Dog Days

Most importantly, Casey got Avery and I'm so excited I get to go play with her in about 6 weeks! How freaking cute is she? Casey posted a bunch of photos below you have to check out. I'm dying.

 

My friend got this dog and I'm a little bit obsessed... It's called a Tibetan Mastiff. How many dogs can we get, again?

I went home this weekend and Skye-boo says hi! I don't know how she wrapped herself up with this but, she's decided to join a convent.

In the news world: France has a new president! As promised in your e-mail, I will elaborate a little bit on this new (totally objective) disaster. First, his name is Francois Hollande and is the first Socialist Party president since Mitterand. Remember how I argued that the rich should pay proportional tax rates (if not slightly higher) ... well Hollande agrees. In fact:  "Domestically, he has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and raise the tax rate to 75 percent for those earning more than one million euros a year."... How to destroy an economy in one step. Step One: Tax the rich 75% (!?!? )

He is also lowering the retirment age to 60... He is raising min. wage, cutting payroll tax and starting off with a huge spending spree, which I suppose could be a good thing for the Euro strength. He is also making owning a second property in France a taxable nightmare for people who might just have a second place over there....  He is also famous for a "secret" life long affair (and four children) with Segolene Royale- the 2007 Socialist party presidential candidate in France who ran against Sarkozy...

I have to give him one thing- he wants to pull all French troops out of Afgh. by the end of 2012. So, my brother is not getting deployed. If only Obama would do the same...

Anyways, that's where France is... so maybe we should hurry up with that trip there before it falls apart. I'm exaggerating, but I'm betting France will miss Sarkozy more than it thinks.

I did a quick sweep of the NYTimes today, and the news is pretty uneventful. I suppose that is a good thing. The big stories today were a foiled terrorist plot, a wife Skyping with her husband in Afghanistan watched him collapse/die in front of the screen mid-sentence and no one knows how it happened, 50/50 Obama/Romney dead heat in election polls,  Biden stating that all people including gay/lesbian people should be allowed civil rights and Obama is tentative to agree. Actually, North Carolina voted today against allowing same-sex marriages.  So I'll leave you will all those positive stories... :)

 I hope you enjoyed the puppy pictures. I had a lovely chat with your sister today about her sweet puppy, and your mama yesterday (who said she would adopt me if we didn't work out, which might be a little awkward for you, so I guess that means you'd be out!) Can't wait to see your family and I wish you were going to be there, but they will be nice to me the whole time, which will be a nice change from another Reed.

Missing you!!