Hey, I think I can Smell the Exit Over Here!

Didn’t low-brow roadside attractions pass their prime in the late 60’s?

From Bagram to Atlantic City

Medic!

“Ambitions have not been matched by resources”

Other contributing countries include Poland, the Netherlands, Austria.

But some, notably the UK, have "offered to give political support, and where appropriate any technical advice", but stopped short of "any promises to offer any money or forces", UK European minister Jim Murphy said earlier this month

Of course, when in doubt, form a committee. Draft a white paper. Blow off another six months. It’s the typically European quietly inhumane thing to do while you’re promoting your own virtues.

The planned force still lacks ten helicopters, a third medical facility and other support assets, French General Henri Bentegeat, head of the EU's Military Committee, said earlier this month according to Reuters.

blog.libero.it/putans nopasaran.blog-libre.net nopasaran.samizdat.net www.nopasaran.es/

Grampa's Arrival in America

Ancestry.com allows you to search U.S. Passport Applications from 1795 to 1925…

Giving in to their Homoerotic Love of Dictators

French broadcaster TF1, majority owned by construction, energy, and cellular magnate Martin Bouygues produced a program which reasons of favoring a business to a state long known to be brutal and corrupt. The documentary was so far out, it had to stay in the can.

The big network TF1 has kept in the closet a program that it will never run. It is a plateau television she has done for the sake of a dictator. Bakchich-TV published the best excerpts from the video, and discusses how TF1 took liberties with their own ethics.
 
The story begins in 1996, at the offices of the giant BTP and owner of TF1, Martin Bouygues. The group Bouygues then concocted a fairy tale about a small republic in Central Asia that’s rich in natural gas: Turkmenistan. Its president, Saparmurad Niyazov, then offers the French company a 200 million concrete contract for a mosque in the desert, a palace, and a parliament building. To be specific, let's get clear the fact that it’s a ghost parliament, as Niyazov was classified by Amnesty International among the worst dictators of our time. Before his death in 2006, the man has had time to be elected by parliament as president for life, to imprison incommunicado and tortured his opponents, to give months of the year the names of members of his family, to prohibit freedom of the press, and the expressive arts, as they were deemed “contrary to the spirit of the people"
Niazov is not a democrat, but signed contracts with France’s BTP. So when he landed on an official visit to Paris in September 1996, his closest French friend, Martin Bouygues, began right away to flatter his cult of personality.

The builder is mobilizing its selling point, it is the only one to have: TF1, Europe’s leading television channel. Bouygues promised Niazov a prestigious program devoted entirely to the splendor of Turkmenbashi, "the father of the Turkmen" (as he renamed himself). The studios TF1 are mobilized to turn out an exceptional effort. Martin Bouygues himself, and TF1 and Gaz de France CEO Patrick Le Lay are sitting facing the President Niyazov, which to be interviewed by the deputy news director of TF1, Jean Narcy. The title of this special edition to run in primetime: "Turkmenistan and its economic future! Wow.

The show begins with images as generic as one can get since the founding of the ORTF, in 1964: a picture of Paris, peaceful, with the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, and on top of that the sound of a loud fanfare that sent the gladiators in the arena of an Italian peplum. It's stale and has everything that would put TF1 viewers to sleep punctuated with fast-flowing images to flatter Niazov!

Then comes a 45 minute long disturbing interview. Jean Narcy, forgetting that 50% of the Turkmen population is unemployed, continues to ask the dictator about his country’s wealth. Probably quite shocked, Niazov returns the flattery by describing TF1 as the "most powerful force in television in the world, and the largest carrier of culture." What the CEO of TF1, Patrick Le Lay, reply with is doubly impertinent: speaking of Turkmenistan as a "country at the crossroads of the world's great movements," the television quoted Turkmen as "the memory of a people and a civilization ", and suggested that the Father of the Turkmen should help, (don’t laugh,) "to produce programming devoted to his country and its culture." Unsaid is that we know that the President Niyazov, culture is restricted to folk music and readings officially imposed on schools and universities, a book of thoughts which Niyazov himself authored, and whose quotations adorn buses.

