Tour de France etc

Light posting today- one of my kids thought that it'd be a good idea to stay awake until 4:00a.m. Not good, I need all the beauty sleep I can get.
 Good news is that Lance Armstrong has not only won the Tour de France again but beaten the long time 5 wins total max. I'm pleased with this for a couple of reasons- first off, it's always good when a record that seems impoossible to beat is broken. Second, I'm a big fan of Lance. Third, he's an American and the French must be so pissed that their coveted race has been won by the USA.
 France's behaviour this past year or so- with regard to Iraq and Afghanistan- has been appalling. On a side note, John Kerry keeps going on about how Bush has wrecked America's relationship with her 'allies'. France and Germany are just two countries whose importance in world matters might have been important a hundred years ago but which are now very much minor players. Why on earth does he place so much value in them? The UK lives right next door to France and we don't value their opinion much at all- Britain hasn't agonised over the war in Iraq because France wasn't there. That's a non-issue here. The majority of the anti-war movement in Britain is anti-war because they're left-wing peaceniks- they aren't that concerned about UN approval or France and Germany sitting on the sidelines- that's not the point for them. They're just anti-war (and anti-Bush too. What is it with that?).
 If someone suggested here that we shouldn't do something because France didn't like it, it would probably gain universal support for just that reason. Despite EU politicians cosy relationship with one another, the British people aren't that fond of Europe. That little stretch of water between here and France makes a hell of a difference.
 So why do so many in America worry about what France thinks? I don't get it. Being 'Old Europe' doesn't mean much at the start of the 21st century and they haven't behaved very much like the allies of America for a long time. Right now they're busy suckering the British people into the loss of their sovereignty in an attempt to create a European superstate and gravy train for already overpaid politicians. France and Germany only care about what's best for them- and why not? The USA should care what's best for itself, not what's best for the rest of the world. Bush went to war, it seems to me, to crush a threat to America, regardless of its effect on his political career. From where I'm sitting he did the best thing for the United States. What's best for Germany and France shouldn't- and didn't- enter into it. Bravo, I say.
 Getting back to the point- man, can I get sidetracked easily- if Lance decides not to race the Tour next year, here's hoping that Tyler Hamilton wins. Let's have a decade or so of American domination of this race and see how they like that!