GEE, THANKS GUYS – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  The European Union, one of the lesser ideas to come along in the last century, has rejected a critical security agreement with the United States:

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Parliament on Thursday strongly rejected a deal that would have allowed U.S. authorities access to European bank transfers -- a vote the United States said disrupted an important source of information for anti-terror investigators.

EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, voted 378-196 against the deal with 31 abstentions. The parliament's president, Jerzy Buzek, said the assembly wants more safeguards for civil liberties and believes human rights has been compromised in the name of security.

The prissy Europeans do it again.  Stick it to the U.S.  Claim moral superiority. 

The U.S. mission to the EU said it was ''disappointed'' with the EU move, calling it ''a setback for U.S.-EU counterterror cooperation.'' The vote came after lawmakers were contacted in recent days by several top U.S. officials -- including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner -- ''about the importance of this agreement to our mutual security.''

European governments now must renegotiate the deal with the parliament, which would allow data sharing for nine months while the EU seeks a longer-term deal with the U.S.

COMMENT:  Don't you love it when the Europeans assert their wonderfulness?  Next time the EU needs assistance with a terror threat, maybe they should call the ACLU or Amnesty International?  We might just be out to lunch.

Wasn't Obama's election supposed to change all this?  Hmm.

February 11, 2010