Poor Niazov! Narcy keeps the viewer from dozing off with a long speech without rhythm or relief. Narcy droned on but earned his salary: he goes on to give the floor to the boss of Gaz de France, invited and jumped in himself to discuss… gas, and then the construction contract by Bouygues: a Conference Center open to the Turkmen population. He even goes into the importance of culture and welfare of the population not just once, on the occasion of this historic interview, he’s even asked the Turkmen president to give his position on the opponents and journalists he had jailed.

What was so funny about it? That Niazov took the interview very seriously, although it is being run by his friend French. The stage and the actors are real, but they know very well that there would be "special edition" on Turkmenistan running on French television. Once Niyazov was gone, the TF1 recording of the broadcast was carefully locked away.

No pipeline, no problem!

So where is the false outrage of the likes of Michael Moore for this kind of “national champion” business with a red “hey, let’s get into cahoots” line to a national government? No-where. It doesn’t flatter their ideology or prop up their illusions about a “Bu$hChimpyHitlerburton” straw-man hiding under the bed, lest you hand them your brain. After all, you know that only Americans les Ricons do that!

Proof that Paris’ Massive Army of Street Cleaners Are Worth Every Cent

Paris sous les bombes (bis)

Here is a promotional video of the law firm hit by the package bomb attack:



UPDATE (5:31PM Paris time): Interior Minister Michèle Alliot Marie has arrived. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack at this time. Olivier Brane, the lawyer shown in the above video, is the lawyer injured in the attack. He has been hospitalized and is expected to pull through.



UPDATE (6:55PM Paris time): In a short statement to the press, Interior Minister Michèle Alliot Marie stated that investigators are working with witnesses in an attempt to identify the messenger who delivered the package bomb.

UPDATE (7:33PM Paris time): Police are now looking for a dark haired female messenger, 1m55 tall.

UPDATE (9:26PM Paris time): France3 reports that the lawyer to who the package bomb was addressed, Catherine Gouet-Jenselme, has been the target of sexual harassement since January 2005. Legal proceedings were initiated in June of this year. According to France3 State TV, investigators are now going with a sexual-harassement-personal-vendetta motive. Judicial authorities are denying this report while confirming that a sexual harassement case was being handled by the law firm in question but that it is still too early to be able to identify a motive for the bombing.

Paris sous les bombes

A package bomb has gone off in the 8th arr. of Paris in the office of a law firm co-founded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 6 people have been injured and radio reports now announce 1 law firm secretary dead (with 1 laywer among the injured). A second package is being taken in by the bomb squad. The explosion occured at 1:30PM Paris time.

UPDATE: Reports now indicate that two likely targets are located in the building where the explosion took place. A law firm co-founded by Nicolas Sarkozy and a Holocaust Memorial Foundation ("Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah").

UPDATE: One death now confirmed. French MSM cable news now getting up to speed on this. At this point, French MSM insists that there is no confirmed link between the explosion at that location and the Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

UPDATE: Reports now indicate that the explosion took place in a 4th floor law office. Sarkozy's ex-law firm is located on the 1st floor. French MSM is downplaying the presence of a Holocaust Memorial Foundation at the same address. There is 1 confirmed death and 5 injuries.

UPDATE (4:03PM Paris time): the package that exploded was delivered by messenger and addressed to Olivier Brane and Catherine Gouet-Jenselme. The law firm hit by the explosion deals mainly in divorce and insurance cases. It is not known for dealing in sensitive cases. I-Tele cable news now reports that the law office targeted is on the same floor (4th floor) as the Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

UPDATE (4:46PM Paris time): Interior Minister Michèle Alliot Marie is expected to arrive on the scene any minute. She was in Belgium at the time of the explosion.


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Today Schengen, Tomorrow ‘Ze Vurld

In someone’s mind, Europe has grown to include all of Turkey, half of the ‘Stans’ and all of Asian Russia. Ew-key. Plan on telling those people in Siberia that?

