and it unwittingly endorses the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
While an alliance of Arab States, Russia, France, Germany, and the generalized Angry left were trying to stall the United States in the year before the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Bush Administration seems to have adapted from the Asian business model the concept of just in time bombing.
Trying to use it as a cudgel and an October surprise, the New York Times reports that in 2002, the Baathist regime was as little as one year away from having a working nuke. The odd thing is that this attempt to fault the Bush Administration underlines the fact that the NYT spent the last 3 years attempting to convince the public by underreporting relevant information and running endless speculative tales of doubt, that there were no WMDs, no programmes, etc. They might as well try to suggest that the Bush Administration concocted the letters W, M, and D for just that purpose, and their zombie readership would buy it.
To wit, release the blogs!
That notwithstanding they are actively publishing information of tremendous use to violent opponents of the United States, much as they did by publicizing the people and methods behind the United States’ communications and financial transfer intelligence efforts. This time they’re helping out insurgents figure out how to more easily kill coalition troops. Those engaged in warfare are always seeking any edge, however slight, which may give them the advantage. Unfortunately some in the media are all to willing to display the coalition family jewels for all to see.
One might say that this isn’t treason, seeing that once the weakness of American body armor are known that word can get around – well, no. Cells in an insurgent network protect themselves by isolating themselves from one another. Their entrepot of information is the media, more to the point the overachieving western press and the bloodthirsty nature of the left-leaning people who run it.
Graphic courtesy of the New York Times.
Where their adolescent dreams of “sticking it to the man” comes from has been a matter of much speculation, but I’d guess it’s a close relative of the fear and excess rumination that comes from passivity and fear about the world. Since it’s a scary place, it has to be controlled forcefully by some wise entity that appeals to one. Judgment in every thing needs to be left up to such experts, down to the last detail, but always as it relates to oneself, ones’ pleasures, ones’ image, and the like – to the point of invention. An example can be found here where the writer asks:Will there come a day when we can eat lots of high-calorie, fatty foods and offset the health damage by taking a natural substance found in red wine?
Wine exists. Fatty foods exist. Why not try it out and get back to us. No such beast. The outcome must be known.
Just as the left looks back at ”good” wars that they say they could get behind, saying that the morality of fighting the Nazis and Japanese Empire were clear, they’re hiding a lie. They like it because these wars are over, and they know the outcome.
Their absolute fear and unceasing lamentation of the future is what brings them to find any and all rhetoric possible to try to make any concurring change stop right away at all costs. It’s what would cause the likes of those who write for the New York Times to criticize the fullness of an effort they did everything they could to diminish.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
NYT Nukes Its’ Own Argument
Strange Heroes
It should come at no surprise that when people have enough socialism sold to them that they would harbor delusions of the innocence for what it’s done. Despite a hundred million murdered, all some Parisian artist can think of is to honor them admirably in a series watercolors.
Oh and it’s all quite typical too.
Law Through The Looking Glass
The finding by the court against media watcher Philippe Karsenty and in favor of France 2 over their handling of the Al-Dura gin-up signals on simple thing to John Rosenthal:...the court's judgment is largely devoted to citing opinions hostile to the Shahaf/Mena hypothesis and calling into doubt the credibility and "seriousness" of the Mena and its collaborators, who -- despite their plurality -- are stylized into the "sole source" of Karsenty's claims. The court thereby manages to evade the primary evidence upon which the controversy -- though not the court's judgment -- in fact hinges: namely, the video evidence. The ultimate "source" of this evidence is not, of course, the Mena. It is France2, with crucial supporting evidence being provided by the rushes of the other news organizations.
As for Enderlin, France 2’s “star reporter” in the near east, a kind of character with the stature and the stuffing of Robert Fisk:The litigious texts concern France2's famous and by many accounts -- not only Philippe Karsenty's -- infamous news report of Sept. 30, 2000, apparently showing a defenseless Palestinian boy being shot dead in a hail of Israeli fire. This is at least how viewers would have been led to interpret the scene by the voice-over of Enderlin:
All of which turned out to be dead wrong and maliciously staged to the extent that stage management by ringers working for France 2 created the conditions which led to the death of a child.
