pure sales and marketing, with zero substance. It was the same old “Cash for Flunkers.” Failed programs renamed “investments” in order to sell the con. (more)

The world’s biggest online retailer is now competing more directly with the nation’s biggest DVD rental service. (more)

Isn’t one ethanol disaster enough? (more)

BERLIN (AP) — Jewish organizations launched a joint effort Friday to identify, protect and memorialize thousands of forgotten Holocaust mass graves across eastern Europe. (more)

It was twenty-two years ago, in the spring of 1989, that thousands of Chinese students gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to demand democracy. The students even fashioned their own 30-foot high replica of America’s Statue of Liberty. It represented the aspirations for democracy of young Chinese. They yearned to join young people in Poland, East Germany, and the then-united nation of Czechoslovakia. It was a time when it seemed the winds of hope and change might sweep away tyranny from the whole world. (more)

We are at an important point in the financial crisis right now. Interestingly, the stock market has climbed and climbed and climbed, which has placated many. It has been the only economic ray of light over the past two years for lots of us. Meanwhile, many people who either long ago cashed out their 401(k)s or never had ones in the first place are under increased economic pressure. (more)