Lefty Loves Lefty

2003

What a year. Iran is suspected to have dismantled (or changed) some of its nuclear weapons research, and the US made good on their threats to Saddam Hussein.

Let’s say you’re a bonehead, and can’t connect the dots, and can’t imagine a crackpot like Ahmedinejad noticing the soft power value of hard power when the US deposes the dictator next door.

Okay. Let’s not say you’re a bonehead, just for the sake of your own embarrassment. Let’s say you’re a lazy journalist who tries to jam the same argument into every visible global event.

Unconfirmed

The source is unknown. This report still needs some Habeas Corpus It could well be just some rah-rah trash talk to embolden the disillusioned and enflame violence.

DANISH AUTHORITIES WHITHHOLD SECRET INFORMATION
A prophet cartoonist has been burned alive

An unprecedented global crisis that laid bare the "clash of civilizations" was in play as a result of the publication of these drawings, reprinted dozens of times worldwide. According to a reliable source we learn that one of the authors of the famous twelve caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed (Salvation Be Upon Him) was burnt alive by persons unknown. Although lacking details about this case and knowing that the Danish authorities are trying to stifle this matter so as not to unleash a new wave of threats and outbursts around the world, the victim was reported to have been attacked in her home before being tied up, having gasoline poured on her and burned alive.
In the absence of reliable information about this event it could just as well be a simple accident, which would mean, in the eyes of the Muslim world, that divine retribution was exacted on her, and confirmed by the simultaneously embarrassed silence of the Danish government and the conservative newspaper that had published the cartoons.
The event took place on Wednesday night. We contacted the Danish Embassy in Algeria would neither confirm or deny the report.
This, it must be feared, could trigger a new crisis between Muslims and Christians. The suspicion, indeed, quite naturally draw attention to Muslims living in Europe even though the crisis appears not necessarily benefit them.

To recall what this is all about, Jyllands Posten, a Danish newspaper, had decided to publish a series of twelve caricatures impacting the image of our Prophet (QSSL) and of Islam in September of 2005. This initiative was taken after Danish author Kare Bluitgen had complained that he had not found anyone willing to illustrate a book about the Prophet Mohamed (QSSL).
An unprecedented circumvention then followed. The Western newspapers had hastened to "republish" the incriminating documents, highlighting a stir the Muslim world, and triggering massive demonstrations around the world.

Meanwhile, small groups of madmen or pranksters had threatened the newspaper and the perpetrators of these drawings. Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen hid behind freedom of speech in order not to see his government fall, but still had to bend over backwards to deal with the financial and economic countermeasures. The decision (almost spontaneously) to boycott all Danish products weighed heavily on them. The kingdom ran straight into bankruptcy. The crisis then faded gradually, having lasted nearly six months. But now that this new event is likely to bring it back.

In what way is the question.

****
LES AUTORITÉS DANOISES MAINTIENNENT SECRÈTE L’INFORMATION
Un auteur des caricatures sur le prophète (QSSSL) brûlé vif

