From Eurovision to the Euro

One issue that many "dash Americans" (and all dashes for that matter) often grapple with is how much of a connection to have to the patrida and how much to the current home country. And in asking different people, you'll certainly get different answers.

Add that quandry to an ever-changing environment where the two homelands may find themselves in opposing camps on important issues including (but definately not limited to) homeland security, the environment, human rights efforts and trade policy, and it's often easier to avoid the matter all together.

But as the cliche goes, avoiding it does not make it go away.

In the case of the EU, the past five years have changed the existence and the perception of this new union by leaps and bounds. But the past five years have also been those of drastic change in how the entire world sees itself, and that has left many of us unaware of the numerous changes that have taken place and those that continue to move forward at break-neck (for a European bureaucracy anyway) speed.

Now if you want the opportunity to catch up on these developments, here is a crash course that brings decades of treaties into practical perspective. From Maastricht to Eurovision, this easy read with the offensive title (for US and EU alike) will bring you up to speed.