Three PM. Everything has begun to degenerate near the Netzarim settlement in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have fired with live ammunition. The Israelis respond. Ambulance teams, journalists and simple passers-by are caught in the cross-fire. Here Jamal and his son Mohammed are the target of fire coming from the Israeli position.
One can’t but help to sense that JayBean, a delightful blogger has. It is one of little surprise and great disappointment.Most of her speech was ad hominem; it had to do with who Enderlin is, not with refuting anything that had been said in court against him. Her stance: how can they say these horrible things about a man so great? One must make a serious investigation before saying something against such a renowned journalist!
She cites a well known story which could very well be the court’s transcription:If any one of them can explain it, said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasn't a bit afraid of interrupting him,) I'll give him sixpence. I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.
The jury all wrote down on their slates, She doesn't believe there's an atom of meaning in it, but none of them attempted to explain the paper.
Friday, November 03, 2006
The Weakness of Rhetorical Being
- Vielen Dank, RV
Does This "Censorship from the Side" Seem Familiar?
What they want is to make Latin America a kind of communist republic. Again. But not old-fashioned communism. They will not fight, they will not use violence to take over Latin America. They use revolution disguised in democracy, a popular democracy. … [How do they achieve this?] They use another kind of revolutionary war, called Gramscian revolution. Antonio Gramsci … tried to think in another form of revolutionary fight. The main action is to pretend that the society is already inside a socialistic régime. Pretending this, the fight moves from war to culture. If you change the culture of a society, you make this society go towards socialism without a fight. This is what is happening right now in Latin America.So says Luís Afonso Assumpção of the (hidden and not-so-hidden) fight to turn Latin American towards the left, with the advent of characters like Lula, Eva Morales, Hugo Chávez, et al (the creator Swimming Against the Red Tide starts speaking in English, briefly switches to Spanish (with a Brazilian accent), and returns to English).
They use the media to do this. But it is not a kind of censorship, it is a censorship from the side… journalists … act as militants, not as real journalists.
A Reader Reflecting on Society
I received an interesting note that is worth sharing. His patience has worn thin: Yesterday I listened to a the Olivier Pichon libre journal on Radio-Courtoisie, and he told of what was said to him after his conferences in the 'hoods... for example, one 50-ish lady whose door was unsuccessfully kicked in by two violent Youths... the police come only after an hour or so, and don't dare to arrest the Youths, but calm them down, and tell the lady they can't do anything... they go away, the Youths threaten the lady with rape and death, and the lady is now hiding at her elderly mother's home, having fled her apartment... and when she asks the Powers-that-be for help, she is told she is not a priority, because she's French and already has a home.
Further, he notes a sort of propensity for some social systems to be less able to evolve with will. The test will come at some point and as we see from everyday social issues as noted above, it will find itself in every place:
I dunno... A few weeks ago, while buying bread, I had a conversation with an old lady, which moved me so. She was formerly privileged, (mother, married to an university teacher, etc, etc...), but now she is living alone without resources except a slight retirement in a shitty ‘hood in Lyon. She’s been mugged by Youths three time since the beginning of this year, all the businesses are being chased away by the lack of security... she was on vacation here, with her daughter who normally lives in Paris, and was not thrilled at the perspective of going back "home".
All this is to say that I have a feeling of living in the shadow of a terrible future, like being on the Titanic, listening to the idle, pointless chatter of the passengers, while knowing fully we’re going to sink eventually... Mitterrand the scumbag had his own vision of thing... saying once "après moi, le déluge", and in another occasion "nous sommes en train de faire la fête dans un avion qui va s'écraser"...You might also wish to check this out.