Une crise mondiale sans précédent, mettant à nu le " choc des civilisations " avait pris naissance à la suite de la publication de ces dessins, et des dizaines de reprises qui s’en étaient suivies à travers le monde. Selon des informations recoupées et dignes de foi, nous apprenons que l’un des auteurs des fameuses douze caricatures sur le prophète Mohamed (Que le Salut Soit Sur Lui) a été brûlé vif par des personnes inconnues. Même si les détails manquent à propos de cette affaire, sachant que les autorités danoises tentent d’étouffer cette affaire afin de ne pas déchaîner une nouvelle vague de menaces et de contremenaces à travers le monde, la victime aurait été attaquée chez elle, avant d’être ligotée, arrosée d’essence et brûlée vive. En l’absence d’informations fiables relatives à cet évènement, il pourrait tout aussi bien s’agir d’un simple accident, ce qui signifierait, aux yeux du monde musulman, que la vengeance divine a bel et bien frappé, et justifierait dans le même temps les silences gênés du gouvernement danois et du journal conservateur qui avait publié ces dessins. Toujours est-il que l’évènement remonte à la nuit de mercredi à jeudi. Contacté par nous, aucun responsable au niveau de l’ambassade du royaume du Danemark en Algérie n’était en mesure de nous renseigner, confirmer ou infirmant cette informer. Celle-ci, il faut le craindre, risque de déclencher une nouvelle crise entre les mondes musulman et chrétien. Les soupçons, en effet, vont tout naturellement vers les musulmans résidant en Europe, cela même si la crise ne semble pas leur profiter forcément. Pour rappel, un journal danois, " Jyllands Posten ", avait décidé de publier, au mois de septembre de l’année 2005, une série de douze caricatures portant atteinte aux images de notre prophète (QSSL) et de la religion musulmane. Cette initiative était intervenue après qu’un auteur danois, Kare Bluitgen, se soit plaint de n’avoir trouvé personne pour lui illustrer un ouvrage à propos du prophète Mohamed (QSSL). Une surenchère sans précédent s’en était suivie. Les journaux occidentaux s’étaient empressés de " republier " les documents incriminés, mettant en émoi le monde musulman, et déclenchant des manifestations gigantesques partout dans le monde. Parallèlement, des groupuscules d’illuminés ou de plaisantins, avaient commencé à lancer des menaces contre ce journal ainsi que les auteurs de ces dessins. Le Danemark, dont le Premier ministre Rasmussen se drapait derrière la liberté d’expression pour ne pas reculer, a quand même dû courber l’échine devant les arguments financiers et économiques. La décision prise (quasi spontanément) de boycotter tous les produits de ce pays, a pesé très lourd dans la balance. Ce royaume courait tout droit vers sa faillite. La crise, par la suite, s’est estompée petit à petit, non sans avoir duré près de six mois. Mais voilà que ce nouvel évènement risque de la faire rebondir. Dans quel sens ? Là est la question…

- with thanks one shrewd bastard.

The Gravel Sound Effects Engineer

French culinary traditions helps explain why French gravel sound effects engineers are reknown worldwide as the best in the film business (thank you for swallowing that coffee before playing the video)…

Where it’s Always 1978

What you get for taking a passive attitude to it : with between 58000 and 127000 drug dealers, even « le shit » has proved itself to outdo whole sectors of industry wether national champions or not, and is becoming the mother’s milk for thugs who import assault weapons from the Balkans.

« Soft » drugs indeed. Never mind that... there are dead idols to worship and propaganda to eat up.

BBC defends Chester the Molester

It’s as close to Mom and Apple Pie as the BBC thinking gets: a peasant girl in a developing country is raped and political Feminists parachute in with the BBC on hand to help “make a difference”.

"BRADSHAW: Defeat, this time, for the Cardinal. For many in Nicaragua Rosa's parents have become heroes, an ordinary couple defying the church and making a stand for women's rights. Others in Nicaragua are also defying the ban on abortion."

Journalists galvanizing the public to a cause, pat-on-back, etc., etc.

Too bad the BBC kept quiet the fact that one of these peasant-like ordinary people/heroes, infallible in their almost Evo-Morales-like imagery, caused this problem by molesting his own daughter.

Unfortunately for the BBC's portrayal of Rosa's father, Francisco Fletes Sanchez, as the pro-choice hero, it now turns out that he was in fact the man who raped her. He has been convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for his crimes. He was in fact on the run at the time, having escaped from Costa Rica to Nicaragua.

Somewhere In their herpetic minds they might be able to come clean by blaming the patriarchy, but they would have to imagine that their favorite flavor of class-struggling peasant might be subject to the same morality as the average human.

