International:

Sarkozy wins French election

Nicolas Sarkozy, an enthusiastic friend of the United States, was elected president of France by a comfortable margin yesterday and signaled at once that his victory would mean friendly relations with Washington.

His Socialist Party opponent, Segolene Royal, conceded defeat for her hopes of becoming France's first female president. With nearly 70 percent of ballots counted, Mr. Sarkozy had won just over 53 percent of the vote, according to the Interior Ministry.

Mr. Sarkozy said he wants to "tell American friends that they can rely on our friendship. France will always be next to them when they need us." Friendship, he said, "means accepting that friends can have different opinions," but in his campaign he was enthusiastic in his praise for what he called "the world's greatest democracy." Read the story.

Hamas Wants a 'True Solution'
I realize we shouldn’t expect murderers whose entire lives revolve around genocidal hatred to follow rules of logic. But don’t these cretinous killers in cheap suits feel any cognitive discomfort at all when in one breath, they commit themselves and all future Palestinian generations to eternal war until the Jews are wiped out, and in the next breath say, “The Zionist entity is incapable of making peace?” Read more here.

North Korea Ready to Shut Down Reactor 'Immediately'
North Korea is ready to quickly shut down its nuclear reactor as soon as it receives funds that had been frozen in a banking dispute, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"The shutdown is something that can be done immediately and it won't take long," Ri Kyong Son, vice spokesman at the ministry, told APTN in an interview in Pyongyang. Need details?

National:
Government Agencies Push Back On Waxman Request For Rove’s Emails
Last month, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote letters to at least 24 government departments and agencies directing them to preserve e-mails received from or sent to non-governmental e-mail accounts (i.e. gwb43.com, georgewbush.com and rnchq.org) used by White House staffers.

Since both the RNC and the White House have said they did not preserve some of these communications from White House staffers, Waxman is attempting to acquire the emails through an alternative route.

The agencies pushed back on Waxman’s request -read all about it.

Wolfowitz Broke World Bank Rules by Arranging Girlfriend Pay Raise, Promotion
A special panel has found that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz broke bank rules in arranging a pay package and promotion for his girlfriend, a person familiar with the report said Monday.

Wolfowitz was presented with the findings by the special bank panel investigating his handling of the 2005 promotion and pay raise of bank employee Shaha Riza. Read the whole story here.

Lundberg Survey Shows Gas Prices Surge to Record U.S. Average of $3.07 Per Gallon
Gasoline prices have surged to a record nationwide average of $3.07 per gallon, nearly 20 cents higher than two weeks earlier, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday. The previous record was $3.03 per gallon on Aug. 11, 2006. More here.

In Other News...
"The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, KS, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state's governor. Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone."

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), a Bush loyalist and ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, says he has lobbied the White House to stop using the term "war on terror." "Language is important...and I think the 'war on terror' is a terrible idea," Hoekstra said, arguing that it "elevates mass murderers to the status of a standing army."

"Some of the most celebrated levee repairs by the Army Corps of Engineers after Hurricane Katrina are already showing signs of serious flaws," one expert says, warning that heavy storms may cause "tear-on-the-dotted-line levees."

Over the past year, as the Afghan government "

has sought to counter growing public dissatisfaction, it has tried to impose more controls over the news media. ... Parliament is now considering amendments that the critics warn could undo many of the gains made since the fall of the Taliban."

From The Right: Burt Prelutsky: I'd rather be far right than President
I never wanted to be the President of the United States. And, quite frankly, I don't understand why so many other people are anxious to move all their stuff into the White House.

From The Left: ThinkProgress: With Bin Laden ‘Stronger Than Ever,’ U.S. Officials Concede Overestimating Damage Done To Al Qaeda In the months after September 11, President Bush declared victory over the man he once pledged to capture “dead or alive” and began turning his focus to Iraq.

Quote Of The Day: "All of us believe that in the next 90 days, you'll probably see an increase in American casualties," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army's Task Force Marne, said yesterday. Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year.

Thought To Ponder: From all of praise given to the French people for electing Nicolas Sarkozy, you'd never imagine that the same people now praising the French are the ones who days ago despised them; months ago banned their fries and toast; and years ago dismissed them as 'old Europe'. Life is an interesting show.

(Sources: AP, FOXNews, NYT, WashingtonTimes, WashingtonPost, TownHall, ThinkProgress, KCBS, Examiner, LittleGreenFootballs.com)