That the centralization of all matters in life from Napoleon’s administration and curriculum to today’s aggressive socialism points very clearly to a kind of obsessive search for a means to either develop those tools, or to never need them. An effort which hopes to find a way out of the gambles taken on the leader (as a providential figure) and risking totalitarianism, or the creation of a model as a cult or fetish at the very least.
That's funny, the idea of a "providential man (or woman, as with Joan of Arc)" is very, very French; as noted by a liberal French economist and historian, Jacques Marseilles, France is the country of civil wars; its society lacks the civil tools of the Anglo-Saxon societies, and reform itself only through convulsive spasm, with "providential men" emerging to lead us away from turmoil.
Since the revolution, it is a society marked by a quasi-permanent rift between the "left" and the "right", and a huge instability (let me see: 5 republics, 2 empires, one triumvirat, 1 occupation gvt, 2 monarchies, I think that's all).
- Thank you, gentle reader.
U.S. troops must stay, Talabani says
President Jalal Talabani said Thursday that American-led troops should remain in Iraq for at least two more years to give the country time to build up its security forces.Another thing worth pointing out is that, needless to say, "some French diplomats voiced concern that two or three years seemed a long time." With Jacques Chirac reminding everybody of the importance of setting "a perspective for a pull-out", it is refreshing to be reminded how solidaristic and fraternal the French sound in voicing concern (this has nothing to do with getting the pesky Yanks out of the way, you understand; it must be their ever-so-friendly feelings for those they keep reminding us are their American friends…)
His remarks, delivered at the start of a six-day visit in France, came as pressure in the United States and Britain is building to bring home the 150,000 soldiers currently on the ground in Iraq. Amid continuing violence and a rising death toll, the war has become the No. 1 issue for American voters ahead of next week's midterm elections.
"We need time," Talabani told a conference in Paris before meeting President Jacques Chirac. "I believe two to three years could be enough to build up our forces before we can say bye-bye and thanks to our friends."
Last week, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, urged the United States and Britain not to "cut and run."
Blogger Scoops MSM, MSM Steals Story
Note too the paucity of interest in the subject. A Vicar's self immolation produced only three entries.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
PC sidelines Lefty Britain’s Favorite Terrorist
It’s only “alternative” if you don’t ban it:Guy Fawkes has been banned by council bosses in east London - and replaced with a Bengali folk tale. Tower Hamlets said it wanted to provide an "alternative" theme to celebrate November 5 and the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
The French suburbs are now
one big Shake n' Bake
Sophisticated French song & dance troupe shows timid Americans what entertainment is all about
Avant-garde
Cartoonists All For That Holocaust That They'd Rather Deny
Here it is the moment you;ve surely been waiting for with bated breath:Carlos Latuff from Brazil and A Chard from France jointly won the second prize of £4,000 (€6,000) and Iran’s Shahram Rezai received £2,500 for third place.
”Causes” discussed:Masoud Shojai, head of the country's "Iran Cartoon" association and the fair organiser, said that "we staged this fair to explore the limits of freedom Westerners believe in".
It seems that the western reaction is offensive to him because it has been pronounced by tolerance and an inadequate amount of violence and outrage.
While some ignore the limits of truthfulness in criticism, others go all the way, and simply invent their own:“The bad news,” investigative reporter Seymour Hersh told a Montreal audience last Wednesday, “is that there are 816 days left in the reign of King George II of America.”
Nonetheless, he took the opportunity to trash the US while in Canada to get outraged over things truthful as well:
“In Washington, you can’t expect any rationality. I don’t know if he’s in Iraq because God told him to, because his father didn’t do it, or because it’s the next step in his 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program,” he said.”...The military is going to do what the President wants,”
I suppose he’d prefer a banana republic where the military does whatever the military wants.