So you think dey wanna hit dat shit?

blog.libero.it/putans nopasaran.blog-libre.net nopasaran.samizdat.net www.nopasaran.es/

Interview with Svane & Greenberg

Nicolas Vadeau de Bulle d'Encre publie une interview avec le scénariste et le dessinateur de Général Leonardo (il y a même un bonus)…

Une interview précédente était apparue sur Sceneario…






Entretemps, la série a été plébiscitée par le Club Français des Amateurs de Furet…

The declaration of Ségolène Royal notwithstanding, it is certain that the U.S. has not seen such a level of urban violence for the last 40 years

Among the points that John Rosenthal makes, the following stand out (emphasis mine):

Are the deaths of two youngsters that sparked several nights of rioting in France last week being exploited for political purposes? Consider only that one of the two lawyers representing the families of the boys happens to be none other than the personal attorney of Ségolène Royal: the Socialist Party (PS) candidate who was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election May 6. It will be recalled that just two days before the vote, in an interview with French radio station RTL, Royal warned ominously that Sarkozy's candidacy was "dangerous" and that there would be "violence" -- notably, in "popular neighborhoods" -- if he was elected. It is particularly noteworthy in retrospect that when RTL journalist Jean-Michel Aphatie pressed Royal on the point, asking her to agree that if there is violence it would be illegitimate, she did not reply to the question. "He has to ask himself why he provokes so much [violence]," Royal retorted, "I think he is also responsible." Could Royal and her allies in the PS be helping to make her grim pre-election prediction come true by transforming what was in all likelihood a banal, if tragic, traffic accident into a political issue?

…It was precisely on the Web site of "Désirs d'avenir" that Ségolène Royal on Wednesday published her own statement on the riots. "This escalation of violence has to be stopped," she said: thus employing a formula that again can be understood to imply that the violence of the rioters is somehow a "response" to purposeful violence on the part of the police. "We, citizens of France," she continued, "must all refuse that our urban neighborhoods (quartiers) come to resemble the urban neighborhoods in the U.S.A., where the firing of real bullets is a frequent occurrence. . . . I thus call for a national mobilization, including all political tendencies, so that the question of our urban neighborhoods and of the future of the youth in these neighborhoods will become a great national cause."

Commentators of virtually all political stripes in the French media -- including President Sarkozy in a televised interview on Thursday night -- have made a point of praising the French police for the restraint they showed in the face of the rioters. But such praise could someday soon prove to be a fatal burden. For though the police did not resort to the use of lethal force, there was in fact plentiful firing of real bullets in the trouble areas last week: namely at the police. According to the latest available figures, some 130 police officers were injured in the rioting, with several of them being seriously wounded by gunfire (Le Figaro, Nov. 30). One police officer lost an eye; another was struck in the shoulder by a 12 mm cartridge fired from a shotgun; a third is reported to have been hit 30 times by pellets, eleven times in the face. Police have also reported being fired upon with an "improvised bazooka" (Le Figaro, Nov. 29). It is clear from the reports that still more serious injuries or even deaths were only avoided thanks to the heavy body armor that French police habitually wear in riot situations. "The use of firearms has been systematic," Patrice Ribeiro of the French police officers union Synergies Officiers told Le Figaro, "There was an intent to kill."

…It should be noted that French police, not surprisingly, have been known in the past to use their weapons. Just one year ago, in November 2006, a rioter was shot and killed by a French police officer following a soccer match on the outskirts of Paris: an episode that, symptomatically, received less prominent coverage in the French media than a shooting incident involving police in far-off New York two days later.

…The bizarre declaration of Ségolène Royal notwithstanding, it is certain that the United States has not seen such a level of urban violence for the last forty years: since the urban riots of the 1960s.

... and just wait, 'cause there's more where that came from

The French have been stunned by the savagery of the riots in Villiers-le-Bel.

26 years of feel-good-and-festive Socialism has produced this:
"'It felt like they were out to kill us,' said one of the officers in Villiers-le-Bel last week. 'We knew that there were weapons in the suburbs, but they have never been turned against us like that. The kids were shooting at us at close range, loading and reloading their weapons. I’ve never seen anything like it.'"

Sarkozy's pivotal battle: to transform "la France du refus"

Nicolas Sarkozy faces his pivotal battle, writes William Langley: to transform the 'France that will not change'. Meanwhile, John Vinocur describes how the Président means "to dissolve the taboos that for a generation made a reactionary concept for the French out of the idea that greater effort equals greater productivity and greater reward."

Langley: France has it in for everybody who wants to be left alone to run a business. Consumed by a statist allegiance to what it regards as equality in the workplace, the country has effectively abolished the right of anyone to take a low-paid job. It not only imposes Europe's highest minimum wage - about £800 a month - but layers it with complicated and costly regulations about who can work where, for how long and in what conditions. In doing so, it has effectively closed the labour market door in the faces of the poorly educated and mostly ill-qualified youths of places such as Villiers-le-Bel, where the unemployment rate frequently touches 60 per cent.

…Pleasant as it is to find a backstreet bistro run by lace-hatted crones, where nothing appears to have changed for centuries, the changelessness in France is an expensive illusion. The crones will be paying 50 per cent income tax and 19.6 per cent VAT, plus property tax, business tax, rubbish collection tax, licensed premises tax and a "solidarity" tax to support the unemployed. "How," asks the President, "can we continue to believe that by taxing more and working fewer hours, we can ever create wealth and jobs?"

Noël Arrive

Christmas is fast approaching, if we are to believe Chris Dawson…

sKul DaZe

mark Steyn snarking away with a vengeance this week. He gives a spanking to Australian Santa policy under the new Rudd Junta, The ACLU’s selective outrage, and points out why Arabs who are more like the Sudanese than they are like the smart ones that leave aren’t quite ready for prime-time when it comes to things like tolerance, stoning rape victims, restraining oneself from threats to decapitate middle aged school-teachers, etal:

"Santas Warned 'Ho Ho Ho' Offensive To Women."
Really. As the story continued: "Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say 'ha ha ha' instead, the Daily Telegraph reported. One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use 'ho ho ho' because it could frighten children and was too close to 'ho', a U.S. slang term for prostitute."
If I were a female resident of Sydney, I think I'd be more offended by the assumption that Australian women and U.S. prostitutes are that easily confused. As the old gangsta-rap vaudeville routine used to go: "Who was that ho I saw you with last night?" "That was no ho, that was my bitch."

Which depends on the kind of girls you know in Aus, I suppose. The ones I’ve known have not generally pulled the “perpetually offended Mamasita” racket, but may have to from now on under the Imperialist warmongerers of a Labour government.

For example, when I said the right not to be offended is now the most "sacred" right in the world, I certainly didn't mean to offend persons of a nontheistic persuasion. In Hanover, N.H., home to Dartmouth College, an atheist and an agnostic known only as "Jan and Pat Doe" (which is which is hard to say) are suing because their three schoolchildren are forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Well, OK, they're not forced to say it. The pledge is voluntary. You're allowed to sit down, or, more discreetly, stand silently, which is what the taciturn Yankee menfolk who think it's uncool to sing do during the hymns at my local church. But that's not enough for "the Does." Because the pledge mentions God, their children are forced, as it were, not to say it. And, as "Mr. and Mrs. Doe" put it in their complaint, having to opt out of participation in a voluntary act exposes their children to potential "peer pressure" from the other students.

Which I find puzzling, since I only though that kind of jingoistic indoctrination only happened in perpetually well-intended Canada. Back in my own Grammar school days in Ontario under the oppressive Trudeau Regime, I remember one day when in assembly we had to sing Oh Canada!, I found myself wondering if I should have to do this every week if I’m not Canadian.

I happened to be standing next to my teacher. She asked me why I stopped singing. I asked if it was wrong to sing it if I wasn’t actually Canadian.

She hit me on the back of the head, right above the neck. As I am a male of the species, I though nothing of it other than that I probably had it coming to me. My only other thought that afternoon was that my head hurt, and wondered why they didn’t stop smacking kids around like they had in the US. Whatever.