Political Dada
An anti-Communist group wanted to hold a public display to remind people of the horrors of Communism on the 50th anniversary of the crushing of dissent in Hungary, and, quite naturally for France not only is it suppressed by the CRS riot cops, but a crowd of goofy anarchists are permitted (nay, induced) to “counter” it with more of the usual pro-Palestinian rubbish, as if they need any more support than they’ve already gotten.
If that isn’t a fish trying to ride a bicycle, I don’t know what is. To make some sense of it, remember that anything involving the fevered imagination of the incongruous Marxist-Pro-jihadist alliance is the gaping hole of suck which hosts both of those suicidal world views called Bobigny.
From Le Point, a typical day of court testimony that lets one know just how comfortable the two factions are to each other:On the docket since Monday are three young people have appeared before the court for the rapes of a young woman and a homosexual man with acts of cruelty and tortures. They risk perpetuity.
“What was the name of your previous victim?” asks the chief judge Odile Mondineu-Hederer, who become famous for conducting deliberations in the appeal cases of Outreau. “I don’t remember any more, I got over it”, said Hasid, 24 years, already sentenced to eleven years for the rape of someone who he forgot the first name of. Then he remembered: “It was Céline, she was a minor. ”
Fifteen days later, Hasid said that in a hotel of Saint-Ouen. With its two accomplices, Aymeric, 24 years old, and Mourad, 28 years old, they attacked a young homosexual pedestrian. Seven hours of beating and repeated rapes. The victim also had his genitals and buttocks sprayed with something toxic, and was sodomized with the bottle. To finish, its attackers tagged his back with the names of their ghettos, « Franc-Moisin », « Clos Saint-Lazare », before penetrating his anus one last time. No explanation was given. The only things these two unlikely tribes (thugs who admire Jihad and Lifestyle-groups admired by the radical left) have in common are a set of causes akin to a death-wish. I guess that’s enough.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Not reported on French State TV
- Clichy-sous-Bois: 2 faux-journalists from France2 attacked and injured (payback for their phoney al-Durah shit)
- Tourcoing: middle school torched
- Wittenheim: Bus attacked
- Trappes: Bus attacked
- Buc: Bus attacked
- Poissy: Bus attacked
- Guyancourt: Bus attacked (Molotov cocktail)
- Mantes-la-Jolie: general rioting
- Elancourt: general rioting
Hat tip: 5 Years Later.
Isn’t the Next Step to Organize the Workers?
...because the goal of the average French student is to have a guaranteed job for life.
From Le Figaro:According to the trade union SUD-Student, some 40.000 students prostitute themselves, in particular via the Internet and in “hostess” bars.
So much so, that the “fake student” routine is the hottest sales gimmick going at the moment. It seems nothing, and I mean nothing gets by even Le Figaro without a Neo-Com spin to it though:A consequence of the impoverishment of students, it’s also of the growing vision of a consumerist society, the phenomenon is largely overlooked by social services and universities. In fact, no study was undertaken on the subject. Only the trade union SUD-Student dared present any statistics.
Others hardly seem like students at all, seeking the image of youth and an explanation for their “bumpsen für Euros” other than being on the “Blutarsky Plan”. Basically, these hos are “students” in the same way 37 year old rioters are “youths.”Seven years with a “summer job”
[nald’s]. I’m not saying that it is easy money, but I had the pride of earning it without robbing anybody”, she says today.Is that to say that all students are into some form of crime or another? Just how is it that this entrepreneur finds those awful, American-seeming capitalists at McDo such bad employers? Oh well. At least she took some pride in her work.
In fact, the money is more than enough of a draw. Emma, 36 years old, is now married and a mother in the North. The young woman was a prostitute for seven years, each summer in Brussels. Then a student at the school of veterinary surgeon, she though well of her “summer job”. “In two months, I earned my money for the year. More than I would have made working at McDo
- With thanks to Kevin
Unmanned drone heading for a crash landing
Court Martialed by Cartoonland
Serguei convicts those skull lovin’ Wehrmacht troops zofort, although I’m not sure just what kind of “false consciousness” he thinks they suffer from. After all, cannibalism has up until recently not been illegal in Germany, and buggery to skulls, living or otherwise remains legal in the many parts of Europe. I suppose you'll rationalize anything if you can't be loved by a living beings with personalities.