Let us now cross from the New Hampshire school system to the Sudanese school system. Or as The Associated Press headline put it:

"Thousands In Sudan Call For British Teddy Bear Teacher's Execution."

Last week, Gillian Gibbons, a British schoolteacher working in Khartoum, one of the crumbiest basket-case dumps on the planet – whoops, I mean one of the most lively and vibrant strands in the rich tapestry of our multicultural world – anyway, Mrs. Gibbons was sentenced last week to 15 days in jail because she was guilty of, er, allowing a teddy bear to be named "Mohammed." She wasn't so foolish as to name the teddy Mohammed herself. But, in an ill-advised Sudanese foray into democracy, she'd let her grade-school students vote on what name they wanted to give the classroom teddy, and being good Muslims they voted for their favorite name: Mohammed.

Actually, the little snot-nosed kid who got to name the was behaving in the generous manner typical to the native males by naming the toy after himself. Since only a thoughtful western adult, (any thoughtful western adult,) can be wrong for this “outrage”, I suggest that Jan and Pat Doe be required to either foster-parent this child, or undergo mandatory instruction from him.

...It’s just a thought...

Someone Needs to Get an New Aphorism.

Just how many times can you keep recycling the stale phrase « Pyromane Pompier » without looking stupid?

Artus: Yes. Greenspan was an arsonist and a fireman combined. He derived all his glory from his reaction to the savings-and- loans crisis, to the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management LP, and to Sept. 11, 2001. But LTCM and the savings-and-loans crisis were his doing. He absolutely failed to see where the malfunctions in the U.S. economy were.
Greenspan came up with a phrase, ``irrational exuberance,'' in 1997, but he didn't do anything about it.

He was seeking glory? That’s news to anyone in the real economy. Besides, what do you think the Fed should de with markets? Control their every detail? I’ll bet!

Artus: The most modern central banks are the Bank of England and the Bank of Sweden.

The Bank of England is the only central bank that has factored real-estate prices into its policy making, and that also looks at exchange rates. It has a global vision of the economy, and that's what we like. They completely slipped up when it came to the banks, but that was the Financial Services Authority, it wasn't them.

``Les incendiaires'' is published by Perrin.

There are people who would debate that the former Exchequer’s butchery of the Bank of England was very modern, given the recent run on the banks that they’ve had. Nor would anyone really believe that an economy like Sweden’s is some sort of powerhouse so depended on by others that it can’t make a display of its experiments.

On the other hand, the United States has a population which is actually growing, which is why it needs growth. We have had 11 straight years of it preceded by 6 years in upward trend. Our unemployment rate has at the same time been nominally half that of the “big-dogs” of the Euro zone. In that whole period of world-wide expansion, Euro-land has yet to hit anything even close to that pitch while the acceleration of their economies took nearly a decade longer to start. – Even the one this great sage Patrick Artus had a hand in influencing through his punditry.
Yet the entire finance and currency conversation is about the US “stagnating” as it sheds bad loans that the whole world, sage and dismissive, couldn’t resist as an investment.

What did they want US banks to do? Keep redlining?

Lining up for the Donkey Show

One reader spotted this curiosity in a Philippino newspaper:

"French people are always busy, living a very stressful life. They want to unwind. We know Philippines has many boutique hotels that offer spa treatments with good services.”

- with thanks to Greg

blog.libero.it/putans nopasaran.blog-libre.net nopasaran.samizdat.net www.nopasaran.es/

Sick, Pervy Visitor of the Day - Part 7

Off to a bad start

Guy Millière is not optimistic about Sarkozy's start. Never mind Reagan or Thatcher, Sarkozy isn't even a Tony Blair.

"In order for there to be a Tony Blair, there had to be a Thatcher before, to take care of the toughest tasks."