As an aside, one will note that the New York Times has given the story a pass. It's just not an even the editors think reportable (if not frightening) because 1) it doesn't reflect badly on the American Right. 2) it makes the life of a soldier understandable to a degree. and 3) they and their readers harbor delusions about Europe being some sort of paradise populated by people who are inherently better.
What a long strange trip it's been
Jamel Debbouze, your limo is waiting
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Scenes from the Crowbar Hotel
Inmate mural from the now-defunct Washington DC prison at Lorton, Virginia, USA.
How the West was Won
Have to hand it to them, the franchouilles have that certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to solving thorny problems
A brave, nuanced, symbolic drop in the bucket
Their prescience demands a serious financial commitment:The European Commission this week decided to allocate 9 Million € for the pursuit of actions against terrorist attacks, initiated under the "Pilot Project Fight against Terrorism". This includes actions in relation to critical infrastructure protection, terrorist financing, explosives and violent radicalisation.
From the aptly named Europaworld. Thanks to a correspondent, I’ve come across this quote:
Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, stated that "the actions financed under this project will enhance the European Union’s capacity to effectively prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. It will assist in better protecting critical infrastructures, preventing terrorist financing, the use of explosives and violent radicalization and increase Bio-preparedness, by training intervention personnel and by identifying key objectives and proper measures to protect our citizens"Hope is not a strategy
- General Tommy Franks
A Museum To A Forgotten Concept On The Ile De La Cité
A gilded exterior and a hollow heart; that's my impression of French justice after this trial (more about that, of course, later). And I discovered, while doing a little research, that this building has another history, one that reflects especially ironically on the failed promise of the slogan carved outside its portals.
Neo-neocon, a groovy American poses the following about the France2 case and wonders just why it is that the court is selectively defending the right to lie when libel remains illegal.
The Palais was long the residence of French monarchs and aristocrats (and it's appropriate, as you will see, because present-day French justice is loaded with respect and recognition of the newer aristocrats, those movers and shakers of influence and power).What sort of liberty is it that produces a legal system that allows a well-known reporter a cause of action against a private citizen for calling his news report a lie? And what sort of liberty is it that produces a legal system that does away with the presumption of innocence for that defendant? (See pages 13-14 of this document for clarification; it appears to be up to the defendants here to prove Enderlin lied rather than for Enderlin to prove he told the truth and that they acted maliciously, as in the US.)
The Court acts in favor of a state operated establishment, even if the evidence is in tape. Richard Landes quite rightly calls this aristocratic justice:... I happen to believe the evidence is strong that both France2 and Enderlin may have done exactly what Lurçat and the other two defendents have accused them of doing (at the very least the plaintiffs almost certainly lied in their original allegations that the Israelis deliberately killed the boy, and about the amount of footage they had and what it showed; I've written at some length on al Durah/France2 before, here and here.)
[ ... ]I'll be writing more about the many issues involved in these cases (Landes has written a piece on the "justice" involved in the verdict from the first trial, that of Karsenty; he rightly calls it "aristocratic justice"--which, of course, is an oxymoron--and likens it to that initially extended to Dreyfus). But for the moment, I merely stand in awe of the colossal arrogance of France2 and Enderlin, and the contempt they show for freedom of speech and for the right to demonstrate peacably, by the mere act of bringing these lawsuits.
Ah, but the essence of a better truth is there, the “Social” Justice crowd would say!the fuse is lit!
French Riviera
UPDATE: 5 arrests were made, including several minors. Expect France's bleeding heart preSS to go into full swing with background articles on the underprivileged childhoods of these chères têtes blondes. One father screamed "That's my son. He's 14 years old and has an alibi" as his petit bout de chou was led away.
Monday, October 30, 2006
It’s because they’re smarter than you are.
In fact they can figure out election results a week in advance, in spite of being neo-Lisbonian Über-brains. They’ve never been wrong before, right?
Like, Duh.
A Surplus of that Vision Thing
Once a Commie, always a Commie. In Short:In a speech, Ségolène Royal unveiled her vision of a pragmatic EU based on environmental policies, social protection and research to win the Socialist's support in view of the French Presidential elections next year.
Ironically, 3 things that market can provide more efficiently without having to shove it down peoples’ throats.
It’s pretty obvious what they get off on.
Si Voynet les aime tant, elle n'a qu'à accepter l'invitation à leur prochaine tournante
With Neither Irony or Self-Awareness
No plaque, no discussion of times past. No getting over things. No nothing.
Not only that, it’s a registered landmark. You would think that someone would have trashed the thing in the middle of the night some time over the past 40 years, but it hasn’t happened yet. Even the angry, militant students who live in the neighborhood are just too lazy to make a little catch-all laïcité if it requires some initiative of their own.
Orwellian State Party Line©® made up of fantasy, lies, and denial
As last year, primetime news is no longer providing figures on the number of cars being torched each evening. News producers are directed to keep the number of items on urban guerilla violence to a minimum and to always balance them with reports about positive social programs aimed at surburban youth.
As for video footage, only certain images may be shown. For example, a smoldering bus after an extinguished fire is OK, a flaming bus is not.
French Intifada in Grenoble
Tramway traffic in Grenoble was suspended for the rest of the day on Sunday but is expected to resume Monday morning.
They Might Even Cancel “Bomb Belt Night“ Over the Incident
The nihilistic bastards are now going for more target rich environments:The Ligue 1 match between Nice and Olympique Marseille was suspended for five minutes after a fireman was hurt by a firebomb, security sources said on Sunday.
But it seems this is nothing new:
The match was interrupted while stewards in the Stade du Ray were trying to find the fireman's fingers."In the past four years there have been strong measures to prevent people from bringing these bombs into the stadium.
The head of Marseille’s time is reported to be upset. Well – at least it’s a start.the fuse is lit!
"But they are only five centimetres in diametre and therefore are very hard to detect," he added.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Sophisticated French youths show American kids what true class is all about
Feue la banlieue
S.N.A.F.U.
A bus torching in Marseille with intent to kill, 46 arrests nationwide along with 2 policemen hurt and 200 automobiles torched, street battles with police in Gigny, and a bus torched in Trappes. The evening's activity is being classified as "relatively calm" (which is why the Prime Minister is springing into action with a previously unscheduled Monday morning meeting).
Other events from yesterday include a bus being pelted with rocks in Seine-Saint-Denis. The City Hall in Stains was also pelted as were policemen in Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil.
In Vitry-sur-Seine, 3 youths were arrested for carrying Molotov cocktails. Police were attacked in Goussainville. Other "incidents", without further precision, took place in Fleury-Mérogis and Toulouse. In Vaux-en-Velin a "runaway" car ran into 2 policemen. A Molotov cocktail was used to set alight a library nextdoor to a police station in Vannes.
Police sources claim that the situation is "under control".
Where is the State? Does it exist outside of broadcasts on France2, France3, France4, France5, and FranceO TV?
Sunday bus service in Marseille has been interrupted.
The Paris area was also hit by violence Saturday night. A few dozen hooded French youths squared off against police in Gigny and a bus was torched in Trappes.
Imagine a Place So Primitive That the Left Still Thinks “Property Is Theft”
« ... Everyone a homeowner!
The big lie of the right. ... »
French government springs into action
French Prime Minister Dominique Villepin will preside over a special Monday morning meeting to deal with public transportation security. Following the bus torching in Marseille which left a young women severely burned, a press release from Villepin's office warbles on about the indignation expressed following this act of violence.