Public service announcement

CitizenInfo, Paris
date Nov 28, 2007 4:25 PM
subject U.S. Embassy Advisory for Americans in France
mailed-by state.gov

US Embassy-Paris
Warden Message
November 27, 2007

On Sunday, November 25, 2007 riots broke out in the Paris suburbs of Villiers-le-Bel and Arnouville after two teenagers were killed when their motorbike collided with a police car. Youths in the area began stoning police and firemen, injuring 21 police officers and setting fire to four buildings and 28 cars. The investigation into the crash that sparked the riots is ongoing. Similar riots continued Monday night November 26 with youths throwing Molotov cocktails at public security officers and setting fire to cars, businesses and a library.

The press has reported that an American business was one of the four buildings set ablaze, but there is no indication that American businesses or citizens are in any way being singled out or specifically targeted.

Tensions between police and youths in some Parisian suburbs have been notable in recent years. The U.S. Embassy reminds American citizens to pay close attention to local news reports and police instructions, and to remain clear of demonstrations or large gatherings of people. While most of the unrest in years past transpired during the evening hours, the Embassy encourages Americans to remain vigilant at all hours if traveling near Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding districts. Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, Travel Warnings, and health-information resources can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

Travelers in France who need assistance can contact the U.S. Embassy by telephone or email at mailto:citizeninfo@state.gov. The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Paris is located at 4, avenue Gabriel, 75008 Paris (Place de La Concorde, Métro Stop Concorde), tel. 011-33-1-43-12-22-22 or (in France) 01-43-12-22-22; fax 011-33-1-42-61-61-40. Further information can be obtained at the U.S. Embassy's web site at http://france.usembassy.gov/.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov/ where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-317-472-2328. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. Federal holidays).

Registering with the U.S. Embassy
The cornerstone of our efforts to keep the American traveling public aware of problems threatening their safety and security is our Consular Information Program. Travel registration is a free service provided by the U.S. Government to U.S. citizens who are traveling to, or living in, a foreign country. Registration allows you to record information about your upcoming trip abroad that the Department of State can use to assist you in case of an emergency. Americans residing abroad can also get routine information from the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. You may register online at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs.

United States Embassy
Office of American Services
4, avenue Gabriel
75382 Paris Cedex 08
France
Telephone in France: 01 43 12 22 22
Telephone from U.S.: (011 33) 1 43 12 22 22
Website: http://france.usembassy.gov
E-mail: mailto:citizeninfo@state.gov

Pays de merde

While on his death bead in a Paris hospital, neo-Stalinist rag Marianne paid freelance hit-woman sadistic-hit-bitch Stéphanie Marteau to execute Rita Mitsouko guitarist Frédéric Chichin for his crimes: admitting a fondness for American culture, reading Maurice G. Dantec, reading Pascal Bruckner, rejecting the French musically correct, and expressing an implicit support for Sarkozy.

Make the myths

On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed a single $100 dollar bet on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by the bar and got a shot of Wild Turkey and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two scantily clad showgirls.

Are the Comparisons to Guerilla Warfare Really that out of Place, or Just Embarrassing?

The excerpt below from an interview with a policemen in Saturday’s Le Figaro speaks for itself.

Can you describe what Black Monday was like for law enforcement?

At Hélène at around 6:30 p.m. we were called in to back up fellow officers who were getting stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at them in the housing project. We ran in as a unit with our helmets and shields. We received permission to fire rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades. I had a spotlight and tried to illuminate the targets.

Where were the rioters?

Dozens of them were about fifteen meters from me when two tear-gas canisters were released. Suddenly, I heard the slam of detonations. Four of my colleagues crumbled all at once. I found myself alone and I grabbed a shield to avoid becoming a target. We have to protect our fallen wounded. Shortly thereafter, a sniper in a bush, maybe the same shooter, kept firing at us. We had to take cover like rabbits while they kept up their deluge of projectiles. The thugs really wanted to kill a cop ...

The worst was thus averted ...

Absolutely. In a corner, a stranger pulled out a pump action shotgun. Then I saw a colleague drop his shield when he got hit in the legs. The then drew his pistol. He waited for the shooter to reload before he could fire.

Just ” youts”.

Elsewhere 20 Minutes elaborates on a injury of a Chief of Police in one of the better know hellholes.